From Account Management to User Provisioning to Identity Management

The administrative effort of reliably managing users, their credentials and their entitlements has been a hot topic in IT for a very long time. GUIDE, formed in 1954 (just 2 years after IBM sold their first mainframe computer), established a project in 1974 to examine the requirements for Security and Data Management. In 1976, IBM released the first version of Resource Access Control Facility (RACF). Together with ACF2 and TopSecret (both now marketed by CA), RACF allowed mainframe security administrators to define and enforce policies, rather than just define permissions.

By comparison, the emergence and rapid climb to dominance of distributed platforms, particularly Windows and Unix, saw a plethora of proprietary and incompatible mechanisms for managing users.

The earliest provisioning vendors were mostly top tier network and systems management vendors (BMC, CA, IBM Tivoli). They started with important advantages. First, their presence in the mainframe market exposed them to effective and mature (though largely manual) processes for user administration widely found in mainframe shops built around RACF, ACF2 or TopSecret. Secondly, their experience in building network and systems management solutions brought expertise in development of agent technology and reliable (store and forward) messaging, the vital "plumbing" for a provisioning engine. These first attempts placed emphasis on centralised, consistent manipulation of credentials on target systems.

For example, CA released their first provisioning solution in 1997. The solution was designed as an extension to CA's flagship Unicenter networks and systems management family, and released under the name Unicenter Directory Management Option (DMO). Following CA's acquisition of Platinum, DMO was relaunched as a standalone product under the name eTrust Admin in 2000.

The second wave of provisioning products came from niche vendors (Business Layers, Access 360, Waveset, Thor) and were characterised by their use of web technology and the adoption of configurable workflow-based approval processes. They also initially had limited coverage for connectors (and some connectors had limited capabilities). At the time of the CA acquisition of Netegrity in 2005, Identity Minder -eProvision (formerly the Business Layers Day One product) was still licenced to use the connectors from BMC's Control-SA product.

These new capabilities however proved to be pre-requisites for delegated administration and user self-service. This then led to a rash of acquisitions, with Netegrity joining CA, Access 360 joining IBM, Thor joining Oracle and Waveset joining Sun. Netegrity brought two distinct offerings to the party, in Identity Minder (web based administration for Siteminder deployments) and eProvision (the former Business Layers product). The 2nd generation CA product was built by integrating Netegrity's Identity Minder with CA's eTrust Admin. The eProvision developers left CA to form a new company IDFocus, which developed add-ons for Identity Manager implementing the best features of eProvision which were still missing from the CA product. CA eventually acquired IDFocus in late 2008 and merged the two development teams. BMC acquired a directory management product (Calendra) in 2005 to add the missing elements of workflow and graphical interfaces.

The current race for the Identity Management vendors is to integrate role mining and role management capabilities into their solutions. First, Oracle acquired Bridgestream, then Sun acquired VAAU with their RBACx product. Finally in late 2008, CA acquired Eurekify. Meanwhile, IBM released their first role engineering capabilities (developed in-house) in their Tivoli Identity Manager product in late 2009. More recently, following the acquisition of Sun by Oracle, it has been announced that the former VAAU RBACx product will be rebranded as Oracle Identity Analytics.

So, where next? It goes without saying that all the major vendors still have much to do to improve integration and remove duplication between the multiple components from which their products are built. However, there's a growing realisation that real-world deployments of identity management will have to be built from multi-vendor solutions. Renewed activity around mergers, acquisitions and divestments will drive this strategy forward. The cost, time and risk of replacing one vendor's IdM products with another's will prove to be completely unacceptable to the business. So, vendors are going to have to address interoperability seriously. Perhaps this will be the catalyst for renewed interest in open standards, such as SPML and DSML. Enterprise directories have matured from the over-hyped of directory-centric networks to unglamorous (but still vital) low level infrastructure but DSML has never really taken off, despite being adopted by OASIS in 2002. Interoperability is aided when directories (the single source of truth for an IdM system) are able to exchange updated information autonomously.

The current generation of Identity management solutions can provide the technology platform for the most ambitious identity management programmes, although those programmes remain lengthy and full of risks. The emerging challenge will be to enable a similar solution, delivered to multiple customers as part of a managed service or public cloud offering.

Tom Mellor is owner and Principal Consultant of Portsmouth, UK based enterprise security consultancy Identigrate UK. Tom's career in IT spans more than 30 years, covering infrastructure management and service management as well as enterprise security. For more than 10 years, Tom has led global programmes in Identity and Access Management, Security Event Management and Cyber Security.

Just How Many Account Management Careers Are Available?

If you have been wondering about the availability and variety of account management jobs or careers today, then you will want to know a little bit more about what they entail and also what you can expect with each of them in terms of responsibilities. The truth is that there are a number of careers available in this line of work, and all you will have to do is know where to look for them. Traditionally people look for jobs posted in a newspaper or at a state job office. Both of these are excellent methods for finding jobs in the career field of your choice, however there are others. The more options you have with regards to finding a good job, the better your chances will be of getting hired into a company that you will enjoy working for.

There are hundreds of high-performing companies looking for people to manage both the sales and customer service aspects of their business. There are a few different key components that companies look for in someone who works in account management. The first component of this career usually involves profitability management as well as studying the migration paths of certain products that the company turns out. This career is also about account planning for the future and providing the company with a guide to follow.

In this very broad king of work, there are many different careers available to you within it, such as an account representative. It's a position which you can expect to make at least $26,000 from to start off with, and as much as $38,000 with the right experience and longevity with the company you work for. Another career path you can take in this line of work is an account coordinator. You will find that most people who are just hired in to an advertising position start in a position such as this. Although it is just an entry-level position, you are still providing an important service to the account management team of the company in the form of administrative support.

You can also choose to become an account executive, which is generally considered to be the most significant position in account management. You will find that in this position, you will have direct contact with various customers and deal with client directly, managing each of their accounts. As an account executive, it will be your responsibility to ensure that all active projects are going smoothly and without any problems whatsoever. As an AE you will also most likely be expected to come up with fresh new ideas for future prospects.

Being an account manager entails many different responsibilities, many of which are the same for Account Executives. People in both of these positions spend a considerable amount of time dealing with customers and clients directly, understanding and communicating their needs and concerns to the company that they work for. One very important aspect of being an account manager is knowing how to actually apply the basic marketing principles you have learned to what you are doing in this position. There are many great opportunities when it comes to account management, but ultimately you will need to decide which specific position you are interested in and whether or not it challenges you.

Account Management Training

In this period of economic downturn account management training is a resource that may well be the key to survival. Now more than ever, your client companies are aware of their own need to provide extra value to their customers and they also know your sales are shrinking. So it is natural that they will try to take advantage of this. They will be looking to turn the screws on your product pricing. Whether you are able to reduce your prices to keep their custom or not, now is the time to reinforce the training of your account managers. They need to be reminded of the importance of their own individual service to the company and the value each of their clients add to the economic life the firm.

Because price will be the issue foremost in their clients mind it will also feature negatively in your account managers minds. They should be retrained on the basic features of your company's products or services with emphasis on the benefits that create value for money. Now is the time to gather them together for some team collaboration. Pareto's law will undoubtedly apply to the production of your account management team, i.E., 80% of the total sales will be managed by 20% of the team.

Because selling is a relationship business the relationship skills of your top salespeople are the ones that make them the top producers. The way your top team relate to their individual clients should receive the closest study as it is not by accident that they are producing more sales.

The top 20% of your team should be encouraged prepare in their own words all the ways they use to develop their relationships within their client companies, then they should be asked to present these strategies to the team so that a large pool of ideas are gathered and made available for the benefit of the whole team. This will also have the effect of stimulating the top producers on two counts,

1) The self esteem they gain from the recognition you are giving them as top producers, 2) The act of teaching their skills to the rest of the team will re-motivate your top people.

As a top producer and trainer of many years experience I know that the sharing of the pooled knowledge of top salespeople is a valuable asset, so much so that it should be harvested regularly, documented and made available to all the salespeople as an ongoing part of their training.

The old adage "when the going gets tough-the tough get going." Has never been more relevant than today, which is why all your team should be toughened up now to face the difficult trading period ahead.

The Global Account Management

The globalization of industries and intense competitive environments have induced some firms to undertake global account management (GAM), a systematic, firm-wide process that suppliers use to identify, develop, and retain their most important customers in global business-to-business markets. When they expand internationally, firms often use global sourcing and expect suppliers to provide goods and services worldwide with consistent quality, efficiently, and at harmonized prices.

When mergers and acquisitions reduce the number of buyers, fewer and larger customers tend to purchase higher volumes, which gives buyers purchasing power over suppliers. Suppliers hope to protect their key business, because if they fail to supply a worldwide buyer in one market, they may endanger their business with that buyer in other markets as well. They also tend to prefer to accelerate their organic growth by deliberately concentrating their resources on select global customers, or global accounts.

Global accounts benefit from GAM, because this approach entails a value adding sourcing and innovation partnership. Overall, GAM can help both suppliers and their worldwide accounts strengthen their relationship and expand their global business. A supplier's GAM program usually consists of a program director and program manager, several global account managers and their team members, and specialists who provide product-related, logistical, financial, and legal support. For example, Procter & Gamble introduced a dedicated, several-hundred-person GAM team, led by one worldwide account manager, to cater on a worldwide basis to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., its single largest customer.

Thus, GAM programs may locate at the corporate level if they cater to firm-wide customers, as in the case of Procter & Gamble, or they may be situated within strategic business units if global customers purchase mostly from a particular business unit. The program director generally provides strategic direction for the GAM program and reports directly to the board; the program manager usually is responsible for developing and operating the processes, tools, and systems required for GAM.

Important program processes include global accounts selection and de-selection, appointment and development of global account managers, account business planning, multilevel relationship building, customer knowledge management, and relationship performance measurement. Common criteria for selecting and deselecting worldwide accounts encompass, for example, future business volume and profit potentials, strategic and cultural alignment between the organizations, and the degree to which the customer purchases on a centralized, global basis. Perhaps the most important function in a GAM program is the global account manager (GAM).

Suppliers generally assign one full-time GAM per global account, whom they locate in geographic proximity to the headquarters of the global account. Thus, the GAM provides a prime contact for the buyer and orchestrates all supplier activities worldwide. The GAM also leads the multifunctional global account team, which should mirror the customer's buying team to ensure optimal collaboration. The role and responsibilities of a GAM thus go beyond those of an international sales manager; the GAM develops and leads the implementation of a global, long-term collaboration strategy with the global account.

This effort requires in-depth understanding of the global account's markets, entrepreneurial skills to identify and develop new business, and political aptitude to align the supplier's internal organization with that of the global customer. At IBM, for example, the GAM's position equates with that of a managing director who leads a dedicated business team that caters to a particular global account on a full profit and-loss basis. The challenges of GAM primarily pertain to the organizational complexity and cultural diversity inherent to such global, inter-organizational relationships.

For example, GAM programs introduce additional global structures that attempt to coordinate the supplier's activities by embracing several functions, markets, and business units, which often pursue diverging objectives. Furthermore, teamwork in a GAM team may be challenging because of the cultural diversity that results from different functional mindsets, such as research and development versus marketing, or from team members with different educational or cultural backgrounds. Consequently, suppliers implementing GAM attempt to align their go to-market strategies and reward systems firm-wide to ensure goal congruence.

Furthermore, they try to develop GAM talent and the collaborative capabilities of organizational members. Finally, suppliers need to resolve the global-local tensions that arise in response to a firm-wide program like GAM, such as product/service adaptation versus standardization.

