This is the third of three blogs about my Sherpa experience with my husband during his first Ironman. If you haven't already, you might want to read the first two blogs.
Ironman 1 - Pre-race and Swim
Ironman 2 - The Bike
The Run:
We went back to GG and Anna to re-group. The girls wanted to go back to the condo and GG and I wanted to watch the run, so we let the girls go with the promise that they would text us once they were safely locked in the condo. That in and of itself is a huge milestone – to be able to let the girls go off on their own.
GG and I walked to the beach and snaked around transition to the run course. We knew Tim was long gone and it is a 2 lap course, each lap being 13.1 miles. So we stationed ourselves just before the half-way turn. We had our backpack with water, Gatorade, my phone and a change of shoes for me. I switched to my tennis shoes, just in case Tim wanted me to run with him for a few hundred yards. We were cheering on all of the runners and another fan taught us that you can read their first names if they have their race belt positioned just so. We were shouting “Go, Jim” and “You can do it, Jenny”. The athletes really responded to those cheers. We waited and waited. We were constantly refreshing my phone to see when he was crossing each 2 mile marker. He started strong and then slowed down a bit so we were anxious to see him – not so anxious that it didn’t seem like he would finish, but we were looking forward to having a visual.
While we were standing there, I started to feel woozy. And that made me feel like a huge wimp because here are these athletes pushing themselves to the limit and I am woozy because I am standing in the sun after taking a nap and sitting at the pool. So I downed an entire bottle of Gatorade and I ate the last breakfast bar that we had.
We finally saw him. He looked so good! I ran with him to the Special Needs bag station and he said he wanted me to run with him after he made the turn. I told GG I was going to run with him and I thought about grabbing my phone, but figured we were only going a few hundred yards, maybe a ½ mile, so I would be right back. (Note to self – when that small, soft voice tells you to grab your phone, do it.) I figured the race marshals would only let me run on the course for a few minutes, then I would have to leave him on his own.
We started running. I told him the funny story about my blackberry and the time changing. I told him about the funny Facebook posts. I figured just me talking would take his mind off of the race. When we got about ½ mile from the turn-around, the course got very neighborhood-y. Turns out no one was going to tell me that I had to leave him alone. So we kept running. Actually, we were doing a combination of running and walking so that Tim could maintain his energy. Once we had gone about 2 miles, I started to realize that we needed to let someone know what was going on. We agreed that most volunteers would have a cell phone so we would just call Anna in the condo. Problem is that Anna’s cell phone is relatively new and neither of us knew her number, we just had it programmed into our phones. That wasn’t going to work so we continue to brainstorm. We stopped at the next aid station and Tim ran on while I borrowed a phone. I called my mother in St. Louis because I have her number memorized. Thank heavens she answered the phone. With Election Day on the following Tuesday, everyone was getting barraged with calls so the fact that she answered a call from an unfamiliar number is a minor miracle. I asked her to call Anna on her cell phone and relay a message. We had no way to get in touch with GG as she was on the run course with my phone, which she would never know how to answer. We told the girls to stay at the condo and wait for GG until 6:00. If GG wasn’t back at 6:00, they needed to head down to the bleachers and wait for Tim and I to come to the finish line. With that settled, I raced to catch up with Tim. Once I caught up, we ran and walked and fell into a great rhythm. We talked and walked and ran and joked and time just flew by. When we passed the 18 mile marker, I realized that I should probably head back. Tim was going to turn-around at 19.5 so I got him to about a mile from the turn-around and I gave him a kiss and started to head back. We were well into the Panama Beach neighborhoods so my only choice was to run the race route. There was no way to short-cut it because I would certainly get lost.
As soon as I started running by myself, the reality of our situation started to sink in. I was 5 miles from the transition area and finish line. It was 5:08 on my watch. I run 10 minute miles. If I ran all 5 miles at my usual pace, I would reach my babies at 6:00. I now cannot believe that I told my 11 year old and 10 year old to leave the safety of the condo and walk into a crowd of thousands of people and wait for us to return. What if GG didn’t go back to the room? What if the girls got lost or scared? What if, what if, what if? It is worthwhile to note that the longest I have ever run in my life is just under 6 miles. Now, after already walking/running 5 miles, I had to run without stopping for 5 straight miles to make sure I got to the girls in time. This is when the parenting instincts kick in because there was NO way I was stopping or slowing down. While I was running, and passing Ironman athletes left and right, the crowd started cheering me on. At first, I felt horribly guilty because I wasn’t an Ironman. I hadn’t done activities that these amazing athletes had done. But then I got over the guilt. Because I was doing something I had never done before – running 5 miles at a rapid clip – so I accepted their support and cheer and used it as additional fuel.
With one mile left, I decided that I needed to get off the course because I didn’t want to get ‘tunneled’ into the finish because that would be super-awkward. So I veered off and ran through spectators and on sidewalks. I got to the finish area right at 6:00. I ran through the crowds towards the bleachers and the condo and I ran right into GG and the girls. Thank God. What a tremendous relief! Turns out GG waited for me until about 5:15 and then she wanted to leave a note in case I came back. Bless her heart, she tracked down paper, a pencil and tape to leave me a note. When she got back to the condo to get the girls, Anna failed to mention that I had called and that we had a plan. GG had no way of knowing where Tim was and when he would finish, but she just figured they needed to head towards the finish line at about 6:00. Thankfully, it all worked out.
The sun was now setting and the reality of what I had just done is starting to sink in. I ran without stretching and without good nutrition. I am freezing, achy and covered in sweat. Luckily Anna had a sweatshirt on and she wasn’t cold so I was able to borrow that from her. They didn’t bring my phone down from the condo, but they brought Tim’s. I am a blackberry fan (as previously mentioned) so figuring out how to use Tim’s smartphone to check his progress took some doing.
The four of us found a stop along the fence line for the final 200 yards of the race. I am watching Tim’s splits and he is actually started to speed up. He had dropped to 13 minute miles when we were running/walking and during the final 6 miles, he had picked up the pace to 9 minute miles. I couldn’t imagine what was going on, but he was cooking. We didn’t take signs to the finish so Tim would have no way to really see us. When we saw him coming, the girls and I started screaming and waving our arms. Tim made eye contact with me and we were so proud. As soon as he passed, I raced to the finish line to catch him. When his name was called “Tim Runyan from Waukee, Iowa – You are an Ironman”, I screamed and hooted and hollered. After he got his medal, I could talk to him through the fencing. Turns out he didn’t see us in the final chute. He heard me holler when his name was called but he didn’t remember seeing us. After we were able to reach him, he told us what happened on the run. After I left, he ended up next to another first time Ironman contender, a girl named Erica. She actually had a watch so they started running together to support each other. After doing some mental calculations, Erica realized that if they could keep a 9 minute pace, they could finish in less than 12 hours. They set their mind to it, and low and behold, they came across the finish line at 11:51. Tim had never had a goal of sub-12 hours and he was over the moon!
