Writing and the quigmire of words

So often writing is a reminder that words can be intent-ed to convey one meaning and yet another is interpreted. So is telecommunication and all the possible problems associated with installation for access and hardware. An order flows and upon reaching a certain spot is deadlocked with no movement...stopped. Why? electronic orders that flow between carrier and local retail provider or carrier to carrier can have dozens of fields. Each field has a code. The stop? Wrong code in conflict with yet another code on the same order. These problems have a tendency to clog up the process; delayed installations and other communication flowing. So often those issuing the order send an email to "resolve" the clogged order. Email is NOT a way to solve any problem. Telephones are just tools to eliminate distance but it still takes person to person communication, over the phone sometimes, to eliminate the problem (s). Non-verbal language studies convey over half the meaning of language conversations, so how many non-verbal cues do we get from type written words? A pause for thought.

I can not stress this enough. Communication is critical for success in relationships, in corporations between department, in working successfully to the benefit of all, in building bridges between customer and provider. Talk may be cheap but it is also why we have a voice.

Applications again

After almost 30 years in a business one would think there is little non-touched about an industry yet unique challenges are on the horizon. A new application for learning, which is a quest of mine, sought or not, I find learning a love relationship. The brain is challenged into strategic mode, analytical processes surface, creative mode rises and yet another(learning) curve bits the dust...always learning, always a challenge, another feat mastered...or at least lessened to a fraction of the formidable science of selling, consulting and coaching so everyone walks away feeling better and adding money to the end result; company and person. The Great American Dream is alive and well, one only must embrace the negative, ignore that which we can not control, continue to march into positive solutions and be all we can be, here and now.

All that said...this holiday season...for anyone in the reading audience...

My heart goes out to people in need, those without hope, needing food and shelter, abused, neglected, hungry, angry, yet I can not heal those I do not know. My prayer this holiday season is to touch some one's life...someone cares...computer access or not...touch someone in your environment to heal this nation in distress, a nation of people needing to know someone cares. A gentle touch, a kind word, a violation forgiven, to say "I care about you". God Bless all those who read this message.

Technology speaks again

Researching a unique process for an upcoming project I have found a wonderful source
for information. There is nothing so unique and informative as someone with different life experiences then ourselves. Those born into another culture, living in a different country, experiences beyond our scope or focus are rich sources of information. Especially when we need that information to apply to our livelihood. Reaching out to touch another person is extremely rewarding. Recently having the opportunity to hear several people speak that were from other countries and I walk away with my cup filled and overflowing. One such person has began publishing a magazine called 4Love. During the conversation with one of the co-owner he said everyone talks about love and yet few write on the subject. Very true.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Talking with a former colleague recently we discussed the industries giants and Wall Street. Talking about how Wall Street had moved one company to a buy position that earlier in the year was in trouble financially. Seems as if the reverse has happens among those still forging ahead. Too many mergers and acquisitions, too maybe hostile take overs, too much money wasted on poor executive or board decisions and the bank comes calling. Telephony has seen enough corruption and prison sentences to last a very long time. This industry not unlike health care, energy, mortgages, savings and loan (almost a distinct word not) and on and on and on. Corporate America needs to take care of the good ethical people they employee instead of filling the coffers. Companies need to make a profit and executives need to be rewarded but rewarding executives with millions while lay off workers is very poor judgement on the part of Boards responsible for this recent lack of insight...shame on you.

Only in America can people be so greedy and entire financial system is hurt. As one CEO recently said "the government can't solve it's own problems how can they solve ours (in business)? Leaning on the taxpayers and taxing businesses is not smart. Legislators should have term limits of two terms just like the President. No one deserves a tax free income for 30, 40 or 50 years and the combined health care plan totally free for life when the average worker is paying the tab. We have a very poor legislative system that needs an over-haul.

Understanding the inside of telephone companies

The ordering process is quite difficult and complicated. Forms have dozens of fields and if 1 code is wrong the entire process gets delayed by having the order go back to the originator. Someone has to pick up the telephone and solve the problem. Very few have the skill set to solve the problem which involves talking to the end user many times to find out what they wanted. Then the next hurdle is finding exactly what is holding up the order. The process flow is days and days of electronic feeds while engineering is done from three or four different engineers on both ends of the order including the central office. If the request is big two or three project managers are needed on the receiving end, the equipment end, the central office (s) depending on the path the circuit is taking. The more complex the order the more engineers are involved prior to the electronic mapping in the network. The bigger the pipe, the more complicated the process, the more people are involved including the end technician.

New construction brings even more variables into the picture...but that's another blog.

Creative Musings

Holidays are not fun. With children miles away and no other family in town for holidays even invitations to friends from outside the US where there is no celebration goes to the beach, unable to come upon invitation understandable indeed. Just once if I could hear my sons laughter over a holiday it would be a blessing and joy.

So after the turkey and dressing, five or six vegetables, relish dish, cranberry salad, homemade rolls and apple dumplings served with hot lemon sauce very full tummies I just may blog Thanksgiving day. Christmas will start with prayer followed by modest gifts and another fun feast, without family. Really a ball around here these days with both of us working 10 - 12 hours a day sometimes 14 hours a day.

Holidays without family, suck! Without friends it is a disaster. Some how this will all have a happy ending...all things do, eventually.

No it is not about technology. Who cares, it is from the heart, it's my blog.

Finishing book by year end

As this project ends I am looking forward to more time to blog on my industry and writing other publications. One for my myself, one for my family, but also some more creative ideas. Before all that I need some personal time cleaning this house, finishing some outside projects, resting and enjoying family. With the 2009 holiday season approaching it will be good to reflect on the perils that involved in the many intentional and probably some un-intentional actions that ended poorly or that led this country into the past messes these last few years. I live in a county where two dozen people have gone to prison for brides and all sorts of wrongs including using tax payers money the wrong way. Thinking about how we behave when no one is looking is something to consider especially when raising children. Somehow, somewhere these criminal minds came from some messed up humans called parents. As someone said during these interviews "if God didn't take care of that...I recall it was Susan Mason and I talking about food and theft in her business. This is all so simple. If you can not raise children with morals please just pass on parenting.

Consulting and jargon uses in communication

Interesting about industries, from law to medicine to electronics we all have a vocabulary full of acroymns and phrases sounding confusing to those who do not know the meaning of a term. I try so hard to remember my experience and my background are quite unique from most business people. Understanding all the pit falls in dealing with the arena I call innocent ignorance. We do not know what we do not
know. Nothing is more of a mistake or blunder to assume someone outside the industry can understand telecommunications, the technology, the vocabulary, the acroymns or the workings that cause failures, miss installations, missed due dates, and incorrect billing. Being confusing in this industry is dangerous for end users (clients). Consideration is needed when talking or emailing. If no one understands your verbiage clients may look elsewhere.

Time is so precious

Voice over IP or VOIP may make sense in some cases but not every case. When testing this choice of access for your business try calling a VOIP referral. How do they sound? Can you hear crisp conversation? Do they sound like they are in a tunnel?

One of the best ways to check for technology is to make sure you understand what customers are going to experience. I always smile when I hear about large companies being awarded a kudo for customer service knowing full well their customer service stinks. If sound quality is an issue how does that stack up with customer service?

Lesson Learned

If you are without a PC and you are using a hotel internet to update your blog, caution is best...blog when you are unlikely to have a buddy from the seminar you are attending sit down and start chirping. People are engaging and I always fall sucker to chirping people if they are engaging. Yesterday waiting to interview a colleague for the book I'm writing this happened to me.

Another lesson learned was flying out of any airport close to Washington the plane will be late, quaranteed. If you know otherwise I'd love to know what airline you used. I may not be in Baltimore for another ten years but leaving BWI yesterday on my favorite airline was a pain...yup, the W stands for Washington as in DC. The interviews are coming to an end so no more travel.

CEO Speaks, Sage Advice During Turbulent Times will be on my website by year end 2009.

Technology Overload

Attending a seminar recently in this industry, I became painfully aware of the rapidity of technology liquidation or maybe evaportation? The changes in technology are becoming so quick is there a human being that can keep up with one quarter of it all let alone the entire industry. Perhaps if we had more collaboration.

The magic of listening

Listening to customers is critical for understanding the needs of employees, customers, management and shareholders. Communication is such as basic principal and we do it so poorly. I have not seen a job ad in years that does not say interpersonal skills or good communication skills needed. Companies want to to communicate and good communication solves people problems. Developing communication skills should be a part of all education including college. Reading develops vocabulary. Listening should be as important if not more so then talking.

Relocation Blues Go Green

Maybe the economy is in the dumps but there must be some companies surviving the turmoil. Companies are still relocating, investments are still being made in property and in people. One of the best advantages to relocating is correcting the building codes for GREEN inventions made in recent months a chance to hire fresh employees for those not wanting to relocate. Plus an opportunity to evaluate equipment, furniture and rid the waste from file cabinets. Every city and every state has a culture, a beauty, great ethic restaurants, local goodies for consumers and corporations. Relocating can be a boom for motivation too. Discovery was never a man's quest, it's the excitment of finding something new that drives humans to discovery.

