tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629572734248805462024-03-13T12:21:15.712-04:00TechyGeekArticles, information, and some rants about technology, business, life, and whatever else is on my mind.Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-74351828215554960282013-05-21T23:13:00.001-04:002013-05-22T09:24:59.346-04:003 Ways Small Businesses Can Kill It Using Social MediaSome small businesses I know have shied away from social media, and I think there are a few reasons. One is that they don't have the technological savvy to pull it off themselves. Another is that they simply don't have the<br />
<a name='more'></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SIBkYIbuT6A/UZzHIQN6nkI/AAAAAAAAAN4/WBWomtvJWck/s1600/socialm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SIBkYIbuT6A/UZzHIQN6nkI/AAAAAAAAAN4/WBWomtvJWck/s1600/socialm.jpg" /></a>time. But I think the biggest reason is that they just don't see how it will benefit their business. The truth is, maybe it won't - especially if they don't have a strategy going in. A small business engaging in Facebook, or Twitter, or whatever is likely to accomplish exactly nothing if they don't now where they're headed with it, why they're doing it, and what they want to accomplish. Here are a few things that small businesses can hope to accomplish through social media.<br />
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<b>1. A new marketing channel</b>.<br />
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This is a weak reason, but nevertheless I don't think we can ignore it. Sometimes people do business with you just because you were top-of-mind when they needed something. Social media gives you another way to get in front of your customers, and in a place where they spend a ton of time. But don't think of it as another place to advertise and stop there. The real power comes in the interactive nature of social media.<br />
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<b>2. Better ability to shape your company's image</b>.<br />
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People will talk about your business on social media. They'll say wonderful things and they'll say terrible things. You have a choice to make, you can stick your head in the sand or you can join the conversation. Sites like Yelp et al have completely changed the game. I remember the feeling of checking my small business' Yelp page and hoping and praying that nobody wrote anything bad. You know what? Somebody eventually will. The worst thing you can do is ignore. Dissatisfied customers will tell their friends. Social media is the only place where you can monitor what's being said, and jump into the middle of the conversation and offer to make it right.<br />
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<b>3. Customer engagement</b>.<br />
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">But please, don't stop at being reactive to customer complaints. Use social media to communicate what your company is about, your values, your vision, and yes, your sales. Engage them with your business. Use social media to have conversations with your customers. Traditional advertising lets you talk at your customers. Social media lets you talk with them. </span>This is the biggie. This by itself is reason enough to make the social media leap. Your customers are using social media. More and more they expect to be able to engage with people and businesses without picking up the phone or making the trip to a physical location.<br />
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Not every small business will make the leap into social media, and that's OK. I can imagine some businesses that will do just fine without it. However, if you think your business could benefit, then by all means, step up to the social media plate.Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-55375773924246325942013-05-15T10:26:00.003-04:002013-05-21T14:14:26.974-04:00So you can speak geek. Big deal, can you speak business?<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gGfKuJERuWA/UZOdTmJjLSI/AAAAAAAAANY/9e3FWoOUsS8/s1600/batman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gGfKuJERuWA/UZOdTmJjLSI/AAAAAAAAANY/9e3FWoOUsS8/s1600/batman.jpg" /></a>If you ask your VP of marketing what you need to look for in your next firewall purchase, what will he say? It needs to work? It needs to keep us safe? It needs to not interfere with our sending and receiving legitimate attachments? That hardly amounts <br />
<a name='more'></a>to a technical specification.<br />
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On the other hand, if you ask your network engineer what to look for, what will he say? High throughput? Configurable Bayesian content filtering? Better SMTP relay protection? That hardly amount to a business justification.<br />
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<b>So who do we ask, and what do we ask? </b><br />
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Often, technology purchases either start with management saying "fix this problem" or they start with the tech guys saying "hey, this thing isn't working well anymore, we need to replace it". In either case, there is likely to be a gap between what the <b><i>suits (management)</i></b> and the <b><i>glasses (techies)</i></b> think are important.<br />
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The <i>suits</i> will look at the ROI, the depreciation level of the existing equipment, the cap-ex or op-ex ramifications, and will want to know what this new expenditure will "do" for the business. The <i>glasses</i> are more likely to look at the technical specs, reliability, and bells and whistles. In the end, we often end up with the <i>glasses</i> not getting the budget they wanted (meaning they cut back on features they thought were important) and the <i>suits</i> feeling like they just spent money on who-knows-what-or-why.<br />
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<b>Real-world (made up) example</b><br />
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To illustrate the conundrum, let's talk about Jake. Jake is the IT Manager for Awesome Stuff LTD. Jake reports to the CFO, Ritchey (the financial guy is named Ritchey, like RICH-ee - see what I did there) who knows almost nothing about technology, but handles the department's budget. Jake notices the company's firewall needs to be replaced. It locks up and has to be bounced a few times a month, it's throughput is barely keeping up with the load during peak times, and he gets constant complaints about the email content filtering "not working properly". Further, he sees the need to upgrade the company's bandwidth in the near future, but knows the firewall will be a bottleneck. So, he goes to Ritchey and says, "we need a new firewall". Ritchey says, "why?". Jake says, "because the flibbity-boppity multiplex protocol initiator is in a constant state of routing flux, and if we don't replace it soon, we could easily have COBOL RAM application OSI malware" (that's not actually what Jake said, but that's what it sounded like to Ritchey).<br />
