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Scriptie Business Proposals PDF free Download. Think more deeply and widely.

Multilingual Business Communication

2008 - 2009

Scriptie

Business Proposals

Nathalie Poelaert

Promotor: Ellen Van Praet

Coordinator: Luc De Bie

Beschrijving Stage

Stage: deel 1

Algemeen

Mijn hoofdopdracht bestond erin een bestaande proposal template verbeteren. Niet enkel de

richtlijnen in de proposal, maar ook enkele vaste onderdelen in de addenda.

Voor elk stuk in de proposal instructies voor het schrijven van een proposal bekijken en

aanpassen waar nodig (stukken weglaten, stukken herschrijven, meer 2 the point). Hiervoor

alle aanwezige proposals op SharePoint1 bekijken, voorbeelden zoeken, mensen interviewen..

Het management & de consultants interviewen om informatie te verzamelen over hun visie,

wat hun wensen zijn,.. De consultants (non-sales) en het sales team hebben een andere kijk op

zaken, tot wat leidt dit?

Addenda proposal

CV‟s

De CV‟s van alle medewerkers optimaliseren door in 1 standaard lay-out te zetten. Alle

mederwerkers contacteren en hen vragen hun CV up-to-date te brengen. Na het terugkrijgen

van de CV‟s, controleren op lay-out en spellingsfouten.

CV‟s van de directie: aan de hand van een gesprek: relevante informatie selecteren en CV

beperken tot maximum 6 à 7 pagina‟s.

Zorgen dat er voor medewerker een 5-lijnen CV beschikbaar is. Ofwel medewerkers

contacteren en laten schrijven, ofwel zelf maken en laten controleren door hen.

hict beschrijving

Algemene beschrijving van het bedrijf nalezen en aanpassen aan de hand van teksten op de

website, oude proposals, een interview met de CEO, etc.

Referenties

Zorgen dat er korte referenties beschikbaar zijn. Interviewen van medewerkers: welke

referenties hebben zij al? Welke projecten zijn relevant om een referentie over te hebben?

Aan medewerkers vragen referenties te schrijven en controleren op spellingsfouten en lay-out

(volgens template).

1 Dit is een database van het bedrijf.

Methodologie

Pieter & Bart (consultants gespecialiseerd in Project Management) schrijven een tekst voor

PM@hict. Ik controleer de tekst en zal corrigeren waar nodig.

Contractvoorwaarden

De contractvoorwaarden bekijken met een wetboek erbij.

Stage: deel 2

Proposal

In het algemeen de proposal template afwerken. Zorgen dat ik de zaken krijgen die ik nog te

goed heb van medewerkers (o.a. CV‟s, referenties,..).

Roll-out van de template, kijken of er problemen opduiken bij medewerkers. Eventueel nog

aanpassen indien nodig. Organiseren van sessies om medewerks individuele begeleiding te

geven bij de nieuwe template.

Projectbrief (in de vorm van een Power Point presentatie) ontwerpen. Medewerkers

contacteren voor nodige informatie: vorige projectbrieven, wat moet er instaan,…?

Meehelpen aan het ontwerpen van een template in het Frans.

Website

Teksten (in het Nederlands) ontwerpen voor de pagina‟s:

Nieuws

Evenementen

Welkom op de site (homepage)

Het bedrijf: over het bedrijf

Oplossingen

Cases

Customer quotes

Hiervoor eventueel medewerkers contacteren om informatie te verzamelen.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to a very interesting 2-month internship, I was able to contribute to the development

of a template for business proposals. Of course, this would not have been possible without the

help of many people. That is why I devote my word of thanks to everyone who contributed to

completing this dissertation in one way or another.

I am grateful to Danny Van Hoof, my mentor, for giving me an amazing opportunity with this

internship. I was able to co-operate on a very interesting project, where I not only analysed

the theory, but I also got in contact with the practical roll-out of the project. Next, I would like

to thank Jan Demey, the CEO, and every employee at hict for cooperating.

My thanks go to my promoter, Ellen Van Praet, and to my professors at Ghent University for

a very instructive year. I also would like to thank my co-students for an amazing year.

Finally, I would like to thank my parents, my brother and my boyfriend for being supportive.

Table of contents

CHAPTER 1: HICT .............................................................................................................................................. 7

1.1 HISTORY ...................................................................................................................................................... 7

1.2 STRUCTURE .................................................................................................................................................. 8

1.3 CORPORATE IDENTITY ..................................................................................................................................... 9

1.4 SERVICES .................................................................................................................................................... 11

1.5 CLIENTS ..................................................................................................................................................... 13

1.6 COMPETITORS ............................................................................................................................................. 14

1.7 CHALLENGES OF TODAY’S MARKET ................................................................................................................... 15

1.8 SWOT ...................................................................................................................................................... 17

1.8.1 Analysis of the internal environment ............................................................................................ 17

1.8.1.1 Strengths ............................................................................................................................................. 17

1.8.1.2 Weaknesses ......................................................................................................................................... 18

1.8.2 Analysis of the external environment ............................................................................................ 19

1.8.2.1 Opportunities ...................................................................................................................................... 19

1.8.2.2 Threats................................................................................................................................................. 19

CHAPTER 2: BUSINESS PROPOSALS................................................................................................................. 20

2.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................ 21

2.2 BUSINESS PROPOSALS IN A B2B CONTEXT ......................................................................................................... 22

2.3 PROPOSALS THAT SELL .................................................................................................................................. 24

2.3.1 The basic model of communication in a context of business proposals ........................................ 24

2.3.2 To persuade or to sell .................................................................................................................... 27

2.3.3 Structure of a proposal .................................................................................................................. 28

2.3.4 Contents of a proposal .................................................................................................................. 31

2.3.4.1 The thinking stage ............................................................................................................................... 32

2.3.4.2 The writing and editing stage .............................................................................................................. 33

2.3.5 Most common made mistakes ...................................................................................................... 36

CHAPTER 3: THE INTERNSHIP ......................................................................................................................... 43

3.1 GENERAL BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................ 43

3.2 BRIEFING OF THE ASSIGNMENT ....................................................................................................................... 44

3.3 MY APPROACH ............................................................................................................................................ 46

CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................. 56

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................................... 58

INHOUDSTAFEL BIJLAGEN .............................................................................................................................. 60

Preface

This dissertation provides information on how to write business proposals that sell. The

development of a template for business proposals was the main assignment during my

internship at hict.

I chose to study a subsequent master in Multilingual Business Communication, because since

several years I know that I want to work in the business world. Not just any type of business,

but the health care industry. This field of interest has grown since several years, since I have

a great example at home, my mother. She already works 19 years in the health care industry,

and since January 2009 she started working at hict. The health care industry is in fact in

desperate need of professionalism and I find it honourable that company‟s like hict are

willing to improve the situation for patients as well as for people who work in the sector.

In February I contacted the HR Manager at hict to express my interest for an internship at the

company. The HR Manager set up a first meeting with a member of the board and a sales

manager to know more about my expectations of the internship. Additionally, I had two

meetings with other co-workers to determine my assignment.

The first chapter of my dissertation states information about the company where I completed

my internship. It concludes with a SWOT analysis of the company.

The second chapter treats the theme of business proposals. It gives an insight in the Decision

Making Unit in a Business to Business market and explains how decisions are made by

people. It also elaborates how you can persuade the decision maker(s). In the last part of the

second chapter tips and tricks on writing better proposals are provided. It states the most

common mistakes made when writing proposals and how to overcome these mistakes.

The third chapter elaborates my internship. The general background of my internship, my

assignment and my approach are elements of this chapter.

The last chapter explains what I have learned during my internship, both on professional

domain as well as on personal level. It also explains what I have learned during this year of

Multilingual Business Communication.

Chapter 1: hict

This chapter describes the company where I executed my internship. It is a general

introduction and elaborates the history, the services, the corporate identity and the clients of

the company. It ends with a SWOT analysis of the company.

1.1 History

hict is an independent consultancy company that provides IT and management services to the

health care sector. It was founded in 2004 by Jan Demey, the director at hict.2

For several years Jan had worked as a consultant at consultancy giants and he noticed that

these firms approached (and still approach) the health care sector in an incorrect way. Their

strategy is as follows: the company develops several standard solutions, it uses the solutions

to approach every market and according to the market the solution is adapted minimally. So in

general these consultancy companies offer the same solution to totally different markets.3

Every sector needs a different approach. Especially the health care sector, because this sector

is a very complex and a-typical market, which can not be approached with standard economic

theories. hict is originated from this idea. The health care sector is a specific and different

market and it should be approached from the needs present in the sector, instead of by

offering standard solutions.4

Furthermore, at that time the health care sector needed professionalism. Even today this is till

a big issue in the sector. The resources are very scarce and yet they are not used in the most

efficient way. The quality of patient care can be optimised and the health care sector is being

globalised. In this area, Belgium and Flanders should set an example for other European

countries.5

Jan Demey already had a profound knowledge of the health care sector, on the one hand from

his qualifications, on the other hand from professional experience. He is a trade engineer and

2 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

3 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

4 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

5 X, Algemene bedrijfsvoorstelling, onuitgegeven.

has a degree in IT Management. Moreover, he has more than fifteen years of experience as a

consultant of IT and management services at a national and international level. His former co-

partner Michel Legrand is a doctor in medical science and obstetrics, and has more than

twenty years of experience as a health care consultant in the pharmaceutical industry and the

health care sector. Due to personal reasons he recently left the company.6

hict is a very young company which is successful in its business. As a result of this, it is

expanding every year, internally as well as externally. Today hict has 41 staff members,

including external specialists or freelancers. At the start-up of the company hict only focussed

on the Benelux, but the increasing demand and the increasing scale of its projects caused a

shift from the Benelux to other European countries and even non-European countries.7

Today hict has 2 offices in Belgium. The head office is in Bruges and recently it opened an

office at Beveren, Antwerp. hict also has an office in Breda (the Netherlands) and the opening

of an office in Switzerland is in progress.8

1.2 Structure

Jan Demey is the founder and CEO of hict. Since the establishment of the company, Michel

Legrand was Jan‟s co-partner and member of the board at hict, but due to personal reasons he

decided to leave the company.9

The staff members of the company can be divided into two groups, „Go 2 Market‟ (GO2M)

and „DELIVERY‟. The employees of „Go 2 Market‟ are salespeople. They sell the services to

clients by building up a network through meetings, conferences, congresses, etc. The people

of „DELIVERY‟ are consultants who implement or execute the projects. At this moment there

is no other consultancy company is Belgium which operates like this. Other firms work with a

system of consultants and partners which also sell the projects.10

6 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

7 The company is not only active in the Belgian health care market, but also in the Netherlands, France, Spain,

Germany, Switzerland, Italy, United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden and Canada; X, Algemene

bedrijfsvoorstelling, onuitgegeven.

