Business

April 2011 Company Update

Its been a while since I’ve provided an update.  So, this one will be a bit lengthy.

Sales:
Sales continues to lead the way for our business.  The balance of multi-year programs, projects and software is right where we want it for Q1.  Here are some stats on our sales for Q1 2011:

• Quarter 1 sales were up 60% over our pervious highest Q1 sales ever.
• Program Sales (55%), Project Sales (45%) and Software Sales (5%).
• Pipeline >$45m

We are definitely getting a tighter focus on what we’re selling and our filters for the “perfect client”.  Look for more iterations here.

Revenue:
Revenue follows sales.  Since both Q4 2010 and Q1 2011 were best in class quarters for Crown, so too follows revenue.  To that end, revenue for Q1 2011 is up 40% over 2010.  This is above our targets (quite substantially), and where we need it to get back to our Inc500/5000 gazelle like growth to which we’re accustomed.  Considering our goal to double the business by 2013, we’re well on our way.  Again, here are some stats:

• Q1 Software revenue on par with our best Q1 ever.
• Our backlog is almost 10 fold better than it was in Q1 2010.  Credit to our multi-year programs
• Recurring revenue is nearly 20% of our business.  Remember, our goal is to have this at 50% by 2013.

Business Strategy:
We’ve spent more than a year working on our business strategy, initiatives and 90 day “20 for the 80” tasks to drive our business forward.  We will continue to  iterate the specifics of our strategy, but our focus of “driving digital advantage” for our customers won’t change.  The two main areas we’re succeeding in our vision include:

• Global 2000 (G2K) clients where we’re standardizing and building out their technical infrastructure in support of their larger business initiatives (Web, Commerce, Performance Management, Information Management)
• Mid Market ($50m - $1b) clients where we’re wrapping eBusiness Strategy, Marketing (Digital and Traditional) and Technology into a multi-year program.  The focus here is to help transform their business leveraging technology in support of a higher-order business strategy to better broadcast, interact, transact and ultimately captivate their customers.

We have a nice balance of B-B (Business to Business) and B-C (Business to Consumer) clients with great value propositions for both.

Culture
Crown Camp 2011 went a long way towards furthering our culture.  While culture is tough to put a fine point on, I believe our DRIVE values go a long way towards describing it (Dedication, Relevance, Integrity, Vigilance, Evolve).  We’ve integrated DRIVE into our hiring and performance evaluation process and I believe is it really helping to identify the types of folks that we want to surround ourselves with.  Culture isn’t something you can dictate.  But, it is something we all can guide.  Let’s think Zappos when we think about how we can continue to make Crown the best place to have a career.  Its the passion of the folks that work here that defines who we are, and what we will become.

To this end, I’m reminded of a discussion I had with a good friend of mine just recently.  We were having breakfast at Starbucks and he was asking me for career advice.  He’s a very successful financial advisor, but is always looking for that better job or opportunity.  My advice to him was that he probably had the best opportunity right under his nose, but would never realize it until he applied himself 110% to it.  You see, most people only put in just enough to get by at their job, and spend as much time as possible making sure they are at the right place, or looking for something better, or something else outside of their profession.  This lack of focus, while only a small amount of time, is a huge drain on the passion and commitment they exude.  As a result, they are seen as a hard worker, but not a “game changer” and never really do anything great where they CURRENTLY are.  My advice to him was to try focusing for a minimum of 12 months on his current opportunity, applying himself whole-heartedly and watch how the opportunities open up for him right where he is.  I sometimes see this here with folks at Crown.  Everybody here has the potential to be a Game Changer for Crown (and I really mean it).  Its the ones with the passion and commitment, never second-guessing, who are the ones who get more out of Crown than they put in.  It seems a bit counter intuitive, and maybe that is why it isn’t so obvious…

Offices
We’re settling in on Dallas, Denver and Dayton.  We’re about to expand our presence in Dallas with a few thousand square feet.  Kyle, Chip and a few new folks will find themselves co-locating in the new offices.  Denver has some great office space (but look for some updates to reflect our new values, vision and market positioning).  Dayton.  Well, we’re growing out of our space.  We’ve been approved by the state of OH for some sizable incentives to maintain our HQ here.  To that end, we’re on the hunt for a new facility.  My current vision is to create a world-class, Facebook like, corporate HQ that will be sufficient for growing a $100m business (I know this is bigger than our 2013 goals, but we’ll need a new goal once we reach 2013)!  You all will have a say in what this space looks like and how it is laid out.  Think: open, collaborative, next generation, new age, world class, and any other adjective that fits this sequence.  It will definitely be a place that you will be proud to say you work, your clients will be impressed by, and will position us to continue competing with the Boston Consulting | Ogilvy | Accentures of the world.

Infrastructure

• We’re investing in 2 very important pieces of infrastructure for the future of Crown. 
• SAP: We just went live with SAP to run CRM, Finance, BI and PSA.  This huge endeavor will position us for the growth we expect over the coming years.  Huge kudos to all involved. 
• Crown Cloud Architecture:  Our mid market clients are asking (begging) us to build out a cloud based architecture which they can leverage to outsource their eBusiness.  We’re responding with our own Reference Architecture that can be sold by the slice, integrated with other SaaS offerings, and most importantly, be leveraged immediately by clients that want to “transform themselves digitally” yesterday.  Crown’s Cloud architecture will ONLY be offered to clients who engage with Crown in larger eBusiness, digital transformation, programs.

Making a difference in our clients businesses
My goal is to be making a difference in our clients’ businesses for 100% of the work we do.  I’d like to be effecting business strategy, revenue and profitability for each and every one of them.  If you don’t know how you are doing this for your client, I challenge you to figure it out and position Crown to do more with them.  We’re making great strides with many of our new clients in this area.  Look for specific case-studies and Crown “triumphs” to be published soon.
That’s all I have for now.  I’ll make a commitment to provide more frequent, less verbose updates in the near future. 

I leave you with the two quotes on opposing walls in the entrance to the offices here in Dayton:

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them”. — Walt Disney
”You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one”. — James A Froude

Until next time…

Richard