BYOD - A Device Responsive Practice

The unpresented growth of smartphones and laptops in an individual's life has made the gap between personal and professional life negligible. This de has led to a new revolution in the market which we know as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). BYOD is a practice that enables employees of an organization to use their own devices (ie smartphones, laptops, tablets and computers) at work. Like BYOD, businesses also implement Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) and Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT), which fall under a greater umbrella of consumerization of IT. This is blending of the personal and professional workspace with help of the internet and smart devices, majorly pushed by the millennial these days.

" BYOD is making significant marks in the business world across the globe with about 75% of employees in higher growth markets such as India, Brazil and UAE and 44% in the developed markets using their own devices at work." - CXOUnplugged.

How BYOD can transform your business

BYOD has created various opportunities in the market and is making workplaces flexible than ever. Here is how BYOD will help you take your business to the next level.

• Enhanced productivity

When you allow all employees to use their own devices at the workplace, the comfort of working on a similar device increases the employees work efficiency. By making use of familiar technology and user interface the employees will not have to engage their time in understanding a new device.

• Reduced infrastructure cost

Many times for a company, major amount of capital goes into building IT infrastructure and maintaining it which can come from the cost by implementing BYOD. When a company implements BYOD, it automatically reduces its cost of procuring devices for each employee and instead can provide better connectivity services in the organization.

• Improved employee loyalty

When a company allows its employees to bring their own devices at work, absolutely gives them a sense of trust by the company on them. By giving the freedom to use a foreign device at work and giving them the access to company's confidential data on their device, you generate loyalty among the employees, which makes them give the better result at their work.

• Ease of transit management of employees

The best part of having a Bring Your Own Device Policy is that you do not have to keep a check on the physical devices when any employee joins or leaves the company. Any sort of configuration to the company's network can be done via the cloud. In case the employee is leaving the company, his device / devices can be simply removed from the company's cloud network. No hassles with LAN wires required.

"A recent survey by the handset manufacturer Blackberry stated that 41% of Indian organizations have a BYOD policy." - GadgetsNow

With such a huge percentage of Indian organizations implementing BYOD, the next question that needs to be answered is how to implement BYOD in a business. When implementing BYOD a company should also have a stringent policy to make sure the functioning is smooth. There should be no loopholes which can put the company's confidentiality in danger.

BYOD - How to implement it in your business

To have a seamless implementation of BYOD , an organization needs to have a strong policy in place. Here are the 7 things you need to consider while implementing BYOD.

• Payments for the devices and data usage

• Device support and access levels for everyone in the workplace (permanent employee, contractual employee, and guests)

• Data storage (Cloud / local storage)

• Employee data privacy (employee's personal data should not be leaked or shared across the network)

• Data authentication (type of data that an employee can view or edit while not at work)

• In case of theft, damage or missing device what steps need to be taken

• Restoring the data in case of the device is sold, disposed or is no more in use.

10 Advantages Of Field Data Collection With Mobile Devices

Field Data Collection can be a very difficult and time-consuming process. Collecting field data manually requires a great supply of money, materials, staff and other resources. With such an investment comes the great responsibility of collecting the right data in the short amount of time, as the data collected on the field affects the productivity of the company.

All thanks to the ever-evolving technology, with the help of mobile devices seems to be the only solution to the challenges faced by the field data collection teams. This not only replaces the age-old obsolete Pen-Paper method of data collection but also provides new ways of utilizing the time of the workforce available on the field. The field data collection app is built suitable for all devices be it data collection app for Android or be it data collection app for iOS.

The mobile device based tools have been established in almost all developed as well as developing countries. It is but obvious that the companies which adopt this online method prosper more than the ones who are still stuck in the age-old methodologies.

Let's take a look at the advantages to executives and workers who have specialization in this area.

1. Supercharged Productivity













Mobile forms based platforms allow systematic and efficient organization of the data collected thanks to its real-time indicators. This allows a lot of time to be saved in collecting data and reporting it back to the head office. All the employee has to do is simply fill the form on his/her mobile device and submit them instantly for analysis.

