Techie Truck

Economic Tasks

noreply@blogger.com (Mudit Kothari) — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 12:53:00 +0000

This article deals with economic tasks that any business has to discharge for economic performance and economic results. It attempts to organize these tasks so that executives can perform them systematically, purposefully, with understanding, and with reasonable probability of accomplishment.

Economic performance is the specific function and contribution of business enterprise, and the reason for its existence. Tasks leads to obtaining economic performance and results and for tasks to yield results need to be thought through and done with direction, method and purpose.

There are several successful businesses and effective executives - as there are many with at best mediocre results. One searches in vain, however, for an analysis that identifies what successful are doing to give them results. Nowhere is there a description even of the economic tasks that confront a business let alone how one goes about tackling them. To every executives desk come dozens of problems every morning, all clamoring for their attention. But there is little to tell them which are important and which are merely noisy.

That executives give neither sufficient time nor sufficient thought to the future is a universal complaint. Every executive voices it when they talk about their own working day and when they talk or write to their associates.

It is a valid compliant. Executives should spend more time and thought on the future of their business. They should also spend more time and thought on a good many other things, their social and community responsibilities for instance. Both they and their business pay a stiff penalty for these neglects. The neglect of the future is only a symptom; the executives slights tomorrow because they cannot get ahead of today. That too is a symptom. The real disease is the absence of any foundation of knowledge and system for tackling the economic tasks in business.

Today's job takes all the executive's time, as a rule; yet it is seldom done well. Few managers are greatly impressed with their own performances in the immediate tasks. They feel themselves caught in a 'rat race'. Before an executive can think about tackling the future, they must be able to to dispose of the challenges of today in less time and with greater impact and performance. For this they need a systematic approach to today's job.

There are three different dimensions to the economic tasks,

1. The present business must be made effective;

2. Its potential must be identified and realized;

3. It must be made into a different business for a different future.

Each task requires a distinct approach. Each asks different questions and each comes out with different conclusions. Yet these are inseparable. All three have to be done at the same time: today. All three have to be carried out with the same organization, the same resources of men, knowledge and money, and in the same entrepreneurial process. The future is not going to be made tomorrow; it is being made today, and largely by the decisions and actions taken with respect to the tasks of today. Conversely, what is being done to bring about the future directly affects the present. The tasks overlap. They require one unified strategy. Otherwise, they cannot really get done at all.

The next set of articles lays little claim to originality or profundity, but it is to my knowledge an attempt at an organized representation of the economic tasks of the business executives and the first halting step towards a discipline of economic performance in the business enterprise.

Setting up a Virtual Control Tower

noreply@blogger.com (Mudit Kothari) — Mon, 13 Jul 2020 12:57:00 +0000

"If you know what is happening around you it is easier to make informed decisions" - I realized this while I was drinking water from a bottle that was opaque. Usually when I am playing tennis, my partner gets transparent bottle, so I am able to keep a track of how much water I have to drink and how much I need to keep for my partner. While drinking from the opaque bottle, the information of how much water is left in the bottle was not available to me and I was not able to make a judgement whether enough water was left for my tennis partner or not.

I am now able to relate to the scenario even while working and I am able to understand that many a times, when I do not have full information it is like the opaque bottle of water, I am not able to decide whether I should go ahead with one thing or the other. Similarly business managers while doing any kind of task / activity are under this dilemma unless they have data that they can access.

The concept of the “control tower” is increasingly becoming prevalent in the supply chain management and that means having the ability to track deliveries in real time, which in return helps make the delivery process more efficient.

In simple terms a control tower is a hub for visibility, decision-making, and action. With visibility acting as initiator for rest of the actions and processes. An organization can adopt this philosophy and also configure their projects, activities and tasks around this idea to be able to take more informed decisions and take relevant actions.

We have taken the first step towards this concept and built our own task management application, with the vision to develop a virtual control tower that can help organisations in making informed decisions. During this time we have realized small day to day tasks provide lot of insights into what is actually happening on ground and at clients place, which can be acted upon to improve delivery of service / product to the customer, reduce delivery lead time and take actions that are right the first time (which in turn reduces, reworking or over working).

