Stuart R. Crawford

If I could wave my magic wand

During my business day, I have the extreme priviledge of speaking and becoming friends with a number of key business executives.  Some of my friends are leaders in Canada’s busy and somewhat still profitable Oil and Gas sector (perhaps one of my favourite markets, since I have a number of years of experience working in the junior oil and gas sector here in Calgary) plus other equally challenging and reward business communities ranging from general small business, retail, professional consultants and business owners of all shapes and sizes.

When I speak with my trusted colleagues about computer services or IT consulting, they all pretty much say the same thing to me.  “Isn’t this supposed to be simple and why do we continue to have so many challenges?” These are some pretty good questions and actually start the gears in motion about how can something as simple as technology be so problematic.  I even struggle sometimes daily with how IT can be so problematic for a business.  The truth is this, something that looks so simple on the service has so many underlying complexities it can make your head spin.  However, isn’t supposed to be simple?

When I start thinking about how technology impacts business right here in Calgary.  I start looking at complexities first.  There are so many and I don’t really don’t know where to start.  There are some great technical minds here in Calgary and I am amazed how some small businesses have some of the most technically complex business networks.  I mean NASA has easier systems than some of the Calgary small businesses I visit on a regular basis.  Why is this?  Maybe it is job security or perhaps it can be the technical expert just makes things complex because that is all he or she may know.

All I know is the more complexities we introduce and some of them simply can not be avoided the more we risk outages, downtime and frustration.  When Accumap doesn’t work do you care that the Internet is down?  Of course not, to you Accumap is not working.

Small business IT in the energy sector or any small business market doesn’t have to be as complex as it is.  Many small businesses and junior oil and gas do not need business IT systems that compare to DND.  In today’s world as technology changes very rapidly, sometimes that average small business needs absolutely no IT infrastructure on site at all.  However, we all need a little.  What I am a saying is it doesn’t have to be as complicated as some make it out to be.  I live by the mantra “Keep it simple” and keep it proven.

One of the questions I ask my friends and colleagues is this “If I could wave my magic wand what would you like to see happen?” I get a wide range of answers ranging from sales, lead generation, marketing, real time numbers, have the ability to make informed business decisions and many others.  You know what they don’t tell me, I need the latest OS, how about the next version of Office, I need a better virus scanner or any other technical answer.  Technology is an enabler, the result being a successful business transaction, a piece of correspondence going out, a well successfully drilled or financial numbers being reported on-time to shareholders.

Speaking in a language the oil and gas executive understands is critical and something I learned in the very early days of my business career (thanks to Ron Walter).  They speak about production, governance, security, EUB and other acronyms sometimes only known to them in a language they only understand.  Like many other types of business, their world evolves around what they do for a living.  They live in Accumap, not Outlook.  Their declines are just as important as their BlackBerries and Land Sales are a stressful time of the month.

So I ask you this one simple question, If I could wave my magic wand, what would you like?