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CEO's DIARY: Preparing for the shock

29th Jun 2006
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The CEO has prepared his team to tell the company what's going to be happening - tomorrow

June 29 – I decided that we can only handle so much change in a day. So I've done all the work needed to announce the new operations teams, and to tell people which team they will be within, but we'll leave the details of how the teams will be structured internally for team meetings next week.

East and West (who used to be Ops#2 and Sales) are ready for this - and Ops himself will be down for the announcement. He's already found himself a rented house up north and sold subject to contract down here, so is completely committed as well.

And I'll be taking the chance to also confirm Office's new role. She's ready with an immediate follow up meeting plan.

Now, you can only plan so much - tomorrow we'll begin to see how people react - especially in the sales team, where the shock might be greatest and some consultation is required to make sure all goes well, which is where I'll be concentrating my efforts on the day.

* * *

June 28 - As I mentioned, #3 looked worried yesterday. She had reason to be. AJ has given in her notice.

I guess I'm disappointed, although I have no real right to be. We supported her earlier this year to the best of our ability, and you always feel (even if unreasonably) that people owe you a favour of loyalty as a result. But the reality is she needs to move on - and deep down I'm rather pleased that this seems to be because she's ditched her man - about which I'd be even more pleased if I was her parents (and yes, I know I'm being paternalistic - it's a qualification of age).

The plus from my point of view was I was able to reassure #3 that she could have the budget she needed for a proper replacement as her chosen deputy. Frankly, for her sake that’s probably important. I want to shape a team to suit me - she needs to reshape the accounts team to suit her. Perhaps it’s for the best - but right now #3 views it as straightforward hassle, and in that respect she's got a point.

And I'm also well aware that there will be some around here who will mourn AJ’s departure. After all, those with long memories will recall that she first came to our attention as a result of her slightly less than appropriate dress sense as an audit junior. She's grown up a lot since then, but not everything changed.

* * *

June 27 – Sometimes work just has to get in the way of the desire to write – even if I do understand reality through the words on my screen. The last two days have been examples.

The shareholders did not agree re-organisation plans by Friday as requested. Mrs CEO (definitely unrelated to me now!) rang yesterday though and took an hour to talk through all the people she knew who were involved to determine why I had made my choices. To be candid, I couldn’t object to this as she does have knowledge of some of them and it did no harm to have to justify what I’m doing. In the end she said she’d get back to me – and did this morning saying OK, but asking me to think again about one person. However, as Ops and I agree, that person has grown up a lot since Mrs CEO effectively left, so we’ll stick by our judgement of him.

Then we had a customer make a complaint as he claimed our kit failed. I had to go as they’re worth enough to keep them happy and it transpired that they’d actually turned off the power for so long that the kit and its battery packed up, which can’t actually be our fault. But we used the opportunity to explain our new stuff and how it supplies a distress signal if this is going to happen to which we can then react. So a disaster turned into a sales opportunity as they quite liked the idea of an upgrade to their service contract to cover this. I think we’ll win there.

This morning one of our people wrote off his van and a car, but not himself or anyone else thankfully but that caused a distraction until facts could be established. Running a fleet is always a pain on such occasions. It does seem like a genuine mistake though.

Then the ex-CEO said my mail on re-organisation would have to wait until he was back from holiday in nearly 3 weeks. So I rang him, and hot footed it to his home to discuss it because it can’t wait that long. Thankfully, this seemed to appeal to him (made him look as though he’s powerful still) and so he seems to have said OK as well; at least, that’s what my note of our meeting says and he’s cleared off now.

So you see why I’ve been quiet? Now I have a couple of days to plan telling people what I intend on Friday. And #3 has just come through the door looking worried……

* * *

June 23 - Another day out coming up very soon. This team meeting some of those who will be team leaders in the East (even though they don’t know it yet). What I've realised is that this must be a feature of life, and I'll need to find a range of suitable venues for it.

Conventionally such meetings have happened in all sorts of odd places, but I like a professional environment and think hotels (or their coffee areas) provide this and have found several that are good already (Marriots seem on the ball in this way). Can anyone nominate some good places across Southern England (but miss out much beyond Taunton)?

* * *

June 22 - I bit the bullet and agreed with Ops (and those who have commented here) that the facilitator is the right man for the job. He will now be called Chair in the language of this diary.

