“I knew that a lot of Cincomers are runners” said Marilyn. “I thought the Pig relays would be a great opportunity for those that haven’t been a part of a marathon to participate and get a feel for what it’s all about. It went great. We hope to have more teams next year. Several runners this year are even talking about doing a half or full marathon on their own.”

As for the runners, everyone has their own reasons for entering the marathon. For Patty Tomely, Product Marketing Manager, it was the team aspect. “I thought it would be a chance to get to know other people in the company. I like team activities and I was hoping with something to train for I would become a better runner. I’m proud of myself for doing it, but I did it just to have fun and because I’ve never run in the Pig before.”

Cincomer Ed Mack, Lead Gen Team Manager and Marketing Projects Manager, was one of the non-runners in on the fun. Ed attended the race ready with signs “to show our support with the many friends and co-workers participating in the full, half, or relay options the Flying Pig Marathons. We put our creative juices to the test and got a ton of runners/walkers to notice, comment, or laugh at our signs.”

Patty Tomely added “The experience was more than I thought it would be. There was so much support from everyone, especially from all of those who were cheering all of the runners on along the course. I think I might want to try the half marathon next year.”

If you’re already a Cincomer and you’d like to get a head start on the Cincom team next year, contact Marilyn.

If you’re not part of Cincom but would like to join a team moving forward, check out our current job openings. There are 28 openings as of this writing!

Team Cincom
Debbie Berdson, Dave Billman, Ron Baird, Wendy Vogel (wife of Cincomer Andrew Vogel)

Are we there yet?
Naganand Naganand, Patty Tomley, Chad Solomon, Greg Warner (not pictured)

Notorious P.I.G.s
Marilyn Cox, Sherry Eimer, Julie Baldwin, Brad Fleming (not pictured)

If you think you have what it takes to be part of and contribute to the world’s most experienced software company, check out our job board.

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Several weeks ago Cincom sent me to Paris to meet with our EMEA sales and marketing colleagues.  This week, as a reward for a year of hard, but enjoyable, work they sent me to Hawaii.  Cincom honors its top performing sales reps with 100% club.  This year, Cincom included several of its Quixote Club winners as well.  The Quixote Club honors the very best of Cincom’s many fine personnel who have demonstrated one or more of the values evolving from the image of Cervantes’ Don Quixote, the famed seeker of the impossible dream, who personified courage, confidence, commitment, and conviction.

This year’s Club was held at the breathtaking Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki Beach, Oahu.  We enjoyed private dining with other club members, trips to Pearl Harbor, the Dole Plantation, and Polynesian Cultural Center where we were treated to an authentic luau and performance of the award winning “HA, the Breath of Life”.  When not enjoying the entertainment of Waikiki, we enjoyed the beach and surf.

The trip was a once in a lifetime experience, but the time spent with colleagues was perhaps my favorite.  I enjoyed dinners with colleagues from Japan and Australia and began friendships with Cincomers who had merely been faces I’d pass in the hall.  It was an unforgettable week and for that I say, “Mahalo, Cincom”.

If you’re interested in joining an organization with global reach and opportunity I encourage you to visit our job board.

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You can read more of Marilyn’s thoughts on business in her blog, Business is Child’s Play.

Part one features renowned marketing expert and author David Meerman Scott. He has investigated the real-time business trend in detail. His book, The New Rules of Marketing & PR, spent 6 months on the BusinessWeek bestseller list. His recent title, Real-time Marketing and PR, is also the title of his presentation in this webinar. It examines the affect and advantages of doing business in real-time and strategies companies can utilize to get there.

Listen to the webinar, Real-Time Marketing and PR with David Meerman Scott now.

Read the complete post here: http://www.tbkconsultblog.com/2012/04/30/the-baan-killer-from-cincinnati-ohio/

Learn more about Cincom Manufacturing Solutions.

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“37 years ago Cincom expanded its US operations into Europe. What began as one small European office is now a large scale EMEA operation with offices in England, France, Belgium, Germany, Monaco, and Italy. These offices contribute greatly to our bottom line. I had the privilege of traveling to our Paris location for workshops with our EMEA sales and marketing teams. We shared best practices and I gained valuable insight into the EMEA markets. The sales and marketing teams impressed with their strategic campaigns and consistent high performance. In fact, this year’s top sales rep resides in our Paris office. And while their activity demonstrates great results, they face many of the same obstacles we do in the US.

The European economy is unsteady and European businesses are risk adverse. In the US we’re challenged with marketing several solutions across a variety of verticals. This is amplified further in our EMEA regions when you add the challenge of cultural and lingual variety as well. I work with our European colleagues daily, but it wasn’t until I met with them face to face that I truly understood the good work they’re doing and the successes they’re having.

It was a fascinating week spent learning the markets, developing relationships, initiating projects, and touring the beautiful city of Paris. I left with a heightened sensitivity to European marketing and sales, and I hope to travel back soon.

If you’re interested in joining an organization with global reach and opportunity I encourage you to visit our job board.”

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You can read more of Marilyn’s thoughts on business in her blog, Business is Child’s Play.

Finding Calm Among the Chaos

Real-Time Action Steps

1. Appoint an Officer
Somebody has to be in charge. If there isn’t somebody, or you can’t identify them, it should be you to start with. Take the lead.

 2. Establish Guidelines
You need to have guidelines that empower people to act on real-time principles. Generally it is best to speak in the first person, using “I”  rather than “we.” That way associates aren’t seen as speaking officially for the company. You can google “IBM social computing guidelines” for a good starting point.

3. Implement Real-Time Systems
You have to have the tools to monitor and react to communications in real time. It could be as simple as google alerts and TweetDeck for instance. Add complexity as you grow competency.

 4. Develop a real-time mindset
This is the hardest part. It requires a fundamental desire to change the way businesses think. It’s not just social media. Those are the tools. David Meerman Scott offers several excellent and inspiring case studies during the webinar, including examples with real ROI. Stop making excuses – now is the time to start according to Scott.

Check out the free webinar in its entirety here.

Stretching helps improve circulation, breathing, and can provide an instant recharge for the entire body. Just a couple of minutes can provide the energy Cincomers need to do “whatever it takes” to help our customers. Check out these easy stretches you can do at your desk.

Thanks to Christ Hospital for the handout “Basic Stretches to do at your desk,” taken from the book “Getting in Shape,” © 2002 Shelter Publications, Inc.

Really? That seems a bit disingenuous. All around us we see the benefits of engaging in real-time benefit and how it improves our lives. Business should be no different. It’s part of life. David Meerman Scott makes the point that many companies have distributed black berries and iPhones to executives. Why do they do this? To have real-time communication, of course. Did they really have to do a study to understand the return on investment of being able to communicate throughout the company around the world in real-time? No. The benefits are readily apparent.

To back up his theory, David Meerman Scott contacted the Fortune 100 companies to find out how many could respond in real-time. Of the 100, just 28% responded in what he identified as real-time. Of those 28 companies that did respond, their corresponding stock price movement over a year increased 3%. In the same time the Standard & Poor 500 lost nearly 1%; companies that didn’t engage in real-time lost more than 2%. That’s a positive difference of 5% in an extremely tough market. Admittedly there are likely other factors at play. But it would be tough to deny that the companies with the mindset to engage in real-time today are also likely to be companies to have the best understanding of their customers and their markets.

To learn more about Real Business in Real Time check out the free webinar with David Meerman Scott. It’s the first in our series about real time business.