Tag Archives: Seattle

About 737 days ago Managing Technology

New Building Siding Eats Air Pollution

Alcoa, in partnership with Japanese firm Toto, just announced a new building material that actually cleans the air around it. The new product, called Reynobond with EcoClean, comes in the form of aluminum panels, pre-painted with a special coating that breaks down pollutants. In addition to keeping the air cleaner, the new panels should create savings on maintenance, because the buildings using them stay cleaner as well. READ MORE »

About 748 days ago Blogging and Social Media | Web Analytics

Likester Makes Facebook Likes Searchable

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After Facebook introduced the ‘Like’ button a little more than a year ago, more than 2.5 million websites have followed suit by installing the button on their own pages. Now, Mashable reports that Likester, a small five-person start-up based in Seattle, has discovered a way to tap the power of Likes. READ MORE »

About 850 days ago Hardware

Liven Up PowerPoint with Interactivity, Touchscreens, and an iPad

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Jonah Sterling is building a suite for interactive presentations that just might transform the way we see the conference room. Sterling, a creative director at Seattle software application development firm IdentityMine (www.identitymine.com), is building a paperless meeting space for a Fortune 100 client that incorporates touch and gesture-enabled interactive whiteboards, interactive video conferencing, and touchscreen tablets. Now, they just need to add popcorn to make users fully engaged. “I think there has been a fundamental shift in the last couple of years that’s starting to show some payoff,” says Sterling, explaining that users are becoming more savvy with technology and there is a greater need for more interactive and engaging presentations. Unfortunately, most boardroom presentations follow a familiar routine: someone talking while PowerPoint slides click by on a big screen, says Mike Fisher, a convergence and new technologies consultant  for Futuresource Consulting (www. futuresource-consulting.com), a technology research firm. IdentityMine’s work is a vanguard for any corporation. Experts argue that businesses must be ready to shift how they view presentations and incorporate collaboration if they want to keep pace with competitors. The introduction of touch tablets, large flat panels, an increased demand for touch technology and the expectation of interactivity by users will change the way even small businesses handle sales pitches, brainstorming sessions, and employee training.  The presentation tool landscapeWhile not widely embraced, there are several high-tech tools available, and they are not reach for most small businesses. Fisher notes that interactivity, collaboration and viewer impact are key areas to consider as you consider how to liven up a presentation. Among the options on the market today: – Interactive whiteboards The use of these boards, connected to computers and projectors, is exploding in educational settings, and the boards have been around in high-level boardrooms for a while.  However, their capabilities are expanding.  For instance, on whiteboards made by Promothean (www.prometheanworld.com), four people might work simultaneously, clicking anywhere on the board. You can edit on the fly, rendering presentations organic and ever-changing as ideas evolve. SMART Technologies (www.smarttech.com) and Promethean are the big players. Price range depends on board size. Expect to pay from $2,000 to $4,500, which is not out of line with traditional conference room projector setups.  If you’re uncertain about making an investment in an interactive whiteboard as presentation technology changes, consider leasing, advises John Byrne, a managing partner with interactive whiteboard seller New Age Learning. “This industry technically is moving very fast,” Byrne says. “Small businesses should be careful to work with resellers that will stay in touch and keep them abreast of updates and keep those systems maintained properly.” – Interactive projectors Projectors from Epson (www.epson.com) and Texas Instruments (www.ti.com) eliminate the need for the whiteboard altogether, notes Fisher. These projectors work on any surface using an interactive pen. This provides some flexibility in screen size, and the open architecture allows interaction with all sorts of software and digital media. Expect to pay around $2,000 for an interactive projector. – Apple iPad You can use iPad, Keynote for iPad and a VGA connector to put together presentations. Sterling recently used his iPad as he toured the office space where the futuristic presentation dashboard will be installed. As he toured, he used an Eye-Fi wireless memory card to load photos from his camera to his iPad. He used an iPad application called Sketchbook Pro to make ‘doodles’ of the office space, and he made annotations on copies of the floor plan. He swiftly assembled a presentation that offered hand-drawn and realistic visuals, and he also had the capability of editing it on the iPad as he presented. Sterling thinks the iPad is a tool that will work well in concert with a more traditional presentation. “I would probably still be doing the laptop and the projector for the core presentation,” he says. “But you’d be able to hand around your iPad with information on it, [such as] sales brochures, during a meeting to involve people.” – Canson PAPERSHOW Want to dabble a toe in the creative presentation pool? Check out PAPERSHOW by Canson for $249 (www.showpapershow.com).  This 2010 Best of Show winner at Macworld Expo uses an interactive pen and special paper. You project an image such as a pie chart onto the screen, and your annotations using the paper and pen show up on the chart. You can save the annotations.   Louise Sattler, owner of a small Maryland business called Signing Families (www.signingfamilies.com), uses it in workshops as she teaches American Sign Language. ”It is easy, and I figured it out for myself in under an hour,” she says. ”I like that it’s affordable. I love that it’s portable.” Sattler finds her students engage more when she uses PAPERSHOW. No matter the business size, keeping your audience or your participants involved is critical. You don’t want surreptitious, under-the-table smartphone use.  “The key thing is, how do you get people to talk more effectively together?” asks Fisher. “And in terms of presenting, how do you get the most impact you can?” In the end, the answer is in moving away from stale PowerPoint slides and adding interactivity, gesture control on the iPad, touchscreens and HD displays, and more digital media.

