Waste is a huge problem for business large and small across the globe – from waste of products to waste of time and energy. We are living in an age where we are increasingly aware of the detrimental impact that human behaviour and activity is having on the world we live in. A huge part of the problems that the environment is facing can be traced back to wastefulness. The oceans are filling up with plastic as a result of convenience manufacturing and packaging and one use products. It’s not all too surprising that increasing numbers of business owners are focusing on reducing the negative footprint that their companies are having on the planet by minimising the amount of products that are flung aside in the production and manufacturing process, as well as by consumers once the product provided has been used. Waste is also extremely problematic for businesses large and small in regards to time. Every working day, hours can be wasted in trivial tasks that serve little to no purpose. Employees efforts could be better channeled elsewhere with more profitable results. Wasted material and wasted time all eat into business’ profit, as money is funnelled into items and tasks unncessarily. But how can you prevent this from happening? This is where lean consulting comes into play!

What Is Lean Consulting?

When you engage with lean consulting, you are put in touch with professional lean manufacturing consultants who can survey your business and its current methods of operation. They will then use lean methodologies to advise and guide your business practice in the right direction, resolving problems, and reducing waste.

What Are Lean Methodologies?

Lean methodologies are based on “lean thinking”. This is an ideology that can be applied to all sorts of aspects of life, but which can prove extremely useful and profitable in business in particular. Put simply, lean methodologies focus on preventing the waste of time, resources, or money in any given area of your business and its operation. It optimises your business’ process by reducing inefficiency and preventing unnecessary waste.

Choosing the Right Consultant

When choosing a lean manufacturing consultant, you should look for someone with previous experience. Many business owners make the wrong assumption that anyone can reduce waste in a company or even that they could carry the work out themselves. This isn’t necessarily the case. Sure, there are some clear areas where waste can be reduced. But it will take a professional with experience to notice small aspects of your business that could be changed with major effect.

While you may not have heard of lean consulting before, hopefully, the above advice can help you to see the different benefits that lean consulting can hold for your small business. Incorporate it into your business plan today for the biggest benefits!

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Contributed content

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

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Open comms; an admirable world of voices to listen to and to watch wind blowing data!

When we think about communications for business, were is the wind blowing? Optimists can point to the introduction of new areas powered by social technologies that somehow open business towards a relation and interaction with customers, new structures of defining strategies and change management that opens a lot of new enterprise oportunities. Pessimists can point to the continuing deluge of all negative spam attention, ever-more sophisticated phishing techniques, and of course the burdens of increased regulatory compliance, legal and difficulty to reach an audience, target customers in the right way, listen to the voices around you or your business and analyse its data and analytics.

Open Communications – Open Comms are the Next generation for collaboration

Open Communications – Open Comms – is the next generation of human communications and collaboration in any organisation leading the field in delivering new ways of communicating and creating co-creation process and synergies. I am one of the positive ones looking at it. Open Comms can and is indeed shifting the way business, organisations and contries deal with their communications. And let me tell you this is hard, difficult and new, but amazing.

Some recent stats show that 57% of businesses currently monitor online conversations about the brand, products or services, according to a recent study by Capgemini. But the reality is that 20% do not listen at all and another 23% of respondents weren’t sure whether or not the company is listening to online conversations in the same study.

This reveals the importantce of a proper communication strategy and a lot about the importance and the necessity to invest in an open communications strategy.

Why am I a defender of Open Comms?

Because I believe in creating value and listening to different voices, even when sometimes we might hear things that we don’t want to hear and that are different from our own perspectives or ideas. I believe that the only way to deliver successful strategy is challenging certainty, especially our own. When you or your business might think you’re undeniably right, ask yourself “What might I be missing here in this communication?”. And when you start listening to your clients, users, customers you might want to adpat, change or evolve. (Although I must underline this does not mean forget your core values of principles).

In a world with a huge increasing variety of principles, cultures and lack of clear hegemonies things are flowing. It is rather difficult to understand everything form one’s own perspective.And social media fast adopting technologies and tools just created a world without barries: economic, politic, financial where change and continous change and evoltion has been radical.

The market of communications has been through a revolution with an entire new industry for listening services rapidly maturing with vendors such as Radian6, Spiral16, Crimson Hexagon, Research.ly, Lithium, Sysomos, Marketing Sentinel (Skyttle) and many others improving businesses communications and monitoring consumer conversations and experiences. Nevertheless the wide array of these new communications tools and capabilities are nothing less than baffling. They somehow require proper stratgey open mind set for business and expert analysis prior to committing any significant investment of finances or organizational resources now and over time.

