A4B Notes

Good to see advancement in Greenhouse Gas emissions reporting to the EPA for automotive. http://aiag.informz.net/admin31/content/template.asp?sid=17949&brandid=4002&uid=1001738439&mi=1776021&ptid=0

Answers 4 Business completing the summer.

Summer - the very word gets us all in the mood for things outside of work.  Pace is more relaxed, family events, wonderful outside weather (for those of us in the north, we enjoy it while we can).  And yes, unfortunately, updating a blog tends to wait.

But here we have it, the rainy day before the Labour Day long weekend and activities to ramp up for a busy fall are in full swing.  Yours truly will be starting a one-year implementation with a new client immediately after the Holiday and the team is preparing for expansion with reduced support (or interference?) from the founder.

So - what are we focusing on?  The same thing we've been focusing on for our entire 7 years - improving businesses by ensuring "return on business system investment (ROBSI)".  And HOW do we deliver ROBSI?  Through training, assessing and diagnosing problem situations or opportunities, implementing systems, and improving installed system solutions.  We do this largely, but not exclusively, in the area of the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and we maintain a number of associates with various specializations to help our clients with general or specific tasks.  Fairly simple, we think, and we are always open to ideas on how to do it better and deliver higher returns to our clients.

Over the next few months, there may be some changes in roles within our team - and a renewed focus on delivered impact to our clients.  We will make efforts (with the blog and other communication methods) to keep everyone (clients, assocaites, our team and partners) aware of any changes that may impact them. 

The Answers 4 Business Team Pledge for a Shifting Economy

A lot has changed even since August 2008.  We are all trying to get a handle on the economy and are wondering where it is going.  Wherever that is, there are profound effects on our clients, our business partners and our consultants.  And that is likely to continue.  We offer this perspective.

The economy is not “correcting”, it is shifting.  We are coming to terms as a global community with many of the basic contradictions in our old economic game.  We are shifting values toward that which we now determine to be of value.  It may be too early to settle on what materials or services will ultimately become the staples for a new set of economic drivers, but we’d suggest those that compliment the principles of community, collaboration, teamwork and respect will win out over fierce, win-lose competitiveness, the hoarding of knowledge, and a get-ahead-at-all-costs-and-damn-the-impact approach.  We’d also expect that governments will be tinkering with what role they can play and new, more collaborative models will be offered in many areas of our lives.

A peaceful shift is possible.  Much of the old is on its way out and new ideas, solutions and paradigms are coming forth.  There is a marked difference between the thinking of the generation under 30 from that over 40, in general terms, but new parent-like bonds are being formed to bring the 60+ crowd in line with the thinking of the youth in many ways.  Additionally, countries and economies are shifting power bases and the gap between rich and poor countries is normalizing through the force of the Flat World.  Traditionally, changes such as these have been times for conflict and protectionism as we shift to a view of a limited pie.  However, we see signs of a maturity that would suggest this revolution might remain simply a rapid evolution and negotiation and understanding might win the day.

A pledge from our team.  At Answers 4 Business, we have been focused on delivering value – true value as it is defined and perceived by our customer – for the duration of our 7+ - year existence.  We have always paid attention to both monetary and non-monetary value drivers and will continue to do so.  As this shift takes place, we commit to:

• sharpen our focus on the economic equation of our work in order to ensure our services remain affordable and deliver substantial payback;
  
• providing leading perspective and access to wisdom in order that our customers can align their businesses well to new economic environments and more readily adapt to change and;
  
• delivering trusted solutions with the utmost in integrity.
  

Sincerely,

Answers 4 Business Leadership Team

Best wishes for high Quality of Life in 2010 from Answers 4 Business

It seems our team is running pretty hard heading into the Holiday Season (which, it seems, is now fully upon us).  Personally, I have some teaching work right through the 23rd (and gladly, it's local to Toronto) and other associates have client work, new projects starting (yes, right before the holidays) and, of course, the various sales and marketing activities associated with building out our company and preparing clients for projects starting in the New Year.

It is easy to take our eyes off of the importance of a calendar year end and the significance and meaning of the Holidays (regardless of the faith we may practise - this period seems to have significance to everyone).   We recently defined how our own team defines "winning" and an important aspect of that was to "Constantly increase our individual and collective Quality of Life".  Of course, this extends to our family members, friends, clients, subcontractors, and other stakeholders.   This goal seems to have a particularly strong resonance with our team, so I am quite comfortable speaking for them by wishing for you, our reader, that 2010 be a true breakthrough "Quality of Life" year for you - however it is that you may choose to define and measure that.