About 857 days ago Hardware

Will 2011 Ring in an iPad Killer?

The Apple iPad may have been the breakthrough tech product of 2010 – with an estimated 10 million units sold to both consumers and businesses alike – but a flood of new tablet competitors will attempt to get a piece of the action in 2011. While a few Android-based devices are already out of the gate, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Dell Streak, dozens of entrants will debut over the coming months –- including the hotly anticipated BlackBerry PlayBook from smartphone leaders Research in Motion (RIM). Slated for a March launch for about $500, the BlackBerry PlayBook is a 7-inch tablet (opposed to the iPad’s nearly 10-inch size), with a WSVGA (1024 x 600 resolution) touchscreen. The .9-pound PlayBook offers a few features not found in the iPad. It’s got a dual-core processor for speedy performance and smooth multitasking. The PlayBook also features two HD cameras — one is a 5-megapixel camera facing outwards, and the other is a 3-megapixel camera facing the user for video conferencing, The browser supports Adobe Flash-based websites. And it’s got a micro-HDMI port to connect the PlayBook to a high-definition source, such as a HDTV or projector. Like the iPad, the PlayBook’s memory isn’t expandable. And while it offers integrated Wi-Fi access, to get online via 3G (cellular) connectivity you need a nearby BlackBerry. This Bluetooth tethering option lets the user access the Internet anywhere you’ve got cell phone reception. Content is king? There’s room for multiple competitors in the tablet space – and with many different operating systems powering them, including Google’s Android, Windows, and BlackBerry, to name a few – but Apple’s iPad has nothing to worry about in the near future, says Scott Steinberg, CEO and lead technology analyst for TechSavvy Global in Seattle. “No device will eclipse the iPad because Apple is a juggernaut not just for churning out superior hardware but perhaps more importantly, content, too, so you’re not going to see people abandon [the iPad] on masse,” says Steinberg. Supporting Steinberg’s prediction is the fact Apple’s App Store has well over 300,000 downloads – many of which for free or close to it – which is at least 200,000 more than its closest competitor, the Android Market. BlackBerry App World has roughly 10,000 apps, but they’re generally more expensive. Making a Play(Book) “An iPad killer? No, but there’s enough room for everyone to carve out comfortable market,” Steinberg says. “That said, the PlayBook might do well, especially for businesses, as it offers enterprise-level support, support for Flash, multitasking and the beauty of multiple cameras which makes video conferencing casual and convenient.” And don’t forget: Apple is already working hard on iPad 2. Apple isn’t giving up without a fight. Michael Gartenberg, research director at Gartner in Stamford, Conn., agrees with Steinberg: “Companies have been experimenting on tablets for more than a decade and the iPad was the first device to crack the market for consumers and businesses — in 2011, no one will concede that market to Apple,” predicts Gartenberg. “We’ll see a lot of effort by RIM, Android devices and others, but not only does Apple have more than a year head-start, but all those competitors will also be going up against the iPad 2.” Apple doesn’t only have a commanding market share but a commanding mindshare, as well, adds Gartenberg. On the PlayBook, Gartenberg says RIM has a “home court advantage” with businesses because of the popularity of BlackBerry smartphones in this space – but there are too many “unknowns” for a product that’s around the corner. “It looks good, but until they have final product, we don’t know how it’ll run, what apps will be for it, the cost, distribution and carrier support, as you need a BlackBerry to get online via 3G.” “It’s hard to say how well it’ll do because RIM hasn’t said enough about the device,” says Gartenberg. But there are already some well-reported disadvantages. On needing a nearby BlackBerry smartphone to get online via 3G, Steinberg calls this requirement “awkward, restrictive and less convenient than built-in 3G connectivity.” What about Google? Both Steinberg and Gartenberg agree a tablet used for business must also offer a consumer experience, too, as our professional and personal lives are increasingly woven together. “RIM’s PlayBook might be geared more towards businesses but remember they’re bought by individuals…you can’t overlook the personal factor, such as games, media and other apps,” says Gartenberg. “RIM feels like it needs to be in this tablet space but not sure if it know why it needs to be there.” Both the PlayBook and Android devices could be heavyweights in the tablet space if the category continues to grow, says Steinberg. “While it doesn’t seem to have as much buzz as the PlayBook, Android makes good use of all the [Android] Market apps, Google’s programs and solid hardware – plus there will be many different models, prices, carriers and form factors to choose from,” he says.

