Inside the Group

Westfall | Group is moving into the clouds

Kansas City, MO |    Local professional services firm, Westfall | Group announces today its decision to move many of its client services and back-end operations onto web-based applications, a growing trend known as cloud computing.

“This move will allow us to focus even more on the actual work we do for clients, while giving us better tools to collaborate with clients and the many professionals we utilize locally and throughout the world,” says Robert Westfall, Creative Director and Chief Strategist.

Westfall | Group provides services across a number of specialties including full-service communications, marketing and design, product/service development, and strategic planning to small and mid-size companies and organizations.

“With such a diverse set of people needed to be such a dynamic company,” notes Westfall, “it is an absolute must that we are able to pull together the best professionals for any given project and get them working together. Especially since we are often asked to implement multiple projects for the same client at the same time.”

As with any emerging trend, the definition of cloud computing has not been agreed upon, but in Westfall | Group’s case it will entail using third-party companies to house files for sharing and editing, real-time chat and messaging between clients and staff, scheduling and billing, data backup, storage and security.

“With many companies offering cloud services we are taking our time to really research and find what will work best,” Westfall said.  “We are currently  implementing a group of products from 37Signals including Basecamp for project management and client collaboration, Highrise for our CRM efforts, and Backpack for internal operations. We’re also experimenting with MailChimp for email marketing, an interesting charting tool called Tom’s Planner, as well as other mobile applications. As time goes on we will evaluate them and make changes as needed, with an eye always on whether a tool makes us better or not and with security of our data a top priority.”

The company hopes to begin rolling out the new tools in the next few weeks with complete implementation by summer.

INSIDE THE GROUP IS THE BRAINSTORMING AND DISCUSSION FORUM OF WESTFALL | GROUP

Small business optimism falls in NFIB index

This morning the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) released its monthly report on the mood of small business owners across the country. The index fell 1.3 points and has been below 90 for over a year, indicating continued concerns about the future and apprehension among small businesses to invest in new people, technology, or other expansions. According to William Dunkelberg, chief economist at NFIB:

Something is preventing owners from "pulling the trigger.” Very few owners felt that growth opportunities were solid enough to warrant expansion. Net job creation will appear in the coming months, but the gains will be painfully slow with timid consumer spending, especially in the service sector

In our own personal experience with clients, we see this pulling back as well. However, our clients have also realized that there is only so much retrenchment they can undergo while still keeping their doors open. As we often say, in good economic times,  some businesses can practically just stick a flag in the ground and have customers flock to them. But when things turn bad, those same businesses without the foresight and ability to execute on a high level disappear. While businesses that keep providing value to customers and keep reaching out and compelling customers to spend some of their precious money on their products and services can actually thrive.

Certainly a business needs to be prudent and save money when possible to survive the downturn, but these are the periods where a heightened emphasis on the connection made with customers through product and service design, communication and marketing, and exemplary customer experiences are an absolute necessity.

INSIDE THE GROUP IS THE BRAINSTORMING AND DISCUSSION FORUM OF WESTFALL | GROUP

Cutting Edge Roundup (11-4-09)

Been a busy couple weeks so sorry for being MIA, but I did make use of some of my absence by piling up a bunch of interesting ideas and innovations from across the web. Usually, I would add my own two cents to these cutting edge concepts, but I figured I’d just let you go and discover and dissect them yourself. Here’s a few:

Grease monkey meets green thumb. Toyota is in the plant business, sort of.

Here’s a energy source, there’s an energy source, everywhere an energy source. A company called Suncore is developing a new charger that uses any kind of light.

Delay on the runway? No problem. Emil Jacobs’ innovative airplane seating designs could make a long flight or a long wait more tolerable, if not enjoyable.

Batter up. Two enterprisi9ng minds offer a way to bring more competition to Major League Baseball

Technorati Tags: Renewable Energy,Airplane Design,Major League Baseball

Inside the Group is the brainstorming and discussion world of evolution firm Westfall | Group

Homeownership, good citizenship, and the causal misnomer.

Earlier today I was working out, something believe it or not I do often, and saw a panel discussion on C-Span which included Jim Brinkman, a Senior VP of the Mortgage Bankers Association and David Crowe, a Senior VP of the National Association of Homebuilders. (Watch the video on C-Span here.)

The topics included the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the proper amount of risk the housing system can and should bear, and what the goal of home ownership should be. All in all an interesting discussion, even when it started to get bogged down into the economic minutiae that is common when a gathering of economists occurs.

They know better than you, or us (part 2)

In the last article I gave the first three of eight lessons and insights I gleaned from a recent study (download here) by researchers Eric von Hippel and Pedro Oliveira titled, “Users as Service Innovators: The Case of Bank Services.” In the study they look at the role of end users in the creation of new services and how their own innovations often can be modified and implemented by companies in commercially viable ways.

Here are the remaining five things I took from the study that I believe should be top of mind for any organization looking to fuel their innovation processes:

They know better than you…or us (part one)

A new study examines the role of user-created innovations in the services industry and sheds
light on the importance of observing and
involving users in the development of new
products and services.

 

Ever wonder where some of big and exciting creations of business come from? Sure you have, and even more likely you have said to yourself, ‘Gee, I could have come up with that.’ Well guess what, you might have and not even known it.

Patrick Swayze: A Joyous Life, a Sad Death, and a Lesson in Healthcare Innovation

The news of Patrick Swayze passing away last week from pancreatic cancer, caused me to feel the expected emotions of sadness and concern for his family to delight and appreciation when remembering his career which included pop icon movies like Ghost and Dirty Dancing and the legendary Saturday Night Live skit with the late Chris Farley. There was also a thought that popped into my head that I immediately connected with the healthcare issues of today. Mr. Swayze’s illness is hard to detect, painful to treat, and rarely ever stopped in its tracks—all in all a very tragic prognosis that he took with great strength and perseverance as he was determined to live life to the fullest with the time he had left. But the thought that entered my mind about healthcare actually was sparked from one of his tough-as-nails fictional characters.

Updated and Expanded LinkedIn Profile

As we mentioned a few weeks ago, I was in the process of evaluating various social networks that we would consider devoting some of our time at Westfall | Group on. We got some feedback and have been encouraged to build up our network on LinkedIn so I have gone back and updated my oft-neglected LinkedIn Profile here.
I’ll be spending some considerable time in the next few weeks adding more content to the LinkedIn profile as well as possibly starting a group there or participating in some of the Q&A discussions. We also setup a Westfall | Group company page on LinkedIn as well.

As always, if anyone has any suggestions of content we should put up there or other places where we might find spending some of our social networking time of value, please let me know. We’ll be debuting a new Facebook presence in the coming weeks as well.

Technorati Tags: linkedin,social networks,facebook

Inside the Group is the brainstorming and discussion world of evolution firm Westfall | Group

Fool Me Once, Shame on You, and Goodbye (Ugh!)

TODAY: T-MOBILE 

It’s not often you come across something so blatantly absurd that you feel the need to stop what you are doing and write about it, but then again you’re not me. (You are in fact fortunate in that regard, but I digress). Let me start with a little set-up to the story.

Where is the Collaboration Kansas City?

Last week on KCPT’s Kansas City Week in Review, the topic of a new $575 million Museum of Natural History project in Overland Park, KS was discussed. KC Star Columnist Steve Kraske brought up the point that this project will have impact on the entire metro and should have at least been discussed among the metro’s cities in that context. I wrote about this very topic a long time back on our old blog when another similar situation had arisen. I think it is worth revisiting so below is a reprint of that article.