The SAP Observation Deck

Is social media the final nail in the IT Exhibition coffin?

This week we have a crack team of Invenio personnel exhibiting at an IT conference in Sri Lanka.  A decade or so ago, corporate IT departments were in the midst of a love affair with the tradeshow.  Each year, millions of delegates would converge at various conference centres in various locations around the world to see the very latest technologies on the market (or, in some cases, watch a powerpoint of soon-to-be-available technologies!). The big vendors would spend hundreds of thousands of pounds, dollars, deutschmarks and yen to attract us to the biggest, flashiest and outré stands that were stuffed with as much tat as you could stuff into your branded exhibition satchel.  The market for stress balls and branded mints never had it so good.

But then came the internet.

With a few notable exceptions including the traditional “XYZ User Conference”, everybody wants to do business sitting behind a computer screen. These days it seems, businesses search for prospective suppliers through the proliferation of social networks that have sprung up. Blogs, discussion forums, twitters, facebook and linkedin are no longer the must-have accessory for the technology marketing fashionista - they are a mainstream requirement for IT suppliers everywhere if you are to stand a chance of getting on a shortlist.

Of course, social networking isn’t a new concept – it has in fact been around for decades in the guise of usenet and listserv et al...  but its elevated position in how we use it to find new suppliers – has all but replaced the range of human interaction provided by an exhibition.  

In his recent blog entitled “The Social CIO”, Alastair Behenna wryly stated “I’m going to have to leverage my “social” skills if I’m to succeed in “consumerising” corporate IT.”  This, in response to a Gartner press release that declared a new dawn in which we’ll have occupations that include “virtual-assistant designers ... who create Web beings that replicate the actions of a human being in providing agent services on the Web”.  OK, I’ll look forward to that.

But (bringing this blog back to its original subject) I think that social media is a poor substitute for real world business networking.  The delegates in Sri Lanka get to shake hands with our CEO and have a proper conversation about how we can work together. They get to ask questions and get unrehearsed, PR-free answers. They get to see our team in action - and we get to look our prospective new customers in the eyes. And these are the things that this blog can never do. 

Social networking is a great tool (in spite of my previous protestations!).  But I think we’ll all be a bit better off if we keep a degree of human interaction in our business dealings with each other. And that means getting out of the office and into the exhibition hall to press the flesh and grab a few stress balls to give to the kids when you get home.

Yours

Laura, Marketing Director and Chief Blogger

Onshore, offshore, nearshore, not sure?

As a company with a hybrid onshore-offshore SAP services model, we sometimes stumble across companies that refuse point-blank to entertain the idea of having any offshore element included in their SAP service arrangements.  These are usually companies that have either been caught by (or been scared by) the ‘dark side’ of the offshoring game.

 

Many of the bad offshore experiences I hear about have one common denominator – and that’s that the companies concerned simply outsourced work to the lowest bidder (losing sight of everything but the finances).  In these scenarios, the winning contractor typically has to eke out a marginal profit by slashing costs in the management of the venture, abandoning any skills development initiatives and hiring low cost, inexperienced or unskilled personnel.  This leads to staff attrition, multiple quality issues and account neglect/mismanagement – with a worst case scenario of a complete project breakdown. No wonder then that these companies are completely disillusioned with the practice of offshoring and refuse to consider it for future projects.

 

That said, companies who are faced with the consequences of the current economic downturn and experiencing rising (and global) competition will find themselves in need of a strategy to control costs – thus making the practice of offshoring a very attractive strategy.  Leading strategic advisory firm Hackett recently said "Globalization of work is no longer a leading-edge strategy, it should be considered a best practice for any company."  This view is not something which everyone will agree with – but it certainly makes sense for companies to review their operations within the context of the benefits provided by offshoring.

 

To Invenio, we see offshoring as a positive activity which makes good business sense. For us, it means we can provide the same quality of services to our clients at lower prices than if the work were completed onshore. And we can draw upon the best skills and talents from a far larger pool of qualified consultants. Fortunately, these views are certainly echoed by our customers, most of whom cite the benefits of offshoring as being:

• project costs - which are far lower
•  speed – projects are skilled up more quickly; and
• consistency – recruitment problems cease to exist thanks to an abundance of talent that is at least equal to those

consultants who live and work in the client's country.  

Of course, the benefits of onshoring should not be overlooked. Invenio employ a community of onshore staff whose job it is to manage projects, undertake on-site activities and act as a conduit between our customers and the offshore operations wherever necessary.  There are the arguments that we should ‘buy local and support our communities’ – a position that is particularly emotive as the jobless figures rise and, of course cultural, language and time zone issues cease to exist

 

Whatever your preference - whether it be on, off or near shore (or a little bit of all three) - the key is getting the right blend of skills to support your business and help it to achieve its goals. With careful research, and by giving full consideration to the pros and cons of each possible scenario, you’ll be sure to secure the right working practices for your business.

 

Laura, Marketing Director and Chief Blogger 

Grow old with me! The best is yet to be. (Robert Browning)

Not long ago, Invenio celebrated being 18 months old.  In that short space of time, there’s been plenty that’s been achieved – and even more to look forward to. 

Youth in business (and particularly in this industry) is not always considered attractive.  Because of this, it’s not been a point that I’ve drawn much attention to when writing promotional materials. 

But, why not?

The industry is full of long-in-the-tooth, mediocre, has-been (and never-was) suppliers... and so it’s a great opportunity for young contenders like Invenio to come in and shake things up a bit. True, there are companies out there that wouldn’t do business with us simply because of our age.  They like their suppliers to be larger and more established (although that’s a view that’s changing fast – something that you can more learn about in Martin Butler’s recent Computing article “Smaller Firms are coming into Fashion” http://bit.ly/Qbk4E). 

Being younger and smaller in a marketplace full of established behemoths reminds me of the old Avis Rent a Car slogan ‘we try harder’.  This tagline was created in response to being #2 in the car rental marketplace – behind Hertz.  And it’s very true – we have to work twice as hard to prove ourselves to be worthy of our customers’ business. We have to work twice as hard at earning our customers trust. And we have to work twice as hard to get new business.

But I don’t mind a bit.  Invenio was founded by people who already worked for the bigger players – and didn’t like what they saw.  And so, here we are – doing battle with the big boys and, more often than not, gaining customers through simply trying harder.

If you’re thinking of doing business with a young company, but not sure if you want to take the leap, here are some benefits you stand to gain:

• A more personal, proactive service.
• Lower charges, through a leaner infrastructure and lower operational overheads.
• The ability to influence the business and its growth and development.
• A direct line to the MD - and his or her team... (all empowered to make immediate decisions and take immediate action on your behalf).
• Access to highly skilled, driven personnel... (all pushing the envelope to create a truly exceptional, innovative and first class customer service experience).

Of course, there will come a time when we’re considered to be the old guard.  But I’m sure the team here have learned enough from our previous experiences not to make the same mistakes as our forebears.

Have a great weekend.

Laura 

Welcome to the Observation Deck

By way of an introduction to our new Invenio Blog I'd like to say 'hello' and hope that you find your visit (or, hopefully, visitS) worthwhile.

Here at the Observation Deck, we'll be sharing SAP, company and industry news and giving you our thoughts and feedback on a variety of subjects closely (or even loosely) related to SAP and Invenio.

Your feedback is always welcomed (well, ALMOST always..) so feel free to leave your comments and questions and we'll respond to them just as soon as we can. 

Laura - Marketing Director and Chief Invenio Blogger