Donna Hedge Bio/Archives

Donna Hedge works in Cincom’s Corporate Public Relations Department. It’s her job to get Cincom’s message regarding the company and its products into the media and into the heads of its customers and prospects.

And she knows something about trying to simplify a complex world. After all, the U.S. media world she works with on a daily basis is no small potatoes:

• 70,000 media outlets
• 450,000 editorial contacts
• 550 million searches done daily via the Web
• 27 million searches at Yahoo News, Google News or other news search engines per month in the U.S.

Trying to be heard in that chaos is no easy task. So Donna simplifies the process by focusing on the media most liking to influence Cincom’s customers and sales prospects. “I hope to share articles I see in these publications regarding simplicity to readers of this blog.”

Donna has also helped the public relations and marketing efforts of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and the City of Cincinnati’s Recreation Department. She’s also a member of the Public Relations Society of America.

In her free time, she raises awareness of and money for the Greater Cincinnati chapter of First Book (www.firstbook.org), a literacy organization that gives low-income children their first new books.

Consumer Community Site Simplifies Business

Sometimes simplicity is right under your nose. Or more likely your teenager’s nose. Photo-sharing site Flickr is used by many throughout the world and has received cult status with the online masses.

But I’ll admit, I never once thought of how to use it in business. Until I saw this posting on the Strategic Public Relations blog, one of my favorite industry blogs. (Plus, I know the guy.)

Check out how the free Flickr service can make marketing a little easier.

http://prblog.typepad.com/strategic_public_relation/2006/02/10_flickr_hacks.html

Posted by DonnaBurns on March 7, 2006 at 04:11 PM in Business Optimization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Free Software Anyone?

One assumption about simplicity is that it requires less involvement. That's not the case of the companies highlighted in Rob Garretson's "The Benefits of Making 'Partner' Deals with Vendors." It appears to becoming more common for companies in health care, financial services and other specialities to work with a vendor to develop customized software.

Doesn't sound that big a deal right? But here's the best part of the concept: It's free. Mr. Garretson gives the example of Colorado Access which worked with Thomson Medstat to develop a custom medical-decision-support applications. Why was it free? Instead of paying with cash, Colorado Access paid with knowledge. Colorado Access provided their expertise on their industry to help Medstat to develop a product that they could resell to other clients. In essence, Colorado Access was a consultant who got paid in software.

What a great concept.

Posted by DonnaBurns on October 14, 2005 at 02:32 PM in Business Transformation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Hosted Apps Offer Flexibility and a Simpler Work Life

Hosted software applications are becoming all the rage, especially with smaller businesses. Sure, they’re less expensive. But businesses like them for another reason – they make their lives easier. As described in “Hosted Contact Centers Offer Flexibility,” which was originally published in Canada, host applications are easier to install, more scaleable and are less intimidating than traditional premise-based solutions. Doesn’t that simplify our working lives?

We at Cincom Systems have recognized the benefit of hosted applications ourselves. Several of our solutions are available in a hosted model, including our customer experience management system for call centers, Synchrony.

For more, check out the article at http://www.contact-center-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=38446.

For more on Synchrony, visit www.cincom.com/synchrony.

Posted by DonnaBurns on October 6, 2005 at 09:50 AM in Business Optimization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

IT Execs See Need for Less Complex Systems

In a news item published September 13, 2005 on their web site, ComputerWorld.com gave a report from its Enterprise Management World conference. The issue most discussed by attendees? The need to reduce IT complexity. Attendees of the conference gave examples of where IT complexity caused them process inefficiency or lost their company bottom-line profits. Many said IT simplification makes it easier to shift IT money and resources toward more customer-facing services.

For the full article, visit http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/story/0,10801,104599,00.html?source=NLT_PM&nid=104599.

Posted by DonnaBurns on September 14, 2005 at 10:43 AM in Business Infrastructure | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack