Tag: HR

Technology can be a business enabler

Posted on by Sanlam

Article written by Jannie Rossouw, Head: Sanlam Business Market

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.
Bill Gates

Whenever I think about the application of technology (hardware and software) I follow a specific thinking process – something which might also be of value to other business owners.

1. Assess your needs

It is a good practice to start with the end in mind. This means that you need to understand what business outcome you want to achieve. You can then proceed to evaluate which technology application will support you in achieving the business imperative.

For example:

  • You want to record client information: MS Excel might just do the job for now, but a more robust CRM system might be the ultimate solution.
  • You have shrinkage of stock in your business: Electronic stock control will give you a handle on stock levels and movement of stock into and out of your business.
  • You want to publish a weekly article/newsletter: Depending on the volumes involved and the graphical presentation of the article or newsletter, you can use MS Word, or MS Publisher, or customise the information in HTML (requires programming skills).

2. Take stock of what you have

Do you have a gauge on the hardware and software applications used in your business? I have seen equipment standing around in businesses having no productive use. It is even worse with software applications. Different versions of standardised software applications are used in the same business. Knowing if technology is functional and compatible goes a far way to avoid challenges leading to inefficiencies.

Do you know what the use of each piece of technology in your business is? (E.g. lead management, financial reporting and sign-off, HR admin, safekeeping of information)

3. What is available?

There are infinite solutions available for technology enablement and advancement. If you are not tech-savvy, I propose that you identify someone who is. Pay them a consultation fee, if necessary. It is important to note that you are still the person responsible for verbalising the business outcome

you want to achieve with the application of technology. It is not wise to delegate this responsibility to someone else.

4. The cost of ownership

Sometimes you do not need outright ownership of software or even hardware components. A licencing right, leasing agreement, or “pay as you go” utilisation might be the right option for you. In this way you only pay for usage and always have access to the latest version or development.

If the application is business critical or very unique, it makes sense to consider developing it in-house, or have outright ownership thereof. Bear in mind that the redundancy cycles of technology is short. Most technology applications and equipment have no or little second hand value.

Let me conclude with another statement by the ubiquitous Bill Gates: “Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without the talking about the other.”

To support business owners with the important task of business planning, Sanlam gives you free access to the book Your Annual Business Game Plan for Success, which provides an easy and straightforward framework needed to draft a well-crafted game plan that will create the positive change and growth necessary for business success. Go to www.sanlam.co.za/gameplan to download your free copy.

Any business owner can master successful networking

Posted on by Business Partners Limited

Here is some good news for business owners who are more comfortable with machines and production processes than with people: successful networking with people is every bit as systematic as networking with computers.

“You don’t have to be Miss Congeniality to network successfully with potential clients, suppliers and business associates,” says Corene Marx, marketing manager at Business Partners . All that is required is a strategy, some dedication, order and maintenance. In short, networking is a business process like any other that even the most unsociable techie can master.

This insight carries a message also for the sociable type of business owner for whom networking comes naturally: no matter with how much flair you are able to conduct your business relationships, you will do even better if you build a bit of a system around it.

Marx offers the following pointers to help business owners think about networking –a much-neglected system in many businesses. First, some general principles, followed by some tips on what to do when you are at a networking event.

  • Approach networking for what it is – a crucial business system like your accounting system, HR system, or production system. It means that you have to spend some time thinking about it, working on it and maintaining it. “It’s a recipe,” says Marx. “Once you’ve worked out your recipe, networking becomes easy.”
  • Define your target groups – if you don’t, you’ll end up chasing your own tail. How wide you should throw your net depends on your business. A tourism business may want to include entire country networks and sectors such as travel agents, while a niche tech business starts with a much narrower group of specialised suppliers, clients and business associates.
  • Networking only among your peers is not wide enough. It is inadequate for a printer, for example, to limit his networking only to the local printers’ association. Seek out clients and business opportunities upstream, downstream and adjacent to your sector.
  • Start with a list of people who are in your network already – your existing clients, suppliers and business associates, but be sure to add new people, or whole categories of people that you want to target. This is just the start – a healthy business network has new contacts coming in all the time, as well as having old ones removed as their relevance fades.
  • One of the key principles of effective networking is your ability to prioritise each contact, and that you spend most of your time cultivating those who are most important to your business. Think of a funnel – where a lot of contacts move in from the wide end, but only a few end up yielding results. Effective networking requires that that you constantly reprioritise your contacts as their importance to your business waxes and wanes.
  • You don’t need the latest customer relationship management software. They can be handy, but if money is tight you can effectively manage a large network with an ordinary spreadsheet using simple categorisation tools such as colour coding to prioritise contacts.
  • Make time to think, strategise and research each of your contacts, firstly to correctly prioritise each. Then, think about how you need to cultivate each of your categories. For example, you could decide to contact your “Category A” contacts at least once a quarter, invite them to a special event or treat them to lunch every so often. The next category contacts could be treated similarly, but perhaps less regularly, while your least important category simply gets your regular email newsletter, for example.
  • Relationships take time to develop, and are built on genuine interest and mutual benefit. The key is regular contact, but it does not have to be monotonous. Interactions can vary from a call to say thank you, to introducing a useful contact, sending an interesting article or referring a client (and even asking for advice is a good way to make someone feel important). Don’t leave these things to spontaneity – plan and schedule them.
  • Clean up your contact list regularly, not only removing redundant entries, but reprioritising each contact so that you invest most of your time and energy in the most important ones.
  • Internet-based social networking is important as a medium of contact, and be sure to maintain your presence on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In as would your clothes – neat and fresh. But you don’t have to “hang around” there. True business networking happens face to face.
  • Think carefully about your business networking calendar so that you don’t waste your time attending events that yield little. But don’t be afraid to experiment to see which events work for you. Get out there.

So you’re staring at a room full of people over a platter of samoosas wishing you were back at the workshop. What should you do to get the most out of a networking event even though you’re not a natural networker?

  • First, relax. You don’t have to be the belle of the ball. You don’t have to pitch anything to anybody. Just the fact that you’ve managed to tear yourself away from your operation to be there is already a major step towards growing your networking skills.
  • Start by listening to conversations, even if you don’t participate at first. Sooner or later an opportunity will arise to ask a question and become part of the conversation. Carry your business cards for when you get a chance to introduce yourself, or have you smartphone ready if it’s a digital kind of crowd – or both.
  • As soon as you get used to such events, you will find out how easy it is to approach someone, introduce yourself and start a conversation.
  • It is always better for networking to do more listening than talking.
  • Don’t try to speak to everyone at an event, but also don’t monopolise one person. If you know who is going to be there, it is sometimes good to plan with whom you want to make contact before you leave.
  • Networking actually begins when you leave the event. Now, you have to be diligent in filing the contacts that you’ve made into your system, prioritising them, and in doing so scheduling the kind of follow-up needed. If it’s late and you’re not going back to the office, scribbling a note or two on the back of the contact’s business card is a good way to remind yourself who the person is and why you thought they could be a useful in your network.

Bosses must support retirement planning

Posted on by Webmaster

With 51% of surveyed pensioners not making ends meet and 62% of job changers still not preserving their retirement savings, South Africa’s employers and business owners have a vital role to play in solving the country’s retirement savings shortfall.

This is the conclusion drawn by Sanlam after analysing the results of its 2013 Sanlam Benchmark Survey. Dawie de Villiers, CEO of Sanlam Employee Benefits (SEB), says National Treasury is keen to address the issue, but proposed measures will likely only take hold in 2015. This is why Sanlam believes its research points to the need for employers to step into the breach.

“According to the principal officers of stand-alone retirement funds, 47% of retirement fund members turn to human resources (HR) for retirement queries throughout their working lives and 32% ask HR for advice at retirement,” says De Villiers. But only 52% of employer funds have formalised strategies to advise active members. And the fact that only 26% have a built-in preservation strategy as a default option ends up perpetuating the trend for employees to spend their savings before retirement when they resign or are retrenched, adds De Villiers.

“An employee’s retirement journey starts on day one of employment and continues for the rest of their life,” says De Villiers.

Taking into consideration that employees would have contributed to some form of retirement vehicle for an average 28 years by the time they retire, it is disconcerting to think that nearly three decades of saving would not be enough to secure a comfortable retirement. De Villiers feels this is enough hard evidence for employers to step in and nudge their staff towards making informed decisions about their retirement financial planning.

Since the shift from defined benefit to defined contribution benefit structures, the risk and responsibility for retirement provision has rested largely with the employee. De Villiers does not advocate a return to the “paternalistic era” of the 1980s, but believes current results are unsatisfactory.

Most employees do not seem to care very much about retirement planning, with only 10% bothering to review the retirement benefit option they selected when they joined the fund. “They consider retirement as a very distant event and are not interested in the detail around it. In fact our research shows that people only seek financial advice on average 12 years before retirement,” says De Villiers. “If the employer or business owner works with every employee to develop a retirement strategy that fits into their overall financial plan and also helps them to understand the consequences of certain actions or inaction during their employable years, we would see a marked improvement in retirement statistics in this country.”

Happily, three out of four pension funds surveyed do offer pre-retirement counselling, but only 41% have a stated target pension. Retirement industry stakeholders such as trustee boards and benefit and asset consultants should make a real effort to ensure that the fund structure can support a successful retirement for each individual member, says De Villiers. Retirement funds need to gently nudge their members towards making decisions that would benefit them in retirement, without being prescriptive or taking away member choice, says De Villiers. And to make this a reality, many more employers need to put in place counselling strategies and ensure skilled resources are allocated to ensure their successful implementation, adds De Villiers.

“Over the past number of years our research has consistently pointed to a need for regulatory change in the retirement industry and we are extremely pleased that the wheels have been put in motion with Treasury,” says De Villiers. But until these proposals become reality, employers can do much to aid matters, concludes De Villiers.

Sanlam Employee Benefits is a leading provider of group life and disability benefits, institutional investments, risk services, fund administration, derivative based structured solutions to institutions and retirement funds through a number of specialist divisions. For more information visit the Sanlam Employee Benefits webpage or call 0860 100 539.