Amid all the busy-ness and fun of December, the end of the year approaching usually gets us all thinking about our plans for the year ahead.
At Heliocentrix, we’d like to wish all our customers, suppliers and supporters a Merry Christmas! We’re also wishing you all a bright and prosperous new year in 2025.
Ever practical, we also have suggestions for creating the best possible conditions for success over the next 12 months. The shifts created by AI and automation are seismic and we’ve witnessed first-hand the positive impacts for our customers. 2025 will be the year of transforming IT systems to truly take advantage of the new tech that’s just waiting to improve your business efficiency and productivity.
In the spirit of the season, John has a special Christmas message to share. Or perhaps we should say a Christmas IT cautionary tale?
A Christmas Carol
It was Christmas Eve, and Sarah, the owner of “HappyCo,” sat in her office, drowning her end-of-year stress in a mug of cold mulled wine. The business was fine. Not great, not terrible, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that they were going stale, like a mince pie left too long in the tin.
The Ghost of Christmas Past
As she leaned back in her chair, a strange breeze ruffled her paperwork.
Before she could blame the dodgy heating system, a ghostly figure appeared, clutching something ominously nostalgic.
“I am the Ghost of Christmas Past!” it announced in a voice that crackled like an old dial-up connection. The figure held up a Blackberry phone.
“Oh no,” Sarah groaned. “Not another motivational Presentation.”
The ghost ignored her sarcasm and whisked her away to HappyCo’s office of yesteryear. Everything was beige—the walls, the desks, even the staff’s enthusiasm.
“Remember when you thought this was state-of-the-art technology?” the ghost said, gesturing at a younger Sarah, proudly texting on her Blackberry while printing out a hundred-page data analysis.
“Oh wow,” Sarah said, wincing. “Was I bragging about spreadsheets back then?”
“Yes,” the ghost replied solemnly. “You thought using colour-coded tabs made you cutting-edge. But times changed, Sarah, and you didn’t.”
Before Sarah could defend her love of Excel, the ghost vanished.
The Ghost of Christmas Present
As Sarah blinked back in her office, a second figure appeared. This one was holding a laptop and juggling what looked like three video calls happening simultaneously.
“I am the Ghost of Christmas Present!” it declared, before pausing to mute one of its ongoing calls. “Sorry, Barry, can’t do the budget review right now. I’m mid-haunting.”
“What’s the lesson this time? Don’t overbook your calendar?” Sarah asked.
“No, I’m here to show you what your clients are saying about HappyCo right now.”
The ghost snapped its fingers, and suddenly Sarah was standing, invisible, in one of her client’s offices. A frustrated employee was wrestling with a printer.
“Whyyy does HappyCo still send us contracts we have to print, sign, scan, and email back?” the employee groaned.
“Right?” another employee chimed in. “It takes me longer to sign their documents than it does to read them!”
Sarah winced. “I didn’t realise this was such a big deal. At least we aren’t using fax anymore”
“Oh, it is,” the ghost said, folding its arms. “Your clients are wasting time and losing patience.”
Sarah groaned. “Fine, I get it. I need to modernise.”
The Ghost of Christmas Future
Suddenly the ghost of Christmas Future arrived.
“Welcome to your business in five years,” it said, its glowing hand waving her into a vision of HappyCo. The office was silent. Empty desks sat beneath layers of dust. A tumbleweed, inexplicably, rolled through the scene.
“Where is everyone?” Sarah asked, horrified.
“They’ve moved on,” the ghost intoned. “Other companies embraced AI, automation, and modern software. But you thought sticking with old systems would save money.”
“Okay, I get it!” Sarah exclaimed. “I’ll change. I’ll upgrade. I’ll even stop using my AOL email address!”
The ghost smiled faintly. “Good. The future is yours to shape.”
With a jolt, Sarah woke up at her desk. It was Christmas morning.
She took a deep breath, went home and had a reflective Christmas.
On 2nd January she got to the office and promptly called Heliocentrix. With their guidance and Sarah’s leadership, HappyCo became a shining example of modernity. Clients were thrilled, employees were happy, and Sarah even managed to sneak an AI chatbot into their customer service without breaking the bank.
The Moral of the Story
The ghosts of tech past, present, and future agree—don’t let your business become a relic. Stay modern, stay relevant, and remember, even the grumpiest Scrooge can turn things around with the right tools (and maybe a little Christmas spirit).
Merry Christmas from all of us at Heliocentrix! 🎄 May you have a ghost-free Christmas
Business efficiency stocking fillers
If you recognise anything of your IT systems in HappyCo’s pre-Christmas IT set-up, here’s a few thoughts from the Heliocentrix blog to give you some inspiration in 2025.
- How we helped out customers meet the new email requirements that came in during 2024
- What is Microsoft Loop: launched by Microsoft early in 2024 to bring together all your project planning and collaboration. For M365 Business Standard and Business Premium users, this is already included in your license fee.
- Productivity tips for Microsoft Co-Pilot: our review of M365’s generative AI tool kit.
- How we helped a client by developing a SharePoint based system for complex appointment management, without increasing their ongoing IT expenditure
Your productivity wishlist for 2025
We pride ourselves on staying ahead of the current trends and we love to share that knowledge with our customers. Next year we will be sharing even more information and advice on making your productivity goals a reality.
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From the whole team at Heliocentrix, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!