And he did me a favour - he's told me, copied to the shareholders, that he approves my plans to change staffing with three provisos. First he thinks we should get on with things as soon as possible, and so has urged the shareholders to confirm by tomorrow. Second, he dismissed my idea that we should ask people to apply for the new team leader jobs - promotion is within our gift so long as we show it was on merit (and I've written all my notes to support that). I can hear the ex-CEO saying hear-hear to this one. Third, he thinks there is a team player missing.

I have five reporting to me under the plan - Ops, East (who was Sales), West (who was Ops#2), #3 and Office., But he says I do definitely need a marketing person with strong technical or commercial skills as well. More than anything this person would assist me whilst having a role to develop product and ideas in a way that at present we simply do not do, which is why he thinks the market does not know enough about us.

I've agreed to discuss it with him.

In the meantime, today sees me in exile as my office is reorganised, repainted and generally made a much more welcoming environment for me, visitors, and those who just need to talk to me. Ops can't see the point, but I can! But I’ll put my exile to good use. I need to discuss with Sales, the guy who will be sales support and our IT chap how we can better identify sites by manager (and even tiers of management) on the database in the future to facilitate reporting. I have a strong sense of pivot-table-itis coming on.

* * *

June 21 – Had a long chat with Ops last night about the ‘facilitator’ who we’ve suggested as chair of the company. This is essential – Ops is still my co-director, even if we have changed roles.

Ops likes him and thinks he’ll be fine but I suspect I’ll work with him to a much greater degree and so have to think more carefully about this. And it was interesting to see him in this role. He’d done his due diligence. He’d read the accounts. He’d even called some customers (sometimes you can identify these people from the labels on our products). And he’d mused on what he learned from the day we had earlier his year. He’d also done what he thought was a profile of me. And he’d spoken to the shareholders, as requested.

Now this was all interesting. Finances, no problem; product OK, but most people still think it’s the old one and don’t see it as very innovative – in other words we still have a lot of work to do to change perception of what we can deliver; staff he sees issues with – but there was quite a lot of common ground there.

So, what was the issue? I am the issue! His question was straightforward. It was about whether I’d be willing to listen to him, especially now I am CEO (for the first time). He sees me as headstrong on occasion, sure of myself and driven to see things through. So, he asked, what was his role to be?

His view was that he should be ‘wise counsel’, holding me to account, asking awkward questions which no-one else could deliver because there was less risk to him than anyone else in doing so, and undertaking appraisal of my role against expectation. But, he wanted to know, was I willing to accept that? If all I wanted was a shoulder to cry on he wasn’t willing to provide it. He wanted more, and at least to be respectfully listened to, and with his arguments being rejected with reasons, not because I’d carry on in my own sweet way.

Now, there was a challenge. Do you see why it’s taken me a bit of time to write it down? Unfortunately my wife recognises the description. As for Ops, I bounced this off him (not in quite such detail, more along the lines of whether we needed this) and he said we do, or more particularly I do, or it could end in tears.

Shucks. Looks like you never avoid having a boss, even as CEO, but I know they’re right. And I think it will work. But it means I’ll need to consider myself more accountable. Which I guess is no bad thing. But were the shareholders behind it? And if so, can I really complain?

* * *

June 20 – I’m sticking to my commitment to get out into the field and see customers. Today’s one of those days. And I’m excited by this one. They’re not our usual sort of site. In fact, they’re smaller than most, require more automation than most, and are more acquisitive than most, which gives lots of opportunity for ongoing work.

On the other hand, they’ve had a bittier service than most as a result. So I want to try my new commitment to regular people contact on them, and am taking Ops#2 (in whose patch they’ll be) with me as a result. We have to try this out in action.

It’s also useful to take him for two other reasons. One, he can drive. Two, I can talk to him.

I have to say that right now this is a welcome break from being office based.

But I also know that the office needs my attention as well. Rumours are flying now, and I’ve got to stop the flow soon by announcing real change. Which is why I want to finally form my view of Ops#2 and his suitability for the role planned for him.

PS Last night's meeting - well I'm musing on that too and will write later

* * *

June 19 – I’ve got far enough down the line with the new organisation plan to send a note to the shareholders about it. I think it’s a change to the budget – so I need Board approval.

I’m representing it as cost neutral – and I think it will be for two reasons. Firstly, the changes for Ops and me have a cost, but they’ve already been approved. Second, I add no new people. Third, I expect to retain people for longer and so save turnover costs by offering incentives, which are small, but significant and not just in cash. We’ve always had a reasonable budget for recruitment. If I can save on some of that, it would be excellent.

