Simplex-IT BizBlog

Bob here.  In 2007, Simplex-IT was started with two employees. At this point, we currently have five full-time employees and four part-time employees. An unstated goal of ours has always been a high ratio of folks providing service (the technical folks) versus the sales and support people.

So it’s taken me a while to get comfortable with adding a support position to the organization. To date I’ve taken personal responsibility for billing, reporting, trying to maintain project timelines, vendor relationships, payables and the like. So far, so good.

But I can tell that’s not going to last for long, therefore I’m creating a new position within the organization. Tentatively titled “Office Manager,” this position is still somewhat under construction. However at the least it will have the following responsibilities:

• customer billing
• accounts payables
• Accounts Receivable
• verify technicians schedules and ticketing

Salary is commensurate with experience (whatever the heck that means). The ideal candidate needs to be able to work with a wide variety of people, must have attention to detail, and be able to work on many projects daily. In addition, basic computer skills including Microsoft Office are a necessity. This position is neither a gopher nor a secretary but a critical piece of this organization.

If you’re interested, send me a resume along with salary requirements to Bob@simplex-IT.com.

Simplex-IT successfully hosted its first free Lunchinar of 2012 with approximately 20 business owners, executives and IT professionals in attendance.

President and Chief Technical Guru Bob Coppedge entertained the group with his prognostications of IT Trends we can expect to see in the coming year. The Cloud, the differences between backups and business continuity and Microsoft’s planned new product offerings for 2012 (Windows 8, Office 2012, Server 2012, others) were among those topics highlighted. An energetic discussion of his picks occurred throughout the presentation.

Simplex-IT hosts these free lunchinars every 3^rd Wednesday of each month. Watch this blog for announcements of future events. In addition, our monthly eNewsletter provides details of each monthly gathering. To sign up to receive it, just go to our website – www.Simplex-IT.com – and click the link for the newsletter.

Ok, I’ve been a geek most of my life.  If anybody starts talking about geek nostalgia (usually starting a conversation with something like “My first IT job we used paper tape to load a program into our 16k minicomputer while dinosaurs roamed the Earth,” I’ll jump right in.

But I’ve come to realize the importance of talking about business.  About understanding business processes and needs.

And it’s a skill that’s still sorely lacking in the IT world these days.  And in my mind it’s the best skill set any IT professional can develop in terms of increasing their worth to their organization (or client, in the case of consultants).

I’ll be speaking at the Ohio North SQL Server User Group on Tuesday 3 January about this very topic.  Click here for more information, and to register.

The meeting is free, open to the public, and there will be pizza, plus a couple raffle prizes (at least 2 copies of Windows Ultimate!).

Like every year before, 2012 promises to bring continued evolution in the world of information technology. Of course, some segments will gain in popularity while others will diminish or even disappear altogether. Who will be the ultimate winners and losers? How will the inevitable changes impact the decisions you will be called upon to make in your professional role?

Join Simplex-IT for our first free Lunchinar of 2012 as Bob Coppedge peers into his crystal ball to suggest what technologies you should be following in the New Year to help your business prosper. Will it be the Cloud, Social Media, Virtualization…or something else? Join us and find out!

Where: Hattie’s Café, 164 N. Main Street, Hudson
When: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 from 11:30am-1:00pm

As a bonus, we will be awarding door prizes of Windows 7 and Office 2010 to two lucky attendees. Free food AND free software – how awesome is that!

We remind you, though, seating is limited. To reserve yours, email John@Simplex-IT.com or call 234.380.1277. Come join the fun!

This is our way of saying “thanks” to the 25 or so people who joined us at the fundraiser a couple of weeks ago.  And to thank my wife for giving me something as a Christmas present that was earlier given away as a raffle prize.

Thanks again to Microsoft and Life Equity for adding some additional raffle prizes!

Here’s a quick video combining both topics.

Once a month Simplex-IT hosts a free Lunchinar that features an informational presentation aimed at business owners and/or IT professionals. But this year, for the month of December, we decided to do something different. It worked out so well we decided to make it an annual tradition!

First, we kept the free lunch idea. After all, we reasoned, who doesn’t like a free lunch? But instead of a business presentation, we decided to simply open the room to a relaxed atmosphere of networking. It worked! A good number of folks accepted our invitation to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the holidays and mingle with other like-minded professionals. The forum was very well received!

Networking at the Simplex-IT Holiday Lunch

In addition, in keeping with the Christmas spirit of giving we held a raffle for nearly a dozen Geek gifts, the top prize being a copy of Office Professional 2010, donated by Simplex-IT partner, Microsoft. There were several other prizes donated by one of our clients, Life Equity of Hudson. Other geek gifts were hand-picked by our own Chief-Geek-in-Residence, Kevin Dutkiewicz.

