Monthly Archives: January 2011

It is easy to forget what goes into making a dollar

Posted by on January 31, 2011 No comments

And sometimes I think technology staff forget that fact too easily.

Perhaps managers in the small to medium business should give some thought to this piece titled; Teaching Employees about Value by John Baldoni.

From the balance sheet, to departmental roles that affect the bottom line, and moving up to discussions on creating value.

Technology staff often get lost thinking of new products or lines of code.

A little reminder about what really counts is a great idea. Because at the end of the day, every roles contribution to the bottom line is what counts.

Business ‘Systems’ as Organizational Roadblocks

Posted by on January 26, 2011 No comments

I want to share one quick quotation that has some massive implications on designing business process or business systems.

The following quotation is from the December 13 issue of Automotive News (subscription required) and comes from an interview with the Senior Design Executive of Korean automotive manufacturer Hyundai Motor, and hidden in the main body of an answer to a question, this caught my eye;

…systems sometimes deny the designers opinion… but designers need to have their own identity and personality. Our system system at the moment has that kind of understanding…

Systems sometimes deny the designers opinion….

In other words, the system can be created in such a way that it implies that one group, or individual has no choice but to fail.

Before going further, let me back up and define Business System: Methodical procedure or process, used as a delivery mechanism for providing specific goods or services to customers

And yes, I write fairly often about business processes and systems here.

But that phrase is something we have to think carefully about.  To be blunt, it surprised the hell out of me.Business Systems Road Block

Are our systems or processes being designed where a single (possibly vested) interest has the ultimate Nay vote? Are we making errors in presumptions or assumptions? Is the decision making authority or structure  in the wrong place for this particular system or process?

To me creating business systems that predispose one part of the organization to fail would be the most demoralizing and mind numbing event if you are stuck in that department or unit of the business, and think of what the larger organization loses.

The SMB Takeaway

Creating business processes and systems should be win-win scenarios. Defining a system that makes it almost a win-lose is not going to have the effect you are looking for. The idea of setting up default failure frightens me, how about you? Have you seen processes or systems that have a built in design to fail? If so let me know in the comments!

Photo Credit Peter Lindberg via flickr

Consumer Tech: A Next Generation Point of View

Posted by on January 24, 2011 7 comments

I want to expand a little on this previous post titled; Shifts, And The Consumerization of IT. And the reason behind that is two separate articles, from completely separate industries, that share a key observation. The first of these articles is from what I can call a traditional technology source; Constellation Group IT Analyst Mr. Ray Wang. And the second article? Well, the second one is not from the business  technology or IT field at all, –  but let me get to that second article in a minute.

For starters, IT Industry analyst Ray Wang writing on Forbes has this excellent article titled; Why The CIO Role Is Under Fire

In the article Mr. Wang outlines many of the changes affecting technology (and technology leadership) in our businesses, these changes include the rapid pace of change, how we need to change our planning assumptions, and the necessity that we alter our success criteria. Mr. Wang articulately argues that;

… CIOs must refocus their priorities and adopt a next generation point of view

Adopt a next generation point of view. What has worked for us in the past is not going to be what works for us now, or in the future.

Now lets take a look at my second article. This article is not written by, or for, technology leaders, but it has a true similarity to Mr. Wang’s next generation point of view.

That article?

An interview with Ford Motor Company (F) Chief Executive Alan Mullaly in a December issue of Automotive News (Subscription required) Inside that article is one  key phrase that deserves a closer look. And again this is not from a traditional technology source, but from a consumer goods and manufacturing company (emphasis is mine);

… our approach is to be absolutely one with all consumer electronics development around the world, and not be embedding in anything in the car, we want to manage the experience in the car.

That is the the phrase: Manage the experience

And Why?

Traditionally in business technology, IT Leadership have wanted to manage the environment, not the experience.

Technology leaders attempted to develop fully managed end-to-end environments. This meant that from the computer servers, to application software, to the devices that accessed the software or its information, the environment was created and managed by IT. In fact, the term ‘end-to-end‘ can be considered technology jargon for technology teams maintaining rigid controls on everything, or as Mr. Wang puts it;

….(the CIO is)…. ruling technology strategy with an iron fist.

I believe that in the business technology space, we must get away from this end to end controls style of thinking. And as Mr. Mullaly said, – we need to learn to manage the experience. We need to learn to provide the platform and infrastructure that allows the pieces of technology that consumes or displays business information to change just as rapidly as next years iPhone or tablet is going to change. (and if there is one thing we know, it will change quickly)

If we allow our next generation point of view to be focusing on managing the experience in the creation and consumption of information within business technology, and reduce our attempts to completely manage the environment, we will be beginning to think differently about the application of IT services.

Sometimes changing how we think about issues, how we change our frame of reference, can allow us to see opportunities we would not previously noticed. Perhaps helping us reach a next generation point of view.

