As I watched last Thursday evening, the ESPN circus involving "The Decision" of Lebron James to take his talents to Miami, I was struck by how the Cleveland Cavalier's had been caught so completely flat footed by this outcome.
Business is chess not checkers. Success depends on your ability to plan a number of moves ahead as well as to create a variety of alternatives in the event that those anticipated steps play out differently then you anticipated.
The Cleveland NBA franchise had seven years to convince James that they were one of the best run organizations in the league and they didn't do enough to achieve that result.
To be successful, most businesses, not just NBA franchises, have to assemble an excellent staff, made up of well respected leaders both inside and outside of the company. They have to have one of the best products in the industry along with a reputation for sparing no detail in their pursuit of maintaining the best. And they have to have a world class working environment which is the envy of the industry they are in.
But in addition businesses have to make their companies into special places to work. Valuable employees have always had options in terms of where they work. Most people don't leave their jobs when they're satisfied that their employer seriously cares about created the best possible situation they can for them.
Businesses who don't modernize their operations until their forced to. Who don't continuously look out into the future and recognize that they have to change now if they expect to remain viable, inevitably don't succeed. And they lose their best people to the competition as a result.
When Lebron James looked at the product that was the Cleveland Cavaliers, he didn't see an organization that was led by the best people in the industry, both in terms of coaches and general management. He didn't see an organization that had done everything possible to make their product the best, in terms of personnel moves that could have put the organization in a better position to win a championship.
What he saw was seven years of his career invested in a company and a product that still hadn't reached it's promised potential. A company that only offered him the opportunity to continue toiling for what most likely would be the same or similar result.
But the difference was that he had finally seen what the rest of the industry had to offer. How other, better companies pursued excellence, and he concluded that there was a better place where he should be spending his valuable time in terms of his career.
It's shocking the number of businesses who aren't actively striving to improve the way they conduct business, who aren't striving for operational excellence by moderninising their systems and their business processes, demonstrating to their staff everyday that they are fully utilizing their talent and their potential to achieve the best result possible.
The moral to this story is that you won't keep your best people unless you show a willingness to continuously invest and improve your company across the board.
Dave Rice CEO, TrueCloud www.truecloud.com
Monday, July 12, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Investing in Improvements in a Sluggish Ecomony
I don'[t know about you, but we've noticed in our business a general re-emergence of sluggish growth since the first quarter of this year.
It feels as if companies are tending to hunker down again much like a year ago, playing more of a wait and see game with respect to the investments they're prepared to make for improved performance.
But we now have plenty of real data which shows that companies that have invested in cloud-based IT solution improvements since the beginning of the great recession have realized legitimate return on their investment.
A wholesale distribution customer of ours recently noted, that after a year plus in operation using NetSuite and having displaced their former on premise system, the following results:
- 20% Year over Year overall reduction in cost.
- 10% Year over Year increase in sales due to a consolidated information approach.
(Elimination of disparate systems (i.e. Excel, multiple systems, manual processes)
- 500% increase in customer touches due to an integrated sales and marketing model.
- 50% reduction in on premise and IT support.
These are just the immediate, low hanging fruit type of improvements, that our customers are telling us they begin to experience in their business, just a few short months following deployment of the cloud-based NetSuite ERP solution.
If you think your business is different or unique and these improvements couldn't be realized in your company the way they have for others, then please contact me at TrueCloud. I'll arrange for you to talk to my customers yourself.
Like many of you, they too were once skeptical about making the change during these uncertain times. But the improvements for them has brought dramatic results and you can have the same result in your business.
Reach out to us at TrueCloud. We can help.
Dave Rice CEO, TrueCloud www.truecloud.com
It feels as if companies are tending to hunker down again much like a year ago, playing more of a wait and see game with respect to the investments they're prepared to make for improved performance.
But we now have plenty of real data which shows that companies that have invested in cloud-based IT solution improvements since the beginning of the great recession have realized legitimate return on their investment.
A wholesale distribution customer of ours recently noted, that after a year plus in operation using NetSuite and having displaced their former on premise system, the following results:
- 20% Year over Year overall reduction in cost.
- 10% Year over Year increase in sales due to a consolidated information approach.
(Elimination of disparate systems (i.e. Excel, multiple systems, manual processes)
- 500% increase in customer touches due to an integrated sales and marketing model.
- 50% reduction in on premise and IT support.
These are just the immediate, low hanging fruit type of improvements, that our customers are telling us they begin to experience in their business, just a few short months following deployment of the cloud-based NetSuite ERP solution.
