From Greg's Head

I listened to a fantastic presentation from Strong Data this afternoon. Best of the day.

Strong skills from the presenter - he was passionate and knew his topics very well. An easy to understand idea, and a thorough analysis on the costs of entering the market. From this presentation I was particularly impressed with two items. First, their command of the industry and the barriers to entry was very good. Second, I was impressed with their industry contacts and their ability to make inroads with industry experts at some of the largest financial institutions in the country.

Interesting sidenote: Identity theft is something with little barrier. I know someone who recently had their debit card number stolen and used. The theft took place in NYC, but the person was in Texas. And, they managed to take more funds than was in the person's account. I didn't think you could do that! Maybe an inside job? Good idea.

Joker Enterprises
I just listened to a great bar discussion. Aside from the idea of pushing online gambling in Texas and Louisiana - and I agree it's a huge possible market - the legal, political and operational issues are huge. No one in the management team has any experience in either the bar or casino markets. IMHO, politically this plan is DOA at any state level. In fact, I know someone who used to be an Attorney General for a state who oversaw statewide gaming issues. The political and lobbying efforts aside from operational oversight are too numerous to issue.

Quite frankly I was disappointed in the gloss-over approach to the question of legality. I suspect they would spend $2 million or more to litigate the idea, and by then something else will have become available for online players.

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Renovus
This product is for folks with Ostony needs. What a messy subject to talk about before lunch! I thought the students did a great job of presenting their case for a need in the market. All of the presenters were very good and I was impressed with their case. I loved the identification of the problem and their overview of the solution. This team was very tight and on their "A" game.

Samplesaint
Interesting concept for sampling consumers regarding their desires. Also a great "push" technology for pushing coupons to the consumer. I was surprised by the comments about the competitors and the broad base of competition. By staying within the minority communities the presenters hope they can get there first and then exit quickly on the backend.

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Internet Security Company made a presentation on a device that they believe will help protect your computer for all the bad software that's out there. Some issues I have were that the team was not sharp in presenting a compelling story for the device. Quite frankly, the group of people in Houston that are familiar with the computer and security industry is pretty extensive. Some of the judges were very disappointed with the lack of depth and technical understanding of how/when consumers might buy the device.

Finally, I saw almost no discussion about the future per Microsoft and whether this product makes it with new versions of their software.

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I am in Judge Group 6 and our respective companies are as follows:

Glucose
Internet Security Company
Renovus
Samplesaint
Strong Data
Joker Enterprises

We are sitting in Room 212 and with my broadband access card I am able to do a real time update for the Blog on Rice Business Plan. As usual the facilities and logistics here at the Jones School on the Rice campus are outstanding. As a judge and long time supporter of the Rice Alliance, our facilities are second to none. I hope the students find the judges feedback "real world."

GlucoCor
Kicked off the session first thing this morning. This company has an idea about testing glucose levels for diabetics with a chip implanted under the skin for continuous monitoring of the glucose levels. I was impressed with the identification of a need for better and more consumer friendly testing. The speakers were nervous, but the financial guy was on his game and gave one of the best presentations on investment need, investor payback and how and when the funds will be used. I suspect my fellow judges will give similar comments on speakers. It might have been a distraction to the overall plan.

Internet Security Company
A device to make spy ware, malware, etc. less of an issue. More in a moment...

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I was able to see some of tomorrow's presenters a day early. The presentations were very good and I was impressed with what I saw. I hope the students are able to take advantage of the feedback they received.

Some things you see consistently in these presentations: nervous presentations, speaking to the presentation screen and not the audience, assuming everyone understands the respectively jargon and failure to understand structure of the deal for investors.

The evening's sessions went very well as well. I was very impressed with the student teams I met. I wish them all the best of luck.

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I don’t know how you feel about it, but I’m pretty much incensed about what’s going on with Google and the requests from the government for its search records.

An Associated Press story from last week stated that a federal judge intends to order Google to turn over some of its Internet records to the U.S. Justice Department, but the judge “expressed reservations about requiring the company to divulge some of its most sensitive data — the actual requests that people enter into its popular search engine.”

What’s going on here? I thought we lived in the USA?

There are many differing reasons the government wants these records – everything from monitoring terrorist activity to protecting our youth from online predators. While I applaud the need to protect our nation and our children, does this mean that the government can request other companies to turn over their records as well? Must right-wing groups turn over their membership records? Must video rental stores give their customer’s rental habits/

You get the point.

