SharePoint sucks, eforms, the cloud and iPads are awesome. What are you thankful for this year?

As we approach Thanksgiving here in the United States, I’d like to look back on the year to share with the reasons why I’ll be observing this holiday. (And this year, it ain’t just about getting fat on a week’s worth of grub in a single seating.)

This is one of my favorite holiday activities, second only to drawing turkeys by tracing your hand. Or the silhouette of Joy Behar.

1. The Cloud. There is something magical about having a product that is secure, cheap, always on, and works on a wide variety of devices. In the last yearwe’ve embraced Box.net, Google Apps, Batchbook, and even built our own apps in the Amazon cloud; all with great success. If you are still afraid or unsure about the Cloud, consider how much you use it in your own life already as a consumer.
2. iPads! A Year ago, the iPad didn’t exist. This device has fundamentally changed how we think about computers and their role in our daily lives. With a great screen, huge battery and a massive amount of apps (including LincDoc mobile), this device is ready for use in the enterprise.
3. An awesome team. I’m so thankful for a great team at LincWare. We work hard, play hard, ridicule each other’s wardrobe choices and hit “reply all” more often than we should. We have guys that bike to work in the snow, do “Tough Mudders” for fun and allow us to put up signs like the one pictured here. (Which, as of Monday, is now out of date.) But most importantly, our team is fanatically committed to creating a world-class customer experience with LincDoc.
4. The AIIM Community. You all rock! I wouldn’t trade all the tryptophan in the world for the wisdom and cooperation within AIIM. If you are reading this and still haven’t made an account or joined in the discussion, do it now!
5. SharePoint. Thanks to Microsoft for making a product that is so bloated, complex and difficult for novices to use that consultants, VARs and vendors still have jobs. Steven Hawking tweeted that it should be called “Sh@#Point. If they ever get it right, I hear the Five Guys down the street from my house is hiring, because we'll all be unemployed. 
6. Twitter. These 140 character messages have connected all of us in meaningful ways. As it was described to me, "Twitter makes me like people I've never met and Facebook makes me hate people I know in real life.” You can follow my tweets @danieloleary.

What about you? Yes you, sitting in your chair reading this. Take your left hand off your face (caught you) and let me know what you are thankful for? 

Best practices for client and vendor interactions

Here are some tips to streamline the relationship issues with customers and vendors as they creep up during the implementation of enterprise software and technology projects.We try to put all of these in practice at LincWare as often as possible. Oh, and we’ve earned a 100% customer retention rate, so there has to be something in here worth a look.

1.       Set clear goals

All projects require goals. They don’t need to be formal or over-planned, but everyone should clearly understand the vision of the project and their role in it. When collaborating with vendors, make sure they buy into your organization goals, especially if the technology implementation is aligned with business processes, which is common in the sphere of ECM.

2.       Have a kick off meeting

It’s really important for everyone to learn each other’s names and establish individual roles. (You can leave the “Hello, my name is” stickers at home, though.) There is something humanizing about working with a vendor on a first name basis. You can try something fun and break to the mold a bit, like having everyone introduce themselves, tell everyone their favorite breakfast cereal, and share one other interesting fact about themselves. You’d be surprised at how willing people are to share!  Don’t push it though, no one really cares about your cats.

3.       Avoid the “CC” and “Reply All” buttons

Seriously. If you are in the habit of pushing “reply all”, you are an evil person. Really, Hell is clearing space for you people. I highly recommend the “BCC” field when someone needs to be informed about something, but you don’t want to clog up their inbox. For the sake of all of us, just avoid replying all. And don’t “forward” as much either. The original e-mail was meant for you and sent by someone else. In truth, the forwarding party was not the intended audience. Practice some restraint, even if the lack of it is the sole reason for Google’s world dominance.

4.       Plan for change

Work with your vendor to establish a formal procedure for change management. For example, consider: How will you agree on changes? How do you determine costs? What are new deadlines? All of these should be addressed in your change management plans.

5.       Status meetings

Just like going to your dentist for a regular checkup, you and your vendor should have regular status meetings. They can be as often as you like, but at least a phone call or Skype video chat every quarter is recommended. You can even use things like FaceTime for the iPhone to connect face to face. Or use an iPad, which amazingly supports the LD-Mobile app. Huh; how about that?

6.       Use social media

It’s called social for a reason, you hermit. Take advantage of tools like Twitter, Facebook and instant messaging to communicate more efficiently. These mediums are a great way to connect outside of the regular “grind,” and let’s be honest, its way more fun.

What tips do you have to improve the relationship with your vendors? If you are a vendor, what do you recommend? Did we tell you about LD-Mobile?