Tag: negócios

Dicas de Gestão

How to increase the operational intelligence of your business

Operational intelligence is a new way of analyzing the business and finding answers to the challenges that businesses face every day. This concept is closely tied to technology and addresses data analysis so that they can make decisions based on real-time information. The main benefit of using operational intelligence is the ability to address problems and opportunities at the very moment they arise (in some cases, it is possible to anticipate trends and problems, solving them before they wreak havoc on the business). This makes managers make decisions more conscientiously and based on reliable information, which in turn will increase the effectiveness of the business, leading to better results. But how to increase the operational intelligence of your business? That’s what this article is all about! Check out our tips!

Automate everything you can

One of the most important advantages of operational intelligence is the automation of tasks. The more automated the job is, the more time employees will have to make the business more productive. Automation can range from the simplest to the most complex tasks. At the marketing level, we can automate a welcome email to a new newsletter subscriber or even a thank-you email for a purchase in our online store, for example. Automation eliminates the most annoying tasks employees have to perform, leaving them free for more important things.

Use a CRM

CRM is the acronym for Customer Relationship Management and is used by thousands of companies to manage their relationship with current and potential customers. This software aims to protect the business information of a company. At the same time, a CRM helps identify the best actions and the best time to contact the customer, in order to boost the sale. Likewise, it allows you to evaluate objectives and evaluate the sales team. Well-used CRM software helps increase a company’s productivity and reduces the likelihood of error by human resources. Reducing mistakes allows sales to be made simpler, and as a result, the company wins, as it sees its profits increase. CRM allows no contact with a potential customer to get lost, thus ensuring that everything is done for the sale to take place.

Use a real-time monitoring system

When you know exactly what is going on in your business, it is much easier to make the right decision. Analyzing your business in real time will give you all the inputs you need so you can consciously decide on the best course to take. The reports with a few days present outdated information, which does not correspond to the actual state of the company at that time. Therefore, often the decisions made are mismatched and do not benefit the business. Monitoring the business in real time will change this scenario, because you will have reliable information in your hand and will be able to make better decisions. Analyzing data in real time is increasingly a reality in companies around the world. Business happens at a very fast pace and it is essential that you know what is happening in your company to make the most appropriate decisions for your business. Download our e-book and learn how a BAM tool can help you manage!

Dicas de Gestão

6 tips for doing business and commercial automation

Automation is increasingly present in our lives. And for those who have a business, it is more and more vital. Therefore, investing in commercial and business automation has become a necessity. However, some groups of entrepreneurs are still afraid to use tools that allow this type of work in their business.

However, we believe that this fear stems from the lack of knowledge about how business and commercial automation is done. So we decided it would be a good idea to put together 6 tips that demonstrate how this is done. In this way, knowledge allows new horizons to open up.

1) Analyze the processes and tasks of your company

Many people think that business and commercial automation is just about hiring a service that performs this kind of work. It is elementary that automating processes and time-consuming tasks will bring more efficiency and productivity. However, which sectors, areas or tasks tend to earn more from this?

Therefore, it is important to analyze the processes and tasks and define what will bring the greatest cost / benefit. That way, you can focus on what’s most needed in the short term. As a result, you will be maximizing your productivity without unnecessarily raising any kind of cost.

A good tip for analyzing such processes and tasks efficiently is to use a business management system. The software is able to automate all your management and still offer complete reports on various sectors of your company.

2) Choosing the Right Technology

There are several types of technologies in the process automation and commercial market. They bring diverse functionalities and each seeks to meet the demands it sees fit.

That way, after analyzing your needs, you need to choose the technology that solves them. There is no point in having an extensive mapping of what needs to be automated and making decisions that do not go against problem solving.

3) Planning is necessary

With the mapping done and the technology chosen, it’s time to plan the implementation. This phase is very relevant and prevents redundancies and problems that put the automation project at risk. For an automation process to be efficient and productive, it is necessary to know all the parameters involved beforehand.

So, without proper planning, to provide the parameters, everything that has been done can collapse. Therefore, a good planning avoids modifications in the implementation phase that will be costly or that can damage the final result. And clearly, no one wants to implement something in their company that will not bear fruit.

4) Understand how business and business automation impacted other similar businesses

It is very common for people to embark on what everyone else is doing. And this is not only valid for personal life, business as well. There may be a very large movement of automation in the companies around you, but this move is only valid if you are on the same scale or niche as yours.

