On October 24, 2011, Niagara Falls, Ontario hosted a huge running event that included a half marathon. It attracted thousands of runners from across North America. The scenic course was situated next to the pristine Niagara on the Lake. As my mind wandered during the run, I thought of the approaching IR season and the correlations between IR events and running events began to form in my mind.
One of the topics that dominates conversations with IR professionals is the attention to detail that has to go into corporate earnings calls. When training for a half marathon, you are consistently micro-managing your progress to make sure you are fully prepared and know what to expect when the BIG day arrives. Familiarity with heart rate, pace and timing are essential.
Correspondingly, with IR professionals, one likes to have a game plan on how the event will unfold. Conducting a dry run (pun intended) with the webcasting provider or online communication tool will help tremendously. Having confidence in the interface functionality that will be used to push the slides and familiarity with how to best communicate with the operator will help reduce technical glitches during the event.
Firming up details on the conference call is important as well. Conferencing service providers should review a booking form with you so that the operator will know exactly how to guide the call on event day.
Questions to consider discussing with your provider:
1. Will the speakers dial out for the live event?
2. Which dial-in numbers are required: local, toll-free or international? If international, what countries?
3. Is there a forward-looking statement required?
4. What information would you like gathered from the participants who call in? And what information would you like captured through webcast registration?
5. Is Q&A open or restricted?
Another theme that arises in successful events is smooth communication. This encompasses having a professional operator who can communicate efficiently and professionally, adapt and troubleshoot. This communication will take place via a communication line or an online communication tool provided by the conferencing service provider.
During a half marathon, runners are communicating and listening to their body and running device to gauge heart rate, distance and re-fuelling with energy gels (not my favorite).
Similarly, IR professionals multitask, communicate via text with co-presenters and listen to cues to progress the earnings call. The online communication tool plays an important role in this process because it enables the IR professional to improve interactions between featured speakers and participants, thereby providing the ability to make better decisions more quickly throughout the event.
Some tips for success:
1. Monitor participants in chronological order as they join the conference.
2. View participant info such as name, phone number and company.
3. View real time phone status of each participant.
4. Determine the queue order for participants during Q&A session.
5. Online chat with co-presenter(s) or operator(s) to manage time sensitive conference details
Preparation and communication are vital components whether you are running any sort of distance or preparing for your next quarterly earnings call. With these tips in mind and put to use, hopefully your next IR event will run as smoothly as the Niagara Falls event – minus the bananas, energy drinks and gels.
Daniel Niemi is a Business Development Executive based in Toronto. Daniel's interests include collaboration solutions, social media, running and baking. Find Daniel on Twitter:@danielniemi.
How many apps are there for your iPhone or iPad? Macstories.net reports 306,554 iPhone apps and 60,000 iPad apps. Lots more are on the way. Unified communications providers have launch fever for iPhone, iPad and Android apps, including video. Some companies are earning kudos for their apps. Here are a couple articles about apps that would have made Steve Jobs proud.
A law firm in Adelaide, Australia, uses iPhones for court reporting, video conferencing communications and client management. This app won an award for best innovation in the legal industry.
Computerworld reports that Medtronic, the medical technology company based in Minnesota, deployed 5,000 iPads, about two-thirds of them are for salespeople. Industry analyst Forrester gave Medtronic a Groundswell Award for this innovation.
The same article mentions a survey that Forrester recently completed with 1,681 U.S.-based workers about smart phone use. The results? The BlackBerry still leads among U.S. workers, with 42%, but this is a smaller share than the combined share of iPhone (at 22%) and Android (at 26%).
Even IBM is getting into the act with an experimental Mobile System Remote app. Now I’m tempted to use the word “ubiquitous.”
Any guesses at how many apps for iPhones and iPads there will be by this time next year? Before you know it, we’ll be devising shorthand schemes for app quantities like the data storage industry does with gigabytes, petabytes, exabytes, etc.
Everyone likes to predict things. It’s human nature. There are optimistic predictions and pessimistic predictions. Some come true; many do not. I thought it might be fun to look up some predictions. As a result of my Google search on “famous predictions,” (12,200,000 results) my prediction is that the volume of predictions will double in the next three years. You heard it here first. Anyway, this page provides a few gems:
"That rainbow song's no good. Take it out."
- MGM memo after first showing of "The Wizard Of Oz."
"There will never be a bigger plane built."
- A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that carried ten people.
"I think there's a world market for about five computers."
- Thomas J. Watson, chairman of the board of IBM.
