Satellite Internet vs. Ethernet: Why Satellite is Years Behind

There are plenty of times and places to apply satellite based network services. Many people who have remote locations run an entire branch on one satellite modem. However for a larger network infrastructure or for packet heavy communications, Ethernet services perform vastly better. That’s why businesses are weighing satellite internet vs. Ethernet.

Understanding How Packets Create Network Speed and Quality

Even Satellite Today understands the problem that even advanced satellite modems encounter, data packet partitioning. When information passes through a network, it sends packets of data to the end destination. These packets can be large or small, but each bit of information that needs to be passed is bunched into a packet for the network.
Satellite modems are very capable of sending large packets of data, however they run into issues if they need to send a lot of packets, such as 20 people using VOIP providers to communicate. The modem may be able to handle eight large packets of data, but when it starts to receive more packets than it can handle, quality will suffer if the modem has fail safe protocols, or lock up and reboot. For this reason, it is especially important to carefully consider not only the data speeds of the satellite modem, but also the packet capacity as well.
Ethernet services work on a slightly different principle to take advantage of the hardwired, reliable connections called Asynchronous Transfer Mode, or ATM for short. Instead of allocating a number of packets and sending large volumes of data across the network, Ethernet modems chop up that large data into smaller packets and give them a 16-bit code of address information called an ATM tax in the IT world. This packet allocation protocol allows the network to handle infinite number of packets coming through because at the receiving end, that 16-bit address line tells the receiving modem how the packet is meant to be reassembled.

What Does This Mean to the Large and Small Business Owner?

There are some remote locations where satellite internet is all that is available. In those situations with smart IT planning, a hybrid system of Ethernet routing and a satellite modem can adequately satisfy the needs of the business or operations. However, the reason satellite internet is years behind, is that even with a well managed suite of Ethernet services, the satellite modem and data transfer protocols will always be a bottleneck that can be compensated for, but never alleviated.
An Ethernet based network resulting in a cable or fiber-optic network connection creates a lateral network. Rather than data circulating naturally, only to slow down at the smallness of the pipeline, Ethernet with its ATM protocol can perform almost outrageous feats of networking such as sending one ultimate data files through two routers using standard ATM packets, coping with hundreds of different packet sources requiring data communication of both large and small file size, and Ethernet services also provide IT teams many opportunities to redesign the network to alleviate congestion, or clamp down on an insufficient network.

Making the Ultimate Decision

When deciding on your routing and modem technologies, you the business owner know best what to do for your company, but consider these pivot points before you invest too much in either technology.

1. Consider the actual size of data files passed over the network.
2. The number of packets transferred at one time, think about how many computers, devices, and VOIPs are connecting to the modem.
3. Fiber-optic and cable line development, which can give you more bandwidth often at a cheaper rate, which disfavors satellite.
4. A long distance from cable and fiber-optic services make satellite ideal

I hope this explains Satellite Internet vs. Ethernet. I’d love to hear your comments.

Technology To Make Your Business Run Smoother

A business is a lot like a car: all the parts and pieces need to work together for you to move forward. And just like a car, to keep it running at peak performance you’ll need occasional upgrades and services. Depending on your business model and budget, you need to decide which upgrades take priority. But no matter of what you start with, there are many simple, cost-effective upgrades available that’ll help your business run like a well-oiled machine.
There are so many accounting programs on the market that it’s hard to choose which one to use, but don’t let that intimidate you. Regardless of which one you choose, these programs can cut a significant amount of time and cost from your budget. Accounting software is designed user-friendly so you or a member of your staff can easily learn the program, eliminating the need for an expensive corporate accountant.
The likely hood of a human-made error is also greatly reduced, resulting in a worry-free spring when taxes are due.

Accounting Software

There are so many accounting programs on the market that it’s hard to choose which one to use, but don’t let that intimidate you. Regardless of which one you choose, these programs can cut a significant amount of time and cost from your budget. Accounting software is designed user-friendly so you or a member of your staff can easily learn the program, eliminating the need for an expensive corporate accountant.
The likely hood of a human-made error is also greatly reduced, resulting in a worry-free spring when taxes are due.

New Office Equipment

When considering upgrading technology, office equipment seems to fall low on the list for most people. Consider this though: you may invest in the greatest software and most expensive machines, but if you’re employees are spending their days in uncomfortable chairs, productivity will drop from sore backs and unhappy workers.
Along with the reduced productivity, you’ll actually end up spending more on the cheap equipment. Buying that $50 knock off printer may seem like a good idea now, but when you end up having to replace or fix it every 6 months, you’ll regret not purchasing the $150 one with a 5 year warranty.

Cloud Data Storage

 

Utilizing technology like a cloud data storage system is something that every business should consider. In case a server crashes, you run the risk of losing important documents and projects, resulting in a huge loss of time and resources. With a cloud storage system, however, the only time you would lose your projects is if the entire Internet were to fail — if that were to happen you probably will have more pressing concerns.
With a cloud storage, you can get access to files at any place in the world. So if you’re managing multiple sites across a large distance or on a business trip, you’ll still have access to anything you need.

Workload Automation

Imagine a software program that can handle anything from job scheduling to IT processes. Workload automation software is leading the way in convenient, time-saving practices. Using workload automation won’t only save you time and money, but job scheduling and monitoring IT processes has never been easier. Allowing a program to handle these mundane daily tasks frees up your time to focus on promoting your business and striving for success.

Tablets

Tablets are revolutionizing the corporate world and are quickly becoming a must-have for any profitable company. In fact, many businesses are replacing tablets in lieu of laptops or desktop machines. So why should you consider getting a tablet? The portability for one is a big selling point.  Traveling with a laptop is frustrating, especially when so many face problems of over heating and poor battery life. Most tablets brag to have twice the battery life as laptops, and processors that are on par with desktops.
While not all the programs you have are capable with tablets yet, many developers are making it so you can do anything with a tablet that you can with a laptop.