Prizes for the Geek Charity Raffle

In addition to the raffle proceeds of just over $200, Simplex-IT wrote a check for an additional amount and contributed a total of $500 to the Hattie Larlham Foundation (http://hattielarlham.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and adults in Northeast Ohio with developmental disabilities. Sandy, one of the hard-working employees at Hattie’s Café, gave a brief presentation on the Foundation and thanked everyone for their attendance and participation.

John introduces Sandy from Hattie's Cafe

At the end, everyone agreed a good time was had by all! And that is how an annual tradition is born!!

Simplex-IT president Bob Coppedge gives his fireside address

Merry Christmas to everyone from Simplex-IT, and best wishes for a Happy New Year!

On December 11 the Simplex-IT staff and significant others gathered for the company’s annual holiday brunch. The food buffet was great as was the freshly squeezed orange juice. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, clearly evident from all our smiling faces in the group portrait below.

Bob, Sam, Kevin, John, Doug, Mario, Cyndee, Steve

Thanks go out to all of you whom we’ve had the pleasure of working with during this past year. We are looking forward to continuing our tradition of exceeding our clients’ expectations in 2012.

Yes, as usual, this month’s lunch is free of charge, with lots of networking for business owners, executives and IT professionals. But instead of our usual business presentation, we’ll be raffling off numerous valuable Geek Gifts at the end of the event (like Office 2010 and other goodies you’ll want to own).

Here’s Bob with his personal invitation:

And for every dollar in raffle tickets sold, Simplex-IT will match the amount, and the entire proceeds will be donated to the Hattie Larlham Foundation (http://www.hattielarlham.org/) – a non-profit organization dedicated to creating opportunities and improving the lives of more than 1,500 children and adults with developmental disabilities in Northeast Ohio.

When: Wednesday, December 21, 2011
11:30am – 1:00pm
Where: Hattie’s Café, 164 N. Main Street
Hudson OH 44236

Please join us in the holiday spirit of giving for this relaxed, free networking event. So that we can properly prepare (seats are limited), please RSVP to John@Simplex-IT.com or by calling 234.380.1277.

Happy Holidays!

Do you have old, unneeded computer and consumer electronic equipment lying around your home or office and don’t know what to do with it? Here’s your chance to recycle these pieces AND contribute to a worthy cause at the same time.

eWaste and Yours Truly Restaurant are teaming up to support the Hudson Memorial Stadium Fund (Honoring Hudson’s Service Men and Women) on the following dates from 9am-1pm:

Saturday October 22
Saturday October 29
Saturday November 5
Saturday November 12

Location: Yours Truly Restaurant Parking Lot, 36 S. Main St., Hudson OH 44236

Drop off any of the above equipment and receive a Yours Truly 15% discount coupon, valid for the Saturdays of equipment drop off days only.

Can’t make it to a Saturday drop off event? Just bring your equipment to:

eWaste
1261 Hudson Gate Drive
Hudson OH 44236
330.650.0274

Monday – Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm, Thursday until 7pm through Nov. 11
Be sure to mention the Hudson Memorial Stadium when you come in!

Bob here.  Over the past couple years, I’ve tried a lot of different marketing techniques. E-mail, postcards, social media, mailing lists, blitz contains, smoke signals, phone campaigns and more.

Some things work. A lot of other things, not so much. But I do think that we’ve developed a pretty good program that’s working for us. It’s relatively low-cost, relatively measurable, and seems to generate an appropriate amount of business for us.  It’s a combination of blogs, email, FaceBook, LinkedIn, mail, phone, YouTube and shoe leather.

In discussions I’ve had with other business owners, both in and out of the IT business, there’s always been a keen interest in just how we do this. And, as you can see from this YouTube video (recorded from an online meeting I gave to about 75 similarly positioned IT firms back in June), I’m always willing to share our methods and madness.

And it recently occurred to me that some non-IT folks might want to hear what we do.

So here’s my offer. If you’d be interested in hearing what we at Simplex-IT do for our marketing programs, drop me a line. If enough people are interested on this, I’ll put together an informal get-together where I’ll review our programs, and have some open discussion on what works and what doesn’t in this fun economic time.  Obviously, no cost or anything.

What are we selling? Nothing. But I’ve had enough conversations with folks to know that this is a tough topic. And I thought it might be worthwhile to hear from someone who’s not selling something.

So, if you’re interested, e-mail me at Bob@Simplex-IT.com, and let me know! Operators are… Well, actually we don’t have any operators. But if we did, rest assured they’d be standing by.