Remember the telephone companies’ deregulation of the 1980s? Ifsomeone were to ask me then to switch my phone service I wouldhave said ‘no way’. You see during this initial period it reallywas all about the network. Well, the times have certainly changed. For some of us in theUnited States, we’ve seen the TV commercials trying to instillfear of switching providers. By the way, it probably goeswithout...

In my career I have been fortunate enough to work for two of thebest companies on earth: Accenture and Microsoft. In my elevenyears at Accenture I got a tremendous education on systemsdevelopment, project management, strategic planning, and clientservice. In my nine years at Microsoft, I took most of what Ilearned at Accenture and learned how to apply it in a verypractical and effective manner. Both experiences were key...

There are more and more individuals opting to work from homethan ever before. The advantages to this are many includingavoiding the morning and evening rush hours, being able to spendtime with your kids and significant other, and doing everythingon your own time. Though the pitfalls are many, the one that Iwill be focusing on in this article is that of setting up asecure wireless network for your home based business....

Systems thinking is important for Organizational Change (OC)practitioners (and managers) because rarely is there an “evil”person in the organization bent on bringing pain anddestruction. Bad behavior, or ineffective behavior, is oftenunwittingly rewarded by management. Protecting turf, notcommunicating with peers, not contributing to the team, highabsenteeism, and resisting change happen for a reason.In many...

Why a phone scrambler? The Threat… If someone is actively targeting you, attempting to gather information information for whatever purpose, it is almost guaranteed that your cordless and cellulat telephone conversations are being listened to using some types of ‘ spy equipment ‘. And it is likely that there will be an effort to tap your hard-wired telephone as well – (more on that in a bit). If...

The days of unreliable Internet connections, impatiently waiting for web pages to load, and waiting hours to download something from the Internet are quickly becoming obsolete. Dial-up Internet, which used to be the standard for those seeking Internet access, is rapidly being replaced by faster, more reliable Internet access technologies. One of those technologies, DSL Internet service, is one of the most popular and...

African Americans and Hispanics are the most frequent users ofenhanced mobile phone features such as texting and downloadingringtones.With mobile phones turning into complete personal entertainmentcenters, in addition to functioning as phones, some 52 percentof Hispanics and 48 percent of African American cell phoneowners say they sent a text message in the past month. Theoverall average is just 29 percent. For African...

A critical task in the succession planning process of anyorganization is identifying candidates. Traditionally,candidates have been identified based on past performance. Whilethis seems logical, it is problematic in practice.Past performance always measures success in a lower-levelposition. What is needed in succession planning is a system toidentify potential for success in a future higher-levelposition. The best predictive...

With all the hype about IP Centrex, youd think that every business in American had switched to IP telephony. Analyst firm Ovum estimates that IP Centrex and hosted VoIP revenues will amount to around US $6.6 billion worldwide by 2008, up from US $255 million this year. Frost & Sullivan puts a US $7.9 billion valuation on the market by 2009. It expects, conservatively, that IP Centrex will account for at least 15...

A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that can indicate a partnership is in trouble. Competitive, Not Complementary Action James Carville and Mary Matlin are public relations spokespeople for the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively. They are each articulate, sharp and feisty. Sparks fly when they debate in favor of their parties, so much so that they seem like arch enemies who couldn’t...