Will the Cloud become a Dominant Enterprise Tool?

As businesses become more familiar with cloud technology, many companies are moving towards enterprise cloud solutions. Enterprise cloud solutions offer a comprehensive set of benefits for a company, and it seems as though many companies are finding these benefits very compelling. The great majority of companies that are using cloud technology expect to increase their cloud technology budgets and the cloud computing market overall is growing at a staggering rate.

What are the benefits of the cloud for enterprises?

The enterprise cloud offers scalable resources such as storage and processing speed. Enterprises can grow their cloud platform to suit them, making the enterprise cloud an extremely cost-effective solution overall. The enterprise cloud also offers elastic resources, which can be very beneficial to a company that needs a reliable enterprise system and experiences strong fluctuations in activity. Finally, storage is one of the most compelling reasons many companies move to an enterprise cloud solution. Companies today collect more structured and unstructured data than ever before, and all of this data can be safely stored in the cloud.

How will the cloud evolve in the future?

Many believe that the hybrid solution involving both public and private clouds will become the dominant form of cloud platform. Companies will need to plan ahead for this development. Already, most companies that are taking advantage of the cloud are using this type of hybrid enterprise cloud. The cloud is expected to gradually take on more computing and more storage, and projections indicate that the cloud will continue to grow as an overall enterprise solution.

Presently, the hybrid enterprise cloud allows a private and public cloud system to work in tandem and fully replicate a traditional enterprise network. In the future, this bridge between private and public cloud will likely become more streamlined and may even enter the consumer market.

Will the cloud become more popular?

All forms of cloud computing are expected to continue growing in popularity. While similar, the enterprise cloud simply offers many benefits that a traditional company network cannot compete with. The enterprise cloud even provides solutions for some traditional IT problems, such as mobile device management.

Twenty percent of all enterprise companies are already intending to use the cloud. The only area in which a traditional network has been seen to exceed an enterprise cloud solution is in the area of security, and security on the cloud can be managed in a variety of ways. With the incredible benefits that the cloud platform offers, it’s very likely that it will continue to grow and that it will eventually become the dominant tool of enterprise companies.

Will the Cloud become a Dominant Enterprise Tool?

The Top Five Web Applications of 2013

If you want to keep up on the latest cutting-edge online innovations taking place online, one good resource is the annual Webby award, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. The 2013 Webby Award for best web application resulted in one clear winner out of the five nominees, yet each one has a significant following and each offers completely different services.

5. Visual.ly

Sites such as 99Designs and Fiverr help creative people find a market for their work. These sites also help those of us who are less creative find someone who can make our projects look good. Now Visual.ly does the same thing for infographics, videos, presentations, and other interactive creations. With more than 145,000 users, Visually is the marketplace for anyone looking to buy or sell these creative services. Visual.ly is working to help the world bring its stories to life, and they’re off to a great start.

4. SeatGeek

When you’re looking for tickets to the next sporting event, concert or other big happening, you should check out SeatGeek. True to their name, this site geeks out on finding the right seat at the right price. You can search for any team, artist, event or venue to see which tickets are available and exactly where the seats are located on a venue map. The site collects information from multiple ticket outlets and even has an option to track the price of tickets for your favorite events. More than 1.8 million users already use SeatGeek to secure the best deal on tickets.

3. Squarespace

Squarespace was started in a dorm room in 2004 and they’ve grown into a team of 190 people with the goal of helping people give voice to their ideas. The site helps people to create their own website with little to no knowledge of web design. Basically, anyone that can use a word processor can create a good looking website they can be proud of using Squarespace. This has helped the company to launch more than 1.8 million websites already, and they’re poised for continued growth into 2014.

2. Grammarly

English grammar is so complicated that even the word processor on your computer is prone to making mistakes. According to Grammarly, their web application will catch “up to ten times more mistakes than popular word processors.” This has helped the site build a following of more than 3 million registered users. This application makes it easy to correct grammar mistakes, improve your writing, identify contextual misspellings (such as too versus two) and detect plagiarism. It’s like a proofreading buddy on the Web.

