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Tech Talk: TV Network Rewards Staff Online

Elizabeth Wasserman — 2009-03-05T14:58:49-05:00

Retirement Living Television (RLTV), an independent TV network for retirees based in Columbia, Md., launched three years ago with a staff of 50 made up of part technical workers and part creative workers. To get employee buy-in to RLTV's mission, CEO Brad Knight tells IncTechnology.com that the network invested in a Web-based software and services tool that transforms the way employees are recognized and rewarded.

Elizabeth Wasserman: Did your employees understand RLTV's mission?

Brad Knight: We're an emerging independent television network. There are people in the field that will tell you there's a two percent chance you could start a successful independent television network -- particularly in this economic environment. We also have this social mission to serve the retirement audience. That's an audience that's never been targeted before. If we were starting a children's network, we could look at what Nickelodeon is doing. But there is no model for what we're doing. We were also lean on staffing. We're not Viacom. When we go into Comcast and say, 'You really should be carrying us,' they say, 'Can you keep your signal up? How good is your programming?' I have to look like a full-blown television network with the budget of a startup.

I'm also running a network operation. I have a signal up on a satellite 24 hours a day, seven days a week. What happens is we have a very disciplined side consisting of technical operations, programming, network operations -- and that has to seamlessly integrate with the other side of the business, which is the creative side, involving producers. Trying to get the two sides to understand the mission and pull together is the secret to success at this startup.

Wasserman: What did you decide to do?

Knight: We started trying to have an integrated human resources effort from the beginning, when we started in 2006. Everybody goes through HR. We tried to find very competitive benefits, good procedures and policies on hiring and retention, and started with all the basic HR functions. We started to see that we have these two kinds of people on staff -- right brain people and the left brain people. We started to see a need for cross communications between our departments. That's why we hired Brand Integrity, a brand strategy practic, and ended up with their Employee Engagement product co-developed by Potential Point. We wanted an employee recognition component to our business. I love to have contests at work – like 'let's name the TV show.' That way you bring everybody in on the discussion. They e-mail in names and we look for the winner. Everybody really loves that the engineer in the back corner might get to name the new TV show.

Wasserman: How does it work?

Knight: It's a place online where peers can recognize each other for impacting the business. I can log in and document, 'I was doing my job today and I noticed that Sally from programming was in doing something not related to her job and she helped us out.' You nominate that person for recognition. There are three different levels recognition that result in a point/dollar award -- one, two and three star awards. A one star might be Sally gives Tony a compliment and the one star might get a $10 award. A three star might get a $50 or $100 award, and the story is shared with other employees to promote best practices. Employees then can redeem their award point to buy items on Amazon. The beauty of it is that the nominating person gets more points than the person being nominated. So that encourages everyone to go around plugging their buddy and it's ultimately self-serving. What happens is that people are pointing out other peoples' exceptional behaviors on a daily basis and RLTV employees are living the brand. In addition to the daily awards, we can run a campaign that helps focus employees on a specific goal. For example, we are running a campaign focused on reducing costs. Any employee who recognizes or is recognized for reducing costs, gets an extra boost to their award points.

Wasserman: What have the results been?

Knight: We've been using it for about 24 months now, with employees documenting more than 1,600 success stories. In the last eight weeks alone, 36 stories have been at a three star level, with results you can actually put your finger on. For example, the cost savings campaign that we ran in the summer/fall of last year led to tens of thousands of dollars in projected savings. The captured ideas ranged from a simple, 'I noticed so-and-so doing two-sided printing now. I think everyone should do two-sided printing,' to putting automatic dimmer switches on the lights to save electricity. It could also be that while we were at Comcast the other day, Betsy, who runs affiliate sales did a spectacular job reinforcing behaviors that support our brand.

Training Your Talent Online

Jean Thilmany — 2008-10-29T10:00:34-05:00

As a small business, you likely don’t have the staff or resources to fully train new employees. To lend a hand, consider Web-based job training modules. They can be much less expensive than in-house training, cover a range of pertinent job topics -- such as avoiding sexual harassment and discrimination -- and can be completed on your employees’ schedules.

Though some training modules may not offer exactly the type of training you’re looking for, the vendors that provide this type of training often offer a way to customize it to your company’s needs.

