The post of big love for small business

What company do you work for: in a large corporation or, perhaps, in a small business? If you had to try to work both here and there, you probably found advantages and disadvantages, chose what is closer to you and partly even more profitable. Regardless of our feelings with you, small and medium business is the basis of the economy, the force that can pull it out in times of crisis and pump it on better days. There are a lot of small and medium-sized companies in the IT industry: from the earliest and already matured to the successful results of a wave of startups. And these companies make cool software for business, user applications, outsource, devobsyat, support, implement - make other companies stronger and more modern. Well, how not to love them! Of course, to love: with advantages and disadvantages, with conflicts and insights, with finds and fakaps. Talk about small business?

Atlantes hold the sky in stone hands

Disclaimer

This article is a private opinion of a RegionSoft Developer Studio employee and has not been approved before publication. The opinion of the company may or may not coincide with the position of the employee.

Once a very serious person told me: “Never work in business, in a commercial environment - he will move you and kill you.” For 13 years of my career, I went through work in a university, in the civil service, and in a short time I found myself in business - as opposed to what was said exactly at the moment when the civil service began to move me. For 11 years in IT and telecom I managed to work in a small business, on average (the largest taxpayer in the region), in a large one - in a huge IT company with all the tricks of the M&M type in vases, hammocks and frisky fur gamescool corporate parties. Stopped, as you may have noticed, on the small. Not that I took you by the button and tell you my whole life, no - just an intro to say: everything said has been tested on my own skin. And yes, I’ll talk about IT - firstly, there was almost no other, secondly, we are at Habré; thirdly, RegionSoft CRM systems developer and vendor is an IT company. Which, by the way, today turned 18 years old - a worthy occasion to write this post.

Why does small business work well?

In short, in small business you are a significant unit of a single mechanism, in large - a useful or not very detailed, which can be replaced relatively quickly. But this is rude, much more nuances.

Fewer management levels, open and accessible leadership- this is perhaps what determines all the other advantages. There are no complex hierarchies, the leader is in the closest proximity to all other employees, often he is not just a leader, but the leader, the first among equals, drags the work himself, delves into it and understands almost all the responsibilities to the smallest detail. It seems to me that this is a normal attitude to my own business, unless, of course, it comes to micromanagement and poking in all PCs of employees in the morning (at the dawn of my career I went through such a leader - this can not be overcome, either you agree to such a team, or go away).

It seems that what is good is that the leader is always there? But there is a lot of good.

• Accessibility in the discussion of working issues - no projects, presentations, approvals, waiting for five readings and one hundred meetings are needed. You can simply come up and present an idea, report a bug, ask questions. By the way, I noticed on my own: the habit of making presentations and loudly and clearly voicing them in front of the leader, as in large offices, is very difficult to get rid of - exactly until you suddenly understand that the conversation has taken on a human form and you don’t need to keep the defense with a slide guard on the big screen.
  
• Easy resolution of conflict situations - a competent leader always turns out to be a real arbiter and carefully spreads the sides in the corners, not leading to dismissals and sabotage.
  
• You know the opinion of the leader on working matters firsthand, and not filtered and modified by deputy, deputy in tutu and deputy in tom. Thus, the waiting time for the result is reduced and there is more to solve the problem or make adjustments.
  

“Indispensable”, author: Peter Bunau

Respect for employees- An important feature of small business (I repeat, we are talking about IT, not about trading companies, where people often become consumables). To attract, adapt and retain an employee is not only difficult, but also quite costly. To make it loyal and not threatening the security of the company is a whole art. Small business understands that it is in a difficult competitive situation, that loyal employees are a key asset, therefore it treats them as correctly as possible: it meets organizational and labor issues, seeks compromises within the work schedule, tries to grow an employee and keep it as long as possible. If you manage to create such a team, or at least the backbone of the team, success becomes closer. And in a successful company, the employees themselves are successful.