If you think your business is different or unique and these improvements couldn't be realized in your company the way they have for others, then please contact me at TrueCloud. I'll arrange for you to talk to my customers yourself.
Like many of you, they too were once skeptical about making the change during these uncertain times. But the improvements for them has brought dramatic results and you can have the same result in your business.
Reach out to us at TrueCloud. We can help.
Dave Rice CEO, TrueCloud www.truecloud.com
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Transforming the Way We Get Work Done
Cloud computing is shaping up to be the biggest transformational event in information technology and management since the personal computer was introduced to corporate businesses in the 1980s. This is because like the personal computer revolution, cloud computing has everything to do with how businesses will utilize these new capabilities, not how IT will.
Cloud computing has been loosely defined as the aspirin that will cure whatever ails you as it has come to mean just about anything related to the Internet. While we all can't entirely agree on what the cloud is or isn't, one thing is clear: At it's essence the cloud deliberately intends to complete the abstraction of technology infrastructures in the modern business setting.
Companies don't care about CPUs, storage, bandwidth or the facilities and resources required to house those things. They also don't care about software maintenance, patching and upgrades or database management and tuning. The truth is they never really did; it was a prerequisite to reaching their business automation objectives and nothing more.
Cloud computing ushers in a new generation of information management solutions, packaged as all encompassing, pay-as-you-go subscription offerings that are scalable for businesses of all sizes. All are delivered via the Internet. Businesses won't be required to understand the nuances of these services any more than they concern themselves with how phone calls are completed through the infrastructure of one or more carrier providers today. You dial the number, it rings on the far end and someone answers. It's a complete abstraction as far as the user of the service is concerned.
Once upon a time in the not so distant past, businesses employed telecom experts on their staff to ensure that those services were provisioned affordably and reliably. Except for a very small number of companies today, this is no longer the case. In particular, decision-makers for small and midsize businesses have improved information system alternatives to slect from that didn't exist as recently as five years ago because of the advent of the cloud.
The last great single tenant, client server business application of the 1990s has already been delivered to the marketplace. With very few exceptions, every substantial, sustainable, commercially viable iece of business software constructed in the days and years ahead will be engineered to leverage the attributes of the cloud.
It's the owner-operators and the decision-makers for the small and midsize companies who either have already redeployed their information technology systems into the cloud or are presently planning to do so shortly, who will be the winners and the champions of cloud computing.
Dave Rice CEO, TrueCloud www.truecloud.com
Cloud computing has been loosely defined as the aspirin that will cure whatever ails you as it has come to mean just about anything related to the Internet. While we all can't entirely agree on what the cloud is or isn't, one thing is clear: At it's essence the cloud deliberately intends to complete the abstraction of technology infrastructures in the modern business setting.
Companies don't care about CPUs, storage, bandwidth or the facilities and resources required to house those things. They also don't care about software maintenance, patching and upgrades or database management and tuning. The truth is they never really did; it was a prerequisite to reaching their business automation objectives and nothing more.
Cloud computing ushers in a new generation of information management solutions, packaged as all encompassing, pay-as-you-go subscription offerings that are scalable for businesses of all sizes. All are delivered via the Internet. Businesses won't be required to understand the nuances of these services any more than they concern themselves with how phone calls are completed through the infrastructure of one or more carrier providers today. You dial the number, it rings on the far end and someone answers. It's a complete abstraction as far as the user of the service is concerned.
Once upon a time in the not so distant past, businesses employed telecom experts on their staff to ensure that those services were provisioned affordably and reliably. Except for a very small number of companies today, this is no longer the case. In particular, decision-makers for small and midsize businesses have improved information system alternatives to slect from that didn't exist as recently as five years ago because of the advent of the cloud.
The last great single tenant, client server business application of the 1990s has already been delivered to the marketplace. With very few exceptions, every substantial, sustainable, commercially viable iece of business software constructed in the days and years ahead will be engineered to leverage the attributes of the cloud.
It's the owner-operators and the decision-makers for the small and midsize companies who either have already redeployed their information technology systems into the cloud or are presently planning to do so shortly, who will be the winners and the champions of cloud computing.
Dave Rice CEO, TrueCloud www.truecloud.com
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Business in the Clouds
Cloud computing is shaping up to be the single largest transformational event in information technology and management since the personal computer was introduced to corporate businesses in the mid to late eighties. This is because like the personal computer revolution, cloud computing has everything to do with how businesses will utilize these new capabilities. Not how IT will.
