On May 27, 2020, Logical Media Group held a webinar about Navigating the New Normal in Amazon Marketing.

Register to watch this on-demand recording here!

As more states begin their official economic reopenings in the wake of COVID-19, many organizations feel like resuming the work itself isn’t the biggest challenge. For many of us, reengaging and rebuilding our teams of talented professionals and getting them motivated and bought-in to the new way of work is an extremely daunting task.

Many people are scared, distrustful, and depressed right now, and that is the exact opposite of the recipe for a successful team. Whether they know it or not, professionals are hungry for their employers to help them feel normal and plugged-in again. That means employee culture and engagement should be points of emphasis for every business in the coming weeks and months.

Identifying the Best Aspects of Your “Pre-COVID” Culture

It may seem like a long time ago now, but less than three months ago, you had a thriving community sharing a physical space and working towards common goals – some of your team members might even have compared it to being part of a family!

The realities of COVID-19 mean that workplace culture and team atmosphere can’t resume with perfect continuity. With that said, there is the potential to create a new, even stronger community by porting what worked about your previous approach onto new methodologies and emerging best practices in light of COVID-19.

How Do We Figure Out the Best Parts of Our Culture?

Your team members are the best source of information when it comes to which parts of your workplace culture, employee wellness initiatives, and daily perks really make a difference for them. You can get that information through employee culture surveys, which can be blasted out team-wide via email as you plan your return to the office.

If possible, you should do this work in the weeks ahead of your reopen to give your new initiatives the most possible planning time. However, if getting people back into the building is the main priority, you can use the opening weeks of the return to work to gather this data to inform your employee engagement strategy.

What About Employee Mental Health?

Workplace culture and collegiality are crucial to creating a positive work environment that drives work people can be proud about while robustly supporting people’s humanistic and mental health needs to prevent tension, frustration, and burnout.

One of your culture survey’s main goals should be determining what services you were providing that people found really valuable pre-COVID. Did they value seeing their colleagues in contexts other than work? Did they appreciate making time for serious conversations during the work week? What made them go home feeling good about themselves at the end of the day?

What Strengthened the Team?

As the old axiom goes, “teamwork makes the dream work.” While it may sound trite at first, bringing your employees together to create a true team is the difference between having a great approach to human capital management and just being a “job” where people work.

Another main concern of your employee surveys should be to identify what aspects of your pre-COVID-19 approach brought people together to create a more functional, vivacious unit. What made people feel like true colleagues and not just people who worked in the same space? How did you help team members discover, appreciate, and celebrate each other’s strengths? How did you foster an environment where people understood and were not judgmental about their colleagues’ areas of need or weakness?

What Gave People a Sense of Shared Purpose?

If you’ve got people feeling positive about themselves and their work and functioning as part of a thriving team, there’s only one real component left to a great culture: shared goals and purpose.

In order to get your employees reintegrated into the work and making up for lost time, you need to figure out what messages, incentives, and motivational tactics really worked for them. What about your organization or leadership did they find inspirational? What about the nature of your work makes team members feel good about what they’re doing? What approaches to shared success and shared failure spoke to them?

Leveraging Technology to Modify & Modernize

Once you’ve drawn out the aspects of your workplace and employee culture that really worked and inspired excellence, you’ll likely have a long list of activities and approaches that feel like a real challenge to recreate in the context of social distancing.

At first, this can feel discouraging, but luckily, the last few months have seen an explosion of remote communication and interaction platforms that enable us to continue positive community interactions without the risk of viral transmission.

Migrating Physical Interactions Online

Video conferencing and project management platforms have picked up much of the slack during our time away from the office, and they also offer opportunities for employee culture reengagement.

Think of ways you can allow people to “take a walk” to visit friends in other departments for a quick chat like they used to. Provide people with document sharing and collaboration tools that make it just as easy to work together as if you were sitting at the same table. Consider meeting in a text-based chatroom where people have time to think about their responses and process other people’s ideas at their own pace.

