Product Announcements, Industry News, Editorials

NetWise Adopts the Agile Project Management Methodology

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In June of 2011, after several months of research and debate, NetWise decided to adopt the  Agile Project Management Methodology and related processes.  Though we are still continuing to tweak our own nuances and making it work best for our clients, this decision has proven to be one of the best we have made.

As our list of clients has grown over the last couple of years, we recognized that the approach we had been using throughout our history as a company was being strained.  Historically, we would undertake development projects for new or existing clients whenever our clients were ready and our schedule was free enough to take on the deliverables.  This meant that many projects were typically underway at any given time, each with its own set of expectations for delivery.  Managing multiple projects with unique start and due dates, test cycles, and build schedules was becoming unmanageable as we grew.  It was difficult to properly manage the expectations across multiple projects that shared no common schedule.  Project managers and developers struggled to keep order on the completion and testing of deliverables leading to missed expectations and delays.

At the core of the Agile Development Methodology is a development "sprint" which includes a set of deliverables that can be successfully developed, tested, and packaged in a 3-5 week cycle.  These sprints will include deliverables from multiple clients but they are managed as one "project" with a common set of start and end dates, testing schedules, and package and release schedules. Our team has daily standup or "scrum" meetings led by our Scrum Master.  Issues are quickly resolved and the team is working much better as a unit.

Since our sprints are planned a few months out, it is also easier to set the proper expectations for clients as to when they will be receiving the enhancements in their software.  Our clients seem to like the new structure and have been supportive as we perfect this new process.

While this new methodology has not been the answer to all the challenges of the development team, it has definitely significantly increased the quality of our releases, improved communications and expectations with clients, and enhanced our ability to complete projects on time and budget.

Client Profitability; Cost Contribution Factors

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While revenue plays a huge part in the profitability equation, everyone knows that the other side of the equation for maximizing profitability lies in controlling costs and making your organization “scalable”. 

The basic formula for measuring client profitability is no secret and could be:

• Total Client Contribution = Client Gross Revenue – Client Variable Cost – Allocated Fixed Cost. 

A typical PEO would define the components of this equation as follows:

• Gross Revenue = Administrative Fees + Work Comp Premium Billed + Taxes Billed + Other Insurance Premium Bills + Ancillary Product Fees + Billable Services + Surcharges (setup fee, etc)
• Client Variable Cost = Work Comp Premium Paid + Taxes Paid + Other Insurance Premium Paid + Ancillary Product/Service Costs + Materials + Variable/Contract Labor
• Allocated Fixed Cost = (Personnel Salary & Benefits (Payroll, Ben Admin, HR, Finance) + Facility + Operating Costs) * (Client Gross Payroll / Total Gross Payroll or Client WSE / Total WSE)

In the previous article, we explained the notion that all revenue is NOT created equal.  I made some suggestions on how to “adjust” the revenue side of the equation to better define the “Client Contribution” and value your book of business.  I’d like to make some similar suggestions on how to better measure the cost of servicing a client in order to better assess each client’s overall contribution (or value) to your PEO.

Client Service Cost:

For most PEOs and service firms in general, the largest expense is the cost of payroll, taxes, and benefits for their internal staff.  Most of this staff will likely be focused in some form or fashion on servicing your clients (onboarding new clients, running payrolls, maintaining employee records, compiling and paying taxes, dealing with HR issues, managing work comp claims, etc).  Most companies allocate the “fixed” cost of internal staff to their client profitability statement using an easy to figure method such as the WSE count or gross payroll of the client.  But the Pareto Principle likely applies to this situation; 20% of your clients take 80% of your staff’s time.

Keeping track of the time your staff spends on servicing a client is important and a key component to measure to accurately determine your client’s contribution to your bottom line.  In order to measure cost of service, your staff must keep track of service items that they are processing.  Many people call these “tickets” or “cases”.  Tickets should be system generated wherever possible or manually created when issues arise that could not be predicted.  Your staff should spend their day working through and resolving these tickets.   There are a couple of ways that metrics can be applied to this data.  

