T hereâs much business and much money to make in the world of high technology, an d no, the possibilities arenât just for Microsoft, Yahoo and Google.
ÂI n the January-February 2008 issue, SME Insight takes an in-depth look at successful homegrown tech companies.
ÂT hereâs Seer Technologies, a lean-but-mean software company tha t has managed to rack in millions in sales from top clients like Skycable and P LDT. Find out how they made their mark with just a handful of people on board.< /font>
Â< strong>Level Up! Games Philippines is best known for its massively mul tiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) Ragnarok. But thereâs more to Level Up than just Ragnarok, as CEO Jane Walker tells us.
ÂT
hen thereâs everybodyâs favorite Internet café, Netopia. Did
you know that it started as just a small place on
O nline buyers have been patronizing Regalo Service for its gift registry and shopping services. And all it took to get the word around was the power of blog marketing.
ÂF inally, we zero in on a âperpetual trade fair onlineâ run by Global Tra de Philippines. The fact that the company is in turn run by two very y oung people whose mission is to bring foreign buyers and exporters together mak es this company particularly interesting.
ÂE lsewhere in the magazine, get to know the pretty lady behind the hot Zen Zest s tores and Scent Station kiosks â Michelle Asence Dula â as she tells us how she started her empire and made it grow.
ÂT hen Roberto Castañeda reveals how he stumbled upon making wine from yellow and green mangoes. As he says, âIf Europeans have the grape wine, the Filipinos ha ve the mango wine.â
ÂA side from our features, we also have our meaty Toolbox section, with articles o n the art of closing a sale, availing of the tax amnesty, getting results with publicity, identifying leadership, using Six Sigma in operations, dealing with labor unions, and managing project quality.
ÂI tâs another power-packed issue of SME Insight. Now at your favorite bo okstores and magazine stands.
  Â
By Gabriel Mercado
New business intelligence software and ways to deal with viruses and ma
lware
Let's say your SME occasionally runs special projects that involve certain empl
oyees dropping whatever they are doing so they can take time to do certain task
s. How much money do you lose whenever they do that? Is the time away from work
worth it? How much money is saved or made when they work on it anyway? Will it
justify hiring new staff just for that purpose?
What if your company warehouse is maintaining inventory of several thousand dif
ferent products as well as caring for company equipment that cannot be stored a
nywhere else. How much company resources are being spent on doing so exactly? I
s it more cost efficient to separate the two? Sometimes it feels as if it's mor
e trouble than it is worth so why not outsource the job? But wait, before you d
o that, why not find out just how efficient it is so you'll know if you did the
right thing?
Most likely, the examples I stated above are simplistic. In truth, business peo
ple have questions about their organization that range from the mundane to the
scientific, with many variations in between. Or sometimes it's just a feeling t
hat something is not right, that an issue is not being addressed or a task is n
ot being efficiently done the right way.
There are certain types of software built to answer such questions -- questions
that go far beyond what typical accounting software and especially a spreadshe
et can provide. Typically called Business Intelligence, Wikipedia describes the
se as technologies, applications and practices for the collection, analysis, in
tegration and presentation of business information.
In short, it's a step beyond off-the-shelf accounting software where you will n
eed to sit down with consultants and experts to thoroughly discuss what type of
data you are looking for in order for them to customize a way for you to view
information you need to make decisions. Information that can be simple or far m
ore complex than the examples I stated above can be made more specific to the k
ind of business you are running and the way you want to run it.
Read the full story in the January-February issue of SME Insight Magazine
By Gerry Plaza
You've got it all set. A sound business plan. Expertise. Familiarity with the m
arket. State-of-the-art tools. But no one is biting. What went wrong?
Small businesses really played hard but they still stare at a huge deficit agai
nst the competition. We've talked to people who went through the same perilous
journey but came back a victor.
Why the losses? These pundits see the same mistakes happen again and again. Her
e are the most common:
1) Doing it all alone. Small businesses are prone to this pitfall. Entrepreneur
s tend to wear so many hats that they end up unfocused on the essentials--devel
op and market the business, provide leadership, and set directions. No the gene
ral manager has no business troubleshooting the employee's rundown PCs. In this
regard, outside or external help is needed.
2) No thorough market research. You may have the best product but will the mark
et take notice? Small business owners think that a scan of a favorite business
paper or magazine or a chat with senior colleague would be enough to know about
the market. But there is more that meets the eye. The imperatives in this rega
rd are: know your market, know your industry, know your competition, and of cou
rse, know your target audience.
3) No openness to change. Entrepreneurs express passion in everything they do.
Sometimes they become too passionate to a point that they lose the flexibility
or the openness to change. This comes most glaringly when an original business
plan does not work. No review is made to alter or reposition their business. En
trepreneurs almost always stick to what they always believe in from the start.
They keep the faith that their original strategy would work despite indications
it really won't or ever will.
