Cool Life Systems Explains SaaS

Cool Life Systems is Semi-Finalist for Government Award

2010-04-19T09:51:00.001-04:00

Cool Life Systems, Inc., based in Montgomery New York, has been selected as one of three semi-finalists in New York for the 2010 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. The award is the government’s highest recognition for employers that demonstrate exceptional support to employees serving in the National Guard and Reserve.

Cool Life Systems is among 130 semifinalists nationwide selected from more than 2,500 nominations submitted by Guard and Reserve members or their families. The awards, to be announced in the early summer, will be presented at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 23 at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney of New York City and the county of Suffolk NY, were the two other semifinalists named from 85 nominations in New York.

A hard copy of this press release can be found at the following link. For more information about this award or about Cool Life Systems, Inc., please contact us at 800-988-8850.

Work On Your Business Not In It

2010-03-23T12:22:00.000-04:00

Small & medium business owners of all stripes have one thing in common – they are looking for financial reward. James Deyo clearly illustrates, in his article below, the difference between a business owner working for their business and business owner working on their business. However, he left out one key component – “The How”. One of the easiest solutions to accomplish “The How” is implementing business technology solutions provided by Cool Life Systems. The business software tools from Cool Life System allow a business owner to focus on the strategic because their employees have tools to effectively and successfully complete their job without interference, while still being managed.

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There are several reasons why people go off on their own and start a business. Some see the chance for financial success. Others want the freedom of being their own boss. Still others just want to prove something to themselves or others. But, anyone who starts, or buys a small business gets to the point where they ask, “Why did I ever try to do this?” And, even after achieving the success, it’s easy to reflect back on the process and wonder, “How did I ever do that?” In the end, the most meaningful question is, “if I had it to do all over, would I do it again?”

The concept of working “on your business, not in it” isn’t my own. It belongs to Michael Gerber, who wrote about it in his best-selling book The E-Myth Revisited. I’ll touch on the concept here, but I strongly suggest you read the book – you’ll never look at your business the same again! Four (of the many) questions Gerber asks are:

1. How can I get my business to work, but without me?
2. How can I get my people to work, but without my interference?
3. How can I own my business, but still be free of it?
4. How can I spend my time doing the work I love to do, rather than the work I have to do?

Small businesses get started because the owners have a new idea, or something they want to accomplish. Not all entrepreneurs with an idea, however, know how to run a business. They are often well versed in a couple of disciplines, but not all of the ones necessary to really make their business work. So, they do what people normally do. They focus on the things they are comfortable with and don’t look closely enough at tasks they know they should do, but are “hard.”

At some point in time small business owners become consumed by the business – and maybe the possibility of losing it. This fear is compounded by the fact they have to do every important thing themselves because they do not have the necessary infrastructure. If this is where you are – if these are the four questions you are asking yourself – you need to change the way you’re looking at your world. You don’t own a business – you own a job!

If you can sit in your office, put your feet up on your desk, and think about the “big picture,” you’re working on your business. If you are the one who builds, and rebuilds, and tweaks, and re-tweaks the direction of your company, you are working on your business. If you define your job as being the person who prepares your business for growth, you are working on your business. If you are doing what you set out to do one, or five, or 25 years ago when you started your company – and having fun doing it – you are working on your business. If you are not doing these things, you own a job. It may be a high paying job and your family may appreciate you all the more for it, but it’s still a job – and you are working IN your business, not ON it!

The ultimate goal of working ON your business should be to have it function as well as possible without you. In other words, it’s an investment! You’re probably never going to get this investment to the point where you can treat it like a common stock or a corporate bond. But, your objective should be to get as close to that point as you can. If you do, you will own something that is valuable to someone else and you the have the option to sell it. If all you own is a job, don’t expect people to line up at your door to buy it.

Your objective should be to get your business to the point where it is NOT dependent on you! Develop your employees to do things without your involvement. Figure out how to give your customers what they want, without having to go through you. Have your employees take care of the day-to-day tasks, freeing you to focus on the more strategic issues. Build a model for your business that ensures things get done right at the first point of contact.

Getting your business to this point is not going to happen overnight; it takes a conscious, sustained effort and time. If you want to make it happen, you have to make it happen! You must put the processes in place to support it. Any individual who has built a successful, mature business knows how it happened. If it didn’t start with a clear vision of what the “finished product” would look like, the architect certainly developed one early in the process.
Author: Jim Deyo, Originally published 4/2006. Reprinted with permission.

Small business, social media not mixing

2010-01-11T14:05:00.001-05:00

CNNFN.com recently published an article about how small businesses have yet to fully embrace the world of Social Media. Why? It appears that they spend their scarce resources to generate revenue/sales on more traditional methods, especially during these lean times. This article underscores the need of small firms to engage companies, like Cool Life Systems, to help them better navigate the consumer shift to social media as a communication method so as to spend their limited budgets in the best possible way. The article follows below:
Thu Oct 8, 2009 3:33pm EDT

Original Source, www.Cnnfn.com By Ellen Wulfhorst

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Few U.S. small businesses have adopted social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter for business uses, according to research released Thursday.

Three-quarters of small businesses say they have not found sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn helpful for generating business leads or expanding business in the past year, according to a survey conducted for Citibank Small Business of 500 U.S. businesses with fewer than 100 employees.

Also, 86 percent said they have not used social networking sites for information or business advice. Ten percent said they have sought business advice and information on expert blogs.

The low number of small businesses using such sites for business purposes was unexpected, particularly as social media use has grown overall, said Maria Veltre, executive vice president of Citi’s Small Business segment. Citibank is part of Citigroup Inc.

“We were very surprised we did not see more use of some of the social media outlets, even if just for advice,” she said.

“What this survey indicates to us is small businesses are very, very focused on running their business and on generating sales and managing their cash flow and doing the things that are really important, especially in these economic times,” Veltre said. “I don’t think quite yet the social media piece of it has proven to be as significant.”

The survey found 42 percent of small businesses have made greater use of their company websites to generate business leads and sales.

Nineteen percent were doing more advertising to attract new customers in the economic downturn, 38 percent said they were doing less and 41 percent were doing the same, it found.

Also, 28 percent were using more email marketing and 25 percent using more online advertising to generate business leads and sales, it found.

The telephone poll was conducted for Citibank Small Business by GFK Roper from August 20-27 of a sample of 500 small business executives across the United States. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

A New Year - New Ways to Market

2009-12-28T14:00:00.001-05:00

2009 is drawing to a close and in terms of marketing; businesses are reflecting on the often lackluster 2009 and now brainstorming new plans and strategies for 2010. To achieve 2010 success, Web Marketing is an essential ingredient for ensuring the business success.

Over the last few years the elements of the marketing mix have evolved to include not only traditional channels like print, radio and television, but also online channels like search engines, banner adverts and social media platforms.

Online media offers a flexible structure and is far more cost-effective and measurable than traditional media. Depending on the goals and objectives of each business, different online marketing elements will be used. While online fundamentals like email marketing and banner placements are very effective when executed correctly, there are a few other elements to consider while planning your online strategy for 2010.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO drives traffic to your website via search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. The purpose of SEO is to increase a websites ranking on search engine result pages for relevant search terms. This is achieved by optimizing the website for key-phrases related to the business products and services in order to provide searchers with relevant and high quality content.

Why should you include SEO in your marketing plan?

Even though SEO is a long-term commitment results from such a campaign are sustainable and provide proven ROI. When implementing a SEO campaign will tweak existing content, create new web pages and include website usability changes. Better usability makes it easier for visitors to access your website and increases conversions or desired actions.

Social Media Marketing
By correctly leveraging platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter and social media can create brand awareness and build relationships with new and existing customers. Social media marketing has been likened to word-of-mouth, because it’s all about the conversations. These conversations occur amongst and between your customers and yourself. Social media marketing is not push-marketing - if you use social media platforms to broadcast overt commercial and marketing messages your social media campaign is guaranteed to fail.

