Sharing the Risk

Power of Facebook

Initially I thought Facebook was a complete waste of time, really I did. And I definitely thought there was absolutely no use for Facebook in the business place let alone an effective marketing tool. 

I was wrong. Let me give a little background as to how I discovered my mistake.

I started a hobby game store earlier this year called, Dragon Crown Games. This was and is my first experience with a retail business and to say I was clueless is a drastic understatement. To make matters worse, I did not go with a traditional retail location but instead decided to use the extra space I have in the eMonarch suite to house the store. Not a big deal but we are 51 floors up so drive-by traffic was going to a problem.

So I began trying to figure out how to really get the word out about the store and looking at inexpensive ways to market. Being a technology guy my first thoughts were of using various websites, etc to improve our exposure. I also began looking at how to advertise events that occurred in the store on a weekly basis. In the hobby game market, it is ALL about events. Events drive people to the store and then people (hopefully) buy product.

I look at numerous tools for managing events on line and even looked at software I could buy to use in our hosting environment at eMonarch but then I came across Facebook events and then the light bulb went off.

I also had been watching how other companies use Facebook and I thought let's give it a try. So I started listing events and using Facebook as a way of inviting others to attend the events. Facebook events keeps track of who will attend and who will not attend and even those that might be able to attend. This proved to be extremely valuable.

We have regular attendance to our Facebook page, people respond to our events and almost 100% of our attendance at events has come via Facebook and/or word-of-mouth.

Facebook is actually a strategic part of the game store business now. I am able to post pictures, videos and create a sense of community amongst my customers. In the hobby game environment, community is critical as it is really hard to play hobby games by yourself.

During my experience I learned another interesting idea for social media site, Twitter. Wizards of the Coast (makers of Dungeon and Dragons) has a weekly event run in hobby game stores like mine called DnD Encounters. But what is interesting is that they are using Twitter during the game times to change the dynamics of the game. So one minute the floor your group is on is a concrete floor and the next minute it can be covered in grease. This creates a  really interesting game session and the players really seem to enjoy the interaction

Still have a lot to learn about how to use social media for business but it definitely shows a lot of promise. Do you have a plan for using social media to grown your business? Would love to hear about it!

Twitter for Small Business

So today is not original content but a great article from eMyth regarding Twitter for Small Business.

http://www.e-myth.com/cs/user/print/post/twitter-for-small-businesses

Twitter has great potential and some businesses have already figured out how to really utilize it to generate REAL revenue. For example, Dell has generated $6.5 million in product sales since it has started using Twitter with respect to its Outlet sales. So essentially Dell is going to the customers instead of waiting for the customers to come to them.

For a quick lesson on how to use Twitter for business take a look at the following article from Twitter:

http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/

Outsource v2

Just read an articlefrom David Bellini, the President of Connectwise, that discussed outsourcing the help desk if you are an IT provider. He mentioned some benefits and also outlined the reasons why he keeps it internal.

I agree with the internal point of view for eMonarch. We staff our own help desk, we offer our own backup service, we provide hosted Exchange,Sharepoint, OCS, and even soon MS CRM. Why? Because I do not want to be like every other IT provider out there just reselling other peoples stuff. eMonarch is an IT Provider not an IT Reseller.

Could eMonarch make more money in the short term if we just resold all these other services? Oh you bet! But I think they are just short term gains. Instead I believe the long term strategy for eMonarch is to innovate our own solutions for customers and to be the provider of those services where we can.

But perhaps one of the most important part of what David mentioned in the article is the discussion around relationship. Small Business customers want to talk to someone they know. They want to be able and come see your team if they wanted to. Even with our remote backup service, I can say to my clients "You are more than welcome to come see where your data is being kept safe at". Now to be honest are they likely to take me up on that offer, no. But often times it is the fact that the option exists.

So in the end, outsourcing makes sense for some things. But I go back to an earlier post on this topic and I feel that outsourcing your core business is a bad idea.

But the real question many should ask is "What is your core business". Find that out and it makes determining what to keep internal vs. external a lot easier discussion.

iPad - Long 60 days!

First off I am excited about the upcoming iPad from Apple. You can view the press event here. And to be honest I was not going to blog about it as I did not have that much to add to the content that has already been published about it. But then there was this article at CRN about MS partners not feeling the tablet love.

