Compete 2011

Get your IT priorities together dude!
Elevate your game and get a chance to rub elbows with the big boys. IT is officially a necessary business unit worthy of a bigger budget, and a seat at the table of company executives. The importance of a relevant dedicated information technology unit is usually understated especially in the world of small business. That said, we have ten relevant issues your business may face that require technological savvy.

10. Optimization of hardware and software integration. Business processes should be focused to add value to the product or service being offered by your small business.

9. Draw from your businesses unique strengths and expand your company offerings globally. This means using the internet to level the playing field.

8. Keep your company ahead of the curve. Use customer relationship management tools to anticipate your customer’s needs and behaviors. IT accelerates this process.

7. Leveraging cloud resources is vital to your businesses success. Your IT guys live in the cloud. That is if you have an “IT Guy”.

6. Customer Relationship Management will also be a priority this year as CRM will power product and services design. Customers will demand participation in the process from end to end.

5. Social media tools will become indispensable. Simply put if you are not using social media you should just kill your business now.
4. Go digital. Keep back-ups of all data and documents. Your Information Technology Officer can insure who gets what data and insure deliverables are in the appropriate format.

3. Customers are accessing data via smartphone. Have a mobile/cellular strategy and secure or standardize it.

2. Make sure your budget for technology implementation is comparable or better than your competition. If not it can kill your business or career.

1. Use technology to quantify your data. What type of analytics will you and your organization be using measure and improve technology implementation.


I know… You’re making a three-million a year! You started with five-hundred in the bank, and you don’t need (blah, blah, and blah) to make money. The fact of the matter is that Im thinking expansion, wealth, and value. That’s what efficient, effective IT implementation does. Building a website adds value to your products and services, using facebook and other social media expands your customer base, and attaching an ecommerce unit to your business creates wealth. In 2011 to you want to make money, or build wealth?

regards
WEBSOLOGIST

To Tweet or not to Tweet???

The most popular LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube are growing at exponential rates. Apprehension to these semantic Web 2.0, platforms is understandable as many people and business are slow to adapt to change.
I can appreciate social media because I live in the Matrix or the world of computer geekiness. I understand the platform, how to use it, and protecting privacy. Those of you that don’t understand should consider my company as an advisor to leveraging social media to benefit your business.

The world of social media is no anomaly. This is America and it is no surprise that these platforms proudly claim America as their home country. Social media is free speech and expression online just to keep it simple. Your customers’ competition and almost everybody between are perusing the virtual world of social media. An amalgamation of dynamic communities are being developed using social media. The connectedness is vital to consumers and producers, buyers and sellers, entertainers and fans. You know the type of relationship.

Being or hiring a saavy social networker has its upside. Businesses are connected to their customers in an informal way. It is the management of that relationship developed on social media that promotes your personal brand or business effectively. Consumers are voicing their opinions’ Businesses are communicating their message as well. The question then becomes how and in what capacity will you participate rather than; Im not on Facebook and what is Twitter.

i WILL BE UPDATING MY BLOGS THIS YEAR. i PROMISE.

You cannot do anything in the Cloud???

Cloud Computing is defined as internet or online based computing where computers accessing the internet share real-time resources to achieve certain specific goals. For a business the goal might be decreasing network traffic, decreasing server workloads and eliminating bottlenecks. For personal users cloud resources can be used for storage and collaboration on small projects.

Taking advantage of cloud resources involves management of corporate company information and knowledge. Managing valuable company information brings its own set of security issues. Not so much for the personal user. That said; let's get to the fun stuff being done in the Cloud.

Companies like Google, Saleforce, GoToMeeting and Amazon have used virtualization and datacenters built on server farms to deliver business applications to end users or clients. Facebook, and Twitter also use cloud resources to deliver all sorts of add on applications. I think it's safe to say facebooking and tweeting are very much enjoyable. Then the question becomes how can individuals and companies leverage cloud resources while mimicking the atmosphere of Facebook and twitter to increase productivity.

Maximizing the utilization of cloud computing resources just makes sense. In the age of smart phones, inexpensive digital storage, and smaller more powerful processors individuals and corporations can be connected perpetually. These connections are meaningful and serve to make life a bit simpler in terms of technology. If you have a gmail, youtube, amazon, or yahoo account you are using cloud resources already.

You name it; we can do it in the Cloud!

