strategy
What’s the prize if I win?
In consulting and in business, there is a tendency to believe that if you show someone how to find that proverbial “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” they will be motivated to do so. Seasoned professionals will tend to ask, “What problem are you trying to solve?” to understand whether there is a real opportunity. If you cannot quickly, clearly, and concisely articulate the problem, and why this helps solve it, it is often game over then and there (N.B. It pays to be prepared). But, having the right answer is not a guarantee of moving forward.
Unfortunately, sometimes a mere pot of gold just isn’t enough to motivate. Sometimes it takes something different, and usually something personal. It’s more, “What’s in this for me?” No, I am not talking about bribes, kickbacks, or anything illegal or unethical. This is about determining what is really important to the decision maker and in what priority, and then demonstrating that the proposed solution will bring them closer to achieving their personal goals. What’s in it for them?
Case in point. Several years ago I was trying to sell a packaged Business Intelligence (BI) system developed on our database platform to customers most likely to have a need. Qualification performed – check. Interested – check. Proof of value – check. Quick ROI – check. Close the deal – not so fast…
This application was a set of dashboards with 150-200 predefined KPIs (key performance indicators). The premise was that you could quickly tailor and deploy the new BI system with little risk (finding and validating the data needed was available to support the KPI was the biggest risk, but one that could be identified up-front) and about half the cost of what a similar typical implementation would cost. Who wouldn’t want one?
I spent several days onsite with the prospect, identified areas of concern and opportunity, and used their data to quantify the potential benefit. Before the end of the week, I was able to show the potential to get an 8x ROI in the first year. Remember, this was estimated using their data, not figures I just created. Being somewhat conservative, I suggested that even half that amount would be a big success. Look – we found the pot of gold!
Despite this, the deal never closed. This company had a lot of money, and this CIO had a huge budget. Saving $500K+ would be nice but was not essential. What I learned later was that this person was pushing forward an initiative of his own that was highly visible. This new system had the potential to become a distraction, and he did not need that. Had I made this determination sooner, I could have easily repositioned it to align with his agenda.
For example, the focus of the system could have shifted from financial savings to project and risk management for his higher priority initiative. The KPIs could be on earned value, scheduling, and deliverables. This probably would have sold as it would have been far more appealing to this CIO and supported what was important to him (i.e., his prize if he wins). The additional financial savings initially identified would be the icing on the cake, to be applied later.
There were several lessons learned from this effort. In this instance, I focused on my personal pot of gold (based on logic and common sense) rather than on my customer’s priorities and prize for winning. That mistake cost me this deal, but it is one I have not made since – helping me win many other deals.
Getting Started with Big Data
Being in Sales, I have the opportunity to speak to many customers and prospects about many things. Most are interested in Cloud Computing and Big Data, but often they don’t fully understand how they will leverage the technology to maximize the benefits.
Here is a simple three-step process that I use:
1. For Big Data, I explain that there is no single correct definition. Because of this, I recommend that companies focus on what they need rather than what to call it. Results are more important than definitions for these purposes.
2. Relate the technology to something people are likely already familiar with (extending those concepts). For example: Cloud computing is similar to virtualization and has many of the same benefits; Big Data is similar to data warehousing. This helps make new concepts more tangible in any context.
3. Provide a high-level explanation of how “new and old” are different and why new is better using specific examples that they should relate to. For example: Cloud computing often occurs in an external data center – possibly one where you may not even know where it is- so security can be even more complex than in-house systems and applications. It is possible to have both Public and Private Clouds, and a public cloud from a major vendor may be more secure and easier to implement than a similar system using your own hardware;
Big Data is a little bit like my first house. I was newly married, anticipated having children and also anticipated moving into a larger house in the future. My wife and I started buying things that fit into our vision of the future and storing them in our basement. We were planning for a future that was not 100% known.
