It’s all about Collaboration + My Past articles.

15 years of working together!

I was recently talking with Automatedbuildings.com editor Ken Sinclair about coming back on as a contributor for Automatedbuildings, and that led us to take a little stroll down memory lane about our history.

I first met Ken back in 2007 when I was the MatrikonOPC Marketing Manager (Acquired by Honeywell), and I was just a newly trained marketer who had just left the Canadian Army after 17 years of overseas missions.  MatrikonOPC had a horrible history in the BAS vertical, so I took it upon myself to start making friends and seeing what kind of synergies existed between MatrikonOPC and the industries in the BAS vertical.

I found a group of very forward-thinking people who were inclined to accept new ideas and technologies, and they graciously accepted this brush-cut-wearing individual into their fold.  I have to say that Ken was instrumental in my education, as was Anto Budiadjio, Toby Considine, and Andy McMillan.

Anto was the uncle who always allowed me to go to the party and was gracious enough to educate me in the ways of the BAS industry, while Toby and Andy were my older brothers with whom I always competed for higher readership.  Overall, it was a family, and Ken was not only my mentor but a father figure.  He was always gracious with advice and did not spare the rod when I went a little too far out of my own lane.  I owe him a lot, and I am continually thankful for the opportunity to be welcome in such great company.

I took a little sabbatical away from writing as I had one company going, the Vancouver Island Works Project, and was busy getting back to my digital marketing roots in creating Lime Tree Media.  Both companies are extremely focused on bringing people in touch with technology so that they may do more amazing things. 

Lime Tree Media led me back to my Industrial Automation roots with a contract from Dexcent to create for them an Industrial DataOps division and an Asset Performance Management Program. This contract led me to partner up with another former Matrikon/Honeywell employee Andrew Capper.

Andrew is now a VP at Dexcent and responsible for 2/3^rds of the companies’ growth. Being his marketing arm, I started to think about how DataOps practices could benefit the BAS space.  I know from reading Ken’s columns in AB that building electrification is a huge topic in the BAS space, and globally all countries are doing what they can to get as close to Net Zero as they can.

Dexcent IDS’ APM Manager Peter brought to my attention that “ A pump is a pump is a pump”. I could see how the methodologies from Dexcent’s APM and DataOps programs could benefit the BAS space, so that is the focus of my writing for now.  I will admit that I am a Marketer/Business Developer at heart, so I am more than happy to create articles about the latest trends in marketing to assist individuals reading AB to help optimize their marketing and sales processes.

Here is a quick look at some of my past articles for AB:

https://www.automatedbuildings.com/editors/mmandrusiak.htm

Featured articles:

• Are pandemic staffing measures permanent?
  
  
• Labor shortages meet Robbie the Robot!
  
  
• Robots in Retail – Manny
  
  
• Back to the Office…Maybe

I am looking forward to contributing to the community in the following months.  As always, you can reach out to me at manny@limetreemedia.ca or marketing@dexcentids.com

The complete list of the many past articles is below

• Are pandemic staffing measures permanent?
  
• Labor shortages meet Robbie the Robot!
  
• Robots in Retail – Manny
  
• Back to the Office…Maybe
  
• Managing the new reality of work  Work is no longer a place, but now place-unconstrained
  
• Rise of the Side Hustle  As COVID forces people to work from home people are realizing that they have time for a Side Hustle. Manny Mandrusiak CD. Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant Vancouver Island Works Project
• Not the time for Negative Messages   Over the years I have been involved in many discussions about marketing negative messages to perspective clients.
  
• Does Online Learning Make the Grade?  I think where I personally find issues with online learning is with the lack of discussion and group learning
• Online is the new normal   I will admit that I had a hard time trying to come up with a title for this article.  The last thing that I wanted to do was kick out another “Here is why 2021 will be awesome” article because the reality is that no one knows.
  
