"How to eliminate the administrative busy work that
wastes your employee's energy, their enthusiasm and your profit
dollars."
"What you should
know...about Software Integration and Workflow-Automation."
"Why you should care and how
it can work for you."
Your Employees are Expensive.
If people are truly your greatest "asset", when was the
last time you sat down and calculated the "total cost of ownership" of
your employees?
Think about it, you spend a
fortune on:
- Recruiting
- Training
- Salaries
- Federal Taxes
- State Taxes
- Office Space
- Paid Leave
- Health Benefits
- Retirement Benefits
- Deferred Compensation, and
- Turnover (starting the
process all over again.)
When it's all said and done,
exactly how much output do you get for every dollar of wages that you
spend?
If you're like most
professional services firms, you don't really know. And what's worse,
if you did know, it would make you sick to your stomach.
Why?
Because, if you were
to sit down with each of your people and break down their work into the
smallest components of what they "actually" do, most of it is just
"busy work."
You know -- spinning their
wheels:
Waiting for people to
respond -- "Hey, you got a minute?"
- The client wants to know the
status of their job, so they call and interrupt the Engagement Manager,
- who calls and interrupts the
Project Manager,
- who calls and interrupts the
Resource Manager,
- who calls and interrupts the
Technician,
You get the idea.
Or, they waste time on
"Administrivia," for example:
- Looking up files, And then
verifying that it's the right file,
- Or naming and categorizing
their files and folders, And then Reorganizing their files and folders,
- Or securing back-ups and
authorized access to files,
- Or sending E-mail,
- Or faxing (looking for the
right address and sending),
- Or transferring files (via
diskette, disc cartridge, CD-ROM, tape cartridge, videotape, or across
networks),
- Or using public online
services,
- Or any other miscellaneous
activities, including use of pagers, chat, etc.
Then there is self-directed
problem-solving,
- And self-directed software
training
- And self-directed internet
training,
- And self-directed hardware
and network training,
- And other computer-related
productivity practices.
Then there is writing
business-related reports,
- And writing project-related
reports,
- And writing correspondence
(with contractors, vendors, employees, and clients), and other
miscellaneous tasks associated with databases, personal information
managers, et cetera.
"So What?" You say-- "that's
what the job requires."
Not Exactly.
A lot of the work that is done
today, is almost the same work you were doing before you had computers,
only you did it manually and because everybody operated the same way,
the expectations were different.
Unfortunately, you were seduced
into buying computers to make your life "easier", and instead all you
did was change the expectations.
You traded a "regular"
screw driver for an "electric" screw driver.
You made the work get done
faster, but you also raised the expectations.
But, you didn't make your
life any easier.
You've got to ask yourself
these three (3) questions:
- Are you spending less time
working now that you have computers?
- Is your work week any
shorter now that you have computers?
- Do you have more leisure
time now that you have computers?
If you're like most people who
use computers, the answer is a big, fat , NO!
HERE'S A REALITY CHECK:
Unless
you actually have robots doing the work, you are not "automated,"
you're just "computerized" -- trading the regular screw driver for the
electric screwdriver.
Speed up the work, increase the
expectations.
Remember when you use
to create proposals by hand -- paste up boards, exacto knives, finger
cuts and band-aids?
Remember when you use to type
letters on a typewriter, address the envelopes, mail your letters and
then wait for the post office to do its work?
Now you have computers
-- faster tools, instant communications, and higher expectations.
But is that really automation?
Absolutely not.
Automation is when the computer
does the work for you -- types the letter, addresses the envelope and
sends it -- AUTOMATICALLY with no human intervention at all.
Instead, what you've
really got are increased expectations.
Now that everyone has
computers, everyone expects you to get things done instantly.
Pagers, email, cell phones,
wireless computer networks, the world wide internet -- will it ever end?
Probably not in our lifetime.
"With all of this
great technology, why does it still take so long to get things done?"
Speed up the work, increase the
expectations.
"The kitchen might be messy, but I can
still cook."
If
you are like most firms, you spend your time working "in" your business
instead of "on" your business.
Sure, things tend to get a
little messy and disorganized when you're hot and heavy on project-
after project- after project, but you still manage to get the work out
the door.
Of course, you keep your
fingers crossed that there are no errors and ommissions. You know,
those mistakes that could be fatal to your business.
But then it happens,
and it always happens, at the worst possible time, something goes
terribly wrong -- the kitchen gets so messy that your top
"professional" uses the wrong version of (logo, copy, layout, etc.) and
it gets printed in a million magazines before anyone catches the
problem. OUCH!
Why does this happen? Why do
these computers always screw things up?
It seems that we
forget, or don't realize that the computers that we have on our desks
today are more powerful than the most expensive mainframe computers of
25 years ago.
The computers that required,
or rather, demanded a full-time staff of professionals in white coats
to keep them organized and running properly.
Where is your full-time staff
of professionals? You know, five guys with computer science degrees in
white coats keeping your systems running optimally?
If you are like most
firms, you probably have one technical support person. Maybe an
administrator who is your local "computer whiz," or maybe you have a
full-time technician who is so busy reacting to problems that he/she
doesn't have time to spend "preventing" problems.
Sound familiar?
HERE'S YOUR PROBLEM:
Computers
are like the mafia, once you get in, you can't get out.
You must either embrace
computer technology completely (i.e. invest in "best practices" and
automate your company) or they will slowly, but surely degrade your
business.
What will happen if
you don't fully embrace technology and automate your company?
Computer problems due to
disorganization and a lack of "true" automation leads to:
- Mistakes (errors and
ommissions)
- Slower "Cycle" Times for
getting work out the door.
- Lower Overall Productivity
(the amount of money required to generate sales)
- More Rework (the killer of
profit)
- Lower Revenue (due to fewer
jobs)
- ReInventing the Wheel
(because of a lack of standards)
- Increased Hidden Overhead
(due to more people working longer hours)
- Less Profit (see above)
- Wasted and overlooked assets
- Less Predictable, Less
Scalable Business
- Lower Market Valuation
All of which makes it harder to
sell your company.
However, the most significant fact is
you'll fail to realize your true potential.
Now that's a
crime!
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