The Next Great Wave Of Innovation - Succeeding Through Turmoil

How do you see change - as a threat or an opportunity?

Our industries, our society and even our planet are in a state of flux as we struggle to come to terms with turbulent economies, dwindling resources and a changing climate. In The Sixth Wave, a book on business and innovation, authors Moody and Nogrady predict that we are on the cusp of the next great wave of change for the future. They also demonstrate that periods of change in history have always been the time when the greatest opportunities exist for the introduction of new technologies, new products and services, and for inspired ideas about whole new ways of doing things.

If you see change as a threat, you’re taking a “glass-half empty” perspective. You probably say, “I can’t keep up with this constant technological innovation. There’s something new to learn every week. It’s like I never left high school!” You’ll be annoyed whenever there’s a new trend in management. You’ll wince whenever you hear of competitors introducing new business processes. You’ll see change as the slings and arrows of business misfortune.

On the other hand, if you see change as an opportunity, you’re taking a “glass-half full” perspective. You are likely to think, “Every time there’s a change, new niches open up for me.” You know that some of your competitors will be slow to adapt and you’ll be the first to step in and relieve them of a few customers. You’ll say to yourself, “I’m a small business. I have a small, flexible and effective team. Adaptability is my middle name. We’re the can-do people!”

While your larger competitors need to look ahead a year or more, you’ll change focus much more quickly. If you’re a manufacturer, you have smaller production runs, so you can customize to suit the needs of particular customers. Customers can reach you much more easily than they can a CEO of a large corporation - you’re responsive.

You look ahead with anticipation, not with anxiety. You think, “Well, some of my products are nearing the end of their life cycle. What’s the next big thing? How can I surprise and delight my loyal customers with something that they don’t even realize they want?”

If you take this attitude, business will become more of a game than a chore. You’ll feel freer to think creatively. And you’ll try to communicate this attitude to your team. You’ll do so with a frank and open management style, because honesty is the best way to help people manage change. Fear of the unknown is one of the greatest impediments to change in the workplace.

You can also get people to feel positive about change by empowering your workforce. Reward people who have good and innovative ideas and let them have a say in implementing them. Offer both praise and monetary rewards for innovation.

So, in this time of transformation, stay alert and keep well informed. Look out for the winds of change. Seek advice. A Business Diagnostic and Performance Review with your accountant might be a good way to help you scan the external environment for changes in the industry that could sooner or later have an impact on your business, as well as analyze the internal operational strengths and weaknesses of your business as part of the process. Yes, it may mean major change for your business, but the way to look at that change is to see it as the opportunity for growth and improvement.

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Finding Acres Of Diamonds By Marketing In Your Own Backyard

Acres of Diamonds is an old story of an African farmer who sold his farm and wandered the countryside searching for diamonds. It later turned out that the land that he sold was full of diamonds and eventually became the site of a large mine.

Similarly, many businesses seek their customers from great distances when they might find acres of diamonds in their own backyard. Despite globalization and the trend towards working at greater distances, it’s worth taking a serious look at promoting your business in your local area. There are advantages to finding new customers close to home - the cost of communicating with and meeting these customers will be lower. By working with local customers you will lower your environmental impact by not having to travel so far for meetings and making deliveries.

Here are six ways you can expand your local market with minimal cost.

Get out and meet your neighbors. Most communities offer a number of local networking events. These might be organized by your chamber of commerce, city council or by business referral groups such as Business Network International (BNI). Find information about BNI at www.bni.com. Check your local newspaper and government websites for information on other events.

Share your expertise. Present a workshop or seminar that is of interest to current and potential customers in your area. This is a way to share your knowledge, enhance your reputation and get your name out in a friendly and informal way.

Speak up. If your topic or expertise is of general interest, volunteer to speak to business and community groups. These groups are always looking for interesting speakers, so you have a good chance of getting on the program if you have a topic that appeals to their interests.

