Kable predicted dramatic growth in mobile technology back in 2004 when UK investment in the mobile working, estimating a five-fold growth in mobile working, with healthcare holding the lions share of the market. Local government and police were also expected to see huge growth.

Although late to the table, mobile technology is increasingly being rolled-out across organisations. Besides the mobile phone which has been common place for years, organisations are now rolling-out intelligent mobile devices, including Smartphones and (increasingly) tablets. However greater adoption of these technologies within organisations is still needed in order to gain efficiencies.

We’ve already seen huge cost cutting within the public sector following the comprehensive spending review, so cost cutting trends for this year include sharing services, joint procurement. Following the expansion in consumer Smartphones and tablets, organisations are beginning to ask employees to bring their own device (BYOD), which is also tipped to trend this year.

The benefits of mobile technologies are clear. The modern business is no longer a static, 9-5 affair. Businesses employ flexi-time and home working and many have regional and global offices, international customers and global products, thereby requiring staff to have instant access to real-time information. It is only with immediate access to accurate and timely information and key documents at anytime and from anywhere, can swift and informed decisions be made.

According to a recent survey, 79 per cent of organisations are now allowing their staff access to Smartphones, but only 35 per cent are utilising tablets for business use. With tablets providing even greater opportunities than Smartphones for accessing and viewing documents and key information, it is important for businesses to also recognise the importance of using tablets if they are to remain ahead of the curve.

By leveraging mobile technology, organisations can streamline operations, increase productivity, more effectively support flexible working and ensure that key information is just a click away to enable swift and insightful decision making.

Business is no longer conducted in a static environment and so the supporting technologies can no longer be stationary. Organisations need to invest in mobile solutions to support ‘business on the move’ and ultimately to remain efficient and save costs.

Further reading:

• http://www.juniperresearch.com/reports/Mobile_Messaging_Markets
  
• http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1924314
• http://www.isaca.org/Knowledge-Center/Documents/Managing-the-Benefits-and-Risks-of-Mobile-Computing-ITPCG-Dec2011.pdf
  
• http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240114231/Key-trends-for-public-sector-IT-in-2012

Harnessing mobile technology is key for efficiency savings is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

The unprecedented growth of tablets and other smart mobile devices has given birth to the next generation of business intelligence (BI) – BI on the move – otherwise know as mobile business intelligence (mobile BI). And with Gartner predicting that by 2013, 33% of BI functionality will be consumed via handheld devices, it is becoming increasingly obvious that mobile BI is here to stay (Gartner: Critical Capabilities for Mobile BI, Joao Tapadinhas, 10 April 2012).

Those organisations that have already invested in BI solutions are now increasingly looking towards mobile BI to deliver intelligence on the move. Mobile BI is seen as the next natural step, enabling 24/7 access to key performance indicators via intelligent, real-time dashboards accessible via smart handheld devices.

With anytime, anywhere access to business critical information such as revenue, outstanding debts or sales by product, insightful business decisions can be made on the move without managers having to wait until their next visit into the office to access high-level and real-time performance information. Ad hoc reports can also be created and analysed ‘on demand’, ensuring an instant 360 degree view of the business.

With mobile BI, business planning can also be improved, as users are given the ability to go through ‘what if’ scenarios via their tablets (without even needing to connect to a server). For instance, modeling the likely outcomes of a drop in cash flow or a five per cent drop in customer numbers is possible whilst travelling by train or ‘hot desking’ at locations across the UK.

Although mobile BI is in its relative infancy, any business serious about staying ahead of the curve needs to be seriously considering its adoption. With business critical information literally at managers’ fingertips, the workplace is no longer an office with four walls and desks. Mobile BI is well and truly breaking down the office walls!

Breaking down the office walls with Mobile BI is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Implementing software provides answers to our problems or helps to make our lives easier. We no longer purchase IT ‘products’ but instead buy ‘solutions’, and as our working lives get increasingly more complex, there is rarely just one solution to fulfil all our needs. Instead, we are faced with an array of solutions that respond to our ever-increasing list of problems.

Saving costs, improving efficiencies and meeting service targets are just some of the areas that IT solutions can help with, but with day-to-day operations now more connected than ever before, using IT to deliver these improvements is not a simple task involving a quick fix widget.

