Had a great opportunity to meet Robert Crane from CIA OPS in Sydney a few months back to talk about IT issues. Fascinating guy with some very visionary ideas of the future. I was privileged to do this podcast with him a week or so back and hope you’ll find the topic interesting. We covered a lot of information regarding accounting specifically your chart of accounts and some financial benchmarks. Follow the this link to listen to the PODCAST!

When I work with clients I notice a trend among companies that are $1,000,000 or less in annual revenue. That trend as that their financials including basic bookkeeping is absolutely atrocious. As IT owners, accounting isn’t always your strong suit. I understand that but it doesn’t mean that the financials can be ignored or given little attention. A strong P & L and chart of accounts can be a powerful business and management tool. With a little training you’ll be surprised at how much impact it can have on everything from hiring decisions and cash flow projection to valuing your business for a sale or acquisition. Continue reading Bookkeeper…get one NOW

Tags: Accounting, Bookkeeping

I spend a lot of time in a lot of IT companies’ offices. Some are great, some are awful and some are just frankly uninspired and boring. I speak a lot about creating a signature experience for your employees and your clients. Many of you are doing a better job than ever at creating great experience for your clients but as a whole, you fall short on making a great experience for your employees. Continue reading Your office space

Tags: Office space

Why don’t techs enter their time? Because you train them not to. I’ve sat at too many bars with too many owners drinking their beer saying the same thing “my techs just won’t enter their time.” Gotta be honest with you; my sympathy has run drier then their empty beer mugs.

Let’s set some of the basics:
1. Time not entered as work is done effects cash coming into the business, reporting accuracy, and tech measurements;
2. Time must be entered when the work is completed in order for work to be actually completed! For a tech to say they didn’t have time is nonsense…do they say they didn’t have time to wipe their butts and wash their hands after going to the bathroom?? The job ain’t complete until the hands are dry! Entering time is the completion of job! Continue reading Getting techs to enter their time

Tags: time sheets

Today has been an interesting day of speaking with two clients about cash flow. The genuine confusion, frustration, and obviously fear of the situation was apparent the minute we hopped on the phone. However it did not take long to determine the root of the problem; poor receivable processing procedures. The first thing we did was open up the A/R Aging Report. Sadly in both cases it was an absolute MESS.

When I review an A/R aging report I first look for negative balances as they are an indication of poor bookkeeping procedures. There are few valid reasons for anything to be negative in that report but back to that on a different discussion. Continue reading Accounts Receivables

Tags: Accounting, Accounts Receivable

This is going to be a great week here in Chicago. Blizzard warning and 15 clients coming to town for my Service Manager’s workshop and Autotask Business Improvement Group. Should be an adventure. Friday afternoon I get to leave the blizzard and head towards 112 degree temperatures in Australia for a week!

I’ve been thinking about my own client satisfaction and thought I’d share a method of customer loyalty measurement that I’m a huge fan of. It’s called Net Promoter Score or NPS for short. The concept is so simple that once you know about it the implementation and results can be in your hands in less than a week. Continue reading Net Promoter Score (NPS). Part 1

So I took a risk and made an IT hardware investment. This may not sound like a big deal, but if you know me you know I hate spending money on IT. I have the oldest iPhone, the worst laptop Lenovo ever made; and sadly no iPad which I desperately want but can’t bare to invest in!

The video conferencing equipment was a big decision but once I started doing the math on how much travel time it could potentially save me and the increased client impact I couldn’t say no.
I’ve had it for about a month now and I have to say it is amazing. I bought the VU Telepresence system under the reseller program for $999.
The features are very rich and include screen sharing, multi party conferencing, and low bandwidth requirements. It is High Definition so the picture is amazing even on my Costco Vizio flat screen.

Right now I’ve learned that they are running a special through the end of March 2011 of $699 for resellers. My contact is Jodi Grubman (jodi@vutelepresence.com) Check it out and see what you think. Also, leave some feedback with thoughts on other systems you like!