1. Dropbox

For many people, Dropbox winning the Web Services & Applications award is no surprise because this free service already has over 200 million users. Certain Windows cloud providers offer similar services, but with a larger amount of free storage than the 2 GB offered by Dropbox. However, Dropbox is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux computers in addition to all the devices running Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Blackberry. Furthermore, there are ways to increase the free storage available on Dropbox.

 

The Top Five Web Applications of 2013

5 Essential Tips for Online Startups

Some entrepreneurs are motivated by the desire to implement an idea. Others want more money or more time. There are business launched by people who want to quit being employed or look at it as a solution in case you get fired. There are countless of reasons why people are determined to start a business, but no matter the reasons, the most important question you need to ask yourself is how to make a new business be successful in a difficult economic environment, in a market where there are numerous offers, but not so many buyers? Here are some useful tips to get you on the right track.

Interactive and updated website

This is not even something we should be mentioning. Everyone should know that a website should be visually appealing, but unfortunately there is an increasing number of very simple websites, poorly designed without color, without spirit, without quality content. It’s like these people had a list on where it said “make a website” and they just wanted to check that box. Other websites published their last article a few years ago. Awebsite is your business card and it should be inviting: choose beautiful and elegant images, gentle colors, drawings and intensive graphics, updated information, clear and coherent. Do not provide too little information but do not overload, it will become tiresome.

SEO

Having a website is not enough. If you are selling books and I Google the word “books”, will your website appear in the first page of results? If not, I am not going to bother with the second or the third page in the search results and neither will most people. This is what SEO does: it ensures that your website appears in the top results on search engines, thus triggering more traffic, more visitors and more potential customers. In this respect, we recommend you read these SEO tools bloggers should use listed on Tenmania.

Social media

Facebook is pure madness! If you’re not on Facebook, you don’t exist. We must admit that it is a good way of promoting a new company. The more likes you have, the more comments you get, the more notoriety you achieve. But don’t just imagine that you create a page and let Facebook do the rest. We are talking about interactive and useful content, special offers for fans, fun content, Facebook ads. To sum up: you need a social media strategy. Fortunately, there are a lot of online resources from where you can get useful information in order to create a social media strategy. Remember that Facebook is not the only network out there. According to your business profile, you should also consider Twitter, Pinterest or YouTube.

E-mail campaigns

Do you find it annoying when you receive messages different companies that have some huge, important offer? Not always, right? Exactly! You like to know more about the products/services you are interested in. For example, I like to receive newsletter from my favorite online shops where I can see the latest arrivals and special discounts. So, if you know very your niche, you don’t have any reason not to send e-mail messages. Just be careful how often you send them and make sure they have an attractive content.

So, when are you launching your new business?

5 Essential Tips for Online Startups

Will Server Hosting Survive Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is increasing in popularity at such a rapid pace that many are wondering if cloud computing may replace dedicated server hosting entirely. Scalability is often cited as the chief reason, since cloud subscriptions allow businesses to obtain the services they need whenever they’re needed.

Most agree that dedicated server hosting isn’t going anywhere, but many feel the need for dedicated servers and appreciate the opportunity to manage and configure them as they see fit. Some of the prominent fans in this arena are open-source users. Other fans are enterprises with the need to store and process secure information, with banks and intelligence organizations falling into this category. No one expects an end to dedicated server hosting, but it will definitely be a part of hosting for many years to come.

Cloud vs. Server Hosting: Overall Strengths

The choice between cloud and dedicated server hosting is a decision closely related to business needs. For startups, smaller companies, or enterprises that have a global distribution, a cloud-based environment is highly suitable. However, owners and managers of traditional small and medium-sized businesses with old servers aren’t going to the cloud but are deciding to acquire new servers.

Business owners are alerted to the fact that they need timely upgrades when the existing infrastructure is reaching its limit and things are noticeably too slow. Many owners have put off upgrading their servers because of issues related to the slow economy. Nevertheless, these same owners haven’t made the transition to the cloud. In many cases the gating factor was cost. According to Forbes, in 2013 the cost of moving existing applications is about $100 per user per month for cloud services.

Compare this to a scenario where 20 people require computer access. Let’s say you’re satisfied with your current applications and don’t want to incur the overhead, substantial expense and disruption associated with a migration to the cloud. When smaller businesses purchase their own servers, they can easily pay for them in a 12-month period if they choose not to migrate.

Cloud and Server Hosting Positioned to Serve a Distinct Business Type

Cloud computing supports applications that run on mobile apps. Real-time asset management, immediate order fulfillment and real-time updates are just a small selection. With software services paid for by the month, applications’ costs are lower for startups. Maintenance costs are also much lower and any reconfiguration to add memory and space can be easily done. Data is automatically backed up, so the risk of data loss is minimized, and data is also accessible from anywhere in the world. Software licensing savings is also another advantage.

Cloud computing is highly suitable for startup businesses that can reap the benefits of front-office and back-office services at minimal monthly costs. Enterprises relying on a need for mobility find cloud computing the best option in terms of functionality and accessibility. When business processes require collaboration, cloud computing can be helpful with group efforts.

Dedicated server hosting, however, is excellent for small to medium-size businesses that must have strict control over security, such as for HIPAA-protected medical records. It can be less expensive than cloud computers and allows you to have tight control of configuration. Companies and organizations that make use of open-source products are especially likely to prefer this type of platform.

Will Server Hosting Survive Cloud Computing?

Are You Hurting Your Brand Without Knowing It?

The internet has changed the way businesses run. More specifically, it has changed how marketing and promotion occur. Your online presence is a necessity for success, however it can also hurt your reputation unbeknownst to you. How can you be sure that your online presence is not damaging your business? What can you do to maximize the power of your internet profiles? Let’s look a little bit deeper.

Man covering his head with laptop – Shutterstock

Take control

The internet gets everyone talking. It seems like going viral is the biggest buzz word today. Having content go viral exposes it to millions in an incredibly short period of time. This can also hurt you if the wrong material starts spreading like wildfire. Business owners need to take charge of their online reputation. You can start by finding out what others are saying about you. Search your business name on Google and search out any negative comments. Dealing with them on a personal level can prevent them from spreading and creating a negative reputation.

Dealing with posers

If your company begins to gain momentum, you may find some posers online using things like a nickname or part of your branding to steal your thunder. Registering any domain names that could be mistaken for yours is a way to prevent this. You never want a customer to mistakenly show up on a website that looks just like yours, but actually originates from a state or country far away.

Get out there to be seen

Not having proper exposure online can also limit your business without even realizing it. Today, most forward thinking companies are utilizing every social media platform to reach their target audience and build their brand. Fill out your profiles on Twitter and Facebook entirely. Link both of them to your company’s homepage.

Keep your profiles unique, yet relevant

Try and differentiate what each profile is posting about. You can use Twitter to update followers on something happening on your Facebook page, or a new relevant blog post etc. Why should you do this? Keeping things different enough will make sure people follow you on multiple platforms, rather than just one. Imagine being a user getting the same notification on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn every day. It would get annoying. The message across your profiles should be consistent to your company’s values and ideas, just keep the content varied enough to entertain your followers.

Find more followers/subscribers

If you neglect promoting your social platforms, their entire existence is more or less futile. Leaving links to your Twitter page in your email signature, or a link to your Facebook profile on your business card is a good start. The more people that you get sharing your links and content the better chance you have of reaching higher ranks on major search engines. Social media is an essential part of every company’s online marketing strategy.

Are your webpages causing you to lose clients?

Are your social media profiles and web pages all designed to be user friendly? Is your text easy to read? Do pages load quickly? All of these play a role in negatively impacting your brand if they are not up to par. Think about user experience and test all of your webpages for functionality on multiple browsers. If part of your online representation is rubbing potential customers the wrong way, they will not spend time on your pages and are likely to make sure their friends don’t bother either.

Every action you take either helps or hurts your brand. A lot of these happens on the internet right under your nose. Your homepage and social profiles should be representations of your company. Keep everything honest, relevant and fun. If you don’t want to hurt your branding, make sure that your entire online repertoire is attractive enough to capture clients.

Are You Hurting Your Brand Without Knowing It?

Building for the Future: IT and Cloud Block Storage

Planning is essential to determine future IT requirements

Businesses with I/O intensive databases and file systems need the freedom to move and grow within their existing infrastructure. Not all businesses have the resources to do this and conclude that they will suffer financial loss because of their inability to meet customer needs. Rackspace’s cloud block storage can provide the resources they require. This type of storage allows a business to utilize standard volumes during the times when they prefer to maintain rather than expand storage capacity. Standard volumes work well for everyday file system needs, and SSD volumes help databases and other I/O-intensive applications perform better. Both standard and SSD volumes are compatible with next-generation Cloud Servers of any kind, and payment only for provisioned block storage is required.

