At IIABA's national convention, which was held in September in New York City, a panelist who had developed a successful sales plan referred to a “short-read” book entitled “Acres of Diamonds.” I'm fond of short-read books because I can see the end even before beginning, and they usually offer one or more clearly identifiable messages. This book asserted that opportunity is found not just on the other side of the world or even in the next state, but also in our own backyard. Upon further thought, I realized that we often mistake where our “backyard” is located and where in that yard the acres of diamonds really lie.

In technology, the backyard of opportunity often is the front edge of currently available options. We tend to think of things we can do as improvements, comparing where we currently are with where we could be. But if you are not on the latest available technology platforms, then you begin with a reference point that does not offer opportunities for real pioneering prog-ress. When you look ahead, you always see a place that others have already reached.

Our current agency management system software vendor was not among the first to offer real-time transaction technology. For two years, we were frustrated with our system and regularly asked the vendor for better functionality while also pressing our companies for real-time transactions. In the meantime, we updated our software with the latest releases so that, when the vendor and our companies came online with real-time transaction capability around the same time, our backyard acre of diamonds was only a short few steps away. Had we not kept our software up-to-date, we would not have been able to quickly take advantage of the opportunity presented to us.