BluSky Services (BSS) has been a recognized supplier to EUROCONTROL since the beginning. As one of the so-called Framework companies, we were able to respond to the Requests for Proposals and we were also lucky to win quite a few. We attributed our success to two factors: on the one hand, our professional pedigree was right there alongside the best and brightest and with our airspace user network we were in fact better placed to respond to some critical task than anybody else in the market; at the same time, our prices were always extremely competitive. We have managed to keep the overhead very low and passed on the savings to our customers. If I say that on occasion the Boeing Company was one of our subcontractors, you will get an idea of the high esteem BluSky Services has always enjoyed.
Then, almost from one day to the next, the world collapsed. The first to feel the blow were those companies who made most of their living from EUROCONTROL projects. These all but disappeared when SESAR kicked into high gear and work was allocated to the inner circle of SESAR members of various kinds. A few subcontractors remained but most of the others found themselves out in the cold. Other companies who earned their living from placing experts with EUROCONTROL faced the prospect of a near-death experience when their biggest client decided to fire most of the outside contract personnel.
In other words, almost overnight the bright green pastures of European ATM contracting became a nightmarish nuclear landscape. How does a smallish company survive something like this?
I do not know about the others but I would like to share with you BluSky Services’ approach to survival. We are still here and may be hearing about our solution will inspire others to do something similar. If not now, next time disaster strikes.
It would be pretentious to say that we saw it coming… may be, at most, we felt it coming but this feeling was not strong enough to trigger action until it was almost too late. But it is true that for some time before the crisis arrived we had been discussing internally how we could make BluSky better and more secure in its market.
SAP, the business management software leaders, has a great list of the six most common mistakes companies make. These are:
1. Taking existing customers for granted
2. Failing to capitalize on market opportunities
3. Allowing operational inefficiencies to persist
4. Letting problems go undiagnosed and uncorrected
5. Driving the wrong behavior in the organization
6. Failing to offer transparency for stakeholders
Looking at this list clearly not all items are applicable to a small/medium sized enterprise (SME) like BluSky but we still found that items 1, 2 and 5 were in fact mistakes we too were guilty of.
For way too long we focused on aviation to the exclusion of almost everything else and this, per definition, had limited the scope of our clients. It was almost unthinkable that EUROCOTNROL projects would suddenly dry up but if and when they did, there was practically no plan B. This was clearly a No.1 type mistake.
Our pre-occupation with aviation made us undervalue the opportunities that could be exploited through the non-aviation knowledge already available in the company or in the process of being developed at the time. We were thinking far too much in terms of extending our existing and highly successful product line while failing to grab opportunities outside of the customary scope. A No. 2 type mistake.
Finally No. 5… This is probably the most awkward because it does require that we admit to having driven the wrong behavior when in fact there were only ourselves to drive. This had nothing to do with the quality we provided to our clients which continued to be on the same high level they expected. The problem was that our corporate goals were the same we defined many years earlier and they were not updated to reflect the changing environment. While we did manage to improve performance in defined areas, overall company performance suffered because there were no clear goals that would still be applicable in the nuclear winter that had descended on us all.
The first step towards solving a problem of course is recognizing that there is a problem… and luckily we did just that, recognizing that there were in fact several problems. It was in response to this realization that we started to figure out a new strategy. We were well down the road when the problems started…
Our first action was to define the generic actions that should propel BluSky in the future. We came up with two: innovatively diversify our product range and diversify our client base. Obviously, the second is a possible consequence of the first but it needs a lot of work nevertheless.
So how do we diversify our product range and client base? Up to that point our extensive in house graphics and multimedia capability had been put to good use in the aviation projects we had but of course this kind of IT knowledge has an appeal that is much broader than aviation. By intensive marketing we were recently able to garner projects in the telecommunications field that have nothing to do with aviation. A different world that needs getting used to but… But DeZine Services, the BluSky Group company dealing with graphics and multimedia has now become a self-supporting profit centre!
The other new initiative is even farther from aviation but is no less exotic. Under the trade name “Salon Beau’do” we opened a beauty salon! May be hard to believe, but the necessary skills became available in the company just in time for the salon to open in December last year. This was achieved with a two year learning time and I can only attribute to providence that the learning started when there was still no sign of the crisis to come. Using French and American beauty products, including the latest galvanic techniques for wrinkle removal, the salon introduces several other innovative features as well. Prices have been set to make the treatments attractive also for a clientele who may not have used such services before; the treatment room décor is simple but imaginative, using motifs that elicit pleasant memories in those taking place in the comfortable chair facing an in-door waterfall. The décor is purposely set up such that no two people will “see” the same thing, they will see what their memories conjure up at the sight of that décor. Finally, for the comfort and efficiency of the beauty specialist we introduced rolling trolleys, one for each kind of treatment group so that just by pulling the proper trolley up to the chair, she has all the necessary tools, freshly disinfected, close at hand. The clientele is growing steeply and we see already that the aim of opening up a new market segment is being met.
Needless to say, our traditional air traffic management offerings remain, forming a separate profit centre. However, ATM is now just one of the areas we are generating revenue in.
I realize of course that not all companies are so lucky that they have such diverse internal resources that enables them to smoothly change tack and sail further in whatever wind conditions. But the methodology of reassessing the capabilities, the attitude to customers, the willingness to go in completely new directions are things all can master and then put to good use. We did, and looks like we succeeded. You can too!
We would be very happy to publish your story too, especially if it contains useful advice for others to follow. Write to us!
