Market Dynamics – The Secrets of the Crystal Ball & Finding the Gap

My insatiable curiosity for watching market forces is an addiction I have never been able to fully reconcile. For myself my market of choice has always been Information Technology. An interest fostered by my father, who was by his own admission a fledgling IT Director in the late 70’s early 80’s, alongside a teenage hobby fuelled by my home computer (my weapon of choice being the “BBC Micro Model B 32K” because I couldn’t afford an Apple II) and a fledging schoolboy entrepreneurial venture writing “O” level projects for £25 a pop which subsequently led to a professional career spanning over 32 years and counting, comprising many ups and downs. 

Over time I have watched my industry change beyond all recognition. More specifically watching the Software Vendors and the Systems Integrators landscape both globally and locally (UK) is something I have always found fascinating. It will always be of great pride and a high degree of satisfaction that in my own small way I was able to put all my knowledge, learning and experience into practice and contribute by founding a niche player which took advantage of a gap in the market and subsequently sold it, with my business partner, to a much bigger fish in the sea. 

Understanding market dynamics and the supply and demand equation is just one continuous learning experience. On one-side is the demand which requires you to have insight into customers business operations to comprehend the challenges and drivers that comprise the market forces that are in play. Balancing the equation is the supply side comprising the “players” - the service providers that come in all shapes and sizes with their different value propositions and all trying to differentiate themselves from one another (well the smart ones are at least!).

As technology innovation continues to accelerate and knowing that the technology of today and tomorrow is truly transformational my endless curiosity has always been three-fold. Firstly, if consumer organisations can really take advantage of technology innovation and adapt to new ways of working or will they become another tombstone in the graveyard. Secondly, if the existing players in the market can actually change their service offerings and underlying operating models to serve the consumer’s needs not only of today but more importantly of tomorrow. Finally, and for me the most interesting, is whether new market opportunity attracts new entrants with new go-to-market strategies and product/service propositions.   

To have a successful business, of any size, from the corner newspaper shop through to the likes of the very large global Systems Integrators, one thing they both have in common is that need to provide products and/or services that are relevant to a market of consumers who are willing to buy through delivery channels that can service the markets efficiently. If you become no longer relevant to your market you will simply, over time, go out of business. Consequently, understanding the market and the buyer’s needs is absolutely critical, especially when market forces and external events are constantly changing. The sand is quite simply moving underneath your feet and remember no one is ever too big to fail, and that in itself is a business opportunity.

Finding the Gap

Now the exciting part is spotting the market opportunity or in layman’s terms the “gap”. This either comes about when either the needs of the consumer are not being met by the existing players or when an advancement, usually but not always, in technology creates a new business model and new ways of working and a new need materialises upsetting the status quo and the natural order of things. This is market disruption. 

Consequently, the market changes and metaphorically the planets come out of alignment in regard to supply and demand. Being able to spot this and react quickly is the trick as this can happen almost overnight. Even better if you can predict it in advance and position yourself accordingly as this is where you make the real money. Success in business is always about timing and having the cash to fund the venture.  

Now I could go on at this point quoting much more advanced economic theory, however everything in my opinion comes down to basic market analysis of factors (Social, Economic, Political, Technology, Environment, Legal) and the basics of supply and demand. Then throw in some outcome scenario planning (cause and effect) and gamification theory and you end up with a comprehensive model you can apply. Research is necessarily, but it is important to remember that markets are in a constant state of flux and “windows” of opportunity appear and close. Richard Branson once said that his top team make investment decisions within a six-week window, after that, they believe that they probably have missed the boat.

What’s the Magic Formula?

For me it’s simply this. Markets are cyclical in nature and therefore to a degree predictable. Combine this with what you know about the supply side and again the predictable nature of incumbent players and the formula becomes complete. History really does have a habit of repeating itself. 

Ones focus should always be on the market, the consumer, and not in the first instance the companies that service that industry. They are obviously very important pieces on the Chess Board, but the market – the consumer need, overrides everything so this is where the focus needs to be.  To para-phase “don’t take your eye off the prize and get distracted by what others are or are not doing”. 

What have I have Learned? 

Now I am not going to go into detail as to how Certus Solutions cracked Central Government with Oracle Cloud here (that’s coming in my book – first shameless plug), albeit in my eyes it is the ultimate case study. But I can assure you it was not down to luck. Luck is a fool’s game, and every entrepreneur knows you create your own luck through vision, focus and a lot of bloody hard work. Several factors were involved and just like when we sold the company it was a case of all the planets aligning and the predictability of the market. 

Once you can see this alignment, that’s the sweet spot. But also remember, planets only align for a point in time they then come out of alignment and the opportunity doesn’t materialise again (if at all) until the next cycle. The things I have learned and I pass on here to those that are interested… 

1.     Know Your Market, Know Your Customer, Know Your Competition - Articulate the target market segment carefully, understanding all the elements that comprise the market, especially both sides of the supply and demand equation. If the market is the Chess Board, do you know and have a perspective on all the pieces?

2.     Tailor Your Proposition – Differentiation is Critical to Success – Naturally to be successful you need a killer proposition and it needs to be different from everyone else. This needs to be highly focused and targeted at the gap you have identified. Don’t be generic and chase what appears to be the latest trend it will be “fish and chip” paper next week, and the market won’t understand what you stand for and what you are all about. Remember the focus should always be on the customer problem you are trying to solve and not the technology you are using. Also, part of any proposition I honestly believe is “brand” development its key in regard to differentiation – but that’s for another day

3.     Markets can be Influenced - You can never ever control the market, however for periods of time you can heavily influence it and in doing so drive consumers towards you and if you can create the “me to” effect so much the better. Ultimately the market will decide its own direction and course 

4.     Don’t Get Caught Up in the R&D Hype - Markets are constantly changing, the speed of technology innovation always outpaces supplier’s capability to deliver it let alone consumer organisations ability to deploy it effectively that it creates business value. Some technologies are “fads” and come and go in a blink of an eyelid. Why? put simply they have no relevance to delivering a solution to a problem, the technology and its use is just immature, or the market is just not ready for the innovation. Example – around 2000-2001 the IT industry started talking about “Application Service Providers”, where Service Providers would host the application and lower a consumers Total Cost of Ownership as they would not need a data centre. The initiative never took off and no one wanted to buy. Hang on – doesn’t this sound like Cloud and Software and a Service, a generation later??

