Sometimes projects take a life of their own, and when improperly managed can develop into a tangled hydra. It’s important to take a step back, sometimes a very big step back, to have a broader scope when tackling your IT or project management issues. This is an increasingly important step in your successful project called the discovery phase, and having your tech team there from the very start is crucial to consistency in the development and implementation of your project or fix.

This phase ensures that all parties understand the current state of your business and/or project, trouble spots, possible solutions to the various challenges that you’re looking at, and vision and goals. Having your techies there for the discover phase is recommended particularly for a project if the details of the project, or the technical challenges your company faces are unclear or uncomfortably complex. These guys eat complex for breakfast, they see complex differently, and then thy create the simplest antidote for it.

Why it’s important to have your tech team in the room with you when doing discover should be obvious, but some companies overlook the importance of it. These are the engineers of the solutions dreamed of in this phase. Whether it be building or improving your eCommerce platform, improving your online business model, or tackling information management challenges, the guys and girls who understand the nuts and bolts are a valuable asset right from the get go. Knowledge of the building materials in this process can help in both managing expectations (some things just aren’t possible or affordable) in offering alternatives, and to ensure that from the first step all the way to Quality Assurance that the discovery, the vision and the implementation of solutions are consistent and the pros and cons of decisions or solutions are explored.

With your tech team involved in discovery, you’re both at an advantage by both clearly understanding:

a) The problem(s) and reason why it needs solving

b)  the requirements of the project (staffing, budget, platforms and tools, timeline)

c) Strategies for tackling the problem

d) expectations, limitations and hopefully some acknowledgment of ‘unknowns’

e) whether in fact a real big problem exists or if it’s a simple fix!

Your tech team being there from the start ensures that both parties are on the same page and that progress, challenges that arise, technicalities, and goals are all clearly communicated. Because of this your project should be a smoother one on both ends.

If anything, humanity has wowed itself with an innate ability to innovate, create and rethink approaches to problem solving. Yes we can be pretty damn crafty (like this guy to the left who almost figured out how to fly before plunging to his death) and the technologies we create tend to be an answer for many of the challenges we face. But they can often be the most expensive route too, and they don’t always work. In the worst cases, the technologies we create can become a bigger problem in and of themselves. (Take nuclear weapons for example…)

Far too often, young companies or companies who are experiencing difficulty will turn to technology as their first option- hoping that their dwindling revenue, poor customer service or dysfunctional work-flow can be solved by a simple gadget. Online business software and business technology can amplify what you do right and yes it can also solve glitches in your business model, but before you go searching for the elusive simple gadget to make everything right make sure you look carefully at everything that doesn’t heavily involve technology first. These fixes are usually free, and considering that, can often get you far more bang for your buck.

It’s good once in a while to step back and ask yourself this one question:

“What is one simple and inexpensive thing I can do to improve my business?”

You might find that more often than not you’ll have a good answer for yourself. And as you continue to make these simple and cost-effective improvements a part of your business model hopefully you’ll find that technology will be something you see as an asset in your growth and success and not a cure-all for your problems.

Though early on in the internet’s existence we soon discovered the value of URLs, sometimes we need to remind ourselves of these basic things. For any businesses the value of URLs, even if they’re not being used, is something that should be taken into consideration. Think of them like stocks (or maybe more accurately bonds) that are primed to increase in value down the road, or a backup system that you know will come in handy one day. Maybe you young bucks reading this don’t remember the glory days of average joes selling brand name URLs for millions of dollars and then retiring in Belize; I remember it because I was old enough to know what was going on and too broke to do anything about it. Anyhow…

Have them ready to go for a 301 redirect so if you do move your webpage, any users who have your site bookmarked or cached don’t get a 404 error when they go to that now defunct address. Also, it’s a good idea to have numerous TLDs (Top Level Domain) suffixes for your name. This means buying .net, .ca, .org (if you can) or another TLD  for your company so that when someone types in www.yourcompany.ca (and your site is a .com) then it redirects it to www.yourcompany.com instead of going to some crappy search engine site you’ve never heard of or produce a 404 error.  If you don’t, you risk someone scooping it up on speculation and profiting off of your sudden need to buy it off of them or through ad revenue from making it into that fake crappy search engine loaded with spyware. Or what have you.

