Friday, November 6. 2009The Electronic Age Does Have Some DownsidesJohn Linton I mentioned that we are contemplating adding more floor space to allow us to grow our corporate business more rapidly having just about used up the 'spare space' we obtained when we purchased a 450 sqm floor which we moved in to in June this year. If we do keep growing our corporate business in terms of the volumes we have planned then it is inevitable that we will need more floor space in the very near future. Unless we get lucky enough and are brave enough to buy twice what we have now (or more) and then selling our recent purchase we will be faced with splitting our Sydney office into two parts which, while not any sort of logistical issue does have various less specific issues. As a company we have now got roughly half of our personnel in Colombo and half in North Sydney with two Level 3 engineers working from their homes on the NSW Central Coast and Canberra. Steve has been working from his home in Perth half of each month for the past six years and Annette has also worked from home almost all the time. I only work from the office a few hours a day (usually on the days I have meetings with suppliers or other entities. So you would think we would be used to operating is a 'dispersed' environment with at least half the company never in the same physical proximity to the other half....and that is true. However I have some qualms about splitting the Australian company into two separate locations which I can't exactly 'put my finger on'. In 'the old days' there were significant expenses incurred in having two separate offices (two PABXs, two sets of ISDN lines, call costs between offices, two expensive data links, two reception areas, receptionists etc) but in today's electronic office there are no PABXs or receptionists or data links and much inter-personnel communication is conducted via email or mutual access to the same data bases (either our own or our suppliers). So, given that half the company already works in another country why am I hesitant? I really don't know as there appears to be far less reason in this day and age for multiple locations to pose any sort of issue at all. In the case of Colombo the cost advantages were so massive it took no consideration beyond double checking the financial assumptions. Technically it makes no difference whether Steve is in Perth or at the next desk in terms of any sort of communication or access - but it isn't 'quite as good' as a face to face presence - and I know it should be but I don't 'feel' it is. The same applies to our work from home personnel and particularly our Colombo based personnel. It all works very well but there is, very definitely, something missing. Whether what is missing (and I can't define it) actually produces a positive or negative effect, irrespective of how minor, I don't know but I'm inclined to think it's negative rather than positive. This makes me quite reluctant to actually start the process of looking for additional floor space to split the company again. So a bit of a dilemma because there is very little time to make a go/no go decision as it is and my equivocation is very unhelpful. The 'cop out' would be to take a lease somewhere and 'see how it goes', but that would forgo the opportunity of taking advantage of the big fall in commercial real estate prices in the Sydney CBD and the, still, very low interest rates which while not a 'deal killer' certainly provide future lower costs. I suppose the other thing that concerns me is the 'gamble' that Exetel's current progress in building a hundred million dollar a year corporate business will run out of 'steam' for all sorts of reasons and we will not need as much of the planned space as we think we do - but that isn't a major factor - just something that creeps in to your mind when you are hesitating about making a decision. If you want to think negatively about any issue it always seems easier to find reasons not to do something than reasons to do something....even for impatient people like me. As far as I can see there is no reason to think that the unarguable rationales that lead to the conclusion that there are huge opportunities for Exetel in the corporate marketplace are incorrect in any way and growing the corporate business is simply applying the right amount of thinking and continuing to be successful in recruiting the right people. I suppose one of the ongoing problems of running a small business is that there are always more problems to consider than any single person can ever find the time to deal with....and delaying any decision simply ensures there is less time to deal with the next issues that continue to present themselves.
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Video links.
About 20 years ago I read about some research done - at Xerox/PARC I think - using video links to bring back some of missing something that you cannot put your finger on. The essential point seemed to be that a key thing missing when working at separate locations is the ability to 'see' when someone is busy or, conversely, free to be interrupted. If you glance over at the big wall display and see that Joe is having a coffee or a stretch, you feel a lot more comfortable giving him a call to ask about, or comment on, or complain about, some trivial little thing that he might be able to respond usefully to - if only to give you a chance to vent. So maybe install a video-wall, not for conference calls particularly, but just to create the feeling and benefits of community between the disjoint work places. Comment (1)
....an interesting idea that is now far more affordable than at any time in the past.
Comments (5)
Have you looked at the possibility of buying another floor in your existing building?
Never mind if they are currently on the market. You never know unless the question is asked..... other owners might be hurting ... .. and it would provide a great solution. Harry. Comment (1)
That would be an ideal solution and e will see what can be done.
Comments (5)
As much as us technological humans believe that we can live without interaction it seldom works that way. Face to face communication and the "availability" of sitting beside people for impromptu discussion should not be undervalued.
Our organistaion is global. The time and effort we save by using the phone rather than email is also greatly undervalued. Humans communicate via many ways but predominantly speech and expression. Eliminate those for too long and trouble begins. Ron Comment (1)
John, you use electronic systems to improve business efficiency/effectiveness all the time but for “business sales” you are so focussed on expanding head count (as your apparent "only choice"). Have you really maximised your $ sales per head already – are there other things you can do to drive the last few cents of results out of your current heads? Is it the right strategy to just keep expanding or are you at 100% efficiency/effectiveness per head now?
Comment (1)
We spent five years developing our corporates sales via web only processes and I have run out of ideas on how to improve that.
I have built several sales forces over my career and, at least in my opinion, I progressively improved the time frame, effectiveness and lowered the cost of doing that. Again, in my opinion, the only way of generating the level of corporate business we are optimistically planning for is via very bright and very knowledgeable 'face to face' (telephone voice to telephone voice mostly) sales people. I realise that is the most expensive process available but the returns, from a properly executed program, are more than commensurate with the costs. Quite possibly there are better approaches - I just don't know of any. Comments (5)
You have expressed the belief that it is better to buy assets using cash. Perhaps in retrospect, if you could move your existing business to another (bigger) premises, the increased flexibility of this would outweigh the costs associated with having two sets of staff separate from one another.
Comment (1)
I thought I had expressed the personal view that it was safer for a small company in ever changing marketplaces to take the safe path of not incurring ongoing debt repayments and only pay cash.
That conservative policy has kept Exetel safe so far. Comments (5)
not incurring ongoing debt repayments and only pay cash
the good old fashioned approach that has obviously been long forgotten - hence our current financial situation Comment (1)
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