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Consultative Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)

  • Posted on September 24, 2010 at 9:26 am

Outsourcing = Global Momentum

The global business landscape has changed dramatically in the last couple of years thanks to growth of outsourcing. Outsourcing has gained strength as a management strategy for sustaining global growth as well competitive advantage to overcome the challenges of ever growing business complexities. So whether its a Fortune 100 transnationals or even a small enterprise, everyone is looking at outsourcing as a key growth engine thanks to the increased levels of process specialization and sophistication. Domain specialization and not just economies of scale are key to the success of any outsourcing relationship. Outsourcing has been recognized to save companies and not just costs.

Evolving Outsourcing Relationships

Organisations now regard outsourcing as a key initiative for overall growth and not just as mere cost saving exercise. Hence organizations are increasingly seeking best-in-class outsourcing specialists and not just large best of breed outsourcing service providers. This is especially true in the IT & engineering verticals as organizations even outsource new product development tasks to specialized offshore vendors. Research intensive, customer focused outsourcing relationships now have to include the following to remain competitive:

Innovation Update. Quarterly, bi-annual, or annual innovation reviews (also known as innovation boards) focus typically on state of the market, industry trends and relevant information, technology updates, solution demonstrations, site visits, etc. Leverage other industry peer groups to understand what is happening in your industry, the outsourcing industry, and other sectors.

Benchmarking. Clients should always activate their benchmarking clauses and focus on best practice as comparators of innovationnot just cost comparisons. Benchmark both functional excellence and outsourced environments.

Stakeholder Satisfaction Surveys. Perform monthly, quarterly, and annual customer satisfaction surveys. They should be 360 degreescovering multiple dimensions and all internal and external stakeholders.

Deliver on Partnering Promise. Hold regular collaborative planning sessions. Where people are briefed on the strategic and business objectives. Service providers need to come up with implantable strategies on how best they can meet their clients business challenges. This makes the outsourcing vendors to think and act above simple tactical delivery.

Value sharing framework. A transparent value-from-outsourcing sharing mechanism on a case-by-case basis should be harnessed to pay for business services delivered. Inclusion of regular mutual rewards for both your organization and that of the service provider boosts people motivation at all levels.

Service Excellence. All SLAs must be tied to process excellence or customer delight will not happen. Project milestones, go-live events, and pilots are tangible means of tracking process maturity & excellence. Other measures include customer satisfaction, productivity, Six Sigma (defects), work elimination, etc.

Outsourcing Management. The internal governance team should have a transformation or innovation owner, sufficient staff & budget to help drive innovation and must hold the provider accountable for innovation. Reassure and demonstrate to the provider that the relationship is long-term; otherwise they will be inclined to disinvest in innovation and the relationship. Your organization must retain process management expertise at a level at which you can clearly articulate future state requirements, evaluate proposals brought forward by the service provider, and work with your organization to get the business case for change.

Executive Visibility Support. Senior executives from the service provider side must have high visibility and access. This includes steering committees, reciprocal headquarter visits, joint speaking engagements, regularly scheduled calls, quarterly and annual briefings.

BehaviourCommunicationCulture. Be prepared to invest in and encourage business process transformations that are aligned to business goals – rather early in any outsourcing relationship. Transformation requires a partnership mindset, not a transactional orientation. Innovation is often not brought to bear because clients do not ask for it, define what they mean by it, and motivate the provider to deliver it, or put restrictions around it. Clients rarely help the provider to understand what is important to them.

Consultative BPO

Outsourcing has now scaled the maturity milestone globally and hence is increasingly consultative in nature rather than being mere business vendors. Outsourcing relationships now proactively meet business challenges as specialist BPO vendors invest to stay ahead of the learning curve.

Outsourcing is often regarded as a change catalyst and hence clients are increasing using outsourcing initiatives in their growth strategies employee career planning initiatives. Joint client-service provider partnering is key to this new consultative approach where both invest in transformations and not just fund reactive process management.

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Coffee Vending Machine The Foundation Of the Vending Machine

  • Posted on September 17, 2010 at 9:26 am

Coffee Vending Machine The Foundation Of the Vending Machine Business

A coffee vending machine is a common sight in most locations where there are plenty of people. Whether you are in an airport, a hospital or an office building, the chances of being able to get a cup of coffee, a snack or a soda from a vending machine is very good. However, the number of specialty coffee shops is proving to be competition for these vending machines. This is why many of the coin-operated coffee vending machines now offer customers the opportunity to enjoy specialty coffee.

When it comes to vending machines, soda, snack, or coffee, customers want freshness. Therefore, if you have a coin operated vending machine that dispenses coffee or snacks, you do have to make sure that the quality of the product is always fresh. If you have coffee vending machines placed in locations where they are not doing well, the best thing is for you to find a location where the product will sell better, After a while the coffee in the machine goes stale and customers will not buy any at all.

