The performance of affiliate link promotion depends on the type of interaction you have with your audience, as well as on the influence you have in the online community.
Also, it might be a matter of preference choosing one strategy and not the other. In this article, I want to talk about ways of analysing Affiliate link performance.
It is crucial to monitor affiliate marketing efforts and to evaluate the performance of this type of online marketing. The most relevant statistics you need to keep an eye on are the following:
The products that get most clicks/conversions
Monitor the data above for each type of promotion to conclude if one (or several) of these show outstanding performance and are able to generate the highest number of conversions.
This evaluation can show if certain products perform better than the rest, and it can also show the type of promotion that gets most conversions.
It can also be used to find out more about your audience and how each of these approaches is effective among those users.
For example, some products might be particularly popular among users from a specific location. Or a product mention strategy might be converting better than a banner. All of this can greatly influence your planning and the road you will take with developing your affiliate marketing strategy even further.
• The number of clicks • The number of conversions • The data about those who click (age group, gender, location, etc.)
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The online world has tremendously affected our everyday lives that sometimes it might even seem impossible to imagine our lives without technology and online communication. This trend naturally transferred to the business world, where the new technologies opened up so many exciting opportunities. In this article, I want to talk about some of the fundamental facts about Affiliate marketing.
The businesses out there were no longer confined by location or restricted by infrastructure. Once everyone hurled to the big cities because these have been places enabling your business to grow. Businesses needed more qualified employees, they wanted exposure to more customers and opportunities to network and create partnerships.
All of these required your business having headquarters in a big city, but this is no longer needed. All you need is a computer and the internet connection, and you are ready to take your business anywhere you want. In this article, I want to talk about some Fundamental Facts about Affiliate Marketing.
Speaking of the business world, this term has so long been used in relation to big corporations and management teams, but nowadays, we see more and more one-man businesses that grow and expand their reach globally. There is a significant number of businesses completely set up and run by a single person. Or they start as such, only to expand as their influence online begins to increase. Entrepreneurship has become a popular business model which helped so many wonderful business ideas come to life.
The possibilities on the market are numerous, especially if we have in mind the online market. There are so many different ways and strategies to set up and grow a business, depending on the niche, resources, knowledge, etc. What is safe to say is that these opportunities are a part of the online world, and new opportunities keep popping up. One of those is affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing
While every business starting out nowadays will first create a website, optimize it and then head to social media to establish a presence there, not everyone will consider affiliate marketing as an opportunity at first. The goal of this ebook will be to show you the real potential of affiliate marketing and how developing a strategy of your own can help your profits soar and your business grow.
For starters, you will need to understand the difference between being a merchant and an affiliate because these require two completely different strategies.
In fact, these can develop your business in different ways, so you can either focus on one or choose to be both, a merchant and an affiliate, which, although less frequent, is still doable. You will also learn about business models that are available in affiliate marketing.
Affiliate programs and tools will be essential parts of your strategy, which is why you need to learn about those as well. Your goal will be to learn as much as possible about affiliate marketing opportunities and about different affiliate programs and tools that enable you to form your own custom strategy, an approach and a plan which will be oriented towards one idea – improve your business through affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is a part of online marketing, which means it is connected and related to all of the segments of online marketing. This is why there will be a chapter about this connection, and how using affiliate marketing requires at least basic knowledge of online marketing in general.
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Like any other campaign, it all starts with determining the objectives or goals of the campaign. A few words on this and then we will have a look at what link building can look like. This article talks about some of the ways of starting a link building campaign.
Keep in mind that although what you are doing is called link building, you are actually involved in a kind of online marketing, for which planning always starts with objectives or goals. Your objectives should be first of all realistic and relevant.
Realistic meaning that they should be achievable in the kind of time frame you have in mind and with the resources you already possess. Relevant means that link building should, preferably, not be a goal in itself but rather lead on to the bigger road to achieving some form of success or progress for your business, organization or individual you are promoting. This article talks about some of the ways of starting a Link Building Campaign. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.
For example, get links from 15 popular blogs, sounds like a nice goal to have,but will this have an effect on the overall growth of your business or organization? Do you have the content ready to convert this new traffic into users or customers, or to maintain a long-term relationship with these new visitors? Suppose you have 200 new visitors during the first week, but your website had no content in that time and most of the visitors had a quick look and left unimpressed. Did your goal achieve anything in the bigger picture? It actually did some harm,
because quite possibly most of those users will not come again even after you improve your content, because they will think, ‘Yeah I remember the site, I was not too pleased’. So setting objectives is key to starting out right, because if you do not, anything you do after that might be effort, time and resources spent in the wrong direction, a direction which might even do you harm.
Lastly, remember that although linkbuilding is a part of online marketing, it is different in the sense of the time span of its results, which are not going to be instantaneous as opposed to putting up an online advertisement or a television commercial. This does not mean that your campaign has failed. Neither should you promise instantaneous results for any website that you do perform linkbuilding for.
What are your assets?