Now as it would have it, I have had two (2) Microsoft Tablet PC's. They were both Toshiba and good laptops but they were terrible tablets. Too cumbersome and nothing overly special about them other than you could write on the screen with a stylus. I REALLY wanted the Tablet PC to be my only mobile computing device but it was nothing more than a laptop that I could turn landscape and write on the screen. Battery life was marginal. So I eventually abandoned both of them as there was nothing that special about them. I found that I type faster than I can write and it is more legible.

Now I have seen some great implementations of Tablet PC's. The best was when our company signed up with PayChex. The sales guy whipped out his tablet with a InfoPath application that allowed for me to fill out the form and sign it with out any paper. Then when the sales guy got back to his office, he could just dock his tablet and then it would automatically submit the application and sync everything to the backend. So definitely a great use of a Tablet.

But the iPad will rule the tablet space and not because it will have limited exposure. The iPad pricing is perfect for widespread adoption and has a lot of great potential. It was interesting to hear that some believe this to be niche product when I have talked to many a non-technical person who is excited about the iPad. 

Steve Jobs said it best when he discussed their vision for the iPad in that it had to be better than anything already out there. It could not just be a better Netbook because he was right, NetBooks are terrible! They are limited in everything except that they are cheap. Seriously what does a NetBook do that a decent small laptop does not?

So what needs to happen for MS to compete in the tablet space? They need to work with one hardware vendor extremely close and develop something completely innovative that is NOT tied to Windows 7 or anything else they have devised to date. They need to look at how to integrate it with the upcoming Office 2010 Web version and integrate with some Cloud Storage service but have some options for it to integrate into other web services. Make it work fantastically with hosted CRM and Hosted Exchange. Not to mention Sharepoint. 

Me, I will be standing in line the day that the iPad is available and trying to think about what I am going to use my MacBook Air for now!

NOTE: eMonarch (my company) is a Microsoft Gold Partner and make a great living working with Microsoft products. I love what MS does in the business space and the XBox 360 is the best consumer device I have ever seen!

Windows 7 - Let the games begin!

Today is the start of the Windows 7 experience! Some may argue that the experience has been going on for some time with the beta builds and RC (Release Candidates) and they are right but today is the real start as IT Professionals that subscribe to TechNet will have access to the final release.

I am starting my test today as soon as the code is available for download but considering at the time I type this the folks in Redmond are probably just rolling into the office, it may be a few more hours before it is available.

I will start by doing a fresh install on my laptop. As I do each of my machines, I will post my results and overall experience to keep everyone posted.

So stay tuned . . .

Future of the Desktop - Part 2

Back in April of last year, I wrote about the future of the desktop with respect to a battle between Apple, Microsoft and Linux for the desktop operating system that seemed to be brewing as more folks were not happy with Vista and Apple was becoming more common in both the home and the business community.

Well it appears I was sleeping on the job as I never considered a fourth alternative, Google! I remember talking to many of my peers that Google would not create OS as it did not make much sense to me. Boy was I wrong on that one.

On 7/7/2009 Google announce Google Chrome OS (Announcement from Google). That was a surprise to me but really it should not be as the future of computing really appears to be where applications are offered via the Internet (or Cloud) especially for the consumer space. 

So what is interesting about Chrome OS?

Google is targeting it for a very specific use, Netbook computers and for people who spend the majority of their time on the web. So for example, users of applications like Google Apps, Zoho, Salesforce, and NetSuite to name just a few of web-based applications. This is really compelling even if you agree with Steve Ballmer from Microsoft who last week said "There’s good data that says 50 percent of the time that someone’s on their PC, they’re not doing something with the Web browser" at the MS annual partner conference.

Ok but what about the other 50% of the time where we are using the browser? What was that percentage two years ago - 25%? So maybe in two more years that number will change again to 75% and then who knows where the future will go with it.

I think back in the days of the browser wars between Microsoft and the others, that Bill Gates was worried that the browser would replace Windows as the platform and so they invested so much in IE and other web technologies.

Regardless of the posturing of the technology companies, the Internet is not a fad (I had a friend once refer the Internet as the CB of the 90's) and Software as a Service is not a fad. 

There are a lot of other factors that I am beginning to see even in our neck of the woods with respect to businesses becoming more comfortable with the idea of data living in the Cloud and not having servers,etc. 

