Response to GM’s New Owner Appreciation Letter

Did anyone else get this “Owner Appreciation Letter” from GM . Well it’s time something is said, so here is my response.

Troy A. Clarke
Group Vice President
President, GM North America

Dear Troy,

First off I want to say thanks for sending me your letter and the owner appreciation certificate. This reinforces that I have done my job.

What you probably don’t know is that I own one of those hundreds of Detroit GM suppliers that GM decided to screw in your so called bankruptcy, poor display of management and lack of fiduciary responsibility of tax payer’s money.

Now you conveniently send me (one of your Customers) this letter and promotion reinforcing that everything is going to be fine. In one way your right, Detroit will emerge stronger, however that will be achieved without relying on corrupt corporations such as GM.

You see Troy, business rule number one is DO NOT screw the community you live in and then expect to sell there.

If you plan to continue to do business in this manner, then simply go and reinvent GM in China, where you have already blown most of GM’s profits over the last decade.

Please do not send me any more of your broken promises.  Just start treating America with respect and stop screwing the people that once made you great!

Sincerely,

One of the millions of pissed off GM Customers and Suppliers.

Steve Sadler
CEO /President

Scate Launches Screentweet.com – beta

Scate just launched Screentweet / beta located at www.screentweet.com. ScreenTweet shares pictures, screen shots,  and other media on Twitter “FREE”. What do think?

Stephen Sadler Featured as Local Leader & Innovator

I was fortunate to be featured by WWJ 950 and Lawrence Technological University as a Leader & Innovator today.  Not sure how long the link will be up but here it is: http://www.ltu.edu/leaders/bio_042809.asp

If knowledge is rapidly changing in today’s disposable world, then do we need better methods of learning that are both instructional and cost effective?

During the last eight years my company (Scate) conducted extensive research and testing on many types of corporate training systems and tools. Scate found that the problem with these systems is not instruction, but the speed to delivery of new and changing content.

In many cases, the corporate training departments we studied were not providing a return on investment and in many cases were not even completing training projects on time or under budget.

As many of you already know, corporate training is first thing to be slashed during hard times. So Scate’s goal has been to find or build something truly revolutionary, that would not only provide solid instructional design, but also allow our clients to stay in business. Scate Ignite and IgniteCAST.com are part of that long term vision.

There are many decent learning systems, but in my humble opinion many are bloated and definitely not geared towards speed to delivery. I see many systems actually getting more complex and feature rich, thus forcing students to learn the system when the focus should be on the content.

I keep remembering what an old teacher once said to me “you achieve elegance in design when there is no more to be removed!”.

Are Flickr and Youtube Really Good for Training and Education?

Are Flickr and YouTube really good for training and education or are they just filling a need where eLearning has failed?

Flickr and Youtube are good media sharing technologies, however pictures and videos do not define the art of teaching. Also, in addition to the fact that Flikr and Youtube are blocked at most schools and corporations, they do not provide a sound learning environment based on instructional system design or appropriate content for learning.

Students today learn through many mediums such as the teacher, books, internet, videos, music, PowerPoint, digital photos, etc. So the issue has become not “what” but “how” can teachers and students easily combine and utilize all of these media assets in the classroom and online.

I have spent the last six years with organizations and public schools trying to solve this issue. The result is a technology that allows students and teachers in the classroom to quickly and easily mash (stitch) all media types into web presentations and interactive videos. This technology is called Scate Ignite and works directly with the web service www.ignitecast.com.

Many public school districts are continuing to incorporated this new technology into their computer labs and media centers. For example Waldon Middle School in Lake Orion Mi. is using this new technology to create book reports, science projects, and even recipes in cooking class.

If you are interested in learning more please feel free to comment or tweet me at www.twitter.com/stevesadler.

Scate Expands Web and Application Development Division

Brings Software, Web, Graphics, Video, Web Marketing and eLearning Ideas to Life!

(Orion, MI – March 12, 2009) Scate Technologies, Inc. (Scate) has announced that it has expanded its custom desktop software and web application development division. The group offers a wide array of services that can build projects from the ground up, or help to finish projects already under way.

The Michigan-based development team possesses strong expertise in Web 2.0 social media technology, desktop multi-media applications, e-commerce, eLearning and many others. Scate-developed applications are currently deployed globally in industries such as Sports and Entertainment, Social Media Networking, Engineering, Manufacturing and Quality, Education and Knowledge, Human Resources, Marketing, Medical and more. Visit www.scate.com for a complete list of projects and customers including links to production applications.

“Our expertise is highly valued by our current customers, and we have a strong, mature portfolio of products, staff and infrastructure that are all well equipped to support new projects.” said Stephen Sadler, Scate CEO and President. “This offers us a fantastic opportunity to extend our expertise to additional customers who wish to work with an experienced global development company based right here in southeast Michigan” he added.

Scate provides complete development teams to design, develop and project manage the build of your software or media technology. Scate has been developing desktop, web, mobile and client / server applications for corporations and the commercial market since 2001, and has extensive development capabilities in the following areas:

Windows / Mac OS / Linux / Mobile applications, web applications, project management and online tracking/collaboration, user interface design and process storyboarding, logic and programming, testing, quality control and bug tracking, graphic design and video production, 3D modeling and animation, voice narration and podcasting, web marketing and search engine optimization (SEO), eLearning – instructional system design as well as global patent and trademark consulting.

Examples of Scate’s work, contact information and customer lists can be found at www.scate.com.

Scate is a registered service mark of Scate^® Technologies, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Scate^® Technologies, Inc. – 40 Engelwood Dr. – Suite B – Orion, MI 48359 USA- 248.371.0315

What happening to all that corporate knowledge walking out the door?

In today’s crazy world of buyouts, attrition, layoffs, early retirements, what are companies doing to capture and disseminate knowledge to the remaining or upcoming workforce?

It seems like we keep reinventing the wheel over and over again.

What do you think?

igniteCAST:: Thanks for Following me on Twitter – @Steve Sadler

Social Media Marketing. Does it Really Work?

As we all know, you have to attack a castle from many angles to bring down the walls. The same principal applies to marketing.

From my experience, the only way to create a successful marketing campaign in today’s competitive world is a hybrid of both social media and traditional methods.

We at Scate are currently incorporating social media into our marketing mix. It is slowly starting to help sell one of our software products Scate Ignite. However, due to the fact that Ignite already plays within the social media world that might not be a good example for other types of products and services.

Even so, using social media to create a positive word of mouth is very power. Just make sure the products you’re marketing provide value or it will backfire very quickly.

What do you think?

Wake Up Michigan and Ontario

If you know me, then you know I am passionate about technology and I am also passionate about the area I live (Michigan, Ontario technology corridor).

New technology companies like Scate are helping to create more jobs in diverse industries. Michigan and Ontario contain highly talented and technical people in which many of you I know. We just need to get our motivation and creativity back on track.

If we want to move our area out of this economic mess, then we need to stop watching the news, panicking, blaming others and start working on new ideas.

So, if you’re unemployed, then that is perfect time to start dreaming of something new and start a small business.

Let’s go Michigan and Ontario and stop following and start leading!

What do you think?