Cloud computing has been loosely defined as the aspirin that will cure whatever ails you, having come to mean just about anything related to the internet. While we all can’t entirely agree on what the cloud is or isn’t, one thing is clear. At it’s essence, the cloud deliberately intends to complete the abstraction of technology infrastructures in the modern business setting. Companies don’t care about CPU’s and storage, and bandwidth, or the facilities and resources required to house those things. They don’t care about software maintenance, patching and upgrades or database management and tuning either. The truth is they never really did. It was a prerequisite to reaching their business automation objectives and nothing more.
Cloud computing ushers in a new generation of information management solutions packaged as all encompassing, consumption based, scalable, pay as you go subscription offerings for businesses of all sizes, delivered via the internet. Businesses won’t be required to understand the nuances of these services anymore then they concern themselves with how phone calls are completed through the infrastructure of one or more carrier service providers today. You dial the number, it rings on the far end and someone answers. It’s an abstraction as far as the customer is concerned. Once upon a time in the not so very distant past, businesses employed telecom experts on their staff to ensure that those services were provisioned affordably and reliably. Except for a very small number of businesses today, this is no longer the case.
Decision makers for small and mid sized businesses in particular, have a set of improved information system alternatives to choose from that for the most part didn’t exist as recent as five years ago as a result of the advent of the cloud. The last great 1990’s single tenant, client server business application has already been delivered to the marketplace. With very few exceptions, every substantial, sustainable, commercially viable piece of business software constructed in the days and years ahead, will be engineered to leverage the attributes of the cloud.
It’s the owner operators and the decision makers for the small and mid sized companies who have either already redeployed their information technology systems into the cloud or are presently planning to do so shortly, that will be the winners and the champions for cloud computing.
Dave Rice CEO, TrueCloud
www.truecloud.com
Cloud computing has been loosely defined as the aspirin that will cure whatever ails you, having come to mean just about anything related to the internet. While we all can’t entirely agree on what the cloud is or isn’t, one thing is clear. At it’s essence, the cloud deliberately intends to complete the abstraction of technology infrastructures in the modern business setting. Companies don’t care about CPU’s and storage, and bandwidth, or the facilities and resources required to house those things. They don’t care about software maintenance, patching and upgrades or database management and tuning either. The truth is they never really did. It was a prerequisite to reaching their business automation objectives and nothing more.
Cloud computing ushers in a new generation of information management solutions packaged as all encompassing, consumption based, scalable, pay as you go subscription offerings for businesses of all sizes, delivered via the internet. Businesses won’t be required to understand the nuances of these services anymore then they concern themselves with how phone calls are completed through the infrastructure of one or more carrier service providers today. You dial the number, it rings on the far end and someone answers. It’s an abstraction as far as the customer is concerned. Once upon a time in the not so very distant past, businesses employed telecom experts on their staff to ensure that those services were provisioned affordably and reliably. Except for a very small number of businesses today, this is no longer the case.
Decision makers for small and mid sized businesses in particular, have a set of improved information system alternatives to choose from that for the most part didn’t exist as recent as five years ago as a result of the advent of the cloud. The last great 1990’s single tenant, client server business application has already been delivered to the marketplace. With very few exceptions, every substantial, sustainable, commercially viable piece of business software constructed in the days and years ahead, will be engineered to leverage the attributes of the cloud.
It’s the owner operators and the decision makers for the small and mid sized companies who have either already redeployed their information technology systems into the cloud or are presently planning to do so shortly, that will be the winners and the champions for cloud computing.
Dave Rice CEO, TrueCloud
www.truecloud.com
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Why the Cloud fits best in 2010 with SMB
Clould is quite simply the single most important advancement of the computing age since the introduction of personal computers into corporate America.
But the big guys (large enterprises with 500 employees and above), see this recent phenomenon as amounting to little more than the next progression in outsourcing IT infrastructure. A more elaborate incarnation of a hosted service, so to speak, and therefore another cost reduction opportunity.
Why is this true? Well, large enterprises have CIOs who in turn have huge intellectual property investments in people, product and footprint that will require several years to unravel from.
Even if a large enterprise CIO was predisposed to redeploy all of his IT services to the cloud, a relatively elaborate blueprint defining how to get from here to there would be required first.
And most large enterprise CIOs are not thinking that way. Most are going to be quite deliberate in targeting appropriate workloads for redeployment over time. It's my belief they will be forced to make the leap before they're entirely comfortable with the idea.
In a any case, there's nothing wrong with the cost cutting perspective although it's a gross underestimation of the power of the cloud.
SMBs on the other hand, are embracing the cloud as a atrategic differentiator, bringing capability to them that was previously unaffordable and in turn leveling the playing field dramatically between them and the much larger companies who heretofore were the only ones who could afford these capabilities.