2. Never Lose Data













Data, mostly old data is always required to verify or sometimes even to compare with the new data allowing a company to set new benchmarks and define long-term goals. The data collected on the mobile form is saved directly to the cloud. This helps in enabling the user to access the data whenever and wherever the user wants without the fear of ever losing the data.

3. Allows Collection Of Rich Data













Collection of just numbers and text is just like some other methods. But the collection of rich data is now possible all because of mobile data collection forms. Rich data includes things like images, location, audio, video and also scanning a barcode. This enables one to determine authenticities of the collected product or information.

4. Huge Cost Savings













Saving idle time and resources lead to the savings of huge amounts of money. Mobile forms do the same thing and cut costs in the processes like transportation or even cutting the use of paper and many more such things. As it also saves data to the cloud the losses occurring due to loss of data is also eliminated.

5. Works Even Offline













Mobile forms can be filled both online and in offline mode. This works very well as there are a lot of areas in the world which still do not have mobile network coverage. All the worker needs to do is fill in the form and save it to upload later whenever the device gets internet access.

6. Comparing With Other Data













It is very easy to compare data on field apps rather than comparing it manually. Data collected on the App can be easily compared with the already existing data. This allows the management to take important decisions that can further add to the productivity of the company in near future.

7. High Service Quality













Mobile forms do the evaluation of work in a faster and efficient way with great accuracy, This adds to the satisfaction of both the service provider and the customer.

8. Workflow Automation













Zero or minimum human interference minimizes the time required to do work and also eliminates errors made by humans. The workflow is made smooth as it is being automated and hence follow every step as set by the form builder at the start and is followed again and again without the actual involvement of the user.

9. Accelerated Process













Instant email of collected data is sent to the customers, colleagues, and partners instantly. The dispatch feature allows to assign jobs quickly and handle approvals with mobile workflows.

10. The Ease Of Use













Perhaps the best advantage of field data collection is its Ease of use. Mobile forms are prepared easily using drag and drop method on their websites. These data collection mobile forms are then distributed on the mobile devices of the field worker to fill up and provide necessary details.

Human Resources Diplomacy

Human resource management is not always or solely the presentation of gifts. Sometimes bad news has to be delivered. We are not thinking here of bad news as in, "You're fired," in which the relationship is ended. Think instead of "You did not get the promotion" or "We will not fund that training in your case." It sometimes helps to be able to layoff at least some of the blame in such instances. Doing so can help preserve cordial relations between a superior and subordinate. In addition, hearing bad news from a third person may help the person getting the bad news to save face, a psychological fact of life that has a lot to do with the persistence of management consulting as an industry.

As for objectivity, it is sadly the case that some general managers are less than paragons of objectivity and virtue. Some are susceptible to corruption, some attend to private agendas, some are prejudiced, and some are simply capricious. To place the administration of human resources practices solely in the hands of such a manager is unlawfully to produce good outcomes. Moreover, to place the administration of human resources practices solely in the hands of a virtuous paragon can lead to (incorrect) feelings of caprice, corruption, prejudice, and so forth. Not all paragons have had the time and track record needed to develop the untarnished reputation that deserve, and an employee who is denied a promotion or rise by a paragon can be forgiven for sometimes confusing his own unhappy exit with managerial discretion exercised unfairly. And when an individual manager is given a lot of authority, even if she is incorruptible, the temptation to try to corrupt her might prove too strong for those who futures she will influence.

Even a line manager who is a veritable paragon of merit and who is recognized as such has a lot of concerns to balance. When some of those concerns involve measures of performance that can be affected quickly (such as product shipping date) and others involve noisier, long-delayed outputs (such as the manager's and firm's reputation with the work), line managers may make compromises that are not in the organization's long-term interests.

Individual line managers may not fully understand or appreciate the organization's human resources strategy and policies, and the long-term reputation sent with employees. This can be a particular problem in settings characterized by relatively high rates of managerial mobility, which can impede stability, consistency, and "memory" as far as human resources management is concerned. Simplicity, consistency, and clarity must be traded off against the complexities of real life.

