There are lots of good things happening at PSVillage, and we’re excited to share the news with all of you! 

Continuing to Invest in our Community

This year marks the 5th anniversary of PSVillage.  With over 1200 members representing some 650 companies globally, our progress in serving the Professional Services community continues unabated.  We’re taking a giant step forward by launching a variety of new offerings that will help you better manage your services business and professional career.  These programs will continue to grow and develop over time.  We’re counting on many of you to get involved and share your knowledge with our community so we can continue to develop PSVillage into a member-driven meeting place of learning for the PS industry.

New PSVillage Website under Development We’re undertaking a number of new initiatives this year, with our top priorities being:

1. Develop a new website, with a new look and feel, that is vastly improved in terms of the ability to navigate the site and access content.  We expect to launch the new site the 2nd half of this year.

2. Move off of Yahoo Groups and onto a more robust forum platform that is more community-driven and gives our members the ability to manage their own account, profiles and permissions, as well as the ability to search/email other members.  Our new site is being developed using the Drupal open-source social networking technology.

3. Provide an electronic repository of industry best practices - a “community knowledge library” based on the “open-source” concept, divided into 5 broad categories:

   1. People
   2. Operations
   3. Technologies and Tools
   4. Channels and Partnerships
   5. Glossary - Industry Definitions

   This is the first-ever effort of this magnitude in our industry, and we think you’ll find it to be an invaluable resource for learning for all levels of PS practitioners.

4. Provide a Vendor Marketplace, where vendors of interest to our members can showcase their products and services.  In addition to the more familiar enterprise software solutions, we envision including “cool, leading-edge products and services” that we think our members will want to know about.

5. Redesign the PSVillage Newsletter and Voice of the Village Online Magazine

6. Offer tiered membership, ensuring that current members continue to receive the same level of benefits as they do today at no additional
   charge.  The levels include:
   1. Basic (Free) Membership - available at no charge to PS Leaders only; includes access to forum via web (no email delivery) and newsletter.
   2. Library Only Membership - available for a fee (TBD) to anyone; includes unlimited access to Knowledge Library only
   3. Inner Circle Membership - available for a fee (TBD) to PS Leaders only
   Inner Circle Members will receive:
   
   • Unlimited access to Knowledge Library with download capability
   • Community membership search capabilities
   • Priority access to regional networking events
   • Enhanced membership profile
   • Access to forum via email or web

There’s a New Face at PSVillage

To help us accomplish these ambitious goals, Brian Whitefield has recently joined our team as Vice President, Knowledge Management, and will be spearheading the development of the Knowledge Library.  Brian was recently SVP of Services for RCM Technologies where he managed a team of 325 people and a P&L of $45M. He’ll be sending out a follow up to this email to all of you with suggestions and instructions on how to get involved with the Library Team Please feel free to reach out to Brian at brian@psvillage.com or 248-247-8633 to get further details or to welcome him aboard!


It Takes a Village

We’re going to need the support and participation of our members as we work towards our goals.  In fact, the long-term success of this community hinges on the participation and contribution of all our members!!  Yes, that means YOU! !

Here’s how you can help:

1. We will be collecting substantive content for the new Library.  By substantive content, we mean templates, guides, white papers, podcasts, webcasts, etc. - anything that would help anyone in the services profession, from Consultant to Executive.  While our forum will be open to PS Leaders only, our Library will be accessible to anyone at all levels of Professional Services.  All content will be screened and approved by the Library Volunteer Stewards, before it is uploaded to the library.  You retain the rights to your IP and can have your content removed at any time. All contributors will have their bio posted next to their artifact within the library.  If you’d like to contribute content, please contact Brian at brian@psvillage.com

2. Taking PSV to the next level of service requires changes, including fees and financial support from our members.  To ensure the success of our programs, we’ll be charging reasonable fees.  The good news for those of you who are willing to contribute content, you’ll get a significant discount on an Inner Circle Membership; or if you volunteer as a library steward, your membership will be free for the year in which you participate.

3. Lastly, if you’re interested in writing articles for the Voice of the Village Community Blog or contributing a Member Spotlight, we’re very interested in hearing from you.  Please contact Luanne at Luanne@psvillage.com

Special Thanks to Our Members Who’ve Volunteered Their Time - There are many people to thank for the progress we’ve made on our new website and initiatives. 

Special recognition goes to:

• Our Sponsors:  OpenAir, QuickArrow, Projector PSA, Service Strategies and Tenrox for continuing to invest in our community and thereby enabling us to invest in these new features and services for our members.  It is their continuous financial support that sustains our vibrant and unique community!

• PSVillage Technology Advisory Board: Venkat Ratnam, Dawn Van Damme, Michael Petrov, Sachin Gangupantula, & Rick Hubbard who got us out of the starting gate on our new site by helping us evaluate a number of different software vendors.  In the end, we chose Acquia for development of the new site.

• Library Volunteer Stewards - Joe Longo, Katie Hollister, Michael Resnick, Doreen Kostel, Patrick James, Rick Hubbard, and Brian Silverman.

• Library Volunteer Advisors and Contributors - Nello Franco, Sally Brennan, Dave Kloempken, Jerry Becker, Paul Pinto, Richard Anderson, Ray Wolf, Peter Sa, Bill Morton, Kelly Rennick, Rob Barnum, Scott Fletcher, Rick Furino, Gabby Wong, Debbie Stovall, Randy Mysliviec, Robert Freedman, Mike Watson, Tommy Kelly, Jeanne Urich and Carole McCluskey.

• Alan Randolph for project management and Chuck D’Antonio from Acquia for overseeing the development of the new site.

• The many Members and Sponsors who did one-on-one interviews with our webdesign team.

There are many people to thank and my apologies to anyone I may have overlooked.  Each and every one of you is a vital part of our community, and we are grateful to all who have given their time and expertise to help ensure the long-term success of our community.

We are excited to unveil our new site and will keep you updated on our progress.  If you have questions, input, or would like to get involved as a volunteer, please email either myself terry@psvillage.com or Brian at brian@psvillage.com .


Thanks to you all!

Terry

Terry Jansen
PSVillage Founder
408-246-2867
http://www.psvillage.com


Connecting PS Leaders Globally