No Easy Answers

As each new year begins, lots of us make resolutions for making changes - large and small - in our lives.  A specific date on a calendar isn't what will motivate changes with our personal lives or our businesses.  There is no magic in a specific date.  The "magic" is in making the commitment to doing things differently, implementing and sticking to taking the steps toward a new behavior.

Business owners (like everyone else) often want easy answers to difficult business issues.  It seems to be reassuring to have someone say, “This problem (or solution) is definitely ‘X’.”.  In business, however, there is rarely one specific thing going wrong and creating all the issues in a company.

It would certainly be nice if a marketing campaign, some sales training, or a new accounting system could magically fix an organization’s issues.  The reality is that most business issues are a combination of people, timing, money, and the business model.  No one aspect can be changed and solve the complete problem.  Businesses are a series of interrelated parts and processes.  Changing one aspect necessitates changes in the other parts to keep everything working together.

Working with clients on accounting and enterprise resource planning system projects means analyzing what the business currently uses as systems, learning what information people need to do their jobs and run the business, and understanding how the sales, operations, and administrative functions of the business operate.  Accounting and enterprise resource planning systems, by their nature, reflect the business processes, activities, transactions, and model.  Implementing a standard system in an organization can be the fastest way to cripple a company’s operations.

Other areas which seem to lend themselves to one simple answer are changing marketing messages, adding sales team members, and otherwise adjusting the sales and marketing operations.  Companies tend to think that expanding the number of people selling will always generate more sales.  If the current sales force isn’t effective, the question to ask and answer is “why aren’t they being successful”, not “how many more people do we add.”

The first step in answering what an organization needs to do is to diagnose what is happening in the organization today.  What are the team member’s roles and what are they working on?  Who is accountable for sales happening?  Does the organization understand the strategic goal?  Do they know who the customer is? Do they understand the product or service they are selling?

The second step is to analyze the business processes and systems.  It is important that the organization have information on performance AT THE TIME THE ORGANIZATION IS CAPABLE OF DOING SOMETHING TO CHANGE THE RESULT.  Getting information after it is too late to make a change does nothing for the bottom-line.

Organizations which are in crisis (running out of money) or transition (growing but unable to sustain growth) need to invest in making changes today.  Waiting and expecting money to be available later to do what needs to be done isn’t realistic.  Doing more of the same and expecting to get different results is a strategy of HOPE not ACTION.  (It is also a definition of insanity!)

If your organization is ready to make a change, begin your business diagnostic by defining your organization’s operations as they are today.  Who is doing what?  How does that contribute to the bottom-line?  What is the core business?  How many things are draining resources away from the core business?

Once you have your organization’s current state objectively defined, then clearly state what it needs to become.  Define your strategic objective, develop financial forecasts, and determine what resources are needed to reach that objective.

2005 is a good year to begin the process of change.  Take it one day at a time.  Do one thing at a time. And watch what happens!

Taking the Numbers to an Operational Perspective return to top

As we all know, the financial and tax perspectives on the numbers are vital to any business.  The focus on the financial and tax perspective over the managerial perspective is the traditional, pre-dominant view in business.  As the business environment continues to increase pressure to control cost, run tighter operations, and become more competitive, there is a correlating need for increased visibility and traceability between activities or events and the reported numbers.

Businesses cannot avoid the need for financial reporting and tax perspectives - both are required.  From the operations standpoint, however, another perspective is of equal or greater importance for the day-to-day and strategic decision processes. This perspective is often neglected or absent when establishing the accounting and reporting structures of the business – the managerial accounting perspective.

When looking at your financial reports are you wondering why the results aren’t what you wanted or expected?  Are you able to pinpoint the areas of your operations that missed, the ones that hit? Are you able to measure the impact of adding another sales person? Do you know the profitability of your customers, business units, products, geographic areas, etc.?

Every business needs visibility to the operational data points that will enable the organization to act and to take corrective actions where needed and when necessary.  The majority of internal reports are derived through systems designed to satisfy external financial and tax reporting requirements.  Managerial accounting reports, when generated, are rarely automatic, and usually require intervention and side processes to get to the numbers.

From the perspective of operations – line managers, business unit directors, and other functional or process managers – the data needs to be collected and compiled in a way that supports their ability to see the events, activities, and operations in the numbers.  The relationship between decisions and results needs to be traceable into the internal financial reports and needs to be readily available.  The ability to have the information in a format and at a time that decision-making will impact numbers/results must exist in every business.  It is critical to organizations of every size to have clear visibility and identifiable relationships between the results and the activities.

