Elite IT Services Business Blog

New Compensation Package!

By Sandi Hubert

Elite IT Services is adding two new benefits to the Compensation Package for our employees.  We are paying all full-time employees time and a half for Overtime effective July 1.  This is over and above the Fair Labor Standards Act directed by the Department of Labor requirement of employees with pay at $27.63 or below receiving time and a half pay for hours worked over 40 hours.  We're opening this up and allowing all of our employees eligibility for Time and a Half pay for approved overtime hours.  In addition, we are adding a 6 Paid Holiday Schedule to our Compensation Package to enhance our marketability as a key IT competitor in the marketplace.  The holidays include: Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and Memorial Day.

Why Team with Small Business?

By Sandi Hubert

In the CRN Magazine www.crn.com is an article titled 163 Emerging Tech Dynamos about Technical Solution Providers adding more and more emerging vendors to their team to add pliability, flexibility, and fast response to the marketplace.  Emerging Vendors are heating up the marketplace and nudging out some of the industry giants because of their quick bob and weave response to technical development.

As I was reading this article I couldn’t help but include Elite in a category of "emerging project solutions provider." As a Project Solutions Service Provider, we offer the same advantages to large companies in terms of teaming and partnering as a technical solution provider.  We are lean and able to move quickly.  Here are some of the same advantages listed in the article directed toward Emerging Technology Vendors translated to Emerging Project Solution Vendors (Elite IT Services):

Elite IT Services featured in St. Louis Post Dispatch

By Sandi Hubert

A story of Elite IT Services success with IT professional placement and job performance was featured in the Small Business Section of the St. Louis Post Dispatch on Friday, April 13, 2007.  The story ran on Friday and we've been fielding a number of calls of interest in the organization, since then.  Kathi Sutin wrote

"Because of Elite's skill at placing people, most of its workers are hired by clients after six months."  Small Business Gives Up Employees to Clients

We have a longstanding history in the IT industry based on our own IT experience and background.  We draw from our own past experiences everyday selecting the right person for the right projects and it's proven by our reputation in the industry.  We look for the "elite" of the industry.  If you think you are "elite" material, then you've found the right company.  We are always looking for new talent for our broad base of project work and client job positions.    

Project Management Roundtable

Elite IT Services wants to put the word out that Washington Unversity's Center for Application of Information Technology (CAIT) is hosting a Project Management Roundtable forum for the delivery and exchange of leading edge professional ideas and practices.  To see pricing and to receive more information about this event, go to  CAIT Project Management Roundtable.

Like the previous Roundtables, this program has been specifically designed to allow participants to gain knowledge from experts, drive the agenda, and share learning and collaborate with colleagues throughout the St. Louis community. 

To help St. Louis' leading IT professionals gain immediate benefits from this growing body of knowledge, CAIT is offering Project Management Roundtable 2007, building upon the success of these series’ in the previous three years. The first of the 7 monthly half-day sessions will be Tuesday, March 20, 7:30-11:30 a.m. at the Eric P. Newman Center in the BJC complex, Central West End. For more information or to register, contact Bill Darte (billd@cait.wustl.edu , 314-935-7575) or Tom Browdy (tbrow@wustl.edu , 314-935-5138).

Quantifying Benefits - In Projects and in Life

By Sandi Hubert

I've spent many hours quantifying benefits and even teaching Project Managers and IT Analysts how to quantify a benefit to include as a dollar amount in a Return on Investment (ROI) Calculation, never realizing that I would be applying this same technique as a business owner.  Time Savings is one of the most challenging benefits to quantify because it seems so intangible.  Intangible savings can relate to savings in efficiencies, productivity, better service, and greater accuracy, to say the least.  You can easily convert efficiencies, productivity, better service, and greater accuracy to a value of time and then by assigning an hourly rate of dollars to that time, you can multiply out a cost savings.  You just have to ask a series of questions:   

Accidental Managers

By Sandi Hubert

I have long since had this theory that some of the technical experts are excellent subject matter experts but not necessarily the best are most qualified to be a manager of people.  I recently read an article from Human Resource Executive called "Accidental Managers" by Michael Felton O'Brien and I am in agreement that many managers become managers because of longevity, osmosis, technical expertise in their field, etc.  I have seen it time and time again where the technical guru on a particular application or system becomes the knowledge source and as the popularity and support for the system grows, the staff must grow to maintain it.  Many IT organizations promote their techie person that originally supported the system and hire on additional staff.  This is great to support the concept of promoting within but not so great if the people being promoted lack

Are You Managing Your IT Career?

By Sandi Hubert

There was a time in my previous career as a Project Manager when I took for granted my IT Career path.  I followed the pre-ordained career path that my employer's organizational structure had already established.  I just followed where I was going next based on their ambitions for me and what they could get from me and what I liked to do.  I was not proactive in my business connections outside of my current employer, I did not maintain outside business connections, I did not proactively attend training unless it was tool training related to my PM forte - in short I did not lead myself. I kept my head down and kept leading the projects and doing the work, neglecting to lead myself.  I just accepted what was available to me within the confines of my current employer.  My observation has been that over the course of time, many employers have stopped actively investing in their employee's careers.  Employers are leaving it up to YOU to invest in yourself and lead yourself to career nirvana.  It seemed as if I woke up one morning and realized that no one will be as dedicated and forthright in leading me in my career as I am.