In Summary - What Is Major Account Management All About

Major Account Management Is a Long Term Process - It Takes Time:

We must recognise that we are in Major Account Management for the long term. It takes time to manage a major account and we will only receive a payback on our investment in time if we can have a long term result. In some of the organisations we have worked with this produces a tension because the whole culture is about creating a short term sales result in which product and profit are the main drivers and measures of success. We should not underestimate what a challenge Major Account Management can be to the corporate culture. It emphasises relationship more than product, profit more than volume, and team more than individual, long term more than short term. At the same time the practical short term realities of business life need to be recognised.

One of the best ways of managing this tension is to have someone who acts as a mentor, conscience or guide to the account manager and account team. They are not involved in the day to day management of the account but are invited in to look at and comment on major proposals and presentations. Their main role is to be involved in reviewing the long term plan every few months to ensure that the relationship is as productive as possible and is reflecting the values of the organisation as a whole.

The role of the major account manager is to be responsible for the overall relationship. They influence all those involved in the account to ensure a co-ordinated, synchronised approach. The major account manager is responsible for drafting the account plan, gaining the agreement and commitment of the team and then monitoring implementation

Major Account Management Involves Relationships Not Just a Mechanical Approach:

Under this heading we should discuss three main aspects of major account management.

o The importance of relationships in Major Account Management.

o The complexity of relationships in Major Account Management.

o Mapping relationships in Major Account Management.

Importance:

In Major Account Management it is essential that we manage people as well as processes. Of course we must get the product pricing right. We need to be excellent at administration. Our customer service and product range need to be strong. But "people buy from people" and "we are in a people business". To manage the complex range of relationships within a major account is difficult and demanding but our ability to manage relationships will define whether or not we sustain success.

Complexity:

In a reactive sale there is only one relationship - that between the seller and the buyer. In major accounts the situation is much more complex. There are often contacts going on at many levels and many locations. In one major account, we have identified 1000 relationships between the account team of ten people and individuals representing the client. But it is not just a problem of numbers, it is often a problem of politics. Some contacts do not want us to talk to people in other departments or at different levels. It can also be that the complexity is caused by product range. The users of one product rarely speak to the specifies for another product. In any complex relationship some people will like us more than others. This is to say nothing of inter-departmental tensions. All these things make major account relationships complex and we need to recognise their complexity.

Mapping:

If relationships are important and if relationships are complex then it is essential that we find a way of mapping, analysing, planning and monitoring those relationships. Over recent years we have found that an approach based on the game of chess allows a very practical way of identifying the key issues.

If we can answer these questions confidently and communicate our thinking across the account team simply and clearly then we will be half-way to success. This approach has given people across a broad spectrum of organisations a common language and way of working

It Can Only Be Done With Selected Customers:

The final word from this definition is selected. Choosing the right key accounts is of critical importance for three main reasons:

o We do not have the resources to treat every customer as a key account.

o Not every customer wants to be treated as a key account.

o Selection allows us to prioritise our activities in line with our overall business objectives.

Many organisations grade their major accounts simply by the size of sales for the year but the organisations we see that are really moving forward in Major Account Management take a number of other factors into account. They also make sure that everybody knows who the major accounts are and why they are major accounts. It is important to be rigorous with the selection criteria you use! You will also need to apply some form of weighting to reflect your priorities. The fact that a major account does not meet all your criteria will not disqualify it from being a major account. It will just need to score higher in other areas to qualify.

On the basis of this scoring, organisations can grade their accounts. They might be Premier, 1st and 2nd Division like a football league, or Gold, Silver and Bronze like Olympic medals or First Class, Club Class, Economy and Standby like an airline. The analogy of an airline is a good one because on one flight you can have people on Standby being entirely happy with the service they are getting, even though they know there are people getting "better" service in Club Class. Grading your accounts is not a matter of giving some customers better or worse service. It is a matter of giving all your customers appropriate service. When we select our major accounts and consistently deliver what we promise, we are managing our accounts professionally and effectively.

In Summary - Success Factors In Key Account Management:

o Successful Development Of The Role:

o Effective working relationships with other members of the team.

o A continuing drive to improve account team productivity.

o Management commitment to the account team's role with opportunities for career progression.

o Re-enforcement of the role through authorised career structures, job descriptions and core training programmes.

o The Key Skills:

o Understanding the financial and legal requirements of the account.

o Understanding of the company's business objectives.

o Understanding of the company's commercial policies.

o Build high levels of product awareness.

o Understanding of the customer's business objectives.

o Identify the decision makers.

o Understand the customer's purchasing strategy.

o Assess competitive activities.

o Put together an account development plan.

o Ensure effective sales order processing.

o Build the right levels of revenue and profitability.

o The Core Skills:

o Delegation

o Interpersonal skills.

o Consultancy.

o Financial control & analysis.

o Project management.

o Man management.

o Initiative & creativity.

The Secondary Skills:

E.g. Industry knowledge, competitive knowledge, product knowledge etc.

Success Factors In Key Account Development:

o The Stages Of A Long Term Process

o Pre-sales.

o Contract negotiation.

o Implementation / Delivery.

o Review.

o Exploitation.

o Objectives For An Account Team

o Ensure that the customer is presented with a coherent and professional image of your Company as a business partner.

o Secure a long term business relationship with the customer as the basis for growing business.

o Penetrate the customer's organisation and decision making unit creating new opportunities that can be exploited to accelerate account growth.

o Understand and document, on an ongoing basis, the customer organisations strategic business direction and organisation.

o Provide the company's senior management team with feedback on the long term growth potential in the customer's market sector and on critical success factors for exploiting it.

o Ensure that the company's solutions are technically solid and based on a proper understanding of the current requirements and re-inforce the customer's perception of the benefits of the company's market focus.

o Ensure that the company's total resource is delivered in a way that satisfies customer requirements and supports the objectives of the account plan.

Conclusion:

An effective Major Account Management strategy depends on selecting your major accounts intelligently, creating a strong, consistent, flexible way of working with both major accounts and other customers and then implementing the plan in a disciplined, effective, efficient manner.

