Off the beaten path: looking forward to my new professional challenge

The relevance of topic and voice

As you may have learned from prior posts, “topic” or “obsession” as it’s referred to in the Gruber-Mann theorem is an important element of life for me. It answers the question: “What are you involved in?” and whether or not that matters (enough) for myself.

So, what’s my topic? What do I think about when I go to sleep and am thinking about my “job”? What is it that truly involves me? Where do I believe I can make a difference?

My topic

First, let’s talk about my topic or my obsession. I try to understand how people do what they do. I’m interested in this at all levels. I’ve looked at the translation of strategic intent to operational processes, I’ve assisted people in establishing an improved level of personal efficiency … my topic is the optimization of all aspects of processes, be it the effect on users (burden reduction and better regulation), the 3 E’s of the processes (efficiency, effectiveness, economy) or the governance and the related risk management and internal controls. No matter how diverse my past experiences may seem if you look at my CV, which lists business process reengineering, strategic consulting, build of internal audit departments, development of a risk management methodology and significant work in burden measurement, burden reduction and better regulation, it always comes down to opening up the item, looking at the insides, tinkering with it and trying to put it back together again, ideally functioning better than before.

My voice

I really love to write. Especially in English, which is not my native tongue, although I am a fluent speaker and use the language on an almost daily basis. Hence the blog(s). Blogging is a great way to use language to talk about my topic. I also love to present. This used to be very different. I used to be very nervous when talking to more than 2 people at a time. Forcing myself to do it more and more has resulted in an enjoyment when standing in front of an audience, no matter what the size. Given I’ve been active in a business development role in the past, I know how to talk as well.

Intermission

Okay, checking the Gruber-Mann theorem. I have a topic, which I really care about. Okay, I’m obsessed about it, otherwise I wouldn’t have been writing about this of and on on different blogs since 2007. I have a voice, through blogging and through presentations. I should have a basis producing quality material … and still I miss something …

Purpose

One of the most difficult and yet most rewarding decisions I’ve taken in the past months was a professional one. I’ve decided to leave the trodden path in a Big 4 advisory company and start working for an organization which I believe truly matters to people. As of November 14th, I will assume the role of Chief Audit Executive of BTC/CTB, the Belgian Development Agency.

Is there purpose? I believe I can assist the organization in both further building the internal audit department, in starting up an integrated risk management approach in line with ISO 31000 and help them in building out a good anti-corruption help desk.

By doing this, I hope I can contribute to increasing different aspects of the development aid Belgium is putting in the world. For me, it’s one way a step in the dark. But on the other hand, I’ve already met some of the collaborators … and it will be an honor and a pleasure to be able to work with all of them.

Contribution

Is this contribution? I hope so, otherwise I wouldn’t be taking this step. It’s very much about belief in doing something good. In going somewhere that matters. Keep visiting the blog and you’ll be among the first to know whether the contribution is all I hoped for.

Vacation Guest Post: iPack (by my beloved wife)

So I think

I think about bikinis, dresses and skirts and matching sandals for our little girl and myself. Next I sort out shorts and shirts for ‘the guys’. For some reason, matching seems less of a task here. Smart designers may take into account that most men don’t overly dwell on how to combine different pieces of clothes?
Then follows a selection of favorite gigantic floating devices. This year, Dino does not join us, a first.  A couple of trips up and down the stairs later, because these things happen to reside all over the house, a small non-overdue pharmacy has been recomposed.

Now toys! Toys that will inspire for the next ten days. Toys that fit within the boundaries of carryon luggage but that are not capable of disappearing into cracks and thus causing a mini drama. And the quest goes on: vouchers, ID’s, caps, cell phone charger and many more.

Hours later, the final stage has been reached: how to neatly implode the heap into three suitcases. My underweight helps in successfully closing this iPack episode.

Almost

Cats can’t be left behind, at the risk of destructive redecoration of our interior. A cat hotel has been booked, away from stress caused by their silly barking counterpets. Early afternoon, Roos The Wicked Cat escapes. Four hours later I trick her back into the house.

Oef! Things will happen as planned. When getting into the car, Cartouche The Cuddly Cat takes off. All satisfied with himself, he takes me for a walk, one meter ahead of me, conscious not to let me get closer. Time to leave. He has traded the cat hotel for his yard! Food will be served once a day.

We meet dad at the airport

He-packed: iPhone, MacBook Air, and iPad. Life is good and full of cool stuff!

Defining the Zone

Rands in Repose has an excellent article on context switches, or tooling changes and the cost associated with these changes. This issue is well known in production, less in services. Very relevant article.

In the introduction the author hits on a very to the point definition of the Zone: ” This is that magical place where you’ve managed to fit the entire context of your current project in your head. With all this content in there, you can perform superhuman acts of productivity and creativity because you have the complete problem space at your mental disposal.”

Awesome!

The impact of transaction costs on buying behaviour

How customers buy

Incoming cash flow is the life blood of your organization. And that incoming cash flow depends on both the number and size of successfully completed transactions with your customers. But customers don’t engage blindly with just any supplier. They will often do background research or talk to current and past customers. The potential customer will also look at the costs he will incur in doing business with you.
Based on this analysis, which is not always executed consciously, one of three situations will occur:

1. The customer decides not to buy from you;
2. The customer decides to buy from you, but abandons for some reason before completing the transaction;
3. The customer decides to buy from you and completes the transaction.

The more completed transactions, the higher your incoming cash flow. So the basic idea is to make sure as many customers as possible decide to buy from you.

Making as many customers as possible buy from you
Assuming your products are, in terms of quality, identical to the competition. How can you make sure as many customers as possible buy from you?

1. You could invest heavily in commercial presence, which a lot of companies do.
2. You can hire good marketing people, and optimize the presentation of your solution.
3. You can the transaction as easy and as low in cost to your customer as possible.

What is the cost of a transaction?

The transaction cost to the customer

In order to acquire something from you, your customer goes through a process. This costs time and time costs money, because your customer needs to pay its employees to go through the process. What are possible elements of this process?

1. Identifying you as a provider: this can be an internet search, reading a brochure … both finding this information and digesting it takes time. You need to make this information as accessible and understandable as possible;
2. Comparing solutions: your customer spends time comparing your solution to those of the competition. Have you provided all relevant information to make this comparison as easy as possible? Is the information clear, or are there hidden elements which will come and bite you in the back?
3. Ordering: this is a process of contacting your organization and asking you to produce or provide something to him. This can be as easy as a fill-in form on the internet, or as complex as a detailed contract with legal complexity which require legal assistance. All of this costs money.
4. Receiving the goods or services: have you made this as easy as possible for him? Are you providing the product or service at the right location, at the right time, or is the customer obliged to wait an indetermined amount of time before you show up?

All of these elements are important for the customer, because his personnel will need to perform tasks which they are being paid for. Lowering the transaction cost will therefore lower to total cost of the service or product for the customer.

The transaction cost to your organization

Your organization needs to be capable of processing the transaction in an accurate, complete and timely manner. You need personnel to register the order and to make sure it gets properly processed and executed. This is often automated, so you need to pay for systems to allow you the processing. And in order to optimize the processing, you need internal processes. Creating and maintaining these will cost you money, both in wages and in consulting fees.

Each transaction bears multiple transaction costs

Each transaction does not only increases incoming cash flow, it also increases costs. And these costs are not limited to what you spend producing your solution, but include the cost of your administrative organization managing the transactions and the administrative cost of the transaction to your customers. In order to optimize your results, you need to find the balance between the costs to your customers and these to your organization.