November 15, 2024 - This week’s notables

Our Friends & Family Market is coming up on Black Friday!

Upcoming Events

Mark your calendar and join us at Longview Farm for the following upcoming events! We're excited to welcome you—just make sure to set your GPS to 143 Cedar Ln. Glenmoore, PA 19343 (avoid Cedar Ridge Ln) for the best route straight to the fun!

📆 Friday, November 29 – Join us this Black Friday for our Friends & Family Market, where local artists and artisans showcase their beautiful creations. Witness artisanal jewelry and the soothing, aromatic handcrafted soaps. Art connoisseurs will be mesmerized by the local paintings, photographs, and other visual masterpieces, while fashion enthusiasts will fall in-love over the clothing and accessories, each piece crafted with care and passion. You can learn more about the event and register here!

📆 Now through December 28 – Join us for the 1st Annual Holiday Exhibit at Longview Gallery. This cozy, market-style exhibition is a partnership between The Longview Gallery and local arts organizations who have selected several artists to showcase their work in this exhibit. Come in, look around, and purchase holiday gifts for loved ones!

📆 Extended Open Gallery Hours – In order to provide additional hours for guests to shop from our Holiday Exhibit, Longview Gallery will be open to the public for visitation every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 3 to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 12 to 3 p.m. now through the end of the year.

Infrastructure & Support  

During this week's Infrastructure & Support meeting, the team delved into several critical matters. A significant topic was dealing with a power outage that led devices to connect to an unauthorized Wi-Fi network at a client site, disrupting operations. This incident underscored the significance of compliance and the difficulties in ensuring clients follow recommended IT practices. For organizations with NIST 800-171 requirements, involving INW in IT decisions is extremely vital to ensure adherence to all security protocols and maintain compliance. The team explored the consequences in terms of compliance and stressed the necessity for clients to consult with the team before making independent IT decisions. They also discussed the idea of sending an official email to clients, outlining the repercussions of making IT changes without team consultation, to ensure compliance and prevent potential issues.

Furthermore, a temporary solution was found for a remote desktop issue affecting an overseas worker, while plans for a more permanent resolution are in progress. This proactive approach guarantees that remote workers can access the virtual desktop solution without any disruptions.

The team also examined tiered pricing structures for Smart Home Solutions and brainstormed innovative marketing tactics to attract customers. By crafting compelling stories and utilizing engaging visuals, the team aims to showcase the advantages of the new tech support plans and address customer concerns effectively.

Finally, the importance of daily time entry was stressed to ensure precise and timely submissions.

Devices 

In this week's Devices meeting, our team discussed a strategy to introduce the latest HP PCs to potential customers who do not currently procure from INW. This plan aims to grow our procurement business by positioning us as a reliable and competitive source for technology equipment. Customers who buy from INW can benefit from special bulk pricing, consistent configurations and warranties, and access to asset management services provided by INW.

We are pleased to announce the pending installation of a Yealink video bar at Longview Farm for team meetings and other activities. This advanced equipment will be ready for use starting this Friday, presenting an excellent opportunity for our team to explore its capabilities and improve virtual collaboration with our team and others interacting with our organization. Yealink leads the way with its 3rd-Gen MVC Series Microsoft Teams Rooms System, integrating AI technology into video conferencing for more inclusive meetings.

Operations & Growth

In this week's Operations & Growth Lab the team discussed a new support model for corporate clients, where clients would buy in to a monthly bucket of hours. This model aims to ensure that inWorks LLC is the first thought for all IT needs. Reflecting on past experiences, it was noted that a similar model had been tried before with some success, but operational challenges led to its discontinuation. To enhance client engagement, the possibility of offering incentives and rebates was discussed. This could include offering rebates or other benefits to clients who use their services extensively, fostering a deeper level of engagement and strengthening client relationships.

On the automation front, the team discussed creating a Power Automate workflow to import new contacts from Dynamics to Substack. This automation aims to keep the subscriber list updated with any new Dynamics contacts and ensures our Notes & Observations newsletter reaches a wider audience.

Lastly, it was announced that Jeremy accepted our offer to join inWorks LLC as the new bookkeeper/accountant! Welcome Jeremy!

Information Radiation

In today's Information Radiation meeting, we covered some exciting and important topics. One of the highlights was our ongoing effort to improve information radiation. We've been posting daily SharePoint news updates, and while there was a minor time travelling error on a Substack post, the new approach feels like a boost to our engagement and motivation. We hope it leads to everyone feeling more involved and eager to share updates.

We also discussed the potential of IoT buttons for our Tech Concierge Smart Home Solutions customers. This idea has been in the works for a couple of years, and we might have finally found the perfect fit for the technology. However, the physical buttons are currently sold out online, and changes to SSL certificates in Azure might prevent them from working without an update. We tested the connection to the Azure IoT hub, and while it worked partially, further updates are needed to ensure full functionality.