For all these reasons, human resources experts in particular special areas can play an important role in advising and educating line managers; helping sustain a coherent and consistent human resources philosophy through the organization; and even, in some cases, acting as independent authorities or appealing officers, in case employees feel aggrieved by line management decisions.

In-the-field human resources specialists can also help in evaluating and improving the performance of line managers. It is perhaps difficult to evaluate performance in the area of ​​human resources strategy and policy formation, but even evaluating how well policies are implemented is difficult. General Managers have a lot of things to attend to, and it is therefore expected and natural that human resources will be pushed toward the back burner.

Promoting a culture that elevates the management of human resources, relying on intrinsic motivation of line managers to some extent. But some accountability - some measurement of performance - will support the desired culture. Specialists are likely to have the best training and widest range of evidence for conducting comparative evaluations of human resources performance. Hence, they are well positioned to provide measures of performance on which line manager accountability can be based and to counsel line managers regarding how to improve their effectiveness in formulating and implementing policies for their units.

What Travel Agents Need to Know About Corporate Travel Today

This is rightly named as the age of traveler-centricity and with the evolution of the new era of personalized travel; it is leading to research and development of a host of new so-called intelligent services. The command-and-control perspectives of traveling have changed a lot from the past and the focus has shifted more on the traveler and the productivity of each trip. It has become essential to maintain that the travelers have the greatest return on investment on each trip. New generations of young employees and managers, who have been growing up and dwelling in a digital age, are moving up the ranks as travelers. It has become essential to recognize the need for greater flexibility acknowledging that the employees who travel on corporate trips also consider a percentage of their trip to be a leisure outlet. With increasing globalization and rise in companies sending their staff overseas to network and connect with their offshore prospects/customers/suppliers, corporate travel is a highly profitable tourism segment. Before we talk about how tourism companies can better cater to business travelers, let us first look at why they prefer to use specialized corporate agencies over traditional agents

Why do businesses use Corporate Travel Agencies?

This might be the most basic question for a travel agency as to why they need to use agencies specializing in corporate travel when there are plenty of regular travel agents in the market. Here is the importance of corporate travel agencies who have online systems which allow business travelers access to their complete itinerary.

The following information is at the fingertips of the CTAs:-

• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  full business itinerary details














• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  up-to-date tracking details of flights (including delays or rescheduling)














• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  transparent details about additional costs such as baggage fees or in-flight fees














• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  travel alerts, if any, in the destined area














• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  complete and up-to-date details about the visa procurement policies and identification required














• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  currency requirement and conversion rates

What do corporate clients expect from Corporate Travel Agencies?

Negotiated Fares

The Corporate Agencies tend to have tie-ups with hotels, car rentals, flights etc. giving them access to lower fares which can be used only by the frequent business travelers. Discounted prices are not the only advantage though as they also offer flight upgrades, room upgrades, and VIP check-in lines as required.

In-depth information about the travel industry

Corporate travel agents have access to many travel resources and most importantly, quickly, than any other leisure travel agent. Additional information helps to make the business trips convenient and comfortable.

Changes in Itinerary

When an airline ticket needs to get rescheduled or cancelled, chances are the airline or the online service provider will charge lofty fees. When booking with a corporate travel agent, most of the times schedule changes can be done at zero or minimal extra charges.

Viable emergency contacts

It is important for the business travelers to reach the correct person at the need of trouble. Corporate travel agents have the experience and professionalism to relieve stress for both the traveler and the company.

What you need to consider as corporate travel increases?

Business Travel Barometer reported that corporate travel is witnessing an accelerated growth. However, when poorly managed, it may be no longer an advantage to companies and may, in fact become a burden. There are some factors which the corporations and CTAs must consider to get the best out of the time spent traveling.

Adopting a travel policy

The corporate must define a travel policy which is applicable to and respected by travelers at all levels. This policy should be used to establish the standards which will help to track the improvement of business travel. It will eventually help to reduce the costs of the entire package.

Do not limit the traveler's autonomy

The management is responsible for budgeting the travel policy which helps to improve cost management however, it is also essential to give a degree of autonomy to the traveler. The policy should be flexible enough to allow the employee to adapt the trip as per the situation.

