Reflex

Outsourcing Helps Save £18m

admin — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 19:01:49 +0000

If we talk about advantages of outsourcing, first thing that comes to mind is “Cost Benefits” offered by outsourcing.WHSmith save £18m by outsourcing head office IT to FujitsuAccording to Vnunet news “High street retailer WHSmith says the successful outsourcing of its IT systems has helped to achieve £18m in cost savings in its latest financial year. “The company saved £3m more than it had hoped for this year, and is looking to achieve similar savings next year.The figures exceed plans set out by group chief executive Kate Swann a year ago to deliver £30m in cuts to the business over three years.‘We saved £18m from a number of areas, including IT, for the financial year 2004 to 2005, which was £3m more than planned,’ a spokeswoman for WHSmith told Computing.‘We outsourced our head office IT to Fujitsu, which saved us a couple of million pounds. Our Retek distribution technology environment was outsourced to Accenture, and the maintenance and support of the IT in our stores went to BT Expedite in March,’ (Computing, 16 March).WHSmith disclosed the savings achieved across its retail business in its preliminary financial results for the year ending 31 August, published last week.Pre-tax profits increased despite a slight drop in sales.The results stated: ‘We have identified a further £18m of cost savings in support areas such as shared information systems, logistics and store efficiencies.’The spokeswoman said: ‘Some of those savings will come from further efficiencies in IT and logistics.’Nick Gladding, senior analyst at retail researcher Verdict, believes that the efficiencies and the rationalisation of the IT function were major contributors to the retailer’s healthier profits, particularly as sales fell by one per cent, to £2.5bn.‘WHSmith’s priority at the moment is profit, so these cost reductions aimed at cutting its outgoings will improve profitability,’ he said.‘The savings it has already identified for next year look likely to come from head office technology, logistics – where it says it is closing some of its depots – and restructuring its workforce.’

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

The Most Popular Subjects People Will Pay For!

admin — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 17:01:49 +0000

If you’re still having a hard time trying to figure out which niche market to go into, start by simply spending some time asking questions of yourself…What are my favorite hobbies, interests, activities, etc. Or…What are some things I don’t know yet but have a burning desire to learn more about? Start a list and add all your favorites to it. Here’s a list of some of the most popular subjects people are paying for… • Dating, Seduction, Sex Advice, Relationships • Losing weight, gaining muscle, looking more attractive • Health & fitness, cures/reliefs from specific diseases & ailments • Spying, online privacy and security • Safety, personal security, and protection of self and loved ones (self defense, home security, scam prevention, etc.) • How to use computers and the Internet • Mental influence, persuasion, and dominance • General self-help, self improvement, personal development, and success • Hobbies and special interests: cooking, magic, UFO’s, metaphysics, becoming more competitive in sports, activities, etc. • Making money, aside from marketing information: investing, stock market, futures trading, real estate tips, and other related financial information • And of course, having more control and freedom in their lives! People are always looking to improve themselves or some area of their lives. They are always trying to find solutions to problems. There are sites catering to some of the above categories that are already generating thousands of dollars every month. I have personally sold products on some of the above categories and done very well. Yet, we haven’t even begun to tap the true profit potential in these areas yet because there’s very little competition in most of these areas, especially when compared to the “how-to marketing” area! The potential to make money from the above special-interest categories is huge - and it’s wide open! Moreover, as more and more people get accustomed to buying digital products, you can easily imagine making insane amounts of money through these topics well into the future. You could pick any one of the above subjects that you personally have an interest in and run with it.