• Will COVID take BAS where no one has gone before?    I grew up watching sci-fi shows and have always been fascinated with technological advances, but the pandemic may take technology in a direction that our society is not willing to go just yet.
• Zoom-etiquette Online meetings have taken over many of our lives to keep us safe from COVID, but are they driving us crazy?
• A Year of Innovation I have been impressed by many of the forward-thinking companies who are changing the way that we work, live and play. I like the Remix.
• Selling through a Pandemic  Making yourself the answer to someone’s problem during a pandemic is a great way to become a trusted advisor.
• Digital is the New Normal A blended workplace is now the new normal for many companies.
• Culture Makes the Difference  I’ve learned from mentors that a good company culture consisting of a foundation based on a sense of belonging, safety, purpose, knowledge and motivation, is the building blocks for longevity in business.
• Dealing with online customers  How to deal with the negativity of the customers you will never actually meet.
• 24/7 Selling  Avoid technology burnout while selling
• Consumer Trends Matter  We are now in an advanced age of customer preference, and our messages have to be more intelligent and respectfully timed.
• Customer 4.0  Customers are now calling the shots.
• Automated Marketing  = Possible Danger  Customers have more control over the messages that they receive than ever before.  I prefer the rule of more is not always better. Targeted and creative works every time.
• The Rise of Convenience  Consumers want to be now able to shop from wherever they are, and whenever they want, to get what they need.
• Mobile is the way to Go!  The moral of this article is that no matter the business, big or small, it needs to be where its customer base is looking for it to continue to grow.
• Use Customer Engagement to Sell  The art of Vlogging by customers promotes your products for you.
• Study Part 4- Explaining SEO In this article, we are going to focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), or how to rank high in Search Engines.
• Study Part 3- Why Good Images Matter – We know for a fact that good images that are properly labeled win more clicks in searches.
• Case Study Part 2- Lead Generation  Is your website costing you customers?
• Case Study Part 1- Lead Generation  Customer Reviews are worth Money
• What is Remarketing? – “Tell ‘em what you told ‘em, and then tell ‘em again.”
• My calls have stopped…Now what?
• Selling in the Information Overload Age  We have the ability to shop online for anything that we want whenever we want.
• White Hat SEO for 2018  Here are some “White Hat” (Good Guy) techniques for optimizing your website to perform better for you without shelling out cash.
• Business Optimization for AHR  It’s not enough to get your tradeshow booth ready if your website isn’t.
• Digital Marketing Trends for 2018  Content marketing trends for 2018 will be targeting younger consumers as they are now the influencers in buying decisions.
• Blogging for Business Leverage content marketing to increase your sales.
• Get your Digital Six Pack  Strengthen your digital marketing core to save money, and improve measurable results.
• Are you a Digital Nomad?  They truly want to break out of the corporate world and embrace a truly balanced lifestyle by leveraging technology to achieve their life goals.
• Living Like the Jetsons  The idea that the home is no longer just a house, but now an information hub is completely awesome, and very much in tune with the millennial culture.
• A Manager’s Guide to Millennials  The need to listen to them- Millennials want to feel that they are constantly contributing, so as managers, we need to adopt a “no idea is a bad idea” attitude.  Effective communication is always an essential management skill, but it is critical in managing millennials in a time of change, negotiation, and conflict.
• Facebook 102:  Let’s Talk About Likes.
• 2017’s ever-changing Workplace  2017 belongs to the contractors and freelancers.  It is their virtual world now.
• Get More From the AHR Expo  As a technologically advanced Society we need to leverage the tools that are put in front of us, and what social media does is provides trade show vendors with the opportunity to maximize every moment that they are at the show to gain customers, and increase brand awareness.
• Hot Skills for 2017  Companies are looking for people who can grow their customer base through better project management and data analysis.
• Use Facebook Live to Build Your Brand   As a small business, the Facebook Live feature can provide viewers with a humanized experience of the business.
• Build your Brand with Instagram  Leverage “Visual” Social Media to gain followers and increase sales
• Business Mentorship Matters for Start-ups  Start-ups help us sharpen our business skills by reminding us where we came from and why we do what we do.
• Problem Solving Skills = You’re hired  The number one skill that you should be able to demonstrate to an employer is problem solving.
• Start-up Business Marketing Kit  Low budget, but high return strategies that require a little elbow grease but controllable capital work excellent for start-ups.
• When Online Marketing Fails  What happens when your online marketing stops delivering for you?
• The Demise of 9 to 5  Say hello to the “non-traditional work day” and an increase in productivity
• Is Code the New Math?  The initiative for writing this article was to ask the question “Where are the next generation of Building Automation Engineers coming from”?
• App Overload Regardless of what I need to do, there is an App for that.
• Google Demands your Responsiveness  Is your own website driving customers to your competitor by being non-responsive?
• Let Your Customers’ Voices Drive Your Business  “Just how powerful is the influence of the internet on purchasing decisions, and the answer is –Huge”.
• Upgrade to Win 10 or Wait? That is the question.  Investing too early in an Operating System upgrade might cost more than you think?
• Setting up for Online Success  Are you the master of your own personal brand?
• Is Email Obsolete?  Is Slack really going to replace email?
• The Updated Disadvantages of Social Media – 2015 Edition
• Sales Growth in 5 Easy Steps  Take your sales back into the black by assessing your current sales structure.
• Maximize Training Dollars in 2015  I personally feel that any investment in training pays off tenfold in employee loyalty and retention, but if that investment also propels the company forward by being prepared to accept new growth, then that is a good investment.
• Training for IoT Security  Seize the New Career Opportunities that IoT brings
• Top Five Trends to Watch in 2015  Not the typical Top 5, but five trends that will influence BAS in 2015
• Top 5 Collaboration Tools  With an internet full of collaboration tools, which ones are right for you?
• Online Engagement Builds New Customers in BAS  The new customer is tech savvy, informed, and less reliant on traditional sales techniques-they want to be engaged online.
• Diagnose Your Sales Dilemma  Diagnosing the root cause of slow sales is always the right prescription
• Will Mobile Devices Move Building Automation Systems into the Cloud?  It is a completely natural thing for end-users to want to have the same device functionality that they have in their personal life in their work life.
• HVAC Brand Awareness through Twitter  A quick exercise in how to use Twitter to build brand awareness
• To the Cloud!  Shifting your IT infrastructure to the cloud is a formula for business success
• Leverage Google Apps for Business Collaboration One online platform for easy data collaboration across all your devices.
• Sales 101 – The Art of Client Calls  In a world of texts and tweets, a phone call is still the best way to connect with clients.
• Why you don’t need Google +  Google + will probably follow the path of Google Buzz and gain a lot of early adopters who register for the service, but never really end up using it because it was not accepted by the mass public.
• Maximize your AHR Leads  Maximize the potential of your leads with a personalized touch
• Maximize your AHR Expo Experience  Use Social Media to build brand awareness and boost traffic at your booth.
• Marketing to Mobile in 2014  Overlooking the importance of having a website that is not mobile and tablet compatible is a huge error.
• Build your Brand with Twitter – Part 1  Use Twitter to build your personal brand in Building Automation
• Marketing in the world of Smart Buildings The critical part in marketing these products is making the terminology clear enough for customers and purchasing agents to understand.
• Why you need Office 365  I look at it as Office 365 being Microsoft Office 2013, but built with the flexibility and mobility of today’s modern business in mind.
• Three Websites to Boost Your Brand  As technology advances marketers have to be continually exploring new options and alternatives for promoting corporate brands and increasing sales.
• Supercharge Profitability Through Business Development  Every company needs marketing to grow awareness and enable proper business development.
• Stop Sabotaging your Social Media  5 Bad Habits to watch when conducting Social Media Campaigns
• The Original Sales Networking Tool  The Business Mixer
• Using SharePoint to Maintain Business Connectivity  Having offices in different geographical locations presents any number of daily management challenges.
• Bring Your Own Device  will Change the Marketplace
• Getting More Out of Your Advertising Dollar  Who are your clients, and how do they get your message?
• Top three trends for 2013  Trends to watch for 2013 that will drive your business
• Looking for leads in all the right places  Some business development hints to grow a customer base
• Useful Apps for the Sales Rep on-the-go
  