Is WhatsApp an effective task manager?

noreply@blogger.com (Mudit Kothari) — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 10:03:00 +0000

Usage of WhatsApp as a task management app is increasing day by day. The ease of use and accessibility has made it everyone’s go to application. In my recent interactions with owners and managers of organizations, I found out that on an average a company having 60 employees have 20 WhatsApp groups to manage coordination among employees. While managing so many groups is a tedious and erroneous process, alternatives are limited and not economically viable. Thus managing tasks over WhatsApp is gaining traction.

Ideally managing tasks involve monitoring current to do list, tracking number of hours spent on a particular activity and keeping the relevant stakeholders like owner / manager timely informed. A task also needs to remind employees before it reaches near to the end date. WhatsApp is a communication platform and it is used to communicate between people. One part of task management process is to have an effective communication and WhatsApp application is known for that, but the core of an effective task management process is not only communication but also timely reminder, monitoring and reporting. Objective of any task manager app is to save time, collaboration effectively and manage easily. It needs an easy to use task management system for users of organization to maintain to dos, keep track of tasks with time, supervise tasks and monitor their completion. WhatsApp would be solving on portion i.e. communication, but other factors that are more important during activity execution is completely missing. In fact using WhatsApp for team collaboration is not a safe bet for the long run. Instead of reducing time and increasing productivity, organizations tend to spend more time in managing tasks and monitoring activities. While performing tasks if there is some important information to be monitored or referred to, then the users need to search for these in different groups and there is a high chance that one might miss the information given the large volume of data exchanged on WhatsApp. Another feature that is missing from WhatsApp’s feature list is real time status update and notification of how many tasks are pending with each user which could be used in understanding user load and availability.

For increasing productivity it is important to asses, how much time has been spent on what kind of activity to identify the improvement areas. WhatsApp or any other communication platform will not address this and thus it prevents them from becoming a sustainable model for managing tasks.

To summarize, using WhatsApp or any other communication platform might be lucrative in the short run, but absence of several features does not support an organization in its growth. A dedicated task manager with necessary features can play a vital role in organization growth.

Managing Task is similar to Managing Inventory

noreply@blogger.com (Mudit Kothari) — Sat, 13 Jun 2020 13:43:00 +0000

The COVID - 19 situation has led to piling up of tasks and increased pressure on all businesses to clear up and handle the new challenges. While working on the development of task management application which could make it easier to manage the tasks and also keep a track of work that is piling up, we realized that features of any task are very much relatable to managing an inventory.

Just like how managing inventory is vital to any business and issues with inventory can contribute to business losses, even failures. By striking a good balance between tasks that are pending and ones that are completed can help an organisation thrive. Good inventory management practice is equivalent to controlled cost of operations, a good task management practice, along with controlling cost can help with understanding and mitigating risks.

Value stream mapping which is an improvement tool used to implement lean concepts, focuses on waste reduction and inventory control. The underlying idea is to make the process so seamless that there is no inventory in the waiting at any work station and the work / processing happens on pull basis rather than push basis. Similar fundamental principle could be adopted while managing tasks where each individual is not piled up with lot of tasks and they are focusing on doing tasks that is requested by the client.

Inventory analytics plays a major role in controlling inventory as it helps identify items, that are not moving, items that are nearing stock out, items at different work stations and ones that are ready for dispatch and time taken for inventory to move and process through different stages. A similar analytics module can help one in controlling tasks, whereby one can figure out, the tasks that are pending with particular users and their department, tasks pending at different categories, tasks allocated and yet to be worked upon, tasks that are completed on time or delayed and overall estimated processing cost of certain tasks.

We are working on developing a platform that can combine the lean management philosophy and inventory management practices, to be able to manage, track and process tasks in a more effective manner to enable organisations to respond better to customer demand and controlling cost of operations.

"Awe"Struck HR

noreply@blogger.com (Mudit Kothari) — Fri, 24 May 2019 11:46:00 +0000

In a business one of the most critical and thankless job is of an HR. The prevailing mindset in the industry is that HR never value adds to the business. Their roles in many organizations is restricted to that of Administration and HR function becomes synonymous with that role. With the fast paced increment in the field of technology, the HR function can finally be free from its traditional role of administration and move into a value addition function.

