Further explanation of the business satellite examples

I appreciate that providing an example in which a local authority is the prime mover in creating new joint venture companies may appear a little odd. Obviously, one would naturally expect the commercial world to initially show the most interest in a new business idea. However, I believe that any organization from either the public or the private sector which employs 50 or more people might benefit from creating a BS programme.

I used the SDC examples because I wanted to demonstrate that the concept was also open to the public sector and because I believe that local authorities now have the freedom to take all the actions I’ve described. I believe that few local authorities would now have problems with the first JV because the aim is clearly to overcome an existing problem. On the other hand, I am aware of local authority executives who would find the underlying profit motive behind the second JV totally unacceptable. But why should this be a problem in the twenty-first century? Governments in various parts of Europe are taking gradual steps to allow public sector departments to embrace commerce, so why not take the opportunities on offer?

When I have raised this issue with local authority doubters, the reasons that come back include not having either the time or the right type of employee, and not wanting to damage local businesses by competing with them. The first two of these arguments might be valid in the short term, but if they remain valid for the medium and long term then management is seriously at fault. The problem of competing with local businesses cannot be a genuine factor in the current commercial environment. Small businesses of almost every description are under increasing pressure from a growing number of competitors of local, national and international origin. Therefore, those businesses that collapse from local authority competition would have collapsed from other commercial activity if the authority had not been involved. Surely every local authority must do its utmost in the future to reduce the burden of local taxation.

The term ’radical’ can be used in two ways. It can be used to describe an advanced and probably controversial view, which by its very nature would be applicable to only a small number of organizations in the short term. It can also be used to describe sudden dramatic changes. I believe that the BS concept cannot be described as radical in either of these senses because it aims for a planned anticipation of information technology growth over a reasonable period of time. Conversely, an organization forced into a major internal project or outsourcing arrangement because it had failed to do the necessary forward planning should accept that it is being forced into a radical step. In other words, it is being forced into a dramatic change and there is a good chance that failure will result.

Some people may question the advisability of employees working for more than one master, and although this practice is increasing, I am aware that failures as well as successes can ensue. Nevertheless, because equity will be available for a job well done, it would be up to the participants to ensure success.

I would like to explain further the reason for stressing the importance of the local aspect in the example given. I accept that modern communication developments have made the world a much smaller and convenient place to move around in. I can also see that software products intended for use in Europe might be put together just as well and, currently, far less expensively in, say, India, than in Europe. But for the most part the major internal projects and outsourcing arrangements deal not with the basic software but with the application of the software, and this is a local issue that is best dealt with by on-the-spot advice. You might be able to arrange for the design of a vehicle by sending your ideas and requirements to a company on the other side of the world, but once the product was manufactured, the designer would not then be in an ideal position to advise on a particular problem with your car.

Outsourcing service providers will normally argue that they can handle a client’s application equally well at a base many thousands of miles from the client’s main site as they could next door to it. Furthermore, they will probably be able to produce customers who will support their claim. However, I have noticed that when a client insists that a separate service is set up for it away from the provider’s other activities, then the provider will often stress the benefits of being next door to the client. These benefits arise from being close to the hub of the client’s business with the resultant opportunity to fully understand the underlying strengths and weaknesses in areas like marketing, manufacturing and distribution. In addition, it is true to say that commuting problems in the Western world are both a continuing nightmare for those that have to do the commuting and a serious threat to the environment. The BS concept, if widely practised, would help to reduce this problem.

Finally, I would like to raise a subject that I have not covered in the earlier chapters but which is nevertheless fundamental to the BS concept. This relates to the marked difference in the number of IT professionals who may be available for work and those willing to take a conventional job.

We are constantly being reminded from books, films, television programmes, etc. that over the last few thousand years great civilizations have been spawned in various parts of the world. Invariably, they have flourished for a time and then died. In these successful cultures of ancient times, an environment was created either by accident or design, and for perhaps just a brief period of time, that allowed far more people than normal to get involved, contribute and prosper. However, the key factor for success was usually some form of slavery imposed on most of the population.

When the industrial revolution dawned in the later part of the eighteenth century, success was largely dependent on a new type of slavery – wage slavery, which was usually considered preferable to the alternatives on offer. Until very recently only a small percentage of the world’s population were in a position to indulge in developments that could really improve the standard of living of their families, their locality and the world community as a whole. As each new community has been offered the opportunity to embrace wage slavery it has usually been gleefully accepted.

Historically then, the ideal environment for the development of human commercial creativity has come about only on those occasions when both a climate of opportunity has been present and sufficient individuals with the necessary skills have been encouraged in some way to take up the opportunity.

There is no doubt that thanks to the development of the PC and modern communications techniques, the opportunities for technology and business creativity are open to more and more people with every day that goes by. Equally, the number of people obtaining the necessary basic skills in order to avail themselves of the opportunities is increasing day by day. Nevertheless, the skill shortage, which is a key factor in the competitiveness problem, remains with us. It remains a problem because the people obtaining these skills increasingly do not want to conform to the conventional work pattern. In effect they are not willing to pick up the opportunity in the form it is offered. IT specialists are probably the first major group of workers who are in a position to refuse wage slavery.

People involved in IT recruitment over the years are well aware of the marked decline in the number of IT specialists who are now willing to relocate. Why should they when they can be reasonably sure of a similar job becoming vacant within their own locality in the short term? True, they might have to work as a contractor on occasions, but they will put up with this and any related travel due to the fact that, in a way, they are working for themselves and because they recognize the more contracts they do, the more experience they get. As they are constantly being made aware, every other day somebody with only comparable skills to their own will become rich simply because they were in the right place at the right time. In such circumstances few experienced IT professionals worth their salt are going to be satisfied with an ordinary 9 to 5 job in an organization that does not specialize in developing technology.

As a breed the IT specialists have always appeared different from other professionals. Now I find that the younger IT specialists, both male and female, feel and act differently in other ways. Quite often they express a collective desire to adopt green issues and codes. A great many of them don’t want to commute long distances daily and they don’t want to work for organizations they find ethically unsound. Equally, they are not very keen on working full time for some organization that they consider boring when they can earn sufficient money for their needs on part-time work or taking on a contract once in a while. Many people will feel that this is an irresponsible attitude, but why take a permanent job when by taking the part-time contract route you can earn as much money for fewer hours worked and yet end up with a much more impressive CV?

I believe that the BS concept offers an ideal carrot and challenge for most IT specialists, both young and old. During the industrial revolution the opportunity was there for a large number of creative people to make themselves rich and to create work and further opportunities for others. These opportunities were taken up at an amazing rate for the time, but it was noticeable that the most creative companies produced the most new entrepreneurs. It is equally noticeable that the companies currently at the cutting edge of technology tend to produce most of the people who go on to become technology entrepreneurs in their own right. In part this may be because they have employed high quality people, but it is also because in most cases, some form of equity has been available, as a carrot, for outstanding work.

Go on – create a BS programme and give yourself and the other would-be entrepreneurs a chance to get a firm grip on competitiveness and at the same time provide a boost to your local community.