Luminary... It's Five Star News! Lighting the Way with LuminaryFive Star has had a busy few months — full of evolution as we continue to keep pace with the rapidly changing tech space. In this edition of Luminary, we will give you a glimpse into the types of projects we work on, the outreach we've done and things we've learned along the way that are share-worthy. As always, we want this newsletter to be valuable for you, so please share your feedback and suggestions on topics to cover. Too Good Not to Share[As we come across industry news and information too good not to share, we'll share it right here, every quarter!]Top 10 Technology Trends for 2018 You Must Know About Technology is changing the way we work at the office and lead our lives at home. In the past decade, the rate of change has skyrocketed, and you need to fasten up the pace to make intelligent decisions. With the advancements in fields like AI, IoT and immersive experiences, here's what you need to know to be in close touch with disruptions that have high potential. Read on for the Top 10. How Does Academia Plan to Keep Up with the Future of Work? In the space of 10 years, dozens of new roles have been created for jobs that clearly demonstrate the fast pace of technological change, such as a cloud computing specialist, millennial generational expert or social media manager. This puts significant pressure on companies to remain on top of what the latest needs are at all times, but even more so for the universities that are helping to set students off on their individualized career paths. Read on to see how universities are keeping pace. Colleges Hold the Key to Closing the Skills Gap by Opening Doors to Adult Learners It took less than a generation for the internet to transform the economic and social fabric of the world, birthing entirely new disciplines in such fields as information technology, logistics, robotics and computer science. Many of today’s higher education systems reserve opportunities for the young, and then dooms them to future obsolescence by denying their return as older workers as the need for skills and knowledge shift. A few schools, however, are ahead of the curve in catering to adult learners. Read the full opinion piece to learn how some are breaking the mold. What We're Working OnCurrently, our team is developing a career pathways portal for high school students and adult learners, creating a workflow management system for a PTSD counseling organization, developing sales enablement tools for a Fortune 500 company, writing a technical specification document for a client’s internal IT team, and creating training programs for the retail industry. Whether you're part of a small workforce development board or large, global corporation, our team is equiped to help. We reinvigorate stalled technology projects, help scope ideas and consult through discovery phases. No matter the shape or size of your organization or project at hand, we become an extension of your team and our technology-based solutions will enable you to connect, collaborate and carry out objectives. Have questions? Let's talk. Where We've BeenThe mission of Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership (GPNP), formed by The Forbes Funds and regional nonprofit leadership, is to engage and connect nonprofits — across missions — to build partnerships that strengthen the effectiveness and sustainability of services provided to the community. As a finalist for the inaugural UpPrize social innovation challenge, Five Star’s President and Cofounder Lou Camerlengo was invited to participate in the Summit 2017 showcase, bringing insights into how technology innovations can help nonprofits save precious time and resources. To connect with industry thought leaders and contribute to the career pathways development discussion, Five Star President and Cofounder Lou Camerlengo attended the 2017 Close It conference in Chicago, Illinois. Produced by Innovate+Educate, topics of discussion included: Innovation & Transformation in Career Services, Revolutionizing the Employment to Learning Landscape and more. And, check out our Events page to see where we will be next. Project Highlight: Online Course ManagementMassachusetts Colleges Online (MCO) is a collaborative of 24 colleges, who together offer thousands of online courses to serve the changing needs of today's student. However, managing this volume of data was a growing problem that threatened internal efficiencies and student registration rates. MCO needed a new website, process development consultation and a technology solution for managing extensive amounts of data. As the selected strategic partner, and through collaboration with key stakeholders, Five Star designed and developed a fresh, responsive website and powerful back-end toolset to streamline the process for students and administrators alike. Access the full project highlight to learn more about the robust feature set.
Employee HighlightNate Smith, Business Development Director, is Five Star's newest edition. But, he isn't new to the technology space. With 25 years of connecting clients with the technology solutions needed to improve outcomes, grow business, enhance processes or boost user experience, he has already hit the ground running. His tech-savvy, clarity of vision and
Five Star CaresThe Five Star team recently held a donation drive for the Humane Animal Rescue, one of the largest animal welfare associations in Pennsylvania. The organization strives to provide all aspects of care to animals in need and educate the community around humane care. When we heard their hardworking team was in need of supplies, our Five Star team sprang into action. From toasted oats, to scratch posts, to blankets and formula, our team was able to deliver a van full of boxes to the dedicated workers at the Human Animal Rescues headquarters. Keeping Pace with ChangeWarren Bennis once said, "In life, change is inevitable. In business, change is vital." We've seen a lot of change over the years and can appreciate that, although keeping up-to-date with technology is critical to the success of an organization, it's often an onerous and complicated task. Technology innovation is needed to stay a step ahead, optimize productivity and build a presence in the competitive space we're all working in. But, with such rapid changes, keeping up can seem daunting. That's where Five Star comes in! Our work over the years has been focused on implementing technology to foster change, growth and productivity. We've helped clients seek cutting edge solutions to stay ahead of competition, clients who perhaps jumped too quickly to stay ahead and ended up with disparate systems not operating synergistically, and clients who focused on offering education around learning new technology. In all cases, Five Star works to determine needs, assess resources and implement solutions, smartly. We've also found that strongest adoption rates to changes in technology are achieved when a robust training plan is launched alongside. With each solution we implement, we consult with project leaders to ensure their teams understand the true purpose of the solution — giving them the foundation to confidently and productively navigate the new tools. This past decade of technology changes has been a wild ride, and we're just getting started. Know that we are here as a tried-and-true partner, able to assess your needs and develop the solutions you seek. We'll help you keep pace with change... David Colaizzi Lou Camerlengo |