One more time

The number of stories are amazing about offices not wired correctly, vendors not showing up, vendor communication failure and recently our financial planner's office moved, upon stopping by to say hello and the wiring mistakes come forward. This was a national office and the project was run from 3000 miles away, they were not authorized to use my service. All I could do was help by making my book available.
It helped the person in charge of her operations which is selling, motivating and managing. She said it helped so much because she was asking intelligent choices via reading the book...we're going out to lunch this week so I'll get the whole story.

After making lunch plans she wants me to go to the company, get hired and protect the other offices everytime relocation happens. We'll see. How about project management called sub contracting?

Relocation Nightmares

Blogging about this is a fascination I have because people to not understand how wrong things can go. The bigger the company, the bigger the problem can be. People do not understand time frames. They have no control over the electron order, the process and the lack of communication within the chosen vendors systems.

Note: I said systems in other words, multiple systems. These orders flow and one hiccup in the process can add delay, upon delay. New construction is the biggest problem but in older building existing conduct can be full. True excavation would replace the conduct. This does not happen, why? People don't know it has to happen. Full conduit? Where is the new fiber, new cable going to be placed?

One of the biggest problems is those at the helm do not understand, therefore communication is delayed, errors are made, the electronics are not installed...tomorrow another story to prove the point.

Headlines in the paper

The local paper yesterday had an article about the dits of the construction industry and the lack of growth. I know one company in the software industry that is growing. One company in commercial advertising that is growing and an energy company relocating. So there are signs of growth, people making money, jobs happening and good business being done. There is hope and we will survive the insanity. Hopefully we will be wiser as a nation, as a people and not allow greed to overcome the financial sector again.

Opportunity to change

Relocation is the perfect time to change the configuration of lines, stations (phones), new system and get it all right not based on vendors but based on the needs or employees and customers. Businesses make mistakes all the time by not allowing non objective sales people to sell based on what's in the warehouse. One particular popular equipment manufacturer is extremely expensive and they will suck you into certified, certified and lock you in for years. They also make a very feature poor system. VOIP may save money but it isn't the only game in town. Applications, needs, employees and customers should drive what is purchased.

Interviews continue

Interviewing for a book I'm compiling has been an interesting process. Somehow during the process I continue to find the hot buttons, the angst question usually is the key. An innocent inquiry into a Thank You note received and bam! An engagement party and 50 thank you's in person but no time to write it out and mail a formal thank you note. Yes, it matters. Emily Post is not dead. She may be literally but the manners still matter...visiting other countries, read the book, The Ugly American. Global economy? Culture matters, manners matter, knowledge is strength, reading is knowledge, understanding tradition matters. Send the thank you, read about their culture, care to learn and learn to care. It will show and be appreciated.

Incredible Experience

Tracking a website is interesting when you realize people in other countries are looking at your site. The interesting part is when you're scammed and buy into it all. The internet definitely has a dark side for all the goods things that happen there is definitely a potential for the negative things to happen too. A website, a blog, an on-line resume, it's all intented to be good but opens doors for the other. That's when we understand the firewall protection, website protection, passwords protection, server protection, intellectual property protection and credit protection plus banking assurances that all is safe. For individuals and companies safety is a must. Be careful in cyber space. Technology has a dangerous side.

I'm back on the ethics kick

There are ethical CEO's, I know, I'm interviewing them. People need hope and these CEO's talk about all the basic principals for solid business. I won't ruin the idea behind the book but I'm starting to hear the same words from all walks of industry.
CEO's that care about their employees, that listen to their employees, that want to provide salaries and benefits for their employees and are grateful to be able to do it for their employees. These are humble ordinary people with good core values. These are ethical people from all walks of life. There is hope and we can overcome.

Attitude, attitude, attitude. We can be strong, we can overcome, we can be entrepreneurs, we can be valuable and are valuable. Even in a crunch we can survive and treat others with respect, be examples for those needing hope and help.

Small but mighty

Another CEO mentioned a friend out of service because a T1 wasn't connected. Come on vendors the small may not be important to you but you impact their business, their revenue bad enough and long enough and your little customer base will go play in another sandbox. The big boys may own all the infrastructure but poor customer service will bite back. This world is about social responsibility not the opposite.

Small business, technology and bandwidth will change the needs so much in the next 10years infrastructure may never be totally without demand but this wireless age and the brains behind inventions will threaten the very core of existing telecom companies. Small business with the on-slot of entrepreneurs will impact especially if ill treatment by vendors continues.

Blogging takes bunches of time.

CEO Speaks, Sage Advice During Turbulent Times is going to be worth the read. This is not about technology necessarily. This book is about ethics with some far sighted people on the technology side in all aspects of business. How do we use technology to help our clients and customers? CEO's ask themselves questions like that and then they impliment the answers. That is in part the vision of the job. Ask God and you will receive. Ask CEO's and they accept. These men lead lonely lives apart from family and truly personal friends. I have yet to have one refusal from a CEO and so far I'm at about twenty five interviews, committed, on the calendar, etc.

When I get my first refusal, I let you know. Who and why...I promise.

Toll Free Service

Please don't pay unnecessary charges on the telephone bill. What am I talking about? Have your webmaster put your company's local number on the website. No one wants to pay for local calls and without the number on the website they may not be able to reach you. Companies move, the internet is not always correct.
Yes, I've blogged about this before and yes, sometimes the local number is on the website but not on the home page. The general public nor your local customer's do not mind read. As amazing as this information, it just doesn't happen...I'm off to write more in my book...

Preparing for CEO Speaks and interviewing a financial planner

The financial planner asked about the real profession and we chat about telecommunication, the next thing I know I'm solving a problem, yep, equipment and line issue again for a friend of his. Now, when we finally talk he's had the same problem for 7 years since they built the building. The moral to the story is don't put yourself through the misery of allowing vendors to miss represent, make up the wrong reasons for using their ideas, equipment, line to station configuration, etc.
Get professional help. We're knowledgeable the consultants are usually ethical people with lots and lots of experience. Work takes up the majority of our life it is too important to not have a tool work correctly. It's your business at stake.

Blackberry heaven yet still needs help.

This new blackberry is sweet but the instructions a bit arcatic, instead of a nice video to walk one through the instructions, the more complex ones, or maybe I should say hidden applications, instead we receive a DVD in print. I've been reading since 1st grade! My question to manufacturers is this why do you assume your users are not paying for ease. No, I'm not lazy, in fact, I work very hard. From starting the day exercising, working all day and weekends include physical work, yard work, deep cleaning, etc. so it would be nice to have technology the serves me not me serve the geeks design, marketing departments package, etc. This statement includes any corporation, organization that's dependent on electronic gadgetry and we all are dependent. The marketing has designed that too.

With all the niceties it would be great to move deeper in the customer and consumer needs.

CEO speaks...from a typical Type A personality

I'll edit Alaska tomorrow, I promise, it's on the To Do List, a daily concern.

The type A means; I mean well and screw up with technology or at least computers. I know stuff about fiber, communications and installation. I help clients resolve problems, their problems, and get stuff done for them when it comes to telecommunication. The bigger the better for this scenario. If I can help BIG government and BIG companies, I can help any business in installation issues, application issues, equipment matching needs, etc.

Alaska will be another day.

Oh well another time...it has been a crazy week...more on the book later. Hoping to interview a CEO from Alaska for the book. The response to this has been overwhelming. So far no one has turned me down and the days are flying. These people are concerned for this country and for future generations. We all need to pray for our leaders, for the ethics to move back into a strenth position and citizens to have strong morals, we have continued to decline in moral fiber as a nation. Not sure what this has to do with technology other then some technology vendors need accountability too!

Audits, Issues and Ignorance

Interviewing a CEO today, for a book I'm compiling, the CEO's are writing the book via the interviews, he shares the value of learning. I agree whole heartedly. There is a world of knowledge that continues to expand almost at a geometric speed. As technology, as people, as populations explode, knowledge comes forth, a gift, a curse is happening. We are becoming slaves to technology yet we buy more gadgets.

The other side of the coin is the technology that is hidden from us. That master wizard of programming that writes an complex code so deep in the stack we can not or do not comprehend the mythology or methodology to understand. What to use, how to use, want to use, just can not figure out WHAT are you wanting Mr. Wizard? This is when everything becomes a mystery. This is what occurs when programming, tariffs, FCC regulation, SEC regulation and legislation go awry.

The CEO was not being trite, he was serious when repeating another CEO's verbiage about a telecommunication problem, as preceived. Preception, reality, technology is a master in the making. It needs to be clearer as does most issues or maybe just the way we confuse everything in innocent ignorance, which is not a bad thing just un-informed, especially with billing errors, oh yes, they exists galore, they are everywhere. Part of the answer is in-put. Who is giving the information to the order entry department?...this could go on for hours...call me if you need help...I know stuff.

Internet gremlins

I've decided the internet is a good and bad thing...computers are in the same arena. Technology is an interesting aspect of our lives today. I thought to add the word...modern...sounded a bit trite in this day and at this time with technology everywhere and in all aspects of life...video, cameras, daily life, business must, on-line, email, united communication, ACD's, VRU's, you name it, it is there! No it is everywhere. It is so convenient to have recipes on line, conversations with family in all areas of the country, business interviews, meetings, all those wonderful people in my life...the internet is a curse and a blessing. Trust me!