After we got Tim situated, he wanted to get some food, but unlike the Half-Ironman in Kansas, the food was only for the athletes. At this point, I was fairly miserable, so I headed back to the condo with the girls. I took at shower which felt soooo good and I knew I needed to eat something. Unfortunately, all we had in the condo was – you guessed it – the last 1/3 of the Pasta Carraba’s. I was so sick of eating that same meal but beggars can’t be choosers. Tim came back and he showered too and put on his compression tights and found his spot on the couch. GG and I went back down to transition to get his bike and his transition bags. It was so well organized, it took no time at all and we were back to the condo with all of his stuff. We had talked about going down to cheer on the midnight finishers, but honestly, we just didn’t have it in us. I think the entire condo was sound asleep at 10:00.
The next morning, when I woke up, Tim was gone. I knew that the “Finishers” merchandise went on sale at 7:00 a.m. and we expected there to be quite a long line so I figured that is where Tim went. He returned to the condo with a shirt, hat, jacket and I am sure much more. His finisher jacket is quite something. Turns out, Tim woke up at 4:00 in the morning and went to Waffle House for breakfast. Just like Carraba’s the night before the race, the 4 a.m. crowd at Waffle House was a curious mix of late-night partiers and Ironman athletes.
We decided to go to the beach to enjoy the Florida perks and while we were there, Tim fell fast asleep in the sand. I took the girls up to the heated pool and an hour later, Tim came up and said “Ironman is hungry.” This became his new mantra for the day – referring to himself in the 3rd person as “Ironman.” We all went and dressed and headed to the outdoor mall in Panama City. We couldn’t decide where to have lunch so we settled on Dick’s Last Resort. I thought Tim knew the way that Dick’s worked but turns out, he had no idea, so the insulting and cussing and basic un-kid-friendliness was news to him. We handled it okay and Tim continued to say things like “Ironman wants a sandwich” to which Natalie replied “Honey badger don’t care what Ironman wants.” It was so funny. She used the phrase in the perfect context and she absolutely dead-panned it. Classic.
We then went to see “Wretch it Ralph” at the movie theater. It was such a cute movie but when it finished, Tim was pretty sore and tired. We returned to the condo and Tim fell sound asleep. I walked to Wal-Mart and bought things to make dinner. I figured another restaurant meal wasn’t going to work for us. Despite my inability cook, I managed a decent salad, with a chicken pasta dish. Tim woke up and we enjoyed some family time.
The next day, we flew home. We had witnessed Tim accomplishing an amazing feat and in mind-boggling time and we had enjoyed a great family weekend as well. Loads of laughter, bonding and supporting each other. All in all – it was a magical experience!
Monday, November 12, 2012
Ironman Sherpa 2 - The Bike
This is the second of three blogs about my Sherpa experience with my husband during his first Ironman. Be sure to read the first part of the story.
Ironman Sherpa 1 - Pre-race and Swim.
The Bike:
I split up with GG and the girls as they headed back towards the condo to cheer Tim on as he started biking. I decided to try and see him through transition. Thousands of spectators were 5 people deep along the transition fencing so I quickly gave up that idea. I met up with GG and the girls and we waited for Tim to come by. At 8:24, he passed us and we were able to wish him well and show our support. We then went up to the condo, figuring we had about 6 hours before we would see him again.
At 9:20, I was so tired; I decided to lay down for a nap. Panama City is in the central time zone, which is very odd to me because I assumed all of Florida was in the eastern time zone. Saturday night, when Tim would be done with his race, marked the end of daylight savings time so we were going to ‘fall back’ that night and gain an hour. When I went to sleep at 9:20 a.m., I set my blackberry on the night stand. I was trying to search for Tim’s latest stats via the browser but it was taking forever to load. I fell sound asleep and it seemed like 10 seconds later I was awakened by an incoming text message that beeped on my phone. I looked at the time at it was 11:00. I couldn’t fathom that I had slept for 1.5 hours because I felt terrible. I rolled over and fell right back asleep. I woke up at 11:45 and decided I had to get up. A nap of over 2 hours should have fully refreshed me, but I still felt exhausted. I went and checked on the girls, who were glued to the Disney channel and I asked if anyone wanted lunch. They weren’t hungry so I turned on the TV in the living room. The channel guide on the TV said it was 10:55. What?!? I checked every clock in the condo and sure enough, it wasn’t even 11:00 yet. I checked my blackberry that clearly said it was approaching noon and I couldn’t be bothered to mess with it. Sometime during my nap, my blackberry had either switched to eastern time (most likely) or ended daylight savings time. Either way, it was wrong so I manually reset it. I get tons of grief for continuing to use a blackberry in the age of the iPhone and this snafu certainly wasn’t helping my cause.
I took the girls to the swimming pool (heated) and I laid out in the sun for a bit. It is a weird feeling to lay by a pool reading an Oprah magazine while you know that your spouse is busting his tail in an Ironman race. I was keeping family and friends posted on Tim’s progress via Facebook. Two of my neighbors started the funniest dialogue. One said “So my awesome neighbor Tim Runyan is completing a full blown triathlon today! In his honor I decided to get some exercise and mow the lawn. Almost finished, but had to stop so that my daughter could go to dance/gymnastics class.” I responded by reminding him to hydrate and a second very funny neighbor asked if there was a website where we could track his lawn mowing progress. The whole exchange just warmed my heart.
At 1:00, I went back inside and heated up 1/3 of my Pasta Carraba’s for lunch. The girls ate leftover pizza and I debated on what to do next. At 1:15, I was contemplating a shower when my phone beeped with an incoming text message. It was a fellow Sherpa who was back in Iowa (Bridgit) who was tracking Tim’s progress on the website. Tim had passed his final bike split and was looking really strong. He only had 17 miles to go on the bike and the website was averaging a 30 minute delay. Holy crap! Tim could come by at any minute and we couldn’t miss it! I rallied the girls and grabbed our Sherpa bag and the signs and we headed down to the street to watch him come by. This is positively the hardest part of being a Sherpa because you don’t really know when they are coming but you know darn well that you better be there. We split up, with Anna and GG close to the condo, and Natalie and I closer to transition. I told Anna to call or text me if she saw him. At about 2:00 Anna called and he was on his way. Natalie and I cheered like crazy. When he passed, he said that the second watch had died during the bike race. I asked how he felt and he gave me a thumbs up. Tim was anticipating a 6 hour bike ride for the 112 miles. Because he had no watch, he had no way to easily pace himself. He finished the bike in 5:37. Pretty incredible.
