Archive for November, 2009
As a woman in her *ahem* late twenties, it would seem that I have found myself in the middle of the mass marketing phenomenon, commonly referred to as “WEB 2.0”. Don’t be fooled, the 2.0 does not refer to a new version of the World Wide Web, but rather to the way that we are using the internet. Most of us have seen those websites that a lot of companies use, the author wants us to simply read and view their content, but they do not require our interaction. We’ve also pretty much all seen websites that fit into the WEB 2.0 category. Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn are all examples of this type of media. The user gets to decide what is displayed on the site and what is not.
As an avid facebooker, I am constantly finding myself attracted to the “subtle” ads on the side of my screen. A lot of the times, these ads have little or nothing to do with anything that I would actually be interested in, though they are marketed to my demographic. For example, as mentioned, I’m in my late twenties, married, and there are no thoughts of children any time in the near future. Yet, I get ads, on a daily basis, for free samples of children’s clothing and toys for mothers in my age range. Every once in a while, though, Facebook will surprise me with an Ad that actually makes sense. Why, yes, I would like to get free samples of razors and shampoo! I guess this goes to show you that marketing in this fashion does work for some people, some of the time. I say, if it keeps the sites free for users, market away! I always have the choice to click or not to click. I only wish that they could truly personalize the ads so that I don’t get the free children’s toys ads. Maybe with WEB 3.0?
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Recently a couple of members on my advisory board asked me out to lunch to inquire on which CRM (Customer Resource Management) product they should purchase. Fortunately for me, the topic is such that I see a few free lunches in my future.
CRM has been labeled one of those ‘killer-aps’ for modern business. But what, fundamentally, does this mean for your organization or any other? First let’s start with what we intend to get out of the CRM; while the initials CRM tell most of the story, delving into what this means, specifically to your business, requires more thorough analysis.
First we need to examine the nature of your client. Is there a relationship there to manage? If so, what aspects of the relationship make sense to manage? Is the intent to drive sales, improve service, or gain efficiency? What specific processes are required to do so?
Listing a set of features may seem an impressive way to promote a product, but ask yourself the following questions. Then see how your CRM vendor responds to them.
- What can we expect to gain by Customer Relationship Management?
- Is staff turnover such that it is more beneficial to invest in a simple CRM solution or a more complex one the benefits from a stable workforce?
- What is the cost of implementation versus the increase in sales, clients or sales-per-client
- What reports are meaningful for CRM? Can the product deliver these and more?
- Does the CRM need to tie into your accounting system to provide financial information for reporting and analysis?
- Does the product work with and automate tracking of each communication method your business uses? If your company uses Outlook, Exchange or Notes, does the CRM product integrate, replace or duplicate that information?
- What aspects of communication, task management and workflow could benefit from process automation? How does the CRM product achieve this? How flexible is it?
- Does your business involve complex sales with long timelines and multiple parties involved? How does the CRM cope with this?
- Do staff members outside of the company require access to CRM data? If so, what methods of access will they have?
- What security features are necessary for limiting ‘need-to-know’ data between users and managers?
- Is there an advantage to having CRM data on mobile devices? If so, what platforms are supported – now, and in the future?
- How will legacy data be managed? Can it be imported?
- How does it automate communication, task management and workflow?
- Does a ‘hosted’ (in-the-sky) or locally installed version make more sense?
- Who will run the details of implementation, training and adhering to best use?
- Finally – What can the CRM solution deliver that your existing contact tracking cannot? For example – Just having Outlook and a good system of categories and reminders.
CRM is a proactive exercise. A product that labels itself as such needs to have the fundamentals germane to your business. Taking an accurate assessment of those fundamentals is an important first step.
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I’m sure you’ve all seen the advertisements by now. “Windows 7, the most secure windows yet”, and others of the like. Unfortunately, there’s something they’re not telling you. No matter how many security enhancements they put into Windows (or any operating system for that matter), upgrading to the newest version will not really make your company any safer.
Now, I realize that this seems like quite the claim to make, but hear me out. In any company, there’s security flaws that cannot be fixed by software. You’ve got users that write their passwords down, users that use the most common password they can think of, and users who open any e-mail attachment or visit any website they’re shown. It’s an insurmountable order to create an operating system that will thwart a user’s constant concerted effort to get him or herself in trouble. As a famous adage goes: “Make something fool proof and someone will build a better fool”.
Please don’t take this as a slight against Windows 7. It’s a fantastic operating system, and does make your computer a safer place to be (and less annoying than Vista). It just can’t stop lapses in physical security. A saying that’s taken root in computer security is “Defense in Depth”, and this is a great method of demonstrating it.
Defense in Depth states that your entire network and business must be secure, and not just have a very good firewall with a defenseless internal network. Often people do not take the concept out of the technical world and into the physical world though. A highly secured server is in reality rather unsecure if it’s located in the visitor waiting room. An extreme example I admit, but one that proves the point. So, let me reiterate my point…upgrading to Windows 7 is a great idea, just don’t think it’s going to solve your physical security problems.
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Many of our clients truly value and care for their possessions. Their desk and workspaces are immaculate and organized, their cars are spotless and well maintained, and they are cautious with their electronics – to the point that if someone made an umbrella or sun visor for their smartphone, they would have it. However, when their PC mysteriously dies, the technician opens it up and finds not only a flourishing colony of dust bunnies, but also various types of long expired six and eight legged creatures, with the only response being, “I’ve never opened it, how could it get so dirty?!”
I believe everyone is familiar with the business model of their favoured vehicle oil & lube shop: you bring your vehicle to the shop, at regularly scheduled intervals, and have them perform the typical oil change. While they are under your car, they will take a few minutes to perform the classic x point inspection. The mechanic will visually inspect your brakes pads, transmission and brake fluid, check for leaks or odd smells, rust, and many other things that all have the potential to lead to premature failures in your car. After the oil change is complete, they will give you a brief synopsis as to your vehicle’s general condition, and possibly recommend further items to address.
The business model of IT managed services is not unlike that of your lube shop: under a service plan, maintenance of your IT equipment is performed at regularly scheduled intervals. As your lube shop is aimed at keeping your car from suffering a catastrophic failure at inopportune times (for example, at the center of the Port Mann bridge westbound at 7:45AM), we are focused on ensuring your network and server infrastructure is there when you need it most.
When planning maintenance with regular visits, technicians will perform the basic maintenance tasks, such as physically clearing the system of dust (one of the biggest causes of hardware failure), while inspecting several key areas of your backup systems, server and firewall logs. Any warning signs uncovered from these visits would be identified and specific action will be recommended. These regular inspections often take less than an hour to perform, and by doing so, it will greatly reduce the likelihood of your company from suffering a major failure.
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“Convert your laptop into a tablet PC!” is the tagline, but how accurate is it? The Siso Tablo series of digital input pens are fairly new to market and offer emulation for graphics tablets and tablet PCs. With it, you can use your regular laptop screen as a writing platform to take notes, send email, follow difficult curves in Photoshop and even paint with ultrasound-sensitive speed/pressure technology. It seems like a very exciting product at only $129, but how good can it be?
The Tablo boasts support for major programs such as MS Office, Messenger, Paint, Adobe CS4, and more making it useful for all but the most hardcore tablet PC user. With recognition for Microsoft Word Recognition, it can even convert your handwriting to text. The only trouble is that writing on your laptop display may be somewhat awkward! You might also be concerned with scratching or damaging the delicate LCD. To remedy this, the Tablo comes with soft pen tips and isn’t pressure dependent and reviews are showing that the pens do not damage the screens with long term use.
If you’re not interested in writing on the laptop screen, you can switch attachments and use a real ink pen on paper. The infrared sensor can clip onto the back of your LCD display or be mounted on a pad of paper to trace your actual writing, a feeling very similar to the Wacom series of graphics tablets. The only trouble with this is that it’s a little bit slow and doesn’t match the accuracy of a graphics pad thrice the price.
Overall, the light weight and compact size of this device makes it a good entry level digital input pen device without breaking the bank. It sure beats using the mouse for drawing.
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