Welcome to the next article in the series “Bringing Humanity Back into Business”. I will be interviewing Corridor Company today. The goal of this series is to draw connections from the SharePoint community and how these companies, individuals, etc., are targeting to put people first in what they do, with the understanding bottom line will still benefit in the long run. Russ Edelman has graciously allowed me to interview him to see how Corridor Company is working toward bringing humanity back in business. When you see “Human Impact:” this is my take on the how Corridor Company is bringing humanity back to business. Lets gets started shall we?
Interview with Russ Edelman (President & CEO)
Q: Is your company a part of the Microsoft Business Critical SharePoint program?
A: Yes
Q: How has this program assisted you in bringing the best possible solutions to your clients, and more specifically, their end users?
A: Publishing cases studies with Microsoft has allowed us more exposure to people and users that we may not have reached otherwise. More importantly, we are fully in agreement that SharePoint is a major business technology platform and the BCSP group is a strong representation of such.
Q: Do you have a story of how the service/product you provided helped the men and women who worked for your client?
A: For companies like BT being true to the contract they have written is a must. Our contract management system, CM[.app], which sits on top of SharePoint, has allowed them to mitigate the risk. Breaching a contract is usually pretty disastrous from a company stand point. The solution we provided the end users with was an automated solution. Prior to this, the system was largely manual, which as you can understand can be prone to “human error”. This business process was exceedingly labor intense. This was not small task considering there were Tens of 1000’s of contracts that had multiple obligations they had to track and make good on.
Human Impact: We as humans are complex individuals. We are not flawless, tireless, or always on our “A” game. When we work, we are good at what we do, especially when we enjoy it. However, we are human and could have our game thrown off from being sick, tired from staying up watching our favorite team go into extra innings, you name it. When it comes to intense work situations, there is a chance that we may unintentionally have something slip through the cracks, overlook something, or just do the wrong thing. When it comes to the world of contracts, it is serious business. Legally binding contracts are nerve racking even when I bought my house. For a person who needs to understand and maintain tens or hundreds of contracts with multiple obligations, this can be overwhelming even for the most stalwart individuals. Corridor Company has identified a need in the business community, selected SharePoint in this case to be the platform to build a tool that could not only assist, but automate a solution.
AARP, their mission is to help people over 50. They have many ways to provide a wide array of services. The money to make this happen does not come from the low annual fee to be a member. Substantial portions of their revenue comes from long-term contracts with “provider” organizations that last for years. There are a lot of contracts with multiple obligations or “requirements” and “deliverables”. There was a need to be able to track and ensure they could manage all their contracts to collect the much needed revenue where they could continue to fund programs to help the 1000’s of members.
Human Impact: AARP touches the lives of a lot of individuals. My father and mother two of those individuals who benefit from their membership. With today’s economy, cost of living increases, and the lengthening of life expectancy the privileges and services AARP provide are huge. The membership fees are nominal at best ($16.00 / yr). Yet the impact this company has is monumental. The contract management solution provided is allowing them to monitor and bill fairly per contractual agreement to bring in revenue. That revenue is in turn is used to continue bring new services and maintaining existing services to individuals that may not otherwise have the ability to afford or do on their own.
Q: Is your company active in the SharePoint community, SharePoint user groups, speakers at SharePoint conferences, blogs, etc.?
A: Speaking at SharePoint Saturdays, SharePoint user groups, etc. Russ Edelman writes to several magazines such as The Huffington Post, CNBC, KMWorld, InformationWeek and more.
Q: Do you have any stories of how reaching out into the community has created an atmosphere where people felt like they were important/valued?
A: SharePoint Saturday is a great example. SharePoint is the most communal group of professionals I have ever come across. There is a genuine interest in helping other people out. The free sharing of information. This is something that has not been the norm in my career.
Q: What are you doing to bring humanity back to Corridor Company?
A: I try to stay true to the book that I had written called “Nice Guys Can Get The Corner Office”. The basic premise is to be fair and balanced. We also try to introduce a creative and fun environment that includes lots of free food, pool tables, TVs, guitars and more to keep the humanity intact within our business.
Product(s) Offered
- business[.app]
- extender[.app]
- CM[.app]
- PM[.app]
- SM[.app]
Service(s) Offered
- SharePoint Business Solutions
- SharePoint Expertise
Vision Statement
“Corridor Company is a product, services and support company dedicated to implementing business-critical SharePoint solutions. Coupling our extensive history in Document Management and Enterprise Content Management with our deep SharePoint expertise, we provide our clients with the real world experience necessary to solve their business problems.”