I was spending some time in the “war room” yesterday, this is the central hub for Echelon, gosh was I surprised! Several things hit me; just look at how far we’ve come in 2 short years and listen…you can hear the voices, but not the equipment(more on that in a minute)—so let’s run this down.
In just 2 short years, Echelon’s gone from a casual conversation between my wife and I, to a company that has gone global. Echelon Value Consulting LLC was created with this mantra: “If you can see it in your mind, and you believe it in your heart, then do it with your hands”. It is my goal to make Echelon the most effective, value added consulting group anywhere. Our teams’ collective experience is over a hundred years of value added activities that are aimed at making our clients more financially fit. Ok, the commercial is over, let’s talk about the equipment I mentioned earlier.
Echelon Value is a paperless company, well almost. All of our information that other companies would print and put in a file folder, we mange electronically. So, what you won’t hear in the “war room” are printers, what you will hear are shredders. We scan every document into an electronic file and then shred it. We have continuous backup systems running and maintain an electronic master copy offsite. I never “heard” the phone ring once, but hold on a minute. Most of the distance communication we have with our clients is voip, that is that we have our conversation and we can see each other. Also, we can file share with them, use an electronic dry erase board and our distance conversation has significantly more value. Wow, sounds complicated, but it’s not-but it is change. Change from the days when companies had 10 people working in accounting, a receptionist out front, managers for other managers that had managers, 39 four drawer file cabinets, more printers than trash cans, and someone on payroll just to manage the 39 four drawer file cabinets-oh and a manager for the person working the cabinets. Understand, there is NO VALUE in that, none. We can accomplish the tasks of 60 people…..ready?…..with 5 people.
But, why wouldn’t we be good at this, after all—it’s what we teach. The days of having a front office loaded down with non-value added people are gone. If you still do it, you are way behind the curve, and more importantly, your company is throwing money away. Assess your condition, use the data that a loss of effectiveness index will give you and make the transition. Once you’ve done that, use the extra people, don’t lose them. Start a new line in the factory; add a new product, or start a new value added project. This isn’t about throwing people out of the workplace, it’s about being more efficient, being more effective and adding value to you company and your customers.