We are committed that 2010 be a great year for us and those around us, and we're really looking forward to continuing to expand our relationship with all of you.

 

Season's Greetings.

 

PEAK Teamwork at Answers 4 Business

On October 28th I introduced the PEAK Teamwork management system and committed that we'd be implementing it fully for the purpose of strengthening our own business.  We've been at it for a first month (not full-time, of course) and its impact is beginning to be felt.  Preliminary results are quite positive and I'll describe some of the things that work differently around here so far (and we have just begun - it's at the senior management level so far).

1)  We have a much better understanding of where our own business has been.  As we introduced and gathered simple yet powerful measures for ourselves, it has become more apparent where the source of our success is, and we can easily adjust to build upon these strengths.  Intuition is helpful, but hard data is more compelling.

2)  We are developing and communicating a stronger collective team vision for the enterprise (both current and future states) and are having active dialogues about not only what is possible, but how to get there.

3)  The attitude and atmosphere within the organization has become more positive.  Any leader of any team knows how useful this is.

4)  We are investing in the business and ourselves with a higher degree of purpose and team commitment.

I don't think it's too early to say the the PEAK Teamwork concepts work for us - and I expect to continue to see benefits as we roll out the concepts at more layers in the organization.

Some things to consider about your commercial business system when times are tough.

It seems that maintenance fee just sits out there - untouchable, rising, and not delivering business benefit.  As budgets get tight, there must be SOMETHING we can do to affect it somehow.  There may be.  Here are two things to consider as the budget needs to be scrutinized.

1)  Understand what is deployed.  Is there un-deployed (or under-deployed) functionality in your larger packages that could be used to displace some of your stand-alone software or remove a home-grown solution you need to maintain.  Maintenance software, quality management, contact management, service management, etc. are all places to look where you may be paying maintenance fees, but not yet utilizing the software.  If you can get these functions addressed with no or minimal increase to your maintenance fees, your value equation can improve.

2)  Know your users.  There are methods for tracking exactly who is using what processes and how.  Quite often, more users may be licensed than are using the software (we call that shelf-ware) or the types of users may be lighter (and cheaper) than you are licenced for.  It may take a little negotiating, but  this information can usually lead to a maintenance fee reduction.

There are other items that can be considered, of course, and opportunity on the hardware side as well, but the above is usually a good place to start.   If you need a hand going into the next fiscal budget, give us a call.

Our markets and our 6-month mission

Our team at Answers 4 Business recently met to bring our market approach together and we were able to come out with a 3-pronged approach to solidifying and growing our professional services delivery capabilities.  We will take a direct focus on Ontario's mid-market companies (less than $500 million in annual revenues) as our primary market.  Firms larger than that or in other geographies will remain on as our secondary market.  Our 3 areas of delivery focus will be:

1)  Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) services with a special mention around SAP.  This is a market we've been in for quite some time and we have long-standing clients who consider us their" go-to" partners for training, implementation, sustainment and continuous improvement.  We believe SAP to be well-positioned to take a strong position in this market as an ERP of choice due to the robust functionality of its Business All-in-One software and the recent improvements in their templated approach - drastically reducing implementation time and cost.  As an Extended Business Partner to SAP, through our strong partnership with Contax, we provide sales, implementation, training and on-going support to our customers and prospective customers.  For customers who already have an existing ERP, we provide process improvement services, with specific knowledge of certain other ERP packages (including JD Edwards and Microsoft Dynamics-AX).

2)  Customer Relationship Management (CRM) services.  We will assist with selection, design, training and implementation of business processes around CRM software packages and the related business processes.

3)  PEAK Teamwork management system deployment.  Through the relationship I mentioned in my blog entry of October 28, 2009, we will assist mid-market organizations in undertanding the benefits of adopting a fully-contained management system to improve bottom-line results through implementing excellence of business practices, people, and through continuous improvement.  We will work closely with Ernie Reynolds, developer of this system, to deploy it and its components for clients in a manner that rings true to the principles of the system and help our clients realize it's many benefits.

