Business Intelligence

by Ismael D. Tabije

Business intelligence (BI) has two different meanings related to the use of the term intelligence. The primary, less frequently, is the human intelligence capacity applied in business affairs and activities. Intelligence of Business is a new field of the investigation of the application of human cognitive faculties and artificial intelligence technologies and the management and decision support in different business problems. The second, which is the subject of this article, relates to the intelligence as information valued for its currency and relevance. It is expert information, knowledge and technologies efficient in the management of organizational and individual business. Therefore, in this sense, business intelligence is a broad category of applications and technologies for gathering, providing access to, and analyzing data for the purpose of helping enterprise users make better business decisions. The term implies having a comprehensive knowledge of all of the factors that affect your business. It is imperative that you have an in depth knowledge about factors such as your customers, competitors, business partners, economic environment, and internal operations to make effective and good quality business decisions. Business intelligence enables you to make these kinds of decisions. A specialized field of business intelligence known as competitive intelligence focuses solely on the external competitive environment. Information is gathered on the actions of competitors and decisions are made based on this information. Little, if any, attention is paid to gathering internal information. Business Intelligence enables organizations to make well informed business decisions and thus can be the source of competitive advantages. This is especially true when you are able to extrapolate information from indicators in the external environment and make accurate forecasts about future trends or economic conditions. Once business intelligence is gathered effectively and used proactively you can make decisions that benefit your organization before the competition does. The ultimate objective of business intelligence is to improve the timeliness and quality of information. Businesses realize that in this very competitive, fast-paced, and always changing business environment the only thing that will help them gain a competitive advantage over their competitors is how quickly they respond and adapt to change. Business intelligence enables them to use information gathered to proactively respond to changes. BI provides many benefits to companies utilizing it. It can eliminate a lot of the guesswork within an organization, enhance communication among departments while coordinating activities, and enable companies to respond quickly to changes in financial conditions, customer preferences, and supply chain operations. BI improves the overall performance of the company using it. Information is regarded as one of the most important resources a company can have, second only to human resources. So when a company can make decisions based on timely and accurate information it improves the performance of that company. BI also expedites decision making because businesses realize that information can be used to achieve a competitive advantage so that when a business obtains key information they quickly use it before a competitor obtains the same information. It also maximizes the customer experience because when you are able to properly cater to the wants or needs of a customer you enhance the customer's experience. Ismael D. Tabije is the Publisher-Editor of www.BestManagementArticles.com, a unique niche-topic article directory that features exclusively business and management topics. For a large dose of business intelligence tips, ideas and strategies, see http://business-intelligence.bestmanagementarticles.com.

Article source: ArticlePros.com

Getting Started With Offshore Investment

by John Tang

Offshore investment refers to investing wealth in foreign countries apart from individual's country. This type of investment is most common ways to reduce the extreme tax burdens.

People prefer to invest in offshore entities, because the regulation and the execution process are more liberal on bankers, portfolio managers, or brokers. Hence, many small as well as big investors are now turning to offshore investments, because of huge taxes levied on them.

This type of investment is legal and assures individuals with higher returns. Offshore markets have some favored locations, wherein investors prefer to make their investment. Investors call these foreign locations as tax havens. People can make investment in offshore projects, if they meet the criteria laid down by the foreign country.

Few of the regulations state that foreign individuals have to be capable of investing a minimum amount, pay requisite fees, and fulfill other standards, as mentioned by law to invest in a particular entity.

All the countries have made special provisions to enable their citizens to make offshore investments. Advantages Of Offshore Investments:

There are various reasons, as why people prefer to invest in offshore locations.

They are as follows:

• Reduction in Taxes:

Numerous countries provide tax incentives to overseas investors. Foreign countries offer tax benefits to such people to attract foreign investors, which increase the country's foreign wealth. Offshore investors have their corporation in foreign countries.

These corporations provide coverage for foreign investors. They shield their accounts from tax burdens levied by domicile countries. These corporations do not undergo local operations, and hence the countries impose little or sometimes no tax on foreign investors.

• Protection of assets:

Offshore centers offer the easy possession of assets. Foreign investors can obtain legal entities through their foundations, trusts or corporations.

Even people of domicile country who are worried about lawsuits subjected on their properties, prefer to transfer the part of their property in foreign investment. This ensures that individuals no longer become vulnerable to seizure of their properties.

