Process Automation
Advice: Critical thinking 101: identifying the real problem
Identifying ‘problem areas’ in your own business is probably quite easy: just ask where your staff are having problems, or find out where your customers are either making complaints, or dropping off the face of the earth.
The bad news is that while identifying ‘work areas’ is pretty easy, coming up with sensible solutions is usually the hard part: both because we very rarely identify the true source of the problem, nor do we absolutely set out to fix it – more often, a quick patch and a smooth over does the trick. Not good.
With a series of critical thinking questions, first mooted by no less than Socrates himself, somewhere prior to 400BC – I can at least help you define your problems with a little more clarity, and begin to rule in and rule out some simple solutions.
Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up:
Advice: Stuck sending emails with big attachments? Get Dropbox and let the magic happen…
It’s happened to the best of us – we try to send an email to a client, colleague, or family member, and we cram in one too many attachments. We press ‘send’, and wait for the progress bar of life to tell us that our email is on it’s merry way when – uh oh – it bounces back to us with a gibberish technical message saying, in effect: ‘too big, try again’.
Let me show you an awesome bit of *free* technology that lets you send and recieve files of any size across this Internet – and it all happens as if by magic.
Folio: Hendrey Consulting
Hendrey Consulting came to ReBusiness late in 2008 in need of a business system – an automated assistant to keep track of their inbound, in-progress, and outbound property valuations.
Advice: The Science of Getting Things Done – Part Two
Last month I introduced a concept of ‘Getting Things Done’ – a bit of an Internet phoenomenon, whereby all your emails in your inbox, and all your files on your computer are attended to with a firm application of some really easy to follow rules – rather than let lie dormant for weeks or months on end.
This month, we continue – onwards and upwards!
Advice: The Science of Getting Things Done – Part One
If you’re anything like me, your computer is more than just a tool that you use for work – it’s likely that your computer is your virtual ‘filing cabinet’ – full of projects and work in progress, special applications for special purposes, resources and documents for reference when things get tricky, as well as a treasure trove of emails dating back to the last millennium.
We often file things away badly, and often, we don’t file at all. Our productivity in the real world is seen as critical, but our productivity in the virtual world is often way behind. Sound familiar? Read on!
Advice: Carpe Diem, et al: making the most of your opportunities…
Whether you make New Year’s Resolutions or not, January is the perfect time to do a little bit of navel gazing, and take a long hard look at your business – to think about the direction you want to take your business over the next 12 months.
Advice: Expert systems: automating your brain
It’s not as scary as it sounds – by using an expert system to automate repetitive, but specialist tasks unique to your business, you can save time, offload tasks, or put your ‘brain’ online for profit. So, who’s first for an electronic cerebrectomy then?
Right off the bat, let’s tackle the most obvious question: what is an expert system?