3 Things That You Should Consider Outsourcing

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As a business owner, there are many decisions that you have to make, and one of them is whether you outsource or not. Whilst some people are outsourcing converts – and get most of their work done by external companies – others are a little more skeptical, and would prefer to have control over every part of their business in-house. Whilst this is understandable, there are a range of benefits of outsourcing, and if you’re not utilizing it in your business, then you could be missing out on saving money, and having the job done, well… better by somebody else.

We’ve put together a list of 3 things that you should consider outsourcing in your business.

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | Entrepreneurship | Outsourcing | 3 Things That You Should Consider Outsourcing
 
1. Your social media management

Social media seems like something that would be easy to manage yourself, because all you have to do is post out a few updates every now and again, to make sure that you’re drawing people in across the various platforms. However, getting social media right is actually a lot more complex than that, and outsourcing it means that you’ll be able to benefit due to those professionals that know the algorithms, and what works. On top of this, it’s actually harder than you think to come up with a few things a week to post, especially when you’ve got to think up those ideas that will cause a good reaction. Leave it to the professionals!

2. Your IT security

OK, so pretty much every business out there uses IT in some way, and we all enjoy the benefits that it brings us. After all, are there any people out there who aren’t checking their emails at least 50 times a day now? As people – and business owners – we are IT obsessed, but security is a complex and difficult thing to manage. Even if you’ve got somebody in-house to deal with issues such as networking monitoring, the truth is that most external cybersecurity companies are a lot more advanced, which means that you’ll be facing less problems in the long-run. It will probably be cheaper than hiring somebody in-house, too.

3. Your admin

When it comes to admin, there is arguably nothing more boring than dealing with these things. Whilst you want to be getting on with that good stuff, it’s pretty annoying that your phone is constantly ringing, and that you’re being bombarded with emails left, right, and center. There’s nothing that you can do about this though, right? You’ll be pleased to hear that you can get a virtual reception, where people answer your phone calls, and even deal with your mail, for you. This is ideal for those who can’t afford full-time admin staff, and it’s great if you just want to get rid of some of the pressure of office life.

So, if you want to take those first steps into the world of outsourcing, then consider handing over these 3 things to the professionals. You’ll be glad that you did when you’re saving yourself a lot of time, and money, in the process!

Decision-Making Warning Flag 1b – Weak Analogies

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StrategyDriven Decision Making Article | Decision-Making Warning Flag 1b - Weak Analogies“The fallacy of Weak analogy is committed when a conclusion is based on an insufficient, poor, or inadequate analogy. The analogy offered as evidence is faulty because it is irrelevant; the claimed similarity is superficial or unrelated to the issue at stake in the argument. Or the analogy may be relevant to some extent yet overlooks or ignores significant dissimilarities between the analogs.”

Paul Leclerc
Community College of Rhode Island

Citizens have been asked to cast their vote for a referendum requiring those seeking to purchase a hammer to undergo a registration process similar to that for firearms. Supporters argue that because hammers, like guns, have metal parts and can be used to kill people that these tools should be legally controlled as guns are. These proponents are using a Weak Analogy to advance their position.

Weak analogies are used to support business decisions every day. As with all logic errors, decision-makers fall prey to the appearance of reasonableness, especially when the position supported justifies their desired course of action. Although difficult, recognizing and eliminating the use of Weak Analogies in decision-making is absolutely necessary.

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Additional insight to the warning signs, causes, and results of logic errors can be found in the StrategyDriven website feature: Decision-Making Warning Flag 1 – Logic Fallacies Introduction.

Decision-Making Warning Flag 1a – The Gambler’s Fallacy

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StrategyDriven Decision-Making Article | Decision-Making Warning Flag 1a - The Gambler's Fallacy“The Gambler’s Fallacy, also known as the Monte Carlo Fallacy, is the false belief that the probability of an event in a random sequence is dependent on preceding events, its probability increasing with each successive occasion on which it fails to occur.”

Gambler’s Fallacy
Wikipedia

Seated at a roulette table, a gambler must decide on what color to place his next bet, red or black. He knows there is a 50 percent chance of getting either red or black and that the first four spins of the wheel yielded all reds. The gambler reasons that because half of all spins should result in black and the first four were red, it is more likely the fifth spin of the roulette wheel will be black and places his bet. While his logic appears reasonable, the roulette player has just fallen victim to the Gambler’s Fallacy.

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Additional insight to the warning signs, causes, and results of logic errors can be found in the StrategyDriven website feature: Decision-Making Warning Flag 1 – Logic Fallacies Introduction.

5 Must-Haves for Successful Compliance Training

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Compliance training is critical for the success of an organization. It informs and educates employees on the laws, policies, and regulations that will have an impact on their jobs. It covers areas like anti-harassment, workplace safety, and diversity, among others. So, what makes compliance training successful? Keep on reading and we’ll list down some of the must-haves.