Therefore, seek to understand the impact that the automation projects are bringing to those who are in their area of ​​operation. That way, you will understand how to understand the impacts in a more feasible way and can extrapolate what will happen to your company if you choose this path.

5) Be honest about the project with your collaborators

It is very important to be honest about automation projects with your employees. Those who are working tend to see automation as an enemy. Like someone who will steal your jobs. And this kind of environment can end up hurting everyone involved.

Therefore, adequately explain to your employees the reasons, motives, benefits and impacts that what is being done will bring. It is important to make it clear that automation is coming to help rather than replace.

6) Look for tools according to the current scenario of modern life

With social networks and smartphones, it was simpler to track everything closer.  So look for tools that allow you to track information in real time and on any type of platform.

That way, you can keep track of vital business information from wherever you are. And we know the importance that being well informed can bring in any area of ​​your life. From knowing better about how to change your business to even the most trivial things.

Guestpost by: Gestãoclick

Definição de métricas de negócio

What can KPIs do for the management of a company?

Having defined KPIs is essential to the good performance of a company. KPIs are key performance indicators that tell us what state the business is in and how far (or near) we are from meeting the stated goals. Based on the indicators and the company’s performance, managers can make more informed decisions. BAM tools such as Multipeers allow you to track KPIs continuously and in real time. Analyzing performance consistently ensures that more attention is paid to meeting the objectives, effectively increasing the degree of achievement of the objectives. Continuous performance monitoring plays a key role in planning and subsequent control because it provides information on processes developed by the organization. The effectiveness of any control strategy depends to a large extent on the correct suitability of developed performance metrics and KPIs. In today’s article, let’s realize what KPIs can do for running a business!

Clear knowledge about business strategy

It is essential that each employee of the company or organization knows their KPIs and that they are updated with some frequency. “If we don’t know where we are going, any way is good”: the same goes for companies. If we are not aware of the results we should achieve with our work, we can do anything, and this may not be in line with the organization’s overall objectives. Defining the indicators of each employee and connecting to the monitoring system is essential for obtaining a global and integrated view of the state of the company and the performance of each one. It is also important to mention that each employee should have access only to the indicators that are important for the continuation of their work, so as to have a more focused and organized day-to-day.

Allow to evaluate the company quantitatively

KPIs allow measurable results to be achieved. And this is very important in a company, because the numbers do not lie! It is not enough to have a subjective knowledge about the results of the company. It is necessary to know objectively the true values ​​of the organization. Through the analysis of KPIs it is possible to redefine strategies and change what is not giving positive results. It is essential that KPIs are evaluated on a frequent basis, since only in this way can they have a significant impact on the life of the company.

Increase the performance of the sales department

When well defined and implemented, KPIs help drive sales. When there are defined goals and rewards associated with their implementation, the tendency is for employees to work even harder to achieve the stated goals. This creates healthy competition between the different vendors and in the end the company comes out to win with the increase in sales!

Make decision making more efficient

KPIs provide a lot of information about the company and in that way make decision making more efficient and easier. Managers often complain about the lack of information about the company in order to be able to decide consciously and these performance indicators gain a prominent role in making decisions about the future of the company. Managers can only make assertive and sound decisions if they have a full understanding of business reality. And nothing better than KPI’s to provide all that knowledge.

Improve achievement of objectives

Analyzing the performance of a company on a constant basis ensures that more attention is paid to meeting the objectives. An efficient process must be planned and controlled. Continuous performance monitoring plays a key role in planning and subsequent control because it provides information on processes developed by the organization. The effectiveness of any control strategy depends to a large extent on the correct suitability of developed performance metrics and KPIs.

 

Defining business indicators in a conscious way is fundamental to being able to analyze the business objectively. It is essential that the indicators analyzed show managers the way forward in order to correct errors and apply new strategies. KPIs should be simple so that the entire team is able to understand them. If you get too complicated a KPI, you run the risk of not being able to extract any useful information from your analysis. If employees do not understand the indicator, they can become unmotivated, which harms the company’s performance. A KPI should be analyzed frequently because only with constant monitoring can we understand if we are correctly executing the company’s strategy and generating value with our activity. You should always opt for indicators that can be measured easily and frequently so that you can make day-to-day decisions based on reliable and up-to-date information. Finally, it is important to note that not all indicators are for all companies. There are indicators that fit one type of business but don’t make any sense in other areas of activity. Defining meaningless or useful indicators will only create harmful noise to employees’ performance and this will have a negative impact on the company’s bottom line.