8 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

9 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

10 A. VERGOTE, Interview,18 mei 2009.

1.3 Corporate Identity

hict‟s mission is to provide the health care sector with client specific advice in ICT and

management. Next to that, the company provides application development and integration

services. The company approaches the mission from a value added point of view for the

health care sector. Its ultimate goal is to improve the benefits for patients as well as for the

people who work in the sector.11

hict is convinced that through further reengineering, automation, innovation and integration

of health care resources and stakeholders, it can optimise the use of these resources and raise

the quality and service level for the patient.12

hict considers the health care sector as a market of supply and demand (see Figure 1: Supply

and demand). The demand-led consists of the present needs in the sector. hict executes

market studies by amassing information through three main channels: „GO2M‟, networking

and lectures.13

The supply-led is the research and development of the company. This led consists of

accomplished projects where hict developed a strategy. These strategies are transformed into

general solutions and whenever the company executes a new project the company adjusts the

solution. Today hict has developed 7 solutions. 14

Example 1. From time to time incidents occur in the health care sector, but there was a lack of

a reporting system. This system already exists in other foreign countries. Since several clients

complained about the lack of such a system, hict decided to develop a solution for this

problem. hict developed a platform where confidential and blameless reporting in the heath

care sector became possible. This solution, called “hict crinih” can be applied in other

contexts or situations by making minimal adjustments.15

11 X, Missie en visie, www.hict.be/missievisie.asp?domain=6 (consultatie 22 juni 2009).

12 X, Missie en visie, www.hict.be/missievisie.asp?domain=6 (consultatie 22 juni 2009).

13 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

14 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

15 X, Solution: hict crinih, gedrukte referentie.

Example 2. In general there is a growing need for computerisation and ICT. This need is also

present in the health care sector. hict developed a solution for this problem, called “hict IT

management”. This solution implicates an “ICT Masterplan” that closes the gap between a

current and a desired situation in the domain of IT. This plan among others gives a clear

insight in the ICT needs, requirements and priorities in a hospital, it contains an ICT

investment plan and technology policy, it defines a future approach, etc.16

Figure 1: Supply and demand

In order to realise the best and most diverse solutions, hict works with a multidisciplinary

composed team. This team is composed of employees that are experts in a specific domain

due to their qualifications and/or experience. The employees have knowledge of medical and

paramedical sciences, economics, computer science, psychology, etc. hict makes sure that the

staff members stay up-to-date by extra training sessions.17

16 X, Solution: hict IT Management, gedrukte referentie.

17 R. JANSSEN, Interview, 4 mei 2009.

1.4 Services

As mentioned before, hict provides consultancy services to the health care sector in the area

of IT and management. hict‟s objective is to provide these services to all players in the health

care sector: patients, pharmacists, physicians, the government, etc.18

First of all, hict provides advice. hict analyses the current situation or problem(s) of the

client, and as a neutral third-party hict offers the client advice and a structured approach. The

solutions provided by hict are realistic, efficient and have a long-term perspective.19

Example. In 2007, hict was asked to advice the Jeroen Bosch hospital (the Netherlands). This

Jeroen Bosch hospital is a merged hospital with 240 specialists, 3900 staff members and 1120

officially recognized beds spread over three locations. The hospital wanted to be a sound and

excellent organisation. hict implemented sustainable improvements such as a higher bed

occupation, a shorter hospitalisation, more efficient work from the personnel, etc. This

resulted in a ROI of 350% on the project cost within one year.20

Second, hict provides support. hict combines introducing new concepts, processes, structures

or applications with an active operational involvement of an expert. Projects are realised

through an intensive cooperation between the expert and the client. hict believes that the

involvement of an expert on the operational domain is the key to successful change

processes.21

Third, hict offers integration services. These services consist of analysing the current

situation, drawing a new architecture, planning and implementing the architecture and roll-out

and support of these realisations.22

Example. The hospital A.Z. Sint-Lucas Brugge experienced a growing need for an

strategically and systematically optimisation and strengthening of its ICT organisation,

architecture and infrastructure. hict was asked to analyse and make an inventory of the current

18 M. LEGRAND, Interview, 25 mei 2009.

19 X, Advies, www.hict.be/eng/advies.asp?domain=1 (consultatie 22 juni 2009).

20 X, Case: Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis (NL) – Studie naar efficiëntieverhoging, gedrukte referentie.

21 X, Begeleiding, www.hict.be/eng/begeleiding.asp?domain=1 (consultatie 22 juni 2009).

22 X, Algemene bedrijfsvoorstelling, onuitgegeven; X, Begeleiding, www.hict.be/eng/begeleiding.asp?domain=1

(consultatie 22 juni 2009).

situation. hict set up an ICT Masterplan in line with the business processes, strategy and

objectives of the hospital and implemented this plan for the long and short-term. During and

after this reorganisation hict gave advice and support to the ICT department of the hospital.23

Fourth, hict offers software development. hict‟s employees of the IT department have a

thorough and state-of-the-art knowledge of IT architectures and developments. hict advices

the client in adapting, buying or building a new application.24

Example. The merged hospital A.Z. Sint-Blasius had registered a spectacular growth between

1997 and 2000. The number of admitted patients rose by 33%, the management took over two

hospitals and the number of permanent staff members had also increased. This expansion

created a hinge moment for the hospital on the domain of IC. hict defined the ICT strategy

and how it related to the general hospital. It determined which ICT projects are of strategic

importance for the hospital and set priorities. In a final stage it defined the sequence in which

the projects are carried out and analysed the information flow in the hospital.25

23 X, Case: A.Z. Sint-Lucas Brugge – Cadans ICT, gedrukte referentie.

24 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

25 X, Case: A.Z. Sint-Blasius Dendermonde – Strategie, datamodel en CIO, gedrukte referentie.

1.5 Clients

hict has three types of clients situated in the health care sector. These clients are used as

hict‟s expertises:26

1. Health care providers

2. Suppliers of health care providers

3. Public services

The group of health care providers is a very broad group and is everyone who has contact

with patients, such as hospitals, care centres, pharmacists, etc.27 This group provides hict with

very rich information about the present needs in the sector. Clients of hict are A.Z. Jan

Portaels (Belgium), A.Z Sint-Lucas (Ghent Belgium), A.Z. Sint-Lucas Bruges (Belgium),

Groep Emmaüs (Belgium), RHMS (Belgium),, UZA (Belgium), De Zorgboog (The

Netherlands), Centro Dialisi dell‟Ospedale “Infermi” (Italy), Hospital Universitario de

Guadalajara (Spain), Skövde Hospital (Sweden), General Hospital Leicester (UK), etc.28

Suppliers of health care providers are everyone who delivers or supplies the providers of the

health care sector, such as pharmaceutical companies, IT suppliers, catering, logistics, etc.29

Clients are AD-Info (Belgium), Socialistische Mutualiteiten (Belgium), Amgen (Europe),

Vifor Pharma (Switzerland), Microsoft (BeLux & UK), etc.30

The third group is composed of public services related to the health care sector. This group

includes the regional and federal government (Belgium), and governments of foreign

countries. The Belgian government can be divided in two departments: „knowledge and

innovation‟ on the one hand and „policy‟ on the other hand. The department of knowledge and

innovation is called the Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre (KCE31). The KCE is an

organisation that executes scientific research in Belgium. The department „policy‟ consists of

Federal Public Services32.33

26 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

27 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

28 X, Our clients, gedrukte referentie.

29 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

30 X, Our clients, gedrukte referentie.

31 Het Federaal Kenniscentrum voor Gezondheidszorg.

32 FOD: Federale OverheidsDienst.

33 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

1.6 Competitors

hict has 3 types of competitors: 34

1. Other companies specialised in offering IT and management services to the health care

sector: Probis (Belgium), H2W (The Netherlands), Plexus (The Netherlands), etc.

