“Projector is a powerful, flexible and pragmatic tool for professional services automation. Built on real-world experience in the industry, it gives firms a cost-effective approach for project management, resource scheduling and project accounting without the upfront cost of on-premise hardware and software.”

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Product Overview

Behind every super-smart consultant there is a frazzled project manager, an impatient accountant and an ambitious executive. Projector is a software tool that helps these professionals do their jobs more efficiently and, as a result, improves the overall performance and productivity of the firm.

Built by a team of professional services experts who founded a company called Projector PSA, Projector is a professional services automation application. It has three main capabilities that address business needs in professional services firms.

• Project accounting. This module ensures that firms can invoice accurately and promptly, track employee expenses and timesheets easily and, critically, make and track budgets.
• Resource scheduling. This module helps companies assign the right people to the right job at the right time. To be profitable, businesses need to avoid over- and underutilization and forecast resource requirements in a timely way.
• Enhanced project management. This module helps companies plan projects and track performance to those plans, reducing the risk of expensive overruns. It also empowers individual fee-earners with task planning tools and online project workspaces to enhance teamwork.

The system has two main interfaces:

• Projector Web. This online application, accessed through a web browser, gives individual consultants access to project planning and collaboration tools as well as their expenses and timesheets. It is, in effect, an employee dashboard.
• Management Portal. This is a dedicated Windows application that connects to the same cloud-hosted application database as Projector Web and provides detailed management reporting, project configuration and planning tools. It is used by managers, executives and the finance department.

Projector PSA’s clients can choose different combinations of modules at different price points. They pay for the system, which is a web-hosted, software-as-a-service application, on a monthly per-user basis. Prices start at $15 per user per month, making Projector as cost-effective as it is flexible.

The system aims to provide ‘best of breed’ professional services automation without the complexity (and expense) of adding modules for accounting, enterprise resource planning (ERP) or customer relationship management (CRM). It does, however, interface directly with applications like Salesforce.com, QuickBooks, Microsoft Great Plains, Excel, Project, and Access. Projector PSA also provides an open API for custom integration.

Business Needs

Professional services automation tools, such as Projector, have become the price of entry into an increasingly competitive marketplace. They help companies improve their operational efficiency, increase utilization and enhance profitability. Used properly, the right professional services automation tool can be a competitive advantage.

A study by the National Computing Centre revealed the top reasons services organizations wanted to implement professional services automation were to:

• Increase project effectiveness: 58%
• Achieve better visibility: 56%
• Improve planning and forecasting: 54%
• Improve resource utilization: 54%

For smaller or less mature companies, these automation tools often replace whiteboards with hand-scrawled information or ad-hoc spreadsheets. In larger companies or growing firms with ambitions to look beyond just ‘getting the job done’ to ‘improving the way we work’, they provide a compass and a map.

They also provide an ongoing insight into project profitability and costs, helping companies spot problems early and take swift remedial action. This is increasingly important as a growing proportion of projects are now delivered on a fixed-price basis. Since this trend shifts more of the risk onto the service provider, fixed price work needs to be monitored much more closely than traditional projects.

There is also the human dimension. People are the stock in trade for professional services firms. While project managers need to deploy them efficiently to maximize revenue, they cannot afford to burn them out or ignore them. Good staff need a variety of challenges, new stimuli and training to thrive. Companies need to balance workloads and predict peaks and troughs to ensure that there are enough staff and contractors to cope with both current and future demands.

Customers

Projector PSA targets companies with 50-500 fee-earners with average revenues of around $20 million per year. However, they have clients ranging from just two employees (but a strong focus on best practice) to over 4,000 users. Projector is used by tens of thousands of users in hundreds of companies around the world.

With this positioning, it offers a roadmap for smaller firms to upgrade from ad-hoc spreadsheets, basic project management tools and accounting software and a way for larger firms to avoid the cost of bespoke solutions or high-end ERP systems.

The company’s client base includes professional services organizations in management consulting, software development, IT systems integration, and digital marketing as well as consulting teams embedded in larger product vendors.

Growing companies often approach Projector PSA on the rebound from a failed project. For example, a fixed-price assignment with cost overruns or a large project where the team suffered from burnout and delays. Typically, these problems are a sign that the company has outgrown its existing systems. They may not know that they need a ‘professional services automation’ tool—they just need a better way to allocate resources and track costs and time invested.

At the other end of the target customer base, large firms switch to Projector after making a decision to table bespoke in-house software or to upgrade from a less-flexible competitor product. They are looking for tools to help them achieve business goals such as enhancing resource utilization or improving profitability.

In both cases, an increasingly competitive economy and a switch to fixed price projects mean that every services organization needs to get smarter about the way it operates. Projector gives them the tools to do exactly that.

For a list of reference customers see: www.projectorpsa.com/customers.html.

Competition

Projector’s competitors include:

• Microsoft Excel and Project. Many smaller companies (and some larger ones) use general purpose applications to manage their projects, track costs and allocate resources. Sometimes in conjunction with standalone accounting packages, these tools form a loose, ad-hoc solution that lacks Projector’s integration, sophistication and fitness for purpose. These organizations often find the internal development and maintenance investment required can outpace what they would have spent on a commercial system. They also often realize that all they’ve been able to accomplish with this investment is to automate poor existing processes. Generally these companies get significantly better insight and control by upgrading to Projector and often take the opportunity to rethink processes along the way.
• Basic cloud solutions. For some companies, simple online collaboration tools and time and expense capture applications can address some of the basic coordination and tracking requirements of a professional services firm. However, as with the Excel and Project approach, they lack integration and specialist features.
• All-in-one systems. Several of Projector’s competitors are components of overarching ERP suites which means that they are joined at the hip with other functionality such as finance, HR or CRM. This approach can work if the organization needs all the functionality, but many companies already have effective CRM or accounts packages and just need a solution tailored to their professional services management needs. Specialization and industry focus mean that Projector provides a best of breed solution for a specific requirement and it integrates well with other software. Sometimes you need a precision blade not a Swiss Army knife.
• High-end professional services automation tools. At the top of the price range, specialized professional services automation software can give the largest firms extensive customization options and support for esoteric approaches to project management. However, they come at a cost. Projector, conversely, lets clients choose and pay for the functionality they need and has a clear, public pricing structure that starts at $15 dollars per user per month. Projector is not a simplistic tool, but it provides proven and pragmatic solutions for common scenarios without adding extra complexity or requiring expensive customization services.

Differentiators

Projector is both broad and deep in its functionality. However, a number of features stand out and differentiate it from its competition.

• Domain expertise. The team that built Projector comes from the professional services sector, so they understand the issues that firms face in the real world. This means that many design and implementation decisions reflect industry best practice and the most pressing needs of the sector. One small detail is representative – they know that consultants are loath to complete expenses forms but that it is important to track billable expenses. The Projector team has built an expenses reporting tool that is very easy to use, minimizing the amount of work required to file a report.
• Reports. Projector provides powerful reporting capabilities that are appropriate to the user’s role. For example, a busy consultant can easily see what they should be working on from day to day. A team leader can see who is overburdened and re-allocate tasks. A company accountant can see which projects are over- or under-budget. The system comes with dozens of pre-built reports that address common questions and provides the ability to customize dashboards, alerts and reports.
• Control. Projector makes it easy to model your business practices and workflows in the system. This extends to approvals, permissions and audit trails. It’s not glamorous but it is essential.
• Integration. The system comes with pre-built connectors for Salesforce.com, QuickBooks, and Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains), Project, Excel, and Access. It also provides a web services API that enables custom integrations to other systems if required.
• User self-service. The web-based portion of Projector delivers a simple, easy-to-use interface for fee-earners and consultants. A dashboard tells them what’s going on and simple web-based forms let them file expense claims and time-sheets easily. This encourages users to keep the organization’s data up to date and improves billing accuracy and forecasting.
• Simplified planning. Unlike traditional project management tools, Projector doesn’t require you to pretend to know everything at the start of the project. When setting up a project, for example, it is not necessary to specify which individuals will be working on it. Instead, managers can set up placeholder profiles based on required experience, skills, seniority etc. This makes it easier to budget and plan a project and then mobilize the right resources for it when the client gives the go-ahead.
• Pragmatic resource allocation. A responsive, fleet-footed professional service organization reacts quickly to changing circumstances and customer requests. This means that it is not always possible to allocate resources to a schedule months in advance. Projector has capabilities like ‘lumpy scheduling’ and ‘rolling wave planning’ that reflect how people actually work rather than the idealized world of Gantt and PERT charts.
• Flexible contract modeling. Projector provides flexible contract modeling for projects, reflecting the most commonly-used approaches. Companies can structure their work into engagements and projects that model their contractual relationship with their clients versus how they choose internally to deliver those contractual obligations.
• Dynamic revenue allocation. Projector includes powerful modeling technology that gives managers a snapshot of a project’s financial state in real time by projecting costs and revenue from the present through to the completion of the project. This lets people spot potential problems, such as cost overruns or declining profitability, much sooner than they would if they had to wait for month or quarter end. This is especially important in the case of a fixed-price project where the risk of an overrun falls on the company not the client.
• Choice of cloud or on-premise hosting. For the vast majority of Projector’s customers, the company’s cloud-based hosting works very well. It means that they do not need to buy expensive servers or install any software. They like the fact that Projector lets them focus on their business not on IT. However, Projector also offers the option of on-premise hosting while still having the Projector team manage the software for them. This extra-cost option works well for the small minority of organizations that can’t adopt cloud computing for security or regulatory reasons.

