Raising the Bar Through Outsourcing!

“Outsourcing and globalization of manufacturing allows companies to reduce costs, advantages consumers with lower cost goods and services, causes economic expansion that reduces unemployment, and increases productivity and job creation.”

~~ Larry Elder — “The Larry Elder Show”

Raising The Bar Via Outsourcing

The stereotypes connected with outsourcing are frequently highly negative in temperament. That said, it is indeed reasonable to make use of the idea of outsourcing to obtain the highest quality of labor achievable. Outsourcing no longer solely refers to overseas sweatshops where employees slave long hours for beggarly pay. Outsourcing now also occurs domestically and frequently at prices which are more than bounteous. Thanks to savvy entrepreneurs who understand the advantages of submitting their services on a “per contract” basis, outsourcing has become the wave of the future. This article will examine how outsourcing can in fact lead to superior work and increased profitability.

Top Quality Labor from Industry Experts

One of the most beneficial aspects of outsourcing is the capacity to hire industry experts for the fulfilment of specific tasks. This becomes favorable in situations where a company is faced with a intricate problem which is beyond the mastery of the in-house staff members. Outsourcing gives the company the possibility to outsource the duty of clearing up the problem to a tremendously skilled prospect. Even if the company may pay a large sum for the person’s services this fee will most likely be considerably less than what it would have cost them to clear up the problem with their in-house employees. The amount of time it would have consumed paired with the potential for costly mistakes makes it totally clear outsourcing is the suitable choice in this predicament.

An additional scenario where tasks may be outsourced to an industry authority is when the company is faced with the duty of accomplishing more work than they are actually capable of handling in-house. Under aggressive deadlines or sudden delays, outsourcing can be used to complete projects according to strict deadlines.

“The other part of outsourcing is this: it simply says where the work can be done outside better than it can be done inside, we should do it.”

~~ Alphonso Jackson — Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development

Flexibility In Scheduling

A great number of businesses choose the workload they take on based on the number of employees they retain on staff capable of assisting in each particular job. That said, outsourcing gives businesses the power to think about accepting more work orders than their in-house staff members are capable of accomplishing. An instance of when this is beneficial is when consultants are awarded more projects than they had foreseen and are of the sudden in a predicament where they are not able to meet their deadlines due to larger than foreseen workloads.

An extra advantage to outsourcing is the capacity to take on bigger projects than normal. One of the most simple factors frequently considered when presenting projects to consultants is the number of staff members who are on hand to work on the job. Customers evaluate this number with their job needs and time schedule to decide whether or not they believe the consultant is capable of accomplishing the job on time. Consultants who outsource portions of their projects are by and large able to increase the number of stafff members they can afford to have working on a specific job.

Lower Operating Costs

Lastly, outsourcing can help companies to generate higher quality work by enabling them to lower their operating costs. Outsourcing can save companies a huge amount of money because they frequently do not have to pay advantages such as social security, workers’ comp and Medicare to those who work on a “per contract” basis. Furthermore, those who accomplish the outsourced job normally do the job from their own office meaning the company does not have to supply resources for the freelance worker. Even if these costs appear trite, they can definitely add up especially if outsourcing is used on a routine basis.

Combined with the lower operating costs, a great number of companies discover that productivity is increased on account of outsourcing. By outsourcing work orders to experienced freelancers, the in-house employees are freed of additional responsibilities and can concentrate extensively on the tasks they were hired to accomplish. This is notable because without outsourcing these exact staff members might be tasked with attempting to accomplish complex tasks for which they are not fittingly qualified or trained. When this happens there is a correlating decline in productivity as the staff members take longer than needed to finish the more complex tasks and do not have time to finish the simpler tasks.

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Earn Easy Money Through Paid Survey Sites

You probably have received an email or two offering you income opportunities through one of the many paid survey sites all over the Internet. Many people usually just ignore these kinds of emails, thinking that they are all full of false promises and scam. What these people do not know is that filling out online surveys are actually an excellent opportunity to earn easy money online.

