February 29th, an Extra Day. How will you use it?
It’s great to have an extra day every 1461 days, but business moves fast now, how could you get more additional days?
Today’s date, February 29th always makes me smile. Imagine being the guy who has to write the “This Day in
History” column, which today is four time harder than usual. Likewise the “Famous Birthdays” section has particularly slim pickings: step forward Rossini, composer of The Barber of Seville and Hollerith, inventor of the Punched Card. We could all head down to Anthony, Texas which is the self-styled Leap Day Capital.
In The Pirates of Penzance, the plot turns on the fact that the hero, Frederic is born on the 29th February, and is therefore not able to be released from his apprenticeship at the usual age of 21 since “You are the victim of this clumsy arrangement, if we go by birthdays you’re only five and a little bit over”. The “clumsy arrangement” is of course due to the fact that the ratio of two particular astronomical values, does not yield a whole number. Emperors, Popes and The Astronomer Royal have all tried to come up with an arrangement, and today is the result.
Do you see yourself as the victim on benefactor of “this clumsy arrangement”? This reflects somewhat on whether you see yourself as a proletariat or a bourgeoisie. Workers have realised that every leap year, they have to work one extra day for no extra pay. But hard-pressed quota-carrying sales folks get an extra additional 24 hours to achieve their monthly or quarterly goals. So lets be positive, it’s not month end yet, what should you do with your extra day? I’d suggest some blue-sky thinking about the speed of change.
It’s all about Time
So, we can’t wait for four years to get a day for free. What can we do to get more time? Individuals, businesses, and societies are interconnecting in real time. This is creating a new digital economy that is more collaborative, intelligent, responsive, and efficient – with the potential for dramatic increases in productivity and economic value.
More Time With Customers
We’d all like to spend more quality time with our customers, but much of a sales teams time is spent on internal tasks such as keeping a Sales Force Automation tool up to date, and customer service is fighting fires rather than being a strategic part of the sales organisation. SAP’s Cloud for Customer allows you to gain a 360° view of customers to understand their needs in any given moment and use real-time customer analytics and predictive insight. This means that your interactions are more accurate, timely and you allow your sales people to do spend their time where it really counts.
Reducing Supply Chain Cycles
Today’s business runs faster than ever, and engaging efficiently with your supply chain is critical. Poor information leads to slower product life cycles, unhappy customers and increased inventory. Cloud-based business networks that connect employees, customers, partners, and suppliers are creating unprecedented opportunities for performance improvements
Cutting back-office wasted time
All employees can be more productive by taking back-office tasks away and automating them. Whether in Procurement, Finance or Human Resources efficiency is critical in keeping staff focused on value-added activities, not dealing with inefficient processes or poor data.
Improving Time To Value
No-one has time for big, slow IT implementations any more. Get up and running quickly and cost-effectively with subscription-based cloud solutions. SAP Cloud Solutions offers a full range of cloud computing solutions along with services to help you get up and running quickly.
Next time February 29th makes an appearance, it will be the Year beloved by cricket fans and opticians, 2020. Will you be ready, will you finally have the time you need?