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Two
Companies, One Story
The first client was a
marketing communications (MarCom) company.
Although it had many unique aspects, even the most casual of observers
would recognize the firm as an advertising agency. It had a single, rather large, account that
made up 90% of its business. This
customer was a high tech systems integrator.
The president of the MarCom had always wanted to be a full-line marketing
services organization. He recognized
that his company could do a lot more for the systems integrator. In particular, there was a need for a
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. How could a MarCom help? In this setting the S. I.
Inc. contribution was the development of this computer based marketing
system. In past issues of My second, and current
client, is a software house. They are
trying to make the transition from a board-level (sometimes call embedded)
programming shop to a more traditional full-line software organization. At first glance the software house has
nothing in common with the MarCom.
Look a little deeper and you see that this firm is a specialty
organization that wants to become a full-line software company. They are looking for a plan to grow their
business in the area of what was once call business data processing. That term is out and web
services is in, but the function is still the same. The software house has a client that needs
to put their CRM system on the Internet. What we were going to
bring to the software house obviously was not going to be computer
methods. They have all of the computer
techniques they need. What was called for was some good old marketing management
systems and procedures. S. I. Inc. was
able to recognize the need, create a plan, and develop customers that would
buy the products and services. The
need recognition was to look at the software house’s skill set and see how
these capabilities could be presented in a way the prospects would buy. It is not easy to look at the skill called
“writer of device driver” and see how that could be presented as “deliverer
of CRM solutions.” This was exactly
what was needed and done. Once the
skill set was repackaged we went on to develop a plan to sell that skill
set. The software house is well on its
way towards realizing its goals while enjoying its new “look.” Why do I say these two
stories are really one? In each case a
firm that specialized needed some one from the outside to point out what was
missing. Having identified the problem
S. I. Inc., was able to use one of its skills to
meet the need. Providing the missing
piece is what we do best. I trust we
can keep doing that into the foreseeable future. The more things change,
the more they remain the same. Using a Database for Time
Management
The first generation
“tool” was good old pencil and paper.
For more years than I would like to admit, I have been planning my
time. Those of you who know me well
understand that I am a bit of a fanatic at record keeping. Since the early 1970s I have recorded my time. Not only do I do this in order to invoice
clients, the Schuldenfrei family likes to eat, but I want to see how I spend
my time. Now recording time spent has
utility, but it is a little like driving your car but only looking out the
back window! It soon becomes apparent
that you are only looking at where you have been. When you need to plan projects you need to
look forward. Thus, you quickly
develop the need to forecast how your time will be spent in the future. The instructive part of time management
comes in the comparison between the forecast of time and how long things
actually took. Writing things down is
the key. Since I have had constant
computer access since 1965, I augmented my paper with computer data
files. A big step forward came in 1979
when the cost of a computer became low enough such that I could buy one for my
own use. From then on it was time
management in the electronic age. Having a medium, the
computer, is not the same as having a message with all due respects to
Marshall McLuhan. Over the years the
need emerged for managing, not only my time, but the time of others. Accounting systems gradually took over the
chore of invoicing the clients.
However, accounting systems rarely look forward. Project management tools, like the
excellent package Microsoft Project, is good for forecasting and recording
actual. It, however, is project
orientated and cumbersome too boot. Let’s look at both of these issues in turn. Microsoft will tell you
right up front that Project is for projects.
A project has a beginning, a middle, and
(most importantly) an end. It is just
great for client engagements of the right size. The trouble with Project for managing a
small group is that this type of time management is on-going. It never comes to an end. After many attempts to use Project where it
was ill suited, I began to look elsewhere.
The second issue with Project is that it is large, cumbersome, and
hard to use for modest sized projects.
It is great if you are running a missile development project, or
releasing the next version of the Windows operating system, but it is hard to
use for small projects that last a month or two. This is because of the time commitment of
set-up. There is a real, and large,
fixed cost of time to get Project established and ready for use. Something else is needed for the day to day
work of managing a team. I have been using an
Access based CRM system since 1993. It
is a design of my own creation and not meant to be a commercial product. It does just what I want, and unencumbered by
the wants and desires of others. As I
have performed consulting engagements over the last 10 years, I have brought
this homebrew system to other organizations.
It has taken root in some shops and not in others. Just recently I have taken to entering
non-customers into the database. Room
was made for client personnel, competitors, and suppliers. The features that make the tool useful for
time management are: proximo scheduling, unlimited note taking, and the
excellent database tools of Microsoft Access. What is proximo
scheduling? This is the technique that
keeps reminding a system that a reoccurring event is coming due. The CRM system has a “date of next
activity” field to remind a sales rep what must be done. This field is used such that a report is
generated every morning on what the team being managed is doing. It does not have to be on a daily basis,
but I like to be advised each morning.
Usually the team member is doing work for a client that is in the CRM
system. The proximo scheduling will
report on the client record. Both of
these reminders are brief, one line on a report. Here is where the second feature comes in. The system has unlimited
note taking ability. Anyone who knows
me knows I am a prodigious note taker.
By being able to explain what needs to be done by the team member on
his record is very useful to me as the manager. Further, by having additional notes on the
client record I can get an over all view of what needs to be done for the
client by each team member. The notes
are general and can be used in any way that makes sense. Since the CRM records are not project
oriented, cross project control is realized.
The notes explain in as much detail as necessary what needs to be
done. Each note is threaded to the CRM
Contact record. It does not matter if
the contact is a prospect, customer, employee, supplier, or even competitor. Finally, the excellent
report writing features of Access allow for a rich set of standard reports to
be available. In addition, the query
capability makes ad hoc reports easy and quick to produce. I would not claim that these techniques
make for a salable computer package, certainly not shrink-wrapped
software. They do, however, constitute
an extremely powerful set of tools with high utility for time management. For additional information:
bob@s-i-inc.com
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