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John Spade with the Florida Panthers and his peers with the Miami Dolphins, Miami Heat and Miami Marlins did a great job at the CIO Council 1st Annual Technology Event at Hard Rock Stadium. Click here to view a video that I recorded for your viewing pleasure: https://youtu.be/hF4Bg6TooVI

John Spade with the Florida Panthers and his peers with the Miami Dolphins, Miami Heat and Miami Marlins did a great job at the CIO Council 1st Annual Technology Event at Hard Rock Stadium. Click here to view a video that I recorded for your viewing pleasure: https://youtu.be/hF4Bg6TooVI

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For those of you who are not aware, I recently joined Strictly Tech as a Client Executive, helping manage some of their existing accounts as well as developing opportunities with new clients across the area. Strictly Tech is a South Florida-based IT organization that provides our clients support with Lifecycle Management and also provides assistance in Procurement, Supply Chain Management, Imaging, Deployment and Warranty Repair Services.

Strictly Tech also does offer traditional IT Services including Consulting, Infrastructure/Architecture Design, Data/Cloud Migration, Network Optimization, Device as a Service (more on that on a follow-up Blog) and Help Desk Services. What separates Strictly Tech from other providers is our Service and Repair Center at our Ft. Lauderdale HQ where we perform a variety of customized services for our clients based on their specific requirements including:

• Integration services and scalability for Global OEM’s & Providers such as HP, Lenovo, Dell, Cisco and Microsoft amongst many other Providers
• Imaging and image management services
• Asset Tagging
• Deployment Services
• Software load and burn in
• Specific hardware configuration, especially useful for server builds
• Lifecycle Management, Strictly Tech works very closely with manufacturers to manage product lifecycle under NDA.
• Warranty and Non-warranty repair for existing systems including RMA and Returns
• Asset disposal
• Inventory Management for Clients

Since I have only been with Strictly Tech for about a week, there is still a lot to learn and yes I’m trying to grab as much as I can to get up to speed quickly. Also plan on seeing me back out at local Tech events especially at SFTA programs, which recently made a major announcement in conjunction with Broward Workshop, The Greater Ft. Lauderdale Alliance, Broward College and Nova Southeastern Broward Innovation Center to create “TechLauderdale” (https://techlauderdale.org/) to help make Ft. Lauderdale a top Tech Hub in the USA!

My contact information remains the same except for the updated email address so I would appreciate any inquiries regarding how the Strictly Tech Team can assist you and your organization with solutions that meet and exceed your Technology needs.

Looking forward to connecting soon!

Glen Benjamin

954-974-6262 Follow-Me

954-666-6234 Office

954-560-3974 Mobile/Text

gbenjamin@strictlytech.com Email

www.strictlytech.com Website

@glenbenjamin Skype and Twitter

www.linkedin.com/in/glenbenjamin LinkedIn

 

 

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Did you know that ITPalooza 2018 is just over 30 days away? This is our 7th Annual Event being held Thursday December 13th at the Ft. Lauderdale/Broward Convention Center and is the Premier Technology Conference in South Florida for 2018.

Over the previous 6 conferences ITPalooza has:

Had over 10,000 Attendees

Had 365 Speakers

Had 417 Tech Exhibitors

HAS GENERATED OVER $253,000 IN TOYS AND CASH COLLECTED!

For #itp18 we have Featured Speakers from organizations including LaunchCode, City of Ft. Lauderdale, HPE, 8Base, ThirdLevel, e-Builder Veeam and CBS Digital amongst many others.

ITPalooza still has Sponsorship and Exhibitor Packages available but time is running out if you want to be part of the largest Tech Event in South Florida 2018. #registertoday at www.itpalooza.org to reserve your spot, either as a Sponsor or Attendee so you don’t miss out!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at glenbenjamin1@gmail.com or reach out to any of the ITPalooza or SFTA Board Members at https://itpalooza.org/leadership/ so you can be part of our biggest event ever!

