We’ve put four more whitepapers in the downloads section of the Concentrix website. Published by Microsoft, the whitepapers discuss business performance and business processes in the modern workplace and are directly relevant to companies in the UK. Although developed on behalf of Microsoft, they contain some useful information and make interesting reading whatever business solution or software you use. Here are extracts from each of the whitepapers (to access full versions please see the note at the end of this post): Extract: "Britain has always been at the forefront of economic change. First, it was the agricultural revolution, then the industrial boom of the 19th century. Now the world is changing radically again, and it is critical that UK's businesses, public institutions and people meet that change creatively.” “Today’s workplace is all about the network – not just in a technology sense (although that is crucial, too), but in the context of people and organisations. The technology gives us the power to connect with each other wherever we are, whatever we’re doing, at any time of the day or night. It has fundamentally changed our ability to access and use information. But without considering the effects of this change holistically – and analysing how they interact with society – we are likely to get the management of change fundamentally wrong.”
Drive Business Processes: “Achieving the Last Mile of Business Productivity” Extract: Since the mid-1990s, businesses, governments and other large organizations have poured billions into implementing ERP, supply chain and CRM systems to help them “re-engineer” work processes, eliminate inefficiencies, increase productivity and drive business change. These efforts have met with varying degrees of success. Clearly, many of the promises to dramatically increase business success, rapidly, profitably, efficiently and with minimal negative impact on the business have proven overly optimistic for many, and flatout fantasy for some. Why is this? Why has the diligent effort of so many resulted so often in such marginal underperformance? Are there intrinsic weaknesses in the approach we’ve taken? Are there important components of business process management our current approach fails to address? And, most importantly, is there another way of looking at business processes that retains the positive aspects of large-scale system change, while minimizing its weaknesses and addressing unmet objectives? Extract: However, without the proper tools, strategy implementations can be very challenging. Implementations fail for several reasons, including lack of focus on common goals by enterprise units, inefficient decision-making processes and lack of alignment between business-unit objectives and the corporate strategy. An effective performance management programme helps achieve corporate strategies by breaking down high-level goals into objectives that drive the actions of employees at all levels of the organisation. When individual employees can measure their performance against objectives, it becomes easier to achieve strategic goals. Effective performance management ensures alignment with overall enterprise business goals by driving empowerment, accountability, focus and resolve from the executive team down to managers and information workers across the company. Extract: People are the critical factor. Only people have the agility and resilience to identify and act on new information quickly to meet challenges or capitalize on new opportunities. By surrounding people with powerful tools and a culture of learning, manufacturers can bring innovative new products to market more quickly and mobilize a network of suppliers in deeper, more collaborative relationships.
Empowered people can drive operational excellence by constantly improving products, streamlining practices and sharing knowledge. And they can work responsively with customers to build high-value relationships to drive business growth. Microsoft uniquely delivers software and solutions that empower people to take their manufacturing business further.
Today, executives must define business strategy in an extremely challenging marketplace. The company must implement the strategy through plans and budgets that guide the activities of individual business units.
Globalization, connectivity, regulation and demographics are the trends shaping the landscape for manufacturers over the next 10 to 15 years. In this “new world of work,” the ability to create, share and act on information can help manufacturers compete more effectively and operate more efficiently amid rapid change and relentless pricing pressure.
Accessing the whitepapers
If you want the full versions of these whitepapers, registered users can log-in, go to the downloads section of the Concentrix website and access them straight away. If you’re not registered, you can register here (it’s free, and once you’re registered you’ll be able to access lots more information in the Downloads section as well).
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