Marketing, Sales and Anything Else

I'm Ben Bradley and this is my blog. I write about marketing, sales, technology and anything else that distracts me

Webinars from ZoomInfo

If you have some time on Monday, Sept 21, 2009 Time: 1–2pm EDT / 10–11am PDT this ZoomInfo webinar featuring Ron Karr, Author of Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way looks interesting.  Karr will talk about the seven critical traits all sales leaders share.

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/146350146

Or, onTuesday, October 20, 2009 Time: 2-3pm EDT / 11–12pm PDT, listen to Steve Martin, the author of Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology talk about some of the biggest challenge facing sales people when trying to secure meetings with C-level executives. Based upon comprehensive interviews with more than 500 C-level executives, Steve Martin will help you understand how C-level executives think, how they communicate, and how to adapt your use of language to match executive decision makers’.

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/581353803

Clear your schedule for the Silicon Prairie Social!

 

The benefit of hindsight for IT managers

Help.

We’re rolling out a new website. It is in early beta right now.

The idea is simple – we ask IT managers 4 or 5 questions about their experiences with specific technology and we specifically ask them about implementation “gotchas.”

We conceal everyone’s identity and publish those answers and various gotchas in a document. That document is available for for anyone to download free of charge.

Our first document titled Before You Buy Microsoft Dynamics NAV was just released. We expect the people that download this document will be people who are contemplating a first time installation of Dynamics NAV. We have a few more documents in pipeline now on topics such as CRM, accounting software, various incarnations of SharePoint, Professional Services Automation and ERP.

I expect these documents will be updated regularly as new insight becomes available.

You can get a copy of the first draft of the first document here: http://beforeyoubuy.it/before-you-buy-microsoft-dynamics-nav/

I don’t know if this will work but it seems like a good idea. That’s where you come in…

What would you do differently? Is this report useful? Should we dive deeper? Are the questions the right questions?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Please email me ben@benbradley.net with comments. Thanks!

Does social media generate leads?

These are my experiences. The answer to the headline question is “yes and no.” Let me explain by talking about a few different ways we’ve converted social media activity in new business. Later, when I have more time, I’ll talk briefly about a few things that didn’t work.

TWITTER FOR LEADS? Personally, no. We have seen zero new business from Twitter but like the rest of the world, I’m holding out because it looks promising. On the other hand, a number of people that I follow have subscribed to my newsletter and RSS feed. I’ve connected offline with three prospects via Twitter but right now they are only in the early stages of the sales pipeline. The problem I have with Twitter is that most of the activity could be considered “preaching to the converted.”

LINKEDIN FOR LEADS? Personally, yes. Without a doubt, LinkedIn is a great tool for developing and cultivating new leads and new business. It is even more valuable for researching prospects. If forced, I would say that spending time mastering LinkedIn is by far the best investment we have made in our social media activity.

FACEBOOK FOR LEADS? Personally, no and yes. So far, no new business generated from Facebook. However, I’m connected to a few prospects on both LinkedIn and Facebook. Probably more important, I’m connected to quite a few clients on Facebook. Connecting with clients on Facebook makes it easier to share stories and photos of babies and puppies. We also use Facebook to research and monitor the weekend debauchery of prospective employees. So is Facebook a good use of time? Yes. It is a good nurturing tool.

I’ve received calls from clients that want to outsource their “twittering.” I’ve warned them that outsoucing this part of your social media persona is a little bit like trying to outsource your social life.

Just an observation but I think the people that are using these tools most effectively are the ones that can walk the tightrope between sales and marketing with relative ease. The people that function as true advocates, that are empowered to say things online that maybe slightly left of appropriate and the people who are good at building relationships are the best users of social media and the ones that generate the most leads using social media.

One day of all you can eat intel from ZoomInfo

Just got word from ZoomInfo that Aug 26 is B-to-B Intelligence Day.

While I would prefer gifts of chocolate, ZoomInfo is giving anyone and everyone unlimited access to their database of 45M people at 5M companies for one day only.

Individuals and businesses interested in participating in this promotion can sign up via the following website – http://go.zoominfo.com/content/2427ZoomInfoDay

A recent sour experience with a car rental company

A recent sour experience with a car rental company put my reptile brain into over-drive.

The dispute is over a small amount – about $220.

The reptile brain doesn’t have complex emotions. It thinks in simple terms: fight or flight.

My reptile brain wants to fight. Maybe post a video of their shoddy customer service practices to YouTube, register a yourcompanysucks.com domain, and generally bitch and moan so loudly that their senior management gets headaches.  I guarantee I can create a headache that costs far more than $220 with just a few hours of reptile effort.

But I won’t.  At least not yet.

Why not yet? We’ll, maybe I can turn them into a customer for BrandProtect (one of my clients) and it wouldn’t be good if I slammed them publicly.  And also because it just too easy to make myself a nuisance. With the power of the Internet, it is possible for one person to tell his story to thousands of people.