Natalie and I ran down to transition but there was no way we could see him. The racers go into the east side of transition, handoff their bike to a volunteer and enter a transition room. Then they exit the west side of transition for the run start. Natalie and I couldn’t traverse the crowds quick enough to see him take off on the run.
But wait, there's more:
Ironman Sherpa 3 - The Run and Post-race
Ironman Sherpa 1 - Pre-race and Swim.
The Bike:
I split up with GG and the girls as they headed back towards the condo to cheer Tim on as he started biking. I decided to try and see him through transition. Thousands of spectators were 5 people deep along the transition fencing so I quickly gave up that idea. I met up with GG and the girls and we waited for Tim to come by. At 8:24, he passed us and we were able to wish him well and show our support. We then went up to the condo, figuring we had about 6 hours before we would see him again.
At 9:20, I was so tired; I decided to lay down for a nap. Panama City is in the central time zone, which is very odd to me because I assumed all of Florida was in the eastern time zone. Saturday night, when Tim would be done with his race, marked the end of daylight savings time so we were going to ‘fall back’ that night and gain an hour. When I went to sleep at 9:20 a.m., I set my blackberry on the night stand. I was trying to search for Tim’s latest stats via the browser but it was taking forever to load. I fell sound asleep and it seemed like 10 seconds later I was awakened by an incoming text message that beeped on my phone. I looked at the time at it was 11:00. I couldn’t fathom that I had slept for 1.5 hours because I felt terrible. I rolled over and fell right back asleep. I woke up at 11:45 and decided I had to get up. A nap of over 2 hours should have fully refreshed me, but I still felt exhausted. I went and checked on the girls, who were glued to the Disney channel and I asked if anyone wanted lunch. They weren’t hungry so I turned on the TV in the living room. The channel guide on the TV said it was 10:55. What?!? I checked every clock in the condo and sure enough, it wasn’t even 11:00 yet. I checked my blackberry that clearly said it was approaching noon and I couldn’t be bothered to mess with it. Sometime during my nap, my blackberry had either switched to eastern time (most likely) or ended daylight savings time. Either way, it was wrong so I manually reset it. I get tons of grief for continuing to use a blackberry in the age of the iPhone and this snafu certainly wasn’t helping my cause.
I took the girls to the swimming pool (heated) and I laid out in the sun for a bit. It is a weird feeling to lay by a pool reading an Oprah magazine while you know that your spouse is busting his tail in an Ironman race. I was keeping family and friends posted on Tim’s progress via Facebook. Two of my neighbors started the funniest dialogue. One said “So my awesome neighbor Tim Runyan is completing a full blown triathlon today! In his honor I decided to get some exercise and mow the lawn. Almost finished, but had to stop so that my daughter could go to dance/gymnastics class.” I responded by reminding him to hydrate and a second very funny neighbor asked if there was a website where we could track his lawn mowing progress. The whole exchange just warmed my heart.
At 1:00, I went back inside and heated up 1/3 of my Pasta Carraba’s for lunch. The girls ate leftover pizza and I debated on what to do next. At 1:15, I was contemplating a shower when my phone beeped with an incoming text message. It was a fellow Sherpa who was back in Iowa (Bridgit) who was tracking Tim’s progress on the website. Tim had passed his final bike split and was looking really strong. He only had 17 miles to go on the bike and the website was averaging a 30 minute delay. Holy crap! Tim could come by at any minute and we couldn’t miss it! I rallied the girls and grabbed our Sherpa bag and the signs and we headed down to the street to watch him come by. This is positively the hardest part of being a Sherpa because you don’t really know when they are coming but you know darn well that you better be there. We split up, with Anna and GG close to the condo, and Natalie and I closer to transition. I told Anna to call or text me if she saw him. At about 2:00 Anna called and he was on his way. Natalie and I cheered like crazy. When he passed, he said that the second watch had died during the bike race. I asked how he felt and he gave me a thumbs up. Tim was anticipating a 6 hour bike ride for the 112 miles. Because he had no watch, he had no way to easily pace himself. He finished the bike in 5:37. Pretty incredible.
Natalie and I ran down to transition but there was no way we could see him. The racers go into the east side of transition, handoff their bike to a volunteer and enter a transition room. Then they exit the west side of transition for the run start. Natalie and I couldn’t traverse the crowds quick enough to see him take off on the run.
But wait, there's more:
Ironman Sherpa 3 - The Run and Post-race
Ironman Sherpa 1 - Pre-race & Swim
This is the first of three blogs about my Sherpa experience with my husband during his first Ironman.
My husband, Tim Runyan, trained for nearly a year and finally competed in Ironman Florida on November 3, 2012. Here is my journal of how the event unfolded.
Friday, November 2, the girls (ages 10 and 11) flew from Des Moines, IA to Fort Walton Beach, FL. We only had a 45 minute lay-over in Atlanta and I was scared that we would miss our connection and that would throw a major wrench in the whole plan, but we had no trouble at all. The Aviation spirits were on our side. Once in Florida, we loaded up the family and drove 1+ hours to Panama City. Tim wanted a pasta dinner from Carraba’s so we pulled into their lot at 4:45 p.m. The place was absolutely packed. There were 20% blue hairs and 80% athletes in various stages of pre-Ironman attire which included weird tape around joints and compression socks. We got our meal and headed to the condo. Tim ate at about 5:20 while I unpacked and took Natalie to the pool. I had 1/3 of my Pasta Carraba’s (this becomes relevant later, trust me) while the girls worked on their signs and Tim packed up his race bags.
We all went to bed around 9:30 and Tim was sound asleep by 10. He woke up at 3:30 a.m. and I followed at 4:15 a.m. We got ready and walked down to the transition area. Couple of pointers if anyone is ever going to do this – being within walking distance of the race activity is HUGE. Others that were staying farther out had to park at the Wal-Mart and take a shuttle in. Our condo was so convenient and that helped us dramatically through the day. Another point – if you are within walking distance, you don’t need to get up at 3:30. We were at transition by 5:00 and Tim went to set up his bike while I delivered the 'special needs' bags for the bike and run. What an amazing feat of organization. The bags were all color-coded and organized by racer number. Tim's race number 1930, if you are interested. By 5:10, everything was set and Tim and I had nearly 2 hours to wait until the swim start. At 5:30, our oldest daughter called to say they were up. I had asked the girls and their grandmother (Tim’s mom, GG) to be at the race site by 6:15 so if they got up at 5:45, had breakfast and started walking down at 6:00, we should connect around 6:15. As it happened, they were up at 5:30 and at the race site by 5:40. So now all 5 of us could stare at each other in a half-asleep haze while thousands of athletes milled about.