5.     First Time Mover Advantages - As per one of my favourite quotes from the film “Margin Call”, “Be first, be smarter or cheat, and as I don’t cheat it’s a dam site easier just to be first”. Being first is easier because in being first you can define the market to suit you, not the other way around. Now for those naysayers I know you don’t have to use first time advantage as the only winning formula, i.e. Google were the 14th available search engine when it launched and look what happened to them! I am also not saying you can’t enter what appears to be an established market, as you can it is just harder but you can redefine an existing market by providing a solution for a new consumer need. Classic example was the Systems Integrator market for on-premise Oracle systems in the UK, the technology shifted, and the market became all about the Cloud; Certus Solutions entered an established market and became the first Oracle partner in the UK to be specialised in Oracle Cloud and disrupted the existing players and filled the gap. We then let everyone else play catch-up, whilst we set the narrative and banged the drum  

6.     Control the Narrative – Controlling the story and the message to the market is totally in your power. If your first, you get to do this easier than when the competition arrives, and they will arrive be certain of that. However messaging needs to be local and personal. Too generic, corporate like and wide-ranging means absolutely nothing to nobody. The narrative is driving a call to action. What is the problem you are trying to solve? How are you going to solve it? and in solving it what is the value you are delivering? Don’t sit on the fence, you have a point of view, so amplify it. Remember if you are not controlling the narrative and the story someone else will be! 

7.     You Can Create Barriers to Entry - Set the barrier to entry as high as you possibly can, this gives you time before other entrants enter the market or the existing suppliers change tact. In-fact the more barriers to entry you can create, the better it is for you to establish yourself. The beauty about being first is that everyone else is immediately playing catchup. Examples of barriers to entry I have used include Brand, Talent, Customer Advocacy (very powerful), Commercial Proposition and Intellectual Property. When you combine them all into a winning value proposition you can really make your presence felt in the market, especially if you can scare the competition into not even competing with you. Perception is reality regardless of size 

8.     Markets Behaviour can to a degree be Predicted – Gamification and outcome scenario planning are the most useful tools and of course a Crystal Ball with a glass of Red wine usually helps. Plot the cycles of the local economy, the behaviour of your consumers and naturally the competition, over time and look for the patterns, it is this that often shows up where the gaps are. Predictability of both consumers and suppliers behaviour is a powerful ally 

9.     Trust Your Gut - Finally, and most importantly always “trust your gut” – you can do all the research you want, but as they say if “something looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck then it is a duck”. Don’t kid yourself and read things into the data that aren’t actually there just because you want to

10.  Execution is Everything – Even if you can see the gap, if you cannot execute then it all becomes nothing. You need to live and breathe business strategy. Anyone can put a set of power point slides together but few in my experience can really execute 

Lessons Applied in Practice - Predicting Market Behaviour

Scenario planning - now I am a big fan of this technique and it’s just like Chess. Can you plot out your customers and the competitions five moves ahead? There are numerous combinations, but just like a Chess board as the game develops and the pieces move around so does the market. This simple technique of playing “What if?” with a small team to generate ideas can give you tremendous insight very quickly on not only what could happen but more importantly as to how your going to play the game. 

Again, look for the cycles and patterns over time. Don’t worry about what your competition are doing but play the game your way. Execute your strategy, and if it doesn’t work change it. This is totally in your control. Reacting to everyone else in a knee jerk manner is not a strategy as all you are doing is playing someone else’s game. It’s at this point you subconsciously begin to chase the market and this is always a losing position. 

So in summary I have probably dismissed 100 years of more complex economic models, discussion and theory by those who are a way lot smarter than me but what I have provided is the way I approach it and knowing what works for me. However, I do hope the above provides some insight into how to spot opportunity and position yourself accordingly. Alternatively, if you just believe in luck just buy a lottery ticket and see if the numbers drop. PS mine are 1, 7, 8, 22, 42 and lucky stars 1, 7.

8 Years On from 2011 and 15 minutes of Fame – Cloud was it Evolution or Revolution?

Three years on since I last blogged and now its time to restart – why you might ask? Simply it’s been gratifying to hear from Customers, Colleagues, Business Partners and even Prospects who didn’t buy from me (how dare they!) that have told me how much they missed my blogs, which for the uninitiated are still all available on LinkedIn, so by demand it’s time to metaphorically put pen to paper once again. 

For those that are new to my style you will simply get my opinion on things that I am generally interested in and I will no doubt cover topics like Entrepreneurship, SME’s (of which I will always be a champion of), the Market, Tech specifically Cloud and Oracle Cloud and anything else that is running through my mind that I think might be of interest to a wider audience. 

Blogging for me is a way of bringing structure and order to the chaos that is often going on inside me. What you won’t get is any talk of politics (I think we have all had quite enough of the “B” word), albeit I might comment on what I see the future challenges the UK Civil Service faces when we know what we are doing! My opinions are direct and no doubt will be viewed by some as controversial. So please feel free to agree or disagree with me as its only through experience, conversation and difference of opinion that we all learn and you will actually find that it is this that fuels real innovation.