Like barter in old times, if you are going to get links from other people, you need to have something that they are interested in as well – the reason that a blogger or a website owner would care about what you have to give; something that attracts them enough to put up a link for you. That reason is what we call an asset and it will differ from one website to another, and it also depends on whether you are a business, an organization or an individual. Assets need to be relevant for the people you want to attract. Below are a few examples of what an asset could be:
• Data • Content • Products • Services • Community
Lastly, remember that money is no longer an asset you can offer in linkbuilding. Although some might say it never was a preferable one to begin with. Google actively penalizes SEOs, websites and/or individuals involved in buying links. Links come in many flavours.
Next, you will need to plan what kind of links you need and in what sort of mixture. Linkbuilding offers the opportunity to implement many kinds of linking, depending on the needs of a campaign. From deep-linking which involves making links to pages deep within a site structure, to a specific product or piece of content, to brand-linking which means creating links that contain your brandinformation/the name of your company.
You can come up with a sketch of your requirements after you do a complete analysis of your website and link profile. Be on the lookout for areas of improvement and innovation. Here are a few examples of the kind of linking to choose from:
• Links to your homepage/mainpage • Deep linking • Brand linking • Links that contain target keywords It is good to build a campaign with a diverse linking strategy for optimum results and a more comprehensive link profile.
Social links
As long as we are discussing types of links, we have to mention so-called social links. These are the links from social networks. Even though they are not as relevant and powerful as links posted on other websites, it is speculated that social links do have some value in determining ranking, as they can indicate the level of quality of a certain page.
If a certain page is shared a lot of times on social networks, it means that it provides some kind of value, and this usually indicates high-quality or original content.
This is one of the reasons why social media marketing has become an important part of online marketing, and thus it can be related to search engine optimization.
Besides being present on social media and engaging with your followers, another why to encourage social sharing directly from your website is to use social sharing buttons, which can be installed as a plug-in on your website.
Looking for your people
Now that you are on your way and ready to start your campaign, you will need to think about the type of people you will be contacting to ask for links and attract as linkpartners. It is best to make sure that whomever you reach out to is someone who is interested in whatever your content is, since reaching out to people randomly leads to a low response rate and even lower ratio of success.
One of the ways to ensure better responses is to place ‘hooks’ in your content. No, you will notneed a hammer for this.
A hook is something that makes a potential linker interested or committed to giving your content a fair chance, an element that makes the viewer stay put and wants to finish what you have to show, share or say. Here are examples of a few hooks:
Social mediawebsites, like Facebook or LinkedIn, are great places for you to get a feel for how people are spending their time in virtual spaceand how what they are sharing with others.
Identify patterns in the content being passed on and try to work those elements into hooks, which you place in your own content.
Once you feel you have come up with a potential list of people who might be interested in linking to your website, you can search for that list creatively on a search engine.
So, for example, if one of the target linkers you have identified is a travel blogger, you search for a list of travel blogs and then use a tool like the Scraper plug-in on Chrome to get all of those URLs copied off the results page in one go and paste them on to a working page on email or a spreadsheet.
Use a tool like URL Opener to open all the sites with one go. Look for any contact info on the sites, which could be email address, Twitter or LinkedIn account, Facebook page, etc. Tools like Followerwonk will allow you to search Twitter bios and accounts for keywords of your choice.
So, if your website is about cigars and pipes, offering products and reviews, you could look for keywords like cigar aficionado with blogger or pipe enthusiast with blogger or just tobaccoblogger or cigar blogger to get a list of people with Twitter accounts who have blogs related to your own content. You then download these results into a spreadsheet.
Next, you will want to find out as much as possible about these potential link partners you have come up with to help you craft a message that is as personalized and relevant as possible.
Do not send out emails that seem like automated messages with a template. Think of this as SEO for a person rather than a search engine. You will want each person to like you as much as possible if you are to entertain hopes of having a high success rate with your list.
It is also efficient to sort the link targets in the order of priority when doing your outreach. Of course, they will have varying importance and priority in terms of how much Page or Domain Authority they have.
Secondly, they might be sorted based on how many followers they have on social media. Lastly, their relevance to your specific field may also be a factor in prioritizing.
An advisable minimum Page Authority for your targets would be 1 and for Domain Authority a figure of 25. They can be lower or higher depending how long your list is. Use MozBar tool to determine the Page and Domain Authority of a website.
Also be very careful when using generic greetings like ‘Hi Webmaster’ or ‘Dear Blogger’. They might associate your email with automated spam that they are used to receiving. A good message will contain the following if possible:
• The other person’s name • A great subject line • A detailed or specific comment about their work • The use of an authentic email signature • Disclosure of your own current location
It is also best to avoid using one of these famous, free email addresses from Google or Yahoo! as they are also mostly used by spammers unfortunately.
Lastly, remember to follow up with the bloggers and website owners you are targeting as they probably receive a lot of emails, making it difficult to keep track of them all.
Do not let negative responses get you down and instead, ask for feedback about your content. A blogger might not like your current content but they might like something in the future.
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If there is one thing that has revolutionised how business is being done worldwide, it is the coming of the internet.
With the coming of the internet into the business landscape, it is now possible for organisations to do business beyond their immediate environment.In this article, I want to talk about impact of internet on businesses.