The First Macintosh (1984) *Photo courtesy of www.smashinglists.com
And for the category of those that came true, there's this prediction Steve Jobs stated in a 1985 interview with Playboy:
“The most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link it into a nationwide communications network. We’re just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people‐‑as remarkable as the telephone.”
*Photo courtesy of www.letmedefine.com
The science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke came up with three laws of predictions. My favorite is #3: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. So here are a few waves of the wand for unified communications and related services:
• Mobile cloud services will bring in $39 billion by 2016 due to the increase in unified communications spending.
• Forrester Research believes that communications equipment -- especially for unified communications, video conferencing, and mobility at businesses and governments -- will see 8.3% growth in 2011, though telecommunications carriers purchases will increase more slowly…
• Video growth is inseparable from unified communications growth, according to a Unified Communications Edge article, which also says, “Gartner is predicting that high-definition telepresence will be in homes of senior executives in half a decade.”
You heard these predictions here, but possibly not first. The UC crystal ball looks rosy, and I’m not wearing glasses.
So what are your favorite predictions? Do you have some of your own that you're waiting to see the outcome on?
Here’s why…
Consider this scenario: your company’s top marketing execs want to talk to 1,000 partners who are scattered around the world. The execs have sensitive news to share about upcoming products. You need this event to happen on time and go smooth as silk. There are at least two flies in the ointment. If you use a common pass code that many people know, there’s the chance that someone may use it at the wrong time and crash your party. Also, people tend to dial in at the last moment, delaying the start of the call. Been there, done that, right? And you’ve been asked to gather some information about the partners who attend.
After hearing customer wish lists for similar types of conferences, we decided to enhance Passcode Plus Pin, a feature of our Elite and Operator Assisted audio conferencing services. Think of it as an all-purpose flyswatter.
*Photo courtesy of: uconnladybug.wordpress.com
Using Passcode Plus Pin, you can allow, or require, participants to pre-register for your event. Each person who registers, along with anyone else you want to invite, receives an event confirmation email that includes a pass code and unique PIN that is valid only for a specific event. You can supply Pins or we’ll create them. When it’s time to start the meeting, attendees dial the access number and enter their Pin. They are placed immediately into the audio conference. Speakers also register and use a Pin that enters them into the speaker conference before an operator introduces them in the live event.
And the “so what?” The customizable registration page helps in two ways. It captures accurate contact information, because the attendees enter it themselves, and you can create up to 30 fields to collect other information. Speakers and participants are never entered into the wrong conference. Hold and wait times are eliminated for everyone. Shortly after the event, you receive a list of participants so you know who showed up and who didn’t. But Passcode Plus Pin is flexible. Registration is standard, but not essential. And oops, a couple of people on your list forgot to register but want to attend? No problem. They call in and speak to an operator, who can enter them into the meeting.
Sometimes meetings require a little extra security, or assurance of on-time starts, or special data gathering. We understand. And that’s why we created Passcode Plus Pin.
Alright, enough about us, what do you think? What audio conferencing event challenges have you encountered? Would this help?
When I read that telecommuters are happier, in addition to being less stressed and more productive, I thought synchronicity had struck again. My book club book for this month is The Happiness Project, or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. The author shares her 12-month journey of what she tried and what she learned. I’m only on January, but I’ve learned that she works from home.
As usual, one thought leads to another, and I began to wonder about the state of telecommuting in general. Many of the people I know are full- or part-time teleworkers, but what’s the big picture? The Telework Research Institute gave me some answers in a 2011 report.
Some of the key findings stopped me in my tracks, and you’ll see why:
- Forty-five percent of the US workforce holds a job that is compatible with at least part-time telework.
- Fifty million U.S. employees who want to work from home hold jobs that are telework compatible though only 2.9 million consider home their primary place of work (2.3% of the workforce).
- The existing 2.9 million US telecommuters save 390 million gallons of gas and prevent the release of 3.6 million tons of greenhouse gases yearly.
- If those with compatible jobs worked at home 2.4 days a week (the national average of those who do), the reduction in greenhouse gases (51 million tons) would be equivalent of taking the entire New York workforce off the roads.
- The national savings would total over $900 billion a year; enough to reduce our Persian Gulf oil imports by 46%.
- The biggest barrier to telecommuting, by a wide margin, is management fear and mistrust.
The report says that the affect of the recession on telecommuting isn’t yet clear, but that the five-year growth rate is significant. And no wonder, in view of this stat: In February of 2011, Fortune Magazine reported that 82% of companies that made its annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list allow employees to telecommute or work at home at least 20% of the time. Take a look at the report for more key findings, the research behind them, and a list of the benefits to businesses, individuals and the nation.
