AccMan Pro (now moved to www.accmanpro.com)

Drawing the line

In a discussion around EDS and the 'failed' tax credits system, David Carter, head honcho at Excel Zone comments that:

"You shouldn't attempt to computerise anything unless there is a mature manual system already in place. Over the years the manual system winkles out all the possible anomalies, special conditions etc. You can then write your spec confident that the new computerised system will cover everything. "

Before going on, I should say that much of what David had to say earlier in the piece resonated with me. But here, there are a number of flaws that matter for when you're thinking about consulting with clients:

• There is an implication that manual processes acquire a degree of perfection. That's patently absurd. Witness the amount of process error - writing the wrong amount in a cheque book stub for example.
• This argument represents what I call the Zero-Sum Applications Game. There is no effectiveness in merely transferring manual to automated. Only a one time acceleration. There may be benefits in reduced error, but not before the process is examined for potential gaps. If on the other hand you believe David to be right then you might as well consider direct offshoring and outsourcing.
• There is no room in this argument for innovation in the application of process to activities that are not subject to formal process or which are part of wider, business critical processes but which have not been optimised. For instance, the disconnect between book-keeping and management accounting or managemernt accounting and more formal financial statements is a prime area that is only now being addressed at a point where professionals can see real benefits to both their practices and clients.
• There is no room for consideration of alternative. Offshoring, which I've talked about a lot is one such alternative which could deliver enormous value - in the right hands and for the right things.

This is the kind of debate that will roll on and on. It's important because when considering these issues, there is always a potential to discover value.

 

Technorati Tags : offshoring, EDS+HMRC+project+failure, project+failure

Tapping talent

Trying to attract the right students to train is an increasingly difficult problem. Thinking this through, I came across Teaching v. Learning from pedersondesigns:

"Who do we teach? What do we teach? When do we teach? Where do we teach? How do we teach? Why do we teach?

What happens when we flip the question to learning?

Who do we learn with/from? What do we learn? When do we learn? Where do we learn? How do we learn? Why do we learn?

How tired are the answers to the first set of questions? It’s 99% of our conversation on a daily basis.

Did changing the topic from teaching to learning make you feel a bit uncomfortable?"

These are monumentally important questions for a profession unable to attract the folk it needs.  It's one of the reasons I do this stuff. The things I'm learning now are an order of magnitude more interesting and entertaining than the stuff I ever learned at either university, during professional training or as a partner. This is the sort stuff that makes the kind of change many I am meeting today secretly want. The next question then is deceptively simple yet incredibly complex. How?

Technorati Tags : training, attracting+talent, professional+training

The lighter side of life

Sometimes I think I am at serious risk of believing the world has suddenly gone flat and that Robert Scoble is God. Then I stumble across this interesting interpretation of the Irish smoking ban from Never Trust A Hippy:

" I'm told that the British Communist Party in the 1970s provided men with beards and beerguts the chance to leap on some perfectly presentable young women who would have been out of their league normally.

 

Also, being a smoker in Ireland is a good way of getting your bike parked. ..."

You have to read the rest. But before that I also read this piece called Navel Gazing:

" Yet, whenever I talk to someone else who runs a blog, I get a puzzling cynicism. Comrade Rubbish says:

“….7 percent of online adults have blogs and 27 percent read them... mostly their own.”

So why do we bother? "

But then Comrade Rubbish, home of A General Theory of Rubbish certainly lives up to its name.

 

Technorati Tags : general+theory+of+rubbish, navel+gazing, humour, humor, accountants+humour

wikiCalc update

I've had an offline conversation with Dan Bricklin, the co-inventor of Visicalc and the creator of wikiCalc. I'll outline it as it's important and there's no confidentiality in this case.

 

I explained that I'd like to see what amounts to an extended TB spread template with the ability to incorporate adjustments. This is a 'step 1' year end accounting idea.

 

I had a devil of a job getting this across to Dan. Despite being the inventor of Visicalc, Dan admits to not having a great deal of contact with accountants. OK - so before anyone groans, it does get better, much better. In a response, Dan said:

 

"...get the feeling you are looking for ways to copy   / create stuff on a spreadsheet. When wikiCalc gets "done" and the source is   available, you'll see that it gives you lots of opportunity to play around   yourself and make the product you want, whatever that is. Most operations on   the sheet (set formula, insert row, etc.) are performed internally by issuing   text commands to an "execute" routine. Therefore, you'll have access at a   somewhat macro-like level to automating operations as well as diving at the   lowest level into the Perl code to add/change any operations you want,   including import/export/calculations."

You don't have to be a geek to understand the opportunity. Those out there in the import/export game for Excel to whatever can kiss goodbye to that business. Developers and VARs should be falling over themselves to integrate this directly into new SaaS offerings. Those looking at alternative ways to deliver information to clients now have a legitimate asset you can adapt and use for competitive advantage.

 

Watch this space. The beta comes available in a couple of weeks. Bookmark the date: 12th December, 2005.

