Posts Tagged ‘Technical’

Odds are, if you are a small to medium business (SMB), you have considered using a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider.  A SaaS provider can let you do things like offload the burden of non-core (but essential) functions like email, workflows, and CRM.

When evaluating SaaS vendors, it is important to look beyond their solution offerings, beyond ‘features and benefits,’ and at the vendor itself.

Building on an earlier article (Selecting a Vendor—Things to Consider), there are some additional things to consider:

Financial

Regardless of a firm’s size, employing a SaaS provider is not without up-front costs. It can range from customization (e.g. workflows) to simple opportunity-costs involving staff retooling. You want to be sure you’ve not just spent a large % of your budget only to have the vendor abruptly close their doors (giving you a glorious opportunity to explain why you were caught off-guard).

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If you’re aspiring to move beyond your current role, you’re likely looking for ways to be seen as innovative, progressive, and ‘fresh.’  Which means, odds are, if you’re a business leader, event planner, meeting facilitator, or similar, you’re always watching for new ways to make them better.

If your life revolves around using PowerPoint or Keynote, how can you do better? Yes, you can add snazzy graphics, spinning tops, and whiz-bang animation.  And if you do, you’ll likely just come across as someone using distracting, confusing, dizzying images.  One way to avoid this latter problem, is to take a look at Garr Reynold’s book, Presentation Zen.

You’ve likely heard of this thing called social media.  You’ve also likely noticed it’s just about ‘everywhere.’  Even if the majority of the country still doesn’t understand it (Fast Company found, ’…69% of U.S. adults still have no idea what it is.’), they’ve likely been exposed.

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Monday night I had the opportunity to attend an Agile Groupies meeting.  It’s a semi-regular gathering of folks (developers, business analysts, product managers, etc.) interested in a specific approach, Agile, toward software development.

For those of you not familiar, Agile development focuses on smaller development teams, working on smaller deliverables, in highly iterative, somewhat less structured approach.  Part of the thinking is that if you are delivering in smaller, more discrete ‘chunks’ of working product, that the overall process will be more ‘agile,’ more adaptive to ongoing change during a product’s overall life cycle. The idea is to move away from ‘heavy’ less flexible disciplines, and back toward lighter, freer, approaches. Read the rest of this entry »

Had a good conversation with a friend today.  As we talked, we seemed to circle around a common thought that has been all too apparent to many of us these days.  We have increasingly become a nation of specialists.  The foremen (and women) have largely been sent packing.

Sometimes the essence of this thought comes to mind, even though you might not do so tangibly.  For instance, my family has had a spat of medical ‘things’ going on.  10 years ago, most of our time was spent with our general practitioner.  You know…the one doctor you went to for just about ‘everything.’  Now, the GP seems to simply be a glorified gatekeeper.  Skin your knee, see the GP.  If you need a band-aid they’ll set you right up.  Otherwise, you’re off to for visits to any number of point-practitioners.  Ok, I exaggerate a bit…‘just’ a bit.

This problem is also very evident in our professional lives as well.  Today I met with a number of folks in a regional networking group.  The group reflects what is already known about this recession…most of those effected are mid/senior careerists.  What seems unspoken though, is these are also the folks known to a different generation as foremen.

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Now that Windows 7 is available to the general public I decided it was time to introduce it to my environment. In years past, I was typically eager to live on the bleeding edge. Now, I’m a little more relaxed, willing to learn from other’s teething pains, and avoid adopting features that might significantly change or be dropped by the time the final version popped out. Even so, adopting Windows 7 the week it came out might still cause others to feel I’m on the bleeding edge. Let’s just say I’ve allowed the edge to dull…a tad.

If you want an in-depth review of every Windows component, along with myriad opinions, I’d encourage you to check out someplace like TechRepublic. My following observations are directed toward those of you with a more casual affair with your PC. Read the rest of this entry »

A common starting point

The internet’s ubiquitous nature has made possible so much. If it were not for the internet (like the utilitarian ‘phone,’ it’s time to stop capitalizing ‘internet’) the notion of Software as a Service (SaaS) wouldn’t even exist. Yet while incredibly empowering, the internet can be incredibly devastating when it fails.

Saying, ‘…the internet is down…’ is often akin to using the ever popular Read the rest of this entry »

This item’s a bit granular compared to most of my posts. But since the topic came up today, using email to sent to a recipient’s mobile phone, I thought it was worth sharing for you.

The first thing, is that unless there’s a specific restriction on doing so, most mobile carriers will support receiving email addressed to their mobile customers and converting to SMS for transmission to their phone. For instance, if you’re with AT&T, you can simply send an email to 1231231234@txt.att.net, and AT&T will transmit the message as desired.

Of course, the question you may need to think through, Read the rest of this entry »

I tend to align the reasoning behind my posts with technology, leaning more often than not, toward IT, software, SaaS, and the like. Today’s post is still aligned with technology albeit of a different venue: alternative energy and the white roof.

Much t’do has been made in Washington in recent months about our (the U.S.) Energy Secretary Chu’s suggesting we adopt white roofs. Of course, for many, the initial response to this is, “…is he serious, c’mon, ‘white roofs’?” More than one major media outlet has been happy to jump on the bandwagon…seemingly on slow news days.

One article that caught my eye recently Read the rest of this entry »

Who Goes First?

A lot has been said already regarding BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), SaaS (Software as a Service), and ‘Cloud’ computing.  The ‘cloud‘ remains somewhat dubious for folks because it is a term whose definition continues to evolve.  Most of what is written seems to talk to those ‘in the know’ or from a perspective of ‘everyone’ already doing it.  But what about those of you who have yet to take the plunge? Who have yet to outsource their first application and/or business process?

The odds are, Read the rest of this entry »

In an opinion article at Sand Hill, Eyal Maor discusses the business challenges caused by having too many processes running ‘under the radar.’  Specifically, the extensive use of email to conduct 60-80% of all processes.  Here, I share my own thoughts on the topic…

Ferris Wheel Rigging - Your Business Processes?

This is an interesting article whose premise is more of an issue for some businesses than others. In a recent role as product manager this was an issue I needed to address.

The pre-existing processes were fine for a business unit with one, then two product offerings. As the product line grew to have six offerings Ops increasingly had to deal with ‘fires.’

Stepping back, I came to realize the problem was due to ‘human processes.’ As the article described, we had everything driven through email. The customer-facing project management team was disjointed with my organization bearing the brunt of delivering and managing executables. All too often Read the rest of this entry »