Nashville Technology Council

A new report out today and a pretty cool infographic show $54B in costs from identity theft in 2009.  The average costs per consumer was $4,841.  Make sure you take basic steps to help protect your identify both on and offline.  For local resources to assist you, check in with Kroll.

Avoid Risks by doing the following:

• Protect SSN
• Shred Sensitive Documents
• Cut up credit cards
• Use anti-virus, phishing software on your home and work computers
• Turn off blue tooth and cell phone devices when not in use
• Change social media passwords frequently
• Setup of low cost netbook or ipad for social media sites and separate from your online banking/investment computer

In this infographic, created by Sam Franada of Lines & Moodswings for KGBPeople and based on data from Wikipedia, the I.D. Theft Center and other sources, we learn that 10% of Americans have had their identities stolen, and on average, each of those individuals lost around $5,000.

Deadline Extended: All entries due February 15, 2011

Submit Now!

CIO magazine is now accepting applications for its 2011 CIO 100 Awards. We’re honoring all the innovative ways that IT can deliver a competitive advantage to the enterprise. Organizations need the edge that technology provides to move ahead. IT makes winners in a lot of ways: it can build better business processes, foster collaboration, get the company closer to existing customers and open up new markets, to name just a few.

If your organization implemented technology innovations that produced measurable results in enabling or leading the way to your business’s greater success, we want to know about them. Tell us about the most interesting and exciting project you’ve led in the past year. For details about the competition and to get an application, visit
http://www.cio.com/cio-awards/cio100

CIO 100 honorees will receive their awards at the annual CIO 100 Symposium & Awards Ceremony, to be held at the The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Aug. 14-16, 2011.  Honorees will also be featured on CIO.com and in the August 2011 issue of CIO magazine.

If you have questions about the CIO 100 Awards or the application, please contact cio100@cio.com.

Regards,

Maryfran Johnson
Editor in Chief
CIO magazine & Events

Schatzie Brunner, keynote speaker, columnist, and coach expertly combines a wealth of warmth, humor, tools, and tips to help anyone Say It So they Listen. For nearly a decade she honed and tested her skills at CNN in Atlanta where she produced programming, booked and interviewed celebrities, wrote and anchored daily news. Schatzie brings her in-demand, do-or-die communication success system to the front lines of today’s businesses. Among the global clients she has served are: Siemens, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Fireman’s Fund Insurance, CHUBB Insurance, Dollar General Corporation, Southern Company, GE, and Georgia Power.

This 2-day seminar consists of a tutorial following “The Mental Map” concept, video taping at the beginning of the seminar and again at the end to critique and evalute, and practice techniques. Along with the detailed curriculum, the participant will receive Schatzie’s book, “Say It So They Listen,” the “Mental Map,” and a DVD with the presentations.

Click here to register

The Tennessean ran a comprehensive story about IT jobs and Training available in the Nashville area.  On the heels of this story is a new release from Global Knowledge about the Top IT Skills in 2011.  The local market in this case is highly reflective of the national trends in all but one area.  We are seeing a growth in Health/Business Analyst that is not mentioned in Global’s newsletter.  Global’s Top IT Skills are as follows:

1. Cloud

2. Programming/Engineering

3. Virtualization

4. Voice

5. Project Management

6. Business Intelligence

7. Security

8. Web 2.0

9. Unified Communications

10. Social Media

Music Council partners with Entrepreneur Center; Join Technology Council at 105 Broadway

Mayor Karl Dean and the Nashville Music Council have formalized an agreement with the newly launched Nashville Entrepreneur Center. This powerful partnership between the Music Council and the NEC will provide unprecedented direct support to local start-ups in digital media and entertainment —taking ideas in their infancy to robust reality.

The 50+ member strong Nashville Music Council, dedicated to cultivating and advancing the ever expanding local music community, together with Mayor Karl Dean have formalized an agreement to work in tandem with Nashville Entrepreneur Center to further nurture and support business ideas with the potential to impact the digital media & music entertainment sector.

To begin, the NEC will hold events for the Music Council. These programs will feature business plan presentations and will enable entrepreneurs to have executive level interaction and feedback. This initiative will have positive impact in both directions—providing productive feedback from industry veterans to the protégées and giving the Music Council access to potentially successful innovation within the industry.

Launched officially in the summer of 2010 with support from private and public funding, and led by Vanderbilt faculty member and accomplished business leader Michael Burcham, Nashville’s Entrepreneur Center is an incubator for ideas and business start-ups targeting four distinct areas for local growth: Healthcare, Technology, Social Enterprise and Digital Media & Entertainment. With over 8,000 square feet of physical space and a staff of successful industry leaders, NEC is the “front door” for new entrepreneurs helping them to navigate the available options and resources. Vetting
hundreds of local business plans at various stages of development, the NEC mentors and provides office space. To a select few, the NEC pairs entrepreneurs with those who can offer term sheets and funding.

