My Education at LUCRUM
July 15, 2008
It seems like it was just four months ago that I stepped through the doors on the 11th floor of the Harland Building. Wait…as a matter of fact…it was…. So four months ago I was recently accepted to Law School, had just finished up my job with my firm working for P&G and was looking forward to my future enslavement in the legal industry. (Nervously laughing at myself) At first I thought, cool…got some time to do nothing for a while. But after a week I got bored and started looking for something constructive.
I came across LÛCRUM, and saw they had a need helping out in Marketing. I figured why not, I was a business major at Xavier, had some marketing classes, and had just worked for a great marketing company in P&G. As a matter of fact I worked in Trademarks. Furthermore, I had worked in the Real Estate, Finance, and Legal industries as well as a behemoth fortune 25 in P&G. Yet I had absolutely no experience in the IT sphere, thus I saw it as a chance to diversify my skills, and perhaps gain a little wisdom.
Now I don’t have, and perhaps never will acquire the IT acumen which is on display at LÛCRUM, but when I started to look for a job in February, the crux of my decision was based on how much I could learn, how much knowledge I could gain. Though I still can’t, and probably never will be able write code, conduct an alignment session on the particulars of collaboration tools and by no means could attempt to spell BI, I have gained an appreciation for the service that we provide. I see the great importance to what we deliver, an in a small way, have reinforced why one of the central themes concerning The Future Value of Business is profit, (LÛCRUM). Oh, and the people here are tolerable as well. ?
Yet, the best thing that I leave with from LÛCRUM is, the appreciation and the understanding of the importance of our endeavor. To me, the meat of what we do here is getting the important information, to the right people, at the right time, so they can make the right decisions. For a person about to embark on law school this seems very pertinent. Being able to decipher the right information, from the wrong information, or even the more right information from the not as right information, is what separates the great lawyers from the not so great lawyers. Obviously I want to be the former instead of the latter. I guess I could call this LI Legal intelligence, instead of BI. However, unfortunately, in the legal field collaboration is a rarity, and at times a liability. Some things you just can’t change I guess. But I digress.
In this day in age, where technology enables copious amounts of information to literally be at your fingertips, it is now more paramount than ever to know what information is worth your attention and what’s not. Furthermore, the truth, I find, must often be found through rigorous and diligent search. Those willing to do the aforementioned are a rarity unfortunately. We accept readymade answers to our questions, and speed and convenience have replaced precision and clarity. Thus, we make our decisions on limited knowledge. A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. This is exactly where LÛCRUM fills the gaps in information technology.
LÛCRUM’s leverage is making information fast and convenient, without losing clarity and precision. This will in turn make judgment more acute. LÛCRUM -clairvoyant, perhaps not, judgment, speed, and vision, absolutely. To me these things cannot be substituted.
And now I bid you farewell. I can only hope that my future in law will be as bright as I believe LÛCRUM’s future can and should be. It has been a fun few months for me, getting to know the people, the company, and being enlightened as I have. Wish me luck down in Miami, and perhaps, some Tuesday in the future, I will return to put my two cents in once again.
People of Earth, Join Us…
July 3, 2008
We have a large number of opportunities that we are actively looking to fill. These include new positions for consultants, for contract roles, for contract to hire, and for perm positions. If you are an IT professional looking for a new opportunity, please send me an email (luzzel@lucruminc.com). I’ve provided some of the “hot” opportunities that we are looking to fill right away – if these skills are your’s, I want to hear from you right away! If you possess different skills, please email me anyway – we get new positions every single day and I truly look forward to finding the right opportunity for you!
• Java Developers with J2EE (Cincinnati, OH). This is an internal consulting position. This person must be able to work with clients, will do customer requirements gathering, and will be working on a software installation of Clearspace (this is similar to Sharepoint). This position will work here internally until the initial installation of Clearspace is complete. The position will then work externally with clients.
• Windows Systems Administrator (Cincinnati, OH). This is a 6 month contract-to-hire position with one of our clients. We are looking for someone with fundamental experience working with Active Directory. This person will have working knowledge of Infrastructure Server services (DHCP, DNS, Domain Controllers, WINS, etc.) and a working knowledge in hardware installation and maintenance (server, RAID, Blade Configuration, etc.)
