('Tis the season, yeah)
To see the children laughin'
Everybody should be dancin'
Come on and clap your hands 'cuz
('Tis the season, yeah)
For us to all be grateful
It's time to be thankful
Let's do it while we're able
…and so on.
Artist: Mary Mary lyrics
‘Tis the season to spread joy and happiness. “If you are unhappy, and you know it clap your hands!”. Uh-oh, wrong song. True, is it not? You know when you are unhappy. Chances are everyone around you knows you’re unhappy, too.
Then there’s, “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands!” If you’re not feeling the love ask yourself, “Am I happy?” I find I rarely ask the question myself, certainly not often enough. So just in the moment, try it on for size. Ask the question, “Am I happy?” The experience can’t be any worse than trying on your favorite pair of jeans. Ha! Then again it is the holidays!
Seriously, you will probably become as retrospective as I am regarding the question of happiness. Of course the answer, at least in any moment in time, can be entirely up to you. You may be wondering why am I asking now, at a time when the spirit of giving and receiving is at an all time high? The holiday season can be a busy, stressful time. Many of us go out of our way to please others. There’s even this myth that suicide rates are highest during the holidays. Not so. Fact is, suicide rates are lowest in the month of December. The spirit of giving is safe, at least for now.
So if you’re broke or simply aggravated by the gift giving thing you might ask, “What’s with all the gift giving this time of year?” Well there’s the Christians and Christmas. Sometime after the birth of Jesus, three seemingly wise men, also known as the Magi, bearing incredibly expensive gifts considering the price of gold today, came to visit the newborn, Jesus Christ. Or blame ancient Romans who held year end celebrations to honor Saturn, their harvest god; and Mithras, their god of light… As part of these celebrations, the people prepared special foods, decorated their homes with greenery, and joined in singing and gift giving. These customs gradually became part of gift giving.
Then there’s tens of millions of Americans who don't even celebrate Christmas religiously, either as followers of non-Christian religions (Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Jews) or as individuals with no religious affiliation. What a drag it is to buy gifts for someone you believe is barking up the wrong tree (or cloud). In reality, many different events, both spiritual, religious, and tradition based, are being celebrated in many different ways during these times.
Is it right time to spread good cheer? Or is it laborious like Ground Hog Day. Granted it is only a few very cold weeks out of the year. There’s Black Friday. Black Friday you camp outside in the freezing cold, gangrene sets in, turns your fingers black and they fall off before you can grab an unbelievable deal on Black Friday. Cyber Monday specials are already gone because you can’t keyboard without fingers.
One month out of the year, you need to avoid the hype retailers bring to bear. Retailers would have you trick or treating in Santa Claus costumes and dispensing candy canes in October.
Receiving gifts is equally taxing. Too often a gift received becomes an albatross around your neck. A comedic example being the prominent presentation of a framed photo of a friend(s) or relative(s) on the rare occasion (excluding Florida residents) they come to visit. Personally, I realize this admission alone means there will be hell to pay.
So what makes you happy? Giving gifts or receiving gifts; decorating your domicile; hanging lights and ornaments on a Christmas tree; preparing a holiday feast for the multitudes? It’s not so easy. One long sigh from someone down the hallway, one obscene sign along the highway, a wayward thought, an unkind word, a tear from inside your head and you begin to doubt whether you have an outside chance to be happy.
The answer is, there is no answer… to the question, “Am I happy?” The definition of happy may be as simple as finding a favorite place in time, in your mind, alone or in a crowd, be it a smile, be it a moment to savor. I have come to realize right now ‘tis the season. There is no past. There is no future. Give a gift you can return without receiving; love and respect for your family and friends. From this gift you will find happiness, especially the returns.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to family and friends of all religions and faith.
One of my favorite expressions - May you live each day of your life. Jonathon Swift
Kim Tran has come a long way. Perhaps farther than most people, over 12,000 circuitous miles from Saigon to the US, settling in the Tampa Bay area; and further than most IT professionals, from a seven (7) year old Vietnam refugee to a Team Leader; a highly respected and valuable technical support representative with over 9 years of service at Integra Business Systems.
When most children her age were contemplating Kindergarten, Kim’s life lessons were forever altered when South Vietnamese President Duong Van Minh delivered an unconditional surrender to the Communists in the early hours of April 30, 1975. The few remaining Americans evacuated Saigon.
There are all kinds of connotations surrounding the term “boat people”. Here at Integra, when we think of “boat people” they are personified in Kim Tran. She’s a person with an easy smile and an even easier laugh, albeit more of a shy giggle. We at Integra are fortunate to have our very own refugee (survivor) of an era of trauma and suffering that once was the aftermath of the Vietnam War.
