Coding can be a daunting skill to acquire. Not only is it about learning a new language and potentially new software, but it also requires a lot of hours of practice. But getting on the road to code doesn’t have to be long and winding, with new solutions making it simpler to get into coding, this could be your time.

In the recent months following the Microsoft Inspire event, you might have heard a lot about the ‘citizen developer’. A phrase coined from custom app and workflow building suites such as Power Platform, it’s where both developers and non-technical users have the capability to build apps from a set of low code or no code templates – bringing development out of normal IT roles.

If you’re new to coding, or want to see if you’ve got the knack, Power Platform is a great way to be introduced to the world of app building (PowerApps), automating business processes (Microsoft Flow) and business data reporting (Power BI) without having the expertise of a coder.

We’ll run through some key terms and tips in this blog to get you started on Power Platform – because who knows, this could be the starting block to your coding (or no coding) career!

 

What is Power Platform?

Made up of three products (PowerApps, Power BI and Microsoft Flow), Power Platform “improves productivity across your business with an integrated application platform”. With the mantra around citizen developers, Microsoft prides itself on the fact that Power Platform gives everyone the ability to build business solutions, no matter their technical expertise. So that’s why it’s a great start for anyone wanting to get more technical as it’ll help teach you the processes needed without the coding skill. But when you are ready to get into your coding shoes, you’ll be ahead of the curve.

 

Tip #1 PowerApps

With templates galore, people have been known to create an app in a day (or even hours) with the PowerApps product. But to start, get to know the different templates before rushing in and always choose one that’ll deliver your business goal. Intrigued about how the templates were built? You can dig deeper and edit template functions to see the step by step process it took to build them. That way you can replicate your favourite template sections into your own application from scratch as the template will have shown you the steps needed, turning your low code product into a coding education tool.

 

Tip #2 Power BI

With a feel similar to Excel, you should excel at the Power BI product if you are already into your spreadsheets. However, our top tip is that you shouldn’t replicate how you manage data in Excel with Power BI as there’s not a direct correlation. To kick-off with the basics, if you’re a fan of Pivot Charts in Excel (who isn’t??) the closest thing to try in Power BI would be the Matrix, but to start more simply, you can use Column Charts and Tree Maps to create a basic pivot table-like view.

 

Tip #3 Microsoft Flow

Although not requiring any coding skills to make a Microsoft Flow, you can investigate the code behind the process to understand more. Flow uses really simple frontend blocks to help create the flow you’re building, but if you wanted to understand how this translates into backend, use the ‘Peek code’ option in the ‘…’ menu and you can see how the actions you’re taking are affecting the code. A really handy tip if you want to understand more about the code behind your flows.

 

Whether you are new to Power Platform, or are a seasoned expert, encouraging more people into acquiring technical skills is a must for future innovation – so is why Arrk is supporting #NationalCodingWeek this week. Head to their website for some great tips and tools for both schools and businesses.

And if you’re interested in optimising and adopting your full Microsoft Office 365 suite in your company, including your Power Platform apps, then we can help make it your best tool yet.

You’ve established your legacy system isn’t meeting your constantly evolving needs, but the thought of scrapping it and starting afresh is waking you up in the middle of the night. Surely there must be a way to modernise? But how much time and resource is it worth investing to reduce your technical debt? And how far do you go before you finally admit defeat?

At least you can feel safe in the knowledge that you’re not alone in battling this conundrum. According to MIT, 67% of C-level executives would like to completely replace their core legacy systems, but at the same time, 70% say they’d like to keep their systems as long as possible. To replace, or not to replace? That is the question.

Choosing how far you modernise doesn’t have to be a black or white solution though; it should encourage a whole spectrum of different methods and processes to be explored. From re-hosting and re-factoring through to a complete re-build – application modernisation is what you make of it.

Before deciding which route to go down, you need to ask yourself some important questions about why you’re having to modernise your application. Has the scope or specification of your application changed? Does it still fulfil your business requirements? How well is your system performing or is the source code still supported? By answering these questions you’ll be on the way to finding the right solution.

