Tim Phelan's Tech in Perspective

Tech in Perspective - Living a Balanced Life

Technology

5 Ways Technology Consulting Firms Benefit from ERP Partnerships

By

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, technology consulting firms are vital in helping organizations adapt to digital transformation. One crucial aspect of this process is enterprise resource planning (ERP), which enables companies to manage core business functions efficiently. Technology consulting firms can form strategic partnerships with ERP publishers to enhance their ERP offerings. This blog post will explore five ways technology consulting firms can benefit from these partnerships.

1. Access to Cutting-Edge Technology

By partnering with an ERP publisher, technology consulting firms gain access to the latest advancements in ERP technology. This enables them to offer their clients innovative solutions and stay ahead of the competition. Close collaboration with the ERP publisher allows technology consulting firms to gain insights into the product roadmap, future enhancements, and upcoming features. This knowledge helps them provide comprehensive and up-to-date advice to their clients.

2. Expert Training and Support

Working closely with an ERP publisher provides technology consulting firms with expert training and support. The ERP publisher offers in-depth training sessions, webinars, and certification programs for consultants, enabling them to enhance their skills and stay updated with the evolving ERP landscape. Additionally, direct support from the ERP publisher ensures that consultants can quickly resolve any technical issues or challenges faced during implementation or support activities, leading to a seamless client experience.

3. Marketing and Sales Support

A partnership with an ERP publisher allows technology consulting firms to leverage the publisher’s marketing and sales resources. Consulting firms can reach a broader audience, generate more leads, and increase brand visibility by collaborating on marketing efforts. The ERP publisher can provide sales guidance, collateral, and access to potential clients, strengthening the consulting firm’s sales capabilities. This collaboration helps attract new clients and expand the consulting firm’s customer base.

4. Enhancing Consulting Portfolio

Technology consulting firms can enhance their portfolio through an ERP partnership by offering a comprehensive range of ERP services. This enables them to meet the diverse needs of their clients, whether it be ERP implementation, customization, integration, or post-implementation support. With access to various ERP modules and add-ons, consulting firms can tailor solutions according to their client’s specific requirements, ultimately providing more value.

5. Competitive Advantage

Partnering with an ERP publisher gives technology consulting firms a competitive edge in the market. By aligning themselves closely with a renowned ERP brand, consulting firms can build a reputation as trusted experts in ERP technology. This association enhances their credibility and differentiates them from other consulting firms. Furthermore, technology consulting firms can capitalize on the ERP publisher’s brand reputation, leveraging it to attract new clients and secure long-term business partnerships.

In conclusion, forming partnerships with ERP publishers offers numerous benefits for technology consulting firms. The advantages are manifold, from accessing cutting-edge technology and receiving expert training to leveraging marketing and sales support, enhancing consulting portfolios, and gaining a competitive advantage. These partnerships empower consulting firms to deliver exceptional ERP services, stay at the forefront of industry advancements, and ultimately drive business growth.

13 Apps For Kids With Special Needs

By

My son was diagnosed with autism just over 18 years ago. We were not alone. Today, nearly 1 in 59 families are affected by autism. We struggled to find the best tools to help him develop necessary life skills. From practical to educational, technology has come a long way for special needs children on the spectrum and their families. Here are 13 apps for special needs to support your child and help you overcome some of the day-to-day challenges.

Communication Tools:   

  1. LetMeTalk (AppNotize): If your loved one is nonverbal due to autism, Asperger’s, aphasia, speech apraxia, cerebral palsy, ALS, or down syndrome, the LetMeTalk app turns any Android phone into an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device. Users can select from more than 9,000 images to add to their personal vocabulary profile and create sentences. Several profiles can be maintained, with language support in more than a dozen languages, including English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Chinese. (Cost: Free)
  2. ProLoQuo2Go (Assistive Ware): This AAC application comes with a hefty price-tag, but users say it’s worth it, as an effective and one-of-a-kind communication tool between students, teachers, and parents. The app works by choosing a username and communication level ranging from all customized, single word communication, or sentence building. The six-by-six grid is easily customizable to suit your child’s needs and preferences. (Cost: $250)

Scheduling & Productivity Tools:

  1. ToDo Visual Schedule (Enuma, Inc.): This Apple Watch compatible scheduler helps those with autism begin to understand responsibility with a visual guide to the day’s agenda. Unique event icons on a vertical timeline, along with a checklist breakdown of steps within each icon, help children understand what they should be doing in the moment, with notice about what’s coming next. (Cost: $12.99)
  2. ChoiceWorks (Bee Visual): Help children with: scheduling, waiting, and feelings. Kids can devise and stick to a timed routine, build patience by passing the time with an activity, and consider options when feeling upset. Customization options let you upload photos and audio for a more personalized experience. (Cost: $6.99) 
  3. DayCape (Daimonic Creations AB): This free scheduling app is geared toward Kindergarten through Fifth Grade, with personal or preset images for each daily activity. Notifications can be set to alert children to upcoming activities. The app aids with attentiveness, communication, hygiene, responsibility, and problem-solving. (Cost: Free) 
  4. Habitica (HabitRPG Inc.): Over 3 million users can’t be wrong, can they? HabitRPG gamifies life by offering incentives for doing chores, completing personal hygiene or fitness activities, and accomplishing self-set goals for school or work. Role players defeat “monsters” and “level up” their avatars with sweet gear and random prizes when they achieve their daily tasks. A collaborative social aspect lets users interact with and motivate one another. (Cost: Free, with in-app purchasing) 

