The Other Side of Potential: Optimizing Systems and Security with Greg Williams
Sharon Spano:
This is The Other Side of Potential podcast. I'm Dr. Sharon Spano, and each week, I'll be exploring the many complexities of our world that often disrupt our ability to effectively lead ourselves and others. Join me in these provocative conversations with cutting-edge trailblazers as we navigate the art of high-impact leadership and how to move beyond the daily pressures of success to a place of radical abundance.
Good morning listeners, and welcome to The Other Side of Potential. This is Dr. Sharon Spano, and I am so glad that you are with us today. Today's guest is someone I think you're going to find very interesting, because we're doing a little bit of a different type of interview and moving a little bit away from the soft skills, but still really very relevant to you as leaders and business owners, in that Greg Williams is a seasoned professional, with over 15 years of experience at Western Computer, which is a leading provider of Microsoft solutions for small to mid-sized businesses in North America.
Now, I've asked Greg to be on the show today because his work focuses on helping leaders like yourself increase team efficiency and productivity by creating systems. And I think you all know if you've been listening to the show at all, my work is in operational systems as well as human systems. So I'm a systems geek, so I love talking to people that have a whole other level of understanding of systems than I do, because I think we all know, in today's world, with the complexity, and we often focus on complexity on the show, it's impossible for you to be effective and productive if you don't have the appropriate systems in place. So this is what Greg does, and I'm so excited to hear more about how he influences these operational strategies in business, and how he draws on his extensive expertise. If you can imagine, spans over two decades in distribution, manufacturing, and project-based businesses within the Microsoft dynamic space.
He has a profound understanding of production processes and robust technical skill sets that are matched only by his ability to simplify these complex technical concepts. So we're going to be talking in layman's terms, so you'll get a sense of what you might need to be thinking about and where you might even need some outside expertise to help you build your operational systems, if they're not where you need them to be. And he comprehends all of this and is able to communicate it, as I alluded to a moment ago, without all the tech jargon that so many of us struggle with. His talent lies in fostering a shared understanding, again by breaking down these technical dialogues, making technology accessible to all of us, and connecting us as individuals within that company. So throughout his professional career, Greg has actually worn many, many hats, including consultant, project manager, sales and executive positions, and again, contributing significantly to the growth of Western Computer.
And as a prominent voice in the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem, Greg has also established his name through diverse roles and valuable contributions. Beyond his professional endeavors, and I always like you to know our guest as human beings, and we'll talk more about Greg's journey in a moment, he's a dedicated family man who hails to us from Michigan. He navigates the challenge of work-life balance, which I know many of you also struggle with, in a multicultural household, where his family is fluent in two languages. He embraces remote work, spending part of his year working from Central America, and he leverages cloud technology for remote work across the Americas as well. His passion lies in enabling companies to harness new technology for sustainable growth, while emphasizing the importance of eliminating manual processes and maintaining a balanced, integrated life. So without any further hesitation, Greg, it is great to have you on the show. Thanks so much for being with us today.
Greg Williams:
Thank you, Sharon. It's really nice to meet you.
Sharon Spano:
Well, it's nice to meet you too, and I am one of these people who loves technology. I'm self-taught. From the very beginning, I had one of the very first computers out there, and I know enough to be dangerous. And so I'm really excited to hear what you have to offer us as business owners today, because I think we're all aware that technology is changing faster than we can even keep up with. So first, maybe let's start with a conversation on what led you into this field, and how that may have evolved for you, because I know you're also very interested in executive leadership, and how to help leaders be more effective within the context of systems and whatnot.
Greg Williams:
Yes, thank you. I was always interested in computers from a young age. I think in junior high school, started on the RadioShack computers, and then had one of the first Windows PCs. I played some video games on them, but I also just liked tinkering with them and learning how they worked. I was an early adopter of the internet, with the bulletin board system that was just sending text-based messages on message boards over the internet back then. That would've been around 1990. And then, when I got into college, I really saw the internet changing. In fact, I started using it right away to research for papers. I got my hand slapped by some professors that said, "No, we can't trust that source. You need to go to the library, and pull out an encyclopedia or a book, and note the page you got that information from." But just like young people now are challenging the system, I kind of challenged the system then, and-
Sharon Spano:
Well, back in those days they didn't know how, because I remember when I was doing my doctoral work even, the MLA or the APA didn't know how to cite things.
