to access data per on-premise server. Apparently for some companies, data access times can slow significantly as the number of simultaneous client computer requests increase. However this was not an issue for him, James or Esther.
He was surprised to realize the cloud was not as new as James feared. It turned out his non-profit was already using the cloud because their website and email was managed on another company’s servers.
The cloud metaphor came from decades of engineers drawing the internet as a cloud. It transferred to this new technology because cloud applications were accessed solely over the internet.
The difference now was more sophisticated applications were moving to the cloud and the hardware components were being designed to scale automatically based on how much capacity was needed. Therefore cloud computing solutions rarely experienced slow access times due to unexpectantly high user demands. Cloud people described this capability as “elasticity,” where literally thousands of servers sitting in a hosting facility can be harnessed to meet your momentary needs. That’s a lot cheaper than us buying all that stuff, Peter thought.
Another financial incentive of cloud computing was tax benefits. It takes years for a company to depreciate the cost of server hardware and software, but cloud computing was a service. This meant 100% of its cost can be expensed the year it was paid. This would lower their tax liability and increase cash flow.
Peter loved the fact that cloud computing was a pay-as-you-go service. His people initially were only using about 10-20% of their server’s capacity, except during donor campaigns, so they were wasting 80-90% of the server cost most of the year. Cloud computing enabled him to only pay for the capacity they used and the system automatically expanded (elasticity) when he needed it at a reasonable, temporary cost.
I like this, Peter thought. The cloud hosting companies replace their hardware systems every three years without any additional costs to us so our ERP system is never running on obsolete hardware.
The fourth benefit turned out to be all Peter cared to understand about cloud computing for the moment. It was that cloud solutions were faster to plan, purchase, configure or customize, test and roll-out than comparable on-premise solutions.
People were debating whether cloud computing or on-premise solutions were more secure, but Peter decided to leave that debate to James and Esther. He leaned back in his chair to ponder this new information for a moment.
This is cool, he thought. James and Esther had outgrown their small business accounting program and spreadsheets at the same time as his non-profit. They all now needed to move beyond small business accounting systems to more of an enterprise resource planning solution (“ERP”) like major corporations, but designed for small-midsize business. Wow. That sounded scary, but he had two aces “in the hole: James and Esther. And they were going to do the research on his next generation of software for him!
Chapter 8
Research
The next week, Esther set a meeting with her administrative assistant, Jennifer and controller, Daryl.
Esther had hired her team carefully to balance her natural strengths and business objectives. Because he was an analytical like James, Daryl could irritate her at times as he tried to hold her accountable. As much as she hated his delays to discuss details, systems and skepticism, that was exactly why Esther hired him. Mostly she contained her frustration and appreciated Daryl by reminding herself of the many times his approach had saved them a lot of money and time.
Jennifer, who helped keep her boss focused, naturally provided a more structured, predictable work environment for Esther. She was a sounding board, filter to eliminate unnecessary distractions, and confidant. She could join Daryl in his skepticism, but still supported Esther’s push for results.
Just before the meeting, Esther started rummaging around in the top left drawer of her desk for the small box where she kept people’s business cards. In it Esther found Marie Arnold’s card of KOQB Group. Marie had been the one who motivated Esther a year ago to tell James that they needed to leave their small business accounting software /spreadsheet hell.
Daryl knocked on the open door. “Hi, Esther!”
“Hi, Daryl,” replied Esther. “Come on in.”
“Thanks.”
Daryl made himself comfortable in one of the three chairs in front of Esther’s desk. Jennifer joined them shortly afterwards.
“Well,” started Esther. “As you both well know, our small business accounting software is fast becoming obsolete. Daryl, you worked with me yesterday on the issue with Thomas’ timesheet and Jennifer, you’ve worked side-by-side with me through other headaches our software’s caused.
“Enough is enough. Daryl, I want you to research four companies around the area that offer business software alternatives to our small business accounting program. Jennifer, once he selects prospective vendors I want you to set up meetings with their reps within the…“
“Esther?” Daryl slid forward to the edge of his seat.
“…Month. Yeah?”
“I’m excited about where we’re going with this, but if you’re putting a team together to look at some options, I suggest including John as well. I know he’s new to the company and more on the development side of things rather than operations, but his experience evaluating software should help us. Also, it sounds like we are moving from a small business accounting program and spreadsheets to a small-midsize company ERP.”
“What’s ERP?” Jennifer asked.
“Enterprise Resource Planning software,” Daryl replied matter-of-factly. “It basically means software that helps us manage a variety of activities involved in the important parts of our business. For instance, it should help us manage our accounting, contact management, jobs, projects, the hours people work and more, all in one package.”
Esther nodded. “That’s a great idea, Daryl. Jennifer, will you please see if John can join us?”
Jennifer left to track down the company’s CTO. John was the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde of the team. He was both an analytical and a driver. This meant his natural style was to be a top performer, but he actually balanced the need to deliver results on schedule with a high attention to details. The challenge at times was he could get personally conflicted as part of him wanted to just get something done while another part of him was eager to gather more details or think about it more.
It only took a few minutes to have John join the meeting. “Wow, this sounds great,” said John once he was brought up to speed. “Have you come up with a list of what our top needs are for this new software?”
“Not yet,” said Esther. “However, now is an excellent time to start.”
Over the next hour, the four of them came up with a list of what they need most from their next generation of business management software:
•Time Management: Employees must have an effective and user-friendly way to log hours worked into the system.
•Expense Reports: A reliable process for accepting, approving, managing and reporting on expense reports by department.
•Tracking Subs: A system for tracking the work done by sub-contractors with task assignment, real-time status, billing