If you choose the workshop or public speaking options, don’t turn them into blatant sales presentations. By sharing your organization’s knowledge on a topic of interest to the audience, whether it’s business people or consumers, you are indirectly promoting your business. Of course, when speaking at public events there’s nothing wrong with mentioning the name of your business and what it does so long as it’s relevant to the topic. Information about your company can also be included in the written introduction you submit to the chairman or master of ceremonies.

Attend trade fairs. Businesses and consumers like to purchase from their neighbors. Local trade fairs are an ideal place to meet local business people and consumers who are looking for new suppliers. Contact your local chamber of commerce to find out what events are planned in your area.

Open your doors. Hold an open house at your place of business and invite local business people along. You can use a direct mailing to deliver targeted invitations or advertise the event in your local newspaper if you want a broader audience. A guided tour of your premises with a short presentation during the tour will help people understand what you do and how you can help them.

Get found online. If you search online using keywords for your type of product and service by location, does your business come up in the search engine results? If not, there are several things you can do to improve your ranking in the search results list. One is to register with Google Maps. Using this free service will increase your chances of coming up on search results when people are looking online for your product or service by location. When signing up for your listing, be sure to include the relevant keywords that customers would use to search for you.

There are also many free-to-list online business directories where potential customers can search by location. Type the phrase "online business directory" in your preferred search engine and you will find several of these. Most offer a free basic listing, with the option to pay for an enhanced one that includes more detailed information about your business. Again, it’s important to use the right keywords in your company description to ensure that you will come up in the search results list.

Like the African farmer, you may be missing acres of diamonds in your own backyard. Applying all, or just a few of the strategies covered, will help you to cost effectively promote your business close to home.

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Our Top 10 Cash Flow Tips

1. Know your business’ balance sheet thoroughly. This may sound obvious, but as your accountant can confirm, many business people don’t know how cash flow works and its significance to keeping their operation afloat. Many owners focus on their business’ profit and loss statement alone. It’s a potentially fatal mistake because healthy profits can mask an impending cash flow crisis. Profit and loss statements don’t usually contain the information required to make an adequate cash flow projection. For that, you’re going to need a structured balance sheet that includes all the influencing factors including debts, interest payments, inventory and so on. This is the basis for your cash flow projection which represents an “educated guess” at the likely incomings and outgoings over the period of time you have selected to map out.
   
2. Set up a cash flow budget. You need to focus on forward planning to generate a “best guess” about likely future sales and expenses. There are some cash flow software tools around, but you can also set up your own program in Excel. If you’re not familiar and skilled with Excel software, ask your accountant for help to set it up properly initially. They can also help you select suitable cash flow software.
   
3. Review and update cash flow budgets regularly. It’s your best insurance against potential cash shortages. If your business has a predictable cash flow, then cash flow budgeting on a quarterly basis is often enough. If you’re already visiting your accountant for other tax related matters, then you can get a cash flow budget prepared at the same time. The rule of thumb is that the greater the cash flow uncertainty a business faces, the more often a new cash flow budget should be prepared.
• If cash is really tight, you might need to move to weekly projections, and decide which invoices you’ll pay and whom you need to get payment from as soon as possible. Watch bank balances and make sure you don’t have checks sitting on a desk waiting to be deposited. This can be time consuming, but you won’t be the first business that has had to do that from time to time.
• Rapid growth sounds good but, ironically, too much of this good thing can bring on a cash crunch – which takes many business owners by surprise. A sudden spurt in sales is often accompanied by a run down in stock in-hand and debtors not being tracked or followed up when they go overdue. Strong sales one month often means a cash shortage next month. By monitoring the business’ cash status you can arrange credit from suppliers and banks to cover the temporary shortfalls. However, these arrangements take time to set up so you need to be prepared in advance.
  
4. Set your credit terms carefully. If the nature of your business requires offering credit, then it is important to set clear limits to your terms of credit.
   
5. Get payments in quickly. Master the art of debtor management. Let debtors know how much time remains before due dates. Stay in close touch with major debtors as payment deadlines approach. Offer small discounts for early payment as an incentive.
   
