We continue our Aegis Leadership series this week highlighting Brent Ramsumair, Aegis’ Business Development Lead who spearheads our stakeholder management efforts, contracts management and client retention strategies. Brent shares his top tips based on his latest observations in the marketplace.
Modify Your Business Model
There are many opportunities in the local economy for diversification, particularly in the non-energy sector in areas such as Agriculture, ICT, Manufacturing, Financial & BPO Services, and Marine industry to name a few. Brent shared, “As a business owner, it is important to regularly conduct internal assessments of the management and diversity of your portfolio (service and/or product lines), human resources, R&D, marketing strategies, external stakeholders, organisational & financial structures, value chain and operational processes to suit the quickly evolving market structures and business environment.”
These regular assessments will have significant positive knock-on effects. It determines the organisation’s true financial position, relevancy, viability and sustainability while ensuring that the above foundational elements are in constant alignment with the organisation’s value proposition and core purpose. Below are 5 areas you can review in your company this financial
quarter coming up.
Brent’s Top Business Development Tips
1. Research the Macro Environment and Market Trends – Changing environments necessitate changing perspectives. Always be aware of the activities taking place external of your business operations.
2. Constantly be on the look-out for Growth Opportunities – For instance, an opportunity was identified in the marketplace when organisations were unable to hold in-person AGMs’ due to the COVID-19 health restrictions stipulated by the Government. The identification of this opportunity, through strategic foresight, saw the establishment of Aegis’ new service line: Virtual Annual General Meetings.
3. Nurture Long-Term Relationships with your clients, employees, partners, alliances, and the communities you serve. This aids in making your organisation a sustainable one.
4. “Stick to the Knitting” – Concentrate on what you do best with the knowledge of always being flexible and responsive to the changes in market.
5. Assess Your Company’s Operations Regularly – This helps preserve a “fit” organisation, assist in adapting to change quickly, being alert to opportunities and disruptions while having the benefit of competitive advantage and staying true to your organisation’s purpose.
Exploring New Strategies
When exploring new strategies to pivot a business in this present environment, we recognise that there is no ‘right or wrong answer’. This is due to the unpredictable macro-economic conditions both locally and globally, together with market fluidity, changes in consumer demand and technology. All this adds considerable risk to planned strategies. A good business strategy must include two (2) fundamental elements; these are flexibility and responsiveness which serves as the bases of quickly mitigating any macro and micro threats whilst taking advantage of the market opportunities this “new normal” presents. Business Development Manager, Melissa Cobham shared “Brent is very au courant with current affairs and is very open to sharing his knowledge. His insights and methodologies has brought tremendous value to the company’s strategies and operational procedures.”
Effective Communication
Brent described his management style as a mixture of ‘consultative and participative’. He
advised effective communication is vital, as it promotes:
√ Clearer direction and instructions;
√ Encourages greater support with functional and cross-functional teams;
√ Stimulates creativity and fuels innovation; and
√ Improves understanding of how to deal with complex challenges.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact Brent at brent.ramsumair@aegistt.com.
