5 Reasons High Inflation Makes Customer-Centricity More Important Than Ever
In case you missed the news—or haven’t visited a grocery store in a long time—prices are going up. Whether you’re looking for a house, a handbag, a used Honda or a ham sandwich, everything is much more expensive. According to this week’s reporting from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI), prices rose 8.5% in March compared to the same month last year, marking the fastest rise since December 1981. While inflation no doubt creates real challenges for consumers, price increases aren’t always good for businesses, either.
From a business perspective, inflation is one of the most powerful forces around—for good and bad. Expectations of inflation can cause purchases to be pulled forward (e.g., “hey, it will cost more tomorrow”). At the same time, it can cause companies to scrutinize vendors in an effort to make sure their costs don’t rise faster than their revenues.
It’s a well-established fact that customer-centric businesses are built to weather the storm. But with every change in the economic cycle—from boom to bust to stagflation—customer-centricity takes on a new meaning. In “go-go” times, it’s mostly about growing revenue with clients. In downturns, it is about holding onto them.
Here’s why customer-centricity matters even more during times of high inflation.
Inflation Will Force Your Customers To Cut Costs
In theory, with inflation, a company’s costs rise but in reality, they are passed on to customers. But not every business has this luxury. Some companies have clients in long-term, fixed-price contracts. Others have less pricing power than they’d like with their customers. Lastly, for many companies, some input costs (e.g., labor) may be rising significantly faster than they can raise prices.
As such, 100% of CFOs will be scrutinizing discretionary spend in 2022 and asking:
- Do we really need this vendor?
- Is there a cheaper alternative?
- Can’t we do with fewer licenses?
- Can we downgrade our version?
If you haven’t driven strong outcomes and a great experience, chances are you’re in for an unpleasant conversation.
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Ikigai: The Japanese concept for Meaning in Life
Hello, I am Kumiko Sugiyama, a Management 3.0 Facilitator from Japan. The Management 3.0 “Meaning and Purpose” module explains in one of its slides the IKIGAI concept. I wonder how many of you have heard about this concept which originates from Japan.
In this article I am going to cover the following:
What is IKIGAI?
IKIGAI is originally a Japanese word and means “Meaning in Life”. In the West a framework has been developed which consists of four components, four rings which are overlapping:
The overlapping center is your IKIGAI.
What does IKIGAI mean for Japanese people?
First of all, I would like to let you know that IKIGAI is something very personal for Japanese people. It is not something we share with others on a daily basis, and we do not directly ask someone, “What is your IKIGAI?”. It is very precious and represents a person’s way of life.
I highly recommend The Little Book of IKIGAI: The secret Japanese way to live a happy and long life. It is written by Japanese psychologist Kenichiro Mogi. This book has been translated into 28 languages. It will give you an insight into the Japanese mind and way of life. (I think it will help you to understand and relate to Japanese people.)
How Engagement Affects People
NuWorks, where I work, has been offering Management 3.0 to Japanese companies since it was established in 2016. Stefan Nüsperling is the first Management 3.0 facilitator in Japan. Yasuyuki Kashima has worked on Agile DX in Switzerland. The three of us are Management 3.0 Facilitators.
It is said that worker engagement is quite low in Japan. However, I have met many people at online events and workshops who said they like and enjoy their work. Such comments always give me a great sense of hope and energy. I am blessed to meet such wonderful people with a Management 3.0 mindset.
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Company Culture As A Revenue Growth Machine
A strong company culture is foundational to strong revenue growth—and probably to any other positive business outcome you want. Yes, you have to take care of customers. Yes, you have to provide a quality product or service. But the people behind it all are the ones creating the magic.
Your culture should empower your people to do and be their best. And it should be a priority—better performance and happier employees lead to stronger revenue. It’s just good business.
We’ve been fortunate to have a great run at Text Request, and things are getting better every month. There’s always luck involved, but we’re here to talk about the intentional work driving that progress. That’s what’s helped our multigenerational team earn multiple distinctions on Best Places to Work lists and to be ranked on multiple Fastest Growing Companies in America lists.
This is the framework we’ve used to get here.
