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Social networks are changing the way that businesses innovate. The crux of innovation is to detect where, when and how trends are evolving, where the trends will lead, and also what these signal about future trends that are not yet obvious. Analytics are therefore key to a good innovation strategy, and by analysing what is being said on social networks, businesses can detect what the current trends are as well as helping them to predict and shape future trends. Predictive analytics should be about looking forward to make fact‐based decisions about what might happen versus looking backward to understand what has happened.

So how can businesses make use of social networks to predict and shape future trends? Step one is listening to what people are saying about you on social networks, as social is where they are talking about your company, your products, and your services. Traditional focus groups, surveys and market research studies won’t cut it in today’s connected world. Today, we need to be actively listening all the time to our customers, influencers, competitors and communities of people that can impact our businesses. Social media have established a constant flow of conversations, so if you want to have the very best analytics possible, then you first have to have the means to listen to the flood of chatter.

An example of a listening post is Dell’s Ground Control, which tracks on average more than 22,000 daily topic posts related to Dell, as well as mentions of Dell on Twitter. The information is sliced and diced based on topics and subjects of conversation, sentiment, share of voice, geography and trends. Knowledge is power and by understanding your customers needs and desires businesses can develop innovative products to quench demand. Such systems must also be on the lookout for third parties with alternate agendas as well as customers, as they could post trolls, using capabilities similar to those that can be found in Persona Management Systems, to raise negative points.

Persona Management Systems, more commonly known on the World Wide Web as sock puppets, trolls and drones, provide a single user with multiple online personas. This system creates all the online background that a “real person” would posses including, history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographically consistent. This provides the persona with a disguise that users can put to use in creating the impression that there is major support, or discontent, for what an organisation is trying to achieve.

Using sock puppets, trolls and drones dives directly into deep waters of business ethics. By using these tools businesses actively mislead customers to believe statements that are not necessarily true. Using capabilities similar to those that can be found in Persona Management Systems, some businesses infiltrate social media to conduct psychological cyber warfare by creating the illusion of consensus. And consensus is a powerful persuader. What has more effect, one person saying the BP wasn’t at fault for the Gulf oil spill? Or 500 people or sock puppets saying it? For many people, the number can make all the difference.

Having a strong voice across social media platforms is important for innovation, as you can hear what your customers want, as well as guiding them towards a product that they could desire. If a business is thinking about launching a new product and they want to drive demand, then creating consensus or the illusion of consensus can help persuade potential customers to keep an eye out for your new release. The more excitement a business can raise around a product, the more people will eagerly anticipate buying the product.

Social networks are an important part of an innovation strategy, as businesses can use these networks for analytics and to influence demand for products/services. Social networks provide a cheaper alternative to focus groups, surveys and market research. Companies must listen to the chatter on social networks as this can help them to predict future trends, as well as see what their customers want. Businesses can also use social networks to guide their customers and create a buzz around new products and ideas.

The role of learning and development (L&D) managers encompasses a huge variety of activities and responsibilities. Indeed, the role continues to get ever more complex, encompassing such activities as nurturing talent by providing the bespoke learning interventions which meet the needs of the business, managing an L&D budget, supporting executives and the company vision with a leading edge, cost effective L&D strategy and supporting the development of the culture. The list goes on.

As a means for the L&D manager to avoid juggling multiple tasks, outsourcing various elements of an organisation’s L&D department is a an obvious choice in the current climate. As is often the case with outsourcing, it also has the added bonus of saving costs and protecting the bottom line. It frees up time for the training team to work on more strategically important tasks and projects, leaving the outsourced partner to deal with the non-core administration activities.

Heads of L&D need to approach their external providers with the intention of fostering a ‘business partnership’ where both parties are clear on the responsibilities. This can be achieved by, for example, allowing the provider to engage in internal communications, including them in management meetings or allowing them to add value by bringing new and innovative ideas for consideration and the latest thought leadership around L&D. One of the essential ingredients to ensure both parties are clear on their responsibilities is the use of a SLA and KPI’s. It’s vital that the provider understands the organisation’s business, culture, core processes and overall business objectives to ensure the best results from L&D and ultimately the most effective use of budget.

To ensure that the outsourcing business partnership actually works for the organisation it is absolutely vital to have a managed service level agreement (SLA) in place beforehand. Broadly defined, an SLA is a contract that specifies the external provider’s obligations, usually in quantifiable terms. Negotiating definite objectives and expectations with the training provider effectively lays down a blue print for the ultimate success of the project. By recording a common understanding about what the learning priorities are, the partnership can establish achievable metrics against which objectives can be assessed. The L&D supplier needs to define for itself what benchmarks are essential, which are favourable but not entirely necessary, and those which are not important.

