Business Management

A word on Liability Insurance

The people you hire will be going into you're clients home so you will want to make sure their bondable just in case the worst happens like damage. You should have liability insurance. Shop around for the best available prices.

Communication is Key

Communicate better with cell phones or 2 way radios. Being able to convey accurate instructions or to efficiently dispatch your fleet (if you have one) would improve customer service. Communication is your top tool for keeping your clients happy, without communication you have nothing except for minor chaos so to speak. Another element to success is to ensure that everyone on the cleaning crew interacts well with each other, this makes for a happier work environment and more efficient workers.

Strengths, Weaknesses and First Name Relationships

Each worker will have their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to cleaning, compliment their weaknesses with other coworkers strengths, in return you will get a thorough job done. Address the members of your cleaning crew by first name to make them feel like they are part of a team, calling them by their last name doesn't pack the same punch as a first name relationship does.

Finding Workers

To recruit workers for your cleaning crew advertise in your local paper or find help via word of mouth.

Scheduling Software

The number of people cleaning per site will depend upon the size of the house your cleaning. If you plan on operating several groups of cleaning crews you will want to make sure your organized as far as booking appointments and knowing where each crew member is at.

Before I evangelize the merits of programme management I want to clarify what a programme is and what a project is. This might seem a little trivial but I've seen these two words used so interchangeably across many organisations in many countries with people calling a project a programme and vice versa.

A programme is a temporary and flexible organisation which is formed to coordinate, direct and oversee the implementation of a set of related projects and activities in order to deliver outcomes and benefits related to the organisation's strategic objectives.

A project is also a temporary organisation which will deliver one or more outputs in accordance with a specific business case.

Programmes create outcomes and projects create outputs, and programme management does not replace the need for competent project management. A programme acts as an umbrella under which projects can be coordinated and integrated in order to deliver an outcome which is the sum of the projects' parts.

With that out of the way, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has a framework known as 'Managing Successful Programmes' (MSP). This framework provides proven programme management best practice for successfully delivering transformational change.

Organisations that have embraced MSP have enjoyed the benefits of transforming themselves successfully as opposed to being amongst the many that suffer painful or disastrous transformation.

These days, more and more C-level executives are recognising programme management as a powerful tool, which when used well, can facilitate 'successful' transformation programmes as opposed to ugly monsters which get out of control and wreak havoc.

At the highest level, programme management aligns corporate strategy, business-as-usual and the delivery mechanism for change. These are three critical elements which must align if transformation is to be successful.

MSP principles represent success factors that underpin the likelihood of successful transformational change programmes. These seven principles have been derived from lessons learned in both the public and private sectors.

Positioned within the seven principles are nine governance themes which help put in place the right leadership, delivery team, organisation structures, controls and control information to optimise the likelihood of delivering the planned outcomes and benefits.

Then finally comes the transformational flow which provides a path through the programme lifecycle from conception to closure.

If you're still asking 'why should I use programme management?' consider the fact that most organisations are likely to fail to deliver change successfully if there is:

* insufficient board-level support
* weak leadership
* unrealistic expectations of the organisational capacity and capability
* insufficient focus on benefits
* no real picture of the future capability
* a poorly defined/communicated vision
* a failure to change the organisations culture
* a lack of stakeholder engagement

Labels: Managing Successful Programmes

Are You Doing the Moon Walk --- Going Backwards While Moving Forward

The death of Michael Jackson recently was a tragic event. No matter what you thought of Michael personally, there is no doubt that he was one of the most talented entertainers of all time. His singing and dancing talent showcased so effectively by his performance in the video and album "Thriller" will be remembered forever as the Capstone of his career. I, like millions of his fans, mourn his passing.

However, the one thing that I remember the most is his invention of the "Moonwalk". The "Moon Walk" is a dance move that looks as if you are going forward when in reality you are moving backward. Michael made that move famous. His tragic sorrowful death reminded me of that move. The Moon Walk itself brings to mind how many businesses often struggle to achieve success; doing things that are supposed to gain market share and create success. And yet, many find that even though they believe they are doing all the things the "experts" say they should be doing, real success eludes them. They feel like they are moving forward but in reality they are moving backward. They are doing the "Moon Walk". This can be particularly evident during tough economic times.

Make Sure You are Relevant and Current

You need to be relevant & current - don't get stuck in the past with past practice that may have put you in a comfort zone because business was so good the "fish were jumping in the boat". Most of the time there is no shortcut to success. Relevance is more than just following best practice. It is more than just developing a contingency plan. Every effective leader I have ever known understood this principle. They are aware that their impact on the success of their organization was based on their vision, values and core beliefs they shared with all their employees.

