Category: Operations

Fast growth does not always equate to success in business. You need the right tools to complement the growth rate otherwise it can easily die out on you and you’ll be left with a brand that used to be successful. Here are five tools every business and owner and entrepreneur needs to acknowledge and implement effectively to ensures success for their fast growing brand.

Customer Relationship Management 

As your business expands, so do the interactions and transactions it has with clients on a regular basis. Keeping track of this data enables you to spot customer patterns, identify trends, and overall keep your customers satisfied and coming back for more. Effective implementation of a Customer Relationship Management software gives businesses a platform to manage, store, and update this collected data. It streamlines the process of tracking interactions and maximizes financial opportunities by establishing long-term relationship with your customer base.

Business Process Management Suite 

A BPMS software is a set of standardized, integrated technologies that allow public and private organizations to build applications that combine systems of existing or new purposes. The system generates an end-to-end application in different business operations, such as product manufacturing and internet marketing, allowing entrepreneurs to manage their back-end and front-end systems with relative ease. Technologies integrated into the software encompass workflow engines, folder and content management, and an execution engine, which is at the core of the program.

Business Intelligence 

Fast growth can disable business owners from identifying what actually matters in the long run. They get blinded by short-term rewards like market hype and impressive sales. To be able to anticipate the next challenges and moves, however, you need as much insight as you can get from customer data. And while the old, trusty spreadsheet is enough to enter small chunks of data and analyze for broader view and longer term solutions and strategies, it simply cannot accommodate the accruing size of business data. Business intelligence tools help improve the management flow of a business by enabling live interactive access and use of data.

Email Marketing Campaign 

Albeit not a new business concept, email marketing remains a powerful and relevant tool, especially for fast growing companies. It gives you the ability to disseminate useful and important information, such as promotions, how-to guides, and daily deals, to a large group of people without needing to expend too much of your resources. Email marketing campaigns promote brand awareness and increase brand recognition. Almost everyone today has an email account, so it makes strategic sense to devote time and effort into making sure customers see your brand in their inboxes. Based on a report released by Small Business, 46 percent of businesses surveyed were already implementing email marketing to their portfolio, which is estimated to bring in around $40 for every $1 invested.

Professional Website 

As the Internet slowly takes over the planet, fast growing businesses must adapt accordingly. Having a website is no longer a choice at it was years ago. Today, to be relevant, you need a professional website that’s regularly updated with useful content and hype-building news. According to Statistic Brain, businesses with websites in 2014 rose to 53 percent, which was only at 45 percent 5 years prior. A website has many benefits when implemented in a business setting. It saves time and provides an easily accessible medium on which to showcase your brand to customers worldwide.

Businesses on the fast-growth track stand to make consistent profits and build large brands. Use these five tools to navigate through the unique complexities that come with running a fast growing brand. While different in function, these tools all focus on the most important asset of any business – the customer.

With the comprehensive organization and process efficiency that they bring, it shouldn’t be a shock to anyone that implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is a big investment. As is the case with most costly expenditures, there are both huge opportunities and risks on the table.In a recent study of 192 companies with annual revenues ranging from $25 million to just above $2 billion, 66 percent reported that they failed to realize more than half of the expected benefits of their ERP investment. Aside from squandering potential revenue, these companies are also wasting an incredible amount of money. ERP systems are designed to manage the many moving pieces that are involved in the supply chain, from top to bottom – but they can’t fix your problems if you don’t know how to maximize the software.

Here are a couple tips from big manufacturers with successful ERP systems in place:

Choose Your ERP System Carefully

“It’s essential to link business objectives to your ERP strategy to ensure value is realized…” states Carol Hardcastle, Research Vice President at Gartner in their report, “Predicts 2014: The Rise of the Postmodern ERP and Enterprise.”

All the benefits that grow from successful ERP systems began with picking the right platform. Before you can see the fruits of that effort, it’s important that you consider your business goals and objectives when researching software brands.

• Efficiency Goals: Will this software help identify and eliminate clerical errors and/or redundancies in order to speed up the pipeline?
• Growth Goals: Can this ERP help double your business with the resources you currently have?
• Market Goals: Which platform will help you bring your product to market faster?

ERP can help focus your workflow needs and other aspects of business that are unique to your company.

Customize the Platform to Fit Your Business Needs

The scope of ERP manufacturing software tends to be considered a one-size-fits-all solution, yet there are still many smaller components to help mold around your specific business model and/or supply chain. Using any ERP system strictly “out of the box” is considered a detriment to the objective of implementation, and is a signal that the organization is sacrificing user productivity and quality of data reporting. Only a reported 15 percent of companies do not customize their ERP software in any way, so don’t fall into the minority.