About 906 days ago Wireless Networks

Should You Outsource Your Wi-Fi Hotspot?

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It’s not just for coffee shops anymore. Whatever your business, if you have visitors of any kind, chances are they both want and expect wireless Internet access. That can be a challenge, especially to a business without IT staff. How do you provide wireless access, and make sure it’s up and running whenever guests need it, while keeping your business’s own network safe? You may think your only choice is either to create a virtual wireless network or a password-protected system that lets guests use your company’s network. But there’s a third alternative that can save a lot of hassle: Have an outside vendor provide a Wi-Fi hotspot. In the past few years, companies have emerged that can create a hotspot at your location for you, providing equipment, maintenance, and even technical support if trouble arises. You’re responsible for unpacking and plugging in the wireless routers they send, and for providing an Internet connection—and that’s all. Better security For many companies, an outsourced Wi-Fi solution provides better security than trying to go it alone. “Often we notice small businesses might have gone to Staples and purchased a router themselves,” notes Eric Warnke, CEO of Mesh Canada, which provides advertising supported or low-cost W-iFi hotspots to businesses. “We’ll walk through the door and point out that all the default passwords are still in place, and we’ll show them that we could have interrupted their business. That’s a big risk of a security breach. We can provide a secure network.” And offering a Wi-Fi hotspot actually gives you more network security than not offering one, notes Ron Pike,  IT Administrator for the Seattle office of ZGF Architects LLP. “It’s better for us not to have them connect to our wired network,” he explains. With a WiFi network available, “that’s less likely to happen.” What to ask a vendor Here are some questions to consider when selecting a vendor for an outsourced Wi-Fi hotspot: How will you ensure security for our internal network? The vendor should provide a virtual local area network (VLAN) that is completely separate from your internal network and uses only your Internet connection. “For companies that are really super concerned about security, we can physically segregate everything, so that there’s absolutely no question of security risk,” Warnke says. What kind of controls can you impose? Since the Wi-Fi hotspot is completely separated from your network, there are no security risks to worry about, but you may want to impose some limits so that visitors don’t overuse your bandwidth. This can include “traffic shaping” that allots only a certain amount of bandwidth to the visitor network, or disallows certain types of traffic, such as YouTube or peer-to-peer sites. Can you password-protect the hotspot? Most vendors can, so the bigger question will be, do you want to password-protect it? For ZGF Architects, the answer is yes. “There are hotels nearby, and many other private offices,” Pike says. “We prefer our bandwidth isn’t taken up by people who aren’t here for business purposes.” On the other hand, Roger Newton, owner of The Canadian Brew House in Alberta says, “There can’t be passwords. If you’re going to offer Wi-Fi, offer it to everybody. If there was a password, we’d have a lot fewer customers using the service.” What will visitors see when they connect? There should be an opening splash page, reinforcing your brand and reminding visitors that they have you to thank for their connection. Many companies also include a terms of service that users must agree to before they sign on. If there are multiple access points, can they be configured as a single network? Unless you only want to offer Wi-Fi in your reception area or conference room, you will need more than one access point for your visitor network. If your company is monitoring the network, that job will be easier if staff can do it from a single administrative “dashboard.” Will you provide technical support and maintenance? In an ideal world, there will be few support issues, especially if visitors don’t need to type in a password to use the network. But unless you have staff on hand with the time and skills to deal with whatever problems do arise, you should make sure the vendor provides these services. “It needs to be consistently available and easily accessed,” Newton says. “And that’s a little outside of our realm.”