Pricing

Projector includes three functional modules: resource scheduling, project accounting and enhanced project management. The company’s pricing model lets customers choose the functionality they need and pay for it on a per-user, per-month basis (with a minimum monthly subscription).

There are no activation or termination fees and no minimum contract terms. The company offers a 30-day free trial to let potential clients see if the product is appropriate for their needs.

There are three basic price points:

• Team Edition at $15 per user per month (and a $400 per month minimum)
• Professional Edition at $25 ($500)
• Enterprise Edition at $30 ($2,500)

The Team edition includes the full project accounting module that includes time and expense tracking through invoicing functionality. The Professional edition includes all three modules and the ability to add optional services and integrations as required. The Enterprise edition includes all the system’s capabilities plus enhanced support and the option to host Projector on your own servers. Volume discounts are available.

Projector PSA’s clear, public pricing stands in contrast with the ‘call us for a quotation’ approach of some of its competitors. The different price points and the ability add or subtract users at will lets clients adopt Projector at their own pace and in response to their changing needs. Projector PSA’s approach is the polar opposite of the typical strategy of locking clients into multi-year contracts and forcing them to plan (and pay) for peak staffing levels. As such, this actual usage-based pricing structure often proves to be a more cost effective approach in practice than more restrictive contracts.

For full details of the company’s pricing see: www.projectorpsa.com/pricing.html.

Product Features

This section introduces some of Projector’s key features. There are two main interfaces for the system: a web-based employee interface (“Projector Web”) and an installed application that gives managers and finance staff access to project setup, management and reporting tools (the “Management Portal”).

Projector Web

Feature and benefits Screenshot The dashboard provides a user-centric overview of current projects and individual performance as well as shortcuts to activities like filing a timesheet or expense report.

Detailed, individual stats give users a view of their personal contribution over time.

A simplified project view gives users clear goals and priorities – ‘what should I be doing next?’

Projector Web makes it quick and easy for employees to log hours against different projects and tasks. It also provides a feedback mechanism from the employee to the project manager about progress and task completion.

It’s the same with expense reports. It takes a few minutes to fill in expenses incurred and drag and drop receipts onto the expense report. Once submitted, users can track the approval status of the expenses all the way through reimbursement.

An easy-to-use collaboration workspace lets users store key project information and track documents and issues online.

Management Portal

Feature and benefits Screenshot The project dashboard gives managers a quick overview of all the company’s projects, highlighting variances and problems. Access controls restrict visibility based on company policies, if required.

Projector lets you customize this display, set alerts and track KPIs. This dashboard features real-time data, dynamic revenue allocation and the ability to drill down into the data if required.

Projector constantly projects forward from the present day to the end of the project, dynamically allocating revenue to give a rolling estimate of the project’s profitability. There’s no need to wait for the month or quarter end for this information.

The resources tab lets managers see how much work individuals have and allocate staff to tasks. The system permits ‘lumpy scheduling’ so that people’s time can be allocated in different proportions for different time periods, not evenly (and unrealistically) spread out.

Projector users typically have 6% better utilization than other professional services firms thanks to features like ‘lumpy scheduling’ and ‘rolling wave planning’ where managers can add more detail to the near-future schedule while leaving the longer-term plans less granular.

System and Project Configuration

Although they are part of the management portal and share the same user interface, it is helpful to think of system and project configuration as a separate functional module of Projector.

Feature and benefits Screenshot The system lets firms choose from a range of charging models for each project.

It also lets you define ‘roles’ which are like placeholder slots on a project, for example a ‘business analyst’ or ‘developer’. Managers can then populate a project plan with roles and allocate actual people to fill them later.

Projector comes with 50 pre-defined report templates but the system makes it easy to define your own. No coding skills, extra costs or consultants required.

You can also create Excel PivotTable and graph reports to help you analyze project information in more detail.

Specifications

Web browsers requirements:

• IE 9+, current versions of Firefox, Chrome, Opera

Operating system requirements:

• Any OS for the web-based Projector Web interface
• Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 for the installed Management Portal interface
• Installed interface can be run in most Windows emulators on the Mac OS

Database requirements:

• Almost all Projector clients use their public cloud hosting environment, so are not tied to a particular database
• Clients that choose to host the application on their own private cloud will need a SQL Server environment, but this configuration is rare

APIs and integration:

• Pre-built connectors and web services are part of certain editions and are an optional add-on for other tiers
• Pre-built connectors are available for Salesforce.com, QuickBooks, MS Dynamics Great Plains, MS Project, MS Excel, MS Access
• Projector can integrate with almost any other application through the use of technology-agnostic web services

Security and availability:

• Data center SAS 70 Type II certified
• 128 bit SSL encryption over HTTPS
• Passwords stored in random salt string and one-way cryptographic hash
• Data backed up every 15 minutes in parallel environment, encrypted, archived and shipped off site

Recommendations

For companies that either need more than ad-hoc software to manage professional service projects or that have sophisticated requirements but don’t want the cost or complexity of an all-embracing suite, Projector is a compelling choice. Its feature set delivers the advanced functionality needed for project forecasting, planning and management. Its simple interface makes it easy to use, not only for individual end users but also for people in finance, management and the executive suite.

After a careful analysis of the software, several points stand out:

• Software as a service pricing. Projector has a transparent, up-front pricing model that is flexible and cost effective. It allows companies to pay for what they need when they need it rather than take expensive bets on what they might need in the future. You don’t need to speak to a sales person to find out what it’s going to cost.
• Fitness for purpose. Projector was designed by people with a background in professional services so it consistently works with the grain instead of against it. Its designers understand the challenges that the industry faces, such as fixed-price projects, and helps to solve them with pragmatic solutions that reflect real-world practice.
• A focus on what matters. Although Projector Web has a clean, elegant interface, Projector as a whole dispenses with shiny chrome in favor of a powerful engine and well-balanced design choices. Its job is to help firms achieve their business goals, not win design awards.

The results speak for themselves. Companies that use Projector have better utilization rates than people who use competing professional services automation tools (76% versus 72%) and much better results than companies who don’t use anything (and manage to achieve just 66% utilization). This is worth an extra 1.3 months a year of billability for every resource, easily justifying the cost of a system like Projector.

Given Projector’s competitive price, companies can achieve a rapid and substantial return on their investment and address the most pressing business issues facing professional services firms. In short, the critical path to success runs through Projector.

Try Projector PSA Now

Easy Computer Backup #1—Overnight Copy

Portable computer disk drives are cheaper than ever, so I suggest this technique to more and more people. Acquire a portable disk drive that’s at least twice the size of all the data on your computer and then follow the instructions below for Windows:

1.   Plug in your drive and open the Windows Control Panel. Open the Backup and Restore wizard and create a new backup job.

2.   Tell the computer to backup your whole internal disk drive and all of you settings to the backup external hard drive.

3.   That night, before you go to bed, run the backup profile. It will take several hours on the typical computer, but it should be done by the time you wake up in the morning.

4.   Safely disconnect the external disk drive with your computer backup and put it in a safe place. Remember that anyone who steals this disk drive will have access to all of your passwords and confidential files.

I like to remove the hard drive from the external case and then store that hard drive in a safe place. See the screenshot below.

Repeat the overnight backup as often as you can. These subsequent backups will take much less time because Windows will only backup files that have changed.

Because external disk drives are so cheap, this is the most affordable complete backup solution I recommend. For example, a $100 disk drive that lasts 5 years costs you just over $1 a month. See this external hard drive buying guide.

Another Easy Computer Backup

But if the process above is too complicated for you or requires too much work, there’s an even easier way to secure backups—use an online backup service. The easiest I’ve seen is Mozy.

To use Mozy, you create an account on their site and install their software. The first bit of backup is free, but paid accounts cost about $5 a month.

After you install their software and enter your account details, you can select which files, folders, and settings you want to backup. If you paid for a full account, I suggest you backup as much as you can.

Mozy will backup the files over the Internet to their servers.
The initial backup may slow down your Internet connection. If you have a slow Internet connection and a lot of data to backup, it may even take several weeks to make a complete backup.

But once your backup is complete, Mozy will do something quite nifty: it will make fresh backups every time you change a file on your computer. Say you tell Mozy to backup the document Thesis.docx. From then on every time you click Save in Microsoft Word, Mozy will create a fresh backup copy of Thesis.docx on their server. You can even access these old copies for 30 days in case you accidentally deleted an important paragraph or page.

Don’t Forget This Crucial Backup Step

It’s wonderful that Windows and Mozy can automate your backups, but don’t be lulled into a false sense of security. Your computer will still eventually die and you’ll need to use those backups.

But, what if, after your computer dies, you discover that your backups weren’t working or weren’t complete? I think that would be worse than having no backup at all.

The thing to do is to test your backups periodically. Simply connect your external disk drive or open your Mozy account and open a random file. Also make sure that everything is where you expect it to be. With this little safety check, you can ensure that your computer backups are working correctly.

Yesterday, a few co-workers and I played a new favorite Google Trends game: Top Charts. We gathered around, using our best judgment and guessed what we thought were the top searches for food, books, movies, sports and cars for this year or for previous years. Then, with Top Charts we could look up real trends from all the way back to 2004, and compare our guesses against real data. We’re nerdtastically awesome.

How it works:

Go to google.com/trends and click on “Top Charts” in the top left. From there, Google will list out the top search terms people are interested in within each category: business and politics, entertainment, nature and science, shopping, sports, and travel and leisure. In each of these broad categories, Google segments into more categories. For instance, under “entertainment” the categories are actors, DJs, kids’ TV, movies, people—just to name a few. Each chart lists a top five view with a comparative rating using an orange colored bar. The arrows indicate that a particular item has gone down or up since last month.

