Benefits - Return on Investment
As Iphen's services go beyond sales Information Technology (Iphen is a Sales Process Utility™), so does the ROI of its solutions. Our services bring new returns at a proportionally low cost, without adverse side effects.
New returns: The speed and rate at which sales operations produce results depend on organization, customer face-time and skills. Iphen helps its clients be better organized, spend more time with better customers, and afford the best sales people.
Low Cost:
Deploying and running a sales operation and its IT infrastructure takes time and money. Iphen converts many of the fixed costs this typically entails into low variable costs. It also reduces its clients' operating costs through specialization and economies of scale.
No Adverse Side Effects: Iphen mitigates the risks and eliminates the hidden costs involved in sales and IT deployments. Its non-intrusive solutions keep its clients' operations focused, nimble and flexible.
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Flexibility
If you are not a giant organization, flexibility is what keeps you in
business. Whereas traditional software and internal staff are often unable to
rapidly adapt to the procedural changes that business needs dictate,
Iphen's
SPU™ model and technology solutions allow you to remain as flexible and responsive in sales as in your core area of expertise.
- Modularity
When labor is expensive or scarce, businesses invest in automation. In such cases, sales volume must be high enough to amortize the investment; so, the bigger the size and market position of a business, the greater are its chances of profiting from automation.
When labor is comparatively less expensive, the same result can be achieved by trained employees with a series of simpler, less expensive tools. Labor and tools can easily be adapted or replaced to meet changes in market conditions. With lower costs, profitability can be achieved with lower sales volume.
Modularity brings better results for smaller entities. What is true for manufacturing automation is also true for sales information technology. This is the reason why our tools are simpler, easier to modify (Open-Source), and manned by a trained workforce. Modularity makes us more versatile and your business more flexible.
- Interoperability Via SOAP
- Scalability
With the scalability of your Iphen sales support, sales IT infrastructure and hosting solutions, your sales organization will never be a bottleneck or a liability.
Imagine, one of your competitors must urgently recall a product. With Iphen, you can rapidly call hundreds of prospects and let them know about the alternative you offer.
You have the ability to rapidly add personnel to your regular Iphen support team. Our "SWAT" personnel is composed of agents who are attached to a few companies and join them on a "need be" basis.
Equally important is the ability to scale down when market conditions change. While your competitors tie their hands and capital in expensive software and staff, you remain free to alter the way you do business and to focus capital and staff on core competencies.
- Non-disruptiveness through task segregation
Traditional sales software implementations can be terribly disruptive. Software often imposes a logic or organization at odds with the dynamic of sales, the job description of the sales person, and the habits of customer service employees. In such cases, efficiencies and ROI never materialize. IT consultancies acknowledge that most CRM implementations fail.
With Iphen, the tools that your sales force needs to be more efficient come with trained operators. Good sales people are rarely fond of data entry. Our employees have the character required to do the job. They are young, educated, flexible and eager to learn (rare commodities in many in-house customer service or inside sales departments.)
Instead of having to train and reorganize your sales team around technologies which are not yours, it is Iphen's technology and staff which will adapt to your organization. With your help and our training module, our support associates will rapidly absorb the product knowledge they need to support your sales team.
Productivity
Iphen allows you to do things that you couldn't do with internal staff and traditional software tools: With Iphen, your sales operations can do more, better, immediately and at a relatively low cost.
- Better Processes through Expertise
The higher the level of complexity involved in automation, the higher the level of skills required for its operation. Most midsize companies lack the internal know-how that would ensure that their Information Technology investments deliver the requisite ROI. This is especially true for sales software initiatives, and this is why most end up in failures.
While Iphen's sales applications are simpler than most, their use and their flawless integration into your business processes still require expertise that is beyond the reach of most sales teams and in-house IT staff. (Sales managers are hired for their market and product knowledge, not for their sales IT expertise.)
Working with many clients facing similar challenges, our Trade and Sales IT consultants will bring you the advice you need to evaluate the possibilities offered by new technologies. They will help you turn the latter into improved or market-disruptive processes, higher sales, higher margins and lower costs.
- Better Efficiencies through better Sales Information Technology
Iphen invests extensively to select and develop technologies, methodologies, and staff. Delivering our sales support services with our own tools to many clients facing similar challenges, we are ideally positioned to remain at the forefront of innovation.
With Iphen, you can "leapfrog" entire generations of technology, and you will always use the best technology and practice. You do not have to sustain on your own the process of productivity-driven systems renewal (in a field which is not your core business). Best of all, since Iphen is a SPU™ and since its tools are primarily built on Open-Source technology, you do not have to assume the high costs and risks that come with enterprise software investments. Iphen reduces and assumes most of those costs and risks for you.
With Iphen, you will stretch the reach and efficiency of your sales organization without submerging it in an ocean of data and without distracting sales people from their true job.