An integrated strategy comprising a mix of social media elements will ensure maximum return on your marketing investment. When creating an online strategy the Cool Life Systems team provides tools and that help to create a strategy that will amplify your message. It is important that online not be included as an after-thought. If you want to achieve great results, involve your Cool Life Systems from the conception phase as they can advise which elements will work best to achieve the specific goals of the campaign.

Interesting Time Line on Unemployment

2009-12-08T16:03:00.002-05:00

For a great automated timeline graph on unemployment, take a look at this. While unemployment is considered a trailing indicator, it still bothers the the mind to think that we may have a way to go! Normally, I don't post outside links, but this is definitely worth the 30 seconds to watch.

-Cool Life Systems

Social Media is VOC: The rise of the new ticker tape

2009-12-02T09:24:00.000-05:00

In today’s information society the amount of output from various social media channels is more like the ticker tape of old than anything else. A constant, unending stream of information. While it’s great to be able to find all this information the question begs to be asked, what is the value of Social Media? Social Media, as it is delivered now, is all about information. And therein lays the value. I have no doubt as to the significance and necessity of the information delivered by Social Media but it needs to efficiently gathered and monitored. However, I believe there is a better question to ask: what is the best use of the various social media channels from a B2B / B2C perspective. Should it primarily be used to create brand awareness and brand management or is it better used for lead generation. One source is inbound information, the other outbound. While social media is currently used for both, in its current iteration social media is best used for building brand awareness and brand management (that does provide some cross over/pull through applicable to lead generation). One major caveat does follow at the end of the article.

Client and company experience and our own research combines to support the conclusion that social media is geared to brand management and brand awareness. I have also yet to find any empirical proofs that social media has increased sales (notwithstanding some anecdotal proofs). I have found multiple instances of social media successfully being used as listening posts to monitor traffic (both brand and client) and enable pre-sale research. Social media allows a company to monitor both Voice of the Customer and Voice of the Employee (otherwise known as VOC & VOE respectively) to aide in the development of Net Promoter Score (NPS). Given the multitude of social media applications and outlets such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and blogs to name a few – the information is often too voluminous and time intensive to sort through and compile on a regular basis. Tools are needed to aggregate the various social media channels and provide a complete view of what is being said and discussed to allow marketing to steer the message and allow the business development staff to close a sale.

One of the tools developed by Cool Life Systems is a platform to view composite and aggregated information from social media channels based on the terms and information you deem relevant. It pulls in channels from blogs, websites, social networking sites, and more. It is a powerful and easy to use tool to create and adapt your marketing message. A business is foolish not to monitor the “tape” to learn what is being said about your business. With information going viral at the drop of the hat, you cannot afford to know what is being said about you – both the good and the bad.

The caveat. The web and the habits of users changes and evolves almost daily. I do expect that social media will eventually become a primary tool of lead generation as the consumer becomes more accustomed to social marketing, individual technology use becomes more widespread (wider adoption of personal mobile devices), and technology and software innovation continues to improve. This adoption curve is dependent upon development, application, technology, infrastructure, adaptation. Adopting a sound social media foundation now and later adapting that foundation as social media evolves will allow the businesses already engaged in using social media platform to easily move their pivot their position to change from listening post to active lead generation. Simply put – Things Change!

LAUNCH OF THE NEW FINANCIAL CONSULTING GROUP WEBSITE

2009-11-27T11:28:00.000-05:00

I would like to share with everyone a piece of Cool Life Systems new work. Recently, we relaunched the website for Financial Consulting Group website in addition to providing the organization a new back office system and a member and organization management system. Financial Consulting Group, also known as FCG, is the largest organization of independently owned accounting, business valuation, and financial services firms in North America.

Cool Life Systems is responsible for the revised look, feel and functionality of FCG’s new website as well the technology that runs behind the scenes which includes member and event management, marketing systems and the exclusive FCG member extranet. The new extranet system will offer FCG members a better way to request assistance on engagements, learn to use resources, and post questions and receive answers from other FCG members.

FCG only showcases a portion of the technology and services we offer to our client base every day. So go ahead, take a look around our website look at some of our work and let us know what you think. This blog regularly points out shortcoming that we see in the small to mid size business segment whether it is data management, sales and marketing efforts, or organization management. The shortcomings pointed out are all too often easily corrected, and unabashedly can be easily corrected with use of the Cool Life Systems product. We look forward to speaking with you soon.

B2B Channel Marketing & Content Distribution

2009-11-27T11:27:00.000-05:00

In today’s world of B2B marketing there are multiple channels used to for audience development, client retention and referral channel development. These channels typically include the use of various media segments such as:

If this communication is to be effective, the sender must deploy a message of perceived value to a targeted/segmented audience that may or may not include some form of tangible takeaway benefit besides the initial content. For example, offering a free 1 hour online marketing seminar to CPA’s and accounting professionals for referral channel development that is delivered by a marketing expert from a Fortune 100 company and you should expect a 10% participation rate. If you a add a tangible takeaway benefit to the seminar such as including 2 free CPE credits, your participation rate will increase to 20% or higher. And your goal for the seminar? Develop referral channels for your product. This same scenario can be applied to consumers and businesses alike.

On the surface the above scenario appears to be a relatively benign process. You setup a conference and invite a bunch of people to attend and hope for the best. However, if you break down the process there is a lot of administrative/organization work involved to achieve your goals.

Development, distribution and promotion of event via email and print,
Tracking results of that distribution,
Event registration and tracking of event registration,
Tieback of yes/no responses to database records,
Results of seminar; comments from participants, generation of referrals?

In addition to the above:

What the event promoted to the correct segment?
Did you record who did and did not respond to the event and showed up?
Did the attendees refer a client?
How does any of this tie into your contact management system? If at all?

The real question is do you have a system in place to perform this type of marketing and event management without a lot of manual interaction? And does your ’system’ integrate with your contact management system?

In today’s world a professional services firm requires a system to distribute content to all market segments. The result of the distribution need to be trackable, reportable and return definable measurable benefits to acquire valid ROI costs. Systems like those developed by Cool Life Systems allow firms to perform this functions for creation and distribution of content, tracking the success of each distribution, and providing tools for follow up with persons in each identified channel. These tools work together to allow you and your firm to increase competitive market share, achieve market differentiation from competitors and influence audience segments for a desired outcome.

Start to Make a Difference in Your Business

2009-11-01T10:55:00.003-05:00

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
-Albert Einstein

If your business has experienced a decline in this economic climate, what are you doing to change? Do you have a true handle on lead acquisition, audience development, and a business process that will nurture every contact to maximize your opportunities? Look at the solutions Cool Life Systems can offer.

The only source of knowledge is experience.
Albert Einstein

What have you done to improve you lead generation and increase revenues?

LinkedIn Primer, A Commentary

2009-10-27T10:18:00.001-04:00

With the rise of Social Media in the lexicon of Web 2.0, there are many sites that offer users the ability to explore and connect with other using social media platforms, sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace to name the most popular. There are many other offerings such as Ning, You Tube, Digg, and Flickr to allow the exchange of ideas and communication. However there are few social media applications that are business specific. The current leader in business specific social media applications is LinkedIn. The site has proven to be wildly popular in the business world. While LinkedIn is not hard to use, there are nuances that greatly increase the effectiveness of the site that that unless you know where to turn, the effectiveness of a LinkedIn network will greatly decrease. To that end, I came across an excellent (and free) LinkedIn Manual written by Christopher Mercer, at Mercer Capital.

I suggest you review the book, as I guarantee the reader will learn a thing or two that will increase the effectiveness and value of a LinkedIn account. For the individual who does not have a LinkedIn account I urge two things: 1) Register for a free account, and 2) Read Mercer’s book. It is not if people will review a LinkedIn company or person profile that will lead to potential sales, job offers, or recognition - but when.

