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IIII n our 2nd year of success we are glad to be participating at the AGOA forum in Nairobi It is said that insanity is doing the same thing in the same way and expecting a different result. It has also been said that you can be an ordinary person with extra ordinary results . The secret is work in an extraordinary way. Our advise to the many entrepreneurs around is very simple. Stop doing the ordinary to resolve the same never ending problems or challenges you face. Challenge your challenges. With the landing of the fibre optic cable that is expected to revolutionize our country’s infrastruc-ture, we urge you to embrace technology in your business. Allow ICT to change your operations. If you run a tours & travel company, why install radio equip-ment limited to particular frequencies in the tour vans when you can equip each car/ van with af-fordable smart phones for use by the drivers and clients? While your staff use these for email and communication with the office, clients can enjoy uploading real time pictures and videos to their blogs or You tube. Opening your inner eyes is very possible by shutting your physical eyes. Perked up inner ears hear and listen better than the physical year. Stepping out of your shoes allows you to feel the world differently This is what our businesses need to make it this century Happy 2nd Anniversary everyone.

Wangari

Are you considering computerizing your business?

Are you looking to outsourcing your IT

requirements?

Are you interested in polishing your IT skills?

Talk to us

Eagle Afric Holdings Ltd

P.O. Box 24329-00502, Nairobi

Tel: +254 720 838446

Email: info@eagleafric.com

URL: www.eagleafric.com

Unusually UsualUnusually UsualUnusually UsualUnusually Usual Editorial

Managing EditorManaging EditorManaging EditorManaging Editor

Wangari Kimani-Maina

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Frederick Mwarangu

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Tel: +254 020 3597825

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Next EditionNext EditionNext EditionNext Edition After AGOA? What happens with After AGOA? What happens with After AGOA? What happens with After AGOA? What happens with

the opportunities?the opportunities?the opportunities?the opportunities?

Congratulations to Eagle Afric

Holdings for participating at

the AGOA Forum

The African continent is a land of

great opportunity. Only knowledge, tremen-

dous work ethic, positive attitude, self confi-

dence and a desire to succeed, goodwill, per-

sistence, perseverance and determination will

bring forth rewards.

Bottom line, international business

success begins with an attitude of acceptance.

Acceptance for a whole combination of things

that we will be addressing in the ensuing para-

graph.

As more and more companies go

global, astute businesspeople are finding that

knowledge about other countries' cultures and

customs can enhance their working relation-

ships--and thereby affect their businesses'

bottom line

A Spirit of Acceptance

The key to insuring smooth international rela-

tionships, lies in cultivating an open-minded

spirit of acceptance towards other people and

cultures. Acceptance and appreciation for

other cultures requires willingness to explore

and cooperate. This can lead to strengthening,

appreciation and acceptance. There need not

be loss of identity or compromised values.

Research and Training Pay Off

When the Thom McAn Company tried to sell

footwear in Bangladesh, a riot ensued, injuring

over 50 people. The company's executives

had not known that Thom McAn's signature,

printed inside the shoes resembled the Arabic

script for "Allah." Outraged Muslims concluded

that shoe manufacturers were trying to get

Bangladeshis to desecrate the name of God by

walking on His name-a double insult because

the foot is considered unclean in their country.

Had Thom McAn executives expended the

effort to learn more about the culture to which

they were marketing their products, they could

have saved the time and money required later

to polish up their image and rebuild goodwill.

Executives in today's global market-

place encounter many and varied cultural rules

and protocols. Each has its own nuances, and

the rules have many exceptions. In order to

learn and stay current, corporations benefit by

keeping consultants on retainer who are natives

of the countries with whom they do business.

Such people prove to be valuable resources for

instruction in values and customs, as well as the

business etiquette specific to each country, such

as gift-giving, handshaking and table manners.

Cross-cultural training goes a long way in devel-

oping the sensitivity, knowledge and appreciation

for other cultures that are so vital to business

success.

When Hosting

Suppose you are preparing to entertain a distant

aunt whom you have not seen since childhood.

