Wednesday 30th September

This week is a pretty sad week if truth be told. If I cast my mind back to March 1998, I was having a very nice lunch while listening to two ICC people (Chris Mason and Angela Burdett) telling an audience at Hampton Court how fantastic Juniper Web was / would be. At the time I was pretty amazed at the speed and ability of the product (the dial up internet I had from Netscape was rubbish!). I know a fair bit more about demonstrations and how to ‘manage’ them to your advantage now but, at the time, I thought it was magic!

Similarly 1999 (Ian Goodenough, XD), 2001 (Terry Dawson, Plum), and 2003 (Matthew Debbage, Aquila) were all great occasions when ICC launched a new product into the marketplace . (I note, this is a pretty impressive list of the great and good in Business & Credit Information and I have learnt much from all of them).

Our legacy products were innovative and have proved invaluable to thousands of credit managers, information professionals and knowledge managers over the years (plus countless other 'job functions' over their lifetime).

I am sure many of you will recall how hard copy documents would get lost in a post room somewhere, or our famous juggler (who you watched for ages as the image loaded up), or credit reports before they had tailored scoring and always live archiving. And, dare I even mention the f word!!! A bit like CD’s, I remember a time when people said you will never be able to replace micro fiche... No, Agfa printers smelt bad and mainly just burnt paper.

But this week all these products were 'sunsetted' as we, and our clients, face the future on the services of our new platform. And so the world keeps turning. Information and credit professionals demands get more (and sometimes less) sophisticated and a new set of tools are required to do the job efficiently and effectively.

So I will raise a glass to our legacy products collectively (and individually), I will rose tint my spectacles (If I recall many of these products did break sometimes... in the early years...) and have a small tear in my eye. I will also bask in the splendour of actually genuinely being able to turn off a product (this is not as simple as it seems believe me).

Then I will get back to reality, remember that ICC's new services are much faster, fault tolerant, flexible and user friendly. And the cold harsh reality that things change and will always need to move forward. As the strapline says “the future is bright... the future is orange” (or is it yellow & blue)?

So farewell fond friends. Those that have used you will be sad at your passing into internet history. But are we all better off for you existing in the first place? You betcha by golly we are!

Now I am off to do the last few things before CAct day. See you on the other side....

(PS - I would love to know how much that Companies House advert cost with real curtains that is currently in Waterloo station...is that what the late filing penalty fines are for)?

Friday 25th September

So I am on a train coming back from Cardiff. The week had been centred on a particularly nasty problem around Directors and some potential bad data (possibly affecting 1000's of records) when I get an email saying the problem is really small and we can fix all errors before we go live. This is enough to make me rejoice anyway (most times issues escalate, not actually resolve themselves without too much effort). But, and I kid you not reading public, my iPod started playing the line 'Good times for a change' from ‘Please please please let me get what I want this time’ by The Smiths. The odds of getting a positive message from a Smiths song were slim at best, so to get that nugget while reading the update on the Directors issue is arguably too close for coincidence (thanks MS). I think the Karma I mentioned in my blog last week is coming our way.

So why the bullish, almost euphoric mood? Well I see light at the end of the tunnel. We still have a lot of work to do over the next few weeks, but I note with some optimism that those involved in delivering the project know what we need to do and when we need to do it by - the project managers who have worked tirelessly on this deserve a medal, or at the least a very large beer.

The reality is this - all business information vendors large and small are affected by the Companies Act. We all have plans to deliver the work on time and on budget and therefore the execution of those plans still remains the number one priority for our business (and no doubt everybody else’s), in the coming days.

As a 'lifer' at ICC (and proud to be one), I know that the vast majority of the people working within ICC are a loyal and dedicated bunch who want this piece of work to succeed. Whether they are opportunists who see everything in terms of “what does this mean for my customers” - or the more rational, analytical thinkers who look at the consequences of not delivering the program, everybody I talk to has their own personal pride in the job they are doing, and wants their part of the whole to be as much of a success as those around them.

I think this bodes very well for what will be a challenging, but also pretty exciting period of time.

