What constitutes a great managed services service provider?

I have been meaning to write about IT managed services for some time now. The concept of IT managed services is almost as important as the internet itself or as important as a mechanic is to the motor industry.

Just as mechanics are put on this earth to insure the “well-being” of our cars: oil checks, shock checks and wheel alignment, the same can be said about managed services taking care of all IT infrastructure. Yes, IT infrastructure also needs taking care of. Servers can crash, machines can break and data can get lost or compromised. This is why the concept of managed services came about.

The concept of managing data, making sure data is secure and machines are in optimal working order insures businesses can carry on with their normal daily tasks and in the end bring in the money. High demand for work that needs to be done quickly and efficiently creates the issue that needs to guarantee that your data centres can’t be down for any given period. This is where a good and reliable service provider comes in to play.

With this said, what constitutes a great service provider?

The first thing that needs to be assessed is the redundancy of your data. What does data redundancy mean? Redundancy is the duplication or re-writing of data, this enables systems to continue operations when parts of a system fail or when data is lost.

Secondly, you need to look at the security of your servers. The security of your servers is a company’s first line of defence in protecting that company’s IT infrastructure. It is essential that security procedures are set in place to safe guard said infrastructure, even at the slightest indication of third party interference. 

This brings me to firewalls. Firewalls can be software or hardware (depending on how much you are willing to spend, software being the more affordable option) installed into servers to keep all data secure. Firewalls are designed to breach the gap between an internal network deemed secure with an external network normally seen not to be secure.    

There are a lot of service providers out there, and the credibility of them should be considered when shopping around for the perfect one. When looking for the ideal service provider it is wise to choose one that resonates with your company’s ideals and values. Success stories, case studies, press releases and blogs on them is essential in helping you choose the right service provider with the appropriate credentials. 

It’s all good and well to look for a service provider that you are comfortable with using, but employing technicians with the highest level of qualifications is almost as important as the service provider itself. These technicians manage the overall well-being of any organisation’s IT infrastructure. Maintenance duties such as maintaining of servers, security issues and network connectivity are only a few of the services these technicians should be able to handle.

SLA’s or service level agreements, as with any other business transaction should be drawn up with commencement of the work these technicians will be undertaking. These SLA’s normally set the benchmark of what needs to be done and what is expected. 

Not all of us speak “NERD”, so it is very important for me, and I think for a lot of people when I phone my service provider for assistance that they speak a language I can understand.

What is vendor relationship management?

By now everyone has heard of the concept CRM (Customer Relationship Management), this is a complete process where you manage all your customer management needs. But what about managing your vendors?

As with a CRM system that is completely customer driven, VRM is a concept solely geared for the management of a business’ vendors or suppliers. Is there really a need for such a system? And will a system such as VRM guarantee cost savings to a company.

VRM can also be seen as supplier management, it is a help line designed to manage all your vendor or supplier issues, data and correspondence. VRM is not a stand-alone system but can be customised within a CRM system. VRM is a great helpline in setting up workflow systems customised to your specific business needs.

Order generation can be simplified and stream-lined to ensure better ordering processes and payment plans. Seeing that VRM is not a financial system, all data that gets generated from VRM can be exported to a business’ financial system for easy payment and accounting generation. Price negotiation can be set up according to the various vendors according to credibility or delivery time frames. Purchase orders can be set up to be generated automatically and systematically by the user’s specifications.

Escalation rules can be set up to automatically trigger and send emails or on-screen notifications to ensure follow ups, advanced warnings and certain processes that should be followed. All meetings with vendors and suppliers can be logged and reported on. Calendar based management for tasks such as phone calls, emails and documentation simplifies the user’s tasks even further. Any field or task that gets created in the CRM system can be reported on in VRM.

The great thing about VRM is BEE management, specifically aimed at the South African market. Vendors can be rated according to their BEE status, this rating gets done when creating the supplier details and is automatically part of the purchasing and ordering workflows. This workflow manages all preferred BEE vendors. 