Many businesses today are also able to attract and convert more customers than they have coming to their brick and wall offices. In this article, I want to look at some of the impacts of the internet on businesses. Follow me as we are going to look at that together in this article.
Now the impacts…
#1 Market Penetration
One of the beauties of the internet on business is that it has increased market penetration across the globe. With the coming of the internet, organisations are no longer restricted to a particular geographical location.
With the presence of the internet, organisations can reach out to their potential customers and convert them to loyal customers without them having to come down to their office.
#2 Market Development
Another benefit of the internet on businesses is that it can aid in the market development efforts of the organisation. With the internet in place, organisations can be able to analyse customer behaviour and aggregate what their customers really want.
Another benefit of the internet for businesses is that it has brought about product diversification. Before the coming of the internet, the only option that was available to businesses was to allow customers and prospects to come down to their offices.
With the coming of the internet, organisations now realised that there is a cheaper and more cost-effective way of doing business. Many of them have been able to take their businesses online. This has changed the business landscape astronomically.
#4 Product Development
Online businesses are also able to develop new products and services based on customers’ feedback. Just like I said earlier, It is very possible for them to gather the opinion of the users who might have one thing or the other to say about the products or services that they have used.
This will allow them to create a platform where customers can make suggestions on how those products or services can be better. This will definitely increase customer loyalty and satisfaction level for the organisation.
Unknown Facts About Internet Marketing
Buying and selling is as old as mankind. When this process first started before the advent of the internet. The seller will always have to look for the buyer and it was so hectic.
That was the time of trade by barter before the introduction of money. Then if you have yam and you need rice you will have to look for some that have rice and he is looking for yam.
With the coming of the internet, things changed drastically, it is now possible to even sell products and services beyond your immediate environment, In this article, I want to look at the functions of internet marketing. Follow me as we are going to look at that together in this article.
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Earlier, I have discussed some of the reasons why internet gas changed how businesses are being done generally. In this article, I want to look at some of the major benefits of internet marketing. Follow me as we are going to look at that together in this article.
Now the benefits…
#1 Global market reach
First and foremost, internet marketing can increase your global market reach. Without the internet, you will not be able to do business beyond your immediate environment. With the coming of the internet, you can set up your online campaigns. You can also set up your e-commerce store and transact businesses online.
#2 24/7 Online Shopping
All with the coming of online marketing, it is now possible for you to make money while you are asleep. Online Businesses are set up and most of the processes are automated. This allows the process to run without any human intervention. It also allows you to make money while you are asleep.
#3 Drive sales
Internet marketing can also allow organisations to drive more sales. With it, you can actually reach out to prospects that have all the characteristics that want in your ideal customers. This allows you to engage in inbound marketing in order to convert prospects to customers. This will end up increasing your sales astronomically.
#4 Better market research
Another benefit of internet marketing is that it can also improve the market research efforts of the organisation. When you have internet marketing in place, you will have available data about your customers’ purchase behaviour.
This will enable the organisation to understand what motivates their customers’ buying behaviour. This will enable them to properly segment and profile their customers. It will allow the organisation to raise exit barriers for their customers.
#5 Brand awareness
Another benefit of internet marketing for businesses is that it will definitely increase brand awareness for the organisation. When your business is online based and you have a good brand strategy, even those that have not purchased any products or services from you will be conversant with your products and services. This will increase the clientele base for your products and services.
#6 Investment strategies
Also, when organization launch out online, their horizons will be widened and they will have to be looking for ways of increasing their customer base. This will definitely be forced to invest more capital into the business. They will have no option other than to respond to the increase in the demand for their products and services.
#7 24/7 Customer Support
Another benefit of having an online-based business that is fully supported by a stable internet is that it will allow the organization to respond to customers in real-time. Customers do not have to come to the office before their challenges can be addressed. This will definitely increase customer loyalty and boost the sales of the organization.
#8 Personalized Services
Another beauty of a good online business for any business is that it will allow the organization to offer personalized services to their customers. That means products can be individually tweaked in order to meet the need of customers. With that, customers can make individual personal demand for products and services and their needs can be met based on what individual customers can afford.
#9 Lesser Advertising costs
Also, when you are able to build a good online reputation for your organization, you are likely to develop a loyal customer base who can relate and identify with your business without having to come to your office.
When you have this calibre of customers, they are ready to assist you in reaching out to more customers. By the time they start posting about your products and services to their own audience, you will realize that you can reach out to more customers and reach out to more prospects without breaking the bank.
#10 Low-cost information sharing
Added to the lower cost of advertising your products and services, you will also notice that with a good online business and community management, you do not need to go to any radio or television station when you have vital information to pass across. You just need to ensure that your community are well managed and information is posted on your social media platform when most of your audience is online.
This will ensure that any information that you are passing across at that time is able to reach as many people as possible.
#11 Saves cost
Another beauty of a good online business is that it can assist the organization in saving cost and time. Let me say that when you are using the traditional mode of marketing, you are likely to spend more and achieve a little results.