Our organisation is going through the transition phase where HR function is being seen as a value addition function. The day to day administrative task for HR still remains, the biggest of them is managing leaves of over 100 employees everyday and relying on manual systems.

We have started an initiative to digitize the leave application and approval system. It has worked like a charm and the HR department is "Awe"Struck. All the employees have access to google forms, which they can fill up for leave application from any device and at any point of time. The reporting managers get an email request to approve or reject the leave of the employees. The system is so well integrated that HR is notified of every step in the process. The biggest advantage of the solution is that the HR executives need not spend time in processing the leave request and updating the excel sheets daily. Now the task of HR remains just to oversee the process and focus more on analysis of leaves, through which they can do significant value addition to the organisation.

Unique DNA of Business

noreply@blogger.com (Mudit Kothari) — Thu, 23 May 2019 17:38:00 +0000

Not many businesses are successful and those that are have some thing unique about the way they do business. I consider a business professional successful, when they are free to brainstorm on things other than what they are currently working on.

I met one such group today and I have been thinking ever since, how do I make the business that I am into, a successful one. I observed that the group has strong and dedicated work force and work environment, they have thought of clear strategy as to how to handle the day to day operations. To come to this level they have been doing things differently. They are better networked and among the three partners the responsibilities have been clearly laid out. The set of employees that work under them are from low education background but very well trained on the product that they are servicing. The business model has been very well laid out and execution though they agree has significant scope for improvement, is very process driven.

Another such case I understood that is differentiating Asian Paints compared to other paint manufacturers in India is their dealership network and relationship, which has created a strong entry barrier for any new player with deep pockets.

Data Audit: Get the basics right!

noreply@blogger.com (Mudit Kothari) — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 16:45:00 +0000

All the past posts and numerous articles highlight that to get analytics right and for maximum utilization of technology, the core of analytics i.e. data has to be understood and compiled properly.

There will always be some scope to improve the analytical outcome, but the more refined and well managed the data is the better is the output for decision making.

Understanding data is tedious but not hard. To get data in the right mindset, there are a set of questions that sets a solid foundation,

1. What data are we collecting?
2. Where are we storing the data?
3 . How do we protect and document the data?
4 . How long do we keep the data?
5 . Do we have function for every piece of data?
6. What is the process for honouring request to delete data?

Pangs of technology implementation

noreply@blogger.com (Mudit Kothari) — Wed, 03 Oct 2018 11:17:00 +0000

The outline summarizes our experience with system implementation, faced while implementing solution for a customer or internally. The findings apply to virtually any system implementation or to any process being automated.

Experience matters during technology implementation, largely we see that implementation efforts are being led by individuals who are extremely proficient on the technology being deployed, but do not correctly identify and understand the conditions that are requiring change, do not correctly include relevant team member or do not get every team member aligned on critical success factor, roles, and responsibilities. Managing this only comes with years of experience and we have learnt this the hard way.

Our experience and research highlights the conditions for pangs and pains of technology implementation:

1. A technology tool does not satisfy the need, when there is a limited vision (As a process automation tool)

2. Dosen't address the need when the proposal does not adequately address current process issues, problems and requirements

3. Full implementation does not happen, which can be in the form of: A. Phase wise implementation not completed, B. Process elements overlooked during implementation, C. Operating manuals / guides not published, D. User training is not completed, E. Documentation not finalized and retained

4. Technology does not operate as intended

5. Does not get used

A common root cause is that all the intended participants are not fully aligned on the problem, strategy, solution, implementation, use and benefits (impact):

People who know the situation best, often are not involved in defining the problems and identifying potential solutions. i.e. Organisations many a time fail to rely on its own internal consulting experts, people who run the system daily
Clear expectations are not laid between all participants including consultants, vendors, leaders, designers, builders, installers, and users.
The team members who perform the work don't buy in and fully adopt the solution

An added challenge is that many of the technology systems do not provide tools, for addressing the critical daily routines of documenting alignment activities; i.e. expectations and supporting competency development.

