Acknowledgements and thanks to NEC Leasing for providing beverages
Role Call and Introduction of Council Members Suzanne Sherrod, Secretary
Council Members Present: Maureen Gaynor, Mark Lynn, Suzanne Sherrod, Vito Marrone, Steve Autor, Ron Brennan, Ken Newell, Greg Osler, Art Weinrach
Council Members Absent: Mike Ellis
Proof of Notice of Meeting Suzanne Sherrod, Secretary
Email Broadcast, Fax Broadcast, Notice in Crosstalk
Distribution of Agenda and 1998 Annual Meeting Minutes
Minutes were reviewed and Scott Hay moved to adopt. Motion passed.
President's Report
Maureen Gaynor thanked former Council Member Tim Madden for his contributions during his term of service. Tim was unable to attend and receive plaque from the Council.
A Plaque of Appreciation was also presented to Victor Foia, NEC for his support and assistance and leadership role to the NEC Dealer channel.
Maureen reported on meetings with NEC that took place twice during 1998 and again at 1999 CTI regarding new products, training and application selling. Council is seeking dealer input on what dealers want and need from NEC.
Update on Dealer Contract Agreement: keep sending input and Council will continue to work with NEC on these issues.
Sales Certification and Training-how best to accomplish this. Input from the dealer membership is important.
Update on Platinum Program - legal issues must be resolved…stay tuned…
Outsourcing of association administration through RCR Associates has been going very well.
Active solicitation of the "lapsed" or never before members is being undertaken.
Treasurer's Report Vito Marrone, Treasurer
Financial report reviewed by Treasurer
Motion to approve Report and Adoption of 1999 Budget made by Phil Maulding. Motion passed.
Committee Reports
Marketing Report - Mark Lynn
Mark reviewed accomplishments to date:
NECSI brochure to enable NECSI members to market on a national basis to compete with Lucent, Nortel.
New video evolved out of tour of NEC Multi-Media production centre for a more focussed end-user video of the qualifications and criteria to be an NEC dealer. Further opportunities extended to customize the video, using NEC Co-op dollars. Ideas need to be put forward to expand on this program with more videos for training, NEC information, etc.
Enhanced product marketing team (NEC Talty and Wortmann) will be an opportunity to get the voice/data integration message out to potential customers and dealer success in marketplace.
Dispatch Central Software update - Ron Brennan
Last year we were requested to search out "interconnect" business software.
Dispatch Central is a new software by Project Partners which embodies the most customized interconnect application. Ron's company has purchased Dispatch Central and is in the implementation process. Gaynor Telesystems is also 80% into implementation.
Ron discussed other potential products and dealers can contact him for further information. Several options are available, but Dispatch Central has the most appealing and powerful system. Still in start up mode so there are issues with respect to delivery and support. Dispatch Central should deliver a ROI of 36 months, according to Ron Brennan.
Some other products include Phonebizz, TigerPaw, Dynamite, Ormandy. Ron strongly advised dealers to look at many options before making final decision. Pricing and features vary greatly.
Questions arose from the Floor into details of Dispatch Central's integration: proposals, order tracking, inventory, maintenance, accounting, MRAs, single point of entry, document scanning, multi-level warranties, credit hold, IVR, management decisions with override.
Training Committee - Mark Lynn
Training is an increasingly substantial issue. Mark thanked the members of the Training Committee for attitudes, commitment and professionalism. Accomplishments in 1998:
over 3600 technicians trained by NEC
New opportunities to certify technicians (25) via Master Technician Program who can then go back to their company and certify other technicians
traditional programs
on site training (trainer comes to the Field)
over 500 trained by video challenge certification tests
VOLARE training via internet with a number of FREE sessions. Enrolment has been a maximum. Discount offers are schedule for June -July. Free courses March-May are full with 32 enrolled on-line. Mandatory to have certified technicians for both dealers and NEC. It is critical to keep these technicians in the field as much as possible.
Sales Certification Self-Paced program to help keep sales staff up-to-date. Multi-media products via third party for technology training are also increasing.
NECSI has also introduced assistance via nec-si web site Member private forum that is password protected and Crosstalk Newsletter technical tips.
Going forward:
Continual improvement program for Master Techs through the VOLARE process to stay current with software enhancements, mutual support.
Key system certification via Master Tech program is also being initiated. Elite course via VOLARE is proposed to be available in May-June/99.
Recruiting Committee - Steve Autor
Identified ways to get more technicians instead of "robbing" from each other.
Four to five technical schools, community and junior colleges have programs. Lincoln College has a growing program (Southern Illinois) with 66 graduates expected next year.
Need assistance from dealers willing to donate key/pbx systems for their labs to enhance "hands-on" training.
NEC has provided a web page for the graduates to post their resumes.
We would like to replicate these programs around the country-
Members should contact Steve for further information on involvement.
NEAX 2000 Update - Greg Osler
Will promote formal dialog with NEC to address current issues and communicate back to dealers (i.e., AD8 issue). NEAX 2000 is pushing into the traditional key system market.
It is critical for dealers to report order loss and why to www. nec-si.com web page which will be forwarded to Product Committee.
Survey will be conducted and results will be presented to NEC Product Managers. Features issues will be best addressed via this procedure. Survey expected to be out before Advantage Invitational in April.
