Future of The Environmental Services Industry

Software Update "Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for  improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to  manage the change that is inevitable." -  William Pollard "Yea Cloud!" -  Windows 7 Commercial In our last newsletter we mentioned that we would be  upgrading our software.  Well....we did it and I think you are going to like it.  We still have many ways that we are going to improve it even more, but for now we are pretty happy with what we have.   I think it will always be a work in progress, as I'm pretty sure technology is not going to slow down anytime soon.   Check it out for yourself by going to  www.sampleserve.com .  The login ID and password are right there on the front page. What will it do for you? It will allow you to see your results in multiple formats (maps, tables, graphs, etc..) and to evaluate your results compared to various state clean-up criteria.  There are literally hundreds

The book  "Future Shock" , written by Alvin Toffler  was released for publishing 40 years ago this month (in 1970). The main thesis of the book is that millions of otherwise psychologically normal people will experience an abrupt collision with the future. Regularly educated citizens will fall victim to the disease of "change". Unable to keep up with the supercharged pace of technological and social change, many people will become disconnected and suffer from "shattering stress and disorientation". A docudrama by Orson Wells in 1972 (see it on YouTube  here  ) outlined the book in dramatic fashion, as only Orson Wells could do. I watched the video again the other day and remembered seeing it back when I was a kid and being concerned about  "Future Shock" . It was funny watching it again and seeing the things they predicted for the future. Some things they got right...they predicted big things for the "computer". No mention of "

"To know the true reality of yourself, you must be aware not only of your conscious thoughts, but also of your unconscious prejudices, bias and habits."   - Unknown Author   Part of the development of any sampling strategy is the evaluation of the scientific benefit of the collection of each potential sample to be collected.  The scientific benefit of each sample collected should be evaluated against the cost to collect that sample.  A "cost benefit analysis" is performed (or should be) for each sample collected and for every parameter proposed.  Now, this "analysis" doesn't have to be in the form of a formal document prepared for each sample detailed down to the penny the value of the data collected. It can be as simple as a mental exercise using one's best professional judgment as to which samples make the most sense and provide the most useful data without sampling everywhere for everything as if cost was not an issue.  Financial limitations sh

Downsize, Reinvent or Shut it Down Downsize, reinvent or shut it down? These are very difficult but very real propositions for many small business owners and managers throughout the country right now.  None of these propositions is comfortable.  Make the revenue cover overhead expenses and payroll. Not easy, especially when revenue is shrinking and forecasting your shrinking revenue is difficult at best.  Then what's this talk of a double dip recession?  What is a double dip recession anyway?  That's all we need is more bad news.  Then ......the waiting to get paid........the waiting to get paid is the worst.  Your employees, for some reason, don't like to wait to get paid.  For most companies these days, "forcing" profitability requires downsizing and reinventing your business. I use the term "forcing" because that's what describes what has to happen.  Forcing it. It's making it happen regardless of the pressure against it.  You need to make

~ Hard work is the key to success, so work diligently on any project you undertake. If you truly want to be successful, be prepared to give up your leisure time and work past 5 PM and on weekends. Also, have faith in yourself. If you come up with a new idea that you believe in, don't allow other people to discourage you from pursuing it. ~    Charles Lazarus - Famous Jazz Trumpet Musician There is this longstanding dispute between people that work mostly in the field and people that work mostly in the office.  The office workers will grumble to the field workers (usually only on days with really nice weather) about how lucky they are to work outside all the time.  Conversely, the field workers will gripe (mostly on days with really crappy weather) about how lucky the office people are to have "cushy desk jobs".  As it always has been....as it always will be. As I write this, it is a really nice day outside and I'm inside in the office wishing I could be working o

"Cloud Computing" Emerging Trends and the Effects on Environmental Compliance & Reporting "Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient,  on-demand  network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service-provider interaction." --  US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)   As the concept of "cloud computing" is still relatively new, it should come as no surprise that many people (76% of Americans, according to an Oct. 2009 study by Penn, Schoen & Berland, PSB), haven't heard the term yet or have heard the term but don't know what it really means. Even though I had been a user of various types of "cloud computing" services for several years, when I first heard the term I had no idea what it meant.  Being a tech geek of sorts, I tend to re

Presentation to the MDNRE (formerly the MDEQ) Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) has recently changed its name to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (MDNRE or just DNRE).  At the same time they merged the Environmental (pollution regulatory issues, etc..) side of things with the Natural Resources (hunting, fishing, etc..) side of things.  Or should I say re-merged them.  They were merged at one time but split apart back during the Gov. Engler administration in the 1990s.  I’m not even going to pretend that I understand why they were split in the 1990s and why they are being put back together now.  Its politics and I’m not that interested in the reasons why.  I just hope it makes them more efficient and it saves tax payer money. The reason I bring this up is because I have been asked to present at a MDNRE District Supervisors monthly meeting on February 18 th , 2010 (next week).  The topic of my presentation is “Third Party Sampling and Web

Progress Or Be Left Behind From the time you are born until the day you die one thing will remain constant, and that is the progress of technology.  Today we live in a culture where technology affects everything.  With technology there is always advancement and until the end of time it will continue to change. Advancing the Technology of Sampling & Reporting SampleServe.com began with a simple concept....make well sampling and reporting more efficient.  That simple concept remains our  core mission .  Nearly every day someone in our company comes up with a process improvement or automation efficiency to shave off a second when sampling a monitoring well. Almost daily someone comes up with an improvement in data management or reporting. Our programmers are currently working full time on rolling out  Version 2.0  of our software and meanwhile even more improvement ideas are filling the suggestion box for  Version 3.0 . Constant evaluation and improvement is our culture.  And key

5 Strategies for Cutting Your Environmental Expenses Strategy #1 - Reduce the Number of Wells Sampled. Example of reasons for sampling to many wells: 1)  The desire to please a "Regulator" can often lead to sampling more wells than necessary.  Let's face it, making some Regulators happy is impossible.  However, the boundary between making them "happy" and staying in "compliance" leaves plenty of room for negotiation.  Finding the right number of wells to sample while maintaining a compliant quality to the sampling program is the duty of the Consultant. 2)  Complacency.  Especially on sites monitored for a long period of time, there is a tendency to keep sampling the same wells over and over again without questioning the significance and value of sampling each individual well within the program.  A review and justification for each well being sampled should be conducted at least annually to assure the optimum number of wells is being sampled.

Question:   Why does big business routinely outsource portions of their work? Answer:   In most cases, it saves money and increases profits.   Reasons For Outsourcing Well Sampling:   1)   Equipment.    Environmental sampling equipment can be expensive to purchase and maintain.  Outsourcing sampling means you no longer have to maintain an expensive array of equipment which also requires routine repair and maintenance. Outsourcing means all those costs go away.   2)  Personnel.    As with any employee, there are costs beyond the basic employee cost.  You have payroll taxes, FICA, workmen's compensation insurance, payroll preparation expenses, annual safety training, safety equipment, vehicles for employees to work from, etc..  These costs too go away when outsourced.   3)  Project Management.   Once a project is set up in our system, managing that project and communicating project details and parameters is automatic.  A Project Manager can manage more projects than ever before wi