But, our vision changed over time and we did not know exactly what we needed until the end. After 7 years, our basement was very full, and finding things difficult. When we moved to a bigger house, we did have a lot of what we needed. But we also had many things that we no longer wanted or needed. And, there were a few things we wished that we had purchased earlier. We did our best, and most of what we did was beneficial, but those purchases were speculative, and in the end, there was some waste.
How many of you would have thought Social Media Sentiment Analysis would be important 5 years ago? How many would have thought that hashtag usage would have become so pervasive in all forms of media? How many understood the importance of location information (and even the time stamp for that location)? I guess it would be less than 50% of all companies.
This ambiguity is both a good and bad thing about big data. In the old data warehouse days, you knew what was important because this was your data about your business, systems, and customers. While IT may have seemed tough in the past, it can be much more challenging now. But the payoff can also be much larger, so it is worth the effort. You often don’t know what you don’t know – and you just need to accept that.
Now we care about unstructured data (website information, blog posts, press releases, tweets, etc.), streaming data (stock ticker data is a common example), sensor data (temperature, altitude, humidity, location, lateral and horizontal forces), temporal data, etc. Data arrives from multiple sources and likely will have multiple time frame references (e.g., constant streaming versus updates with varying granularity), often in unknown or inconsistent formats. Someday soon, data from all sources will be automatically analyzed to identify patterns and correlations and gain other relevant insights.
Robust and flexible data integration, data protection, and data privacy will all become far more important in the near future! This is just the beginning for Big Data.
The Power of Simplicity
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein
In the first part of my career, I didn’t care much for consultants. My experience was that they would come in, tell you what to do, and then leave victoriously while we were stuck trying to implement something that just wouldn’t work. They seemed to make everything seem so complex—often to justify their cost.
Then, I met an amazing consultant who shared something valuable with me. He explained what he believed differentiated a true consultant from a contractor (something I wrote about a decade later in a Tech Republic article). He then made me aware of the Einstein quote above. This was one of those pivotal moments in my career.
For many years, I have met many interesting people. Some seemed to try to intentionally obfuscate even the easiest things to make themselves seem brilliant. Others took such a circuitous route that you sometimes forgot what you were trying to understand and fix. And sometimes explanations were just so tangential that the main point was lost entirely. There are likely many reasons for these experiences – some intentional and many not. The real lesson learned is that it wasn’t just consultants who can be incomprehensible and that clear and comprehensible communication is critical to effectiveness.
Just think about the power of a well-crafted “elevator pitch” when you meet someone new or the ability to quickly explain how your company differentiates itself from the competition (making you the more interesting, better, or safer choice in your prospect’s mind). Or being able to articulate your business strategy in a way that people understand (and can explain to others), which also interests them enough to want to learn more and become part of making that happen.
The best consultants, as do the best employees, managers, executives, and business owners, have this ability to explain something simply. While this is only one attribute of success (likability, powers of persuasion, integrity, luck, etc. are others), it is something that can be taught, developed, and consistently applied.
The power to “explain it simply” is the power to make a difference through better understanding.
The People who Move the Dial
Whether you are a business owner, a manager, or a parent, finding the right way to motivate your team is important to maximize performance and results. Each person is a little bit different and is looking for something a little different, and once you figure out what is important, you can get the most out of them. Not everyone wants to be a star – which is usually OK (as long as they have the right attitude, skills, and work ethic and add value).
Then there are those exceptional people who want to be the best, are willing to take risks, work hard, and “think differently” in order to succeed. These people are self-motivated and continue to raise the bar for the entire team as part of a high-performance culture. These are the people who move the dial.
I’ve had the pleasure of being taught by people like this, working with people like this, managing people like this, and helping a few become people like this. Occasionally, you have a few special people working together, which is when amazing things happen. These people are generally curious and wonder, “Why not?” They are confident (not arrogant), intelligent, and passionate about success.
Back when I was funding research projects, I had a trip scheduled to Philadelphia. I asked a friend at a local hospital to make an introduction to meet someone from “CHOP” (the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia). They were always ranked as a top hospital and research facility, and I wanted to learn why. The introduction was made, and a lunch meeting was scheduled. I was looking forward to the meeting but had no real expectations (other than being asked for money).
