The wonderful world of Web 2.0!

Hi All! Month End CRM time and what a month it has been!

In August – and you all know August is traditionally a slow month (holiday season etc) I decided to attend a few seminars to keep me up to speed with the newest and latest technologies so I can as usual pass on my knowledge to you. Many of the seminars I attended where VERY technical and attended mostly by fully paid up techies and I will admit that a lot of the jargon went over my head and I struggled to keep up with talk of active directories, terminal services and server consolidation!

However I did attend one workshop which I found so interesting and has since opened an entirely new means to market for Supreme.

The wonderful world of Web 2.0!

You must have heard of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogs, RSS, Wikis, Skype etc? These are all examples of Web 2.0 technologies and if like myself you thought social networking et al was the preserve of teens of the spotty kind think again!

• Want to create a subscriber list that you can send messages to instantly? Get people to “follow” you using Twitter.
  
• Want to demonstrate your newest product online – or upload a video of your manufacturing process? Record a video and host it on YouTube! Next time you send an email with your marketing blurb while not include a link to your video?
  
• Looking to reduce your call charges? Tried Skype yet? Skype to Skype calls are FREE and calls to UK numbers cost from £0.01p/minute (even less if you take up one of their unlimited call packages)
  
• Tell the world how wonderful you are with your own “Blog”. Talk about your products, your customers and your people.

I give you an overview of some of my favourite Web 2.0 Technologies (so far) and ideas of some great applications you could use them for:

1. Wikis, Commenting, Shared Workspaces
The most well none “Wiki” is www.wikipedia.org which is like an online encyclopaedia and you can find information on almost anything there! A wiki enables you to create a single access point where information may be shared (enabling greater collaboration). We have a “wiki” at Supreme where we have uploaded all our documents in one central location and this can be accessed by any of our staff over the internet (no more asking Jo in accounts to fax through an order form or calling Sarah in R&D to send through prototypes) because you can access whatever information you need online yourself! This is a great application for many of you who are “information reliant” – think about how much time you spend looking for the right information? Now think about the amount of time you will save if you could access this information from one location?

2. Blogs, podcasts, video casts, peer to peer
These technologies offer you a way to communicate information with broad sets of individuals (users, customers, the world!). Use your Blogs to build a closer relationship with your clients; announce special offers, new developments etc. You can get your own Blog at www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.org.

3. Social Networking

Twitter

Use Twitter to create a subscriber base to market to and/or to get contacts. Create your profile at www.twitter.com and find “Twits” to follow. The beauty of Twitter is once you “follow” someone it is common Twitter etiquette that they give you a “follow” back. So it is always better to kick off the process yourself. You can use Twitter to advertise a new product or service; drive traffic to your website with little teasers plus it is a great way to network. If you want your first follow – checkout our profile at Twitter.com. It is simply @SupremeIT. I promise to give you a follow back

Twitter can also help you make contacts. If you know a company you have been trying to work with why not try finding their @Twitter ID, follow their Twits, get to know the “Twitterer” behind the twits and you will find they could be a great source of information (who to contact pertaining to your enquiry etc)

FaceBook

Once the playground of the young is fast becoming a forum to do business. Again like Twitter you need to create a profile (pretty self explanatory) load pictures, company details etc and presto! Like Twitter you need to go out and connect with other users. Use FaceBook to grow your subscriber base, drive traffic to your website, submit press releases etc. Other similar social networking sites include LinkedIn www.linkedin.com (Cool); Ecademy – www.ecademy.com (Networkers Paradise); MySpace – www.myspace.com (so last year..) and YouTube www.youtube.com.

The list goes on and the applications are endless. I am a still a novice to the Web 2.0 arena so I am still discovering new and exciting applications for it. So let me know if you have any questions or ideas and we can investigate together.

Well I hope you enjoyed this instalment of the monthly CRM newsletter – until next time!