Having a plan, and a unified, strengthening team is a very good place for us to start.  We'll review our market position regularly, but thoroughly every 6 months (where we can adjust or re-do based on what is working and what is not).  Our growing number of associates will help us achieve success against this plan and our clients can look forward to improved value through more focused offerings. 

Next step, plan execution.

PEAK Teamwork - Management Method, Book and Tools available.

I've had the pleasure of working with a former manager of mine as he has developed and communicated his considerable experience into a book that he now has available through limited release.  Ernie's management process is very people-centric and creates a trusted environment from which businesses can win. 

People Focus

Education in Enterprise Excellence

Attitude

Knowledge Through Communication

Although some of the PEAK concepts are already present within Answers 4 Business, and some of the core tools are current consulting offerings from us, we have begun an exciting internal project to adopt and deploy this managerial system.  It will take some time, but it is our belief that strong teamwork and permanent superior performance can be delivered for any business adopting the system.  To learn more about PEAK Teamwork, you can contact me.

An Operating Framework for an Organization

Vision?  Mission?  Purpose?  Values?  You can see these words thrown around with respect to operating a business.  Organizations can easily spend "too much time" on these things but, kind of like "too much training" that I wrote about on Monday, I'm not sure that "too much time" is a possible perspective here.  To effectively accomplish something, an Organization (Enterprise, Corporation, Club, etc.) must have enough of a stated "raison d'etre" that it can guide and serve its own people and society in general. 

Components of the above may be for team only, customers only or for some other subset or stakeholders, depending upon the culture of the Organization, but some statement of the above should exists.  Here's a framework I have adopted from a few different sources.

1.  Purpose

This answers the fundamental question - Why do we exist?  As individuals and for ourselves, we may struggle with this our whole lives, but with an Organization, it's founders had better be able to articulate Why.  If this can't be answered, we may as well close up shop.

2.  Vision

How is the world different (or how is it going to be different) as a result of the Organization's existence?  Of course, while existing, the Organization does things, so you could take this also to mean "What changes will the Organization's actions effect?" but I think the original context is more broad and allows more freedom in mode of achievement.

3.  Values

How will the Organization conduct its affairs?  What can customers, employees, suppliers and other stakeholders expect consistently from the Organization?

4.  Mission(s)

Guided by its Vision and respecting its Values, what concrete step is the Organization currently focusing its intentions toward?  Some will contend that there can be more than one Mission at a given point in time, but I'd suggest that is risky (although, yes, possible).  Mission provides focus and focusing on more than one thing can be difficult.

Like most Organizations, Answers 4 Business is a work-in-progress, and we are still strengthening our ability to define and articulate Vision and Mission.  If you want to review where we are currently with that, the link is below.  We do work with businesses on aspects (developing, communicating and re-engaging) of the above and would welcome discussions and suggestions you may have.

http://www.answers4business.com/WhoVision.html

On having a long-term, relationship-based perspective.

As I review our active client engagements, it always warms me to see the number of engagements that are repeat engagements for a client and the number where the client has been using our services for more than 2 years (currently 75% and 50% respectively).  Having been on the buying side for ERP and other business improvement investments, we remember how important it is to invest time and money at the appropriate time -some years will, by nature, involve more investment than others.  As a supplier, we endeavour to build long-term relationships with no "drive-by implementations".  Certain firms specialize in implementing software in a "get it done at all costs" manner.  We see the negative impact this can have on a business from a perspective of organizational readiness and, unfortunately, from a financial perspective.  Thus, we view patience as a very important virtue and we see ourselves as taking a long-term position in our clients' success.

It's fairly easy to find "friends" when you've got a big budget and a defined plan - finding friends who can adjust to add value and provide guidance in the lean times is a little tougher.  Some current examples where we are proud to be continuing services include:

1)  Performing an ERP replacement for a client for whom we performed initial implementation of a different ERP.  Over the years, we also helped this client improve in the areas of scheduling, logistics, inventory management and system roles (Sarbanes-Oxley compliance).

2)  Defining and now supporting a client-led project for improving capacity analysis and related scheduling and inventory planning for a food-industry client.

3)  Financial and controlling leadership and advice on a subsidiary SAP rollout for a food industry client for whom we have previously provided staffing and advisory services.

Our focus remains on creating winning clients in all economies - when our clients win, we know we do as well.