Please use the following Hashtags and Twitter Accounts when sharing on your Social Media Accounts:

#itp18 #itpalooza #sfta @itpalooza @soflatech

 

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I recently had the pleasure of attending a Business Continuity Institute (BCI, https://www.thebci.org) event led by our Committee Chairperson, Becky Cohen with Bluegreen Corp., who brought in a NOAA/National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist (wow that is mouthful), Robert Molleda, to talk to us naturally about Hurricanes and how we can all be better prepared. For those that forgot what occurred during the 2017 Hurricane Season or were luckily spared from Harvey, Irma or Maria, last year was the costliest season on record with damage totaling around $300M and left a wake of destruction that will take years to repair and rebuild, if at all possible in some areas.

Robert was able to show us a great deal of the latest technologies that were actually beginning to be deployed in 2017 and has carried over into 2018 to help NOAA/NWS better determine the potential path of storms using more accurate “Forecast Cones” along with where flooding can impact those specific areas after the storm has passed, to again help all of us better prepare prior to a Hurricane approaching and well before lines around Home Depot and Lowe’s stretch for city blocks on end. Obviously this is a bit of a “tongue-in-cheek” reference by me as the latest technology used by NOAA did help save property and most importantly, lives, during some of the most devastating storms ever seen in one year, but frankly a whole lot more needs to be done and not just because we are in Hurricane Season right now. Last year I worked with a South Florida Data Center and received numerous calls as we were leading up to the posted Hurricane Watches and Warnings from clients ready to drive to our office with their Servers in hand so that they could protect their Data and Infrastructure inside of our facility even as local authorities were putting us on lock-down due to Irma approaching in just a few days. Even after Irma passed, we were still receiving calls from clients who didn’t have either Power or Network connectivity (or both!) for weeks after the storm passed, so we were still busy for quite some time getting these companies back on their feet after Irma left a wake of destruction specific to the South Florida area.

The reason for revisiting this from 2017 is that this should be a big “Lesson-Learned” that “Failing to Plan” is…you should recognize the second part of this adage that some attribute to Benjamin Franklin (no relation) is “Planning to Fail”.  I know that I have spent the past few weeks and months since I joined CenturyLink sharing information on how Data Center, Cloud, Cybersecurity, Compliance and Connectivity are critical to keeping today’s businesses up and running, however by not addressing Business Continuity and not having an up-to-date plan that has been tested on a regular basis, you could be testing fate and there are too many companies from last year no longer in business due to not having a BCP/DR Plan in place and that’s quite unfortunate.

What I would first highly recommend to get the latest information about Weather, Storms, Hurricanes is to do what I did, which is to sign up to be a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador, which is a free program offered by NOAA/NWS to assist you and your company and community with information to “ready” you for extreme weather or climate events. Ultimately the program is designed to help promote resiliency and preparedness so that we can do all that we can to communicate and assist people and companies in our communities should events warrant. To learn more about the program and join for free, please go to https://www.weather.gov/wrn/amb-tou and register, which takes only about 5-10 minutes to do.

Finally, if your company is looking at putting BCP/DR into place or has a plan that hasn’t been reviewed in a while or if it hasn’t been tested in quite some time, we can assist you at CenturyLink with our Cloud-Based Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) to help protect your Enterprise Systems and Back-Up your Data. More information is available at: http://www.centurylink.com/business/hybrid-it-cloud/resiliency-services.html or you can certainly contact myself or my Team so we can consult with your organization on what would work best for you.

Once again let me give another Big Round of Thanks to Becky and Robert for putting on a terrific joint BCI/NWS Event that educated our local providers and will hopefully spur others to be “Weather-Ready” for 2018 and beyond.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or comments at Glen.Benjamin@CenturyLink.com or 954-974-6262. Let’s be SAFE out there!

 

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First let me say that this title is a bit out of the norm for me, as I don’t publicize criticism’s of large public corporations, but in this case, I need to make an exception due to the circumstances I’ll list below.

The scenario I’m about to describe is about a couple that I know for many years and will keep their names private, who I feel have been badly wronged by their bank, JP Morgan Chase. They have been a client of Chase for several years and very recently had a significant issue created by their bank that is causing an undue hardship on this couple’s behalf. In a nutshell, here is the story:

This couple was out for dinner late last week and when they went to pay their check, both of their Chase cards were declined and they wound up using an alternative credit card to pay the dinner bill and naturally they went to their local Chase branch the very next morning to see what occurred and folks, get ready for a really incredible saga as hopefully this does NOT happen to you.

Upon arriving at their Chase Branch, they were merely told that their account(s) were closed and that a letter sent a few days before via USPS went to their home, but it never arrived. Regardless they were told by several people at the bank, that their account(s) were closed and frozen and that they were told that they would have to wait 7-10 Business Days for their money to be sent to them. At no point they were told as to why their account was closed as none of the bank’s internal systems had any notes on the closure of their accounts. Since all their checking and savings accounts were with Chase and with their assets now frozen, they were told to wait for their money to arrive and that’s all the bank would tell them.

The have spent countless hours trying to deal with Chase to determine “why” this occurred and how they can get access to their money, which as mentioned earlier, they have been loyal customers of Chase for many years but to this point, have been turned away without any acknowledgement or opportunity to have access to their funds so they can pay their bills until their check arrives, which we can all guarantee, will not be cashed at a Chase Branch.

The question that I’m now posing to my friends and followers is what recourse does this couple have with Chase (or any other bank for that matter) to have them receive their funds today as opposed to a couple of weeks from now. They can’t get a straight answer from Chase, which besides the embarrassment for having to call all of their debtors to advise that they are waiting for their money so they can reissue checks, is causing a great deal of stress for them.

We would certainly welcome your opinions, advise or counsel as to what their next steps should be in dealing with Chase or better yet, can someone from Chase contact me so I can get a message to them to hopefully alleviate the pain that this is causing this couple please? Again this is way outside of what I typically post but they could really use your help right now, so please feel free to contact me directly at glenbenjamin1@gmail.com or 954-974-6262.

Finally, Shame on You Chase for doing this to a wonderful couple who have been your customers for many years and I hope that this message is loud and clear to anyone reading this message that this is not an acceptable way to conduct yourselves and I hope other Chase customers are put on notice that they should consider other banks if this is how you are going to treat them. Once I hear that you have rectified this situation and the couple has received their money, I’ll update this post (hopefully soon) with the good news, but until then, I’m very disappointed in your lack to loyalty to two good customers.

#chasefail #shameonyouchase #unacceptable

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We are now down to the last week to help our SFTA President, Tammy Kennedy, achieve her goal to become the LLS 2018 Woman of The Year and Tammy is hosting an event this Wednesday evening to help put her over the top. Here are the details if you can make it, otherwise you are welcome to donate whatever you can help those who might be suffering with a Blood Disease.

Every 3 minutes someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer. Unlike other cancers, you cannot screen for or prevent most blood cancers. The only solution is to focus and fund on cures.

Thanks in advance for your support!

Please consider a tax-deductible gift to support cancer cures? Please go to my page at http://pages.mwoy.org/sfl/ftl18/gbenjamin and click on the “Donate Now” link. Thank you for helping me cure cancer and save lives. I appreciate your contribution.

 

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Family, Friends and Followers,

I’m proud to be part of a Team led by SFTA (@soflatech) President, Tammy Kennedy, to help raise awareness and money for a bigger cause, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Just over a year ago, Tammy’s Brother-in-Law, Howard, was diagnosed with Leukemia and with the help of LLS and his amazing doctors and nurses, he is now in remission and his family is most thankful!