Focusing on "the positives of the past" is a valiant intention to be sure; I wonder, though, how realistic and relevant past practice is if past success was simply the result of economic conditions and not effective leadership and a solid management team. If that is the case, you will simply begin doing the "Moon Walk" with no real vision based plan to deal with the current economic situation. Good anecdotes, memos to employees and resting on past success and past practice with little success substance will not solve today's problems.

Being current and understanding the real challenges you face is just as important as making sure it is relevant. Running a responsible business isn't something you just decided to do overnight. Hopefully you have been making conscious best practice business decisions for a long time and you are still learning as you go. Every step along this path during economic crisis is important, from high-level market driven decisions to individual employee relationships. Take the time to review best practices as they apply to your business. Look at your processes, your procedures and your policies. Do they reflect good management principles or do they become a little spongy due to past practices? Are they relevant to what is happening in your markets today?

A Vision is Still Critical

Businesses focused on developing sustainable long term market share growth during tough economic times often have a longer time-horizon and a broader set of goals than companies that have not stayed current and relevant to their market place. Typically they are dissatisfied with the status quo and not only have developed contingency plans for the short term to deal with economic crisis but they have not abandoned their long term strategic vision for the company; Albeit, they may adjust it according to current relevancy.

To succeed in today's economic environment leadership must build a foundation that allows the creative energy released by employees to actually work. We must leverage employee dedication and sacrifice that stems from ownership of the Vision-Values and Core Beliefs that has been engrained into the culture of the organization. The CEO or owner of this type of company generally conveys a well-articulated set of principles that guide the business and help to instill the same values in employees. By declaring their goals publicly this type of leader inspires trust and respect which is the baseline for employee commitment to success during tough economic times and long term growth.

This broader vision of success requires new business tools, practices and relationships. Being receptive to new ideas and suggestions opens the door to an array of business opportunities. That's what being current and relevant is all about. You can not afford to wallow in a pool of pessimism and past practice without opening your mind to new ideas and new options.

Be Open Minded

The internet revolution brought on many changes to the market place and presented enormous opportunity. Before this revolution took place, undertaking large projects, entering new markets or working globally was the exclusive privilege of large corporations and conglomerates.

In this century, innovative use of 'virtual' corporations, strategic alliances and other partnerships and ventures means smaller companies can now compete and generate business outside their traditional markets. Communication technology allows global orientation for even the smallest business and the greater efficiencies that can be offered by a team of small players enable these firms to perform on the global stage.

Dealing with economic crisis requires the application of sustainable business principles that are current and relevant. You must maintain a forward momentum regardless of circumstance. Realize that every problem and challenge you face on a day to day basis as a result of the faltering economy are the same issues and challenges faced by your competitors. Ask yourself this question. "Can you outperform the competition?"

Improvements in your sustainable business practices must come from new ways of thinking about meeting customer needs, and redesigning operations with a priority focus on servicing your customer. You can't afford to do the "Moon Walk" if you are to thrive during tough economic times. Prepare yourself and your management team to be forward thinking and open to new ideas.

Focusing on Qualitative Market Share Growth

One of the biggest challenges in creating a sustainable future and gaining market share in a tough economy is the ability to refocus policy and practices across a variety of functions. The focus on revenue growth was appropriate prior to the current economic environment when "fish were jumping in the boat." Today, however, focus must be on market share as opposed to top line growth. Remember, if sales decline by ten percent but the market itself declines by twenty percent, effectively you have gained market share. This is an important principle that everyone on your team must understand. High-performing organizations integrate market share focus and performance management best practices more than other organizations. Conversely, low-performing organizations consistently underutilize these best practices and lose focus on market share.

Execute the Plan

The inability of organizations to effectively execute their contingency or strategic plans is one of the major factors limiting success; success measured by market share growth. Recent management research and literature has thoroughly documented the importance of execution in creating success during tough economic times. Organizations execute their strategies through the creation of contingency plans and strategic initiatives, comprising any number of initiatives, programs and projects that become the vehicles for realizing the corporate vision that is current and relevant.