Traveler's security should be a major concern

Business travelers need to have security in place. The company needs to stick to its definition of standards to ensure the employee's integrity. The CTAs should have reliable partners (travel insurance, airlines, hotel chains etc.).

Mobility and automation

To optimize time and ease the processes, the administration of management platforms should have automated processes. This means they should adopt mobile solutions where search options, travel alerts, ticket reservations etc. can be accessed quickly, easily and on the go.

Corporate Travel Trends in 2016

Corporate travel trends tend to change regularly. 2016 has also not been any different and the travel management companies (TMCs) and corporate travel agencies (CTAs) are quite focused to provide steady if not strong axis all over. A growing MICE sector, investments in mobile and big data and enhanced focus on duty of care are some of their areas of focus.

Rising prices

The consolidated buzzword among global suppliers, airfares, hotel rates etc. is the rising fares. It is sometimes the move of the suppliers to generate discounts which encourage travel if there is a strong decline in demand. A positive 2016 world economy has been bringing an increase in air fares of a few percentage points, hotels are expected to see 4%-6% rise in average global rates and the competition will remain moderate in the car rental services.

Duty of care

Risk management is one of the major points of emphasis for corporations. Corporate customers are allowing new policies and improved technologies to monitor employees' location in case of an emergency, especially when they are travelling to foreign destinations. For instance, Concur Risk Messaging helps to identify the travelers moving around in the world and alerts them with alternate travel arrangement as and when needed.

Focusing on MICE

Meetings industry is a major growing sector and the corporate travel trend is developing on it. The corporate travel agencies should better start aligning the various meeting procurement methodologies with its transient travel sourcing. One of the ways could be to broaden the variety of meeting services by incorporating incentive trips within it.

Investing in technology

A sharper focus on increasing value and becoming more traveler-centric can be done by bringing in mobile friendly technologies. Mobile and big data are definitely the two most significant technological investments which any corporate travel agency must focus to make their platform more appealing.

Business travel analysis after Brexit

Following Brexit, ACTE and CAPA shared their speculations. According to them, the greatest short-term effects on the travel industry will come from the weakening of the pound against other world currencies. Greeley Koch, executive director for the Association of Corporate Travel Executives said that the business travel industry will trend on currency fluctuations; with some companies taking advantage of the weaker pound and traveling more, while others may withhold business travel until world markets find their own level.

Impact of terrorism on corporate travelers

Travel policy makers and administrators need to be guided by rising terrorism scare. For executives and staff undertaking travel on behalf of businesses, the travel agents and corporate travel agencies (CTAs) should prove the reassurance for their safety through the travel policies. It is more than likely that the surveys conducted over corporate travelers reflect the general concern of the global business travelers about the spate of terrorism. However, there is no denying the fact that terrorist threat is changing the patterns of business travel. The key impact of this is to keep in mind that the companies providing travel services for business travelers need to enhance their focus on security and the associated risks in delivering the services to corporate clients. According to a recent finding, travel managers have higher estimation of their policy's effectiveness in addressing risk compared to skeptical business travelers.

Concluding

Although the corporate travel sector has continued to progress, there are a plethora of challenges faced by the industry. A rapidly changing consumer market, the emergence of new business models, the impact of technology, man-made and natural crises are some of the fulcrum points that need to be considered before planning corporate trips.

Are You Embarrassed by Your Sales Manager Job Description Skills? Here's What to Do

Supervisors, and especially sales managers, acquire their outputs from the group they manage. This requires behavioral attitude that enhance the company and accommodating attitudes.
• These abilities are created predominately from:
• An enthusiasm for individual needs and perspectives
• An eagerness to invest time and commit thought to analyzing states of mind
• A feeling of equity or reasonable management

RESPECT FOR OTHERS 'SPECIAL PERSONALITIES

Typically the business manager will have to work his or her way up in the company and will have to amaze product learning, a database of loyal clients, awesome thoughts regarding development of sales, and incredible compatibility with partners and customers alike. However, there is a likewise scope for experienced transactions directors to be parachuted into an organization to convey a crisp way to deal with dealing with the business department. Sales managers now and then decide and build up sales territories in accordance with the organizations' development plans. He or she will likewise be in charge of setting standards and sale objectives for the business officials and the business group in general. Successfully working in as the controlling hand for the business team, the business manager will likewise outline the staff's training programs, create methodologies for the business group to work productively and urge collections to outperform short-and-long term targets.