2. Former directors of hospitals who nowadays work as an independent consultant.

3. Consultancy giants: PwC, Deloitte, etc.

However, there are several elements that make hict unique. First, hict works with a

multidisciplinary composed team. Every co-worker is an expert in his or her domain, which

leads to multiple insights in a client‟s problem. Moreover, the employees understand and

speak the client‟s language, because of their profound knowledge of and/or experience with

hospitals and other health care institutions. This approach brings out efficient, usable,

customised and long-term solutions.35

Second, hict offers a total package. hict works with a „contractor – architect‟36 concept. This

means that hict does not only analyses the current situation and draws up a solution (=

architect), but also implements the proposed solutions (= contractor).37

Third, hict is an independent company and is not committed to one product. It provides

advice from a neutral point of view without trying to sell its product(s). Most competitors are

on the contrary committed to a product. 38

34 J. DEMEY, Interview, 2009.

35 A. VERGOTE, Interview, 18 mei 2009.

36 In-house terminology.

37 A. VERGOTE, Interview, 18 mei 2009.

38 A. VERGOTE, Interview, 18 mei 2009.

1.7 Challenges of today’s market

In general there are five challenges of today‟s health care market. The first challenge is the

professionalism of the health care sector. The sector is evolving to a more professional sector

and today‟s market offers national as well as international challenges. That is why several

processes from the private sector are implanted or will be implemented in the public health

care sector.39

Second, the market is becoming more global. In the future, services and pathologies will

become international and will exceed a country‟s boundaries. For example the „UZ Brussel‟ is

setting up fertility clinics in the Middle East. „Telemedecin‟ is another example. Countries

create a cooperation to send CT-scans to each other all over the world. hict is convinced that

what it can realise for the Belgian health care market, it can also realise for other countries as

long as the point of departure is the market itself and the present needs.40

Example. In 2009, hict executed a project at the Al Ahli Hospital in Qatar (Dubai). The

hospital wanted an overview of all services and processes, in order to be able to offer a better

service to its patients. The big difference with Belgian hospitals is that hospitals in the Middle

East are more like hotels. The hospitals offer the patients „guest services‟: the hospital has a

counter, the patient is offered a coffee or a drink at the arrival, at the start of every intake the

hospital has a conversation with the patient to determine the patient‟s wishes like food,

facilities in the room, etc. Based on interviews with 27 stakeholders and audit, hict offered the

board a rapport with a SWOT analysis of the IT department, a critical analysis and

suggestions for the IT strategy, etc.41

Third, the technical evolution is a challenge, in the medical domain as well as in the support

domain42. Today, diagnostics43 become more important and the technical evolution plays a

key role in this process. This can be explained with the following example. With diagnostics it

would be possible for everyone to have a device at home to plug in their toothbrush after

brushing their teeth. Next, this device analyses the person‟s blood (since every time a person

39 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

40 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

41 J. DEMEY, Interview, 8 juli 2009.

42 For example buildings, service flats, etc.

43 This is the monitoring before a patient is ill. Nowadays the medical aspect when people already are ill. An

example of diagnostics is being conscious about your health to eat healthy, try to exercise,..

brushes its teeth their gums bleed a bit) and sends the data to a central platform, where all data

is kept and can be analysed. Whenever a change in the person‟s blood is noticed, an alert is

sent from the central platform with a diagnosis44. The system can advice the person to visit a

physician or a specialist. Of course, such systems implement risks. The biggest concern is

privacy. Patient data becomes more transparent and the collectors of data could abuse the

data.45

Fourth, the demography will be a challenge in the near future. Obsolescence, diabetes, heart

diseases and cancer are becoming the most important threats. For the medical world these

threats are challenges.46

A fifth great challenge will be financing the health care sector47. The health care sector is

evolving to a more economical sector and resources are scare. Nowadays the patient cost is

calculated by a TarFac48 formula49 and hospitals charge the patient for every element of its

treatment. However, we are evolving towards a system of fixed costs or forfeits. Together

with this change, we are evolving to „a chain of health care‟. People will be hospitalised for a

shorter period of time (after all the patient will have paid a fixed cost, so there is no need to

keep the patient hospitalised longer than needed) and after this period at a hospital, the patient

will receive specialised care in health care centres50.51

44 Your blood is the fastest indicator of someone‟s health.

45 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

46 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

47 On a macro economical dimension.

48 TarFac = Tarficiatie Facturatie

49 In Belgium three players do the financing of patients: the patient itself, the mutuality‟s and a private insurance.

The TarFac formula is a calculation based on the payments of these three players.

50 For example revalidation centres, health care institutes,..

51 J. DEMEY, Interview, 15 mei 2009.

1.8 SWOT

Strengths

Weaknesses

Core competence: speak the client‟s language

Multidisciplinary team

Customised solutions

Total package

Capable of offering services abroad

Young company: professionalism

Operational domain

Internal communication

External communication

Opportunities

Threats

Economic agents

Finance

Professionalism

Globalisation

Technical evolution

Demographical evolution

Competitors

Legislation

1.8.1 Analysis of the internal environment

1.8.1.1 Strengths

hict‟s core competence is that it speaks the client‟s language. The company can give client

specific advice, since every employee knows how hospitals and other players in the health

care market operate from their knowledge and/or experience.

The multidisciplinary composed team brings out better solutions. Hospitals deal with very

complex problems and hict offers a multi view on these problems, since every employee is an

expert in his or her domain.

hict provides every client a tailor made solution. hict‟s point of departure is the clients

present needs and from then on hict comes up with a solution. When developing a solution,

the company always takes the impact of the solution into account.

hict presents its clients a total package. The company not only draws up a strategy or a

solution, but it also helps the client realise the projects. In other words, hict implements its

solutions. For every started project hict makes sure that the end result is what the client

requested. This approach is unique in Belgium.

As mentioned before, hict not only offers its services to the Belgian health care market, but

also to several countries in Europe and to Canada.

1.8.1.2 Weaknesses

In October hict will exist five years and some processes can still be optimised and need more

professionalism.

On the operational domain, the consultants at hict need to become more familiar with Project

Management, since it is an element of every executed project. Recently, hict started an

internal project, called PM@hict52. The objective of this project is to transform every

consultant into a project manager.

The internal communication can be improved. There is an imaginary wall between the two

main groups at the company, namely „GO2M‟ and „DELIVERY‟, because at this point the

two groups are still seen as separate groups. However, in the end they have to work together,

because „GO2M‟ sells the deal to a client and „DELIVERY‟ accomplishes the project. By

organising more meetings with both groups the communication will improve and this may

even have a positive effect on the collaboration.

Not only the internal communication, but also the external communication needs to be

improved. Examples: the printed reference cases for clients contained spelling and formal

mistakes, the company name is still written in different ways by co-workers within the

company, on the website the company name is still written in the old font, etc. hict does not

yet have a person who is responsible for Marketing, but Marketing is such an important

element that the company should at least work on that point with every employee within the

company. It must be very confusing for a client if the company name is written differently by

several co-workers from the same company, and when clients visit the website the company

name is written in another way. Intermediate meetings about communication styles might

redress this problem.

52 Project Management at hict.

1.8.2 Analysis of the external environment

1.8.2.1 Opportunities

In the near future several processes of the health care sector will need to be optimised. Today,

companies are already realising big changes, but this is just the beginning of a very long story.

Hospitals and other health care centres will become more economic agents/players in a more

economic-orientated market.

The biggest challenge for the years to come will be the financial aspect on a macro

economical level. In general countries are already experiencing financial problem, caused by

the economic recession. In the health care sector resources are scarce, so the sector will have

to make more strategic decisions.

The professionalism is linked to the financial aspect. Optimising processes and thus becoming

more professional will have a positive consequence for the finances.

Another opportunity will be the globalisation. Our markets are becoming more global or at

least more European and so is the health care sector. In the future a country‟s boundaries will

be an opportunity instead of a limitation.

Technology is evolving every minute and this is not any different in the health care sector. In

the future the health care sector will intervene more before people become ill, instead of

curing people when they already are ill.

Demographic evolution will also have its influence on the health care sector. As mentioned

before, the challenges of the future will be cancer, heart diseases, diabetes and obsolescence.

1.8.2.2 Threats

More and more competitors are making their way to the market. A potential threat could be

that competitors start offering the same total package of services.

Another possible threat is the legislation of the sector. If legislation becomes too strict, it is

possible that firms like hict can no longer offer their services.

Chapter 2: Business proposals

During my internship I optimised hict‟s external communication. I worked on the website and

I optimised the company‟s current system of business proposals. The company already

developed a standard proposal template, but the consultants still encountered a lot of problems

with this template. This chapter states the context of business proposals and how to write

better proposals.

First, I will briefly explain the process of proposal writing at hict. A member of the sales team

contacts potential clients and sets up meetings to present the company. Whenever the client

wants to rely on hict‟s services, the client contacts the member from the sales team that

visited that client to organise a meeting to discuss the problem, request and wishes of the

client. Later on, the member of the sales team will organise a meeting with the consultants to

discuss the client‟s problem and to determine which consultant(s) is(are) best placed to be put

on the project. The consultant(s) who is(are) in charge of the project will set up a project

letter53 for the client. The member of the sales team will set up a second meeting with the

client where the project letter (in the form of a presentation) is discussed. After this stage, the

sales person will again meet with the consultant(s) responsible for the project to discuss the

further progression of the project. Based on all the information the consultant(s) received, a

proposal will be written and send to the client.54

53 This letter is a PowerPoint presentation. It is a shorter version of the proposal.

54 D., VAN HOOF, Interview, 20 juli 2009.

2.1 Introduction

A business proposal is part of the communication of a company. It is external and formal

communication to clients. It is formal communication, because the proposal is written in a

formal and professional way.55

The word communication comes from the Latin word „communicare‟. This means „to share‟

or „to make common good‟56. Communication is a process of behaviour between two actors,

namely a sender and a receiver. It can go in different directions, for example lateral or from

top to bottom57 and communication can be verbal or non-verbal.58

The actors exchange messages to each other through several channels59. Next, the messages

are transformed into information to which we attach a certain meaning60 and the receiver will

send feedback to the sender by verbal or non-verbal communication, so that the sender will

know whether the message was interpreted in the right way. Communication always takes

place in a general context61 and it is possible that noise disturbs the communication. In

general this communication process is called the basic model of communication (Figure 2:

Basic Model of Communication).62

Figure 2: Basic Model of Communication

55 D. VAN HOOF, Interview, 20 juli 2009.

56 F. ANSEEL, K. BEIRENS en M. FEYS, Effectief communiceren en samenwerken, Gent, Academia Press,

2008, 5 (hierna verkort F. ANSEEL, K. BEIRENS en M. FEYS, Effectief communiceren).

57 F. ANSEEL, K. BEIRENS en M. FEYS, Effectief communiceren, 5-6.

58 F. ANSEEL, K. BEIRENS en M. FEYS, Effectief communiceren, 5.

59 These channels can be sensory (voice, eyes,..) or electronically (computer, telephone,..).

60F. ANSEEL, K. BEIRENS en M. FEYS, Effectief communiceren, 5.

