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Effective Employee Collaboration Platforms

July 27th, 2010 by Bharath Lanka

In today’s business climate, many companies have employees scattered across many states and time zones. Keeping employees informed and engaged even though they are geographically distant can bring increased employee performance and innovation to your company.

Businesses can implement effective employee collaboration platforms with the many online tools available. Some examples are internal blogs, software that encourages real-time status updates for specific departments, knowledge management documents, podcasts, RSS feeds, communication facilitation and professional networking opportunities.

Recruiting, training and retaining quality employees entails development of an effective employee “lifecycle” which spans the entirety of an employee’s time with your business.

Oftentimes, finding new employees can be accomplished through the networking ability and referral of contacts from current employees. Using these resources can cut the time and cost of finding new talent that may better match your current corporate culture.

“Onboarding” is a relatively new term that defines the process for incorporating new hires into the company quickly and effectively. A successful onboarding program can help to reduce employee turnover and increase new hire success. Onboarding includes automated information routing, new hire information, new employee development plans, effective communication of company goals and expectations, and onboarding process tracking.

Employee networking is an important benefit for the company and for the employees. Although companies spend a large part of their training budget on formal training programs, the greatest amount of information sharing is usually much more informal between employees. Companies will realize a greater return on their training dollars when they help to facilitate ways for employees to network internally and exchange ideas.

Developing employee profiles help to foster a sense of community among your employees, whether they share a physical location or are separated by wide geographical distances. This workplace community in turn fosters increased communication, a sense of shared corporate memory, and a way to form partnerships through internal social networks.

One of the most valuable assets a company possesses is its human capital: its employees. The success of a business depends on the success of its employees, and businesses are increasing realizing the value of “talent management”. Successful businesses implement platforms that tie their training programs to the goals of their organizations and design ways for their business units to meet their performance goals. Human resource departments realize that they should address the issues of their Generation Y employees as well as those employees who are nearing retirement. Employees value being offered effective career development plans; businesses benefit by identifying those employees who can be positioned for future leadership roles.

With today’s online hosted conferencing solutions and communications platforms, companies can provide all of the benefits of personalized training and seminars while simultaneously reducing travel time and expenses. Real-time training sessions and business unit collaboration meetings can be supplied to specified groups of users based on employee position, department location or communication needs. These same sessions can be recorded for access at any time with permission-based applications.

With effective and ongoing employee collaboration practices, business performance can be tracked and enhanced throughout all areas of a company in a time-efficient and cost-effective manner. Employee collaboration service providers design and implement unique approaches that are flexible and match your companies current workflow and business process and practices.

Posted in Applications, Business Processes, Hosting, Outsourcing, SaaS | No Comments »

Benefits of Customer Relationship Management

July 22nd, 2010 by Nitin Bidi

The most valuable assets of any business are its customers, without which there would be no business. Customer relationship management (CRM) business practices help companies retain their best customers and attract new customers effectively through sales, marketing and support interactions.

CRM applications are used by companies to focus on productive sales activities such as planning and forecasting, contacts, opportunities, product and service configurations, pricing, contracts, procurement, and orders.

Marketing activities are more effective when paired with intelligent business decisions. The data gathered through CRM applications enable companies to analyze, develop and implement the processes that will maximize customer interaction.

Customer retention depends on customer satisfaction and support in the areas of contract management, logistics, installation and maintenance, return and repair maintenance, call center operations, and multi-channel delivery options.

Effective CRM applications also help companies reach new customers and enhance relationships with current customers through sales, marketing and services activities provided through the Internet. ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications can be deployed directly integrated with CRM functionality to increase e-marketing, e-commerce, e-service and customer analytics.

Communication processes with current and prospective customers can be improved with effective business communications management and CRM integration and implementation. Today’s customers expect to be able to contact your company by phone, text, chat, email, and fax, and CRM applications can facilitate the routing of all types of communication to the right person in your company whether that person works locally or remotely.

Customer relationship management is an integral component of your company’s total business operations; increasing your return on investment for your sales, marketing, and service and support departments.

Posted in Applications, Hosting, Outsourcing, SaaS | No Comments »

Systems Integration Solutions

July 20th, 2010 by Bharath Lanka

Systems integration is a critical solution for the business management sector, bringing together the various components of other subsystems in a company’s information technology system to function as one unit. Each subsystem has its own interface that must be integrated and interlocked so that the capability of the entire system adds value to the combination of the parts. The task of bringing together the disparate subsystems falls to a system integration engineer who has a wide range of skills including hardware and software engineering, knowledge of interface protocols, and problem-solving . There are three main types of systems integration, each with its own function.

Vertical integration involves integrating subsystems by their function into specific entities. Vertical integration is usually a quick and relatively inexpensive method of initial integration. The overall cost of ownership for a vertical integration implementation could be higher because each scaling of the system involves a new integration.

