November 2004 Circle Update

The meeting featured several interesting topics presented by Circle members who shared their experiences, best practices and lessons learned for the benefit of their peers. Liz O’Dell from Crowe Chizek and Company LLC told the Circle about how her firm handles staff scheduling, to include employee roles, processes, and software. As you might imagine, scheduling for these giant firms is a huge undertaking! Scott Williams from Dixon Hughes PLLC and Kevin Lopez from Grant Thornton LLC shared their experiences in rolling out and adopting Voice over IP (VoIP) systems. Both reported huge monetary savings and improvements in “one firm” culture by using the direct dialing network phone systems. In an interesting twist, Kevin gave his presentation remotely from Chicago using the “Centra” online collaboration system used by Grant Thornton for intra company conferencing. Steve Noble, Larson Allen Weishair & Co LLP, finished the first day with a facilitated group discussion on the expanding role of the Chief Information Officer. Many of those in attendance were filling that position in their companies and the discussion was lively and informative.

The second day featured two presentations on software license management. John Berar of American Express Tax and Business Services Inc. and Lamont Long of Crowe Chizek & Company LLC shared their strategies for coping with this ever more important aspect of IT management.

The group also planned their agenda for the February 2005 meeting which promises to be yet another information-packed session. If your firm meets the $50 million revenue requirement, and you would like to join this powerful group of industry leading firms, contact Eric Hunt (erich@boomer.com) at 888-266-6375 to reserve your place for 2005!