Thank You, Nashville!
NetVU was amazing as expected and it wouldn’t be right to start out in any other way than by sincerely thanking everyone who took the time to come out and pay Team Archway a visit during the event.
It was a treat to meet some readers of the weekly newsletter as well as reconnecting with all of our clients who attended and making our friendly introduction to anyone in earshot. Hope we made a good impression!
Sueann was a delight to have along for the ride, as were Steve Anderson and Angela Adams, head of Angela Adams Consulting. Also want to highlight Nashville as a great host city, it’s really a unique atmosphere with music everywhere you go from the convention center floor to the hotel lobby…even many bathrooms were set pumped out a steady supply of choice tunes, which is good because it makes more people stay long enough to wash their hands.
I had a blast when I wasn’t on the clock as well…the city’s Country Music Hall of Fame is a must visit site for fans of music and history, as the two obviously are inseparable in the story of Nashville.
There was plenty of good eating in town as well, with repeat visits to Martin’s BBQ joint threatening the viability of my new, healthier lifestyle. I rationalized it to myself my remembering I purchased a fancy new spin bike for just such occasions, so at least I’m getting my money’s worth on both counts.
Next-Level Service from Archway
The big news from our side was the launch of our DaaS (Desktop as a Service), which I’m really excited about.
We make use of Amazon Web Services just like many of the big guys, but the difference is we manage ALL of your equipment 24/7 with a dedicated task force and can make personalized suggestions to optimize the way your network works for you.
That’s something many of them can’t claim…it’s not their fault, they just have so many clients to process. They’re still very much our friends!
Like Printing Money
I know, I know…in a world of email and VOIP, fax machines are all but dead outside the medical industry, right?
Well, if you happen to still have one around, I’m sure you get the occasional unsolicited fax offering cheap vacations or prepaid legal assistance. Minor everyday irritant, sure…but what you probably don’t know is that that small waste of ink and incidence of noise pollution could be a gold mine thanks to consumer protection laws that have been in place for a surprisingly long time.
That’s right, the federal Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 (which is A Real Thing, promise) allows everyday folks like you and I to file suit on any party that sends unsolicited content to our machines, with violations subject to penalties of $500 per fax or more if intent to spam can be proven. You don’t have to be very mathletic to realize that could add up in a hurry.
Sound like an obscure thing? Well, a single attorney who spoke to Fortune.com for an article highlighting the vast surge in litigation against tangible spam indicated that he has pursued over 1,000 fax spam cases in the last decade or so. It’s certainly worth a shot if spam faxes are an issue for you…you just have to love when the consumer can get a win.
Heck, might be worth it to buy one and wait.
The IoT is Coming
The ACT conference took place alongside NetVU at the same time in the same location, which would have been a crazy coincidence except that it wasn’t at all because the whole thing was planned months in advance. It was really fortunate for me that I got to attend as a result, because I found the Internet of Things discussion absolutely riveting.
If you’re not familiar with the concept, it’s the idea that most if not all devices will be connected to the Internet to deliver added functionality, giving them the ability to be monitored online. This has a range of interesting implications for the insurance industry, and one of the topics of discussion was whether we were going to switch from insurance to assurance as the technology develops.
What does that mean? Well, basically everything being connected is going to go a long way in minimizing the role of human error in mishaps that trigger involvement with an insurance provider as well as limiting the damage that results when things occasionally do go sideways.
It’s a fascinating discussion that could fundamentally change the way we live, as this article from TechWorld makes abundantly clear.
The Last Word
Well, that’ll do it for this week, I have a lot to catch up on after catching up with all the wonderful people that make Archway go at NetVU Nashville. Thanks as always for starting your week out with “Brad’s Blog,” even if you couldn’t make it this time I’m sure we’ll be coming to a town near you soon enough.
Oh, and congratulations to all the winner of the tech goodies raffle, I know you’ll enjoy your prizes…I sure do!