Most business owners and managers will be very receptive if you approach them with your idea for coin-operated coffee vending machines. Since most employees do slip out to the nearest coffee shop for a refill, being able to offer specialty coffee at the business location does a lot for company morale. A small store near an office building will also like to have a coffee vending machine because the workers that come in for coffee will also purchase something else. In a vending machine, soda, snacks and fruit are really cold which goes over well on a hot summer day.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to place your coffee vending machines in the staff room of a school or business, you will do well with your vending machine business. All you have to do is set up a schedule for visiting the coin-operated vending machines to replenish the supply of coffee. You also need to provide a telephone number so that if the vending machine, soda, snacks or coffee runs out, someone from that location can call you to let you know. Being able to keep the vending machines fully stocked is one thing you need to do to succeed in this business.

The coffee vending machines of today offer larger cups of coffee than the older models. There are also better thermal and brewing systems in these coin-operated vending machines, which translates into offering your customers a better cup of coffee for their money. You do need to offer the same quality of coffee from your coffee vending machines as the customers can get at Starbucks or Tim Hortons.

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Choosing A Business Gift

  • Posted on September 10, 2010 at 9:26 am

The business gift that you choose says a lot about you. It provides for your partners a look into the appreciation that you actually have for them. While you may not think much about it, thinking that a gift is a gift, they do. So, choosing the right business gift is quite important. The question is, how can you do this?

To choose the business gift that will work, follow these guidelines:

Purchase based on value and meaning rather than price. If you should shop with a 200 pound fruit basket, they wont appreciate it as much as 50 tickets to their favorite basketball teams next game.

Purchase a gift that you know they will love. Find out something about them. Do they love the opera? Perhaps you noticed that they love a certain restaurant. Find out just what it is that they enjoy. Taking this small bit of time will ensure that your business gift is well valued.

Don’t make a big deal about it. Don’t present your gift in front of an office full of people to outdo others. If you think that the boss doesn’t notice you showing off, he does. Not to mention that this can cause competition and then you’ll be spending a whole lot more. Just be polite about presenting your business gift.

Include a personal message. Thank them, tell them you appreciate them. Provide them with a thought of friendship or pride that you may think means something to them. No, don’t try to win them over here. Be honest about it.

If you are purchasing a business gift for a client, make sure to include that note of personal thanks. Don’t just have the secretary stick your card in the envelope. Take a few minutes of your time and make sure that whoever you are sending your business gift to, will really appreciate your thoughtfulness.

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Cash in on Corporate Gift Giving- Set Up a Gift

  • Posted on September 3, 2010 at 9:26 am

Cash in on Corporate Gift Giving- Set Up a Gift Basket Business!

The holidays are here and corporate gift giving has already started. Gift giving is extremely important in the corporate world. This is their chance to make a good name for the company and secure business relationships. Thats why you can cash in on corporate gift giving by setting up a gift basket business.

If you get out there and let people know you exist, its almost guaranteed that youll be successful. Most corporations dont have the time to pick out individual gifts for each person or group theyre buying for. This is why your business will come in handy. They will simply have to pay you and you do the footwork for them.

So how do you get started? First, you need a flyer or brochure that looks professional. This can be done easily using a program from your home computer. Be sure not to rush through this step. Corporations want to make a good impression on people so they only want to use services that are professional and will impress people. If your brochure looks too homemade or just thrown together, then they will probably just end up throwing it away. So buy some nice paper and get to work. Remember, people like things that look nice so appeal to the eyes.

Next, you need to get the word out that youre in business. If you have any friends that work in the corporate world then you already have a foot in the door. Send brochures in with your friend to: put on his desk, hand out, or leave in the break room. Maybe you could even put some sample gift baskets out for others to see.

Another way to get the word out is to send a letter along with a brochure or two. Use the letter to introduce yourself and tell about your business. At the end of the letter tell them a specific day that youll call to follow up. This gives them some notice that youll be calling and they can be expecting to talk to you. Its important that you follow up on the day you said you would. This shows that you can be trusted and the actual fact that you followed up will give you more of a chance to secure the sale. If you call someone thats in need of gift baskets, chances are that theyll use your service.

When you make the follow up call youll need to discuss a few things. You can ask them whether they want to pick out the baskets or the contents, of if they just want you to use your own judgment. People vary on what they prefer to do, so make sure and ask. If someone wants to see your baskets, make an appointment to go into their office. Bring them with you and present them in a professional manner. You can work things out from there.

One important thing about setting up a gift basket business is that you do have to use a salesperson approach. You dont have to be pushy but you need to learn to ask for the sale. At the end of your conversation or presentation, use a question that pushes them closer to the sale. You could say something like, so which baskets would you like to order today? Is there any reason why you cant order today? These are useful salesperson questions because they dont set the person up to deny you.

Always remember to be professional when dealing with your customers. Its a good thing to start marketing about a month or two before the holiday season. This gives corporations some time to get everything set up and not be rushed at the last minute. Also you know the saying, the early bird gets the worm. Thats the truth in this market. If someone else in the gift basket business gets to them before you do, chances are that youll miss out. So be prepared, work hard, and go get that business.

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