11 Best Practices for a Successful Client-Provider Relationship

A valuable concept to trust for every B2B or service-related business is developing relationships between the company and the clients. At ISU corp, we stress the importance of building, developing, and nurturing relationships between our company and our clients. We have been able to distinguish ourselves from the competition through strong relationships, and one of the very reasons clients continue to work with us is because we always go the extra mile to ensure their satisfaction with our work. 

To nurture this relationship, both parties should follow these eleven simple commandments:

1. Be patient in building new relationships. 

Relationships take time. Take time to get to know your client, instead of indulging in hypocritical networking, as it can be a severe put-off. It is prominent to note that your work for your client is paramount in building a relationship, as no amount of personal connection can substitute for a great job.

2. Do your research (Due diligence)

An online presence which includes the website, reviews, and social media, is the simplest way to learn who you are forming a relationship with and learn their company culture. It’s crucial for the service provider to learn what their clients do, to be familiar with their industry, and learn about their target market. Reading up on the service provider’s industry will help the clients to learn about the average prices and the service providers’ reputation.  

3. Ask questions

When an individual needs more understanding or information on a subject, all he or she has to do is ask. This is why the saying "you won't know unless you ask" is relevant in this context. In order to know the worth of anything, understanding it is key

4. Answer questions

The partnership consists of two or more parties, which means it is a two-way relationship. Now that there are questions asked, it is essential to make sure that they get answered on time and efficiently.

5. Read the documents you are given, they are essential

Clients often provide information to the service providers about the project or services they need (RFPs, Requirements, Project Plans, etc.). These documents include essential information service providers require to fulfill the project demands. Hence the service providers need to read and understand these documents and act accordingly.

Then again, service providers provide their clients with several documents that explain the requirements, process, and terms and conditions of the project. These documents are written for a purpose, trust us when we say Technical Documents are NOT fun to write. These documents are used as the groundwork for your software and are used in the whole development process after. If you don’t get anything, be sure to ask for them.

6. Walk in the other party’s shoes

Both parties should be understanding in identifying each other’s needs and requirements. Not every glitch, hitch, and delay are the fault of the service provider. And the service provider should regard the client’s issues and projects as if it were their own. 

7. Give reasonable pricing/estimation

Both service providers and clients need to be practical when it comes to cost, time estimation, and budgeting. As a service provider, you must break down estimates for the client to help them understand where the pricing is coming from. 

8. Be open to suggestions

As a client, you are outsourcing by hiring service providers to help with processes you cannot do yourselves. Therefore, you need to be open to new ideas, new opinions, and take the time to listen to the suggestions from the experts in the field.

On the other hand, the clients are the professionals in their company and industry. Since they are well informed of their target audience and the preferences that will be best suitable for their business, it is essential to listen to their suggestions as well.

9. Be more than an email address

Communication is the key to growing a great and prosperous relationship. Clear, abundant, effective, and direct communication helps both parties. Although emails are convenient, it is not always the most effective. A phone call, an in-person or Skype meeting will help to put a face or voice to a name. These are great ways to build a better relationship with your client.

10. Adhere to the appropriate communication protocol

It is essential to stick to the contact information and communication process you were given to ensure communication lines are clean and clear. The team member or group of people were appointed to be the point of contact to avoid confusion and broken communication.

11. Follow up and stay in touch

The completion of the project does not mean the partnership is over. Most service providers have maintenance and support packages. There will always be maintenance and new revisions to be done in the future. And the learning curve will be much shorter if another project comes in.

Here at ISU corp we strive to provide the best possible partnership. If you are interested in working together, please contact us!

Data Visualization vs. Data Analytics

As data is becoming more of the central focus point for competitive advantage, many enterprises are seeking new ways to identify and analyze the data being generated. These enterprises use pie-charts, intuitive graphs, and various forms of visualizations to form a deeper analysis for their sales, revenue and other factors of company operations. 

