See What is Possible
April 21, 2008
Friday morning I had the opportunity to talk to Raveen Rajavarma, our new Collaboration Community Leader. Raveen was sharing with me the latest info on SharePoint 2007. I’m really excited by the untapped potential inside of SharePoint. Raveen has committed to get some demo sites out under our own internal SharePoint site so that everyone can see what’s possible. Additionally, he’ll be working with our team members to determine how many resources we need on staff to support our clients and how best to position all Collaboration tools.
I look forward to seeing great posts, great information, and a great community under Raveen’s leadership.
Sphere: Related ContentWelcome Christy
March 31, 2008
On Feedback
March 31, 2008
Recently I was confronted with a difficult decision regarding the comments section of this blog. A very negative comment was placed for approval to be placed on the site. It was written by “anonymous” and went on to express some very negative opinions of LUCRUM. At first, I approved the comment, and quickly posted my response - trying to be as diplomatic and objective as possible. Then I changed my mind, and took both down. Why? “Isn’t blogging supposed to be about freedom of expression, taking the good with the bad, and engaging in meaningful dialog.” Yes. It is about that. I believe that this site is absolutely about that. Negativity and criticism can actually serve to make us stronger by opening our eyes to areas where improvement is required. It is through these criticisms that we are able to learn and grow. Without a voice of dissent, there is a danger of, as the author put it, sitting around singing Kum Ba Ya. Criticism is welcome.
The reason for taking the post down had nothing to do with a criticism of LUCRUM, but rather the author’s use of specific client information and private information about former employees. I am not alright with that type of content on the site. Unless, that is, you can convince me otherwise. I welcome comments. I prefer when people own them by attaching their name, but anonymous is allowed. Constructive criticism is welcome. However, I ask that if you comment, please do so respectfully. Thoughts?
Sphere: Related ContentLUCRUM in The News…
March 21, 2008
If you happened to pick up the March 21st edition of the Cincinnati Business Courier, you might have read an article about LUCRUM. The article outlines some of the highs and lows that we experienced in 2007, and goes on to talk about some of our future plans for growth. The great thing about having a company blog is that I can immediately share my feedback on the article as part of our ongoing conversation - one that you are welcome to join by placing comments below.
There is only so much information that can be published in a 1/4 page article, so I will elaborate more on it here. LUCRUM is very excited about our partnership with Diane Egbers of Leadership Excelleration Inc (mentioned in the article). Diane has been working with the senior managemnt team to develop a 5 year strategy to address some of the shortcomings mentioned in the article. With her assistance, LUCRUM has made changes to both personnel and policies in an effort to become more nimble and better able to serve the emerging needs of our clients. This effort began in late 2007, and we are already seeing positive results. The Business Development Group has added 4 senior members in the last 4 months, and will be joined by another new member next week. We are not stopping there. Look for LUCRUM to add Business Development personnel in the coming weeks. Along with the new Business Development team members, comes new opportunites and clients. LUCRUM has engaged 10 new clients in the past several months, and is working on exciting data warehousing and business intelligence projects. In addition, we continue to leverage our partnership with Salesforce.com, as we are Cincinnati’s only certified Salesforce provider. The new marketing team led by David E. Bowman, is making great strides in changing our approach to Marketing. We are shifting from the traditional approach of marketing as a monologue to engaging the world in a dialog. My invitation above, seeking comments on this post, is a direct result of that shift in mindset. David is bringing in great young talent like Greg Levine, a recent Xavier graduate, to help further his efforts.
Not only are we investing heavily in restructuring our Business Development Team and Marketing Department, but our Delivery Organization, led by Jodie Heflin, is focusing on providing world class technical solutions for our clients. LUCRUM does not take client satisfaction lightly. In fact, we view it as the key to our future growth and success. Jodie and her team have worked hard to address the systemic problems that led to the issues listed in the Business Courier article. Since her tenure as leader of the Delivery Organization began in September 2007, LUCRUM has been delivering a level of service that is unmatched in the industry.
Ultimately, LUCRUM is a company that is about people. With Andy Erickson as the leader of our talent acquisition effort, LUCRUM is hiring the best and the brightest to join us in our goal of creating world class technical solutions. Be sure to check the People section in future editions of the Business Courier, as I plan on having new hires to LUCRUM making regular appearances there.
In summary, while not all of the information about LUCRUM in the article was positive, the negative information it contains is a part of our past. These problems have been dealt with. We have moved forward. And ultimately we are now a stronger company as a result. We have amazing people, a renewed sense of purpose, and a strategy for success. LUCRUM is focused on the future, and in the spirit of the 2008 theme for the Business Development kickoff meeting in Florida, “the future’s so bright we’ve gotta wear shades.”
Thanks to Laura Baverman for thinking enough of our company to write about us. I have attached a link to the article here. I hope you give it a look. Even more, I hope you will leave your thoughts on the article in the comments below.
Sphere: Related ContentExcellence Without Exception - 2008 Heath Care Conference Recap
March 13, 2008
Last week I attended the Greater Cincinnati Health Council 12th Annual Health Conference & Expo, where LUCRUM was an exhibitor. The theme of the conference “SOLUTIONS 2008 EXCELLENCE WITHOUT EXCEPTION,” and the event was very well attended. This was LUCRUM’s 2nd year as an exhibitor, and my first year working the booth.