61 A physical, a temporal and a relational context.

62 F. ANSEEL, K. BEIRENS en M. FEYS, Effectief communiceren, 8.

Our point of departure will be the basic model of communication. A business proposal is thus

non-verbal communication between a company, the sender, and a client, the receiver. It is part

of business communication, because the context that frames the communication is business

related and the sender and receiver exchange messages concerning business information. This

information is exchanged during business meetings, by letters, written reports, emails, etc.

Business communication occurs in several contexts, such as a legal, medical or military

context..63

2.2 Business proposals in a B2B context

A proposal is a sales document that should convince the client of the products and/or services

you offer.64 There are two types of proposals, solicited proposals or RFP and unsolicited

proposals. The unsolicited proposals are proposals, which companies offer to governments.

These offers are called (public) tenders. With this system everyone can put forward a proposal

and the government chooses one company to work with. The solicited proposals or Request

For Proposal are offers made on a client‟s specific request.65

A business proposal takes place in a B2B context. This means that the Decision Making Unit

(DMU) is more complex than in a B2C context, since there are far more parties involved to

make this decision.66 This will be clarified with a number of examples.

Example 1. Health care providers.

In 75% of the cases the DMU of a hospital consists of the Board of Directors and in some

cases the General Management is also involved. This is right away the bottleneck of the

sector, because the decisions are made by people who absolutely have no knowledge of the

sector. This is also the reason why it is very difficult to negotiate with hospitals. Most

members of a Board of Directors of a hospital are very conservative and still manage the

hospital in the same manner as 20 years ago. Nowadays it is crucial that hospitals are

managed in the most efficient way in order to deal with the existing issues.67

63 J.M. ULIJN en J.B. STROTHER, Communicating in Business and Technology, Frankfurt am Main, Peter

Lang GmbH, 1995, 21 (hierna verkort J.M. ULIJN en J.B. STROTHER, Communicating in Business and

Technology).

64 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, New York, AMACOM, 2004, 12 (hierna verkort T. SANT,

Persuasive Business Proposals).

65 J.M. ULIJN en J.B. STROTHER, Communicating in Business and Technology, 294.

66 J. DEMEY, Interview, 8 juli 2009.

67 J. DEMEY, Interview, 8 juli 2009.

Another important actor of the DMU of hospitals and of suppliers of the health care sector is

the Ethical Commission. The commission should always be contacted and informed in matters

of privacy of patient data.68

Example 2. Suppliers of health care providers.

In the case of a pharmaceutical company for example, the DMU will consist of the Marketing

Unit Management and the Product Unit Management. The Marketing Unit Management is in

general in charge of the budget and always wants the sales to go up. The Product Unit

Management is more concerned about the operational impact and about medical care.69

I will clarify this with an example. In 2006 hict executed a project for Amgen, a leading

biotechnology firm. hict was asked to execute an impact analysis to determine the advantages

for a hospital when a certain medicine70 had to be registered less frequent. This project was

important to the Marketing Unit Management, because a less frequent registration would be

far more interesting for hospitals, so the sales of this product could go up. This project was

also important to the Product Unit Management, because the impact on the operational level

for hospitals would be huge and for the patients this would also be an improvement.71

Example 3. Public services.

As mentioned before, the public services consist of two departments, „knowledge and

innovation‟ or the KCE, and „policy‟ or the Federal Public Services. In most cases the DMU

of the KCE consists of a Project Manager appointed for the project and the General

Management of the KCE.72

At the department „policy‟ the DMU consists of the FPS health care. The FPS health care is

part of the federal government and can make decisions that influent medical care. However, a

regional department directs the financial aspects of these decisions, so it is very hard to

negotiate with the FPS health care.73

68 J. DEMEY, Interview, 8 juli 2009.

69 J. DEMEY, Interview, 8 juli 2009.

70 The medicine was Aranesp®, an Erythropoiesis-Strimulating Protein (ESP) against anaemia for chronic

kidney patients on haemodialysis.

71 J. DEMEY, Interview, 8 juli 2009.

72 J. DEMEY, Interview, 8 juli 2009.

73 J. DEMEY, Interview, 8 juli 2009.

2.3 Proposals that sell

Now, there are a million ways to write a proposal, but in the end bad writing results in bad

business, so what is a good proposal?74 Below are some guidelines to improve the writing of

business proposals. The first part evaluates the key elements of the basic communication

model in a context of business proposals. It explains the decision-making process of human

beings. The second part states a note on persuasion and on the structure and contents of a

proposal.

2.3.1 The basic model of communication in a context of business proposals

In the following paragraphs we will evaluate the key elements of the basic model of

communication in a context of business proposals. We can distinguish four key elements: the

message, the receiver, the channel and the source.75

A first key element is the message. Of course, the willingness of a reader to receive or accept

a message will have an influence. In general, people tend to accept a message more easily

when it is in line with their beliefs or values.76 It is not easy to know and to influent a client‟s

beliefs or values, but try to convince the client that the products and/or services you offer are

the solution to the client‟s problem.77 Later on in this chapter an explanation will be given of

how adapting the message (structure and contents) of a proposal can have influence on a

client‟s decision.

The second element is the receiver. In the end, the client will make the decision and thus the

goal is to create a positive attitude in the client‟s mind towards your proposal. In order to do

that, be aware of the information in your proposal. In general, if a person is confronted with

information he or she does not understand, the person will not be likely to accept this

information.78

At this point it is interesting to investigate the decision-making process of human beings. How

does a person make a decision? A long time ago we assumed that human beings were rational

74 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, onuitgegeven, 2009, 1 (hierna verkort A. VERMEIRE, Writing

effective proposals).

75 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 38.

76 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 38.

77 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 39.

78 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 39.

beings and that people made decisions based on rational reasoning. Since many years we have

left this assumption and diagnosed that emotions are the primary mechanisms that guide

human beings. For lower organisms like animals, emotions are the dominant and only

mechanism.79

Next tot that, people use heuristics to make a decision. Heuristics are fist rules which people

follow by relying on their gut feelings. These heuristics are hard-wired in our brains since our

ancestors already had to use them when they did not have the biggest teeth or the sharpest

claws in order to survive.80

Let us have a closer look at heuristics people use in a decision-making process in a business

context. A first heuristic is recognition. When people have to choose between something they

recognize and something they do not recognize, people will choose the first option. Our gut

feeling tells us the first option is the best choice, since this option holds fewer risks. To link

this with business proposals, this proves how important it is to build up a solid relationship

with your clients before writing a proposal.81

A second heuristic is the single-factor decision making. It is possible that the has never heard

of your company. In this case the reader will use one, two or more criteria to make the

decision. The reader might look for the best price, the best timeline, whether the proposal

follows the RFP instructions or not (in case of a RFP), etc.82 People make decisions based on

previous decisions and think back to situations when a similar decision had to be made, and

what the outcome of the decision was.83

A third heuristic is the rate of return or the return on investment. The reader makes a decision

for an entire organisation, so the reader will choose what is best for the organisation, even if

the investment is higher. Clearly show the return on investment in your proposals by

79 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 21-22; P. VYNCKE, Decoding the ad, How advertising taps into

your heats & mind, Gent, Universiteit Gent, Departement Communicatiewetenschappen, 2009, 167 (hierna

verkort P. VYNCKE, Decoding the ad).

80 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 22; P. VYNCKE, Decoding the ad, 225.

81 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 23.

82 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 24.

83 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 25.

including reference cases to endorse that other companies have gained great returns. Empasise

concrete sults and added value for the reader.84

The third key element in the basic model of communication situated in a business proposal

context is the source of information. The source must be credible and appealing. The receiver

must have confidence in the source in order to accept this information.85

The last key element is the channel. There are different channels to deliver a proposal, like a

printed version, an electronic channel, etc. The receiver can have a preference for a certain

channel. A receiver can have a preference for written proposals, because he or she likes to

study the whole proposal in detail while other receivers can be more receptive for oral

presentations of a proposal.86

84 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 27.

85 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 40.

86 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 40-41.

2.3.2 To persuade or to sell

As we all know the purpose of a business proposal is to sell an offer to a client. In other

words, you want to persuade the person who makes the decision about the offer. In the

following section each step of a model on persuading a decision maker will be explained. This

model is developed by experts, it is called the persuasive paradigm.87

A first step is showing the decision maker that you understand the problem. If the decision

maker feels understood, this can create a platform of trust. The decision maker feels that he or

she can trust your company in solving the problem.88

A second step is focussing on the results or outcomes the decision maker wants to achieve.

Every day the decision maker is faced with dozens of problems and not every problem can be

fixed. By showing the results, the decision maker can be convinced to actually solve this

problem.89

As a third step, come up with a solution. The decision maker must link your products and/or

services as a solution to the problem. Convince the decision maker by using persuasive words.

For example. “We are confident that…”.90

The final step is providing evidence that your company can do it, on time and on budget. The

decision maker has to have confidence in the competences of your company‟s team.

Therefore, include references, testimonials, case-studies, resumes of team members, etc..91

On the following pages I will give tips and tricks on how to persuade your reader by adjusting

the message (structure and contents) of your proposal.

87 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 31.

88 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 31.

89 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 31-32.

90 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 32.

91 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 32.

2.3.3 Structure of a proposal

A proposal consists of several parts. Figure 3 shows structure of a proposal (Figure 3: Parts of

a Proposal92). You can use this as a guideline for your proposal.

Front matter

Cover or title page

Letter of Transmittal or cover letter

Table of Contents

Executive summary

Introduction

Statement of client‟s need and your proposed solution

Overview of cost and schedule

Statement of top management‟s support of project (for external client)

The body copy

Back matter

Appendices

References

Figure 3: Parts of a Proposal

Let‟s have a closer look at these elements. My advice is to include a title, the name of the

client, the name of the writer(s) and the date of submission on the cover or title page. Specify

the title according to the subject of the proposal. It would not be very wise to title a book

„book‟, so do not title your proposal „proposal‟.93

The cover letter or letter of transmittal is a smaller version of the executive summary. It can

include a short presentation of your company, the client‟s problem and your proposed

approach and solution. The person who has the authority to bind the company to a contract

should sign the cover letter. In most cases it will be the director of a company.94

92 J.M. ULIJN en J.B. STROTHER, Communicating in Business and Technology, 297.

93 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 136.

