lavacon 2012: building profitability into your process


Also known as…

Building a Return on Investment through your Table of Contents

How to Build Profitability into Your Process

Technical Documentation as a Revenue Generator

Assessing Your Corporate Value

AND

$$$ SHOW ME THE MONEY $$$


ROI out of your TOC

TechPubs becomes the most pivotal department for a

company’s continued success.


What this presentation isn’t about

It’s not about cutting cost – This presentation discusses why and how you can show your value through demonstrating increased profitability.

It’s not about spreadsheets or formulas – Since every company has a financial or cost center, we’ll focus more on the how and why a company’s investment in TechPubs leads to improved internal and external customer experience which directly influences increased profitability.

It’s not about the procedures you use – It’s about why you use them. Check that your procedures align with a strategy that communicates your value.


What this presentation is about

It’s a mindset – This presentation is designed to build a mindset. ROI’s can be show through spreadsheets and metrics, but you have to understand the concept of revenue first to set up your environment.

It’s informative – Part of a revenue mindset is to look and discover value. How valuable is the information you work with and does it extend beyond process?

It’s educational – How do you incorporate a business strategy into a work flow? How do you execute this?

It’s challenging – You have to move out of your comfort zone to make it happen. The rewards can be great!

It’s an evolution – Technical Writers move into Knowledge Brokers.


So, why listen to us?

Emmelyn Wang

President, STC Austin

Sr. Technical Writer Consultant, High Tech Companies

Adjunct Professor, Austin Community College

Over 10 years of technical communication (TC) experience across industries. Impact includes communicating the value of quality teamwork, the work, and most importantly, the process.

Over 5 years of experience recruiting, hiring, training, and building teams both in the corporate world and for non-profits.

Christopher WardDirector of Sales, WebWorks

4 years of military service in Army Intelligence

Taught to separate procedure from strategy and to look at both differently

3 Years with Dell Computers

Applied analysis experience to business world


Every department has the same goals. Externally to improve the customer experience, internally it is to build value for the company.

Customers include both people internal to the organization as well as customers outside of the organization—basically anyone who is using the information you manage.

WebWorks was founded 20 years ago and innovates and empowers TC professionals to meet their clients' needs.

The Society for Technical Communication is an international non-profit that serves TC professionals in academia and in industry from a grassroots level.

Show how and why TC professionals can make a critical difference that is measurable in the company’s overall profitability.

Why is it important that you communicate the value of your work to help them move away from just focusing on cost reduction.

Why are WebWorks and STC Austin partnering?


Why Technical Writers need to evolve into Knowledge Brokers

…knowledge is now, and will be, the basic economic resource; value is created via productivity and innovation. The leading social groups will be knowledge workers, "who know how to allocate knowledge to productive use," and "practically all of these knowledge people will be employed in

organizations" (p.8). So "the economic challenge of the post-capitalist society will therefore be the productivity of knowledge work and the

knowledge worker”

Clay Spinuzzi's blogpost about post capitalistic societyhttp://spinuzzi.blogspot.com/search?q=knowledge+workers

http://spinuzzi.blogspot.com/search?q=knowledge+workers


Consider this…

The integrity of the content you provide as well as the accessibility and searchability of that content sits at the core value of your business model. These three factors positively impact a company’s profitability.

– White paper "Gaining the Data Edge: How ongoing data maintenance spurs growth" August 2012

“According to The Gartner Group, poor data quality negatively impacts a company’s bottom line by an average of $8.2 million annually in operational inefficiencies, lost sales and unrealized new opportunities.

In addition, a Forrester research study reveals that only 12 percent of companies actually use customer intelligence to drive key business functions and corporate strategy. That means that 88 percent are putting up with the waste, inefficiencies and lost opportunities that dirty data creates. Companies that commit to data quality use their knowledge of customers and prospects to maximize top-line and bottom-line results.”


Why Start with Business Strategy?

“The Evolution of Online Help” – white paper on help systems and how they are evolving to meet the need of the end user.

Short follow up survey asking technical communicators what the primary objectives of their technical writing roles were:

– 95% believed that technical communication is in need of evolution– 89% have seen change in technical communication throughout

their career– Top objective as a technical communicator:

• 49% weighed more heavily on being user friendly• 35% said to provide accurate information• 13% put importance on strategic business goals – of the 13% almost all

were tenured technical writers of more than 10 years, with only two falling in the 6 to 10 years of experience range


Why Start with Business Strategy?


Why Procedures Must Align with Strategy

The principle without the technique is useless. The technique without the principle is dangerous.

– George Ohsawa

Strategy/Principle

WHYReason: 1. Ayurvedic and Macrobiotic dietary principles to increase energy, stamina, and promote

natural healing.2. Run marathon without injury. Continuous running causes acute and long-term injuries.

Procedures/Technique

HOWMethod:1. Prepare vegan meals + focus on raw fruits and veggies, balance pH.2. Jeff Galloway’s method to slowly build up mileage by adding in walk breaks.


In the field


In the field with the new procedure


Dogfooding

How do I discover a strategy that makes sense for my procedure and vice versa?

Start small.

Find a venue to try out your ideas.

Set up a pilot program to understand how people, processes, and content fit together.

Value can be found in slight changes to interactions.

Continually think about the Big Picture.

Yes, this does sound Agile…


Porter’s General Strategies – apply to any company in any industry

Strategy

Cost Leadership

– Can you maintain number one?

– Continuously find ways of reducing Cost

– Too focused on cutting cost and can't react to customer's changing needs

Examples



Strategy

Differentiation Strategy

– Have to always be different from the competition (ecosystem)

– Have to be able to clearly deliver your value message

– Focusing efforts on a feature that does not provide value to the market

Examples



Strategy

Focus Strategy

– Company focuses on a niche market and develops products for that market only

– Can be either Differentiation, or Cost Leadership with focus on that niche market

– Same pitfalls of other strategy as well as missing the changes in the market

Examples


Technical Documentation can increase profitability no matter what strategy a

company decides on!


What does this mean for us?

Audience Poll

We must not get lost in our role alone. We must learn how to keep a 30,000 foot view.

Yes, this means that you will need to learn how to sell by properly scoping your work and building a business case for the value of your work. Once you’ve done your legwork, speak with authority and be confident about the value of your work.

You can’t ignore this, however…

Just like choosing the red or blue pill doesn’t change the fact that “the matrix” still exists.

The revenue mindset is a choice.


Technical content becomes pivotal to a company’s success. How? By supporting the overall business

strategy and retaining customers.

PRE-SALESEverything from the company website to architecture/manufacturing specs and proof of concepts (POC) to marketing collateral, technical documentation is what sales teams turn to to support their revenue generating endeavors.

Semiconductors – An advanced data brief may be the only POC a marketer has to get his/her chip built into an OEM board. Consumers – often look at technical documentation to influence purchasing behavior.

POST SALESCustomer service and support teams turn to technical documentation for answers to follow through on sales.

MAINTAINING CUSTOMER RELATIONS AND REFERRALSCustomers keep turning back to companies that provide accurate, accessible, searchable information and a responsive customer experience.


Total Customer Experience

Marketing – Addresses a specific audience, but not a specific problem. Just flashy enough to get someone’s attention and get out in front of someone. Total Customer Experience.

Sales – Drill down to needs specific to the customer’s environment and provide a solution to those needs.

Usage – 90% of the customer’s experience and responsible for promoting product value and customer loyalty to increase repeat business. During this phase of the process Help Documentation is the first opportunity a business will have to influence the customer and try to increase loyalty, product value and cut down on Customer Defection.


What Kind of Problem is Customer Defection?

The Harvard Business Review stated that the average business loses 50% of their customers every five years.

61% of consumers take their business to a competitor when they end a business relationship.

RightNow Technologies says 73% of customers leave because they are dissatisfied with customer service, but the company losing the customer thinks only 21% leave because of customer service.


What are the Benefits of Retaining Customers?

Acquiring new customers can cost as much as 5 times more than satisfying and retaining current customers.

A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%.

Reducing customer defection rate by 5% can increase profitability anywhere from 25% to 125% depending on the industry.


Linchpin

Seth Godin says...

The hard work is being brave enough to make a difference.

Until you name, recognize, and deal with the resistance (of what feels threatening, risky, or generous), you will stay frustrated.

Indispensable linchpins are not waiting for instructions, but instead, figuring out what do next. If you have a job where someone tells you what to do next, you've just given up the chance to create value.

If value is created by what you choose to do...deciding to overcome the anxiety (false fear) associated with leading and connecting is the choice that few are willing to make. Linchpins don't work in a vacuum. Your personality and attitude are more important than the actual work product you create, because indispensable work is work that is connected to others.


Do you follow me so far?

Technical Documentation becomes pivotal to a company’s success through supporting the overall business strategy and retaining customers

You have to have the proper workflow to do this

The proper workflow will allow for analysis of information, continuous improvement and customer involvement


Measure your Success!

A successful system will always have a way to measure success. SMART Goals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria#Developing_SMART_goals

SpecificMeasurableAttainableRelevantTime-bound

Historical data wins it for the long haul, so keep records! Quantify and Qualify.

Brag, Brag, Brag and when you are done brag some more.

Measure yourself through feedback mechanismsExample: Software Advice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria


How to Measure ROI through Social Channels“The Death of SEO: The Rise of Social, PR, and Real Content”

– Forbes

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenkrogue/2012/07/20/the-death-of-seo-the-rise-of-social-pr-and-real-content/

Likes• Comments• Shares• Clicks

Follows• Retweets• Mentions• Favorites

Views• Comments• Shares/Likes• Connections

Views•Subscribe•Comments•Favorites•PromotedBlog Views•Comments•Link Love•Shares•RSS Feed Subscriptions







Example of Increased End User Experience Through Analytics

Impact graph showing online help system deployed using WebWorks Reverb Help Format showing a nearly 100% increase in page views over company’s Wiki documentation and nearly 400% increase over traditional online html help system over six week period.

Reverb Help included Google Search integration and consideration for search engine performance, including page specific parameters.


In Closing

Today, Technical Publications becomes the most pivotal department in a company’s Success

Technical Documentation can increase profitability no matter what strategy the company decides on, with the proper workflow and the mindset of a KNOWLEDGE BROKER.

Measure your success.

It’s your choice…


Follow Me

Email address: [email protected]

Twitter: @WebWorksChris

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WebWorksChris

Company Facebook: www.facebook.com/WebWorksePublisher.

My Blog: http://blogs.webworks.com/christopher/

Email address: [email protected]

LinkedIn:http://www.linkedin.com/in/emmelyn

Twitter: @LifeWingmate

Google+:[email protected]

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/emmelyn.w

Corporate Blog: http://www.dovetailsoftware.com/blog/emmelyn

Emmelyn WangChristopher Ward

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.facebook.com/WebWorksChris

https://www.facebook.com/WebWorksChris

http://www.facebook.com/WebWorksePublisher

http://www.facebook.com/WebWorksePublisher

http://blogs.webworks.com/christopher/

http://blogs.webworks.com/christopher/




http://www.linkedin.com/in/emmelyn


http://www.facebook.com/emmelyn.w

http://www.dovetailsoftware.com/blog/emmelyn

http://www.dovetailsoftware.com/blog/emmelyn


Question & Answer


Appendix


Presentation Terms

Techpubs – technical documentation departments.

Technical Documentation – content that has already been vetted to deliver the intended message.

Technical Documentation Process – The Workflow that includes processes and procedures to gather, develop and deliver Technical Documentation.

Technical Content – the core technical content before and or after a tech writer curates/publishes.

Information – all communications produced and collected by a company, (verbal and non-verbal) for the purpose of technical content.

Content Creation – the process of turning information in to technical content.

Pre-Publishing – the process of determining how to display content on a specific medium.

Publishing – delivering content to the intended user.

Next Slide – leaving this slide and finally starting the presentation with the topic of Business Strategy.


Posted the results and asked Why

Posted the results to Technical Writing World and here were some comments:

“I think that it takes time for new technical writers to understand how their day-to-day work impacts business goals, and to make the connections necessary to be in the loop regarding those goals. Veterans are more likely to be in management positions where they must focus directly on budgets, politics, and the interests of the corporation as a whole. If we flip this on its head, perhaps the data indicates that technical writers can further their careers by focusing more on strategic goals.”

What your results perhaps show is the more experienced tech writers are more likely to get that, but the fact that that number is only 13% is actually pretty terrifying for the future of the profession. If it wants to stay relevant, tech pubs has to start thinking of itself as a business process.

http://technicalwritingworld.com/forum/topics/the-true-objective-of-a-technical-writer-does-strategy-even




