before you sign on the dotted line:
? Will the vendor install and configure the firewall? You typically have to pay extra, but paying a vendor or the vendor’s authorized reseller to install the firewall may save you the headache of dealing with complex setup procedures.
? What is included in the software maintenance program, and how much is it? With innovations being discovered regularly, you’ll want to ensure the firewall vendor offers updates on a regular basis.
? Are references available? A firewall vendor should be able to provide you with examples of previous customers who are satisfied with the product and have configurations similar to your own environment. Integrity is important.
? Does the firewall support open standards? A firewall solution that doesn’t implement open standards like IPSEC and RADIUS will inevitably come back to haunt you. Many solutions support open standards for a variety of features. If the firewall doesn’t have support for these standards, you may not want to implement it as a solution.

Tick, tick, tick.
That’s the sound of the doomsday clock counting down to the turn of the century. Fewer than 640 days remain until every machine with a computer chip inside it rolls over to the Year 2000.
Doomsday prophets predict nuclear Armageddon – the end of the world as we know it.
Apocalyptic predictions aside, what’s looming is catastrophe that will most certainly happen. And it could spell the end of your business as you know it, unless you are taking steps right now to defuse the year 2000 computer bug, say Milwaukee-area computer consultants.
Simply put, the Y2K bug arises from the fact that most existing computer code was written in six digits instead of eight, meaning that date fields which end in “00” are read by most computer systems as the year 1900. That causes computer systems to spit out erroneous data or shut down entirely.
Already, problems are cropping up. Holders of credit cards which expire in the year 2000 are seeing their transactions declined, as routine processing reads the card as expired. Two years ago, 200 customers of a Midwestern Fortune 500 financial services company received bills showing 96 years worth of interest after the company’s consumer loan system encountered the 00 date. As far back as five years ago, a 104-year-old Winona, Minn., woman received a notice telling her it was time to enroll in kindergarten when a computer misread her birthdate which ended in 88.
“Anyone who works with computers should assume they have a problem,” warns Jeff Ray, vice president of emerging technologies for Detroit-based Compuware.
If you accept the premise that rewriting a line of code costs between 80 cents to $1.50 per line, it’s a foregone conclusion that fixing the Y2K bug is going to take a bite out of profits. All told, the Y2K bug is expected to deliver as much as a $1.5 trillion hit to the world economy, according to Peter de Jager, an independent analyst and commentator who is considered a leading authority on the subject.
The price for delaying a Y2K fix is steep. Consider the case of a small Georgia bank which had done nothing to de-bug its system: The Georgia state banking commission revoked the bank’s charter, putting it out of business.
Then there’s the Federal Aviation Administration and its outdated air traffic control system, which contains more than 23 million lines of code written in 50 different languages.
Officials from the General Accounting Office warn that only 30% of the FAA’s critical 430 computer systems have been fully de-bugged. And only a small number of specialists are equipped to decipher the code. The potential impact is interruption of air travel for the first days, weeks and months of the Year 2000. Compuware’s Ray unequivocally states that he is not flying several days before the turn of the century or for several weeks thereafter.
If it weren’t for bad news
The Y2K bug lives everywhere, not just in your computer system. Virtually anything which contains a computer chip needs to be checked out, says Tony Ollman, an information systems consultant with Virchow, Krause & Co. in Madison. That includes machines on the shop floor system, the elevator and HVAC systems in your building – not to mention your telephone and security systems. These so-called embedded systems are just as likely to fail unless you take steps now to ensure that they are Y2K compliant.
“We’re quite sure that business is behind,” says Ollmann, whose firm conducted a statewide poll on Y2K readiness. “In the companies we’ve talked to, there’s a very high recognition of the impact on computer systems. But there appear to be a significant number who are overlooking embedded systems.”
The statewide survey of 200 manufacturing and distribution companies with revenues over $5 million revealed that approximately 49% had not considered their shop floor systems as vulnerable to the bug, even though 95% of respondents said they felt they were on top of the problem.
When it comes to embedded systems, ask yourself what you need to replace versus repair, Ollman says. What you decide to do will depend on your company’s overall structure.
Computers and embedded systems aren’t the only places you need to look for the Y2K bug. You also need to look beyond your own four walls at your customers and your suppliers to determine if they are Y2K compliant.
“Take the manufacturing process,” Ollman says. “You could have all of your own internal systems working fine, but if you don’t have the raw materials to produce your product, you go out of business.”
Or say your small business supplies a critical part to a much larger manufacturing concern. If you have a contract which requires you to supply a certain product or service to a company over a period of time, and the Y2K bug shuts you down, that could potentially slam the brakes on your larger customer’s manufacturing process. If you have a requirements contract with that manufacturer, you could be staring down
“Businesses need to realize that it’s just not a matter of losing customers or convenience…. People might sue.”
– Derek Stettner, Godfrey & Kahn
the barrel of a lawsuit, says Derek Stettner, an intellectual property lawyer with Godfrey & Kahn.
“Businesses need to realize that it’s not just a matter of losing customers or convenience,” Stettner says. “They could be held liable by other parties such as customers, shareholders or other vendors. People might sue.”
Stettner cautions that the amount of time and money spent defending a lawsuit is potentially devastating to a small business. In other words, on top of lost production and profits, the Y2K bug could deliver a knockout blow to a business that is not prepared.
Already, legal pundits are predicting that Y2K-related litigation will far surpass anything that has come before it.
And it only gets worse.
According to virtually anyone familiar with the subject, if you haven’t already taken steps to get your Y2K bug problem straightened out, you’re in trouble – big trouble.
Carl Gerlach, president of Apex Information Systems in Cudahy, says businesses which have done nothing to date about Y2K can expect to pay 25% more for every quarter they put off the problem.
“What we are seeing is that people are looking for an easy way out,” Gerlach says. “It’s not going to add any value to your business, other than to keep it going.”
Not only is time running out to get the problem identified and fixed, but qualified computer programmers available to fix the problem are in short supply. Unless you’re well on your way to a Y2K fix or are a major player, you are not going to get the attention that you deserve, adds Kelly Hansen, a principal with Sun Tzu Security, Ltd. in Milwaukee.
“Right now, there is a huge shortage of talented programmers who are capable of going through and doing the necessary code changes,” Hansen says. “So people are dealing with the leftovers. They are getting the engineers who weren’t picked up – the second and third-stringers, the benchwarmers. Small companies who are coming late to the party, who are just getting started now, this is who they’re left to deal with.”
The consensus among local computer consultants is that most large firms seem to have a handle on the problem, and expect to make their systems free of the Y2K bug well in advance of the deadline. However, the outlook for small business is not nearly as encouraging.
“When you get to the small to medium-sized companies, somewhere between 20 to 30 percent have some kind of a plan in place,” estimates Robert Krouze, a programmer for Entré PC Solutions, Inc., in Brookfield. “The rest are in denial or disbelief.”
Krouze says he is aware of several marginal businesses which plan to close up shop rather than deal with Y2K.
Most small businesses are reliant on pre-packaged software to run their accounting, inventory and data processing functions. So it is incumbent on businesses to ask if their software is Y2K compliant. Even then, there’s an element of uncertainty, acknowledges Dave Herrmann, manager of information technology for Grande Cheese Co. in Lomira.
“We’re relying, to a great extent, on the assurance of our software vendor,” Herrmann says. “So, you’re relying on people outside the company to make sure that your business is going to continue functioning, and that’s a difficult thing.”