Assign Executive Ownership

There’s an old saying that goes, “when everyone is held accountable, no one is responsible.” Which is to say that there are about a million ways that a supply chain can be compromised or slowed down in some way. Tying an ERP’s performance to an executive’s compensation plan will go a long way in assuring that there’s proper management of the more intricate pieces of your pipeline.

Invest in Ongoing Training

Purchasing an ERP isn’t the end of the investment, and viewing it as such should be considered a huge mistake. Technology is growing at exponential rates, as evidenced by these fascinating photos highlighting the power of Moore’s Law. ERP software is just a small speck in the great scheme of technology, but a huge factor in the way business is conducted every day across globe.The investment of education in this software is immensely important and the future success of your company is reliant upon it.

The cost of implementing an ERP system is certainly not an insignificant investment, but neither are the benefits that it can bring to your organization. It’s wise to consider these points once you have implemented an ERP system in order to maximize its efficiency and output. Technology is dynamic and so are your business needs – make sure you have the edge required for success.

Article Contributed by Ved Raj

Outsourcing product development can be a money saving proposition for your business.  The right outsourcing strategy can help find the best fit teams for development of the product. One also has to ensure the stability of offshore teams, to get timely delivery of the project.

Here are some important tips and tricks:

Evaluating the Outsourcing Partner

It is very important to evaluate the expertise and experience of the outsourcing partner. Here are some key points to remember:

1. Ensure that the outsourcing partner is an experienced player and has got a decent portfolio.
2. Make sure that the teams working on your project, have the desired skill set for developing your product.
3. The teams must be communicative and must take complete responsibility of the project.
4. The infrastructure, facilities and work culture of the outsourcing partner must be evaluated as well.
5. The scope of work to be completed in the project, must be clearly defined and mutually agreed upon. One must choose a development partner who provides a range of services from development to maintenance.

Managing The Level of Productivity

Productivity management is the key for getting the product developed on time. This is essential for reducing the time to market the product. Here are some key essentials of managing the productivity level of offshore teams:

1. Use appropriate tools for communication with development teams. Tools like Skype and Google Drive are useful for staying touch and collaborating with ease.
2. Having a single point of contact to manage the remote teams, is crucial. The resource can help them with their queries and ensure they are meeting their targets.
3. Daily and weekly reports must be analysed to gauge the level of productivity being achieved.
4. The teams must be given regular feedback about the expectations, going forward.

Security of the Project

One must ensure that the project is secure with the outsourcing partner. Here are some important points to remember:

1. The track record of the outsourcing partner must be carefully evaluated before handing over the project.
2. The outsourcing partner must sign a nondisclosure and a non-competing agreement before taking up the project

Agile Development

One must ensure that the product is being developed using the latest tools and techniques.

1. The project is divided into sprints and a sprint plan is shared with the client on a periodic basis.
2. The team performance is judged on the goals planned and completed in during the sprint.
3. The team meets on a daily basis and takes full ownership of the tasks to be completed.

Technical Evaluation

The product development should be thoroughly inspected for any kind of technical flaws.

1. The quality of the code must be checked to see if the desired outcome has been achieved.
2. The functionality and usability of the product must be checked thoroughly.

Attention to Detail

The more you know about your product, the better will be the outcome.

1. Write a detailed description of the product.
2. Have a vision of the product and communicate it clearly, to the developers.

Innovation

Remember, innovation is at the heart of an incredible product.

1. Motivate the teams to come up with innovative solutions for the product.
2. Get the teams to understand the product and suggest improvements at every step of the development process.

One can save up-to 50% on development costs, while outsourcing product development to offshore teams. A planned approach and consistent innovation, will surely bring great results.

About the Author

Ved Raj is a business enthusiast. He writes about startups, remote teams and outsourcing. He is working as a Marketing Manager with ValueCoders, a leading provider of remote development teams.

With the weather volatility on the East Coast during this El Niño and other climate-change-induced disasters in the media lately, disaster preparedness should be on our minds, not only as individuals but as owners of business entities as well. Disasters can range from the super-sized Hurricane Sandy variety on down to the office fire caused by a coffee burner left on overnight. In respect to all sizes and scopes, every responsible business should have a disaster recovery plan of some kind. At the risk of beating a dead-horse-epigram, it’s worth it to remember that the best defense is a good offense. Having a solid plan ahead of time is like reading the book before you see the movie. Sure, the movie version will vary some from the book, and there will be some unexpected surprises, but you know how the plot goes and how it all ends–such is the security you receive by forming a business continuity plan.

That’s what Insurance is for, Right?