You would take steps to insure her comfort, such

as inquiring ahead of time about what she likes

to eat and whether she follows any particular

dietary guidelines. You would probably do some

advance research to learn what special interests

or hobbies she enjoys, and whether there are

any conversational topics about which she is

particularly sensitive or on which she holds

strong feelings. As business host to your foreign

counterparts, it behooves you to do your home-

work in much the same way on other cultures,

their diets and customs. Suppose that you are

picking up an international businessman at the

airport and then taking him to dinner before drop-

ping him off at his hotel. He enters your car and

immediately lights a cigarette. Because you have

studied up on his culture, you know that his

country does not have laws regulating smoking,

and that it is not considered rude to smoke with-

out first asking a host's permission. As you pull

up to the restaurant, you might gently inform your

guest that your city does not permit smoking in

restaurants and in business offices, and that

most people expect guests in their homes to ask

permission.

The Key Components

Success in Africa and most of the other markets

as an entrepreneur requires one to be:

Respectful - Respect for other people and cul-

tures is critical if businesses are to flourish in the

global marketplace. Anything less puts interac-

tions at risk of seeming insincere, condescending

and manipulatory. Executives who approach their

international counterparts as equals, and expend

the effort to learn all they can about their cul-

tures, will find the commitment pays off in more

comfortable and profitable business relation-

ships.

Visionary - An international vision will focus your

efforts to be aimed at the highest levels of

achievement. 2nd place just will not do for you.

Perceptive - the ability

to identify the risk vs. reward in an un-

dertaking and more importantly to main-

tain the proper balance between the

two at all times

Decisive - The innate ability to thrive

on decision making, clear and inde-

pendent thought as well as extreme

dedication to your livelihood

Master of the self - Transformation of

your positive attitude into greater self

confidence, that translates into greater

achievement in the business world

Persistence - persistent and focused

actions of a dedicated person ultimately

lead to the highest levels of achieve-

ment in any area of pursuit

Passionate - With all the planning in

the world, if you do not have passion,

you will not have the enthusiasm or

desire needed for your success across

the borders. Enthusiasm is needed to

keep going through the ups and downs

that all businesses go through. You are

more likely to fail in both productive

ways and financially because if you do

not have the enthusiasm and positive

attitude necessary to get you through

the slow seasons or even to make the

good, better. On the other hand you are

more likely to achieve success faster

and in better financial ways in both the

short and long term.

Other success components include

having:

Effective competitive strategy

Formulating an effective competitive

strategy is another key success factor.

A competitive strategy enables a com-

pany to project and position itself in a

targeted manner in foreign markets

Thirst for Knowledge

Doing business at home may work for

all of us in great ways and sometimes

with eyes closed. But after saturating

the local market and you need to cross

a border or two, every entrepreneur

needs to thirst and hunger for knowl-

edge beyond the normal. Knowledge is

power and continued education will

always be vital for your business

success

Business Principles

underlying, often unconscious and unin-tentional beliefs can undermine otherwise

well-planned business efforts

To conduct business with peo-ple of other cultures,

put aside preconceived notions and strive to learn

about the culture of your coun-terpart.

Succeeding in Africa Page 3

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Kilimara Investments

Mr. George Kimani

P.O. Box 24979 - 00502 Nairobi, Kenya; Tel: +254 020 2099502/ +254 733 549099

E-mail: kilimara@gmail.com

As a player on the world business platform it is

becoming imperative that we learn some e-

customer service.

E-commerce is no longer a distant dream for

us in Africa and the sooner we embrace it the

faster we will spread our business wings.

The E-customer is as good as the

customer visiting your business premises and

must be handled with as much care, as if he/

she were sitting in your office. These days,

given the tightening market for new customers

and the shift to generating more sales from

repeat buyers, online retailers are thinking long

and hard about improving their customer ser-

vice levels. Some are equipping their e-

commerce sites with interactive self-service

tools that enable customers to update profiles,

track packages and view past transactions

Paramount to any customer-oriented

business is reduction of customer complaints

and improving customer convenience. For

online retailing this is no different as you need

to empower shoppers to answer their own ser-

vice-related questions, get real-time access to

order information or update their personal in-

formation when it’s convenient. Consistency

in service is also key. If a call or e-mail goes

unanswered or a service representative can’t

help a shopper track a package, customers will

vote with their online shopping cards and take

their business elsewhere.

