Improve Productivity in Corporate Services

In business, circumstances can change at a moment’s notice, and unanticipated events can have a lasting impact on revenue, resources, and teams. We have seen this in recent times and while we can’t predict everything that lies ahead, we can prepare for unexpected challenges.?

While every company is built on business processes, today’s business climate requires businesses to ensure better predictable outcomes and therefore businesses should aim to improve their productivity and efficiency at every stage especially in corporate services which internal support to facilitate growth for revenue-generating business units. Increasingly, CS departments are under pressure to deliver much value, faster, at lower costs, and make it easy to engage and procure their services.

Development of Services

Most businesses, if not all, have a goal - to sustainably grow. But as businesses look to future growth, the majority expect it to come from creating new products, services, or business models.

But a lot has changed over time, and today, to successfully create end-to-end processes of developing and launching a new service to be sold to customers, business portfolios should be adapted to offer more profitable solutions.?

It’s important to keep in mind that customers’ purchasing decisions are powering the future of businesses. Therefore, the competitive pressure is not only to provide the best possible services or products. Customer experience has become a defining differentiator. In today’s digital economy, many things have become available through online channels, and we now have to ask ourselves how we can create the best possible customer experiences.?This is equally applicable to CS departments delivering services to their internal customers.

From adding services to the customer’s value chain, to sustainability, to technology, it requires a new way of thinking and re-imagining customer-driven development processes.

To optimize success and fuel growth, the development of services must be continuous and align with emerging issues. These can often be around speed of delivery, quality of service, understanding the needs of customers, and being able to adapt to change.??

Managing cost

Budgets are traditionally woven into the fabric of most businesses. Everyone uses them. Banks require them. Employees expect them. We have a ballpark figure for departments.?

Interestingly, the traditional budget processes can no longer hold. We are now in an era where we need to adjust as we go because circumstances are continuously changing and agility to respond to changes in the market and new opportunities have sped up.?

Businesses must now always look for ways to cut costs and become more efficient, and plan to change and adapt when the time comes.

Streamlining Processes

Organizations work with a variety of suppliers, vendors, workforces, and work schedules to meet consumer demands and drive bottom-line results. With these kinds of ecosystems, it can be difficult to keep tabs on core business functions. Streamlining processes, however, accelerates scalability and keeps operations running smoothly.?

We are currently in a space where technology continues to enhance how we live, communicate with others, and conduct business. Organizations can use technology to strengthen processes through digitization or automation and create new pathways to connect with customers, vendors, and employees. And when applied correctly, technology can be a game-changer for many organizations. For CS Departments, technology democratizes access to services, brings transparency to process and workflow for both parties, and alerts and reminders are built into the workflow ensuring follow through and reporting and performance metrics.

Relationship building is still a vital component of your business, but we can use tools and software that technology provides, to streamline processes and focus on the important things that matter such as time with customers and employees, instead of low-value activities.

Offshoring, Onshoring, and Remote Working

The world is becoming a global marketplace and in order to adapt, organizations have to reinvent the way they operate.?

Organizations seeking to expand could consider offshoring. Given a demand in the labor market that far outweighs the supply, you’re probably interested in finding employees in other countries. Offshoring enables organizations to find the best talent - that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and maintain control over their business even when in different geographical locations.

But while plenty of organizations will still look overseas for highly skilled workers who are less expensive than those in their regions, the governments overseas are offering incentives for companies to set up operations in their countries. So, what about the local labor markets? Onshoring could keep your employees fully engaged and ensure their professional growth. A satisfied worker is less likely to leave. Organizations should set up a retention program that allows the workforce to rotate to other parts of the company, so that those who want to experience working at the organizations holistically, can fulfill that desire.

And with the revolution of the workplace, remote working has also grown, and employees are taking control of their own schedules. This simply means that work, in some jobs, can be done from anywhere. Technology is obviously making the idea of an all-virtual company possible. But it takes some planning and consideration to get the right mix of solutions.?

There is no doubt that being flexible, and agile could improve how businesses operate. Challenges will keep coming. Just how prepared are you for the next wave of uncertainty??