Friday 11th September

If I am honest, thinking about interesting topics to write about is becoming harder and harder, especially as the amount of things I need to do becomes increasingly larger (I do like a good old fashioned ‘things to do’ list, written on paper, so that I can gleefully tick or cross them out).

So we are now well into September. Many of you will know this because your journey times to work will have significantly increased because of the returning masses at school (oh isn't commuting much more peaceful over the summer holidays)!

We now have just 14 working days to deliver a program of work. It must be said that the pressure to get all the threads to come together at exactly the right time is beginning to take its toll. So much so I am now letting in more drivers into a flow of traffic so I can get my quota of 'good karma'. Apparently it is a well known fact that, if you do this, good karma will come to you and, if the individual does not acknowledge you, ‘bad karma’ will come to them – you have been warned!

So what is going to happen over the next three weeks (of course all things subject to time changes and the like)? Well a rough roll out is as follows:

1. This week we roll out proprietary back end work on the database - user visibility will be limited
2. We will send all final specifications for our bulk clients today (Friday) in electronic format and in paper copies early next week
3. We will have our test xml gateway launched on the weekend of the 18th September
4. Our myICC Act compliant application, for final UAT testing, will be delivered around the 25th September

In terms of data updates on our products, we will continue to update data throughout the week beginning the 28th September and will still receive Companies House updates right through until Thursday 1st.

Our position around updates from the 5th October will depend on the accuracy and timeliness of the data sent to us by Companies House after the 4th October. Our intention is to scrutinise the data and ensure we provide accurate consistent data into the market place. I am sure communications around what has been achieved post-Act will come thick and fast in that week.

So as we enter the final push it might be a tad difficult to provide my blog updates but I will do my best to keep you all in the loop. Otherwise I will see you on the other side…

Wednesday 2nd September

So we are into September and the nights are rapidly getting shorter and soon the C word will be upon us. No, not Companies Act. The other C word - I notice Debenhams were selling C related items this weekend!!! However, I want to celebrate a different birthday (even I am wincing at that link). It is 10 years ago today that ICC took ownership of, and started using, the Companies House Fiche Library from our office in Cardiff.

The weekend of the move was a challenging one. Firstly, I arrived late for the pre-move work on Friday evening (a bit too long in the pub if truth be told watching Liverpool in the Super Cup or something equally mundane). The move took place over Saturday / Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday and in three shifts; day, twilight and night, at both the London and Cardiff end. I was leading a team that included friends and my wife (I recall this as a pretty tense experience as telling my wife what to do is just impossible). There were tears and tantrums (mainly mine) but the entire move was very successful. We finished early, no Fiche were lost in the river Severn, and people started to use the library from 8am on the Tuesday post bank holiday.

I remember at the time many people had many thoughts about what ICC had done. Some thought it would destroy the 'company search' business. Others thought we would abuse our 'London based' monopoly position. Others even suspected the purchase was a done deal (which it certainly was not) rather than a genuine tender because the tender suited us in terms of location. The reality was that none of the above was true. But it did make people re-think: what was possible in terms of document packages; how they could be delivered; who ultimately requests information; and how that could save time and money for professional firms in areas such as Accountancy, Legal and Investment & Retail Banking.

When a big change happens it is natural to think that the impact will be immediate. It is more likely that the change will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary, and the impact is felt over the long term not the short term. It seems to me that gradual change has a more lasting impact and ultimately is better for all. I seem to recall from history lessons at school that not all revolutions bring about fundamental change in the long run (I emphasise the 'not all' at this point - I know many will be able to argue that some revolutions do/have worked).

So, at the end of the day, (football saying No. 15 in my 1980 Shoot
annual) the introduction of the Companies Act, the work we are doing and all the other elements that are going on besides add up to evolution. Do not be surprised if, on day one, nothing happens and you feel no different. In many ways the effort we have put in is to ensure that is exactly how you feel. But you will notice things over time and I am confident that these will be of great benefit.

So Happy Birthday Micro Fiche Library. You have aged well, with plenty of life in you yet!

Monday 24th August

I am happy to admit my current favourite programme on TV has that very title above. This is for a number of reasons. Firstly, David Mitchell appeals to my sense of humour. Secondly, Home & Away is on its summer break (yes I did mean it in my first blog: H&A is my guilty pleasure that I cannot give up). And thirdly, I am rubbish at guessing which facts are true and which are big fat porkies, much to the derision of my wife who believes she has not got one wrong yet (hmmmmmm...).

