Hot Business Topics

The big ticket issues and pain points for New Zealand businesses today

Being Agile / Change Management

  • Change Management is not just about “Transformational Change” which is a medium to long-term solution, it is also about the short-term solution of being AGILE.
  • Being AGILE is the ability to ‘think on your feet’ in a rapidly changing economic environment in order to be able to weather and succeed in shifting circumstances. Into the Blue NZ Limited has been all over this concept since it was recognised as an essential tool in a business’ arsenal. It is not exactly a new concept, but the fragile and fluid economic times in which we find ourselves mean that BEING AGILE is an essential quality for NZ businesses to possess if they want to come out the other side of the current situation in good shape.Call John Raffaelli now on 021 625 871 to learn more.

Business Improvement / Business Reviews

  • Business Planning – to help plan to avoid the daily chaos of what job you should be doing next, through to longer term planning such as future capacity issues.
  • Business Process Improvement – Improve or develop business processes that follow the critical path and eliminate waste & duplication (rework), improve business efficiency and reduce complexity.
  • Financial Management – how to read Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet Statements. Reporting by business segment to better identify both segment mix changes and underperforming areas of the business. Develop key financial drivers. These will help to make more informed financial and management decisions.
  • Business Systems – identify key business systems requirements and complete a needs analysis to ascertain whether the current systems are meeting your requirements.
  • Business Sustainability – helping you to recognise what needs to be done to improve the business’s sustainability in the marketplace.
  • Governance (working on the business) – developing better practices to enable you to have dedicated time to work on the business during working hours.
  • Procurement – best practices including supplier reviews.
  • Resource Management Planning – being prepared and knowing when you need to purchase, replace or release resources.
  • Marketing strategy – know your competitive advantage, tailor your marketing to the market conditions and increase your value proposition from a client perspective.
  • Customer Satisfaction – Ensure your customer are happy. Good communications are key. Annual customer surveys to get a better understanding of what your clients think of your business.
  • Human Resource Planning – Are owner / management and employee cultures aligned? Understanding of Team dynamics. Plan resources to meet customer demand. The subcontractor / employee trade-off in times of skill shortages.

Business Process Mapping & Improvement

    • Analyse and identify efficient systems that link all parts of the business together
    • Analyse all business / workflow processes for potential improvement
    • Identify any missing processes and or systems for incorporation into the business
    • Some larger clients, who are ISO Certified, will want to see your written processes as part of their due diligence in accepting you as a preferred supplier
    • The elimination of duplication, inefficiency, and waste (rework)
    • Improve or develop business processes that follow the critical path and so eliminate duplication and waste (rework) plus remove complexity to enable improved business efficiency.
    • Ensure financial systems and reporting are aligned with the business and will easily identify both revenue mix changes and underperforming areas of the business.
    • Key financial drivers (KPIs) are implemented to monitor key aspects of the business.
    • To help with both the future planning and the smooth day to day running of the business.

    Financial Planning / Segmentation Reporting

    • Create clear management performance indicators and identify key business drivers
    • Ensure there is integration between the financial systems and the day to day operation of the business
    • Establish a monthly reporting function around financial targets aligned with the business objectives
    • Establish monthly staff meetings either formal or informal to gain feedback on how the business is performing
    • Establish procedures and systems to check for irregular payment
    • Establishment of segmentation gross margin reporting to easily identify product/service mix and under-performing areas of the business.

    Point of Difference / Competetive Edge

    • Identify the long game and establish a strategic plan
    • Identifying the 1 or 2 critical issues to achieving your business’s required goal(s)
    • Identifying points of difference to create new business strengths
    • How to develop your competitive advantage
    • Align business model to strategic plan
    • Write Action Plan to meet strategic plan objectives which includes identifying and committing the required resources
    • Take required actions as identified in the Action Plan

    Supply Chain Management including Procurement and Inventory Control

    • Work with suppliers to make it easy for you to do business with them and for them to do business with you
    • Supplier negotiations – contracts are a two-way street
    • Develop procurement strategy
    • Obtain regular quotes from at least three suppliers to ensure they stay honest
    • Know product lead times
    • Know your supplier’s capacity to supply
    • Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP)

    Sustainability

    This topic is becoming an ever more important ingredient on how a business both portrays itself and conducts its operations.

    Demonstrating sustainability is essential for a business’ ‘Green Profile’ but it can also be employed as a cost-cutting measure where it coincides with recycling what may have previously been considered ‘waste’ back into the production line. Refining your supply and production operations can also help to this end.

    Into the Blue NZ Limited has helped many businesses to cut out waste from their production lines and is actively involved with others, such as One24 who manufacture anhydrous sunscreen (amongst other products) specifically engineered to protect our oceans and rivers.

    Call John Raffaelli on  021 625 871 to see how he can help your business.

    All of the topics listed above are discussed more fully on my LinkedIn page which you can access by clicking on the image to the right.