AHA Technology Blog

New Social Media Area to Consider

2012-01-19T11:59:00.000-06:00

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Pinterest.com but I recently joined it.. I can get lost in it for hours looking at a million different things from receipes to intereting items to help organize the house. The article below talks about how to use it to get your brand out there.. I find that this could apply to AHA in many different ways to help get our brand out there and increase our social media awareness.
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2139906/7-Creative-Ways-Your-Brand-Can-Use-Pinterest

A Humorous Look at the Consumerization of IT

2012-01-18T14:03:00.001-06:00

On the lighter side of consumerization of IT

http://www.itbusinessedge.com/slideshows/show.aspx?c=94195

12 Habits of Indispensible IT Pros

2012-01-18T09:33:00.001-06:00

This article is right on... Habit 8 is a winner.

Blackbaud announces intent to buy Convio

2012-01-17T08:23:00.003-06:00

We are customers of both companies but this clearly changesthe game for our services for our customers. It will be interesting to see theshake out. No “official word” yet from them to us directly. Waiting for that tohappen.

Blackbaud, Inc.(NASDAQ: BLKB), the leading provider of software and related services designedfor nonprofit organizations, announced today that it has entered into adefinitive merger agreement with Convio, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNVO), a leadingprovider of on-demand constituent engagement solutions that enable nonprofitorganizations to more effectively raise funds, advocate for change andcultivate relationships.
via Blackbaud, Inc. Announces Agreement To Acquire Convio -TheStreet.

What do you think?

Internet Donations for December 2011 up 11.1% over last year

2012-01-13T11:56:00.006-06:00

Our Year End campaign had amazing results this year. In December, we did over $2 million in Memorials, Tributes, and General Contributions. Great job by everyone involved!!!

Internet donations from the AHA website, Kimbia and Convio memorials was $2,011,828. This is an increase of 11.1% over the donations through December for FY10-11.

The total of $2,011,828 represents 12.2% Memorials, 2.6% Tributes and 85.3% General contributions. Note that contact center income, youth market income and HW income are not included in these numbers.

EVP SharePoint blog content

2012-01-13T11:13:00.003-06:00

I have started blogging using the SharePoint blog feature. I like it a lot. You can create great looking content directly from Microsoft Word and post it directly to SharePoint. Some this week have been cross posted here but not all of them.

Here is the list of content on SharePoint.

Account Management conversation with SLT – 1/13/12

Future of CRM update – 1/12/2012

Internet income increases 11% in December

Management Team meeting – 1/12/2012

Facilitation Skills training

Advocacy, technology and You’re the Cure network

Technology project updates

Customer engagement at the National Service Center

Change Management and technology

Technology Assessment discuss with Managers and Supervisors

Emerging technology trends

The Future of CRM and the AHA

Web Accessibility

How does the customer experience look on social media?

'Big Data' What is it all about?

2012-01-12T15:02:00.009-06:00

If you saw the movie Money Ball, it is a great movie about the use of Technology and 'Big' Data. Do we have 'Big Data' at the AHA? You bet we do. We have vasts amount of data at the AHA and have worked very hard to get our customer's data into our Data Warehouse. We are doing this so that we can have a single 360 degree view of our customer. There are also hidden nuggets of information that, if analyzed properly, can provide us insight into greater ways to engage and add value to our customers. If you want to know more, read on .......

Technology foresight for AHA

2012-01-12T12:57:00.002-06:00

The TCS Leadership Team is meeting today. Mike, the other TCS Directors, Gloria, LaTrena and I are spending all day working on various aspects of technology leadership at AHA. It's great to be a part of this group...which is so dedicated to making great things happen for AHA now and in the future.

Management Team meeting - 1/12/12

2012-01-12T12:36:00.002-06:00

Our Management Team is meeting today in Dallas. Great agenda and some very good conversations already. Here is a link to the meeting site. Please let me know if you have questions.

1 TB portable storage, in a Swiss Army knife? Impressive!

2012-01-12T08:55:00.000-06:00

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/victorinox-fit-worlds-smallest-1tb-ssd-in-a-swiss-army-knife-20120110/

Facilitation Skills training

2012-01-12T07:59:00.001-06:00

On Monday, our good friends at Forrester Research spent aday with us improve our skills in facilitation. Very helpful all the wayaround.

Here is their model on facilitation.

Advocacy, technology and the You're the Cure network

2012-01-11T15:23:00.000-06:00

Mark Schoeberl, our VP of Advocacy and Health Quality isupdating us on his world. Always interesting. Always engaging. Our passion andmission translated to action. We aregreat partners with his department.

Please join the You’re the Cure network. It is easy and itworks. And yes, we fund it.

http://www.yourethecure.org/register.aspx

Technology project updates

2012-01-11T14:54:00.002-06:00

Our project managers are giving our Managers and Supervisorsa quick updateon some high priority projects. Some we are hearing about are:

• ECC-LMSProject – Dan Hrnack

• Visionfor Volunteerism– Bob Stillwell
(Community Planning Tool Migration to SharePoint Extranet )

• PayCycle Project – John Farmer

• ApplicantTracking System Project – Carrie Weeks

• EnterpriseFinancial Reporting Tool Project – Patricia Ashmore

• FoodCertification Anywhere – Gloria Williams

• ResearchApplication Fee – Gloria Williams

Check out the presentationfor a quick overview. The focus is on providing value to our business partners.That goes way beyond being within scope, on time, etc.

Customer experience and the National Service Center

2012-01-11T14:30:00.002-06:00

Linda Dickey is talking with our Managers and Supervisorsabout the National Service Center. During the last several months the NSC hasbeen working on deepening our engagement with customers who contact the NSC forinformation. We want to continue to engage our customers after they call.

Check out the presentationfor some great information.

The Future of CRM and the AHA

2012-01-11T11:10:00.000-06:00

Our progress in the Future of CRM is making great progress.Chip Sugrue is leading the charge and doing an amazing job. He is updating our Managersand Supervisors on the progress.

Here is the presentationif you want to look at it.

Web accessibility

2012-01-11T11:01:00.002-06:00

I am at our Managers and Supervisors meeting today.Christian Caldwell is having a conversation with us about our web accessibilityinitiative. Accessibility means inclusion. It means that people withdisabilities will find no barriers to success when visiting our web sites andapplications. Considering our audience it typically older and that many of ourpatients have comorbidities that affect vision and hearing, we must make surethat those who may need us most can find us and navigate our information aseasily as the able bodied.

Great update and conversation.

Social Trends for 2012

2012-01-09T15:26:00.007-06:00

One of the blogs I follow on a regular basis is by the Ogilvy Public Relations Firm. They do a good job tracking digital trends in the industry. Since everyone is into lists this time of year they went through a crowdsourcing exercise and came up with a list of the 12 social trends we should see this year.

1. Social Television goes mainstream.
David A. Brooks and Chris Heydt said the trend to watch is the emergence of Social Television. New technology will have an effect on the television industry much like Apple iOS and Android had on the popularization of the smartphone mobile market. David noted, “It has gone beyond simply dual screen. Just like you had the advent of smartphones you will see TV technology being revolutionized which will alter viewing habits.” One area Chris said to pay attention will be advertising and engagement. “New ads in this forum using never before seen engagement technology will be able to garner instant reaction.”

2. Social ROI must become real.
Maya Swedowsky said the debate about ROI must be clarified and made concrete in 2012. Facebook analytics need to show better tracking in order to appease the 1 in 3 CMOs demanding to see how their marketing budget invested in social actually has a direct effect on consumer purchase. “Facebook metrics need to go deeper to show if marketing spends are actually worth the investment. Currently, the analytics are unable to show this but will need to in order to get CMOs to continue to invest in the platform.”

3. Mobile apps will be the main communication tools between brands and consumers.
In the week between Christmas and New Year’s users downloaded 1 billion apps. Yes, you read that correctly, 1 billion. Rose Reid thinks certain apps will become just as popular as the platforms that help amplify them. Case in point is Instagram. Instagram as a community platform will grow in 2012. “A brand will eventually tap this platform to carry out an initiative. They may use other platforms to amplify the program, but more app-specific social marketing programs beyond Facebook and Twitter will expand as a result of more people owning mobile smartphone technology which prompts them to use apps as daily utilities.”

4. News sources that harness the power of social will be credible alternatives to traditional media outlets.
Layla Revis thinks one platform to watch in this area is newsmotion.org. She thinks it will emerge as an alternative to mainstream media news. “As new technologies collide with world-changing events, the independent voice (or tweet) has emerged as a major player in news media. Like Alternet and Huffington Post, a citizen news platform like Newsmotion.org is a growing trend to watch.” The innovative platform where civic media and citizen reporting converge to connect new audiences to valuable stories, resources, and — most importantly — each other is definitely a new journalism model for 2012

5. Social media functionality will further integrate into digital website properties.
Geoffrey Colon thinks the website of the future will be laid out in 2012 with new design and user experiences. “The website as we’ve known it is evolving. Brands that have a website and a Facebook and Twitter presence and a mobile application need to merge all of these experiences together to create a unique and friendly web user experience. People are spending 8.5 hours per month on Facebook based on 2011 Nielsen research. Why would a consumer want to visit a brand website when they have community on the Facebook page or get updates on their Twitter feed? If the company website had Facebook or Twitter plug-ins integrated with the open graph this is one way brands can help customers get closer to their owned property. This actually helps brands get more from brand advocates by linking their web properties to real time conversations.” As a result, Colon thinks social aggregators will be popular on company websites and CMOs can use this data to create targeted marketing messages in real time.

