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Business augmentation services
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Business augmentation services is a specialized set of services for managing and nurturing a company in the business of technology and assuring steep growth with clients and sales prospects. It involves using business concepts like branding and strategic planning as well as disruptive technology to organize, automate, and generate business processes—principally product design and sales activities, but also those for marketing, patents (IAM), customer service, and technical support. The overall goals are to innovate in "360 degrees", in other words, to utilize technology and business ideas in unison and simultaneously to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing, client service, production, and design all while exponentially increasingly the value of the company and its products in the customer's eyes. The service set was created based on the belief the business is driven by technology. Once a company embraces this service set, specialized individuals well-versed in these concepts become necessary to execute them. Once simply a label for a category of software tools, today, it generally denotes a company-wide business strategy embracing all technology as well as client-facing departments and even beyond. When an implementation is effective, people, processes, and technology work in synergy to increase profitability, and reduce operational costs. Benefits These tools have been shown to help companies attain these objectives: * Streamlined sales and marketing processes * New markets and instant, assured leadership in these markets through Patents * Higher sales productivity * Added cross-selling and up-selling opportunities * Improved service, loyalty, and retention * Increased product development efficiency (the objective is always a 10x increase) * Better profiling and targeting as well as new customer profiling and targeting * Reduced expenses (the objective is a 10x decrease as shown in disruptive technology) * Increased current market share * Higher overall profitability Related trends New trends are beginning to take hold in this field. Due to the abundance of technical knowledge, the reduction in cost for said knowledge as well as the growing need for velocity when approaching a new market, companies are beginning to turn into "one-stop-shops" for business and technological services, requiring professionals skilled in both fields. Perhaps the most notable trend has been the growth of tools delivered via the Web, also known as cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS). In contrast with traditional on-premises software, cloud-computing applications are sold by subscription, accessed via a secure Internet connection, and displayed on a Web browser. Companies don’t incur the initial capital expense of purchasing software; nor must they buy and maintain IT hardware to run it on. As with all business fields affected by globalization, many companies around the world have created a niche as BAS groups and currently the new companies are creating value in the stagnated field of outsourced business and IT services. Challenges Despite the benefits, many companies are still not fully leveraging these tools and services, mostly because the areas that deal with business and technology very often are separate entities, and as such may not fully understand each other. BAS is a set of defined services that fuse these previously incongruous areas into processes that have an impact that has yet to be fully understood. To align marketing, engineering, design, sales, and service to best serve the customer while reducing costs, the company needs to reconcile these areas through BAS, which requires juxtaposing previously irreconcilable objectives effectively . BAS tools, services and work-flows can be complex to implement, especially for large enterprises. Previously these tools were generally limited. Software solutions then expanded to embrace things such as design needs, engineering, deal tracking, territories, opportunities, and at the sales pipeline itself. Next came the advent of tools for other client-facing business functions, as described below. These technologies have been, and still are, offered as on-premises software that companies purchase and run on their own IT infrastructure. Now, companies are emerging to provide these solutions exclusively. In effect, these BAS houses are experts in a relatively new field and as such are not yet widely used by more traditional corporations. Often, implementations are fragmented; isolated initiatives by individual departments to address their own needs. Systems that start disunited usually stay that way: siloed thinking and decision processes frequently lead to separate and incompatible systems, and dysfunctional processes, not to mention weak product lines and low market awareness. Previous types/variations Sales force automation A sales force automation (SFA) system provides an array of capabilities to streamline all phases of the sales process, minimizing the time that sales representatives need to spend on manual data entry and administration. This allows them to successfully pursue more clients in a shorter amount of time than would otherwise be possible. At the heart of SFA is a contact management system for tracking and recording every stage in the sales process for each prospective client, from initial contact to final disposition. Many SFA applications also include insights into opportunities, territories, sales forecasts and work-flow automation, quote generation, and product knowledge. Newly emerged priorities are modules for