Monthly Archives: January 2009

Off-shoring for Small Business – Here to Stay or Passing Fad?

. Economy, Entreprenuerism, Jobs, Opportunities, Regional Economic Development, Venture Capital . , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The world is increasingly flat these days.

Off-shoring of jobs and business functions continues to expand in scope and variety.   Today, off-shoring is very common for call centers and programmers for large companies.   However,  off-shoring has now extended to jobs such as  receptionists and administrative assistants and is being aimed at small to medium businesses as well.  Some off-shore service companies are offering staff for as low as $3.36 an hour!

Examples of off-shored services being offered include:

Administrative & Business Services Writing and Editing Services Internet/Web Services Customer Support Services
Word Processing
Data Entry
Forms Processing
Executive Support
Business Plan
Market Research
Planning & Scheduling
Events Management
General Office Operation		 Copy Editing
Brochures
Web Content
Copy Editing
Advertising Copy		 Proofreading & Editing
Creative & Technical Writing
Newsletter editing
Advertising Copy
Internet Research
Web Site Hosting
Web Site Design
Web Site Consulting
Graphic Illustrations
Affiliate Marketing
Site Submission
Website Advertising and Marketing		 Order Processing
Invoicing
Customer Surveys
24 Hour Live Operator Answering
Customer Email Processing
Live Online Customer Support
Faxing
Follow Up Calls
Tech Support
Customer/Contact Management
Desktop Publishing Personal Services Human Resources Sales & Transcription Services
Logos
Graphics
Business Cards
Letterhead
Multimedia Creation
PowerPoint Presentation
Designing Cards, Invitations, Calendars		 Resume Writing
Salary Histories
Reference Letters
Paper Writing
College Admission Letters
Complaint Letters
Personal & Family Website
Travel Planning
Reservations
Gifting & Invitations		 Applicant Screening
Recruiting
Background Checks
Payroll & Benefits Management
Job Announcements
Interviewing
Training/Employee Manuals
Payroll & Accounts Payable Processing		 General Transcription
Digital and audio
Inbound and Outbound Telemarketing
Lead Generation
Internet Sales
Website Marketing

Large companies have been doing off-shoring for years.  However, managing off-shore services is an unknown for many small businesses today.

Successful off-shoring requires solid internal business processes and a well-defined outsourced job task.  Successful execution requires effort on the part of the small business to provide direction and oversight — and associated comfort, skills and understanding of how to manage remote staff (that you will never see and who live in a different culture!).  Related concerns include non-US/Canada access to business information, internal systems security, outwards facing business image and the churn-rate (and associated retraining required) of the off-shore staff.

Some examples of small-business oriented off-shore services include:  Tasks Everyday, Support Resort, Velan, and SupportSave.

A start-up company called oDesk is interesting because it provides tools and methods to research, vet and manage service providers which may be off-shore.  oDesk service providers span a wide range of services, from development to writing.

These are early days for off-shoring for small businesses.   It’s not clear yet if this likely to be a long-term trend.  It is also not clear yet how effectively a small business can leverage off-shore services or what business processes and job tasks can practically be off-shored.

oDesk may also be the first of many start-ups to focus on ways to make off-shore labor and virtual teams part of the normal fabric of small businesses.   oDesk changes the cost to find, and manage off-shore talent – moving it from big company to small company domain.   Process engineering with supporting tools that change the delivery model economics and allow small business customers (or individuals) to take advantage of previously “high end” or “high cost” services may represent a large opportunity for entrepreneurs.  oDesk and RiseSmart may be the vanguard of a new wave of start-ups that rise out of the recession.

Have you used any off-shored services for your small business?  If you have – what service provider are you using and how is it working out for you?

About these ads

George Tenet – CIA

. United States, US Politics . , ,

I had the pleasure to attend an event last Friday where George Tenet was a featured speaker.  The format was an interactive interview with questions from the audience.  He was very engaging, entertaining and articulate – the only topic he avoided was mud-slinging against Clinton and Bush, instead expressing appreciation for them giving him the opportunity to serve his country.    I am about half-way through reading his book “At the Center of the Storm, My Years at the CIA” with great interest – highly recommended!

What Industries or Businesses Do Well During Recession?

. Canada, Economy, Entreprenuerism, General Interest, Jobs, Opportunities, Regional Economic Development, Trends, United States, Venture Capital . , , , , , , , , , , ,

There is a scene in Monty Python’s “The Meaning of Life” where several guys are tied to crucifixes, and suddenly Eric Idle launches into the song, “Always look on the bright side of life.”   This is  my favorite part of the song:

If life seems jolly rotten
There’s something you’ve forgotten
And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you’re feeling in the dumps
Don’t be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle – that’s the thing.

And…always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the light side of life…

For those looking to see the bright side of the recession and create their own job, the question that comes up in the current environment is “What products and services are people going to continue to buy during a recession?”