Having separate domains for services or products that are particularly popular is a good idea too. Example:

www.yourbusiness.com/particularproduct (original I know) will show up on a search so that customers won’t have to sift through your site to find this particular product.

Or if you have a new product coming out that you’re going to be marketing extensively you should have a separate URL for that product as it’s more direct than having it be a page indexed in your URL or a domain within your site. For example, Thirdi has helped develop a new product called Just the Bill. To have it be Just The Bill brought to you by Thirdi with the product page somewhere in one of the pages on the company site is less direct than to simply have www.justthebill.com and a basic site with all the info on it. The product comes first in this case, the company second. In some cases the company may come first and the product second (as is the case with content based products like news brands or producers who focus on variations of single products) so consider what order works best for your business and product.

From an SEO point of view, 301 redirects (0r 302 which are temporary) are the best way to redirect your URL.  For moved pages, search engines will index the new URL, but will transfer your link popularity from your old URL  so that your rankings are not affected. 302 redirects are not so great for moving page URLs. These are used through URL Forwarding features that most domain registrars employ. Because search engine traffic is dominated by Google this mitigates the fact that Yahoo or that other search engine Microsoft released a while back (what’s that called again? Bling?) don’t deal with 302 redirects as well. Still 301 is better to use overall though.

Speaking of which, I’m now going to 301 redirect myself out of the office. L8R.

Forbes Magazine recently wrote an article called The Promise of E-commerce reflecting on how online sales have steadily grown, eight consecutive months in double digits in fact, while physical storefronts have suffered by comparison. This isn’t true for all storefronts in all cities around the world, Vancouver has one of the healthiest and vibrant foot traffic streets in North America, Robson Street. But by and large streets like Robson, one of the busiest foot traffic shopping street in Canada by volume, are Anomalies. And unless you’re a major chain, chances are you can’t afford the rent for these high foot traffic storefront spaces. But you can afford an eCommerce platform, trust me. For a fraction of a month’s rent on Robson, or Yonge, or Rodeo, you can tap into this double digit growth retail sector, and use the rest of your money to grow your business rather than sit and wait for window shoppers to gravitate through the door.

The misconception that custom software and eCommerce platforms are something only large companies can afforded is slowly evaporating as software as a service solutions for small and mid sized companies become more widely used. Though proprietary software from major corporations still makes up a huge territory in this ocean of software development, many innovative new companies have caught the wave of agile development over the past several years, and have utilized this new philosophy and approach with much success. Agile development is collaborative, employing ideas or problem solving from cross-functional teams who are able to create a more well rounded and intuitive perspective on the product they’re creating.  As opposed to the kind of programming that happened in silos, one big chunk at a time, it’s a far more flexible and quick approach to developing software. Thirdi has been on the crest of that wave since our inception, it’s a fun wave to ride.

As eCommerce continues to grow, in double digits, small businesses and medium sized businesses can’t afford to ignore its market potential. It’s important to remember that there is an eCommerce platform for every budget.

For questions on how to grow your business online contact the team at Thirdi.

This is the third post in a series of three looking at what it might take to put Vancouver in the same echelon as the top software and technology centres on the planet. Regions like greater Boston, San Francisco and Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv, Austin, the powerful clusters and mega-regions of Asia. Is it possible for Vancouver to be mentioned in this class? The first two posts looked at potential reasons why it might not be possible, or at least why it isn’t today. Today’s post questions exactly what it is that Vancouver could be best suited for. What could we likely be the global leader in, if anything?

All roads lead to Rome, goes the old adage. At the height of the Roman Empire the major trading networks, supported by superior Roman road building, bridge and aqueduct construction meant that it was the place to be if you wanted to reach an affluent market. Wealth poured in from the vast outskirts of the empire and fueled the urban economy. Like a pressure cooker, Rome condensed this wealth scoured from millions of square km of European, African and Middle Eastern regions and made one of the mightiest cities to ever exist. It was the centre of the universe, when the universe had a centre.

