Westchester Receives Top Honors for ‘Intellectual Capital’ Marketing Campaign from NYS EDC

The Westchester County Office of Economic Development took top honors for its groundbreaking “Intellectual Capital” marketing campaign at the New York State Economic Development Council’s (NYSEDC) annual meeting held May 26 in Cooperstown.
  
The County Office of Economic Development won the top prize in its class for each of the three categories in which it was entered, including Best Development Brochure, Best Printed Advertising Material and Best Website. The annual awards recognize achievements in business marketing among the state's leading economic development organizations.

Under the leadership of Laurence P. Gottlieb, the County’s Director of Economic Development, the Westchester County Office of Economic Development initiated an innovative branding campaign last fall that is focused on Westchester’s highly skilled and educated workforce.

At the center of the branding platform is the trademarked slogan “Westchester County – New York’s Intellectual Capital.” The print ads feature elements of people’s everyday lives – a picket fence, a coffee cup, and someone’s own hand – adorned with complex mathematical, chemical and engineering formulas. In the ad featuring the coffee cup, the headline reads “In Westchester, brilliance happens all the time.” The marketing campaign was created and implemented by Thompson & Bender, a full service public relations and advertising agency in Briarcliff Manor.

“We are very proud and honored to have received this prestigious award and statewide recognition for our marketing and branding campaign. The campaign has clearly positioned Westchester County as ‘New York’s Intellectural Capital‘ and plays to our strengths in today’s hot growth sectors of biotech, finance, health care, information technology and green technologies,” said Mr. Gottlieb.

“Economic development remains a cornerstone of my administration, so these awards – judged by our peers from across the state – reaffirm that Westchester is taking a bold, aggressive approach to retaining and attracting businesses to the county,” stated Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino. “Congratulations to Economic Development Director Larry Gottlieb, and the creative agency Thompson & Bender, for a job well done.”

Initial Findings of 2011 Architectural Study Show Signs of Recovery

DiCicco, Gulman & Company LLP (DGC) of Woburn, Mass., a CPA and business consulting firm specializing in the architecture and engineering (A&E) industry, has released initial findings of its 2011 Architectural Study. The annual survey benchmarks financial performance based on input from over 30 prominent firms in the Greater Boston marketplace. The study contains some of the most comprehensive, historical data available for New England firms.

This year’s study is evidence that the A&E industry is beginning to rebound. On average, firms saw approximately 7.5% of their net fees drop to the bottom line compared to last year when the average firm realized a meager 0.4% of net fees, with half of the firms operating at a loss. The DGC 2011 Architectural Study reports that the average utilization of A&E firms for 2010 increased to 61.5% after dropping to 58.9% in 2009, the lowest chargeability rate on record. The direct labor billing multiple is a healthy 3.23, however, this may be artificially high when compared to historical trends because of the impact of pay cuts. Average total hourly wage rates were relatively flat in 2010 compared to 2009.

In addition, project pricing continues to be a challenge as some firms have sought to “buy” work with lower rates. There was a slight decrease in average billing rates during 2010. It will be difficult for firms to return to historical profit levels until we see more improvement in the utilization rate, which is still low at 61.5%. As a result, firms have continued to run very lean and this will likely continue until the industry sees more consistent improvement. 

“All in all, it’s encouraging,” said David M. Sullivan, the partner in charge of the A&E group at DGC. “Recovery may be slow, but we believe the worst is behind us.”

"Going forward, firms will need to evaluate their strategies,” adds Chad DaGraca, a principal in the A&E group at DGC. “They will need to think about their business model, the types of markets they are in, and how they can leverage their talent and resources to give them a competitive edge.”

The DGC Architectural Study highlights the firm’s expertise and in-depth knowledge of the architecture and engineering industries. DGC experts analyze financial data from prominent firms in the Greater Boston region, focusing on operational performance metrics and identifying emerging trends. Elements of the study will be discussed at DGC’s upcoming A&E Summit on June 9 at the Westin Waltham. For details, visit www.dgccpa.com/aesummit.

