This is a feature I wrote for investment platform Cofunds's customer magazine 'Perspectives'. It features Richard Allum, the owner of a business called ParaPlanPlus, whose use of web-based tools like Basecamp and Highrise has enabled him to reduce the physical scale of his business while growing its revenues and profitability.

1. Expert view Expert view
consequent profitability that he subsequently BASECAMP documents, presentations, images and
enjoyed; he was looking for an easier life. Described as ‘the leading web-based project spreadsheets – on the web, then your team and
He explained: “The steps that we go through collaboration tool’, Basecamp is the brainchild clients have the ability to access what they want,
are generally quite repetitive, so if you are able of a US-based business called 37Signals, which when they want, wherever they are in the world.
to establish strong processes and a means of started life as a web design agency but – faced
Far from being about self-promotion, professional services
sticking to them then you have pretty much won with precisely the same headaches that Richard LESS IN HOUSE IT, BETTER TECH
the battle. was experiencing – decided to build a means of There are two critical insights here that led
explains “Three years ago, the variety of processes we sharing information between themselves and Richard to adopt Basecamp in the first place
used meant that work felt like a chore. We were their clients. and – coincidentally – make his business
running servers for email and files that needed Like all really good ideas, the idea behind more profitable.
regular maintenance and replacement. Client Basecamp is simple: if you give your team and Firstly, web-hosted applications such as
Over the past three years, Richard Allum’s
outsourced paraplanning service business,
on the other. Which is probably why there is
a substantial population of financial advisers
records could comprise a combination of things
– Post-it notes, spreadsheets and emails. It was
their clients the ability to gather together and
pool their resources at a single point online,
Basecamp are colloquially described as being in
the ‘cloud’; in other words, the servers that hold per year
ParaPlanPlus, has grown its volume of new who are reluctant to embrace social media at all. pretty messy. they will be able to collaboratively set tasks, all your data are hosted elsewhere in the world
business, increased its annual revenues and According to recent findings from NMG Group, “I just knew that there had to be a better way agree project schedules, track progress and – and not on your premises.
raised its profitability by 25%, while reducing 41% of advisers would never consider using it.1 of doing things and I wanted to find it. I spent a generally – get things done. Richard said: “The data issue was very
the number of required employees. But with Facebook already able to claim that long time on Google researching what might be Even better, if you can host all the items important. Basecamp provides secure, encrypted
Richard, along with his Abingdon-based almost 35% of the world’s online population available and then I discovered Basecamp.” associated with a client case – like emails, storage that is probably as good as the UK’s MORE CLIENT ACCESS, LESS ADMIN
team of two paraplanners and one part-time has an account with them2, the pressure on banks, and also meets data protection rules. The second insight demonstrates the
administrator, handles the gathering, analysis financial advisers to use this media as a means “The back-up and maintenance of the servers reduced administrative pressure on
and production of reports for clients of their 40 of communicating with clients is only likely for Basecamp were far better than anything we small businesses that social web tools such as
IFA customers, as well as three product providers to increase. So how has social media enabled could have a orded ourselves, and it meant we Basecamp can provide.
who also contract the services of Richard’s team Richard to enhance his paraplanning business didn’t need the space for a server in our own Richard explained: “Because we allow
each year. so dramatically? o ces. That meant we could reduce the space we clients to access the cases that we are working
needed, almost entirely cut out IT maintenance on in Basecamp, they have the ability to track
REMARKABLE GROWTH SEEKING A BETTER WAY costs and actually gain more reliable technology. the progress of their case and keep informed
But the expansion of ParaPlanPlus is remarkable Richard modestly admits that he was not, in We’ve probably saved as much as £15,000 over whenever they want.”
for two reasons. Firstly, it has grown despite fact, seeking the reduced costs of operation and the past three years as a result.” The net e ect of this accessibility is fewer
an apparent reduction in scale. Compared to emails and phone-calls from clients chasing
2007, he has smaller premises, considerably the status of their cases. This led to far less
less computer hardware, and has reduced his administrative demand, enabling Richard
administrative support by the equivalent of one to reduce administrative support from 60 to
full-time employee. 20 hours a week – a saving of approximately
Secondly, Richard is a nice guy. He does not £30,000 per year in employment costs.
run a penny-pinching operation or employ And what started out as a single simple tool
draconian working practices. for 37Signals, has expanded into a range of
So if he has fewer people, less space, social web-based tools that now have more than
considerably less IT paraphernalia and is not three million worldwide subscribers.
prone to bouts of Dickensian whip cracking, Exponential adoption of applications like
how has his small business grown bigger by these – especially among small enterprises
becoming smaller? in the professional services sector – is simply
Richard attributes a good deal of the improved due to the fact that they are incredibly useful,
business performance to just one thing: the easily accessible and enable people to run their
social web. For him, and many others like businesses how they really want to.
him, social media o ers entirely new ways of In Richard’s case, a social web tool has helped
doing things that make a tangible di erence to run day-to-day business more easily. If that’s
to profitability as well as alleviating the daily something you aspire to for your own business,
pressure of working life. then perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate what social
media could do for you.
CHALLENGING PERCEPTIONS
For the uninitiated, improved profitability and Ian Thomas is Director of
business e ciency are not outcomes one would communications consultancy MRM
readily associate with social media such as
Twitter and Facebook. Media coverage tends to
characterise users of social media as opinionated
publishers of tweets and blogs, on the one hand,
and socially voracious Facebook friend-seekers
18 Perspectives AUTUMN 2010 AUTUMN 2010 Perspectives 19