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CEOs See ‘No End in Sight’ To Current Cybersecurity Challenges
A smaller proportion of directors said that their business was unaffected by the war in Ukraine, at 17 percent, compared to 22 percent of CEOs. Overall, a higher proportion of directors said that all aspects of their business are impacted by the war. There are only two aspects where more CEOs said they face challenges: pricing strategy and supply chain.
“Competition between authoritarian and democratic systems are intensifying. I believe that supply chains will become more regional, and security will become more important than the lowest possible price,” says the CEO of an upper-mid size medical product company.
And although a smaller percentage of CEOs have experienced heightened troubles with cybersecurity, more expect the challenges to be long-lasting. A whopping 85 percent of CEOs see ‘no end in sight’ to cybersecurity troubles, compared to 75 percent of directors who say the same.
Seven in 10 directors said they see ‘no end in sight’ to the race for talent. This proportion is far above the 42 percent of CEOs who said the same. Instead, a third of CEOs expect talent troubles to remain an issue for business for another 1-2 years—only 14 percent of directors agree.
Aside from cybersecurity and talent, two aspects of business that a plurality of CEOs believe will remain an issue with no end in sight are reputation/social perceptions of businesses (38%) and employee safety/wellbeing (34%). These two aspects of business are also where the highest proportions of CEOs expect resolutions within 3 months at 31 and 20 percent, respectively.
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How to Choose the Right ERP System
As enterprises strive for more efficient operations across the board, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is an increasingly sought-after solution for improving processes at the business application level. ERP software unites disparate back-office applications, business processes, and workflows in a single platform. It can lead to new advantages like improved data sharing, increased data quality and accuracy, and administrative visibility.
Despite all of the benefits that can come from an ERP system, many enterprises make the mistake of selecting an ERP solution that fits poorly into their business model and goals. Learn not only the most basic features that your company should prioritize in an ERP platform but also some of the specialized features you should consider and the steps you should take to choose an ERP system for your business.
Basic features you need in an ERP solution
ERP solutions are designed to unite applications and processes across business use cases. In order to effectively drive visibility and performance for a variety of departmental workflows, ERP platforms should always include these basic features:
- Integrations with other enterprise applications, either natively or via APIs
- Automation and workflow management
- Data analytics and business intelligence (BI)
- Reporting and data visualization
- Administrative dashboards with real-time tracking
- Custom, granular user and administrative permissions
- Robust databases and data storage
- Compliance and policy management support
Related: Top Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Tools
Enhancing the Employee Experience with Management 3.0
What is meant by Employee Experience (EX)?
Employee Experience, or simply EX, has been a hot topic in today’s business world. It is a theme that HRs and companies, in general, have borrowed from the product world, where UX (User Experience) and CX (Customer Experience) have been much addressed. It is the use of agile tools to deal with people.
There are many definitions for EX, and I’ll highlight one from my Strategic Human Resources Management professor:
EX is the sum of interactions between an organization and its employees that impact performance and how each person thinks and feels. It is the employee journey.
Why is it important?
In 2021 a WTW survey found that 92% of companies are likely to prioritize EX improvements in the next three years.
The Management 3.0 team asked leaders all over the world what topic they would most like to address at an upcoming conference, and the number one response was “The Great Employee Experience Awakening”.
Looking into this topic becomes urgent in a world where people are increasingly seeking meaning and purpose in their work, where all work relationships and working methods are changing, and everyone is searching for job satisfaction and work/life balance.
I believe in this, and my experience based on this quote, is that we are indeed facing this reality:
My philosophy has always been, if you can put staff first, your customers second, and shareholders third, effectively, in the end, the shareholders do well, the customers do better, and your staff remains happy.
Richard Branson
I always ask my students which priority their managers have: customer focus or employee focus? In general people tend to think about the customer, but aren’t the employees the ones who make the customers happy?
I end up quoting a famous statement from the CEO of CI&T, a Brazilian software company that recently went public:
We develop people before we develop software.
Cesar Gon, CEO of CI&T
What is a good Employee Experience?
It is difficult to define a good Employee Experience since each experience is very particular for a specific individual. This is good to consider when building your EX. A good starting point is to map the Employee Journey to gain insight on how they interact at each stage of their relationship with the company, and thus seek to grasp the ups and downs of each stage, for each employee or persona that represents employees.