4) Most deals end up 'he said she said'. Almost nothing is black and white. Sma
ll business owners always forget to put key decisions, deals in writing and fai
l to archive pertinent documentation. This leads to terrible business managemen
t, leading to potential problems in partnership programs, tax audits, and other
processes.
By John Calub
Imagine a salesman without a brochure, without a business card, and even withou
t a briefcase walking out with a closed deal (worth millions) from a customer h
e never met before. This maverick continues to make his sales calls wearing jea
ns and he doesn't even carry a pen! What's so unique about this salesman is tha
t when asked by a customer to write up the order already, this salesman objects
âand the prospect is even the one overcoming the objections for him.
Sounds like an urban legend? Not really. The above story is not unique in any w
ay. This approach has been repeated over and over again in several large firms
across the world by sales renegades who sneak past the gatekeeper and close the
sale even in the toughest situation. And it's all because of âGuerilla Selling
,â the unconventional sales approach propagated by world-renowned guru
Jay Conrad Levinson.
Revolutionary selling strategies
The guerilla salesman, although undermanned and under-equipped, sells to large
corporations by using two weapons: information and the element of surprise.
Read the full article in the November-December issue of SME Insight Magazin
e
By Karla Que-Sanchez
Ever since Toyota pioneered the concept of just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing, Ja
panese companies and large Western companies have followed suit with considerab
le success. The original practice of JIT involves a demand-pull system, which m
eans customer orders prompt production so the company does not produce inventor
ies for stock. Raw materials arrive at the factory floor just in time for produ
ction. Needless to say, JIT involves minimal to virtually zero inventories.
Smaller enterprises are put off by the idea of JIT because it seems to entail h
uge costs and process modifications. With the rising costs of transportation, i
t is not always feasible for most companies to require their suppliers to deliv
er just in time since this would mean more frequent deliveries of smaller volum
e purchases. The company's suppliers may compensate for the additional transpo
rtation expenses by a corresponding increase in prices that the company may eit
her absorb or pass on to consumers. The bottom line is that businesses do not a
lways benefit from mirroring JIT systems adopted by larger enterprises.
What many fail to understand is that more than anything, JIT is a philosophy ra
ther than a procedureâa philosophy rather than a procedureâa philosophy guided
by key principles even the smallest companies can adopt to improve operations.
Read the full article in the November-December issue of SME Insight Magazin
e
Find a selling point that works
By Art Ilano
Ladies and gentlemen, our pet peeve for today: companies that claim to also off
er what the leading brands provide, but at a lower price.
Okay, to be honest, we're not saying that this strategy won't work. Of course,
it will. For instance, if there is one dominant brand in the industry, and you
happen to be the second guy to come up to the fore, then chances are that you'l
l get a hefty chunk of the market to yourself by promising the same benefits wi
th a lower-priced product.
In fact, the rule of thumb for most sectors is that, in the long run, the typic
al market leader will have 40 percent of the market, while the challenger will
have 20 percent. So 20 percent of a product category, especially a big category
, isn't anything to sneeze at.
But what if you're a teeny, tiny company that steps up to a market that is alre
ady crowded with competitors?
Well, forget it then. History is full of examples of feisty little companies th
at popped up, tried to challenge the entrenched leaders with a cheaper product,
and failed to get a significant market share. Think Alert toothpaste, Pop Cola
(before it was swallowed up by a larger competitor), and all those generic-sou
nding cheaper detergent powders.
For the full article, get a copy of the November-December issue of SME Insi
ght Magazine.
A regional meeting of small and medium enterprises was held in Brunei to foster
support and development of the sector in Asean countries.
Discussions between Asean member-countries and dialogue partners China, Japan a
nd South Korea became a focal point of the meeting wherein participants shared
best practices in managing and operating SMEs.
The 21st Meeting of the Asean Small and Medium Enterprise Agencies Working Grou
p from Nov. 21 to 23, emphasized the need to further bolster specific developme
ntal areas among Asean countries, which include entrepreneur education, governm
ent assistance, outsourcing, and trade promotion.
Also part of the agenda was a follow-up on previous meeting regarding SME polic
y directions within Asean member states, which include host Brunei Darussalam,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand,
and Vietnam.
Indian IT firms are targeting small and medium-sized enterprises for expansion,
mapping out plans to tap what it describes as the fastest growing segment in a
developing economy.
According to a report by the Times of India, the local industry was aiming at s
preading IT adoption through the software-as-a-service model (SAAS).
Using SAAS, information technology services will be offered on a per-usage basi
s, similar to paying a utility service such as electricity, water, or cable TV.
This will provide affordable monthly pricing schemes attractive to the SME mar
ket.
Under the setup, an IT firm would provide an application platform and end-user
help desk, while offering hosting and maintenance services. End-user SMEs would
only need an Internet browser to access their services and will be charged bas
ed on the services they would utilize.
Several SME clusters in India were pilot-tested for the SAAS model, particularl
y in Mallapur in Hyderabad and Adityapur in Jamshedpur.
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