This has led Tammy to lead her group of Family, Friends and Followers to take this to the next level and bring together other influential and compassionate leaders in our community to raise critical funds for blood cancer research, advocacy and patient care. Due to Tammy’s efforts, she has been nominated by LLS for their Woman of the Year 2018 campaign. Tammy needs your help as today through June 9th, your contributions will help her achieve her goal with LLS and most importantly, maybe help someone you know find a cure to this dreaded disease. Most people are not aware that every 3 minutes, someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer and unlike other cancers, you cannot screen or prevent most blood cancers, so we need your help today, so please visit my donation page below.

I’m also including a few videos that Tammy has help make to draw awareness to her LLS Campaign, including an inspiring video with Basketball Hall of Famer, Alonzo Mourning, who had incredible comments about what Tammy and the SFTA is doing in the community to help others who need our assistance.

Thank YOU Tammy for All That YOU Do!

Glen Benjamin’s LLS Donation Page

http://pages.mwoy.org/sfl/ftl18/gbenjamin

Alonzo Mourning and Tammy Kennedy Video:

LLS of South Florida Opening Ceremony Video featuring Tammy Kennedy:

LLS Society of South Florida Man & Woman of the Year Nominees including Tammy Kennedy:

LLS Society Student Winners of the Year

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Dr. James Parrish

For those of you that have known me for a while, you probably know me as that “professor guy from NSU”.

Some of you may have actually noticed that this blog hasn’t been updated in QUITE a while (ahem..Green).

Well, for those of you that don’t keep up with my life on a daily basis (and given the fact that I am not a Kardashian, I assume that is most of humanity), I have moved to the University of North Texas in Denton, TX.  It is an exciting move because it puts me at a Carnegie Tier 1 research institution, but it is also a little daunting because my three years of being the Chair of the Department of Information Systems and Cybersecurity at NSU has dulled my research brains (let’s face it…if you don’t use it…you DO lose it).

However, thanks to the help from some great colleagues, students…

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Account Manager II – FTL WPB

So here is my chance to “Pay it Forward” by letting my friends and followers know that @CenturyLink is hiring here in the Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach area. As many of you know I was recently on the other side of the fence looking for the right role and thanks to many of you providing me direction, encouragement, enthusiasm and yes an occasional kick in the rear, I was able to land a great role here. The information about the job requisition is below and you are certainly welcome to reach out to me for additional details. If you are interested in the position, please send me your resume so I can submit on your behalf by sending it over to Glen.Benjamin@CenturyLink.com or calling me at 954-974-6262.

And finally if there are any companies out there that are looking for an assessment of their current infrastructure in terms of IT Consulting, Cloud, Managed and Professional Services, Business Continuity and certainly Connectivity, please also feel free to reach out to my contact information above as well.

Thanks! Glen @glenbenjamin

Location:Ft Lauderdale, FL, US, 33301

CenturyLink (NYSE:CTL) is a premier network solutions provider and trusted partner to our customers. As part of our recent acquisition of Level 3 Communications, our portfolio has expanded. More customers. More network. More locations. More opportunities for you. With a global presence in 60 countries, service to more than 350 metro areas domestically, and more than 200,000 miles of fiber; CenturyLink is going places.  At CenturyLink, we believe in growth and innovation, for our customers and our employees. Discover how CenturyLink can expand your potential and take your career to new places if you’re looking to join a company that celebrates diversity and creativity, with industry-leading benefits and commitment to employee advancement.  We’re committed to bringing great talent to our team to help us change the world. One network connection at a time.

Job Summary

We are in the process of filling open positions for the combined company following CenturyLink’s acquisition of Level 3 Communications. All qualified candidates who express interest by submitting an application to an open posting will be considered. However, based on business needs, preference may be given to internal applicants on certain positions. We still welcome, and encourage, all application submissions while we continue our integration process.  Internal applicants are current, active CenturyLink employees, including Level 3 employees who have transitioned to CenturyLink as part of the acquisition.

Summary

Responsible for sales account development within an established geographic territory for a complex suite of services and robust product sets to drive sales, increase brand awareness, and grow a specific territory.