Big Data to Create 1.9M Jobs in U.S. by 2015 But there aren’t enough skilled people to fill the jobs, say Gartner analyst. There were a lot of reasons for Gartner researchers to give a gloomy economic outlook at its Symposium/ITxpo conference, especially after the latest round of quarterly reports from Intel, IBM and others. But the picture painted by Peter Sondergaard, Gartner's head of research, was upbeat in a surprising way. Gartner isn't revising its global IT growth forecast significantly, which remains down from the initial expectations for this year. But Garter's relatively flat revenue forecast isn't being carried over to jobs, at least in one sector of IT: big data. Big data, which refers to data collected and analyzed from every imaginable source, is becoming an engine of job creation as businesses discover ways to turn data into revenue, says Gartner. By 2015, it is expected to create 4.4 million IT jobs globally, of which 1.9 million will be in the U.S. Applying an economic multiplier to those jobs, Gartner expects that each big data IT job added to the economy will create employment for three more people outside the tech industry in the U.S., adding six million jobs to the economy. That's the kind of estimate that presidential candidates, if they focused on IT's impact on the economy instead of fossil fuel fracking and pipelines, might jump on. But Sondergaard's estimate included a caveat - namely, that there's a shortage of skilled workers. (continued on next slide)

From ITJobCafe with updated statistics that support Dr. Clay Spinuzzi's knowledge worker ideas in a post-capitalistic society:


(…continued from previous slide)

Only a third of the big data jobs will be filled. 'There is not enough talent in the industry,' said Sondergaard. '[Education] is failing us.' Griff Law, the CTO of Northeast Georgia Health System, said it is difficult to fill data analytics jobs, and IT jobs in general. 'From a healthcare perspective, I can certainly see the demand,' said Law, noting that his company has had 15 open positions for the last six months. About six of those jobs involve data analytics, whether as business analysts who can use BI and big data analytics tools or clinical analysts, who, in addition to IT skills, are helped by data skills. The company also has openings requiring other types of IT skills, including network engineers. This push by businesses to make money from their digitizing efforts will lead to new types of jobs in the next few years, specifically, chief digital officers.

(continued on next slide…)

...continued


(…continued from previous slide)

By 2015, Gartner predicts that 25% of organizations will have a chief digital officer. Overall, Gartner expects IT spending to rise to $3.7 trillion worldwide next year, a 3.8% increase over this year. But that growth projection has been a moving target, especially with major vendors facing an uncertain economy. The clearest indication of how that uncertainty weighs on companies came not from the IT sector, but from McDonald's Corp. CEO, Don Thompson. 'When the economic crisis began in 2008, few people thought the environment would still be as uncertain and fragile as it is today,' said Thompson, according to a transcript of his remarks on Seeking Alpha. 'It is clear however that this operating environment is the new normal,' he said. If people aren't buying $1 fries, will their appetite for electronics suffer as well? IBM cited an overall slowdown in consumer spending in its most recent earnings report. In the third quarter, IBM generated $24.7 billion in revenue, down 5% from the same quarter in 2011. Meanwhile, Intel reported a $2.97 billion profit in its latest quarter, compared to $3.47 billion in the same quarter last year. Intel CEO Paul Otellini blamed the economy. AMD also noted economic concerns last week when it said it was laying off 1,800 of its 11,813 employees. 'The PC industry is going through a period of very significant change that is impacting both the ecosystem and AMD,' CEO Rory Read said in a statement. Still, Gartner says consumer demand for tech devices continues to rise. In 1980, consumers spent less than 1% of their discretionary budget on technology; it's about 3.5%.

(Courtesy: Patrick Thibodeau Computerworld)

...continued


Image Credits

Be Socialhttps://help.github.com/

Collaboration is everythinghttp://www.peoplesfreespace.org/vision.html

CrosswordCenter for Corporate Leadership: Boston College Carroll School of Managementhttp://blogs.bcccc.net/2009/06/conquering-the-challenge-of-business-education-collaboration/

Don't Give Up Trying to Find Your Way...http://pinterest.com/pin/186547609535621975/

Red Pill, Blue Pillhttp://captionsearch.com/pix/thumb/al45blfhqk-t.jpghttp://www.agilitrix.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/redblue_pill.jpg

What Makes Good Information Design?http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2009/11/10/the-visual-miscellaneum/

https://help.github.com/

http://www.peoplesfreespace.org/vision.html

http://blogs.bcccc.net/2009/06/conquering-the-challenge-of-business-education-collaboration/

http://blogs.bcccc.net/2009/06/conquering-the-challenge-of-business-education-collaboration/

http://captionsearch.com/pix/thumb/al45blfhqk-t.jpg

http://www.agilitrix.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/redblue_pill.jpg

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2009/11/10/the-visual-miscellaneum/

lavacon 2012: building profitability into your process

Technology