These days, it is common for IT solutions to involve consultancy, IT tools (both hardware and software) and services, such as managed/cloud services.
Customers are also increasingly asking for solutions to problems instead of specifying the need for certain IT products (which tends to be the case with the more traditional invitation to tender documents). As such, IT suppliers are now expected to act as expert advisers in which the process of competitive dialogue helps to understand the customer’s requirements and the solutions they may require.

This shift from product selling to expert adviser has undoubtedly impacted the nature, and need for, IT supplier partnerships. No single IT company has the ability and capacity to deliver everything that a customer may require, from consulting and end-user training through to all types of software systems and an outsourced service capability. Partnerships with specialist IT providers are therefore key to filling the gaps with best of breed solutions, while ensuring that the customer has just one IT provider as its main point of contact.

And so these days, an ‘IT solution’ is far from being an out-of-the-box software product. It can involve a comprehensive portfolio of consultancy, software, hardware and services, delivered by a network of specialist IT suppliers which have been brought together by an IT provider that understands the importance of working together.

Advanced is one such supplier which recognises the value of partnerships and has the experience and knowledge to deliver complex projects, often involving multiple suppliers. Advanced’s project with Northern Ireland Department of Health, Social Care and Public Safety, for example, involved Advanced’s financial management systems and managed services combined with Red Prairie’s warehouse and workforce management solutions and Capita’s payment system.

It is only with a partnership approach to IT delivery, can both IT supplier and customer enjoy maximum benefits, including the greatest return on investment from the chosen solution. Operating in splendid isolation is no longer an option.

Moving from splendid isolation to a partnership approach in IT solutions delivery is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Many of us have a tired boiler hidden away in our home – sometimes the house isn’t quite warm enough and we are conscious that we really ought to get it serviced more regularly; we also have a niggling feeling that it’s not very efficient or cost-effective, but we know that little short of catastrophic failure will lead to us actually doing anything about it. In the same way, many mid-sized businesses have a niggling feeling that their finance processes and systems could be improved, but with other priorities vying for their attention they let the old systems wheeze on for the time being and never quite get round to exploring the alternatives.According to our research, over 60% of people working in finance recognise that they need to improve their financial processes. At the same time, nearly 30% of end users believe that the data they receive is inaccurate, making it difficult to use data effectively in their roles. And these are just the problems that people are aware of.

It’s all too easy to take the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it ‘ approach to finance yet the cost and revenue implications of closing the gap between best practice and today’s creaky old system can be significant. Streamlined automated processes mean a lower headcount and the opportunity to grow revenue without growing the finance department, an opportunity to stem revenue leakage, and the chance to save the time and energy currently devoted to creating parallel records and analysis in other parts of the business. But perhaps most importantly, trusted data and analysis can be the catalyst to data-driven decisions, allowing your top managers to make the right calls so that the business can grow and survive in the future.

So perhaps it’s worth making that niggle a priority after all. Let’s put it this way: if you discovered that the boiler wouldn’t just heat the house, it could also make the kids’ dinner, read them a bed time story and pour you a glass of wine; just how much of the next five minutes would it take you to start exploring your options?

If you’d like to receive a copy of our full report, to be published at the beginning of May, please contact Liz Mcdonnell

Rachel Ainsworth is Senior Research Manager at Source. Rachel works with individual consulting firms to develop bespoke thought leadership and offers insight on thought leadership across the industry. She is particularly interested in consulting firms’ use of social and digital media. Prior to joining Source, Rachel has had over 10 years’ experience as a management consultant, managing both strategic and operational projects across a variety of sectors. She holds an engineering degree from Oxford University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Boilers and finance departments – what do they have in common? is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

CloudStore, the G-Cloud’s online app store is already changing the way public sector organisations procure services. It’s made the process faster, more cost-effective and more transparent.

Employees who visit the online store are able to choose from a catalogue of cherry-picked cloud providers and services. They can also view key product information and compare suppliers so they can confidently procure IT services and solutions, which best fit their needs. There’s an impressive directory to choose from which features over 1,700 IT products/services available to the public sector.

