What do I mean by post-service? Well, I don’t mean the post office or the often mediocre service one usually receives there. Over the past 100 years (well thousands really) we’ve progressed from a largely commodity based economy to a service based economy. At this point in the history of human business and communications we can now be a predominantly self servicing operation in many aspects. We have accounting software, and book keeping and tax software we can use to manage our financial activities, we have an assortment of other software applications to manage our HR and internal communications and to monitor our brand. And so with these tools, and many others, we foray into the jungle that is the free market (particularly the online market) and start hacking ourselves a path.

Much like the explorers who hacked, climbed and rowed their way through what was a wilderness just 300 to 400 years ago, a business entering the online market has a similar challenge to contend with. You don’t know what’s around the corner, if this river turns into a waterfall, who’s tribal territory you may be infringing on, or maybe what berries you can even eat! And so what did the explorers throughout history do? They hired guides who knew the terrain, who spoke the native languages, who could point out which berries to eat and which rivers to ride. This in effect parodies the post-service commodity, because these guides and their explorer counterparts needed trust and long term compatibility their transactions were often more than service based; they were relationship based.

So if a business is looking to strike it rich in the new world that is the internet, I think it’s important to see that the strategy for engagement and exploration in this jungle incorporates a relationship similar to the explorer model above. Online marketing, e-commerce, and your other web activities as a business are an ongoing exploration. The internet, much like a real jungle, is constantly growing and changing. It’s full of predators. There are fruits to be plucked and ones to avoid, paths to follow and ones to pass over, and while a lot can be learned from going in alone, those lessons can be expensive. Relationships between a business and someone whom they trust to help them navigate this realm are becoming the new online commodity.

This is why I think it’s important that we as businesses view this part of our operations in a long term context. We can’t just build a website, plug in some e-commerce tools and dust off our pants, content with a job well done. Because if this is a company’s approach to online presence and growth they quickly find that the vines and ferns cover them over as the forest canopy grows higher. We should recognize that the online world around us is always adapting, becoming more dense and colourful, with braiding rivers changing their course and leaves falling to the forest floor to decompose into the soil- like so many great website and app ideas whose concepts might have blossomed if only their programming or user interface matched their creators enthusiasm.  Businesses, unable to keep up with the pace of growth and change, also break from their branch and float to the floor in the constant birth, death and regeneration of creative potential and practical products we find online.

But they don’t have to.  A relationship with someone who understands the jungle and why you’re in it is a crucial part of any business operating online.

Have you got a 27B-6? Terry Gilliam's film Brazil examines, among many other things, bureacratic inefficiency.

As we take some time to decompress and re-organize our homes, car trunks, closets or files on our computers maybe it’s also a good time to reassess how and where we store everything,  including information.  We have an ever growing number of gadgets, overlapping platforms, social media tools, iPhone apps, software fixes and other products all flying at us every week to help us manage the ever expanding information at our disposal. Once in a while it’s a good idea to take inventory of what you’re using and really ask yourself, how can I simplify this? The amount of information isn’t likely to decrease any time soon, but the amount of overlap and reproduced functions can be streamlined. Your business can and should be ran lean and clean, not like a bureaucratic office.

Reduce redundancies, reduce paperwork

Make sure you can sync your calendar automatically so you don’t have to enter anything in twice.  It amazes me how many people still rely on one calendar, whether it be Outlook or Google or iCalendar without taking five minutes to back it all up and sync it on compatible platforms.  Or those who enter data into different programs when they can be synchronized.If you sync your calendars you have 3 convenient locations where the same data can be accessed in should a problem arise on one machine or platform and you only enter it once. To some people this might seem really basic and elementary but a lot of people (the less tech savvy in particular) still don’t take this organizational step.

Use e-mail aliases. Once again, it amazes me how many people don’t set up this easy function. In outlook, Google, and other mail programs you can easily set up your account to send and receive the same mail, eliminating the need to check multiple e-mail accounts. If you want to be the primary contact at your company, but you want to convey that you have a professional operation or larger team working with you have an info@mycompany.com account set up as an alias rather than a separate account. Any inquiries sent to this address will also be sent to your real POP3 or Real Name account which will be me@mycompany.com (or whatever version of your name that you choose)

Use business apps to organize data

Where possible, incorporate USEFUL applications into your daily business operations that will help to save time and safely organize your business affairs. Just the Bill is a good example of a useful business application. With Just The Bill, you can simply take a photo of your receipt from your camera-phone and expense it through a mobile application. All the receipts are organized and tracked for the book keeper to easily export to a desired accounting software, like Simply Accounting. Find these apps and use them if you can, they can be life savers.

How much is too much?

The numerous social media platforms and applications that have been bestowed on us can be powerful and efficient tools for reaching customers and friends, but before you as a business owner spend all  day tweeting, blogging, updating your Facebook status while posting pics to Flickr take a moment to reflect on your own productivity and use of time. It’s my belief that the economics of social media (which is still a relatively little understood field) has a bell curve to it just like most things. Where is the minimum amount of time or effort with maximum return located for you? In order to do that you’re going to have to try and gauge when the amount of engagement exceeds the amount of benefit. I have a friend and blogger who teaches social media in Vancouver (a few actually) and he likens social media to a cocktail party. You can listen in or get involved with any conversation in the room but the guy who just yells stuff out all night hoping for attention ends up looking like a jackass. So find the happy medium, don’t go further than you have to.  By doing so you will be able to free yourself up to engage in more meaningful dialogue with those who are attracted to your company through those mediums and free up time to work on other important aspects of your business too.   

Do I need this?

Often we are presented with gadgets and toys that claim to offer solutions, many times these are more lifestyle products than business products. I love Macs, but if you ‘re putting yourself or your business in a compromising position by paying extra for a Mac I encourage you to ask yourself “Do I need this?”. The Mac is great for design, music, creative projects and yes they are typically safer from viruses but PCs still offer businesses more flexibility and are more cost effective. Get some good anti-virus software on them and be careful where you surf, attachments you open,  and your PC will be good to you. So before you rush out and buy the newest, most technologically advanced toys and gadgets for your company ask yourself, do we really need these? And if you do great! But remember this word before you go on a shopping spree: Simplify.

For more information on how to streamline your business and maximize the usefulness of software and technology for your company contact Thirdi.

A lot of the previous posts on software that I’ve done have focused on the power of software to do good on this planet. Take Circle Cardiovascular Imaging Inc of Calgary for example, who recently developed life saving software that has cardiac units all over North America and Europe excited (but not too excited, at least not around the patients). According to the Calgary Herald “The program analyses discrepancies and structural abnormalities in the muscle immediately, and has the potential to improve survival rates of cardiac patients by providing information immediately from the scan, rather than having to run additional tests” It’s a feel good story about software that warms the heart. But today let’s talk about some less than pious people who abused software at the expense of government and others.

Earlier this year a Vancouver family was sued by Microsoft for $750,000 in a pay per click fraud, the first lawsuit of its kind ever. Way to go Vancouver! Another first. The two sons and their mother would stay home for hours on end clicking competitor’s advertisements until their advertising budgets had been drained one nickel at a time and the ads were dropped. Then the family’s ad would make its way to the coveted top position of the page. Click fraud is a serious problem and despite the fact that I never imagined cheering for Microsoft in a court case, I hope they wax the floor with these morons.

Another recent one in BC has Police alleging that the owners of OK Log Sort Ltd. based in Kamloops in B.C.went to “extraordinary lengths to crack software used to schedule random checks on loads of logs the company was handling.” They’ve been accused of cheating the government of $600,000.

And lastly, a Richmond computer systems company has been charged with nine counts of criminal tax fraud for allegedly supplying several sushi restaurants with software used to cheat Revenue Canada. The company, InfoSpec Systems Inc., owned by Richmond business leader Cindy Chan, are facing charges for providing “zapper” software to Honjin Japanese Restaurant in Yaletown, the Honjin Sushi Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Man restaurants in North Vancouver, Kitsilano Sushi in Vancouver, and Easy Money Cheat Robot Sushi in Richmond. Just kidding, I made that last place up. It was better than making a quip about sushi from these places smelling extra fishy- oops, too late.

For business owners in Vancouver and other cities looking for an advantage, business software is definitely an excellent investment and can give you an edge. Whether it’s a POS system or project management software, or accounting and tax software, an upgrade to a new and efficient system can save you and make you money. Software companies in Vancouver like Thirdi specialize in customized software development for small businesses that give you an advantage. And it’s a lot quicker than sitting in a house clicking a mouse for hours cheating your competitors out of money and ad space. So use software for good and make money, don’t use it for evil and go to jail. And get in touch with us here at Thirdi if you have any further questions about software or the nature of good and evil.