First of all, a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who attended our first Client Connection Forum last week.  Although we already knew this, it was a nice reminder of what a great client base we have.  You all showed extreme dedication and a true desire to build your knowledge and help Avionté build a better product for the future of your companies.  The turnout far exceeded our expectations and feedback at the close of the event was amazing.   Thank you again for taking the time out of your very busy schedules to allow us get to know you better and gain a stronger pulse on your technology needs.

For those of you that made it to Client Connection 2010…you can attest to the learning, networking and fun that was had by all!  For those of you that were not able to join us (we hope to see you next year!) I thought I would share a few of the highlights.  With so much information packed into three days, you may not be able to remember all the highlights… so you can use this information to share with your co-workers as to what really went on!

Wednesday

Most of our guests arrived without incident.  However, we did have a few victims of the thunderstorms that visited Minneapolis.  For those unlucky few (including one of our team members) they missed the opening sessions, but most were able to make it to the end of the day networking event.  We opened the afternoon with highlights from v2010 including:

• Portals, portals and more portals
• Favorites
• Mass Mail
• Outlook
• Roster
• Quickplace

It was great to have our Corporate Trainer Laura, and our Chief Software Architect Samar available to answer questions and explain the new features.  Samar also covered many of the new web portal features available with v2010 including the Spanish on-line application and the re-vamped Applicant, Employee, Customer and Vendor portals.  A new Admin portal was also created to allow Administrators to quickly add, edit and manage the data, permission and interface of all the portals.

The opening session was followed with two breakout sessions for Front Office and Back Office users.  Those that attended my Front Office session will remember the technical difficult with the baby projector (amazing how small they are getting!). Even with the setback, we managed to have a great discussion on AutoMatch  along with other  advanced front office feature.

After five we all headed to the Mall of America to get our food and drink on at Crave.  It was great opportunity to relax, network and most importantly, get caught up on the personal lives of all or clients.  Since many of our customers are in different markets, so much sharing of information took place all night.  A few stepped out to experience the mall for a bit, but most stayed and closed the place down.  I promised I wouldn’t mention names, but one of my faithful blog readers decided they needed a little more fun for the night and headed down to the next night spot in the mall.  It must have been pretty uneventful as no stories followed the next morning.

Thursday

Our day was started with CEO John Long’s comments about Avionté and the direction we are heading (the right one!).  Audience participation was greatly encouraged with the giving of free hours of development.  So if you sent one of your employees and they didn’t come back with one, well they were a little shy about talking in front of the group.

Next Samar spoke about some of the additional developments in our latest version v2010.  I am sure that I am a bit biased, but there is some pretty cool stuff our development team has come out with!  If you haven’t seen it yet, check out our webinars highlighting the new features.

The breakout sessions called…”Design an Avionté feature” and “What’s working for you” were big hits!  The only problem with all the sessions, is that there was never enough time.

John and Laura got the group thinking when presenting Staffing and Software best practices.  Many of our customers want to know how they compare in regards to order filled per user, revenue generated per user/branch or other statistics based on the size of their company.  John unveiled the project he is currently working on that will allow our users to do just that.  They can view monthly statistics compiled from other companies that are comparable to theirs.

Cory showed the group how photogenic he is and garnered a few ohhs and ahhs with some of his cool technology including the “friend maker”.

He discussed the direction that staffing is taking, automated.  The more applicants, employees and customers can do the better.  By allowing applicants to fill out their application on line, you are offering your service 24/7, not just your physical business hours.  The same applies for your employees and customers.  They can log in to your web portals and take care of their information when it’s most convenient for them.

Roundtable sessions followed covering topics such as management/operations, 3^rd party integrations, sales/recruiting and back office.  Our users had great ideas to share how they are using Avionté to boost production and profitability in these areas.

After the final session everyone loaded up to head out for a dinner cruise on Lake Minnetonka.  Although the skies looked a bit ominous, the feeling within the group was one of high spirits ready to have some fun!  Our cruise lasted about an hour before the lights went out and we had to turn back to port and wait out the storm.  A few people on the boat (I’m told) didn’t notice we had headed back or that our engine didn’t sound quite right.  After an hour in port we headed back out to the open waters to enjoy the last bit of our cruise.  Despite the weather and mechanical issues, it was a fantastic evening with great food, drink and conversation.  The night was ended with a fantastic little dance performed by one of our favorite customer’s (they are all favorites) IT people.  “There ain’t no party like an Avionté party!”

