Unprecedented times are upon us. The Covid-19 crisis is affecting all of us. In particular, it's forcing many organizations to send their employees home to work remotely. This sounds like an easy thing to do - work from home. But for those of us who have been doing it for years, we know there are some things you need to do and do them quickly. It's all about staying sane while working from home.  Once you have figured out how to access your business data and applications (blogged about

Business Process Automation, also called Workflow Automation, is more accessible now than it ever has been with most businesses using some SaaS (software as a service) or web-enabled software. Automating routine processes can make you more efficient, improve accountability and standardize your customer interactions. Where do you start? Practice Kaizen...start by making one small, impactful change. Determine one process you think is (1) time consuming, (2) time-sensitive, (3) requires

Today’s blog post is the first “official” entry for my Reese’s Southern Wisdom series.  During my conversations with Reese he kept referring to maximizing his strengths and “strategizing” his weaknesses.  This phrasing is a bit different than you will typically see when you research this concept. And that is on purpose for Reese. It's classic "Reese Speak." Reese spent many years studying sales and personal improvement techniques. He is particularly fond of Stephen Covey

  Several years ago I had the pleasure of meeting a new client who has also become a friend. His name is Reese Griffin. He is now retired, and was lastly a SVP at Boston Mutual Life. He's a born and bred southerner from Tennessee. Reese came to us looking for Act consulting. He is a devotee of the product and has been for years. It runs his world and he's almost lost without it. I was impressed with how well he used it and how he made it a vital part of his every day actions. Often,

We’ve all heard the saying, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”  Maybe you can’t MAKE him drink, but... you can ENTICE him to drink. You can provide beautiful, convenient and tasty water so that he WANTS to drink.  Let’s apply this analogy to software UI (screen layout) design. Designing a user interface that is attractive, intuitive and efficient is key for user adoption and ultimately, imperative to the success of your software implementation

During a meeting last week we were discussing a book to review during a quarterly education event coming up. Cleaning out my desk drawers the week before, I stumbled upon a miniature edition of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  I suggested we use that as our book review. It's timeless and still very relevant. That idea made me go look for the full size version and I re-read it over the weekend. Well, mostly I sped-read it. The reading event triggered my blog post today. Every

We have all known procrastinators or have been one at some point ourselves. Managing a procrastinator can be a frustrating and difficult situation. Let’s face it, procrastination not only affects our business but it affects our sanity. One of the obligations of a good manager is to mentor those we manage and help them achieve their project and career goals. There are ways to help a procrastinator from falling into those same destructive patterns. One way to help them is to find a way to help

We all know that procrastination is generally a bad practice, but there are times when it can work in your favor.  First case in point...sometimes we feel that “keeping our nose to the grindstone” on a particularly challenging or creative task is the best way to accomplish it. However, psychologists have shown that taking some time away and doing a completely different type of task can allow your subconscious to find links between disparate concepts, thus when you return to your