Interview with an Expert Financial Planner - Subhashini Manivannan

What exactly is "Financial Planning"?

Planning our defined goals within our income and available financial resources according to the time required and target value .

Whom do you suggest that "Financial Planning" is very necessary for?

For each and every earning person and who manages money.

So you mean even a home-maker needs Financial Planning? 

Absolutely!

Can you please explain?

Financial planning starts at home. Budgeting, prioritising & allotting money for specific goals starts from home. Small savings at various assets like Chit funds, gold, silver and cash reserves are the financial planning avenues that homemakers should consider.  Even money lending for income generation and borrowing for emergencies are also a part of Financial Planning.

What is the importance of Financial Planning?

The 3 most important reasons for Financial Planning are

• To achieve the pre-defined goals like children education, wedding and retirement planning. 
• To realise dreams like foreign travel etc... 
• To preserve the existing wealth and to accumulate more wealth. 

Is Financial Planning differs with age?

Yes, it does.

Life stages are very important for financial planning. Every person's financial goals differ with age. There are different stages such as wealth accumulation, wealth preservation and wealth conservation and it depends on the age of the individual.

Can you please explain more?

When a person starts earning at the age of 21, he is in the accumulation cycle. Because he starts saving for the future. At the of 35 yrs  he starts saving for his family maintainable fund reserves and education for children and planning for his retirement which means he is on the wealth accumulation and preservation cycle. At the age of 55 he spends for children's wedding and higher education so he is in a spending mode with his income mostly stopped or reduced.  After that on ordinary scenarios he is in the spending stage only.

Are there any external economic risks that one needs to be concerned about?

Yes, definitely. There are external economic risks such as Inflation rates and Interest rates that will affect the saving capacity of the investor. 

What kind of investments do you recommend?

There are many investment avenues available for investors according to their risk taking capacity (risk appetite).

Life stages (age) plays an important role in the Earning stage and Spending stage .

According to their financing goals, time horizon and risk taking capacity they can choose from the following few asset classes:

FDs/ bonds

Mutual funds

Direct equities

Commodities

Gold and silver

Real estates and

Cash reserves etc.

How often do you evaluate your client's situation and provide an up-to-date forecast?

We can't be rigid in this time frame. I feel that it is good to evaluate once in 3 months. If any situation arises such as my client need to invest more or withdraw funds or switch from one asset class to another then I would evaluate the market situations and send my updates.

Are you an authorised Financial Adviser?

Yes, I am a certified Financial Adviser. I am authorised to advise on Life Insurance, General Insurance products and Mutual Funds.

How long have you been a Financial Adviser?

For the past 11 yrs.

Exactly what services do you provide to your clients?

Wealth Management

Can you please tell us more on that?

I suggest appropriate products based on my client's income, goals and risk taking capacity.

What investment firms do you use in your practice?

I use Asset Management Companies and Insurance Companies. 

Can you give us a few names?

I use the services of Insurance companies like LIC, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Max Life Insurance, HDFC Standard Life Insurance, Star Health Insurance, Apollo Munich Health Insurance. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, HDFC Asset Management,ICICI Prudential Asset Management, Birla Sun Life Asset Management etc.

Do you offer different levels of service?

Yes, I do. I make short-term and long-term recommendations as well as offer different plans and options based on my client's interests and needs.

Do you offer different models or investment pools dependent on client’s risk tolerance?

Yes. Each customer's financial need, capacity and time horizons are different. So financial planning is tailor made to suit each client's situation.

Subhashini Manivannan
subhashini68@yahoo.ca

An Interview with a Supply Chain Management Expert

An Interview with Vijayan - an independent Business Consultant 

Vijayan has a very wide professional experience in various manufacturing industries ranging from Earthmoving Equipment, Air Pollution Control Systems, Automobile, Engineering ( Industrial Valves) to setting up Joint Ventures. He is a goal setter and known to strive hard to achieve his goals.

In this interview, he talks about the Supply Chain Management, its effects on the profitability of the company, its problems and the challenges. He also talks about "Make in India".

What is a Supply Chain Management?

Supply Chain Management is defined differently by different people.

For some, it is raw material to finished product. For some it is Cash to Cash, which roughly means, you pay for your Raw material and collect the money for your finished product - the total business cycle.

However Supply Chain Management is concerned with different departments in an organization such as Material Planning, Purchase, Stores and Logistics.

What is the responsibility of a Supply Chain Manager?

The responsibility of a Supply Chain Manager is to ensure a smooth production. He should oversee that the stock is maintained optimally as well as the stock is purchased at the best prices in order to increase the profitability of the Organisation.

Generally, the efficiency of SCM department is measured by Inventory Turnover Ratio.

The best example I can give is a small hotel. They buy all their raw material in the morning and by the end of the day, the products are sold and converted into Cash. This is 100% Inventory Turnover Ratio.

