Inside ASI-AP

Week 8

It was a short week with Monday being a public holiday.

I spent a fair bit of time this week going through some iMIS 15 pricing scenarios with Marty and Fred. This is working out the conversions from concurrent users to named users. I defined some guidelines for US Customer Care staff on when to talk to me for decisions and when an RM needs to be involved. As US Customer Care crosses regions, this is a new thing which did not present itself in the AP operation. ASI US is expanding its hosting operations – most notably taking over the ISG operations this week. So I wrote up some benefits/reasons a customer would want to host with us so that staff had some points of differentiation when talking with customers looking at other external hosting options in the US.

This week Steven Weinstein (from Austin) who visited AP last year to cover over Lap’s holidays was in Alexandria for the ISG hosting move to ASI. He stayed in the condo – but due to the hours required for the move was out most of the time.

Friday I had drinks with some people I met at the committee dinner last week with Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy. We went to an Irish pub in King Street about 6 blocks from the condo. Also met one of their friends who works at another association – they used to use iMIS but moved to another product in the last 12 months. I asked her why? She said iMIS couldn’t import/export data to their website. I explained that is not best practise and not based a ‘one database’ principal - on which iMIS is based. She wasn’t the decision-maker but it shows communicating our message with customers requires constant, personal contact at many levels of the organisation.

Saturday I had a slow day, and went to a school fete (fair) with Carol Behm to see her husband’s band play (see picture – Randy is playing the keyboard left of pic). It was a warm day but the band was great! The previous band was okay too, even though Carol told me they weren’t – so music is in the ear of the listener :) – got a good fete hotdog too.

Sunday was really quiet because it was raining. I had planned on a bike ride but it was not to be. It is the first weekend without a ride since I got the bike. Watched some TV and then Steven and I went to King Street for lunch at Hard Times cafe. Ross arrived in the afternoon after taking a long 1.5 hour tour of hotels that a shuttle ride will do. I met him at the hotel and he had a TV dinner for lunch at the condo. Later I took him to Mai Tei – Thai restaurant at King Street. I took some pics of Ross outside the Alexandria council building, George Washington’s ‘town house’.