Before developing your online cus-

tomer service plan, it helps to understand the

differences between online and offline cus-

tomer support, the advantages and disadvan-

tages of an online customer service program,

the importance of keeping up with customer

expectations, and the elements that every

online customer service plan should include.

If you're wondering why customers

aren't coming back to your e-business, maybe

you should take a long, hard look at your cus-

tomer service. A happy customer will tell one

or two people; an unhappy one will tell 10! So

it pays to keep your customers happy--

especially when doing business online.

Online, an angry customer might not

just tell 10 people; they might also write a

wordy rant on their blog, post comments on

other people's blogs, write a negative review of

your site on a shopping website, or criticize

you on forums and message boards. Or all of

the above.

And worse, once something's been

written about you online, it's very difficult to get

it removed. This means that any prospective

customer who decides to do a search on your

business name could come across it.

Think how much losing even just 10

sales would cost you, and compare it to the extra

sales you'll gain from making your customers

happy.

Strong customer service is a business essential.

Providing it isn’t as difficult if you and your em-

ployees achieve these 10 basic rules:

Commit to quality service. Everyone in the

company needs to be devoted to creating a

positive experience for the customer. Always

try to go above and beyond customer expecta-

tions. Provide assurance of security of personal

information transmitted over the Web

Know your products. Convey an articulate

and in-depth knowledge of products and ser-

vices to win customer trust and confidence.

Know your company’s products, services, and

return policies inside and out. Try to anticipate

the types of questions that customers will ask.

Update and amend your FAQ page frequently.

Know your customers. Try to learn everything

you can

Treat people with courtesy and respect.

Remember that every time that you, your em-

ployees, and your colleagues make contact

with a customer — whether it’s by email,

phone, written correspondence, or a face-to-

face meeting — the interaction leaves an im-

pression with that customer. Use conciliatory

phrases — "Sorry to keep you waiting,"

"Thanks for your order," "You’re welcome," and

"It’s been a pleasure helping you" — to demon-

strate not only your commitment to customer

satisfaction but your dedication to courtesy.

Never argue with a customer. You know very

well that the customer isn’t always right. How-

ever, it is important that you do not focus on

the missteps of a particular situation; instead,

concentrate on how to fix it. Research shows

that 7 out of 10 customers will do business with

a company again if that business resolves a

complaint in their favor.

Don’t leave customers in limbo. Repairs,

callbacks, and emails need to be handled with

a sense of urgency. Customers want immedi-

ate resolution, and if you can give it to them,

you will probably win their repeat business.

Research shows that the instance of repeat

business goes up to 95 percent when com-

plaints are resolved on the spot.

Always provide what you promise. Fail to do

this and you’ll lose both credibility and custom-

ers. If you guarantee a quote within 24 hours,

get the quote out in a day or less. If

and when you neglect to make good

on your promise, apologize to the

customer and offer some type of

compensation, such as a discount or

free delivery. Overall, only make

promises that you are confident that

you and your business can keep.

Assume that your customers tell

the truth. Even though it may ap-

pear that customers lie to manipu-

late a situation to their advantage, it

is to your advantage to give them

the benefit of the doubt. The majority

of customers don’t like to complain;

in fact, they’ll go out of their way —

perhaps all the way to a competitor

— to avoid it. If you hear unhappy

rumblings from your customers, take

their complaints to heart and do your

best to appease their dissatisfaction.

Focus on making customers —

not on sales. Salespeople, espe-

cially those who get paid on commis-

sion, sometimes focus on the vol-

ume instead of on the quality of the

sale. Remember that to keep a cus-

tomer’s business is more important

than to close a sale. Research

shows that it costs six times more to

attract a new customer than it does

to keep an existing one. Moreover,

happy customers are the best and

most effective way to find new cus-

tomers.