It is also possible that the majority of those that listened to that advertisement at that time is not really interested in what you have to offer. When it comes to online marketing, with appropriate targeting, you can leave out those that are not likely to respond actively to what you have to offer.
#12 Better customer communication
Also, internet marketing as a tool can increase better communication among various stakeholders in an organisation. First and foremost, it will be easy to communicate with customers and prospects without requesting them to come down to your office. Also, internet marketing will allow various departments to communicate and collaborate in order to resolve customers’ issues.
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Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, and it has become an effective way for businesses and influencers to reach their target audiences.
As a user, you may have been wondering if there was a way to see or know who clicked on the link you posted on your Instagram page. This article talks about how you can see who clicked on your instagram link.
We will explore the answer to this question and discuss whether or not it is possible to view who has clicked on your Instagram link.
Truth About Links
Instagram links are powerful tools for connecting with potential customers or followers. But how can you know if people are actually clicking on your links? Can you see who clicked on your Instagram link?
The answer is – yes, it is possible to see who has clicked on your Instagram link.
Instagram Insights provides valuable information about your followers and their interactions with your posts. This data can help you identify which posts are working best and who is actually engaging with your content.
By using Instagram Insights, you can identify which followers are interested in your content and who has clicked on your link.
You can even use this data to track conversions from clicks to sales. Knowing who has clicked on your link can be an invaluable way to inform your future content strategy.
However, there are some limitations when it comes to tracking clicks on Instagram links. First, you will only be able to view the usernames of people who have clicked on your link, not the names associated with those accounts.
And again, the accuracy of Insights data depends on how many people have viewed and interacted with your post.
Ultimately, if you want to get the most out of your Instagram link, you should take advantage of the insights available to you. Knowing who has clicked on your link can help you tailor your content and better understand who is engaging with your posts.
You can also use third-party analytics tools to get even more detailed information about who’s clicking on your link. For example, a tool like bitly can give you insights into user interactions, including the number of clicks and who clicked on it.
However, it’s important to remember that the data these tools provide is not perfect and should only be used as an indication of how well your post is performing.
If you’re looking for more precise data, you should consider using a tool like Google Analytics which provides real-time tracking of website visitors and can tell you exactly who clicked on your link.
The bottom line is that there are some other tools that can give you some insight into your post performance. If you’re looking for more specific data, consider using a more advanced analytics tool like Google Analytics.
How To Improve Clicks
The best way to prompt people to click your Instagram link is to use a call-to-action (CTA) in your post.
You can ask people to click the link in the comments or encourage them to visit the link in your bio. This way, you can track each person who clicks the link and get an idea of who is interested in your content.
By using these tactics, you’ll be able to get more insights into who is engaging with your posts and clicking your links. This information can help you better understand your audience and craft more relevant and effective posts.
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In my previous article, I talked about some of the ways that you can identify the correct product influencers for your products. In this article, I want to look at the correct marketing strategy for lead funnels. Follow me as we are going to look at this together in this article.
This will allow you to be able to direct them to the correct departments or individuals that can assist in turning your prospect into customers. You will also be able to come up with products that will serve the interest of your customers as well.
#2 Create awareness
Also, there is a need for you to create awareness about your products and services. No matter how good your product is, you still need to go the extra mile of letting people know about your products and services.
It is now left to you to decide on what you need to do in order to achieve your goals. This will be based on your finance and the circumstances surrounding the sales of your products as well.
#3 Create interesting content
One of the marketing tools that you can adopt when you are promoting your products and services is to make use of a mix of content such as texts, Infographics and videos.
You need to make sure that you create interesting contents that are capable of convincing your audience. You need to also take time to study your audience and understand what resonates among your target audience.
#4 Engage your audience
In order to promote your products and services, you need to make sure that you engage your audience. You should never assume that your audience already understands the benefits of your products and services.
You must take time to highlight the benefits of your products. Let them understand the reason why they need to pick your product ahead of that of competitors.
#5 Drip programmes
Most times, you should not expect customers to give in the first time that you talked to them. You may need to get their email and other contact details and start sending them newsletters that talk more about your products and services.
You also need to let them know when you have promotional offers that you feel that they might be interested in. This will go a long way in convincing them to subscribe to your products and services.
#6 Meet all needs
As part of your efforts toward engaging your target audience, you need to make sure that all customers’ needs are met. You should note that a good customer-centric enterprise will not go to sleep except customers’ needs are met.
Also, nobody will be interested in transacting businesses with organizations that cannot add value to them. Therefore, you have to make sure that always surpass the expectation of your customers.
#7 Build relationship
As part of your efforts toward building your lead funnel, you need to make sure that you build relationships with your customers. You need to give them a sense of belonging and see them as part of the business.
You should also open room for feedback so that customers can tell you areas that they want you to improve. This will encourage your loyal customers to become brand advertisers for your business.
#8 Clear call to action
In my previous article, I talked about the use of Call to Action for lead generation strategies.
You have to make sure that clear calls to action are provided which will allow customers and prospects to know the step that you want them to take after they might have read your content. This will go a long way in increasing conversion and boosting the revenue of your organization.