Delivering business optimization through cloud consolidation

IT departments are delivering services in a new way. Cloud computing has contributed to this change and resulted in decreasing operational budgets for IT. Focus has changed to designing and building apps and innovations.

There are downsides to movement to the cloud. One especially blatant example is discontinuities and disparities among systems that contribute to unanticipated overhead costs. Such situations can be avoided by creating comprehensive cloud strategies. Implementation should deliver business benefits, not business headaches. A vendor neutral consolidation of disparate cloud apps can enable business to benefit by cloud while obtaining the fastest results.

A solution like this enables businesses to define their cloud computing vision. They can incorporate an architecture, application and infrastructure management focusing on usability and customer service.

Supportive and knowledgeable cloud partners can help organizations move away from cloud sprawl and into a structured life cycle approach. A collaborative and holistic approach must deliver a consistent, flexible and managed experience. At the same time, it must provide the flexibility productive teams need. The ultimate goal will achieve the insights and cost efficiencies healthy businesses require.

Cloud computing offers business executives resources that are easier to manage

Executives recognize that cloud means very efficient IT and much more. With the cloud, it’s easy to support and manage new business models. One manufacturing CFO described its positive impact on manufacturing traceability and quality with deployment of cloud based ERP. Employees also had superior access and control with mobile and electronic workflow.

A hospitality company recommends the mobility solutions their team uses when meeting clients around the world. It has enabled their sales directors to function most effectively. Creating a cloud infrastructure to support different roles helped create successful situations team wide.

Several executives appreciated how cloud enabled them to create new information-based products and services, as well as facilitating their distribution. McNee, CTO of a large media company, indicated how cloud services distribution is as an effective solution as the post office was a century ago. Our digital delivery platforms — smartphone, web and tablet — rely on services, software and infrastructure for rapid delivery.

Users can acquire new cloud technology quickly and at a monthly fee. This technology will rapidly allow them to respond to changing customer needs while enabling them to empower a mobile workforce and deploy data wherever and whenever it’s needed.

Business Insider advises switching to management that works from the bottom up, rather from than the top down. Leadership that is focused on the outcome, decision characteristics, and the culture of the organization, rather than on specific decision-making or work review, will be more successful in today’s rapid changing environment.

 

Building for the Future: IT and Cloud Block Storage

The Strengths of Local SEO

You have a great location, an awesome product or service and a friendly staff – yet customers aren’t running through your doors. You won’t be in business long if prospective customers can’t find you – espeically if, like most Americans, they are only looking online. If your business is like most others, your target customers live in the same city where your business is located . That’s what makes local search engine optimization so important – it ensures that your customers find you. If you’re not using local SEO, you can bet that one of your competitors is and they’re scooping up your potential profits.

Building a local brand

Building a local brand can be difficult. The first step is to truly understand your brand. It’s the identity of your company. Asking yourself some key questions can help you figure out exactly what your brand is or should be. What kind of customers are you trying to reach? What are your competitors doing? How do you want your customers to know and remember you?

Once you figure out your brand, the next step is to show it off. Your brand will be recognized by its logo. The logo can be words, pictures, letters, numbers or symbols. When designing a logo, be sure it differentiates your business from those of your competitors. You can register your logo with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to prevent others from using it.

Once you have those basics out of the way, building a local brand is easy … in theory. Sign up for social media accounts – including Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. Also, look into social media accounts that could be relevant to your business. For example, if you offer B2B services, develop a strong presence on LinkedIn. Make sure you regularly interact with your customers and targeted audience. If a user asks you a question about store hours on your Facebook page – answer it as soon as possible, even if that information is available elsewhere. Your current and prospective customers will appreciate the personal touch.

Since your customers may be accessing your website with their cell phones, make sure your site is mobile-friendly. According to the Pew Research Center, as of February 2012, 74% of smartphone owners use their devices to get directions and other location-related information. A professional web designer or web hosting service can help you create a website that will look stunning on any platform so your customers can find you on-the-go.

