Are you fiscally responsible? If not…

Ways to Be Fiscally Responsible when Spending “Use It or Lose It” Budget for 2018

Julie Windsor of Talentia Software UK recently discussed the budget reform that’s happening around the globe. Over the past several years, budget reform has impacted many companies as business leaders seek to minimize or eliminate the wasteful spending done at the end of the budget year.  This term has been coined in government circles as “March Madness:”

“Governmental departments are renowned for their ‘March madness’ fervour – where annual cash allocation is spent in full during the financial year, normally towards the end, in case future funding is reduced. … A report by Jeffrey B. Liebman and Neale Mahoney found that end-of-year spending is generally of a lower quality. The two researchers were able to demonstrate that the rush to get projects over the line before the end of the financial period will frequently result in a drop in standards.” 

– Julie Windsor, Managing Director at Talentia Software UK 

Whether or not you work for a government agency, spending your budget in a fiscally responsible way is something every company’s leadership wants to see. But, how do you balance your budget needs, be responsible in your spending, yet ensure that you have flexible spending for the following year?

As a Cincom Smalltalk™ partner or customer, there are several ways in which you can wisely spend that budget while improving the value and profitability of your company or application:

• Product Upgrades
  Don’t risk a critical upgrade to a learn-as-you-go, in-house approach. Our senior consultants know the small, impossible-to-document steps that make the difference between an unresolved task and a completed process.
• Mentoring
  It’s easy to learn the basics of installing and using Cincom Smalltalk. But the most productive use is best achieved through customized mentoring for your experience level, developed to meet your needs.
• Troubleshooting
  Whether it’s identifying and resolving a processing glitch or improving a performance drag, we have experts who can work with you remotely and/or on-site to re-create the problem and then provide an alternative viable approach.
• Performance Enhancement
  A performance-enhancement service reveals how a team is using Cincom Smalltalk, which aspects of the tool they are not using and how they could energize so many more existing capabilities.
• Migrations
  Cincom Services can move your application suite to the most productive Cincom Smalltalk programming environment, giving you fully scalable, web-based and client-server development enhancements.
• Proof of Concept
  Not sure if Cincom® ObjectStudio® or Cincom® VisualWorks® is the tool you need? An on-site proof of concept using your data and meeting your business goals will provide that last element of confirmation.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be sharing a few examples of some specific ways you can wisely spend your year-end budget in a fiscally responsible way. Suzanne Fortman, the Cincom Smalltalk Program Director and Engineering Manager recently discussed this valuable topic fresh off of a customer meeting. Watch part one of Suzanne’s interview here:

Share Your Thoughts about North American Camp Smalltalk Events

Organizers of Camp Smalltalk events throughout North America would love your input. If you have ideas about event locations or you have a current meetup or camp-style event already scheduled and you’d like to see a bunch of Smalltalkers join your event, please add your feedback to the comments section in the survey linked below. Your input will help conference organizers put together the right kind of events you want to attend and bring friends to.

• Click here for the survey.