SMBs are not encumbered with decades of commitment to in house IT innovation.
But this is just the beginning. What we're seeing is that as more and more SMB companies redeploy their IT services into the cloud, the collaborative aspects of the internet are beginning to take hold. The result is that the community aspects of the cloud for the services that can and should reside outside the firewall are paving the way for the rapid advancement of entirely new capability for the businesses wise enough to take advantage.
I've said before that the last great single tenant client server type, 1990's application has already been built. Up and down the eastern and western seaboards where new technology offerings are spawning, every new company is adopting cloud and developing new capabilities using it's model.
If your an SMB business with 500 employees or less, it's time for you to give serious consideration to redeploying your IT services into the cloud.
Call us! We can get you there!!
Dave Rice CEO, TrueCloud
www.truecloud.com
But the big guys (large enterprises with 500 employees and above), see this recent phenomenon as amounting to little more than the next progression in outsourcing IT infrastructure. A more elaborate incarnation of a hosted service, so to speak, and therefore another cost reduction opportunity.
Why is this true? Well, large enterprises have CIOs who in turn have huge intellectual property investments in people, product and footprint that will require several years to unravel from.
Even if a large enterprise CIO was predisposed to redeploy all of his IT services to the cloud, a relatively elaborate blueprint defining how to get from here to there would be required first.
And most large enterprise CIOs are not thinking that way. Most are going to be quite deliberate in targeting appropriate workloads for redeployment over time. It's my belief they will be forced to make the leap before they're entirely comfortable with the idea.
In a any case, there's nothing wrong with the cost cutting perspective although it's a gross underestimation of the power of the cloud.
SMBs on the other hand, are embracing the cloud as a atrategic differentiator, bringing capability to them that was previously unaffordable and in turn leveling the playing field dramatically between them and the much larger companies who heretofore were the only ones who could afford these capabilities.
SMBs are not encumbered with decades of commitment to in house IT innovation.
But this is just the beginning. What we're seeing is that as more and more SMB companies redeploy their IT services into the cloud, the collaborative aspects of the internet are beginning to take hold. The result is that the community aspects of the cloud for the services that can and should reside outside the firewall are paving the way for the rapid advancement of entirely new capability for the businesses wise enough to take advantage.
I've said before that the last great single tenant client server type, 1990's application has already been built. Up and down the eastern and western seaboards where new technology offerings are spawning, every new company is adopting cloud and developing new capabilities using it's model.
If your an SMB business with 500 employees or less, it's time for you to give serious consideration to redeploying your IT services into the cloud.
Call us! We can get you there!!
Dave Rice CEO, TrueCloud
www.truecloud.com
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The Times They Are a Changing
I was a presenter to a local group of CIO's last week, the majority of whom had been displaced and were looking for a new opportunity in the greater Phoenix area.
I had planned to deliver a power point presentation outlining the present landscape for Cloud Computing, but as we went around the room and made introductions, it became obvious to me that I should scrap the presentation and speak from the heart about my journey and the perspective I've obtained about the way forward for Information Technology and how it's going to be changed forever as a result of Cloud Computing.
My discussion became largely interactive and centered on these points.
In the first place there are fewer opportunities for IT executives in corporate America today, not just because of a poor economy. Poor economies are more often than not, the impetus for most companies to make the necessary adjustments in terms of jobs, which is long overdue.
The truth is that most of those jobs aren't coming back anytime soon, if ever.
When you look at the employment landscape in this country, it's readily apparent where the opportunity lies.
Mike Clough in his article, "America Runs On Small Business" noted the following:
"Only one-tenth of one percent of U.S. businesses have more than 500 employees. 98.2% have fewer than 100 employees. 89.3% have fewer than 20 employees. 78.6% have fewer than 10 employees and 60.8% have fewer than 5 employees."
Since the dawn of IT solutions, small and medium sized businesses have been on the outside looking when it comes to automation opportunities. Their needs almost always ignored by the manufacturers of IT solutions in favor of the bigger prize in the enterprize space.
To a certain extent the internet offered some hope, but in order to substantially narrow the gap it would have to mature beyond simple product catalogs and dropping merchandise into shopping carts.
Cloud Computing solutions have paved the way for the smaller businesses to begin leverage automation through affordable, pay-as-you-go solutions, but these solutions will also require help and guidance in terms of planning and blueprinting from experienced IT resources if their transformational characteristics are going to be fully realized and exploited.
The kind of experience that can be provided by the displaced senior IT types from the enterprise sector, if they can make the leap.
