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Archive for the small business ownership

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December 4th, 2009 by admin No Comments

IT Satisfaction & Performance Measurement

September 2nd, 2009 by admin 1 Comment

I believe in always helping others whenever the opportunity arises, especially when that person is passionate about the career they have chosen and fullfilling their life mission.

It is one of the ways in which I constantly improve my personal development skills and give back to the world around me and keep the good karma flowing in my life.

In addition, given our current economic state it is important to help each other make sales and keep our businesses surviving and thriving!

Please take a moment to read about my friend Steve Forcella and the IT Measurement services his company provides.

INTERNAL SATISFACTION SURVEYS – ICT
A key component in building a more competitive IT environment

Introduction

For decades, internal IT services have been focusing on delivering solutions geared towards making their organization become more efficient and more competitive. Office automation tools, sophisticated network infrastructures, packaged business applications (ERP, CRM, Supply chain solutions, Financial systems,…) together with more outsourced services have led to more and more complexity in identifying where and how those services could (and should) be improved or developed. It becomes crucial, for CIOs or IT managers to get an objective picture of where their priorities should be, in order to put them in perspective with the global strategic direction their organization is taking. This component becomes even more crucial when there is a need to face a troubled economic environment, leading to more arbitration towards where investments should be focusing, and when outside pressure becomes apparent to all employees within the organization.

User’s Internal Satisfaction Survey – another source of visibility

Most of the time, there is a general tendency for users to blame their IT systems for being responsible for all their daily issues. But behind those complaints, there should be a real concern and focus on identifying the final user’s real motivations and needs. Which elements are satisfactory? Which ones are not adapted to a new business environment anymore? What should the priorities in new developments be? What are the impacts and new requirements issued from the development of laptops and work from home? Are the outsourced services fulfilling their service level obligations towards final users? Are hardware and software new features bringing real improvements to users in their daily efficiency?

This is where it becomes important for IT departments to get an objective and a neutral feedback from their user base. This can be obtained through a methodological satisfaction survey, based on the market best practices. Asking the right questions to the right people in the right manner with the right partner brings a detailed identification of where priorities are, and helps building the appropriate improvement action plan. The information that is collected from such a satisfaction survey adds more insight to the global IT roadmap of the company, and helps validating some of the technical and functional choices that might have already been established or studied.
Gains for the IT organization/Company

The value added of such surveys can impact the IT department at different levels:
Refining priorities on budget choices:
IT costs are often considered as a “necessary evil” by the board of directors and the financial department. Actually, IT allocated budgets need to be backed up by precise returns on investments and a clear value added for the whole organization. A user’s satisfaction survey with precise priorities and an associated action plan becomes a fundamental elements in helping the construction of a budget that is geared towards real user needs and, therefore, towards real returns on investments by promoting individual efficiency throughout the whole organization.

Facilitating negotiations with subcontractors and outside providers:
Internal IT departments are often outsourcing part of their activity to outside providers which are, in return, bound by commitments in terms of results or levels of services. User’s satisfaction surveys can easily provide some additional elements in the way those services are perceived at the end user level. They can then be used in the whole monitoring and negotiating process with those subcontractors, in order to reach company’s objectives and optimize the associated costs of outsourced activities.

Validating new technical or functional implementations:
When a new component is added to the global information system, the changes implied by its implementation can sometimes mask the real value brought to the user community. Satisfaction surveys with precise ways in which to measure the global acceptance of these new components by final users helps identify its real success and added value. It also helps identify where improvements can still be made to reach full operational gains and general acceptance.

Identifying priorities in new developments and infrastructure changes:
Several parallel projects are often being studied in finding new ways to improve general efficiency within an organization. When it comes to arbitration and prioritization (often for budget reasons), satisfaction surveys bring an additional insight through appropriate structured and dedicated questions. Choices can then be made with a more global user acceptance and a stronger management support.

Improving IT services efficiency in their user’s support:
Success of an IT department is directly linked to the satisfaction of its internal customers: final users. Among the key components of such success, daily support is on the top of the list. Being able to get a precise and detailed feedback of the way those support services are perceived (hotline, management of problems and complaints, information, training, pro-activity, efficiency from a user’s perspective, etc.) is fundamental to make sure the right levels of efforts and investments are put where they need to. Through a neutral and objective survey, the IT department can focus more easily on the topics that are important to their final users and where there is the biggest potential for improvement.

