Business
ACP Thin Manager deployment
Hi have been working on ACP Thin Manger for quite some time now. You can find information of their products at www.thinmanager.com. This is a great solution for production companies who work in the manufacturing sector and use custom applications to control all of their on site hardware.
The solution is based around Thin Client architecture and uses services like Microsoft RDS as its core and hops onto these terminal connections managing each session to provide a better experience for these custom apps.
It is an all in one PXE, DHCP and imaging solution. The thin clients boot from an image over a network and do not require a hard disk because everything is loaded in memory. You can then push terminal sessions to thin clients or to Windows machines running WinTMC (which is an application provided by ACP) that connect to the Thin Manager server and download their RDS configuration and then connect into the RDS infrastructure.
I am going to roll this out now to a company so that they have a central approach to desktops out in the manufacturing plants. This also means if a thin client fails, they just replace it with a new one.
Simple
Broadband for businesses in the UK
It has been a long time since I did an update. This is mainly because I have been rushing around working in London, Derby and Liverpool. Then along came Christmas, and like always it went just as quickly. The New Year then settled in and I went away skiing in France. You can find the pictures here .
Broadband for the UK Business
Recently there have been investments by the government to get your business off the ground. Once of these is a grant offered by the government to step up your business to the fastest broadband available in your area. With technology becoming centric within businesses these days, then this may be an opportunity you cannot miss.
Now, understanding IT and working in IT for most of my life it has to be said that you cannot have a super fast fibre connection if there is no fibre laid in the ground where your business resides. This being said, there are other options available but if you live in the Outer Hebrides don’t be too disappointed if you can’t get a Gigabit connection to your building. There may be other options such as 3G or 4G connections which you can take advantage of.
There is plenty of information out there. Take a look at the government site Connection Vouchers to find out more information on this
Small Business Saturday 2014 in the UK
On December 6th 2014, it will be Small Business Saturday in the UK.
Small business day is a non-profit, non-commercial and non-political campaign to promote small businesses in the UK. A post of this on the Telegraph website from last year shows how much we need small businesses in the UK and explains why we need Small Business Saturday. Last year this helped to generate millions in the UK for small businesses.
There is a website which is dedicated to this that explains everything you need to know about connecting, getting involved and further information at https://smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com/
You can also interact with many people who are supporting Small Business Saturday by logging into Facebook and following the Small Business Saturday page.
If you are a Twitter user, you can follow them on their Twitter Page
Of course there are many other links on the internet about this, but it is important to stress that small businesses in the UK need support for the economy to flourish.
I for one will be getting involved with this, so show your support for small businesses and lets make the business world a better place.
Writing a Business Plan – Part 2
Business Plan Part 2
A few weeks ago I wrote Part one of the introduction to writing a business plan. Here I will continue to go through the final stages of this so that you will have guidelines to writing one. Remember, this is just a guide, and my interpretation of how to write it.
5. Marketing Strategy
Previously in Section 4, we discussed the principal elements that make up the Environment, Competition and Company. Once these details are finalised then we can then approach the strategy of how we are going to market the company. This is one of the biggest and most important areas of the business plan. It contains many different aspects of marketing.
There are a few basic strategies that can be used for Marketing
- Penetrate new Markets
- Increase the share of existing markets
- To establish a strong, firm position within the market
- To withdraw from the market
In order to be successful in your market, you need a way of measuring your success. This can be done by setting a number of strategic objectives:
- Sales Objectives
- Number of trading clients
- Profit or margin objectives
- % share of the Market
- New area penetration
- New Product Launches
- Product withdraws
Once you have identified the objectives for the business then you can look at the main elements of marketing which are: Product, Price Distribution and Promotion.
Product
There are 3 types of product decisions that can be made.
- Create a new product
- Modify an existing product
- Withdraw a product
These decisions are based in the sections which you have researched previously which investigate the current market and look at factors which as competition, environment and any gaps in the market.
Price
The common pricing objectives can be broadly outlined as:
- To make a profit on the current capital investment
- To make a profit on sales
- To gain a % share of the market
There are 3 main pricing strategies.
- Price low for penetration
- Price match for the competition
- High Pricing
These pricing strategies can be seen across many market sectors. They are usually applied in the following way:
- Generally across all products
- With each line of product having a different pricing structure
- With each product being independently priced
- By geographical area
Distribution
Distribution is the mechanism that moves product or merchandise from production to the consumer.
