“Service Sales” as a business model has always been a good revenue earner, but the “uncertainties of business” and “depleting service revenues” have made companies look for something that assures them a return… thus reasons for Product Development and marketing!

Some of the pre-requisites that anyone who steps into Product Development understands (or may be should do, if they don’t) are  (1) they have to make revenue out of it (read it as continued revenue), (2) their product should have a target (should be sizeable) audience and (3) the product should have a long shelf life (should have a long term vision).

As more and more service companies move to product development – we decided to investigate, if SMART AIMS too could tread a similar path!

Before that though, we decided on a quick research to find out, if Product Companies are successful and if this model is just right for all. Results were eye-opening to say the least!

• Off every 100 Product Ideas that are shortlisted and put on the development table… just 2 see the end of a successful development phase and are released…
• Off a 100 products that are released, just 1 (one) makes for a positive ROI and the others are just lost and do not even make to the tables for the targets they were thought for!

With all these facts and ideas in the bag, we decided to place the following question to all our friends, partners and clients who have helped us be SMART AIMS.

Is a ‘SMART Product” the Future for SMART AIMS and how do we say that the product idea that we have (we do have more than one though) is the way to go?

Please take a moment to help us make the next move, do write in your suggestions and send us your comments and feedback to info@smartaims.com .

We wish all Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year, and assure you to be back older and matured with 2011.

Bidding adieu to 2010 and wishing that 2011 helps SMART AIMS grow and be more visible, we thank all for their continued support and cooperation.

SMART AIMS is planning to enter new business areas … areas/avenues that are either a fallout of our current business process, and/or relatively newer territories.. and what we are currently doing at SMART AIMS is evaluating and planning for the same.

Social Media Marketing: With the growth of world wide web as a marketing medium, the need for understanding the most effective way to promote your brand and get the maximum returns on your investment has become a need.. We at SMART AIMS have been studying and researching ways that can help our clients/customers/prospects in making the best off their investments and own a virtual identity in the mind of their customers.

Waste Management: An area that is very much a futuristic business idea.. an industry that needs both recognition and is yet to be organised in the trues sense. More on waste management in future discussions..

Do let us know if there are any other topics that you would like us to research on.. and also if there is a business idea that we could help you with.. we are not only a business.. we believe in building a new business entreprenur.. the key here is a mutually beneficial exchange!

As an entrepreneur, this journey has been yet another great learning and I am sure it will help me in the future as well.. like always.. We started with 1 full time working person (that was myself, Pradip Nagpal) and cam up to 9 at one point of time in the year and now are closing the year at 8.. no mean achievement keeping the fact in mind.. that we started when there was a downturn.. and are now seeing things picking up again…

SMART AIMS does not believe in being just another company amongst the host of others.. and certainly I would not like that to be.. and therefore we have decided to make some changes/arrangements that help us grow.. we will be revisiting each and every part/department of our small organisation.. and looking for ways to make it more effective.. as well as help it grow..

We may not be in the news for some time in the future (not that we were making headlines anyways), but we assure you by the end of these changes.. we will evolve stronger and with a better focus and management that takes us far ahead…

We once again thank all friends and partners (clients and employee) who have been with us in the journey and help us live a dream year..

Would love to finish this article off on a real positive note.. SMART AIMS is now Technology Partners for a major start-up in US.. design, development and concept partners.. and thats just the beginning..

Keep following us for more information.. and we assure you wouldn’t be disappointed.

SMART AIMS deliverables:

Designer’s perspective:
We start with a mockup.. try and get it to the point whereby the client is satisfied with it.. we go through multiple iterations.. and finally ..”The client selects and approves it”.

Developer’s Perspective:
The selected template is now to be integrated to Joomla.. a theme (layout) which is close to the one selected by the client is chosen and integrated.
The designer helps the developer it changing the backgrounds, css and implements the template as he had designed.
The developer now starts adding the modules/plugins that the template is supposed to have.. and changes the css for them appropriately to reflect the selected design.

Template Integration complete..

Added Requirements by the client:
Installed Joomla already. Use the current content and plugins into the Joomla template that we had built!

SMART AIMS Delivers yet again!

The brief this time just increased the work we had to do.. not within the scope of the project defined earlier.. but again.. being a customer oriented organisation we had to  deliver.

The template was uploaded using the Joomla Administrative Section:

Log in to Administrative Section

• Click on Extensions > Install/Unistall
• Select the Zip file for the Template designed and click on Upload File and Install
• Go to Extensions > Template Manager and select the newly installed template.

Phew! and we thought it was over.. but the game had just begun.. the plugins which the client had incorporated in the earlier Joomla template.. added to our woes.. we had to work on the css and getting them into specific positions in the template! It took time and effort.. but we did get through and updated the same for our client.

Final Result:

A happy client who paid us for doing that bit extra!.. well it was not about money.. but the way we went about the work that the client was impressed with..

Get in touch with us if you have requirements and for a great customer experience!

Its about presentation and laying out data that makes the difference in most cases. Data is information if presented to make sense.. and thats what our services  aim to do.. Its another SMART AIM.. whether we get to it or not though.. only time will say.

The next very important question/comment could be.. are you talking of Data Intelligence/Mining or something.. well not exactly.. but it could well be used for Business Intelligence.. thats what Information stands for most of the times.. provided the figures speak to us and profile the story behind it.

We at SMART AIMS a constantly looking to innovate and work around to survive.. please feel free to suggest anything that we could work on together.. and we assure you we will not let you down on it..

After all.. its never late to be a SMART AIMS – Friend.

Social Networking is the buzz and people are using more and more of it to reap the benefits of their networks and promote business.

This trend though more visible today.. but most companies had been using it knowingly/unknowingly for a long time..recession and downturn has just emphasised it further and made it more visible.

SMART AIMS has always nurtured relationships and to take this further we are now working on a model of “Join as a Friend”.

A simple business model whereby any business/lead that you generate and provide us with i.e. it results in work/revenue for us.. we share  with you a fixed percentage of the project cost as business consultancy fee payable to you.

Not only that, if the same client/prospect gives us future business which you may or may not be aware of.. we track it for you and send you notifications and your affiliate rewards as a token of our appreciation.. just to say “Thank you from being a SMART AIMS Friend”.

Feel free to review our website (www.smartaims.com) and let us know if you have a prospect/lead that could result in business for us. .we will follow it up and on succesful business closure, the consultancy charges are for your taking.

We look forward to connecting with more “SMART AIMS Friends”.

For any queries/information on our services and solutions offerings, please email us at info@smartaims.com