RHetoric

Last night I watched the State of the Union address and thought about how our firm has been impacted by the events of the past year.  Without going on any political tangents, I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised at how we fared this past year, and am optimistic that this year is shaping up to be a great one.

Our business has definitely benefited from the spending in Washington, mostly because our clients either sell to the government, or their markets are heavily influenced by government spending.  This is exemplified by two clients, Onvia and GCI. Both these businesses have positioned themselves to benefit from the stimulus bill (ARRA).  For Onvia, itlaunched recovery.org, a web site tracking the distribution of stimulus dollars.  For GCI, it applied for and won a grant/loan to build terrestrial broadband in rural Alaska.

So on this day I can report that the State of Our Business is strong and we are very optimistic for things to come.  We have new projects in the pipeline and are looking to bring on two new employees.

I am still have my fingers crossed that the recovery continues in its current path, while keeping an eye toward growth and success in 2010.

For the past two years I have been using a Polycom video conferencing unit in my office.  I use the video system for meetings between our DC and Seattle offices and for client meetings with GCI (in Seattle and Anchorage). My experience is that video meetings can occur one of two ways.

The first, and least effective, is a multi-point conference call where everyone is dialed-in on video, but no one is looking at the cameras.  This is the video as a substitute for phone scenario.  Without the focus on the picture, people slip into their typical "multi-tasking" habits involving email and Internet surfing over direct attention on the meeting.

The second, wonderful approach is any call, be it multi-point or one-on-one, where everyone is engaged with the video and looking at each other.  In this situation, meetings are amazing.  The ability to interact with colleagues and clients, see their expressions and gestures, and show then whiteboard thoughts is really revolutionary.  Nothing truly replaces a face-to-face meeting, but video sure comes close.

Having just arrived, I can already sense a difference this HIMSS. I evaluated the conference guide and peered onto the exhibition floor. To me, it seems that HIMSS 2009 is really HIMSS 2.0.

The industry has defined its building blocks - EMR, CPOE, PACS, etc. Now it seems the focus is split between using dollars to increase adoption and how to take all the digital data and make good use of it.

More to come.