All products can be sold the same way or through different lines of products, different market segments or distributors. Certain geographical locations may differ in the type of distribution used and may be better covered through the use of a distribution channel.
The distribution channel allows the business to access a market, to transport and sell the products to the consumer. This is usually done through one of the following methods:
- Direct sales to the end user
- Through a reseller who use may use agents, retail or wholesale methods.
Agents – help to organise the distribution of the product by using other services to facilitate the sale process.
Distributors – these are companies which are established and authorized to supply products in a geographical area. They will usually sell to large clients or use retail and wholesale where appropriate.
Wholesale – usually buy the product and sell it onto other retailers or other wholesalers. Usually the Wholesale buys in bulk and as such gets a cheaper cost per line item.
Retail – sell the product to the end user or consumer. They can acquire the product through any of the channels above depending on their location, activity or product types.
Franchising
This is the final method of distribution that is used by many businesses today. Franchising is a set formula that is governed by the franchisor that is issue to a franchisee who is responsible to follow the formula and provide the necessary operational support and advice as well as advertising or promoting the product. The franchisee has to pay the franchisor royalties which is often initiated in a buy in fee.
Promotion
Finally there are methods of promotion which you need to establish in your business. These are:
- Personal Sales
- Sales Promotion
- Advertising
- Public Relations
- Social Media
As a business, you may find that historically a dedication Sales function may have worked for your business but in recent times, Social Media would be a more preferred.
Tips: Be direct. Explain the essential characteristic of the products and how they satisfy the needs of the market.
Don’t be too technical
It is very important to define the distribution strategy. If you are not aware of any of the methods described above then research these. Many products have not been successful due to this part failing.
If you need promotional budget then be realistic with it, especially if this is a new product in a new marketplace.
This forms the heart of the business plan, and should be very thorough and thought out with figures.
6. Success Factors
This section is very important as it provides a summary explaining why the plan will succeed. You could have a good marketing plan, sufficient capital and a strong product, but what makes all the things you have to offer different. Is it your style, or have you identified something which is unique?
You need a unique selling point or points for your plan. What do you have that will make it succeed?
These factors could be very different, for example:
- Strong initial advertising
- The ability to compete effectively
- Quality of service
- A product or products with their own unique selling points
- Pre-agreed channels and volumes
- Capacity to innovate or modify products quickly
- Exclusive distribution channels
All businesses, from fruit shops to car manufacturers, cafes to banks have their own success factors and in many cases there is only one factor that creates this success. My success is based on experience I have across a wide field of IT areas and working with many different businesses including retail, events, finance, legal, managed services and local authority to name a few. I can see the benefits and pitfalls of these so I can highlight what is a strong point in a business and what is a weak point.
For a hairdresser it could be the quality and price, or just the quality; for Ryan Air it is the price; for Ferrari the quality and status; for a builder a specialist area of expertise. The secret is to identify these points and then to highlight them.
TIPS: Write only the important points, be brief. Each sentence is important, if a sentence does not hold any information then remove it.
Throughout the business growth, you should be asking yourself “What does success look like?”.
7. Financial Analysis
(Some information taken from http://www.bytestart.co.uk)
This portion will cover the financial aspects of the business plan. Although some of the information in here may be related to previous business activity that may not apply, it is useful to provide some estimation to forecast potential earnings. The financial analysis should include any forecast for the next 3-5 years if possible.
- Profit and loss statement for the previous years, or forecasted if this information is not available
- Balance Sheet for previous years (if available)
- Fixed and Variable cost projections. It is better to do research into this for a new company and thoroughly explore the costs associated.
- Estimated Sales projections
- Projected Cash Flow analysis
- Projected Profit and Loss statements Projected Balance Sheets
As mentioned, a lot of the information here is based on past performance from a business. Although not important in most cases of a new business starting, it is always important to consider these factors.
If you do have access to previous trading then the following areas may help you to plan financially.
- If you have been trading previously, company history is imperative when projecting future success.
The Profit and Loss accounts give a picture of a company’s trading performance over a period of time in terms of income, sales and expenditure.
- As with the Balance Sheet a historical perspective will provide a sound basis for future projections.
A Balance Sheet is a snapshot of a company’s assets that are owned by the business and also contains liabilities which is what is owed to other 3rd parties from the business.
Total assets should always equal total liabilities, hence the ‘balance’. The amount of earnings in the business should be enough to cover the cost of the liabilities.
