Your Business Information Officer

Published in: Georgia Printer, July 2003

... A Necessity for Improved Future Performance

In today's fast-changing environment, there are several streams of information every company should pursue with the same diligence and zeal it might demonstrate for an equipment purchase, lower-cost purchasing, prompt invoicing or improved capture of production costs. The addition of a "Business Information Officer" to your staff can help ensure that your company keeps its eye on the future and its vision focused on effectively developing new business and maximizing productivity. This vital employee can provide new and useful ways of seeing, interpreting and doing what you need to do and, therefore, can have a profound effect on facilitating improvements throughout your organization.

However, it's the rare organization, regardless of size, that has at least one person responsible for systematically identifying and reporting the following types of information back to the company.

1. What customers think of your company's performance.
2. How customers' needs are changing needs.
3. What changes and conditions in the marketplace could affect your company's future competitive position, such as:
• changing market conditions for target customers and prospects,
• evolving technologies, which can affect customers' business performance and the company's competitive position, and
• your relative position to competitors.

Any organization that neglects their responsibility to identify and utilize these strategic streams of information is doomed to trouble.

The irony is that larger organizations in our great industry appear to be waking up to the fact that they need this type of information just as much as smaller organizations do. In effect, the same marketplace dynamics that smaller companies struggle to understand and effectively manage (i.e., customers' fast-changing needs and evolving graphic arts technologies) are often neutralizing the larger organizations' advantages that historically have resulted from capital accumulation (i.e., capital-intensive pressrooms and showcase production plants and offices).

CREATING VALUE THROUGH USEFUL INFORMATION

Most readers would agree that in today's marketplace, "correctly printed ink on paper" is expected. Additionally, and partly as a result of increased availability of ever-cheaper technology, many graphic arts organizations have more competition today than ever.

Whenever a product or service becomes perceived as a commodity, value for the customer tends to be created through additional services and useful information that are wrapped around the supplier's products and services. This is generally true for all products, from PC computers to high-end automobiles --- and it's increasingly true for graphic arts.

Understanding the implications of this fundamental marketing principle can lead a company toward:

• more effective, new business development,
• improved customer retention, and
• reduced pricing pressures.

However, it's the rare organization in our industry that purposefully uses market information to create value --- beyond reporting customer performance information such as monthly and year-to-date sales. As a fundamental perspective, these are historical numbers, and they do little to forewarn you that trouble is brewing.

It would be helpful to track the following information for target customers:

• last request for quote,
• last order placed,
• seasonal items bought last year at this time,
• date of the last on-site visit by a sales rep,
• what was discussed at the last on-site sales call as well as the resulting follow-up,
• last visit by a senior management representative to the target customer,
• last Periodic Business Review,
• frequency and types of credits issued,
• quote/hit ratios,
• recommendations to improve the customer's performance,
• customer's known objectives and priorities for this year --- and what you've done to support them,
• major changes occurring in the target customer's market, and
• a time-sensitive plan to improve your value to the customer.

IMPROVING PRODUCTION PRACTICES THROUGH USEFUL INFORMATION

Inherent in a graphic arts supplier's need to develop useful customer information is the need for relevant information that improves production and operating performance. This includes competitive production practices as well as improved workflow, technologies and supply sources.

Improved workflow and production practice initiatives should be used as an ongoing focus for creating a cost-competitive edge. Understanding how to share and then follow through by putting such information into practical day-to-day use is the ultimate challenge.

As an observation, why is it that we tend to only change our production practices when a customer's demands dictate that we search for a better way? To get ahead of the competitive curve, we need to develop a proactive strategy for implementing continuous improvement throughout our organization.

For example, we recently suggested to a client that sending their production manager to a national conference on continuous improvement was a misstep without first establishing adequate direction as to what this person was expected to do during and after attending the conference. We suggested requiring the production manager to do the following.

1. Meet with attendees and lecturers during all meals and breaks of the three-day conference and document information on:
• What things other organizations are doing to achieve unusual levels of excellence that is relevant to his organization.
• How such performances might create a competitive edge for his company.
• If these work practices were used for self-promotion or business development --- and if so, how.
• How others measured performance; how feedback information was used to improve performance; and if feedback was incorporated with outside suppliers, company performance reviews and estimating production standards to win future work.
• How information is used to improve performance.
2. If practical, obtain a reciprocating invitation to visit other organizations to personally observe their production systems and practices.
3. Within one week of returning from the conference, write a plan on how what was learned could be implemented in the company. The plan should identify time frames, key personnel involved, and visits to other companies to better understand what to improve and how to implement the improvements.

