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Practice Development News
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May 2006 |
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Who are e-Accountants?
Today's professional services organization understands that technology is required in order to do business. However, many of these organizations still view technology as an expense, a costly tool, rather than a valuable source of innovation and revenue. But there are many who know otherwise. These are the e- Accountants.
e-Accountants use technology to their advantage and to the advantage of their clients. e-Accountants implement technology in areas of the business where the right systems, hardened processes, can have a dramatic positive impact. e-Accountants Increase profitability of core business engagements by reducing the costs of providing services. They increase client service capability to improve client communication and retention. And they increase brand and image visibility, and actively look towards diversification - moving into new or niche service areas, creating differentiation, establishing "domain expertise" and alleviating competitive concerns.
A Closer Look at What CRM can do for You The entire life cycle of the relationship starts with the first interaction
Marketing exposes your business and your products or services to your prospective customers. Marketing activities are generally oriented towards the generation of leads – businesses or individuals from whom you may ultimately develop new business opportunities. Marketing campaigns often target large groups, with a goal of gaining the permission to engage in more focused, one-to-one sales activities. When a marketing initiative results in a direct response contact, a new sales lead has been generated.
A sales lead is a prospective or future customer. From the first contact to the conclusion of the first account sale, the story of interactions with this party tells the story of how you earn new business and how you create a business customer relationship. These interactions are the key to understanding how and where you are successful in earning new business. Successful interactions may be tracked historically, and often provide a pattern of activities that can be reproduced to generate recurring positive results. Unsuccessful attempts can also be tracked, providing insight for the refinement of the process and resulting in fewer wasted efforts.
A sales lead does not stop becoming a lead just because they buy from you. On an ongoing basis, every customer remains a prospect: a potential source of new business opportunity. The maximum benefit is gained when a business can understand not only when or why their customer buys, but under what circumstances the customer “wants more”. Through ongoing interactions – service and support events, billing and account management activities, sales or marketing impressions – the history of activity with the customer reflects the performance of the business and provides a means for measuring success. This becomes the basis for identifying areas for improvement across a variety of job functions and processes within the business.
Information Security in the Internet Age How safe is safe?
The Internet and computer networking has introduced a wide variety of opportunities and capabilities for businesses and individuals around the world. Removing geographic boundaries and mitigating the effects of time and distance are benefits that the “connected” lifestyle affords. More than ever, businesses outfit their personnel with the mobile tools of the trade: laptops, cell phones, PDA’s - helping to keep their workforce productive at all times whether online or off. However, with increased mobility and access comes increased danger of loss or exposure of sensitive information.
Many business owners believe that the threat comes exclusively from outside the company, in the form of computer hackers performing illicit activities for no good purpose. The increasing danger of illegitimate software, virus’ and scams, and network intrusion is definitely something to protect against, and is well worth an investment in technology and process to do so. But the problem does not always come from outside the company and, in fact, may be the result of “normal” business operations or processes.
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