Besides having an engaging brand and an exciting website, it is important to implement local SEO strategies. Otherwise, those customers searching for restaurants close to them won’t see yours.

How do I use local SEO?

There are two simple ways to implement local SEO. The first way is to use local SEO search terms. For example, use keywords that fit both your city and services and/or products. For example, a bakery in Austin would use “Austin bakery” in its site instead of simply “bakery.” Besides allowing search engines to find you in local searches, it also will cause you to rank higher when “Austin bakery” is queried because there is less competition for that phrase than the keyword “bakery.”

You can further distinguish your site by listing the specific neighborhood in which your business is located. You can also make sure to use local landmarks and locations within your site. This will also help search engines figure out where you are within your city to enhance your local SEO efforts. If your business is located within a large city like Chicago, if someone searches for “restaurants near Willis Tower,” the search engine is more likely to find you if you mention that you’re close to Willis Tower on your site.

There are many other local SEO strategies that you may find useful. Consider hiring a professional local SEO expert to help you reach maximum optimization on your site. Investing in local SEO can help you build a popular brand name within your community, city and industry, if your business ranks well within the topic. And your business will gain the traction it needs for success with strategic local SEO tactics.

The Strengths of Local SEO

Database Efficiencies Within the Cloud

A primary motivator for a business is beating its competitors to market in every way: with innovation, products and customer service. As cloud computing has developed, it’s been a means for businesses to outsource responsibilities to a cloud vendor so that they can better focus on running their companies and making themselves more competitive. When it comes to storage, cloud databases, which involve storing data online instead of on physical servers, are simplifying database management and giving businesses that sought-after competitive edge.

Businesses are also embracing cloud database management because of its efficiencies in performance and cost. A cloud database allows businesses to take advantage of its architecture as a shared online resource, while benefitting from pay-as-you-go pricing. They can also utilize these services without having to constantly train and hire IT staff with the right skills, or invest in new on-site hardware. Cloud databases are becoming so prevalent throughout the IT field that 2013 was predicted as being the year of the cloud database.

The cloud strategy for databases

Traditionally, businesses have had to maintain multiple databases covering different aspects of their activities. For example, a business may handle a high volume of merchant accounts, a highly geographically dispersed sales force and a complex payments program. The weight of this database management could very well impede a company’s competitiveness.

A cloud database, however, can organize company data together on a single, uniform and scalable platform. It can help employees and management work cooperatively, reducing delays and miscommunications. Colleagues can better share information, with the end result being improved operational efficiencies.

Businesses can even choose between different types of storage, which offer distinct kinds of performance and price. Standard volumes of cloud storage target everyday storage needs, which are typically large volumes without speed requirements but with great performance demands. A strategy that uses solid state drives, or SSD, is better suited to applications with quick access as their top priority. Additionally, cloud database applications are scalable to accommodate new products and services.

Cloud databases gain strong backers

Although businesses may already be sold on the benefits of cloud database applications, they may be more willing to join in as industry giants affirm the technology with new commitments. Tech leaders Oracle and Microsoft recently gave cloud databases a strong vote of confidence by banding together to ensure Oracle’s software runs on Microsoft’s platform, Azure. Before that, Oracle put aside its rivalries with cloud provider Salesforce.com and they’ve fused the Oracle platform’s applications with Salesforce’s finance and human resource cloud-based applications.

Benefits outweigh risks

Despite all the advantages of shared Internet computing, enterprises place a premium on their data. The risk of having this data breached keeps some businesses from taking the cloud database plunge. However, certain methods can be used to secure this cloud database, and cloud hosting providers are implementing the best available security practices. To reduce the threat of risks, enterprises can use a combination of private and public clouds, using each for different storage needs.

As businesses discover the efficiencies of cloud databases, the technology will not only help them get to market faster, but create new business opportunities. Cloud-based databases mean more innovative applications that allow businesses to improve their competitiveness, and pay-as-you-go models allow businesses to start small and progress as their needs dictate. The point is to get started.

Database Efficiencies Within the Cloud

5 Preliminary Steps Every New Business Should Take Before Launching

Nine out of ten businesses fail within the first five years. This is partially because they don’t take the preliminary steps to set them up for success. If you’re thinking about starting a new business, take a look at these five things you should do before launching to increase your chances of growing and being successful.