That’s just the problem though, here today gone tomorrow is the loose capital in a globalized marketplace.  Though this is pretty much an economic truism I’ll still use a recent example of the fleeting nature of regional importance to illustrate why in my opinion geography is both  one of Vancouver’s most valuable assets and at the same time completely irrelevant to its potential as a hi-tech leader. It’s all about the product, or the service.

It was recently announced that the Chief Technologist of, Applied Materials, one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent firms, would be relocating to Beijing where the company’s newest and largest facilities were recently built. China has been booming for several years, developing new automobiles, computers, and gadgets for an increasingly affluent population. Applied Materials, along with many other makers of technology products, rely on proximity to markets, they’re one of the premier producers of components for semiconductors, solar panels and flat-panel displays. Two things that are likely going to be in increasing demand in China are energy, and entertainment. Therefore, putting facilities right in the heart of the market makes sense. Applied Materials are like the merchant who follows the road to Rome in this instance.

In my previous post, Jonathan Kassian, Manager of Research & Communications at the Vancouver Economic Development Commission, helped me cover some of the nuances of Vancouver’s economic competitiveness and challenges in regards to other Cities, regarded as high-tech and software leaders. Airline restrictions, proximity to markets, incentives, cost of living, and other details were picked apart a little just to give an idea as to how complex and subtle the issues and challenges in Vancouver could be.  So if it’s that complicated, what is the path of least resistance if Vancouver is to become a global powerhouse in something?

If we’re too far removed from markets, not connected enough globally, and too expensive to locate manufacturing in, then technology components, boxes of software or hardware, and other physical products involving global transportation are largely out of the question. And so because of this other types of industries that overcome or avoid these obstacles will flourish, and are flourishing here.  In my estimation, the most innovative and successful companies in Vancouver are increasingly internet based, offering SaaS (Software as a Service) or a product/service that uses instant electronic transportation. By transcending the challenges of geography the internet offers a forum for Vancouver companies to reach the global market without worrying about airline routes, proximity to markets, the costs of office or manufacturing space, and traditional “all roads lead to Rome” barriers. While some technologies and some components are made here, the major players in our high-tech industries (which I use as an umbrella term for ICT, high-tech, digital arts, eCommerce and other internet software developers) produce “light” goods. And by light I mean, they’re light to transport and can be downloaded almost as fast as the speed of light. These include entertainment, digital animation, eCommerce, apps development, games, software etc.  If our greatest challenges lay in economic geography (cost of living, cost of office space, scarcity of office space, geographic isolation and so on) then companies that offer online solutions or products and services that transcend the challenges of space and cost will likely continue be the most successful here by and large, the other pillar of this theory rests on Vancouver being a highly creative city that nurtures innovation and art; particularly in the digital medium(s).

A creative population makes for creative companies with creative business models and business cultures. Companies are increasingly adopting flex hours, mobile or remote working- because let’s face it, when the sun is shining in Vancouver we make the most of it. We network and collaborate where a lack of large management structures leaves a career path vacuum. We need to run lean businesses, that can adapt quickly and produce products involving minimum storage, shipping, or even packaging. Yes Vancouver is expensive, no one argues that, but that forces the companies here to be even smarter and more innovative.  We might not be Hollywood, but our digital effects and animation studios are consistently creating internationally renowned and award winning products. The talent and resources in the city have drawn the interest of Pixar, who announced they will be opening a 20,000sq foot studio in downtown Vancouver, because who wouldn’t want to locate their business here if they could?

