The one less traveled

As I mentioned in last month’s Blog, I wanted to focus my thoughts in the last 30,000 Ft. View of 2009 not reflecting on the past year, but instead give you a glimpse at the future of Concorde through my eyes.

For those of you that are clients, vendors, and employees of Concorde, you may have noticed the multiple product and service additions that have been introduced throughout the year. We have added an Applicant Tracking System, an upgrade to our Driver Qualification File System, Online Supervisor Training, a new background check platform, and numerous cutting-edge enhancements to our government contract (that may in fact change how medical information is stored and transmitted electronically). All of these projects were conceived, developed, and implemented for the sole purpose of providing our clients and vendors with faster access to data and simplify their day-to-day interface with Concorde.

I am very proud of the systems that our team has created this year and believe that when they are launched to every client in early 2010, you will see the benefits that these programs can provide. And as you become more familiar with the enhancements we have made, the dedicated and creative people at Concorde will be hard at work developing what I believe will change the way future applicants are screened and hired…

I’m often asked “What do you do?” That’s always a tough question for me to answer. Am I being asked about my specific job, what my company does, or both? It becomes an even tougher question when I’m asked “What does Concorde do?” This is such a complex question because I do not think Concorde can be accurately put in a category of we do “X.” Yes, we provide our clients with screening services such as background checks and drug testing, but at the core, that really isn’t what we do. As I reflect on all of our accomplishments in 2009, I see a common theme:

We created a new background check platform because…our client needed it.
We added an applicant tracking system because…our client needed it.
We enhanced our DQF software because…our client needed it.

Our industry, for better or worse, has transformed into a commodity business. It’s all about who can sell a cheaper background check or drug test. And it is for that reason that I have a hard time describing Concorde as an “Employee Screening” company because that’s just not what we do, and our clients understand that. We are not in the business of selling commodity services. We are in the business of solving complex business issues that our clients have in screening applicants and employees. And because of the team we have assembled at Concorde, I am confident in saying that no one else in our industry does that piece better.

It has become painfully clear to me this year that Concorde is not the best fit for every business. And that is why Concorde’s future focuses on the clients and industries that are the best fit. We cannot be everything to everyone, but we will do anything for anyone who becomes a Concorde client…and that is simply why people choose Concorde

We will not succumb to selling a cheaper background check or drug test.

We will not succumb to sacrificing quality for speed.

We will dedicate our time providing clients with even more, cost-effective data in the hiring process to help companies hire a safer workforce in a fraction of the time than it currently takes. I believe we can accomplish this without giving in to the commodity market. Instead, we will make it easier for you to access the data you need and recycle the date for future use, rather than selling you the same services over and over. How do we accomplish this?

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all of the difference.” – Robert Frost

As I sit here on a cold December afternoon, I am reminded of these words as we enter a new decade, faced with a diverging road. Many companies, like Concorde, choose to spend much of their time chasing the top competitors in their industry. Always trying to develop a better, faster mouse trap. But what if instead of building a better mouse trap, we found away to co-exist with the mice, essentially choose the road less traveled.

For the life of me, I cannot stop daydreaming about a concept project we are working on affectionately called “The Vault.” What if I told you that Concorde could provide even more information than you currently receive about an applicant during the pre-employment screening process and hire that applicant in a matter of hours rather than days…and on top of that significantly lower your cost per hire?

The vision of The Vault is not to sell a faster background check or cheaper drug test. It is to create an organic network of cooperation between competing companies and applicants/employees in a given industry with the ultimate goal of improving worker safety.

Sometime in the next decade, I am convinced The Vault will become a reality, and inevitably bring us to another divergence in the road.