The one item that I wish Mr. Mercer would have focused on more closely within his book is how to effectively utilize the network to accomplish business goals. While Mercer spends a great amount of time on how to increase a network and how to increase the number of connections, his book does not explore ways to increase the effectiveness of the personal network or monetize networking efforts into goal recognition.

The closest Mercer gets to discussing monetization of goals is found on page 35, where he categorizes LinkedIn users correctly into four groups. My hope is that his next revision will drill down in each of these four categories to explore tactics where each group trait may utilize their network to accomplish business goals. For example, a LinkedIn user with 100 connections has 100 potential leads and referrals to accomplish a business goal. 200 Connections? Same as before, just a larger network to help. By not contacting those people in a LinkedIn network and not letting them know what goal is trying to be accomplished, the individual will fall short of business goals each time. While this article is not Sales 101, if the time is taken to tell people that you need help to accomplish a goal, people will help (especially people that you already know and have a relationship with). Will some be offended? Perhaps, but if they someday need help, there is no obligation to return the favor.

Over the coming months, I will continue to review aspects of social media and ways that it can integrate with SaaS platforms offered by companies like Cool Life Systems. Remember Social Media – whether it is LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter is only one tool – when used effectively and correctly with tools at your disposal you ability and success rate will greatly increase.

Cool Life Systems provides a scalable and dynamic database which would include the aggregate of all data sources in an on-demand, enterprise solution for several industries utilizing SaaS technology. Implementation is customized to your company’s unique processes, philosophies and policies to connect people, systems, and technology, enables seamless integration of your CRM processes, your website, and all marketing efforts in one centralized location so you can effectively manage your customer base as well as the individual efforts of your staff.

The Benefits of SaaS

2009-10-15T09:48:00.002-04:00

The growing popularity of SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions over the past 4-5 years, many businesses now weigh the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing this technology compared with traditional software solutions. This article outlines some of the main benefits of SaaS, and also lists a few common concerns about the technology.

One of the most important benefits of SaaS is reduced costs. With a SaaS platform typically there are lower up-front costs, as less is paid to initially purchase the service than would be paid for expensive group software licenses. Once the up-front fee is paid, then a small monthly or annual fee is billed for continued use of the service. If the SaaS service is unsatisfactory, it can be canceled and you are not stuck with a non-refundable, software license. An additional SaaS benefit is that the software is always “up and running” on the provider’s server, so there’s no need for an IT department to spend valuable time installing and configuring applications on every employee’s machine. Not only is implementation much faster with SaaS solutions, but access to instant upgrades and the latest technology advances is always standard.

Highly accessible, ongoing training and support is another advantage of using SaaS over regular software. SaaS vendors like Cool Life Systems periodically check in with clients to make sure everything is okay and answer questions. The quality of support is in many cases, better because SaaS vendors have immediate access to client data and know the structure of the client’s customized solution. Compare this to traditional software support, where time is wasted being placed on hold or waiting for responses to email, that are cookie cutter and standardized, not specifically addressing the initial concern or question.

While there are many benefits to using SaaS solutions, there are concerns about the technology. It is natural for to feel apprehensive about transferring control of company data to an outside source. For example, how can one ensure that backups are regularly performed or that the servers hosting your applications will have a guaranteed amount of uptime? It is best to talk about these concerns with SaaS providers before services are purchased. In many cases, these concerns are already addressed or accommodations can be made to make sure requirements are met.
Security is another issue that should be considered when selecting a SaaS provider. SaaS Vendors recognize the importance of a Client’s Data Security and have taken steps to address concerns. Make sure the selected provider is committed to keeping its customers’ data secure, and has the proper technological measures in place to do so.

Customization and integration with other programs can sometimes be difficult. These factors need to be considered when deciding upon the SaaS route. Many vendors such as Cool Life Systems offers its customers several customization options, allowing more control than what other SaaS providers may provide. Also, Cool Life Systems’ solutions are already integrated into one comprehensive system, making it simpler and faster for employees to perform everyday tasks.

As technology and the internet continue to evolve, Software as a Service is expected to become more and more popular among businesses both large and small. It is important that companies make an informed decision about whether or not to choose - or switch to - SaaS.

Many Thanks to Jen S. at Cool Life Systems for writing this article!

Email, File and Client Security. What tools do you have in place?

2009-10-01T13:05:00.003-04:00

Ever wonder about file security, data privacy, email and the issues it could cause if something went wrong? Well, it recently happened at a bank in Montana. If you and your business transmit private, confidential data via email – you really need to read this.

Recently, an employee at Rocky Mountain Bank sent an email to a client’s representative that attached a file containing “confidential information on 1,325 individual and business customers that included their names, addresses, tax identification or Social Security numbers and loan information.” The employee upon realizing the error tried to recall the email. It didn’t work. The unintended recipient of the email had a generic Google Gmail address. Luckily, Google has since confirmed that the email was never opened and has been subsequently destroyed

There are multiple issues that surround this issues that concern Quality of the Bank’s Data, Bank Privacy Controls, Email Security, Involvement of the Federal Courts, Federal & State Regulatory/Privacy Issues, Google’s Privacy Policy – the list goes on and on. This article is not attempting to address these issues. Rather, what could have the bank done differently to this problem from ever occurring?

This issue could have been easily prevented if the bank utilized a secure, web based client area that requires a registered user name & password for login. Subsequently, the Bank would have known who accessed the site, when and from what IP address. While not foolproof (nothing is), it significantly reduces the occurrence of such mistakes. Result, the intended recipient gets their information. No files transmitted over email. The bank knows who their customer is. And the bank does not get bad press.

Cool Life Systems provides simple to use, cost effective solutions such as secure file storage areas integrated with robust database management and CRM tools to keep you in compliance and your data safe.

For your reading enjoyment, here is a link to the original article from Wired Magazine and a subsequent update to the issue from The Register.

SaaS vs. Traditional Business Models: A Comparison

2009-09-22T10:06:00.002-04:00

Have you ever considered switching from a traditionally deployed application environment to a web based Software as a Service (SaaS) solution? The article that follows is a commentary from a Cool Life Systems developer who spent many years as a server administrator and has now seen the “light” by making the switch to a SaaS company. Enjoy. Thanks to Bill Dami for his time and effort in contributing the content.

As a former server administrator and customer support technician for a web hosting services company, and now a web developer for a SaaS-based company specializing in e-marketing and web presence, I can see the large contrast in the day to day workflow and operation of my current job which uses the SaaS model, compared to the more traditional business model of my former company. While the services of web hosting and web development are not quite the same, there definitely are some parallels that can be drawn between the two.

At the web hosting company, new clients must pay a fee up front to cover the cost of the server we would be managing for them, the fee being dependent on the specs of the server. When their new server is built, the base server OS of the client’s choosing is installed, which also figures into their initial setup cost. Already, this process deviates from the SaaS business model in a couple ways;
With the SaaS model, upfront costs are more or less eliminated. Instead of paying for a server, or in this case, a license for a standard software package, clients pays for only what they need, as they need it. This not only can greatly reduce costs for the customer, it also makes the developer’s job easier, as they are no longer trying to shoehorn clients into a single standardized solution, or trying to add every feature request from every client to it, resulting in bloated, clunky software.

In the web hosting world, operating system patching and updates can be a very tedious and disrupting task (for Windows servers, at least). Software developers following traditional deployment models can also experience these same drawbacks when releasing version updates to their products. Clients of these companies also suffer, as they not only have to wait until the developer releases the newest version for feature additions and bug fixes, but they often have to go through the pains of installing the update on every single device they use the software on. With the SaaS model, these annoyances are mostly nonexistent. Updates are deployed on-demand when the client requests it, and since the source code resides at single remote location, the update takes effect on all devices instantaneously.

While the SaaS model may still be in its infancy compared to traditional software business models, it definitely has many advantages over them, and from my vantage point as a developer whose experienced both ends of the spectrum, I believe its popularity and success in the marketplace will only continue to grow.

Got SaaS?

