Gardening And Home Improvement

Archive for the ‘Improvement’ Category

Phoenix Arizona Based Valley Sleep Center Upgrades Network and Saves Money

Did you know that in the United States alone over 70 million people suffer from sleep disorders? That there are over 84 classifications of sleep disorders? I didn’t, until I met Gerald Fougner who is the technical supervisor for Valley Sleep Center. Valley Sleep Center has five Phoenix area locations dedicated to treating patients who suffer from sleep apnea, narcolepsy and other sleep disorders.

I talked with Gerald recently and he shared his experiences of network growing pains and how upgrading his network helped save his company money.

Valley Sleep Center was busy, so busy that they wanted to open new locations. As the company prepared to grow, Gerald knew they needed to upgrade their technology. With multiple facilities, they needed to be able to securely share sensitive information such as billing, medical records and general office forms.

Because they are in healthcare, they needed to comply with the rigorous HIPAA regulations that govern the privacy of medical information. Initially Gerald tried working with off-the-shelf consumer solutions, but they couldn’t keep up with his network. As he told me “They had so many problems they were not worth the trouble. The devices would frequently go down and the VPN [virtual private network] would stop working.

They also had an aging phone system based on analog lines. Frequently all lines would be busy meaning patients couldn’t get through to schedule appointments or ask questions about treatment. It also meant staff couldn’t make outbound calls. Gerald says “The previous [phone] system was a nightmare! We were constantly calling IT people to add a user or move a phone to another area in the office.

It was expensive, and we had to wait all day for them to show up.” Clearly a small business phone system that wasn’t able to meet their current needs was going to hamper instead of facilitate growth.

Gerald turned to a local Cisco Select Certified Channel Partner, InVision Technology Solutions, for help. InVision is focused on small businesses and had seen other companies face the same issues Valley Sleep Center was facing. It was important to Gerald to work with a company he trusted and InVision Technology fit that bill, the more they worked together, his confidence in the relationship continued to grow. He knows he can rely on them to help him day or night. They recommended a Cisco Smart Business Communications System which replaced five networking devices with a single device that’s about the size of a pizza box. The solution allows all of their locations to securely share information using a VPN, no need to email files through the Internet.

Now, they are getting more capabilities while saving money. “The savings are significant,” Gerald told me. “We were paying about US a month for each and every business analog phone line at our offices. The Cisco solution lets us consolidate all our voice and data onto one system, so now we pay for a dedicated data line and a backup phone line at each location, while sharing a secure Primary Rate Interface (PRI) connection for all phones at all our offices. I’m saving a lot of money on phone charges, yet I have more lines available due to the advantages of DID Technology.”

Do you have a story about how a technology upgrade is helping your company? Tell me! I’d love to write about you in our blog.

About a year and half ago, one of my best friends called me about this CRAZY deal on how to get in really great shape and make money  doing it. I felt I was in good enough shape already and didn’t think too much about the idea. I humored him a bit, making small conversation talking about this and that. We talked for a few more minutes before ending the phone call. I could tell he was extremely excited about whatever he was doing and I was truly happy for him.

There were many other things floating in my head that were consuming my life at that particular moment. My mother was gravely ill and my family had no  idea how much longer she had to live.  My physical well being seemed to  have fallen into  a bottomless pit.  In March of 2008,  my mother lost her battle and left this earth. I was devastated. I had no joy, no passion,  no energy.

My friend called me not too long afterward to express his sorrow for the loss of my mother.  He thought it would be a good idea to invite me to his daughters birthday  party to get my mind off things. I was a bit reluctant to  go. My 8 year old wanted  to go  to see her friend so I decided yes.

Let me tell you, when I got there I could not believe my eyes. My friend and his wife were in such FABULOUS SHAPE,  I was  in total disbelief . The first question I asked him was,  “What have you been doing?” That’s when he began to  tell me about P90X and Team Beach  Body and how he was able to  make his mortgage payments through this. His wife had told me  that this is a “No Brainer”. 

By  the time the party was over, I was happy to see the hard work he put in and how I could be a part of it. The first week after, I would call him everyday trying to  get more information to  see if this was too good to be true.

Following my short lived rejuvenation, I drifted back into  my catatonic state. I drank more and had just a hint of energy. Just enough to muster up in order to play outside with my little girl. “THAT WAS A STRUGGLE”.  

Now, here it is, 2009 is upon us and I haven’t done NOTHING! March was right around the corner and my 41st birthday was sending me an invitation. NOW WHAT DO I DO??? Do I spend the next year procrastinating, wondering what it would be like to  be in GREAT SHAPE,  or do I do something about this and make a commitment? I began to pray and realized, I want to be healthy!!!   GOD woke me up  from my physical COMA!!!

Guess what I did next? I called my friend and told him that my wife and I wanted to  make that commitment and become coaches  with Team Beach  Body. The experience that we have had so far has changed our lives around, 360 degrees.  The physical challenges that we have conquered , not only  have inspired our friends, but our family as well.  We have had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful people involved with Beach Body that have also  made the commitment to  change their lives both physically and spiritually but also achieved FINANCIAL FREEDOM!!

DO YOU WANT TO BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE? You Can!!  We are already on that road and now I implore YOU to do the same.  WE are MOTIVATED, DEDICATED,and BELIEVE  in Team Beach  Body! We have made the decision to  help people with their health and fitness needs. So,  If you are ready to take that next step by getting in the BEST SHAPE of your life and MAKING MONEY doing this, THIS IS THE TIME!