All of these are different ways we can use emerging work tools as culture tools as well!

Embracing an Opportunity to Grow & Redefine the Work

It’s important to understand that there will not be a cut and dry way to completely recreate our previous approach to office life and employee culture post-COVID-19. We will need to stay open-minded and identify employee needs in order to find solutions and approaches that support them.

With that in mind, this is an opportunity to grow and redefine what it even means to be a business, a team, and a professional. The new work will be finding ways to continue and extend intellectual and communal closeness without the benefit of physical proximity.

If we stay open minded, remain grounded in what we know works and what employees need, and keep our ears to the ground for the best emerging tools and solutions, we’ll be able to reopen the business space in a powerful way that makes all of us better.

How to Learn More

If you’re an HR professional or business leader looking to guide a successful reopening as COVID-19 continues, be sure to download Launchways’ Complete Return to Work Toolkit. The toolkit provides a variety of checklists and other resources that help you consider reopening from every conceivable angle, including:

• Recalling furloughed or laid off employees
• Modifying your physical workspace
• Best practices for employee safety
• Personal protective equipment (PPE)
• New policies for meeting, communication, shared space, etc.
• Bringing people together while distancing

The times, they are a-changin.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, health systems are facing major challenges engaging patients while struggling to recoup lost revenue.

On the flipside, patients who have been delaying acute care needs and preventive visits, continue to wonder if it’s safe to receive in-person care or if virtual visits are a suitable alternative.

Neither health systems nor patients can continue to delay care. Now that we have standardized safety guidelines in place, as well as proven success with virtual care, health systems are better equipped to engage their patients and book necessary care.

Getting back to business as usual will be challenging, but one of the most important things health systems can do right now is encourage patients to access care again. By educating patients on safety measures in place and their options for care, health systems can start building patient trust and booking visits to recoup lost revenue.

Upfront and Zipnosis have joined forces to deliver proactive and trustworthy digital communication while guiding patients to the best mode of care for their needs and comfort level – whether that is in-person or virtual care.

“Upfront and Zipnosis have created a safe, clear, and convenient way for patients to book their previously planned or current healthcare needs. Consumers are anxious about how and when they will come back into the healthcare system. They want to know how they can get safe and high-quality care,” said Catherine Murphy, Zipnosis COO. “Together, Upfront and Zipnosis provide a complete solution that engages, educates, and provides a simple pathway to book appointments in person or virtually.”

Below are the key benefits of the combined solution:

Recoup revenue

• As the backlog for care continues to increase, we’re here to help health systems retain patients. Through personalized communications, we provide patients options for receiving care even in the midst of COVID-19. We quickly move them to action to either access on-demand virtual care or book a virtual or in-person appointment.

Improve patient outcomes

• Health systems cannot improve their patient’s health and wellbeing, if they’re not engaged. Clients using our solution have seen a 60 percent patient activation rate and a 45 percent increase in necessary visit completion.

Eliminate inefficient processes

• Calling and sending letters to patients for visit recall is not only inefficient, it’s expensive. Break the status quo by activating all patients with relevant communications and strategic call-to-actions in the palm of their hands.

Strengthen brand recognition

• Help patients get to know your health system through consistent, automated communications personalized to your patients. Be a lifelong partner, not just an annual check off the list.

Learn more about our exciting partnership here!

Centro announced an API integration with Microsoft Advertising to automate paid search campaign management and reporting. Centro’s customers that also use Microsoft’s self-serve ad platform now receive real-time performance data in Centro’s Basis platform. Basis is the most comprehensive, automated, and intelligent digital media platform in the market, and is the only software to consolidate digital operations across programmatic, direct, search, and social campaigns.

Microsoft Ads is a leading marketing technology solution, providing pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on Bing, Yahoo! and MSN search engines. Bing powers 36.7% of U.S. desktop searches and 11.7 billion monthly searches around the globe. In the U.S., the Microsoft Search Network has 124 million unique searchers. Basis receives data from Microsoft Ads that is standardized and formatted to match a campaign’s analytics and reporting from other sites, channels, and vendors.

