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​We have been interviewing new contractors lately, and it has caused me to pause and think about the Thavron culture. To work well on a project team, you not only need the right intellectual skillset, you also need to work well with the rest of the people on the team.

The Thavron culture can best be summed up by the phrase “Work hard, play hard, grow steady’.  Project teams dig in, focus and get the work done. We also understand the importance of  blowing off steam and getting a little silly once in a while.   Most importantly, we are firmly focused on steady growth.  Not an “exponential today, lay you all off next week” sort of growth plan, but a constant stream of growth that continues to raise the level of business over time.

We are a completely virtual team, so we need people who work viturally as easily as they do shoulder to shoulder. I look for someone who can shift from being part of a face to face team onsite with a client to working with from their couch in front of their fireplace without missing a beat.

The world is a constantly changing place, and we are all on a constant learning curve.  People who work with us are continous learners with an ability to dive in and pick up new materials and tools quickly – through experimentation in addition to reading. We are defining this new domain, which means that we are writing the book on it- there is no text book to learn this yet. ​

If this sounds like an environment you would thrive in, reach out and introduce yourself. Send us what we need to know at info@thavronsolutions.com.

So many of our partners have activity blossoming this week. One partner we have been doing data analytics and dashboarding for is preparing to release the results of a major industry award based on the analysis we have done ( more to follow on that one).   Another Partner is launching our CityDash City Government Data Transparency Dashboard at the Tableau Conference this week ( links here on Wednesday when it is announced officially).

With all the activity rushing about– it is no wonder that we are starting to collect resumes for contractors who want to join our team.   It is an exciting time, one I do not mind losing a little sleep for.

Here are the slides from my Thursday Afternoon talk on the Implications the budgeting proccess has on Service Cost Models. This was presented at ITFMA in July of 2013.

http://www.slideshare.net/Thavron/cost-model-implications-of-the-budgeting-process-24546516

Just as the commoditization of IT hardware and software has been a market shifting force for the attitude toward Corporate IT and the role of the CIO; the growth of the Share Economy is a driving force for the future of Business Services.

As Corporate Executives get used to hopping into a ZipCar and vacationing in someone else’s house via AirBnB,keeping an entire HR department in house or having their company own an R&D department rather than using an outsourced Engineering as a Service company seems incongruent.  As they become more comfortable usingTaskRabbit to get things done, or leveraging tool sharing services for rarely used power tools around the house, Job Shop manufacturing as a service or HPC/Complex Data Analytics services seem like a natural choice for infrastructure heavy but intermittent service needs.  And when it comes time for internal re-orgs? The efficiency and flexibility of having internal service providers becomes an easy transition.

However, just as Trust is the currency of the Share Economy ​at home, it will continue to grow in importance in the realm of Corporate Services as well. If you are a service provider, whether internal or external, you will need to have well defined, well managed services that are easily measured and analyzed. Service consumers will continue to demand transparency, communication and clearly visible metrics to understand the status of the services they pay for.

To be competitive in the Share/Service/Trust economy, you will need to be mature in the Service Lifecycle with tools that are easy to access from anywhere in the web, on any platform.  How do your Services and Tools enable you in this journey?

No Service?

I talk to some folks who insist that they “have not moved to a Services model yet”.  What this really means is that the Services they provide are uncontrolled.

A Service is defined as :​

serv·ice

¹  [sur-vis]  Show IPA noun, adjective, verb,serv·iced, serv·ic·ing.

noun

1. an act of helpful activity; help; aid: to do someone a service.

2.the supplying or supplier of utilities or commodities, as water,electricity, or gas, required or demanded by the public.

3.the providing or a provider of accommodation and activities required by the public, as maintenance, repair, etc.: The manufacturer guarantees service and parts.

4.the organized system of apparatus, appliances, employees, etc.,for supplying some accommodation required by the public: a television repair service.

If, in the course of your business you provide something to someone else- a report, a data set, interviewing new hires, monthly financial analysis, a prototype part or internet access- you provide a service.

Defining, understanding and managing the services you provide allows you to make data driven decisions, rather than being randomly pulled by your customers.  If your business does not plan and operate via defined services, now is the time to shift from tactical customer reactions to Managed Business Services.

​If you are interested in IT Financial Management, please note:

Dear ITFMA Colleague:

Just a reminder that this Friday is the final deadline to save $500 off your registration fee plus a 10-20% discount for groups of 2 or more to attend next month?s ITFMA World of IT Financial Management Conferences at the Marriott Riverfront Hotel in Historic Savannah, GA. Your registration fee gives you access to all twelve of the optional workshops on July 8-9 and all four of these conferences on July 10-12:

– IT Financial Planning, Budgeting and Reporting Conference
– IT Financial Management for Controllers and CFOs Conference
– IT Asset and Expense Management Conference
– Government IT Financial Management Conference

Go to www.itfma.com/wfm for conference details and registration (click on “Register”) or call me at(805) 687-7390 to register.​

We will be there to run a workshop on Metrics and Transparency​, as well as ​giving a talk on Modeling the Relationship between Service Costs, Budgets and Forecasts later in the week.

​Let us know if you will be there