The sales process from an exterior perspective, seems like it must be working effectively from a revenue number standpoint. Yet, just as is in life, there is always room to improve the processes or efficiency of the business through many different routes. Through the utilization of figure 7-8, the frame work for improving process objectives is clearly laid out; classify objectives:either effective or efficient, make unstated assumptions explicit, match objectives to strategy. In the case of BrightLine, we deem the process as inefficient overall, mainly due to the use of multiple information systems, such as SAP, Netsuite, and Quickbooks, to complete the Sales process from start to finish.
The sales process begins with an Account Executive/ Sales team networking to generate leads and achieve new clientele. Once the sale is achieved following a successful aggressive marketing pitch based off the patented Build-Once-Run-Everywhere technology. This technology allows for one advertisement to be compatible with all first party Over-The-Top smart tv or advanced ad platforms. This was conveyed to us as one of the main aspects of the pitch according to the manager Alex Gero while interviewing him. Though this appears to be a tremendous selling point, with a high effectiveness according to management, the lack of centralized data makes the process inefficient. With one universal information system the entire sales team would have access to all data at the same time, knowing there is no discrepancies between what everyone is seeing. This allows for a quicker verification of information, to complete the sale in process. Another direct causation of utilizing one information system is to deter the potential for information silos to occur.
Following our recommendations, BrightLine's current process efficiency and effectiveness could not be maximized more. The strategy of creating an innovative technology redefining the entire advertising smart contract and Over-The-Top interactive advertisement opportunities, directly resulting in better organization or grouping of data. Allowing management to make decisions in even less time, clearly seeing updated data or statistics in real time, with the awareness there is no possibility for another information system having some sort of silo.
Alex informed us that he believes BrightlLines key to continued revenue growth would be innovation in the advertising marketplace. This would be in line with following the initial model catapulting BrightLine to success, creating an innovative idea to change the landscape of profitability in the industry. Another side effect of Build-Once-Run-Everywhere was redefining data collection and grouping. For BrightLine to continue to make strides in a positive direction, we recommend they continue to invest in research and development of proprietary technology, whether it be within the space they already occupy, or related diversification. The opportunity best suited for diversification that we see aligning with the companies capabilities would be developing a Sales information system, this would allow BrightLine to universally process payments, and solve our earlier noticed problem of potential information silos. Another positive effect of this specific investment is lowering the cost per transaction fee of processing payments, creating more efficiency in the sales process. Finally development of this system would allow for a new profit center to be created, that is the business of selling this new sales industry defining information system to other companies.