Preventing uncontrolled extension of “non-centrally approved” solutions at the individual user’s workstation level:
With the multiplication of outside sources for specialized tools or applications, users have a natural tendency to explore the market in order to find the elements that could help them become more efficient, without asking for central IT department support. The potential result can become a real nightmare, as maintaining heterogeneous solutions is almost impossible, and security becomes more difficult to guarantee. A way to prevent this from happening at a large scale is to anticipate on user’s needs and requirements. A satisfaction survey, once more, will help identifying those needs and implementing the appropriate actions to have them fulfilled before users decide to “do it themselves”.

Filling the gap between IT/technical and functional departments:
Most of the time, we find there is a big discrepancy between user concerns and the IT department perception. Complementing a user satisfaction survey with a mirror survey (ie: asking the same question to the IT department employees, from a final user perspective) identifies where those perception levels differ, and is of a great help to make sure the mutual understanding is at the right level, therefore preventing wrong choices on next improvement action plans.

Getting more support and involvement from users:
Last, but not least, having users involved in the evolution of the global information system brings more support and leads to less unjustified complaints, and adds more serenity in building the next stages of a truly efficient IT service. Making them feel they can express their opinion and requirements is always considered as something that will be positive on the long term. Trend surveys (ie: measuring the evolution of the satisfaction level through time), together with the right level of information on new accomplishments, reinforces this positive attitude while always providing helpful information and feedback on the way IT services performs.

How?

Integron has a unique offer in this field, which has been refined through 15 years of IT internal surveys. The expertise and the data gathered through time allow us to be able to offer a full package of services that can help you build a true visibility on the efficiency and on what the future of your IT department should be. Among the components we can offer:

Online satisfaction surveys:
Integron offers answer on your crucial question through user satisfaction surveys. But we go beyond an answer. Besides insight, we offer you prioritized actions, based on the customer expectations and satisfaction. We conduct the survey online. We will create a customized questionnaire for you based on the best practices we already have. The big advantage is that we can make use of benchmark data and we can make this survey efficient.

Benchmarks:
Integron has access to many benchmarks. We conduct hundreds of satisfaction surveys every year, which means that we possess the data of hundreds of thousands of respondents. When you conduct a survey in collaboration with Integron, you can be sure that we are able to compare your organization with other organizations. Naturally, this is done anonymously.

Mirror surveys:
Integron can help you adding some perspective to your satisfaction survey by addressing the same questions to your internal IT employees. The internal perspective of IT services can sometime be quite different from the real users’ situation and lead to some wrong paths in terms of priorities. This add on to the survey can prove being very important in understanding the whole set of the satisfaction survey itself.

Trend surveys:
Satisfaction surveys can also monitor progresses through time. Have all the elements from the former improvement plan been implemented and been recognized by your user community? Which elements still need some attention and efforts? What should be your next set of priorities? By carrying regular trend surveys, you will be able to monitor your own progresses and avoid all bad surprises arising among users of your IT services.

Online dashboard:
Customer Heartbeat is Integron’s unique and sophisticated research technique. It is a state of the art solution for online research, analysis and reporting. It provides ways for you to build all analysis you will find necessary to get a perfect visibility and understanding on what users think about your IT organization and how they think they could get a better level of services. Customer Heartbeat is suitable for nationally and internationally operating organizations.

Panel interviews:
Sometimes, a quantitative approach is not enough to get the full return from your users in terms of satisfaction and requirements, and needs to be complemented by some face to face exchanges with key users, who will then be able to qualitatively express their level of satisfaction and their detailed requirements. Integron can help you conducting those sessions and interviews, and structure the results to make them meaningful and leading towards a documented action plan.