This power illustrates just how effective a single “guerrilla” can be in the face of a corporate superpower.

In the past, given a superpower brand’s supremacy in marketing, customer service, public relations and legal support, few rational opponents would deliberately seek a face-to-face confrontation.  It was almost always a loosing battle.

But today, any idiot, including myself, can resort to asymmetric, or David-and-Goliath, strategies. I may not win the battle but I can make myself a nuisance or even bloody the nose of a superbrand by using some extremely affordable weapons such as GoDaddy.com (less than $10 to register a yourcompanysucks.com domain), Twitter, a blog, and the Flip (a hi-def video camera that costs less than $100).

Although it would only take one letter from a superbrand to make me cease and desist, the cost of just the attorney writing that letter is already way more than the $200 in dispute. Now matter how simple the cease and desist, escalation from the superbrand would be costly.

Superbrands are also seeing public relations backlash from stepping on bloggers and vocal complainers. In effect, a legal victory can still equal a PR defeat

So what should the superbrands do to protect against the asymmetric customer with a chip on his shoulder? Should I find someone to help me make a video about this company’s poor customer service? What would you do?

Beating Circuits into Packets: How to Approach Unified Communications Implementations

Here’s a recent article I wrote for CDW…

Now it’s the phone’s turn.

Once the only way to initiate and conduct a spontaneous, real-time interaction with a remote person, telephony has become just one method among many for initiating and conducting a dialog.  And, when compared to the other, mostly data and web-based methods, it is not always the best, and certainly not the most manageable.

As use of email, instant messaging, text messaging, web conferencing and collaborative portals expands, many companies are bringing the phone up to date by unifying communications across the enterprise. But, like anything worth doing right, it takes work to realize the promise of Unified Communications.

In fact, according to CDW’s 2009 Unified Communications Tracking Poll, top concerns among organizations planning for UC implementations are network security (45 percent of responders), equipment and capital costs (44 percent) and operating costs (42 percent).

IP-based platforms can be just as reliable as circuit -switched networks. However, the right implementation and architectural foundation are critical and depend on a well-conceived implementation plan. The best solutions address the people and technical readiness of the organization.

Integrated work needs integrated communications.

The bedrock people principle underlying unified communication is the idea that “work” crosses traditional boundaries and therefore unified communication is the most reliable way to manage an entire suite of technologies and practices that aim at seamless functional integration of voice, video and other data regardless of device or media used.

The good technical news is that existing IP networks already form the backbone of protocols and practices that underlie web-based technologies (websites, instant-messaging, streaming, point-casting, multi-casting, etc) and unified communications adds the various aspects of telephony into that mix.

So what is unified communications? Depending on who you ask, there are a number of definitions. UC combines IP-based platforms with web, audio and video conferencing as well as instant messaging and other presence applications under a single control panel so that end-users can manage preferences for their mobile and desktop “presence.”

Research firm Gartner Inc., takes it a step further and defines UC as “a direct result of the convergence of communications and applications through the integration of products that facilitate the use of multiple enterprise communication methods, including equipment, software and services.”

The key word in Gartner’s definition is ‘enterprise.’ Because UC adoptions are enterprise wide and usually involve stakeholders from networking, messaging, data and telecom, UC requires careful pre-rollout analysis and a clear understanding that not all networks are created equal, says Sarwar Raza, 3Com’s product line manager for IP telephony.

Not all networks are created equal because some networks grow organically while others grow through mergers and acquisitions. The landscape is further complicated by the network itself as some networks evolve from traditional PBX platforms, others evolve from traditional data-switch platforms and a third group is designed from the ground up for IP-based communications. No matter what scenario, the complexity of the deployment and the architecture that supports the implementation should be carefully evaluated.

Look before you leap

“Before you do anything, identify network bottlenecks. A successful migration to unified communications requires a comprehensive evaluation of the amount and type of voice traffic carried over the network. Conduct detailed network assessments (the more granular – by floor or department for example, the better), and end user surveys that capture current pain points as well as determine what currently available features users can’t live without. You never know where your traffic is coming from unless you look,” said Raza.

Raza advises organizations to conduct traffic simulations based on applications they plan to deploy.

“Factor in the nature of your business and how critical your new solutions are to accomplishing your mission, how your users will accomplish their missions, the age of your infrastructure and applications, and the availability of talent (in-house or external) and funding needed to ensure your business keeps ticking,” said Raza.

The planning and discussion is worth it. Unified communications represent a big IT win due simply to operating cost reductions and consolidation of infrastructure. The ROI story is even stronger when the additional benefits of improved reliability, better utilization and support for remote workers, reduced travel expenses, improved communications reliability and better collaboration among distributed workgroups are factored in.

“Making life easy for someone in the executive-suite should not translate to adding several steps to a commonly performed task elsewhere in the organization. Account for everyone’s needs before making a decision. Coordinate rollout timing with slow times and anticipate and plan for a little down time and end-user training/ramp-up,” adds 3Com’s Raza.

