Looking back on 2009, I pause on our journey – the anticipation, accomplishments, successes, challenges and disappointments – and am humbled by our growth in these challenging times. My heartfelt appreciation to our clients, supporters and well wishers without whom we would not have come this far.

The year saw expansion and opportunities from DC to California. A few alliances and partnerships were formed while others are in the making, giving us the edge to provide the very best to our clients and the community at large. While there were disappointments and missed opportunities, we are better aligned in moving forward with relationships strengthened, and products and services that are being rendered.

We gathered much knowledge from industry leaders and peers at live conferences, workshops and brainstorm sessions held across the US. I thank the organizers – Enterprise 2.0, MIT CIO, Fortune Branstorm Tech, All Things D, Future Media and many other community events, too many to name – for their tireless effort in providing platforms and tools for leaders and participants to share and grow together for the betterment of technology at large. The knowledge each person shares is priceless as are relationships formed in the hallways – I personally can’t seem to get enough of either.

Hats-off to the entire Simply Web team – internal, consultants and vendors – who silently bear with unreasonable demands, often times request for delivery prior to rollout date, and exceed all expectations time and time again. Without the diligence, smart performance and behind-the-scene excellence, Simply Web would just simply not be. I am grateful for the opportunity to be working with the very best team. My sincere thanks to our directors and advisors who allow me unconditional and unlimited access to their knowledge and expertise – they keep us grounded, extend a helping hand to rise when we fall and give us the push needed when exhausted.

I look forward to a stronger, prosperous and healthy 2010. In the meantime, thank you, 2009, for an interesting year!

Tags: 2009, 2010, Business, challenges, simply web, success, Technology
Posted in Business, Technology |

The disconnect between business and technology is so vast, it is hard to believe one’s (technology) purpose  is to serve the other (business), simply put. In other words, business needs must be understood and identified for technology to deliver. And yet, technology is often excluded during strategic business plans, mistakenly associating technology as “cost” vs strategic partner in providing solutions, in many sectors.

So, logically speaking technology is more than just tools. It is, according to Wikipedia -

Technology deals with human as well as other animal species’ usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species’ ability to control and adapt to its natural environment. The word technology comes from the Greek technología (τεχνολογία) — téchnē (τέχνη), ‘craft’ and -logía (-λογία), the study of something, or the branch of knowledge of a discipline.^[1] A strict definition is elusive; technology can be material objects of use to humanity, such as machines, but can also encompass broader themes, including systems, methods of organization, and techniques. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include “construction technology”, “medical technology”, or “state-of-the-art technology”.

As for technologists themselves, too much focus is on tools – wikis, applications, infrastructure – rather than on strategic, smart solutions composed of people, process and finally tools. The reason is simple: the purchase of a tool, be it most expensive or most “recommended”, does not necessarily mean it’s the best solution for business in the absence of experts and knowledgeable workers. In the hindsight, those tools will ultimately be expensive waste in the company’s ledger. You may own a Ferrari but that will not make you a Formula 1™ Ferrari driver or an expert.

People

People are, or should be, knowledge workers driving innovation, outside-the-box concepts that provide cutting-edge or best solutions demanded and needed by business. People must be strategically allocated according to their individual strengths and knowledge to best serve the business. Unfortunately, the challenge in enterprises is often the people themselves. Larger the corporation, bigger the challenge. Oliver Marks, an expert in enterprise collaboration with intricate knowledge and experience at global level, talks about these internal challenges here, here and here.

On the other hand, technology staffing suppliers can be notorious for advocating “contractors” for projects of all sizes. Vendors love nothing more than providing headcounts – it’s an easy profit, as a prime contractor of a number of large corporations once told me. Sure, it’s a vendor’s dream and the best solution for many projects. But, is it so for every project? Are businesses being matched with right skilled-sets of knowledge workers? Many vendors hike up a candidate’s expertise and experience for a quick sell, often times without the knowledge of the candidate or the client. More importantly, is redundantly placing x number of contractors best option for the business? Adding headcounts without strategic plan is not a solution but a waste of resources and money. Contractors need time to adapt to projects and cultures while the project’s requirement is immediate hands-on. Additionally, bringing contractors on-board cause frictions between them and “employees”, wasting valuable time in a successful rollout. (“Contractors” and  “employees” is a topic by itself and require a separate post.)

The most pressing question to ask: how can collective knowledge be leveraged and shared in an enterprise to provide smart technology solutions per business needs on time, on budget and every time?

Process

Centralized and standardized processes and methodologies are the backbone of successful project and product rollout. Lack of which translate to confusion, inefficiency and waste. It’s virtually impossible to successfully rollout products repeatedly without implementing processes and methodologies. Processes will determine faster projects and products delivery, save time, effort and money, boost efficiency and gain more with less – primitively put.