Time to get going
If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to address your Y2K problem. The only way to make sure it gets addressed is if the directive comes from the highest level within the organization, Ollman says.
“This has to be the person that runs the company, and who can keep the project manager’s feet to the fire,” Ollman says. “There needs to be a recognition that this is a companywide project, and not just another information technology event.”
Determine the extent of your information technology problem by contacting your information technology manager (if you have one). If not, contact whoever is responsible for managing and maintaining your computer software. Your specialist needs to develop a plan of action which involves pinpointing the problem, advises Compuware’s Ray.
Write a letter to your software or outside services provider asking for certification that the software they are providing will work beyond the Year 2000, Ray says. Get them to sign on the dotted line.
“We pretty much know what small businesses are going through,” says Mary Bennett, an operations officer for Park Bank, a Milwaukee-based bank holding company with $400 million in assets. “Without a major corporation to take care of you, you really have to rise up and get this done on your own.
“It’s not a good thing to wait until 1999 to try to do this.”
April 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Be selective in trade shows you attend
Question:
During the spring, we attend quite a few trade shows. I’m not really sure what we gain from the shows that we attend. Are trade shows effective?
Answer: If good exposure and sore feet are all that you expect to gain from your trade show exhibits, you’re missing the boat. While name recognition is certainly important, it’s only a small part of an effective trade show marketing plan.
I recently attended a trade show in search of specific products and services for a new home that I am building. I was appalled to find that very few exhibitors asked about my current situation. None asked for my name and phone number for a follow-up.
Should you attend trade shows?
Let’s look at a few statistics about trade show attendance that may surprise you. First, the attendees are mostly empowered and motivated buyers. According to recent surveys, the percentage of trade show attendees who have final say, specify suppliers, or recommend for purchase ranges from 77% to 90% of all attendees. And 59% of those trade show attendees plan to purchase within 12 months of the show.
Trade shows can certainly be effective, but only with the right planning.
In preparing for your exhibits, be sure to address the following key points:
Deciding which shows to attend Choose shows that are targeted to your potential client base. Exposure is great, but exposure to the wrong audience is a waste of time and money.
What is the expected attendance? Just because a show is targeted doesn’t necessarily mean it will be well attended. As an exhibitor you have a right to know and definitely should ask how the show will be promoted. Will it be through direct mail? Radio? And how much?
What is the expected traffic flow?
Will lists of participants be provided for follow-up? Before? After?
If you’re unsure of the show, contact some past exhibitors to see how the show was for them.
Planning for the show Be certain to set goals prior to attending the show. How many people do you plan to talk to? What dollar amount do you expect in sales from the show? (Be sure to allow for follow-up time).
Capturing leads Shows are a great way to create exposure for your business. It’s important that this is not the main goal, however. Prospects are talking to hundreds of vendors, possibly thousands. They probably won’t take action on your product or service until you follow up. Be sure to have an accurate means of capturing leads.
Luring prospects to your booth Pre-convention mailings give prospects a reason to seek out your booth.
Lists of all attendees might be available from the convention organizers. But don’t solely rely on such contact lists. It’s still most effective to generate your own leads. Be sure to talk to your prospects about their specific needs and interests and jot down notes for follow-up.
Setup and display Practice setting up your booth prior to attending the show. That will give you an opportunity to make adjustments.
Don’t take too much with you. Limit your handouts to those pieces that will make the most impact.
Choose your best people to work your booth. Make sure your people are knowledgeable about your products and services.
Make sure that your booth is open and inviting. Don’t place a table in the front like a barrier. Make it easy for potential prospects to feel at ease and walk into your booth.
A plan for follow-up is as important to the show as any initial planning. Through proper follow-up, you will realize the financial goals that you have set for the show.
Set a date for follow-up to be complete.
Determine the method of follow-up.
Prepare a return-on-investment report detailing exact expenses and income.
Keep a show summary for future reference; that will help you decide if the show will be worthwhile attending in future years.
Marcia Gauger is president of Impact Sales in New Berlin. Small Business Times readers with a sales or marketing issue they’d like discussed in this column can contact Gauger at 524-1144 or via e-mail at Impacttrng@aol.com.
April 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Young entrepreneur builds on winning design
Rick Guerra had already redesigned his exercise machine eight times when the notice came from the QVC television shopping network.
If he wanted to sell the product via QVC, another revision would be needed. But this time, it was just the shipping box that needed a change.
It was a minor item, Guerra notes, but one that points out the delays that entrepreneurs can face when trying to bring a new product to market.
Television shopping shows can offer a great boost for new product developers. A huge audience of willing buyers is virtually assured -QVC received more than 84 million phone calls and shipped more than 50 million packages in 1996 and says it averages 113,000 orders per day. And the entrepreneur can get by with little overhead as no physical retail outlet is needed.
But as the 41-year-old Guerra has learned, acceptance by an operation such as QVC comes with a price. For example, his desire to have his Simpleflex made in America was thwarted by a need to lower the price. The product is now made in China, although an American-made version is available – for a higher price.
The product also had to be redesigned to fit in a UPS shipping box, Guerra says. Guerra did that. But then QVC submitted the product-in-box to its drop test.
“They lift the box a foot off the ground and drop it 11 times,” Guerra notes. If the product is damaged, a box redesign is required. “Mine scratched,” he notes. And thus the box had to be redesigned.
Further, it turned out that the Simpleflex labeling didn’t meet QVC’s requirements – another item for Guerra to address.
But he views all those matters as minor compared to the market position QVC will offer him. The network was ready to cut him a check for $15,000 once the Simpleflex and its shipping box met its specifications. If the initial run sells well, QVC could take the next step and buy $40,000 worth of product and then $60,000, based on a 40% margin it retains.
“They like to work in baby steps,” says Guerra, adding that he views the deal he’s been offered as fair.
As part of the deal, Guerra would have to buy back product that doesn’t sell.
Product evaluation takes about three weeks. Then, it typically takes three months for a product to go from purchase order to on-air appearance, according to QVC.
QVC would also like exclusivity for a year, but Guerra hopes to sideline that requirement; he has the product available at several retail outlets.The Simpleflex system is being sold at Fitness Works in Brookfield and Mequon, Wheel & Sprocket in Hales Corners, Baker’s Fitness in Franklin and Play It Again Sports in Brown Deer. Its $199 selling price will be the same on QVC as it is in local stores, although for QVC sales a shipping and handling charge will be added.
He also donated four of the units to the Milwaukee County Parks Department, which placed them at Veterans Park on the lakefront.
Guerra, a model and personal trainer who hails from Hartland, knew he was on to something when his original plans for a simple exercise product were copied and the resulting product sold. To protect himself this time, Guerra has worked under a patent-pending status.
Guerra has worked on marketing and stress tests for the product with UW-Whitewater, UW-Milwaukee and the National Sporting Goods Association.
The main selling point, Guerra says, is the product’s simplicity.
“I pursued developing Simpleflex to offer a home fitness unit to families looking to acquire endurance, muscle tone and flexibility without having to readjust the unit each time someone performs an exercise.”
He also sees the product as an alternative to lifting heavy weights. Simpleflex lives up to its name; it has no moving parts, although its platform can be adjusted.
If all goes well, within five years Guerra hopes to sell the Simpleflex through his own television infomercial. He’s aiming for sales of 10,000 units per month and has plans for other fitness and health-related products to be offered by his IAF Corp.
