E-Business Results? 3 of 4 Say Yes
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Published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on March 22, 2000. All rights reserved.
Rail to Manville?
Proposed changes to what is now a 26-mile freight railroad,
called the West Trenton line, will be discussed at an open house on
Wednesday, March 22, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the New Jersey Department
of Transportation, 1035 Parkway Avenue, Ewing. The following Wednesday,
March 29, a similar meeting at the same times will be at the Hillsborough
Township municipal building, 555 Amwell Road in Neshanic.
The West Trenton line is owned and operated by the CSX Railroad and
used for long distance freight. Under consideration is the possibility
of adding passenger service between West Trenton and Manville, which
could join the Raritan Valley Line west of Bridgewater Station for
travel to Newark. Those taking Septa to and from Philadelphia would
be able to transfer at the West Trenton station. An environmental
assessment is under way. Call Tom Clark, regional manager of
New Jersey Transit, at 973-491-7000 for information, or write to Office
of Community Relations, 1 Penn Plaza East, Newark 07105.
Top Of PageTeaching Technology
Ever since Governor Christie Whitman decried technology
education in her state of the state address, everyone has been jumping
on that band wagon. Two upcoming conferences will address the issue.
On Thursday, March 30, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Edison Partnership
and Prosperity New Jersey co-sponsor a meeting at Raritan Valley College.
Nearly 300 people — human resources directors, recruiters, teachers,
college and high school administrators, CEOs of high-tech companies,
and workforce training professionals — are expected to attend.
The conference is free but space is limited. Call 888-9PROSPER or
fax basic information to 609-984-4920 or E-mail: pnj1@gov.state.nj.us.
After the governor’s opening remarks, Joe Seneca, Rutgers University
vice president for academic affairs and chairman of the governor’s
council of economic advisors, joins James Hughes, dean of Rutgers
Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy, to discuss “New
Jersey’s New Millennium Demography and Economy: Workforce Implications.”
Educators and business people, including Carlos Dominguez of
Cisco Systems, Clyde B. Rush, retired from Bristol-Myers Squibb,
and Lisa Benaroch of Merrill Lynch, will offer a dialogue moderated
by Carl Van Horn, director of the Rutgers John J. Heldrich Center
for Workforce Development.
Successful partnerships between business and academe will be discussed
at breakout sessions during the lunch hour. Among the model programs
are ones from Merrill Lynch with Jersey City Schools, Novo
Nordisk with Fairleigh Dickinson, Pharmaceutical Consortium
with Rutgers Graduate School of Management, Xerox with the Trenton
Public School District, DeVry Institute with Williams Communications
Solutions, and Bell Atlantic, which has been training students
from Mercer County Vocational Schools.
The Technology Educator’s Association has chosen “Connecting With
Our Content” as the theme for another conference on Thursday and
Friday, May 4 and 5, starting at 3:30 p.m. on the first day and 7:30
a.m. on the second day. Scheduled for the Crowne Plaza Meadowlands
in Secaucus, the conference costs $95 for one day or $145 for both
days. Call Marcie Horowitz at 732-536-2114.
Among the sponsors are the New Jersey Business and Industry Association,
the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce, the Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers, and New Jersey Technology Council.
Among the 35 teacher presentations and vendor’s workshops are those
in digital video editing, solar house design, arctic transportation,
computer-aided design and modeling, robotics and microcontrollers,
elementary invention convention, and energy facts and usage.
Harry Roman, technology development and transfer consultant
for PSE&G, will deliver the luncheon keynote, “Stimulating Technology
Projects for Your Classroom.”
On the same day as the conference at Raritan Valley
College — Thursday, March 30 — Mercer College will hold a
Career Day. Though there is no more space for employers (60 will be
represented), jobhunters can attend for free. It will be in the student
center from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Some places are still available at Raritan Valley College’s Career
Fair, scheduled for Wednesday, April 26, 2 to 5 p.m. at the college
in North Branch. Carrie Rafanello, career counselor and fair
coordinator, says that 35 companies have signed up and an equal number
are tentative. Call 908-526-1200, extension 8334, to reserve a table.
Raritan Valley’s fair is free to employers.
Four workshops will be offered on Monday, April 17 and 24, and Tuesday,
April 18 and 25, at various times. The workshops will cover interviewing
skills, how to dress for success, networking at a career fair, and
resume writing.