About 1092 days ago Business Software

The Best 5 iPad Apps for Business

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Already a consumer success with more than 1 million units sold within one month of its U.S. launch, Apple’s iPad (from $499 is also gaining traction among mobile professionals looking to remain productive on the go. Not everyone agrees on whether this “magical” tablet was built for business, of course — be sure to read our discussion here – but those who do use it work now have many dedicated applications (“apps”) to choose from at the App Store (part of iTunes). This includes Apple’s own iWork offerings, such as Pages for word processing, Numbers for spreadsheets and Keynote for presentations ($9.99 apiece), and dozens of inexpensive third-party apps (see below). “Not only is the iPad built for travel — it’s just a pound and a half and with a battery pushing 12 hours between charges — but its stunning 9.7-inch screen makes it a convincing showpiece to display media, online content or a visual presentation to a client or customer,” says Scott Steinberg, CEO for the TechSavvy Global technology consulting firm in Seattle. “And its online, on-demand apps can transform the device into a portable language translator, note taker, personal digital assistant, information hub, voice recorder, invoice tracker, CSM tool, and so on.” Not only does the iPad feature many dedicated apps for the platform, but out of the box it works with most of the 200,000 apps designed for iPhone and iPod touch. Tim Doherty, research analyst and mobility expert for small and mid-sized businesses at IDC, a Framingham, Mass.-based market research firm, believes the iPad is still “pricey” for widespread deployment in a company, the tablet form factor lends itself well to data capture type applications, such as replacing a traditional clipboard. “Business executives may be drawn to the devices because of its ‘wow’ factor, and what I find compelling is the pricing of the mobile broadband for iPad, which is certainly more attractive than the traditional $60 a month mobile broadband card,” says Doherty. “But ultimately they probably won’t ready to ditch their laptops for this first iteration of the device.” Doherty thinks competition will help drive the price down. “In the future, increased competition from vendors offering Android tablets, a possible WebOS tablet from HP and potentially a BlackBerry tablet from RIM can help drive pricing down and adoption up,” adds Doherty. “Like iPhone did in helping to drive the smartphone market, iPad can do for the tablet market, to the benefit of multiple vendors.” Recommended iPad apps for business The iPad apps you need for business depends on your specific needs, naturally, but along with the aforementioned Apple iWork offerings, the following are five excellent tools to consider. Dragon Dictation (free)Nuance’s easy-to-use and accurate app will transcribe your voice into text like a personal secretary. Once transcribed, you can save the work, e-mail, or send as text message. Also consider Nuance’s free Dragon Search, which lets you ask a question into the iPad’s microphone and you’ll see the relevant answers and/or websites pooled from online sources. WebEx for iPad (free)Need to attend an online meeting but nowhere near your PC? No worries, as you can join the WebEx conference call, brainstorming sessions or presentation on your iPad. Experience live, real-time data and audio wherever work takes you — and save time and money on traveling for meetings. Evernote (free)Got a million dollar idea while on the go? Figured out how to fix your sales hurdles? Type, draw, or speak it inside of Evernote, a powerful tool available for iPad, and so long as you’re online it’ll immediately synchronize with your Mac or PC for safe keeping. The simple interface and powerful options make this app an ideal one for mobile businesspersons. LogMeIn ($29.99)Don’t fret if you forgot an important document or presentation on the office or home PC (or Mac). Use your fingertip on the iPad to remotely log into one or more computers, anywhere on the world, to access what you need as if you were in front the other screen(s). LogMeIn can also be used to troubleshot a colleague’s computer or play Flash-based games if you find some downtime. Square (free)With Square Inc.’s clever software, small and mid-sized businesses can quickly and securely accept card and cash payments on the spot. When the transaction is completed, use this app to generate e-mail and SMS receipts on the spot. Features include itemized lists of sold products or services, adjustable sales tax options, and more.  