Many people think of Vietnamese refugees, as only those who were fleeing the country in 1975 as the Americans left Vietnam. In fact, a large number of refugees “boat people” didn’t flee Vietnam until the late 1970’s when China decided to invade Vietnam.
The Chinese began financing the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia as a counterweight to the Vietnamese communists at this time. The Khmer Rouge launched ferocious raids into Vietnam in 1975–1978. Vietnam responded with an invasion that toppled the Khmer Rouge. The conflict between Vietnam and Cambodia escalated in 1978. In response, China invaded Vietnam in 1979. The two countries fought a brief border war, known as the Third Indochina War or the Sino-Vietnamese War.
The short but bloody border war with China a year later resulted in a deliberate policy to encourage the departure of ethnic Chinese(Hoa) from Vietnam. From 1978 to 1979, some 450,000 Hoa left Vietnam by boat as refugees or were expelled across the land border with China.
In the late 1970s the Socialist Republic of Vietnam took increasingly drastic action to transform the capitalist economy of the south into a socialist one and the Hoa in Vietnam were disproportionately affected, leading to the first wave of 'boat people', fleeing the Vietnamese communists, primarily from the South, beginning in April 1978.
Kim was a seven (7) year old and a victim of circumstance. Beginning in 1975, the Hoa bore the brunt of socialist transformation in the South (Vietnam). An announcement on March 24 outlawed all wholesale trade and large business activities, which forced around 30,000 businesses to close down overnight followed up by another that, banned all private trade. Further government policies forced former owners to become farmers in the countryside or join the armed forces and fight at the Vietnam-Cambodia border and confiscated all old and foreign currencies, as well as any Vietnamese currency in excess of the US value of $250 for urban households and $150 by rural households. While such measures were targeted at all bourgeois elements, such measures hurt thec Hoa the hardest and resulted in the takeover of Hoa properties in and around major cities. Hoa communities offered widespread resistance and clashes left the streets of Cho Lon full of corpses. These measures, combined with external tensions stemming from Vietnam's dispute with Cambodia and China in 1978 and 1979 caused an exodus, a majority of the Hoa, many who fled overland into the province of Guangxi, China, from the North and the remainder fled by boat from the South. Sadly, officials estimated that nearly one-third of these “boat people” perished at sea from starvation, drowning, and pirates, problems that increased when some Asian countries began turning away boat people. By the end of 1980, the majority of the Hoa had fled from Vietnam.
This is the story of one of the survivors, one of the Chinese refugees “boat people” from the South and her family; our very own Kim Tran. Kim Tran, a Team Leader and Technical Support Representative for Integra Business Systems, Inc. since June, 2001 will be celebrating her 10 year anniversary with Integra next year.
“Like many other immigrants after the fall of the South Vietnam or Saigon, my family and I had fled from our country in search of a better life. My name is Kim H Tran. What I am about to share is my recollections of my family's escape from Vietnam. This is my first time ever that I have written about this. The event started when I was about 7 years old.
The oarsman took us all along the river, which led to the open channel.
There was a planned rendezvous with a larger boat. We finally reached the bigger boat, all of us were rushed onto the boat and we proceeded quickly below to the engine room. And it was there that my mom, my younger brothers, several other people and myself stayed for days and nights. We had neither food nor drink. I couldn’t tell if it was night or day just darkness all around me. One day, I was awakened by a soft voice calling my name. I could barely open my eyes due to fatigue. As I struggled to open my eyes, I saw a bright light crack open and slowly got wider. I saw a small arm passing a cup toward my way. I tried to raise my arms to grab it but my arms felt too heavy.
Someone close to me grabbed it and passed it to me. First sip, I couldn’t tell what I was drinking. It tasted lemony but salty and smelled funny. I pass it back but someone encourage me to drink a little bit more to quench my thirst. I replied I can’t drink, it tasted so bad. A soft voice told me, yes but tried anyway. I took another small sip and passed it along to someone else. That was the first time, I saw a glimpse of daylight since my family and I boarded the boat. It seemed like an eternity in the darkness.
Later that day, the light shined through from the same opening. People were allowed to come up on deck to get fresh air. One after another, people rushed to get out of the pit, as I called it. My brothers, mom, and I weren’t able to reach. My mom was carrying my youngest brother; he was just a toddler then. Someone jumped down from on top and took us kids up one by one and lifted us onto the deck.
I got my first breath; the fresh open air filled my lung so quickly that it hurt. I felt a boost of energy. We were then allowed to stay above, seemingly safe from danger. I looked out onto the ocean and as far as my eyes could see, all that surrounded us was the deep, dark ocean. No birds or land in site.
