The impact of digital technologies on the sales process requires both technological know-how and common business skills, including “soft skills” in managing global and diversified processes, and the ability to promote collaboration between different projects.
In today’s digital world, it is necessary to stimulate innovation, but also to allow companies to maintain their competitive advantages because technology is changing the way organizations operate on an individual, a team and organisational level, and not all companies are able to take advantage of this change. Organizations face radical transformations in the business world and these changes can lead to stressful situations for their internal processes.
Today, sales managers must be successful in balancing the digital revolution with common business skills, have the ability to lead diverse teams and be effective in an inspiring collaboration that leads to real business results.
The days have passed when the digital transformation concerned the simple digitization of paper. The digital today deals with our personal and professional life, which drives countless business transactions conducted through digital practice. This includes both online ordering of goods and services through a smart mobile device to communicate with a colleague in an in-house IM and a large part of this digitalisation is already taken for granted.
Yet the constantly evolving iterations of emerging new technologies and the systems that are now available is just the beginning of the transformation process. A matter of choice, acquaintance and introduction of new technologies, along with alignment with manpower, the change of company culture and the deployment of training and development programs, will be needed to conquer this new digital business paradigm.
These are key elements of the successful digital transformation of any business, whether the transformation is widespread or limited to only one area or function of the company.
Here comes the role of outsourcing with a major role in this transformation as a complementary and conducive service for every business. But for the proper and successful implementation of an external service, analysis and understanding of the environment is necessary. While external companies can give a meaningful insight into successful digital transformation without neglecting the transposition of other internal processes of companies as their own plan.
The processes and solutions of each project are unique to the individual organizations and their business needs. That is why we must carefully analyse and clarify the internal processes of change management, identifying opportunities for learning and development and putting a strong emphasis on digital security. Finally, arming the organization with employees who have the skills needed to succeed in the digital economy, including flexible and critical thinking, and last but not least-excellent communication skills.
By definition “Outsourcing” is the provision for execution of third parties of activities, or outsourcing of contracts. In the case of pre-sales and sales activities, outsourcing may include the outsourcing of services covering the entire business management process or only a separate, ancillary pre-sales service.
The practice suggests that outsourcing of activities related to these processes can have a significant positive effect, but only with good organisation and coordination and precisely defined parameters and criteria for the execution of the process.
Outsourcing of pre-sales activities can be an opportunity for successful activity.
The merchants are searchers and explorers. In an effort to be competitive at any moment and to overtake their rivals in the business, knowingly, purposefully, systematically and actively to seek and to apply the novelties in terms of product, technology, organization and methods of supply. The study, evaluates and analyse the resources available, applying a holistic approach in this process.
Traders inherently step up the resources needed to carry out the activity by creating an organization for their optimum and highly effective realization.
Challenges in the outsourcing of services
Strategic benefits
- Faster corporate growth
- Access to qualified personnel
- Higher efficiency and better service
- Modernising the business process
- Accelerated Market Entry
- Technological flexibility and optimization
Challenges
- Costs for selection, verification and control of partners
- Harder management of a network of partners and contractors
- Complexity of supply chain management
- Potential vulnerability to providers ‘ unscrupulous actions
- Limited ability to protect intellectual assets
It is very important to establish specific objectives for bilateral efficiency in the teams with incentives to achieve and exceed these objectives. The exchange of information and interaction between the contracting authority’s internal team and the external team is the other workable model that will improve the technological processes and increase competitiveness. Such cooperation leads to broadening the core competencies of the own business and reinforcing its strengths.
After all, pre skills largely solve the battle in advance and can significantly shorten the negotiating stage in a single transaction, regardless of what nature.
Almost all decisions require time-they need so much attention that usually time is insufficient. However, the proposal must be prepared and submitted to the client on time. The successful handling of this challenge is one of the most important skills in the Pre-Sale process. The offer to the client must also comply with pre-contractual clauses, disclaimers, confidentiality, and must be very much in detail in order to avoid in advance the risks and ethical complications of closing a transaction.
Snejana Kalcheva has graduated in Industrial design at the Technical University, but has developed professionally in the field of marketing, advertising and sales. Since 2012, she has developed her own Business Day – as the main services are related to the outsourcing of pre-sales marketing activities for Bulgarian customers from the IT sector – software developers and others.