We have gained experience on handling such implementation tasks overtime and our learning has led us to develop a framework enabling us to overcome the "How to do it" challenge, we:

1. Map formal and informal relationships

2. Use alignment and competencies to gather information about the decision makers

3. Ask questions and uncover the problems to be overseen for the issues to resolved

4. Move people towards decision using a framework which is provided as part of technology tool

5. Address real alignment through development of core competencies

6. Remember that interpersonal skills competencies precede technical competencies

Foundation for Digital Transformation

noreply@blogger.com (Mudit Kothari) — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 11:47:00 +0000

Digital transformation is the profound transformation of business and organizational activities, processes, competencies and models. There are benefits that appease the requirements of any management and meet the business need of, reducing costs, improving customer strategy, integrating operations, performing analytics, having customer centric focus and increased agility and innovation.

In many cases this is not perfected at once and there are many factors, such as the economy or the desirability of the products, organisation culture, lack of skilled workers and integration issues, that can affect a company's success. Therefore it is often advised that, no manager should view digital or any other technological innovation - as their sure salvation.

Digital is more than just a thing that one can buy and plug into the organization. It is multi-faceted and diffuse, and doesn’t just involve technology. Digital transformation is an ongoing process of changing the way one does business. It requires a foundation with skills, projects, infrastructure, and, often, clean IT systems.

The foundation needs bridges to be built up between:

1. IT and Businesses

2. Businesses and Information / Processes

3. Actionable Intelligence

4. Human Acceptance

5. New Ecosystem

6. Technology

7. Technology and Innovation

8. Future Strategy

9. Intent and Achievement

10. Risk and Uncertainity

There is coming together of people, machines, and business processes, with all of the messiness that entails. It also requires continuous monitoring and intervention, from the top, to ensure that both digital leaders and non-digital leaders are making good decisions about their transformation efforts.

There are three core capabilities that an organisation must develop down to successfully navigate the transformation, these are:

A. Hyperawareness

B. Informed decision making

C. Fast execution

It is important for an organisation to calibrate digital investment to the readiness of industry, by considering both customers and competitors.

Amid the excitement and uncertainty of a new technological era, it can be very difficult to distinguish between investments one needs to make ahead of the market and investments that must be in sync with market readiness. With digital transformation there’s a lot of exploration and understanding to accomplish before the curve starts to take shape.

Here are two things one can already start doing as of right now:

I. Get any ‘digital’ expertise and culture out of its splendid isolation and let it penetrate the rest of the organization,

II. Look at where the leaks in the business are and where it’s clear that there is a need to remove or bridge legacy and necessity, among others in the technologies that are crucial to scale and move faster and better once the right strategy is in place.

From Concept to the Introduction of Industry 4.0

noreply@blogger.com (Mudit Kothari) — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 06:10:00 +0000

Today very topical issue among the major competitors in the global industry is titled Industry 4.0. According to all indications (developing machines, computer software, robotics, etc.) global business networks will soon appear. They will unite their "smart" machines, storage systems and manufacturing facilities in the form of cyber-physical production system (CPS). Such production system will autonomously exchange information, initiate activities and independently perform control. The fourth industrial revolution is based on the concept of smart factory. Smart factories have completely new approach to the production. Smart products can always be identified and located. Their history, current state and future activities that are necessary to get the final look are known anytime. Well prepared database is very important because it is necessary to filter the required reports in order to receive timely and useful information. Advantages of the virtual world are used because virtual world provides the simulation of different cases. Optimization of products, processes and the entire supply chain are continuously improved. In order to successfully close the circuit, there are trusted-cloud based networks (Cloud technology). Cloud technology provides “smart” data centres, services and applications so users (companies) can achieve lower costs and operational efficiency. The new approach allows production according to the individual customer requirements. Today many companies have moved away from mass production to mass customization production. The main goal is to have a production system that can resist any dynamic business processes. Such system must be characterized by flexibility, so it can respond to disruptions of various origins.

Features of Industry 4.0 are horizontal, vertical and digital integration of the entire system. Key areas are standardization (so companies will easily connect to each other), the management of complex systems (it is necessary to develop and apply new models and methods), a comprehensive infrastructure (high-quality information network, Internet connection), security and privacy (data protection), work organization and design (the roles of the employees are changed, they are more involved, progress is better and there is life-long learning), legal framework (harmonization of legal frameworks) and the effective use of resources (potential savings of raw materials and energy). It is important that managers at companies understand the industry 4.0 and how it looks in reality. By finding an appropriate model, with strong support of development, a vision and path to Industry 4.0, which is specific to a plant, can be created. The idea of Industry 4.0 should be linked to specific areas of concern of certain factories. It is necessary to find areas of activities and make a step further towards the Industry 4.0. Potential problem could be the priority areas of action. The introduction and use of new technologies does not mean certain way to Industry 4.0, because it would be a very narrow approach. The system will not function properly if there is advanced technology and outdated organization.