Real SMB IT: Honesty In Communication

Posted by on January 21, 2011 1 comment

If you are the tech team in a smaller business – I have a question for you; How well do you communicate to your organization when something on the technical side goes wrong?

We know that things will go wrong, it is just about unavoidable, perhaps your Internet connection goes down, a particular server has trouble. the bottom line is that events happen, and things do break. And when they do break, what happens? Are company employees kept in the dark wondering what is going on? Do they know the issue? Are they being told what is being done to fix the problem?

Communication, and lots of it, is critical with IT Service issues. Communicate the issue, the status, even your hopes! Simply ignoring the effect of the disruption on all employees or a curt comment that it is broken is not acceptable.

Managing Perception

Accurate and honest communication affects how people will perceive your effectiveness during the stressful periods of IT service disruption. Absolutely nobody wants a service failure, but their perception will be one of two things;

One perception can be that the error is being handled as quickly and effectively as possible, or worse, the perception could be that the technology leadership does not give a damn that something is broken and no one has a clue what is really  happening.  Communication:  honest, rapid communication helps keep the positive perception in place.

Lets look at an example written by Tom Catalini in this post titled: The value of information, and the cost of misinformation.

Mr. Catalini is a resident of Boston MA, and recently Boston, as well as many other parts of North America have been battered by heavy snowstorms.  With massive amounts of snow piling up,  the Boston public transit systems real time communications systems were constantly and consistently being updated, and being constantly and consistently and completely wrong.

If you were outside standing in that snow, having been told that the next bus is in 7 minutes, when the previous 3 did not show up at all, how would you begin to feel? A little frustrated perhaps? The communication keeps saying; Give it a few minutes!” but reality cannot meet that communication.

Now how about if the situation was the same, but the real time communications system was a little more honest with a message; “ … due to inclement weather, we are working our hardest to…”

I guarantee that we can still be frustrated while we freeze outside waiting, but we also understand the details of a very important why. And that someone is ‘working their hardest..’

The SMB IT Takeaway

As an IT leader in the small to medium business, I consider it critical that communication to the organization is complete, honest and as accurate as possible when there is any type of IT service disruption.

To give an example, what if our critical Internet connection has stopped working? My first communication will be about the issue, the support steps and the testing that will take place, and I will add a comment that I will keep everyone up to date as I get new  information.

Lets imagine that my internal technology pieces are all working OK, and that my next step is contacting our service provider. Again, I communicate the status and that I have created a support incident with our provider, and again that I will let everyone know when new information is obtained.

This continues until the issue is resolved, and after it has been resolved? I then communicate the full details, the why it failed (root cause) if we were able to determine that.

Nobody wants our Internet connection dead, (that includes me) but when everybody knows up front what is happening, it stops long line ups around my office asking what the hell is going on.

Photo Credit Doc Searles via Flickr

The Computer That Came In From The Cold

Posted by on January 18, 2011 No comments

It is winter here in the northern hemisphere. And yes it is a typically cold and snowy Canadian winter.

You are asking; ‘And this has absolutely what to do with small business technology?’

Here it is.

I have been replacing several of our corporate computers and laptops recently. I order the machines, and in a few days the machines arrive via express delivery. Except, that when I receive them, the machines have been sitting for 24 hours or more in very cold (call it freezing!) warehouses or trucks.

The machines are so cold, that when I open the packing boxes, the machines are absolutely freezing even to the touch.

Raise your hand if you live in a cold environment!

If you do, I am sure you have seen someone wearing eye glasses come into a warm building or home  after having  been outside in frigid weather. And what happens?

Condensation. Instant moisture build up making that persons eye glasses completely and totally foggy.

It is not just on eye glasses that this condensation will build up on, it is just more visible on nice clear glass. But any surface will get a thin layer of condensing water on it when it comes into warm moist air from from outside frigid temperatures.

And our frozen computers? yes, they do as well. The thing about our computers though is the tiny electrical circuitry in them. Turning on a frozen computer runs the risk of moisture possibly short circuiting some tiny circuit.

The Small Business Takeaway

As an entrepreneur or small business manager, the new gadgets can be irresistible.  But in cold weather, let new machines acclimate for at least 24 hours.

Condensation
Photo Credit  Luis Argerich via flickr

Process, And Simplicity

Posted by on January 17, 2011 2 comments

On the Gartner Blog Network, Jim Sinur, a Research VP wrote this piece titled: Process Innovation is Happening: One Example

Do Not Disturb

The piece outlines medical studies identifying that a significant amount of hospital medication errors are due to the individual performing this critical task being interupted or disturbed while performing the duty.

The resolution to this issue?

A fancy technology to reduce medication delivery errors?

No.

A Do Not Disturb sign in the form of a distinctively coloured sash or vest worn by the individual making these medical rounds.