Below are some examples of Journey Maps, inspired by the Customer Journey, that can help in this task:
See that it is common to map the emotion / satisfaction curve, barriers and enablers, needs and opportunities. And these are evaluated at each stage of the journey. There are a few journey mapping options, but each organization can build their own, and they look something like this:
Employee Experience Design
Journeys are a good starting point to design your Employee Experience, or an EX Strategy. But since we are dealing with the Employee Experience here, it is the employee who should be at the center of it. A good approach can come from Design Thinking, with Human-Centered Design, which is to center your design on the human being.
In any case, the only way to map and improve this experience is by listening to the employee themself. We need to collect regular feedback throughout the employee’s lifecycle, and at every touchpoint mapped in their journey.
Engagement, onboarding and exit surveys, and even 360 and performance reviews are great sources about the Employee Experience . Building a good Employee Analytics strategy will also support your EX design.
The more traditional climate surveys can be important, but today we are also focusing on more frequent and shorter surveys, which end up being more specific on latent employee pains, so much so that it is commonly called a Pulse Survey. Some companies do this daily.
This data can be consolidated as a Happiness Index, and we can use this index to correlate with the stages and moments of the Employee Experience.
Cultural, Technological, and Physical
When working with your EX Design, keep in mind the three spheres of the Employee Experience: Cultural, Technological, and Physical.
The Cultural Sphere is how people feel when they experience interactions with people in the organization. According to the Management 3.0 Values and Culture module, you cannot change an organization’s culture. What you can change are the guideposts, transparency, and boundaries.
The Technological Sphere consists of the interactions with the tasks and tools in your organization. An example from the module Agile Product Development: Agile software development needs teams to be motivated. But repetitive tasks are boring, not motivating, so they should be automated. An even more important reason is, automated tasks are more reliable than when team members have to do those tasks.
The Physical Sphere consists of the interactions with the tangible surroundings. In the Management 3.0 Complexity Thinking module, A typical analyst/reductionist mistake is described as designing human systems instead of growing them. As an example: cubicles, traditional methods and frameworks.
Employee Experience and Employee Engagement – how do they relate?
Employee engagement is related to what the employee thinks and feels along their journey.
A good Employee Experience generates engagement and satisfaction.
The Motivation and Engagement module of Management 3.0 has something very interesting on this:
“Managers must seek ways for the CHAMPFROGS motivators to become systemic properties of the firm” and the idea of “setting up the right conditions that maximize the probability that it (make people feel motivated or engaged) will happen (even though success is never certain).?
CHAMPFROGS is a motivation model that combines intrinsic and extrinsic motivators and helps us better understand what motivates each individual. Linking this knowledge to the employee’s journey can (and will) greatly enrich the construction of an EX that enhances motivation and engagement.
Employee Experience Examples
Use your time to understand how to make the organization a system that engages people” (from Management 3.0 Motivation and Engagement Module)
This quote always comes to mind when I think of employee satisfaction and engagement, and then their experience. Improving EX will not happen magically through a big program or change. The Employee Experience depends on small interventions that happen along their journey.
I will list some examples of interventions, techniques and tools that have generated good results at each stage of the employee journey: Attract – Recruit – Onboard – Engage – Develop – Perform – Reward – Exit
Employee Experience: Attract Stage
When it comes to attracting the best people for our positions (yes, the Employee Experience starts before they join the company, when we’re still in the attraction phase) it is important to think about how people react to job ads. Management 3.0 (this time, the company!) recently published job positions with an unusual description focused on what people should accomplish in the job, rather than a list of qualifications they should have.
I did this same experiment at my company Agilers and got amazing results! In addition to better engaging the candidates, this initiative united all our current employees in the effort to search for a great professional with a fit to work with us. A humanized process with frequent contact with the people interested makes all the difference!
Forward Summer Summit 2022 is a one-day virtual summit, themed “The Great Employee Experience Awakening”.
Join us for an interactive and deep learning journey, learn from experts, explore and try hands-on practices and solve EX puzzles together with other attendees.