The Trust Deficit

While reading this book today I thought about a statement in the book and some recent conversations. Talking with a professor at a local university, he teaches business ethics, he said he didn't think any CEO's were ethical. I disagree, in fact John mentions statistics in his book about opinions on trust for executive in large corporation and traverses seven disciplines that are shocking. Only 3% of executives have public's confidence. Today more then ever we need to incorporate discipline, trust, honesty and all good merit of character for ourselves, our clients and all those we deal with in every avenue of our lives. The other component is how can business ethics be taught except in very young children?

Technology and Intelliect

Geeks are smart people but some of the programming they do is an insult to anyone with solid intelligence. The example today is on-line prescriptions: I attempted to log in electronically and could not get passed the required...no hints given...needed information and I'm fairly computer literate! Then I called in to renew the prescription and the voice response unit repeated the same information two, three and four times. The entire process took about 20 minutes. As a business person I work 12 to 14 hours a day and a health care /provider corporation just wasted 20 minutes of my time. The other question I'm posing is why do companies assume we're idiots by treating us like we are? My hearing is not impaired, I listen, I have a degree in communication and I take offense to being treated like a child, idiot, whatever.

When it comes to programming the web site or the order processing voice response unit have a CEO or Vice President or Marketing guru, as a minimum requirement, go through the prompts when testing the effectiveness of time wasted. The one that really gets me is when the vendors do the programming and go through the entire menu of employee when a company receives an incoming call from a potential customer, client, vendor, etc. No one cares how many employees you have nor does anyone want to listen to the menu. Again, it's a waste of time. A suggestion would be to use your brain instead of leaving it up to a vendor's geek. Better yet is verify the equipments capability on the front end and dictate your desires on any programming before buying equipment! It matters what marketing image is for any one calling a company, big or small.

Ethics and Marketing Games

A blackbox manufacturer in the electronic/computer/server/router game has an aggressive marketing strategy. The problem is American are gullible, yes gullible.
We know someone, they believe in their product also known as brain washing, or maybe they just want to make lots of money, your money. So, they continue the aggressive marketing and win business. Their product in some arenas is poor, over priced, while leaving clients with interior applications and features. Just because a name is well known in through a good marketing department and sold by thousands of vendors this criteria is not smart, worthy of your corporate dollar while doing an injustice to the company where you work, specially if you talked the head honchos into buying the equipment. Think about a little research and going to a trusted ethical source prior to e-purchased and no I am not talking about on-line. I'm talking about electronics.

I'm on an ethics mission

Understanding the damage of improper disposal of technology products is scary business. I have blogged about it before but some readers only read the days blog.
Disposing of electronics in a safe way will help recycle, eliminate pollution and be good for the environment. Caution is necessary because there are company's claiming best practices without the follow through. Seven deadly chemical exist in electronics, all electronics. Ground water needs protection and allowing un-responsible disposal is a sure way to damage the soil and the water.

Still out of service

What does it take to get a line fixed in this country. Still is not rocket science.
Since the 16th of July we have not had a land line that works, this is day 18.
When people start hearing these stories they quickly come up with their own horror story about being out of service for days or weeks and it's always a mystery as to what, how, when, where it all began. Not sure the technicians know how to solve those mysteries either. Rainy weather always brings interesting issues to telephones. Water in the manhole, water in the line, cables and wire break. Last year the same pattern occurred. 18 days was the magic number then too. Well, maybe one more call to the provider. After all it's just a customer, why should we care.

Let the computer think for you.

First of all, computers do not think. Computers are programmed. People are programed by their own shortcomings to think the computer is smart. Computers are dumb machines, people are smart, well sometimes. Programmers are commonly called Nerds, Geeks, etc. even Best Buy has the Geek Squad, why? It's a popular play on words. Geeks and Nerds are smart people fascinated with the workings of a machine, development process of machines, networks and how to make them work, etc. Geeks are usually not the best communicators so why do we use trust them to develop this stuff called networking, processing, data, voice, technology, etc. They develop things the way THEY think, not necessarily the way non-geeks think. Computers need power/electricity to run so as telephones evolved into computers, which is the current state, they need power to run. Be sure to questions vendors about power options prior to signing the contract for new systems. Install dates are too late for changing plans. Know options on the front end to save your company from vulnerable experiences.

Audits, Telephone Bills, New Technology and Energy

There's a fine line between the title subjects. Audits of bills are critical, who is watching before and after. Electronics and energy have close correlation and a great example is VOIP or voice over internet protocol and having no electricity for powering the phone units. It's really all a computer and they do not run without power. So the backup unit helps power when the supply is gone but how much does it all costs to be connected to your customers and revenue. Monitoring the costs of energy as well as the quoted price is important. Look at the power bill for the past two or three years, is there a correlation? It's a scam by some vendors. Check the quote, the bills, the accounts payable, etc. Hold vendors responsible.

Marketing Efforts Do Not Warrant Smart Decisions

The good ole girl club or the good ole boy club is not the best source of information on vendors or manufacturers. Just because the referral sheet indicates a competitor, friend or like business does not make it the industry expert for a good buying decision. Some vendors, manufacturing presentation, manufacturers and popular equipment suppliers touting an electronic brand does not enrich the features, in fact one brand is feature poor. It takes a professional with insider information, no I'm not talking about stock, I'm talking solid competitive information to weight the benefits, vulnerability, applications, needs analysis and understanding how an organization operations run to know what to recommend. Just because you know someone in a social circle does not mean knowing equals quality. When did aggressive marketing efforts get rewarded by popular demand? It may be a house hold name, industry recognized name, whatever, it still does not constitute a sound decision. Anyone understanding consumer reports knows quality wanes and one years product does not indicate quality continues forever. Being safe when needing to rip or replace is important, consult with an unbias source, especially with electronics that can zap the energy bill.

Nortel and other manufacturers

Being aware of industry trends with technology is critical for businesses. Making choices for equipment now are more important then ever. Nortel filed for bankrupcy in January. The projected collapse of this one time industry giant will be soon and with 80,000,000, voice ports this company is being sold off in pieces. Any corporation or non-profit with Nortel equipment will soon be in peril for communication with clients, customers, vendors, suppliers, etc. Support for products are projected at 6-12 months by industry experts. Mayor portions of this company will be disbursed throughtout other companies, those successful in the bidding, in 3-6 months. Carrier networks of at least two major players are at risk.
End users need to strategize and come up with contingency plans now.

Electronics break. Anyone experiencing a laptop or desktop harddrive dying knows full well the risk. Telephone systems are computers and they do not last forever.

Strategies need to be in place now for companies to survive the crash, it is a matter of time.

Ethics and Vendors

Listening to a CEO being interviewed today I was touched by the humbleness, the realness, the ethics, the knowledge of no customer service this man had for himself and his business. I called on a credit union today, the one I've been banking with for almost 25 years. Not only could I not get to the CEO for an interview meeting, I couldn't get a problem solved without great pain. We still have no land line service from ATT. The land line has worked off and on, mostly off since July 16th.
Received a call from my sister the 26th, on the land line! Now, the question is simply a residential line can not be fixed in 13 days and ATT thinks I would recommend a consultant client to them? I don't think so.

When the technician came to our home to fix the line on July 24th, not only did he not find the problem, he wanted me to report the problem again. Why is my DSL still working as well as the telephone downstairs? The ring cuts off as soon as someone calls but I can still pick up and get dial tone. The technicians are not trained to really know the real problem. Corporate America you are a sad excuse as a picture of capitalism.

Stepping out of the box; email regarding Nortel bankrupcy

There will be inventory around for a while. Ericson will be picking up the maintenance...consider this, some carrier networks have huge switches made by Nortel. Someone will have to pick up the remaining equipment. Just be careful when selecting a vendor, any vendor.

ATT is not what BellSouth was to customers. Unfortunately this business has become the used car sales of the 70's & 80's. Example: My landline has been down since July 16th...still out of service today...it may be another week or so. In August 08 we had no landline for 18 days. They were so generous and gave us an $10 credit!!

Sadly, corporations only care about the bottom line. Well customers are the bottom line, it is their money and there are people talking. At the rate they are going ATT may be in peril soon too. Customer want to dump them because the intelligence has retired, been laid off. Customer service has be delegated to a voice response unit.

Telephone Repair for Out of Service Condition

July 16th a thunderstorm rolled into town. As the rain came down the telephone began to ring, one ring, hang up, one ring, hand up, one ring, hang up. No one was touching the phone. A neighbor was attempting to call to see if we were having the same problem she was experiencing. Reporting the trouble promptly I was informed it would be fixed July 24. Sure enough July 24 I received a call on my cell phone. The repairman insisted the line had a short and the short was inside the structure. I was informed to call again so a repairman could be dispatched to fix the short inside the house.

Inside repairs cost more but not sure that was the repairman's motive, probably just incompetence. Upon returning to town July 26th, Sunday evening a call came through on the land line. The transmission was clear on the line. Today, we have static so bad the telephone line is useless.

Maybe all the competent telephone repairmen have been laid off? Maybe this company needs to make another acquisition or merger to gain competence in the repair department? Maybe they'll give us a $10 credit like we received when the telephone was out in August 08 for 18 days? All this time the DSL is working fine.

Telephone Repair from the biggest vendor in America

July 16th a thunder storm rolled into town, as the rain came down the telephone land line began to ring. One ring, hang up. One ring, hang up. One ring, hang up...and no one was touching the phone. The DSL continued to work. July 24 received a call on the cell phone, the repairman was on the property and insisted "a short is on the line and it's in the house. When you get back into town report the problem again."