6. Apps on Facebook will become the main amplifier of brand messaging.
Max Kelerstein and Stephen Cooper both think there will be an influx of apps on Facebook due to the new open graph. The ownership of verbs to track engagement and personalize a brand on one’s newsfeed will only take place with a good app that ties back to the brand message. Kelerstein states, “Making verbs personal and tying them into a unique app with great functionality is the only way many brands will ever end up in one’s social feed.” Although users tweet and post about brands, it’s more likely they will show brand love through interaction of a seamless and frictionless app in which they enjoy engaging. Case in point is the popularity of such apps as Spotify and Nike+. So brands can reach their advocates through all the clutter, a paid/earned model will become part of all successful brand marketing campaigns in launching an app.

7. Brands will become publishers and not simply curators.
Sophia Aladenoye thinks that content production and strategy will continue to grow tremendously in 2012. Brands will be expected to be content publishers, producers & planners – pushing them to become more flexible, imaginative and proactive in the creation of great content to sustain interaction with the millions of people who follow them. People, across various social networks, will expect brands to provide them with consistent & fun content that spans across platforms. Brands that embrace this challenge and focus on developing an online personality that is easily recognizable via first, second and third-party brand content will win (in the space of online attention & relationships) moving forward.

8. A content sharing strategy will be just as important as a content production strategy.
It’s not enough to simply create good content in 2012. All brands are slowly becoming publishers. Brands will now have plan accordingly to actually create good content that can be shared. It’s the end of the “produce content, push it out and make it go viral” flowchart. A brand planning efficiently can have as much of an effect pushing through social channels as they did pushing through traditional avenues.

9. Privacy issues will lead to rewriting personal history in the social realm.
In the advent of social media, many users were carefree to share everything. This included controversial tweets and photos. Like people, brands may have disharmony in their social history. And many (unfortunately) will go about the practice of editing that history where it may seem harmful to the brand. Geoffrey Colon noted that the new Timeline on Facebook will probably lead many to edit their social history for fear of losing out on a job or to not embarrass themselves to friends or family. “Brands most likely will also have a similar timeline user interface on Facebook and many will be quick to edit any negativity to present themselves as pristine to potential consumers. Tools empowering the deletion of photos, omissions from their timeline and other actions to help protect their reputation will be the norm.”

10. Healthcare and B2B will adopt what B2C brands have been doing for the last five years in social.
Most consumers are used to engaging with CPGs like a favorite soda or fashion brand. But many will finally be able to communicate and do business with companies that were more conservative in getting involved in the social space. Digital health specialist Priya Kapoor says the space to watch in 2012 is in the healthcare social media space. “In 2011, we saw a lot of activity in the space from pharmaceutical, physicians, hospitals and patients alike. We’ve also seen how platforms such as Facebook and YouTube working with risk-adverse pharma companies so they can reach key audiences. But all of this was done at a sluggish pace as the industry awaited guidance from the FDA.” With the category ending the year by acknowledging the space with newly drafted guidance, we can expect to see healthcare and B2B finally go 2.0 and beyond in 2012.

11. Social commerce is adopted across the board.
Remember all those crazy crowds and long lines on Black Friday 2012? That will be an image of the past as retailers will adopt location-based apps to help consumers with purchase in the real world which in turn drives publicity, brand awareness and CRM. Imagine this, you check- in on Foursquare. Automatically, you are asked if you want to pay using the brand app. You download the app, scan the mouse bar code, get a subtotal, and you hit OK to purchase. The app takes the amount right out of your checking account, bills your credit card or debits a pre-existing gift card. Your receipt is emailed and you’re on your way out of the store to your next destination. Starbucks already does this using smartphones with a register scanner. More retailers want to make noise in this realm as customers will amplify how lovely the experience is and thus, we’ll see more of it in 2012

12. Brands will become more nimble along with their agency partners.
Social is a 24/7/365 business. And consumers are always talking. While brands are planning with their agencies, they’re talking. Smarter agency partners will tell their clients that they must use social to actually adopt real time messaging. For a long period of time, social sat in a silo and didn’t reflect the larger brand message. That is now history just like 2011. Smarter CMOs and agency execs know that social conversation needs to be utilized not to simply see what was happening in the past, but to communicate in real time based on current social conversation. While conversations are happening about a brand across a variety of platforms, whether it’s positive or negative, a brand can shape what it wants to talk about immediately. Not ten months from now via a television advertisement.

Business Strategy role

2012-01-09T09:51:00.000-06:00

Friday I had a great opportunity to have a conversation with the Affiliate Relationship Managers about the evolving role we serve and how to focus on business strategy. Some skills we discussed are:

Must be a proven excellent communicator
A skilled meeting facilitator, the BusinessRelations Strategist must be able to use diplomacy to steer business leaderstoward desired outcomes. We are getting one day of training this week.
Business management training or experience isessential
Awareness of a broad range of emergingtechnologies (it is more important to have breadth of technology awareness thandeep technology expertise).
Consulting skills
Strategic planning

I was asked to share more on the content I follow on my news reader (I use Google). Here are my top 5:

Forrester blogs
Mashable
HBR
Tom Peters
Seth Godin

What are the top feeds you follow in your news reader?

Have you said goodbye to the Industrial Age? Where's the walls to your office now?

2012-01-09T08:36:00.000-06:00

Walls to offices during the Industrial Age intended to guard leaders from the daily onslaught of activity and requests. Today, leaders are bombarded with Facebook requests, Twitter feeds, texts, IM pings, SPAM, an eMail from their boss demanding the most recent numbers in a report, and another eM just below the eMail from the boss … from a friend sending a stupid “forward” eMail with cats in it.
Where’s the walls now to your office? Not so clear anymore … is it?
via Saying Goodbye to the Industrial Age | MAGsays.

We have moved to an “open world”. Whether we want to believe it or not, the "command and control" world is now gone. It seems to me we have a choice. We can continue to ignore it. Where will that lead me? Or, we can embrace it. What would that look like?

The CIO Group: 2012 Global Topics List

2012-01-06T18:19:00.001-06:00

Forrester surveyed members of The CIO Group on the topics that they were most interested in for the first half of2012. The following is a ranking of the most popular topics as voted by the CIOGroup members. These topics drive the agenda for CIO Group eventsand deliverables, including member-exclusive research, conference calls, andin-person Member Meetings.

Rank	Topic
1	BYOD And The Future Of End-User Computing
2	Mobile Computing
3	Communicating And Marketing The Value Of IT
4	Enable, Build, And Sustain Business Innovation
5	Evolving IT Organizational Structures
6	Build, Source, And Integrate Cloud And SaaS
7	Moving From IT-BT
8	Application Deployment, Consolidation, and Portfolio Management
9	Create An EA Strategy And Business Architecture
10	Leveraging Collaboration Software And Social Tools
11	Developing A Digital Strategy To Manage Multiple Customer Channels
12	Understanding And Assessing Your Security Maturity
13	Leveraging Business Process Management Methods And Technologies
14	Strategic Planning
15	IT Talent Management And Skills Development
16	Managing And Leveraging Big Data
17	IT Cost Containment And Optimization
18	Building A Robust Sourcing Strategy
19	Enterprise Resource Planning Trends
20	Consolidate, Converge, And Optimize Data Center Infrastructure

Making Work, Work!

2012-01-06T17:58:00.002-06:00

There is no better time like the present to find more ways to keep your employees engaged. Bad economic times? Offer volunteer reduced hours to avoid layoffs. For some other ideas...

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/aug2009/ca20090828_011424.htm

Above all else, Focus! A realization not a resolution

2012-01-06T10:05:00.000-06:00

Above all else, Focus!! This is more a realization than a resolution. It is only coincidental that it comes at the first of the year. When I am most successful, it is a result of focus. When I am not, it is the result of too many priorities and distractions. Scott Williams makes some great points in this blog. I love the proverb.

The primary reason people fail is not because they don’t have the skills or abilities, they fail because they get distracted. There will always be plenty of opportunities for success and there will be even more opportunities to get distracted. Stay focused and Don’t Get Distracted.

“The lion does not turn around when a small dog barks.” ~African Proverb
via Don’t Get Distracted | Big Is The New Small.

On the lighter side... Facebook Timeline...

2012-01-05T14:54:00.001-06:00

CIO's article: Facebook Timeline Changes You Can't Wait to Make...

Technology Assessment is launching this month

2012-01-05T08:49:00.000-06:00

In 2005, PricewaterhouseCoopers partnered with the AHA toassess AHA's technology products and services. As a result, the followingrecommendations were implemented:

AHA combined 13 technology organizations into asingle technology organization, association-wide
AHA shifted to an improved technology funding model
Along with the AHA Leadership Team, AHA implemented a Technology Steering Team to govern AHA’s investment in technology.

One additional recommendation from 2005 was to re-assess thetechnology products and services delivered periodically. TCS has provideda set of stable and efficient strategy, people, processes and technologyservices for AHA staff over the period since the implementation of the PwCrecommendations, but can it be better? Under the oversight of theTechnology Steering Team,we are launching an initiativeto conduct that follow-up assessment of technology investments compared tobusiness value delivered.

Last month we launched the initiativewith several activities. We talked with 2 members of the Budget Reviewsubcommittee to get input on the scope and selection process since they haveexpressed an interest. We also conducted interviews of 4 potential consultingpartners to assist with the assessment. Members of the Technology Steering Teamparticipated in the selection meeting of the consulting partners. We conducteda decision analysis and are in the process of completing reference checks. Weanticipate kicking off the assessment in February.