- Establishing the fixed cost and the variable costs, when put together with the sales figures will establish the running cost point of the business, which is the point at which the business start to make a profit.
- Using any information, historical, statistical which you can combine with your knowledge of the products and the market.
- A Cash Flow statement, usually constructed over the course of a year, compares your cash position at the end of the year to the position at the start, and the constant flow of money into and out of the business over the course of that year. A Cash Flow statement deals only with the money circulating in the business. Projecting Cash Flow for a 3-5 year period will provide a useful tool in establishing whether your business is eating up cash or generating cash.
- Using the projected sales and expenditures you will be able to put together a projected Profit and Loss statement.
- Projecting a Balance Sheet allows you to see the funds that will be required as the business matures.
TIPS
- Make sure all graphs and charts are clear and well laid out.
- Prepare all information by year for a period of 3 to 5 years.
- Display at least the first year of Cash Flow information by month.
- Use accounting terms where appropriate, and always be clear when expressing a point.
- If you are stuck, use an accountant
Finance
Here you need to lay out the capital you require to start the business. Don’t just think about what you need in the start-up phase, but also think about any further investment needed at a later date, which if requested at the time when required will be seen as a failure to plan properly or a failure to execute your plan effectively.
These are the basic ways of obtaining the finance you will require:
- Business associates
- External investors
- Finance companies
- Public grants
8. Conclusion
Now you have made it to the end of the document, congratulations!
For this section, summarise the points which you have discussed and what you feel is most important. Ensure that the summary notes that the business plan is ready to be deployed and executed for the business.
TIPS
- Be brief
Now this is over, there is a vast array of information to gather, people to get advice from and businesses who can offer support. I want to thank http://www.bytestart.co.uk/ who have a lot of information on their site. I will include other site information on here which can help you write your business plan.
Writing a Business Plan
Welcome to my 2 part guide on how to write a business plan. The steps needed to create a business plan are important to starting a new business. There are lots of guides available on the internet, of which I will include at the end of this document. I wanted to create this 2 part blog to explain how to get started with a business plan.
But before I do I want to stress that I have had no official business or marketing training. These are areas which I have picked up myself writing documents and procedures over the years.
Once up on a time
So what is a business plan? The plan is a document which outlines everything you are going to set out to do to make the business successful. There are about 8 common steps which are needed to write a business plan which contain introduction to the business, finance planning, marketing strategy and much more. Ultimately this is something which you need to hand over to your bank or your accountant to prove that you have done the thinking and are serious about progressing.
The steps do not necessarily represent each section of the business plan, they are a guide to how you should structure and think about it. For example you may have a section for Market Analysis, and then another section for Demand Analysis. The steps just represent the thinking process you need to go through but if you want, you can add in additional sections however I would advise against this because the document may get too big. As a guide, I would make the document approximately 20-25 pages from beginning to end. Here are the steps:
- Introduction
- Business objectives
- Market analysis, and demand
- Environmental, Competition and Company
- Marketing Strategy
- Measuring Success
- Financial Analysis
- Conclusion
For some people these steps may seem quite foreign in their nature, especially if you have never been involved in a business before or even studied business courses at school or college. However, they are very logical and straight forward. They are easy to understand and make sure you think about every single step that is needed.
I will discuss each step here to show what thinking is needed to complete this.
Step 1. Introduction
This is the header page and title and date. Use nice simple formatting and don’t complicate things
This is the section that includes basic information about you, your contact information, business name (if you have it yet). You should include where you are based, how old you are, what your general skills are and qualifications.
The contents should be included in this section and cover the following subjects:
Step 2a: Objectives
The objective should explain what business plan is setting out to achieve. Why are you writing this? What is the intention? Have you spotted a gap in the market? Do you have a new product you could sell? Are you expanding ?
TIP:Keep this simple, brief and if necessary use bullet points.
For example you may want to use something like this:
Over the past 5 years, a gap in the market has arisen and a product which we produce can fill this gap in the market.
Don’t go into what experience you have, or what your product is yet. Just explain why you are writing the document as there are other sections to explain the areas of the business.
Step 2b: Business Review
With the objectives, the business review contains information about your business and your target markets.
Here you can write about what the product or service is. What market it is going to attack. This point is needed for your bank as they require to know what sector you are going to work in.
What investment is required here ? Why is it required? What are the predicted results over the next 12-24 months, or longer if needed?