The following is a list of industries and businesses that are generally expected to see continued (if not increased) sales during a recession:

  • Funeral homes
  • Accountants (tax preparation, bankruptcy)
  • Health care (clinics, doctors)
  • Dry cleaning
  • Car insurance
  • Loan modification, loss mitigation and credit counseling
  • Rental real estate vs purchase real estate
  • Liquidators
  • Pawn shops
  • Flea markets, traders, classifieds
  • Discount retailers
  • Do It Yourself (DIY) industry for hardware, supplies and instruction for keeping up maintenance rather than replacing
  • Debt collection agencies
  • Education and training, as layoffs create need to prepare for alternative employment
  • Temporary staffing and contract employment services
  • Outplacement services
  • Rental and leasing firms, as companies have less cash for purchasing equipment
  • Resellers of just about anything used or refurbished
  • Equipment repair
  • Home maintenance
  • Auto repair and maintenance , as people will tend to put off purchasing a new car
  • Automotive parts suppliers
  • Lottery, alcohol and tobacco
  • Grocery stores, as people will tend to eat out less

From a statistical perspective, Sageworks, a company that specializes in financial analysis of private companies has published data for 2008 which listed the sales growth for the top 30 privately held businesses, which provides another perspective on what companies may do well in a recession:

Top Performing Industries by Sales Growth

They also published data on a subset of retail industries to highlight sales trends:
Sales Declines in 5 Small Retail Industries - 2008
Sales Declines in 5 Small Retail Industries – 2008

And they also published data on the top 10 most profitable industries as measured by net profit margin:

Top 10 Most Profitable Small Businesses - 2008

Top 10 Most Profitable Small Businesses - 2008

“Following the money” is more important now then ever before.   To that point, a Silicon Valley start-up  called RiseSmart recently raised $3 million in first-round funding in a bid to outwit the traditional outplacement industry.  RiseSmart is focused on providing what have traditionally been ”high end” outplacement services (for job seekers looking for $100K+ jobs) to a wider market by using technology to streamline the service delivery costs and market price.

If you are looking to create your own opportunities in the challenging economic environment, you might want to take a look at the work on Business Ecosystems.

If you have an established business and are wondering what actions you can take to survive and prosper, please take a look at this blog entry.

Obama Inauguration January 2009

. Obama, Travel, US Politics . , , ,

I was lucky to visit Washington DC during the Obama Inauguration with Dr Mark Miller and his sons Michael and David.

Tuesday was a long day.   We had to get up at 1:30AM on Tuesday to drive to the West Falls Church Metro station.  We then stood in line at 3:30AM waiting for the Metro station to open at 4AM.  We made it downtown and onto the National Mall around 4:30AM – we followed the crowd through the fence that was pushed down by over-eager Obama supporters – security wasn’t quite ready at that early hour.

Once on the National Mall, there was little to do but stand around and try to keep warm – it was cold.  I thought I was well dressed for the weather, but when my feet went numb and I started to shiver, I decided to throw in the towel.  I  left the Mall and headed back to the hotel around 7:30AM.   It took almost 3 hours to get back to the hotel due to the crush of people arriving.   In the end it turned out that watching the Obama Inauguration on TV was almost like being out on the Mall – except I was warm.

Mark and his two sons toughed it out to hear the speech from the National Mall.   They got to watch the Inauguration on the Jumbo-tron TV screens and experience the excitement of the crowd in person.  They arrived back at the hotel (ecstatic) around 4PM – Mark literally laid down on the floor within minutes of walking in the hotel room  and was instantly asleep.

Some pics from the day are below -

Job Hunting in the Ottawa Region

. Canada, Entreprenuerism, Jobs, Nortel, OCRI, Ontario, Ottawa . , , , , , , ,

I have received numerous queries from Nortel friends impacted by recent events.   For those asking about where to start and how to approach your job search, here is my advice:

For finding senior leadership roles in the Ottawa region:

  • Contact company CEO’s/VP Engineering informally to search for opportunities or leads to leadership role opportunities (if you can get an introduction through a mutual friend that works best).  Places to find lists/directories of local tech companies that are candidates for you to talk to:
  • Introduce yourself to recruiters working to recruit  senior staff in your area of expertise. Note that the recruiters won’t dedicate themselves to finding you a job, but by introducing yourself you can get your name and resume into their internal database and ensure you are considered for any recruiting projects their company may be working on.  
  • Contact Managing Partners and Associates you may know (or can get introduced to) in the local Venture Capital world to let them know you are actively looking for a new job, what type of role you are looking for, and why you are the best at what you do – they may know of openings in their portfolio companies they can point you to.

For finding general job opportunities in Ottawa:

Create your own job:

  • Contact OCRI to obtain access to training, mentoring and associated resources
  • I suggest you try to bootstrap your business as opposed to searching for Venture Capital, as there is very little Venture Capital available for seed-stage start-ups in Ottawa, or Canada

If anyone has additional suggestions, feel free to add them below.