6. Pay your creditors strategically. Take advantage of credit terms and prioritize payments according to the consequences involved in going overdue. Wages, taxes and direct debits are at the top of the list for on-time payment; key suppliers may be prepared to wait a while to keep your business. Don’t pay early just to get a discounted price unless getting the discount is better than being without the cash.
   
7. Plan for the lumps. Be aware of when lean cash flow patches are coming up and plan accordingly. Avoid funding major purchases from your business’ working capital unless you are sure you have the cash to cover it.
   
8. Get finance products working to your benefit. Overdrafts, premium funding, lease facilities and cash flow funding products can all be excellent tools to help match a business’ cash supply with planned outlays. Even the business credit card can be a good way to ease the squeeze as long as you are sure the debt can be paid before interest kicks in.
   
9. Don’t incur tax and other statutory penalties. Save yourself the money and the stress!
   
10. Keep your hands out of the till. Make cash drawings for personal purposes according to conservative cash flow forecasts.

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Thin Client Computing - Is It The Right Choice For Your Business?

Thin client computing is one of the options businesses have when upgrading their desktop computers. If you are unfamiliar with the term, thin client computing is where basic computer terminals rely mostly on another computer - a server - to perform their tasks. Thin clients are connected through a network to a server where most of the processing occurs. Because it has no hard drive, a thin client terminal can’t operate without being connected to the server, unlike a thick client where the computer does the processing.

This configuration offers several advantages in the right business environment. Let’s examine the benefits and what to consider when determining if thin client computing is right for your business.

The environmental friendliness and energy efficiency of thin computing has become more important as companies look for ways of decreasing environmental impacts. A thin client terminal uses from between 6 and 50 watts, compared with 150 to 350 watts used by a PC. One study of a conversion of PCs to thin client terminals, including the required server and cooling infrastructure, showed a 24 percent reduction in power use with a corresponding 23 percent reduction in CO2 emissions.

Thin clients have been shown to outlast PCs and laptops by at least three years. Besides lowering costs, this means that thin client terminals require fewer resources to manufacture. Without the hard drives and other parts, thin client terminals involve less hazardous materials to produce, less packaging during transport and create less waste when discarded.

Thin client computing provides enhanced security and reliability. With data and applications stored on a backed up data centre server, there is no security problem if a terminal is lost, damaged or stolen. In the event of a natural disaster, business continuity is assured because the data and applications are located offsite in a secure location. In industrial environments, with dust and other contaminants or lack of space, thin client terminals can be ideal.

With processing carried out by the server, thin client computing is more manageable. There are fewer things that can go wrong, and viruses and malware aren’t a problem when you don’t have separate hard drives throughout the business. The simplicity of thin client terminals makes it easier to diagnose and fix problems. It also makes installation quicker and easier compared to PC-based computing.

The range of benefits of thin client computing translates into a lower total cost of ownership. A study by consulting firm Gartner, comparing the total cost of ownership between PC-based and thin computing, found annual savings of up to:

• 34 percent lower maintenance cost
• 79 percent less downtime cost per user
• 6 percent capital cost savings
• 19 percent lower operating cost
• 48 percent lower overall cost of ownership

Although the benefits can be substantial, you need to consider your computing environment and the potential shortcomings of thin client computing.

If you use computing intensive applications, such as video editing and CAD, thin client computing is not suitable because it can be too slow. Thin client computing is also constrained by connectivity. If the server goes down, users cannot access basic applications such as word processing, databases and spreadsheets.

Employees who are accustomed to PCs will lose their personalized configuration and control with a thin client terminal. Not having access to downloads, plugins and other personal applications might be good for the business, but can decrease employee satisfaction.

Before you make a decision you also need to look at how your computers are used. Thin client computing is ideal for environments where many users need to perform similar tasks. If your computing needs are diverse and complex, thin client computing will not be suitable.

It’s best to seek the opinion of an IT specialist who can help you analyze your needs and the potential benefits to determine if thin client computing is the right choice for your business.

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