2009-09-08T11:25:00.002-04:00

Welcome back from summer everyone. To start the fall off right, I thought I would get back to some basics and start by explaining what Software-as-a-Service(SaaS), a/k/a the “Cloud”, is.

SaaS is a delivery method for software that provides access on a subscription basis via the Internet. This means that users pay a monthly usage fee and access an external website where the software runs and your data is stored. This software can store data, enable business processes, provide transaction rooms, integrate telephone and email, or a host of other applications.

For those contemplating a SaaS Implementation, know that the value afforded by SaaS heavily outweighs centralization issues. SaaS provides a lot of benefits such as lower up-front costs, free maintenance and upgrades, and in it’s purest form can be implemented with minimal or no required customization. More advanced SaaS applications require extensive business process mapping which allows customization of the SaaS product to match a given business operation.

As with any implementation a few things should be considered:

Data Security – Many companies feel uncomfortable with their enterprise data moving over the internet and residing on data centers which will also host data for their competitors. Make sure your vendor of choice is storing your data in a secure environment and is willing to explain the security measures they have in place.
Customization Capabilities – Most SaaS applications are designed to be configured rather than customized. It would be to your company’s benefit to select a vendor willing to customize their application to ensure it fits comfortably into your existing business model.

Integration – Since SaaS applications host your data on vendor premises, this could present a challenge to integrate your SaaS data with your enterprise data. A qualified SaaS provider will be willing and happy to provide a web service API, should the need arise.

Data Consolidation – Because it’s a one-time task, the consolidation process is often neglected or underestimated. In practice, this process is essential to project success as good customer data is the foundation of any CRM system. Make sure during the initial implementation process you are provided a streamlined method of consolidating your data into single master record to eliminate duplication of data.

Careful consideration of these components is an essential part of any successful SaaS integration effort. Time spent planning, particularly for the future, will be rewarded with a successful implementation of service and high rates of user adoption.

Is your CRM ineffective?

2009-08-28T13:25:00.001-04:00

Happy Friday Everyone. I received a great article from BNET today about bad CRM Systems and why you should ditch yours if it does not work for you. As a provider of database applications that include a CRM component, we see items #2 & #4 occur very frequently, especially with the larger brand name providers in our industry the application is used to power a sales force (ahem). Besides CRM is just that – Contact & Relationship Management. They weren’t designed to produce results. Think ACT!.

For a link to the article and a great site go here! Otherwise I have reposted the article almost in it’s entirety. So here it is.

It’s a complete myth that CRM automatically makes sales teams more productive. In fact, there are many cases where CRM has made it much more difficult for sales teams to actual sell.

Here are the five red flags that your CRM system is more bother than it’s worth:

Red Flag #1. Nobody on the sales team wants to use it. It’s a bad sign if the sales manager has to pressure the reps to use tye system – like by threatening to withhold commissions if they don’t. RULE: Sales reps ALWAYS embrace technology that helps them sell and ALWAYS resist technology that wastes their time.
Red Flag #2. The system enforces somebody else’s “best practices.” No single set of “best practices” is right for a large range of companies. RULE: Your company is unique, so it needs a CRM system that models what works for your company, rather than your competitors.
Red Flag #3. The data in the system is frequently in error. This can play real havoc when it comes to closing business. And once reps know that the CRM system can’t provide reliable information, they’re not going to trust anything that’s inside of it. RULE: If CRM data is not 100 percent correct, it’s a customer disaster waiting to happen.
Red Flag #4. There’s a “real way” things get done. Reps may be entering all the requested data into the CRM system, butstill have their own way of getting things done. RULE: Unless the CRM system is the primary way of tracking sales, it’s only leaching productivity.
Red Flag #5. The system isn’t available when needed. Nothing is more demoralizing — or more likely to create delays — than a system that’s up and down all the time. RULE: If your CRM system isn’t available 24/7, people will inevitably ignore it.

Look what Cool Life Systems can do for Your Company

2009-08-17T11:03:00.001-04:00

Article with Commentary by Bud Shea

Original Article from Directmag.com - Jul 7, 2009

The belts are getting tighter. More than seven in ten chief marketing officers surveyed by Forrester Research Inc. said their 2009 budgets have been reduced from 2008’s levels – and among those, more than half indicated their budgets had been slashed by at least 20%.

The marketing officers said that budgets for traditional media, such as television, print, radio or magazines, along with staff and training spending and branding and advertising expenditures had be cut by two-thirds from last year’s levels. CMOs also reported more than half of their direct mail budget was gone.

Marketing technology and online advertisings saw spending decreases of 29% and 27%, respectively. Web site development budgets were reduced by 22%, and loyalty program spending was clipped by 21%.

What was spared the knife? E-mail marketing budgets were reduced by “only” 11%, and social media spending was nicked by 7% from 2008’s level.

Measureable marketing may be demonstrating its worth: Among CMOs who anticipate lower budgets, or who have already had their budgets cut, 19% said they cut branding and advertising because “I can’t track its results,” while 26% said the same about their TV, print, radio or magazine expenditures. Disturbingly, however, 19% reduced their direct mail spending because “it delivers the lowest ROI.”

If there is hope, it is in electronics. Forty-seven percent of CMOs whose budgets have been cut are increasing their spending on social media, while another 44% are increasing spending on Web site development. Forty percent will spend more on online advertising, and nearly that amount will pump more financial resources into e-mail.

These functions, the CMOs indicated, were critical to their businesses, or were needed to maintain competitive advantages. And one-third indicated they hadn’t been spending any money on social media “so now is the time.”

Forrester’s survey also offered a glimpse into how marketing is viewed throughout a number of organizations. According to the CMOs, just over half see it as a revenue enhancer that needs to be supported. But 41% indicated marketing efforts are under increasing scrutiny from all levels of the company. And 18% are working in firms where “marketing is seen as a cost center that needs to be cut.”
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Notes from Contributor - Bud Shea

This news does not come as a surprise. Lower sales revenue directly correlates to curtailed budgets. Cuts are seen in general marketing, overhead costs and even salaries (as we see in many companies today). Even fixed costs are no longer immune as we see leases renegotiated. We all know the current economic climate should call for an increase in marketing exposure to either stabilize market share or better yet, grow market share in light of competitors cutting back on their marketing. Reality is that there is no better time to capture a larger market share when universally, C-Level management is scrutinizing all concepts and looking at "better solutions".

The reality is to pore over marketing budget dollars and re-direct funds to measurable channels with demonstrable response and effectiveness while still yielding excellent exposure accomplished through mass media (typically measured with inferences difficult to track to a specific customer or lead).

CMO’s are under great scrutiny and accountability to show how marketing efforts are enhancing revenue or risk being viewed as a cost center that requires a reduction in spending. An effective remedy is to move a portion of budgeted dollars away from the large ‘agency’ efforts to marketing tools that integrate mass exposure with ‘one to one’ responsiveness directly from your company. This is achieved by integrating your customer marketing database and a prospecting database with an eMail campaign manager, dynamic web-site content management, and social media.

An enterprise marketing management system will respond to inquiries, follow-up to transactions, or assign tasks to individuals in your organization for appropriate follow-up. The best part is that a system like this allows you to modify parameters as well as prioritize promotions and limit the frequency of correspondence to truly nurture a customer relationship.

During my tenure as Director of Database Marketing with Ziff Davis Enterprise, I was originally tasked with creating a consolidated customer database from over a dozen businesses and subsidiaries. This organically evolved into an integrated marketing system. After a failed attempt with a large database company and a fervent RFP process, it was determined that the larger prominent database companies were not suitable for the cutting edge requirements that would give us a competitive advantage for the 21st century. We recognized great success with a younger more agile company in our Events group with Cool life Systems, thus awarding them the contract.

Dashboards and shared reporting keep all marketing personnel on the same page as well as articulate a standard message from within the company across the board while imparting a proactive environment to exchange ideas. It appears the lesson here is not just to reduce your spending budget, but rework it. The concepts and ideas that once seemed unreachable are not only obtainable with today’s technology, but have become necessary. With the right planning, today is a perfect time to justify progressive change without disrupting marketing effectiveness, enabling you to position your company to navigate from 2009 to 2010 in a positive light.

