Hired! Creative Possibilities in Software Sales

Hired Creative Possibilities in Software SalesHired Creative Possibilities in Software SalesOne director of business development lands a new job at an enterprise software company in Philadelphia.You want to go to a restaurant, so you make your reservation by cell phone. Youve got a table waiting for you - as well as the meal youve already ordered online.Wade Lee, sales director at Arris Systems Inc., sees a future filled with such consumer conveniences. Lee doesnt work in the restaurant industry. His specialty is strategically selling and marketing computer software. Thats why hes constantly pondering innovative and visionary ways in which technology can be applied to our daily activities. There are all kinds of manual processes in every walk of life that could be streamlined. Everywhere I look I see those, he said. That is an example of why I do what I do.And at Arris Systems, said Lee, what we do is come up with business and technology solutions for clients that are looking for di fferent sorts of things. Arris Systems Inc., based in Wayne, Pa., creates custom enterprise software to handle business-process analysis, supply and demand chains, and customer relationship management. I am a business-development guy in the services sector, Lee said, and there is nothing mora important in the services sector than delivery. The thing that attracted me most to this company as its service integrity walking the talk and getting stuff done on time and within budget.Following through on meeting needsAfter more than four-and-a-half years as the director of business development for a small but fast-growing, privately held software company in Philadelphia, Lee welches looking to move to a company where he would be able to place service integrity at the very top of his and the firms list of priorities. In the small-company environment of his former employer - which he describes as very visionary and one of the coolest companies I have ever worked for - Lee wore multiple hat s and did everything that was not developing software or administering the financial part of the company.While that position afforded him plenty of latitude, Lee said he felt the company was concentrating more on internal processes than external results and, consequently, client satisfaction. I have to be able to look that client in the eye and tell him that we are doing everything within our means to make sure that his needs are being met, he said. Lee felt that the company initially pursued interesting internal improvements that translated into very good client results. But over time that was happening less and less. And that is when I started to look.For Lee, signing up for SalesLadder was a no-brainer. I thought the impact was huge relative to the amount of money that I was spending, especially when a recruiter reached out to him for the position with Arris.Lee, 54, said he was impressed by Arris pragmatic approach while the company is well-grounded in standard software-developm ent procedures, it is also receptive to nontraditional methods. Building software, he said, is not like building a car where you can break down the process into separate pieces and roll them out on an assembly line. That works if you know exactly what the end product is supposed to look like, Lee said. Software is more of an art than an exact science.Lee said Arris has evolved a hybrid model that lets the company spend a lot more time than traditional agile software-development shops architecting what the solution should look like. Now, that doesnt mean that weve crossed every t and dotted every i and made sure that everything is specced out up front. But we have a good understanding of what the architecture of the solution looks like as opposed to a kind of ball of string that you have to spread things through - which gets very, very difficult. We architect it a little more toward heavyweight than the traditional agile guys.Opportunity in crisisIn the face of a rocky economic land scape, Lee said, the winners will be the business visionaries who see an opportunity to strengthen themselves and establish a strategic market position. Nevertheless, everything out there right now either directly or indirectly is impacted by the economic downturn.Consequently, Arris is predominantly serving companies mission-critical projects. The good news is we are doing enough that we are able to successfully weather the storm.Looking beyond the current crunch, Lee (who describes himself as a holistic kind of a guy) also encourages anyone in software to look for opportunities where technology can solve problems. Sometimes problems arent big enough to warrant the investment - yet. But then the dynamics of the world change, and all of a sudden technology solutions start to pop up. The solution for the next technological hurdle - or simply a new way to streamline your wait for a table at a restaurant - may be just around the corner.