Faster Wireless Internet

If you’re business is still using an 802.11b or 802.11g Wi-Fi network, it’s time to consider upgrading to a faster wireless network.  Working on an 802.11n Wi-Fi will yield better results in both productivity and functionality. Having increased wireless connection will make your work flow together seamlessly without pesky distractions like loading screens and buffering errors. It’ll also increase the amount of connected devices, meaning more people can connect and thus more work gets done.
Don’t let your business die because it couldn’t keep up with technological demands. The corporate world is an ever-changing, expanding community and if you want to succeed you need to prepare to change with it. New technology is often daunting, but is necessary to compete in today’s market. If you make it work in your advantage, you’ll find it’s the best thing that ever happened to your company.

4 Information Security Tips Every Small Business Owner Should Know

With nearly half of small businesses failing before their 5^th birthday, it’s crucial that you do everything in your power to protect your company. That being said, you need to ensure that your sensitive data is safe. There’s no mistaking it, there are thieves out there looking to commit fraud and identity theft. As a result, small businesses are finding themselves increasingly targeted. And according to data from the National Archives & Records Administration in Washington, the statistics say you’re small business is one data breach away from bankruptcy.
So what can you do to minimize risk of data breach? Here are four tips you need to follow to make sure your important information is secure.

# 1. Pinpoint your sensitive data

You can’t ensure that your data is secured if you aren’t sure where or what that data is. That being said, it’s important that before anything else, you decide what pieces of your data you possess that needs document scanning. For example, perhaps you have customer credit card information. Or maybe you have social security numbers on file. Or maybe it’s your own company’s credit accounts.
Whatever the case, once you figure out what the sensitive data actually is, then you need to figure out where it’s stored. After you find it, take a closer look at what you’re doing to protect it in its existing space.

# 2. Background and reference check all new employees

As a small business owner, you may find yourself eventually having to hire new employees as you begin to expand. That’s great—it’s a sign of flourishing. However, hiring a new employee can be scary. After all, you’re going to have to trust them with your sensitive data.
It’s really scary when you start looking at the data. According to CBSnews.com, the average company loses 5% of revenue to employee fraud. On top of that, around one-third of employees steal from their place of work in some form or fashion. Other sources estimate that as much as three-fourths of employees steal from their companies. Those are some bleak odds!
So how can you keep new employees from compromising  the security of your sensitive information? Be proactive. Run background checks on everyone. Not sure how? Look to the SBA for more information. But don’t stop there. You know those references you ask for on your applications. Make sure you check them! If your future employee has engaged in sketchy behavior in the past, there’s a decent chance their former employers will warn you about it.

# 3. Institute a “shred all” policy and destroy documents professionally

You absolutely never want to throw paperwork with sensitive information in the trash. Doing so is just asking for a security breech. All it takes is one disgruntled custodian or a shady passer-by to see an account number, slide the paper in their pocket, and you’re in big trouble.
Some companies combat this issue by providing their employees with their own personal shredders. However, this still leaves room for error, as not all employees will necessarily use the same discretion when shredding documents.
According to the information security experts at Shred-It, you should go with a “shred everything” policy to ensure that no sensitive information gets into the wrong hands. Taking it one step further, you might consider using a professional company to shred all documents—someone with a trusted name who can ensure that all necessary documents are properly dealt with.

# 4. Take precautions with your copy machine

If your business is like most, then you couldn’t make it without your copy machine. However, what most people don’t realize is that these copy machines often store the scanned data in their memory. In other words, those account statements you’ve been copying are stored in the machine’s hard drive. Imagine the implications…
It’s pretty common for businesses to lease these machines. So what happens when you send the copier back? Who knows where it’s going to end up. And who knows who is going to gain access to all that vital information.
But obviously you can’t quit using a copier. However, you can take a few precautions. Before you lease a copier, find out about their security features. According to Bureau of Consumer Protection’s Business Center, you’re looking for two words: encryption and overwriting. The former scrambles the data so it can’t be used later, and the latter allows you to erase memory.
Prevention is Key
What it all boils down to is this – if you don’t take steps to secure information, it will leak. And when it leaks, people will take advantage. Avoid the heartache and do what you can to secure your sensitive data.

5 Cloud Computing Myths Busted

According to Wikipedia Cloud computing is an expression used to describe a variety of computing concepts that involve a large number of computers connected through a real-time communication network such as the Internet. So what are the myths?

#1. The Cloud is one entity

People often talk about ‘the Cloud’ as if it is just one entity, service or solution housed in one location. There is a common misconception that when you put your data in the Cloud, it is going to sit in one place alongside the data of everyone else who is using Cloud computing.
The reality is that ‘the Cloud’ has almost become a buzz word used by IT people over the last number years. There are many definitions of Cloud computing but in general terms ‘the Cloud’ is a service or pool of services accessed over the internet. Typically Cloud services are run out of large data centres spread across the world. Which data centre your information is stored in depends on the provider and solution you choose, so be sure to do your homework on this.
There’s no definite figure on how many data centres are in the world but some estimates put it at around 500,000.

#2. Cloud means the end of hardware

Although Cloud services can really make a difference to your hardware footprint, you will always need some sort of device to access your applications and data. While Cloud can do away with many things including the need for numerous on-site servers, businesses will still need PCs, laptops, tablets or smartphones to access data.
Hardware is also required even if you are running your entire business in the Cloud. For example, in our own company, all of our phone systems, wireless access points and firewalls are Cloud-based. While these still require some hardware, the management of these systems is done through the Cloud which makes configuration and monitoring of performance much easier.

#3. Cloud Computing is not secure

There is a lot of hype surrounding this myth, particularly in the wake of spying revelations earlier this year. However, it is important to point out security is at the heart of the vast majority of Cloud solutions; this is why choosing your provider carefully is important.
The reality is that most businesses cannot compete with the level of security that is offered by Cloud providers given that they have teams of security experts working 24/7. The amount of time and money invested into securing both the technology and the physical locations is unparalleled.
If a business is particularly concerned about access to their data, private Cloud or hybrid solutions can provide some extra peace of mind. However, the reality is that once the correct policies are in place (necessary encryptions, two-factor authentications, data protection legislation etc.) the level of security you can get with Cloud solutions is often far superior to what would be practical at a local level.

