Blog Entries

Social Networking, what's the point?

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0100

On the face of it, social networking seems like a good idea. To keep in touch with people I mean. But when it comes to business "apps", where does it fit in?

My children are on MSN and Facebook or MySpace every day, you know the sort of thing, uploading photos, messaging each other, even using their web cams. Its quite normal for them.

For me, we used to go out in the morning and not be seen by our parents until that same evening and no one batted an ey [...]

Obama Turns to the Internet, what about you?

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

In one of the many articles regarding Obama, this one refers to him embracing the internet and thereby enabling children to compete in the 21st century by attending 21st century schools and using 21st century technology.

With so much emphasis on the internet and the associated technologies, it stands to reason that we, as business people, must also embrace this medium to ensure that we do not lose out to our competition simply because it's perceived as too much effort.

Tec [...]

The Rules Have Changed...

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Your business needs to be connected in order to connect to everybody else, well that's pretty obvious, isn't it!

But, if you're not, you won't be able to meet your competition head on and it will disappear - to another plane, and one that you're not able to compete with!. You'll soon find that there's less competition and ultimately you'll have less customers.

The market we are working in is changing all the time; over the past 20 or so years we've moved from a mechani [...]

C02 Emissions in news again

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Parliament has passed a bill that will force medium and large businesses to significantly reduce their carbon emissions. This will now apply to shops, offices, banks etc.

So it looks like more businesses will be creating new jobs with new titles such a "Sustainability" or "Energy Monitoring" Managers.

What energy saving/monitoring technology are you using to make your life easier?

One Quarter to Go?

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Well, there you have it, one more quarter to go and if things don't improve and slide backwards, we're all in a recession, again. Great! I can hear Ricky Gervais making a suitably caustic comment about bankers - but it won't change a thing.

The financial institutions have been bailed out with billions and the "normal" businesses will now have to weather the storm without the handouts!

I have got a few ideas up my sleeve; download the ebook "How to Win The Overheads Game" a [...]

He Got the Results

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Following on from my earlier blog about my eldest son, just to let you know, he got his GCSE results - Five A's, Three B's and Two C's

He's well on his way to joining the business community with his web site www.t-texts.co.uk selling design-your-own tshirts and hoodies!

Well done my son!

Recession Buster

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Hi,

There's a lot of press about a recession and how it is going to affect us all. I took some notes that I thought you might find interesting.

R.G. Holland, Business Author & Speaker...

"Slash unneccesary overheads. I don't mean getting rid of all of your staff but I do mean making sure each one of them is actually a profit centre."

David Marmonti, president of Dell computers (Europe, Middle East and Asia)...

"Invest in the right tec [...]

I'm sorry, but I can't make it then!

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Hi,

My son has just finished his GCSEs and to his credit, got himself a job shortly after his last exam. At his interview the manager gave him some homework to do in preparation for his second interview, which he started as soon as he got home.

However, his younger brother had other plans and wanted him to go to the local skate park. He told his brother politely, but firmly, "get out of my room, I've got work to do!" (well, maybe not as polite as that, but you get the idea [...]

Four Hour Work Week

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Hi

I just finished reading a book called 'The Four Hour Work Week' by Tim Ferris, well, what an eye opener. Its not that he has the answer the the meaning of life, but he has an interesting take on it.

Consider this...

Tim Ferris has written about a goal; the ultimate achievement of being independent of the shackles we create for ourselves when we se [...]

Whats in a name?

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Hi,

It seems to me that so much work is necessary to make your business visible to the outside world that a great deal of help is required for start-up and established businesses alike to understand what is required to get noticed - both digitally and generally.

I read an article about a chap called Johnny Apples, yes Apples, he changed his name by deed poll to help market HIS brand, i.e. him. He's a sales and development trainer.What will you do, how far will you go to ge [...]

New rules exist

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Back in 1987 my first NEC mobile phone cost me £2000, a little bit less than the cost of my first PC. Now both can be obtained in Tesco's, one is free and the other from a few hundred pounds, and you get Clubcard points!

Entry level to the digital economy is minimal yet for most businesses success in this environment is still out of reach. The Internet marketeers are capitalising on the digital economy by using a combination of television and age old advertising and marketing [...]

Being Connected

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Your business needs to be connected in order to connect to everyone else, otherwise who would you trade with. If you're not, eventually your competition will disappear - to another plane, one that you're not competing with.

Whilst we all recognize that technology is an intrinsic part of our lives it is plain to see that we have moved from the mechanical era to a digital era and now to a virtual era. There are many aspects of this technological environment that we now find ourselves i [...]

The Digital Economy

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I came accross this article over the weekend and thought it was a poignant illustration as to what's happening in our business community.

With thanks to Richard Barbrook. The Digital EconomyBy Richard BarbrookHypermedia Research Centre
University of Westminster

The Net is now the iconic technology of our age. From California, Wired magazine has achieved global notoriety through its claims that the Net will create the sort of free market capitalism until now only found in [...]

How many will see this video?

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I came across this video yesterday and thought that it was a great illustration for our younger generation to be mindful of!

Pass it on...

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2AJ7Vcxk3w&feature=dir]

Consultants Galore

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I read recently that consultants are not experiencing the same problems as many other industries as businesses feel more comfortable making decisions with the support of consultancy firms rather than making them on their own.

Well, that's why Profit From Technology is different. You'll be able to learn about technology in such a way to get a feel for our approach on what technology should be doing for your company without using a consultant! Eventually, with our support, you can becom [...]

Want it now!

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Hi

We're only two weeks away from launch and I've never been more excited about something like this before. The way this site will help other companies is immense, especially with the webcam support and the online seminars.

It seems to me that the IT industry has been quite familiar with all this technology but no one seems to have made the effort with business to business issues, like selling products and making money.

I guess all will become clearer to those [...]

Keeping in touch

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Well, we crammed page after page on to the site along with downloads and examples. We've also got the PFT Flash site embedded in the Portal site under Support, just click on it to have a look, so we're making great progress.

We're about seven to eight weeks from our launch date and things are hotting up!

The web Portal system we've set up seems to be growing by the day, take a look at the website articles under the Marketing Review section and you can see the fantastic add-ons an [...]

And so it begins

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Everyone in business has to plan where technology is concerned. Maybe something was going wrong or you were not particularly happy with the performance of a product or department, or perhaps the technology you were using had come to the end of its useful life. Whichever the case, you are now in a cycle of change, so where do you start?

That's how Profit From Technology came into being. We knew everyone had to plan for technology, but we became increasingly aware that businesses were n [...]

Where it all started

n.maine@clearvoice.co.uk — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Hi,
My blog is about the germination of an idea.

It all started after I had written a number of helpful documents for customers. It then developed into producing a paper newsletter. After a while, the newsletter evolved into a full blown html web-based newsletter set up on an automated system.

After a while, and with a little PR, a number of articles began to be published in business magazines. As the interest increased, I received a number of requests to write a bo [...]