I got up early this morning and, in the predawn, began pulling in cool 60-degree air into our warm home. In short order the temperature dropped seven degrees to an agreeable 70, where it stayed most of the morning. Wearing only t-shirt and shorts, I was quite comfortable. What perplexes me is that six months […]
A few years ago, Dr. Maurice A. Ramirez recommended “Five Questions to Ask Your Hospital Before Disaster Strikes.” Be it a natural disaster, a manmade catastrophe, a terrorist attack, a pandemic, or any other large-scale emergency, it is critical for all medical personnel to be trained and ready, including the call center. Dr Ramirez’s five […]
As a magazine and Web site publisher, all manner of articles and press releases show up in my inbox on a daily basis. Although some of them are carefully targeted to the markets I serve, most are widespread missives that are sent to every publisher with a pulse, regardless of their beat or focus. Leading […]
January marked a historical senate vote in Massachusetts of near epic proportions. Essentially, this became a referendum on the President Obama’s first year in office in general and the healthcare debate in particular. The result of the contest did not bode well for our president. I wonder if he’s listening, really listening, to what the […]
As a publisher, December is a slower time of the year for me. It’s not that I have less work to do, but I have fewer interruptions in the form of ancillary email messages and phone calls. Conversely, for most answering services, the winter holidays present the opposite scenario, with the days leading up to […]
I have long maintained – and increasingly so – that my body does not comply with the “normal” twenty-four-hour sleep cycle. Among the press releases I received recently is confirmation that sleep cycle deviations can occur and that one enzyme may be the central culprit. Although I don’t fully comprehend the details, I nonetheless find […]
Although I frequently write movie reviews, this is the first to appear in a trade publication. However, given that the setting for this Broadway musical-turned-movie is a telephone answering service, the justification can be easily made. In The Bells Are Ringing, Judy Holliday reprises her Tony Award-winning role as Ella Peterson, a telephone answering service […]
My family moved the summer before fifth grade, and I started a new school. I quickly realized three things. I was far ahead in math, hopelessly behind in grammar, and had been placed in the wrong class by the school secretary. The result was that my teacher gave me special attention and esteem, while my […]
At the World Economic Forum, Jim Wallis suggested that wondering when the global economic crisis would be over is the wrong question to ask – even though it is the one foremost on our minds. He posited that the real query should be, “How will this crisis change us?” After all, if we don’t learn […]
There are likely as many billing plans as there are telephone answering services. It seems that everyone has his or her own idea of the right way to bill clients, with each answering service viewing its method as superior. Yet privately, they comprehend its shortcomings. In reality, there is no perfect billing philosophy and no […]