#4. Cloud is cheaper than traditional IT

Many of the arguments in support of Cloud technologies are based on the notion that Cloud is cheaper than traditional IT. I am asked every day whether Cloud can bring costs down and the real answer to this question is: it depends. The price you will pay for Cloud services will vary according to the type of business you run and the solution you need, the amount of users you have and the security that you need in place.
Similarly, moving to the Cloud also brings about a lot of hidden costs such as migration and integration costs, potential bandwidth upgrades and investment in staff training for new systems. While all of this may add up to more than what you currently spend on IT, it is important to remember the added value that Cloud solutions are bringing to your business. This includes increased flexibility for remote working, greater team collaboration and improved back up and disaster recovery.
Cloud should be looked at as a business enabler rather than a simple replacement for traditional IT. And while it could end up being marginally more or less expensive than your current spend, the ability to pay on a per user per month basis makes it easier for businesses to manage and predict costs in the long run.

#5. Cloud is the answer to everything

Many Cloud advocates would have you believe that the answer to every IT problem is Cloud. This is simply not true. In fact, more often than not, Cloud services are the answer to business process issues rather than IT troubles. There are still a number of industry-specific applications and software out there that may not be 100% compatible with Cloud technologies. As Cloud is not an ‘all or nothing’ solution, you can easily move some elements of your business while keeping others on site for the time being.
My advice would be that if you are curious about Cloud technology and want to explore options for your business, do it one step at a time. Keep it straightforward and begin by moving simple systems like email and disaster recovery to the Cloud.  This will allow you to get familiar with the technology and make informed decisions going forward.

A Monster List Of 30 REALLY DUMB Online Personality Disorders

We all know one. ‘That guy’ – a person in one of your online networks that makes you go “not again!” or “is this woman for real?!”. We’re talking about social media personality disorders. People who don’t understand how the online world works but ignorantly abuse it to fulfil their objectives anyway and succeed in p***ing people off.
Social Media Golden Rule: “Do not do unto others online what you would not want done unto you in the real world.”

Here’s a comprehensive mix of idiots in no particular order. Enjoy!

# 1. The follower-buyer

People who buy followers on Twitter. Really?! REALLY???!!!! Years ago when Bebo was a teen paradise some kids found ‘cheats’ to get more loves on their profile. Grown adults buying followers is just in-excusable and really stupid. What can be gained by buying followers from profiles that add no value? Somebody tell us, please.
Buying followers on Facebook is misguided too. Chances are these ‘followers’ aren’t real people to begin with. They are probably virtual avatars in false accounts being generated in the social media equivalent of a sweatshop somewhere in Central or South Asia. Nice!

# 2. The troll

Ah yes. The troll. Someone who enjoys provoking thoughts of hatred by posting off-topic rubbish in online forums and threads. They’re everywhere. From online gaming to news sites. The unfortunate part is that they’d simply love to see this post as we’re giving them credit. That’s their kick. Winding people up. Ignoring them is the cure!

# 3. The spammer

Please, please, please, please, pppllleeeeeaassseeee buy this. Please… A little like the troll, they are hijacking conversations everywhere. Of course email is also another weapon of choice. A major recommendation when getting mails from Uganda asking you to cash in on your millions is just to actually respond and wind them up. Don’t click on any links and it’s actually best not to open the mail at all, but sometimes temptation overcomes us and a hilarious conversation is born. My personal favourite is asking them to buy me a dog. “But I don’t want a million dollars, I just want a poodle?”. Slowly but surely they get abrasive and angry. Very funny. Really creeping up on Twitter too with people asking you to buy followers.

# 4. The keyboard warrior

You’re so brave right now. Hiding behind the keys talking macho and abusing people in the thread. The rule is, don’t say anything online you wouldn’t say to someone’s face.

# 5. The circle jerker

Twitter seems to be worst for the circle jerk. The same bunch of people telling each other they’re great over and over. Oh no, please, YOUR conference was better or your post was just so refreshing. The exact same thing will be bounce back to them in a few days. LinkedIn is a bit like that. Endorsing people for skills that you know they’re not good at or even better, endorsing them for skills when you actually don’t know that person. A good experiment is add one skill what you have absolutely NO knowledge of. If people endorse you, then you know it’s baloney.

# 6. The waffler

Again LinkedIn is the king when it comes to this. Some people need to think before they post up content on their profile. My favourite is one guy in our network had ‘specialities’ in absolutely EVERYTHING. Reading his profile would make Larry Ellison feel insecure. The funny thing is that people actually switch off straight away so doing it is self-defeating.

# 7. The random bandit

Not everything is ‘random’. Facebook posts like this get under our skin, “Just bumped into Connor and Elish on the way to work. So random.” No it’s not random considering you live in the same area and take the same bus route. Please look up the definition of random.

# 8. The LinkedIn sales douche

Similar to our spammer, these guys just add you without knowing you or putting a personal message together when they invite you to connect. The answer. It’s called ‘decline’ or ask them how you know them and why they want to connect.

# 9. The pointless SUPER NEEDY status addict

Why tweet that you’re tired? No one cares. Why post up on Facebook that you’re ‘so excited’. Finish the status. Why are you excited? These posts really bug us and these people are just looking for attention. Nine times out of ten, if you ask they’ll come back with some smart-ass response like ‘You’ll see in time’. No we won’t. We’ll have forgotten about it in five minutes.

# 10. The Friday feeler

Friday memes. “Yay it’s Friday.” Nothing wrong with these except that every company and everybody out there is doing them. We should create memes and release them on Facebook on a Friday that say ‘Yay, only two days until Monday morning’. Be original with your content or people will not engage.

# 11. The acronym addict

Like WTF is with these people? People who use acronyms make me LMAO. LOL. IMHO, they should not be used! TTYL. Ugh…

# 12. The not sharing is not caring type

Don’t you just hate it when people share photos that say things like ‘If you don’t share this, you have no heart’? You have a heart right and you didn’t share? Perhaps you realise that sharing these photos won’t solve a problem that people are already aware of. It’s like the chain letters of social media! Get off your ass to make a difference.