• Top Five Tips for Taking Your Social Media “Back to School”  Make this fall the time to truly grow your Social Media network.
• 10 Social Media Tips for Trade Shows  Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have a huge amount of information on them that can be used to initiate sales opportunities.
• Why use RSS? Really Simple Syndication? Manny Mandrusiak / Ken Sinclair
• Heed the Call Nothing beats a good call to action.
• Leverage Social Media to engage your customers and increase sales.
• Twitter Marketing Tips for Business  Just because you build it, does not mean they will come.
• Is Google + right for my Business?  Can this service be used to market a product, service, or promote an event? 
• Getting Started with Social Media for Business – Part 2  Understanding what Social Media tools can benefit Building Automation
• Getting Started with Social Media for Business – Part 1  Each of the Social Media platforms have their distinct advantages and disadvantages but how does a business know which ones to start with?
• Content is King in the Year of the Panda  Unique Content and Viral Marketing will be factors in 2012 to increase Google Ranking
• 6 Marketing Trends to Watch in 2012  As technology continues to evolve in 2012 I have no doubt that there will be some exciting new tools that will continue to change the way that brands are built, and customers choose to receive information about products.
• 5 Tips to Maximize Your 2012 Marketing Dollar  Use the 5 W’s to ensure a maximum return on advertising dollars.
• Maximizing Google Alerts to Improve Your Marketing The trick now is not to forget the value of having good positioning statements, but to use today’s technology to gather the data necessary to help produce the right statements to the right audiences.
• The Disadvantages to Social Media Marketing  Social Media is a fantastic tool if used properly, but it takes time and dedication.
• How to produce a winning webcast / Product Demo  Webcasts are generally an extremely cost efficient way of interacting with perspective clients.
• Putting Social Media to work for Your Company  Tips and Tricks for LinkedIn and Facebook to reach more Potential Customers
• Is a lead by any other name still a lead? Understanding the Contact Funnel to maximize Lead Generation Efforts
• LinkedIn Makes the Perfect Companion  Top Ten Steps to Maximize LinkedIn for Business
• Use Social Media to build your brand in Building Automation Social Media is the new conduit to drive traffic to your company website
• Building Online Buzz in 2011  Marketing buzz or simply buzz is a term used in word-of-mouth marketing. The interaction of consumers and users of a product or service serve to amplify the original marketing message.
• Category: Marketing and Business Development  The Lost Art of the Sales Email 
• The 6 –Steps Guide to Success with OPC UA  Six Defined Steps to maximize your investment in OPC UA 
  