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Jake puts together a proposal to spend a modest $20,000 on a new, high-end, loaded with bells and whistles, firewall. That price tag comes with 5 years of 24x7 support, next day replacement, free software updates, content filtering, email spam filtering, and has consistently gotten A+ reviews for quality and reliability. He knows that this will solve problems for his department, save lost time for employees, improve the network's reliability, and simply make things better at work.<br />
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Ritchey gets the proposal and sees <i style="font-weight: bold;">20 grand to replace a whatchamathingy that's not even broken, won't increase sales, won't decrease costs, and doesn't improve our business at all?</i> The budget gets cut. Jake drops the service agreement, the ongoing support, the content filtering and spam filtering subscriptions, and downgrades by a few models.<br />
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The company has just missed out on an opportunity to solve a business problem, reduce costs, and improve efficiency and productivity just because Jake and Ritchey weren't speaking the same language.<br />
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<b>What's the solution?</b><br />
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I think we have to get the <i>suits</i> and the <i>glasses</i> to speak the same language. So, we either teach our MBA-educated business people the ins and outs of software development, network engineering, systems design, and data security (not likely), or we start teaching our tech guys how business works.<br />
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How would the conversation have been different if Jake had made this proposal to Ritchey:<br />
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<i>Look, our firewall is getting to the point of being unreliable. I'm concerned that we're quickly heading for a hardware failure, which would mean an expensive quick-fix plus crazy-expensive downtime. The existing firewall is fully depreciated anyway, so it's time to look at replacement. I've evaluated a new product that will meet our technical requirements. It will also give us the risk protection we need with a service contract and free software upgrades to make sure we get the most out of our investment. The purchase will cut my departments time spent managing the existing firewall by 40 man-hours per month. That's 2,400 hours over the expected life of the product which means a $72,000 opportunity code reduction. We also get complaints from users who spend a lot of time fighting with improperly blocked email attachments, filtering through SPAM email, and fighting with the content filter. We expect $46,000 in improved employee productivity over 5 years by eliminating those issues. We also get better protection for our data, and we know from our recent risk assessment that exposure of our intellectual property would be disastrous - this purchase will help mitigate that risk.</i><br />
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<i>Now, we can make the purchase up-front out of Capital or we can use their managed firewall service and keep it in Operating expense - which do you prefer?</i><br />
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<b>Conclusion</b><br />
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My point here is, if you're a techy, learn how business decisions are made. Learn what things are important to the <i>suits</i>. You might not like it, but you'll be able to do your job much more effectively.<br />
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<b><i>What do you think?</i></b><br />
<br />Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-55667929484020551162013-05-02T11:49:00.003-04:002013-05-21T14:15:06.073-04:00Tomorrow's PC is... a PC. Wait, what?I know all the technology Illuminati claim that the PC is basically dead. Sure, they acknowlege that it might be barely holding on to life, but it's bound to croak soon, right? I mean, we've already ordered the flowers and notified the caterer.<br />
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But here's the thing <br />
<a name='more'></a>- what really, I mean REALLY, takes the place of the PC? Sure, mobile devices have changed the way people compute. But wouldn't it be more accurate to say that mobile devices have changed the way some people work some of the time? And I'm not knocking mobile computing. It's great. I love it. I had a PalmPilot back in the late 90's. I had a Blackberry in the mid-2000's. Now I use an iPhone and an iPad. Mobile computing has allowed me to have the information I need when I need it (which is good) and to blur the lines between when I'm working and when I'm not (which may or may not be good).<br />
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I even have a story about using my Blackberry to telnet into a Linux server and write a shell script to ping some wireless equipment and email me the results every 10 minutes so I didn't have to miss my niece's gymnastics competition to monitor an equipment outage. Come to think of it, that's pretty much the whole story. Anyway...<br />
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However, and this is the key to my point of view, <b>there are still tasks that I perform way more effectively from my desktop computer</b>. Lots of times, actually. Mobile is fine for a ton of things, but software development, graphics design, research, and a lot of other things that I do on a regular basis, I want to do on my desktop. Why? I can put my email up on one screen, a browser window on another an my development IDE on another screen. In the background I'm streaming Pandora, have a handful of extra browser windows open (each with a few tabs open), I'll also probably have a database tool open in the same window as my browser, so I can choose to look at my IDE and browser, or IDE and database. I must press ALT+TAB a thousand times a day while I'm flipping between apps. I use CNTRL+TAB and CNTRL+SHIFT+TAB constantly to flip between browser tabs.<br />