As we enter into Autumn 2019 and on the last day of Oracle’s Openworld in San Francisco let’s turn back the clock as I am reminded that nearly eight years ago on a very dark and wet night in October 2011 in Fenchurch Street at a then Client’s offices Tim Warner, my long term partner in crime, and I discussed at length a new world called Software as a Service (SaaS) and Oracle’s fledgling offering – Fusion (how many times have they interchanged that name over the years?) and what was then still really amounting to a bunch of powerpoint slides that had been touted around for years but rumour was that it was actually not only a real product but an absolute game changer. 

In-fact Larry Ellison, against popular belief, had already made his big bet albeit it is well known that Oracle were a late entrant to the enterprise Cloud game. The more that night we talked the more we felt a paradigm shift was coming that was going not only to change the industry we knew but also the world. It was looking like 1999 all over again. 

Looking back when you realise you are staring into pandora’s box and you suddenly know something that possibly very few others on the entire planet know is, on reflection, quite scary and sends shivers down your spine once you understand the ramifications. 

A period of our own due diligence subsequently followed, so I will dispel the myth now that entrepreneurs are a bunch of mavericks and cowboys that often make knee jerk decisions. However we do move very fast and just three weeks later we were in the position to make an informed calculated risk decision to follow Larry’s fledging vision and “bet everything on Red”. (this story is covered in the blogs of the past so I won’t repeat it here). Cloud was the new market place and we needed to get their first and create the necessary space in the Oracle ecosystem in the UK to thrive, albeit in reality and we do look back and laugh that we had half a product (most of that had key functionality missing), we didn’t really know how to implement it properly (that took us 2 years) and nobody wanted to buy it – the perfect time to start a business.

Roll on seven years and Certus Solutions the company I originally founded in my bedroom and evolved into the first dedicated Oracle SaaS Cloud professional services company was sold to Accenture in May 2018. My 15 minutes of fame had arrived and after 10 years of hard graft, near two bankruptcies, and a host of other personal challenges that I won’t bore you all with, Tim and myself became overnight successes and for 15 minutes complete legends in the Industry and the Oracle ecosystem. 

Now that's over moving swiftly on…   

So was Cloud Evolution or Revolution?

It is just amazing how the software industry has had to change its operating models. Oracle specifically from a product orientated company to a service one (a journey for those involved in the service industry knows never ends!). Something that was started by Salesforce (a company I personally massively admire) is now the norm. Customer success and advocacy are the constant watchwords and rightly so as regardless of Cloud a business does not exist without happy customers.

I once famously told someone very Senior in HM Government in early 2016 after they had spent 18 months pontificating over whether they were going Cloud (as it was a “fad”) that the decision had in-fact already been taken for them by the industry five years earlier and they were going Cloud regardless and it was a decision that was no longer in their gift to make.  Shock! Horror! no just a black and white reality check over the seemingly then obvious state of affairs. The only element of control they had was the WHEN they were going and the longer they continually took no action the cost would just increase. Why? simply the gap exponentially grows between legacy technology and the speed of technology innovation, making it more complicated to move both organisationally and technically within a business. 

Remember the true cost being not just the financial cost of undertaking the implementation, but more importantly the “opportunity cost” of missing out on the digital innovation that is continuously coming at pace. This is something that is constantly missed from business cases both in the private and public sectors. The bottom line being extremely blunt is “just get on with it because you really are missing out”.

So was it an evolution or really a revolution? Three years ago, I used the word evolution, why? Because even in a blog I had to be somewhat careful not to scare monger and evolution is a much softer word to use in regard to change. However looking back, it really was a revolution but through stealth. Salesforce, Oracle, Workday and SAP are all highly successful companies, and Cloud technology has facilitated the emergence of whole host of exciting mid-market vendors and start-ups. Many of these are British! and something I am proud to have been and continue to be associated with. The smaller ones just love turning the world upside down – go for it!

But still why the change of mind? What I never factored into my crystal ball, as I have said many times before, is the sheer pace of technology innovation and its corresponding impact on business operating models. The biggest lesson I learned was that Cloud is TRANSFORMATIONAL – done right it will transform (no going back) your business operation positively for ever. 

It truly is frightening but also at the same time so very exciting. The possibilities of improving our working lives seems endless and the opportunities to challenge the status quo and drive positive change especially in the Public Sector (my undying love for it however frustrating it is at times) still invigorates me today just as much as it did when I first got involved with the HM Prison Services Phoenix Shared Services Programme back in 2004. 

We can make Cloud platforms change the way we work better for everyone – employees, suppliers, and customers alike (and anyone else I have forgotten). More importantly in changing the way we work, we also should benefit positively to the way we conduct our personal lives. We just need to look for the win-win opportunities that exist out there. At the very least, it should help make work less stressful and as mundane tasks are removed through automation creates time for value added activities. Our time whether at work or play is the most valuable thing we all have as our time is always limited.  

So where has this first blog taken us? Simply I revisit my earlier statements and change my position - Cloud was a quiet revolution as it not only transforms business operations but can also positively (if used in the right way) change our personal lives for the better. The pace of change and technology innovation is not letting up and remember the technologies we are dealing with will continue to transform business operations continuously. The next generation of technologies of the likes of AI (which incidentally has been around for years, but now we are looking at mass adoption) and Robotics (another one in the same categorically) are already available having being built and embedded on Cloud technology platforms.

Still for those who continue to delay their migration to the Cloud it is just delaying the inevitable and at significantly higher cost. History is littered with case studies of what happened to those that did not adapt and remain relevant to what was going on around them. You only have to watch the evening news and look at our high streets for recent examples of this.  

There is just as much opportunity today to make a difference as there was when the quiet revolution started. Cloud technology is extremely mature and well proven. The only question one has to ask constantly regardless of your role in society and the economy is are you up for it?

Comment, and let you know what you think, after 3 years I am a bit rusty...

Shared Services - A Changing Landscape

Where has the time gone? 10 years ago on Monday 30^th October 2006...

