THE COMPETITIVE EDGE WITH JOE NAMATH™ WELCOMES BISHOP FLEET OPTIMIZATION LLC TO SHOW

Competitive Edge TV™ LLC and O2 Media™ Inc. are proud to announce that Bishop Fleet Optimization LLC will be featured in an upcoming episode of The Competitive Edge with Joe Namath™ slated to air in the 4th Quarter of 2013.

BISHOP Fleet Optimization (BFO) is a multi-national fleet consulting firm that has pioneered the use of 5-week GPS audits to optimize the number of vehicles in fleets, using the company’s own GPS tracking device system.

Derrick Bishop, Managing Director of Bishop Fleet Optimization, will join The Competitive Edge with Joe Namath™ in the upcoming episode entitled “Advances in Fleet Optimization Technology and Applications” to educate viewers on the latest audit techniques. The segment will explore how BFO has helped Government departments and other organizations save millions of dollars through its innovative GPS-based fleet optimization strategy that helps eliminate surplus fleet vehicles and uncovers transport related operational inefficiencies.

Bishop Fleet Optimization has built thousands of GPS units specifically designed to support its fleet consulting business.  The proprietary rapid-deploy GPS units lock into the vehicle lighter socket to gather the 5-week data snapshot.  “A 5-week GPS-based fleet utilization snapshot is all that most organizations need to understand where inefficiencies exist and to quantify the problems to promote organizational change,” explains Bishop.  “The innovation cuts waste not services making it a popular choice for managers.  Additionally, organizations typically make $1,000,000 for every $50,000 spent which creates a welcome funding source to improve cash flow, retire debt or revitalize ‘green’ fleet initiatives that often struggle to find cash.”

“We’re looking forward to having Bishop Fleet Optimization on the show to tell us more in-depth information about their successful innovative 5-week GPS audits which provide a viable solution to help fleet managers,” said Jack Swartz, Senior Producer, The Competitive Edge with Joe Namath™. 

 

Additional information on Bishop Fleet Optimization can be found at www.bishopfleet.com.

About The Competitive Edge with Joe Namath™

The Competitive Edge with Joe Namath™ gives straightforward information in a news-oriented format that viewers can utilize and tailor to their own individual and business needs.  By talking directly to leaders and influencers in business, The Competitive Edge™ shows viewers how their business can achieve and sustain success.

For more information, please contact:

(954) 935-1344

Jack Schwartz, Senior Producer, ext. 285

James Crosby, Producer, ext. 226

Brenda Mabbitt, Production Coordinator, ext. 142

About O2 Media™

O2 Media™ is an award-winning full-service integrated media and production company specializing in launching brand names out into the world through compelling storytelling and two-way conversations. Our team of Production, Marketing and Technology experts generate buzz and brand awareness for our customers and content partners with a fully integrated media solutions mix using our four Branded Entertainment TV shows, Direct Response, Print and Online Marketing channels.

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Image of the Day: On the Set

During the taping of the show, hosts Kristy Villa and Joe Namath share a lighthearted moment with  their guest, Appsbar President  Michael Richmond.

 

Image of the Day: “Ready for my Close-Up, Mr. DeMille!”

Federated Precision Co-Founder and CEO Sam Havelock, one of the featured guests on the show, gets a fresh touch-up before his appearance on the show.

Image of the Day: Production Meeting

Production Meeting: Joe discusses the upcoming shoot with guest Chris Palermo, President and CEO of Global Communications Networks, Inc.

In the Studio: On the Set of “The Competitive Edge™”

What the show looks like on the “other” side of the TV screen…

In the Studio: On the Set of “The Competitive Edge™”.

Global Communications Network: Dancing on a Cloud

During a preliminary meeting, Joe discusses the upcoming segment with GCN President and CEO Chris Palermo (center).

Profile:  Global Communications Network (GCN)

Their Competitive Edge:  Providing the Crucial Link between Technology and business Success

Special Guest:  Chris Palermo, President and CEO

We keep hearing all this talk about “cloud computing”.  “We’re on the Cloud”, “You can share that file through the Cloud”, and so forth.  It seems to be the latest buzzword among the techie and wanna-be techie crowds. It’s the new Web 2.0!  But is it really new?  Before we can answer that, we need to look at the definition of cloud computing…

The term “Cloud computing” comes from the cloud-shaped symbol that is typically used as an abstraction for complex infrastructure which IT professionals have been using for years. Like clouds of the meteorological variety, data clouds are blobs of condensation – only instead of water droplets, the blobs are a condensation of ones and zeros.  The Internet is perhaps the best known cloud of all. The Internet, in its simplest form is a collection of remotely hosted servers that you could connect to for any number of reasons. When you save a photo to Facebook, you are uploading that photo to a remote server that is managed by Facebook in any one of their data centers throughout the world.   We interact with these clouds every day, according to Chris Palermo, President and CEO of  Global Communications Networks.  “You and I have been using it for years,” Palermo said in a recent interview with Joe and Kristy on The Competitive Edge™.  “Social media is the cloud – Facebook or iTunes – everything.  You host your media on somebody else’s site.”  Pretty simple explanation.  But let’s take it one step further:  You and your group (a company, an organization, or a fan club) are the “users” and you see the front end of the cloud computing system.  Through your interface (software, browser, etc.) you access what you need at the back end of the system – the “cloud”.  This type of data interaction offers the convenience of someone else handling the hardware, such as the Server itself, and the software, such as Google Apps at an affordable cost.