Make it easy to buy. The buying

experience in your store, on your

Web site, or through your catalog

should be as easy as possible.

Eliminate unnecessary paperwork

and forms, help people to find what

they need, explain how products

work, and do whatever else you can

to facilitate transactions.

Great E-Customer Service

Good customer service might cost a bit of time and money, bad customer service

online could cost you dozens of prospec-tive customers

Building good customer ser-

vice into the operation of a

business increases a com-

pany’s efficiency as well as its

sales.

Customer Relations Page 5

Do what you love, and the money will fol-

low. – Unknown

In this day and age, people are coming to

terms with the fact that academic pursuits do

not always translate into high flying careers

and legacies of success. If anything, some

people abandon careers built from their aca-

demic background for other ventures. For in-

stance a doctor turned musician or a banker

turned into a curios exporter all over the world.

In our column this time around, we share some

key essentials drawn from people who have

made names for themselves and their busi-

ness by simply capitalizing on a hobby or tal-

ent they have. There is this lady I know who

tweezes eyebrows by use of a thread and her

fingers. For each job she charges Kshs. 150

i.e. (USD 1.9). In a day she will attend to ap-

proximately 100 clients and that translates to

Kshs. 15,000 per day (USD 190). In a month

assuming 22 working days. You do the math.

For anyone who has ever considered turning

their hobby into a full-time career, here are ten

essentials you need to consider before ventur-

ing in that direction.

Don’t let it become all work and no play

Familiarity and repetition can breed contempt

or cause one to take something for granted.

Many times people take up a hobby because it

relaxes them and takes their mind off their

work and worries. Turning a hobby into a ca-

reer will remove this element. Be sure to con-

sider that this will now be a day in, day out

venture or what was once a passion can

quickly sour.

You are investing time and money. Are you

getting a return on your investment?

It is important to understand how much people

are willing to pay for services or products. Just

because it takes someone five hours and lots

of pain-staking love to put their item together,

doesn’t mean it will have the same value to

other people. That’s why proper pricing be-

comes crucial. If it is priced too high, it may not

net a great return. If it is priced too low, the seller

could be giving away their heart and soul.

More will be demanded from you. Do you

have it?

It is very important for the hobbyist turned profes-

sional to determine the amount of space and

time needed for this venture. Sufficient physical

space for storage of inventory of both unfinished

and finished goods as well as a reasonable num-

ber of hours needed each week should be deter-

mined in advance. Having a home-based busi-

ness requires self-determination, discipline, moti-

vation, and lots of hours may be required in the

start-up phase.

Work on the start up costs carefully

Having sufficient financial backing to be able to

meet expected production demands may seem

far-fetched when first starting out, but it is impor-

tant to be prepared for all situations. This in-

cludes investment in equipment such as com-

puters or secondary phone lines. Along with hav-

ing sufficient finances, it is equally important to

have raw material resources - even if that just

means the shop next door or seeds in your gar-

den.

Know your competition

Whether or not there is a market is a very real

consideration, so it is important to do research to

determine if anyone already offers the product or

service. Even if there is competition, differentia-

tion goes a long way to shoe he heart in your

product where it may be absent for your competi-

tors.

Know the industry

It will be extremely beneficial to know the indus-

try you are venturing into. It helps to know the

high and low seasons if any as well as the vary-

ing customer tastes that have to be met. You

also need to know if the industry is influenced by

other markets in more developed countries and if

there is a threshold for all your business.

A little knowledge is as dangerous as no knowl-

edge at all. Equip yourself greatly

Develop a network of professionals who

share the hobby either as a hobby or as a

career

A great way to find out what others are doing is

to network. Whether online social networking or

the traditional networking, you should take the

initiative to find out if there is an association or

organization for the hobby and participate in

events, this way you can learn from other mem-

bers’ experiences or even find out about the pros

and cons of doing business.