There are several ways through which you can earn money online giving your opinions. You can earn anywhere from a dollar to about five for filling out an easy 5 or 10-minute paid survey. If you have the right strategy, you can increase your earning potential. Here are some tips to help you multiply your income with these surveys:

1. Sign up with as many free survey sites as possible. One of the excellent ways to maximize your earning capacity is to sign up with as many programs available as you can. Note that one program may only offer you a few surveys a week. If you have many companies sending you paid survey jobs, you can have better chances to earn more.

2. Don’t be choosy, at least at first. If you are starting out with paid survey programs, it is important for you to never miss any survey sent to you. You have to build your credibility as a respondent. If you become choosy and pass on a few too many surveys, there is a good chance for you to be taken off their list. If you want to earn more, patiently follow through during the first few months even if the programs do not give out substantial pay. If you already have a stable stream offered, then it is time to start choosing those that will be worth your time.

3. Be as general as you can. You should remember that surveys have certain target respondents. In order to qualify for more, try to be as general as possible. These programs usually ask you to fill out questionnaires for them to know your basic information. Of course, you should be honest when filling out these forms. You also need to make sure that you check all the boxes that apply to you.

4. Make use of form fill software. You can save a lot of time and effort by using one of the many form filling software available online. This software allows automated input of redundant data which includes names, phone numbers, addresses, and so on.

Paid survey sites and programs are one of the easiest ways for you to earn extra income through the Internet. However, you need to set realistic expectations when it comes to earnings. Remember that filling in surveys is actually a job. You only get paid an amount proportional to the time and effort you spend. If you patiently follow through and take each and every paid survey seriously, there is no reason for you not to earn a stable income through surveys quickly.

No Sweat Business Opportunity Through Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs have been around for a decade and have remained one of the most popular ways of earning money on the internet using your own website. Affiliate programs require very little from affiliates and a little investment on affiliate network members, but in the end, it is really about business – creating an opportunity to allow everyone to benefit.

Playing cupid
Being involved in an affiliate program is like playing cupid, except that you get paid through a well-placed business opportunity. What an affiliate does is to provide links on his website that lead his visitors to a merchant’s site. This arrangement directs traffic to the merchant’s site and the affiliate gets paid for his efforts.

Basically, it requires a little matching on your part as an affiliate. If the products and services of your merchant site meet the needs and interests of your visitors, you’ve made a profitable match.

How to join
Joining is a breeze. If you’re a site owner, you can apply with an affiliate network and become a member. Once you’ve been approved, you can now choose the affiliate programs that are right for your site. Once the merchant owners who own these programs approve of your application, you can then post a link on your site that leads to the merchant owner’s site.

If you’re an online business owner, you might want affiliates of your own. You can choose to recruit them yourself, or save your effort and resources by joining an affiliate network. They will virtually do the job of recruitment, tracking and accounting for you. All you have to do is pay for their services.

Where the money is
There are several ways you can use as an affiliate to earn money from affiliate programs. These programs are Pay-Per-Click, Pay-Per-Sale and Pay-Per-Lead. Each program’s arrangement varies and so do payment schemes. For a PPP, for example, you will be paid for every visitor who clicks on the merchant owner’s links from your website.

For a PPS, you will earn either a fixed amount or a percentage of every sale made by a visitor who linked from your site to the merchant’s site. For a PPL, you will earn for every visitor who agrees to fill out an information form on the merchant’s site to become a ‘lead’.

Who profits from these programs?
Everybody. Other than you, the merchant owner profits from your arrangement from the sale or traffic he generates with his website through your affiliate link. The visitor also profits from your arrangement by getting the information, goods or services that he needs from the merchant’s site through your site. And lastly, the affiliate network who handles your program and that of your merchant also benefits, since they also get a percentage from the pay that affiliate merchants make to their affiliates.

What makes an affiliate program a success?
Probably one of the most successful affiliate programs that offer business opportunities is that of http://Amazon.com. Already a popular site for reading materials, Amazon already had a sizable audience just from reading enthusiasts, but there was a market that they wanted to capture: the internet visitors who don’t usually shop for stuff at http://Amazon.com. These are the people who probably have never heard of the site or those who don’t find books very interesting.

