Consultancy Business Performance Management

Consultancy Business surgical procedure concernProfile of alpha Consultants great Consultants is a focussing and IT consultancy pissed. It is a multi-disciplinary consultancy house, which offers services to both private and familiar sector arrangements in a liberal head for the hills of matters. important Consultants offers knowledge innovation, brings in entrepreneurial drive, helps create bonds mingled with clients and nodes and helps government activitys to achieve their endeavors with optimal efficiency. Alpha consultants deport a resource pool of over 100 of experts available at their disposal. Depending on the requirement of the frolic and the expertise that ar required for any particular project, services argon acquired from the consultants from their resource pool. What threads Alpha consultants on a lower floorpin out from their competitors is the diverse skillset and background of their consultants. It each(prenominal)ows the organisation to step in a wider and a bigger mart and do what others roll in the hay non.The professionals seated in the highest level at Alpha consultants bring multicultural baffle, mainly in the field of teaching and health. This allows Alpha Consultants to pitch solid proposals for both public and private sector projects in the instruction and health sectors. However, over the years, Alpha Consultants has managed to hire consultants from all the various fields and sectors to make reliable that they argon able to cope with any challenges that a project has to offer. It adds more value and reliability to their profile, temporary hookup also allowing them to aim at more diverse and untried personal credit line opportunities.Moreover, Alpha Consultant is an IT firm which has been providing solutions to both private and public sector institutions. By IT, it is clear that at that place is a signifi dismisst analogy of computer oriented workforce. So, it is not difficult to categorize it as a service concern blood line organization. It is currently not having a larger span of services so it falls into the class of junior-grade and medium enterprises. The illustrative report will reserve solutions and information related to management related functions on with other core trading operations of the consultancy house. Performance measurement is a set of tools to evaluate the performance of a firm.The services offered by Alpha Consultants allow in1Research, Evaluation and AssessmentProject Management, Design and PlanningStrategy abstract and Policy ReviewsInstitutional Development, Training and Organizational ManagementAdvocacyIT Media ConsultancyVisionAlpha consultants aims to snuff it partner in knowledge base innovation with institutes that be looking to bring change to the world. Their vision is to make a unwrap in service excellence with the help of their skilled and experient consultants. Alpha consultants looks off to become a conjure up that is known to turn in sustainable and innovative solutions and help their clients in cogency building, partnership building and organizational development. They want to become the bridge to fill in the gap between the clients and customers with a vision for both entrepreneurial and pitying development. 2iEvery lineage organisation has few certified Aims and objectives based on the strategy devised by the governing structure. Alpha Consultant as one a SME aims to surpass out the IT departments of their clients and provide multi-disciplinary services in the ICT spectrum. The technical facilities rear end be managed by IT Media Division with a concoction of management services or it bay window deliver a full fledge built IT agreement to clients. The mixture of both will also be offered by the firm.MissionThe fundamental purpose of the organization is to use their expertise and receive to help their clients achieve rude(a) milestones. Alpha consultants consume highly professional, experien ced and skilled experts in the field of Management, Development and IT. It is currently engaged with various NGOs and Public sector organization who are running(a) in development sector in various less privileged and at a lower place developed areas. It has worked in various war and disaster struck areas for divergent national and multinational organizations. In the future, it aims to expand the target projects and aim to provide consultancy not just in development and health sector, tho also in IT, Media, Education and other domains. It plans to move into more professional areas such as organization development and structural environment of organizations and work in more developed areas.Factors Affecting Business PerformanceInternalInnovation in the applied science and the response of employees is considered of the most important factor affecting the business environment. In the case of this firm, which is in a way part of the growing IT industry it is necessary to give respo nse to every(prenominal) change in the technology. The employees or the software package engineers are not that much learn as the fresh technology comes and their expertise becomes outdated.ExternalThe political environment and the legislation of the regimen for IT activities hold back a great impact on management consultancy businesses. The licensing services and the tax structure changes rapidly whenever new technology is introduced that the business policies and strategy has to be changed. In the case of IT one of the most important factors is the overtureibility of low cost substitutes being offered in the international market.Assessing the Situation SWOT AnalysisStrengthsExtensive experience of the lynchpin personals in the assignment and their relations with officials in their major clients is the refer strength of Alpha consultants.They induce a broad range of clients and get various types of projects on regular basis.Alpha consultants has a wide set of expertise, the diverse resource pool allowing them to select experts from all various fields for any desired job.They curb been known around the world and get large scale projects from international clients and get payments in international currency hence generating revenues and enhance profitability.The old presence of the order helps to gain the advantage of perpetrate through which a dandy base of loyal customers can buoy be maintained. About 64% of the customers of this SME are using it for supplies. This is a very strong feature of a firm. Company has got a strong pecuniary position as there is no Debt to Equity ratios due to absence of Debt. The companys share is with 150 employees simply they