While many economists can disagree with the speed of the recovery, there are a couple of areas where there is general agreement.
Firstly, the economic crisis has bottomed out, and secondly, it will likely be an uneven recovery.
The term “uneven” can be used to describe the ups and down nature of the recovery, and also the geographic distribution recovery rates and order.
According to a published report, Goldman Sachs has indicated that Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom will emerge from the recession ahead of the United States, Japan and Europe.
In Canada, a return to historical levels of economic growth should occur in mid 2010 and into early 2011. It is no secret that there is slack in the economies, and that the growth in the economy should allow the gap between potential and actual output to be closed by as early as 2013 for Canada.
At FOX GROUP, we believe that our traditional conservative approach within the Canadian banking industry, combined with seven years of federal budget surpluses, and the value of our resource sector is allowing Canada to be seen as a global economic model.
What does this mean for Canadian SMB’s?
As the Canadian economy turns the corner, there will be a lag between aggregate economic growth and the impact on the labour market.
However, a forward thinking organization will understand that the keys to success in the longer run will be their ability to attract and retain the best and the brightest resources.
The access to various network and mobile technologies allow SMB’s to market themselves in a worldwide economy, and to employ resources regardless of their geographic location. By allowing workers to work remotely, there can be a savings of $8,000 to $12,000 per E.Q.E. (equivalent employee) per year in overhead costs. (possible savings available for full time teleworkers).
Virtual Contact Centres for Optimization of Sales Resources
One of the key challenges facing organizations regardless of the business cycles is being able to optimize sales resources.
Being able to route prospects to the right individual within your business, disregarding location, not only provides new sales revenue, but also reduces the associated pre-sales costs.
For example, many SMB’s have multiple locations, so it makes sense to utilize resources across several sites to take advantage of skills based routing and most idle professional.
The contact centre solutions to drive these functionalities were developed initially for large contact centre environments, and have now been scaled down to support smaller environment. These functions are now also available by hosted service providers on a “per agent” pricing model, which can be a good alternative for SMBs.
As the economy recovers, organizations can leverage teleworking and “desk hotelling” to put a lid on the fixed costs associated without adding floor space to a business.
From our research working with many organizations developing telework strategies, the onetime and operating costs associated with establishing a teleworker with professional grade communication systems can have a payback in just a few months.
Not only does this allow SMB’s to reach out and leverage increasingly scarce resources, but it will allow growth to occur while avoiding the issues associated with managing added fixed costs when the next (inevitable) downturn occurs.
Do not hesitate to contact either Bill Elliott or Roberta Fox to discuss further. As always, I welcome your thoughts, feedback and comments. You can contact me at [email protected] or 905-473-3369 x 1001.
