Growth Drivers

5 Tips to Managing Growth

Presented by:Vic KimmelCEO, Bright

At the end of this webinar you will be able to:

• Understand the drivers of growth

• Assess the options for scaling up your IT infrastructure

• Consider how much customisation you will require and how it impacts your plans

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Introduction

Background to the right IT system

The importance of the right IT system

• In today’s information intensive marketplace, IT infrastructure is a mission critical company asset – supporting a wide variety of business operations including sales, manufacturing, R&D, service and logistics

• IT involves a variety of interconnected systems, - take a strategic approach to managing expansion and modifications rather than simply reacting to issues as they occur

• Devising a growth plan for your IT infrastructure is essential

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A well-designed IT system should accomplish 3 things for your business• Increase Productivity

– Enable the completion of more tasks in the same or less time at a reduced cost.

• Increase Efficiency– Handle and efficiently process huge amounts of information.

• Rapidly Transmit Information– Move information rapidly throughout an organisation.

• All of which drive your ROI!• Successful implementation relies upon a mix of the following factors:

– Processes + Technology + Personnel + Content

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Tip 1

Get the right people & team involved

Using the right team/people to implement the changes

• If fast growth is part of your plan, it’s critical to choose a partner who understands IT in the range of environmental stages your business will traverse on its way to your goal

• It’s hard to keep up – often an expert in these fields are required to help make the transition. So, it’s ok to use someone from outside – in fact, it’s smart to do so

• Be careful of selecting an IT partner who only has a track record of servicing similar sized companies to yours if you have strong growth intentions. Choose a partner who has expertise in the environment you want to be in and can help get you there

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What to look for

• In seeking out a team or company to help you implement IT changes, look for the following:– A track record of successful implementations– The ability to provide a wide variety of technical solutions to ensure the

system selected is best suited to the intended application– Personnel with expertise in both technical and support issues– Excellent communication and project management abilities

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The necessary skills

• The team you select, whether employees, outside consultants, or a mix, should have a balanced set of skills including;– technical knowledge – the ability to train others in using the technology.

• They should also prepare a strategic plan for designing and deploying IT technology to enhance a firm’s capacity for growth

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Internal vs. External Experts?

• Using a consulting firm to implement your IT growth plans allows you to maintain your company’s focus on its core skill set rather than expending the significant time and effort needed to train employees to master the skills involved

• Such an approach can pay dividends in a business climate in which technological change is a constant, and staying on top of the latest developments in the field is a full time job

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Discussion

Tip 2

Software

Choose your software wisely

• The phenomenon of crowdsourcing as well as moves by firms like Google to provide open source solutions has led to the creation of a number of robust open source versions of many popular business software programs– Do you use Licensed or Open Source?

• The main selection determinants revolve around:– Overall functionality– Support – Expense

• How do you select the right software vendor?

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License vs. Open Source

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LicensedPro’s

LicensedCon’s

Open Source Pro’s Open Source Con’s

Steady income stream often allows for a more predictable progression of system upgrades and feature set development

Feature set development in some cases may lag that of crowdsourced open source software

Crowdsourced development opportunities can promote a robust feature set

Less predictable upgrade and functionality improvement cycles

Support typically provided by the software developer

Higher fees than open source solutions

Offers significant cost savings Potential for additional expense if upgrading to another solution becomes necessary

Enables niche application solutions The software developer may not support customisation options

Openness of code increases customisation opportunities

Lack of developer provided support

Lack of niche application solutions

Selecting the right software vendor

• Know what you want from their product– Put together a ‘must have ‘ and ‘nice to have’ list of features– If you require technical advice, but don’t have access to an internal expert,– Utilise an external IT Consultant familiar with the software

• Do your due diligence – check the vendors credentials and certificates– Talk to current users of the software and obtain peer reviews– Is the vendor growing, do they have clients similar to yours?

• Check the vendor provides post-sales support and compare what levels are available

• Ensure you understand the licensing and pricing structure• Agree on a set of KPI’s and hold the vendor accountable for them

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Discussion

Tip 3

Planning

Beginning with the end in mind

• As a company grows, it often finds that its demand for data storage grows proportionately

• At some point, the question becomes whether storing that data on-site is still the most efficient approach to take

• Two key questions to ask at this stage;– How much IT customisation does your company require? – What type of budget is available to enable this customisation

• Software-as-a Service (SaaS) means that much of the data an organisation needs to access is easily accessible in the cloud

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Beginning with the end in mind cont…

• If your organisation doesn’t require highly customised features, using SaaS solutions can drastically reduce IT costs when compared to supporting the development of custom solutions

• If development expense is a significant issue, achieving high levels of IT customisation may not be feasible

• A hybrid approach may be worth considering: outsourcing to the cloud a portion of a firm’s operating systems to focus precious development assets strictly on essential operations

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Cost of data storage

• The popularity of SaaS solutions has been accompanied by the development of massive server farms allowing for industrial scale data storage at a reasonable cost

• While the cost of storing data on the cloud may still exceed the cost of storing data on your own hardware on a strict cost per gigabyte basis, the situation may change when other aspects are considered

• These include:- the cost, time and effort of backing up data as well as maintenance and service

costs. - providing employees and customers with remote access to your data adds

another layer of expense to using your own hardware as opposed to the cloud.