Dicas de Gestão

The main obstacles to effective decision making (and possible solutions!)

Making decisions for the future of the business is a complicated task for managers and requires a lot of commitment from them. A lot of times, business leaders and departments d’ont have all the information they need to analyze situations in an objective way, which greatly complicates effective and rapid decision-making. On a day-to-day basis in which companies are constantly living, the lack of time to evaluate the company’s operations is one of the biggest enemies of correct decision-making. Today, companies generate data every day and the vast amount of information that exists is also a concern for companies as it is not easy to manage all sources of information and it is even more difficult to get the most important insights from each from them. There are many obstacles that prevent decisions to be made quickly and consciously and it is about these obstacles that we are going to discuss in this article. And we will also present possible solutions for each of them!

Obstacle 1: there is no information in real time

Business life happens now. In each moment information is generated and this information will have an impact on company’s life, so it is fundamental that a manager is always aware of what is happening. The reality, however, is that in most companies the information is spread by various software and it is not possible to have immediate access to all the data. This will have a negative impact on decision making. Decisions based on a few days’ reporting are always reactive and the company runs the risk of being outdone by a competition that is quicker to act.

Solution: BAM

BAM tools such as Multipeers are essential in today’s business world because they allow you to condense all information from a wide range of data sources into one platform. The ability to access information in real time changes everything because it is the guarantee that we are always working based on the most current information that exists. Decision-making is made easier because there is no need to resort to lengthy and old reports to decide what to do next. With information so accessible, the likelihood of making bad decisions is much lower, which certainly increases the efficiency of companies. In addition, Multipeers also allows the creation of business alerts that advise managers about anomalous situations that require their attention. This fact makes it possible for managers to carry out their day-to-day tasks in a quiet way as they know they will be alerted when something strange happens. This allows a corrective action to be taken immediately, ensuring prompt resolution of problems.

Obstacle 2: lack of mobility

Business mobility is a growing trend and in many industries is already a reality. However, there are still many companies that are not able to adapt to this new way of working and this makes employees have to be in the office to access the e-mail and to meet with their teams. Companies are still not very receptive to this new trend because they are afraid that mobility is synonymous with a greater probability of loss of credentials of access to the network, which in general results in the leakage of information abroad. Fortunately, more and more technology is moving towards making systems and networks more secure and practically inviolable.

Solution: use of the right tools

Employees and managers must always have access to the most important information about the business, since only then will they be able to make effective and timely decisions. Cloud computing has facilitated labor mobility by enabling important business documents to be consulted anywhere and for effective decision-making. Switching the corporate email system to a cloud-based solution is also very important for increasing business mobility. Videoconferencing tools were the first tools to enable enterprise mobility and are now moving to a large scale for mobile platforms, which significantly increases the scope of mobility. We are now able to use Skype and Hangouts on mobile devices, allowing you to have meetings anytime, anywhere in the World.

Obstacle 3: lack of planning

Companies often don’t spend the due time in planning their activity and this will obviously have negative consequences over time. Business planning is essential if the company’s action is to succeed. Setting realistic goals and ways to reach them is a very important part of business, because we can only succeed if we know well where we want to go.

Solution: plan and involve the entire team

At least every six months, it is crucial that managers meet with their teams and analyze what has been done so far and, based on the result of that analysis, the company’s course should be traced to the following months. However, it is very important that there is always a plan B. As good as planning is and the goals set are the most appropriate for the company, you have to take into account that things can go wrong, because the business world is very susceptible to changes and unforeseen events. Therefore, it is necessary to always have an alternative plan. Having a B plan makes emergency situations easier to deal with. Many managers don’t think of alternatives when they make a decision and end up harming the business if the decision they make doesn’t have the desired effects.

Analyzing data in real time is increasingly a reality in companies around the world. Business happens at a very fast pace and it is essential that you know what is happening in your company to make the most appropriate decisions for your business.

Get to know the advantages of the BAM system and learn how these tools can help your business!