#9 Track your result
As the saying goes, an unexamined life is not worth living. As part of your effort towards driving more prospects to your sales cycle, you need to make sure that you continue to analyse your website.
You must take time to track your results in order to determine whether you are achieving your goals or not. This will also allow you to come up with measures that will allow you to adjust if you are falling below your target.
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In my previous article, I have talked about some of the major differences between ITIL Version 3 and ITIL 4. In this article, I want to talk about all that you need to know about service offering in ITIL 4. Follow me as we are going to look at that together in this article.
A Service Offering is a description of one or more services designed to address the need of a target customer group. It may include goods, access to resources as well as well service actions.
#1 Goods
In this case, ownership of the goods purchased are transferred to the owner. They are the one that now handle the Maintainance of products and services that they have purchased.
In this case too, customers take ownership of the maintainance of products and services purchased.
Also, access is granted under agreed terms of services. Let’s say for example, I paid for 10gig of data, once I finished that data,I will not be able to surf the web again.
#3 Service actions
This kind of service are performed by the service provider to address specific customers needs. This is performed according to agreed terms by the customers. Take for example, if my vehicle has a technical fault and I decided that a mechanic should help me address that . That is a very good part of service actions.
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In my previous article, I have looked at some of the factors to be considered when it comes to information technology considerations for IT projects. In this article, I want to look at six major qualities of good service management data. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.
Now the qualities …
#1 Availability
No matter how hard is data is, if it is not available when it is needed then it is not good data. Good service management data should be available when decision-makers need to make decisions.
#2 Reliability
There is this saying that garbage in, garbage out. When you are gathering data for service management purposes, you have to make sure that the source of the data is reliable. There is no way you will have good results if you don’t have reliable data.
#3 Accessible
Also, good data should be easily accessible. The management has to make sure that all bottlenecks are removed so that those that needed data to attend to customers or they needed data to make business decisions are able to have undeniable access to those data.
#4 Timeliness
There is also the issue of timeliness when it comes to data. Data must be provided in a timely manner. It becomes useless when the data is not released when it is not made available when it is to be used.
#5 Accuracy
The data also needs to be accurate enough. Although it might be very difficult for the data to be accurate the management has to try as much as possible to ensure that the data they are using for key decisions must be accurate enough.
#6 Relevant
There is a need for the data to be relevant. You have to make sure that when you are making the decisions, you have to make sure that you have to get it based on the age groups that you need to address.
I can not use data from old people to determine what products will be of interest to young people.
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This covers organisations and people that are part of service management. The organisation covers structure and system of authority.
They are not by themselves, sufficient to improve organisational effectiveness. The organisation needs to come up with a culture that supports its objectives.
Talking about people in the organisation, we need to consider the following :
Management and leadership styles
Updating skills and competencies
Communication and collaboration
Broad knowledge plus deep specialization
Facilitating value creation
Breaking down silos ( A situation where a team member prefer to work alone).
For many services, information management is one of the primary sources of enabling value creation for customers.
In enabling information management, there are certain conditions for good information management. They include:
Availability
Reliability
Accessibility
Timeliness
Accuracy
Relevance
The challenges of information management such as security and regulatory compliance requirements are also featured when it comes to service management.
Also, organisational culture and the nature of the business environment will also have an impact on which technology to choose from.
#2 Information and technology
Information and technology have become part of service management. Gone are the days that you have to wait for customers to come to you. Besides, nowadays you need data from customers in order to serve them better.
Some of the major components of information and technology include :
Technology supporting service management
Workflow management
Knowledge bases
Communication systems
Analytical tools
Inventory systems
Remote collaboration
Mobile platforms
Artificial intelligence
Cloud solutions
Machine learning
We also have the second part of, which is Technology Supporting IT services:
IT architecture
Applications
Database
Communication systems
Blockchain
Artificial Intelligence
Cognitive computing
Cloud computing
Mobile applications.
#3 Partners and Suppliers
This is used to handle:
Service provider and service consumer relationship.
Organisational partner and supplier strategy
Factors that influence supplier strategy
Service integration and management.
We also have service partnerships that helped on guiding how common goals and risks are being shared between service providers and their partners.
We also have goods and services supply which covers how formal contracts are established as well as show clear separation of functions and responsibilities will be maintained.
Please note that every organisation depends on some sort of services provided by an organisation. We now have the introduction of service integration and management.
This involved the use of a specially established integrator to ensure that service relationships are properly integrated. This service integrated can be committed to a separate department in the organisation or a department in the Organisation.
An Organisation’s strategy when it comes to the use of a partner in its service integration should be based on its goal, culture and business environment.
#4 Value Stream and Processes
Value Stream and Processes define the activities, workflow and control and procedures needed to achieve project objectives.
It includes the activities the organisation undertakes, how activities are undertaken, as well as how value creation is undertaken efficiently and effectively.
A value stream is series of steps and activities an organisation undertakes to create and deliver products and services to consumers. It combines the organisation value chain activities.
Value Stream optimization might include process automation or adoption of emerging technologies and ways of work to gain efficiencies or enhance user experience.
