by  Creativity103

I read a good article today about things fast-growing professional services firms need to keep in mind as the expand.  The bottom line is that it is easy to move beyond paper, pencil and Excel into a world of processes and procedures that aren’t scalable and that will eventually hinder a firm’s growth.  The author’s did a great job listing the various functions that bog down earliest:

• resource utilization
• invoicing
• project estimation and delivery
• maintaining a resource database
• sales and marketing
• reporting and analytics

  by  neonbubble

• What will the vendor do if there is disruption of service?  What do you need to do?
• How can you access your data if you want to integrate it with another application or migrate it altogether?
• Who has access to the data, both internal to the vendor and externally?
• When and how is the data backed up?  How and when can I request a restore?  What does it cost?
• What is the vendors monthly percentage of downtime?  What is your recourse if they have more than that?
• How does the vendor communicate maintenance and other outage information  to customers?  When is maintenance usually done?
• What happens if the vendor goes out of business?  How can I get my data and what would it take to switch to another vendor?  Can I switch?
• How can I get support if I have a question or a problem?  Can I call someone or do I have to use email or chat?  Does more personalized support cost more?

First, ask the vendors these questions.  Ask follow up questions if you don’t understand.  Then ask yourself – can my business live with that?

I agree with the conclusion that IT will not go away.   The activities that IT folks do will change from installing, supporting and monitoring applications in house to choosing and managing vendors and external applications and making sure any integration work.  IT resources will be aligned more tightly with the business and focus on how the business uses the software and how the software might be configured to be most efficient.

In fact, as technology becomes more strategic for companies, the IT roles becomes more strategic and less “cost of doing business”.  How can your business best leverage emerging technologies?  What is your level of risk in various circumstances and how can you mitigate that risk?  Are you signed up for the appropriate level of service for your company?  Have you negotiated the best possible deal?

The points in the article are all good but how does this apply to small business?  I think it leads to a number of questions that each business owner has to address:

• do I have the time and knowledge to make technology decisions?
• do I have the time and knowledge to choose, negotiate with and manage any number of vendors?
• do I have the time and knowledge to integrate the solutions my business needs?

  by  philcampbell 

So let’s get started!

1. Backup and recovery – the verb phrase “to back up” means that you make a copy of your data so that if you lose it you can replace it.  The noun “backup” is the copy you made and the act of replacing it is “recovery”.  You can back up your data on any sort of schedule – monthly, weekly, daily, hourly or even more frequently.  I usually recommend making a backup at least daily.  There are a lot of ways to back up your data – to a USB drive or other external hard drive, to a CD or DVD or to the cloud.  Services like Mozy and Carbonite are a business owner’s best friend.  Here are a couple other thoughts on backup and recovery:  First, make sure you are backing up everything you should be.  I had an outage about a year ago and realized I was backing up everything except my email.  Ouch!  Next, test your recovery.  If I had done that I would have realized I was taking incomplete backups BEFORE I got bitten.
2. Redundancy – redundancy essentially means duplication.  A system is redundant if services are split in two or more pieces so that if one fails you have something to fall back on.  It is important to think about your technology and to determine where and when you need redundancy.  If you are a small business owner with only a single pc your redundancy plan might be to go to Office Depot and buy a new pc.  Then you could use the backup from number 1 to be back in business in a few hours.  If you are a larger business or are looking to push technology services to the cloud you may have deeper needs.  When you talk to service providers ask them about their redundancy and look for two things:  first is hardware redundancy which means that they have split your services over multiple machines so that if they lose one you are still good to go.  Also ask about location redundancy – what if oh, for example, Hurricane Irene slammed into their data center?  Do they have services in another, preferably far away, location that can keep your business up and running?
3. Archiving – to archive means to save off old data that you want to keep around but don’t need ready access to.  Archiving is closely related to back up and recovery but with a subtle twist.  When you are archive you may choose to copy your data to a medium that isn’t as easy or fast to recover from and that is separate from your current data.  An example of this would be where you back up your current data to the cloud for fast and simple recovery but you put your really old stuff on a DVD and store it offsite.  It is important to consider what needs to be archived – you may not want to pay to back up and store all that old data every night and you certainly won’t want to add time to recover it in the event something bad happens.
4. Disaster recovery – Wikipedia says “ is the process, policies and procedures related to preparing for recovery or continuation of technology infrastructure critical to an organization after a natural or human-induced disaster”.  Your disaster recover plan will include your backup, recovery, redundancy and archiving plans.  It is the technology portion of your overall business continuity plan.

