JMG Systems is a management consulting firm that specializes in improving small business operations. We form ongoing partnerships with companies excited about serving their customers, and who want to operate effectively and practically so they can serve them better.
However, many decision makers are unfamiliar with the systems and technology that can move their company forward.
So we work together to identify and remove barriers preventing their success by using the right amount of technology — which, in our practice, is the least amount of technology.
Our process allows leaders to focus on their organization and its mission — and not on the technology and the systems that support it.
Matt Paonessa talked with Geoff Behrens from Alto-Reste Park about how they put their heads together to help make Alto-Reste’s workflow work better.
Matt Paonessa had already been consulting with Alto-Reste Park before I was hired as the General Manager. However, I made a point to start forming a closer relationship with him when I saw that he and his company were far more than “IT people.”
I got to know them through their ability to solve technical problems, but that’s only one of the things that they do. I can go to them and show them a process that our organization is using, identify the shortcomings, and then ask Matt to fix the process so it has fewer (or no) shortcomings.
I came into the Alto-Reste Park organization a couple years ago not knowing much about the day to day operations. But it became clear very quickly that there were issues with our processes. Alto-Reste Park is a 90-year-old business, and we were essentially doing things the same way they were doing them 90 years ago.
Absolutely everything we did as far as processing orders and service requests was done on paper.
So we were spending a lot of time sifting through files trying to track down orders, invoices, receipts, service requests, etc. Even worse, we were often trying to track down those things when they had already fallen through the cracks of our outdated system.
Even more problematic, though, when things fall through the cracks in my business, it has the potential to adversely affect the families we are trying to serve.
Alto-Reste was built by providing our customers with exceptional service. It’s just that no one in our organization thought it was necessary to improve our processes for serving families.
We just did things a certain way because that was the way we’ve always done them. Afterall, it “worked” for 90 years.
Before coming to Alto-Reste, I worked in a national corporation for 16 years. During that time, I saw many, many policies handed down from the higher-ups that actually came from working with their “consultants.”
We were often told, “Hey, stop doing what you’re doing and now do it this way.” But these “improvements” almost always made it harder for me to do my job.
As I reflect on that now, even after 16 years of seeing all those different leaders and consultants implement new “solutions,” I’m not sure that company ever really improved how they did things.
I think that’s why I’m not satisfied with things just being “ok.” I truly want things to get better. However, I don’t want to rush to decisions for the sake of making a decision.
Matt was willing to wait and listen to me and to my staff before implementing any new processes. I myself spent a lot of time observing so I could understand what the real issues were.
Matt is on a similar wavelength. He wanted to implement the right solution, not just “a” solution.
To have a company that’s willing to ask the hard questions and come up with a solution that’s simpler, more efficient, and allows you to spend more time doing what you love… That’s a partner.
For someone to be a “partner,” they have to assume ownership in my business. They don’t have to buy stock, but they do have to care about my business and want to see it succeed. The way I see it, that level of commitment is the only way real solutions are developed. The point isn’t to add new things for the sake of being “new” or “modern.”
The point is to get rid of the things that waste time.
For example, our bronze memorial ordering process is a necessary service that we offer, but it was unnecessarily complicated.
The way things were, if someone called to check the status of a memorial, it was at least an hour of wasted time for someone, or several people, to track down where it was in the process.
Also, when a new bronze memorial order would come in, one of my office staff would need around 25 minutes to complete just one of the steps in the process. If you multiply that out, there were approximately 30 to 40 hours each year being spent on just that one step.
And this one staff member had several additional steps to perform.
AND there are 8 other people involved in the ordering and installation process.
AND there are many other things other than bronze memorials that we deal with.
So in this one process improvement alone, we are saving the company 300 to 400 hours a year simply by making changes that make sense.
To upgrade our bronze memorial order process, JMG involved everyone in our organization. We didn’t just roll out changes because the system was inefficient. Matt started by gaining a complete understanding of the current process, and the shortcomings that went along with it.
Then he solicited feedback from the end users to determine the type of process that would be best to eliminate the shortcomings of our current process while being user-friendly to our employees.
The process that Matt implemented does just that. That’s why it works! Our employees have bought into the new system because their opinions were both heard and used to make a better process.
But these changes didn’t take place without a fight. Mostly from me. I don’t like technology, I would much rather talk to people face-to-face. However, I know technology is a necessity for the job.
When we started out, my mindset was “I hate tech, I hate tech, I hate tech… I want to talk to people. I don’t want to interact with a computer.” But I don’t hate tech anymore because I see where there is a role for it, but it has to be the right technology. And for me, the right technology is the kind that helps me spend more time talking to people.
I have to admit, the things we now use daily, I had never heard of before, such as “Google Forms,” “Zapier,” “Slack,” “Trello”… But they work. JMG has done an exceptional job taking away the anxiety of working with this new technology for me and other people in our organization. Matt has gone above and beyond to implement things that made sense to us and did what we needed them to do.
Alto-Reste Park is several generations old. It’s much bigger than me. It came before me. It will be here after me. JMG is a partner who will benefit this company by making us stronger and more efficient today so that we can continue doing what we do best: serving families.
JMG’s vision is to equip small businesses with best practices and improved systems so they can be good stewards of their resources and better serve their clients. To learn more about how we can help you improve decision making, organize your operations, and increasing efficiency, please contact us.
