Google Apps (I like Google for managing our Corporate wide Email & Intranets)

• ZOHO (I like their CRM & HR Solutions)
• Central Desktop (For Client Service Project Management)
• BookFresh (Online Appointment Scheduling)
• ProjectOffice (for Internal Project Management)

Of course, we use a dozen or more Cloud/SAAS specialty solutions for additional operational execution (Too numerous to name them all). Those listed above are the infrastructure and foundation we have built our firm upon. It allows us to have remote connectivity and hold down cost. In addition, to these benefits, we are not putting all our eggs in one basket!

The MAXX5 System solution is value driven, uses proprietary diagnostic tools and business process models, as well as an implementation methodology culled from 45 years of combined service experience. Its time-sensitive implementation approach provides a succinct way to generate considerably improved business processes for a business operation by focusing on the existing value-creating functions of core business processes.

This is realized without embarking on a major business makeover that could take years to actualize. MAXX5 System immediately begins to uncover hidden points of process improvements, driving bottom line results in as little as six months, with substantial and sustainable results in one year.

The MAXX5 System solution improved a beverage process manufacturer’s operational effectiveness by 25%, transforming a floundering operation into solid functionality. Additional benefits were: improved product development timeframes and an aligned product marketing plan.

“In the current global economic climate, our clients are struggling against declining revenue streams, and their operational costs have already been sliced, diced, and cut to the bare bone,” said Kareem Ayers, ACG’s, MAXX5 System Managing Principal. He furthered added, “In today’s economy, integrated business process improvement is essential to driving bottom-line results.”

CUI brings an established ten year track record and a wealth of FedGov contract and technological knowledge to the Teaming arrangement. ACG is providing business development and client acquisition expertise.

In your everyday work life, do you require a higher calling, more personal satisfaction, a career with world changing potential, and personal enhancement? If you do, we are waiting for you

Come join our group of innovative, techno curious, client-centric purveyors. We pride ourselves on utilizing best practices in IT Systems, IT Professional Services, and management consultative knowledge, to create a dynamic service delivery practice known as Maxx5 Systems.

We are looking for top notch, talented, outside the box thinkers. So, if you have Lean, Six Sigma, Web 2.0 or other notable skills, coupled with good old Alpha drive ambition, please drop us a line and let’s chat about you.

email: aafconsultinggroup@gmail.com

Let me clarify a point before I proceed any further.  Choosing how or what form to operate in is the beauty of self-employment.  If you desire or choose to operate as a “Mom & Pop” operation with little or no team/employees that is your choice and so be it.  However, if one chooses to have multiple locations and many employees you’d better have a well defined plan of operation/execution.

What this short overview is attempting to achieve is to point out the lack of preparation most Small Business Owner/Operators fail to do; and that is adequate upfront, start-up planning.  There are a minimum of three types of planning you have to do: 1. Marketing Planning, 2. Sales and Operational Planning, and 3. Funding/Financial Planning.  They can be held in one document called a Business Plan; however they individually need a full treatment.

The fourth plan that almost never gets done until thrust upon the new owner/operator(s) is the HR and Standard Operating Procedures type of planning.  This normally is done ad hoc, driven by crisis management requirements, and governmental reporting requirements.  However, it is probably the most important leadership, vision, and regulated driven type of planning.

Finally, the last type of planning that is hardly ever done or found in a business that survives the first couple of years is Strategic Planning (SP); due to the fact that SP rests on the foundation of the previously mentioned planning types.  Small business folks by year two or three are too busy buried in day-to-day management tasks to give any additional time to SP activities; which creates its’ own set of future business survival issues.

A business model in its most basic form and on its simplistic level should depict how a company’s inputs (material or info), product or service process, and output (finished product and/or service delivery) creates value.

As a new business owner, can you honestly look at yourself in the mirror and believe you can produce at least one million dollars of sales revenue? Will you be able to pay yourself a minimum $100K salary from your direct selling efforts? If not, you will need to attract, hire, manage, and retain a sales force; especially if you have spent the better part of your professional career behind a desk, (pc, lab, etc). And you think you can produce a million dollar revenue stream without any formalized sales training or sales skill development, then you need to start selling your way to fortune and fame immediately.

However, battle hardened gatekeepers, shrewd corporate/government buyers and procurement executives, C level managers; in addition to possibly cash strapped/ sometimes greedy/cash-flow driven/my-way-or-the-highway owner/operators of small businesses may test your preconceived notions of your untested sales skills. (We are a small business enterprise as well; and feel the pain and understand the challenges of small business ownership.)

OOPS! I forgot about the sometimes fickle, fad driven (Can-I-get-the-HOOK-UP) consumer buyer and market.

Welcome to the world of blogging.  I too am new to this stuff, but I think WE will catch on pretty quickly.  Being IT savvy and all.

I will be looking forward to hearing about any new things going on in the world of consulting & anything else you have to offer in the world of business.

Do you have any words of wisdom for someone starting out in the consulting business?  I look forward to reading and following your blog.

Ciao ACG…..I’ll be seeing you in cyberspace!

Kudos! Kudos! Kudos!! Hello and welcome to the new AAF Consulting Group blog (ACG).

Here’s where you’ll find real & usable news on everything about ACG – from innovative service concepts to interviews with service delivery specialists (Of course, we have high energy, brainy professionals running around here chomping at the bit ready to get this blog started; starting with me of course).

Plus you’ll see new readers in the spotlight with our monthly member profiles. Over the course of this millennium, we’ll try to make this blog a lot more interesting to read than your PDA’s user manual.

So please bookmark this blog, email to a friend/colleague or add our RSS feed, and help us kick this effort off about ACG News. And of course, we’d love getting your feedback on ACG and this blog — and what you want to see discussed (and showcased) in the near future.

As always, chance favors the prepared mind…

Warm regards,

Kareem S. Ayers, Managing Principal