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Archive for: August, 2009
What will you be doing a year from now?
Posted by: Barry Mcguire in General Business, Network Services, Technology on August 28, 2009
The year was 1997, and I was standing in a data room at a client's site in New York City only one year into the launch of my own network integration and support company. I was working along with a young man from a company that provided financial data for the private brokerage market. I don't recall his name, but I do recall him being impressed with his own technical aptitude and very enthusiastic to share it with anyone willing to listen, or at least anyone trapped in a data room with him. I also seem to recall his being short on hygiene, even shorter on fashion sense, and shorter still on social skills.
Once he had established rapport via a seven-minute monologue that bordered on insanity, he decided to allow me to respond to a question. "So, what will you be doing a year from now?". I looked at him as if I didn't understand the question, which was the perfect reaction considering I didn't understand the question, or more accurately the context in which he was asking. Being a graduate of the Dale Carnegie "Human Relations and Public Speaking" course, I was trained to respond deftly in such situations. Without hesitation, I fired back with "Excuse me?". "In a year from now" said he "when everyone moves to the ASP model and your clients won't be buying workstations, or servers, or software, or support services anymore?".
I have to admit, for a brief moment I wanted to kick myself for not reading some of the trade rags that had come across my desk, because I did not know what the "ASP model" even was. And here this guy is telling me that my company, only a year old, seeded with my children's college fund, was doomed to be replaced by this "ASP Model" thing. Not wanting to let him see my discomfort, I think I uttered something along the lines of "we'll cross that bridge when we get there" and went about my work, determined to find out about this looming threat.
Well, it turns out that my malodorous new friend was talking about "Application Service Providers", companies whose model was to provide computer and software platforms to businesses on a "rental" basis to save them the capital expenditure associated with buying a network. His prediction was that the ASP Model was going to render my services obsolete, and it was going to take place in 12 months. It has been 12 years since my encounter with Sir Stinks-A-Lot, and 24 years since I started in this industry, and I am still here helping businesses navigate through the noise, the hype and the next big things which promise to deliver us all to computing nirvana.
So now it is 2009, and my livelihood is being threatened by "The Cloud", which is the Next Big Thing in network computing. I wasn't sure if I should be worried about this new threat, mostly because of the name. "Clouds" are puffy and pretty, sometimes shaped like airplanes or animals, sometimes vibrantly colored as they reflect the sun's light, but they don't seem all that threatening. Maybe "The Cloud" was using this seemingly innocuous form to infiltrate the computer industry like a giant vapor Trojan horse, waiting until we all fall asleep before it springs out and attacks us. But sanity prevailed and I realized that "The Cloud" is just the next big thing.
Should you be thinking about "The Cloud" for your business? Perhaps you should. There are businesses that will benefit greatly from this style of computing, while others will go chasing after some elusive network never-never land instead of sticking to more appropriate solutions. So how are you to know what's right for your business? The first step in answering that question is deciding which of the two following business principles you will follow. The first principle is this: industry will always march out an endless stream of "new, improved, next big thing" hype so long as there exists people to whom to sell. The second principle is that businesses will always need caring, committed professionals to help find their way through the first principle. I urge you to opt for the second principle, and not just because I need to replace the college fund money that I pilfered those years ago. And if you really like the idea of your salvation coming on a cloud, you may be right. You just might be looking in the wrong place (Matthew 24:30)
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Former MSI Education students: Tell a Friend and you could receive free training!
Posted by: Jason Matyas in Education on August 26, 2009
Share your MSI experience with your friends and invite them to join us for training. Be sure to mention that there are training grants available for those that qualify. If you encourage a friend to take training with us and they enroll in a course, you can receive a voucher for a free training session of your choice.
Tell them to visit the MSI Education website and call Carol at 973-448-0070 to get more info and to set up a time to visit our training facility.
Be sure to email us with the name and email of the person you've told so that we can follow up with them and let them know about our upcoming class schedule.
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Sussex County Magazine
Posted by: Frank Ableson in Economy, General Business, Business Networking, Sussex County, Community on August 25, 2009
This year's Sussex County Magazine was recently published and is available on the Sussex County Chamber of Commerce website. Thanks to Tammie and her staff for the opportunity to share some thoughts on leadership in this edition.
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Hands On with Android
Posted by: Frank Ableson in Software Development, Technology, Android on August 25, 2009
Working on mobile software is one of those areas where you can turn "Would it be possible?" into some satisfying fun. Learning how is what this article is about.
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MSI Education Services is now on Facebook and Twitter
Posted by: Jason Matyas in Education, Social Media, Social Networking on August 24, 2009
MSI Education Services is pleased to annouce several new additions to our collection of resources for our students.
In addition to our recent launch of an online Job Search tool and Career Resources page to assist students with their job searches, we have just added a Facebook Page and Twitter account to give you additional opportunities to learn about training and career resources that can aid you in preparing for the next step in your career. Click on the icons below to view our new social networking pages and become a Fan on Facebook and/or a Follower on Twitter.
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Using Linkedin for your Job Search - Harness the power of the social web to find the perfect job
Posted by: Jason Matyas in Education, Career Resources, Social Media, Social Networking on August 19, 2009
Your job search requires two things to be successful:
1. You need to find the right job with the right company
2. You need to present yourself as the ideal candidate
How?
How do you find the Right job with the Right company?
- You research and compare the options, and choose where to apply
How does a company decide who to hire?
- They research and compare the options, and choose who to hire
- You and they would rather rely on input from someone that knows both of you, and most hiring managers appreciate someone smart enough to connect the dots to find that person
Enter Linkedin
LinkedIn is the premier social network for professionals, consisting of:
- Profile - this is your online live resume, your professional YOU
- Connections - this is your professional network: your colleagues, your former coworkers, and professional friends
- Recommendations - these are associated with positions in your profile, and go beyond the resume by providing additional info on your history, performance, and abilities
- LinkedIn Groups - these are context-specific groups of members that enable making connections, finding expertise, and finding jobs
- LinkedIn Jobs Insider - this utilizes the SimplyHired job search engine and enables you to search for people in your network that work at companies that are hiring for positions you are interested in
- Companies - research companies that are hiring and get inside info on the people working there to help you prep for interviews
- LinkedIn Applications - Post slideshows, connect your blog, & more
For more info on how to get Linkedin working for you, see 10 Steps to using LinkedIn for your job search.
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10 Steps to using LinkedIn for your job search
Posted by: Jason Matyas in Education, Career Resources, General Business, Business Networking, Social Media, Social Networking on August 18, 2009
1. Build your profile: Include as much detail as possible. Sell yourself using the Summary block. Use important key words. Get your Profile Completeness rating to 100%. Customize a vanity URL with your name, like www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmatyas.
2. Build your network: Import your email address book into LinkedIn and invite everyone you know to connect to you, even if they're not currently using LinkedIn. Search for people you know from previous jobs or schools. Personalize invitations, especially to people that you found on LinkedIn - talk about them and why you think connecting would be mutually beneficial.
3. Get recommendations: Ask former coworkers and colleagues to recommend your past work and your unique talents and abilities. Do the same for them. Be specific in your request with some suggested items for them to mention that are important to your story.
4. Join Groups: Find LinkedIn Groups that are in your area of expertise and join them. Connect with people in those groups. Start and join discussions in them - this increases your visibility to others that you are not currently connected to.
5. Put your vanity URL on your resume: This gives hiring managers awareness of your level of sophistication and allows them to view your profile and let you sell yourself through your profile.
6. Find out where people with your background are working: Use the advanced search feature to search by keyword, location, industry, and more.
7. Search for Jobs: Use the JobsInsider to search for jobs and find people that are connected to the company or decision makers.
8. Research companies: Find out more about the company, especially who works there, if you know anyone that works there now or did in the past, and help prepare yourself for any interviews.
9. Use your LinkedIn status: Make it known to your network that you are actively looking for a job and post updates on your progress as reminders. Others can keep you in mind and might give you the lead to the perfect job.
10. Participate in LinkedIn Answers: Contribute to discussions in your area of expertise. These posts will show up in various places on LinkedIn to others and may provide the critical instance of visibility that you need to get a lead on your job.
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Mobile applications and WalMart?
Posted by: Frank Ableson in General Business on August 10, 2009
I have just read a post from flurry.com that indicates that the iTunes App Store for iPHone and iPod Touch is on pace to have more titles than WalMart. While iPhone has a significant lead in applications, new application "starts" for Android is actually growing at a faster rate. Hold on, it's going to be a wild ride in the land of mobile!
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Is it the economy - or something bigger?
Posted by: Frank Ableson in Economy, General Business on August 05, 2009
I am often asked, "how is the economy impacting your business". I have a couple of different responses for that. The first is that we, like many other companies, have seen some soft spots in our business development efforts, though the bigger question that I sometimes ponder is what is the long-term impact of all the rush to spending and hacking away at our economy that is taking place in Washington DC right now? I have to laugh when I think how the folks "in the know" can make drastic moves based on questionable data about what temperature we're going to be at in 100 years yet we don't look back so we don't repeat mistakes that have been made by generations that have gone before us. Have a look at this cartoon from the Chicago Tribune - printed in the 1930's.
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Fieldhouse Fun
Posted by: Frank Ableson in General Business, Sussex County, Community on August 05, 2009
We are working with Jenny and Troy at the Fieldhouse at Sparta on some exciting new features. Stay tuned -- if you're into soccer, flag football, or just need a place for your softball team to practice next winter, give them a call.
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