Archive for category Business Intelligence
Quick Fire Tips for Effective Email Marketing
Posted by Damon in Business Intelligence, General Knowledge, Services on August 16th, 2010
For some, email marketing is a golden opportunity to reach numerous customers, increase brand recognition and cross-sell many different things. However, for others, email marketing is a bear; they get less than desirable results and have no idea how to improve their reach. My aim is to expose some simple guidelines to improve your email marketing campaigns. Even though some may seem obvious, many of these tips are often overlooked, resulting in email newsletters that simply don’t get the job done.
The 3 Essential Functions of Social Media
Posted by Stephanie in Business Intelligence on July 27th, 2010
A friend asked me the other day why companies get involved in social media. After posing her question, she proceeded to answer it herself. “So they can do more advertising and stuff, right?” Wrong. There may be some companies out there that just use social media to further flood the market with their current ad campaign, but there is so much more to social media. And the companies that are truly successful at social media understand that it is so much more.
1. Monitor
One of the most basic functions of social media is to help businesses monitor their name, brand, and products as they’re discussed in the online world. This is a crucial point that many businesses overlook. There will always be conversations online and in real life about people, places and things and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. But a business can monitor and listen to those conversations and in some cases join in on the conversation. This is particularly important when it comes to negative comments about a company’s product or service. Often a scorned customer can be appeased with a simple acknowledgment of the problem and an apology. People want to be heard and they want people to care about what they have to say. If they don’t feel like they’re being taken seriously, a problem that often times could be quickly and easily resolved, gets blown entirely out of proportion. Look at the apple iphone fiasco. The antenna issue could be easily resolved with bumpers to fix the reception. Had apple immediately acknowledged the reception issue, apologized and said “We’re looking into it,” maybe they wouldn’t be facing a class-action lawsuit. Instead, Steve Jobs chose to deny, deny, deny and they’re in much hotter water because of it.
Improve your Ecommerce Presence
Posted by Damon in Business Intelligence, Solutions on July 23rd, 2010
The world of Ecommerce is at a unique point in its young life. With the increased focus on web standards and usability, web users are constantly on the lookout for something cutting edge and easy to use. That being said, creating an online shopping presence is becoming an increasingly important avenue for selling your goods. However, without a specific, granular approach to your
Ecommerce store, it’s likely that it will produce less than desirable sales, be difficult to maintain and ultimately ineffective for users to perform even basic actions.
There are some fairly fool proof ways to combat common mistakes, however. By following some pretty simple rules within your Ecommerce store, we can improve sales, generate leads and referrals and subsequently increase conversions. Let’s get started!
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QR Codes Unleashed
Posted by Andrew Newby in Business Intelligence, General Knowledge, Solutions on July 22nd, 2010
As mobile application acceptance and influence grows, finding better ways to connect information will evolve. That means not only sharing but also accessing information and application interaction on a device level – bridging the divide between print, mobility and infosharing. One of these methods is the QR Code (Quick Response Code). A QR Code is a 2D bar code configured in a matrix; information is stored horizontally as well as vertically. This differs from a traditional bar code which only contains information horizontally. A QR Code uses blocks (called modules) instead of variable width lines. The benefit of this is the ability to store a lot more information. Here is an example.
A QR Code of the url www.trustyourtechnologist.com
The basic function of the code is to be scanned (laser based 2D bar code scanner – or more likely, a phone’s camera). On a phone the image is analyzed by a QR Code reading application such as QRdvark and the content, link, and info is then available on the device.
HTML5 Apps On The Rise
Posted by Tommy in Business Intelligence on July 16th, 2010
In the article “Understanding the Future of the Web & Your Business,” HTML5 features were discussed and the question was asked: Is your business on the forefront of this new technology? But what businesses are using this technology and is this technology worth jumping into so early in its development?
Yahoo! Mail on iPod Touch
Early this month, Yahoo launched a new mail HTML5 App. Smartphone users can start previewing and using the new site by going to m.yahoo.com/mail. The new site utilizes the power of HTML5, looks great and is lightning fast. Yahoo was able to create something better then a native application by developing it in HTML5. Last week, YouTube released its new mobile HTML5 App to overwhelmingly positive critical response. People are saying that the mobile site “put the YouTube App to Shame” and “the video quality beats native Apps hands down.” Mobile sites have great advantage over native applications because they allow the developer to update their App in real time, adding new features and new advertisements to generate more revenue.
