Archive for the ‘leadership’

Where are you on the Technology Continuum? Are you a 1, 2, or 3?

Posted by Chris Dellen
Aug23
cdellen

How do you know whether to buy the most expensive cutting edge technology… or, less expensive, slightly outdated technology? Do you have answer for your organization?

I just received a call from a friend in need of a significant technology upgrade for his business. Like a majority of people in his situation, he has made several calls and seen several vendor presentations… However, he has missed one critically important step… he doesn’t know where he should fall on the technology continuum or why? Translated, he doesn’t know if he needs to make technology a serious priority (priority = amount of money invested) at his organization or if there are other areas where money would be better spent.

If you are responsible for making technology investments for your firm, you must have a complete understanding on where your true priority is. There are three things that you need to think about to determine the level of priority that is placed on technology at your companty…


There are three things that can help you determine if you are a 1, 2, or 3 on the technology continuum.

- Your Customer’s Expectations

- Your Competitive Advantage

- Your Competition

Customer’s Expectations: Delivering on your customer’s expectations is critical to your long-term success or failure… Can you define what your customer’s expectations are in 15 words or less? Are you prioritizing your technology investments around your customer’s expectations?

If you are a small bakery, your customers might expect your bread to be deliciously amazing every time they take a bite. To deliver on that expectation you will make a level 3 investment in your cooking technology and ingredients before you will in a highly sophisticated Customer Relationship Management solution. If you sale disgusting bread, no CRM system in the world is going to save you…

On the other hand, if you are a hospital, your customer’s expectation is to get well soon… A critical piece of that equation is the communication infrastructure that makes it possible for nurses, doctors, and technicians to collaborate and communicate and solve patient problems. Meeting those customer expectations could require a technology investment that needs level 3 commitment.

I’m going to ask… Are you matching your customer’s expectations to your area of technology priority?

Your Competitive Advantage: The level of technology investments that you make should directly align with your competitive advantage.

If your competitive advantage is being the lowest cost provider in your field, then making a level 3 investment in technology that does not help you maintain your low cost market leadership will undermine your competitive advantage.

You might ask, well Walmart has a technology infrastructure that rivals most governments AND they also boast the lowest price? What’s going on? For Walmart, the key is investing in technologies that lower the cost to bring merchandise to market. That involves having one of the most sophisticated distribution technology infrastructures on the planet. At Walmart, anything that doesn’t lower the cost to their customer’s gets a level 1 investment.

So, at your business, it’s critically important to align technology investments with your competitive advantage.

Your Competition: If you have already aligned technology investments with your customer’s expectations and your competitive advantage, you are ahead of most. The key is keeping your eye on the technology horizon for disruptive technologies that could either:

1) Transform your customer’s experience (even if your customers don’t know what that is yet)

2) Overturn your industry.

To be ready, you have to continuously innovative and seek out technology innovations that solve your customers problems AND align with your competitive advantage.

So, are you a 1,2, or 3?

Is Your Company’s Technology Personality an Apple or an Orange?

Posted by Michelle Heiden
Mar24
mheiden

Today’s technology has advanced to the degree that solutions you may be researching can provide a flavor of the same functionality…for example…Avaya, Siemens, Cisco, Interactive Intelligence, Hosted Products, can all provide…*IP Telephony, Unified Communications, Contact Center Applications (ACD, IVR, Recording)…. so the difference isn’t in the apples to apples functionality…the goal should be to find your orange?

Here are a couple of things to think about:

1) Do you want your voice solution to integrate into your back office applications, i.e. CRM, ERP, Billing Systems, Contact Center etc? If this is important or not important to your long-term plan, it will help you quickly qualify/disqualify products that can not provide integration points. Understanding the depth of integration into your business can help you drive what technologies make the most sense for your unique company.

2) Whiteboard, whiteboard, whiteboard… how will the solution physically fit into your environment? Architecture of the solutions is significant… some take a hardware approach/multi point and others take a software approach/single point solution… on a spreadsheet they might look the same but white boarding the solution can give you many further insights.

3) How will the solution grow and change with your business? …not only from a product development prospective but were is their company going? Is it growing or expanding?  Were will be in 10 years….

Technology can be a very powerful tool that can deliver a significant competitive advantage. Spend the time up-front uncovering what is important to the unique needs of your business… Are you an orange?