• Associate Web Application Developer (Dayton, OH). This is a direct hire position with another of our clients. We are seeking someone with a Microsoft Certification, Relational DB experience, SQL Reporting, MS.net development or VB or C#, XML, Schemas and DTDs.
• Applications Systems Administrator (Cincinnati, OH). This is a 4 to 6 month contract position with one of our clients. We need someone to provide third level support for a Web/Java based application. The client is looking for someone with 2 or more years experience with Oracle (10g is preferred), 1 or more years experience with Unix (Unix/Linux) and 1 or more years experience with Oracle PL/SQL.
• Senior Business Analyst (Montvale, NJ). This is a 6 month contract position with another of our clients. This client is rolling out a global implementation of SAP GRC. This position requires someone with experience in applications for access controls, process controls, and compliance.
If you have any interest or know of anyone with any interest, please email me at luzzel@lucruminc.com. Please attach a resume and let me know what position you are interested in by putting the title in the subject line. Thank you very much!
LUCRUM Radio, Episode 2: Joel Suggs
July 3, 2008
Christy Rollyson, one of our Account Executives recently wrote about her first experiences on the golf course and how golf relates to business. I asked PGA member Joel Suggs to join me and Christy in a discussion about conducting business on the golf course, how to approach the game as a novice, and how to ensure a lifetime of continued improvement.
Joel is Southern Ohio’s only PGA Master Teaching professional. Golf Range Magazine has rated Joel one of the Top 50 Instructors in America, US Kids Golf recognized Joel as one of america’s Top 50 Kids Instructors, and Golf Digest ranks Joel as one of the Top 5 instructors in Ohio. Joes teaches at the Meadow Links & Golf Academy and can be reached at JoelSuggsGolfSuccess.com.
Listen in and let us know what you think.
Work for Lucrum
June 24, 2008
Recruiting is my life! My name is Linda Uzzel and I’m the SR. Recruiter for LUCRUM. I’ve been in this business for over 13 years in the Dayton, Cincinnati and yes Phoenix Marketplaces. Many of you in our local marketplace know me and I encourage you to email or call to update me on your current employment status. Here at LUCRUM, we enjoy helping our clients, employees and consultants find the right position for them. Please review the newest positions that we have listed below and should you have an interest in one of these positions, please send me your updated resume in Word format to : luzzel@lucruminc.com and be sure to visit us at www.lucruminc.com for the latest technology updates.
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Network Security Analyst, this is a 3 month right to hire with a local Cincinnati based firm looking for someone to provide Tier 3 support, security monitoring, firewalls/IDS/IPS management, computer security forensics and vulnerability testing. Must have 3-5 years of Network Security and have experience with routers, switches, firewalls and other network devises: Solaris/AIX/Linux/Windows, forensic tools and developing scripting code.
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Sr. Java Developer with J2EE that has excellent communication skills to work with external clients doing customer requirements gathering, development and installation of Clearspace. After installation, developer will work with clients on updating and developing features as needed.
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Programmer Analyst with excellent communication skills in this Contract to Hire role located in Dayton, Ohio. Our client is a unique global communications company that is seeking the someone who can analyze situations with customers and develop plans/specs to work from. Coding experience using JAVA, SQL, XML, HTML, DHTML, Web Services as well as broad knowledge of networks to support and monitor performance of external vendors.
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Full time opportunity for local Cincinnati, Ohio firm seeking a Data Solutions Developer with who is Proficient in PL/SQL, SAS, expert in use of ETL tools, expert in system analysis, design and modeling. 5+ years experience in full software development lifecycle, experience with high volume Data Warehousing applications and good working knowledge of UNIX/Shell programming.
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Direct Hire need for a Web Application Developer for a Healthcare provider in Dayton, Ohio. Seeking someone with Microsoft Certifications, VB and C#.net development experience as well as Microsoft SQL Server or other Relational Database experience.
LUCRUM RADIO: Episode 1, Doug Ross
June 12, 2008
Lucrum Radio is our new podcasting series. It will feature interviews and discussions with thought leaders in business and technology, providing a forum for sharing knowledge with the world.