Know your market

It is important for any new business

person to consider their customer

base. Are they local? National? World-

wide? For many people who enjoy arts

and crafts and have turned it into their

career, traveling to trade shows is a

large part of the business. However,

traveling all over the country or even

all over the world not only eats into

profits – fuel, show fees, living ex-

penses – but can take up valuable

time. That’s why many have set up

personal websites, but only after trav-

eling the circuit to develop a following.

Not everything about the hobby is a

hobby. You need to be ready for the

non-hobby side of the business

Anyone considering selling their craft

must remember it’s not all about the

fun of making something. There are

real business aspects of turning a

hobby into a career such as marketing,

sales and administrative tasks. Not

only is there accounting and filing to be

done, but there are associated ex-

penses with things like stationery and

business cards. In addition for those

who plan on using the Internet to at-

tract customers there will be updates

and maintenance required with the

website.

Don’t give up. Your hobby has more

than one perspective

For some people, actually doing their

hobby – sewing, knitting, jewelry mak-

ing – is the only way. However, if that

is not feasible, consider an alternative:

teaching the hobby. Another sugges-

tion is for you to work for the related

hobby association or even in retail

selling items associated with their

hobby.

While not every hobby may be turned

into a successful business, with a little

investment of time, any hobbyist willing

to do the research can find the an-

swers to their questions and maybe

ultimately to their dreams.

Investing Wisely

Do what you love, and the money will follow –

Unknown

Feeling a passion for something

makes it that much more enjoy-

able. And for people who have

hobbies they truly enjoy, turning

them into a money-making venture

From a Hobby to a Career

An entrepreneur at the AGOA forum

Page 6

Have you noticed lately, even in these

times of times of economic meltdowns and

high inflation that more people are leaving

employment voluntarily? It’s like people are

sure of their Plan B and Plan C as far as

making a living is concerned.

I have been wondering about this trend a

whole lot and it drove us to research far and

wide. In our research we discovered that in the

business world, as far as top notch employees

are concerned, its not all about salary and

benefits any more.

TALENT is the big word that has set off HRM

functions in many companies. It is quickly be-

coming apparent that identifying, managing,

rewarding and talented staff is the only way to

survive. It is talent that sustains and keeps

fresh the innovative spirit within an organiza-

tion.

Recruitment firms, having realized this have

gone a notch higher in head hunting for their

clients and they are as many as those who

they are hunting. Companies are therefore

employing every means possible to attract and

retain good people. In summation, one HR

manager put it across that creating an environ-

ment and culture that supports and encour-

ages talent exploration is what makes their

company a career destination of choice.

Why manage Talent?

Simple answer: We need to come to grips

with and take advantage of the continually

changing nature of employment relationships.

We must continuously improve business

[processes, while maintaining top level effi-

ciency and effectiveness. Additionally, we must

maintain profitable growth to stay ahead of the

competition.

From the top of the career ladder to the lowest

rung; from entry level to retirement and in

every corner of the business, talent must be

well managed through:

• leadership development

• Succession planning

• Workforce planning

• Compensation and

• Diversity

Admittedly, competitive advantage has become

increasingly more difficult to achieve with con-

sumers being more informed and selective and

globalization taking the face of an eliminator of

traditional competition barriers. It is with this

scope of information that the challenge of strate-

gic talent management has become more com-

plicated. The best companies are coming to the

realization that managing talent is the most im-

portant element of their business strategy and

they are taking action.

How to manage talent - effectively?

It just might be that talent is the last great hope

for competitive advantage and business develop-

ment. The open and public secret about talent is

that it cannot be copied. That means if you man-

age the talent within your organization, competi-

tion will not have leverage over you. Unfortu-

nately, mismanagement or non-management of

talent is fresh ground for an attack from your

competitors.

Recruit, manage and Reward talent

This needs to be developed and worked through

the company culture for the current and foresee-

able future of the company.

