Cloud computing

Cloud computing offers your business various advantages. It allows you to set up a virtual office to give the flexibility to connect to business from anywhere anytime. With the increasing figures of web-enabled devices used in today’s business environment (e.g. smart phones, tablets), accessibility to data is even easier.

There are many benefits to moving your business to the cloud:

Reduced IT costs

Moving to cloud computing may cut down the charge of running and maintaining your IT systems. Rather than purchasing expensive systems and equipment for your business, you can reduce the cost by using the resources of your cloud computing service provider. The cost will be reduced because

• You are not required to pay the expert staff
• The energy consumption costs may be reduced
• time delays are less

Scalability           

Your business can balance up or down the operation and storage needs quickly to suit your condition, allowing elasticity as your needs change. Rather than purchasing and installing expensive upgrades yourself, your cloud computer service provider can handle this for you. Using the cloud will help you get lot of time to run your business and utilize time for productive purposes.

Business continuity

Protecting your data and systems is a essential part of business planning. Whether you experience a natural disaster, power failure or other crisis, having the data stored on the cloud ensures it is backed up and protected in a safe location. It helps to access the data quickly and also minimizes the downtime

Collaboration efficiency

Collaboration in a cloud environment gives the business the capability to communicate and share. If you are working on a project in different locations, the files can be shared among different people simultaneously.

Conference Call Etiquettes

A conference call is a telephone conversation in which more than one party is involved to discuss on a well planned objective.

Call Readiness
Prepare an agenda item before setting up a conference call
Setting up an agenda beforehand will give the meeting a clear structure and purpose, and everybody set to be involved in a conference call should be emailed a copy of this agenda in order for them to prepare relevant discussion notes. The agenda should also include all the relevant phone numbers, passwords, access codes and clear instructions on how to dial in, even if this means stating the obvious. Be mindful of time differences if it is an international call and factor this into the planning stage to ensure people know the correct start times. When the call gets under way, one person should take it upon themselves to formally start and finish proceedings, as well as invite the people involved to introduce themselves one at a time. Distribute the dial-in number, pass code to all the concerned members – Make sure you include any access details when you announce the call, when you send out the agenda, and the day of or the day before the call to make sure everyone has what they need to get on the line.
Following are the points to DO and Not to Do when one is in a conference call –
You Can
• Find a quiet place
There is nothing bad on a call than surroundings noise. Typing is heard, a side conversation is going on, the background noise kills the motto of the call and is simply rude. It is easy to be distracted on a call but just make sure your line is muted.
• Have a moderator for the call
Rather than all speaking on the call it always makes sense to choose a speaker from the team to communicate with the other concerned parties during the call. The Moderator is someone senior and is assumed to know everything about the process and system
• Have a structure to the call
Not only is it required to set an agenda but it is also important to distribute the agenda to all the concerned parties, it gives the agenda a direction. Also plan the sequence in which the speakers will speak the amount of time to be spent on each topic etc.
• Announce yourself
Two advantages of announcing you first the person know who is talking on the phone. Secondly it eliminates the scope of Interruptions.

• Be Polite and punctual
Being on time gives a good impression about yourself and the company, just as you would do it in a face to face meeting. Do not talk over another person as it is a very rude gesture and also the participants will not be clear of who is putting which point forward.
• Get Everyone involved
Everyone is there for a reason and everyone will want to say something or ask a question. Agree at the start of the call when questions will be asked and answered and ensure that everyone gets an opportunity to speak.
You Can’t
• Don’t use cell phone
Try to avoid taking a conference call from a cell phone as it adds a lot of background noise to a conference call. If the cell phone is only choice then mute the line whenever you are not required to talk.
• Never use hold button
Never use hold button during the call is on as it disturbs the conversation and flow of thoughts. The moment you press the hold button the music is played which is extremely annoying to hear when the call is on.
• Do not eat during the call
Resist the temptation to eat or drink during the call as it will reflect the kind of professionalism you have and your approach towards your colleagues. There will be plenty of time to eat after your call is over.
• Do not interrupt
Interrupting people is a curse of conference call. It is a very rude gesture. It can be very confusing for the people on the line as they get to hear two intellectual thoughts at the same time. Wait till your turn comes or the host invites you to talk.
• Don’t Shuffle paper, Pencil tap, Hum or other distracting noisy activity
One very infuriating thing that some people do on a conference call is shuffle papers. It sounds very piercing on the phone. Other small potentially noisy habits to avoid are : continually clearing your throat, tapping your pencil, drumming your fingers on the desk, etc.

Existing Customers – Companies Greatest Asset

In the olden days the focus of the sales department was about increasing the number of products or services they sold, at all costs. This obsolete approach was often to the loss of building long-term customer relationships, and failed to maximize the potential of their client base.

