The Scalpel vs. The Axe
by Lois MelbourneGuest Post from Tom McKeown, President and Chief Operating Officer
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Senator John McCain took the fiscal position of needing to take an axe to the federal budget in order to reduce government spending. In response, then Senator Barack Obama countered with the idea that the better tool was a scalpel so one did not cut off muscle with the fat. Politics aside, many corporations face similar decisions during good times and bad, but must act in a quicker manner than government is able or likely to do.
If CEO’s can only view company numbers enterprise-wide with no way to uncover which departments and individuals may be the real drags on productivity, then they risk throwing out the good with the bad with an across the board reduction in force. That is where a hierarchical analytics tool can save organizations millions by helping executive teams make smarter and more informed decisions.
Picture two CEO’s with this same problem; revenues are down with a net loss for the year and the board of directors and stock holders are screaming for action. CEO A and his team only have access to top line numbers and thus decide on a layoff equivalent to the percentage of net loss as a cure for balancing the books. CEO B, however, views data through a hierarchical analytics tool, such as Aquire InSight as a Service™ and can drill down into each geographic and vertical sales organization to see which groups are performing and which are not. CEO B is then able to close down those losing entities and redirect high performers to either replace or augment individuals in the high performing units. The layoff may be smaller but it is also more likely that CEO B’s company will outperform in the coming quarters.
In good times and bad, a company’s people are always its most valuable asset. Turnover may be inevitable, but being able to keep the best individuals in a productive structure always differentiates the leaders from the laggards.