The success of recent post production studios, digital effects companies, animation studios, and Pixar opening shop here combined with the recent creation of Great Northern Way Campus signals to me that digital entertainment, a massive and growing industry, is going to continue to be one of Metro Vancouver’s most prominent sectors for a while to come. This makes perfect sense, we’re a creative population, not a manufacturing population. And as was pointed out in the two previous posts Vancouver’s business culture plays a powerful role in the kinds of companies that locate here and begin here. We might not have MIT, but our universities and other post secondary institutions are world class, and GNWC is the culmination of those institutions in an innovative and collaborative environment. The Provincial Government has also recognized the importance of the digital entertainment industry and has created incentives to aid in its growth. What’s particularly interesting to me is how as time goes by, the video game, software developers and film industries are beginning to coalesce, and nowhere does it seem to be happening more seamlessly than in Vancouver. Will we see a new mega-sector evolve from this? (or simply re-categorize our economic sectors?)  If we do, that might make Vancouver a globally recognized cluster for whatever this sector becomes, or is named. A combination of digital entertainment, eCommerce, social media, software development and some things we haven’t even seen yet. It’s an exciting possibility.

I believe that our rising stock as a global leader in digital entertainment, online content, software as a service and other light products looks pretty good.  While we’re in no way limited to just these light products, they represent to me the best chance of Vancouver being  recognized as a global leader in the information age. Digital animation, software language and other skills can be taught, creativity itself is something that can’t be. It’s this intangible and prized trait that Vancouver as a city nourishes, welcomes and inspires. This combined with the economic and geographic nuances of firm location creates an environment where the creative sector finds ways to create light products with major value and impact. Does this put us in the same category as San Jose, Boston, and the rest? Will all roads lead to Vancouver? Maybe, but the combination of strong and longstanding clusters with major management structures, the presence of some of the most highly praised universities and technical schools on the planet and proximity to larger markets will likely make those places dominant for a while to come, but Vancouver is definitely mounting a charge. We just need to realize what we’re good at, and become the best at it.

I think we’re on our way to doing that.

As business has rapidly adapted to capitalize on the infinite potential of the global marketplace, software as a service has grown from a luxury to a necessity. These aren’t platitudes, these are entrepreneurial truisms. Running a small or medium sized business today is more competitive than ever, and to maximize their market potential companies have to overcome time and geography. Online components of storefronts can often times comprise as much of a company’s cash flow as their physical space itself. And the potential they offer far surpasses the physical storefront.

Take John for example. John runs a second hand store specializing in , instruments, sporting goods, game consoles, cameras etc. He has a lot of stock so he starts posting these items on EBay. Increasingly, he finds that people are contacting him to ship some of these things across Canada or abroad through that platform. The market potential of 30,000,000 other Canadian or 300,000,000 American consumers means his potential for sales has gone from the local maximum of say 2,000,000 to an astounding 330,000,000. Of course, his market share of that potential will only be fractions but a fraction of two million is far less than a fraction of three-hundred and thirty million. Let’s say 1% of people potentially want something John is selling. And John, wanting as much control over his business as possible, starts maximizing the ecommerce potential of this own website- EBay doesn’t take a cut anymore, the middleman is eliminated. He is selling direct to a vastly larger market now.

1% of his immediate geographical market (a city or region of about 2 million residents) is 20,000 people  1% of his national market (Canada) is 300,000 people, and 1% of John’s U.S. and Canadian Market (which thanks to progressive trade laws is relatively harmonized) stands at 3,300,000 people. That’s just 1% of the population looking for the products he offers. If we consider the online component of his business could reach a global population then his potential 1% market is 60 million customers. Even a fraction of that, let’s say .5% of the population equals his potential market size (1 out of every 200 people), this means 30 million customers could potentially want one of the items he is selling. John has gone from 1% of his local market population = 20,000 potential sales to .5% of a global population = 30,000,000 potential sales.

The importance of having an online component to your company, no matter what it might be, CAN’T be under-emphasized.  John’s example might be elementary, very simplified and idealized, but it demonstrates how anyone not engaging potential customers online  denies themselves the opportunity to reach exponentially more consumers and thus increase their income dramatically. It doesn’t take vast amounts of capital and labor, it doesn’t take years and years of strategy and patience. It takes a relationship with a service provider who understands the online marketplace, and who can help you create the ecommerce solutions that you need to reach your potential.

