I did a piece for an industry website which focused on opportunities for companies like mine.    I’m reusing that content, but thinking about what it means for our customers.

In that article, I discussed some content that my HTG colleague, Reed Wilson from Palmetto Technology, recently sent over.  He saw a marketing pitch a cloud software provider in the healthcare space.   The pitch boiled down to essentially “You were never trained to use Facebook or Gmail and you’ll never need to be trained on our software.  That’s the beauty of Cloud Computing.”

Reed intelligently continues with some analysis.  He notes that it sets a very unrealistic expectation for the buyer.    Comparing practice management software to Gmail or Facebook is unrealistic.   Does the cloud application handle complex workflows and work processes?

It does, Reed continues, sell.  And some customers are buying the pitch, even if it doesn’t always result in what they think it is.  The perception is that cloud computing is automatically cheaper than going with an on-premise one .   When we compare the on-premise with cloud solutions, they are often very similar.

The true promise of cloud computing is not “simplicity” or “cheap”, but in a wiser way to spend IT dollars, giving higher reliability and lower administration costs.  That doesn’t necessarily result in “simple” or cheap”.   This is critically important to examine when looking at a cloud solution.

This discussion expanded when Mike Ritsema with i3 Business Solutions chimed in.    He brought some facts to bear.

“IBM made 84% of their profit last year from services and software.  They’ve acquired over 100 companies in these areas over the last 10 years.  7% of their profit came from hardware.  They love the complication of integrating disparate technology.”

Mike’s list of ways companies integrate into the cloud was dead on:

•EDI

•Payroll

•Web browsing

•Buying

•RFP / RFI

•Collaboration

•Blogs, Social Networking

•E-mail

Mike outlined a recent customer solution, showing where he brought value to a small business.   “I just finished a small business a deal:  QuickBooks, Fishbowl Distribution Software, EZ Connector integration software, ASP DOT NET eCommerce, Authorize .NET Credit Card Processing, Cloud email, IBM Server, Cisco Firewall, implementation services, and Redundant internet access.”   His company’s value, and the area they see growth, opportunity, and the ability to make money in helping customers, is bolting and holding “this stuff together” for the next decade.

Mike continues, however, noting “It’s as complicated or more complicated than an on premise solution.”  This means it’s not necessarily “cheaper” but it does add significant capabilities to his customer, something they couldn’t have before.

We see cloud computing as incredibly powerful — but we also see more and more confusion in the market place.  Cloud computing is a new paradigm, a new way to deliver some solutions.   It offers high availability where it couldn’t be delivered before.   It doesn’t always mean “cheap”, however.

I’ve had little to say.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for me, as post WPC i had work to do, and then a week in the UK for HTG11 and a few more days in Chicago for HTG5.    Now that those are done, I’m in those few moments before I dig in again.

I’m doing a financial analysis piece that one of my HTG5 colleagues shared with me this week.  It’s an interesting model — looking at your rate of change over time to understand how the business grows and shrinks as the business ebbs and flows.   I’ve done the first round by putting the numbers together and seeing the trends.  I want to lay on our history and the information about the economy to see how much was “me” and how much was “outside me”.

So I’m off to do that.   Financials on the mind….

I believe in tracking systems.      Not spy movie style tracking systems, but rather the idea of having something that keeps track of everything in your business.

For Evolve, this system is the heart of what we do.  Everything is tracked within it, and we have signs posted around the office that say “if it’s not in ConnectWise, it doesn’t exist”.  Only things written down and documented are managed.  Because if it can’t be measured, it can’t be managed.   I recently wrote a piece about this for my industry colleagues, and I think it’s very relevant for my customers.

If you’re driving a car, you require a pretty steady stream of data to ensure you’re operating well. Your speedometer ensures you’re going the right speed, you keep an eye on the gas tank, your GPS for directions, your mirrors to know what is around you, and even the feel of the car to know how it’s running. But driving your car on feel alone would be impossible.

The same is true of business. Without good metrics, you can’t know how well the business is running without knowing the details. How efficient is your team? How profitable? How does your sales pipe look? Is your marketing functioning?

It’s important to take the time and measure all the parts, so as you adjust and make decisions, you know how well you’re doing. If you make a change to the way services are delivered, did you make it better? You only know if you know how well it worked before, and thus an improvement or slowdown in service will be shown via those metrics. Sales suffer from much the same problem. If you don’t measure, how do you know how well you’re doing?