There’s also a bit more good news… After a rigorous application process and review of our ERP On Demand solutions, Advanced has been granted approved CloudStore supplier status through our partnership with Bramble.cc.

Advanced has more than 20 years’ experience providing the public sector with expert advice and solutions. Our new listing provides the ideal platform to further extend our service offering to the public sector, allowing the procurement of our Government endorsed ERP On Demand solutions via the G-Cloud.

All products and services listed on the G-Cloud framework are available to anyone in the public sector and are delivered across four areas including: Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, Software as a Service and specialist cloud services.

For those of you who haven’t already discovered the G-Cloud, it’s worth a look. It allows you to compare suppliers and products but the real asset is being able to shop for things as and when you need them, saving you costs. Happy shopping!

For further information on the G-Cloud and the CloudStore

G-Cloud http://gcloud.civilservice.gov.uk/

CloudStore http://www.govstore.net/

Check out Advanced on the CloudStore is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

The survey, which attracted participation from 142 different UK charities, highlights our commitment to our not-for-profit customers, all of whom recommended us as a leading accounting software supplier.

Our OpenAccounts finance system was praised by end-users for its compatibility with charity accounting systems, overall functionality, web enablement and ease of use.

This achievement is testament to the importance we place on remaining close to our customers through understanding their needs and providing the right solutions to fulfil their not-for-profit requirements.

It’s so rewarding to receive such a resounding seal of approval and to be assured that putting customers at the centre of our business is working.

Advanced gets seal of approval from charity sector is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

However, a recent introductory session with a personal trainer got me thinking that, in reality, many of us aren’t that great at understanding our clients’ goals. For a start, the personal trainer seemed slightly embarrassed as he asked me about my goals; perhaps the question felt like just too much of a cliché. Before I’d even had chance to answer, he followed up with a range of generic answers – making it much easier for me to pick one of these responses rather than spend time explaining what it was I really wanted to achieve. And after I’d selected option two – increased fitness – we failed to explore what that meant in practice: did I want to run a marathon in under 3 hours or simply be able to walk to the bus stop without being out of breath?

Reflecting on this experience I realised how easily this can happen with business clients – knowing that one ought to ask about goals but at the same time feeling that it’s somewhat cheesy. To ease our discomfort, it’s easy to offer stock solutions – increasing profits or revenue or selling the company – and fail to really explore what it is that excites the individual in front of us about their goals for their department or organisation.

And often it’s something quite personal that is really important – whether that’s about being asked to join the senior management team or being seen externally as an expert on a particular topic. Only by getting beneath the superficial can we link what it is we’re delivering, and how we talk about it, to something that is meaningful for our client.

Here are some suggestions for questions to help you get beneath the superficial:

• Why is that goal (e.g. increasing revenue) meaningful to you?
• What metrics and timeframes are associated with your goals (e.g. £100m sales by 2013)?
• What’s the purpose behind the goal? Why this goal?
• What are the benefits to you of achieving this goal?
• How would your job be different if this goal was achieved? How would it affect your department?

Our recent research with clients of consulting firms confirmed that it’s not just the personal trainers who sometimes get it badly wrong. Many of the people we spoke to (and these are senior people in companies spending large amounts of money on consulting) complained about not being listened to; in the words of a strategy director in a UK financial services firm, “Some consultants are arrogant and don’t listen. What I want to do is to build on existing work, not have our ideas revisited by a firm that has its own agenda.”

Further reading:

If you’re a consultant that advises on software solutions, consider joining Advanced Business Solutions’ online portal for consultants – Advanced Connect. This portal allows interaction with like-minded consultants, enables engagement with Advanced’s customer base and provides a platform for sharing ideas and best practice.

Join at http://www.advancedconnect.co.uk/consultnet

Rachel Ainsworth is Senior Research Manager at Source. Rachel works with individual consulting firms to develop bespoke thought leadership and offers insight on thought leadership across the industry. She is particularly interested in consulting firms’ use of social and digital media. Prior to joining Source, Rachel has had over 10 years’ experience as a management consultant, managing both strategic and operational projects across a variety of sectors. She holds an engineering degree from Oxford University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Understanding our clients’ goals is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

It’s perhaps not surprising that the creator of the Dilbert comic strip has a rather cynical view on decision-making. However all of us, if we’re honest with ourselves, are regularly party to decisions made using poor data, unclear criteria and a shaky process – gut feel and the power of personality often rules the day.