Angie

SharePoint Solutions: Smart Investments in a Recession | NetworkWorld.com Community

SharePoint Solutions: Smart Investments in a Recession | NetworkWorld.com Community

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Demystifying SharePoint - A Five Minute Intro to Microsoft Sharepoint

SharePoint is a product from Microsoft that can be configured to run Intranet, Extranet and Internet sites without the time and expense of hiring programmers and web developers. SharePoint is Microsoft's fastest-growing to date with over 100 million licenses sold worldwide.

Its most popular use is as an intranet for internal staff to share information and work together more efficiently. SharePoint makes it easy to store and share your business files in a central site. Backups are also very easy to set up and restoring from backups is fast and easy to manage. With SharePoint you can allow users to add interactive web pages to your intranet, by taking one of the many useful templates and customising it. This allows your staff to add pages to your intranet as and when they are needed, whether they are departmental portals, document libraries, workspaces for meetings, task lists, calendars, online surveys, or discussion boards. With SharePoint, people without professional IT training can add new web pages to the intranet for any projects they are working on, giving lots of useful functionality.

SharePoint can be configured to allow access to all of this to your employees over the Internet securely, using the usernames and passwords that they already use in the office. You can even create web portals in SharePoint and allow public access to the whole world, and add interactive pages to advertise your company.

At Supreme Systems we use SharePoint for our own intranet and extranet systems, and also use SharePoint to create extranets for our customers, allowing them the features of a secure website without the cost of hiring web developers to make it for them.

If you would like to know more about what SharePoint can do for your business, contact Richard Gillis, Technical Services Engineer at Supreme Systems on 0845 009 5430.

For further information on sharepoint visit http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/Pages/Default.aspx

We are Microsoft Gold Certified Partners!

We today received our certification from Microsoft officially giving us the certification of Microsoft Gold Partner. This is the highest level of technical excellence bestowed by Microsoft and they look at technical expertise, marketplace knowledge and also levels of customer satisfaction in order to give this accolade.

Our BIGGEST thanks must go to all our customers, because without them we would not have achieved this. So thank you, thank you, thank you. We promise to continue providing you with the best service all the time to ensure that we always meet the highest standards expected of a Gold Partner.

To find out more about Microsoft Gold Certification visit https://partner.microsoft.com/40013031.

Angie

Hi,

Ask yourself this question - where will your business be six months from now? According to some commentators in six months we should start seeing the "green shoots" of economic recovery.

What will your business look like then?

• Will your business be a lean man fighting machine - using the latest technology to beat your competition or will your backoffice still be paper driven, inefficient and letting customers down?
  
• Will you be working smarter - using remote working options to work from home, on the road with a new Notebook, or will you still be struggling into the office at weekends just to pick up documents?
  
• Will you still be burning the midnight oil or will you be seeing more of your friends and family?

A recent survey from Barclays Bank found that the majority of small businesses see the downturn as an opportunity to 'leapfrog' thecompetition. 60% of companies surveyed said they had transformed their businesses for the better, using the slowdown as a chance to improve their businesses from within.

There is no better time to improve how you do business than right NOW!

So what technology could you economically introduce right now, to prepare for a better business and an easier workload tomorrow?

Answer - The Humble Server

• Are you constantly swapping documents around on USB sticks (or "dongles")? With a server, you can share files easily and in a controlled fashion.
  
• A server will allow access to the office - files, programs and data - from home. A server will administer remote access safely and reliably, and give different people in your organisation just the access they should be allowed - making flexible working a reality.
  
• A server is a storage repository, saving data (and backups) fast and centrally. There will be no more grinding to a halt just because "Ian's on holiday and we can't get into his computer".
  
• A server ensures that your specialist line-of-business tools are run centrally;
  
• A server acts as a security guard for the rest of your network, keeping threats to your business out.
  
• AND A SERVER SAVES YOU MONEY!

I know from the conversations I have had, many of you already have servers installed. Bravo!

Disappointing though is the number of you who are not utilising your servers fully. For example Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS), includes Microsoft Exchange which means you host your own emails internally (no more waiting for your emails to be downloaded from your ISP and this is by far a more secure option for your business). Exchange also allows for shared calendaring and email web access (you can access your work inbox anywhere in the world securely). Collaboration is made easier - you can share files with customers or other people outside the business. SBS makes going mobile a doddle - giving sales staff on the road access to their emails, files and any CRM database you may currently use.

