Category Archives: small business

Get British Business Online

Posted on May 15, 2012 by admin| Leave a comment

We recently helped set up a website for a friend (John Allwork, a gardening poet), who was looking for something very easy to configure and manage himself and with very low running costs.

We ran across the “Get British Business Online” initiative by Google and Yola, which offered free hosting and free domain registration for a year so we thought we’d try that out.

Overall, it seems like a good deal for a simple flat website (which was all John needed). It only took a few hours to get a 4 page site up and running. It’s very basic, but he didn’t need any more and he could manage it himself without any further techie help.

In the meantime we enjoyed his poems and his book and we’ve been out collecting more photographs from some of the beautiful gardens he looks after, which we’ll have to put up on the website!

 

Posted in Business, small business, Software

Could your Business Function Without Email?

Posted on December 6, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment

Yesterday I blogged about Mark Zuckerberg predicting the end of email. Today I read that French technology company Atos aim to phase out all internal use of email within 18 months and replace it with a Facebook-like system, a wiki (like Wikipedia, a central information area that lots of people can edit) and IM (instant messaging).

If I were going to do this, how would I go about it?

  1. I’d keep external email for my customers (which Atos are doing).
  2. I’d keep shared calendars (like the Outlook calendar). You still need to have meetings (and you probably need more of them without email).
  3. I’d have a nice easy-to-use instant messaging system like Skype (which Atos are also doing). This is a better solution than email for asking quick questions anyway.
  4. The more useful emails are about the status of projects or individuals.  I’d create Wiki pages for individuals and projects where you can keep your status and actions notes shared and up-to-date. You would need security settings (so only you and your boss can see some areas of your personal pages, for example). You’d also need to be able to upload Word and Excel and other documents to the system and it would need a document mgmt system of some kind. (Atos will do this with their wiki).
  5.  I’d still want a task management system of some kind. All of the above is very reactive, you would still need to structure your time. Email is at least non-reactive so it often makes a good place for a task management system (“Getting Things Done”, for example).

This is not a crazy idea. In 18 months you could put quite a good system in place and wean people over to it.

Posted in Office 2010, Outlook 2010, small business, time management

3 Benefits and 3 Risks Of Cloud Computing

Posted on March 3, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment

For small businesses, cloud computing offers some great benefits and also some risks.

Benefit 1 – You Don’t Have to Manage Your Servers Yourself

With a cloud service, someone else is taking care of the servers. That means you don’t have to buy them, house them, maintain them and upgrade them. This is a huge benefit for a small business that doesn’t have large premises and an internal IT department.

Benefit 2 – You Don’t Have to Worry About Backups

Have you got good and regular off-site backup for your business data? It can be pricey and needs to be regularly tested. With a cloud system, usually your service provider takes care of that for you. A nice load off your mind.

Benefit 3 – You Don’t Have to Worry about Disaster Recovery

What if a plane crashed into your office tomorrow? Or, more likely, it just burned down. At least your cloud system will still be there..

Great benefits. So what can go wrong?

Risk 1 – Losing Control of your Data

With a cloud system, your business data is in someone else’s hands. Make sure they are a trustworthy company. If you have any doubts, make sure you can get hold of your own data and keep backups yourself.

Risk 2 – Security

With a cloud system, often your company data is accessible to anyone with just a simple user name and password. Make sure your staff use properly secure passwords. Not “password”!

Risk 3 – Hidden costs

Remember to consider how much the service will cost as your usage increases. Don’t be lured in by a cheap or free service that ends up costing you an arm and a leg

Risks aside, cloud computing can be a good idea for small businesses, but go in with your eyes open.

Posted in Cloud Computing, small business, Software, Software Development