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INCo Reports Increased Confidence in UK Businesses Investing in New Technology

Published on 21 March 2013 in IT Lead Generation, IT Sales Leads, IT Telemarketing

Since the decline in the global economy in 2008,  new business generation in the IT market has been incredibly challenging for any company involved in solution sales to businesses.

Business - responding to mega trends with new IT investments

Business – responding to mega trends with new IT investments

Now, it seems that recent mega trends – cloud, mobility, big data and social enterprise – have woken up UK businesses that have up until now been reluctant to invest in major IT projects.

“It seems that businesses have realised that there is no alternative to investment in IT, if they don’t want to be left behind,” said Neil Ritchie, managing director of sales development business, INCo.

INCo has over the past few months begun to record a massive increase in new business opportunities in the UK market for data centre, infrastructure and business analytics providers.

One of the main reasons given for the sudden uplift in investment is that confidence in the robustness and security of these solutions has grown immensely. Where there was once an objection to any offsite cloud solution, the questions being asked now are which partner to choose and what applications to host.

Recent market intelligence suggests that the biggest driver for a large number of IT projects undertaken at the moment is giving employees and customers real time access to the data they desire, on any device or in any location they choose. Companies have huge technology barriers to overcome to achieve this demand, and only in recent months has this truly became a reality. The advances in Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and Virtual Desktop (VDI) technology is beginning to allow companies to truly meet their customer and employee demands.

INCo’s highly skilled Business Development Consultants speak to literally thousands of key decision makers every week about their ongoing IT strategy. They report significant market trends on a regular basis whilst generating hundreds of new business opportunities for leading technology and consultancy organisations every week. Based on record results in Q1 this year, INCo fully expects this to be their most successful year for generating new business for its client base to date.

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Moving Mountains, with BYOD

Published on 12 March 2013 in Market Predictions, News

Business couple standing asideAt INCo, we’re often asked what we think are key drivers of change in the IT and Consulting marketplace. At the moment, BYOD is a powerful catalyst for change, and improvement, in in-house IT

Increasingly companies are not only tolerating employee usage of personally-owned, wirelessly-enabled devices in the workplace but are actively encouraging it by introducing comprehensive BYOD programmes. After all, there are 5 billion devices out there, and the number is about to grow to 15 billion by 2015, according to Intel.

The BYOD trend has made a lot of IT departments nervous, with concerns over control and security, but with the right framework and policy in place, BYOD can release important benefits for a business. The following is an abstract of an article by Justin Hadler of Hardware.com, in Business Review Europe.

Empowering Employees

By allowing employees to bring their own devices to work, a business is affording them the same choice they have come to expect in their personal lives. They get to use the devices, including both hardware and software, of their choice and have the flexibility to work anywhere, any way.

A BYOD programme also has the potential to attract new talent. According to Cisco’s 2011 “Connected World Technology Report,” for one third of the 2,800 US students surveyed, device flexibility, work mobility, and access to social media were more important than salary.

Boosting Productivity

Today most individuals are highly adept at using their personal smartphones, tablets, and laptops outside of work, and these skills translate when working in a BYOD-friendly environment.

With their own device, employees can engage with one another more quickly even when away from their desks. Faster internal communication has the potential to allow a business to run more efficiently with queries answered and action points agreed speedily.

Customer or client engagement can also be dramatically improved from such a policy.

Curing IT Headaches

With a sound framework in place, BYOD can prove to be the soothing balm, rather than the cause, of a number of IT headaches in the long-run.

Additionally, by using applications such as Smartsheet, Dropbox and Google Docs, employees have the ability to complete many projects without the help of the IT department. New applications are continually being launched, meaning it is likely a solution exists for any business task. IT staff can focus more time and resources on proactive, strategic tasks.

BYOD is more than just a necessity. It is rapidly emerging as a proactive, forward-looking route to giving employees the freedom and choice they want; boosting their productivity, while releasing IT departments from significant financial and management headaches.

 

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Timing is the key to high margin work in Management Consulting

Published on 20 February 2013 in Consulting sales, IT Telemarketing

Professional services firms need more than capability to establish new client relationships, argues Iain MacLeod, Professional Services Director, INCo

For a good while now, the sustained downward pressure on consulting fee rates has been well documented. A trend seems to be developing within a large number of FTSE organisations to prioritise cost over the suitability of the consulting firm to deliver engagements, and as a result the entire provision of consulting services is becoming increasingly commoditised.