According to April Weeks, Centro’s EVP of media services and operations: “Centro understands marketers. When Microsoft Advertising opportunities are being synchronized with omnichannel efforts, Basis eliminates the extra steps necessary to gather and align data from multiple platforms. Basis provides client teams with a holistic view of how their campaign is performing and highlights the parts that need optimization.”

Microsoft’s integration with Basis empowers users to automate cross-channel campaign management, reduces the time needed to assemble and unify reports, and eliminates manual tasks—without compromising quality and accuracy of data. Basis aggregates and rationalizes delivery data from its proprietary demand-side platform (DSP) and major third-party ad servers, as well as search and social vendors.

Media professionals drive efficiency by unifying reports from different tactics and media seamlessly, within Basis. Then, they evaluate Microsoft Advertising performance with all other ad channels holistically, to make informed campaign optimizations.  Finally, they assess conversions to attribute how Microsoft Ads interactions affected overall campaign engagement.

Most media management systems and ad-buying platforms do not have automatically standardized data being imported via robust API integrations with major third-party ad servers. Basis users do not have to log into third-party systems, locate campaign data, download spreadsheet reports with dozens of line items, and clean up reports to align them with the campaign’s preferred arrangement of data.

Synchronize your search advertising tactics with all major aspects of your campaigns today! Learn more here.

Meet Blue Star Recyclers and learn about their mission!

Over the past year, you have heard Zebra leaders talk about Inclusion and Diversity here on the Your Edge blog. However, most of those discussions were in the context of employee culture. We have yet to talk about the importance of inclusion and diversification in companies’ supply chains. That’s precisely why we invited Steve Williams to join us for the latest episode of the Your Edge podcast.

Find out what Zebra is specifically doing to diversify its supplier base, distribution channel and reseller network and how such efforts enable Zebra to be more creative in delivering the high-quality products and services that give our customers a competitive edge:

Listen to the podcast here!

UI Health, Chicago Medical Society and PhysIQ Collaborate to Protect Frontline COVID-19 Health Care Workers and High-Risk Patients with Advanced AI

• UI Health will monitor the health of certain frontline health care workers and high-risk patients with COVID-19 who are recommended for home isolation using the pinpointIQ system comprising wearable biosensors and artificial intelligence technology
• The system may help mitigate a surge of hospital patients and provide early warning signs of COVID-19 exacerbation

CHICAGO, IL – June 16, 2020 – The University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System (UI Health), Chicago Medical Society and AI healthcare tech pioneer physIQ announced today that physIQ’s pinpointIQTM continuous remote patient monitoring (cRPM) system will monitor the vital signs of the health system’s frontline health care workers and high-risk patients with COVID-19 for early signs of disease exacerbation. 

The pinpointIQ system is an FDA-cleared AI analytics platform that monitors the vital signs through a wearable biosensor detecting changes in physiologic indices of health status.  The system then notifies clinicians charged with monitoring data produced by pinpointIQ for clinically-relevant changes in vital signs. This allows an early plan of care to be developed that may prevent complications or hospitalization.

“Our top priority is protecting and promoting the health and safety of our patients and staff, and COVID-19 has created an urgent need for innovative, tech-driven solutions,” said UIC’s Dr. Terry Vanden Hoek, Chief Medical Officer at UI Health and Head of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the College of Medicine. “We are excited to partner with the Chicago Medical Society and physIQ to offer home monitoring options to some patients and staff with COVID-19 that could help us detect physiologic changes of illness progression that may indicate a need for early follow up with their physician.”

Through this collaboration, the University of Illinois Hospital will have access to the technology and monitor certain staff and patients with COVID-19 with risk factors such as obesity and heart or lung conditions and who are isolating at home. “Continuous monitoring of patients using physiological modeling with AI offers an opportunity to detect a virus exacerbation early. Early intervention may prevent the body from initiating the ‘cytokine storm’ that we think causes the most severe complications of COVID-19,” Vanden Hoek said. “We hope this technology will help us to closely follow the health of our staff – in partnership with their primary care providers – and patients while they are at home with COVID-19.”

