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Fidelis News & Updates

Sometimes Bad Press is Just Bad Press

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Still being ‘green’ to the IT/ERP world, I am shocked by certain realities more than my coworkers. This was especially true when a coworker shared a link with me last week about a consulting firm sending people to work in the US illegally. Did you read the same story? The firm is InfoSys. Again, since I am still absorbing the ins and outs of the business this was a firm I had seen on a couple of resumes but never really heard anything about. Probably because we do more staff aug and they do more implementation/project bids.

Either way, the article was about a wistleblower within the company who claims InfoSys is sending consultants to the US on B-1 visas. With these visas they are supposed to be attending training or conventions, etc. but they are NOT allowed to work in the US. From what I understand on the matter, this is the main difference between a B-1 visa and a H1-B visa: the legal ability to work in the United States.

So this company is being accused of sending thousands of consultants to the US and placing them on projects InfoSys bid on but paying them on bank cards from their headquarters in India. So not only are they legally not able to work on these projects, they aren’t even paying taxes on their salary because they are being paid from India.

Again, as naive as I still am, I could not believe this is happening within the industry! And at the end of the story, the author says there was a lawsuit filed against another company for allegedly committing the same crimes. So what about the people on H1-B visas, EAD’s, Green Cards, T9’s and US Citizens who followed the rules? I guess we’ll find out as the investigation continues. What will the punishment be and do you think this will change the way the industry is run?

Have you even seen the story? I never saw it on Yahoo, MSN, Google or any other outlet so if it weren’t for my coworker, we would also be in the dark. Pass this around, share with your friends and coworkers in the industry.

Whistleblower calls out IT giant over U.S. jobs

Until next time,
Casidy

Social Media, here we come!

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Well, we finally kicked off our quarterly newsletter last month! I’m writing a version for our consultants and one for our managers, and the opt-in forms went out around the beginning of January. The plan is to get them out at the beginning of the quarter, but because it was the first copy, of course there were some road blocks along the way. And looking at the numbers, the percentage of people who opted-in from the email’s I sent out compared to the number of consultants and managers in the databases of my recruiter and account manager’s is still very small, but I have high hopes for this new outlet. My hope is that over the next two quarters, we can at least double the number of subscriptions on both sides of the desk. And on a more positive note, we did gain some new subscriptions after both newsletters were sent out so the office perception is positive so far.

With these newsletters, I’m hoping to not only keep everyone informed with what we are seeing in the market, but to also push our social media to the next level. Social outlets such as Facebook and Twitter were non-existent with Fidelis when I started and with a degree in Journalism and Communication, I came in seeing an opportunity to push us into this market. It’s been a rocky start so far, but with the kick-off of our quarterly newsletter being something that’s never been done here, I’m shooting for the stars.

Are you interested in staying up-to-date with Fidelis ES via social networking? Find us here:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/CasidyL

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FidelisEnterpriseSolutions

Newsletter (ERP Consultant): http://eepurl.com/ixP2M

Newsletter (ERP Manager): http://eepurl.com/jCevT

 

Fidelis is starting a newsletter!

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Talk about a BUSY Friday!!! This week definitely started off pretty ‘down in the dumps’ around the office with sickness bouncing from cube to cube, but today really rose above for us. Both of our AM’s have rocked it today. Multiple openings have rolled in this afternoon, which is cautiously telling us 2012 is definitely off to a good start. Oh, and not to mention a deal that was closed in the middle of this week. Wow, what a great time to be in this industry!

Now to the real great news…Michelle and I talked back in October about kicking off a quarterly newsletter to keep our consultants and manager updated with news & updates within each others sides of the business. I was very excited about this considering I come from a Comm & Journalism degree, so this was right up my alley! So it was put in the back seat as I picked back up my new role as Project Coordinator – I had to get back into the business development routine and start tracking down all this new business that’s rolling in! Then the end of the year rolled around and other projects took precedent. But now, now I’m ready to go!

I’ve slowly started setting up our account and tracking down the consultants and managers we are already in contact with so we’ll have a strong base to start with. I did the webinar training, took lots of notes and finally  got the opt-in form designed and ready to go. Today was the big day for the consultant side. It was time to see how this is going to go…

Success! The opt-in form went out this morning to all of our ERP consultants (our EMR newsletter is now in the works, but 1 baby step at a time, right?) and it was time to wait.

Now you should probably know that I am one of the very few “millennial’s” at Fidelis so social branding is something new I’ve been trying to push through. It’s slowly being embraced, but I want everyone in the office to embrace it.

Because of this, I was THRILLED when before the first batch of email’s had finished sending people were already signing up! How exciting! It’s awesome to see that consultants, even with all the emails, calls and crazy schedules, want to stay connected with Fidelis. We’re using this newsletter as a platform to keep our consultants updated with market rate fluctuations & trends, hiring activity, new projects that are rolling out and any other useful information we can pass along to them. And on the other side of this, we will being doing the same thing for our managers. We want to keep our contacts ahead of the curve every chance we get.

Right now we’re at about a 5% opt-in success based on the amount of emails that went out this morning, but to be honest, I would be thrilled if even just one person chose to opt-in. Like I said, I’m a Comm & Journalism girl at heart and knowing that anyone is reading what I write is an awesome feeling. Then throw in that (hopefully) the information is helpful to them, well that’s just icing on the cake.

I almost forgot, do YOU want to check out our newsletter? Please feel free to opt-in here:

http://eepurl.com/ixP2M

Until next time,

Casidy

The Difference Between ERP & EMR Consultants

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2011 was a great year, but I have to say, 2012 sure is starting off nice. We’ve started gaining steam in our EMR division, going through the hiring process for a new internal Account Manager and the days are flying by with plenty of stuff to do! (At least for me!)