There are multiple systems to help with tracking these kind of metrics, and generally fit into the category of “Customer Relationship Management”, or CRM.   These tools let you track the various pieces of your business, and tie into your financial metrics systems.    Ultimately, you get insight into the various parts of your business, and let your team manage the parts that are important to them.

Embrace the numbers. They’ll help you drive your car better, and help you drive your business better.

I think I’m really close to being able to give up carrying a laptop on trips. 

I’ve been sticking to my iPad for the majority of my mobile work, and so far loving it.   Email, RSS, browsing, all work just as well on the iPad.  I do have a short list of things i can’t do well.

Document editing.   All my stuff now lives either in SharePoint or in DropBox, so i can get to all my data and read anything.   I just can’t edit it and put it back.  That is something i need fixed.

Instant Messaging.   I am a pretty heavy IM user, and between Skype, Windows Messenger, and AOL IM, I chat a lot.  Meebo covers a lot of that, but without multitasking, I’m either messaging or working, and that is kinda annoying.   I’m hoping the software upgrade fixes this complaint.

Blogging.  To my shock, I can’t find a good blogging tool.   Sucks.

ConnectWise.   Despite making it work via Wyse PocketCloud to hosted desktop, I’m really itching to have this solved by a native app.

Presenting.   If I’m giving a presentation, I still feel I need a laptop.  While I can connect a VGA out to the iPad, using my iPhone as a remote just doesn’t work for me.  I have a little presenter remote I rely on when giving a talk, and i still feel I need that setup when I’m presenting.  However, I might consider my net book in those cases now….   

But I’m close.   I’m really close to feeling like I don’t need a laptop.

I tend to fly a lot.   I’m not George Clooney by any stretch, but I find myself on planes frequently.  I’ve had some pretty boring flights, and some good ones.   The memorable ones tend to be either really good, or really bad.   The stewardess on a flight from Chicago to DC who was cracking jokes with such a dry wit most of us didn’t even notice at first was a memorable,

And then there was the miserable experience from Las Vegas home to DC.

The flight itself wasn’t that bad.   While we pushed back from the gate on time (so the airline could get it’s on time score) we sat on the ground for 30 minutes waiting on weather to clear in DC.  There was a lot of turbulence, and so it wasn’t a particularly comfortable ride.

These little details weren’t what made it painful.   I almost expect that as I fly.

What made it painful was how often the stewardess, the one who used the microphone the most, communicated with us.

I can’t remember how often I was told “No” on this flight.

It started with her announcement of the delay, which went something like this.

“As the captain has indicated, we’ll be on the ground a bit now.  We won’t be serving any beverage service as we wait for clearance.”

Ok, sure, but probably better ways to tell us this.

After the regular beverage service, which I admit I didn’t pay much attention to, she announced a second service.

“We’ll be coming through the cabin, offering coffee and water.  The water has no ice.   If you want anything else, we aren’t offering it.  We have coffee and water with no ice.”

Here’s where I started noticing the trend.   Everything was “No.”  I wasn’t alone.  The girl next to me started snickering too, and I asked her, and she agreed — this crew was surly, and it was about what we didn’t get.

The plane had some considerable turbulence on the flight.   As you might expect, our negative nelly made sure to tell us.

“There is no standing in the aisle when the captain has the fasten seatbelt sign on.  Do not stand in the aisle.”

Yes, this is a safety issue.   As I’m getting to… there’s a better way to say this.

The best part, however, was about 30 minutes from landing in Washington’s Reagan National Airport.  Now, DCA was the last airport to reopen after 9/11, and has notably had some different security rules.  In the past.    Her announcement.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are now 40 minutes away from landing.   Due to federal regulations, all passengers must be in their seats 30 minutes from landing at DCA.  This means you won’t be able to go to the bathroom or stand up.   You cannot go to the bathroom.   If you need to go, go now.  You won’t be able to get up again.”

She actually counted down.

“You now have 8 minutes to go to the bathroom.  You won’t be able to do after this.   There is NO going to the bathroom in 8 minutes.”

The passengers were starting to snicker, but notably, those of us who fly regularly, were getting angry — you could tell.

She then announced “It’s now 30 minutes from landing.  There is no getting up.”

