On Internet Business

Which is the best online project management software?

Posted by Michael under Business Growth, Social Media

There are dozens of project management offerings, some of which are not actually project management at all. Basecamp which is probably the most widely known solution should not strictly be regarded as a project management too – rather it is a communication tool and a definite upgrade to using emails. However, it has its limitations: it cannot measure the work load for the whole team nor for each member individually, or can it evaluate the realism of set deadlines. Instead it simply helps exchange information inside a team and/or with clients.

So what are the strengths and weaknesses of the major alternatives:

Huddle

Pros:
RSS Feeds
File upload/management/inline editing (with lock feature)
Writeboards
Task deadline dates
Telephone conferencing

Cons:
No milestone tasks
No reports
No time-tracking
No task reordering
Doesn’t look great if printed

Teamwork Project Manager

Pros:
Relatively inexpensive
Task due dates pinned to calendar
Data is backed up by Teamwork but also customer-driven backups (at cost)
At risk issue tracker

Cons:
Still seems to have a few bugs such as saved items not showing up on refresh
May be better for larger projects, as the price for small teams is a little expensive

Smartsheet

Pros:
Gives a change history for all changes
Supports drag and drop for custom ordering
Supports hierarchical grouping

Cons:
Slow in comparison to other systems
No filtering so you can’t ‘show’ completed tasks or over-budget tasks in list format

Easy Projects

Pros:
Great interface and good ‘getting started’ popup
Excellent range of reporting tools

Cons:
The registration required to get started takes forever and all fields must be filled in before registration can be processed
No risk tracker

Central Desktop

Pros:
Makes collaboration very easy even for new users
Extremely easy to set up and operate

Cons:
Little value in depth management such as Gantt charts and resource management options
Skimpy budgeting elements

Wrike

Pros:
Email integration into projects
Excellent collaboration tools
Hierarchy functionality
Excellent automatic task management reminders

Cons:
No risk management system
Finance functionality is very low

Clarizen

Pros:
Easy to use
Good hierarchical task structure.
Good progress tracking
Risk manager

Cons:
A web based system can be difficult for new users to learn
No ‘one click’ report button
May be more suitable for larger companies than small

So, after assessing all these project management software systems, my favourite is Teamwork Project Manager due to its balance between functionality and a clear and easy-to use-interface.

Is reforestation the solution to global warming?

Posted by Michael under Leadership

At the EO24 London event on 19th November, held at the Adam Street Club, Bill Liao spoke as part of the series of Entrepreneurs’ Organisation events taking place around the world in recognition of Global Entrepreneurship Week. And according to Liao, noted entrepreneur and philanthropist, reforestation is not only the solution to global warming, but also the answer to poverty and water shortages.

His presentation was striking and revealed that:

• 50% of the world’s rainforests have been lost in the last 60 years
• Tropical deforestation causes 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions – and is often the result of removing trees to grow soy and corn to make biofuel to meet our oil addiction
• Forests regulate the water cycle by storing and redistributing water throughout their eco-system. Deforested lands often become deserts
• Forests absorb excess carbon dioxide, limiting the effects of global warming
• Reforestation can reduce temperatures by 5 degrees Celsius, and when combined with suitable agriculture, provides food and jobs as well as reducing reliance on chemicals used as fertilisers
• A forest can increase cloud cover and rainfall by as much as a quarter
• Properly designed permaculture ‘food forests’ can feed ten people, per acre, indefinitely. An acre of wheat feeds less than five, and requires water, pesticides and fertilisers
• Perhaps most importantly: reforesting just half of the world’s barren croplands and wastelands could lead to an extra 2% of cloud cover, and Liao says this would halt global warming, giving the world time to develop technology to resolve the problem altogether.

In addition to Liao’s fascinating presentation, those attending were treated to the simple and vital message of the Global Mind Shift Wombat.

Online Customer Service

Posted by Michael under Online Retail, Social Media

It seems that online buyers have even worse experiences than face-to-face consumers, as a Harris Interactive survey, reported by Zen International, discovered that 75% of those who buy online had problems using websites to make purchases in the past year.

It’s astonishing that this is the case because businesses are likely to lose immediate sales but also the domino effect of bad experiences being reported on social media for future potential customers to discover. And that’s a likely scenario as 13% of people said the had reported on bad experiences in 2009, against 8% in 2008. And 74% of people who responded to the survey said that negative information about a company that they found online would affect the likelihood of their doing business with that company in future.

So what practical steps can be taken to ensure your business offers not just great products but also great customer service?

