Working Together, Weathering the Storm

13 July 2009

In these turbulent times many companies see their horizons begin to narrow. Increasing costs and reduced income can result in future plans being put on hold.

However, it is during these very times that forays into new markets and improved procedures can catapult your business past the competition. A quick and easy method to achieve this, whilst keeping initial overheads down, is to partner with specialist companies.

Classic business models suggest you bring all required skills in-house, to maximize profit, retain control and offer a seamless service to the client. While many of these factors can be accomplished this way there are several down sides:

Monetary

Whilst keeping everything in-house will retain the maximum profit from a particular contract, you will also increase your monthly wage and tooling spend. All fine if you can utilize that person/apparatus 100% of the time. However, this will become ever more difficult as you begin to limit your market sector to the larger contracts that require all these disciplines. You will also have to cover holiday/employee benefit costs and maintenance.

Future Development

A completely self reliant company will find itself unable to switch direction and products easily. Like an oil tanker, it is inherently slower to change its course in order to align itself with current issues. Factors such as recruitment, training and new tooling costs, will all add to its maneuvering problems. A company which uses the skills of partner companies however, is able to switch direction and products easily, find new services and products, and so offer to its existing clients more, plus attract new clients in an ever enlarging market sector.

Products Quality

Companies which have to keep abreast of the latest research and development on a wide range of topics will increasingly find it difficult to lead the market. Or, by leading on such a wide front, suffer from qualitative issues through lack of research time. A company that is focused on a particular skill is able to research and specialize more (sharing this information with their partners). Plus, they have the opportunity to jointly improve the creativity of the end result. By using the detached perspective a seperate company can offer, suggestions and altogether unrealised solutions can be generated.

Of course problems can occur when using multiple companies to service contracts, but the majority of these can be avoided and solved if planned out from the start. Regular communication is key to a successful partnership.

At Aawen we partner with many quality specialist companies. Whilst we may design for print there is no press in the back room. From a small list of select printers within Cornwall, we ensure that any printed material Aawen produces is of a high quality and at a good price. And, if for any reason anything goes wrong, we know that it will be corrected efficiently.

Websites are another area within Aawens remit. We set high standards for our websites design, content, navigation and creativity. To ensure this is continued through the coding and compliance phases, we place it though an outside agency who have the highest credentials and deal with the miriad of changes and updates on a daily basis.

The process for all companies is not just one way. There is a constant interchange of ideas and advice between all of us, on such things as techniques, papers, functionality, and much more. This ensures we are all aware of the advances in the differing fields, enabling us to apply the information to our own approaches and systems.

These relationships form the back bone of our company. Flexibility is our watch word and we are constantly looking to source new techniques and technology from other companies. Through co-operation we gain an understanding of the requirements and limitations of the material and so design accordingly. This ensures that the product the client receives is the best the technology will allow. In this way our actual ability to produce any marketing material is limitless.

Services and products are not the only way in which companies can co-operate. Joint marketing, where there is a shared market sector of two or more none competing companies, can slash costs and offer the potential client a more rounded solution to their needs or desires. Also, via networking groups such as British Networking International (BNI), companies can, if the opportunity arises, actively sell the other services/products of their fellow members during normal day to day sales. In turn they will gain business from other members selling them. It is also an ideal place to spot potential future business calibrations.

The latest form of collaboration Aawen is presently testing is the Integrated Business Enterprise Project. This project seeks to pull together a consortium of businesses to bid for work which otherwise would be out of the individual members reach. By blending skills, experience, qualifications and finances they hope to be able to meet the exacting briefs which government and the public sector in general produce, so leveling the market. As yet this is a work in progress, so I will let you know once we have gathered all the necessary facts.

Aawen has found that working jointly with other businesses is a source of strength and comfort. The market place no longer looks as daunting when you have another separate set of eyes and experience to draw from. As Darwin's theories have proved many times, the key to survival is the ability to adapt to your environment and evolve new methods in which to exploit it. Is it time for your company to evolve?