Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Passing the Torch Again!

Earlier this year Scott Scrogin was named President of Heartland Tech Group. Recently another key announcement was made - that Connie Arentson is now President of Heartland Technology Solutions.

That makes me out of the loop on the day to day business of both HTS and HTG. Sort of like sending your kids to college. You work toward this day all your life, and when it comes, it seems like only yesterday you were starting the business. Connie and Scott are both fantastic leaders whom I trust completely. They are surrounded by a fantastic leadership team at both HTS (Jane Cage and Larry Hedin) and HTG (Ken Shetler and Christy Sacco) as well as strong boards that will be focused on keeping things moving the right direction. My role will be to focus on strategy, M&A, relationships and whatever else I can do to add value to both orgs. My official title will be CEO and Chairman of the board and I will still be involved in both organizations to support and bring opportunities to the leadership teams. The hard part is keeping out of the way of day to day decisions, although with my travel schedule it really isn't all that hard to be out of the routine.

Here is the official press release. It really is a great day for all - our teams, our customers, our partners, our members, our vendors and everyone associated in any way with HTS or HTG. Things are in very good and capable hands, and I am proud to still be allowed to be part of it all.

Harlan, Iowa (July 21, 2009) – Heartland Technology Solutions (HTS) announces that Connie Arentson has been named president of HTS. Connie will be responsible for day to day activities at HTS. Connie most recently served as Vice President of Professional Services where she managed the service side of the HTS technology business as well as leading the Precision Agriculture business unit. Connie has been with HTS since 1995 and served as a dispatcher for a number of years, and as a field engineer prior to that. “Providing great customer service has been an integral part of delivering solutions at HTS and that will definitely continue to be a top priority,” said Connie.

Connie is a member of First Baptist Church where she serves as a teacher for Sunday school and Baptist Youth Fellowship, an outreach ministry program for 170 kids in the Harlan community. She is also an active member of the praise team. Recently Connie served on the Harlan Sports Booster Board.

A graduate of Iowa State University, Connie earned double bachelor’s degrees in Agriculture Education and Dairy Science.

Kim Marples has also been promoted to service manager at HTS and will hold that role across all HTS locations. Previously Kim held the role of dispatcher for the Harlan location and worked closely with the technical team to ensure clients’ needs were met and expectations were exceeded.

Kim is also a graduate of Iowa State University with a bachelor’s of Business Administration in Transportation and Logistics.

Scott Scrogin was earlier named President of Heartland Tech Groups, the international peer group program founded in 2000 by Arlin Sorensen. Scott has been filling that role since the first of the year and has recently been joined with the addition of Christy Sacco who is now part of the HTG team. Ken Shetler continues his role of building strategic relationships for HTG as well.

The longstanding HTS leadership team will remain in place with Arlin Sorensen continuing to serve as Chairman and CEO, Jane Cage as COO and Larry Hedin as Vice President of Sales & Marketing. “Connie and Scott both bring a deep understanding of our client base and the proven ability to streamline processes and drive efficiency which will help ensure that our clients continue to receive the best possible service. This will allow my role to change from day to day management to strategy, M&A and industry relationships,” said Arlin.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

WPC Wrap

What a week it has been. The 2009 version of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference is in the books and it was another fantastic event. The WPC team did a fantastic job of executing as I didn't detect any real blips at all. OK - the power going out on Thursday during the central region awards event caused some excitement - but that is probably not in the master plan. Kudo's to the team for a job well done. I can't really imagine the details that go into planning an event like that. I can imagine the miles of walking because it seemed my meetings were from one end of that venue to another, and it is no little distance. But it was cool inside so no complaints from me. If there was an area the team could have corrected, it would have been to get the temps down to the Friday level for the early part of the week. I nearly melted on Sunday and Monday just walking the few blocks to the convention center.

There were lots of important announcements this week. MPN - the new Microsoft Partner Network - tops my list of important things to consider. Change is inevitable, and while the current MSPP program is very well done, the new one looks to take it to yet another level. They are putting Small Business where it belongs - as a real competency - and appear to be raising the bar a bit as well which is welcome. The current program has been watered down a bit too much over time, so a reset is good and should bring new value to partners. Of course the key will be the associated air cover to the marketplace so they have some clue of what MPN is all about and how they can use it to find quality partners to engage with.

The technology wave is exciting. I think this has to be the largest wave of new products ever, and there are some really exciting things on the horizon. I spent quite a bit of time with the Win7 group as part of their Ignite program. We had a customer who participated in the program down at the event with us and were able to spend time providing feedback and direction on our participation and the program overall. Win7 has me really excited - in our SMB client base - lots of folks that have postponed hardware refresh due to the economy. I hope Win7 will be just the nudge to get them to move. Office 2010 looks very cool as do a lot of other pending releases.