A number of things that can be implemented to put numeric visibility into your operations:

1. Redesign your chart of accounts to have more detail, more drill-down and roll-up capability.
2. Utilize accounting packages that support business unit, project, and departmental reporting.
3. Establish budgets and forecasts for operating/business units, departments, and/or projects.
4. Take the time to record the data at the level it makes sense – if you need to get better at quoting projects, then develop project processes and reporting that capture the detail of expense items and time – don’t just guess or estimate; find a way to track it.
5. Implement processes and controls at line item levels - not just shipping costs, but expedited domestic shipping expense, expedited foreign shipping expense, overnight air shipping expense, etc.
6. Identify controllable business costs at the operating level and make those numbers visible.
7. Establish standard reporting structures that can be extracted from existing data collection processes.
8. Look for integrated accounting and operations systems – enterprise resource planning systems.
9. Implement daily, weekly, and/or monthly reporting against expected/planned results – variance analysis.
10. Review existing systems to determine what functionality isn’t being utilized. (Can you generate custom reports to segregate and stratify the data already being collected?)

If you don’t know what caused or led to the current financial performance in your business, then lack of visibility and traceability of numbers to activity are usually a significant contributing factor.  When looking at your financial reports, can you pinpoint possible areas that are “missing the mark”?

It isn’t an easy task to “retro-fit” your accounting system to generate a different level of detail.  It is more straightforward to select a logical time to go forward with changes and then plan the transition.  Logical times to start new reporting are at the beginning of a fiscal/calendar quarter, during the budget process, or at the beginning of a new fiscal/calendar year.

This isn’t a project you want to rush.  It needs to be a methodical process or processes.  You may decide to do some ad hoc reporting as an auxiliary manual process while you evaluate and redesign the capability of the existing accounting system.  If you have been considering obtaining a new system, take the time to identify the critical information that the current system doesn’t collect or make visible. 

Whether you decide to make changes to the existing system, use “manual” processes, or implement a new system, you should invest the time to identify key data, report formats, reporting periods (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.), and the actual data needs at all levels of the organization.  Data collection, reporting, and maintenance of complex systems are expensive.  There is a need to distinguish between must have, nice to have and one-of-these-days-I-might-need-data and reports.

Here are the recommended steps when evaluating your managerial accounting process:

1. Identify what information you are currently able to access.
2. Identify at what level of detail current data collection is occurring – activity level, department level, operating level, summary level.
3. Understand how current data is being collected and the capability of current data collection processes and systems.
4. Evaluate existing accounting and reporting tools to understand current capability and functionality – decide if you are utilizing the current system to its fullest capability.
5. Specify/identify what information and data isn’t currently available that you NEED.
6. Review existing reports and reporting tools.
7. Identify what reports you NEED you aren’t currently getting.
8. Compare the NEEDS to the existing and analyze the gaps.
9. Take the identified gaps in reports and data and analyze the existing system for capability to address the gaps.
10. Look for “add-on” tools that can interface with existing system to satisfy the gaps (reporting tools like Seagate Crystal Reports can enhance many systems reporting functionality).
11. Determine how significant the remaining gaps are and what the future needs of the organization will be.
12. Review the ad hoc, auxiliary, and add-on processes to quantify the additional work load that will be added to existing team members.
13. Determine if additional team members are/will be needed.
14. Research and evaluate the investment to adopt a new system if gaps aren’t fully addressed and/or the additional employee resources are significant.
15. Perform comparative analysis of alternatives – do nothing, enhance existing with off-line processes, add-on functionality to existing system, add-on manual processes (with or without additional people), implement new system, and so on.

Having the right information at the right time is often the deciding factor in making a sound business decision.  The investment of resources in implementing that system generates sound returns.  Consider enhancing your current operations and gaining a competitive edge by having the full spectrum of information on your business and include the managerial accounting perspective in your reporting process.

The North Carolina Regional Capital Markets Forums: A Strategy for Meeting the Needs of Small High Tech Companies for Growth Capital return to top

The North Carolina Regional Capital Market Forums are designed to help high tech companies obtain growth capital by bringing multiple sources of capital together at a single time and place to meet with private companies.