With a wide range of modernisation options available (and multiple combinations), it can be a bit of a minefield to work out the most appropriate solution for your given situation. But by establishing why you want to modernise, it will lead you on to figuring out how to modernise. Discover below the variety of methods of modernisation out there…

 

 

Encapsulate

Your system’s performing well and meeting most of your business requirements, so you’ve established nothing drastic needs to change. However, you want to improve performance and increase the scope. In this scenario encapsulation will help you leverage and extend your application’s features and value through encapsulating the data and functions.

Re-host

Your application seems to be meeting most of your business requirements, however it’s not operating in the optimum environment. Through re-hosting you can simply re-deploy the application component to another physical, virtual or cloud infrastructure without having to alter the application code or modify features and functions.

Re-platform

If application performance is your main concern, then this might be solved by re-platforming. By making minimal changes to the code to adapt to the new platform without changing the code structure or the features it provides, migrating the application component to a new runtime platform should improve your performance.

Re-factor

If you’re experiencing performance issues but your business requirements have changed too, then re-factoring your application would be beneficial. Involving restructuring and optimising your existing code without changing its external behaviour, re-factoring is a step up from re-platforming and involves a deeper dive into the application.

Re-architect

Is your system not running quite the way you want it, but nothing seems to be standing out as the main issue? Perhaps re-architecting is the answer. By materially altering the application code so you can shift it to a new application architecture, you can now fully exploit new and better capabilities of the application platform.

Re-build

You’ve identified that the critical issue you’re facing is that you’re using outdated or unsupported code. This is inherently risky as it’ll be difficult to maintain and ultimately run effective tests. Therefore, re-building or re-writing the application component from scratch while preserving its scope and specifications, would be the preferred option.

Replace

If you’ve explored all the alternative methods of modernising but none have the capacity to solve your issue, unfortunately it seems that replacement is your only option. As your scope has changed significantly your current application has become redundant and although it’s a drastic measure, it would be best to eliminate the former application component altogether and take the new requirements and needs into account.

 

Modernising your applications isn’t a quick decision to make. But by taking the time to explore your options, rather than maybe going straight to Replace, means you could get the best of both worlds – a modernised, flexible and scalable system that also retains the originality of why you kept the system around in the first place. Multiple issues, such as performance and a sub-optimal environment, may also mean a combination of options can be chosen. For example, you can both re-host and re-platform to tackle multiple issues in one move.

Whichever route you go down, effective application modernisation is what you make of it – it’s more than a just a decision between staying put or completely changing. However, the most important driver is to ensure that architectural and technical change are aligned to the needs of the business and isn’t simply technology change for technology’s sake.

On Wednesday 19th June, we delivered a CIO Roundtable from our Manchester City Centre offices focusing on how ‘SMEs Can Challenge Big Business Through Effective Outsourcing’, which was attended by senior IT leaders and business executives from a wide range of organisations.

During the interactive roundtable, attendees shared both their successes and war wounds of how they’ve embraced outsourcing as a way of adapting their approach to non-traditional delivery models in order to achieve a competitive advantage.

Adam Darr from Arrk, kicked off the proceedings by setting the scene as to how outsourcing should be seen no longer simply a cost-cutting tool, but instead is delivering true business value through measurable benefits such as enhanced service quality, reducing time to market and driving broader transformational change.

 

 

Achieving Success Through SMART Outsourcing – Gary Gautier, Director of Customer Success, Arrk

Gary shared his experience as both an ex-CTO as well as from leading customer projects at Arrk for the past 8 years. He highlighted through practical examples what he sees his secret sauce to outsourcing success is, with a key ingredient being to treat your ‘x’ as a partner and not a supplier. Also, how establishing trust and transparency on both sides will lead to a much more productive and fruitful relationship with value added for both parties, that’ll therefore help you deliver against company objectives, rather than making your business challenge ‘someone else’s problem’.

Gary’s secret sauce to SMART outsourcing includes:

 

Leveraging Outsourcing – David Threlfall, Group IT Director, Victrex

David then discussed how he has leveraged outsourcing to make his internal IT team at Victrex more effective and has helped them achieve an aligned business and establish a technology 3 horizon strategy. He explained how outsourcing has allowed him to re-align resources to make them more effective, rather than simply replacing people. And also discussed how it has enabled him to change the IT conversation from technology to core business objectives, including driving revenue, increasing profit and reducing risk.