In addition, user demand drives “rogue” adoption of IP-based tools such as instant messaging and personal mobile devices. UC minimizes the arrival of “rogue” services on the corporate network and the exposure of confidential corporate information to “after hours” work on unauthorized platforms further reducing corporate liability in the event of breach

Although the benefits are easy to see, in recessionary times, making UC a priority and getting executive buy-in requires a compelling ROI argument.

Build a business case to reduce latency

Irwin Lazar, VP of Communications Research for Nemertes Research advises IT execs to focus on areas where a key performance metric is customer response time. UC naturally speeds customer response and helps departments such as sales and customer service provide answers to customers faster.

After all, the intent of UC is instant communication beyond traditional phone and e-mail with voice, video, IM, and wireless.

“You can’t sell soft productivity improvements in today’s economic climate,” said Lazar. “You need hard numbers. One area for fast ROI comes from a reduction in human latency  – situations where you answer a customer faster or respond to a customer support request in less time. UC naturally lends itself to situations where speed matters.”

Building the business case usually starts with a line of business manager. Lazar stresses the importance of building a cross functional team represented by governance, voice, messaging, desktop and security roles. Power users of the current and new systems should be part of the pilot program (in addition to the IT staff helping with the decision) and should be required to present detailed use cases of key everyday tasks.

“We recommend getting all these people talking to each other early in the process. We’ve heard stories where line of business teams get half-way through their vendor selection and only then do they bring in, for example, people from compliance,” said Lazar. “You don’t want to find out half way through the project that the retention policy for email may be different from the voice mail retention policy. The last thing you want to do is go back to the drawing board.”

Security

Getting security involved early in the process makes sense. In fact, adds, Kevin Johnson, security product manager at Avaya, “You already have a security policy in place. If you are comfortable with your existing policy, adjust it to accommodate the specific UC functionality. There is no need to start from scratch because many UC products run on a standard operating system (often RedHat) and you already have security policies in place for the common operating systems. Leverage the existing policies and add in the UC specific requirements.”

It is also important to factor the impact of various government regulations such as HIPAA, GLBA, SOX, Basel II and PCI when it comes to setting your UC security policy.

“Thankfully, if you look at your existing security policies, most of these regulations have already been considered. For the UC specific functionality, continue to use common sense. Just because the device exists on your network doesn’t mean you should assume that it is trusted and secure, use strong authentication, lock down all ports and encrypt the signaling / media communications.  This translates into minimizing opportunities for a breach to occur from outside or inside of your network,” said Johnson.

Budgets drive architecture decisions

Kevin Gavin, VP of Marketing for ShoreTel, a Sunnyvale, CA based provider of unified communications systems, says that operating environments and budgets will determine whether previous investments in technology will be incorporated in the rollout or discarded in place of more fully featured UC platforms.

“As a buyer, it makes sense to look at the architectural approach that the various vendors are using. Different approaches can have a huge impact on reliability, scalability and total cost. Look hard at what it does and how does it does it. Ask yourself what are the implications for me as a buyer?  What happens if for some reason a piece part fails? How quickly can we recover? And, make sure you ask how much it will cost you to implement, administer and operate?”

Gavin recommends the following:

* Bring at least three vendors to the table and evaluate their architectural approaches. Ask vendors and their customers to explain and demonstrate the associated advantages/disadvantages.
* See the real working system with your own eyes. Ask the supplier for a demonstration of capabilities so that you can see the system working first hand.
* Conduct a thorough TCO evaluation keeping in mind that the upfront cost is not the total cost of the solution. The upfront represents about 30% of the total lifetime cost. The biggest expenses are maintenance expenses. Capture all their costs and various cost components, do a proper financial analysis.   Simple solutions are the least costly over time
* Get references. Make sure you ask for references that are similar to your company in terms of size and architecture. Ask the tough questions and listen hard to their responses. If the references aren’t raving fans, you haven’t found the right vendor.

For any IT organization, the promise of UC is realized when the voice silo disappears and telephony becomes a seamless part of the total technology stack.

Anticipating future requirements

It is impossible to predict the future.

“But,” said Jeff Rodman, co-founder and CTO of Polycom’s voice division, “the ideal UC infrastructure has everyone playing the same game, with the same strategy and the same rules. Early in the evolution of UC, we saw end users and suppliers building their own ad hoc UC capabilities. They stuck half a dozen tools together in a way that did a basic job but none of the parts worked well with the other parts,” said Rodman. “Thankfully, the industry has moved toward standards and we are evolving very nicely toward a world where UC components can communicate across functions and across companies. Many of the major vendors are playing by the same rules now.”

For companies concerned about the cost of major infrastructure upgrades to support major UC rollouts, this is good news because most UC systems now openly communicate. Rodman advises IT buyers to make sure any new investment decisions keep an eye to the future.