Episode 1 of LUCRUM Radio got us off to a great start. It features an interview with Doug Ross, CTO of Western Southern Insurance. In the podcast, moderated by fellow LUCRUM employee Andy Erickson, Doug and I discuss topics such as collaboration technology, crowd-sourcing, organizational dynamics, the integration of IT and Marketing, and the role technology can play in differentiating an organization from the competition.
Give the podcast a listen, and let us know what you think…
Special Thanks to Doug Ross for his willingness to participate in the project, and for doing such an amazing job of delivering insightful, innovative thinking.
Recipes for Success
June 11, 2008
Using unique experiences to reach out to customers…. is the theme of a recent WSJ article that featured John Bostick, executive chairman of LUCRUM, and also President and CEO of dbaDirect. The article talks about how different small companies create unique opportunities to meet with their customers. The article was published on Friday, May 30, the very day after I attended one of John’s classes up at Jungle Jim’s in Fairfield, Ohio (another exercise in unique customer experiences - they have every imported food you never knew you needed ‘ 6 acres of food under one roof’ http://www.junglejims.com )_
The class I attended was called ‘Hot Thai Summer Sizzlers”. John prepared some wonderful Thai dishes, and Jim Hennessy showcased several unusual beers that enhanced the flavors of the food (except for the Paulaner Heffe - beer and clove are not good flavors in beer, in my opinion!). In the class, John prepared and discussed the origins of many of the exotic dishes he was preparing, but in an easy to understand and appreciate manner - demystifying many otherwise exotic dishes and convincing me that just maybe I should try this at home sometime. Everything was delicious, and while, a few offerings were too spicy for some of the attendees - don’t say he didn’t warn you about the peppers! - the different beer offerings were a great way to ‘cool the palate’. Several LÛCRUM customers and their family members attended, and as the WSJ article discussed, it was a great way to get to know people outside the normal business environment. John and I both share the common experience of having worked for IBM, and are rooted in the belief that ‘people buy from people they like’. So, having the opportunity to get to know our customers in a more relaxed environment is something ingrained in us, starting with our days at ‘Big Blue’. The best testimony to the value they received from the class is the number of folks that were signing up for the next class! - Obviously, it was an enjoyable, informative session.
Just like trying new foods and beers can provide an enjoyable experience, trying new business offerings and concepts can also lead to a positive experience. For example, one of the offerings that is unique to Lucrum is our ‘Strategic Alignment Session’. Using a guided methodology, our consultants facilitate sessions for customers - taking them on a journey - starting at the beginning, and discussing their history (which quite frequently, everyone has a slightly different recollection of!), and using that shared history to guide the participants on the journey, resulting in a shared experience, mutual goals and ways to achieve those goals. These sessions are one of those things that you just don’t fully appreciate until you’ve actually observed, participated in, or spoken to someone about. I sat in on one session during my first weeks with Lucrum, and was impressed by the way our consultant (Eric Duell, in this case) led a diverse customer group at a local chemical firm through this process as they attempted to design a new customer pricing system. In the past few months, Eric has conducted sessions for 2 of my customers - both in very different businesses - one, a large financial institution, where we helped an off-shore firm develop a new sale and marketing plan. And then most recently, we drove a few hours north and used this same process with another custom in the non-profit sector, bringing together a very diverse group including marketing, IT, creative, and education departments, resulting in a new vision for a major website re-design for their institution.
In both instances, there were participants who walked into the session, thinking “this better be good, they convinced me to give up 2 days (or 2 - ½ days) of my time”. By the end of the first session, or even sooner, you could see that their impressions had changed, and they were eager participants in the process - and walked away from the sessions with a new vision and ideas on how to lead their organization through the next phase of their business plan. And, some were even ready to ‘sign up again’ for more sessions - to utilize this process in other aspects of their business.
A Link Between Business Analysts and Business Developers?
June 2, 2008
While I was preparing to write this post, I initially wanted to talk about the great business related events I went to last week. But, I just couldn’t put it together correctly… the prose just seemed too cheesy.
Then inspiration hit me. I thought about the Cincinnati International Institute for Business Analysts (Cincy-IIBA) chapter meeting. The last chapter event was held on Tuesday, 5/20 @ 6:30, the topic was “Information Visualization Techniques for the Business Analyst” presented by Keith Burtoft. His presentation talked about how to convey complex ideas with pictures, text, and spoken word to appeal to people who are psychologically positioned to understand information faster through visual, auditory, or kinetic inputs.