…will always be a date forever etched on my memory for an implementation that was so leading edge and truly transformational at the time, it became the leading beacon and “poster-child” for Shared Services across UK Central Government winning multiple industry awards in the process. It was a time when Facebook had only just been opened to a global user community a month earlier and Apple had not even launched the iPhone!

From December 2004 through to January 2008 I was privileged to lead a team of over 150 people from various different organisations to create HM Prison Service Shared Services – named the “Phoenix Programme”. For the record we were responsible as a combined project team for the deployment of the HR, Payroll and Expenses services over what was then 130 public sector prisons and part of a larger programme that also addressed the modernisation and centralisation of Finance and Procurement functions. In time this would be augmented further with Training and Inventory Management.

Phoenix was a programme that was founded upon the recommendations of Sir Peter Gershon UK Public Sector efficiency Savings Review (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gershon_Review) and from an HR perspective also applied the theories of David Ullrich into harden reality. Personally led by all of the Directors of the Prison Service at the time the message was clear from the start that this programme was very much needed to modernise an out dated and costly disparate locally deployed back office operation.

The business case stated cost of £65m but delivered £109m NPV of savings over 9 years, and actually broke even after 3.5 years. In doing so it fundamentally changed for ever the “back office” service provision across the prison service using what was then considered to be the proven technology of choice at the time - Oracle E-Business Suite.

It was a very long journey, with lots of ups and downs but I can honestly say if there was ever one moment in my own career that I can look back and say was truly “career defining” – then this was it!

Looking back the biggest success in regard to Phoenix I will always be proud of was actually nothing to do with technology, but its wider social impact. The Shared Services operation created around 500 jobs. We fundamentally did something that made a significant positive impact to the local economy of South Wales and from the Phoenix Programme I founded Certus Solutions so its economic impact and contribution has become even wider.

Why was it successful? Fundamentally we brought out the best in people from different backgrounds and organisations and got them all focused on achieving a common goal. It was truly a collaborative experience, with strong leadership and direction always at the helm and a total focus on achieving successful delivery. Friendships were forged in the front line of project delivery and have lasted what now seems an eternity.

Did things go wrong? Of course they did – but that’s projects and real project management (which in my opinion seems to be a lost art these days) is really all about how you deal with the challenge when things go wrong and still manage to steer a course through to success. On projects the size of Phoenix the only thing that is ever guaranteed is that things will go wrong – I would raise an eyebrow if anyone said otherwise.

Over the years I have also listened intently to numerous people’s interpretation and manipulation of “history” surrounding the programme. The irony being that the vast majority had either nothing to do with the original programme and some, worse still, claimed the accolades of others success! It’s amazing how reality becomes manipulated for others causes.

A Brave New World – the Advent of Cloud
So, it may-be a case of serendipity, but 10 years on exactly to the same date I post this blog I find myself literally back in Newport, South Wales in the offices of the Office National Statistics (ONS) as we sit on the threshold of launching the first ever Central Government Oracle ERP and HCM Cloud implementation. The ONS office being literally a stones throw away from the original Shared Services operation. How ironic?

Ramifications – The End of Shared Services?
The advent of Cloud Applications Technology offers government that moment that comes along once in a generation where a paradigm shift has the capability to make a significant difference to the way back office services can be consolidated and the “outcomes” from government wide management information can make radical cost savings in the hundreds of millions. However just like the Government Digital Services (GDS) initiatives it requires practitioners within government with a different perspective and thinking.

So with a heavy heart I find myself now writing about what I see as the end of Shared Services. Something that 10 years ago was state of the art and transformational is now I believe on the path to redundancy and becoming "irrelevant". In my world disruptive Cloud technology spells the end of Shared Services operations and I predict they will not exist in the next 5 years. Why do I say this?

• Digital by Default – Will have taken hold. This means you are going to need the business to change the way it accesses and transacts back office services, this has to be communicated and “sustainable business change” implemented subconsciously. Even paper will be finally minimalised and electronic documents will be all the norm – why? because that’s the way Cloud works. The customer experience regardless of the role in the supply chain will be the same as experienced today when using applications like Amazon, eBay, LinkedIn (The largest HR Database in the world!)
• Adopt and Adapt - becomes the modus operandi. Remember you can’t customise anymore – and why would you? Cloud processes, which are considered to be best of breed, need to be adopted and then adapted only when necessary. This will become the accepted norm and even the most complex transactions commoditised
• Rate of Innovation - in Cloud is so great, that in 3-5 years’ time all processes will be re-engineered backwards into the operation line. It will still be all about the "service". Business process is just a delivery mechanism for policy. Cloud is merely a technology enabler; it’s a new way of delivering and accessing a service from the “line” with transactions no longer being passed off to a centralised Shared Services operation somewhere. Who knows where we will be in 5 years time?

The evidence in this context is already forming. The offshore Indian outsourcing models that took hold in the 1990’s are seeing a significant decrease in long term revenues as customers decide not to extend their agreements and become resigned to digitalisation taking effect. Also the breaking of the “revenue” traps of the large SI onshore data centres are now blown away with the Cloud. The client can get to their data and effect change quickly than rather not at all due to the cost barriers. This evidence is only going to get greater as on-premise dies and Cloud adoption accelerates. The market and the industry is continuously changing at an acceleration never experienced before.

Phoenix Rising?
So can the Phoenix rise? Yes it can, but it needs new thinking and it will be in a completely different form.

Einstein quotes the definition of insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. We are at an inflection point and the opportunity of Cloud and achieving the outcomes on a scale never seen before is in our grasp and in doing so delivering value for money for the taxpayer. The real question is are we going to change the way we have always done things or are we just going to repeat the past? Are we really prepared to think and deliver differently? - Only time will tell…I know some are and some like the ONS and HM Treasury are already on that journey.

