All posts by GreenPages Blog

Customer experience, Miscellaneous IT, Project management, transformation services

GreenPages is Helping Dead River Become a Transformational Services Provider

David Widener is the Director of IT & Project Management at Dead River Company and is one of the most cutting edge people we work with. Dead River Company is New England’s largest energy marketer which means they provide wholesale commercial and residential energy services in the form of oil, propane, and, in some cases, natural gas. David is the senior most leader for both IT and Project Management with 20 years of IT experience.

From an IT perspective, Dead River is just rounding that curve from being infrastructure blockers and tacklers to becoming the transformational services provider they know they need to be. David understands that even as a traditional energy marketer, he needs to change the way he does business in order to gain a competitive advantage including integrating new tools, new services, and new processes. This directly falls in line with GreenPages’ launch of our Transformation Services Group.

Watch the video to hear David discuss the projects he has worked on with GreenPages, including Managed Services, Cloud Services, and Project Management initiatives, his experiences in doing so, and his recommendations to his peers that want to transform their IT departments in a similar fashion!

Watch the video on GreenPages’ YouTube Channel

 

 

We’ll be holding a webinar on 11/18 entitled, “Microsoft Office 365: Expectations vs. Reality.” Register now!

Unified Communications, VoIP

VoIP Implementation – Why Won’t the Audio Work?

I recently worked on a project that ended up being a success but looked at first like it could end up being a failure. We were doing a Voice over IP implementation and were putting in a new switch network for a client that had 8 sites. When the time came for implementation we ran into some difficulty with getting audio working out of the local branches. At first, we were stumped, but it ended up being an issue with a 3rd party provider. In the video, I discuss what the issue was, how we found it, and how we remedied it. I also provide some tips on how to avoid similar challenges. Hope you enjoy!

 

VoIP Implementation – Why Won’t the Audio Work?

Watch the video on GreenPages’ YouTube Channel.

 

If you have any questions around unified communications, please reach out!

 

 

By Ralph Kindred, Practice Director, Unified Communications

customer testimonials, Managed services, Miscellaneous IT

GreenPages Helps Wire Belt with Managed Services & Business Transformation

Here’s a video we did with a great customer of ours, Beth Lindberg. Beth is the Director of IT at Wire Belt Company of America. Wire Belt is a multinational stainless steel conveyor system manufacturer with locations in the US, Germany, and England. At Wire Belt, Beth is in charge of keeping all systems up and running, as well as thinking strategically for the US location about ways to utilize IT to help successfully drive the company forward into the future.

In order to focus on this long term strategic vision, Beth uses GreenPages’ Managed Services to work in the background 24/7/365 to keep the lights on. Without this help, she may be too bogged down to be able to concentrate on projects that have a direct impact on Wire Belt’s users, customers, and business.

[Register for our upcoming webinar – Microsoft Office 365: Expectations vs. Reality]

Along with Managed Services, Beth is also working with GreenPages on the company’s plans for business transformation.

Recently, Wire Belt experienced a major network outage that resulted in its ERP system going down. Wire Belt relies heavily on its ERP for everything from ordering, to scheduling, to shipping and invoicing. With the risk of aggravating customers by not being able to deliver orders on time, they brought in GreenPages to help solve the problem. Watch the video below to hear from Beth!

 

GreenPages Helps Wire Belt with Managed Services & Business Transformation

 

A special thank you to Beth for taking the time to do this video with us! If you have any questions about how GreenPages can help your business, reach out to us at socialmedia@greenpages.com.

Register for our upcoming webinar – Microsoft Office 365: Expectations vs. Reality

 

 

AirWatch, BYOD, End-User Computing, Featured, Mobility, VMware

VMware Blog: Top 3 Mobility Concerns for Today’s Healthcare Organizations

This post originally appeared on VMware’s AirWatch blog and was authored by Scott Szymanski. Be sure to check VMware’s blog for more great content.

 

mobilityMobile devices have been a huge hit for healthcare. In fact, a recent report from Research and Markets expects mobility in healthcare to grow from $24 billion this year to $84 billion in 2020. From accessing medical records to real-time translation services, doctors and nurses are seeing an incredible transformation in how they administer care using mobility.

