Technology Over the Years

Woody Allen used to say that 80% of success is showing up. I’d add that the remaining 20% is staying there long enough.

I was first introduced to Information Technology when I was in high school, back when the Apollo program was going on and the Foundations were singing “Build Me Up Buttercup”.

I am a member of a very small group of people around town who studied “Computer Science” 40 years ago and stuck with it ever since. I enjoy being at industry roundtables when we go around the room introducing ourselves and stating how long we’ve been in the business. I’m often the granddaddy of them all.

So naturally, over the years I’ve come to see all kinds of technology come and go and I thought this month I’d summarize the ones I think were truly revolutionary.

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Hey, I just won a $7,000 Prize

Guess what, my entry won this contest! Worth $7,000 of free marketing from Starshot (Microsoft).

The contest was:

Write a brief synopsis between 500 and 1500 characters on why Windows 7 is a great business opportunity for you.

What I wrote was:

We are an IT consulting firm, and the only company based out of Atlantic Canada that belongs to Microsoft’s Partner Excellence Program. So we are always looking for ways of leveraging our respective brands to find more consulting work for us, and licenses sold for Microsoft. One such way is via a monthly technology column I write for the largest newspaper in the region. In October, right around the launch of Windows 7, I wrote a column on Windows 7 that was well received. I then put this article on my blog (see http://blog.nicomit.com/index.php/2009/10/windows-7-is-about-simplicity-and-responsiveness/), and now I have old-fashioned and viral marketing at work!

And what we won is:

What can $7,000 in marketing services do for your business? It can mean more demand generation, more event and telemarketing campaigns, a marketing program designed specifically for your business—quite simply, more chances to find new customer opportunities!

Disaster Recovery Institute’s Business Continuity Designation

I am pleased to announce that Ian McLaws  of Nicom now possesses the Associate Business Continuity Professional (ABCP) designation. Ian took a course from the Disaster Recovery Institute a few weeks ago in Ottawa, and passed with an impressive 98.6%.

Congratulations to Ian McLaws, ABCP!

Tracking Software Boosts Seaport Business

When I first met Chris Lambie, the new Herald Business Editor, I explained that I always strive for my column to be about real life business situations where technology plays a part, and to speak from personal experience as opposed to secondary research.

Why not then write a story about my company and something it has done for the local community, suggested Chris.

“You can do that?” I asked. I’m just a computer guy, not a journalist.

You can do whatever you want, explained Chris, provided you give full disclosure. So here goes:

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Windows 7 is About Simplicity and Responsiveness

David Miller is a brave soul. He is one of the senior technical support people at my company Nicom and he likes to use test versions of software long before they are ever released to the public.

So David has been using Windows 7 for months now as his main operating system, even though it is only being officially released to the public this month.

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