Performance Controller

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Harmonizing organization data and getting easy access to information are mission critical values for IT.

These are also quite often hard to meet without a high risk investments to create a data warehouse.

BI tools can achieve this in a low risk way as a natural outcome of seeking business benefits, like increased quality in managing sales growth.

In many organizations IT strategies champion and support BI implementations. Their aim is  to enroll the business to improve this critical back end service as a strategic way to remove constraints that limit achievement of business performance objectives.

It is interesting that our poll, so far, sees responses largely on the business values with these two high value items lagging. (Ralph Eastman – Poling the BI Value)

Perhaps business leaders should consider how they can align IT on the value of BI to IT and challenge this critical function to consider the value they can bring with BI on a wider scale.

Without a solid foundation of harmonized easy to get to data, none of the other values are possible.

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As the downturns kicked in last year for a while it seemed the music may stop. But then someone said ” Play it again, Sam?”. In our company this has seen some rapid growth in e-demand for our services. This is especially so in support area as customers had deferred investments in favor of making things work a bit longer while things were tough.

As one who literally works daily in 3 continents and in as many languages, I am a fan of the idea that I can collaborative simply with pervasive communicational tools. These days we can also all use then at an easily affordable cost.

For me and my colleagues was are able to do this using our versions of Beam Me Up Scotty communicator to keep in touch on a far wider surface than the conventional quarter mile of traditional business. Hence as the demand has changed we are always in touch and  contactable with this capability we now continue to service long standing customers often without the need to even leave home.

For 15 years and more we have been able to connect in some way like this. Both informally and formally alliances and colleagues do business this way and more recently we also do it directly with customers.

Even as they move around when I turn on our computers each morning I have maintained a strong presence that has kept me in touch personally with key contacts and customers on a daily basis.  Daily habits are also subliminal as people come and go online with an in touch awareness that keeps us connected. And once trust is established we are generally all happy to be available to each other at any old time.

But of course the face to face activity will never be totally replaced. For example selling  is a contact process that requires continual reinforcement of trust, and capability. These  credibility assurances are vital to maintain ongoing connections. The ability to listen and anticipate needs is the real key that provides the quality in the dynamics of business. This cannot be done without physical presence so salesman and supply chain players must continue waking around. And without that best laid plans for automated process supply will also fail as competitors exploit any gaps that appear and move in on your patch.

That is why, even though systems give us great contact presence online now, we must never forget to call in on our suppliers and customers from time to time.

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Before heading home to Australia from Bangkok in late December, I went to a pool side party in an apartment building. This party was for the management and the staff, hosted by a long term tenant to say thank you.

When in Bangkok I stay at Mahajak Apartments in the very livable and popular downtown area of Sukhumvit. We have had this apartment for many years, after finding hotels impersonal and transient. For our business we have had similar sets up in Singapore, Indonesia and London, but this one in Bangkok is quite special.

Although Bangkok is not my home, I feel like it is as I come and go. Our office at Central World is a few minutes away and our customers also see me as relaxed to continue to be around for them.

Regardless of traffic and the bustle of this very large city, when I arrive, it is a most pleasant experience. It never lets me down as I am greeted by a “Sawasdee”, with welcoming smiles and an attitude that nothing is ever too much trouble.

The building owners are a family, who also own and operate Mahajak Group. This is a significant well established group with a reputation for high quality. Built around automotive nuts and bolts, these days it has diversity that also specializes in such things as quality air-conditioning, home automation, and audio and entertainment equipment and more. The families live in the building themselves during the week to run their operations in the building adjacent. So like me it is their second home, so it is important it works for them too.

The building is modern looking although it is about 20 years old. It has a welcoming feel when you walk into the reception but even before that the security staff make you welcome.

Despite being in one of the busiest and vibrant areas in Bangkok, the building itself is situated in a quiet and relaxing off street area which fits into the landscape that over looks the city. In-house staff is employed to manage maintenance but they are unlike others who just take care of the infrastructure. At Mahajak Apartments they have a proactive and in touch approach to attending to tenants needs, no matter how big or how small.

Khun Angkana, who is one of the principals in the Mahajak family, takes an active part in the day to day operations. Being both a customer and provider of her business, she certainly understands first hand customer’s needs; she is also extremely well liked and highly respected by everyone. She is fluent in English and also in Japanese, which she studied at Chulalongkorn University. She can be often seen working away at her desk as she translates some documents to or from Japanese as a sideline and hobby work for a former employer.