- Better Data through specialized Support Associates
Technologies and markets are getting ever more complex. Companies and employees are called to both expand their reach and specialize. Business information must be processed faster, in new ways and in higher volume.
The movement towards higher levels of performance and specialization in your industry is also shaping sales processes and technologies. These technologies require more skills, knowledge and experience.
Relying on Iphen’s trained and process-driven support associates is the best way to guarantee the integrity, the availability, the depth, and the usability of your data.
- Increased Throughput for Outside Sales Personnel
Sales people spend a lot of time on organizational or clerical tasks which are not directly productive. The introduction of the PC and software into the sales department has made things worse. Sales people have to process information in new ways and in higher volume: more leads to qualify, more calls, more reporting, more time spent in front of computers and less in front of customers.
With Iphen, all the painstaking low-value added tasks which plague the life of your sales people can be transferred to trained personnel who will do them better and faster with smarter technology. This will immediately translate into more leads and better opportunities for your sales people and will free up time for what they do best: sell. Their throughput will increase dramatically (two, threefold...). You will be able to afford more or better people. You will be able to handle more business directly and rely less on distributors. Your sales volumes and margins will increase proportionally.
- Better Service through better Employees, 24/5
In order to give you the best support and your customers the best service, we build our teams with the best people. We seek fast learners who have the right experience, the right psychological makeup, the right education, and the right prospect on the careers we offer.
In order to find these people, we recruit our associates globally and establish our teams internationally. We give our associates the best training, the best working environment, the best compensation package and the best reasons to remain at your service.
Furthermore, with teams around the world and in multiple time zones, Iphen can support your sales efforts 24 hours a day, 5 days a week: 24/5 assistance for your sales people when they work around the clock or around the world, and 24/5 service for your customers, wherever they may be. 24/5 live support versus 24/5 voicemail. Your customers will appreciate the difference.
- Speed to Market, Value Acceleration
With a debugged, pre-tested sales IT infrastructure and with support associates in place, all you need to quickly deploy your organization in a new territory or industry is an outside sales force with a good knowledge of your target market. We do all the rest. Iphen is the perfect business development or exportation tool.
With Iphen, you can skip most of the lengthy steps involved in building a sales department in-house: no sales support personnel to hire or train, little or no investment, no software training, no surprises, and no delays.
With Iphen, you do not have to sell through distributors or VARs; you do not have to license your technology or to piggy back with a larger organization. In other words, you do not have to lose margin or market visibility. You can rapidly enter new markets and be rewarded better and sooner for your investment.
- Multi-location integration through task segregation
Capital Cost Reduction
With Iphen, you can set up or develop a sales operation without a large upfront investment. With its greater economies of scale, specialization and resulting low cost structure, Iphen converts what would be substantial fixed costs for your organization into low variable costs and clear competitive advantage.
- Office Space and Associated Costs no longer required
- Little or no Software License Costs (Open-Source)
- Little or no Hardware (our applications are internet based)
- Reduced Software Implementation Costs. No Testing or Debugging
- Little or no Sales Department Reorganization and/or Training
- Lower Exposure to Taxes on Assets
Operating Cost Reduction
Not only does Iphen convert capital costs into operating costs, but it also brings your overall operating costs to a level below the cost you would incur using alternative solutions.
- No Reliance on Outside Sales People for clerical tasks
Everywhere in the enterprise, software and automated processes tend to replace back-office staff and transform work. Sales people handle more clerical tasks on their own ("on demand"). They have to process information in new ways and in higher volume. Meanwhile, they are more specialized, they cover more territory and they are better compensated than ever before.
While the modern sales department needs all the organization that technology can bring, relying on sales people to man this technology is not cost-effective. With Iphen, the job can be done better and faster by specialists who will cost far less and use better tools. The difference in cost between your outside sales staff and our personnel is yours to keep.
- Lower Direct Cost per Invoice or Ticket, Lower Labor Costs
While proximity with the customer is critical to sales success, not all sales activity needs to be performed in the sales territory. With hi-bandwidth communication networks, Inside Sales, Customer Service and Sales Assistance can be performed in locations where staff is both less expensive and better qualified. For this category of personnel, proximity with the customer means availability.
Iphen sets up its teams in places where labor is abundant and less costly than in your sales territories (whether in North America or not).
- Lower Data, Software or System Maintenance Costs
- Lower Transportation/Travel Costs
- Lower Telecom costs: VoIP, GSM Gateways…
- Lower Exposure to Taxes on Labor
- Lower Overheads in general/Single Vendor…
Risk Avoidance
Every investment carries a certain amount of risk. Markets, competition, governments, personnel and technologies all change rapidly. Iphen assumes and mitigates many of these risks for you.
- Technology and Methodology Uncertainties
Some investments carry more risk than others. You can make an educated estimate of the likely ROI of an investment in your core business. You take a much higher risk however, when you invest in a technology like sales software which is highly complex, subject to frequent changes and distant from your core competency.