Employee Experience: Recruit Stage
I have seen some exceptional experiences at the recruitment stage! Still inspired by the Management 3.0 effort, we have been using candidate videos as a way of applying for vacancies, which enables the human relationship before even following the process. In the interview phase, the use of Personal Maps to get to know the candidates better (and to help ease the anxiety caused by this tense moment) brings an incredible experience both for the candidate and the interviewer.
Moving Motivators is also a great addition to the interview, as it helps the recruiter to better understand the candidate’s motivators. It also creates a deeper relationship and a great experience. My colleagues who combine these two techniques are getting great results, and people, when hired, enter the company much more motivated and engaged.
I really liked Personal Maps in my interview. It was the first time I came across the tool, and I still remember the experience every time someone mentions it.
Miriam Santos, Agilers employee
Employee Experience: Onboard Stage
Onboarding is a very important step in the employee journey process. This crucial phase can determine whether the new employee will stay longer in the organization. I know three very good examples to improve the onboarding experience:
- Onboard yourself – A way for the employee to do their own onboarding. In Management 3.0 this is done in a Trello created for the new employee. Here at Agilers we do it with Clickup tasks that help the person to know all the company’s processes (and the other collaborators).
- Onboard site: In companies with more complex processes and programs, the use of a hot site that follows this journey, with periodic reminders is a good thing! I know of an example where this site follows the employee for one year!
- Onboard passport: there is a fintech company in Brazil that gives the employee a passport. He needs to visit areas and meet people, and at each step he completes, he gets a new stamp in his passport! A very creative way to onboard.
Check out this article from my colleague Erick Masgo for many other tips and this article from Forbes with interesting insights!
Employee Experience: Engage Stage
We can also count on Moving Motivators to engage employees. Thinking about how to work on each of the ten motivators that must be systematically incorporated in the organization.
A clear purpose tied to the use of OKRs is also a powerful engagement tool. People frequently ask me how to engage people and make them feel that they “own” the business. The formula is simple, but it requires a lot of dedication from management: purpose and good goal setting. Only when employees are involved and actively participate in shaping the organization’s strategy can they really feel ownership.
Employee Experience: Develop Stage
Daniel Pink tells us in his great book Drive that “high job performance and satisfaction are based on our need to do better by ourselves and our world” and this happens when there is purpose, mastery, and freedom.
When thinking about the employee’s experience, remember to give him autonomy to establish the paths for his development.
Ambev Tech is a great example of a company that puts the employee in charge of the training budget. They offer an annual budget in which they can choose which training to invest in.
Employee Experience: Perform Stage
When thinking about performance, we need to look at performance models that are more focused on the developmental experience of the employee than on performance appraisals based on numbers and grades.
Here are a couple of experiments I have done at this stage with great results:
- 360 Degree Dinner: I haven’t exactly been able to host a dinner, but the outcome is always positive when I gather the team for constructive feedback. Everyone leaves the room motivated and inspired by each other’s contribution, and willing to improve even more.
- Improvement Dialogues: I have been inspired to try this tool when I read about Ralph van Roosmalen’s experience of using it in performance meetings in his insightful book “Doing It“. A conversation where the employee himself finds his own improvement paths without my having to point or give opinions is a very positive outcome. There is nothing better than making something happen by deciding how to do it yourself.
Also read: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, & Adjourning: Tuckman’s stages of team development explained
Employee Experience: Reward Stage
Using Merit Money is one of the most amazing reward experiences I have had. I ended up opting for Bonus.ly, which works all Six Rules for Rewards, and the Employee Experience has been amazing. Everyone feels excited and energized about rewarding their colleagues (and of course, receiving rewards as well).
In addition to improving the Employee Experience, Merit Money systems can also be used to encourage expected behaviors. Here at Agilers everyone is rewarded when they learn new content (also encouraging the development of individuals).
Employee Experience: Exit Stage
The departure of an employee is also an experience and requires great care. Offering an Alumni structure, understanding the reasons for leaving, and treating the employee in a humanized way are some important aspects of this stage.
Something simple, and that can be a huge differential: a gratitude letter. When someone leaves our team here at Agilers, everyone gets together to write a letter of gratitude to this person, expressing all the positive things that happened in this relationship. It is a way to mark this closure in a very positive way.