“Keep your options open. Every IT manager should look for systems that use common standards for interchange. Your current vendor may not be the vendor that provides the best functionality for a given function. When your systems communicate with open standards, that gives you the most flexibility in evaluating future vendors.”

And finally, advises 3Com’s Sarwa Raza, “just because it is web based doesn’t always mean it’s trivial to configure and manage. Make sure administrators take full advantage of training/certification options, and service and support contracts, and that they have the correct tools at their disposal to be able to manage and troubleshoot performance issues (almost always network related) and day to day tasks (moves, add, changes etc.)”

PITFALLS

UC can drive major organizational cost savings and improve collaboration. According to Sarwar Raza, Product Line Manager for 3Com’s IP Telephony solutions, it is important to understand the following implementation pitfalls upfront to avoid making costly mistakes.

* Don’t make the assumption that all equipment and applications can be ‘ported’ as is from existing systems.
* Make sure any new investment decisions keep an eye to the future: pick UC vendors that support industry standards, and can interoperate with other vendors’ products and applications.
* Avoid rushing the discovery phase to avoid surprises during roll-out.
* Ensure that all aspects of the rollout have been planned and budgeted for.
* Conduct detailed network assessments (the more granular – by floor or department for example, the better), and end user surveys that capture current pain points as well as determine what  available features on the system being replaced or upgraded users can’t live without.
* Involve business stakeholders in all phases: discovery, planning and implementation
* Coordinate rollout timing with known slow times for the business and anticipate and plan for a little down time and end-user training/ramp-up.
* Buying decisions should account for realistic and likely growth – in various forms. Not all organizations will grow in the same location or at a predictable pace.
* Pick platforms and vendors that are proven to play well with other systems and vendors, and insist on open standards instead of vendor specific protocols and technologies for assured investment protection.
* Web based does not equal trivial: Just because it’s web based doesn’t always mean it’s trivial to configure and manage.

TAKE AWAYS AND LESSONS LEARNED

These “take aways” and more are available in the CDW Unified Communications Poll, available at http://www.cdw.com/uctrackingpoll.

* UC will only function as well as the infrastructure it is built upon. If that infrastructure is not robust enough to handle the increase in network traffic, you will not get the results you are hoping for.
* Review your current business and network environments, assess current and future needs, and incorporate all three into the Scope of Work for design and implementation.
* For most, UC is a phased approach leading to an end goal that meets your business/organizational communication goals – it is not a one-size-fits-all, packaged solution. Enlist a trusted advisor to help determine which approach and component technologies are best for you at each step.
* Organization or facility changes and infrastructure updates are an opportunity to implement component technologies and lay the foundation for UC.
* Identify key drivers and stakeholders; the organization drives overall telecommunications, while operating units drive application integration.
* Be clear on what are requirements vs. nice to have; involve end users.
* Use strong project and schedule management methodology throughout the process.
* In most organizations, dedicated technical resources work best, and leads should be given responsibility to own a portion of the project.
* The challenge doesn’t end with cutover; Day 2 support needs to be part of the design.
* Training plans are critical for administrators, end users, and call center agents alike. Begin preparation during installation and configuration.

UPDATED:Review of SugarToad

I normally don’t write about my love of food but Wednesday’s Winemaker’s dinner at SugarToad (www.sugartoad.com) was fantastic. If you are located in the Chicago area, don’t mind driving the suburbs and haven’t tried this treasure, I highly recommend it. Bring your appetite.

The next winemaker’s dinner is August 4. For more information, watch Chef Jimmy Sneed’s blog at http://www.productpassionandsalt.com/

The evening started with a Barboursville Brut N.V. with a passed appetizers. I tried all three: blackened tuna bite with yellow pepper sauce, garden zucchini rolls with fresh mozzarella and redneck risotto with house made chorizo.  The Redneck risotto, grits prepared risotto style, was my absolute favorite, made tangy and smoky with the chorizo.

The fun part of the evening was my lovely date, Laura Baloun. I’ve known Laura since sophmore year of high school. My wife, Kim, and Laura’s husband, Mike, don’t enjoy wine or seafood. So we didn’t invite them.

Laura and I started drinking in the small reception area on the 12th floor of the Hotel Arista then moved the the 12th floor outdoor terrace. The weather was perfect. There was a great breeze, no bugs and a wonderful view of the splendor of Naperville’s Rt. 59.

Once seated, the first course was local sweet corn soup with crayfish and crispy morels. The soup was hard to explain because I’ve never tasted anything like it. I’d like to compare it to a warm corn flavored savory ice-cream but that doesn’t do the amazing flavors justice. (In fact, it sounds gross.) When paired with two nice glasses of Viognier Reserve 2007, I was ready to get my eat on.

