productivity improvement – Terrace Consulting

Leaving a secure day job

February 17, 2016 by Judy

Just over 14 years ago I left my secure day job with a growing consultancy firm and started Terrace Consulting Ltd. Five years before that I left my very secure public sector job as Information Services Manager (now called Chief Information Officer) to go into consultancy. What a ride.

Since 2002 I’ve undertaken a number of roles with a variety of organisations – from large public sector agencies to one person businesses – and a whole lot in between.

My focus has remained the same throughout – making information readily available to those who need it.

Electronic filing

November 23, 2015November 23, 2015 by Judy

Four years ago I wrote about the business decision you needed to make about whether to store business information in paper format or in electronic format. Or both.

Save your research to save time later

September 7, 2015October 28, 2015 by Judy

What is the best way to finance my growing business?

What is the best software for me to use for my business?

How do I store all the information I so I can find it next time I need it?

These questions and many more are often asked by business owners.

Geriatric care and business information : commonalities

August 24, 2015October 28, 2015 by Judy

My mother is 93 and living in a rest home. I’m not terribly happy with her situation and I’ve been reading Atul Gawande’s book “Being Mortal” looking for better options for people like her. I was surprised in the first few chapters to find some similarities with business information systems.

Where is the valuable intelligence in your business

August 13, 2015October 28, 2015 by Judy

Business information, whether electronic and hard copy, holds valuable intelligence about your business activities.

Losing this valuable information, or being unable to access it quickly when needed, could result in loss of contracts and lower profits.

Your business and the ‘Cloud’

July 23, 2015October 28, 2015 by Judy

You’ve heard of the ‘Cloud’ and probably wonder what it’s all about. Although at a basic level it’s really only another term for ‘Internet,’ the ‘Cloud’ is a way of storing information resources so that they can be easily accessed and shared when you’re away from the office. Another major benefit is

A structured electronic filing environment or a random Google-type search process

July 6, 2015October 28, 2015 by Judy

A structured electronic filing environment works better than having a ‘bucket’ of items that you search right through to find the item you want

What does this mean and what is the difference?

The value of document management systems

June 17, 2015September 7, 2016 by Judy

I’ve never been a great fan of electronic document management systems. I can see how they can be useful but I’ve seen a lot that, in spite of hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to install them, are not used effectively because the people who are expected to use them find them too hard.

Now there are many reasons for this and it’s not always the fault of the system itself.

Business fundamentals

May 28, 2015October 28, 2015 by Judy

Being able to find information you need when you need it is fundamental to the way you manage your business.

It doesn’t matter what your business does – whether you’re making pies, children’s’ clothes, iron gates or if you provide

Improving business productivity

May 20, 2015October 28, 2015 by Judy

Recently I had the opportunity to contribute to a blog on improving business productivity. Each contribution had to be very concise – a good productivity goal in itself.