About 1513 days ago Printers, Copiers, and Peripherals

Just the Fax: Service Goes Online

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When Peoples Trust Insurance was four months old, the Boca Raton, Fla. homeowner’s insurance company brought a previously outsourced call center in house. Before long, the company’s lone fax machine was overwhelmed, in use four times more than before as telemarketers sent and received page after page of insurance quotes and forms. It fell to Peoples Trust IT manager Brian Alldread to figure out how to upgrade. After weighing all the options, Alldread chose an Internet-based service that employees could use to send a fax to an e-mail address or vice versa. The service cost less than buying multiple fax machines or installing a fax server on the company’s intranet, and the vendor Alldread chose had the service up and running in a few hours. Since making the switch in May 2008, Peoples Trust’s call center has jumped from 10 employees to 80. Although he’s dealt with a lot of technological challenges as a result, faxing hasn’t been one of them, Alldread says. One of the toughest jobs for an Internet fax vendor is adding and deleting users as employees come and go, but the vendor Peoples Trust uses, Seattle-based Concord Technologies, processes requests in minutes. “It’s been one of the easiest parts of running IT,” Alldread says. “Especially in a growing company, it takes the burden off of you.” Like Peoples Trust, more small businesses are switching to Internet fax services that give them the convenience of sending and receiving fax transmissions without the hassle of maintaining the equipment. Since it first appeared more than a decade ago, approximately 30 percent to 40 percent of small businesses have adopted some form of Internet-based faxing, according to Peter Davidson, a long-time fax industry watcher and head of Davidson Consulting in Sturgis, Mich. Many businesses still use fax machines Despite that progress, approximately 25 million U.S. businesses — large and small — still use traditional fax machines, according to Davidson. Insurance, real estate, and manufacturing industries are big fax users as are other businesses that deal with contracts and paper forms, he says. But even companies in fax-heavy industries are starting to look for alternatives, especially those adopting sustainable business practices such as reducing the office paper they use, Davidson says. Prices for Internet fax services range from $10 to $15 per month per fax line and 6 to 12 cents per transmission for a home-based or small business to $6 to $9 a month and 4 to 8 cents per transmission for larger companies with dozens or hundreds of fax users, according to Davidson. By contrast, a company could spend $600 to $800 per port setting up a phone-based fax server, not including charges for software or phone lines, or close to $1,000 for an Internet-based fax server on a company intranet, Davidson say. To determine if Internet faxing makes sense for your business, figure out how the cost compares to what you’re using now as well as to the capital expense of buying and maintaining a fax server, he says. If you’re a medical practice or other business that faxes a lot, an Internet fax vendor’s reliability could be just as important as cost. Concord Technologies, for example, has two data centers “so if one blew up our customers’ fax numbers would keep working,” says Ralph Musgrove, the company’s executive vice president. As with other online applications, Web-based fax gives people the flexibility to use the service from anywhere, says Mike Pugh, senior vice president of marketing at a href=”http://www.j2global.com”>j2 Global Communications, which runs eFax, eFax Corporate and a handful of other Internet-based fax brands. “They can get a fax wherever they can open a notebook,” Pugh says. Many Internet fax services also have built-in administrative tools that allow a fax system manager to create policies, generate reports and manage individual users. Companies looking to make the switch will find many vendors now offer package deals of Internet fax and voice over IP services. If you’re in the market for fax, “It does make sense to ask them about voice as well right now,” says Davidson, the fax industry analyst. SIDEBAR: Internet Fax Resources and Providers Here’s a list of Internet fax resources and providers: FaxCompare.com — Comparison chart of seven vendors of Internet fax services for small businesses. BisCom — Offers range of fax services, from Internet-only to enterprise-level fax servers. Concord Technologies — Started in 1996 to run part of what used to be Delrina WinFax, the pioneering fax-modem software company. EasyLink — Offers Web-based fax, fax hosting, e-mail messaging, and other services to small business and enterprise customers. eFax Corporate — Business version of popular eFax consumer Internet fax. Protus IP Solutions — Offers fax, phone, and e-mail marketing products.

