Skills Shortage?

2009 has been an interesting year.

One of the issues faced by many businesses, especially medium to large businesses, is a shortage of critical skills. In some cases, key skills have been reduced by cost saving programmes.

Cost saving projects often lead to roles being made redundant. Where this results in head-count reductions in support or overhead areas, the process adopted is usually viewed as the least bad option by a business struggling to shore up weak finances. However, it is possible that the result is a substantial reduction in the expertise of the business in key areas.

If these roles were truly unnecessary, they should not have been filled with people - even in good times. To cap it all, if numbers start to improve, reinstatement of the individual who has left through redundancy is tricky. You may be uncertain of the sustainability of any up-turn. Your business may have evolved to the point where you would prefer to avoid re-employing the person who left (If in doubt, take professional advice on the employment law issues).

One approach worth considering is to hire a part-time functional expert. Someone with the skills you need - but for, say, 2 days per month. Hire the right person and you will:

• Still save money
• Make best use of the unskilled / semi-skilled support people in your team
• Be able to reduce or cut the cost of this resource at short notice without worrying about the costs or complexities of UK employment law.

There are many, highly skilled, people to choose from. Make sure you verify their expertise and that their terms of business give you the control you need.

Cheaper Marketing Costs More

Talking to a marketing agency I know this morning was an education in cost wasting. My contact had just spent a whole lot of client time - much of which he cannot invoice - sorting out a file sent to him by a client. His plea "bring back professional marketers, they save me time and my clients money".
The leaders of many organisations try to save money in their marketing by not employing a marketing professional. They then ask a well meaning, enthusiastic, member of the team - with no marketing experience - to manage external agencies. The result is an unclear brief which constantly changes while the creative agency works hard to try to deliver value. The information is often passed to the agency in a format - in Publisher for example - which is very time consuming for an agency to extract into their professional systems. The final outcome often costs a lot more than was necessary.

The Solution
If you cannot write a clear brief and format information with clarity - so that your agency can deliver effectively for you, then use a part-time professional marketer to manage your marketing. The extra expense will be saved time and time again when your sub-contract providers are able to work to your real requirements and to deliver work that reinforces your brand and meets your objectives. Simples!