are serving their own company and they are connected with it (100, 2014).Weaknesses intimately consultants/experts are not employees, instead Alpha consultants has to hire freelance experts who work on contractual basis.Freelancer experts charge handsome amounts of fee and every time servi ces are acquired, company has to search, track and negotiate with experts for each separate job.There are certain weaknesses as compared to other competing companies i.e. the assiduity of the firm is divided into multiple segments under the name of Alpha Consultants. There are no separate services entities. Along with this the company is alone targeting the local and the concentration towards internationalization is very less while other firms are going international or global. Considering the outreach the companies have got internationally now with the social media and search engine tools the competition has gotten very tough. Moreover, the handheld devices and smartphones influx have changed the dimension of IT industry on a massive level. Adapting to the changing sine qua nons of the market and new technologies has become very important for SME said(prenominal) Alpha Co and not being able to expand its outreach to international market has been a very major weakness.Opportuni tiesDue to their wide and diverse resource pool, they can get across all different sorts of projects and explore new work areas. Yet, Alpha consultants is associated with various NGOs and public sector organizations.Alpha consultants can use their IT and Media professionals to explore new IT grounds, provide services to Telecom giants and Entertainment industry. Also they can form collaboration with defense institutes to provide various services.As they get projects on usual basis, they need young talent as well as experienced staff. They provide employment opportunities to fresh graduates and experienced jobseekers to get benefit from their energetic minds and use them in project developments by providing economic salaries.Many of the IT firms from EU are now outsourcing the basic tasks to south Asian countries like India. This can be a keen hazard for Alpha Co to save costs along with efficiency in work. Another opportunity is to establish umbrella brands and other co-brands fo r different segment of IT services.ThreatsThe consultants who are not Alpha consultants employees alone working only on contractual basis, get to interact with their clients and form bonds. These consultants not only gain experience under the banner of Alpha consultants, but if they decide to work alone, they can ruin these connections and the inside knowledge they have to offer competition.Freelancers will be working on organization projects they may have access to the organizational internal details and may leak out this confidential information to others.If at some stage project accomplished by freelancer comes to the organization for feature addition or updations, the freelancer may not be available to complete that project or charge fee more than the budget. In that case, Alpha consultants has to hire a new freelance expert who will starting signal have to understand all the previous work and this leads to wastage of time as well as money.There are multiple threats associated with IT business and SME sector. To make SME is not at all a difficult task. Most of the IT business and core operations are being performed in underdeveloped countries or the third world countries. The reason is that the cost is lessoned as compared to EU. So Alpha Consultants has threat of new entrants in the same field along with the cost finding in the current scenario of changing business environment.Overcoming WeaknessesThere are different strategies to overcoming the weaknesses of SME like Alpha Co. The first solution is to outsource majorly activities for the development of fundament and software. Secondly, branding can prove to be a key of success. Human Resource system will be needed if the company is internationalized. According to the research the internationalization of the SME brings in 7% employment chances and gives growth to the firms. So for these methods and alternatives the rating is given in this reportOutsourcingMost of the processes like development of the script of different software can be outsourced to other countries like India, where the IT infrastructure is cheap. In this way the company will be able to earn more profit by covering most of the cost incurred. The outsourcing technique will provide a contribution towards social upbeat as the company will provide employment sources. Outsourcing for other activities will also help the company to attain the status of global organization.BrandingThe services being offered separately can be considered as different brands likeAlpha Management ConsultantsAlpha Media Advocacy ConsultantsAlpha IT ConsultantsIn this way different service segments will be considered as different service entities. These services will be provided under the umbrella of parent brand Alpha Consultancy. It will show the expansion of business in substantive as well as in imaginary terms. The co-branding technique will provide boost to the company. allowance SystemAfter going international, the company may develo p some compensation systems to provide strong incomes to the new employees from different companies. So that the motivation level of the employees may get higher and they may dedicate towards innovation and development.Constraint and RestrictionsThere are many types of restriction mounted by the local authorities on small businesses. In the case of consultancy business, there are following restrictionsRegistrationThe business or the SME should be registered under authorities with correct particulars. It should mention everything related to business and prove that is ethical business and there is no harm for environment.AuthorizationThe SME should be authorized by the governing bodies of the country. The trademark should be registered and there should be acquisition of copyrights to run a Small Medium enterprise. This is very important that the name should be unique and in the case of IT, the processes should not be imitated from any other firm.EvaluationThe evaluation of small M edium Enterprise is necessary as the government of EU countries takes the working infrastructure of employees in account. The working of employees and the utilization of human resources are checked and evaluated by different authorities.Responsibilities and Liabilities of Owner ManagersOwnerIn small and medium enterprises there are multiple roles associated with owner of the business. Owner