About 1725 days ago Tools on Managing Technology

Use IT Asset Management for Software Compliance

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Less is not more when it comes to software compliance. Most companies want to do right, but many are not in compliance and admit they don’t have the time or budget to get there. But if they realized that an initial investment in an automated IT asset management system could save them time and money down the line, more would probably sign up today. A recent survey by King Research revealed that 60 percent of IT executives and managers believe they have unlicensed software deployed and 73 percent of that same group responded that they are not prepared for a software audit. Diane Hagglund, senior analyst at King Research, who authored the survey, says that a lot of IT professionals are doing piecemeal work that’s not end-to-end. These piecemeal tools don’t roll up into a report which could show which computers and software are not in compliance. “This survey paints a picture that screams for automated solutions.” The survey was sponsored by KACE, a Mountain View, Calif. company that specializes in IT asset management software solutions through their flagship product, KBOX. Rob Meinhardt, KACE co-founder and CEO says a lot of companies think they’re compliant, but they still feel there’s software out in their system that they don’t know about. He adds that many of them have antiquated inventory protocols that track inventory on the way in, but few companies feel confident that their technology can identify everything. “We find what’s on those machines and give the ability to meter and monitor, so customers are more certain of what they don’t know,” Meinhardt says. Aids negotiating with software vendors With KBOX, IT managers at a press of a button can slice and dice reports to see which computers have what software program on them and which staff members have been running what specific software program. For example, you may have 75 licenses for Adobe, but a KBOX report shows only 20 people using Adobe at any given time. With this data, you can renegotiate with software vendors. Michael Heuer, technology solution services customer support manager of Portland Community College and longtime KACE user, knows his records are better than those of his software vendors. “They change hands through acquisitions, which changes the starting point, but we know what our licensing arrangements are,” he says. “We can be very candid when negotiating for software and we ask what extra services we can get without spending a lot of money. Also, we proactively do compliance with our software vendors and have a strong partnership with them.” IT asset management helps save time and money Of those companies that are in compliance, some may not know that they can even save more money through purchasing an automated IT asset management system. These systems can figure out usage, which do not appear in vendor audits, and can show the IT manager which software programs are not being used on a daily basis. With this information, the IT department can better negotiate with software vendors and prevent the overbuying of seat licenses. “Vendors don’t care if software is being used,” says Kris Barker, CEO of Express Metrix, a Seattle-based software vendor specializing in asset management solutions. “They just care that it’s installed. Usage doesn’t matter to the vendor, but usage to the company does matter since it affects costs.” Express Metrix’s Express Software Manager Professional program has a control application function that enables companies to follow the concurrent licensing model so they can save money on software licenses. For instance, they may have 150 concurrent licenses, but their vendor requirement states they must only have 50 users running it at same time to meet compliance. The program lets companies save money, says Bob Ritger, IT Director of Payette Associates, Inc. a Boston-based architectural firm that uses Express Metrix. The company can make sure all employees are using the same version of software, such as Internet Explorer version 7.0 versus 6.0, he says. “The savings are significant since we’ve cut back on licenses we don’t need,” Ritger says. Avoid software noncompliance audits Peter Beruk, a consultant in compliance marketing with the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a Washington, D.C.-based industry group, notes that IT asset management plans can help stave off an outside audit by software companies or watchdog groups, such as BSA. The easy part is taking the inventory and the hard part is figuring out what the company has done historically when purchasing software licenses, Beruk says. For instance, if the company tracks its assets through expense reports, it will have a harder time finding its software license records, than if it uses an asset management tool. The BSA offers a large number of free tools available from its website, and it has contracted with several vendors including Express Metrix that will scan new software installations at no charge to track unlicensed software. “Any business is one phone call away from being reported or having unauthorized software, so it’s really incumbent on the business to know its own compliance with the software it’s using,” Beruk says.” Barker agrees that successful IT asset management comes from using a tool along with their planning and processes. “Successful companies understand IT asset management in that it affects everyone across the company and they buy in that it will make a huge difference in a company’s bottom line,” Barker says.

