David Fisher

A new study released today by the ADP Research Institute^® reveals a gap when it comes to midsized companies’ ability to estimate and understand their business’ true Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) related to managing their workforce.  TCO is a measurement that enables an organization to understand what it is actually spending on its employees and the cost of managing them.  One of the key findings the study revealed is that it appears midsized businesses tend to underestimate the all-in costs of managing a workforce.  The 2014 Total Cost of Ownership Study was conducted by Harris Poll (on ADP’s behalf) and includes insights from over 1,000 U.S. employees working full-time, part-time or self-employed in a midsized company (50 to 999 employees).

The study found that while six in 10 midsized businesses indicate familiarity with the concept of TCO and two-thirds believe it is important, nearly three-quarters are not able to calculate TCO correctly.  TCO is a “Big Number” that consists of five key areas of Human Capital Management (HCM): payroll, employee benefits administration, talent management, human resources administration, and time and labor management.  It is the total amount that companies spend on all direct and indirect costs for managing their employees.

In today’s highly competitive world, businesses must continue to find ways to differentiate themselves while keeping a close eye on the bottom line.  Companies that miscalculate important metrics such as TCO risk losing opportunities for a competitive advantage.  This especially applies to midsized businesses, which represent nearly one-third of private sector U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) and contribute to more than a third of U.S. jobs.

“One of the most important metrics any organization needs to think about is TCO related to managing their employees.  Their ‘Big Number’ is much more than salaries and benefits,” said Anish Rajparia, President of Major Account Services at ADP.  “Understanding your all-in TCO allows businesses to obtain a realistic picture of what they spend on their employees and what it takes to manage them.”

On average, just over one in three midsized businesses have done a formal cost analysis on any one HCM area to get their “Big Number” in the past year and fewer, one-fifth, have done it for all five pillars of HCM.  Additionally on average, only one in six have done any kind of analysis in three years or longer.

However, the study found that there is no one trusted advisor that dominates this space.  There are at least a dozen or more credible sources for assistance in analyzing TCO costs within any one of the HCM functions.  Typically these include accountants, HR and payroll vendors, banks, HR and benefits consultants, lawyers, and financial advisors.

Regardless of how well midsized companies think they are managing TCO, many of those working in or responsible for at least one pillar still have daily concerns.  About two-thirds worry about better ways to lower their company’s overhead costs while more than half think about the total cost of managing their company’s employees.

Zillow, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z), the leading real estate information and home-related marketplace, today announced the launch of Zillow^® Tech Connect: Reviews. For the first time, brokers, agents and MLSs will be able to display individual agents’ Zillow reviews on their website through Zillow Tech Connect.

“Customer reviews have become an incredibly powerful tool for brokers and agents,” said Greg Schwartz, Zillow chief revenue officer. “We hear all the time from agents that their reviews on Zillow are continually generating new business opportunities for them. Agents with 10 or more reviews on Zillow see more than a 300 percent increase in contacts versus agents with no reviews. Allowing agents and brokers to showcase the great feedback on their own sites will be a great benefit for our partners.”

The reviews available to agents, brokers and MLSs to publish on their sites are the exact reviews found on Zillow and are held to the same high standard. In order to post a review, every reviewer must have a Zillow account, reviewers must specify what service the agent provided, all reviews are screened through proprietary Zillow fraud filters, and lastly, all reviews are moderated by Zillow staff. Additionally, Zillow is creating a co-branded interface that allows agents and brokers to easily solicit reviews from their customers to appear on their websites and Zillow.

Windermere Real Estate, one of the largest independent real estate companies in the nation, is the first brokerage working to make Zillow Tech Connect: Reviews available on Windermere agent websites on an optional basis. “We are excited that clients will have the ability to learn about and review our agents through this Windermere-Zillow co-branded interface,” said OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate, adding, “It will be a great enhancement to our agents’ online marketing and will add a level of transparency that consumers these days expect.”

Zillow Tech Connect: Reviews is also available to real estate brokerage technology providers. The first technology provider to join Zillow Tech Connect: Reviews is Moxi Works™. Originally developed inside the walls of Windermere Real Estate, Moxi Works is now a stand-alone, privately-held company providing technology services to real estate brokerages across the country.

“We are very excited to offer our brokerage customers the chance to add Zillow agent reviews to their agents’ websites,” York Baur, CEO of Moxi Works. “Recent research proves how valuable reviews are in helping agents win business, and Zillow has simplified the process, allowing us to automate access to this information. It will bring an immense amount of value to brokerages and their agents to be able to showcase the great things their customers have been saying about them.”

Zillow Tech Connect: Reviews is an expansion of the popular Zillow Tech Connect platform, which allows technology companies to connect their systems with Zillow, creating a more seamless experience for the brokers and agents who use Zillow as a key component of their marketing efforts at no additional cost. Zillow Tech Connect: Reviews is expected to launch in the coming weeks and will use an easy-to-support API connection.

FirstBank Holding Company, the Lakewood-based holding company for the largest locally owned banking organization in Colorado and the second largest bank by deposits, today reported its 2014 third quarter financial results.

FirstBank Holding Company’s net income for the first nine months of 2014 increased 4 percent to $125.57 million compared to$120.62 million as of September 30, 2013.

As of September 30, 2014, the company’s total deposits were $12.60 billion, up 6 percent compared to the third quarter of 2013. Total assets were $14.05 billion, also up 6 percent from the same time last year. Total loans grew 11 percent from the third quarter in 2013 to $7.75 billion ending September 30, 2014.