Versatile inclusion in the project, understanding of business and processes in general - the most favorite feature of small business. I only like the foreign definition, which translates as "try on many hats." When working in a small business, an employee inevitably interacts with the project as a whole, and not with a separate piece of it. Relatively speaking, in a large IT company you sit and drink your part of the code, sometimes without even knowing its real fate after a commit, and in a small business you can write code for various tasks, participate in the implementation, support customers on complex technical issues, etc. .d. As a bonus, employees are often included in the entire business process, discussing design, interface, usability, etc. - that is, they see all the facets of a software project and the process of its implementation. It great boosts the overall value of you as a professional and significantly adds weight to the labor market.

Ease of horizontal movement . In the event of professional burnout, loss of interest, or even getting an additional education, you can easily move to another position: from sales people to testers, from testing engineers - and developers, from those. sales support and so on. Such movements help to firmly and thoroughly master your business from different angles, make you a universal specialist. But this is not super value - super value is that such movements help to do better the product or service itself: having been in the shoes of a salesperson, you will be closer to the client and understand what the interface really should be or what the installation procedure should be (here I can’t help but say hello to CRM-users who send 12 pages of installation instructions, while our RegionSoft CRM unfolds in a few clicks - well, I’m PR or where! )

Quick changes are an interesting and important career advantage for small businesses. Scaling changes to a small company is easier, it’s easier to try something new, for example, a technology stack or a customer service methodology. In large companies, the introduction of something experimental will stall in the first round of approvals.

In general, the main difference between small and medium-sized businesses and large ones is often the role of a leader: in large business it is often an appointed person who refers to the company like any other employee, and in small and medium-sized businesses it is the owner, a person who is vitally interested in the company lived, developed and flourished (well, if it is without deviations and mania). And this attitude is transmitted to all employees.

Why is it good to work with small businesses?

It’s good to work with small businesses - he is responsible for his work, does not pull the approval rubber, has a huge and fairly compact experience (not spread over 150 employees), appreciates customers.

Small business is closer to customers, it knows them better - both in terms of typical problems and “pains”, and from the perspective of analytics. For a small business, not only a segment is important, but also a client as a personified entity. Accordingly, the dialogue is not in the language of the bureaucracy, but in the language of living business people. True, there is no way without TK - but development is an exact discipline, some formulations should be reliably fixed. By the way, it is small and medium-sized businesses that implement the CRM systemor a business intelligence system not for beauty or rollback, but for the work, analysis, storage and systematization of the client base. It helps a lot to work with clients quickly and efficiently. Strange as it may seem, the

speed of work and project implementation is smaller for small companies. It seems that there are less resources, and subcontractors, and partners - and deals are closed one after another, projects are being implemented, everything is parallelized and literally burns in the hands. In many respects, this is due again to a shallow hierarchy and a high speed of decision-making - the responsible person is as close to the project as possible, and often the right to make independent decisions is delegated to him.

Flexibility and market survival, alas, this is not always about small business. When the economy is storming, it is most difficult for him to survive, because the total outflow of customers can reach a critical mass. But, on the other hand, with proper personnel management and in the absence of scattering money from the window, small businesses are more likely to survive and even avoid cuts due to the fact that the company can quickly rebuild, radically change its marketing strategy or even develop a new product. In any case, this is definitely not the case when employees will wait for the crisis with folded arms and fingers crossed.

Process controllability and transparency- a very strong advantage of SMB. No matter how complicated the process (and in small business they are), a truncated hierarchy significantly increases the responsibility of each link's holders and allows the process to proceed quickly, efficiently and without serious freezes (such as lost contracts, eternal documents being negotiated or forgotten customers).

High quality of service - a small business values ​​its customers, and if it is an IT business, it seeks to establish excellent technical support, work expeditiously, and compromise.

Opinion

Tatyana, sales guru and goddess of customer service in RegionSoft, 14 years in the company

Our clients appreciate the work of RegionSoft managers for their responsiveness, for their willingness to promptly help, for the fact that communication is informal, not stereotyped. They appreciate that the main thing for us is not to sell the product, but to make sure that the company implements it, works with it and makes a profit.

I will tell you an interesting case. I remember that there was an introduction to the company, as usual, through leadership and communication, respectively, was at the leadership level. Then somehow, after a couple of months, with the next call to the company, I got to the manager, because there was no leader. Having found out the company I’m calling from, the manager said the following: “If you called a month ago, I would have expressed a lot of dissatisfaction with you, but now we appreciated all the advantages of introducing the product and the most important increase in profit!” This, by the way, by the way about adapting to new software is a great positive example.