So far, the business has been financed with about $75,000 – $50,000 of that from a private investor and $10,000 from local government economic development programs. His minority status and his business location – 14th Street on the Marquette University campus – qualified the firm for the development funds.
While the product has been in development, Guerra has continued his personal training and modeling to generate income.
April 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

A company moving from Illinois to Whitewater will receive $150,000 in financing through the state, the Wisconsin Department of Commerce announced.
Ecological Concepts, (Eco-Tech), a manufacturer of recycled-plastic lumber and other products, will get the loan through the Community Development Block Grant – Economic Development Program.
The loan will help the company buy new equipment and is expected to help the company add 97 jobs over three years. An additional $600,000 in other investment is involved.
Racine County has received a $1 million grant from the Community Development Block Grant-Economic Development (CDBG-ED) Program. Racine County will lend the funds to Golden Books Family Entertainment, Inc./ Golden Books Publishing Company, Inc. (Golden Books), Sturtevant, a leader in publishing children’s books.
The project will retain 600 jobs, create 300 jobs over two years, and leverage $16,549,000 in additional investment.
The CDBG-ED Program is administered by the Department of Commerce using funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Department of Commerce has approved the allocation of $62,375,000 in financing for 24 municipalities to help local business recruitment and expansion projects.
Together, the projects are expected to create 1,354 family-supporting jobs and generate $45,262,000 in new investment.
The financing, through the Volume Cap Allocation Council, goes to municipalities in the form of tax-free industrial reveune bonds. The interest rate on the loans is generally about 6.25% – or about 75% of the going prime rate.
The following summarizes the successful proposals in southeastern Wisconsin:
Southwest Metal Finishing, Inc., New Berlin, $4.75 million.
This company polishes and plates metals. It is purchasing land and rehabilitating an existing 55,000-sq.-ft. building in the New Berlin Industrial Park that has been vacant for two years. This will be the company’s third facility in New Berlin. The expansion will create 125 new jobs at an average starting wage of $14.85/hour. The total project cost is $7,654,600.
Vita Food Products, Inc., Pleasant Prairie, $8 million.
The company is one of the nation’s leading processors of herring and smoked salmon products. It is relocating to Pleasant Prairie from Chicago, and will construct a new manufacturing facility. The expansion will create 134 jobs at an average starting wage of $12/hour. The total project cost is $13.13 million.
Electronic Cable Systems, Inc., Franklin, $2 million.
This company’s chief product is avionics systems for aircraft. It will construct and equip a 40,000-sq.-ft. addition to its Franklin facility. The expansion will create 100 jobs at an average starting wage of $13.02/hour. The total project cost is $2 million.
Pope Scientific, Inc., Saukville, $1.9 million.
The company manufactures custom cryogenic research vessels, portable pressure vessels, and distillation equipment. It is moving its manufacturing facility from Menomonee Falls to a new 53,000-sq.-ft. facility in Saukville, and retaining its entire workforce. The expansion will create 27 jobs at an average starting wage of $18.08/hour. The total project cost is $3.5 million.
Wisconsin Plastic Products, Inc., Plymouth, $2.5 million.
This firm manufactures high-quality plastic extrusions, particularly for the furniture industry. It is consolidating three leased operations in Sheboygan Falls to a new 80,000-sq.-ft. plant in Plymouth. All present employees will be retained. The expansion will create 42 jobs at an average starting wage of $15.57/hour. The total project cost is $5 million.
Troyk, LLC, Franklin, $2 million.
This printing firm is moving from Milwaukee to a 40,000-sq.-ft. facility in Franklin. All current employees will be retained. The expansion will create 21 jobs at an average starting wage of $13.07/hour. The total project cost is $3.4 million.
Polyfab Corp., Sheboygan, $2 million.
This custom plastic injection molder serves a variety of industries. It also offers engineering assistance so that customers can design their own molds. The company will construct a 32,000-sq.-ft. addition to its existing facility. The expansion will create 36 jobs at an average starting wage of $14.68/hour. The total project cost is $3.5 million.
Weldall Manufacturing, Inc., Waukesha, $4 million.
This metal fabricator is replacing its existing Waukesha plant with a 98,500-sq.-ft. facility and associated equipment. The expansion will create 50 jobs at an average starting wage of $15.67/hour. The total project cost is $6.6 million.
Service Heat Treating, Inc., Milwaukee, $3 million.
The company heat-treats and brazes steel products, primarily machined parts and fasteners. It will expand and improve its existing facility, and purchase new equipment. The expansion will create 118 jobs at an average starting wage of $20.37/hour. The total project cost is $5.7 million.
Toolrite Manufacturing Company, Inc., New Berlin, $1.15 million.
The company manufactures tools and dies, special machines, cutting tools, and production parts. It is constructing a 20,000-sq.-ft. addition to its existing plant. The expansion will create 45 jobs at an average starting wage of $14.72/hour. The total project cost is $2.250 million.
Quest Technologies, Oconomowoc, $1.6 million.
The company is an ISO 9001-certified manufacturer of health-care industry hygiene instruments. It is constructing and equipping a new manufacturing facility. The expansion will create 18 jobs at an average starting wage of $12.89/hour. The total project cost is $2.8 million.
April 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

In the late 1960s, Harry Dennis was a distinguished Vietnam combat pilot, flying people, supplies and ammunition in C-130 cargo planes.
The military relied on Dennis to fly the difficult transport missions. And it relied on him to teach others how to pilot the C-130s in his other role as an Air Force pilot instructor.
Today, almost 30 years later, Dennis is still calling the shots, but under less stressful conditions as the head of The Executive Committee (TEC), a Brookfield-based organization which allows company executives to share ideas and advice in a non-competitive setting.
TEC member groups meet nine times a year for a full day with up to 16 other CEOs from non-competing industries. In those confidential settings, members exchange ideas and opinions, providing one another with the kind of direct, honest feedback they rarely receive within their own companies. The no-holds-barred discussions among TEC members require a thick skin; but it’s the kind of feedback they won’t get from senior managers, boards of directors or even family members.
The 550 CEOs who belong to 27 TEC chapters in Wisconsin and Michigan are like pilots in their own right, as they are responsible for getting their companies off the ground to reach their destination. And as Dennis did in Vietnam, he helps them get there, albeit in an entirely different manner.
As the head of TEC, Dennis is responsible for appointing chairmen to run the roundtable groups, and to give them the service and the tools they require to be successful. Each TEC group is run by an experienced business professional who ensures that the group functions smoothly, and that members receive full value for their annual investment of $6,180.
“Harry just has a passion for running a first-class organization,” says Jim Quinn, a Milwaukee psychotherapist who serves as a TEC chairman. “Everyone talks about good customer service, but I think Harry believes it right down to the soles of his feet. When you talk to Harry, one of things that always comes to the fore is ‘Are we providing the best possible service that we can to our TEC members?'”
The TEC chair also meets individually with each member for up to two hours prior to each TEC meeting to help explore problems and other issues. In effect, the chair serves as coach, confidant and personal advisor, and holds members accountable for plans and actions needed to move their companies forward. (Dennis also chairs his own TEC group.)
“One thing that I appreciate about Harry is that he’s got so many good contacts,” Quinn says. “If a TEC member has a need in a given area, he always knows the right person to talk to. He’s just dead-on with the leads he gives us.”
