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Michael Cocanower
President, itSynergy |
Welcome
Those of you who know me or who are
regular readers of this newsletter know that
I am very passionate about leveraging the
technology in a business as a strategic
asset that creates a competitive advantage
(that is even part of our company mission
statement).
Imagine my elation last week, then, when
I read the findings of a new research study
that provided further validation of the
benefits of viewing technology
strategically.
According to a recent study done by
Diamond Management & Technology Consultants
Inc., of Chicago which was featured in the
December 4, 2007 issue of The Wall Street
Journal, 87% of business leaders say they
believe that IT is critical to their
companies' strategic success.
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The really interesting part of the study's
findings in my opinion, however, was that only 33%
of the companies said that IT was involved in the
development of the company's strategy, and only 30%
of the companies said that the executive in charge
of setting strategy works closely with the
organization's IT department. Furthermore, 76% of
companies say they have abandoned a technology
project, and 29% say they have abandoned more than
10% of technology projects. So what you say? What
are we talking about in REAL dollars and cents?
Travelers Cos. involves its CIO in all strategy
meetings, and their IT department recently completed
the implementation of a new software system. In
those states where agents are using the new system,
sales are up 75%. Sounds like a competitive
advantage to me. The benefits can also be in more
efficient internal operations as well. Hartford
Financial Services Group went from taking three to
five years to introduce a new insurance product down
to nine months just by involving IT in the strategic
decision making process. I realize that these
examples are from larger companies, but the benefits
from the study apply at all levels. Many of our
customers don't have a CIO, or even an internal help
desk resource. Regardless, the bottom line is that
involving your CIO (whether they are an employee or
an itSynergy consultant) in the company's strategy
can pay handsome rewards. On a separate note, I
also wanted to thank everyone who sent us a guess in
our Thanksgiving contest to guess what famous term
the picture represented. The answer was
Pi (we would
have also accepted 3.14, 22/7, etc.). Congratulations to Mike Bowen who sent in the ONLY
correct guess. He is the proud owner of a pumpkin
pecan pie delivered fresh to his desk. Happy
Holidays! |
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The
E-Mail You Save Can Be Held Against You
By
Kim Komando
Reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center
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When it comes to e-mail, I'm a packrat. No, it is not true that I
still have the first e-mail I ever received. But I probably have my
first e-mail from the year 2000. In fact, I probably have all my e-mails from the year 2000. So of
course, I have everything since then, too.
Why do I have all this stuff? I'm not sure, frankly. Maybe I was
concerned that I would be sued over some imaginary transgression and
would need an e-trail to prove my innocence. Or maybe I was vaguely
concerned about some legal requirement to save this stuff.
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I'm not the only one doing this. Some of you have thousands of
e-mails, too. And you probably don't know why you're saving them,
either. Maybe you're worried about going to jail over some stupid
e-mail you can't find.
Read
more |
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10 Tips for Finding
Information on the Internet
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Sometimes
looking for quick information on the Web can be like searching for a
needle in a haystack. With so many billions of Web pages in
cyberspace, finding specific information can be a daunting task.
"Often when I use search engines I get so many irrelevant results
that I just give up," admits a frustrated Lorraine Adams, mother of
two and a disability consultant. |
Perhaps Adams isn't
aware that there are ways to get more out of your favorite search
engine, whether that's
Live Search,
Google, or
Yahoo!. A few searching tips, tricks, tweaks, and techniques can
help you find what you are looking for in cyberspace quickly and
easily . Follow these 10 suggestions with your favorite search
engine.
1. Use the advanced
search field
Almost all search engines have an "advanced search" area that
provides Web surfers with more specific options. Here, you can
search by an update date, look for Web sites with a specific domain
like ".net," or find Web sites in a preferred language.
Read
more
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System Engineering Corner Notes
from the Network Engineering Department:
Note to readers:
As our network engineers
work with all of you across our entire customer
base, they observe trends and issues that many
people have in common, or that many customers will
find helpful to know about.
This section is designed
to give them a mechanism to communicate those issues
to you, with the hope that YOU might benefit from.
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Feeling out of touch? Outlook inbox not as active today as you're normally used to?
Maybe the problem isn't that your friends and colleagues have quit talking to you - maybe the problem
is that your Outlook has slipped into 'Offline' mode. Outlook 2003 and greater includes a great new feature
called 'cached mode'. This is a mode that saves a local copy of all of your Outlook data on the hard drive
so that you can continue working even if the connection to the server is interrupted.
While this is a great feature that significantly cuts down on loss of productivity, it can also be
problematic when Outlook gets 'stuck' in offline mode. Everything looks normal, but you only get new
messages when you hit Send/Receive.
The good news is that it is an easy fix. Start by figuring out if you're even using cached mode.
Look at the bottom right of the status bar in Outlook. If you see "Online" then you're not using cached mode.
If you see "Connected", "Connected to Microsoft Exchange", or "Offline" then you are in cached mode.
The only one that is cause for concern is if you are "Offline". If that is the case, just right click
on it, and choose "Work Offline" to remove the checkmark. Voila! Here comes the backlog of messages
received while you were offline.
So next time you're feeling lonely and left out, check to make sure Outlook hasn't just slipped
into Offline mode, and if it has, make sure to reconnect with the world!
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December 2007
In this issue
□
Welcome
□ Email Held Against You
□ Information on Internet
□ Tech Corner
□ Referral Program
□ Groove 2007 Benefits
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itSynergy Referral Program
 Can we
buy you dinner and send you to the movies? How about
make a donation to your favorite charity in your name?
Earn rewards for referring new customers to itSynergy.
For more details, please
visit here.
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Groove 2007
Top 10 benefits
 Microsoft
Office Groove 2007 is a collaboration software program for working
on a broad range of project activities, from simple document
collaboration to custom solutions integrated with business
processes. Here are the top 10 ways Office Groove 2007 can help you
and your team work together dynamically and effectively regardless
of location or network connection.
1. Bring the team, tools, and
information together in one place.
2. Customize each workspace for the
team's unique needs.
3. Collaborate with colleagues,
partners, and customers - with one product.
4. Stay productive anywhere, online or
offline.
5. Stay in sync, automatically and
efficiently.
6. See who's working on what, when.
7. Synchronize SharePoint document
libraries with Office Groove 2007.
8. Create a form with Microsoft Office
InfoPath 2007; share it with Office Groove 2007.
9. Make the most of impromptu
encounters with Microsoft Office Communicator integration.
10. Work with international teams in
their own languages.
Click Here for Details
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Quote of the
month
I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the
harder I work the more I have of it.
Thomas Jefferson
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7310 North 16th Street,
Suite 130
Phoenix, AZ 85020-8203
Telephone: 602.297.2400
Fax: 602.297.8703
Email:
info@itsynergy.com
www.itsynergy.com
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