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

The Ultimate Business Model - Creating Residual Income Streams

admin — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:01:49 +0000

Every successful business has understood and mastered one basic principle. That principle can be summed up in two words: Repeat Business. Pick any major business name: Microsoft, Walmart, McDonald’s… The reason behind their success is repeat business - the simple fact that most of their customers are repeat buyers. Sure, they get new customers as often as they can. But the majority of their business, and profits, come from repeat buyers. These businesses depend on their existing customers to earn consistent profits. And it’s no surprise that the number one reason most businesses go out of business very quickly is this…they don’t take care of they existing customers. They don’t build a relationship with them, and they definitely don’t sell to them more than once. Just about every business you see, either online or offline, is so busy finding “new” customers that they forget about their existing customers. You want to know what the biggest marketing secret on the planet is? This is it. This is the biggest secret. It’s not coming up with new marketing ideas or trying every new marketing twist that you hear about, or running after every new marketing manual that hits the web promising to teach you a new marketing trick. The secret really is no secret these days… Repeat Business! That’s the secret to business and marketing success! One of the most powerful things you can do to build your business and make a killing in profits is to sell to the same customers over and over again. There’s nothing wrong with finding new customers, as long as you continue to sell to your existing customers! That’s where the real money is. It’s a simple strategy. It’s a powerful strategy! And it works very well for me and for many other marketers. Having your own responsive “opt-in” mailing list allows you to use that strategy. But… what if I told you that there’s something even better?! What if I told you that you could sell to a customer just once, and earn a profit every single month, for many, many years - maybe even for the rest of your life?! And what if I told you that you are not limited to the number of customers you can sell to? That means that if you were to sell this to 100, 1,000, or even 10,000 customers, you would earn a profit from each of those customers every single month, without having to lift a finger to do any additional work? Well… believe it or not, a business like that exists! And you can be a part of it so you can claim your share of the profits right now! Now, you will still need to find your customers. That goes without saying, and you’re probably doing that right now anyway. But the beauty of this system is… that’s all you have to do! Everything else is done for you! The product, the selling, the follow-ups, and believe it or not, even the customer support is taken care of for you! That leaves you with a lot of time and energy that you usually would have spent on doing the above tasks. With this model, you can use all that saved time and energy on getting more customers and increasing you cash payments every month! That is the ultimate business model! The structure of this ultimate business model is simple. It includes a product or service that customers want and are willing to pay for, not just once but every single month! That means you sell to the customer just once and get paid every month for as long as that person remains a customer. And because someone else takes care of the product, the selling, the order fulfillment, the customer service and the repeat sales every month, you are freed from those tasks so you can concentrate on getting more customers and increasing your monthly profits!

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

The Best Defensive Strategy Is The Courage To Attack Yourself

admin — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 14:01:49 +0000

Because of its leadership position, the defender owns a strong point in the mind of the prospect. The best way to improve your position is by constantly attacking it. In other words, you strengthen your position by introducing new products or services that obsolete your existing ones.IBM is a master of the game. Every so often, IBM introduces a new line of mainframe computers with significant price/performance advantages over existing products.Competition continually struggles trying to catch up. A moving target is harder to hit than a stationary one.Gillette is another example. Gillette owned the wet-shaving market with a product called the Blue Blade and subsequently the Super Blue Blade.The company was stunned when rival Wilkinson Sword beat it to the market in the early sixties with the stainless blade. Then in 1970 Wilkinson Sword followed with the bonded blade, a metal blade fused to plastic at the “optimum shaving angle.” At that point Gillette got its act together and started to play a brilliant game of defensive warfare.Shortly thereafter Gillette counterattacked with Trac II, the world’s first double-bladed razor. The success of Trac II set the pattern for future Gillette strategy. “Two blades are better than one,” said Gillette’s advertising.“Better than one Super Blue Blade,” said the company’s customer who promptly bought the new product instead of the old. (It’s better to take business away from yourself than have someone else do it for you.)Six years later, the company introduced Atra, the first adjustable double-bladed razor. Again, by implication the new product was better than the Trac II, the nonadjustable two-bladed razor.Nor did Gillette hesitate to introduce Good News, an inexpensive disposable razor (with two blades, no less). This was an obvious attack against Bic, who was preparing to introduce its own disposable razor.Good News was not good news for Gillette stockholders. The disposable cost more to make and sold for less than Gillette’s refillable cost more to make and sold for less than an Atra or Trac II was costing Gillette money.But Good News was good marketing strategy. It blocked Bic from running away with the disposable portion of the market. Furthermore, Bic paid dearly for its modest share. Trade sources say Bic lost $25 million in its first 3 years in the disposable razor business.Gillette continues its relentless strategy of attacking itself. Recently it introduced Pivot, the first adjustable disposable. This time, its own Good News product is the target.Gillette has gradually increased its share of the wet-shaving market. Today it has some 65 percent of the business.Attacking yourself may sacrifice short-term profits, but it has one fundamental benefit. It protects market share, the ultimate weapon in any marketing battle.The reverse is also true. Any company that hesitates to attack itself usually loses market share and ultimately market leadership.