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I've yet to imagine a mobile device that will give me the kind of horsepower and flexibility to work productively. Sure, I can struggle through with a laptop or iPad, and sometimes those devices can be a pure joy to use, but when I'm really working hard, I need my desktop.<br />
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What about you? Can you really see a world without desktop PCs?Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-47823951645054535022013-05-01T11:23:00.001-04:002013-05-01T22:00:54.643-04:00The future role of ITIf you are at all interested in the shifting role of IT as "supporters and drivers of business value" rather than "the people who keep the wheels from falling off", then there is a post by Jim Stikeleather is worth a read (link at bottom).<br />
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His point is what I've been advocating for a while now. IT should be delivering business value. Does your IT department deliver value to the business, or do they just keep the computers from breaking?<br />
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When was the last time your IT department came up with an idea that transformed your business?<br />
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Find the article here: <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/04/corporate_it_and_the_conversat.html">http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/04/corporate_it_and_the_conversat.html</a><br />
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Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-42275485241213535282013-05-01T10:21:00.000-04:002013-05-21T14:15:31.510-04:00Why I've never been a fan of IT degrees<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4PbklHGZqRU/UYEt5e97JnI/AAAAAAAAAJg/3-TColpdi4Y/s1600/375px-Wikipedia-Degree.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4PbklHGZqRU/UYEt5e97JnI/AAAAAAAAAJg/3-TColpdi4Y/s200/375px-Wikipedia-Degree.svg.png" width="200" /></a>I've made this point a lot of times before, but I suppose it's time to commit it to writing. I don't think there is a ton of value in an IT degree. Why not, you may ask. I'm glad you asked. The real reason is that I've worked with people who have them. I haven't seen a lot of benefit. Seriously, who cares<br />
<a name='more'></a> that you learned Pascal in 1994, what can you do today? In fact, did you ever get a chance to use that Pascal programming?<br />
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Here's the thing - let's assume your college textbooks are pretty fresh. Let's say that the technology and concepts covered are only two years old when the book hits your desk. That means somebody wrote the book, edited, published, printed, and incorporated into your college course. 2 years feels like it could be optimistic, but we'll go with it.<br />
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Now let's assume that your talking about a course that you took in your 2nd year of a 4 year degree. Before you even try to find your first job, those skills are at least 5 years stale. In IT, that's forever. IT just moves too fast for that kind of traditional education to be effective.<br />
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I believe this is part of the reason new technology graduates have trouble getting their first job. Companies want tech people with hands-on experience rather than a stale education.<br />
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So, what's the alternative? I don't think I have all the answers, but I have a few ideas.<br />
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1. Recruiters and hiring managers need to start looking at capabilities rather than degrees. That way students won't feel like they need an IT-related degree in order to get their foot in the door.<br />
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2. College students should learn basics of technology - building blocks, so to speak - but don't waste a lot of time learning specific languages, specific technologies, specific hardware, etc... If anything, save that for the last year of college. The skills will still be stale, but not as much. Instead of learning specifics of technology, students should be learning about the role of technology in business. I can't tell you how many techies I know who can configure your core router with their eyes close, but couldn't begin to tell you what value that core router brings to the business.<br />
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3. Use the wealth of learning opportunities that exist outside of the traditional model. There are a ton of resources online that will allow you to learn anything you want - often for free. Use them.<br />
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What are your thoughts? Am I making too much of it? Do you have other ideas for how to solve this problem?Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-20114325562777681742013-04-28T19:49:00.000-04:002013-05-21T14:15:45.663-04:00Will (and should) Healthcare IT Save Money?<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O9OIJdTxo4M/UYHIn1RrbtI/AAAAAAAAAMs/I1mBeAPF6qk/s1600/MP900405444.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O9OIJdTxo4M/UYHIn1RrbtI/AAAAAAAAAMs/I1mBeAPF6qk/s200/MP900405444.JPG" width="200" /></a>There is some interesting debate in the Healthcare community about whether Healthcare IT (HIT) really does decrease costs. Below is a link to an article about a recent paper that shows that EMRs (meaning: electronic medical records software) does not, in fact, reduce <br />
<a name='more'></a>costs.<br />
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<a href="http://www.healthcare-informatics.com/news-item/study-ehrs-do-not-reduce-costs-additional-testing">http://www.healthcare-informatics.com/news-item/study-ehrs-do-not-reduce-costs-additional-testing</a><br />
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In their study, the researchers show that physicians who have access to electronic medical records order more tests, which presumably increases costs. While there is some debate about this specific study (you can read some of that here: <a href="http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2012/03/12/the-effect-of-physicians-electronic-access-to-tests-a-response-to-farzad-mostashari/">http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2012/03/12/the-effect-of-physicians-electronic-access-to-tests-a-response-to-farzad-mostashari/</a>), it does bring up some interesting thoughts.<br />