Members of the project team are Sunder Joshi, Nicole Sapio,Mark Schoeberl, Heidi Wolter, Roger Santone (CIO of Brinks) and myself.Gloria Corcoran is our project manager.

Additional materials, including the scope, can be found hereon SharePoint.

The Marketing Manifesto I've been trying to write...

2012-01-04T14:12:00.001-06:00

But of course Bob Garfield of AdAge is a little better than I…

http://adage.com/article/news/dawn-relationship-era-marketing/231792/

Favorite quote

Welcome to the Relationship Era. Say goodbye to positioning,preemption and unique selling position. This is about turning everything youunderstood about marketing upside down so that you can land right side up. Thisis about tapping into the Human Element.

Beginwith a simple experiment. Type "I loveApple" into your Google search bar. You will get3.27 million hits. If you type "I love Starbucks," 2.7 million hits.Zappos: 1.19 million.

"Ilove Citibank" gets you 21,100. AT&TWireless: 7,890. Exxon: 4,730. Dow Chemical:3. Out of 7 billion human beings, three! Just to put that into context, type"I love Satan" and you get 293,000 hits. Now consider that in thepast 12 months, Citibank, AT&T Wireless, Exxon Mobil and Dow have spent $2billion on advertising. How's that working out for them?

The Difference Between Managing Programs and Projects

2012-01-04T11:56:00.005-06:00

Confusion around what the differences are between managing a project and program remains a question for many folks. Often times these are seen as one in the same but although managing a program requires many of the same practices project managers use, it does entail somewhat of a different approach and skill set. I was happy to come across the following article that outlines some of the key differences. I found it helpful and hope you do as well:

http://www.pmhut.com/a-concise-guide-to-the-differences-between-programs-and-projects

What's Coming In 2012
Over the coming weeks I will be posting somewhat of an in-depth look at the different project phases of a project (initiation through closure) according to the PMBOK - Project Management Body of Knowledge. After that, please look for a series of posts that aim to provide guidance around using an agile project management approach for those projects that require a different spin, an iterative one if you will, over the more traditional project management methodologies.

Using Lync for the MAA Town Hall Meeting

2012-01-04T10:16:00.002-06:00

This afternoon, I'm working with our NC Communications VP to run a mock town hall in advance of next month's real affiliate town hall meeting so we can practice using Lync for the video and screen sharing. This will be the affiliate's first time in using Lync for this purpose. We are including all of the Communications staff and the Office Managers from each office to help with this practice run. We will be using a teleconference number instead of the Lync Audio for the real town hall because we know there will be people that will want to join but won't be in front of their computers at the time of the meeting. We will be practicing using the video for the presenters only to see how it works when you are not using the audio to tell Lync who is speaking.

Anyone else use Lync for a meeting with 150-200 people, yet? If so, any tips for us to keep in mind?

Year-End Online Campaign Trends Ahead

2012-01-03T17:14:00.003-06:00

Congratulations to the staff who led the 2011 year-end campaign. The Development team reports a 9 percent increase in the online campaign according to early results. The goal for December online fundraising was $1.9M and more than $2.07M was raised with $175K in new dollars.

According to Jodie Kolkowski, Director of Digital Innovation, the team was flexible, accommodating last-minute rewrites plus subject line and content testing which moved the email campaigns from pacing behind the goal to surpassing it.

Kudos to the TCS staff who worked diligently on this campaign, including Maureen Ryan, Stacey Roquemore, Melissa Conrad, Chirag Chhita, and Misty Aranda.

Maureen and Jodie are assembling detailed information for affiliates which will be distributed soon.

Banning access creates more security risks!

2011-12-22T16:55:00.002-06:00

Great article about banning access to Social Media and how this creates more security risks. Reminds me of Prohibition. It didn't work either.

Threats are ever changing. We need to keep ourselves educated. Please share security tips you learn. Thanks!

http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=14788977-aa9d-4727-ae7c-e90414e50347&utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+Federal+section&utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2011-12-08&utm_term

Hey, Google! Keep your hands off my search results...

2011-12-22T08:23:00.003-06:00

I did not know this, but should have guessed. According to this Ted Talk Google is "personalizing" what search results it shows me based on my past behavior. This is not good for the reasons well-stated in this talk. Facebook does it also, but we would have expected it from them.

AT&T abandons bid for T-Mobile

2011-12-22T08:02:00.002-06:00

The company said it would take a $4 billion charge in the fourth quarter as part of the break-up fee with Deutsche Telekom. The companies had agreed to this break-up fee when they formed the deal, which was announced in March. AT&T said the companies will also enter into a mutually beneficial roaming agreement.

I felt from the beginning of this announcement that this merger would not be good for competition, I’m happy to see this outcome.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-57345260-266/at-t-abandons-bid-for-t-mobile/

Confused by Lync licensing model

2011-12-22T07:44:00.000-06:00

An in-depth look at the ins and outs of Lync licensing, how it fits into Microsoft's strategy, and how it fit into your enterprise's existing infrastructure’
http://www.nojitter.com/post/232300895/lync-licensing-effective-confusion?cid=nl_nojitter_html

Business Process Improvement vs. Reengineering

2011-12-21T12:59:00.005-06:00

In the past year I've had the opportunity to attend two great classes with Learning Tree. The first was Business Process Reengineering (BPR) for a Competitive Advantage and the second Business Process Improvement (BPI). Both courses got me excited about the opportunities we have to make a more streamlined and effective organization, especially with all of the possibilities inspired by new technology.

The first step of when assessing the need for change is to determine the scope and make a decision on the degree of alteration needed. Will there need to be change at the operational level that focuses on the 'how' of a process (BPI), or will there need to be a strategic change that re-conceptualizes the business and focuses on the 'why' (BPR)?

In general, a BPI is something that will not require a mindset change for the customer or the business. It will focus on small, incremental benefits and will have a localized scope. It will also have a much more restricted amount of risk. BPI involves identifying, analyzing, and improving an existing process.

BPR will have a substantial amount of change and carry much greater risk often resulting in a paradigm shift for the organization or business unit. It would be used when an organization faces continuing, ongoing crisis or a dramatic change from either inside or outside factors such as product change, economic conditions, or service model.

Determining the best approach will help the organization choose a course of action necessary to successfully make the changes necessary at the most efficient level possible. Once identified, the team can be established, and the creative thinking can begin. In the next blog I'll discuss some ways to assemble an effective team that drive the process changes forward. One way is to look at what kind of thinker you are. We've all heard of right brain/left brain, but do you know what you are?

SharePoint Adoption

2011-12-21T12:00:00.000-06:00

I was able to participate in a Forrester Research teleconference where they highligted that SharePoint adoption continues to grow along with the promise of it addressing a wide range of technology and business needs. This teleconference highlights their latest survey- and interview-based research on SharePoint adoption, realities, and promise. It focuses on patterns of adoption for the various functional areas of SharePoint, the levels of satisfaction with specific areas of functionality, requirements for third-party product support, and other key success criteria.

The agenda:

Profiles of organizations using SharePoint
Levels of adoption and satisfaction by functional workload
Why Office 365 will matter

Vendors mentioned: AvePoint, Axceler, Bamboo Solutions, KWizCom, K2, Metalogix Software, Microsoft, NewsGator Technologies, Nintex, Quest, Yammer

You can access the slides here: http://sharepoint.heart.org/nat/TCS/EVP/m/Shared%20Documents/SharePoint%202010%20Adoption%20-%20Forrester%20deck.ppt

U. S. Chamber is hacked

2011-12-21T10:00:00.000-06:00

A group of hackers in China breached the computer defenses of America's top business-lobbying group and gained access to everything stored on its systems, according to several people familiar with the matter, the WSJ reports. http://on.wsj.com/sMsLe9

Just one more example of how we need to vigilant.

Taking shots at the ICANN proposal

2011-12-21T07:12:00.000-06:00

There have been a lot of letters flying around over the plan by ICANN to greatly expand the world of Internet domain names beyond existing ones, such as .com and .net. ICANN begins taking applications for new names on Jan. 12, and there are efforts to get the nonprofit that oversees Internet names to slow down its process or start small.

Most recently, Reps. Bob Goodlatte and Howard Berman wrote to Secretary of Commerce John Bryson asking that the department “take steps necessary to delay the rollout” of the new top level domains until more analysis of the costs and benefits can be done. The department should also encourage ICANN to limit the expansion to a small pilot program, they said. The congressional leaders ask for a response to their letter, which included a series of questions, by Jan. 5. (Full letter: http://politico.pro/vVkI6E )

That follows a letter from the FTC’s commissioners, issued last week, asking ICANN to take steps to mitigate the “potential for significant consumer harm resulting from the unprecedented increase in new gTLDs.” Full letter: http://politico.pro/vpt86x

I am not thinking ICANN will back down. They don't report to any department of the Federal Government. They did at one time but we decided they shouldn't report to us. Early on in the development of the Internet, domain names were administered by a research institute on behalf of the US Department of Defense. In 1998, the US Government transferred coordination of the domain name system to a ICANN itself.

Is Twitter just for people who like to say what they ate for lunch?

2011-12-20T14:00:00.000-06:00

Is Twitter just for people who like to say what they ate for lunch? Is it a useless tool for self gratification?