Bottom line: There are certain freedoms we experience and these should not be compromised. Meanwhile, I am disappointed we can't find a way to resolve this without compromising our liberties.

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Friday Update
Well, I visited with Doug Burgum and got the lowdown on the future of Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
He said its all the rage …
Just kidding, fellow Dynamics consultants.

I attended Doug's keynote session and was pleased with what I saw and heard regarding the future for Microsoft Dynamics. A $500 million advertising and air cover campaign is about to be unleashed. They also showed us some of the early work on the product, which is directed at creating branding and awareness of the Dynamics brand. I thought it was pretty good work.

During a lighthearted part of his talk, Doug was in charge of rumor control and pointed out some falsehoods and corrections to various "rumors" floating out there. It’s nice to see a senior executive who doesn't get too full of himself.

Doug opened and closed his presentation with a warm "Thank You" to all the folks who have been working hard to make MBS a success.

South Central Region Reception
I made it over to the Hyatt to attend the reception for the South Central Region, and found out when I got there that it was a little bigger than the South Central Region ... it turned out to be the whole Central Region. I met several Microsoft Partners and Microsoft Team members, and we all had a good time visiting and learning more.

I looked across the room and who do I see? Doug Burgum and Todd Cione from the Central Region visiting with partners.

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Well, I am here at Convergence and it seems that every year Microsoft sets a new attendance record. Sitting in the community lounge area, I noted that this year we are expecting in excess of 7,000 attendees at Convergence. That's up from a little less than 4,000 attendees in 2003.

Some things are better organized, and as you might expect some are not. Check-in was a breeze thanks to some smart thinking, but when a young lady directed me to open portal, things went amiss. Poor marks to the signage and coordination folks, who had some people going in two directions to hear the kickoff session this morning.

Listening to the speakers this morning – Jeff Young, Tami Reller and Satya Nadella – I was impressed with what I saw and heard concerning the Microsoft Dynamics product line and the future investments that are coming down the line. As a Navision reseller, (oops, Dynamics NAV reseller), I was pretty jazzed, but what is coming in version 5.0 of NAV product? Pretty cool stuff and something that I know our clients will like to see and use.

The kickoff Dynamics NAV session this morning with Mogens Elsberg (product manager) and Kim Ibfelt, was great. I saw some additional features of 5.0 up close and I was impressed. Lots of features and role-based activity coming to the user community. And, the interaction with Office is going to be fantastic! I know our clients will love it.

I also heard some great news today that some time in the past 30 days, NAV sold its 1 millionth concurrent session for end users. That's a great milestone for the NAV product … and NAV continues to be the number one seller in the Dynamics product group.

Well I have to leave now to go hear the Dynamics guru himself, Doug Burgum, pontificate about the future. This is usually pretty entertaining stuff. Later, the South Central Microsoft Business Partner group is holding a reception and I must stop by to see what tidbits they offer.

Stay tuned, and yes, Gates will be demonstrating Dynamics NAV 5.0 on Monday!

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I’m truly sick and tired of being outplaced, displaced and replaced by the Blackberry.

Who isn’t? The fast and the furious who constantly have to check their Blackberry (or Treo or PocketPC) for the latest string of endless e-mails … the same ones who interrupt a conversation with you to look down to see who’s calling.

There’s a place for people like this – and it isn’t in my circle of life.

Loren Steffy, business columnist for the Houston Chronicle, recently had an excellent article on this topic and some advice on the symptoms and remedy:

“I, too, was wired to the world, messages zapping into my waistband every few seconds. I walked with one hand hovering over my hip, ready to draw forth my BlackBerry at the first vibration like some e-mail cowboy. Friends, even family, rarely commanded my full attention. Every conversation was punctuated with glances toward the messages I held in my palm.

I left all that behind almost two years ago, when I joined the Chronicle and cast off my electronic harness. I quit cold turkey.”

I certainly understand the need to feel in touch with your business and personal life, but we could all benefit if more of us simply followed the rules of common courtesy!

Have I made my point clear, or do I have to send a text message?

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Microsoft Business Solutions is “re-branding” its four ERP systems (Navision, Axapta, Solomon and Great Plains) all to Dynamics (Dynamics NAV, Dynamics AX, Dynamics SL and Dynamics GP). Microsoft has a number of reasons for these name changes, including communicating the message that, in the long-term, there is one product line with a variety of feature choices. Our Navision clients will be pleased to know that Dynamics NAV is the best-selling Dynamics option. That, in turn, is leading to more attention from Microsoft and investment in Dynamics NAV.