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<b>Will it get worse before it gets better?</b><br />
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One affect I have seen of implementing technology, whether in healthcare, or manufacturing, or professional services, or wherever, is that when you have the technology to track things better and to mine your data, you find missed opportunities. Professional services might offer the easiest example. Sometimes you forget to bill people for things. An attorney forgets to account for a phone call. A computer technician accidentally logs a service call at 2 hours instead of 2.5. With technology, you can find those things and correct them.<br />
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To me, that means we will see (and have seen) billings increase. Suddenly, we don't forget to bill procedures, equipment usage, services, meds, tests, etc... Everything is accounted for (pretty much) so we start billing more.<br />
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<b>Will cost savings be offset by improved care?</b><br />
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Assuming we get some cost savings, will just just off-set them with more and better care? Will we spend the new influx of cash (see my previous point) on more expensive equipment, technology, and people with the intention of improving quality of care. In fact, in the study mentioned above, the researchers don't look at quality of care, improved outcomes, or even whether those "extra" tests were medically necessary. Could it be that the docs were able to identify and head off some extra problems leading to better care? We don't know, but those questions are foundational to the conversation so we're going to have to find out.<br />
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<b>How long before the cost savings (if there are any) make it to the patients?</b><br />
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For now, let's continue to assume that eventually cost savings will happen. How? For one thing, billing more of what would previously have been "missed opportunities" will increase revenue. But costs for those missed opportunities are already built in to the price structure. So, same costs, more revenue (sounds nice, doesn't it?). Are we all optimistic enough to think that our altruistic hospital administrators will re-calculate the prices of services and lower the price? Or will the cost savings land in the pockets of the healthcare providers? Or will they be reinvested in improving care?<br />
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I expect that prices to consumers will be slow to decrease. That's largely because of the lack of transparency in healthcare pricing. That's a topic for a future post, but let's just say that people don't often shop for healthcare based on pricing. Without market drivers, it will be up to the primary payors (most often insurance companies and government agencies) and regulators to move prices down.<br />
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<b>So, what does all that mean?</b><br />
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HIT brings with it a lot of potential for change, but the direction of that change may not be as predictable as we had all hoped. The best we can do as IT professionals is to set realistic expectations and to make sure that we're working to make incremental changes with a real end-goal in mind.Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-4871847805364221642013-04-25T15:33:00.000-04:002013-04-25T15:36:54.261-04:00Non-linear careersI just read this article about non-linear careers - <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130425182632-5973711-the-strongest-careers-are-non-linear">http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130425182632-5973711-the-strongest-careers-are-non-linear</a><br />
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I have had a non-typical, non-linear career, so I found the article to be particularly interesting. What are your thoughts?Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-54190773470959471622013-04-25T13:42:00.003-04:002013-05-21T14:16:13.119-04:00IT in the board room? What!?<i><To the tune of the Burt Bacharach/Austin Powers song></i><br />
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<i>What the world needs now, is IT people who understand business</i></div>
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<i></Bad attempt at a song parody></i></div>
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So maybe the song doesn't fit the tune, but<br />
<a name='more'></a> I think the message is right on. We need more IT people who understand business. Why? I'm glad you asked.</div>
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<b>#1. Make better recommendations</b></div>
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Sure, you need to replace that ancient firewall with something way more advanced with higher capacity and fewer limitations. In fact, the replacement isn't that expensive. And since you're so good at your job, you've even worked out the least expensive way for your company to obtain this shiny new technology - because you're that good. You also know (somewhere deep inside) that this will protect this company better while increasing productivity. Right? </div>
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But how? How much will it increase productivity and how important is that? How will it protect the company, and from what? Furthermore, is it the right amount of protection? Is it worth stepping up to the next level of technology, or conversely, are you overspending on something unnecessary? If all you know is that the box needs replacing and that spending the cash will have some vague positive impact - then you need to understand the business better. </div>
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<b>#2. Have meaningful communications</b></div>
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Let's building on our last example. You picked out the firewall that you think is the right choice. Now you have to get that suit-wearing dude to be willing to write the check. This is your chance to show him how well you researched it, how smart you are, and how amazing of a contributor you are for being so amazingly proactive. You are all prepared to talk about the capacity, filtering technology, survivability, scalability, and overall wonderfull-ness of this technology. You dazzle with technical descriptions, charts and graphs, and whitepapers. </div>
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This is what the "suit dude" hears: "Spend x dollars on this whoosie-what's-it-majiggy-thing that's shiny". He asks, "why do we need it?". You respond, "because the whamalama-whopsibob could have a churgle-fargle - and you DON'T want that". So, he reluctantly authorizes the purchase order for yet another necessary-but-I-don't-really-know-or-care-why expenditure. But where's the business strategy?</div>
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<b>#3. (And most importantly) Earn IT a seat at the strategy table</b></div>
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Your marketing manager understands how what he does affects the business. So does your sales manager. And your production manager. Somehow IT has ended up in the role of serving those other departments to make sure their mission-critical pieces and parts don't fail.</div>
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What's wrong with that? IT is uniquely poised to discover problems with the business, and bring solutions. IT can and should be part of the company's overall strategy. </div>
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If you pull it off, you move from "buy us this whoosie-whatsie, pretty please" to "implementing a new information security system will help mitigate some of the risks associated with data loss and data exposure, however, we should talk about ways to quantify and then accept or transfer the remaining risk". </div>
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Now you're using technology to solve business problems - and isn't that what we're here for?</div>
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Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com0Columbus, OH 43235, USA40.1296424 -83.02539640.032485900000005 -83.1867575 40.2267989 -82.8640345tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-34711751670238802762013-04-23T10:45:00.000-04:002013-05-21T14:16:43.358-04:00Can we all stop saying "home grown" software like it's a bad thing?I have a problem. I like things that are home grown. I can tell you, the tomatoes from my garden are better than the ones in the grocery store. In fact, if you look down your nose at home grown food, take a look at this article <br />
<a name='more'></a>and it might just change your mind - <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370130/Just-fresh-fresh-food-supermarket.html">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370130/Just-fresh-fresh-food-supermarket.html</a>.<br />
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So, if home grown food can (and in my opinion, usually is) better than the off-the-shelf stuff, why do we talk about "home grown" software like it's a questionable-looking mole that has grown on our IT infrastructure? Sure, some custom software is bad. So is some commercial software. However, some custom software is brilliant, well-developed, scale-able, integrate-able and does exactly what the organization needs.<br />
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In the Healthcare industry, most of the revolutionary game-changing software that I know about started as internally-developed "home grown" software.<br />
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So, here's what I'm asking for: Can we stop talking about "home grown" software like it's an inherently bad thing and change the conversation to good software vs. bad software?Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-74434318156784757732013-04-23T10:18:00.000-04:002013-05-21T14:16:57.061-04:00Is Facebook bad for productivity? Who cares?I've never understood the management style that is concerned about employees making personal phone calls, sending a personal email, reading the news online, or using social media at work. Even if we don't consider the evidence that using social media at work <i>could</i> improve <br />
<a name='more'></a>productivity (<a href="http://socialtimes.com/facebook-is-good-for-productivity-at-work_b120476">http://socialtimes.com/facebook-is-good-for-productivity-at-work_b120476</a>), from a management standpoint I think there's still a good argument to be made.<br />
<br />
Which employee would you rather have?<br />
Jimbob always has Facebook open on his computer. He watches his Twitter feed and Tweets pretty consistently throughout the day. You've seen him send countless text messages and you know he receives personal email on his work email account. He is also one of the top performers in his department when you look at his work outcomes.<br />
<br />
Bobbysue doesn't have any social media accounts and hasn't quite mastered the art of text messaging yet. She is consistently annoyed that she sees Jimbob texting at work - she thinks that is inappropriate behavior. Bobbysue struggles to produce work output that is of acceptable quality. She also seems to spend a large amount of time staring down her computer like she's trying to will it to do what she wants. She calls tech support almost daily for what they describe as PEBKAC errors (Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair).<br />
<br />
From a pure management standpoint, who is the better choice? Sure, these are extreme cases, but the bottom line is - why don't we start managing for output instead of trying to manage how the input happens?Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-12257110800990727512013-04-22T11:17:00.000-04:002013-05-21T14:17:13.982-04:00What is Cyber-liability insuranceEver heard of cyber-liability insurance? Is it something you need or is it just another way for insurance companies to make buck off of you like pet insurance, iPhone insurance, or immaculate conception insurance (yep, that's real <br />
<a name='more'></a>- <a href="http://dailynewsdig.com/5-crazy-insurance-covers-that-you-never-knew-existed/">http://dailynewsdig.com/5-crazy-insurance-covers-that-you-never-knew-existed/</a>)? The answer is: maybe. To answer that, we have to do a quick refresher on what insurance is for. I promise, I'll be brief.<br />
<br />
So, you probably already know that insurance exists to protect you from bad things happening. Right? Well, not quite. Insurance only protects you from some of the negative consequences of a bad thing. It doesn't keep you from driving your car into a pole - but it will pay to patch your car up afterwards. So, how do we decide which insurance to buy and which insurance to avoid. First we have to gauge our risk. To gauge risk, you have to figure out what the likelihood is of "the bad thing" happening, and what the consequences are if it happens.<br />