What does all this mean?

  by  Roger Smith

Back in the day, I wrote a lot of custom software.  First of all, that is what I DID and second, finding good software that met the business needs in a flexible way was hard.  Ok, I know I am showing my age now!

As time has passed and technology has advanced we have more and more technology options to support our business and these options have great functional capabilities.  At the same time, access to these technologies has become easier, especially for smaller businesses.  I find it remarkable that I can have, at my fingertips, the same business capabilities of a large corporation.  Gotta love the cloud!

With so much to choose from I would find it hard today to ever recommend “build it for yourself” to a client unless they had a very specific, niche need – a need that was their competitive advantage, something that set them apart.  You can get inexpensive development resources today but you still have fundamental issues with “roll your own” applications:

• you may be using developers inexperienced with building bullet-proof  applications
• you may be building with a technology that it is hard to find developers for
• you will have to do your own maintenance and changes
• you may be using a technology that won’t be supported long term.

I read an article yesterday, part of which really grabbed my attention.  In Accounting Today Daniel Burress has an post titled Three Technology Trends Your Firm Can’t Ignore.  It is his third trend that had me saying “amen!”.

In this last point he describes how it isn’t enough to ask people in a small business what they want – most of the time they will ask for features or capabilities that only slightly make them more efficient or productive.  Why?  Because most of them have no idea of what is possible, what can be done with today’s software applications.  To truly apply technology to a business in a way transforms it, the questions have to go deeper, closely investigating the current work flows.  What do people do day to day?  Why do they do those things?  Do those activities have business value?  Would the business be better, faster or stronger if no one had to perform those activities?  Or if they could perform those tasks more easily and more often?  What would the business be like if that work flow was automated or wholly changed?  These questions apply to any kind of business, not just accounting firms.

“The key is to go to the next level and give people the ability to do what they currently can’t do, but would want to do, if they only knew they could. After all, people really didn’t ask for an iPhone or a BlackBerry. The hidden need was the ability to access their email and Internet without being tied to their desktop or laptop.”  This simple quote from the article says it all – don’t ask them what they want to do but can’t.  Find out what they could do and see if that changes how they work.

So who asks these questions and creatively applies technology to your business?  Chances are, no one.  That is a shame.  If you are interested in creatively applying new technology to your business or even utilizing what you already have in a deeper way, get some help.  When you need to understand the new tax changes you talk to your CPA, right?  And you consult your insurance person about the affect of health care reform on the benefits you provide your employees, don’t you?  So think about getting help with your technology too – consult your technical advisor and I’ll bet you’ll be surprised by what you learn.

Implementing a CRM (customer relationship management) system can be a huge undertaking for a small business. Done poorly it can create more work and inefficiencies for an already small staff. Done well it can revolutionize a business by improving workflow and make it easier to touch customers regularly and meaningfully.

I’ve written some other articles on CRM here and here so if you need a refresher pop over to those and pop back.

There is a lot of literature about CRM success and failure and frankly it would make any small business owner go screaming into the night – most stuff has been written for large businesses that have to implement CRM across huge sales teams, whole marketing departments and a 24×7 support staff.  Most of these articles have very little to offer a small business and what is meaningful is hard to find.  Today I’ll share my top tips:

1. Make sure you understand your overall business goals.  What goals do you want a CRM application to support and what business issues are you trying to solve?
2. Choose a technology that fits your business.  Price and features, though critically important, can’t be the only criteria.  Does the tool fit how your company works?  Is it a cultural fit – a free-flowing, unstructured application might fit a design firm better than one with strict linear processes.
3. Before implementing the tool, define the processes that support the goals in the first bullet.  Don’t just dive face first into the deep end – take the time to figure out the new processes and to configure the tool for those processes.
4. Figure out how and where the new tool will integrate with your other systems.  For example, if you want the contacts in the CRM to update in your accounting system, get that working.  Or if you want your sales folks to see aging data when they look at a contact, get that working too.
5. As you are implementing the tool, be sure to promote the processes.  That is a nice way of saying “make folks use the process”.  I’m not saying to throw them into the pool (another pool metaphor – hey it is summer and it is hot) – they need help, support and training.  At the same time, don’t let them circumvent the new way of doing things.  You’ll only slow down adoption and perhaps create a culture of “we really don’t have to use this”.
6. Finally, even though I am saying you should make folks use the new processes, make sure you allow time to revisit and revise the processes.  You won’t know everything when you start and it makes sense that you might have to make some tweaks.

Small businesses, from professional services to retail establishments to service organizations, can benefit from a well implemented CRM.  Take your time going through these steps.  In many cases it makes sense to get some help; find a technical advisor who can help lead you.

Have you implemented a CRM in the past year?  What went well and what went poorly?

Earlier this week there was an article on SmallBizTechnology.com about how the biggest problem small businesses have in using technology is lack of education.  I absolutely agree with the sentiment – who has time to learn about technology when they have a business to run?  In the article Ramon Ray recommended spending an hour or two a week learning about technology.  From there, however, he talked a lot about technology that boosts a businesses online presence – Facebook, blogging, Twitter and local search.  These are all important but there is so much more!

So what else should a small business owner educate themselves about?  There are so many topics that it can seem like a maze but if you take a look at this list you can concentrate on a few topics at a time:

• How can you make things easier for your customer?  (easy online access to content and services)
• How can you make things easier for your staff? (remote access, simple processes, collaboration tools)
• How can you touch more prospects, close more sales and increase revenue? (CRM, email newsletters)
• How can you streamline your internal processes and maybe save money? (better integration, fewer but more powerful systems, remote hosting, cloud services)
• How can you get a better handle on your business? (reporting, analytics)

So here is a short round-up of good sources for technology information – these are examples but they should give you somewhere to start:

• online technology magazines and blogs like smallbiztechnology.com and smallbusinesscomputing.com.  I also like Laurie McCabe’s blog.
• industry specific online sources like the Law Technology News section of Law.com or Techtips on TheProgressiveAccountant.com
• online communities like American Express Open and Biznik.com
• local blogs like atlantasmall.biz

What technology topics would you like to know more about?  Where do you go to get your technical education?

For the first time I’m going to do a book review. I read a lot of books and articles but usually don’t do reviews – someone out there has usually already said what I have to say so I don’t bother. Not this time. And not because I’m the first to say anything – I am not by a long shot. No, I’m writing an book review because if I could I would buy this book for every business owner I’ve met in the past few years, regardless of the size of the company.  Writing this review is my second best choice.

About The New Small

The book is The New Small by Phil Simon. Phil has managed to articulate in a small, easily digestible book, what I have been trying to tell folks, as a technology consultant myself, for years. In today’s world technology can allow a company of any size to operate like a large company. In the first section he talks about the “what” of business technology – what the major technology trends are and which are the current technology enablers. He also starts to address why there is so much technology available that most small business users aren’t using:

“It seems to me that many small business owners are awash in a sea of technology they aren’t using. Most haven’t explored mobility, cloud computing, social technologies, and so on. They aren’t keeping up with many of the changes that could significantly help them on so many levels. I began to wonder about why so many small business owners seem to be unaware of the profound technological changes currently taking place.

Reasons include:

• Some are just overwhelmed by the rate of change.
• Some just don’t care–they don’t plan to change anything if they can avoid it.
• Some are probably intimidated by these new technologies.
• Some just aren’t aware. Their attention is elsewhere.
• Some subscribe to the view “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

I suppose that this would make sense if these emerging technologies offered only marginal improvements to John Q. Business Owner. But that’s just not the case. These days, many small companies ignore technologies that, at a minimum, can help them significantly:
• Grow their businesses
• Attract talented employees
• Improve access to key information
• Increase employee communication and collaboration
• Reduce costs of recruiting, IT, and marketing
• Compete with larger companies

Some small businesses are using emerging technologies in creative and interesting ways to achieve these benefits. These are the New Small.”

