October 2018 – Croixstone

Spotlight on Disruption

Coworking office spaces represent a fundamental shift in the way people work, and the coworking industry is disrupting the commercial real estate industry in a very BIG way. The future of work is a huge topic of discussion every week at Croixstone, and the shift in how people work is what incentivized us to relocate our offices from our business loft in South End to Industrious in Uptown Charlotte nearly one year ago. Learn why companies like Spotify, Lyft, Hyatt and Chipotle have joined Croixstone in calling Industrious home across the United States. Click here.

Robotic Software + Accounting Firms

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the use of a software robot or “bot” that replicates the actions of a human to execute tasks across multiple computer systems. According to a 2015 Accenture report, robotics is predicted to automate or eliminate up to 40% of transactional accounting work by 2020. Read this 2017 newspaper article from the StarTribune in Minneapolis to learn more about how robotic software is sweeping large accounting firms and their clients.

The Gig Economy Goes Global

This past summer, Morgan Stanley published research on the growing global gig economy. The study shared that the USA’s freelance workforce has grown three times faster than the overall workforce. Freelancers today represent about 35% of the total U.S. working population, and Morgan Stanley shared that this number could represent more than 50% of the nation’s workforce by 2027. R ead a high-level overview of the stud y to learn more about the drivers behind today’s gig economy.

What’s on the Mind of the Middle Market CEO?

Croixstone Consulting places a heavy focus on serving the middle market. The middle market represents nearly 20,000 companies across the USA that generate approximately $10 trillion of the $30 trillion of annual gross receipts in the country. Middle market CEOs recently gathered at the annual “CEO Connection Mid-Market Convention” at Wharton to discuss critical mid-market issues and challenges. Read this article from Forbes to understand what’s on the mind of today’s middle market CEOs.

A Disruptive Force…Smart Technology

Smart technology is a disruptive force in the business world and promises to impact every industry – including knowledge-based industries like management consulting. MIT Sloan Management Review published a great article last month that highlighted 5 rules that consulting companies should follow to remain relevant in the age of AI and other smart technologies. Read it here.

A Compelling Argument

Many (if not most!) companies view “change” as an extraordinary event that must be dealt with using change management techniques and special skills. A leading management consulting author (Robert Schaffer) offers a compelling argument that this common view of “change” is outdated. He argues that rather than view change as a subspecialty of management, companies should consider the fact that “all management is the management of change.”

Read this article to learn more.