Did you sign up for outsourcing figuring you could forget about IT?
Ignore the management of IT at your own risk. One company outsourced its IT, negotiating excellent rates. Sadly, the outsourcer failed to purchase software, installing the same copy again and again. Horrendous customer service created productivity issues. The company paid a penalty to exit the contract and had to purchase the unlicensed software, taking a serious hit to profitability.
In another case, the organization picked an outsourcer based on a board members recommendation. Now the outsourcer is struggling with tasks many would consider standard, including simple tasks like monitoring backups. Are they a poor outsourcer? For a smaller company, they may be fine.
I was planning on using QR codes for an upcoming campaign, but yesterday someone told me I should use Microsoft tags instead. They said it was because you can change a Microsoft tag but you cant modify the content of QR codes. Which do you recommend?
Going Mobile in Machias
Dear Mobile,
While some people make a big deal out of the ability to change content in a Microsoft tag, I find this to be a bit misleading. You cant change content in a Microsoft tag; rather you can redirect a tags destination by logging into the Microsoft-controlled Tag Manager.
The purpose of this is to extend the life of a marketing campaign and provide regularly updated content to your customers. While extending a marketing campaign is a good reason, theres an easy work around that doesnt require the Microsoft servers.
In a recent campaign for an independent film we used QR codes in our marketing.
In February 2011, Googlemade big news on the Internet by publishing an algorithm change for search engine relevancy. By and large this was designed to punish duplicate content farms that re-purpose the same written content over and over in different forms.
Ive seen plenty of panicked content online about what this means to e-marketers and website developers, but little in the way of how small business owners can capitalize on the Googlealgorithm change.
Winners and Losers
There were plenty of losers that aggregate informational content that are now scrambling to learn what has happened and re-strategize ways to defeat the Googlechanges. There were winners too, whose keyword positioning has increased their relevance in the alpha-dominant world of Google. Take a look at the following portion of a spreadsheet, taken from wisetartupblog.com and originally compiled by Systrix:
This is only a partial snippet of an extensive table. W
Whether youre trying to get feedback on a recent event, a new offering, or if any of the bachelors are good enough for Ashley (fellow Mainer), an online survey is a perfect tool for collecting that data.
There are plenty of great survey tools on the market from Survey Monkey to Constant Contact. However, almost all of them cost money or have draconian limits on the number of surveys, questions and/or participants you can have.
While there are plenty of benefits to paid survey tools, often we just want a quick, free tool to take the pulse of our prospects and customers.
There are more and varied types of individuals in the workplace today than ever before. Along with various social and cultural challenges this diversity brings, the psychology of understanding people from various backgrounds and experiences can spell the difference between an advancing company and one stuck doing things the way they have always been done.
Instituting an effective workplace diversity plan need not be an overwhelming challenge if its directives are taken seriously by all involved. Those in charge of such implementation need only impress the earnestness of the overall organization, its management and leadership in contributing to the successful integration of all types of individuals into its workforce.
The following five easy to implement steps should provide a quality working outline for any human resources personnel or a department head who must consider making their workplace acceptable by a variety of people with different backgrounds, work experiences, etc.
5 Tips For Effective Workplace Diversity Implementation
There are more and varied types of individuals in the workplace today than ever before. Along with various social and cultural challenges this diversity brings, the psychology of understanding people from various backgrounds and experiences can spell the difference between an advancing company and one stuck doing things the way they have always been done.