So why did I receive a call on the land line upon returning to my home Sunday, July 26th? Out of service for over one week, the repairman insisted we have a short on the line, definitely inside the home yet the DSL is working and today the land line works too. No one from the telephone company has been in our abode. Well, the line is working if you can hear through the static on the line.

Now I'm wondering if the repairman even knew what he was doing. Have all the competent repairmen been laid off from one of the largest companies in the US or at least they once were? Need to buy another company soon? Maybe the next company purchased has some younger repairmen that have had some good training. Oh, well maybe there isn't any other company to buy. Makes you wonder about all the acquisitions, mergers, competent training, corporate competence while continuing to pay the bill for this pitiful service. Just maybe we'll receive another $10 credit like we did when we had no service in August 08.

Distance from Serving Wire Center

Caution when buying property far from the telephone company's central office or serving wire center. Distance equals dollars especially if fiber facilities are needed. Fiber is needed for any access above a DS1 or commonly referred to a T1.
Heavy data needs larger facilities then T1 and ways to measure traffic needs exist.
Check with consultant or vendors for correct amount of access for traffic configuration.

Refurbishing old buildings

My nephew has been investing in real estate and starting to refurbish old buildings.
Remember if this is your forte, if multiple tenants are moving in check beyond the walls, ceilings, plumbing, electricity, etc., also check for conduit runs as well as conduit paths into the structure from the feed source/property line/manhole. When buildings are sold and tenants leave for refurbishing/renovation efforts, conduits are forgotten. Therefore conduit may be packed with old wire and cable, not allowing additional space for any telephone or electrical wiring to replace the long forgotten cable. Tenants do not remove these components, in fact often times not only are conduits filled, sometimes equipment and wiring remains long after the tenants have left. Replacing these conduits after renovation will be expensive so the best opportunity is knowing what to look for on the front end of new refurbishing construction.

This is going to be short...it has been a long day

Today while interviewing for a new book I'm writing, I realized the importance, once again, of ethics, morality, responsibility, and real principles that are alive and well in some people. The question was to a CEO..."What gives you angst?" The book will be out in January, it will be their words, it will be about ethics, it will be about trust, it will be about our current situation, how we can make it better and many other interesting issues in smart peoples minds.

Side note: This CEO is 69 years old. This CEO is not technology smart. He can use a cell phone, a computer, a telephone (desk) and understands how to use google.

He is also the most wonderful person, CEO, I know...he's my brother.

Entertainment, Electronics, Energy, Energy, Energy

Good grief, when does this all end...halls are lined with electronic picture frames, each room filled with TV's, telephones, printers, music players, computers. This is a home.

In the office there's mega printers, mega computers, servers, routers, blackboxes of sorts, every desk has a laptop, every laptop has printer. Conference rooms are filled with electronics, video equipment bringing the world into a room, conference calling capability galore, abilities to capture 250 people from across the globe. We bring the world to us at a touch. We go to the world at a touch.

Three days ago I bought the latest in recording gadgetry. Record, video, and write all in one application. Store 1 or 2 gig of data, I chose 1 gig. At a touch.

Piano Lessons

Remembering when I was young and taking piano lessons. My parents couldn't afford lessons until I was in highschool. By that time I had lost interest. The instructor was not a great help either. She wanted to spend more time with my sister and her voice lessons.

Technology, applications, electronics, energy consumption remind me of paino lessons. It's more difficult to understand the complexities of technology when we age as opposed to the youth that grew up with all things digital, even their toys.
Technology doesn't need to be intimidated by technology choices and making the right decisions for you, your budget, your company. It's ok not to know how to make it all work for you including the method for operating, understanding devices, making the right choices. One size does not fit all.

Helping Companies with Energy, Electronics and Environment

Waste in the corporate world shows the demise of sea life, well maybe human greed, insatiable appetites, money, money, money. When will we realize a balance in nature, in the beauty of life, of the earth, of the need to be respectful of all humans and nature. We need to save our planet, educate the under privileged, throw out consumer materialism, save energy, cut gadgetry from our lives, incorporate humans, relationships, embrace values, get back to basics. Working together we can save ourselves, and our babies future. Yes, this should be Green Chatter but again, the handshake is so important.

New book for Release January 2010

CEO Speaks, Sage Advice in a Turbulent Time, this is for business owners, grad students, masters programs and any one wanting to understand CEO perceptives in a market swollen with an Economy of Fear, Economy of Distrust, Angst about 401K's, corporate benefits, and most of all, Ethics. Speaking with a former CEO of a non-profit recently she left, resigned due to lack of responsibility of the Board of Directors. People want recognition but no work, they want to be a hero for serving without any service. She also shared about another local CEO that's a gossip, good heart but a gossip. Gee whiz Charlie Brown, let's get back to being real, caring, having self esteem and reaching out for the benefit of others. This world is begging for Truth, Kindness, Caring, Responsible, Ethical behavior, NOW. It all starts with us, one at a time.

This is not about technology it's about ethics

Meeting with a CEO today, interviewing him for a new book I'm writing and we both hopped up on the soap box briefly regarding ethics, level playing fields and what has occured in his industry, the banking business. This is part of the book but his analysis seemed to be right on the mark. CEO's are not only well groomed, often good looking people, smart, savvy, great memories, the good ones know how to be humble. He spoke about serving the community, internal and external. Yes, he makes the ultimate decisions, but he talked about the best of the best in his company.

He spent a great deal of time talking about ethics. Serving community, employee programs that are helping employees during the day with quality programs at work and helping them live longer with programs for healthy living every day. This man loves his work, his bank and cares about his employees as a CEO. Impressive! I can't wait to spend time with his referrals in the future and hopefully more time with him.
We need more ethics in business, more people with passion about serving and wanting to do it right. Just a side note. Tomorrow will be about how crooks are using technology to SCAM us.

Ethics, Vendors, Corporations, Business Standards

Starting project on publishing a book and interviewing CEO's talking with a dear friend today explaining process, purpose and connecting ethics, with ROI, all industries, big and small. Friends response was about local banker with body guards!
What a shock to know the ethics behind the firm. Sad we can't seem to learn from history, recent history at that. Have we not seen enough Enron, HealthSouth, MCI, Wall Street, mortgage, and investment debacles? People need to get back to the basics. This corporation cut employees benefits while giving CEO a bonus. Nice ethical behavior, the hell with the worker-bees, let's reward the CEO. I so respect companies that the CEO stops receiving all the accolades while punishing employees.

Ethics, Vendors & Consulting

For a positive person with ethics it becomes very difficult in this Economy of Fear, Economy of Distrust, Economy of CEO's and Board of Directors, Economy of Greed, Economy of Broken Promises, Economy of Political Wrongs, well you get the picture. It's all around us everyday. Talking with several dozen people today the resounding issues were all outlined. Research for a new book I'm writing the passion for moral standards is alive and well. Big business needs to pay attention because people are catching onto the antics. Not training customer services representative properly is causing more anger. How many client will you cheat before the word gets out? One company was going overseas and was told you have unlimited access on your card. Well why with unlimited access did they receive a $32,000 dollar bill? Consultants in my field share information and vendors beware. We are ethical and we share information daily. If it isn't right by our clients, we know about who, what, why and how you are treating our customers/clients. The word gets out on the street.

Proactive Strategy for IT, Telephony & Energy

When taking a proactive approach to company growth, new technologies, corporate planning, marketing programs and any activity impacting employees, customers or vendors think about strategy. That same impact is also on equipment, procedures, processes, applications all dealing with installed equipment. Look at the history, check for future opportunities, and look at the moment. What is impacting your business now? Believe it or not some companies are making money, growing, expanding, positioning for the future and doing it all now.

Strategies work and sometimes we adjust. Years ago with I was selling equipment I remember sales training that said "don't fix what isn't broken". We all have to gauge timing. Good leaders know this, do it, observe processes while fixing only that which is broken. What does this have to do with technology and decisions? Everything. Companies are not closed environments, they are dynamic, constantly moving, adding, changing. It all works together.

Plain and Simple Communication

When corporation fail to train on communication techniques they are wasting money daily. I have proof of Fortune 500 companies not talking to their employees and the results were wasted time and money. Big money! One very gray area for any form of installation is a starting point for documenting revenue loss. The proof part is all the stories I have for government agencies and corporations when installing fiber. The order were invariable wrong because sales people did not understand why 1) addresses needed to be accurate
2) contact names correct
3) verify vacation time & holiday schedules
4) have alternate contact
5) verify phone numbers
6) verify reliable employee
7) verify dates
8) verify complexity
9) verify availability
10) verify costs regarding location, graphics, distances from equipment to cable to buildings from SWC or serving wire center
The list isn't complete, it's a starting point for complex installations. Today my example was poorly written directions for installing a washer & dryer...time is money with any installation, technical or not.

More Data and IT Information

Knowing these are facts is pretty scary:
100% of disk and tape drives eventually fail
34% of companies test backups of those who do, of those wo do, 77% have found failure
60% of companies lose data will go out of business within 6 months of disaster
1/2 of corporate data reside on unprotected PC desktops and laptop
O Other percentages for data loss:
78% of hardware or systems malfunction
11% human error (of course, we mess up)
7% of software is corrupt (ask my husband how he felt
about vista in 2007)
2% of computers
1% other (whatever other is...?)
25% of users do not back up their computer files
22% backing up PC is on to do list
30% companies report not a disaster recovery program
1 in 25 notebooks are stolen, broken, or destoryed each year
500 times more data stored on drives then a decade ago
30% chance of corrupted file in one year
We continue to be vulnerable even when we know the facts.