Dicas de Gestão

ERP Cloud: get to know what it is and why you should have it in your company

Ever heard about ERP Cloud? No? This means that your company has not harnessed one of the most efficient tools when it comes to business management. Let us explain why you need to insert this software into your business. Organizing the administrative activities of a company seems complicated, especially for beginner entrepreneurs. But this impression need not be so. With the democratization of technological resources, small and medium-sized companies have at their disposal incredible tools to employ management to the business. Among these is the ERP Cloud. But what is it, and how does this technology work? Let’s see!

Learn more about ERP Cloud

ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. It is software that integrates all the departments of a company, aiming at a better circulation of information, giving greater agility to the processes, favoring a considerable reduction of costs. So let’s think of a retailer that faces problems with inventory control and financial management, two key industries in this type of business. How does an ERP Cloud work in this situation? The first step in the implementation of this program will be the registration. Gather all product information, values ​​and customer data on the platform. From there the other features can be started. This store that we use as an example, will now be able to formalize an inventory of your inventory, and control the expenses and revenues of the financier.

The main advantages of Cloud ERP

The company that adopts the ERP Cloud will have the following benefits:

  • Consult anywhere – having a program that works online is undoubtedly a great advantage. Wherever you are, all you have to do is connect to the internet, and you can make all the inquiries and releases you need. No process hangs if the manager needs to take a trip, for example.
  • Reporting – having consolidated information in just one click is another very interesting tool for this type of software. Managers who need to understand what has been happening in a given period, you just need to apply the filters you want and download the report.
  • Electronic Invoice Issuance – With so many changes in the country’s tax legislation, hiring a system that is current with this and compatible with the Revenue or Treasury sites, is an effective solution. With the ERP Cloud you will be able to issue the different versions of the electronic invoice, and also choose the type of Digital Certificate that you want to work with.
  • Issue of Carnets – linking your sales to a banking system and issuing bank statements, is more than possible with this type of software. You can issue a registration card for purchase lots.
  • Sales control – tracking the budget until the conclusion of the sale, is also possible using the ERP Cloud.
  • Inventory control – updating inventory, and controlling the incoming and outgoing goods will no longer be a problem.
  • Financial control – accounts payable and accounts receivable are fully met in that program. There will no longer be any need for the “unique worksheets” that each employee creates to track invoice and other payments.
  • End of the paper – comes from the endless pile of papers that take the tables of your company. Besides having a high cost, it is synonymous with delays and rework. Ending paper circulation is a symbol of process optimization.

Information storage security

All of these advantages join the storage security of cloud information. Cloud is a way to save softwares and files in the virtual environment. All in a secure, and formable way, that is, as your business grows, the space to store information in the ERP Cloud increases. Of course, before you close with an online ERP software provider, you need to check out details like that. See also the question of support, and if it is possible to fit some characteristics of your business into the system interface. It is interesting to hire a system that can incorporate or exclude fill fields, for example. Regarding the Cloud environment, it is completely secure, uses the best in encryption systems, which will protect the information generated in its administrative routines. Is it clear why your company needs to have an ERP Cloud? We have seen how much this tool will potentiate your venture. Enough of so many obstacles within the management of your business. Install the software and prepare your company for new challenges.

Guestpost by GestãoClick

Dicas de Gestão

What are the advantages of real-time analysis for fleet management?

The transport sector is unpredictable and optimizing the use of resources is not an easy task. The first step in optimizing fleet performance is to get an integrated, global view of your state, resources and availability. Analyzing the fleet in real time brings immense benefits and today we present the main advantages of using a business monitoring system for the transport sector!

Best customer service

Having real-time information anywhere allows the company to manage the fleet more assertively. For example, companies that work with home delivery, upon receiving an order can send the vehicle that is closest to the address where they have to make the delivery. The service becomes faster, which is good for the customer, and the company saves on fuel.

Process optimization

With the use of a business monitoring system, the company can improve its processes. It is possible to estimate the time required for the fulfillment of a route and thus define times for the execution of several tasks.

Increase productivity

With information about all departments of the company in a single dashboard, managers can analyze data in a much faster and more efficient way, easily identifying the points that need improvement and acting in a timely manner to avoid productivity problems.

Reduced risk of mistakes

Making decisions based on unreliable information is one of the most committed mistakes in the business world and one of the most important that leads to failure. A real-time monitoring system constantly feeds the manager in terms of information, so he will be aware of all the relevant data he needs to make a conscious decision.

