I would like to start off by introducing my self and my purpose for this interview.
My name is Tracy and I am the author of a website blog that caters to Calgary Business’s.
I feel that it is important for the business community to know that there is a place that they can learn,
vent and share ideas. A place that hopefully they will realize that they are not alone in the issues that
the Calgary market faces such as employment, sustainability in employees, cost of living ect.
Thank you for providing the time for me to interview you and learn more of what you do.

 What made you want to start on this venture of starting this company?

1) Desire to be my own boss,
2) Recognized a need in the business world for our services and a lack of qualified competition
3) found a partner that was enthusiastic and shared a vision for the new business.

 What is record management?

These days, we refer to it more as Information Management (people tend to think of records only as paper
 and forget about electronic records). So first let me define a record: 
Record means recorded information, regardless of media or format, which demonstrates or is evidence of a
transaction of business and is in the custody or under the control of a Company.
Information Management is the application of systematic control over records throughout their life cycle,
including but not limited to forms and manuals management, records inventorying, filing systems development
 and implementation, file maintenance procedures development, filing equipment selection, and records scheduling
and disposition.

What is the “perception” of what you do verse what you do?
We (records people) are perceived as paper pushers or file clerks.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Information Managers are managers and should be sitting at the board table.
CDS has the knowledge to analyze a business from the inside out, linking systems and information,
finding duplicated effort, and putting in place the controls for today’s most valuable commodity – information.
Information Managers are the I in IT. That is, Information Managers deal with the information itself while
IT departments take care of the technology (hardware and software).

What is a key note that any business owner needs to learn?

Network, network, network, it’s one of the best ways to make business contacts.
And, if our company could tell all other companies one thing, it’s:
put in place a system of controlling your information that covers the complete lifecycle of the information.
This will help with legislative compliance, litigation risk management and efficient storage and retrieval of
information.

 What is the down side of record management? Is there one?

Like any system, there are up front costs to establishing a complete system.
However, there are returns to be realized: staff time reductions for information management,
reduction of lost files, quicker access to complete client information, reduction in duplication of information,
and more.

 Where can a business owner go to get help?

Joining the local Chamber of Commerce is a good place, so are professional associations
for your particular industry.

 Do you have a website that customers may go to?

We do, www.teamcdsi.com

 Do you offer any training, sessions, advice ect?

CDS is developing training sessions to provide companies with an overview of what an
Information management system is, as well as individualized training session to meet targeted needs.

 Is there anything else that you would to add?

CDS offers services that include Information Management consulting (all media),
off-site scanning services, off-site records warehousing, in-house or external training and privacy
law compliance consulting.

 Thank you for your time and I look forward to seeing you in the future.

Sincerely

Tracy

Tana Goertz.

Tana’s 5tips to be unforgetable1. Be you

5.Be a problem solver – are you a hero or a zero Heytana.com

Did you find the event to be valuable to the Calgary business community?

The keynote speaker was a finalist on the Apprentice 3 and as such had some valuable marketing insights for entrepeneurs in the the Calgary Business community.In terms of the this event, she was more valuable in terms of selling her positive attitude concept to the audience of primarily project managers.

Did you find that there were a lot of Calgary business attendees or was it more the larger companies?

It was primarily attended by larger corporations who have completed large projects in the Calgary area. There were also many project consulting companies represented.

What were some of the awards that were presented?

Project of the year

Did your company receive any awards?

We were nominated in the project of the year category and were a finalist in the Distinguished company contribution category but did not win either of these.However, the person who won project manager of the year was the project manager for our nominated project so we were very excited for her win.

Back to the key speaker, is there any further information that I can get on her, or for that matter the rest of Calgary?

She has a website www.heytana.com

Would you attend an event held by the key speaker again?

I would not make my attendance decision based on whether she was speaking at the event. I thought she was an interesting speaker, with an abundance of confidence. I find that she was a bit too aggressive for the corporate crowd which this even was focused on, however I think she would really appeal to an entrepreneurial audience.

Thank you for you time and I look forward to talking with you in the future.

Alrighty, last week I talked about getting a website. This week I am going to talk about the usability of your site and the tracking of useage.

Websites are a great tool, or a unopened envelope – just waiting to be read!

Everytime that your website is viewed it can be tracked via a stats counter (much like at the good ol stampede entrance clickers!). This is very handy to determine if your site is getting out to the world wide web. Are you being placed on to search engines? Do you have the right key words that people are looking for to get to your site. Key words are basic words that define your site and words that people will use to get to your site. When placing key words in your site for engines to pick up you need to sit down and think of the ways people will look you up. Think of ZedBiz for example, they are a Internet Marketing Company, people will be looking for Internet, Marketing, Advertising, Branding, Website, Affiliate Marketing, Calgary, Coaching, E-Commerce, Domain ect. You really need to get into your visitors head, what do they want?

Next, how easy is your website to get around in? Are your titles in a standard area (top border, left side border)? Being in a standard placement is not necessarily the only way, just the easiest for the user. If you are breaking the mold (good for you!) then your job is harder. Now you need to make sure that your vision is what your viewers vision will be, will they see what you see? Its harder but definitely do able!

Do your links all work? Do you have a date – very handy seems small but it is one of those things that make your site user friendly. What about your colors, are they vibrant, easy to read?? How about the font – is it too big, too small, too funky???

Now, there are programs offered to “map” your website and its usability, there is also companies that will provide this service for you. What happens is your website is shown to a group of people that are in your target audience (hopefully you already know this!). They then have a specific spec sheet that they will use to go over the items discussed earlier, as well as extras to determine just how easy your site is. Is it to wordy? Are you link crazy (one link after another to finally get where you are trying to go!). Personally, I think this is an invaluable tool to use, one that every website should go through at least once in its lifespan, ideally you would like to do this possibly every few years to go with the changing times (not to mention to keep up with the changing links!).

Alright so that’s it for today, next week I will be interviewing a senior manager from Enmax power that attended last nights session with Tana Goertz : The Art of being Unforgettable, the TV show’s Apprentice candidate!

Until then, Happy Business

Tracy