You can click “more” to view the top 10 items with a brief description and other information, like peak ranking and total time on the chart.

If you check on the explore options, Google will show you interest over time and other related terms:

Top Charts is a great way to see what is trending for personal interests and also for marketers. As a content marketer, it will help me tremendously to relate what’s popular in search to the content I place and promote. Plus, since they’re topics people are obviously interested in, mentions of them will increase readership and social shares.

So, go on and play the Top Charts Google Trends game with YOUR co-workers! How will you use this new tool to follow top trends?

You’ve no doubt heard about Google Glass over the past few weeks. Many have asked “how does it work for users?” But I wanted to find out what kind of experiences we could build for it as developers. After a hands-on look during Google I/O, I’m sharing my take on this big step for wearable technology.

Look and feel basics

While I enjoy a retina display as much as the next person, I barely noticed that this display wasn’t as sharp. It’s clear and easy to read, but developers will want to make sure their content has a high enough contrast to keep everything clearly visible.

Additionally, I found the card image placement didn’t distract when I was trying to focus on something else. The longer you wear Glass, the more the desire passes to stare at the card, making it easier to have a natural conversation without looking back at the display. The voice commands also work well — and completely without error — when getting directions, searching Google and taking a photo. Whenever you can use Glass without using your hands, that’s a huge UI win.

Needs to be truly hands-free

What I really didn’t like was swiping through the timeline cards. Reaching your hand up to move back and forth between cards isn’t very effortless, and it was strange to keep hunting around on the side of my face for the control pad. Glass is best when it’s hands-free, and should instead let you say something like “next” or “back” to advance through cards without swiping.

Notifications are another practical application of Glass compared to smartphones. When a notification pops up, there’s a slight alert that only you can hear, as you see a preview on the screen above you. This allows you to look up slightly to register the notification and then return to what you were doing. It’s a much more natural interaction than pulling out your phone everytime it buzzes to see what’s new.

Useful apps will be key

Out of all the baked-in experiences on Glass, my favorite app was the directions. I can see that being one of the most useful, unique things that Glass offers.

It’s probably not really necessary for driving, as a maps app or in-car GPS already does a fine job of that, but imagine navigating a new city by walking. You’d typically either have to plug in headphones to listen to spoken commands from your phone’s navigation app, or hold your phone like a compass while you’re crashing into people on a crowded sidewalk. Glass solves this problem perfectly, by putting the map up in the corner of your view and speaking soft directions to you while you’re walking. It’s a truly great experience that makes me consider other ways that Glass will solve underlying UX problems with smartphones.

While the already installed apps are important for Glass, the success of the platform will depend on the apps built by developers. Google announced the Mirror API a few months ago, and announced the new apps built on top of it at Google I/O. Apps from Path, The New York Times, Tumblr, Evernote and Elle were all demoed at I/O, and gave us a glimpse at what this platform is capable of.

Google also announced a GDK (Glass Development Kit) to build native Glass apps. The GDK isn’t available yet, but this will soon allow designers and developers to unlock the full power of Glass. The GDK will also let developers build Glass apps using familiar Android tools and frameworks, permitting access to all of the device’s hardware. Google didn’t demo any GDK apps yet, but developers are excited that native development tools are coming soon.

What’s next for Glass?

Glass won’t ship to users any time soon, but until then developers are eager to continue innovating on the platform. For those who don’t have Glass yet, but want to explore what’s possible on the platform, one way to do that is with this Glass simulator. The simulator helps prototype what an experience may look like on the device. There is also a Mirror API emulator written by Gerwin Sturm, which helps developers get a head start on learning what it will be like developing for the Mirror API.

Glass is an exciting step forward for hardware technology — giving you information when you need it, getting out of your way when you don’t. The convenience of having info at the call of your voice is very compelling, and something that we’ll all be watching carefully when Glass officially launches this fall or early next year.

As a non-technical female in technology, I had some pretty difficult times fitting in.  I was not one but two things different from most other high achievers here – I wasn’t a boy and I wasn’t a programmer.  I started my career at Google and found myself constantly envying the technical teams and how empowered they were.  My team had a healthy gender balance.  But the camaraderie experienced by the men on the team with each other and the management was something I witnessed but was not a part of.  As I searched for my next opportunity, I knew I wanted to try working for the ever-glorious startup.  But I also wanted to fit in.

Most places I spoke with had a healthy devotion to attracting females but the women in their organizations were mostly in support roles.  I wanted to be an integral player.  Then I chanced upon Outright.  Outright was a fantastic startup funded by the best in the industry.  But more than that, Outright had female leadership at its helm.  The CEO Steven Aldrich had done a fantastic job of hiring top-notch women.  Unlike most other interviews, here two of the four people I spoke with were female.  I had a long discussion with Laura Messerschmitt and Laurel Lee, heads of Marketing and Product respectively and at the end of it, I was sold.

I have been at Outright about six months now and it has been everything I hoped for.   The culture retains the edginess of startups with very serious ping-pong tournaments and hackathons but I don’t have to worry about my gender affecting me at work at all.  I am an integral force in the organization with the mentorship of Laura and that is what everyone here cares about.

Till I joined Outright, I considered myself a second-class citizen in the world of tech.  Now with the right guidance, I am a “growth hacker” who brings in the most important piece to the puzzle – the users.

Men and women alike need role models.  Women just have a harder time finding them in their vicinity in Silicon Valley.  If companies are to attract and retain talent, they should focus on hiring top female executives from different industries to build the ecosystem of women learning from women.  After all, we need to see it to believe it that we can have it all – just like our male counterparts.

Without fail every March to August we see the U.S. mid-west plagued by tornadoes. Those on the coast watch in terror as these homemade videos capture horrific scenes of fences being ripped out of the ground, cars tossed around like toys, and the damage to the places some people call home.

On May 20, 2013 an EF5 tornado mercilessly ripped through Oklahoma City at 200 miles per hour, damaging over 12 miles of the city including homes and incapacitating two elementary schools.

The Enhanced Fujita Scale is how the United States and Canada rate the strengths of tornadoes based on the damage they cause. An EF5 represents the most violent, significant and intense type of tornado classification there is. The BBC defines the EF5 as one without an upper limit, unlike the rest of the classifications, and the one last Monday was only the 59^th on record since 1950.

This very tornado is responsible for destroying 2,400 homes and according to Oklahoma’s department of Emergency Management directly impacted 10,000 tornado. These people are without kitchens, without beds to sleep in, and without everyday items needed to rebuild their lives from the rubble.

How World Vision Is Helping

World Vision is one organization attempting to help this city. In the aftermath of a disaster similar to Oklahoma City’s, World Vision will work to provide relief assistance based on the needs of the situation as quickly and easily as possible. However, this process didn’t happen as swiftly as resources were needed.

Before they began using mobile technology, World Vision employees wasted a lot of time manually inputting data onto paper. Also, each recipient had to travel hours to distribution sites to be verified and recorded, including a fingerprinting process.

World Vision knew this wasn’t a sustainable process, so they co-innovated to create a mobility solution that would help them deliver relief quicker and efficiently. Now, single distribution projects are completed at least 50% faster. Where there are multiple distribution projects, there is a 90% time savings.

With the digital process, World Vision can now utilize big data to prepare reports showing the effectiveness of their efforts: before the technology was implemented these reports took up to 4 days with a team of 5 people.

World Vision has scaled this to be used in 10 countries and over 20% of their food programs with the intent of growing even larger. In the words of Farkas, “it’s a complete game changer.”

Check out how World Vision is helping those affected by the Oklahoma City tornado as well as their other noble efforts. Also, take a deep dive to discover how they’re using mobile technology to help more people.

Work, work, work.

Sometimes it seems that’s all we do. And yet people decry social media, smart phones, and what not for being time wasters.

Guess what? There’s nothing wrong with wasting time. At least not in moderation. Sometimes you have to just sit and chill in front of the television to rest after a long, busy day. You know the saying, “everything in moderation.” Too much of anything is bad. And that includes work. So for today’s Friday Blogging Experience during my May Month of Lists, I thought I’d share with you my 5 favorite time-wasting apps; the ones I go to when I just need to relax a little.

Since a number of these are games, I feel I must point out that I’m horrible at video games. If I ever play a game like Halo with my kids, I’m dead ten times before I’ve even spotted them once. I hate fast games, and especially those where you have to do more than one thing at a time. So that colors the types of games I play on my Android. For instance, I have tried Temple Run, and I have about as much success on there as I would if I were running through that course in real life. I’ve also played Angry Birds in the past, but gave up when I hit a level I just couldn’t beat, no matter how long I tried, and no matter how many video run-throughs I watched online.

Additionally, I’ve excluded apps like Facebook, Instagram, and the like which I DO use to chill, but also use for work. And I’m not including Netflix, which I love, even for watching movies and shows on a small 5-inch screen.

So here’s my list of 5 apps I use when I need to wind down a bit. (Note since I have an Android, most of the links I’ve posted are for the Android version of the app. If you have an iPhone or iPad, I’m sure you know how to use Google to find your apps) Also, I don’t like paying for things, so all of these are free, though some do have paid, premium versions you can get with more features:

1. Ruzzle

This is my latest obsession, and I do pretty well with it. This game is basically a generic version of the popular game Boggle, which I also do well at. I think it taps in to my inner Rain Man. It’s a timed game, so there is a speed element, but once I get in the zone, watch out. I love playing this with my friends, and I think I’m pretty darn good, so feel free to challenge me.