The purpose of these events is to create an open, vibrant environment in various metro regions where companies have a maximum opportunity to achieve funding success by having access to diverse sources of capital. In this sense, the philosophy of the capital market forums is different from the more traditional closed invitation-only angel or VC events where the primary purpose is to serve the financial needs of the investors. In contrast to limiting the presentations to a very select set of companies, the Regional Capital Markets Forums serve the financial interests of companies by inviting a more diverse group of companies to present to a much broader spectrum of capital funding sources.

After the introductory 60 minute social networking time, the local professional service providers who are exhibitors of the event would  introduce each company for the individual presentations. Each company would make a 20 minute PowerPoint presentation, followed by a limited question and answer period. Observers and sources of capital  would then write out evaluations of the presentation, and indicate their level of interest in communicating with the company.

At the end of all company presentations, there is another 30 minute social networking time for interested parties to make future arrangements to meet.

Typical meeting format:
2:00 – 5:00 pm  Presentation prescreening and preparation by all presenting companies.
5:00 – 6:00 pm  60 minute social networking in room with exhibit booths and tables
6:00 – 8:30 pm 20 minute power point presentations
8:30 – 9:00 pm 30 minute social networking

Achieving a High Public Profile For Companies

Part of the strategy of helping companies obtain funding is associated with creating a forum that highlights the technology and market potential of the presenting companies in the business media and general press. As a part of the services provided to companies, the Capital Market Forums offers this set of media and public relations services:

1. 30 days of media exposure from banner ads on a Southeast online business journal (Local TechWire) technology community. The online journal banner ads are hotlinked to the company’s own web site.
2. 30 days of company and logo ad distribution in the morning blast newsletter to readers of the online journal, with each logo in the newsletter hotlinked to the company’s own web site.
3. Free professional consulting on both the message being sent, the presentation at the event, and financial strategy for the business plan of each presenting company. The consulting is delivered by the co-hosts of the Forum (919 Marketing and F.O.C.U.S. Resources), both of whom are professional service providers in North Carolina.
4. A series of event promotion press releases with mention of the presenting companies.
5. Inter-connected links from all co-hosts, organizers, and exhibitor web sites.
6. Additional packages of public relations and investor relations services offered at substantial discounts.

Event Co-Hosts
 CIC has an established relationships with a marketing company (919 Marketing) and business strategy company (F.O.C.U.S. Resources) who act as hosts during the event. In addition, prior to the event, the co-hosts offer their services to companies and sponsors, free of charge, to polish the presentation and message. The co-hosts also work with state media to obtain maximum coverage of the presenting companies.

For more information go to:  www.corpinvesment.com or www.capitalexchange.com

You can also e-mail Tom Vass at tvass@corpinvestment.com or Lea Strickland at lea@focusresourcesinc.com.

Just Because You Can, Doesn't Mean You Should return to top

In dealing with employee schedules, compensation, and performance, there are a number of legal choices a business can make. This doesn't mean that in the long-term business perspective those are the best choices.  For instance, a company can require an exempt employee to be on-call 24/7 for an indefinite period of time.  That doesn't mean it is good for the employee or the company.

In thinking about the above situation, what does it mean if the company is so reliant on one individual to perform a task or role that the company must mandate that employee always be available? What happens if the employee is sick, disabled, or quits?  Who can jump into that role?

If this is a conscious business choice to have the kind of relationship with an employee (or group of employees) which limits an employee's ability to achieve a work/life balance, then what message are you sending? To this employee and other employees who witness this type of management expectation?

There will, of course, be short term instances requiring a period of intense coverage or special schedules due to unexpected operational, staffing or other events.  Placing excessive job demands on one (or a few) as a means of not addressing performance issues, staffing plans, or other operational issues, however, is ultimately impairing the organization's "capacity" and business systems.  Further, if these types of short-term decisions are rewarded, they can lead to significant loss of intellectual capital, capacity, and expertise because of the loss of key employees and reduce productivity overall.

Bottom-line results come from making sound short-term decisions that reflect long-term vision.  Setting the organization up for near-term bottom-line savings at the cost of long-term productivity and viability is -- well, short-sighted.