INBOUND MARKETING MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION

If you're in a promotion department then you simply need to move to an inbound approach, it's conceivable every thing you'll have to demonstrate the accomplishment of your inbound marketing program. If so, you'll likely be looking to hire a holding nothing back inbound advertiser, someone who can build and grow your inbound marketing system starting from the earliest stage. Search for somebody who is exceptionally self-motivated and flexible ... also, completes stuff (what's more, in case regardless you're trying to persuade your manager to make the move to inbound in any case).

21ST CENTURY DEALS SUPERVISOR

The business profession has changed over the prior decade as an after effect of advances in IT, the expansion of correspondence channels and automation. "The administration job is trying to understand the change and sale supervisors are critical to its prosperity," says one encountered sales director. Sale administrators today should comprehend IT system, perceive the force of web-based social networking, and be fully informed regarding sales and customer trends. He or she will be great with figures and ready to analysis measurements and always monitor deal figures and the group's execution, as indicated by agreed KPIs.

CAPABILITIES REQUIRED FOR SALES SUPERVISOR JOBS

Employer hiring stuff tend to search for applicants with a bachelor or graduate degree in a business organization with a concentration in marketing. Education in business law, economic matters, business administration, bookkeeping, arithmetic, finance, and statistics will surrender candidates a leg on the opposition. Computer and Internet skills are likewise valuable for record-keeping and information services. Many business supervisors are promoting inside from the business executive part. A few companies likewise offer confirmation programs, a capability that is turning into a standard among managers. The Institute of Sales and Marketing Management offers a scope of Marketing and sales manager job description add qualifications for expert business people from little Awards to larger Certificates and Diplomas. These capabilities are on the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) and are directed by the UK government education controller.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Work with Marketing to assurance predictable lead era.

• Work together with sales manager to make and prepare prospecting process.

• Work together with sales leadership to make and prepare lead capacity handle.

• Hire high-performing business people as indicated by HR staffing rules.

• Prepare new sales representatives to guarantee achievement.

• Oversee everyday execution of all business collections and deliver reviews.

• Work with sales authority to produce thoughts for sale challenges and motivational activities.

• Lead and timetable week after week or potential month to month group gatherings with deals group and administration.

• When you hire, an employee must be stated in sales manager job description that that Prepare and guarantee adherence to sales handling.

Fleet Managers Using Geofencing to Monitor and Track Company Assets

Asset monitoring using geofencing is a cost effective way for businesses to track inventory and high valued content.

Asset monitoring and protection is an important part of fleet management.

An essential part of monitoring and protecting your company's equipment, fleet, or high valued content is being able to know where they are and what they are doing at all times.

This is what makes geofencing so valuable.

Geofencing or geo-fencing, is the process of using GPS tracking software to create a virtual boundary around a specific geographic location to be tracked using GPS tracking hardware.

Aside from just being a way to track activity within a specific geographic location, geofencing is a powerful tool used in establishing driver accountability, improving daily operations, and increasing overall company productivity.

Creating geofences to efficiently begin monitoring activity into and out of a specific location is very simple.

Step One: To begin creating your geofence, select the polygon radio button. Then give your geofence a name.geofencing

Step Two: Draw a polygon around the geographical location you want your geofence to encompass.

Step Three: After completing the polygon shape, type in a contact name and email for the geofence alert to be sent to. Click 'Set Geofence' go create.

NOTE: When creating a geofence, you want to make sure to create an entry / exit point to be used to trigger incoming and outgoing geofence alerts. If the location you are creating a geofence for contains a wash area, make sure to create an entry / exit point for it to trigger it's own event when trucks / vehicles are done unloading and need washing before being reloaded. Geofence alerts can help businesses to further manage a positive customer experience with real-time data about a drivers current location and whether they are loading, unloading, or even in a washing event.