While this is exciting for patients and doctors alike, healthcare IT teams must reconcile the government red tape and employee concerns inevitable with new technologies. These teams must meet HIPAA compliance and maintain patient trust without creating a labyrinth of security that medical staff find difficult to navigate regularly.

Fortunately, many healthcare organizations, including Florida-based Adventist Health System, have delivered successful mobile transformations across their teams. Watch the Adventist Health System video to learn how mobility is transforming healthcare. Then, take a look at the top three healthcare concerns to consider when researching mobility.

Security

There’s hardly anything more cringe-worthy in healthcare than security. From electronic medical records to staff communications, there is a lot of sensitive client and staff information that needs protecting. And if this information is left in the open, it could have devastating repercussions. According to IDC Health Insights, 50% of healthcare organizations will have experienced anywhere from 1-5 cyberattacks—and one-in-three attacks will be successful.

Luckily, security and mobility can work together. Look for enterprise mobility management (EMM) solutions that can track devices, push applications, enforce security policies and more without getting in the way of physicians. Some solutions can even wipe lost or stolen devices remotely, ensuring IT can quickly react when problems arise. Keeping information safe starts with strong security.

 

Simplicity

While security is primary, don’t forget the importance of simplicity. Mobile devices are redefining how medical staff diagnose, treat and report on patient health, and the last thing doctors need is another “helpful tool” that hinders timely and effective patient care. Devices that are difficult to use generally aren’t used at all, and worse than that, they could be used incorrectly in ways that might circumvent the security you worked hard to put in place.

Remember: sometimes less steps equal greater success. Simplifying the sign-in process to devices and applications might encourage a doctor to check a patient’s records twice before ordering a prescription. Tablets and smartphones could reduce training and the number of troubleshooting incidents serviced by IT, leading to independent but connected physicians across your entire medical network.

 

Patient Engagement

No matter how you use mobility, remember who physicians care about most: patients. Delivering timely and accurate information to patients is one of the most important elements of quality healthcare. Patients want to know their treatments and why they are receiving them. Unfortunately, according to a study done at the North Shore University Hospital in New York, less than half of patients surveyed were able to state their doctors’ diagnoses, an issue that could affect patient health and trust.

With connected mobile devices, you could deliver up-to-date patient information to physicians in real-time. Not only could this contribute to more accurate diagnoses, patients might feel safer sharing information with their doctors, ultimately leading to better care. Mobile devices are also more interactive than traditional computers and paper charts, and they could help doctors better illustrate medical procedures or conditions in ways patients actually understand. More informed patients are happier patients, and mobility could be the solution in your organization.

 

GreenPages has strong AirWatch expertise. If you have any questions or need any help on AirWatch projects, be sure to reach out!

AirWatch, BYOD, End-User Computing, Mobility, VMware

VMware Blog: Top 3 Mobility Concerns for Today’s Healthcare Organizations

This post originally appeared on VMware’s AirWatch blog and was authored by Scott Szymanski. Be sure to check VMware’s blog for more great content.

 

mobilityMobile devices have been a huge hit for healthcare. In fact, a recent report from Research and Markets expects mobility in healthcare to grow from $24 billion this year to $84 billion in 2020. From accessing medical records to real-time translation services, doctors and nurses are seeing an incredible transformation in how they administer care using mobility.

While this is exciting for patients and doctors alike, healthcare IT teams must reconcile the government red tape and employee concerns inevitable with new technologies. These teams must meet HIPAA compliance and maintain patient trust without creating a labyrinth of security that medical staff find difficult to navigate regularly.

Fortunately, many healthcare organizations, including Florida-based Adventist Health System, have delivered successful mobile transformations across their teams. Watch the Adventist Health System video to learn how mobility is transforming healthcare. Then, take a look at the top three healthcare concerns to consider when researching mobility.

Security

There’s hardly anything more cringe-worthy in healthcare than security. From electronic medical records to staff communications, there is a lot of sensitive client and staff information that needs protecting. And if this information is left in the open, it could have devastating repercussions. According to IDC Health Insights, 50% of healthcare organizations will have experienced anywhere from 1-5 cyberattacks—and one-in-three attacks will be successful.