I don’t think so. Here is a great resource on who to follow for leadership ideas. Tom Peters is one of my favorites.

http://blog.kevineikenberry.com/leadership/top-leadership-tweeters/

Boise Idaho Staff = Lync First Hand Experience

2011-12-20T11:41:00.006-06:00

The video says it all :)

Wait till I tell them today they can take Lync calls on their cell phones! Maybe they'll be as giddy as I was!

Lync - Mobile Client Comparison

2011-12-20T08:49:00.004-06:00

As already posted, the Lync 2010 Mobile Client for iPhone and iPad has now been released. Here's a link to a Technet article breaking down the features and capabilities among all the Microsoft Lync 2010 mobile clients and the Lync 2010 desktop client . There are lots of footnotes related to Lync Online and what features may or may not be available in our environment.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh691004.aspx

Lync 2010 iPhone App now available

2011-12-20T08:15:00.000-06:00

Good news, Lync 2010 is now available on the App Store. I just downloaded it to my iPhone, signed in using my email address and network password and I'm in, nice and simple!

How did being "on line" change things for you this year?

2011-12-20T07:29:00.002-06:00

We are all online now more than ever. So how did being online change things for you this year?

Here are some questions to help get the answers:

1.What business opportunities have you discovered through social media or other online channels this year?
2.What online tool did you start using this year that changed the way you work?
3.What online project helped you develop new knowledge or skills this year?
4.What is the most important business or personal relationship that began or grew online this year?
5.Which of 2011′s entertaining online discoveries have helped you bond with friends, family or colleagues?

I would love it if you would share your thoughts on any of these questions. What do you think?

IBM's 5 in 5

2011-12-19T15:20:00.000-06:00

Big Blue today released its sixth annual “IBM 5 in 5” — five innovations that “have the potential to change the way people work, live and interact during the next five years.” Here’s the CliffsNotes version: 1) Generating electric power through everything from your running shoes to water flowing into your home; 2) Eradicating passwords through facial and voice recognition technology; 3) Linking your thoughts to your devices (i.e. technological mindreading); 4) Wiping out the digital divide, thanks to mobile broadband advances; 5) Targeted ads so precise that spam ceases to exist. More here: http://bit.ly/uINd4p

Business Technology Framework After Action Review

2011-12-19T10:43:00.001-06:00

We are conduction an After Action review for our Business Technology Framework. Gloria is leading it. The purpose of this project was to create a repeatable consulting process that meshes business with technology planning to create a framework for marketing to AHA Customers resulting in higher Customer engagement.

Some of the project goals and objectives were:

Develop a consulting methodology to support the business technology transformation planning process.
Develop a methodology to create a customer path (cultivation strategy) to apply to top priority business programs, products and services.
Develop a set of consulting templates to support gathering the current state, future state and gap analysis per top priority programs, products and services.
Engage an external partner to assist in creating the methodologies and templates.
Choose a program, product or service from the National Service Center (NSC) to walk through creating and applying the consulting framework as a pilot test.
Choose a program, product or service from the Consumer Health team to walk through creating and applying the consulting framework as a pilot test.
Create a knowledge transfer method to educate the Business Relationship Managers (BRMs), Project Managers (PMs) and other interested TCS staff.

Well delivered in my opinion.

NYT: When data gets stolen...

2011-12-19T09:01:00.002-06:00

From New York Times: Digital Data on Patients Raises Risk of Breaches. Painful to read the fallout from one laptop stolen from a small not-for-profit...

Fitocracy

2011-12-16T09:07:00.001-06:00

This is a interesting concept, gamification of fitness.

http://www.fitocracy.com/

Technology Assessment - Why is it important

2011-12-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we met all day to begin the selection process for engaging an independant consultant for a technology assessment. Why is this important?

We have an obligation to ourCustomers, volunteers, donors and staff to use the funds we receive as efficiently and effectively as possible. We review internal business processes and costs periodically to ensure we are competitive with industry benchmarks. Evaluating processes is how competitive businesses ensure they maintain high standards and gain access to the latest technologies, the best available expertise and customer service at an affordable price. The needs of our Customers and most efficient use of our donor dollar will be pivotal considerations as AHA reviews and approves the decisions driven by the outcomes of this study.

We know we are good. We want to be better. Simple but not easy.

So ... we press on!!

How do you keep an IPAD sterile for the OR?

2011-12-15T13:59:00.003-06:00

According to this article from Wired Magazine, you clamp a sterile plastic bag around it. This is one thing mentioned in the article about continued IPAD use in health care. Doctors see the devices as a better alternative for information sharing with patients than having to interact with a desktop, monitors and mouse. VA hospital system is planning to roll out 100,000 IPADs and one IT exec managed to save a “doomed” online medical software system rollout by making it IPAD rather than PC-based. So the IPAD continues to show value in the healthcare vertical for information sharing and hopefully some of what they're all looking at is from AHA.

Technology Assessment goals and objectives

2011-12-15T10:06:00.001-06:00

Here are some of the goals and objectives we are looking at in our assessment. The potential partners we are interviewing are looking at methodologies to assess these.

1. Evaluate and select an assessment partner that is unconflicted with solutions or products.

2. Determine AHA’s current technology operational effectiveness and how to further improve (checks and balances, audits, processes and practices.)

3. Determine if AHA is efficiently staffing the technology function across the AHA including and if not, how to improve:

a. What are the technology staff needs Association-wide (Affiliate and National Center) and how can these needs be better addressed?

b. What are the implications on the technology staffing model?

4. Determine if the funding of operations by affiliates is still the most efficient funding model and if not, recommend an alternative model.

5. Determine if AHA has the proper focus and amount of technology spend compared to the impact. AHA has discipline around business value but the technology delivery may not materialize the value expected.

a. Determine if the enterprise application technology spend is realizing the business value.

b. Determine if the enterprise infrastructure spend is realizing the business value.

6. Determine if the prioritization of technology projects across businesses is effective and delivering the business value.

7. Assess how strategic technology is seen organizationally and how strategic AHA desires technology to be and how to get there.

8. Determine if the service level for AHA’s technology spend is better/worse/similar to other organizations.

9. Determine if AHA’s investment in future technologies is significant enough to keep AHA current with new trends.

10. Determine AHA’s competency at forecasting total cost of ownership (Example: CRM and sales process).

11. Deliver findings and recommendations to the Technology Steering Team, key stakeholders, ELC, SLT, CEO Cabinet.

12. Determine impact to AHA to implement recommendations.

Mobile Clients for Microsoft Lync

2011-12-15T10:01:00.004-06:00

Mobile Clients for Microsoft Lync have started to be released! The Lync 2010 client for Windows Phones is available in the Windows Marketplace and the client for Android is available in the Android Market. Clients for iPhone and iPad are currently being vetted and should be released in the near future. Available features will vary across platforms. I've experimented today with the Android client and was easily able to determine availability and IM with colleagues sitting at their computers as I rode in a car (driven by someone else!) Pretty cool. If you have a Windows Phone 7 or higher or an Android phone why not give these clients a try? For those of you waiting for an iOS version, hopefully the wait won't be much longer.

Technology Assessment Selection meeting

2011-12-15T08:52:00.000-06:00

In 2005, PricewaterhouseCoopers partnered with AHA to assess AHA's technology products and services. As a result, the following recommendations were implemented:

AHA combined 13 technology organizations into a single IT organization, association-wide

AHA shifted to an improved technology funding mode
Along with the AHA Leadership Team, AHA implemented a Technology Steering Team to govern AHA’s investment in technology.

TCS has provided a set of stable and efficient strategy, people, processes and technology services for AHA staff over the period since the implementation of the PwC recommendations, but can it be better? One additional recommendation from 2005, was to re-assess the technology products and services delivered periodically. This project is to conduct that follow-up assessment of technology investments compared to business value delivered.

Today we are launching the project with interviews of 4 potential consulting partners to assist with the assessment. Members of the Technology Steering Team are participating in the selection.

Google removes 22 app scams

2011-12-15T07:59:00.001-06:00

Google has removed 22 so-called “RuFraud” apps from its Android Market after it was discovered they could jack phones into sending out expensive text messages, the BBC reported Wednesday.

Google confirmed to the BBC that the apps, which included fake versions of Angry Birds, had been taken out due to security concerns.

The fake apps are believed to be Russian in origin, hence the RuFraud moniker.

Unlike Microsoft and Apple, Android apps are not vetted before being added to Google’s app store. While Android app stores run by such companies as Amazon offer greater security, industry watchers are becoming increasingly alarmed over the lack of patrolling of the Android marketplace.

Who owns an employee's Twitter and other online accounts? - Lexology

2011-12-15T07:35:00.000-06:00

Who owns an employee's Twitter and other online accounts? - Lexology

"Refreshing" Season

2011-12-13T16:56:00.005-06:00

Reflecting on 3 of the 9 offices I've completed thus far...

Being face to face in person with customers that I speak to but not necessarily see is enjoyable.

Customers getting excited about new equipment!

Customers being extremely nervous about new equipment.

Feeling like Santa when you hand them their 'toy/aka laptop'

I'm not only the 'computer guy/gal, trainer, extra person in their office, but I'm also a friend.

Everyone wants to visit/catch up while you're there with them. This is extremely tough because there is always a lot to do and little time.

I've become great as asking for spare keys, knowing alarm codes and making the coffee before anyone gets into the office.

I appreciate everyone's patience while I'm in their office distrupting their day with my noises, and huge boxes arriving.

