Part Time Working Mums – A Most Valued Contribution

Things are so busy at Certus I was going to put blogging on hold, albeit I have to admit I truly have got the bug these days. However I was totally engrossed in a post from a lady I have had the pleasure to meet a couple of times – Michelle Dawkins of Oracle and her writings https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/women-leadership-roles-does-part-time-work-michelle-dawkins?trk=hp-feed-article-title-comment so much so I felt compelled to write and put forward in support the perspective of what I believe is a vitally overlooked asset that is easily accessible to an employer of an Small Medium Enterprise (SME) business – “The Part Time Working Mum”. Also to give you a brief insight as to how we at Certus understand the demands of working mothers (and I should equally say fathers) but also making an acknowledgement that without our own working mothers’ contribution Certus would not be the company it is today!

In 2011 when Certus started to expand we immediately experienced the same basic challenges any growing SME experiences, “how do you win business, get the work done as cost effective as possible, maximising profit for onward investment to grow organically?” Well in the professional services field you need people, and to do a job well you need quality experienced people. Unfortunately quality and experience costs money and when you start out its money you don’t have.

A Pool of Untapped Talent

For me the answer to this problem became strikingly obvious as I stood in the school playground one morning dropping off my boys and looked around me. In that moment of deep thought I didn’t see a playground full of Mum’s dropping off their loved ones, but instead I suddenly saw Company Executives, Accountants, Solicitors, Doctors, IT Professionals, HR Professionals, and Executive PA’s. All around me there was a vast amount of intellectual talent. Some of which were heading off to work, others I knew had sacrificed their career temporarily (sometimes indefinitely) all because they had chosen to stay at home and bring up their children. 

It was from this point I realised that in order for Certus to grow that I needed to be creative in my talent pool. I could benefit from a flexible workforce, and this is what I saw. Flexibility, dedicated, highly skilled people.

In-fact I still see it everyday and all we seem to read on the internet is a constant stream of articles on Gen Y and Millennials, which at times I feel we are being told to pander too as they are different! - Well actually “No”, whilst we need Gen Y we actually have just a valuable under-utilised workforce all around us in “Mums”, who believe it or not the majority actually do want to work again. It still amazes me that this untapped talent pool is often tainted, completely unfairly, as difficult to incorporate into the demands of a modern business - which in my opinion is total nonsense. Consequently by some they are seen as an overhead, I argue differently.

Mums need flexibility, but so do businesses. So why not make it work? They are also the most organised individuals I have ever come across. Equally a growing business needs a relatively low cost quality labour force that is also flexible. It’s a win-win, often mums can’t work 5 days per week, 8 hours a day, and as an SME employer you don’t necessary want or have the funds to pay for a full time employee. This is not saying we pay them differently, but it’s just pro-rata on the number of hours worked, which is less than being full time. I have also found that my approach to recruitment methods is different, and more cost effective.  Our latest recruit, Dodie, I met at my sons school. I find that I don’t necessarily need to rely on just agencies, but instead receive recommendations from colleagues and friends, which just opens up a wider, diverse pool of talent. 

Making it Work?

So how do you make it actually work? The answer actually is very simple – good communication, including but not limited to:

1.    Understand the needs of the working Mum

2.    Come to an arrangement, where they clearly know your expectations

3.    Assign a workload that meets both yours and their needs, but also doesn’t necessary put a Mum under undue pressure around key times of their day i.e. don’t go book a meeting at 08:00 in the morning or 15:00 in the afternoon when the school run is on!

4.    Take advantage of technology to enable your teams to work collaboratively

5.    Don’t put part time working mothers directly in the front line and in highly demanding client situations nearing times when they need to be with their families, none of us need this pressure!

6.    When they are needed in the office and have a child care issue let them bring the kids into the office, or go to them!  

7.    Plan ahead give both of you plenty of notice of key events – from important business meetings that you do need them involved in, through to half term dates!

