30 years of success behind us; looking forward to more exciting changes ahead

It’s hard to believe that 2010 marks SWC’s 30th year in business. Technology is constantly evolving, so we’ve seen many changes over the years. But some things never change—like our commitment to delivering technology solutions that drive value for our clients in any economy.

Our industry changes so quickly that it becomes more challenging every day for organizations to keep up—today’s best practice or solution evolves almost as quickly as the technology.  That’s why we’re more committed than ever to hiring the best IT professionals in the industry, providing our customers with deep expertise across solutions.

We have a tremendous amount of gratitude toward our customers for choosing SWC—we are honored to celebrate these 30 years of success with you. We also appreciate our employees, who make our business successful from the inside out. We’re glad to have every one of you on our team.

We look forward to the next 30+ years.

 A little while back I told my marketing team that I wanted to launch a video series. Something unique and clever, I said. Something more than just the predictable, infomercial dribble that seems to ooze from every pore of our industry, I said. Something more down to earth, in the weeds, that sort of thing, like a talk show.  And I could be the host.

They had questions. 

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” I said.

“Camera adds ten pounds…”

“I’ve got good bone structure,” I replied.

“Do you have a topic in mind?” they asked.

“Not yet….But it needs to be something big….but real.”  I squared my forefingers and thumbs and held them over my right eye like a viewfinder.

“Can you dig it?”

Crickets…

“OK, we can talk about show topics later,” I said.  “Who wants bubble water?”

And there you have it. The story of how SWC’s new video series “Out of the Box” was born. Join us for our first installment as we discuss today’s crazy economy, technical innovation and entrepreneurial guts with MVTRAC President Scott Jackson. Watch it and let us know what you think!

The Era of Convergence. Wow…that sounds scary. But as even the most casual technology enthusiast will admit that this is the environment we live in.  DVD players with wireless Ethernet that allows streaming of content; telephones are no longer “telephones” but mobile devices, digital music players, cameras, PDAs, etc. and the list goes on.  It’s hard to identify an area of technology that has not been affected by the ever increasing synergy that a wired (and wireless) society affords.

It’s exciting, but in a corporate environment, there can be unexpected side effects and even contentious situations when making technology paradigm shifts. A perfect example is moving away from traditional telephony (PBX) to voice-over-IP (VoIP) systems. Historically, an organization likely had one group managing their telephony and one group managing IT. With the introduction of VoIP, we now have a shift away from dedicated copper for phone lines to, potentially, running the desk phones over the existing corporate LAN.  (Can you say, “convergence”?)  Politically speaking who owns it?  Does the legacy telephone group understand the new technology?  Do you invest in training dollars to get their skills on par?  Or is it done the other way around: will the IT department now take responsibility for the phone system? (Because, you know, IT people have so much free time on their hands.) Which leads us to an interesting conclusion:

Technology adoption + convergence = drama
Why, you may ask, does this all add up to drama? Most commonly, people fear change or feel threatened (“Will I have a job?”) or sometimes both. In the case of our transition to a VoIP system, if the IT department takes responsibility for this, the telephony group may feel as if their responsibilities are being diminished; they may worry about what the next wave of changes may mean for their jobs. If you manage groups of people and are moving ahead with or just considering new technology adoption, it’s important to consider the political boundaries that might be crossed.  

Here are 3 pointers to help ensure a successful adoption across the board:

Recognize key players in your organization.  Every organization stands to benefit from the unique perspective and wealth of knowledge senior members possess.  Leverage their insight as a means of implementing change. Getting to know your people will also let you know when ”toe stepping” is going to occur. Most people understand that technology can and does change, and that the only way to survive is to adapt; they deserve the opportunity to understand the trajectory and hop on board.

When considering technology strategy, don’t “over hire.”  Just because you have adopted a new technology, don’t assume you need a full-time subject matter expert (SME) to manage this domain. You may be able to leverage an outside consultant to oversee deployment and execution; in most cases, this is the only way to get the needed expertise within budget. For long-term support, supplement your current staff with additional training and maintain a relationship (and budget) with your specialist consultant for issues that are beyond the expertise of your staff.  

Be thorough and take your time.  Just because something “new and improved” comes along, don’t minimize the impact it will have on your people.  If they are not able to leverage the technology, it will frustrate them and your business will not benefit. Creating a technology road map will help prioritize and negotiate reasonable time frames for adoption. To the extent feasible, ensure that everyone in the organization knows the road map.

While there will never be a one-size-fits-all solution, you can alleviate any unnecessary “drama” by understanding your company’s culture and political boundaries, then managing your employees’ expectations accordingly. So your equation will look more like technology adoption + era of convergence = success.

My wife is a notoriously bad cook. I have been married for fifteen years and I love my wife–but it’s not because of her cooking. The truth is that she simply hates the entire process. If I walk into the kitchen and she is doing anything more than pulling some fruit from the refrigerator, I turn around and walk out as fast as I can.

