1. How many of us actually set goals?
2. How many of us write those goals down and track our acheivements against them?
Not many people do #1, but it's been proven that #2 will increase your success rate exponentially.
So, I'll cut right to the chase..... write down goals that force you to have balance in your life.
If work is consuming you, set goals to do things with your spouse and friends. If your obsession is TV or the computer, set goals (and write them down) that force you to get out of that chair/couch and out of that rut.
Don't be obsessed with the negativity of this election mayhem. Step back, be grateful for what you do have, and strive for balance. It's work, but it's well worth it.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Cashflow is oxygen... required for the life of your company!
Cashflow is king. Or, as I like to put it, “Cash flow is OXYGEN! No company can survive long without it!”
In our current economic environment, managers at all levels in an organization must be part of a cash flow solution. In particular, effective management of Information Technology (IT) resources, whether by the CEO, CIO or IT department manager, can immediately help a company’s cash flow position.IT resources often require significant spend well in advance of proportional need. Imagine the situation where your IT staff is over loaded, but by the same token there is not enough work to support another body.
What do you do? You can do nothing, you can hire a permanent employee or hire a temporary employee. All of these solutions have pluses and minuses. Doing nothing is very risky. As soon as you stop maintaining your systems your company is at risk. Even if you keep all the systems up to date, the mere fact that you are under utilizing your IT staff, is costing you opportunities.Hiring a permanent employee is never without its risks and expense. Anyone that has ever hired more than a couple of people knows it is an imperfect science. A person may appear to have all the right skills, seem to be a good fit within the organization and may appear as if they may last a while.
How many times have you thought those things only to be disappointed within months.Temporary and contract hires are a little better. But you still have to spend time and money to get them up to speed. They never quite fit within the organization. And often, if they are a great fit, you can’t afford to hire them. Even if you do hire them, you often do so before there is a full time need for them.
Managed IT services have simplified the above options.
IT security, IT Backup and Disaster Recovery, remotely managed Servers and Workstations no longer require on-site staff. In fact, it is rarely cost effective to use high paid professionals for these mundane tasks. What makes even less sense is maintaining and supporting Microsoft Exchange.
Your IT staff often comprise some of the brightest and best employees in your organization. They are far more capable than the demands placed on them by managing unreliable backup tapes, or worrying about the endless stream of Microsoft patches. When you relieve them of the burden of chasing viruses and stopping spam, they are free to help you with your business intelligence projects. They can actually contribute to the bottom line instead of just draining the black ink.
In a perfect world, more cash flows into a company than out of it. But we don’t live in perfect worlds. In order to grow we need to hire employees and make large capital investments. Effectively run companies are now looking at ways to minimize capital expenditures with respect to Information Technology.
The New Paradigm
The new paradigm is Information Technology as an operations expense. Transforming IT operations from capital expense to operational expense has a number of benefits.
1. Simplification. As an operational expense, IT spend can be more easily budgeted and controlled.
2. IT can be a variable operational expense, not a capital expense.
3. IT as an operational expense means predictable cash flow. As a company goes through its business cycles, they don’t pay for wasted capacity.
4. IT costs can be directly correlated to the actual number of users. Financial projections are simplified and accurate.
5. As IT capex goes away depreciation expense, therefore, is also be reduced and eliminated.
Maintenance Free IT, is not just a dream. For companies that intend to survive the current financial storm, it is a necessity. Throwing money at servers, employees and software, in advance of the business to support them, just does not make sense. Pay as your grow is simple, practical and good for cash flow.
http://maintenancefreeit.wordpress.com/http://maintenancefreeit.wordpress.com/
In our current economic environment, managers at all levels in an organization must be part of a cash flow solution. In particular, effective management of Information Technology (IT) resources, whether by the CEO, CIO or IT department manager, can immediately help a company’s cash flow position.IT resources often require significant spend well in advance of proportional need. Imagine the situation where your IT staff is over loaded, but by the same token there is not enough work to support another body.
What do you do? You can do nothing, you can hire a permanent employee or hire a temporary employee. All of these solutions have pluses and minuses. Doing nothing is very risky. As soon as you stop maintaining your systems your company is at risk. Even if you keep all the systems up to date, the mere fact that you are under utilizing your IT staff, is costing you opportunities.Hiring a permanent employee is never without its risks and expense. Anyone that has ever hired more than a couple of people knows it is an imperfect science. A person may appear to have all the right skills, seem to be a good fit within the organization and may appear as if they may last a while.
How many times have you thought those things only to be disappointed within months.Temporary and contract hires are a little better. But you still have to spend time and money to get them up to speed. They never quite fit within the organization. And often, if they are a great fit, you can’t afford to hire them. Even if you do hire them, you often do so before there is a full time need for them.
Managed IT services have simplified the above options.
IT security, IT Backup and Disaster Recovery, remotely managed Servers and Workstations no longer require on-site staff. In fact, it is rarely cost effective to use high paid professionals for these mundane tasks. What makes even less sense is maintaining and supporting Microsoft Exchange.
Your IT staff often comprise some of the brightest and best employees in your organization. They are far more capable than the demands placed on them by managing unreliable backup tapes, or worrying about the endless stream of Microsoft patches. When you relieve them of the burden of chasing viruses and stopping spam, they are free to help you with your business intelligence projects. They can actually contribute to the bottom line instead of just draining the black ink.
In a perfect world, more cash flows into a company than out of it. But we don’t live in perfect worlds. In order to grow we need to hire employees and make large capital investments. Effectively run companies are now looking at ways to minimize capital expenditures with respect to Information Technology.
The New Paradigm
The new paradigm is Information Technology as an operations expense. Transforming IT operations from capital expense to operational expense has a number of benefits.
1. Simplification. As an operational expense, IT spend can be more easily budgeted and controlled.
2. IT can be a variable operational expense, not a capital expense.
3. IT as an operational expense means predictable cash flow. As a company goes through its business cycles, they don’t pay for wasted capacity.
4. IT costs can be directly correlated to the actual number of users. Financial projections are simplified and accurate.
5. As IT capex goes away depreciation expense, therefore, is also be reduced and eliminated.
Maintenance Free IT, is not just a dream. For companies that intend to survive the current financial storm, it is a necessity. Throwing money at servers, employees and software, in advance of the business to support them, just does not make sense. Pay as your grow is simple, practical and good for cash flow.
http://maintenancefreeit.wordpress.com/http://maintenancefreeit.wordpress.com/
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