The Gartner Outsourcing Summit 2013 came up with some interesting data on the effect of digitisation on IT sourcing.

Surprisingly, 90% of IT budgets could soon be sent outside of the IT department by 2020, to be controlled by business executives. Trends in digitisation and consumerisation are responsible for the shift in control.

Cloud, mobile, social and analytics are all examples of technology that will be moving out of the remit of IT and into the wider business. Gartner analyst Frank Ridder predicted that in 2014, executives from non-IT backgrounds will begin taking on tech procurement abilities. This will lead to changes in the traditional procurement structure, in order to avoid the risk of improper sourcing.

“The ‘no clue’ buyer has arrived. They buy what they want, but do not know how to buy it,” said Ridder, referencing the fact that potentially uninformed business departments will not initially have the knowledge of sourcing best practice. Combine this with the data that says most business executives want to mirror personal technology usage in the workplace and the chance for inefficient purchasing is steep.

CIOs polled by Gartner said that currently 25% of the IT budget is controlled outside of the IT department. By 2015 it is believed that 40% will pass over, before finally arriving at the figure of 90% being out of IT’s control. It is described as an inevitable rather than a possibility that digitising customer services will lead to a reduction in reducing back-off IT costs. The subsequent service industrialisation will free up funding, which will go onto improving digital offerings through investment.

“The money has to be found because CIOs are already planning to increase spending on IT to change the business. The focus for European CIOs for the next few years will be profitability and growth” said Gartner analyst, Claudio Da Rold. 47% of CEOs have a digital strategy at the moment, with that number rising to 80% by 2015. Once again, the drivers behind this will be cloud, social, mobile and analytics.

To make the largest changes and show the best use of innovation, the current allocation of budget will need to be rebalanced. Currently 70% of the budget is spent on running the business, while 30% goes on changes and improvements. A recommended ratio of 50:50 would better serve CEOs to get the balance between functionality and future proofing.

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Getting your customers to sign up to a service that requires them to relinquish control of 70% of their code requires a lot of trust and confidence. While the latest research suggests that businesses across the UK are interested in PaaS, your selling technique will need to be just right to get them to invest at this stage.

Industry experts suggest that around 70% of software adds no differential business advantage at all. It’s simply software that is required to get the job done. PaaS allows businesses to focus on the 30% of software that does add competitive advantage, making them much more efficient.

The answer to selling PaaS with ease isn’t about understanding the coding more. It’s about using data to sell the benefits, and reassuring the customer that this is the perfect solution for them. Just keeping data in a cloud isn’t typically enough to encourage a customer to buy.

The key benefits that you should be using to sell include:

· Analytics. Businesses like analytics, and the ability to report on what works and what doesn’t. Express how easy it is to find and monitor data, and create excellent reports.

· Integration. No software is an island, and everything needs to integrate with something. Using PaaS makes this integration simple. Have a good knowledge of the key systems your customer is likely to use, and mention whether your PaaS system is integrated with them, or can be. Allowing your customer to use their favourite systems in exchange for keeping their data in your cloud is a very successful selling technique.

· Data Aggregation. Benchmarks are vital to businesses, and they get these through looking at the same data across many customers. Refining this process and making it as efficient as possible is a big business ambition. If your PaaS service can offer this, you’ll be cutting costs as well as delivering valuable data. SalesForce, for example, integrates with Jigsaw. This shows information about any contact that you add to the database, including contact details and job information.

· Other vital applications. These aren’t the only ways PaaS can be used. It could also be used for Disaster Recovery – not only backing up immediate data, but also cloud-based data. Archiving systems are always in demand, and a reduced-functionality front end for use during maintenance is always a popular option. Find ways to meet the business’s needs, and your customer won’t hesitate to buy.

What benefits are you finding the most effective in PaaS sales at the moment?

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Geofencing appears to be making a comeback in a big way, according to a new study by Salesforce. The technology, which allows marketers to send messages to smartphone users when they enter a defined geographical area, was first trialled several years ago. It wasn’t as widely adopted as first hoped, but improvements to the service have drastically increased the number of retailers and shopping centers signing up.