In fact, I’ve gone further. I’ve positively reduced that budget and re-allocated it to training, where we always under spend against budget because Ops never had the commitment to spend it. I have. In fact, rather as I was flexible with #4 and it paid well to be so, I would like to be much more flexible throughout the organisation on training and other issues. I think it will pay back handsomely.

One other welcome development. I meet the facilitator we used earlier this year to discuss becoming chairman tonight. He deliberately held me off – he was doing his own due diligence in advance of the meeting he told me. Which makes the prospect of the meeting interesting. I wonder what he’s found?

PS Seems like we got away with no audit adjustments - good work by #3 (and me, I guess). I'm not sure why I always take pride in this, but I do.

* * *

June 16 – The only management question yesterday was what to do about 5pm?

What did you do? I accepted the inevitable and put all people on the road an emergency call out status from 3pm as I knew they’d be going home anyway and gave all staff (bar those who volunteered to stay as they have no interest in football) time off from 4pm to be at home.

Me? I stayed here. By the look of the highlights and comments, I made the right decision.

* * *

June 15 – Whoever said business is easy but for people is right. Well, actually if auditors are people I guess they’re caught in that statement – if not they’re just another encumbrance.

Yesterday required far too long on my part to explain to the auditor why our bad debt provision is correct. I’m afraid to say that he seemed quite unable to comprehend the fact that the credit note provision tackled exactly the same issue and we did not see both. Do they teach double entry these days? I did win through in the end – but only by drawing T accounts. Don’t they do them now? I think I’m showing my age.

Then it was a very long session with Ops#2 and Sales. Both, you might recall had gone off to draw up lists of who might be suitable team leaders. They were asked to do this for the team I propose they lead, and for each other as well. Sales had been diligent. I was impressed. His list was sound. Ops#2 had sought to promote his pals, irrespective of merit (at least in part). This worries me. But I’d had the foresight to bring Ops himself in for this meeting as he knows all these people well, and he’s also a team leader now.

We spent hours bashing the lists and negotiating why some of Ops#2’s people just weren’t suitable to lead people. Thankfully, half his inappropriate people would have been in Sales’ team, and he refused to have them, so that helped.

At the end I was happy, and I think Ops#2 saw the logic. Anyway, good humour was recreated. But two people did stick out in the discussion. One in sales and one in operations. Both are good. They should have team leader status if they are to be treated like their peers, but they just aren’t people people in the sense they could not manage others. However, both are technical (the operations guy is apparently the person everyone calls for help) and the sales guy is good at systems. So, they’re going to be team leaders, but they will be the team. The operations guy will get time carved out for support and innovation, the sales guy for keeping systems up to date and progressing them. It’s crazy no-one has dealt with this in the past and although it appears to reduce time available for front line work I think there will be good paybacks.

Now we’re looking at whether we can create “incentive grades” for specific tasks (eight have been identified) to allocate further additional management roles to people to manage. When we’ve done that, I’ve a feeling we’ll have a system people will buy into.

But on a warm day this was warm work. Phew.

* * *

June 14 – Frantic day yesterday. After dealing with internal politics spent a day on the road. I still feel out of touch when I do. I borrowed a Nokia Communicator which we’ve been trialling as an alternative to phones and lap tops for guys on the road, but didn’t like it. I have a Palm on order and our IT guy is going to set it up.

But the visits to customers are really interesting. In neither case where we really due for a visit. It was just a “can I come and see you, introduce myself and discuss any issues you might have visit”.

And in reality neither customer really had much they were concerned about, although I certainly came away with enough work prospects in both cases to more than cover the cost of me calling. What was interesting was that they seemed to appreciate my effort to just make clear we’d made a change, and to listen to them.

Creating “key account managers” who do this is part of what I want to do – even for smaller clients. I notice that on accountingweb lots of practitioners complain that they don’t have one person to talk to in the Revenue, and would really like that. I’m really not convinced we’ve offered that option to date, but we’re going to do so. It makes it so much easier to keep the customer happy (as long as the contact person is good, of course).

* * *

June 12 – Well I now have an Office Director. And, to be candid, another happy person who’s going away to think about how her team might work.