Information Technology in Business: The big picture

noreply@blogger.com (Mudit Kothari) — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 14:12:00 +0000

Computers and information systems are essential parts of every business today. Like accounting and legal, every business needs to invest in technology to compete. Technology is both a cost of doing business, and an opportunity to do more business. Most people I talk with recognize the necessity of having a computer, an email address, and a web site, but still look at the upfront cost more than other issues.

After spending some time working with dozens of businesses, I think it's time to take a step back and look at the big picture of technology in business. Let's take a reporter's view of the topic, and ask the basic questions: who, what, where, why, when, and how much?

For today, we'll keep this short, but each of these questions deserves a more complete article in the future.

Why?

What are the benefits of technology for a business? There are many, but most fall under a few categories:

Reach more potential customers, develop a business relationship with potential customers

Streamline operations, reduce costs, improve efficiency, maximize profit, minimize waste, devote talent to core business instead of overhead

Provide better service to customers

Support better relationships with key partners

Allow customers to better guide the business

The very first question businesses should ask before spending any money or time on technology is, “why am I doing this?” If there is not a core business benefit to be gained, why do it in the first place?

How Much?

Established businesses outside the technology industry typically spend between ½ percent and 10 percent of their annual revenue on technology spending, depending mostly on the industry. Manufacturing and retail are typically at the low end of this range, while finance and health care are typically at the high end.

If you're at the low end of technology spending for your industry, you may be missing out on some key benefits technology can provide. If you're at the high end, you may be spending more than you need to on proprietary solutions, or you may be leading your industry with some strategic investment.

What?

What costs do you need to consider as part of your technology budget? These break down into several categories:

Initial cost—hardware and software, and training

Ongoing cost—maintaining systems, including licenses for proprietary software, hosting, and support

Upgrade cost—cost of upgrades, and expected lifespan of systems/frequency of upgrades

Value proposition—how much employee time will the system save? How much new business could the system generate?

Opportunity cost—how much potential revenue is lost by not implementing a system? What are your competitors doing in this area?

Risk—what are the risks of a particular system? What does it cost to mitigate those risks?

Where?

Should you spend most of your technology budget on infrastructure, hosted applications, custom line-of-business applications, or what? The answer to this depends a lot on your industry, but even more on your specific business. Generally, most businesses spend around half of their technology budget on infrastructure—computers, networking equipment, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs). As the world moves more and more online, and open source software becomes more compelling, there are huge opportunities for savings in these areas, for businesses that can take advantage of them.

When?

There's a fine line between too much and not enough. Spend too much on technology, and it will consume your time and budget, leaving you ill prepared to do anything else on your business. Spend too little and your competition may improve their business to the point that you can't compete.

You need to implement enough technology to see a real benefit, prevent the worst disasters, and not miss out on any major opportunities, while not spending more than you can handle.

Technology has a cost not just in dollars, but also in the time you and your employees need to spend adapting to it. Bite off too big a chunk and technology becomes counter-productive. Nearly always, small, incremental, ongoing chunks are a better way to bring technology into your business than large all-or-nothing systems that promise to do everything right away.

Who?

Finally, you need to decide who to help you implement technology in your business. Will you do it yourself? Do you purchase an off-the shelf product? Do you use free software? Do you hire a programmer to create a custom system? Do you use a hosted system? Do you hire a consultant to help?

Obviously, as an open source consultant, I think the answer is usually hire a good consultant to help you use as much quality free software in your business as possible. Whether or not to use a hosted system depends on your specific business needs. Off-the-shelf proprietary products are quickly becoming the least favorable way to go, but there are still a few niches where there isn't a viable alternative.

Many businesses are stuck at a tactical level, trying to stay ahead on cash flow and payroll, and don't have time to think about technology in a strategic way. But a strong plan for technology should be a part of every business plan, and re-evaluated whenever taking a strategic look at a business.