Employee Experience Best Practices: Things You Should Include in Your Employee Experience Strategy
Thinking about all the examples and experiments I’ve mentioned so far, I see two main points that cannot be left aside when building a great EX strategy: humanization and positive psychology.
When we think about positive strategies in the employee journey, we also contribute to creating happier environments (and individuals).
Renata Rivetti, Chief Happiness Officer and TEDx speaker, has something very pertinent to say about the connection between EX and happiness:
So what is our role as a leader or as HR in team happiness? We have to work on wellness and mental health programs, we also have to look at the Employee Experience through Jacob Morgan’s equation: culture, technology, and physical spaces. However, when we talk about happiness we go a little further. There is no point in a mindfulness program if the person does not feel that it makes sense for him/her. There’s no point in the perfect employee journey if the person doesn’t feel like they belong or are recognized.
Renata Rivetti, Chief Happiness Officer and TEDx speaker
And I also suggest that you read about the 12 Steps to Happiness suggested by Management 3.0 which I’m sure, when considered, greatly improves the Employee Experience.
Conclusion
There is no better way to close this article than to mention one of my favorite quotes about management and leadership:
Managing can be seen as taking place within a triangle where art, craft, and the use of science meet.
Henry Mintzberg, Simply Managing
All the reflection and research on the topic of Employee Experience helped me to see how this truth also applies to it. To ensure a great Employee Experience, we must rely on scientific studies, we must experiment, and we must do it in a customized way for each situation. A truly handcrafted job. There are no ready-made formulas, or the so-called one-size-fits-all.
Google once decided to go deep and research what makes teams successful. Its conclusion, through the Aristotle project, was that the crucial factor is Psychological Safety. And this conclusion was the result of much research, experimentation and, of course, focus on the human being.
I hope all these insights are useful to you and I wish you much success in your journey to create the best journey for your employees!
Header Photo by Alireza Hatami via Unsplash
Are Outsourced IT Services Better Than Internal Teams
Outsourcing IT services is more popular than ever, and it's not just because of a huge outsourcing boom. Outsourcing IT has become a viable alternative to creating an in-house team due to the issue of efficiency and cost savings. It can be in terms of time saved as well as financial savings. Outsourcing may also be feasible due to geographic considerations or when there is a limited budget available for a project.
Outsourcing IT and in-House
You might think that you're getting what you pay for when outsourcing IT, but in some cases, it may be better to keep some of your work in-house. However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to IT outsourcing since every company's situation is different. You need to consider your company and its goals as well as what options are available for your internal or external IT teams.
When It Comes To Outsourcing, There Are Many Things To Consider
What methods of outsourcing do you want to use? There are three main alternatives: traditional outsourcing, IT managed services, and IT consulting. Which method should be used depends on various factors such as the size or type of company and your overall company goals and IT goals. Some companies choose one specific method over another for a variety of reasons. Maybe there are only one or two people that can handle creating custom software for the company. In this case, it might be better to use IT managed services or outsourcing instead of in-house.
IT Services That are Managed
Managed IT Services are often a popular solution since they involve hiring a company to handle your IT needs while keeping your internal staff. There is no specific number of people who have to work with the outsourced company. Some of the tasks that an internal team will handle include: For some companies, outsourcing IT services may be cheaper than building and maintaining an in-house team. In addition, if you do not have to worry about filling your IT positions with new hires, it will save time and money. Also, it may be cheaper than purchasing an enterprise-level software suite; it depends on the customization your business needs.
The Downside of Outsourcing IT
One of the downsides to outsourcing IT is that you risk losing your company's knowledge and expertise in IT. This is especially true if you choose a company with limited experience in your industry. Also, if you plan to outsource some of the work that is currently handled by your IT team, there may not be enough people to help with the process. Before moving forward, you need to learn how to trust your outsourced IT company's abilities. It might be best to keep some things in-house instead since it is important for your business' productivity and stability.
If you are looking to outsource your IT, you can use the following questions to help you decide whether or not it's a good decision:
If outsourcing is right for your business, try to choose a company that has experience in your industry and that other companies have recommended. Be sure that enough employees and subcontractors can work with the outsourced company to provide sufficient customer support.
