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.