Detailed reporting:
The results of our satisfaction survey are laid down in a clear and well-structured report. But you must move beyond the insights you obtain. That is why Integron continues where others stop. We offer concrete solutions, help you set up your improvement management, and formulate improvement actions. These quickly lead to tangible results offered and are provided by our Performance Consultants. This approach is characteristic of Integron: we are not happy until your objectives have been realized. We remain committed, even after the survey is completed. If you wish, we can provide presentations or workshops for business units, branch offices or departments. The perfect way to clarify improvements for everyone.

Improvement workshops:
The satisfaction survey is now complete. The results have been announced, discussed and presented. But where do we go from here? The “Improve Through Reflection” (ITR) workshop held by Integron Consultancy goes a step further and helps you to activate the information obtained. At the half-day workshop Integron’s Performance Consultants not only guide you through discussions about the results, but also help you to define and detail the specific improvement points and the strengths of your organization compared with your competitors.

Wh is concerned?

Integron’s offer in terms of IT internal satisfaction surveys is dedicated to IT managers, operational managers or IT project managers who are willing to use the input and the visibility of their final users to implement concrete and efficient improvement action plans. Those surveys can address the services provided by the whole IT organization or just focus on some key items (ex: new CRM system, office automation tools, efficiency of the support line, etc.). They can also be used has a complementary tool to gather user requirements and help formulating RFPs that will be used to investigate ways to improve and develop information systems through outside providers.

Software companies acting as SaaS providers can also use Integron’s tools and services for the same purposes towards their customer user’s community, and identify the acceptance and areas of improvement related to their offer.
Finally, any IT or software organization having to deal with a diversified community of users (internal and/or external) can benefit from a detailed visibility on the way their solutions are accepted, and refine their improvement potential.

Integron

Integron Research was established in 1993 and is a leader in measuring customer, employee and internal department satisfaction. Integron is an agency that focuses on performance – but it has an informal organization, special team spirit, and an advocate of close collaboration. Our mentality is honest, personal, customer-focused, and direct. Integron makes vital organization performance measurable and controllable with the aid of research. We focus on internal and external perceptions, expectations and experiences. As such, our research is not limited to customers and suppliers. We emphatically involve employees, departments and branches in our surveys. And we link the internal and external valuation of existing performance directly to the organization.

Stephen Forcella
Manager Business Initiatives
401 N. Tryon St., 10th Floor
Charlotte, NC 28202

PH: 704-998-5629
FX: 704-998-5301
Mobile: 704-995-1540

s.forcella@integronresearch.com

www.integronresearch.com
skype Name: sintegron

Interesting Post on Gaebler about US Entrepreneurship

August 20th, 2009 by admin No Comments

This blog entry on gaebler, supports a previous post of mine, that although the SBA is a great resource for small businesses, due to government regulations and other programs, they do not go far enough in really HELPING small businesses in the US. Great information on the impact of entrepreneurship and small businesses impact on the US economy.

Part 4 of 12 – Education and Health Services – An Opportunity in this Economy

July 2nd, 2009 by admin No Comments

We know from the first posting of this series that Education and Health Services are going to be two of the fastest growing business opportunities in the coming year.

Given the massive number of layoffs and company restructurings, hundreds of thousands of workers are going to be looking for new opportunities and will need to develop the skills and tools to be more diverse and marketable in the recovering economy.

In addition, parents are more involved than ever in ensuring their children receive every educational opportunity possible. These services range from tutoring in math, english and reading to learning a foreign language.

Health Services
According to the 2008-2009 Occupational Outlook Handbook

Personal and home care aides and Home health aides occupied 2 of the top 10 fastest growing occupations through 2016. as entrepreneurs, it is easy to see that this data and these projections point to opportunities to set up these types of companies to serve this growing demand.

Some franchises available in this niche include:
Accesible Home Healthcare
Home Health Mates

The continuing “Graying of America” offers opportunites to service and increasing demographic in our society.

See Part 5 for a list of franchise opportunities in another sector of opportunity.

(Operation Entrepreneur does not receive compensation from any of the above mentioned companies and the information provided is informational only, this blog is not an endorsement or offer to sell any of these businesses. If you think one of these opportunities may be for you, please do your research carefully, contact the company directly and speak with your attorney, tax advisor, business advisor, and accountant before making any decisions.)

Click the book me / hire me link if you would individual consulting on starting a new business or purchasing a franchised business.