See you next week!

2009-07-27T10:57:00.001-04:00

Over the course of the coming weeks, SaaS Expert will be featuring a series of articles, commentaries, and ideas central to the theme of what else? SaaS, CRM and it many wonderful attributes! The information is sourced from our own in-house experts in addition to our clients and other expert contributors. We trust that you will find the content easy to read and informative. The goal of this series is to provide a broad spectrum of information to the community at large who are contemplating a SaaS infrastructure as well as those who are well engrained in SaaS knowledge and just looking to kick around a little.

Check back next Monday for the first piece - 'Got SaaS?'

In the interim here is a great article about the use of a Fax machine in today's office. In short, ditch the Fax, create a PDF and send it via CRM!

Leveraging CRM Software in the Small Business

2009-07-08T10:21:00.000-04:00

Nothing is more important and critical to the success of a business than their customers. Maintaining satisfied, loyal customers has proven essential to success.

This is an even more critical element in the small business sector as they battle with their larger counterparts to succeed.

For this reason, making good use of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software solution becomes vital for small businesses.

When small businesses utilize the information provided by CRM software and combine it with an electronic resource planning (ERP) systems, they are able to optimize on productivity and increase sales.

Database integratio of sales and customer information make it possible to optimize sales opportunities for the small business.

By giving users a one stop location for all needed information including, sales and marketing information about customers it becomes easier to make better, more informed business decisions.

This winning combination also helps strengthen sales for a company and as Jami J. Rodgers, VendorGuru.com Columnist points out an article, "Taking the Next Step: Your CRM Helping Build Your Small Business," "Most CRM tools are integrated into company-wide ERPs as part of a universal data repository that allows customer database and sales database information to be analyzed simultaneously. By factoring in a number of variables, the small business owner is easily able to identify sales trends and opportunities for future growth."

Rodgers also notes that this integration offers a chance to tweak needed areas and makes it possible to simplify the maintenance and use of systems within the business, as there is not a need for a number of stand alone systems to track and learn. Instead, businesses can pay closer attention to the matters of their business to further their growth and success.

Author: Stefania Viscusi, TMC News
Article Source

How do you Jump Ahead of the Crowd by 80%”

2009-06-23T13:51:00.001-04:00

How do you Jump Ahead of the Crowd by 80%”

The next time you capture a lead, remember the following statistics:

2% of sales are made on the 1st contact
3% of sales are made on the 2nd contact
5% of sales are made on the 3rd contact
10% of sales are made on the 4th contact
80% of sales are made on the 5th-12th contact

And if that doesn’t get you…

87% of all leads are never pursued
45% – 63% of the all leads eventually buy the product or service from someone
48% of all sales leads that are pursued are dropped after the first call/meeting
80% of all sales close after the fifth contact/meeting (see above)
73% of sales people do not have a growth plan for their top five accounts

How do you fix this problem? It’s a two step solution:

1. Get a CRM solution.

If you don’t have a CRM solution in place, then invest in one. The system will pay for itself in a matter of months.

2. Implement effective workflow and business process automation rules.

You may be thinking, “Our business has a CRM, we already use it.” Great, but my response to you is, Prove it! How? Run a report of all the untouched leads in your system. How many show up? Now, run a report of when the last time all active leads were last followed up. Chances are there is some work to be done. Now, does your sales team have an easy way to look at last touch or no touch? Remember, you can pay for and implement all you want, however unless there are business process rules and workflow automation in place, the majority of leads and prospects in your system will remain untouched, go lost and worst yet – never sold. Costing you both income and loss of market share.

Follow up is critical to a sales process. CRM and work rules play a necessary part for follow up to be effective.

Free CRM? Is it really worth it?

2009-06-10T13:17:00.002-04:00

Google the phrase “Free CRM” or “Cheap CRM”. You will get a list ad naseum. Guaranteed. I run across this all time when I speak to prospects, “I am a small business, I want a free solution.”

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with free. Price is always a motivating factor when it comes to making a purchase, even for me. But the question that needs to be asked is, “At what point does “free” become “not free”.

Times are tight. Every day the mainstream media squawks that unemployment is at 25-30 year highs. Business & consumer spending is down. Costs of goods are higher than 2-3 years ago. Layoffs are up. (Bring back 1989!) So understandably, “free” becomes very attractive. You may think, “I can have a free CRM. This is great!” TANSTAAFL!

Once the decision to implement a CRM solution is made, picking the correct solution becomes critical. With the multitude of free and cheap CRM product offerings you may be very tempted to try one out. But ask yourself the following questions before trying out one of the dime a dozen solutions before making that final decision:

• What type of Support will I get if something goes wrong? For implementation?

• Startup Cost. Maybe not in dollars, but in time. What costs more?

• How Effective are the tools?

• How Fast does the product operate?

• Is the product Reliable. Will it work when I need it?

• Does it have all the Functionality I need or will want in 6-12 months? And if not, what will be the future cost to add it?

• Will the developer continue to provide Support in the future if they stop offering it.

• Will the product actually Make me money or Cost me time?

• If the developer offer a paid for version, how much will the upgrade cost?

• Can I get my data, when I need it?

• And finally, if the product is really that good, why do they offer it for free?

As the owner of a business, choose a product that can meet the needs of your business today, 6 months from now and 2-3 years down the road. The solution should be completely scalable to accommodate the growth of your business both in scope(data) and employees(size). With most paid solutions, the vendor will hold your hand the entire process. They will coach. Provide feedback. Yes, the initial cost may be more, but in the long run, the true cost of the product will be significantly lower than many “free” marketplace offerings.

When you run a business, you are required to wear many hats – CEO, Project Manager, HR, Janitor, and Head of Sales. You may already have people in these roles, but ultimately, if they fail or there is a bump in the road you, as their manager, will have to take over. Your success (or failure) is undeniably linked to theirs. By selecting a free CRM product you cannot take the chance of the product failing. The only thing you will get is wasted time. Guaranteed.

Three steps to maximize CRM functionality for small businesses continued

2009-06-01T11:54:00.001-04:00

and the continuation of the post....

Step 3: Remember that CRM is about continuous process improvement for SMBs

The owner or key executives at most SMBs are very busy people, and they are constantly confronted with a host of issues that need their attention. When one issue is solved, they quickly move on the next.

Unfortunately, what this means for CRM is that once the initial product implementation has been completed, management's attention generally moves on to other issues. This can be very unfortunate because CRM is not a one-time project -- it's an ongoing process of (1) critiquing the current situation, (2) identifying and prioritizing CRM issues and (3) implementing action plans and configuring the CRM solution to achieve measurable results. CRM success is all about continuously working on and improving the best way to manage customer relationships.

The ongoing process paid off for Dworshak.

"Now that we've addressed some of our most critical customer management problems as part of our initial CRM implementation project and we've begun to realize measurable improvements, we're anxious to tackle more problems," he noted. "But to get our management team's attention back on CRM, we can see that we need to initiate a new CRM Discovery process so that we can show management how addressing new CRM problems will lead to both revenue and proﬁt enhancement in our company."

Conclusion

Getting the most out of the functionality of your CRM product can yield signiﬁcant ﬁnancial returns. So don't be satisﬁed with using only the very basic functionality included in your CRM tool. Use the simple methods discussed in this article to continuously take advantage of more of what your CRM software has to offer, and take your customer management skills to the next level.

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Jim Berkowitz, SearchCRM.com contributor

Three steps to maximize CRM functionality for small businesses - part 1 of 3

2009-05-19T15:45:00.001-04:00

Far too many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that take the leap and invest in CRM software fail to realize the full potential of what today's CRM products have to offer. Here are three primary steps to maximizing CRM functionality at SMBs:

1. Critique current customer management issues.

2. Configure the CRM product so that it is quick and easy to use.

3. Make sure management views CRM as a process, not a project.

Let's take a look at each of these three related suggestions in a little more detail and explore how they affect CRM technology usage in many SMBs.

