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applied tips : april 2007
celebrating two years
 |
|
| By the Numbers | |
|---|---|
| 17,890 | Unique visits to www.appliedoffice.net |
| 5,018 | Miles traveled supporting clients |
| 1,595 | Applied Tips newsletter subscribers |
| 640 | Cans of Mountain Dew consumed* |
| 506 | Employees trained by Applied Office |
| 375 | Service hours pro bono |
| 34 | Hours of free public training |
| 21 | Starbucks gift cards given out |
| 59 | Trips to Taco Bell |
| 10 | Websites launched |
| 2 | Years in business |
| * Estimated | |
Training has always been the primary service of Applied Office. Clients have asked me to help their employees learn more about Microsoft Office throughout the year in a number of on-site classes. The California Department of Social Services has been a wonderful client of mine, bringing me up to Sacramento on a number of occasions through the year to help employees see the features in Microsoft Outlook. Other notable clients include Comcast and Hormel Foods, both interested in bettering their skills in Microsoft Excel.
I recently entered into an agreement with Lodi Unified School District to help train their employees on the entire Microsoft Office 2003 suite, a great opportunity for myself and for those employees to better their computer knowledge.
With the help of the Lodi Chamber of Commerce, I've also provided roughly a dozen Applied Lunches, a fun series of hour-long classes. Thanks to everyone who attended!
As much as I love training,
having a chance to be creative and design a website or a brochure is a
lot of fun. I have to thank all of the clients who've asked me to
design something for them. Here's a few websites I've finished
this year: Century Christian Schools, Grand Oaks Inn,
La Serenata de
Garibaldi, Open Door Services,
and The Mud Mill,
and check out the
annual
report
I just finished for
Lodi House.
The redesign of Applied Office's own website was a significant milestone because I kept putting it off to work on other clients' projects. The new site launched in January and is much easier to maintain, is search-engine friendly, works with mobile devices, and incorporates an RSS feed.
Helping community organizations has always been a focus of mine. In the past year, I provided approximately 375 service hours to local non-profit organizations such as the Lodi Public Library and the World of Wonders Science Museum. One of the most rewarding was a series of hands-on Microsoft Office classes given to the staff at the Women's Center of San Joaquin County to help them use their computers more efficiently. Thanks to University of the Pacific for letting us use one of their labs.
We all heard the buzz from Microsoft when Windows Vista and Office 2007 launched at the end of January. Working with EZ-Network Systems and Microsoft, we demonstrated the new software at an open house complete with a geeked-out RV, plenty of prizes, great food, and a lot of fun.
Also this year, Applied Office has applied for, and been awarded, official Small Business Certification from the State of California. This allows a preference when bidding against larger organizations for training and consulting contracts.
Many of you know that I also spend time at University of the Pacific as a Computer Science instructor, teaching students, staff, and faculty. Not included in the stats above are 85 students that have been through COMP25 and over 100 employees who attended my Continuing Education software classes. An exciting new opportunity with Pacific has just opened up as well: they are migrating from GroupWise to Microsoft Exchange, and have asked me to provide hands-on Microsoft Outlook training to their employees.
Looking Forward
With the release of Vista and Office 2007, there's no doubt that the future of Applied Office will include classes on this whole new set of applications. The new Ribbon interface of Office 2007 makes learning much easier, and opens up a lot of new possibilities for end users. My hope is that users will quickly learn the basics on their own, and ask Applied Office to take them to intermediate or advanced levels.
With the help of Santa Monica-based ClearCoast, Applied Office is on its way to being a CMAS-approved vendor for the State of California. This allows state agencies to speed the bidding process when selecting a training provider such as myself.
I have considered the idea of hiring employees to provide training and design services, as my own time is getting thin, but finding the right person is so hard to do, especially when you're a small business. Another idea I am brewing is the purchase of a dozen laptops to use with clients who do not have their own lab and need onsite training. Once the demand is there, I think I'll take the plunge.
I'd also like to take Applied Lunches further, offering workshops (not necessarily at lunchtime) in other cities like Stockton and Sacramento. The demand is there, so we will soon see.
Thanks for reading and allowing me a moment to reflect on the last twelve months and think about what is to come. If you have any feedback or suggestions, I would love to hear from you. And to all of my clients, friends, students, and vendors, thank you again for another successful year.
Sincerely,
-David Diskin