SPECIAL

Embrace Disruption

Objects and furnishings flying about office4 questions you’ll have to face.

By Jody Padar

With revolutionary change, comes disruption. You knew that, right? The three laws of disruption say that:

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  1. Disruption comes to us all. So, if you’re reading this, you’re going to be disrupted. Congratulations, that’s a good thing!
  2. Disruption comes because of changes in the product-market fit.
  3. There are only three methods to change the product-market fit.


Drum roll, please (the three methods)

  1. We can change the product so that it’s a better fit with the target market.
  2. We could change the target market so that it’s a better fit with the product.
  3. We could change people’s preferences so that they value the product more.

The only answer for us accountants is… we have to change our product so that it fits with the new target market.

We don’t have an opportunity to change the target market. We cannot make next-generation business owners move backwards.

It’s already moving, so number two is not really an option for us.

Finally, we can’t change people’s preferences so that they like our product more. Come on.

Transitioning into a “New Firm” will kick up dust in your current processes and disruption will be in the air. How will your “New Firm” business model gain management support in an anytime-any­where environment? What will it look like if some of your team is remote? How are you going to support your staff and your admin­istration? Or what if you decide to become a virtual office? There are a lot of people who run virtual firms, but even if you decide to run one you have to figure out what that specifically means for your team.

Once you start value pricing, how will you compensate your employees? They pick up the notion of value very quickly. After you start selling on value, it is hard to pay on time-based work.

This disrupts it all, right? How will your staff account for time if they’re doing work at 9:30 p.m. and you can’t see them? This is disruptive and that’s why you have to rethink everything you have ever known to be true. This is the hard part. After all, it disrupts the 9 to 5 workday!

Some questions you will now face:

  • Will you have office hours, or are you comfortable with flexible schedules as long as the work gets done?
  • Can employees work remotely from an alternative device?
  • How will you compensate employees for this “always on” position?
  • Will you still pay an hourly rate, or for a percentage of a completed product?