When looking to cut training costs, SwedishAmerican Health System of Rockford, Ill., turned to Web-based training. To comply with federal regulations, SwedishAmerican, like all healthcare providers, must ensure all its nearly 3,000 employees undergo annual safety and patient confidentiality training, says Diane March, training and development specialist. Costs for the annual training mandates, when coupled with orientation training, were onerous in terms of both time and money, she adds.

The provider had been conducting annual safety training in one fell swoop. March’s department set up booths in the conference room that employees moved through. Each booth was dedicated to a different training subject.

“It would take about an hour to go through the training,” March says. “When we factored in all the costs and the hourly wages for the employees who coordinated it and the ones who attended, it was expensive.”

To cut those costs, the healthcare provider turned to online training five years ago. It now uses the learning management system from GeoLearning of Des Moines.

Standard and non-standard training

The system includes a library of 80 standard training courses that business owners can purchase directly from the site on an as-needed basis, says Frank Russell, GeoLearning president and chief executive officer.

The cost for a training course is $4.95 per employee. Employees read the content and may watch video or listen to audio tied to that content. The employees are then tested via the module on what they’ve read. To ensure tangible results, employees must retake the course -- answering different questions each time -- until they score 100 percent.

Another Web-based product, used by SwedishAmerican, allows users to design their own training courses via the GeoLearning site.

“We condensed what was in the booths and put it into PowerPoint presentations with quizzes attached to measure employee learning,” March says. “We’ve saved a great deal of money doing that.”

When considering online training don’t forget about pulling useful training from the Web, says Kerry Patterson, chief development officer at VitalSmarts, which primarily conducts classroom training.

His company does offer Web-based video clips that play out common work or meeting issues. In one such clip, one employee will continually interrupt another, for example. These types of clips are also available via YouTube and other web sites and serve as a good way to get employees talking about common workplace issues, Patterson says.

SIDEBAR: Benefits of Online Training

Training can be pegged to an event -- like the introduction of a new sales system -- or can be offered on an as-needed basis, says Sanjay Dholakia, senior vice president at online training company SumTotal.
Training can be done closer to when employees need the new skills. Fomerly, SwedishAmerican gave employees a full day of orientation training. Now, employees get some of that training via the Web closer to the time they’ll actually use it on the job, March says.
Businesses can save materials-printing costs, save the cost of transporting employees from other sites for training days, and cut speaker costs with Web-based training.
The tests offered in conjunction with web-based training modules ensure employees comprehend the issues, March says. “New employees would come into the hospital and sit in an auditorium and have 20 people talk all day on different topics,” she says. “We were hoping people were paying attention, but we had no way to measure their learning.”
Employees can log on to the computer and go through a training module on their own time. Training doesn’t need to be scheduled for all employees at the same time. Some training companies, Brainshark is one, allow employees to access training solutions via handheld device so they could take a course even while in the field.

Weighing the Online Training Options

Todd Wasserman — 2008-09-27T15:30:10-05:00

When it comes to employee education, there’s probably nothing better than in-person training, but then again, there’s probably nothing more expensive, either.

For small businesses with far-flung offices or with a lot of work-at-homers, in-person training is impractical, especially as airline fares keep climbing.

An increasingly popular alternative is eLearning, Web-based applications that walk employees through everything from IT certifications to compliance regulations. Such applications, which range from PowerPoint to podcasting, used to be available just to large businesses, but in the past few years, the Web has leveled the playing field.

“Nowadays, you can log on to a website,” said Julie Ogilvie, vice president of corporate marketing for SkillSoft, an eLearning firm in Nashua, N.H. “You don’t need an IT department to take advantage of it.”

Catching on with remote employees

Such inclusiveness has fueled growth. According to IDC, Framingham, Mass., the U.S. corporate eLearning marketing hit $9.7 billion in 2007. Claire Schooley, an analyst with Forrester Research, Cambridge, Mass., says remote employees are the main reason that eLearning is catching on. “It’s an increasingly attractive option,” she says.