One of the more challenging aspects to manage is ‘strategy’ – it could be argued that this responsibility lies totally with the Head of L&D and is purely communicated to the provider. On the other hand using the ‘experts’ i.e. the provider, to support the development of the L&D function divides the responsibility of strategic development between the two parties.

By forcing the training provider to translate performance into metrics, the SLA also ensures accountability and responsibility. SLAs provide a means to justify the long-term value and ultimately, the ROI of outsourcing.

A well-constructed SLA is the keystone to a true business partnership. The initial discussions to negotiate deliverables and desired outcomes lay the grounds for future dialogue and the exchange of ideas. In contrast, if the SLA does not create realistic expectations from the outset, it can potentially destroy the relationship with the training provider and may end up making the whole outsourcing project a costly mistake.

Informal Pre-procurement Conversations with the Government

26th January 2012

Due to misconceptions and over-interpretation of EU rules, sophisticated pre-procurement conversations were something that outsourcers only dreamed of. Now following Francis Maude’s statement: The Crown & Suppliers, a new way of working, those dreams are about to come true.

The NOA Masterclass, Informal Pre-procurement conversations with the Government, was hosted by Yvonne Williams and featured three key speakers who shared their insights on informal conversations with the Government.

Ian Cartledge is a senior Business Development Director at Teleperformance UK specialising in the Public Sector. He has over 20 years’ experience of working in the Business Process Outsourcing and contact centre industry.

Ian presented on how suppliers can be proactive with Government before the start of a formal procurement process, without it being seen as creating bias and unfairness in the process.

Ian said: “What should come before procurement is ‘Market Consultation’. The cost of public sector in France is £19,000 – and in the UK its £46,000. It typically costs four times as much to bid for a public sector contract than it does overseas. This can possibly be reduced through early talks.”

Ian emphasised that an open dialogue should be:

• Planned, transparent and universal

• That goes beyond the “usual suspects”, a range of views from a range of potential providers

• It is early enough in the process so that Government bodies can seek or accept advice that may be used in the preparation of the specifications

Technical dialogue sessions or supplier days are a great way to engage

• Gathering reliable information from the supply side to help build confidence in the viability of an effective procurement

• They are seen as vital in terms of obtaining market intelligence about what types of solutions may be out there

• Supports the design of a fit-for-purpose procurement, one that is lean (thus saving on process cost) and one that will deliver better outcomes

• Provides the foundation for a well thought out and researched PQQ and ITT providing the right information first time round for companies to respond to

• Allows companies to ask specific questions to perfect their bid rather than just trying to collate basic information to enable a response

• Helps build knowledge – having an understanding of what is being tendered, and when, helps companies to plan

Ian Hamerton, National Contact Centre Manager, NHS Blood & Transplant, has managed significant and lasting improvements in the service provided to donors.

Ian shared his experiences of purchasing processes and offered tips on how to get the best out of a pre-procurement meeting along with the process of retendering or putting together a new contract.

Pre-Procurement Meeting

• Acknowledge differences of interpretation with good grace

• Give everyone the same answer to the same question

• Ensure everyone at this stage knows what every question is

• Understand that most will not share their concerns in open court

• Try to anticipate issues and provide answers

Retendering or New Contract?

• If re-tendering be absolutely certain no routine contact with the incumbent delivers preferential knowledge or understanding

• Existing suppliers need to guard against complacency

• If a totally new project ensure everyone who applies receives the same information

• Potential suppliers must respond in the manner, format and with the information asked for – particularly important with the onset of computerised purchasing tools

Mike Ferguson is Head of Operational Procurement at Land Registry. Mike manages a team of procurement professionals primarily responsible for IT spend covering categories including hardware, complex software deals and professional services. Mike also leads all major IT procurements and has considerable experience of supporting major IT change management programmes and latest EU Public Procurement Regulations.

Mike shared his practical experience of pre-market engagement through ‘Concept Viability’.

Concept viability is facilitated by Intellect (trade association UK technology industry). Business needs are collated then circulated to a list of suppliers. Intellect facilitates a report based on findings which is fed back to the land registry.

