It's MY data, dammit!

The story you are about to read is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

It was Tuesday, July 8, a smoggy day in the metropolis. My name is Joe Friday, and I implement business systems.

Normally accountants are quiet, orderly people, but the Financial Analyst in front of me had more than just a hair out of place. She was spitting mad.

"Those Customer Relationship Management people have ruined my data."

"Just the facts, ma'am. What seems to be the problem?"

"We have duplicate customers all through the system. We should never have let them in. It's an accounting system. CRM is just an add-on."

I promised her I would get right on it, so, taking my morning coffee with me, I made my way over to the sales area. The Sales Manager was having his own problems.

"Turns out each member of the sales team had their individual way of keeping their list of key contacts. The goods ones used our official contact manager, but other guys used Excel or one even had them on 3 by 5 cue cards, just like his grandfather."

"What seems to be the problem, sir?"

"Problem is they don't want to give up their old ways. Different guys recorded the same customer different ways. When we merged the lists we created duplicates. That got Accounting really mad at us. They said we had to use their system, but frankly, all they care about is name and address. We have multiple contacts, the account history and the industry stats to load as well. But that's not the big problem."

"What is the big problem?"

"The big problem is that the sales team don't want to give up 'their' data at all. They're afraid that others will use their contacts or that we'll fire them when we have their stuff."

This wasn't going to be an easy case after all. Who really owns the data? Is it the sales staff who worked so hard to compile it? Is it the Sales Manager, who is responsible for the team's performance? Or is it really Accounting's data, since, after all, the information is going into a CRM add-on to the Accounting System. Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion next . . .

I fast forward the tape to the next installment.

Friday here. The suspects are all together in one room. The time had come to put an end to the data ownership question.

"Listen up. I have interviewed each one of you and looked at all the relevant laws. Nobody owns the data."

Pandemonium erupted. Everyone shouted at once. Accusations flew. Then the door opened and an immediate hush descended on the room. There, standing in the doorway, was none other than the mysterious woman from the corner office.

"My grandfather started this company. I have worked here all my life. I own 85 percent of the shares of this corporation. I own the data."

She entered the room and walked over to the salesperson.

"George, you have a personal relationship with each of your customers. If they sneeze, you're standing there with a kleenex. But when you go on vacation and one of them calls, I don't know what the hell's going on. And I don't like that. Nobody can do your job like you, George. But nobody can do your job at all when you're not here. Got it?"

George nodded. The President moved to the Financial Analyst.

"Grace, you care about the information. Accuracy is your middle name. But you don't bring in a single sale. Not one. You've got to learn to get along with the others. You have to share your toys or we all won't get to keep playing the game. Make sense?"

Grace looked at the floor.

"Okay, Joe. I think they get the picture," she turned to face the group. "Show's over, folks. Back to work."

"That's my line," I said. She winked at me as she left the room.

Motivate Your Team

“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.” In how many MBA classes, inspirational business speeches and management books has this speech by American President, John F. Kennedy been touted as the perfect motivational mission? (Example 1, example 2, example 3).

The latest to cross my desk is an article by Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden called “Motivation through Mission”. Their key concept is, “People don’t perform in an inspired manner without a big time commitment to a compelling cause.”

It’s hard to argue with that, but consider this example. Let’s say you’re the head of an accounting team and looking ahead to 2009. You have the monthly grind of accounting statements and management reporting ahead of you. In addition, there are the budgeting and audit cycles. You are midway through a computer implementation that has been delayed due to problems converting the history, and you have to change the whole General Ledger to the new International Financial Reporting Standards. What is the compelling cause you need to get your people to perform in an inspired manner?

Catlette and Hadden’s response is, “Whether your team competes on the global stage or a three-unit cube farm, they will move faster, get more done, have more fun, and make more money if all hands on deck share a common sense of purpose and direction. Make it your business to see that they get it . . . really get it.”

Forgive my cynicism, but I have seen this all before. I had a client in the insurance industry where all of the rooms had large motivational posters, but the staff plodded through their jobs like zombies. There was no shortage of messaging proclaiming the common purpose. The issue was that there was no buy in from the employees below manager level.

How do you get buy in? How do you motivate someone? The first thing you have to do is pay attention to the emotional conversation in the room. To borrow from Stephen Covey, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Start by abandoning the idea of motivating a whole team and focus on the individuals. Simply put, if you really care about each one of them, they will really care about you. If you pay attention to their agenda, they will pay attention to yours. If you are honest with them, they will eventually be honest with you. I say eventually because it may take them a while to trust you.

This conversation does not have to get too “touchy feely”. It can be limited to the job. You don’t have to take on someone’s personal problems, but you need to address their professional ones. The only way to find out what’s on their mind is to observe them and ask open ended questions. Notice when they come through for you and each other. Encourage them. Ask them what roadblocks they face.

Actually, just the feeling that someone notices and appreciates what you do can be enormously motivational. I was involved in a computer conversion where the old system was a card based “automatic” bookkeeping machine which belonged in the Smithsonian. We couldn’t convert the data. It had to be re-entered. The two women in the data entry department gamely took on this huge task and managed to convert a month’s worth of data every week until it was done. It being an Olympic year, I got some ribbon and those large chocolate coins in foil to make two gold medals, which we presented to them at a staff meeting. Afterwards, I worried that the whole thing had been a little hokey, but my boss said, “Look what they did with the ribbons.” Sure enough, both of them had pinned the medals up prominently in their workstations.

I have written before about being on a little team with big ambitions, and I have to agree with Catlette and Hadden that putting everything you’ve got behind an ambitious project (or a “Big Hairy Audacious Goal" as another consultant calls it) energizes a team. Just make sure they feel like a team first.