The potential utility of pinpointIQTM for use with COVID-19 patients is supported by the work physIQ has done with USAID, the CDC and Scripps Health in patients with Ebola, as well as in clinical studies conducted with Veterans Affairs in patients with severe congestive heart failure. 

The pinpointIQ system comprises a Vital Connect wearable biosensor, pulse oximeter and smartphone streaming of physiological data to a HIPAA compliant cloud-based server, which uses FDA-cleared analytics to produce clinically actionable insight. For homebound UI Health patients, the system will be prescribed by an emergency room physician and shipped directly to the patient’s home without requiring direct physical contact from a clinician. For health care workers who choose to participate, the system will be deployed at the hospital, through UI Health’s employee health program.

“To make a life-changing impact, we need to be at the front line of health care,” noted Gary Conkright, CEO of physIQ. “We are proud to support homebound healthcare workers and patients who are high risk for COVID-19 exacerbation with our remote physiologic monitoring technology.  This opportunity also allows physIQ to support UI Health in its mission to reduce and eliminate the health disparities experienced by vulnerable communities, which have recently seen disproportionate rates of COVID-19 infection and death due to COVID-19 complications.”

“PhysIQ is alone in offering deep analytics and AI to monitor the health of patients and their healthcare providers,” said Ted Kanellakes, Executive Director for the Chicago Medical Society. “The Chicago Medical Society is proud to support this important collaboration. As a provider to underserved communities, UI Health and physIQ together will make a real difference to the people of Chicago.”

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We all face a challenging market now. A few months ago, no one could’ve predicted the world would be where it is today. Almost all workers need to stay inside and operate remotely. Organizations need to scale up resources to meet this new demand.

But you still have the same concerns you’ve always had with running your business. Organizations were looking to digitize long before this new normal. Fifty-four percent of organizations surveyed for the Flexera 2020 State of Tech Spend Report indicated digital transformation was their top initiative this year.

Organizations also reported cybersecurity and cloud-first/cloud migration as top initiatives. You can see how the need to digitize has increased when looking at the state of the global economy. Cloud is the backbone of digital transformation. Benefits of the cloud for business include enabling organizations to innovate and scale rapidly so they can more quickly to respond to business demand. The trend is for investments in cloud IaaS, PaaS and SaaS to increase as organizations decrease on-premises software license investments.

Eighty-four percent of survey respondents indicated they have a multi-cloud strategy. That is huge in light of the complexity many organizations face as they seek to tighten cloud security and maintain governance. In the midst of all of these rapid changes, organizations have to:

• Identify which workloads to migrate to the cloud
• Develop a strategy for managing multiple cloud instances and services
• Manage hybrid environments
• Advance effective strategies for ongoing management

All these steps need to happen while also controlling costs and finding opportunities to optimize spend. That’s why it’s crucial to approach your cloud journey from a business perspective. You need the right people, processes and tools in place to navigate your cloud journey. For example, you should start by evaluating your business services. With proper service and resource discovery, you can identify which workloads should move to the cloud. That’ll help you avoid the mistake of moving too fast and struggling to get visibility into your IT environment.

As you migrate workloads, you want an effective strategy for managing software licenses and spend in the cloud. This strategy should include looking at SaaS spend, which can quickly proliferate in your environment because of how easy it is to purchase and deploy. You also want to keep a pulse on your IaaS and PaaS spend and leverage automation where appropriate to help you minimize risk. It’s vital to regularly refine your ongoing management strategy based on business demand.

The benefit of the cloud for business is that it provides the flexibility organizations need to scale resources up or down based on need. It’s more necessary than ever to have the capability to examine your cloud strategy. You want to control spend, innovate and respond to business needs quickly and without disruption.

Flexera understands these challenges. We have the automated solutions you need to manage your entire cloud journey. Watch this webinar to learn more about the importance of navigating your cloud journey with a business service lens.

Contact us today to find out how we can help you transform your IT and advance your business.

Need to Get Off on the Right Foot?

Let’s face it; changing up your work routine is no easy feat. Maybe you have already started working from home, or you are looking into switching your employees over to a remote set up. In any case, we developed a helpful guide to be used as a remote work checklist. Let’s get started!  

The In-Office to Remote Work Checklist  

 Computer Set-Up

First things first, when you are transitioning to a remote work setup, you need to make sure your employees have all the technological materials they need to do their jobs successfully. Things such as internet access, laptops, desktop monitors, computer mice, and access to any mandatory programs may be items to consider. 

Your Workspace  

As a remote employee, setting up a workspace and developing a daily routine can significantly improve your productivity and focus. Make sure it’s a space that you can sit comfortably in, not get easily distracted, and feel inspired to work. 

Factor in Time for Complications 

There are bound to be a few speedbumps in the road when you are transitioning to a new work environment. That’s why you should always factor in a “time buffer” with your deadlines and remember to practice patience and understanding with your team members. 

Assessing Your Priorities

A critical part of the remote work checklist is to assess your priorities and make clear guidelines for everyone on what their role is in the company. 

Communication Tools

When you are working from home, communication is key! Using a real-time application for communication is a helpful solution to solve day-to-day issues. We recommend platforms like Microsoft Teams and Slack.   

Cybersecurity Protocol

Are your employees properly trained in cybersecurity best practices? One of the biggest cybersecurity threats of working from home is email phishing. If you are not familiar with the term “phishing,” it’s the act of tricking users to click on an encrypted link or email. Once you’ve clicked on the link, the hacker will spam your account with malware or other dangerous viruses. 

 Phishing tests provide your employees with security awareness training. Consider your users as a line of defense in the event of a cyber-attack. 

Annual Meetings

Taking 15 minutes to chat can make all the difference to a remote employee! An important thing to add to your remote work checklist is to schedule regular meeting times with everyone. This ensures your staff is on the same page with all their tasks and encourages team collaboration. 

Task Management 

Don’t let things fall through the cracks! A task management application makes it easy to share and organize your projects, tasks, files, and more. The best part is you can easily share this information with clients and guests, so having an account isn’t necessary. 

Use What You’ve Learned 

Once you have started working from home, the most valuable thing you can add to your remote work checklist is the lessons you’ve learned along the way to make working remote the best it can be.  

Need to get off on the right foot? Let’s face it; changing up your work routine is no easy feat. Maybe you have already started working from home, or you are looking into switching your employees over to a remote set up. In any case, we developed a helpful guide to be used as a remote work checklist.

Click below to review the checklist to take your workplace from in-office to remote work easily.

Originally Posted by EMPIST: https://empist.com/in-office-to-remote-work-checklist/

The former Hewlett Packard Enterprise executive brings nearly 20 years of tech experience to Ensono’s leadership team to drive business transformation for clients

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., June 17, 2020 — Ensono, a leading hybrid IT services provider, announced today that Paola Doebel, has been named SVP and Managing Director of North America. As an experienced global leader in the tech industry, Doebel will drive Ensono’s North American go-to-market strategy, working closely with new and base clients, strengthening partnerships, and leading solutions engineering. She will be responsible for client initiatives and business performance across the region.

“Paola’s experience in leading transformation at major corporations across global markets is astounding, and her addition to Ensono’s leadership team is a huge win for our clients, associates and overall business success,” said Marc Capri, President at Ensono. “Her passion and knowledge for driving growth was apparent from the start, and I look forward to seeing how she guides our strategy into the future.”