Whether a company ultimately succeeds or fails during these economic times depends on the effectiveness of the actions taken to deal with current challenges. Before these actions can be taken, however, companies must recognize these challenges for what they are to take appropriate actions.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that I am definitely a card carrying member of the Baby Boomers. I also admit that during my early career in the 70's, I could have undoubtedly been considered a poster child for the "Male Chauvinistic Pig" movement. However, experience and maturity have taught me a great lesson regarding leadership and the abilities, intelligence and values of the female employee. Today, I firmly believe that women in the workplace are the most under utilized asset this country has.

We have come a long way from that chauvinistic attitude of the past that believed men are simply better, more natural leaders; the belief that women's careers were compromised by their responsibilities at home? Yes we have come a long way. But, Statistics are still shocking for women who hope to succeed in the business world. Today, women occupy 40% of all managerial positions in the United States but only 6% of the Fortune 500's top executives are female. (Newsweek Magazine)

In your industry this percentage may even be lower. The "glass ceiling," or the idea that women successfully climb the corporate ladder until they're blocked by this transparent ceiling, has been accepted as the largest obstacle to female leadership in the workplace. Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin claimed to have put millions of cracks in this ceiling but it hasn't been completely shattered yet.

This ceiling represents many characteristics that even most men would challenge and yet they still exist. There are barriers that limit industry's ability to capitalize on the enormous amount of leadership potential that exits in almost any work place in this country. Barriers that women encounter at all levels include prejudice resistance to women's leadership, leadership style issues and family demands.

These obstacles may even create an uneasy feeling for women or their relationship with leadership and the power it commands. A few female leaders have told me that they fear that the power of leadership can give off the impression that they are ruthless or pushy. These are Issues that challenge their basic character and femininity; Challenges that men don't have to encounter.

Diversity is Strength

Companies that recognize the female leadership talent pool that exists within the confines of their own office will implement specific initiatives to leverage that talent. One of the very basic and first steps to recognizing this talent is to begin evaluating the female employee based on specific contributions as opposed to hours worked. Creating work teams, project teams and management teams that include more than one loan female allows that talent to grow and prosper instead of being suppressed by male domination. Closing the leadership gap and leveraging this talent has to become a priority for businesses of all nature if we are to remain competitive in the global environment. For this country to have this much inherent talent and yet very few women in the top levels of the chain of command is disturbing.

But Women have Babies

So What!! The idea that women having babies need broader support and special handling is simply hog wash. Women that strive to be leaders and want to contribute at a higher level of hierarchy are often more capable of managing a life balance than most men. And yet, experts have stated that the average lifetime earnings of a highly-skilled female leader who has a child in her 20s is $625,000; while the average lifetime earnings for those having a baby in their 30s is $750,000. For those who have no babies, lifetime earnings reach $913,000." Does that sound discriminatory?

Women in Business have been Stereotyped

Rachael Roy, a top designer and CEO of her own company stated that "Many young women apply self worth to the attention they receive from men. This type of attention is instantly gratifying."

This is unfortunate because this type of gratification contributes to the stereotype and inhibits leadership confidence and leadership integrity. This is social conditioning. There is no more important skill in attaining success than your ability to communicate effectively. Yet women are often sabotaged by their communication skills. Differences in how men and women communicate are rooted in social conditioning. Stereotyped behavior has been expected of women since time began. Women are not expected to argue, displaying anger. Women are expected to be polite in the workplace and not curse. They are expected to be cooperative and, by and large, docile.

Men Have Different Rules

The same rules or expectations do not apply to men. Women have always been encouraged to speak softly and smile a lot and yet men are not chastised for emotional outbursts most of the time. This gender differentiation begins early in life. Men in the business world generally have few, if any, qualms about issuing orders or voicing complaints. Many women tend to be uncomfortable pulling rank; they seek agreement and consistency. Disagreement and conflict don't affect men in the same way; some even enjoy it, while women typically go out of their way to avoid confrontation.

Men expect and are expected to be successful. We certainly are willing to take full credit when we do succeed. The principle for success on the part of women is different. Many women only hope to be successful. When women do succeed they are more apt to demonstrate true leadership character by attributing their success to teamwork or the support of their peers and subordinates.

Women Do Have Power

Traditionally, in the business world, the male model of authority was considered superior to the female model of collaboration. However, it's becoming abundantly clear that effective communication is the essence of good leadership and that is what really counts. Either style can be effective based on ones individual leadership model. The key to success lies in focusing on and creating for one's self a style that encompasses the best of both authority and collaboration with an emphasis on a servant style of leadership.