So my message to the IT community is that while the opportunity within the large enterprise space has substantially diminished in 2010, there is an equally sizeable opportunity for experienced IT resources willing to move down market and get acquainted with Cloud Computing.
Dave Rice CEO, TrueCloud
www.truecloud.com
I had planned to deliver a power point presentation outlining the present landscape for Cloud Computing, but as we went around the room and made introductions, it became obvious to me that I should scrap the presentation and speak from the heart about my journey and the perspective I've obtained about the way forward for Information Technology and how it's going to be changed forever as a result of Cloud Computing.
My discussion became largely interactive and centered on these points.
In the first place there are fewer opportunities for IT executives in corporate America today, not just because of a poor economy. Poor economies are more often than not, the impetus for most companies to make the necessary adjustments in terms of jobs, which is long overdue.
The truth is that most of those jobs aren't coming back anytime soon, if ever.
When you look at the employment landscape in this country, it's readily apparent where the opportunity lies.
Mike Clough in his article, "America Runs On Small Business" noted the following:
"Only one-tenth of one percent of U.S. businesses have more than 500 employees. 98.2% have fewer than 100 employees. 89.3% have fewer than 20 employees. 78.6% have fewer than 10 employees and 60.8% have fewer than 5 employees."
Since the dawn of IT solutions, small and medium sized businesses have been on the outside looking when it comes to automation opportunities. Their needs almost always ignored by the manufacturers of IT solutions in favor of the bigger prize in the enterprize space.
To a certain extent the internet offered some hope, but in order to substantially narrow the gap it would have to mature beyond simple product catalogs and dropping merchandise into shopping carts.
Cloud Computing solutions have paved the way for the smaller businesses to begin leverage automation through affordable, pay-as-you-go solutions, but these solutions will also require help and guidance in terms of planning and blueprinting from experienced IT resources if their transformational characteristics are going to be fully realized and exploited.
The kind of experience that can be provided by the displaced senior IT types from the enterprise sector, if they can make the leap.
So my message to the IT community is that while the opportunity within the large enterprise space has substantially diminished in 2010, there is an equally sizeable opportunity for experienced IT resources willing to move down market and get acquainted with Cloud Computing.
Dave Rice CEO, TrueCloud
www.truecloud.com
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
New Year - It's time to Break out!
The typical pattern in terms of a business reaction to a slowing economy is to cut expenses, sometimes very deep. We all know that.
This is followed with a period of no net new expenses of any kind for an extended period. I was reminded by a colleague of mine recently of an experience we shared with our past CEO, during the period immediately following the dot.com bubble burst a decade ago now.
Our CEO said, "I don't care what it is, we're not adding back any expense for anything right now. Don't talk to me about investment until we start to see some growth around here."
In the recent past, we've seen the expense reductions. For most of 2009, we've witnessed the post reduction freeze cycle, where new investment cannot be separated from additional expense. It all looks the same when you've just gone through a period of heavy cuts.
But gradually business leaders realize that they can't remain there. That they will have to lean in and make some net new investments or run the risk of becoming stale and uncompetitive.
With 2010, we're beginning to see signs of a break out for businesses who are making some targeted investments. They're looking for very near term ROI opportunities (roughly a year, give or take).
A transition of your IT services to the Cloud can give you that immediate return on investment by lowering your costs, reducing your dependency on expensive resources as well as a speedy, non disruptive implementation of the new services.
Give us a call at TrueCloud. We'll show how this can be done in your business.
Dave Rice CEO, TrueCloud
www.truecloud.com
This is followed with a period of no net new expenses of any kind for an extended period. I was reminded by a colleague of mine recently of an experience we shared with our past CEO, during the period immediately following the dot.com bubble burst a decade ago now.
Our CEO said, "I don't care what it is, we're not adding back any expense for anything right now. Don't talk to me about investment until we start to see some growth around here."
In the recent past, we've seen the expense reductions. For most of 2009, we've witnessed the post reduction freeze cycle, where new investment cannot be separated from additional expense. It all looks the same when you've just gone through a period of heavy cuts.
But gradually business leaders realize that they can't remain there. That they will have to lean in and make some net new investments or run the risk of becoming stale and uncompetitive.
With 2010, we're beginning to see signs of a break out for businesses who are making some targeted investments. They're looking for very near term ROI opportunities (roughly a year, give or take).
A transition of your IT services to the Cloud can give you that immediate return on investment by lowering your costs, reducing your dependency on expensive resources as well as a speedy, non disruptive implementation of the new services.
Give us a call at TrueCloud. We'll show how this can be done in your business.
Dave Rice CEO, TrueCloud
www.truecloud.com
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