My roots are in the Midwest. It’s where my parents were raised and where I went to college. My mom’s father spent his entire career at a glass factory, and my dad’s father worked at a steel mill. When I picture the Midwest, I see hearty people with strong family values, and a region that once was the industrial center of America. Unfortunately, today many people now refer to the Midwest as the “Rust Belt.”

Much like this unfortunate moniker for the Midwest, a recent Wall Street Journal article used the term, ‘Tech Rust Belt,’ to describe a group of aging tech giants. The broad strokes were that companies who used to be disruptors—like Microsoft—are now the zero growth laggards about to get lapped by companies like Google, which just reported 31% year-on-year revenue growth. And there are other disruptors—like Box and Workday—that are growing even faster, essentially doubling revenue every year.
 
I spent 11 years at a company that once operated at the pinnacle of tech innovation, and is now turning in zero growth. I was thrilled to start my career at a company I admired and grew up around, observing the stock doubling every few years. They were growing because they had a fire and a passion to change the world with their products, and were rewarded by Wall Street for continually delivering on their promise.
 
So what happened from those glory years to the “oxidation” that occurred while I was there? They certainly didn’t lose all of their smart, talented, motivated employees. What causes this stagnation is complacency and divergence from the culture that made them great innovators to begin with. Besides product development, a company needs to have a culture that fosters continuous evolution around people, processes, and technology. 
 
I experienced this immediately when I joined Bluewolf. We are a global consulting partner of one of the disruptors covered in the Wall Street Journal article, salesforce.com, but we also practice what we preach as power users of the platform. To most effectively manage our business, we leverage the Salesforce® platform to its full potential, and I’ve been a witness to the dramatic impact it can have. Through the complete adoption and optimization of the platform, Bluewolf is able to operate in many ways equal to—if not better than—the Fortune 100 company where I previously spent my career.
 
For example, my previous company’s monthly executive status meeting would require hundreds of man hours of preparation. Through dozens of emails, phone calls, spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations, we would develop what was essentially a dashboard that at best would be a little under 24 hours old. Compare that to Bluewolf, where, because our current processes are mapped to Salesforce, our weekly forecast calls require essentially no prep—we simply select the appropriate dashboard. This frees our team to spend more time with customers and focus on innovation. 
 
In my two years at Bluewolf, I’ve learned that in order to avoid oxidation, you have to maintain a culture that is obsessed with exceeding customer expectations and continuous innovation. I’ve witnessed the power of this philosophy first-hand and it frustrates me to see those companies who used to be symbols of growth and innovation, now finding themselves in a heap of rust. If my time at Bluewolf has taught me anything, it’s that there’s really no excuse for getting oxidized. 

Want to know how Bluewolf can help you get closer to your customers and drive ongoing innovation? Find out more here.