Bridge the Culture Gap Between Commercial & Federal Markets

The language of federal contracting is frequently obscure and nearly impossible to interpret.
•   Federal buying rules and contract compliance requirements are burdensome and littered with red tape.
•   Government contracting officers need to demonstrate that bidding is competitive; how to avoid being nit-picked to death during negotiations is a mystery to most companies.
•   The mindset of buyers for the federal government is quite different from that of people making buying decisions in the commercial sector.
•   Proposal writing decisions--when to bid, how to price, what elements are required to ensure your effort is considered “responsive” and compliant—make it a different world than commercial proposal writing.
•   Once you have a contract with the federal government, figuring out the reporting requirements, how to stay in contract compliance, and which contract clauses are important and which you can more or less ignore is difficult to discern without guidance.

Fedmarket's 2-day federal sales and contracting survival camp teaches the fundamentals of how to succeed in the federal marketplace.

Designed for executives and sales managers, this full-immersion course covers all of the critical elements of federal sales and contracting. The goal of the 2-day event is to provide you with core knowledge about the federal market: the pluses and minuses of market entry, sales are made, and what works and what doesn't. Topics presented in one hour segments include:

•   Federal sales strategies and how they differ from the commercial market.
•   Opportunity identification and sales planning
•   The new trend toward multi-vendor contacts
•   Small business preference programs: Who qualifies, and how to qualify
•   GSA schedule contracts--the small business route to federal sales
•   Contract risks and how to avoid them
•   Cost accounting requirements
•   Proposal writing: It’s a unique game and how to play it
•   Proposal pricing, contract types and how to price them
•   Security clearances, who may get them and how
•   Bid protests: When and when not to protest

Summer 2011 Special - Free SharePoint 2010 consulting to customize SharePoint

Award winning SharePoint 2010 consulting firm ConvergePoint (http://www.convergepoint.com), announces the summer 2011 special free no obligation SharePoint consulting session aimed solely at organizations looking to develop SharePoint 2010 intranets, customize SharePoint portals and & SharePoint extranets to address specific business needs.

Summer 2011 is finally here. The free SharePoint consulting session is specially designed for organizations to talk with expert SharePoint consultants to determine how best to customize SharePoint & InfoPath. ConvergePoint SharePoint consultants are experts in Microsoft Office SharePoint™ 2010 and InfoPath™ 2010 technologies. Our customers have leveraged our extensive experience in developing SharePoint workflow & SharePoint web part enabled business collaboration tools that allow for creating, gathering, sharing and approval of information across the organization.

Businesses looking to develop highly efficient collaborative Microsoft SharePoint Portals and Microsoft SharePoint Intranets for their business users, customers and vendors are strongly recommended to consider the special summer offer from experienced SharePoint consultants at Converge Point.

Founded in 2002, New York headquartered  ConvergePoint partners with organizations to perform SharePoint related business process analysis, plan SharePoint migration strategies, install SharePoint servers, architect SharePoint site structures, customize SharePoint to confirm to marketing & branding guidelines, develop business SharePoint business applications and deploy SharePoint to business users in a cost effective manner.

June 22 Seminar to Help Businesses Understand, Comply with Employment Laws

For many businesses, employment laws are an alphabet soup of acronyms, bureaucratic minutiae and incomprehensible legalese. Unfortunately, what employers don’t know about these laws can hurt them.

A June 22 seminar at Jannsen + Company, “Employment Laws - What Should You Know?,” will provide an overview of important state and federal employment laws, cutting through regulatory jargon and legal language to explain how they really affect businesses. The 8 a.m. seminar will also address recent regulatory changes and pending employment legislation.

“Employment Laws – What Should You Know?” will be held at the Jannsen Center, W239-N3490 Pewaukee Road (southeast corner of Capitol Drive and Highway 164), Pewaukee. The seminar cost is $25. Interested attendees should call (262) 513-9292 or e-mail marketing@jannsen.com to reserve a spot.

Ann Mazer, a veteran human resources consultant with more than 15 years’ experience helping employers, will lead the seminar. Mazer, who joined Jannsen + Company in 2006, is recognized as a Senior Professional of Human Resources by the Human Resources Certification Institute.

“Employment laws and regulations are constantly changing, and it’s understandably difficult for many employers to keep up with them,” Mazer said. “This seminar’s goal is to help businesses understand the primary laws that affect them, and avoid making common mistakes that can inadvertently lead to costly penalties and enforcement actions.”

Businesses with employees are regulated by more than 50 federal employment laws and nearly a dozen Wisconsin laws, Mazer said. The seminar will cover many of them, including the Family and Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Age Discrimination and Employment Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act and COBRA. Attendees will learn which laws apply to them, and how they are interpreted and enforced.