So when everyone later starts to rewrite history later remember the ONS is the FIRST implementation in Central Government of Oracle ERP and HCM Cloud and you can only be first once!

Variations will no doubt follow. So to the implementation team comprising ONS, Oracle and Certus members I offer my congratulations on a successful implementation. You have all been brave, found a way to work collaboratively together and truly have led the way across government for the adoption of this positive disruptive technology – 30th October 2016 will be a date to be remembered.

As for Shared Services, let’s see if my predictions are right and see what the next 5 years bring. As for Phoenix I know it will rise again it will just be in a different form…the form of a Cloud!

The Importance of Company Values – It’s about delivery… but more importantly it’s about the way you deliver

In June 2015 I stood in the boardroom of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and presented our final pitch after an extremely intense procurement competition over a five week period. It felt at the end as we had been in the pre-cursor to the Rugby World Cup itself and our 15 strong sales team (what a coincidence!) of Oracle and Certus were eagerly waiting the outcome of the decision.

Whilst it always takes a team to win these complex deals, especially when the entire Cloud suite is involved, as the one who undertakes the final presentation you do feel what can only be described as the “Jonny Wilkinson moment” (World Cup 2003) where it’s all in your hands to ensure you carry the team to victory and you are struck with the fear of letting everyone down. I am sure we had tears in our eyes at the end and I definitely did when we were awarded the contract! I felt we had won the World Cup.

From the outset we gained an understanding that the RFU’s heritage, culture and values were not just the fundamental cornerstones of the game but also for the Sporting Governing Body itself and how it operated on a day-today basis. Like all organisations it doesn’t necessarily get it right every-day, but that is not for the want of trying and wanting to make a positive difference in everything it does. As a consequence they look for the same values in their suppliers and being culturally aligned is extremely important to them.

The RFU is an extremely complex organisation (I would add not the most we have ever come across) as it covers a range of industry verticals from being a Sporting Governing Body; Event Management; Hospitality; Education; Retail and Charity. Add on top of that it is a global brand that represents our nation both home and abroad and come game time everyone in the country has an opinion. It has the potential to be an absolute pressure cooker being constantly in the public eye and it is very much the organisation’s spirit and core values that underpin everything it does and how it conducts itself. Everyone involved at whatever level will tell you rugby is more than just a game; it’s a way of life. You only have to see the attitude and sportsmanship of Sonny Bill Williams, the All Backs Centre/Wing at the Rugby World Cup 2015, who really is the embodiment of the sport to gain insight into the game.

The really great business engagements from a supplier perspective are those that leave a long lasting positive impact on you. We as a company have learned from our engagement with the RFU and they have both directly and indirectly helped shape us moving forward. Powerful stuff! but their values encompass: Teamwork; Respect; Enjoyment; Discipline and Sportsmanship (http://www.englandrugby.com/my-rugby/players/core-values/#) and when you scratch the surface and look at Certus holistically and the individuals who come and work with us, we share the same values, so here's our perspective:

• Teamwork – “All the talent in the world won’t take you anywhere without your team mates” (Anon). Quoted by myself many times in my postings about Certus “We look after our employees, and ask they look after the company, in doing so they look after our customers”. Building a great company is about building great teams of people knowing that whatever challenge faces us “We win together and we lose together”

• Respect - We respect that our customers have placed their business success in our hands.  JJ Watt, American football player with the Houston Texans quotes “Success isn’t owned it’s leased and the rent is due every day”. At Certus we want to make our customers successful and we want them to be happy in what we do and how we do it! – Therefore this is something we are conscious of every single day and in everything we do with our customers. We set the bar high and it’s a big ask but it always starts with having respect for a customer’s business and its people

• Enjoyment - We like to have fun! (and We love Rugby! which includes me as an ardent Manchester United season ticket holder and life long supporter). Life is to short and we spend most of it at work. So if we don’t enjoy it then what’s the point?

• Discipline - Certus people are always certain in their approach; build high levels of trust with their clients through every interaction; are reliable and renowned for going the extra mile; resolved and resolute in their own ability; and determined to deliver a successful outcome to the client in the right way

• Sportsmanship – Certus is renowned for a “can do” attitude and at times seemingly delivering the impossible, but more importantly “we get the job done in the right way”. This is something I have seen many large consultancies falter at time and time again. It is very dear to our heart and something that fundamentally underpins us as an organisation

Values Have A Purpose

Values are more than mere beliefs. They determine how an organisation will pursue its purpose.

As Certus expands globally we are at a stage where knowing what we stand for isn’t just enough among the founders and those who have helped build the company to date. We have to articulate this to those that join as we want everyone who works for us “to play the game the same way and with the same passion” ensuring that our customers have long lasting positive experiences. It’s important to us that we get this right and that we look to somehow measure this.

So we will take the RFU value set, consult our staff, and over time develop our own. However I know we won’t be too far removed from what we have learned. I think it is also true to say never has a client had such a long lasting positive impact on all of us involved.

Finally if you are attending Oracle Openworld in San Francisco at the end of September 2016 catch Patrick McMaster, RFU, Richard Atkins, EVP Oracle Cloud Practice, and Debra Lilley, VP Certus Cloud Services, Certus Solutions presenting the Cloud journey in the HR stream we went on together, but don’t just talk to them about the Oracle Cloud implementation as you would miss the opportunity to talk to them about how two organisations can find equilibrium, understanding and learn from one another in the process.  There’s the real insight.             

Part II - Building A Cloud Professional Services Practice – The Sir Alex Ferguson Way

In Part I we looked at Sir Alex Ferguson’s model for Manchester United’s first team squad during his tenure. In Part II we now lift the lid on Certus operations as Richard Atkins, EVP Oracle Cloud Services and myself explain how we have copied Ferguson’s blueprint to build longevity and a delivery capability as the company scales.

