December, 2007

Whishes for 2008

As we conclude 2007, I am writing this on the Eve of the New Year 2008, I hope for a better New Year for all our readers.

In the 2nd half of 2007, I started my journey out of the US, my first stop was India. My visit to India was the first in more than 20 years, I was amazed by the progress I saw, still India has lots to work on (infrastructures, education, fighting poverty), but I sensed a great degree of optimism in the Indian people.

As a global manager I can see the opportunities in the Indian market and the willingness of the Indian society to adapt to the new global trends in business and technology, I believe to visit India as a must for any global manager.

The rest of 2007 I spent it in Saudi Arabia, working as development manager for a small IT firm. I have faced many challenges in my job, Saudi Arabia is still trying to walk the delicate path of modernization and keeping up with the local tradition( whish has nothing to do with the religion of Islam). Many norms in the Saudi society are based on the local tribal culture more than it’s based on the religion of Islam, although many visitors to Saudi Arabia confuse the culture with religion.

Working in a new culture is a challenging task and many people fail the test of understanding new culture. Clashes between cultures not only lead to work place conflicts, but it can lead to wars, as a manager working with a culture so much different form what I used to, I learnt that you cant change how people think or behave, even if you try most sincerely.

I wish in 2008 I see more people can afford broadband internet, even in the most remote areas on our planet. I wish that the wide use of internet will bring more people together and help in creating better understanding between cultures.

See you in 2008

Net work management tools- Part 2

Still with Mr. Jameel review with network management tools, as the use of the internet spreads worldwide and more places are connected via broadband, software companies are better positioned to offer more remote support tools.
There are many software you can try, most of them have free features on them so you don’t have to buy the full version before you try the software, and you can keep using the free version if it serves your needs.
• ManageEngine: http://www.adventnet.com/products/index.html
• ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus: http://manageengine.adventnet.com/products/service-desk/index.html
• ManageEngine® FacilitiesDesk: http://manageengine.adventnet.com/products/facilities-desk/index.html
• AssetExplorer: http://manageengine.adventnet.com/products/asset-explorer/index.html
• ADSelfService Plus: http://manageengine.adventnet.com/products/self-service-password/index.html

I hope you find this review useful and fit your business needs with out stretching your budget, and thank again for my good reader Mr. Jameel Iqbal

Net work management tools- Part 1

On my article about remote support tools, I have mentioned LogMeIn, over the net support tool, I said it was difficult to use, but again my reader, Mr. Jameel Iqbal, has different view of the software, he wrote:
“I have been using LogMeIn for more than a year now. Mostly I have been using it to access my office PC from home, and provide “support” to my father and in-laws, back in India.

The web version is a bit frustrating, until the browser settings are set properly. Once that’s done the rest of the journey is smooth. I have tried it from various PCs (of course with broadband connection) and the performance was good, with little or no delay in the response time. I like their “Ignition” app very much. I tried the trial version, which can be installed in a Flash disk and used virtually anywhere by just plugging in the disk and starting the application. But, alas it’s not free and needs an annual subscription - which is not a big amount. I plan to buy it soon.

And there is LogMeIn’s IT Rescue - Something which should be useful to you, as long as the client can access the Internet. Price is not too much either.”
Mr. Jameel, thankfully, sent me few other reviews of network management software, which I found very helpful. Some of these software are free and I was really pleased with my first review of Spiceworks IT Desktop, you can find it at http://www.spiceworks.com/product
Some of its features:
• Discover the Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs and servers, routers, printers and any other IP-based devices on your network.
• Gather all of their relevant technical data plus the software, patches and services on each machine.
• Add important data such as the number of licenses you have, the purchase price and physical location.
• Keep track of other assets such as mobile phones and even office furniture. All without agents.
• Store all inventory information locally and securely on your network - so there’s no concern about sensitive data flying across the Internet.

This software deserves a try.

…….Continue to part 2 of the article

Partners conflict-Part 2

As a young graduate, I was desperate for job after I lost my first job, so I took the first offer that came to me without really doing the necessary check on the company business and financial standings.

I was hired as business development manager for a Houston, TX, based IT company. The company goal was to expand globally and have a presence in the Arab world. My job was to find a local partner in Saudi Arabia who would be willing to market our IT solutions in the local market.