Doebel brings nearly 20 years of leadership experience in product and go-to-market strategies. She has a proven track record of delivering growth across complex portfolios that span multiple geographies. Before Ensono, Doebel worked at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) where she most recently ran their multi-billion dollar compute, hybrid cloud, mission critical, and high-performance computing/artificial intelligence businesses in North America. Doebel also spent nearly nine years in the Asia-Pacific (South Korea and Singapore) market, running HPE’s data center and hybrid cloud business and growing new business units at Dell Technologies Inc.

“Business growth starts with capable, transparent, and unified leadership,” Doebel said. “Throughout the process, I was impressed with the transparency, collaboration, and consistency of the Ensono leadership team, proving their integrity and commitment to clients and associates. I look forward to leveraging Ensono’s unique value proposition to bring our clients innovative hybrid solutions.”

Learn more about Ensono’s leadership team here.

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Time synchronization services have been around for a long time, but now the SEC’s Rule 613 (Consolidated Audit Trail) requires accurate time. Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service makes compliance to this rule much more simple.

What is Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service (TSaaS)?

Like many other cloud services, TSaaS is built on the idea of using a pool of shared resources to be able to more efficiently, thus less expensively, deliver a specific resource. Often, that resource is computing power, storage space, or a specific application, but here that resource is highly accurate and traceable time. TSaaS has existed for years, coming into more popular use with other cloud services and the increased prevalence of distributed computing. With large farms of servers needing to process many millions of transactions a second across them, knowing which transactions happened first is very important.

These time readings are retrieved from highly accurate global navigation satellite systems (such as GPS/GNSS) to globally distributed Grandmaster time servers with up to 30 nanoseconds accuracy, 30/1,000,000,000 of a second, compared to NIST or UTC time standard. It is common that time is simply distributed from those GPS/GNSS clocks directly to servers and other systems using Network Time Protocol (NTP) and Precision Time Protocol (PTP).

Steadfast additionally utilizes proprietary NTP/PTP clock chain synchronization and NIST/UTC traceability compliance software from FSMTime that can use these multiple Grandmaster sources across multiple network paths, as well as any additional third-party timing sources to ensure even greater accuracy.

The bottom line: Steadfast monitors, analyses, and retrieves multiple time sources from GPS/GNSS-sourced NTP and PTP network feeds through FSMTime’s software technology, to time-sync critical servers’ business clocks with nanoseconds range accuracy, traceable to NIST/UTC, and retain as proof of compliance. 

How Does TSaaS Fit with SEC Rule 613 CAT?

The new SEC Rule 613 CAT will require all firms trading on the National Market System (NMS) to report to a central repository regarding each quote and order in an NMS security, and each reportable event with respect to each quote and order, such as origination, modification, cancellation, routing and execution. This data must be reported with an accuracy within 50 milliseconds of NIST and can never fluctuate outside that. All clocks, across all trading systems being synced to NIST is now suddenly very important. Now, you could build your own dedicated infrastructure to support this, but here are some reasons why Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service solutions might make more sense:

• Time is short, You Need Fast Deployment – Requirements to meet compliance with Rule 613 are coming quickly, with large firms having to start providing data in May of 2020 and all firms needing to start providing compliant data by December of 2021.
• Save Time and Money – A solution already exists, so why spend your time, money and effort designing your own solution? Take advantage of a shared infrastructure to reduce costs and time spent. Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service generally costs a lot less than roof rights at a single data center, while providing a much more complete set of services.
• Reduce Risk, Ensure Accuracy – Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service is already an established product that fits the accuracy requirements of this specific time stamping rule. You can avoid the risk of challenges that come with building your own, un-tested system by utilizing a verified, turnkey solution that’s already in place.
• This Is Not A One-Time Project, It Is A Moving Target – 50 milliseconds is just the beginning “as clock synchronization technology matures further, the Participants will assess, in accordance with Rule 613, tightening CAT’s clock synchronization standards to reflect changes in industry standards.” Let a Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service provider worry about that for you.

Setting Up for Compliance Can Be Simple

Rule 613 CAT is not to be taken lightly. The results of not having the right timestamping solution will cost you dearly in excessive fines, as well as additional investment to adjust or replace your current system to avoid future penalties. Finding the right fit for this very specific service is key – researching providers is just the beginning. To ensure you are getting exactly what you need in terms of accuracy and reliable performance, you will need to mandate scope of the providers time synchronization system, validate performance through a current client, and direct engagement with the providers engineering team will greatly help you transition smoothly.

TSaaS is a critical mix of precision Grandmaster clock software, high-end infrastructure and network connectivity at carrier hotel locations to provide access to multiple network options and backbone providers via cross-connects. Steadfast encompasses all these unique qualities in a comprehensive Steadfast TSaaS solution, featuring FSMTime’s proprietary Grandmaster hardware and software solution coupled with Steadfast’s world-class data center – comprised of all required infrastructure, satellite/GPS/GNSS technology and perfectly positioned next to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Ease the burden of building compliance time synchronization for perfectly timestamping your application servers – simplifying and gaining peace-of-mind with TSaaS.

Steadfast Launches Time Synchronization Service to Assist Trading Broker-Dealer and Firm Compliance with SEC Rule 613 CAT NMS Chicago, June 16 , 2020:  Steadfast, a cloud and managed infrastructure company with more than 20 years of hosting financial service organizations has launched a new time-synchronization-as-a-service (TSaaS) that provides the infrastructure, software, and GPS/GNSS antenna systems to perform accurate timestamping in accordance with SEC 613 Rule CAT NMS requirements.   What is the SEC RULE 613 CAT? To protect the integrity and precision of trading broker-dealers and firms, the SEC adopted Rule 613 to create a Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) repository intended to allow regulators to monitor activity in National Market System (NMS) securities throughout US markets. This rule calls for accurate clock synchronization and timestamping of automated order events, at a minimum, to within 50 milliseconds for FINRA Industry Members and 100 microseconds for FINRA Participants, forensically traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) time standard. Complex deviation measurements and clock chain integrity maintenance of such synchronization, by logging the offset and unbroken traceability on every synchronization event on any trading application server, must be recorded and reported to CAT for proof of compliance or risk the possibility of costly penalties, including trading suspension. “This rule can be a real concern for many trading firms that do not have the time server appliances, rooftop GPS/GNSS antenna systems, time synchronization and compliance software, or other tools to meet the timestamping  accuracy requirements,” said Tim Monner, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Steadfast. “Building a proprietary solution can cost these firms significant investments in both time and financial capital.”  The Steadfast Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service (TSaaS) Alternative Steadfast, using technology from FSMTime, an industry leader in clock sync products and services, has built a simpler approach. Combining existing world-class, audited data centers from Steadfast with FSMTime TimeKeeper® software options, the Steadfast Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service (TSaaS)  enables financial brokers and traders to quickly and cost-effectively deploy and maintain an accurate time system as a simple monthly operating expense.    “The simplicity of this solution is that Steadfast already has all the infrastructure, GNSS-sourced grandmaster clocks, and managed service and support available now,” said Nino De Falcis, EVP, Sales and Marketing at FSMTime. “By layering our TimeKeeper® on top of their infrastructure services, traders and broker-dealers essentially now have a complete turnkey solution that can easily assist with the CAT business clock requirements.” Review Your OptionsNot sure if the Steadfast TSaaS solution would be a good fit for your organization? Take a few seconds to request a 20-minute discovery call with our team to review your options.  About Steadfast We make it work, so you can take care of business. Specialists inCloud Consulting, Engineering and Hosting for over 20 years, we offer customized services at all stages of design and deployment to maintenance and expansion planning. As an extension of your team, our goal is to ease technology constraints, making your life easier so you can Strengthen Your Focus on your core business. Visit Steadfast: www.steadfast.net About FSMLabs/FSMTime and TimeKeeper The leading financial trading firms in the world, ranging from ICE to Virtu Financial and firms in many other industries, depend on TimeKeeper for precise time and industry’s best TimeCare support. FSMTime (FSMLabs), develops, markets, supports TimeKeeper Active Client, Server, and Compliance software and TimeKeeper Grandmasters. TimeKeeper works on Linux, Windows and Solaris. TimeKeeper, TimeCare, FSMLabs, and FSMTime are trademarks of Finite State Machine Labs Inc. Visit FSMTime: https://www.fsmtime.com  Contact Steadfast Tim Monner, VP of Marketing and Business Development312-602-2689 ext. 240, Tim.monner@steadfast.net

How did you come to work with NuCurrent?