I rearrange desks to fit new equipment, I might also sub in as janitorial staff if things need to be cleaned while I'm there.

Candy, cookies and treats are offered on a regular bases to keep me going, as staff can see the hard work I'm putting in. I try not to eat all thats offered. :)

Seeing a user light up when they grasp a new technology you show/teach them is extremely satisfying! And makes all the hard work with it!

TCS Management Team meeting - 12/13/2011

2011-12-13T09:44:00.002-06:00

Our TCS Management Team is meeting today. Great to see everyone. Very good agenda. Talking with Scott Johnson about the posibility of moving this blog to SharePoint.

Louisiana Infastructure Lite

2011-12-13T07:58:00.007-06:00

This past week I took a trip to Louisiana with Spencer Dyer to refresh computers and implement a telecom lite solution for the Metairie, LA office. I am happy to announce that this is the first state in GSA to go completely infrastructure lite.

Here are some photos of our new technology profile in Baton Rouge (left) and Metairie (right) offices.

Bad bosses and bad coaches, what kind are you?

2011-12-12T13:28:00.004-06:00

This slideshow by Jeff Schmitt gives a great insight on how direct reports feel about certain managerial styles and mistakes. What kind of boss are you? Do your leadership skills need an overhaul? Do these shortcomings sound familiar?

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/10/01/0119_bad_bosses/1.htm

New to Yammer? Two things you should know about...

2011-12-12T09:09:00.002-06:00

If you are new to Yammer, you should know two things… One is around email notifications. You can customize how Yammer notifies you of postings, buy clicking on MY PROFILE (in left hand menu), then click EDIT PROFILE (which is a button to the right of your name) and then click on NOTIFICATIONS (in the left menu). You’ll then see a whole range of customizations you can choose from to get just the right Yammer notification level for you. For example, you can tell Yammer to “Send me a digest of message activity…” NEVER, DAILY or WEEKLY. Or you can set up an RSS feed to stay in touch and turn off all the other email notifications.
The second thing you should know about is Yammer Groups. Various staff have set up over 90 special interest groups for work-related topics. For example, there are Advocacy, Social Media, Sharepoint and Iphone groups for folks that want to share ideas or get an answer to a question in those areas. Some groups are more active than others, but the active ones really are great for “boundary-less” collaboration and building new professional relationships. Which is what Yammer is all about, after all!

Individual Giving and Charitable Estate Planning eCRM kick off

2011-12-10T10:43:00.001-06:00

This week I had the pleasure to attend the Individual Giving and Charitable Estate Planning eCRM (a Blackbaud SaaS tool) kick off on Wednesday. Everyone is excited to launch a new CRM tool for these two business units. This is another one of our projects for the Future of CRM program and funded by the Technology Steering Team.

The attached link will take you to the slide presentation from the kick off– please feel free to browse it online or download a copy.

We are off to a great start – the project management team will start the scheduling of the design workshops and training in the upcoming weeks.

Blackbaud / AHA year end update meeting

2011-12-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

We met with our partner Blackbaud on Tuesday. We meet with them twice a year so this is the year end update. Always good to check in with this team which is so important to our Walk events.

American Heart Association Attendees: Bill Plungis, Brenda Clevenger, Carrie Cork, Chip Sugrue, Christian Caldwell, Coker Gamble, Deepa Karani, Eric Snow, Jana Bearden, Jodie Kolkowski, Leah Swanson, Linda McManis, Michael Wilson, Todd LeCocq

Blackbaud Attendees: Charlie Cumbaa, Kim Romaszewski, Mark Davis, Marty Goetzinger, Rebecca Nevin, Sheilla Smith, Steve McLaughlin

You take a peek at the agenda here. It was a great meeting. Some highlight information from Carrie:

Participants that use Mobile (Android or iPhone) raise 213% more than the average participant
Participants that use Mobile (Android or iPhone) reach 313% more people than the average participant (reach as measured by gift count)
Participants that use iPhone raise 240% more than the average participant
Participants that use Android raise 169% more than the average participant
Participants that use Social Share raise 141% more than the average participant
Participants that use Mobile and Social Share raise 588% more than the average participant
Participants that don’t use Social Share or Mobile App tools return below average fundraising results

Here are a couple of slide decks from the meeting.

Blackbaud benchmarks
Social media results from Carrie

How to: Compressing photos in Office 2010

2011-12-07T15:45:00.005-06:00

As you well know, pictures can dramatically increase the file size of your documents. Here is a quick job aid on how to accomplish image compression with minimal loss within Office 2010 applications. I have personally seen files that were 60MB reduced to 6MB with minimal effort using the technique below.

1. Click the picture that you want to compress.
2. Under Picture Tools, on the Format tab, in the Adjust group, click Compress Pictures.

Note: If you do not see the Picture Tools and Format tabs, make sure that you selected a picture. You may have to double-click the picture to select it and open the Format tab. If you see the Drawing Tools tab, rather than the Picture Tools tab, see When I click a picture, the Drawing Tools tab rather than the Picture Tools tab appears.

3. To compress the selected picture only and not all of the pictures in the document, select the Apply to selected pictures only check box.

ICANN's expansion of generic Top Level Domains is resulting in a Senate hearing

2011-12-07T07:39:00.001-06:00

ICANN’S January 2012 expansion of top level domains has resulted in a U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation full committee hearing to “examine the merits and implications of this new program and ICANN’s continuing efforts to address concerns raised by the Internet community.”

The hearing will be held Thursday, December 8, at 10:00 a.m. EST. Apparently the public can virtually attend the Senate Commerce Committee hearing via a webcast.

GSA Refresh Going very well

2011-12-06T23:34:00.000-06:00

The refresh in Louisiana is going pretty well with Randy tagging along on this trip, though we had I minor IP printing hiccup in our serverless offices but that was solved by Jim Ryan. We should hopefully be finishing up tomorrow, then we head home.

What does customer experience maturity look like?

2011-12-06T20:29:00.001-06:00

We are focusing a lot of attention on customer experience. And we should. It is very important to us.

So, what does customer experience maturity look like? Read more here.

Security Concern or Market Share Play?

2011-12-06T09:23:00.001-06:00

From WSJ: Google Inc. said late on Monday that Verizon Wireless is blocking it from installing an app called Google Wallet on a new line of smartphones powered by its Android software. Verizon this month will begin selling the Galaxy Nexus, a smartphone developed by Google and Samsung Electronics Co., but it won't include an app that is key to Google's attempt to tap the local-business advertising market.
A Google spokesman said Verizon asked it not to include Google Wallet on the new Galaxy Nexus and that consumers won't be able to download it through the Android app market. "Verizon asked us not to include this functionality in the product," the spokesman said in a statement, without elaborating on the reason behind Verizon's move. "We're working to provide expanded services that will provide the best security and user experience in the market around m-commerce," Verizon Wireless spokesman Jeffrey Nelson said. "We expect to provide access to an open wallet when those goals are achieved."

PTO and e1 approvals, Sharepoint, CRM on your mobile device

2011-12-05T14:56:00.008-06:00

TCS staff recently surveyed selected AHA staff across the country to ask what software-related tasks would help the most if they could be done on mobile devices. We got some clear answers. Staff said they wanted to be able to use their mobile devices to:
• Approve Expense Reports
• Approve PTO requests or request time off themselves
• Update customer records in Siebel (sponsorship, goal, sales status, event date etc.)
• Open up docs in Sharepoint.

Staff said the benefit from mobilizing these tasks would be:
• Enabling better interaction on-site with customers (while setting goals, for example)
• Faster turn-around time on approvals.
• Making use of down time while traveling.
• Avoiding need to go into an AHA office.

The good news on this is that we are further down the road then most of us realize. Basically, if you have an IPAD and a stylus, most of this is doable now. Smartphones also have various access to the programs, but the screen size is limiting; making it a little difficult to navigate with ease. Here are the specifics:
Approving Expense reports: If you have an IPad, the ITAP RDP app to get to WebNet and an IPad stylus, you can approve expense reports. The software works fine and you can see it on the IPad’s screen. Use ITAP RDP to get to WebNet, open up E1 with the browser and go to town. You pretty much need a stylus to click where you would with your mouse. If you need help making ITAP’s double-click function work for you, let me know- there is a trick that’s hard to describe here. Technically this should all work on an IPHONE, Android or other Smartphone also, but the screen is so small, I am assuming it would be painful to do. TSC will be looking into further options to make this task more accessible on Smartphones.
PTO requests: This app is in the cloud and accessible via the browser, so that means you can go directly to it on your IPAD or Smartphone. You don’t need ITAP or WebNet. Use the URL https://time-entry-aha.workforcehosting.com. (Save this as a bookmark or favorite so you don’t have to type it in everytime.) Login as usual and complete the tasks. This is more doable on a Smartphone, too, but still a little small for my eyes anyway.
Customer Record Updates: The good news here is MS Dynamics-- the new CRM system AHA is moving too-- is also cloud-based and accessible “out of the box.” As business groups move onto MS Dynamics, they should check out the mobility features. TCS is not focused on Siebel mobility work, as that app is being retired.
Sharepoint: You can get to sharepoint from a mobile device. In your browser, type in Sharepoint.heart.org. Login using heart/first.lastname and your usual AHA network password. You should be able to navigate through the app just fine and get to the documents you want to view. This is much like e1. You’ll find it usable on an Ipad, and not much fun on a Smartphone.

