techslog

Business process improvements, customer relationship management and business analytics are high on CIOs' to-do lists this year.

What projects are on deck for many CIO’s for the remainder of 2007? Given that technology initiatives must respond to business needs, here is an idea from CIO Insight what their readers of say they're focusing on in 2007.
More than a third of those who took the top-projects survey say they are looking to do business process improvement. The next hottest areas, customer relationship management and business analytics, also require collaboration between information technologists and business people. Nowadays, businesses aren't funding anything whose return on investment they can't see, so expect to see the famous “ROI” in many meetings with the CIO.
"The projects we have scheduled for 2007 all answer a particular business need," says Gabrielle Wolfson, chief information officer of Spring Valley, N.Y.-based Par Pharmaceutical. "You're not going to implement technology for the sake of technology."
The unrelenting focus on ROI is leading companies to do more pilot projects and cut the number of risky big-bang initiatives they take on.
The ROI focus is also prompting companies to make better use of the systems they have in place. That's what the new push toward service-oriented architectures is all about. Indeed, while SOA itself doesn't appear on our list of the top 10 projects (it was the 12th-most-common project, cited by 12% of our readers), its principles of making better use of existing infrastructure and leveraging applications already in place are behind several of those that do, including Web services (No. 5 on our list) and enterprise systems planning (No. 9).

Project #1: Business Process Management/Improvement
PARTICIPANTS: Usually a joint effort of I.T. and a business unit. In a few isolated instances, BPM initiatives do not involve any technologists.
PRICE TAG: From $20,000 on the low end to tens of millions on the high end.
TIME LINE: A department-level pilot could be started and finished in five days. An enterprise wide project could take several years.

Project #2: Customer Relationship Management
PARTICIPANTS: Shared by technology and business units.
PRICE TAG: Streamlining a process might cost as little as $50,000. A global CRM rollout at a big company could cost $50 million.
TIME LINE: Payback usually comes in two to three years.

Project #3: Business Analytics/Business Intelligence
PARTICIPANTS: I.T. extracts the data; business analyzes it.
PRICE TAG: A big-company project could easily run into the millions.
TIME LINE: From a few days to a year or more.

Project #4: Desktop/Laptop Upgrades
PARTICIPANTS: I.T. sets the policies; business pays the freight.
PRICE TAG: Varies with configuration. The decline in PC prices is being mitigated somewhat by the arrival of Microsoft's new Vista operating system.
The shift toward laptop computers will continue this year; IDC says that more than two of every five new computers bought by companies will be laptops, up from one in three in 2005.

Project #5: Web Services
PARTICIPANTS: The CIO's A-team.
PRICE TAG: Whatever it costs to employ six crackerjack software designers for the length of the project.
TIME LINE: It's generally a year and a half before any sort of payback is realized. Break-even takes longer.

Project #6: Disaster Planning/Recovery
PARTICIPANTS: Senior business executives, up to and including the chief executive, usually have input. The board of directors often has oversight responsibility.

Project #7: Intrusion Detection and Prevention
PARTICIPANTS: Managers from both the security and network teams.
PRICE TAG: Hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.
TIME LINE: Ongoing.

Project #8: Server Upgrades
PARTICIPANTS: A routine task handled by the technology department.

Project #9: Enterprise Systems Planning
PARTICIPANTS: The technical executives with the broadest view of a company's systems. Often, they'll get some assistance from the chief financial officer.
PRICE TAG: High in terms of management time

Project #10: Financial reporting
PARTICIPANTS: The place where the CIO's world intersects most closely with the CFO's.
PRICE TAG: Most companies now spend about 5% of their I.T. budget on compliance.

Read more of the article here

Posted by hope at 07:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Success in sales and in life is an ongoing process rather than a final destination. Great salespeople understand this and are constantly searching for ways to improve. In my experience of more than 20 years as a sales rep, sales coach, and sales executive, the best sales professionals are people who are driven by an unbending desire to achieve greatness. They are unwilling to settle for less and are always open to new ideas.

Even the best sales reps sometimes make mistakes or commit one or more of the following sins; therefore, they are not presented in any particular order or hierarchy. I hope that this piece might be a catalyst for self-evaluation and perhaps present a different perspective on how we might improve even slightly as sales professionals.

Sales Sin #1: It’s easier to complain than to change

This sin is particularly deadly in my profession, the technology business. I like to say that in our business (and maybe yours) we must reinvent ourselves every 18 months or so. We operate in a global economy and change is inevitable. The products and services that were relevant in the past are relics today. Products and sales tools that once were very profitable and effective may now simply be irrelevant. If you are complaining rather than changing, you might be one of those relics! As my father would say, if you can't change it, then leave it- but stop complaining!

Sales Sin #2: Selling personality rather than value

Customers will buy from people they like. There is no question about it. Today’s buyer, however, is much more sophisticated and has much more information at his or her disposal. The information revolution gives customers a global arsenal of data and an almost limitless number of options. In the past personality may have been your core value. Today it will deliver only a slight edge, all things being equal. Today, value almost always trumps relationship. Learn your product, and practice ways to effectively articulate your value. What's YOUR value statement?

