The world of computing and how we use software is changing quickly. It used to be that you would find a software vendor who could provide you with your entire suite which may include an accounting package, time-tracking, payroll, HR, client relationship management module (CRM), etc. Maybe there were even modules that were a little more industry specific. You would also purchase and have the hardware to run the software right on the premises of your business.

A practice that is becoming more and more predominant is having individual software packages created by companies that specialize in those areas. You may use an accounting package from one company, time-tracking software from another and a CRM from another and they all work together. You also have the ability to choose from several of the above from several companies and find the one that best suits your business’ needs. They also (usually) integrate with each other easily as well. As an added bonus, they are hosted in the cloud so you don’t have the overhead of having the physical hardware to support them.

I like to compare the two scenarios to a buffet. In scenario one your buffet may include a steak, baked potato and corn or a chicken breast, rice and peas. You can’t have the steak, potato and peas because that option is not there. In the second scenario, you can choose to have a steak or chicken breast or pork chop along with a baked potato or mashed potatoes or rice or pasta and with corn or peas, or any combination of those.

With cloud computing your choices are more varied, flexible and easier to suit the needs of your business. It’s a veritable buffet of software.

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We recently shared an Adam Grant quote to our Facebook page that says, “The most meaningful way to succeed is to help others succeed.”

One of the reasons we love this quote is that it ties directly to three of our core values.

The first is “strive to improve”. We’re always looking to improve ourselves. This in turn helps us better serve our clients and helps them improve and succeed even further. We love hearing from our clients how something that we’ve done for them has helped them better themselves and/or their business. Success.

The second is “create healthy relationships that breed success”. Over time we create strong, lasting relationships with our clients that evolve into many successes.

Finally, “help first.” Sometimes we are asked questions that only take us a moment to answer but can have a large, positive impact for that person. That brief moment can carry through as they tell others how we help our clients without having to “nickel-and-dime” them of every little item. A little help can create big successes.

Our successes are directly tied to our clients’ successes and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

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When people are making a purchase they often will be taken back by the price of the item or service, especially when they’re paying for quality. It’s the “sticker shock”. It’s the up-front fees that are hard to swallow. There’s a mental wall that goes up with writing in big, bold letters, “I CAN’T AFFORD THIS!” But they’re not looking at the big picture. Sometimes, despite a cost up front, money can actually be saved.  

Let’s look at an example of a camping cooler. You can buy a higher-end cooler for $100 which will last for five years. Or you can save yourself some money and buy a lower-end cooler for $25 which, due to various factors like breakage or simply not keeping items cold, needs to be replaced once per year. Over the five year period you will have spent $125 by “saving” money each year. And don’t forget about the intangible benefits such as not having the frustration or having to spend the time and money to drive to the store to buy a new each year or sending more to the landfill.

The same goes with software, especially software that allows for automation of processes. Sure there are possible costs up front for implementation, customization and training. What if that cost you $3000? That’s a good chunk of money leaving your business! However, what if in that $3000 an automation is set up to send reminders to clients for their overdue payment so one of your admin staff doesn’t need to? If that person made phone calls for payment follow-ups for five hours per week, forty-nine weeks of the year and made $20 per hour the total cost of would be $4900. In a sense that’s $1900 leaving your business in the first year and even more each year following because that $3000 was a one-time fee. And there are intangible benefits like freeing up the time of that person to work on other projects that could take your business even further.

When you look at the big picture and get past the sticker-shock of an initial investment, you could save money. How much money is your business losing by being afraid of initial costs?

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Does the process of hiring new employees sometimes feel like a crap shoot? No matter how carefully you word the posting, go through submitted resumes or spend time coming up with the “perfect” interview questions it always seems to take a while after hiring to know how the new employee will work out. Sometimes they do their job really well but there’s just something that doesn’t quite fit. Hard skills and experience are only one piece of the puzzle.

What defines the culture of your organization? Does the thought of it make an internal wall shoot up? Maybe you think once you start down that path next thing you know everyone will be sitting in a circle holding hands and singing Kumbaya. The whole place will descend into anarchy and nothing will get done again.

I’m here to tell you it isn’t so, and once you define what it is that makes your organization unique it will become much easier for you to find those people that will fit in and make your life much easier. The seemingly revolving door of employees coming on board and leaving will no longer be a fixture.

We call this need to balance skills with values ‘Right Person, Right Seat’ and you have to have both. Jim Collins coined this phrase in his book Good to Great in which they conducted in-depth studies to define the difference between good organizations and great ones.

Right Seat involves making sure the person has the skill set required to complete the work. Are they able to do what is required to be successful in that position? Generally these qualities are easy to assess because they are definable and measurable.

