Challenge: To “upgrade” an established 7-year old company that is experiencing newfound rapid growth in under 6 months.
A software development company was “bursting out of their seams.” Employees were packed so tightly in the office, that there was no need for heating in the winter and “library rules” had to be instituted to keep down the noise levels. The network and server room looked like a spaghetti explosion and the hardware was aged and failing. There was no time to be proactive, because growing pains were creating constant “fires”. Clients were a priority and the company was hurting from the strain. This created a challenge with scalability and maintenance of corporate culture and service delivery.
Solution:
After several months in a very busy low-vacancy commercial real estate market, I located, negotiated, and watched over the design and build-out of our new offices. I also made sure our developers had almost zero downtime and distractions during the move, so that clients would have no delays in deliverables. The entire upgrade of the organization was accomplished in less than 6 months with an extremely tight budget. We also chose to upgrade the infrastructure, server hardware, and communications systems at the same time. I am very proud that we grew by leaps and bounds after this transformation, won industry accolades, and had a very high employee retention rate. The company is still growing, even in this downturn.
Challenge: To modernize a well-respected company in an industry resistant to change even under the threat of falling margins and cutthroat competition.
A talent management company serving corporate event services (large product launches, sales meetings, conferences) and college events (concerts, festivals, etc.) was facing downward pressure on profit margins, reduced pricing power, increased competition for “buyers’ eyeballs”, and a downturn in the market. This particular industry had been operating the same way since riverboat times – even when computers and digital marketing were being used in every other industry, it was still common to see typewriters being used for contracts and bulky VHS tapes being sent out in thousands of demo kits. This equated to a lot of wasted labor, massive costs, and missed opportunities. Since costs were often shared with the artists (bands, comedians, etc.), getting an agreement on any kind of improvements or upgrades was impossible. To make matters worse, a catastrophic event (9/11) put the entertainment market into a tailspin and the company needed major change to survive.
Solution:
To outrun and outlast the competition, business processes, contract and billing systems, demo material production and distribution, and marketing methods had to be changed simultaneously. I drastically reduced reliance on paper documents, minimized the steps required to deliver services, overhauled the internal IT, and substantially cut maintenance and development costs by moving to opensource software. Instead of sending VHS tapes and pounds of printed promotional material (which we were producing in-house), I redesigned and retooled the web presence, brought in email marketing, and pioneered the use of media streaming by a talent agency. This not only reduced our costs, but also allowed booking agents to close sales faster and reduced the duration of the sales cycle. This was all accomplished with almost no cost-sharing and related resistance from our artists. Company operating costs were almost halved, we were able to survive a massive industry downturn, and we received a Lifetime Achievement award from the most prominent industry association for our leadership and exemplary client service.
Challenge: To build an environment conducive to attracting and retaining “cream of the crop” talent, without resorting to gimmicky and expensive perks or above-market pay.
A software development company was rapidly expanding and was hiring at a pace of a minimum of one new software development professional per week. The market was challenging and the most experienced talent expected “rain-maker” salaries and benefits. This not only presented a challenge to the profit margins, but also threatened the company’s innovative business model of providing software development on a per project pricing basis. In addition, the need to provide company-sponsored continuous professional development and better work-life balance made the challenge even harder.
Solution:
Working together with the founders and our in-house talent scouts, I designed a working environment with family-friendly perks that attracted a very diverse team. Over 40% of our employees were women (rare in the industry), over half were married with children (men and women), and at least a third had fluency in an additional language. This diversity allowed us to provide much better service to our clients. I also instituted new processes to encourage innovation, prevent organizational chart bloat, and minimize bureaucracy without sacrificing operational efficiency. I also built an infrastructure that removed the usual limitations placed on technical talent (it is one of the top usual complaints from developers). In addition, with the help of our employees, I figured out what truly drives professionals to stay loyal to us. This resulted in a culture of meritocracy, flat hierarchy, and continuous progress, which earned us employee loyalty and “Best Places to Work for…” awards. By building a diverse team and providing them with the right environment, we were able to keep our operating costs lower than our competitors, build better software, and earn a client referral rate above 95%.