In other words, see it, shape it, provide for it and

reap from it

Treat EVERYONE as a career employee

Talent doesn’t just jump out to you. You need to

ensure that ALL staff in the organization know

that they are appreciated and treat them like you

want them to stay on at the organization. Even

though you know that some will leave, we should

provide everyone with realistic internal career

development options and support. It would make

succession management easier anyway.

Cascade competencies

This means linking the training and development

for staff to overall company goals. Every organi-

zation needs employees that contribute their own

skills and abilities to organizational competen-

cies. We need staff to possess and demonstrate

the competencies that

will lead us to achieving our business

goals. To this end, we need to link

position competencies and perform-

ance assessments directly to learning

initiatives. We must direct human

capital improvement projects to have

the most impact on our business.

Job enrichment

In order to stimulate innovation and

intrapreneurship, you need to involve

high potential people directly in the

(re)design of their own job functions.

Enrich the jobs of your team mem-

bers by engaging and challenging

them to think about how everything

can be done in a better way-including

the design of their own work.

Talent Management System

This affects all business processes as

it is the meeting point of all internals

(HR, Finance, Marketing, Line man-

agement, etc) and externals

(customers, labor, government etc.

The challenge is to mould the talent in

your people into a competitive advan-

tage.

Importance of Talent Management

If we say that people are the most

important asset in an organization,

why then would we not manage talent

with the same care and attention that

we would manage any other part of

the business? How can we expect a

reasonable return on the investments

we make in talent if we fail to manage

it to the same level as other parts of

the business?

Human Resource

Above all we must maintain profitable growth to

stay ahead of the competition

The strategic business advantages

of managing talent well, are equal

in scale and business impact to the

disadvantages of not managing it

effectively

Managing Talent Page 8

Integrating world cultures to your comfort

Fabrics & Attires

The only thing that remain constant in the world of fash-

ion is that it is its dynamism.

African fabrics, designs and attires

have began to find their way into

internationally acclaimed fashion

centres.

At EAHL, we recognize this and thus

we ensure that the fabrics you re-

ceive from us are nothing but qual-

ity.

In our selection of fabric the fol-

lowing elements are key:

� Printed designs : our clientele like unique items, we

keep a keen eye on the designs to ensure we preserve

the uniqueness of every fabric

� Luster: Before supply to our clientele, we test the

fabrics through various processes to ensure that they

maintain the “new look” long after they are purchased.

A good fabric, should still look new even after you

have worn and cleaned it every week in the year

� Suitability: This includes color mix, texture, accom-

modating different shapes

and styles, accessories as

well as targeted clientele.

Curios

African curios are of high value as they tend to capture

the true African culture in their physical look over the

years.

They have more value to our clients in the knowledge that

they are made and sourced right from the heart of the

African continent.

Our collection includes:

� Carvings from soapstone and wood such as mahogany

among others.

� Wall hangings that are batiks or beaded artworks

� Household items such as serving spoons made of light

wood, spoons and forks, fruit bowls, napkin holders

and candle holders.

� Gift items are meant to be memorable. In our African

experience we ensure that it goes beyond this. Our

gift items are made to create an extra feeling of be-

ing special and valuable. Jewelry boxes, business card

holders, pen holders and wall clocks, just to mention a

few, constitute our collection.

Jewelry & Other accessories

The collection of African jewelry

and accessories that we supply in-

cludes bangles, necklaces, brace-

lets, anklets, earrings, head gear armbands etc

These are made from raw material that are original to the

communities that make them

Beaded

Beads are multicolored and are used to make an array of

items. These include walking sticks for the old, bracelets,

arm bands, head gear, earrings and anklets

We go a step further in using beads to decorate attires

and they thus brighten an otherwise dull outfit.

Leather

Belts, arm bands, open shoes and bags are made of raw

but treated animal hide and their value increased by the

use of beads. This can be done in exotic styles for our

clientele to stand out in a particular function, or conser-

vative but smart and noticeable in official settings.