• Privacy:

Offshore investments are beneficial as the jurisdiction of offshore countries provides complimentary advantage of confidentiality to the investors.

The offshore countries have enacted strict laws that guarantee the investors of complete secrecy. Any party, who breaches these laws, faces serious consequences. This is to safeguard the interest of sophisticated investors. These investors prefer not to disclose their financial status and their assets in offshore countries.

• Variegation of investment: Offshore accounts provide more flexibility to the foreign investors. Many developing nations have made greater opportunities available to foreign investors to attract them to their countries.

Investors can invest in private offshore companies, which were previously under the control of government. They do not have to undergo huge restrictions, thus providing truly variegation in investment.

Overview:

Offshore investments give investors the financial security along with the benefit of anonymity. Many people prefer to invest in real estate projects in offshore, which provide individuals of handsome returns.

There are numerous avenues open for investors such as shares, stocks and bonds in offshore countries, wherein people can multiply their stakes and enjoy the opulence offered by offshore investments.

Article source: ArticlePros.com

How To Choose A Good Offshore Outsourcing Partner In The Present Scenario

by Arvind Sharma Offshore outsourcing is the most cost-efficient route to success for many companies, especially those in the Western Countries. Sadly, the collapse of several banking and finance companies in the Western countries has had a drastic impact on offshoring business. Yet, many other companies are keen to outsource work from countries like India, where the labor is cheaper and the quality of service is higher. Cost savings and competency are the two means to success during recession, and outsourcing is the best channel to achieve both. The BPO boom in India witnessed the rise of thousands of offshore outsourcing companies, almost in every state of the country. However, many of them had to pull their shutters down as the economy started wavering. In this scenario, it is important for you to consider the following aspects before you pick your offshore outsourcing partner in India. Quality of service: How do you test the quality of service of an offshore outsourcing company? Well, you can do this by checking their track record. Many offshore service providers in India are built on solid bases, and they have been serving their clients for a long time. If you look at some of the case studies given in the company Web sites, you will be in a position to distinguish these companies on the basis of service quality. Knowledge of the specific service area: Ideally an offshore outsourcing vendor should be specialized in one type of work, for example, financial services, software development, healthcare services, etc. The specialization itself shows that the company is familiar with the industry, so it can offer quality service to that industry. Never approach a company that claims to have expertise in ‘all’ areas of businesses. Infrastructure and resources: Many outsourcing companies in India operate from remote areas where access to infrastructure facilities is limited. This scenario points at the importance of evaluating the infrastructure and resource capabilities of a company. Before picking an offshoring vendor, you have to ensure they have an authorized building, advanced IT and communications infrastructure including the hardware and software, and sufficient number of employees. Other important features to be considered before finalizing your offshore outsourcing vendor in India include company track record, employee profiles, number of years in business, scalability of services, certifications & accolades, and commitment to relationship. Also, before signing the deal, make a personal visit to the organization to see the actual business process. For more information please visit at IDS Logic- an offshore IT outsourcing company provides internet marketing services, web hosting services, web design and development solutions, SEO expert services in India Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com

Change Management Strategies: 6 Ways To Take Your Organization To The Next Level With Change Management