This brings me back to the issue of whether VRM has the capabilities of saving businesses money. Yes it can and it will.  As explained, it is easy to set up price negotiation capabilities within VRM the price negotiation capabilities can be customised to suit the supplier and the customer.

If you are a business owner that already has a successful CRM system installed, why not take the plunge and customise your system to handle VRM capabilities? You have nothing to lose really, only greater ordering workflows and vendor relationships to gain.

CRM systems – organising expo chaos

Lately there has been a lot of hype around the Electra 2012 mining expo starting this week. As with any expo, whether it is a wedding, gaming or even a baby expo, these expos are there to showcase the best of the best. Expos can be seen as the mecca of a related industry or product, the crème de la crème are all competing to be seen as the leaders in their respective fields of business.

Expos are one of the biggest hubs of information and contact sharing. People go to expos with a specific idea of what they expect. More often than not, they walk away with the right information or product.

With all this traffic and information sharing in one place, is there really a system that can keep track of all your prospective clients or newly won clients? Is there a way to capitalise on this information?

Let’s take wedding expos as an example. Normally these exhibitors have visitor journals at their cubicle where prospective brides and grooms supply their contact details in the hope of the exhibitors getting into contact with them.

This is where CRM systems come into play, records can be set up with all the necessary info on prospective clients for future interactions. After a relationship has been established it is easier for the sales relationship to begin. Specific targeted marketing campaigns can be set up with the help of e-marketing where automatic emails can be sent to a specific target market. Schedules can be set up to send marketing emails automatically for if and when you are planning a certain marketing campaign.

After these emails it will be easier to gauge whether any of the information that got sent bare any weight, and if so, drip marketing campaigns can be set in place to narrow down your target market prospects even more.

Business owners can concentrate on better customer service through capabilities within the CRM system that indicate what level each sales process is on. This will give sales people a better understanding of what sales steps need to be taken next. It can also alert the user of any issue that may occur.

CRM systems will guarantee on-going customer service to your clients. All the information that has been accumulated during all campaigns and sales processes will aid in future marketing campaigns. This can also lead to repeat business through your existing client base that will ensure a return on your marketing investments.

I don’t think I will ever attend an expo again without thinking about the sales opportunities waiting to be created if and when business owners make use of the right CRM system. Imagine a business’ growth possibilities if each and every single person that attends a certain expo has his or her contact information captured and acted on.

 

ERP systems helping out the industrial and engineering industries

As we all know, ERP systems can and will take care of any company’s business processes, ensuring agility, profitability and responsiveness. The same applies for the industrial and engineering industries. After some research I have narrowed it down to three key functionalities that ERP systems can assist these two industries in.  

Daily accounting tasks and functionalities

ERP systems are capable of fully integrating debtors and creditors modules including invoicing, purchasing and even general ledger. As always, easy navigation of ERP systems assists the users to access key functionalities relevant to their tasks at hand. Tracking of key responsibility areas are easily managed by graphical dashboards within the ERP system. Multi-currency functionalities minimises administrative burdens. ERP systems can also manage all receivables through payment histories that can assist in payment optimisation. This functionality gives crucial insights into various delays that can put pressure on your company’s cash management.

Stock control

Multiple bin, lot and batch functionalities will result in transparent stock controlling methods. ERP systems have the ability to reduce the risk of your company losing business by implementing alternate stock item functionalities. Complete transparency is guaranteed throughout your whole warehouse thanks to functionalities that allow you clear view of stock movement from purchase orders to sales invoices. Integrated web portal interfaces allow customers to place orders directly into the ERP system this reduces turn-around times and speeds up delivery. Stock requirements can be properly planned due to over-all history on items, customers and purchased items.