Web 2.0 e-commerce and pricing. Marketing Systems for marketing (also known as marketing automation) help the enterprise identify and target its best clients and generate qualified leads for the sales team. A key marketing capability is tracking and measuring multichannel campaigns, including email, search, social media, and direct mail. Metrics monitored include clicks, responses, leads, deals, and revenue. As marketing departments are increasingly obliged to demonstrate revenue impact, today’s systems typically include features for measuring the overall rate of return (ROI) of campaigns. Disruptive IT service and support Recognizing that disruptive technology is an important differentiation, organizations are increasingly turning to technology platforms to help them improve their clients’ experience while aiming to increase efficiency and minimize costs. Even so, a 2009 study revealed that only 39% of corporate executives believe their employees have the right tools and authority to solve client problems.“. Analytics Relevant analytics capabilities are often interwoven into applications in sales, marketing, and service. These features can be complemented and augmented with links to separate, purpose-built applications for analytics and business intelligence. Sales analytics let companies monitor and understand client actions and preferences, through sales forecasting, data quality, and dashboards that graphically display key performance indicators (KPIs). Marketing applications generally come with predictive analytics to improve segmentation and targeting, and features for measuring the effectiveness of online, offline, and search marketing campaign Web analytics have evolved significantly from their starting point of merely tracking mouse clicks on Web sites. By evaluating “buy signals, ” marketers can see which prospects are most likely to transact and also identify those who are bogged down in a sales process and need assistance. Marketing and finance personnel also use analytics to assess the value of multi-faceted programs as a whole. These types of analytics are increasing in popularity as companies demand greater visibility into the performance of call centers and other support channels, in order to correct problems before they affect satisfaction levels. Support-focused applications typically include dashboards similar to those for sales, plus capabilities to measure and analyze response times, service quality, agent performance, and the frequency of various issues. Integrated/collaborative Departments within enterprises—especially large enterprises—tend to function in their own little worlds. Traditionally, inter-departmental interaction and collaboration have been infrequent and rivalries not uncommon. More recently, the development and adoption of the tools and services has fostered greater fluidity and cooperation among sales, service, and marketing. This finds expression in the concept of collaborative systems which uses technology to build bridges between departments. For example, feedback from a technical support center can enlighten marketers about specific services and product features clients are asking for. Reps, in their turn, want to be able to pursue these opportunities without the time-wasting burden of re-entering records and contact data into a separate SFA system. Conversely, lack of integration can have negative consequences: if a system isn’t adopted and integrated among all departments, several sources might contact the same clients for an identical purpose. Owing to these factors, many of the top-rated and most popular products come as integrated suites. Small business Basic client service can be accomplished by a contact manager system, an integrated solution that lets organizations and individuals efficiently track and record interactions, including emails, documents, jobs, faxes, scheduling, and more. This kind of solution is gaining traction with even very small businesses, thanks to the ease and time savings of handling client contact through a centralized application rather than several different pieces of software, each with its own data collection system. In contrast these tools usually focus on accounts rather than individual contacts. They also generally include opportunity insight for tracking sales pipelines plus added functionality for marketing and service. As with larger enterprises, small businesses are finding value in online solutions, especially for mobile and telecommuting workers. Social media Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are greatly amplifying the voice of people in the marketplace and are predicted to have profound and far-reaching effects on the ways companies manage their clients, even to the family level. This is because people are using these social media sites to share opinions and experiences on companies, products, and services. As social media isn’t moderated or censored, individuals can say anything they want about a company or brand, whether pro or con. Increasingly, companies are looking to gain access to these conversations and take part in the dialogue. More than a few systems are now integrating to social networking sites. Social media promoters cite a number of business advantages, such as using online communities as a source of high-quality leads and a vehicle for crowd sourcing solutions to client-support problems. Companies can also leverage client stated habits and preferences to personalize and even “hyper-target” their sales and marketing communications. Some analysts take the view that business-to-business marketers should proceed cautiously when weaving social media into their business processes. These observers recommend careful