A key theme of David’s insight was around the importance of effective change management when introducing outsourcing for the first time, for example he transitioned individuals from being traditional developers into architecture roles, and the importance of visibility and governance of the delivery process so that success can be both measured and shared.

David’s outsourcing highlights included:

• Digital is a must have and not a nice to have. To be respected you have to be in the game.
• Outsourcing can free up brain space to focus on making things better, rather than simply run.
• Don’t just focus on outsourcing external programmes – internal digital ecosystems can benefit as well.
• There will be hidden wins you don’t expect e.g. more predictable and improved support levels.
• Never lose sight that it’s all about people. Change can be worrying, so you have to prepare to manage it.

 

If you want to discover more about how outsourcing can benefit you, why not download our Outsourcing Brochure? Or if you’re interested in our next event, please click below…

The role of the finance team in organisations is changing. The finance team has become ever more responsible for creation of competitive advantage within the organisation; through driving insight and innovation quickly and responsively across the business.

The key concerns of finance have always been the streamlining of processes, the reduction of costs, and achieving rapid ROI and substantial IRR on investments. This has traditionally lead to a focus on efficiency and cost reduction at the expense of innovation and growth.

There is now a shift in focus from just being an efficient operation to a focus on engagement with customers, taking an outside-in view. This shift in focus requires a change in mindset and culture, both inside and outside finance. Further, it requires new ways of working and new technologies.

The CFO needs to get a clear understanding of the business needs and drive a can-do attitude to innovation. New ways of working combined with new technologies such as Serverless Cloud are key facilitators in this change. The business should be designed around what the customer wants, and it is not always the case that the business has a good understanding of what this is, particularly as it changes over time; these changes are becoming more frequent and unpredictable and can often catch the business out.

The drive for customer centric innovation is further hampered by legacy systems and inefficient technology practices that are a cost burden and barrier to innovation. Legacy technology processes are slow and expensive, a recent IDC report identified that 2/3 of delivered solutions are never or rarely used. This high level of waste in IT spend results in a poor ROI and IRR.

The CFO is looking for low risk, low cost outcomes that will deliver a high IRR and rapid ROI. Taking an outcomes based approach to delivering solutions, along with leveraging lean ways of working and Serverless Cloud Technologies driven by the CFO, is the key to successful Digital Transformation.

 

We’ve already looked at Why SMEs outsource and What SMEs can outsource in order to level the playing field against larger organisations. So this article will look at the final piece of the jigsaw and will focus on the How to undertake smart outsourcing – by choosing the most appropriate development model to drive your operational and business benefits.

The good news is that you can now pick and choose not only what you may want to outsource – but also how you do it. Each organisation is unique, and your outsourcing strategy must be formulated based on a clear understanding of your specific situational factors. Getting the basics right from the start by addressing the key considerations against your decision drivers, is key to ensuring long-term benefit and success.

 

Project Outsourcing

Traditionally, a project-based approach is considered the most appropriate option for companies with irregular, one-off, and pilot projects of low to medium complexity with well-defined requirements and deliverables. However, it is also how some organisations initially dip their toe in the water with outsourcing. With minimal exposure and risk, it gives you the opportunity to judge both the quality of the delivery partner as well as testing the concept.

Companies often choose this approach as an extension to their existing development capability, for instance, when there are capacity issues (the in-house team are unable to allocate the appropriate resource to deliver within the often short deadline) or there’s a requirement that’s outside the domain knowledge of the core team. With project outsourcing, all work is fully project managed by the outsourcing partner who are responsible for the quality of delivery of the required outputs.

 

Programme Outsourcing

Typically required to support business and digital change programmes, this model is ideal for companies who are looking for support on longer-term engagements. It’s also great for companies who need to extend their development capabilities with highly-qualified and skilled teams of developers and other IT professionals such as designers, UI/UX specialists, business analysts, project managers, testers, and more.

