Calgary Host’s i-Technology Series

On Monday August 11th, Long View Systems brought the i-Technology Series and a great group of keynote speakers to the Telus Convention Center in Calgary, Alberta. These speakers, led by Tom Mendoza, Vice Chairman of NetApp, imparted their wisdom and experience on a packed house of 1000+ attendees.

The event started off with a big announcement from Long View Systems. They have become the newest Large Account Reseller with Microsoft. Only one other company has reached this milestone in the past 5 years. Congratulations Long View!

When Tom Mendoza stood up in front of the group, it was hard to tell – he is a fairly short guy! He had some very insightful thoughts on business and the culture that businesses create:

• Business is made harder than it should be by most people. If business is done right, it should be easy.
• Company Culture is easy to keep positive when everyone is making lots of money. You find out if you have a great culture and great partnerships when that stops.
• Normally, Enterprise customers don’t care about disruptive technologies. But, when there is a recession, similar to right now, all companies are looking for a better and cheaper way to do things. This is a great time for new businesses.
• Nothing great has ever been done by people who didn’t want to do it. You need to make sure you have the proper attitude to be successful.

Finally, the two things that Tom Mendoza thinks are key to the success of any business are:

1. Execution is more important than the idea.
2. Be able to explain your idea without resorting to PowerPoint slides

I would have to agree with him, especially about the PowerPoint slides!