And the rest of the day? Lost in a plethora of detail I fear, not all of which I should have been doing but which as yet appears to have no-one else to deal with it. One consequence of which is I’ve asked the shareholders if we can extend the number of bank signatories. With ops out we don’t have enough – and small things like that can make life really frustrating.

Oh, and the auditors kept popping in and out with questions. They seem to have got to overhead absorption and things like that today and want to discuss them. Then they think they might need loss provisions on contracts, although their logic is weird. But it all takes time.

Moan over. Now back home. But I bet I work tonight.

* * *

June 9 – It’s Friday already. There’s too much to do in this job! It’s clear why I need to delegate more.

Thankfully Office (as I’m calling her) is really up to the challenge of taking on more stuff and has not been exploited to the limit of her abilities in the past. I’ve already decided our IT chap is coming under her direction. She’s good at IT anyway – and he’s a non-self-starter, unlike her. Mind you, does anyone know a good course for IT systems managers? I don’t want anything that is techy. But I do want her to know more about security, back up and so on – more the questions to ask than the ability to answer them. As usual, thoughts appreciated as I’m a bit concerned in this area. In the meantime I’ve scheduled a session with her on Monday to talk about promotion.

I had a similar session with #3 yesterday – and she has a pay rise and is now Accounts Director. She really is cock-a-hoop. The idea of being part of a senior management team excites her.

And I’m pleased to say it’s also got Ops#2 and Sales going as well. It’s daft what a title does – but they both are really moving my way. In fact, in further discussion with them both I’ve now said let’s make sure this can work before we really jump in and have asked them both to say who they’d want in their teams, and who would be the team leaders who reported to them, and why. From being a resistant a week ago I’m now getting them to sell the idea back to me. I like that!

Oh, and you remember the people who wanted us to lease them kit? They placed a good order today on our usual sales terms, less the discount I’d agreed.

It’s been a good week – and Ops has (I know) played his part by talking to both Sales and Ops#2 to persuade them of the merits of my ways. I couldn’t ask much more of him. Not that I’ve seen him much. He’s committing himself to the northern teams right now – and to sales hunting. I can’t argue with that. It helps me get on with life here. But I will miss our Friday lunch time chats. This is an issue I do need to address, but I have my thoughts on that as well.

As for the weekend – it’s time to look at au pairs. My wife has accepted the inevitable if she’s going to return to work soon, as planned (and as already deferred).

* * *

June 8 – Thanks first to those who have commented on mobile stuff.

Long time readers of this column might remember I bought a Palm some time ago – and liked it. I even have a keyboard. I’ve just never used it as a mobile device. I had even forgotten about the possibility – but that’s the way I’ll be going. I know it, and I like it.

If only all things were so simple. Actually, yesterday saw some progress. I sat down with Ops#2 and Sales individually. Sales is buying the idea of integrated teams as he’ll have more people reporting to him and like all salespeople (sweeping generalisation time) he’s an empire builder.

Ops#2 remains unsure of his people’s ability to sell, and I sought to convince him that I’m not asking them to. But I am going to ask them to prospect and even open leads even if they don’t close them. They’ll have support to do that.

Then I laid out to both of them my idea of teams of no more than 6. I explained I can’t have more than 6 people report to me. They’d be 2 of them, Ops would be the third, with Accounts and Office being another 2 and space for a development as well. They’d have four each for now. So, room for growth. And they’d each be players on a senior management team that I want to create with those people who’ll be running the business in future. Which they haven’t been to date.

Now that they really liked. I even said I’d call them directors (and if necessary I’ll create a structure so that they are) (anyone got any thoughts on the legal side of this i.e. calling someone a director when they’re not – is it an issue?).

And we began to discuss that I’d have the top 4 clients as contacts with one of them as #2 on each of those, and they and Ops would split the next 6 clients between them as main contact. Finally, we discussed territories. This is easy. One is obviously going to cover the south east, the other the south west (which includes some of Wales for these purposes – yet more people I’ll offend). And since they live in opposite directions from the office it’s not going to be hard to decide which gets what.

This time I asked them not to agree anything. I wanted them to think about it. But it looks like my thinking aloud with them is producing results.

And to help things along #3 tells me the auditors are happy so far – and are bashing stock hard just to make sure but seem to be coming up with very little to date.

* * *

June 7 – fascinating time with the client, and then afterwards with one of our guys based out in the regions and who would lead a team if I get my reorganisation in place.