 

Vista to Seven....HOLD.....Sorry to not stimulate the Economy

According to Microsoft will be offering free upgrades from Vista to Windows 7. Unfortunately, the offer doesn't start until June 26. The lesson? If you planned to buy a new computer this month, don't. Wait for Windows 7.

To some extent, this new upgrade program shouldn't be a surprise; Microsoft offered free or low-cost upgrade coupons for Vista when it came out in 2007. In retrospect, the only thing worse than a Vista upgrade coupon was twoVista upgrade coupons. That's especially true for those poor saps who bought Vista Capable computers, only to find they couldn't handle Vista.

What Microsoft hasn't yet announced is the make-good program for Vista users that I wished a few weeks ago. A generous discount for Vista users, especially the early adopters who suffered through its birthing pains in early 2007, would be a great thank-you gift. Microsoft might lose a bit of money from upgraders, but they can consider it a PR cost of putting Vista behind them.

A program like the one Microsoft announced is aimed at preventing a sales freezeup that could occur now that users know Windows 7 is coming in late October. That could wipe out the back-to-school sales season, for example. Given the choice between a Vista computer that I can upgrade to Windows 7 and one with Windows 7 preinstalled, though, the best way to ensure compatibility is to wait.

http://www.informationweek.com

Social Networking Enterprise

The social networking craze that has swept the not only the young but established businesses of America has IT Infrastructure Architects managing blogs, social networking and the like.

This is where the Enterprise 2.0 Conference June 22-25 in Boston, comes in. Broadly speaking, the conference is a vehicle designed to make sense out of the social networking landscape made up of blogs, wikis, customer e-mails, web sites, and forums as well as cloud computing, that is increasingly critical to how business is conducted.

Steve Wylie, general manager of the conference, believes U.S. business is ripe for business-oriented social networking -- provided enterprises can understand it and its rapidly-changing dynamics.

"At Enterprise 2.0 we're exploring new technologies and how they're being put to work," said Wylie in an interview. "Everybody is a social media expert these days. But we're going to look at social media and distill it."

Wylie attributes the record high number of expected attendees -- 1,500 have pre-registered -- largely to their interest in finding and developing cost-efficient techniques and programs during trying economic times.

Noting that at an earlier Enterprise 2.0 event participants were still trying to define social networking, Wylie said many participants are now starting to implement their own social networking-based strategies.

They can learn from others, such as Lockheed Martin, which has initiated leading edge social networking. Harvard Business School professor Andrew McAfee will moderate a panel on "Applying the Social Dimension to the Lockheed Martin Mission." Participants will feature Lockheed's Shawn Dahlen, senior media program manager and Christopher Keohane, social media program product manager at Lockheed

Who said Social Networking couldn’t increase critical success factors. Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, are really good for something when used properly.

http://www.informationweek.com

MAC VS. PC

The age old debate which is better Mac OS X or Windows OS.

The Mac Operating System X:

Macintosh’s Operating System has been improved. From the system utility “Finder” which locates and opens files folders and programs to installation of the operating system, the Mac OS has been streamlined and improved.

For example, multiple core processors and 64 bit support produces an OS that is even more aggressive when Snow Leopard is activated or installed. Leopard is the OS patch for Apple’s OS X. Much like Microsoft’s Seven is the OS patch for Vista.

Pro: Apple comes with useful pre-installed software.
Iphone, Ipod and family of compatible products.
Con: Price points, do it yourself hardware support. (tutorials are more available).

My opinion:

I love Macs for their pre-installed software. From a web design perspective Apple is incredible. Designing and Video Editing on Mac OS X Leopard is exhilarating.


Windows Vista Operating System:

Microsoft’s second to last OS has also been improved. From the interface to security and search features. The upgrade patch Windows Seven much like Leopard to OS X is the upgrade patch. Seven is Vista on steroids.

For instance, Seven also utilizes 64 bit support and dual core processing. (The processor is the frontal lobe of your machine.) Hardware support ventures into emerging touch screen technologies.

Pro: Price points, selection of hardware producers. Larger Market Share.
Con: Standards and compatibility issues. Additional software costs.

My opinion: I love PC’s for their programming conductivity. An amalgamation of utilities exists for web programming in a windows environment.

Both OS have their position in the world of computing. I’m proficient using both Apple and Windows to develop various projects. I also own both types of machines.

So keep debating……