2008 Archives

We've had many changes since my last entry (which was embarrassingly long ago), but two in particular deserve mention.

First, our 10.2 upgrade was released last month. For those who haven't already read about it, check out the details here:
http://www.cnp-x.com/upgrade/

Usually we spend more time in-between upgrades, but there was so much we wanted to put into it that it was just too much for an update (and Leopard compatibility required a brand-new install). So in short, it's fully Leopard-compatible, includes a new web time card optimized for the iPhone, and many other enhanced or new features which primarily came from your wishlist submissions. You spoke, we listened. Win-win. Did I forget to mention it's free to anyone with current support? Yeah, it's free.

Second (and this isn't as new, but is worth pointing out). Our corporate homepage has been completely redesigned. CnP-X.com will be a product site for our current version, but the corporate site is the jumping-off point for all of our products and includes new information about the company's history, culture, and innovations. It will also have more job listings both for us (if you're interested in relocating to San Diego and doing some very different work, check it out) and our clients who'd like to post their own open positions.

Check it out:
http://www.clientsandprofits.com

Last Friday, C&P co-sponsored the San Diego Ad Club's Birdies in Paradise golf tournament. It was a pleasure meeting the other sponsors as well as some more members of the San Diego ad community (not to mention the enjoyable round of golf). Next up is the evening with Alex Bogusky and we'll definitely be in attendance. Can't wait to hear how they plan to make Microsoft cool.

If you're heading to the HOW Conference next week (May 18-21 in Boston), stop by and visit us at booth #517. We'll have some giveaways and announcements to make. And if you have more to discuss, we're available for meetings as well.

After HOW I'll be visiting clients in the UK. If we haven't already spoken to you and you'd like to meet, please contact us as soon as possible.

On occasion, we get calls to the helpdesk which fall outside what we're capable of supporting. It's not that we're uncaring, but some issues simply can't be solved over the phone and/or go outside our expertise. Some of these are accounting related, but the majority are IT-related. When we hear that a database is getting damaged repeatedly, a user can't print, or access to the database is slow, it usually means IT is going to have to get involved.

Telling a user that they've got an IT-related issue is usually received like bad medical test results. Next we usually hear the four of the five stages of grief (almost never acceptance). Denial, anger, bargaining, and depression. It doesn't need to be this way, but for some reason, almost always is. But why? Is dealing with IT that bad? Are we that inaccessible? So difficult to deal with? Are we really this guy?

The toughest cases are those where the company does not have formal IT staff (we talk to a lot of art director/IT guys) or worse, an outside consultant. We've used outside consultants here at C&P for various projects over the years (with varying levels of success), so we understand your pain. High hourly rates, blame-placing, vendor favoritism, and general zealotry come with the territory. But since they're often more cost-effective than learning the needed skill ourselves, we stick with them, as do many creative shops.

Bob Cringely recently wrote a great article about this here. His list of the 10 most frequent lies told by IT consultants at the end of the article is particularly good.

Now we know that there are some great IT consultants out there; we'd like to know more of them! Often agencies ask us for referrals and we don't have too many. We have a good network of C&P consultants to help with training and custom work, but very few who can handle the tech side as well. So we're looking for your help here. If you have a particularly good IT consultant, please let us know about it and we'll see about putting them on the website. You'll do your consultant a favor as well as your fellow C&P users.

ma-ni-ac: noun, informal
"a person exhibiting extreme symptoms of wild behavior, esp. when violent and dangerous : a homicidal maniac."

Is this really the guy you want serving up your bucket of wings and drumsticks?

C&P certainly doesn't look for maniacs, though is very focused on excellent customer service. We're proud to have unusually quick turnaround on email and under one minute average hold times. It can be frustrating dealing with our own vendors, since none are as accessible as we are. And even though we're overstaffed by industry standards for a helpdesk (this is partially how we answer the phone so quickly), that's the way we want it and we're still always looking for more quality staff. Interested in moving to San Diego? Drop us a line.

Unrelated, you may have noticed the blog got a facelift to look like it actually belongs on our site. Thanks to Marcelo from the helpdesk for the excellent work.

My view of the keynote.

I knew arriving ~45 minutes before would not yield a great seat, but I didn't expect this. This shot is three blocks walk from the entrance. I never got in. Not even close. Even the overflow rooms were full. Oh well. At least I got the live feed on my iPhone from macrumorslive.com

Happy New Year to all! Hope everyone had a pleasant holiday. January means a lot of things around here: shops closing the year, much higher call volume than normal (both for sales and the helpdesk), free-lunch Fridays, and my personal favorite, the Macworld Expo.

Like last year, we are attending, but unlike last year, not exhibiting. While it was nice to meet many of you at the booth, Macworld is more of a consumer show than an industry event and it didn't make a lot of sense for us. Also, I'm attending the MacIT Conference this time (really looking forward to "DNS Demystified"). If anyone wants to meet up for a meal, drink, or brief chat, feel free to call or email.