Customer Focus: The Key to Success… lies in Customer’s Success

Nowadays when Services are also commoditized, many service based companies  try

to be Customer Focused. A boost in the customers business directly leverages a growth in Service Provider’s business. Now how can you be the driver to enhance your customers’ business? Of course by providing the services you have promised to them, but not limiting yourself there. Go one step forward and provide them with what they had totally not expected. Keep the customer and their needs as your only focus – know and understand your customers’ business objective and align your services accordingly.

But does it mean to always keep pleasing the customer? Be like a puppet in the customers hands and do whatever they say. No. Customers would appreciate if you analyze their requirement and say “this won’t work” when it would not. Of course you have to work real hard and prove your statement for them to accept it. Show them the various options and discuss with them till you reach a consensus.

Customer does not want free things as value-adds. Instead they will appreciate if you are genuinely working for them and your work is worth the cost.

Lets’ now look at some of the best practices that can be followed so that EVERYTHING absolutely everything is just customer aligned:

1. Understand the Customer’s assignment:
   1. Analyze the project at hand,
   2. Understand what customer will achieve once this assignment is complete
2. Align Project Execution Process: Every client may not follow the same style for execution for the project. At times you would like to advise him that Scrum/Agile can be better than waterfall or vice versa. Aligning your process for customer will lead to processes more suited for Customer and Project. Following a process makes things organized and less chaotic to handle.
3. Project Plan:
   1. Plan execution of this Project as per defined processes
   2. Share Project Plan with Customer and take his inputs
   3. Identify Risks and discuss them with Customer upfront
4. Realistic Status updates at right time: The customer may not require Status reports every day. Based on Customer’s preference, make sure you send them without fail on pre-decided intervals. This will ensure that customer knows the project status at any given point of time. Avoid the urge of giving misleading updates to client in fear that he will be upset. It is better to face it when you and the Customer have time to mitigate the risks.
5. Transparent and regular communication: Communication is key function n Outsourced projects. Customer cannot come to team member’s desk and get the clarifications needed at any point of time. He has to rely on communication mediums and team’s availability. If team is regular with their updates and other project related Communication then Customer knows what team is working on and where project stands, he can make any changes needed to the previously defined plan.

The customer has invested in the project with the intention to make it successful. Solution Provider’s success lies in the customers’ success. Even a nagging customer helps you improve by showing you where you lag. Take it as a challenge to give the best service you can to your customers.

http://www.anarsolutions.com/customer-focus-the-key-to-success-lies-in-customers-success/utm_source=Blogger.com

Processes, Practices, Methods The absolute essentials for a quality product

The most crucial step on a project ladder, after one has developed the project management plan and set appropriate project baselines, is the ‘execution’ phase. Whether it is a multi-million dollar project, or a simple business idea being put to test, a lot of people advocate having a process-oriented approach for executing a project successfully. Process execution for smaller assignments, or projects with really tight timelines, may seem like over-egging the pudding. In such a case, it is very tempting to bypass quality processes and get the work done without following standard or predefined processes.

Processes are strong and distinct indicators of ‘how a particular task is to be performed’.

• Why Processes? 
  • Have you ever experienced variance in the way the same McDonald’s burger tastes at different outlets or at different points of time?
  • Have you experienced a different treatment from Mickey Mouse in Disney parks?

Today, we are competing with McDonald’s and Disney for quality and consistency of the products and services we serve. A customer needs to get an unswerving experience whenever he/she works with us, irrespective of team members, workload or the complexity of the assignment. How can we provide them with the same experience again and again? The answer is simple – through processes. If one does not follow processes, the outcomes are bound to be unpredictable, unstable and dissimilar, even though the severity of the variance of the result may vary due to the team’s skill-sets.

• What will the customer gain?
  • Assurance of quality: If one has a ‘Code Review Process’, then the customer will know that he is going to get the ‘Reviewed’ code every time.
  • Predictability: The customer will know what to expect at every stage of development life-cycle.
  • Stability: The customer will have better control over the expected outcome of entire product life-cycle.
  • Risk Management: The customer can manage his risks as he has better visibility.

•  How to ensure process adherence?
  • It is extremely difficult to get one’s team to follow a particular process if they don’t believe in it, especially in Software Development. One needs to strive to build the psychology and the attitude of the team in order to gain process orientation across all projects.
  • Every process needs to have some objectively measurable output (Measurement Metrics). These metrics should get reviewed regularly, in order to enable easy monitoring of process adherence. It is challenging to define such metrics. Hence, one needs to be innovative to achieve it.
  • http://www.anarsolutions.com/processes-practices-methods-the-absolute-essentials-for-a-quality-product/utm-source=Blogger.com

Collaboration Software – SharePoint Shows The Way

Collaboration Software – SharePoint Shows The Way – Over the last five years financial services industry is suffering from slow economy and increased regulation which has dried up budgets and jobs. People are facing hard time finding documents, information and contents across functional business areas and organisation. There is lack of planning for organizing  documents. The true challenge is finding innovative methods that lower costs, rapidly integrate with existing data and systems, deliver fastest time to market and deliver on those promises.

For Collaboration Sharepoint is undoubtedly the solution . Adopting Sharepoint substantially reduces an extra cost of business intelligence. SharePoint is the most popular software for creating corporate intranets. Sharepoint is the platform which has ability to bring together teams and redefine the way people work together and guarantee success in the market. Sharepoint provides an organisation multiple ways to visualize information. Business key players need this data in real time to make important and accurate business decisions.

