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Run IT as a Business: Part 2, How?

April 8, 2008

In “Run IT as a Business: Part 1, Why…?”, I stated that we need to run IT as a business because our very existence is at stake. For IT to remain a factor alive it needs to compete. I talked about IT acting as a monopoly within the average company and how monopolies are bad for everyone; high prices, long wait and bad service.  I also noted how competition is like the sandpaper that makes that rough wood beautiful and safe to handle. Well, today’s post is about the How.

The question then becomes how do we compete? There are strategic and tactical answers to this question. First, the strategic.  Very easy…one word… “VALUE”.  To compete in an economy one must provide more value than another.  Its as easy as a man buying cloths but can be as complex as a women buying cloths J.  I say this tongue-in-cheek, but the value equation is not straight-lined. Rather it has an infinite number of arrangements that are different to everyone and changes over time.  Lets take a closer look.

 Given: Value is relative worth, merit, or importance (www.dictionary.com).

 Expanded, value can be represented as follows:

  

When we put this definition on the table, we cannot pretend that we don’t see the impact that image and relationship has with value. Nor can we escape that iron triangle (Time, Cost, Functionality)…and this value equation adds a fourth dimension; quality. I suppose that adding quality as a fourth dimension would make for a nice pyramid representation of that Iron Triangle (if someone creates one, I’ll post it here and give you a nice reference).

 Take the example of my car buying value equation over time.

 

When

Drivers

Outcome

Teenaged boy

Car had to be fast, cheap and wanted it now.

Picked up a 72 cutlass from some guy living in a trailer down by the river. Got it now, but it lasted 2 years.

Married, first car together (how romantic)

Cheap, cheap and good on gas.

Bought a new 1985 Ford Escort for $6250. Financed it but wife wrecked – we drove it rebuilt until…see next box.

Wife pregnant with first baby and I was working a lot.

Price had to be decent, but wanted to reclaim some of my coolness. Wanted it black and sporty.

Purchased a used Camaro from an Acura dealership. They took my wrecked Escort sight unseen and let me just finance the gap (what a sucker I was). 

Wife pregnant with third baby and we had no money.

Needed it now and needed a miracle.

Father in law gives us his Dodge Omni as it comes off of lease. I wasn’t choosy!

Kids are growing older.

Wanted a good quality van with leather and all the options so I can honor my wife. Wanted an extended warranty from a good place.

Purchased a Chevy van with all the bells and whistles. Still have it, fantastic service department. 140k miles and running great!

I turned 44. Two of the three girls are now driving.

Wanted a sports car (convertible), black with manual transmission (so no one else in my family can drive it). Price still important as is image and relationship of dealer.

Entered in to a partnership with the local dealership and picked up a new Crossfire with lifetime warranty.  They know me by name and that’s important to me.

Value is value, but it changed for me over time. Notice how even my term for buying a car changes…(picked up, bought, purchased, then partnership).  At each stage of my life, I still made my decisions based on the value that I perceived, but my needs and current situation dictated which of the value elements were important to me.

It’s the same way with your customers – whether internal or external customers, they each have their own unique value equation and their current circumstances dictate even their own perceptions of their value equation.  Often, it is a moving target that even changes between project stages.  It is up to the IT leader to engage the customer and build a relationship – this means that during this partnering, we need to be learning how to calibrate our solutions into their value expectations. 

But this is only an overview of the first part; strategy.  The next part is where the work begins, tactical. How do we demonstrate to the organization that we have delivered this value?  Tune in next time for Part Three: Run IT as a Business – Demonstrating the value of IT.

Drive safely,

~ Scott Felten

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Written by Scott Felten · Filed Under Information Technology | Leave a Comment 

Blog Training at LUCRUM

March 25, 2008

Today, I was given the distinct privilege of presenting to my fellow LUCRUM employees on blogging. More specifically, I was tasked with teaching them how to blog. I was given 90 minutes, which is a long time to talk about something that is really quite easy to do. I spent some time discussing why it is important to blog.  I touched on the changing state of marketing from that of a dialog to an interactive monologue, and stressed that their voices matter.  I then went on to talk about ways to construct posts, do’s and don’ts of blogging, and then showed them just how simple it is to use WordPress.  We touched on tools like RSS, digital cameras, Google Blog Search, and plain old note cards as ways to develop content.  We even got into some emerging tools like Alltop and Snipshot.  Overall, I think that everyone was interested.  It is tough to present to such a diverse group - especially when many are far more versed in technology than I.  The true test of the presentation will be very easy to measure.  If you see more posts from more people, it worked.  If not, I will go back to the white board.  I am convinced that the people here at LUCRUM are some of the best and brightest in the world.  My challenge is convincing them to share that brilliance with the rest of the world.  If I can, what an amazing experiment this will turn out to be.  Hopefully today was the first step in making that happen.  Thanks to everyone who attended.  You were a great audience.