<br />
Let's call the odds of trashing your iPhone moderate. The odds are higher for some clumsy people (like me), and lower for others. The cost of replacement is probably a few hundred bucks. So, if you have lots of cash lying around, you probably don't need the insurance - you can absorb the risk yourself. If you spent your life's savings to get the phone, and would have to save for 3 years to replace it - you might want to consider then insurance.<br />
<br />
Now, on to cyber-liability insurance. Imagine all of the bad things that could happen to your computer systems, website, or data. Create in your head, visions of evil hackers dressed up like Linux ninjas (at least that's how I picture them) who have nothing in their lives more important than messing up your technology, stealing your customers' identities, and crashing your infrastructure. Imagine every server, router, switch, and fiber cable that involved in your internet connection, hosting, and server management as being teetering on the edge of total catastrophic failure. That's what what we're insuring ourselves against.<br />
<br />
So, the final point is, how likely are you to be hacked, to lose data, to have a catastrophic failure and what is the cost. If that doesn't make you nervous at all, then you're either unaware, have nerves of steel, or have low risk. If lie awake at night in fear of those evil hackers and teetering servers, then you probably have a higher risk and might want to consider transferring some of it to an insurance company.<br />
<br />
If you want some more information, there's an excellent article by <a href="http://www.inc.com/author/minda-zetlin" rel="author" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;">Minda Zetlin</a> over at Inc that's worth a read.<br />
<a href="http://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/6-reasons-you-should-have-cyber-liability-insurance.html">http://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/6-reasons-you-should-have-cyber-liability-insurance.html</a><br />
<br />
<br />Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-37028046610609343552013-04-17T10:35:00.000-04:002013-05-21T14:17:27.913-04:00Why is healthcare IT different?I was in an interview recently and asked the candidate if they have any healthcare IT experience. Their response was one that I might have given a couple years ago: "no, but I have a lot of <br />
<a name='more'></a>IT experience and IT is IT no matter what industry". I actually like that answer. It makes a lot of sense to me - it's intuitive. A computer is a computer. A network is a network. 10 years ago when I worked at a small regional hospital as a system administrator, that was largely true (for my position). I helped keep the servers serving, the network networking, and the PCs... err.. from crashing. From a hardware perspective there are few differences between healthcare IT and any other industry where a hardware failure could, quite literally, kill somebody. No pressure.<br />
<br />
However, as soon as you look at the software and data, you see a very different animal. So, I'm going to make a short list of some of the things that I see that make healthcare IT different. Please, feel free to add your own.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<b>1. A system failure could kill somebody</b></h4>
I know I mentioned it before, but I think it's worth re-iterating. If a patient is crashing and a doctor can't find out what medication they're on because "the system is down", it could have very serious negative affects. Yes, there are contingencies built into the workflow, but we're talking about an environment where any delay could mean the difference between life and death. Most IT guys aren't used to that kind of pressure.<br />
<br />
<h4>
2. Data entry is "optional"</h4>
I use optional in quotes because most places probably tell people they "have to do it", but never to the detriment of the patient, which means it's as the user's discretion, which means it doesn't happen reliably. Moving on...<br />
<br />
Imagine a manufacturing environment where data entry is "optional". If the operator is busy, they just skip it. Can you track your costs? Can you bill your customers accurately? Do you have any usable data at all? What a mess.<br />
<br />
Now, imagine telling a doctor that he has to delay treating a patient who is in crisis until he's finished documenting what he's doing, why he's doing it, which meds he's using, and what dosage. That can't happen in health care.<br />
<br />
Therefore, treating the patients is #1, entering data is number 2 (or 3 or 12 or 50). When the data entry is secondary, the data is messy. And messy data is unusable.<br />
<br />
<h4>
3. Healthcare software typically has little input validation</h4>
<div>
Input validation, that thing that keeps you from entering a 2 month old patient who weighs 150 pounds, largely doesn't exist. Yes, we can rule out the extremes. Don't allow patients over 10 feet tall. Don't allow a height/weight ratio that would result in a BMI of greater than 150. But those lines are drawn way outside of the realm of possibilities which means that bad data is entered - a lot.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And it's not just validating logic that doesn't happen. Most fields can be left blank. This seems unthinkable in most industries. Imagine this - the bank doesn't know your last name, social, address, or phone number, so just leave it blank. Nope. However, we're going to treat that patient whether we know anything about them or not. Hopefully that data will get plugged in later, but in the hustle and bustle of saving lives, well... you can imagine how often that actually happens. Again, the data is messy and messy data is unusable.</div>
<h4>
4. Clean, accurate, usable data is absolutely essential</h4>
"But I thought you just said that healthcare data is so messy it's unusable." Now you're getting it. So, what we have is a messy system of documentation, and we as IT people have to turn it into something that can be used for billing, productivity tracking, cost analysis, meaningful use reporting, balanced scorecards, and research. And it has to be complete. And it has to be accurate.<br />
<br />
If we can get this right we will have, at our fingertips, the ability to completely revolutionize the entire healthcare industry from the way research is performed, to the way patients are cared for, to the operational decision-making process.<br />
<br />
