Ok word of warning before reading this post. I will try and stay away from Covid related stuff as much as possible !
Why I hear you cry ?
In usual Simoda no BS approach I thought it would be better just to talk about some of the key challenges we have highlighted for 2021, Covid or no Covid and because everyone is telling you what is going to happen or advising you we thought be different, be Simoda.
5 key challenges of 2021
(these are not the top 5 because each business is different obviously)
Improve internal user experience
Breakdown collaboration barriers
Win Win approach to customer engagement
Clarity on IT spending / budgeting
Stop procrastinating and as Nike say 'just do it'
What do these all mean ?
Here is a little background to each one.
Improve internal user experience
Throughout my years in business I have seen lots of different styles of achieving set goals & learning, each person in the business is different and therefore will work differently even if they are working towards the same goal (unless you work on a factory production line)
Key for 2021 is to enable your workforce to work efficiently and effectively within the corporate boundaries but with some flexibility.
Technology is the driver behind this, even if it is as simple as providing a device that the user feels comfortable with or using a non corporate SaaS application to help themselves.
A good user experience is vital to achieving effective & efficient productivity results.
Breakdown collaboration barriers
Simple really, people communicate differently, some people love to be on camera showing off their fantastic office space in the 4th spare room in the house, others who are working from home might be embarrassed they don't have the flash room to show off because we are "going to decorate" (they might want to join the army, this will make sense later in the post)
When things finally get back to normal, whatever normal is I would encourage staff to get out of the home or office environment to visit customers or colleagues because nothing breaks down a barrier like meeting someone face to face.
Again technology is a driver for breaking down collaboration barriers but if you are reading this you already know that.
Win Win approach to customer engagement
How many times have you had to call a company up for one reason or another and the first thing you find is a list of options you have available, press 1 for another 5 options, press 2 for another 8 options, press 3 for another 14 options or hold for an eternity and someone will answer your call 'hopefully'.
Never has this been more apparent than when you contact the HMRC (for legal reasons I am not going to comment further on this)
Is 2021 the year we finally get to grips with a win win approach to customer engagement ? yes we are getting there slowly but surely and I think that this year could be the breakthrough year.
You might have started to see a pattern here but yes....... Technology is a driver for this, putting customer experience at the top of the C level agenda is not just a challenge but a directive.
Clarity on IT spending / budgeting
What does this mean ?
Surely most businesses have a grip on budgeting / spending when it comes to technology resources !
The simple answer is no they don't, too many businesses, especially the ones who were early adopters of the public cloud don't provide chargeback billing to individual departments because the process is to complex, IT have the budget and everyone spends it.
Now in 2021 you have the opportunity to address the spending / budgeting challenges by opex consumption of most IT resources and you have the services available which enable you to provide realtime analytical reporting on the resources allocation and consumption by location, department, team or user.
Yes Technology drives the above.......
Stop procrastinating
"That is in next years budget" must be one of the most common objections from a IT director I have ever heard, this basically means I need to do it but just haven't got around to it yet.
Procrastinating happens to all of us at some point, but if you look at successful people & businesses they are the ones that 'do it' as our chairman once said to me about someone we know "He would be good in the army, because he is a good gunner, gunner do this, gunner do that"
Time is critical and if you don't have the time to address a specific challenge then reach out to a friendly, efficient, no BS IT solution & service partner (Simoda obviously) and we can help and stop you from joining the army (unless that is what you want to do, and if so we stand by your decision and thank you for the service you are providing to queen and country)
Sorry forgot to add Technology is a driver which can stop you procrastinating.
Anyway enough from me I need to support my team in what will be a mega year for Simoda.
If you want to know more about the technology solutions & services we have to help you & your business solve issues, address challenges and achieve objectives then reach out to us and we can have a no BS chat.
Happy new year
Daniel Bumby
MD @ Simoda
0114 553 3600
daniel.bumby@simoda.co.uk