Step 1: Critique current customer management issues

Once a CRM product has been selected, many SMBs don't have much money to spend on the CRM implementation, and most of the vendors are anxious to get their new customers up and running as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, these two factors will most assuredly hold back organizations from using CRM technology to its fullest potential.

The truth is, for most SMBs, implementing CRM so that it results in a meaningful return on investment isn't easy. Many ﬁnd that just setting up a complete and accurate customer database can be a time-consuming and difficult process.

However, to get beyond using CRM technology as a gloriﬁed database and contact manager and to begin to take advantage of the functionality available in today's CRM products, organizations must take the time to critique their current customer management issues. That means identifying the speciﬁc problems that are negatively affecting the business's ability to win, keep and grow proﬁtable customers.

This process is often referred to as "discovery" work and ideally should be completed before organizations even begin to look at CRM product and vendor alternatives.

"Understanding our existing internal sales processes and identifying exactly what needed to be cleaned up was instrumental [in] our ability to generate positive results with CRM," noted Russ Dworshak, regional sales manager with Compressor Systems Inc., a leading manufacturer of compressor equipment for the gas industry.

For SMBs, discovery work generally takes about 30 days and consists of a variety of activities such as:

Completing interviews with key management, staff and administrators that focus on what's working and what's not.

Conducting surveys: surveying customers about loyalty and surveying internal customer-facing personnel about their effectiveness and efﬁciency.

Documenting current process ﬂows.

During this discovery work process, organizations should be trying to answer two very critical questions:

1. What opportunities do we have to improve the effectiveness and increase the productivity of our customer-facing people?

2. Are we exceeding customers' expectations and building a loyal customer base?

The problems that many of the mainstream CRM products are going to be most effective at solving are going to be process-related. For example, some organizations may ﬁnd that their business doesn't have a formal lead-qualiﬁcation process. As a result, too many unqualiﬁed leads are being passed on to their sales force, who are then wasting time on people who aren't qualiﬁed or ready to buy.

Or maybe the manual process that's in place for fulﬁlling requests from prospects for product data sheets is too labor intensive and time consuming.

Once the organization has identiﬁed its most critical problems, the next step is to document both how things are done now and how the process should work going forward.

For example, the organization may now be turning over all new leads to the sales team. They want to implement some changes so that a sales assistant could first rate each new lead in terms of quality and readiness to buy; second, they'd like to automatically assign only the leads with a high-quality rating – those who are ready to buy -- to the appropriate sales reps; and ﬁnally, they'd like the high-quality leads that aren't ready to buy to go into a prospecting database so that marketing can periodically send out emails to the prospects until they indicate that they are ready to buy.

Check back next week for part 2 of 3!

Six smart CRM strategies for meeting sales quotas in a down economy

2009-05-14T09:49:00.002-04:00

There's no question that when the economy tanks, the job of the salesperson gets a whole lot harder. Sales cycles get longer, it's tougher to close, and negotiations are more difficult, leading to lower prices -- and thus lower sales commissions. But that doesn't mean you can't sell, and sell well. It just takes more focus and a smarter use of CRM and sales force automation (SFA) tools to keep the leads coming and meet sales quotas.

"The sales cycle is extending, and it's harder to break through. So we use CRM to help keep us on task and make sure business developers don't drop leads," said Patrick Cahill, senior associate at the Wellesley Hills Group, a sales and lead generation consulting company in Framingham, Mass.

The business developers at Wellesley Hills Group serve as the sales staff for various client firms that lack their own sales expertise. Wellesley Hills reps often handle sales not just for one company but for two or three. This means that keeping track of each prospect's status and recent contact history would be very difficult without help from an automated sales application. So they use Salesforce.com to keep them on schedule with follow-up calls as well as to refresh their memories as to the history and context of prior calls to a prospect, Cahill explained.

"The business developers might have three clients they're calling on behalf of, so there's no way they can retain all of those calls and leads themselves," he said. "The software records what's going on and lets them pick it back up again when it's time to call back, as if nothing has happened in the meantime."

CRM and associated SFA systems can be extremely helpful in keeping sales on track, according to Cahill and other experts. Here are their suggested tactics for boosting sales with CRM.

1. Collaborate with marketing

Sheryl Kingstone, director of the Yankee Group's Enterprise Research group, said that sales teams and marketing departments often miss opportunities to work together, losing potential sales in the process. In a poor economy, sales staff need to latch onto good hooks such as a discount, a new product push, or some other marketing campaign or theme that the company is promoting, Kingstone said. Following up on marketing campaigns provides the salespeople with a more valuable and timely message for closing the sale.

"There's long been a disconnect between sales and marketing. People are not taking advantage of a huge opportunity," she said. "We have the technology to connect them. Marketing can do an email blast that salespeople can execute on, for instance."

2. Mine old sales leads

CRM systems can retain sales notes and prospect data for years -- not just your own old notes, but those of former sales employees as well. These can be mined for old-but-still-promising leads, as well as for prior customers that might be interested in buying again. Searching by location, demographics or marketing campaign themes can net a list of new leads that is specific to your message.

"We might sort through past campaigns or opportunities that we never got to proposal with, or with former customers," Cahill said. "In this economy, now's the time to go back and look at past prospects. If you've had one conversation with a firm, it's more likely that you'll get to have a second conversation. So we tell people to revive those old opportunities."

3. Leverage social networking tools for sales

A blog that covers a topic of interest to customers can increase an organization's visibility to clients and prospective clients and, if the content is good, also lend credibility.

"Now is an excellent time to implement Sales 2.0 tools to improve the collaboration between your business and your customers," said Jim Berkowitz of CRM Mastery, Inc. "Wikis, blogs, micro-blogs [like Twitter] and more can all lead to an enhancement in customer experience and loyalty."

Likewise, peer-to-peer networking tools such as LinkedIn.com and Octopuscity.com enable sales reps to share best practices with colleagues and tap those who have contacts at organizations that they may want to target.

"If you compile your social network with [those of] your colleagues, then you realize who knows each other and who can help you get an introduction to someone," Kingstone said.

4. Access mobile sales data from the road

It may be worthwhile to add mobile support to your CRM, she said, if you don't already have it.

"Mobility can play a huge role in improving sales effectiveness, because the salesperson who is on the road can see the right information just at the point of interaction with the customer," she said.

That means letting salespeople have wireless access to the same data they would have from their own desktops -- contact history, last purchase, notes and recent marketing mailings to the prospect. Having that intelligence to hand, when going into a meeting, can provide the extra insight needed to close a deal.

5. Optimize sales territory assignments

Territory optimization is another useful add-on tool for SFA applications. These tools help sales managers assign the most effective and equitable mix of leads and territories to the sales staff. According to Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc., companies that use territory optimization tools will increase revenue by 1% to 3%.

Territory management software includes such features as mapping and visualization tools, workflow and collaborative capabilities for automating the distribution of assignments, and integration with CRM applications for lead generation and incentive compensation.

6. Analyze, automate

Deal analytics is a new area of SFA that can be very useful in improving close rates, according to Gartner analyst Robert DeSisto. These tools can analyze past customer behaviors, cross-selling data, and demographics to pinpoint areas of high interest to a customer. Likewise, using the tools to examine competitive information -- pricing and bundled offers, for instance -- enables quicker and more effective negotiating over price. Most of these tools can be purchased as add-ons from SFA vendors, DeSisto noted.

Other such "smart" tools are also cropping up. Cahill likes one in particular: the Web-based Office AutoPilot tool from MoonRay, which supports data exchange with Salesforce.com. It is a sales process automation tool that enables sales managers to automate if-then processes for follow-up calls and mailings. For instance, if a salesperson puts notes into Salesforce.com that indicate a C-level executive was contacted and that he or she was moderately interested but did not wish to buy anything this year, the AutoPilot can be configured to use that information to trigger a monthly newsletter mailing to that executive, written as if from the sales rep, which provides updates on the product and related information.

