All posts in May 2018

Business Analyst In Insurance Domain

By blogger on

The right balance of information and technical knowhow is needed for a Business Analyst to successfully complete his job in any sector. This dictum applies to the Insurance sector as well.

A Business Analyst should be well versed with the information that is needed for any Insurance professional to work in the Insurance domain. Since he has to analyze the processes and then help in the development of essential software for the projects in the Insurance sector, he needs to have both the information required of an Insurance professional and the technical knowledge required for the establishment of software designed for this sector.

Insurance as is known is generally divided into three major divisions: Life Insurance (dealing with safeguarding life and the risk of mortality and critical illnesses), General Insurance (dealing with the risk of damage to immovable property, motor, cargo, marine, household, and fire insurance), health insurance (dealing with risk of illness and disease, and thus covers reimbursements, medical claims, operation of panel doctors, cashless hospitalization, co payment etc.) The level of knowledge and range required is different in each stream and hence a Business Analyst has to have a certain demonstrable understanding of the workings of the particular streams in the sector and also desirably, adequate level of experience in the sector.
Functional Knowledge of Insurance applications is also essential, like new business, channel management, policy servicing, claims management, underwriting, reinsurance and finance. Along with knowledge of the business processes of the particular client company, a brief and thorough understanding of the requirements given by the regulatory authority of the Insurance industry is also mandatory. The terminology is varied for the Insurance sector, with changes even within the sector, for the different streams of the sector. Knowledge of these unique terminologies will help the Business Analyst to understand the client who is the end users expectations and he will be able to draft them better into requirements efficiently.

Once functional requirements are known, the technical knowhow is also essential for any good Business Analyst to communicate to his software developers team about the client users expectations from the project. The Business Analyst should be aware of the basic MS- Office tools like Microsoft Word, Ms PowerPoint, MS Excel, MS Visio, MS Access, and MS Project). These help in collating data and presenting it in proper format. Then knowledge of relational databases is also important for understanding the technicalities of Querying and Support. Basic programming languages that are used by software developers should also be known to the Business Analyst so that he can understand the developers problems or point of view. These programming languages could be ASP, Dot Net, JAVA, J2EE, XNL, HTML etc.

In addition to these, knowledge and experience in insurance business applications, content management systems, portals, data warehousing tools can give any Business Analyst that extra edge over others standing next to him.
Thus, its quite clear that a Business Analyst in the Insurance domain needs to know both sides of the coin the knowledge of insurance business processes and the relevant Insurance software packages.

What You Should Do After Buying A Business

By blogger on

So you’ve finished your due diligence process, had in-depth discussions with all of your advisers and professional consultants, completed all the essential steps that are required to properly value a business, arranged your financing and taken the leap. What should you now do with your new business to make sure that it successfully traverses the pivotal transition phase, and then doesn’t just survive, but thrives?

You will already know quite a lot about the business and its requirements before you take control of the keys. You should have spent many a long hour in preparation and have drawn up your own comprehensive plan already. This is one of the essential prerequisites when you plan to own a business. They say that when you move a house plant from one position to another, it goes into shock. The same analogy can be used when it comes to the business, and you will need to ensure you minimize the “shock”.

The first point that you’ve got to remember is that you’ll need to keep all your attention on your goals. Now, probably more than ever, it is essential that you’re not distracted and that you allocate as much time as is humanly possible to this new enterprise.

Wherever possible, have the previous owner add some much-needed stability by staying around for a predetermined period of time. He or she can act as an advisor and can be seen (but maybe not heard as much) by clients, customers, employees and vendors. Try not to make any sweeping changes, as clients and employees may react unfavorably. If you make small changes, make sure that you view the results before you progress to make others.

Take the time to meet all the key players – your employees and your vendors. Create a one-on-one, personal relationship with your staff right from the start. Maintaining employee morale at the outset is vitally important and make sure that you establish a positive mode of communication. Try to get in touch with every vendor, if you’re able to, and do whatever you can to establish a positive relationship with these important players.

The previous owner and employees represent a wealth of information and you should make sure that you gather this data before you consider implementing new procedures. You may be in charge, but you are still “the new kid on the block” around here, so make sure that your decisions are based on a solid footing.

Don’t be tempted to throw out any procedures, especially record-keeping and bookkeeping. You need to be able to compare where you are now and where you are going in the future, with previous results. You will not be able to make informed decisions otherwise.

Your customers, who sustain the business, are familiar with being dealt with in a particular way. By all means, review the customer relationship policies and procedures, but don’t be tempted to make any wholesale changes. Your goal is to keep those customers at all costs and to make sure that they are happy during the transition.

