MJ's Business IT Blog

The President Has A Smartphone, Do You?

There have been conflicting reports over the last few days as to whether President Obama would continue to carry his smartphone. This evening, I learned gthat he would, though his e-mail address and phone number will be classified, which makes sense.

It also makes sense that he will have it. He's comfortable with technology and has used this tool for a while. Why shouldn't he keep it. If he's like me, he wants his information electronically and in one place. In this day and age, it doesn't make sense to carry around a bulky day planner, when the same can be done with a device not much larger than a deck of cards. It's not only technically savvy, it's greener than all that paper.

I remember when Al Gore was running back in 1999/2000. I had the opportunity to meet the then Vice President. As he approached me I noticed a PalmPilot on his belt. I complimented him on it and gestured to my own in my shirt pocket. I was a bit shocked when he reached for it to check mine out. I was a little concerned the Secret Service might tackle me, but instead we had a brief exchange about our gadgets. I remember thinking that if elected, he would change the view of these devices. Well time and the technology itself has taken care of that. It's nice to see technology being put to effective use, especially by our new President.

A New High Tech Presidency

The inauguration of President Barak Obama promises to be a good thing for the technology industry.  The Obama campaign was widely praised for its embrace of technology and how they used it to interact with their supporters.

Moments after our new President was sworn in, I visited The White House web site and sure enough, there was a new, polished and robust web site waiting.  Just as the campaign before it, the new Administration seems poised to leverage technology to do its work.  Right on the home page there was a link to sign up for updates.  I couldn't resist and signed right up.  It will be interesting to see how they use this.

I am hopeful that this will be an exciting 4 years and possibly more, for those of us who live in the world of technology.  I hope that it will go well beyond our unique industry and touch most, if not all American's and help make our lives far better than they have been.  Time will tell.  I wish the new Administration the very best. 

Jenaly's New Web Site Is Live!

I am very proud to announce that our new web site is now live.  We finished our updates and testing today and have moved the site into production.  We've added video and some new tools and we hope you will enjoy visiting it.  Thanks to everyone who tested and offered feedback and suggestions.  Please let us know what you think of the new site by leaving a comment on this post.

Visit our new site at http://www.jenaly.com.

Document Management

Document Managent holds a lot of promise for most businesses. It also holds some risk.

When considering a document management solution, it's important to have clearly defined the need and the business processes that will feed the document management system. While on the surface, document management is an IT centric endeavor, it's really much more about the business processes the solution will help you make more efficient.

Document management solutions will require an up front investment, but they will abolutely reduce long term costs. I have yet to encounter a business that can not benefit from these technologies, so I encourage you to look into them for your business.

New Video

If you have been reading this blog lately, you know that we have been working on our new web site, which we hope to formally launch this month.

Last week, I had the opportunity to record a couple of video segments for the new site.  This first video will be placed on the home page, welcoming users to our site, however, it will not autoplay.  Visitors will have to click a link to see the video.  I don't care for sites that force video on you, so I want to be respectful of people visiting our web site.  Let me know what you think of this:

This next video is an interview I did to talk about Jenaly and how we work with our clients:

I'd love to know what you think of these videos.  Post a comment and share your thoughts.  Thanks!

Welcome to 2009!

I'm sensing a lot hope and positive enthusiasm for the new year.  Despite the negative news we get bombarded with on a daily basis, most of the people I have been talking with are expressing hope that this will be a better year than 2008.  Let's hope so, no pun intended.

Many of the businesses I have been meeting with this first week of the new year are investing in their infrastructure.  Even if there business is off a bit, they feel the turn is coming and they want to be properly positioned when it does arrive.  Personally, I think the country is in a funk driven by two primary factors, the media and the upcoming presidential transition.  I hope that once the change in administration is complete, that things will get better, fueled by the energy of the new administration and the collective hope that change brings with it.  Just last evening, I was having a conversation with a good friend and he had a great thought.  What would happen if there was a news option that only reported positive news.  What would that do to the collective psyche of those who watched it?  It's a very interesting thought.

My goal as we begin 2009 is to remain hopeful and positive and create the future I want for my family, my co-workers and my business.  What are your thoughts as we begin the new year?  My very best wishes for a healthy, happy and prosperous 2009.