Women as a group can be very powerful if they would only embrace that power. They must reject in disbelief that business is strictly a man's world and that they must follow mans rule. Women have different values, different styles and different approaches to many things. Men could be well served to listen more. We must leverage every asset we have to maximize success. Women may not have all the answers but I submit they may have many that we as men haven't realized yet.

So, as you review your employee development plans, don't ignore the potential that may exist at the receptionist desk, customer service or accounting where you traditionally find many of your female employees. Search for leadership potential regardless of gender and you may find a number of diamonds in the rough.

It is important to resolve the resistance and change issues through well-planned communication plans. Six Sigma is not about simply undertaking technical improvements and statistical tool usage.

Improvement efforts have to be supported by good communication plans - and people skills play an important role in overall project success.

Six Sigma Project Launch

Six Sigma is not just improving the process. It is also about bringing in a Six Sigma culture to the organization. Communication has to be started from the point of project launch.

Projects are undertaken for different reasons. If it is communicated to the employees at an appropriate time, it can be helpful in reducing the fear of the project for any reason. A well thought out plan to communicate the aims of the Six Sigma project makes the process of improvement very easy for the team.

The medium of communication could be in the form of meetings, emails, etc. The communication should explain what Six Sigma is, what its advantages are and how it differs from other quality initiatives like TQM and CQI. It may be even about basic concepts that are quite easy to understand.

It is important to anticipate and be ready to respond to questions, such as what is in it for the employees, how they will be affected, how will it affect the department and how everyone will be able to participate with their existing workloads.

It should also explain how it would benefit employees in terms of their career, job security, and so on.

When designing the plan, consideration has to be given to five major factors:

- Who the target audiences are
- What Six Sigma strategies need to be utilized
- How the process will be an ongoing one
- The use of various media for communication at various stages
- Clear and concise utilization of a variety of media

There are a large number of tools that can be used for communication.

Though face-to-face meetings are popular for a regular and ongoing communication process, other tools like emails, newsletters, brown bag lunches, CEO memos to employees, intranet postings, surveys and feedback reports and even quizzes are just as useful.

Advantages of Communication

Communicating with customers is also important when you are planning a Six Sigma project. When you undertake a Six Sigma project, the aim of the project is the customer satisfaction - not just internal, but also external.

Process improvements are useful not just to employees to reduce cycle times and output, but they are also useful in giving to the customer what they expect. Good communication can further help the team understand the CTQ factors of the business processes.

Similarly, when projects bring about improvements, they can be showcased to customers as well. Communication also helps resolve resistance issues that could snowball into major barriers to successful implementation.

If communication successfully tells the employees that there is full support of top management, and it is beneficial with no risk to them, then resistance can be reduced substantially.

Communication from the beginning till the end of the Six Sigma project is extremely important to project success.

Do any of these statements apply to you?

* My calendar is so filled with meetings I can't find time to get real work done.
* Meetings that I attend seem to expand to fill the allotted time; we could accomplish just as much in half the time.
* I know we need the daily ops meeting (or the weekly project status meeting) but it's becoming tedious.

Most of us can relate to at least one of these statements, many can relate to all three and probably add a few more bullets of their own.

The best thing you can do with a meeting that is not a good use of your time is to not attend.

But what about meetings that you know are needed? Information needs to be shared, action items need to be assigned. Email won't work, because there's too much of a chance for misunderstanding and you need face to face discussion.

Try the stand up meeting.

Its very name conveys a message that no one is going to come in and settle into a comfortable position for this meeting. Stand up meetings are perfect for regular status updates and efficient assignment of work activities.

Here are some considerations that will help you hold effective and efficient stand up meetings:

Location: Ideally, hold the meeting in an open area with no tables or chairs. Lobbies, vacant offices, an open corner are all good candidates. If you have to use a conference room, push the table and chairs against the wall and don't let anyone sit down.

Chair Person: Think drill sergeant. This is not a role for the timid. You need someone who will start the meeting on time, even if no one is there! He or she needs to work the agenda rigidly, cut off discussion and send it offline when needed, clearly outline the action items and end on time.

Agenda: Keep it very crisp. Total agenda time should not exceed 15 minutes. Status updates should be limited to 5 minutes. Don't be afraid to have 2 minute items if that's all that's needed. Cover the open items from last meeting. Are they closed? If not, carry them forward with clear owners.

Don't provide coffee or heaven forbid, food. You can even go one step further and not allow people to bring their own. That will make everyone focus on getting done.

Now when you read all this it sounds harsh, but that's nor the case. When you value other people's time they will be appreciative. That is exactly what you are doing here.