Since it was started here in Milwaukee in 1957, TEC has grown to become a worldwide organization with 5,500 members. The Wisconsin and Michigan TEC groups are separately owned by Dennis. TEC also has a division for smaller companies, which costs $350 per month instead of the standard rate of $515. Dennis also has a controlling interest in Executive Agenda, which is similar to TEC but has 250 managers who are not heads of companies. Based on the executive roundtable concept it originated, TEC has spawned a host of imitators.
The Milwaukee Road
How Dennis got to Milwaukee is a story in itself.
As the son of a career military man, Dennis was essentially following in his father’s footsteps. When he reported to Vietnam, by a twist of fate he served in the same squadron his father commanded in the late 1950s in Nashville, Tenn. But Dennis’ experience in Vietnam soured him on the military.
“It was a terrible war, and poorly executed,” says the 53-year-old Dennis. “My eyes opened up once I got there, and that clinched my decision to get out.”
Dennis enrolled in a doctorate program at Purdue University. General Motors Corp. agreed to pay for his education if he would perform a study of the automaker’s factory management styles.
Dennis’ doctoral thesis was based on the premise that if managers operated in archaic, outmoded ways, it would lead to higher employee turnover and poorer operating results. Dennis was able to prove in his thesis that those managers who used positive, enlightened management practices got better results for GM.
That led to a full-time job with GM upon graduation in 1974. But when he reported for his first day of work, he learned that his department had been eliminated. Fortunately for Dennis, he befriended Purdue business dean Frank Sturner, who was an original partner in TEC. Sturner recommended the out-of-work graduate student to TEC’s founder, Robert Nourse, who said that if Dennis wanted to come up to Milwaukee and start his own TEC group, he could.
That was 25 years ago, when TEC had 35 members. Today, the roster has grown to 550 members largely under Dennis’ stewardship. A separate worldwide TEC organization boasts more than 4,000 members. Yet, the concentration of TEC groups here is twice that of anyplace else in the world, with the strongest concentration in the Milwaukee area, points out Stan Grabarek, who chairs three TEC groups.
Dennis and another partner bought the business from Nourse in 1977. Twelve years later, in 1989, the original TEC split with the larger organization, and Dennis took over sole ownership in the two-state region. The concept remains the same.
“Even though we have some premier companies like Harley-Davidson and Briggs & Stratton, TEC really serves the small to mid-sized companies,” Dennis says. “If you are a manager and a CEO and you would like to know about virtually anything, one way or another, there is someone on the TEC circuit who knows about it.”
The model CEO
Dennis says today’s CEO needs to understand the difference between leadership and managing a business, and knowing when he or she needs to do one or the other. Dennis sees today’s CEO as more general in his or her approach, and less a linear thinker than the business owner of the past who was a tinkerer-craftsman first, and a manager second or third.
Dennis recalls that, in the 1970s, many heads of companies were not familiar with some basic management theories. They ran their companies by the book. That often meant that businesses were run with little or no flexibility.
“The autocratic way of running a business is definitely outdated,” Dennis says. “I think the younger, talented employee is not going to put up with an autocratic CEO or supervisor. The pasture is green – there are too many jobs out there.”
Today’s CEO must have a grasp of how to build and sustain a corporate culture, Dennis says. It also requires the ability to think “outside the box,” which is where a group like TEC comes in.
“The CEO of today is much more capable of getting out of the box,” Dennis says. “What it means is deviating from what you ordinarily think you should do to examine your business, its problems and opportunities, and how to better work with customers and vendors.”
Unless the business is highly technical, today’s CEO must have the ability to motivate his employees and to get them to work in a team environment, Dennis says. Today’s CEO needs to remain impartial, whether it’s in his dealings with his own employees or with outside vendors.
“I would say that integrity and personal business ethics and having strong character is number one,” Dennis says of the ideal traits a CEO should possess. “Next come excellent listening skills.”
Dennis’ management instincts were honed through his military experience which he says, makes it sometimes difficult to practice the egalitarian management style he preaches to his own TEC members. For that reason, he has a vice president of operations who has all TEC functions reporting to her.
“That’s my way of making sure that I get out of the way,” Dennis says. “I think that a lot of good TEC presidents do that. They surround themselves with people who can offset their own weaknesses. That’s the opposite of the way things used to be.”
One trend Dennis sees is that of the hands-on company owner who is strangling the life out of the business, who can’t let go and won’t delegate his authority.
“I’ve been approached by the kids,” Dennis says. “They say, ‘You’ve got to get my Dad to TEC, he’s holding us back. He thinks if he’s not doing everything, we’re going to fail.'”
Some business owners, Dennis says, don’t see the warning signs that they are losing their effectiveness. Those signs include a lower energy level than an owner once had. The danger is that the rest of the organization will pick up on the owner’s sagging energy level, and the business suffers. Other signs include flat or declining sales, key people leaving, high employee turnover and losing customers. These are all signs that a company needs a change in leadership or direction, Dennis says.
But fortunately for TEC and its members, Dennis remains solidly in control.
“He never gets involved with individual differences,” Grabarek says. “He just makes sure that people are being served. I’ve seen many instances where Harry will bend over backwards to help if someone is in need, even if it means taking extra time and money out of his own pocket.”
Adds Quinn: “He’s always looking for a way people can win in a situation instead of resorting to fingerpointing. He’s got a real sense of making sure everyone is as happy as they can be.”
April 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Do your employees know the game plan?
In most businesses the majority of employees don’t have a clear knowledge of the “game plan,” which is the annual business plan and/or the strategic plan.
In an equally large number of companies, they have little or no idea of the “score” – the financial and operating data the company uses to measure its results.
If you want to test your own company, try asking several employees what the objectives are for the company this year. If your company is like most, you will get a broad range of vague answers. Worse yet, in many companies even upper management can’t answer the question clearly and succinctly. What are the consequences of this situation and how can it be remedied?
Consequences
Every day we ask each of our employees to process work and make decisions that move in the direction of the company’s objectives and goals. How well will they make those decisions if those goals are vague?
A set of well-defined and articulated goals is necessary to motivate employees at a level that has impact. Those goals should encompass company, department, and work-team focuses.
Employees are motivated by their view of the overall vision and purpose of the company. Also, they are motivated by how they see their efforts contributing to the achievement of those goals.
Goal setting
Before goals and objectives can be communicated to employees, they must first be formulated and recorded. Those goals can encompass one or several years.
The preparation of an annual operating plan is the process by which one-year goals are developed. The company goals generally are formulated by using a structured process in which the top management team discusses and agrees upon the goals for the year.
Multiple-year goals are usually formulated using a process called strategic planning. Again, the top management spends concentrated time developing those goals and objectives.
Once company goals have been formulated, the next task is to communicate them to those responsible for helping to achieve the goals. There are many ways to accomplish this communication. However, the key is to make sure that they are communicated clearly and concisely.
Then, after the company goals are established, department and work-team goals can be formulated.
Goal formulation at each level should include in the process those employees who can help to effect the achievement of the goals. This includes employees down to the lowest level in the organization. The lower the level, the more specific and narrow the goals become.
Motivating employees
The reason for including all levels in goal setting is one of motivation. The best way to motivate employees to achieve the goals is to include those same employees in the formulation of those goals.
Once the goals and objectives have been formulated and recorded, the next step is to establish timetables and reporting mechanisms, which will enable the tracking of progress toward accomplishing the goals.
That will provide the basis for the next step in the process, which is feedback. In order to maintain motivation, employees must know that progress is being made toward achieving the goals. Feedback frequency should be more often for the lower-level goals and less frequent for the higher-level goals. For example, progress on individual or work-team goals can be reported daily or weekly; department goals monthly; and company goals quarterly.