Create a Business Plan

Image via Flickr by plantoo47

Having a great idea doesn’t ensure your success. You need to have a plan to get there. Create a physical plan for your business before you launch and then put it somewhere so you can refer to it often. Your business plan should include goals for your business, a timetable for when things should happen, and anything else that will put you on the path to success. There are templates available online to help you get started.

Analyze Your Competition

If you’re trying to compete against products and services that already exist, you should analyze your competition so you can make your products and services better. These days, customers are very savvy about comparing products and prices, so you have to have the best products at the best prices to come out on top. You should also make your products and services as unique as possible so that your business stands out to potential customers.

Get Your Finances in Order

Finances are the biggest reason why businesses fail. You can’t just start spending money as soon as you launch your business — you need to take things slow and carefully manage everything. Start by creating a budget that includes everything, from employee wages, rent, and utilities to advertising and emergency money. Then stick to it! Don’t hire more employees than you can afford, and don’t spend too much money on improving the appearance of your store until you build a loyal customer base. Also, you should use a tool like CreditSignal by Dun and Bradstreet to monitor your credit score.

Register your Business and Get the Proper Licenses and Permits

If you neglect to get the proper licenses and permits in your area, you could face fees later, and you could possibly even experience a lawsuit. That’s why you should be sure to get the proper business license and find out all the various permits you need. For instance, it’s illegal to be a street vendor without a permit or if you don’t have permission from the land owner where you’re stationed. At the most basic level, of course, you should register your business, but be aware that many more permits and licenses could apply to you particular type of business.

Create a Plan for Advertising and Promotions

If you want your business to be successful, you need to be able to attract new customers. So, you should have an advertising plan before you launch your business. The more detailed the better, but you should at least research how much it costs to advertise in your local newspaper and online and build money into your budget for it.

These are just a few of the preliminary steps you should take before launching a business. The more research and planning you do, the better chance your business has for success. You’re more likely to succeed if you start out on track.

5 Preliminary Steps Every New Business Should Take Before Launching

How to Increase the Sales of your Products?

Imagine a scenario. Your company has a product. The product is the best of its kind; it is environment- friendly, it gives best in class results, even the price of your product is very reasonable. Still the sale of the product is not up to the mark that was expected from it. In this case you need to figure out what is wrong! The answer to this dilemma is that even though the product has a cutting edge and reasonably priced there is not much awareness about it. This may be possible due to none or a very weak marketing strategy.

This must be corrected. There must be a strong marketing strategy and robust advertising done to boost the sale of a product. Advertisement means a small media broadcast that states facts about a product and tries to present the product in an attractive way. There is a saying which when translated to English means “If you speak about your berries then only they would be sold.” This means that if you advertise about your product it will have a higher selling rate.

Each and every type of media today is used for marketing purposes. There are A/V commercials in TV, audio commercials on the radio and graphic commercials in the newspapers. The advent of the internet and its subsequent popularity has made the internet the next big platform for advertising. Internet marketing is such a huge thing that there are companies which do just that. Advertising agencies which work only on the internet are a trend right now. These vary from companies whose websites are designed to be an online Megastore to companies which design the small ads seen on the side panels of popular social networking sites. Even the social networking sites provide direct marketing services nowadays.

There are many types of internet marketing. The most popular amongst them are:

1. Pay per Click


2. Push Mails


3. Ad displays


4. Using networking sites as a platform


5. Posting videos of the product on different sites

All these are like different marketing strategies. They should be reviewed and the best option for marketing your product must be chosen.

For example, your product is something which is software related and needs to be downloaded from the internet into any device. It is a nice idea to have payment taken from the download by clicking on the necessary link. Similarly if the product is something which needs viewing of photographs or needs to be described through text the option of sending emails to a lot of people is something worth considering. The only investment here would be buying of an extensive database. One can have advertisements designed into a graphic image and/or a simple video(s) which can be put on different websites and/or social networking sites which provide a special section for advertising.

Online advertising is a big thing right now. Most companies prefer advertising on the internet as it is easier to handle, has a wide range of reach and is not too costly. Marketing on the internet is a very real option today.

 

How to Increase the Sales of your Products?