However, these same internet visitors may find some other subjects worth checking, like gardening or bodybuilding, for example. When a favorite website dealing with plants and herbs recommends a book that’s available at http://Amazon.com, that visitor is likely to click on the link to check out the book and probably buy it. What results is a mutually rewarding experience: Amazon gets a customer and the affiliate site gets paid. And, the visitor gets the book he never knew existed.

As you can see, a successful affiliate program is directly affected by the popularity of the affiliate website. It will also help a lot if the affiliate site owner knows his readers well enough to choose the kind of merchant sites that would interest them greatly.

A successful affiliate program is one that invites everyone into a business opportunity – the visitor with the information or product he needs and the merchant with his desired traffic or sale. On top of it all, the affiliate site makes a profit by being an intermediary to both parties. Everybody wins.

The only danger about joining affiliate programs is that you could get carried away with so many choices. Since the programs are free, you could be tempted to join a lot and in the process, make your website look like a big advertisement site.

Remember that your drawing power is your site’s content, along with the number of visitors you have and their interests. If you stray too far away from this, you might end up spreading your site’s appeal too thinly and turn off many of your loyal visitors.

As long as you choose wisely and maintain consistency, you can be sure that your affiliate program will continue to give you a business opportunity that can be very profitable. It may not make you rich overnight, but it can earn you money that you otherwise wouldn’t get your hands on if you hadn’t joined. So if you want your site to generate income or expand your business further, why not check out affiliate programs today?

Some recommendations
If you’re interested in a business opportunity using affiliate programs, check out VMC Satellite, Snapshot Spy, Investigator Pro and YesAsia. You just might find the right affiliate program to start your very own online business without really trying.

5 Keys For Maximising Your ROI Through Optimal ERP Performance: Key 1 – A Software ERP Directive

Key No 1 – Charting the course of success for your technology investment

Is your current ERP system is lacking in functionality? Does it limit your ability to respond quickly to customers’ requests? Where are you placed in comparison with your competitors, and does your existing system help you or hinder you in meeting industry best practice or benchmarks? Are you simply unhappy with your current supplier and their ability to respond to your requirements, let alone those of your customers?

Whatever the case, you are unlikely to stand alone in these areas – many companies have faced similar issues with their ERP systems, so no user is likely to be unique. There are common drivers you can consider in your deliberations over a replacement ERP system, and these include the measures you use to chart the success of your technology investment, the major issues you need to address and the consideration of how much pain you are willing to put up with to achieve your ultimate goal.

According to Aberdeen Group’s 2007 ERP in Manufacturing Benchmark Report, 328 companies out of 1245 companies surveyed were planning to replace their current ERP systems at one or more locations within the next three years. In other words, at any one time, a quarter of companies are looking to replace their existing ERP systems.

In the past, enterprise resource planning has garnered a mixed reputation. While there are fundamental reasons and obvious benefits for going down the ERP path, many have feared – rightly or wrongly – that ERP entailed major organisational disruption if not re-engineering, at high cost and high risk.

Aberdeen Group reports (“When Replacing ERP – Size Matters”, June 2007) the primary driver for large companies is consolidation and rationalisation strategies. An underlying issue, considering the proliferation of ERP and other enterprise applications, is the need for integration. For mid-sized and small companies, on the other hand, the concerns are more with gaining functionality and integration. These sized firms are also more heavily concerned with updating their outdated user interfaces, an important factor in raising employee productivity and efficiencies.

Other issues include requirements of expansion, pressure from trading partners, compliance with regulation and even disastrous events, but overall companies looking at ERP implementations are primarily seeking “low cost options that minimise risk”.

Risk and cost in combination imply a concern for return on investment, but Aberdeen’s surveys show that fewer than 25 per cent of respondents consistently estimate ROI to cost estimate ERP projects, and 20 per cent or less measure the actual post-implementation costs and gains to calculate ROI.

