Today’s business leaders face opportunities and challenges that are reshaping traditional business practices. Last month, Smart Business spoke with Greg
Boyd, president of MIS Group, about how
business leaders can become more intentional with regard to integrating business
and technology. This month we spoke with
Boyd, whose company is among the nation’s
premier technology service providers,
about emerging trends and the effect they
are having on the way we do business.
“Our lives are being impacted by a plethora of external influences,” Boyd says.
“Whether a company is a small organization,
a midsized entity or a large enterprise, there
is an inescapable dynamic that is bringing
new challenges and opportunities to each of
them. To stay competitive, business leaders
must understand how technology will
enable them to manage these complexities.”
What are some of the factors that are driving
change within our organizations?
The marketplace is becoming more
mobile, global and sophisticated. Change is
being forced upon us as a result of a globally connected economy, the World Wide
Web, technological innovations and the increased need for mobility in the work force.
To answer these external forces, business
leaders must continually evaluate, refine
and adapt their technology and processes.
Businesses are facing global and economic pressure like never before. Today’s
intensely competitive, intricately connected business environment is requiring business leaders to take a new look at how they
are linking their people, processes and
technology. Connectivity has become
increasingly critical because it is one of the
key components that empowers team
members and allows organizations to
become more productive and, therefore,
more profitable.
Hasn’t connectivity always been important?
Yes, it’s always been important, but now,
it’s reached the critical point. Businesses
can no longer function as self-reliant entities. Team members can no longer operate
as islands unto themselves — performing disparate functions as they isolate themselves from other workers. From the salesperson to the shipping clerk and from the
accounting supervisor to the CEO, each
employee should act as a vested stakeholder. For a business to be productive in this
global pressure cooker, every staff member
must be committed to adding value to the
organization.
How can a manager help make that happen?
It’s essential for executives to take a look
at what tools are needed in order to put in
place a seamless workflow, one that breaks
down the traditional barriers between internal functional silos. An employee becomes
exponentially more productive and effective when he or she has a complete view of
the customer, regardless of where the initial
data about that customer originated. This
‘connected’ approach leads to a more
empowered employee and a better customer relationship.
So technology has a lot to do with creating
employee and customer satisfaction?
Yes, but it doesn’t stop there. A thoughtful
approach to technology doesn’t just allow for a smoother internal operation or a better
relationship with customers, it also helps a
business respond to the external forces we
have been discussing.
Take the present economic downturn in
the United States. Every leader should be
asking, ‘Do I know what impact this will
have on my business? Do I have the right
technology in place to make intelligent decisions regarding leading key performance
indicators (KPIs), cash flow forecasting and
modeling? Do I know which of my business
units are most profitable and why? Do I
know which of my business units are not
profitable and why? Do I have an accurate
picture of work force productivity, overstocked inventory, hedged pricing for raw
materials and margin erosion due to higher
production costs?’
A business dashboard and other integrated tools are the kind of technologies that
give me the ability to better forecast, analyze, manage and control business performance. When I know what’s going on, I can
react in a timely manner. Instant access to
real-time data across my business enterprise can mean the difference between survival and thrival.
What do you mean by survival or thrival?
Most of us would prefer to thrive rather
than to simply survive. And we certainly
don’t want to fail. We want to flourish in
today’s economy. But to do that, we must be
aware of how customers, suppliers, employees and bankers, to name a few, are all pushing out the boundaries of our enterprise —
reshaping the business landscape.
Visibility, simplicity and relationships are
part of what has become our new business
paradigm. It will become increasingly difficult to play in the game if we are not willing
to use technology to enable these attributes
in our companies. In order to thrive, businesses need applications that are fully integrated. They need technology to collectively
deliver results that allow management to
react to market demands, enhance differentiation and maximize profitability.
GREG BOYD is president of MIS Group, www.misgroupusa.com. Reach him at (866) 467-4181 or [email protected].