One of the successes of the Major Account Management programme has been the creation of common models and language that facilitate discussion and planning across units and departments. It has also stimulated a commitment for our clients to plan long term for key relationships. Major Account Management has many implications for individuals, departments and the business as a whole. It will always be demanding, but done right it will be highly rewarding

Copyright © 2006 Jonathan Farrington. All rights reserved

Twitter Account Management - Building Followers Quickly

Twitter is a social networking tool with incredible marketing potential. One of the keys to using Twitter as a marketing tool is to have a ton of followers right? Yes and no! How many followers you need is covered as we move on.

A lot of people look far too much at the sheer number of followers. When comparing yourself to one of the many celebrities on Twitter you may quickly decide that you will never be able to get the amount of followers you need.

Not true!

Quality is more important than quantity. This is true no matter what you're doing (OK I do have to admit that if you're flipping burgers quantity might be more important than quality).

Look, quantity is easy! I have more than 3.500 followers on Twitter and I'm hardly a celebrity.

Now, you might not think that 3.500 followers is a lot when you're thinking about marketing. However, if you have the right kind of followers 3.500 is a great place to start and to build on.

At this point you're wondering how I propose you go about building your following. The easiest way to build a targeted following (which is what you want) is to find the niche leaders and start following their followers.

Think about it! Most of the followers of the market leaders in your niche are most likely involved in the same niche as you. In other words these are people who will make for a great targeted following if you can get them to follow you. And that's the easy part.

Most people will choose to follow you if you follow them. Putting it in 2 simple steps here is the system.

1. Find the market leaders in your niche.
2. Follow 100 of their followers everyday.

In a very short amount of time you will see that your following is increasing. And now we're talking about targeted followers!

Forex Account Management - How to Protect Your Account From the Risks You Take

The Forex market is the most lucrative liquid business in existence today. With the exception of a very volatile market, the positions can liquidate immediately and the orders placed are always guaranteed to be executed 100% without failure.

Most traders believe that aiming for ten to 15 PIPs every transaction is much easier that aiming to 30 to 50. They base this belief on the slow movement of the market. It may well be moving on the ten to 15 PIPs range and it may seem to take forever to move to the 30 to 50 PIPs range. Aiming for ten to 15 PIPs seems like the right thing to do, right? Wrong. Most of the traders who think this way have been doing so for a long time. They usually have to put in much effort in order to break even every month.

Leverage

This allows you to facilitate a large trade using a small amount of money in your Forex account. You can go as far as a $20,000 trade with a $50 deposit. When offered a leverage of 400:1, you can control a $20,000 trade with a $50 capital deposit in the account.

Affordability

There are mini and micro accounts with as low as $100 deposits that offer a leverage of 400:1. These accounts make trading affordable for an "average Joe" who wants to venture into the Forex market.

More Options

In the futures market, the lot sizes are determined by the outcome of the exchanges. This system does not apply to online forex trading. Online forex trading allows a trader the option to choose the lot size to be traded depending on the size of the trader's account.

Lot Size

The Lot Size determines the dollar value of each pip. The pip values are based on trading EUR/USD. Online Forex trading allows a trader to choose the lot size they want depending on the amount of money in their accounts. Micro accounts offer as much as $1,000 ($0.10 per pip), while mini accounts offer up to $10,000 ($1 per pip). A regular account can offer as much as $100,000 ($10 per pip). It is up to the trader to choose which account he can afford to work with.

Stop Loss Order

When you lose in a trade, the Stop Loss is the best strategy to employ to prevent from losing more than you can afford. The Stop Loss Order protects you by preventing additional loses once the position of the trade goes against your favor. A wise trader will never conduct trades without the insurance of a Stop Loss trade. The Stop Loss Order will be determined based on a trade entry. The risk/reward ratio will also be taken into consideration as well as areas of support and resistance.

Risk/Reward Ratio

Another strategy a trader can use is to study the risk/reward ratio of a trade. This ratio determines if the trade will go in your favor. You have the option to continue the trade, or look for another trading opportunity. In a bare minimum ratio of 1:2, the risk will be 20 pips whilst the reward, 40 pips. In trades, a risk/reward ratio should allow a trader to still earn profit even when he is 50% wrong.

Successful Major Account Management

In this third part of the four part series, we look at the jfa Major Account Management Model.

There are four parts to the model. Each part influences and is influenced by the other parts:

Key Information tells us what we need to know about the major account.

The Long Term Plan, allows us to gain a clear picture of where we are trying to go (Objectives) and how we plan to get there (Strategy).

The Short Term Plan, concerns the actions we must take over the coming weeks.

The Traffic Lights give us a quick, accurate picture of our current position and how we should move forward.

Key Information:

As the Chinese general Liu-Ji wrote over 600 years ago:

"Action always starts with calculation. Before fighting, first asses the relative wisdom of the leadership, the relative strength of the enemy, the size of the armies, the lie of the land, and the adequacy of provisions. If you send troops out only after making these calculations, you will never fail to win."

There are twin dangers about information in major account management: Too little information and too much information of the wrong sort or that is difficult to access.

We have found it most effective to break information down into three broad areas: Global, Corporate and Project.

Global information looks at the big picture, the world in which the major account operates.

Organisation

Industry

Politics

Competition

Economy

Own Company

Psychology

Legislation

Finance

Technology

Corporate information is about understanding the business you are dealing with. It is a broader, more commercial picture than the selling information. Many people who do not think in major account terms will feel this is not needed and ignorance in any of these areas creates a potential "banana-skin".

Corporate Information:

Culture:" The way we do things round here"

People

Finance

Future

Structure

Relationship

Markets

Activities

Commercial Objectives

The third level of information is Project Information. This is the information we need in order to be able to sell a specific product, service etc. to the major account. It is the information which a good key account salesperson should be gathering all the time.

Customer Requirements

Decision Making Unit

Our Offer

Competition

These four levels of information will ensure that we understand both the big picture and the detail.

The Long Term Plan:

This divides into two parts. We need to have a clear set of objectives and we need to have a strong set of strategies.