I had the privilege of driving one of the groups back.  Some of you may know that I live in Montana.. contrary to popular belief we do have paved roads, stop lights and the internet.  Sadly, we also have a speed limit, which is slightly higher than the one in MN.  Our group returned back to the hotel first.. us Montanans know how to drive.  Thanks to my group for making the drive home a fun one.  Well at least to the people in the first two rows; I have no idea who was in the back three rows.

Friday arrived, much to the sorrow of many.  It was almost like we were at camp.  Camp with really good food and comfy beds.  Everyone was invited back to the Avionté office to meet other team members and have a chance to chat and discuss any topic they wanted.  It was a great opportunity for many of our customers to have some good face time with our four partners.  I did learn something interesting while involved in one of the conversations.  “You don’t know what you don’t know”  Hmm.. I’m going to ponder that one for a while.

At 11:30 part of the group went out for a little golf; which luckily didn’t get rained out.  The rest of the group slowly departed throughout the day.  Hugs and well wishes where shared as people left for the airport to return home and share all they had learned.

For our first effort, I think it was pretty amazing.  Brenda and Briana can’t be thanked enough for the hours and hours they spent making sure that every detail was taken care of.  I would love to hear some comments from those who attended.. and for those of you who couldn’t make it this year – we would love to see you next year!

I asked someone from the Avionté Implementation Team to give me a few details of the recent river trip Avionté sent them on as a reward for all their hard work and the busy months ahead.  You may soon realize there is one thing everyone on the implementation team has in common…and I’m not referring to the joy of a smooth staffing software conversion or implementation.  There is also an omission of my suggested topics on team building, bonding, relaxation and rejuvenation…but I guess that all goes without saying.  Thank you to the entire implementation team for all your hard work and long hours! 

FYI- I took the liberty of bolding a few words. If you’re in a rush, skim the bolded words and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what this trip was all about.  

by Kevin Cunningham 

“Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship.” I was boarding the houseboat for Avionte’s implementation team river extravaganza, so I was a little concerned that the theme from “Gilligan’s Island” was stuck in the back of my head, and could not be silenced. Sure several of us had boating experience but this was a 50 ft houseboat on the Mississippi River which we had to cross lock and dam, and the crew seemed far more interested in swimming, diving and drinking, than in navigating. If the SS Minnow had set sail for 3 days not to return for years, what chance did the twelve of us have? 

The first night we travelled a distance of about 300 yards and then decide to take shelter in a cove. Going further up river with delays from the lock could have caused us to be on the river within the prescribed “one hour before sunset”, apparently a Bozo no-no. Doug at the helm, grounded the boat perfectly, we set our anchors, ate dinner and proceeded to play. I believe chicken, brats and burgers were on the menu the first night, things started to get a little fuzzy after we pulled out of port. Jim, our corporate trainer’s husband, cooked all the meals and did an outstanding job. Laura and Jim had done all the shopping and did a great job of estimating the food, and underestimating what lushes they were traveling with. Before the first day was over, we had to make an emergency call for more beer. 

The first rule we unknowingly broke was “no jumping off the upper deck“, but come on what did they expect, putting that thing up there that looked like a diving board. Because the slide on the back of the boat was obviously not enough, people began swimming across the pond to use the slip and slide that was resting on the opposite shore. So slipping, sliding and falling down went on till somewhere around 11 PM just in time for a some drinking games (Bizz Buzz and Tippy Cup). 

Most of the crew was out by 2 AM when the wind kicked up and started blowing cans and boxes all over the place. We scrambled to put them in the boat and then sat back to watch a wild electrical storm which surrounded us, and looked like fireworks. It was awesome! 

