Just what is a Blog? According to
Wikipedia, it is “a discussion or informational site published on the World
Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries ("posts") typically
displayed in reverse chronological order”. It goes a little deeper in a
subsequent paragraph to indicate “Many blogs provide commentary on a particular
subject; others function as more personal online
diaries; others function more as online brand advertising of a particular
individual or company.” Since this is the Revenue Technology Services blog,
this obviously fits quite nicely into the description of online brand
advertising. However, the pertinent section here to my mind would be
“commentary on a particular subject”.
Internally, we are all tasked on a rota
system to come up with these blogs. After a few rounds, you would think that
inspiration for new topics or ideas would be lacking. Yet it is surprising how
this inspiration can typically come from nowhere. Personal blogs tend to range
from the informative to the wild rant, but corporate blogs tend to focus more
on the business itself. So as not to be too repetitive, when the baton is
passed to me, I cast my eye back over previous blogs on our site. When doing so
today, what I noticed was this: we have articles covering various aspects of
our product line and functionality; we have articles discussing trends in
technology; most importantly, we have a number of articles regarding our
people.
In the many years I have been with RTS, our
buzzline, catchphrase if you will, has always been “People, Processes,
Technology”, and that is exactly the information we have been communicating.
And communicating is the key. Through the entire implementation cycle, and into
our ongoing client support activity, we stress communication.
- During initial project planning, communication is key to ensuring both we and the client are on the same page regarding expectations as to which people are assigned, what processes will be adjusted, and what technology will be implemented or affected.
- During implementation, communications become even more crucial. Among project team members, it keeps all appraised of the status, progress and potential hurdles. As part of change management, good, continuous communication from the outset keeps all stakeholders aligned regarding how the business will adjust to the new functionality.
- During education sessions we stress the importance of communications, and that the RM team cannot effectively operate in a vacuum. Methods of information sharing are identified, and suggestions made for keeping all aware of what is going on within RM.
- After go-live, we pride ourselves on maintaining communications with clients, allowing us to garner feedback, understand their business and changes for which we may be able to offer advice.
- Our annual user summits allow for further, interactive communication between ourselves and clients, but additionally between clients, and prove very beneficial.
Even the rare negative feedback is still
positive communication, as it helps us improve our People, Processes or
Technology.
And there we close the loop. A blog is
communication in a short(ish) chunk. It allows us to communicate with you, the
audience, on a regular basis, giving an insight into who we are and how we think.
So, how about “communicating” with us, to let us have your thoughts and
feedback on this or any of our other blogs, and make this a truly 360 degree
experience.
Jason Codd
VP Services
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