Since in most cases we communicate with management, they appreciate our help in how to properly present the product to employees, to convey to them the idea that this is not control, but help and the necessary tool for work.

Sometimes, for the sake of efficiency, managers can even connect to the client in order to understand the problem or fix it independently, by the manager himself. The RegionSoft manager always makes contact with the client, there are no restrictions in consultations, sometimes communication takes place even after hours.

We try to meet each other, find an individual approach to each, even please places :-) So, our 1000 client received an additional license as a present, which was very pleasantly surprised. But in other cases, we are able to find a way out of the situation, to come up with favorable terms for the deal. Customers are satisfied, and we keep the brand.

More specialized, sophisticated products and services + concentrated experience. Clients for small businesses are also a source of requests and requirements, the company always strives to be at the forefront of requests and make a product that is really needed and will work. And if a large corporation can afford to conduct development for the sake of development, screw neural networks or “artificial intelligence” as a marketing chip, thereby increasing the cost of the product, then small businesses do what customers need - quickly, on time and in strict accordance with requests. In addition, small and medium-sized businesses are able to accumulate experience in order to use it to the maximum, and not just to keep it in the corporate knowledge system. Their experience = their profit.

Opinion

Free_Mic_RS , the author of this disgrace and responsible for the sound of RegionSoft online, 6 years in the company

Small business always has something to say, and, it seems to me, it should say: on Habré, in his blog. This is not just a transfer of experience, it is an exchange of views with the audience, a lively dialogue. We are often thanked for articles and materials, asked whether it’s a pity to give all the experience to such an open source content. The answer is simple: no, not a pity. We know that small and medium-sized companies need normal, non-publicized information regarding CRM and automation, they have a hunger for content - we consciously give out our knowledge by adding a bit of advertising. And even when other companies blatantly borrow ideas and entire posts, we do not mind: someone is smart with his own mind, someone else's. This is life. Content has become an important and difficult layer of work for us, and it seems that we do it :-)

And what, without any flaws?

Well no, of course. Their shortcomings are everywhere, absolutely in any job and in any form of existence of labor relations. And it would be unfair to say that they can be overlooked.

• The first and most important is the growth ceiling. At some point, the prospects disappear, the limit is reached, and you understand that you are walking in a circle, taking something new for yourself and generating new things for the company is simply impossible or not in demand. By the way, the ceiling is not felt in all companies - only in those where the product, due to its features, has been static for a long period of time: trading companies, FMCG (not always), HoReCa, car dealers, etc. This applies to IT to a lesser extent, because new products, major releases every 1.5-2 years and minor releases constantly - this is generally never static.
  
• The second is a close team. On the one hand, it’s wonderful, everyone knows each other, everyone got used to it, made friends or, on the contrary, established a respectful distance. On the other hand, in such a team, the framework of personal space can easily be violated, conflicts arise that are not related to labor activity, or vice versa, important work incidents based on the principle of “hand washes” will be hidden. Well, the worst option: groups are formed and redistribution begins. In the corporate sphere, of course, he looks light, but his work and nerves are harmful. But again, these are some exceptional situations.
  
• Third - Ponte. Saying “I work for Google” is a pontificate. He is treated with experience in large companies and easily changes the sonorous wording to real value: “I work in a company that makes a powerful CRM system for small and medium-sized businesses. We can coolly automate and make our customers business better. ” In general, I would advise everyone to take an internship, practice or work in the largest companies: you will understand that honey is not smeared there, and if you remove the shine, remove the mitaps and shake off the diamond dust - development as development, commerce as commerce, everyone has his own place . Understand that this is yours - rush to gain a foothold, understand that not - evaluate small and medium-sized businesses.
  
• The fourth drawback is for everybody. In a small business, it is absolutely impossible to ignore the fulfillment of one’s duties, to hide behind rallies, meetings, endless phoning and other imitations of activities. Everything is in sight of the leadership, including the highest. Arrives instantly. And in large companies, you can pull the rubber on the principle of "the soldier is sleeping, the service is on," and calmly receive wages with virtually no problems and foolishness (some Jedi bypass even time control systems - time, not result). For better or worse, it is a matter of your ambitions and your conscience. The hot head will find work everywhere.
  