About 1756 days ago Business Software

Tech Talk: Warehouse Management System Aids Hardware Firm

McLendon Hardware, based in Renton, Wash., started in 1926 and has now grown to six stores throughout the Seattle-Tacoma region and a 90,000 square foot warehouse. When the warehouse became overcrowded and inefficient, Vice President Mike McLendon tells IncTechnology.com that tracking goods in a warehouse management system (WMS) with radio frequency (RF) barcode reading equipment produced dramatic results. Elizabeth Wasserman: Why did you decide to deploy a warehouse management system? Mike McLendon: We were using a general enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for all other functions in our stores — point of sale, accounting, accounts payable, etc. But we only had limited computer functionality in our warehouse. It was very manual driven. We worked from a big list. We would go pick the items we needed to send to our different stores and manually check them off the list. We couldn’t track inventory accurately using this system. It really drove us to look for something different. Wasserman: What type of business benefits were you looking for? McLendon: We’ve been in business 82 years and had a warehouse for a long time. In the past, we didn’t care about having an accurate inventory of our stock on hand. We ordered a lot of stuff and made sure we had enough when customers asked for it. These days, however, we compete against Home Depot and Lowe’s. The reason customers come to us is because we have larger quantities on hand and more types of different products than Home Depot. We’ve always strived to provide the best service and broadest selection of products available. But as we’ve grown, so has the number of products we sell. To manage that number of products it became so difficult that we realized we had to manage our inventory better. Near the end of 2005, we decided we had to do something, so we started not stocking as many things in the warehouse. Some goods we would have shipped directly to the store, so we wouldn’t have to manage so much stock. By 2006, however, we realized that we still didn’t have as much information as we could get from using computers. That’s when we decided to look for a warehouse management piece of software. We decided on PathGuide Technologies’ Latitude WMS, which we integrated with our ERP system. It went live in January 2008. Wasserman: There’s been a move among businesses recently to move toward lean inventory. Were you impacted by that at all? McLendon: That was one of our earliest phases. We decided to see if we could manage better by being leaner in terms of the amount of inventory we had on hand at one time. Do we really need to stock all this stuff in the warehouse? Or should we ship it to the store and let them stock it? We did that with some of our products. That relieved some of the pressures on the warehouse as far as being overcrowded. But it was not the only thing we needed to drive efficiencies. We didn’t have a means to automate our ordering. Every time we’d place an order, we’d have to go out and count how many we had and write that order up and fax it to the factory. A very slow and tedious process. To increase turns and lower stocking levels we wanted to be able to place orders on a more frequent basis. We have the ability within our Eagle ERP system, by Activant, to create orders automatically. But to use the automated ordering function requires that you have precise on hand quantities. By adding a warehouse management system one of the things we have now is an accurate inventory in our stores and warehouse which provided us the ability to automate our orders. Wasserman: How does your new system work? McLendon: It’s extremely easy to use. That’s one of the reasons we chose it. The nice thing about a warehouse management system is it only does one task. The system itself has three parts. It has a database that holds all the data. It has a gateway server that handles communications between the database and the radio frequency equipment.  And the third part is radio frequency equipment. Most products come pre-labeled with barcodes. We have handheld RF guns that read the tags when we check in inventory and when we pick goods to ship to our stores. We have access points around the warehouse that allow the RF guns to talk to the database. The telling point for me after it was installed was that my Dad, who is 78 years old, could use it.  He has his own RF gun and works with the receiving crew to scan the stock in. Once you scan the goods into the system, the computer knows where the stock is. It makes it much easier to pick products to ship to our stores. When you go over and take four of these products, you scan that information in and it registers in the warehouse management system. It makes it all function paperlessly. In the old way, we would take a piece of paper and a shopping cart down the aisles of the warehouse and throw the goods in the basket. We never had to check off anything or worry that we were taking more than we should. The downside was that we never knew how much we had or where it was located. Back then we used what we called “tribal knowledge” to locate items.  Longtime specialized employees who were the only ones who knew where everything was. Wasserman: What have the results been? McLendon: We are very satisfied with results we have gotten by combining the functionalities of the warehouse management system with those of the ERP system. Our picking rates have increased by 50 percent within the warehouse. No more tribal knowledge. We can train anyone to pick in one day. And our inventory accuracy has increased from 65 percent to more than 90 percent. At the same time, we’ve reduced our inventory level by about 10 percent. In terms of what our customers see, our out-of-stock situation in our stores has been much better. We have actually decreased out of stocks by 10 percent at the store level. Our goal is to have better than 99 percent in stock. Now, we’re at around 95 or 94 percent — in some stores it’s a little better and in others it’s a little worse. We want it to creep up so that we don’t lose the sale because we don’t have an item in stock.