Served with the Pinot Grigio was a beautiful heirloom tomato terrine with baby argugula, Edward’s bacon (Edward must have been upset that I got his bacon) and a poached farm egg. I now know what wine to drink with breakfast.

The Pinot was by far the stand-out wine for the evening. Winemaker Luca Paschina had quite a bit to say about it and I wish I listened but I didn’t because I was too busy licking my plate clean. I’m not a wine guy. I love to drink and can tell good wine from bad wine but if you ask me to talk about it, I lose interest quickly. I don’t want to know the history of wine, I just want to drink it.  

The third course was a soft shelled crab and SugarToad’s signature crabcake. Paired with Chardonnay Reserve 2008, fanfreakingtastic is all I have to say about that.

The entre was Jamison Farm lamb chop with stewed peppers and anchovy butter. The lamb was great but the Cabernet Franc 1998 Special Cellar Selection left me wanting something else. Maybe my taste buds are immature but this wine had a little too much going on to be enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong, I’m nit picking. I still drank two glasses and enjoyed it.

The cheese course rocked my world. The bread pudding for dessert was amazing. I’ll definitely go back.

Veteran Benefit Link Collection

Below are web-sites that provide information on Veterans benefits and how to file/ask for them. Accordingly, there are many sites that explain how to obtain books, military/medical records, information and how to appeal a denied claim with the VA. Please pass this information on to every Veteran you know. Nearly 100% of this information is free and available for all veterans, the only catch is: you have to ask for it, because they won’t tell you about a specific benefit unless you ask for it. You need to know what questions to ask so the right doors open for you — and then be ready to have an advocate who is willing to work with and for you, stay in the process, and press for your rights and your best interests.

 

Appeals http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/admin21/m21_1/mr/part1/ch05.doc

 

Board of Veteran’s Appeals http://www.va.gov/vbs/bva/ 
 

CARES Commission http://www.va.gov/vbs/bva/   

 

CARES Draft National Plan http://www1.va.gov/cares/page.cfm?pg=105

 

Center for Minority Veterans http://www1.va.gov/centerforminorityveterans/

 

Center for Veterans Enterprise http://www.vetbiz.gov/default2.htm

 

Center for Women Veterans http://www1.va.gov/womenvet/  

 

Clarification on the changes in VA healthcare for Gulf War Veterans http://www.gulfwarvets.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000016.html

 

Classified Records – American Gulf War Veterans Assoc http://www.gulfwarvets.com/ubb/Forum18/HTML/000011.html

 

Compensation for Disabilities Associated with the Gulf War Service http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/admin21/m21_1/part6/ch07.doc

 

Compensation Rate Tables, 12-1-03

http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/Rates/comp01.htm

 

Department of Veterans Affairs Home Page http://www.va.gov/

 

Directory of Veterans Service Organizations http://www1.va.gov/vso/index.cfm?template=view

 

Disability Examination Worksheets Index, Comp http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/Benefits/exams/index.htm

 

Due Process http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/admin21/m21_1/mr/part1/ch02.doc

 

Duty to Assist

http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/admin21/m21_1/mr/part1/ch01.doc

 

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations http://www.gpoaccess.gov/ecfr/   

 

Emergency, Non-emergency, and Fee Basis Care http://www1.va.gov/opa/vadocs/fedben.pdf

  

Environmental Agents http://www1.va.gov/environagents/ 

 

Environmental Agents M10

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=1002

  

Establishing Combat Veteran Eligibility

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=315

 

EVALUATION PROTOCOL FOR GULF WAR AND IRAQI FREEDOM VETERANS WITH POTENTIAL EXPOSURE TO DEPLETED URANIUM (DU) http://www1.va.gov/gulfwar/docs/DUHandbook1303122304.DOC

and 

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=1158

and 

Depleted Uranium Fact Sheet

http://www1.va.gov/gulfwar/docs/DepletedUraniumFAQSheet.doc

and 

EVALUATION PROTOCOL FOR NON -GULF WAR VETERANS WITH POTENTIAL EXPOSURE TO DEPLETED URANIUM (DU) http://www1.va.gov/gulfwar/docs/DUHANDBOOKNONGW130340304.DOC

 

Fee Basis, PRIORITY FOR OUTPATIENT MEDICAL SERVICES AND INPATIENT HOSPITAL CARE

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=206

 

Federal Benefits for Veterans and Dependants 2005 http://www1.va.gov/opa/vadocs/fedben.pdf

OR, http://www1.va.gov/opa/vadocs/current_benefits.htm

 

Forms and Records Request http://www.va.gov/vaforms/

 

General Compensation Provisions

http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/title38/partii_chapter11_subchaptervi_.html

 

Geriatrics and Extended Care http://www1.va.gov/geriatricsshg/
 

Guideline for Chronic Pain and Fatigue MUS-CPG http://www.oqp.med.va.gov/cpg/cpgn/mus/mus_base.htm

  