Objectives:

For a long time the only objectives I used for major accounts were very specific business objectives. "We will increase turnover by X%". "We will introduce 2 new programmes and increase our profitability by Y%". I began to understand that these business objectives were not enough. Multi-level objectives has proved very powerful in winning and keeping business. There are four levels of objectives and together they create objectives that excite and motivate the team and which are also very practical.

First we set visionary objectives. We picture what the result could be if everything went well. We discipline ourselves not to be limited by history or today's issues. The outcome is a very strong vision of what the account could be like in 2 or 5 or 10 years.

Secondly we set relationship objectives. Everyone in the account team needs to know what we want the relationship to feel like. Imagine you could hear your customer talking about you in two years time. What would you want to hear them saying? It might be statements like "We trust them completely", "They always give us new ideas", and "Things do not go wrong often. But when they do they always make things right quickly." We have found that these relationship objectives help us do everything in the way we should and in the way the customer wants. In the past it was more difficult to be consistent and customer-centred.

So far, we have talked about quite "soft" objectives - how we want things to feel. The first two objectives are about emotion and imagination but we need some "hard" objectives as well. The third level is the level of business objectives. These objectives are specific - very clear. "By the end of this year we will have increased sales of product A by 25% on the last year's volumes and maintained our profit margins." They are also measurable (if we cannot measure them, how will we know how we are progressing?). They must be agreed within the account team and maybe even agreed with the customer! They must be realistic - other people will be depending on our forecasts. Finally they must have a time-scale. Those business objectives provide the strong disciplines that we need to know in order to understand whether or not we are succeeding.

The final level of objectives is the level of stage goals. We may say that we will achieve a result of X by the end of year 2 within the key account. If this is to happen we need to be planning where we should be at important dates.

If the objective is to be selling five products to the customer by the end of next year and we're selling two today we probably need to plan to have three in place by this October, four in place by next March and five by next September. The stage goals make sure we are on target and allow us to solve problems before they become impossible to solve.

We have found that using these multi-level objectives helps to motivate each major account team member but can also help us significantly increase the amount and quality of business being done with key accounts.

Strategies:

If objectives show us where we are trying to go, strategies show us how we can plan to get there. Strategy is part of the long term plan. It is not too detailed. It focuses on ways of working, not the detail of what will happen in this or that sales call.

When setting these strategies we have found it useful to ask three questions:

What strategies do we need for this major account?

What should each strategy say?

How do we communicate them so that each member of the team is committed to them and carries them out?

The Short Term Plan:

It is important to think long term in major account management but there is a danger that we spend all our time analysing and planning and never do anything! The short term plan keeps us active and effective.

The long term plan is concerned with why (objectives) and how (strategy). The short term plan focuses on who does what, when.

The timescale for the short term plan will vary from business to business but many organisations find that a rolling three month plan reviewed monthly is very effective. This means that late in April you plan events for May, June and July. Late in May you plan for June, July and August etc. The first month is usually in detail, the second two months are more in outline.

The short term plan should focus not only on matters that are very urgent but also on those actions which are important but are not urgent. These might include developing more contacts in the major account, introducing colleagues, gathering information etc.

The short term plan helps ensure that the important things get done efficiently and effectively.

Traffic Lights:

The fourth and final element of the key account model is the traffic lights.

This is a simple but powerful way of analysing any customer situation.

o What are the factors that are in your favour? E.g. Product is approved, strong personal relationship. These are the green lights.

o What are the factors that are absolutely against you, that stop you achieving an objective? E.g. Kicked off preferred list, operations manager swears not to use you until xyz improves. These are the red lights.

o What are the factors which could go either way? E.g. Change of Financial Director, they buy a new Company. These are the amber lights.

This simple approach has proved highly effective, even within our most sophisticated clients that needed an easy way of talking about the situation in their major accounts.

In the fourth and final part of this series, we define precisely what Major Account Management is all about and provide a summary of Parts 1-3

Key Account Management - Organizational Needs

Key Account Management is a popular practice in Sales and Marketing. Key Account Management (KAM) involves the identification of high volume and growth customers that would require special attention of an organization and developing a marketing and sales organization to meet the needs of these customers.

Many organizations have identified such accounts and developed ways to meet the requirements of these customers. These customers demand special attention in designing supplying and servicing. Such accounts are very common in the business to business marketing or business to institution marketing.

The relationships with these accounts are very gradual. They do not happen overnight. Quite a few theoretical models have been developed but the these accounts start with supplier and vendor getting familiar with each other and understanding their cultures and business methods. Here both the supplier and the buyer are usually quite large and have preexisting cultures which will require adjustments.

Both organizations must also understand the long term goals of each other as the relationship can be long term association demanding considerable time and capital from both. It is an investment that needs to be carefully examined. Each party needs to make sure that there is a good basis for relationship between them and it will be mutually beneficial in the short and long term.

What are the major characteristics of a Key Account?
1 These Accounts are generally large volumes of the product that the suppliers produce.
2. They are in a commanding position in the market with a good image.
3. They have a history of stable financial performance
4. They demand special attention but given the special attention they retain the vendors
5. They are willing to share their technical and business plans with their vendors and thus enable the vendor to develop with them

What are the chief requirements to be met by the supplier's organization? (I would prefer to call these suppliers as key suppliers or vendors).
1. The supplier must be able to identify an account manager who can build the relationship between the two organizations
2. The supplier must be willing to commit resources to service these account
3. The supplier must be willing to make long term commitment to stay as supplier to these accounts
4. The supplier must also be ready to invest in any technical development required by these accounts

What are the main benefits in having key accounts?
1.They provide a steady predictable captive business.
2. These accounts can generate scope for developing new products.
3. These customers can help maintain profitability due to the economies of scale in marketing.
4.These accounts with high image can work as testimonials for key suppliers.