Greg Williams:
Exactly.
Sharon Spano:
That was the biggest problem was not that some things are not necessarily reliable, we have to be careful about that as well, but at least being able to cite where you got it from, so I could understand where your professors probably thought, "Who is this kid and what the heck is he doing?"
Greg Williams:
Right, yeah, so that was interesting. And then, I realized that I did not want to be a programmer and a developer. I did not want to spend my life in a dark room, developing software, or as we often say, "in the basement", in our industry, but I was more of a people person and liked to be out and about. So I majored in economics and math in college, but then out of college, I got a job at the software company and got training on the job.
Sharon Spano:
So tell me a little bit about the company that you're working for, because when you talk about Microsoft software, I mean, what does that really mean? When I read that, I'm thinking like, "Microsoft is its own beast."
Greg Williams:
Right, yeah.
Sharon Spano:
It does its own thing, so how does your company interface with what they do?
Greg Williams:
Sure. So when most people think of Microsoft, they think of Office and Windows, which are their major money makers. We all use Word, and Excel, and PowerPoint, and Windows all the time. But there's another division of Microsoft that's small by Microsoft standards, but big amongst their competitors. It's a several billion a year business, called Microsoft Dynamics, and those are Microsoft's applications for businesses. They are applications that do accounting, and inventory control, and commerce, and those types of things. And that's what we specialize in. So I like to say that we're part computer person and part accounting person, because we have to know both and how they intersect.
Sharon Spano:
So are you building these applications for people who purchase through Microsoft? Give me an example of one of them. If I was a business owner, what might I want to... Or what might I need?
Greg Williams:
Right, so Microsoft sells a very popular application called Business Central, and it is a... Think of like QuickBooks, but a higher-end version of it. It has more capabilities for handling inventory, for invoicing, for production, and warehousing. It just does a lot more than QuickBooks does. So a lot of our customers we're graduating off of QuickBooks onto Business Central, because their business is growing faster than they can handle, those small business systems, or some will be coming off of old technology, an old AS/400 or something like that.
Sharon Spano:
Okay. So pardon my ignorance, because I jumped off of Microsoft some years ago and went over to Apple, so I'm not up on all that Microsoft offers, but I'm curious then, when you're seeing leaders out there... Well, let me back up a minute, because I want to tell you an issue that I'm having right now, which I just find so fascinating, being a system-minded person. I'm like, "Seriously, why is this happening in our world?" And I think all of us are becoming increasingly aware of the challenge of getting an appointment on our healthcare system. I've been trying to get some routine checkups for over a year, and I tried in Orlando and I've tried up here in North Carolina, and what's fascinating to me is how broken the systems are. Because what keeps happening is there's these... What do you call the recordings that you go through, that whole system to schedule something?
Greg Williams:
Sure.
Sharon Spano:
And then it sends you to here, and it sends you to there, and it sends you somewhere else, and then you get letters, and I'm getting texts, and I'm getting voice messages that they're trying to schedule me and I need to call this number. But when I call the number, all it does is start me in this cycle again of stuff I've already done. I've already done the forms, I've already done the da, da, da, da, da, online, I've already... And you're just sending me around in circles, and I cannot get these appointments.
And it is incredible to me that they have systems in place, and I know a part of the problem is they have shortage of helpers to schedule, but to me, the system is broken in that, as an example, if I've done all the work online, and now you're telling me I'm in the next phase, and you're ready to book me, and you're telling me to call a number, then I shouldn't be put in the same system, routing me through the same processes. I should be, in my mind, sent somewhere else, where I actually get a scheduler. And I think we're seeing more of these kinds of robotic systems that are inefficient in many other areas besides healthcare.