You might reason that this is the very purpose you keep paying your monthly business insurance premiums. Having the right coverage is a good start, but your insurance isn’t going to tell you where to find temporary office space, how to keep your customers from deserting to the competition, or ensure you have a complete backup of all your electronic records. To do that you need…

A Business Continuity Plan

A business continuity plan acts as a roadmap when normal business operations are interrupted by an unexpected event. Such events could include large non-specific disasters like storms, earthquakes, floods, epidemics, acts of terrorism, or civil disorder and unrest. Other threats specific to a company include fire, utility outage, theft, supply chain disruption, sabotage, and cyber-attack.

The first step in putting together a comprehensive plan is to identify the threats to your business, such as those listed above. The next step is developing a set of impact scenarios which takes a pragmatic view of how those threats will directly impact your business operations. For example, if you are in the business of shipping and contamination/recall occurs, you need to calculate how much money you’ll be losing per day. Be specific and plan for the worst case scenario. In the contamination scenario, your company should not only be insured but should have plenty put away in escrow to comp for employee hours.

After identifying how each of the scenarios will impact your business, the next logical step is to identify the means by which you will recover. This step will focus on picking up the pieces and starting over. It will address concerns such as where to find temporary office space in the event of a fire or where to find alternative vendors in the event of a supply chain disruption. Start preparing for these situations now by drawing up lists of these vendors and developing the necessary partnerships for that “just-in-case” moment. Most importantly, make sure that your most important documents are backed up and stored offsite so that even if you lost your office space, you don’t lose all of your important documents.

Peace of Mind

Nobody wants to dwell on the negative. Even the time spent on a recovery plan can seem like a downer. It’s a tedious process that can eat up time you’d rather spend on more immediate concerns. But look at it this way: running a business is a lot like being a tightrope walker. You have to stay focused and maintain your balance at all times. And like a professional tightrope walker, you pay as little attention to the safety net below you as possible. Nevertheless, the security in the back of your mind provided by that net is invaluable, and you can bet you’ll thank your lucky stars if you ever lose balance and happen to fall off.

Article Contributed by Claudia Metura

Organizations of any size and every industry are adopting to business video conferencing as a best way to stay connected, increase their productivity and the last but not the least cutting down the costs in these difficult economic times. And as the prices on all these equipment’s drop down and technology tends to become easier especially while using video conferencing, it generally turns out to be the most effective way of communicating with the employees, customers and the sales prospects. Below given are the 7 major benefits business video conferencing for your business in 2016.

Reducing the travel costs: The ability to be in all places at once without leaving office is one of the most difficult thing when it comes to the business productivity. And though the face to face interactions with all your clients and customers, partners, and colleagues could never be placed, the huge leaps in terms of quality, availability, and ease of use make video conferencing is the closest thing of being there.

Having your employees connected: Video communication helps you retain all the valuable employees of your organization who have to relocate, and need to work from home for a few days. This would definitely help in saving costly retaining or recruiting fees been associated, with hiring a new employee. This would also help the employees who are on road to quickly react and keep a track record of all the new policies, developments and insights to the day to day operations. Being limited by geography is one of the best thing to do in past.

Improving the work life balance: Excessive travelling could easily kill your employees unused to the tough hours on the road. And as a small business owner and consultant, it does become important to make sure that you do not burn out either. Eliminating or atleast reducing the need for travel would take a great deal of stress that you cannot afford to lose. And when you have to be out on road teleconferencing helps you stay connected with all your clients and customers. Having bad weather or the unforeseen circumstances could leave your consultants and the business owners stranded on the way to meeting, but web conferencing circumvents the headaches of cancelled flights, long drives and testy weather.

Emulating face to face: Face to face business communications is one of the best ways and effective form of communication, but having a personal meeting is something that is not always possible. Video conferencing here allows you to enjoy all the benefits of in personal meetings, when it comes to seeing someone else body language which is where the process of voice communication lacks.  Face to face communications helps the employees of your business organization to stay connected with each other’s especially with the members of their team, and is actually the most important when it comes to telecommunicating or frequently travelling employees.

Increases the productivity of your business organization: Most of the business organizations generally now have features that would allow them to share and edit documents, power point, Visio etc in real time. The ability to easily share and communicate with the employees within the organization has added to another dynamic to video communications that were previously not possible. Decisions here are made faster, products and services are brought to market quicker and your cycles could easily be reduced. These would again help in increasing the sales, improve the operational efficiency allowing businesses to stay ahead of their competitors.

The benefits of business video conferencing are in many ways that could ease the burden of your business and personal lives. So what other benefits would you like to add to the list above. Do leave your thoughts below.

Author Bio

Claudia Metura is an expert in the IT industry with over 12 years of experience. She has collaborated with various companies to work on Improving corporate online video solutions for business.