Are there any risks associated with key accounts?
1. The main risk is the business status of the key account. If there is any decline it would have an impact on the key suppliers.
2. Significant assets and resources will be tied to key account therefore any reduction in activity can lead asset and resource under utilization unless there is sufficient flexibility built into the system.
3. Revenue inflows also can slow with a slow down in key account activity

Impact of key Account on Sales Organization
1.These accounts need dedicated persons to coordinate the activity.
2.These Accounts need pan organization involvement from both sides. All involved persons must be committed.
3. Such Accounts must not be viewed as a threat by the sales persons who handle other accounts.
4. If there are adequate number of such accounts an independent organizational set up would be needed to manage these accounts.
5. Additional and independent ware house and transport may be required.
6. Dedicated key Account Managers need to be appointed and the skills need to be developed

Key accounts are a necessity for most industrial sellers and institutional suppliers. Given the change in the retail structure key accounts are becoming important in retailing too. Adequate skills and systems need to be developed in organizations to manage these accounts

A Peek at FMCG Account Manager Jobs

What responsibilities does an FMCG account manager hold?

As in any other company, the account manager always holds a critical position when it comes to customer communications. Most of the time, they are the ones responsible in taking care of the clients. In the case of fast-moving consumer goods, the challenge is quite more difficult since client turnover might be fast-paced.

One can easily notice that these companies are bigger and appear more stable. However, such an appearance also has corresponding hard work. The work involved in these companies is intense. As such, the Account Manager basically needs to be flexible and dynamic at all times. Another thing to expect is that he or she must be able to hold on and keep his team organized.

Account managers always need to be creative in damage control. Otherwise, they won't be able to maintain rapport with the customers. Another thing is that he or she must also maintain good teamwork with his staff. Otherwise, it would be difficult to deliver what the customers would expect.

How does one get this position from FMCG companies?

Experience will score a lot in the selection process of FMCG companies. There are a lot of crunch times involved in this job position. As such, what FMCG companies needs is someone that can handle that pressure with precision and grace. Obviously, this is not something that a newbie can do. For the account manager post, a minimum of at least two to five year experience is necessary. It would be helpful if one has more experience.

Basic requirements are a bachelor's degree in Marketing or Communication or Business Administration. Applicants who do not have such degrees could also qualify as long as he holds corresponding years of experience. He or she must also be very competent in communications. Needless to say, the applicant must also be strong-hearted and flexible, too.

What's in store for the FMCG Account Manager?

The work included in account management is always detail-oriented. There are a lot of efforts involved. As such, one can expect that such positions would be laden with a lot of benefits. The average salary for this position is set at US$54,400.

Aside from the salary, there are also other perks such as competitive benefits and profit sharing. Stable companies operating internationally also provide their account managers with endless lists of bonuses. This long list is very much fit for someone who really works hard.

Account managing is not an easy task but it is also paired with rewarding experiences and tangible benefits. It is just up to the applicant to decide if he or she is willing to partake in such a joyride.

Boosting the Bottom Line with Master Data Management

Boosting the Bottom Line with Master Data Management
An Interview with Anurag Wadehra of Siperian Inc.

If you haven't heard of master data management (MDM) yet, you will. If you didn't realize that you use master data every day, you do. If you didn't know that MDM can help boost your company's bottom line, it can.

MDM is the process that organizes, unifies, and eliminates duplication of customer, product, and logistical records, as well as other key pieces of information that businesses have to track every day. And it does this across different departments, platforms, and systems. Simply put, master data is the core customer and operational data that gets used in virtually every significant process and transaction that a business conducts.

So what does this mean for an organization in practical terms? MDM enables companies to boost their bottom line by

* reducing the cost of mailings, marketing campaigns, and lead acquisitions
* allowing for faster sales lead processing
* improving the quality of service in customer service departments and call centers
* strengthening sales and marketing functions

Download this informative podcast featuring Lyndsay Wise, senior analyst at Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC), and Anurag Wadehra, vice president of marketing and product management at Siperian, a leading MDM and customer integration solution provider, today. You'll find out more about MDM, including how to get started, what strategies to bring to the table, and all the benefits you can expect.

Click here to download Boosting the Bottom Line with Master Data Management now!

This podcast examines the following questions:

* What is the importance of master data management (MDM) to your organization?
* How can you cut costs through the use of MDM?
* How can MDM help you improve your company's sales and marketing efforts?
* What should you be aware of from a technical point of view before implementing an MDM solution?




Listen to the entire 14:00 minute podcast
by downloading the file, or save for later playback.

Podcast Transcript

Hi, and welcome to TEC Radio. My name is Lyndsay Wise, and I am the senior research analyst for business intelligence [BI] and performance management here at Technology Evaluation Centers. Today I have [with me] Anurag Wadehra, the vice president of marketing and product management at Siperian. Siperian is a leading master data management [MDM] and customer integration solution provider. I will be discussing with Anurag what the importance of master data management is, and how organizations can use MDM solutions to improve their sales and marketing efforts, and how MDM can affect the bottom line and increase profitability within an organization.

Lyndsay Wise: Anurag, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today.

Anurag Wadehra: You're welcome.

LW: What is MDM?

AW: That's a very interesting question, Lyndsay. Today, there's a lot of coverage of master data management, and essentially what it is, is a management of a certain kind of data. It is a data that defines the core business descriptions of customers, products, locations, and other key entities that [businesses] have to track. That's a very simple way of saying that master data management is managing your key business entities.

LW: How do organizations use master data? Can you give us an example?

AW: What's interesting about master data and the management of it, and the use of it in companies is that nobody uses it exclusively. Nobody wakes up and says, "I'm going to use master data today." It gets consumed in every business process and every business transaction. Let me give you an example. If you go to the bank and withdraw 10 dollars from an [automatic teller machine] ATM, in that transaction is implied who you are: what's your name,... your account number,... your address,... your location. Those aspects of the transaction are attributes of master data, and they get used, derived, or accessed during that transaction. And that's true for other business processes that involve customers, products, the relationship among customers and products, or other classes of what is called master data. So, in a nutshell, master data gets used in virtually every significant business process and transaction.

