Previous to launching Cellit, [...]]]> David Wachs is CEO of Cellit. Cellit is a mobile marketing company that handles text message campaigns, mobile Web development, and apps. The Cellit Studio campaign management platform empowers clients to create interactive mobile CRM programs including coupons, contests, games, surveys and alerts.. David grew Cellit revenue from $559,0,00 to $4,000,000 in less than three years.

Previous to launching Cellit, David worked as a financial analyst for Credit Suisse First Boston covering small-cap tech equities. David is a frequent speaker on mobile technology and has presented for the Direct Marketing Association, Advertising Research Foundation, and the National Restaurant Association. He holds a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School and a B.S.E. in Computer Science Engineering from the School of Engineering. Under David’s leadership Telovations has experienced three year growth of 610%.

To listen to our interview with David please click here:  Success Secrets of America’s Fastest Growing Companies – David Wachs Cellit – To download the interview for future listening please right mouse click on the link, then select “save as” and download to your computer

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Ben is renowned for his forward thinking and collaborative [...]]]> Ben Trowbridge is CEO of Alsbridge. Alsbridge offers project management, business process outsourcing, benchmarking, and IT staffing to achieve cost savings for companies with more than $2 billion in revenue. Ben grew Alsbridge revenue from $1,900,000 to $33,100,000 in less than four years.

Ben is renowned for his forward thinking and collaborative approaches to deal structuring and sourcing techniques that have redefined the development, negotiation and implementation process. Prior to Alsbridge, Ben served as the CEO of United Messaging,

Prior to United Messaging Ben served as Managing Partner for Ernst & Young’s Outsourcing Services Business and COO for their Global Outsourcing Business. He was instrumental in leading the Global Outsourcing Business from what was a start-up business to maturity. While directing the activities of the overall group,

Ben personally led and directed two of the firm’s largest outsourcing relationships, with a total contract value of over $4 billion. Ernst & Young’s outsourcing business, along with the majority of the global consulting business, was purchased by Cap Gemini (Bourse-de-Paris: CAP) in 2000 in a multi-billion Euro transaction.

To listen to our interview with Ben please click here:  Ben Trowbridge Alsbridge – To download the interview for future listening please right mouse click on the link, then select “save as” and download to your computer. 

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Dhiraj is responsible for the vision, strategic direction and leadership in Mu Sigma. His [...]]]> Dhiraj Rajaram, founder and CEO of Mu-Sigma is building the world’s largest applied math factory and helps clients institutionalize data-driven decision making. He grew Mu-Sigma from $1,400,000 to a projected $71,000,000 in 2011 in spite of the recession. 

Dhiraj is responsible for the vision, strategic direction and leadership in Mu Sigma. His key strengths lie in the area of managing teams, aligning organizational resources to a customer centric vision and delivering profitable growth.  He has built Mu Sigma from ground up during which time he executed on activities that included raising seed and growth capital for the venture, securing key fortune 100 customers, incubating an offshore delivery unit and hiring key leadership members into the company.

Dhiraj is extremely passionate about data driven decision making and has made it his mission to help companies deploy the use of sophisticated analytics and develop an objective quantitative language to communicate marketing, risk and supply chain issues within and across businesses. 

Before Mu Sigma, he advised senior executives across a variety of verticals as a strategy and operations consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton and PricewaterhouseCoopers.               

While at Booz Allen Hamilton, Dhiraj worked with clients across various verticals (Consumer Products, Auto, Hi-Tech, Telecom, and Financial Services) and authored white papers on globalization and innovation. Prior to joining Booz Allen Hamilton, he worked as a management consultant, providing a mix of strategy, systems integration and project management consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers. 

Dhiraj holds an MBA from the University of Chicago where he majored in Finance, Strategy and Entrepreneurship. He also received an M.S. in Computer Engineering from Wayne State University. Dhiraj attended the College of Engineering – Guindy, Anna University to receive a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. 

To listen to our interview with Dhiraj please click here: musigma_interview -  To download the interview for future listening please right mouse click on the link, then select “save as” and download to your computer.

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The study, “A [...]]]> In an attempt to clear up confusion over record-keeping requirements for government use of social media, the National Archives and Records Administration has released a new report detailing the intersection of records and social media and recommending new policies to address federal record keeping in the Web 2.0 era.

The study, “A Report on Federal Web 2.0 Use and Record Value,” comes as more and more agencies embrace social media for official communications, and drew on interviews and focus groups with representatives from 25 federal agencies to determine how social media is being used in government today.
 
Just like all other media created by government, social media is partially governed by the Federal Records Act and E-Government Act, which, respectively, place requirements on record keeping and on the use of IT to conduct government business. While NARA has previously addressed how these laws regulate web records, it hasn’t formally addressed the phenomena of Web 2.0 and social media.

Part of the study surveyed current federal agency records management policies on the use of Web 2.0 tools. For example, it noted recent detailed Department of Defense guidance indicating that users need to be aware of the record value of social media, “including content that may originate outside the agency.” The Environmental Protection Agency, meanwhile, requires records created or received via social media to be printed out on paper.

The study concludes that agencies should evaluate the labeling of social media as federal records in the context of the value to the public of the content being created, and for factors that might affect that value, such as extensive duplication (perhaps by Tweeting and re-Tweeting the same announcement repeatedly) and the overall perception of the authoritativeness and longevity of social media content. This can help determine what’s a record and what isn’t.

However, social media can also complicate this equation. For example, the study finds pervasive duplication of social media has made it difficult for agencies to determine which version is the “official” version and how that version and the others need to be maintained.

While something like the duplication of social media may decrease the amount of material that needs to be maintained as federal records, the study notes that other aspects of social media may enhance the material’s value and therefore increase its importance as a record. For example, metadata and enhanced functionality beyond that of typical text can add to the contextual value of the material, and make it more likely to be a viable record. This analysis might apply, for example, to the change history of a wiki.

NARA also makes several more specific recommendations for agency and government policy about social media as records. For example, it admits that NARA may need to clarify how the definition of federal records applies to Web 2.0 content, including guidance on what Web 2.0 information “may be categorized as a record.”

In addition, NARA says, it may need to clarify that agencies and the public will need to realize that, although the public may expect social media records like Tweets and YouTube videos to be available indefinitely, most of the content created doesn’t have permanent value and may either be destroyed after a certain period of time or never made accessible through agency websites. However, for those fewer records that indeed do have permanent value, NARA may need to “re-evaluate its transfer mechanisms and guidance” to ensure preservation.

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I [...]]]> Staggering deficits as far as the eye can see. Exploding national debt. Grossly underfunded public pensions. Aging populace. Social Security on track for insolvency. Investors running for precious metals. Higher education bubble. Stagnant economy. High unemployment. Insolvent States and local governments. Massive new government healthcare program. Words like “unsustainable” in CBO reports. 

I have racked my brain and debated with anyone who was willing. I can’t come up with a way out of this that doesn’t involve printing vast amounts of cash, double-digit inflation and interest rates, and the end of the dollar as a global currency because we “soft default” trillions of the national debt. What productive capacity we have left would be gutted by the tax increases needed to honestly pay what we are going to owe. And the people we owe (China, seniors, public pensioners, etc) aren’t going to just write off the debt like a bank short-selling a beach house. 

So my challenge to you is this: “How do we get out of this WITHOUT printing money?” 

Any ideas?

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