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Business DSL Access Information

admin — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:01:49 +0000

Your ready to do business, you head over to the computer and your internet connection is as slow as a snail. It’s true, DSL is much faster then a dial-up internet connection, but is it all it’s cracked up to be?Many companies rely heavily on their high-speed internet to conduct their business with e-mail, video conference, and now for voice-over-internet telephony applications. What do you do? Get a business DSL line fast! There are many Dsl companies offering service in your area, and these days there fighting to do business with your company. Be careful not to choose price over reliabilty.Reliability becomes critical when customers or employees depend on your connection for immediate responses. If your customers use your connection to access your databases or your server or the internet then reliability of your connection is critical. A critical connection can be viewed much like a life line, without which your business would be negatively impacted. Your monthly savings of having a sub-par connection will not make up for the loss in productivity of your employees or loss of customers when your DSL connection gets bogged down or cut off.The fastest way to get an unbiased quote and compare DSL quotes fast is by going to the internet and shopping around for DSL providers.Many DSL service providers are now offering low start up fees for 6-12 months. You can choose from multiple providers like earthlink, verizon and msn. Dsl is now available in many areas and being added to many more. DSL service usually runs between $19 and $79 per month, depending on the plan (residential vs. commercial, 512K vs. 3M, etc.)Do some research, find the best possible price and get business Dsl to make your job easier. You dont want a slow internet connection to get you down!

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

How To Turn Little Problems Into Massive Opportunities And Profits

admin — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:01:49 +0000

In order to make big money online and create killer products which will be lapped up by potential customers you need to realize that it’s not just your passions, hobbies, and interests you should be taking note of. Also take a closer look at your biggest problems and challenges. You see, life has an interesting way of trying to put us onto the right path…if we would only stop and pay attention. Often times, the major problems and challenges in our lives arise only to direct us, to nudge us towards the right path, the path that we’re supposed to be traveling on. Yet many of us get so wrapped up in the problem itself that we’re constantly fighting and pushing away while never being able to see what it’s trying to tell us. Many of your greatest pains and challenges are simply opportunities in disguise. Some of our greatest inventions came out of problems and challenges the inventors were having in their lives. They decided to focus on the solution instead of giving all their energy and thought to the problem. During the great depression, while most people were suffering and going through tough times, others found ways to “solve problems” and then helped others cope with those problems. They became very rich in the process. You can do the same today. Start looking for the answers and solutions to those major problems/challenges in your life. If no one else has yet provided an effective solution to the problem, you may just be the person to do it. Problems are everywhere you look, on every corner you turn. Just look around you. People are miserable, they’re irritable, they’re mad! Often times, one of the problems you’re having in your life is also something that many others are having as well. Find the solution to it and become the expert that everyone else will look to for answers. The best way to become rich is to create value in others’ lives. Start with your own problems and find ways to make others’ lives easier. Open their eyes to what’s really going on around them, offer solutions to their problems. In return, they will reward you with money!

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Hello world!

admin — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 09:49:20 +0000

Welcome to Actualblog.net. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!