So I share that example, because it's just a current frustration that came up for me this morning when I opened a letter saying, "We've been calling you," and they haven't been calling me, because I've been watching my [inaudible 00:10:46], and there's no messages. I'm in this cycle of... It's like being in the Twilight Zone or something, you know? You're trying to get a simple appointment. I'm wondering what you see small to midsize business leaders struggling with, similar to the problem I'm talking about in the larger healthcare system, where a system is broken and people just don't even know what to do about it?
Greg Williams:
Calling on the phone is much less acceptable to the younger generation. In fact, if you talk to someone in their 30s, the last thing they want to do is call anyone on the phone. They want to do everything online.
Sharon Spano:
Well, I feel that way too, and I don't know why they're asking me to even do it. Why shouldn't we just schedule this online?
Greg Williams:
Yeah, who knows.
Sharon Spano:
... schedule this online?
Greg Williams:
Yeah, so I think different businesses and organizations are at different stages within their digital transformation. What we're seeing is more of an increase to do things with self-service web systems. We're seeing that that's been a big trend with larger businesses. It is starting to trickle down to the small businesses, but the challenge is that you end up purchasing several different apps that may or may not work together that well. So for example, you may have one application for chat on your website. You may have another one to schedule an appointment, you may have a third one to send text messages confirming the appointment, and so on.
Sharon Spano:
But they're not integrated, they're not integrated.
Greg Williams:
Not integrated well, yes.
Sharon Spano:
Yeah, yeah.
Greg Williams:
So the difference we have with Microsoft is they're a monolithic application that touches everything, so we can do it all in one system. We may not have every feature of those, what I call point solutions, but we can do it all in one system.
Sharon Spano:
So I'm a small to mid-sized business owner, I don't know what that necessarily means, because it can mean a lot of things, but let's say I have a company that's generating anywhere from 10 to 20 million. I'm growing, as I think you alluded to in the beginning, they're growing faster than they can keep up with, may not even necessarily have identified or have knowledge of what's out there to help solve their problem, and I need a guy like you, or I need someone in that world, what do I do?
Greg Williams:
So most of our customers will reach out to a company like ours or someone similar. We get a lot of referrals from Microsoft. So a lot of companies will go to the Microsoft website and say, "I am interested in learning more about ERP software or accounting software." And Microsoft's call center will then connect them to us. Or a lot of people get referrals through their network that they do business with from vendors and customers. They say, "Hey, who did you use for your last systems upgrade and would you recommend them?"
So we get a lot of referrals, and then we get a lot of people that just browse our website as well. And then, we look at their current systems and with our... I think we support four or 500 small business customers right now, and most of them started about 10 million in revenue and go up from there. Most of them are between that 10 and 100 million in revenue, for the most part. And they like meeting with us, because they're like, "Hey, you have knowledge of what all these other businesses have done, and what we can do and to improve our workflow and systems, and also what we should stay away from."
Sharon Spano:
Ah, okay, so I'm going to give you another example, because again, it's like a disease: When you have a systems mine and you go to a restaurant or you go anywhere and you're seeing the broken pieces, and I don't claim to have the mind for systems that you have, but I have it in my way. I'm seeing a difference between how Europe operates and the United States, at least in one context. And I'm going to share that with you, to see, because this could be a lead for you. Actually, Greg.
I recently was blessed, my husband planned this trip for us. Were not people that go on cruises, but he planned a cruise for us on the new Ritz-Carlton cruise line. Well, what I quickly realized is the cruise part was exceptional, but they haven't quite figured out yet their systems for the offshore component. And it started at the very beginning, when I was trying to book something when we arrived in Lisbon.
And so I'm going back and forth with their operators and we're having, again, similar... Maybe it's me, Greg, maybe I attract this, because I'm having the same conversation via email with this operator, and she keeps sending me a brochure for my options, which are ridiculously numerous. And I finally said, "Well, this is what I want. I want someone to take us to this castle, and I want a whole-day tour with this person, with a tour operator," and you need a driver and all that. So it was like a one-day thing, but I couldn't get a price from her. So I finally get a price from her. Now I need to pay, and they don't have systems for that, other than they call you and that you give them your credit card.