So what stops us from making better decisions? Here are the top factors we’ve identified:

• Little or no attention paid to the process of making a decision. When no one takes ownership of and structures the decision-making process, the discussion is likely to be chaotic and key factors may be ignored.
• A culturally-embedded notion that ‘real business people’ make decisions quickly and decisively – data and discussion is for wimps.
• It takes too long or it’s too difficult to get the data or reports needed. When people aren’t able to get what they need easily, they’ll often choose to go without.
• The data isn’t trusted. Sometimes we find, hidden behind a reluctance to use data, an unspoken understanding that the data isn’t up-to-date or accurate.
• A lack of skills. Aside from business school graduates, when was the last time you heard of someone taking ‘data and decisions’ training? The assumption is that managers know this stuff – yet most managers would benefit from training in understanding, analysing and acting on data.
• A dominant personality over-riding all over concerns. Fixing all of the above will have no impact if there’s a power-wielding personality in the room determined to have their way no matter what the data says.

Of course, sometimes good decisions lead to bad outcomes and bad decisions lead to good outcomes. But a good decision is more likely to lead to a good outcome than a bad decision. And if I was investing my own money I’d be looking, every time, for the company that paid attention to the decision-making process.

If you want to read more about this topic, I recommend:

How organisations make great decisions (Bain & Company) – actionable insights about improving decision-making across the organisation.

The decision-making flaw in powerful people (Booz & Company) – evidence to back up what many of us had always suspected – as well as suggestions on how to manage this phenomenon.

What stops us from making better decisions? is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

I understand that it’s easy to stick with what you know, it’s human nature, but equally, haven’t we moved on from the eighties and nineties when Excel spreadsheets were the new black?

I find it worrying that such a high percentage of LA finance professionals are still reliant on spreadsheets for their budgeting needs, nearly thirty years after Excel was first released to market. Spreadsheets are prone to inaccuracies, they can’t provide real-time financial information, which is critical in today’s financial climate, and they are very cumbersome and time-consuming to manage.

We now live in an age of sophisticated, real-time technologies and so why are Excel spreadsheets still so prominent in LA finance departments? Yes, they are easy to use and every finance person has gone through some form of Excel training during their lifetime, but it’s time to move on. Spreadsheets need to be replaced with smart, versatile and collaborative budgeting and forecasting solutions. Cheshire West and Chester Council, for example, predicts a saving of £500,000 by using our smart Collaborative Planning budgeting and forecasting solution.

More and more local authorities are waking up to realise that to achieve cost savings, real-time financial information and greater budget holder responsibility, it’s vital to have real-time and collaborative budgeting and forecasting solutions in place. Excel spreadsheets just don’t cut the mustard anymore and so it’s time to ditch the eighties spreadsheets in favour of IT solutions that work!

Further reading:

http://www.advancedcomputersoftware.com/abs/news/local-authorities-reliant-on-surveys.php

Are local authorities stuck in the eighties when it comes to budgeting and forecasting? is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Advanced Business Solutions (Advanced) recognises the significant part business intelligence can play in achieving efficiency savings and will be showcasing its full business intelligence portfolio at the 2012 Public Sector Efficiency Expo at Olympia Two in London tomorrow. Advanced Consultant, Paul O’Donnell, will also be hosting a business intelligence seminar which will provide guidance on how to evaluate the myriad of BI solutions available on the market and how to use them.

Around 1,000 organisations are expected to attend the Expo, the UK’s only free one-day conference and exhibition dedicated to helping the public sector deliver better services more efficiently and effectively.

Amongst the BI solutions being showcased, Advanced will be demonstrating its Collaborative Planning solution, which is already a hot ticket with many local authorities looking to improve budgeting and forecasting.

So, if you’re visiting the Expo, stop by stand 31 and ask about Advanced’s BI solutions – it may prove your most valuable conversation of the day!

Advanced showcases BI products at Public Sector Expo is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment