Two Things I Will ALWAYS Invest In….

Marketing and Technology.

Legendary management professor Peter Drucker said it best:

“The business enterprise has two—and only two—basic functions: marketing and innovation.”  (The Essential Drucker)

And I view Technology as a fundamental driver of innovation.

That’s why I spent the bulk of 2 days last week TOTALLY overhauling and upgrading my infrastructure.

I was away from my core business (fortunately it is August and things were a bit slow), but this is the kind of upfront investment that technology requires…”all in” and which pays off SIGNIFICANTLY over time.

Here’s what we did (it’s going to get a bit geeky, so hang on)

1. bought a new x64 PC w/4 GB RAM and dual core. Installed Windows 7 on it, added a 2nd video card and now have 4 monitors attached to it. Office 2010 tech preview is coming
2. Took my previous machine and made it a true “media center” PC where TV, Video, Pics, Music can all be accessed from multiple locations throughout the house and, (most importantly for the NFO and me) while exercising
3. Migrated my business email/calendar/contacts to a hosted Exchange solution
4. set up real-time synchronization between 3 computers and my mobile phone
5. got a new mobile phone (HTC touch) and brought it online
6. reconfigured my Magic Jack phone to make it easier to access
7. added cameras to two other computers so we can Skype with family/friends around the world (and no one has to come into the “man cave”)
8. used Windows Live Sync to keep all files up to date across multiple devices

There’s more and it took some work. One night, I had parts of 3 different computers strewn about the basement floor.

But, we got it done and now, we’re ready to rumble.