Tag Archives: web 2.0

development, E-Commerce, Quality, work

Web 2.0 Saving Time

Implementing projects correctly

Last night on the radio I heard a comedian joking about how women want to know what men are thinking, I can imagine that a lot of men would claim to have no idea what women are thinking. In fact his question what people are thinking can go much further. Often when we do not understand one of the first questions that we ask is what are they thinking? Communication is more than a billion dollar industry. From phones to newspapers to meetings. In short each and every one of us spend more time communicating or trying to communicate than anything else. Why is it then that so many of us get it wrong?

I am not going to pretend to have the answer to that question. A friend of my recently commented that the process of writing clarifies the brain as to exactly what the situation/problem is. There is many a time that I have wondered what is going on in the company I work for. So imagine this. A company decides that it wants to improve a process. For example it wants to reduce software support to employees and educate them at the same time. A possible approach to this problem would be to organise meetings with different departments. Send out an email asking for ideas and feedback from employees. To organise and carry out this improvement it would require a small medium seized company at least one person to project manage, someone to sort out the information, someone to analyse the information, then more meetings to discuss the findings. Eventually you would have a recommendation that can be debated all over again. If by the end of this process there is still the will to implement it, you have truly done well. Of course there is no guarantee that your solution will work at all. How can web 2.0 deal with this?

Well imagine that you set out your vision on paper, and then allow people to comment. It is incredibly simple. Each user can see what issues have been raised and add comments if necessary. The project manager can modify and direct the discussion as the project evolves. This is clear accountable communication . Returning to the question about building a help desk, it allows every problem to be logged so that there is no repeat use of time to express the same points. One can even track the time involved producing accountability for budgeting future projects. Brilliant… if only everything was that simple I would not mind what anybody else is thinking.

business, development, E-Commerce

Web 2.0 Business and Product Development

The number of adverts that I see for a business development manager, or a relationship manager in the papers and on job boards I find to be amazing. It would seem that every company has something to develop; even my local butchers spent half an hour telling me how there has been no free range chickens sold in this area for the last 20 years. Now he may be right, but it does not solve my problem. I tend to eat very little meat nowadays as it is so damn hard to tell where it came from, how was it kept, what it was feed etc… Was it allowed to wander around outside? Has it been properly hung etc? Of all the businesses, that I can think of my butchers would do very well with some product development.

I cannot think of any reason at all why do not think for the life of me that our butchers is going to employ a thirtyish looking business developer, dressed in a suit to explain his products to the customer. This is something the head chopper feels he can do perfectly well. How much more custom would he get? At presently he is the only butchers in the village… Developing a relationship with your customers is difficult, especially in a highly competitive world as the one we live in, where every corner you turn there is somebody ready to quote a better price, do it faster, guarantee for it longer.

Why would anybody want to employ somebody just to go and talk to potential customers? Well the truth is they may not want to just that. But if there was that golden touch business developer who could go out and bring back the golden eggs, with the use of his or her persuasion, then you have got a foot in the door and you would have been able to open the box to much greater business and all for less than 40,000 a year. Surly though, the true role of a business developer will always remain with the MD. You may have many skills in your organisation , from people that can program computers underwater, to scientist who know how to calculate rockets landing on the moon but if you cannot get the money to pay you staff, you will all have go home.

It is possible that business developers have the most to lose from Web 2.0. as their means to and end is generally undefined. Imagine having something tangible for a process for business development. Web 2.0 can document that process. Not just for one customer but for all customers providing a backup and a status report, from the start of a product, to customer interest, to selling products, to customer feedback.

business, development, E-Commerce, Marketing

Web 2.0 for every Business, this Christmas?

It has puzzled me why the uptake of Web 2.0 in certain industries and places has been so slow. On one hand I can understand it, effectively web 2.0 can represent a loss of control. If your company engages in open communication with its customers and employees one may perceive a loss of control. No longer are topics discussed by a few individuals with in close proximity of each other. They can be discussed by whole departments across continents. What one customer may write about an employee or product is no longer a conversation with two or three people but can be seen and read by a hundred times that number.

Sherrilynne of Strive Pr  pointed me to this recent blog “ Social networking could turn out to be a costly “white elephant” for businesses that rush to invest in the technology. ” While some companies may be debating the merits and the cost of web 2.0. Can one really run the risk of not implementing and engaging your company in what is effectively the most important communications medium since democracy.

 

Yes there is risk that your business could suffer, but can you afford to dismiss it. If you have a service to offer and you work in competitive industry than you have to compete. I have listed some of the positive and negative advantages of web 2.0 below. 

 

Positive Advantages:

Direct Communication medium to customers, and employees.
Increased web visitors – potential increase business.
Increased web presence – lower cost of marketing.
Business and product development.
Content is Timeless – With any other form of communication the life span is limited. 
Real Time Statistics – Measure the Success of a promotion campaign.
Saves Time – Implementing projects correctly.
Lower advertising cost.
Generates marketing information for use in offline media.
Provides transparency for companies.
Can be used to make part of an assessment of an employee’s performance.

Disadvantages:

Reputations can be damaged and business lost if not properly implemented and handled.

There might be some more disadvantages but I cannot think of them now. This is what Wcx does, also I notice have given myself 13 topics to blog about over the next couple of months.

Uncategorized

Directors Have Their Emails Printed

Directors that cling to formality and status may find their brands gathering dust.

According to columnist Jane Simmons a very large number of directors have their emails printed out for them. In fact any part of their life that can be managed they have managed from calls screen to their laundry done. In fact it would not surprise me if they did not turn their computer on at all. How long can present directors stay away from the web 2 revolution. More and more smart young people are set to take advantage of missed opportunities by older, far more experienced business people to capitalise on the one billion – odd customers, who represent 89 percent of the of the global GDP, who are now connected to the internet.