Win Win Partnership Success

A couple weeks ago we ran a post that talked about photo restoration.  The article talked in great depth on how we could take some older photos and turn them into vintage photos with a scanner and Photoshop.  This post will show the results from the client perspective.

Peggy Coakley from Coakly brothers came into BPI Inc. to ask President Steve Mueller for his help with photo restorations.  The photos in question were from over 120 years ago when the Coakley brothers first started working together.  There was even one picture taken from what was first known as Coakley Brothers Moving.

When Peggy learned of BPI’s ability to print in very high resolution on photo quality media, she decided to use the restored photos that BPI Inc. produced on archival photo satin for display in their recently renovated offices.  The results are below.

Praise for the Cloud

In a previous post, the idea of the Cloud Office was introduced.  In this, the third of our three posts regarding Cloud Computing , we will take a closer look at the vast positive positive parts of your information stored in the Cloud.

Pros:

• In an ‘apples to apples’ comparison, there is typically less up-front costs for licensing (this is a broad statement – the specifics of these costs will vary from business to business)
• There is no server hardware or software to purchase/house/maintain – this is especially important for solo or small group businesses that may not have the ability or may not want an IT person on staff.
• In the event of a disaster scenario, not having your information on on-site servers makes it easy to set up an impromptu hot-site, and allows for faster recovery time as little to no data is lost.
• Many hosting companies make it a point to have highly sophisticated security measures/data protection in place and are very concerned about keeping your data safe – it is highly unlikely that an anonymous hacker will gain access to your data.  They may also have better customer support than may be offered from a local IT support company.
• Along those same lines, with company documents, customer files, and shopping cart data stored in password-protected, secure sites online, it’s not a total catastrophe if a laptop is lost or there’s a break-in at your office.  In fact, with all the actual files are stored in the cloud, if someone were to break into a device, they would  just find a bunch of apps waiting to link to the cloud, and no actual documents.
• While team collaboration is still possible with applications like Skype, SkyDrive, DropBox, and GoToMeeting, as well as the solid standbys of old – email, texts,and calls, many office-based interruptions (both work related and not) go away when you have to think about ‘is this worth bothering them about’ and then send a message, or can it wait until the next scheduled meeting, virtual or actual.
• With all of the files needed for customer interactions, meetings, and presentations at your fingertips in the ‘Cloud’, you no longer have to worry about leaving the USB drive (with the documents, presentation, or presentation files) back at the office, hotel, in the car, or anywhere but where it needs to be.
• While the idea of your data on someone else’s servers may not be a comforting thought, the fact that a person can work from different locations on many different devices (desktop, notebook, tablet, smartphone) means that having out-of-sync files is a thing of the past. The office is anywhere with Internet.
• Having your data and programs running online, rather than on local office computers, means that employees have access to the needed information anytime, anywhere there’s an Internet connection.
• The Fixed-Cost Advantage – Software provided in the ‘Cloud’ is upgraded and maintained by the hosting company, so you do not have to purchase the newest version of software or download fixes and patches.  There is also a possibility that you may not need to buy a program outright, but could potentially enter into a monthly or annual SaaS contract.  The fixed cost allows you to plan and budget resources, rather than be caught off-guard when a costly software or hardware upgrade must be purchased.
• In an actual ‘real-world’ example, the city of Los Angeles moved from a local email system to Gmail two years ago, a move that saved  the city approximately $1 million annually in software, hardware and support costs.  In addition to the cost savings, many workers stated they like the fact that they are able to access email on their own devices, whether they’re smartphones, tablets or traditional PCs.  The city’s IT staff likes that it gained a disaster-recovery system — something it didn’t have previously — as part of the overall package.  The IT staff also enjoys shifting its resources away from supporting and updating the email system, as Gmail requires practically no support.  In this example, the cloud provided an application that was more cost effective and easier to maintain while providing more scalability, storage and redundancy.

Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day!!

Great in Business

Have you considered how great sports teams become great?  It’s the same way a business becomes great. It’s not by chance, but through hard work, long hours, and ensuring all involved know the plays in the play book and perfect the skills in their respective positions.

That means first-string position players not only lift weights and practice every day.  They also relentlessly study to perfect their skills and talents in the positions for which they are 100% responsible to the team.  Furthermore, the players consistently watch films and look for new techniques that help incrementally increase and deliver success for their teammates.

I believe strongly that business today is more like a team sport than ever before!

Think about a successful football team.  The offense is made up of 11 very distinct positions, each with a different purpose, depending upon a particular play’s requirements.  Each offensive player is responsible to not only the other ten players on the field, but also the team’s 11 defensive players.  If the offense moves backwards, those 11 defenders have a much more difficult task.

In business today, just as in sports, there are many moving pieces and parts that must be coordinated in order to deliver excellence.  Like the best sports teams, product/service coordination and customer service must be delivered flawlessly or the competition will win because of holes in your team’s deliverable.

It’s said that football is a “game of inches.” So, too, is business. Making even small mistakes with your customers leaves open holes for the competition to fill. And there’s enough competition out there for the customer to look elsewhere every time.

If you or your teammates are not delivering your very best and developing new talents and skills for the next page in the play book, it’s time to move some people to the second string and pick up a free agent.  Or, give a current second-string aggressive player a chance to fill the hole.  Do it before somebody gets hurt or, in this case, a customer is lost.