Curriculotta

Steve Sweeney, of Affinity, reached out after reading a thought leadership thought leadership blog and suggested a Curriculotta post, “How to be a Thought Leader in IT?”

The original blog post posits: (more…)

I find it thoroughly amazing many technology organizations still seem to forget or neglect the the most fundamental aspects of transitioning technology products into the hands of their customers.  I’m not referring to the technology bits and bytes about how to move code into production or fire up a new storage device, I’m talking about the act of thoroughly setting user expectations, delivering just the right about information to them and lastly, preparing the support staff to provide great service.

Often, there is a HUGE gap in a firm between the highly intelligent technologists (application coders, database admins, telephone/voicemail engineers) and the end users.   (more…)

Let me begin by stating I have no bias as to what type of computer people want to use. For me, it’s about people having the right computer to do their jobs and to not have to ask me for support.

With that said, let me share a story of the first day at a new account. A colleague wanted to use his personal Macbook instead of the clients PC. The Macbook had MS Office and could easily connect to the client’s wireless network. The problems all started when the client provided us with a dedicated printer (HP LaserJet) for our use. After downloading drivers, the PC was able to fully able to use the printer while the Mac was unable to connect. This followed with the requirement of MS Project leading to the installation of Windows XP running on the Mac in order to run the application. (more…)

We use Microsoft Exchange as our email platform and purchase it as a service from a leading (and very large) hosting company. In general, it works well, but they do seem to have many small outages. Our clients also use Microsoft Exchange, but internally hosted. They do not seem to have as many outages.

As we see more-and-more people working from home (be they employees or consultants) we are challenged with maintaining a productive work environment. (more…)

The battery in my backpack sprayer doesn’t seem to hold a charge any longer. Trying to spray for weeds with a battery operated device with a non-functioning battery is a problem! Ordering the replacement exposed one IT organization’s weak customer focus. (more…)