Industry News

Integration can be key

In a conversation last night with another information technology professional, he talked about his consulting company's work with the client in Boston with whom he is working. His consulting company manages their server environment and applications on the servers. The client, a medium size business, has no information technology staff. Recently, an application that is not server based came up in discussion. It is an old application with unique elements. The consulting company and the client are trying how to integrate the data of the two elements.

This situation is one we see commonly. Integrating and sharing data from disparate systems has become a key art in our industry - especially when large firms merge. Even a small firm needs this done for their productivity. Think about a small firm using an electronic newsletter service (e.g. Constant Contact) and a CRM (e.g. SugarCRM) and the importance of keeping the updates in both (e.g. new address, employee no longer employed by one of your customers) current. 

I contend that we will see integration becoming even more important in the infrastructure of all organizations.

More secure

In spending half of this past Friday listening to industry leaders discuss elements of information technology security, my general feeling is three fold:

• If your environment is more secure than many other organizations the cybercriminals may bypass your site to go to one that is easier to hack
• Most of the attendees had a long way to go to be up to industry standards for security
• Securing one's environment, like search engine optimization, is an ongoing process

Easy Does IT 

Having spent a number of hours recently on work on updating the web site for Arden Corporation's training division, one key element that has come about in the midst of the project is the unique appeal of the web experience for our target customer. We realize that continued focus on making our service amenable for our customer's browsing needs is key to their successful experience on the web site. The realization is that this plays out differently for different companies (i.e. it should be unique for your company and your industry).


For example, some consumer products companies (e.g. Amazon) may have many more customers making impulse purchases. These companies should design their site to encourage impulse actions. Some other service organizations (e.g. law firms) do not have purchases made on their web sites. As such, law firm's sites will be more brochure ware in orientation.

Being that one of our core values at Arden Corporation is simplicity, we are focused on keeping our web pages easy to graphically digest and with quick navigation. This can conflict with the customers need to "have a lot of information" on one page (like a Yahoo portal page). Our web page designs make finding information easy. We also provide exposure to new information (e.g. what user's groups are being held this week) that is appropriate for the customer. Remember to take an "Easy Does IT" approach for your customer's use of your web site for their use.

A better educational investment

This week, as a part of my advisory work for the University of Cincinnati College of Blue Ash, a discussion came up about the value of an education at this institution. For individuals who have limited funds, many find that starting or getting their degree from the College of Blue Ash saves them thousands of dollars because the cost per class is less than most other colleges. And because of the small class size and dedication of professors, the quality of the education can be high. One of the key benefits is the ability to transfer credits to a four year college - unlike some of the for profit universities. If you are considering going back to school to get your undergraduate degree and live in the proximity of Blue Ash, this may be an option you want to consider. So many individuals have chosen this option, that the college is adding classroom and raising monies to build new facilities