Datatel, a higher education software firm in Fairfax, Va., with about 500 employees, contracted with SkillSoft last September. The company now has access to about 1,500 training programs from SkillSoft on subjects ranging from desktop software to information technology to business skills. Jenn Balcom, senior manager of learning and development for Datatel, says about one-third of the company’s employees are remote and “a lot of our consultants are on the road.” Tapping SkillSoft was a way of educating the workforce without spending a lot of money on logistics. “It’s a sound investment,” Balcom says. “It knocked down our cost [of training] per employee.” (Balcom declined to discuss the financial details of the transaction. Ogilvie says most companies tend to go by a three-year subscription model.)

Adding a testing element

Proponents of eLearning say the programs work best when there’s a testing element to them. All of SkillSoft’s programs for instance have assessments embedded in them and “everything is trackable,” Ogilvie says. That’s an important distinction since standards for training can vary widely. “If you send out a manual, you have no idea how many people read it,” Ogilvie says by way of example.

Savvy companies can also benefit by using a mix of eLearning and standard in-person classroom learning. Ogilvie says many companies use SkillSoft’s eLearning programs to bring employees to a certain level and then start in-person classes three or four hours into the subject matter. Schooley said such “blended learning” is often the norm.

Finally, another selling point for eLearning is that it can be arguably the best way to reach tech-savvy young employees who are just joining the workforce. Some fast-food restaurants have even adopted SkillSoft programs that seem more like gaming, all the better to capture the interest of teen employees. Programs aimed at such employees teaching them how to make a burger or a cup of coffee include a “dash of gaming,” Ogilvie says.

Stop Workers from Using IT to Snoop Around

Michelle V. Rafter — 2008-07-30T10:24:27-05:00

E-mail expert Nancy Flynn travels around the country advising companies and serving as a witness in lawsuits where electronic messages are a central issue.

Although she deals with corporate e-mail issues all the time, Flynn says she’s still amazed by the stories she hears of employees who are authorized to monitor coworkers’ e-mail abusing the privilege. She’s heard of workers who talk about the contents of messages, and in one particular egregious case, an individual blackmailing someone who had violated company policy.

“My recommendation is that you take advantage of technology and don’t have an individual read e-mail,” says Flynn, director of the ePolicy Institute in Columbus, Ohio.

Companies have legitimate reasons for monitoring employees and employee communications. However, there’s a big difference between making sure workers are doing their jobs and spying on fellow employees or snooping through confidential company information, according to Flynn and other business security experts.

But as Flynn’s experience shows, it’s not uncommon for workers to take advantage of their position to look at e-mail and other sensitive company information. In fact, one third of 300 senior IT professionals in a June 2008 survey admitted using high-level administrative passwords to snoop on fellow employees. Another 47 percent said they accessed data that wasn’t relevant to their job, according to the report from Cyber-Ark, an information security vendor.

Though somewhat self-serving in that it points out the need for the products it sells, Cyber-Ark’s survey underlines the importance of having proper data safeguards in place, according to e-mail and other security experts. The experts suggest those safeguards include:

Classifying and organizing confidential information -- You can’t expect employees to follow privacy protocols if your company doesn’t have a good system for determining what information is confidential, says Javed Ikbal, principal at zSquad, an IT security consultant in Boston. Start by classifying information as confidential, highly confidential or the company’s “crown jewel” -- the secret pizza sauce or the pending patent for example -- never to be shared. Next, decide how such information will be labeled plus where it will be stored and who has access to it inside and outside the company, Ikbal says.

To make sure sensitive material doesn’t go where it’s not supposed to, use a naming protocol for electronic documents and tie it to e-mail scanning software from vendors such as Sophos, Webroot Software, and Proofpoint. For example, companies could ID a file as “Internal Restricted” by typing the words in a document’s footer field and then set that phrase as a keyword in scanning software. “If someone tries to send it, even by mistake, the system will flag it,” Ikbal says.

Role-based access -- Another way to prevent spying is to give employees the minimum access to IT systems that they need to do their job, something security experts call the principle of least privilege.

Password administration -- Bad things can happen when only a few or even one person control high-level system passwords. San Francisco city officials learned that the hard way in mid-July when a technology department network administrator used a password only he knew to block access to a multi-million-dollar computer network that stored city payroll files, jail inmates’ bookings, and other sensitive files. The employee went to jail rather than divulge the code, tying up the network for days while IT staff tried to unlock it, according to news reports.