In this prominent sought after location in the Sukhiumvit area with a large ex-pat business population her track record is unique, with so many long term residents. With her team, their attention to detail to make everyone feel at home is what makes the difference to keep the tenancy rate so high. 

But during last year as things got tight with the downturn in business and tourist trade, I noticed a change. One day, with her staff, they were busily arranging short term accommodation for someone new. Later I asked her about her approach for handling the mix of long stay residents and short visitors. She told me how full service short stay people were now filling the gaps left by long termers who had vacated.

Short term guests were also happy to pay the better rate than hotels or a mainstream serviced apartment.  This approach, she said, was yielding well as people sought home style accommodation for periods from one to four weeks. And with such a good location she said she could also be selective to ensure long stay people were not impacted.

The initial approaches were from people needing family accommodation to visit the nearby world class Bumrungrad Hospital. Many come there from all over the world for hard to get and affordable treatment that is more out of reach in the home countries. Mahajak being so convenient is a bonus.

So now the Mahajak Apartment focus has shifted to also be good at providing this much needed accommodation service. The upside too the atmosphere now has more a light hearted feel as short term people engaged in neighborly exchanges with long-people like me.

On one occasion, Angkana’s husband confided to me that even though the percentage of short stay was low, it had made the difference and showed them that alternative markets were an option, even when facing adversity.

Even though property management is not really our core business”. he said, “this model and this experience has opened our minds for expansion as the market returns”.

If you are planning a short stay, family holiday or a business visit to Bangkok, I thoroughly recommend Mahajak.  I know they will be so pleased to take care of you.

Check it out at http://www.mahajak.com/apartment/index.htm

Or just contact them by email for more information.

 

Quick Poll:

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Getting people to do new work and change needs great skill. In business and especially large enterprises change takes more than skill. It also needs good teaming with binding cross functional management dialog processes.

Getting objectives clear from the top can be tricky, but the hard job comes getting buy-in and finding a way to align people to change and keep them there. Both are critical steps.

Then as things proceeds you need a good leader to manage the roadblocks and keep it on track. Having a champion is vital too but even champions can falter as threats emerge and cloud the issues and as luddites undermine.

It is said that people change so organizations get the value or benefit. It is not the reverse as many think. So getting commitment is vital to ensure stakeholders can see a win. With nothing to gain or lose for the people effected, change projects will inevitably fail.

When change is needed, bad habits are the most difficult to break even when obvious to all. Operations people will always do operations work first and in the way that works for them even though they may appear supportive of change. The reality is, if they don’t have something at stake to get them involved when it comes to show time, they will be busy.

In our organizations we often find a popular fountain of knowledge where we can get all the answers. This is usually sees one or two people in so called indispensible jobs who are like gold in the business. But unfortunately when it comes to change if they are not managed well they may become dinosaurs and actually hold progress back. Identify them is important. Dinosaurs, friendly or not, become intent and divisive to survive. Taking them out of their operational job and placing them in a important roles as subject matter experts in a change project is often a good strategy. If they join the team and focus well you are likely to have a great outcomes all round.

At the organizational level to be successful you must find a way to engage and make change a continuous process. Selling is such a process that does that and works well when people buy. So when embarking on change we must consider selling and communications as a key ongoing part of projects.

Here is a useful perspective from change-management.com

Individual change management

Organizations don’t change, individuals do. No matter how large of a project you are taking on, the success of that project ultimately lies with each employee doing their work differently, multiplied across all of the employees impacted by the change. Effective change management requires an understanding for and appreciation of how one person makes a change successfully. Without an individual perspective, we are left with activities but no idea of the goal or outcome that we are trying to achieve.

Organizational change management

While change happens one person at a time, there are processes and tools that can be used to facilitate this change. Tools like communication and training are often the only activities when no structured approach is applied. When there is an organizational change management perspective, a process emerges for how to scale change management activities and how to use the complete set of tools available for project leaders and business managers.

This next graphic illustrates some linkages of organization process with individual behavioral aspects important for change .

Substring activity aside, delivering or selling change to others and/or responding to change forced on us by market competitiveness is at the very heart of what management and markets are all about. Making it all work requires attention to all these areas and more.

What drives a change is often a need to be able to respond faster to market pressure or simply grow the sales to achieve a stated business ambition.  Hence aging core systems and processes may first need replacing to allow ongoing improvement. As stagnant systems fast reach their used by date, resistance to change is often the highest, as people hang on to their comfort zones.