There is value in every corner and crack of your company. Products, services, information, even opinion, are commodities with value. Look at your business, look at what you offer and what you can offer online. If you aren’t offering something online, you should be.

For more information about ecommerce and how it can help your company reach its potential contact Thirdi.

Christmas is a great time to score a bunch of sweet presents, down some nog and eat your weight in turkey and stuffing. Oh, and to visit family too, if you’re into that kind of thing. But if you spend any time online, and I bet you do, it’s also a good time of year to be cautious justifiably paranoid. Why? Because online scammers are out in force, like a little army of cyber-grinches. And they want to ruin your Christmas.

A couple weeks ago, the cyber-security whiz-kids at McAfee released their very seasonally-titled article “The 12 Scams of Christmas”. It details a number of ways (twelve in all, I’m pretty sure) that all those bad Santas out there use the good cheer of the holiday season to scam people online. And, given the increasing amounts of money spent online at this time of year on eCommerce and charitable giving, it’s inevitable that a lot of scammers will make a lot of money using tricks like these:

• Charitable Phishing Scams – Phishers send emails pretending to be from the various charities that are especially active during the holiday season. Feeling generous, you follow a link in the email to donate cash, and the phishers take your money and spend it on things other than hospitals in the third world.
• Fake “Luxury” Jewelery – They warn that a lot of those spam emails advertising Rolex watches for fifty bucks are actually scams. Surprising, I know.
• Auction Site Fraud – McAfee warns that a lot of fake auction sites are set up in the weeks preceding Christmas. They recommend you use a known site like eBay. Though, as you’re about to read, using eBay doesn’t exactly protect you 100% either.

So yeah, watch out for that stuff. But of course, there’s plenty of other stuff to worry about at this time of year too. Apparently data and identity theft enjoys its own Christmas rush too. As online shoppers increasingly turn to eCommerce, they become increasingly exposed to unscrupulous vendors and advertisers looking to pilfer their credit card details, and any other info they can get their hands on.

Now, all these warnings always raise a question for me – do any of these scams actually work? Are the scammers actually able to make more money doing this stuff than by, say, getting a job? Well, have you heard about “The Man”? He’s an English con-man who headed an international syndicate dedicated to selling counterfeit goods on eBay. He was just caught, and as the authorities unravelled his enterprise, they learned that the made enough money to buy 10 luxury houses in Thailand, a restaurant in Australia, and part equity in a multi-million dollar yacht. And what were the goods he was counterfeiting? Golf clubs. He’d have the clubs made in China at a couple bucks a pop, then slap a fake Taylor-Made or Calloway logo on them, and sell them online for more than a hundred bucks each. And he made millions.

So the lesson here is, don’t believe anthing anyone tells you online ever, don’t buy a Rolex off a link you received in a spam email, and don’t let your dad look too closely at that new 9-iron you bought him for Christmas.

The world used to be simpler. There was the brick n’ mortar world, and there was the internet-y world. But with the passage of time, everything’s getting all mixed up. Here are three products and services that in some way blend the two worlds in ways that both useful, and confusing for someone of advancing years, such as myself or your Dad. And yes, they’re all available for purchase in time for the upcoming holiday season.

TweetBookz – Tweets, by design, are meant to be ephemeral and short-lived. You see a funny picture, think up a witty pun, or have an interesting bowel movement, and you tap out a quick 140 character post about it. It gets sent out to your friends and associates and is quickly read and forgotten. Or so we all thought. But TweetBookz take this uniquely online world and give it a permanent, paper-y presence on your coffee table. Or, more likely, in a dusty box in your attic. The idea is simple: you pick 200 of your very best tweets and this company turns them into a book, with one tweet per page. For the sake of veracity, you’re not allowed to go in and edit your tweets after the fact to make them more awesome. And you’re also not allowed to borrow any from some funnier, smarter or sexier Twitter user. It’s gotta be all you. So if I were to create a TweetBook myself, it would consist of 200 identical pages, each saying: “Got up, did some writing, watched reruns of The Office. Tty tomorrow!”  They cost around $25.50 for the hard-cover edition. And you have to go hard-cover, because this will be something you’ll want to read and re-read for decades to come.