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Written by DAVIDeBOWMAN · Filed Under Culture | Leave a Comment 

Move Forward One Step…

March 16, 2008

As we continue to experience the global economic correction in the US economy, we hear about the perfect storm: inflation, recession, credit markets becoming unbelievably tight, and the general struggle with the value of the dollar. Day after day, this is all we hear, and yet, if you read a lot of financial performance news, you understand that many companies are at or ahead of their forecasts and the economy is more sound. Who’s right?
What you can’t do is bury yourself in the sand. “No action” tends to be the less-than-optimal solution, for sure. “Back to the basics” theory historically says, “one step at a time” and you’ll have a lot of progress in anything you try to accomplish.
It is the same way for the world of Fine Arts. Cincinnati, Ohio, has historically made an economic name for itself as a predominant manufacturing economy. It is more likely that a person outside of this area knows Cincinnati as a sports town with the Cincinnati Reds and the Cincinnati Bengals. In fact, Cincinnati is really a “Fine Arts” town. At the center of the Fine Arts is the Cincinnati “Fine Arts Fund.” It is distinguished by having the oldest arts fund in the United States. Founded by the esteemed Charles Taft in 1923, the fund has continued to grow and prosper supporting hundreds of fine arts organizations and programs over the years.
Did you know that a lot of IT professionals are also artists? I know several that are musicians and still play in bands. Others are artists using paint and other medium. We once even had a former ballet dancer as a client-server developer! I’m a brass guy (trumpet) that now is constantly playing jazz on my Gibson Les Paul guitar. On this last week’s business trip to New York, I crashed in on Stanley Jordan at the Iridium Jazz Club, one of my favorite hideouts in New York. Stanley is still young looking and fresh. In fact, he told me afterwards that he’s 48 and playing as well as ever. I purchased a CD from him that I have never heard of before: “Relaxing Music for Difficult Situations.” It’s a 60-minute jazz guitar solo. Perhaps we play it for our economy!!!
LÛCRUM continues to be a great supporter of philanthropic causes in the greater Cincinnati community. This year, LÛCRUM is proud to participate in our first Fine Arts Fund Campaign. As you may or may not know, the Fine Arts Organization is also one of our clients. In addition to being a client of LÛCRUM, the Fine Arts Fund (FAF) does wonderful work within the Cincinnati community and throughout the region supporting more than 95 arts organizations, promoting the arts, and developing outreach programs to thousands of area schoolchildren.

Recently, LÛCRUM and the Fine Arts Fund co-hosted an “IT Entrepreneur Leadership Networking Event” late last month with Chris Hjelm, CIO, of Kroger, as the guest speaker. Chris’ talent outside of being an IT executive, is that he’s a weekend chef. Cherry pies, chili, and other delights can be found at the Hjelm residence.
LÛCRUM put a lot of time and effort into making this year’s campaign as well as making a modest monetary commitment. From a time and effort contribution, I am committed to doing as much as possible to support the FAF in their efforts to reach the $12 million goal set for the 2008 Campaign.

Did you know that if you give a personal gift this year of $75 or more, you get to receive the “Fine Arts Fun Card.” This discount card allows you to enjoy the arts and save money at the same time! There are even more benefits for donors at the $150 and $500 levels in 2008. Please go to www.fineartsfund.org to learn more.

Breathe deep and keep taking “another step!”

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Written by JohnBostick · Filed Under Business & Leadership | Leave a Comment 

Excellence Without Exception - 2008 Heath Care Conference Recap

March 13, 2008

Last week I attended the Greater Cincinnati Health Council 12th Annual Health Conference & Expo, where LUCRUM was an exhibitor. The theme of the conference “SOLUTIONS 2008 EXCELLENCE WITHOUT EXCEPTION,” and the event was very well attended. This was LUCRUM’s 2nd year as an exhibitor, and my first year working the booth.

Attendance at our booth was GREAT the whole day! I spent the day meeting and speaking with a variety of healthcare personnel discussing Healthcare and IT. There was a lot of talk about the unique challenges that Health Care organizations face in implementing and capitalizing on Information Technology to reduce costs and improve the patient experience. This was a huge opportunity for LUCRUM to get recognized and educate attendees on our capabilities. We handed out dozens of invitations to our upcoming webinar - 5 Simple Steps to IT Health. I am looking forward to hearing my colleague, Marlene Schrand, give this presentation next week, as I know that she will deliver 30 minutes of insightful information.