Tools

Once right people and process is put in place, tools must be identified that is best suited for the business. It may be an out-of-the-box technology or a ground-up development.

Let’s study one aspect: determining best Content Management System (CMS) to meet the need of an enterprise running multiple (20-200) web sites with global locations.

Sometimes, when we receive new projects that do not require or have the budget for ground-up developments, our coders invariably suggest CMS that they are most familiar with: Symfony, Drupal or Wordpress. Interestingly, often times without first learning of clients’ business needs or studying the entire requirements. Now, to be fair to the coders, most of them can build a site blindfolded on Drupal and Wordpress. With the latter, they’ve launched (initial) mid-size, customized sites within 48 hours, to clients’ and my outmost surprise – pleasant, mind you.

Of all these three CMS, Symfony is most preferred while Drupal is the least desired. The former has clean, robust and dynamic framework while the latter is extremely procedural and has poor template system, to name a couple of drawbacks. Still, Drupal community has large followings – many have set-up shops developing sites solely on Drupal. I’ve heard arguments in favor of and against all three CMS, including comparing Symfony and Drupal to Mac and PC, respectively. Wordpress, on the other hand, has their own strengths and limitations.

All three of these CMS undoubtedly have large followings and loyal users. They each have strong frameworks and all are open source. However, none of them are suitable for a large corporation that run multiple sites.

My personal preference – and favorite – is customized ground-up CMS development based on each corporation’s business needs. (Disclaimer: that is one of our core business and I can write a lengthy essay on the topic).

Selecting and determining tools should not be based on popularity, current work force abilities, one or two success stories but on business need. The question should be: is this the best solution for my business as a whole, not fragmented?

Both business and technology must work closely to eliminate this disconnection. Technologists should take on added responsibilities of understanding the business and consequently what is asked of them other than focusing solely on tools: hardware and software. Simultaneously, business people must include and share their requirements and needs with technologists from inception.

Granted, it’s easier said than done, particularly when change management remain a challenge. Connecting the dots between business and technology will eliminate waste, inefficiency, confusion while boosting more productivity with less, knowledge share and innovation.

And, it is feasible when executed from top down.

Tags: Business, CMS, Collaboration, Drupal, process, Symfony, Technology, tools, web, Wordpress
Posted in Business, Technology |

We all face stressful days, more now when financial market is uncertain, setting off a fuse with just a little nudge. The trick is to remain cordial in your correspondence – if an email ticks you off, instead of replying right away, hold off till you’ve calmed down. I’ve found walking away from the computer or ignoring the email helps.

Then there are days when your polite turn down of a service or product is considered an offense. An effective tool I’ve learnt from my brother is that when people offer you unasked advice – we are very good at telling others what to do, without rectifying our own very similar shortcomings – thank them, regardless. Sometimes you have to thank more than once when people insist you act on their advice or that you agree with them. You don’t have to agree, but you can take the high road and will probably eliminate conflicts by expressing appreciation and ending the conversation.

I’ve two sets of people, old school and new school thinking, whom I consult regarding my business. It’s fascinating how different the thoughts of those two schools are. As our business matures I find new school thoughts are more in alignment with our business needs. However, old school leaders share different sets of expertise and is valuable in certain aspects. Identifying these differences are crucial while maintaining healthy relationships. Although, no doubt these two schools are bound to cause friction at some point.

Opinions will differ. Don’t loose your cool though – just say thank you.

Tags: Business, conflict, friction, new school, old school, thank you
Posted in Business |

Remember Enron? More recently AIG? What did these two corporations have in common? Corruption and ethics violation.

Corporations do not collapse overnight. Corruption start in small doses, a little stealing here and a little stealing there. Very soon, that appetite for greed and total disregard for corporate standard of business conduct consume the greedy, dragging down the corporation along the way. These violations always occur at the top of the ladder. Unfortunate but history tells us so. Violation of ethics and corporate compliance should be stopped early.

Most companies formulate policies, often known as corporate compliance and ethics guidelines, that pretty much is – or should be – the backbone of a corporation. These policies set standards for internal employees as well as relationships with vendors and partners. Many companies take these guidelines seriously providing seminars and training employees to practice business standards set forth.

When a senior vice president of a publicly traded corporation is entrusted with added responsibility of overseeing  specific operations and performance, it becomes her responsibility to engage teams most suited for a specific job in the best interest of the corporation she serves. But when she engages or exerts influence so that her husband is hired, it’s a conflict of interest. Furthermore, she stands to receive direct financial gain by giving or influencing her husband to get the job. If that step involved zero opportunity for other competitors then the misconduct is much more serious and should be investigated, at the least. But the most obvious? You simply cannot, and should not, hire your spouse if you don’t own the company.

