Hi All

We missed a couple of months back end of last year on the newsletter so, in keeping with a new years resolution, I am delighted to share the January edition of 2019.  Only 11 months left in 2019 already!

It was good to get our end of year presentation shared with you all, I think it sets out our plans for 2019 and beyond, it is an ever-changing landscape, but I guess this is business and life in general.

One of the five points we discussed at the end of year presentation was change and how it is a constant in our daily lives.  How we manage it and use it is within our gift, so rather than see change as an enemy, I prefer to see it as an opportunity. That’s not to make small of change nor indeed say it is easy, but from a mindset point of view, if we are approaching change from a negative angle it makes it more difficult again.

It is a pity to see some folks have moved on or are in the process of doing so, all for differing reasons and we wish those that are unwell speedy recoveries.  It is easier with a full team to pick from!

Our plan for 2019 and beyond is ambitious and will challenge us, but it is also realistic

To achieve a combined turnover between Concurrent and Honeycomb or €10M by the end of 2022. The planned currency denomination may need adjusting given the fun of Brexit, but we will update and develop the plan as we go.

From a number and forecast point of view, the year has started well.  Typically, we do over 50% of a quarter’s sales number in the last month of the quarter and sometimes at that, 50% of that number is done in the last couple of weeks of the month.  That being the case it is encouraging that we are 33% towards what is a best endeavour target of $300K to PTC this Q. $260K would be a good achievement. It is also interesting to note the changing shape of our forecast to PTC. Not too long also CAD would have been 80% plus of our number, so it is encouraging to see that evolve into PLM and IoT.

On the GP (income to the business) side we are seeing a good upswing on subscriptions and their negative impact on the numbers last year are beginning to have a positive impact this year.  Laura is doing a sterling job on that front supported by Manny and all around her.

Recruitment Drive

Both Nick and Manny are on a recruitment drive, the various roles are advertised here:  

https://www.concurrent-engineering.co.uk/careers#manager

Please like / share on the various social media platforms.  We have taken a policy not to work with recruitment agencies for now so our recruitment drive is a DIY approach, which we believe will give us more consistent results.

Brexit Update

The Brexit circus continues to hold centre stage and if there is any positive from it one way or another, the circus will be left town in its current guise, by end of March.  I jest when I say “circus” as the potential impact of it for business generally, is huge. Without getting dragged into a debate about its overall merit, the current situation is not good generally and the current instability needs to be given due attention.  I have attended a number of talks and discussions on its short term impact and have gleaned somewhat of an understand where there might be risks for the business. I stress might, as nothing is really clear right now. Also, I would refer back to my earlier point about, where there is change there is an opportunity: it's about how we view it.

Our business does not have the headaches that some of our customers will have.  Those manufacturing physical product, dealing with supply chain, import/export are facing great uncertainty.  I read just last night that Eurotunnel has spent over £25M putting measures in place for what “might be” post the end of March.  It seems a crazy situation and a lot of money if the eventuality does not pan out.  Many of our customers are in the same boat.

From our own point of view, the possible primary risks are somewhat out of our control.  They are:

• Appetite for our products and services are impacted negatively by general sentiment.

• This can be offset by looking at new/different value streams for our customers/prospects.

• Currency fluctuations: the pound versus the dollar and euro.

I am a great believer in “where there is adversity, there is an opportunity”, our challenge is to find it.

On a personal level, I hope my regular commutes to the Concurrent office do not become laboursome because of border control.  At the moment I can leave my home in Southwest Ireland and be in the Concurrent office in less than 4 hours. Whatever the outcome, we will monitor and adjust as required.

So, one month into 2019 and all to play for.  Change is a constant, the road ahead is not always well signposted but if we stick to our core values, we can have some confidence in achieving our goals.

Suggestion Box

This has been in the making for a while and its launch date is a reflection on me, rather than its two architects Chris and Adrian.  A big thanks to both of them for their input on what I think will be a very useful tool to help us all get on the same page. I am constantly aware of the ongoing dialogue and discussions around the various aspects of developing the business and executing on plans.  Part of our collective challenge in that is that we use anecdotal and one-off incident to form opinions on what could or should be done. Generally speaking, decisions made in that environment are not sound. We should have some info/data to help with key decisions and we are making good tracks on that.  The sales side of the business is well ahead in this regard in that key metrics of good/bad and indifferent are well defined. It is less so on the delivery and support side and this can lead to subjective discussions and opinions. Don’t get me wrong, they are good and helpful also, but just not in isolation.  Hopefully, the suggestion box will start to help us collate the issues that frustrate us and cause delays and inefficiencies in our processes. The first step to all problem solving is understanding the issue.

The link to the suggestion box is here:

http://hocsrv07.honey.local/Windchill/app/#ptc1/tcomp/infoPage?ContainerOid=OR%3Awt.inf.library.WTLibrary%3A83049&oid=OR%3Awt.folder.SubFolder%3A454200&u8=1

There is simple PDF to help all access it here.

Ask one of your learned Windchill colleagues if you need help.  The steps are pretty straightforward and if needs be we can run a webcast on it.

I’d like to develop a culture where by this becomes the bible of our problems and suggestions so that we don’t have general chat on them.  Let's get them recorded in here and give them the time they deserve rather than them being an office chat or best kept secret. There is no harm in acknowledging that we have issues.  The harm is not treating them.