This month’s installment of “The Best of Both Worlds” is about the pace of change in your business today and what to do about it. As we all know, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is, in fact, the definition of insanity.
So when you ask an employee why they process a transaction the way they do and they reply “Because that is the way we have always done it”, do you sigh? Come on, no time to be bi-polar or defensive, you have to fess up and look in the mirror. After all, it’s that anti-change, anti-depressant of a business model that caused a sense of repression amongst the troops in the first place.
This is where a Tale of Two Tactics begins, readers, and here is how it goes.
Who in their wildest and subconscious dreams would ever not want to give up the process of driving to the store, buying film, taking photos, mailing them off or dropping them at same store, creating massive amounts of silver oxide poisoning, going back to same store or mailbox and then having exactly one copy of a treasured moment to share with friends and family. Well, um ask Kodak and Fuji because it turns out that rather than listening to customers who didn’t want to partake in this flawed process, they just kept watching the paint dry while money flowed in buckets through the bank. A great episode of “Where are they now?” on MTV maybe, but not a great Harvard Business Review of success. Two words for you – disruptive technology.
Sure, you can say all you want about the pace of change, but for those of you old enough to remember this tiny competitor has made it through therapy to evolve into a solver of problems. They started with mainly payroll, yet today you can buy HRMS, Benefits Administration, Time and Attendance, Tax Management, PEO, HRO and a host of products. Oh, almost forgot for my agency friends who think change is not eminent, they sell benefits and workers’ compensation now too. Let me inject a bit of our Best of Both Worlds in on top, they also changed their operational model to access a global workforce in order to use price like electric shock therapy on their competition.
The pace of change from external factors will make these two examples more clear to you when you least expect it. Change comes in many forms, from regulatory to good old fashioned American competition and capitalism. The question is not whether it is coming, but when. Do you wait to find out the hard way? Well, to quote a favorite person of ours Mr. James William Buffett “Indecision may or may not be my problem”.
We completely understand how easy it is to do nothing, and how hard change is to enact. However, if you find the right partner and stay ahead or even just keep up with your foes you will find long-term prosperity instead of a padded cell. You need the kind of partner that won’t let you go off your meds and who knows your business on and off the couch.
So consider this short personality test for a moment:
The answer to number one may be “yes”, and we are more than cool with that and wish you the best of luck. It is never our goal to work with those who either don’t need us, or don’t want to. We seek collaborative relationships where we increase the bottom line and help companies meet their five-year financial objectives.
If the answers are no, no, yes and yes, then talk to CogNet.
Our owners and operators have been in the Human Resource Services and Outsourcing business for years, both on and offshore. We have built companies that have competed with you, and operations in other parts of the world to ensure that the best skills possible were aimed at the right problems. We believe that you can’t grow revenue by working on a benefits reconciliation, and that our combination of unique expertise in the industry and mastery of operating globally are yours for the taking if you wish.
You can access global resources to improve your business without leaving your desk or drastically changing your delivery. The Doctor is in, give us a call for a consultation.