Rosetta Carrington Lue


Organizations today face a multitude of challenges; baby boomers fast approaching retirement eligibility, global economy, aging workforce, need for knowledge workers, war for talent, tight budgets, changing customer demographics, increasing health care costs, etc. This has left many organizations wondering how they will fill future leadership positions.

To be successful an organization must have effective leadership. Too often the people are promoted into leadership roles because of their technical expertise and/or tenure with the organization. What’s often overlooked is whether the individual has the ability/talent to lead. Leading is about building and maintaining relationships. To thrive in the 21st century, a leadership-mindset will need to be embedded in the culture of organizations and leaders groomed at every level.

To achieve this, an organization must align the employees’ efforts with the organizational goals, initiatives, and service delivery requirements. Productivity must be measured by results versus tasks. The expected results must be communicated up front to help employees focus their energy on activities the will help meet or exceed those goals.

Employees who are officially identified as leaders in their organizations such as managers, supervisors, team leaders, foreman, etc. must continually ask themselves if the tasks performed by their team will achieve the desired results. If no, it is the leader’s responsibility to stop the activity and refocus the group.

Where to Begin

Start by defining what the organization needs from its leaders (skills, competencies, level of business acumen). Then assess if the organization has what is needed in the right areas (do you have the right people in the right jobs, right now. Equally important is to gauge an individual’s desire to be a leader. If the manager doesn’t like being in a leadership role, then he/she is most likely to be disengaged therefore cultivating disengagement within their own group.

Once the skill gaps have been identified (by comparing organization needs to current leaders’ skills, competencies, etc.) one must ask: Can the skill gap be taught or is it a talent issue? Talent is a person’s natural gifts; we’re born with them. Skill is the ability to take knowledge and willingly turn it into performance (results). There is no quick fix to overcoming many of the leadership gaps. Leadership growth and development must be nurtured regularly. Talent on the other hand must be hired within the position.

Develop a plan for addressing the gaps within the leadership team. Skills may be developed using ongoing training and practical application of the newly acquired knowledge. Prioritize and focus on a few gaps at a time.

Congratulation, you are now on the journey towards a service culture of organizational performance excellence.

kendra


I’ve been on the Swim Team at my high school for two years now and I don’t really enjoy it, but I’ve mainly been on it for the excersice and the fact that it probably looks good on my college resume. I don’t really enjoy it that much, in fact some days I dread it. Recently my friend asked me if I wanted to help her manage the Boy Track Team, and I think that it’d be fun and all, but what about the college resume part? Would managing a sports team look good to colleges? Help!

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Kris Nickerson


There are so many business management software solutions available today that a small- or medium-size business owner faces tough decisions about how to invest his or her resources. According to Michael Emaus, CEO of eEnterprise (www.eEnterprise.com), a division of NetSuite’s global reseller Skyytek Worldwide, there are basically three choices: custom applications, client-server applications, and on-demand Web-based applications. “The cost benefit analysis leaves no doubt that on-demand solutions provide the greatest integration and cost efficiency for growth-oriented enterprises,” he says.

“Customized software that is designed either in house or by developers for a specific business is extremely costly, in terms of development and hardware, and for maintenance,” says Emaus. He notes that, more importantly, such applications are not designed to adapt as the business grows, and so business owners are saddled with costly upgrades. “Small- and medium-sized businesses simply don’t have the resources to develop and maintain custom applications,” Emaus adds.

Client-server applications, which are typically licensed to a business, are also problematic. “Invariably, business owners are faced with the challenge of having several different applications that can’t ‘talk’ to one another,” says Emaus. Without seamless integration, owners have no way to, for example, cross-reference accounting and customer service data or company information and e-commerce. “This results in a hodge-podge solution that doesn’t give an enterprise the information it needs to grow,” he adds.

Growth is one of the two primary differentiators between Web-based on-demand business management software applications and its cousins. “On-demand solutions such as NetSuite represent a paradigm shift in the way business owners manage their customer, vendor, or partner base,” says Emaus. “NetSuite is not an application that ‘supports’ an existing business, but rather is one dedicated to ‘growing’ a business. Because it has four fully integrated components, it’s both highly scalable and highly customizable.”

The second major differentiator between NetSuite and other business management software options is that it is all functionality is available virtually instantaneously. “When we talk to business owners, we don’t have to spend their time or resources talking technology,” says Emaus. “NetSuite has taken care of that. Instead, we can talk about the individual company’s business goals, growth potential, and workflow.”

Lastly, the total cost of on-demand over a five-year period is substantially less than either customized or client-server applications. “Business Owners who think of on-demand as their most efficient, most productive, long-term employee” concludes Emaus, “have the most success. In the past, business owners have not been able to consider Information Technology as a profit center. NetSuite makes it possible, but you have to rethink everything.”

Chetan Amalean


Once a software product undergoes different stages of development phase, a big task is to employ software quality assurance strategies to ensure the adaptation of the end product in the company’s environment. The quality assurance of a software product is an ongoing process, which begins as soon as software is in its nascent stage of development. The product designed by software development offshore company must be process compliant to run successfully in business environment. The company offering offshore software development solutions, often works in association with management team to assure the quality of product. Thus, a key role is played by management team in making the end product adhered to process and procedure.

Maintaining Visibility for Sound Results

Whenever a software product is developed by onshore offshore software development firms, there are various types of professionals, keeping constant eyes at development of product. The software quality assurance group is one of these professional teams. Hence, a high level of visibility is required to precisely evaluate a product under construction. If the end product is not developed according to the needs and requirements of company, the client might have to face big time losses.

Roles Played by Quality Assurance Group

A software quality assurance group is an important part and parcel of software development and its acceptance afterwards. Here are few most important roles played by professionals in this group:

    * The quality assurance people have the task to ensure flexibility of product developed by a software development offshore company. The end product must be capable of getting adapted in atmospheres of different companies installing it.

    * Another task of people involved in quality assurance procedures of software is to ensure the customization characteristics of product to be delivered at end. Again, the product must be capable of being customized according to needs of different companies.

    * The people engaged in software quality assurance must ensure that the end product is going to meet all the standards, processes and procedures already prevailing in different types of companies.

An important aspect of software product quality assurance is that it is different from quality test. While, quality assurance is based upon standards and established plans, quality test procedures are followed on the bases of concrete figures and numbers. Thus, there must be two separate teams for Software Quality Assurance and software quality testing.

An onshore offshore software development company known as Digital Sabre provides enough space to quality assurance team to leave no scope for delivery of an unfavorable product. You may take a look at offshore software development solutions offered at www.digitalsabre.net to choose right company for your software development needs. The company employs teams of experts to service each and every customer with equal level of zeal. The uniqueness of their Offshore Software Development Services is the integration of an onshore local project management office with an offshore development team. This ensures continuous reliable communication with clients along with highly competitive proposals. Their project managers are seasoned skilled professionals that are dedicated to ensuring customer satisfaction. Its home office staff in Charlotte, NC provides easy local communication. You can get cost effective solutions to enhance your business value.