94 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, , 135.

The table of contents gives the reader a first impression of the content of the proposal. Not

every reader will have the time to read the entire document, so these readers will simply scan

the table of contents and skip to the right page.95

A crucial part of a proposal is the executive summary. It is a brief summary of the entire

document and this is the only part which will be read by every reader.96 The executive

summary states the most important conclusions, recommendations and competences of the

company offering the proposal.97

Below are guidelines to write your executive summary:98

1. The executive summary should be accessible to everyone, since everyone reads this

part.

2. Stress the outcomes and results and keep the technical content to the essential

minimum.

3. Present your approach and strategy.

4. Remember to take a client-centred writing style (or a you-attitude).

5. Don‟t overdo your executive summary, one or two pages maximum.

In most cases the letter of transmittal is just a preface of the executive summary. It is possible

to transform the executive summary and letter of transmittal into one section. In this manner

you will avoid repetition.99

In the body copy, you can add any part you want to add. However, keep in mind to always

focus on the client‟s problems, issues or needs and make sure that this part does not become

an overload of information and details.100

95 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 138.

96 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 140.

97 J.M. ULIJN en J.B. STROTHER, Communicating in Business and Technology, 299.

98 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 140.

99 D. VAN HOOF, Interview, 20 juli 2009.

100 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 142.

Below is a guideline for sections you can include in the body copy:101

1. A technical section: technical details, functional analysis,..

2. A pricing section: detailed costs, an analysis of return on investment,..

3. Case studies, success stories,..

4. References, testimonials,..

5. A management plan: project schedules, critical milestones, personnel who will work

on the project,..

6. Etc.

In the final part it is possible to add appendices with for example references or used

methods.102

101 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 143.

102 J.M. ULIJN en J.B. STROTHER, Communicating in Business and Technology, 297.

2.3.4 Contents of a proposal

Before you start writing, it is important to think about the following things. There are three

stages in a writing process: the thinking stage, the writing stage and the editing stage. Each

stage contains several steps a writer can (repetitively) go through (Figure 4: Stages in a

Writing Process).103

The thinking stage:

Define your purpose and reader

Collect data, facts and figures

Order the data

Analyse and interpret the data

The writing stage:

Draft an outline

Write a first draft (at a great pace, very quick)

The editing stage:

Revise your first draft

Add an executive summary and appendices

Proofread and finalise your text

Figure 4: Stages in a Writing Process

103 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 3.

2.3.4.1 The thinking stage

Before you start writing your proposal, ask yourself three questions: „Why am I writing?‟,

„For whom am I writing?‟ and „What should I write?‟104. These questions summarise the

thinking stage.105

First analyse why you are writing a proposal. A text can go in two directions, to inform or to

persuade. The first direction is the easiest: you just explain, give facts and analyse the

situation. The second direction is harder: you have to give arguments, you have to make a

case, you have to sell.106

However, a good proposal should not only inform the reader, but most importantly it should

persuade the reader. Informative texts are often descriptions and explanations, where a

persuasive text has to offer arguments that lead to a conclusion and recommendations. The

purpose of a proposal is to offer the reader a basis for the decision-making process.107

The second question is for whom am I writing or „Who are my readers?‟, „What are their

expectations?‟, „Are they experts in this matter?‟, „Will they read the whole document?‟,

etc.108

The last question is what should I write. There is a difference between need to know and nice

to know, only the first one is relevant to the reader. Some key questions you can ask yourself:

„What does the audience most want to know?‟, „What do they need to know?‟, „What does the

audience know already?‟, „What details does my audience need to understand the situation?‟,

etc.109

104 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 4.

105 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 3.

106 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 4.

107 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 4-5.

108 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 7.

109 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 9.

2.3.4.2 The writing and editing stage

The following pages provide tips to keep in mind during the writing and editing stage.

1. Develop a you-attitude

Always write from a client-centred perspective.110 Keep these questions in mind during the

writing process: 111

1. What is the client‟s problem, issue or need?

2. What makes this problem worth solving? What makes this need worth addressing?

3. What goals must be served by whatever action is taken?

4. Which goal has the highest priority?

5. What products/applications/services can I offer to solve the problem, issue or to meet

the need?

6. What results are likely to follow from each of my potential recommendations?

7. Comparing these results to the customer‟s desired outcomes or goals, which

recommendation is best?

Also keep in mind that readers have certain quality expectations before they even read the

document, so take a moment to think about these expectations.112 Here is a list of possible

expectations: 113

1. The unique solution you offer (USP114).

2. The benefits of your solution for the client (WHIIFM or What‟s in it for me).

3. The scope and boundaries of the solutions offered.

4. A statement of your team‟s qualifications and experience with the solution.

5. A detailed statement of fees and costs.

6. An easy-to-read and concise style.

A good trick to know whether your proposal is client-centred enough is to count how many

times your company‟s name appears in the proposal and how many times the client‟s name

appears. The client‟s name should appear at least three times more often.115

110 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 43; A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 7.

111 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 43.

112 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 1.

113 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 2.

114 Unique Selling Proposition

115 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 54.

Later on in this dissertation I will discuss the most common made mistakes when writing

business proposals. This element will be discussed in the section „You write the proposal for

yourself, instead of for the reader‟.

2. Speak the client’s language

There is a famous quotation of Cicero that summarises a client-centred approach: “If you wish

to persuade me, you must think my thoughts, feel my feelings, and speak my words.” Your

proposal should reflect every element of this quotation, below is an explanation why.116

There are three key factors about your proposal‟s audience:117

1. The audience‟s personality type: visionary, detail-orientated, pragmatic,..

2. The audience‟s level of expertise: informed, familiar, expert, unfamiliar,..

3. The audience‟s role in the decision-making process: user, ultimate authority,

gatekeeper,..

Linked with Cicero‟s quotation you can say that the personality type stems with “think my

thoughts”, the level of expertise with “speak my words” and the role in the decision-making

process with “feel my feelings”. Adjust just proposal according to the client‟s personality

type, to the client‟s level of expertise and to the decision maker‟s role.118

Speaking the client‟s language is using simple language. A good proposal is able to sell a

technical and complex product and/or service to a non-technical buyer.119 Later on, I will

elaborate on this element.

3. Evidence

As mentioned before, in order to persuade the reader, give enough evidence that your

company‟s team is capable of realising the proposed solutions. Therefore, include among

others reference cases and testimonials in your proposal.120

116 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 55.

117 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 57.

118 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 57.

119 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 15.

120 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 32.

4. AIDA model

Look at a proposal as a marketing tool. Marketing is about convincing a consumer of the

qualities and added value of a product and/or service, so that this results in buying behaviour.

Now, proposals are not that different. It is a tool to convince a reader to buy your products

and/or services. .121

First you should get the attention of the reader. Next the reader should get interested to read

on. This interest should lead to a desire for the products and/or services that you offer and in

the end the reader should take action and close the deal (See Figure 5: The AIDA model).122

Figure 5: The AIDA model

121 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 16-17.

122 This model can be applied in any marketing context; X, AIDA-model, http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDA-

model (consultatie op 23 juli 2009).

Attention  Interest  Desire  Action

2.3.5 Most common made mistakes

When it comes to writing people make many mistakes and this might have its influence on the

client‟s decision to take your company on board. The following pages pro 6 most common

made mistakes when writing business proposals.123

Mistake 1: The proposal is an overload of information

A platitude for a reader is an unstructured and too much detailed proposal124. In order to avoid

this mistake, only include relevant information and be clear about the topic and purpose of

your proposal.125

Make sure that you give enough information in order that the proposal is complete, without

adding too much detail. It might help to follow the seven-only principle: readers can not store

more than seven items in their short-term memory, so do not cram too much information in

one section, paragraph or report.126

One guideline you can follow throughout the entire proposal is „KISS‟ or „Keep it Short and

Simple‟.127 People do not like to read proposals of hundred pages or more. Moreover, they

simply do not have the time to digest all the information.

As a example I added two tables of contents of proposals. The first table128 contains too many

elements. Several of these elements can be put together to create a shorter table of contents.

1 Context 4

2 Samenvatting 5

3 Prijzen en licenties software 6

4 Vereiste hardware 8

5 Vereiste basissoftware 9

6 Prijs diensten 10

6.1 Installatie 10

6.2 Opleidingen 10

6.2.1 Kennisoverdracht 10

6.2.2 Basisopleiding 11

6.3 Implementatie (Proof of concept) 11

123 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 1; T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 11

124 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 1 en 75.

125 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 75.

126 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 7.

127 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 213.

