Whether your enterprise is big or small, young or old, in retail or wholesale, it will more than likely have a human resources department, an area focusing on advertising and promotion, and a sales team. These are arguably the most important departments within any organization.
With that in mind, let us explore three trends currently at the forefront in each of these corporate domains.
Human Resources: Transformative Services
One of the biggest challenges many organizations face is hiring the right people. There are two principal reasons for this.
First, human potential is something that cannot be quantified. While your background, educational experience, and many other factors can help determine what you will do in the future and the likelihood of your success, it is anything but an exact science as it doesn’t consider motivation and the specific circumstances of a job. Second, once new staff joins an organization, HR managers must also consider other items such as onboarding processes, training, and the initial delegation of tasks.
Luckily, we live in a world where technological development has made this easier, faster, and more convenient. Today, firms in all industries have access to artificial intelligence recruitment aids as well as solutions like the HR case management ServiceNow system, an all-inclusive, innovative tool that not only records interactions between employees and HR staff but also drives higher employee engagement, uses automation to speed up HR processes, and measures HR work while providing superior service to all members within an organization.
Marketing: A Customized Level Playing Field
Regardless of industry or field, many companies spend vast financial resources on advertising and promotion. This is especially true in enterprises providing retail products or services such as clothing, food, electronic equipment, language training, other types of education, and entertainment. After all, the larger the number of people familiar with what you are offering, the greater the chances of selling it to them and the more significant the sales and profit.
And while giant multinational corporations can indulge in million-dollar TV commercials during the Super Bowl or Olympic Games or full-page ads on popular newspapers and magazines, this is something smaller businesses cannot afford to do. If that is the case, how can they compete with players having deeper pockets to make use of? Is this even something they can do?
In the past, the answers to these and other pertinent questions were a definite NO. In essence, if you didn’t have money to promote your products, you would be relegated to the back of the pack, struggling to survive.
At present, things have drastically changed. With the exponential growth of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, smaller firms can now engage in two-way communication with potential and existing customers at a fraction of the price. In addition, they can create customized marketing campaigns based on user reviews, comments, and other types of online consumer interactions.
Sales: Global Collaboration and Efficiency
Almost a quarter into the 21st century, most people are familiar with customer relationship management software or CRM. And if they aren’t aware of the different service levels that each program can offer, they have at least heard about many of these systems and understand in general terms what they can do.
In simple terms, a CRM allows an organization to track leads, create reports based on various components like purchasing probability, customer information, and buying preferences, and design strategies to maximize revenue and target specific markets. More robust options like Salesforce or Bigin by Zoho also include multi-faceted, customizable databases where information is stored, reported, and analyzed continuously. This means that no matter whether you are in London, Tokyo, or Rio de Janeiro, sales agents can work together in marketing and promotional efforts and update data in real-time. From a customer perspective, it entails a higher level of service that is both user-specific and reliable.
And it doesn’t stop there. Along with CRMs, there is also a wide variety of presentation and videoconferencing platforms that let people on all corners of the globe connect to brainstorm best practices policies and develop effective, achievable short and long-term goals for the enterprise.
Three key trends in human resources, marketing, and sales are interactive, transformative services in employee recruitment and management, a long list of online advertising options for firms with smaller budgets, and a global spectrum of collaborative services for dealing with your clientele. For organizations, understanding these trends and knowing how to best make use of them can signify the difference between maximizing their chances of prosperity and drowning in a sea of competitors who, oftentimes, have more money.