April 10, 2017
A conversation with Tony Crewdson, Chief Executive
We speak with managers right across the world, from all types and sizes of businesses. The question we ask them is ’can you see the whole of your business in one place, in real-time.’
The answer is always an emphatic No!
And when we ask ‘would you like to?’ the answer is always an absolute Yes!
Yet this one thing, perhaps the holy grail of management, seems to be beyond reach.
Why?
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) promised much but, more often that not, only delivered million-dollar timesheeting.
Project and programme management (PPM) looked promising but project success rates have plateaued at unacceptably low levels.
Top-down strategic planning became part of accepted business folklore even when ‘delivering to strategy’ failed time and time again.
Each of these approaches illustrates one thing. Point solutions, however big and wide-reaching, work against cohesion in your business. Cobbling together a mix of tools under an ‘integrated’ banner seldom delivers what you expect. A whole of business ‘helicopter view’ that makes immediate sense is extremely rare, and few believe it’s possible.
Until now - Here’s our journey
- We cherry-picked the essential elements of the management toolkit, reworked them, and put them back together in an integrated solution.
- We designed an information architecture so you can easily transition from what you have today to what you really need.
- We eliminated the silos, removed the arbitrary workflows and reporting lines, and stripped away the artificial barriers holding you back.
And then…instead of falling into the trap of pretending that our system delivers all the answers out-of-the box, we settled on a different approach.
We figured much of management is about being intrigued by the beauty and complexity of your business; being able to cope with change and challenges; being explorers’ at heart.
We saw high-performing teams comfortable with continually asking questions, and promoting conversations right across the business, on the way to solving problems, taking opportunities, and, perhaps most important of all, building teams absolutely, passionately dedicated to the essential purpose of your business.
We also saw teams so fatigued by keeping the business running, and jaundiced by the latest management fad, their appetite and energy, for new ways, was low. We needed to stop you in your tracks, and give you hope.
Give me 5 minutes to talk about managing your business, and I will stop you in your tracks. I’ll ask you to:
- Think about your business - the constraints, frustrations, uncertainty and stress that come with your current ways of working - and admit there has to be a better way.
- Consider what “All-of-Business, one place, on demand’ could mean for you.
- Think about ‘Your people, your business - legends in the making.’
5 minutes for a very different, very new future.