I work for a small food manufacturing company and support 16 computers/users. They've been in business for over 25 years, and they're computer usage has slowly been developing. There's a lot of the tell-tale signs that they haven't had an organized IS department, ever.
1) Wide range of computers by spec (Mostly Win2k machines, 2 Win95 machines, Win2k Server, SBS 2003 server.)
2) Computer clutter everywhere.
Some of the older machines are sitting partially rebuilt/torn apart in the office. Cabinets full of old manuals/disks/floppies of programs, etc.
3) Unmanaged cabling. There's a few rat's nests that I still need to get to, and I eventually need to replace the 200ft line out to the Shipping/Receiving department.
4) Inadequate IS Budget. For a multimillion dollar company (gross sales), my budget totals $30,000 (not including my salary). A good portion of this is tied into depreciation of current equipment, the integrated T1, a couple leases, and an Anual License Fee for SYSPRO, their ERP software.
5) Homebrew 'programs'. Yes, there's lots of Access to be had here. There's actually 4 access databases that I can count right now. They pull partially from the SYSPRO database, and help generate some clean reports, but the structure of them was created by a 'tinkerer' who is the backup person to IS (and also the Accounts Receivable person).
I just started in November, and I got them to raise the IS budget by $10,000 (it was originally around $20k). Slowly I'm implementing new changes, but this is an older set of users, most people have been with the company at least 7 years, except the IS person (usually a college kid) which seems to rotate out every two years or so.
I'm also doing a bit of market research for them as well as being a project manager for R&D on new product rollouts, and backup to the Sales Order desk. I feel that there are some things that they're trying to load onto me simply because that's what the previous IS person did, was basically be the Office Manager and play backup to most of the positions except accounting and HR.
There is progress, and they seem somewhat willing to accept my ideas, it's just a matter of affording them and keeping them implemented without people slipping back into their old habits. It becomes difficult when 30% of the users don't speak english as their first language.
A good way to reach gamers is to get them involved in portions of the development process. I'm starting an independent game marketing company that's dedicated to building a bridge between the small game development studios and the gaming community.
The hype of the game isn't always related to the big media marketing package that the publishers like. Many of the CEOs of the major publishers don't have a gaming background.
We actually refurbished a bus that is modular and allows us to demo any game, on any system, anywhere (as long as it's on the west coast).
The replayability and flexability of the game is also an important issue. Games like World of Warcraft and Diablo 2 became popular not just for the community that they create, but for the fact that you can jump in and play quick, or delve in and play for hours on end.
Gamer Transit Authority, LLC
Slashdot Mirror
I work for a small food manufacturing company and support 16 computers/users. They've been in business for over 25 years, and they're computer usage has slowly been developing. There's a lot of the tell-tale signs that they haven't had an organized IS department, ever.
1) Wide range of computers by spec (Mostly Win2k machines, 2 Win95 machines, Win2k Server, SBS 2003 server.)
2) Computer clutter everywhere.
Some of the older machines are sitting partially rebuilt/torn apart in the office. Cabinets full of old manuals/disks/floppies of programs, etc.
3) Unmanaged cabling. There's a few rat's nests that I still need to get to, and I eventually need to replace the 200ft line out to the Shipping/Receiving department.
4) Inadequate IS Budget. For a multimillion dollar company (gross sales), my budget totals $30,000 (not including my salary). A good portion of this is tied into depreciation of current equipment, the integrated T1, a couple leases, and an Anual License Fee for SYSPRO, their ERP software.
5) Homebrew 'programs'. Yes, there's lots of Access to be had here. There's actually 4 access databases that I can count right now. They pull partially from the SYSPRO database, and help generate some clean reports, but the structure of them was created by a 'tinkerer' who is the backup person to IS (and also the Accounts Receivable person).
I just started in November, and I got them to raise the IS budget by $10,000 (it was originally around $20k). Slowly I'm implementing new changes, but this is an older set of users, most people have been with the company at least 7 years, except the IS person (usually a college kid) which seems to rotate out every two years or so.
I'm also doing a bit of market research for them as well as being a project manager for R&D on new product rollouts, and backup to the Sales Order desk. I feel that there are some things that they're trying to load onto me simply because that's what the previous IS person did, was basically be the Office Manager and play backup to most of the positions except accounting and HR.
There is progress, and they seem somewhat willing to accept my ideas, it's just a matter of affording them and keeping them implemented without people slipping back into their old habits. It becomes difficult when 30% of the users don't speak english as their first language.
Any tips from people who've been there?
A good way to reach gamers is to get them involved in portions of the development process. I'm starting an independent game marketing company that's dedicated to building a bridge between the small game development studios and the gaming community. The hype of the game isn't always related to the big media marketing package that the publishers like. Many of the CEOs of the major publishers don't have a gaming background. We actually refurbished a bus that is modular and allows us to demo any game, on any system, anywhere (as long as it's on the west coast). The replayability and flexability of the game is also an important issue. Games like World of Warcraft and Diablo 2 became popular not just for the community that they create, but for the fact that you can jump in and play quick, or delve in and play for hours on end. Gamer Transit Authority, LLC