market research to determine if and where the phenomenon can provide measurable benefits for client interactions, sales, and support. Non-profit and membership-based Systems for non-profit and membership-based organizations help track constituents and their involvement in the organization. Capabilities typically include tracking the following: fund-raising, demographics, membership levels, membership directories, volunteering and communications with individuals. Many include tools for identifying potential donors based on previous donations and participation. In light of the growth of social networking tools, there may be some overlap between social/community driven tools and non-profit/membership tools. Strategy Choosing and implementing a system is a major undertaking. For enterprises of any appreciable size, a complete and detailed plan is required to obtain the funding, resources, and company-wide support that can make the initiative successful. Benefits must be defined, risks assessed, and cost quantified in three general areas: * Processes: Though these systems have many technological components, business processes lie at its core. It can be seen as a more client-centric way of doing business, enabled by technology that consolidates and intelligently distributes pertinent information about clients, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness, and market trends. Therefore, before choosing a technology platform, a company needs to analyze its business workflows and processes; some will likely need re-engineering to better serve the overall goal of winning and satisfying clients. Moreover, planners need to determine the types of client information that are most relevant, and how best to employ them. * People: For an initiative to be effective, an organization must convince its staff that change is good and that the new technology and workflows will benefit employees as well as clients. Senior executives need to be strong and visible advocates who can clearly state and support the case for change. Collaboration, teamwork, and two-way communication should be encouraged across hierarchical boundaries, especially with respect to process improvement. * Technology: In evaluating technology, key factors include alignment with the company’s business process strategy and goals; the ability to deliver the right data to the right employees; and sufficient ease of use that users won’t balk. Platform selection is best undertaken by a carefully chosen group of executives who understand the business processes to be automated as well as the various software issues. Depending upon the size of the company and the breadth of data, choosing an application can take anywhere from a few weeks to a year or more. Implementation Implementation issues Dramatic increases in revenue, higher rates of client satisfaction, and significant savings in operating costs are some of the benefits to an enterprise. Proponents emphasize that technology should be implemented only in the context of careful strategic and operational planning. Implementations almost invariably fall short when one or more facets of this prescription are ignored: * Poor planning: Initiatives can easily fail when efforts are limited to choosing and deploying software, without an accompanying rationale, context, and support for the workforce. In other instances, enterprises simply automate flawed client-facing processes rather than redesign them according to best practices. * Poor integration: For many companies, integrations are piecemeal initiatives that address a glaring need: improving a particular client-facing process or two or automating a favored sales or client support channel. Such “point solutions” offer little or no integration or alignment with a company’s overall strategy. They offer a less than complete client view and often lead to unsatisfactory user experiences. * Towards a solution: overcoming siloed thinking. Experts advise organizations to recognize the immense value of integrating their client-facing operations. In this view, internally focused, department-centric views should be discarded in favor of reorienting processes toward information-sharing across marketing, design, engineering, sales, and service. For example, sales representatives need to know about current issues and relevant marketing promotions before attempting to cross-sell to a specific client. Marketing staff should be able to leverage client information from sales and service to better target campaigns and offers. And support agents require quick and complete access to a client’s sales and service history. Adoption issues Enterprises need to address and overcome persistent adoption challenges. Specialists offer these recommendations for boosting adoptions rates and coaxing users to blend these tools into their daily work-flow: * Choose a system that’s easy to use: All solutions are not created equal. Some vendors offer more user-friendly applications than others, and simplicity should be as important a decision factor as functionality. * Focusing on the client's client: it is sometimes difficult to define the "client's client", and as the central goal of BAS houses is to please exactly this group, this presents an issue with uninitiated users of BAS. * Choose the right capabilities: Employees need to know that time invested in learning and usage will yield personal advantages. If not, they will work around or ignore the system. * Provide training: Changing the way people work is no small task, and help is usually a requirement. Even with today’s more usable systems, many staffers still need assistance with learning and adoption. See Also
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