Targeted technology investments are essential to increasing operating scale, making processes more efficient and automating manual processes.  Ignoring this fact can be counterproductive.  Downturns give companies an opportunity to increase their IT investments, producing efficiencies and revenue growth that will be greater than those received from the usual cost reductions.  Take advantage of this time to have your business and IT staff review your systems and processes for insights that could add value.  By evaluating data, your IT staffers can identify spots of revenue leakage or unproductive expenditure.

Across industries, technology can bring potential opportunities for short-term gains in the areas of

·         Sales and Pricing- development, marketing and sales

·         Sourcing and Production- manufacturing, fulfillment and billing

·         Support processes- contact center and field services

·         Back-office- finance and human resources

·         Overhead and Performance Management- risk, legal, facilities, information technology

Examples of areas for further optimization include

·         Further automation

·         System enhancements

·         Enhanced information tracking

·         Consolidation of information/Integration of information flows

·         Information analysis to discover unnecessary expenditures and losses

·         End-to-end view of sales processes and histories for strategy modeling

These are just a few examples of how you can ‘think outside the box’ and return your company to utilizing technology as it was meant to be — to increase knowledge, production and revenues.  Next time your company comes looking to slash IT investments, create a plan to show how you can reduce costs, without reducing your staff.  Not only can you improve profitability, but when business picks up, you will be ready to get ahead in the better economy.

Remember from Part 1, that an ideal job- IJ, is a position working for a company that you believe in.  In order to really believe in a company, you must believe in their products, the people they employ and also, their ethics…among other things.

If you show up each day and do just enough to get a paycheck you will ultimately lose that job. If you complain how hard everything is or how wrong things are, you not only bring yourself down but you will also be let go.  If you love your job and feel you are in an IJ now but need to make more money, do not ask for a raise.  Instead do the following:

1.      Figure out the things that you are really good at and continue to improve on those skills to generate more or even better results.  Make sure these contribute to more sales or reduced costs.  You don’t have to be in sales to generate customer revenue.  Better processes can speed sales cycles and finding less expensive ways to do things can increase profits.

2.      Apply these skills to make more money or cut costs above and beyond what is expected for you to do and/or is done by others.

3.      Take credit for your accomplishments, but be sure to recognize those that also contribute positively to the bottom line success of the company.

4.      Always keep your company’s products and services in mind whenever you talk to people and brag a bit about what a great offering they have.  This should be done subtly and sincerely; pick an appropriate time and do this when you can, as sales often come in via indirect methods and something you say could influence a revenue generation for your employer that will help you solidify your IJ and will continue to pay you more.

5.      Be a leader and inspire others.  Be adaptable and embrace problems as a challenge to be overcome.  Present solutions and deliver results.  Change and self-renewal are how people and companies thrive and grow.  Be self-assured and display competence and intelligence along with a certain amount of wit and humor.  Arrogance and brashness are unappealing on a regular basis.