We have maintained a consistent strategy for the past three years and this is starting to show real tangible benefits. However, in keeping with the changing nature of the marketplace, our strategy is constantly reviewed and continually evolves.
In the past 12 months, the major evolution has been driven by our B2C clients move from a multi-channel, to an omni-channel, environment. Our clients require their customers to have a seamless interaction with their brand, with all communication and e-commerce services being delivered through integrated channels. This is the natural development of the multi-channel approach, which implied multiple touch points with a consumer, but tended to be in a disparate and unco-ordinated manner.
The four underlying elements of the strategy are:
The drive to be a technology centric business continues apace and is centred around investing in systems to extract further value from all of our businesses, as well as capturing opportunities in the emerging high growth digital communication and commerce channels.
We are implementing technology-based, rather than labour-based, solutions across the company that are highly scalable and improve the standard of service and delivery efficiency to our customers. We deliver our clients communication and brand to the consumer market and now their e-commerce platforms. Operating a software-as-a-service model demands our platforms be robust in order to be a trusted partner of Australia’s largest consumer facing companies.
The opportunity is to provide our customers with a service they require on a more cost effective basis and with lower risk. We own the technology underpinning the services and we have a great ability to leverage this investment. Whilst we still need to build further scale and expand our capability, our journey is well underway.
The One Salmat initiative continues to drive revenue, with one in three sales opportunities now being across our business units. Our focus on highly co-ordinated omni-channel communication solutions sits well with our One Salmat initiative. Our sales objective is to sell solutions, not products, and with the sale of BPO, the greater focus of the group on ‘front-office’ communication should allow this program to be driven harder.
Our drive into New Markets continues, with particular emphasis on the SME market. In part, the SME market is a great example of the key elements of the strategy working together. Without the implementation of technology driven platforms across the group, the SME market would not be attractive to us. The ability to use technology to drive sales and to reduce our cost of sales are what makes this market economically attractive.
Finally, we continue to strive for operational excellence under the Optimise program, our enterprise wide initiative to deliver sustainable year on year earnings enhancement through innovation in operations. Expansion of revenue streams and cost reduction under this program has delivered $32 million in benefits this year.