Run a stand up meeting well, and people will know they can show up, get up to speed, be confident they know who is working on what, and get back to work.

Labels: Leadership Tips - Stand Up Meetings

As far as job titles go, 'Historian of the Future' is an absolutely doozy. However, as one of the leading practitioners of this fascinating trade, Dr James Bellini, can testify, the description can lead to a few misunderstandings: he is most definitely not, for instance, a magician.

"Let me be clear: I don't have a cloak, a pointy hat and a magic wand," Bellini jokes - and he absolutely can't tell you who's going to win the 3.30 at Ascot. What he can do, however, is draw upon a career spanning decades of research and analysis, networking and award-winning creative endeavours to produce assessments of the likely state of the future which are as informed, and as entertaining, as any you'll encounter.

When SSON meets Bellini, the good doctor - whose PhD "in military stuff" came from the London School of Economics - has just finished presenting to the 8th Annual Shared Services Week in Sitges, near Barcelona. His talk - the first plenary of the event - has ranged from early corporate history, via demographic change in modern Europe, through 'Gutenberg 2.0', to the rise of a new wave of consumers and the hiring challenges posed by the emergence of 'Generation C'- and he's scattered some pretty brain-bending statistics along the way.

For example, those of us in the audience now know that by 2040, if current trends are maintained, Italy will have 20 million fewer inhabitants; that "in 1965 there were 10,000 people for every computer, but by 2015 there will be 10,000 connected devices for every person"; that "over 50 per cent of people on the planet have never made a phone call"; that by 2020 Japan will be the oldest society in the developed world, and the USA will be the youngest.

It's from a vast archive of such data, analysed through methods many years in the perfecting, that Bellini is able to create the "works of informed imagination" that make up his futurological output. Facts and figures, he says, are the currency of futurology and he declares that, magpie-like, he "will steal anything without remorse" which will contribute to his understanding of the myriad forces shaping the times to come.

This understanding has developed over the course of a distinguished and varied career which has seen Bellini finding success as an academic, a think-tank analyst, a reporter and TV presenter, an author, a narrator and, of course, a public speaker. If, however, this suggests chameleonic professional tendencies to accompany his corvine approach to data, Bellini's wry grin, penetrating stare and uncompromising wit mark him out as resolutely human - as does his unwillingness to pander to social niceties: his latest book, tackling corporate deceit and the pervasiveness of misrepresentation in the business world, is appropriately titled The Bullshit Factor.

Bellini moved from university (St John's College, Cambridge) into advertising, among other roles - but it was in Paris as the first British member of the highly regarded Hudson Institute (co-founded by Bellini's early mentor, nuclear strategist Herman Kahn) where he won his spurs, and plaudits, with a series of predictions for major European economies, starting with France. He and his colleagues were a long way ahead of the curve in foreseeing the French economic revival of the 1970s and '80s, and their success did not go unnoticed; brought in by the BBC as a consultant on a similar predictive piece about the British economy, Bellini ended up fronting the program as lead reporter. Perhaps unpredictably - even for this most promising of seers - television, and a modicum of fame, had come knocking.

Although he discusses his successes with disarming humility, Bellini's career in television left him much to crow about: seven years as a studio presenter with Sky News and Financial Times Television; stints presenting Panorama, Newsnight and The Money Programme; and a host of awards including the Prince Rainier II Prize at the Monte Carlo International TV festival and a special award given by the United Nations for his work on the epic documentary series The Nuclear Age - as well as rather less glittering roles such as presenting a TV version of Cluedo. Meanwhile he continued to predict, to analyse - and to publish, with a series of well-received tomes reaching the shelves from the 1980s onwards.

By now Bellini had established a reputation as one of the most perceptive and intuitive pundits on the current affairs circuit, and the step to public speaking to compliment his flourishing literary career was a logical one. His natural flair for business (he has served in executive positions for numerous companies) and for communications, combined with his specific spheres of interest, mean that - although he's just as happy to present to the likes of Greenpeace "for a cup of tea"- his natural constituency consists of relatively high-powered businessfolk with a vested interest in understanding the foundations of the future (exactly the kind of people attending Shared Services Week, in fact).

And some future it'll be. Bellini paints a fascinating picture of societies, businesses and economies on the brink of truly fundamental change; while he maintains that in general "nothing is ever really new - it might be different, but it's not new", at the same time he posits developments which, in terms of the way organisations are structured and run, are as new as anything which has preceded them since the Stone Age.