EDS responds - and what a great conversation

Sometime when something works - it's fantastic to the point of wanting to treat it like a Red Letter Day. Today has been one of those days.

 

When I torched the Next Big Thing, it didn't occur to me that EDS would read carefully and respond. I just didn't think AccMan is the sort of thing they'd go for. They did. Or rather Charlie Bess did. EDS clicked through 21 pages here before writing a comment. You can see it here. That's called research.

 

We then engaged in an offline conversation. Since it was conducted over email, etiquette demands that I keep the content confidential though I can assure you, I learned no new secret stuff but I do hope Charlie passes on some of his personal wisdom about project success and failure (hint, hint.) But I can say this.

 

Charlie is learning this stuff - just as I had to - and just as I know some of you are. And I know how painful it can be when someone shreds what you think are words of wisdom. More important is that despite its giant size - $20 billion in annual revenue and counting - I've managed to engage in a meaningful way with a very senior person. It could never have happened any other way. I learned something. Actually I learned a few things.

 

Most of all, I learned it pays to back off, be considered and engage others where you think they are rather than where you'd like them to be.

 

So next time you're reading the balance sheet at a client (my words chosen with extreme care), how about putting it to one side and asking them how they feel their business has developed? Do they believe theres is a more secure market than say a year ago? How do they feel about the overall value of the busines - has it increased in the last year or no? Does it worry them coming to talk about the numbers?

 

The reason to ask is not to pass time but to gain intelligence about two things:

• Do they understand the business the way the numbers reveal - are they in touch with financial reality?
• What could you add into the conversation that might help both of you find an easier way to get the compliance out the way and onto the more interesting and challenging problems of wealth creation?

The answers to these questions requires conversation and an interchange of ideas where there is a win-win. Today was one of those days for Charlie and I. Thanks for taking the time Charlie. I look forward to your next posts.

Technorati Tags : EDS, Next+Big+Thing, consulting, market+communciations

wikiCalc - the next killer spreadsheet app

Over the weekend, I spent an hour watching a recorded interview of Dan Bricklin, father of the spreadsheet and inventor of Visicalc, the forerunner to 1-2-3 and Excel. It's a 95MB movie download - you've been warned. Before anyone says: "Now we know Howlett's a totally sad person," read on.

 

For those with a sense of history, Visicalc catapulted the personal computer industry in much the same way as the word processor. It was Visicalc that switched me on to computing in the early 1980s. Some might say for the better. Others might have a different view. Dan is not one of your ra-ra techie types but comes across as an eloquent, slightly absent-minded but humble man. That's a rarity in a market better known for failure to deliver and for that alone, it is worth the download.

 

Apart from providing a fascinating (and in places dewy-eyed) perspective on the early days of technology development, Bricklin talks about wikiCalc. This is a combination of wiki (a collaborative environment of the kind offered by JotSpot and others) and a relatively simple online spreadsheet. This is such a great idea I might even recant on my known distaste for most things spreadsheet in finance offices.

 

The idea is that you can genuinely share a spreadsheet. wikiCalc has been released under a licence that makes it free to users. Bricklin hopes to make money through consulting against the product. But before it gets out to market in a big way, Bricklin needs user input to get it right.

 

For a detailed though somewhat geekyesque explanation of what it is and how it works, visit wikiCalc0.1

 

A ton of ideas flooded through what's left of my 'flu infested brain cells. For instance, you might want to hook this to a SaaS accounts production offering or any other data set from commercial accounting products to allow the creation of shared workbooks that include trial balance, P&L plus balance sheet. That could allow the start of 'live' closing and final adjustment to annual accounts, but without the need for an expensive accounts production programme.

 

At present, wikiCalc is in alpha so it's a tad rough and there's a way to go on functionality when compared with a modern day Excel. But the bones of what's needed are there for accounts production. This is a great opportunity for professionals who like playing around with spreadsheets to have a voice in how this goes forward and how this might impact clients.

 

I'm in there throwing out ideas because I believe that for the first time, there is the potential to have a product that rather than being punted as a general purpose tool with which you're constantly wrestling, will work with you, out of the gate. I'd pay money for that. Especially as I can get directly to the software architect. Who is one of the nice guys.

 

Technorati Tags : Dan+Bricklin, SaaS, spreadsheet, wikicalc

Participation - customer style

I don't usually like US-centric reporting - too fluffy for my liking most of the time. But I found a beautifully crafted piece about the current state of customer interaction on USNews.com entitled Spreading the Word. Once you get past the schmaltzy US language and dig in, this is a truly fascinating piece.

 

Discussing the current state of corporate blogging, author James Pethokoukis quotes Jackie Huba as saying:

" The No. 1 reason companies don't want to do this is that they worry someone may say something bad about them"

True. I see it all the time. But then Pethokoukis immediately responds with:

"Forget about the critics. Look how many companies seem befuddled about how to deal with pro-company bloggers like McChronicles, a blog devoted to one McDonald's fanatic's take on the Golden Arches...Sometimes the reviews are critical, but often they're positive. And even the negative ones are written with a constructive attitude...This is a guy who admits there was a point in his life when he ate pretty much nothing but fast food from Mickey D's, yet he claims never to have gained a pound. What a powerful, personal counterpoint he would make to Super Size Me filmmaker and McDonald's critic Morgan Spurlock."

