Island Web Works

Nathan prompted me today to blog about something, truth is I have been so enjoying blogging about various walks on the Isle of Man that I forgot I also had to blog about work. Anyway, we have been a little quiet on the blogging front recently partly due to the fact it was the holiday ’silly season’ but also because we have been rather pre-occupied with several internal projects.

We have recently developed an all new Social CMS software called Connexions - this will form the core of two significant client web developments that we are about to roll out as well as our own re-branded web presence - due to be launched in the next few days.

Part of the web site re-launch will entail splitting the Web side of our business from the ‘Business Intelligence’ side.

Unfortunately, the success of the Island Web Works brand is stymieing the Business Intelligence side of our business as many people associate this with ‘Web Marketing’ and ‘Google Analytics’ etc., and not the wider aspects of business automation and customer relationship management that help re-enable efficient business processes through effective use of workflow and IT. Where appropriate, we can provide bespoke software development as well as our own award winning CRM software.

As a team we have been together for nearly a decade. At the outset we were almost exclusively focused on web site design; however, over the past few years the ‘Business Intelligence’ side of our business has developed so significantly, we recognised a separate brand was necessary to reflect this part of our business.

Charles Articles

MICTA is looking to become the representative body and collaboration forum for the Isle of Man ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) industry.

Specifically to:

1. Be an inclusive and accessible association attracting the membership of the majority of organisations in the Manx ICT Industry
2. Represent and promote the Manx ICT Industry to: Isle of Man Government, Isle of Man Commerce and Export Markets
3. Arrange ICT Industry networking events
4. Organise ICT Industry exhibitions
5. Foster and nurture appropriate collaboration and cooperation within the industry
6. Increase on-island ICT business retention
7. Increase off-island business (exports)

NEXT WEDNESDAY 28th JULY at 6pm, there is a formative meeting being held at the Claremont Hotel - Sanderson Suite. Light refreshments will be provided. There will be a small £6 admission fee to cover the cost of room hire and refreshments.

Sometimes someone has an idea that should be supported - hopefully if you are involved in the IT industry on the island, provide services that include IT products and or services, software or hardware, then you will be there.

Initial support appears to be very strong, the more attendees the better.

Further information is on www.micta.im

Charles Articles, Events Event, MICTA

The Apple iPhone and latest offering the iPad have been slated by many ‘technical types’ as lacking connectivity and stymied by the need to use the iStore to download apps etc., however, I am beginning to realise that they have not only got it right, but will start an explosion of this type of self contained device in the coming years. My reasoning behind this is simple - a lack of (or desire of) understanding.

For an ageing demographic with money to spend and a desire to connect with the world at large - modern technology aka the P.C. is simply too complex.

When I started in IT in 1988 we had DOS, followed by Windows 2, 3, 3.1, 3x,  95, 98, millenium edition, 2000, XP, Vista and now Windows 7 (which I love), roughly 14+ Microsoft versions of OS not to mention the plethora of alternatives from IBM and the like. Add to that the various versions of word processing software etc.,  from Lotus, Microsoft, and the rest -  and you can see a very worrying trend. The software - or rather the seemingly infinite choice of software is overwhelming - even for “IT professionals”.

I had to test a client’s web site security recently - with their approval of course, however, in my search for a suitable program I found myself downloading software from an unknown/un-trusted source. The amount of time I spent following this exercise - just to ensure my PC was ‘clean’ was significant… and I am supposed to know what I am doing. The threats I was checking for are everyday threats faced by the masses. WHY? - because the modern PC allows you to download and install whatever you want to! Which is why (I think) Apple are ahead of the curve.

Think about it - the average user just wants to do whatever they want to do - surf the web, email friends, share photo’s etc. Wouldn’t it be great to know that no matter what you download - it cannot harm your ‘device’.  By building devices that are restrictive - i.e. you cannot install any old software on them, also means they are secure – e.g. neither can anyone else.

Prescribing software you have access to may limit choice, however, would the demographic these devices target really care? I think not, all many of us want is simplicity and peace of mind. Would they pay ‘over the odds’ for this – apparently so, and indeed they are doing, American sales in May for the iPad exceeded the 2 million mark – and demand in Europe is expected to reach similar proportions. This I think mark’s the start of a massive shift in the way we buy technology; little black boxes that do fewer things but provide peace of mind! It is starting to sound good to me.

Charles Articles Apple

I do try and maintain an open mind, it is something that I am particularly keen on, however, I was stopped dead in my tracks recently when I undertook a survey on the http://glassbooth.org/ questionnaire, that claims to match your beliefs and desires with the most appropriate political party/candidate.

The party I favoured was highlighted as the worse match, the party I regarded as the least relevant was the best match, and the party I hold in the upmost contempt was only very slightly less compatible - achieving 2nd place.

What was gained from this experience? Well as I don’t have a vote in the UK, the favoured party will not receive any benefit of my new wisdom, however, it did make me realise that no matter how open minded we think we are, no matter how receptive to new ideas, at some point we can find ourselves taking a stand on something that proves to be of little relevance or purely a subjective point of view.

Sometimes, what we think we want turns out to be the opposite of what we actually need. Take the test, I am sure it will surprise a few of you.

Charles Uncategorized

I attended a very interesting talk given by Steve Burrows on Enterprise Class CRM solutions last week, held at a local BCS meeting.

What struck me was the inference (intentionally or otherwise) that CRM for a big company was different to CRM for smaller companies. The talk was very informative, however, whilst the case study being presented had undoubtedly achieved the business objectives, it struck me as odd that you might approach a small business implementation differently.