One of the great fears in planning is that once goals are set, they must be adhered to unswervingly. Goals can be changed if there is good reason for the change.
The fact that the goal isn’t being met is not of itself a valid reason to change it. The reasons for not meeting the goal need to be examined and, if necessary, corrective action initiated. Nevertheless, goals that aren’t being met should also be part of the feedback process, along with the corrective action or the revised goal.
Planning, goal setting, communication and feedback are essential to managing your company’s progress. The lack of those exacts a high price in terms of unproductive, counterproductive, or aimless decisions and work by employees.
Planning system
The first step in establishing a system of planning and goal setting is making a commitment to the continual process of planning. Planning is a never-ending cycle of planning, communicating, measuring results, taking corrective action, and then starting the cycle again.
The planning portion is a process type of activity. Here the need is to establish a time to do it, decide who will participate, and how the process will work. Large benefits can be gained from using an outside facilitator for this process. The facilitator can keep the planning team on task and bring an outside objective view to the situation.
Keeping score
The communication portion involves deciding what, when, and how to communicate with various groups of stakeholders (managers, employees, board members, shareholders, bankers, vendors, etc.). Again, there is a need for commitment to establish and stick to a schedule. First you communicate the plan. Then, you communicate the score – how you are doing compared to the plan.
Jack Stack at Springfield Remanufacturing Corp. has had notable success and has written about his experiences in using financial measures to focus and motivate employees. He uses what he calls Open Book Management, which he defines as communicating with people via the numbers. His book, “The Great Game of Business,” details how he and his fellow employees turned an unprofitable, highly-leveraged management-buyout of an unglamorous business into a highly successful business using a system of goal setting and scorekeeping to motivate and lead the employees.
Measuring results can be as simple as comparing actual sales to the goal (often called the plan or the budget). However, sometimes it requires establishing new measurement and tracking systems. Each goal must be analyzed to determine what must be done to track results.
Corrective action
If we are accountable to somebody or some group, we will be more likely to take corrective action.
The CEO of a highly successful regional distributor reports: “When I purchased the company, I had a nagging concern that maybe too little accountability could be a problem. I’d be able to rationalize poor results and discount their implications. I could easily fall into a pattern of denying things with no fear of repercussions. I had certainly seen that happen in other privately held companies, and there was no reason to think I’d be immune to the practice myself.”
Your communication system can be part of the accountability and corrective action process. Just the fact that you must report to some stakeholder group on why a goal was missed will generally force you to take some sort of corrective action so that you are able to report what you are doing to the group. If your employees know the game plan and the score, they can be part of the team that helps to keep you on track to reaching your goals.
Michael Devitt is president of Devitt Consulting Group in Shorewood. Small Business Times readers who would like to see a business financing issue discussed in this column can contact Devitt at 962-4414, or via e-mail at Devitt@execpc.com.
April 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

NOVA electrical engineers continue their train
When Sara Miller hires an employee, she expects to have that employee’s brain for eight hours a day. She also wants her employees to challenge themselves.
Because her business is an electrical engineering firm, Miller knows her employees must be involved in a continuous process of learning about emerging technologies in order for the business to survive. All of which is why education is a top priority at Miller’s business, NOVA Systems, Inc., in Wauwatosa.
No matter what type of business you are in, change is inevitable. Whether it be change in technology or change in management styles, both employers and employees must keep up if their businesses are to last. College and university continuing education programs can serve as a way in which business people can keep themselves and their employees up to date with current technologies and trends, and businesses often provide tuition reimbursement for courses relative to an employee’s work.
Silver Lake College in Manitowoc offers two major off-campus continuing education programs, according to Dr. Alan Heffner, chair of Silver Lake College’s business programs. The Career Directed Program, a degree completion program, is open to individuals who have acquired 45 hours of college credit, at Silver Lake or elsewhere. Most students come in with an associate’s degree or equivalent and are working toward a bachelor’s degree, Heffner says.
The other program is a master’s degree program in Management and Organizational Behavior. With both programs, classes typically meet for four hours, usually 6 to 10 p.m., once a week for eight weeks.
“The courses are designed for working people,” Heffner says. “For people who work and have families, the courses are fairly convenient in that they only meet once a week.”
Although Silver Lake is based in Manitowoc, both programs are offered in several Wisconsin locations including Appleton, Fond du Lac, Madison and Milwaukee. Courses for the Milwaukee program are held at Brookfield Central High School.
“The business environment has changed dramatically over the last 20 years,” Heffner says. “Businesses recognize the need for
“The principles and requirements of
what is necessary to succeed in business
are the same no matter what size
company you have.”
– Ed Koster, Marquette University
people who are comfortable with change, and if you’re continually learning, you will be prepared for change.”
For businesses which may not be fiscally able to implement tuition reimbursement programs, Marquette University offers a service in which instructors from the university go in-house to businesses and facilitate customized training programs to meet the needs of the individual business.
“Small businesses need to continue educating their employees just like larger businesses,” says Ed Koster, assistant director of Marquette’s Continuing Education program. “The principles and requirements of what is necessary to succeed in business are the same no matter what size company you have.”
In addition to the in-house training program, Marquette offers degree completion and certificate programs with classes meeting on weekdays, weekends, and at nights.
Heffner cites two recurring reasons business people have for continuing their education: the need for strong interpersonal skills and the drive to stay competitive.
“Businesses tell us they need managers who can truly deal with people, so in our courses we emphasize communication skills, interpersonal skills, team work and oral presentations,” Heffner says. “We try to build good leaders.”
Miller views continuing education as the vital tool to remaining competitive.
“In this field, the things you learned back when you were an undergraduate or early on in your career may be obsolete today,” Miller says. “Technology changes so quickly that you can never be content with what you know right now.”
NOVA Systems offers full tuition reimbursement to full-time employees enrolled at a public university. For employees wishing to enroll in a private college or university, NOVA will reimburse the employee at the public school cost. Employees must earn at least a “B” grade in their courses in order to qualify for reimbursement. NOVA also pays for the purchase of text books and then keeps them at NOVA for reference.
“A small business may not be able to afford hiring as many people as large businesses can, but you can be just as competitive with a small group of well-educated and talented employees,” Miller says.
Currently, one NOVA employee participates in the company’s tuition reimbursement program. Jason Katch, a design technician, is working toward an electrical engineer associate’s degree at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
“Going to school has made me much more knowledgeable beyond my hands-on experience, and that benefits both NOVA and me careerwise,” Katch says.
Maggie Wieland, NOVA Operations Manager, notes that tuition reimbursement is not the only way to further your employees’ education. NOVA keeps training manuals and CD-ROMs in-house and pays the enrollment costs for job-related seminars and workshops for employees.
“Even though only full-time employees are eligible for tuition reimbursement, any employee can have a work-related seminar paid for,” Wieland says.
While some small businesses may not be able to afford a tuition reimbursement program, sometimes in-house training sessions work just as well as a college course, Wieland says.
April 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Business partners with WCTC to develop skills
by john campbell
Omni Resources requires mainframe computer programers for its computer consultancy business. But the skills needed for the work weren’t being taught to a sufficient degree by educational institutions.
So Omni decided to train its own programers, with some help from the Wisconsin Technical College system.
“Mainframe programers with seven or eight years’ experience are demanding $50 to $60 an hour,” Larry Litwin says, explaining why his employer, Omni Resources, Inc., is engaged in hiring and training mainframe computer programers.