The landing was relatively quiet, and no one did get up.   The crew was in their seats early due to the turbulence, and we landed and disembarked.

I was pretty sure the regulation she was citing was outdated, and sure enough, I was right.

http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2005/press_release_0607.shtm

We’ve been talking a lot about “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” – BHAGs, for short. For those not familiar, from Wikipedia:

“The term Big Hairy Audacious Goal (”BHAG”) was proposed by James Collins and Jerry Porras in their 1996 article entitled Building Your Company’s Vision. A BHAG encourages companies to define visionary goals that are more strategic and emotionally compelling.

In the article, the authors define a BHAG (pronounced BEE-hag) as a form of vision statement “…an audacious 10-to-30-year goal to progress towards an envisioned future.”

A true BHAG is clear and compelling, serves as unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a clear catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines.
—Collins and Porras, 1996
“

Now, building your vision of the future is an ambitious, positive goal. And sometimes, it’s incredibly difficult to do. Particularly if you’re a younger business owner, the idea of planning your future that far in advance can be difficult.

Eric Kehmeier of Integrated Business Technologies in my HTG5 group and I were discussing this concept around the CompTIA training session we were participating in. He was really having a difficult time, as he mentioned that he could do a 1 and 5 year goal pretty easily, but couldn’t see himself in ten or twenty years. We’re both similar ages, and both married and without kids. As younger business owners, the future sometimes feels harder to describe. I tried to help.

“Are you having kids one day?”, I asked. “Well, yes, we’re planning on it.”, he replied.

“Great. So let me paint a picture for you. You’re standing at the University of Oklahoma about 22 years from now. Your daughter is walking across the stage to pick up her bachelor’s degree in Communications.”

He asked “Why communications?”

I replied “Because you don’t get to pick what your kids get their degrees in. So I’ll pick for you.” After he chuckled, I continued. “Angie is sitting next to you, and you’re both very proud of her. So tell me about who you want to be on that day. What does your daughter think about her Dad?”

He paused, and told me that no one had ever drawn the future so clearly for him, and he could see that vision much more clearly. We talked more, using that image to talk about details. Did they drive there? What kind of car? What is their house like? What things was his daughter proud of her Dad for? How much time did he have for kids activities? What kind of trips did they take for vacation? How did they pay for college? A litany of questions were hashed out, and once we had the basis for his family life, we could talk about what his business looked like at the same time.

How much money was needed to hit that plan? What did his work day look like? Was he still running that business? What did it look like? Using the basis of where he wanted to be on that day 22 years in the future, it becomes easier to picture the plan to get there.

I talk about planning a lot. A direction and a plan are vital to executing well in the business world. The challenge is often how to visualize what that plan looks like, and how you might get there. When the BHAG is an intangible target, it doesn’t live and breathe and become part of your organization. Goals and dreams that are just spoken or written down without completeness to them don’t become executed on, and don’t get the momentum necessary to accomplish them.

When the BHAG is communicated in the smile of a daughter standing on her graduation day at the man she’s proud to call Dad, it takes on a whole new meaning.

I will admit, I wasn’t a big fan of Ernest Hemingway in school. “The Old Man and the Sea” is the book that most clearly stands out for me, and it simply was a very long story about fishing, which didn’t move me. It’s a lot of sitting, and I didn’t understand why the Old Man was so determined. Hemingway has left a number of striking quotes that are much more impactful than the time spent fishing. One of his best is:

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.”

One of the biggest items to consider as we do our work is that of communication. We often work on a number of issues, and document our progress, and write notes, and complete a number of different tasks to ensure the work is completed. But the most overlooked, yet single most important piece, is the communication with our customers to ensure they know about the solution and that the solution fits their needs.

George Bernard Shaw once said that “The problem with communication … is the illusion that it has been accomplished.” It’s not always enough to write an email or leave a voicemail – to ensure that we’ve truly completed our tasks, sometimes it’s important to take the time and ask, and then listen to the answer, and listen completely.

Take the time to be sure you’ve communicated completely, and when you listen to the answer, listen completely. You’ll be amazed at what a difference it makes!

The subject line was very catchy – “Free Broadband from the Government Good/Bad”.