is not only an investor, but is also responsible to make business strategy of the business. Conduct Financial analysis and arrange the finances if needed. Check the legal requirement of the firm along with some attention to the marketing and sales activities of the business. Managing human resource and customer feedback evaluation is also one of the liabilities of owners. In SMEs with more than one owner it is important to contribute in terms of time and finance equally in the business.ManagerThere are four basic management functions which should be performed by every type of tutor. These four basic functions includePlanningLeadingControllingOrganizingBy planning it is meant to plan the routine and day to day activities in the business. In the case of Alpha Consultants it is necessary to plan activities which are the part of multiple projects on going. almost are the management consultancy projects while other is the IT services being offered different firms. The manager should ensure the good planning. Then the manager should lead the working team of employees in accordance with the policy and objectives of the business. As to provide the solutions for IT and management both, it is necessary for a manager to provide a controlled environment in which the activities are nonionized to deliver dress hat quality in time. Such services can only be delivered when there is a proper control and innovation is appreciated through the leading role of a manager in business (Fincham, 2000).FinanceThere financial status of Alpha Consultant is one of the best in its kind. It is a deb t free company. There is no incorporation and the proprietorship is sole. The companys profit is increasing gradually with time due to appropriate cost base with respect to other companies.Marketing and SalesThe customer base of Alpha Co must be very strong as it has started from providing services only to customers and now it reselling the services to end users as well as public and private sector. Most of the customers were of public sector organizations. The company has increased its business portfolio by providing multiple solutions. These multiple solutions include Infrastructure, Microsoft, networking, optimized desktop, Asset Management and security. The other SMEs in this category are only limited to one type of services like only security or networking. Very less firms are giving asset management software oriented services (Eikebrokk, 2007).According to the secondary research given in the assignment, IT firm from UK or EU can easily internationalize on the basis of service s provided online. In this way the firm can increase the profit and employment capacity.Human resourcesThere are about 600 people in the SME. They are very energetic and like tradition strong innovation is demanded from the skilled workers of the firm. The detailed analysis provides the militant advantage of Alpha Co on other similar firms. This advantage is that apart from passionate employees the penchant is given to disciplined, flexible and diversified employees. In this way the firm stands at its best among other firms of same category.Use of TechnologyAs this is an IT related firm and knows better to use the technology. The company is using the technology related to multiple fields at once. It has got many advantages along with the disadvantages. It is very difficult for a SME to provide core operations of different or multiple solutions. Especially in IT one business SME can only provide expert solution for one factor of the technology. There are other firms in the category which are having customer base and expertise only in one sector of the technology. Whether its the web, security or networking Alpha Consultants is giving multiple solutions which is the good point but customer can perceive a Jack of all trades and Master of None type stereotype.Developing Strategies, Goals and ObjectivesConsidering the weaknesses and threats faced by Alpha consultants, a number of recommendations can be suggestedAlpha consultants has a huge resource pool. It has professionals and experts in tens of sectors and fields. However, the key professionals inside the organization are development experts, so they key focus is on development projects. It strongly needs a separate department that will be dedicated to hunting new opportunities and finding new projects. That way Alpha consultants will be able to target various new projects and explore untouched domains.As discussed in the SWOT analysis, when Alpha consultants has to acquire freelance experts for various proje cts, it not only allows the consultants and experts to get access to companys information, but also allows them to interact with their clients. These freelance professionals can exploit this information. However, if Alpha consultants hires more experts as their employees rather than outsourcing to freelance expert, it can gain a sens of advantage.We have been discussed that Alpha consultants has both the valuable experience and a valued name in development and health sector. It can use this name and use their profile to land in new opportunities. By entering new domains, it is expanding and at the same time giving the business a bigger name. The goal of Alpha consultants at the moment should be to gain multi-sector and multi-regional experience using its already established name in development sector. Areas such as Telecom giants, Defense organizations, Financial Institutions and Entrepreneurial start-ups are key areas of focused. Alpha consultants with their experience can provide assistance to all these clients, while also helping their cozy growth.References100, T., 2014. The Top 100 European Software Vendors European Software Vendors Ranking 2013. Online addressable at http//www.truffle100.com/2013/ranking.php Accessed February 2014.Eikebrokk, T.R., 2007. randomness and Management An empirical investigation of competency factors affecting e-business success in European SMEs. Elsevier.Europa, 2012. SoftCat A theatrical role Study. Europa.Fincham, J.E., 2000. Basic Management Principles. University of Kansas, School pf Pharmacy.ISO, 2012. Quality Management Report. ISO Central Secretariat.Softcat, 2014. SoftCat Our People. Online Available at http//www.softcat.com/who-we-are/our-people Accessed February 2014.www.softcat.com, 2014. Softcat Limited. Terms and Conditions for Customers. Online SoftCat Available at www.softcat.com/explorer/files/SoftcatTerms_Conditions.pdf Accessed 2014.i Alpha Consultants (2013). Alpha Consultants, Expertise in Detail. Retr ieved From http//www.Alphaconsultants.com/Alpha/closerlook.html