“With so few people available who know these skills, it’s a bidding war to hire someone who knows how to program an IBM mainframe,” Litwin says. “Colleges and universities stopped teaching COBOL skills years ago, when predictions were made that personal computers and client server systems would eventually take over; and that hasn’t happened.”
Litwin, branch manager for Omni Resources in Brookfield, called upon the Business and Industry Development group at Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) to put together a customized training program to teach mainframe programming.
Students become Omni employees, paid to attend classes. Their placement in the class determines their hourly pay rate. The first class graduated early in March.
Omni Resources is a data processing consultancy owned by Roger and Veronica Mueller, who founded the company 14 years ago. With headquarters in Brookfield, the company has branch offices in Madison, Green Bay, Minneapolis and Chicago – which serve as bases for more than 400 of its data processing consultants.
A number of those consultants are working with clients on the Year 2000 problem. (See cover story.)
“Many of our customers, like Firstar Bank, M&I Data Services, Case Corp., Kohl’s Department Stores and a dozen more mainframe owners, either have to fix what they’ve got or install new computer systems,” Litwin says.
Ninety percent of these mainframe computers use COBOL language. There are thousands of companies just like them, Litwin says, and it will take a team of programers a year to screen their records. The cost will be measured in tens of millions of dollars, he says.
To accommodate the need for mainframe programers, as well as to reduce the costs for their mainframe customers, Omni contacted the Business and Industry Development Center of WCTC. Together, they developed a curriculum designed around Omni’s needs. Classes were limited to 10 students who would attend class eight hours a day for eight weeks at Omni’s branch office in Brookfield.
Access to mainframes was contracted for with M&I Data Services.
“We had no trouble getting applicants for this program,” Litwin says. “First of all, we looked for people who had some prior familiarity with computers. I was amazed at how many people we got who wanted to change careers. In our first class, ages ranged from 22 to 52. We had a molecular biologist, a CPA, an aircraft mechanic, just to name a few, as well as an employee from one of our customers, whom they wanted us to train. We encourage our customers to send their personnel. If they hire one of our trainees, we give them a rebate.” Not one person dropped out and all 10 completed the course with A and B grades.
David Demitras, one of the graduates in the first class, had been working part-time with Federal Express and attending UW-Milwaukee.
“We had a lot of reading to do at nights,” Demitras recalls.
Laurie Pettit, the former molecular biologist at Wisconsin Medical College, admitted the course was tough, eight hours a day, five days a week. Class members were united in a common goal, as everyone helped each other.
The program developed by WCTC has some unique incentives added by Omni Resources, which wanted to get the most out of its $9,600 per student investment.
“We pay the students $10 an hour to attend, and pay their medical benefits. They must agree to stay with us for one year after their training,” Litwin explains. “Those students who finish with an A in the overall program start out at $17 an hour; B-students, $16 an hour. C-students, $15. However, we did not have any C-students in this first group.” Litwin attributed their success to the thorough screening by Omni recruiters and aptitude testing done by WCTC.
The eight weeks’ schooling, worth 12 college credits at WCTC toward an associate degree, involves five separate courses. A course like COBOL accounts for four credits and a course entitled Information Technology Consulting Skills is worth only one credit.
“The consulting skills course is typically a soft skill,” Litwin admitted, “But we insisted that this training be added. It’s vitally important that our employees relate to our customers and their problems. I’ve never had to replace one of our consultants on a job for poor computer skills. Failure to get along with other people is more often the reason for pulling an employee off a job. People are our products.”
Ron Fischer, associate dean from WCTC, reviewed student evaluations with the four-member faculty after the completion of the first eight weeks. Based on student suggestions, they met to discuss possible changes. Larry Litwin would like to conduct five eight-week classes a year, if the holidays in the last quarter permit such scheduling.
The partnership of Omni Resources and WCTC is an example of academia working to solve problems in business and industry.
“I don’t know of another state, except perhaps Arizona, where state-owned schools work with business and industry as closely as we do in Wisconsin,” Fischer stated. “The Wisconsin system, where the colleges and universities work to solve industry problems, is a model other states are following.”
April 1998, Small Business Times, Milwaukee

How to tell whether your training programs have an impact
Question:
I read your article on management development in the March issue of Small Business Times and enjoyed it. We’re struggling with some of the issues you discussed. For example, how can we evaluate the effectiveness of the training that we do offer?
Answer:
It has been my experience that most people don’t get very excited about designing training programs, let alone evaluating them. When people think of training evaluation, they often think of a questionnaire about how well the learners liked the instruction.
It’s not easy to work up much enthusiasm for an activity in which someone administers a hastily prepared questionnaire to learners, tabulates the results and discovers that different learners have different opinions, so the best thing to do is muddle on pretty much as before.
There’s more to evaluation than asking, “Did they like it?”
Other areas worth probing include, “Do they need it?” “Is it well designed?” “Did it work?” “Did they learn it?” “Did they use it?” “Did using it do any good?” And so on.
There are several ways that training programs can be evaluated. Let’s consider four:
Need – Is the instruction needed? Is there a performance deficiency? What’s it costing? What would it be worth to “fix it”? Is it a system problem, a management problem, a motivation problem, a knowledge problem, or a skill problem? Who, if anyone, needs training? What, exactly, do they need to learn and why?
Design – Is the instruction well-designed? Does the content match the identified learning need? Does the instruction match the prior knowledge and skill levels of the learners? Do instructional methods simulate the key aspects of the environment in which the new material will be used? Does it have the necessary parts (e.g., overview, learning objectives, performance criteria, etc.)? Does the instruction match the conditions for demonstrating mastery of the material?
Implementation – Does it work? What parts went according to plan? What part of the knowledge, skill, and behavioral objectives were met? What percentage of the learners achieved each objective? Were there unexpected problems? What parts of it did the learners like? What parts did they dislike? What parts produced errors and confusion?
Impact – Did they use it? Did using it do any good? Was the post-instruction performance better? Did the work environment support or interfere with the performance desired? What percentage of the learners used their new knowledge, skills, or behaviors? Did the changed performance produce better organizational results? Was the problem identified in the needs assessment ultimately solved by the learning programming?
Having pointed out some areas of training which can be evaluated, I should also mention that actually performing this kind of thorough evaluation is often more difficult than simply identifying what you can measure. Some research that I recently completed in conjunction with the Human Resource Management Association (HRMA) bears upon this last point.
In 1997 more than 800 southeastern Wisconsin companies were surveyed regarding the manner in which they evaluate the training programming which they offer. Of the surveys which were returned (approximately 300), 94% of the organizations indicated that they offer some sort of training. Many organizations indicated a strong mix of technical and “soft skills” training. And, interestingly, 88% of the organizations indicated that they were measuring the effectiveness of their training.
However, with respect to this last figure, while most of the organizations indicated they were evaluating their employees? reactions (e.g., “Did you like it?”) to the training, less than half indicated they were evaluating the effectiveness (e.g., “Does it work?”) or impact (e.g., “Did you use it?”) of the training.
Why weren’t the organizations doing a better job in evaluating their training programming? My impression is that many organizations are not doing as strong a job as they could in identifying how the learning objectives relate to the strategic objectives of the organization and the specific expectations of the position the individual occupies. In simple terms, too much training is done on a “drive-by” basis, isolated and separate from what really counts – performance back on-the-job.