Like selling, long cycles are not good and invariably fail. And to a salesman, getting and maintaining total commitment with no way back, is the first and last step to shore up against risk to ensure a success. In change projects it is the same so work is best competed in small stages so success can be declared and continuous improvement resumed quickly.

But its not done there. To make it stick you then need the added energy to exploit the value in the new state with the old state now completely gone.

 

~000~

Here is a video we did for internal discussion:

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Do you think you could ever learn to speak in foreign language. Learning at school in Australia 1960’s gave me some limited choices. I chose French rather than Latin as I figured if ever I was in France or a French speaking country I could understand people.

Since I have lived, worked and travelled in many counties. Except for parts of Vietnam, and Canada plus of course France itself, knowing French has had quite limited value.

I do know my limited brain somehow interferes with my ability to learn more languages.  Hence English remains my dominate choice, even though work in Asia where Thai, Indonesian, Cantonese & Mandarin all dominate as the colloquial preferences that surround me.

Even so, believe it or not I can communicate in most and more without ever attend any classes or langauge  school.  And so can you!

For example  I am reading a new book called World Class ITnow that I would recommend. Here is a précis of a book review I was sent recently that in turn I sent on to a Thai colleague.

IT gets boiled down to 5 core principles (Mitch Betts Dec 21, 2009)

There isn’t any flashy writing or trendy technology here. A new book World Class IT (Jossey-Bass, 2009), by consultant Peter A. High, provides solid — dare I say timeless — advice for CIOs trying to manage IT for business success.

The book takes the CIO’s complex world and boils it down to the following core principles (stated here verbatim):

1. Recruit, train and retain world-class IT people.
2. Build and maintain a robust IT infrastructure.
3. Manage projects and portfolios effectively.
4. Ensure partnerships within the IT department and with the business.
5. Develop a collaborative relationship with external partners.

Highsays new CIOs should tackle those issues in the order presented above, starting with people and then moving on to developing a reliable IT infrastructure. High says the journey from ordinary to world-class IT can take several years, and even then you can’t rest on your laurels.

 

To make it easy for my colleague I translated it to Thai by using Google translate.

IT ได้รับต้มลงไป 5 หลักหลักโดย Mitch Betts 21 ธันวาคม 2009 06:00 ET ไม่มีที่เขียนฉูดฉาดหรือเทคโนโลยีอินเทรนด์ที่นี่. หนังสือ World Class ใหม่ IT (Jossey-เบส, 2009) โดยที่ปรึกษา Peter A. สูงให้แข็ง - กล้าฉันกล่าวว่าไม่มีเวลา - คำแนะนำสำหรับ CIOs พยายามจัดการไอทีสำหรับธุรกิจประสบความสำเร็จ. หนังสือนำโลกซับซ้อน CIO และ boils ไว้ต่อไปนี้หลักการ core (ระบุที่นี่ทุกตัวอักษร): รับสมัครรถไฟและรักษาระดับโลกคน IT. สร้างและรักษาโครงสร้างพื้นฐานไอทีที่แข็งแกร่ง. จัดการโครงการและพอร์ตการลงทุนได้อย่างมีประสิทธิภาพ. ให้ความร่วมมือในแผนกไอทีและธุรกิจ. พัฒนาความสัมพันธ์ความร่วมมือกับคู่ค้าภายนอก. สูงกล่าว CIOs ใหม่ควรต่อสู้ปัญหาเหล่านั้นเพื่อนำเสนอข้างต้นเริ่มต้นกับคนแล้วย้ายในการพัฒนาโครงสร้างพื้นฐานไอทีที่น่าเชื่อถือ. สูงกล่าวว่าการเดินทางจากสามัญในระดับโลกอาจใช้เวลาหลายปีและแม้แล้วคุณจะไม่สามารถพักผ่อนใน laurels ของคุณ.

This literally took seconds using the free Google translate tool, which has most written Languages. To do this I just copied and pasted the text to a html page and Google did the rest.

The practical implications of this are that language in business is no longer a barrier as we can communicate with literally anyone. Yes it is that simple and these days even my french has improved.

From my stats I know readers of our my blog come from many non English speaking counties. So I am quite sure they already know well about translation tools. But for most English based countries readers there, I would ventured to say, would not see the value of subscribing to and translating to, say a Russian website.

I do and  I am often pleasantly surprised by some of the high quality and leadership information I get when I translate some of these sites.

Give it a try and perhaps see if you can find new opportunities to link up and grow.

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In my work I recently presented some ideas on the maturing state of business intelligence and performance management applications for business.

But choosing the right software to add value is only part of the game. For such change it also needs a plan and commitment.