Using the technology, sellers can choose to send potential customers a message when they enter their store, shopping centre or neighbourhood. The technology only requires GPS and an app to work, and can easily be integrated into most CRM systems. On a very basic level, this can be used to alert potential customers who may not have visited otherwise. Retailers can also choose to send information, such as directions to the stall, or run hyper-local promotions. 1-800-Flowers deployed this tactic successfully back in February, when they offered a 20% discount on roses to customers who entered their town. It lead to a 300% increase in sales.

Geofencing can also report back on customer behaviour. Some apps will record which shops a customer ended, and almost all will show success metrics. This data can then be used to see which offers and locations actually attract more customers, and whether that translates into more sales. Other possible metrics include the effectiveness of window displays, how often a customer visits the store, and how long they shop for.

Finally, Geofencing can lead to better rewards systems. Once you know where your customers are and how they behave, you can encourage and reward them effortlessly. Neiman Marcus stores even use Geofencing to detect when VIP customers are in store, and look at what they typically buy. This gives the customer a much more personalised service.

While the privacy concerns that blighted the first Geofencing offering still exist, the Salesforce survey indicates that customers are happy to trade their personal information in favour of a better service – but it needs to be additive, not intrusive. Done right, geofencing could revolutionise location-based sales.

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Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools undoubtedly revolutionised data. Not only do they make data very easy to access, but they provide endless analytics and reports, and may even offer additional monitoring services depending on your choice of CRM. If your CRM isn’t collecting the right information, though, you could be sabotaging your sales team.

Imagine yourself making a sales call, and taking a glance at your CRM before you begin. Most CRMs would show contact details for the customer, as well as their projected revenue, and the anticipated close date. This pipeline-orientated CRM system is the most common type, but it’s not the most efficient. In fact, it often leads to mediocre sales calls, where the sales person is fixated on their own targets, and provides no more than a generic overview of what they are selling.

Now imagine making that call using a customer-orientated CRM. Rather than information about close dates and revenue, you’d see a brief description of the customer, their environment, their goals and challenges, and what success looks like for them. You can make a more personalised call, explaining exactly which of your services are ideal for the customer, and how they will help. The customer will feel that you have spent time and effort on the call, producing a solution that perfectly matches them, rather than feeling like the next in a list of prospects. The CRM has provided more relevant information – and allowed the sales person to quickly link the customers’ idea of success with their own solution.

Telling sales people to focus on the customer isn’t new advice, and it’s still the best tactic. Make sure that your sales strategy aligns with your CRM, though. Move internal metrics and pipeline management behind critical customer information, to ensure that every call is tailored and individual. It’s a competitive advantage that will be quick. It’s a competitive advantage that will be quickly reflected in your bottom line

Hays Sales UK are experts in all areas of sales recruitment. To find out more about how our highly skilled consultants can support you, please visit our website.

The September slump is well known in sales. Selling can be a tough job, and it’s easy to become disillusioned and demotivated. Seasonal fatigue doesn’t need to reflect in your sales figures, though. There are a number of motivational techniques that can be used in the short-term to boost sales and combat finicky customers and grumpy prospects, leaving your sales team and your bottom line much happier.

The most important point when using motivation to fight fatigue is to remember who you are targeting. While motivation campaigns are usually targeted at a group or employee in particular, seasonal fatigue needs to be targeted in the whole team. Only rewarding your leading sellers won’t fix the actual problem, and could further demotivate your other employees. Your motivational program needs to allow everybody to win, at some level.

One of the easiest ways to motivate employees over a short period is to change commission structures. Offer a higher cut for new models, or low-sellers. Ensure that staff members are encouraged and motivated to sell big, by rewarding them proportionately. Another effective way to reward your staff is to talk to them. Ask your sales team what incentives they’d like. The thing that would get them working the hardest may not be what you expect – while some sales people are motivated by cash, others would prefer the opportunity to telecommute. Business consultants regularly encourage companies to offer vacation days with a paid-for activity, such as golf or fishing, as a sales reward.

Giving employees a quick break during the day has also proven to have excellent results. Try offering ‘power hours’, where an employee can take an hour in the staff room or gym, whenever they need it. Staff will return to work energized and refreshed, and will quickly move through their tasks, often achieving more than they would have done without the hour off.

