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Clouds: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
In 1994, Robin Smith and Scott Beaver started Virtual Logistics Inc. in Montreal to continue a business that a division of CN was walking away from. They assisted companies in integrating the data from their EDI-based financial transactions into a variety of accounting software systems. In fact, Virtual Logistics was one of the first to enter the EDI integration game. But soon a series of "clouds" came upon their business and they needed to learn to respond quickly if they were going to continue.
Read the article to see if Robin and Scott's company survived.
Recap of Meetup 24, October 11, 2011
As emcee for the evening, Rick Stomphorst announced the Golden Horseshoe Adventure Forum, a 700-member group whose interests lie in helping entrepreneurs and small businesses alike with angel financing and other types of investor interests. Tentatively, a presentation is scheduled by the founder of this group so expect to learn a little more about what they do and how we, as members of Silicon Halton, can benefit from a strategic alliance.
Silicon Halton has been approached to be featured in an upcoming 2012 article in Advantage Magazine. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this semi-monthly publication, it provides insight into the latest strategies, best practices, and developments at regional and national levels.
Our very own Robert Duvall, not to be confused with the actor, conducted the keynote presentation "Tackling Technology in your Business Plan". Robert, with the assistance of his partner in crime and wife, Carol, run a company called Robert Duvall Consulting. RDC has been in the business of implementing server-based solutions for over 20 years. The thrust of Rob's presentation fell into the "what not to do" category for implementing server-based solutions. Yet on the "this is what you need to do" side of the equation, Duvall was quick to point out the short, medium and long term goals every company should have when it comes time to start planning your IT infrastructure.
RDC has a plan for planning their clients IT plans and it all starts with the client's business plan... ok... you get the idea by now. It's a multistep process to developing a great IT Roadmap:
- Identify business challenges, short, medium and long term
- Map new technologies to the biggest challenges
- Ensure immediate technology will help evolve the business over time
- Determine what phase the business is in.
- Ensure that everything you do from this point on can be traced so if something doesn't go as planned, the root cause can be identified as quickly as possible.
In addition to Rob's presentation, he invited 3 other panelists to the discussion. Coincidentally, they are all RDC clients – Rene, from the Catholic School Board, Rick Clarke, President R&D Corporate Services and Brian Austin Vice Chairman, Padgent. All three concurred that Rob was hitting the nail on the head. From their own experiences, they all had IT horror stories that were all rectified through better IT planning specifically tailored to the business plan.
Get to know your Member
Robin Smith, Owner and Co-founder of Virtual Logistics Inc.
Founded in 1994, Virtual Logistics is a privately held Canadian Corporation with headquarters on the Oakville/Mississauga border and have clients across North America. Virtual Logistics Inc. has established itself as a key player in the small to medium size business B2B, EDI, XML, Web Store Integration, Cloud Integration and Electronic Commerce integration solution marketplace. They provide solutions that integrate the flow of electronic business documents between e-commerce software and a variety of accounting software applications. They provide managed solutions, hosted solutions or if customers have in-house technical expertise, professional staff can provide software and training to complete an integrated installation.
Steve Anderson, VP Canadian Sales at Magor Communications Inc.
Magor is a leader in what has quickly becoming known as "Telecollaboration". Telecollaboration is an emerging category of communications solutions that combines high-definition (HD) video conferencing and visual collaboration capabilities to enable life-like interactions and experiences no matter where people are located. Magor TeleCollaboration enables natural and spontaneous visual collaboration in 1080p resolution video without burdening the network or increasing IT costs. Magor works with technology and channel partners and OEMs to bring the power of telecollaboration to businesses of all sizes, across a range of industries and vertical markets. They provide workers at all levels of an organization access to advanced communications solutions that help reduce costs, improve productivity and strengthen relationships among employees, customers, partners and suppliers.
Solopreneur Peer-to-Peer Meet-up Recap, October 20
Continuing with the successes of the previous breakfast meetings, the Solopreneur P2P group met at their favourite haunt for chewy coffee, grease-laden delights and stimulating conversation. The morning's discussions revolved around naming practices. Although the group agreed that the newest royal couple should name their firstborn George if it's a boy and Diana if it's a girl, the conversations quickly turned to business naming conventions. Grant Buchan-Terrell a solopreneur lawyer took the lead on the discussion, having more experience on the subject matter than all others in the room combined. The dialogue started with basic name searches using the web and taking advantage of services such as Nuance. It then quickly got into meaty information about the delineation between the legal and risk implications of corporate naming practices vs. trademarks vs. domain names vs. business names. If anyone reading this wishes more information on naming conventions and corporate entity options, please contact Grant. He can be reached through his website
The next meeting will be held on November 17th at the same time.