When I was about to graduate from Purdue University I had three offers. One was in Minnesota, the other was in Indiana, and the last was NuCurent. The first two opportunities were well-established corporations, where if I kept my head down and did my job right, my future would be secure. Then there was NuCurrent, where these two guys (the founders) needed their first employee. I thought it was a great time to take the risk and take the lead with a new technology.

Who has had the biggest influence on your career?

My professor of power electronics, Maryam Saeedifard. At the time, I was between power electronics & signal processing, and I wasn’t sure which direction I should go. She encouraged me to continue on power electronics and considered that wireless charging would be good for this. I was very happy I took her advice – she’s the best.

What is the coolest thing you’ve developed or project you’ve worked on?

The coolest projects are the ones that are truly impactful, and are for the common good of helping people. For one project, we’re creating wireless charging for neurostimulation pain relief. A previous project was wirelessly powered self-tying shoes; That product could help elderly people or diabetic people with swollen feet. The projects that have meaning beyond the technology or commodity are exciting for me.

What do you like most about what you do? 

The challenges. I get excited with a challenge that seems unsurmountable. Our team works together to create something that we couldn’t possibly do by ourselves.That synergy is exciting too. NuCurrent is about working really hard, and then sitting back and looking at it and feeling proud and fulfilled. Like the thrill of getting to the top of the mountain

Which achievement at NuCurrent are you most proud of?

There are so many things. At the beginning it was like a blank canvas. After several years, we got to a point where we could create full inductive charging systems from the ground up by NuCurrent. Seeing junior engineers applying what we’ve discovered and using it for new projects is something that makes me proud. It’s something that we worked really hard on.

Dead or alive, if you could have a dinner party with three famous and influential figures, who would they be and why?

●   Nikola Tesla, he’s the founder of wireless power.

●   Gabriel Garcias Marquez, he’s Colombian and I’ve probably read all of his work.

●   Juan Gabriel, he’s the most incredible Mexican singer.

What did you want to be when you were in kindergarten?

A musician. I got into music school, when I was four or five years old. And I just remember that I would prefer to be at the music academy more than my house. It was a perfect place for a little kid – because all of the instruments I wanted to play were there.

How many patents are you attributed to?

It’s over 70 internationally and over 50 in the U.S. Patents are a way of demonstrating explicit innovation and at a certain point it becomes a metric. They are all in a sense something to be proud of – some more than others. We work together as a team to develop wireless power solutions that need innovation. Most client projects we get into you think: How the hell are we gonna do this? But then, we do.

You were employee #1 at a company right out of college. What was that like?

I did have doubts in the beginning. My first day was unpacking boxes to set up a lab by myself. But, you know, you can either say “I’m out” or “Ok, let’s try to make this work.” I’m proud I chose the latter. There was so much research and failed attempts. It was a lot of work, and if we weren’t doing it right, we were still doing our best.

It’s 2020, how do you think humans should start prioritizing technology and what problems it can solve?

Technology companies need to think of what’s morally responsible and acknowledge the impact they have on people’s lives.

On June 3rd, we teamed up with a handful of incredible FinTech CEO’s to host a “Vendors versus Virus” webinar.  Grab yourself a beverage and kick back to learn how Monel Amin, Rick Lane, Hazem Dawani, and Kristi Ross have been successfully leading their teams and companies to new heights through the pandemic.

Watch the full webinar here!