Keep this short and simple and straight to the point. For me, I focused on IT services and the ever-changing IT market, which requires more people offering expertise in many areas. This helps businesses instead of companies having to pay out for people with a niche skill and limited ability in other areas.
Remember, don’t go into detail here. It is still part of the Objectives section. The reader should know what your business is about by now. Also they should feel confident that you know how to proceed with the business and it makes sense.
Tip: don’t use words like “if” and “may” and “probably”. Be sure about how you are going to set out
Step 3. The Market and its Demand
Here we start to get into the detail. This section is important to know if the business is going to be viable, and especially what sections you need to invest in.
Define the following sections:
The Market – what the market is or the people and organisations which make up the Market.
Geographical Data – Where is the business going to aim in terms of geography? If you are based in the UK but want to trade to Europe, then this will have tax implications so this needs to be clear
Consumer need – Explain the behaviour of the consumers. When does the need arise? Why do they need it? Who are the consumers ?
Market Segment – Different consumers have different requirements. Explain the segmentation of the market and the different types of segmentation. For my business there are many different segmentations. For example, although everyone today uses IT in business, a retail business has different requirements than a legal entity from an IT point of view. For example a retail business will need to consider PCI DSS whereby a legal entity may need to comply with the Sarbanes Oxley act even though they use the same system.
The Demand – Here we mark out the demand in numbers which the business can cope with.
Potential Demand – this is the demand forecast for the business which you could provide as produce or services and measures your maximum demand output.
Actual Demand – is the demand for the product or services for this year or last year based on actual transactions. If you have no data then previous experience can be used to make an estimate.
Future demand – Use the information in the actual demand and work out a percentage increase for the following year.
Demand evolution – Here we get into clever forecasting and numbers based on future employment of staff, business suppliers, and product opportunities in the market so you can graph out your future based on other factors as well as your own business success. You can use something like Microsoft Excel to do this and map out the growth.
Tips: Be realistic. Consider a new business as slow and the success yield will be bigger as time goes on. Don’t be too optimistic.
Step 4a: Environmental Influence
Here, you need to explain the environment influences that might impact your business. More often than not, there are other factors which you may not have thought of that will directly impact you.
Consider the following areas:
Economic
Social
Cultural
Technical
Legal
Demographic
Political
Religious
- Think about issues like new political legislation such as the recent Scottish Referendum, or Cultural issues like origin of people in a given area which you plan to sell your product to.
- Monitor the news, recent reports and business publications in your areas to ensure you are up to date on current events that may affect you.
- Look at the changes in society for example, the mobile and tablet shift in the last 10 years and how this work in conjunction with your business.
Step 4b: Competition analysis
Competition is a very important factor in business as this could pave the way for your success or failure.
Think of your USP or your Unique Selling Point. What can you offer that nobody else can?
Understand your competitors. Can you work with them, or do you need to avoid them altogether?
Include information on the competition. This is useful.
Ask yourself questions like:
What differences will you have to competitors ?
How do you plan to change the market ?
Step 4c: Company Analysis
Here you need to have a clear understanding the operation of your business and how it is constructed. Think about presenting your business, and its capabilities.
Consider factors like:
Departmental layout: What will your structure look like ?
Number of Employees: Is this just you or are you planning to take more people on ?
The Management Team: Who is going to be making the executive decisions? Emphasize these people as they need to be trusted with any investment.
Products and services: What products do you have to offer? How do they work? Who is involved
Company History: There may be a track record you have with your company history, or even with another company you worked for that you may want to include here
Strengths and Weaknesses: It is essential you highlight your strengths. Remember that a strength can be a weakness – for example a single point of failure in a business.
Technology and Infrastructure: Can your company use technology? Does it use technology? Do you need email and a website? Have you looked at Microsoft Office 365? If you have offices, have you thought how much you nee to invest into technology here?
Transport services: There are many considerations here. Do you have a car? What are the logistical challenges you will face. Do you need commercial transport? Do you have a Oyster Card to make your way around London?
Tips: Be optimistic about the capabilities and focus on the strengths. If you have weaknesses, then address a plan of action to resolve these.
To be continued
I mentioned at the start that this is a 2 part blog that I want to continue. I will do this towards the end of the week. However for the time being I hope that this gives a good insight on how to design a business plan.
Once you master this, it is a skill that can be used many times in the business when you write proposals, contracts or even design documents. Always remember that if you make a mistake, it is something that you can learn from for next time. If you want to contact me regarding this, then my contact details are in my About section.
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