LW: How can MDM actually help a company improve its sales and marketing efforts?

AW: That's a very tricky question because companies have been trying to improve their business performance, including their sales and marketing processes, for a very long time. And for sales and marketing, companies have been trying to reduce the cost of mailings, cost of marketing, to different segments of their customers.

In sales, the cost of acquiring the leads and processing the leads … is an area of focus for many companies to improve their effectiveness. Master data is critical because very often the reason why costs are very high is because companies do not have good control over their master data. And therefore by controlling the quality and reliability, and very often, very simply, the definition of master data around customer product accounts, companies can significantly improve the business performance and business processes associated around this data.

Perhaps an example will help. If you consider a mailing that is sent to 10 million customers by a large bank announcing either a credit card offer or some other product offer, a significant amount of money can be spent on incorrect addresses, incorrect duplicate names, similar names, multiple mailings sent to the same household, very often not recognizing that spouses might actually belong to the same institutions as customers.

All of these issues result directly in higher cost and lower profitability. The root cause of many of the problems I've just described was poor quality of master data, lack of understanding of the relationships among master data.... By improving the quality and control of master data, you can improve directly the bottom line of your sales and marketing processes by reducing the cost of mailings, by improving the quality of services at call centers, and by improving the time it takes to process leads for sales.

LW: What kind of strategies should organizations use to help them implement MDM?

AW: So, what we've discovered is that a lot of companies understand the importance of high quality master data and the management of it, yet struggle with getting started because master data is so pervasive and is part of every major transaction and business process. Therefore, our recommendation has been that you start by looking at one specific business problem, such as cost of marketing, or high cost of sales, or improving customer service levels, and then drill down within that problem to the root cause of high costs, and very often those are driven by poor quality of master data.

By limiting the business problem, you are trying to attack and [narrow] in on the master data issues in that area. You can actually implement a solution rather quickly, very often within 60 days or less. And therefore you can start getting the benefit of having fixed the master data issue in one particular business area, such as marketing or sales, very quickly.

That's what we advocate. Don't try to boil the ocean. Don't try to attack master data across the entire enterprise in a single project. Identify a business problem that is very contained, and solve the problem by implementing a solution for master data. The dark side of that approach is that if you solve the problem and then go on to address a different problem—let's say, with product data—and now you implement a completely different solution for that, how do you make sure that all these solutions are actually, in fact, connected, because your common definition of a customer for marketing needs to be the same common definition of customer for, let's say, tracking products that are being shipped to the customer.

Connecting the master data solutions and making sure that all the master data solutions in the company are based on a common set of definitions is a very important consideration as you attack master data problems.

LW: In your previous question beforehand about sales and marketing, you actually did mention some of the challenges that customers face when they are trying to implement or use master data management solutions for their sales and marketing efforts. But can you also describe some of the challenges that customers face who don't use MDM, either additionally within sales and marketing or other areas of the organization?

AW: I think what has happened is that people who don't think that master data management is a new problem that needs to be addressed in a new way, usually end up having to address the problem in the old way.

Let me give you an example of that. A lot of companies might say, “I have a CRM system,” whatever the back office application they have purchased for managing sales leads, or “I have a call center application,” whatever system they might use to train their customer service reps to take the calls and support them. They might believe that those systems are adequate for providing a coherent view of the customers—their addresses, their locations—and that might be true for just that narrow process. However, business processes and customer processes span across sales and marketing and support. So, it's very important that the customer service rep knows that a sales call has been made to this customer the day before, or what state of marketing offer might have been sent out two days before.

Business processes that span sales and marketing and customer service should acquire a common, standardized definition—a common, standardized view of your customer's core profile information, be it their address, their location, their preferences for e-mail, their privacy preferences, etc. And if companies do not have master data management or do not believe they need master data management, they end up spending a lot of time handling data inconsistencies, data quality issues. Ultimately, these are customer retention, customer loyalty issues because customers get frustrated; they say, “You, the company, do not understand me,... that I have already given you my new mailing address six times, and yet you keep sending me stuff to the old address,... that I've told you not to e-mail me at this particular e-mail address, and yet you keep e-mailing me back at this particular e-mail address”—these kinds of customer loyalty, customer experience issues stem from not addressing master data.

LW: Do you have any examples of how the use of MDM has increased profitability within an organization?

AW: Actually, several examples.... If you break it down from unprofitably, we advocate that you should be able to justify master data management success and investment in master data management technology on pure cost savings alone. That's a very specific, immediate bottom line effect. We believe that over time … having better quality of customer data and product data in your sales and marketing processes will improve your revenue as well. But we'll leave that for now because that can be a challenge to measure.

On cost side alone, we've seen customers reduce their mailing costs because they have a better, clearer, more recent definition of [customers' names, addresses, locations]. We have seen customers reduce the cost of generating a lead and of managing a lead through their inside sales process because they now know exactly how to take a customer or a lead, and map it more accurately to the various sales territories or sales reps, and we have seen companies reduce cost on customer service levels because they have been able to directly bring in customer preferences from other sales and marketing systems in their call center environments. These are specific illustrations and examples where companies have improved their bottom line by reducing costs associated with customer data.

LW: Anurag, what's your advice to an organization who is implementing an MDM solution from a technical standpoint? What should they know when going in to this?

AW: There are a lot of technologies out there that are being billed as solutions to address master data challenges. I think the biggest [piece of] business advice [I can offer] is that companies should be able to start small with the technology, and be able to prove and demonstrate that in a very short time—in 30 to 60 days—by implementing it in a very well-contained business problem area, and then be able to expand that technology to other areas rapidly without having to undo or reimplement the earlier solutions.

Starting small and incrementally adding solutions on top of that, of other areas of master data over time, is, we think, the prudent approach. The alternative approach sometimes can be a technology that appears fairly provocative, but it takes, let's say, 12 months to implement over the entire enterprise, or more. That is a risky strategy, even if it appears technically exciting.

LW: Thank you, Anurag.

