Doug Wagner, Author at Sunwapta Solutions

4 May 2009

Guys with Sensitive Eyes

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-04T16:54:42-06:00May 4th, 2009|Categories: Current Events, Doug's Blog, Leadership|

I had to take a bit of a hiatus from blogging. Had a flare-up with the eyes and it was a bit hard to read or write much, at least without lots of grammar and spelling errors. But I did have lots of time to think and writing helps clear my thoughts and motivate me… so here goes.

Government Forms Can Cause Blindness

I didn’t know this either and it is not in the fine print anywhere… I found it out the hard way on Wednesday evening. Ok, I admit I procrastinated a bit on the personal tax returns and had […]

29 Apr 2009

Door Openers – Getting The Right Foot In

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:30:03-06:00April 29th, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales|

If your product or service offerings are fairly expensive and you are looking for new clients, one way of getting in the door is having a door opener.

Retail

In retail you see door crashers all the time. Special prices designed to get you in the door or to generate a bit of a marketing buzz.

If oranges are on for 50 cents a pound, you might go to the store and while you are there upgrade to bread and cereal. The upgrade path is clear.

If a big screen TV is regularly $1500 and they have 5 on for $400, they are […]

26 Apr 2009

Spring is Taxing

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:30:09-06:00April 26th, 2009|Categories: Current Events, Doug's Blog|

Just looked at the weather forecast. Cool, wind, rain and snow accumulating until May. Life in the foothills.

Just looked at the calendar, personal taxes returns due by end-April.

Good news, eyes are better… the redness and watering are gone and I can see well again.

Bad news… I can see the snow and tax returns.

25 Apr 2009

Thanks Team!

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:30:12-06:00April 25th, 2009|Categories: Doug's Blog, Software Development|

I like to acknowledge things that are done right.

On Friday, one of our good clients came to us with an unexpected problem. Their client had changed the infrastructure specifications and the application we had helped them build would not run in the new configuration. They had spent a fair amount of effort over two days trying to get it working and then reached out to us.

Of course these things always happen when your most experienced developer on the team is away. Well we managed to connect with him via phone but he was unable to remotely offer a working solution and […]

24 Apr 2009

Day 4 – New Website

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:30:22-06:00April 24th, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales, Technology|

It's been challenge to work on a website this week with eyes not quite working right.

I've been looking at what we have done over the past 9 years and it seems quite impressive. Our industry experience has clearly been Human Resources, Actuarial and Financial Services. However, many of our core capabilities could easily be applied to just about any industry… web applications, modeling, complex form/surveys, data migration, integration, project management, etc.

In fact we are launching products aimed at the small and medium business market that will maximize the human capital in your business inside and outside of the traditional […]

23 Apr 2009

Day 3 – Testing My Resolve

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:30:27-06:00April 23rd, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

Most New Year's resolutions fail due to a lack of resolve or persistence. People have a tendency to quit at the first signs of difficulty.

It is no different in business.

Whether you want to significantly grow your business or become a higher earner, you need to push yourself out of your comfort zone and into new, uncharted territory.

Whenever I have done this in past, things come up to test your resolve. Some are small and some are big. It is no different today.

Monday I had enormous energy and positive outlook. I got a lot accomplished.

Tuesday I had a red eye and […]

22 Apr 2009

Big Enough

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:30:37-06:00April 22nd, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog|

Some companies will never be big enough. Some companies are too small. Very few companies are just the right size.

The only thing that matters is not your current size, but your ability to bring together a team to deliver a specific product or service to a specific customer at a specific point in time in the future.

The past does not really matter though it can be perceived to be proof of the future by many buyers. But the past is not today, nor is it the future.

The work can be done in-house, contracted out or through a consortium. The quality of […]

21 Apr 2009

Great Customer Service Example

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:30:42-06:00April 21st, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Leadership|

This morning I woke up with a very red and irritated left eye and decided to work from home. After lunch I realized it wasn't getting any better, so I decided to head off to the doctor.

Now I live between Okotoks and Calgary so I decided to head south to the Calgary Health Region's "Okotoks Health and Wellness Centre".

Now I always find it interesting how different a town is from a city, even when they are 15 minutes apart. We've normally found people in customer service to be just a little more friendly, genuine and less rushed (pound for pound) in […]

20 Apr 2009

A New Beginning – Day One

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:30:58-06:00April 20th, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales|

We made the big announcement to our staff today. Hanif is now the Manager, Consulting Services and I am focusing on business development. He has a great team supporting him so I am not worried about letting go… really.

In reality most of the team is still doing what they did the day before and I am still here too.

But, it's like rearranging the furniture at home; a change brings something fresh and new to the room and its residents.

With my new found energy I tackled some architecture issues with one of my senior developers for one of the products we […]

19 Apr 2009

If the Shoe Fits – 2

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-04T16:55:11-06:00April 19th, 2009|Categories: Current Events, Doug's Blog|

Quick update on the missing shoes affair…

Apparently there was an extra pair of shoes left at the end of the gathering (not mine as I did review the extras before I left and these were the wrong colour and style). So my aunt mailed them to the guy we thought had my shoes.

They were not his shoes.

I have the wrong shoes and he has the wrong shoes.

Who has our shoes?

I think I will turn this case over to Mulder and Skully as I am sure now that paranormal forces are at play. In the meantime I am closing […]

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About Doug Wagner

Government Forms Can Cause Blindness