Again, I faced the same issue with partners conflict and the lack of managing experience. The owner of both companies, in the US and in Saudi Arabia were engineers with little business experience. This time I was the manager in charge to run the partnership, my plan was, in order for the partnership to be successful, both partners must have enough capital invested to cover business expenses for at least two years before any profit could be generated. Being in a foreign market requires patience.
Again, both partners were making individual decisions without regard to the interest of the partnership and again the end result was a failed adventure.

The lessons learned:
1- If you are going to get into a partnership, make sure each of the partners has a solid business vision.
2- Insist that the partner(s) with limited experience to be a silent partner, not involved on day to day business planning.
3- If a partner had a successful career as an engineer or as lawyer, that doesn’t mean he or she will be a successful business manager.
4- If you spot a trend at your company of partners conflict, get ready to leave, usually it never gets resolved.

Conflict of interests between business partners is a serious issue, and if it not resolved at early stages, it will have serious consequences on the business.

Partners conflict-Part one

One of the most damaging conflicts in any business is the conflict between partners. I have worked in companies where at least one of the partners had no business experience or didn’t have a vision for the future growth of the business.
On one of my major IT positions I held after graduating from college was with a startup software developing company in Houston, TX. The owner, the main stock holder in the company, had an engineering background with little business and marketing experience. The company had a pool of talented developers and great marketing team which was able to secure major software development projects for the company. The company had all the ingredients for success; expect for one thing, a managing partner with little managing experience and no vision for future growth.

As a member of the development team with business background, I could predict with great degree of certainty the wrong direction the firm was taking. The managing partner would take critical business decisions in direct conflict with the company’s interest and the interest of the other partners.

I left my job after a disagreement with my manager over the direction the company was taking, three months later, the company went bankrupt.

This was my first life experience dealing with a conflict with my own management team, I felt a sense of relief to see the company go bankrupt, don’t get me wrong, but the company was trying to survive on the hard work and the sacrifices of its employees with no clear vision and leadership from management, it was good for the business community to get ride of such failed enterprise. As for me, it was my first lesson on how to spot an early warning signs of bad management decisions.

In my next article, I will continue with one more experience I had with bad management and partners conflict, before I conclude with a summary of lessons learned.

Software for small service based company

One of my readers, thankfully, sent me reply to one of my pervious blog post where I asked for help in finding a good order tracking software for small businesses.
In his reply, he mentioned two different sites
1-http://www.availsuite.com
2-http://www.interprisesuite.com
Both sites offer software packages for service based company, but I liked AvailSuite more, they have lower prices and they cover everything from home based businesses such as freelancing and independent consulting to pest control business.
As my reader wrote:
AvailSuite (www.availsuite.com), it is specialized software for service based company.

It has all the modules you might require like:

1- Complete CRM system
2- Human Resources Management
3- Time Tracking
4- Vendors/Purchase Orders
5- Document Management
6- Invoices and Payments
7- Basic Financial Management
8- Inventory Management
9- Personal Productivity
What it lacks is a full fledged accounting module, although it has Accounts receivable / payable, Expense Management and Project Budgeting.
Availsuite allows import / export of data, so that should take care of integration issues. But, if you would like tight integration with your accounting package, you can get a customized AvailSuite. You need to contact them before you buy the software. Also, it is not bi-lingual, but supports international currencies and address formats.

I checked their website, I think their prices are very reasonable for small businesses check them out.

How to distinguish your business from the rest

When I started to work on my current position as business development manager, the first question I asked myself was, what is our competitive advantage, and if you don’t have one, how can we create one?

We work in the IT service industry where the market is saturated with firms of all sizes ready to provide services from selling a single PC to setting up networks that serve hundreds or even thousands of users.
In the local market I am working on, Saudi Arabia, people in general don’t get good customer service, many large firms focus mainly on selling products more than offering superior customer service.
Being a small firm gave us one competitive advantage over our competitors, we are better suited to offer superior customer service. We are able to offer our customers better customer service then they would get with at large service centers.
I informed my staff that now our competitive advantage will be our superior customer service, our competitions may be able to offer services at lower cost, but we can offer better customer service, fast turn around and give more attention to each customer.
Our strategy is based on:
1- Creating customer service culture in the firm
2- Our service turn around time should be less than 24hrs in most cases
3- Improve the quality of service delivered so the customer issue fixed on first visit
The above strategy, as simple as it seems, worked real well and our reputation as customer friendly service center started to grow.
When you are a small firm, you may not have the assets and the financial strength to compete with larger firms, but you always have the choice to provide better customer service.