If you are not yet using these features of SBS you really are not getting the best from your server and as such you are not getting a full return on your investment. I can get a server health check organised for your business to see if you are utilising all of the SBS tools - we do this over the internet, it is a non intrusive test and takes a maximum of 15 minutes. Let me know if you are interested and I will arrange one for you...oh and did I mention it is free? For those of you without a server - here are more reason's why you should seriously consider installing one:

A server offers quick wins which you can enjoy straight away. Think about giving staff mobile and web access to their email and files.

Staff can also control their own desktop PCs from anywhere.

Build your business on better IT. A professionally-installed server gives you better security, an IT environment built around best practice standards, and maintenance that's more predictable.

Best of All...You can afford it. We can help arrange financing with Microsoft to spread payments across 5 years, and is available for as little as £1000 - financing can also cover all your software.

I have attached a voucher below - which gives you 12% off our server package detailed below and also 25% off our installation costs. Let me know if this is of interest to you, the offer closes on the 31st of July 2009 by the way.

You can find further information on Microsoft's Small Business Server here.

Let me know if you have any questions, until next time...

Angela Hart
Client Services Manager,

Microsoft SBS Server Package Deal

HP Server plus Microsoft Small Business Server (software) £799 plus VAT.

Installation (full install, configuration and training) £400 plus VAT

Save upto 25%

Get 12% off Server Package with this voucher. Get 25% off installation cost if purchased at the same time as Server package. Offer includes supply of hardware and SBS software only. Order must be received by the 31st of August 2009 to qualify for the discount.

Offer Expires: 31.08.2009

I am about to share a BIG business secret with you..

Last week I wrote to you extolling the virtues of IT - We discussed how when used properly IT can help you reduce your costs, increase sales and boost the productivity of your team. Now a number of you contacted me requesting further information as to how IT can indeed help them make more money - people like Jessica Faraday of Finger Foods Ltd who wanted to use the Internet as a way of increasing sales. Their new website www.fingerfoods-online.co.uk has since been launched and has already generated four new bookings in just under 2 weeks! Now that's the power of technology for you!


So back to today's subject - Off the shelf or Do It Yourself?

Carrying on from our theme of using technology to boost your business, I wanted to bring your attention a new trend in business today.

Some of you may be familiar with Goldmine, Sage, Sales Logic, Alpha Law and Eclipse Legal - If you already use these types of software you know how well they simplify otherwise tedious processes. Many of these "off the shelf" (OTS)software are designed to tackle many main stream processes such as invoicing, quotations, payroll etc. Sage for example processes your payroll, run full financial reports or pays your suppliers with just one click.

To a large extent the "one size fits all" approach of the OTS software packages meets the requirements of most businesses; but there are certain drawbacks. This includes the inability to customise the software fully to your business; licensing costs; upgrades (which need to be paid for) and lack of support. In many instances the OTS software may not tackle processes you need them to tackle. So if you do find OTS software not relevant for business what other options do you have?

BESPOKE SOFTWARE!

If you cannot find software that fits your business needs completely or you need to automate a process then why not get your own software designed?
Think about it. What processes today in your business takes up most of your time and if automated would eradicate unnecessarily human errors? It could be calculating quotes, sending sales letters, managing customer information or even logging staff competencies.

Our research into how businesses work has found that 99.9% of processes can be automated!

Let me give you some more ideas of types of software you can have developed:

• A Document Management Software - ideal for Legal Practices where all client information is stored in one central location.
  
• Print Management Software - ideal for Printing Companies. Past and present print jobs can be stored within the software allowing you and your clients to view their print jobs.
  
• Digital Asset Management Software - ideal for Marketing Agencies, web designers and Advertising Agencies to share media and brand assets across the organisation and with their clients.
  