At 6:30 we headed to the beach. Panama City features an ocean swim of 1.2 miles, a brief run on the beach and then a second lap of 1.2 miles. Tim is a former marine so when we saw that the surf was pretty high, that suited him fine. He had years of training to dive into waves so we knew he would be all set. We went to the western most edge of the racers because the ocean had an eastern current. We couldn’t see Tim start but we cheered loudly for all of the racers. We had 3 signs – two in obnoxious green and one in white. We had arranged with Tim in advance that he would look for the signs. If we ever do this again, I would take a flag or inflatable balloon for the swim start. It is packed with people and it is really hard to distinguish your racer from the thousands of other racers all wearing black wetsuits and green swim caps.
GG and I led the girls back to the swim start inflatable archway so we could try and see Tim in-between lap. Sure enough, we did. He saw our green signs and we were cheering like crazy for him. I expected him to jump back in the water immediately and then another spectator said ‘is that your athlete?’ and I look over and Tim is beckoning me. Apparently his GPS watch was kicked off during the swim and now sat at the bottom of the ocean. It was an expensive watch that I had bought him for his birthday but now was not the time to mourn the loss. He asked me for another watch. I was wearing a $10 Timex from Target so I couldn’t imagine that he wanted mine, but then he said no, that Natalie (our 10 year old) had one of his old watches. So we ripped it off her wrist and back in the ocean he went.
But wait, there's more
Ironman Sherpa 2 - The bike
Ironman Sherpa 3 - The run and post-race
My husband, Tim Runyan, trained for nearly a year and finally competed in Ironman Florida on November 3, 2012. Here is my journal of how the event unfolded.
Friday, November 2, the girls (ages 10 and 11) flew from Des Moines, IA to Fort Walton Beach, FL. We only had a 45 minute lay-over in Atlanta and I was scared that we would miss our connection and that would throw a major wrench in the whole plan, but we had no trouble at all. The Aviation spirits were on our side. Once in Florida, we loaded up the family and drove 1+ hours to Panama City. Tim wanted a pasta dinner from Carraba’s so we pulled into their lot at 4:45 p.m. The place was absolutely packed. There were 20% blue hairs and 80% athletes in various stages of pre-Ironman attire which included weird tape around joints and compression socks. We got our meal and headed to the condo. Tim ate at about 5:20 while I unpacked and took Natalie to the pool. I had 1/3 of my Pasta Carraba’s (this becomes relevant later, trust me) while the girls worked on their signs and Tim packed up his race bags.
We all went to bed around 9:30 and Tim was sound asleep by 10. He woke up at 3:30 a.m. and I followed at 4:15 a.m. We got ready and walked down to the transition area. Couple of pointers if anyone is ever going to do this – being within walking distance of the race activity is HUGE. Others that were staying farther out had to park at the Wal-Mart and take a shuttle in. Our condo was so convenient and that helped us dramatically through the day. Another point – if you are within walking distance, you don’t need to get up at 3:30. We were at transition by 5:00 and Tim went to set up his bike while I delivered the 'special needs' bags for the bike and run. What an amazing feat of organization. The bags were all color-coded and organized by racer number. Tim's race number 1930, if you are interested. By 5:10, everything was set and Tim and I had nearly 2 hours to wait until the swim start. At 5:30, our oldest daughter called to say they were up. I had asked the girls and their grandmother (Tim’s mom, GG) to be at the race site by 6:15 so if they got up at 5:45, had breakfast and started walking down at 6:00, we should connect around 6:15. As it happened, they were up at 5:30 and at the race site by 5:40. So now all 5 of us could stare at each other in a half-asleep haze while thousands of athletes milled about.
At 6:30 we headed to the beach. Panama City features an ocean swim of 1.2 miles, a brief run on the beach and then a second lap of 1.2 miles. Tim is a former marine so when we saw that the surf was pretty high, that suited him fine. He had years of training to dive into waves so we knew he would be all set. We went to the western most edge of the racers because the ocean had an eastern current. We couldn’t see Tim start but we cheered loudly for all of the racers. We had 3 signs – two in obnoxious green and one in white. We had arranged with Tim in advance that he would look for the signs. If we ever do this again, I would take a flag or inflatable balloon for the swim start. It is packed with people and it is really hard to distinguish your racer from the thousands of other racers all wearing black wetsuits and green swim caps.
GG and I led the girls back to the swim start inflatable archway so we could try and see Tim in-between lap. Sure enough, we did. He saw our green signs and we were cheering like crazy for him. I expected him to jump back in the water immediately and then another spectator said ‘is that your athlete?’ and I look over and Tim is beckoning me. Apparently his GPS watch was kicked off during the swim and now sat at the bottom of the ocean. It was an expensive watch that I had bought him for his birthday but now was not the time to mourn the loss. He asked me for another watch. I was wearing a $10 Timex from Target so I couldn’t imagine that he wanted mine, but then he said no, that Natalie (our 10 year old) had one of his old watches. So we ripped it off her wrist and back in the ocean he went.
But wait, there's more
Ironman Sherpa 2 - The bike
Ironman Sherpa 3 - The run and post-race
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Remembering Grampy
My father passed away this week. While I am a bit sad and I have shed some tears, I am truly not devastated. He lived to be 81 years old, he saw a grandchild get married, he visited nearly every continent and he lived with a serious cancer diagnosis for six years longer than we expected.
As I reflect back on his life, or at least my life with him, I thought it would be cathartic to write down three of my favorite stories about my relationship with my dad.
Childhood
There are so many wild and wonderful stories that I could tell, but one stands out. I am not sure that I actually remember this, or if I have just heard it so many times that it has become part of my childhood memories.
When I was three, we moved into the house that we would have for over 20 years – 523 Bonhomme Forest. I am the youngest of four and there is a 6 ½ year age gap between me and my closest sibling. Therefore, I was the only young child in the house for several years. When my dad would come home from work, he would walk in the back door to the kitchen and he would stomp his feet loudly. That was my cue that he was home and wherever I was playing in the house, I would bolt to the kitchen and run and jump into his arms. This became our ritual and I treasured it.
The story about this ritual goes something like this: One night, as soon as Dad walked into the kitchen, he had to take a telephone call (from a wall phone – no cell phones or portables in those days.) I came downstairs and was surprised and disappointed that he hadn’t stomped and then caught me as I jumped in his arms. Legend has it that I reached up and tugged on his jacket. He told the caller to hold on and turned to me and I said “if you look down, you will see a small child who needs a hug.” As any great father would do, he set the phone down and scooped me into his arms. Honestly, most of my childhood was filled with precious moments such as this.
Adulthood
Again, there are many stories to choose from as I moved through college and started my career, but one particularly funny one stands out.
When I was 29 years old, I was invited to interview for a big promotion with my current employer. The position was in Austin, TX where my father just happened to live. When he heard that I was flying in for an interview, he was thrilled. He picked me up at the airport the night before and took me to dinner. He had mapped out the best route to get to the site of my interview and had test-driven it that morning to make sure we allowed adequate time for rush hour traffic. I arrived at my interview with plenty of time, kissed my dad and promised to call when I was through.
