Blogs

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in October 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

The Business Development Bank of Canada’s article – "The Five Do’s and Five Don’ts of Successful Businesses” – says “The most successful firms felt their biggest competitive edge came from offering a stimulating work environment and positive company culture.”

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in May 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

Have you heard the phrase “You can’t manage what you can’t measure”?

It’s true, to an extent, but we must be careful not to get carried away and measure too much. If we keep track of too many metrics, we lose focus on what is really important. Because, what really drives your business?

Change isn’t easy but, as it’s been said, “the only constant in life is change.” Successfully managing change is crucial to successfully managing your business, and it requires an awareness of the roadblocks that might fall on your path as well as techniques to overcome or avoid them all together.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in August 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

Are your business processes efficient? Inefficient processes negatively impact your position in the market, so fixing the flaws is vital to your success. The flaws, however, can be subtle and difficult to pinpoint.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in February 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

A big part of the latest project you signed on to do for an oil and gas company is providing geophysical consulting at several of your client’s new sites. To challenge your bottom line even more, you also agreed to have several crews working at multiple sites for an extended period.

You might be asking, “Why should I pay for a business process review? Aren’t they just trying to sell me something?”

Unfortunately, the answer is “maybe.” If the business consultant doesn’t share everything they learn and offer advice based on the business process review then yes, they were just selling it to you. If, however, the consultant uses the business process review as a springboard to learning about your business and go through the learning process with you, you should expect to pay for the knowledge and results gained.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in October 2014 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

If your business is growing and you’ve been looking into a new business management software system, you’ve run across enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Now that they’re widely available for businesses of all sizes, they’re something you should strongly consider.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in April 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

Did you know that, statistically, over 60% of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations fail? That's a lot of failures.

Business consultants are expensive. Many firms will charge you time and materials – an hourly rate anywhere from $125 to $250 per hour, plus travel, plus lodging, plus, plus, plus. So, what should you hire a business consultant?

Good relationships with your customers are your business's bread and butter. It is a well-known fact that customers who have good experiences tell only a few people, whereas customers who have bad experiences will tell everyone they know – and then some, via social media.