• Staff Competency Software - ideal for Recruitment Agencies. No need to go through various CVs looking for the right applicant. Simply enter specific keywords and the software finds the right applicant for you.
  
• CRM Software - Ideal for Retail Businesses. Record your customers buying habits and spend frequency so you can target them with more tailored offers.
  

The list is endless and is limited only by your imagination.

I know what you are thinking. "Sounds good, but I bet it would cost me an arm and a leg". Look at the example I gave above for a CRM Software. We recently designed a similar software for a Beauty Salon and they paid just £149 for their own proprietary software!

The benefits of designing your own software include:

Automation reduces the time spent manually carrying out the process

Easier access to information

Get your quotes and invoices out to your customers quickly boosting cash-flow

Eradicates human errors and waste

Cost effective - you pay once for the software, no need to worry about yearly subscription or licensing costs and upgrades

The software is built around your business so it is easy for you and your team to understand and use

Better relations with your clients as you understand their requirements fully

Software Design has revolutionised the way many businesses work. If your business does not currently employ software to improve processes in all areas of the business you may be missing a trick.

A case study for you to read is at www.supremesystems.co.uk/client_law.html - this shows how we used Software Design to create a bespoke intranet site for a client.

I hope this has provided some food for thought. Why not see for yourself how easy it is to have your own software developed. Give me a call now on 0121 236 0065 or email me at angela.hart@supremesystems.co.uk and discuss your needs with me. You will be surprised at what the Techies can do.

Kind regards,


Angela Hart
Client Services Manager
Supreme Systems

Hi All,

Hope you are well and enjoying the wonderful British summer. Well it is the last Monday of the month and you all know what happens on the last Monday of each month...Top tips a la Ang! Sorry this edition is later than usual – pretty busy July but I wanted to make sure you get this as promised on the last Monday of the month.

I know you have all been waiting for this month’s email with baited breath (a girl can dream can’t she?) so here goes – I hope you like and as usual if there are any areas you want me to investigate for you do let me know!

Tips to help you become productive, reduce costs and get more CUSTOMERS!!!!

In no particular order, these tips I hope will help you achieve the above and they have ALL been test driven by myself (the things I do for you...) - Seriously I employ all the tips listed regularly, bar the digital pen which I trialled at an exhibition recently got hooked and have since ordered for me and the rest of the team!


1. The Digital Pen

As I mentioned above, I attended a gadget expo recently and one of the products I trialled which completely blew me away was the E-Pen. You can find out more about it at www.e-pens.com/mobile_notes.htm. If like me you are constantly making notes at sales meetings, client service meetings, seminars etc then this little gadget is truly a godsend. It basically acts like a normal pen (complete with ink) and you write on normal paper – no digital tablet or anything. What I like best is you don’t even have to write in a special way – just write normally and the e-pen will recognise the text! Amazing! I have lost count of how many times I have returned from a meeting and have tried to decipher my own handwriting and have struggled to do so (yes my handwriting is really that bad) but the e-pen can! And it works with MS Office too! It recognises drawings too so brill for architects, engineers and marketers!

2. Get to the top of Google FREE

This is great. Forget Adwords, Forget website optimisation (for now...we will talk about this later), you can get to the top of Google simply be featuring on an index – FREE. I highly recommend http://www.freeindex.co.uk/. Simply register your business, add a few blurb about the business, attach some images, get a few testimonials and you are good to go! In the last month we have received 5 new business enquiries from Free Index. Not bad when you think it is all FREE. And because search engines simply love directories (remember search engines absolutely adore content and these directories are content rich) they will always rank highly. Another good free index is http://www.businessmagnet.co.uk/.