• OPC UA Adoption Update  No one is certain where technology trends in BAS will take us in 2011 but one thing is certain: OPC UA will be the protocol of choice in taking data from the field and making it useful information in the cloud.
• Rapid software development leads to future facing success  New OPC Foundation OPC UA .NET Developers’ Course provides hand-on UA development 
• The Power to Control Home Lighting and Appliances comes to your handheld device  Web services are the future of empowering personal power savings.
• Energy – How much do we have, how much do we need, and where do we find it?  How will PROFIenergy be used to balance the energy equation? 
• Will Building Automation lead the next energy revolution?  It will be the vertical that will continue to create the products and devices that can make these new sources of energy easy and inexpensive to implement into existing building and factory infrastructures.
• OPC UA sets a solid foundation for systems to reach for the clouds  How does OPC UA illuminate the path to scalability? 
• Mobile is the new HMI  How an iPad saves money by making procedures lean
• UA…Xi…OPC…  Can I buy a vowel please Pat? 
• Pocket tech and a Car wash help build the case for OPC UA  For the Building Automation industry the future is in the intelligent device, and embedding the connectivity needed to securely expose that data to the systems and devices that we need to consume and access it. 
• Predictions for 2010 from an OPC Perspective  One of the key benefits of using OPC technology is its ability to robustly move large amounts of data rapidly and securely to an interface that will turn it into the information needed to make key business decisions.
• OPC UA Education hits the road  Learn the latest advances in OPC technology at a city near you.
• Innovations at the SPS/IPC Drives Show  Everyone in all verticals is taking a look at life a little differently.
• OPC UA Explained  Quickstarts and Tools for Developers 
• OPC and PROFINET technologies combine for efficient light control  HVAC systems, sprinkle systems, doorway controls, could all be linked together using PROFINET, and then controlled via a protocol like OPC from any PC on the network.
• OPC Technology finds its’ place on the map on the journey to the Smart Grid 
• Opening the OPC Mailbag  Supplying answers to some OPC email questions.  
• Making Friends wherever I go!  Companies that are successful in this day and age (of this global economy) are successful because they partner and collaborate with other companies that also are successful. No one company, or consortium, can truly afford to stand alone.
• OPC EXPO comes to Connectivity Week!  Join us at the OPC EXPO in Santa Clara, CA, June 8-11
• The Application my iPhone should have  complete smart home synchronized with my handheld
• How a video store proves the need for real-time data access  Knowledge is power, and having the right knowledge at the right time most definitely improves any company’s bottom line.