The man that was the hiring manager held an influential position and was warm, compassionate and very smart. I had actually met him years early, as I graduated from high school with his son. In my professional naivety, I assumed he would remember that and referenced that we had met before, through his son. He seemed shocked to realize that I was the same age as his child, and here I was interviewing with him for a fairly strategic position. He was definitely taken back by my age, but continued the interview with the utmost professionalism. When the day was complete, he came to see me off and thank me for coming to Austin. He asked if his secretary should call a taxi cab for me and I blurted out “that’s okay, my dad is on his way to pick me up,” like I am a teenager at the mall, not a candidate for a promotion in a large company. It was quite embarrassing, but the happy footnote is that I got the job, moved to Austin, met Tim Runyan and the rest is history.
As a grandfather
My dad was very involved in the lives of my daughters and he even pitched in when we were desperate for a baby-sitter. As they grew to be toddlers, my dad’s passion for shopping at ‘Big Lots’ took on a new purpose. He would buy crayons and water balloons and plastic ponies and dress up outfits and a million other worthless, cheap things that would delight our girls. Tim tried to keep some order in our house and jokingly chastised my dad about the clutter he brought with him whenever he visited. This led my dad to keep all of his ‘Big Lots’ treasures in a box that he would take with him when he left. Therefore, when Grampy arrived, much time and excitement was spent looking at the new items in his box. Tim and I began to refer to this as the ‘box of crap’.
The girls spend their pre-school years in a wonderful, loving daycare run by Ms. Soraya. She was a lovely woman and was very religious. She provided our girls with a tender atmosphere to play and grow, firmly rooted in religious teachings. At one of her many open houses, my father joined us, as he often did. One of the girls introduced him with great animation and said “this is my Grampy. When he comes to our house, he always brings the box of crap.” Ms. Soraya was immediately taken back and assumed she had misheard because one of her precious babies would certainly not utter a curse word. My quick-thinking husband saved the day when he said “box of crafts, sweetie. It’s a box of crafts.” Whew. We might have been expelled if she had known the truth.
In closing
I could go on for pages and pages with funny and heart-warming stories about Grampy. He was as complex of a character as most of us are and there were times when I would get frustrated with him, but those were certainly the exceptions. I am lucky that I was so loved by a great man and that my children have benefitted by knowing and remembering their Grampy who cared for them so deeply. Rest in peace, Grampy.
As I reflect back on his life, or at least my life with him, I thought it would be cathartic to write down three of my favorite stories about my relationship with my dad.
Childhood
There are so many wild and wonderful stories that I could tell, but one stands out. I am not sure that I actually remember this, or if I have just heard it so many times that it has become part of my childhood memories.
When I was three, we moved into the house that we would have for over 20 years – 523 Bonhomme Forest. I am the youngest of four and there is a 6 ½ year age gap between me and my closest sibling. Therefore, I was the only young child in the house for several years. When my dad would come home from work, he would walk in the back door to the kitchen and he would stomp his feet loudly. That was my cue that he was home and wherever I was playing in the house, I would bolt to the kitchen and run and jump into his arms. This became our ritual and I treasured it.
The story about this ritual goes something like this: One night, as soon as Dad walked into the kitchen, he had to take a telephone call (from a wall phone – no cell phones or portables in those days.) I came downstairs and was surprised and disappointed that he hadn’t stomped and then caught me as I jumped in his arms. Legend has it that I reached up and tugged on his jacket. He told the caller to hold on and turned to me and I said “if you look down, you will see a small child who needs a hug.” As any great father would do, he set the phone down and scooped me into his arms. Honestly, most of my childhood was filled with precious moments such as this.
Adulthood
Again, there are many stories to choose from as I moved through college and started my career, but one particularly funny one stands out.
When I was 29 years old, I was invited to interview for a big promotion with my current employer. The position was in Austin, TX where my father just happened to live. When he heard that I was flying in for an interview, he was thrilled. He picked me up at the airport the night before and took me to dinner. He had mapped out the best route to get to the site of my interview and had test-driven it that morning to make sure we allowed adequate time for rush hour traffic. I arrived at my interview with plenty of time, kissed my dad and promised to call when I was through.
The man that was the hiring manager held an influential position and was warm, compassionate and very smart. I had actually met him years early, as I graduated from high school with his son. In my professional naivety, I assumed he would remember that and referenced that we had met before, through his son. He seemed shocked to realize that I was the same age as his child, and here I was interviewing with him for a fairly strategic position. He was definitely taken back by my age, but continued the interview with the utmost professionalism. When the day was complete, he came to see me off and thank me for coming to Austin. He asked if his secretary should call a taxi cab for me and I blurted out “that’s okay, my dad is on his way to pick me up,” like I am a teenager at the mall, not a candidate for a promotion in a large company. It was quite embarrassing, but the happy footnote is that I got the job, moved to Austin, met Tim Runyan and the rest is history.
As a grandfather
My dad was very involved in the lives of my daughters and he even pitched in when we were desperate for a baby-sitter. As they grew to be toddlers, my dad’s passion for shopping at ‘Big Lots’ took on a new purpose. He would buy crayons and water balloons and plastic ponies and dress up outfits and a million other worthless, cheap things that would delight our girls. Tim tried to keep some order in our house and jokingly chastised my dad about the clutter he brought with him whenever he visited. This led my dad to keep all of his ‘Big Lots’ treasures in a box that he would take with him when he left. Therefore, when Grampy arrived, much time and excitement was spent looking at the new items in his box. Tim and I began to refer to this as the ‘box of crap’.
The girls spend their pre-school years in a wonderful, loving daycare run by Ms. Soraya. She was a lovely woman and was very religious. She provided our girls with a tender atmosphere to play and grow, firmly rooted in religious teachings. At one of her many open houses, my father joined us, as he often did. One of the girls introduced him with great animation and said “this is my Grampy. When he comes to our house, he always brings the box of crap.” Ms. Soraya was immediately taken back and assumed she had misheard because one of her precious babies would certainly not utter a curse word. My quick-thinking husband saved the day when he said “box of crafts, sweetie. It’s a box of crafts.” Whew. We might have been expelled if she had known the truth.
In closing
I could go on for pages and pages with funny and heart-warming stories about Grampy. He was as complex of a character as most of us are and there were times when I would get frustrated with him, but those were certainly the exceptions. I am lucky that I was so loved by a great man and that my children have benefitted by knowing and remembering their Grampy who cared for them so deeply. Rest in peace, Grampy.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
New Job with an Open Position
I am very excited to have accepted a new position at CDS Global in Des Moines, IA. As I am getting settled into my new role (VP of Product Management), we are assessing the organization and we have identified an area of potential opportunity. Portions of the job description are included below. If you know of a qualified candidate, please leave a comment. This is a new industry and a new town for me, so I am reaching out through all means avaiable.
