Archive

Posts Tagged ‘Jeff Anderson’

Bulletproof wins prestigious Microsoft award

November 13th, 2009

impact_winner2

Bulletproof InfoTech, an Alberta based Microsoft Small Business Specialist and Gold Partner has been awarded Microsoft’s top small business honour during their annual awards gala in Toronto Thursday.

Alberta is back on Microsoft’s map for leading the way in innovation, client service and overall satisfaction in the small business community.

The Microsoft IMPACT awards are an annual event which showcases and recognizes the work and focus on client satisfaction, Microsoft Partners exhibit daily in their business communities and with their clients from coast to coast here in Canada. Over 26 awards ranging from those focused on complex software development solutions, technology solutions which empower business and companies who passion is serving those with efforts outside technology. This year’s award ceremony was held at Wayne Gretzky’s in downtown Toronto on Nov 12 and was attended by Microsoft employees, executives and partners from all across Canada.

“Our annual IMPACT Awards celebrate the most innovative technology partners who have shown superior service to customers and are real leaders in their respective fields,” said Corinne Sharp, National Director, Canadian Partner channel, Microsoft Canada Co. “As true IT heroes, technology partners like Bulletproof continue to raise the bar with customers by helping them maximize business performance.”

Alberta firm wins top honour

Bulletproof InfoTech was named “Microsoft Small Business Specialist of the Year in Canada” for their work with Sinneave Family Foundation (SFF). SFF Provides leadership and innovation in a family and science informed, lifespan approach to autism interventions, education and research. SFF had unique IT needs prior to their engagement with Bulletproof. As a non-profit agency during tough economic times they required an innovative technology solution which would increase efficiencies around the office, allow them to work securely from outside the office and especially work within their budget. Bulletproof provided SFF with a Microsoft based solution which met all their needs and kept their overall IT investment with their budget. Leveraging Windows Small Business Server 2008, SharePoint and Office 2007, SFF now has a technology solution which all them to focus on what is important to their organization the most, the families they serve.

SFF is now engaged in Bulletproof’s netSHIELD program, a fixed-cost and worry-free service many clients throughout Alberta use to kept their technology solutions in top shape enabling them to meet their business goals without worrying about information technology getting in the way.

“Bulletproof offered us a well-rounded IT solution, keeping us secure and allowing us to focus on what we do best. They offered us a solution that saved us thousands of dollars in licensing costs and their staff was very responsive to our needs and easy to work with. Their service techs are absolutely the best in the business!!!” stated members of the SFF team.

Read more on how Bulletproof helped Sinneave Family Foundation with all their Small Business computer and network support.

This is Bulletproof’s first Microsoft IMPACT award. Bulletproof was also named runner-up in the Microsoft overall Client Experience award category in 2009. In 2009, Bulletproof Networks (Red Deer) joined forces with CompuConsult (Calgary) to create Bulletproof InfoTech. Bulletproof works in our community, members of our team serve local service organizations, scout troops and volunteer with both the Red Deer and Calgary Chamber of Commerce. Bulletproof is an active leader with Heartland Tech Groups and the Calgary Entrepreneur Peer Group where they engage with businesses around the globe and right here at home with solving business challenges in today’s new world of business. Bulletproof has offices in Red Deer and Calgary.

If you would like to discuss this recognition with Bulletproof please contact Stuart Crawford, VP Business Development at 403.206.2233 or email stuart.crawford@bulletproofIT.ca.

Uncategorized , , , , , , ,

Last week in perspective

April 19th, 2009

Wow what a week!

Last week has been a busy and an interesting one, both on the personal as well as on the business side. On Tuesday night Ellen and I had the opportunity to go to a concert of one of my favourite artists, Diana Krall. It was a wonderful concert complete with a symphonic orchestra, which really provides something extra to all that jazz! One of the things I learned that is that no matter how famous you are, you also have your own heroes to look up to. During the performance Diane referred to her hero Oscar Peterson, and she assured us that she could not play a composition of Oscar as well as he could. Even when you are as talented as Diana there is always someone to look up to! This realization begs the question: who does the most powerful man in the world, Barak Obama, look up to? Or who is the idol of Bill Gates…

Diane’s concert was wonderful but way too short! It started shortly after 8 pm, and was finished before 9:45… Next time I will certainly wonder what the value is, or if it is better to just buy the CD, which you can play over and over again.

On Saturday morning we took our Tuscany Scout troop to “Law Day”. We visited the new Calgary Court House and had a demonstration of a mock trial, a citizenship ceremony and a hands experience in the holding cells. It was great to learn about the provincial and federal legal systems in Alberta and Canada. Now we are able to distinguish a provincial and a federal judge by the color of their robes. In the afternoon I had the pleasure to attend the Chinook Scouting award ceremony, where I was awarded a medal for good service, for my almost eight years of being a volunteer leader. A big thank you to Elka Schrijver for the awesome recommendation letter!

The guest speaker, an official of the Calgary Police force, shared some astounding numbers about how many successful people have a scouting background. Did you know that more than 70% of all astronauts have been involved in the Scouting program? It takes a community to raise our kids, please think about that next time you are asked to buy some Girl Guide cookies or Scouting popcorn. This way you get an opportunity to contribute to the success of the next generation!

On Saturday night we went with the entire family to the Calgary Stampede Coral to see a performance of the world famous Harlem Globe Trotters! These guys are magicians with basketballs and put on a real show. They also understand the art of commerce and got my family enticed for a $30 special edition Spaulding Harlem Globe Trotters Basketball, which was signed by one of the players! I am not sure of the value of the regular basketball, but that’s got to be less than thirty bucks! Anyway, the boys were playing outside this morning using the neighbour’s basketball hoop. That’s gotta be worth something!

Today is Sunday, and I am waiting with my business partner Jeff Anderson at the Calgary Airport to travel to Dallas in Texas. We are attending the HTG Summit for the first time after we merged our individual companies per February 2009 and partnered with our HTG facilitator Stuart Crawford. Although we are currently navigating some challenges, I believe that we are on the right track to become very successful in the Red Deer and Calgary small business information technology scene. Based on our pro-active approach, it will just be a matter of time before small business owners will understand that it is key, to avoid down time caused by a malfunctioning computer network.

In the next few days I will write more about our experience during the HTG Summit in Dallas.

Uncategorized , , ,

The real value of blogging, the results show…

March 26th, 2009

My light bulb just turned on…

This is only my 5th blog in cyberspace and ladies an gentlemen I have seen the light! We have some real and tangible results!

As most of you are aware I a partner in a new business venture called Bulletproof InfoTech. Our management team consists of Stuart R. Crawford (formerly IT Matters and our marketing guru), Jeff Anderson (our strategist), Sean Tindall (our technology expert) and myself as the business solutions design specialist. Boy, do I ever feel privileged to work with these talented folks! We started our new venture in February and we are really getting our feet firmly planted on the ground.

To be honest I have been the biggest sceptic of the hole WEB 2.0 movement. Until recently, I barely had time to live my real live, so I did not want to make any time to have a virtual (on-line) identity. Encouraged by Jeff I hesitantly signed up for a Facebook account. I also completed my Hyves.nl and my linked-in profile. To become familiar with the hype I even got a Twitter account and now submit tweets on a regular basis. Most of this stuff is all right, Hyves keeps me in contact with acquaintances back in the Netherlands, Linked-in allows me to network with other professionals, Facebook keeps me connected to my North American acquaintances and the business value of Twitter is still a huge mystery for me.

stuart-crawford4However, one thing hit me like a light storm BLOGGING. I have to give a huge thank you, to my mentor and business partner Stuart R. Crawford! My second blog generated a hot lead for a Microsoft Response Point System! Within two days I had potential client in my board room for a demo, can you believe that!

A few days ago Stuart blogged about the threaths of the new Conficker Virus, and as a result he was quoted in a Calgary Herald article on the first and third page, with a huge picture. A camera crew of Global TV Calgary was in our office today to get our opinion for a story in the news broadcast. In all cases our company name appeared in the media as the trusted advisor! You really can’t buy that kind of publicity. Even other folks at other companies like David A. West at Ekzact Solutions used our blog posting to spread the word. What I have learned today is that your effort to inform and educate the public by using blogging, can make you a subject matter expert in the eyes of the media. Well done Stuart, and thank you for being my mentor!

Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , , ,

To blog or not to blog that is the question!

March 6th, 2009

rene3Wow, my first blog, baby steps… Before you know it, you might actually see me on twitter!

I never thought that I would be writing a blog. Who wants to read my soapbox topics? However over the last couple of years I have run in to some very interesting blog postings from other bloggers and I must admit that it has changed my perspective on blogging in general.

My good friend and business partner Stuart R. Crawford blogs every day, even in the weekends! Most of his postings are really informative. He is even started a blogging workshop for business which will be held at our Calgary Bulletproof InfoTech office on March 28. In this 3 hour session he will expain the business benefits of blogging.

My commitment is to write at least one blog every week, sharing a bit of my life with the cyber world. The last couple of weeks have been very interesting. On February 1st we started our new business venture Bulletproof InfoTech Inc. This new company is the result of a merge between Bulletproof Networks in Red Deer and CompuConsult.com Inc. in Calgary. You can find the official press release here. With this new company we are better that ever, able to help small businesses in southern and central Alberta with their Information Technology needs.

It is an honor for me to work with all the talented folks at both locations. What it has done for me is that I can focus again again on what i really enjoy doing, helping small and medium sized businesses solve their business issues and become more productive and competitive using information technology. In the last year I was wearing so many hats, that I felt that I wasn’t doing a good job at any of them. Now that we have an awesome management team in place I can focus again on my strengths!

A big thank you goes out to David West and David Fradette of the web design company Ekzact Solutions, for helping me to get my blog page setup and configured. Thanks guys, the “Hello World” page brought back memories of my first programming experiences of C in the classical book by Kerningham and Richie. Please let me know your thoughts on blogging for businesses and any feedback, good or bad, is appreciated.

Uncategorized , , , , , , ,