Remote support tools

I think most of the IT professional s tried some sort of remote support tools to help remote users. I have used Microsoft netmeeting on few support projects and I would have continued using it if it was not for Microsoft dropping support for netmeeting in winXP. Netmeeting was free software and real simple to use for both the user and the tech.

Another software I have tried was logmein, its not free software, it gives you one month free trail and after that you pay per user. Logmein was not the easiest software to use.

I have tried few other software but nothing really seemed easy to use especially form the client side, until I found crossloop. The software is free, about 2.30MB, both the tech and the client download the same software. Once the software is downloaded, all you have to do is to run the software and small window opens giving you the option of either access or share, if you were going to troubleshoot someone system, you contact the client and ask them for their crossloop access code, which appears once the run their software, you click access on your end and enter the access code for the client and click on connect, and that’s it, you have full control of their system, full desktop view in front of you.
I have used the software and found it very easy and simple to use and it’s still free.
You can check their website at: http://crossloop.com

Six sigma for managers

I don’t think many managers heard of the term “six sigma.” I only heard about it over a year ago and never really had a chance to look deep in the meaning and applications of “six sigma” methodology until recently. Six sigma consists of set of tools to improve business processes, the term was originally developed by Motorola and was mainly focused on eliminating manufacturing defects but it gradually evolved into other parts of quality management process, from manufacturing to software testing to business planning.
According to Motorola website: http://www.motorola.com/content.jsp?globalObjectId=3088,
Six Sigma has evolved over the last two decades and so has its definition. Six Sigma has literal, conceptual, and practical definitions. At Motorola University, we think about Six Sigma at three different levels:

• As a metric
• As a methodology
• As a management system
Six Sigma Management System

Through experience, Motorola has learned that disciplined use of metrics and application of the methodology is still not enough to drive desired breakthrough improvements and results that are sustainable over time. For greatest impact, Motorola ensures that process metrics and structured methodology are applied to improvement opportunities that are directly linked to the organizational strategy.
When practiced as a management system, Six Sigma is a high performance system for executing business strategy. Six Sigma is a top-down solution to help organizations:
Align their business strategy to critical improvement efforts
Mobilize teams to attack high impact projects
Accelerate improved business results
Govern efforts to ensure improvements are sustained
The Six Sigma Management System drives clarity around the business strategy and the metrics that most reflect success with that strategy. It provides the framework to prioritize resources for projects that will improve the metrics, and it leverages leaders who will manage the efforts for rapid, sustainable, and improved business results.

You can check the above link for more details on six sigma in addition to free lessons on six sigma from Motorola.

Two free products from Microsoft for small businesses

As a manager in a small business, I am always working on solutions to save money for my firm. My latest saving tips came from Microsoft, below are links and description of two products from Microsoft that many businesses would find useful, one of these products, Microsoft Office Live Small Business, I will use with in my firm.

1- Microsoft Office Live Small Business
Microsoft Office Live Small Business services allow you to create a professional online presence without the expense of buying a server, setting up a complicated infrastructure, and hiring technical staff to maintain it. Microsoft Office Live Small Business is a hosted service – all you need is a computer and an Internet connection. See more details at Microsoft site:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/officelive/FX102041861033.aspx
Microsoft Office Live Basics is the easy way to get started on the Web. If you have always wanted your own Web site, Microsoft Office Live Small Business has just made it easier — much easier.
Free domain name and Web hosting
Easy-to-use Web site design tools
500 MB of Web site storage space
25 company-branded e-mail accounts
Web site reports
Search advertising tool with $50 credit*

2- Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007
Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007 is a free download that lets small businesses manage everyday accounting tasks easily and quickly. See more details at Microsoft site:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/officelive/FX102036301033.aspxWith the familiar look and feel of Microsoft Office programs, Office Accounting Express 2007 is an essential business tool that lets you:
Create quotes, invoices and receipts
Automate bank accounts and customer payments
Manage payroll and taxes with ADP’s integrated payroll services
List items and upload images directly on eBay
Download and process eBay sales orders and track activity in real-time
Process credit cards and get paid faster through PayPal
Monitor customer credit using Equifax