As Sir Alex says “From the moment I got to Manchester United, I thought of only one thing: building a football club. I wanted to build right from the bottom. That was in order to create fluency and a continuity of supply to the first team. With this approach, the players all grow up together, producing a bond that, in turn, creates a spirit”.

Well at Certus we didn’t want to build just a single delivery team, we wanted to build a great company. To do that we needed to build and implement a system that would not only develop talent and create opportunities and experiences for our people but build long term value for both the company and for our customers. This is very different from the days of Oracle E-Business Consultancy models with on-premise implementations and a room full of contractors.

The Certus Model – You Learn, You Lead, You Teach

When I first floated the Manchester United blueprint for success with the Senior members of Certus they first all laughed. Then I “told” them (not something I do very often) to think laterally and how it could be applied to a professional services company such as ourselves. In-fact what this story demonstrates is true collaboration because in no more than a few days Richard had created our own version of the model. Richard’s job is fundamentally to deliver our underlying delivery capability by ensuring we have not only recruited the right people but they always have the right skills and knowledge to look after our customers. As a consequence he needs an operating model that continuously looks to develop and challenge our people.

“When Mark first pitched the idea all he wanted to do was talk about Manchester United and Ferguson’s model. As none of us really follow football, and don’t really care for United we had a good laugh. But he gave me the context and from that I could see after only a few hours how this could be applied to Certus. Within 48 hours we had pitched the concept to the entire company at the quarterly company meeting looking for feedback which was positive. People could see for the first time how their own careers would now develop over time and how we were going to build the company – and this was what got people excited”. Richard Atkins, EVP of Oracle Cloud Services, Certus Solutions

Just like Ferguson, who would recruit per cohort within the squad (see Part I) to provide positional coverage in depth, something the American’s refer to in professional sport as the “Depth Chart”, we do exactly the same. Our model consists of three cohorts:

• You Learn – the Certus Academy (100% employees 0% Associates)
• You Lead – Primary Delivery Capability (80% employees 20% Associates)
• You Teach - the Masters (100% employees 0% Associates) 

So how do we go about Recruitment – The Rules of Our Game?

The model has to be fed and we are no different from any other company in trying to source the right candidates – personnel referral (always has the edge at Certus); direct applicants; and recruitment agencies. But more importantly, just like in football, we scout and target people we would like to invite to join the company – we are very big on this. However all our recruitment has to match against the three cohorts; positions required and coverage (depth chart).

Do We Ever Break The Rules?

Rarely, but we do it. If someone we view has the potential we are looking for comes available we will naturally enquire regardless if a given cohort is fully staffed. People do not join Certus just because of the salary we offer it is about being given the opportunity to be part of something that we are building and be given the opportunity to truly innovate and deliver positive change to our clients business operations with the latest leading edge Oracle Cloud technology. As we only do Oracle Cloud, this alongside our reputation, makes us an attractive proposition. In fact it differentiates us from our competition.

The model, however, keeps us true. If you had eleven Cristiano Ronaldo’s on your football team you would lose the game. A team might be made up of individuals with different skills, but to become an effective delivery unit they need an ability to trust each other, leave their ego at the door, and focus on the task in hand. Team’s win games not individuals; and equally in our business teams win and deliver Oracle Cloud solutions enabling positive change to our customers. All of which requires leadership at every level of the organisation.

The Shortfall - Use of Interim Labour – Our Associates

Let’s put this into context with another quote from the maestro “The first thought of 99% of newly appointed managers is to make sure they win — to survive. So they bring experienced players in. That’s simply because we’re in a results-driven industry. Winning a game is only a short-term gain—you can lose the next game. Building a club brings stability and consistency”.

Well a Professional Services company is in the same game and needs exactly the same outcomes "stability and consistency". You cannot achieve this by just using teams of contractors. We are in a results-driven industry and if truly you want to maintain the industry reputation of the like Certus has "of being the best" we have to ensure we have no failed implementations and we have happy customers. So at times we need to bring in experienced players to supplement our delivery teams. However the key element here is that the associates we use MUST share our values and represent us as a company. They have to put the company first and not themselves. This is the key thing we are constantly watching.

An individual’s performance, associate or employee alike, reflects not only on them as a professional but also ourselves as a company. Certus is all about building long term value for all those involved so we look after our staff, employees and associates alike, as they will look after our customers. But our standards are high 

and if we do use a associate you have to have the right skills and the right attitude.

Drawing a parallel again to Ferguson and the use of loan players – notably Henrik Larsson, a prolific striker filled in for 13 games (and 3 goals) during 2007-2008 season for injury cover in the top tier (“You Teach”). After 3 months Larsson departed having made his mark with club and fans alike. (we loved him!) – However the point here is that Larsson was a known proven quantity, possessing skills in abundance and when called upon he delivered.

The agencies will all say - "we get it!". But do they? Really? - The number of individuals who have credible consultancy and Oracle ERP and HCM Cloud skills around that puts them in the "Henrik Larsson" category is a very very small number. Just because someone has 15 years+ Oracle E-Business Suite experience doesn’t mean they can just transition to Cloud. Equally just because you have just done 2-3 Cloud implementations doesn't make you an expert. The reality is from our experience very few can in-fact make the jump. Oracle Cloud requires Consultants with a new set of skills, of which they have to be continually updated as the product is constantly moving on every 6 months. This is no longer a technical job of the likes of old. Contractors have to stay current in the Cloud, otherwise their value diminishes quickly.

Interim labor allows us short term resource elasticity in the middle cohort, it is not a base that allows company growth and expansion.