Over the years I have tried to come to grips with my wife’s disability. It’s a little bit like the five stages of grief.  First there is denial: “Her cooking is really not that bad.” Then anger:  “You’re kidding me!” Then bargaining: “How about we go out to eat tonight, then shopping!”  Then there’s depression and finally,  acceptance. I haven’t gotten there yet.

Today, as the father of growing children, I find myself in sympathetic company, particularly with my teenage sons.   It’s shocking  how much food a teenage boy can eat. Maybe even more impressive is how fundamentally important food is to a teenager. There are moments, if I catch them at the wrong time, when they are really hungry, that I know my life hinges on how fast I can get them to something edible.

Last night turned out to be one of these near death experiences. I was driving home from work when my wife called.

“Can you pick up the boys from practice?”

“Sure,” I said.

“Pick up the baseball player first, then the swimmer,” she said.

“No problem,” I lied, knowing that this will take me from one side of town all the way to the other. During rush hour.

“Oh, and I made dinner tonight,” she said.

“What did you make,” I asked.  My toes curled as I waited for her response.

“Stuffed peppers!” she said cheerfully.

“Great! That sounds great. See you soon,” I said, wondering how in the world I was going to sell stuffed peppers to our teenagers. 

At the baseball field, my son jumped into the car.

“I’m dying!”  he barked. “I need to go to Portillo’s.”

I try and sell the stuffed peppers. I fail miserably. We drive to the other side of town and pick up my oldest son. I try and pitch the stuffed peppers again.

“Stuffed peppers?” he said, his voice mixed with disbelief and disrespect.

The ride home was littered with complaints, wild arm motions and desperate pleading to save them from Mom’s dreaded stuffed peppers. I had two choices: either feed my kids at a local drive-through and risk the wrath of my wife or put two savagely hungry teenage sons in front of the mystery peppers and make my wife happy. It was a classic no-win situation.

Every day I find parallels between business and life. How many times have all of us been faced with “no-win” situations in business? In IT consulting, it happens at the drop of a dime. Somewhere between the complexities of technology, the dynamics of mid-market operations and the flaws of humanity is a formula for chaos.   Misunderstandings can litter our everyday dialogue and put us in compromised positions every day. How we deal with these situations can be as important, if not more important, than the situations themselves.

To find the right solution, people often use the skills, tactics and strategies that are most familiar to them personally–even though that may not be the best approach to every situation. That’s why it’s important for IT consultants to think of situations from other perspectives beyond their own and ask, how would Bob solve this challenge? What would Stuart say if he were in this situation? By viewing the challenge from the prism of another, we may find a winning solution, even in so-called “no-win” situations.

In the case of the crazy teenagers vs. the stuffed peppers, I was tired and desperate, but I did manage to work a little magic and find a solution that made everyone happy. But as I sat at the dinner table with my family, I realized two things: my wife had cooked the best meal of our marriage and my sons needed to work on their table manners.

I have this need to resolve conflict. It’s my nature. I hear people arguing and I immediately insert myself into the situation, hoping to create a peaceful resolution. You want my attention, pick a fight with someone. I’ll be right over.

To my kids, I am like a Pavlovian dog.

“Where’s dad?” says child one.

“I don’t know,” replies child two. “Let’s yell at each other really loud and find out.”

It’s very frustrating.

Still, I should admit that despite my need for peace (particularly in my home) is the underlying truth that sometimes conflict is good.   As humans we need to vent our frustrations or risk delving into destructive behavior. But it’s not just about the emotions, it is simply the fact that conflict, or opposing perspectives, can bring forward the best results. The rub is not that we disagree. it’s the manner in which we transact our disagreements. At times I wonder if we have lost the art of communication, and perhaps understanding, altogether.

Tangent alert…

At the risk of sounding political, which I understand is truly a risk these days, I want to fess up and simply admit that I worry about our country sometimes. In the past I used to worry about the issues but now it seems silly to worry about topics that get batted around by the same players without any evidence of progress let alone good will. When it comes to the welfare of our nation we can’t seem to take a step forward with any sense of accomplishment. We are plagued by social and economic issues that divide us and we have lost the ability to stand united in a way that lets us find a compromise to move forward, past the conflict and towards progress. Our country, our team, needs to remember that we are always stronger together then divided.

… end of tangent.

Ironically, where I do see teamwork these days is in the trenches of today’s markets. Capitalism has a wonderful way of ferretting out dysfunctional organizations. If you can’t work together you can’t innovate, you can’t serve your customers and you most certainly won’t be able to manage your operations. In my experience, successful companies inherently understand that teamwork is paramount to the company’s future.

So why is it that some company’s find a way to develop teamwork and others fail? There is probably a host of reasons but I tend to think it’s about leadership. In business, executives that understand how to bring people together are worth their weight in gold.  Successfully driving an organization towards a common objective is the result of a real understanding of human behavior, organizational structure and communication.  I could no doubt point to a number of industrial icons who are notorious for this type of leadership, but I don’t think that’s the point.  The point is that in business (and in life) we either succeed together or fail alone.

I have to remember to read this post to my kids…