She's in Malta and I'm in the United States, and we're going back and forth. We're calling each other, we're missing each other. Now, I'm getting emails saying, "If you don't pay this by Monday, you can't have it, because we closed down the entire operation, because the tour starts the following week," and it was just insane. And so I brought it to their attention in a gentle way and said, "This should not be happening, I should be able to pay this as an invoice online." And they were so gracious. Ritz-Carlson is so high class, their best practices across the board, and they apologize and even offered me an on-ship credit and all that, which is not what I cared about. I really wanted them to know, "This is a broken system, and you're missing opportunities here, and people should not be having to go through this whole rigmarole of being chased all over the place for payment."
So it's interesting to me, because I would never have imagined that a company of that size, and again, they're new in the cruise business, but I never would've imagined that that would be... To me, that's such a simple thing, an online invoice. And yet, they've missed that because they haven't somehow arranged that with their onshore tour operators. And I could go on and on, because there were other onshore things that weren't quite where they needed to be yet. And again, I've made it known to them and they were very, very grateful. And I'm sure they'll start working towards those things.
But I guess my question for you is do you see differences in not only organizational size and the way they handle operational systems, but even across cultures, across continents, different parts of the world? Because we're a global society now, and I guess I had just assumed that things were done the same way across the board, particularly with the company such as Ritz-Carlton. So what are your thoughts around the example or any other examples that might come up for you, where companies are missing the boat on kind of simple things? Like, online payment to me is a very simple thing, in today's world.
Greg Williams:
Right, I do see in other countries where they don't have the systems that we do, they may not really care to invest in it. They may be focused more on their work-life balance, and-
Sharon Spano:
Well, that's true. That's certainly true. The Mediterranean part of Europe, I hadn't thought about it that way, but to me, the work-life balance, if a tour operator is having to chase after one person like me and there's hundreds of mes, to me, that's more work than is necessary.
Greg Williams:
Right.
Sharon Spano:
What would you say to a company like that, in terms of if I'm Mr. Ritz-Carlton, and I came to you and I said, "Hey, I've got all these customers complaining because we're not doing online payments," what would you tell me?
Greg Williams:
Well, I think the onus is on Ritz-Carlton to figure out those systems for their tour operators, and say, "Hey, we'll take the payment online and then we'll pay you 90% of it, and keep 10% maybe." But the onus is on them to do that. And in my opinion, you can't expect these little tour operators to stand up websites that can securely accept credit cards.
Sharon Spano:
Well, that's a good point. I hadn't thought about it like that, because I guess I was just thinking of them as... Well, the way they build it is this is their onshore service, but they're actually more than likely a third party. That's the issue right there. So there's lack of integration there. And to your point, it's a small tour situation. So going back then to your interest in leadership, and efficiency, and productivity, is there something that you see leaders themselves struggling with, in terms of bringing in new systems?
When I think of myself and my own solo practice, I think of sometimes it takes more effort in my own mind to change the system and move to a different application. And I feel like, "Okay, maybe this isn't perfect, but I don't have the time to figure out or to train my team on something new, better, different." Do you see that, or do you see bigger issues with leaders themselves in terms of making these kinds of transitions?
Greg Williams:
Couple things: One is the business has to be experiencing some type of pain in order to be willing to go through the change that's necessary to change systems. And when you change systems, you're not just learning new software. You often have to change your organizational processes to fit that software, or to take advantage of its capabilities. Change is always hard for businesses, and it's especially hard for small businesses, because they have to keep the business running and do their day job while they learn this new system. So they have to work extra hours, sometimes. Then, there's kind of no way around that. But on the other side of it, you have a lot of increased productivity, and you can scale the business with the same amount of labor once you're on the new systems.
Sharon Spano:
Can you give me an example of where you've seen that happen? Because I think people don't always necessarily believe that to be true. "If I do this, I can scale."
Greg Williams:
Yeah, I mean, I've seen, I had a company that several years ago that had a hot cell phone accessory they were selling. When we engaged with them, they were, I think, $80 million in revenue and only 18 months old. And we implemented them in about a nine-month period off of QuickBooks onto the Microsoft platform. They grew to $300 million in that timeframe.
Sharon Spano:
Wow.