To my surprise, a half-dozen people in a large conference room with a catered lunch greeted me. They presented on their various projects (which was unusual as they did not know me, and possibly worse, knew I was involved with research projects at other facilities). Everyone in the room was amazing, and the department head (Dr. Terri Finkel) was one of the most impressive people I had ever met.
After lunch, I told Dr. Finkel I appreciated the lunch, but wondered why she went to so much trouble when I never promised to do anything in return. She smiled and replied, “We love what we do and love having the opportunity to talk about our projects and passions to people with similar interests.” That made a huge impression on me, and within a few months, we were funding projects using a unique approach that Terri suggested. The approach was in response to my question about getting the most “bang for my research dollars” (thinking more like a businessperson than a researcher).
Over the next few years, this team did incredible things that had a tangible impact on Pediatric Rheumatology and the quality of life for children with Juvenile Arthritis. Many great researchers were involved, but two of them really stood out (Drs. Sandy Burnham and Randy Cron – both continue to do amazing things to this day). The results of this team were so much better than everyone else we supported. They provided a huge return on my investment, and I can take pride knowing that I made a difference through these efforts.
To me, it came back to the basics. Intelligent people who were passionate about making a difference, confident enough to be challenged, and led by a visionary person who saw an opportunity to motivate her team and help me achieve my goals. It’s the best type of win-win scenario possible.
These people moved the dial back then and continue to move it today. It is a thing of beauty to watch stars like this perform. These people shine twice as bright and guide others toward success. And you can find them in every industry and every walk of life.
What’s so special about Spatial?
Two years ago, I was assigned some of the product management responsibilities and product marketing work for a new version of a database product we were releasing. To me, this was the trifecta of bad fortune. I didn’t mind product marketing, but I knew it took a lot of work to do well. I didn’t feel that product management was a real challenge (I was so wrong here), and even though we saw more demand for products supporting Esri’s ArcGIS, I wasn’t interested in working with maps.
I was so wrong in so many ways. I didn’t realize real product management was as much work as product marketing. And I learned that geospatial was far more than just maps. It was quite an eye-opening experience for me – one that also turned out to be very valuable.
First, let me start by saying that I now greatly appreciate Cartography. I never realized how complex mapmaking is and how there is just as much art as science (a lot like programming). Maps can be so much more than just simple drawings.
I had a great teacher when it came to geospatial – Tyler Mitchell (@spatialguru). He showed me the power of overlaying tabular business data with common spatial data (addresses, zip / postal codes, coordinates) and presenting the “conglomeration of data” in layers that made things easier to understand. I believe that “people buy easy,” which makes this a good thing in my book.
The more I thought about this technology – simple points, lines, and areas combined with powerful functions, the more I began to think about other uses. I realized that you could use it to correlate very different data sets and graphically show relationships that would otherwise be extremely difficult to make.
For example, think about having access to population data, demographic data, business and housing data, crime data, health/disease data, etc. Now, consider a simple, easy-to-use graphical dashboard that overlaps as many data sets as needed. Within seconds, you see very specific clusters of geographically correlated data, which may bring attention to other correlations.
Some data may only be granular to a zip code or city, but others will allow you to identify patterns in specific streets and neighborhoods. Just think of how something so simple can help you make decisions that are so much better. It’s interesting how few businesses take advantage of this cost-effective technology.
If that wasn’t enough, just think about location-aware applications and the proliferation of smart devices and IoT that completely lend themselves to many helpful and lucrative mobile applications. Even more than that, they make those devices more helpful and user-friendly. Just think about how easy it is to find the nearest Indian restaurant when the thought of curry for lunch hits you. And these things are just the tip of the iceberg.
What a lucky day for me when I was assigned this work that I did not want. Little did I know that it would change my thoughts about many things. That’s just the way things work out sometimes.
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