In contrast, “best in class companies are on average 88 per cent more likely to estimate ROI before initiating projects and are 130 per cent more likely to measure ROI after project completion. As a result, these best performing companies produce, on average, 93 per cent more improvement across a variety of metrics such as cost reductions, schedule performance, headcount reduction or redeployment and quality improvements.”

The reality is that minimising risk with an ERP implementation is an achievable result and, by minimising risk, costs should also be kept under control. By following a formal process of charting the reasons for your implementation, assessing the various offerings from your current supplier and, importantly, from suppliers who might be new to you, and checking off against the various criteria for selection, an ERP implementation need not be a nightmare; in fact, it could prove to be the instigator of quantifiable benefits for all concerned.

Specific success markers

Getting down to brass tacks, there are a number of key aspects of an ERP system that need to be addressed, both prior to any decision to move to such a system and certainly as part of selection criteria. Near the top of the list is total cost of ownership, which incorporates:

Software and implementation costs;

Costs associated with any interfaces or system modifications;

All costs associated with system communications;

Costs associated with employing additional or specialised staff; and

Annual costs for system upgrades and helpline support.

Other specific areas of consideration that will impact on the success or otherwise of your ERP program include:

Functionality;

Ease of use;

Integration capabilities;

Ease and speed of implementation;

Ability to tailor functionality without programming; and

Software licence price.

Added to this, or overarching these considerations, is return on investment. Whether and how quickly you achieve this is dependent on many factors, not least the rigour and realism applied to the assessment of current circumstances and the contribution made by the ERP system as outlined in initial business cases. An article as far back as the European Journal of Information Systems in 1996 reported on a survey of the 200 largest UK companies that found that 47 per cent openly admitted to overstating the benefits to get approval for IT investments.

But wishful thinking and creative accounting aside, these are all relevant considerations. (And in future articles, covering total cost of ownership, selection criteria, best and worst practices, and maximising ROI, we will look at them in more detail.) But it should be noted that the level and mix of these factors and how successfully they are achieved is specific to individual sets of circumstances, including size and type of organisation, intended purpose, individual business priorities and, of course, budget.

The big picture

The overriding consideration that affects all organisations, large or small, regardless of industry sector or even of budget, is alignment with the business objectives of your organisation.

Jerry Luftman and Rajkumar Kempaiah of the Stevens Institute of Technology suggest (“An update on business-IT alignment”, September 2007) that the issue of achieving IT-business alignment was first documented in the late 1970s and was in the top 10 IT management issues from 1980 through 1994, as reported by the Society for Information Management. Since 1994 it has consistently been issue #1 or #2.

Nonetheless, it has proved to be an elusive target. Luftman and Kempaiah suggest a number of reasons for this, including that, while IT might be aligned with the business, business is rarely aligned with IT. They also add that organisations have often looked for a ‘silver bullet’, whether technological solution or improved communications, as well as improved governance to identify and prioritise projects, resources and risks. Another reason they suggest for missing the alignment target has been the lack of an effective tool to gauge the maturity of IT-business alignment.

On this last point, they suggest a set of six components that indicate (if not mandate) alignment maturity: Communications – exchange of ideas, knowledge and information between IT and business; Value – balanced measurements to demonstrate the contributions of information technology and the IT organisation in terms that both business and IT understand;

Governance – who has authority to make IT decisions and set IT priorities;

Partnership – including IT’s role in defining business strategies, the degree of trust and how each perceives the other’s contribution;

Scope and architecture – IT’s provision of flexible infrastructure, evaluation of emerging technologies, driving business process change, and delivery of customised solutions internally and externally; and

Skills – HR practices of hiring and retention, encouragement of innovation, developing individuals’ skills, and the organisation’s readiness for change, capability to learn and ability to leverage new ideas.

Interestingly, they say that “business executives score alignment maturity higher than IT executives”. In other words, it is the IT side of the business that feels most that alignment is not being achieved. Whether your organisation complies with these suggestions – and it should be added that sometimes these factors can be seen as reflections of alignment maturity as opposed to stepping-stones for achieving that heightened state – any IT implementation, especially one as significant as ERP, should keep all of these factors top of mind.

