Running a successful business involves employing your skills along with strategy of innovation, creativity, persistence, determination and confidence. The need arises for you to match up with the current trends and to figure out creative solutions to market your company and services. Good Results follow automatically if right people, right amount of money and right approach towards clients are combined in equilibrium. 

Running a CAD Business successfully requires collective efforts in every area. Marketing strategies, employee selection, excellent client service, awareness of market and future trends of market. We have tried to high light some areas which are very crucial in running CAD Business efficiently. Hopefully these suggestions are useful to you and help you look at this business from a different standpoint
  
Planning:  
Planning and forecasting are most important phases of any business. It can either break or make a company. This becomes all the more crucial when the business is Engineering or CAD. Since construction is an important segment where government and funds are involved predictability of this business is zero. It is essential that we conduct proper feasibility study, make a steady plan for financial investments.  Client base, target market, revenue flow, budgeting and marketing strategies. Due to constant market fluctuation and monetary instability, proper analysis or anticipation of future trends is not very accurate. Keeping these factors and market conditions in mind, a company should do best possible monetary planning and keep funds in reserve to face money crunch or sudden downslides.

Finance: 
Finance is the most important aspect and has to be thought of first before starting a business, especially when the business is related to Construction or Engineering. With recession and unpredictability winds blowing across, one has to be extremely guarded with finances. Finance is as important for business as oxygen is for body. Funds have to be generated keeping in mind a lot of factors. In business like Engineering Outsourcing or CAD, infrastructure, technology and manpower is much more than starting any normal business enterprise. High End machines with latest software, licenses work on these software plus talent to work on projects are niche. All these aspect require capital. Marketing expenditure to fetch clients also needs to be considered. Returns are not very fast here. Growth rate is not very fast like IT or BPO sector. Project size or project amount are calculated in millions opposite to any normal back office or IT project. Owing to fluctuating market conditions, reserve funds also needs to be kept for critical situations in business.

Marketing Strategies: 
Client Acquisition and marketing of services is another important part of business. Branding, performing internet marketing, Search Engine Optimization of website is necessary to ensure proper flow of inquiries and business leads. Deputing Staff to handle client inquiries, project co-ordination with CAD or Engineering team, SEO team to work on appropriate marketing strategies and branding are very important. In some parts of the country finding English speaking talent or staff is difficult. Command on English language is a must in industries catering to foreign clients. Thinking innovatively and out of the box, constantly working on new skills to reach out to a large market is important to thrive in this kind of competition.

Technical Expertise and Constant up gradation of skills:
Technical Expertise in different Engineering Domains and having staff with experience of different standards and construction codes is a major challenge. Apart from domain, software expertise needs to be checked and tested before hiring a candidate for a long term employment. With constant changing trends and up gradation of software, every company needs to invest on training and development of a particular employee to prevent stagnancy. Clients want companies who are ready to work on latest technology and prefer not to chase companies who have not upgraded themselves.  

Effective Project Management:
Effective Project and People’s management is one of the key elements contributing to the success of any business. Especially, in a business like CAD and Engineering Service Outsourcing where completing and delivering projects on time is the crux project management takes lion share of management of business.

Efficient meetings, proper strategic planning and eloquent communication flow of these strategies downwards is very important. Implementing policies, hourly charges or project plans has to be very firm and has to aid effective project execution. . 

Managing Productivity:
Managing productivity and measuring productivity is again crucial in running Cad business. Management has to be cautious and take extra steps to ensure project productivity and employee productivity. Ratio of hours quoted to client vs. hours consumed for project completion should be equal or less but not more than 10%. Giving appropriate quotation or bids to clients is very crucial too.

Overall, a CAD Company can be termed successful if it fares well in all criteria’s as mentioned in this write up. We hope this write up has been able to give some insight on aspects that needs to be taken care of before setting up a business in field of Engineering.