The Debate Over Net Neutrality and the Free Exchange of Information
Posted by Robert in Business Intelligence on July 14th, 2010
Recently Comcast Corp. won a case against the FCC barring the FCC from enforcing “net neutrality” regulations. This has set off debate in the political realm of free market vs. regulation as well as on the internet between ISPs (internet service providers) and content providers such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon. The FCC defines net neutrality as:
- Equal access to the lawful Internet content of your choice.
- The ability to run applications and use services of your choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement.
- The ability to connect your choice of legal devices that do not harm the network.
- Competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers.
Protecting Your Data with On-Disk Encryption
Posted by Shazad in Business Intelligence, Solutions on July 7th, 2010
A common issue facing businesses and organizations today is a lost or stolen laptop or PC that contains sensitive data. As a result, many companies are starting to move to on-disk encryption to protect their data. Windows Vista and Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise editions contain a feature called BitLocker which protects data by encrypting information over entire volumes.
BitLocker is a full disk encryption program that uses the AES encryption algorithm in CBC(Cipher-block chaining) mode with a 128-bit key. BitLocker is only available on Server 2008 and select editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7. There are 3 different authentication modes that can be used as building blocks to implement BitLocker encryption.
Transparent Operation Mode
Transparent Operation Mode uses a key for the disk encryption. It is encrypted by the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip and will only be released to the OS loader code if the early boot files appear to be unmodified. By using TPM, a user can only protect against software based attacks but the computer is still vulnerable to hardware based attacks. An example of such attack would be a cold-boot attack where a user doesn’t let the computer shut down completely. This attack relies on data to be in the RAM after power has been removed.
A Case for “Adaptive” Websites
Posted by Damon in Business Intelligence, General Knowledge, Solutions on July 1st, 2010
Recently, I came across an astonishing article written by Ethan Marcotte for A List Apart titled Responsive Web Design. The concept of the article is quite simple: can a website be designed & developed in such a way that it is smart enough to adapt to the size of the window it’s in? Marcotte’s article attempts to answer this question.
SMART Goals: The First Step Toward Success for Your Business
Posted by Stephanie in Business Intelligence on June 10th, 2010
One of the first steps for any successful business plan is setting goals. For a truly successful business, those goals must be S.M.A.R.T. This means all goals must be Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. Especially when you are dealing with abstract concepts like brand awareness or social media, SMART goals help you define exactly what you hope to do so you’re not throwing money at something that isn’t working. It may seem like a lot of work to come up with SMART goals but it will pay off in the long-term success of your business.
Specific
Specific goals go into great detail. What exactly are you trying to achieve? How do you define improving sales? Are you looking to increase online sales, in-store sales, or both? Are you hoping for a certain percentage increase or a specific amount over last month, last quarter, or last year? The more specific your goals are, the easier it will be to assess your goals later on. A vague goal will only raise more questions where a specific goal will show clear-cut success or failure because it is…
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Facebook Makes an Attempt to Save Face
Posted by Stephanie in Business Intelligence on May 26th, 2010
Facebook has been a hot topic for the last few months and their actions have sparked a lot of debate. Since their f8 conference and subsequent announcements, there have been a number of changes to the social networking site in an effort to “make the world more open and connected.” Unfortunately many Facebook users have found fault in these changes and how they were implemented.
Privacy
Privacy has been at the heart of the concern surrounding Facebook since the very beginning. Over the years, Facebook has updated its privacy policy multiple times. However, these routine updates are not the issue. The complexity and length of the updates are what concern most users. Facebook’s newest privacy policy is now longer than the U.S. constitution. Someone wanting to change his privacy settings now has to navigate through 50 different settings with over 170 different privacy options. Their privacy policy has become a convoluted mess that many users are no longer trying to keep up and even a Facebook board member couldn’t manage his own profile page when his account was hacked. We’re all stuck trying to figure out the latest and greatest changes to their privacy policy and in the mean time, a lot of us are at risk of oversharing.
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