Just plain ole communication

Talking with a dear sweet person today, a friend, a fellow technology person, a fellow person in this little church we attend, I tolded a story about installing an OC3 for a government contracter wrong info...It is my mission to help people, save companies money, help people. OK, this is a short blog. We lost a friend today.

Lobbists and legislation mess

Law makers are still being bought by lobbists and not helping the consumer when laws are passed and the legislation knows little about what an industry needs. Talking with a Public Service Commission employee I found out one of the largest providers for telecommunication is now unregulated in a specific state. Why do law makers want to mess things up especially when they know nothing about the bad effects on people, on industry, on consumers, on business. I agree with one Congressman, no more long terms for legislators, no more lobbists.

Company Provided Cell Phones and PC's

Who owns the device? It is the corporation's or the individual's. The deciding factor is ownership. Are passwords part of the programs and who owns the password? Most databases are not up to date. Did someone get paid from an expense account? Or was the expendure corporate acquistion? Databases are not keeping up which can be a security issue. When a promotion or transfer in internal are passwords and access removed immediately for databases no longer part of the employees responsibility? Are databases secure? This is one arena not to cut back on when it comes to security. One friend has a security company and frequently breaks into computer systems to show how vunerable her clients are on security issues. To use her words, "act like to know what you're doing the employees never question the motives". Her clients are usually banks. Scary right! Ever heard of industrial esponoge

Technology Myths

The sub title is true to some extent but when you remove the people, remove peoples needs, remove departments needs, you're removing the entire purpose. Ask employees what their needs are when making decisions. Ask department heads how their department work with clients? Who makes the buying decisions? Saving time a criteria? Is it a committee? The CFO? The accounting department? Likely it will change based on the organizations structure. I know I'm harping again but computers to blackberries they are tools to use not to be married too. Human need should come first. One e-conference recently had a case study how to make life easier and patients safer based on technology. I can't think of a better example then the health care industry because it isn't always but it is a life and death situation.
Time is money and sometimes a life. Physicians and nurses need the right application, the right equipment, and saving time is huge for this profession. The technology exist for transcribing patients records by voice command. Time a critical component in the heath care industry plus accurate communication.

Yesterday's blog about internet providers

Not all vendors are playing by the rules, or maybe they are playing by rules, their rules. Working from home, they immediately say "Oh, you are a business account so we can charge you more" or they block ports so certain applications are not available to you. Thanks FCC in 1996 for messing it up so bad to allow a entire batch of unethical businesses to operate in this industry. Not even to mention their unethical rules. "We can charge you more or limited your access to application by not allowing open ports". Applications which would make your business life smoother.
Competition is wide open as are corporate decisions to make things harder for some small businesses.

Vendors and providers give us so much to blog about. Practices that are hurting small business people so please don't start a small business campaign if your big business practice is hurting small businesses from ease of use. Limiting their customers is a sure way to hurt your own business especially for the big boys. See how many long term contracts you lose, if that I hope you're tracking those.

Not too sure of Internet Providers

As part of a nationwide network as well as international network I find professional information valuable. As consultants we collect data on equipment, vendors, applications and are able to share this information on line through email. Protecting our clients by knowing how to protect them is great. Poor vendors, poor practices, poor manufacturing are shared through knowledge of hundreds of consultants. New technology not working properly? Again, shared resources discussing applications. E-seminars are available with excellent knowledge shared about industries, applications for the industries, energy consumption guides for voice and data. In this country we have a new word in our vocabulary, unfortunately, the word(s) is trust deficit. It's true today as always a few major thieves ruin the world of trust and break people, hearts, and families sometimes lives.

Making It Work for You and Your Company

I've blogged about this before but this is so important for success with electronic choices. While many vendors are wonderful, their job is to sell what their company has in the warehouse. What the manufacturer they represent makes. Then they train for using the product their sell people sold. It is that simple.

There are ways to analyze what you need as an organization. Begin the purchasing of telephones and lap tops with your criteria. Find out from department heads who in the department would be a good investigator. That someone will ask workers good questions such as how can this ________ do something that makes calling, typing, a better instrument for your productivity during use? Help your customers? What type of compliants do you receive? Customer service, sales, or any department that has intensive tasks for the tool. It is a tool, make it work for you, not you working with the __________. My motto, application counts. One size does not fit all. Your organization desires the proper applications to make the day less stressful, cusatomers happier, revenue making easier.

Putting Ethics Back Into Business

Today is special for many Americans. We love our country, our food, our traditions.
We love our families and friends. We love to celebrate our holidays, our independence. Most of us are good, solid, citizens with ethics and caring hearts. We celebrate our freedom. Putting ethics back into business, taking precaution in buying electronics and making sure vendors are being straight up about energy consumption will make our world a better place. A better place for doing business today and tomorrow while helping save our country's as well as the world's resources.

SCAMS, SCAMS, SCAMS

SCAMMED back in April I'm still attempting to get the PC working properly. Adobe buries some reader capability deep in the stack and still my pdf files can not be viewed. All I receive is code when opened. A colleague tried helping with an Uninstaller program. I spent the 35 dollars and received the download but not can not use because they want a source code or key without providing one with the download. People are finding more and more ways to cheat others out of money. 35 dollars is not a huge amount unless these smart theaves find lots of takers. I'm thinking about publishing the name just so others can protect themselves if not the bank account. Corporations are not ammune either. The word safety has yet another meaning in cyberspace.

Size is not an issue with outages

A mutual friend introduced me to a friend...that category I call, friend of a friend.
Today we met for breakfast and while we talked he shared who is vendor is for lines and equipment. Just when his office was about to open I offered to go over to look at the termination point and verify what he had been spending. He also had shared a brief, 3 day outage, no lines, no DSL. Financial planners need constant internet access. That's the way they stay on top of their clients investments. Three working days with no way to stay on top of the market. He also has a partner and several employees. There is a conflict between what I saw and what he thinks he has in lines or access as we call that in the industry. We'll get it straight. Vendors please be honest with customers...because someone will find you out eventually. I've known this vendor is not a good vendor for years. Maybe now I can prove my suspicions.

Combined Green Chatter and Stone Rings Blog July 1

Speaking with an local IT company today one of the people told me when he was hired 3years ago the company was throwing PC's in the trash. That is so negative on the ground water and soil for years to come. People poo pooing environmental issues remain ignorant because the research has been done. Any electronics has chemicals that are harmful. End of story. The bigger the equipment and more chemicals. Operating companies center offices, data centers, call centers are full of toxins.
Humans do not fair well with toxins especially if they are being trashed including being shipped overseas. That is not recycling, it's just killing foreign people. These are the same people that have families that love them. Children that need healthy parents and if it is wrong in the US, it's wrong every where.

Industry and the World

Attending a seminar today at a local university I observed so many interested parties at the event. This program was started to reach out to the business community and connect education and business partners. Samford University is an elite small university with a pristine group of students and excellent teaching staff. As part of their curriculum they have a Business School with undergraduate and masters programs. Another unique program within the Business School is an Entrepreneurial coursework for those wanting to become small business owners. This year and perhaps before we are offered an opportunity to attend International workshops. Today the workshop was on Guanajuato, Mexico. In the center of Mexico, this state has started an international reach bringing industry of all types into a eager, young and willing workforce. Technology is, of course, one of the focuses for this area. COFOCE headed by Luis Ernesto Rojas Avita, Director, helps through partnering , connecting and mentoring companies interested in this type of environment. Two railroads as well as highways intersect there for transporting goods and services as well as raw materials. COFOCE assists companies in all ways to connect with partners for the successful development of this area and the incoming organization. Blogging about this as information for interest of any readers.

Rip or Replacing Telephone Equipment?

How secure are the servers, passwords, and access into systems? When replacing equipment, make sure your vendor tests everyway hackers can break into your systems.
This can take hours of time, however, the loss of data via a security breach can cost millions. Losses can cost months of time to replace critical mission information. The costs of possible customer database information, customer information loss impact revenue, employee time and employee personal information impact security, database security, human resource damage, just to name a few. Even training material can be lost...proceed with caution and diligence.

IT and Telecommunications Again

OK, it's your departments money, allocation of corporate funds, 2009 budget, projections into 2010 budget, whatever you name the source, it is the allocated funds, use them wisely. IT and telecommunication are not the SAME! They do shakehands, they touch, the analogy is a brush. It is not a complete embrace, ask IT if they understand access or even know what the word means? Does IT even get close to your accounting department? Who pays the bills, IT or accounting? Who makes the decision IT or C level management, it so, who reads the contract to know the quoted price? Is IT checking the contract for telephone expense? Is cellular costs lower or raising? Mr. C level, please stop assuming IT is the place to throw telecommunication, it's a handshake not a marriage. Be smart, give telecom a department head that knows telecommunication and can help your bottom line. IT is not the place. Sorry to shake your world but that is not good management of money, time or decisions. While you're in the thinking process, who is asking you to be certified and locking you into their revenue stream, FOREVER...THINK, that's why you have a brain.