Being in the right place at the right time can make all the difference to consulting sales success

Being in the right place at the right time can make all the difference to consulting sales success

Over the past few months INCo has been working with a number of consulting clients to devise effective strategies to overcome this particular challenge. Most clients seemed to feel that factors such as success-based fee modelling and the ability to differentiate – in terms of both their organisation and services – from their peer group would have been most important in gaining their highest margin engagements. While this certainly proved true in some instances, the issue of timing has proven to be a third critical factor, and one of much greater import than had been thought.

INCo conducted an exercise with several key clients. A selection of their highest margin deals from the past three years were analysed in some detail, and while elements of the results were unique to each firm and each project, the most common element in all of these deals was the timing of the initial engagement with the prospect. In almost every instance, the firm had been able to engage the prospect early enough in the sales cycle to be able to help guide them in the creation of a solution.  As a result, there was evidence of much greater trust from the client side when it came to scoping the eventual engagement.

INCo experience has shown that timing the initial engagement with a potential buyer is hugely important.

Engage too late in the cycle and you are likely to find that you are part of a multi-firm beauty parade where price is often the most important differentiator. Equally, if you invest too much resource in maintaining contact and relationships with prospects until they are in the perfect position, the overall cost of sale becomes too large to sustain. Even an engagement that looks like it is delivering suitable margins is actually less profitable than it might have been.

Using a specialist firm like INCo is an important option in building a sales pipeline.  INCo can be used to establish contact, build brand and capability awareness and then nurture C-Suite relationships until the timing is right for partner engagement. In this way, consulting firms can take maximum advantage of client timing whilst simultaneously freeing up high-fee earner resource for other activity.

 

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‘Fiscal cliff’ fails to deter investments in software

Published on 14 January 2013 in IT Sales Leads, Market Predictions

Oracle has reported strong software sales for the end of 2012, and predicts that the trend will continue into 2013, prompting optimism about the entire technology sector.

FBR Markets analyst Daniel Ives, said “I would call this a Christmas present. It’s a positive sign for the overall technology sector.”

Shares of the world’s No. 3 software maker rose 2.6 per cent after it reported fiscal second-quarter revenue and earnings that surpassed Wall Street forecasts.

While Oracle sales may principally reflect the US market, sales development specialists INCo are also seeing signs of growth in the UK. According to INCo Chief Executive, Neil Ritchie, “The sales environment in certain areas is still strong as major corporates look to new systems for market differentiation, particularly in areas like customer care.”

Oracle president Safra Catz told investors that businesses were still looking to spend money already allocated to 2012 technology budgets. Oracle said software sales would grow 3 to 13 per cent through its current quarter, which runs through February.

Jefferies & Co. analyst Ross MacMillan said Oracle’s results are encouraging for other makers of business software, many of which end their quarter in December 2012 but have yet to report.

“It tells you that there’s still money being spend by enterprises on software. It’s not like the world has ground to a halt,” Mr. MacMillan said, dispelling fears that the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ may have had an effect on sales.

 

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Knowledge is Power. More true today than ever, particularly if you are a Consulting business

Published on 9 January 2013 in Consulting sales

Sir Francis Bacon famously said that “Knowledge is Power” but when it comes to acquiring new clients in the Management Consulting sector that well-worn old adage becomes even more fundamental.

When speaking with a Senior Partner from one of the larger consulting firms last week, he mentioned to me that one of the things he believes their firm struggles with is knowing who their prospective customers are, and beyond that  really understanding what the real ‘on the ground’ situation is within each organisation.

This is a challenge that a large percent of INCo’s clients in the Management Consulting sector have shared, and successful resolution of this issue impacts positively on every aspect of their business development strategy.

Just stop for a moment and think about the accounts your company or practice intends to target this year and ask yourself the following questions;

  1. Do I know who all of the key decision makers and influencers are in each of these accounts?
  2. Do those people know who we are as company and what our key propositions are in their market space?
  3. Do I know what that person’s current pain/priorities and challenges are and am I tailoring my approach accordingly?