I'm sure there are other significant differences, but I'll leave you with these for now. If you disagree with anything I've said, or have something to add, I'd love to hear it.Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com2Columbus, OH 43235, USA40.1296424 -83.02539640.032485900000005 -83.1867575 40.2267989 -82.8640345tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-1787470032150476052013-04-16T10:20:00.000-04:002013-04-17T10:36:15.589-04:00How has the Internet changed your lifeI realize that within the title of this post lies a very simple question - one that most everybody has pondered. However, I still realize new ways that the Internet has changed the way I work, entertain myself, and satisfy my occasional urges to obtain new, mostly useless, knowledge Earlier today I recalled a time when, if you wanted to know if school was cancelled due to snow, you had to get up, turn on the radio, and wait until they announce it. Now, before I get my kids up in the winter, I roll over, hit the bookmark on my smartphone, look at the cancellation list and either get up or go back to sleep. How did my parents survive?<br />
<br />
I'm curious. What are the less-obvious ways that the Internet has changed your life?Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-86257445465500092312013-03-04T18:30:00.000-05:002013-05-21T14:18:21.113-04:00Change does not necessarily assure progress, OK Microsoft?I originally wrote this post when Windows Vista came out. Now that Windows 8 has been released, I feel a sense of deja vu. So instead of re-hashing the same idea, I'll just re-post the original. Feel free to mentally substitute Windows 8 <br />
<a name='more'></a>in place of Windows Vista.<br />
<br />
---------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
Recently, there was a discussion about operating systems in the office. Somebody was talking about how much they like Windows XP and disliked Windows Vista. From what I could gather, the only thing they really like about Windows XP is that they were familiar with it, and the only thing they disliked about Vista is that they weren't. The question I ask anytime somebody talks about a software upgrade, particularly for a Microsoft product, is "what are you going to gain by upgrading". Usually I get an answer like "well, the user interface is updated" or "it's such a huge improvement over the last version", but very seldom do I hear "because I really like the way it give me the ability to (insert any legitimate time-saving, productivity enhancing activity here)". Why would you want to upgrade just so you can learn a new interface? Why would you fork over $150+ (plus the cost to have somebody install it if you're not so inclined) just for something that's going to slow you down while you learn, with no real payoff in the end.<br />
<br />
Now, let it be said, I'm not opposed to learning. I don't mind learning a new product, new interface, new workflow, etc... However, if I'm going to learn something new, I expect a payoff somewhere down the line. My real computer usage (other than the Commodore 64 in my Jr. High computer lab) started with MS-DOS. Our first home computer came with DOS 3.3. I screwed it up (still don't know how) and my dad told me if I wanted to use the computer, I was going to have to figure out how to fix it. He found a copy of DOS 6.22 ( my first OS upgrade) and that, combined with my old DOS 3.3 manuals formed the foundation of my computer use.<br />
<br />
I later took a giant step up in the world with a Windows 3.1 machine, then into Windows 3.11. Now, my DOS machine had a DOS menu system, so I could use my arrow keys (before the days of mice) and select whether I wanted games, productivity, etc... and then select the program I wanted to run. With Windows, I had a mouse (a cool feature) and a little more enhanced interface. The trade-off was that it would *occasionally* crash. Yes, occasionally. As in, every once in a while. As in, not very often. It also ran a little slower than pure DOS.<br />
<br />
Now comes Windows 95. Decent looking interface, but nothing really productivity enhancing about it. It didn't really give me the ability to work faster. I suppose the Windows explorer was better for managing files than the Windows 3.11 File Manager. The plug and play concept was nice, especially for those of us who were involved in PC Repair at the time. Plug and play would have been even nice had it worked properly and consistently. Those of you who used it at the time probably remember referring to it as "plug and pray". <br />
<br />
Windows 98. I attended the Windows 98 release conference. I listened to the marketing hype. I remember a few months before the release when Bill Gates, on live national television, gave a product demonstration of the new, improved plug and play and USB support. He plugged a scanner into a PC, live on national television mind you, and promptly got a "blue screen of death", live on national television. Nothing in the history of personal computing had been so gratifying to those of us who spent our days dealing with Windows problems. Thinking back to the upgrade from Windows 95 to Windows 98 (which I avoided for quite some time, personally) I can't really think of any new features. Some claim it was more stable, but I had gotten to the point with my Windows 95B machine, where it was more stable than most new Windows 98 (pre-patches) machines anyway.<br />
<br />
On to Windows 2000. I recall reading an article that claimed that Windows 2000 was release with many tens of thousands of known bugs (in the interest of fairness, they defined a bug as a piece of code that didn't work properly, or as a note that a coder had left to come back and review something, which doesn't necessarily mean that section is bad, it just needs reviewed).<br />
<br />
To save space, I'll skip right over Windows XP and Windows Vista and just say that it's basically the same story. I also realize that I left out NT4, but suffice it to say, I still have some NT4 boxes in production in my server room.<br />
<br />
The overall question here, from the perspective of somebody who's seen and performed OS upgrades from DOS 3.3 all the way through Windows Vista is this: what have we really gained? Hardware requirements are through the roof, we have 15 years worth of operating system "upgrades" and I can only think of a handful of things I can do with my current XP machine that I couldn't do with Windows 3.11. Sure, some things are easier (like hardware installations, they've finally gotten plug and play right it seems), networking, graphics-related activities, but it doesn't seem like nearly the kind of progress you would expect from a multi-billion dollar industry.<br />