Making sure your project is well defined, well resourced and well sponsored is the art a PM project success.

The bottom line for making a change to add value to a business is to make sure everyone with a stake in the outcome is involved, is accountable and can win.

In this presentation I was able to share some ideas and from our real life experiences. In the detail I have included some boiler plate steps for success in managing projects.

Here are the slides to look through or download.

 

The recorded sound on the day was not good. I will redo it and update the slides for you when I have some spare time. Please let me know if you want me to make that a priority?

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Can you imagine the now indispensable fridge magnet that is so much a part of our lives, with your notes, kids pictures, shopping lists and other important odd and ends. being relegated to the rubbish to be replaced by a screen? 

Well, that is what the giant European supermarket chain, Tesco, have in mind for us with their Extending Ecommerce strategy.

The idea that digital photo frames, with integrated magnets would be attached to your fridge, not long ago seemed farfetched. But now the internet will be there soon too so your shopping choices can be made right at the fridge as you look to see what’s missing.

Nick Lansley, is Head of R&D at Tesco In this video he talks how about this and how Tesco recently released their  API to the developer market.

Like the IPhone where developers develop smart phone applications for the phone users, having access to Tesco’s backend product information will allow markets to develop demand based applications for households and more. Providing on tap such things as  product diet options availability and cost with such access to influence buyers choices in their home as it further extend to enhance the consumer buying experience.

With this type of wide reach, real time access to core business information means we will soon see the evolving value of business intelligence extended directly to the end consumer for practical use in their daily lives .

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On December 1 2009. tough new internet disclosure compliance was mandated by the new US Fair Trade regulations that came law there.

Earlier this week I had posted a you-tube video to talk about the implications. While I was researching others opinions on this I found most informative seminar circulating the web, entitled Easy FTC Compliance Seminar – What You Need to Do, Step-by-Step. It is lead by Robert Skrob.

Sanitizing testimonials and endorsements is no longer a moral obligation. The bottom line is there is now no option, when it comes to disclosing of interests.

If you think this only applies to the US think again. Counties around the world are watching closely as the largest economy takes on these far reaching consumer protection laws aimed squarely at internet marketers.

Precedents will quickly kick in very everywhere else as US litigation explodes punitively against defaulters who hold out to be third party endorsers.  With the new laws taking root and being tested in the commercial world,  your sales practices may need to change to ensure you comply.

Suddenly all this more important than ever. Some of the areas to look at include:

• How documentation is organized for testimonials you use in your marketing.
• The content in your sales pages and presentations.
• the relationships you have with people who make third party endorsements
• The words you can use in seminars to comply with endorsement rules.
• Liability you now have from affiliate’s actions.

Countries like Australia and across Europe have similar discloser laws in place or in the making. And in places like Asia they are not far behind. Asia is also largely a self regulated market so we will will quickly see consumer protection repose kick in as they move to compete.

At the practical level as buyers get more savvy to hoodwinking lawbreakers, or even ignorant ones who actually believe their own unqualified sales bull,, they will be mistrusted more and more. And anyone who makes unqualified outcome statements or does to not have their interests stated up front will get a nastily surprise. Like avoiding taxes it is just not an option.

With Internet based trends to leverage affiliate programs and endorsements to entice buyers. the  US Lead will be significant for everyone across the globe. If you make money via blogs and social media such as twitter face book and so on you must be aware of the rules.

To quote from a Peter Hoppenfeld one of the layers participating in Easy FTC Compliance Seminar – What You Need to Do, Step-by-Step lead by Robert Skrob.

It reminds me of the expression “Do you want to pay now or pay later?”

Robert Skrob is a business blogger who’s stated his mission is “Help More People, Earn More Money”.  He leads his recorded a seminar to alert marketers about theses new of US Fair Trade Commission rules, He discusses them with his guests, Peter Hoppenfeld and Michael E. Young who are both experienced lawyers in internet marketing and related fields.

Practical discussion on rules that now apply to disclosure by affiliates and other third party endorsement are of great value not only for buyers but also as an extremely informative call for experienced marketers  You can listen to his seminar by visiting his site. It is free to download so I added it here too: 

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

His site is also an excellent resource that  I also recommend you subscribe to:

Robert Skrob

“Help More People, Earn More Money”

http://robertskrob.com/

 

Disclaimer

In making this recommendation I may now be obliged to make a disclaimer such as:

Views expressed in this post are my personal opinion and should not be relied on without corroboration with an authoritative source. I am in no away associated with Robert Skrob or not do I get any financial or other compensation by endorsing or recommending his website, his views, services or his credentials or those of any of his associates. I further disclaim any obligation or responsibility or benefit of an action people may take from any advice they get from this or any related post referred to here.