Luckily, security and mobility can work together. Look for enterprise mobility management (EMM) solutions that can track devices, push applications, enforce security policies and more without getting in the way of physicians. Some solutions can even wipe lost or stolen devices remotely, ensuring IT can quickly react when problems arise. Keeping information safe starts with strong security.

 

Simplicity

While security is primary, don’t forget the importance of simplicity. Mobile devices are redefining how medical staff diagnose, treat and report on patient health, and the last thing doctors need is another “helpful tool” that hinders timely and effective patient care. Devices that are difficult to use generally aren’t used at all, and worse than that, they could be used incorrectly in ways that might circumvent the security you worked hard to put in place.

Remember: sometimes less steps equal greater success. Simplifying the sign-in process to devices and applications might encourage a doctor to check a patient’s records twice before ordering a prescription. Tablets and smartphones could reduce training and the number of troubleshooting incidents serviced by IT, leading to independent but connected physicians across your entire medical network.

 

Patient Engagement

No matter how you use mobility, remember who physicians care about most: patients. Delivering timely and accurate information to patients is one of the most important elements of quality healthcare. Patients want to know their treatments and why they are receiving them. Unfortunately, according to a study done at the North Shore University Hospital in New York, less than half of patients surveyed were able to state their doctors’ diagnoses, an issue that could affect patient health and trust.

With connected mobile devices, you could deliver up-to-date patient information to physicians in real-time. Not only could this contribute to more accurate diagnoses, patients might feel safer sharing information with their doctors, ultimately leading to better care. Mobile devices are also more interactive than traditional computers and paper charts, and they could help doctors better illustrate medical procedures or conditions in ways patients actually understand. More informed patients are happier patients, and mobility could be the solution in your organization.

 

GreenPages has strong AirWatch expertise. If you have any questions or need any help on AirWatch projects, be sure to reach out!

Miscellaneous IT, Tech News Recap

Tech News Recap for the Week of 10/12/2015

Were you busy last week? Here’s a quick tech news recap of articles you may have missed from the week of 10/12/2015.

Tech News Recap

Tech News RecapThe biggest news story last week was Dell purchasing EMC for $67 billion in the largest tech deal ever. Companies are switching from Google Apps back to Office 365. Chinese domestic DRAM and NAND flash consumption is dramatically increasing with the rise in popularity of Chinese PCs and smartphones.

  • Dell buys EMC in largest tech deal ever
  • Why companies are switching from Google Apps to Office 365
  • Cisco supplying SDN and NFV to Softbank
  • Top Windows 10 Apps To Boost Your Productivity
  • China to consumer nearly 30% of the world’s flash, 21% of DRAM
  • Google graveyard: What Google has killed off in 2015
  • 6 Tips to Ensure a Successful Wireless Project
  • Too many healthcare employees complacent about security
  • Fake LinkedIn profiles lure unsuspecting users
  • The Innovative Mindset Your Company Can’t Afford to Lose
  • Is There a ‘Holy Grail’ In The Cloud
  • The secret to first-rate mobile apps for customers? Iterate, iterate, iterate

If you’re looking for tips to ensure a successful wireless project, download this whitepaper. If you’d like expert insight on the VMware NSX vs. Cisco ACI debate, you can download this on-demand webinar.

 

By Ben Stephenson, Emerging Media Specialist

Featured, Miscellaneous IT, Tech News Recap

Tech News Recap for the Week of 10/12/2015

Were you busy last week? Here’s a quick tech news recap of articles you may have missed from the week of 10/12/2015.

Tech News Recap

Tech News RecapThe biggest news story last week was Dell purchasing EMC for $67 billion in the largest tech deal ever. Companies are switching from Google Apps back to Office 365. Chinese domestic DRAM and NAND flash consumption is dramatically increasing with the rise in popularity of Chinese PCs and smartphones.

  • Dell buys EMC in largest tech deal ever
  • Why companies are switching from Google Apps to Office 365
  • Cisco supplying SDN and NFV to Softbank
  • Top Windows 10 Apps To Boost Your Productivity
  • China to consumer nearly 30% of the world’s flash, 21% of DRAM
  • Google graveyard: What Google has killed off in 2015
  • 6 Tips to Ensure a Successful Wireless Project
  • Too many healthcare employees complacent about security
  • Fake LinkedIn profiles lure unsuspecting users
  • The Innovative Mindset Your Company Can’t Afford to Lose
  • Is There a ‘Holy Grail’ In The Cloud
  • The secret to first-rate mobile apps for customers? Iterate, iterate, iterate

If you’re looking for tips to ensure a successful wireless project, download this whitepaper. If you’d like expert insight on the VMware NSX vs. Cisco ACI debate, you can download this on-demand webinar.