Greg Williams:
And then, they took off from there, without hiring many more employees, because we were able to automate a lot of their supply chain and manual processes. The easy example to explain, everyone has a spreadsheet that they use to track something, and that's manual data entry and manual upkeep. When you replace a spreadsheet with a system or a database, then you're ensuring data accuracy, and you're ensuring that the data doesn't get lost, and you're also taking some of the human, manual data entry component out of it.
Sharon Spano:
So that brings me back to my example of the healthcare system, because what you're making me wonder is do they have a lack of support staff, or are they letting people go because they think they've automated things in an efficient way and don't need them? So if I'm Mr. Healthcare Provider, and again, you've got a million Sharon Spanos who can't even get an appointment, because your system is so convoluted, for lack of a better word, what would you say to me? I come to you and I go, "Okay, this is happening, and we can't even get people scheduled, and we have the doctors." Let's assume that that's not the issue. Let's assume it's just that we can't get people scheduled appropriately. What could you do for me?
Greg Williams:
It's strange to me, I haven't encountered that with our local health system here, but they must be full with appointments, or else they would be paying to keep those doctors busy. I think part of it might be that they're so busy that they just, maybe they don't care about fixing that system, because they're already busy, yeah. In a healthcare scenario like that, it's more likely they have multiple systems that don't talk well to each other than it is that they're doing things manually in the background.
Sharon Spano:
So it would be like ideally... See, I'm giving you all these leads, Greg, go after Ritz-Carlson, go after the healthcare systems. I'll give you hospitals and everything. But what I'm saying is that's what it feels like to me, is they have the automation, but they don't have the integration.
So the consumer is not able to bypass these hamster wheel automations in order to get to a real solution. And then, you're hoping that someone is going to call you back. Because that's what they say, is if you do these things, then someone's going to call you back. Well, that's not happening, either. So it's fascinating. I'm wondering how you are perceiving AI impact these operational systems, because we know it's huge. It's happening so fast, a lot of it's working, a lot of it isn't. Do you have any concerns about where we're going with AI, in terms of operational systems?
Greg Williams:
Yeah, so I like to split AI into two camps: One is machine learning, that we've had for a long time, and the other one is more what we call generative AI, where it learns over time and you can train it as a model. So the generative AI, it has some huge potential for business in a lot of ways. In the past, if I were to write a report, you asked me, "Greg, who are my top 10 customers?" I would have to be smart enough to go into a system and say, and the SQL server language, "Select top 10 from table bracket customer." As an IT guy, I can do that. That's pretty simple for us IT guys.
But with generative AI, as a business person and as a normal user, you'll be able to ask that same question: "Hey, who are my top 10 customers?" And then they'll answer you back, "Would you like your top 10 customers by revenue or by gross margin?" You'd say, "Well, give me both in two separate lists, please." That is where I see a huge potential for every business with AI. And I know that's a very simple example. It's not changing the world, but it makes things more efficient, as opposed to calling an IT guy and having him find that report for you.
Sharon Spano:
Yeah, I think those of us in the smaller entrepreneurial environment, I mean, we're finding, I think it's remarkable for me. I mean, just to help expand ideas, or concepts, or like you said, I asked a question the other day, because I'm working on something for archetypes, and I know the archetypes and I know how to describe them, but it would take me an exorbitant amount of work to really sit down, and categorize, and figure all that out. And ChatGPT just spit it out for me, and clarified.
And it wasn't anything I didn't know, it just organized it. And then, it did give me some additional information along these lines that I didn't have before. So I think there's a lot of ways that leaders can be more effective, but then there's the learning curve of it too, as it advances. What are you seeing there? Are you seeing anything specific that leaders or business owners are struggling with, in terms of the learning curve itself?
Greg Williams:
What I'm seeing right now is the trust factor with it. You can ask it for data, and it'll format it beautifully and give you a whole report on what you're looking for. But then, when I ask it, I find myself going through and spending a lot of time double checking, to make sure everything is accurate.
Sharon Spano:
Yeah, I think that's a good point.
