For those of you who are not totally consumed by Olympic coverage, you might find it interesting that we have entered a new era, the electronic front line in a war.  With Russia taking on Georgia, it is interesting to see the next generation of warfare unfold before our eyes.

 

 

Until Next time.

 

Dan

I recently participated in a panel discussion on Technology Security at the ITEC show here in Charlotte.  The moderator of the panel was author and columnist James Gaskin (www.gaskin.com).  James was kind enough to include me in his most recent article.

 

The article can be found at: http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2008/070708gaskin.html  

Hello All,

As many of your know, I am the President of the Charlotte Chapter of MPA.  MPA is an industry group for users of Microsoft Office Project.  MPA recently went through major changes and has decided to revert back to the name Mpug (Microsoft Project User Group).

 

As part of the reorganization, they have relaunched their website at www.mpug.com and they will be taking over many of the duties that chapter officers once did.

 

This includes using the shiny new Sharepoint Server for communications.  At some point in the near future, we will have to abandon our current list serve and only members will receive notices of the meeting (through Sahrepoint).  I will also communicate to others who might be interested, so check back frequently if you are interested in the happenings of MPA/Mpug!

 

Until next time!

 

Thanks,
Dan

Well all I can say is WOW!

 

From the never ending drive from Charlotte to DC, to the never ending sessions, to the never ending backlog that I came back to, all I can say is WOW.

 

My second experience with SAGE Insights was a wonderful (albeit exhausting) experience.  We set out to launch the latest release of our process manufacturing application known as Visual Impact.  Release 8.5 now includes a tight integration with Sage Accpac, which made Insights 2008 an obvious place to introduce the product to the Sage Channel Partners. 

 

As with most trade shows we were hoping to come away with a couple of real leads.  What we never dared to dream is that we could create an absolute BUZZ.  The trade show booth was humming, we had our A-Game on and not only were we talking it up, but so were the Partners.  We were welcomed with open arms and MANY opportunities.  It seems that the marketplace had been waiting for someone to come alone with a process manufacturing application...who knew?

 

We are back home now dealing with the reality of a backlog of development leads, product sales leads and a leader (that would be me) who is FIRED-UP and ready to take Pinstripe to the next level.  Our customers should soon see a renewed focus on customer service, a more meaningful mission statement and employees who are empowered to get things done.

 

While we are dealing with our fair share of small business issues, it is a great time to be in business!

 

 

Until Next Time,
Dan

Hello All,

I am blogging live from Sage Insights 2008.  I am currently in a session focused on Sales 2.0 and particularly how to leverage Sales 2.0 AND CRM.

 

Sales 2.0, which is similar to Web 2.0, is basically the way people are buying today and especially moving into the future.  Sage has brought together 3 industry analysts to talk about the process, the pitfalls and what you need to be successful in the marketplace.

 

It is kind of funny because they just posed a question about who has a blog for their company.  I raised my hand and reported that I was blogging live on the session. 

 

Here are some thoughts from the panel:

 

 

 

One of my all time favorite applications is a product called Microsoft Office Project.  I have been using this application for ovr 15 years.  It is one of the tools that helped me be successful in the trenches.

 

Even though I am mostly out of the trenches these days, the product stays near and dear to me.  As such, I continue to lead the Charlotte Chapter of MPA.  MPA is The Official Industry Association for Microsoft Office Project.  We meet the first Thursday of every month at the Charlotte Microsoft District Office.  For more info on the meetings visit www.mympa.org.

 

This month, PM Resource Group out of Atlanta (who is also a local sponsor for us) presented on how to effectively use task types.  This is an area of MS Project that most people struggle with.  The tool allows you to track tasks using fixed work (this task will take exactly 40 hours) or duration (I will complete this task in a 5 days).  Understanding the difference and when and how to use the various options is essential to effectively using the tool.

 

Tracy and her team did a great job with the presentation.  I also had a chance to brief the chapter on many of the changes coming up since the recent spinoff of MPA from P-Cubed.  MPA is now a stand alone Non-Profit, supported by Microsoft.  Previously it had been owned by a consulting company that Specialized in MS Project.