Mike said: “Land Registry was the first organisation to use concept viability – a process which engages a whole market sector with ‘what is the broad approach of what we are trying to do.’ We see engagement with suppliers before the procurement process absolutely invaluable.” Benefits include:

• Market warmed up

• Senior management support

• Good way for suppliers to interact

• Market intelligence, market capability, market feedback

• Critical review of requirements

• Early visibility of risks

• Help design the procurement process

• Better outcome

The panel discussed various questions from the floor at the end of the session including:

• Do existing suppliers get preferential treatment?

• Has legal intervention increased during the procurement phase?

• Do long-term incumbents really lose a re-tender?

• How can international suppliers feed into the government?

• Can SME’s really win government contracts from the big players?

Serco, the international service company, has announced that it has been awarded a number of contracts providing a range of operational support, engineering and training services, known as Multi-Activity Contracts (MACs). The contracts to the UK's Royal Air Force (RAF) and Naval Air Command have a combined total potential value to Serco of £130m.

Serco has successfully rebid its RAF Northolt MAC, providing aviation and engineering facilities and logistics support at this major RAF airport, including maintenance and associated support of 32 (The Royal) Squadron, and at various satellite stations in and around London. The contract commences in April 2012, is for a threeyear period with options to extend by up to a further four years and would have a total value to Serco of approximately £70m over the full seven years.

West Midlands Police, along with Surrey Police Force, has issued a tender to deliver a "cutting edge approach" through a seven year shared service deal.

The forces are hoping others will come on board the initiative which could see spending rise to £3.5bn.

RealNetworks, Inc. has announced that it has signed an agreement to sell a significant number of its patents and its next generation video codec software to Intel Corporation for a purchase price of $120 million. Under terms of the sale, RealNetworks retains certain rights to continue to use the patents in current and future products.

"Selling these patents to Intel unlocks some of the substantial and unrealized value of RealNetworks assets," said Thomas Nielsen, RealNetworks President and CEO. "It represents an extraordinary opportunity for us to generate additional capital to boost investments in new businesses and markets while still protecting our existing business.

"RealNetworks is pleased Intel has agreed to acquire our next generation video codec software and team," said Nielsen. "Intel has a strong reputation as a technology innovator, and we believe they are well positioned to build on the development work and investment we've made in this area."

Illumina Inc. is granting investors the right to buy shares at half the price in a so-called poison- pill defense, following Roche Holding AG’s hostile $5.7 billion bid for the maker of gene-mapping tools.

Shareholders will receive one preferred stock purchase right as a dividend for each common share held as of the close of business Feb. 6, San Diego-based Illumina said in a statement. Investors will also have the right to purchase $550 in common shares for $275, or, assuming a price of $55 a share, 10 common shares at that price. The rights won’t be exercisable initially, Illumina said. The strategy can block an unwanted bid by making it prohibitively expensive.

A mixed global economic outlook, high levels of volatility, weak consumer demand, and ongoing corporate uncertainty continue to impact outsourcing demand and consulting growth, according to the KPMG 4Q11 Sourcing Advisory Pulse Survey of KPMG field advisors and leading global business and IT service providers.

The study also found that organisations engaged in outsourcing are recognizing the need to invest in IT-enabled solutions, but must overhaul business and operating models to fully exploit the technologies' potential.

"Buyers are placing great emphasis on investing in IT, but given the economic uncertainty, all efforts undertaken will occur under watchful, cost conscious eyes," said Stan Lepeak, global research director in KPMG's Management Consulting Group. "Buyers and providers are smarter, more experienced, and less likely to enter into larger and more risky deals, and evolutionary innovations such as cloud computing and targeted BPO are changing the nature of what constitutes outsourcing."

Some 73 percent of advisors and 79 percent of providers polled cited the weak economy as likely having the biggest impact on buyer businesses and operations, especially in Europe.

Monaghan Mushrooms has signed a two-year deal with Belfast IT and business process outsourcing firm Equiniti ICS. The contract concerns off-shore software development support and will be delivered from centres in Northern Ireland and India. Outsourcing is expected to play a major part in the growth of the Irish mushroom producer.

npower has created 200 new positions in the north east, and hopes to fill them by the end of March. The call centre jobs are available in: Peterlee, Houghton le Spring and Thornaby.

Paul Robinson, head of npower’s contact centres, said: “We have noticed a significant increase in demand from our customers which is why we are growing our contact centres. These jobs are designed to bolster our team and ensure we can deliver the very best service to customers. We hope to attract a wide variety of applicants from across the region. This is also great news for the North East with the creation of 200 new jobs at a time when a number of organisations are reducing the size of their workforces.”