One of the discussion groups I’m on lit up with a discussion about the government and a broadband plan. Since my office has a reasonably nice view of the US Marine Corps Memorial, and my morning commute gives me a nice view of the Washington Monument as I approach the Potomac River, you might guess I have some contact with the US Government. I was surprised to learn that the Fed was going to dig a trench in my backyard and give me high speed Internet connectivity. It would certainly save me a pretty penny. Perhaps a Man in Black will arrive with fiber cables to connect to my house.

Of course, that’s not what “The Plan” is. You can actually read it, at www.broadband.gov, and I found the Executive Summary to be very good. . In particular, the six major goals of the effort give some indication of what the plan is.

Picking on Washington plans is often sport, particularly for those who don’t take the time to read the laws. I didn’t know a lot about this particular initiative, but happen to know someone who does. Lawyers are quite an industry here in Washington, and I have some friends involved in that industry, and spent some time talking with Nathan Campbell, a telecommunications attorney here in the DC area. He was familiar with the plan, and he helped me out with some of the specifics.
“The National Broadband Plan is the equivalent of rural electrification for the 21st century. It’s not ‘free’ or even government-subsidized broadband, it’s the federal government’s attempt to lower infrastructure costs in a way that encourages private providers to spur development in areas that are currently underserved”, he said.

This makes a lot of sense. With all of our talk of “Cloud” and the future of technology, if we don’t have the right infrastructure this is going to be critical. The comparison to electrification not only fits with previous writing on this topic (such as Nick Carr’s “The Big Switch”), but also the coverage problem in the sections of the country like the Midwest. Even here in a major metropolitan area, my own office building doesn’t have multiple options for connectivity that are of the high speed we’re looking for. Unless we can ensure we have connectivity everywhere, it will be very challenging to deliver services based upon cloud-based services.

In fact, government can make a big difference, as Nathan continues. “The federal government can impact all levels of government either through legislation or rulemaking (the FCC recently imposed limits on the amount of time local governments have to review telecommunications permit applications) or through leading by example (simplifying the process for locating equipment on federal property, public rights-of-ways, utility poles and other public infrastructure.)”
Part of Nathan’s job is working with carriers to ensure they have access to the right land options for putting the physical infrastructure in place.

As for the price tag for this plan? From the Executive Summary:

“Given the plan’s goal of freeing 500 megahertz of spectrum, future wireless auctions mean the overall plan will be revenue neutral, if not revenue positive. The vast majority of recommendations do not require new government funding; rather, they seek to drive improvements in government efficiency, streamline processes and encourage private activity to promote consumer welfare and national priorities. The funding requests relate to public safety, deployment to unserved areas and adoption efforts. If the spectrum auction recommendations are implemented, the plan is likely to offset the potential costs.”

That’s even better news. This is a government directive that is intended to not only not cost money, but potentially drive efficiency, process, and encourage private growth. Public-private partnerships can be some of the most beneficial ways to stimulate the economy, with each side doing what they do best.

I’m a particular fan of Goal No. 2 “The United States should lead the world in mobile innovation, with the fastest and most extensive wireless networks of any nation.”

It’s important to understand that sometimes it takes a national vision to achieve something great. The Apollo moon landings would not have happened without a bold declaration from our leadership. Technologies that make a massive difference in our lives, such as innovations in integrated circuits, avionics, telecommunications, cooling, recycling, food, insulation, and fuel cells all came from this government led initiative.

This National Broadband Plan could be taken as the US IT industry’s own Apollo program. We may not launch someone to the moon, but it’s a major initiative and critical. The plan is before Congress now. I think it’s one to be whole-heartedly supported.

I’m sitting on a plane heading to one of the IT Mecca’s, Redmond, Washington. I’m attending the Microsoft MVP Summit, and it’s a six-hour flight from Newark to Seattle. Flights of significant distance like this one require a combination of survival tactics. First, a fully charged laptop to do some writing and email. Second, a fully loaded iPhone with several entertainment options to take a break with. And finally, a good book.

For this trip, I took Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, by Verne Harnish. I had the pleasure of seeing Verne speak at the ConnectWise Partner Summit back in November and brought his book home, earmarked to read. This trip, I read it.

Business books are key to being an effective leader in your organization. As a leader, your role is to bring new ideas and help your customers, your team, and your organization move into the future. Harnish takes a very practical approach to growth, and outlines his thoughts on planning.

