Who needs a blueprint?
First things first is always the right approach, but what do you do when you aren't sure what the first step is? Unfortunately, the IT industry has been able to get away with confusing clients for too long by making the discussion about technology instead of about business. So, what is the first step that you should be taking? Rather than focusing on creating a blueprint for an IT solution, you should first create a blueprint of your business processes so that you will see exactly what you want technology to do for you.
Our Process requires that any solution show evidence it will make you money.
Process First!
Most people shopping for a database/CRM/document management software think, "I need to get my information better organized," but there is a much bigger issue that they have to consider: When you discover and solve your process issues FIRST, it becomes obvious how you should organize your information!
Think of Information as the "Oil" in the "Wheels" of Process. As your business grows, your processes will change and your information needs will change. If you don't customize your systems to deal with your new information needs, you will find yourself always trying to fix the “Squeaky Wheel”.
To meet the challenges of growth, you need flexible and scalable systems that can efficiently grow along with you and at your own pace. To keep your business running smoothly, we help you keep your information flowing, ensuring that your clients and employees will always be involved in productive business processes. We focus on turning key information into actionable business assets that will increase your profitability.
How We Work With Small Businesses
Our process for engaging our clients is to hold an initial meeting where we discuss all of the issues in your business where you see technology playing a role. We go through a process we call "20 Questions" which helps us understand your desired results and your current process "disconnects".
Once you see all of your issues in front of you and you have prioritized them, we uncover evidence that addressing your top issues will truly make you money. We are committed to the concept that the return on your investment must absolutely make you many times more than the cost of any type of solution. If we are able to get enough evidence that a solution will be profitable to you, we will make a proposal on how we can help you address that issue.
Addressing your issues may include what we term "Band-Aid" solutions where you need certain services immediately to help you stop losing money (or mitigate the risk of you losing your data), but usually we will propose taking the time to do a process analysis of your business with you to truly understand the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, AND HOW you use information in your business. After the process analysis, we will make additional proposals on implementing exact solutions in order to turn your information into profitable business assets.
We Speak Geek AND English
One more thing. Have you ever thought that you ordered one thing and then got back something completely different, something that didn't even work for you? We have found that a large gap exists in communication between small business owners and IT professionals. Our unique backgrounds have given us the ability to speak fluently in both everyday English and "Geek".