• Actual time: Some PEOs encourage, or even require that their service personnel accurately measure time spent on client issues down to the minute.  This is the most accurate way to measure as long as all the issues are logged.  But it is also a challenge to get everyone on board and compliant with this process.  If the process of accurately tracking time is not widely adopted by your staff, the value of the data is quickly diminished.
• Estimated time: Tickets can be classified into categories that carry an estimated time (average time) it would likely take an employee to complete the task.  Employees should be able to override the default if a specific ticket to significantly more or less time than the standard.  This method is very effective at comparing the general effort level at a client level and can also be effective used in a cost allocation formula.

Regardless of the method used to capture service time spent on client’s behalf, the costs will then need to be allocated to the client level P&L statement to determine client contribution.  Clearly, allocating the cost of service personnel and related overhead using one of these methods makes complete sense.  This allocation method may also make sense for allocating other costs as well.  Facility costs, technology (hardware and software, infrastructure, etc.), communication costs are largely driven by the personnel that service clients.

Applying an appropriate cost rate to the time spent based on the employee (or category of employee) that completed the service will more accurately reflect real costs since the type of service being supplied could carry significantly different costs; for example, a client that requires a significant amount of legal support to defend an EPLI claim would cost more than a client that requires a similar amount of HR support to write an employee manual. 

Hours spent on client * Cost Rate for employee (or category)

Allocating total cost proportionally based on time spent will insure all costs are allocated to clients and will give a good picture of the overall effort your staff expends for each client.

Hours spent on client / Total hours spent * Total Fixed Operating Costs

Either method is effective with pros and cons for both.  Getting service costs measured and allocated in the first place is a big step in the right direction.  Compare the allocated cost to the adjusted administrative fees for the client to determine if enough revenue is being collected to cover the cost of servicing the client.

Scalability:

An important topic when it comes to the cost of client service is the concept of making your business scalable.  If your business is scalable, your revenue can increase at a much steeper curve then your related operating expenses.  Many PEOs benchmark the number of internal employees per 100 co-employees or the ratio of their gross operating expense to their gross payroll.  These indicators provide a good measure of how efficiently the PEO is operating.  As new clients are brought on board, the PEO’s existing staff is able to absorb the additional service volume. 

Investment in technology is the most obvious way that a PEO (or any business) can increase productivity and effectiveness which will drive the scalability of the organization.  However, without proper process and workflow engineering to precede or coincide with the technology investment, the expected return on investment will likely fall short.  Technology to drive broken or ineffective processes run by a dysfunctional team is unlikely to make the organization more scalable and contrary will often significantly hurt effectiveness in the short term.

Workers’ Compensation Claim Cost:

Another critical cost measurement for a PEO to track at the client level is workers’ compensation claim incurred value.  Most PEOs invest significant time and effort on the risk underwriting process to insure their book of business is maintained at a risk level with which the business is comfortable.  However, I have found it interesting in working with many PEOs, large and small, that there is a widely differing view of the importance of, and related allocation of resources to, active risk management of work comp claims.  Some PEOs invest heavily in personnel and systems to actively manage each claim to closure and measure the strengths and weaknesses of their risk portfolio.  Other PEOs seem content to keep an eye on the claims using loss runs supplied by the carrier without any significant internal effort to control the outcome and cost of the claim. 

Why does the value of this business activity seem so widely different between companies in the same industry? The obvious answer to this difference would be the type of Work Comp policy the PEO uses, guaranteed cost, high deductible, whether or not there is a dividend to reward disciplined loss control results, etc.  But I would argue that this activity should be one of the core functions for any PEO.  While the policy type is certainly the primary driver when viewing the impact from a short term perspective, the reality is that loss control should be important to all PEOs, regardless of policy type, when viewing the business from a longer term perspective.  Inability to measure and control losses will catch up to the PEO eventually.

Whether the PEO has sophisticated methods and systems to track work comp claims or they are relying more on analysis of data supplied by the carrier, working to decrease the frequency and severity of claims is critical.  Procedures to monitor timeliness of reporting claims, uncover potential fraudulent claims, monitor medical care and job activity of the injured employee, and identify opportunities to provide safety training and guidelines can translate to significant decreases in loss ratio which will directly affect the bottom line.  In a guaranteed cost program, uncontrolled losses may not directly affect the bottom line in the current year, but you can guarantee that premiums will be increasing in the coming years making it more difficult to compete profitably.

