Changing "old School" Ways

[BTFuzz]

My wife and I own a small independent p&c agency. We get along great until the word "change" comes up. What I mean is, I am very much into gaining every edge I can with technology and making our lives easier in doing so.

Problem is, I can not get my wife to change her ways of doing things like she has for the past 15-20 years. I am even having trouble getting her to get a smartphone to receive her emails! We have every opportunity to go "almost paperless" but she can't let go of the physical paper dec pages...problem is, in my opinion, is she is scared and completely set and stubborn in her own way (like her father).

Has anyone had any experience turning someone like this around?...I should also mention that I have myself set up so I can work from anywere and she thinks this is pretty cool...she just won't jump on board herself. What can I do to keep her from "stunting our growth"?

 

[alexmade]

You should scan every piece of paper that she has and show her how easy and convenient it is to have everything organized in computer folders. Recycle all that paper and emphasize on not only the convenience but also the positive impact which your agency will be having on the environment. You can also use an eco friendly approach to marketing and generate more leads and income playing the green card.

 

[Hunter]

Could you do a contest? Old school vs. new school? Winner picks a change to make (or not).

 

[briko3]

My wife and I own a small independent p&c agency. We get along great until the word "change" comes up. What I mean is, I am very much into gaining every edge I can with technology and making our lives easier in doing so.

Problem is, I can not get my wife to change her ways of doing things like she has for the past 15-20 years. I am even having trouble getting her to get a smartphone to receive her emails! We have every opportunity to go "almost paperless" but she can't let go of the physical paper dec pages...problem is, in my opinion, is she is scared and completely set and stubborn in her own way (like her father).

Has anyone had any experience turning someone like this around?...I should also mention that I have myself set up so I can work from anywere and she thinks this is pretty cool...she just won't jump on board herself. What can I do to keep her from "stunting our growth"?

First piece of advice is to never say, "you're like your father" in a negative way....haha. (learned that one the hard way)

My suggestion is to sign up for Carbonite and show her how everything you do digitally is backed up off site and how you can get it on your smart phone if you need to or on any other computer. That should help relieve some of her fears.

 

[xrac]

My wife doesn't work with me and she is no way into technology. I finally got her involved with email on the computer. Then it was SKYPE with our daughter and grandaughter who live in Tennessee. Then it was a smart phone. Now she is text messaging and face timing. I think I have lost her!

 

[BTFuzz]

First piece of advice is to never say, "you're like your father" in a negative way....haha. (learned that one the hard way)

My suggestion is to sign up for Carbonite and show her how everything you do digitally is backed up off site and how you can get it on your smart phone if you need to or on any other computer. That should help relieve some of her fears.

Can you elaborate on getting the backups on your smartphone? How is this done and is it available for blackberry?

Incidentally, since I wrote this post, I got her a blackberry and she is starting to really like it...at least the email part of it anyway.

 

[briko3]

You'll have to go to carbonite.com to see if they have one for blackberry, but I have an app that gives me access to all the files that are backed up from my computer. It's actually pretty nice if I ever need a form for a client or a rate sheet and don't have a hard copy.

 

[BTFuzz]

You'll have to go to carbonite.com to see if they have one for blackberry, but I have an app that gives me access to all the files that are backed up from my computer. It's actually pretty nice if I ever need a form for a client or a rate sheet and don't have a hard copy.

What device do you have? I love bb but this is were they fall short to other platforms...at least until they are loaded with the QNX software.

 

[briko3]

I have a droid x. I love being able to point to something to go there instead of having to scroll through menus. Plus, it's always nice to have a screen that's a little bigger.

 

[Hefe]

There's a post in here for a free SugarSync account. This will give you 5 GB that automatically backs up to the cloud as well as any other computer/phone you install the program on. I know it supports Blackberry.

I used to use Dropbox for the same thing with decent success. These shouldn't be the only backup but allows you to access your most important files from literally anywhere.

Do you mind elaborating about what you have done to "work anywhere"? I use LogMeIn to access my office desktop from both my home desktop and laptop. I use Dropbox (and SugarSync) to share files across all 3 computers without emailing the file to myself. This setup seems to work fine but I'd be interested in hearing what you do to see if there's a better method.