A World Class Company: Shackleton's Journey Begins Here

Written by Steve Ross

I speak with businesses on a daily basis and, while it’s a regular part of my working life, it’s always fascinating to hear how business owners are working to improve their organisations. IT is an issue which is frequently top priority for all my clients and, as you might expect, we’re pretty good at helping out in this area.

But as an owner of a business, you’re always fighting the great conundrum: time spent “working in the business” versus “working on the business”. This constant juggling act can give you sleepless nights and it’s always difficult to get the balance right. Thoughts like, “I need to make in-house improvements”, swirl around my head with others like, “I need to get to more networking events”, almost every waking hour – and all with the same end in mind: making my business better.

World class company anyone?

At Shackleton, we are always looking to improve, both as individuals and as a business. No one seriously sets out to create an ordinary business and we are no exception. Because ordinary is boring… right?

Shackleton has set out on a journey to become “World-Class”. It’s a goal which, at first glance, seems unachievable - for a number of reasons: what does “world class” really mean? What are we going to have to do to reach that level?

We think we have the answer to those questions: aspiring to become a worldclass IT Managed Service Provider involves following a co-ordinated methodology - and we’re about to take our first steps on what promises to be a thrilling new phase of our business.

The hard work starts here

The work has already begun: we’ve just completed a full analysis of our business practices (which included our own IT systems). Of course, we’re always working to be “best-in-class” in any context and, while we were pleased to see many areas of our organisation already pushing towards our “world class” goal, the review showed us that there was still work to be done in others. We believe the coming journey will kick our entire business into top gear, inspiring everyone to reach for that next level of professional performance.

While it’s going to involve hard work, all the knowledge and experience we are gaining can only help us and our clients succeed. In speaking with other professional decision makers (other owners, MDs, FDs and operations directors), we are developing a much greater understanding of business needs - more specifically, of the needs of their business. Since this happens before we go anywhere near technology, the strategy allows us to provide our clients with the high standard of business solution they have come to expect from us… Now, we want to deliver even more.

Do you believe your organisation should be striving to become “world class”? Perhaps you already feel you’ve reached that stage? If you’re interested in finding out what it takes, I’ll be keep you updated on Shackleton’s journey as it unfolds.