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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Why do technology costs outpace productivity gains?

I thought it was a joke. You know, like, “How is a sneeze like a drum solo?” And the answer would be something like, “You know it’s going to happen, but you’re powerless to stop it.” So here it is, straight: How is business technology like the invention of electricity? But it’s not a joke. It’s an article in Slate magazine online (www.slate.com/id/2167909/). That article opens with a bit of surprising history. Electricity was widely available starting in the late…

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State beefs up incentives available to tech companies:

Companies receiving a Phase 1 SBIR match from the state need to apply for second-stage funding by July 20. Applications can be downloaded on the IEDC Web site. The proposal for funds should be no longer than 12 pages and include a commercialization plan describing how the product would be moved to market and any challenges that would need to be overcome. The proposal also should include a budget describing the funds required for The Indiana Economic Development Corp. has…

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New owner takes wheel of Autobase: Virginia-based Dominion provides resources to grow technology

When Bryan Anderson sold part of Autobase Inc. in 2004 to a venture capital firm, the owner of the marketing-software maker felt as though he had sent his unruly youngster off to boarding school to become more responsible. Three years later, after convincing results and a subsequent sale to Virginia-based Dominion Enterprises, Robinson’s offspring has turned into a much more mature and disciplined child. The financial backing of Boston-based VC firm Summit Partners and the guidance of veteran technology executive…

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WEDJ one year later: Ratings more than double: Revenue growth pushes Hispanic station toward record

After years languishing as a ratings bottom feeder, WEDJ-FM 107.1 is quickly moving up the radio charts with its Hispanic format and is positioned to crack the market’s top 10 stations. Since local radio veteran Russ Dodge was hired as general manager in late April 2006, WEDJ’s rating for area listeners 12 and older has more than doubled, from 1.0 to 2.1, according to New York-based Arbitron Co. WEDJ’s morning show is ranked No. 3 with listeners ages 18 to…

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SPORTS: How much will we pay to watch IU, Purdue?

It read, “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.” That’s the way I feel about technology. For every step I take forward, I fall two behind. A couple of weeks back, my trusty home laptop computer broke down. So, nearly, did I, especially as I pitched myself into the world of repair (it could’ve been fixed, but it was price-prohibitive) and then into retail (did the salespeople notice how my eyes glazed over as they launched into their wi-fi,…

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SURF THIS: Put the i in iGoogle to personalize page

“What’s that?” she asked, looking over my shoulder as I logged into my Google account and opened my personalized page. When I told her that this was my iGoogle page, replete with all of the news, weather, stock quotes, information, blogs-everything-that I like to have at my fingertips, she was dumbstruck. “How did you get that?” she asked. I was dumbstruck, too. Is it possible that she-and, maybe, you-haven’t heard about iGoogle? Well, that changes today, and you can thank…

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State begins modernizing case-management systems: Moving from paper to electronic records a big task

Beside a marble counter in the Appellate Clerk of the Courts office at the Indiana Statehouse, a one-room storage area known as “the vault” is the storehouse for paper case files. Each is bound by string and has case numbers written on an attached tag, and they only move to be carted between floors and buildings when a court needs to review a file. While the clerk creates an electronic docket at the appellate level, that system remains largely unconnected…

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New management brings youth, profit: Industry experience makes hotel more professional

After unwrapping gifts on Christmas Day 2005, Colleen Fanning got something else from her dad: an offer to run the small inn he bought in 2002. Bill Fanning spent more than two years tearing down, rebuilding and expanding the Brick Street Inn, a fixture on Main Street in Zionsville. But it struggled financially after reopening in the fall of 2004, and his patience was at an end. “He told me: ‘Either I’m going to sell the inn or you can…

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STARTUP MOBIUS LABS: Software tester tries training, too

STARTUP MOBIUS LABS Software tester tries training, too Type of business: software testing Location: 9229 Delegates Row, Suite 290 Phone: 218-7709 E-mail: info@mobiuslabs.com Web site: www.mobiuslabs.com Founded: March 2007 Owner: Alan Wlasuk Owner’s background: Alan Wlasuk, 56, has a bachelor’s degree in math from Drexel University and a master’s in computer science from Ohio State University. About 20 years ago, the software developer founded two local enterprises for AT&T. Then 14 years ago, he created software-development firm Wlasuk, Delporte and…

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INVESTING: Rising interest rates not a reason to get defensive

