HP Officejet 8600 Falls Off Network

The other day I was helping a client with an HP Officejet 8600. The printer was connecting fine to the wireless network with either a dynamic or static IP assignment. I could ping it, browse to it, and even change settings through the web console. A-okay.

Then, after just two or three minutes, it completely disconnected from the network. I couldn't ping it or browse to it. The system state LED still read that it was connected and nothing had changed in the unit's config.

Crazy-making.

It took me some time to narrow down the possibilities. What it turned out to be is the 5ghz wireless signal coming from the wireless router. The 8600 uses a 2.4ghz wireless frequency. When I disabled the radio on the router for the 5ghz network, and exclusively offered the 2.4ghz network, and cycled the power on the router, the machine stayed on the network. 

Of course, this action would prevent the higher-speed network from working. Bummer-drag. But it did get the unit online and satisfy the client. I guess that's what matters.

R

5 Reasons Why You Need Google Apps for Your Small Business

Why Google Apps? 1. Risk Transfer. There are a lot of risks inherent in managing email: viruses, spam, loss of confidentiality, database integrity, and service uptime ... just to name a few. The risk for managing email is transferred to Google. In theory, Google is better at managing services than you.

2. Disaster Recovery. Along with managing a service like email comes the burden of managing backups for disaster recovery. Again, Google takes care of all of that. Google is better than you at managing data and recovering from loss. If a PC gets lost or destroyed, we just access Apps to get our data back. Nothing's ever lost.

3. Scaled Investment. You buy and pay for what you need under  a subscription-based model. Under an ownership model like owning your own server, you purchase an asset that can deliver a maximum capacity, and you pay for that excess capacity both up-front in an acquisition cost and through the life of the asset in maintenance cost. Shouldn't you only pay for what you need?

4. Email Everywhere. Under Google Apps, your inbox (its folders, email, contacts, calendars, tasks - everything you see in Microsoft Outlook) is available to you on every device everywhere. If it's sent from your phone, it's in your Sent Items on your PC; if you filed it under a folder called Rocky, the Rocky folder is available on your tablet computer. There's no distinction for when and where you receive stuff.

5. Ubiquity. Finally, one of the best features that I like about Apps, is that it can be used on any device and in any combination of software. Mac, PC, Linux; Droid or iOS; tablets, laptops, or PC's. If you're a Microsoft Outlook fan or just like the ease of accessing email under a web browser like Chrome, the service accommodates. It's flexible enough to fit with any end-user preference.

These are some strategic reasons why you want Google Apps for your small business. There's plenty of technical reasons but really - this is the kind of capability you want out of an information service. Why mess around with owning capability when you can lease it, and shift the risk to a player like Google who can manage this stuff much better than you?

R

10 Things Social Media Should Do For You

So I'm asked this one all of the time: what will social media do for my business? How will I know if it's working?

Here are ten things that - at a bare minimum - social media should do for your company. If they're not doing these things, maybe it's time to re-evaluate your strategy.

And maybe you don't have a strategy at all? Picking just a couple of these would be a good place to begin to help refine your use of "social" so that there's measurable goals and objectives and outcomes.

1. Develop a Lead Channel, Direct Marketing List, and Cultivate Referrals.

I frequently write in my books and blog that direct email marketing is becoming more challenging. As of 2010, 89 percent of all email is spam and the technology to blacklist and filter spam is becoming quite efficient, and, consumer's preferences towards email are changing. Social media is a way to develop and cultivate consumer contact for lead-generation and a means to encourage others to pass business along to you.

2. Enable Connection.

Social should enable connection. I like to say that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the juice that brings the web traffic to a website, but what makes them "stick"? It's relationship. Social enables connection. Social should make it easy to connect to cultivate relationships. It makes it easy for a potential consumer to LIKE and follow brands; to subscribe to thought-leaders; to connect with other like-minded professionals. Your company's use of social media should enable connection - in both the front office (between sales staff and customer) and the back office (in terms of professional relationships).

3. Enable Speed and Rapidity.

Social media is pretty convenient. If you can tweet to a brand and say, "I had a problem with XYZ - can you fix it?", and then they're able to address it, and maybe send you a confirmation or update, that's pretty fast and convenient. If a customer or potential client can ask somebody a question on Facebook and get an a response, that's pretty fast and convenient. Think about how social media could be used to make it easy, fast, and convenient for your customers to contact you using social media.

4. Enable Listening and Feedback (and Corrective Action).

People are telling you things about your company all of the time. In social media, the consumer expects that you're listening. You should be. What's your listening strategy? How are you listening to commentary and correcting the problems brought to light by the customer? How do you make it right?.

5. Enable Sharing.

Social should be used to enable others to share ideas into their own social network fluidly and without special licensing, sign-ups, or access restrictions. Your company should make it as easy as possible to share intellectual property, ideas, marketing materials, white papers, video ... any content so that others can share and promote those ideas for you online. Sharing is an intrinsic part of social media. How're you enabling sharing and making it easier for others to share what you do?

6. Enable Accessibility.

Social media should make it easier to get in touch with you and your team. It should make your owner/CEO reachable by click to an audience of spectators. Sites like Quora can pull ideas out of the heads of your leadership and lay it out there for others to read and respond to. Imagine being able to see something online and forward the link to the officer of a company, and get their feedback on the issue. It's about making you and your team closer, more accessible, to clients and investors and shareholders than ever before.

7. Create a Persona Around Your Brand.

I often discourage using Twitter. It's just not an effective tool for building relationships, but it is an effective bullhorn that can pull subscribers into a destination to get more content and become exposed to more ideas. Twitter is a cult-of-personality tool: people follow people because they're interested in what they have to say. You can take a President, for example, as a representative of the brand/company, and create a cult of personality around them, thus personifying the brand. On Facebook, the nature of posts plugged into a wall can create a whole following around the style and substance of the posts, thus fostering the persona and values behind the brand. Social should try to make a person out of your company or brand so that it's more reachable and identifiable.

8. Develop an Audience and Community.

In social media, everybody is their own media company, even businesses and corporations. If every subscriber is offering their consent to be contacted and marketed to, it's an audience willing to receive your message and interested in your product and service. How can you leverage a bunch of always connected customers waiting to hear from you? Why, let us count the ways ...

9. Foster Trust.

Every communication and act on social media reinforces relationship and demonstrates to the customer why you can be trusted. Maybe your message conveys a testimonial, your expertise, your experience, a tactic you used to solve a problem, and so on. It's constantly demonstrating value. Think about that: how is social building more trust with your audience?

10. Allow for Transparency.

Finally, social media is about the deconstruction of institutional power in favor of smaller, more individual power. It's about listening, getting closer to your customer, and building trust. It's about being more accessible. It's about being innovative, fast, and convenient. All of these things make for a more transparent company: a company whose practices are accessible by and visible to the general public.  How does social make your company and its practices more crystal-clear?

There are a lot of things social media can do for your company and this list isn't nearly exhaustive, but it is a starting place. Just a couple of these objectives could become the catalyst for doing some real, meaningful, and astounding with social in your company. Where you go from here is up to you, but whatever you do, work on making social media provide value to every person who offers you their time and attention.

R