Guide to Gulf War Veteran’s Health

http://www1.va.gov/gulfwar/docs/VHIgulfwar.pdf

 

Gulf War Subject Index

http://www1.va.gov/GulfWar/page.cfm?pg=7&template=main&letter=A

 

Gulf War Veteran’s Illnesses Q&As

http://www1.va.gov/gulfwar/docs/GWIllnessesQandAsIB1041.pdf

 

Hearings http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/admin21/m21_1/mr/part1/ch04.doc

 

Homeless Veterans http://www1.va.gov/homeless/   

 

HSR&D Home http://www.hsrd.research.va.gov/ 
 

Index to Disability Examination Worksheets C&P exams http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/benefits/exams/index.htm

 

Ionizing Radiation http://www1.va.gov/irad/ 
 

Iraqi Freedom/Enduring Freedom Veterans VBA http://www.vba.va.gov/EFIF/ 
 

M10 for spouses and children

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=1007

 

M10 Part III Change 1

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=1008

 

M21-1 Table of Contents http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/M21_1.html

 

Mental Disorders, Schedule of Ratings

http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/regs/38CFR/BOOKC/PART4/S4_130.DOC

 

Mental Health Program Guidelines

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=1094

 

Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Centers http://www.mirecc.med.va.gov/

 

MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Centers of Excellence http://www.va.gov/ms/about.asp

My Health e Vet http://www.myhealth.va.gov/ 
 

NASDVA.COM <http://nasdva.com/>  National Association of State Directors 
 

National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention http://www.nchpdp.med.va.gov/postdeploymentlinks.asp

 

Neurological Conditions and Convulsive Disorders, Schedule of Ratings http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/regs/38cfr/bookc/part4/s4%5F124a.doc

 

OMI (Office of Medical Inspector) http://www.omi.cio.med.vagov/

 

Online VA Form 10-10EZ https://www.1010ez.med.vagov/sec/vha/1010ez/

 

Parkinson’s Disease and Related Neurodegenerative Disorders http://www1.va.gov/resdev/funding/solicitations/docs/parkinsons.pdf

and http://www1.va.gov/padrecc/ 

 

Peacetime Disability Compensation

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=browse_usc&docid=Cite:+38USC1131

 

Pension for Non-Service-Connected Disability or Death http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/title38/partii_chapter15_subchapteri_.html

and,http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/title38/partii_chapter15_subchapterii_.html

and, http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/title38/partii_chapter15_subchapteriii_..html

 

Persian Gulf Registry

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=1003

 

This program is now referred to as Gulf War Registry Program (to include Operation Iraqi Freedom) as of March 7, 2005:

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=1232

 

Persian Gulf Registry Referral Centers

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=1006

 

Persian Gulf Veterans’ Illnesses Research 1999, Annual Report To Congress http://www1.va.gov/resdev/1999_Gulf_War_Veterans’_Illnesses_Appendices.doc

 

Persian Gulf Veterans’ Illnesses Research 2002, Annual Report To Congress http://www1.va.gov/resdev/prt/gulf_war_2002/GulfWarRpt02.pdf

 

Phase I PGR

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=1004

 

Phase II PGR

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=1005

 

Policy Manual Index http://www.va.gov/publ/direc/eds/edsmps.htm

 

Power of Attorney

http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/admin21/m21_1/mr/part1/ch03.doc

 

Project 112 (Including Project SHAD) http://www1.va.gov/shad/ 
 

Prosthetics Eligibility

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=337

 

Public Health and Environmental Hazards Home Page http://www.vethealth.cio.med.va.gov/

 

Public Health/SARS http://www.publichealth.va.gov/SARS/

 

Publications Manuals

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/publications.cfm?Pub=4

 

Publications and Reports

http://www1.va.gov/resdev/prt/pubs_individual.cfm?webpage=gulf_war.htm

 

Records Center and Vault Homepage

http://www.aac.va.gov/vault/default.html

 

Records Center and Vault Site Map

http://www.aac.va.gov/vault/sitemap.html

 

REQUEST FOR AND CONSENT TO RELEASE OF INFORMATION FROM CLAIMANT’S RECORDS

http://www.forms.va.gov/va/Internet/VARF/getformharness.asp?formName=3288-form.xft

 

Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses April 11,

2002 http://www1.va.gov/rac-gwvi/docs/Minutes_April112002.doc

 

Research Advisory Committee on Gul f War Veterans Illnesses http://www1.va.gov/rac-gwvi/docs/ReportandRecommendations_2004.pdf

 

Research and Development

http://www.appc1.va.gov/resdev/programs/all_programs.cfm

 

Survivor’s and Dependents’ Educational Assistance http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/title38/partiii_chapter35_.html

 

 

Title 38, Pensions, Bonuses & Veterans Relief (also A 3.317 Compensation for certain disabilities due to undiagnosed illnesses found here)

 

 

