UPS Envy - The Visible Process

The number one reason why companies invest in BPM is because they have "UPS Envy"... I just made up that statistic, but I'll bet that it's not far from true...

If you've ever ordered anything online and had it shipped by UPS, then you've probably seen the UPS tracking screens. As the buyer, you can see exactly where your package has been, when it was there, and where it's going. Every drop-off, every pick up, every mile... from the shipper to your door step... It's GREAT.

I've never seen the "Shipper's View" of UPS, but I'll bet that it's phenomenal too. You can probably see all of the packages that you have shipped in a consolidated view. Everything in real time, letting you sleep comfortably knowing that your customers are going to get what they ordered on time... or giving you the warning that you need to preemptively head off the disappointment of a late shipment.

UPS itself probably has a "Gods-Eye View" of every package in their system... Great for day-to-day operations, and no doubt with historical analysis features to determine the optimum number of trucks, trains, and planes that were actually needed to get those packages delivered on time.

This is what BPM promises... The ability to track each step of all of your processes, and to be able to analyze past metrics to plan for a better future.

1. Model the Process
2. Manange the Process
3. Monitor the Process
4. Analyze the Process (darn... I can't think of a synonym for Analyze that starts with "m")
5. Modify the Process

If your BPM implementation doesn't provide these capabilities, then you've missed the mark.

In almost every Managed Business Process that you implement, you will probably need to provide the following "Current State" views (at a minimum):

Originator's View

This is analogous to the Purchaser's UPS tracking view. You initiated a Process, and you want to know how things are going. More than likely your primary concern is in knowing when the Process will complete (which implies knowing what steps are left to complete) and you probably also want to know how things have gone so far (what steps have been performed, and who performed them).

Participant's View

This is similar to the Originator's View in some respects... but you are generally more interested in all of the Processes that you've participated in rather than a single Process. In many cases, you are interested in the Processes that may "come back to haunt you"... Processes that are still "in flight" where you may be required to perform additional steps (or defend past actions).

Manager's View

This could be the Manager of the complete Process, or the Manager of a Group of Participants who own a Swim Lane of a Process. In some respects this is a Cumulative Participants View, but there is an emphasis on spotting overdue tasks that might lead to an SLA (Service Level Agreement) violation.

Note that all of these Views could span Multiple Processes. The Originators, Participants, and Managers will often be involved with many different types of Processes simultaneously.

I have emphasized the "Current State" in describing these Views, but obviously (especially for the Managers) Historical Views are also quite useful.

Process Engines are primarily concerned with making sure that the right tasks are assigned to the right participants at the right time... but they must also support the generation of all the Views that I've mentioned. This can be accomplished in many ways... but how ever you do it, make sure that you're satisfying that "UPS Envy".

Internet Marketing, Pool, And Chess

By Luis Galarza - Internet Marketing And Make Money Online Tips.

What Internet Marketing, Pool And Chess Have In Common? Entrepreneurs Can Learn A Lot From The Special Factor That Help Pool And Chess Players Succeed!

I'm not talking only about the average pool and chess player games, I talking about the success factor that makes a an excellent player. Why mentioning these type of games when referring to Internet marketing? Well, my friend I am follower of success, and I think is always a good idea to analyze different kind of successful techniques and examples that can give me lessons about how to improve myself and my company when applying it to my regular business and marketing strategies.

Let me tell you, I learn a lot from regular live example of success and proven achieving strategies. And if you ever seen a good pool or chess player and pay close attention to the way they play, you will notice that is a strategic thinking behind every single of their moves, and that is the strategy of "Two Ahead". This mean that pool players think two shots ahead and chess players think two moves ahead. The key words here is "ahead", being two moves ahead of your competition or two move ahead in your market, is the art of putting strategic business innovation to work for your company.

What pool and chess good players can teach you about Internet marketing is that thinking two moves ahead is a key factor for your success online.

Just imaging putting this business tactic to work for you, imaging getting to steps ahead of your competition and by the time they trying to keep up with your marketing you already another two steps ahead.