128 X, Inhoudstafel proposal, SharePoint.

6.3.1 Projectfasering 11

6.3.2 Projectorganisatie 15

6.3.3 Budget 16

6.3.4 Implementatie bijkomende scenario‟s 17

7 Technische documentatie 18

7.1 Integratie architectuur 18

7.1.1 Point-to-point 18

7.1.2 Hub-and-Spoke 19

7.1.3 ESB 19

7.1.4 Hub Bus hybride model = Biztalk Server 20

7.2 Biztalk Server 2006 R2 21

7.2.1 BizTalk Engine 21

7.2.2 Adapters 22

7.2.3 BizTalk Artefacts 23

7.2.4 Scalibility 24

7.2.5 Beheer en opvolging 25

7.2.6 Monitoring 25

7.2.7 Business Activity Monitoring 25

7.2.8 BizTalk en Web services 25

7.3 BizTalk HL7 Accelerator 26

7.3.1 Inleiding 26

7.3.2 Kenmerken 26

7.3.3 HL7 v3 26

7.4 Installatie en migratie 26

7.4.1 Automatische installatie van herdistribueerbare onderdelen 26

7.4.2 Vereenvoudigde installatie 26

7.4.3 Flexibele installatie 27

7.4.4 Naadloze upgrades 27

7.4.5 Tools voor developers 27

8 Functionele documentatie 29

8.1.1 Beheer, bediening en toepassing 29

9 Integratie Microsoft VB.Net 31

10 Garanties 32

11 Referenties 33

11.1 HICT 33

11.1.1 Rode Kruis Vlaanderen – Software Engineering 33

11.1.2 Software Integration – Medtronic 34

11.2 IHC 35

11.2.1 Stedelijk Ziekenhuis Roeselare 35

11.2.2 Gezondheidszorg Oostkust 35

11.2.3 Algemeen Ziekenhuis Oudenaarde 35

12 Integratie SCOM 2007 36

13 Roadmap MS BizTalk 37

14 Proof of concept 38

14.1 Hardware 38

14.2 Software 38

14.3 Diensten installatie en implementatie 38

14.4 Scenario‟s 38

15 Addenda 39

15.1 CV‟s van medewerkers en subcontractors 39

15.2 Beschrijving HICT 39

15.3 Beschrijving subcontractor 40

15.4 Algemene contract voorwaarden 41

Below is the table of contents of the template used by hict129, it is short and simple.

1 Context

1.1 Client

1.2 Request

2 Goals & scope

2.1 Goals

2.2 Scope

3 Approach

3.1 What

3.2 How

3.3 Result

4 Organisation

4.1 Chart of the project

4.1.1 Co-workers

5 Planning & Budget

5.1 Timeline

5.1.1 Responsiblitites

5.1.2 Critical Success Factors

5.1.3 Time budget

5.1.4 Financial budget

6 Addenda

6.1 Desciption hict

6.2 Reference case

6.3 General terms and conditions

Mistake 2: You write the proposal for yourself, instead of for the reader.

The client‟s wishes should always be the point the departure when writing a proposal. As

mentioned before, develop a you-attitude. The activities that take place before offering a

proposal are crucial to know the client‟s wishes. Therefore, build up a solid relationship with

your clients.130

As mentioned before, the DMU in a B2B context is far more complex than in a B2C context.

Several individuals will read the proposal and have influence on the decision-making process.

Notice that every individual has a certain reading style and a certain goal to achieve.131 For

example, a director of a hospital is interested in the cost of the proposal, because he is in

129 X, Inhoudstafel proposal, SharePoint.

130 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 75.

131 J.M. ULIJN en J.B. STROTHER, Communicating in Business and Technology, 295.

charge of the financial part, a human resource manager is interested in the implementations

for his personal, etc. The challenge every proposal writer faces is to convince every reader

with one and the same document.132

In general we can distinguish three types of readers: the global reader, the selective reader and

the analytical reader. The global reader is only interested in the key message and the main

arguments. In most cases this is the senior management.133 The selective reader is interested

in the key message, but also wants to be informed about more specific aspects. This is the

middle management. The analytical reader reads the proposal from A to Z, this group are the

experts.134

Mistake 3: Writing as you think

Remember the three stages in a writing process. Before you start writing you should “GYST”

or “Get Your Stuff Together”.135 In order to end with a structured and easy to read document

start by making an outline. Next, complete the outline by adding to every header two or three

sentences with a key messages. From then on you can work out every header.136

A short example: “The following conditions replace there were in contradiction with the

proposed approach, budget and approach in the first version of the proposal, of 24th of April

2009, this initial conditions from the first proposal.”137 It is obvious that the writer did not

think before writing this text. The writer just wrote what came up in his mind and I doubt that

he or she reread this text.

Mistake 4: Making the reader do all the work

Offer the reader the conclusions and/or implementations of your findings, because if you do

let the reader draw conclusions, he or she might draw the wrong conclusions. Moreover, you

are paid to come up with advice and recommendations, and not to give facts the client already

is aware of.138

Mistake 5: Language mistakes

132 J. DEMEY, Interview, 8 juli 2009.

133 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 8.

134 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 9.

135 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 214.

136 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 76.

137 X, Proposal, SharePoint.

138 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 76.

A language mistake often made is using more words than needed. People tend to use more

words than needed, while the objective is a short, simple and easy to read text. Example:

“This document provides a brief overview of..”, but an overview is always brief.139

People often use „warm-ups‟. It is a way to introduce what you are about to say, but not yet

saying it. Example: “As you may or may not know..” or “It is interesting to see that..”. 140 My

advice is to avoid the use of „warm-ups‟ and to reread your text a few times to make sure that

you have not repeated yourself.141

Below are some examples of language mistakes.

Example 1. “The fact that the application is build up form the ground up, makes it possible

for the application to answer the client’s wishes at all times. hict builds up its applications in

a way that they are adjustable.” The words “The fact that..” are an example of a „warm-up‟.

It is also obvious that this text contains a lot a repetitions. You can transform the text into the

following text: “hict builds up its applications itself. In this manner, the applications are

adjustable and answer the client’s wishes at all times.”142

Example 2. “An external consultant from hict, Nele Verlaecke, will execute a group project in

screening personalities of the service. Therefore, she will use the month November to execute

these sessions, next to the follow-up of..” This example shows that using more words than

needed can sound very weird. An improved text: “During the month November an external

consultant of hict, Nele verlaecke, will screen the personalities of the service. Next to that, she

will follow up..”143

Another mistake often made is using jargon. My advice is to stick to an easy language and

write in a conversational style, so that experts as well as non-experts understands your text. 144

Example 1. Words like senior user, senior executive and senior supplier are specific terms in

Project Management. These words have a different meaning in plain English.

139 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 76.

140 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 77.

141 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 77.

142 X, Proposal, SharePoint.

143 X, Proposal, SharePoint.

144 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 216.

Example 2. “The existing procedures are analysed and screened on relevance for other

services in the OCMW. The expertise of the interim manager on transverbal processes to the

operating of the OCMW is used.”145 Besides the fact that the structure of the sentence is

totally incorrect, I am pretty sure that the writer does not even understand the word

transverbal processes.

People also make a lot of spelling mistakes. You want your company to be perceived as

professional, so avoid spelling mistakes in your proposals.146

People have a tendency towards creating noun clusters. A noun cluster is a combination of

several nouns. Example. „to be honest‟ is transformed into „to be up front with‟, „important‟ is

transformed intro „heavy‟. Simply avoid using these clusters.147

The use of knotty words or words you do not know the meaning of is not recommended. Do

not use words just because they are popular buzzwords and sound nice.148

Using too many clichés will make the text sound like old marketing fluff and the client will

not be impressed.149

Example: “Our firm is uniquely qualified for this project. We offer best-of-breed products and

world-class services..”150 The previous text sounds over the top. Next is an example of a

better text. “Our firm has successfully installed these products over the past fifteen years. We

offer the latest technology and we guarantee you a service department which is available 24

hours a day, 7 days a week. As a result, you will achieve three important outcomes..”151

Mistake 6: Cluttered, unattractive pages

The font, the page design and the lay-out has an important influence on the readability of your

text. To improve the readability the type must be 11 or 12 pt in a body text and in graphics 10

145 X, Proposal, SharePoint.

146 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 217.

147 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 219.

148 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 221.

149 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 225.

150 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 225.

151 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 226.

pt.152 As mentioned before, it is best to use short and simple sentences. A sentence should not

be longer than eighteen words.153

It is ok to use plenty of white spaces, it gives structure to a text and it allows you to highlight

important information. People read from top left to bottom right, so you should keep this in

mind with landscape pages.154

Below is an example of a cluttered page155. It also contains several language mistakes.

Goals & scope

Goals

With the help of the CRINIH project we are aiming for:

The improvement and support of care incidents within care organisations by:

o Disposing a reporting system and dito IT system;

o The systematic application of one “root cause analysis” method, namely Prisma

®;

o Pooling reports between participating organisations to gain a greater number of

reports.

Offering a reporting system, where the reporter can safely report an incident.

Improving the quality within a care environment, by a registration of incidents or

near-incidents.

Scope

The CRINIH project wants to reach all care organisations within the Benelux and France

though, given the importance of the use of language, semantics and weight of the

jargon, the French roll-out of the project will only take place after the First pilot year to

avoid extra complexity.

Within a care organisation CRINIH want to reach all co-workers who are involved in

patient or client care. CRINIH concerns the report and registration of incidents and near-

incidents concerning patient(care).

152 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 77.

153 T. SANT, Persuasive Business Proposals, 215.

154 A. VERMEIRE, Writing effective proposals, 77.

155 X, Proposal, SharePoint.

Chapter 3: The internship

3.1 General background

Soon156 hict will have existed five years and with this milestone the company wants to

optimise several internal processes. During my internship I contributed to the optimisation of

the company‟s system of business proposals and to the creating of the new website.

In the past year hict already set up a standard proposal template, but the consultants still

encountered a lot of problems with the template. The consultants wasted hours with writing a

proposal, because the guidelines on how to complete the proposal were very unclear, there

were no standard references available of previous executed projects, there were no standard

texts available about the used methods, etc.

Another issue at the firm is the clash between the consultants and the sales teams. These

teams have different goals and a different approach to clients. The sales team wants a

proposal to be a commercial or sales document. The consultants want it to be a technical and

professional document.

156 On October the 5th 2009.

3.2 Briefing of the assignment

During the first part of my internship the objective was to set up an improved version of the

template. The ultimate goal was to set up a template that limits the repetitive work for

consultants as much as possible.

An important element of the template are the guidelines on how to complete the proposal. I

had to review the guidelines and adapt them where needed (leave parts out, rewrite parts,

make it more to the point). In order to do this, I could look for good examples in a database of

the company with old proposal files. I also had to appeal to the management and the

consultants to get a third-party view on the situation. Interviewing the employees gave me

more information about the system and about the employee‟s opinions and wishes.

Another part of my assignment was optimising several standard parts of the template.

Resumes of co-workers, a description of hict, references, methods, general contract terms and

official documents. At the end of my internship the goal was to have a template with standard

texts for all these parts.