Supply chain criteria

Many ERP systems are implemented as part of the supply chain process of an organisation. Here, again, the above success markers are relevant, but Tim Payne of Gartner (“Supply chain and IT strategies must align around five key themes”, August 2007) suggests that “enterprises should focus on five technology areas – business process agility, data management, analytics and performance management, collaboration, and sensory networks – as the sources of technology-enabled supply chain innovation”.

Payne says “focusing on these technology areas will give the IT organisation more credibility as an ongoing participant in the dialogue [with the supply Key No 1 - Charting the course of success for your technology investment

Is your current ERP system is lacking in functionality? Does it limit your ability to respond quickly to customers' requests? Where are you placed in comparison with your competitors, and does your existing system help you or hinder you in meeting industry best practice or benchmarks? Are you simply unhappy with your current supplier and their ability to respond to your requirements, let alone those of your customers?

Whatever the case, you are unlikely to stand alone in these areas - many companies have faced similar issues with their ERP systems, so no user is likely to be unique. There are common drivers you can consider in your deliberations over a replacement ERP system, and these include the measures you use to chart the success of your technology investment, the major issues you need to address and the consideration of how much pain you are willing to put up with to achieve your ultimate goal.

According to Aberdeen Group's 2007 ERP in Manufacturing Benchmark Report, 328 companies out of 1245 companies surveyed were planning to replace their current ERP systems at one or more locations within the next three years. In other words, at any one time, a quarter of companies are looking to replace their existing ERP systems.

In the past, enterprise resource planning has garnered a mixed reputation. While there are fundamental reasons and obvious benefits for going down the ERP path, many have feared - rightly or wrongly - that ERP entailed major organisational disruption if not re-engineering, at high cost and high risk.

Aberdeen Group reports ("When Replacing ERP - Size Matters", June 2007) the primary driver for large companies is consolidation and rationalisation strategies. An underlying issue, considering the proliferation of ERP and other enterprise applications, is the need for integration. For mid-sized and small companies, on the other hand, the concerns are more with gaining functionality and integration. These sized firms are also more heavily concerned with updating their outdated user interfaces, an important factor in raising employee productivity and efficiencies.

Other issues include requirements of expansion, pressure from trading partners, compliance with regulation and even disastrous events, but overall companies looking at ERP implementations are primarily seeking "low cost options that minimise risk".

Risk and cost in combination imply a concern for return on investment, but Aberdeen's surveys show that fewer than 25 per cent of respondents consistently estimate ROI to cost estimate ERP projects, and 20 per cent or less measure the actual post-implementation costs and gains to calculate ROI.

In contrast, "best in class companies are on average 88 per cent more likely to estimate ROI before initiating projects and are 130 per cent more likely to measure ROI after project completion. As a result, these best performing companies produce, on average, 93 per cent more improvement across a variety of metrics such as cost reductions, schedule performance, headcount reduction or redeployment and quality improvements."

The reality is that minimising risk with an ERP implementation is an achievable result and, by minimising risk, costs should also be kept under control. By following a formal process of charting the reasons for your implementation, assessing the various offerings from your current supplier and, importantly, from suppliers who might be new to you, and checking off against the various criteria for selection, an ERP implementation need not be a nightmare; in fact, it could prove to be the instigator of quantifiable benefits for all concerned.

Specific success markers

Getting down to brass tacks, there are a number of key aspects of an ERP system that need to be addressed, both prior to any decision to move to such a system and certainly as part of selection criteria. Near the top of the list is total cost of ownership, which incorporates:

Software and implementation costs;

Costs associated with any interfaces or system modifications;

All costs associated with system communications;

Costs associated with employing additional or specialised staff; and

Annual costs for system upgrades and helpline support.

Other specific areas of consideration that will impact on the success or otherwise of your ERP program include:

Functionality;

Ease of use;

Integration capabilities;

Ease and speed of implementation;

Ability to tailor functionality without programming; and

Software licence price.