Critical risk management measurements to focus on include:

• Loss ratio: the ability to measure the ratio of losses to premium billed.   This is the client’s most effective measure of the risk they add to your portfolio.  The lower the loss ratio, the better the client’s risk
• Average Time to Report: the more quickly an injured employee reports an injury and the claim management process begins, the more likely costs will be contained.
• Loss frequency: if loss claims are more frequent than industry averages, this would likely indicate poor safety measures or inadequate training procedures are in place.
• Severity of losses: claims that see the incurred value significantly increase from the original reserves on a repeated basis for a client would indicate poor loss control/claim management procedures

Unemployment Claim Cost:

The other significant cost item that can significantly affect the bottom line of any PEO is the cost of state unemployment taxes for their business.  Similar to the prior discussion, increases SUTA claims may not affect the bottom line in the short term and therefore is prone to mismanagement.  However, increased claims activity can dramatically increase the following year’s SUTA rate making it difficult to compete in the market profitably.  Once a downsizing company is added to the book of business, it is difficult to control the negative impact on the PEO’s SUTA experience rating.  Early detection of signs of distress and properly managing the employee’s paper trail and claim paperwork and follow up of a filed case can help to control this exposure.    

Though it is becoming increasingly difficult to win a disputed against a filed unemployment claim, proper termination and human resource procedures could discourage an employee from filing a claim in the first place and could minimize the exposure of the PEO.  More importantly, recognizing signs of distress for client companies and taking proactive measures to terminate the PEO relationship prior to mass terminations is the best way to control SUTA rates.  There are often warning signs that appear well in advance of the terminations but these signals must be identified and systems developed to address issues as they arise. 

Summary:

Measuring the Total Client Contribution and taking action to improve the average client contribution is an important activity for a PEO to maintain a healthy and profitable book of business.  Some consultants and business gurus recommend that a typical company should terminate 20% of their workforce every year to maintain the most effective personnel strategy.  Perhaps PEOs should take a similar approach with respect to their client book of business. 

While no PEO should take its responsibility to its client companies lightly and should recognize that terminating the PEO business relationship may put the client company in a difficult situation, responsibly shedding the “dead wood” in the book of business is a wise exercise to grow a healthy and profitable PEO.  Implementing a system and procedures that enable important measurements of Total Client Contribution to be quickly derived and analyzed will set the PEO apart from the competition and is the secret to profitable, long-term growth.

Client Profitability; Revenue Contribution Factors

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Dictionary.com defines "business" very simply as the "the purchase and sale of goods in an attempt to make a profit".  Sounds simple enough but so few service businesses out there are able to measure how valuable each customer is to their bottom line without spending countless hours assembling spreadsheets.  Perhaps the staff and leadership of your own company could make better decisions if this information was available on a moments notice behind a mouse click?

It starts with defining how to measure a client "contribution"; in other words when considering all incremental revenue and cost factors, both tangible and intangible, how much does each client add (or subtract) to your bottom line.  If this information were readily available, focusing your staff on profit maximizing activities would be fairly easy; make sure to take care of your best clients and either transform or fire clients that are not contributing to your bottom line.  Defining your contribution formula is more of an art than science but spending the time and effort to systematize this critical measurement will reveal that not all clients are created equal, even when they may look equal on a financial statement.

Revenue Contribution Factors:

For most businesses, defining the revenue side is pretty straight-forward and can be measured by looking at a cash flow statement.  Other factors that can be measured at least somewhat objectively would be new business referrals and/or positive references that help you close business.

A few intangible/subjective factors to consider adding to the equation would be timeliness of payment, predictability of revenue, growth potential, and the complexity of closing a sale. 

Let's say you earned an equal 100k in revenue last year from two clients, ABC Company and XYZ Company. ABC Company pays invoices on net 15 terms and rarely if ever needs a reminder. They share with you that they have a 100k budget for your services that will likely increase approximately 10% each of the next three years (mediocre growth).  ABC Company involves you in their timing and plans for your services.  They consider you an important partner in their success and sincerely wants to see your business thrive.  ABC Company has directly referred several clients to you and is always happy to take a call from a prospective client to help convince them that doing business with your company is a great decision.  They have directly or indirectly helped you bring in $75k in new business for which you would have happily paid them 5% commission for their role in the sales.