In a small business where only one person has an IT system administrator password, put an emergency plan in place in case anything happens, Ikbal says. The password could be locked in a company’s safe or safety deposit box, he says. Larger companies can use password vaults, also called privilege account management (PAM) technology from companies such as Cyber-Ark, e-DMZ, Quest and Symark.

Written policies -- Once policies are in place, make sure employees know them. Don’t just tack rules up in the lunchroom, have a discussion of what is and isn’t allowed. Make sure rules explicitly include policies against IT, HR, or other personnel going through employee records or e-mail for fun, says Lewis Maltby, president of The National Workrights Institute, a Princeton, N.J., labor rights advocate. While there’s no law forcing companies to disclose monitoring practices, “However their system works, every employer ought to tell every employee what it is doing,” Maltby says.

Companies that operate in health care or financial services or other regulated industries have extra reason to warn employees against spying on coworkers or peeking into confidential materials. Employees who find and accidentally or purposely leak patient health records could be violating federal confidentiality regulations and put themselves and their companies at risk for stiff financial penalties, security experts say.

Geeks Gone Selling: Sales Training for IT

Minda Zetlin — 2008-04-25T13:05:51-05:00

Martyn Lewis once worked as a technologist in a computer company. He was often frustrated at what he saw as bone-headed customers who failed to recognize the superiority of the company's products. One time, he even lost his temper.

"I said to the customer, 'This is absolutely stupid!'" Lewis recalls. "'If you can't see this, I don't have time to explain it to you.'"

"I honestly didn't know what I'd done wrong," he says now. Thankfully, his boss at the time kept a level head. He said, "We're not going to talk about this right now, but I'd like to have a beer with you after work," Lewis remembers.

Over the beer, Lewis's boss was direct. "You must understand, you're going to have to work with a lot of people who are stupid in your eyes," the boss said. "They may not see things the same as you, but you have to be able to work with them, and help them understand what our product can bring to their world. If you can't do that, you need to find another job."

Years later, Lewis, now CEO of Market-Partners, Inc., is still grateful for that advice. "It was so eye-opening," he says. "I really hadn't seen the world that way." His company now provides sales training in the technology field to help others who might be as clueless as Lewis once was.

Stopping geeks from queering deals

Stories of geeks messing up sales by saying the wrong thing are depressingly common -- and that's just one reason why technology people who interact with customers can really benefit from sales training. It can also help dispel some of geeks' most common misconceptions about the sales process.

For instance, Lewis reports, most technology people believe their companies' products to be hugely superior to anything else on the market. "I was typical," he says. "I knew my product well and I was very enthusiastic. It was staggering for me to hear a customer say that it wasn't that different from the competition."

A related mistake for many techies talking to customers is to focus on the product in the first place, rather than on customers' needs. "I thought we were on first, because we were educating the customer about the product," Lewis says. "But the customer is on first because that's who's in charge of the selling process. We really have to understand the customer and how we can help."

Techies thirst for training

Surprisingly, technology people are more receptive to sales training than you might expect, often more so than their sales colleagues, reports Mike Scher, president, FRONTLINE Selling. "Technical people tend to like structure," he says. "Salespeople typically want to be left alone. They'll come to sales training kicking and screaming, and they'll get the benefit, but they don't think they need it. Whereas people who've come from a technical role just thirst for a methodology that they can use."

Thus, sales training that teaches sales as a process is particularly helpful for geeks. "A lot of sales engineers leave sales classes saying, 'Wow! You've taken something that I thought was very esoteric and given it a process and a structure. You've made it very predictable and repeatable,'" Scher says.

That process approach, he adds, can help prevent having a techie from saying the wrong thing to a customer. "They won't say the wrong thing if they know what's expected of them," Scher says. "If a technical person is working with a salesperson, and the two are a team, then they'll have a common language, and a consistent way of interacting with customers."

Boosts effectiveness up to 17 percent

How can you tell if sales training for tech people is working? "You should see sales effectiveness going up," Lewis says. "I'm not talking about slightly up. It could be up by as much as 15 to 17 percent, if resources are lined up right."