Although, a balanced approach with both data analytics and data visualization is necessary when formulating an effective data strategy. The reason being, the use of the data visualizations listed above, completely depends on how effective the data is or how the data is used to form conclusive decisions. 

If you thought data visualization and analytics was one in the same- don’t worry, that’s a common mistake many enterprises make. The confusion stems from both aspects allowing users to understand the data and acquire the metrics, which assist in decision making. 

As each year passes, more and more data is generated; causing information overload. The data being generated multiplies EVERY 3 years! So, you can understand why it is crucial to have the necessary resources to interpret all of that information.

On the other hand, this information overload isn’t so bad…

There’s quite a few projections showing an almost certain exponential growth in revenue for big data within the software market. 

Are you still unclear on the difference between data visualization and data analytics? 

Don’t worry, this confusion is common as we mentioned because both forms represent data in visual interfaces. 

However, regardless of the similarities between the two, data analytics dives in deeper with data comprehension than data visualization. The pretty picture at the end is significant, but is definitely not the backbone - the tools and algorithms used to produce the final product is just as important (if not more)! 

Confusion No More: Difference Between Data Visualization and Data Analytics 

Let’s start with data visualization: 

This is the representation of the data in visual form - making the trends and patterns essential in the data the central factor. If you’re using text-based data, such visualizations may not be possible or explicit to the data. As the traditional forms of visualizations are falling off the grid, such as line graphs, charts, and so on, 3D visualizations are taking their place. With 3D visualizations, users are able to manipulate the data with tools available through the application of filters. 

Now let’s dive further into the world of big data. What does data analytics look like? 

This aspect identifies and discovers new trends and patterns throughout the data. Although data visualizations allows users to understand the data, it doesn’t show everything. Visual representations can only be effective if the data being used to create the visualization is effective. So, what does that really mean?

If you’re inputting incomplete data into your visualization machine, then you can only expect a half complete representation of your data. What makes this EVEN more complex is the fact that enterprises are receiving data from multiple sources and storing this data into varying archives. This makes it more difficult to gather comprehensive data for data visualizations. 

Visualization tools handle the fresh, raw, unformatted data, while analytics tools use data mining algorithms to properly clean and evaluate the data by using different evaluations and software resources. With the completion of this, you’re able to subject the data to algorithms and proceed with your decision on how to display your results. 

First Step: Data Integration 

In order to produce an effective analysis, it is required that you consolidate all the data into one space. There are of course analytical engines that collect data from multiple sources, however, by consolidating the data into one space; it provides you with one single version of “the truth”. This prevents the risk of duplication and contradicting information from distorting the visualizations. 

With the continuous increase in data production, manual aggregation has become nearly impossible. Which is why, there are more and more releases of software tools and platforms available on the market - to provide you with an effective automated solution. These automated solutions clean your messy data, which would otherwise be inevitable with disparate sources and users. 

Second Step: Data Analysis 

After the cleaning process, the data is subjected to analysis and/or performance calculations on the data. With a growing business environment, data analysis is becoming more complex. With speed being the #1 necessity, multi-stage formulas have been integrated into the process which allow for multiple calculations to be done all at once. Data visualization involves reporting data rather than analyzing it and because of that, most tools are restricted when it comes to aggregations per formula. 

This is why we have data analysis! It allows for users to create complex formulas, even while working in separate sources. The software proves to be useful as it takes the required pre-calculations automatically - saving you time. 

Are you a business seeking success in today’s speedy world? 

Consider analytics tools that update your data and facilitate collaboration. An analytical tool such as IBM Cognos takes your data and uses a plug-and-play structure to create colourful interfaces. 

Many businesses within the retail sector are using data analytics to advance their processes and in turn, maximize their revenue. Data visualizations and analytics have assisted them in not only discovering new trends, but also have shown insights into customer behaviour, which help companies develop initiatives to achieve success. 

Moreover, advanced analytics such as comprehensive business intelligence analytics suites, offer a predictive projection which is based on complex algorithms using languages like R and Python. Some of the key technologies used by business intelligence platforms are: dashboards, data warehousing, and advanced data visualization. 