Once a geofence is established, anytime traffic enters or leaves that specified area, alerts will be sent to fleet management specifying either an entry into or an exit out of the location.

Geofence alerts and reports allow dispatch to not only know where their fleets are, but also gives them the ability to know if their fleet, whether it is a vehicle, loaded trailer, or a piece of equipment, is moving or not.

This is especially important in cases where construction equipment left on a site sets off a geofence alert after-hours.

It may also indicate a possible theft or off-hours use of company equipment by an employee or someone else.

Either way, asset monitoring using geofencing means being able to catch both instances of activity and could mean a savings to the company bottom-line.

Drive Your Business With the Automotive CRM Tool

If you are always scrambling for active leads, future leads, dropped leads, or sold cars, then your CRM data management is up for a drastic overhaul. You can not give the lame excuse that you're not computer savvy that's why you can not make use of the automated CRM tool. This is suicide if you're in business.

Car Dealers, Sit Up!

A sale a day keeps the bankruptcy at bay. Car dealers have to reach a target sales quota monthly to reap their rewards from the wholesale purchase of cars. That's how they make a living. If you're in the car business, you know how important it is to keep your customer information updated and manageable. The automated CRM tool saves all the trouble of wading through messy files.

If you are not computer savvy, or if your CRM staff is not that clever with computers, you still can not give the reason that the technology is beyond your ken. Software architects had this in mind when designing the software. They have made the features easy to use, and they did not design a rubic-like puzzle just to confound users of the software.

The screen layout of the software has recognizable buttons and have different color codes for different files. You can even keep track of the weekly appointments you have scheduled, so there's no time wasted; you have the customers well within your speed and mileage meter. You can also send your customers emails or chat them up.

You can even do a quick inventory of supplies and spare parts in just one go. You do not have to get up and rifle through old files to update anything needing a quick touch up. This expediency is not limited to your customer databank, but also extends to your suppliers' info tank.

Easy collaboration with suppliers from all over the globe makes it effortless for you to be updated about their latest products and stocks. You can always have first hand and consistent information to share with customers and target leads. This improves your customer care and services, helping your business pick up speed.

Efficient Collaboration

The automated CRM tool enhances your accounting methods. It becomes easy for you to track customer accounts and company expenses. You do not need many workers to manage your CRM databank. A fully trained employee can do the job of three persons efficiently with the CRM tool for automotive dealership.

You still have the option to let a third party manage your system. This comes cheaper because you do not have to pay for add-ons that may be required later or measures for your data security. Instead of paying the wages for a worker to manage your CRM, the service provider does this competently and costs much less when expenses are summed up.

The technology gives you the edge in sharing information with different departments in the business and with the car makers, gives better communication links with customers and suppliers, and helps personalize customer interaction.

Improved Sales

When there is a ready and updated file on customer information, it is easy to track leads and consistently follow them up, especially when there are new car models or spare-parts that have become available.

The automated CRM tool contains modules for sales force computerization and customer communications administration. Collection of customer data becomes efficient and the information that is collected is organized for easy analysis, which determinates consequent action.

With prompt action on leads and better customer service, sales is improved. Automotive CRM tool gives the business the better drive.

The Five Components of a Business Strategy

Can you define exactly what makes up a business strategy? Some people say no, but we think you can.

In fact, we believe a valid business strategy has five components:

1. Your company's current or desired core competencies
2. A description of how you will differentiate vs. competitors
3. The industry or industries in which you intend to compete
4. The initiatives you plan to implement in the areas of marketing, operations, information technology, finance and organizational development
5. A financial forecast that shows how your plans will meet stakeholder requirements over the next 3 to 5 years

Let's look at each of these components .

The first component of a valid business strategy is a clear description of your company's current or desired core competencies.

You may be thinking, "Great, but what's a 'core competency?"' While there are many definitions, here's a good one from Wikipedia:

" ACore competency is something that a firm can do well and that meets the following three conditions:

• It provides consumer benefits
• It is not easy for competitors to imitate
• It can be leveraged widely to many products and markets.