First, he notes, effectively trained salespeople can help shorten the sales cycle, whereas ineffective ones may lengthen it, for instance by confusing customers with information on features not relevant to them. "You should also see average order size increasing," he says. "Tech people are in a very powerful position to recommend additional products or to suggest training so customers can take full advantage of the products they already have."

Perhaps best of all, sales training for geeks can make a big difference to customer retention. A few years ago, Ascent Healthcare Solutions sent all its field personnel for sales training. Ascent cleans and certifies what are normally single-use products for hospital re-use. Since the training, retention has been stellar -- churn was down to 2 percent before a recent merger with Ascent's biggest competitor. The competitor's field personnel hadn't had sales training, and its churn rate was 10 percent, reports Rick Ferreira, Ascent's COO.

Because of the training, he says, "Everyone, from the customer service rep on the phone to the service technician in the field, is following the same plan." The result: "When we look at our business in a same-store comparison model, our numbers are off the charts."

Managing Tech for Non-Techies

Minda Zetlin — 2008-03-27T12:48:18-05:00

In the British sitcom "The IT Crowd," Jen has just been appointed manager of her company's two-man IT department. She knows nothing about technology, but figures she had better make herself look good. So when Moss, one of her new subordinates, knocks on her office door, she quickly grabs her phone and pretends to be having an important conversation.

"Yes, Moss what is it?" she asks, putting her hand over the mouthpiece as he pokes his head in.

"I was wondering if you wanted me to hook up your phone," he says.

There's an important lesson here for every non-geek who has to manage technology staff: don't fake it, don't try to fool anyone, and don't pretend to know more than you do.

Make no mistake, managing geeks can be a challenge for those without technical training. "Technology people are inherently skeptical," notes Bo Peabody, managing partner at the venture capital firm Village Ventures, and author of Lucky or Smart? Secrets to an Entrepreneurial Life (Random House, 2004). "You should assume they will not give you the benefit of the doubt," he says. "If you can get the benefit of the doubt from your most hard-core technologists, you're ahead of the game."

Learn as much as you can

Managing techies effectively begins with learning as much as you can about what they do, says Dan Rice, vice president for corporate affairs at PrintingForLess.com. Though trained as an attorney, Rice oversees his company's technology staff, and calls himself a "poster boy" for the notion that a non-techie can manage IT.

Rice believes the more he understands, the more better he is as a manager, so he spends many hours in front of a whiteboard, asking questions about exactly how the company's software and hardware function. "I tell them, 'Explain this to me as though I had never seen a computer,'" he says. Employees for whom technology comes as second nature are sometimes frustrated at first, he notes. But once they get used to explaining things to Rice, most seem to like it. "I go in with no preconceived notions and a genuine interest in what they do," he says. "Most people enjoy teaching something they're passionate about."

For Kelly Cutler, CEO of the Internet marketing firm Marcel Media, the key is taking a hands-off approach whenever possible. "I try to keep a high-level perspective and don't micro-manage," she says. "I consider myself a project manager and salesperson."

As a result, technology staff feel empowered to find the solutions on their own. Rather than posing questions, they've usually figured out a problem and are ready to recommend solutions by the time they discuss it with Cutler. Nine times out of ten, she accepts their recommendations. "So if a client says they don't want PHP, but the technology people tell me they really need to use PHP, I'll look for a way to help the client understand why."

Find a project manager

Another helpful strategy is to identify a leader within your technology team who can serve as project manager and act as a liaison. That was essential to the success of 4Refuel, a fuel management company that provides on-site diesel and fuel management. 4Refuel's success is built on its heavy use of technology, but the company outsources most of its technological work. "We found that we really had to manage that function ourselves," says Norm Bogner, vice president of international development. The solution was to hire a vice president of technology. "He can talk to the outsourcers and understand exactly what they're doing."

"When I have someone who's good at project management, it's easier for that person to delegate coding and other day-to-day tasks to other team members, and focus on managing the project," Cutler says. She adds that people who work strictly in IT, even those with a natural aptitude for product management, may need some extra training to become effective product managers. But it's well worth the effort. "Someone like that can be a tremendous help to me," she says.

Create a culture of respect

Ultimately, Peabody says, to effectively manage tech people, "You have to establish a culture where business and technology deeply respect each other." For a business executive without technical training, he says, this means "gently helping them understand that they can't do what you do, and that what you do is important."