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/textidx?c=ecfr&sid=

<http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=1b0c269b510d31

57fbf8f8801bc9b3dc&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title38/38cfr3_main_02.tpl>

1b0c269b510d3157fbf8f8801bc9b3dc&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title38/38cfr3_main_02.

tpl

<http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=1b0c269b510d31

57fbf8f8801bc9b3dc&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title38/38cfr3_main_02.tpl> 

 

Title 38, PART 4–SCHEDULE FOR RATING DISABILITIES, Subpart B–DISABILITY RATINGS

 

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=9985b26004e8ebf

8c3e67466ffb6fde1&rgn=div6&view=text&node=38:1.0.1.1.5.2&idno=38

 

Title 38

 

A 4.16 Total disability ratings for compensation based on unemployability of the individual. PART 4a “SCHEDULE FOR RATING DISABILITIES Subpart Aa”General Policy in Rating

 

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/textidx?c=ecfr&sid=

<http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=1b0c269b510d31

57fbf8f8801bc9b3dc&rgn=div8&view=text&node=38:1.0.1.1.5.1.96.11&idno=38>

 

 

1b0c269b510d3157fbf8f8801bc9b3dc&rgn=div8&view=text&node=38:1.0.1.1.5.1.

96.11&idno=38

<http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=1b0c269b510d31

57fbf8f8801bc9b3dc&rgn=div8&view=text&node=38:1.0.1.1.5.1.96.11&idno=38>

 

 

U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims http://www.vetapp.gov/   

 

VA Best Practice Manual for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) http://www.avapl.org/pub/PTSD%20Manual%20final%206.pdf

  

VA Fact Sheet http://www1.va.gov/opa/fact/gwfs.html

 

VA Health Care Eligibility

http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/home/hecmain.asp

 

VA INSTITUTING GLOBAL ASSESSMENT OF FUNCTION (GAF) http://www.avapl.org/gaf/gaf.html 
 

VA Life Insurance Handbook a” Chapter 3

http://www.insurance.va.gov/inForceGliSite/GLIhandbook/glibookletch3.htm#310

 

VA Loan Lending Limits and Jumbo Loans

http://valoans.com/va_facts_limits.cfm

 

VA MS Research http://www.va.gov/ms/about.asp
 

VA National Hepatitis C Program http://www.hepatitis.va.gov/ 

 

VA Office of Research and Development http://www1.va.gov/resdev/

 

VA Trainee Pocket Card on Gulf War

http://www.va.gov/OAA/pocketcard/gulfwar.asp

 

VA WMD EMSHG http://www1.va.gov/emshg/

 

VA WRIISC-DC http://www.va.gov/WRIISC-DC/

 

VAOIG Hotline Telephone Number and Address http://www.va.gov/oig/hotline/hotline3.htm

 

Vet Center Eligibility – Readjustment Counseling Service http://www.va.gov/rcs/Eligibility.htm

 

Veterans Benefits Administration Main Web Page http://www.vba.va.gov/

 

Veterans Legal and Benefits Information http://valaw.org/

VHA Forms, Publications, Manuals http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/

VHA Programs – Clinical Programs & Initiatives

http://www1.va.gov/health_benefits/page.cfm?pg=13

 

VHA Public Health Strategic Health Care Group Home Page http://www.publichealth.va.gov/ 
 

VHI Guide to Gulf War Veteransa(tm) Health http://www1.va.gov/vhi_ind_study/gulfwar/istudy/index.asp

 

Vocational Rehabilitation http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/vre/ <http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/vre/> 

 

Vocational Rehabilitation Subsistence

http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/vre/InterSubsistencefy04.doc

 

VONAPP online http://vabenefits.vba.va.gov/vonapp/main.asp

 

WARMS – 38 CFR Book C http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/bookc.html

 

Wartime Disability Compensation

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=browse_usc&doc

id=Cite:+38USC1110

 

War-Related Illness and Injury Study Center – New Jersey http://www.wri.med.va.gov/ 
 

Welcome to the GI Bill Web Site http://www.gibill.va.gov/

 

What VA Social Workers Do http://www1.va.gov/socialwork/page.cfm?pg=3

 

WRIISC Patient Eligibility http://www.illegion.org/va1.html

 

How would a product manager fix higher education?

By Robert van der Hooning and Ben Bradley

The recession has taken aim at higher education.  It’s too late to hide, the carnage is everywhere. 

Even Harvard feels the pain.  It offered buyouts to 1,600 employees after suffering an $8 billion endowment loss. In California, the situation is ugly – a $97 million cut for FY09 at Cal State University and another $66 million reduction in FY10 resulting in a $283 million operating hole.

Illinois spends about $3 billion a year on higher education, not including capital investment and tuition.  Not enough, according to university leaders.  What’s their response?  Freeze hiring, increase tuition prices and beg for Federal funding.  That’s activity without a purpose and certainly not a strategy.

