The Virtual Startup

So two weeks ago, I was invited to help a small startup with five employees with their technology needs.  My job would be to conduct a site review and provide options for networking, phone, security, and data processing systems.

Typically, the remedy for this kind of job would be clear: spec out the network cabling and the labor required for installation; spec the phone system, voice mail features, and handset style; spec the LAN requirement and a Microsoft Small Business Server; setup DNS (a presence on the web), email, and web; and spec the physical vulnerabilities of the site. All told, I’d be preparing an estimate that’d likely begin around $7k.

However, this time, I offered to approach things differently. I told my client that I could bid the traditional installation, or – if they were game – to try something a little… different.

First, we’d need high speed Internet offered by cable. Comcast provided a 35mbps circuit with four voice/fax lines for a really great rate. That was really hard to beat and offered a great data circuit to build off of.

Next, ditch the wires. We invested in an 802.11n wireless access point and wireless-n adapters. 300mbps wireless on the LAN. Nice.

After that, ditch the phone. This is a company that’d be using a VOIP phone solution across the Internet anyway, so our solution would be that vendor’s soft phone software on their PC’s anyhow. Plus, voicemail’s included in that package and risk for managing phones is shifted to that vendor.

Then, let’s say, “no server”. These guys will use apps in the cloud. I offered Google Apps but they already had a solution for mail from another partner, so I helped them set that up on their local workstations.

And when they asked about CRM (Customer Relationship Management) – so that they could all get on the same page and manage their new accounts – I helped them set up a free Zoho CRM instance. Scaleable, Zoho CRM allows these guys to track their leads, manage contacts and issues, and do marketing campaign management. It’s free for three users, and tacking on an additional seven users would only cost $15/mo.

Eventually, they’re going to ask me about an invoicing and collections system outside of their VOIP solution. We’ve already talked about QuickBooks Online to fill that purpose: running QuickBooks in the clouds.

And the security situation? Much more relaxed, thanks, since sensitive company data wouldn’t be stored physically in-house on a big expensive server.

So what we ended up with is a fully-functional company in just a few hours. Instead of $7k, we’re looking at less than $1k. A company whose capabilities and economies of scale rivals big competitors yet with hardly any overhead or upfront investment. Monthly subscription fees allow access to immediate capability yet with a fraction of an investment in technical assistance to get started.

This ain’t your grandfather’s business. What you’re looking at here, folks, is a new way to do business. A business with little or no startup costs, no long-term maintenance contracts for phone systems or microcomputer support, the ability to work from anywhere at any time, a strategy to shift IT risks to vendors, a plan to contain expenses associated with their growth through subscription licensing, a self-service approach to IT administration, and,  immediate capability on day one.

What you’re looking at here is a tremendous opportunity for your small business and your startup to lower costs and increase capabilities. But most of all, what you’re looking at here is your competitor.

R

Great Productivity Add-ins for Microsoft Outlook

Like many PC users, you’re probably running Microsoft Outlook. Well, there are three great add-in applications from Microsoft that I think that you should know about. They could enhance your usability and productivity, and make it easier to recover your valuable data in a disaster situation. Here’s the quick run-down:

Microsoft Office Add-in: Save as PDF or XPS

So, you want the ability to save your Office documents as a PDF without having to purchase Adobe Acrobat or installing other PDF-writer software? Microsoft has a solution for you, and it’s free. Download the Save as PDF or XPS Add-in and install, and you’ll be able to create PDF’s natively out of your Office documents.

Calendar Printing Assistant for Outlook 2007

Almost all of my clients use Microsoft Outlook. Outlook is a staple in the business world because it helps us organize personal information, tasks, and calendars. However, there are some inherent limitations with Outlook and the way it wants to format printed calendars, and that can be frustrating. Yet hark! Microsoft has heard this call from its customers and has released the Outlook Calendar Printing Assistant for Outlook 2007. The Calendar Printing Assistant produces quality output on calendars that you can adjust based on multiple calendars, time frames, and several levels of customization. You can even create forecast views with the Assistant. Best of all, it’s free, and integrated into Outlook 2007’s printing dialog so it’s easy to get started with it. I’d highly recommend it.