Greg Williams:
And I have seen some mistakes. So in my opinion, it's kind of early in its generation. I wouldn't trust it completely yet. But it's a huge time saver, because like I said, it'll pull up a report for me explaining a particular system, and then it'll give me the sources below that I can click through and then verify.
Sharon Spano:
I mean, I'm not doing the level of technical work that you're doing, but I did ask for some citations at one point, just out of sheer laziness, because I don't remember them like I used to when I was in undergrad and postgrad. And it was interesting, I asked for a citation on my own book and it gave me perfect citation, but the first name was wrong. It wasn't Sharon, it was something else. And I thought, "How interesting is that." So I agree with you on that. Well, what advice, then, would you give a small to midsize business owner who may know or have a sense of the pain? Because what I see in interacting with clients, let me just back up here a second, is that they often know the pain, but they don't even have time to identify the source of it.
I'm always surprised by that. I'll give you an example of going into a company years ago, and they had described to me a problem that they had with back orders, and I don't remember the details of it, and it's not important, but when we kind of fleshed it out and put it in dollars and cents, problem of dealing with back orders with their customers was costing them a pretty high number. And I was sort of amazed that they knew this was a problem and they had let it go on for years and years. So when you're thinking about leaders maybe having a sense of the pain, but not having even the time to identify the source of it, what are your thoughts around that? What are some of the things that leaders should be thinking about, in order to move to higher efficiency and productivity in terms of their operational systems?
Greg Williams:
Well, I think they should listen to their key, trusted people that are experiencing this pain. Let's say you have a bookkeeper or a controller on staff. What I've seen with some, I'll say, less enlightened business owners is that they say, "I don't want to invest in automation because I'm not doing it, and my controller gets it done every month, and I don't care if it takes them 40 hours or 80 hours, they get it done. So it doesn't cost me any more money to be more efficient." But that's very short-sighted, because one, it doesn't scale, and two, it doesn't show any investment in your workforce. So that's kind of an old attitude we used to see.
Younger business owners now want that automation, but they don't always understand how to make it work together. So then, we see situations, like I said before, where people have bought 10 disparate cloud applications and they don't talk well to each other. And so now, they think they have automation, but they have their people logging into 10 different systems.
Sharon Spano:
It's maddening.
Greg Williams:
Yeah.
Sharon Spano:
I mean, even as a sole entrepreneur, I mean, I've struggled with that, and I think most business owners do, because you get hit by so many... And especially if you're someone like me who loves technology, and I'm very intrigued by it, I can chase too many squirrels, as they say, and wind up with things that I don't necessarily need, or to your point, are not integrated in the way that they should be.
And going back to your example of the controller, I think sometimes what the business owner doesn't realize is, as the business is growing or changing, that controller may still be getting things done, but at what price to the controller, to your point?
Greg Williams:
Exactly.
Sharon Spano:
You're not really looking out for your people, and what is the price that they're paying? So I like how your focus is on the... You call it work-life balance, I like to think of it more as integration, because I'm not sure I believe in balance in today's world in the same way. But so what advice, then, would you give someone out there who's sitting on the fence and maybe needs to access a company like yours?
Greg Williams:
I would say to think about your systems, and if your people like them, and are they efficient at doing their jobs, and are you getting accurate data out of the business as well? And then particularly, I'm concerned about companies that still have on-premise systems. They're still out there. They have servers in a closet running their old software, and that scares me, with the constant ransomware attacks. We see companies all the time affected by that. And by going to the cloud, you're really outsourcing that security to Microsoft, and they have military-grade security, and they're taking care of that for you.
So that's something a lot of business owners miss, is especially in small businesses. They think, "Oh, Microsoft just wants me to rent the software from them instead of buy it." That's their first thought. "Is Microsoft just looking for recurring revenue?" I'm like, "Well, that's true, but you're getting an insurance policy there. You're getting a system that's secured in the cloud, backed up in different geographical locations, financially secured. So you're really getting, in addition to your software systems, you are getting an insurance policy." Very important.
Sharon Spano:
That's such an important point, Greg. Thank you for bringing that up, because I do know companies that, to your point, have that server in the closet, and have maybe a third party that they believe is monitoring it. And that third party is probably someone like maybe your organization, who's making sure that it's tied into Microsoft in the way that it should be. But tell me how they would know if they have the right backups around that.