Functional Title: Senior Product Manager - Order Management & Fulfillment
Reports To: Vice President
SUMMARY
Responsible for all Product Management activities relating to Order Management and Fulfillment for CDS Global. Responsible for managing product throughout the product lifecycle, including product planning and marketing. Will drive a corporate initiative to evaluate current technology in CDS Global’s core and most profitable business and ensure that we have what we need to create new solutions that support the company’s existing customers and redefines the company’s market position as a leader in Order Management and Fulfillment solutions. Directs and manages Product Management staff.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
• Maintains confidentiality of CDS Global and its clients’ proprietary information.
• Responsible for all Product Management activities, including product planning and marketing, and managing the product throughout the product lifecycle.
• Defines the product vision and development strategy.
• Builds internal and external product roadmaps, including Feature and Technology roadmaps. Communicates to internal and external constituencies on roadmap progress.
• Identifies new products candidates and advocates for them both internally and externally.
• Writes and delivers Marketing, Product, Customer and Technical Requirements documents with prioritized features and corresponding justification.
• Responsible for establishing realistic time frames which will likely include making feature, schedule and cost tradeoffs as needed.
• Conducts market research and analyzes findings, including: Market Analysis, Business Case and Profit & Loss (P&L) Investigation, Customer and Market Research, Competitive Analysis, and technology trends.
• Responsible for the Return on Investment (ROI), Profit & Loss (P&L) and success of products from concept to launch through sunset, including incremental enhancements
• Sets pricing to meet revenue and profitability goals.
• Prepares and communicates budgets, revenue forecast and projections.
• Develops core positioning and messaging for the product, including points of differentiation.
• Assists with development of sales enablement tools and training.
• Directs and manages the hiring, training, and evaluation of Product Management staff. Monitors staff performance to ensure that goals are met.
• Collaborates and coordinates with sales, marketing, IT and support staff to support product development and management and to ensure revenue and customer satisfaction goals are met.
• Works with external third parties to assess partnerships and licensing opportunities.
• Maintains a comprehensive knowledge of the CDS Global business units, the fulfillment industry and competitors.
• Travels as required.
• Interacts in cooperative and professional manner, with all levels of employees, vendors and/or clients, in team environment.
ADDITIONAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
• Assumes additional responsibilities as requested (or required).
EDUCATION AND/OR CERTIFICATION, SKILLS AND LICENSING
• Bachelor’s degree. MBA preferred. Equivalent education and/or experience may be substituted for the minimum education requirement.
• Seven or more years of progressively complex experience in Product Marketing or Product Management.
• Strong Order Management and Fulfillment experience including experience with high volume order transactions and multiple media for order capture – web, handheld devices, etc.
• Experience in Requirements development and ownership, Product Lifecycle Management and Brand management.
• Experience in creating, maintaining and communication Product Road Maps
• Demonstrated success defining, launching and growing excellent products in new and established markets.
• Experience working with a technology group in large, complex product development.
• Excellent teamwork and negotiation skills with proven success in influencing cross-functional teams.
• Strong convictions to withstand pressure from numerous opinionated stakeholders.
• Advanced PC knowledge and skills to use electronic mail and Internet for research. Advanced Microsoft Excel or Word skills (or related software).
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills. Excellent presentation skills.
• Advanced math skills.
• Access to transportation requiring a valid driver’s license, proof of safe driving record, and active insurance.
Functional Title: Senior Product Manager - Order Management & Fulfillment
Reports To: Vice President
SUMMARY
Responsible for all Product Management activities relating to Order Management and Fulfillment for CDS Global. Responsible for managing product throughout the product lifecycle, including product planning and marketing. Will drive a corporate initiative to evaluate current technology in CDS Global’s core and most profitable business and ensure that we have what we need to create new solutions that support the company’s existing customers and redefines the company’s market position as a leader in Order Management and Fulfillment solutions. Directs and manages Product Management staff.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
• Maintains confidentiality of CDS Global and its clients’ proprietary information.
• Responsible for all Product Management activities, including product planning and marketing, and managing the product throughout the product lifecycle.
• Defines the product vision and development strategy.
• Builds internal and external product roadmaps, including Feature and Technology roadmaps. Communicates to internal and external constituencies on roadmap progress.
• Identifies new products candidates and advocates for them both internally and externally.
• Writes and delivers Marketing, Product, Customer and Technical Requirements documents with prioritized features and corresponding justification.
• Responsible for establishing realistic time frames which will likely include making feature, schedule and cost tradeoffs as needed.
• Conducts market research and analyzes findings, including: Market Analysis, Business Case and Profit & Loss (P&L) Investigation, Customer and Market Research, Competitive Analysis, and technology trends.
• Responsible for the Return on Investment (ROI), Profit & Loss (P&L) and success of products from concept to launch through sunset, including incremental enhancements
• Sets pricing to meet revenue and profitability goals.
• Prepares and communicates budgets, revenue forecast and projections.
• Develops core positioning and messaging for the product, including points of differentiation.
• Assists with development of sales enablement tools and training.
• Directs and manages the hiring, training, and evaluation of Product Management staff. Monitors staff performance to ensure that goals are met.
• Collaborates and coordinates with sales, marketing, IT and support staff to support product development and management and to ensure revenue and customer satisfaction goals are met.
• Works with external third parties to assess partnerships and licensing opportunities.
• Maintains a comprehensive knowledge of the CDS Global business units, the fulfillment industry and competitors.
• Travels as required.
• Interacts in cooperative and professional manner, with all levels of employees, vendors and/or clients, in team environment.
ADDITIONAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
• Assumes additional responsibilities as requested (or required).
EDUCATION AND/OR CERTIFICATION, SKILLS AND LICENSING
• Bachelor’s degree. MBA preferred. Equivalent education and/or experience may be substituted for the minimum education requirement.
• Seven or more years of progressively complex experience in Product Marketing or Product Management.
• Strong Order Management and Fulfillment experience including experience with high volume order transactions and multiple media for order capture – web, handheld devices, etc.
• Experience in Requirements development and ownership, Product Lifecycle Management and Brand management.
• Experience in creating, maintaining and communication Product Road Maps
• Demonstrated success defining, launching and growing excellent products in new and established markets.
• Experience working with a technology group in large, complex product development.
• Excellent teamwork and negotiation skills with proven success in influencing cross-functional teams.
• Strong convictions to withstand pressure from numerous opinionated stakeholders.
• Advanced PC knowledge and skills to use electronic mail and Internet for research. Advanced Microsoft Excel or Word skills (or related software).
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills. Excellent presentation skills.
• Advanced math skills.