Today, entrepreneurs  need to accelerate enterprise services beyond using standard in-the-box methodologies as it reduces  risks and increases deliverable quality. When entrepreneurs are backed up with industry expertise,coupled with ability to deliver high performance custom applications using Sharepoint, they uniquely separate themselves from competitors.

Sharepoint is a vastly capable, flexible , powerful system that can be tailored to meet the needs of the organisation. AnAr Solutions helps in increasing that ability to excel and have maximum impact in the industry. For more details and and free consultation on how your business can benefit by using Sharepoint contact us today at anarsolutions.com or ring us on +91 7276332494

http://www.anarsolutions.com/collaboration-software-sharepoint/utm-source=Blogger.com

Windows Azure Cloud Overview For Small Businesses And Entrepreneurs

Microsoft Windows Azure is a platform which assists in developing and deploying cloud applications and services. This application saves money and matches dynamic workloads, which increases productivity, as your team is able to work on more strategic projects instead of maintenance and support.

Most commonly overlooked benefit of cloud is ability to create secure and reliable cloud based services that expose line of business and back off systems to company’s own on-or off premises applications. This platform offers a wide range of services and provides four options for doing this  as in virtual machines, cloud services, websites and mobile services. All have different role-plays and  depends on the mission of the company whether to use one, or combine all.

AnAr manages your company’s move into the cloud. We work with our clients to understand their set up, applications and their expectations from cloud computing. Our specialists help you in reducing cost and improve service delivery in line with business priorities. Seems interesting? For more information contact us via info@anarsolutions.com and via our website www.anarsolutions.com

http://www.anarsolutions.com/windows-azure-cloud-overview-for-small-businesses-and-entrepreneurs/utm-source=Blogger.com

Why HTML5 Makes Sense for Business?

Now-a-days everyone in IT world is experiencing new portal of opportunities because of entry of HTML5 websites. It is the latest version which offers new and greatly improved ways of implementing and designing web pages. It is a true alternative to move away from software and plugins. With little tweaking or revision it can be used on both desktop and mobile device browsers. Development resources become more manageable to the employees who work together while dividing project responsibilities. HTML5 websites are extra-ordinary ,fast and powerful.

In today’s fast paced environment if every online business is powered with HTML5 website, results would be remarkable. All major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera) Support HTML5 , so its technology can be used at its best today. HTML5 has overcome traditional internet and replaced flash and can be used as a single code base.

Due to its built-in storage ability, HTML5 can save client databases offline, store cookies and cache files. With HTML5 one can create clear, descriptive semantic code. It provides standard access to functionality such as camera or GPS that previously was only available to native applications. All you have to do is connect AnAr, to know how to use it and you are all set. AnAr gives you promising access that you desire.

Bringing Desktop Applications To Web

In today’s world, applications and data are moving away from individual computers to web servers and this shift will work well for all the professions. Web applications can be easily accessed from any computer or location that has internet access. Travelers especially benefit in accessing web applications whereas desktop applications need to be individually installed on each computer. A desktop application is a self contained program that performs a defined set of tasks under the user control.

Undoubtedly web applications serve some very interesting purposes. As more and more people gravitate towards web applications, desktop applications may become obsolete. Some advantages of web applications are easy to update, perform  independently , support and maintenance is easier and easy bug fixing. Word processors and media players can be considered as typical desktop apps, while a shopping cart or an e-commerce website can be considered as web app. Web apps  need to be installed only once.

Now-a-days, people prefer to use web applications as it doesn’t have to be installed or downloaded, never requires a restart and never requires a contextual change  just to open up a purchasing page. Ultimately the accessibility of web based applications makes them very desirable.

http://www.anarsolutions.com/bringing-desktop-applications-to-web/utm-source=Blogger.com

Mobile Application Catalyst For Your Business

If companies hope to step into the ever-expanding market of mobile device users, then they need to incorporate mobile application development into their online strategies.

Does your business need a Mobile App?

Companies need to think about mobile devices not as cell phones, but as mini handheld computers. Looking at the increasing use of smartphones and tablets, just as a company would develop applications to better reach computer based customers, so too must an enterprise think of mobile applications so as to reach those on smartphones or tablets.

Here are the reasons why you should develop a mobile app for your business –

• App as a promotional tool:Today, everything including commerce, trading and payment is handled on mobile. That being the case, mobile apps has proved to be the very future of computing. Developing a mobile app and promoting it among your users is hence extremely beneficial to further your business.
• Reaching many more customers:Developing an app for your business helps you reach many more customers, than with a traditional Website. Additionally, integrating major social networks with your app furthers the scope and reach of your business.
• Showcasing Your Products and Services:You can use your app as a tool to showcase your products and services. Users visiting your app would then have instant, one-stop access to you. Also, you can keep updating your app with interesting offers with encourages users to visit you more often and spread a good word as well.

In conclusion to all this, with the mobile industry booming like it is right now, it is most advisable for any and every business to develop mobile apps to promote their products and services. Mobile is indeed the way all communication is headed today and so, embracing this technology is guaranteed to produce the right results for your business.

http://www.anarsolutions.com/mobile_application_catalyst_for_your_business/utm_source=Blogger.com