As evening came, someone yelled out to get everyone below. Once more, we were rushed down into the dark, smelly, pit of hell. Everyone was told to keep silent. A lady sitting next to me was pregnant and had a toddler. The toddler wasn’t feeling well and started to cry. Up above the deck, someone hushed us and told us all to keep the kids quiet. This lady had to quiet her child by using her hand to cover her toddler’s mouth. She held her child close to her body. It seemed like hours. The engine grew louder as it strained for more power. The smell of engine oil burning became even stronger and almost unbearable. The boat rocked violently from side to side with such force that people were thrown one on top of another.
Soon I heard voices but I couldn’t recognize what was being said. I heard a lot of commotion above me, but I couldn’t see anything but darkness. Someone opened the hatch from where we were hiding below and spoke out. I still couldn’t understand what that person was saying. Another voice said, “It’s OK, come on up.” People slowly climbed out one by one, all of them frightened. When it was my turn, I remember a pair of large arms grabbed me and pulled me up. I was passed to another person. I must have blacked out.
When I came to, I was on a big ship. Later I learned it was a World Vision missionary ship. People were talking strange, I couldn’t understand word. I found myself wearing a strange think woven sheet around me. Someone passed me some French biscuits (cookies). I received several shots in the arm. They directed me to follow the crowd towards our boat. There was more turmoil back and forth from those on our boat with those on the ship. Women from our boat started crying, which led us kids to also cry. In the end, unwillingly, we had no choice but to board our smaller boat. The ship departed but followed us for a time. Morning came and evening came. We felt lost and abandoned. The rescue ship long since disappeared. As our boat traveled on the open ocean, seemingly aimless, I saw wood planks floating very close to our boat. First there was one, then another and then even more. People started to worry. Then the captain on our boat yelled out, “I see land ahead.” The mood on our boat changed from one of doom to one of relief. The boat grounded. Those who could got off the boat and assisted the others to shore. They carried women and children on their backs. Once on dry land, I rememebered looking back and watching the boat sink into the sea. We were stranded.
To be continued... see Part Two
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Best practices in document imaging was defined by large, clunky and expensive scanners for images and optical jukeboxes for storage. In the early 2000s centralized scanning and research was the norm due to limitations in networking technology and the associated hardware costs.
Desktop computing has morphed into notebook computers and mobile devices. Every year American businesses generate over 2 trillion documents. At our current rate of information exchange that number will increase every three years. On the average, a community bank manager can spend 30 minutes to three hours a day (or three months per year) searching for documents.
Internal intranets have replaced local area networks as the preferred method for businesses, including community banks, to share information. This translates into many more documents and many new document types for banks to manage. To deal with the increases in content, document imaging and Computer Output Laser Disk (COLD) has been replaced by Enterprise Content Management (ECM).
More documents to manage on internet time means availability and access to documents must be fast and secure. Lower-priced scanners and the proliferation of multifunction printers make it easier to capture documents at their source. Add privacy policies, ever increasing regulation and compliance pressure, compel community banks to use ECM effectively to manage their documents. Best practices for an ECM system must address several key areas.
A successful implementation of ECM means the bank employee must find the software easy to use. An ECM application using the ubiquitous browser is a good choice for searching for documents. Who isn’t familiar with the internet browser? This reduces the bank’s cost and the time to train employees, especially in areas of high turnover. It can be as easy as the “Back” button. To compete and to communicate effectively in our new world, documents must be easily accessible to bank employees from a multitude of sources. Today many documents are “born digital,” where documents include e-mail and e-mail attachments, text, Web content, word processing documents (such as board minutes and spreadsheets for accounting), digital photos and video.
Fresh off the presses, this post also appears as an article titled "Imaging Horsepower" that appears in September 2010 ICBA Magazine. It emphasizes best practices and it certainly plays to our strengths! Warning, it's a yawn if you're not looking to add ECM or improve your current ECM solution.
The Web is always on. Bank customers have online banking and can bank anywhere and at anytime. Bank employees need access to customer documents too, anywhere and anytime. With ECM software a bank employee in a branch could retrieve an image of their ID or Signature card for identification purposes. If there was no ID on file they could scan it locally, at their desk. They could take an application for a loan, scan the application and ID to an electronic folder, notifying the credit department to process the application, get it approved and back to the branch employee to complete the loan. This can reduce the chance of fraud, satisfy regulatory compliance, such as the USA Patriot Act and save the customer time.
