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Biz Bits - October 2009

October 2009

Published in :: Business

 


XEROX TRAVEL SCANNER 100
Smaller than a three-hole punch, this product has image improvement software that will correct crumpled-up receipts.
$200; www.xeroxscanners.com


IRISCAN 2
A light, USB-powered scanner, this device comes with Readiris Pro 11, which recognizes more than 120 foreign languages.
$150; www.irislink.com


NEATRECEIPTS
This portable scanner includes software that creates a filing system that can save digital copies of your receipts, create expense reports and PDFs, and export data to Excel and Quicken.
$200; www.neatco.com



VISIONEER ROADWARRIOR
Make 24-bit color scans of all of your receipts, then export them to searchable PDF and Word documents with Nuance PaperPort, an image and desktop management system that's bundled with this scanner.
$180; www.visioneer.com

PROONGO
A smartphone receipt reader that works on BlackBerrys and Windows Mobile devices, this app takes a picture of your receipt, processes the expense information and sends back the date, merchant name and amount back to you in around five minutes.
Free; www.proongo.com

THE CLOSING BELL

BY JACK GUINAN

 

PRESSED FOR SUCCESS

F or last-minute business trips, quickly sorting, folding and packing clothes can be tough. Enter the Luggage-Free Valet from Garde Robe (www.garderobeonline.com), a wardrobe storage and valet service that will keep a "satellite" closet for your clothing and accessories in a climate-controlled New York City loft. You request items by phone or on the website from your cyber closet, and they'll ship them to your hotel in readyto- wear condition (with a return shipping label). So instead of worrying about packing a suitcase and wrinkling your clothes, you can dedicate all your energy to closing that deal. (Rates start at $350 per month.

Playing to Win

HOW A LOCAL TV STATION BECAME THE BIGGEST NAME IN THE GAME

Faces painted in team colors, people shouting at the top of their lungs for their favorite players - sports fans are among the most loyal and dedicated audiences in the world. Yet back in 1979, if you weren't at the game, there were few options to watch the action on TV, beyond mere minutes of highlights on the evening news. That all changed when a small group of sports fanatics led by Bill Rasmussen began to show Connecticut college sports and New England Whalers' hockey on leased satellite space, creating the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, better known as ESPN. The network, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, has since become synonymous with sports media.

Anthony F. Smith, managing director of Leadership Research Institute, has been a consultant at ESPN for more than 20 years and is the author of ESPN The Company: The Story and Lessons Behind the Most Fanatical Brand in Sports. Here, Smith shares some of the secrets behind its success.

Avoid the myth of single-person leadership.
"Leadership is really a shared phenomenon. One of the things that ESPN picked up pretty quickly is that while each executive has been very strong in their own way, they needed to surround themselves with other effective people who could fill in areas where they were not as skilled."

Hire passionate employees.
"Even if you manufacture cardboard boxes, [employees] should be fanatical about something, whether it be the job, the opportunities in the cardboard factory or the fact that they have a great boss. If you're working for an unglamorous business and it's hard to get excited about the product or the content, you better have great people."

Take risks and reward the effort.
In 2006, ESPN launched the Mobile ESPN phone, a cell phone that offered access to games and sports news at all times. The business was more complicated than they expected, and the Mobile ESPN phone was shut down less than a year later.

"When [former CEO] George Bodenheimer said that we were closing down the phone business, he also said, 'This was a wonderful effort and that's exactly what makes ESPN what it is,' and he really went out of his way to reward the effort. If you say, 'I want people to take risks,' and then fire the guy if the outcome fails, it becomes clear how your organization really feels about risk. ESPN really pushes all of its people to think outside the box."

Published in :: Business

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