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Welcome to the October edition of QTS QuikNews, our
monthly e-mail newsletter. In this monthly e-mail, you
will receive an update of what's new at QTS - new
products we support, new patches and upgrades, solution
ideas and promotions to save you money, and information
about our company and our clients.
In
this issue:
- QTS
and Partner News
- Events
- President's
Corner
- QuikSecure
Tip of the Month
- Patches
and Upgrades
- Product
Support Lifecycle Watch
- Solution
Spotlight
- Special
Offers
- Partner
Spotlight
QTS AND
PARTNER NEWS
WELCOME
TO NEW CUSTOMERS
QTS offers a “welcome aboard” to the following new
customers:
·
Data
Reduction Systems Corporation
·
Sills
Cummis Epstein & Gross
QTS
OFFERS FREE SYSTEMS STRATEGY CHECK-UPS
Having developed this award-winning
engagement jointly with Microsoft, QTS is now
offering Systems Strategy Check-Up engagements to
qualified customers and prospects throughout New Jersey
and New York. This
high-value, half-day consulting engagement helps
businesses evaluate how they are using Microsoft
technologies and identifies best practices and
recommendations for how to best deploy Microsoft
technologies in a business.
For more information on this no-charge
engagement, contact your QTS Account Manager or visit www.QTSnet.com/SSCU.
QTS
IS HIRING!
QTS is recruiting for senior level technical personnel,
as well as entry and senior level sales
staff/telemarketers. If you know anyone who might
be a good fit, please have them submit their resume to
Liz Meechan, our Office Manager. Liz can be reached at lmeechan@QTSnet.com,
or (973)984-7600 x223.
PRESS
RELEASES
QTS
EXCELS IN CISCO CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY
10/25/2004:
QTS today
announced its results from Cisco's recent customer
satisfaction survey, placing QTS well above the national
average and Cisco targets for USA Premier Partners.
QTS scored a 4.75 on pre-sales evaluation
criteria, on a scale of 1-5 with 5.0 being the highest
score and with 4.49 as the USA regional target score for
Premier Partners. QTS scored a 4.84 overall
post-sales score, versus a USA regional target of 4.55.
Read more at http://www.QTSnet.com/stayinformed/l3_stay_pr57.htm
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EVENTS
Join
QTS, Microsoft, New Horizons and Softmart for the
Increasing Operational Efficiency seminars being held on
November 10th and December 2nd at
New Horizons’ training facility in Iselin, NJ.
The two events focus on the business value of
Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003, and how to
migrate your business to these platforms.
- The
November 10th event will highlight the
business value of the Windows/Exchange 2003
platform, particularly in the areas of reliability,
security and performance.
To review the agenda or to register, visit http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=100557
- The
December 2nd event will review how to
successfully migrate to this platform.
To review the agenda or to register, visit http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=100566
At
the event, QTS will present the technical content, while
Softmart will review how to take advantage of your
Software Assurance benefits, and New Horizons will
discuss training issues and benefits.
Feel
free to attend either event, or both.
For more information on the events, which are
part of a regional series, contact your QTS account
manager.
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PRESIDENT'S
CORNER
In
our June 2003 issue of QuikNews, I wrote a President’s
Corner column about “The Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People,” Stephen Covey’s exceptional book.
In that column, I summarized the first three
habits, with some observations relevant to our
readership. In
the January 2004 issue, I wrote about Covey’s book
“First Things First,” which I had read at the
recommendation of a friend and customer.
Following
the June 2003 column, I received quite a number of
emails, calls and discussion about the column, about how
people found it helpful and focusing.
Having just completed my annual ritual of
re-reading Covey’s 7 Habits and attempting to use this
as a focusing point for myself, now seems as good a time
as any to take on the next 4 habits.
As
a reminder, Covey’s first three habits were “be
proactive,” “begin with the end in mind” and
“put first things first.”
Covey organizes these habits into what he calls
“Private Victory” – the ability to focus yourself
so you are ready to build upon these skills when working
with others. For
more detail, see the January 2003 column at http://www.qtsnet.com/stayinformed/QuikNews/QuikNews_June2003.htm
The
fourth habit is “seek first to understand, then to be
understood.” This
essentially means that when dealing with others, it is
important to understand the perspective that the other
person has, where they are coming from, and what is
important to them.
Covey refers to this as “emotional breathing
room,” and observes that this helps people then feel
comfortable with your perspective since they feel they
have had a chance to express themselves.
Most negotiation is a matter of trying to impose
one party’s will on the other, rather than a genuine
attempt to understand the other party and find common
ground. Yet,
this approach, when applied properly, can be extremely
powerful.
The
fifth habit builds upon habit number 4, and is to seek a
“Win-Win” relationship.
Those who know me know that this is very
important to me in my client and partner relationships.
It basically means that a deal that is not
mutually beneficial, which is not a win for both
parties, invariably will not lead to a long-term
relationship that is healthy.