An ECM product can also employ an eSignature application which allows bank customers to eSign deposit and loan documents. Instead of printing to a laser printer the print job is sent to the eSignature application. All pages appear on the display for signing on a digitizing pad or tablet PC. One major advantage to an eSignature solution is the capability to predefine all signature areas, initials and number of signers on a document or document set. The signing process cannot be completed until all signatures and initials have been completed. This saves time, especially if the bank employee has conducted the signing at the bank customer’s home or office.
eSignature can eliminate or substantially reduces printing costs. The bank’s eSigned copy is automatically stored to the ECM archive. The customer can opt to receive the eSigned documents by e-mail, on a thumb drive or the documents can still be printed after the signing. eSignature comes with the added benefit that bank documents no longer need to be printed, signed and then scanned into the ECM archive. This saves both time and money.
Community banks rely heavily on IT for the latest and greatest technology necessary to compete with larger banks and comply with ever increasing government regulation. An ECM application that is easy to deploy (one click installation) and receives unattended updates via a secure Web server is ideal for a busy IT department. ECM applications, once written for the desktop PC (legacy applications), are now written for the Web. Today’s ECM platform should include one-click technology to deploy the ECM application across the enterprise to multiple locations easily and efficiently. Again, time and money saved.
Many community bank branches have invested in multifunction printers, which include the ability to scan documents. An ECM system can compatible with MFP devices is a plus. The availability of bar-coded documents from most new account and loan origination vendors make scanned documents easier to identify and archive. Documents can be captured (imaged) in the branch, then indexed and store centrally by the ECM system and accessed by any user across the enterprise who has been given the rights to access them.
The ability to drag and drop “born digital” documents into the ECM system, easily identify and file these documents from a multitude of sources is essential.
Some would argue making documents available via the browser is risky. Which is more secure? A file folder on someone’s desk or encrypted documents in a secure file folder stored on a secure server in a secure location accessible only via a private network? Many community banks have multiple lines of business, which require multiple levels of document security. For example, someone in new accounts may not be allowed to access loan documents. Other personnel may need to access both new accounts and loan documents but only customer related documents. They may need to be restricted from access to employee only documents and human resources. With an ECM system, multiple layers of user security down to the document level is possible. Only the persons that have been given the rights to view the document can view it.
Internal audits as well as audits from state and federal governments can be conducted much more quickly and efficiently with ECM. An ECM system that employs document tracking allows the bank to define which documents are needed for every type of deposit or loan transaction. Document tracking can determine if all the associated documents have been archived or if documents are missing. Reminders are created and e-mail or printed notices are sent when a recurring document (such as financial statements or certificates of insurance) is needed. If documents are missing reports, notices are sent to the responsible bank employees and managers. Logs show an audit trail.
Your ECM vendor must produce and keep current, a vendor management package. The package must include information such as SAS70 certification, audited financials, a security agreement, acceptable use policy, password policy, termination policy and a disaster recovery plan, to name a few documents and policies required by community banks from their ECM vendor.
An ECM system should include a log that will record when a document has been viewed, printed, e-mailed or whether a document has been revised. It will display by default the current version of the document and also keep older revisions. Document retention policies can be set on each document type as to the length of time the documents are will be viewable, when they are moved to long term archive or when they are destroyed.
Documents will not be moved or destroyed without the administrator of the ECM system being notified and given the option to change the document(s) status. Any eSigned document that is altered will cause the eSignature to be replaced by a large red “X” in the signature areas.
A co-location facility is recommended to be either manned by a third-party provider with the technical skills to back up your mission critical applications and be located within one day’s vehicle travel from the primary facility. Community banks that may not be able to take advantage of the latest ECM technology due to cost or lack of IT resources can employ an ECM solution from a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider. Most SaaS models will include disaster recovery which essential to an ECM deployment in today’s world of regulation, compliance and security.
ECM software can cut down on the cost of printing, reprinting, faxing, postage and courier runs. If everyone across the enterprise has the ability to view the documents they need, there is no need to keep “shadow” copies of the documents and files in multiple locations. This saves money and also makes for good press. Community banks that already have a “Go Green” initiative or wish to implement one can say with confidence their ECM product saves trees.
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It’s time to put the brakes on government spending. The road to recovery lies with the success of small businesses, not with behemoth car companies and big labor. If we were going to bailout anyone, we should have bailed out the car dealerships and auto supply companies to allow them to remarket, retool and invest in new technologies. We should be growing our tax base, which is only going to happen if we fuel the small business private sector. Speaking of which, why are we not doing more to grow and keep promising small business technology companies and their technology jobs in the USA, where our best talent and our best jobs can remain right here at home?