2. Say the Same Thing

This is another new favorite that we started playing in person, and I want to play on the app, but I need more opponents! The game was invented by the members of the band OK Go, and they invented the app so they can play each other when they aren’t together. The cool thing is, you have the opportunity to get in line and play against a band member. To fully understand the concept of this game, watch this video from the band. But seriously, download it, and let’s play! Oh, and after you see the video below, try playing this in person with some friends or family. It has created quite a lot of laughter in our home.

3. Candy Crush Saga

OK, for the most part, this one is truly mindless. It’s a one player game, but the kind where you progress through levels and it sucks you in. Big time. On Angry Birds I get stuck and can never progress, but on this game, when I get stuck, I eventually find my way. In fact, one little trick I’ve discovered is to play on both your computer and your mobile app. The game is available through Facebook, and sometimes when you’re stuck on the computer version, you can win on the app version, and vice versa. But right now I’m seriously stuck on level 125, and I get oh so close at times. There is strategy, for sure, but it’s a great time waster.

4. Words With Friends

So this one is a bit old school, at least in terms of popular apps. It’s the “other” version of that popular word game known as Scrabble. There’s a whole story behind the battle between these word games, but I’ve chosen WWF because I think it’s a better app. I love Scrabble, and the purists out there (including my own brother) won’t play WWF with me. Oh well, I have plenty of opponents and it provides a nice challenge, plus you can play at your own pace. Again, this one also connects with Facebook, so you can play online on your computer, as well as your mobile device.

5. Kindle

This one isn’t a game, and while I love REAL books (the printed kind) and don’t own a Kindle or Nook, I find the Kindle app really handy. I’ve downloaded quite a few free books, as well as others from friends and online folks, and there is always something for me to read. Right now reading the Henry Wood Detective Agency by Brian Meeks and Ctrl Alt Delete by Mitch Joel. Plus, if you are patient, and like to explore, a lot of newer books are offered for free, or low cost, at various times in their life cycle. Also recommend How to Use a Runaway Truck Ramp from my friends Shawn and Maile Smucker.

Honorable mention

And if you want to channel your inner old guy, here are a few games I occasionally turn to when I need something completely mindless, slow, and easy:

• Roller Ball - a version of the arcade game skee ball
• Office Jerk – Be the office jerk and throw stuff at your nerdy coworker.
• Paper Toss – If you don’t want to throw stuff at coworker, try throwing wadded up balls of paper into a trash can.
• 3D bowling – Just like it sounds. Bowling. For fun.

Now it’s your turn. What are your favorite time wasting apps, regardless of the platform? How do you like to chill or let off some steam?

If you aren’t a fan of the iconic Science Fiction show Star Trek, bear with me here. I think you’re going to be pretty amazed at what’s been happening lately.

The idea that modern technology is being inspired by or even mirroring that which was imagined on Star Trek is not new. There’s even been a TV program hosted by William Shatner that talks about all of the developments that sort-of look like Star Trek gadgets. From computers to cell phones, some pretty amazing things that we take for granted today were an everyday part of the crew of the Enterprise.

However, some of the most recent developments I’m about to share might just blow your mind.

VISOR

Pretty much everyone now is familiar with the Google Glass project. These futuristic-looking glasses have built in displays for the wearer, respond to eye movements, and of course are voice-activated. They also bear a strking resemblence in concept to the eyepiece worn by Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge, Chief Engineer of the starship Enterprise during Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Geordi was born with a birth defect that left him blind. To compensate, he was fitted with optical implants and a VISOR that transmitted data directly to his brain. Not only did it allow him to see, but it allowed him to analyze visual information at far more levels than our normal eyes, including infrared, spectragraph analysis and more.

Google Glasses are designed to record everything we see, and it surely won’t be long before more apps are made available to do more with that data than simply record it.

Main Computer

What you might not have noticed is that Google is not-so-quietly trying to build the equivalent of the Star Trek Main Computer. On each of the TV shows and films, the crew relied on a powerful computer system to help them run their ship and manage all of the day-to-day activities and research. The Main Computer responded to conversational questions and immediately provided the answer to questions, not just a list of possible sources for the answer.

Today, Google is providing just that level of functionality within its search on every platform. You can now ask Google a question and Google will try to actually answer the question, not just give you a list of websites to look at. What’s more, Google understands the meta conversation going on. If you ask Google a question, and then ask a related question, Google can remember the first question. For instance, you might ask, “How old is Barack Obama” and then ask “How tall is he?” Even though we used “he” rather than an explicit search, Google’s powerful search engine can undertsand that we were referring to President Obama and answer the question accordingly.

And there’s the fact that on Star Trek, not only did all computers include voice interface, they were completely touch screen. Crew members would walk around with pads that sure look a lot like our tablets of today. As voice interface technology improves, we will have less and less need for hardware keyboards. Similarly, our virtual keyboards on our iPhones and iPads are due for an upgrade (don’t be surprised if that’s part of iOS 7 or 8).

The voice of the computer on every Star Trek series and five of the films was provided by the late Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, wife of series creator Gene Roddenberry and who is often referred to as “The First Lady of Star Trek.” Not surprisingly, Google’s voice response is somewhat similar to Majel’s voice.

Google’s Amit Singhal in an interview with Slate stated that ”The Star Trek computer is not just a metaphor that we use to explain to others what we’re building. It is the ideal that we’re aiming to build—the ideal version done realistically.” He added that the search team does refer to Star Trek internally when they’re discussing how to improve the search engine. “It comes up often,” Singhal said. “For instance, we might say, ‘Captain Kirk never pulled out a keyboard to ask a question.’ So in that way it becomes one of the design principles—we see that because the Star Trek computer actively relies on speech, if we want to do that we need to work to push the barrier of speech recognition and machine understanding.”

This technology, and the kind of information that can be provided, is improving at an hourly pace. Clearly we have a long way to go before we will be able to have conversations with our computers like on Star Trek, or like HAL from 2001, but we’re not as far away as you might think. Arthur C. Clark may have overshot the mark, but not by much.

Food Replicator

Alright, so the glasses are neat, and we’ve all expected talking computers for a while now, but a food replicator? Come on, you’re joking, right?

Not according to NASA, who has authorized a $125,000 grant to further research and development of a machine that will create food, actual dishes like pizza, out of seemingly nothing.

In the Star Trek series starting with The Next Generation, which premiered in 1987 and was set in the 2360′s (about 100 years after the original series), every crewmember had a niche in a wall of their quarters that contained a Food Replicator. The device had a computer interface so that you could offer voice commands, and whatever food or beverage your requested would materialize within the recession in seconds. The concept was that technology had advanced to the point where basic molecules could be stored and then converted into complex systems, including organic matter, according to preset patterns.

Such a device has actually been invented by Anjan Contractor, a mechanical engineer, and currently works with limited capability.

Actually, it’s an interesting take on the rapidly developing 3D Printer. Instead of ink, the device is fitted with cartridges that contain substances like proteins, carbs, sugars and other building blocks. The “universal food synthesizer” will have proprietary hardware but open source software, allowing developers to create whatever recipes and concoctions they wish. It’s appealing to NASA because the cartridges literally last decades, allowing space flights all the way to Mars to remain fed.

Tricorder

And last but not least, there’s development of a device that actually includes many of the functions of the Star Trek Tricorder. The Tricorder was a scientific measuring device that could scan an area and report back analysis and record data. We already have a lot of these capabilities in our iPhones and other devices. However, what’s being developed now is a version of what many would call a Medical Tricorder. On Star Trek, there were several variants of the Tricorder, designed for specific applications. The Medical Tricorder was obviously designed to scan people and help a physician quickly determine things like broken bones, disease, blood clots and more.

Scout, a device designed by Scanadu, will scan your vital signs, temperature, ECG, heart rate, oximetry and stress just by placing the devise against your skin. The scan results are then sent to your smartphone for recording and analysis.

Scanadu also has developed a separate test that one can use to take a saliva or urine sample, and then simply photograph the sample with your smartphone and analyze the results with their app. It doesn’t seem far-fetched that someday soon, we’ll see Medical iPhones, or something similar, that are build specifically for the medical industry and have these kinds of capabilities built in – additional sensors and inputs that the average smartphone wouldn’t need.

There are certainly many people who were never fans of Star Trek and have never understood why so many others are obsessed. Yet the show is arguably the most successful franchise ever imagined, with six television series, now twelve films, dozens of annual conventions and countless books and other merchandise. That’s due in large part to the strength of the stories and characters, but it’s also due to the fact that all of the technology in the series and films is not as fantastical as you might think. The creators and writers tried to imagine what our own world and technology would be like hundreds of years from now. Considering how quickly we’re developing, it sure looks like we’re ahead of the pace.

So soon, you’ll be able to ask Google for Tea, Earl Grey, Hot, and watch as Google sends your order to the printer.

Sources:

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/04/google…
http://mashable.com/2013/05/21/end-hunger-3d-printed-food
http://mashable.com/2013/05/22/scanadu-scout/

Image courtesy of Trevor H, Flickr

A successful mobile strategy begins with a common platform for integrating and managing mobile devices and the corporate assets that are stored on them. Equally important are the tools for designing and distributing mobile applications, and mobile services that improve internal efficiencies and open up new revenue opportunities for your business.

Here’s an overview of the ingredients of a successful mobility strategy.

Platform: Enterprises need a wireless platform that enables them to create and manage multiple apps and securely connect enterprise data sources to all major device types. A mobile enterprise platform is the connective tissue between traditional back-end business systems and multiple mobile devices. It provides the tools enterprises need to drive mobile initiatives across the entire organization.