Before Village Ventures, Peabody was co-founder and CEO of Tripod, one of the first sites that allowed users to create their own webpages, and a rare dotcom success story. Back then, to help them understand the importance of what he did, he had a standing bet with his technology staff that he could learn to program a Web server before any of them could raise a million dollars in investment money.

Nobody ever took him up on it.

Getting Staff Buy-In to Adopt New Tech

Mary O. Foley — 2007-07-17T15:01:05-05:00

Your business is looking to cut costs by improving productivity. You’re thinking of investing in new technologies that encourage in-house collaboration -- perhaps software, Web conferencing tools, or PDAs.

But how can you make sure your employees -- perhaps in far-flung offices, and with different levels of technological savvy -- will really use it? Is simply training them enough?

"It can be a problem,” admits Dave Kirk, business manager for RockTeam, a Malvern, Pa.-based online/on-site learning and computer training company. “People call and say, ‘I’ve forgotten what I learned,’ and then you find out they haven’t used it in six months.”

How can you make sure your employees will embrace the new technology you’ve asked them to use? Top IT training experts offer the following tips:

Identify your goals before buying technology

“Don’t just go out and buy BlackBerrys for everyone in the office because they’re cool,” cautions Nick Schacht, CEO of Learning Tree International, a provider of IT and management training. “Think about what you are going to use it for.” Pinpoint specific objectives, such as faster e-mail response times, and then look for specific products that will help achieve those goals.

Make the technology necessary

Experts say an employee’s age or comfort level with trying something new aren’t as significant to motivating them as one might think. The key is to show employees that the new technology is, from now on, crucial to doing their jobs. “If people must use technology to do a task, they will use it,” notes Schacht. For instance, if a company starts using performance management software, it should require that employees produce performance reports using that software. “Managers need to make everyone conform to the format, and be consistent about it,” he says.

Use training methods that ensure success

Whether training is in-house, through distance learning, or offered off-site, employees need a way to get their questions answered when they’re actually back at their desks. RockTeam’s solution is to offer a third day of hands-on training, says Kirk, to help employees think through how they will be using the technology. RockTeam also gives each of their students the e-mail addresses of their instructors to help them through any rough patches.

Colin Smith, director of corporate communications for WebEx, the Web conferencing provider, adds that the frequency of training is important, too. “Most people underestimate how important constant training is to adoption. If the technology is critical to your business, treat it that way and hold monthly or weekly sessions,” he says, recommending live or recorded Web-based training.

Praise good behavior

Another tip could come right out of a parenting manual: praise and reward good behavior. “Take your early adopters and praise them in front of others,” says Schacht. “Publicize their success. Before long, everyone else will follow suit.”

Measure your results

To see whether the technology is really taking hold, it helps also to measure whether your business goals are being met, says Schacht. “If your goal is to improve project management, you could measure the number of overruns or schedule misses since implementing the new software,” he explains. Or measure whether e-mail response times have improved. By measuring, you can track whether the technology is helping you reach your goals.

By following these suggestions, you may find that introducing new technologies at your workplace streamlines the workflow and helps your business reach its goals. That is, after all, the whole idea.

Does Certification Matter?

Todd Wasserman — 2007-01-23T15:32:09-05:00

Like college degrees, certifications in information technology (IT) are helpful for determining a baseline level of skill, but their value is ultimately a matter of opinion.

Certifications, especially multiple certifications, may tell you something about the IT person you are hiring, but not enough to be decisive. "There should be an element of caution around vendor-sponsored certifications," says Samuel Bright, an analyst with Forrester Research, of Cambridge, Mass. "Certification may help in terms of screening candidates, but it shouldn't be exclusive."

Bright said, however, that beyond weeding out potential candidates, certifications have a value if you are seeking something particular, like knowledge of IT security, and looking for proof of that knowledge.

Certifications vary

As Bright notes, most certifications are vendor-sponsored. Since there's no standard for accreditation, one certification may be much easier to come by than another. Some certifications are based on tests that an entrant can take without any instruction if she feels she already knows the material cold. Others require a panel of the entrant's peers to review their work.

Given such a variance in certification standards, it's not surprising that they are quite common in the field. According to Certification magazine's 2005 survey of 35,167 IT professionals, 95.4 percent of such workers have some sort of certification and the average IT worker has about three certifications.