As for the seminar, The LUCRUM Logo Triangle Highlighters and Globe Stress Balls were a hot item! Talk about getting your name out there where it hasn’t been before! LUCRUM Globe Stress Balls will be flying around Hospital ER’s, Conference Rooms and Nurses Stations for quite a while! Hopefully they don’t result in any new admissions or ER visits.

These regional industry conferences are a great way to make contact with a large number of prospective clients and re-enforce our commitment to current clients. I look forward to representing LUCRUM in future conferences. It is encouraging and exciting when I see our Sales, Delivery, and Marketing departments work so well together at these events.

To register for the March 20 webinar, simply visit the Contact LUCRUM page here on the site. I hope you will join us.

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Written by TomRudd · Filed Under LUCRUM News | Leave a Comment 

30 Minutes

March 13, 2008

For those of you who managed to get to Orlando for the HIMSS08 conference, you know one of the important topics was how to make IT projects successful within Healthcare. But when it comes right down to a practical, ‘how do you really do this’ plan – where do you start? So I’ve put together a ‘to the point’ webinar to discuss 5 key steps you need to take when implementing a new IT system. And you’ll probably be surprised to find that none of those steps have anything to do with technology – it’s all about people, process, and planning. Get that right and you’re 80% of the way there. So please join me for 30 minutes – (that’s it – I promise!). It will be time well spent.

To Register simply visit the Contact LÛCRUM page and select register for webinar.

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Written by MarleneSchrand · Filed Under Information Technology | Leave a Comment 

5 Simple Steps to I.T. Health

March 7, 2008

A FREE webinar from the Health Services division of LUCRUM, inc. 
Thursday, March 20, 2008
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM

In this 30 minute program you will learn how to utilize Information Technology to deliver greater value, improve process efficiency, and produce meaningful, measurable results for your organization.

This highly informative seminar will focus on:  

·       Stakeholder Alignment

·       Organizational Involvement

·       Current & Desired Process Definition

·       Projected Benefits

·       Information Management Planning

 Register today at www.theFutureValueOfBusiness.com/contact-lucrum

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Written by DAVIDeBOWMAN · Filed Under LUCRUM News | Leave a Comment 

No Whammies! No Whammies! Stop!

February 24, 2008

There are two words that can strike fear in the heart of the most seasoned of managers: PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS. But why is that? Companies spend countless dollars each year training their managers on how to do evaluations and refining their performance evaluation systems, but has any of it really made it easier?
When it comes down to it, we as human beings, no matter how many courses we’ve taken, or books we’ve read, we are just not “wired” to give very direct, honest feedback. Think about it. How many times as child did you say something brutally honest only to be told by your mother “that’s not a nice thing to say”?
How many people go home at night to their spouses and initiate a conversation something like this: “honey, I need to give you some feedback on how you’re performing as my significant other”? Sounds crazy, right? (Can you predict how that feedback would be received?)
And yet, that’s what good managers are supposed to do for their employees on a regular basis. It’s only fair to let people how they measure up to the company’s expectations- not to mention that it’s typically the basis for performance increases.
The consulting environment adds another quirk that most corporate managers do not face with the same regularity- and that’s the challenge of managing people that we may never work with directly. In the consulting environment, most of our managers are billable consultants first then managers second. They typically maintain their own client engagements which may never cross paths on a daily basis with their direct reports. So how do you provide feedback on people you don’t work with everyday- or whose work you don’t supervise?
Forget annual evaluations! In my opinion, performance feedback- both positive and constructive- should be given monthly. Yes, I said monthly. And, yes, I know how much work evaluations are to do annually. And yes, I know how busy everyone is with their “day jobs.” But, even in an informal fashion, monthly feedback will help to make the annual evaluation a review of the year versus the annual WHAMMY that most evaluations turn out to be. An employee who has received nine to twelve pieces of feedback on their work has headlights as to what is working and what needs to be adjusted in order to meet the company’s expectations.
When it comes to evaluations, a good manager knows what they don’t know, and seeks input from others in order to provide the most accurate feedback to their employees. They seek out client opinions, colleague opinions, perhaps even peer opinions- even if it means bucking the internal HR systems a bit to do so (apologies to my HR brothers and sisters out there!).
At the end of the day, giving direct feedback will never feel especially comfortable to most of us. But most people don’t like surprises- especially when it comes to their performance evaluations. No matter how you give the feedback- formal process, casual conversation- it doesn’t matter as long as you are giving your feedback frequently. So leave the WHAMMIES to the game shows, and don’t even think about giving your spouse their performance evaluation!

