Bank Holiday Mayhem

A few weeks back the country came to (some sort) of a standstill to celebrate the royal wedding. An additional (special) bank holiday was “awarded” by the Government, with what seemed little thought to the impact on Small Businesses. One less trading day in which to earn income, yet those that employ people would still need to pay their wages, National Insurance Contributions etc.

The Government has now decided to award another “special” bank holiday in 2012 to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. This in the week that “Economists Warn that Cuts Put The Recovery at Risk“.

The Coalition Government has talked a lot about the absolute neccessity to ensure SMEs are the bedrock on which we get out of the current economic difficulty, and they have announced a series of measures to make this happen.

Does their approach to a seemingly little issue like adding special Bank Holidays demonstrate however that they really do not get SMEs, and the challenges we are facing? Or should we just lighten up and enjoy a chance for another day off and a party?

We would love to hear what you think.

Imagine having the confidence that you can deliver on your support commitments via a network of experienced, high calibre organisations that hold a recognised quality mark…

When you provide maintenance support to your customers, your ongoing support will determine how the customer see’s you after the installation has been completed.  Be careful not to always respond first to the people who shout loudest and ignore the silent majority.

If you use a network of suppliers to help you deliver your commitments,  Accredit UK is a great way of ensuring that they operate to the same level as you do.

In order to meet the requirements of the standard, we may ask you:

• What are your standard terms and conditions for maintenance support?
• Do you differentiate between reactive and proactive maintenance support?
• How do you measure the value that you create for your customers through your maintenance programme?
• What is your experience of achieving your SLA on maintenance?
• How, through your maintenance programme, do you address the issue of updates?

If you and your network are all Accredit UK certified then you can be safe in the knowledge that all of the above have been addressed by you all in a similar way, based on industry best practice.

For more information on how Accredit UK can help you improve and grow your business contact the team on 02476 496 217, we’d love to hear from you.  Dont fancy calling? No problem, join in the conversation on Twitter instead.

Imagine giving your customers confidence that you will consistently deliver in line with their expectations…..

Managing customers expectations is vital and this can be done by putting in place relevant and robust service level agreements (SLA’s).  These agreements may well include commitments on availability and performance after the project has been handed over.  Delivering against these commitments will keep your customers happy which in turn should encourage repeat business enabling you to improve and grow as a business.

Working through the Accredit UK scheme will enable you to set realistic SLA’s based on industry best practice.  During the assessment process your assessor may ask you:

• How do you monitor availability and performance?
• How do you address the issue when availability or performance is below the SLA?
• What do you do to ensure that your customers achieve their uptime and performance goals?

An example SLA could be that a supplier commits to fixing a broken piece of kit within four hours of it breaking down.  The time scales and levels of performance within an SLA should manage the expectations of both the supplier and the purchaser.

For more information on how Accredit UK can help you improve and grow your business contact the team on 02476 496 217, we’d love to hear from you.  Dont fancy calling? No problem, join in the conversation on Twitter instead.

Imagine being able to confidently predict the skills and competencies required to grow your business………

How can you understand what contracts to bid for and where opportunities to grow exist if you don’t understand the skills and competencies of your staff ?

You will need to ensure that you understand the necessary competencies that staff need and provide suitable training (or take other actions) to develop these skills.

Going through the Accredit UK certification scheme will provide you with the tools to do just that.  During your visit, your assessor may ask you:

• How do you plan your requirements for technical skills?
• Does the business have a culture in which skills development is prioritised?
• Are technical skills graded in terms of competencies?

For example.  To develop the competencies of your people you can either cherry pick the critical skills or develop the whole person; the latter approach is more challenging but shows significant returns in terms of capability, retention and motivation.

Interested in improving and growing your business? Join in the conversation with our network on Twitter or contact the team on 02476 496 217, we’d love to hear from you.

Regards

Leanne

Do you fully understand your customers requirements or do you simply quote against their unqualified stated needs?

Happy New Year to everybody and I hope that 2011 is a prosperous year for you.