Many project-based models morph into this type of long-lasting relationship once their outsourcing partner has successfully delivered on smaller projects. The outsource partner would normally look to establish a consistent team reserved for each client, so that they develop a deep understanding of the company’s business objectives and can provide strategic support, rather than simply act as a tactical delivery arm. When multiple suppliers are involved in a programme, they can also provide 3rd party management to remove the headache of having to co-ordinate all the individual elements.

 

Virtual Outsource Delivery Centre (VODC)

As more and more businesses are looking to gain the advantages associated with outsourcing their delivery, one of the key considerations is around the control of the processes outsourced to the new provider. However, with a Virtual Outsource Delivery Centre (VODC) you get the best of both worlds. You can ramp up your capacity and skillset while still retaining control over the delivery. It’s a true extension of your existing team where you directly manage the individuals and their outputs, but without the management overheads such as HR, recruitment, payroll and office space.

However, the VODC model is a framework that can provide the appropriate level of support, depending on how much management bandwidth or experience you have at managing dispersed teams. An additional key benefit of the VODC model is the flexibility around resourcing. There is an option to provide resource to enhance your existing capability or you can look to outsource your entire delivery requirements (or literally anywhere in between). Should your requirements change, or you need additional support for specific projects, then the team can be flexed up and down accordingly.

 

 

Nowadays, companies sometimes opt to use a hybrid model to balance technologies and arising needs. Combinations of models are helpful to gain a specific value from each of the selected models. It is important to understand the type of project and its entire scope to fully assess how each model can be of benefit and which one is the best fit.

In a previous article we asked the question ‘Mobile App vs Mobile Website – What’s Best for your Business?’ and the answer ultimately depends on your business objectives and potentially a two-pronged approach could be the solution. However, if you have decided that your company needs a mobile app, then this opens a whole new debate on whether to go down the native or hybrid route (and if hybrid is the preferred option, which development framework do you use? But we’ll come to that later!).

 

Native or hybrid – what’s the difference?

Native apps are designed and coded for their specific platform (e.g. iOS, Android, Windows Phone etc.) and consider the differing needs of the appropriate range of devices. This requires more effort because each platform has its own software language (typically Objective-C or Swift for iOS, and Java for Android), development tools, user interface elements and Software Development Kits (SDKs). A native app written for one OS won’t run on any of the others, so if you’re looking to release your app, you’ll need to write separate versions for each platform.

Conversely, a hybrid app is a mobile app that contains a web view (essentially an isolated browser instance) to run a web application inside of a native app, using a wrapper that can communicate with the native device platform and the web view. This means web applications can run on a mobile device and have access to the device, such as camera or GPS features. Hybrid apps are possible because of tools that have been created that facilitate the communication between the web view and the native platform. When a hybrid app is built, it will be compiled, transforming your web application into a native app.

 

Which is the best route to take?

This decision comes down to your own individual circumstances. When launching a hybrid application, one of the main appeals is that you build it once, and then release it across multiple platforms. One UI – nice and simple. That means hybrid apps are 1) easier to build, 2) take less time to market, and 3) maintain one code base.

The trade-off is the user experience. The downside with a hybrid app is that even the most brilliant user experience architect cannot truly build an app that caters to the two dominant user types: iPhone and Android. Their style guidelines are simply too different, and from a design perspective any decision becomes a compromise which, on a case-by-case basis, must be weighed against all other strategic/tactical factors. Native apps are also generally faster, more reliable and more responsive than the alternatives because there are fewer layers in between the app code and device hardware. This also means that they have access to the full range of device capabilities (e.g. camera, microphone, GPS, accelerometer, battery level, and other onboard sensors) as well as OS-level apps and features (e.g. contacts, calendar, tasks/reminders and health data etc.).

However, despite native being seen as the premium option, there’s recently been a big shift to cross platform development to hybrid. Maintaining one source code is very appealing because new features are also easier to develop and deploy. Conversely, bug fixes are platform agnostic and can be done and released easily to production. Lastly, hybrid apps are distributed through the app store like all other apps which means the user will not see any immediate difference between a hybrid and a native app.

