Monthly Archives: October 2011

Although there has been some encouraging news in some housing markets, the economy continues to sputter. And where once decision-makers would have taken a a more extravagant approach to choosing a corporate relocation service provider for company relocations and expansions, it’s only prudent to now consider a more measured, more efficient approach to relocation.

One of the easiest ways for a company to trim relocation costs is to look for a firm that carries lower overhead costs to deliver their services. For an increasing number of medium-to-large companies, the choice of provider is a smaller, more flexible firm that can adjust their service delivery to the unique needs of each client.

This willingness to consider smaller service providers mirrors the change in the operating environment. For many businesses, the emphasis has shifted to being nimble and avoiding long-term commitments. A company that, as little as ten years ago, would have signed a commitment for 5 or 10 years, now want to maintain operational flexibility.

The fact is that in the current recession, it doesn’t make sense to commit to unnecessary services that are often rolled into the kind of “one-size-fits-all” relocation services “bundle” that are customary among relocation service behemoths.

Working with a smaller firm doesn’t require sacrifices for the relocation clients, either. By utilizing today’s excellent technology and judiciously combining resources with carefully selected partners, a smaller company can deliver just about any service a relocation client requires.

And when you’re the CEO or CFO, you like to see your relocation decision-makers proceeding cautiously with your company’s hard-won assets. Even for companies that would like to believe their business is strong enough to weather the current recession, with so many economic unknowns, trimming relocation costs allows a wait-and-see approach to determine if growth forecasts align with reality.

In the short term, small to mid-sized relocation services companies with solid service offerings, strong assets, and a stable,U.S.based workforce will provide the best options and values for relocation needs. For companies with relocation contracts ending in the near future, there is little to be lost by exploring more flexible and potentially desirable relocation options. If relocation is one of the choices for a business, a smaller relocation services provider can provide more flexible options to maintain operational flexibility, while still delivering a full range of quality services.

We always take the time to understand the nature of your business, its goals, and prospects for the future, and how we can best help you make the right corporate relocation decision for you. If a change in relocation may be in your future, give us a call. A short conversation could pay off dividends in relocation savings and benefits!

Just after Steve Jobs announced the launch of the Apple iPad, this pioneer of modern technology said, “Technology alone is not enough. It’s technology married with the liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields the results that makes our hearts sing.”

Steve Jobs certainly left a leadership legacy in technology product development and innovation that is beyond dispute. But his remark shows how clearly he understood the real purpose of the sleek media devices that Apple is famous for.

Jobs understood that, while technology is important, the rationale for all technology should be focused on the human aspects of its use.

In our business of corporate relocation, staying up-to-date on technology is critical. We use software and programs to track, analyze, and record each aspect of the many-layered relocation process. And in all this technology, it would be easy to get so buried in the numbers that we forget why we’re using all the software and algorithms.

It would be easy to forget that the reason we’re using all that technology is because what we do in corporate relocation affects people’s lives in very real (and non-technical) ways.

Steve Jobs understood that his real legacy lay, not in the technological artifacts of Apple, but in the lives those products touched and changed.

In the same way, we make it a point to never, ever forget the humanity behind the numbers. Our clients, and every transferring employee are not, and never will be, nothing more than a spreadsheet. That’s why our clients always get their NRI Consultant’s personal contact information right there on the business card. It’s just the way we work.

Sure, we know that other companies may brag about the sheer numbers – but at what price? If all their technology is doing is facilitating the equivalent of a cattle drive, how are the transferring employees going to feel when they’re shunted, and shoved, and shuttled en masse?

Unhappy employees become disengaged. And disengaged employees are less productive. And technology is supposed to support productivity; not destroy it!

This is where Jobs’ quote above seems particularly insightful and valuable – and relevant to how we do business. Because like NRI, Apple never forgot that technology without humanity is a one-dimensional offering. And that technology should never reduce people to a numbers game, but instead be used to enhance our lives.