User-Friendly Software

Gone are the days when compliance training was conducted in an in-classroom setting. We are living in a digital age, and hence, training programs are also digital. That said, one of the most important things to keep in mind with such digital compliance training programs is to use the right software. Learners will be able to access training and reading materials online. They can even access compliance blogs, videos, and audio files that can help improve their knowledge.

Looking for a user-friendly enterprise solution and software that can be utilized for compliance training? While the options will be diverse, one that should be on your radar is True Office Learning.

Consistent and Long-Term Implementation

One of the most important for compliance training is for it to be consistent. Meaning, it should not be a one-time thing. Rather, it should be a long-term endeavor. It should be conducted several times to make sure that it will stick. The training should also be regularly refreshed, which will make it possible to reflect the changing policies.

Strong Leadership

To create a culture of compliance and to ensure the success of the compliance training programs, it is important to have strong leadership that is involved. Take note that compliance should be a function from the top to the bottom. Meaning, even the CEO must be part of the compliance training. Plus, the management should have the budget and the tools that are necessary to carry out the compliance training. It should be seen as a valuable investment.

Engaging and Effective Approach

The goal is to implement compliance training in such a way that it will not bore the participants. If it is monotonous, it will be ineffective when it comes to skill and knowledge retention. With this, think of the different ways to make training fun and entertaining. If you are using training software to teach compliance to the employees, it should have a user-friendly interface and culture of gamification must be infused.

Customized to the Needs of the Business

A successful compliance training program is tailor-fitted to the specific needs of the organization and the participants. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy that will work for all the users. Having a customized approach to compliance training starts with the need to determine the target audience to be able to identify what will work best for them. The specific goals of the organization will also have an effect on the way the training will be conducted.

In sum, as discussed above, successful compliance training must have a user-friendly software, long-term implementation, strong and supportive leadership, engaging approach, and tailor-fitted to the needs of the organization.

Can Your Business Keep Up With Consumer Demand?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Consumer Demand|Can Your Business Keep Up With Consumer Demand?When you’ve got a good thing going, you want to keep it going. But success only comes in intervals in business, and therefore no one is ever guaranteed a permanent seat on the throne. So you should do you best to stay one step in front of the next interval, and make sure you are consistently achieving what you want to achieve. Maybe your product is selling very well, or perhaps your service is making headway in your industry. Suddenly you’re looking like a brilliant alternative for customers around the world. Consumer demand for your commerce is only going to stay high if you know what they want. Then logistically you will be tested to deliver on that expectation. Practically, you will need to be ready to smartly use your resources, to continue improving your products and services in the ways being demanded. Do you have the capacity to fill such new demands and live up to the anticipation? There are numerous ways you can do this.

Don’t believe the hype

Your first bout of success is going to have you smiling from ear to ear. It’s going to feel wonderful and finally you’ll say to yourself, things are working out as planned. However, you must snap yourself out of this euphoria that success can bring and make sure you are keeping your finger on the pulse. Why are you having this great period of rising sales and profits? What are the exact reasons for this. It may not be because the majority of consumers think your product is better but rather, that you were simply cheaper than the next rival. On the other hand it could be because there is a key feature they like which no other competitor has. There’s always a reason or multiple for why you are getting a new and consistent sales increase.

Plan your improvements

Of course business cannot stand still, you are in the annals of constant improvement. You may have the best product one year, but the next year you could so easily be toppled from your perch. The large corporations like Samsung always begin to plan ahead for the improvements they will make for their next iteration even before the current product is released. Therefore you need to begin planning on what you would like to see be done more thoroughly, made stronger, more complex, optimized and just the sheer overall quality increased.

All this entails, going back to the drawing board and being totally honest about what you think were the shortcomings of your current product and or service line. In a perfect world, what would you change? Slowly but surely you should work your way towards making that perfect goal a reality.

Keep them fixated

Is there such a thing as customer loyalty? Yes. But is consumer loyalty real? No. Consumers on the whole look for what’s best for them. And price has a huge part to play in what choices they make. Consider using netsuite pricing which has the world’s leading ERP system. In this system there is a section for ecommerce. It will help you organize your strategy for reaching out to online consumers. This external strategy is by far the most important in the modern age of internet shopping. Everything from marketing, software applications, and real world connections via ecommerce can be decided and managed using this ERP.

Upscale your production

Perhaps the most crucial but by far the most expensive is the upscaling of your production. It’s the dream come true when you simply don’t have enough products being made to satisfy the sudden overwhelming demand. Yet, if it’s allowed to continue for too long it can be a nightmare. Consumers don’t wait around for any business, they want what they want, and they want it now. So if you can see that your units are being sold far quicker than you can currently produce in a short space of time, you need to upscale your production capabilities.

Instead of one manufacturing facility or storage warehouse, double both and start creating the right amount of products that will keep up with the rate of purchases. This way the increase in demand is met with the equal supply. Avoiding backlogs of orders also avoids the big headache of going back and rectifying outstanding and late orders.

Every business wants to have that feeling of being overwhelmed by so much demand for their product. You’re obviously doing something right, but you can’t be in a production deficit for too long. Using an ERP you can manage your online strategy for reaching out far and wide to new customers.