News Update - Monday 20/6/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business [...read more...]

News Update - Monday 13/6/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business [...read more...]

News Update - Monday 16/5/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business: [...read more...]

Office Software: Alternatives

Facebook: Official Marketing Guidance – general principles plus Facebook-specific tips

Skype: Acquired by Microsoft (subject to regulatory approval) - what are consequences?

iPad: Presentation tools
[...read more...]

News Update - Monday 9/5/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business [...read more...]

News Update - Monday 2/5/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business [...read more...]

News Update - Monday 25/4/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business [...read more...]

News Update - Monday 18/4/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business [...read more...]

News Update - Monday 11/4/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business [...read more...]

News Update - Monday 4/4/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

Ideas Management: Harnessing ideas from customers and employees

Social Media: Following sets of people - your customers, your competitors, or whoever else is of interest (such as music)

Internet of Things: Connecting objects to the internet to improve effectiveness and efficiency

Using mobile apps for your marketing and sales:

Push Notifications: Best practices in mobile apps

In-app billing: For Android apps

[... read more...]

News Update - Monday 28/3/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

Apple iPad2: Now available in UK, models £20-£40 cheaper than original iPad last year

Tablet size matters: Which size is best?

Pen-based computing: A step forward or a step back?

Internet of Things: Brands communicating with customers

[...read more...]

News Update - Monday 21/3/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

SaaS Upgrades: The way Google apps upgrades take place is changing to give users more control. How will other SaaS providers respond?

iPad2 for Business: The embedded cameras open up new business possibilities. Available Friday 25 March in the UK.

Facebook: Estimates are that it accounts for 12% of all internet traffic

Social Media Activity at Work: Should organizations contractually limit social media activity of employees?

[... read more...]

News Update - Monday 14/3/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

Windows from an iPad: Tablets like the iPad are great, but they don’t let you run Windows software. Here’s a step in that direction

Your business on Facebook: Should you expect to be “liked”?

Flash to HTML5: With Flash unsupported on iPads/iPhones, conversion of some Flash is now possible with Wallaby

Buyer-initiated transactions: Here’s a new service to watch for if you can sell in local situations

[... read more...]

News Update - Monday 7/3/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

Tablets: Launch of the iPad2 and competitors puts tablets firmly on the map as business tools

Remote access to your PC: GoToMyPC for iPad lets you use your PC from an iPad

Mobile apps: Tools are becoming available to create DiY apps for smartphones and tablets

Cloud continuity: Problems with Google’s Gmail service shows how important it is to check your cloud providers’ backup, recovery and continuity arrangements

[...read more...]

News Update - Monday 28/2/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

NFC on Mobile Phones: How “Near Field Communication” can change the way business activities take place

Collaboration on Office documents: Google Cloud Connect add-in for MS Office allows new web-based collaboration for Word, Excel and Powerpoint

Group Messaging: A different approach using Beluga

Secure Messaging: A new approach using Lockify

[...read more...]

News Update - Monday 21/2/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

Libyan .ly Links (such as bit.ly): With the Libyan internet down, how long will your .ly links work?

Facebook Marketing: What does and doesn’t work?

Tablet Computers: Anticipated growth could mean faster adoption in business than any type of device before

[...read more...]

News Update - Monday 14/2/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

BI on iPad: As tablets such as the iPad become more widely used, here are some ideas to use business intelligence on the move

Cloud security: Another cloud service adds optional encryption

Twitter usage: A cautionary tale and reminder that tweets are not just viewable by followers. Do your colleagues know?

Micropayments: Paypal is launching a new service for the sale of digital products
[...read more...]

News Update - Monday 7/2/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

Payments using mobile phones: O2 announces plans to use Near Field Communication (NFC) technology on the latest mobiles

Microblogging within businesses: New services appearing to let personnel communicate through microblogging

Social productivity: Now Salesforce.com has bought Manymoon, here’s another way for personnel to communicate to share, track and complete work items

Web sites for tablets: Here are some design tips to let your website appear well on a tablet computer

[...read more...]

News Update - Monday 31/1/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

Private Social Networks: If you’d like to collaborate with colleagues in a similar way to Facebook or Twitter, there are various tools to set up a private social network. SalesForce are extending the availability of their Chatter service

Internet Security: Now the Facebook boss’s account has been hacked, let’s hope the security of Facebook and other cloud services will continue to be a priority

Privacy Expectations: Business is about trust. Any interactions with customers should use their data within their expectations, or risk losing their trust and their business.

LibreOffice: With OpenOffice now subsumed into Oracle, the open-source office suite reappears in a new guise as LibreOffice 3

[...read more...]

News Update - Monday 24/1/11

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business [...read more...]:

Use of Quick Response (QR) codes. Initially for tracking parts in vehicle manufacture, there are other uses in general business now smartphones with QR readers are becoming widely available

Barcode display. Conversely getting a smartphone to display a barcode can unlock activities such as payments from a pre-paid account.

Tablet computers such as the iPad.  Why use them in your business?

Passphrase rather than password. A more powerful security technique we’re likely to see more frequently

[...read more...]

News Update - Monday 17/1/11

Here's the pick of the last fortnight's news stories that are likely to impact your business: [...read more...]

Tablets and Smartphones: The recent Consumer Electronics Show had a raft of new products, based mainly on Android. Here are some of the best. For business, there are opportunities to sell/provide apps to end-users, or provide a means to take advantage of the growing library of downloadable apps.