Knowledge, Skills or Abilities

• Experience in solution selling IP, data, and voice network services.
• Experience in hunting, prospecting, and new account development.
• Experience with Salesforce.com preferred.
• Strong communication, written, and formal presentation skills as well as ability in selling to the close.
• Self-motivated, pro-active, results-oriented professional with an ability to work with minimum direction.
• Proficient in MS office products: Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Requires at least 50% or more of time conducting sales activities outside of the office.

Essential Duties

• After winning new business, manages customer relationships in order to gain strategic positioning with decision makers, retain existing revenue and obtain additional business.
• Continually learn and develop knowledge of new technologies and selling points including enhancing expertise in the company’s products and solutions.
• Develop and implement sales plans that provide clearly defined strategies, tactics and timeframes to maximize revenue. Take ownership of the geographic territory designated by management.
• Responsible for developing sales in the designated target market(s) by identifying new sales opportunities with prospective enterprise customers headquartered in the region by cold calling, premise visits, networking, lead generation, proposal submission, and customer appointments.
• Utilize Siebel & Salesforce.com to provide accurate and detailed weekly forecast funnel of identified and proposed opportunities in order to meet or exceed sales quota requirements.

Basic Qualifications

• 2-5+ years of sales experience

This job may require successful completion of an online assessment. A brief description of the assessments can be viewed on our website at http://find.centurylink.jobs/testguides/

EEO Statement

We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all persons regardless of race, color, ancestry, citizenship, national origin, religion, veteran status, disability, genetic characteristic or information, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, family status, pregnancy, or other legally protected status (collectively, “protected statuses”).  We do not tolerate unlawful discrimination in any employment decisions, including recruiting, hiring, compensation, promotion, benefits, discipline, termination, job assignments or training.

Disclaimer

The above job definition information has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.  Job duties and responsibilities are subject to change based on changing business needs and conditions.

Nearest Major Market: Fort Lauderdale
Nearest Secondary Market: Miami
Job Segment: Account Manager, Outside Sales, Manager, Siebel, ERP, Sales, Management, Technology  

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In case you hadn’t heard by now, eMerge Americas (http://www.emergeamericas.com/) is in town and we are anticipating on hearing and learning about the Digital Revolution and how it’s impacting all of us not only from a Technology perspective but how this can disrupt how business will be done over the next few years and beyond. It is not too late to register as the “Who’s Who” of Entrepreneurs, Investors, Government and Technologies will be well represented, be sure to register NOW to secure your space at http://www.emergeamericas.com/ to get your seat at the event.

I’ll be in attendance on Tuesday April 24th, which is the 2nd day of the event doing a couple of different things:

• During the Daytime Shift on Tuesday I’ll be helping manage the CenturyLink Business (@centurylink) Booth #613 along with other CenturyLink Team Members to help show you some of our latest innovative digital solutions that will be of interest to many of you, so be sure to stop by and say hello to myself and the rest of our Team.
• For the Evening (After-Hours) Shift, we’ll be walking a few blocks over to WeWork (@weworkmia) on Lincoln Road for the South Florida Technology Alliance (SFTA) eMerge Americas “Wine Down” Ultimate Bar & Buffet After Party from 5p-8:30p. We look forward to having you join us to network and “Wine Down” from eMerge and hopefully have a bit of fun along the way. To register for Wine Down, please go to: https://www.southfloridatech.org/sfta-events/!event-register/2018/4/24/wine-down-emerge-2018. eMerge Americas VIP Ticket Holders get FREE Access, plus SFTA Members and eMerge Americas Summit Ticket holders get discounted tickets as well, please contact executivedirector@southfloridatech.org for details or visit the SFTA Booth at eMerge Americas. 

I’m looking forward to connecting with many of you who are attending eMerge Americas, if you need to contact me, I’m available at Glen.Benjamin@CenturyLink.com or 954-974-6262. Thanks! Glen