• The fifth drawback intersects with many large companies, here, rather, the vision of managers: in small and medium-sized businesses, a social package and VHI are much less common. Here, too, it’s a matter of choice: you can choose an interesting job, earn money and pay for a taxi and a visit to doctors yourself, or you can choose dentistry by VHI :-) I calculated on my own - according to VHI, for 4 years in a large company I chose services for 75,000 and that with two super complicated cases of injury, without them - 30,000. For me, for the sake of only VHI and social services. package pull unloved strap is hardly worth it. Well, if you are not a shark with 300 carious teeth, then yes, saving is a solution.
  

I am sure that in the comments they are now throwing their minuses - it is very interesting to listen to the experience of other inhabitants of Habr.

And I will do my business!

I honestly tried to open a small trading business, but this is not an IT or Habra story from 2006-2007. Three approaches - and three failures, although we with the “partners” (classmates) managed to create an LLC, make registered capital, make the first profit ... Today, the spirit of entrepreneurship flies in the air and it seems, here it is - pick up orders and work. But do not confuse your business with freelance, these are completely different things. The first thing that should be is an idea around which everything will be wrapped. As soon as you become an entrepreneur, you cease to belong to yourself and your habits, as you take the first person - you bear a mountain of responsibility. When you dismiss him, the first, you don’t sleep for a week. We did not go further.

• Business is not security. Yes, it seems to you that you will not be fired, they will not be deprived of the prize, they will not be punished and they will not be knocked down on the carpet for an error. That's right - you yourself will do all this because your job at the beginning is worse than any dismissal, you actually live in a panic. However, if everything succeeds, you will find out the true value of the words security and independence.
  
• Business is not a Bentley with a baggage of money. This is minus the trunk of money that will have to be invested in start-up, hiring, tools, idea, rental, etc. - depends on the configuration of your business. And at some point you will realize that this money was also taken from the family. In my case of partnership with fellow students, this resulted in debts and begging from the parents of all three unfortunate entrepreneurs. Then we simply were not ripe for understanding what costs are and how they can be managed.
  
• If you have an emotional idea, you have nothing. Alas, only a cold mind and a real, tenacious idea will allow you to start successfully. If you formulate “my mobile application for business planning will conquer this world and make me Zuckerberg”, do not quit work, sit down in your free time, make the application put it on the side or on a business card site, look at the average speed of conquering the world, multiply by years and if you are ready to live these 630 contemptible years, take the risk.
  
• There will be many difficult decisions - from the dismissal of employees to loans, problems with publishers, etc.
  
• New relationships will appear that will not give you pleasure - you will get acquainted with the tax, government and other structures that will take away your time, effort and, most likely, (not) a lot of money.
  
  
  

Your time will be eaten. Here I will tell my favorite joke: one programmer was tired of working in hiring for 9-10 hours a day, tired of endless deployments and fires at the prod, he quit, opened his own business. Now it works 19 hours a day.

Too pessimistic? In fact, your business gives a feeling of freedom, autonomy, flight and a surge of enormous industriousness - because now you are doing YOURSELF. Another thing that you have to go through. Therefore, I urge: if you pull, dare, but do not burn bridges behind you. Speaking of bridges. I noticed an interesting feature: employers really do not like to hire former entrepreneurs, they are afraid of excessive freedom, independence and a deep understanding of the situation in the company. So, if you have to return to hire, be careful with this line in the resume.

And now I will name the one and only word that fundamentally distinguishes SMB from a major one: trust. If the company has trust, the work is completely different, many decisions are made with maximum mutual benefit. And yes, trust can only be mutual - if trust is faced with indifference and indifference, nothing will come of it.

And so, representatives of small business, it is "not gods - people who are accustomed to work." And I know for sure: these Atlanteans hold the economy in stone hands.

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Well, in the end, it's simple and short: happy birthday, RegionSoft ! The main gift is that you are with us, and we are with you. Let it continue. Chin Chin.