XYZ Company typically pays net 45 after one or more calls or emails from your bookkeeper.  They give you no indication of intent to make additional purchases in the coming years, and treats you as an unimportant vendor making each contract a new adventure in legal volleying and negotiation.  This client is not interested in your success, has never directly referred business to you, and is not even on your reference list because you are not sure of the message they would deliver to a prospective client.

It's obvious that ABC Company is worth more to your bottom line than XYZ Company.  Businesses run on cash, not goodwill so clearly the cash collected from a client is by far the most important factor.  But perhaps a formula that inflates or deflates cash collected to measure a client contribution would make sense.  As in the example above, ff the positive contribution factors you deem critical are timeliness of payments, predictability, ease of doing business, and referral credit then define measurements to plug into the formula. 
For example:

Client Contribution = (Cash received * (PAY * PRE * GRO * SAL)) + REF

• Timeliness of payment (PAY): 15 days or less = 1.02, 15 to 35 days = 1.0, 35 to 60 days = .98, >60 days = .96
• Predictability of revenue (PRE): very predictable = 1.02, somewhat predictable = 1.0, unpredictable = .99
• Growth Potential (GRO): strong growth = 1.03, mediocre growth = 1.01, unknown or no growth = 1.0
• Complexity of Sale (SAL): easy = 1.02, average = 1.0, difficult = .98
• Referral business (REF): new business referred or enhanced by client * percent credit for account.
  • Consider the client like a commissionable sales rep when determining how much of the revenue to credit them.

Given this formula, ABC Company contributed over $110k to your bottom line whereas XZY Company contributed approx $95k.

Single-Tenant Vs. Multi-Tenant Enterprise CRM

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In a recent article in CRMBuyer, Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle was interviewed and waged a frontal attack on the Salesforce.com architecture. 

"Multitenancy is a horrible idea," Ellison said. "What it means is, everyone's data is commingled, everyone's customer list is in a single database. That's a horrible security model. In the 21st century, the way we support multiple customers is called 'virtualization.'"  read article

ClientSpace competes with both Salesforce.com and Oracle's Fusion Apps.  But we agree with Mr. Ellison that a single tenant database architecture is superior from both a security and flexibility perspective. 

Our clients enjoy the freedom of hosting the application in our data center or within their own network.  Many start out in our data center and then move the application as they grow. 

Additionally, it is far easier to custom fit ClientSpace to specific needs of the business from a functionality, reporting, and system interface perspective. 

All PEO clients get an industry specific Enterprise CRM application right out of the box.  But most of our clients customize ClientSpace to fit their needs.  We illustrate how we do this using a peanut M&M (see video).  The strength ond versatility of our architecture allowed us to apply our deep industry knowledge to ClientSpacePEO and deliver a truly unique product.

Simple Businesses Still Need CRM

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The article below in CRMBuyer.com is a good illustration at how important it is to maintain a solid understanding of the needs and wants of your customers. http://www.crmbuyer.com/rsstory/71550.html. The author illustrates the importance of understanding the customer using Mr. Hooper, the friendly store owner from Sesame Street.

For the most part, I agree with the opinions of this author...with one exception. The author says, "Mr. Hooper could do this without the need for software because, as a very small business, he saw all his customers face to face.".

My business, NetWise Technology, is very small.  I have a handful of employees, under 50 customers (half of those being a signficant majority of our revenue), a few important referral partners, and just a few vendors.  My business would seem to be pretty simple to run and in all reality, it is relatively straight-forward. 

But I don't know what I would do if I was not managing my business using an Enterprise CRM system. 

We use ClientSpace, of course, to manage just about all apects of NetWise with the exception of a few basic accounting functions that are totally vanilla.  We have customized ClientSpace for our needs and like most of our clients, we can always think of a new feature that would make our business even easier. 

We keep track of our schedules, tasks, communications, sales activity, prospective deals, documents/images, client service issues, project specifications and plans, customer accounting, contracts, employer functions and a few other odds and ends all using ClientSpace.  Nothing I need to know is more than a few clicks away and available anywhere I can get to the Internet.

Most people that I expose to my internal company management are amazed.  Somehow they get by in their own businesses with a conglomeration of email, fancy spreadsheets, network folders, and if they are really cool, maybe a basic contact management system like Goldmine or Salesforce.  I guess I used to get by as well. 

