Think of software as a strategic investment

By Nigel TempleNo Comments
Don't think of software as a cost. Think of it as an investment in your enterprise. Software can provide you with a series of benefits, including: *  Better customer service *  Greater brand awareness *  Faster response time *  Fewer mistakes *  A more professional business *  Competitive advantage *  Additional services *  Product / service insights *  Customer insights *  Increased business value *  Greater ROI When you are considering new software, think about what it can connect to. Software integrations can deliver even greater value.  In addition, consider how complex the software is: will you require training? Old, inefficient software can have a negative effect on your enterprise and you should review your software at least once a year....
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10 Tips to Achieve Your Goals

By Amanda BouchNo Comments
The start of a New Year is a time for new beginnings and traditionally a time to make a commitment to achieve a goal.  How many people do you know who set goals and talk about big plans, but then they quietly let them slip? Do you find the New Year stimulates new thinking and you are excited by your goal, but when you get back to work and the day-to-day challenges, you find no time to pursue the goal? Have you set yourself goals for this year?  How are you progressing?  This year make your goals commitments you will achieve by following these 10 tips. Decide on something you really want, not something other people say you should do.  Give this serious thought. Spend time visualising what it will be like when you have achieved your goal – does this excite you? If not, this is not the goal to strive for. Test your motivation to achieve this goal. On a scale of...
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Do you delegate?

By Jacqui-HoganNo Comments
It's late in the evening and you are still in the office fixing problems. Or, you took your mobile phone on holiday, even though your partner said 'no work this time darling or I'll leave you / go on my own next time / drop your phone in the swimming pool (you choose)'. You may like to think that you are the only person who can sort out the end of month figures or code that little fix. You haven't shared the way to do things because, let’s face it; no one can do quite like you do. Sounds familiar? For most of your career, you are praised and rewarded for being a supreme expert. You work hard, accumulating experience, and become totally confident in your ability to solve problems. Over time, you find that you are being passed over for promotion because you are so good at what you do; no one can imagine you doing anything else. YOU need to delegate! To delegate...
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I don’t do strategy

By Jacqui-HoganNo Comments
How many times have you heard that? Maybe you have even said it yourself. Imagine what would have happened if the Greeks had said that when they were contemplating how to seize the city of Troy. There would have been no Trojan horse and many more years of misery for both them and the Trojans. In case you may be thinking that the strategy WAS the Trojan horse, here is the probable thinking that went on in the Greek camp. “Dimetri, how long are we going to sit outside Troy then? Our supplies are running low, and some of the soldiers are pretty fed up with army rations. Having boiling oil poured on them every day for months is taking its toll on morale too” “Lord Paris says we have to stay here until Troy gives Lady Helen back, you know, the one with the really pretty face. I think he wants to capture Troy too, so they can’t steal her back’ “Yeah, but our strategy...
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Where’s your BHAG?

By Jacqui-HoganNo Comments
Do you have a Big Hairy Audacious Goal? “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” ~ John F Kennedy. 1961 Looking back from our technology enriched world, you may not remember the impact of this bold statement. The world had barely begun to put men into orbit, something the US had yet to achieve at all. Yet Kennedy had the audacity and boldness to set a goal that would challenge every area of technology for almost a decade. Many people said it could not be done. Yet, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the lunar surface. Many people dismiss the idea of setting big bold audacious goals. Some, because it is difficult to predict what might be around the corner. Some, because of fear that they cannot achieve such goals. Some,...
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What is a manager?

By Jacqui-HoganNo Comments
Remarkably, over the past few days I have been asked no fewer than five times, “what is a manager?” Help is at hand! What is management? Before we can ask ‘what is a manager’, we need to ask ‘what is management’. The dictionary definition is “the control or administration of an organisation or group of staff.” In practice, it includes one or more of these: Coordinating internal and/or external resources to produce a complex deliverable Helping people to work together to effectively deliver stuff Helping people work together towards a common organisational goal A check on consistency of approach and expenditure, usually through agreed processes Developing individuals skills in a way that enhances their contribution both now and in the future Resolving conflicts and poor performance issues A helpful relationship based upon mutual trust and respect How much of each of these your organisation has (or needs) depends upon things such as size, age, sector, complexity of deliverables and culture. Benefits to an organisation of having managers Managers do the process of...
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Top Ten Tips – Time Management

By Jacqui-Hogan1 Comment
Do you feel that you could be using your time more effectively? If answer is "yes", here are my top ten tips for time management: 1.     Write things down Always take notes. No-one’s memory is perfect. Everyone forgets stuff, especially when stressed. Write random ‘stuff’ down too. It will distract you otherwise. Use a notebook, Post It notes or a tool like Evernote:  http://evernote.com 2.     It’s normal to have days when you can’t work & days when you want to work for 12 hours Work more when you are in the zone and relax when you're not. We all have both kinds of days, so don't beat yourself up about it. 3.     Respect your time and make it respected Delegate everything you can. But remember, delegation means finding the right person, briefing them thoroughly and then (most importantly) letting them get on with the task. Do not forget to take a break occasionally. Do not always say yes. 4.     Not all tasks are created equal Prioritise the important over the...
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Networking for Managers

By Jacqui-Hogan1 Comment
It was not until I left corporate life that I realised why networking was so important. For me, as for many managers, I was just too busy to give it much thought. However, launching myself into the world as a management consultant, I soon realised that ‘who you know’ was not only vitally important to me now, but would have greatly enhanced my career prospects had I done this sooner. Many of us start out being quite good at networking. We know that to get started in our careers, we need to make connections with lots of people. Time passes, our career takes off and we get busy and networking takes second and then third place to the pressures of day-to-day work. Complacency sets in, until we find ourselves being made redundant or languishing in a career backwater. Then we find we are back to stage one of building a network from scratch. How much better would it be, if we...
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In search of improved company performance

By richard-battersby1 Comment
Do you suspect that your company performance could be better, but feel that finding a solution appears to be just out of your reach? In my role as mentor and business consultant I engage with many company directors, from various sectors of industry and commerce. Many of them describe how they seem to be working harder than ever at the moment, but still feel as if they are simply “treading water” . Very often they are not looking at the right measures, or they simply fail to measure the obvious. My advice to them is always to identify the key factors which will indicate good company performance. They should then establish simple systems to monitor these.  The purpose of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) is to provide a “dashboard” with which to highlight the current performance state and to forewarn of adverse trends. Even a small drift away from target may highlight the return of a known problem, or even reveal a...
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Marketing metrics and measurement

By Nigel TempleNo Comments
As the management guru Peter Drucker said: "What gets measured, gets done." How do you know what's working and what isn't - if you don't measure outputs and response rates? Here are some of the things you can think about, with regards to marketing metrics and measurement: OUTPUTS Set targets for of all your 'marketing outputs', i.e. * Blog posts * Newsletter * Press releases * Social media connections * Talks given * Networking events attended WEBSITE * Total number of indexed pages * Unique Visitors * Bounce rate * Page impressions * Popular times of day to visit your website * Average time spent on site * Page views * Referral traffic (i.e. traffic arriving from other websites such as Facebook or Twitter) * Backlinks * Number of downloads (of, say, guides) NEWSLETTER * Subscribers, open rates, click through rates, hard bounce rates (i.e. dead email address), soft bounce rates (temporarily unavailable), spam complaints, unsubscribes SOCIAL MEDIA * Social media reach * Twitter Followers, ReTweets and other mentions * Facebook connections, Likes and Follows * LinkedIn connections, conversations, meetings MEDIA RELATIONS * Number of media contacts * Number of...
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