Problem-Solving Tools:

  1. Birdhouse (Birdhouse LLC): Friendship Circle rated Birdhouse one of the “Top 10 Special Needs Apps” for caregivers. Thousands of parents use the app to organize notes regarding behavior, nutrition, health, schedules, sleep cycles, medications, and progress in therapy. Identifying triggers and patterns is easier than ever, with shareable results to keep spouses and medical staff in-the-loop. (Cost: Free)
  2. Question Builder (Mobile Education Store Inc.): Question Builder is geared toward kids ages 4-12 who are learning to identify the “who, what, where, why, when, and how” in a given situation. Caregivers can choose from three different levels that give kids three to five different choices to answer questions based on inferencing and comprehension. (Cost: $5.99) 

Reading Tools:

  1. Voice Dream Reader (Voice Dream LLC): Reinforce reading training by importing books, web pages, PDFs, power points, word docs, and Dropbox documents for your child to read aloud. The built-in dictionary aids with comprehension, while a translation feature helps those learning new languages. Sync books with Apple Watch to combine reading with physical exercise. Customization options let the user select a voice, font, and pace. Students can read along with highlighted text or lock the screen and listen. (Cost: $9.99, with in-app purchasing)
  2. The Monster At The End of This Book (Sesame Street): Reading has never been so fun and downright hilarious! Narrated by Grover, one of Sesame Street’s most lovable monsters, this read-along book contains visual cues to relay different emotions and comes with questions that parents can ask while reading to ensure comprehension. Grover begs readers NOT to turn the page, as he fears “the monster at the end of the book,” but kids can’t resist but slash every rope and smash through every wall to overcome the muppet’s best defenses and force him to face the inevitable. (Cost: $4.99 or free on Kindle FreeTime)  

Skill-Building Tools:

  1. Bugs and Buttons (Little Bit Studio): Fun and whimsical, Bugs and Buttons improves motor skills like tapping, pinching, dragging, and tilting, while focusing on activities involving counting, critical thinking, pattern recognition, memory, hand-eye coordination, and sorting. Among the 18 activities, kids can play tic-tac-toe with a dragonfly or build beautiful patterns out of buttons and yarn. Unlike many lower-priced apps, this one thankfully does not include third-party advertising or in-app purchases. (Cost: $2.99)
  2. Dexteria (BinaryLabs Inc.): Improve motor skills, handwriting, coordination, and focus with short, engaging activities. This app is used by occupational therapists for special needs children and adults recovering from stroke, and is supported by Huntington University research. (Cost: $5.99, with in-app purchasing)
  3. Toca Boca (Toca Boca AB): Through an interactive and imaginative game, children role play storekeeper and customer, while learning about making purchase choices, cooperating, counting with money, negotiating, turn-taking, following directions, and managing resources. The kid-friendly interface is guided by cute animations at your child’s pace, with no intrusive third-party advertising, in-app purchases, or stressful rules. (Cost: $0.99)

Screen time is not the enemy. When apps are selected with care and used collaboratively, they can be empowering and bring a household together. For us, technology has been a game-changer that allowed us a new channel to connect with our son. Like every kid these days, he of course knows the technology better than we could ever hope (I think he reprogrammed the clock on my VCR!!!). 

3 Must-Have App Links for Children with Autism

By

I love technology.  I also love my boys.  My eldest son was diagnosed with Autism at 3.5, fifteen years ago last month.  He is a joy and has a spark about him that I wish I could muster.  Medical technology is advancing faster than ever.  Soon we will have quantum computing power, which, in tandem with Big Data initiatives, means the opportunities for breakthroughs in cost of care, quality of care, and in the essential research to find cures, diagnoses, and effective treatments will advance exponentially.

As fast as those advances may come, however, autism is more common than ever. According to the Autism Society’s Facts and Statistics page, “Prevalence has increased by 6-15 percent each year from 2002 to 2010. (Based on biennial numbers from the CDC).” It is likely going to be some time before science can determine causes, treatments, and hopefully cures. There are a wide-ranging, wonderful technological resources available to assist children and adults with Autism and those that assist them.  Here are the 3 resources that we’ve used the most and had success:

Autism Speaks Autism Speaks Capture

 

The most well-known Autism awareness and fundraising organization in the United States, Autism Speaks has an exhaustive wiki-style (list where anyone can contribute applications they have seen or used) list of apps for an array of devices that is enables you to filter and search.  There are over 600 apps for pcs, macs, iOS, and Android.  The beautiful part is that the list is constantly being updated.