 

By Ben Stephenson, Emerging Media Specialist

Network, Network Infrastructure, wireless

6 Tips to Ensure a Successful Wireless Project

Every company needs sound wireless capabilities to operate successfully. But it’s not always as simple as some may think. There’s a lot to consider when designing your wireless infrastructure. The last thing you want is business users not being able to perform their jobs effectively and becoming disgruntled. Below are some tips to avoid common mistakes and to help ensure your wireless infrastructure can support the demanding needs of the business.

 

Tips to Ensure a Successful Wireless Project

 

1. Understand that all Wi-Fi is not created equal

Everyone’s wireless footprint is going to end up slightly different. Don’t let someone try to put you in a predesigned box. With light research you can find the perfect wireless balance to fit your needs whether dense-user offices, high density of low density warehouses or distribution centers, stadiums or amphitheaters, or outdoor areas, etc.

 

2. Pre-design is critical to stay within your budget and not throw money away

The biggest mistake that can be made is not having a clear design before any hardware is purchased. You don’t want to overdesign and overspend, or under design and spend poorly at the last second in an attempt to correct a project. Often the cause for under design is attention to coverage OR capacity and not both. For example, warehouses are likely to be using handhelds to transmit over clear text, so the focus can be on coverage and security. Offices often have many different types of users and workloads shift throughout the day so special attention should be taken to identify density and capacity usage areas such as conference rooms and collaborative workspaces. Stadiums have their own special configuration policy that controls the air and allows users better wireless and cellular connectivity. It is critical to consider the minimum needs and requirements of each specific environment and balance the design to meet your users’ needs. Licensing is another great example when planning for design, traffic, and budget in the same conversation. Controller licensing determines failover path and cost of licenses overall.

 

3. Know your users’ expectations and your management team’s expectations both now and 3-5 years from now

Having to make changes to a project can lead to overspending on implementation costs, project drag out, poor rollout, poor user experience, and expensive add-on situations. By fleshing out all of the expectations and defined them in advance, you can design to meet and exceed the needs of the users, enabling IT to focus on supporting the business and not on supporting the technology. Establish a list of needs and wants first. Much like buying a house, once you’re in the discovery phase and comparing brands or features, it will be quick and easy to step through what you were looking for in the first place.

 

Would you like to read the rest of Dan’s tips? Download his whitepaper, 6 Tips to Ensure a Successful Wireless Project!

 

 

By Dan Allen, Architect

Featured, Network, Network Infrastructure, wireless

6 Tips to Ensure a Successful Wireless Project

Every company needs sound wireless capabilities to operate successfully. But it’s not always as simple as some may think. There’s a lot to consider when designing your wireless infrastructure. The last thing you want is business users not being able to perform their jobs effectively and becoming disgruntled. Below are some tips to avoid common mistakes and to help ensure your wireless infrastructure can support the demanding needs of the business.

 

Tips to Ensure a Successful Wireless Project

 

1. Understand that all Wi-Fi is not created equal

Everyone’s wireless footprint is going to end up slightly different. Don’t let someone try to put you in a predesigned box. With light research you can find the perfect wireless balance to fit your needs whether dense-user offices, high density of low density warehouses or distribution centers, stadiums or amphitheaters, or outdoor areas, etc.

 

2. Pre-design is critical to stay within your budget and not throw money away

The biggest mistake that can be made is not having a clear design before any hardware is purchased. You don’t want to overdesign and overspend, or under design and spend poorly at the last second in an attempt to correct a project. Often the cause for under design is attention to coverage OR capacity and not both. For example, warehouses are likely to be using handhelds to transmit over clear text, so the focus can be on coverage and security. Offices often have many different types of users and workloads shift throughout the day so special attention should be taken to identify density and capacity usage areas such as conference rooms and collaborative workspaces. Stadiums have their own special configuration policy that controls the air and allows users better wireless and cellular connectivity. It is critical to consider the minimum needs and requirements of each specific environment and balance the design to meet your users’ needs. Licensing is another great example when planning for design, traffic, and budget in the same conversation. Controller licensing determines failover path and cost of licenses overall.