So what makes GCN such a standout in a veritable sea of telecommunications and cloud computing specialists?  “You have to change with the market,” Palermo explains.  “One of the things I’ve learned is that you have to be a representative for all carrier types.  We look for the right solutions and present, maybe four different proposals.  After the customer has made their decision, our project management will manage it, and then we will put together a life cycle management team to support them.”  This, combined with their VOIP, data connectivity and co-location services (data replication and recovery in the event of a disaster), got GCN inducted into Inc. Magazine’s list of 5000 Fastest Growing Corporations two years in a row.  According to Chris, “We’re looking to be in there for our third year in a row.” Regardless, Chris Palermo and his company can rest assured that the forecast for cloud computing is very favorable.

Partners

Just a few of the partners who have already been interviewed on the show…

Partners.

Federated Precision: Bringing Jobs Back Home

Profile:  Federated Precision

Their Competitive Edge:  Bringing Manufacturing Jobs Back to the United States

Special Guests: Samuel Havelock, Founder and CEO

Keith Smith, Founder, President and CFO

By the close of the 19^th Century, the Industrial Revolution was well on its way to changing America from an agriculture-based economy to that of manufacturing.  It was not unheard of for generations of the same family to follow in the footsteps of their parents and take their places at the assembly lines or the turning machine.  By the 1970s, however, companies began to discover that their products could be produced cheaper outside the U.S., increasing their profit margin.  Factories at home were shuttered and their gates locked, leaving thousands out of work.

That seems to be changing, thanks to rising labor costs in countries that are traditionally the recipient of our outsourced work, as well as the rising costs of logistics and an increased risk for theft of intellectual property overseas. As a result of these and other factors, manufacturing jobs in the United States are once again on the rise.  It is predicted that revenue from precision manufacturing in the United States will be as high as seven trillion dollars in certain industries over the next twenty years.

Recently, The Competitive Edge hosts Joe Namath and Kristy Villa sat down with Sam Havelock, Co-Founder and CEO of Federated Precision, along with the company’s Co-Founder, President and CFO, Keith Smith.  The Deerfield Beach, Florida-based company specializes in the precision manufacturing of sensitive components for equipment in the medical, defense, energy and aerospace sectors.  Sam and Keith recognized the dilemma facing most growing manufacturers today.  “For the past 20 or 30 years,” explained Sam in his interview, “we’ve told our kids, ‘don’t be involved in the trades, don’t be involved in manufacturing.’  Unfortunately, they listened, and now we face key shortfalls across the high-value manufacturing supply chain.”  Indeed, this mindset has resulted in a shortage of qualified workers to fill the jobs that have been coming back to the United States.  The solution, according to Sam:  Train them yourself.  Sam developed a program based on the military training paradigms he learned through his service as a Navy SEAL.  Federated Precision seeks out individuals that show potential and a desire to learn, and train them from the ground up.  Not only do they end up with employees who know their equipment and the precision manufacturing process inside and out, they also boast an employee turnover rate that is almost non-existent.  “We’re passionate about bringing manufacturing jobs back to America,” added Keith.  “(Manufacturers) are finding that they’ve got a hungry American workforce that’s ready to work, and that has the best work ethic in the world, and they’re ready to get back at it.”

Appsbar: App Development for the Rest of Us

Profile:  APPSBAR

Their Competitive Edge:  Leveling the playing field for businesses, regardless of their size, to develop cross-platform mobile applications

Special Guest:  Michael Richmond, President & CEO

Okay, here’s an exercise:  Picture in your mind your average mobile app developer.  What are you seeing?  A slovenly, hygienically-challenged 30-something sitting in a dark room surrounded by empty chip bags and crushed energy drink cans?  A college kid sitting in his dorm room with his buddies working on the next big social networking startup?   A 7-year-old genius who can’t stay up and code past her bedtime?  Yes, these stereotypes do exist, but you can now also include a PTA mom, a garage band, a henna tattoo artist, even legendary boxing promoter Don King – all thanks to an online tool that allows everyday people with zero coding experience to develop their own cross-platform mobile app – for free.

Created by DigDev Co-Founder Scott Hirsch, Appsbar  provides business owners with an alternative to costly in-house or outsourced app development teams, through its user-friendly interface that lets even the greenest newbies create customized apps. In the beginning, Appsbar was approached by companies who would pay them as much as $100,000 to develop proprietary apps.  Of course, not every company has a hundred grand lying around that they can spend on upgrading their technology.  In his recent appearance on TCE, Appsbar President and CEO Michael Richmond explained, “We think (there are) 10 – 15 million small-to-medium-sized businesses without the ability to have an app for their brand.  Hence, Appsbar was born.”

Since the tool launched in April of 2011, over 300,000 users have signed up on Appsbar to develop their own mobile apps.  Appsbar is responsible for over 30,000 apps currently in major app markets.  While full-time developers might look down their noses at us common folk for applauding this concept, there are tons of businesses who appreciate the affordability (it’s free to create and publish your app) and the convenience of being able to create a custom app that gets their name out there and expands their client base.  And the tech community at large has taken notice.  Last year, Appsbar won a People’s Choice Stevie® Award for Favorite Media/Entertainment Product or Service.  According to Richmond, investors have begun to take notice as well.  “The app market is in the infancy stages of technology, so to speak.  Apps are where websites were 10 – 15 years ago, so (the investors) recognize that, with only a million and a half apps in iTunes and Google Play, we haven’t even scratched the surface.”