The transition from SONET’s Chombo to my Chombo has been difficult in a few different ways. It’s been difficult for me because running a hosting company is not something I’ve done before (I think this is a good thing, I’ll explain why in a minute), and because the staff we have also have to make adjustments to cope with a new style of management. Curtis and I both manage companies in different ways. For example, I like to always look for ways to improve what we do – I feel this is essential for both us as a company and for our customers who are always going to be in search of something better, and so they should be. The key is just to ensure you’re always improving and your own service is that “something better”.
The reason I said above that it’s a benefit I haven’t run a hosting company before, is because while I’m not the most superb technical person in the world, I can surround myself with people who are excellent at what they do. It means they wont go cutting corners for the sake of a few dollars – I have to trust their judgments that what they’re doing is best for the customers and let them run the service at a top notch level while I handle the business side of things and a certain amount of customer support. I’ve always liked interacting with customers, and I guarantee if I’m ever a millionaire I’ll still be out there taking phone calls and replying to emails. Having the slight detachment from the actual technical side of things ensures our customers don’t have things “messed up” by someone trying to save a few bucks for their business.
Andrew Gould is our General Manager, and he’s the one making the decisions to do with technical solutions and improvements, plus he’ll take on board any suggestions I throw his way (turns out I occasionally have a good idea). More and more as time goes on and we get used to each other and our operating styles, Andrew will get more and more control over how the business operates and what the best result for our customers is. He’ll shape the way our customer service works (as he always has, it’s what’s made our customers so happy). If we keep the customers happy and don’t get greedy, the business will look after itself. I have no doubts about that at all. While we do agree with “if it aint broke, don’t fix it”, there’s no point falling behind and having things become outdated and stale. Our customers requirements will evolve and so must we to stay successful and useful. If Virgin Music was still selling LP’s, they’d be dead and gone 20 years ago. You have to move with the customer.
More than anything, the learning curve for all of us at Chombo isn’t “how will the new boss want us to do things?” it’s “how does the customer want us to do things?’.
Michael