During my recent vacation, I spent some time reflecting on how to create fundamental improvements in the technology companies that I have encountered over the past several years. Here are three key ways in which I would like to see technology companies improve in 2012.

1. Internal Communication

Many companies do a poor job of establishing internal communication channels, and technology companies are no exception. In 2010 and 2011 I found this problem in several good companies that could become great by improving communication up and down the ranks. The problem manifested itself in various ways, including:

• Lack of understanding of corporate vision and cultural values
• Poor implementation of new processes and systems
• Misunderstanding between the company and its key partners
• Inadequate knowledge transfer between account executives and project managers

Many company executives think that these frustrating problems are only felt internally. On the contrary, the problems are often evident to customers—and this has a detrimental effect on the company’s ability to attract and retain profitable relationships. Better internal communication should be a strong priority for businesses that want to make the next step to greatness in 2012. Executives, Communications, and Information Technology need to develop and nurture the necessary channels.

2. Grasp of Employee Knowledge and Capability

In many technology companies the knowledge and capabilities of employees are carefully vetted during the hiring process, but portions of that record become lost in subsequent months and years.

Most companies that I speak with simply do not know the capabilities of their employees.

• There is no talent database
• Regular talent audits are not conducted
• Managers do a poor job of regularly reviewing their teams

Correspondingly, employees at all levels let me know that their companies are missing new business opportunities due to poor knowledge of on-staff expertise. Also, some employees commented that their companies’ seeming lack of interest in knowing and leveraging available skillsets was contradictory to the cultural message expressed by the executive team and HR—contributing to some problems with job satisfaction among talented employees.

Missed business opportunities that would have fit within the strategic development plan are always a bad thing. Also, I expect that retention of skilled employees will become a larger issue for businesses in 2012 and 2013. So companies that want to maintain or grow both market share and internal excellence will improve their grasp of employee knowledge and capability.

3. Customer Knowledge of Services or Products

It is typical for customers to be unaware of the full range of products or services offered by technology companies. This lack of awareness represents many missed opportunities to grow business both within the existing customer base and through referrals from that base. Moreover, customers often indicate that they would like the companies with which they do business to provide products or services that are already provided, or could easily be provided, by those companies.

This imperfect situation should be perfected through a variety of means. Among them:

• Acquire a better understanding of customer business priorities, challenges, and needs
• Regularly brief customers on the full range of services and products offered
• Tell stories: let your customers know how others in analogous situations benefitted from your products or services

As a further aspect of achieving excellence in this area, I would also like technology companies to take greater advantage of customer research. When properly performed, customer research fuels a number of marketing and business development efforts—and in the process can identify customer segments that have an imperfect understanding of your brand and an insufficient knowledge of your offerings. Customer research should be given serious consideration, particularly by small/midsize businesses that are not already engaged in such activity and want to increase revenue and profit in 2012 and beyond.

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