TyÜ|vtÇ TyÜ|vtÇ TyÜ|vtÇ TyÜ|vtÇ XåÑxÜ|xÇvxXåÑxÜ|xÇvxXåÑxÜ|xÇvxXåÑxÜ|xÇvx

Defining & finding its place

Marketing automation technology has a direct impact on bottom-line cost reduc-tion and top-line growth. For a very con-servative definition, marketing automa-tion is seen as technology that helps automate marketing management and customer engagement. In some cases marketing can be automated with formal-ized processes, but excluding technol-ogy, this is more marketing optimization and process. Technology can automate manual, repetitive, mundane tasks in the marketing function and therefore, would be seen to exclusively provide the source of marketing automation.

There are two sides to marketing auto-mation:

• Marketing Management Automa-

tion. This encompasses automation of internal marketing processes and includes things like budgeting and planning, workflow and approvals, the marketing calendar, internal col-laboration, digital asset creation and management, and essentially every-thing that supports the operational efficiency of the internal marketing function.

• Customer Engagement Automa-

tion. This encompasses automation across one or more marketing chan-nels: email, the website, intranets, direct mail, and dozens of marketing channels. In other words, the tech-nology helps automate the process of engaging with customers across one or more channels. This might include setting up an email cam-paign, sending it out, and tracking performance; or creating a new home page with a contact form; or more importantly, managing commu-nication with a prospect across mul-tiple channels and tracking their be-havior to identify the relative poten-tial to purchase.

The line between marketing manage-ment and customer engagement is very thin , and technology providers that de-liver marketing automation typically auto-mate elements of each.

Most companies search for technology to address a specific business pain: "need to improve internal productivity and process"; "need to send more per-sonalized emails"; "need a more engag-ing website"; etc. As a result, it's critical to understand the different solutions that fall under marketing automation to invest

in the right technology for the organiza-tion's resources and culture.

Without a measurement and analytics component, all "automated" technology is of little more value than a car without a steering wheel. As such marketing auto-mation must return actionable data that

can be analyzed and benchmarked over time to consistently improve perform-ance - otherwise what's the point of automating in the first place? The data is then transformed into actionable insights that allow an organization to make better decisions over time.

Why Invest in Marketing Auto-

mation?

The value of marketing automation is that it has the potential to impact the top and bottom lines of an organization.

Marketing management capabilities ad-dress operational efficiency, productivity and cost savings.

Customer engagement helps maximize the demand for products and services -- the top line - which is some way to measurably quantify and justify the tan-gible impact marketing has on the top and bottom line in one easy-to-use solu-tion. This is the driving force behind adoption of marketing technology.

However, very many companies apply an integrated marketing platform that centralize the marketing management and customer engagement capabilities in one solution. Research consistently demonstrates that marketing automation has a long way to go before it joins the ranks of Customer Relationship Man-agement sales force automation, and ERP (enterprise resource planning) in terms of widespread adoption.

Admittedly there is a discernible correla-

tion between performance and the use of automated technology in the market-ing function. However, it's important to note, that well performing firms display a unique set of organizational capabilities that allow them to extract more value from technology investments.

Despite the noted benefits, challenges abound when it comes to automating marketing activities.

These include:

• multiple siloed niche solutions for automating marketing activities. This is a huge problem for most organiza-tions. Data silos, multiple interfaces and a general inability to holistically tie together performance and mar-keting leave many in the manage-ment level frustrated.

• the recession and harsh economic times. It hardly seems the time to make major purchase decisions about marketing automation technol-ogy investments. However, the re-cession might be the most forgiving time to work out new processes and add capabilities that automation will bring to the organization.

In conclusion

Marketing automation will be a critical component for every organization to grow market share after the economy is over. Nobody expects stunning perform-ance during a recession, so it's the best time to toss in a few strategic plans.

Again, companies that achieved the highest performance in key areas like revenue, conversion and return on in-vestments are more likely to use market-ing automation technology. These are the organizations that are achieving the highest performance during the reces-sion and, therefore, will be in a position to sustain a competitive advantage after the recession is over.

Technology in Business Marketing Automation

Data integration has become the foundation for extracting limitless value from marketing automation

Page 10

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