• Access to transportation requiring a valid driver’s license, proof of safe driving record, and active insurance.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Building a Web Content Management Business Case Part 3 of 3
One of the questions that we are often asked by our prospects is ‘how do I build a business case to support the purchase of a Web Content Management system?’ Here is a three part series on one method that could be employed. The first metric that we looked at was Revenue. The second metric evaluated was cost savings. In this final installment, we will look at the Strategic Value of a Web Content Management system and what that means to your business.
Admittedly, the strategic components will tend to be the ‘softest’ and it is often hard to attribute firm numbers to them. But these items can be the difference that leads to business case approval. The strategic components have the highest emotional attachment and they get to the heart of your company and its values. That can be very compelling for an Executive management team to consider. Mind you, if the revenue and the cost savings are not significant, then the strategic components cannot carry the business case. But if the choices are ‘doing nothing’ or ‘wait another quarter,’ the strategic items can push the decision makers to a green light.
Take a step back and consider what is important to your company. What separates you from your competition? What do you want customers and prospects to say about you? How would you like analysts and the press to portray your company?
For Open Text, we have the following strategic benefits that we are pursuing.
1. A better site will facilitate an improved customer experience which will result in increased revenue, customer satisfaction and maintenance renewal rates
2. A better site will enhance our ability to respond to the needs of the business and the latest Web 2.0 functionality as the technology will be an asset, not a liability
3. A better infrastructure will allow us to create a dynamic site that can easily change with industry trends.
These are all noble goals and hard to argue with. The problem is quantifying them to provide validity.
An improved customer experience is something that every company is seeking. How would you measure your success? One objective data point to review is what improvements other companies have seen through implementing new web content management software. Your vendor may have Customer Success Stories that provide details of a customer’s problem and the results they achieved by implementing the software. Or you can study a heat map of your current site and detail the number of clicks that it will take a visitor to get from the home page to the desired information. If you can reduce the number of clicks with a new system and smarter design, then you will have improved the customer experience. You can associate a value to the number of clicks or the visitor’s time to get a numerical value.
The improved ability to respond to the needs of the business will make your website an asset instead of a point of corporate frustration. This strategic benefit might be easy to measure. How many microsites have been spun up in the last year? More often than not, microsites are not created because they are truly necessary. They are created because a microsite can be turned up quicker than updating the www site. It is a sad but true fact for many corporate sites. If it is happening in your company, calculate the number of microsites and the cost for each one. You may have employed an external agency so you can track the invoices for solid cost metrics. Then assume that you would be able to manage all (or a portion) of the microsite requests within your new web content management system and you have yet another quantifiable metric.
The third metric will only apply to certain types of sites. There are companies who want to change their look and feel regularly to keep up with industry trends or just to stay ‘fresh’ and vibrant. For these companies, the ability to easily change templates but maintain the content and navigation will enable them to be more dynamic. To quantify this, you could calculate the number of hours spent on your current site to make a change to the look and feel to calculate your cost savings.
The numbers are definitely important, but each of these items has an emotional attachment. How much would your CEO like to brag about an exceptional customer experience or a dynamic site that is vibrant and ever-changing? These are the strategic benefits that a web content management system can provide and they are the talking points. These strategic items will be discussed around the water cooler. They will be the components celebrated at the launch party. So weave them into your business plan, quantify them as best as you can, and talk about them. Make the decision makers really want a new web content management system to take your company to the next level.
As Robert Fulghum said ““… dreams are more powerful than facts - hope always triumphs over experience.” If you can appeal to the Executive hopes and dreams, you can leave the room with a “YES.” Or in keeping with the theme of this blog, a “You betcha!”
Admittedly, the strategic components will tend to be the ‘softest’ and it is often hard to attribute firm numbers to them. But these items can be the difference that leads to business case approval. The strategic components have the highest emotional attachment and they get to the heart of your company and its values. That can be very compelling for an Executive management team to consider. Mind you, if the revenue and the cost savings are not significant, then the strategic components cannot carry the business case. But if the choices are ‘doing nothing’ or ‘wait another quarter,’ the strategic items can push the decision makers to a green light.
Take a step back and consider what is important to your company. What separates you from your competition? What do you want customers and prospects to say about you? How would you like analysts and the press to portray your company?
For Open Text, we have the following strategic benefits that we are pursuing.
1. A better site will facilitate an improved customer experience which will result in increased revenue, customer satisfaction and maintenance renewal rates
2. A better site will enhance our ability to respond to the needs of the business and the latest Web 2.0 functionality as the technology will be an asset, not a liability
3. A better infrastructure will allow us to create a dynamic site that can easily change with industry trends.
These are all noble goals and hard to argue with. The problem is quantifying them to provide validity.
An improved customer experience is something that every company is seeking. How would you measure your success? One objective data point to review is what improvements other companies have seen through implementing new web content management software. Your vendor may have Customer Success Stories that provide details of a customer’s problem and the results they achieved by implementing the software. Or you can study a heat map of your current site and detail the number of clicks that it will take a visitor to get from the home page to the desired information. If you can reduce the number of clicks with a new system and smarter design, then you will have improved the customer experience. You can associate a value to the number of clicks or the visitor’s time to get a numerical value.
The improved ability to respond to the needs of the business will make your website an asset instead of a point of corporate frustration. This strategic benefit might be easy to measure. How many microsites have been spun up in the last year? More often than not, microsites are not created because they are truly necessary. They are created because a microsite can be turned up quicker than updating the www site. It is a sad but true fact for many corporate sites. If it is happening in your company, calculate the number of microsites and the cost for each one. You may have employed an external agency so you can track the invoices for solid cost metrics. Then assume that you would be able to manage all (or a portion) of the microsite requests within your new web content management system and you have yet another quantifiable metric.
The third metric will only apply to certain types of sites. There are companies who want to change their look and feel regularly to keep up with industry trends or just to stay ‘fresh’ and vibrant. For these companies, the ability to easily change templates but maintain the content and navigation will enable them to be more dynamic. To quantify this, you could calculate the number of hours spent on your current site to make a change to the look and feel to calculate your cost savings.
The numbers are definitely important, but each of these items has an emotional attachment. How much would your CEO like to brag about an exceptional customer experience or a dynamic site that is vibrant and ever-changing? These are the strategic benefits that a web content management system can provide and they are the talking points. These strategic items will be discussed around the water cooler. They will be the components celebrated at the launch party. So weave them into your business plan, quantify them as best as you can, and talk about them. Make the decision makers really want a new web content management system to take your company to the next level.
As Robert Fulghum said ““… dreams are more powerful than facts - hope always triumphs over experience.” If you can appeal to the Executive hopes and dreams, you can leave the room with a “YES.” Or in keeping with the theme of this blog, a “You betcha!”