And it can go even further. "If the lead then clicks on URLs in the email, AutoPilot could record that and assign a score to the lead. Based on that score, the software might alert the business developer that he's showing more interest," Cahill said. "It can help you really segment which people you should focus on."

Cahill expects there will be more and better sales-related CRM tools coming out in the near future, especially given the increased pressure on smaller firms to maintain their sales with ever smaller staffs.

"People are concerned about committing to additional costs without knowing if they're going to get some return quickly," Cahill said. "There's a lot of potential in years to come to help firms figure out which leads are the best ones to approach."

Why corporate IT will eventually embrace cloud computing

2009-04-28T16:50:00.002-04:00

I love to watch the looks on the faces of IT leaders when you ask a question that involves the word “cloud computing.” It’s usually a mix between, “Oh, here we go again” and “You obviously don’t know much about IT if you’re asking me this.”

Even if those IT leaders give a non-committal response or a tepid “It’ll be interesting to see how it develops” answer, it’s always easy to tell that most of them would rather gouge out their own eyeballs before turning over their company’s most important applications to a vendor to host over the Internet.

Why? It’s all about control.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not calling CIOs a bunch of Luddite control-freaks. It’s not that simple. IT requires tight control and management because IT departments can’t afford to overlook any details that could lead to unplanned errors or downtime. Jobs, productivity, reputations, and lots of money are all at stake every day when you work in IT - and even more so when you’re in charge of the whole operation.

There’s also the tiny little issue of data. IT leaders do not trust online vendors with the company data, including everything from customer information to legal documents to intellectual property and trade secrets. And, what about compliance? If the data isn’t handled properly and is in violation of Sarbox or HIPPA regulations, who’s responsible?

And, what happens when the Internet goes down and all of your workers are stuck twiddling their thumbs because they can’t access the company’s most important piece of software? That’s the other big game-breaker for IT leaders when they look at cloud computing.

However, over the next five years, we should expect CIOs to change their tune, because most of the technology obstacles will be removed and there will be a big financial incentive to make the switch. To explain, I’ve broken this down into the top four reasons why IT leaders will embrace cloud computing:

4. Separation of data from apps
It is quite possible that in the next few years we will increasingly see the front end of applications separated from the backend. The front end will be delivered in the Web browser while the backend will be powered by highly-scalable databases.

As WAN speeds rise to over 100 Mbps, bandwidth costs decrease, and WAN acceleration technology drives much more efficient use of WAN pipes, the application front-end and the backend database will be able to exist in separate locations much more easily and effectively. In some cases, this could even allow companies to host the data inside their own private data centers and simply allow the front end apps running in the cloud to tunnel in and connect to the data.

3. Offline access for online apps
The future of cloud computing applications is not session-sensitive Web pages that deliver applications that are unavailable when there’s a hiccup in Internet access or loses a user’s form data when a backhoe accidentally cuts a fiber line.

Following the example of Google Gears (and in some cases using the code), we’re going to see the next generation of serious Web applications develop an offline component in addition to the standard online component. This offline functionality stores the application locally and caches user data so that any hiccups to a Web session or connectivity outages allow users to continue to work uninterrupted. Then when Internet connectivity is restored, any work and changes made offline are simply synced up with the online version of the application.

2. Ubiquitous mobile Internet access
While offline functionality will be necessary for Web applications in the cloud to go mainstream, there’s also going to be significant progress made over the next five years in making Internet access virtually ubiquitous - or at least available anywhere you can connect to a cell tower.

The spread of both WiMAX and LTE - competing 4G wireless standards - will bring broadband Internet to remote locations and will introduce true mobile broadband connectivity to cars, busses, and trains. This will help remove one of the psychological barriers to cloud computing: the idea that you can only use it when you’re sitting at a desk where you have a high-speed connection.

The arrival of more powerful and versatile smartphones and netbooks, combined with ubiquitous mobile broadband, will open up new possibilities for cloud computing that will surpass most of what’s currently available with standard software clients — and do it at a lower cost.

1. Moving CAPEX to OPEX
Speaking of costs, that brings us to the main reason why IT leaders will eventually adopt cloud computing. Scaling servers up and down is very expensive. Most IT departments typically buy as many servers as they’ll need during the company’s estimated peak capacity. However, they don’t need all that capacity most of the time so lots of servers sit idle.

With cloud computing (and it’s cousin, utility computing), the equation changes. When a company needs more capacity during its peak season, it simply pays for it on-demand. When business slows down and the company needs less capacity, its bill goes down because it’s using fewer resources.

In financial terms, this allows a company to move much of its infrastructure costs from being a capital expenditure (CAPEX) to an operating expenditure (OPEX). CAPEX costs are often tightly controlled since they involve depreciating assets. The advantage to OPEX is that you can typically dial it down and dial it up much more quickly and carefully.

by: Jason Hiner, techrepublic.com

Is your business ready for a CRM solution?

2009-04-21T10:49:00.004-04:00

I have yet to see a business that, sometimes in spite of themselves, didn’t benefit from implementing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or a simpler Contact
Management software solution.

Your small business might be the rare exception, but if you can relate to some of the following scenarios, you may be ready to take advantage of the improved and inexpensive
CRM systems coming on-stream.

Mary, your star sales performer, has just been poached by your opposition. She departs your employ with immediate effect. You are left wondering:

What deals was she working on?
What is the status of those deals?

Mary’s replacement would be able to hit the ground running, taking over where Mary left off if you have a small business CRM solution installed.

You need to do an e/mail marketing campaign to your customer base, but even the simple task of extracting a targeted list of all your client’s names and addresses proves difficult. And you
haven’t even begun to send out your mailer yet, never mind manage and follow through with your responses.

Your sales people spend an inordinate amount of time preparing themselves for the next day, deciding who they are going to call or visit. That information should be spat out by the Task
List of the CRM or Contact Manager, freeing them up to spend more time productively doing scenario planning, and selling.

Is getting reports from your sales people like pulling teeth? Do your reps spend far too long compiling data and reports essential to forward planning?

This is time that you'd far preferably have your employees spend doing what they are paid to do - sell your products. We only have a finite amount of time to contact and meet clients.

Employees should, as far as possible, discipline themselves to perform the bulk of admin ‘after hours’, rather than during office hours. The right CRM tools will yet again put you on the right track.

These are all reports that could be generated at the touch of a button, and winging their way to your inbox with another, if you have the right CRM solution in place. You could even, depending
on your choice of CRM solution, have reports extracted and forwarded to you automatically.

Nobody can sleep well in the knowledge that their biggest asset, their customer database, is in a mess! It may look pretty, but does it work?

Here are some other possible questions that you need answers for; the facts may remain elusive without the benefit of a functional CRM solution.

Why did you lose that deal?
Just when did you promise to get back to ACME Inc., after their budget gets approved?
Exactly how much did you quote them?
Who last engaged with that client from your sales/service or accounts departments; when, and what transpired?
When does their contract with your competition or with you expire?
What is the weighted value of those potential deals, forecast for the next x months?
You have a great new deal sweetener and need to get a mailer, fax shot, emailer out to your clients in a hurry, but how?
Who are your VIP customers - by region, product, rep or any other user-defined category? How do you rate or profile them?
You can’t pinpoint just why Johnny is having problems closing deals.
You want to sell your business but you can’t show your prospective buyers a professional, current list of your pending deals or active clients, the goodwill that makes much of the real value of any business.

These are just a few of the questions a competent CRM application should be able to answer for you.

One thing is for certain – a few short months after implementing your CRM solution, you’ll wonder how on earth you ever got by without it!

excerpted from smallbizcrm.com

Why didn't you close that deal?

2009-04-14T13:37:00.001-04:00

Everyone likes to talk about the deal they just landed or the next deal on the horizon. No one talks about the deal that got away or the deal that didn't close.

