New Year = new chance

As this year is coming to an end it's time to fully focus on the new year. The new year has new opportunities, new chances. Many things will be what you make out of them chances or threats, so make the best out of them. Happy New Year!

Short, mid and long term solutions

Are you working on multiple solutions to the same problem at the same time? What I'm refering to is that you have a short term business goal where you don't require any IT help. A mid term goal where you have very limited IT help and then you have the ideal long term solution that is provided by your IT Team. In many cases these solutions are quite different from each other. The challenge with this approach is that short + mid term solutions tend to hang around much longer than expected. Are you using this approach in your company? If yes, how is that working for you? While it is necessary in some cases to follow this approach I do not consider this a valid default approach. What is holding you back from aligning the short, mid and long term solutions into one solution?
In many cases the missing action is a decision. Who is making the decisions regarding your different solutions? Are these the same or different people? Is the communication and training effort worth developing different solutions? To focus only on one solution is much more effective in many ways (e.g. development effort, training effort, communication etc.) and therefore you might want to resist the temptation to always work on multiple solutions.

Do something new!

If you want to stand out in whatever you do you have to do something new. In business that means that when you seek opportunities you should invest your resources in new areas of a business because these areas are neglected and uncontested. When everyone is doing it then it is a standard and no longer good enough to differentiate yourself. To do this is not easy but well worth the effort because instead of following the market you can create your own market. This obviously has some challenges as well because you can't hide behind someone or something. You also need to have a strong personal drive and considerable confidence in your ideas. Generally many of us like to be judged by how well we do compared to others. I think it is good when you try to stop that urge and instead try to differeniate yourself from the group around you. Is it better for you to be No 5 in a large pool of players or do you prefer to be No 1 in a small pool? I don't think there is a right or wrong answer here by the way, it's a personal decision.
If your answer is that you prefer to be the No 1 player then you are in good company with many successful people. We don't have to be geniuses that transform the world every day but if you can find a way to make yourself more unique you will help yourself and the environment around you.