Companies that do everything themselves invest for years and risk instant obsolescence. They run the risk of making wrong technological choices or of opting for the wrong methodologies. They run the risk of underestimating the task at hand, and of employee cover-up if the software implementation fails (most do fail). They are tied to a single vendor and rarely have the right or the means to alter software code.
Iphen's customers quickly leverage the benefits of "best-of-breed", field-proven, open, and multi-source software technology without any risks of mistakes and bad investment.
- Employment Litigation
In Europe, it is generally hard to lay-off people. In the US, you can be sued by your employees at any time. While employing outside sales personnel is relatively risk free, employing office staff is not (sales people are generally bound by objectives and can easily be laid-off, even in Europe.)
Employees can sue you for discrimination, wrongful termination or contract breach. Litigation can be triggered by your recruiting process, performance evaluations, and the way you handle grievances or impose disciplinary actions. Legal disputes may be extremely time consuming and costly in expenses, attorney fees and compensatory or punitive damage awards.
The best way to limit your exposure to employee litigation risks is to rely on Iphen for your sales support staff.
- Compliance Issues
Non-compliance with the law can translate into fines and jail terms for CEO's and CFO's. Iphen helps you conform to labor, import/export, privacy and data retention laws and to the rules that regulate your particular industry (under your guidance).
In the US, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that all public companies implement data retention policies, and it outlaws the modification or destruction of financial records. Electronic records (incl. emails) must be captured and stored along with an audit trail of their revisions. Also in the US, the TCPA (Telemarketing & the Telephone Consumer Protection Act), the CAN-SPAM Act and State laws regulate the way companies communicate via fax, email and with predictive dialers.
With Iphen, all incoming and outgoing correspondence (hard copy and email) is stored in a single location. An audit function allows you to see all the changes made to significant data. Deleted records are stored and can only be accessed by administrators.
- Resistance to Change
For a wide variety of reasons, sales and customer service personnel tend to resist "traditional" sales software implementations. They may have difficulties understanding the complex logic underpinning the applications or simply have conflicting priorities, goals, or habits.
This results in incorrect data entry or in missing information which in turn leads to reporting errors. Proper software use is generally impossible to enforce because of the complexity of the applications and the absence of detailed procedures. A single user is all it takes to defeat the purpose of a sales software implementation. Management cannot use the software because of its unreliability.
Iphen does not depend on the computer skills or good will of your sales people to function properly. Your sales people can continue to use their favorite tools and may never lay eyes on our applications.
- Employee Defection, Retention of Information
Companies hire sales and customer service staff for their customer and product knowledge. The more an organization invests in building competitive advantage, the more it can lose through employee defection. Clientele, training, market intelligence, innovative processes, proprietary information can all be lost to competitors. Sales people know the value of their knowledge. It is not in their interest to load an employer-controlled database with the very information that makes them valuable and hard to replace.
Iphen will help you win the information and the employee retention wars by boosting your sales people's performance, income, and self-image. Your competitors will not "raid" our sales support staff, and the segregation of roles between our associates and your team will help protect the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of your information. Finally, should any employee issue arise, our anonymous suggestion box will help you "nip it in the bud".
- Macro-environmental Uncertainties
Companies that do everything themselves face higher "political" uncertainties and both vendor and competitor related risks.
Political risks: Governments are not equally business friendly: unexpected legal changes (sudden bans on layoffs, tax increases on labor or assets, etc.) can impact your business. Iphen mitigates such risks by building its teams in favorable labor markets. Our service can be procured locally or by a foreign entity.
Vendor risks: ASP's can disappear along with their clients’ data and the software that runs their businesses. Traditional vendors can leave their customers with proprietary code that cannot be updated. Our clients retain ownership of their tools and access to most of our code.
Differentiation: Companies that run ASP or traditional software are unlikely to gain any sustained competitive advantage as their competitors too can access the same non-differentiated tools.
Focus on Core Business
Outsourcing your
low value-added processes not only reduces risks and costs while providing flexibility and productivity to your sales department, but it also allows you to refocus staff and budget resources on core competencies and high value-added activities.
- Strategic Development work and refined Model Development
- International Development (exporting is easy with Iphen)
- Discovery and Extraction of cross-border Synergies
- Development of Direct Sales (less reliance on distribution)
- Development of Deeper Relationships with your customers
- Recruitment of Best of Breed Outside Sales Personnel
With Iphen's un-intrusive technology and effective sales support, your outside sales people can dedicate themselves entirely to what they do best: selling. They are unchained from their computers. They reap all the benefits of technology while bearing none of its costs (lost time and lost focus). They generate more throughput than any other sales person in your industry.
In practical terms, this means that with Iphen, you no longer have to choose between best practice/technology and best sales people. You can have both. (Good sales people dislike and avoid jobs that subject them to CRM systems.)
With Iphen, you will be able to afford, attract and retain the best sales people in your industry (independently from any consideration of computer savvy or age).
