Scrooge became vaguely aware of the inside his eyelids being lit up as the sun shone through the window. As he lifted his head from his pillow, he wondered what on earth might happen next. He wasn’t sure whether he’d been asleep or actually on some wild escapade it had all felt so vivid. He nipped himself on the arm just to double check it was all real.
Making it at pace to work, the office hummed in its usual way. Moderately busy, but nowhere near its potential for this time of year.
Scrooge, however, felt a renewed sense of optimism as he rose from his chair, dare I say even a smile appeared on his face, and he sped up his step towards Bob’s desk.
“Bob, what day is it?”
“Err, still the 14th of December, Mr Scrooge.”
He laughed. “Of course, it is, and how is Tim doing today?” Bob frowned, his face must have betrayed his caution, “Time for an upgrade, I can’t have my most valuable employee working with inadequate equipment.” Bob thought he was hearing things!
He watched in amazement as his boss went around the office greeting the staff and thanking them for their support and input into the business. He returned to Bob. “How about we step out and see what we can do about Tim? Then you can give me some thoughts about how we can really bring this taxi firm in line.” Bob had never seen Scrooge so animated as he relayed his thoughts on a plan of progression and for once actually seemed to listen to what Bob had to say. “I think some extra ram and upgraded storage might be all it would take Mr Scrooge, I’m still rather fond of Tim! I also think we may need some support going forward and Power BI of course. It will be an investment and may cost…” before the rest of the sentence was out of Bob’s mouth, Scrooge clapped his hands and grinned. The usual resistance to the inevitable change had vanished.
He’d finally realised that despite Carol’s “automated” success, a 100% investment in the productivity of AI perhaps wasn’t the way forward after all – it was, at the end of the day, only as good as the input. To really see things thriving, he needed his staff and his staff needed an excellent boss who made discerning decisions with everybody’s best interests at heart.
Let’s get this job done, he said as he sprang around the office like a child on Christmas morning. It felt like the beginning of something good and even the atmosphere in the office seemed less strained as he poured a drink for each of his staff and toasted them a merry Christmas.
Going forward, Ebeneezer’s Taxis was always one step ahead, having that bird’s eye view of the business and strengthening the team’s understanding of how the data was handled and what it actually meant. They felt valued knowing that their input was respected, and the technology introduced was there to enhance their jobs, not take them away.
After everything, Scrooge ended up saving money, a small investment in a monthly Power BI subscription and an upgraded computer meant that things ran much more smoothly, allowing for timely growth less stress and happy faces was all it took to get started, then they could continually grow and evolve their data solution and so his business!
Bob had his very merry family Christmas, Tim ended up a beautiful, reconditioned version of himself which made all the difference. No more groaning under the weight of the data and Ebeneezer finally got to see his dream coming true, seeing his New York taxi company going from strength to strength. Mrs Cratchit was happy too, she had got her husband back and finally the family were able to sit down for meals together.
So you see, no matter the size of your business, as long as you remember your people and the processes they follow you can build a data strategy without huge upfront investment. .
#achristmastale #dataliteracy #lessonsinbusiness #scrooge
