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!