Blog

The end of each year provides an opportunity for reflection on the past and preparation for the future. 2009 was quite a year – filled with new challenges and opportunities. But through it all, lessons were learned as people began to navigate through a changed business environment. In our series of Blogs “2009 Reflections,” we will be sharing interviews with Five Star team members who tell what they learned in 2009 and what they are preparing for in 2010.

In this blog post we will be sharing our recent interview with Cory Seaman.

Cory Seaman
Director, Research and Technology Services

What has ’09 taught you?
During the first half of the year we were not able to focus too heavily on what we’d hoped for the year—tackling technology challenges and developing new products for clients and for our own use. Recently I’ve spent a lot of time working with our development team on client projects because we’ve had some large, long-running projects and haven’t been able to take on new full-time resources. This has made me realize that you have to make the best of and remain fully engaged wherever circumstances take you.

What is the one big lesson that you learned this year?
Flexibility is one of the most difficult and one of the most critical attributes to demonstrate during times of economic difficulty. Adaptability has been exemplified by our staff; people have done a phenomenal job adjusting and making personal sacrifices where necessary They have reacted well to changing expectations when it’s been extremely hard to do so.

What is your biggest personal accomplishment?
Reaching the latest delivery milestones with the technology development team for a program launch. Since my role doesn’t frequently allow me to work full-time as a part of the development team, it was great to help out.

What do you believe is Five Star’s biggest accomplishment this year?
I think the fact that we’ve retained our footing and have come through some difficult choices in the face of adversity this year, combined with the fact that we continue to be one of Pennsylvania’s Best Places to Work is a testament to the excellence and perseverance of our company.

How are you going to transfer what you learned in 2009 to 2010?
There are a number of things I would like to improve within our network infrastructure, such as introducing Windows 7. I also learned a lot from a Microsoft Technology Conference that I would like to continue implementing in 2010, beginning with the consolidation of our web and application servers through virtualization. This will allow us to save energy, lower costs, and reduce our hardware footprint.

What do you hope to learn in 2010?
My hope has been to continue growing my research role and exposing Five Star to the new or existing technologies that we can best leverage as a company. I’m also anxious to find opportunities to create “shelf ready” projects and map out some new tools and technologies that we can offer to our clients.

Final thoughts
This is an interesting time because there are a lot of new tools available, but there are also a lot of tight belts in terms of budgets and financial resources that necessarily limit what we’re able to do. It’s also a challenge to balance client needs with our own at times. But with a better outlook on the horizon and a number of new avenues to pursue, it’s hard not to be excited about the year ahead.