Following the lead of Dave Kellogg (i.e. shamelessly copying), here’s a link to an excellent article on "Counter-Intuitive Tactics for Bad Times".
The article is for high-tech industries looking to weather the crisis. I’ve copied Dave’s paraphrasing below, swapping his comments with mine, related to SAP BusinessObjects:
- Invest in product development, not sales. (BI is a big investment focus of SAP. We’re integrating BI across the suite, and with the rest of the SAP technology, and innovating with the BusinessObjects labs.)
- Turn salespeople into consultants. (SAP sales and consulting teams have deep industry expertise, and we’re training them how to get the best out of the new analytics on offer.)
- Put your customer first. (There is increasing focus on making BI easier to by integrating it into industry and role-specific solutions)
- Build value through relationships as well as products. (I believe that SAP has the strongest relationships with its customers in the industry — and you don’t get that overnight)
- Look for evergreen and counter-cyclical sectors. (As explained in a previous post, analysts consider BI a "recession proof technology":)
- Cut costs with a scalpel, not a hatchet. (And that takes business intelligence. I like the phrase "measure twice, cut once" — cutting costs it’s too important to get wrong the first time, you don’t get a do-over. And I like Dave’s comment: "My first reaction to an across-the-board cut is that management either couldn’t or didn’t take the time to figure out a more strategic way to do its job".)
- Be ready for black swans. (by definition, BI probably can’t help you spot a black swan, but it may be essential to help you deal with the effects.)
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Photo credit: mikebaird
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