# 13. The SEO expert

You’re an SEO expert ya? Well when why are you PMing me on every platform out there when I’m ranking as number 1 on Google on all the main search terms. Do your research or even better, please stop.

# 14. The miracle doctor

You have magic pills that will make irresistible to the opposite sex? Wow. I too am going to perform a miracle. I’m going to make you disappear by blocking you or by adding you to my spam folder.

# 15. The way too personal toucher feeler

Have you ever had a friend post something on Twitter or Facebook that made you go “NO! They did not post that?”. A regular occurrence is people slamming their family or quarrelling with family members online. Keep it classy. Keep it offline.

# 16. The business ‘friend’

Stop adding me as a friend if you’re a business. That’s wrong. You shouldn’t have access to my info like that. If a business does it to you just tell them in a friendly way that they shouldn’t of or report the page! There’s even tools provided by Facebook to merge over contacts from a personal page to a business one.

# 17. The text message speaker

Don’t use ‘gr8’, ‘u’ etc. on Facebook or any social network. You have characters. Use them. Twitter sometimes to be fair you have to shorten things, but otherwise no.

# 18. The instant natterer

Instant chatter can turn into instant natter when people won’t go AWAY on instant messaging. It’s a great way to chat but when you’re busy and ask people politely to come back to you later but… they just keep pinging. Would you poke someone over-and-over in the face when they ask you to stop? No, you wouldn’t so don’t do it online either.
What’s worse are the IM chats from someone looking to alleviate their loneliness and boredom (understandable), yet (and here is the real crime) they are not forthcoming with anything interesting to say and expect you to do all the work in the conversation. Here’s an example;

• Hi!
• (Me) Yes?
• Just saying Hi! What you up to?
• (Me) Thoroughly swamped at my desk right now (Big Hint)
• Oh..Did you have a nice weekend?
• At this point I scream silently into my double espresso.
• (Me) Nothing much. You?
• Oh.. Nothing….

# 19. The social media immunity type

This personality believes there are two sets of rules. One for them and another for everyone else. They may have some credibility and status in the social sphere but don’t follow the rules. They believe that the 18 personality types above are disgraceful but think they have immunity from the behaviour because they simply think their status means they can exercise the exception to all the rules. Nope. You can’t.

# 20. The Parent Trap

As one of us is a parent, we can of course understand the insatiable desire to share the overwhelmingly cute pics and antics of our offspring. It is indeed tempting, but people who over-post their children’s antics and images can be off-putting if not displaying downright dangerous Social Media behaviour.

• Parents who reveal too much information about their child’s name, address and whereabouts are running the risk of placing their kids in danger online and offline.
• They don’t realize other people could really be more interested in grown up thoughts and opinions on other topics too. EVERY post on Instagram, FB or Twitter doesn’t really need to be all about your child.
• And don’t get me started on people who use their children’s pics as an avatar… I confess I do post about my kid and family events but try to keep them to relevant circles.

# 21. The Emoticon Junkie

Yes you discovered the Emoticons and yes, I am glad you know how to use them, but more than one in every other message / sentence / line? There is a part of me – the part that is no longer in high school – that actually gets irate at the sight of too many emoticons in a message. Call me literary and old fashioned, but I occasionally yearn for a conversation with someone who is able to articulate emotion using the written word.

# 22. The Stalker – Toxic Bachelor

This one I hope, all the girls can relate to: (says Elish)
Nope I am not going to connect with you on LinkedIn or Facebook etc., because
a) You just sent me an introductory message telling me how much you love my smile and what a pretty lady I am on LinkedIn of all places.
b) I can tell by your existing Facebook profile of connections that you collect pretty gals only.

# 23. The LinkedIn over-endorser

I am flattered that you think I am an expert at ..(Insert your skill here).. but really? You live on the other side of the world and we have never done any business together. If you want my attention or my business I actually am compassionate enough to read a simple message. In totality this behaviour just leads to Endorsement Inflation and makes the ones I do have seem not quite as valuable any more.

# 24. The Foodstagram Glutton

We have all seen them, the steady stream of innocuous cups of coffees, pastry, lunchtime sandwiches and plates of nouvelle cuisine or even worse really mundane looking bistro food. It’s not that we have never done it ourselves, it’s just that we don’t want to see EVERY single boring meal go through our Instagram, Foursquare and Facebook feed. We love foodie pics better when you practise some quality control. Try posting the special stuff mostly like that once in a lifetime visit to your dream Michelin Star restaurant, that super spread you made all by yourself, food art or star quality dishes. (Stay tuned for an upcoming post on the foodstagram debate)

# 25. The Social Media Anxiety Sufferer

Don’t be a victim either. Don’t fall prey to the self loathing and creeping notions of inadequacy when scanning the seemingly superior lifestyles of others across your social media sites. Too much exposure to crafty pinterest pics from Martha Stewart types can make you break out in a sweat over your lack of creativity.
Your inability to recreate origami masterpieces at the last party is not a sign of failure. LinkedIn makes us wonder where we went wrong on our inferior career history and Facebook statuses rife with social butterflies or travel plans can give you FOMO ( fear of missing out). Don’t forget other people can have shitty grey lives too, they just don’t advertise that bit as much.

# 26. The preacher

While this post is about these heinous personality types, it shouldn’t give rise to people actually going out of their way to find and provoke people who are guilty. Don’t preach and don’t slam or insult other people. Lead by example only. That’s it. Don’t preach, just practice and don’t think you’re better than everyone else because you do, online or off.

# 27. The Conference Hashtag Pirate

Doesn’t it really annoy you when people hi-jack a conference hashtag to advertise? There you are scanning the feed to see who’s saying what and to find out if you can meet-up with anyone of interest. There’s plenty to meet up with using the hashtag alright! A lot of them are not actually there, but waiting in an apartment nearby to discuss more elements involved with more ‘traditional’ professions. It’s not all seedy. Some people are just plain spamming. If you’re not there or can’t add anything to the topic being discussed at that time, just leave it alone for the rest of us.

# 28. Online Bullies

OK, so we somewhat covered this in the ‘Keyboard Warrior’ except this takes it to a whole other level. People who are racist, sexist, sectarian etc. online. Hurling abuse is one thing. Insulting a whole ethnicity doing it is another. Plenty examples out there that I’m sure you are aware of. No way are they getting ‘airtime’ on this post.

# 29. The Content Stealer

You post something up. Then low and behold, someone posts it 5 minutes later on Facebook. But… they don’t share it. They blatently steal it from an obscure source you’ve been following. It’s especially noticeable if it’s old content. Stop stealing. Either share, RT or just find your own material bub!

# 30. The Two-facer

Yes, we know. It’s not a word. But these people agree with everything you say offline every time you meet yet project a totally different attitude and perception of things online. You do realise we follow you yes? So why congratulate us on a post and then diss it online thinking we won’t see? Perhaps you should invest in some common sense!
Not convinced? This video might get you thinking
Time for some fun! In the comments below, tell us about some really annoying personality types you’ve encountered AND give us an example of what kind of posts or behaviour they do. Really looking forward to seeing (and laughing at) what you have for us!

What To Look For When Hiring A Webmaster For Your Company Website

A business’s website is a crucial component of their marketing efforts and needs to be updated with the latest information and products that their business offers. When chosen properly, a webmaster can turn a business’s site into a very profitable tool.
The webmaster should be able to look after all the key aspects of a site including the design, its development, server management, and web marketing. If you feel you are spending too much time working on your website and not enough time focusing on the part of your business that you actually enjoy, it may be time to consider hiring a webmaster.

Below are a few things to look for in a webmaster for your company website.

# 1. Impressive portfolio

Look for someone who has experience with building websites from the ground up. Make sure to take a look at their level of design and programming functionality.

• If their portfolio doesn’t impress you, chances are, neither will they.
• Ensure that all potential candidates are at the very least, equipped with an updated and impressive portfolio.
• Go for a professional who is well-versed with the latest techniques and trends in graphic design, website building, and coding.

# 2. Timely delivery

A great webmaster is able to consistently deliver projects within the given time-frame. Even if the webmaster is expensive to hire, your company will save money in the long run if he or she is capable of doing more in a given period of time.

• Your webmaster should also be able to implement changes in a timely manner.
• Whether you’re updating property information on your main website or simply adding product photos to a blog, you need it done quickly.

# 3. Responsiveness

Another important quality of great webmaster is their ability to handle request submissions in an efficient manner. A good webmaster should be able to respond to submitted requests on time.

• A complex website project may involve an entire team of professionals including web designers, web developers, coders, copywriters etc. A good webmaster should be proficient in getting on well and acting responsibly with the team working on the project.
• Hire someone that does webmaster work as a full time profession rather than a part time hobby. Your turnaround time will be much quicker with someone who is available during regular business hours.

# 4. Knows your business

You may not find a webmaster that has an expert understanding of your industry, but strive to find someone who will take the time to understand your business. It is important they know what you are trying to accomplish with your site so they can implement your ideas effectively.

5. Technical expertise

Having someone that is accountable and can take care of all the technical aspects of running a website can save you a lot of headaches. Experience with servers, databases, and domain configurations are essential for any webmaster.
Your webmaster needs to understand about keyword research and integrate the words your customers are using into the copy and the coding of the website. This will again result in more visitors, more customers and more sales. Take these suggestions into consideration the next time you find yourself looking for a webmaster for your company website.

CRM #Fail – What Goes Wrong And What To Do

You no doubt know the statistics, they’re freely available, and widely shared – 50 to 80 percent of CRM implementations FAIL. Not just statistics plucked from the air, but those put forward by Gartner and Meta Group, respectable analysts who know their stuff. That’s up to four in every five CRM implementations.
So, what goes wrong? In this post I’m going to look at why CRM implementations go wrong – and it almost always involves the purchaser.

General Motors and the Customer Service Issue

This example dates back to 1999, but it is of absolute relevance to today. GM’s commercial mortgage branch had become a leader in business real-estate loans, but needed a CRM implementation to increase automation, boost efficiency, and boost intelligence for call-centre staff.
Where the implementation failed was at a very early stage. Indeed, the consultants implementing the system failed to define WHO the users were – a basic error that resulted in errors further down the line throughout the implementation.
By introducing an automated voice response system, they hoped to increase efficiency, but the system was never mapped to GM’s internal structure, resulting in drop-out, customer attrition and ultimately, a fall in revenues. Indeed, 99% of customers simply hit “0” to talk to an operator. Not only did they fail to understand WHO would use the CRM system, they failed to understand their customers. Nobody wanted to go through an automated system for commercial mortgages. Credit cards, perhaps. But this… not at all.
The lesson learnt here was that CRM success depends very much on understanding who is using the CRM system, mapping it to those people, and ensuring that it actually benefits customers, too. This early design methodology seeps into later implementation stages – it is crucial that implementation be built around people, not processes!

The Anonymous Multi-CRM Problem

This is a problem that I have seen several times over, but most notably in one major telecommunications business with a sales presence in over 50 countries around the world. A blanket approach to CRM was attempted, with a single implementation across every territory.
The result? None of the sales people around the world used the global CRM, and pockets of sales people were buying up their own CRMs on company credit cards, and using isolated little environments of small business CRM systems. Some clubbed together, some worked in isolation, and there were at least ten CRM systems all working independently. The global CRM stood idle.
What went wrong here? Well, everything, but principally, there was a lack of communication from the top, followed by a lack of training in order to enforce the global CRM. Equally, there was a lack of understanding about the CRM’s target audience – the sales teams. Different cultures around the world, with different requirements required a more flexible approach than a blanket enforcement of one CRM solution.
The result was greater fragmentation, and greater inefficiency.

Cigna Corporation Lose Members

The Healthcare division at Cigna Corporation faced a number of problems at the start of the century, having spent $1bn on implementing CRM and IT systems. The result of the problems they experienced was that membership fell by nearly 1 million due to poor customer service, and the company made a loss of $398m.
What went wrong? Principally, it was down to misconceptions: misconceptions about scope, scale and cost. The business tried to rush through the CRM implementation without fully acknowledging the scale of the problem they already faced. IT systems were already two decades old, with several isolated units holding isolated units of data.
Naturally, the CRM implementation attempted to bring that data together in order to handle customer transactions, processing and billing in one central location. The problem was that professional business solutions providers were not consulted, and the project was rushed through. Migration and implementation problems resulted in customer dissatisfaction, and negative brand exposure.

Lessons to be Learned

CRM implementation fails not because the CRM isn’t up to scratch – it fails because goals, users and customer groups are not clearly defined. It fails because organisations rush to implement without considering business-wide impact, and it fails because users fail to engage with the product – often as a result of the previous reasons.
This infographic from Preact lists 11 ways to ensure CRM is planned correctly in order to avoid CRM implementation failure, and establish long-term value, but in short the message is simple: plan, define & communicate. Failure to do so results in CRM #fail.

Does My IT Team Need A Strategy?

This is a common comment / question asked by both company CEOs and heads of IT, as they seek to ensure that enhanced services are provided by their IT teams. It’s an understandable question from both a business and a technology perspective as:

• Businesses look to their IT teams to ensure that business transactions are processed promptly and that the management team has access to quality information to base effective decisions on to help chart a way through challenging times
• Heads of IT look to enhance the customer delivery capability of their organisation, to demonstrate that they are more than a cost line in providing practical solutions.

IT organisations have a wide variety of topics to consider;

• The benefits and challenges of using cloud computing along with or in place of other delivery options such as hosted or on-premise solutions
• The potential of open source solutions to deliver enterprise ready solutions
• The impact of different regulatory systems on the management of IT systems
• The ongoing focus on cost benefit analysis to get the appropriate balance between investing for the future business needs and covering day-to-day expenditure
• The importance of being increasingly agile to manage changing business requirements
• Enhancing security standards to reduce the risk of a hacking incident

An adaptable road-map

A strategy can and does help. Think of it like a road-map, but one that can and should be reviewed periodically with the IT organisation’s ‘internal’ customers. A strategy is not a one-off exercise where IT and Business Management teams think that they are locked into. Changes will be required, so it’s important to consider this strategy as a working document.

Demand vs. Supply

As with any customer-focused organisation and it’s no different for an IT organisation, the first step in a strategy starts with identifying the ‘customer demand’ – what are the business solutions that the organisation management needs now and in the future. In parallel with this discussion, IT organisations can be proactive in proposing new opportunities and ways for doing business. These initial steps will generate the first part of the strategy – an Information Systems (IS) strategy listing the business goals and their requirements of what they as a business would like to see delivered from the IT organisation.
One important characteristic of an IS strategy is that it specifies what is required in adequate detail – in simple terms this is a list of prioritised user requirements – the ‘What’.
For every customer demand, there needs to be a supply – the ‘How’. The ‘How’ is an Information Technology (IT) strategy – spelling out in appropriate technical detail, how each of the user requirements in the IS strategy will be delivered. The IT strategy spells out the combination of network, server, database, operating system(s), transaction systems and how they will be delivered to provide the appropriate means to each business user to achieve their requirements in the IS strategy.

Collaboration is key

One of the characteristics of this process that helps in it’s success is that the IS startegy is a top-down approach identifying the key business requirements from the senior
management team, while the IT strategy is a bottom-up strategy with all of the IT organisation working on the appropriate IT tools to support these requirements.
To finish with an important point, made at the start of this post, it is important that this is an ongoing process supported by a collaborative relationship between a technical savvy business management team and a business savvy IT team.

What Is Open Source?

Open source software, open systems, open data, open standards, open….
‘Openness’ is a topic that is increasingly being talked about. From reading and listening to the discussion, it is clear there is no consistent definition of what Open is. However that doesn’t detract from the passion of open advocates and the benefits of Open source, data, standards etc.

Lets look at some of the components

Open source software consists of applications and components where the source code is publicly available for others to use and enhance as they wish. Such software has large (online) communities of developers and users sharing information on bugs, enhancements and ideas related to the application or component.
Examples include:

1. Joomla or Drupal – web content management applications
2. Thunderbird – desktop email and messaging application
3. LibreOffice – desktop productivity suite
4. Linux – operating system

In the world of open source software, there are two types of licences used to ‘govern’ ongoing development in summary;

• GNU General Public Licence where the main principle is that if you use an open source application or component in your software then your software needs to be made available as open source as well
• Apache Licence where the principle is a little different in that you don’t have to make your software application open to other developers even though you may have used open software in the application

(Open) standards are needed to produce open software

In order for software to be open, standards are needed. Open standards exist in many software areas but in order to considered as an open standard, each one must comply with a number of criteria. Two examples of open standards are;

• TCP / IP – together these two open protocols enable networks around the world to exchange data and thus was a big contributor to the development of the worldwide web
• HTML – one of the markup language standards for web pages

Such standards work from a similar principle as open software; if a standard is good enough, then they are used, otherwise an existing standard is enhanced or a new standard is started and shared around the world. One benefit from using open standards is ‘interoperability‘ where my application or component can work in different software environments.

Then there is open data

The final open component is open data, which is as important as the other components. As the use of the web has increased, so has the amount of data and information, both personal and business, from new product and customer announcements to holiday photos and Government services information. With this growth, a debate on how best to use all this information with due consideration to privacy, security and the potential benefits of information sharing has taken to the air.
In an ‘open’ letter from Google on the “Meaning of Open”, three useful principles of openness were discussed;

• Value - by sharing information and data companies can make products and services that can be beneficial to people. In return, companies need to explain in simple language to users the value that they receive in turn for sharing some or all of their data
• Transparency - where it needs to be easy for a user to find out what information is being gathered and how it is being used
• Control – where the final decision is in the hands of a user to easily control how much information is shared via such features as opt-out.

From my experiences of the Open world, I find it innovative and with that innovation it can be a little chaotic as open source software, standards and data evolve. Evolution is an apt term for the Open world because I think it’s a longer term game but progress is ongoing.

The Need for Return On IT

The latest developments in technology have changed the way world does business. It shrunk the world and now created a global market place where a company in Cork no longer competes with local businesses only but also has to compete with businesses from Bangalore or Shanghai. This in turn created newer challenges where businesses had to increase their efficiency, performance, profitability and competitiveness through more technological initiatives.
As companies attempted to focus on technology initiatives, the actual implementation sometimes created a gap where they have been broadly applied to justify a myriad of IT budget expenses on technology / product acquisitions and seismic shifts disguised as process improvements.
And when this use of technology in business evolved further, the number of redundant applications grew – many of them becoming legacy systems with no clear indication of the business need they support. This defeated the fundamental theme of technology implementation, which was more about reaping greater rewards from simpler steps but not the very reverse. Technology stops delivering at that stage when we have a complex eco system with no clear roles and responsibilities defined.
The need to economically align IT systems with business in a dynamic environment should be the key driver behind the new ROI(T) efforts. In the current economic scenario it is more than ever relevant that we optimize operating expenses by more effectively using IT and business investments.
We need to recalibrate the orbit of IT around the world of business and initiate efforts that reach an adaptive state where progress stems from a general trend toward adoption of higher standards, combined with a greater awareness of good governance techniques, such as metrics and incentives that help bridge the two worlds.
A methodical approach needs to be carried out for evaluating the ROI(T) that aims to understand the complete inventory of applications and carry out a rational analysis that would help in reducing cost and complexity from IT systems. This needs to be done for as simple IT system as a web site to a more complex ERP systems etc. As with every implementation, having an overall IT strategy where the role and relevance is clarified with clear road map helps. This overall strategic direction leads to the following steps on a need basis

• Set overall IT policies and direction, with the customers’ needs in mind — but don’t seek to control every operational detail.
• Establish an IT steering committee to set priorities and approve standardization plans. Business value is the filter to be used.
• Define infrastructure and architecture strategies that drive business value, such as making a office “green,” and establishing performance controls.
• Implement service level agreements between IT and business units that guarantee uptime but also promote alignment through use of business metrics.

Thoughts?

Head in the Clouds

You’ve probably  been charged with this yourself, it is a key entrepreneurial trait. And now it seems we were right all along. Cloud  computing is here, but what does that mean in practical terms? How does it make you smarter, faster, richer? Here’s our story:
Almost every staff member of our company has a systems background,  which makes us  abhor duplication or inefficiency of any kind. Still we allowed it to creep in.  As staff were added in various locations,  things got out of control. Here’s how cloud computing brought it back. (due to  non-promotion rules I cannot mention individual brands, but you get the picture)
Online CRM (Our first cloud)
Even when there were only two of us in the same office manning the customer support line, time wasted on getting information out of each others  heads like, ‘Did you solve that customer’s query’? or ‘How many are coming to the next class?’ was eating into our profit margin. We needed a CRM system  to pull up customer history, saving their time and ours resolving queries. It happened accidentally that the solution we chose was online, and I thank the business fairy that drove us there.  As our markets and staff expanded to different locations, our customer database was centrally and securely accessible.
VOIP (Voice over IP – second cloud)
Most people associate this with call cost saving. For us, it was again about  efficiency.  We wanted strong reporting features showing  missed calls, peak time, length of calls, forwarded calls.  The system we picked has this and also allows us to courier a phone to anyone with broadband. They plug it in and it behaves like one of our company extensions. Now can add contract staff at peak times and not lose the call information.  Over-qualified support staff can be brought on from up a mountain as long as they have broadband.

Online Document Repository (third cloud)
Much time has been wasted with ‘Where’s the last flyer for Cork?’, ‘Where is our tax clearance cert’, ‘Where’s the how-to for sending a newsletter?’ , ‘Who has the grant reclaim checklist?’.  It was only very recently that this niggle of inefficiency was addressed though a cloud hosted secure online document repository.
The Final Frontier
Online Accounting (mother of all clouds)
The last piece to our puzzle is getting the company financials online.  Happily this is our domain, and we are nearly ready to deploy it for ourselves and our lucky customers.  By financials online I don’t mean having staff compiling and emailing or uploading sales and profit reports to me.  I mean day by day, minute by minute, single point of entry transaction recording.  When a sale happens, I want to see it instantly. I want it to show in my profit and loss, I want to drill down and see the nanosecond it occurred. I want to see staff to sales ratios whenever I feel like it with up-to-the-minute information.
And I want no duplication of effort. I don’t want  people writing purchases or sales up on ledgers or typing them into excel only to have them re-keyed or imported into an accounts system later. Why waste time  like that? I want the first person in the company to handle a piece of paper to be the one that gets it into the accounts system. Online. Where I can see it. Where it  is absorbed straight away into the critical information mass that I need to analyse and make decisions.
Our goal is to be fully in the cloud by end 2010. We are nearly there!

Website Accessibility: Why Bother?

An accessible website is the one that anyone can access and can easily use, including those with disabilities. It would be fair to say that while most business want their website to be ‘user friendly’. Accessibility is not at the top of their agenda. In all of the years I have been developing business websites, no company has ever requested accessibility as part of their website brief. It is often part of the brief for public sector websites but even then this is usually a result of a legal requirement or the aim of achieving an award.
Making a website accessible can mean extra effort on behalf of the web designer and the organisation behind the site. To achieve great accessibility though, all types of end user need to be considered and catered for, from those with visual impairments who may use a screen reader to read your website’s text, to users with motor skill difficulties and intellectual disabilities. This can add extra cost to the project which many businesses are not willing to pay especially since the return on investment may not be immediately obvious. Given the extra cost and effort…

Why should a business consider having accessibility as part of their website brief?

1. If your business has a social conscious and states that it cares about it’s social responsibility, then incorporating some accessible features is worth considering. These can then be listed in an accessibility statement on your website.
2. You may think that your target customers do not have disabilities but when you think of all of the different types of disability then chances are that a certain percentage of them do. For example, most of them will not be totally blind, but many of your customers may have poor vision or be colour blind and will not want to work with you if they can’t use your website.
3. A website designed for people with disabilities will also be very accessible to everyone else, allowing your site to reach a wider audience.
4. Many accessibility features also have good cross over with other important considerations like cross browser and cross device compatibility. For example many experts don’t recommend the use of Flash, as screen readers can’t read the content in a Flash site and people with certain disabilities can find moving content hard to focus on or interpret. Similarly a Flash site won’t display at all on the iPhone or iPad so by meeting this accessibility requirement you are making a site that will ultimately be seen by more people. I have come across a few sites lately that because they are built entirely in Flash don’t display at all on the iPhone or iPad.
5. Accessibility forces you to think about the end user. Often business managers want to include a particular item on their website such as animation or a video because they think it will look impressive or because the competition has it on their website. If they have to consider ‘Is that Accessible?’ it forces them to stop and think about how the end user will perceive the content. If it does not enhance the site for the end user then why would you add it to your website?

If accessibility is part of your website brief from the beginning then it is a lot easier and cost effective to achieve than trying to make an existing site accessible.
In website accessibility – Part 2, I will guide you through some of the features you can add to your site to ensure it is accessible, as well as giving tips on how you can check the accessibility of your website. In the meantime The Centre For Excellence in Universal Design is a great resource.

How Should I Contact You?

What’s the right way to contact clients, colleagues and friends, and for them to contact you? Is offering a multitude of options really the best way forward and will certain tools begin to become acceptable for certain types of communication?
This post is a little like crystal ball gazing because this change is continuing to wind its way along. But for now, here are my predictions:

Email is not dead, long live email

For certain scenarios, traditional email is still entirely suitable. This includes most client B2B contact, a lot of inter-corporate communications, and some B2C contact, particularly opt-in newsletters and special offers (though many of these are migrating to Facebook). If you need to make a lengthy and involved communication, where structure is important, then email is still your very best option.

Facebook will become the dominant player in social emailing/messaging/’chatmail’ (Watch out Gmail!)

Although Facebook messaging isn’t true email as it lacks some of the features of email, it is very well suited to social, informal contact. Now friends don’t have to worry whether they have your up- to-date email address, because they know you’re active on Facebook. If someone wants to reach you on the weekend, Facebook is probably a better option, because you may check Facebook more often than email (depending on how much of an addict you are). Regardless, Facebook will send the recipient an email with the contents (depending on setup options). Facebook is also quite unique in that it collates SMS, IM and emails within a message string. Facebook says this is ideal for a typical family scenario – where a grandparent is a strict email user, a teen prefers SMS via their mobile and a parent prefers to use Facebook – Facebook messaging allows converged contact with all of these whatever the medium used. What’s evolving is that the means of communication is now less important than the conversation itself. Of course, this is particularly relevant for social, informal messaging, but not so for business communication.

Skype is super for instant messaging

Instant messaging is a beautiful thing, in my opinion. I rarely use it to contact clients but for colleagues and friends it can be time saving, easy and effective. By its very nature it’s instant, so long as the other person is online (which you can normally see), but it’s also short. It’s difficult to see how anyone could object to it. After all, if you don’t want to be IM’d, you can set your profile to view ‘Away’ or ‘Do not disturb’ and then you won’t be bothered. I hope and expect that it will soon become more acceptable for business use. Facebook does of course have IM (or chat) as part of its offering, but I prefer to keep Facebook for personal/social use only. And I feel that the Skype interface is superior to Facebook chat and to Google chat. The also-rans are:

LinkedIn useful for business networking

You probably don’t have the email addresses of many of your linked in contacts, so this gives you a way of messaging them without getting too close by asking for their email address.

Twitter has limited value

You can send contacts/followers a public tweet, which is only really useful if they’re currently online. You can also send them a Direct Message and even if they’re not online they will receive an email to say they’ve received a DM. With the 140 character limit however, Twitter is only really useful for contacts for whom you don’t have another means of contact.

So, in short, the killer communications’ apps are:

• Email for B2B, B2C and some corporate
• Skype or similar for rapid response and short messaging.
• Facebook for most social emailing/messaging

Perhaps shortcuts on our smartphones and computers should now use generic terms: Quick Message (QM) or Friendly Message (FM) or Business Message (BM), and link through to the apps that you favour for each. There’s so much I haven’t talked about here including functionality, privacy issues, technology issues, video contact, the growth of mobile internet and how it will affect all of these. Overall, would you agree? What does your crystal ball tell you?

The modern business, the social business

When people talk about social media they immediately start thinking about Facebook, Twitter etc but social media can be a whole new way of working for organisations.  Instead of talking about social media how about talking about social business.  This is about transforming how you run your business using social media. The following outlines ways of changing your business using social media:
Marketing –  If you want to market your products, grow your brand awareness, engage with your customers and drive sales online and you want to do this in a cost effective manner then social media is perfect for this.
Human Resources – Instead of going the traditional route and contacting employment agencies why don’t you start searching for, contacting and recruiting directly through LinkedIn.
Before you contact a person you  know who they are connected to, who recommends them,  what they have contributed online through linkedin groups and questions/answers and what their background is.  When you find the right person you can contact them through an introduction and begin the interview process at no cost.
Product Development – When you want to develop new products maybe this time you’ll streamline your product management team and set up a website that will collect ideas for new functionality from existing and new customers.  Dell ideastorm is a perfect example.  Dell use this site to gather ideas for changes they should make to their products.  This saves Dell a lot of money.
Customer Service – How about getting customers to answer queries to their own issues?  This is exactly the type of service that is offered through Getsatisfaction.    This uses real time, dynamic customer support provided through the wisdom of crowds.
Sales -  If you want customers to market your products and increase your sales by referral why not implement a rating and recommendation system that is run by an independent company such as the Irish company LouderVoice.   From research 80% of recommendations from friends are trusted but what’s even more interesting is that 60% of recommendations from people we don’t know are still trusted.  So if you don’t have a recommendations/rating system in place and you’re selling products then make sure to add one in.
Knowledge Management – There are many ways of modernising how you capture, exchange and share information in an organisation and these tools help promote better communication and a more efficient organisation. For example, you can create Wiki’s to share your documentation, create internal private social networks to increase conversation or implement micro-blogging tools to reduce on e-mail.
Do you think social media will have such a dramatic effect on organisations ?