The IntellaSphere

Intellas members Arnold Information Technology, Quantum International and Toni Steinhauer, LLC  have created a new service to leverage the power of social networking for businesses and organizations.  The resulting product assists companies in building their brand, generating sales leads, and creating a community around their area of expertise or interest. The concept blends together a number of specific web 2.0 technologies that merges web site, blog, news feeds, and other relevant content targeted at the specific market or topic that the company wishes to convey to its clientèle or user base.

An initial example of this can be seen at the SSN web site at http://www.ssnblog.com.

The process can also be used to connect to live networking events such as is currently being done in Louisville, KY under the auspices of the Seed 2020 which was organized by Intellas member Arnold IT with the help of other Intellas members and friends in the local business community.  The web presence for this group was built by Arnold IT and Quantum International using the same principles and can be seen at http://www.theseed2020.com.

Several existing clients have already commissioned the Intellas team to create sites to leverage social networking in their areas of interest and expertise.

On November 3, 2009 the new redesigned Intellas website was launched to provide easier access to information on the services offered by Intellas and its members. Areas are provided to showcase not only the basic information about the company, but also to show such features as:

• Case studies of projects
• Gallery to visually display a variety of Intellas projects with a focus on websites
• Publications of Intellas members
• News
• Coming soon - videos by Intellas members
• Coming soon - white papers for download

Check out the new look at http://www.intellas.com

The number of confirmed cases of H1N1 pandemic flu, as of Friday 6/19/09, doubled from the week before to 21,500 and the death toll also doubled to 87 — just in the United States. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) as of Friday 6/19/09 there are 44,287 confirmed cases of swine (H1N1) flu in 93 countries and 180-deaths.

There is still time to prepare your business, non-profit, or government agency to weather this storm a little easier. Join me at www.crisisconsultants.blogspot.com for more.

The simple answer, in many cases, is no one! Why not? I’ve got my opinion at http://www.crisisconsultants.blogspot.com/ and I’d be interested in hearing yours.

News this week that swine flu has killed 150 persons in neighboring Mexico and at least 40 persons have been diagnosed with the same strain of swine flu in the U.S. is alarming.
Swine flu is a form of a potential pandemic flu and the first two Americans to die in the 1918 pandemic were Kansas farm brothers, drafted for WW I, and victims of swine flu. That outbreak of influenza claimed an estimated 50 million lives around the world and 500,000 in the US alone.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Centers for Disease Control are warning of a significant threat facing the world. There is not a lot executives, managers and leaders of corporations, small business and other organizations can do to prevent the possible pandemic disaster. But there is a lot they can do to prepare their organizations to avoid total business disaster.
In recent years, medical researchers determined that the pandemic flu usually comes in three waves. A relatively mild version in the spring. It will kill some, but mostly just make many people mildly ill. Then in the past, it disappeared after about two months, only to come back in the fall in full-deadly force, killing thousands and infecting millions of people.
The second wave lasts two to three months and then ends almost over-night. It then comes back the following spring in a very mild form, causing illness but almost no deaths.
While a few good companies and organizations have been preparing for a pandemic, the public and most business owners, executives and managers have turned a deaf ear to the threat.
But there is a great deal you can do to prepare, just in case, and without spending the kind of money that was spent on Y2K.
There are four key areas that you must consider:
1. Cash flow
2. Personnel Policies and issues
3. Legal Issues, i.e. contracts
4. How you are going to communicate with key audiences before, during and after the pandemic.
WHO’s Western Pacific regional director says the world is in “grave danger” and “overdue” for an influenza pandemic, since pandemics have occurred every 30 to 40 years.
The normal functions of society have been disrupted in the past outbreaks of 1957 and 1968, but nothing like the world-wide impact of 1918 with workers too ill to work, others staying home out of fear, hospitals strained to meet the demand for care and basic essentials such as transportation, water, sanitation and power were threatened.
If history repeats itself, you have a little time to prepare your business, Univeristy, non-profit or almost any other type organization before the worst part of a pandemic strikes later this year.

