I’ve long ago realized that if I were to set up another business tomorrow, it would have no infrastructure to speak of – just about everything would be hosted. That has big implications for someone in my line of work!
I met with a neighbor the other day that is part of a management consulting firm doing several hundred million in revenue with several hundred employees, and get this:
- They have no offices
- They have no full time operations people
- They have no network
If I hadn’t heard it straight from one of their employees, I would have told you that this was impossible. This is the definition of keeping LEAN!
The same day, my friend Andrew Morgan introduced me to a service/company called Allenport. They’ve essentially made it so you can get all of the benefits of a network, but without buying a thing. You just subscribe to their service for $80/month. Pretty slick.
If you don’t start questioning your business model when you hear these two examples, you are in for a world of hurt in the next few years. Sure, not everyone is going to go to these extremes, but just about everyone is going to expect a similar level of ease of use and ROI from their technology investments.
It’s coming up on the new year. You’ve got some time off around the holidays. Make sure to set aside a few hours of quiet time to do nothing but think. Think about what your business will look like two years from now. What will your clients expect of you? How will technology change between now and then? What adjustments to your business model should you make?
A few hours of doing nothing but thinking is rare these days, but will pay off many times over!
MRC
