An Interview with Richard Oliver: The CEO of Cardinal Business Optimization
After a recent in-depth interview with Richard Oliver, the CEO of Cardinal Business Optimization, valuable insight was gained into the organization's vision, professional experience, industry challenges, and the strategies they employ to provide exceptional services to their clients. During the interview, the CEO was asked a series of questions to which resourceful and perceptive responses were provided. Below is a list of the questions asked and the answers received.
1. What motivated you to start Cardinal Business Optimization, and what is your vision for the company's future?
“I began the company in mid-2022. The reason for starting the company was to continue to work with small and midsize businesses to help them with bookkeeping and to provide C-suite contact services. I have known a lot of entrepreneurs. A company gets to a point where they need someone with experience in a broad set of disciplines to create strategies and plans. This includes funding plans to build infrastructure to scale and grow their business. As a matter of growing demand, it is important to have the planning in place to be able to accept the customers. Cardinal Business Optimization provides this planning to accept customers. We work with people who have the courage to start businesses, churches, and nonprofits. We put them in a place where they can streamline their ability to grow.”
“The vision for Cardinal Business Optimization is to continue to reach out and make local businesses, churches, and nonprofits aware that this business and its services exist to be able to come alongside them. In going to a traditional legal advisor and CPA, they will not get the help that they need. They need technical support and not operational support. At Cardinal Business Optimization, team members enjoy providing this technical support to help businesses grow and develop.”
2. What experiences do you have and do other members of your organization have that allow you to offer services to businesses, churches, and nonprofits?
“As the CEO, I have spent over thirty years in financial, operational, and C-suite roles with both small and large companies. Our team members are individuals who have worked in the legal field, marketing, and other professions. This diversity in skills and experience allow us to bring many disciplines together when we are serving our customers.”
3. Tell me a little more about your professional experience.
“As the CEO, I started my career as a cost accountant working in the fiber optics industry. I also worked as a CPA for Deloitte & Touche. One of my projects was working with a multi-national team to develop and test their first proprietary audit software. I have also worked in the textile industry, the furniture component manufacturing industry, and the luxury home furnishings industry. I have held leadership roles in the financial, operational, and strategic areas. These roles range from CFO to COO to president and CEO. During my professional career, I have found that I experienced the most joy in providing leadership in helping organizations to transform their culture.”
4. What do you see as the biggest challenges facing businesses today, and how does Cardinal Business Optimization address those challenges?
“One of the biggest challenges facing business owners today is addressed mainly to small business owners. There is a point that small business owners get to that they cannot grow anymore the way that they are doing things. Finance and accounting can touch just about everything. Small business owners get to this point where they have to be able to relinquish a certain amount of responsibility. However, they are not in a place where they need a full-time bookkeeper or director of operations."
“Cardinal Business Optimization can come alongside small business owners. Our team is made up of extremely experienced and talented individuals. For a fraction of the cost, businesses can have people highly trained and experienced. This is what businesses are looking for a lot of times. A lot of business owners have a hard time finding someone that they trust and that is competent. Cardinal Business Optimization gives them the confidence to be able to let go and to allow someone to take on tasks. This gives business owners time to do things that they are good at and that they enjoy. With small businesses owners, it is important to let go of some tasks to grow relationships and the business.”
“With Cardinal Business Optimization, it is essential to be able to come alongside small business owners to complete these tasks. This creates confidence that they can let go and their needs will still be met. As a client, their tasks are not just something that someone checks off the list. We offer stewardship. The business and these tasks are still something that belong to the owner or owners, but we come in and treat it as our own in the way we react to it.”
5. How does your company stay updated with the latest tax regulations, accounting standards, and the best financial practices to provide the most reliable and effective bookkeeping services to your clients?
“I am a CPA. As a CPA, there is a requirement to attend forty hours of continuing education on an annual basis. I also receive several publications to keep up to date on emerging accounting and tax issues. Before it occurs, I keep in touch with ideas that are even being considered. Before something becomes law, we have an idea of how this may affect some of our clients.”
6. How does your leadership style contribute to the success of Cardinal Business Optimization, and what do you look for in potential team members?
“My leadership style is based on mutual respect and collaboration in order to harness the gifts and the experience of each member of our team. In my experience as a CEO, I have found that it is rare that someone does not attempt to do the best job that they can. In most cases, when there is an error, it is due to a lack of process or training. When we select team members, our primary filter is their care and ownership in what they do and their initiative to look for solutions that would aid our clients.”
7. How do you see the industry evolving in the next 5-10 years, and what steps is Cardinal Business Optimization taking to adapt to these changes?
“Regarding the industry, there is a lot more remote work being done and more flexibility in how work gets done. I see businesses evolving to look for ways to be able to accommodate these new working environments and still foster teamwork and relationships with our customers. As Cardinal Business Optimization, we are already providing remote and flexible opportunities for our team members. But, we do so with our customers' needs in mind. For example, we have some customers that require services that need our team members on-site part of the time. When we match our team members to clients, our clients need particular services and–in some cases–on-site provision of those services. In form, our allocation of our team members to particular clients.”
8. What factors do you believe differentiate Cardinal Business Optimization from other similar companies in the market, and how do you communicate that to clients and stakeholders?
“The thing that differentiates us is that we have a significant amount of business experience. Therefore, we understand that the bookkeeping, accounting, and other functions of the business are collectively there to produce business outcomes.”
9. How do you foster trust and build strong relationships with your clients?
“We often tell our customers that bookkeeping, accounting, and planning are the tools in our tool belt, but what we actually provide is a business advisor to help you achieve the vision for your company.”
10. How do you leverage technology and software solutions to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of your bookkeeping services?
“At Cardinal Business Optimization, we have been shifting people to emerging cloud-based technology which makes information more timely and more accessible for everyone within the organization.”
Final Thoughts
In summary, this interview shows that Cardinal Business Optimization is committed to providing comprehensive support beyond traditional services. Richard Oliver's extensive professional background positions the company as a reliable partner for businesses, churches, and nonprofits seeking to scale and grow effectively.
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