Social Media - Profit from Twitter

Last week we looked at “How to Use and Abuse Twitter”. In the meantime an experienced CEO who is launching a new telecoms service emailed me ““I need to really understand the best use of Twitter, et al in business …. I believe it’s now a must do”.

The Twitter article, plus the broader one the week before on "How to Use and Abuse Social Media", both received very complementary reviews from people like comedian Ben Miller, who kindly tweeted about it..

But as I realised that neither article quite answered the CEO’s question, I used it as the inspiration for the next article I had been asked to write for "IT Counts", the online forum of the IT Faculty of the ICAEW (Chartered Accountants).

It’s fair to say that Twitter can be great fun at the personal level, with the chance to interact with famous people, as well as many other interesting people.

As the only cost at present is your time, it can also be profitable for a business when used in the right way. You can view the business-focused article on the Institute’s website here.

If you'd like to comment, and you are not a member of the IT faculty, please do so here.

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Escaping Excel Hell – The Ultimate Add-In?

It’s easy to outgrow Excel’s capabilities for a specific application. The only option is often to replace Excel with a system designed properly for the specific job.

There are other occasions where by using an add-in, such as gauges, you can achieve something valuable which you can’t do with Excel alone.

But often it makes sense for familiarity to use Excel linked to a database, for analysis and reporting of data, and sometimes for data entry, . This allows a system to be multi-user, or overcome some other restriction of Excel. A database of some kind is probably the ultimate add-in, as it can unlock a whole raft of possibilities.

At the simpler end of the spectrum you can link Excel to a Microsoft Access database, requiring skills that a typical systems accountant can master with a bit of training. At the other end are sophisticated OLAP systems where proper programming is required.

There are also a range of applications backed by a database, such as business planning, where you only need to configure them to achieve the results. Administration can be done by anyone capable of using Excel formulae and pivot tables.

So if you are finding that one or more of your Excel applications is stretched beyond reasonable limits, do take a look at the options available. Give us a call if you would like some help.

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KPIs – What’s Driving Your Business?

Sit down for your weekly business review and there is likely to be a page or screen full of numbers like revenue, order book and profit.

These are measures of results. But are you measuring what is driving your business? These are the true Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), or better called Key Performance Drivers (KPDs).

Depending on your business, these might be sales calls made, quote conversion ratio, credit notes, footfall, or staff turnover for example. Within business operations, there may be a whole set of performance measures like pickups per mile, absenteeism and success/error rates.

As CEO, it’s useful to consider the six top aspects driving your business that if measured, monitored and controlled will mean the right results will inevitably arise.

The same principle can then be applied to each director, and each manager across each aspect of the business. This hierarchy can be extended down as little or as much of the organisation as is relevant.

But it’s important to get the right measures to ensure they truly drive improved business performance. Ratios can be a real issue. For example revenue per employee will tend to arbitrarily drive down employee numbers rather than drive up revenue. The measure will encourage paying to automate or outsource activities that may actually be cheaper to do manually or in-house. There has to be a balanced set.

So what KPDs do you need to help drive your business in the right direction?

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SaaS Cloud Computing – What Is It Really?

Whether you know what SaaS is, or are new to it, it’s worth taking a closer look. It's worth understanding the implications.

SaaS stands for “Software as a Service”. This is a type of “Cloud Computing” where the computing environment you use is run by a third-party “provider”.

A SaaS application (app) is accessed via an internet connection using a web browser such as Firefox, from any suitable internet-enabled device.

For applications (apps) where access is needed by customers or mobile staff, smaller businesses can get access to systems which they couldn’t possibly afford to run themselves. It can also be much cheaper for larger businesses, being OpEx rather than CapEx, and quicker to get started.

Examples of popular SaaS apps are internet trading (eCommerce), CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and any other apps used by staff on the move or from multiple locations. SaaS apps that could be run and used “on-premise” at a single location can also be used, where there are other cost or practical advantages.

“Software as a Service” means that rather than buy a licence to use software, which you install on your own systems, the hosting company runs it for you on their own servers. You typically pay a monthly fee, or a lump sum for a year or two. One downside implication is that if you stop paying, your access to the software will stop sooner rather than later.