Who pays? It's roughly split -- 45.4 percent of respondents said they paid for their own certification while 48 percent of employers footed the bill, according to the survey. Prices for certifications can range from $100 to $3,500 or so, Bright says. Many IT workers are willing to pay for the programs out of their own pocket because they believe that such certifications will make them more employable and will eventually increase their salaries.

Gregg Davis, CIO and senior vice president of Webcor Builders, a San Mateo, Calif., construction firm with about 400 salaried employees, says you really have to look closely at the certifications to determine their value. "There are some people who are giving certifications after one-hour classes," he says. "It's gotten out of control." Davis says also beware of potential employees who have a large number -- like 20 or more --certifications in a wide range of IT areas. Such people may be too unfocused and have merely "racked up a lot of pieces of paper," Davis says.

Backing of hardware and software makers

Despite the lack of standards for certifications, there's one reason to value them -- most are sponsored by major hardware and software companies, which put their reputations on the line with every graduate they turn out.

Kathy Coe, director of education services at Symantec, the security software maker, says part of the reason for certifications is to give business owners some assurance that the person their hiring has a level of competence. "From a small business owner's perspective it's even more important," Coe says. "Frequently, there's only one individual at those firms that provide IT support so there's no combined knowledge skills. This gives [that person] some level of confidence." Symantec has been offering certification programs for more than 20 years and every program is different, Coe says. Nevertheless, since the overall quality of the programs is high, Coe is a big believer in the value of the programs.

"An organization needs to have some ability to manage their risks," Coe says.

Bright, however, says that certifications are basically "nice to have" and that they are really no indication of competence. "A certification may help in terms of screening candidates, but it shouldn't be exclusive," said Bright. "What we're seeing is that, going forward, certifications don't really matter as much after you've been hired."

Web Conferencing: Which Service Is Right for Your Business?

Mary O. Foley — 2006-12-13T14:55:49-05:00

The word is out: Web-based conferencing is a tool can let even the smallest business swim with the big fish.

Web conferencing can replace the need for face-to-face sales pitches and training sessions -- and the travel budgets, airport wait times, and seminar fees that go with them. They can be more productive than teleconferences, because participants can view the same document rather than have it read to them.

And they allow small and mid-size businesses to angle for market share in places where they have no on-the-ground presence. Frost & Sullivan forecasts that the Web conferencing market will grow by 24.4 percent to $2.9 billion by 2011, with small and mid-size businesses driving much of that growth.

But which product serves the small business market best? “It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish,” says Alan Greenberg, senior analyst and partner with Wainhouse Research, a Duxbury, Mass. research firm. Companies seeking a training venue may prefer one provider, he notes, while those using the technology for demos, meetings, or collaborative work may prefer others. Ease of use, functionality, technical support and pricing are all important considerations.

Here are four Web conferencing products tailored for small and mid-size businesses and what experts have to say about them:

Microsoft Live Meeting

Cost: Per-user pricing structure starting at $180/year per user; other options.

Features: Intuitive for Microsoft Office users, Live Meeting meshes well with calendaring and IM, according to Forrester Research’s Claire Schooley. A hosted product, it offers good scalability and supports billing and eCommerce, she says in a June 2006 report. A downside? Schooley refers to its complex pricing structure as “a challenge.”

Webex MeetMeNow

Cost: $39-$49/month

Features: The industry leader, Webex has 67 percent of the Web conferencing market. MeetMeNow allows up to 10 people to participate. Its ultra-secure data systems back up data and allow document and transcript retrieval. While Schooley says some desktop features such as its whiteboard are not as strong as other competitors, she gives its audio system and global dependability superior marks. Adds Greenberg: “Webex has rock-solid service. It may cost more, but it can be worth it.”

Adobe Acrobat Connect

Cost: $39/month or $395/year

Features: Previously Macromedia Breeze, Adobe’s retooled product uses Flash to power its Web conferencing product. “It’s like a breath of fresh air,” Schooley says, “since 98 percent-plus of [computers and hand-helds] have Flash, the meeting starts immediately.” Flash allows a conference to be launched from a PDF document, and supports streaming video with ease. Adobe assigns users a static URL for conferencing that customers can add to their contact information.