Interviews

• “One-Click” HMI to visualize real-time data across the enterprise  By seeing the data in real-time across the enterprise maintenance schedules can be predicted and the asset lifetime can be extended.  Ken Eldridge, Open Automation Software
• DCOM and Security Troubles Eliminated with OPC Rescue  OPC Rescue is for anyone experiencing difficulties with OPC and DCOM configuration. A very easy-to-use tool that fixes OPC problems automatically. – Randy Condor, President, OPC Training Institute
• Industrial Automation “Social Media Master”  I recently wrote an article, “Is Listening Online Worth Your Time?” (http://jimc.me/hmlDa5) for Valve magazine
• Smart Grid Infrastructure  This next generation grid, the Smart Grid, will allow for the bidirectional flow of data, allowing for real-time decision making to ensure that energy is produced and provided in the most cost effective manner. – Tony Paine, President and Co-Owner of Kepware Technologies
• Catching the Process Fieldbus  An Introduction to PROFIBUS for Process Automation
• The OPC Advantage in a Down Economy  Member companies of the OPC Foundation devote considerable time and resources to developing robust interfaces to all the protocols used within the Building Automation industry, and then in keeping with the core values of OPC technology, make them off-the-shelf products.
• OPC in the UAE OPC technology is becoming a standard and is allowing for increased flexibility in integrating and customizing solutions locally.
• Key questions every building automation integrator should ask about OPC technology  The basic requirement of the OPC architecture is to get data from Point A to Point B. Of course every user of the OPC system will place a different priority on the requirements.
• OPC Foundation North American Certification Test Lab  Vendors will only bring software that passes the tests in the CTT (Compliance Test Tool)) and the tests outlined in our supplemental documentation. Nathan Pocock

Professional Information

Manny Mandrusiak Manny@viwproject.com

Manny Mandrusiak entered the field of sales and marketing after retiring from the Canadian Infantry in 2005. He was employed as the Sales and Marketing Manager for the Sherwood Park Chamber of Commerce, and then on to hold the position of Acting Executive Director.  Recruited by MatrikonOPC to head up marketing for their OPC line of products, Manny has been responsible for all aspects of marketing standards based software to various industry verticals.  Manny left MatrikonOPC to take a position with the OPC Foundation as Vice President of OPC Marketing and with PI North America as its Director of Technology Marketing. After a two-year career organizing and executing technology training events across North America for both organizations, Manny has chosen to return to his roots of sales and marketing by creating his own consulting company – 4 Bravo Marketing here in Victoria, BC. 4 Bravo Marketing’s success led to some larger business opportunities and he closed the business in 2016 to pursue a management opportunity in the technology educational field.

Manny has been consulting and providing business development for technology training companies in Victoria, BC since 2005, and his success for creating sales pipelines, and building solid educational teams, led to him becoming the Executive Director, and partner, in Q College and Q Academy.  Q College is a fully PTA accredited Technology College that produces web developers, digital marketers, graphic designers, and open source developers.  Q Academy is a training company that provides customized short term training solutions for corporate clients, second career clients, and individuals looking to improve their skills for career success.  He is presently a Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant, Vancouver Island Works Project, Lifeworks! Consulting Inc, SISIP Rehab Services, and Accounts Manager, ideazone