Harnish focuses on the rhythm of business, and it led me to think about the heartbeat of our own business. As service providers, we often focus on the flow of service tickets, Service Level Agreements and our delivery of them, our utilization numbers, and any myriad of statistics that ensure good service delivery.

But are we helping our teams establish a rhythm? Harnish talks about the benefits of the patterns of daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual meetings to help teams come together and know where they are toward reaching their goals.

Goals are vital to our success, particularly as a Managed Services Provider, and in order to be successful with a goal setting strategy, we need to take the time to set goals, understand how to measure success, and how to drive those successes.

As business owners, we often get lost in the mechanics of operations. We spend too much time working “in” the business, rather than work “on” the business. (Hectic days will do that!) It’s a challenge to strike the right balance between the two, but it’s vital to master. Our teams depend on us setting the right goals and establishing the rhythm of the organization, but we often focus too much on the metrics of the business and not enough on helping our teams become effective in achieving them.

To execute those goals we need to march step by step, in unison, in the same direction. A rhythm of meetings and checkpoints are incredibly important in making this happen.

Now this is all great in theory, but what are some practical things that you can do to establish this? Here are some ideas.

Goal setting. Set yourself a schedule, and take the time to review your goals. Do you set goals on an annual basis, and define steps on a quarterly basis to achieve it? You need to. Take the time.

Thinking time. To establish those goals, you need time. Set aside some time to dream. If you don’t have the time to think about the future, how can you head toward it?

Set the rhythm. Set an established pattern for your business. Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual patterns are important. Keep to a schedule, and make it a priority for your business.

These steps sound simple, but they’re vital to making your business a success.

As I deplane, I highly recommend Verne Harnish’s book. It’s a great place to start on your planning of each of the steps you need to take to be successful.

I get often asked about my opinions on certifications. In the IT world in particular, vendors encourage solution providers to get their teams certified on their products and technologies. A number of technicians focus on collecting as many certifications as they can to show their technical knowledge.

I’ll start my assessment by saying that I have long believed that alone, certifications do not necessarily indicate the technical skill of an engineer. I know a number of engineers who don’t hold any certifications who I consider incredibly knowledgeable and incredibly capable, and I’ve known engineers who hold a number of certifications who I wouldn’t let touch a single one of my customer’s systems. A certification alone does not make for a measurement of an engineer.

IT, unlike medical and law practices, does not have a regulated system of ensuring that an IT firm is capable. Thus, we need to use a different set of criteria to judge technical skills.

From an engineer’s perspective, getting a certification shows an investment in their own education and becoming a better technician. It can show their interest in technology, their investment in themselves and their dedication to the field. I tend to look at the power of trends here. When an engineer keeps acquiring certifications, I know that they are interested in what they do, looking to continue to advance themselves, and looking to take on new challenges. An engineer who achieves a certification and never moves further, however, leaves an indication that they are not as dedicated.

From a business owner’s perspective, certifications give me a sense of what is important to my vendor partners and what areas I should continue to focus on. A series of exams tell me which products are of interest, and do give me a perspective on what my engineers should know.

From our vendor partner’s perspective, certifications let them know our commitment to their programs, and our level of engagement. If we take the time to invest in their training programs, they know we have a level of commitment to working with their technologies well. This ensures we can be capable of delivering solutions to a standard.

With customers, certifications show the level of commitment that an organization has to their partners and to their field. Again, alone they aren’t an indication of capabilities, but in conjunction with an organization’s references and capabilities, they give indications on how well an organization can serve them.

In short, certifications show investment, trending, and commitment, but alone aren’t an indicator of capabilities. Building your certifications up in your organization should be a part of your investment in training, but not the only effort made.

I do think it’s important to single out two organizations that take their certifications very seriously in the small business IT consulting realm. Both Microsoft and CompTIA have invested considerably in ensuring that their certifications have measurable value, and as part of a comprehensive training plan are keystones. In fact, for organizations that are looking for their first certifications, this is always where I steer them.

At my firm, our 2010 training plans include a combination of certifications and technical activities that engineers must accomplish to ensure they keep their skills moving forward. This allows us to give them targets of what they should invest in. We don’t use them as the sole indication of their ability, but for the reasons above, it gives us a sense of their capabilities, and a way to further their own careers. Certifications are one piece of ongoing training and education, but certainly not the only one!