The Business Agility Blog

In the telecom industry, online portals are becoming a valuable marketing tactic and revenue driver.

Telecommunications agents and resellers rely on carriers to provide the information necessary to win business. It’s a simple relationship in a competitive industry. By creating online agent portals, carriers can simultaneously better serve agents/resellers AND streamline their processes. The progression to online channel portals is differentiating carriers in the eyes of resellers for several reasons. For one, they’re a faster and more efficient way of communicating with resellers. They also simplify the process of doing business with carriers – quick quotes, up-to-date marketing material, and results tracking, to name a few.

Business Agility, always a must

Business agility is necessary to compete with the current changes in the telecom industry. Implementing portals can seem like a big undertaking, but as more carriers provide this service, the naysayers will be left in the dust. In fact, one Sales Manager I spoke with is adamant about carriers implementing these portals. It sounds like carriers and agents/resellers alike can benefit from a pinch of cloud computing magic; we’ve put together five easy steps for taking on these projects…

1. Streamline marketing communications

The first step towards realizing the power of online portals is using them to disseminate information efficiently. The fastest and most global of communicative systems makes this process as easy as clicking a mouse. Sales in the telecommunications industry are driven by intensive campaigns for which supporting marketing materials and product/services catalogs need to be readily available. There is no better way to provide this information to agents and resellers than via an online portal.

2. Provide online availability checks

Manually checking service availability for clients is inefficient and costly for resellers. Automating these processes frees up sales and marketing teams, in telecom organizations, so they can focus on more important activies like acquiring new business. Both agents/resellers and carrier’s account managers can do their jobs better when this information is provided over the internet. Notice how steps one and two focus on channeling information efficiently.

3. Empower agents with accurate quoting and submission

What’s more important than providing a potential client with an accurate quote? Enabling agents and resellers with 24/7 online quoting and order submission is a huge time saver for both parties involved in a telecom transaction. Rather than having to call a channel manager, telecommunications agents and resellers can compute their quotes. Can your channel managers update their service and product price list?

4. Increase partner and client satisfaction with self service

We know that resellers, business development managers, and channel managers want to focus on driving revenue by acquiring more telecommunications customers. The trick is that acquisition of new business needs to be balanced with existing client satisfaction. The service method is the best way of going about providing support to these stakeholders. Think: dinner buffet.

5. Give real incentives to resellers

Commission and bill processing is an enormously difficult task for telecommunication organizations – it also provides an opportunity to differentiate themselves in the telecommunications market. Telecom portals can be automated and customized for recurring commission structures based on the type of partner and product/services being sold. Commission management and execution is a key business driver in the industry. Optimizing the partner sales channel should be a high priority for the organization, right?

Hopefully these five steps make the seemingly overwhelming task of implementing an online portal a bit more feasible. Here at Mendix, these portals are a common request and the average application usually takes around two months to finalize. In the end, the sooner a carrier adopts these strategies the more business they will win – application development is not the headache it used to be. Check here for more about business agility in the telco industry, and take this survey if you’re a telecommunications broker!

Stream Group, a consulting firm located in the United Kingdom, has reached a partnership agreement with Cambridge-based software company Mendix to distribute Mendix products in the UK market. Stream Group has agreed to use the Mendix platform exclusively.

Paul Jewell, Managing Director, sees a great opportunity in the UK, “The economic context in the UK has generated demand for rapid and efficient development.” With 25 years of IT experience, Jewell was initially skeptical about the Mendix value proposition. After extensive work with Mendix, he was convinced. “Once I learned more about the Mendix software suite and how it can release business value, my team and I agreed it delivers on its promise of real business agility and provides the opportunity to build bespoke applications within the time and budget constraints of off-the-shelf product.”

The firm is currently the exclusive distributor of Mendix software products in the United Kingdom. They have already started to offer advanced training via their Stream Academy as well as a University Program that will focus on educating elite university students in the region. The company will primarily offer web-based business applications that have been proven to streamline processes and increase business agility. The company is focusing on extending traditional ERP and legacy landscapes with its cost-efficient and more flexible web applications.  Stream Group will be working closely with selected Value Added Resellers in the UK to ensure that business sector experience is appropriately captured and enhanced through adoption of the Mendix platform.

Derek Roos, Mendix CEO, looks forward to working with Stream Group; “Stream Group offers a well rounded value proposition to the UK market. Their industry expertise and IT experience make them a valuable distributor of our platform. We look forward to watching them grow with Mendix software in the UK.”

About Stream Group

Stream Group is focused on providing innovative and rapid technological support to both commercial and public sector organizations.  Stream Group excels in solving complex business problems and helping their customers to achieve their goals and objectives quickly. www.thestreamgroup.com

What we can learn about business agility from world class hockey players.

I was sitting with a few friends watching USA and Canada fight for the gold in men’s hockey when I we started talking about the changes in hockey over the years. The sport has been played without much change for decades, aside from the laser timing and broadcasting technologies that have been introduced to all Olympic sports.

A buddy of mine, who had been a college hockey player, mentioned some changes he noticed in the way players well, play. He explained that hockey players rarely ever relied on the amount of agility they do to win these days. “None of this lightening fast tap dance to the net” I believe were his words.

Where physics meets strategy

Hockey had once been a game of force; a product of mass and acceleration that resulted in bloodied jerseys and missing teeth. Not to say this basic principle is entirely gone, but agility has become a pillar of Olympic skills that seem to have taken priority over size, speed and vigor. The truth is, every team brings their best hockey players to the table, or rink in this case. Coming away with the big W requires a plethora of variables to pan out just right, one of which is the overall skill and strategy of the team.

To the keen hockey spectator, agility scores more goals. To the Business Agility blogger, agility scores more goals. When size and speed are maxed out, players need to rely on their maneuverability at the net. Starting to see the connection? Your company is centered on three pillars, a simplistic model, but an accurate one. You have your team, your opportunity, and your resources – and guess what, agility is as important to your team as it is to modern Olympians.

Think about it… A company can grow and grow until its mammoth proportions result in its inability take advantage of new opportunities. (I’m picturing a sumo wrestler skating down the rink… no goal) On the other hand, you can be small and quick, allowing you to exploit new opportunities but at a smaller scale; your smaller scale. (An ice dancer… maybe a goal, more likely a broken spine) Then there’s a balance; the right amount of business agility – one part decision making and implementation speed and one part capital force not to be reckoned with. Now you can take advantage of opportunities, and have the strength to rebound if the opportunity flops. Now you’re scoring goals.

Balance is everything

Business agility is all about achieving the right balance. A company that wants to grow as fast as possible will need to be able to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Just as coaches of Olympic hockey teams modify their strategy to make goal-scoring hockey teams – company leadership should be thinking about the technology they use and how fast they can use it. If you weren’t watching last night, see below to watch Crosby’s agility bring Canada the gold.