Every company follows a chain mechanism comprising dealers, suppliers, distribution channels, retailers, and the receiving end – customers, to function. Businesses usually establish only basic communication in this chain but that is where the idea of an extended enterprise becomes a game changer.
A good business leader should always look for ways to increase the functionality of a business and creating an extended enterprise does exactly that. When combined with the implementation of an enterprise learning management system, you will be able to build a strong network that comes with many advantages.
Advantages of a Collaborative Relationship
First thing’s first – in order to create an extended enterprise, you need to be familiar with what it implies exactly.
An extended enterprise actually represents an organization of companies that depend on one another for the purpose of providing better products or services to a certain target market. Whether you want it or not, you do need to communicate with other businesses; and an extended enterprise is practically an affirmation of business connections with the desire to improve delivery.
When you create a chain such as this one and recognize all parties included as partners, you will get an insight into real-time data that will directly enable you to increase your customer satisfaction rates.
Having valuable pieces of information on your hands will broaden your view by bringing in new perspectives. Being familiar with the whole trail that goes from the source to the end receiver is a significant advantage to have and it’s certainly an effective way to be a step in front of your competition.
However, the most important feedback you can possibly have comes from your target audience. When you have the power to understand the customer experience, you can turn to your internal organization with the means to improve its functioning.
Shared Knowledge
This brings us to the next point and the most important benefit of being included in an extended enterprise – joint learning. For example, if you work with glass and you are a retailer, your source and manufacturer can provide you with professional tips when it comes to glass maintenance.
As a realtor, you can use that knowledge to improve your customer experience. Creating a blog post which is a thorough guide on how to keep glass spotless clean for a very long time will make your website a knowledge base that stands out.
In this example, we introduced only two parties and it already made a difference regarding customer satisfaction. Naturally, if you give a voice to every link in the chain, the impact of an extended enterprise will be only greater.
Training as a Powerful Strategic Tool
Although the benefit of an extended enterprise is obvious, an organization might be tricky. In order to synchronize everyone included in this chain, it’s necessary to introduce work methods and systems to its flow – and training is an effective way to do exactly that.
The idea is to gather all parties together online and connect them via an enterprise learning management system. Primarily, you should start by developing an improvement strategy, and then, you should work on the training necessary for the changes to be conducted and, in the end, launch them as an official enterprise training course.
Facilitated Communication
When you’re a part of an enterprise system, it’s necessary to establish communication channels via which all members included can have a voice. Obviously, a medium that’s not capable of providing you with highly transparent communication will create chaos, which is the opposite of what you want to achieve.
Using a training platform like enterprise learning management software will enable you with the means to create a base of collective knowledge. Not only that you can control your franchises through it by checking updates, but you can also release the latest updates regarding the recent releases, as well have a transparent overview of all the happenings in the entire enterprise.
A joint community like this creates big data that’s simple to analyze and process. Thanks to clear and effective communication channels, you will be provided with hard facts which can be put to use right away to make the necessary difference.
Enhanced Profitability
Obviously, being invested in the whole trail of production including the receiving end can practically guarantee success increment for all parties included. When it’s obvious which link can be straightened and when having input on exactly how to do so, the whole chain will grow stronger together.
Summing up
With direct improvements as those we mentioned above, it’s simple for an extended enterprise to increase income by improving the customer satisfaction. Besides, establishing an effective enterprise training network throughout a learning management system will bring the efficiency of the whole organization to a new level.
When communicating through a channel like this, not only that you’re provided with an information archive which is easy to analyze but you’re doing it via one cost-efficient medium. The combination of gathering more attention of your target audience and cutting your other costs will show very positive results in a short time frame.
And in the end, there’s also team building as a very interesting perk and addition to the idea of extended enterprise and empowering it through training. Being a part of an organization such as this one and working hard to contribute to it will create a collective feeling of team spirit. Therefore, an extended enterprise is a strong spirited organization of quality trained members who have access to a powerful knowledge base.
Kamy Anderson is an ed-tech enthusiast with a passion for writing on emerging technologies in the areas of corporate training and education. He is an expert in learning management system & eLearning authoring tools - currently associated with ProProfs.