When you are generating business you need to do a full requirements analysis to understand the problems your customer has and how you can help solve them by supplying the appropriate products/services to them.

It is at this point that you can typically win or lose the deal – and put your business at risk if you get it wrong.  Requirements analysis is all about understanding what the customer really needs – digging beyond those stated requirements to understand exactly what is involved and coming up with a solution that is perfectly aligned to the customer’s situation. You will also want to ensure that it is within your capacity to deliver too.

On the assessment visit, your Accredit UK assessor will be looking for assurance that you are able to discern what the customer really wants and not simply quote against their unqualified stated needs. That involves challenging the customer (in the nicest way, of course) and digging beyond the stated requirements by asking the questions: “what, why and how?”

During your asessment you may get asked:

• Who does your requirements gathering?
• How do you know they are doing a comprehensive analysis?
• What happens when you propose one solution but the customer insists on another?
• How do you plan for future developments?
• How is the requirements gathering validated by the customer?

For example: Requirements gathering may be done on a site visit, through involvement with the customers forward planning, or through your own knowledge of their environment; but the key is how you capture it and feed it back to the customer.

Hints & Tips:

-  ”A well conducted session with the customer will build trust and expectation and once you have that, you’re well on the way to the contract”

- “Intellectual property is valuable to the company, so only provide the information that you need to. If there is a comprehensive audit required, charge for your time and the information you are providing and refund it when the job is commissioned”.

I hope you find the above useful. For more hints and tips from Accredit UK send me your contact details at info@accredituk.com and I’ll add you to our mailing list.  Alternatively, if you’d like to talk to me then get in touch on 02476 496 217.

I look forward to hearing from you

Leanne

Update your Business Plan and Objectives

Business Direction – Update Business Plan and Objectives

However detailed and well thought out your plan, one point is certain: it will need to change.  We will want to see the way in which you reflect those changes within the day-to-day operations of the business.

The Accredit UK assessor may ask you:

• How do you keep the plan up-to-date?
• What is your review cycle?
• Who is involved in reviews?
• How do you document the changes?
• How do you push the changes into the business?

For example.  A regularly conducted review process comparing the Key Performance Indicators – actuals to plan – and evidence that any key variations are addressed is what will satisfy us on this one.

Hint & Tips:

- “You can only adapt readily to change if you are able to identify the changes that are occurring – and then implement the change that is required.”

Follow-up References

Business Management – Follow-up References

Accredit UK will want to talk to you about your policies on references for new employees, when you seek them and heed them, and when you do not.

Your assessor may ask you:

• What is your approach to references?
• What questions do you ask the referees?
• What do you do when you cannot get references?
• What do you do when they say something different to what you were expecting?
• How do you record the references you have received?

For example.  You think they are excellent but the reference says they are rubbish; unless there was a personality clash, the reference is going to be better than your instinct.

Hints & Tips:

- “Again, we are not looking for a process that is complicated for the sake of it – we are looking at your decision-making process and how you evaluate potential employees.”

Next time I’ll be featuring the line of enquiry relating to updating business plans and objectives.

In the meantime for more information on Accredit UK why not check out our daily advent calendar at http://www.youtube.com/user/AccreditUK or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AccreditUK

Top Tips – AUK Advent Calendar Day 3

Dont forget to check out the Accredit UK advent calendar at http://twitter.com/AccreditUK or www.youtube.com/user/AccreditUK.

Available ICT Opportunities

6 Public Sector ICT opportunities were emailed out to all Accredit UK certified companies this week.  To join the scheme and get access to this weekly tender information contact Accredit UK at info@accredituk.com or telephone the team on 02476 496 217.

Top Tips – AUK Advent Calendar Day 2

3 Top tips for a successful business in 2011 on day 2 of Accredit UK’s Advent Calendar at:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGY_IqlBW3M&feature=youtu.be. 

Kindly supplied by Purple Cow Idea’s Management.  Follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn to receive your daily fix of tips.