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A company with online best practice will likely be leveraging Web 2.0 tools and processes to create an engaging online community of customers and partners including collaborative capabilities.

This will include discussion forums, wikis with high customer participation and designated community experts tasked with moderation and administration.

To quote from the PWC benchmarking page on their web site under Global Best Practices^®:

Best practices are simply the best way to perform activities within a business process.

They are the means by which leading companies achieve excellence in cost, quality, and time and provide goals for other companies to achieve.

Best practices are not, however, the definitive answer to a business problem.

Instead, they are a source of creative insight–a proven way to improve performance, which you can adapt to meet the specific needs of your business.

According to TSIA awards criteria, a company with online community programs such as mufti US 2009 services and best practice Star awards Winner: Cisco Systems, Inc., will have demonstrated quality programs in the following areas:

Online discussion boards.

• Enables customers to post questions & answers to an online discussion board or forum.
• Online discussion boards fit into our overall web self-service strategy, and use cases for the forums (peer to peer support, customization questions, beta trials, etc.).

Collaborative content creation.

• Involve customers in the content creation process, by collecting input on documentation and product best practices via emails and enhancement requests,
• Leverage a Web 2.0 Wiki. Allowing transparency of examples of how customers contribute to or make suggestions about existing knowledgebase for others to link to this as self-service content.

Reputation model.

• The reputation model must be in place for the community, including the various levels (for example ‘Novice,’ ‘Intermediate,’ ‘Expert’), And have a scoring methodology for moving from level to level,
• A high percentage of the community members should get to Expert level within a year.

Usage and effectiveness metrics.

• Information is readily available on the size and activity level of the community It will be in pace such as number of page views, posts or other activity on a daily or weekly basis, average length of time for questions to be answered.
• In the discussion forum blog readership, etc will be measured.

Customer moderation.

• Customers have part the moderation responsibilities of the community, specifically the discussion forums. Internal supplement this to moderate as resolution resources are required Customer experts recruited, recognized and rewarded with reciprocal consulting services.

Launch/promotion.

• Training and self help web based campaigns familiarize customers with the online community and what activities were executed to encourage adoption.
• Community launches are timed to be lead in conjunction with sales and/or marketing?

Customer Impacts.

• Customer Satisfaction data is collated to illustrates customer experience with the online community.
• Indicators on overall customer satisfaction and/or loyalty are acknowledged to increases links to encourage the introduction of customer community programs.

Business Impacts.

• Actual business impacts of all cases are documented, including metrics illustrating actual cost savings or efficiency gains such as incident deflection, or call/incident avoidance.
• Other financial impacts, such as savings due to customer authored content or online collaboration are maintained and shared with customers to plan improvement plans.

How do you measure up?

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How many of us have our hard earned savings, superannaution or other nest eggs sitting in the hands of people who really have no interest in your welfare. This american call to action to move your money, points out that people in business are generally there for ther health and not yours.

The movie theme is about making your savings safer as it aligs with the “movie story told in the classic film It’s A Wonderful Life — a tale about a small banker, played by Jimmy Stewart, who almost gets crushed by a big banker. In the end, though, the community rallies around the small bank and helps save it….. The tag line is “Move your Money” 

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In the US there are around 8000 Banks, many just like the movie. It has been argued this inefficient system is one of the root courses of the American fimacial malaise.  Perhaps but one wonders who profits if they fail? 

Here is another point of view.   

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/move-your-money-a-new-yea_b_406022.html,

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Being able to contact people within real time and get responses back from all different locations no matter where, is truly priceless 

In 1998 I was in New York and used the hotel phone to make some calls back to my home base in Australia. I also used a dial up account to get my emails. That used what seemed like a short time but I got a bill of over US$400 for the service. Ouch!! And believe me that hurt!!

After the first day after I checked my bill, I then went on the net and found a free service at AOL that I could use with my Yahoo account to make voice calls. At that stage we had already learned about VOIP with emerginng internet phone carriers, albeit you did have to take pot luck on the quality. It was mostly social net work tools like Yahoo and AOL we used them, but it worked.

Then with only a $US30 internet charge each day (still steep) at the Marriott, my calls cost me next to nothing and I was happy to relax and do my business.

