Monday, March 28, 2011
Social Media & Insurance...go figure
http://www.insurancenetworking.com/news/insurance_financial_services_social_media_advisers_brokers-27487-1.html
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Embrace the Horror--Business Location
Early in 2007 we embraced Microsoft Unified Communications. This is a complete communications solution for phone, email, IM, etc., and a way for everyone in our company to stay visible and connected. At the time, the big advantage for me was unloading the incredibly proprietary, costly, legacy PBX and having it become just software on a standard Microsoft Server that can be easily upgraded. It turned out to be a great decision. Our staff got comfortable with the technology and quickly leveraged the soft phone features, integration with Microsoft Exchange Contacts & Calendars, asynchronous IM communcations, etc. If you are interested in more information, visit our website VISTECH.com. We have overview information and a webcast. You can also call us to setup a demo.
I could spend several blogs highlighting the features and benefits of Unified Communications, but the point here is to identify the ah ha moment. In this case, the revelation was that geographic independence is now a reality. When we started using Unified Communications we had staff in two states. As a direct result of our infrastructure (Unified Communications and standards for remote connectivity), we now have staff in several more states, and one person temporarily working from another country. We've been able to retain people who wanted to move to more metropolitan areas and warmer climates. We've also been able to recruit qualified individuals from other locations and integrate them into our projects. Certainly good project management is critical, but with the right technology I can dial an extension and talk to someone who might be in the next office or the next state, instant message a question and get a fast reply from someone who's on-the-road, listen to office voicemails on my mobile phone (that were downloaded as attachments to email messages), use my mobile phone as my office extension, meet with project teams via LiveMeeting where I can review materials, whiteboard, and see them as if they were physically in the same conference room.
Large companies are moving aggressively along the path to geographic independence as they can realize huge cost savings in office space, travel costs, and overhead. We are encouraging smaller companies, non-profits, and professional offices to realize the ROI as Unified Communications options become available as Cloud solutions. At some point, there is no doubt this will be the normal course of business.
I must say the real driver for this post is to note the impact of the technology in the framework of current state fiscal crises. Here in Connecticut, a local chamber of commerce, the Hartford MetroAlliance, is reporting a $72.7B deficit for Connecticut in the next 2 fiscal years. Other states are in worse shape. The newly elected Connecticut governor has detailed significant tax increases and suggested significant budget cuts. Some of his counterparts seem to be taking a much more definitive approach to budget cuts. It's difficult to weigh effectiveness of tax cuts versus tax incentives, but today with the technology available to us, there's much less cost and other business resistance attached to moving existing workers to or hiring new workers in more business friendly environments. Geography will have much less impact on business decisions than it once did. If this fact isn't acknowledged by a state's leaders, jobs and businesses follow the path of least resistance and accelerate toward areas that offer more opportunities and better business climates. It may take years to see the effect, but given the stark contrast in how states are approaching the problem, it will be interesting to see how the different strategies pan out.
Let me know how we can help you realize the value in Unified Communications.
Rick Huebner is President & CEO of VISTECH.com, a technology company based in Hartford, CT. VISTECH.com assists clients with their IT strategy and delivers a wide range of products and services including Cloud Managed Services; Unified Communications/VOIP solutions; and outsourced software/web application design, development, maintenance, support.
I could spend several blogs highlighting the features and benefits of Unified Communications, but the point here is to identify the ah ha moment. In this case, the revelation was that geographic independence is now a reality. When we started using Unified Communications we had staff in two states. As a direct result of our infrastructure (Unified Communications and standards for remote connectivity), we now have staff in several more states, and one person temporarily working from another country. We've been able to retain people who wanted to move to more metropolitan areas and warmer climates. We've also been able to recruit qualified individuals from other locations and integrate them into our projects. Certainly good project management is critical, but with the right technology I can dial an extension and talk to someone who might be in the next office or the next state, instant message a question and get a fast reply from someone who's on-the-road, listen to office voicemails on my mobile phone (that were downloaded as attachments to email messages), use my mobile phone as my office extension, meet with project teams via LiveMeeting where I can review materials, whiteboard, and see them as if they were physically in the same conference room.
Large companies are moving aggressively along the path to geographic independence as they can realize huge cost savings in office space, travel costs, and overhead. We are encouraging smaller companies, non-profits, and professional offices to realize the ROI as Unified Communications options become available as Cloud solutions. At some point, there is no doubt this will be the normal course of business.
I must say the real driver for this post is to note the impact of the technology in the framework of current state fiscal crises. Here in Connecticut, a local chamber of commerce, the Hartford MetroAlliance, is reporting a $72.7B deficit for Connecticut in the next 2 fiscal years. Other states are in worse shape. The newly elected Connecticut governor has detailed significant tax increases and suggested significant budget cuts. Some of his counterparts seem to be taking a much more definitive approach to budget cuts. It's difficult to weigh effectiveness of tax cuts versus tax incentives, but today with the technology available to us, there's much less cost and other business resistance attached to moving existing workers to or hiring new workers in more business friendly environments. Geography will have much less impact on business decisions than it once did. If this fact isn't acknowledged by a state's leaders, jobs and businesses follow the path of least resistance and accelerate toward areas that offer more opportunities and better business climates. It may take years to see the effect, but given the stark contrast in how states are approaching the problem, it will be interesting to see how the different strategies pan out.
Let me know how we can help you realize the value in Unified Communications.
Rick Huebner is President & CEO of VISTECH.com, a technology company based in Hartford, CT. VISTECH.com assists clients with their IT strategy and delivers a wide range of products and services including Cloud Managed Services; Unified Communications/VOIP solutions; and outsourced software/web application design, development, maintenance, support.
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