The past week has been full of travel for employees of GraVoc Associates, Inc. Director of Information Security Nathaniel Gravel and associate Dan Vassallo traveled to Foxwoods Casino for the New England Mortgage Expo last Friday. They attended several informative presentations, including a panel on Loan Origination System (LOS) Deployment and the decision to implement hosted or in-house solutions. LOS applications help financial institutions enter and analyze information to originate a loan. Much of the discussion revolved around the dichotomy of available IT employees and the extent of application customizations; since many smaller banks and credit unions lack the staff, resources, and capacity to maintain in-house solutions, they often choose to utilize service bureaus for their loan origination processes. Attending the New England Mortgage Expo helped enhance the Information Security team’s holistic knowledge of the financial services industry and the issues facing community banks and credit unions in our area.
This week also marked the start of the Guest Reader program for two GraVoc employees. Although school cancellations delayed the start of the program last week, CEO David Gravel and associate Katrina Gravel have begun their weekly visits to the South Memorial Elementary School in Peabody, where they will read books to the students. Thirty-eight classrooms across the city have been matched with volunteers. The Guest Reader program, which runs from January to May, is an initiative of the Peabody Education Council (PEC), a non-profit organization that strives to provide materials, funding, and personnel to enhance the quality of education in Peabody Public Schools. Other PEC programs include Partners in Education, Best Bet Grants, Career Day, and Career Mentoring; GraVoc has participated in Career Day and Mentoring for the past several years, showing Peabody students the ins and outs of business consulting, software programming, and media production. Volunteering with the Peabody Education Council is one of the many avenues through which GraVoc chooses to give back to the Peabody community. Please visit www.peabodyedcouncil.org for more information on the Peabody Education Council and its programs.
Director of Information Systems Jason Vlacich and Director of Software Development Michael Roma have spent the last week in Redmond, Washington, attending the Microsoft Dynamics AX Technical Conference. With the new version of Dynamics AX set to launch this year, the conference will no doubt provide valuable insight into the latest in Microsoft Dynamics Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions. Microsoft Dynamics AX, a comprehensive process management system for midsize and larger organizations, helps businesses drive key business processes, make smarter and faster decisions, and fully utilize their assets and resources. GraVoc Associates specialized in supplying and customizing Microsoft software solutions to create the best fit for its clients.
GraVoc Associates, Inc., located in Peabody, MA, is a technology consulting firm focused on providing a range of solutions and services in the fields of information systems, information technology, media production, information security, and professional services. Founded in 1994, GraVoc has grown steadily to serve businesses throughout New England, as well as on the national and international levels. For more information about GraVoc and its versatile services, please visit www.gravoc.com.