Nowadays, the prototype is very different. The most successful organizations are those that understand the true value of nurturing relationship with the existing clients and reaping the tremendous advantages as a result. They have learnt the value of trust based selling, and revealed that it not only increases returns but decreases marketing costs, resultant in a tough bottom line.

In today’s fast-paced and aggressive environment, with the global economic slowdown win win is the only game to play. Companies which learn this theory fully, and maximize the exposure of technology in their marketing strategies, will go on and flourish. Any organization that needs to measure their customer relationship needs a health check in terms of their customer relationship model, ought to implement policies, procedures and measures along these lines:

–          Regular and quality communication is maintained with their existing customers

–          Measures are taken to show true commitment to meeting their customers’ needs

–          Building long term relationship strategies

Many companies make two important and common mistakes; they spend huge sum in an continual and repeated drive to find new customers, and don’t spend enough time and money keeping the best ones they already have. Consumers will always prefer to buy from companies who make them feel cherished.
It’s important to emphasize that we have been talking about sales and marketing strategy with existing clients.

What steps to take during Project Closure?

Introduction – A project life cycle includes steps from planning to the closing of activities that complete the work. Project are temporary, each project has a completion date whether the project is of Development, or simply support service. Project closure takes into considerations that the product you have delivered to the client is as per the requirement mentioned at the start of the contract.

What does a Team Lead or Project Manager do during the closure phase of the Project?

1. Ensure that all the deliverables have been implemented and  delivered to the clients
2. Confirm from the client that the project has been completed,  if possible take it in writing
3. Finalize the documentation – All projects include documentation from the project requirement phase to execution phase. Any documentation related to the project should be retained for future reference if necessary. Organize the documentation chronologically as the project progressed, so you or others are able to easily locate information in the future
4. Work with the client and schedule a Lessons learnt session, to know what we learned from the project. This will help improvise the services and analyze the pain points.

Thus, Project closure is an important part of project management and thus should be treated as an integral part of the project plan. Closing of a project means finishing all activities across all processes, formalizing the closure with internal as well as external client. Each step should be closely planned and executed because if the closure is not done completely the project might lead into a great expense.

 

What is Request for Proposal ?

When a business is in need of certain skills or equipments, but is not able to fulfill this need in-house, a Request for Proposal may be issued. RFP’s help businesses to convey with each other and elevate healthy competition. Depending on the number of bids a business is expecting, an RFP may be sent to only selective businesses or may be open to the public for any business to make a bid.

When is RFP required ?
A Purchasing personnel is not required to raise an RFP when they need merely pricing information or need any form of information. When a project is complex a RFP should be used and when it requires a a proposal from a supplier. A RFP takes a valuable amount of time to complete and may result in delays during the initiation phase of project. Therefore, it is sensible to use this when the advantages from obtaining supplier proposals are greater than the additional time it takes to prepare the RFP and to manage the RFP process.

Key Elements in RFP

Overview of Business Issue                                                                                                                     A detailed description of the business issue or problem is required. It should be mentioned in one or two paragraphs and it should give the suppliers a summary of the project and why it was initiated.

Products or Services Description
There should be a brief description of the products or services that are needed. In most RFPs, it is difficult to describe all the goods or services that the company needs due to the complexity. Nonetheless, a complete and in depth details of the goods or services will surely help the suppliers in developing an excellent and highly targeted proposal.

Detailed Business Requirements
Along with the product and service description a detailed business requirement should be outlined in the document, which can include support requirements, delivery guidelines, design specifications, metric for quality, etc. The motto of the detailed business requirements section is to give the suppliers a clear idea of what is needed by the company for this purchase so that the suppliers can come up with a proposal that meets the requirements.

How to Respond                                                                                                                                          It will contain special instructions on how to respond to the RFP postulation. It contains the address to send the proposal. It should include the submission format (hard copy, electronic, etc). It should also specify any additional submission requirements and can emphasize the deadline.

Conclusion                                                                                                                                                    If the RFP is used correctly, under correct circumstances then RFP is a splendid tool to select the best products or services from among several vendor offerings. As the RFP process consumes a lot of time and takes considerable amount of effort, it can provide a company with in depth knowledge of the project risk and help the company to select the best way when taking up a complex project.

Data Privacy when Outsourcing

Businesses routinely outsource everything from their information technology (IT) departments to finance, accounting and human resources. Data outsourcing has become a emerging trend that allows users and companies to give their most sensitive data to external servers that then become responsible for their storage and management.

