Small Business Success Stories – Akris
Below are some examples of problems and challenges addressed by AKRIS LLC. In some cases the company name was used (with permission), in other cases it was requested that we not use the company name. If you are interested in the details of a specific study please contact me (info@yourbusinesscoach.net or 330-990-0788) and I will answer any questions you may have. New studies will be added so check back frequently.
Company: IAC
Case Study
IAC is a technology organization that creates on-line communities for alumni organizations. They have clients in institutions of higher education all around the world.
Situation: Renewal rate for contracts was at 48%. This caused significant cash flow problems and other customer service issues.
Opportunity: Goal was to raise renewal rate to 80% within 12 months and increase cash flow.
Action: Moved responsibility for sales of renewals to sales and started to treat it as a sales opportunity instead of a maintenance issue to be handled in customer service
Results: Renewal rate was 85% within 4 months resulting is a significant improvement in sales and cash flow.
Company: IAC
Case Study
Situation: Clients were unhappy because of problems that were occurring. As a result customer service was spending too much time on problem resolution for clients and testing products before they went to the customer. This resulted in significant non-selling activities.
Opportunity: Create an opportunity to allow the customer service to implement processes that changed how the company did business. This created more selling opportunities for IAC.
Action: Diagnosed the root causes of the problem and implemented business processes to address the problems at the source. The Customer Service department was reorganized to allow a dedicated team to up sell and cross sell products and services to the client.
Processes were implemented to ensure the quality of the products before it was received in customer service, created a first line support organization to address all customer service and maintenance issues while driving those changes through out the company.
Results: Client Relations is now accountable to up sell $3K to each of its 156 customers. This resulted in an entirely new revenue stream.
Case Study
A new CEO was hired to increase enrollment in this private school. The business plan was created but there were challenges in getting the plan implemented. There was also personnel issues that needed to be addressed.
Situation: A new CEO was hire to make significant changes in the organization. Progress was being made but not nearly as quickly as necessary.
Opportunity: New senior management personnel were to be replaced and it was necessary to create an alignment of the organizations goals and objectives with the new management team. This required that we drive new behaviors thoughout the organization.
Action: Aligned the business plan goals and objectives with a expectation of each individual manager. Implemented a change management strategy in the organization.
Results: Plan currently being implemented. New personnel identified.
Company: Kelley Blue Book
Case Study
Situation: A west coast company had an obsolete technology infrastructure and needed to have a Request for Proposal written quickly.
Opportunity: Staff evaluations were in process to determine who would step up and accept their new roles and responsibilities within the organization. This proposal needed to be done quickly and at the same time the staff was being evaluated.
Action: The request for proposal was written in 5 business days and management release the proposal within 10 of receiving it.
Results: Within six weeks a contact was negotiated with a company to create a new corporate infrastructure (valued at over $750k)
Case Study
Situation: A large insurance company wanted to create A business case to see if it was financially feasible to automate a critical business process within the organization.
Opportunity: There was a significant opportunity to increase productivity, drive out expense and reduce stress on employees. This would reduce employee turnover and allow the company to reduce the costs associated with processing a claim.
Action: Two teams were created that traveled to remote office to interview management and define the business objectives that this upgraded process would need to meet (i.e., minimum user impact, cost saving, increased productivity).
Results: It was determined that there was cost saving that warranted moving forward with a proof of concept. The location was identified, the application created and the project was approved.
Some more food for thought!
Reduce Web Product Development Time from 9 Months to 1 Day – A web development company needed help implementing a process that would reduce product development time. Implementing business discipline and defining the process allowed his company to reduce its product development time to 1day.
Reduce Invoice Processing Time From 90 Days to One Day
This was done by redesigning the workflow and implementing tools to capture and route invoices to the correct Accounts Payable specialist for processing.
Saved $140,000 in Overtime
This was done by automating the workflow used in the tax department of a mid-sized Ohio city. Productivity increased by a whopping 150%; not including the elimination of yearly overtime expense of $140,000.
Reduced Three Weeks to One Day
A manufacturing company that was growing through acquisitions was having problems getting sales orders and sales history reports. In the market where price changes happen quickly, waiting three weeks for reports was a problem. After the installation of a data warehouse, current sales reporting was available within 24 hours, allowing the organization to respond much faster to changes in the market.
Aligning I.T. and Business Objectives
New Revenue Stream
A company in the voice conferencing industry needed an IT strategy that integrated into their business strategy. This strategy played a key role in defining their long-term business strategy. The company was moving from large dollar, low volume sales to low dollars, high volume sales and needed the infrastructure to support this transition. A plan was developed that integrated the Business and IT strategies, resulting in the implementation of a CRM system and a redesign of the associated business processes. This resulted in tracking customers’ maintenance requirements and the billing for different maintenance plans that were previously offered at no charge.