If you are not able to say ‘yes,’ when answering each of those questions then you definitely have some challenges to overcome. A strong client acquisition strategy means compiling this information for each of your key target accounts, establishing initial relationships and starting to build brand and capability awareness. If you don’t fully understand who you are selling to, and what their current challenges are, it is very difficult to engage and enthuse a prospective buyer. It’s such a fundamental truth but many consulting organisations are failing to grasp the significance of the impact this knowledge will make to their revenues.

The great news for consulting firms is that the problem itself is relatively easy to overcome. All it takes to achieve this 360 degree view of their clients is an investment in time to go and talk to their market, and the skill set to conduct the conversation in the right way. The bad news is that most consulting organisations don’t have the capacity or desire to deploy billable resource to this task, and even when they do they often lack the specialist skills to be successful.

Partnering with a specialist firm like INCo is the perfect way to provide your proposition and practice leaders with the market intelligence they need, and will empower them to deliver the new logo business you want. By providing its clients with this key intelligence and tailoring the promotion of their propositions and services to suit, INCo has been able to play a significant role in over 100 project wins in the last twelve months.

In the current economic environment faced by Management Consulting businesses looking to gain a competitive edge, knowledge is very definitely still power.

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A major growth opportunity for IT and Consulting businesses

Published on 5 December 2012 in INCo Advice, Market Predictions

Sustainability relies heavily on computing and technology

The UK’s burgeoning green businesses will continue to defy the sluggish economic backdrop, according to research firm Verdantix. They are predicting that spending by large UK firms on energy, environment and sustainability initiatives will grow by an average of 16 per cent a year between now and 2015.

In money terms, that means it will rise 12 per cent this year to £4.3bn, before climbing 15 per cent in 2013 and 17 per cent in 2014 and 2015, culminating in a market worth £6.8bn.

Much of this spending will offer big opportunities to IT and Consulting businesses who can offer expertise in the application of technology to improve business sustainability.

“Sustainability is one area where companies are looking to differentiate themselves. But it is also a ‘must-have’ in order to compete in certain markets in the US and Europe. This is opening doors for consulting and other specialist businesses looking for an entry-point into the corporate environment,” said Neil Ritchie, managing director of INCo, the business development firm that finds sales opportunities for IT and Consulting firms

The Verdantix report found that sustainable business spending is dominated by the retail, high tech and emissions-intensive energy and heavy industrial sectors, which combined account for over three-quarters of the entire market.

More on Verdantix here: http://www.verdantix.com/

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Personalisation drives an intense period of retail change

Published on 15 November 2012 in IT Telemarketing, Market Predictions

The results of IBM’s 2012 Smarter Consumer UK Study have recently been published.

They show that consumer desire for using mobile devices while shopping more than doubled (138%) within the past year. The survey looked at consumer purchasing trends and shopping habits of 1,800 UK consumers.

These consumer trends are driving a distinct agenda for change in the IT environment in retail, which is in turn providing huge opportunities for systems integrators, consultancy firms and IT retail specialists who have kept ahead of these trends.

Neil Ritchie, CEO of INCo, whose business is about finding and qualifying sales opportunities across the IT and consulting sector, said “There are big opportunities as retailers attempt to adjust their business to a world where mobile devices are key. Companies who can respond to this environment should be working with us to develop an immediate sales pipeline.”

Other changes highlighted by the research include:

39 percent want to use mobiles to receive personalised promotions.
42 percent want to use mobiles to seek out lower prices, and 44 percent to seek out promotions.
52 percent want to use mobiles to checkout, and 42 percent to locate products in-store.

INCo conducts continuous business development, direct marketing and telemarketing programmes to discern corporate purchasing trends and to find sales leads for its IT and Consulting clients.

More on the IBM research is available here: http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/thoughtleadership/ibv-empowered-consumer.html

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More Tablets as Mobile Forces Change – Bring Your Own Device Increasing

Published on 24 October 2012 in Consulting sales, INCo Advice, IT Sales Leads, IT Telemarketing, Sales Advice

Bring Your Own Device is becoming the basis for meetings everywhere

According to the Statista website, 2013 will see big increases in sales of tablets and notebooks, while PC sales will increase by a modest amount. (http://www.statista.com/statistics/183419/forecast-of-global-sales-of-pcs-by-category/)

Data is based on input from Worldwide, IDC and Morgan Stanley.

