From Greg's Head

I want to take this opportunity to recognize my friend, Paul Frison. He recently stepped down as CEO and President of the Houston Technology Center to spend more time with his family. 

Paul has been with the HTC since its inception in 1999 and has been instrumental in the evolvement of the HTC. The creation of the FastTech 50, the move to the new space in Midtown, and guiding us through the beginning years of the HTC have all come under Paul’s watch. 

Though spending more time with his family tops his list of post-HTC CEO to-dos, he’s not leaving the HTC entirely. He’ll continue as the Executive Vice Chairman, which includes attracting tech companies to become tenants in the new facility as well as directing and promoting major HTC events.

Congratulations Paul for all you have achieved with the HTC. There is only going to be one start up time for the HTC and the leadership you have shown during this fun and challenging period has assured the everlasting success of the community's investment in the HTC! It could not have been done without you! 

Congratulations Walter Ulrich for your election to CEO and President. I believe the HTC will continue to flourish under your leadership and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next.

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Tomorrow, January 30th, marks a significant event in information technology.  Microsoft will roll out its latest operating system release, Windows Vista, to consumers.

There is so much information surrounding the launch floating around, I wanted to give my readers the basics and where to find more info.  

What: Windows Vista, the next generation of Microsoft's flagship PC operating system.

When: Available starting 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

Editions: Seven in total, but only three aimed at consumers - Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate.

Home Basic: Is roughly equivalent to Windows XP Home Edition, and lacks the much-touted Aero Glass look.

Home Premium: Includes Aero, and is similar in features to Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.

Ultimate: Has all the features of all the Vista editions, including those aimed at businesses.

Here are some helpful links on the Microsoft website.

Bill Gates’ Webcast introducing Windows Vista

Windows Vista Homepage 

It will be interesting to see what reaction the public has for Vista. Will you be upgrading? 

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This tip is brought to you by Rebecca Ryan, of Next Generation Consulting, Inc.and PKF Texas.

Work related learning is an important source of fulfillment for the next generation of employees.

Classroom and other formal types of learning and training are important. However, the work environment, and the job itself, provide the foundation for work related learning.

Some factors that contribute to interesting and fulfilling work related learning include:

• Access to the latest tools and technologies,
• Input on the development of training programs,
• Opportunities for formal learning and development, and
• The potential for interesting and exciting projects

These types of tools allow your employees to find their niche and develop new sets of skills and expertise. Providing this type of learning environment enhances the overall capabilities of both the employees and the company. 

To read and comment on the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook, visit my blog, fromgregshead.com. PKF Texas--Where People are the key to our future.

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You may recall that back in May I was excited to hear that City Hall had listened to me and that Mayor Bill White had announced plans for a city-wide Wi-Fi network in Houston.

Well, time passed and nothing more was announced until Monday. At the State of the City address at Hilton-Americas Downtown, he said that the city is currently taking bids and city-wide Wi-Fi should be a reality for parts of Houston by the end of 2007.

Like I said before, if small town Illinois can have Wi-Fi why can’t Houston? With such a strong technology sector here in Houston, it’s about time we caught up with this type of thing. 

As for the rest of the address, he touched on several other subjects including energy consumption, public safety and transportation. 

Overall, it looks like Houston is going in a good direction. And thanks to those in the Mayor’s office for listening to me about Houston Wi-Fi!

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PKF Texas’ Entrepreneur’s Playbook is moving! The BusinessMakers Radio Show has found a new home on KPRC 950 AM. The show will air Saturday mornings from 8:00 – 9:00 am. 

The show will still be streamed from www.thebusinessmakers.com and the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook will still be posted on my blog every Friday before the show. 

The first show on the new station was this past Saturday (1/20). I went into record a new PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook with Russ and John last week and was thoroughly impressed with the new studio. Everyone is excited about the move to KPRC.

So tune in Saturday mornings to hear me, “One Take Jake” give the latest best practice tip and to hear Russ and John interview the most fascinating entrepreneurs from around the country. 

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

With almost everything in life, complexity is usually not a good thing and simplicity is better. In software, complexity sometimes means both higher costs and less ability to keep the system up to meeting the ever-changing needs of the business. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) can be a measure of complexity in your IT area.

No business stays the same. You face challenges including, customers demanding new ways of doing business. Challenges include governments setting new regulations. Challenges include companies changing to gain competitive advantage. As is often said, the only constant in business is change. When systems are complex, it means that the company is less able to respond to these challenges. “Systems are often an obstacle to change”, says Olin Thompson of Lawson Software.

A direct benefit of a lower TCO is the pure economic benefit of spending less. Actually, that dollar could be used more effectively elsewhere in the business, for a purpose that offers a higher rate of return.

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It’s been roughly a year since I first entered the blogosphere. I want thank all of my readers and everyone who has commented on the blog. It wouldn’t work without you!

Some of the things to come out of the blog, have taken on a life of their own, namely the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook. Our stats show that more of you log on to read the blog Fridays when we post the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook than any other day of the week. Hopefully you are finding these tips useful in your business. If there are specific topics you would like me to address, just let me know. I’ll work them in. 