A process is a set of interrelated or interacting activities that transforms inputs to outputs. Processes are designed to achieve specific objectives.
Value streams and processes for products and services answer three questions
What is the generic delivery model for the product and services? How does the service work?
What are the value streams involved in the delivery of the outputs of the service?
Who or what performs the required service actions?
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In my previous article, I have looked at all that you need to know about service consumption in ITIL 4. In this article, I will be looking at some of the facts that you need to know about Utility and Warranty in ITIL 4. Follow me as we are going to look at this together in this article.
Utility
Utility is the functionality offered by a product or service to meet a particular need. It covers :
What the service does
It can also be used to determine whether the product is fit for the purpose that it is meant for.
It can also be used to determine whether the service can remove constraints from the customer or support the services of the customer.
Warranty
Warranty is the assurance that a product or service will meet the agreed requirements.
It can be used to determine:
How the service will perform.
Whether a service is fit for use.
It typically addresses areas such as availability, capacity, security levels and continuity.
It requires that a service meets agreed conditions and terms that must be met.
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In my previous article, I have talked about all that you need to know about service consumption in ITIL 4. In this article, I want to look at all that you need to know about components of service in ITIL 4. Follow me as we look at that together in this article.
A service is a means of enabling value Co-creation by facilitating outcomes that customers want to achieve without customers having to manage specific costs and risks.
In this case, you are able to render the services without passing the bulk of the costs and risks to your customers.
Facts about services…
An output is a tangible or intangible deliverable of an activity. A good example includes reports, bills among others.
An outcome is a result for a stakeholder, enabled by one or more service outputs.
A good example includes being able to get to detonation in time for a meeting. A good example is those organisations that allow customers to book rides through their mobile phones.
Some also provide services that allow individuals and co-workers to collaborate together. They are able to work on common projects without being in the same location together.
Understanding costs…
Risks refer to possible events that could cost harm or loss, or make it more difficult to achieve service objectives.
For instance, there are some risks removed by the service provider for the consumer. if you are using Uber, for example, you don’t need to worry about flat tires or engine being knocked down.
The consumer in a way also participates in the reduction of risks. He has to actively participate in the definition of service requirement as well as the classification of services to be provided.
He has to also clearly communicate the critical success factors and constraints that apply to such services.
The service provider should also be able to get customer location data in order to know where to dispatch the car. That shows that both service provider and service consumer have a role to play in service delivery.
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In my previous article, I have talked about all that you need to know about service provisioning in ITIL 4. In this article, I want to talk about some of the facts that you need to know about service consumption in ITIL 4 or service management. Follow me as we are going to look at that together in this article.
Service consumption has to do with the management of the resources needed in order for consumers to enjoy resources that they have paid for. It is the duty of the consumer and the service provider to ensure that the resources that they needed to enjoy the services that they have paid for.
At times, when you buy data, it is not the duty of the service provider to repair your phone for you.
DSTV Sample
They will ensure that there is a cable connection and the signals are strong but you are the one to ensure that you charge your phone and that you have strong reception.
You have to make sure that you take care of the service provider resources in your care. For cable TV, the service provider owns the dish bit it is your duty to ensure that the dish you are using for reception is in good condition.
As part of the service consumption process, you need to ensure that you request the service package that you need. DSTV has several packages but you have to choose one of the service packages based on what you can afford.
The should be a receipt of acknowledgement of that products and services. You have to show your reservation of that products and services. The organisation will also be expecting feedback in return in order to know how you feel about the service being rendered.
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In my previous article, I have looked at some of the differences between ITIL Version 3 and ITIL 4. I. In this article, I want to look at what you need to know about Service Relationships in ITIL 4. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.
Service provisioning consists of activities performed by a service provider in order to perform services to their customers.
Service consumption also consists of activities performed by service consumers in order to consume services. Let’s take, for example, you purchased mobile data, it is your duty to have a mobile phone or laptop in order to enjoy services.
In my previous article, I have looked at some of the differences between ITIL Version 3 and ITIL 4. I. In this article, I want to look at what you need to know about Service Relationships in ITIL 4. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.
Service provisioning consists of activities performed by a service provider in order to perform services to their customers.
Service consumption also consists of activities performed by service consumers in order to consume services. Let’s take, for example, you purchased mobile data, it is your duty to have a mobile phone or laptop in order to enjoy services.
Service relationship consists of joint activities performed by a service provider and a service consumer to ensure continual value co-creation based on agreed and available service offerings.
There are some things that need to be guaranteed in order to guarantee service provisioning …
There is a need for organisations to manage all the resources needed to deliver the services. In relation to Telco providers.
There need to make sure that their masts and other infrastructure are maintained in order to continue to make those services available to their subscribers.
They also need to provide access to resources for users. They need to make sure that all medium-term infrastructure needed for the customers to have access to resources are provided.
At times, the customers are given resources from the organisation in order to make sure that they are able to enjoy such services.
In providing services to their customers, the organisation has to ensure that they fulfil their promises to their customers. This is what will guarantee repeat purchases and increase the profitability of the organisation.