SaaS adoption: Forester expects some 25% of 123 types of software products run on-premise will be disrupted by Software as a Service cloud offerings

New web-based services: On the back of SaaS are services that use hosted apps, in this example to improve contract renewal rates

Mobile payments: Whilst you can use a mobile to make lo-value purchases such as car parking, ways for salespeople to use their mobile phone to swipe credit cards for higher valued transactions are on their way here.

[...read more...]

News Update - Monday 20/12/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

Upgrading to MSOffice 2010/Windows7: With many businesses expected to make the transition in the next few months, why is it so difficult?

Alternatives to MSOffice: With Sun’s OpenOffice the only real desktop alternative, Sun’s acquisition by Oracle has resulted in the “Oracle Cloud” productivity software alongside GoogleApps, Microsoft’s own Office 365 and a few others in the cloud

Google’s ChromeOS: With devices that run Google’s ChromeOS operating system being launched as a pilot, be aware that the idea is to use cloud-based apps rather than load any apps on the device

Twitter – Follow or Tweet: Some interesting statistics about how usage of Twitter has changed in 2010 compared to 2009, plus some further tips.

A final thought  - It’s all in the name: Looking at “To Skype”, it reminded me that names that also work as verbs have a distinct advantage in a competitive market.

[...read more...]

News Update - Monday 13/12/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business: 

Personal Privacy: If you are operating on the web, privacy for your customers, employees and partners matters. Here’s a round-up of privacy with key players in social media and the web

Security Tips for Business: After Wikileaks, here are three simple tips for improving data security in your business

Platform as a Service: If you want to develop apps or mobile and social media, here is a cloud-based database system from the salesforce.com stable that will be launched in early 2011

In-App Purchases: Technology is now coming forward to allow purchases to be made from within an app on a mobile device, such as to run it, so it can be initially provided free.

[...read more...]

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News Update - Monday 6/12/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

Nominet’s release of short URLs: Release or remaining 1 and 2-character domain names such as bt.net.uk

IDC Forecasts for 2011: These include that smartphones and tablets may outsell PCs in the next 18 months, with an increasing use of social media. How will that affect your business?

Local deals, big bucks: e-coupons for local businesses through "group buying"

[...read more...]

News Update - Monday 29/11/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

Cloud First policy: In the week the Cloud Industry Forum in the UK launches its "Code of Practice" for cloud providers, the US federal government has announced it will soon adopt a "cloud-first" policy, meaning federal agencies will be required to used cloud services "whenever a secure, reliable, cost-effective cloud option exists."

The EC announces at the same time that a cloud without clear and strong data protection is not the sort of cloud we need. 

100 uses for RFID: Radio-Frequency ID tags can transform business processes and open up new business opportunities

Libel Laws on the Internet: A reminder about how punitive these laws can be. Your staff certainly need to be careful what they say online.
[...read more...]
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News Update - Monday 22/11/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

Cloud Industry Forum launches Code of Practice today to help end-users see how cloud providers can deliver a robust and secure high quality service. I have joined the Governance Board to support this initiative, and to continue to develop the Code and associated best practice.

Social Media Archiving: There are now services to archive what an organisation is posting to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, for archive and compliance purposes.

4G Mobile Services: In the UK, Ofcom have announced a timetable that will mean 4G services will be available from around 2014. This means that mobile coverage will be based on 3G for another few years.

Facebook Marches On: There have been two major announcements this last week, for a new communication mechanism, and a "mashup" with MySpace

[... read more...]

News Update - Monday 15/11/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

The Law and Social Media: Two legal actions highlight need for training and other personnel implications.

Cloud Computing:

(a) How do Cloud Apps Compare to On-Premise? A survey of cloud users confirms selection of cloud systems has to be done carefully.

(b) Cloud Popularity: Even Dell is getting involved

(c) BT’s broadband outage highlights need for contingency arrangements for data telecoms

[... read more...]

News Update - Monday 8/11/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

Bump or Grind – Options for digital business cards, or digitising others’ cards

The Growth of Mobile – commerce opportunities highlighted by Facebook

LibreOffice or OpenOffice – the consequences of Oracle’s acquisition of Sun

Poor broadband coverage – when you need better prime or contingency coverage:

• Boosting 3G
• BT vs Virgin
• Rural broadband

[... read more...]

News Update - Monday 1/11/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

• Mobile Advertising Industry to Reach $24 Billion by 2015
• Rumours point to 2012 release date for Windows 8
• BT broadband outage is fixed, see contingency options
• Virgin cable offers 100MBit/s broadband 

[...read more...]

News Update - Monday 25/10/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

• Comprehensive Spending Review
• Consumer technology trends - a 4-year view
• Apple puts iOS functions from iPhone onto Mac
• Online spend still on increase
• New IBM cloud consultancy See the Cloud articles

 [...read more...]

News Update - Monday 18/10/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

• Cloud or Linux
• Using social media in the workplace
• Facebook Credits (global virtual currency)
• "Everything Everywhere"
• Windows Phone 7 launches

[...read more...]

News Update - Monday 11/10/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

• Libya Closes .ly Domain
• Facebook Groups and other changes
• Why drop GoogleApps? So why start?
• Internet Access Continuity, as BT's network gets opened up
• Business case study lessons

[...Read more...]

News Update - Monday 4/10/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:

• MS Office Web Apps
• European e-tailer Trustmark
• Fines for Silent calls 
• Twitter stats
• "Curation" - logging social media activity

[...read more...]

News Update - Monday 27/9/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:  [...read more...]

News Update Monday 20/9/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:  [...read more...]

News Update Monday 13/9/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:  [...read more...]

News Update 6/9/10 - Rebel Germans, Google, Ping, etc

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business. The Germans are certainly having a laugh with a couple of them, but there's potentially serious implications: [...read more...]