A quick synopsis…
Business analysts should not only be liaisons for IT and representatives for business, but also the missing link. As a BA you should be able to learn the business, build fantastic relationships with IT and the business unit(s), create fabulous and accurate requirements, and properly describe those requirements in terms that every stakeholder and developer can understand. To accomplish most of this, the BA usually drafts use cases, sequence diagrams, action diagrams, data flows, etc. However, the translation back to the business may be the thing that a lot of business analysts do not well but already know how to do well… draw a picture! Simply put, drawing the picture takes the “tech speak” and simplifies it into an easily digestible context that gets ideas across quickly and accurately.
Great topic… but could this also apply to business development?
Lynn Mcinturf Associates, certified trainers for Sandler’s Professional Development Program, teach a system of training that encourages business developers to understand the customer. So understanding the customer, is paramount in business development because you cannot sell YOUR solutions to a customer, you can, however, provide them with answers to their problems. In order to get to their problems, you need to listen, build rapport, and listen – all the qualities of a business analyst focused into development. Not development for coding or engineering, but development of relationships, of understanding, of business.
Business. The link between analyst and developer is business.
Should a business developer draw pictures and diagrams to ensure they understand the point/problem their prospect is trying to make? Maybe… in some situations… yes. I say drawing conclusions is suicide for a business developer, yet drawing pictures is worth a thousand…
To answer the question of this topic, I think a business analyst would make a fantastic business developer if they have the drive, patience, and toughness needed to be in business development… because they already have all of the other ingredients they need.
Just my 2 Cents…
- Paul Stephens
PS… Shameless plugs:
- If you are interested in learning more about business analysts, check out http://Cincinnati.theiiba.org (this site will look a lot better soon!)
- If you are interested in advanced business development training, take a look at www.lynnmcinturf.com.
What is Consulting?
April 29, 2008
“Good Morning”
“Do you have a need for Contract Programmers?”
Here at LUCRUM, Chuck has done a great job at filtering our email solicitations. However, I still get the one above from some guy named Patrick Harris….it reminds me of how LUCRUM is positioned in the market as a consulting firm providing business and technology solutions.
There’s a real difference between “contract programmer” and “consultant.” The industry often mingles the definitions together and customers tend to negotiate for consulting services using “contract programmer” pricing.
LUCRUM has had a rich history of hiring IT professionals that thrive on “consulting” using their technology skills. With that statement, let’s ask ourselves “what is a consultant?” Consulting is bringing expertise of one’s experiences into a firm on a project or fee basis. One of the ironies of consulting is that the goal of the consultant must be to make him or herself obsolete.” All of us have been in the position of being frustrated (either as an internal or external consultant or even as a perm-placement worker) by management’s careful efforts to defeat any and all attempts on our part to transfer the knowledge we had to at least one (other) person in the organization. This puzzles me because I learned early on in my career that it is far more probable that a company will retain “intuitive knowledge” about their system/applications/data/whatever if more than one person has that knowledge.
To provide our technology expertise is simply not enough in today’s global economy. The disparity between India (and other Asian-based services) and the US will continue to have companies use “contract programmers” that are truly just “coders” and not consultants.
Why do I bring this up? It’s our livelihood! I also know that our mantra has been “85% social and 15% technical.” My ratio is skewed purposely to emphasize the requirement to “over-communicate” on every part of our daily assignment. The technology works; it doesn’t work if people are not communicating. As consultants, it’s up to us to take the lead responsibility with the customer on communications. That’s our largest challenge. You’ll see LUCRUM’s focus to grow our capabilities in this area with Customer Alignment Sessions, leveraging Whole Brain Organizational Development processes internally and with our customers, and a new larger emphasis on the consultant, and in developing unique professional skills. Jodie Heflin, as our Delivery Leader, has the proven track record of Customer-oriented 85/15 skills. It’s her goal to get all of our firm up to a higher level of capability; to “think” as a part of our customer’s business in addition to our technology capabilities.
Business Intelligence, Country Music, Peter Drucker and You!
April 27, 2008
I get a lot of emails every day! I got this one that I didn’t delete and then felt strong enough to comment on it.