<br />
What do I think real progress would look like in the OS market? My expectations are that after decades of tweaking with an OS, you would have the following:<br />
<ul><br />
<li>Decreased system requirements. Get smart and learn how to do more with less.</li>
<br />
<li>Stability. Make computers not crash. My DOS 3.3 machine never crashed. My Windows 3.1 machine almost never crashed. Stability seems to be coming back up, but until "computer crash" is no longer in my vocabulary (it wasn't with DOS 3.3), then I'm not happy yet.</li>
<br />
<li>Security. Now, I know it's not fair to compare security of old OS's with the security of new ones, so I won't. The world has changed with with a "connected" world, our risks have changed. That said, STOP RELEASING OPERATING SYSTEMS THAT AREN'T SECURE. We live in a "connected" world. Our risks range from viruses, to hackers around the world, to foreign governments and electronic terrorism. I mean, you're not doing this out of the goodness of your hearts, right? You're getting paid good money to develop new operating systems, right? You must be capable of securing them, right? I mean, after all, you are the most sophisticated software company in the world. You do end up finding the vulnerabilities and patching them anyway, right? Don't release the OS until it's ready. Don't make me and every other savvy user wait until after the first or second service pack to even consider upgrading. Take your time, build a good product and then release it. Don't worry, I'll wait. I'm waiting anyway.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Wow, this post is going really long so I'll stop there and probably rant some more about it in the future.<br />
<br />
JefferyJeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-84259015545533764092013-02-05T09:00:00.000-05:002013-05-21T14:18:35.734-04:00What happened to Ebay?As I sit and ponder, I recall a day in times past, a simpler time, a time when any average sap could look around his house (or her house, saps aren't limited to the masculine gender), locate something he (or she) can find no real reason to keep, and sell it on Ebay for<br />
<a name='more'></a> at least 12 times its actual value. It was great. You could sell socks, guitars, car parts, and cooking supplies all in one place, and get a decent price. Conversely, anything you were looking to purchase, if you wanted a deal, all you had to do is hit Ebay and run a quick search.<br />
<br />
Did you see the new Star Wars movies? They went back and made prequels - episodes 1, 2 and 3 telling the story of how Anikin became a Jedi, and then how he became the evil Darth Vader we all had bad dreams about (okay, maybe not all, but I was a pretty wimpy kid). I'll save my complaints about Episodes 1, 2, and 3, and specifically about Jar Jar Binks (he doesn't belong in a Star Wars movie!!!) for another post. One thing that strikes me is that in the first 3 "episodes", there is civilization in the galaxy. Everything seems bright and developed and civilized. Fast forward to episode 4 when Luke Skywalker is a teenager. The entire galaxy seems dark, depressed, undeveloped and uncivilized. An amazing regression from the first 3 episodes. I assume this change is due to many years (19, I think) of oppressive control by the evil Emperor.<br />
<br />
Back to Ebay (you thought I forgot, didn't you?). The early days of Ebay were, in my (geeky and hopped up on cold medicine) mind, similar to episodes 1-3 - bright, civilized, and useful. Now it seems like a dark cloud has come over Ebay. What is the dark cloud? I haven't quite been able to put my finger on it. <br />
<br />
Whenever I'm looking to buy something on Ebay, all I find are stores and professional Ebay-ers selling new items that I could buy from WalMart for less money. I have to work hard to find those great values where individuals are selling something they don't need anymore and figure a global marketplace makes more sense than a local yard sale.<br />
<br />
If I'm looking to sell something, it seems like nobody's looking. I've listed some quality electronics and received very little interest, few hits, and bids averaging nowhere close to what the items are worth. Has the general public given up on Ebay? Are the only people left on Ebay the people who have decided to make a living out of it? Is it time for a new website to allow average Joe to hock his wares?Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-562957273424880546.post-80417279268260652592007-05-04T00:26:00.000-04:002013-05-21T14:18:49.121-04:00Chinese Buffet 5-year-old-styleMy daughter is 7 now. When she was 5 she came up with a new restaurant idea. I never knew she was such an entrepreneur. When it happened I documented it for posterity's sake. So, here you are, posterity.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
She was playing with various toys and fake food and had them all arranged into piles and makeshift containers. She told my wife it was a Chinese Buffet-a (we had dinner at a Chinese buffet a few weeks prior). These are the ingredients she told my wife you should have on a Chinese Buffet-a:<br />
Grape Hamburger mixed with grapes (great start, huh)<br />
Apples<br />
Carrots<br />
Chicken Fried Rice (she said it "makes the flavor come together")<br />
Lettuce<br />
Broccoli<br />
Olives<br />
Croutons<br />
Spagetti (pasta)<br />
Spagetti Sauce<br />
Peanut butter (she said it "makes flavors & chicken fried rice go together & makes all ingredients... when you take a bite it makes all the flavors come out in your mouth<br />
Crunchy taco cover (a taco shell, I presume)<br />
Soft taco cover<br />
Apple Juice<br />
<br />
Now, here's the best part. Her instructions were "stir everything on the buffet-a up and all the flavors come together and you don't even have to chew it up, you just swallow it." So, if any of you are looking for a business to financially back, I've got an idea for a chew-free restaurant. It's moments like this that make me glad she hasn't decided to make my wife and I breakfast in bed yet (by the way, she has now - shudder).<br />
<br />
And now, for a YouTube selected video:<br />
<br />
<div id="_ytplayer_vjVQa1PpcFMRhxCFFkNC3E8xWnuVqj0fcyR5qelXdG4=">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/browse">Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com</a></div>
<script src="http://www.youtube.com/cp/vjVQa1PpcFMRhxCFFkNC3E8xWnuVqj0fcyR5qelXdG4=" type="text/javascript"></script>Jeff Schmidthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01407907457499497842noreply@blogger.com0