Some perspectives for the future of Communications = Open Communications:

– The need for an Unified Communication: from internal to external, from traditional to social;
– Open IT-Based Communications, make sure software is fast in execution
– Powerful set up in a content and SEO friendly way;
– Fixed Mobile Convenience and convergence with the advent of the mobile tablets and smartphones;
– Agile Business Process Integration towards the concept of a Open Business;
– Rich User Experience and knowledge how to navigate in the data and analytics;
– Deployment of Choices, clear transparent management capable of communicate internally and externally;

– Business Continuity and Integrity, key for a good communications, the importance of a good continuity story telling.

Maria Fonseca

Maria Fonseca is the Editor and Infographic Artist for IntelligentHQ. She is also a thought leader writing about social innovation, sharing economy, social business, and the commons. Aside her work for IntelligentHQ, Maria Fonseca is a visual artist and filmmaker that has exhibited widely in international events such as Manifesta 5, Sao Paulo Biennial, Photo Espana, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Joshibi University and many others. She concluded her PhD on essayistic filmmaking , taken at University of Westminster in London and is preparing her post doc that will explore the links between creativity and the sharing economy.

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What makes an effective Digital Strategy and Planning?

Open Planning comes associated with the concept of a solid Digital strategy in a social business environment. Being the definition of Digital associated to the idea from strategy: the process of specifying an organization’s vision, goals, opportunities and initiatives in order to maximize the business benefits for its digital investments.

In the fields of strategic management, marketing strategy and operational strategy Open Planning is a new concept we want to present as a way of preparing an effective planning of digital efforts for a given business. These efforts can range from an enterprise or organisation focus, which considers the broader opportunities and risks that digital strategies potentially creates. A solid digital strategy and planning has to include a solid insight into customer intelligence, collaboration processes, new product/market exploration, sales and service optimization, the right enterprise technology architectures, a clear and open innovation and governance. Having this in consideration can augment the results of Planning.

Open Planning some areas to highlight in a Digital Strategy

In order to have a strong digital strategy and aim towards the concept of Open Planning some areas to highlight:

1. Be focused to a given audience, network: Identify and find its key influencers and map it;
2. Understand the interactive DNA of web and social networks as a basis for planning;
3. Understand how to match the design of a given message with the perception and network of its audience;
4. Focus in creation, evaluation and implementation of ideas which delivers results;
5. Measure analytics, data, its value and what it is exactly worth;
6. Work in the long term engagement loop and how to exploit it;
7. Develop a regular calendar and programme for continuous activity and its improvement;
8. Evaluate clear KPIs and the way to ROI and ROA achievement.

A good Planning for a Digital strategy seeks to bridge the gaps between technology, the creative idea, in order to reach the right user. This has to be done with well-defined business objectives and a clear undertansing of the brand story telling.

In the present digital realm, individuals, brands, corporations, governments all participate. Social Media technology is converting viewers into active users. Thus any user is a potential advocate. Though advocacy doesn’t come with risk and responsibility, and it is not free. The creation of value comes associated with a compelling evangelism. Ultimately a digital strategy is planning the best way on how to reach an audience and have them stand to a given purpose.

The objective of Open Planning

Failling on planning a process is a problem that stops building a brand and its business. Failling in planning will not enable effective participation and utility to consumers. So the objective of Open Planning for a strong digital strategy is to create an order to unlock the value for brands. This process has to define the creating of a generous interactions for brands, businesses and their products and services.

So planning an effective Media needs to be driven by the language of actions and demands clear input on what is being required to people to do with the brand and its ideas. This in an open way that the social media graph ultimately highlights.

Identifying the digital strategy for a business and its engagement is a powerful opportunity thus it requires:

1. Understanding the business purpose that the digital planning can help solve
2. Be open and listen to consumers who talk about and use brands
3. Identify consumer needs in a given category/brand and define the role it wants people to play in its ideas, and the role of digital within the mix
4. Find the best solutions to the business problem, focusing on end user value and participation.
5. Listen, listen! to the consumer needs and reaction(s), and analyze previously defined participation paterns and metrics

Open Planning is about creating the best digital strategy for the right empowerment of a given industry, its customers and do it though the open business DNA that engages employees, the consumerization of technology, and grass-roots-based, tech-enabled innovation and solutions.

Maria Fonseca

Maria Fonseca is the Editor and Infographic Artist for IntelligentHQ. She is also a thought leader writing about social innovation, sharing economy, social business, and the commons. Aside her work for IntelligentHQ, Maria Fonseca is a visual artist and filmmaker that has exhibited widely in international events such as Manifesta 5, Sao Paulo Biennial, Photo Espana, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Joshibi University and many others. She concluded her PhD on essayistic filmmaking , taken at University of Westminster in London and is preparing her post doc that will explore the links between creativity and the sharing economy.

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