About 1848 days ago Blogging and Social Media

How to Banish Blog Spam

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And you thought spam was an e-mail problem. Spam, those unwanted messages hyping miracle drugs, cheap knockoffs and cut-rate loans, has become the bane of blogs. In fact, some experts believe spam is a bigger problem for blogs than it ever was for e-mail. That spells trouble for companies that have made blogs part of their customer service or marketing programs. Now, not only do small businesses have to work to keep their blogs in the public eye, they’ve also got to work to keep spam from giving them a public black eye. But by following some simple steps, companies can block spam from creeping onto their blogs in the first place. Spam in blogs is often called comment spam because that’s where it shows up, in the section of a blog set up for readers to post comments. Spammers use software programs to sniff out blogs and post advertisements or links directing traffic to the spammer’s website. Anti-spam software to the rescue Matt Mullenweg knows spam. Mullenweg co-founded Automattic, the company that makes the popular WordPress blogging software and created Akismet, an anti-spam program that’s built into WordPress.com blogs. Akismet is also available as a software add on to blogs hosted elsewhere, including other well-known free blogging sites such as Blogger and TypePad. Akismet is an adaptive filter. When comments are sent to a blog they pass through mathematical algorithms that determine if it’s a legitimate or spam. If a comment gets through that’s really spam and a blogger marks it as such, Akismet “learns” from its mistakes, Mullenweg says. According to Mullenweg, 90 percent of comments that pass through Akismet are spam. He estimates the software has blocked 5.5 billion pieces of spam since WordPress and other blogs started using it in 2005. Though software programs like Akismet block spam, they haven’t stopped it. “Spam on blogs and the Web is where spam on e-mail was 10 years ago,” Mullenweg says. Akismet isn’t the only anti-spam software out there. Companies can also use so-called CAPTCH programs, short for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. The popular programs, which can be seen on many websites and blogs, require someone to take a simple test to prove they’re not a machine before they can leave a comment. In programs such as reCAPTCHA, the test is typing in a sequence of squiggly letters or numbers. Other software that blocks spam includes Bad Behavior, which analyzes the method and software being used to deliver a comment to a site to determine whether it’s spam, and, Spam Karma 2.3, which works on WordPress blogs. Common sense solutions to block spam Anti-spam software is a blog’s first line of defense, but there are other tactics. Blog experts and IT professionals also recommend that companies: Check comments before approving them. According to Mullenweg, some off-shore spammers pay programmers to post what look like genuine comments. The solution: use a blog’s comment moderation feature to check out comments before the go live. Or authenticate people before allowing them to leave a comment by requiring them to sign up for a user name and password. Turn off comments. Not all blogs need two-way communication. Digital Forest, a 14-year-old Seattle, Web hosting and server co-location business, uses a blog to keep customers apprised of the status of the company’s servers. When customers e-mail or call the tech support line they’re directed to check the blog for information on maintenance and system updates, says Chuck Goolsbee, a Digital Forest vice president. “We train our customers to look there, so if there’s a problem, people go there first,” Goolsbee says. Disable pings and trackbacks. Pings and trackbacks were originally intended to notify Blogger A that Blogger B had written something about them. But spammers use them to plant links to their own Websites in order to up their click-through rates. If trackbacks are a problem, don’t use them, Goolsbee says. “When you design a system you have to take into account how it can be abused,” and the creators of blog software didn’t, he says.