I am amazed when I learn about new leads and how they manage their business.  Some of these companies have >100 employees, hundreds or thousands of clients, and revenue that would absorb my business as a rounding error.  Yet I look under the covers and see the same mish mosh of spreadsheets, sticky notes, checklists, and files strewn across the network. 

Five years ago I would have thought it would be impossible to compete without considering technology as a strategic component of operating a business of any size.  The day of the dinosaur seems to be hanging on but I expect extinction is not more than a few more years.

Call me if you are an evolutionary minded dinosaur.

Randy Wadle
(866) 474-0922 x701
rwadle@netwisetech.com

All These Acronyms - CRM Defined

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Is it me or does anyone else feel that just about everything in life that is described in more than two words has an acronym these days.  Acronyms in the technology sector alone could compete with many full blown languages. While these often sound cool and make some people feel smart, sometimes they are not a very effective way to communicate.  I believe that sometimes acronyms take simple things and make them more complex.  Other times, acronyms take something sophisticated and dulls it to fit within a broad definition.

“CRM” is a great example of an acronym that often has very different definitions depending on who you are talking to. Most people know that the letters stand for Customer (or client) Relationship Management.  But when you dive under the covers to determine what that really means to them, often the gaps between answers is as wide as the Grand Canyon.   

I recently read an engaging article (cio.com URL below) that provides a very simple and thought provoking answer to the CRM definition.  According to the author, CRM can be defined as “Conducting affairs with someone purchasing a commodity or a service”. This definition leads us to the conclusion that EVERY business does CRM in some form or fashion.  Some do it efficiently and successful, others don’t.  When you break it down, CRM can be defined as how good you are at doing your business.

When developing plans for a new business, most entrepreneurs think hard about defining the important processes that will be needed to build and deliver products and services to their customers which will result in the business making a profit.  But once “business” starts happening, “it” often gets in the way of figuring how well those processes are working.  Many businesses struggle with change and therefore continue using processes that were developed before the first customer was sold.  These processes may have had flawed designs in the first place or may have worked for a small number of transactions but don’t scale well.

Another intriguing concept brought forth in this article is that CRM is an evolutionary journey.  “CRM is not a destination; it’s a journey!...Just like the constant evolution of company culture, CRM evolves; it lives and must be nourished to blossom.”  Most business leaders would agree that a culture that adapts to change is critical for success.  A culture that focuses on the success of the customer relationship will clearly need to change as quickly as the needs and expectations of the customers change.  In some industries, this may force providers to continually adapt and change at a rapid pace.  Without a strong CRM framework of processes and flexible supporting systems, continual rapid change will be unsustainable.

“Experts of the trade have established that CRM will cease to be the opportunity for competitive advantage. Rather, lack of it will bring about competitive disadvantage.” Everything moves fast in our culture today.  Customers expect their providers to be able to keep up, and in most cases to be one step ahead, of their needs.  The companies that can adapt their processes and supporting technology to meet this expectation will thrive.  Those that can’t keep up may look to this definition of CRM…”Competition Ran MeOver”.

Source: CIO.com:    http://advice.cio.com/per_arild/crm_what_s_all_the_hype_about?page=0

Posted by: Per Arild in Best Practices

“What's all the crm hype about? Everybody does it but not all too well. Food for Thought”

Powerful Ad-hoc Reporting Added to ClientSpace

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Enterprise CRM: Find the Right Toolbox

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Most of us can't just break out the old toolset and dive into a project like rebuilding a car engine?  Why? Two reasons: 

1. You probably don't have the expertise to accomplish this task without messing up the engine even worse then where it started. 
2. Even if you did have the expertise, your standard garage toolset likely is not equipped with the tools needed to accomplish the task successfully and in a timely manner.

Everyone knows the old saying that if you only have a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.  I think that old addage applies to many of the behemoth CRM tools such as Salesforce.com.  They have a solid set of standard tools...a hammer, screwdriver, and maybe a pair of pliers and these work fine for tracking and organizing basic business processes.  But these systems struggle to deliver game changing results that will propel their clients to another level.  Why?  Because they focus on delivering the same basic solution to a PEO or Staffing company as they do to a cement company, law office, or multi-national jewlery retailer. 

http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74456&page=3

This is a great article on Salesforce.com's CEO.  Clearly Salesforce has been a leader in the revolution towards cloud computing and software that does not require significant infrastructure or IT personnel to maintain.  I envy the vision and determination of these types of leaders and their ability to translate that vision into explosive business growth. 