In the second part he discusses the several examples of  the New Small . I consider this the “why” portion of the book – exciting, compelling examples should give any small business a reason to look at new technologies.  There are a lot of examples in this section and I found it helpful to pick and choose the examples I was interested in – but by all means read them all if you can.

My favorite part  is the third part where he talks about the “how” – how a company can become part of The New Small by not only applying technology but by making sure their organization has the right culture, people and mindset to do it successfully. Here is the crux of the discussion and where things get hard or easy – as he says in the book “We see how New Small companies carefully and intelligently select the tools, people and partners that make sense – and quickly get away from those that no longer fit the bill. They don’t immediately and unilaterally embrace very technology that comes along. What’s more, they balance immediate short-term needs with long-term prospects for growth.”  Wow.  Wish I had said that.

Bottom line on The New Small

Like I said, if I could reasonably do so I’d give this book to every business owner I’ve met.  In addition to the book, Phil is coming out with a new mobile app that provides, to business owners and others interested in new technology, exclusive tips and advice to help clear up concepts and discuss new technology trends.  You can find out more about the app here.

As Phil says at the end, none of this is magic and it may be that you need help figuring out how to integrate the technologies that make sense for your business.  As always, find a technology advisor you trust to help you put together a reasonable road map and your business will be on its way to being on of the New Small.

I have written a few posts about CRM applications in the past but I’ve come to realize that folks are still confused about what CRM is.  I think that is part of the reason there are so many failed CRM implementations – too many people don’t realize how broad the term is and when they choose a tool they do it without evaluating what they need and comparing it to what is available.  Believe me, sometimes more is NOT better.  Worse, CRM is as much a business strategy as a technology – you need both to be successful.
 

So what is CRM then?

According to Wikipedia CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, is a broad term referring to “a widely-implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support.”.  Wow, that is a lot of stuff.

In an attempt to further simplify I’ve come up with an overly simple graphic (so you knowledgeable folks don’t need to tell me what I left out – sock puppet simple, remember?) to help illustrate.

If you think of the three major functions of CRM in a Venn diagram as above you can see that sales, marketing and customer service share a major function which is simply called Contact Management here but is really the information about your customers.  Therein lies the problem.  Some companies want the sales functions and contact management, some want the marketing functions and contact management.  Some companies just want contact management.  Regardless of what you want, if you don’t choose the right application you are likely to get one with all of the functionality.  Anytime you get more than you want to use you are asking for trouble.

So how do you get the right tool?

It pays to think about your strategy first, even a simplified one.  What are you trying to accomplish for your business?  Then, with a bullet list of requirements, look at the functionality of the available tools.  Don’t restrict yourself to the big names or the one your buddy uses – look at all of them.  Make sure you are getting what you really need, not a whole lot else.  Picking something that has just what you need will make installation, training and adoption immeasurably easier.

But what if I need more functionality later?

If you are absolutely, positively certain you will want, say, sales force automation in the next 6-12 months then add it to your requirements.  Otherwise, add a requirement that speaks to the ease of moving data in and out to your list.  Who knows what applications will be available a year from now – make sure you can easily get your data out and worry about what the next right tool is when you are ready.

Get help if you need it

Remember, unless you are an IT professional or CRM expert, choosing a tool and implementing it correctly can be a daunting proposition.  If you had a tax or legal issue you’d get help from your accountant or attorney, right?  Don’t hesitate to get help from your technical advisor if you need it.

Bottom line

There are a lot of CRM applications and most of them are pretty good.  It is a pretty mature technology and there are many happy customers using each and every one.  Unfortunately they almost all have unhappy customers too and many times it is because the wrong tool was chosen.  Take your time, do it right and get help if you need it.