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Written by MelissaPark · Filed Under Culture | 4 Comments 

More Birthday Fun

February 18, 2008

More birthday fun, courtesy of LUCRUM recruiter / amateur videographer Andy Erickson. Here is a clip from our birthday lunch last week. Note that the most popular response to “what do you love about LUCRUM?” was the people - with Andy’s mom coming in a distant second. All in good fun. It is a great place to work. I just surpassed 15 days (business days) with the company, and it is already clear to me why the company has been around for that same number of years. Great people. Thanks for the footage Andy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq2Ef3_pK_w

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Written by DAVIDeBOWMAN · Filed Under Culture | Leave a Comment 

Chief Cook or Manager?

February 18, 2008

When I was 16, I worked at The Beach Waterpark. By the end of my first summer, I was promoted to a “Lead Sales” position. This was one step below “Supervisor” and I really wanted to be a Supervisor. In order to move up, I took on any assignment that I was given. I moved around a lot and I learned from my Supervisor all the necessary tasks (like timesheets, money management, scheduling, etc.) and by the end of the second summer, I was promoted. Once I made it to Supervisor, it became my job to start identifying the next person that should become the next Lead Sales.

I worked in the largest food stand in the park. Things that were important in that stand were effeciency, cleanliness and timeliness. Essentially, we needed to serve the customers quickly, get them the right order, and keep the place clean. So, who to promote? Which of those qualities were most important and which would get you promoted quickly. The truth? None! What I learned when I was 17 was that just because you were great at your job, did not mean that you would be great at managing people. By promoting our fastest, cleanest, most efficient cook, we had to teach someone (who wasn’t interested), how to do timesheets, balance a cash drawer and order inventory. Now I had 2 problems:
1. I was 1 cook short and
2. My cook had no interest in cash drawers, inventory and timesheets.

I have found that the IT industry has similar challenges. We want to recognize and reward our best employees with advancement, but the only track available is typically to advance into management. For most technologists, this is not interesting or rewarding and we lose the best architect or developer in the process. Seems to me that we need to recognize that the advancement path for a technical person is not into management (most of the time). So what is the right path? It seems to me that a truly technical person wants to be recognized for their accomplishments and wants to take on bigger technology challenges. How can we make these fit together? Seems to me that there should be a track for that. A track that allows a person to grow into a leadership role that is more creative, challenging and innovative. The trick is to still give them a voice on the senior team, and remove the management responsibility. Is that possible? I’d love to hear your thoughts…

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Written by JodieHeflin · Filed Under Business & Leadership | 2 Comments 

Happy 15th Birthday LUCRUM!

February 15, 2008

Today is LÛCRUM’s 15th birthday. I have been fortunate enough to be with LÛCRUM for 10 of those 15 years. It has been quite a ride. We have had great success and we have seen some truly “downer” moments. People have asked why I stay. The answer is simple, LÛCRUM provides me with a company that cares about what I have to say and gives me room to chart my own course.

I started my career in a Fortune 100 company. I was making half as much as peers of mine out of college, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to be “when I grew up”. While there, I changed positions a few times, but never saw a change in my income that got me closer to my peer group. Challenges where there when I asked, but the rules were pretty severe. I moved on…My next company was a small, privately held, poorly run firm. I loved the job! I had all the flexibility that I wanted and I was challenged every day. Unfortunately, my employer had routine cash flow issues that impacted the regularity of my pay. I moved on…I went to work for a small manufacturing firm. I was again given a lot of flexibility, but they weren’t able to keep my interest long. I moved on…to LÛCRUM.

While at LÛCRUM, I have see it all. I’ve had great success, I’ve experienced failure. Through it all, LÛCRUM has believed in me. I have learned that perseverance does pay off, and good ideas only get better when you share them.

I’m really excited to see what the next 15 years bring to LÛCRUM. We are growing out of adolescence and we are well into our teens. As with most 15 year olds, what you see may not be “finished”. We have our share of ugliness…things we’d like to change about ourselves, things we know we can do better. We’re finally figuring out what we’re really good at doing and we’re starting to repeat our success. For our next big birthday, we’ll be 20. 20! Can you believe it!?! Imagine all the maturity that we’ll have then!

Happy Birthday, LÛCRUM!

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Written by JodieHeflin · Filed Under Culture | Leave a Comment 

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