Part I: Can You Present?

As The CTE, I’m asked this question often, “can you present?” Why, yes I can.  I can present tomorrow, next week, next month, even later on today if my calendar is free. It is what I do, I present, I deliver, I execute.  Yes, if you are asked to present, you should be able to…

Saying it, doesn’t make it fact

As many of you know, I spend a lot of time reading articles, blogs, research work, vendor collateral, etc. I mean, I spend a lot of time and any time I see a quantitative statement, such as “13% of the world’s population prefers the color purple”, without a source given I question its validity.  Just…

Personal Brand Marketing: Does it Matter?

Companies live and die by its brand, if the buying community has a “bad taste in its mouth” for a certain brand, you can be assured down revenues will quickly follow.  This is why so much time, effort and money is spent on creating a brand and why protecting the value of that brand is…

Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

How the idea for this blog came about This past weekend my daughter asked, “who invented toast?”  So having a little Cliff Clavin in me, I made up a story of how toast was invented by a gentleman called the Toastmaster General.  When she responded, “really?” I quickly said no but I’m sure it can be found…

Word of the year: why we need to choose wisely

WORD! It is Friday and here is my non-technical blog that I promised. I read this article last night in the airport, “Stop using these 16 terms to describe yourself” – it was interesting and while yes it has outlined some over used words it really wouldn’t detract me from someone who is looking for…

Data Protection OF a Service

Today I read Jason Buffington’s blog entitled, “How do you backup SaaS?  I’d like to know” and was intrigued to see what response he has received from this very inquisitive blog post.  Much to my chagrin, none were publicly posted.  This, I thought was a great blog entry asking the very same questions I asked…

Thinking BIG, going BIG and using Rag week for inspiration

Web definitions Rag Week: a week at British universities during which side-shows and processions of floats are organized to raise money for charities. wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn First off, read this -> Seven pieces of advice for an epic Rag week. Second, know that this Friday blog has nothing to do with technology – well sort of.  Rather, this has…

Backup to the Future!!

Old times forgotten I’ve been around backup and recovery for a lot of years.  Started as a night time backup operator slinging 288MB (yes megabyte) disk packs, mounting 9-track reel to reel tape (don’t forget to check if it is write-protected) and initiating a copy (backup) on a WANG VS7310 way back in late ’80s….

What is a CTE?

What exactly do you do? It is a question I have been asked more than once, especially after seeing my business card or hear my title, “Chief Technology Evangelist”, mentioned.  Fortunately more and more companies and organizations are becoming familiar with the role of the tech evangelist.  Probably the most well known Technology Evangelist is Guy…