This year, GTconsult celebrates its seventh birthday.
In 2011, Annie, Craig and I started a company called Geldenhuys & Tarr. The company was based out of our homes, and we visited as many clients as possible to kickstart what is known today as GTconsult.
We worked long hours to scrape together the cash to hire talent to assist us in our growth and live our dream of enabling productivity.
Over the years, a lot has changed. The major changes came in the way that we conducted business. In addition, technology changed, politics has changed dramatically and I experienced immense personal growth.
Hopefully, I will get the opportunity to write a story about my tales in a few more years when I have a great ending.
Focus on the present
Right now, GTconsult is focused on the present and we are making our next major change to solidify our name in the IT industry.
Our first big change is based on the way the company will be structured. Traditionally, we have had the familiar hierarchical system which has served many businesses’ well over the years. To a certain degree, it has assisted us to this point.
However, the more we talked about how we did business, and the more we unpacked who was responsible and accountable, the more we realized that the hierarchy model does not suit our business. We needed one that suited our needs better.
We will be adopting a Circular Structure, also known as a decentralized management structure.
The benefits of this structure will ensure that the buck stops with the responsible team. This will speed up delivery, focus responsibility, and create a self-sustainable environment.
People are always part of a team, but will now be self-managed and become their own cog in the wheel of GTconsult.
Their success or failure will be a direct reflection of teamwork and their ability to follow the processes set down for them by the years of experience of teams and people before them.
Focused working
The model that we will be adopting will ensure that each team is then free to focus on their responsibilities which will force cohesion and remove blame.
When a handover between sales and delivery needs takes place, the delivery team will not be successful without a detailed handover from sales. The sales team will, therefore, make it their responsibility to provide a detailed handover.
A new responsibility structure
In a traditional model, blame is a sure way to get out of trouble as it was not a single workers responsibility. Therefore, it was not a single workers job to get something done
Teams will be responsible for the distribution of bonuses and monetary increases based on their success and failure. This will be managed by finance.
What happens to executives? They will focus on their specific roles working on the business, and not in the business, to drive it forward. They will trust that their teams will deliver, sell and operate efficiently and profitably.
This sounds great. But what happens if the team fails and needs an intervention or rescuing? Managed metrics and reporting will be made to each and every team with agreed targets and deliverables. These will be live and monitored in real-time for everyone to see.
Weekly team meetings will be held to talk about success, risk, and delivery.
A detailed playbook
Most importantly, a detailed playbook for each business unit will be provided. This will provide processes, guidelines, workflows and overall information on how to achieve the high-quality service GTconsult strives to deliver to their customers.
These playbooks will identify each team, role, and responsibility in detail. It will be a working document that is refined and updated quarterly.
Taking care of the future
I grew up in a home where my mother had to work her entire life to make ends meet. If someone offered a helping hand so that she could have a peaceful retirement and not fear the expense of medical treatment, I am almost certain she would still be with us today.
That is why our next big change has already been implemented for the most part. We are focusing on us and making sure we provide a safe, caring and nurturing environment for the team we work in.
Medical cover and a Provident fund will be provided to everyone who works at GT for more than a year. We will ensure that our team is covered both now as well as financially in the future above their current cost to company.
GTconsult will be a company that puts the people to ensure its success first.
Finally, security.
I was banned from our IT lab at school for something that was clearly not my fault. So, I proceeded to create a visual basic DoS remote attacking tool which took out the entire computer room whilst I stood watching eagerly from a safe distance away.
Since then, I have been very involved in the industry and have always had a passion for security and InfoSec.
Over the years, we have seen the need arise for a unique real-world approach to security. This is why we officially started our A team protection offering at the beginning of 2018. It has been a blinding success, the need for practical security advice has never been more important.
I am excited about our growth in the US and UK markets. I am humbled by how great our team has become, and I am motivated by our joint effort to take GTconsult into 2019 with significant motivation to grow the company.
We are looking forward to a bright future. We hope that you will join us.