It felt good to be back. Bob had taken a much-needed summer vacation. Of course, he couldn't distance himself from the company or work. How was he to stay in touch? He also wanted to read a couple of books on his reading list. And how was he going to entertain himself on the plane?

A couple of Bob's friends have iPads. They love them. Bob went to the Apple store to check it out. He found out he could check e-mail, read books and magazines, play music and games, and watch movies. The salesman also showed how Bob could connect remotely to his work computer and do everything he could do at his desk. With a stylus, Bob could also write on it like a pad of paper. Perfect - a "connected vacation!" Guilt-free.

The first person Bob saw when he returned to work was Steve Paperwaster. Steve was in charge of operations. Steve believed in keeping people informed by distributing reports on every aspect of the company. Steve's three assistants, Peter, Mary and Paul, spend most of their time printing, copying and delivering Steve's reports. The local office supply store had made Steve a charter member of the "Save What Trees?" club and offered free delivery for all of the company's paper orders.

On Bob's first day back, Steve cornered Bob and told him he needed to hire another person. His staff was having a hard time keeping up with all of the reports and was really behind the eight ball if one of them went on vacation.   Bob wasn't sure adding staff was a good idea.   Steve's budget was really high as it was, and Bob knew Jim Strong, the president, wasn't going to like seeing it go higher. There had to be a better way to "Slay the Dragon," as they say.......

Bob remembered an article he had read on his iPad - it was from ACG, a technology firm in Ohio. The article was about "pushing" information out to people electronically. The article stated that any report currently being printed could also be created automatically and sent by e-mail. With no human involvement! And, another bonus -- specific events and exceptions could be reported when they happened. Bob remembered when Molly MICR in AP cut a check to a vendor and added a couple of extra zeros. She was on the hot seat until she got the check back! ACG's offering would have caught the error before the check was mailed. Bob gave ACG a call.

Bob learned that ACG has been in business for over 25 years and has a great reputation for helping clients successfully implement technology. (End of commercial message!)

Bob sent ACG samples of the reports Steve had been creating. Bob was surprised ACG could generate these reports from almost any type of ERP or accounting system and route them appropriately! Bob was given the green light that Steve's reports could  be created with ACG's system. When Bob got the quote, he was floored. The cost was less than a fraction of the salary of just one of Steve's employees.   Bob went to Jim Strong with a plan based on his findings.

Jim Strong listened to Bob. Jennifer, Jim's assistant, would be happy with this plan, too. She spent a lot of time at the shredder destroying Steve's reports after Jim read them. The shredder noise distracted everyone. Mary, Peter and Paul would be transferred to other departments as part of the plan - this was like gaining new employees.

A month after the system was installed, Steve caught Bob in the hall. Steve was happy! All of his reports were being delivered to the right people at the right time. Always. Automatically. He also shared with Bob that he was leaving on a jet plane for vacation. With his iPad...Guilt-free.

To be continued........