Tue, January 22, 2008 — CIO — Margaret Genet knows BlackBerrys. Though officially dubbed "operations analyst," she's the first Aflac employee to hold the unofficial title of "technology concierge." Genet's job number one: Teach executives how to be more efficient with mobile devices and applications.

"I guarantee if you talk to [Margaret] for 15 minutes, she will tell you 30 tricks you didn't know that will save you time," says Aflac CIO Gerald Shields.

In addition to providing BlackBerry training, Genet also works with the Fortune 500 insurance company's executives on laptops and tablet computers and Aflac's custom mobile applications. Genet's training typically comes in the form of in-person, one-on-one sessions in and around Aflac's Columbus, Ga., headquarters, but she also holds the occasional teleconference with executives in New York and sometimes teaches group sessions to business managers in Columbus. And she's constantly being summoned by those executives and others for repeat visits.

"Margaret's name has become very, very popular around here," says Aflac Vice President of IT Business Partnership Management, Bahija Noell, who helped create the tech concierge position along with Shields in the spring of 2007.

Many of the tips that Genet shares with Aflac executives can be found deep inside various user manuals or buried in BlackBerry websites, but who has time for digging? Here's a concise list of her most valuable advice. (Note: Some of the tricks may not work on all older BlackBerry devices.)

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