Greg Williams:
Well, you can have a backup and recovery plan, and you should test that plan. So if you do get hacked, you know how fast you can restore. But it's a problem in today's world, because there's a lot of local IT companies that the owner of these businesses have worked with for the last 20 years and they trust, and these companies don't want you to go to the cloud, because it takes revenue away from them. But moving to the cloud is the best thing for your business, because your local IT company cannot invest in the same level of security that Microsoft, or Amazon, or Google can. They just cannot. And a lot of business owners, they've told me, "Well, I'm a small target. They're not going to go after me." But that's not true. Hackers, they're looking for the open windows and the unlocked doors. And if you're a small business, it's very easy for them to figure out a way in.
Sharon Spano:
When you're talking about ransom wave attacks, say a little more about that. What does that look like?
Greg Williams:
So ransomware attack means that hackers-
Sharon Spano:
Is it wave or ware? I can't remember.
Greg Williams:
Ransomware, yeah.
Sharon Spano:
Ransomware, okay.
Greg Williams:
So they access your system, and they take their time, over a month or two, studying it all, and stealing all your data, and making copies of it. And then, one day, they erase all your servers, and you come in, and you have a screen that says, "Contact this email address, and deposit this much Bitcoin, and you can have your data back."
Sharon Spano:
I've heard of that happening.
Greg Williams:
Yeah.
Sharon Spano:
That is so terrifying.
Greg Williams:
It happens constantly. Every day, it's happening, yeah.
Sharon Spano:
Wow.
Greg Williams:
So that's why you have to have a good backup plan, so you could say, "I'm not going to pay them, I'm just going to restore it from scratch." Or if you go to the cloud, then you don't have to worry about that.
Sharon Spano:
Well, you say the cloud. Oddly enough, on this same cruise, they had a guy who was more of an entertainer, but fascinating in that he bills himself as a pickpocketer, which I thought was an interesting choice on a cruise, because it kind of made us all paranoid when we got on shore. I mean, in ways beyond what we might otherwise have been. But it was informative, in that he was showing us kind of how they divert your attention and blah, blah, blah, and how they can get your phone, and your data from your phone so quickly, and it was pretty fascinating.
But then, he made a comment which I didn't agree with, "You know, oh, and the cloud, it's not really anything other than just another server with all your information on it." And he made it sound pretty insecure. But I'm hearing you say, because I had not thought about it in the context of Microsoft and Google having that military level of security and whatnot. So we do want, even those of us that are smaller business owners, if I'm understanding you correctly, we want to make sure that we are saving the data in the cloud?
Greg Williams:
Yes, I agree with that. And I may be considered partial because I provide Microsoft systems to people, but the Department of Defense trust Microsoft, why wouldn't I?
Sharon Spano:
Yeah, yeah, okay. All right, so I'm a small to medium business owner and I want to contact you. Is it you or is it someone else in the company? If I want to talk a little bit in the last moments that we have, if I'm hearing this and I go, "Wow, I really need to talk to these guys to make sure I have the right systems, and they're integrated in the best possible way, and they're secure," what does that process look like?
Because I think, a lot of times, small to midsize business owners, we get hit by so much, and we're afraid to even reach out to a vendor such as yourself, because it's going to be astronomical, and this big process, and this big, scary thing, and cost me tons of money, and I have to shift my whole culture, and processes, and all that. Give us a sense of how challenging it really is. I call you up and I say, "This is my biggest problem, blah, blah, blah." Where do we go from there?
Greg Williams:
Yeah, so a lot of times, we really try not to over promise at all, and we try to think about the bandwidth and capabilities that the business has to learn the new software and handle the change. We know that you can't do it all at once. So we're a big fan of phased technology implementations, where maybe the first six months, we just replace what you're doing in QuickBooks, for example. Your general ledger, your accounts payable, your account's receivable, and your bank.
