The conversation that did not take place a few years ago went something like this:

“We need to build new products and partnerships which allow us to add a lot more value to existing sites just in case the housing market implodes and there is a reverberation throughout the global economy in all aspects of business and employment.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is actually down 3% this year, masked by the 33% bounce since it hit the March lows. When people ask me how’s it going out there, my response goes something like this – I feel today about the general economy like I did in January. I feel that way not because the Dow Jones is at a similar price as it was at the beginning for the year but because of what I hear from partners and customers. It is a tough piece of bread, as my Dad said often, for so many companies and people.

Businesses remain pessimistic about being able to borrow money, more people are losing jobs, and employed consumers are trying to hold on to their income at a greater rate. I feel blessed to have a job, especially at Radiant given our situation.

Our company is very fortunate. We invested a lot of our profits over the last five years to help grow our business. We focused R&D and acquisition efforts mostly on expanding into new geographies, industry segments and product lines. I cannot honestly say that if we knew of the impending recession that we would have made those investments. But I am incredibly thankful we did. The products and businesses we invested in have proven to be somewhat recession-proof.

Customers more than I’ve ever seen are more focused on existing operations. Site expansion is no longer the top priority for many of our customers and prospects. Their eyes have turned towards optimizing existing site performance. Products like Quest, Orderman, and Aloha Command Center – just to name a few – are more relevant than ever for helping customers improve their existing store operations.

I am extremely confident in Radiant’s future. It is humbling that so many of the decisions we made years ago are proving to be crucial to our success today. As we look to the future, we continue to challenge ourselves to provide tools to more customers looking to improve their performance. We have touched various parts of the operation in the industries we serve, but there are more ways to help. That is the predominant question we are asking ourselves – how can we continue our success even when the given of site expansion no longer is?

This entry was posted by Andy Heyman, Chief Operating Officer on Friday, June 12th, 2009 at 3:56 pm and is filed under Executive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.