This begs a bailout-esque question, “Where did all that money go?”  One analysis [1] shows a whopping 44% of all academic spending goes to administrative support and a falling share to faculty salaries and student instruction.  Higher education has grown fat on a steady diet of tuition increases and unbridled growth in administrative overhead.   

Imagine stockholder’s reaction to a company whose overhead costs rose double digits on zero sales growth.

Given the Illinois’ $11 billion deficit and a $53 billion FY2010 budget (give or take a $billion here or there), should higher education be untouchable?  The state’s budget shows higher education spending flat over FY2009 but up 10% since FY2008 (excluding contributions to retirement).  That’s $3 billion in taxpayer subsidy for starters, not including tuition payments from mom and dad or contributions from non-parental donors.  

As a bailout-fatigued parent of 2 future college students, I’m going to ask the hard question:  Could Illinois taxpayers get better results on our $3 billion annual higher education investment if a product manager ran our state’s portfolio of universities?

Ultimately, leadership is about strategy, resource allocation and results.  Even though their organizations and products are different, higher education should take a lesson from basic product management before politicians step in and do it for them.  How?  Two simple performance metrics — product profitability and yield — can help higher education manage smarter.

Product Profitability.  Imagine that all the colleges across the University of Illinois were brands, its programs were products and courses were components. The College of Engineering and its 7,600 students has a strong brand. Its Department of Computer Science provides tremendous value through tuition, federal research grants and alumni donations. In contrast, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) provides comparatively less brand value but educates more than 15,000 students. LAS’ Department of Slavic and Baltic Languages and Literatures, while well-respected, provides less value to the University than Computer Science. I’m not picking on Slavic Languages at all; just using it as an example.

A product manager would calculate the profitability of each course taught in each department within each college of the university, allocate revenues from outside sources (i.e., donations, gifts, research grants) and subtract department’s faculty, staff and other direct costs.  Once this database is organized, results can be viewed at a course, department, program, or college level.  This makes analysis of contribution margin is quick and straightforward. 

A product portfolio manager would take a broader perspective and look at all courses taught in all departments across all universities in the State of Illinois.  Why?  To align resources in a way that 1) satisfies student demand, 2) educates students profitably and 3) provides a stimulating and sustainable environment for scholars to flourish in their chosen fields.   

How, specifically?  Let’s start with Slavic and Baltic Language departments as an example.

If there are 8 Slavic and Baltic Language departments across Illinois’ public universities but demand for only 25% of capacity, is it prudent for Illinois taxpayers to foot the bill for 75% excess capacity?  Probably not.  Is it wise to get rid of all 8 departments due to low demand?  Of course not.

So, what steps could any single department undertake to improve its profitability or minimize its loss?  With only a local perspective, each department keeps enough faculty and staff to sustain academic excellence and enough courses to be attractive to students.  With a wider lens, however, one might argue that merging 8 departments into 3 bigger departments and allocating them strategically based on demand and geography would make more sense.  Students interested in Slavic languages could still choose 1 of 3 schools to attend, academic excellence would improve as more scholars collaborate together, and selective reductions that balance capacity with demand would yield the cost reductions state budgets demand.  Moreover, the University with the best Slavic and Baltic Language department could expand its product footprint by franchising instruction to other Illinois universities that can’t afford the fixed costs of a boutique department through in-residence, electronic or blended delivery models.

Product managers don’t just downsize.  They also expand capacity to steal share from competitors.  Let’s use the Department of Computer Science at University of Illinois’ College of Engineering (ranked 4^th nationally) as an example.

The capacity of the Department of Computer Science is constrained by classroom space, faculty and its budget.  Despite its strong ranking, enrollments held steady between 590-625 students for the past 3 years.  As a consequence, hundreds of highly qualified Illinois students were forced to attend out of state schools where they pay two or three times more for tuition.  Hundreds of out-of-state students who are willing to pay tuition premiums at Illinois could not attend.  These “leakage” and “stock-out” problems represents more than lost revenue for the College of Engineering and University of Illinois.  When markets don’t clear, inefficiency brings a cost.  In this case, the State of Illinois is deprived of scarce human capital that creates new technologies and builds new businesses, and Illinois taxpayers subsidize higher education more than they should.

To be clear, I am not advocating elimination or expansion of any particular department or college.  The point is to optimize a product portfolio and find a sustainable operating structure across the state’s publicly funded education system where budget reality and scholarship coexist at the appropriate scale based on market demand and financial constraints. 

If an institutional haircut is inevitable, insight from product profitability analysis can be the difference between a smart trim and a buzz cut.

There is still time for Springfield and higher education to collaborate on a smarter haircut, but budgetary tweaking isn’t enough.  Without a different approach, I see Bailout 3.0 right around the corner.

 

[1] http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/01/15/delta

Powered by Wordpress | WP Premium theme by WP Remix
Copyright 2007. Marketing, Sales and Anything Else. All rights reserved

• Home