8.    Don’t under estimate the need for human interaction - Mum’s want to be in work for a few hours a day in the company with other adults! They want to be intellectually stretched and challenged and they get this from proper social adult interaction in the workplace

9.    Talk to them – things change over time!

Result: You will have a highly valued, dependable and loyal workforce. It also means they can still hold down key leadership and managerial positions – Charlene, my HR Manager is just about to go part time, but she is critical to our business operation and in supporting me. Her knowledge, advice and guidance around HR is critical for a growing company and she is also someone I lean on as my own corporate sounding board. Rachel is my Financial Controller and has been with me since day one. Certus as a company wouldn’t function without Rachel. She is a qualified Accountant and working mother to three young children and manages all our money. She is supposed to be part time, but I know at year end she works more hours in a month than I do! And Mary is our EVP of Quality and Testing Services – Mary is full time and holds an Exec position on our Operating Board, but she is also a working Mum with two young children.  I also have Caroline on maternity leave.  She’s just had twins!, but in another guise she is probably the most qualified Oracle Cloud technicians when it comes to data migration in the world (and I am not elaborating here!).

Intangible Value - Balance

More importantly they also offer us as an Exec team insight into a workforce that is 50% women, and yes we do bloody listen to them because if we didn’t we wouldn’t have an effective business operation. They are treated no different to anyone else, and if anyone did step out of line from graduate to CEO we would all find ourselves taking 5 minutes out on the “naughty step”!

So when there are those times you need them in the office and they have no child care, we let them bring the children in and get the kids involved where we can. When the kids turn up we let them use the internet or the older ones we get them to make a marketing poster for the company! One asked for something else to do, and then spent the day shredding documentation for us (under supervision of course) – they loved it.

Our Mum’s give great balance to the company and as the company expands it is something we want to maintain. Equally this is not us ignoring our male staff and of course we need people to work full time in front of house demanding consultancy roles. This is never going to go away as this is what we do. However I am proud to have working mum’s in our team, and I am proud to say that at one point I had more women than men working for me, most of which were working parents. At Certus we take pride in delivering high quality service, skill and expertise.  We do this by being creative and flexible, and this is a massive selling point for us!

So to all our Mum’s full time or part time, thank you for being part of our company! And for those who don’t get this more fool you – but the next time you are in the playground picking up your children just look around you, open your mind, and you just might see something different! 

… as for Gen Y, guess what? parenthood will happen to you at some point as well.   

Missed Opportunities

“Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back. That's part of what it means to be alive. But inside our heads - at least that's where I imagine it - there's a little room where we store those memories. A room like the stacks in this library. And to understand the workings of our own heart we have to keep on making new reference cards. We have to dust things off every once in awhile, let in fresh air, change the water in the flower vases. In other words, you'll live forever in your own private library.” ― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

Part of running a business is the constant trade off of opportunities through the  evaluation of the “opportunity cost”. Some get missed and some you consciously let pass you by, choosing others in return. However I would argue that the trade-off is even greater today as your business and personal life overlap, and more than often collide as they both compete for that most precious asset of all – “your time”.

In a 24x7 digital environment when your only a swipe away on your mobile device to contact someone and your brain is constantly engaged and therefore often distracted, striving for any kind of work-life balance is near dam impossible. I personally find this slightly ironic when you consider for me Certus spends every day from a client’s perspective making what seems the “impossible possible”.

The harsh reality is that you continually “drop the ball”, if it’s not at work then it’s at home and vice-versa. You are forever scrambling around trying to recover time and before anyone says anything, this isn’t about time management which to me is an outdated concept from an age where the internet and constant communication didn’t exist and the working day was a throwback to the 1970’s of Monday-Friday 9-5 when the world moved at a much slower pace.

Opportunities in both your professional and personal lives will come and go. Ice-Hockey star Wayne Gretzky quotes “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. So the question is - Knowing that you cannot take all the shots which ones do you take?

Recently someone very close to me said “I have choices”, I said “yes you do, but choose nothing then the world just passes you by”. So what is your decision criteria? – the opportunity that yields the greatest financial return? or is the return on investment greater elsewhere in giving your time to others – family and friends and not necessarily for financial gain? This goes against the entrepreneurial mind-set of personal sacrifice as this is the dilemma faced in running a business that is all encompassing and time consuming.

Welcome to My World

Constantly winning new business; ensuring what you have won is delivered; keeping customers happy; keeping your employees happy; all whilst not running out cash plus the myriad of other things that come at you is an everyday occurrence. All too easily you can get swept away and forget about your personal and family life. Friends become distant as you don’t spend time with them, and even more importantly you can become detached from husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends and even your own children, not just physically but mentally as your mind constantly drifts. It really can be seen as life is passing you by and we all know that is not a good thing.