In the enterprise space, a lot is made of a product’s scalability and the level of integration that can be achieved. Whilst sometimes relevant - far more important is a thorough understanding of the problems you are trying to address.

Statistics show that more than 80% of CRM projects fail. I personally believe this is due more to insufficient knowledge (of the business processes) than a poor choice of software.

The concept that an Enterprise Class CRM solution is somehow different to a small business CRM solution conveniently ignores the simple reality that; the most scalable, expensive and complex software package will deliver little business benefit if you don’t have a clear understanding of what you need it to do. Conversely, if you have a thorough and detailed understanding of how your business works and what you need to do to make it more efficient, the simplest and least expensive of solutions MAY be all you require.

The magic ingredient is KNOWLEDGE, knowledge of your business; how it works; how to make it work better; faster; more profitably and effectively. Ironically, CRM systems were originally sold as Knowledge Management systems, maybe that drew too much attention to the fact you actually need KNOWLEDGE in order to achieve success.

Charles Response BCS, CRM, Steve Burrows

We made a conscious decision  about 3 years ago to re-focus on productivity solutions based around our own CRM software. Over the past 18 months or so we have also found ourselves developing bespoke solutions that operate standalone (i.e. do not require our CRM software to function). These solutions range from automating manual processes, through to the complete re-write  of legacy systems based on Excel spreadsheets or Access databases.

Events over the past year have highlighted how important innovation is to the health of the major economies. It will be interesting to see how many businesses take the oportunity to replace or even review their business processes in 2010. With worries about inflation surfacing and the associated pressure on wage settlements those that do will invariably be in a stronger position to capitalise on any upturn in business confidence later this year.

Charles Articles

Happy New Year!  I know February is approaching quickly, however, it is often the thought that counts.

Now that 2010 is upon us, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) and bankers bonuses are re-appearing, and there is talk of ‘growth’, does that mean that we can cast aside the lessons of yesterday and throw caution to the wind?… I suspect not. Business will continue to be hard won, service will continue to be of paramount importance, and clients will continue to seek value for money.

Optimism is returning, over the past few months we have noticed that larger projects are returning to the table, but the same projects need to be cost justified.

The internet continues to play an important part, the more people search for value, the  more you need to be extolling the value of your products and services. Like it or not, the web is the preferred research mechanism for many. Social media, whilst I personally avoid it, is gaining ground, with the ‘youth’ market and many businesses adopting it wholesale. Like most technology there is both an upside and downside, however, it is undoubtedly a technology that is here for a while yet.

If you haven’t already done so, I suggest it is worth reviewing your web site content, keeping contact information up to date, review the services offered and make sure you have a recent news item (or blog posting) to impress upon visitors that you are still here!

Charles Articles

We calculated recently that in recent years, based on the number of licensed MIGTurbo users (divided by 4 multiplied by 5 days per week - less holidays and bank holidays, on the basis of 3 hours use per working day); MIGTurbo has exceeded 1.5 Million hours of real world user testing.  If we play with the figures slightly it quickly approaches 10+ million, but we have always been a tad conservative!

It’s quite ‘gob smacking’ when you work out the figures just how extensively our MIGTurbo CRM software is used. We were so proud of the fact that many of the current features have either been requested or suggested by our user base - we considered starting a marketing campaign based upon the notion that our clients ‘invented that’ - unfortunately another software company appears to have recently used that idea!

I think the answer to my question is there can never be enough testing just insufficient time!

Charles Uncategorized

The reason for the title is the number of diaries people seem to use. In our office, the main diary is MIGTurbo, however, colleagues also use Google, various Mobile phone diaries and even Outlook! Absolutely mind blowing when you consider how difficult it is keeping just a single calendar in sync with birthdays etc.

Personally, I have never used the Outlook Diary, nor a diary in my mobile phone, personal organiser or any one of the many web based freebies! I used to use an A4 diary, until I tired of replicating information into my primary electronic diary - the one within MIGTurbo that is. Fortunately I can access this from any mobile phone or browser with an internet connection so I am usually always where I should be when I should.

Fortunately, there is a technology that enables you to synchronise all your different diaries within in a single diary of your choice.  iCalendar is a file-format that allows calendar items to be sent/received and used between different calendar programmes that support files with a .ics suffix .

So, now you know, if you’re ever asked how many diaries you need, your answer should be - only one!

Charles MIGTurbo Diary, MIGTurbo 1.9, Outlook

They always come in three’s, why is that?

The week started with a power outage, Monday morning was not good for many businesses.

Tuesday I had  mobile phone issues, darn thing kept switching itself off, and if that wasn’t bad enough, disabling the answer service in the process. Anyway, nice lady in the phone shop exchanged it. Following day I took it back, the replacement kept switching itself off. Nice lady in the phone shop replaced it for a different model, really, really good customer service, although, I suspect it may have been a case of just getting me out of the shop ! lol.

Yesterday we had a problem with our internal system, running extremely sloooowly in IE 8. Anyway, after isolating and discounting every step in the chain between server and workstation(s) we concluded the network card had been zapped during Mondays power outage. 9 pm Thursday evening after restoring back up arrays and replacing network cards we concluded the DNS must have become corrupt. In a last ditch attempt to find an alternative cause we discovered that an Anti Virus update to the browser plugin was the culprit… extremely annoying since we had (we thought) disabled the AV in the earliest stage of our diagnosis.

Friday I received an updated preview on our new MIGTurbo 2.0 Rich Internet Application interface (RIA), and the clouds parted and all was good with the world once more. Ahh! isn’t it good to end the week on a high note!

Charles Uncategorized