What I have found is that most companies have a level of sophistication and a unique way of doing things that makes them who they are.  Don't get me wrong, I am a big believer in "best practices" and not re-inventing the wheel at every turn.  But if all companies operated the same, virtually all products and services would be commodities.  I don't believe that is realistic nor do I think the world would be a very exciting place if it were true.

Successful companies take pride in their uniqueness and strive to continue to advance their competitive advantages.  Quite often, especially in the professional services market, it is their uniqueness that they sell to their prospects.  In a growing number of industries, a company's ability to effectively leverage technology is one of the primary drivers for it's success or failure. The PEO industry (co-employment) is definitely one of those that can heavily leverage technology to improve sales and service, streamline operations, and make better decisions. 

The PEO sales and service process is fairly complicated, at least compared to most industries.  Leading PEOs require a more focused set of software tools that can be integrated and molded to their unique processes.  These processes drive their ability to compete and to profitably serve a growing client base.  Filling the gaps with hard drives full of spreadsheets, word forms, PDFs, and custom DBMS apps will only take them so far. 

Buying a toolbox that includes tools to match the level of sophistication your business needs from a vendor that understands those needs will provide a return on investment instead of a investment to return (to the way it was before).  If you aren't able to clearly define the expected ROI from a new technology implementation or project, than it's probably not a good fit.  If you don't get a good feeling that your chosen vendor understands your needs, it's definitely not a good fit.

Let's face it, implementing Enterprise CRM software is a significant investment of time and money.  So make sure that the solution has worked for other businesses that are similar to yours and make sure that the software does not box you into their way of managing your business.

ClientSpacePEO Risk Management

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Did you know that ClientSpacePEO includes a powerful set of modules that are focused on management and measurement tools for your risk department?  That's right, ClientSpacePEO is CRM on steroids and leaves the traditional definition of CRM in the dust.  Tracking client service issues/tickets is one of the powerful modules that ClientSpacePEO includes but there is so much more to it.

Several of NetWise's existing clients utilize this functionality to manage workers' compensation claims and policies, produce OSHA reports, automate rules and notifications related to reporting injuries and processing claims, and tracking and producing certificates of insurance.

ClientSpace can handle a variety of work comp policy arrangements including master policies, client policies, master coordinated policies, and monopolistic states.  PEO clients that operate in multiple states may be covered by more than one of these arrangements giving you ultimate flexibility to customize deals with each client.

Using ClientSpace to record the first report of injury provides powerful workflow rules that cannot be matched by other systems.  Since ClientSpace includes a robust dataset interfaced nightly from the payroll system, business logic will process rules to insure the claim is for a valid employee that was active at the time of injury, has been receiving paychecks, and is paid for WC codes that have been approved for the client.  Client and employee data that is already present in ClientSpace does not need to be re-entered and is available for posting to forms and reports.  Even complex reports such as the wage statements can be produced using ClientSpace. 

Claim data will flow out of ClientSpace via EDI file transmissions (if your carrier is capable of accepting) or a comprehensive First Report of Injury PDF emailed to the carrier.  If necessary, we can build state specific FROI reports for transmission to the carrier.  Loss run data, typically sent or retrieved from carrier system monthly, is imported into ClientSpace keeping "as of date" valuing of claims all at your fingertips.

Properly formatted OSHA 300 and 300A reports are available by client location using claim data and return to work information entered into ClientSpace data forms.

For more information about how ClientSpacePEO could be the catalyst for success in your PEO, contact Randy Wadle at rwadle@netwisetech.com or (866) 474-0922 x1.

ClientSpace Compared to a Peanut M&M

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Why would a software company bungle through the production of a commercial about Peanut M&Ms?

Actually, the Peanut M&M, despite being a terribly addictive vice of mine, is a pretty good analog for the way that ClientSpace is architected.  We go through a detailed analysis of the architecture in a presentation video at http://www.netwisetech.com/peanutmm.

If you want to see why we are sticking with building leading edge software rather than video production, click here to see the Superbowl commercial you will be glad you missed.