Citrix is doing some interesting stuff with their Service Provider program that will enable technology firms to provide traditional applications via the web as well as seeing more and more applications being written solely for the web.

The Google Chrome OS is not done yet and so we will have to take a wait and see approach but I believe that the Google Chrome OS will find its place and also drive a heck of a lot of innovation that will determine the future of the desktop OS.

The real question will be what is MS going to do in response if anything and what will the next OS out of Redmond have for us? Windows 7 is right around the corner (September for business customers under a MS licensing program) and it holds some promise as well.

So what does the future of the desktop hold for us? No answers here but it will be an interesting ride for sure.

A Vision Transformed to Reality

Ten years ago, I wrote a vision document for eMonarch that outlined my vision for eMonarch and what I believed the future of technology would hold for small business. It revolved around a concept/business model called Application Service Provider (ASP), whereby  a small business would no longer buy servers, software, and other applications but would rather "rent" them from an ASP.

The first attempt at this vision is what got eMonarch going and I still remember sitting in my living room with a lot of HP servers with my little brother trying to get it all put together so we could make it real. But eMonarch was not ready nor was the market. So eMonarch ventured down other paths but I strove to keep the vision going in my mind as I developed our offerings.

This vision became a reality this month at eMonarch with the signing of our first hosting infrastructure client and the actual turn-up of that customer. It was a big day for me to see a vision that I had outlined 10 years ago to finally come to fruition. And nice to know that I was not crazy but just a little early.

Our offering is based on a business being able to get almost all of the software they need to run their business (MS Office, Email, IM, CRM, etc) all without buying the hardware or even the software to run it. Instead, we host the infrastructure in our data center and the customer accesses everything via a remote terminal session.

What makes this really exciting for me is that our transition to a managed service model was a step along the way to the hosted infrastructure that we are know offering.  We package it all together to create a rich environment for our customers.

Another great part about this solution, is that when a customer tells us they want to go hosted, we can typically have them up and running in under 2 hours. Everything ready to go!

But to be honest, the major story here is that for every business to not give up! As a business owner, we are often thought to be crazy with our ideas and visions. But sometimes you just may be early or the market you are in has not caught on to the idea. Stick with it and look at ways to take baby steps to lead to the realization of your dream. In my case, it took many years to watch the market change and to carefully plot the course along the way to make sure I never lost sight of my vision.

Sure there were weeks,months and even a year or so when I thought "That vision is dead, need to come up with a new one" but I worked to kick that thought out of my head and drive forward always looking to see if the technology and the market was ready.

It has and exciting times are ahead as eMonarch drives this vision into the market and also looks at how to further develop the solution.

Importance of Vendor Relationships

In business today, it is impossible to over emphasize the importance of building and maintaining relationships with your customers and vendors.

I am going to outline an example that have been specific to our business that I think probably do a better job describing the impact of relationships.

Vendor Relationships

eMonarch is a Cisco SMB Select partner who has sold very little Cisco gear in the last 24 months. I mean less that 5K worth of their products. However there are three folks at Cisco in the local office who NEVER fail to answer my questions, work with me to understand what Cisco has to offer me and never treat me or eMonarch like a tiny partner.

Now we have a "relationship" with another security vendor who is in the small business space. We sold a lot of their gear when we first became a partner and we got a lot of attention. But once we converted our current customer base to their solution, our sales dropped off and they dropped off the planet! Now no phone calls, no emails, nothing!

So our response? Cisco is getting all of our networking, telephony and security business. Both companies make great products but because of the steady work of the local Cisco channel team, we will sell Cisco gear. Cisco has earned the opportunity for me to put them in front of our customers. And it is not because of the Cisco name but simple because of the investment these people put into developing a relationship with eMonarch.

What is remarkable about this example is that here is a very large company (Cisco) that is putting the effort into building a relationship with a small company in Tulsa, OK. Now to be really honest, I know all the credit goes to the three gentlemen here in the local office. But I see the effort and commitment to helping eMonarch be a success and it will pay off.

Vendors can play a critical part in your business success and it does not have to be just vendors where you source product. The office supply company (Admiral Express), the office building, the CPA, and the list goes on.