MISGUIDED FOCUS

Our industry's focus on hiring technology officers is but another example of our internally oriented emphasis. This approach misdirects our focus from more important issues, such as improving our value as a supplier for target customers. Certainly, understanding complex technology is critical for keeping computers and important equipment running. But such an emphasis acts as a counterproductive reinforcement for keeping the organization internally oriented, instead of outwardly focused. You see, a company's focus should center around customers' changing needs, evolving technologies that customers need, and improved useful information and services.

THE ART OF SINKING INFORMATION

There's a distinct difference between useful information and data. Today, most organizations are drowning in data, but either lack useful information or don't understand what to do with the information they have. Furthermore, the definition of knowledge has changed. In a world in which information is reported to double every three to five years, it's no longer what I or someone else knows that's important to what we accomplish or how we make decisions. Rather, the definition of knowledge has become "knowing where to find the information that's needed and knowing how to best identify the questions that need to be answered."

When we train sales reps and marketing managers for clients, we insist on taking students and clients' key personnel to a good, local library to introduce them to a world of information most didn't know exists. Startling surprises we bring to light include:

• An evolving world of information tools such as SIC codes, NAISC Codes, Reference USA and a growing body of information --- much of which is electronically stored on CDs and the Internet.
  
• How information can be used to create understanding of, and value from the supplier for target customers and prospects --- including how to develop a profile of target customers to pursue and develop as well as those to avoid.

Competitive conditions often require that we make more decisions in less time. A corollary of this condition is an elevated need to make correct and prompt decisions the first time.

In a world in which time seems to move faster through compressed schedules, unusual "opportunity costs" can be incurred from traditional activities based on inadequate information (e.g., pursuing prospects who don't fit the company's ability to create value, sales reps calling on customers they shouldn't pursue, and failing to do your homework on important target prospects before the first visit).

Are there any departments in an organization that wouldn't benefit from being better informed and knowing more about better performance choices? The answer of course, is "No." Useful and relevant information can help employees make better decisions, develop better practices, and improve their overall contributions to the company.

In a fast-changing, information-driven environment, sourcing, managing and understanding useful information of a diverse nature has become a competitive, strategic issue. And the Business Information Officer's function has quietly, even invisibly become an almost immediate necessity.

Position Description for the Business Information Officer

Title: Business Information Officer

Reports to: President

Supervises: No one (or one administrative assistant)

Evaluated: Every six months with semi-annual performance review for reporting on Improved company performance.

General Responsibilities: Works diligently and systematically to provide senior management and department managers with performance-related information and customer information for enhancing company direction, improving performance, and revealing both new opportunities and competitive threats. Develops industry contacts for sourcing, measuring and reporting useful Information and competitive conditions.

Specific Duties:

1. Systematically provide department heads with customer-specific feedback and performance information to help boost company performance for customers. Examples Include: testimonials, surveys, Periodic Business Review reports, customer contact logs, estimating logs, supplier feedback, internally generated production and pre-production opportunities, and (potential) customer contributions to the company.

2. Work to provide business development and customer contact personnel with useful customer and customer-market Information in order to improve: the company's performance, working customer relationships, and resulting new business.

3. Facilitate, record and manage most external and internal company customer contact and communications that relate to business performance and customer development. This includes Periodic Business Reviews as well as customer and prospect research.

4. Systematically report on target customer market changes as well as changing opportunities and trends in those markets.

5. Systematically report on key competitors, opportunities to improve the company's internal performance, and new applications for both current and new technologies for creating value with target customers.

6. Systematically report key performance indices and opportunities to improve performance.

7. Constantly work to develop a network of useful information sources including: personal, industry and customer-specific, technical, and institutional.

Background, Personality Profile and Required Skills:

Background in library sciences and/or different graphic arts environments helpful. Must have a deep curiosity and a desire to share useful information. Strong communication and social skills required. Willingness to work long hours and constantly learn.