Second day has us steaming upstream after breakfast, Laura remarks that she heard what must have been a grizzly bear the night before with loud roaring sounds, more than likely due to Laura’s drinking too much. We met up with John and Brenda further upstream, they had brought with them, via John’s boat, necessary replenishments (more beer). We spent the day in the channel swimming and diving, and we had a blast. Later we pulled up on a beach where we had seen a volleyball net and joined in with the local natives playing volleyball. Near sunset has John and Brenda returning, and us settling down for a peaceful night’s sleep, not a chance. I think it was around 10 PM when someone decided it would be a good idea to race up the sand bank we were beached on. It was about 200 yards uphill at about a 65 degree angle.  About a half dozen or so started up, and fell down in various places on the hill. Sandeep and Scott decided to roll back down, a decision I think they still both regret. Sandeep spent the remainder of the night trying to get the sand out of his bathing suit. I wonder if that is how he got his name. 

Third day left us dropping off more of the crew, now there were only six of us left. We cruised back down to the cove where we spent the first night and relaxed. We waited overnight and returned the boat in the morning. 

So what did we learn from this experience? 

• 12 motivated people can drink a lot of beer in a short time.
• It is really not a good idea to have an uphill race in the sand after drinking all that beer.
• Kevin can snore louder than a jet engine.
• But by far the best discovery of the weekend was the name of Doug’s first pet, DC. “DC”, what does that stand for we all wondered? “Doug’s cat”. You have to love the simplicity.

by Briana Morgan

John Long
Role at Avionté Staffing Software:  Founding Partner and CEO – Facilitating sales, marketing, finances, strategic partnerships and business development.  John leads and inspires the team with his forward thinking and ability to rally through his ambitious goal setting.

Outside of Work:  John enjoys family road trips, basketball, fishing, boating and the occasional horse race.  He resides in Minnesota with his wife Brenda and their four children, ranging from ages 1 to 17!

On the Lighter Side…

• Favorite music group in junior high – Genesis
• If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be – Teaching
• Four people in history you would like to have dinner with – Jesus, Princess Diana, George Washington and Socrates
• What was the last book you read – Next by Michael Crichton
• Only the staff at Avionté knows… John scratches his head to help him think faster.

Phi Ngo
Role at Avionté Staffing Software:  Partner and CTO – Continually embraces the latest in technology and industry trends, while maintaining the integrity of the core product customers depend on. Working closely with customers, he combines his staffing industry experience with the requests and needs of the client to guide Avionté’s development.

Outside of Work:  Phi, his wife and three children live in California where he spends his free time running after his kids, running after his kids and running after his kids.

On the Lighter Side…

• What is your favorite music genre?  Alternative Rock
• Name one thing you miss about being a kid…  Recess
• Favorite color….  Blue
• What do you think is the greatest invention?  The transistor; essentially it is the basic building block of all electronic devices.  If it wasn’t for transistors we would still be using vacuum tubes and thus micro electronics would not be possible.
• Only the staff at Avionté knows… Phi gets more comps in Vegas than the whole company combined.

Sandeep Acharya
Role at Avionté Staffing Software:  Partner & COO – Leading the implementation department and applying the technology and resources to our clients and their company. This includes, but certainly is not limited to, providing leadership to software implementations and staffing software solution design.

Outside of Work:  Sandeep enjoys spending time with family and friends, any activities outdoors and relaxing while watching movies.

On the Lighter Side…

• Favorite candy bar – Doesn’t eat much candy.
• What super power do you wish you had and why – A magical remote to selectively mute people/sounds.
• You wouldn’t be caught dead where – At a Taliban training center.
• What is the strangest food you ever ate – Roasted snake.
• Only the staff at Avionté knows… Sandeep won’t be late, he’ll be just-in-time.

Samar Basnet
Role at Avionté Staffing Software:  Partner & Chief Software Architect – Dictates and guides the quality, design, and development of Avionté Software. He manages a team of software professionals in the United States and coordinates the development effort abroad.

Outside of Work:  Samar and his wife Sunny are expecting their first child.  They enjoy taking walks around Lake Calhoun, watching movies – specifically thrillers and comedies, and going out to dinner at their many favorite restaurants.

On the Lighter Side…

• Favorite TV show – 2 and a Half Men
• What is your motto in life – Material abundance with a spiritual spirit.
• If you could live anywhere for 1 year where would it be?  New York
• What would we find in your fridge right now – Milk, oranges, vegetables, and cheese.  Samar enjoys cooking for his wife Sunny.  (And she says he is even good at it!)
• Only the staff at Avionté knows… Samar can’t get enough of the dark roasted coffee.