6 week order book

In the days when we used to be a private company (the days of Andersen Consulting), the senior folk used to tell us lowly analysts that the order book only went out 6 weeks, hence the reason why they needed to try and sell new contracts every day. That has obviously changed slightly with the onset of long term outsourcing contracts that we're now so fond of (guaranteed revenue streams keeping Senior Executives and the markets happy). However after having been working on a number of RFPs since I left Fortis earlier this year, I have been reminded of how precarious our business really is.

In addition to that, I was also talking to a couple of non AIMS SEs recently; one lamented the fact he was going to have to make cuts simply because clients were taking too long to sign on the dotted line; the second complained about needing to identify 6-7 senior managers in his group and the negative impact on client relationships that losing these people would inevitably have on his practice. As much as I am all for short term targets in support of an overall strategic goal, (and obviously KPIs and dahsboards to support this because I am from AIMS), I think this is clearly a sign of the "now now now times" in which we live.

Moral of the story: multiple I suppose, including having to lie in the bed you've made, but possibly the most important is to be staffed, and to constantly try and learn new things in which you're genuinely interested. More on that last point either tomorrow or Tuesday. I am travelling to Finland to see one of our favourite clients tomorrow so I won't have a connection for much of the day. I'll be in Helsinki for most of the week working on an RFP response that will involve AIMS guys from all over Europe including the Nordic and ASG regions amongst others. A good experience which will hopefully have a happy outcome - that one's due in on the 22nd April.