“Past career fairs at RVCC have been successful for both companies
and attendees,” says Rafanello. “This year we want to increase
the number of participating companies and increase public participation
so we can serve a larger portion of our community.”
Top Of PageE-Business Results? 3 of 4 Say Yes
A newly-released study by Information Week Research
called “Redefining Business 2000: E-Success,” reveals greater
business success among companies that adopted at least three out of
four ambitious E-business strategies: implementing new customer-facing
information systems; transforming legacy electronic processes to E-business
models; refining value or supply chains; and reinventing corporate
culture around E-business.
The study was based on 600 interviews with IT and business-titled
executives. Roughly three-quarters of the companies deeply committed
to E-commerce or a presence on the Web said that their initiatives
gave them a competitive advantage, improved customer satisfaction,
reduced operating costs, generated new sources of revenue, created
new markets for products, and ultimately increased profits.
Many companies are still in the earliest stage of developing an E-business
strategy, but if you are wondering how to approach E-business, you’ll
want to make it to Technology New Jersey’s conference, “E-Commerce
and ERP: Building the Foundation for the New Millennium,” on Friday,
April 7, at the Newark Marriott. Cost: $199. Call 609-419-4444 or
go to www.technologynj.org.
The conference is sponsored by Osprey (www.ospreyUS.com), J.D. Edwards
(www.jdedwards.com), United Parcel Service (www.ups.com), Commerce
One (www.commerceone.com), Bristlecone (www.bcone.com), and Informatica
ERP 2000 speakers include Mark Rhoney, president, UPS e-Ventures;
Jonathan Lofton, senior manager, supply chain excellence, and
Angela King-Durgin, supply chain management and engineering
director, Lucent Technologies; Dave Rizzo, CEO, Osprey; Gordy
Smouther, strategic commodity procurement, PSE&G; Mark Goebel,
director of HR information management, Hoffmann-LaRoche; Jim Katzenberger,
vice president of business development, Bristlecone; Karl Kaeten,
district technical consulting manager, Informatica, Mark
Peterson, director of E-Business strategies, J.D. Edwards; Srinivas
Rajan, PricewaterhouseCoopers, consultant for Warner-Lambert; Frank
Meyers, E-Business Solutions Practice, Osprey.
D>T. Joseph Semrod, chairman, CEO, and president
of Summit Bancorp, says he is not trying to be charitable, but two
recent programs may nevertheless help those in the minority community.
Last week the bank launched a Partnership Program, in which it will
join state agencies and a private company to encourage contracts and
capital going to minorities and women.
Last month it joined the Concerned Pastors & Ministers of Trenton
and Vicinity to set up a “preferred bank” arrangement for
20,000 members of 34 churches. The churches will recommend the bank
and the bank will offer preferred interest rates on loans.
The churches will also forward job applications to the bank. This
is theoretically a service to the applicant, but in today’s job market,
bank hiring officers are going to be very happy to see each and every
one of those applications.
The most recent deal, the Partnership Program, will expedite “set-aside
contracts” for work done by such agencies as NJ Transit, the Port
Authority, and Bell Atlantic. Set-aside contracts call for a percentage
of any construction work done by these agencies to be contracted out
to businesses owned by minorities or women. But it isn’t always easy
for these businesses to get up-front funding. That’s where the Summit
program will kick in. It will partner with the New Jersey Economic
Development Authority to finance these contracts.
“This is not about charity or going to church on Sunday,”
said Semrod. “It’s really about looking at these underserved communities
and how to serve them better.”
Loans to women business owners increased by one-third
over the past five months (October to February) reports the U.S. Small
Business Administration New Jersey District Office. “Women business
owners account for 19 percent of the total SBA loans approved this
year,” says Francisco A. Marrero, SBA district director.
“Our goal is to increase the amount of loans to women entrepreneurs
to 25 percent of our overall total.”
For information on programs for women entrepreneurs call the SBA district
office at 973-645-24334 or go to www.sba.gov or the SBA Online
Women’s Business Center at www.onlinewbc.org. SBA resource partners
include the NJ Association of Women Business owners (www.njawbo.org),
the NJ Small Business Development Center (www.nj.com/njsbdc) and
the Service Corps of Retired Executives (www.Score.org).
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