But the real value of WPC is not the sessions (sorry Microsoft - especially now with digital WPC where I can watch them this week from home). The real value happened in the hallways and particularly for me - in the Connect area. I had about 25 meetings this week with different partners and Microsoft folks. That is why I attend WPC. No other venue gives me the access to so many people I want to connect with. Even in the many trips I make to Redmond, it is more difficult to connect. At WPC everyone is there for the same reason - there aren't all the normal interruptions of life, and you can just get down to business. So if you attend this event in particular, but really any of the large partner events, use the time to connect. I tend to use the daytime to connect with Microsoft and the evening and meals to connect with peers. But my goal is to be spending time with people in small groups or one on one for at least 12 hours a day. I can sleep this week - sure didn't do enough of that last week.

HTG had a fantastic week at WPC. A number of our members presented, and we had our green shirts (well some of us did) on Wednesday. You know who you are if you didn't. :-) Funny the excuses I heard about why not. Var Vid was there recording things and it was just great to be in a place where there were about 20-25 fellow HTG'ers roaming the halls. Inevitably I would run into a friendly face most everywhere I went. The SBSC council dinner was another highlight as we spent the evening getting acquainted and looking forward to the future. Francois Daumard is doing a stellar job of resetting that program and has pulled together a strong advisory council to help lead that charge. HTG has 5 of those seats and will be intimately involved in helping take SBSC in the US to a new level. I was able to connect with a lot of the central region team about our needs at HTS, and with many folks about HTG. There was certainly a lot of buzz around HTG and the great things we are doing.

The ConnectWise partnership continues to grow and drive value and direction in the marketplace. Had a lot of good time with the ConnectWise team and many good discussions with members about how we can take process to the next level with our relationship. Exciting days are ahead because of our strategic alliance with them.

All said, it was an awesome week. Great food, great content, great venue and most of all great people. It just doesn't get much better than that. If you missed this year - put it on your calendar for 2010. Washington DC in July - it is worth the investment!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

HTG at WPC

We are almost ready to head to New Orleans for what may be the biggest event of the year outside our quarterly HTG meetings. There is a lot going on down there, and here is a list of things you probably want to take advantage of:

HTG Green Shirt Day
Wednesday is the day which has been set aside for HTG members to wear your green HTG shirts. It is important to bring that shirt along and proudly wear it that day. See photo for clarification on shirt!

HTG Buttons
Scott and I will have buttons available for you to wear at WPC to let people know you are part of HTG. Find us and put a button on!

HTG meeting place
SBSC is again hosting the Yellow Lounge, which is a good place to meet up with other SMB partners and particularly HTG members. Plan to meet up there around 11:30 each day to see what other HTG'ers are free for lunch.

Morning prayer and devotions
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings we will have a devotional and prayer time at 6:30 AM at the Residence Inn Convention Center in the courtyard there. Join us and bring along anyone that has interest.

Partners in Christ Prayer Breakfast
Wednesday morning at 7 AM we will hold the annual prayer breakfast at the Marriott Convention Center. Pre-registration is requested – link to register is http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2is6m4qfuzirfgr/a011kfwjnyit6/questions

HTG Meet-Up and dinner
Sunday evening at 6:30 PM – sponsored by ConnectWise and Microsoft
The Court of the Two Sistershttp://www.courtoftwosisters.com/ 613 Royal St. New Orleans, LA 70130. This is for HTG member companies only and you need to RSVP to me via email to have a spot.

HTG Speakers at WPC
SMB007 Power of Community
Presenters: Mark Crall, Dave Sobel, Erik Thorsell, Richard Tubb, Jamison West
Wed 7/15 2:00 PM-3:00 PM 215-216

Learn from esteemed peers who have successfully harnessed the "Power of the Community" in not only establishing better operational, sales, marketing and financial practices but greater work/life balance through execution of goals and accountability to their peers who become lifelong friends. Get ready to be personally challenged to aspire to greater things as you witness fellow SMB IT community peers who have called each other higher though a commitment to giving and execution.

SMB008 Social Media 101: Defining and Understanding How to Connect with Your Clients and Colleagues Using the Latest Technologies
Presenter: Stuart Crawford
Wed 7/15 2:00 PM-3:00 PM 217

Social media is the latest trend, but many leaders face big hurdles with getting online and creating a buzz. Hear how you can use social media tools internally across your organization and as a mechanism to quickly share important information. This session takes a hands-on approach on how to: use social media to connect with employees, team members, and clients; design a blog; write your message clearly and concisely; and apply delivery mechanisms and alerts for notification of new content.

