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Thursday, April 21, 2011

Partnership signed with INET - KSA | The Ten Keys to Business Success




My todays blog is dedicated to the charming but simple personality of INET CEO - MR. Ahmed Al Aquil. Today is the glorious day when we got the partnership deed signed between Octaware & INET-KSA. We will be going far long into IT business in Saudi Arabia along with INET & Ahmed Al Aquil. I take this opportunity to talk today on the key factors of a succesfull business.


There are ten critical areas where your ability to think largely determines the success or failure of your business. The greater clarity you have in each of these areas, the better decisions you will make and better results you will achieve.


Key Purpose
What is the purpose of a business? Many people think that the purpose of a business is to earn a profit, but they are wrong. The true purpose of a business is to make both yourself as well as customers succesfull and to have a good impact and value addition to the society. Fully 50 percent of your time, efforts, and expenses should be focused on these aspects.




Key Measure
The key measure of business success is customer satisfaction & success. Your ability to satisfy your customers to such a degree that they buy from you rather than from someone else, that they buy again, and that they bring their friends is the key determinant of growth and profitability.




Key Requirement
The key requirement for wealth building and business success is for you to add value in some way. All wealth comes from adding value. All business growth and profitability come from adding value. Every day, you must be looking for ways to add more and more value to the customer experience and value addition to the society.




Key Focus
The most important person in the business is the customer. You must focus on the customer at all times. Customers are fickle, disloyal, changeable, impatient, and demanding--just like you. Nonetheless, the customer must be the central focus of everything you do in business.




Key Word
In life, work, and business, you will always be rewarded in direct proportion to the value of your contribution to others, as they see it. The focus on outward contribution, to your company, your customers, and your community, is the central requirement for you to become an ever more valuable person, in every area.



Key Question
The most important question you ask, to solve any problem, overcome any obstacle, or achieve any business goal is "How?" Top people always ask the question "How?" and then act on the answers that come to them.




Key Strategy
In a world of rapid change and continuing aggressive competition, you must practice continuous improvement in every area of your business and personal life. As Pat Riley, the basketball coach, said, "If you're not getting better, you're getting worse."




Key Activity
The heartbeat of your business is sales. Dun & Bradstreet analyzed thousands of companies that had gone broke over the years and concluded that the number-one reason for business failure was "low sales". When they researched further, they found that the number-one reason for business success was "high sales." And all else was commentary.




Key Number
The most important number in business is cash flow. Cash flow is to the business as blood and oxygen are to the brain. You can have every activity working efficiently in your business, but if your cash flow is cut off for any reason, the business can die, sometimes overnight.




Key Goal
Every business must have a growth plan. Growth must be the goal of all your business activities. You should have a goal to grow 10 percent, 20 percent, or even 30 percent each year. Some companies grow 50 percent and 100 percent per year, and not by accident. The only real growth is profit growth. Profit growth is always measurable in what is called "free cash flow." This is the actual amount of money that the business throws off each month, each quarter, and each year, above and beyond the total cost and expense of running a business.






Action Exercise
You should have a growth plan for the number of new leads you attract and for the number of new customers you acquire from those leads. You should have a growth plan for sales, revenues, and profitability. If you do not deliberately plan for continuous growth, you will automatically stagnate and begin to fall behind. Growth is not an accident; so you must plan and map out your growth plan if you want your business to see a bright future.

-Haroon






Sunday, April 3, 2011

Some action at Octaware

Friends,

I am sure you all would agree that last week was quite an action packed week. Firstly India beating our arch-rival Pakistan in the World Cup Semis and then proceeding to win the World Cup on Saturday and what a match it was closely fought and intently watched :) and finally we emerged as the undisputed champions in the cricketing world.

We also had quite a few action happening off the field within Octaware. Firstly the fresh wave of some very good projects coming our way from the US and the Middle-East, (our efficient pre-sales team giving such wonderful solutions and proposals that no one could resist :) ) and then we had a couple of to & fro within the organization with software developer going on onsite assignments and then having our Octaware -US, Director - Engineering & Operations, Mr.Sultan Abdul Kader who has earlier had a very illustrious career at Micro Soft, visiting the Octaware Corporate office and our Development Centres in Mumbai & Pune.

Amidst all this action we too this this opportunity to host a luncheon at a leading 5-Star hotel in Mumbai with the entire Mumbai Team in attendance and the date was 01st of April, and no this is not an April Fools joke, we did have a great lunch session with an extensive spread of mouth-watering delicacies, enjoyed by one & all. Did someone say about 'Power Lunch'!!! :) . Before that we did have Mr.Abdul Kader interacting with the sales team, discussing some sales strategies, having a wonderful and interactive technical session with the Development Team and yes after the wholesome gastronomical experience, laying down strategies with the Management sitting through the lunch session. If someone says its lonely at the top, I would like to add, its not just lonely but you dont get to enjoy ur food in serenity as well, always trying to utilize and optimize the available time in hand.

- Najeeb
Octaware Technologies
[Octaware Technologies is a fast growing software development, enterprise solutions and consulting firm]