AW: Thanks …, Lyndsay. Have a good one.

For more information about business intelligence (BI), Technology Evaluation Centers, or the topics discussed in this podcast, please visit www.technologyevaluation.com or click on the associated link in this podcast.

Podcast: A Project Manager's Guide to Business Performance Management

A Guide to Business Performance Management for Project Managers
An Interview with Lyndsay Wise, senior research analyst at Technology Evaluation Centers

Over the last three years, business performance management (BPM) has gained momentum, expanding its horizons into all areas of business. Simultaneously, project managers have been broadening their soft-factor management skills, impacting project success. Consequently, the convergence of stakeholder management and BPM will enable organizations to streamline service delivery, optimize operations, and improve customer satisfaction. In this podcast, TEC analysts Neil Stolovitsky and Lyndsay Wise sit down to discuss the increasing role that BPM plays within project management.






Listen to the entire 7:20 minute podcast
by downloading the file, or save for later playback.

This episode examines the following questions:

1. How is business performance management (BPM) relevant to project management?
2. How can project managers use BPM tools to address stakeholders involved in a project?
3. What current performance management (PM) applications can be applied in the PM world?
4. What type of project information is required to create an actionable stakeholder management solution?
5. Stakeholder management is about managing people. So what are some of the challenges in tracking the soft factors that can make or break a project?

To learn more about Project Management and Business Performance Management, please refer to our showcase, or explore related articles and white papers.

Neil Stolovitsky: Thank you, Lyndsay, for joining us today. Business performance management [BPM] has recently gained popularity in areas such as [human resources] HR and sales. How is business performance management relevant to those working in project management?

Lyndsay Wise: Business performance management is defined as the use of software to help organizations optimize their business performance. BPM allows organizations to automate processes, align performance initiatives to the organization's overall strategic initiatives, and manage and assign tasks through collaboration. Project management applications have similar overlaps in terms of identifying what projects are being worked on, the status of projects which can be tied to the metrics identified in BPM, and the interactions between projects. For example, how resources are allocated, how they are meeting their deadlines, etc. can be compared to the way collaboration works within BPM.

NS: Project managers are generally trained to measure concrete metrics, such as budget overruns, project deadlines, and specifications. However, as we all know, the most difficult aspects to measure in a project are the soft factors, such as stakeholder management and work styles. How can project managers utilize BPM tools to address stakeholders involved in a project?

LW: That's a good question, Neil. There are two main ways that project managers can use current applications of business performance management. The first goes back to what you were saying about stakeholder management—to develop and track stakeholder buy-in. This can be done by utilizing data visualization tools such as scorecards to track which projects stakeholders are involved in, whether they are related to multiple initiatives, how stakeholders are performing against assigned tasks and deadlines, or even rather how their assigned resources are meeting their deadlines and how that affects the overall project, and the like.

The second application of BPM that project managers can take advantage of is the fact that performance management provides a framework to ensure that stakeholders' objectives and expectations are being met. This is accomplished through the use of metrics. Using sales as an example, organizations can track current sales, compare actual performance to targets, and forecast future sales goals based on trends. The same type of information can be used for project managers. For example, the level of past buy-in can be tracked to help identify the probability of a stakeholder's buy-in for future initiatives. This can be used as a trend, taking into account other information, mixing project data with more of the soft factors that go into managing stakeholders within a project.

NS: So, Lyndsay, what are some of the current applications used in performance management that can be applied as well as benefited by those in the project management world?

LW: The good thing about performance management solutions is that applications of the tools are constantly being expanded to meet the needs of other areas within the organization. Employee performance management provides an excellent example of how BPM applications have been brought to the next level. Organizations have moved beyond the simple management of an organization's financial performance towards the management of it employees. Employee performance management can be used to match an employee's goals to that of the organization—basically matching what an employee wants to do with what a company needs to get done. It can be used to identify how employees are achieving against the goals created to identify top performers for retention and leadership development. All of these tie in soft factors in terms of utilizing information that doesn't reside in databases to develop a performance-based solution.

This is key in how project management can apply performance management tools and techniques. Since employee performance management is a newer application of BPM, project managers can gain huge insight into what is currently being done—for example, [by] applying how resources are performing against set tasks—to identify who are the assets to the project—additionally, attaching stakeholder involvement to project success. These are just a few ways that the project management world can apply what is being done within performance management today to get immediate value from these solutions.

NS: What type of project information should a project manager seek, Lyndsay, in order to create an actionable stakeholder management solution?

LW: Well, there are basically four types of different information that are required. The first is to identify what projects each stakeholder is involved in. This information can be used to identify the success rate of projects that stakeholders are involved in. Also, a rating scheme can be developed to identify the level of buy-in and whether there are patterns based on types of projects that the stakeholders are more likely to buy into.

The second type of information that is required is identifying collaboration efforts—both for project overlaps as well as resources—including the collaboration required by the current stakeholders and how that might affect other projects within the organization.

The third type of information is to identify task responsibility. Basically, what this means is identifying who is responsible for what tasks, and how the tasks are related to one another.

And the fourth and final is the success record of people, and this really relates to the past projects. Project success can tie in to future stakeholder buy-in. So, for example, resources tied to previous project success are probably more likely to garner future buy-in from stakeholders.

NS: So at the end of the day, really, stakeholder management is all about managing people. So, what do you see as some of the challenges in tracking the soft factors that can really make or break a project?

LW: Well, some of the challenges—especially because stakeholder management is really focused on identifying the soft factor information, as you said—are how to develop metrics and ways of monitoring the work style of the stakeholders involved, as well as the resources involved. As well, another factor that's a challenge to consider is how to identify the skill sets of both the stakeholders and the resources. The third [challenge] is to measure the position of power—basically, how do you do this. And the fourth is how to identify the work environment. And all of these really tie in to the same idea of how to make these soft factors into more of a concrete and structured way to really develop the metrics to help organizations and project managers specifically rate different levels on how they will be able to really manage and identify potential stakeholder buy-in.