The resumes of the employees

In the previous template the resumes of the employees were not uniform. Every resume had

its own lay-out. My task was to make the co-workers‟ resumes uniform. I also had to check

the resumes on spelling mistakes and inconsistencies.

A description of hict

I had to review and adjust a text with a description of the company. For completing this task I

had to amass information from the website, from old proposals on SharePoint, from an

interview with the director of the company, etc.

References

A huge issue with the previous system was the lack of standard references. The company only

had two or three long references, so with every proposal the consultants wasted hours with re-

writing these references. My job was to ask the co-workers to write references for the

projects they worked for and/or to write short references myself. I had to check the references

on content and spelling mistakes and bring the written references had to be in conformity with

a standard lay-out/template.

Methods

In this part of the template the used methods can be added. As mentioned before, hict recently

launched an internal project called „PM@hict‟ to introduce all consultants to the concept of

Project Management. In most cases the projects executed by hict include Project

Management, so it was important to have a standard text for this method.

General terms and conditions

My role here was reviewing the contract terms and adapt them if they were legally incorrect.

Official Documents

Based on interviews with the management and consultants I had to amass information on this

section. It typically contains a reference to the documents that are required for official RFP‟s

issued by the government or public organisations.

During the second part of my internship my role was to follow-up the roll-out of the template.

The template was tested by some co-workers and whenever the co-workers had remarks I had

to adjust the template. Next to that, I took part of developing a French version of the template

as well.

Next to the roll-out of the template, I was asked to help at developing text for the new

website. The texts concerned: a welcome text, a text about the company, solutions, cases,

news and events. To complete this I had to appeal to co-workers to gain information.

3.3 My approach

For what concerns the template, I will follow the structure of the table of contents of the

template to explain my approach. In appendix I included the old and the new version of the

template.

Front page

The front page of the previous template contained the company logo, the name of the client,

the name of the project and the author of the proposal. In the past hict experienced problems

with clients, because the date of expiry was only included in the back of the document and

several clients claimed to not have seen this date. Of course, this date is very important to the

company, because it determines how long the offer is valid. In the new template it is added on

the front page, to exclude any discussion with clients.

The version of the proposal is also added on the front page of the new template. In most cases

hict writes several offers to a client, because in some cases a client is not satisfied with the

proposition and asks for a new one. In the previous template this element was not mentioned,

which was confusing for the client as well as for the consultants at hict.

Cover letter

A new element in the new template is a cover letter. Many employees at hict were convinced

that a cover letter is a crucial part in a proposal that has to be included. The company

preferred to include a cover letter over an executive summary, because the co-workers found

an executive summary too extensive.

To make it easier for the consultants several standard texts were added in the cover letter. This

saves the consultants time, because these texts can be left unadjusted. If a consultant however

do wishes to change the text, he can do this without any problem. Several other pieces of text

were added as an example. A consultant has the choice to use the texts or not.

Table of contents

Some parts of the table of contents of the previous template were repetitive, so these parts

were deleted. Below is the table of contents of the new template.

1 Context

2 Request

3 hict‟s answer

3.1 Our approach

3.2 Deliverables

4 Planning

5 Roles and responsibilities

5.1 Client

5.2 hict

6 Boundary Conditions

7 Budget

8 Why hict?

8.1 Our competences

8.2 Our references for this assignment

A Resumes of co-workers

B hict

C Subcontractor 1

D Subcontractor 2

E Our references for this assignment

F Used methods

G General terms and conditions

H Official documents

The biggest change in comparison to the previous template is the part „hict‟s answer‟. This

part was downsized from 3 to 2 sub-chapters. Before, this part was divided in „Scope‟, „Our

approach‟ and „Concrete results‟. With the new template the chapters „Scope‟ and „Our

approach‟ are integrated.

The guidelines on how to complete the proposal are totally changed in the new template. On

the following pages I will discuss which changes I made at what chapter and why. In general,

I reviewed the guidelines and adapted them where needed. I based my adaptations on

interviews with the management and the consultants, and I reviewed old proposals on

SharePoint. I worked in the following manner: I made several adaptations and constructed a

new version of the template. I asked several co-workers for feedback on this version. I again

adapted the document based on the feedback. Afterwards I again asked for feedback, until we

reached consensus.

Context

The guidelines of this section were very brief in the previous template, which made it very

unclear for the consultants as to what was exactly needed in this section. The guidelines in the

new version are to the point and some examples make it more easy for the consultants to

understand what is expected.

Request

The new guidelines are more structured and the section contains several examples. The old

guidelines contained spelling mistakes and mentioned a method called STOSA157 to structure

information. This method is an ancient method and it was not used a lot.

hict’s answer

As mentioned before, this chapter was down-sized to two sub-chapters. In the chapter „Our

approach‟ a general standard text was added. This chapter is divided in several phases and for

every phase a standard text and examples were added. There was a discussion about the

chapter „Concrete results‟. Some employees found that this chapter was a repetition of what

was explained in the chapter „Our approach‟, while other co-workers argued that it should be

kept to avoid discussions with the client. The company decided to keep this element and to

name it „Deliverables‟.

Planning

In the past consultants wasted a lot of time with parts like planning and budget, because for

these parts the consultants had to start from scratch and set up a table. Since the launch of

„PM@hict‟ a template is developed for both planning and budget. Now every consultant can

simply insert the template and make minimal adjustments according to the project. Below I

inserted a sample of the template for planning.

157 Situation, Trigger, Objective, Statement, Argument.

Roles and responsibilities

Since the launch of „PM@hict‟ a template was developed to present the roles and

responsibilities of the people staffed on the project. Below I added the template.

Moreover, a standard description of every role is included in the guidelines to exclude

discussions about responsibilities.

Five lines resumes of every co-worker were needed for the section ‘hict‟158. After receiving a

template from my mentor, I contacted every co-worker to create this resume.

158 The chapter „Roles and responsibilities‟ is subdivided in two sections: „Client‟ and „hict‟.

W17 W18 W19 W20 W21 W22 W23 W24

Project management

Quality assurance

Change management

Communication

Initiation

Diagnosis Interviews

Business Architecture

Audit

Analysis Data analysis

Workgroups

SWOT

Process analysis and modelling

Statistics

Implementation

Control

Evaluation

Closure

Producten

Activiteiten

Voorzitter Stuurgroep

Account Manager hict

Project Manager klant

Project Manager hict

Team members

Kwaliteitsbewaking

Stuurgroep

Boundary conditions

The guidelines in the previous template were very short and unclear to most consultants who

are not familiar with Project Management. Based on several interviews I wrote the guidelines

in a more simple language and I changed them into a checklist. This checklist is to make sure

that no (crucial) elements are forgotten. Every consultant has to go through each element of

the checklist and check for the project whether it is relevant to the project.

Budget

As mentioned before, a template was developed for the project‟s budget.

The previous template only contained guidelines for this section and no standard text. To

many co-workers it was not clear what was expected in this section. Nevertheless, this is a

very important section, because it can have huge financial consequences for hict. For

example, sometimes consultants forget to mention that the prices in the proposal are VAT

excluded.

In the new guidelines I included an example and standard texts on VAT, the expiration date of

the proposition, which projects costs are included/excluded, etc..

Resumes of co-workers

I changed every resume in conformity with the new template. In order to do this, I contacted

every co-worker and asked to review their resume and to bring it up to date. Afterwards I

checked the resumes on spelling mistakes and lay-out.

hict

I modified the text with the description of hict and I asked for feedback from the director.

With this feedback I again adapted the text.

Manager Consultant Manager Dokter

Project Manager Team Member Team Member Kwaliteitsbewaking

Project management 0

Kwaliteitsbewaking 0

Project start 0

Voorbereiding interviews 0

Interviews & workshops Verpleegeenheden 0

Medische diensten

Specials

Oplevering en project closing 0

Training (optioneel) 0

0 0 0 0 0

0 €

Producten

Activiteiten

Totaal

Our references for this assignment

I received a template for the short references. To begin with, I reviewed the existing printed

reference cases, because these contained a lot of spelling mistakes, and I put these references

in accordance with the new template.

Based on several interviews with co-workers, I made an inventory of the most important

projects realised by hict. The inventory shows the name of the project, the name of the client,

the person responsible for the project, whether the reference already exists and whether hict

has the approval to use the reference in their proposals. After the interviews I knew who was

responsible for which project, so in this manner I could contact the co-worker to write the

reference. Afterwards, I checked every reference on spelling mistakes and made sure that all

references were in accordance with the new template. In appendix I added several reference

cases.

Used methods

The company did not yet dispose standard texts of used methods, so the consultants wasted a

lot of time with writing these texts. To compose a text about Project Management for this

section, I interviewed the two consultants who are responsible for the launch of „PM@hict‟.

One of these consultants gave me a draft text concerning this method and I checked the

document on spelling mistakes and content. Next to that I checked a second text about another

method on spelling mistakes and I changed the text so that it was in accordance with the hict

house style.

General terms and conditions

I reviewed the text with the general terms and conditions and I checked whether it was in

conformity with the law. I changed one article about property rights, because hict experienced

problems with defending this article to clients.

The old text:

“hict grants the customer the non-exclusive and non-transferable right to use the software,

methods or data identified by the licence number allocated upon delivery or an explicit

statement. The customer does not acquire any right of ownership whatsoever. All intellectual

and/or economic rights to the programming, methods or data remain the exclusive property of

hict…”

The new text:

“hict grants the customer the non-exclusive and non-transferable right to use the software,

methods or data identified by the licence number allocated upon delivery or an explicit

statement. The customer does not acquire any right of ownership whatsoever: all intellectual

and/or economic rights to the programming, methods or data remain the exclusive property of

hict. The delivered documents on the other hand, as described in the main section of this

document, are transferred integrally to the client…”

During the first part of my internship I also reviewed other elements of hict‟s external

communication. As mentioned before, I reviewed and corrected the printed reference cases,

because the texts contained a lot of mistakes, concerning spelling and lay-out.