You need to consider whether you will be sticking with the outsourced company or whether they will go out of business in a few years. Outsourcing can be successful when clear goals are set for the outsourced team. How important is having an IT department at all? Your company doesn't need to have specific IT staff in some cases. The more efficiently your company manages its own IT process, the less money it will spend on outsourcing services.
When choosing an outsourced IT company, do not choose a company based on price if you need other important factors. You need to make sure that the cost of your IT services will be affordable and that the quality is good. Hiring an external IT service can be beneficial for your business, especially for small companies. If you're a business owner with limited time and resources, don't hesitate to look into outsourcing IT services from a reliable company.
Conclusively, employing the services of an external IT company is often a good option. They can fit into your business easily and make sure that your information technology becomes more functional. For those looking to outsource their IT, you will likely be able to find a company that can fit your budget and other needs. There are numerous companies available with experience in various industries and levels of expertise. You just need to find the right company for your company.
Why human resources chiefs are reaching the corner office
The sharp focus placed on the people agenda over the last two years has also put a spotlight on those who lead the human resources function within major companies. During the pandemic, many chief human resources officers (CHROs) were lauded for taking broader management responsibility when staff safety and remote working quickly forced changes to strategy and outlook.
So it should come as no surprise that those leaders are now being propelled to new heights. In December, Leena Nair, Unilever’s CHRO, was named as the next leader of Chanel, swapping Dove soap and Magnum ice cream for classic suits, luxury handbags, and scents. A month later, the 2,000 employee–strong UK sandwich chain Greggs announced that Roisin Currie, for many years its group people director, would become CEO in May 2022. And before both, Anne Jessopp led the way in 2018, when she was named CEO at the UK’s Royal Mint after having joined as human resources director in 2008 and then adding business services responsibilities to her CV.
These are examples of a leadership trend that has been a long time coming. Predictions that CHROs—once mere human resources directors—could be the CEOs of the future began to appear as HR executives took on more roles within organizations, and have been around for most of the last decade. A 2014 study by University of Michigan professor Dave Ulrich and Ellie Filler, a Korn Ferry headhunter, found that CEO traits were more similar to those of CHROs than to the traits of other lieutenants (with the exception of the COO, whose role and responsibilities are often shared with those of the CEO).
But back then, the authors did not foresee a path to the CEO role for HR lifers. They thought success was far more likely for those who had broad managerial experience that also happened to include some time running the people function. That was the way it used to be. The best example was Mary Barra, who became CEO of General Motors in 2014. An engineer by training, she worked her way up GM’s operations side before serving for two years as vice president for global human resources and then holding senior posts in product development. HR for her was more like a tour of duty on the way to leadership of the Chevrolet-to-Cadillac automaker.
Today, in light of the high turnover rates facing so many organizations, CEOs need HR experience more than ever. Before the pandemic, CEOs could look to the workplace review site Glassdoor, where outspoken staff commented on the boss’s actions, for assessments of their performance. More often than not, these report cards did not make a difference. But with the demand for ongoing flexible working, the “great resignation,” and the scramble for talent, staff are speaking up within their organizations and expecting to be treated as customers.
How to Develop an ERP Business Continuity Plan
Aligning enterprise resource planning (ERP) with a business continuity plan (BCP), your company is better prepared for inevitable disasters and downturns. Company-wide data in ERP strengthens business continuity, making a business more resilient in the wake of unexpected disasters and downturns.
What is ERP?
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the practice of integrating data from various departments and functions within a business into a singular application or interface.
An ERP platform serves as a central source of information where various stakeholders access and manage information related to their roles. Users include but are not limited to:
- Employees
- Customers (current and prospective)
- Managers
- Suppliers
Integrating data from business departments and functions gives upper-level management a bird’s eye view of all aspects of business operations, both internal and external. An ERP software solution also helps management understand how all parts of the business work together to make smarter, data-driven decisions that are in the business’s best interest.
Today’s ERPs are largely cloud-based for speed, performance, and scalability. They have also changed, for the better, in a few key ways in the last couple years to better accommodate the needs of today’s businesses.
