“Only the most innovative emerging technologies are invited to present their solution to the expert panel at Under the Radar, which includes VP and C-level execs at Fortune 500 companies like Salesforce, Google, Virgin America, Bank of America, and more, who are looking to partner, purchase, or acquire innovative new technologies,” said Debbie Landa, CEO, Dealmaker Media/Under the Radar. “We are extremely pleased that TrackVia will be sharing its next-generation business technology with hundreds of highly-influential attendees.”

SNEAK PEAK

In his keynote presentation, Pete will highlight why so many end-users find it difficult and frustrating to use generic enterprise or department software and applications to do their critical day-to-day work. Moreover, he’ll discuss the next chapter in the Consumerization of I-T movement around enterprise software, and how solutions like TrackVia are making it radically faster and easier for non-technical business people to build their own custom solutions for everything from sales and CRM to maketing, inventory tracking and project management.

Presentations from the “Under the Radar” event – including TrackVia’s presentation – will be posted on the event’s website later this week. Make sure to check it out and tell us what  you think.

The post TrackVia Presenting @ Who’s-Who Event in SF appeared first on TrackVia Blog.

According to the source, the agency solicited vendors and developers to create a custom online database via the Federal Business Opportunities website, requesting that the database be capable of working for a period of at least five years.

Wired magazine’s Robert Beckhusen also reported on this topic, noting that if realized, the online database could help government agents track persons of interest much more quickly than they are currently able to do. Beckhusen regularly referenced the official solicitation, which detailed that much of the work related to locating an individual is currently performed manually, consuming a great deal of time and resources that might not be necessary.

“Primarily, the ATF states it wants the database to speed-up criminal investigations,” Beckhusen wrote. “Instead of requiring an analyst to manually search around for your personal information, the database should ‘obtain exact matches from partial source data searches’ such as social security numbers (or even just a fragment of one), vehicle serial codes, age range, ‘phonetic name spelling’ or a general area where your address is located. Input that data, and out comes your identity, while the computer automatically establishes connections you have with others.”

The post ATF To Use Online Databases To Track Investigations appeared first on TrackVia Blog.

To weed through all the business applications out there and to appropriately choose the best one to fit your needs is a big task to take on. To help you with this task, I have outlined a few tips below to make sure you have the right tools to choose the right business application.

1. Take time to thoroughly assess. When you are choosing a business application, take the time to identify your requirements for the core functionality of your business.

Rushing this decision will end up with you spending more time fixing or replacing the application than it would take for you to thoroughly asses the business application options and successfully implementing the best one. Make sure that you think about your desired outcomes and goals. You might not be able to answer all of the questions you have upfront, but if you at least consider them and have them in the back of your mind, you will be more likely to make the right decision when it comes to adopting a new business application.

2. Look for a scalable, flexible solution. Over time, your business will change. When you are looking at business applications, you need to look for a business application that is scalable and can easily be extended by the vendor or with pre-integrated solutions. It can take an inordinate amount of time to get used to a business application so cut out all the time it would take to learn a completely new business application and add a business application that you can scale along with the changes of your company.

3. Be realistic. As you are examining how much time, money, and additional resources implementing a new business application will take, make sure that you are looking at it realistically. You will need to include the amount of time it will take to test and then transition from your old solution to the new one with the business application. You may also need to looking into adopting cloud computing to eliminate any potential IT issues like buying, installing, and running servers and software.

Many business applications out there can overlap or be unclear about their true value. This, among many other factors, can make it difficult to figure out which business application will give your business the best return-on-investment. Solution requirements may vary by company but the above tips will help you cut through the confusion and find the right solution.

The post 3 Tips to Choosing the Right Business Application for Your Business appeared first on TrackVia Blog.

Wikidata is Wikimedia’s first big project in seven years, wrote GigaOM’s David Meyer, and has been in development for some time. The advantages of utilizing an online database to let users update entries to reflect new developments jell with Wikimedia’s mission to make information accessible, comprehensive and up-to-date. Changes made to entries in the online database can be immediately reflected in all of the articles that contain the entry, wrote Meyer.

The design of Wikidata’s information architecture, developed as custom applications that reflect the diversity of its users, will be key to its success, wrote The Guardian’s Mona Chalabi. She singled out Wikidata’s focus on “structured data” as a method that benefits user access and database management of such a massive amount of information.

“Structured data means that information can be automatically updated across a range of different languages – that makes editing articles on Wikipedia less time consuming, and it makes Wikipedia more current,” wrote Chalabi.

Wikidata’s currency as an online database will be directly related to its fluidity and user-friendliness. Although it is still a work in progress, wrote Chalabi, its inclusive structured data policies indicate steps in the right direction.

The post Wikimedia’s Online Database of Everything appeared first on TrackVia Blog.

To use Me-ality, one steps into a mall’s ‘matching station,’ where a circulating wand collects over 200,000 points of reference. The shopper can visualize their results on a touch screen immediately, and refine them into a custom shopping guide germane to that mall.

Sophisticated robot mannequins are the vehicles for data visualization, wrote BBC’s Fiona Graham, through a process called ‘morphing,’ in which clothes are tried on the mannequins to find optimal fitting results, which are then uploaded into the database.

“Each size is put through every possible permutation in size and dimension and photographed at speed to build up a database of different possibilities,” wrote Graham.

The online database software is able to give shoppers real-time access to the best clothes for them, based on availability, and customers can also use their reports remotely to purchase clothing from Adidas, Bloomingdales and Guess, among others.

“There is a big shift in consumer behavior in the retail world, and it is being driven by technology,” Me-ality’s Kathleen Funke told Graham.

The post Online Databases. The Future of Shopping? appeared first on TrackVia Blog.

“The conversation moves beyond BYOD to the ‘bring your own tools’ phenomenon,” said McQuire, noting that this is where ambition comes into play. “To really enable the possible gains, businesses want to provide as much access as possible in terms of the penetration of devices. Apps become less experimental, more widespread, going from just B2C and reaching into the business and the partner environment.”

In a recent Sys-Con Media article, contributor Kevin Benedict noted how the enterprise mobility market is moving at a particularly fast pace, causing some companies to struggle to keep up. In fact, Gadget contributor and RealmDigital CEO Wesley Lynch recently reported that today it is common to see enterprises first develop a custom application for mobile platforms, later moving to others.

Lynch noted that this new trend is contributing to an overall “re-engineering” of enterprise custom application development strategies, and that pursuing the mobile platform is an excellent way to extend the reach of a business. He attributed the substantial growth of the mobile market to the popularity and success of enterprise applications.

The post Custom Application Development Can Extend A Company’s Reach appeared first on TrackVia Blog.

If you don’t like technology that’s too complex, or you don’t want the added expense of cloud computing, it’s time to stop asking yourself if you can afford to invest in the cloud and start asking yourself if you can afford not to. Cloud computing gives small businesses a unique opportunity to level the playing field and goes a long way to saving you fistfuls of money.

What cloud computing can do for you

There’s good reason why cloud computing is an industry that enjoys more than 30% annual growth: you can store your data, run software and applications for a fraction of the price you used to have to invest in IT.

Now, instead of having large servers and the cost of maintenance and security, everything can easily be stored on the cloud. This means you can reduce your hardware and maintenance costs and save both money and time.

There are other advantages too; you and your staff will have access to your data at all times from any device capable of connecting to the Internet. For example, if one of your employees is in the field and a customer asks for a quote, they can immediately access the database with their smartphone, tablet computer or laptop and download the information they need. This streamlines your business and saves you time. This increased efficiency helps put you on par with larger corporations.

Software is another advantage. Cloud computing allows you to license one version of the software programs you use rather than buy a separate version for each employee. Cloud computing means that patches and updates are automatically loaded which also helps to reduce your downtime and saves you money.

Cloud computing also improves your access to security. Instead of investing in costly security packages and expensive iterations, you can simply rely on the cloud computing security software for added protection of your sensitive data.

Cloud Computing Pitfalls

There are very few potential problems with cloud computing, but it is good to know what they are before you begin. The first step is to establish a cloud computing security protocol. This will entail creating secure passwords and ensuring that your employees do not share these with anyone and that they access your cloud only from safe locations. Establish protocols for when devices get lost or stolen too.

