It was 18 months ago that Outrider Technology Consulting launched, and I thought as founder it was high time to write down some thoughts on the progress of the business to date.
My strongest impressions so far have been of the excitement and building anticipation of doing something new. I have been lucky to achieve many significant career milestones, its extraordinary to now have the opportunity to set off on an altogether different type of journey where the definition of success is much more personal and there are no boundaries to what is possible.
However, these thoughts are naturally tempered with the underlying concerns about obstacles that exist for a new business, especially one where the target market might not really understand the complexity and sophistication of the services being offered. I think that this particular concern will persist for some time to come.
Branding a new business is a tricky problem and one that doesn’t come with an easy solution, in hindsight not knowing the answer upfront has been a hidden advantage as I have learnt a lot through the evolution of my thinking in this space.
Outrider’s focus has deliberately been on the broad sweep of technology enablement, technology’s place as part of the fabric of business and society, what it brings, what it costs, how it’s used and who uses it, the interaction with people and organisational structures and how to take advantage of emergent opportunities. Its next to impossible to describe this simply and easily and I have had plenty of challenges trying to do so.
The recent period in isolation has given me some time to reflect on this problem a little more. With due acknowledgement to Simon Sinek it’s been much easier to focus on why I have chosen this path. The business technology problem space is a very stimulating and complex environment to work within – it’s also where the boundary of control exists.
Outrider is here to help its clients cross the technology control boundary.
In almost all cases this journey for the client happens gradually and relies on the steady build-up of confidence and knowledge. To assist on this journey Outrider needs to be cross disciplinary, not only across technology disciplines (digital, data, security) but also across business disciplines (design, finance, operations). It’s hard to put this into a simple statement….” this is what we do…”. In an economic era still largely built on labor division and specialisation being a generalist often feels like swimming against the current.
Despite this thorny problem Outrider remains a very fulfilling enterprise for me personally and the sense of anticipation remains over what will happen in the months or years to come. It’s certainly possible to continue to grow a small business successfully during uncertain times but it will definitely require some flexible thinking. It feels as though the world is re-aligning in a way that will make the Outrider value proposition even more relevant. I certainly hope so.
However, these thoughts are naturally tempered with the underlying concerns about obstacles that exist for a new business, especially one where the target market might not really understand the complexity and sophistication of the services being offered. I think that this particular concern will persist for some time to come.
Branding a new business is a tricky problem and one that doesn’t come with an easy solution, in hindsight not knowing the answer upfront has been a hidden advantage as I have learnt a lot through the evolution of my thinking in this space.
Outrider’s focus has deliberately been on the broad sweep of technology enablement, technology’s place as part of the fabric of business and society, what it brings, what it costs, how it’s used and who uses it, the interaction with people and organisational structures and how to take advantage of emergent opportunities. Its next to impossible to describe this simply and easily and I have had plenty of challenges trying to do so.
The recent period in isolation has given me some time to reflect on this problem a little more. With due acknowledgement to Simon Sinek it’s been much easier to focus on why I have chosen this path. The business technology problem space is a very stimulating and complex environment to work within – it’s also where the boundary of control exists.
Outrider is here to help its clients cross the technology control boundary.
In almost all cases this journey for the client happens gradually and relies on the steady build-up of confidence and knowledge. To assist on this journey Outrider needs to be cross disciplinary, not only across technology disciplines (digital, data, security) but also across business disciplines (design, finance, operations). It’s hard to put this into a simple statement….” this is what we do…”. In an economic era still largely built on labor division and specialisation being a generalist often feels like swimming against the current.
Despite this thorny problem Outrider remains a very fulfilling enterprise for me personally and the sense of anticipation remains over what will happen in the months or years to come. It’s certainly possible to continue to grow a small business successfully during uncertain times but it will definitely require some flexible thinking. It feels as though the world is re-aligning in a way that will make the Outrider value proposition even more relevant. I certainly hope so.