So as a very tame tribute to this piece of TV trash, here are a bunch of facts (or maybe not) and I will let you decide which are true and which are false.

1. ICC's Companies Act project is on track with all strands of the program of work.

2. Final Bulk Specifications from Companies House are to be provided on 28th August so ICC will no longer need to work from drafts after this point.

3. ICC is expecting to complete its data development effort on 28th August and then move into testing and implementation phases.

4. My Aunt taught Graham Gooch how to play cricket.

5. Companies House expect to send cut-over files in the new data format to ICC and other bulk data users between 02.00 – 04.00am on Sunday 4th October (that is going to be a long weekend).

6. On 5th October if you try to log into Juniper / Juniper XD / Aquila / Plum you will not be able to get access and you will be directed to myICC.

7. My parents wrote 'Brain' rather than 'Brian' as my middle name on my birth certificate - I inherited their ability to spell.

8. Companies House predict changes to the Companies Act based on legal challenges and revisions (and therefore a Post Companies Act Project is already being planned!)

9. I once appeared on Crackerjack in the early eighties with Stu 'crush a grape' Francis - I won nothing but the obligatory pen!

10. Companies House are forecasting a 3 month period of mopping up any Companies Act-related issues.

We now have 6 full weeks left before the week beginning of the 5th October. It is all starting to get a bit close now (plus the battery on my blackberry is dying so I’d better go and do something more productive instead).

___________________________________________________________________

Answers:

1. True; 2. True; 3. True; 4. True; 5. True; 6. True; 7. Almost true but fortunately not quite – a TB injection form was filled in incorrectly rather than my birth certificate; 8. True; 9. True; 10. True

Thursday 13th August

Hi - this post is going to be joke-free (like all of them I hear you cry)! To take a leaf out of Tony Blair's book I will focus on three things: communication, communication, communication. Of course the actual sound bite was ‘education, education, education’: maybe in this instance that would have worked just as well. At what stage does communication become education and visa versa? Here is an update on our current projects and how they will affect you:

Aquila / Juniper / Juniper XD - service will be discontinued as early in September as possible. If you are still accessing these products you need to speak with your account manager to understand what your service provision looks like in September and into October.

XML Gateway - a technical bulletin describing ways of managing updated tags and details of new lookups will be sent next week. Work on the new gateway is progressing well. We are now using previous calls from the old system to ensure they are all 'transformed' correctly in the new one. Access for testing will be organised as soon as possible.

HTML Gateway - this will be switched off in the last week of September.

Bulk data - a time line for delivery of data has been produced. However, we are still waiting final clarification around cut-off from Companies House. Hopefully a meeting on the 19th will answer any outstanding queries we have with Companies House.

myICC - myICC will have some page updates but training for key individuals around what has changed happened this week. This 'train the trainer' session means those individuals can now feed details out to everyone else in our organisation and they can then disseminate this to you over the coming weeks. Our sales and service teams will receive this training in late August.

A Companies Act seminar is being run by ICC in September. For those who cannot attend the seminar, a webinar using the same presentation will be delivered in September. The actual date for the webinar will be issued nearer the time.

Finally the project itself (like all projects of this magnitude) is running near the knuckle and, yes, in some parts we have used contingency to keep on track. But I think everybody in ICC has always known that a fixed deadline that will not change was always going to produce a project that as Alex Ferguson says has a ‘squeaky bum time’ element to it. But the focus remains very clear for all parts of the business and nothing, but nothing, is detracting anybody from this focus - believe me!

Monday 3rd August

Two ICC sales people are sitting in a bar…

They had just completed a complex, yet ultimately successful renewal with a client.

“You know what?” one says to the other "Clients really love our old products. Shame we can’t keep ‘em”. "Yeah" agrees the other. “But helping our clients migrate to our new, leading-edge technology offers so many advantages.”

“That’s true. Look at the benefits from the last migration. That client had two products with loads of different passwords. Now, with IP authentication, they only need one password so the end users don’t need to remember their passwords anymore. And we capture references that they can understand. Feedback has been great because searching for companies, and particularly downloading, is much quicker than Juniper and the other products they had.“

“Didn’t we build customised reports for their different departments?”

“Yeah, and the buy in has been really positive. I’m getting fewer emails about monitoring because the emails relay exactly what has changed. And, because the score automatically updates to improve the score card, they get fewer but more accurate updates.”

"Exactly the same for me. I used to have regular conversations with clients about download speeds and the fact the two products had different ways of doing the same thing. Not anymore. I remember trying to bespoke something on Juniper or Aquila was a bit of a ‘mare. That just won’t be a problem in the future."

“The absolute bonus is that these new platforms will be completely Companies Act compliant from day one AND show a map of all the old documents to new AND have previous directors address stuff. Should be a breeze in October.”

"October?"

"You know. When Companies House is changing everything – although not sure what that means exactly. Anyway, at least we’ll be one step ahead of the game. And, of course, so will our clients.”

“Sounds like a good reason to celebrate. Another beer?"

Of course this is a purely fictitious conversation. ICC sales people do not drink. But if you are one of the few organisations yet to benefit from ICC’s premium portfolio of services, get in touch as we do genuinely know how to make sure you receive the best service, based on your needs.

Finally thought I would mention that, according to the Companies House website, there are only 58 days to go...

Friday 24th July

If anybody was missing me last week, I am sorry. I had a week off. Mind you, 7 full days of my one year old twin boys was not that restful I can assure you. So what happened whilst I was away? Well, the cost of URA data was announced - it is over £50k if you add on the cost of the accreditation process. I was called 'Mr URA' by somebody the other day, as I do seem to be discussing this topic way too much for my own health (in my head I would have preferred that to have been Mr Universe but then that would be a very large stretch of the truth - certainly better than Mr PVC or Mr QVC... Stop it Paul, you are being silly now).

But in all seriousness I think this figure is very excessive. Organisations that need to take this data to incorporate into existing products that help maintain good credit decisions or compliance processes are not going to be able to pass this cost on at a time when all clients are looking for more value for money. As I struggle to build a business case, I find by chatting to some of my counterparts that they are in the same boat. It would be a strange world where we all know our clients see a benefit for this data but individually we cannot make it pay, so it is parked as a 'project to do when we can see a stronger revenue justification' - they are also in the same file as ‘wouldn't it be good if we could...’

Something else that may have slipped under the radar. It looks like we may get documents that look similar to those published by the Government after the expenses scandal broke. Yep, it turns out people can ask Companies House to rescan old Annual Returns and have the residential address blacked out with a great big black marker pen! Ok, I might be adding to that for dramatic licence but for a fee, it will be possible to reissue Annual Returns with this data expunged. ICC will get a rescan replacement document so once it is changed it is gone forever!

Finally, and perhaps the strangest set of conversations I have had in a while: how do you ensure the project is swine flu proof?! I love this topic because it is so divisive. I must admit I am in the 'it’s gonna happen and there is nothing we can do about it’ camp. But in the spirit of BBC impartiality I do understand why some individuals want to plan for the potential loss of key staff, disrupting the project. The alternatives – from working from home to wearing head to toe body suits - must all be considered (how do you use a keyboard in a full protective body suit?) However, for a small business a few good people down will take its toll. We will of course take precautions and attempt to make sure our delivery is not derailed by swine flu. But I suspect all the planning in the world will never enable us to be completely swine proofed.

Talking of the BBC (I hope you are keeping up), let us be thankful for small mercies. Imagine if Robert Preston had broken the news on swine flu like he did on Northern Rock. By now we would be more sick of his really odd diction telling us the end of the world is nigh than from the illness itself. Moreover the Government would have been injecting every banker in Great Britain with vaccine to ensure the economy was not brought to its knees.

I make no apologies if today’s slab of random thoughts has a more frivolous tone. Hey - it is nearly the silly season, you’re all about to have summer breaks, and you never know what is coming next so to be serious all the time is just bad for one’s mental health.

Now, better put some Joy Division on my iPod and get one’s perspective back on track...