I was amazed given all the anti-McDonald's publicity that anyone would be brave enough to expound its virtues. But everyone's entitled to at least one fan. What followed was depressing:

"And although McDonald's employees have visited the site, the company has never directly contacted the McChronicles man. This sort of nonreaction doesn't surprise Phipps (chief evangelist at Sun Microsystems.) "Many companies are still stuck in the 'pre-participation' world," he says. "It is a world where a company did careful construction of your messaging and then got out their marketing death ray to beam that message into the community. The thought of a space where they don't control the message is terrifying." McDonald's spokesperson Anna Rozenich wouldn't comment on McChronicles, but she called blogs a "valuable communications tool," adding that "we appreciate that customers who relate to our brand are sharing their thoughts about McDonald's with others."

Does this sound familiar? But turning this on its head, I believe practitioners have a distinct opportunity to do something different by engaging with their clients in new and fresh ways. We already know that word of mouth is not enough.

QuickBooks - an interesting example of customer interaction

I'd wage a lot of money that when QuickBooks posted What's Your View - 2015, it wasn't expecting a good slap over product quality. Comments were ascerbic and pointed, including the priceless:

"Stop worring about 2015 and  make your current products better by keeping basic functions from version to version. It is great to add functionality but QB usually make total changes that [forces] users to make major changes in the way they use the product. Users  should be thrilled with new upgrades but instead the past 2 times I have upgraded I have spent several day screaming at the computer and holding my tongue while talking to technical no help."

Not fazed in the least, writer B Smith replied:

"...while also receiving very honest comments that   suggested we would be better serving customers if we remained focused on   making our existing products and services in the current year the best they can be.

 

I could not agree more, and thankfully it is not an "either/ or" proposition. Instead, it is an "and" challenge..."

Sadly, the post went a bit downhill from there but at least they're trying to listen. The big issue is whether QB will put fine words into action. Can you imagine Sage doing the same? I know some of their folk lurk around this site from time to time. I wish they'd engage in some of this kind of  debate. I'd love to hear what they think. Instead, they allow customers and commentators to whip them to pieces in the false assumption that market supremacy will carry them through. Far better to use that market position to innovate and cement relationships methinks.

Technorati Tags : QuickBooks, Sage, customer+relationships, accounting+software

Contracting on the wane?

I've mentioned the potential economic threat from India and China on a number of occasions. This week it takes a new twist. According to an IDC report,

"Driven by the growth of the Indian economy, as well as the global economic recovery, the IT industry in India (including domestic sales and exports) grew by 33% in 2004 to record revenues of US$24 billion. We expect this growth momentum to continue over the next 5 years, with IT industry revenues reaching US$65 billion by 2009, growing at a CAGR of 21%. While most growth will come from IT and BPO exports, the domestic IT market in India, which accounts for around one-third of the total IT industry revenues, will also grow at a CAGR of 19% over 2004-2009."

As anyone knows, growth of this kind leads to casualties. My sense is that in the UK, a combination of things will happen, having important implications for both client relationships and practice managers.

 

First, the need for contractors will diminish as more work is offshored and outsourced. What would you advise contractors to be thinking about? How do you plan managing this difficult segment?

 

Second, the opportunity to take advantage of India's skills growth will mean firms partnering for utility services. This means thinking about how you organise the practice around centres of business service excellence while not compromising the standard of compliance work - even though that may well be conducted at fixed, utility prices.

 

Technorati Tags : outsourcing, IR35, contractors, BPO

Business consulting blogs

Those of you considering a business consulting blog need not worry. EDS recently started one up with the pompous title of The Next Big Thing. For those that don't know, EDS recently agreed to cough up £71.3 million as compensation to British taxpayers for the failure of the tax credit system it was supposed to deliver and which has cost the UK some £2.4 billion. Back to the plot.

 

I was hoping to gain some great insights. After all, EDS has some great thought leaders. But on this occasion, the authors should have stayed at home - knitting most likely.

 

The EDS example is an object lesson on how not to blog:

• The content is bland to the point of reading like a thinly disguised pitch, are patronising or so convoluted even the author daren't commit to a text document.
• There's little of value in terms of new or innovative thinking but a lot of defense around its business model.
• A lack of focus. I'm sure EDS Fellows spend a great deal of time cogitating about important world issues none of us has the foggiest chance of comprehending. Wouldn't it be a great exercise in simplification? If that's not possible then a re-run of some of its past innovative work would be good to hear about? How about telling us how we might adapt to some of the new challenges facing industry from the Far East?

 

Nothing would please me more than to rave on about EDS blog. As one of the true giants of the consulting world they can teach us a lot. Sadly I can't. I will follow it in the hope things change. Somehow, I doubt it.

 

Technorati Tags : EDS, Marketing, BPO, outsourcing, IBM