The ICT world is staggeringly immense and full of chaos, complications and confusion for many business leaders.

It’s why I wrote ‘Doing IT for Money’, a book that’s now helped set thousands of people on a path to an exceptional digital future and improved profitability.

It’s based on my FASES methodology and takes a pragmatic, non-technical look at how best to leverage all that the technology revolution has to offer.

FOUNDATION – Systems | Solutions | Strategy

This is the core of your ICT function, the backbone of your business without which you can’t survive. It looks at how you manage and apply the many tools available to your business and marketing goals.

ASSISTANCE – Equip | Educate | Encourage

Technology is an enabler. It’s there to help your team solve their problems. So put them at the centre and give them the tools they need, on going development and leadership to encourage and drive their technology use.

SIMPLIFY – Procedures | Processes | Practices

Deliver greater efficiency through innovation and incremental change, and limit your exposure to staffing volatility and other events that can impact the smooth running of your business.

ENGAGE – Customer | Connect | Collaborate

Use the many tools available to communicate with customers, prospects and suppliers. Build an ecosystem that empowers them and helps them help themselves to increase customer lifetime value.

STRENGTH – Invest | Innovate | Iterate

Look to the future and see how ongoing development of your ICT assets will continue to give you an edge over your rivals.

Exceptional digital futures don’t happen by chance. They need structure and digital leadership.

#MrSaaSSays #DigitalLeadership

Whether you’re a  CEO, CFO COO or whatever, business today demands digital leadership.

Those who haven’t yet worked this out will very soon be little more than anachronisms. Dinosaurs and analogue remnants of a quaint time gone by when pen, paper and the manual calculator were the tools of the trade.

The world of tomorrow will be full of many challenges as yet unidentified. There will be job roles we haven’t yet thought of, and technologies the likes of which we might only dare to imagine.

SaaS platforms today are in their infancy. Cybersecurity is an ever increasing threat. And the technology skills shortage is only going to get bigger as we charge head long in to our digital future.

The winners in this race will be the teams that are prepared. The ones positioning themselves ready for whatever may eventuate. Those whose leaders are working towards an exceptional digital future.

Are you?

Take my quiz and let’s see.

I’ll send you a personalised review and a copy of my bestseller Doing IT for Money if you do.

#MrSaaSSays #DigitalLeadership

Mantras in the business world are ten a penny, my own included.

Everyone with an opinion has one and if they don’t, they can roll out half a dozen from other people.

The trouble is, these ideas sneak in to popular culture and then they’re repeated robotically, often by those who don’t understand their provenance.

“Done beats perfect”, is one that’s popped a few times of late, most recently when talking to a SaaS business leader.

And you know what?

When it comes to building a Software platform, “done beats perfect” is dangerous horseshit.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not for a moment advocating for perfection at all costs, but if you run your project from the point of view of just getting it done, you’re asking for trouble, and your cost of ownership is about to go through the roof.

I’ll explain.

Imagine you’re building a house and you’re getting ready to pour the foundations.

Getting it done is undoubtedly important, but done right is more so.

Then there’s the walls.

Done is important, but done right is more so.

Then you put the roof on, first fix electrics and plumbing.

All need to be done and done right.

And then there’s the decorating, and who ever told their painter to just slap some paint on the walls and do a shitty job?

Spot a mistake with any of these and you may compromise and spend a big pile of cash to work around the flaw, but some must be fixed and the more structural the problem, the more expensive the resolution.

Every one will increase your cost of ownership

And as ever, you can only spend your time and money once, so if you’re lavishing it on fixing up your costly errors, other income generating activities are being passed by.

So, the challenge for SaaS and business leaders is to find the balance where everything is done and perfect…enough

The question is, do you have the experience to do this?

If you don’t, message me.

I can show you the way.

#MrSaaSSays #DigitalLeadership

Business leaders, how do you know what the best Software solution is?

Obviously the people who sell things for a living are keen to give you their perspective, but they’re often far from objective, and with literally thousands of new SaaS platforms coming online every year, you’re somewhat spoilt for choice.

Capterra, G2 and more will offer their opinion, but they have a minimum of 10 of everything and each with loads of starts and many rave reviews.

What most do is assign someone to take a look.

They might run a feasibility study.

Come up with a short list.

Maybe they’ll select three or four for a demo or even a trial.

This means prospects are well over half way through the buying process, before they engage with the vendor.

When they do what they’ll see is some offerings that all seem pretty much the same, and of course that’s going to be the case.

They are, after all, in the same market, solving very similar problems, so they’ll all have much the same set of features and functionality. And if that’s the case, and it generally is, how do you choose?

Well, it’s not that hard, and no, this is not a situation where you should be thinking about the price.

When it comes to software, IMPLEMENTATION IS EVERYTHING.

The best solution then is the one that helps you implement it effectively.

If the vendor can help you with training, evangelists, support and mentoring, you can lead from the front and encourage the team to get on board.

Do that, and you’ll get have the best software and the best value from your investment.

B2B SaaS vendors take note.

If you’re looking at the technology, you’re very much missing the point.

#MrSaaSSays #DigitalLeadership