Let's think about the pool player for a minute... Imagine someone that has as his only source of income a daily visit to a billiard hall. This mean that if he looses, he will not be able to eat, drink, or put a roof over his head, so for this person pool it's not just a game, for him it's serious business. So, he can't be just good add it, he need to be the best player in that hall.

How he does this? By thinking two strategic shots ahead all the time, this help him put more balls in the pockets than his competition and win.

Internet marketing is simple but the marketplace is a hard to crack, and if you think two shots ahead like the pool player, you can win more marketing battles which give you a a better market share, which mean more loyal customers and off course more money.


Apply The "Two Ahead Strategic Thinking" Method.

- If you are a physical or information product creator you can think on the next two products that can solve a problem in your niche. Is good to know where the market is going and the hot trends involving your industry to have a better understanding of what you can create next.

- If your goal is to use Internet marketing to promote your product or to promote affiliate programs, use this technique to find two new creative ways to promote your business. But, don't forget to think about strategic innovations to increase sales or to drive more targeted traffic to your web site or blog.

Why I mention strategic business innovations all the time in this post? You need to remember that the entrepreneurs that are making big money online in the product creation market, Internet marketing, and affiliate marketing are the ones that create new innovations that solve a current problem in a better way or they just found a new way to do it. A few examples of top experts and companies thinking ahead to stay ahead are:

- Google, making billions with Adwords and Adsense.
- Seth Goudin, the creator of Squidoo, his unusual but great marketing books.
- Derek Gehl, with the new easy online application called Bebiz, and keeping the number one marketing training spot for 10 years with "Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business Online" course.
- Microsoft, when enter the video game market with a computer type of console called "XBox".

Now none of this can be possible without action, so taking action is crucial to make the tactic work.


Recommended Resources.

- Internet Business Training System. NEW! 16 DVD's and free access to BeBiz.
- Search Marketing Lab. To be ahead of the SEO strategies that work.


In Conclusion: This Internet marketing method is a incredible effective way to build a longterm list of loyal customers, to increase your market share, and to create a consistent revenue generating machine.

To learn how you can be part of a small business association full with Internet marketing experts visit the Internet Entrepreneurs Club.

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant Massachusetts.

About Author: Luis Galarza is a respectable Internet Marketing and Small Business Consultant in the area of Leominster and Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Also, he had teach 100's of entrepreneurs how to make money online and offline without their own product.

A proud member of
- The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs
.

MLM Education-I Value Your Opinion On This MLM Education

In my previous post, I talked about how network marketing is a great industry, but many people find it difficult to build their networking business the right way. I also stared I have put together a free mlm report with tips and strategies I feel can help you in your business. Now, I need your help. I would love to get your opinion on what you think about it. I truly believe the mlm education that is covered will take you biz to the next level. If it does, don't hesitate to let me know!

To see the video about this, go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTp09IcV-LQ

To download your free mlm report, go to

http://www.scribd.com/doc/3538496/MLM-ReportsGrab-Your-Free-MLM-Report-Here

I look forward to hearing from you!

To Your Success,

Monique
mentormonique@gmail.com
Skype: Monique371

Chapters 10 and 11 answered all my questions about MLM. The same can happen to you! Grab your free ebook today: http://mentormonique.bigmlmtruths.com/?mad=9091


If you are looking for powerful tips, ideas, and secrets about achieving success, visit http://www.squidoo.com/tipstoexplodeyourhome-basedbusines

We're retiring AdSense Referrals

We're constantly looking for ways to improve AdSense by developing and supporting features which drive the best monetization results for our publishers. Sometimes, this requires retiring existing features so we can focus our efforts on the ones that will be most effective in the long term. For this reason, we will be retiring the AdSense Referrals program during the last week of August. We appreciate your patience during this transition and here are some alternative options to consider:

• Google Affiliate Network: As part of the integration of DoubleClick, the DoubleClick Performics Affiliate Network will now operate as the Google Affiliate Network for advertisers targeting users located in the United States. Similar to the AdSense Referrals program, the Google Affiliate Network enables publishers to apply for advertiser programs and get paid based on advertiser-defined actions instead of clicks or impressions. For further details, please visit: http://www.google.com/ads/affiliatenetwork/.
  