Enabling staff access to AHA technology systems while out and about doing AHA's mission is an important TCS mobility strategy. As TCS continues to make steps forward in these areas, we will make sure to spread the word.

Learn to swim in the ocean of big data

2011-12-05T14:46:00.004-06:00

Business Intelligence is more important then you know. If you don't have a way to analyze it your intuition about what your customers want and do could lead you astray.

Learn More ....

An update I like

2011-12-05T11:16:00.001-06:00

We all do updates on our work. That is one of the things I love about our world. Here is an example of one I got this weekend from Jon Gerush. He leads with Business Value projects. Great way to grab business staff leadership attention I think. Do you have other examples to share? What are the best practices in this area?

Going Viral Visualized

2011-12-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

Web Volunteer Button Kudos

2011-12-05T05:30:00.000-06:00

If you haven't checked out the new "Volunteer Button" at the top of our http://www.heart.org/ website, please do so. The web development team is getting lots of kudos for making it happen. Here are a couple.

I just wanted to take a moment to say how terrific Mukesh has been in developing the online form for volunteers. He is very creative, moves quickly to make things happen and goes even beyond what you request (with a great mobile version of the form, as an example). Of course I can’t say I’m surprised, as this is the experience I’ve always had when working on a project with Mukesh. Thank you to your team for making this form a reality and for being so flexible as we have had changes and learnings along the way. ~~Robyn Landry

Here is another.

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your terrific vision, execution and support in making this webform happen. It's not very often that we launch something and see results within minutes -- that's really pretty amazing!

Let's hope during these early days we continue to get submissions, but at a rate that's manageable for us while we are learning!

You guys are really terrific. THANK YOU!

And from launch night.

Ditto on what Robyn said. You guys are rock stars. And so patient with us, too! Thank you. ~~Janice Kercheville

AHA Adds Volunteer Button to Website….Sees Immediate Results

2011-12-04T17:07:00.002-06:00

Last Thursday, AHA did a “soft launch of our volunteer button on the heart.org website. A small group of us have been working on this project for the last few months. The button is similar to the “donate” button in the upper right hand corner of our page.

For the first time, we will be able to capture information from those that visit the heart.org web page who are interested in volunteering to support our mission. This concept was developed by volunteers and staff who are part of several project teams to drive our Vision for Volunteerism.

Those who click on the volunteer button will have the opportunity to select from a list of identified volunteer opportunities. Here is a link to the prototype of the volunteer web form: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9143598/Volunteer/mocks_v3.html.
As of 5:00 p.m. Sunday we have had 27 people indicate that they would like to become an American Heart Association volunteer. Here are some interesting facts regarding where the volunteers are coming from and what activities they are selecting.

Breakdown of volunteer requests by affiliate:
FDA 5
GRA 3
GSA 4
MAA 3
MWA 1
SWA 3
WSA 6
We have had two requests from outside the United States (New Delhi and West Africa).

Almost all of the 27 have selected more than one activity that they might be interested in getting involved with. Here is a breakdown by activity:

Science 14
GRFW Heart Match 7
Stroke Connection Sharegivers 7
My Heart My Life 11
Walking Clubs 5
CPR 5
You’re the Cure 15
Heart Ball 15
GRFW 17
Power to End Stroke 15
Heart Walk 16
JRFH/Hoops 13
GWTG 3
Mission Life Line 4

The next step is for our Customer Contacts at the affiliate level to work with local office staff to make contact with each of these potential volunteers to provide additional information on the local volunteer opportunities available. Those that have selected Science activities will be contacted by National Center staff.

We still have some tweaks and adjustments to make with the site, but if we continue to average 9 people expressing interest each day, in one year we will have recruited more than 3,200 additional volunteers to support our mission.

Many thanks to all who worked on the project.

National Service Center November reports

2011-12-02T17:30:00.001-06:00

The National Service Center does such an amazing job exceeding the expectations of our customers. The November report, broken down by Affiliate territory just came out. Take a minute to look and see how they are doing.

360 View of the Donor

2011-12-02T13:56:00.001-06:00

Chip Sugrue and I had the opportunity this week to meet with the Executive Leadership Cabinet (ELC). The ELC is made up of the Affiliate EVP's and the NC C-Suite staff. Nancy Brown leads it. Chip and Tanya Edwards made the presentation. There is lots of great background in it so you may want to take a quick peek at it.

We had a great conversation about where we are and what the opportunities are for us down the road.

Here are some follow up items we are pursuing.

Chip will report back to the ELC at the May 15-16, 2012 meeting with the gains/progress attained through the work of the Data Governance/Data Steering team.
A cultivation plan and strategies for 2011-12 will be ready to share with the ELC by February 2012. The longer-term strategy will be ready to share with the ELC by May 2012. Tanya will add Cor Vitae to this plan and she and the project team will reach out to the ELC members between now and the end of the year for their recommendations/thoughts.
The ELC agreed that we should prioritize Cor Vitae data clean-up first. Chip will loop back with the ELC members prior to the holidays regarding what they need to do specifically to prepare for the launch of Cor Vitae.
We will develop a recommendation on what the broad vision for the new system should be with regards to how easy it will be to access, use and maintain the data.
Each Affiliate EVP and Chip will work with customer staff to clean up as much data as possible by December 31, 2011.

Please let me know if you have ideas you would like to share.

Partnering with Goliath

2011-12-02T13:05:00.002-06:00

Earlier this week a few people on a project team were issued an ultimatum by one of the largest companies in the world. We had already fulfilled our end of the deal, but records on their end were showing something different.

The next day I went to a local store in town. I met the owner and learned he lived in the shop, was the only employee, and devoted 100% of his effort to making me a happy customer.

It made me acutely aware of how different the world is with companies that are so big and offer a service we're so dependent on that they can afford to lose customers. What kind of responsibility and action can I take on my end to earn the position of a valued customer? How can i partner with our vendors so that a symbiotic relationship is ensured? And when that relationship is being abused, how do I make sure I react wisely and appropriately?

I know some simple answers to this such as focusing on the facts, assessing the big picture and not just the transaction, and bringing light to the value I bring as the customer. But I'm going to be researching more tools and am curious if anyone has any other suggestions.

It is also a reminder that we are the Goliath to some of our customers, and we need to be empathetic to the position they are in. They need to be treated so that they know our relationship is mutually valuable. I'll certainly try to avoid ever issuing an ultimatum.

My experiences were never as extreme as these, but here are a couple of my favorite David vs. Goliath stories:

Eat More Kale

Homeowner Forecloses on BoA

Why are we going online?

2011-12-02T12:16:00.001-06:00

Americans are going online to pass the time more than they were just a few years ago, according to a new study.

A report from Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found that about 53% of young adults ages 18 to 29 go online on any given day for no particular reason except for a diversion or just for fun. About 81% of people in this demographic said they have done so at least occasionally.
And I thought it was to read the AHA Technology blog. :)

Where is the Cloud going by 2015?

2011-12-02T12:00:00.000-06:00

Where is the Cloud going over the next few years?

According to Forrester's projection, the global market for cloud computing will grow from $40.7 billion in 2011 to more than $241 billion in 2020. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) will play the most dominant role and will be an estimated market of about $80 billion in 2015. SaaS will especially disrupt the customer relationship management (CRM), HR, and governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) software markets in coming years, and it has already disrupted other software categories such as content management and ePurchasing solutions.

Chrome inches out Firefox to take #2 brower position

2011-12-02T08:35:00.003-06:00

Wall Street Journal reported recently that Chrome has edged out Firefox to take the number two "most used" browser position. MS Internet Explorer still holds #1 spot with 40% of market share, according to the website analytics company StatCounter. By their count, IE had 60% of the share just three years ago. I remember when IE blew away Netscape and owned the brower market. Things change.

Applicant Tracking System Project

2011-12-02T08:26:00.001-06:00

We are excited about a new project to replace our current Applicant Tracking System. The purpose of this project is to replace our current Human Resource Applicant Tracking System, Kenexa, with a more automated, robust tool through a vendor called, SilkRoad. This project has two phases. Phase 1, Open Hire, will implement three online portals: a Candidate/New Hire portal, internal recruting/ hiring manager portal and a Volunteer portal. Phase 2, Red Carpet, will implement an internal process that will automate the process of setting up a new hire with all necessary equipment, passwords, access, etc. prior to their start date. Below is some upcoming work for both phases

Open Hire:

- Test final load of Kenexa data.

- Complete system-wide HRIS integration to PeopleSoft.

- Complete draft of the Scope document.

- Complete training documentation and schedule training meetings

Red Carpet:

- Schedule/ hold initial process maping sessions.

- Schedule sub-group demo sessions.

- Finalize Red Carpet project statement.

Spyware or Service Monitoring Tool?

2011-12-01T09:07:00.001-06:00

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/12/01/carrier-iq-snoops-on-us-cell-users-spyware-or-service-monitoring-tool/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=status+message&utm_campaign=naked+security

This could have been about us...

2011-12-01T08:29:00.001-06:00

From CIO Mag... "How one CIO broke Microsoft's grip...

Think You Are a Wiz at Google Search?

2011-11-30T16:58:00.003-06:00

I did, until I saw this great infographic on Mashable. Cool stuff like...
Are you searching for a PDF file? Add filetype:pdf to your search.

Cor Vitae Phase I Delivered

2011-11-30T10:29:00.003-06:00

Another Micro site http://corvitae.heart.org/designed and developed by TCS went live last night. Thanks to hard work of the team members (Mukesh, Leon, Tu, Mallik and Paul); we could get the site up in 2 weeks to meet the business timeline. This is the Phase I deliverable and there are some major enhancements planned for Phase II.