Like I said in Monday’s post, Houston is a great place to live and work. The Houston business community is important both to Texas and nationwide. I am proud to be a member of such a dynamic community. With events like the FastTech 50 and the Aggie 100, we are showing that we are unique and have positioned ourselves as a force in the marketplace.

We’ve got some interesting things planned for the blog this year that I’m really looking forward to. Keep those thoughts and comments coming and thanks for jumping inside my head every week!

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Houston is a great place to live and work.  And it’s always good to be reminded of all the great things our city has to offer.

I was at the annual meeting of the Greater Houston Partnership last week where outgoing GHP President Chip Carlisle spoke.  In his speech, he mentioned a number of areas where Houston ranks in the top 3 nationally.  Here’s a sampling from the impressive list:

Houston ranks # 1

Fastest Growing Companies
by: Fortune

Houston ranks # 2

Fortune 500 Headquarters (behind New York City)

by: Fortune

Houston ranks # 3

Number of Foreign Consulates (83)

by: Houston International Protocol Alliance - February 2006

Houston ranks # 3

Best Metros for Business
by: Forbes

Houston ranks # 3

2005 Top 10 Metros for New and Expanded Facilities

by: Site Selection

Houston was top 10 in several other categories.  To read the full list, click here http://www.houston.org/rankings/index.asp

It makes me proud to see Houston recognized by so many outstanding publications.  This truly is one of the best places in the world to live and work and it’s nice to be recognized for it. 

Posted In In Our Community Comments Permalink

Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Unless you have been living under a rock these past few years, you probably have heard someone talk about Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) and its impact on internal control reporting at their business. Long before the creation of SOX legislation, the concept of developing and adhering to, strong internal controls was well known. But, many organizations didn’t give it as high as a priority as they should have.

History has shown, that focusing on internal controls is not just for public companies that are required to comply with federal and state regulations. In fact, there are benefits for privately held and not for profit organizations as well. Internal controls include, but are not limited to:

• Segregation of duties;
• Approval limits;
• Authorizations; and
• Programmed Controls

But from our perspective the most important control is the tone at the top towards compliance as set by the CEO. Without proper support from the CEO, internal controls will take a back seat to operational needs. Make sure your executive management team supports the development and implementation of effective internal controls. If you don’t, you be wasting more than time and money. You will wasting a chance to impress your customers, investors and employees with solid business practices that improve your profitability. 

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Yesterday at the annual Macworld expo Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, a slick looking phone that incorporates an iPod and web capabilities. 

I’ll be curious to see how the iPhone stacks up against my Cingular 8525. Coincidentally, Apple has reached a deal with Cingular to be the exclusive provider of the phones through 2009.

In the coming weeks it will be interesting to read the reviews and see if it lives up to the hype. 

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The Best Places to Work nomination form has been posted to the Houston Business Journal website. Click here to read the qualifications and to view the nomination form.

This year’s event will be held June 8^th and the deadline for nominations is March 30^th.

This is the seventh year of the program and it has been my priviledge to watch it grow over the years. I was sorry I had to miss the 2006 event. 

The fact that so many Houston companies have dedicated their time and resources to making sure they have the best and happiest employees who love what they do is phenomenal. Not to mention, the fact that Houston as a city recognizes this achievement is important. Houston is a great place to live and work and with programs like the Best Places to Work it can only get better, so get those nominations in so you can celebrate your Best Place to Work!

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This is a supply chain logistics tip from Bruce Hoard of Microsoft and PKF Texas.

Growing and midsize companies are among the many organizations that are increasingly using the outsourcing capabilities of third-party logistics (3PL) firms. In the distribution area in particular, executives are choosing to hand over such key business process applications as order processing and transportation management to outside experts rather than build out expensive infrastructures that are not compatible with their core competencies.

It’s a smart idea, but takes a lot of work—and trust—to implement. Trust is always a major issue when it comes to outsourcing sensitive company data, as the failure of so many storage services providers a few years back made painfully clear. Even when trust does exist between 3PLs and their customers, it still makes sense for customer firms to insist on being able to monitor every step along the product manufacturing and distribution path.

Most organizations want visibility into the operations of that 3PL. They will want to know how much inventory they have, and, if they’re doing order fulfillment. In addition, how many orders are they fulfilling, and their timeliness. If you know what’s going on, you can provide your customers with better service.

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Happy New Year to all my readers! I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season.

While catching up on some reading over the holidays, Business 2.0’s “15 Surprises Ahead in 2007” piqued my interest. Chris Taylor’s list includes such innovations as India and China’s race to the moon, Big City WiFi (something I’ve discussed in previous posts) and wireless USB “cables”.

The concept of wireless USB is particularly appealing on a practical level. Can you imagine your computer and desk free of cords?

No longer will you have to deal with the rat’s nest of cords connecting your computer to your printer, mouse, keyboard, monitor, etc. The mind reels just thinking about all the extra desk space. And think of all the time saved not having to think about which cord connects where. 

This is definitely something I’m looking forward to this year.

As business people and entrepreneurs, we celebrate and encourage innovation. What have you heard or read about that you’re looking forward to this year? If you could develop something to make your life easier and less cluttered what would it be?

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