Right Person is making sure the person has the qualities or values that are important in your organization. In teaching the Entrepreneurial Operating System® we take your leadership team through a discovery process that helps define the unique set of values for your organization.

What are the things you and your leadership team deem important? Is it critical to have a strict separation between work life and home life or is your organization one in which long or flexible hours are important? Are your processes static or do you need people to be self-driven and able to take a project and run with it? What defines your business?

Once you define these values and use them in your HR process you will be amazed at how things come together and you form a unified team. Your organization will be more efficient, effective, fun, manageable and profitable. The people are one of the most important pieces to a business, so why not make sure you have the right ones for you!

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Despite the challenges, this also can be an exciting time filled with opportunities. You get to find just the right place that fits your wants and needs. Going through your household items allows purging of things you don’t need any more or haven’t used for a long time. Finally there comes the day when you move everything in and put it into its rightful new place just as you want and need it. Ah, satisfaction!

Moving to new software can be a very similar experience and many people will avoid it because of the same challenges that moving to a new home has. Finding the right software that suits your needs and wants and the challenge of moving your data over to it can feel quite daunting.

But this is also an exciting time and provides lots of opportunities. There’s the excitement of something new that suits your business needs and wants more than your current software provides. There’s the opportunity to look at your data and purge any old data that is no longer needed. Or perhaps clean up the data that does exist and will be migrated so that it’s more accurate and more consistent for your fresh start. And of course there’s the satisfaction of having this fun new software that allows you to do more for your business.

Getting past the mindset of the challenges of moving and focusing on the opportunities can be the springboard to take you to the next level in life and business.

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I recently said to a colleague, “I love data”. He laughed at me and said that he doesn’t think he’d ever heard anyone say that before. But he fully understood why after I explained it.

Data is like a puzzle. It’s pieces of a big picture that shows the information of a business. Each little piece, when joined with the correct other pieces, will show what that picture is. These pieces are strategically connected to allow for this to happen.  A business’ software and reporting tools uses the puzzle pieces so they can see the picture. Understanding how those pieces fit together allows for greater clarity of the picture.

The puzzle becomes a little more challenging and fun when there’s a change of software so the way the picture is displayed changes. The data itself doesn’t alter but box the pieces fit in does. Doing the transfer from one box to another has caused many people frustration and heartache. However, when it is done by someone who loves puzzles, it can be done so that the end picture can be clear again.

When looking at data in this way, as a puzzle, it can be less daunting and frustrating. It truly can be a lot of fun and definitely rewarding when the picture becomes clear after the pieces are sorted and put together.

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Dad said that one of the reasons why he was successful in the logging business is because of the men he had working for him. This was in the late seventies and eighties, so it was a very different time when it came to doing business. He said that after a few years he had a great core group of employees and he found that he rarely had to fire anyone who wasn’t working out. If a new hire had poor work ethic, didn’t have the skills required or didn’t fit in the men would ‘run him out of there before I got back’. He would ask where the new guy was and his men would just say, “He didn’t work out”. I imagine some of their methods would probably curl the hair of any HR manager today, but the point is even in an age very different from today the culture of an organization was vital to its success.

I know he built a solid culture not just from that story he told me but because I grew up with it all around me, I just didn’t realize it at the time. Everyone worked very hard, did whatever had to be done and worked crazy hours when required. But there was also always an abundance of laughter and practical jokes. The coffee was always on, people were always welcome to stop by for a visit, and you never knew who was going to walk through the door next. I believe he said, “The coffee is always on and the bulls**t is always thick,” with a grin on his face. Years later I still meet people who come up to me and say “I worked for your Dad,” with pride in their voices and on their faces. That speaks volumes for enduring culture and strong leadership.

That is one of the reasons Trenchant Business Evolution exists, and one of the things we help our clients do. Build a strong culture in your organization and it will be the foundation for your success.

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As you can see, we’ve made some changes, including our name. Why did we do this? We wanted to have a name that better defined us. So far we’ve had a lot of positive feedback.

We’ve also had our website updated by the good folks at Cheeky Monkey Media. We think they’ve done a wonderful job! We wanted a website that not only describes what we do but also portrays our Core Values:

1. Create healthy relationships that breed success.

2. Conduct ourselves with integrity.

3. Help first.

4. Be humbly confident.

5. Strive to improve.

Of course, another improvement is that we are now beginning to blog, as you know simply by reading this. In the coming months we will be adding posts we hope will give you something to think about and ideas you will be able to use within your own businesses.

So, what do you think? We would love to hear your feedback, positive and negative, about the new business name, logo, website, features and any suggestions about how we may improve and serve our audience better.

Thanks for stopping in and we’ll talk to you soon!

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