By ArLyne Diamond Today's rapidly changing technology, the economy's roller-coaster ride, the constant mergers and acquisitions among companies, upsizing, downsizing and resizing, and, of course, our country's response to terrorism have forced almost all of us to change, in some cases almost daily. Adapting to new demands is an important mechanism for both personal and organizational survival. Individuals and groups that do it well seem to be more successful than those that resist and accept the inevitable slowly. But change is so difficult and is almost always resisted. Many ingredients are required to move from the present to your organization’s desired change. The process takes time, vision, role modeling, symbols and benefits for all involved. During the necessary incremental transitional changes, motivators and training are necessary. The organization must create an environment that fosters new learning and behaviors -- that "persuades" employees to change. 6 Requirements For Making Organizational Changes In Individuals, Teams, Departments and Divisions: 1. Motivation is essential Before your employees are really motivated to work at change, they must be convinced of the personal and professional benefits to themselves, as well as to their organization. In addition, management must realize that work will slow during the transitional process. Often temporary help must be brought in or overtime authorized to help get the more mundane tasks accomplished. Learning is often awkward, requiring a great deal of practice before new habits are automated. Practice, of course, means making mistakes and taking time to correct them. Because of these factors, commitment is mandatory at the highest levels of the organization. Upper management in particular must create a clear, realistic vision. All too often, organizations develop vision statements that are too vague or idealistic. The vision must be something people can buy into. It must be "symbolized" with a theme, and it must have its champions at the highest level of the organization. Once realistic themes have been developed, upper management must create a mission, goals and objectives specific to individual departments. Then management must sell these missions, goals and objectives to members of the various departments. 2. Procedural and cultural changes require working with the latest tools of persuasion, negotiation and learning. Persuasion needs a user-friendly approach. User-friendly in this context means giving employees an opportunity to vent, to express their own ideas and to make mistakes. It means that managers involved in the process must remain positive and approachable, and have an encouraging demeanor. At this point managers should coach and encourage rather than criticize or punish. Self-righteous, critical or condescending behavior will only frighten people back into their old tried-and-true behaviors. In helping employees adapt to new conditions, managers must not assume an “I'm right you're wrong” stance. Workers immediately will become defensive. Moreover, they will tune the managers out, become argumentative or passively resist the changes they're being asked to make. 3. It pays to reward success. Remember, success builds on itself. By rewarding success, you will create internal champions from among those who are higher risk takers and more aware of the value of the new outcomes. They will become your role models and persuaders. Others will follow them more easily. 4. Promote changes with workshops Part of the change process involves conducting teambuilding and management development workshops to promote change, get input on needs and work with different management styles. Keep in mind that people respond better to workshop exercises that have "face validity" -- that is, whose content is related to the work people actually perform. The workshop should combine process and content. Participants must be encouraged to learn more about one another personally, and to build a level of trust. They should be given content-specific tasks to perform together. This will enable them not only to improve their actual working conditions and move toward the desired process or cultural changes, but also to work more effectively with each other in the future. 5. Launch the change management program While smaller companies and organizations might be able to just dig in and start the process, in larger organizations it may be necessary to create some drama. Thus the firm might want to develop a large-scale kickoff program involving as many people as possible This all-day affair should be exciting and motivational, and encourage the participation and ideas of all attendees, who should be provided with a means of ensuring their ongoing involvement in the process. 6. Alignment is necessary Too often, alignment behind a company's goals, objectives, values and beliefs is taken for granted. This is a potentially fatal mistake. So starting from the top, the highest levels within the organization must agree on the values and desired cultural changes. Then they must communicate these and get a buy-in at other levels of the organization. You must ensure that the words and slogans being used have the same meaning across all levels. When all is said and done, change can be exciting, and if managed correctly, it will be a vital component in the vitality and continued growth of your organization. So go for it! Specializing in people and processes in the workplace for more than 30 years, professional development and management consultant, ArLyne Diamond, Ph.D. can help your organization successfully institute changes within your organization. For more free organizational change and growth tips that will help your business experience vitality and continued growth, go to: http://www.diamondassociates.net/articles Article Source: http://www.articles.co.il/article.php?id=37662

Business Policy Development

By techdoc

Always be prepared and ready for action.

This one simple, yet profound phrase embodies the ideals and directives of what business standards and policies are all about and why they are so crucial to the fiscal success and user friendly streamlined management and administration of business today.

Standards

Standards originate from without an organization. However; in areas not covered by "official" standards or regulatory requirements organizations are free to choose whether or not to voluntarily adopt the various standards and/or proposed standards (this is known as opt-in). In these cases the degree of compliance can also vary considerably from one organization to the next. Conversely external factors such as the need to comply with legislation or industry-wide recommendations may conspire to force an organization to adopt specific standards. Whenever legislation and/or other regulations are applicable failure to comply with their provisions will ultimately result in the imposition of punitive penalties. Depending upon the breach incarceration may result.

Policies

Policies on the other hand generally originate from within an organization. The primary objectives and basic functions detailed/proposed in a policy are generally intended to deliver positive benefits whilst avoiding negative effects, at least from the organization’s perspective. Think of a policy as being more of a statement of organizational intent with the goal of formulating a deliberate plan of action to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome(s). As such; the term "policy" may apply to, government, private sector organizations and groups, as wells as to individuals.

