KJR's Corner
Communication is Everything

Good communication is the foundation upon which all successful businesses are built. Knowing and understanding the needs of customers is vital to product (particularly software) development. Effective communication is one of the most elusive goals that we, as individuals or a company, can seek.

Specific obstacles to that goal can change with a company’s growth. In BCC’s early days, when the company consisted of just my brother Erik and me, our communication challenge was fairly basic: if we ever disagreed, Erik would call our mother and she’d straighten me out. (I’m kidding, of course: Mom always liked me better.) Our problem was finding the time to communicate with customers, prospects, and vendors while still developing, marketing, selling, and supporting our product.

One of my first technology investments was a cell phone — an extravagance, to be sure, but helpful in keeping in touch with customers. Some of you may recall hearing crowd noises in the background during late-afternoon support calls: that was me in the stands at my son’s little league games, remaining accessible to customers in need.

Fast forward to 1996: with only 15 employees we were able to communicate easily among ourselves and still keep our users happy. Our phone system (reasonably powerful for a company of our size) easily handled eight incoming lines — until Classification Reform created communication breakdowns on an epic scale. From a week before until a month after the implementation date, calls came in so rapidly that as soon as we hung up a phone there was another incoming call. Six cell phones were purchased just so outgoing calls could be placed. The next month, our phone bill arrived on a UPS hand truck.

Today, fiber optic phone and multiple T-1 data lines give us a telecommunications infrastructure that would be the envy of many larger companies. Still, with more than 60 employees and thousands of users, communication remains our greatest challenge. To help, we’ve implemented a new in-house software system. At nearly a quarter of a million dollars, you’d think this software would not only be bug-free, it would even make coffee. Alas, as with any software, we’ve struggled with defects and with getting it to work the way we want (although I’m still making my own coffee), but with it we have managed to combine four separate customer databases into one integrated, flexible structure. Everyone at BCC has the same view of the customer, and problems can be solved more quickly as a team. This will help each of us better understand — and meet — your needs and expectations.

Other venues are being developed to improve the quantity and quality of our communication with you. In future issues of the BCC Bulletin, this column will inform you of these new developments — and sometimes just let you know what we’re thinking. But even in this, communications should be a two-way street. That’s why we introduced the BCC User Forum, and why we’re using more phone and written surveys to get your feedback. In the end, our goal in communicating with you is simple: to ensure we continue to give you what you want.

This piece was originally published in the February 2003 BCC Bulletin.