You should also ensure that you choose the cloud computing package that best suits your business needs and level of technological sophistication. Here are the three main layers of cloud computing service offered by most vendors. There are two other layers which will not be covered in the scope of this article as they don’t apply to the small business owner:

Software as a Service (SaaS)

This is the most commonly used cloud computing service and it is usually the one small business owners opt for. Here programs are already built and you are simply granted access by the vendor. For example, if you need access to MS Office, the vendor grants you access and you no longer have to have individual copies of the software on each computer. This is a much cheaper option which will allow you to sign up for the programs you need and will help keep you up to date with the latest versions.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

This is similar to SaaS as you still get access to programs built by your vendor, but now you get access to the program library and you can use it to change and build applications. Now you can build your own applications and you have more flexibility.

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

Here your cloud computing vendor will simply provide the environment for you to host or build your own applications. You can add or build anything in this space and this model gives you the most flexibility. As your business grows, this model enables you to increase the capacity available to you. This is a great way to ensure that you are not paying for space that you aren’t using.

With all these advantages, the small business owner can compete with much larger companies. Since you have access to the same technology and data, your small size and flexibility become a distinct advantage. It’s time to consider cloud computing as a way to make your small business more efficient.

The post Cloud Computing and Your Small Business: A Perfect Match appeared first on TrackVia Blog.

Why use email newsletter software?

If you are using your current email program to send newsletters, chances are they’re pretty boring to look at. With free email newsletter software, you can utilize CRM templates to give your message a boost. The interfaces are generally intuitive and easy to use and the results are phenomenal. It’s a great way to improve your CRM without spending too much time or money.

Mail Chimp

Perhaps the most well-known of the free CRM newsletter applications, Mail Chimp is an easy-to-use tool that will help you get noticed. This amazing CRM tool allows you to access a wealth of email templates or design your own email and send up to 6,000 emails a month to 1,000 subscribers. It’s a great way to manage your newsletter CRM as you can manage your lists, sign ups, bounce backs and unsubscribed returns.

Mail Chimp also provides a wealth of analytics that you can use to refine both your emails and your lists for CRM newsletters that work.

SendEmails

This free CRM application is suited to the small business and provides users with comprehensive analytics that make it easy to keep track of emails. You can send up to 200 emails every month which are customizable to suit your needs. SendEmails allows you to encrypt information and keeps your sensitive data safe.

Mad Mimi

This application is limited to 100 emails a month and is best suited to small business CRM. Its rich text format allows you design attractive newsletters and it also offers HTML tags for additional customization. You can schedule your newsletters to go out automatically and Mad Mimi also ensures that CRM newsletters are delivered by avoiding the spam bin through CAN-spam.

Comm100 Newsletter

Draw from the library of attractive templates or create your own completely custom CRM newsletter templates which you can save for future use. Comm100 also supports secure data and enables list management. Auto-responder functions allow you to respond automatically to users who show interest in your products. Comm100 also allows for full management and provides analytics that help you to manage every aspect of your newsletter drive.

GroupMail

This free CRM newsletter app is designed for professional-looking business emails. You have a relatively small list capacity (255 recipients), but the templates and general appearances of the emails is great for a small company that means business! GroupMail also helps you protect your contact lists. The only emails and headers that your recipients will see are yours and theirs. This gives your emails a personal feel and keeps your sensitive data safe.

Newsletters are a great way to give your CRM campaigns a boost. You can get people to sign up for your newsletter when they create an account on your website or when they avail themselves of your products or services. Your newsletters should be a valuable resource to your clients if they are going to be successful. Although news of upcoming deals and new products form part of your newsletter, you should also provide value-added content for free. Encourage subscriptions to your CRM newsletter by offering discounts or coupons to those who opt in or refer a friend.

These free newsletter sites are a really great way to boost your CRM without adding costs to your budget. The templates are generally easy to use and can be customized to make them a unique representation of your company.

When selecting a newsletter provider, ensure that they are able to bypass spam filters or all your hard work will end up in the trash. You should also ensure that your lists and contact details are safe and that your email contacts will not be visible to others on the mailing list.