Hospitals and police departments and other emergency services have been planning for a couple of years, but they have been concentrating on how they are going to “do their jobs” taking care of the sick, keeping cities safe, fighting fires. But, we’ve found most have failed to plan for keeping their own operations running. If 20-to-40 percent of their doctors, nurses, officers and command staff are out sick, how are they going to carry out the rest of their plan.
Planning should proceed on these fronts:
How are you going to maintain a minimal level of productivity?
How are you going to communicate quickly and effectively with employees and vendors and customers?
Human Resources, Finance, Legal, IT, Purchasing, Transportation, Marketing and Sales all need a plan to keep the business functioning. Plan for how you are going to keep operating with up to half of your employees out sick or afraid to come to work, and knowing that some will never be back. Or, plan for when you will shut down and how you will make that decision and communicate that decision to your employees, vendors and customers.
What’s the minimum workforce with which you can continue to operate safely? When you have as much as half your workforce out sick, or afraid to come to work, what can you do to meet production demands? When a number of those sick employees never return to work, where will you find qualified replacements? How long will it take to train them?
When your vendors are facing the same sickness and absenteeism, and your delivery services are slowed by sickness, how will you maintain production?
The communication challenge is just as significant.
You need a plan in place to communicate with employees, to reassure them, if you can:
~ their jobs will be safe
~ this will end and life will return to normal (whatever that is)
~ the company will stand by them and their families if the worst happens
You will need to daily update employees, partners and customers about the progress you are making in overcoming the challenges of the pandemic.
Be prepared to continuously reassure employees and customers if you will be able to meet their needs and expectations. But, be honest. You may be slowed by the illness or work may be temporarily halted.

1. Dare to Trust - have the courage to trust the other guy. Entrepreneurship is about taking calculated risks.

2. Establish the ground rules - clearly decide on what the relationship will entail.

3. Determine each parties’ responsibilities - know who is providing what service(s) or product(s).

4. Have a well defined plan - preferably in writing, e-mail or a fax will do.

5. Make a concentrated effort to involve your partner(s) in your day to day business. Find ways to increasingly involve each other in projects.

6. Test the waters - work together to see if the relationship works for all concerned. If its WIN-WIN you are in, if not its time to move on.

7. Keep the lines of communication open. Always keep each other informed. Short telephone messages, e-mail, even faxes do the job

8. Don’t be greedy. Share the wealth. Be sure everyone is amply rewarded.

9. Relationship first - more important than any one deal. Customers can spot tension instantly and make a decision to work with more positive, happier teams.

10. Be farsighted - go for the long term both for your customers and partners.

11. Seek individuals and organizations with complementary skills. Good work and relationships come from pieces that fit together to make a complete picture.

12. Do cooperative marketing. Each partner has different contacts who may want to buy new and different products and services from the team. Communicate the mutual strengths and benefits to each organization’s customers.

13. Develop customer service so that customers come first, regardless of who makes the sale or who has the direct contact with the client. There is no “them” in a successful partnership, just “us.”

14. Be up front about specific business practices like no poaching, payment policies, and basic office procedures like answering the telephone before the third ring.

Recently in conjunction with the ice storm in Louisville, I dropped my old cell phone and the battery would no longer charge. On going to the Sprint store I discovered it would be easier to simply replace the phone. Based on features, my needs and appearance I selected a Samsung M320. Little did I know at the time that this would result in a continual trek back to the Sprint store.

The M320’s battery was a continual problem. I would charge it over night and by the late afternoon the battery was already half depleted even with minimal usage. The Sprint store replaced the battery and then the entire phone, followed by another four batteries, until one sales tech told me that the new phones with the ultra thin batteries have to be charged daily.

Finally I happened to go in to an independent dealer close to my home and the knowledgeable lady there informed me after hearing my problem, that the M320 had serious battery issues. She recommended the Sanyo Katana LX as a better alternative with superior battery life.

As a result I once again visited the Sprint store and spoke with the manager. I was able to swap out the phone for the Sanyo Katana with a minimal $30 upcharge. I was stunned when the new phone went almost six full days before losing one power bar out of three! In addition the Katana is a sturdier phone with excellent features and firmware.

So if you don’t need a Blackberry or an IPhone, I recommend the Sanyo Katana LX and likewise advise steering clear of the Samsung M320.

March 11, 2009 - The Intellas Group has launched its new blog and will be adding a variety of categories and topics in the near future to provide quality content to its client-base.