Customer management

The functionality of full customer contact tracking gives users a clear view of all interactions with customers whether opportunities or issues. Sales pipelines give sales managers the ability to accurately forecast opportunities and to escalate these opportunities to the necessary departments. Quotes that expired or issues that have not been resolved are handled by integrated escalation engines to insure these issues are resolved in the necessary time frames. The integrated escalation engine insures that Service Level Agreements (SLA) is met.

This is just the beginning, in the following weeks to come we will be concentrating on these two industries. Exciting and insightful times ahead, hope you are ready.

Africa’s possible life line.

The saying that you are never too old to learn something new never made as much sense as it did today. I had the pleasure of being “job shadowed” by a student from a local high school here in Johannesburg today and boy did we have fun, well at least I did, I am not sure whether poor Brenda understood half of my mad rumblings about business to business marketing, ERP’s and CRM’s.

I take it most of the population have heard of genetically modified fruit and vegetables. I am happy to say that I knew a bit about it, but what a wonderful surprise when Brenda told me that this was exactly the field of business her dad is in. Imagine my child-like excitement when I learnt about this. Gone were the business and marketing talk and straight into the wonderful work her dad is doing in Africa.

If it was up to me, Brenda’s dad and all the other wonderful souls in Africa doing this wonderful mission should win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Brenda’s dad is a telecommunications director and what he does is travel all over Africa to countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda and Burkina Faso, to name a few. He opens the communication channels between farmers, ministers and community leaders regarding their agricultural development. These talks are held in regions where famine and draught affect the lively hood of the people. Having discussed possible ways to improve agricultural growth in these rural communities he presents possible proposals to various companies around the world to help these scientists financially working on genetically modifying plants.

So what these scientists do is take the DNA of a cactus that has the ability to grow and strive in desert-like conditions and modify their DNA into the genes of bananas, wheat or corn so that these crops are able to grow in the dry seasons. By doing this it ensures rural communities can grow their own crops throughout the year.

Imagine the possibilities if this trend can catch on. No more horror stories of people suffering and dying of hunger.  It can uplift the continent’s people, give them an alternative way of life, but most importantly, give them HOPE.

THE 6 MOST IMPORTANT ERP QUESTIONS FOR THE MINING MAGNATE.

I have been talking about ERP systems and the mining industry for some time now, I am pretty sure that a lot of my readers would hope I stop. No such luck, the more I research ERP systems and the mining industry the more I learn and the more I want to share this knowledge. A while back I finished my white paper on the perfect ERP system and the mining industry and through that I realised just how important it is in choosing the right ERP system for you and your business.

As with any major purchase, you ask numerous questions and even take it for a test drive if it is a car you are looking to buy. The same should apply when looking for an ERP system. You need to ask as many questions relevant to your business and maybe look at a few demonstrations while you are at it. Let me help you out here, these questions will get the ball rolling for sure.

What is ERP?

Enterprise resource planning [ERP] is the complete system for your business that can run your company’s activities in one streamlined system. All applications are easily migrated into one system which makes it easier for your company to work more efficiently and more importantly to show a return on investment.

Will my financials be taken care of?

Yes, probably the most important question you will ever ask, your company’s financials should be your first and main concern, no business means no money and vice versa. It is crucial that you have a system in place that is clear and transparent in all the aspects of the business’ financial side. A clear view and indication of all the processes should be visible in the ERP system. Following are some of the key functions of an ERP system’s financial capabilities.

·         Financial accounting

·         Receivables and creditor accounting

·         Payment management

·         Cost accounting

·         Investment accounting

·         Controlling

·         Consolidation

How can an ERP system assist in my business’ production and the planning of my production?

In essence, production planning and production are the key components in any mining industry. Without any products being produced in the mine, can and will the mine not survive. Essential to this is the tracking of production and strategies on production. The secret to a successful production strategy is the transformation of resources to reserves and the managing of production units that in the end will contribute to a total production system. Following are some of the key production functionalities to look out for.

·         Work schedule management

·         MPS ( Master Production Schedule)

·         MRP ( Materials Requirement Planning)

·         Technical data configuration

·         Link to weighing scales

·         Cost calculation

·         Quality assurance

·         Capacity planning

Will I be able to distribute and sell my products, while managing my warehouse?