Connecting the Dots Between Effective Communication and Productivity

This isn't a new topic but an important one with the correlation between human effectiveness, accurate and simple communication plus what we spend on technology to help us make money, spend money and be effective in our organization. Whew, that's a sentence. Making technology work for you, your company, your employees as well as return on investment. Sounds simple when in practice it is a difficult measurement.
When implementing new equipment from a telephone to an expense piece in the lab, are you getting what you need? Are employees using the equipment the way it is designed to be used? Was training good without industry jargon confusing instruction? Is there savings projected and who is measuring the savings? How often are reports compiled and received? What were the predictions on savings; productivity or money or both? Is there an effective motivation for proper use?

We spend billions each year for the biggest and best in every profession. Are we getting the hard or soft rate of return promised by the manufacturer or the vendor?
Answers to the questions on the front end may help with buying decisions in the process and evaulating impact along the way as well as strategy on capital outlay then measurement for validation 6 months down the road, recurring every 6 months for long term validation. Measurement is simply impact on productivity or business improvement.

Training on telephones

Whether you're buying soft phones, desk top phones or new laptops ask for some training to go with the purchase for the corporate environment. Someone may question why I occasionally touch personnel issues. Because corporations are not closed environments. All departments just like a family, impact on one another. When we start thinking we're a closed environment is when you might as well lock the doors and throw away the key. There are times this is difficult to remember especially when things are going very well or not so well.

Our youth is great at training especially on new technology. Their entire life has been spent with gadgets, maybe they don't have expertise in a lot of ways, but they are savvy with our e-environment.

Understanding New Fangled Technology

Understanding how technology can save time and money, increase productivity, reduce spend for assets, helping internal departments communicate better while improving productivity. Isn't that what everyone wants and needs in today competitive environment? Helping organizations and corporations grow whether profit or non-profit is a demanding job. Understanding the hard ROI and also the soft ROI. Are your employees healthy, happy and motivated versus bogged down by difficult financial decisions, poor or no training, not motivated to win new clients, take care of renewing clients and making work easy. Sometimes I wish I had named my company "helping others grow" but I didn't so I can help by applying lessons learned from the big boys in from the corporate world in the "what not to do" category. Make sure your vendor is applying good business with the basics for your spend.

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Basic Communication Skills are Needed to Make Technology Work

New satellite offices, relocating any office, or building a new location from scratch need refined communication skills. Make sure along the way of the finishing the building or project the communication with workers, internal departments, and vendors is accurate. So often corporations fail to communicate making sure all aspects of the project are on go. Installing fiber for large corporations myriad projects were delayed for months due to the failure to communicate.

Fiber does not drop out of the sky. Engineering can take months of planning for infrastructure and outside plant. Downtown areas to remote distribution centers can run out of fiber. Allowing enough time and excellent communication between all concerned parties can ensure success during the scenarios mentioned in the first sentence.

Ok, today it is not about technology, well sort of....

During the current economic static, I spend a few hours, usually during lunch, to use the time for educating myself via webinars on technology topics I do not know. Even after 27 years there is always something else to learn. Having spent a lifetime reading, learning, educating myself so my brain is wired for wider focus. This world is not about me and my ego; It's about us, together. So today I log into a three hours presentation by three different experts from three different companies; Pretty wide perspective. Today even the big guys screwed up, I couldn't log on...it happens, even for the big guys, things happen. As a colleague said today, essentially, when it comes to computers, not really, things break, it happens. Wider focus, we do have control over our life, our time, the economy will turn around, it may take awhile, things break, our economy is broke. We can continue to care for one another. Learn as much as possible because the more we know, the more we can help, one another.

Technology and Cabling Information

Pictures of scrambled cables in data centers when cabling servers or other electronic devices costs money. If four feet is needed, why is there ten feet between devices resulting in spaghetti
cables protruding from server racks? Data center floors are crammed with excess cable when logically this only adds to waste and cost. Over cabling also impacts stranded footprint, danger for those working in the room, poor isolation of what cable goes to what port plus making it more difficult to trouble shoot as well as increasing down time? With cable colors resembling rainbows making a data center cleaner only enhances all aspects of IT business.

Understanding the Flow of Internal Orders

Companies do not understand how billing errors happen on telephone bills. These are the reasons: 1 Orders between companies do not have correct information 2 coding on electronic order is incorrect 3 people make mistakes, we're all human 4 engineering misunderstands the instructions 5 someone makes a decision based on capacity 6 construction in infrastructure has limits 7 someone makes a decision that impacts the order if mind reading occurs 8 billing goes into the electronic billing system and what is billed or invoiced is not what was quoted. One for all of these can happen and 9 communication between companies involved goes awry. End users especially those with new construction are vulnerable to project management missing a install date. 10 contact on the order, who is responsible for allowing on sight permission to entering the physical premise and other construction issues from the manhole into the building must meet the criteria and codes of the industry. Names given are incorrect or the employee on site is not good communicator 11 Engish and clarification should not be a problem but that alone is 99 percent of the problem.
12 telephone calls are not returned or not responsively, this along is huge in our working day and is getting worse. Clarify, clarify, clarify.

Toll Free Service & Local Calls

Please webmasters, designers and do it yourself designers, when publishing a toll free number on a website please include the local number also. Companies are paying for local calls without local numbers on the website. With the advent of cell phones and some people using them exclusively, both parties, the caller and the company being called are both paying for the call, not good business. Do you service or sale to local customers? If not stick with the toll free service.

Companies selling toll free service, especially the big ones will not even look at the an organization's website, even if they know enough to care and advise on such issues.

Ideas for Qualifying Employees on Telecom Knowledge

As all professionals are aware, industries come with jargon. Telecommunications has literally thousands of words and acronyms which are listed on the FCC website. Making sure employees are qualified to make suggestions, decisions, and assigning tasks pull a list from the FCC website during hiring process. Have Human Resources put together a simple test for validating the knowledge of employees for employee. In fact, this could be done for any department allowing a reasonable amount of acronyms and words to be unknown. Because corporations have their inhouse lingo, it would not be fair practice in the hiring process especially for the younger employees. Keep the verbiage to industry specific applications, features, functions etc. Remember a fresh college graduate would be the most vulnerable with this process so make it select for experienced workers only. Validating knowledge would lead to a good hire, less money wasted and just solid logic. Speak ease for industry specifics getting the best bang for the dollar invested.

CEO, ROI, Save Money, Save Energy, Intelligent Choices

Who is tracking the telephone bill? Who is tracking the power consumption? Who is approving the checks? In changing out systems, upgrading, buying new capacity in computers, network, and telephone equipment, make sure your vendor and the manufacturer being used is making GREEN equipment and the features are what your company needs. Lastly, check with a respected and ethical source for validating energy consumption. Assign one person first to make sure the equipment invoices reflect the quote, second, verify that the energy/power bill does not increase drastically. I am not talking about hot summer months or cold winter months. Plan IT and telephony changes in non-seasonal impacting months when change will not impact your energy budget. Glitches happen! When I was in direct sales years ago, I told my clients, "if you want to screw something up...in this industry, hurry it up". Another thing to remember is "things break, it happens". Finding out during the research stages can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in so many directions. Just know the facts from an objective, ethical source.

Harping on Energy Use Again

If replacing electronics, make sure there's a need to scrap the entire system before spending money on new equipment. Chemicals are prevalent in electronics. We need to reduce consumption and verify with a reliable source before busting the budget on gadgets and energy while reducing the harmful chemicals not recycled properly. Consider supporting a recycle program. There are 7 deadly chemicals in electronics. Another example is that copper is expensive. Does the equipment have copper for conducting electricity? Copper can be recycled. Some corporations are backing GREEN movements. Being socially responsible by supporting this will only be positive for the corporate image too.

Understanding separation of technology and why.

Why do companies lump departments together like they do not understand what C level VP or Director to assign the tasks or employees too?...because "we've always done it that way?" Putting IT and telecom together without really evaluating the difference is not a good decision. Telecom needs someone from the industry to at least oversee and have input into access and equipment purchases. Telecom needs separate traffic reports, separate technology and sometimes separate lines from data applications. Some resources can be shared but not necessarily. Applications, technology and methodology all play a role in decisions for access and equipment. Just because a company is given as a referral for one or the other, does not qualify applications, etc. for your corporate departments. Respecting a corporation is not a qualifying decision process. Why did they buy from a vendor and how the vendor did the needs assessment is totally unique to your firm. After 10 years of pricing, project managing and solving problems for some of the US largest comporporations, it blows me away to find some corporate ways of decision making so sophomoric.

IT, Websites and Geeks

Today, upon logging into email, the provider managed to screw up our method of accessing our account. Finally after about 7 minutes, I logged in to find a utility bill due. Since I had been out of town I wanted to pay the bill immediately. Logging into the utility web site to pay I my bill, I was told via the program my account payment was declined. Knowing full well money was in the account it took me a minute before I realized the debit card had been canceled due to a breach of my bank's data base. Attempting to change the account number via the company's web site denied the transaction. This meant more time to log into email...again, several minutes go by, finally I research the utility company via google, find their customer service phone number, and then attempt to call and report the issue. After listening to the VRU unit and not having a way to contact customer service. I went to the corporate site. Just a little insert here; thanks so much corporate America for providing me with great blog information. But I do not thank you for wasting an hour of my time this June 15th, between email and on-line payments. Some corporations must be taking lessons from doctor's offices.
Anyway, when I finally reached the utility company's customer service, Ms. Poole was a very sweet and very helpfulperson. But the VRU, the websites, and the providers are idiots when it comes to customer loyalty and being sensitive to a customer's mind reading capability. After 27 years in the field of technology, I believe I know good applications when I experience them. Corporated America, "you are not being smart by not having someone and I do not mean the geeks in IT, looking at the application and beta testing is to make the site user friendly." We may not have alternatives to utilities or some utilities, but respecting for customers time will go far.