Is your Trust “glass” half-empty or half-full?

Posted by Ruth Lochary
Mar11
rlochary

I am an optimist.  I believe in people.  I love being in a leadership position where I can have the opportunity to push people to develop themselves and achieve things they never thought possible.  Many years ago, a career counselor told me that I should be prepared for the “fact” that my “Pollyanna” approach to working with people wouldn’t always be successful.

I’m glad I ignored her.

Sometimes we talk about people seeing life as a glass half-empty or half-full…I’m the half-full type!  We approach the people who are part of our contact center teams with that half-empty/half-full attitude.  There are some managers who make every decision assuming that the staff was out to do the worst to their company.  They have punitive policies and communicate an incredible degree of mis-trust to their people.  The trust glass is definitely half-empty.  And, you know what?  They get a half-empty performance out of their people.

I prefer the half-full approach.  That’s not to say that I’ve never had a staff member who wasn’t a poor performer – I have.  The difference is that the “trust-glass-half-full-manager” deals directly with the person and the issue.  The glass-half-full person doesn’t implement a policy that punishes everyone because of one person’s bad decisions.  Sometimes, it’s harder this way…but it’s worth it.  Demonstrating trust for your people will generate trust from them in return.  When you make a mistake (and you will!), trusting people will forgive you and continue to follow you as a leader.  You trust them…they trust you.  That creates an upward spiral of success.

Question for the day: Would your staff say your trust “glass” is half-empty or half-full?  What one thing could you do today to show your staff that you trust them?

CPI named one of Indiana’s Best Places to Work

Posted by Chris Dellen
Mar5
cdellen

Communications Products, Inc. (CPI) was recently named as one of the 2010 Best Places to Work in Indiana.  The awards program was created in 2006 and is a project of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, BizVoice, Inside INdiana Business, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and Best Companies Group.

This statewide survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Indiana, benefiting the state’s economy, its workforce and businesses.  The 2010 Best Places to Work in Indiana list is made up of 28 companies in the small/medium-sized list (25-249 employees in the United States) and 42 companies in the large-sized list (250+ employees in the United States). CPI has been named one of the Best Places to Work in Indiana.

Best Places to Work in Indiana 2010

To be considered for participation, companies had to fulfill the following eligibility requirements:

- Have at least 25 employees working in Indiana;

- Be a for-profit or not-for-profit business or government entity;

- Be a publicly or privately held business;

- Have a facility in the state of Indiana; and

- Must be in business a minimum of 1 year.

Companies from across the state entered the two-part process to determine the Best Places to Work in Indiana.  The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company’s workplace policies, practices, and demographics.  This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation.  The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience.  This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation.  The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking.  Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process in Indiana and also analyzed the data and used their expertise to determine the final rankings.

Communications Products, Inc. will be recognized and honored at the 2010 Best Places to Work in Indiana Awards Dinner coordinated by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, May 6th.  The final rankings will be announced at the event.  In addition, all ranked companies will be featured in the May-June issue of the award-winning BizVoice® magazine.

The Power of the Candy Jar (Part 1)… Leadership Principles for Your Call Center

Posted by Ruth Lochary
Feb23
rlochary

A two part blog post…this first one looks inside your organization.  Part two will look outside to your customers.

I have a candy jar in my office.  Actually, right now I’m using a miniature version of a candy bin from Goofy’s Candy Company at Walt Disney World.  It has a great little scoop and is perfect for M&M’s.  I used to have a really tall glass jar that was perfect for miniature chocolate bars.  Tall or short, large or small, I always want to have a candy jar in my office.  Why?  I’ve told people for years, “as long as I have candy in my jar, I have friends in the building!”  J

Seriously, my candy jar allows me to visit with people who wouldn’t be likely to come chat with me.  I catch up on the latest happenings in the office.  I keep the engineers I work with going through their late night push to meet a cut-over deadline.  When I managed a call center, I got to see agents who otherwise never would have stepped into my office.   Staff members would tell me that the title on the door seemed intimidating…but it’s hard to be intimidated when you’re sharing chocolate together.   It’s like putting out a welcome mat for your co-workers.  That’s the power of the candy jar!

Question for today: As a leader in your organization, what draws people in to talk to you?