Tools: To create mobile apps and processes, enterprises need a development environment that is consistent but highly adaptable to changing business needs. Look for tools that will help you cost-effectively build enterprise-grade applications from a single platform, while integrating with popular develop­ment environments such as Visual Studio and Eclipse. Reusable code reduces costs associated with custom app development, application updating and application scaling.

Apps: Developing and deploying a broad range of mobile applications will make it easier for employees to accomplish daily tasks from their smartphones or tablets. Mobile apps will also help you to extend business processes to mobile sales, service and maintenance workers.

Services: Mobility is creating opportunities for enterprises to improve business perfor­mance and build new revenue streams by offering a range of services, including mobile messaging, commerce, CRM and marketing services.

“The first phase of the mobile revolution—driven largely by the workforce—left IT looking for ways to extend the enterprise to mobile devices in a more orderly and secure fashion,” said Moser. “The next phase is about using mobility more strategically to transform the enterprise.”

A mobile-enabled enterprise opens up an exciting array of opportunities for businesses to improve the ways in which their workers communicate and collaborate, increase efficiencies in common business tasks, and engage and interact with their customers more effectively.

By providing workers with secure access to real-time information and processes anytime, anywhere and on any device, businesses can put the power of mobility to work for them in new and innovative ways.

To learn more about how mobility is transforming your business, the SAP mobility team wanted to help by developing a Mobile Playbook with CIO. Check out the playbook, as well as two other helpful guides for your mobility journey here.

This week, we will look at Jobber – a solution that integrates multiple elements of business management for service companies with field personnel into a cohesive project management solution. We will look at its interface, features, and see how it can be of use to you.

Designing A Solution For Jobs

Sam Pillar and Forrest Zeisler, software developers and founders of the solution, identified the potential for a solution like Jobber during a project with a client who had several field services personnel out in the field. “We realized that the potential was there to help these businesses get more organized, more efficient, and more profitable,” says Pillar, marketing manager at the company. Further competition analysis yielded a slew of expensive and complicated solutions, which caused more problems instead of solving them.

Pillar and Ziesler incorporated a company in October 2010 and developed a solution in heavy consultation with field service companies across several industries. After intensively testing a beta version of the software, they launched Jobber officially in September 2011. Along the way, they also attracted venture funding from well-known names in the industry. “Since then, we have put every ounce of our energy into evolving our product and building strong relations with our customers,” says Pillar.

Although it is scalable, Pillar says the product is ideally suited for small- to medium-sized field service companies. “Typically, anything from a sole operator to a business with up to 25 or 30 employees during several million a year in revenue,” he says.

Differentiating Jobber From Competition

Pillar emphasizes Jobber’s “modern” approach to product development as the key differentiator between their solution and other, similar ones in the market. This approach combines an experiential feature set that is universal yet highly customizable.

“While experience taken from the field is really important, most businesses tend to build products that service only their own business challenges, needs, and workflows,” says Pillar. This causes problems when the product is put out in the market. “Trying to force the system to work differently just ends up confusing users, and often times results in buggy, unreliable software,” he says. “It is similar to putting a square peg into a round hole.”

Hence, Jobber’s development team extensively consults with several companies in the field services space before rolling out new features. This approach has paid dividends in maintenance for the software as well: It has resulted in an application that has simple workflows and user interfaces, which are highly customizable.

Getting A Job Done With Jobber

Jobber is an assortment of feature sets and workflows. For example, you can organize your calendar using the solution or you can assign and track work or, even, manage quotes and workflows using the solution. However, at its base, the solution’s features are designed around a simple and universal workflow.

It begins with potential customers calling up to inquire about your services. Using the Quotes tab in the solution, you can enter customer details and schedule a visit from field personnel. Customer information entered in this step is associated with all further tasks, correspondence, or notes details. What’s more, this information is also easily available with a global search. To get back to the process, however, your field services personnel can immediately access the customer’s details (and their scheduled visit) as a task, after it has been entered.

Based on an analysis by field staff, you can, then, send quotes for jobs or services. The system allows you to configure two types of jobs: one-off or recurring jobs. While preparing the quote, you can create work items that detail the quantity and units required to process the task. Finally, you can also assign field staff to service the job and create invoices.

Underlying the simple workflow is complexity. Thus, you can create different types of jobs, schedules, automate several functions related to the job or combine multiple jobs to create a single job. Jobber is high on mobility and has several built in features to sync schedules and contacts while out on the field. Customization is available through the system’s Add-On feature. This feature enables Jobber to work on optional additional functionality, including industry-specific verticals. For example, the solution has recently developed a Chemical/Pesticide tracking facility that makes it easy for customers to capture and store this information in a convenient and easy-to-use format for regulatory compliance. Jobber also integrates with popular industry solutions such as PayPal, Calendar Integration, and QuickBooks.

Personally speaking, though, my favorite feature was the solution’s integration with Google Maps. This feature enables you to combine real-time tracking with rich reporting capabilities. “The decision to integrate with Google Maps was a no-brainer for us,” says Pillar. He says their target demographic – the field staff – and their lifestyle – being out on the field most of the time – led to a “strong core support for managing this location-based work.” The emergence of a mobile-connected workforce provided further impetus for this feature.

The Basics: What Does The Interface Look Like?

As Pillar mentioned earlier, the underlying complexity, in the solution, is masked by a simple interface. Five tabs on the interface enable you to navigate between multiple menu items and perform various actions or tasks associated with your field work. You can also perform important functions under each tab. For example, the work tab enables you to generate quotes, configure workflows, and also process jobs and generate invoices.

Supporting Your Jobs

Jobber has a comprehensive support page on its site. Support channels include help documentation, an updated blog that not only provides new feature information about the application but, also, provides tips on managing your business. You can also contact them or use “good old-fashioned email” to get help.

Is It For You?

The most interesting aspect of Jobber, according to me, is its seamless integration of multiple tasks and features. Thus, the solution combines resource scheduling with finance and project management. Of course, Jobber’s focus and approach on providing a comprehensive and mobile solution for an often-neglected target market is, also, a big plus. Definitely recommended.

[review title='Our Verdict' pros="Great and effective solution to get field jobs done; targets a neglected market" cons="None" score=9]

Ratings: ease of use 4/5, features 4/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

Try Jobber for Free

Describing these cyber security attacks in detail might be interesting, but it would hardly be instructive. Most people reading this article don’t run government computer systems—and those that do should already know more about security than I can say in this short article.

But real computer security disasters don’t just happen to governments or other large organizations—most computer security disasters happen to real people like you and me. So here are 5 real computer security disasters you should watch out for:

Computer Security Disaster #1—The Junk Computer

Researchers affiliated with the University of California at Berkeley went dumpster diving for old computers. On nearly every one of those discarded PCs they found personal details still on the hard drives.

I’m not talking about personal diaries. They found passwords to online accounts, credit card numbers, social security numbers, and confidential business information. And they found all of this using basic computer repair tools and software.

Before you discard your computer, be sure to use disk shredding software. If you don’t know how to use shredding software or you’re not sure it worked, pull the disk out of your computer and bring it to a facility when they physically shred your disk.

Image source: 1

Computer Security Disaster #2—Kids

Assume your kids aged 5 and up know more about computers than you do. Assume this even if you have a PhD in computer science.

There are very few computer devices that kids can’t eventually figure their way around. Parental controls are an easy hack and passwords an even lower barrier.

If you have kids, keep your household computers and Internet-capable devices in a common area so that you can monitor kids with your unhackable eyeballs.

Computer Security Disaster #3—Phising

Everyone thinks they’re too smart and too well informed to fall for phising attacks. And it’s true that most of these attacks are easy to recognize by the crude way they forge emails from companies you trust.

But if most phisers are idiots, the best phisers are not. They spend hours creating authentic-looking emails and websites which fool even professional Internet security experts.

The best way to protect yourself is to use bookmarks to visit your financial or important websites. So instead of clicking a link to PayPal.com, click the bookmark you previously saved in your Web browser.

Real Computer Security Disaster #4—Fake Real Software

There are thousands of great freeware applications out there. I love trying them—you probably do too. But hidden amongst these free gems are viruses and trojans that can cost you big.

While reviewing anti-virus software for a client, I came across dozens of sham programs. Some of them were just a waste of money, but others looked like they installed viruses themselves.

See the screenshot below. It is Thinkpoint fake security software. It tells the computer user that they have been infected and need to upgrade the software in order to save their computer from disaster.

Some clever hackers even take a legitimate freeware program and bundle it with their favorite virus. Then, when you install the program, you don’t realize anything is wrong until the virus has turned your computer into a zombie spambot and your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is threatening to disconnect you for good.

The best way to avoid infected software downloads is to only follow software links from sites you trust. The next best way is to always scan executable software with your virus scanner before you install it.

The Last Computer Security Disaster

It’s the computer security danger you don’t know about that puts you at the greatest risk. The Internet gets more dangerous every day, and you’ll never know what computer security threats you’ll be facing tomorrow if you don’t read the computer news today. Your best computer security is information, so be sure to spend at least a few minutes every week reading about the newest computer security threats.

A former Census Bureau director once bewailed the problems facing his agency. There were so many people, he said, and so many questions that needed answering. “Even with the aid of elaborate machines,” he said, “the Census Bureau can scarcely hope to keep within the limits of money and time … in tabulating the results of so many inquiries.”

That was in 1910, and things haven’t changed much since then. The decennial Census is still filled out by hand, and the government dispatches live people (“enumerators”) to follow up on the households who don’t respond to the paper questionnaire.

But things could be changing, albeit slowly. The 2010 census cost $14.7 billion, and then-director Robert Groves agreed that that’s simply too much.