Read more: Three Key Advances in ERP for 2021
What is business continuity and a business continuity plan?
Business continuity management (BCM) entails a company’s proactive measures to mitigate negative effects of a business disruption such as a natural disaster, ransomware attack, data breach, and other incidents that interrupt or halt business operations.
A business continuity plan outlines what proactive measures to take, when, and by whom in order to accelerate recovery and resilience in the wake of the disruption. Since business continuity plans require continuous updating as the business grows and changes, business continuity software aids businesses in managing and updating their plans.
Read more: How to Create a Business Continuity Plan
How ERP and BC work together
ERP improves business continuity by helping organizations leverage their company-wide data to prepare for unforeseen disasters or downturns.
ERP software contains a wealth of data from across the business in finance, HR, marketing, production, and other areas. This data is crucial for crafting an effective business continuity plan.
Quantivate’s business continuity software, for example, runs on integrated data sharing to map out connections and dependencies across the company, combining the functions of both ERP and business continuity.
Cloud-based ERP also enables employees to perform their jobs from anywhere, at any time. Many companies’ abilities to shift to remote work was a deciding factor in their ability to resume or maintain business in the midst of a global pandemic.
By leveraging data analytics and remote accessibility in your ERP software, your company is better positioned to anticipate and navigate business disruptions.
Read more: How to Handle Security Incidents and Data Breaches
Maximizing business resiliency with ERP and business continuity
To maximize the synergy between enterprise resource planning and business continuity, here are a few considerations:
- Look for an ERP that has predictive analytics to drive business intelligence and make data-driven decisions involved in business continuity
- Clean and organize data contained within the ERP to inform the business continuity plan with the most relevant, up-to-date information
- Use ERP reporting functions to take inventory of hardware, software, devices, and other enterprise assets that need to be included in the BCP
- Prepare for additional storage requirements for ERP data as well as business continuity plan iterations
Keep calm and carry on with ERP and business continuity
ERP keeps management aware of how business operations are running and signal emerging pain points. When an unexpected disaster does happen, having an ERP-backed, data-driven business continuity plan reduces downtime and the steep costs associated with it. Proactive planning that merges ERP and BC empowers business leaders to navigate disturbances with an action plan that ensures business resiliency.
Read next: Best ERP Systems for 2022
Impact for Innovation: A Guide to Building a Mission-Driven Brand
We live in a world that is obsessed with results and measurement. Results matter because they are a very tangible measure of success. Importantly, they help drive important business decisions; it’s easier to defend input when you can point to tangible output, like increased pipeline, revenue growth, or share of voice expansion.
With this obsession with results, it should come as no surprise that, when raising the topic of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), business leaders first ask if the venture is worth the investment.
Identifying a Market Gap
Michelin’s stars make or break restaurateurs. Forbes’ “40 Under 40” recognizes the up-and-coming corporate superstars around the world. Forrester is the competitive judge of the SaaS world, assessing nuances in competitive competencies. The same rating and ranking exists in the world of CSR, the Havas 2021 Meaningful Brands study, which measures brand ‘meaning’ in functional, personal, and collective terms, reigns supreme.
In 2021, the study reported that, according to consumers, less than half of brands are seen as trustworthy (47%) and 75% could disappear and would be easily replaced. The study reveals a growing sentiment of consumer cynicism and brand disconnect.
Marketing Technology News: MarTech Interview with Myles Kleeger, President & Chief Customer Officer at Braze
Looking closer, it identifies an expectation gap in consumers’ relationships with brands and businesses; consumers seek authentic, meaningful, and sustainable action for the good of society and the planet, but are feeling sorely let down by empty promises. It’s an open casting call for brands and businesses, who lean into their social responsibility, to capture consumer hearts and minds, and market share.
Marketing Technology News: MarTech Interview with Marc Ginsberg, CEO at CallRail
The post Impact for Innovation: A Guide to Building a Mission-Driven Brand appeared first on MarTech Series.
Full article:https://martechseries.com/mts-insights/guest-authors/impact-for-innovation-a-guide-to-building-a-mission-driven-brand/ from MarTech Series