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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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Local CEO wins honorable mention in Windows IT Pro magazine contest
A HONOLULU CEO is an honorable mention winner in the Windows IT Pro magazine's Innovators 2006 contest. None of the three grand-prize winners are from Hawaii, but Ben Schorr, chief executive officer of
Roland Schorr & Tower LLC, is one of six honorable mentions.
"Our entry was for a system that our field personnel use to share notes and solutions regarding client systems," he told TheBuzz.
Bonus! He speaks English.
The company gives its field workers tablet PCs, which are notebook computers that users can write on with a stylus, though they also have keyboards. The notebooks use Microsoft OneNote, which Roland Schorr & Tower customized to create the honorable-mention-winning solution.
The end result is the tablet PCs are all synchronized with the company server "so that when any of our people write in notes about a particular client issue, it is synchronized and sent in almost real time to everyone else in the organization," Schorr said.
Everyone in the company then can access the extensive notes on problems and solutions for each client, which helps if a different field person is sent to a client's office the next time 'round.
It is akin to a medical chart for a patient that each medical professional can review before joining in the patient's treatment.
A key difference though, is that medical privacy regulations don't apply. That means if one of the company's patients -- well, clients -- is having a problem similar to one experienced by another client -- Roland Schorr & Tower's treatment team can tap into that experience base rather than reinvent any wheels.
"It's a big collaboration tool for us," said Schorr. Another benefit is that "it cost us almost nothing to do."
Schorr said he feels honored to get the magazine mention, but feels the company does work that is much more innovative.
Roland Schorr & Tower just marked its one-year anniversary under its current name, but the core of it had operated as the Honolulu office of Sweden-based Stockholm/KSG for about three years, until it pulled out of Hawaii.
It has three partners, two employees and three contractors operating primarily in Hawaii, while its California office is mostly administrative at the moment, Schorr said.
However, "we probably will be expanding our LA office in the coming years."
Schorr does a fair amount of public speaking on technology issues, but lest you fall asleep at the mere mention, ya gotta appreciate an expert in the field that has an irreverent streak.
"Wassamatta with Metadata" was the title of a May presentation to the Hawaii State Bar Association made by Schorr and James Kawachika, a partner at law firm Reinwald O'Connor & Playdon LLP.
Loathe to explain how long he has been in IT for fear of divulging his age, Schorr did confess, while chuckling, that "I can remember when Al Gore invented the Internet."
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com