This Inventory Turnover Ratio varies depending upon the product that is manufactured in any Manufacturing sectors. But the aim of any manufacturer should be to maximise this ratio by keeping Inventory at optimum levels.

Imported raw materials, materials that face shortage often, materials with erratic lead time are always a great challenge to a Supply Chain Manager.

You are known to be a person who argues that the theoretical strategies of Supply Chain Management don't yield neither practical nor profitable results to a Business. Do you still stick to your guns?

Theoretical formulas of Reorder Level, Minimum Stock, Maximum stock, Reorder trigger point etc do not always result in optimum Inventory. This might work for voluminous regular production which is in the set pattern. This is not the real case in the modern day manufacturing. Hence, it is always advisable to follow Inventory policies depending on the manufacturing sector concerned. There are no fixed formulas. I have always contested this and proved to the higher management that the traditional formulas result in higher inventory.

Are there any practical references that you can make to prove your point of argument?

Yes! I can give my own experience with one of the leading Industrial Valve Manufacturer based in Chennai. My predecessor always planned stocks based on the theoretical formulas and when I took over I found a lot of non-moving inventory. This directly affected the part of profit margin as it adds up to consumption of stock and thus increasing the manufacturing cost.

So, firstly, we segregated these items into Slow Moving and Non-moving Inventory. Secondly, we moved these to a Quarantine Stores created exclusively for that. Thirdly we calculated the total value of the items and these items were meant only to be taken out for usage and no items were added to this quarantined stores.

This Store was under my control. After a year we found the stock in this Stores has come down to a minimum level. After obtaining the approval from the Management, those stocks were either wrote off or scrapped. Later other divisions of the Company were advised to follow this same method.

What would be your advice to any Supply Chain Manager to see the best results?

My advice would be to work closely with the material planning department of the organisation for a short-term period (or long term period) and order items as per the requirement. This could be monthly or quarterly or half yearly depending on the item classification either on ABC or VED analysis of the items.

Are you sure that YOUR strategies WILL yield results in this technology-driven world?

Absolutely!

You worked with a very prominent international company and you have gained good experience in SCM. Do you think the strategies that you mentioned can actually help ANY business to see a better SCM or speed up their manufacturing process?

Supply Chain Management is vital in any company because it adds up to direct profit percentage of the company. It is proven in the calculations that cost saved in Input material of the product directly adds up to the profitability. Hence, the Value Engineering came into the picture. Various methods of saving cost by alternate processes such as outsourcing result in lesser Cost of production.

I would like to give an example here. Valves for Oil refining and removal of impurities like Sulphur etc are essential for oil companies. These Oil companies wanted to work with Indian companies rather than importing it, thereby saving foreign exchange. We took up this challenge and worked with various production units to make this possible. Special Steels and exotic raw materials were produced with the help of Steel Mills and Foundries. Valves were made in India and successfully installed in pipelines.

Nuclear Power Plants is another area where special materials are used. We, the Indian Manufacturers took up the challenge of manufacturing these alloys successfully. I am proud that I was a part of this evolution in my Industry. We found ‘Make in India’ solutions to many areas like Sub Sea and Cryogenic applications. We were actually doing this “Make in India’ in our Industry even before this slogan started making rounds among the public.

What affects the Supply Chain Management?

SCM is directly affected by the changes in the cost of the raw materials and the labour wages.

Western Countries always look South Eastern Countries as their Manufacturing hubs. Because the manufacturing cost of a product in Countries like China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia etc is low. So they can make more profits. This trend kept changing as the years passed by. And it gets shifted from one country to another, as the wages and the cost of Raw material keep changing. It is the same with the present state of affairs.

For example, China  was considered at least 15% cheaper in foundry products ten years back.Today it is no longer cheaper. Now the Indian Manufacturers are slowly realising it.

Are you open for consultation?

Though I am a freelancer now, I am open to working for any organisation not as an outsider but as a functional person inside the Organization.

I can say this from my own experience - Hiring a consultant is a wasteful exercise for any company.

Once the report is submitted after the completion of the study by this consultant, it is being put in the cold storage instead of putting into use. Though the Top management puts pressure on the functional departments to follow the recommendations, it is not really given importance to. Hence, I prefer to be a part of the Organisational set up. The Consultant is not adding value to the Organisation unless he is accountable for his own decisions.

What do you think of the present state of a Supply Chain Manager in any industry?

Since the Top Managers are always from Finance, Marketing and Production areas from time immemorial, Supply Chain Managers are not given their due importance in any Organization. Supply Chain Manager continuously look for cost saving methods by looking at various avenues inside as well as outside the company. In a Manufacturing Organisation SCM is given least importance. Other functional managers make them scapegoats for their failures. This continues to happen even now. The efforts put forth by Supply Chain Managers are always considered less when compared to other Functional Managers. This has to change across all Industries. I wish Board of Directors recognise the contribution of Supply Chain Managers equally with all other functional Managers.

What would be your words of wisdom to any Manufacturing Business Owner with respect to SCM?