So, if a company follows the philosophy of “falling forward fast” and learns from user analytics while potentially reaching out to 90% of all users (that’s the combined market share of iOS and Android users), then a hybrid application could be the right approach. However, how important is the trade off in user experience? If your app is internally focused (for your employees) then simply having the appropriate functionality will probably suffice. However, if it’s customer facing then can you risk a poor user experience? While 79% of consumers would retry a mobile app only once or twice if it failed to work the first time, only 16% would give it more than two attempts. Poor mobile app experience is likely to discourage users from using an app again. You might get one chance to get it right. But you almost certainly won’t get a second.

 

The final debate – which hybrid development framework?

If you have chosen the hybrid as your preferred option, the final decision to make is which development framework to use. To reduce the line of difference between native and cross-platform mobile apps, the app development communities are striving hard to develop new frameworks and tools that can not only compete with native apps, but also have the potential to win the game. Xamarin, React Native, Ionic and Flutter are popular examples of such tools.

Below is a comparison of these tools to highlight the qualities that make them different from one another, and hopefully highlight the best one that you should choose.

 

Attribute
Programming Language	C# with .net environment		JavaScript + Swfit, Objective-C or Java	HTML%, CSS and JavaScript + Typescript	Dart
Performance	Xamarin iOS/Android	Xamarin Forms	Close-to-native	Moderate	Amazing
	Close-to-native	Moderate
GUI	Use Native UI Controllers		Use Native UI Controllers	HTML, CSS	Use Proprietary Widgets and deliver amazing UI
Market and Community Support	Strong		Strong	Strong	Not very popular
Code Reusability	96% of code is reusable		90% of code is reusable	98% of code is reusable	50-90% (approx.) is reusable
Pricing	Open-source + paid as well		Open-source	Open-source + paid as well	Open-source

 

For cross-platform development, all four frameworks have gained reliability among organisations aiming to decrease the time and expenses of app development. And depending upon your priorities and business needs, they can all be useful.

With growing mobile internet usage, implementing a mobile strategy is crucial for modern businesses. However, when you look at the mobile market today, with its many operating platforms and devices, it’s easy to get confused and can be difficult to decide what exactly your strategy should look like, as well as what kind of application do you need. The most important thing to focus on is to be specific about your goals. Do you want to attract a particular demographic to your brand via your app? Increase customer retention? Or brand awareness? How important is the trade off in user experience? Each of these requires different approaches and considerations. Of course, you could want it all, and it is possible to achieve it, but the more realistic you are about your mobile goals, the more likely you are to meet them.

In a previous article we looked at how ‘SMEs Challenge Big Business Through Outsourcing’ and how it is levelling the playing field somewhat for SMEs, who simply can’t afford to match the in-house support services that larger companies maintain. By helping them act ‘big’, giving them access to the same economies of scale, efficiency, and expertise that large companies enjoy, leading practice SME organisations are using outsourcing to drive transformational change and improve business results.

 

Increased Flexibility Gives You More Options

A major shift in the outsourcing arena has also seen organisations benefiting from the increased flexibility in the options of ‘what’ and ‘how’ you can outsource, which is the focus of this article. Traditionally, outsourcing has been considered to replace an entire department like HR, or a particular function e.g. payroll. However, it’s now possible to enable your organisation to access and leverage the appropriate expertise to support your overall business strategy and goals across the entire digital lifecycle, either as an ad hoc or longer-term strategy.

 

Strategic Digital Consultancy

Most companies have very clear organisational aims and objectives, but these do not always include digital technologies as a strategic enabler.

Strategic digital consultancy engagements establish a common understanding amongst your executive team as to the vision and objectives and future roadmap for your digital programme, as well as assessing your organisational readiness to effectively leverage transformational change.

 

Architecture and Design

Each year, organisations around the world face astronomical project failure rates, often wasting millions of pounds per failed project. Projects most commonly fail because there is a lack of attention and efforts being applied to key project performance factors and there is a poor suitability and scalability of the current IT landscape from both an environment and software architecture perspective. Having an independent party review your current landscape, provides you with an unbiased ‘outside in’ view and can help you sharpen the focus on IT development projects, shaping the design of specific digital outcomes.