Microsoft Office Personal Folder File Backup

One handy add-in that I’ve talked about before is the Outlook Personal Folders Backup add-in. What this does is automatically create copies of the database file that houses all of your contacts, calendars, and email within Outlook. These copies would be useful for restoring your critical data in the event of an emergency. It’s easy to use and install.

Now, those guys are from Microsoft. Here’s a couple of third party add-ins that maybe you’ve never heard of that could greatly impact your usability with Outlook:

1. Xobni. This is a 3rd party add-in that helps you sort and search your emails and attachments.

2. Taglocity. This is an add-in to Outlook that generates a view of all of the tags (summarized labels for contents) that you might have within your email. This is a request-for-invite add-in, so you probably have to surrender some personal information before you can give it a try.

3. Outsync. Hey, I bet you’ve always wanted to sync the photos of your contacts from Facebook to Outlook’s Contact List? Well, I haven’t, but maybe you have! If you’ve been dying for this feature, here’s the tool that’ll help you do it.

4. FBLook. Now, this isn’t half that bad – maybe you want to update your Facebook status from Outlook? This add-in places a quick updater within Outlook for you so all you have to do is reach up, type, and post, from within your email system. Not bad! And if you were looking for the same thing except for Twitter, you’d probably want to see OutTwit.

Let me know what you think of them!

R

DHS NIPP and CIKR Presentation

Just pushed a presentation on the Department of Homeland Security’s National Infrastructure Protection and Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources protection/planning processes. The presentation is available here:

http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dfx26bt7_1362f52tpcgb

R

Students: Think Different.

When I was a student twenty years ago, Microsoft dominated the microcomputer industry, and today, in all appearances that we can track – primarily sales of commercial licenses – Microsoft Windows seems to dominate the network operating system (NOS) space and desktop space on microcomputers – PC workstations and servers ranging in cost from $500 – $30,000.

Why? Well, Microsoft Windows is a familiar product that many software developers have applications for. It’s also fairly easy to manage, and integrates well with desktop operating systems also running Windows. Windows is relatively inexpensive and easy to maintain over time. IT professionals have grown up with the brand and trust it… well, to some degree. We’re at least used to it.

Small, niche businesses may run MacOS Server but they’re not widely distributed. When we look to the small and mid-range businesses – businesses with under 200 employees – Microsoft really dominates this space. However, as we scale in complexity, Microsoft isn’t as dominant. When we look at the enterprise, we usually find various flavors of Unix running more sophisticated applications in these spaces. Unix is robust, complicated, and computer professionals at this scale are highly trained. Microsoft Windows has made inroads into this space and can be found managing enterprise-scale databases and application services. However, their footprint wouldn’t be found on mainframes.

When we look to certain niches, though, we see interesting changes going on in the industry. For example, web servers: over 60-percent of all web servers are running a Unix variant (Linux and others), and this is growing. Microsoft’s share of desktops are fading; the role of the desktop as the primary window to applications is diminishing, and we see the rise of phone-based operating systems like the Droid and iPhone o/s. We also see Google’s web services displacing the need for, say, Microsoft servers in the small to mid-range sector. And open source/Linux is becoming a viable alternative to governments and 3rd world nations struggling to play a role in the digital economy. It’s very competitive right now and changes are very much afoot!

If there’s any advice that I can give a student in the technical career, I’d advise to think beyond Windows. Still know Windows, but think of Microsoft’s role on the server and desktop diminishing over time. Expose yourself to some flavor of Unix (I recommend Ubuntu) and get to know it; learn how to install and use it. Expose yourself to Mac as we’ll see more of Apple on the desktop. Also, if you want to get into programming, keep in mind that applications are shifting to the web and moving to more mobile platforms like phones; gaming specifically is seeing a shift last year away from consoles and to mobile platforms. Finally, watch the clouds, and in particular what Google is doing with Google Apps… essentially offering nearly-free backend file and email services that historically’s been Microsoft’s cash cow, to all sorts of companies, agencies, and institutions.