Always make sure that the solution provides you as the user, flexibility and ability to combine data in whichever way you need. 

It’s also important you’re staying up to date and keeping up with the trends. The latest analytical platforms are using natural language processing along with chatbots to ensure users are easily able to perform calculations and input their inquiries without trouble. Some of the current advancements in the technology include location-based intelligence, which increases your chances of revenue through the use of analytics and customer insights. 

The Last Step

Keep in mind that although the most effective visualization is based on analytics, the representation doesn’t always need to be the end of the process. It is common to take data analytics and visualization and throw them into a cycle. 

If we look at machine learning and predictive modeling applications for example, the success of targeted emails depend on the cyclical process. Data visualization can start us off, followed by analysts putting specific variables into a graph in order to identify patterns or metrics, such as median averages, standard deviation metrics, and data spread. This helps you gain an understanding of your data. 

Thus, it’s obvious that both analytics and visualization handle data. Data visualization creates a user-friendly guide to understand the report, but without cleaning the messy data and applying it to advanced algorithms, you will end up with more confusion than comprehension. This is where data analytics comes into play, while data visualization provides a summary of the data, the analytics provides the necessary tools for the correct portrayal of the data. 

Incorporate both and you will receive the best possible software solution!

Are you struggling to keep up with the fast-paced growing exponential rates?

Let us help you, with insights, decision-making, efficiency and more! 

Design your Week, Control your Time!

In life you have two choices; you either float through it by accident, dragged by its currents and moods, or you can do it on-purpose taking control of the helm and setting a course of your own design.

You can be reactive, or proactive… what’s it going to be?

Of course, I know; you cannot plan for everything. There are events you cannot anticipate, but it is a hell of a lot easier to get to your destination when you are proactive and have your destination in mind; and one great way to approach this strategy is by creating your Ideal Week, kind of a chart and a compass to steer you in the right direction.

I first heard of this concept from author, coach, and speaker Donald Miller, who originally heard it from his coach. The idea is similar to a financial budget; only in this one, you will plan how you will manage your time instead of your money.

Setting your Plan

In anyone’s ideal week –that is, the week you would live if you could control everything that happens to you- should be divided into a simple grid, so each day of the week has a main theme (listed at the top of the planner), and each day also is segmented into blocks, related to a specific focus area.

Themes

For instance, on an Ideal Week, the themes for the days of the week could be:

• Mondays could be Teams (one-on-one meetings, staff meetings, and general planning)

• Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Outside Tasks (travel, extended meetings, client visits, etc.)

• Thursdays could be Problem Solving days

• Fridays could be spent on medium and long-term planning

• Saturdays are for personal/recreational activities

• Sundays for rest, family, and spirituality

Focus Areas

It’s important to notice that there is no limit to the variety of things you can achieve if only you create firm boundaries around your time blocks and focus areas. If you don’t set them apart, work –it is mostly the case- will expand to the time allotted for it.

• Early mornings are reserved for self-nurturing activities (reading, meditating, working out)

• Middle morning to late afternoon is for work.

• The end of the day is reserved for family time and home (cooking, dining, writing, etc.); it’s a time to connect and catch up.

You can use some kind of color scheme to highlight or even chunk things down a little bit more. It’s all subjective, you can create your own scheme, as long as you make sure you’re working on what matters most.

Map your ideal week, and use it constantly to check whether you’re on course, or off course. Not always you’ll accomplish 100% of your weekly goals, but it will give you something to shoot for; and hey, hitting half percent of a perfectly designed week plan is an unbelievable productive week!

If you take on your weekly chunk of activities without knowing what your priorities are, and just ‘move forward’, you’re actually moving sideways or going around in circles. Unless you have a laser focus aim, you’re going to miss your target.

Remember, if you aim small, you’ll miss small.

Stay on target, stay strong!

One of the core values we have as a company is to inspire and empower people in all aspects of their lives. Additionally, if you want to read about our Custom Software Solutions and Consulting Services, please visit www.isucorp.ca