Some sales teams may also be motivated through the September slump using competitions. Publicly posting sales, margins and conversion rates, for example, can create a game and motivate everyone involved. Telling the whole company about campaigns and targets can help to build energy, too. It’s important to discuss this with your staff, though, to ensure it would be well received.

Have you found any great motivation tactics for your staff?

The recession may have finally ended for the FMCG market, with more shoppers than ever before claiming that they are unaffected.

Shoppercentric, a leading independent shopper research agency, have been monitoring the effect of the financial crisis through a series of reports. Their latest research indicates that shoppers now feel that they can spend freely, and reflect talk of a recovery for the industry.

Mobile technology is growing and channel providers are getting excited about the increasing demand for enterprise mobility offerings.

84% of tech providers expect to see increased spending in enterprise mobility over the next year, according to CA Technologies' Channel Index 2013. Cloud computing came second to mobility in the survey. CRN have stated that this doesn’t mean the importance of cloud computing has diminished, in fact it’s exactly what’s enabling the growth of enterprise mobile technology.

In light of this collaboration and growth, Microsoft has restructured in order to shift focus more towards mobile and cloud computing in order to challenge their competitors. CEO Steve Ballmer said “Our family of devices must allow people to be more productive, and for them to easily use our devices for work”.

As cloud innovation continues to develop and drive other areas of technology forward, the channel must keep its finger on the pulse of emerging trends.

What other trends are you seeing in the channel at the moment?

As the summer finally heated up in June and July, the number of roles available for senior channel executives rose. According to a recent report, hiring tends to slow down over the summer months and restarts after the holiday season, but this year there has been unprecedented interest in senior channel roles during the summer.

Hays Sales UK are experts in all areas of sales recruitment. To find out more about how our highly skilled consultants can support you, please visit our website.

One of the biggest hosting trends at the moment is the hybrid cloud. The integration of private and public cloud offerings allows businesses to increase scalability, security and flexibility, as well as benefitting from greater cost efficiencies.

At the HostingCon 2013 event, panel members highlighted that organisations want flexibility and options, so salespeople need to deliver solutions which cover as much as possible. The complexity of cloud services can prove to be a challenge, but by effectively educating your customers on how the cloud works and what it offers, it is easy to overcome this.

The recent Future of Cloud Computing Survey emphasised that cloud adoption has continued to rise in 2013. 76% of respondents expect hybrid clouds to be at the core of their cloud strategies. The survey also showed that agility and scalability are the primary drivers for cloud adoption, and 6 out of the top 7 fastest areas of growth in cloud applications will be in IT areas such as Big Data, mobile, systems management, backup/DR/BC, helpdesk and security [source: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130619005581/en/2013-Future-Cloud-Computing-Survey-Reveals-Business.]

As cloud adoption increases, the hybrid cloud computing mix and match approach will allow salespeople to stay ahead of their competitors in a wider market.

If you’re looking for your next cloud position, get in touch. Hays Sales UK are experts in all areas of sales recruitment. To find out more about how our highly skilled consultants can support you, please visit our website.

The cluster of around 1,300 technology companies in London’s ‘Tech City’ is quickly growing. Young entrepreneurs with niche expertise are hoping to lead the way in boosting the economy through innovations in cloud, mobile and IT sectors.

IT departments often rely on new innovations to solve problems, enhance processes and drive businesses forwards. There are some fantastic opportunities for rising tech start-ups to deliver big ideas and fresh innovations, if they can just increase their brand visibility and build up sales. Many tech start-ups lack the skills to sell themselves as the big global names of the future, but do tend to benefit from having greater flexibility, which is one way to beat their more established competitors.

Investment in tech start-ups is a key priority for the UK government. They have backed London’s Tech City Investment Organisation, which supports local start-ups looking to expand and connects them with potential investors.

London is currently leading the start-up job market with 34% of all current positions. According to Silicon Milkroundabout, 67% of tech workers would be easily persuaded to join a start-up company. Job satisfaction and learning opportunities are high on the priority list of many young tech workers, which is ideal for the tech start-up industry.

Why would you consider joining a tech start-up?


Hays Sales UK are experts in all areas of sales recruitment. To find out more about how our highly skilled consultants can support you, please visit our website.