Key System Report - Ron Brennan
After introduction of Electra 120 a survey was conducted and presented to NEC. This has had a very positive impact with the introduction of the Elite product. We are becoming very competitive in this market.
Survey will be coming soon and dealers are urged to complete and forward the survey. Surveys will be tabulated and forwarded to NEC. We may not see immediate changes, but we must respond properly to the surveys. Goal is to have this survey completed and tabulated before Advantage Invitational.
Question posed regarding single line phones: "Why is no one buying them?". This may be a survey question.
Web Site Report - Steve Autor
Web page results can be viewed in the Members Only section.
January 1999 for example average of 922 hits/day with 87 average users.
Members Only is highest
232 searched for NEC dealer closest to you.
Level I system is always in top ten.
Video conference is also in top ten consistently.
Sub-directories after Members Only most frequently accessed is CCIS presentation and applications.
Web site was primarily done for Member communication, but is being used by potential clients.
Crosstalk Update - Suzanne Sherrod
Thanks to all members who are contributing.
Members invited to request more copies of Crosstalk if needed.
Suzanne urged Members to get CSRs and Technicians involved in reading AND contributing to Tech Tips/Test Bench and Product Reviews.
Dealers who are concerned with client confidentiality may elect not to include their client's name (for example: an automotive dealership, a financial planning company) in application profile articles.
New Business
Adopt Bylaws Change (approved by Board June 4, 1998)
Article Vii, Item 4
g.A Council member who fails to participate in meetings without a valid excuse, fails to respond to correspondence and discussion via email or other, or in the opinion of the other Council members, fails to abide by the policies and directives of the NECSI Board, can be removed by the Council with a two-thirds vote.
Question from the Floor: "What is the provision for replacing a removed member?"
Answered by Maureen Gaynor: "A new Council Member is appointed by President to fill out the term."
Ben Steigler moved to adopt By-laws Change. Motion passed.
Open Member Forum/Discussion
Scott Hay expressed concerns with shipping delays for "Ground" orders. Victor Foia, NEC will address this issue.
Phil Maulding inquired about VOLARE-initial problems were with Internet traffic.
Victor Foia replied: "Registered student will receive CD ROM with instructions to prepare for the class 1 week in advance. Helps them get the workstation ready, work through dealer side firewall issues and work with NEC Help Desk. Trying to do this five minutes prior to class time results in an unsuccessful experience. Traffic monitoring occurs so that ISP can be advised when problems occur. Other problems can be on the NEC side but this will be visible and affect everyone. As of March 2nd class, there were 20 remote locations with more than one student at any given location. It went flawlessly with exception of local (NEC side) PC problem. This was a Master Tech refresher course and worked so well that technicians stayed on to chat 2 hours past the 3-hour time frame. Many more improvements are coming."
Ben Steigler inquired about Call CenterWorx certification via VOLARE.
Victor Foia replied: "Starting with the most widespread and simplest courses such as Elite. Software training will be coming on line such as Aimworx and if Call CentreWorx is in high demand, it will be included."
Question raised regarding Knowledge Database. This is under the CNG Support Page. NTAC Online has several options by topic. Tech ID is required. All Dealer Associate Principles/Senior Managers can get a Tech ID. Comprehensive presentation will be provided at the Advantage Invitational. Reminder to managers that they can request and get email notification of technical calls from their respective companies.
Maureen emphasized that NEC is concerned that the quality of the technical call for support is high.
A low quality call takes more time to handle.
The better trained the technician the higher the quality of call. Objective is to raise the quality of calls from the field.
Another improvement being considered: just because information may exist on web site is no guarantee it will be found. Victor suggested that it might be possible to mirror update to Dealer web site when NEC updates information. This option was enthusiastically received by Floor.
Doug Wonson stated that Electronic Data Input is working for orders.
Other Member Requests from Floor:
Collateral update-request of online service to preview the brochure or slick would be helpful. Electronic version of collateral is also desirable.
NECSI Crosstalk Newsletter could also be distributed in Acrobat Reader for example and sent to Members-they could print off as many copies as they need.
Phil Maulding - Bringing programs to 2400 technicians?
Victor Foia replied: "Master Tech is a specialized class and the NEAX 2000 was the pilot program. Interest level by Dealer Associates should be higher. Need more participation with programs that are in place to cost-justify further developments, i.e., NEAX 2400. VOLARE difficulty is where Dealers do not have NEAX 2400 equipment on site. Lowering training class fees also curtail resources for NEC to improve training programs.
Council is concerned that these new training concepts and opportunities have not been fully utilized by the Dealer Associates overall. Why? Members are encouraged to dialog with NECSI Training Committee about this.
"What is NECSI membership?"
In 1998, 135 members.
"How can we encourage higher level of participation?"
Mark Lynn replies that each Member should do their part in bringing in other members. Council will survey Membership about the timing of the Annual Meeting. Council will look into changing Annual Meeting time to Advantage Invitational.
Maureen Gaynor: Three Council Members are elected every year. At some point every one should participate and take their turn on the Board. When someone asks you to run-SAY YES! Regions were abolished so that peers would not have to run against each other.
"Why is NEC Canada the only Dealer in Canada listed on CNG web site?"
Janice Sigfusson, NEC Canada answered: "Canadian dealers will be listed on the NEC web site within the next 30 days."
Meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
NECSI Members and NEC staff and guests attended Reception sponsored by NETRIX.