Taking Care of Business: Greg Lemon Each week in Taking Care of Business, marketing professionals David Green and Teresa Miller share business tips from Brentwood executives and entrepreneurs. If you know someone they should consider for a future interview, please email news@brentwoodhomepage.com. Put Taking Care of Business in the subject line.
Brentwood has a number of talented young executives who represent the next generation of business leadership. One of them is Greg Lemon, 37, president of Axis Accounting Systems, a software consulting firm. Lemon joined Axis in 2008 from Osborne Hessey Logistics, where he was corporate controller in the transportation division.
How was the business initially positioned and how has it changed
Axis began as a reseller of accounting systems and an implementation service. Accounting systems then were separated into different modules (accessing different databases) – things like accounts payable, accounts receivable and general ledger.
Today the accounting systems market has evolved into enterprise-wide solutions – or “ERP” solutions. The term ERP denotes a fully integrated application where, for example, modules have the same look and feel and access the same database. So our business changes as the software technology changes.
We also sell and service applications that integrate into ERP – such as customer relationship management (CRM), electronic data interchange (EDI), business intelligence (BI) and document management systems.
What would you choose to do if you had to start over?
My career started off in accounting. I just honestly would have done what I am doing now sooner. I would have embraced technology earlier in the ‘90s. Clearly technology is a driver for the future in any business.
What is the best piece of business advice you have ever received?
Avoid debt in your business. That’s a piece of business advice that was given to me early on and has always resonated with me. Especially with this recession – the companies that failed were too highly leveraged, they had too much risk. The company that I came to run in 2008 was a debt-free company. It wasn’t because of anything I did. It was just because of the way the company was structured. It has served us extremely well through this recession.
What is the greatest business challenge you face?
For my current role, it is finding talented resources. We sell knowledge -- human capital. Finding those individuals is a big challenge. I always have my recruiting hat on. I find myself trying to meet people even when there’s not a clear reason. If it is somebody in my space in some capacity, I want to know who that person is.
You’re having a problem with that even though the job market is so bad?
Yes, in our business it is very challenging because we are so specialized. When we get calls to do work it is typically within organizations that have IT departments and it is beyond the scope of the general knowledge base of most employees in the organization. Either the software is not working properly, or we are asked to customize software for the client.
I’m currently looking for a developer. The skill set is not that specific, but at the same time it is scarce in a market like Nashville. This is a wider problem than just for my company. The Nashville Technology Council has taken an interest in this and has an education initiative. They are particularly concerned about the impact it is having on companies in Nashville and their ability to deliver to their customers.
What business tip would you give to a Brentwood entrepreneur?
Stay connected and network. We as business leaders enjoy doing business with people we know. We take comfort in those relationships. It is vitally important to join the chamber, to get involved in the community.
About the columnists: David Green is owner of David Green Communications in Brentwood (www.dgreencommunications.com), a marketing and PR firm. He is former managing editor of The Tennessean. Contact him at 615-517-5653 or dgreen@dgreencommunications.com
Teresa N. Miller, owner of Miller Marketing ( www.teresamiller.com), is a 25+ year veteran in the public relations and marketing industries serving clients in Tennessee and Alabama. Contact her at 615-482-4182 or teresa@teresamiller.com.
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