Knowledge of company history

A real-time fleet monitoring system also allows the manager to evaluate fleet results over time and thereby uncover key information such as driver performance, fuel consumption, overtime, and other relevant factors.

Monitoring and compliance with KPIs

A company has collective and individual goals, but often employees end up defacing their goals, which has a negative impact on the company. A business monitoring system such as Multipeers4Fleets allows each employee to have access to their KPIs and receive alerts whenever their performance is out of the established standards.

Multipeers4Fleets enables you to continuously measure and analyze all events in the fleet management business so that you can make the best decisions for the future of your business. Through simple and intuitive dashboards, you can analyze the expenses of each vehicle in the fleet, find the factors that contribute to a fuel increase, set alerts whenever something important occurs, among many other features.

Dicas de Gestão

Decision-making tools that will help your business grow

A manager has to make decisions constantly and it is not always easy to make the right decisions for the growth of a business. Nowadays, there is more and more information in companies and the data generated daily is an added value for decision making, but managers need to be accompanied by the right tools to extract the real value of that data. In today’s article, we introduce you to decision-making tools that will help your business grow!

Multipeers

The day-to-day of a manager is quite busy and it is humanly impossible to keep up with all the situations that happen in the business. We live in an age when we are “bombarded” by data from all directions! It is very important to have a real-time business monitoring system as it allows you to set business alerts so that you are advised whenever any important situation requires immediate intervention. Multipeers is a BAM system that allows you to define business alerts that warn you whenever a situation requires your attention. In this way, you will always be aware of the events of your business and will be able to decide in good time. Many of the decisions are made based on reports a few days late, which makes the company have a reactive and non-proactive action. With Multipeers you can always be ahead of the competition, since you can have a single dashboard all the information generated by your company!

Cloud Storage

Mobility is a growing trend and in many sectors is already a daily reality. Employees and managers must have access to the most important information about the business because only then will they be able to make effective and timely decisions. Cloud computing has facilitated labor mobility by enabling important business documents to be consulted anywhere and for effective decision-making. So you don’t have to be in the office to edit a document or respond to an important email.

Skype

Skype is a free tool that lets even people who are away participate in the meeting. Distance is no longer an obstacle to people being unable to be present in the company’s decisions, and being a virtual meeting, there is less tendency to waste time on issues that are irrelevant to the theme of the meeting. It is necessary that the people involved in the decision process are in permanent contact, so that all can collaborate with their opinions!

Cloud Email

Changing the corporate email system to a cloud-based solution is very important to increase business mobility. These solutions facilitate communication between the various departments of the company, because the information becomes accessible even when using tablets and smartphones. Using e-mail on mobile devices allows for a faster and more efficient response, which contributes to greater management efficiency.

Dicas de Gestão

The Importance of 360 Vision for Your Business

A good manager should know everything that goes on in your business. Having a global knowledge of each of the areas of activity of a company is essential so that the best decisions can be made for the future of the business. In the hectic day-to-day business that management leads, it’s not always easy to keep up with all the business activities, but this lack of knowledge can be fatal to the company. Having a 360 vision is imperative to know all the employees with whom you work and all the activities that are carried out in the company. In today’s article, we address the importance of 360 vision for your business!

Better knowledge of Human Resources

When there is a great deal of knowledge about all the company’s employees, it is easier to keep employees motivated and retain the best talent in the company. It is essential that managers know the needs and motivations of their employees, since only then will they be able to offer them the necessary conditions to make them feel good in their place of work.

Real-time analysis

Business life happens now, every moment, and it is essential that you know what is going on with your business. Decisions based on a few days’ reporting are always reactive and risk being overtaken by faster competition to act. Knowing everything that goes on in real time with your business is essential so that you can make timely decisions and have a proactive stance in the market.

Easier decision making

When there is effective knowledge about everything that goes on in the business, it becomes much easier to make the right decisions for the company. Only with an overall knowledge of the state of the company is that managers are able to consciously decide so that the company can grow in a sustained manner.

Continuous improvement

A 360 view allows you to search for constant improvements. Constantly analyzing everything that goes on in the company allows mistakes to be found more easily and improvements are made in business processes and these improvements will be reflected in the company’s overall results.

