A Christmas Tale

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’Twas the night before Christmas, and all through Finys,
What most folks were doing was anyone’s guess.
But Kurt was responding to customer queries
While Scott, fast asleep, dreamt of sugar plum fairies.

Their stockings were hung from their chimneys with care:
With COVID around, the home office was bare.
But customer service was still on their minds,
As they all imagined their Christmas-morn finds.

Then suddenly each of them heard a strange sound.
They ran to their windows and looking around,
All of them saw the same fat guy in red,
Pulling some stuff from a reindeer-led sled.

For all of his girth, that old fat guy was quick.
All of them wondered, “Could that be St. Nick?
He could be a sprinter. He moves like The Flash.
He’d beat Usain Bolt in a hundred-yard dash!”

And then, as they watched, he would run back and forth,
Carrying packages all marked, “Pole, North.”
He stacked them right up, and then jumped in his sleigh,
Calling out loudly, “Up, up, and away!”

Sure enough, in a blink, he was clean out of sight,
Headed for places unknown in the night.
And all the Finys folks were scratching their heads,
Wandering curiously off to their beds.

Each of them wondered if they should reveal
The fact to their colleagues that Santa is real.
But then they all reckoned (as wisdom imparts)
That Santa would always live safe in their hearts.

From all of us to all of you, Happy Holidays, best wishes for a safe Holiday Season and a bright, prosperous New Year.

Good Enough is Not Good Enough

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There are many ways by which we come by our convictions:

  1. Sometimes we see things that motivate us.
  2. Sometimes we learn things that inspire us.
  3. Sometimes we hear things that disturb us.
  4. Sometimes we hear things that unsettle us to the point at which we realize we can’t let them be true.

Pertaining to #4, we once heard someone say, “Well, you know, sometimes good enough is good enough.” In a sense, Finys is dedicated to the proposition that good enough is not good enough.

Nothing’s Perfect

Some years ago, we saw Roy Firestone in interview Troy Aikman on his ESPN program, Up Close. At the time, Aikman was the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, with whom he won three Super Bowls. On several occasions during the interview, Aikman made reference to playing a perfect game.

At one point, Firestone said, “You keep referring to the perfect game. Do you actually think it’s possible to play a perfect game?”

Aikman responded, “I don’t know. But if that’s not what we’re striving for, what’s the point?” Translation: Good enough is not good enough.

By the same token, we don’t know if it’s possible to make the perfect software. But if that’s not what we’re striving for, what’s the point?

What We Know

We do know it’s possible to make software that does what our customers need it to do. We do know we can make sure of that by asking them. That’s why our Innovation Advisory Board comprises members from all of our active customers who want to participate. We do know we will continue to modify and improve our software, enhancing it and adding functionality to it.

We also know we can limit it. We can’t be all things to all people. Neither can our software. So, we’ll make sure it fulfills the insurance-administration objectives of our customers. But it won’t ever contain functionality that doesn’t pointedly and efficiently fulfill those objectives.

Do we believe it’s possible to play the perfect game or to make the perfect software? We don’t know. But we do know Ralph Waldo Emerson was right when he said, “We aim above the mark to hit the mark.”

Good will always be good. But good enough will never be good enough.