If the business is currently "leveraging" employees by
• increasing hours of exempt employees "permanently"
• limiting "experience" in key roles and departments
• having only one person who knows the “how” of certain critical tasks or business processes
• leaving key roles unfilled or filling roles with less experienced or less qualified applicants, and
• underpaying for experienced professionals
then it is time to analyze the impact of these choices on operations and the intellectual capital of the business.  The analysis should look for long term repercussions that can include the following:
• key employees leave at first opportunity
• increased quality issues from "burnout"
• "face" time, not work time
• impaired morale
• loss of "marketers" - employees promoting the business
• impaired operating efficiency and capacity.

Keep in mind when making any decision that the organization is its people.  People interface with the systems, customers, and vendors.  People are the business’ best sales force and marketing opportunity.  Treat them fairly, consistently, with respect, and recognize that success comes through the organization’s people.

Where is my Cash Flow? return to top

What do I do about customers who consistently pay late?  Why does it seem that the money flows out faster than it flows in?

These are significant questions for every business.  Managing the cash flow is critical to a business's viability.  The cash flow equation and conversion cycle has several components:

- Actual cash
- Inventory
- Accounts receivable
- Accounts payable.

Managing each of these components and understanding the impact and implications to the "cash available" is important.  A recent addition to the complexity of cash management is the impact of the Check 21 Act.  It makes each check written a nearly instantaneous conversion to a cash payment out of your account but does not require that the funds you deposit be paid “instantaneously” available).  It is a rare business that isn’t focused on managing the cash balance and cycle.

Actual cash needed at any point in time or over a certain period is tied to your operational decisions, level of business activity, and the terms of "acquisition" for your business inputs - labor, materials, supplies, etc.  The greater the magnitude of the demand for inputs in your "production and delivery process" the greater the cash demand.  If you are able to negotiate favorable terms with your suppliers, you are able to delay the outflow of cash for those resources while employing those resources to generate sales.  In fact, when your business is experiencing significant growth, cash demands are usually the strongest.  Success demands CASH!

As you make sales, your customers are either paying you cash today or you are granting them terms - time to pay – which delays your cash inflow.  The amount of time you take to collect from your customers and the amount of time your suppliers/vendors take to collect from you - how synchronized those periods are - influences/impacts your cash availability.  For companies that sell goods the amount of time the product sets on the shelf before purchase - inventory turnover - further impacts the cash equation.

The impact of "terms"- net 30, 2/10, and others - is measured in the days of cash that are made available to the company by extending the amount of time between when a purchase transaction occurs and when it must be paid for, and the reciprocal - making the sale and then collecting the cash from the customer.  Two parts of the same equation.  How successful you are in gaining favorable terms from your suppliers and granting and enforcing your terms to your customers makes all the difference to your business.

When terms are agreed to, they should be adhered to.  Not meeting the terms extended by a supplier/vendor shifts the burden to them for carrying your business.  The repercussions can include:
• Cash only transactions
• Loss of credit rating
• Loss of supplier as a source
• Bad public relations

Businesses often "manage" cash flow by not paying the invoice on time or in full.  This is an all too common practice - you'll get paid when we get paid - is also a frequent refrain.  Business transactions are about both parties benefiting from the relationship.  When one party unfairly burdens the other by failing to meet the agreed terms – it is bad for credit ratings and it is bad for business.

If you are a company with customers/clients who aren't adhering to credit terms, then it is time to analyze just how good a customer that customer really is.  In evaluating the customer keep in mind that the cost of "floating a loan" to that customer needs to be in the equation.  You also need to consider the cost of not having the merchandise available to sell to someone who will pay on time and in full.  There are other effects on your business processes that also increase the cost of doing business with them - the time and effort spent trying to collect, the other uses of the funds deployed to cover that costs, the inability to use those funds to grow the business, pursue another opportunity, etc.

From the beginning of the cash conversion cycle, acquiring the inputs for the "sale" whether they are products, inventory, or worker hours, the clock starts ticking on the need for cash.  The timing of those flows and how long it takes you to convert the inputs into a sale and then collection of cash is measure of how quickly your cash conversion process moves.  If you have instituted credit terms that are net 30 and your customers average net 45 or more, then the implications to your business can be catastrophic.

If your vendor extends to you net 30 terms, you have 30 days from receipt of an accurate invoice to pay.  If you make a sale to customers on day 31 and extend to your customer net 30 terms, then you should be paying your vendor on day 30, before your customer buys from you and you still have 30 days before you will receive cash from your customer - if they pay on time. 