The term “policy” is also used to refer to the process of making important organizational, management, financial and administrative decisions. This incorporates the identification of different viable alternatives such as processes, programs, projects or spending priorities. These alternative options are considered to form a pool of possible solutions from which the final selection will come. One area where adherence to policy has considerable impact is in the making of a selection from this pool of possible solutions when multiple potential candidates in the range are more-or-less of equal merit. In these situations it is often the case that company policy will act as the “tie-breaker” by influencing or even dictating which option wins by clearly defining and delineating the criteria for selection in each instance.

Compliance with corporate policy is generally not negotiable and noncompliant individual(s) will generally experience some form of penalty. The type of penalty will vary from one organization to the next depending upon the breach in question. The ultimate penalty for noncompliance with organizational policies would be termination of employment.

So it is; that generically speaking, company policy aims to facilitate the rapid attainment of specifically defined explicit goals while preserving organization-wide consistency. Reasons why an organization might develop special purpose policies include:

• Exploitation - To improve an organization’s capacity to exploit the positive benefits (from the organization's perspective) of a given scenario or situation as identified as "worthy of pursuit" by that organization
• Privacy - Privacy policies such as corporate privacy policies are widely used today and will generally include information pertaining to their collection, storage, updating, notification, security and eventual secure disposal of sensitive information such as customer details. Privacy legislation may require the organization to formulate an appropriate privacy compliant with its provisions and thus organizations are bound by law to develop a privacy policy
• Distribution - To regulate the distribution and sharing of resources within an organization and/or with its business partners. This will also include such facets as customer support resources and product development resources
• Security - Security policies are developed by most organizations because they are obligated to by legislation and because they realize the importance of the role that security has to play in our modern world. Security policies will therefore address such issues as personal safety, information safety, and emergency situation procedures as well as general day-to-day operating procedures
• Management - Management and initiatives policies are usually developed to facilitate an organizations ability to respond to extraordinary circumstance(s). Events such as disasters of both the man-made and natural kind as well as the changing business climate (changes in the prevailing economic climate) are all reasons that will see an organization develop management and special purpose policies. Rapid response to action is the primary motivating focus here.

Policy Life Cycle Management

Adopting a life-cycle approach to business policy management has the advantage of ensuring that all business policy can proactively adapt rapidly in concert with the prevailing yet ever changing business, political, social and regulatory climates now and well into the future. One example of a widely accepted business policy management life-cycle is the Bridgeman/Davis Policy Life Cycle shown below.

1. Issue Identification
2. Policy Analysis
3. Policy Instrument Development
4. Consultation (generally applicable at all stages of a policy's lifecycle)
5. Coordination
6. Decision
7. Implementation
8. Evaluation or Re-Evaluation

Policy Documentation

Regardless of whether or not the policy being developed is organization specific, standards-based, opt-in standards-based or a regulatory requirement there are a number of elements that should always be included when documenting policies. Some of these essential and never to be left out features/components are:

• Policy Purpose Statement - Why the policy is being implemented and what it's supposed to achieve
• Policy Scope Statement - Who and/or what the policy affects as well as any exclusions
• Policy Time Statement - When the policy takes effect, its intended period of tenure and the projected nominated timeframes for policy review, reassessment, extensions or final termination
• Policy Roles and Responsibilities Statement - Details who is responsible for what and when
• Policy Change Management Statement - Details the accepted and expected procedures and practices by which change or re-evaluation of policy goals and objectives may be initiated
• Policy Effects Statement - The specific organizational or other regulations, requirements, modifications, specifications or behaviors that the policy is being implemented to address or create
• Policy Background Statement - The origins, reasoning, motivation, and historical perspective for creating the policy along with any underlying, extenuating or extrapolated processes are clearly identified and stated in the policy background statement (a bit like a mission statement)
• Policy Milestones Statement - Identification of important points/milestones in the policy's lifecycle including the development, reviewing and implementation stages as well as any signoff points
• Policy Life-Cycle Statement - Description of the policy lifecycle model being used
• Policy Terms and Definitions - A glossary style component detailing all definitions and terminology contained within or inferred by the policy as employed or inferred by the policy
• Policy Signoff Statement - Formal signoff statement containing parameters detailing various degrees of currency, progress and the satisfaction or completion of policy conditions as well as a formal signoff page. Usually includes at least one entry per milestone.

Content Source: Business Policy Development - Bukisa.com