“In a recent survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), nearly 80% of executives said that a Business Intelligence strategy would improve their company’s ability to enhance customer service and react quickly to market changes. However, fewer than 15% felt their organization has applied best practices to its use of business data.”
I love music. I love all types of music. I am not a Country Music fan though. I am a fan of Country Music Song Titles. There’s a title to a country music song (no music yet!) that I made up about the business problem that is one of the biggest problems in the entire economy. Here’s what it is: Companies go to great lengths to hire top notch people. Then they give them business responsibilities and the authority to act on the business responsibilities. Then, they don’t give them the complete tools to get the right analysis to get to the “right decision.” So, here’s my song title:
“You don’t know what you have done by the time you’ve already done it”
Is that right out of Nashville or what? Decision-makers and categorically speaking, Knowledge Workers” are nowadays tasked with making a lot of very timely and important decisions. After we have them on-board with what famous business professor, Dr. Peter Drucker, says is the 20% unique aspects of the business (he professed that 80% of all businesses are the same)…once they really gain expertise and experience in the business, we don’t necessarily give them the right tools to analyze their data and the general performance of the business. Perhaps another song title goes like this:
“I know she knows, but I can’t get it out of her”
Certainly, what we mean here is that the data is in the system. The person just doesn’t know how to get it out!” Conceptual thinking skills are not the norm in the Information technology world. Operating software systems, running networks, ensuring security, closing double-entry book keeping systems, and the normal “run the business” part of IT constitutes a majority of the activity. How’s this for another song:
“His left brain won’t talk to his right brain, so he won’t answer the door.”
OK, perhaps that one didn’t work….
The lack of relevant facts or real understanding in the decision making process is so apparent to person trying to sort through all of the data that surrounds them. Recently, I read 2 more statistics:
• More information has been produced in the last 30 years than in the previous 5,000
• Corporate data is doubling every 3 years
I am myself, “what happens to all of this data?” Another song title?
“I spent too much time looking for my data when the decision timeframe has come and gone”
Gartner calls it the “Fact Gap.” It’s kind of a “decision gridlock” which even with gas at $ 4.00 per gallon or higher is what we are going to see this summer on the construction-laden highways!
So, how do you figure out whether there is a Fact Gap in your organization or business? Perhaps there’s truly is a Fact Gap in your business? Here are some potential symptoms for this:
Excessive discounting
• Expensive marketing programs that do not result in revenue enhancement
• New product introductions are less successful than expected
• Low inventory turns per year
From a knowledge worker viewpoint, you can start to see symptoms where decision making that is unscientific resulting in …
• Inefficiency in production
• Missed opportunities
• Inability to react proactively
• Lost market share
• Excessive expense
• Lost revenue and profits
• Customer dissatisfaction
Perhaps one last song title will provide a summary of my topic:
“She turned data into information and he didn’t even know he had the answers!”
If we can turn data into information and empower business decision makers with the information they need to run the enterprise, there’s certainly a true opportunity to gain competitive advantage.
Eat our own dog food!
April 25, 2008
It’s great to see LÛCRUM eat our own dog food! That may sound negative but it’s really a very positive statement. I heard this phase regularly from a former manager. What this means is if a product or procedure is good enough to recommend to our customer’s, it’s good enough for us to use as well.
Yesterday I had my first opportunity to participate in an Alignment Session at LÛCRUM. In simple terms, an Alignment Sessions is one of LÛCRUM’s differentiating tools we offer to our clients to help organizations align on key business decisions.
Our LÛCRUM meeting was to look at a new internal system. Our senior management team and key system users followed the Alignment Session process to help drive to consensus and define next steps. The process helped us document the current system’s Strengths (ie, it’s free!), Problems (ie, too many manual processes), Threats (ie, might cost too much), and Opportunities (ie, interface with other business systems). From that point we were able to define our required Objectives and differentiate those from the ‘Nice to Haves’. Then we documented the Challenges (ie data conversion), Resources (ie PM, Sponsor), and finally our Game Plan (a high level project plan).
As the project manager of this internal project, I am thrilled to have at the end of the session all the information I need to complete a Project Charter and move forward on the project. In addition, I’m comfortable that the right people are aligned on the decision. I went home that day feeling like the day had been a big success.
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