The failure occurs when either the business owner/management assumes the "computer guy" understands his business - from a strategic standpoint, or when the business owner/management is certain the "computer guy" doesn’t understand his business and therefore excludes him from the strategic conversations.

In the role of Virtual CIO/Technology Advisor, I provide the strategic go-between for business management and IT departments or technical vendors.   Bridging that gap can result a huge cost savings and reduce future headaches.

Case-Study:
A client of mine was getting ready to initiate a series of system-wide upgrades - both hardware and software.  I was brought in to evaluate the vendor proposals for completeness & competitiveness - did they achieve the desire results.

However, as I sat there discussing the business objectives, current challenges, and business growth plans, the VP of Finance and the Controller (charged with managing the upgrade and approving the purchases) both commented that my conversations with them were the first where we started to identify their business objectives.

The vendors had identified current technology and for the most part were quoting/proposing upgrades to the existing infrastructure - based on past technology, not an future business growth.

In the case of this upgrade, we discovered nearly $100,000 of unnecessary purchases and by the time we had re-evaluated their strategic plans, we had reduced spending by nearly $150,000 and created a 2 year strategic plan.

It isn’t really the cost-savings that is most profound, it is the fact that the purchases they made actually had a value-impact on their organization.  The net effect is greater than the cost savings.

They way I explain it is that they had been given a grocery list but did not have a recipe.   In fact, what I told them at the outset was that I could not promise them we would reduce cost - only that the cost we identify would be part of a recipe; they would be purchases of strategic value.

Are you creating grocery list without a recipe?

Wrote a blog post over at IT Toolbox about digital communications.

I am starting to compile some ideas as part of a presentation on effective communications tools and strategies for business.

If you have specific ideas you think should be addressed, comment here or at IT Toolbox.

In particular, data analysis, decision support and automated reporting systems, workflow & business process re-engineering, and document assembly are my greatest areas of passion.

They form the crux of what Kreative Knowledge provides our clients.

We focus on utilizing tools that are readily available for most organizations.  Microsoft’s Office Suite (Access, Word, Excel, Powerpoint - and other apps) include Visual-basic for Applications (VBA).  VBA is the underlying programming language to Microsoft Office.  It goes far beyond the simple macro languages of the past.

VBA’s ability to interact with external applications using .NET and other technologies, allowing it to tie-into a variety of internal database systems, provides a tool that if often unused or underutilized in most organizations.

At Kreative Knowledge, we believe the simplest solution is often the best.  The ready-made tools that are already built-into Microsoft Office provide a rapid development and integration platform for automating all types of business process.

For instance, if your organization pulls data from an accounting or sales system and then creates Excel sheets for reporting or analysis, it is very likely that the manual process you go through to create those spreadsheets can be fully-automated.

This streamlines your reporting and removes costly errors and manual labor.

If you would like to find out more about the possibilities of automating your business processes and reporting, contact Kreative Knowledge.

The client actually received a blank spreadsheet each ordering period, filled in their order, and sent it back.  The problem was it left too many decisions to the customer.  Mistakes in data resulted in numerous questions, mistakes, and customer calls.

Here is why technology is really amazing.  She sent me the sheet, we discussed, via a Skype call, what they needed, I created a simple proof of concept in about an hour, and then shared my desktop and demonstrated where I was going.

After some modification and process questions, they had a new solution, using Excel lookup values on a hidden sheet, protected fields, and checks and balances to ensure the client’s order was correct when submitted.

So far, they have had a 95% reduction in customer calls and have had a 100% reduction in errors.

For me, removing manual and tedious labor is a passion.

The fact that tools exist that allow me to quickly assess and then demonstrate a solution - all remote - means I can save my client’s money while providing amazing results.

However, for 4 years of IT Career Advice plus occasional diversions into fire and flood, check out Notes From The Toolshed - hosted at IT Toolbox.  IT Toolbox - in case you are wondering, is not my site - I don’t own it.  There is confusion in that area because of the name’s similar to my book and my blog title.

My book was named a year prior to me starting to blog with them and the blog title was the title of my email newsletter back in 2003.

My poetry and music typically makes it to:
http://www.MatthewMoranOnline.com

Including a link a narrated version of, If Mom Were President - my gift book for mother’s and their children.

Setting up data validation using a lookup list is extremely simple.  This tutorial uses named ranges.  If you are unfamiliar with named ranges, watch this short video first.

 
Download the higher quality
Windows Media Version here

If you have questions or comments, leave them here on the blog site or email me.

I’ve posted a new video in the sample video segments.

Several years ago my son, Christopher, woke me up very early.  He was frantically tugging my arm, pulling me out of bed, saying… "It’s On!!! It’s On!!!"

I had no idea what he was talking about.  Concerned and half-awake, I let him lead me to the back sliding glass door.  His observation is something we could all learn from…

IT’S On!!!

It’s On!!!  A simple story about passion taught by my Hyperactive Child
 
Windows Media (8.1mb)

I sometimes finish presentations with this poem, The Pen, written while driving into a client one day.  That, by the way, is not recommended.  I now own two digital recorders - and keep one in my car at all times.

THE PEN
by Matthew Moran - May 9, 2003

I sit with pen, a poem to write
Ink flowing darkly across the page
And I realize, its link to life
Each line and letter a metered day

At this sad thought I halt my pen
A vain attempt to stem its flow
But I know that ink unused runs dry
Its purpose spent with naught to show

For I am the soul to the pen I hold
And the pen must follow where I lead
As my soul in life must show the way
My life, the pen, the ink my deeds

So scribble deep and doodle large
Color outside lines, draw off the page
Ere ink runs dry and your life unlived
Your pages blank and death the wage

I will be presenting at the Arizona Small Business Association on Janauary 9th.  My topic was initially "Social Media" (blank) but that topic is too vast and intangible.  Instead, we will more specifically cover strategies and tools for creating engaging content.

Considerable time will be spent covering Wordpress, its ease of use, and some examples of how a business might begin incorporating it into their marketing strategy.

Get information on the ASBA site:
http://www.asba.com/events/details.aspx?EventID=3708

Therefore, let’s call this an Email Communication Strategy…

After reading Tim Ferriss’ book, The 4-Hour Work Week, and having conversations with Laura about overall effectiveness - and my general inability to concentrate due to repeated interruptions, I’ve decided to cut the digital umbilical chord - and not check email on a constant basis.

I’ve included a rather lengthy addition to my email signature, explaining the change and how to best contact me - and when.  Hint: contact me via email, like always, unless this is a critical, must-be-answered now type of things.

Must be answered now is not a narcissistic, “I’m very important, answer me right away.” situation.  You are, without a doubt, very important to me.  However, email is not for conversation - particularly back and forth exchanges with no useful outcome.  To understand this more fully, read Ferriss’ book or check out this blog entry.

By the way, I fully understand and acknowledge that those interruptions were allowed by me - they are not the senders fault.

My basic strategy is to check email 2 times a day.  However, I also understand that this is a fairly dramatic change from my prior pattern.  Therefore, I will provide a weaning period - between now - 11/20/2007 - and 12/1/2007.

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