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Ok – maybe not 101 ways, but I’ve been thinking that ID Theft isn’t going away any time soon. If you have become a “victim” of ID Theft, you have my condolences.

Seems you can’t turn on any of the evening talk shows without an everyday person like you and me talking about how his or her identity was stolen – not because the person was negligent or careless with the information (after all, when was the last time YOU left your credit card in plain sight for a stranger’s quick glance?) – but usually unbeknownst to the person until it was too late.

We know ID Theft wreaks havoc on your credit report, but did you know you could spend months and years repairing the damage done by someone using your Social Security Number without your knowledge?

Here are two very useful resources from the Federal Trade Commission for prevention and detection:
• “Remedying the Effects of Identity Theft”
• “What To Do If Your Personal Information Has Been Compromised”

In future blogs, I'll offer more resources and observations about the role of accounting and ID Theft/security fraud.

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Through my association with Texas A&M’s Mays Business School and Microsoft, I heard the other day about an upcoming meeting that piqued my interest. Presented by WITI (Women in Technology International) and co-sponsored by Texas A&M and Microsoft, Hilda Camargo of Profiles International will present, “Does one develop a career strategy or a life strategy?” on April 5.

Based on the meeting’s promotions, Ms. Camargo presents two scenarios:
1. Be clear on where you want to be – “You have to know where you want to get to have any real hope of getting there.”
2. Do an outstanding job in your current position – in today’s evolving business environment, how do you do in the following areas:
• Communication
• Adaptability
• Relationships
• Personal Development
• Leadership
• Production

Sounds like a not-to-miss event to me for women and men.

P.S. WITI's Web site (not a Houston-based site) is a treasure trove of really useful information, articles, upcoming events and much more.

WITI Houston
Regional Network Event
Wednesday, April 5, 2006
6 – 8:30 p.m.
Location: Microsoft, 2000 W. Sam Houston Parkway, South

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I just heard from a co-worker that the day they issue her a Blackberry, she's going to quit.

Really? Is this the case?

In a recent article, the Orange Future Enterprise Coalition made public its distaste for "everything-Blackberry" by urging the corporate marketplace to "turn them off" and learn more about virtual networking.

What do you think? Are you addicted to the Blackberry? Should we turn them off? Send in your comments.

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We told you last month that Bill Gates will be at Microsoft Convergence in Dallas later this month. We were just told that Bill will be demonstrating some of the new features of Navision 5.0 when he makes his presentation about the future of Microsoft Business Solution applications at the conference.

For those Microsoft Business Solution Partners that work within the Microsoft Dynamics NAV channel, this is a huge news event!

If what we have been told is true, it’s one of the most formal recognitions of the fantastic investment Microsoft acquired a few years ago when they purchased Navision. Not lost upon many of us in the channel is the fact that Dynamics NAV software (formerly called Navision) continues to show very strong new license sales and new customers, both in the United States and around the world, with its growth and flexibility.

If you are currently a PKF Texas Navision customer or another Solution Center's customer, we can provide you a promotional code that will knock $500 off your registration fee for the Microsoft Convergence Conference.

This conference rotates around the country, so for PKF Texas clients, this is your chance to get exposed to some of the new things happening with Microsoft – without having to spend lots of travel dollars.

Send me an e-mail with your contact information, name, address, and e-mail address, and we will get you the promotion code.

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I just learned that the Houston Technology Center (410 Pierce St. in Houston) will have space for lease starting April/May 2006 in a new building adjacent to the existing HTC facility.

If you’re a start-up business, the intangibles about leasing at the HTC will be invaluable to any start-up company. Among other benefits, consider these:

• Exposure to venture capitalists and other investors,
• Access to those who administer the process for the Gulf Coast Regional Center of Innovation and Commercialization and the Texas Emerging Technology Fund,
• Exposure to other start-up companies and their networks, and
• Various HTC Tech Champion meetings.

There will be 70 offices with Internet connections, telephone and fax hookups for 126 people, and parking for 27 cars. Of the 70 offices, there will be 30 one-person, 25 two-person, 14 three-person and one four-person spaces for lease.

Already, the Mid-Town Development District has signed on as a tenant in the new building!

If entrepreneurs are interested, they should contact Sheila Whanger at the HTC for information on leasing.

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