Horizontal integration is also known by the name Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) and involves dedicating a specialized subsystem that facilitates communication between other subsystems. When the ESB translates the interface connection from one subsystem, the costs of the integration decreases while the flexibility of the system increases. Horizontal integration can completely replace one subsystem with another similarly functional subsystem while transparently exporting different interfaces.

Star integration entails interconnecting subsystems. This method is also called spaghetti integration because of how the system integration appears in a diagram. Although more flexible than vertical integration, star integration is more expensive to design and implement, especially if the exported systems contain proprietary interfaces. The addition of each subsequent subsystem increases the cost, but also the flexibility of the overall system integration.

Systems integration is a complex undertaking and is comprised of several layers of expertise including initial conception, implementation, delivery, upgrades and ongoing project management. Experienced systems integrators will work with you and your company to complete your integration project based on clearly defined specifications for time period, cost projections, and performance benchmarks.

The work of system integration engineers begins before the actual development and implementation of an integration project. There are many consultations and discussions with the stakeholders of the company to ensure that any and all conflicting issues and requirements are addressed. The resulting project plan will results in a systems integration that works with all the present and subsequent components and development processes.

Development and implementation of a turnkey systems integration project involves risks, but throughout the process, the quality and quantity of the support services offered by the service provider can reduce the risks for your company. Ongoing and rigorous testing of each of the individual components of the new or upgraded system will assess how each part works with the other parts and with the system as a whole.

Systems integrators for IT work to successfully combine a company’s various systems used to input and process data. IT solutions also may include integrating inventory tracking systems, document management systems, unified messaging systems, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and data storage systems. The goal is to create an overall effective IT solution for the customer.

Posted in Outsourcing, SaaS, Systems Integration | No Comments »

Business Process Outsourcing

July 5th, 2010 by Bharath Lanka

Outsourcing for enterprise organizations comes in many forms. Many people first think of outsourcing in terms of IT third-party service providers, but another type of outsourcing is becoming more and more common.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) entails hiring another company to handle specific types of business activities for your company. BPO can consist of payroll services, employee benefits management, call center services, customer services activities, human resources, accounting, and other “non-core” functions.

Depending on the strategic business plan and the size of the company, BPO contracts can run for multiple years and cost millions of dollars. But companies utilizing BPO also can realize savings in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars over the life of the contract through savings over implementing the outsourced activities in-house.

The typical traditional corporate structure in the last half of the twentieth century was to build companies as large as possible with all business functions kept within the company. The bigger, the better. Today, however, “lean and mean” is more of the norm, and taking advantage of service providers that specialize in certain business functions often makes better sense for many corporations; helping companies of all sizes stay more competitive in the present business environment. When deciding whether or not outsourcing is right for your company, however, means taking the time necessary to ask the right questions and putting the right internal processes in place first.

Michael Motonen, a vice-president at the Gartner Consulting Sourcing Team, and the BPO lead principal, offers several tips:

Develop an outsourcing life-cycle model and strategy first. Garter has four phases.

1. The sourcing strategy phase considers questions such as: “What are the risks for our company?” “Why are we considering outsourcing?” “What kind of relationship are we looking for with our service provider?” “Will the resulting partnership be enhancing our current processes, or will it be transformative–helping our company change by driving cost savings or increasing revenue?”

2. Selection phase: Evaluate several prospective companies and make the final selection.

3. Contract phase: Develop and finalize the contract.

4. Sourcing Management phase: Included here is the service level agreement (SLA) for milestone benchmarks and other mutual assessment tools.

Take into consideration all aspects of contract duration. BPO contracts are often long-term for a reason. Strategic changes in business functions and relationships with BPO providers take time. A balance is needed between the short-term assessment of results and long enough to meet the stated goals. Most BPO contracts last for three to five years or more. Montonen recommends shorter contracts that allow for periodic reviews and renewals rather than tying yourself into long-term contracts with ten year time frames. It is also recommended that you include in the contract policies and procedures for bringing the business activities back in-house if necessary.

Identify, assess and evaluate any potential risks.

1. Ensure that your vendor is actually able to provide the services within your contract and SLA, and

2. Retain a certain amount of control and internal oversight for the entire process and project.

Ensure that compliance procedures are stipulated in the contract. Your service provider should be able to prove that what compliance regulations apply to your company can be applied to the entire project.

Keep the lines of communication open. On-going and open communication is important for the success of the BPO relationship; not only with your vendor, but also internally with everyone concerned in your own company. Outside vendors often make employees nervous. Proper management of all types of external and internal changes is critical to the overall success of the project and overall company morale.

Posted in Business Processes, Outsourcing, SaaS | No Comments »

Outsourcing and the Middle Market

June 14th, 2010 by Bill Martin

Historically, the outsourcing of functions such as help desks, human resources and communications has been concentrated in large enterprises and multi-national companies. Beyond the organizational turmoil associated with outsourcing entire functional areas and the perception of losing internal control over internal business processes, one of the main reasons why small and mid-sized businesses previously did not take advantage of outsourcing is because business outsourcing vendors generally ignored the smaller business marketplace.