The post 5 Free Email Newsletter Tools to Make your CRM Pop! appeared first on TrackVia Blog.

To help you be the best project manager you can be, here are some of the most common mistakes project managers make and ways to avoid them:

Absence of Leadership

Establishing a clear and logical team hierarchy, something essential to the success of a project, can be very difficult. For any project management team, there should always be someone at the top who has overall responsibility, as well as different levels of managers who should be defined from the beginning of the project so everyone knows who they are reporting to. A lack of leadership can hinder any project, particularly when roles are incorrectly assigned to individual members on the team. With a strong leader in place, the roles of the team can be clearly identified. When everyone knows their role, their responsibilities, and who they need to report to, the chances of the project being successful is much more likely.

Lack of Regular Communication

Communication is one of the most important factors in successful project management. It tends to be very easy to communicate at the beginning of a project and then stop communicating as the project continues. Without regularly and clearly communicating, the project will unravel. There are many project team members that get stuck in a rut by focusing on their responsibilities too narrowly. Therefore these team members become isolated and end up cut off from the overall sense of the project. A good solution for this is to schedule regular weekly project management meetings and to stick to that schedule. This will ensure everyone stays on the same page and keep the project going at a steady pace.

Not Being Flexible

Unforeseen events and other deviations from the plan are almost unavoidable. As a project manager, you have to learn to expect the unexpected, another crucial element for the success of the project. While you may want to rigidly adhere to your project management plan, you need to prepare for unexpected events as well as new information and suggestions that come up along the way. At intervals you will need to take a step back and get a fresh look on your overall project.

Micromanagement Woes

The key to being a good project manager is not to babysit your project too closely. A common project management mistake is treating your job as a project manager like an enforcer and police the team for progress and updates. You need to maintain a healthy level of communication with your team and at the same time, leave your team alone between those updates to work without feeling like they are being monitored too closely. During weekly updates you can continue to encourage them to vocalize any issues or delays in advance. Then you are creating a healthy level of communication as well as not forcing your team to feel micromanaged and become frustrated with their work.

The post 4 Project Management Mistakes You Are Already Making appeared first on TrackVia Blog.

The trouble is that 99.9% of all businesses in the world don’t have the time, money or computing resources to take advantage of these big-data projects. In fact, only a handful of the Fortune 500 enterprises have the resources to pull off big data projects. But that could be changing.

A new trend is emerging around what we call “big-little” data projects. TrackVia’s co-founder, Chris Basham, describes it as an “approach that helps small and medium sized businesses, as well as departments within larger organizations, reap the benefits by using more targeted resources and less actual data.”

So how do smaller organizations, start-ups and departments take advantage of big-little data projects?

1. Culture: Collecting data is a boring business. And it’s a commitment. Whether you’re tracking website visitors or what your customers like to buy, collecting data has to be a priority in  your organization. A good starting point is simply assigning someone to be in charge of collecting, mining and reporting on the data regularly. And keep it simple. Track and analyze the data you already collect around your business. Many businesses are surprised by how much information they – or their employees – are already keeping track of.

2. Ditch spreadsheets: Spreadsheets are great, but even big little data projects deserve more than what a spreadsheet can deliver. Trade it in for a more powerful, user-friendly online database that allows you to link, share and mine your data more deeply and quickly. And using relational databases versus flat spreadsheets allows you to see early trends and make powerful connections.

3. Departmentalize data: Within small or medium sized businesses, enable data mining for specific areas or departments. The finance department might be able to use big-little data in a different way than the sales or marketing team. Give each departments its own database to run and manage their own projects.

4. Make it Personal: The more your big-little data project is connected with your customers, the better. More so than ever, your customers expect you to know more about them, what they like and don’t like. So the more you can track and learn about your customers, the more your organization will benefit.

5. Share: Access to data and the proper mining tools empowers everyone to do their jobs better and deliver more value to the business. At the end of the day, big-little data is all about delivering real value to your business. Saving money. Generating more revenue. Serving your customers better.

Ultimately, big-little data projects are all about improving your business. The exciting part is that new tools and technologies are forever making it easier for businesses large and small to do just that.

The post Big-little Data Analysis appeared first on TrackVia Blog.