SOS Alarm

SOS Alarm strengthens the commercial reasonableness of Bonanza

Together with Bonanza, SOS Alarm has increased business awareness of their organization by training their staff in business and financial thinking. This cooperation has resulted in a greater understanding of how value is created in the company. The new financial awareness has given birth to several new ideas. Among other things, how SOS Alarm services can be delivered more effectively in the future.

 

Helping people in various emergency relief situations describes SOS Alarm's core business, like alerting and dispatching service for security alarms, rescue, ambulance, etc. The company also offers security services such as personal alarms, mobile alarms and video surveillance and emergency services.

 

Increased Competition

SOS Alarm is undergoing major changes, from initially being an appropriations-funded agency to becoming a commercial enterprise. Efficiency and profitability must be part of the corporate culture of the company to develop a market characterized by increasingly intense competition and very cost-conscious clients. This requires business acumen to create financial incentive; for example, investment in new technologies. New technologies in turn leads to better service for customers of SOS Alarm.

 

Most of the 800 SOS Alarm employees are SOS operators and are located at one of the 20 round-the-clock SOS centers throughout Sweden.  Much of the staff is therefore focused on health and social care.

 

"It is common that there is not much history of financial literacy training among the people working in health care. This also applies to our company. The employees have not sought out SOS Alarm in the interest of finance. Maybe vice versa. It is therefore particularly important that they are increasingly aware of its financial status," says Sven-Runo Bergqvist, CEO of SOS Alarm.

 

"This was a real challenge when SOS Alarm decided to increase the financial viability of the organization. All employees have been able to assimilate knowledge in business finance with the help of The Bonanza Methods and Programs. Instead of the traditional financial figures in the form of spreadsheets, the financial context is presented with specially designed graphics."

 

"Financial information should be accessible to all. That is why we have chosen Bonanza. It should be easy to assimilate financial information without having to read so much data," per Eva-Karin Lilja, Finance Manager at SOS Alarm.

 

Understanding the SOS Alarm Call Centers

Bonanza "charges" employees with an understanding of the financial rules of the game for a company. Thanks to this unique approach, it can be understood by all in a simple and fun way that allows learning to take place. It becomes obvious to everyone that SOS Alarm's financial situation does not come by chance, but is a consequence of how business is conducted. The financial reports now are understood with a clear purpose. With this realization, co-workers analyze their own decisions and actions and draw conclusions about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats regarding the business.

 

"It is really stimulating to be there when people who are experts in their own business process gain financial insight not previously there. They understand the implications of their work may be purely financial and are creative in finding smart solutions to increase profitability," says Joakim Ortner at Bonanza. "Bonanza has specially adapted the concepts to ensure visibility of SOS Alarm economy internally. This creates a broad cost-benefit thinking in the organization. The emergence of an understanding that each task contributes to the company's profitability. The result is that employees suggest improvements in their own work situations that facilitates, streamlines and enhances the profitability of the business."

 

"Today, I often get emails from people with suggestions for cost savings or the like, which happened rarely in the past. Taken together, it will be many small steps in the right direction," according to Lilja.

 

Opportunity to Change

Employees' creative idea process gives management the ability to quickly act on suggestions for improvements. Such responsiveness creates a climate where all feel a strong motivation and participation in the company's success.

 

"There is so much important knowledge from each employee that is released with the help of the Bonanza tools. For example, the insight into what services are profitable even though they themselves may not believe it," says Bergqvist.

 

Continuous Monitoring

Financial monitoring ensures that the profitability focus is kept alive. This is done by the financial information of SOS Alarm now being reported using the colorful BonanzaGrafs, which all the employees have become familiar with. Bonanza has created a link between the SOS Alarm financial systems and the BonanzaGraf analysis software .

 

This makes it possible to quickly produce all financial reports in graphical form. Lilja has received considerable positive feedback. One result is that employees often question how a service was conducted in the past. "When change is a natural consequence, both the customer and we can save resources," explains Lilja.

 

 

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