Cor Vitae Society and new technology

2011-11-30T08:19:00.001-06:00

The Technology Steering Team has funded a new project for the Cor Vitae Society. Cor Vitae “Heart of Life” is AHA’s newest Philanthropic Giving Society. The purpose of Cor Vitae is to encourage the donor to engage through stewardship and cultivation, learn the donor’s affinity and interest to deepen their relationship with the AHA, and develop a lifetime relationship between donor and the AHA. All donors who give $5,000 or more to the AHA within a calendar year are welcomed as members of Cor Vitae. Gifts that count towards membership include: all gifts from individuals to the AHA through any pathway, excluding auction and restricted gifts for the year that they are given. There are three levels of recognition and each comes with its own member benefits:

$ 5,000 – $ 9,999
$ 10,000 – $24,999
$ 25,000 – $49,999

Society members are presented with many opportunities to serve their community, so why do they choose the American Heart Association?

Connection: members experience a unique connectivity with other like-minded individuals
Access: members have exclusive access to AHA leadership
High Touch: members are provided with personal touch, geared towards their affinity and interests.

We have funded a project to update the current site. Some of the deliverables are to:

1. Create a new Site with a landing page, this page has the information about the program.

2. Landing page has the link to a form, user will submit the information in the form

3. Email is sent to an email group with the content submitted via the form

4. Content is also stored in the database for later use

5. Confirmation of form submission is displayed to the user.

We are so excited about helping with this very important fund raising initiave.

Stanford U free iOS online classes

2011-11-29T11:19:00.002-06:00

Stanford University offers iOS app development class for free through iTunes U

Says basic iOS app development is not covered in the course, meaning you have to already know Objective-C if you hope to learn anything.

Cloud Security: Better Than We Think?

2011-11-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

I have been having a lot of conversations about how secure Cloud computing is or isn’t. I have given briefings to our Audit Committee. One of my points has been that in many cases it can be more secure than traditional IT infrastructure.

"Conventional wisdom says clouds are inherently insecure.

But are they? Or are clouds actually more secure than conventional IT environments? A growing number of technologists are making that argument. And they're not cloud vendors or marketers or startups who have placed their bet on the cloud. They're some of the senior-most technology officials in government, including those from intelligence agencies and the military, which might be the last place you'd expect to hear such talk."

Cloud Security: Better Than We Think? - Government - Cloud/SaaS - Informationweek

No pain; No gain?

2011-11-23T10:48:00.003-06:00

So how do leaders learn to be leaders? The Center for Creative Leadership says it’s a 70-10-10 kind of ratio: challenging assignments (70 percent), developmental relationships (20 percent) and coursework and training (10 percent). So what does the 70% look like? Apparently there are five universally important sources of experiences that grow leadership. It’s what you learn from:
• Bosses and superiors
• Turnarounds
• Increases in job scope
• Horizontal moves
• New initiatives
The Center says, “To adapt and grow, leaders need to be constantly involved in new experiences and challenges that, by their very nature, foster learning. Some of these new opportunities will come their way through new jobs, crises or significant challenges.” I guess they are saying if you’re not being challenged, you’re not learning… If so, ask your boss for a new assignment that will let you stretch your wings. They’ll love you for it.
Here’s the Center’s latest newletter…

Dynamic Delivery: Good for the Customer and the American Heart Association

2011-11-23T09:51:00.002-06:00

For the last few years we have been asking our National Service Center customers if they would like to receive the lifesaving information they are requesting via e-mail vs. snail mail. The opportunity to receive our information immediately rather than waiting 10-14 days is appealing to many of our customers. On average, about 9,000 customers per month take us up on the offer. This represents about 40%-50% of the customers who contact the National Service Center each month for information. Not only is it a great way to provide educational information to our customers, Dynamic Delivery saves our organization hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in print and postage costs. Last year, more than $200,000 was saved.
Recently, we wanted to find out if our Dynamic Delivery customers were interested in donating. About a year ago, we added a donate button to the Dynamic Delivery templates. What we found is that many of our Dynamic Delivery customers, who donate, donate within 24-48 hours of receipt of our e-mail message. We need more analysis, but one can make an assumption that the customer liked the information they received and responded with a donation.
Last year, Dynamic Delivery customers gave more than $184,000 to support our mission. Amazing since providing educational information and not raising money, is the Dynamic Delivery goal. The donate button provides an opportunity. How are we doing this year? Well, through October, Dynamic Delivery has raised $80,759 with an average gift of $77.06, a 144% increase over the previous year. This compares to $33,047 and an average gift of $72.95 last year. The average gift is about $15.00 more than what we see from our heart.org online donors in a given month.
We have sent out over 38,000 Dynamic Delivery e-mails since July and received 1,048 gifts. This is up substantially (131%) from the same time last year when we received 459 gifts. Our response rate so far this year is a respectable 2.71%. Our largest gift this year is a $10,000 donation that was received about two weeks after we provided a Dynamic Delivery e-mail on Health Care.
We have also looked at what Dynamic Delivery e-mail templates produce donations. As an example, last month, the Cholesterol e-mail template was sent to 666 customers and generated 45 gifts averaging $49.93. This was a great response rate of 6.76% and raised $2,846.00.
We are learning more about our Dynamic Delivery customers each day. My sincere thanks to all our National Service Center staff, especially Pat Bolivar, Danielle Henry and Robin McDonald for their support of our Dynamic Delivery effort. I also want to thank Maureen Ryan and Chandra Reddy for their work in putting together tools and analyzing the information generated by these customers.
I am certain as we continue through the 2011-2012 fiscal year we will continue to see more donations and additional opportunities to engage these customers in our lifesaving work.

Service Level Agreement Update

2011-11-23T07:33:00.001-06:00

The technology SLA results for the first quarter of this year have been updated. While this is “keep the lights on” kind of stuff, keeping the lights on is important. We got off to a strong start and continue to pay focused attention to our service responsiveness as well as looking for unfilled business needs technology can address. Here is the detail.

Is your teacher an app?

2011-11-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

Now this is radical thinking and it clearly has some big advantages and big disadvantages. My guess is that more and more of our world, including education, will move to be “virtual”, including the social aspects.

"In a radical rethinking of what it means to go to school, states and districts nationwide are launching online public schools that let students from kindergarten to 12th grade take some—or all—of their classes from their bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens. Other states and districts are bringing students into brick-and-mortar schools for instruction that is largely computer-based and self-directed."

Very balanced article from the WSJ. Online Education: My Teacher Is an App - WSJ.com

Check out Yammer's new "Entertainment Technologies" group

2011-11-22T14:16:00.002-06:00

You know tech people LOVE their gadgets and the holidays are right in front of us, so pay a visit to the new yammer group "Entertainment Technologies" (or you could just call it "GADGET FEST") if you have a few Christmas presents to buy.
Actually, this is a great example of how flexible a communications tool like Yammer is. Somebody with a passion (in this case tech stuff) can instantly set up a group and share information at no new technology cost to AHA. Pretty cool.

Future of CRM Program Update

2011-11-22T08:06:00.001-06:00

In early 2010, we decided to analyze our customer relationship management (CRM) ecosystem including our technologies, total costs, usage, and benefits. We concluded that some our CRM solutions were too complex, which discouraged usage and impacted overall customer data quality, which minimized the value of the our CRM investment. This underscored the need for us to better align the management of customer interactions to key business processes to cultivate, renew and strengthen relationships in order to meet our impact goals. In July 2010, the Executive Leadership Cabinet approved the Future of CRM Program, which included a number of initiatives intended to improve the overall effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of our CRM strategies and efforts going forward. In December 2010, we selected Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which is a cloud based solution, as our primary CRM application. MS Dynamics will ultimately replace Siebel, which will be phased out over a several year timeframe. The implementation of this program is driven by our CRM Strategy Steering team and a Program Management team comprised of various subject matter experts, senior leadership, and staff from TCS. Currently, ECC HeartQuarters and National Corporate Relations are live with MS Dynamics. Here is a quick status report on the program components.

The Microsoft Dynamics pilot projects for ECC HeartQuarters and Corporate Relations are complete. Both businesses launched on AHA’s new Enterprise CRM tool, Microsoft Dynamics, in July.

Microsoft Dynamics Upgrade – One of the great things about Cloud/SaaS (Software As A Service) tools is the seamless upgrade process. Twice a year Microsoft releases major enhancements and new functionality for Dynamics. The 2011 Q4 release has some very cool enhancements, and the great thing about the cloud, they are already deployed to AHA’s CRM environment and ready for us to enable and use. Thought you might be interested in some of the detail and a very good YouTube video.

360 Marketing Analytics and the Customer Value Framework - The team is conducting vendor evaluations for the development and implementation of an Enterprise marketing strategy for concepts such as: 1) a customer value framework, 2) customer score carding and segmentation, 3) customer prospecting, 4) and customer pathing for cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.

Strategy Steering Team - The SST recently met for three days in September to discuss CRM data quality, program change management, and program strategies and objectives. The team will be focused in the weeks ahead on completing work for: 1) Golden Record implementation, 2) establishing an Enterprise Data Governance team, 3) implementing an account hierarchy in Microsoft Dynamics, 4) CRM training plans for large field staff deployments, 5) Senior Leadership involvement and stakeholder management.