If the same vendor purchase is on cash only terms due to slow payments or late payments, then you spend cash to acquire merchandise to sell.  So cash flows out on day one, and if the customer buys from you in 30 days with net 30 terms, you have your cash tied up in inventory and accounts receivable for 60 days.

The importance of establishing and maintaining sound credit policies with your vendors and with your customers can’t be emphasized enough.  Negotiating credit terms with your vendors that you can live with is important.  Meeting or doing better than those terms can provide you with options your business won’t have with poor credit.  Then your only option is cash only transactions.

Deciding what credit terms to extend to customers and how to determine which customers get which terms means making clear decisions, setting guidelines for granting credit, and getting credit references on your customers.  A business may choose to do cash only or cash and credit cards only – no checks, no terms (accounts receivable).  Depending upon your business, this may severely limit your customer base.  On the other hand, your business may choose to offer credit terms of net 15, 30, 45, 60 or even longer.  Companies also provide incentives for customers to “opt” for cash by providing discounts for paying cash at time of purchase or within a short period of time say 2% discount if paid within 10 days (2/10, net 30).  Whatever credit policies and terms you decide on, your business will also need guidelines for deciding when to refuse credit, put customers on cash only, and other key decisions.

Customers are necessary to business.  Profitable customers are critical.  Do you know which of your customers provide the most profit?  It may not be your most frequent or largest customer.  Analyzing your customer accounts on an annual, quarterly or even monthly basis can provide you with important insights into what it is costing you to get and keep the business.  The cost of the sale includes cost of goods sold, financing (terms and late payments), special handling, internal resources devoted to supporting a particular customer, and all the other direct and indirect support of getting and keeping the sale.  If you don’t know which customers are generating the most profit and are consistently on time (or early) in payments, then it is time to take a look, analyze, and understand that you might be more profitable without some of your customers.

The Magic Bullet by Jan Delory return to top

As a sales consultant and trainer I am often posed with the question from a prospective client “How do I grow my business?” What many of them are really saying is “How do I grow my business with little money and minor effort?” What they don’t really want to do is make a drastic change in the way the business operates, but rather find the quick fix or the proverbial “magic bullet” that they have been overlooking.  

In the early stages of an engagement it is my challenge to understand why the business has not grown to its full potential or why it is not seeing consistent sales growth. Very often the management team holds the keys to unlocking these questions, but they may lack the time and or the focus to make the tough changes.

Management teams are being tasked with so much accountability on paper that the people aspect of their role takes a back seat to getting the expense and forecast reports into accounting on time. Factor in the hard truth that many sales managers today also have revenue responsibility (meaning they have to sell new accounts and manage their team), so that what you end up with is lots of activity on paper for the short term, but not much in the way of the professional development growth for the entire team. This makes itself evident in the lack of long term positive revenue results. This band-aiding technique very often is one of the more common problems to identify.

There are a myriad of other impediments that may be holding a company back from its sales growth goals such as; complacency, lack of leadership, focus and motivation, unclear marketing messages and discontent among employees. Ask the sales people why they aren’t making their numbers and you will hear some of the most creative excuses coupled with some of the most hard to hear truths about the perception of your products and services.  The challenge is being open to discerning what an excuse is and to understanding when there is a potential opportunity to solve a masked problem.

Finding masked problems alone is not enough, as a professional sales consultant I must also clearly understand and anticipate what challenges may lay ahead in any particular industry and market.

For example take the technology sector, no one could have anticipated how long the tech sector would be in a slump, however the technology companies that started reinventing themselves and looking at new ways to service their markets and drive revenue will in my opinion be the clear leaders in their industry as the economy rebounds.

The first answer to my clients often asked question of “How do I grow my business?” is simply “There is no magic bullet, but rather a process of unpeeling the layers, weeding out and reinventing.”

Jan Delory is the President of Boston Professional Group a sales training company headquartered in Cary NC. Her successful sales training practice has produced measurable results for many recognizable leaders from a wide array of industries.

Jan prides herself on presenting sales workshops that are customized for her client’s individual needs, her workshops are fun, upbeat and interactive but more importantly jam packed with useful content
 
Jan chairs a position on the boards of The Triangle Association of Sales Professionals, Toastmasters International and sits on the AM Networks Advisory Committee for the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce.