 

Parenting.com  

Parents Magazine’s online site has an excellent article about iPad apps for children with Autism by Jeana Lee Tahnk, titled 14 Expert-Recommended iPad Autism Apps.  Tahnk makes a great point in her story that just as Autism is truly a spectrum, so too do the apps and appropriateness vary tremendously, “there is no silver bullet solution when it comes to apps, and each child will benefit from different apps for different reasons.”

 

 

Apple

Apart from their devices, Apple also sponsors the Apple Distinguished Educators Program which funds the development of innovative methods, technologies and applications for all children to learn. They also have a focus on Autism, Apps for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders.

CaptureApple

My son has an iPhone. Among other things, this means that I will always know the score to the game, any game, and at any time because he knows how to find them and knows all too well how to text!  I laugh about that when I get updates on Canadian Football and NASCAR, but it is our thing—that place where we connect and all is right.  I hope this is helpful to those parents that have children diagnosed with Autism.  I will try to pull together all my notes over the years and assemble a list of things we tried and liked or left.  Make it a great day!

5 Techie Ways to Get More Connected to Your Community

By

In the season of resolutions, so many of us seek balance with all of the people, things and tasks that require our attention. Connecting with others gives us new perspectives, makes us feel part of something bigger, and often enables us to pursue and share our passions (remember those?). Whether cross country skiing, politics, chess or business startups are your bailiwick, here are five ways you can harness technology to connect to your community.

community
Coffee Party USA-https://www.flickr.com/photos/coffeepartyusa/

  1. Meetup.com – founded in 2001, “Meetup’s mission is to revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize. Meetup believes that people can change their personal world, or the whole world, by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful enough to make a difference” (http://www.meetup.com/about/). What, there is no meetup group for sausage making enthusiast? You can start one yourself! I often will look at the “calendar” section which shows every meetup group that has upcoming events, not just the one I am already subscribed—broadening my horizons and connection!

 

  1. Facebook – yes, Facebook seems to have become that place in the ether where we post our children’s, our pets’, and own accomplishments and outstanding moments. Oh, I should not forget all of the entertaining animal videos and the ability to stalk one’s ex. Facebook’s “surreality” is a topic for an entire post itself. Yet, it can be a valuable tool to stay connected with the community. Firstly, you can “follow” a person, place or company that has shared vfacebookalues, things you enjoy and events (and yes, I love pancakes). Secondly, you can view events near you from your home page. Click on “Events” and you will have a number of options: to create an event; to see all events happening near you this week; and even see who is going to an event (and register yourself so others know). This is a great way to see what concerts, art exhibits, comedy shows, and charitable events are upcoming. Finally, you can virtually connect to things, places, establishments, schools and even governments by again following them and then participating via comments in discussions that arise. Just remember that this is real life and you may run into people with whom you interact and comment. This is a great icebreaker, and can also be awkward: “oh, so you are Tim Phelan….”

 

  1. Go old school, but in a technologically savvy way – most all newspapers, local periodicals, churches and event venues have an online “upcoming events” section. Spent a few minutes to scan these for things that may interest you. In some cases, you can subscribe to a newsletter or even a RSS feed to keep you up to date. If you are so inclined and lead a life of leisure, go ahead and do the online crossword and Sudoku while you are at it.

 

  1. Yonder – For those of you like me that spend entirely too much time staring at a computer screen, Yonder is an excellent way to connect with others and get a little (or a whole lot) of exercise in the process. Yonder is an app available for iOS and Android that brings together people and the outdoor adventures they share. It covers a wide range of activities: backpacking, biking, birding, camping, geocaching (got me), hiking, horseback riding, skiing, all sorts of water sports and even yoga. You can share your adventures with pictures, instructions, comments and Yonder links out to the websites of where you were (state park, city, etc…). It is awesome for planning an adventure—or in my case a hike— because you get first hand experiences to give you what no brochure or map book dare say. In addition, people comment on your adventures and likewise. Through this dialog you can meet people who share your outdoor passion, perhaps outdoor geocaching yoga in the rain (I like pina coladas!).

 

  1. Teach – yes seriously! if you have a slant towards geekiness—hey geek is the new cool, then you have something to share. Churches, schools, companies, chambers of commerce, rotary clubs, etc… are always looking for content to add value to their membership. Have you made money on Etsy or Ebay? Maybe you have three teenaged boys and you spend most of your life trying to control and make safe a myriad of electronics that connect to the internet (ouch, that was a little close to home)? Have you fallen for so many scams that you know how to spot them? Or, perhaps a little advice on online courtesy in forums and commenting (Dad, all caps does not make it easier to read!)? Millennials and kids these days electronically communicate information seamlessly, without regard to location, culture or backgrounds. How do we “internet immigrants” who still remember baud rates learn the latest and greatest? Whether it is writing a blog, submitting articles to local papers and periodicals, or speaking to groups, you can add value to your community and become more connected today.

 

I love this quote from Brené Brown, “I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.” Connection brings about perspective, purpose and most often balance to our lives. Using these five tools—and there are unaccountably more—2016 will be the year that my electronics enhance my sense of being a part of a community rather than isolating. You game? Please share other apps, sites, tools have you used and make it a great 2016!