Go-go Gadgets

Go-go Gadgets

TECHNOLOGY by Sean Roth and Jean Gruss | Gulf Coast Business Review

It was only five years ago that Palm Pilots were just taking off. And remember those sporadic email responses that indicated the sender was using a Blackberry?

Today, you're out of the loop without a hand-held device that tells you where to go and keeps you connected 24-7. The Review spoke with some of the area's executives to find out what technology works for them.

Ralph Desiano

Chief operating officer

Mel's Diner, Bonita Springs

Desiano uses a Palm Treo 650 to keep track of what's happening at the company's 10 restaurants, stretching north to Sarasota. "I'd be lost without it," he says.

Desiano uses the Treo to retrieve e-mail, voice mail and text messages. He can use it as a phone too. The device also runs spreadsheet programs and has a calendar to track his appointments.

Ricardo Espino

President

Universal Insurance Holdings

of North America, Sarasota

Espino uses a Blackberry to keep in contact when he's out of the office. Espino says it provides the total package of office services, including e-mail, cell phone calls, contacts and calendar - the proverbial one-stop gadget.

Rex Jensen

President

Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Bradenton

Jensen has a Treo Smartphone. While he likes the advantage of having his ever-changing calendar and contact list with him at all times, he purposefully avoids checking e-mail, a function he only does in the office, except for the occasional emergency.

"I don't' want to become a slave to the thing," he says. "It really can become all consuming."

Jerry Lamb

Regional director

Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT, Naples

Lamb uses a combination Blackberry and cell phone. With offices from Sarasota to Naples, Lamb says he has to be immediately accessible to customers and employees.

"I'm on the road a lot, so I read my e-mails on my Blackberry while I'm driving and respond by cell phone," Lamb says. He hasn't yet mastered the skill of writing e-mail while driving.

The Blackberry is also useful during conferences and other kinds of lengthy meetings, he says, because you can discreetly read and respond to e-mail while a conference is going on.

Gwen MacKenzie

CEO

Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Sarasota

Outside of the hospital, MacKenzie uses a Blackberry to keep track of e-mails, her calendar, contacts and regular call phone calls. But inside the hospital, MacKenzie uses a cutting edge device called Vocera. The Vocera Communications System allows MacKenzie to communicate via a simple badge with other hospital employees without having to dial a phone. Using a small device that hangs around her neck and a small earpiece, she can communicate with one another almost entirely through voice commands.

The system allows calls to go straight voicemail, too.

"We do that because the call might interrupt one of our doctors, who is with a patient," MacKenzie says. "The ER absolutely loves it. It's almost like having a full-time operator."

Fred Piccolo

President and CEO

Sarasota Bradenton International Airport

Piccolo is a fan of the Blackberry; he is using that and a compact Sony Vaio laptop to stay in touch with the office while he recovers from surgery. With his Blackberry, he says he is able to keep up on any e-mail he receives and his work voicemail. More important, the Blackberry lets Piccolo keep his schedule and more than 900 contacts nearby. Piccolo also likes being able to backup all of his Blackberry data to another computer.

"It's like having an office in my pocket," Piccolo says of his Blackberry. "It's just an invaluable tool."

John Pollock

President

Oswald Trippe Insurance, Fort Myers,

Pollock, too, uses a Palm Treo 650. He says all the work he does on his Treo automatically transfers to his desktop computer in his office because it's linked via satellite. For example, Pollock recently was on vacation in Colorado where he used the Treo to review e-mail he was receiving on his desktop computer in Fort Myers. He responded and deleted e-mail throughout his week off so that he wouldn't have thousands of messages waiting when he returned to work.

William Price Jr.

Senior vice president

McGarvey Development, Bonita Springs,

Price says he doesn't like to carry a big Blackberry around. "The keys are so small, and I'm getting old," he jokes. Still, he can retrieve e-mail using his Nextel cell phone. "I can read my e-mail," he says, "and if something needs my attention I just call the office."