"You will find men who want to be carried on the shoulders of others, who think that the world owes them a living. They don't seem to see that we must all lift together and pull together." Henry Ford
We have Bill Gates and Microsoft, Larry Ellison and Oracle; and Eric Schmidt and Google, not to mention a plethora of phenomenal technology and software companies that started from nothing and today generate thousands upon thousands of high paying private sector jobs and tax revenues, all “Made in the USA.”
What’s more, most technology companies, in particular software companies, do little to harm our ecology (true green); they do not tax our ports, our roads, our bridges or our rail. This reduces our carbon footprint, while not adding to the tremendous and costly burden on the seemingly never ending and costly construction of our roads and our beleaguered transportation infrastructure.
Competition is increasing dramatically from foreign countries who wish to attract our talent, both foreign and domestic grads educated here in the USA, many getting their higher education with the help of US taxpayer dollars. The number of “propeller heads”, a.k.a., the savvy entrepreneurs and highly skilled workers “Made in the USA”, are leaving for a more favorable business climate or jobs overseas.
Our foreign competitors are offering much lower tax rates and hundreds of thousands of dollars in incentives to technology business startups and to their highly paid - highly skilled employees. They are advertising a better quality of life, improved infrastructure and a lower cost of living. Our foreign competitors recognize what we increasingly take for granted, which is the huge tax and revenue potential from small business startups, in particular in the technology field; with their disproportionately high numbers and high salaries as it pertains to job creation. This is coupled with the minimal impact on their country’s costly transportation infrastructure.
The now and next generation of Bill Gates’, Larry Emerson’s and Eric Schmidt’s may find our politics too ambiguous, too costly and too unimaginative to breed success here in the USA. There are hundreds of thousands of small businesses and entrepreneurs right now who are losing the battle against a poor economy accentuated by high taxes and ever increasing regulation. There are hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurial ventures not even born yet that will never pass the incubation period.
Where should we, the United States of America, concentrate our efforts to keep our existing technology gurus and attract the next generation of “byte heads?” We need to provide education and programs that offer immediate and future tax relief to small businesses and their employees, like a payroll tax holiday. To do this we need to elect government representatives who want less government, who do less for Wall Street, who care less about big government and big union.
We need tech savvy, forward thinking, feet on the ground, “been there, done that” politicians who have missed a few paychecks like the rest of us and who want to do more for small businesses and the working class. Get started by offering existing small businesses and their employees, tax relief with a payroll tax holiday of 6 months or more. Offer new business start-ups, especially technology and software businesses who are Made in the USA and who are 1) less impactful on our transportation infrastructure; 2) provide green technologies; and 3) provide the high end wage earners, which is our future tax base, lower taxes and less government to stay and grow their businesses here in the USA.
"What's right about America is that although we have a mess of problems, we have great capacity - intellect and resources - to do some thing about them."
Henry Ford
You can save a tree and save money! It’s true. Eliminate paper and you’ll improve the bottom line. It’s also true that if a vendor says they’ll get rid of every scrap of paper in your office you should run the other way!!! “Document nirvana” aside, there are many things your organization can do right now to cut costs, manage compliance and improve access to critical information by eliminating paper from each process.
This is a comment from one of our customers, "How did we ever do business without the ability to retrieve at the stroke of the keyboard every record in our operation instantly without worrying about looking through file cabinets and charts that were outgrowing the space we had in our office? And we had a great filing system compared to other medical operations!”
Document management has been around for years but often people think of it as just scanning checks or old paper archives. In fact, many folks implement a new system but continue to do everything else exactly the same as before. The only difference is that documents are now located inside electronic file folders instead of traditional ones. While that makes it a bit easier to find something, a true document management system is capable of so much more in the drive to become paperless.
Another comment after going paperless, "The purchase of their system has allowed us to no longer store the voluminous amounts of paper that is indigenous to a medical practice. We estimate that the use of the identifi.net system has allowed us to store and instantly retrieve in excess of 1.5 million page equivalents. In the past, we needed 1 full time FTE plus ~1000 sq. ft. of filing/storage space plus the necessary supplies to create tens of thousands of file charts, etc. Additionally, there were immeasurable man-hours in pulling charts/files, looking through them for the applicable data and then copying the information needed. Today, we are able to administer our entire system with 0.20 FTE, no significant material costs, and instantaneous retrieval from every work station in our office. Additional hard disk space was one of our few other costs. We still have a number of lateral files that we would be happy to sell at fire sale prices!" Jeffrey Grossman, KG Health Partners
iDentifi eSign - Advancing the Paperless Office |
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