Energy & Technology Conundrum

Wondering about the statement the smaller the chip the more energy used. This again was on a recent webinar. Now if this is the case is there a matrix of earth friendly information on power violators regarding e-manufacturers? If so how do we validate an un-biased source that will guarantee the information is correct? Who has paid for the information to be compiled? Is the information clean from special lobbyist groups? Lots of ethical related questions and then I started thinking about information that is printed, inserted into product packaging, yes even the big equipment. Is the writer biased, is the product information correct? Does someone validate the information prior to printing? Questions in my head.

Social Responsibility & Energy Drain

Blogging on http://www.greenchatter.blogspot.com/ the title was Engage the Brain before the Drain. Someone much smarter than I will hopefully come up with a solution to the drain technology is having on power grids. So often listening to my own grandchildren or listening to stories about others children, it amazes me how smart are these little people. Maybe there is hope for the world if we haven't already damaged it too much. On a recent webinar the narrator said the power drain on energy by data centers is the same 11% as the airline industry. Other forms of fuel much be seen as critical. Talking with a consultant yesterday, we were discussing his fathers at age 86 he has seen a drastic change in climate this his youth. Living in northern Georgia he has observed a change in the mountain air. We continued to discuss how some of the older generation a discounting global warming and environmental issues. How can anyone deny the ocean garbage from man? How can anyone deny the rivers trash from man? How can anyone seeing a land fill question the impact of plastic? Questions, only questions.

Interesting Industry Webinars

Listening yesterday to a webinar about an organization in Canada, I was struck by the intelligence of educating children and how needed the information was in today's environment. The statistics were scary to say the least. The vendor co-presenting on the webinar was attempting to show how using some technology and some technical equipment can reduce carbon footprint. When replacing servers, telephones, or any network piece make sure the person responsible has all the information at hand for earth friendly convergence as well as intergration. There are more and more options available today. Manufacturers are getting smarterand wiser about energy consumption but not all are even trying. If staff is low and research is not possible due to failures or time or both, please go to someone that knows how to save you money. It will only protects your budget, saves you money on energy costs and yes the correlation is significant between equipment and energy use.

Amazing Statistics From Non-Profit Organizations

Corporations rarely have the resources to research equipment, ways to save money on equipment and the handshake between equipment costs, equipment energy use and how these components cost thousands and millions in revenue. Leaving these components out of the equation is not good business nor smart business. Understand how architectual design, real estate/construction, equipment, energy, location, distance and energy can impact negativity on a corporations budget; profit or non-profit.
Relying solely on vendors or relying solely on employees including high level management can put revenue at risk. Being smart about research and reliable resources is critical for rate of return on corporate dollars. It will only cost more if not researched thoroughly.

Hand Shake Between Electronics, Green, Construction

New Construction will start to increase in the months to come. Crawling into a cave is not the answer nor is living in an economy of fear. Continuing to support the construction industry is important. What a great time to invest in preparation for growth? Deals on supplies for adding square footage, equipment, even furniture now is a great time to buy. While buying also add some green plants to cleanse the office air, yes, plants can do that. Understanding the handshake between environment or energy use, electronics with its' consumption of energy and if adding make sure you have space in conduit for adding more electrical power, space in cabling conduct for more cable to be pulled. Building especially those beautiful older ones that are refurbished? Make sure while refurbishing someone check out the conduit run and capacity. If the building is gutted, or partial renovation is taking place this is the time to add conducts too. Making sure the ventilation is there for cooling servers and other heat generating equipment is important also. Or you may be spending plenty of these.

Reducing Access Costs

Earlier this year an insurance company shared a story about buying VOIP and having such a time with the quality they had to "throw the system out" was their exact verbiage. Speaking with a VOIP vendor this morning the representative with the VOIP vendor spoke of customer expectations in knowing there will be some latency issues, a power outage will take you down unless you have battery backup. Large institutions can not be vulnerable. Hospitals and other critical care related industries can not be left vulnerable in any way or people die. It's that simple. We witnessed that during Katrina when New Orleans suffered in every way and people were helpless for search and rescue efforts. For some it was too little, too late. Be cautious when hopping on the latest and greatest bandwagon. Check out like industries using the same technology, get references, call and ask about specific applications. Make sure you know not all vendors and not all equipment is comparable.

Diverse Routing on Local Loops

After many New York based corporations or corporations in the Towers were lost during attacks, many companies became more aware of protecting data and communications. Little could have been done during that destruction unless all data had been stored beyond the reaches of that devastation. However the demand for fiber increased and has continued to grow as organizations demand higher levels of bandwidth. Route diversity is one alternative to having cuts in fiber as is ring topology an alternative. Diversity as always is expensive. Rings however give the best protection and unless distance in design or real estate location is the impact on cost, rings can be quite economical. Verify, specify, shop costs and do not look to one vendor for all information. Vendor representatives can be brainwashed, many think they are the best because a vendor's training, marketing message and corporate dictum all focus on sales, ROI, savings. That's great. Let's focus on what's best for the client, the clients' issues, needs, market, employees needs, customer's needs, etc., instead of me, me, me and what I can sell you, vendors. Put the client first, helping lends to credibility.

Efficient IT and Current Social Impacts

Tonight as a few times in the past I refer to two web sites: The first is Gary Audin at

http://www.nojitter.com/ page 2 which references an article called Efficient IT referring to web site http://www.thegreengrid.org/

Knowing most organizations are non-profit organizations this information is critical for all professionals, professional organizations, and all industry. These are valuable resources.

Gary and I spoke Friday and he spends a large amount of time researching subjects and web sites for adding tools for all organizations, profit or not profits.

Saving Energy, Saving Money

Save corporate dollars, know the threat is energy consumption to sap the utility bill and the IT department isn't watching the power bill. Guess time was short on this one...but think about the connection.

Technology, Electronics & Energy Handshake.

This was a conversation today with a IT consultant. Gary said and I quote "soft phones are energy hogs". The other quote of Gary's was one square foot of a data center will cost 60-70 dollars a year. Data centers are huge so the energy cost for a large organization such as hospitals, banking institutions, universities, educational institutions of any kind, insurance companies and any corporation with massive data needs. Saving 25% on energy bills will amount to millions in a given year, not to mention the long term ROI. Electronics eat as much fuel in one year in fact 11% of fuel usage which is the same as the air line industry.

New Buildings and Technology, Data Centers

Cable vendors, AC vendors, Fiber Access for voice and data, room layout, overload trends, monitoring heat, monitoring power, security from hackers, security, stranded capacity, balancing cooling and power, less weight, increased energy efficiency, spread the load, eliminate hot spots, reduce room high density, reduce lease space, migrate to specialized, integration, virtualization, cost effective racks and portability. It's all about saving money, power, energy costs. Need staff help, need extra source for information? Help is on the way.

Back to Real Stories

So often professionals in the same industry as I surprise me with the type on information either not investigated to ignored. When demand for voice and data reach the point of needing fiber vs. copper remember the distance from the SWC is critical. The longer the distance, the more expensive the local loop. Rural real estate value may make the decision comparing the distance vs the savings in land.
Major distribution centers, industrial or manufacturing facilities definitely need to be out further from retail centers or restaurants. Just realize distance equals spend on access (lines/trunks) for data and voice services. One such wireless provider put a tower 15 one half miles from the serving wire center. Big Bucks for
fiber even if it's ring topology.

Ethics, Energy, Sustainability

Today the stories stop but only for recognizing some professionals in our beautiful community of Birmingham, AL. During the spring when Birmingham is alive with spring colors the beauty in our neighborhood is astounding, literally. I wish the entire world could see this beauty. Yes, we have some politicans that are not very wise but our image should not be tarnished because some one is running their mouth. Birmingham has some of the smartest, nicest people as Silicon Valley, California, I know my nieces husband started his own company there and Michael is smart. So read my Green Chatter Blogger for a glimpse of more reasons Birmingham is wonderful. This place is brimming with integrity, intelligence, ethics, doing it right, not just when someone is looking but every day making a quality effort to improve our business, our community and caring for one another. If you don't believe me let me introduce you to some of my friends and business colleagues.

Federal Contracts

When I was in wholesale the customer had a government contract. What that meant to me? Everytime the government needed fiber my job was to get the communication right.
Seems like sales people thought the government knew the information needed to install fiber at some military installation or the justice department or the FBI office in tin-buck-too. Well, that would not be correct. Example: How about the right address, right contact name, correct telephone number to call? No matter big or small the company this industry takes a lot of knowing how to make it all work.
Not knowing can cost big bucks; energy bills soar, non-working system, non-working ancillary application, security breach, hacker heaven...I could go on a while.