These are interesting times…! Adapt to them. It used to be said that you couldn’t go wrong buying IBM. Now, I believe it used to be said that you couldn’t go wrong buying Microsoft –  the first considered a questionable assumption just 20 years ago, and now, Microsoft even more so. There’s a world beyond Windows, beyond the PC, even beyond the server, and you should diversify your skillset to remain viable and competitive in the decade to come.

R

Control Facebook Privacy with Layers of Lists

Facebook recently made some structural changes that allow for greater control over permissions and groups of friends. If you’re interested in creating “layers of trust” of trust like I am, here’s a few simple ways to be able to approach that.

1. Think of Your Layers.

In Facebook, there are a couple of pre-existing Layers that you’re already familiar with:

• Everyone. These are registered users of Facebook.
• Friends. These are registered users of Facebook that you’ve become Friends with in the system.
• Friends of Friends. These are registered users of Facebook who’re the Friends of your Friends.

But my guess is that there’s also a set of “friends” that you’d consider very close, or, that you wish to be able to carve out from the general idea of Friends. In my case, I call that group my “Circle of Trust”. Think of exactly how many additional Layers you might need to meet your privacy goals. Keep in mind that you’re not trying to create a distribution list here but a security list: who should have access to specific information that you might share on Facebook? Create a List only for the people you want to consider “Insiders” to your life. Everyone else is already covered by Facebook’s natural understanding of Privacy.

2. Create your List and add your Friends to it.

Press Account in the upper right and select Edit Friends. Then, select Friends from the left-hand navigator. When you see your Friends, you can now hit the button “Add to List” on one of them. You can create a new List from here, and continue adding the Friends you want to it. In my case, I created the List “Circle of Trust” and started adding all of my special Friends to it.

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3. Assign Permissions.

After you’ve created your Lists, you can now go to Account in the upper-right and select Privacy Settings. Under Profile Information, you can see a bunch of items about you that you may wish only your private Lists to see. Down-select the control and you’ll see Everyone, Friends of Friends, Only Friends, and Custom. Select Custom. In the next screen, select the option “Make this Visible To:” and select “Specific People”. When prompted to type, type in the first couple of letters of one of your Lists you just made. You can then assign the permission to see this information only to the List that you specify. Press Save Setting in order to confirm your changes.

Take the time to do this for every option under the Profile Settings. Remember: when you add a new Friend, you’ll have to decide which List to put them in.

4. Control Distribution.

When you want to control an update to go only to a specific List, you can down-select the Lock under the update you’re prepared to post. Before you press “Share”, set the locked setting to – perhaps – a Custom option: one of your Lists. When you do this, that update is only visible by members of that List. If, for example, that I wanted only to send a message to my “Circle of Trust”, I could select that specific List for the update.

Hopefully that helps out a bit!

R

New Presentation – Social Media Week 4

Just added the presentation for Week Four of Leveraging Social Media to our website – an onground class delivered under Clark College.

Leveraging Social Media Week Four

Google Unleashed – Week Three Presentation

Just added the Week Three Presentation for Google Unleashed to the website – my onground course for Clark College.

Google Unleashed Week Three Presentation

Old Media Struggles for Relevance

Old media took one to the nose this week when Movie Gallery – the parent company of Hollywood Video – announced that it would file for bankruptcy on February 3. The company announced plans to close 805 “poorly performing” stores out of 2,415. Hollywood’s brick and mortar business model is suffering from heavy competition from streaming/downloadable content and the convenience of competitor RedBox.

Meanwhile, The Columbian – a local print newspaper in my neck of the woods – emerged reorganized from bankruptcy this week. They’re planning to abandon their brand new posh downtown Vancouver facility (which it was able to occupy for just one year) to Bank of America, and made plans to repay $25 million in debts to creditors. The Columbian staff returned to their old office place and executives called it a “good fit” given their new size.