This is hardly surprising of course, given the almost daily reminders that businesses everywhere are having to respond to a global change in consumer behaviour. Today’s announcements from Argos (24th October) illustrate just how fundamental those challenges are becoming.

CEO’s and CTO’s are having to re-envision the future for their companies as the shift to mobile becomes more and more evident, and that is placing a strain on whatever technology roadmap might be in place. Changes are happening across the planning spectrum – short term quick fixes having to be integrated into larger scale strategies for the future. Earlier this week, a report from data storage specialist EMC, was pointing to a need for CEO’s to take control in a world of ‘big data’ (http://www.emc.com/microsites/bigdata/index.htm)

All this is creating opportunities for those with relevant business and technology expertise, but do existing sales forces have the bandwidth to ensure that their companies take advantage? Not always, according to sales development experts at INCo.

“Sales forces often focus on short-term opportunities, and leave the longer term plan to look after itself,” according to INCo Managing Director, Neil Ritchie. “In times of change, you have to take extra care to develop sales opportunities in both short- and long-term. A company like INCo can provide additional resource to do that effectively, whatever part of the business community an IT or Consulting company serves.”

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Market segmentation – key to sales success

Published on 20 September 2012 in Consulting sales

It used to be a truism that to succeed in selling IT and Consulting services, a company had to ‘get big, get niche or get out.’

Big players sold to big companies. Specialist companies offered specific horizontal or vertical sector solutions. And if you weren’t effective at one or the other, there wasn’t a great deal of hope.

In today’s tough IT and Consulting markets though, it may no longer simply be size that’s important when selling into big companies.

Large company purchasers are showing more and more that they intend to pursue specialist agendas – allowable within an overall strategic framework for the business or organisation – making the effort of selling into them a matter of more touchpoints, rather than less. In other words, it will become more complex to sell into larger organisations, and sales success will be based on knowledge and an ability to respond, rather than simply size.

At INCo, a company that helps its clients to find and understand sales opportunities, it has become increasingly obvious that decision-making has become a task for networks, rather than individuals, and of demonstrable success rather than sheer size.

Neil Ritchie, managing director of INCo, said: “Sales prospecting these days is more about keeping in touch with corporate priorities than ever. IT departments are having to think laterally about issues like minimising expenditure and maximising customer service. And with so many new technologies emerging, there can be unpredictable results.”

“Sales organisations need to keep in touch with the market at more levels than ever before – from C-level to specialist.”

INCo conducts a continuous telemarketing programme to keep its clients in touch with developments within existing and potential new client companies and organisations.

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Information Technology Growing Faster than Expected in 2012: Consulting in High Demand, Report Says

Published on 17 July 2012 in IT Sales Leads, Market Predictions

Sales of Information Technology equipment, systems and the consulting services needed to make complex projects a success, are still increasing

Business spending on Information Technology continues to grow at a pace faster than might be expected in a time of retrenchment and cutbacks. Fueled by an accelerating move to cloud computing, and by a boom in associated telecommunications services, the market for IT and associated services continues to out-perform the overall economy, according to industry analysts at Gartner.

$3.6 trillion will be spent worldwide on information technology in 2012, a 3 percent increase from 2011, when $3.5 trillion was spent, up from the 2.5 percent increase projected three months ago.

The increase is notable because it is happening in the face of a financial crisis in Europe, slow growth in the United States, and a slowdown in China.

Neil Ritchie, MD at INCo, a firm that undertakes sales development for clients, said, “Markets are holding up well in the UK, despite talk of cuts and lack of investment.

INCo works with many leading Global IT and Consulting firms, finding sales opportunities that are geared to client skills and expertise.”

Over 200 business and technology analysts worldwide contributed to the report. These analysts saw a 2.3 percent increase, to $864 billion, in fees for technology services. The consultants said that the market outlook for consulting was strong, as companies try to manage things like their own complex systems, cloud computing, and the rise of analytics.

More on the Gartner Report at www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=2074815

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