I point this out because when it comes to managing internal business  processes, thinking about the  people, thinking about the process itself always come first. Technology should be dead last.

It can be as simple as a coloured sash or a sticky note, but People, Processes then (Maybe) Technology

Photo credit Markus Zavalla via flickr

Shifts, And The Consumerization of IT

Posted by on January 12, 2011 2 comments

In the business technology world, pundits and debaters have coined the term consumerization of IT. So what exactly does this mean?

Good question, and to answer it, let me backtrack a little bit.

Traditionally in business the IT team made the rules of what technology tools and devices would be purchased, what technology or tools could be used, and what technology devices and tools would be supported.

What this really translated into was: do it our way or the highway……

Quite simple actually!

With the advent of the iPhone, then the iPad and all of the other ‘smart’ devices appearing, IT teams have been caught off guard by executives and board members showing up with orders such as; ‘I want this, make it so…’

This concept of technology tools and devices showing up inside the walls of business, but brought inside by people outside of the IT function has simply been given the term the consumerization of IT.

Technology leaders have been given a rude awakening that people can buy what are often better tools for the job than their IT team is willing to provide. Call it a shift to a new sense of empowerment, and now consumers have the power!

And I think that this courting of the consumer is going to continue happening. And as this shift  it happens, this consumer technology will become expected, standard and probably more efficient.

Why?

Lets look at a loose parallel: Cars

For decades the automotive industry has introduced new car models and technologies at the largest auto shows. Complete with thousands of square feet of space, futuristic concept cars and pretty women in skimpy outfits, these shows have become annual pilgrimages for journalists, automotive enthusiasts and others to see the latest automotive technologies and models. (The two largest auto shows in the  US,  being Detroit and Los Angeles)

But?

Have you heard of CES? Don’t worry if you haven’t, but those letters are for the Consumer Electronics Show. Notice I emphasize the word Consumer?

The Consumer Electronics Show was traditionally the technology gadget equivalent of the auto show. The latest Television technology? latest and greatest smart phone? MP3 player? You got it – the Mecca for gadget geeks the world over.

But there has been a shift.

For the last couple of years, and each year there is more, when some automotive companies have been introducing new models and the associated technologies, they have not been doing it at the huge auto shows, but introducing them at CES.

Think about that! Among others this year, Ford Motor Company has introduced new products at CES Las Vegas.

Make no mistake, this is a shift for the automotive industry. The annual pilgrimage to Detroit or LA being superseded by Consumer electronics shows.

When the giants of an industry start recognizing the writing on the wall, it forces all of us to at least start looking up the new table of contents.

The iPad And The SME

Posted by on January 10, 2011 1 comment

Over the recent holiday period I had my first opportunity to get some time looking at  the features and capabilities of Apples’ hugely successful iPad. It is a massively  successful device in the consumer space, and I wanted to look at it with an eye towards the SME business, not just consumer use.

Now, I use Apple’s (AAPL) iPad in the title of this post as it has been the first (and so far most popular) tablet device, but as other tablets come to market running either the Android, Microsoft or RIM operating systems, the following still applies.

As an Executive in the small to medium business, you should be looking hard at your business, and the roles that are performed, quite simply these tablets are a disruptive innovation that is going to provide both challenges and opportunity in our business space.

By disruptive innovation I mean the following; Apple did not try to shrink general purpose computers down to this tablet form factor. They did the opposite. They took the smart phone and expanded it to this tablet size. This follows the tenet outlined by Clayton Christenson in his book The Innovators Dilemma. In that text, Mr. Christenson outlines how established businesses and technologies can become overshadowed by newer technologies that appear in their version number 1 format to be to simplistic or underpowered to be a competitive threat. Yet as these technologies improve, incumbent technologies begin to fail.

The Opportunities

In our business, we create and we consume information in many of our roles,  processes, and tasks. With the current generation of these tablet devices, most of us will find it harder to create information on them when compared to standard computers or laptops, but take a hard look at the consume part of the equation.

Yes, these devices can access the many down loadable applications (or apps as we pretty much call them now) and they can also access web sites. For me it is the first part that will be the most benefit to the SME business; The App.

In retail? From automotive dealers, to high end furniture, through fancy gas fireplaces and other durable goods. Imagine being able to demonstrate features, models, and colours that you may not have in inventory. Possibly even with competitive comparison benefits. And I don’t mean via a static Web Page, I mean an App that utilizes the full power and graphics of the devices. This includes the touch screen motions to move, size, flip, and change the orientation of images.

In sales? Imagine sitting in your largest customers office and having all order, shipment, and confirmation details in a few taps? Vendors have been doing this for a while with the much smaller form factor of smart phones. The expanded space on these tablets will take that to the next level.