During my internship several co-workers appealed to me for help. I read and corrected several

proposals which had to be send to a client. Next to that, I translated a proposal from Dutch to

English and I reviewed a poster which had to be printed for a congress. I reviewed several

PowerPoint presentations, which I checked on spelling mistakes and conformity with the hict

house style.

Additionally, I helped with developing of a template of a project letter. As mentioned before,

this letter is actually a PowerPoint presentation presented to the client before a proposal is

written. I consulted several previous project letters and tried to come to a standard template.

In appendix I added the template.

During the second part of my internship my responsibility was to follow-up the roll-out of the

template. In cooperation with my mentor, I organised four sessions to inform every co-worker

personally about the use of the new template. In this manner the employees were able to ask

questions and if problems occurred with the macro‟s in the template, my mentor was able to

fix them immediately. Although only consultants are responsible for writing proposals, the

sales team also was involved in these sessions, because the goal was to bring employee on the

same level.

During the second part I also helped to develop a French proposal template. I contacted a

translation agency to translate all texts needed for the template and I delivered the texts to my

mentor.

Another part of my assignment was developing texts for the new website. First of all, I

contacted the director of hict to write a welcome text and a text about the company. Next, I

used the printed reference cases and solutions as an example to compose texts for the section

„cases‟ and „solutions‟. Below is an example of a case and a solution. All texts are included in

appendix.

Example 1. Case A.Z. Sint-Lucas Bruges - Cadans ICT.

AZ Sint-Lucas Bruges, an autonomous 415-bed hospital on 1 campus, is characterised by the

extensive care it provides. The hospital has some 90 specialists and 1,150 staff.

Description

hict set up an ICT master plan in line with the business processes, strategy and objectives of

the hospital. hict gave dvice and support from the ICT management on the operability of the

ICT department in the hospital.

The objectives were: gear the ICT organisation to the needs, requirements and expectations

of the hospital, expand an effective, efficient and appreciated operation of the ICT department

and define a framework for the coordination of ICT projects and the future approach on ICT

policy.

Approach

| ICT organisation

| Projects and priorities

| ICT infrastructure

| ICT policy, procedures and processes

| ICT expectations, requirements and needs

| Pressure points and issues

Result

Added value:

| The existing ICT application architecture and the ICT expectations, requirements and needs

in the hospital are clearer and more visible.

| The necessary ICT projects can be defned perfectly.

| Priorities are set in an implementation plan for the short- and the long-term.

| (Future) ICT projects can be coordinated in a practical and pragmatic framework.

Example 2. Solution: hict crinih.

| Purchase projects

| Process-improvement

| Project coordination

| On-site coaching for purchasing & logistics

| Internal training

The problem

Nursing and supporting staff are swamped by administrative and/or logistical tasks -

invariably at the expense of care for the patients.

The solution: hict supply chain

"Optimise the logistics management."

Advice to health care and advice and guidance for a logistical solution.

| hict starts with an analysis where the institution's characteristic traits are taken as a basis to

guarantee the right recommendation and implementation.

| In organisational terms, hict frst makes the internal and external logistical fows transparent.

These are then integrated into best practices resulting from a balanced supply chain in

accordance with the strategy. Gives care institutions an opportunity to turn their supply chain

into a value chain.

The result

| Greater internal staff satisfaction.

| Greater customer and patient satisfaction.

For the sections „news‟ and „events‟ I contacted several co-workers to amass information.

Below are two examples. In appendix I added all texts.

Example 1. 5 years hict.

To celebrate its 5 years of existence hict organises a congress where several themes will be

discussed.

We are proud to share our experiences, to discuss innovative concepts and to present a

network of national and international customers and contacts in the health care market

during this congress. This hict congress should be a platform to network and to share ideas

with other attendees.

We invite you to participate on this event. The congress will take place on the 8th of October

2009 in the Halles (de Stadshallen) in Bruges. For inscriptions and more information go to

http://www.hict.com/5years/index.asp or contact Sophie Vantorre,

sophie.vantorre@hict.com.

Example 2. Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists – Summer Education Sessions (SES).

The Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists (CSHP) is the influential voice for hospital

pharmacy in Canada, inspiring practice excellence and fostering leadership and professional

growth. Next to the Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy, CSHP also hosts The Annual

General Meeting and Educational Sessions, Professional Practice Conferences, etc.

In the 2009 Annual General Meeting and Educational Sessions – Summer Education Sessions

(SES) August 8-11, Winnipeg – hict presents a poster on a study performed in Toronto

General Hospital (University Health Network). The study assessed the entire process of

Erythropoiesis Stimulating Agents (ESA) delivery to haemodialysis patients at Toronto

General Hospital, including process improvements on inventory management, operational &

logistic flows in and between pharmacy and units, internal and external procurement methods

and systems, working capital and reimbursement of ESP, layout of pharmacy and HD units,

etc. Additionally, the study also determined the qualitative and quantitative benefits of

Alternative Dosing Frequencies for ESAs.

Chapter 4: Conclusion

The internship was my first real acquaintance with the business world. It has been a great

experience, from beginning to end. On professional domain I learnt that even a quite small

company from Bruges, located in a very small country like Belgium, can operate worldwide.

Moreover, the company has a unique approach in Belgium and can set an example for other

company‟s.

I learnt that several processes in the health care sector still need to be optimised and that these

optimisations will have a huge impact on everybody‟s life. These changes will have influence

on patient care as well as on the people who work in the sector. I find it honorable that

company‟s like hict are determined to realise these improvements. At this point the

government is still a bit reticent towards these changes, but I am convinced that in the near

future such company‟s will gain importance.

During my internship I noticed that a multidisciplinary composed team has many advantages

and the most important one is that this approach leads to better results. I already became

aware of this fact during this year. The group of students of Multilingual Business

Communication are students with very diverse previous qualifications. During this year we

executed a lot of projects in teams and I noticed that it is very good to have several insights on

a problem.

Besides several student jobs I never had worked for a company, so this internship was my first

real experience with working for a company. I am very positive about the experience with

hict, because this company is managed in an open way. The board and the director of the

company are easy to approach and they are always willing to help. I realise that this is

certainly not the case at many company‟s.

On personal domain I learnt to cooperate with people who have different personalities,

because for most of my tasks I had to rely on other co-workers. In some cases this was not

easy, but I gained a better insight into characters. I learnt that some people need be

approached in a different way, so that I was able to obtain my end goals.

During this year of Multilingual Business Communication I learnt that communication is a

very important element for every company. Even the smallest company can ruin its image by

bad (external) communication. I tried to emphasize this during my internship at hict. The

external communication of hict still needs to be improved. As mentioned before, the printed

reference cases for clients contained spelling mistakes and formal mistakes, some co-workers

at hict still write the company name in the old font and the company name is still mentioned

in the old font on the website and on SharePoint.

hict does not yet have a Marketing manager, but I think that Marketing is such an important

element that the company should at least bring every co-worker on the same level on this

matter. It must be very confusing (and unprofessional!) for a client if the company name is

written differently by co-workers and still in the old font on the website.

Another issue at the company is that the proposals are written by the consultants. The

consultants write this document from their own point of view and this results in bad writing.

The texts are often too extensive and too technical.

During this year I also improved my languages, which I could using during my internship.

Part of hict‟s communication is in English and French. I corrected several English

PowerPoint presentations, I corrected the printed reference cases in English and I translated a

proposal from Dutch to English. I also translated some resume from Dutch to French and

English.

Bibliography

Books

 ANSEEL, F., BEIRENS, K. en FEYS, M., Effectief communiceren en samenwerken,

Gent, Academia Press, 2008, 185 p.

 SANT, T., Persuasive Business Proposals, New York, AMACOM, 2004, 248 p.

 ULIJN, J.M., en STROTHER, J.B., Communicating in Business and Technology,

Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang GmbH, 1995, 382 p.

 VYNCKE, P., Decoding the ad, How advertising taps into your heats & mind, Gent,

Universiteit Gent, Departement Communicatiewetenschappen, 2009, 264 p.

Other texts

 VERMEIRE, A., Writing effective proposals, onuitgegeven, 2009, 78 p.

 X, Algemene bedrijfsvoorstelling, onuitgegeven.

 X, Case: A.Z. Sint-Blasius Dendermonde – Strategie, datamodel en CIO, gedrukte

referentie.

 X, Case: A.Z. Sint-Lucas Brugge – Cadans ICT, gedrukte referentie.

 X, Case: Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis (NL) – Studie naar efficiëntieverhoging, gedrukte

referentie.

 X, Inhoudstafel proposal, SharePoint.

 X, Our clients, gedrukte referentie.

 X, Proposal to a client, SharePoint.

 X, Solution: hict crinih, gedrukte referentie.

 X, Solution: hict IT Management, gedrukte referentie.

Interviews

 DEMEY, J., Interview, 15 mei 2009.

 DEMEY, J., Interview, 8 juli 2009.

 JANSSEN, R., Interview, 4 mei 2009.

 LEGRAND, M., Interview, 25 mei 2009.

 VAN HOOF, D., Interview, 20 juli 2009.

 VERGOTE, A., Interview,18 mei 2009.

Internet

 X, Advies, www.hict.be/eng/advies.asp?domain=1 (consultatie 22 juni 2009).

 X, AIDA-model, http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDA-model (consultatie 23 juli 2009).

 X, Begeleiding, www.hict.be/eng/begeleiding.asp?domain=1 (consultatie 22 juni

2009).

 X, Missie en visie, www.hict.be/missievisie.asp?domain=6 (consultatie 22 juni 2009).

Inhoudstafel bijlagen

I. Proposal template – Versie 1

II. Proposal template – Versie 2

III. Project brief (PowerPoint presentatie)

IV. Teksten website

a. Welkomsttekst

b. Over hict

c. Oplossingen

d. Referenties

e. Nieuwsitems

f. Evenementen

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