"Shared services is not the sexiest area of management, but it's one of the most important. It is about creating things which haven't been seen before in business history: internally profit-driven services. This is not, however, truly revolutionary: yet in the next 10-15 years I do see a revolution, a period comparable with the beginning of corporate history," he says. "We'll see as much change [in organisational structure] in the next 15 years as we saw in the last 5,000."

A major facilitator for this restructuring is, of course, the globalising information revolution, which is occurring at a mind-boggling rate.

"The pace of change is becoming a lot more compressed... Moore's Law is probably already out of date. We have to generate new words to deal with the rate at which information is growing," he says, citing as an example the rise of the "exabyte" - one billion billion bytes or, in more antique terms, one trillion big books full of data.

The implications for business of this staggering acceleration of development are, of course, manifold; but Bellini sees one of the most crucial impacts taking place in the field of recruitment and HR, and beyond that in the way business itself is conducted on a personal level.

"The people you employ in future will be very different from those you've employed in the past," he cautions. "Your future talent comes from what some people call Generation Y but I prefer to call Generation C" - the connected, communicating, completely digital creator-generators currently en route to adulthood.

"They are digital natives, very different individuals, living, educated and working in digital spaces. Sharing is instinctive among them... It's not about being selfish but about cooperating in effective, efficient ways."

Bellini believes that the arrival of this generation will force employers to reassess age-old practices such as recruitment, interview techniques and training. After all, this is a generation with a decreasing attention span but a marked increase in the ability to multitask and shift from one task to another very quickly; if a trainer begins to lose the attention of his or her trainees, Bellini asks, who will be to blame - the trainees, who have developed in a fast-changing, rapid-fire digital environment, or the trainer, who has not? The answer is implicit in the question, and Bellini warns that companies expecting their new recruits to bend to an established, 'old' modus operandi will find themselves left behind: "the talent war will become more acute," he says, and it's a war no company will be able to afford to lose.

The nature of employment itself will also change, the doctor reckons. Long-term contracts in fixed locations will become increasingly obsolete; the future will be made up of task-based employment of "clusters" of employees coming together to address specific needs, offering complementary skills for comparatively short, intense bursts of productivity - often working at distance from homes around the world.

For older employees such a shift might represent a vast challenge and perhaps an assault on traditional comforts such as job security; for the digital natives of Generation C, however, such practices will be second nature - and Bellini uses the example of Hollywood film production, which has been from the off a task-based environment, as how businesses and entire industries can work on a different, and potentially formidable, model.

The future will also bring us a very different consumer class, Bellini promises. Societies are getting older, and the old are becoming more affluent: in the UK, for example, in this "New Age of consumers" over-50s already own over 80 per cent of the nation's assets, and the country has reached a tipping point when there are more retirees than there are children. Meanwhile family sizes are decreasing, creating a growing deficit in the workforce of the future: we are approaching the "post-kids future", Bellini says somewhat ominously.

"This has huge consequences for everyone," he says. "Take R&D: the reason cars are the way they are, with four seats, is because the nuclear family model was the dominant one when car design was at its most dynamic. Four family members required four seats. Now the nuclear family is not the dominant model: what will the layout be of the car of the future? Or take cereal packets: they were sized for a nuclear family. Now that size is no longer appropriate."

Different needs require different provisions and Bellini urges today's companies to plan properly for a very different breed of consumer. The older generation - which will live longer than any in human history - will have different high-value requirements which will need to be met; meanwhile, the younger generation will be comparatively less affluent but will have very different needs and will expect those needs to be met in very different ways. Marketing, design, sales: all will have to undergo their own revolutions.

"There is a conversation going on, a huge worldwide conversation. You will not control this conversation, though it will be about you and will impact upon you," he cautions. Of course, this lack of control might terrify many businesses and practitioners - especially those in shared services for whom maintaining the right level of control over processes is such a fundamental aspect of the job - but it also represents a unique opportunity.

If, as Bellini assures us, the next few years will see us having to "revisit the idea of how to think", such reengagement with processes and the reasons behind them - driven in no small way by the digital natives making up the next generation of employees - will surely lead to sweeping changes in almost every aspect of doing business. The cost and efficiency savings currently held up as world-class by leading shared service practitioners could pale into insignificance against the benefits - tangible and intangible - brought by new approaches to the very raison d'etre of business and the economy, and by the technological revolution whose ultimate consequences even this most esteemed of futurologists can only ponder from afar.

Labels: James Bellini - Historian of the Future