 

Development and Migration

Getting software into the hands of users as fast as possible and leveraging new technologies such as the cloud is a key business priority. By shrinking time to market and embracing change, you can respond rapidly to market changes and sustain a competitive advantage. However, this can put pressure on capacity and highlight capability issues within internal resource, which may increase delivery times. Outsourcing projects or full programmes of work gives you instant access to a global resource pool and enhanced technical skillsets. Plus, if you want to mitigate risk, there are outsourcing models available that allow you to manage and direct the resource, without incurring the fixed costs of overheads etc.

 

Support and Maintenance

Technology and the business environment are two of the fastest changing aspects of our world. Through outsourcing your support and maintenance, it ensures that you continue to get the most out of your investment, that it matches your business requirements of the time, and your employees know to optimise the systems that they use. Outsourcing can also help your business to shift its focus from peripheral activities toward work that serves the customer. Routine tasks such as updating legacy systems and maintaining your cloud environment can be transferred to free up valuable time for internal resource, so they can focus on innovation.

 

The good news is that you can now pick and choose what you may want to outsource and for how long. Each organisation is unique. And your outsourcing strategy must be formulated based on a clear understanding of your specific situational factors. Getting the basics right from the start by addressing the key considerations against your decision drivers, is key to ensuring long-term benefit and success. Need some guidance on which delivery model best suits your business? Download our Outsourcing Brochure now.

Are your legacy systems a millstone around your neck and/or swallowing up valuable internal resource? When left behind in a business’ digital transformation, clunky legacy systems can affect a company’s speed to market as well as the ability to be reactive. If that rings a bell, the good news is that legacy systems don’t have to be a burden. Instead of working against you, they can work with you and become the foundation on which your business moves forward on its digital journey.

In a recent survey, 72% of C-suite executives stated that their legacy systems hamper their ability to migrate to new technologies and make their IT functions less responsive to market change. In any industry, having a competitive advantage and being quick to adapt to change in the market is integral for success – a legacy system that holds you back and decreases your competitive edge is therefore competing against your business goals.

There’s no solution that’ll fit every company, but there are two overarching routes you could go down; either modernising your legacy systems and making it fit for the future, or if it is fit for purpose, passing the responsibility of the support and maintenance to an external provider to free up valuable development resource in-house to focus on new innovations.

 

Modernisation

Sometimes, it’s simpler to take the easy route and implement additional applications instead of fixing what you’ve already got. But if your focus is on reducing your technical debt as well as aligning architectural and technical change to the needs of your business, modernisation could be the answer. Maximise the system you have already and make it work for you, while at the same streamlining and centralising your systems.

Cost is a big factor when it comes to updating and modernising, but an upfront cost that means a long-term solution rather than multiple smaller ‘band-aid’ costs spread over time – there’s no competition. If it means your bespoke software now has greater functionality and has realigned all your business processes, there’s no doubt that updating and modernising your legacy systems creates greater efficiency.

Of course, the size of the project will greatly impact your decision to allocate budget. From re-platforming your legacy with minimal code changes, to a complete re-build where the specifications stay the same, but you re-write the application component form scratch, it’s not a light decision to go down this route. But with increased speed to market, higher adaptability to market change, increased scope for innovation as well as increasing the capacity to manage new demands – it might just be worth it to turn your legacy systems into legend.

Additional ways to approach your modernisation can include re-hosting your system on the cloud or or even a full replacement – to discover all seven ways Arrk can assist your modernisation, discover our RemArrk™ application modernisation framework.

 

Maintenance and Support

When you do have a system that’s fit for purpose, but your team are bogged down in bug fixes, or you’re over reliant on one individual to manage it, outsourcing the support and maintenance of your legacy systems becomes the logical route.

Freeing up resource of your internal digital teams is one of the main reason’s companies look to outsource. Keeping staff motivated and happy should be a priority, but if a team of developers are required to constantly fix legacy system issues rather than developing new ideas – motivation can start to halter. By handing over the maintenance to an external provider, your digital teams can now focus on new innovations and look to the future.