SMB009 Partner Planning: Four Simple Plans That Can Change Everything
Presenters: Scott Scrogin, Arlin Sorensen, Erik Thorsell
Wed 7/15 3:30 PM-4:30 PM 208-210

This first session discusses key plans that should be in place for success, including: company business plan, personal leadership plan, life plan, and a disaster recovery/continuity plan. Hear from Partners who have had business or life change because of planning and learn how to get started with specific tools in each of these areas. Plan to spend a few hours working on your business and your life developing foundational direction that will lead to success!

SMB010 Virtualization: What You Need to Know to Get Your Business Ready
Presenter: Dave Sobel
Wed 7/15 3:30 PM-4:30 PM 215-216

Virtualization is a game-changing new approach to infrastructure. Learn what you need to know to start implementing projects using virtualization technologies, specifically as it relates to Windows Small Business Server and Windows Essential Business Server. See real life techniques and experiences that get you ready to deliver solutions, including a complete restore into a virtual machine from raw backup. Not just for the big boys, this is the next generation of infrastructure.

SMB013 Partner Planning Workshop: Putting Pen to Paper
Presenters: Scott Scrogin, Arlin Sorensen, Erik Thorsell
Wed 7/15 5:00 PM-6:00 PM 208-210

In this session, a workbook is provided for working on your company business plan, personal leadership plan, life plan, or continuity plan. We break into groups to work on at least one plan that is specific to your situation. Partners provide feedback and ideas to help you with the process. One of the outcomes of this session includes follow-up and accountability. Plan to spend this hour working on your business developing foundational direction that will lead to success!

SMB015 Building Momentum in Your Managed Services Practice
Presenter: Mark Crall
Thu 7/16 1:30 PM-2:30 PM 218-219

Move from the hit-or-miss world of break/fix to a reliable, recurring revenue stream. Industry leader Mark Crall strategizes on how to successfully move your customers to managed services. Learn • The importance of offering managed services • Key issues to consider first • Steps for planning your new service offerings • When and how to present to existing customers Don't miss this session! A stable, predictable revenue stream is critical for your company's survival and continued growth.

SI003 Optimizing What You Already Own in a Changing Economy
Presenter: Kenneth Lince, Arlin Sorensen, Erik Thorsell
Thu 7/16 4:30 PM-5:30 PM 243-244

Understand the software your partnership with Microsoft affords you to maximize your management of information and client relations. Learn how partners are using Microsoft technology solutions they own, as a result of their partnership with Microsoft, to optimize their business and sales agility in selling and delivering solutions more effectively to their customers.

Friday, July 3, 2009

One More SWOT Under the Belt

I was blessed this week to spend a couple days with Russ and the team of RJB as we performed a SWOT here in Philly. Russ is part of HTG14 and had requested some outside eyes to take a look at where his company is and help provide some guidance on where they should tweak a bit. Joining me were Michael Cocanower (HTG2) and Chris Chirgwin (HTG14). We arrived on Tuesday evening and started bright and early on Wednesday. The entire day was spent with Russ, his strong management team, and his staff at large. We met in small groups, large groups and one on one. As SWOT participants we turned over the rocks, looked in the closets and dug around all aspects of his business. As is always the case, we uncovered a few things that were news to everyone, but most of our findings were known or at least suspected. We ended a very long day with a great sandwich at Pat's King of Steaks where we got cheese steak "wit" and added some American cheese.

Day two we turned the tables and the management team at RJB grilled Chris, Michael and me for almost three hours with questions they had. The theme for this visit was growth and how to prepare for it - what things need to be put in place to allow the business to scale. Later in the day we presented our finding to the management team and then the entire company. We left them with some pretty large shifts in how they currently do things, and a task list that should keep them focused for the next months at a minimum. But the story doesn't end here. We also set up accountabilty for all to make sure that things really do change. It is so hard to stay focused on the transition when human nature pulls us to return to our comfort zone or past way of doing things. We aren't going to let Russ do that, nor his team for that matter.

One of the questions I answered over and over is why we do this. The answer is quite simple. Everyone who participates in the HTG SWOT process wants to make a difference. And the best way to do that is to give back. We all have warts and issues that we know exist in our businesses. So the fact that people need help is no mystery. But when owners give their time to help another, they learn more than the company being visited in most cases. I am sure that Chris and Michael would say that is true here. RJB was the focus, but the three of us all were talking to ourselves often as we gave suggestions and counsel to the team here, and we all have a list of things to go home and work on in our own company.

Expect to see some great things from the RJB team in the days ahead. It won't be because of our SWOT, but because of the focus and teamwork they will put together to make their company even greater. We may have played a small part in helping them realize just how well positioned they are to succeed, but the hard work will be done by Russ and the team and we will be watching and smiling and looking back saying I remember when.......