Extra tip:

BAM tools like Multipeers make decision making more effective because they prevent errors from occurring since they eliminate the need to collect data from many platforms. Because they have a simple and interactive interface, all information is presented in a practical and interactive way, providing all the information in one place, giving the manager all the data he needs to make the right decisions.

Definição de métricas de negócio

The best human resource KPIs your business can have

Without people, companies are nothing, and the internal public is one of the most important in organizations, since it is this that makes companies grow and evolve. People Analytics is the process of collecting, organizing and analyzing employee behavior data in order to contribute to decisions made in the company, anticipating trends and adjusting strategies. This term is increasingly important to companies and is expected to grow in importance over the next few years, which means that more and more data on employees exists and there is a need to do something useful with that data. KPIs help us work on information and gain insights for decision making. In today’s article, we present the best human resource KPIs your business can have!

Employee turnover rate

It indicates the number of employees who leave and enter the company, during a certain period. For the company, this index should be as low as possible because it means there is retention of talent. A high index may indicate a low attractiveness of the company in relation to the competition.

Absence

Absenteeism measures employee absence rates and indicates the actual reasons for absences or delays. Absenteeism may be linked to poor working conditions, such as ergonomics in the company or bad environment in the team.

Turnover Costs

In order to calculate this indicator, it’s necessary to include all the expenses with the payment of the contractual terminations and to add all legal and procedural costs. It is also necessary to add the expenses with the replacement of the professional who left, besides the investment in training.

Ratio between extra hours and worked hours

This indicator is linked to the concept of productivity and demonstrates the relationship between the amount of overtime (paid or accumulated in the time bank) and total hours worked. It’s an important indicator for analysing the overload, operational capacity and labor allocation.

Employee satisfaction index

This index is calculated by collecting opinions from employees, who can respond to surveys where they show their satisfaction on a numerical scale. The higher this level, the better the human resources area will be and the greater the motivation of employees to work.

Average cost by employee

This indicator shows us how much it costs, on average, each employee of the company. It is obtained after adding all personnel expenses (salary, food allowance, holiday and Christmas allowances, contributions to the State, among other expenses) and divided by the total number of employees of the company.

Dicas de Gestão

Types of analysis to better know the competition

We live in a very competitive world and the area of ​​business doesn’t escape this rule. Thus, it is essential that companies know their competition well, in order to know which tools to use and which strategies to take to win in the market. The social media have facilitated the monitoring of our competition, because it is very easy to know in which products or services are betting and what the reactions of the consumers to these same products and services, for example. In today’s article, we talked about the types of analysis to better understand the competition!

Predictive Analysis

Predictive analytics is an advanced form of Data Analytics that aims to answer the question “what will happen?”. It is a type of analysis that makes predictions through probabilities. This analysis is possible thanks to techniques like regression and progression analysis, pattern matching and various types of statistics. This type of Data Analytics is widely used in stock market and investment companies. It is a very important type of analysis because it allows us to understand the performance of companies in the markets and to anticipate problems and trends.

Diagnostic analysis

Diagnostic analysis will explain us why something happened. This type of analysis will relate all available data and information to find patterns of behavior that may explain the results. It is an important analysis to find problems and above all to avoid repeating them in the future. It allows us to relate our performance to the performance of our competition, which makes it possible to find improvement points and minimize harmful actions for the company image.

Google Alerts

This is a very simple and very easy to tool. If you want to be alerted every time your competition is cited in the Web world, simply monitor the keywords related to the competition. You can always know in which areas your competitors are highlighting and this could be a great way to discover market trends!

Competitive Benchmarking

Benchmarking is an instrument that aims to improve performance in order to position itself ahead of the competition. The process is based on learning from the best experiences of companies operating in the same industry: it is called “learning from the best”. Competitive benchmarking aims to analyze direct competition and focuses on the comparison of products and services, methods, strategies and campaigns used. The objective is to overcome the good performance of the competition by improving the methods used by it.

SocialMention

This tool allows you to follow everything that goes on in blogs, videos and social networks. When searching for a term, be it a keyword or the name of a company, the tool shows you everything that’s being said about that term in blogs and social platforms. Its use is very similar to Google Alerts, but in addition to publishing on websites, it also shows us sharing on social networks and on video platforms, thereby increasing its breadth.