May 2011
In this issue
►Letter from the President
►Ricky's Corner
►Switch to Cloud Based Software
►Improve Your Facebook Security
►PowerPoint Slidefest
►Reduce Employee Turnover
►Business Continuity Tip
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Reduce Employee Turnover through Appropriate Rewards Programs
By Craig Kitch
www.craigkitch.com
 I just finished reading “The Carrot Principle: How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent, and Accelerate Performance” by Gostick and Elton. I have long been a fan of employee recognition but always struggled with how so many companies allow it to become blasé. Sometimes it even turns into an entitlement program when team members complain that they have not had “their turn” as employee of the month.
So many managers begin a rewards and recognition program with the best of intentions only to have it become a waste of time and a drain on the bottom line.
Read more
Business Continuity Tip
Tornado Preparedness
Checklist for Your Business
Over the past week, 15 states were hit by severe tornadoes. All told, hundreds of tornadoes were reported and many people lost their lives.
The economic impact on the business community has yet to be determined, but one thing is certain, those businesses with a continuity and disaster recovery plan in place are the key to recovery for some of the hardest hit areas.
The following checklist will help mitigate the risk to your business, and help protect your most important asset – your people.
Download this Tornado Preparedness Checklist from Agility Recovery.
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Laugh a Little
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Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks
of our children.
- Charles R. Swindoll
The Strong Family
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Letter from the President
Tim Rettig
Our First Retiree
This month, Tom Arnold retired from our company. To be exact, he retired on Friday April 13th. This was the first retirement in the 19-year history of the company. It wasn’t something I was prepared for, but for Tom it was old hat. Prior to retiring from INTRUST, Tom had already retired from the telephone company after working there for 30 years. After that first retirement, he quickly found himself drawn back into the 9 to 5 grind. His hobby of building and repairing PCs prepared him well for a position in the IT industry. After a few jobs through a temporary agency in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio, he landed at CONTECH Construction Products, helping out with everything from telephone moves to PC assembly and repair.
I first met Tom in 2001 while he was working at CONTECH, building and repairing PCs. At the time, my company was contracted by CONTECH for some different IT projects. While working on some of those projects, I had the pleasure of working alongside of Tom. I was always impressed by his calm demeanor and broad knowledge of every piece of hardware Dell ever produced. He could look at any laptop or PC and know the technical specifications, and if it wasn’t working, he usually knew what the problem was before he even started troubleshooting.
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Ricky's Corner
Ricky Phipps
Managers of INTRUST GROUP:
Victor Kelly – Human Systems Manager
Victor Kelly has the admittedly odd title of Human Systems Manager. You may think the title’s origin to be in computer geek-speak, since other roles in the IT industry have the word “Systems” in them, like Systems Engineer. That is an astute assumption. It’s also wrong.
It does come from nerdsville, but it’s my special brand of nerdy. The concept is from Gallup, Inc.’s approach to managing employee and customer engagement and interaction in service industry. Basically, Gallup suggests that the service industry is special because the most meaningful transactions revolve around human employees interacting with human customers, unpredictable emotional messiness and all. Gallup calls this operating environment the “human system” (Google “HumanSigma” for Gallup’s description). As Human Systems Manager, you can think of Victor’s job as a crazy marriage between HR and Customer Relations management.
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7 Reasons Small Businesses Switch to
Cloud Based Software
used with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center
Small business owners often have big dreams. Whether that dream is to keep your business small or to grow it into a big business, you want your business to run as smoothly as possible - every step of the way. You might start your business as a sole proprietor with just a laptop and a few software programs. As your business grows and adds employees, you have to start thinking about security, backup, remote access, and coordination of effort.
One of the reasons small businesses switch to cloud-based software is to reap the benefits of big business infrastructure, without having to implement and manage it directly. Until recently, your software and servers almost always resided in your office, where they would be administered by your IT staff. This type of deployment is referred to as "on premise." In the last several years, "cloud based" software has become more popular.
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10 Ways to Improve Your Facebook Security
used with permission from Cisco
Small businesses are a growing fan base for Facebook.
Seventy percent of U.S. local small businesses interested in online marketing now use Facebook for marketing, up from 50 percent one year ago, according to a February report by MerchantCircle. Many businesses consider Facebook their best friend for low-cost brand marketing.
Read more
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Watch the historical videos and avoid PowerPoint presentation pitfalls. Roll out the red carpet. The first-ever PowerPoint awards festival is here. Visit the site, watch the videos and learn how to avoid common presentation blunders. Then, take a look at the tips and tricks section for help making your next presentation more impressive—and effective.
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