I'll admit, I have always been skeptical of all the "blogging buzz". Between it and social media, I see so many devoting so much more time and resources to it than their own business, and it leaves me wondering..... "Where's the ROI?". It has always been my opinion that Technology should reduce your costs and work loads, not create more of it. . . and here Google's got people working for countless hours for them, and doing it for free!
So here I am at my keyboard, kicking off 2019 with my first blog because I am realizing the growing importance that google and social media have to my business. But I am proceeding with caution, because I also realize there needs to be a balance and I don't want Google hijacking my time and my business out from underneath me.
A little about me
I am the small town boy from southern Virginia who grew up on his grandfather's farm, with the N&W railroad yard in the front of our house, and Ft Picket military base in the next town over. I am the oldest of 3 children, 1 sister and 1 brother, with my dad retired from manufacturing and my mom a retired school teacher. After graduating High School in 87, I went to straight to college were I graduated from Longwood University with dual BS's in Physics and Chemistry, and a minor in math in the Spring of 92.
Today, I am married with a 10 year old son who is the center of my world, LOVES Trains, and does all the things a 10 year boy old likes to do. Some of the things we enjoy doing together include karate, fishing and playing video games . . . . Star Trek Online and Minecraft. In my spare time I also enjoy gardening and woodworking, and volunteering when I can.
My professional experience
I began my career as an Engineer in QS/ISO-9002 Manufacturing. First in powdered metals, and then in plastic injection molding where we made the door panels for the Ford Explorer. My primary job at these companies was managing the quality processes to insure the product our customers received was in accordance to their specs. This included managing our suppliers as well, with occasional visits to their plants to solve problems or audit processes. Though we had ERPs and more complex systems to help manage those processes, we still had to supplement them with dBase/Access, Excel Spreadsheets, and yes..... hand charted graphs on paper.
With so many of our product lines being sent overseas, including our own, I realized it was time for a career change. So in 1996, I moved to Raleigh-Durham where I transitioned into IT working as a developer in the industries of Banking, Insurance Underwriting and Real Estate. Development work at these companies ranged from simple Excel/MS Access apps, to more robust web and windows applications that integrated with anything from databases to mainframes and 3rd party systems. In 2008, I left all that forming my own company, zBest Data Technologies, LLC.
Leveraging your technology
After 20+ years, technology has evolved passed the need to develop everything from the ground up. The "vehicles" we need now exist and "reinventing the wheel" no longer produces any fruit. The challenge now is how to tie those different systems together and automate them so that data flows seamlessly between them. Our websites are no longer something to just show off pictures of our products or services, but a tool to engage our customers, service their needs and capture new leads for processing within our organizations.
Right now, the buzz is CRM's, something that has been around in the PC world(ignoring mainframes) since the early 2000's. But to many of the smaller businesses, it is a "new" concept that they are just beginning to understand as they discover the benefits a CRM provides.
It is these areas that I would love to help you with implementing. Give me call to put technology to work for you!