• Encourage customer feedback – make it easy for customers to tell you what they think about you. The customer is always right, but even if they aren’t they will still be telling people about the poor product or service they encountered. So you need to engage with your customers and understand them, so you’re ready to respond effectively.
• Empower customer service representatives – the front end of your business is the people who deal face-to-face, by email, or by phone, with your clients. Is it worth arguing over small amounts of money? Is it worth losing a customer? Allow customer service people to fix problems swiftly and to ensure happy customers – don’t be a company that palms off problems, never responds to queries or creates a labyrinth of obstacles for people to get through before they can let you know they are not happy, because if they don’t tell you, they will tell the world.
• Monitor customer satisfaction – set up a questionnaire so that you can monitor and track customer satisfaction.  Make it easy and quick so your customer doesn’t mind completing it and offer an incentive, perhaps one respondee a month gets a freebie, so that they know you are giving something back in return for the information they supply.
• Monitor social media – a great tool for monitoring customer comments is tweetdeck which allows you to quick and easily see what is being said about you and reply to customers using this form of social media. It is the customer that now decides the method of communication and businesses need to join the conversation. Such systems of monitoring also allow you to head off problems before they develop, for example by telling clients how you’re going to deal with deliveries over a postal strike, which allows them to know that their business is important to your business.

Emarket.com – the future of FMCG trading

Posted by Michael under Online Retail

Hailed by The Grocer magazine as “the eBay for grocery” Emarket.com has launched this week. It’s a fascinating development in online trade because it provides a total solution to trading across boundaries and barriers for the FMCG industry.

It means that real time trading is possible between manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers worldwide and it ensures that the standard problems experienced in this form of trading, such as delivery, adequate inspection of goods, pricing and payment and the provision of credit facilities are all met through the emarket.com platform.

Already more than 600 businesses have signed up, including market leaders like Kraft and Kimberley Clarks, suggesting that both the need for such a platform, and confidence in Emarket.com, are high.

Emarket also services areas where traditional trading systems struggle to adequately meet market needs, for example it product and price comparison on a like for like basis within seconds and means that buyers don’t have to open multiple accounts with multiple suppliers and struggle with the administrative load of maintaining many personal accounts.

It’s not an auction site, like eBay, although key customers can use a special offline bidding system through Emarket’s own staff. Rather, it operates like a bespoke comparison and ordering system, allowing each buy to see FMCG items that are listed on Emarket at a price delivered to their depot.

For sellers, it’s a single click system that means marketing, selling, and distribution are all site based, so purchasers, whether from chain stores, buying groups, independents or through alternative distribution channels Europe-wide, can see your product, priced for them, at a single click. Because all members are verified and credit checked by Emarket, there’s certainty about who you’re doing business with and because Emarket.com manages door-to-door logistics and payment, you don’t get tied up in arranging deliveries, or account administration.

The Grocer sees Emarket.com as the future of FMCG and it could revolutionise the way that European buyers and sellers come together.

Global Student Entrepreneur Awards: UK Finalists

Posted by Michael under Business Growth, Leadership

The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards programme is the foremost award granted to undergraduate students who own and run businesses while still attending a college or university.

Selected applicants compete against their peers by presenting their businesses to a judging panel that evaluates the student entrepreneurs, giving them invaluable feedback and determining the regional winners who go on to the global level where student entrepreneurs from around the world compete for the 2009 Global Student Entrepreneur Awards Title.

I was honoured to be one of the judges for the 2009 UK final of the Global  Student Entrepreneur Awards and it was humbling to see what these students achieve in their spare time. These were the finalists:
 
Jack Smith – Mediaroots Ltd

Created competitive advantage by localising an overseas business idea and got amazon to stock his products – Mediaroots Ltd was established by two students from either ends of the UK, but despite logistical and time constraints the company is set to become the first major British video training publisher and aims to teach people how to use different pieces of software such as Adobe Photoshop.

Andy Young  – Groupspaces.com

Groupspaces.com acquired a huge user base in a very short period of time with a very innovative and useful product. The company assists leaders of groups such as sports clubs, student societies, local groups and charities by taking away the ‘pain’ of group administration so they can spend more time doing what they enjoy.

Simeon Williams  – Cradles Carbon Ltd

Giving advice to very high profile companies is Cradles Carbon Ltd’s bag. They have swiftly become a leading provider of industry information and analysis to investors, corporations and governments in clean renewable energy and the carbon markets. As part of Cradles and Co they have impressive access to new markets.

Daniel Taylor – Yoonee.com

On a shoestring budget Yoonee.com has developed a strong regional brand that works for a growing niche market. Daniel’s ambition is to ensure every student in his area has access to the exclusive discounts and offers yoonee.com delivers.

David Wick – Biotech  Motorsport

David has been running two business at the same time as obtaining a first class degree. Biotech Motorsport races, develops and tests alternative fueled vehicles in UK motorsports. It has overcome fellow competitor’s negative perception of these fuels to be the first team at club level of motorsport to win on bio-ethanol.