But where I think the real key is, is that the relationship has to be a win-win. It cannot be a "what can we get out of them" relationship but rather "How can we help them achieve their goals" kind of relationship. The local office supply company should not be getting beat up on price but rather I should commit our business to pushing all our office supply purchases to them. I want them to be successful because I know they will be around to help me. If I am only out for the lowest price then I should not be surprised by poor service and no commitment from them to help me out.

As the customer, we need to focus on making sure our vendors get what they need from us. How can we help them grow their business? Ask them! Find out how you can help them get more customers. If you really like what they do, then offer to send a letter to your customer base introducing them.

As small businesses we should be partnering with our vendors and not just "doing business" with them.

Proximity, Proximity, Proximity!

Does proximity matter?

Do you have to be within 30 minutes of a customer to provide great customer service?

Great question! In our line of work, we get asked that more and more as we expand our market reach into other cities and even other states. It provides some definitely interesting conversations.

I was looking through our logs today and realizing that even for our local customers (within 10 miles) we still perform 90% of our work remotely and I bet that number would be even higher if the customer was not 10 miles down the road.

Today's technology allows IT providers instant access to their customers systems in an extremely secure manner and 99% of the time much faster than getting in the car and wasting time behind the windshield. But proximity does not guarantee better customer service for sure. You can get just as bad service right next door as you can remotely!

But where proximity starts to get really interesting is in the area of hosting services and I am not talking about hosting a web site. 

If you have read some of my previous posts, you will know that I am a believer in Cloud Computing as it relates to small businesses. But does proximity matter at that point? Some think so which makes it very interesting.

Last year I spoke to a group of accountants about Cloud/Utility Computing and I had a few come up to me after the talk and tell me that I was dead wrong. We would never be putting our data out on the Internet! I just kinda smiled and thought to myself, "If you only knew!"

Some small business owners want to "hug" that server! If you cannot see it, touch it, caress it or smell it, it is not real and they want nothing to do with it. And there is no explaining it either. 

We already hear it when describing our data protection solutions. I get asked "where is my data?" to which I explain "hosted in our data center". Usually no problems but every now and I then I get "I want to see it!" I say sure, come on down and we can give you a tour of the data center and show you the hard drives your data is stored on. But usually they do not take me up on it.

Over the next few months as we finalize our hosting infrastructure it will be interesting to have those "proximity" discussions when we are talking about moving all our customers infrastructure out of their office and into our data center. I wonder how many "I want to see it" comments will I get.

More Switching

So we are now up to four (4) Macs at this point. I have since added an iMac and a Mac Mini to our growing collection of Apple hardware and that is not including the iPhone that I recently picked up.

The Mac Mini is running the Apple OS X Server product and I am going to be working on a comparison between it and the new MS Small Business Server (Cougar) product that is due out this summer. I want to see just where the two meet at and what they can really offer the small business with a special eye towards features that businesses use (key point) and the price for those features. But that will be coming in the weeks ahead as we start our testing. I will post the results here on the blog and on our upcoming new site dedicated to running a small business on the Mac platform. Can't tell you the url just yet but it will be coming soon.

So the iPhone - WOW! I was perhaps one of the most anti-iPhone folks you could find due to just being biased. No other reason really. But I watched the announcement about the upcoming iPhone 2.0 (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/iphoneroadmap/) and was really excited about the potential. So much so that I made the announcement to our customer base that eMonarch would be officially supporting the iPhone on corporate networks for integration with MS Exchange. I even got the iPhone that same day.

But what was even more exciting was the phone itself. It is simple to use, works extremely well, very responsive, and the most important part is that it works great as a phone. Crazy thought that a cell phone is actually used to call people and used as a phone but it does! It is easy to dial with and make calls.

It does not stop there though. One of the things that I have always thought was just plain stupid was to have a camera on your phone that was taking absolutely ugly pictures. The iPhone takes remarkable pictures!! Seriously it really does. I have taken a number of pictures with it and they are great! So now I am taking way more pictures than I should but oh well.

There are so many other great things the phone has, Google Maps (you gotta use that feature) and Weather (my wife loves that one as she is constantly asking me about the weather and now I so go grab my phone).

All in all a very good experience. The iMac was simple to setup as well. What amazed me was that essentially I took it out of the box and hooked up one cable - the power cable and I was up and running! Try that on a PC!

Well the switch is on now to see what we can make the server do.