Also imagine inspection or field service roles where checklists of tasks have to be performed. Do it on paper and perform data entry into a computer? or open the App and Tap, Tap that each has been checked? (As an example outside of the SME space, think how much paper the rental car companies would save when we  go through that nicks and dents inspection every time we rent a car! If that was an App where we just tap the location of those nicks or dents)

Legal and other professional services? boxes of briefs or a tablet? take your pick.

To me when it comes to operationally improving our business processes, if the main task is viewing, or consuming information, anywhere and any-when, these devices need to be looked at.

And The Challenges?

They are there. You don’t plug these tablets in like you do a computer, they work either via cellular systems or wireless (WiFi) networks. That means properly installed, configured, and most importantly, secured Wireless access in your facility. We cannot underestimate the complexity that this can bring.

Then there is the word: Code

Make no mistake, the Apps for these devices are software, you can create them in house, or hire someone to write it, but the full software development life cycle (SDLC) of creation, testing, versioning, and implementing still apply.

The SMB Takeaway

Start looking at where you can improve customer experience and internal processes by enabling the mobility, speed and presentation in any task or role that consumes information.

Can you think of other examples? Then let me know in the comments!

The B2B SMB Website

Posted by on January 7, 2011 2 comments

I recently talked with an officer of a SME business that distributes higher end products to partner retailers. In other words, it is a fairly typical business to business (B2B) organization.

The Strategy….

Now, this business had wisely defined their initial strategy before talking about building themselves a Web Site, and in this case the strategy is primarily aimed towards building awareness of their product lines,  and driving traffic to its retail partners. Personally in this case I think it a is a great strategy as its retail partners have varying technology sophistication, some are digitally comfortable, while others? well, not so much. This means that they cannot rely on all retail partners to be presenting the product clearly through Web Sites.

Similar to the old Intel Inside marketing campaign by Intel Corporation, their strategic direction is to have people show up at their retail partners already understanding the value of the product and just asking when they can pick one up.

Then Execution….

With their strategic goal in mind, tactically what they need to do is first have their product lines both visible, appealing, and easily found on the Web, and a big second, once the product lines are found, get prospective customers into one of their retail partners.

For the first task, they have built Google Analytics code into the Web Site right from the start to ensure that they can improve their content over time, and secondly, they chose to really spend some time and effort on the Locate A Dealer portion of their web site.

On this Locate A Dealer page, first they use a prospective customers IP Address to suggest what should be all of the local retailers in the prospects area, these dealers are all nicely presented in pinned maps generated by Google Places. The page also presents the standard ZIP/ Postal Code selection box to drill down further if necessary. Clicking through to the map provides full address, location and directions.

(Click for larger image)

At this point they have the site launched, although the content at this point is still thin. In my opinion that is fine, to me it is better to get the basics out there, then iteratively build and improve.

The SMB Takeway

Acknowledging that they have to still improve the content to ensure their products are found in search queries, this business is up to a great start.

That is their story, how about your B2B business? Do you have a story to share?

Real SMB IT: What Technology Is Needed?

Posted by on January 4, 2011 1 comment

This post is a bit of an expansion of this post titled; On IT Resistance to Change.

In that post, I documented how IT teams can be the worst at resisting technology changes that counter their preconceived notions of how business technology has been, and to them, should continue to be. The quote I reference in that post is actually that IT seems to like to hug a server.

But lets back for a minute. As a business in the small to medium space, what technology do you need? What does the term technology in this digital millennium mean to you?

To me it means that you need email, and calendars, to contact suppliers, customers or partners.

It means that you need telephone service, again to keep lines of communication open.

Likely that you need to create or consume information in the form of documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

And probably  a storage area to keep many of those documents, and possibly collaborative tools to create them.

And so??

If I was writing this just a few short years ago, I would have  used the term phone system, or email system when describing these functions or tools. Simply put, when you determined that you needed a particular tool or capability, you had to naturally assume that to obtain and use these tools you needed to include a system of hard drives, servers, cables and racks bolted to floors or walls.

Not anymore.

Sure, we can still use the term system. But we don’t need to assume that this system needs boxes bolted to our floors or walls. Your phone system could be a hosted voice over IP provider.  Email and collaboration? Spend 10′s of thousands to bolt a box to the floor, or a few dollars a month and let someone else worry about that?

One of the big keys here is that the direct purchase price of the ‘hug a server’ type of technology, is dwarfed by your annual costs of maintaining, managing, patching, etc etc. Stamford based Technology Researcher Gartner Inc previously put this Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) at up to five times the initial purchase price annually.

This is not to say that there is a silver bullet in any technology strategy. Regulatory or legal  reasons may require you to keep your systems in your own facility. The key aspect though, is that your due diligence when considering your technology spend has expanded.

Your options go beyond boxes bolted to walls and floors.

The SMB Takeaway

Next budget cycle, ask yourself if nailing boxes to the walls supports your strategy, or if it is really the tool the box is holding that is the key to that strategy.

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