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The 2015 year is fast fading and the reality of the challenges and the excitement at the opportunities of 2016 are in front of us all.
In this update we’d like to share some insights and snippets that we trust you find helpful and informative.
Making headway in a low growth economy
Aside from those involved in capital city real estate we expect you are feeling the strains of a low growth economy. In this environment increasing revenue centres around attracting business away from your competitors. This is tough, primarily because it involves breaking existing relationships. Anecdotally the businesses that fare best are those who find ways to communicate the benefits rather than the features of their goods or services. With respect to defensive strategies there are essentially four, price (value for money, not lowest), service (convenience/reliability), expertise or innovative solutions (being a thought leader). This is all summarised as demonstrating and communicating the value to the client or customer.
RSM’s response to digital disruption
If you haven’t heard the term we’d be surprised. While there are many notions of this it essentially comes down to the aggressive use of technology to eliminate human intervention in processes and analysis. RSM is well advanced in our response to the opportunities presented by this. We have teams dedicated to assisting clients to embrace the following areas of opportunity:
- integrated data processing direct from bank transaction
- enhanced real time reporting
- business intelligence
- digital marketing and CRM
If you would like to hear more about these opportunities click here.
Self- managed superannuation
We look after over 250 self-managed superannuation funds. During 2015, Chantelle Murray managed the implementation of new software to stream line processing and provide support for our self- managed superannuation clients. During 2016 this will allow us to receive direct data feeds on third party investments, enhance our capacity to implement tax management strategies, maintain compliance costs and report on and interrogate fund performance in real time. If you would like to know more about the benefits and services we can provide click here.
Research confirms goals and targets improve performance
During 2015 our specialist aged care team undertook a major research project for the Department of Social Services.
We were seeking to understand the drivers of high financial performance. The project included a qualitative survey of industry participants. While the findings were industry specific there are some qualitative findings that could apply more broadly.
We found that better performing businesses in aged care are characterised by:
- they budget for an outcome not relative to last year
- they review their strategic plan regularly (not less than 6 monthly)
- they updated their market image within the last 5 years
- they have a clear view of their market
We have some great success stories within our clients. If you are interested in hearing some success stories then call for a 'how’s business' chat. Sharing how digital communication is winning business is a topic close to my heart.
We recently received this investment analysis from UBS on the three listed aged care providers.
If you are in the aged care sector there are some interesting opinions expressed in it. If you are an investor then this is an example of the sort of research that is going on behind the scenes. We make no recommendation about investing in any of the named stocks.
Successful exit
During 2015 we managed the sale of a clients’ IT business for an 8 figure sum - $X0,000,000. While the financial outcome was fantastic the real story revolves around how our close relationship allowed us to help this client work through the issues, anxieties and stress of the selling process. Early on we created a focus paper which the client found really helpful. If you are questioning whether now is the right time to sell your business perhaps this paper will help.
If you are considering an exit then click here to contact Bruce Bailey.
RSM rebrand
As noted above, better performing businesses updated their branding in the last 5 years. RSM Bird Cameron is now known as RSM, and is the Australian arm of the RSM International network. While this means letting go of 90+ years of history it is a great catalyst to do some new things. Hopefully you’ve seen the new brand. Feedback is welcome.
Tell us what you think
We all get too many emails and we’d hate this to be another annoying one. We’ve tried to cover a relatively broad range of tropics and to keep it concise however the reality is we’re just guessing that you will appreciate this update. By all means unsubscribe if this is not for you of course. If you thought this was interesting and there are other topics you’d like covered then click here to let us know and we’ll include it in the next update.
It’s okay to share this with your friends if you think they would like it.
Bruce Bailey, Director
RSM
National head of Aged Care Services