Added to this, or overarching these considerations, is return on investment. Whether and how quickly you achieve this is dependent on many factors, not least the rigour and realism applied to the assessment of current circumstances and the contribution made by the ERP system as outlined in initial business cases. An article as far back as the European Journal of Information Systems in 1996 reported on a survey of the 200 largest UK companies that found that 47 per cent openly admitted to overstating the benefits to get approval for IT investments.

But wishful thinking and creative accounting aside, these are all relevant considerations. (And in future articles, covering total cost of ownership, selection criteria, best and worst practices, and maximising ROI, we will look at them in more detail.) But it should be noted that the level and mix of these factors and how successfully they are achieved is specific to individual sets of circumstances, including size and type of organisation, intended purpose, individual business priorities and, of course, budget.

The big picture

The overriding consideration that affects all organisations, large or small, regardless of industry sector or even of budget, is alignment with the business objectives of your organisation.

Jerry Luftman and Rajkumar Kempaiah of the Stevens Institute of Technology suggest ("An update on business-IT alignment", September 2007) that the issue of achieving IT-business alignment was first documented in the late 1970s and was in the top 10 IT management issues from 1980 through 1994, as reported by the Society for Information Management. Since 1994 it has consistently been issue #1 or #2.

Nonetheless, it has proved to be an elusive target. Luftman and Kempaiah suggest a number of reasons for this, including that, while IT might be aligned with the business, business is rarely aligned with IT. They also add that organisations have often looked for a 'silver bullet', whether technological solution or improved communications, as well as improved governance to identify and prioritise projects, resources and risks. Another reason they suggest for missing the alignment target has been the lack of an effective tool to gauge the maturity of IT-business alignment.

On this last point, they suggest a set of six components that indicate (if not mandate) alignment maturity: Communications - exchange of ideas, knowledge and information between IT and business; Value - balanced measurements to demonstrate the contributions of information technology and the IT organisation in terms that both business and IT understand;

Governance - who has authority to make IT decisions and set IT priorities;

Partnership - including IT's role in defining business strategies, the degree of trust and how each perceives the other's contribution;

Scope and architecture - IT's provision of flexible infrastructure, evaluation of emerging technologies, driving business process change, and delivery of customised solutions internally and externally; and

Skills - HR practices of hiring and retention, encouragement of innovation, developing individuals' skills, and the organisation's readiness for change, capability to learn and ability to leverage new ideas.

Interestingly, they say that "business executives score alignment maturity higher than IT executives". In other words, it is the IT side of the business that feels most that alignment is not being achieved. Whether your organisation complies with these suggestions - and it should be added that sometimes these factors can be seen as reflections of alignment maturity as opposed to stepping-stones for achieving that heightened state - any IT implementation, especially one as significant as ERP, should keep all of these factors top of mind.

Supply chain criteria

Many ERP systems are implemented as part of the supply chain process of an organisation. Here, again, the above success markers are relevant, but Tim Payne of Gartner ("Supply chain and IT strategies must align around five key themes", August 2007) suggests that "enterprises should focus on five technology areas - business process agility, data management, analytics and performance management, collaboration, and sensory networks - as the sources of technology-enabled supply chain innovation".

Payne says "focusing on these technology areas will give the IT organisation more credibility as an ongoing participant in the dialogue [with the supply chain organisation]“. He goes on to recommend:

Periodic demonstrations of new technology capabilities, coupled with the co-development of supply chain initiatives, as new capabilities arise in these areas;

Developing a plan for incorporating new infrastructure components that are needed to support innovation areas; and
Evaluating the supply chain IT strategies and SCM vendor-sourcing criteria with the supply chain organisation for conformance and alignment based on the five key themes and related discussions, adjusting IT and sourcing strategies to address perceived gaps.

