The More Things Change
July 31, 2009
….the more they stay the same.
The headline for the June 15 2009 print edition of eWeek; Browsers battle for enterprise dominance
The exact same headlines as a decade ago – except it was Netscape vs. MS Internet Explorer
Sigh…..
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What Are Your Standards?
July 30, 2009
Raise The Bar!
Do you accept mediocrity?
Or do you set high but attainable standards?
Because your standards will be matched by the rest of your organization
Their standards will be as low, or as high, as yours.
The SMB Takeaway
Raise the bar!
And that includes demanding the best from your IT outsourcing vendor or technical staff.
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Photo Credit whereisyourmind via flickr
First Lessons in An IT System Failure
July 29, 2009
This one is for IT staff or service providers in the small to medium business space. When an IT service failure occurs, the following steps will assist in resolving the incident;
Step 1: Communicate
Step 2: Initial Discovery
Step 3: Communicate
Step 4: In Depth Discovery
Step 5: Communicate
Step 6: Commence Recovery
Step 7: Communicate
Step 8: Restore Service
Step 9: Communicate
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The (New) Telephone Game
July 28, 2009
Telephone Game
When you were a kid, did you ever do that game where you whisper a phrase to the person next to you, who then whispers it to the next, and continue around the circle until it comes back to you?
Was it even close to what you originally started with?
Try it this way!
Think of a term or phrase that you think everybody knows and ask all the members of your team what it means.
You can bet that everybody has a different knowledge of that term or phrase
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Photo Credit mind on fire via flickr
I have been invited to submit a freelance article to a Canadian print publication on SME Owners and Executives that have decided that they need to interview and hire that first IT Leader that goes beyond being a caretaker of PC’s and into contributing to the strategic delivery of services that support a growing businesses goals, these could include;
- boosting sales
- maximizing profits
- improving collaboration, both internal and external
- effective knowledge sharing
- improving internal processes
- Developing new products and services
- etc
This article is then to outline sample interview questions that non-technology oriented general managers can ask to tease out some of those desired skill sets.
I will be including questions on budgeting and financial controls, process and people management frameworks, as well as roles and objectives, (among other ideas.)
If you as a General Manager in the Canadian SME space have a questions that you have used (or found out later that you wish you had used!) and would like to be quoted, please feel free to leave a comment here with contact information or email me at elliotross@sympatico.ca
Please include the the why of desired skills or behaviour of your question.
Please note 
“invited” equals not 100% guarantee of publishing!
Regards
Elliot Ross
Are You Watching Your Business In Google’s Tools?
July 27, 2009
I hope so!
Take a look at this Hi-Jack (photo below)
You can see that I used Google to look for a business in my region.
On the search resuls, The map and the company information are all accurate – but look at the Web Address under that company information.
It ain’t the address that the business wants there!
Click Here for full sized image.
U-Haul - Owned!
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I’m Back
July 25, 2009
OK, so the auto-post decided not to work!
A few days R&R was great – weather was mixed (wettest summer in a long time).
Vacation Housekeeping
July 17, 2009
Long range forcast wet and cold.
Still taking a few days away. The joy of WordPress Autopost will keep some stuff happeing here, but alow me to apologize if spam sneaks through!
Stay Well
Do You Learn? Or Blame?
July 17, 2009
A hat tip Michael Krigsman at ZDnet for pointing me to an excellent piece by Sarah Jane Runge on organizations choosing to point the finger of blame when failure occurs.
Before I point you to Sarah’s post, let me quote Michael;
Smart leaders use failed projects as a springboard to improve future performance. Lousy ones abdicate responsibility by ignoring negative political behavior that perpetuates cycles of failure. What kind of manager are you?
Sarah Jane Runge; The Art of Scapegoating
They should instead be asking themselves where they messed up and analyze whether, why or how their IT investment and project decisions were under-analyzed, under-scoped, under-supported, under-communicated or under-trained.
The SMB Takeaway
If no one is accountable for an objective, a task, or a strategy – As Peter Drucker is quoted as saying; it is at best a a good intention.
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Dynamic Pricing – A Real World Example
July 16, 2009
In this post titled; Everybody Knows, Right? I referenced a Financial Post column by Rick Spence, on dynamic pricing.
My thanks to Rick, he posted a comment on that post that he had received some negative comments on that original Financial Post article.
That is unfortunate, and here is why.
Time Vs. Availability
One common axis that can be hinged on dynamic pricing is availability. That is one that we are familiar with from the airline industry. As available seat numbers go down, price goes up.
In many small to medium enterprises, this axis of availability can be one that really generates negative reactions and bias. If you sell ski boots, I don’t want to pay twice the price because you are down to the last two pairs!
Another Axis; Time
For managers in the small to medium business space, one resource we can’t save, earn or buy is time. And dynamically pricing using time as an axis does not generate the same resentment. The value of time can often be justified.
In a simple example, an invoice that gives you a discount on a pay-before date? Dynamic Pricing.
My dry-cleaner? overnight is more expensive than next week. Again, Dynamic Pricing.
In both of these cases you pay less than the other guy for the same good or service based on the axis of Time
Another case – Because it can go both ways!
I know a former manager (now retired) at an automotive dealership service department.
On days when his service bays were not fully booked, he still had union service techs on the clock.
His solution?
He would hover around the parts desk where the Do-It-Yourself crowd bought parts to fix or upgrade on their own cars. He then simply offered them on the spot to do the work for them immediately, at a fraction of the standard bill rate.
Even if the margin was only a fraction of the regular, it was still margin, and kept the tech’s working.
So here is time from two angles, One; keeping paid techs working, and second, offering value to the customer. Sure, the DIY person could do that job on the weekend, but presenting the value of having it done in 40 minutes?
The SMB Takeaway
So in your business – when time is in the equation,there is value there. Is there a time element that could be of value for your customer base?
If there is, don’t automatically assume that they won’t pay for that value.
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