In recent years, small and mid-market businesses have begun to embrace outsourcing as a way to increase operational efficiencies, reduce costs, and promote enterprise transformation. As a result, more vendors are now focusing on the small and mid-size business market; helping them to compete with larger companies.

According to Frank J. Casale, founder and CEO of The Outsourcing Institute, for many of these mid-sized organizations, the outsourcing of business processes is proving to be an effective way to cut operating costs and increase efficiencies. He also notes that, in a lot of industries, middle market companies are forced to compete with much larger enterprises. By outsourcing some of their more costly business processes, smaller companies are able to level the playing field. In that regard, outsourcing serves as an equalizer.

Outsourcing of the human resources function is at the top of the list of outsourcing processes, accounting for 73% of back-office services that are outsourced, according to a Gartner, Inc. study. That same study found that business outsourcing by SMBs (small and mid-sized businesses) was valued at over $15 billion in the United States.

With the lingering fear of a loss of control over internal operations, many smaller businesses dip a toe in the water by outsourcing only a very small portion of their functions to service providers; retaining the perceived strategic areas such as finance and accounting in-house. Activities that are increasingly outsourced include facilities management, logistics management, and HR. Small and mid-sized businesses are discovering that outsourcing a portion of their business operations frees up both time and capital resources. Senior executives and managers can then concentrate on more strategic activities that impact the revenue-producing areas of the company. For businesses that have yet to implement an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, outsourcing, in the form of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provides them the opportunity to access the newest and best technology.

SMBs face some unique challenges when attempting to implement outsourcing strategies. Due to the relative immaturity of broad-based outsourcing services to this demographic, many SMBs simply do not have the teams in place to acquire and manage service providers who may themselves be just beginning to reach out to SMBs. It is important that middle market companies find outsourcing partners that will work with them during the initial acquisition phase as well as providing continuing support as the SMB business requirements change over time.

Often, SMBs consider outsourcing as a series of tasks or separate functions instead of components of an overall sourcing strategy for the company. Service providers must work closely with small and medium-sized businesses to ensure that key business requirements are incorporated, business metrics are utilized and tracked, and specific and measurable short- and long-term outsourcing goals are in place. When researching an outsourcing partner, SMBs should look for companies which possess the knowledge, tools, expertise and experienced staff to help manage outsourced functions.

Posted in Outsourcing, SMB | No Comments »

SMB’s Still Need to Get Up-Close-and-Personal with the Web

April 29th, 2010 by Bill Martin

An amazing number of small and mid-size enterprises continue to avoid taking advantage of all the potential offered by establishing a robust Web presence. For businesses of all sizes, but particularly those that have seen their ability to grow constrained by the economic events of the past two years, harnessing the power of the Web and expanding their digital footprint is critical.

The question has to be asked: Why the reticence and/or complacency?

There are several schools of thought as to the core reason(s).

Establishing an e-commerce site is too expensive

Many companies will readily admit that they need to be on the Internet but fear the aggregated cost of getting there. Visions of $20,000 or $30,000 spent on a flashy Web site and e-commerce capability may create paralysis in even those business owners who perceive themselves as tech-savvy.

The truth is that those days of time consuming and expensive Web development projects are a thing of the past. The tools are better, the development platforms much more friendly and the service providers have matured their processes to the point that $1500 – $2000 can buy a state-of-the-art e-commerce solution.

It’s a generational thing

The SMB population has many 40, 50 and 60 year olds leading companies that didn’t grow up with the Internet and whose frame of reference when it comes to building the business is grounded in the traditional business models of their generation and marketplace. The digital channel, and even more so the social media channel, are foreign and uncomfortable enough that engagement and utilization is not nearly to the levels they should be.

While there may be more than a grain of truth here, fifteen years of experience, socialization, institutionalization and growth of the Internet as a cornerstone engine of commerce should have overwhelmed any negative sentiment harbored by the vast majority of that population of business leaders that are less than digital-centric.

No time and no bandwidth

Small and mid-size businesses tend to operate as lean as possible and allocating the human and time resources to build and constantly maintain a web presence that can remain beneficial to the enterprise over the long term remains, in too many cases, a non-starter.

Outsourcing non-core activities has become fundamental for senior management to provide successful stewardship of the business they are chartered to lead. Few small and mid-size businesses would or should consider web/e-commerce development as part of their core competencies. That is why there are so many companies that specialize in designing, developing and implementing the state-of-the-art in online presence for so many large enterprises as well as those in the SMB sector. You don’t have to do it yourself to harvest all the benefits of expanding the utility of your business online.

At this stage in the lifecycle of the digital business model, there is no good excuse for companies to sacrifice the growing opportunity offered by the online channel. No matter what industry they operate in and what constituencies they market to, the SMB enterprise risks either total or partial obsolescence if they fail to offer their customer base the multi-channel option that leverages online access.

Posted in Ecommerce, Outsourcing, SMB, Web Development | No Comments »