The client told me what she wanted:

1. a point of senior contact who would deal with key issues;
2. a regular operational contact;
3. information reports to confirm that the service was supplied and when to assist their quality control processes (because our routine visits can be done without client management always knowing);
4. clear billing;
5. annual contract reviews.

Which all seemed pretty reasonable to me, expect we’re certainly not doing (3) well and so don’t always do (4) well. Since (3) only requires an email, which could (as far as I can see) be bog standard wording from a database it’s not hard to see how we can improve that.

So my question is, why has no-one asked before? We have ten key clients (near enough). I think it’s my job to see them all over the next couple of months to ask similar questions. If I'm honest, it also makes me wonder why i didn't ask this before. But I won't beat myself up too much - I'll just share the thought.

I got back late though. It’s clear that this new job is going to disrupt household routines. So, last night was spent with my wife discussing how we managed this. I fear an au pair is on the way. Thankfully, I did ensure the promotion should more than cover the cost.

PS Incidentally, what the client wants seems to fit into my operational plan fairly well.

* * *

June 5 – The audit team arrived and were more concerned about my promotion and consequent changes in the control environment than anything else. I just had to assure them, things would be put in place to cover this as soon as possible, and right now Ops would double sign off payments etc on line, as we have been doing for some time. In comparison I gather audit questions are few and far between.

Which is more than could be said for Ops#2 and Sales. Ops#2 clearly wants Ops’ job. And Sales clearly wants to be #2 to me – or to have Ops’ job, just reallocated to the sales department. The result was an absence of rational discussion, and instead the presentation of ideas as to why they would be a great number 2 to me.

I quietly pointed out I have a number 2 already – he’s called Ops, and for now that won’t change. I made clear, they’ve misunderstood the brief. That’s about how best to organise our people to produce results. What I showed was that we’re not doing that now – because Sales and his team aren’t telling people what they need to know and people in operations are, for example, doing things they aren’t billing for because they don’t think they have a sales function.

So, how do we overcome that I asked without integrating people more? I stressed, there would still be a role of Ops#2 at his current salary, and likewise (I expected) for Sales – but with some revision in scope of work for them both, I accepted. So I put it on a slightly more formal basis and said, yes I was consulting on the future of their employments and what they might do, if that made it easier for them. I’ve no idea if it did – but at least I think it means I’ve covered the employment law risk.

And in that context I suggested both could run a group of four teams here and report to me, (which, as they’ve reported to Ops in the past is no change of status) but the teams would be differently constructed.

Now, I asked, would they think about it again?

And with that I headed off to see a customer who has been an Ops regular to explain the changes. Which was easily the most fun part of the day because I took the chance to do some selling. After all, there’s no point in asking others to do it if I can’t.

* * *

June 2 – Office has got on with the idea of refurbishment of my office with gusto. Files have been heading for the shredder like you can’t imagine. Old product posters have been stripped from walls. Even the phone got replaced – it was a mess! And this morning she had two paint pots tested on the wall for me to choose, one green one blue (she says you shouldn’t have a yellow office – I don’t know why). Rather sneakily there was also a big area of white. She was right – it will be white, but with some new artwork. I insisted – that is my choice!

And then – to the operations team again. I worked on this last night. I worked on the rule of 6. If I give Ops 2 teams in the north (more than I planned, but he might as well pull his weight, and the north now heads well into the Midlands for the time being) I can split all the remaining people in the business (excluding sales and those in accounts, stock and who will report to Office) into 8 teams, not all of 6 people. That means 4 people reporting to each of 2 team leaders, and each small team having no more than six in it. Actually, my plan is that each small team should have 5 in total operations people and one sales support person dedicated to support them.

I floated it as an idea to both Ops#2 and Sales. Both hate it.

OK, I said. Come back on Monday with a brief on what’s wrong with it.

In the meantime, I did go through the issues of concern on the accounts prior to the audit with #3 (like a few debts which are sticky) and had a session in the warehouse talking to people about what exactly they all do. I know I should know – but it seems to me that half this job will be talking.

And as if to reinforce the fact I’m scheduling to be out half of next week.

Which opens up another whole issue. What sort of mobile communications do I need if I’m going to be out a lot? A phone may not be enough any more. What do people recommend?

* * *

In May the FD took over as CEO of his company in a move unforeseen at the start of the month.