Amazon’s Instant Video Streaming with DVD Purchase – What’s the crappiest part of buying  a DVD from an online retailer, instead of down at Best Buy? That’s right, it’s the infernal waiting for it to arrive in the mail. Well, the wait is over. Now when you purchase certain hard-copy DVDs from Amazon, you get instant access to a streaming version of the movie. It’s only available to US purchasers at the moment, and only for about 300 TV shows and movies. And, for now, it’s only for a limited time. But if it’s popular, you’d have to think they’ll roll this feature out on a much bigger level. The best thing about this is that you can buy DVDs as gifts for people, and still get to watch it yourself via the streaming version.

VeriFone’s iPhone Credit Card Payment System – So you’re selling some vintage Scobby Doo collectibles to a guy who saw your Craigslist ad. You meet him (somewhere public and well-lit, I hope) and he doesn’t have any cash. No problem. Just swipe his credit card through this little iPhone gizmo, and his money will instantly be yours to enjoy. It brings the joy and convience of ecommerce to the brick and mortar world of, well, wherever you happen to be. To operate this, you have to pay a monthly subscription fee, so it’s really only meant for relatively high-volume sellers, like delivery pizza parlors, door-to-door salespersons and prostitutes. But if there’s anyone like that on your holiday shopping list, you know what to buy them.

Less than a year ago, YouTube announced an aggressive plan to start making money by distributing paid content (as reported here on Senses). That hasn’t quite happened yet, though they have spent the last year starting to experiment with a number of money-making tactics, like pre-roll ads, and working with Vevo, the music industry’s video site.

But now it seems the eCommerce portion of YouTube’s plan to actually make money is finally close to fruition. Google, which owns YouTube, is in talks with TV networks and studios to begin streaming full episodes of TV shows. And, just like iTunes, they plan to charge users for the shows.

Reportedly, YouTube wants to charge $1.99 per episode. It’s much the same business model as that used by both iTunes and Amazon. Though there is a difference. The competitors offer episodes as downloads, while YouTube will only be providing streaming access to the shows.

According to YouTube, they’re confident they’ll be able to arrange some kind of deal amenable to themselves, the TV networks and studios, and end users. YouTube, it would seem, is banking on their strong brand, incredibly high traffic, and the fact that people already come to the site, in droves, in order to watch videos. Whether that’s enough to convince consumers to pay a similar premium for streamed content, versus downloadable media, remains to be seen.

Web trackers ComScore recently predicted that $900 million in sales could be spent online today (Cyber Monday), when retailers offer steep discounts and free shipping on their sites. That big number follows an 11% surge this recent Black Friday ($595 million in sales) making this first holiday shopping season after the great economic meltdown of 2008/09 somewhat of a success. I’m going to go one step further and say on behalf of Thirdi and the Senses team that $1 billion could be spent today when all is said and done, because why the hell not? Doesn’t that sound more impressive?

Ecommerce has truly emerged as an increasingly important engine of consumer spending these past few years, and improvements in shopping cart software, website design, and online marketing through social media and other avenues continues to push ecommerce to the forefront of consumer behavior.

Some believe that the next step will be an integration of social media and TV, but there’s been a counterpoint to that claim (by an un-named source close to this Senses blogger who is developing a social media TV platform- apparently it’s tricky!) I think it’s obvious that it will be tough to do the social TV thing because being social and paying attention to Gossip Girl at the same time can be very difficult, as Gossip Girl can be very intense.  So intense that I am commonly silenced and banished from the living room when it is on. So next Christmas shopping season will you be watching the classic Christmas cartoons and ordering things off e-bay during commercials? Probably not, but as the start to this holiday shopping season has shown, the game is changing. TV will obviously have to adapt, as retailers have now discovered. Social media marketing has been a great success as Black Friday sales attest to, and online sales have risen dramatically this Cyber Monday thanks to the evolution of ecommerce.