Part 3 of 12 Fast Food Service – An Opportunity in this Economy

May 14th, 2009 by admin No Comments

In my previous blog post “Looking for an Opportunity in this Economy“, fast food was one of the sectors of economic opportunity for 2009. Beware, most fast food franchises are prohibitively expensive to open, but if you got the green, many successful entrepreneurs have made a nice return on their investment.

Here is a list of some well known franchises in the fast food niche:

Dunkin Donut’s Franchise- love their coffee, sandwiches and donuts- If I owned their franchise I’d look like the Dunkin Donuts Man!

Cinnabon Franchise- who can resist the smell of cinnamon rolls with mounds of gooey icing?

Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchise- Although I think they miscalculated the desire for healthy meal choices, their grilled chicken menu is finally a step in the right direction.

McDonald’s Franchise- I remember when I was growing up in the 80″s, I heard a statistic that McDonald’s had produced more millionaires than any other franchise system- not sure how true that is today considering there is a location on practically every corner , but still a household name with lots of staying power, notoriety and advertising muscle.

Sonic Drive-In Franchise – Cool commercials, cool location layouts

Dairy Queen Franchise- The marriage of ice cream, burgers, sandwiches, etc are a home run in my book for family friendly food

Cold Stone Creamery Franchise- I get it, it’s cool, they were the original, but holy fat attack! But what the heck it’s ice cream and its a treat, do an extra lap tomorrow and enjoy dessert tonight

Moe’s Southwestern Grill Franchise- Think of a freshly-made, right in front of you Taco Bell with and awesome fresh salsa bar, love Moe’s!

Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, Domino’s Franchise- not real pizza in this ex New Yorker’s book, but great market penetration, brand recognition, and customer base.

Subway Franchise- still the number one franchise in various franchise rankings, more of a Blimpie man myself, love the fresh sliced meats vs. pre-sliced, but Blimpies is hard to find in some areas of the country.

Jimmy John’s Franchise- a local favorite here in South Florida, love the unwich a carb watchers delight-cool sub, no bread!

See Part 4 for a list of franchise opportunities in another sector of opportunity.

Click the book me / hire me link if you would individual consulting on starting a new business or purchasing a franchised business.

Importance of Reporting for Decision Making

February 4th, 2009 by admin No Comments

One key area of entrepreneur development that comes up often in my small business consulting practice is learning to run a business in a professional and systematic manner from the start. Treating your business like a “business” is the difference between success and failure. Running weekly monthly and quarterly reports, keeps your eyes on the numbers and you abreast of changes as they happen. Using week over week, month over month and year over year report comparisons help you evaluate whether this just a one time occurrence or the beginning or end of a trend.

So many business owners, especially young entrepreneurs and solo-preneurs misunderstand the value of reports. “If I’m the only person in the business, why do I need reports?”, one client quipped. My response included the following 3 points: 1) reporting gets you in the habit of running your business like a business instead of an extension of your personal life and finances, 2) reports set a precedent of how operations, meetings and reviews will be conducted in the future as your business grows beyond just yourself, 3) reports give you a collection of data from a finite period in time that is sorted and analyzed based on specific criteria critical to your business.

So what reports are absolutely essential? In some ways, that question is unique to the type of business, the reporting of a retail business will differ from that of a service company. However, in my opinion, all businesses can benefit from the following 3 reports on a weekly basis: 1) A Balance Sheet, 2) A Profit & Loss, & 3) a custom report.

An example of data in a custom report would be the following: using an excel sheet you would zero in on specific numbers in your P & L to create a summary week over week, month over month or year over year report.

For example, the owner of a scuba store that also offers classes may want to view the following information for this week, this month, so far this year Vs 1 year ago for the week, month & year:
Sales
# of classes sold
# of dive trips sold
# of equipment sold(i.e- tanks, masks, suits, etc)
Expenses
Advertising
Labor
Utilities
Supplies & equipment

Seeing this data in a report makes it so much easier to make informed decisions based on actual events instead of gut feelings and I think so there for it is.

Feel free to contact me if you need one on one consulting on structuring reports and using them effectively for your business.

Have a great week!