Profitability Management
Of course the main reason most businesses exist is to turn a profit. Lascivio looks at the key areas of your business to help you maximise profit including cost control, product and service profitability, associated marketing, etc.
The area of profit management is arguably one of the most complex of business management and is usually conducted with a Business Planning program. Lascivio looks at what works for your business, not the average or the generic.
Business Planning
Benefits: Predictable profit results, long term accomplishments, proactive management.
It is no myth that most businesses (successful or otherwise) do not have a clear and adequate business plan to work from, and those that do often do not use it to empower staff. In any truly competitive industry the only businesses that meet their objectives are those who set them, plan for them, and share them throughout the organization.
However business planning is not about dreams and wishes, or lofty goals and ambitious targets – and the variety of plans is as wide and as the businesses they serve. Lascivio believes in tailoring each plan to the business rather than following a planning template. Our approach can help any business to create a comprehensive plan, or to get greater leverage from an existing one.
Often the biggest challenge to completing an effective business plan is the distraction of everyday activity. Senior people often have so many demands on their time that knowing what planning needs to be done is not enough to achieve it. Lascivio can provide an external discipline to help the business meet any important objective – and few are more important that the business plan. Back to top
Management Mentoring
Benefits: increased leverage of staff, higher morale, greater efficiency and productivity
Even the most brilliant business plan can only be implemented to the standards and capacity of your management team. These are the key people in each business – the leverage points from which will come the success or failure of each department.
With this in mind, it is surprising that few businesses offer meaningful coaching or mentoring of their key people to help them perform at their best. Most performance review processes are based on a criticism approach, which focuses on problems after they happen.
The Lascivio philosophy is that the real benefit of mentoring comes from the myriad of small challenges that staff continually face out of habit. As these habits change, efficiency and performance increases exponentially as each little obstacle is overcome, leaving staff to focus their energy on what the business really needs from them.
Our light touch approach involves a few initial hours per person to identify the possibilities, then regular but brief meetings to help each person steer toward more effective business habits. In many cases challenges that went unnoticed before are revealed by their sudden resolution and the positive impact that has. All of this is achieved with anything from an hour a week down to an hour a month – after all, managers are typically busy people. Back to top
Business Process Improvement
Benefits: business efficiency and productivity, increased harmony, reduced wastage costs.
Every business can improve, and most are unaware of how much until an external viewpoint is brought to bear on “how we’ve always done it”. This is the key difference between business process, and business habit, and often the logical view from a non-stakeholder is essential to unlocking the alternatives.
At Lascivio we look at not just processes within departments, but the crucial interoperability between them. These are often the most difficult challenges as few businesses have access to management with experience in highly diverse areas.
Rather than follow a list of industry buzzwords such as Six Sigma, Lascivio works to understand what really does need improvement in each business, and then works with staff to create their own review mechanisms. This ensures that the philosophy of “how can we do this better” does not end when the consultant stops visiting. Back to top
Billing & Collections
No matter how efficient your operation, how great your service, or how talented your staff – a business must have the money come in. Collections is often a contrast of priorities between keeping clients happy, and encouraging them to pay.
Lascivio can help your team fine-tune their billing and collections strategy to minimise billing disputes or enquiries, make collection processes more effective, and improve cashflow. Back to top
Service Delivery Standards
Most businesses are always looking to improve their customer experience. Whilst client feedback surveys are an essential component of this, many businesses already know a few things they should be doing better – enter Lascivio.
We can help unlock those hidden tricks of increasing client satisfaction without necessarily increasing cost of delivery. Whether it be service training, increased responsiveness, higher quality service – Lascivio can make it happen for you. Back to top
Inter-Department Efficiency
Even when each team is working well, the company’s success will greatly depend on their harmony and efficiency between them. Traditionally there has been barriers between sales, operations and accounting teams created by misunderstanding and assumptions.
Lascivio works with your department leaders to bridge the gaps, to create understanding and harmony, and to have these teams working together for the overall result. The methods and processes used depend on the reasons for the barriers in your business – we solve your challenges. Back to top
Project Management
At Lascivio we do not hide the mysteries of project management behind a screen of reports. Instead, our methods are to actively train your staff on the processes and principles of project management to help them ensure their projects can be completed on time and on budget.
Whilst we can supervise a major project for you, our aim is to help your business achieve its objectives every time with its own resources. Projects can vary from major year-long efforts, to a few days to deliver a client’s order – these all rely on similar principles that all operations staff can benefit from. Back to top
Critical Path Thinking
Benefits: improved profitability and cash flow, resource efficiency, “achievement” culture.
The philosophy of the critical path is one of simplicity. However the habits and thinking behind finding the most efficient path to an objective are not innate skills of the average employee.
Our training programs are tailored to the business, department, or even the specific role required. This maximises the relevance for the staff which in turn maximises the learning value and experience. The objective of critical path thinking is to enable staff to deliver the most important objectives with minimal wastage (of both time and resources). For most businesses this translates directly into increased profitability and improved cash flow.
Small in-house workshops, process review, and habit coaching are all potential components to a critical path program. This is often the starting point for larger business efficiency programs or major process reviews. Back to top
Business Communications
Benefits: Business knowledge control, technology efficiency, information leverage.
This broad topic helps businesses in the evolving area of information management. From MIS and IT&T, to ICT and ITIL – the list of acronyms can be dizzying. At Lascivio we help each business understand what level of information management is appropriate, and the methods, budgets and processes required to make it successful.
Many businesses have their communications policies as a compromise between staff who need and staff who provide. Often the IT or communications budget is purely a cost centre which has to fight for its funding. Unless your business is in the communications sector the options and alternatives can be confusing and highly technical. Our aim is to bring clarity to the business on what is appropriate, and what is available, and allow everyone to get on with the real business instead. Back to top
IT Planning
For many business managers the IT section is a cost centre that sometimes struggles to justify its budget. Swamped in highly complex and technical decisions, IT is nevertheless a crucial element to the success of most businesses.
With 10 years experience in corporate IT solutions including CRM systems, wide area networking, and the support of IT Lascivio can guide your business on the various options available and how they may work best for you. Back to top