How many different types of events do you plan for?  Are they for business or family? Between the time I started this article and the time I got back to writing it, we experienced a 5.8 earthquake on the east coast, hurricane and tropical storm rain and wind, flooding, tornado like wind and flash floods.  It was interesting to see how many people reacted with almost panic and waited until the last moment to get food and prepare.

For businesses; what would happen if you our your employees were unable to get to work?  Flooding, fire, trees down, snow and ice are some of the naturally occurring weather related events which could cause this to happen.  How about power outages?  This happens at our office several times a year.  Business must go on!

File deletion and damage to data is potential crisis for almost every every business, whether unintentional or not.  Not long ago we received a call from a client stating a senior staff member had accidentally overwritten critical files.  Fortunately we had a plan in place and were able to resolve the issue within a very short time span.

At home we could lose power or become home-bound.  Fire could break out in the middle of the night while at home or a hotel.  A gas leak could force you out of your home for an undetermined amount of time.  The possibilities are numerous and it is foolish to take the attitude “that can’t happen here or to me.”

While you may or may not have developed a specific plan to handle disasters such as an earthquake, it is possible to put one together quickly in the event of an emergency.  When the planes hit the buildings on 9/11, Mayor Giuliani didn’t have a specific plan for such a disaster, but he did have many other plans from which he and Police Commissioner Kerik pieced together to handle the terrorist attack.

Now is a good time for all of us to sit down with our families and co-workers to review possible events and what we can do to mitigate the issue. Make sure everyone knows the plans and review them on a periodic basis.  Most importantly test them before you need them.  As you find holes, make the proper adjustments.

Our personal safety, the safety of our family, and the continuity of our businesses is our responsibility, not the governments!

This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT company, based in Clifton Park and serving the Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties of New York.



Recently I had intended to meet a business partner for lunch at a local restaurant which opened within the past year.  As they were closed for lunch I sent them an email inquiring if they still continued to serve during the lunch time.  That was over a week ago and as yet the restaurant has not responded.  As I was initially going to meet a friend there for lunch later this week, we will now dine at another restaurant.

Yesterday I brought my car in for service at the dealership where I purchased it.  The entire staff couldn’t have been more accommodating.  The service writer was superb, the salesman came over to talk with me, and the managers while on the phone, waved.  During my conversation with the salesman, we talked about business.  He said business was good last year and they had a great fourth quarter and they are waiting for the weather to break as they expect another good year.  This dealership is always communicating with their customers via Facebook and when I opened my email this morning, there was a nice note from the dealership regarding my service yesterday.

For years I would take my vehicles to a car wash which is down the road a bit.  As the owner knew there was a car wash right down the street from our Clifton Park office, he was always appreciative and each year would send me a couple of free car washes as a token of his thanks.  The business owner took on a partner in 2010 and the holiday season went by without any communication or thank you from the business.  Now I find myself using that car wash less.

While the economy may not be good, it makes it that much more important for businesses do everything in their power to properly take care of their customers.

This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT company serving the Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties of New York.

Within a week of making the decision and attempting to work with the company, it became apparent that this would not be a good fit as it took quite a while to get questions answered.  And we were just at the beginning of the implementation phase.  So I contacted the company to let them know we would not be proceeding.

I had put their system out of my mind until yesterday.  That is when we received a call from the company regarding us terminating the relationship.  This morning I returned the call and spoke with one of their representatives.  She asked why we decided not to continue with the software.  I said this is a perfect example of why we stopped; we canceled in May and it is now almost August and we are just receiving a call asking us why.

I then stated if we were in a situation where a client no longer wished to do business with us we would be on the phone with them in the afternoon, or tomorrow at the latest.

Exceptional customer service needs to be a core believe from the top down and permeate throughout the organization.  Everyone who comes into contact with clients or customers needs to be empowered to do whatever is necessary to make sure that clients and customers are completely satisfied.

This latest interaction with such a large company provides our computer networking and repair; and website development companies, with a good example of what not to emulate.  We can always learn.

Two of the gentlemen were from regional business associations, and I found their take very interesting.  The first person said they represented a certain geographic area, how big they were and what services they provided to their members.  The second gentleman also spoke about their size and coverage, but then made a change.  He talked about a situation where one of his members had some goods held up a a port of entry (which is nowhere near our area).  He then went on to say that within a day, the goods were release.  My take-a-way from this is one person told what they can do, while the other told what they did.  Bottom line, actions speak louder than words.

I am pretty annoyed that the new health care legislation includes the requirement that all business transactions exceeding $600.0o in a year require the business receive a 1099.  This is a burdensome and very costly undertaking for small businesses.  When I brought this to the attention of our representative, he said he was aware it was in the bill, didn’t know how it got there and was working on getting it repealed, but was not sure if he would be successful.  My comment was it is easier to get poor legislation removed before signing than after.  I guess not so common sense.

Many changes have taken place from when the business was locally owned to now being part of a large national firm.  General managers have come and gone, some business functions have been moved to corporate headquarters.  Business focus has been massaged and tweaked.

What hasn’t changed is the loyalty and dedication of the staff.  It was wonderful to see that despite the turbulent times we live in, the attitude of many of the people I have known for so many years remains positive and upbeat.

It was a nice start to the day.