Telecom stories from Fortune 500

Stay with the stories, they are true

A friend moved her little office Christmas 2007. Sixteen employees strong with a loyal customer base due to the great work the company does by selecting the best and most responsive sub-contractors. Moving from a space they had outgrown into a building built to their specifications with elbow room for this creative group. December 15th, Susie had invited hubby and I over with many other clients, friends, employees and family for a Christmas Party. When I hugged her and said Thank You I whispered "if I can help (during the move) let me know. 5:00PM Monday night the phone in the office rang, Susie said "we're in trouble". I did every thing I could over the next 21 days to get service installed, it was too late. Susie's company did not "own" the order. I simply could not help. The larger the company the more complex, the more chance for error, the opportunity for confusion. After 10 years working for one large company and 10 more years working with Fortune 500 companies infrastructure for telecommunication, I know communication is a major problem. If corporations do not talk with their own employees, how can they communicate with vendors? Communication does not happen for small/mid size companies because people do not know what they don't know.

Susie and her partner had worked very hard to make sure he move was well organized. They did not realize construction and having some steps in the construction process had to occur before telecommunications lines could be brought into the building.

Story Series - True Nightmares

Four years ago I was sitting in my office with the phone ringing, I answered although I didn't recognize the number. This is not unusual. Corporate office had decided to open a satellite office in Georgia, no one had checked whether service capacity was available for telephone service, it wasn't. Nor would it be available any time soon. Fiber does not drop out of the sky!! Engineering is involved. Engineering in outside plant, engineering from designers/other engineers, infrastructure planning, project management for fiber, equipment in CO/SWC or central office/serving wire center and for the entire process!

Contracts, Verification Confirmation

Construction Zone

Before the construction starts, before the design is signed off on, before the construction manager gets involved, a few basics apply.

Questions to ask about the job: How much growth will there be for cabling?
Where is the techology equipment room?
Will there be enough capacity for future equipment
& cable?
What will the tray capacity be in percentage of
growth?
What type of cabling is necessary for technology?
Will the cooling be adequate as well as ventilation?
Moving into the future:
Furniture layout, future moves, added employees,
jacks for telephones and other devices

Request for Proposal

This is so bogus. Today a business professional shared our local city government made a decision to buy from a vendor without a RFP. That's like shooting yourself in the foot, literally. If there are problems, and there are, a city counsel person told me the telecommunications was a mess. Well, it will probably remain a mess. Great way to spend taxpayers money city hall! We only live in a county known all over the country as a bankrupt county. Fraud and prison sound well known if not the world definitely in the USA. Can we please bring back ethics and intelligent decisions. How can a vendor put in a system or lines without knowing the criteria?
Do departments need consideration. Who's the real customer here? There's just may be a little c and a big C too, which would be the internal and external customers. So apparently in the county I live the stupidity continues by non other than city hall. Who on earth made this decision? Whoever did should be fired or penalized somehow say thirty days without pay.

IT & Telephony & Energy

Talking with an IT consultant today and we were discussing how IT and telephony shake hands but IT personnel does not know telecommunication, the consultant is saying you are right. Let me tell how: 1) access or business lines and how access impacts performance 2) applications; equipment and worker responsibilities count no match, not an IT issue 3) marketing strategy 4) toll free service 5) experience 6) budgeting knowledge 6) Auditing, how many IT people understand contracts and USOC's 7) Features understanding verbiage and how long will it take them to learn 100's if not 1000's of terms plus meaning. OK today I'll stop at 7 reasons. Want more, call me! You can get on my website, just google my name. Easy as pie, whoops, that's hard for most, not me, Thank you Mother!

Whoops again 8) How many IT are in charge of the energy bill? 9) How many IT people are aware of the certification costs? 10) How many IT people understand the certification process and goes with that energy bill! and how bout that budget?
Who is interested in saving money and what is this Green thing anyway?

Savng Money

Does it blow you away when you can offer to save a company money and they turn the project over to a person in their organization who does not have time to respond?
If the person does not have time to respond to saving money how can they be effective? An industry standard is 20% error rate on bills. If the error rate is 20%companies are paying for services they do not need, do not use, do not have, and yes these are factual statements. I have worked on huge billing errors to the tune of $150,000 in errors on monthly billing. That's more then most people make in annual salary! If a company bills $2500 a month in five years the savings is $30,000. If a company bills $20,500 a month that's $246,000 in five years. That's a high executive annual salary! Clue me in on the lack of responsiveness because I do not get it.

Does it blow you away when you can offer to save a company money and they turn yo

Communicating The Facts

Corporations will locate warehouses, manufacturing plants and distribution centers out away from dense populations. A few reasone are less expensive land, less expensive labor. Another reason may be less regulation. As good as these reasons are be prepared for expensive communication. Depending on the bandwidth needed be advised the costs is going to be much higher and the wait longer for the bandwidth needed.

Today's Blog and Maybe Tomorrow's

With respect to and for our service men and women across the globe this blog is dedicated to you, you desire our attention not just today but everyday you desire our prayer, our attention, our pride and appreciation of you and what you do. Not what you did today but everyday we live in a free nation with less freedom, thanks to 911 but still free. God Bless you. Agree or disagree with the movie "A Few Good Men" but I love the line "Because they stand on that wall". Thank you.

Communicating in English

Recently after having to replace the harddrive I've been limping along with the gig file thumbdrive. Finally having the time to call the computer fix-it place I was told by another geek I needed to reinstall the original program which I did for 1 and one half hour including on-line updates. This was the first time I had been told to reinstall the original and it did not work as the geek said. Now if I pay for service could I also have a little communication, in English, on how and what needs to happen next. Not sure who wrote the rules on communication but a few people need to read them or pass them out with computer science degrees.

Does Chip Size Matter

During a recent training seminar the speaker said the smaller the chip the more energy. So if technology is burning energy where does this end? Technology and energy must work together...where does it end? This was a credible source, a professional speaker, well organized, knowledgable. I will verify so stay tuned.

Corporate America needs to save energy, save money and save on utilities. Where does this all end?

Ethics and Business

Interesting conversation today with smart guy who has a cabling company with RCDD certified employees. Last year a conversation with an architect firm partner was asking about RCDD certification. Finally after 1 and 1/2 years I finally connected with an RCDD firm. RCDD is BICSI a certification which is a building code for telcom and IT companies cabling for the proper cabling to occur during design, construction and cabling for telephones and data equipment. BICSI headquarters is located in Tampa, Florida. For BICSI certifications a long term study with no guarantee of passing the exam. Tough process, needed process for getting the cabling right.

Gone Awry

We need to tweak a few things especially our values. Customers are the ones that bring us revenue so we need to better our customer service, no more off shore customer service, no more VRU units that do not work right, no more panning off customers to VRU units with no options. The smart business person is the one that says, "my clients are my revenue", the check implies the money, 401K, benefits, options, etc. come from the company you work for, NO SIR, they come from the client/customer. Let's get back to values! Please

Webinars & Learning

Recently I'm using webinars to balance professional articles with knowledge and technical applications for customers or potential customers. Personally we can never know it all and learning is a life time quest. The more tools we have the more successful we can be for our clients, the more diverse we can be in our market and the more value we bring to those we serve. Webinars are just a efficient way to learn and so many are during lunch time. If I do not have a business lunch to attend it is a great time to stay informed on new technology, new manufacturing and new GREEN efforts on energy savings for clients.

Servers & Energy

The next time the IT VP or the CIO of your company mentions energy, think LEED, think energy use, think Social Media, think Green, think Google, think Yahoo, think about servers,think about the average age of customer or employees, think about stuffication...not an original "Inaism". Think EARTH.

Energy Savings, Green Earth

Stay tuned for the blog tomorrow, you will learn something about energy, green, telephony, IT stats,benefits/HR/health care and the hand-shake between all, as well as geographics and costs. We live in a open environment, remember fifth grade, which is probably more like 1st or 2nd grade now. Closed environments die. Open environments are too,now. It's all about energy, human and man-made making problems as well as greed, negativity, media overload. Stay tuned...open your eyes and look around and beyond yourself, look at the earth from afar, and up close too. Look at both, we need to make a difference here now.

Webinares for Training

Lately viewing a webinar each week for staying up to date in the telecom & data arena currently not touching. This is a fantastic way to learn about areas we know about but not consider our self experts. Vendors are providing this service for free and learning about the core values and how vendors are attempting to be green manufacturing as well as interface applications. Unfortunately time is the only limit because there are many choices every week.

Sage Planning

Relocating, building or system upgrades need to be project managed long before choices begin. So often RFP, Request for Proposal, RFI, Request for Information, RFA, Request for Acquistion etc., vendors are choosen in the good ole boy buddy system so the request can eliminate vendors by selection. Annoying as this can be it happens, frequently. For protecting the true interest of your organization, objectivity should be the focus as well as equipment matched with application(s) inside the environment. Marketing, call centers, customer service and all departments have special needs. Vendors rarely understand the culture because they do not work in your organizations environment. Even with experience in a profession or field does not address organizational culture. Just as families are diverse so is the culture inside a company. All real estate, all insurance, all utility providers are unique. Taking culture and application into consideration should not be a guessing game. Use the tools for buying any purchase is smart decision making. Ask divisions, ask employees, ask department heads, ask the employees. Real answers come from a varities of experience.