Direct interaction of Top Management with all the departments always would bring out the reality. “Grapevines" are cancerous to any Organisation.

I remember once you told me that you have given a lecture to University Students on SCM. Are you open to take up a lecture on SCM if invited?

Oh yes! I would really feel happy if I get an opportunity to share my real life experiences with the younger generation. I did take such class earlier for the MBA students.

Vijayan - Independent Business Consultant

vijay19562007@gmail.com

Interview with Digital Marketing and Analytics Professional

Abdul Malick has more than 8 years of experience in the Digital Marketing world. He has served his clients to build and grow their business online with his expertise on SEO, SEM, Social Media, Web Analytics, ORM, Web Development and Email Marketing. 

Read his replies to my questions on SEO, why is it necessary for a business growth and what he actually does to help his clients in the process.

What is SEO?

In general, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process which improves the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine through natural/organic results. According to our works on SEO, it’s the technique for creating branding or marketing businesses through search engines.

Why do you advise a business owner to optimize his/her website for search engines?

Optimizing a business's website is a very important factor in this competitive world. Because the ultimate goal and the bottom line of a business are high revenue. To achieve that they have to build their brand value online. The increase in brand value, in turn, improving the market range which can be brought out only by optimizing his/her website.

Do you have any serious SEO strategy for your clients? Can you give us an overview of your strategy?

Yes, I do follow some strategic SEO process for my clients depending on their business needs. I generally focus more on technical SEO than on just bringing keywords on top position. The strategic process also includes generating leads, creating branding through the search engine and figuring out the business keywords.

Will you send periodical tracking reports to clients about the changes in the website?

Yes. I send periodic reports, monthly (or weekly) depending on the clients and their need. I keep them informed of the traffic statistics, business analysis and webmaster reports based on the changes in the site.

Do you think it is mandatory, for any SEO consultant, to follow Google’s best practices?

Yes, of course, one should follow all the updates from google, particularly white hat techniques.

What are the tools used for your service?

There are a wide variety of tools available for smart SEO works. I commonly make use of Google webmaster, Bing webmaster, google keyword planner, Google insights, Moz site explorer, WOO Rank, Xenu, screaming frog, SEMrush and so on.

What is the type of SEO works you do?

I work on International SEO targeting, local SEO targeting, e-commerce and multi-lingual SEO.

Can you guarantee your customers that their site will rank #1 for a major search term? 

Not at all. According to the consulting strategy works I understand no consultant can assure #1 position. My focus is more on works to increase targeted traffic. 

How often do you report on your work, and what will it look like?

The reports are updated periodically depending on the clients. That may be monthly or weekly.The report will include: Business Analysis, Site Audit, Search Analytics, Webmaster Reports and traffic statistics.

Are you up to date with the latest Google algorithm changes?

Yes, I do closely follow-up with google and top SEO/digital blogs and google algorithm updates. 

Which metrics do you track and how do you determine your success?

As I already mentioned earlier, my main focus is on technical SEO so my tracking is mostly based on google analytic for the engagement and conversion metrics with respect to the goal set for the client. 

Can you share some of your past clients and their results or some testimonials?

As a Digital Marketing Consultant, it had been a great privilege to work with clients from different types of businesses like Matrimonial website, E-learning, products, Service industry, Manufacturing and Technology. Each and every type of industry was a source of experience and helped me to know the strategic working methods with a sharp focus on positive results.

As a consultant obviously a satisfied client is my success.

Dr. M.S. Mohammed Sadiq Sait MBA., M.Phil., Ph.D
Co-Founder of uLektz and Sr. VP at AEL Data Services

Abdul is a reliable, focused and hardworking team player. His knowledge and skills in the areas of SEO and Internet Marketing are commendable. He knows the implications of one event, versus the results of it, is not occurring. Thus, he is able to do what is ultimately best to bring in good results.

Atreya Tiwari
Director Events at The Entertainment Space

" Abdul is an amazing SEO Analyst I have ever come across. We have worked on different projects and his creativity is amazing. He is altogether a package which no company will say no too.

Dr.M.Suriya Narayana Moorthy
Delivery Head - Content at AEL Data

I know Abdul since last year when he joined at WHBS as SEO analyst, he love his job and passionate about getting things done in his field of expertise from his colleagues. He moves in a friendly way with everyone in the organization and builds a good team within a short span. His insight knowledge in Web marketing is amazing and I perceive he could reach greater heights in Web technology. I wish him success in his entire future endeavor.

Peter Claridge
Manager - Global Markets for Unmetric

Abdul was one of the smartest SEO analysts that I had the pleasure to manage and has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and constant drive to improve his SEO / SEM skills. Abdul brings knowledge, experience, innovation and an analytical mind to the table and can comfortably manage large teams of SEO analysts.

Abdul Malick
Phone: +91-99942 04540
Email: abdulmalic@gmail.com
Place: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India