Monday, February 15, 2010
Building a Web Content Management Business Case Part 2 of 3
One of the questions that we are often asked by our prospects is ‘how do I build a business case to support the purchase of a Web Content Management system?’ Here is a three part series on one method that could be employed. The first metric that we looked at was Revenue. The second metric that logically follows is to evaluate Cost.
Cost, productivity and headcount savings are critical measures to include in a business case as they tend to be the highest valued metrics within the organization. Everyone loves revenue projections, but skeptical management, particularly with a background in IT, is naturally going to gravitate towards cost savings as a more reliable and achievable metric.
Will a new Web Content Management system result in cost savings? You betcha. Here are several easily quantifiable data points to consider:
1. A better site, operating in an infrastructure with a single stack will be less expensive because it will require fewer resources and less expensive resources to maintain. This measurement is relevant if you are operating today with many disparate systems that are cobbled together. You lose productivity because experts in one system may not be able to provide support in another, so you have to have more resources with different specialties. The more systems that are in use, the more complex the environment and therefore, the more expensive the IT resources that will be required to maintain it. A simple system with a single architecture will be less expensive. Period.
2. A better site will reduce costs in customer support because it will empower users with more customer self-service capabilities via the web site. This measurement speaks to the ability for customers and partners to be able to open, track, update and close trouble tickets via the web, as opposed to calling a call center and speaking to a customer support rep to log a ticket. This is just one example of how customer self-service can reduce costs and you may have other examples that make the metric even more compelling.
3. A better site will be less expensive because the time and brain-power to manage integration points with other software will be reduced due to a common platform. This measurement is very real and often overlooked when preparing a business case. If you have three content management systems and you purchase lead management software or a CRM system, you will need to integrate those purchases with each of your content management systems. That is expensive, time-consuming and can lead to costly mistakes. You don’t want to be the company who loses web leads because the integration point with your lead management platform broke down and took weeks to discover.
4. A better site will be less expensive due to automated content expiration and triggering updates via workflow, rather than manually auditing content (or not auditing at all). This measurement could be a ‘soft’ cost unless you have headcount dedicated to auditing your site. But the value is critical. With a web content management system, you can design workflow that alerts a business owner that their content is stale and due for a refresh. You can also establish business rules that ‘expire’ content automatically after an event or a certain time period has passed. The value of this can easily be under-stated because the cost of old, tired content reflects poorly on the whole customer experience.
5. A better infrastructure will allow users to create smaller content units that can be stored and re-used beyond the web site. This item speaks to the heart of the web content management value proposition. How many places do you save your key messaging? And when it is updated, how many places do you have to make that change to ensure it is reflected across the board? We have great customer stories where the re-use of content units is done remarkably well. Key messaging points are saved in the web content management platform and fed to the web site and data sheets and event descriptions from a single source. So when the messaging changes, with one update, so do all of the impacted assets. This too can be hard to quantify, but if you look at the hours and cost involved in creating collateral and you consider how much content re-use would reduce that time, you should be able to create a defensible cost savings number.
These five metrics will apply to most organizations, but there are other measures that might apply to your Web Content Management business case as well. If you are hosting the site externally, or paying a 3rd party to manage or monitor your site, or if you have out-sourced translations or localization issues, these costs can contribute as well. The best place to start is to review your P&L or your historical POs. Where are you spending money to support your web site? Could those costs be reduced with a web content management system that was easy to maintain, update, audit and integrate? My guess is that you will say “You betcha!” and be able to build a compelling business case based on significant cost savings.
Our final installation in this series will discuss the strategic goals and how to incorporate those into your business case. Stay tuned…
Cost, productivity and headcount savings are critical measures to include in a business case as they tend to be the highest valued metrics within the organization. Everyone loves revenue projections, but skeptical management, particularly with a background in IT, is naturally going to gravitate towards cost savings as a more reliable and achievable metric.
Will a new Web Content Management system result in cost savings? You betcha. Here are several easily quantifiable data points to consider:
1. A better site, operating in an infrastructure with a single stack will be less expensive because it will require fewer resources and less expensive resources to maintain. This measurement is relevant if you are operating today with many disparate systems that are cobbled together. You lose productivity because experts in one system may not be able to provide support in another, so you have to have more resources with different specialties. The more systems that are in use, the more complex the environment and therefore, the more expensive the IT resources that will be required to maintain it. A simple system with a single architecture will be less expensive. Period.
2. A better site will reduce costs in customer support because it will empower users with more customer self-service capabilities via the web site. This measurement speaks to the ability for customers and partners to be able to open, track, update and close trouble tickets via the web, as opposed to calling a call center and speaking to a customer support rep to log a ticket. This is just one example of how customer self-service can reduce costs and you may have other examples that make the metric even more compelling.
3. A better site will be less expensive because the time and brain-power to manage integration points with other software will be reduced due to a common platform. This measurement is very real and often overlooked when preparing a business case. If you have three content management systems and you purchase lead management software or a CRM system, you will need to integrate those purchases with each of your content management systems. That is expensive, time-consuming and can lead to costly mistakes. You don’t want to be the company who loses web leads because the integration point with your lead management platform broke down and took weeks to discover.
4. A better site will be less expensive due to automated content expiration and triggering updates via workflow, rather than manually auditing content (or not auditing at all). This measurement could be a ‘soft’ cost unless you have headcount dedicated to auditing your site. But the value is critical. With a web content management system, you can design workflow that alerts a business owner that their content is stale and due for a refresh. You can also establish business rules that ‘expire’ content automatically after an event or a certain time period has passed. The value of this can easily be under-stated because the cost of old, tired content reflects poorly on the whole customer experience.
5. A better infrastructure will allow users to create smaller content units that can be stored and re-used beyond the web site. This item speaks to the heart of the web content management value proposition. How many places do you save your key messaging? And when it is updated, how many places do you have to make that change to ensure it is reflected across the board? We have great customer stories where the re-use of content units is done remarkably well. Key messaging points are saved in the web content management platform and fed to the web site and data sheets and event descriptions from a single source. So when the messaging changes, with one update, so do all of the impacted assets. This too can be hard to quantify, but if you look at the hours and cost involved in creating collateral and you consider how much content re-use would reduce that time, you should be able to create a defensible cost savings number.
These five metrics will apply to most organizations, but there are other measures that might apply to your Web Content Management business case as well. If you are hosting the site externally, or paying a 3rd party to manage or monitor your site, or if you have out-sourced translations or localization issues, these costs can contribute as well. The best place to start is to review your P&L or your historical POs. Where are you spending money to support your web site? Could those costs be reduced with a web content management system that was easy to maintain, update, audit and integrate? My guess is that you will say “You betcha!” and be able to build a compelling business case based on significant cost savings.
Our final installation in this series will discuss the strategic goals and how to incorporate those into your business case. Stay tuned…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
