Ready for 2012? – part 7

This is the 7th in a series of blog posts under the main headline “Ready for 2012?”

It is addressing the #1 headache of any growing Independent Software Vendor: How to predict, budget and meet revenue targets.

The objective of the blog posts is to outline a 2012 “preparation process” where you end up having a plan and a budget which is a stepping stone to a position as a the global market leader in the future and where the stakeholders are 100% aligned and committed to execute the plan and deliver the numbers for 2012.

The first post was about alignment and identification.  The need for having all stakeholders behind the plan.

The second post introduced the concept of organizational health and the need to get important stakeholder involved in the process.

The third post explained how you could actually perform an alignment & identification check.

The fourth post was about the revenue challenge. How do you predict and manage 50-100% growth rates.

The fifth post was about the fundamentals.  The business frameworks which must be in place before you can create major (predictable) growth.

The sixt post was about “The curse of reality and the 7 steps to “predictable” results”. How to build on facts, distinguish between reality and prejudices and learn from your experiences.

This post carries the title: 2012 – a step on the way to where?

Mission/Vision and the 3-5 year perspective

You company most likely has a Mission and a Vision. How does 2012 fit into this picture?  While the Mission and the Vision helps your people and stakeholders understand why they are working for your company and where you are heading, it is often very difficult to sustain that the 2012 plan/budget is the next logical step towards realizing your vision and living your mission.

Most stakeholders have a hard time comprehending anything beyond  the 3-5 year perspective.  If you are a small local player today it may be tough for your stakeholders to comprehend your vision of being a leading global player in the future.  Being the global player may mean that you will grow from your current 50 people to 5.000 people, from you current 100 customers to 2 million customers and from one office in one country to 25 offices in 15 countries.  As business leaders we find this exiting and challenging.  We are sitting on the “bridge” and are steering the ship through the unchartered waters. The folks on and under the deck see things differently. They wanna know when we dock in the next harbor, so they can have some fun.

The 3-5 year perspective should be fairly precise in terms of market position, market coverage, number of customers, people, offices, revenue, profit and other tangible measures, which are meaningful for your business.  Meeting the 3-5 year ambition should be a logical tangible milestone in fulfilling you vision.

2012 – the next step

Although we need missions/visions and 3-5 year prespectives execution is done one day at a time.  The budget and the positions we reach by the end of 2012 is what we can expect people to relate to here and now.  The 2012 plan will spell out what each person should do every day, week and month to make sure we all meet or exceed the 2012 objectives.

Post #8 in the “Ready for 2012?” series will be about the actual budgeting and planning process.