Future censuses could be conducted mainly over the Internet, an option countries like Canada already offer. In other countries, administrative data like post office records, tax records, and information from credit card companies supplement census data.

The United States is a special case, observers say, because the government isn’t simply trying to count people: To properly allocate the right number of seats in the House of Representatives, the U.S. Census must count people in the right place.

Using the Web to conduct the census would cut costs, but would also make it difficult to track groups that have less access to technology. It also wouldn’t solve the response problem–some people just don’t trust the government enough to trust it with their personal information. But, says Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), an advocate of making the census more efficient, “If they do 70 percent of it online, you have all the resources left” to follow up with the remaining 30 percent.

The Census Bureau is also experimenting with the ways it presents its information after it’s collected. Last year, the bureau released an API (application program interface) that allows anyone to write a program to interpret, connect with, and build on census data that was recognized by Computerworld magazine as a “visionary application of information technology.”

The bureau also posts weekly visualizations to a demo gallery intended to showcase the breadth and depth of data available to the public.

Image credit: United States Census Bureau

Here are 6 key factors to consider when picking a SaaS provider for your enterprise:

1. Prioritizing Quality User Experience

As users are more willing than ever to experiment with different apps and software to suit their needs and maximize productivity, the stranglehold of IT-mandated enterprise software has been considerably reduced.

It is important for IT departments to analyze the enterprise SaaS solution they are choosing from the user’s perspective and whether it can really offer the best experience over other alternative software in the market.

2. Less is More

The true appeal of a cloud computing solutions lies in its simplicity and ease of implementation. A convoluted and excessively feature-packed SaaS solution may not be the smartest product to market to enterprises that prefer products with a smooth learning curve and shorter roll-out period.

3. Updates that Don’t Slow You Down

Enterprises are on the hunt for definitive SaaS solutions that can streamline updates and eliminate the need of extensive downtimes or require employees to be retrained.

A vendor that can guarantee a SaaS solution that can reduce any disruption in productivity is the right provider to choose.

4. Minimal Initial Investments

SaaS solutions are subscription-based services that solely affect your operational expense budget. This puts the financial ball in your court since you are free from bearing the burden of hefty initial investments, extensive training periods and long roll-out plans. You pay for exactly what you order – nothing more, nothing less.

5. Symbiotic Success Model

The lack of upfront costs is a great benefit to earn the trust of enterprises for SaaS vendors. It becomes a natural, motivating factor for SaaS providers to deliver value for the money paid to them. You don’t have to worry about unintentionally investing in any useless software and will be able to have much more transparency on the terms of your working relationship with the vendor.

6. Crossing your T’s

Before you sign any contract, ensure understand your vendor and know you can put your faith in their hands. This includes:

Trust: A successful long-term business relationship is built on trust and reputation. It is quintessential to select a SaaS vendor with enough expertise to ensure you aren’t just banking your business growth on hollow, grandiose claims.

Security and Compliance Standards: You should pick a SaaS vendor who offers a secure and well-managed platform to protect your enterprise data. It is equally essential to ensure they abide by all your enterprise compliance policies.

Transparency: Proactive communication with your SaaS vendor is pivotal to the smooth workflow of your enterprise. Staying up to date with any upcoming updates and taking suitable anticipatory measures will help you retain your enterprise’s competitive edge.

Research for aspects of this post were provided by enterprise software solution provider Rand Group out of Houston, Texas.

Rich media content has become king. And as quality imagery and video pick up marketing speed and influence, Instagram’s stepped in as an essential tool for visual branding and communication. With Instagram’s 90 million active monthly users, it shows… But what Instagram lacks in tracking lead conversion, optimization, community and engagement tools and analytics, Statigram makes up for.

Haven’t heard of Statigram? If your brand is looking to build a scalable and effective Instagram strategy, you may just want to introduce Statigram to your boss.

What’s Statigram?

Statigram works with your Instagram account to help you cultivate a social-rich media strategy, effectively interact with your community and track metrics around your photos.

Beyond that, it allows you to:

• Promote your Instagram account across other social networks with feed tabs or photo widgets.

• Manage your community and their comments on a user-friendly platform.

• Analyse your activity through professional statistics.

• Engage your community with photo contests: Setup, promote, moderate, monitor and publish results of an Instagram contest all within Statigram.

In short, Statigram helps you communicate through Instagram photos better. Assuming that you’ve already added the Instagram App to your dashboard, you can do the same with our Statigram App and become the ultimate Insta-power user.

How We Use Statigram

Here’s our story: Earlier this year, our content marketing team decided to amp-up HootSuite’s Instagram strategy. And, although Statigram didn’t help us build our strategy per-se, it certainly keeps us on top of our goals and Insta-analytics. Using Statigram natively, viewing your Instagram photos, feed and likes is a basic feature. But it’s the stats that interest us. What better way to build and adapt a strategy than with cold hard analytics?

Our Favorite Stats

• Last 7 Days: How many followers you’ve gained and lost this week.

• Rolling Month Analysis: Content, engagement and follower stats for the month.

• Content: Post history and distribution, broken down by year, month, day of the week and even time of day.

• Engagement: Growth history of likes and comments received.

• Optimization: Best time to post and average lifespan of each Instagram image.

• Community: View follower growth, reciprocated relationships and top followers.

Using the Statigram App in HootSuite

Add Statigram to your HootSuite dashboard for quick access to all of your Instagram stats. Click to zoom in.

Did you know you can use Statigram in HootSuite? Well you can, and it’s a real timesaver. With our integrated Statigram App, you can easily add multiple streams to monitor your brand as well as personal accounts – all in one tab.

Here’s some of the ways you can use Statigram’s App in HootSuite:

• View your Home feed and feeds for Your Photos, Your Likes, and the Popular feed from Instagram in one stream.

• Stream and monitor your Instagram community, including your followers and those you follow.

• Analyze your Instagram photos and community growth with summary statistics, rolling 30-day trends, and monthly history.

• Gain insights into and manage relationships you have with your Instagram community.

• Search for photos by hashtag or username (for example we follow #HootSuite).

Rinse and repeat by adding multiple Instagram accounts to different tabs or streams.

We’ve set up a stream to watch our own Insta-engagement and follower growth, a search stream to follow #HootSuite to thank users for thinking of us or to repost images and a home stream or our photos to interact with IGers we love. Click to zoom.

See a pic you like? Within the dashboard, comment on, like or even share the image right from the stream to any other social network.

Who Should Use Statigram?

Anyone who uses Instagram should be on Statigram… Whether you’re an aspiring photographer who wants to see which pics resonate best with your following, or a business of any size looking to monitor social photo campaigns and initiatives. Or if you just love quick stats and colorful charts that show – hopefully – up and to the right graphs.

Re-Sharing Made Easy with HootSuite’s Statigram App

Follow different usernames or hashtags, like #hootsuite, and discover a world of images associated with your brand – and ripe for the re-sharing. With Statigram, the original Instagrammer’s username is attached and properly credited in the photograph. Let the sharing begin!

To do this in the HootSuite dashboard:

Reposting Instagram images associated with your brand is possible with Statigram in HootSuite.

1. Search usernames or hashtags to find the perfect image. Once you do, click on the image you would like to share.
2. The stream will refresh with just the image in it. Click the repost button in the top right corner.
3. A pop-up image will appear with image credit. From there, either download or email the image to share on your Instagram or any other social network. Voila!

Sharing made easy with Statigram.

The HootSuite Statigram App is designed for Instagram power users, brand marketers and businesses who have invested themselves in building a community and brand presence in Instagram. Try the Statigram app free for the first 48 hours ($4.99/mo) in the HootSuite App Directory.

Visit our App Directory to see what other apps we have, including YouTube, Tumblr, WordPress, Instagram and so many more.

TwitCasting, apart from being available on mobile devices, has a web app and is also available in English along with Japanese language. The app that has a choice of a Twitter as well as a Facebook login, also recommends on different kinds of live chats to follow such as Movies Only, Music Only and Radio Only. One can join such live streaming or can click on the Broadcast button to start one’s own live chat. The app is quite closely integrated with Twitter and has really cool features like saving the video, subscribing, live tags, etc. However, the web app which is more like a group video chat and could be useful during events, has a bit cluttered interface with too many ads on the site.

The service which has more than 2.4 million users – 80% from Japan, 10% from Brazil and 10% from other countries plans to invest the money in developing the platform and acquiring core team members. Speaking on the occasion, Yosuke Akamatsu, CEO of Moi Corporation stated that the funds will fuel the app’s growth which is witnessing ‘hockey stick’ growth from last summer.

Along with the funding, the company has also announced that Taiga Matsuyama, a partner at East Ventures, will take a seat at MOI’s board of directors. Exciting times ahead for TwitCasting that has managed to scale in the recent times due to the youth possibly joining the platform to make new friends online.

Slider image: http://oreoka.com

It’s Happening Anyway, This Will Just Make it Safer

First things first: what does certification mean in this case? Recently, Lifehacker reported that Good For Enterprise from Good Technologies became “the first non-BlackBerry mobile collaboration and device management software to be certified by the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) for use in Australian government environments that require high levels of data security.” So basically, we’re talking about gadgets and their operating systems getting a stamp of approval from the government — or a highly trusted organization — ensuring that they’re not all that hack-able.

The thing is, not many people are willing to wait for that green light. According to a survey from earlier this year, 36% of employees who embrace using personal devices for work said they would try to skirt IT policies that forbade them from doing so, and the numbers are surely climbing. However, if device certification becomes a widespread initiative for concerned companies, employees can comfortably — rather than covertly — make the switch, advancing the mobile collaboration culture without putting company data or partnerships at risk.

