<p>It doesn’t matter if you’re a Fortune 500 company or a one man show. Every business has its Achilles' heel no matter how many resources it has secured over the years. Whether that weakness is related to finances, efficiency, or some other unforeseen problem, any company can improve its operations one way or another. For more than twelve years, sales finance veteran Jim Kafieh, Founder of CSuite.co, has consulted for mega corporations like Apple, General Electric, Chipotle, and a number of smaller businesses, identifying and plugging potential and even unnoticed economic holes that were eating away resources that could be better used elsewhere.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>For those of us in the produce industry, the cost of water these days is continuing to rise. How can you be sure that you’re not being overcharged for water and that your operations are operating as efficiently as possible? Jim has developed a 5<I>e</i> process – a way to make organizations more <B>Effective</b>, <B>Efficient</b>, <B>Economical</b>, <B>Ethical</b>, and <B>Environmental</b>. “We come in like financial/operational commandos and we figure out what could be made better and make it better,” Jim tells AndNowUKnow. “It doesn’t matter if your company is big or small. From the big media company to the small farmer, our model never changes.”</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><B>It’s all about the data…</b> by James Kafieh<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Depending on where a company’s problem lies within the 5<I>e</i> Process model, the variables/metrics, or the “Actual,” can be different for each company. Is it real estate finances? Cost per square foot? Personnel finances? Cost per heads? It’s not that easy to figure out what the Actual is because the data isn’t always out there and the problem could lie in any number of these metrics. It’s critical that we agree on the Actual first. The metrics are flexible. They change depending on what the problem is, so we spend a lot of time figuring that out first. The key first step is figuring out where the company is currently at financially and finding an Actual that can set the business on track towards a specific goal.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/5es_1.jpg" alt="C Suite Actual Graph Image" /><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">You can measure more than one Actual for effectiveness, but it’s better to keep it simple and quantitative. The data you come up with is your spear and shield. Our team of qualified CFOs take an objective approach to looking at a company’s data – a second set of eyes to figure out where expenses can be better managed without bias or subjectivity. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Once the Actual has been agreed upon, there's two goals for that company: Evolutionary Change, where you can improve cash flow by 5% or 10% every year, or Revolutionary Change, where an expense item can be cut by 50%, for example. You can set these metrics up to achieve both goals. Armed with the Actual, our team can then help your company find out what your Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is and how to better achieve your long-term goals.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Stay tuned to our next piece with Jim as he shares the next step in his 5<I>e</i> Process and how to determine your Key Performance Indicator.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://csuite.co/home.html" target="_new"> C Suite.co </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