Additionally the NEC will sponsor a formal mentoring program for the Music Council that will pair an industry leader with a start-up(s) venture. Each mentor will participate in a comprehensive training program and then will be paired with protégées who possess significant potential. ASCAP president Tim DuBois and former Chairman of Sony Music Nashville Joe Galante have been elected to kick-off the official mentor program Mayor Karl Dean applauds the partnership and adds perspective, “Cities seeking to grow and prosper in the 21st century have to support innovation and entrepreneurism in key industries. The music industry in particular is ripe for new ideas and new business models that will help shape its transition into the digital age. This partnership between the Music Council and the Nashville Entrepreneur Center will help ensure that the future leader and leading ideas of the music industry are being cultivated right here in Nashville.”

On behalf of the Music Council members MaryAnn McCready adds, “The music and entertainment industry is an entrepreneurial business. It makes complete sense for the Music Council to support its local entrepreneurs and the EC is a great vehicle for doing this.”

Michael Burcham, President of the Entrepreneur Center concurs, “We are delighted to announce this partnership with the Music Council. Nashville has a rich history of innovation and leadership in the Music Industry. We look forward to working with the Music Council to help nurture and grow the next generation of music entrepreneurs.”

With number porting available for a limited time on Google Voice, this should really open up this service to the masses.

“We’re continually testing new features to enhance the user experience. For a limited amount of time, we’re making the Google Voice number porting process available to users. We don’t have any additional details to share at this time, but plan to offer this feature to all users in the near future.”

The costs will be $20.  http://www.google.com/voice

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Big news out of Nashville today on the tech scene.  At our annual Membership Meeting, we hosted Mike Svinte, VP of IBM’s Smarter Cities and Healthcare and Alex Gounares, CTO for AOL who was a substitute for AOL CEO Tim Armstrong (ice issues in New York City this morning).  Mike provided a great overview of innovation and what he believes will be the core issues facing us in the next decade.  Alex shared insight of AOL’s strategy on the media front, including a call for Python programmers for StudioNow.  AOL is building an engineering center here in Nashville based around video technologies on Music Row.

While a majority of Nashville’s technology leadership were being educated at Trevecca today, Rockhouse Partners was sold to Etix.  PureSafety acquired Occupational Health Research out of Maine.  Bridgestone and Brookdale were both in the news on different fronts.  It feels pretty good to be in technology and in Nashville.

TIM ARMSTRONG OF AOL AND MIKE SVINTE OF IBM ADDRESS NASHVILLE TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL

NASHVILLE – The Nashville Technology Council presents its annual Membership Meeting “Smarter Planet, Smarter You” on Tuesday, January 18, on the campus of Trevecca Nazarene University. Addressing this year’s membership meeting will be opening speaker Mike Svinte, Vice President of Smarter Cities and Healthcare for IBM, and keynote speaker Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL.

This members only event is sold out.  For more information, visit http://www.technologycouncil.com/

What: 2011 Nashville Technology Council Membership Meeting: Smarter Planet, Smarter You

When: Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Who: Tim Armstrong, CEO and Chairman, AOL and Mike Svinte, Vice President of Smarter Cities and Healthcare, IBM

Where: Trevecca University, Boone Business Building

333 Murfreesboro Road
Nashville, TN 37210-2877

From time to time, we feature contributions on the Council Newswire from our members.  Today, Avaya’s Cary Bush comments on working “smarter” with social media in 2011 and a tool at hand that can help us all improve business collaboration.

Learn more ways you and your company can contribute to a smarter planet and smarter Nashville at our Membership Meeting on Tuesday, January 18th!

The ability to stay “top of mind” with our customers and clients has taken a huge leap with the various social media resources available today (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc). There are so many ways to “get your point across” that it is easy wonder where to begin. Those of us in the technology industry have a bit of a head start as these tools were created in our own backyard, but even with this jump on the rest of the world, our traditional means of communications processes can slow down with what, and how, we adopt and implement these technologies.

Process is key to any winning strategy, and is true here as well. Simply jumping “online” with the latest application widget does not necessarily mean we will be front and center. For these tools to be both informative and productive, each business needs to understand how their core customer base communicates, and develop a combination strategy that best fits those needs. I would submit that in order to bridge the gap between business collaboration and social media, each business (and even business units within a company) needs to identify exactly what that gap is (it will be largely different depending on your line of work).

Many application companies have put forth attempts to consolidate the media… making it more collaborative and user friendly. Avaya has developed a very unique tool in the Flare Experience. This software solution is purpose built around the way businesses work, with intuitive touch screen interface, document and data sharing, HD video and voice, and “pooling” contacts from various media (including the usual suspects in social media) into a “contextual” experience. More software and application companies are developing integration tools continually, so it will be interesting to look back to see what solutions actually become the match-makers between social media and true business collaboration.

We have heard this a lot, but we must work “smarter”, and to do this we need to apply technologies that are in sync with our core competencies. If all we do is setup a company Facebook page or Tweet about our last trip to Starbucks, we aren’t fully utilizing the tools that are available. Knowing where our prospects go to find out about or research something they need is the first step toward building a collaboration process that benefits both parties.

- Cary Bush