Citrix GoToMeeting

Cost: GoToMeeting’s “all you can meet” is a flat fee for unlimited service.

Features: Perhaps the most minimalist Web conferencing product, GoToMeeting offers screen-sharing over a secure 128-bit-encrypted connection. While it allows instant messaging (IM) and the ability to invite guests via e-mail, its desktop functions are limited. But that's where the product's strength lies. “It’s built for simplicity and to get you up and running quickly,” says Wainhouse’s Greenberg.

The Basics: Web Conferencing

Mary O. Foley — 2006-11-29T16:52:59-05:00

Lillian Meyers considers Web-based conferencing the fax machine of the aughts.

“Twenty-five years ago, I wondered, ‘Do I really need a fax machine?’ Within a year, I wondered how I ever worked without it,” says Meyers, a Sonoma, Calif.-based financial planner who manages $20 million in assets. “This is just like that,” she says. Meyers says she uses Genesys conferencing to better serve her clients and grow her market base.

Like the trusty old fax, Web conferencing is quickly becoming an indispensable tool for small and medium-size businesses. Web conferencing allows groups of people to view PowerPoint training presentations in real-time, hold John Madden-style whiteboard brainstorming sessions, or mutually view documents on someone’s desktop -- whether in the same office or halfway around the world. Many Web conferencing products will support online chat functions, webcams, real-time user polls, live video transmission, and calendaring. Some, like Elluminate’s Live!, support distance learning.

Saves time and travel costs

According to Wainhouse Research, of Duxbury, Mass., 75 percent of small business respondents see the ability to use Web conferencing to reach more people and save time and travel costs -- especially in today’s post-9/11 climate -- as its major benefits. Also, 59 percent said it made meetings more productive. It’s no surprise that the Web conferencing market is white-hot, projected to grow by 24.4 percent to $2.9 billion by 2011, according to Frost & Sullivan, the global consulting firm.

Small businesses are seeing other savings, too. “We now have two sales reps,” notes Carol Andersen, chairman of Enterprise Print Management Solutions (EPMS), a Middleborough, Mass.-based printing software provider who uses Webex’s conferencing solutions. “We used to need five to travel and make sales calls.” Moreover, Andersen notes, EPMS can now offer training and customer support to overseas clients without any local presence.

How a Web conference works

Participants get invited via e-mail to a Web conference. It states the time and date of the conference, the Web conferencing provider’s site, a meeting code to gain entry, and a telephone number to call. While some Web conferencing providers can support telephone-free meetings, some do not. Some recommend using phones to augment the poor sound quality of some computers.

Just before the designated time, participants log in and call in. Depending on the provider, you may need to download software to participate. Using an older computer or outdated software may stymie your participation.

A change of your computer screen shows you are in the conference. A list of participants will appear, as will fields for chat and other features. When an image is displayed, all participants see the same thing. Since the host can hand control over to others, participants can take turns calling up documents to be viewed by the group.

When the meeting ends, you are still at your desk.

It’s tough to shop around

The biggest drawback of Web conferencing, it seems, is how to choose a provider. The field of providers -- including Webex, Genesys, Adobe, Citrix, Microsoft and others -- is a crowded one. And, while most offer product lines tailored to small businesses, comparing their functionality can be a daunting task. Pricing options make it still harder: providers charge per-minute, by the month, or through licensing agreements.

Claire Schooley, a senior analyst with Forrester Research, of Cambridge, Mass., suggests asking the following questions when shopping for a Web conferencing provider:

Is their product easy to use?
Is it easy for participants with different computers to use? Downloads are a deterrent, says Schooley, while products like Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional (which uses Flash) start immediately.
What customer support, if any, is offered? Is it needed? (Hosted services like Webex offer full technical support; Citrix’s GotoMeeting is not hosted).
Does it offer basic services and scalability for small businesses? (Who needs bells and whistles for a 5-10 person meeting?)

Overall, Schooley recommends Webex, Microsoft Live Meeting, and Adobe, giving Citrix’s GotoMeeting an honorable mention for its simplicity. But ultimately, she says, “each organization has to figure what they need a Web conferencing application to do and choose accordingly.”