Attendance at our booth was GREAT the whole day! I spent the day meeting and speaking with a variety of healthcare personnel discussing Healthcare and IT. There was a lot of talk about the unique challenges that Health Care organizations face in implementing and capitalizing on Information Technology to reduce costs and improve the patient experience. This was a huge opportunity for LUCRUM to get recognized and educate attendees on our capabilities. We handed out dozens of invitations to our upcoming webinar - 5 Simple Steps to IT Health. I am looking forward to hearing my colleague, Marlene Schrand, give this presentation next week, as I know that she will deliver 30 minutes of insightful information.
As for the seminar, The LUCRUM Logo Triangle Highlighters and Globe Stress Balls were a hot item! Talk about getting your name out there where it hasn’t been before! LUCRUM Globe Stress Balls will be flying around Hospital ER’s, Conference Rooms and Nurses Stations for quite a while! Hopefully they don’t result in any new admissions or ER visits.
These regional industry conferences are a great way to make contact with a large number of prospective clients and re-enforce our commitment to current clients. I look forward to representing LUCRUM in future conferences. It is encouraging and exciting when I see our Sales, Delivery, and Marketing departments work so well together at these events.
To register for the March 20 webinar, simply visit the Contact LUCRUM page here on the site. I hope you will join us.
Sphere: Related Content5 Simple Steps to I.T. Health
March 7, 2008
A FREE webinar from the Health Services division of LUCRUM, inc.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
In this 30 minute program you will learn how to utilize Information Technology to deliver greater value, improve process efficiency, and produce meaningful, measurable results for your organization.
This highly informative seminar will focus on:
· Stakeholder Alignment
· Organizational Involvement
· Current & Desired Process Definition
· Projected Benefits
· Information Management Planning
Register today at www.theFutureValueOfBusiness
Welcome Aboard Julie
March 5, 2008
LÛCRUM would like to announce the newest addition to the business development team, Julie Grant
Julie Grant graduated from University of Kentucky with a degree in Business Communications/Public Relations. Julie grew up in Edgewood, Kentucky and then moved to Richwood, Kentucky. Currently, she now resides this side of the river in Mariemont, Ohio. Julie brings 15 years in IT sales to the table. Mostly storage management software and tape/disk libraries. She also has experience in consulting sales. Julie has three children – 2 daughters (ages 14 & 12) and one 5 year old son. She loves to cook, try new things and go to new places.
Welcome to LÛCRUM, Julie!
Sphere: Related ContentSo You Think You Have What It Takes
February 28, 2008
I work with this amazing marketing guy, Dave Bowman. I call him Mr. Dayton because he knows, well, everybody in Dayton. He changed my life in about 1/2 an hour teaching me the farther reaching concepts of social media and how to market myself. Anyway, Dave is looking for 2 undergraduate students to fill Marketing Coordinator positions at our offices in Downtown Cincinnati. If this can grow into an internship or a co-op position for you, let’s talk and determine how we might be able to do this.
Let me tell you a bit about the position. Our Marketing Coordinator will fill a critical role in the execution of integrated marketing campaigns. Okay, what the heck does that mean? The Marketing Coordinator adds to the success of the LUCRUM’s Sales and Marketing team. You’ll support our sales and marketing efforts. How? You’ll assist with items direct mail, marketing fulfillment, database management, web management, blogging, social network development, market research, proposal development, event coordination, sales support, and more. Imagine that. You get paid to blog. In fact, it will be part of your job description.
If you have great communication skills and are looking for a cutting edge marketing opportunity, please apply. Really. We’re looking for folks with “can do” attitudes and a hunger for learning by doing. If you are the right person, LUCRUM will work around your schedule needs to make this fit for you. And I can promise you that you’ll walk away from LUCRUM with an amazing ability and some astonishing new skills to market yourself when you’re done.
You’ll be communicating with a broad range of individuals from co-workers to CIOs, so you’ll need to write well and have a solid phone and speaking presence. You’ll manage small projects from start to finish, so you’ll need to have command of your personal time management habits along with a demonstratably strong work ethic. Don’t get me wrong. This is no cushy job. We’re going to squeeze 8 hours of work out of you during your 4 hours here. You’ll also leave with bleeding-edge personal marketing skills and business relationships that could help you land your dream job out of college.
LUCRUM is not constrained to Business or Marketing majors. If you think you have what it takes - and you’ll want to really think about that first - please take the time to introduce yourself to us. We are looking for 2 great people that we can employ, and in return offer some cutting edge skills to help further your career. If you want to give this a shot, complete the contact form behind the Contact LUCRUM link at the top of this page and let us know how to get in touch with you.
As stated earlier, the position offers tremendous schedule flexibility. Each of the 2 candidates will be expected to work 2 to 3 days per week for approximately 4 hours per day. Ideally we will find one candidate to work on Monday & Wednesday, and another for Tuesday & Thursday - with Friday being used as needed.
LUCRUM will pay $10/hour and reimburse downtown parking costs.
You can find additional information about LUCRUM at our website, www.lucruminc.com, and more information about the people of LUCRUM right here on these pages.
Sphere: Related ContentFebruary PMI - It’s A Cow!
February 24, 2008
Mmmmm mmmmmm good. I love the PMI meetings. At last week’s meeting they put out a dinner spread that puts most to shame and make their event an EVENT! I shared a table with a number of folks including PMs Tom Hoffmann, Cory Beimesche, and Juthika Pal from Cardinal; Kim Beckman from the Cincinnati Insurance Company, and P&G’s Brian Van Norman. We shared some engaging conversation about the fact that mainframes will never die, SOA and its promises (which reminded me of Chris Howard’s comments about the immaturity of the SOA in the enterprise lifecycle), and the growth of Cardinal.
Scott Cameron, P&G’s Global Process Owner over Project Management, presented on the Fear of Failure. Presented might be a loose description as he engaged us in some group events and had us standing and presenting back to the group. Scott had us identify two personal fears, talk about them, and then demonstrate a couple of ways to relax the emotions involved with the fear. He started by asking us to ask ourselves two questions: when speaking 1) what makes us apprehensive, and 2) what are we confident about. For me, the answers were 1) can I convey the subject matter in a way the audience will enjoy, and 2) that I could connect with the audience. As all the groups presented it became clear, and then Scott validated, that none of us are unique and that we all have these fears when presenting to audiences.
So the next question became, “What am I going to do about it?” Scott helped us answer this question by helping us identify with the physical fearful responses most of us experience. One of the attendees compared his feelings of fear to the butterflies he experienced as he lined up for the start of a race. The idea here is to try to identify and associate the fearful feelings of presenting with feelings we’ve experienced in other areas of life, and then to realize that we’ve conquered them before.
Scott gave us some tools to begin to overcome our fears. First, he helped us realize, or more likely validate what we probably knew but couldn’t admit, that audiences like to listen to speakers that act like they want to be up in front of the room speaking. And then to practice with that vision. Scott asked us to list out our fears, prioritize them in terms of their importance, and then start working on the top 2. Going further, an audience needs to understand they are part of the conversation and not allowed to listen passively. A speaker needs to set expectations of the audience and get them on board. For instance, if the subject matter will generate questions, you can let the audience know that they will be expected to chime in with responses. And finally, it’s important for any speaker to realize that the audience usually wants the speaker to connect successfully with their audience.
Scott showed us that we can make tactical choices that will make our presentations more successful. Then he launched into a story:
[Paraphrased from a badly mangled memory] “I critiqued a colleague’s presentation. His slides were full of so many details. ‘It has an udder. It eats grass. It grazes in a field. It produces milk.’ And on and on. After only so many details and slides I said to him, ‘It’s a cow! If it’s a cow, why don’t you just say it’s a cow?’”
Obviously, the first point is to limit a slide deck to just the message being conveyed. If you’re not sure, then ask someone else to review your deck and make recommendations. Get rid of all the slides that contain the gory details. Some other tactical choices a speaker can make to help their success are to be well prepared on the subject matter, pray (as if you don’t before a big speech), practice, start on time, and don’t put up columns of numbers, as the audience will spend more time adding ‘em up than listening to you.
The workshop format helped us all internalize the lessons. Overall, Scott taught us a lot that evening.
- Andy
Sphere: Related ContentTata - Taking Another Look
February 23, 2008
We’ve all known for some time that Tata will be moving into the old James River facility in Clermont County. The non-verified understanding is that Tata will hire 1,000 new workers, a mixture of software engineers and developers as well as sales and administrative staff. Tata has been talking with the local colleges to create curriculum and programs to churn out new IT workers. And that was my perspective at first - churn. Like a Pepsi bottling plant churns out cola-filled aluminum cans.
For me, personally, I saw this as a good thing, as all the run of the mill, average software developers could find themselves good, steady jobs that could keep them gainfully employed and out of the way of the creative and driven developers that really want to make a difference. Those 1,000 software professionals could go on supporting Citi and Neilsen and the cream of the crop would flock to the smaller consulting firms and the more creative applications that come their way.
I read something this week that doesn’t necessarily change my mind about how I see Tata finding their employee base and where they fit into the community, but did cause me to see some very positive aspects of having Tata in our community. BusinessWeek explains that Tata “in all its deals…has been careful to signal its respect for workers,” and “buys companies overseas not to reduce costs but to improve [its own] capabilities.”
When Korean Daewoo’s truck division was on the auction block, Tata explained “it would preserve jobs, build Daewoo into a major exporter, and blend the outfit seamlessly with the parent company.” Tata Daweoo chief Chae Kwang Ok said that “Tata had done its homework in everything needed to do business here.”
Apparently charitable trusts hold 66% of Tata Sons’ shares, and these trusts are not “as focused on short-term gains as most investors” and “have long insulated employees ‘from the greed that is sweeping the corporate world.’” If this philosophy permeates the Cincinnati organization, the Cincinnati IT community may find a very good neighbor helping drive growth in the region.
- Andy
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