Clean Clothes Green

Clean Clothes Green Clean Clothes Green Clean Clothes GreenAdvances in technology usually involve replacing manual drudgery with mechanization. The Gentlewasher bucks that trend. The new washing machine has been engineered to launder clothes in a few minutes while using less water than conventional machines and no electricity. But it requires a human to turn a crank.We wanted to make a washing device for the five billion people who currently dont have a washing machine, says Coen Vermeer, founder of Gentlewasher. Helping people across the world save time on washing each day was ur motivation.Basic washing machine design hasnt changed in decades. To keep the Gentlewashers design simple, it drew elements from both hand and machine wash. Users put clothes inside a circular honeycomb drum, load water, and drop in detergent. The user then turns a hand crank for two minutes to wash and two more minutes to rinse.The interior surface area of the honeycomb drum produces multidirectional flows , leading to effective mixing of the detergent, water, and clothes, Vermeer says.The machine is smallit can hold around six pounds of clothesand uses about 4.7 gallons of water per load, compared to 13 gallons of water required by a standard Energy Star-rated washing machine.Helping people across the world save time on washing each day was our motivation.Coen Vermeer, founder of Gentlewasher Kathak Mehta and Coen Vermeer have created a product that would protect delicate clothing and the environment. Image GentlewasherOne challenge in designing the product was balancing simplicity against adding features. Every addition affected other parts of the design. How other parts get impacted, youll most often only realize when you build another prototype, Vermeer says. And then youre cursing yourself for not being able to foresee a new problem arising because of the choices you made.More for You Read the latest design and manufacturing stories from ASME.org.Creating the drum and sizing the machine was the biggest challenge for Vermeer and co-founder Kathak Mehta. Changing the size of the drum also impacts the effort, including the distance from handle to middle-point and thus handle size, cleanliness and drop distance of clothes, and size of the body and total weight, he says.A washing machine by itself does not clean, it merely facilitates, Vermeer says. Since Gentlewasher is manual, it had to give great results in a mere four to five minutes.The team also faced choices aboutdifferent production methods ranging from low upfront investment and high product cost to high upfront investment and low product cost, Vermeer says. The choices included making prototypes from scrap via fabricated metal parts, creating fiberglass reinforced plastic for the body, vacuumforming, computerized numerical control machined prototyping, and creating two prototypes into injection molding. The company settled for a high upfront investment, and today has nine molds, with the biggest one weighing 6,000 kg.At 23 pounds, the Gentlewasher is small enough to put on a countertop and can wash all types of clothes. Thats especially convenient for small apartments or remote locations where electricity isnt readily available.But at $269, the Gentlewasher is priced more for a New York City apartment dweller than for the rural villager. However, once the product is well established, Vermeer says, less expensive versions will be offered.

Job Hopping Frustrates Employees as Much as Employers

Job Hopping Frustrates Employees as Much as Employers Job Hopping Frustrates Employees as Much as Employers If youre reading thispublication, youve probably heard that job hopping is the new promotion. Rather than wait years for a raise or a chance to climb up abedrngnisher rung on the corporate ladder, todays employees - millennials in particular - seek opportunities elsewhere to advance their careers.What you may not realize, however, is that these employees dont like to job hop any more than companies like to see them go hopping.Workers want to build a career without having to frequently change companies, says Gary Beckstrand, vice president of the O.C. Tanner Institute and coauthor of Appreciate Celebrating People, Influencing Greatness.While moving to a better opportunity affords value to the employee, frequent job hopping can create stress and dissatisfactionbecause employees have to to get up to speed on numerous learning curves, adapt to new workplace cultures, and establ ish new relationships. Show Them You CareWhat employees want is, essentially, what employers want To hunker down somewhere for a longer period of time to help the organization innovate and thrive. But employees will only wait so long to be recognized for their contributions. If rewards and new opportunities are slow to arrive - or seem not to be arriving at all - then the job hopping starts.If you dont want to see your employees bail for better pay and opportunities elsewhere, make sure you engage them. They need to know there is something in store for them if they stay with you. If an employee sees a clear path to success, they will be far more likely to hang with a company they know than take a risk with one they dont.Its all about creating a workplace culture where employees feel a connection to the companys purpose, feel they have opportunities to grow and develop, are a part of a successful team doing meaningful work, feel appreciated for their contributions, know that the co mpany cares about their overall well-being, and receive coaching and support from leaders, Beckstrand says. Slow Your HopAs for those workers who have one foot out the door Not so fast. If you want opportunity, ask for it. If you want cultural changes, take part in creating them.Successful employees take accountability to contribute to their workplace cultures, says Beckstrand. They put forth effort to do their best work, they acknowledge and recognize the work of others, they proactively find ways to contribute beyond their job description, and they find ways to align their work to company purpose. They also always try to be part of the solutions to the challenges that inevitably manifest in any organization.Recruiters and hiring managers often distrust candidates whose resumes are full of many periods of short-term employment. The suspicion is understandable, but its really up to recruiters and employers to weed out the compulsive hoppers from those whose professional ambition dro ve their movements. There are, after all, many good reasons to leave a job.Often, there are reasonable situations that contribute to job changes that dont reflect poorly on the individual, Beckstrand says. Its helpful to ask the questions that will best give an indication of fit within the organization. If a company hires to fit, it can reduce the chance of unexpected turnover.In other words If youre not sure about why a candidates has moved around so much, just ask them. The ensuing conversation will be more illuminating than any baseless conjecture could ever be.- Employment isnt so different from a relationship. Its a two-way street. Employers owe it to their workers to provide opportunity, recognition, and engagement. On the flip side, employees must invest in the company to create the change and the opportunity they want to see. Unless both sides are engaged, everyone loses.