Backup, Disaster Recovery, Location and Data Ownership

The hosting company will organise backup and disaster recovery. As the in-house procedures of many end-user businesses are poor or non-existent in these areas, SaaS can be a major upside advantage.

You should understand the location of the prime and backup servers, in terms of Data Protection or other regulations. After all, you remain responsible for your data.

Indeed, check that you “own” the data on the SaaS system, and have the means to extract it if you need, or preferably regularly as your own backup. Even Facebook has realised this and is now trumpeting  their capability in this respect, as a SaaS provider of a social networking app.

Very often software authors will sub-contract the hosting aspect to a specialist hosting company. If you have bought the service via an intermediary, there can be quite a long “supply chain”. You need to understand all the parties involved, and carry out an appropriate level of due diligence especially financial, depending on the importance of the app involved. There are starting to be stories of hosting companies switching off end-users where the host hasn’t been paid by their own customer.

SaaS as a Software Package - Upgrades

SaaS apps are also “software packages”. They will typically provide configuration options similar to an on-premise package of equivalent complexity. If a supplier is saying it is simpler than on-premise package X, that probably means it is isn’t as powerful or flexible, much like a simpler on-prem package. Best to compare offerings in exactly the same way.

Software packages have to be upgraded. With SaaS, the package sits on one server so the author doesn’t have to worry about different server versions.  With close access, they can also provide upgrades more frequently. Being smaller, the upgrades are easier to test, at least in theory. This translates into lower costs, and the savings can be reflected in pricing to end-users.

As a user, you don’t have to handle the upgrades. This situation is sold by SaaS providers as a major advantage. However there are some major drawbacks that are rarely written about, so worth a few extra words.

It is common for some or all user businesses to be sharing the same database and server(s). This means upgrades take place at one time, as suits the provider. That may not suit you, either because of events or financial calendars. You may also need to update working practices due to new or amended functionality.

New functionality can be a big problem if the first you can see of the new release is when it goes live. Does the SaaS provider let you view and possibly test each new release before it goes live? Can you set up a test/training environment? With set-up parameters and/or data copied from the live system?

Sadly bugs do slip through in any software change. Functions have also been known to disappear in a new release – from on-premise or SaaS software - the question is how important? Better to know in advance and have time to feedback to the provider, or at least plan around it in advance.

Indeed is there any choice of when your bit of the system is upgraded? Can the SaaS provider have two versions of the app running for a few days or weeks, and you choose when your data is transferred? That also means others can prove it before you use it.

A few SaaS providers, but not all, will offer to host the app on its own dedicated database, and possibly on a separate server which either they or you host. This can provide the flexibility you need on upgrades, and address any other concerns you have about sharing a database with other businesses. Obviously your preference all depends on the nature of the app and data, and its importance. Such options will always be more expensive, but possibly worth the investment.

Internet Access

Obviously an internet system will only work if you have access to the internet. Using only one method is a big risk. Contingency planning is something firmly in your court rather than the providers, and here are some tips.

Selection and Implementation

Many SaaS systems are sold as being simple and quick to implement. The simple ones are, but there are many similarities to traditional packaged software when it comes to aspects such as assessing suitability, and handling change management.

Here are comparisons of SaaS against on-premise for the two main phases:

• Selection
• Implementation

In Conclusion

As indicated above, there is far more to SaaS than first meets the eye, plus a lot more I haven’t had chance to include here.

Whilst businesses will no doubt be tempted to do a DiY job, this can be very expensive if something important is overlooked or the wrong corner cut due to inexperience. The emergence of consultancies marketing themselves principally to re-implement well-known SaaS solutions is testament to that, much like on-premise apps.

Better and cheaper to get it right first time. If you’d like to discuss further, do give me a call on UK 01628 632914, or by email.

News Update - Monday 1/11/10

Here's the pick of the last week's news stories that are likely to impact your business:
Mobile Advertising Industry to Reach $24 Billion by 2015 Could your business benefit?


Rumours point to 2012 release date for Windows 8 With Windows 7 relatively new, it looks it will be at least a couple of years into 2012 before Windows 8 appears. But how about using Linux for the desktop?

BT broadband outage is fixed As some 20,000 homes and businesses were without BT broadband, a reminder about contingency options


Virgin cable offers 100MBit/s broadband BT cable only offering 40MBit/s. Remember to add BT line rental to monthly cost to compare