The sources of happiness are typically attributed to genetics, life circumstances and the choices we make. As usual, some things we can control, some we can’t. And some choices are no brainers.
So what are your thoughts on telecommuting? Is it an option at your organization? Do you have a online collaboration tools in place?
Is this a happiness project more employers should implement in when considering employee satisfaction and ways to boost productivity? Or, as a way to reduce their environmental impact?
Did the proliferation of personal devices in the workplace sneak up on you? You’re not alone. Many IT people say yes or say they were surprised by the speed at which personal devices popped up at work. Others say they were aware of it but their efforts at damage control are hindered by company policies that aren’t comprehensive when it comes to this topic.
Many companies are scrambling to figure out the financial, legal and security considerations as they decide what to do. You might feel like Caesar as he approached the Rubicon.
The “point of no return” decision by Caesar to cross the Rubicon was the first step on his journey to victory in a civil war. Present day, this expression generally refers to taking a course of action from which there's no turning back. Talk about apropos.
On one side we have employers, who are expected to reimburse employees for using devices that are security risks, and on the other side, employees who resist complying with security measures. In a recent Computer Business Review article, a British networking company has suggested this approach:
• Only block access to offensive or illegal content. Blocking Facebook, Twitter and such like will only result in a disgruntled mob.
• Be secure.
• You won't beat them, so join them. Social networking sites can be used to build bridges with employees
• Be clear on the rules and enforce them. Policies are only useful if people know and respect them.
• Encourage innovation. If employees are showing enthusiasm for mobile devices and social networks, try to harness it.
Easier said than done? Is there a one-size-fits-all answer? Well, you can’t ask Caesar, but you can ask Marc Beattie of Wainhouse Research. He provides advice to IT managers in an upcoming webinar sponsored by ACT Conferencing on August 25, 2011: Collaboration & Social Media: How to Tame User Anarchy.
You know the saying about getting better, not older. Apparently this does not apply to mobile operating systems, which are not getting better as the generations go by. In 2010, there were 163 security holes compared to 115 in 2009, according to Symantec.
Source: http://tbreak.com/tech/2011/02/why-are-mobile-phones-limited-to-one-operating-system/
You can tackle security problems related to mobile and personal devices as they happen and invoke Dirty Harry (go ahead, make my day), or take steps to avoid these confrontations. You may lose… or let’s say you may lose data and IP.
In case your company doesn’t yet have policies in place, here are a few common-sense tips gathered from recent reading and research:
• Check your user password policy to be sure it meets current best practices, which include guidelines for the complexity of passwords and how often they can be reused.
• Don’t send sensitive information of any kind through email – personal/financial, personnel records, etc.
• Keep company mailbox addresses current and protected.
• Use a software tool that gives you remote access to lost or stolen devices so you can take the necessary steps to disable or wipe them.
• Set and follow procedures to clean devices and hard drives before they change hands or are disposed of.
• Install network vendors’ security patches and updates immediately.
• Use passwords for network devices and change them frequently.
• Communicate with employees on an ongoing basis. Set policies, especially about unsupported apps and personal devices, and make sure employees are familiar with them. Consider reinforcing the basics about passwords, suspicious attachments, unsolicited emails, phishing, etc. in company newsletters, during team meetings, on bulletin boards and so on. Have data security conversations with incoming and outgoing employees.
Not everyone will play by the rules or read every communication you send, but anticipating needed guidelines, stating them and then continually reminding employees to be vigilant is in your best interest.
What IT does after communicating is crucial. Find out what Marc Beattie of Wainhouse Research recommends in an upcoming webinar sponsored by ACT Conferencing on August 25, 2011: Collaboration & Social Media: How to Tame User Anarchy.
I don’t know who coined the term “IT consumerization,” but it is a pretty good descriptor of what’s happening in the business world. Personal devices, purchased by employees, are flooding the work place. Employees are pressuring IT to let them use unsupported mobile devices and social networking apps. Ding, ding, ding. Security bells are ringing all over the place. Just how much does IT worry? A lot.
According to a Cisco poll, more than half of the 500 IT security pros who participated in the survey confirmed that employees use unsupported applications. Social networking topped the list:
• Social networking - 68 percent
• Collaborative - 47 percent
• Peer to peer - 47 percent
• Cloud - 33 percent
51% listed social networking as one of the top three biggest security risks to their organization, and 19% considered it the highest risk. You could say it’s the gorilla in the IT department.
Source:http://www.flickr.com/photos/ross/3055802287/
As Bob Dylan said, the times they are a-changing. Not so long ago – and no, it wasn’t the Dark Ages – employees asked for time off to make a personal call or to run a personal errand. Now a day at work is unthinkable without texting, YouTube and Facebook. The debate goes on about the pros and cons of using personal devices at work. Some say they are a distraction that costs companies lots of money. Some say don’t look a gift horse in the mouth because people are more productive and the company doesn’t have to pay for the devices.
Regardless, personal devices and social networking pose special challenges for IT – lost devices, lost IP, security breaches, information leaks, bandwidth issues. Any one of them can be harmful and potentially expensive to address. This report gets into the issues with webmail and IM, bandwidth sucked up by social networking and file sharing.
If you’re in one of the five stages of grief – anger, denial, bargaining, depression and acceptance – about “IT consumerization,” be sure to read this techtarget.com article. Forrester Research weighs in on some of the new ways to think about security.
BTW, if you haven’t already heard, Facebook recently decided to follow Google and other companies to pay people to turn in bugs in an effort to reduce security problems. Bounty hunting in the 21st century.
For an industry expert’s look at collaboration and social media trends (what do users really want?), be sure to attend the Wainhouse Research webinar, “Collaboration & Social Media: How to Tame User Anarchy.”
What’s an IT Department to do? Tell employees they can’t use personal mobile devices at work? Good luck with that because that ship has sailed. What you may not know is just how far out to sea it is.
In a Network World survey, 69% of IT managers say their employers let employees use personal mobile devices to connect to the corporate network, and 25% say they don’t have a policy about access or are unaware of one.
Industry analyst Aberdeen Group surveyed 500 enterprises and found that 72% permit use of employee-owned mobile devices for business purposes. Up from 40% two years ago. 45% said "yes" to any type of device, and 27% said devices had to be compliant with policy.
Another study asked IT directors if they feel pressured to support personal devices at work. 50% said yes. And 80% said they are asked regularly to implement enterprise apps and email on personal devices. Yet only 10% have set up policies.
The flood of personal devices at work is causing a gigantic security and compliance headache for IT, not to mention bandwidth issues resulting from social networking and file sharing. Back in mid-2010, a Cisco survey reported that more than 1/3 of respondents had a breach or loss of information due to unsupported network devices. Can’t help but wonder where the number is now.
How are you dealing with this changing environment?
Get some valuable IT insights from Marc Beattie of Wainhouse Research in an upcoming webinar sponsored by ACT Conferencing on August 25, 2011: Collaboration & Social Media: How to Tame User Anarchy. Details on this webinar coming soon!
If you work in a health care organization, you might be sick of hearing about “meaningful use,” but it’s probably a new term to many who are on the receiving end of health care.
The American Relief and Recovery Act (ARRA) offers billions in incentives to hospitals and clinics to invest in health information technology (HIT) and achieve its meaningful use. That’s a lot of words that basically mean if they spend money they make money and in the process, improve public health. Some of the criteria for meaningful use involve quality and efficiency, communication with patients and families, care coordination, and privacy and security for health care information.
One high-priority area is electronic health record (EHR) systems. I had an “ah-ha” moment about this yesterday when I went to my doctor’s office. While I was waiting for her, I scanned the flyers on the walls. You know those black-ink-on-colored paper announcements? You never know when one might actually apply to you. It said that the clinic was in the process of implementing an EHR system. Bingo, a synchronistic moment given that ACT Conferencing is sponsoring a networking break at an upcoming Institute for Health event in Denver. The agenda headliner? Meaningful use and EHRs.
Qualified EHRs can earn reimbursements – as much as $44,000 per physician over a five-year period. There’s a checklist of things that qualify an EHR, but a couple of things jumped out at me. E-prescribing and electronic health information exchange. At the end of my doctor’s appointment, I had a live demo of e-prescribing, almost. It didn’t work because my pharmacy wasn’t in the clinic’s system. So I had to take the paper prescription, drop it at the pharmacy, come back later and wait, and wait. With the electronic health information exchange, I can authorize my providers to exchange my medical information electronically. Know how long it would take me to give up photocopying records or carrying CDs around? About two seconds.
ARRA also sets aside $2.5 billion for grants, loans and loan-grant combinations for distance learning, telemedicine and broadband implementation in rural areas. Neither telemedicine nor distance learning are new in health care, but when the infrastructure and conferencing solutions are in place, many more people will have access to health information and health care services.
Google “ARRA health care” or “ARRA meaningful use” if you want to learn more. And this AMA article can get you up to speed on telemedicine.
Sometimes it takes a little thing, like a new phrase or a well-timed flyer, to get us to pay attention to something. Billions for health care is worthy of our attention.