November/December 2021
Publishing Trends Leading Into 2022
by James Varblow

Supply Chain Issues Continue
Print publishing is one of the many markets to be hit with continuing supply chain issues sparked by the global pandemic. Asia prints much of the world’s books in color, but with soaring demand for shipping containers, it now costs as much as ten times the standard amount to ship books overseas. Additionally, shipping is taking much longer due to work shortages and a failure to set infrastructure for the rise in demand following the shutdowns of 2020.

The crippled supply chain is pushing trends that have already been in place for years as digital media continues to grow, and print-based publishing further recedes. Distribution is becoming increasingly difficult.
Welcome New Employee Allison Kunder
by Cindy Twiss

A recent addition to the Program Services team led by Doug Moore, Allison Kunder comes to AdvantageCS with experience in account management, project management and data analysis. She worked previously at a market research company and then at a few retail firms where she was an account manager. 

After her office closed due to the pandemic, Allison was looking for a position where she could use her management and analysis skills and found what she was looking for at AdvantageCS. She is currently learning Advantage and SQL but is also getting her feet wet with small projects. 

Allison grew up in Milford, Michigan but moved to Novi, Michigan for her last three years of high school. She then attended Michigan State University where she earned a business degree, majoring in marketing.
Sunrise Services: Meet our Analysts on the 4:00 AM Shift
by James Varblow

AdvantageCS serves a diverse array of clients across the globe. Providing services across many countries presents some unique challenges. The main challenge is time zones when connecting with international clients. For example, a Parisian office might open at 9:00 AM which corresponds to 3:00 AM at our headquarters in Ann Arbor. 

AdvantageCS has taken steps to ensure that services are available for our clients at all hours. The Advantage Support Center offers 24/7 emergency support with a dedicated team working around the clock. If you’ve contacted customer support early in the morning Eastern time, chances are you’ve worked with either Stephen Oller or Angie Markel Lampi. 

Angie and Stephen, both business analysts, generally work from 4:00 AM until at least noon EST. They handle issues that UK/European clients have submitted to the support inbox and participate in status or other client meetings. Although there is always an analyst on call for emergency support, Angie and Stephen handle as many emergency issues as possible during their workday. 
On the Road Again
by Dan Heffernan
I’ve been to 3 trade shows in the last 6 weeks. It has been so good to attend in person!

Let me just say that it’s great to travel to other places. I have always considered business travel to be crucial for my job, as well as many others in our company. Not only are face-to-face meetings with prospects important when you’re starting a business relationship that might last decades, but travel also provides a fresh perspective on the businesses we are in and support, on how our clients use our platform to drive their revenues, and, perhaps most importantly, on the persons with whom we work at those clients. I have once again met such persons for dinner, spending time simply relating as human beings. These are the building blocks of relationships, and we’ve been missing these blocks for nearly 2 years.

I recently had dinner with a client who signed contracts with us a year ago, after a nearly 1-year-long sales cycle. We had never met in person. That’s quite sad, but we had a great time at this dinner toasting the success of the first phase of the project (rather than the contract signing) and getting to know one another as persons.
Register Now for Advantage Users Group Conference 2022
Early bird registration is now open for AUG 2022. Register by January 7th to take advantage of the discount. 

Register Here to Receive the Early Bird Discount!

Planned topics for this year include:
  • Customer service in a post-pandemic workplace
  • Integrating Advantage alongside other solutions 
  • The exciting new functionality for using Extended Values within your setup 
  • The benefits of incorporating Omnistream for improved efficiency.  

The full lineup of topics will be coming soon. Contact your AUG Steering Committee rep for more information.


Editor: Cindy Mikol Twiss
3850 Ranchero Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108 USA
Phone: +1 734 327 3600
Fax: +1 734 327 3620