The last two weeks of December were pretty long and slow, with almost everyone using up their last vacation days by the end of the week. But I was here (with no vacation days to spare unfortunately) enjoying the quiet. My manager, Michelle Cessnun was able to complete not 1, but 2 training manuals for our contract division AND our Lawson and PeopleSoft software. Now we just need that new person to start so we can test it out. And as for me, I wrapped up a lot of “admin” projects I wanted to roll into the new year successfully. Now it’s on to 2012, a year of surpassing goals, unparalleled productivity and awesome production numbers for our division!

Now to our bubbling EMR progress…talk about some eager and pleasant consultants! This week alone, I reached out to one new consultant, and along with sending me her resume she also gave me the names and phone numbers of 10 other consultants that are looking for projects! I’m not sure if it’s because the new year has kicked off and projects are off of hiatus or the sad fact that these eager professionals have yet to be burned like the PeopleSoft & Lawson consultants by the, I’ll loosely use the term “eager” for them as well, recruiters of this industry. It’s a very sad comparison but that’s all I could think as I’m actually talking to these people AND getting returned calls and emails! It has been a very different market than the one I’ve worked in for the last year and I hate to think that in a few short years, or just one bad phone call, this market could also be burned and scarred.

Now don’t get me wrong, the consultants ARE NOT the bad ones!! They have just been treated so bad over the years, they’re very protective of their information. The consultants that I’ve spoken with and the one’s my manager works with understand there are the good and the bad firms out there. And it’s difficult at times (especially when you’re new to this industry) that the short answers and lack of information on the first couple of conversations is only a defense of the consultants’ relationships that they have worked very hard to maintain. Each project they work can either make or break their reputation, and once you realize that you’ll be golden! Once you show them that you call when you say you will, you actually check references, not flip them for sales leads and don’t beat them on rate, travel, etc. then they will start showing you a little bit of good will as well.

So back to what’s coming up in 2012. I think I’m starting to get some routines in place that will help speed things up and keep things organized in the coming year. I’m rolling my social media efforts out to the rest of the team, even last week I helped one of my Account Managers vamp up his LinkedIn and add some applications and skills that might help him stand out when managers start checking around. And let’s not get started on how Twitter’s 140 character tweets have flowed into my every day process. My other Account Manager loses interest in about 30 seconds, so I’m trying to follow #Twitter’s business plan and give him brief updates, questions, instructions and process changes in short, two line emails to keep his attention span in check.

All in all, as my first official year at Fidelis and out of college came to an end last Friday, I couldn’t be happier with where I landed and where we’re going. Definitely stay updated, as I’m sure things will get interesting and stressful with our increased goals and plans for the year.

Until next time,
Casidy

Wrapping 2011 up right!

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Well, we just closed a 3-6 mo Lawson deal with Catholic Healthcare West! Congrats to Michelle & Bryce for that great job.

Also, our Life Sciences department and Engineering department just added a new internal employee this week and our ERP division is looking for a new internal Business Development Manager so we’re definitely rolling into 2012 with an optimistic outlook on the market.

And from what we’re seeing, we’re definitely going to need the additional help. My division (ERP) has 2 Business Development Managers (AM’s) and 1 Practice Director (recruiter) and they’ve all surpassed their estimated 2011 goals and the 4th quarter isn’t even complete. Wow!

It’s been an interesting year for me though. I’ve transitioned through a couple different roles while trying to assimilate to the “real world” and the cut throat IT business. I finally settled in as Project Coordinator, which I LOVE, and hope things will start taking off after the new year. I’m trying to help track down and bring in new potential clients for my AM’s so they can have an even better 2012, so I’m hoping the market stays in this upward trend.

That’s it for now, so everyone keep your fingers crossed for that awesome 2012 we’re all hoping for in our ERP bubble!

What a busy time it is now!

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So, getting this blog going has proven to be difficult. Not so much the writing part, but the finding time to take a breath these last couple of weeks, much less add a new post. I apologize.

What’s been going on around here:

EVERYTHING!!! I’m not sure what you’re seeing in the market but last week especially was crazy. We added 5 new clients and took 3 new openings! Even talking to consultants, the market just doesn’t seem to be slowing as we roll right into the holiday season and new year. Being new to the industry, I was told that things will start to slow down around the 4th quarter, especially for those companies who’s fiscal is calendar…WRONG! We’re evening looking to add more people to OUR team and branch out into the EMR marketplace. We have so many healthcare clients and the EMR marketplace is so strong right now, it just makes sense to start branching out in that direction.

And talk about loving your day to day job, I LOVE my new role here. Yesterday, I spent the entire day formatting resumes and typing up contracts while my manager was out of the office at a career fair. I spent Monday stalking company employees. Last week, I was on the phone tracking down hiring managers for PeopleSoft and Lawson for new companies. Oh, and somewhere in there I was also tracking down new consultants for my recruiter to network with for future projects. Phew. Never a boring day. Never the same day. Who doesn’t love a new challenge each morning.

We’re even branching into new industries within our ERP branch. It’s been amazing for myself to see how many different industries use the same software, and how differently it can be customized to each industry, then each company. And trying to absorb all of Lawson and all of PeopleSoft in the last 10 months…let’s just say I’m surprised my head didn’t explode. I don’t see how our consultants can obtain all there is to know within their specialty. Then to sit in an airport every weekend and be away from home, props definitely go out to all the awesome people that keep this market thriving!

My goal is to definitely stay in touch more often, and keep you updated on what’s going on with Fidelis!

Until next time!