It is healthy to have competition and for corporations to practice equal opportunity. But, when privileged information is stolen under false pretense, it is not a competition. It’s dishonesty and playing dirty.

Recently, I evaluated and had lengthy discussions with a former executive of perhaps one of the largest corporation and the most recognized brand in the world. Learning of my intention, one of my well wisher advised me against engaging him. My advisor thought he was not a good fit for us and reminded me that his wife was our competitor. However, the gentleman assured me that our and his wife’s space were very different – our focus is on large corporations, his wife’s on small to mid sized market. With that clarification and verbal assurance, I briefed him on a couple of companies I had studied. Little did I know he was sharing my privileged information with his wife. Worse still, he encouraged his wife to pursue the very companies that he was gathering information from me, under the false pretense of working for us. Mind you, this is the same gentleman who once ran an IT division for one of the largest corporation. It gets more interesting: one of the employee of his wife is the husband of the senior vice president, mentioned above, whose office has the direct authority to oversee the hiring as mentioned earlier.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!

Looking back I feel sorry for him, even though he was dishonest and demonstrated poor integrity. Without a corporate title, the person that is left behind is the true nature of an individual. When that proves to be devoid of basic human decency, it is a very sad image. Here was a man who received very handsome severance package, has a daughter nearly my age, betrayed my trust and cheated a very young company, all for some instant profit? Monetary gain is fleeting – money disappear as quickly as they appear – but the reputation you leave behind and the impact you have on people, will follow you to your grave. After 20 to 25 years in the corporate world, last many years holding executive positions, should have left him with dignity, honesty and self-respect. But, he failed to reveal any of those traits. What can be sadder than that?

Businesses are run by people. The success, or failure, are the result of the conducts of those same people. Without executing ethics and best practices, I doubt any corporation can survive. It is to my advantage that I’m rational, objective and practice zero favoritism at work – running a very small company compared to that corporation – so much so that my inner circle of people feel they need to watch my back, since I myself don’t do it, as someone put it recently, while friends are sometimes offended when we hire the best person qualified over them.

And what about that senior vice president? She violated the Corporate Standard of Business Conduct of the very company she serves as stated on that policy in Section 4 and 5 of certain pages.

Is business ethics really a gray area as the sage, above, claims or is it simply good for our business?

Tags: AIG, Business, compliance, Enron, ethics
Posted in Best Practices, Business |

Perhaps the most asked question I’ve answered was secrets to our sustainability as a young, privately held and self-funded company since our inception and during these challenging times. The truth though, there isn’t any secret to that formula. It’s following the basic principles of simplicity and listening to your inner voice. If that tiny voice is speaking to you, there is a very good reason.

Simplicity: Solutions do not lie in more complexity, it’s in simplicity. Keeping culture, people, process, technology – core of your business – simple is the key to sustenance. Avoid using jargon and buzz words that create more confusion than provide a solution. Sometimes they may be good for creating awareness of a brand and are most often used by marketing and public relations department. But, when running a business, provide substance and use language understood by your team, clients, prospects. Keep it simple.

Flexibility: Change is a natural process of life as it is in business. Whether you are an entrepreneur or an employee changing with business need is essential. During recession flexibility is perhaps the biggest asset of an organization, small or large. Adapting to change and being agile are qualities sought after by employer and clients alike.

Alliance: Your client, business partners, board of directors and advisors, and team members are your best alliances. Forming alliances is crucial in the growth of your business. Existing relationships must be nurtured and valued. Be the advocate for your alliances and the return will be many fold. Your alliance are your ambassador. (Forming right alliance is beyond the scope of this write-up but will detail that in another post). During recession your alliances are your most reliable source of expansion and growth. They know you and will vouch for you. Do not neglect your early well wishers while expanding your alliance base though. They are your proven asset.

Shared Vision: In order to remain sustainable, shared vision among key players – team members, partners, alliance – is vital. It’s virtually impossible to provide cutting edge solutions and technologies – or whatever business you may be in – if visions are not shared by core members. Those visions do not have to be aligned 100% but they must be above 85% – my personal magic number is 90%.

Transparency: Whether profiting or hurting in downtime, be transparent about your company’s plans and policies. If change is needed – cutting cost, layoffs – be upfront. Your team and your clients deserve the truth. Your transparency will drive morale, loyalty and repeat clients.

To remain sustainable we keep it simple, transparent, flat and yet elegant.

Tags: alliance, Business, Sustainability, transparency, vision
Posted in Business, Sustainability |