3. Start Tracking

Do you know how many people visited your website today? How about last week? How about last month? If you do not know how many people are visiting your website then you are missing out on a trick - a big one! In the UK we still do not get how powerful the internet is in terms of generating new business. Businesses still see their website as just a postcard where people can get information from. Wrong! Your website is your best salesperson – costs little and works 24/7 for your business. Not knowing how many people visit your website is like running a restaurant and not knowing how many covers you do on a daily basis. We use Google’s Web Analytics (give me a call if you want to know more about how this works) which I think is great. You can also get web page counters (there are many free ones out there) not as in depth as Analytics but at least they give you some insight as to how well your page is working. Just in case you are wondering, http://www.supremesystems.co.uk/ had 8 unique visitors to our site today, 27 last week and 101 visitors for the month of June! J

4. Give something away FREE

So you know how many people visit your site but do you know who they all are? Do you know what they are looking for? If the visitors to your site don’t actually complete the Contact Us form or actually call you then you will never know who they are – another lost sale L. So give them something for FREE..in exchange for their contact details for you to follow up with. Most people will gladly give their details in exchange for “valuable information” (the onus is on “valuable”). Check out our website at http://www.supremesystems.co.uk/ on Friday. We are trialling out our new giveaway (a search engine optimisation ebook) you may like it...sign up and get a copy!

5. The Cute PDF Writer

Another one of my “can’t do without” software – Introducing the CutePDF Writer. Easily converts any document into PDF easily. http://www.cutepdf.com/. I use the free version so don’t bother buying the “paid for” version.

6. Go Green – Save the planet and Save Money

Going Green is all the rage at the moment and I always try my darnedest to ensure that in everything I do I take the environment into consideration (I am not a saint mind..I do have my bad days...). There are many ways you can help the environment but one of the gadgets we use at Supreme is GreenPrint – it ensures you only print the pages you need (It does not print any blank pages etc). If you print a lot of paper this can save you money – paper, cartridges etc. Check it out at http://www.printgreener.com/

7. Get a Word ADD IN

We did this recently for one of our clients and I think it may be useful for some of you. An ADD IN is a small software built to work alongside an application (in this case Word) and helps to reduce the time spent generating documents (quotes, invoices, contracts, letters etc). Now the ADD IN we developed was on behalf of a company that generated health and safety reports on behalf of businesses. The ADD IN simply enters pre-populated information to an existing document from a database or preconfigured abbreviations. So enter ADDR1 and the ADD IN understands that it needs to include Your company address details and ADDR2 tells it to enter your clients address details. Right click and you can select from a list of preconfigured text to include within the document - in this case the client could pick from a list of recommendations to proffer to your client and this at the same time customises the entire document to reflect this solution. Hey putting pen to paper does not really do this software justice – you have to see it in operation. You will be blown away. I have one...which I use for all the quotes and contracts I send out, and it reduces the amount of errors you may make on such crucial documents....what do you mean “you didn’t know we could design software”? J

8. Get Flash Spring

Another “can’t do without” software is Flash Spring Pro – it helps convert ordinary PowerPoint presentations to brilliant Flash presentations. Check it out at http://www.ispringsolutions.com/. Best of all there is a FREE version which is very good indeed!

9. Kick off a referral programme

You know the old saying.. ”if you don’t ask you don’t get”. So get asking. Go through your database and send an email asking for just 1 referral. Give something back in return. You will be amazed at just how many responses you get back especially if you have a good relationship with your clients. Another tip..make it formal. Send a nice email, with logos etc, an image of the “thank you present” (a nice bottle of expensive wine always does the trick I find) include a form were they can enter the details of the contact and voila! Use Google to create your forms - go to http://www.google.com/ – look under more and then documents (I promise I am not on a retainer from Google) or another trusted friend Aweber - http://www.aweber.com/. While we are at it...got any referrals for moi? J

10. Go Paperless

Scan Everything! Seriously. Why still keep paper? I scan every single document I get in and recycle the paper. The government bodies will now accept scanned copies (for VAT, Tax, PAYE purposes) so why do small businesses still hold so much paper – And it is easier to find documents too especially if you have an intranet system like ours (enter document name within search section or document type, press enter and the magic of technology brings the document to you without you ever having to leave your desk). I understand there are situations where nothing but paper will do and you do have to keep some paper documents but not all...surely! Those files of bills you still keep is a great place to start!


So, there you have it, my 10 tips for you to get your teeth into - as usual any questions do let me know.

Until next time!

Regards,