Archive for October, 2007

Happy Halloweenie!

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

img_0454david.jpg

No, it’s not me, obviously.  This little boy is my friend’s son.  His mom bought the Ninja costume for his school costume day which is today. 

What DB and I are doing this evening is hibernate in the executive office.  No giving out candies for these sugar buzzed kids.   We didn’t even buy any candies at all.  There are plenty of other junk food in this household.  It’s gonna be cold and windy tonight, so I’m guessing there are not many kids out knocking on doors.  Anyhoo, Happy Halloween to everyone out there!

Website for casino reviews

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

I am not a casino goer but do go to casinos when invited by friends.  I have been to quite a few out here and the ones outside of Minnesota in Deadwood, South Dakota.  The thing about going to casinos is you have to endure the smokey environment and if you are a person who dislike cigarette smoke, then it would be extremely annoying.  DB hates it especially the smell of cigarettes and the worse is the stale cigarette smell everywhere in the casinos.

However, there are now online casinos for those who enjoy their gambling from the comfort of their own homes without having to tolerate the noisy and smokey environment.  Top USA Online Casinos is a site for US casino players.  It is a wonderful website to visit for online casinos.  Before you pick your choice of casinos, you can actually click on the Review button to read the reviews of the casinos.  You can read about the overall ratings, for example, the rating of the casino site, the speed, game selections, security, technical support, and many more.  In the casino reviews, you can also look for those online casinos that gives out bonuses and promotion packages.

Sweet Treat!

Tuesday, October 30th, 2007

I have not checked my blog admin panel the entire weekend and saw this incoming link I still have something for you from Trinity.  She is one of the new blog friends I’ve made through the blogsphere.   Thanks, Trinity for helping me out with all the links we need to boost our PRs and Technorati scores. 

This sweet treat was originated from Hootin’ Anni’s and for some unknown reason, I cannot upload the picture.  Hop over to these two ladies’ blog and take a look at the sweet dessert!

Project management software

Tuesday, October 30th, 2007

I know for sure the finance department in my company uses some sort of project management software.  I talk to a financial analyst once in a while when I walk passed her area and I do notice all this fancy software.  She told me once about some software the department purchase to manage their projects better and the time it saves working on them.  A project management software encompasses several kinds of software.  For example they are quality management, scheduling, communication, cost control, budgeting to list some of them.  

ProActive Software has two project management softwares for businesses: ProWorkflow Management and Prowork Flow Enterprise.   The ProWorkflow management software assist in managing projects online where it would raise workplace efficiency.  It helps with time and task management, timesheets and time tracking, reporting, billing, pricing and project teamwork.  It is easy to implement and use as well.  The Prowork Flow Enterprise purpose is to help bigger companies that require better platforms for further growth in their businesses.   It helps companies to manage their teams and groups, and manage their time management even better. 

Here is the press release for further information:

There is nothing like walking out of a shop, satisfied with your purchase, product in hand knowing that you have a face behind the sale.

The Internet in some ways has taken that assurance away from the customer and with the masses of choice only a mouse click away the thought of purchasing a product or service online can be quite daunting.

However, the software as a service (SaaS) industry in New Zealand is fast moving from futuristic idea to current day reality and companies offering SaaS are looking for ways to maintain the personal service which has been a big part of historical software sales.
ProActive Software has found great and personal service to be a key part in their success on the global stage.

CEO Julian Stone says customers have said they’re surprised to get such personal service when dealing with ProActive.

He says “Don’t make sales, build relationships. This is a necessary part of the SaaS business model. Look after your customers as they are the foundation of the business. It’s important to keep customers happy month after month to retain their business.”

Customers of their core product www.proworkflow.com, have told Stone that their dealings with people at other software companies, often based in the US, have been rude, lacked callbacks, with slow email responses, making many customers wary of using SaaS where they had little ability to have personal contact with their supplier.

However, Stone says when customers come across a company with good service, they tell people.

Stone has attributed ProActive’s excellent response time with sales and support enquiries to their customers satisfaction. When customers build their business on our servers and use our code they must know we will be there if something needs attention.

An average enquiry for ProActive, from point of contact, to response is typically 15-60 minutes, where most of ProActive’s customers had said average response times for other software companies was usually measured in days, not minutes or hours.

“If you want to make a sale, sell a good product. If you want to grow a business, sell good service. We’ve found that most referral sales now come in as a result of ProActive Software’s service,” Stone says.

As Stone says “ProActive have built their SaaS company they have always kept service as a top priority, knowing their focus would continually be tested and be drawn onto product development and administration.

ProActive Software knows it is extremely important to keep the level of service constant and high “Customers don’t care that we have ten times as many customer to look after, they don’t care we are on someone else’s problem, they want the high service level maintained – so as we grow we automate, simplify, and when necessary bring in additional resource a bit before it is really needed. It takes a while to build a reputation of not letting down customers, it does not take anywhere near as long to lose it,” Stone Says

Mid-year review and looking forward to a trip to MD!

Tuesday, October 30th, 2007

It’s the time of the year again for mid year reviews.  Mine was actually two months late but it was alright.  It gives me more time to think what I want to discuss with my boss.  I told my boss how bored and unchallenged my job is right now.  I was not surprised that she noticed that, too.  I told her my job is getting too mundane and I need a thorough understanding of Affirmative Action.  I even told her I snooped around the EEAC and OFCCP websites to learn more about this complex subject, however, those two websites did not help much, and she agreed they are not helpful.  She then told me that she will register me for an affirmative action training with Berkshire Associates out in Maryland.  Yeeeehahhhh!!!!  That would be so awesome, I get to go out East.  So, I checked out the training schedule which turns out to be a two-day training on Thursday and Friday in January, 2008.  My plans are spend the next day or two touring DC and take the train to NYC and return to Minneapolis on Sunday or Monday! (Take a day of vacation.)  That would be just what I wanted. Did it perk me up?  Hell,  yeah!!