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Key point summary: cloud vs own hardware:

• When comparing the cost of maintaining your own hardware versus using the cloud to store and access your data, a variety of factors should be considered, including:

- The cost of maintaining your own hardware, including maintenance and support costs as well as the cost of achieving redundancy (backups and remote data storage)

- The cost of providing remote access to your hardware- The cost of purchasing more hardware capacity as your company grows- Cloud storage and access costs, both current and anticipated- The effort involved in moving data to the cloud- Risk of being cut off from access to your data during an Internet outage- The security risk of exposing your data by storing it on the web- The security risk in storing data on your own hardware- Risk of overloading bandwidth capabilities

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An alternative to consider

• Virtualisation involves using your company’s hardware assets to enable multiple “virtual” users of a particular computer or server.

• This allows you to establish what might be called an internal cloud, or intranet, with employees and other authorised users able to access your firm’s servers remotely.

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Discussion

Tip 4

Mobile & Website

Making the most of Mobile

• Mobile devices allows companies to operate much more efficiently by 2 key points:- Link your CRM system to enable remote access to all pertinent client

data- Utilize cloud-based solutions to make it easier for employees to access

data remotely• It can also help your customer contact channels

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Remember, website design is critical• Be clear from the start about what your website needs to achieve

– Are visitors looking for information, entertainment, some type of interaction, or to transact with your business?

– Every page of your website needs to have a clear purpose, and fulfill a specific need for your website users in the most effective way possible

• Graphic visualising following points of good web design– Usability, good UX and navigation– Fast load time – The right images– Responsive design (phone, tablet, PC, laptop)– Strong CTA’s e.g. add a click-to-call box so that mobile device users can immediately be

connected with your company – Social media integration. Use buttons to enable visitors to engage with your firm via social media

services such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pintrest

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Discussion

Tip 5

Maximising

Maximising Principles 

• Manage complexity: The addition of new equipment or system capabilities can affect other elements of a system in unanticipated ways. Be cautious when adding new functionality to your system: test new equipment offline if possible to limit any potential negative consequences

• Stress usability: A system with extensive functionality that is not user-friendly leads to suboptimal performance. Equal attention should be given to your system’s usability to ensure that employees can understand and use the features it offers

• Identify system priorities: Feature creep can lead to a system that is overly expensive and less functional than a streamlined system designed strictly to meet an organisation’s priorities. Identifying exactly what functions your system should perform is crucial to getting the most out of it without exceeding your budget

• Perform risk management: Establishing and operating an ICT system involves a variety of risks, including technical failure and budgetary overruns. To mitigate these risks, practice risk management in all phases of ICT system implementation by using system backups, running offline tests, and testing new functionality in a discrete environment rather than in enterprise wide deployments

• Aim for a seamless solution: Rather than operating with a variety of disconnected applications, design your system to operate as a cohesive whole, even if equipment from different suppliers is in use. This will help promote adoption and usage of the system among your employees, as well as improving efficiency. For maximum efficacy, aim for a uniform “look and feel” across all system functions

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The whole is greater than the sum of its parts!• Each element of your IT system has a part to play in the overall functioning

of the system• A well-designed system is one that provides robust functionality by

integrating the different features that make up the system in a seamless fashion

• The individual systems must be designed with two levels of usability in mind - independent single system usability, and orchestrated - how it’s used in orchestration with the other business systems

• To achieve this, in addition to acquiring quality equipment for each aspect of your IT system, it is equally important to ensure that the various pieces that make up the system as a whole work well together

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Discussion

To Recap

The 5 tips

1. Using the right team/people to implement the changes2. Choose your software wisely3. Begin with the end in mind4. Make the most of your website and mobile5. Manage growth by putting it all together

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About Bright

Who we are

• Bright’s purpose is to provide insight and intelligence for the SME sector.

• Our clients are SME’s that require “more than a box” solution• What we provide

– Optimised solutions– Strategic guidance

• How is this delivered?– Through technology that increases business performance– By imparting knowledge in an engaging way

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Have further Questions? Get in touchVic Kimmel, CEO https://uk.linkedin.com/in/vickimmel

The Business Development Team;• Yemi Oyeleye https://uk.linkedin.com/in/yemi-oyeleye-b141a329• Billie Caufield https://uk.linkedin.com/in/billie-caufield-8600a4ba• Dior Khudaykulov https://uk.linkedin.com/in/dior-khudaykulov-935b4819• Jack Mahony https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jack-mahony-2aa9ba66

Find us at www.bright.co Email us at salesteam@bright.co Call us on 0203 301 9500

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Thank you