Investors the world over are in an uproar about the increase in U.S. interest rates over the last month. Fundamental guys are screaming that the cost of capital is now prohibitive to further growth. Technical guys are screaming that 25- year support levels were broken and now the floodgates are open to much higher rates. Somewhere a voice of reason needs to be heard. You’ve come to the right place. The fact is that interest rates have been trending higher…

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As barriers drop, even small firms go global: Local company pushed its blood monitor worldwide

Here’s one way to send your company’s revenue through the roof: Push your product into 70 countries around the world. That’s easier said than done, of course. But it’s exactly the path Polymer Technology Systems Inc. took to help quadruple sales of its cholesterol-checking device in the last three years. How Indianapolis-based PTS pulled off the feat shows how even small companies in Middle America can become global enterprises in today’s economy. In fact, the possibility of worldwide expansion is…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Want young employees? Get young technology

I thought I’d explored just about every purpose to which computer hardware and software would lend themselves, but Neil Taflinger of Intake magazine tossed me a new one in the May 17 issue. Technology, he says, is a tool for retaining young employees. Could be, I suppose. Taflinger is one of those young employees he talks about, a real Gen X’er, so he might have some insight here. According to Taflinger, Gen X’ers partly judge any company they work for…

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Phone providers eyeing small biz: Competition heats up to serve growing companies

It seems that, in the phone world, everybody loves small businesses these days. AT&T, central Indiana’s primary landline provider, is highlighting small-business offerings in its recently re-branded Cingular stores throughout the region. Cable company Comcast, meanwhile, is rolling out its small-business phone options over local lines and Bright House Networks plans to get in the game within a year. Then there are the scrappy, independent providers such as locally based Indiana Telephone Co. Inc., which have expanded their offerings to…

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BULLS & BEARS: Much-touted hedge funds sometimes go badly awry

Some elements of the financial media might have you believe hedge fund managers are, to quote Tom Wolfe, “masters of the universe.” However, some recent blunders, particularly in the hedge-fund departments of the large investment banks, say otherwise. No firm encapsulates a golden-egg-laying machine on Wall Street more than Goldman Sachs. Yet for all of Goldman’s financial muscle, its own flagship hedge fund has recorded awful results over the past year and a half. Dubbed the Global Alpha Fund, Goldman’s…

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INVESTING: Utilities finally stumble, but don’t lose faith in them

A go-to trade for the last few years is losing some of its sheen. This market-leading sector offered one of the true gems of investing: market-beating returns without a lot of extra risk. A change in that might send small ripples throughout your portfolio. The utility sector has been one of the few areas that led from the lows in early 2003 right up until a few weeks ago. While home builders dropped out more than a year ago and…

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Home Helpers: Aging population fuels home care business Service offers household help for elderly, infirm

Service offers household help for elderly, infirm Julie Sullivan’s “a-ha” moment came when she was trying to coordinate home care for her elderly grandfather in Huntington while she was in Indianapolis. Even though, as a supervisor at Visteon, she had significant control over her schedule, Sullivan said she couldn’t visit as often as she needed. “I thought, ‘My word, what does the rest of the world do?'” she said. So Sullivan set out to help, starting a local franchise of…

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Local startup generates ripe software sales prospects: LeadJen quadruples revenue in less than two years

Salespeople dread dead-end leads. They’re eager to pitch to CEOs, so they’re livid when the prospecting process leads to meetings with janitors. “You can’t make a bad sales rep good just by giving him good leads,” said Bill Johnson, CEO of Indianapolis-based startup LeadJen. “But you can tell quickly if your message is [reaching] the people you want to hear it.” Johnson knows the dilemma well. He has two decades of experience selling software and is best known locally as…

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Bank exec forms electric-vehicle biz

Banker Steve Tolen is attempting to resuscitate the electric car. Tolen believes conditions are ripe for an upstart automaker
to launch a safe battery-powered vehicle capable of rapid acceleration, highway speeds and over 100 miles of distance between
charges.

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Will state’s job growth always trail nation’s?

You usually have to swallow your pride when it comes time to forecast the growth of the Indiana economy. That’s because no matter what your heart says, your head tells you what the best forecast will be. That is the one that pulls up well short of growth in the rest of the country. There are a lot of talented people working hard around the state trying to change that. And if the full truth be told, most of our…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Want to launch a rocket from your USB port?

I’m as much of a capitalist as anybody, but even I’m amazed sometimes at what a free market can come up with. Thanks to one little tiny addition to modern computers, a whole industry has opened up. That addition is the USB port, a little slot on the case of almost all present-day computers. Most now have two or more, in fact. “USB” stands for “universal serial bus,” and it’s replaced the older D-shaped serial ports, round PS2 mouse and…

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