Mobile Strategy Has Stepped Away from the Edge

Up until pretty recently, mobile business carried this stigma of being an afterthought. Companies knew they needed to consider it, but building it into the fundamental, core structure of marketing strategies wasn’t a priority. But according to KCPB partner Mary Meeker’s 2012 Internet Trends presentation, there are now 1.1 billion mobile 3G subscribers worldwide, representing a 37% annual growth rate. CNET’s Don Reisinger, who covered the report, noted that “mobile products now account for 10 percent of all Internet traffic,” as compared to the 1% mobile attribution of December 2009. Additionally, one of the most cited stats from Meeker’s report shows that in 2014, use of mobile devices will surpass desktop and laptop use for both personal and work-related online activities.

Of course, all of that increased use naturally leads to increased security risks. Juniper Research reported that “less than 1 in 20 smartphones and tablets have third-party security software installed.” They also estimated that by 2016, mobile users will invest a collective $3.6 billion in securing mobile gadgets, 69% of which will be made by corporations trying to protect corporate data. That makes the idea of global device certification pretty attractive, both strategically and financially.

The digital world is an impatient one. Right now, businesses are laser-focused on successfully deploying mobile strategies, and part of that is dependent on securing devices and data. Global certification policies might take time to develop and implement, but will encourage mobile collaboration by placing a premium on data insurance.

No enterprise ecommerce websites can afford security breaches. Apart from the actual loss in time and money caused by such incidents, such events cause an erosion of trust in customers and hurt sales hard. Keep in mind the losses that can pile up as a result of the smallest security breach and invest time and money in securing your website. Let’s take a look at some useful steps that Ecommerce Website design and development features that increase the security of an ecommerce enterprise website.

Protecting Credit Card Details

Most professional hackers are after the credit card details of your customers. There is no better place than an enterprise ecommerce website when it comes to finding a large number of credit card details in the same place. One way to get around the problem of protecting credit cards is avoiding storing the credit card information altogether. If that is not feasible, tokenization is mandatory. That will make the information more secure and make it extremely difficult to exploit.

Regular Software Updates

By building your website on a platform that is updated and improved on a regular basis, you can ensure that the security features of your code do not get outdated with the passing of time. Open source products like Joomla or Magneto offer this advantage. If you are using the same software and there have been no updates for a long time, it becomes easy for the hacker to exploit the inherent weakness of the platform.

SSL Encryption

This feature protects the connection between the client’s PC or server and the server of your website. It is one of the most common and most important elements of online security – and it is also the most well known. Customers will look out for a small padlock on your screen telling them that the connection is secure. While SSL encryption on its own cannot protect every aspect of your website, it is made immensely valuable by the fact that it makes your users trust your website.

Insist on Secure Hosting with a Predictive Firewall

The quality of your security has a strong correlation to who is hosting your website. Several web hosting companies leave the MySQL open, making it possible for hackers to view databases belonging to your users. Choose a secure hosting partner and make sure that the host has in place a predictive firewall that can detect hacking attempts and prevent automatic uploading of malicious code.

Move with the Times: Stay Updated

Hackers are finding more and more novel methods of sabotaging ecommerce websites and stealing information. At the same time, ecommerce security experts are developing new methods to combat their hacking tactics by creating highly secure websites. The security practices change every few months. You need to keep abreast of the trends in web security and continue doing all you can to make your ecommerce website foolproof.

Summing Up

There are a million and one threats to your ecommerce website, but there are also several security options that can help you improve security. A lot depends on the web designers and developers who build your website, and on the security measures taken by your web hosting partner. None of these security features is enough in itself to protect you from malicious hacking attempts. However, by implementing all major security options, you substantially reduce the chances of a hacker stealing your information or damaging your site.

VOIP or “Voice over Internet Protocol” is a technology that enables you to make and receive phone calls using your Internet connection. While VOIP has been around for many years, only recently has it been offered as a robust hosted business solution.

One such VOIP provider is 8×8 which specializes in offering a hosted online solution for small to mid-sized businesses. Providing instant messaging, web conferencing, unlimited free calls to various regions (depending on where you are based), extension dialing, hold music and more — a small business can benefit greatly from an affordable and robust VOIP solution like the one offered by 8×8.

8×8 has two options depending on your business requirements. Their standard offering, Virtual Office business phone service, includes unlimited calling to the US and Canada, three-way calling, extension dialing and direct numbers for your employees, caller ID and even hold music (which I’m not sure is actually a perk given what most people think of being placed on hold, but it does add a layer of professionalism).

8×8 also offers an add-on bundle called Virtual Office Pro that adds web conferencing, call recording and Internet fax capabilities for a small additional monthly fee. The web conferencing is a great way to cut travel costs and collaborate better with customers and coworkers.

What Does it Look Like

All 8×8 users are given a portal that acts like your control center/dashboard. This interface offers a bird’s-eye view of all of your contacts as well as access to various commands such as making calls, instant messaging (IM), calendaring and more. On the left of the screen is your company directory that you can populate with all of your contacts. The directory automatically includes all the employees on your phone system plus you can also populate it with your Exchange, Gmail, Twitter and Facebook contacts. Once your company directory is online, you can see from there who is busy, who is able to talk and other status information. You can also instant message your colleagues and contact as appropriate.

On the right is your “phone” and users can use the virtual dialpad to make calls right from their computer. All 8×8 packages offer US businesses unlimited free calling within the US and Canada and international calls are charged accordingly.

VoIP Phones, Softphone and Mobile Apps

Of course the service is not entirely online, most people use a physical VoIP phone with it although it’s not a requirement. 8×8 offers a range of high-quality Polycom and Cisco phones to choose from. You can even use your smartphone with the service. Free mobile apps from 8×8 enable you to make and take calls using your business calling plan on your iPhone, iPad or Android device.

Simple Set up

I found setting up 8×8 on my computer fairly simple and when I had questions, the team at 8×8 was very helpful and replied quickly.

Deeper Dive into the Features

Virtual Office business phone service comes with a long list of business features: personalized voicemail, an auto attendant, dashboard, extension dialing, hold music, three-way calling, voice-mail to email, caller ID, ring groups, call parking, conference bridge and much more.

Businesses with geographically dispersed offices or a dispersed customer base might appreciate the more robust meeting features found in the add-on bundle called Virtual Office Pro. With Virtual Office Pro, you get Vitual Office phone service plus call recording, web conferencing and Internet fax.

Here are some of the tools that 8×8 offers:

• Audio and Web Meetings: Users (depending on subscription level) get unlimited web or audio meetings per month. In addition you can have 15 or more participants per meeting for free and there is an extra charge if you go over 15 participants. You also get your own personal online conferencing service and can use webcams if you so choose. In addition you can share your desktop, or take control of someone else’s desktop and you can choose a free US local meeting dial-in number.
• Company Directory: You can populate your company directory many ways – from your Gmail account for example, as well as import contacts from a CSV file, and from Twitter and Facebook pages.
• Auto Attendant: Callers can connect with employees via dial-by-extension, dial-by-name, or dialing from the company directory. You can also define greetings and schedules for business hours, after hours, holidays and business hours exceptions.
• Extension Dialing – This enables you to offer each employee an extension – which makes it easy not only for outside callers to call the right people directly, but helps employees call each other.

Other features 8×8 includes, depending on your needs, is intercom calling, do not disturb features for those who wish not to interact with anyone for an hour or two (oh how nice that would be!), caller ID and more.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

Currently 8×8 is running a special for GetApp readers of $19.99 per unlimited extension for Virtual Office. Normally, prices run $29.99 per extension for unlimited calling in the US & Canada with a number of features mentioned above such as voicemail, extension dialing, caller ID, instant messaging and more. This does not include web conferencing, call recording and Internet fax. For those that want Virtual Office Pro, the cost is $49.99 per extension, which includes all of the features of Virtual Office plus call recording, web conferencing, Internet fax. Currently 8×8 is running a special for GetApp readers of only $24.99 per unlimited extension for Virtual Office Pro.

Is it for You?

The upshot is – having a VoIP system in place will never steer you wrong. I was especially impressed that 8×8 strives to offer enterprise level features at a fairly affordable rate. Unlimited free calling from the US to Canada is a splendid benefit, not to mention the company directory, unlimited audio calls, and extension dialing if you have more than one employee or departments and more. Upshot, 8×8 offers businesses a chance to look and sound professional while reducing expenses.

[review title='Our Verdict' pros="Robust phone and web features such as audio conference calls, unlimited free calls from US to Canada, extension dialing, internet fax, instant messaging, company directories, etc.; Easy to use and set up" cons="none" score=9]

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 4.5/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

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Credit: Commons/Wikimedia

Back in 2011, Facebook encouraged developers to use HTML5 technology.  The platform is the site’s central piece to mobile strategy and Facebook wanted developers to choose HTML5 over building native iOS or Android apps.

Doing so would enable the world’s most popular social networking site to sidestep relatively closed intermediaries like Apple when it wants to roll out new platform functionality.  Many game developers have been choosing HTML5 over native apps.

An HTML5 app is housed on the Web and runs inside a mobile browser.  That differs from apps built specifically for Apple devices or Google’s Android operating system.  HTML5 does not need to be built from scratch for each OS.  The developers are looking for efficient ways to build games since HTML5 enables them to “write once and have it run anywhere.”

Mobile veteran Erdolo Eromo believes that HTML5 offers advantages that native apps don’t have.  “With Apple and Google taking the lion’s share of revenues from game developers, direct carrier billing through companies like Payvia has become an attractive option for developers everywhere.”

