Recently in the AT&T Category

On October 25, 2011 in Portland, Maine at an event sponsored by AT&T, more than 70 leading women business owners and organizations gathered to discuss changes in technology and how they could identify trends and opportunities to grow their businesses. At the meeting, attendees greeted and celebrated the recipient of this year's prestigious WIPP AT&T Innovator of the Year-Maine.  Susan Corbett, CEO of Axiom Technologies, based in Machias, Maine was the recipient of this regional award because of her ability to utilize innovation in technology while developing solutions for rural broadband deployment since 2005. Axiom has brought high-speed Internet service to Washington County with over 90 Access Points, creating an umbrella over 2,500 square miles.

"Itis an honor to receive the WIPP AT&T Technology Innovator of the Year for the State of Maine. It is inspirational to be part of the team in Maine working diligently to ensure that every home and business have access to broadband connectivity. Although 91% of Maine's homes have access to broadband,49,000 homes throughout the State are unserved. The ConnectME Authority, Maine Fiber Company's Three Ring Binder BTOP Project and the multiple Internet Service Providers in Maine will continue to build "last-mile" broadband networks. We will not stop until this is accomplished," said Susan Corbett.

"Susan's leadership, and her company's focus, dedication and desire to improve broadband accessibility prove to be an inspiration for all," said WIPP President Barbara Kasoff.

The WIPP AT&T Innovator of the Year Award was part of WIPP's nation-wide tour focusing on policy and business growth.  The conference agenda in Maine included important briefings on how to use broadband technology to help people find jobs, build careers and expand their businesses, using social media to build your leadership and visibility, trends and opportunities in the technology sector and a discussion on where privacy and social media intersect.

Visit WIPP's Facebook page to stay updated on awards.

Thursday, the WIPP team had the great pleasure and opportunity to present a wireless education briefing at PUENTE Learning Center to the 210 students from their Job Training, Adult High School Diploma and ESL programs.   Education and Advocacy are huge WIPP priorities - and this event ranks as one of the best events ever.  Thank you WIPP member, Elaine Starling (Starling Media), and Ken McEldowney (WirelessED),  Anne Wintroub (AT&T) and Nikol Hasler (One Economy)  A special heartfelt thanks to AT&T for making this possible and to the PUENTE team for hosting us.  www.facebook.com/PUENTE.Learning.Center.

Guest Blogger: Lynn Bunim

Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) and AT&T hosted an interactive Consumer Education Briefing on May 26, 2011.  The face-to-face briefing attracted nearly thirty San Francisco Bay area leaders from organizations such as Renaissance Entrepreneurship, CAMEO, the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women, the Latino Community Foundation, and the Community Technology Network.  The briefing covered WirelessED, a new educational program created by Consumer Action and sponsored by AT&T.  
 
WirelessED is designed to educate wireless users about how best to utilize their wireless devices and services.  It also offers other tools and resources to help consumers manage their usage to avoid unanticipated charges.  For additional information please check out the WirelessED website.
 
Attendees also learned about California's LifeLine program, designed to provide discounts on basic telephone service to eligible low-income households.  You can learn about this program at the following webiste: www.att.com/Lifeline.
 
Also covered was an educational program known as Smart Controls.  Smart Controls is an all-in-one destination for consumers to receive the most from AT&T services for mobile phones, computers and television.  Check it out at: www.att.net/smartcontrols.
 

Interesting news today on AT&T's announcement of its intent to acquire T-Mobile USA and one that stands to serve consumers and small businesses well.  Small businesses need a reliable and dependable network to conduct businesses and, as indicated in its Economic Blueprint (www.wipp.org), greater accessibility and affordability.  Mobile usage is growing rapidly, but frankly, as technology and the use of the internet evolve, growth is only in its early stages -  we can only speculate on the resources needed to satisfy consumer demand.  I'm hoping to see AT&T's commitment to an expanded 4G network and increased accessibility come to fruition with this acquisition.

One of the central questions in the healthcare debate is how to provide better care at a lower cost. While there are no easy answers to this question, the intersection of medicine and broadband technology is resulting in some promising and innovative solutions for the healthcare sector.

Just this week, AT&T announced a number of new products and services, available through the AT&T ForHealthSM organization, to help providers and patients better manage their healthcare and the costs associated with it using wireless and cloud-based technology.  

The group of products and services will facilitate telehealth offerings including remote health monitoring, electronic health records and video consultations, and are part of an overall trend to enable efficient and effective information technology for the healthcare sector. 

These advances in technology will not only benefit healthcare providers but they have the potential to generate enormous savings in cost for small business owners and consumers.

In fact, various studies show that:
• Remote health monitoring of four chronic conditions could result in net savings of $197 billion over 25 years. (Robert Litan, Better Health Care Together Coalition, Vital Signs Via Broadband: Remote Health Monitoring Transmits Savings, Enhances Lives (2008))
• Electronic health record systems could generate $371 billion in net savings for hospitals and $142 billion for physician practices. (Richard Hillestad et al., Can Electronic Medical Record Systems Transform Healthcare? Potential Health Benefits, Savings, and Costs, 24 Health Aff. 1103, 1103 (Sept./Oct. 2005))
• Video consultations between healthcare providers and patients could save $1.2 billion annually. (CITL, The Value of Provider-to-Provider Telehealth Technologies. CITL modeled pre- and post-telehealth costs based on national baseline number of transports, transport cost, and number of avoided transports. Annual savings were calculated by subtracting post-telehealth costs from pre-telehealth costs for each provider-to-provider setting. These savings sum to $1.2 billion.)

As our polling has shown, time and time again, women business owners believe that rising health care costs are the number one impediment to growth. We encourage the healthcare industry to embrace and adopt innovative solutions like those offered by AT&T so small businesses and consumers alike can all benefit from realized healthcare savings. Click here to read AT&T's press release "New AT&T For Health Practice Accelerates Pursuit Of $34 Billion Healthcare I.T. Market With Suite Of Industry Solutions".

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