All well and good. But, despite the best planning and setting of firm criteria, there is always the issue of compromise – that such an important and far-reaching a system as an ERP will not perfectly match your organisational set-up. The Aberdeen report suggests that “if your business processes were developed over time – in an unstructured way – the possibility exists that no ERP system will match exactly. Search out ERP solution providers with customers in your industry, evaluate the fit, and balance the need to adapt your business processes to conform with the software against aligning the software to your processes. While some customisation of software may be necessary, (only 11 per cent of respondents have zero customisation) it adds expense and effort to the initial implementation, and the complexity of future upgrades.”

In other words, if you bend a little to accommodate the ERP, while still maintaining your markers of success, you will find that the ultimate payback is a system that works well with an organisation in sync with itself.

It is important overall, therefore, to look at all options, and that includes a range of suppliers, to assess the issues, drivers and pain points that you may have been facing in the past, and that you might be looking to deal with or, hopefully, avoid in the future to ensure the best fit for your organisation.

The next article in this series will look at “Managing the total cost of ownership – What you need to know”.

IBS Australia develops ERP solutions, ERP Systems and business management supply chain software for inventory management systems, manufacturing ERP software, business intelligence systems and integration ERP software.

Peter Clarke will present on ERP Systems at the Gartner 2008 ITxpo, 11-14 November to be held in Sydney, Australia

References:

?Jutras, C., and Barnett, R., “The total cost of ERP ownership in large companies”, Aberdeen Group, July 2008
?Jutras, C., and Dalle Tezze, H., “When replacing ERP – size matters”, Aberdeen Group, June 2007
?Jutras, C., Trost, J., and Dalle Tezze, H., “Taking the ERP plunge for the first time”, July 2007
?IBS, “5 things you should know about total cost of ownership (TCO) for ERP systems”, IBS Australia, March 2008
?IBS, “6 essential considerations when selecting an ERP system”, IBS Australia, February 2008
?Luftman, J., and Kempaiah, R., “An update on business-IT alignment: ‘A line’ has been drawn”, MIS Quarterly Executive, Vol 6 No 3, September 2007
?Payne, T., “Supply chain and IT strategies must align around five key themes”, Gartner Research, August 2007
?Ward, J., Daniel, E., and Peppard, J., “Building better business cases for IT investments”, MIS Quarterly Executive, Vol 7 No 1, March 2008
?Ward, J., Taylor, P., and Bond, P., “Evaluation and realization of IS/IT benefits: an empirical study of current practice”, European Journal of Information Systems (4), 1996, pp 214-225 (as cited in Ward et al, 2008).

How to Make a Call Through VoIP

Today, the Internet has made the world come closer and telecommunication over IP network has made conversations unlimited. Well, now with VoIP services user can enjoy calling to near and dear ones at minimal rates across the globe. Voice over Internet Telephony caters the need of international market by offering low call tariff rate for long distance and international calling. With its cost efficiency, reliability, functionality, security and vision of scalability feature, voice over IP network stands ahead of traditional Pubic Service Telephone Network or PSTN.

IP telephony is considered as the right choice for ‘NEXT GENERATION’ people for sharing or transferring voice, video and data communication.

Like PSTN, a user can easily make calls through VoIP. In addition to equipments used in PSTN, voice over IP requires additional piece of Analog Telephone Adaptor (ATA) to its computer. Well, the initial cost of setting Internet telephony infrastructure on PC is minimal as ATA is a hardware equipment that is generally supplied by VoIP service provider. Thus, once user phone is installed with VoIP software and ATA, he/she can make phone calls as a normal calling and enjoy call without any barrier. With the help of ATA, analog voice is converted into small packets of digital data and sent over your Broadband Internet connection to IP service provider. This digital data is perfect for the Internet and helps to lower down the cost.

So, selection of best VoIP service provider is must, thereby user must look for services like:

1. Storing incoming calls to voice mail.

2. Send a voice mail to you as an e-mail attachment

3. 3-way calling, Id caller, Call forwarding

4. Minimal charges

5. Opt for high bandwidth provider

Lastly, stepping in the world of IP network has made all circuit-switched equipment vendors and service providers to opt for VoIP services.

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