Sales Sin #3: Lack of preparation

This is perhaps one of the most common reasons why sales reps fail. Failure to plan almost always results in a less than desirable result. Planning your meetings, demonstrations, and follow up is critical to ensuring that you truly understand your customer’s needs, and that you thoughtfully communicate solutions to address them. Most salespeople spend too much time thinking about how to sell a product to the customer as opposed to truly understanding a customer’s needs. Therefore, much valuable time, energy, and resources are wasted offering solutions that the customer doesn’t want or need. Spend quality time planning your calls and presentations and you will make a powerful impression on your customers and prospects. Then, when your on your sales call, just keep quiet and listen, understanding your customers needs only happens if they have the chance to convey them.

Sales Sin #4: Failure to cultivate new customers

Customer attrition is a frustrating inevitability in sales. Businesses move, people move, economies shift, things change. You can count on losing customers even if you are doing everything right! If you are counting on your established customers to carry the day forever, you will most assuredly be disappointed. The sad fact is that most sales reps do not feel the full force of customer attrition until it is too late and they suffer for a long time until they refill the pipeline. Commit to a specific time every day to do prospecting. And be sure to make good notes, set reminders, and FOLLOW UP!

Sales Sin #5: Poor time management

The unsuccessful sales rep spends most of his abbreviated day on unproductive activities and waits for the phone to ring. He spends most of his time waiting for opportunity to find him rather than hunting for opportunity. Don't wait to be discovered, discover yourself!

Notice how the most successful sales professionals are driven and focused. There is no time for distraction or negative self- talk. There is no procrastination or time for “busy work” during prime selling hours and they extend their day by starting early or working late (or both). They are either in front of a customer or planning to be in front of a customer, and they have their calendar full weeks in advance.

Sales Sin #6: Disorganization

I have never subscribed to the notion that a person who is disorganized can be successful at anything for a sustained period of time. Organization is an enabler of success and it is a critical factor in setting priorities and improving efficiency. Time is our most valuable resource and an efficient system will free us up to manage our most important priorities in a timely and effective manner.

Suggestions for improvement:

1. Embrace change by committing to ongoing education and outside reading. Avoid negative people like the plague. Associate with positive people and focus on a positive outlook.

2. Understand what differentiates you from your competition and learn to carefully articulate your value. Develop a hard-hitting presentation of the benefits that you and your company can offer your customer.

3. Always carefully prepare for your sales calls. Have a plan for every customer meeting and develop a well-conceived and repeatable sales process for understanding your customer’s needs, and listen!

4. Make the commitment to a daily business development practice. Spend at least one hour every day developing new business opportunities. Don’t expect miracles overnight, but with the right discipline and effort, you will see very positive results over time. Follow up, follow up, follow up!

5. Learn how to organize your time efficiently by using the many methods and tools that are available. Make the commitment to improve your time management skills and seek out and practice the good counsel of experts in the field through books, seminars, and training programs.

6. Don’t procrastinate! Improve your organizational skills by admitting that you need to improve. Prioritize your challenges by making a list of the things you need to organize and methodically tackle them one at a time. Make organization a priority and discipline yourself to practice good organizational habits every day.

Posted by hope at 01:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Business intelligence definitely can't be an IT project. I don't think it has much value without the business.
Michael Carper
divisional vice president of technology operations, Coldwater Creek Inc.

When Business Intelligence software projects fail, IT is often blamed or sometimes the BI vendor. But the failure can usually be traced back to lack of leadership, not technology.
In fact, a new survey finds that a lack of ownership by the right executive often leads to a disconnect between the vision of senior management and the way a project gets done.
"The core issue with business intelligence [not succeeding] isn't a technical issue," said Betsy Burton, vice president and distinguished analyst at Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc. Rather, she said, it's the failure on the part of business leaders to make sure the organization gets the information it needs and leverages it in a way that makes sense with the business objectives.
"It's interesting," Burton said. "The symptom that people see is a lack of vision, a lack of strategy, a lack of linking supportive business intelligence back to systems. It's very easy for managers to say, 'Hey the data is wrong,' rather than take an introspective look. They should ask 'Have I given the organization a clear sense of what we're trying to get out of business intelligence? Am I really arming my people within my organization with a sense of the importance and the metrics so that they can deliver valuable information?' It's easier to point at the numbers and say, 'The numbers are wrong. Fix them.'"
Burton, who surveyed 350 organizations about their business intelligence projects, found that only 10% reported their projects had a C-level executive sponsor with a direct link to the business. Twenty-five percent said their projects were sponsored by an IT manager, and 25% had no executive sponsor at all.
I know I have found when business managers try to get their BI products in the “back door” without the full support of their executive staff, the sad part that can be sacrificed is the technology; which might really be able to address some of the issues the organization needs addressed, but could be panned due to “difficulties” or excuses that the company pins on the vendor/technology vs their own internal lack of strategy.
Do yourself a favor, and try to address the “ food chain” within the organization, everyone from the CEO down to the end user, to be able to gain their support, or if need be the ability to contact them in the future should any issues emerge due to lack of strategy. I can tell you it is much easier to reach out to a “warm” contact forfhelp after the solution is in place, VS trying to engage a “cold” contact IF there is an issue. Not only that, the value you create will be cascaded through the “Food chain” so similar solutions can be presented to other areas of their business.

Read more about this in the Search CIO article

Posted by hope at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)