How to remedy this? Forge stronger connections between those responsible for the strategic objectives of the organization (i.e., top management), on-the-job performance (i.e., line management), and learning programming (i.e., HR and training staff). This is consistent with what Peter Senge (author of The Fifth Discipline) and others describe as a “learning organization,” an organization in which there is a clear integration between strategic objectives, management of on-the-job performance, and employee learning.
In order for this to take place, HR must be seen as a “player” in terms of organization adaptation and improvement. As we all know, HR has long suffered from an “identity crisis” in which it is not viewed as being as bottom-line-impacting as sales/marketing or operations/production. In some organizations, HR must continually “justify its existence.” This skepticism is only heightened given the heavy cost of many training initiatives.
Where training is concerned, the establishment of objective criteria is necessary to gather the evidence that such programming can indeed “make a difference.” And, as we have discussed in this article, attending to questions other than “Did they like it?” will help you to develop a fuller picture of the effectiveness of your organization’s learning programming.
HR Connection is provided by Daniel Schroeder, Ph.D., of Organization Development Consultants in Brookfield. Small Business Times readers who would like an HR issue discussed in this column can contact Schroeder at 287-8383 or via e-mail at odc@execpc.com.
April 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

In order to meet an increased demand for its coating and laminating machinery, Faustel, Inc., of Germantown recently completed an addition of 15,000 square feet, giving it a total of 85,000 square feet.
The 300-foot-long high-bay assembly area provides additional space for the assembly of complete lines which are run-tested with customer web materials before shipment. The new space also frees up room for production of rewinds, coaters, laminators, dryers and other components and products made by the company.
The added space, already in use, reflects the company’s rapid growth during the 1990s as a supplier of industrial coating and laminating equipment, company officials said.
Oconomowoc-based Bryant Products will build a 16,000-square-foot corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility in the Ixonia Industrial Park.
The new facility, which will more than double the firm’s production capacity, will be completed and on line in August, said company president Fred Thimmel.
The company is a manufacturer and supplier of material handling components.
Bryant noted that the firm’s sales have doubled in the last two years and tripled in the last five.
“The new facility will permit us to add new state-of-the-art machining equipment, expand our production and assembly operations, and provide quick order turnaround to our customers,” Thimmel said. “Also, when the new plant is on line, we will meet all ISO 9000 certification requirements.”
The new facility will have 10,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 6,000 square feet of space for engineering, research and development, and administrative offices.
The building design includes provisions for an anticipated expansion of up to 14,000 square feet of space.
Venture Development of Waukesha has completed construction of the Priedman Business Center in Waukesha. The 30,000-square-foot building will house the new offices of JSE Electric and Standard Lamp.
T-3 Group of Milwaukee has built a 9,000-square-foot facility at the Manchester Mall in Grafton for Realty Management Consultants to house Wisconsin Health and Fitness Center.
– T-3 is also handling design and a two-phase interior remodeling project for Consolidated Electric Co. for its Lappin Lighting facility at 1348 N. 4th St. in Milwaukee.
– T-3 has been selected to build a new Arby’s franchise restaurant at 1922 W. Ryan Rd. in Oak Creek. The 3,400-square-foot freestanding building was designed by Architrend. The project is scheduled for a June completion.
McCloud Construction of Brookfield is working on a building at 5204 W. Fond du Lac Ave. in Milwaukee for Dial/Gabaldon Realty to be used by Blockbuster Video and other tenants.
Anderson-Ashton of New Berlin has been awarded the contract to design and build a new ready-mix plant for Schmitz Ready Mix at 3131 W. Elm Rd. in Franklin. The project includes a 4,800-square-foot mix plant and a 6,030-square-foot concrete recycling building.
– Anderson-Ashton is designing and building a new facility for CenterPoint Properties of Chicago. The 124,000-square-foot building, at 4700 W. Ironwood Dr. in Franklin, will be the new home of General Thermodynamics, currently of Oak Creek. A July completion is planned.
A new building for ebix.inc, formerly Econo Billing, Inc., will give the company room for future growth and expansion. For the past 10 years the company had leased space in a building at 3555 S. 27th St. in Milwaukee. With financing of a Small Business Administration loan guarantee via The Money Store, ebix.inc moved to 6400 Industrial Loop in Greendale, about four miles from its previous location. The company, which handles medical billing and accounts receivable management, has grown and needed more space, said owner Brian Nelson. Staff size will be increased and computerization will be boosted.
West Bend Clinic, now part of Advanced Healthcare, will build a 15,000-square-foot addition to the clinic on Paradise Drive to house surgery suites for one-day surgery services.
Selzer-Ornst Co. of Wauwatosa has completed the 62,000-square-foot expansion and remodeling at the Congregational Home in Brookfield. The addition included 26 new assisted-living units, administrative offices, a conference room and underground parking.
Welman Architects of Waukesha has completed design of store No. 16 for Warehouse Shoes on Oakland Avenue and Locust Street in Milwaukee. Briohn Building of Milwaukee was the general contractor.
– Welman has also completed renovation plans for 40,000 square feet of space for Waukesha manufacturer Wildeck, Inc. The firm makes pre-engineered mezzanines. Itasca Construction was the general contractor.
Groth and Smies Architects of Cedarburg and Sheboygan has completed renovation work for one wing of the Assisted Living Center of The Christian League for the Handicapped in Walworth. Residents were involved in planning of the reconfiguration of the 6,800 square feet of space.
Colby Construction of Hartland has been selected to build Meadowbrook Apartment Homes in Waterloo. The 72-unit complex will consist of nine apartment homes with detached garages. St. Francis Bank is the lender for the project
The Milwaukee division of Fleming Companies will be renovating the Supersaver grocery store at N81 W15182 Appleton Ave. in Menomonee Falls. The store will be renovated by the design/build contractor MSI General of Oconomowoc.
The renovation consists of a complete make-over of the interior and the conversion of the façade to match other newly-constructed or remodeled Supersavers. The 46,611-square-foot store will remain open during the project.
Beyer Construction of New Berlin is renovating a former warehouse for a new facility for Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin at 200 W. Vogel Ave. in Milwaukee. The project involves the two-phased renovation of a former warehouse with more than 200,000 square feet. The building will house Goodwill’s new industrial, human services and support facility.
– Beyer is working on the RiverWalk Plaza Condominiums on North Water Street in Milwaukee. Firstar Community Investment Corp. and Wisconsin Preservation Fund are developing the project. The adaptive reuse project involves conversion of two warehouse buildings of 140,400 square feet in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. The result will be 79 residential loft condominium units and two first-floor commercial condominium units. The project includes interior renovations, exterior improvements, extension of the RiverWalk, and construction of a new plaza area. Eppstein Uhen Architects is handling design.
Leases
Grubb & Ellis/The Boerke Co. of Milwaukee has announced the following leases:
– 3,600 square feet of retail space at Capitol Plaza at 15740 W. Capitol Dr. in Brookfield for G&K Dance, Inc.;
– 1,590 square feet of office space for Amresco Residential at 2515 N. 124th St. in Brookfield;
– 14.101 square feet of retail space in the Factory Outlet Centre of Kenosha in the Town of Bristol for Crafters Showcase III.
Boerke also announced that commercial and retail space at N51 W729 Keup Rd. has been sold for $405,000 to Larson’s Paint.
Mooney LeSage & Associates has announced the following leases:
11,478 square feet of space for Waltco Truck Equipment Co. at 701 Blackhawk Dr. in Burlington;
2,100 square feet of space for Lors Medical at 11717-11727 W. Dearbourn Ave. in Wauwatosa;
2,625 square feet of space at 2600 S. 162nd St. in New Berlin for Abler Data Systems;
11,400 square feet of space at 1551 S. 38th St. in Milwaukee for Master-Halco, Inc.;
20,544 square feet of space at 5814 W. North Ave. in Milwaukee for Parts America;
1,181 square feet of space at 1159 Summit Ave. in Oconomowoc for Lightning PC;
3,144 square feet of space at 3585 N. 124th St. in Brookfield for Kraft Keyboards;
14,000 square feet of space at 145 Progress Rd. in West Bend for Saturn Corp.
137,000 square feet of space at 3350 N.124th St. in Wauwatosa for Joppe Logistics;
31,970 square feet of space at 2899 Buell Dr. in East Troy for Buell Motorcycle Co.;
1,592 square feet of space at 2400 N. Farewell Ave. in Milwaukee for Milwaukee PC;
3,440 square feet of space at the Silvernail Shopping Center in Waukesha for Rocky Rococo, Inc.;
13,280 square feet of space at 2004 Beulah Ave. in East Troy for Contract Comestibles.
Moves
The Brookfield location of HQ Business Centers has moved from 400 N. Executive Dr. to 200 S. Executive Dr. The new site contains 18,616 square feet of space with conference space and videoconferencing capabilities. The former site offered the operation 12,357 square feet of space.
HQ offers office space on a short- or long-term basis, as well as administrative and communications support.
April 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Computer network security is critical to you firm’s survival
When the administrative assistant for a small Milwaukee law firm got wind of the fact that she was about to be let go by her employer, she decided to get even.
On her last day, the disgruntled woman went in and deleted five years’ of the company’s history, including its backup records. Then she changed the password needed to enter the firm’s computer network, effectively locking everyone else out.
The damage was done.
The firm’s failure to build the proper security into its computer system cost it dearly, and it could cost your business as well, warns Kelly Hansen, principal of Sun Tzu Security, Ltd., a Milwaukee network solutions provider.
Not convinced? Take the case of Citibank, which lost $400,000 when a computer hacker got access to the bank’s network, and acquired the credit card numbers of Citibank cardholders and committed credit card fraud.
OK, so Citibank is a big national bank, and those kinds of things just don’t happen here, right? Guess again.
Hansen says Wisconsin banks are especially behind the times when it comes to network security, using only a password to protect unwarranted entry into their system. Consider that password systems can be broken 80% or more of the time, according to Ernst & Young.
And it’s not just the banks which are leaving themselves open. According to Hansen, 95% of Wisconsin companies have no network security in place, leaving them open for security breaches which can put them out of business.
“Basically, without some sort of network management tools in place, you’re inviting someone to come in and take your information,” says Hansen, who got her master’s degree in comparative literature at Harvard University before starting the business in 1996.
“You can’t trace what people are doing on your system, because there is no recorded evidence. It’s very sad. In terms of sophistication, I would say we’re about three years behind the coasts.”
According to Hansen, who makes it her business to know such things, 80% of all computer hacking attempts are internal – they come from your own employees during off hours.
Installing network security, otherwise known as building a firewall, will set off an internal alarm when someone goes where they are not supposed to go, such as an unauthorized trip into the company’s proprietary financial information. This is called intrusion detection.
You can install a network firewall that maintains a log and tracks all activity on your computer network. Essentially, logging records the comings and goings of people on a computer system.
Even after they have incurred serious breaches, local companies are often reluctant to spend on network security. They place a cap on what they are willing to spend, not willing to go as low as $1,500.
Hansen says what she is offering is like another form of insurance. Therefore, you need to place a monetary value on what your company’s information is worth. Say it’s $6 million. Also consider that you might get sued by your customers if the breach affects them. Now weigh that cost against the money it would cost to get the necessary security in place, Hansen says.
“You don’t want to go out and get insurance after your beach house has been swept away by a storm,” Hansen says. “You want to have it beforehand. Once a breach has occurred, it takes four times as much effort. Consulting hours go way up because we have to go through everything to find out where the breach has occurred.”
Computer espionage has replaced the old man in the trench coat meeting his contact out on the corner as the preferred method of spying. Last year, there were more than 250,000 attempted computer hacks on the U.S. Department of Defense, and 60% were successful.
“Hacking is not hard,” Hansen says. “Everyone thinks you’ve got to be an evil genius. There are tons of software tools available on the Internet, anything from a packet sniffer to a war dialer, to help these people get in.”
Year 2000:
The gates swing open
Computer spies are everywhere, as the phenomenon trickles down to the level of small business. What is particularly insidious these days is the Year 2000 computer bug, which requires that businesses bring in outside consultants to go over their systems to detect the bug.
The problem, Hansen says, is that most of the qualified engineers and programers are long gone, sucked up by the big corporations, and leaving a dearth of talent in their absence. What
“Without network
management tools in place, you’re inviting someone
to come in and take
your information.”
– Kelly Hansen, Sun Tzu Security
small to medium-sized businesses who are coming late to the party are left with are people who are not qualified to perform this kind of work, Hansen says.
“Here we’ve got people who are really worried about the Year 2000, and they want to make the necessary changes, but they’re not a major player, so they can’t afford a Big Six consultant, so they go for a local firm. But they are finding that the good local firms are booked up, so they are probably going to start picking up individual consultants.”
This is where the trouble begins, as the majority of small businesses will throw open the keys to the kingdom to a complete outsider .
“It’s a great opportunity for corporate espionage to pick up proprietary information,” Hansen says. “You know, send them a would-be Y2K consultant.
“And virtually all businesses will throw open the keys to the kingdom,” she says. “They will say, ‘Here, fix this,’ and no one will watch because they are probably short-staffed and not concerned about security issues. And you don’t know who he is or where he’s going.”
Essentially, under this scenario, a firm is giving carte blanche to go through their entire network and take anything they want. This can be accomplished by building in a so-called “back door” to the computer network through the Internet, which allows them to come back in and download proprietary information.
At the very least, get references from other businesses for whom your Year 2000 consultant has worked, Hansen says. And ideally you should have your firewall in place before the consultant comes in, so you can trace his movements, if need be.
“Without network management tools in place, you’ll never know where they went or what they did,” Hansen says.
Online danger
Hansen says her firm gets calls from big companies which have T-1 lines coming in, asking her if they need to get firewall protection. The answer is yes. Because, with Internet access, it’s like a two-way connection, which means people can come in as easily as your own employees can go out onto the Internet. Hansen says it’s like walking out the door at the end of the day and leaving it unlocked.
Simply by linking all of your computers through a local area network and then connecting through the Internet, you could be giving anyone on the Internet access to your company information.
“If you don’t connect to the Internet through a firewall, then you shouldn’t really be connecting to the Internet at all,” says James O’Brien, vice president of information technology for Sun Tzu. “This is called ‘open door,’ because it’s like saying ‘Come on in.'”
As a growing number of firms seek to engage in electronic commerce, what Hansen and O’Brien see is that the vast majority of these firms are not implementing any form of network security. Not only are most of these firms unaware that they need to allow for encryption to make these online transactions safe, but they also need to put a firewall in place to protect that financial information once they receive it.
“It will sit there in a database, and if someone can break into the server, they can get not just one credit card, but the credit card number of everyone who has ever ordered,” O’Brien says.
April 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee