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Steven Fowler

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Founder, ataric

156 points

Aug. 4, 2011

Steven Fowler and 104 other people answered this question

What do you think successful people do that others don't?

• Good health
• Meaningful Relationships – I am a man of faith
• Spending time with family – we home school and I work from home a lot
• Doing what I am passionate about – for me consulting and technology
• Being financial independent – we ... more

Aug. 4, 2011

Steven Fowler and 52 other people answered this question

How much does correct spelling and grammar matter when blogging?

Where do we draw the line? website, email, blogging, tweeting, texting. I am particularly close to this subject because I struggle with spelling and grammar (my gifts are elsewhere). As a result I must have things reviewed which cost me time and money.
There is always ... more

July 28, 2011

Steven Fowler and 4 other people answered this question

Are there any good hashtag chats for project managers or business analysts?

#pmp Definition: project management professional

Information Technology

Business Analysis

July 28, 2011

Steven Fowler and 2 other people answered this question

POLL: What's the most important criteria for you when selecting a job, especially at a start-up?

As a founder of several tech start-ups there are several criteria that I use in selecting a start-up, co-founders and initial employees.
The first has got to be the market opportunity, second the leadership and core employee’s ability to execute against the market need. If these ... more

General Management

Human Resources

Career Development

July 28, 2011

Steven Fowler and 1 other person answered this question

Do you find SharePoint case studies to be helpful?

I read them with a particular focus on the business case and the objective evaluation of if ROI was made, by whom, and when. more

Information Technology

July 21, 2011

Steven Fowler and 3 other people commented on a roundtable

SharePoint in the Cloud: Evaluating Impact, Pros and Cons

Focus & Speakers, thank you for your time.

Cloud Computing

Enterprise Applications

July 21, 2011

Steven Fowler and 3 other people answered this question at this roundtable

SharePoint in the Cloud: Evaluating Impact, Pros and Cons [7/21 @ 11 am]

K-12 Enterprise -- need to set up Sharepoint (fast/cheap) -- in house or Office 365?

Fast/cheap go in this order Cloud Managed Service On-Premise (cloud being cheap/fast). As Matthew commented, it depends on the feature/function requirements of your use of SharePoint. Review the feature matrix of each option and make a decision. more

Information Technology

Cloud Computing

Enterprise Applications

July 21, 2011

Steven Fowler asked a question at this roundtable

SharePoint in the Cloud: Evaluating Impact, Pros and Cons [7/21 @ 11 am]

Can you talk about risk/liability of SaaS providers with Customer IP.

Information Technology

Cloud Computing

June 28, 2011

Steven Fowler and 14 other people answered this question

Do you think many companies will abandon SharePoint for Office 365?

SHORT: Yes
DETAILS:
There are reasons why Toyota carries 7 different car and 7 different SUV models. One size does not fit all. Where I once had to advise clients that otherwise had chosen between a 'Corolla' or a 'Camery', I can now put them in ... more

Information Technology

June 27, 2011

Steven Fowler and 3 other people answered this question at this roundtable

Applications and Cloud Computing: Trends, Issues, Strategies [6/29 @ 1 pm]

Do you think large enterprises will move their applications to cloud? Is the data privacy a concern

Technology is changing rapidly and the tradition use of infrastructure, information, and application architecture is changing rapidly. Small and mid-size private sector organizations are already moving to cloud/internet/managed server providers despite the IP risk concerns. Yes it will be some time before large scale public ... more

June 27, 2011

Steven Fowler and 6 other people answered this question

Is Apple in danger of extinction because it's a closed system?

Apple will always retain their core followers who will allow them to remain profitable. Every segment has them. My other love is motorcycles, and though most riders would love any of the Japanese brands, HD and BMW riders are followers. more

Information Technology

June 27, 2011

Steven Fowler and 7 other people answered this question

How do you prevent scope creep on a complicated IT project?

Preventing scope creep is not always possible often times one needs to be satisfied with limiting it. My experience has found that scope typically increases because:
• business processes change
• customer expectations change
• inadequate requirements gathering
• IT project process
You’d notice that the first two have an ... more

Information Technology

Enterprise Resource Planning

June 27, 2011

Steven Fowler and 5 other people answered this question

How do you communicate bad news when a project goes downhill?

I've been following the principals of Lean Startup (focused on software companies, but is applicable to any organization) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i65PaoTlVKg where emphasis is placed on “ferocious customer-centric rapid iteration” via the Customer Development process. Have conversation with your customers (internal or external) often. This manages expectation ... more

Information Technology

Change Management

Project Management

June 27, 2011

Steven Fowler and 3 other people answered this question

Could your organization operate without email? Why or why not?

If you want to retract my answer I will respond with:
"Our organization uses a blend of email, Skype, phone, texting, and instant messaging to communicate both internally and externally. For internal collaboration we use Skype and IM 90% of the time."
The feedback I gave about ... more

Human Resources

Information Technology

Company Culture

June 27, 2011

Steven Fowler and 8 other people answered this question

Does sales training really fail?

I agree, Hence my saying "in itself"..

Sales Management

June 27, 2011

Steven Fowler answered this question

How can patience help a salesperson achieve his or her goals?

Often times the sales process requires the education and imparted information to your customers about your product and services. Customers may not always understand what you're trying to communicate. Being patient in this part of the sales cycle will help guide your customers to understanding ... more

Sales Enablement

Sales Management

June 27, 2011

Steven Fowler and 2 other people answered this question

We are looking for ways to increase the collaboration effectiveness of our global sales teams.

We internally use Microsoft's SharePoint technology for our sales business process management (BPM), customer relationship management (CRM), and collaboration tool for document management. It is deployed as a secured extranet to allow global access. It is also integrated with our engagement processes management (EPM) which ... more

Collaboration Management Tools

Sales Management

June 27, 2011

Steven Fowler answered this question

What are your best questions for customers? What do you hope to discover by asking them?

The types of questions that you ask potential and existing customers depend on what you're trying to discover.
For potential customers we ask questions in an attempt to determine their alignment with our product and services. These questions are guided based on where they are in ... more

Sales Management

June 27, 2011

Steven Fowler and 11 other people answered this question

"Leadership" has become a popular issue. How do you define "leader"?

Bruce beat be to it. +1

General Management

Human Resources

June 26, 2011

Steven Fowler and 2 other people answered this question

What are the most common mistakes made when planning for an enterprise software implementation?

Not identifying activities required for success and the skills, money, and time to execute them.

Information Technology

Business Intelligence

Cloud Computing

June 26, 2011

Steven Fowler and 5 other people answered this question

What's the most creative way you've used SharePoint?

Development of LOB application solutions on SharePoint using it as a platform. Custom Document Assembly / Electronic Signature paired with OOTB Document Management is a great use of the technology. more

Information Technology

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Information Technology

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