Yin and Yang - Does A Balance Really Exist?

This is the tricky part. At work you can at times feel indestructible and in the face of adversity you often reach new heights of performance you previously thought unattainable – this drives adrenalin and subsequently in my experience extreme behavioural change, again something that is not always positive.

I have never really believed in good and bad experience. I have however always said there is just experience and you learn as much, and probably more in defeat as you do in victory. You never stop learning in both your personal and professional lives. Putting that into practice however is the key to finding “balance” or finding ones “Yin and Yang” - something I would be the first to admit I am not good at and to be totally honest constantly still searching for the answer.

Running a Business - It’s Really Not for Everyone

I am the first to encourage anyone to have a go at starting and building a business, regardless whether if it’s as an independent freelancer; the sweet shop on the high street; a sexy internet startup trying to disrupt existing business models, or a world class dedicated Oracle Cloud Consultancy just wanting to take on the world because it can (big smile!).

However equally I would advise that first you fully understand the commitment involved. If your not 110% committed then don’t do it as you will not only fail, but you will also miss opportunities in your personal life something you can easily look back on with regret.

As with everything, there is always a price to pay and a sacrifice to be made.

Would I Personally Do It All Again?

Running my own business - Honestly, yes I would. Frank Sinatra famously sung “Regrets I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention”. So I do answer somewhat with a heavy heart, as I now know doing what I do today is fundamentally in my DNA, it has only taken 25 years for me to realise it!!!

Would I approach things differently? - Absolutely I always have said I made every mistake in the book and the cost has been extremely high, but even then I would still do it. I guess we all wish we all had the knowledge and experience we have amassed in our later lives when we were 18.

I was one told by a respected mentor “Mark, you’re the most unemployable person I know!” I guess when you have been running a business long enough either working as a contractor or heading up an international 50+ strong company, which Certus now is today then I don’t think I could go back to working for someone else. People like me are just “programmed” in a different way.

More importantly “Are there things that would make me stop?” – Of course there are!!! You only live once and your time is precious. If you are running a business purely as you are blinded by the idea you will make a financial fortune then you have got something seriously wrong.

F.Scott Fitzgerald said “our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss”, so on that note a final word of advice to anyone running a business or thinking of starting one up. Regardless how busy you always are, try and remember to stay in touch with your family and friends, most importantly remember to call Mum and Dad! In life these are the most important opportunities so don’t let these pass you by and become missed opportunities as these are the ones that always yield the greatest return.

The Elephant In the Room – On Premise is Dead! - Part II

Before we begin I will openly state from the outset that the opinions outlined are written knowing that they will be interpreted as controversial by some in the market, including some of our competitors, but then again Certus has built its entire business around Oracle Cloud and positively committing to the right direction before everyone else thereby creating our competitive advantage.

So before I continue the story, I would like to make an important point…

….when Certus engages with a Customer for an Oracle Cloud implementation or any other project we have complete empathy and understanding of the sponsoring Executive(s) position within their organisation. Understandably with any IT enabled business change involving new technology such projects are considered to be “high risk” in nature. We are very aware that these individuals often put their career and sometimes their job on the line as they take the role of champion; securing the necessary board level support and funding to undertake these projects with the view of making a significant positive impact to the organisation holistically.

Certus sees its responsibility extends way beyond ensuring a successful “contracted” delivery in that we have a duty of care to these individuals. My own view has always been if these individuals have been brave enough to take that first step then it is very much our responsibility to protect them politically by ensuring we make good on our promises and that the customer organisation can achieve transformation. From our perspective the engagement becomes very “personal” as we strive for customer success.

So now let’s roll the clock forward...

November 2015

Since we started in 2011 the majority of organisations have been quite happy to sit it out on legacy out dated platforms with the majority even pretending that the Cloud isn’t real and in the knowledge Oracle was going to provide endless support and continued development of the existing platforms. During this time I have heard every argument for not moving to the Cloud - “it’s a fad, it’s not proven, it’s not secure, it doesn’t scale, it doesn’t work, we don’t want to write off what we already have” – when really such negativity was/is an attempt to hold back evolutionary change with organisations having their Ostrich moment with their heads firmly planted in the sand and ignoring the Elephant in the room.

Mark Hurd, Oracle CEO, said in his keynote speech at Oracle Openworld 2015 “The current IT on-premise Operating Model is unstainable. Companies must modernise in the cloud to survive”.

Now my interpretation of Mark Hurd’s message and in accepting the reality that Cloud applications footprint and functionality is accelerating makes Oracle’s legacy on premise systems looking not only older each day but also more critically increasingly becoming irrelevant to modern day business operations.

So to be clear the Elephant in the room is ignoring the fact that “Oracle on-premise systems are legacy and will not be developed any further and ALL true new innovation is ONLY going to take place on the Oracle Cloud platform”.

Last year Certus lost an Oracle Cloud deal to an organisation that said it needed to transform its HR business operational model as the company was losing market share; and one element of their new strategic outlook was to focus on their own people in terms of talent acquisition and development. We lost to a competitors (non-Oracle) archaic on-premise solution and whilst we undertook our usual analysis of what we did wrong in regard to losing, we knew on this occasion the issue was with the prospect – their rationale was just plain wrong.

You can argue we failed to change the prospects perception during the sales process (and perception is reality), however sometimes people just cannot be saved as they don’t want to be. On the procurement debrief I was bold enough to say directly that we would probably see them in 2 years time when their implementation had not achieved what they wanted and that’s if one of their competitors hadn’t taken them out first! Losing to a competitor’s alternative Cloud product is one thing, losing to a legacy on-premise system today is frankly complete nonsense.

On a positive note since 2011 Certus has taken 18 companies and organisations in Financial Services; Local Government; Charity Sector; Engineering; Manufacturing; Transportation; Environmental; Media and even a Sporting Governing Body into the Oracle ERP and HCM Cloud, and have implemented over 70 Cloud modules over 25 different countries. The Cloud is not constrained by industry and crosses all vertical industries.

The entire market has undergone a paradigm shift – please note my tense! All the tier 1 software vendors are now all established in the Cloud as well as a myriad of new entrants from Silicon Valley backed by significant Venture Capitalist and Private Equity money. Even the players that digitally disrupt our consumer lives daily, all of their mobile apps are in the Cloud. Is it early days still? yes, but nowhere near as those pioneering days and Oracle by its own admission was late to the Cloud. Today from an Oracle Cloud perspective the products are now mature and proven.

If you disagree, then I challenge you to just ask one simple question “Where is all the new R&D money being invested? Answer – Cloud”. (Just search Google)

Larry Ellison, Oracle Executive Chairman and CTO at Openworld 2015 “It’s only a matter of time that the majority of computing is done in the cloud and a minority on-premise”.

So in 2015 for the majority of organisations the Elephant is still in the room and it is really time he or she now left! To be absolutely clear with the few obvious known exceptions, you are going to be moving your back office systems to the Cloud whether you like it or not. It’s just a case of when.

Brutal – Yes! but that’s digital disruption for you and it has already happened to the back office. Your existing on-premise platforms are not going to transform your business; they are not going to solve the challenges of the 21^st Century when they were built in the 20^th – infact all they are just going to do is haemorrhage cash moving forward in becoming even more expensive to maintain and impossible to innovate on, consequently holding you back as an organisation. For some businesses the situation is so critical that they just won’t survive if they don’t embrace Cloud! (and trust me I am not dramatising this). Equally Cloud is not a universal panacea that will solve all your problems however it is THE platform for INNOVATION ENABLEMENT.

So think about this real hard when making strategic decisions? Continue to put the inevitable off by all means, but digital disruption of ERP and HCM gives back competitive advantage through efficient standardised best practice processes; modern ways to engage a workforce and manage your talent ongoing to enable delivery. If you do nothing, be assured your competitors will, especially the new kids on the block that have grown up in the Cloud and know no difference and have absolutely no fear in upsetting the status quo of any given industry.

Controversial – Yes, but in my opinion disrupting technology and markets is supposed to be just that. As for On Premise, the Back Office is Dead – Game Over! Not because Oracle says so but the entire industry as a whole has! Agree or disagree, for me I will see you all in the Cloud in the next 5 years, it’s just of case of when.