HTML5 is a markup language for structuring and presenting content for the web and a core technology of the Internet.  According to Wikipedia, “its core aims have been to improve the language with support for the latest multimedia while keeping it easily readable by humans and consistently understood by computers and devices”.

HTML5 faces challenges in the area of rich user experience and performance.  Some industry experts contend that native apps are better suited for graphically-rich user interfaces.  Additionally, some developers believe that native apps is better for monetization given that they can use Apple’s App Store and Google Play to reach out to a larger audience.

What has been the marketplace’s receptivity to HTML5?  Eromo, who founded Payvia, saw the business increase its 2012 revenues by 400 percent.  “The Direct Carrier Billing model, offered by companies like Payvia, is becoming one of the most attractive options for HTML5 monetization and offers a viable alternative to individual vendors selling their apps online.”

We now have before us the answer to one of life’s greatest mysteries: how to pronounce the word “GIF.” Creator Steven Wilhite gave his opinion on how to pronounce the word at this year’s Webbys. During his acceptance speech for the lifetime achievement award, he confirmed it is pronouced “JIF” not “GIF.”

Microsoft has revealed the new Xbox One, the company’s new flagship device. So what’s new and cool? The device boasts TV integration and voice control, and that’s big! Xbox One builds in Skype and streaming services, and even uses an HDMI pass-through to present your TV content. Plus it has a Blue Ray drive for movies and an improved connect censor so sensitive, it can actually track when your heart beat is faster!

Poetically named membership management app Wild Apricot says it provides Member Management Magic. As a freelancer, I have worked with a client who used Wild Apricot before and I must confess I already loved it. But, I never looked past the tasks I did for the client. So I was super excited to look closer at it. Ready?

OK, let’s give it a look.

Either Too Complicated or Too Expensive

Setting up a membership site can be a complicated proposition. You can sign on with a membership management company to do the work, a great solution if you can afford it. Let them worry about emails, events, payments and content for you.

The cheaper alternative is to use separate tools to control emails, take payments, keep the books, handle events and set up content like member directories and documents to share. That’s a lot of data, dashboards and programs to keep track of.

Wild Apricot offers you a third way to handle creating and administering a membership site.

Customizable Membership Software that is Easy To Use for You and Members

Wild Apricot is targeted to nonprofits, associations, clubs and subscription websites, from under 50 members to over 15,000. It is cloud-based so there is no software for you to worry about installing.

You have full control of the membership from application through sign up, payment and renewal. Easy to use website software lets you set up a customized community that reflects the group’s interests and is easy for administrators and members to use. They have a variety of templates to get you started.

The system lets you send out emails and newsletters quickly. You can handle events like workshops and make documents available to members.

Create an Easy-To-Use Community Quickly and Inexpensively

Starting with the ability to create an application that has all the information your group wants to collect when you sign up members online, Wild Apricot gives you full control of the membership process. You decide about your renewal policy and target emails announcing it. You can track the renewal rate easily from your dashboard.

It’s easy for members to create profiles and access the information on the site. Blogs, forums, emails and newsletters make an active community that invites participation by members. Events, sign ups, reminders and calendars keep them up-to-date.

With professional looking templates even non-designers can put together an attractive website for the group. It is easy to take Paypal and credit card payments, manage invoices and export the information to QuickBooks.

You can also take donations for your nonprofit and followup with donors. You can access financial reports with one click from the dashboard.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

It is easy to create your own application form.

You have full control over membership levels.

Easily customizable templates make it simple to create an eye-catching website.

Add blogs, forums and calendars to keep your members well informed.

Check your financial information easily from the dashboard.

Donations are easy to accept with custom made forms.

Professional Membership Sites are Super Easy to Set Up with Wild Apricot

If you want a good looking, accessible membership site, Wild Apricot provides all the functionality you are likely to ever need for your nonprofit, association or group. It handles the member process from sign up to renewal, letting you make targeted decisions at each step.You can build an attractive community that is accessible for your members. Email, newsletters, forums, blogs and calendars invite them to get involved in the online community. Events, payments, donations and financial reports are handled from the dashboard.

Extensive product documentation is available on the Wild Apricot website, and the support team can be reached by email or phone. There’s also a call-back option if you want to schedule a call.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

An ad-supported free service is available for groups under 50 members. For larger groups Wild Apricot offers a free 30-day free trial. Monthly fees are based on number of members, with price points at 250, 500, 2,000 and 15,000 or more members. Most membership groups, whether online groups or off-line groups will be able to support the cost via their membership dues.

Is It For You?

If you want an easy-to-setup, easy to customize membership site with full functionality for emails, payments, memberships and events, Wild Apricot is a good choice. Your club, association or subscription website will have an attractive, accessible community with minimal stress and time.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Very simple and beautiful membership management application" cons= "none" score=10]

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In many ways, I/O 2013 felt extraordinarily philosophical and personal. Bypassing the wow factor of previous I/Os (the introduction of Ice Cream Sandwich, the Google Glass parachute trip), this year’s conference instead told a personal story about technology that minimized our tech dependency and allowed more time for personal connections.

A unified Google

The big news this year was not the release of a new Android OS, nor was it the release of Google Glass, but the introduction of Google as a unified service. From the personalized and voice recognized searches, to the simplified, exciting and vastly improved Maps, to the more human-interest based Google+ — the theme of this year’s I/O was more about the personal experience than it was about technology.

Google, for better or worse, has evolved into a company that predicts and adapts to its user, from remembering the last point of interest of a search inquiry, to the adaptive, helpful (if not somewhat overbearing) nature of Google Now. At several points during the keynote, Vic Gundotra, SVP of Engineering, made mention of “technology getting out of the way,” heralding Google’s intention to be an invaluable tool in the service of humanity.

Heading towards the end of fragmentation

Android’s open-source nature, while admirable, has led to an astonishing amount of device and OS fragmentation. With the announcement of Google’s treatment of the Samsung Galaxy, as well as various points made at the Android Fireside chat that happened later in the week, it’s clear that Google has become dedicated to reigning this in. While we might not see a unified Android in the near future, Android’s focus on narrowing down the OS permutations will increase the quality and satisfaction of the platform’s applications.

Increased interest in design

In the interest of a unified ecosystem, this year’s I/O featured a heavier emphasis on design. Previously, the openness of Google’s platforms were only understood by developers, as there has been little-to-no design cadence. After Jelly Bean, Android released their design guidelines, shedding some light on the process of designing for Android.

At this year’s I/O, they took their design messaging further, holding at-capacity sessions on Cognitive Science, UX Design for Developers and a Wonder dissertation on the roots and practical applications of Android’s newest design principles, led by Android UX Lead Rachel Garb and User Researcher Helena Roeber. During the keynote, Google also reintroduced Google+ with an intuitive masonry layout and the personalized intelligence of relevant threads. It’s clear that design is at the forefront of their solutions, and it gives me hope in how we’ll see it used the future, particularly on the Android platform.

A cautious approach to Google Glass

While Google’s newest, most futuristic device was this I/O’s most prominent fashion statement, Glass was not part of the lineup of major announcements seen in the keynote.

Google Glass presents a paradigm shift in how we use and experience technology. It’s appropriate that Google displayed patience and caution in underplaying Glass at this conference, as this is a device that demands a more disciplined approach to development and design. The panels regarding Glass were more directed to understanding the clear and stringent rules involved. Considering this is astonishing new territory and that the social and psychological impact of this technology is not quite fully understood, it’s appreciated that Google is displaying a steady temperance towards the awareness and deployment of this device.

Overall, Google surprises

This conference wasn’t device-heavy — we didn’t get to savor the features of a new Android OS, nor did we get to walk out of the Moscone Center with Google Glass. Instead, we were pleasantly subjected to the Google’s convergence into a powerful and integrated ecosystem. These integrated service announcements promise vast new user experiences, an exciting design development from an engineering-dominated company.

In growing numbers, people are using their mobile devices to engage on social media platforms, so you’ll want to make sure your mobile bases are covered in order to avoid discouraging your audience due to the look and/or function of your site.

The first thing to know is how your website looks on every device and browser. Look at smartphones, tablets, and different desktop internet applications. It’s going to look a little different on each one, but it needs to be as consistent as possible for every visitor.

This may require you to use a layout that is designed with responsive functionality. Those enable the content to change dimensions depending on the medium. Or you could install an add-on for your site that converts the site completely to a mobile-friendly layout. Depending on how you do this, you may see the departure of design features, but it will still help make your content more sharable and readable via mobile. Avoid features on your site that do not work at all with mobile. This often occurs with websites designed to incorporate Flash features. The results can be frustrating to mobile users and are thus not worth it.

Be sure to engage people on social networks, where they’re spending the majority of their mobile time. You must respect and understand the different functions and the various features of different social networks. The more you know each network, the more likely you’re going to be able to properly tailor your update for the audience — and the more likely they’ll engage.

And get in on the mobile-only networks. Join Instagram to share photos and short videos to Tout or Viddy. You should have a purpose to be on every network and you should sign up and participate with a call to action is on each one, but showing that you’re savvy in more than just the web space is an advantage to tap into. A much larger audience will be found with this tactic.

And don’t forget those people not using tablets or smartphones at all. Text messaging can come in handy here! Llearning the possibilities of communicating your message through SMS is another huge advantage. Text messages are as intimate for relationship building as email marketing, if you use it correctly.

How are you using mobile?

Any thoughts on engagement via mobile? What do you do now to engage with your mobile users? Let us know in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn.

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