Just Like Buying a Car

Turnkey: it’s a beautiful word, isn’t it? When used to describe accounting software, it conjures up the image of just turning the key in the ignition, hearing the roar of the engine and driving off into the sunset. It’s a whole sales pitch in a word. The only problem with it is that it doesn’t tell the whole story.

Let’s start with Excel. You buy it, install it and use it, right? It’s the perfect turnkey system. Well, if you ignore user training, that is. Have you ever seen a spreadsheet done by someone who wasn’t properly trained? The formulas are not consistent down the whole column, so you can’t just copy changes down. There are blank rows in the table so you can’t sort it. The formatting is awkward so it doesn’t print well. You get the picture. Excel is only a turnkey system if you ignore training.

But what about QuickBooks, one of the simplest accounting systems on the market? You buy it, install it, get trained on it and use it, right? If you ignore system configuration and internal processes, then yes, Quickbooks qualifies as a turnkey system. Even with a starter system like QuickBooks, designing your chart of accounts is not simple. I have seen accountants take weeks to set up their accounts. The time is well spent. You start with all your reporting requirements, e.g. financial statements for the bank, reports to the owner and tax schedules, and work backwards to figure out which accounts and departments you need. Determining your internal processes can take time as well. You want to be sure that transactions are properly approved and accurately entered. Any processes involving cash need special attention to be sure they are controlled. You also want documents to be stored in such a way that they can be easily retrieved.

Moving up the scale, you find Great Plains (Microsoft Dynamics GP), a package I spent a lot of time implementing. I shuddered when I heard GP described as a turnkey system, because it isn’t even designed that way. It is flexible, which means that it is also complex. In the right hands it can be moulded to fit a wide variety of different businesses. Each module has several set up windows to determine how that module works and how it interacts with other modules. There are third party modules designed to make the main, general purpose package work with specific industries. In addition to training, system configuration and internal processes, you have to spend time testing. Oh, did I mention data conversion? Typically you need to convert at least some of the history from a prior system to the new one. Because the logic behind the two systems is different, the way they store their data is different. Typically newer software stores more data than older systems did, so you need to decide how to fit the old data to the new system.

Navision (Microsoft Dynamics NAV) adds another layer: customization. GP can be customized as well, but NAV was designed for development. NAV gives you basic accounting software and expects you and your Microsoft partner to develop your own system. Whatever the package, once you decide to change the programming, you add the complexity of systems development. You need to create customer specifications, do the programming and test the results exhaustively.

All in all, the image I prefer to use with accounting systems is a marriage. You spend a lot of time first finding the right partner then figuring out how to live together. Only then can you floor the accelerator and drive off into the sunset.

Getting the Most from a Software Demonstration

You can buy Microsoft Office from any authorized dealer. When you're considering accounting software however, half of your time should be spent evaluating the consulting firm. There is a lot of skill involved in fitting accounting software to a company in terms of determining requirements, examining business processes, converting data, training staff and staying within the budget. Obviously, you want the best consultant you can find.

In the past couple of weeks I have attended two demonstrations of Microsoft's new reporting package, Performance Point. I will have more to say about the actual software in a future post. Right now, let's concentrate on the demos.

Both firms are experienced at what they do. They both say they have a large number of happy clients. They both are represented by a seasoned sales representative who knows how to run a demonstration confidently, with no errors or software issues. The problem is that the demos were virtually identical. How is a customer to decide between two firms when their presentations are so similar? I have two pieces of advice for companies who demonstrate software: customize the default demo and don't tell me, show me.

Customize The Demo

It was no coincidence that the two software demonstrations were so similar. When you sell Microsoft software you are provided with a sales toolkit, including scripts for demonstrating the product and cool examples of what it can do. It's all there for you to follow. All you have to do is practice until you can do it without stumbling or software problems. This material is golden, particularly if you have a technical or accounting background and you have not ever actually had to sell anything before. It helps a small firm reach the level of professionalism that a sophisticated market demands.

If you are a seasoned implementation firm however, then you have actual client experience. You can enhance Microsoft's cool examples with some of your own. Why would you want to do that? Three reasons:

1. Microsoft's examples are aimed at an international audience, whereas you will want to show you're in touch with local needs,
   
2. It gives you a way to show your expertise, and
   
3. It differentiates you from your competitors.

Even if you decide not to go to all of the trouble of creating the sample data and turning a specific client report into a generic example, you can still talk about your experience, in other words, show, not tell.

Tell & Show

If a consultant tells a prospective customer how good they are, the customer will at best ignore the statement. If the same consultant shows the prospect what they have accomplished with other customers, particularly if the other customers have something in common with the prospect, then they will have the customer's attention.

In an individualized sales demonstration of course, the sales person will have done their homework and explored the real or perceived needs of that particular prospect. I would argue that even when you are just buttonholing people at a trade show, it's important that your presentation be tailored to show your expertise, because your competitor may be in the booth right beside you. And they have everything you have, unless you focus on your specific customer experience.

Tailoring the presentation does not have to be that time consuming. For example, Performance Point includes financial analysis software. Let's say you did a project for a company importing goods from China. The demonstration script could include a paragraph like:

Many of our customers import products for resale here. Recent large fluctuations in foreign exchange rates have made pricing their products difficult at best. To address this issue we not only helped a customer create a report that showed the effect of foreign exchange rates on gross margin by product, but we also added a parameter to allow them to see the effects on forecasted rate changes.

Faced with that kind of practical experience versus an out-of-the-box demo, I know which consulting firm I'd choose.