You may now own a business in an unfamiliar industry. It is important to get to know the ins and outs of the industry as quickly as possible. Familiarize yourself with the technology, software, programs, procedures and how to handle potential problems in the future.

Establishing goodwill is one of the main objectives at this point. When you purchase business assets, one of the key elements is this goodwill and whilst somewhat intangible, it is very valuable. Consider doing something for all your key players – clients, employees and vendors. Give some kind of an introductory special offer, of some significance, to your clients. Think of an enhancement that you can offer your employees, maybe some improved working conditions or an upgrade to their terms of service.

In summary, remember that you now own a business which is dynamic. You have to give a great deal of your attention to the critical early days and make sure that you grow the business and strive to reach your highest goals.

Construction Company Business Plan Equipment Needed To Launch

By blogger on

A major variable in the startup costs listed in your construction company business plan is the cash needed for equipment and tools. As you think through these needs, consider these choices.

Choosing Services

You cannot begin to estimate equipment requirements before knowing what type of construction you engage in and what services you will or will not offer. This decision should be driven by the experience of the team and the opportunity in the market, although the overall cost of equipment may enter into the decision as well. If it becomes apparent that you will not be able to recover the cost of equipment in a reasonable period of time, you may have to rethink offering services which require that equipment.

Buy, Lease, Rent, or Subcontract

Secondly, it is important to remember that purchasing outright the equipment required for a service you must offer may not be necessary. Leasing equipment can reduce the cost of launching and the needs for raising capital, although the total cost of acquiring the items will be higher in the end. If the equipment will be needed for tasks which wont be necessary on every project, or will only be needed sporadically or at one stage, renting the equipment for those periods of time may be a better option, assuming a quality renter is available in your locale.

Finally, it may make sense to simply outsource the work that requires certain specialized equipment to companies which already own the needed tools and have staff trained specifically. Subcontractors specializing in roofing or framing, for example, have the needed tools of the trade and the expertise to do the work less expensively than your company. However, keep in mind that the more work your company subcontracts, the greater the burden on your managers to check quality, to manage vendor schedule, and to develop other skills of vendor communication and negotiation.

Business Slogans

By blogger on

Businesses want to be ranked #1 in the eyes of their customers; they want their businesses to be talked about. However, there are many businesses in the same industry, targeting similar markets, fighting for the same potential clients’ attention. The same is true for politicians: they compete with each other for the same voters.

If you want your customers to select you instead of somebody else, you need to be different. It is not enough just to be different, but also different in a way your customers will appreciate. For instance, if you are the only one in your industry packaging the items in a blue case … this will make you different; but maybe is something your clients don’t care much. On the other hand, if you are the only one in your industry offering free shipping, chances are that you will be at the top if the rest of your service also matches your clients’ expectations. You have to find what makes your business unique (usually called “unique selling proposition” in marketing terms) and tell everybody.

The question now is how to articulate your “unique selling proposition” in a way that your clients and potential clients will not only understand, but effortlessly remember. The solution is: use a slogan. A slogan is a short sentence that explains what makes you unique. Good slogans are easy to be remembered, they stick on people minds. A slogan makes it easier for your business to be remembered and talked about. It can help setting your business in a privileged position in a competitive industry.

Finding the right slogan is both a difficult and easy process. While it is difficult to come up with good slogans, it is easy to recognize good ones. You, as business owner, can easily recognize if a slogan is appropriate for your business. No one else knows more than you about your business. The question is who can come up with the slogans? You could involve your employees for instance. After all, they know the message that you want to transmit … In fact, they know it so well that they most probably suffer from the “Curse of Knowledge” syndrome. The curse of knowledge means that they know so much about your business’ unique selling proposition that for them, an also for you, it is difficult to realize what it feels like not to know it. Any slogan crafted under the curse of knowledge syndrome effect will not take into account that potential clients do not know yet about what makes you unique.

Therefore, the slogan development process must include outsiders. You need sloganeers that are not affected by the “curse of knowledge”. They can provide you with their slogan suggestions and you can recognize what works for your business. It works best when the process follows an iterative refinement: sloganeers suggest slogans first, then you tell them what works for your business and what does not and sloganeers provide suggestions again. This way, your preferences are taken into account in successive slogan suggestions. It is hard to tell how many slogans suggestions you will need. Usually, business owners get the right slogan after 20 – 30 slogan suggestions, but more may be needed.

You have done already the hard work of building your business and differentiate from your competitors. Now, all you need to do is to communicate in an effective way what is especial about you, what makes your business unique. Find some outsider sloganeers and get a slogan for your business; it is a small investment with a huge return.