For previous installments of the FD's Diary, see:
April
March
February
January
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
December
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Replies (15)

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avatar
By User deleted
27th Jun 2006 17:00

catch up
I've just been catching up over the last 3 months, (quite how it got that long I don't know!) and I have to say I have been enthralled. Better than Harry Potter!
Keep it up!

Thanks (0)
avatar
By cswan
26th Jun 2006 14:21

Off-site meetings
Hi, dpending on what you want, this place may be ideal. Hopefully the website will give you all the information you need. The corporation I used to work for used it, and it was always a pleasure to be there! http://www.verve-venues.com/business/venues/index.php?venue=44

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avatar
By AnonymousUser
21st Jun 2006 17:12

Good non-exec
What the facilitor is asking to do and is asking of you is EXACTLY what a good non-exec should be doing.

Get him signed up quick before he changes his mind!

Thanks (0)
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By AnonymousUser
21st Jun 2006 16:32

Bite the bullet
It seems that you have got what you wanted but that the consequences have just sunk in. The fact that he has been so diligent in his preparation and up front is his approach to you all seems very positive.

Surely the point of getting a NED is to provide that challenge to the Executives to ensure that they have considered all the angles. If the "facilitator" delivers what he has promised, then it can only be of benefit to you, the business and therefore shareholders. Surely it is better to have him point out a potential pitfall that you have missed, than have the ex-CEO point it out as he fires you.

By the sound of it, the chairman will not just sit there and take the money and, if the shareholders see him challenging you, his voice should carry even more weight when he supports you. To an outsider, who has seen good non-execs at work, it seems like too good an opportunity to pass up.

Thanks (0)
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By slarti
09th Jun 2006 16:38

Backups and Security
Beware of Putt’s second law "Two types of people dominate technology: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand."

Seriously, I do not think you will find an IT managers course that does not assume quite a lot of IT knowledge. There are quite a lot of management courses for IT professionals, but not much, at the level you want, the other way round, unless someone like John Stokdyk knows better.

In the area’s you mentioned backups and security some thoughts are below

Backup
Minimum of 5 tape, cycle. Tapes being taken off site, or at least stored in another building in a data fireproof safe.
More extreme can be 3 layer, eg cost-effective near-line, archive, and remote disaster recovery. This would typically be a large hard drive taking rapid backups of the live systems, that being backed up to tape with offsite copies for rapid recovery

Security (Where to start)
a) Physical
How easy is access to the server room? Can anybody just wander in? If there is a keypad is the code written down and sealed in an envelope in a secure safe?
Electrical. Have you got UPS systems that will allow a graceful shutdown in case of power failure? Are your systems protected against electrical surge? What about fire suppression?
Are your servers running RAID drives?
What is the situation with floppies/CD-ROM/DVD-ROM/USB keys?

b) Software
Are all administrator/supervisor passwords set? (You’d be surprised how often I find SQL server “sa” password not set. In big organisations. With BS 7799/ISO 17799 accreditation). Are they recorded so that if IT guy goes under a bus someone else can get in to your systems for you?
Do users have to keep their passwords secure? On penalty of dismissal, if they don’t?
Do users have to change passwords regularly, with no repeats?
Are virus scanners installed on all PCs. Are they updated regularly, automatically.
Firewalls.
Spam filters
Is all software legal? And audited? With enough licences?
Are users prevented from installing software


That lot will probably get you started, and if you want some light reading for Office get her a copy of
“IT Governance: Data Security and BS 7799/ISO 17799 - A Manager's Guide to Effective Information Security” http://tinyurl.com/f89q4

Actually getting a BS 7799/ISO 17799 audit might be a good idea.

Final though, what do people save on their C drives, that are not backed up?

Thanks (0)
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By nigelredhead
07th Jun 2006 10:50

Treo 650/700
You could look into the Palm Treo 650 or better still the new 700 if available - comes in both Palm or Windows versions. It combins a PDA and mobile phone in one.

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By stephen.smith.ramesys
07th Jun 2006 11:07

Sony Erickson P910i
This is an alternative to the Blackberry. I must admit we went for it because Orange didn't offer the Blackberry. But it is a pretty useful piece of equipment. It synchronises with Outlook, offering Email, Calendar, Contacts etc. It also offers a variety of data entry methods including a stylus for handwriting.

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By keith.donovan
07th Jun 2006 13:39

Why are the auditors so bothered?
Currently they're auditing a period when you were still FD and Ops was still Ops/CEO, and you're still both around to answer questions about that period.