The last part of service provisioning has to do with service management and continual service improvement. The organisation has to ensure that they find ways of getting feedback from customers and using that feedback to improve the overall service performance.
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If there is any concept or ideology that is committed to the idea of service management, it is ITIL 4. In summary , ITIL is build on the ideas of customers and other stakeholders working together in order to deliver value to customers. In this article, I want to talk about why organisations need service management.
First and foremost, technology is advancing more than ever before. Development such as cloud computing, infrastructure as a service, machine learning and blockchain have opened fresh opportunities for value creation and led to becoming an important business driver and a source of competitive advantage.
Now, you don’t have to wait for customers to come to your organisation before they can have access to your service. Organisations are now looking for ways whereby customers , whether they are coming to the office or interacting with them online are getting the same benefits.
Now I want to look at the benefits of service management to organisations .
Now the benefits…
#1 Service
First and foremost is a service organisation. Whether it is government organisation or a private organisation. They are created to provide services. Without their customers enjoying their services, they will actually look for an alternative elsewhere.
#2 Organisational capabilities
Also, developing specialised organisational capabilities mentioned in the definition required an understanding of : the nature of value, the nature and the scope of stakeholder involved as well as how value creation is enabled through services.
#3 Perceived benefits
Also, value can be considered as the perceived benefits or usefulness of something. At times , the kind of service that satisfied a particular customer might be seen as non value adding service to others. That is why service has to be personalised for each customers.
Action Point PS: If you would like to have an online course on any of the courses that you found on this blog, I will be glad to do that on individual and corporate level, I will be very glad to do that I have trained several individuals and groups and they are doing well in their various fields of endeavour. Some of those that I have trained includes staffs of Dangote Refinery, FCMB, Zenith Bank, New Horizons Nigeria among others. Please come on Whatsapp and let’s talk about your training. You can reach me on Whatsapp HERE. Please note that I will be using Microsoft Team to facilitate the training.
I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you can drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.
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CRMNIGERIA is committed to fact-checking in a fair, transparent and non-partisan manner. Therefore, if you’ve found an error in any of our reports, be it factual, editorial, or an outdated post, please contact us to tell us about it.
The Nature Of Value In ITIL 4: Knowing What Value Is (+Examples)
In my previous article, I have looked at all that you need to know about the differences between ITIL V3 and ITIL 4. In this article, I will be looking at the nature of value in ITIL 4. Follow me as we are going to look at that together in this article.
Service Management is defined as a set of specialised organisational capabilities for enabling value to customers in form of service. Here, you are trying to ensure that customers get the desired value they paid for. You also create an avenue for customers to give you feedback on the services provided.
Before you can develop the specialised organisational capabilities that I have mentioned earlier, you need to understand three basic things. These are:
The nature of value. this talks about the details of what will be of benefit to a particular group of customers This at times has much to do with location and taste. What will be of benefit to people living on a Government Reserved Area might be seen as thrash to someone loving in a slum.
The nature and scope of the stakeholders involved. This has to do with how the final deliverables should like and what it should entails . This has to be considered so that one can know how to go about creating that products or services.
How value creation is enabled through services, usefulness and importance of something. value can be seen as the perceived benefits of something. That tells use that what customer A see as value or worthy product night likely be a worthless product to customer B. It also has to do with what that particular customer is looking for in a product or service.
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In my previous article, I have talked about all that you need to know about IT Infrastructure library. In this article, I want to look at the evolution of ITIL also known as IT Infrastructure Library. Follow me as we look at this together in this article.
The early 1980s
At this period in world history, there is nothing like a standard for IT projects. Everything was done in such a way that people and organisations managed their projects the way they like. This leads to a high rate of abandoned projects among organisations.
1989
At this stage, the UK government felt that something should be done about the lack of standardization for IT projects. They decided to do something about the lack of standards for projects. That is why the first set of ITIL books was published and it becomes the standard for IT projects.
2000
In this year, service delivery and support want to be introduced to IT Infrastructure Library. At this stage now , this new addition was seen as a major component of the IT infrastructure library. It is a known fact that when customers are not satisfied with your products and services or a way to retain their interest, the business will soon fold up.
2007
At this stage in the evolution of ITIL, the service lifecycle was introduced. Service lifecycle becomes so important that projects have to be handled in an orderly manner. This also makes it very easy for all stakeholders to work together to achieve IT project goals.
2011
There comes the introduction of business alignments to IT projects. What this emphasised is that, there is no way the IT department can run a successful project without the input of the business community. The IT community and the business community has to work together in order to deliver IT projects that will meet the need of customers.
2018
There comes the game change. There was the introduction of the Service Value System into ITIL projects. It is indeed a system that makes IT Projects successful. I am not going to talk about SVS in this article. Just stick to this blog and I will give you the load down.
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In my previous article , I have looked at some of the differences between ITIL V3 and ITIL 4. In this article, I want to look at some of the benefits of upgrading to ITIL 4. Follow me as we are going to look at that together in this article.