A core competency can take various forms, including technical / subject matter know how, a reliable process, and / or close relationships with customers and suppliers. It may also include product development or culture, such as employee dedication. "

For example, we could say that Southwest Airlines is a reliable airline that offers low fares. But in order to provide those benefits, it has to have certain "core competencies," important capabilities that enable it to have low fares and to be reliable. We believe that Southwest Airlines has four core competencies that it executes so well that it regularly beats all other US airlines in terms of profitability.

These core competencies are:

• The lowest operating costs per plane
• An economic point-to-point airport network
• A fanatical culture focused on customer service and cost savings
• An ability to keep planes in the air more of the time than its competitors.

Southwest airlines could not offer the benefits of low prices and reliable service if it did not master these core competencies. What key benefits do you want to offer your customers? What core competencies do you need to master to provide them?

The second component of a valid business strategy is a description of how you differentiate vs. competitors.

In our experience, differentiation is about being the best at something. This should be encapsulated in your mission statement - what are your company's aspirations and how are you going to beat the competition? We just talked about how Southwest Airlines differentiates - what are you going to offer customers that will make them choose your products or services so that you can grow your business?

It takes a lot of hard work to come up with a great answer to this question and even more work to make that difference real. It's easy for us to say that Southwest is the best low-cost airline in the US, but it's extraordinarily difficult for them to pull it off.

The third component of a valid business strategy is a description of the industry or industries in which you intend to compete.

You need to be able to define just what kind of company you are - are you a furniture manufacturer? A gift card retailer? A consulting firm, a bearings distributor, a toy importer, etc.? This step sounds easy but we find that companies are often so concerned about getting too narrow in their focus that they fail to become really clear about what they want to do. A company with a good business strategy will have thought through these issues and made the hard decisions necessary to clarify its identity. If it has, it can easily pass the litmus test of identifying the industry or industries in which it operates.

The fourth component of a business strategy is the set of initiatives you plan to implement in the areas of marketing, operations, information technology, finance and organizational development.

These are the plans that guide your company's focus and resource allocation over the next several years. If your business strategy is specific enough to be relevant, you will have detailed plans in all of these areas.

The fifth component of a business strategy is a financial plan that forecasts the results you expect to get from your plans and illustrates how they will meet stakeholder requirements over the next 3 to 5 years.

Your strategic planning process can not be separated from your annual budget process. In the vast majority of companies, if it's not in the budget, it does not exist. That's why you have to have a very senior financial person on your strategic planning team, preferably the CFO. During the planning process, your team must agree a financial plan that estimates the results of implementing your strategy. This plan needs to earn the approval of your company's management and board and should be reviewed on a regular basis to track results and make refinements.

So - those are the five components of a valid business strategy. Good luck planning your success. And succeeding because you plan.

Sales Force Software Benefits Employees and Owners

The Commission is one form of incentive. Employees who are involved in sales receive their monthly salary plus commission per month as part of their compensation. In a large organization that has many sales employees, it is quite difficult to monitor sales amount with their respective quota of each employee which is the reason why managers hire more employees to do the administrative work of their sales people. More employees mean more manpower cost to the company.

One way by which a company can cut cost is through the use of Sales Force Software. Aside from no longer needing more employees to do the administrative work and monitoring work of people who focus on closing the deals, it will be able to enable the sales people to do what they are supposed to do but more effectively and more efficiently. It also enables managers to monitor the sales of their people and give what is due them. Thus, employees no longer waste time checking and rechecking what has been given them which will enable them to focus more on their work. There are many kinds of versions of the software available. All you need to do is find the one that will fit you and the type of industry that you are in. That is one way by which you can determine which sales software to get.

From an owner's point of view, a sales force software is a necessity. It will be able to give accurate numbers on the performance of the sales employees which will enable them to manage their people well. Aside from giving proper incentives, they will be able to give other forms of motivation to inspire their workers to work well or if the numbers show that there is a dip in the performance, the owners will be able to nip it in the bud which is why this software is considered as an effective tool for sales management.