  
• AdSense for content ads: If you have less than three AdSense for content ad units on a page, you may wish to replace the referral ad units with standard AdSense for content ad units.
  

If you currently use referral ads, either to promote Google products or offerings from AdWords advertisers, AdSense Referrals code will no longer display ads beginning the last week of August. We encourage you to take the following steps before the product is retired:

• Remove the referral code from your site(s): Please take a moment to remove all referral code from your sites before the last week of August, so you can continue to effectively monetize your ad space.
  
• Run and save all referrals reports on your desktop: Create and save all reports related to the referrals program on your desktop, so you continue to have access to your valuable campaign information.
  

Thank you for your support of AdSense Referrals in the past. If you have any additional questions, please visit our Help Center.

Posted by Anuj Srivastava - AdSense Product Marketing

Rumour - Expedia buys into India with $17million investment in TravelGuru - is there a scary eLong parallel here

contentSutra has a story (in conjunction with VCCircle) that Expedia has spent $17mm to gain a stake in the number four indian player TravelGuru. Intial reports put the valuation at around $30 million giving Expedia a majority stake. An update in contentSutra puts the valuation at closer to $75mm - though the headline still claims that Expedia has a majority stake.

UPDATE - CEO Ashwin Dameria has written to Medianama.com with the following comment

I’m disappointed that mere speculation is being published in the form of a “story”. Many people have called me based on this hearsay and what they have read online.

There are many inaccuracies in these reports – the biggest being – there has been no deal signed! (my emphasis)

What more is there to deny?

Warm regards,

Ashwin

He does not say "no negotiations are under way" or "no chance". Rather says "no deal signed". Assuming there is a deal - here is my analysis.

I did a background piece on the India market a few months ago. In researching that piece it became clear that TravelGuru was very well funded - having raised as much as $25mm from Sequoia and Battery. First round was $10mm with just Sequoia and then a combined Sequoia and Battery second round of $15mm. TravelGuru has used some of this to do acquisitions of their own picking up Desiya for around $25 mm (Rs. 100 crores). While well funded and used to acquisitions, the research put TravelGuru in fourth place in the market with around $80mm in TTV planned for 2008 (up from $42 in 2007). This puts them behind Makemytrip on around $280 TTV, Yatra on $210 and Cleartrip (>$100). More in this post here.

I am trying to understand this play by Expedia. Using acquisition as an market entry technique is not typical Expedia behaviour (on the leisure side). Of course in France there was the original joint venture with SNCF and there have been a string of investments by TripAdvisor. But the entry of the Expedia brand into a market has usual followed a organic path of launch hotel/destination services while the air engine is localised. Then a year or so after brand launch they bring on the air engine and ramp up the marketing. In the case of India with have the hotel only launch of Expedia.co.in and then four months later the investment - but not full buyout - of a local player. The obvious and scary parallel for Expedia is their entry into the Chinese market through a majority investment in eLong (August 2004). This has proven to be a disaster for Expedia. eLong is onto its third CEO since the investment (fourth if you include the interim work of Expedia Asia Pacific President Henrik Kjellberg) and the stock is near a two year low of around $7 only just above the investment price of $6.21 (though it would be fair to say that I should keep comments about poorly performing online travel stocks to a minimum). Much like eLong and its market standing compared to ctrip, TravelGuru currently lives in the shadow of larger rivals.

It has taken Expedia 4 years to ready themselves for another part investment in an emerging market. I am sure they are hoping that they have learnt a lot from the lessons of eLong.

Just a rumour at present as the CEO TravelGuru Ashwin Dameria has (sort of) issued a denial. Either way - the Indian market is continuing to heat up.