The inspiration and motivation that has helped make ICS Flow what it is today.
My dad has always been an inspiration to me in my business. In fact, most of the stories I tell are about something he’s done and achieved in his career.
My dad has walked into many struggling companies that have either been running at a loss or not
achieved the results that it should. It would always amaze me that in just a few months productivity
would be way up, staff morale would be way up and ultimately profitability would be way up.
He is a real turnaround specialist.
I will share just a few plays in his playbook that might help you TURN IT AROUND
1. Upon his arrival, he would talk to the people on the ground and manage to get
information.
I’ve heard it said that the person with the information is the person with the power. Most often however, that’s not the management. In management meetings, the managers will only tell you what they want you to know to make themselves look good. That’s why you need to build relationships with the people on the ground to get the real information.
2. He would ask for the financial as well as the operational reports to analyze the data.
He would apply the 80/20 principle for example, he would get a list of all the products, rank them by profitability taking into account all input costs including man hours to produce the product. He would then shift the focus to the most profitable products and in many cases stop producing the loss making, time taking products. It goes without saying that he would look for cost saving opportunities.
3. He would analyze the flow of work through the business and reorganize it to be most efficient.
a. My dad has been running manufacturing businesses most of his life and it’s so important to
get the flow of the product through the factory right from the mixing of the raw materials to
the filling of the bottles or wrapping of the sweets to the packaging of the products to the
storage and ultimately transporting of the goods.
b. This however does not only apply to factories but even to the flow of administration
processes through an office.
4. Finally, he would automate the collection of data and ensure that this data is available real time.
If you have a business without this, you are running blind. Information is power, real time information is control, predictive information is knowing. Predictive analytics is the age we are living in with which we can be proactive
My dad has been such and inspiration to me and without me realizing has inspired the products that ICS
has built over the last 20 years.
Our two major products assists you to manage your business end to end:
1. ExecuReports
a. A performance management tool for all your financial and operational information
2. PICS
a. A business process automation platform that allows you to easily design and automate your
business processes
A big shout out to my DAD for all the inspiration and love through the years
Written by:
Phillip De Jager Managing Director of ICS Flow
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