Outsourcing concept is specially designed keeping in mind the motto to help companies to attain cost efficiencies, save time or gain a expertise in particular area.
What many companies may not comprehend completely is that when operational function is outsourced the vendor get access to confidential information and thus result to a serious threat to their network or breach in data security. When vendors provide indemnification they grant a measure of contentment, that it will be as strong as the insurance in place. The vendors may keep out from contract the significant damages and not contain vital requirements for professional liability and data protection insurance. Mostly vendors are smaller companies and may have lot of clients to serve in a particular sector. At the end if a security problem or breach by the vendor can seriously diminish the vendor’s financial condition if lawsuits form a heap and clients discontinue contracts. At the end the clients who outsource the data are responsible for the security of confidential customer and employee information. Each time the corporate confidential information gets passed on from one vendor to another, the level of control by the company goes down on how well the data is being safeguarded. Some security breaches might be a result of a loophole in operating systems or applications that is exploited by one who tries to illegally gain access to sensitive personal or corporate information. When computer code is written by application software vendors either here or in other countries, the code they have written may contain a security defect, either left intentionally or as a result of inadequate application security testing. A contract with such vendors is unlikely to pay consequential damages as a result of the security flaw in software, and it may be difficult to hold the IT vendor to account if there is a network security breach exploiting that flaw. Finally, customers cannot rely on the insurance and security provided by their vendors. Each customer should arrange for their own insurance in order to address its own direct risks, including the possibility that the
vendor may discharge the liabilities.

While outsourcing is here to stay, it is a essential point for the companies to understand that
though they have outsourced the function, the liability risks are there for the hiring
customer. The solutions include vendor management, but also required data
protection insurance to respond to the ever developing threats and increasing number of risks from a civil liability and regulatory perspective.

Offshore Outsourcing Issues

Offshore Outsourcing is a tactical move and the goal is to build a long-term association in which you expect the unpredicted and deal with real issues. Many companies today are outsourcing offshore. However there are consequences and bigger impacts that come with this decision.

Following are some of the issues faced during Offshore Outsourcing:

Offshore Outsourcing Issues

Cross-Cultural Differences
Cultures are different.People from different cultures are different and have various ways of screening the same problem and often this is a cause for misinterpretation in offshore project. In fact, majority of businesses, offshore IT and BPO projects quote cultural differences to be the one of the major issue they faced in their projects. Often the company is unable to understand the work idea of the offshore service provider and this leads to incapability to work mutually in harmony.

 

To tackle the cultural issues one must:

• Learn and be aware of it during the offshore vendor evaluation process and make definite that it matches with their own corporate culture.
• Execute a model project with the offshore team to understand how they work together with your team in solving and escalating the issues.

Communication Problems
The Offshore service providers operate in a location which follows a time zone which is not same as the client which eventually may cause problems in communicating in real time. In addition to that usually there are chances of misinterpretation e-mails which will result in time-consuming responses from offshore providers. Thus it would delay the project and at last may reduce the efficiency of the team members. Issues with communication are the main reasons for the failure of many offshore projects.

Noncompliance with Government Regulations
In any outsourcing initiative, one need to keep in account the government rules & regulations of both countries. Particularly it is significant to understand the standards of Auditing. Few types of works are difficult to be outsourced to offshore locations due to officially permitted restrictions. You need to do proper due diligence before you consider offshore locations

Unclear Scope of Project
Companies should state the scope and goals of the project unmistakably to the offshore vendor. Though it is not a very difficult simple step, organizations tend to fail to communicate it to the offshore vendor, thus resulting in the failure of the project.

 

Offshore Outsourcing Issues – By Lisa Noronha

Offshore Outsourcing is a tactical move and the goal is to build a long-term association in which you expect the unpredicted and deal with real issues. Many companies today are outsourcing offshore. However there are consequences and bigger impacts that come with this decision.

Following are some of the issues faced during Offshore Outsourcing:

Cross-Cultural Differences

Cultures are different. People from different cultures are different and have various ways of screening the same problem and often this is a cause for misinterpretation in offshore project. In fact, majority of businesses, offshore IT and BPO projects quote cultural differences to be the one of the major issue they faced in their projects. Often the company is unable to understand the work idea of the offshore service provider and this leads to incapability to work mutually in harmony.

 

To tackle the cultural issues one must:

• Learn and be aware of it during the offshore vendor evaluation process and make definite that it matches with their own corporate culture.
• Execute a model project with the offshore team to understand how they work together with your team in solving and escalating the issues.

Communication Problems
The Offshore service providers operate in a location which follows a time zone which is not same as the client which eventually may cause problems in communicating in real time. In addition to that usually there are chances of misinterpretation e-mails which will result in time-consuming responses from offshore providers. Thus it would delay the project and at last may reduce the efficiency of the team members. Issues with communication are the main reasons for the failure of many offshore projects.

Noncompliance with Government Regulations
In any outsourcing initiative, one need to keep in account the government rules & regulations of both countries. Particularly it is significant to understand the standards of Auditing. Few types of works are difficult to be outsourced to offshore locations due to officially permitted restrictions. You need to do proper due diligence before you consider offshore locations

Unclear Scope of Project
Companies should state the scope and goals of the project unmistakably to the offshore vendor. Though it is not a very difficult simple step, organizations tend to fail to communicate it to the offshore vendor, thus resulting in the failure of the project.

 

By Lisa Noronha

(A Sourcing Guru since May 2011)