Microsoft Dynamics Implementation - Quality Initiatives - The Business Impact Analysis (requirements gathering) for QI is almost complete. The core project team is being formed, and the kick-off for implementation is expected to take place in the next 1-2 weeks.

Blackbaud Implementation - Individual Giving & Charitable Estate Planning - The contract for Blackbaud CRM is executed; the software selection project is complete. The core team is formed, and the kick-off for implementation is expected to occur in November.

Microsoft Dynamics Implementation – Local Sponsorship Business Impact Analysis- Requirement process in work but behind schedule.

Microsoft Dynamics Implementation – Volunteerism Business Impact Analysis- Requirement process in work but behind schedule.

Microsoft Dynamics Implementation - Microsoft Dynamics Implementation-ECC Corporate and Community – ECC has requested that we accelerate delivery. We are processing an intake to make it happen.

Training - AHU class for Dynamics 101 training and how AHA is using it is in development. Expected delivery timeframe in January. Kimberly Chaffins is providing monthly Dynamics instructor lead training opportunities for AHA staff who are interested. During project implementation, the training approach is a combination of the AHU class, the monthly training opportunities, and several days of instructor lead training for the entire business group on their specific processes. For large field staff deployments, the SST is working through recommendations to redesign the Siebel model of trainers based in each affiliate who can help drive business process training during implementation and with new field staff. (As FYI on background, I’ve attached an email with some of the recommendations the SST is working through). The SST is on schedule to finalize affiliate training recommendations by 11/18. The QI implementation will be the first group to adopt these recommendations.

Change Management - Kimberly Chaffins is the assigned change management officer who recently obtained certification in the Prosci 3-phase OCM process. The focus over the last several months has been with monthly stakeholder assessment meetings with the BRMs, and building a general awareness of the Future of CRM initiative across several all staff communications. Based on feedback from the CRM pilot and discussions in the SST, there is a need to retool executive sponsorship engagement efforts. The recommendation is a group of executive leadership across NAT and each affiliate needs to be formed with a sponsorship coaching plan developed specific to each individual. The expectation for executive sponsors is active participation through direct communication with their management staff on program objectives and adoption of Microsoft Dynamics. To reinforce long term adoption, the recommendation is to deliver specialized CRM training and dashboards for the management layer directly below the executive sponsors. The expectation is that this management layer would use Dynamics to obtain their customer pipeline and goal reporting needs thus driving the use and adoption of the sales / field staff.

Business Process Development - It’s expected that implementation for a specific business group would not start until after they have a defined customer business process, and their existing data integration and reporting needs are documented. To facilitate this work a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) framework has been developed. The Technology and Customer Strategies Business Relationship Managers are in charge of leading the BIA with their business groups, and they have received 8+ hours on Dynamics architecture training and 8+ hours of BIA framework training. QI has successfully completed the BIA. ECC, Sponsorship, and Volunteerism are in progress with the BIA.

The Salvation Army is innovating with mobile credit card readers

2011-11-22T06:00:00.000-06:00

The Salvation Army was formed in 1891 and is 120 years old now. This year's red kettle campaign will feature the use of mobile credit card readers from Square. Square is a point-of-purchase gadget that snaps onto smartphones. Sprint is providing the smartphones to the kettle ringers.

Pretty cool and very innovative. Read more about it here.

Vision for Volunteerism

2011-11-21T09:30:00.001-06:00

We have a project for the Vision for Volunteerism that is completing tasks associated with migration to SharePoint 2010 and then to the extranet instance of SharePoint 2010. We are pleased to announce that Community Plan Tool is now live on the extranet. The project team is currently monitoring post-production go live of tool and assisting Robyn’s team with logistical support of the tool. No issues have been reported as of the last status report I received. Here is an example for Rochester NY and my favorite Dallas, TX.

Android x86

2011-11-21T08:13:00.002-06:00

Did you ever want to try Android, but did not want to purchase a smartphone to evaluate it? Well, with a little technical elbow grease you can now make Android boot off of a USB flash drive and run on your existing computer. Follow the links below to download an Android image and a tool to create a bootable USB drive. I can see this being a helpful support tool with getting our teams acclimated with the many flavors of Android.

Android X86 Project - Information about the Project
Android Files - Direct download Android ISO files
UNetbootin - Tool to create a bootable USB flash drive

A Computer on a USB Drive

2011-11-20T08:24:00.002-06:00

Click through to see an article about a computer built into a USB drive. It uses the Android operating system and works with PC, Mac, and TV's.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/11/20/entire-computer-built-into-usb-thumb-drive/?test=faces

Cloud Security Alliance's Cloud Securtiy Registry

2011-11-18T15:59:00.002-06:00

It used to be all I heard was "cloud security" was an oxymoron. Working through everything AHA needs contracts around this has been a challenge. Here's something new, a Cloud Security Registry that I hope will be well adopted and make things a little easier for those of us trying to evaluate vendors. I am not naive enought to think this is the panacea but it is progress.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/244127/google_microsoft_join_new_cloudsecurity_registry.html

Mobile App Security

2011-11-18T14:25:00.002-06:00

While I hope this isn't the golden age of relative security on mobile devices, more and more signs point to increased threats to our beloved phones, tablets, and slates. I dread the day when I have to choose 1 of 1000 anti-virus programs for my phone. But that being said, the reality of compromised devices is already out there and it's tough to deny that the threats are growing.

Being someone who loves to try out any and all apps I can get my hands on, I found this article interesting and a good reminder that there are malicious intentions out there, and a little common sense can go a long way.

And while i'm on the topic, please don't hesistate to ever share your new mobile app discoveries. I'm fascinated that a simple game like Angry Birds can claim such dominence on mobile entertainment. The next Angry Birds has to be out there somewhere, right?

How to Protect Your Smartphone from Bad Apps

Facebook: Website killer - iMediaConnection.com

2011-11-18T13:12:00.001-06:00

Description

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Consumerization of IT: How IT Benefits From and Enables Use of Emerging Technology

2011-11-18T09:06:00.004-06:00

Consumerization for IT and Emerging Technologies really can be quite fascinating and it is comforting to know we are heading in the right direction in this area. Cloud computing /solutions are key components to all of this, and we have been engaging with it for quite some time now with tools like Lync and others.

This article helps confirm the benefit around all those efforts being made in this light, because such efforts will put us in a good strategic position -- which will likely help us raise more money and have the best staff in place to get the job done while focusing on the right things.

From a project management perspective, it is critical in today’s ever changing times to look at opportunities within projects to gain mobility and application improvements, increase the ability to work from anywhere, improve mobile collaboration, and provide simpler access to those things we are deploying. We must consider these components, and others coming into the landscape, in all our projects in order to not to miss out on a growing opportunity.

I hope you enjoy the read!

Consumerization of IT: How IT Benefits From and Enables Use of Emerging Technology

"Annoyed and Depressed"

2011-11-18T09:02:00.002-06:00

Here's a very good little blog about how Steve Jobs was "annoyed and depressed" after the introduction of the IPAD. Apparently his personal inbox filled up with emails from hundreds of people complaining about the IPAD's perceived shortcomings... and the devices weren’t even on the shelves yet! “No USB port? Are you crazy? No Flash? Come on!” The complaints kept coming in until April when the IPAD was finally available and consumers began to actually use the device and realize what a cool thing it really was. You could call it the “Green Eggs and Ham” syndrome. “Hey, I DO like green eggs and ham! I do! I do!” Two thoughts come to mind on this. First, isn’t it just our human nature to come to judgment quickly when new tools or ideas are presented to us- especially if it wasn’t our own idea? It’s a rare person that takes a minute to step back and let something play out a little before having an opinion on it. It’s a rare person—and also wise person, I think. Jumping the gun on an opinion puts us in the potential position of missing out on something really cool. The second thought comes from the other side of equation. Here is Steve Jobs, an amazing innovator and corporate leader in our time getting a virtual beating via his inbox. It’s pretty rough being a visionary, isn’t it? Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, describes his company as “we’re stubborn on vision and flexible on details,” He also has six points he says are critical for his companies astounding growth. Number 2 is about long-term thinking- 5 to 7 years, not 5 to 7 months. These two concepts tell me that he’s a leader that is willing to stand by a long term vision and can take a beating until “folks get it.” So a few question for us… How open are we really to change? How much of a beating are we willing to take for our vision?

Congratulate David Vose, 30 years at AHA

2011-11-17T18:09:00.001-06:00

David Vose just joined a very prestigious group at AHA, that of 30 year employees. This is not a typo, David starting working for AHA when he was in high school. His is skilled in many areas of technology and always approaches new challenges with a can do attitude. His current role is video conferencing guru and office infrastructure planning analyst.

David has held many positions with increasing responsibility through the years. He started his career with the Maine Affiliate. He worked at National Center, moved to the North Carolina Affiliate, next the MAA affiliate and now TCS and is based in Austin TX.

David’s initiate has always been outstanding, but he did have a little shaky start with his office infrastructure planning. Here’s a little tale those of us that know David share. One of David’s first office infrastructure projects involved removing a bathroom complete with tub to make way for new technology. When he took out the bath tub by himself (David rarely asks for help!), it went down the stairs, through the yard and half way across the street before it stopped. Fortunately it stopped on its own, not by running into a car. Needless to say David’s office remodeling and planning skills have improved through the years while he has retained his great initiative.

So for 30 years AHA has been very fortunate to have this dedicated, skilled and very versatile employee. Just as I thank you and congratulate you David, I invite your colleagues to do the same and share a tale or two!