For more information call 919-467-4477 or log on to www.bostonpg.com

NAWBO Meeting, January 26 return to top

The January program, entitled A Seat At The Table, will include a panel of experts that will address how women business owners can successfully run for office, obtain appointments to boards and commissions, and serve on corporate boards.  You will come away with helpful tips to help map out a strategy for obtaining a board appointment, discover recommended ways to bridge non-profit experience to the for-profit arena, learn the skills and strategies for navigating board dynamics once onboard, obtain appointments to local and state boards and commissions, or develop a strategy to run for office.

Women are often under represented in the decision-making spheres of the major areas of our society – elections, appointed office, and in business.  We recognize that the under representation of women in leadership roles often leads to a narrowing of choices not only in leadership itself, but also in options for decision-making.

The luncheon will be held on Wed. January 26th from 11:30 to 1:30 at the Capital City Club in downtown Raleigh.  To register. Click on www.nawbo-raleigh.org and click on upcoming events or call (919)-424-8248.

Best Practices versus Bad Practices return to top

Infrequently the media covers instances of plagiarism and other similar activities in classrooms.  Although these events may not seem important to businesses, they are for many reasons.

First, the work being plagiarized belongs to another individual or business.  Someone owns that information; it could easily be you.

Second, the work product produced is being represented as something it isn’t – original thought and work.

Third, there is a very real risk if these individuals become part of your organization and engage in the same behavior?  What will the cost be to your business – operationally and legally for violations?

You may think that this is a big leap between what is happening in classrooms to what goes on in your business.  It is not.  Many companies hire summer interns, recent graduates, and co-op students throughout the year.  These people are often given “simple” tasks of documenting and/or creating policies and procedures.  They may be asked to build spreadsheet models of financial statements or tools for forecasting.

A case in point:  Recently a company sent me some documents “created” by a summer intern.  The spreadsheets and word documents were lovely to look at.  But they looked oh so familiar.  (You know the feeling you get when you recognize a style, terminology, etc.)

As I continued to review the document content – the numbers, formulas, etc. – I came upon a footnote that led me down the path to identifying the original source of the spreadsheet…a well-known major university known for its case studies.  Ah ha!  I knew this looked familiar!

Where is the line drawn?  The terminology and underlying analytical process that is taught through case studies is certainly expected to be used and applied to business activities.  It wouldn’t be shared if it weren’t.  What about “tweaking” the actual diagrams by changing the company name and other minor details?  What about duplicating the exact appearance, color coding, and structure of spreadsheet models disclosed or provided with textbooks for study?

When is it “best practice” and when is it “bad practice”?  I’m sure there is a legal definition.  After all, violations of copyrights include penalties of $150,000 per copy without proof of economic damage.  (Yes, it is true.  Making and distributing copies of books or other copyrighted materials to a class instead of having them purchase the book is a violation!)

Best practice can be looked at as understanding the mechanism, analysis, and process used by someone else and then applying it “originally” to your business.

Bad practice has multiple definitions.  Legally, it is bad practice to take or use any portion of someone else’s intellectual property without their permission or without purchasing it from them.  Yes, there are some limited use allowances in many instances for copyrights, etc.  For example, in this article I could quote someone or cite a reference and that would be allowed.,  I could not, however, copy a substantial part of someone else’s article, book, etc. into this article without giving credit and asking permission.

Second, practically, it is bad practice to use a business tool structured for someone else’s business.  Tools aren’t one size fits all.  They need to be adapted to the way you do business and your own structure.  They need analytical thought behind them.  The format of a spreadsheet is a skeleton for you to put your information into; it isn’t or shouldn’t be the deciding factor for what information should be gathered or how it should be presented.  Once of the first signals that someone is fitting your business into a template is to look at the numbers – are they identical every month?  That’s fine for rent, but few businesses are going to have the same payroll taxes, sales taxes, payroll amounts, and other costs due every month.  If everything is simply “divided by 12”, what you have a pretty spreadsheet “lifted” from someone else’s analytical process.

It is a sound business practice to learn from a case study, book, article, or spreadsheet tools developed by someone else and made publicly available...  It enables you to learn about best practices.  Representing those same tools as your own, applying them without change or thought to your business, or “sharing” a tool that was developed just for your business by a service provider with another business, is not only bad practice, it is also illegal under copyright and other intellectual property laws.

Copyright © 2005 F.O.C.U.S. Resource, Inc.