It is important for both parties, whether the
relationship be business-based or personal, to feel good
about the “deal” and see the relationship as
mutually beneficial.
Covey introduces the concept of “Win-Win, or No
Deal” as a healthy way to decide if a relationship is
going to work in this manner, and cites examples of
business leaders who had the strength to walk away from
a relationship or situation that they knew was not going
to be healthy, and that ultimately was going to cost
both parties more than it was worth.
Based
on successfully applying these habits to our
relationships and communications, Covey introduces the
final habit of “public victory” – Synergize.
Covey defines synergy as the ability of two or
more people to create a whole that is greater than the
sum of the parts – essentially, to be able to define
solutions that leverage the talents of multiple people
in such a way that the solutions are greater than those
that an individual might come up with or implement.
We all know the term and understand the concept,
but most (if not all) of us struggle to make this work,
if we even try. Habits
of behavior, much like gravity, are hard to break, but
the rewards for doing so can be great.
Covey
defines the final habit as “Sharpen the Saw” –
personal renewal, in the areas of physical (exercise),
spiritual, mental and social.
Covey suggests that as part of the “putting
first things first” weekly planning process, it is
important to integrate each of these elements into
one’s weekly cycle of activities.
We all know the positive impact that a good
vacation, or even a good weekend, can have in
rejuvenating our energy or focus at work.
Similar to getting necessary sleep to be
physically effective, Covey suggests these four elements
are important on a weekly basis for renewal, so we are
not proverbially “sawing down the tree with a dull
blade.”
One
of the things I find interesting, having read Covey’s
book several times, and also having read many books on
effective management and consultative skills (as well as
sales skills, which to me necessitate effective
consulting skills) is how many of these concepts
overlap. Another
of my favorite “professional” authors, Mahan Khalsa,
in his book “Helping Clients Succeed” focuses on how
it is important to ensure that a consultant be focused
on his or her customers’ success, and that this
ultimately is what leads to a healthy, long-term
relationship, whereas a focus on short-term sales
benefit tends to cost more in the long-term.
This certainly sounds like Covey’s Win-Win to
me. Khalsa
also suggests a sales process of understanding the needs
and requirements of all stakeholders in a decision
before finalizing a recommendation and proposing a
solution – this sounds like seeking to understand.
And the synergy that Covey refers to often
manifests itself in the relationship, which many of our
customers have found as our staff has worked together
with their staff to solve problems.
Personally,
I tend to have a tough time with the discipline of habit
number three, putting first things first.
I use my own system, a hybrid of Covey’s
adapted to my own roles and goals, but often allow
myself to get pulled into urgent items and situations
where people provide a pressure to focus my time on
them, whether that is the best choice or not.
I am trying to be more disciplined, and have had
some success here, but this is a challenge and does not
come easily. I’ve
been working on this for something like 6 or 7 years,
and am still not satisfied with my own progress, yet I
know I have accomplished a lot.
So, to the extent you choose to undertake this
process or something similar, don’t expect a 100%
change immediately.
Old habits are in fact hard to break, even if one
is motivated. I,
for one, see how this will help me personally and
professionally, and continue to work at it.
As
always, feel free to email me your comments or thoughts
at nrosenberg@QTSnet.com.
Thank you.
Neil
Rosenberg
President & CEO
Quality Technology Solutions
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PARTNER
SPOTLIGHT
This
month QTS is spotlighting its knowledge management and
ebusiness solutions partner, Econium.
Econium is a Gold-Certified Microsoft Solutions
Provider that builds technology solutions that promote
information sharing, distribution and collaboration
across teams of people.
Econium delivers real time collaborative
solutions in web conferencing, application sharing and
content distribution, high quality video conferencing,
telephony integration with phone systems, portals and
presence information to help clients reduce travel costs
and improve team communications.
The end result is a more agile and effective
organization. They
have delivered vertical solutions for sales and
marketing teams around brand portals and digital asset
management, and have provided portals and repositories
for healthcare companies, consumer packaged goods and
government & not-for-profit organizations.
Econium
is a four year old firm that is made up of seasoned
business technology experts who focus heavily on
understanding the business processes and needs
initially, then applying solutions that will leverage
existing technology investments.
They work with a variety of collaborative
technologies including Microsoft SharePoint Portal
Server and Windows SharePoint Services, Live
Conferencing Server and Live Meeting Server, Office
System 2003, Exchange, SQL Server and Content Management
Server. Their clients include Kraft Foods, Pfizer
Pharmaceuticals and Adams Candy.
Econium
is headquartered in Northern New Jersey and also has an
office in New York City.
Econium
relies on QTS to create the technical infrastructure on
which its solutions run.
Econium develops and deploys solutions which are
geared toward lowering the costs for companies to
manage, distribute and share the information they need
to conduct business.
For
more information on Econium please view their web site
at www.econium.com,
email them at sales@econium.com,
or call 973-812-9691.
Or, contact your QTS Account Manager.
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