We replace that functionality with Business Central, for example, and we say, "You're just going to a new system that does the same thing as the old one, but that's so we can handle your organizational change." And then, once you're using that and used to using it, then we'll start rolling out all the extra capabilities you can use. Now, it's interesting, we don't get many entrepreneurs that say, "I want to take my change slowly." Most of them are the opposite. They're like, "I want it all at once, I need it now." And we have to slow them down and advise them to do things the right way.
Sharon Spano:
So I love that approach, because I think that's so important, because I know every time I do something, whenever I outsource anything, it's always made to sound so simple. But then, so much is required on our end that I'm often overwhelmed by that. So I've learned now, through the years, that's one of the things that I kind of want to be known up front, is I ask that question up front, because I'm wanting the answer you just gave.
Greg Williams:
Exactly.
Sharon Spano:
Is, "We're going to do it in a way that makes sense for your business and how much bandwidth you have to accommodate the change." I think that's important for any organization, particularly in today's world. So does it look like, then, I imagine it depends on obviously the sophistication and complexity of the business, but does it look like a monthly thing with you guys. or how is that typically handled?
Greg Williams:
Well-
Sharon Spano:
A retainer? Or how does that work?
Greg Williams:
Yeah, so the initial project is quoted in scope based upon your needs, and has a complete price for that project. And then, once you're using the software, we have a monthly managed services fee. That covers a few things: It covers any bug fixes or break fix support that you may have. It also covers update management. So Microsoft releases updates to the software every twice a year, in April and October. And what we learned is that customers weren't taking the time to learn what was in that new feature and implement it.
Sharon Spano:
Sure.
Greg Williams:
So our managed services plan includes, twice a year, for one of our solution architects sit down with you and say, "Hey, here's all the new stuff coming in this version. Based on what I know about your business, here's the things you might want to use."
Sharon Spano:
Wow, you've just kind of opened up a whole new world. Well, I thank you so much for all that you've shared today. Can you share, again, the name of the company, contact information for yourself or whoever is the appropriate person, if there's anyone out there listening that is looking for this phase technology implementation, as you've given me a lot of new language today, Greg? It gives me hope for my dilemma and struggles with the healthcare system and other places that I go that I think eventually things will get easier.
And I know for the most part, they feel like they are, but then we just still have some organizations that are lagging behind. And I always feel like government, and education, and healthcare are the three main ones that we all depend on so much, but they're not always where they need to be. It seems like business always leads the way. Thank God for that, because then, they're almost forced to catch up with business. But I'm grateful for the work that you and your company are doing out there to make the lives of so many people easier, including myself. So contact information, please.
Greg Williams:
Yeah, so you can reach out to us at westerncomputer.com. There's a lot of educational material out there, so you can do a lot of research before you need to talk to someone on our sales team, which we know that modern buyers like to do that. You can email us at sales@westerncomputer.com. You can also visit our LinkedIn page and see some of the people that we have working with us. And then, we also have a chat that's manned by actual people on our website as well.
Sharon Spano:
Oh, wonderful.
Greg Williams:
So lots of ways to contact us and make it really easy.
Sharon Spano:
Wonderful, wonderful. Any last bits of advice before we close out?
Greg Williams:
No, I don't have anything else. Thank you, appreciate it.
Sharon Spano:
Well, thank you so much for being here today. And listeners, as you know, we're always trying to bring you solutions to help you be more effective leaders in your world and your businesses, and to help you really implement that self-leadership, as I love to call it, and that integration of work and life that is just so, so very important. So that is really, and I'm always reminding you that every challenge, even technological challenges, no matter how big, no matter how small, each of those is just an opportunity for you to step into your other side of potential. So until next week, this is Dr. Sharon Spano, wishing you an amazing week. God bless.
Greg Williams:
Thank you, Sharon. Bye-bye.
Sharon Spano:
Bye-bye. Thank you for listening to this episode of The Other Side of Potential podcast. I'd appreciate your leaving a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform, so that we can continue to bring you cutting-edge information and resources. And don't forget to share this episode with a friend or colleague. And if you'd like to reach out to me personally to discover how I can help you uncover what might be holding you back from being a better leader for yourself, your business, and your family, please go to sharonspano.com to schedule a complimentary consultation.