What have I been doing all year?

Hello friends and colleagues! First I want to start by thanking each one of you for all your time, support and encouragement that allowed me to have an extremely successful, satisfying and productive year. Thanks!

I hope you find this ‘Year in Review’ and 2006 focus posts useful and entertaining. Feel free to drop me a line with feedback and comments: daniela[dot]barbosa@factiva[dot]com.

As most of you know in early 2005 I moved to California with Factiva to start covering the West coast territory in the same role i had on the East Coast as a Solutions Architect with Factiva Consulting Services (FCS). And what an adventure and success it has been!

If you are interested in the personal trek across the country that my husband and i made, simply check out my blog entries from February 21st-25th. I attempted to blog my way across the country mostly with Blackberry access which was pretty cool. (FYI- Townes who i refer to quite often in my posts is a our Great Dane pup who wasn't even 1 yr old yet but weighed in at around 120lbs when we made the trek!).

So I certainly miss being at Factiva corporate in Princeton, NJ and have been back a handful of times in the last 10 months to ensure that i get headquarters doses in my veins to keep it real and moving. Everyone always told me how 'different' it was to be in a satellite office and it is true. I went from being in Princeton with over 350 other 'Factivites' to being in a sales office with under 10. Definitely cozier.

Even since i left there have been a lot of changes in Princeton all very positive in my opinion making me feel the love more and more in the field. A special thanks goes out to my buddies in Customer Service, Product, PTG, Sales Support, Content, and my core delivery team- You folks amaze and make me proud day in and day out to be part of the Factiva organization!

So far my interactions and engagements with West Coast based account teams and clients have been fabulous and very successful you will see snippets of things i have been working on in my various posts.

With my transfer i however got a chance to keep engaging with key East coast and global clients that i have been working with for years, introducing my new collegues to those clients but working closely with them to ensure smooth transition and/or successful project delivery. You will find some of those highlighted in my post as well.

In regards to my professional goals, i met and exceeded my revenue targets for 2005 and all my customer engagements had over a 4.3 customer satisfaction rating (on a scale of 1-5), which of course is testimony to our great delivery team and which makes me super happy to be part of the FCS organization. I was also made Team Lead for the Americas' Solutions Architects in November.

Personal goals, those of you who know me quite well know i am totally addicted to work. I continue to be so, but have found plenty of time to tear myself away and enjoy all the West has to offer. Some have even heard me state "I feel that i am on vacation everyday"...Yep the wild wild west will do that to you. Check out my June Posts for some of the enjoyment ;-)

See my post on "What is hot on my list for 2006?", you will probably find things that you and I have been talking about and i can't wait to kick-off the year and get these things all started!

Happy New Year to you and your loved ones- Power to the peaceful and dedicated.
-daniela