In 2000 I was in Kuala Lumpur. In my Hotel again I just plugged into the phone for what I thought would be 30 seconds to get my mail. I was wise to the hotel charges but also prepared on this occasion to pay $US20 for a minimum 3 minute call, as it was convenient. In was soon to discover after I returned from my shower that the machine was still downloading a picture someone had decided to send.

From that moment I decided to investigate alternatives like phone cards and so on and we extended the use of Microsoft Net meeting and so on for conferencing

It was not until 2003 when in Singapore one of my team sent me a link to Skype. That was moment we truly went global as we were instantly connected in real time with a service that ranged free to cheap.

Since then we have added Skype accounts for all staff and often have web cam lines open all day between offices in different countries so we can see and be in touch with each other.

The big benefit I get out of Skype is the Video. It brings a lot of the people that I work with closer into my office and we are able to get a lot of things more effectively done that way.”

Now we can not only do calls, conferences, chat and video calls we can also send files an show lives screens to the other parties. In addition we can also record it all as a useful record of our working sessions. Now days we even have SIP enablement so the familiar phone can do its job again only better and cheaper plus it releases us from the computer.

One of the great benefits we are now finding is a recent feature added to the Skype stable is the show my screen feature. Combined with the camera provides exactness and clarity when studying an issue or resolving a problem on one side of the conversation. It one step it also removes the need for complex tools such as VNC Remote etc to do this.  Brilliant!!!

Here is an interesting video case study Skype have on their site:

http://www.skype.com/intl/en/business/case-studies/maxim/

 

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As part of our business at Sherwood Group Consulting, as Performance Management specialist consultants, we are often drawn in the tender process when it comes to working with large companies.

As a team we sometimes surprise ourselves when we win on our own.  But of course we never do it alone as we join large vendors like Infor, Microsoft and other big guys and with large consulting firms like Deloitte, who all bring with them their brand weight that can make us attractive.

To lead too it often makes sense, as software is now less important in terms of risk than the ground advisors who actually make it happen.  Many operators like us with corporate commercial experience on board with  business and vendor tools knowledge can make the difference. Now unlike days gone we no longer sell software but we still stand together with our vendors of choice and lead on deals for the consulting component. That way as we assess a prospect or client needs and then recommend a vendor, we are now often sought out as clincher for their sale. Taking the lead also allows us to leverage better value for our client  or prospect, which most often also gives greater value for everyone.

But enterprise projects these days are no place for the faint hearted  Clients are ruthless and commercially oriented in the mature business software vendor market. On knowledge and paying for such things procurements processes often don’t bother to invest properly in understanding what they need and the risks. Instead they rely on the market to cover them as they push all the risk to vendors.  So no matter how much you tell them they must do their homework, your contract will hang you out to dry if you don’t make it clear in the words and then fight for it as over and over again as you proceed.

When it makes sense to take the prime spot it also means joining all the players to win. That is equally tough and unrelenting as it adds bigger risks to carry the can if anyone fails.

Notwithstanding being advisors we often have no choice. Even as a minor players, be-it on design, integration, process change or the lot, if a vendor product fails, the whole project does.

Being advisory by nature always places us in the middle and we will wacked for sure if we don’t do our commercial and project homework well and know our game. It forces us to be very sharp so it is not a bad position as at least we can have some semblance of control and leverage for best options on the risk management . 

This week I was doing an RFI response which I hope will then lead to being shortlisted and then requested for a proposal.  From experience we know that deals are won and lost not on the tender but on the work that leads up to it.  So if you are lucky to be invited to respond, the information and effort and sales skill to deliver it well at the RPI stage will count.

All  RFI’s are different but having a standard boiler plate of responses can help a lot when you are slogging thru a tedious list of requirements.  Also if the RFP is sloppy or ambiguous as an appendix it may also help to narrow the risk and swing any influencer bias built into questions.

As a baseline I dug out an old FPI. It was one of those few and hard to win big deals we all used to see in the good old days. On that occasion we lead and won, based a mostly our submission. I must add that we had quality input from our partners, especially the senior people who trusted us to represent them to protect their value.

If the RFI does its job well, the next step is to respond to a request for proposal. Winning was fun as was the outcome when we got sign off on what we had promised and delivered.

If you take on tendering seriously to win it is a project of no small proportions in itself and should be treated as such.

 

As a useful reference I also found this process and a diagram at  invitation2tender.com

 

In the meantime  would like to share that RFI with you now. The client name, a large multinational public listed group in Asia, has been withheld for various reasons.

Any business considering a PM or BI solution, here are some questions to ask your advisors and vendors, to see how they stack up. Even though the client name is suppressed the client questions are real. Some privacy editing has been done on our responses.

Read more…

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For a few years I have been routinely updating a collection of Humour for all Occasions with material my friends send to me.

Last week I received this story from Ineke Williams in Australia.

You may have seen it. It has been republished quite a bit.

Given we lead in a certain ways, the twist gives something think on to motivate.

My noble stand in sharing it on PerformanceController, is to stimulate alternative thinking on how to build winning teams. Far-fetched and unrealistic, maybe? The real truth is, I just like the story!!!

It starts and ends with a question,

Would you have made same choice?

Read more…

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Do you struggle to get the numbers you need to manage your business? Many others do too!

Dashboard reports are of great value when they always reflect the reality of the here and now.

And when they come to life with always current information and an ability to rotate perspectives and drill to detail in moments it gives a buzz that, for some, is better than sex.

This week in our firm, our professional team in Asia at Sherwood Group Consulting using Infor PM. rolled out the preliminary design and a working prototype of a BI tool for a large sales force based organization.

Impressive, beyond our expectation, excellent and just what we need were some of the comments, along with it can do this that and the next thing on analysis.

It made me feel good to hear that, but the truth is, all we did was assemble their data and present it in an homogenized way in a BI web tool.

In this early adopter stage in their business, with warts and all and unfinished screens, this had people just so pleased to see their data assembled and in a meaningfully presented way, in their familiar organization structures. In the end, despite any effort it may take to clean up the data, that is all that matters.

They were also excited that  it presented as useful information and that they could drill down  immediately. This meant there was no need to go elsewhere for more information. Canned reports can be reduced as people will already have what they need to run their operations.

With much of the hard work done, as this BI tool gets more populated on a daily basis it may never get past the design stage . Why so? Because it will likely be constantly changing as the business learns how to manage with it and matures its use. No issue there, as reflecting the most up to date view of both the data and the organizations is what BI tools do well. Things like products, as they are added to the database, then appear in context, as the numbers come in. This also occurs without any need to change the reports.

Over time, in any business, everyone knows that the dynamics that created a report in the first place will mature as intuitive understanding of the base level data evolves. This often leads to legacy reporting being no longer focused properly or even being relevant.  As for the myriad of reports that have been specified, in our BI rollout, there are now many questions as to their need.

For example on any given day in the month a business typically needs to be able to see a single value of its sales.

  And then to be able to drill down into the lower levels and the details, like products, the customer or group, the business and channel it was sold through and even the salesperson who sold it.

Being able to see the invoice detail may be useful too.

And to be sure sales are profitable, operations need product gross profits all at the same levels,

Canned reports typically only report at the end of the month and then only in summary, which is far too late to stop any real time attrition.

Vital information like the component cost and who suppliers are plus breakdowns of department activity costs that went into to production and getting things delivered is a nightmare to get hold of.  Even Blind Freddy knows that a canned reports only tell us to go looking. But with BI tool it does the looking too and  it is a snap.

Canned reports simply fail to deliver at the levels needed to run a business. And even if they get half way there they are slow to produce and clumsy to use.

Using traditional reports can be as unwieldy as the middle ware process that prepares them. In larger organizations this is typically the cause of much of the frustration where the dynamics of matrix cross functions see lags dilute focus and time to take action.

So why do so many organizations persist with traditional dashboards and summary reports that just focus on fixed or functional areas?

And why do they persist in spending valuable time to dig for the detail, by going to another report or a listing of the raw data, to do further analysis?

At the grass roots, getting sales information may be quite easy, just by listing the invoice detail. And if your supply chain and costing people are on the ball, costing sheets will be there as well to show supplier and department activity and costs for each product.

If you think BI is new then take a look around. The tools have been there for decades but are often lost in the functional Sales Hype or in IT speak.  You will find managers using sales invoiced and sales order lists to get sales information! And if they don’t have a decent system to roll it all up and group it, a personal spreadsheet will likely be  doing  the job and it will also work for analysis. But what ever way they do it, linking product sales and cost information will mean they can calculate gross profit on each product sold, as it occurs.

With  this information, even in such tools as an Excel  pivot table, it can easily show total sales for the day month or year for any business by channel customer and salesman etc.. And by adding a dimension for budgets and agreeing on targets, performance can track that way too.  So you see, BI is nothing new.

In large and small organizations alike it is that simple. Bigger guys have more resources to access their database directly with enterprise BI tools that allow this “business intelligence” to be applied directly to the raw data. But the process is no more or no less the same. They use the raw information to first rollup then drill down and analyze in detail so they can ask questions that allow them to take actions to correct matters of concern.

But even for small guys, having disparate systems and processes still leaves a quandary. Organizations who have flattened to cut out middle managers who once did the analysis, see direct access to detail no longer a choice but an imperative. Small guys need it too as middle managers have always been a luxury so they generally only do BI  themselves the hard way.

These days with efficient and well organized transaction systems, adding a simple BI tool on the top allows executives and mangers to see the big picture then get straight to the detail.

Managed the same way, information like sales activity can mean sales people can see the value of their weekly activity such as lead generation and lead conversion and so on.

Here are a couple of examples

Sales Activity

By collating sales activity for example, lead generation and conversion can be measured weekly. With numbers of leads generated, calls made, meetings booked, and prospects qualified, sales closed, and sales completed added to tracking information, the performance can be measured to focus time on helping the back enders .

This is vital to ensure sales numbers are achieved even for small teams but even more so in large widely spread sales forces. For  good salespeople they do this anyway and they also keep track of commission they will get.

Sales Development Impact

For cross functional activity measuring  the value of sales force development and customer service impact is vital to know where to focus to grow the business. By tracking these activities to a salesperson’s results makes it much easier to focus on   areas that need development to improve.

Pre and post training evaluations are also very easy to see once you connect the development activity to the sales person’s results.

Managing business is not about chasing reports but about systematically managing the numbers on  sales and operational aspects that drive the business.

Large or small, without good business intelligence, access to data  is still seat of the pants or intuitive management, despite the plethora of static reports that continue. In large organizations with thousands of players, reactive response management is too slow. So the need for a BI tool is a “No Brainer”.

Dashboard reports too are of great value if they always reflect the reality of the here and now. And when they come to life with always current information with an ability to rotate perspectives and drill to detail in moments it gives a buzz that for some is better than sex.

In the past as we focused on speeding up or reporting processes our aim was  spend more time on analysis and less on the preparation.

These days with the business intelligence transparency maturing in organizations, it is letting managers and operations alike get to the heart of their issues on a day to day basis. This means they spend less time in analysis more time in action.

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About

Sherwood Group Consulting        Performance Management matters Since 1993. Sherwood Group Consulting has been advising business on best practice in reporting and business performance management. As specialists, Sherwood Group Consulting has high expertise in key aspects of business management and finance across a wide spectrum of business domains. Using leader software and working closely with vendors we add change management and project delivery services to the mix to make it all work.   Australia – Executive Director – Gordon Wood Essendon Fields House, Level 2, 7 English Street Essendon VIC 3041  +613 9018 5302 Facsimile: +613 9438 4278  Thailand -  Director – Kitipan Kitbamroong Level 29, Offices at Centralworld 999/9 Rama I Road Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Phone: +66 2207 2340 Facsimile:+66 2 207 2626 . Singapore – Director – Larry Russell Level 42, Suntec Tower Three 8 Temasek Boulevard Singapore 038988 Phone: +65 6866 3340 Facsimile:   +65 6866 3636 Europe / Germany Director – David Brown Springiersbacherstrasse 10, 56862  Punderich, Germany. Phone: +49 6542963578  Mobile: +49 1578 497 8614

 

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In my mail today I got something that made me think a lot about how estabished business regresses over time, as its processes take over and make a casualty quality of customer service.

A 75 Year Old Lady rings her local NHS   hospital and this conversation follows:

‘Hello I’d like some information on a patient, Mrs Tiptree.

She was admitted last week with chest pains and I just want to know if her condition has deteriorated, stabilised or improved?’

‘Do you know which ward she is in?’
‘Yes, ward P, room 2B’
‘I’ll just put you through to the nurse station.’
‘Hello, ward P, how can I help?’

‘I would just like some information on a patient, Mrs Tiptree, I was wondering if her condition had deteriorated, stabilised or improved?’

‘I’ll just check her notes. I’m pleased to say that Mrs Tiptree’s conditioned has improved. She has regained her appetite, her temperature has steadied and after some routine checks tonight, she should be well enough to go home tomorrow.’

‘Oh that’s wonderful news, I’m so happy, thank you ever so much!’

‘You seem very relieved, are you a close friend or relative?’

‘No, I’m Mrs Tiptree in room 2b.

Nobody tells you f**k all in here ‘

Does this sound familiar? More to the point and tragically, this is not only about the much maligned British National Heath Service. Just take a look around you. It is quite endemic in many businesses.

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