I'd try to convince them not to concern themselves with something so clearly not relevant to the current audit. They should merely be noting the ongoing reorganisation, planning to keep in touch and to come back some time before next year end, once you and the new regime have bedded down, to update their understanding and documentation and consider any effects on their audit approach. Now is much too early for any of that.

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By AnonymousUser
07th Jun 2006 14:13

raspberries
Yes there are alternatives to blackberries.

You could try a palm or windows smartphone.
These are available in a number of guises from different manufacturers.

You can take one that looks like a phone, a pda or a blackberry type device. You might not want to hold something the size of a pda or blackberry to your ear for a conversation... so what - get a blue tooth headset. If you are intending to create a lot of email on the move you might also want to invest in folding keyboard or a virtual keyboard - very snazzy gizmo - a laser draws a keyboard on a flat surface for you to type. You should be able to get one that will use bluetooth to talk to the phone.

Palm or windows? The windows devices come with outlook. Palm has an equivalent. You can also get office suites to sit on either (Word processor + spreadsheet etc) but if you want to do this kind of work you need something with a bigger screen than a standard phone. I use wordsmith on a palm-powered device and am very happy with it - nice stripped down wordprocessor.

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By User deleted
05th Jun 2006 17:20

Are Blackberries really the best?
I was just hoping someone would say something other than Blackberry

Why is the world hooked on them? Are they really the best?

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By pinjet
08th Jun 2006 12:18

Get a driver
No, not some new fangled gadget, but some one who can drive you. If you are to be on the road more, do not fall into the trap of wasting the time and arriving with your eyeballs still trying to refocus, especially if you are now in the selling arena. Arrive fresh having covered all the calls you want to or just use the time productively to think out strategy. Cost is hardly excessive if they use your car.

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By User deleted
08th Jun 2006 12:28

Directors
I'm not aware of any legal restrictions in calling someone a director. I used to work for an estate agency where the world, his wife and their cat were called directors (if there's something a salesperson likes more than building their empire it's their job title).

The only caveat is warning them not to tick the 'director' box on their tax return - caused us no end of hassle at year end....

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By jerry.west
08th Jun 2006 12:28

Its okay to call the SMT "directors"
To check if it's okay to call a non-board member a director, you have to consider how the law views real directors and apply the reverse!

The law regards a director as anyone occupying the role of director regardless of his title. NB: this could include a person not actually appointed to the board... but only if they are given information, make decisions and take actions usually reserved to the real board.

So if the other members of your SMT are not appointed to the board, and do NOT make decisions and take actions normally reserved to board members, then they are unlikely to be considered directors in law regardless of what they are called(*).

You might ask your Company Secretary to draft a list of 'matters reserved to the board' for ratification by the board to make it clear that the SMT directors have no authority in those areas. This might also reassure your shareholder directors (and Ops) that their prerogatives are not being infringed.

(*) See Tjolle [1988].

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By sean.acton
05th Jun 2006 11:24

Mobile Comms
I have read your postings with great interest and well done on your promotion. We have have used Backberries for the last two and a bit years and found them in all respects to do what they say on the tin which is to send and receive email.

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By AnonymousUser
14th Jun 2006 16:05

PDA Phone
I have two PDA type phones - A Sony Ericsson P910i and a MDA Vario (or XDA Mini as it is called on O2). I quite like the fact they have qwerty keyboards built in, but they are both small enough to look like a normal phone. The P910i is my favourite, but it is not wifi (the new P990i is though) and it uses Symbian OS. The MDA Vario uses wifi, and uses Pocket/Mobile Windows OS, it has a large keyboard which slides out the side of the phone, but the only problem is I have found it to be a little unstable.

One thing I would suggest you look at is using your PDA/Phone to access your office PC via something like Gotomypc (subscription service) or VNC (free) which allows you to take remote control of your PC desktop. What this means is that whilst you are away from the office you can view email attachments on your PC, open applications on your work PC, use excel/word etc. (not cut down PDA versions), because all you are doing is sending keystrokes and receiving the desktop image. I think currently these are only compatible with Windows based smartphones. It works well on the MDA/XDA devices. The only problem is that you have to leave you PC on, but you can put a pasword protected screen saver/lock on it to stop people accessing your PC whilst you are out. You could also use the same software on your home PC to access your work PC if you wanted to work from home.

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