 

3. Know your users’ expectations and your management team’s expectations both now and 3-5 years from now

Having to make changes to a project can lead to overspending on implementation costs, project drag out, poor rollout, poor user experience, and expensive add-on situations. By fleshing out all of the expectations and defined them in advance, you can design to meet and exceed the needs of the users, enabling IT to focus on supporting the business and not on supporting the technology. Establish a list of needs and wants first. Much like buying a house, once you’re in the discovery phase and comparing brands or features, it will be quick and easy to step through what you were looking for in the first place.

 

Would you like to read the rest of Dan’s tips? Download his whitepaper, 6 Tips to Ensure a Successful Wireless Project!

 

 

By Dan Allen, Architect

CIO, CIO Focus Interview, Miscellaneous IT

CIO Focus Interviews: A Summary Over the Past Year

A year ago, I started a CIO Focus Interview segment on the blog. I’ve gotten the chance to speak with a handful of thought leading CIOs and CTOs. All have provided great insights and shown why they are on the cutting edge of all things IT. Below is a summary and link to each of the interviews.

CIO Focus Interview: Stuart Appley, Shorenstein

CIO Focus Interview: Stuart AppleyStuart is the CIO at Shorenstein, a San Francisco based real estate investment firm. One of Stuart’s biggest challenges is operating in a company culture that is a little older making it more difficult to get people to adopt technologies and bring them up to speed. Last year, Stuart completed a large cloud ERP project that allowed him to reduce a lot of application sets. Stuart is a strong believer that IT needs to act as an advisor to the business. Read the full interview.

CIO Focus Interview: Isaac Sacolick, Greenwich Associates

CIO Focus InterviewIsaac is Global CIO and a Managing Director at Greenwich Associates. His career began in the start-up world and he has brought that mentality and framework to traditional businesses he has worked at since. Isaac and I discussed self-service BI programs, analytics, and the internet of things. Read the full interview.

CIO Focus Interview: David Chou, CIO at a large academic medical center

CIO focus interviewDavid works at a large academic medical center where he manages day to day operations and an $82 million budget. According to David, the “4 pillars” of cloud, mobile, social, and big data are having the biggest impact on the industry. Earlier this year he was in the process of incorporating a hybrid cloud model. Read the full interview.

CIO Focus Interview: Peter Weis, Matson Navigation

CIO Focus InterviewPeter has an interesting blend of both business and IT knowledge. After receiving his MBA at the Wharton School, he entered his first management role at 26 and was a CIO at age 36 at a global logistics company. Peter recently finished a complete IT transformation that replaced 100% of the company’s enterprise applications, the underlying architecture and governance process. We ended the interview talking about the importance of transforming the enterprise experience to be more like a consumer experience. Read the full interview.

CIO Focus Interview: Kevin Hall, GreenPages-LogicsOne

CIO Focus InterviewKevin is the CIO and Managing Director here at GreenPages-LogicsOne and has a very unique perspective. He runs all aspects of information services internally but also is the Managing Director responsible for our customer facing Professional Services and Managed Services divisions. This unique position allows him to get a better understanding of the challenges and roadblocks GreenPages’ customers are faced with day in and day out. Read the full interview.

CTO Focus Interview: Gunnar Berger, Citrix

CTO Focus InterviewBefore joining Citrix, Gunnar was an Analyst at Gartner. Since joining Citrix, he has been on a mission to make VDI easier and cheaper to deploy. In 2015, Gunnar’s main goals were to double down on applications, review the complexity and cost of VDI, and bridge to the cloud. Read the full interview.

CTO Focus Interview: Rick Blaisdell, Motus

CTO Focus InterviewRick is the CTO at Motus and also serves as an advisor on how companies can become more efficient and scalable. In the interview, Rick and I discuss the Internet of Things, Anything-as-a-Service, and predictions on what will happen in the industry over the next 5-7 years. Read the full interview.

 

[eBook] The Evolution of the Corporate IT Department. Download it here!

 

By Ben Stephenson, Emerging Media Specialist