What was the reason the deal didn't close? Poor follow up? Lack of communication? Out of touch with the business climate? Didn't know the customer basics? Too many hands in the pot?

Probably, there was not just one reason you lost "that" deal. And if you lost one deal, there are ten more behind it that you don't about.

In today's climate you can't afford to lose that deal. You need to be organized, communicate effectively with your prospects and clients, distribute your time accordingly based on deal specific ROI, and create an effective marketing presence both on the web and through eMail.

CLS eSuite SPM & CRM tools allow everyone from field sales to admins, and CSR's to top level managers stay actively involved in the management and processing of each deal from cradle to grave. No more transactions falling through the cracks. No more excuses about who didn't do what on that deal. Our tools will help you prevent "that" deal from going lost as well as allowing you to find additional opportunity and revenue.

Financial Crisis Impacts SaaS Adoption

2008-10-03T12:23:00.000-04:00

With the financial crisis controlling all aspects of how people do business, IT infiltrators are dissecting its impact on company IT spending. Tech Broiler Jason Perlow, blogged on September 16^th saying that this is going to have “a lasting impact on all kinds of spending habits by large corporations as well as individuals, and will most certainly affect spending on technology.”

In-short, it seems to be agreed by the majority that this will only push the adoption of on-demand services. Many businesses who were before considering these technologies as an optional transformation to their current methods are now considering them mandatory.

So are SaaS solutions really more affordable option for all businesses? I believe they are but for different reasons. For the larger corporation it means the elimination of data centers and saving through virtual consolidation with the shift of applications to SOA. For SMBs it ultimately means the adoption of SaaS. The pay-as-you-go method avoids the immense upfront costs, IT staff, and constant updates.

Twenty-nine percent of leading companies expected to cut or stop IT spending in the fourth quarter of the year. But because business goes on, companies will realize their need for emerging alternatives. And with mergers and acquisitions taking place along with the crisis, the process of integrating disparate data with cloud solutions will be a large focus.

The Buzz Words of the Web

2008-08-05T14:01:00.000-04:00

The dynamicity of the web has led to a plethora of buzzwords - many too exhaustive to approach. But if forced to choose the ones that could give society an underlining knowledge of the advancements in the IT world, it would certainly be Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. The exploration of these terms paves the road to understanding the transformation in web technology. They are not terms that expire, but instead, grow with its original mode still inherent.

Web 1.0 was the beginning. What was typically called a “killer app” referred to those applications vital to technology as a whole. To the user, these were simply web-sites such as Google and Amazon. The average consumer didn’t think of applications when they typed Amazon. com in their web browser, but the It professional certainly did. What’s the difference? From the developer’s perspective, an application is a submission with need for advancement. As consumers, we get to sit back and enjoy the convenience of these developments as they come to us in the form of websites. The convenience of web 1.0 meant that transactions - whether of information or of products and services - became instant and accessible from anywhere the Internet took form.

Web 2.0 answered the question many where asking. How can we share this data? We have since seen a variety of different social networking sites like MySpace and Flickr, answering this question. The other major component of 2.0 is the employments of web services. Through APIs, or application programming interface, the integration of data between sites is possible. This integration of data within the Internet opens doors for Web 3.0

But Web 3.0 has only taken affect on a smaller scale. As mentioned earlier, this is what is known as the integration of data through APIs. The next obvious step is to transfer all existing data onto the web, using the Internet as a platform. This may be difficult to visualize because until now, all we have known is starting up a computer and then accessing the Internet. Web 3.0 involves the elimination of the second step. All forms of computing would be done over the Web.

Web technology is experiencing growing pains. This transformation is not only an improvement, but a change in the way we approach the web. This conversion will mean more than convenience to consumers. It will mean energy saving and a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

SaaS or "Software on Demand"

2008-08-05T11:53:00.001-04:00

Software as a Service:
Use these facts to better understand the trends with Software
and the integration of the web.

By David Cummings, *Technology Company CEO*

Over the past two decades, companies have been investing billions of
dollars in the development of software applications to remain competitive in their respective market places. Despite this investment, this vacuum to cash flow often becomes an accepted standard to business development.

Long term initiatives for proprietary applications are often abandoned as they are deemed inadequate before reaching fruition because of the dynamic business model, mergers and acquisitions. With the discovery sessions, scope development, business rules gathering, design, engineering & development, testing, implementation, and training, a product is no sooner released before the capital costs are depreciated, and improvements are required for the processes and application itself. And, this doesn’t address the expenses for the hardware infrastructure, personnel to support its maintenance and the annual licensees for software. These obstacles make for a wind tunnel of cash that could otherwise be budgeted for growth and marketing.

With products ranging from small business accounting, e-marketing campaign management and CRM’s, the Saas industry is still in its infancy. Yet, the expenses for the hardware infrastructure, personnel to support its maintenance and the annual licensees for software, leave a wind tunnel of cash that could be budgeted for growth and marketing. Companies ranging from 5M to 500M are realizing the significant advantages to outsourcing technologies that under previous scenarios were internally unavoidable. Having watched the software industry with a pragmatic eagle eye, I remain convinced that focusing on software as a service (SaaS) is "The key to creating more enterprise value and capturing the attention of a wider audience.”

In a SaaS implementation, a vendor provides the application as a service that is licensed by multiple customers. All aspects of infrastructure management and application delivery are handled by the service provider and delivery is through the web. The customer typically does not maintain software or hardware and pays for access to the application only, while still retaining complete ownership of the data.

Companies enjoy a swift ‘up-time’ that has an immediate impact on their business model. There is a nominal up-front investment and users can be added or dropped as business demands, with little effect on costs. Upgrades and fixes are done quickly, often without the customer even noticing. This minimizes maintenance for IT staff.

To remain competitive SaaS providers offer state of the art hardware, cutting edge software maintained and always updated, varied privileges for end users based on access permissions, database management supported by the application provided, and all for a budgeted and contained cost.

SaaS products also have a wide range of capabilities for customization. Consolidation is inevitable in today’s marketplace and technology is constantly changing. Companies need, therefore, to carefully scrutinize the long term benefits between PAD (proprietary application development) and SaaS. Save as Draft

Catch with Keywords

2008-08-05T11:52:00.000-04:00

Harnessing control of your web-site's results on search engines is perhaps one of the biggest promotional tools you can command for your business. The most commonly accepted form of research today involves using meta-tags, or typing keywords into a search engine and browsing websites for the information you need. As you can see, it is important that you use the proper keywords so that searchers are directed to your website first.

The question is how do you do this, and more importantly, what keywords do you want to be found under? Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines do not only place a great deal of weight on how often people look at your website, but whether the content will match a search properly. So, it is important that you narrow down the field to exactly what type of business or service you are and the demographic area you are serving. To do this we initiate the practice of Focused Keywords.

Focused Keywords are a grand total of 12-15 words which, when combined into four to five phrases, best match your company or organization. You may be a lawyer, but do you really need to compete with every lawyer on the earth? Do you take in clients at the local or the international level? Focusing on your location for local groups or businesses is an absolute must. A lawyer in Manhattan, for example, probably would not be competing with a lawyer in San Francisco. So the Keyword phrase "Manhattan Lawyer" or perhaps, "Manhattan Defense Attorney" would be more suiting.

At Cool Life, we intuitively refine the focus of our clients’ presence. We use five keyword phrases that pertain to their service or business. Take a man who makes cushions for furniture for example. Say he uses the phrases "Hudson Valley Furniture Cushions." Any combination of these four words is going to factor high on his search results, as long as his content remains true to the words used. Another selection, such as "Furniture Accessories New York," would also work well for this type of user.

By making your keywords more specific yet still simple enough to be searched, you will strengthen your search engine results. This technique is far more effective than competing world-wide for a one keyword that most people won’t begin their searches with in the first place. Setting keywords are similar to setting bate when you go fishing. Without doing it, you’ll have tons of fishing swimming around your pole but not on it!