Equally, if an individual who created the system wants to move onto new projects but can’t as they’re the only one with the know-how, they’ll often be stuck in that position until documentation of the system can be done. A massive benefit to handing over the maintenance is that it’ll have to be documented to allow the external team to manage and develop the system. So even if the outsourcing is a temporary fix for only a few months, the lasting legacy of the documentation will mean that multiple people will have access to the system’s processes and not just a sole responsibility.

This approach also means you now have more time to evaluate which direction you want your business to go in. While bug fixing and concentrating on support, roadmapping your company’s digital future might have taken a backseat when everyone knows this should be at the forefront of any growing business. Handing over the responsibility to an external party can therefore help to relieve some essential strategic planning time while your systems are being looked after.

Lastly – outsourcing can be the most immediate solution as straightaway you’ll have the appropriate skill-set at your fingertips. Not only that, but with a dedicated team, the ongoing development of the system will become part of day to day life. So as your team matures from being involved in innovative new projects rather than legacy management, your legacy system will also mature alongside.

 

Modernisation and maintenance offer two different solutions to grow, develop and refine your legacy systems. They can also work hand in hand to both mature your teams and mature your digital road map. Whether you choose one option, or both, making your legacy lightweight and nimble instead of a burden, is a sure-fire way to propel your business further to the front of the digital space race. Discover our COMPLIMENTARY legacy system review now.

It’s that age-old business mantra we’ve been hearing since we can remember – the customer is king. It highlights the importance of customers (and potential customers) in every business. Traditionally, it’s a rule that means your company promises to provide good customer service. But with the current evolution on work and business settings, ‘the customer is king’ means more than just subscribing to good customer service, it means really practising it too.

We live in a fast-paced ‘everything now’ era. Endless tech-powered innovations are giving customers more choices than ever before. Therefore, companies must adapt, improve, and deliver solutions faster to stay competitive and meet ever-changing customer needs. This nimbleness, and the ability to switch tack to take advantage of a new opportunity, is playing into the hands of SMEs, as they often don’t have the same rigidity in processes and policies in comparison to their big business counterparts. Plus, they’re also now benefitting from a strategy that has traditionally be seen to be reserved only for large organisations – outsourcing.

 

Levelling the Playing Field for SMEs

 

Outsourcing is levelling the playing field somewhat for SMEs, who simply can’t afford to match the in-house support services that larger companies maintain. It can help them act ‘big’ by giving them access to the same economies of scale, efficiency, and expertise that large businesses enjoy. A major shift in the outsourcing arena has also seen organisations benefitting from the increased flexibility in the options of ‘what’ and ‘how’ you can outsource – there’s now a vast range of business benefits above and beyond the traditional well-known cost efficiencies. No longer do companies have to outsource entire divisions, such as its entire IT department, instead they can leverage expertise and capacity on a programme or project basis, with the option to scale up and down in line with business requirements.

A recent survey published by The Times, found that while cost, enabling core business functions, and solving capacity issues are primary drivers to outsource, leading practice SME organisations use outsourcing to drive transformational change and improve business results.

This is combined with aligning outsourcing agreements to tangible business benefits that have a powerful impact on their growth, productivity and the bottom line, which are often achieved due to the introduction of innovative new approaches or speedier go to market models.

 

Smart Outsourcing – Driving Operational and Business Benefits

 

Each organisation is unique. And your outsourcing strategy must be formulated based on a clear understanding of your specific situational factors. Getting the basics right from the start by addressing the key considerations against your decision drivers, is key to ensuring long-term benefit and success. From improving user experience and lowering the cost of delivery, to delivering new capabilities and decreasing transaction time – there are many reasons why SMEs go after a outsourcing delivery model.

At Arrk our experienced consultants lead you through the process to identify how you can best leverage outsourcing, to make sure it has the biggest impact on your growth, productivity and bottom line. In our next blog, we will share with you how some of our customers have radically changed their operating models and have achieved incredible results through outsourcing arrangements.

 

One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to outsourcing resource. With four areas where we can assist your digital growth, take a look at Arrk’s outsourcing options.