Burdened by debt and fixed expenses like leases, bank notes, and land, the immediate strategic landscape signals a dramatic elimination and consolidation for old media. I recently compiled some statistics for a class that I’m teaching on social media:

• Newspapers
  “The outlook for newspaper publishers is grim. Their business model is broken and advertisers are bailing. Newspaper advertising revenues in the US declined 16.4% in 2008 to $37.9 billion. By 2012, spending will slide to $28.4 billion.” (5)

• Television
  “The television industry in the US is expected to see lower-than-expected revenues of $15.6 billion in 2009 that will make for a 22.4% decline for the year.” (6)

• Magazines
  “U.S. magazine publishers posted an 18 percent decline in advertising revenue last year, more than twice as steep as a year earlier… Revenue from advertising sales at major magazines plunged to $19.5 billion last year from $23.7 billion, according to Publishers Information Bureau data. The drop in 2008 was 7.8 percent. Ad pages fell 26 percent to 169,218.” (7)

• Radio
  “U.S. advertising fell 15.5% in 2009… Last year, local radio tanked by 20.9%, according to Magna (via Radio Ink)… Local radio is expected to steepen its decline next year, falling another 10% in 2011.” (8)

What recent news on competitors like Movie Gallery and The Columbian – in addition to these statistics – should be telling us is that the immediate strategic future (perhaps 12-36 months) will be a catastrophic time for old media. Proud institutions will evaporate, small outlets will become more nimble and shrink their range of publication to meet their dwindling subscribers, the industry’s employment base will either bail, retire, or become part of the wave of unemployed.

Think about your business model or advertising model for a moment. Does your small business depend on these outlets to market your products and services? Does your small business depend on physical distribution and delivery of any kind? Does your small business depend on maintaining consumer attention in an era where consumers can edit-out your message? If traditional old media is gone or irrelevant, what does that mean to your brand and your message? If you physically distribute products and services, and have no current means of automating, delivering self-services via the web, or capturing the attention and the imagination of your customers through social media, you’re at risk. You’re just as much at risk for relevance as video stores, book stores, newspapers, radio stations, TV broadcasters.

What you should be asking now is, “How can I change my model?” How can you get closer to your customers and retain their interest and attention? How can you automate internally to reduce the influence of labor on your efficiency and productivity? How can you change your distribution and service model to electronic self-services found on the web? This isn’t an “evolve or die, gloom and doom” message: it’s an opportunity to proactively manage and reshape your business before market forces do it for you.

As a business, ignoring the risks leads right down to these examples with Hollywood Video and The Columbian. As an individual, it will lead you to a point of becoming a victim of market and technology transition. Businesses and individuals alike must be asking themselves a critical question: “What can I do, right now, to redefine how I operate, reduce expenses, and do more with less?” Doing so requires courage and bold action. Those who’ve already asked that question of themselves last year are taking advantage of their new economy of scale this year, and are positioning themselves for relevance in the years to come. Where will you be? Where do you want to be with your business?

R

5. No Author. No Title. Retrieved 2010.01.20. URL: http://www.emarketer.com/Reports/All/Emarketer_2000552.aspx

6. No Author. No Title. Retrieved 2010.01.20. URL: http://thepowerofinfluence.typepad.com/the_power_of_influence/2009/12/the-television-industry-in-the-us-is-expected-to-see-lower-than-expected-revenues-of-156-billion-in-2009-that-will-make-fo.html

7. No Author. No Title. Retrieved 2010.01.20. URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aFMxCvePvNAQ

8. No Author. No Title. Retrieved 2010.01.20. URL: http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/entry/48183/local-radio-to-slump-2.5-in-2010-followed-by-10-drop-next-year/

Social Media Presentation – Week 3

A new week three presentation has been loaded into the website for my class at Clark College on Leveraging Social Media.

Leveraging Social Media Week Three | Feb 2010

Social Media Campaign Plan for the Small Business

I’ve created a Social Media Campaign Plan for Small Businesses as a part of my Social Media course for Clark College.

It’s free for all to use as a template for managing a relatively simple social media campaign.

R