In this issue:
Ava – Your Efficiency Extranet
A little something extra…Welcome to AVA Systems first newsletter in almost ten years! The primary aim of this newsletter is to keep you informed of Efficiency tips and tricks that will make your professional life easier and, hopefully more successful. We have Tidbits to answer each quarters most frequently asked questions, while A Little Something Extra provides some comic relief from the everyday. Be sure to check out our upgraded website and get your Ava access password, and let us know what you think of it.
Remember, customer can included their logo and link on our customer web page. All you have simply send your logo, link and testimonial paragraph to kyliej@avasystems.com.au and you’ll receive free internet exposure within a week.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy our quarterly newsletters. As an Efficiency Supervisor, you’ll receive it by default for distribution to your users. Remember, if you do not wish to receive it, send me an email to let me know.
Until next time…
Kylie James
FACT: Cutting customer defections by just 5% has the effect of boosting profits between 25% and 95%. (Harvard Business Review.)
Efficiency 4.7 New Features
Efficiency Version 5 will be launched in June 2003. Until then 4.7 will be released at intervals leading up to the release. Some of the new features include:
| • | Host Integration has been re-created and streamlined. As a result, a considerable number of entries from the user and shared options have been removed. |
| • | The host data objects are now stored in individual library objects. During implementation a single host library object is to be copied over the running library object. This will enable most of the host integration, especially drill-down and enquiry enhancements, to be done using development kit. |
| • | The tabs in the Plant module have been re-created on a resizable tab sheet and the data is distributed over multiple tabs. |
| • | The Plant module now further grouped under category and parent plant. Each Plant can be enabled for hire or lease, and prices can be set for each plant. |
| • | The Plant booking functions and invoicing via host systems have been enhanced |
| • | The bulk email campaign maintenance function has been added so that email transactions are maintained from one point. |
| • | Most of the new tables for the Facility, Building, and Venue management have been created and included in the upgrade. |
| • | The Task Manager has been re-written with dramatically increased functionality and performance gains. The release number for Efficiency Task Manager is 5.0.00 |
 |
Ava – the AVA Extranet
Being an Efficiency user gives an exclusive VIP pass to the AVA Systems extranet, affectionately known as Ava. Supervisors can download manuals and overviews, course and support evaluation forms and log support requests in one click direct from the site. The site will soon be extended to include an Efficiency download area so you won’t have to wait on your postie for Efficiency upgrades and patches.
Email Kylie James to register. Be sure to include your name, company, email, phone number, and Efficiency supervisors name. You’ll receive your User ID and password soon after. Be sure to include any suggestions you may have for the extranet; after all, it is really your site.
TOPTools, Tips, and Tidbits by Michael Craig
Support is often asked where to find a particular feature used frequently prior to the version upgrade and the change to the tree menu layout. With each one of these support calls to us, your support contract value is depleting.
To avoid this, we recommend your users spend 10 minutes on familiarising themselves with all the windows in the program. Simply by right-mouse clicking on the main menu and selecting Expand All, every window can be opened, viewed and locations noted. Frequently used modules and windows can be added to their favourites or auto-start folder as well.
This may take a little while, but the time spent will result in saved time and money. It's a case of old stitch in time addage...
TOPWhat If? Empowering Customers by Patrick Sullivan
Empower (v.): to render able by giving power, strength, or competence to.
My greatest lesson in empowerment came from working with a prospective client. Jan, age 58, contacted me looking for financial advice. Her husband, Bill, went in for routine bypass surgery and died on the table. I fell into my regular routine of a series of meetings and planning sessions. Tonight was the closing appointment.
About two minutes into our review of my financial plan for her, she found a mistake. I knew it was small and wouldn't change the results, but that didn't matter. It was like turning off a light switch. The only way to recapture her interest was to fix it. Unfortunately, I was at her Home, an hour from my office.
I could not print her a new plan, but having my laptop with me, I could change it. I made the necessary modifications and turned the computer around to show her. "OK, but what if...? " I went back to work behind the curtain like the Wizard of Oz, and tried again. Another "what if"... and then, yet another. Eventually, we sat side-by-side looking at the computer together.
When she ran out of questions, I jumped in with ideas she hadn't considered. (A salesman introducing objections?) "What if you walk into your job tomorrow and say 'I quit'? What if you want to give money to your kids and grandchildren? What if you want to move to Florida?” Two hours passed like minutes. We not only answered the original question, but we also exploded past it covering additional concerns. I closed the sale, built a strong relationship, and learned several lessons about empowerment in the process:
| • | The ability to recover from mistakes is significantly more empowering than being right. Attempting to be "the expert" can get in the way. |
| • | Customers don't want to sit through multiple meetings; they want to be empowered to make decisions in real time. Our selling processes and tools are their biggest obstacles. |
| • | You empower people by showing them what's possible -- by taking them beyond the limitations of their current knowledge and experience. |
Without this mistake, I may have never learned the true meaning of customer empowerment -– you never have control, until you're willing to give it up.
©1998-2001 FrontLineSolutions. All RightsReserved.Reprinted from CRMGuru.com (http://www.crmguru.com)
TOPOur privacy assurance
In December 2002, we reviewed our privacy policy in accordance with the revised National Privacy Principles.
This privacy policy explains how we collect personal information and how we maintain, use and disclose it. It also provides information about your privacy rights, our general rights and obligations, and our policy in relation to personal information we keep on record.
AVA Systems Privacy Principles
Under the privacy rules, we must:
- Only collect information
that is necessary for our business activity;
- Collect information in a fair and lawful way; and
- As far as is practical, collect information directly from the individual.
These principles outline how we will deal with information that we collect from you.
| 1 | We will only collect information that is necessary for what we do. |
| 2 | We will be fair in the way we collect information about you. |
| 3 | We will tell you what we intend to do with information about you. |
| 4 | Where practicable, we will collect personal information directly from you. |
| 5 | If we collect information about you from someone else we will, wherever possible, ensure you know. |
| 6 | We will use or disclose information about you in ways that are consistent with your expectations and our privacy statement or are required in the public interest. |
| 7 | We will ensure the information about you is accurate when we collect or use it. |
| 8 | We will keep information about you secure. |
| 9 | We will be open with you about what kind of personal information we hold and what we do with it. |
| 10 | Wherever possible we will allow you to review and correct (if wrong) the information we hold about you. |
| 11 | We will limit our use of identifiers that government agencies have assigned to you. |
| 12 | If you prefer and it is practical to do so, we will relate with you anonymously. |
| 14 | Your personal information will not be passed on to any other organisation. |
| 15 | We will not collect highly sensitive information about you. |
What are The Ten National Privacy Principles?
NPP 1:
Collection
An organisation may only collect personal information that is necessary
for its activities and the collection must be fair and not intrusive.
A person must be given certain prescribed information at the time of
collecting information from them.
NPP 2: Use
and Disclosure
An organisation must only use or disclose personal information for the
primary purpose of the collection or a related secondary purpose that
a person would reasonably expect or with the individual's consent.
NPP 3: Information
Quality
An organisation must take reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of
its information records
NPP 4: Information
Security
An organisation must take reasonable steps to protect the personal information
it holds from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure
NPP 5: Openness
An organisation must have a policy document outlining its information
handling practices and make this available to anyone who asks.
NPP 6: Access
and Correction
Access to and correction of personal information must be made available
on request to the individual.
NPP 7: Use
of Government Identifiers
An organisation must not use a prescribed identifier (e.g. Medicare
number) as a method of identifying a person for their records
NPP 8: Anonymity
A customer should be able to be anonymous when conducting transactions,
if practicable and legal
NPP 9: Transborder
Data Flows
Personal information should not be transferred to countries which do
not have equivalent data protection
NPP 10:
Sensitive Information
An organisation can only collect and use sensitive information with
the individual's consent.TOP
A little something extra…
MEMO TO STAFF: IT Upgrade 2003... :-)
There are a lot of IT infrastructure cost saving changes that are going to be made across the board in Q1CY03. The goal is to remove all laptop computers by the end of January and all Sun Ray desktops by March 2003
Instead, everyone will be provided with an Etch-A-Sketch.
There are many sound reasons for doing this:
1. No boot-up problems
2. No technical glitches keeping work from being done.
3. No more wasted time reading and writing emails.
4. No more worries about power cuts.
5. Budget savings on upgradess
Frequently Asked Questions from the Etch-A-Sketch Help Desk:
Q: My Etch-A-Sketch
has all of these funny little lines all over the screen.
A: Pick it up and shake it.
Q: How do I turn
my Etch-A-Sketch off?
A: Pick it up and shake it.
Q: What's the shortcut
for Undo?
A: Pick it up and shake it.
Q: How do I create
a New Document window?
A: Pick it up and shake it.
Q: How do I set
the background and foreground to the same colour?
A: Pick it up and shake it.
Q: What is the proper
procedure for rebooting my Etch-A-Sketch?
A: Pick it up and shake it.
Q: How do I delete
a document on my Etch-A-Sketch?
A: Pick it up and shake it.
Q: How do I save
my Etch-A-Sketch document?
A: Don't shake it.
Copyright
© 2003 AVA Systems Pty Ltd
If you would prefer not to receive
further messages from this sender:
1. Click on the Reply button.
2. Replace the Subject field with the word REMOVE.
3. Click the Send button.