All Eyes on you - value

What if you could never hide?  Would you live differently?  Many of us work in environments where we are never out of eye shot – well except for the bathroom – we hope….  The “open” concept drives accountability and really forces the individual to maintain a level of value that is acceptable.  Perceived value can be a tricky thing and so it is worth saying that not everything we do will be immediately perceived as valuable and sometimes we have to take the hard road of not being recognized for our efforts.  Giving without the expectation of receiving is a real art and balance act – especially at work where performance is driven by recognition – for the most part.  Some good advice I received recently is to live all aspects of life as if all eyes are on you.  It really changes the dynamics of the value you bring.  As we drive value through an organization it is important to respect and acknowledge that it is more than just numbers and metrics that really drive value.  You don’t really need everyone’s eyes on you to be seen and to drive value.

More of the good stuff

Value Management is becoming increasingly important for all levels of software investments for any size company.  The question is why?  Companies like SAP are leading the way when it comes to offering excellence in software sales with value management.  Instead of just addressing software requirements SAP goes further and help companies draw the connections to key performance indicators based on SAP's wide industry experience and best practices knowledge.  While a company may have the item in the budget there are still overarching priorities that may derail the budget spend.  For example, a company may have a priority to address employee satisfaction.  Picture a board room setting with a group of executives that are trying to determine what is the best way to address the most pressing focus points - such as employee satisfaction.  On the table are several items including a training program a software solution and other proposals.  Now, imagine the group looking at all these potential spends but the only one that clearly demonstrates the link between employee satisfaction is the software solution.  This is the game they play called "spot the bad investment".  I don't know about you but I'd rather be the vendor that includes a business plan than the one that does not.  Further to this, value management is the continued check-in between a company and it's vendor to ensure the investment has reached the calculated results.  This is really how a vendor can help a company run better.