Now the benefits …
#1 Valuable delivery
One of the benefits of upgrading to ITIL 4 is that it guarantees the delivery of value to customers. Until ITIL V3 where books have to be followed before changes can be made, ITIL 4 ensures that the organisation can work with customers in order to deliver value to customers in a faster and efficient way.
#2 Holistic view
ITIL 4 also ensures that the organisation have an holistic view of he entire value chain. This allows the IT manager to identify those that are part of the value chain. They can also decide on ways of working with them in order to deliver value to customers.
#3 Only the best
When one take closer look at ITIL V3 , you will understand that it is not everything that is okay with that particular upgrade. What ITIL 4 does what to take the best of ITIL V3 and integrate into ITIL 4. It also borrows from other technology in order to have a perfect situation.
#4 Easy mingling
Another good thing about ITIL 4 is that it incorporates ideas from other IT disciplines such as Agile, Lean and DevOps. This allows it to work perfectly in tune with reality unlike others that are based on principles.
#5 Expanded contents
There is also the provision of contents that can help organisations support. This information are so extensive that they provided content that are not within the reach of traditional IT Project managers. This has the capability of increasing the success rate for IT projects.
#6 Better competition
ITIL 4 also give organisations an edge over competitors. Adoption of ITIL 4 with all other supporting technologies will allow the organisation to compete favourably with other organisations. The technology allows organisation to compete with others in the digital world.
Action Point PS: If you would like to have an online course on any of the courses that you found on this blog, I will be glad to do that on individual and corporate level, I will be very glad to do that I have trained several individuals and groups and they are doing well in their various fields of endeavour. Some of those that I have trained includes staffs of Dangote Refinery, FCMB, Zenith Bank, New Horizons Nigeria among others. Please come on Whatsapp and let’s talk about your training. You can reach me on Whatsapp HERE. Please note that I will be using Microsoft Team to facilitate the training.
I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you can drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.
Fact Check Policy
CRMNIGERIA is committed to fact-checking in a fair, transparent and non-partisan manner. Therefore, if you’ve found an error in any of our reports, be it factual, editorial, or an outdated post, please contact us to tell us about it.
In my previous article, I have talked about some of the basics that you need to know about the IT Infrastructure Library. In this article, I want to look at some of the differences between ITIL V3 and ITIL 4. Follow me as we are going to look at that together in this article.
#1 Extension to customer experience
One of the major addition to ITIL is that there is now more emphasis on customer experience. The previous ITIL V3 believes that if we follow some rules, the customer will definitely like the products. Bit the new ITIL 4 believes that for customers to be satisfied, they need to be carried along and become part of the stakeholders.
The ITIL 4 expands to customer experience, value stream and digital transformation of the organisation.
#2 Holistic approach
Another unique thing about ITIL 4 is its emphasis on a holistic approach by defining dimensions of service management that are collectively essential to the facilitation of service in the organisation.
#3 Value Co-Creation
ITIL 4 also introduce the concept of value Co-Creation. This concept assumes that you cannot create value alone You need to work with customers in order to deliver value to customers. You have to engage your customers by getting feedback from them. This will allow Organisations to improve customers experience.
#4 Emerging practices
In ITIL 4, unlike ITIL V3, there are now practices rather than processes. That means ITIL 4 is more of realities on ground rather than what is written on paper. All ITIL 4 practices have been refreshed to reflect the reality on ground so that it can suit modern way of doing things.
#5 More advanced
Before, some of the emerging practices that are part of ITIL practitioners are now part of the core IT Service management principles. That means the curriculum has been expanded to cover more advanced topics than what was done with the previous version. I remember my tutor saying then that they are wide apart. It is just that it is not easy to change the name. That is why it is not ITIL V4 but ITIL 4.
#6 Borrow borrow
Modern ITIL 4 also borrow from other disciplines in order to reflect new ways of doing things. Some of the new trends ITIL 4 borrowed from include Agile, DevOp, Lean and IT Governance among others.
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Many of us have heard many things about ITIL or IT Infrastructure Library, only a few of us knew what ITIL is all about. In this article, I want to talk about all that ITIL is all about. I can promise you that I will break it down to the extent that you will dream about them.
#1 Most widely used
The very first thing you need to know about ITIL is that it is the most widely used IT Service management framework in the world. It is not that there are no other methodologies that can be adopted but it just happened that ITIL owned by the government of the UK is the most widely used framework.
#2Value creation
Another major component of ITIL is the emphasis on creating services through the creation of value. You have to make sure that you are delivering value to customers through the provision of services that are of value to customers.
#3 Business strategy
With ITIL, you also have to make sure that you designed a business strategy based on the needs of the customers. You have to sit down and identify the needs of your customers and come up with a blueprint that will allow you to deliver value to your customers.
#2 Standard approach
ITIL also helps in presenting a common approach to managing IT projects. It also the processes to be standardised in such a way that it is very easy for organisations to adopt that common approach. This also guarantees that if anyone follows that same approach, they will achieve the same result.
Fact Check Policy
CRMNuggetsis committed to fact-checking in a fair, transparent, and non-partisan manner. Therefore, if you’ve found an error in any of our reports, be it factual, editorial, or an outdated post, please contact us to tell us about it.