My daughter is studying earthquakes in social science at the moment. While I was helping her to study for a test, I was struck by the similarities between the geographic impact of an earthquake and the business impact of information spreading on social media.
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In a recent conversation we were discussing how secure our ERP system was, considering all the wonderful levels we had in place such as Role-based, Operator and Group Security; including restricted access at company, programs, feature and field level, not to mention electronic signatures, encrypted passwords and workflow controls.
The power failures caused by Hurricane Sandy in the USA made me think about all the things that can go wrong for a business, including the less obvious problems, when there is a power failure; and how important it is to be able to think and act quickly. In fact it reminded me specifically of a recent incident in SYSPRO and how some quick thinking solved what may have been a much bigger problem.
While performing the recent seven day challenge of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, there was time during the daily six – eight hours of walking to reflect on various subjects of life. On one of these days I was struck by the strong parallels between “Team SYSPRO” and “Team Kili” as we affectionately called it.
Why does someone climb a mountain? Why am I climbing Kilimanjaro? These are questions we have all asked ourselves and don’t really have an answer to. With 10 women doing this with me – it’s not about a personal challenge of “I must get to the top at all costs” it’s more a case of “I’m really looking forward to the fun I’m going to have with my friends over the next nine days, and hopefully we will all summit.”
“I know your requirements Mr Customer – I specialize in your industry”
Imagine walking into an Architect’s office; he asks you two questions:
You answer and he says: “Yes, I specialize in your type of family and fully understand your requirements. In fact, I have the perfect house for you.”
The frequency and the intensity of change in the business world, strikes me as similar to how we experience change throughout our lives.
Childhood and adolescence, for example, are both important and often frenetic phases in life, where any and every change dramatically impacts our development and invariably teaches us a lesson or two.
Later in life, as our experience of change grows, we either accept it, coming to terms with the truth that ‘change is the only constant’, or waste precious resources fighting to remain set in our ways.
I found it interesting to note how two recent and completely unrelated events, both emphasized the growing impact of mobile devices in the world of computer technology. The first was a product survey that SYSPRO conducted amongst its customers across the globe. It produced an extensive number of individual responses to a wide range of questions; offering ample evidence of SYSPRO’s ability to understand and address the needs of its customers. Our intention was to listen to what our customers regarded as the key needs to be addressed in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions, to help equip them better for the future. We were also keen to get their honest comments on our existing products and services.