New Blood Needs a New Model

New blood needs a new model, hence why we feel Ferguson’s blueprint works for all of us involved in the company. True cloud consultancies have to operate differently, the delivery model is different, the cost base is lower, massive flexibility is required and customer expectations are also different. The next generation has to come through an academy like structure and that is what the model facilitates in a controlled environment. Cloud appeals to the next generation so the model naturally allows for opportunities for apprentices, graduates and 2nd jobbers alike.

Lets Not Forget The Working Part Time Mum's

Certus was initially built using part time working mothers (see - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/part-time-working-mums-most-valued-contribution-mark-sweeny?trk=mp-author-card), the new model still supports this and they remain an important part of our workforce and equally slot into the cohorts the same as a full time employee.

So we can’t finish a piece like this without a quote from Sir Alex himself - “Football, bloody hell” – What’s that got to do with Oracle and Certus? – well we just told you! This post just became mandatory reading for those who want to come and be part of our story.

Building A Cloud Professional Services Practice – The Sir Alex Ferguson Way - Part I

At Openworld 2016 Oracle will be highlighting its success and exponential growth in the Cloud market as it strives to become the Number 1 Cloud provider in the market. Thanks to the recent Netsuite acquisition this goal has probably now been achieved (depending of course on how you wish to measure it) which is fantastic news for all those involved at Oracle and those in the Oracle eco-system as someone has to implement all of this and deliver on the promise made. Those Consultancy practices that made the leap into Oracle Cloud early have the challenge of now scaling their business to meet demand, whilst those who have sat on the side are still trying to work out how to enter and play the game and to be honest will now struggle with the challenge of building capability quickly, addressing the issue of reference-ability and learning to adapt as winning business in the Cloud is vastly different from the traditional on-premise deals of the last two decades.

Certus being a 5 year veteran in the business of Oracle Cloud we thought we would lift the cover on our organisation and share how we are rising to the challenge and scaling our business to cope with the increase demand for our services. In providing this we hope we can give you some real insight as to how we are building our professional services delivery capability and more importantly how we maintain its integrity as we grow.

So before we lift the lid and let you all into our family this post will be in two parts and is a collaborative effort between Richard Atkins, Certus Solutions EVP Oracle Cloud Applications Practice, myself with the “blueprint for success” provided kindly by Sir Alex Ferguson - and if you think this is something we have just dreamed up - well your wrong so please read on with interest…

The Blueprint for Success

All my life I have followed and supported Manchester United. I remember when Liverpool and Arsenal were the dominant teams of the 1970’s and 80’s and United came up short year after year then Sir Alex Ferguson arrived in 1986 and after a slow start the rest is now of football legend.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United managerial career spanned 27 years where he won 13 Premier League Titles; 5 FA Cups; 4 League Cups; 10 Charity Shields; 2 UEFA Champions League Titles; 1 UEFA Cup Winners Cup; 1 UEFA Super Cup; 1 Intercontinental Cup; and 1 FIFA Cup World Cup – and in all of that was the famous treble of 1998-1999 with the Class of ’92 (Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, Butt, and the Neville brothers), a feat that will probably never ever be repeated.

Not only recognised as the greatest club football manager of all time, but a true leader, master tactician, and the ultimate “portfolio manager of talent”. On his retirement in 2013 Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably himself now a Real Madrid legend, whose early career he shaped and developed simply said “Thanks for everything, boss”.

So when Sir Alex Ferguson published his book “Leading” last year, I was first in the queue to buy it and to also go and listen to the man himself. My own career and experience has taught me that you need a vast array of different skills as a company grows. Running a £10m turnover global company is a lot different from £5m and from the days when it was £1m and only based in the UK. Everybody in the digital economy constantly talks about growth but you simply cannot grow a business unless it is stable and similarly United’s success under Ferguson came after 4 hard years of the club’s foundations being ripped up in the late 1980’s and completely reset with no immediate visible success on the football pitch.

So when devising how we at Certus were going to create a sustainable business ready for managing exponential growth and the demand for our services which we knew was coming I referred back to the teachings of the maestro himself and in doing so found we could apply the same setup Sir Alex used at Manchester United to Certus. Now trust me this is not as far-fetched as it may sound and something today we now swear by to the extent we are embedding it into the company.

Blueprint For Success - The United Model - Positional Coverage & Depth Chart

Whilst the overall United blueprint for success was much wider than the first eleven and looked at every aspect of the management of the club our focus is on the structure of the first team squad. (for more of this please see the Harvard Business Review article - https://hbr.org/2013/10/fergusons-formula).

Ferguson’s model was born out of the situation he inherited, where the academy structure and the entrance point for new talent into the club had been completely dismantled and he had inherited an aging squad of players that he knew could not achieve the immediate goal of the club - to win what today we now call the Premiership title.

Ferguson’s squad itself was circa around 35-40 players in total, including around 25 full internationals, and separated by age groups with each cohort comprising “depth” across each position on the Football field. United’s enduring ability to develop young players and bring them through and play with the older members of the team, has been one of their foundation stones of success since the Busby Babes of the 1950’s.

Cohort 1: 17-22 year olds

The entrance and transition from the Academy structure into the first team and also the entrance point for those recruited through the world-wide scouting system that was put in place to identify the best and potential talent from around the world. Here you would not only learn your trade from a technical perspective, but also learn to bond with your fellow team members. In effect this became United’s “Centre of Excellence” for talent development.

Cohort 2: 23-29 year olds

Players would be at their prime of their career. Natural footballing intelligence and technical capability would be honed, leaders forged and the core engine of the team formed to deliver constant success on the pitch.

Cohort 3: 30-36 year olds (unless your Ryan Giggs!)

This group would be the “masters”, the leaders in the dressing room and on the pitch, often referred to as the “Old Guard”. The ones who would not only give advice and guidance to the younger players, but the ones using all their experience could always be counted on when the going gets tough and will pull the team through in moments of difficulty. The ultimate standard for any aspiring Manchester United player.

