Don’t give up - belief and purpose will see you through

Taken from the most recent issue of ERP Today - www.erp.today/digital

An extended word from the editor on the impact of COVID-19 and our plans to combat the difficulties with resolve and determination.

The economic impact of COVID-19 has been felt by virtually every business in every sector. The UK economy shrank by more than 20 percent in April (more than the entire shrinkage following the financial crisis in 2008) and the short term outlook for the global economy is challenging at best.

ERP Today has felt the impact, along with many others, as advertising and marketing budgets have been slashed (and in some cases suspended completely) with many of our partners fighting to support their existing customers rather than focus on attracting new business.

When I launched ERP Today the global outlook was incredibly positive and the wave of new technologies driving digital transformation meant we were at the centre of a booming market. Today, just over a year later, the prognosis for the global economy has changed, the buoyant enterprise tech sector that was at the heart of the digital revolution has a new set of challenges and priorities, and the feel-good factor that ERP Today capitalised on – has gone, for now.

It would be easy to feel disheartened. So much effort has gone into launching this business that it’s impossible to quantify in terms of time and money. A very small team of exceptionally dedicated people have literally worked night and day for a year to make it happen - and in the blink of an eye it could appear that the effort has been for nothing. Our advertising revenues have fallen by more than 50 percent and our flagship event, which would have represented the pinnacle of our achievements, has been postponed at a huge financial and emotional cost.

It would be easy to give up – but I have been here before.

Learning from failure

I started my first business when I was 19. Since then I’ve had 5 companies; two have been good, one was ok and the other two were complete disasters. The bad ones nearly cost me everything that the good ones had made and there was a point some 12 or 13 years ago when I was facing bankruptcy and didn’t have a penny to my name. Thankfully, I avoided the worst fate and somehow managed to pull through with a lot of help from friends and family. I remember the day my car was towed away and I handed back the keys to my office – I felt like a complete failure and couldn’t see any way back. It took me (or at least it took my pride) several months to come to terms with my plight but slowly I started looking forward and realised that there was only one way to improve my situation and that was to stop feeling sorry for myself, learn from the experience and come back better than ever.

If you’ve never sweated over a payroll then you really shouldn’t be running a business. It’s the failures that teach you far more than the successes and in my 25 years of entrepreneurship I’ve certainly experienced both ends of the stick. Belief and determination are fundamental requirements for any entrepreneur and although it’s not always the case that belief in what you are doing will see you through - it certainly is the case that if you lose belief yourself, no one will come with you.

Thankfully, despite its fledgling status, ERP Today will be able to withstand the economic distress in the short term and we are committed to continuing with our print media product despite the financial and logistical challenges. We are also enhancing our digital platform and our new partner programme already has its first six customers live with a further six expected to be live in the next week.

This issue and next issue

We took the decision to combine our Q2 and Q3 issues for a variety of reasons; firstly I am not sure how many people would have been reading ERP Today in May or June as so many of us were fighting to preserve our livelihoods and ensure the safety of our loved ones. Secondly, due to the very long production cycle involved with such a large print publication we felt that a lot of the content could become dated very quickly as the landscape shifted almost on a daily basis.

This issue has been rewarding and depressing in equal measure; we certainly haven’t made any money, most of the content is focussed on problems rather than solutions and trying to write engaging content when there are so many health and economic issues afoot has been challenging.

To that end, our next issue which will hit the streets on 22nd October (an important day for us but I will say more on this below) will contain nothing but positive features and articles that highlight the extraordinary successes that the enterprise tech sector has achieved in the face of such adversity. We want to hear about the customers you have helped, the new ideas that have guided you through the crisis and your plans for turning adversity into opportunity. Please say hello by sending us an email to [email protected]

ERP Today Awards

It is with a deep sadness that we have taken the decision to postpone the inaugural ERP Today Awards event. A small army of people have worked on the concept for nine months but I do not feel that it would be right to continue with our plans for several reasons. Firstly, even if the venue is theoretically able to support the event I do not think there will be the appetite from customers and partners to shuffle into a room with 800 other people. Secondly, and more importantly, I don’t think handing out awards feels like the right thing to do when we all have so many more important things to focus on.

To that end we have decided to postpone the event in favour of something entirely different which will take place in the summer of 2021. Our plan is to host an outdoor day event in recognition of all the keyworkers that have sacrificed so much over the last four months so that our lives could continue as normally as possible - with the awards dinner being hosted in a marquee on the evening. The event will be an opportunity for the whole enterprise tech sector to say a collective ‘thank you’ to the doctors, nurses, teachers, delivery drivers, shop workers and public transport operatives that have kept the country going while many of us have been at home safe and protected from the dangers of COVID-19.

Despite the early stage of our plans we have had a lot of encouragement for the idea and we will be asking all of our customers, partners and sponsors to think carefully about who we should invite to spend a day with us and how we can demonstrate our gratitude for their service and sacrifice.

Our pledge is that we will not profit from the event and every penny that had been promised in sponsorship for the awards event will go towards making a day to remember for up to 500 keyworkers. We hope to announce more definitive news in the coming weeks.

Partnerships

We have entered into a number of exciting partnerships over the last few months and none more so than our tie-up with GenieShares. The concept is simple but completely unique; entrepreneurs gift one percent of their equity to complete strangers in an act of benevolent altruism. Why would anyone do that you may ask? Well, as Ben Brabyn, campaign co-ordinator explains: “The GenieShares campaign has its roots in 2018 when I was head of Level39, a cluster of around 200 fintech and cybersecurity companies in Canary Wharf. I could see that these companies were creating great value and that many of the entrepreneurs were really keen to play a part in their communities too. Rather than arguing for trickle-down economics, why not just share some of the ownership of companies as they are created?”

GenieShares is looking at ways to ensure keyworkers such as nurses, teachers and care givers are at the front of the queue for future acts of kindness and I can’t think of a better way for entrepreneurs to give back to the community in such a direct and meaningful way. Large enterprises can get involved too – and although GenieShares doesn’t expect global corporations to give away one percent of their equity, there are still lots of ways that big businesses can support this truly purposeful initiative.