ERP systems assist in managing the complete sales cycles from open pricing, invoicing up to the delivery planning, shipping and even the distribution of products. As a bonus it can even handle new offers and contracts.

The only way in knowing what is going on in your warehouse is if you have a transparent warehouse management system. A system that can track orders coming into the warehouse and leaving the warehouse, this will determine the rate by which your stock in your warehouse needs to be replenished by. Picking strategies, inventory tracking, inventory planning and stock tracking can be set up by the warehouse manager with the help of the right ERP system.

What about my employees, will I be able to manage all of their Human Resource needs?

The all elusive and oh so difficult aspect of human resources, especially in a work environment such as a big mine, it is essential to have a system in place that can take care and manage all your staff and all the ‘baggage’ that comes with having a big work force.

Can an ERP system grow my business and eventually grow with my business?

Mining itself is made up of a number of departments that can be seen as industries on their own, but when it comes to mining all these departments should work together as a whole. That is why ERP systems were designed to handle all these departments in a single, transparent and all-encompassing system that will show you a return on your investment. What you as a business owner need to keep in mind is that the perfect ERP system can and will be able to grow your business and essentially grow with your business.

What motivates you?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful, no wouldn’t it be heaven when you didn’t feel like getting up in the morning to simply just stay in bed, with no consequences and repercussions? I can already imagine myself just lying in bed the whole day when I simply didn’t feel like work or were plainly just not motivated to get up.

I am pretty sure that most of the world’s population would agree with me that they would rather stay in bed than getting up and do something. What make this even worse are those cold winter months when productivity and the over-all morale of people are at its lowest, especially here in our sunny South Africa, where we thrive in the warm summer months.

I think it is safe to say that one of the reasons people are not very eager to get up in the mornings are just plain laziness and with a little persuasion and a few cups of coffee, they are good to go and eventually just get on with it. But what about taking it a little further and say that the other reason for not getting up and seizing the day is truly the lack of any motivation whatsoever? If you think about it clearly, laziness (procrastination?) is the biggest symptom of having no motivation. However, it gets a little serious when people get so demotivated and depressed that they truly lose their zest for life. But where does this stem from and why are people in today’s world so demotivated?

How many times have you heard people say they want to follow their dreams or do something constructive towards society or even leave their job and go live a secluded life in the mountains somewhere? Most people, including me have heard this so many times and we can’t help but roll our eyes at these hippies. But the more I think of it, the more I can understand why these individuals feel this way. Most people are just not following their dreams or doing what they love anymore. In the years when your father was a carpenter or stonemason and you just took over the reins are long gone.

This situation has a very negative outcome as well. It is all good and well to fantasize about a laid-back life somewhere on a golden beach or high up in the mountains somewhere, but in today’s fast paced life it is just not so easy achievable. Surely you must eat while you are living your ideal life or just simply lying in bed, but to eat you must work. Forget about food, there are also bills to pay, mortgages to honour and kids to put through school and university. So it is safe to say that your dreams get put on the back burner and you work to get by, to pay the bills and to take care of your family.

It is very sad to know that so many people struggle with this and sometimes I struggle with it as well, up to a certain point. I don’t really want to live a secluded life or anything. But every person has their own idea of a perfect life. A perfect life in one person’s view is to be a successful business man and another’s simply to be happy by earning a reasonable salary. Personally I think greed is the main culprit in this sad saga. If it wasn’t for the need to have more and more we would all have been happy with what we have right in front of us.

My advice instead of moping around and being all depressed?  Take stock of your personal life. Wake up in the morning and realize what you have around you, not what is in your bank account or the dreams in your head. Be happy to live in the moment and willing to change that certain moment. Start small, make someone smile or help a friend out. Change your outlook and your attitude and you might be lucky enough to realize that what is motivating you was in front of you all the time.