“FirstBank has experienced healthy third quarter results and we’re confident we’ll end 2014 with a strong financial performance,” saidJohn Ikard, CEO of FirstBank Holding Company. “The bank continued to grow our loan and deposit base in all of our markets and we added more locations in Arizona and Fort Collins. We’re hopeful we’ll continue this momentum during the fourth quarter.”

Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML), a global leader in microcontroller (MCU) and touch solutions, will debut two new Power-line Communication (G3- PLC) solutions compliant with the G3-PLC specification at the European Utility Week 2014 to be held November 4-6 in Amsterdam.

The new Atmel^® G3-PLC products include the SAM4CP16C System-on-Chip (SoC) and ATPL250A modem that are pin-compatible with PRIME-compliant members of the Atmel | SMART portfolio of energy metering solutions already in production. The SoC option is similar to the rest of the SAM4Cx products built around a dual-core 32-bit ARM^® Cortex^®-M4 architecture with advanced security, metrology and wireless and power-line communications (PLC) options. This unique and highly flexible platform addresses OEM’s requirements for flexible system partitioning, lower bill of materials (BOM) and improved time-to-market.  

“Utilities worldwide require OEMs to meet very high reliability standards at aggressive cost points for smart meters which embed advanced feature sets in connectivity, security and flexibility,” said Colin Barnden, principal analyst, Semicast Research. “Additionally, smart meters to be deployed in several countries are required to be certified for compliance with the latest specifications including G3-PLC, PRIME and IEEE 802.15.4g. Atmel’s smart metering solutions now meet the required criteria for emerging standards based smart metering deployments from a reliability, performance, interoperability and cost perspective.”

The new products address the European (CENELEC), American (FCC) and Japanese (ARIB) profiles defined by the G3-PLC Alliance.  Atmel is an active participant in the G3-PLC Alliance certification program and expects full CENELEC certification this November followed by FCC and ARIB band certifications in the coming months.

A distinguishing feature of the ATPL250A and SAM4CP16C is an integrated Class-D line driver, which provides outstanding signal injection efficiency and improved thermal characteristics compared to competing technologies. This will help eliminate reliability issues encountered in the field as a result of thermal overheating. Additionally, common architecture, software environment and tools ensure that our customers’ R&D investments can be shared and re-utilized over multiple projects which address various connectivity standards.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) and the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CULS) have developed new mobile apps that will enhance the campus experience by empowering students to better manage personal finances and providing access to campus services — from cafeteria menus to upcoming lectures.

CULS is the third largest university in Prague with more than 25,000 international students. With millennials increasingly incorporatingmobile devices into nearly every aspect of their lives, the University viewed mobile as a valuable opportunity to engage around everyday campus activities, and evolve it to a primary communications channel between teachers, administrators and students.

CULS selected the IBM MobileFirst Platform to develop and deploy the “My CZU” platform and initial apps in just three months. These apps were developed by a team of millennial developers from IBM who designed for specific student habits and user expectations.

“We have a large, diverse student population, and mobile is the best, most efficient channel to communicate directly with our international students and staff,” said Petr Dvorak, CIO, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. “The collaboration with IBM enabled us to quickly execute on our mobile strategy and create a rewarding user experience, while also developing a longer term plan that will map to the evolving communications needs of our students.”

Currently, My CZU apps help students have greater control over their budgets and spending, and provide access to food services information such as viewing menus from various campus cafeterias and snack bars. The CULS financial app enables students to receive notifications about low cash balances on their campus debit card, view a list of transactions, set spending limits and compare spending to the University average. Students can also lock their account from their smartphone if their card is lost or stolen.

“Universities around the world are looking to technologies like mobile and social to transform how they interact with students and provide access to new services, like distance learning, that improve the experience of and outcomes for their students,” said Michael King, vice president, Global Education Industry at IBM. “Mobile in particular can create a rewarding user experience and provide students with instant access to the campus resources and services they rely on most.”

Future apps on the My CZU platform will include access to the CULS course catalog, campus maps and details on upcoming lectures and events, as well as connection to social media.

Today at European Utility Week 2014, Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML), a global leader in microcontroller (MCU) and touch solutions, announced a new family of wireless transceivers. Atmel’s AT86RF215, the first sampling device, is the industry’s first dual-band sub-1GHz / 2.4GHz transceiver compliant to IEEE 802.15.4g-2012 and ETSI TS 102 887-1. Expanding the Atmel^® | SMART metering portfolio, the new devices include the AT86RF215M, a single band sub-1GHz transceiver, and the AT86RF215IQ, a dual-band I/Q radio. All three devices deliver an output power of up to 14dBm. With receiver sensitivities down to -123dBm, an outstanding link budget of 137dB can be achieved.

The AT86RF215 offers superior flexibility by supporting a variety of data rates with three modulation schemes: multi-rate and multi-regional frequency shift keying (MR-FSK), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MR-OFDM), as well as offset quadrature phase-shift keying (MR-O-QPSK). This includes the physical layer used for ZigBee^® PRO and ZigBee IP. Simultaneous operation at sub-1GHz and 2.4GHz enables new capabilities and the right cost structure in smart metering, smart lighting, home energy gateways and other industrial and automation equipment.

“We are excited to see the widespread adoption of standards-based connectivity solutions for the utility industry worldwide,” said Kourosh Boutorabi, sr. director of smart energy products, Atmel Corporation. “Expanding our portfolio of smart metering solutions to include new wireless transceivers reinforces our commitment to serve this growing market. We are continuing to deliver new platform solutions for the smart energy market, including powerline carrier connectivity and industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of metering system-on-chip solutions.”