 

Check back for future MPA posts.  Part of the new initiative is that MPA will take over all official  communications for the chapter.  My plan is to use this blog as the unofficial communication, so be on the look out.

 

Our next meeting is June 5th, we meet from 5:30-7:30.  We would love to have you visit us.  I also have free 90-Day trial memberships for anytone who is interested, so don't hesitate to reach out to me on the subject. I can be reached at sales@pinstripeco.com

 

Until Next Time.

 

Dan Colby

President & CEO

Pinstripe Incorporated
"We understand the business of Technology"

 

Visit us at SAGE Insights Booth 813

MAY 12TH-15TH, Gaylord Resort

National Harbor, MD

 

Visit us at ITEC Charlotte

July 25th-26th, Charlotte COnvention Center

Charlotte, NC

We are seeing an increase in situations where existing disaster recovery plans are completely inadequate.  Unfortunately the days of relying strictly on a tape backup and paper processes are a thing of the past for more and more organizations.  If you have not taken the time to consider what your organization would do in the case of a disaster, then now is probably a good time.

 

Often times businesses get caught up in the 'it can't happen to us' syndrome and/or make assumptions that 'if we have a disaster, we will all have bigger problems on our hands'.  Keep in mind that the definition of disaster is also changing, a disaster does not have to be a catastrophe of biblical scale to have serious impact on your business; also the term disaster recovery is a misnomer, for a business to survive and thrive through a disaster, they need more than just a recovery plan.  Business Continuity is something that most small businesses don't spend enough time thinking about and planning for.  Ask yourself, how it would affect your company if you lost all the data off of your mail server for 3-7 days.  That is not unrealistic if you rely solely on a tape backup.  While better than nothing, a tape backup in the current era of Multi-Gigabyte email boxes; a tape alone is not a realistic quick recovery.

 

While we all think about disasters in the terms of 9/11 or Katrina; something as simple as your Internet going down for several days, and ice storm or a serious hardware failure can be just as painful and damaging to your business.

 

If you are interested in talking about Business Continuity from the business perspective; give us a call.

Microsoft has released its latest version of the industry leading web browser Internet Explorer.  While the new version sports an updated look and feel which brings it in line with the upcoming "Vista" release, its primary difference from its predecessor is web security.  Unlike previous versions, IE7 locks down many commonly used security features.  We are seeing wide spread issues with web sites that previously worked fine,  no longer working correctly in IE7.  The ideas behind this security upgrade is logical (to make it harder for hackers and criminals to use IE7 for inappropriate activities, unfortunately the result is that many sites which were built under old 'best practices' will have problems with the new browser.

 

IE7 is currently available for download from Microsoft, it can be downloaded as a stand alone application or it can be automatically installed as part of the Windows update process.  Currently IE7 is an options download on Windows update; we have been notified by Microsoft that it will be included in a 'critical update' starting next month.  This will make it much more difficult not to install and use the application.

 

If you run into a problem with a web based application or website that seems to coincide with the upgrade to IE7, feel free to give us a call and we can work with you to overcome your particular issues.

We are pleased to announce the addition of a new Development Lead.  Derrick Glass has joined the Pinstripe team and will head up all application development activities for Pinstripe Services.  Glass has a tremendous amount of experience including several years as a Level 3 Programming Support Developer while with the Microsoft Corporation.  Although Derrick has significant experience with Microsoft technologies; he also brings to the team a plethora of multi-platform development experience, with a focus on business process and architecture.  If you have not had a chance to interact with Derrick yet, feel free to drop him a line via phone or email.

 

Additionally, Michael Duffee was recently converted from a contractor to a W2 employee.  Michael will continue in his multi-faceted role of 'Solutions Specialist', where his time is divided between Account Management, Engineering and Support.  We expect big things from Mike in the months to come.

Pinstripe Incorporated is proud to announce the launch of a new unofficial site for the Carolinas ALS Center.  Pinstripe Inc. teamed with the Center to provide a portal for patients and patients families to learn more about ALS, resources available them and a place where technology can be leveraged to facilitate better communication and quality of life.

Pinstripe Incorporated provided the site free of charge to the center.

Visit the site at http://www.carolinasals.org .