Management of the Squad

Now this is the clever part. If a player did not make or maintain the standards United set; or got injured; was traded; or retired then the opening in the squad would be sourced and replaced “like for like”, thereby ensuring the squads equilibrium was always maintained. Naturally if the right player could not be sourced, then the position would be left open until it could be filled. Even for Manchester United a bad hire would be disruptive. What would not happen would be a squad member being prematurely promoted as this would equally upset the equilibrium.

Benefits of the Blueprint

The benefits of the approach and squad structure are obvious and include:

• Balance of squad by age, creating longevity for the years to come, with a focus on maintaining consistency
• Builds a natural path for career progression from the academy through to first team, allowing players to grow up together with the view of delivering consistent success
• Protects the club against injury of a key player or if a player departs prematurely
• Creates a succession plan from the outset as younger players develop, and older players eventually retire
• Skills gap minimised through coverage and depth chart across the three cohorts
• Fosters greater teamwork, whilst maintaining healthy competition for places and ensuring standards are maintained, stretched and exceeded
• Ability to rotate the first 11, keeping his players fresh over a long season

Now think about the above for a moment, and think about scaling a professional services practice where your greatest asset on the true balance sheet is your people’s capability and delivery experience.

As we were asked by Oracle only last week "Can Certus scale?", we explained Ferguson's philosophy and their response was "Well it didn’t do Man United any harm, looks like you have it sorted". So in Part II, we will explain just how we applied this to Certus and established our modus operandi…

Part II - Positive Disruption - Want to be Really Successful in the Oracle Cloud? The Secret Is Simple…

Things have been so busy at Certus I simply haven’t had time to finish and post Part II. Wow – where has the time gone this year? So before reading this you might want a quick refresh and read Part I - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/positive-disruption-want-really-successful-oracle-cloud-mark-sweeny?trk=mp-reader-card

So continuing the second part of the two part special (from April 2016!) and the underlying theme of having “the ability to Execute and Deliver is Absolutely Everything”, here are the last 4 points!

7. Build a Great Team Around You – Involve your people, its everyone’s company not just yours - Be selective in recruitment and as you grow become even more selective!

Returning to my original point from Part I. Surround yourself with people that not only have different skills to you but are or have the potential to be even better than you! Be selective! I have posted previously that one of the best comments I ever received about Certus was from a partner of a tier 1 management consultancy who said “The nicest thing about Certus is that it works like an exclusive members club, to work there you have to be invited to join. Many want to join but very few are accepted”.   

For every new hire focus on the 2+2 = 7 scenario, aim to double the value of your delivery capability through finding the right hires and integrating them into your existing lineup. (Going to try and find the time to explore and share this in more detail as to how we achieve this in a future blog). For Cloud the emphasis is on business knowledge, you need people that can have quality conversations on the underlying subject matter.

In this day and age, finding the right talent is extremely difficult, but if you have a great company and happy people then it helps. The way to maintain the culture as you grow is to get your people involved in the recruitment process; after all who better to judge an individual if they are going to “fit” than those already on the front line

8. Develop a go-to-market strategy that involves doing everything completely opposite to everyone else – leverage social media, create positive noise and build your company profile and brand

From day one we wanted to build a “brand” as we could see the Oracle Cloud was going to be the next thing and from our experience saw that the traditional players (“our future competitors”) wouldn’t move fast enough or invest early enough in the product set. But there are a number of factors that make a brand, and we wanted to focus on putting our employees at the centre of it, as we knew if we could achieve high levels of employee engagement and satisfaction we would achieve similar levels of customer satisfaction, as our employees would look after our customers. We felt in doing so we would create the space as a small nimble start-up could easily fill, and by establishing a brand prospects, our customers and the industry itself would remember us and people would want to come and work for us.

 9. Execute and remember that your only good as your last project, and that you need to constantly achieve high levels of customer satisfaction

The larger operations can afford to have projects fail and there are numerous case studies out there relating to this. However when your operating on a smaller scale you cannot afford to have any project go wrong - ever! No matter what you have achieved previously this is the only thing everyone is going to remember– in-fact with the larger organisations it is almost expected that they will have a high fail rate, and you will constantly ask why? that despite this they always seem to pick up the next large contract. All I can say is “That’s Life”. So knowing the odds are stacked against you and you can’t necessarily always load the deck in your favour – the one variable you can control is your delivery. So make sure you not just deliver but deliver in the right way and achieve high customer satisfaction. This is critical with Cloud as you are looking at a long term relationship.

10. Finally, but really most importantly - focus on Customer Success and have happy Customers

I have personally become absolutely besotted by customer satisfaction, and every Friday I go through all of our customer engagements with my Exec team and ask not just that our engagements are on track but are our customers happy with our service delivery. If not, why not? and what are we doing about correcting this the following week. Without Customers you don't have a business period. Customers will do a more for you and from my experience help you grow, but only if they are happy!

So It's Simple?

Ok to be honest it’s really not so simple as maybe I might make out to be. You need a high appetite for taking calculated risk; a lot of passion; a “can do” attitude matched with a determination that you can achieve absolutely anything; an expert delivery team that will literally follow you over a cliff at times, plus keeping one eye constantly on the Cash - “Cash is always King”

You also need however to be highly critical of your performance, and when you don’t deliver be forensic in your examination. So be prepared to admit you screw up, learn from it and move on quickly and naturally don’t do it again. If you can’t do this, you will fail.

No one owes you or gives you anything, you fight and take every inch of ground you can when building a business, and sometimes it really is a case of "last man standing" – just make sure your that man! Finally life is short so enjoy the experience and the ride, and remember it is supposed to be fun.

Oracle Cloud brings innovation, that used correctly can really transform businesses - I have seen this happen, and the endless possibilities is what makes it really exciting for your customers and your company. So go innovate and enjoy!