Tom Cohen – Yuza Mobile

Yuza Mobile designs and creates mobile applications, mobile web sites, and mobile marketing strategies, working with high-value intellectual property and brands to extend into mobile space. Yuza has achieved major success in a competitive high growth market with customers such as Virgin. 

James Brown – Red Button Design Ltd

This is an excellent ethical product that has the potential to translate into a financial success that will help millions of people in deprived areas. Red Button Design has already won international awards. Red Button’s first product is a 3-in-1 water transport, purification and storage device, designed to provide safe drinking water for users in the developing world.

Top private members clubs in London for entrepreneurs

Posted by Michael under Entrepreneur Resources

If you want to work, meet friends or business contacts and network in London there are more than a few private members clubs dedicated to creating a great working, meeting and networking environment. But how do you decide which is the right one for you?

One Alfred Place describes itself as the place for those who are based outside London to do business. There’s a member’s noticeboard that gives information about events and some opportunity for networking, but this is definitely a business environment, a kind of top-notch, turbo-charged temporary office, not a social club per se. It’s assumed that members will be visiting One Alfred Place around 100 times a year, so if you’re in town a couple of times a week and would value high quality meeting and working space, this could be the club for you.

1-2 Alfred Place
London
WC1E 7EB

Benefits

• There’s a full business support service from PA support to meeting rooms and dedicated work stations. Those PAs do everything that your own PA would do, right the way through to providing spare reading glasses if you’ve forgotten your own.
• Free lockers for members to store their kit so they can travel freely around London.
• Free laptops on loan so you don’t have to bring yours to town.
• A range of meeting rooms from the cosy to the formal, plus a bar and restaurant.

Membership costs

• Full membership option – within 100 miles of One Alfred Place – £1275 a year with a £150 one-off joining fee.
• Full membership option for those living over 100 miles from the club – £850 per year with a £150 joining fee.

 Adam Street is an organisational centre – it boasts club and offices combined to support  freelancers and entrepreneurs. It’s both valued as office support to the small business person and as a comfortable venue in which to spend time between meetings. It’s very focused and comfortable and the times I’ve visited it’s had a lot of European business folk hot-desking – if that’s a key market for you, then this club could be a real investment.

9 Adam Street
The Strand
London
WC2N 6AA

Benefits

• Offices – ranging from 1 to 22 desks on good monthly terms with full business support services and you can opt to have a virtual office service – with your own telephone number, fax line and the use of Adam Street postal address
• Access to professional concierge service that provides anything a busy entrepreneur could desire – from chimney sweeps to flowers for a forgotten anniversary to fresh shirts for a unplanned week in town.
• Bar and restaurant, meeting rooms and evening talks as well as regular speed-networking and speed-funding events.

Membership costs
 
Adam Street charges a one-off joining fee of £195 for all members and does not provide any form of corporate membership – it’s focused on the individual

• Annual membership £495 for town members
• £395 if you live outside the M25
• £295 if you live overseas or under 26.

 
Perhaps one of the most interesting new developments in the past few months is Hub Kings Cross. With a focus on supporting ethical entrepreneurs and a strong list of backers and supporters from John Bird (Founder, Big Issue) to Tim Smit (Eden Project) to Alain de Botton (philosopher and author) this new networking/thinking/business generating club is likely to become the perfect haunt for those who are focused on ethics, environment and corporate responsibility.

• Annual Membership £400 / £300 * or Monthly Membership £40 / £30 * 20 hours per month
• Worklite Monthly £120 / £100 * 45 hours per month, Virtual Hub (registered post-box)
• Work+Monthly £170 / £150 * 60 hours per month, Virtual Hub (registered post-box), complimentary tea and coffee
• Unlimited Monthly £480 / £400 * Unlimited hours, Virtual Hub, personal storage, phone-line, complimentary tea and coffee

Starred prices are available for those working in start-up (non VAT registered) companies.

Benefits

One key benefit of this club is the Hub Passport – it gives members access to other Hubs in major world cities which means that you can do business across national boundaries. Hub Kings Cross also offers a range of socially and environmentally friendly benefits such as complimentary membership of Street Car, which usually costs £59 and a free three month subscription to Social Enterprise Magazine. 

Also on offer

• Reduced price services, including insurance
• Discounts on room hire and event organisation at the Hub
• Complimentary tickets to events in the global Hub network

The Institute of Directors is the club that most often features on news programmes – and it’s a high value club for those to whom formal business relationships really matter. The elegant club building on Pall Mall gives you some idea what to expect inside – many silver-haired business leaders conducting negotiations in the bars or the restaurant. It’s not a place for kicking back and enjoying yourself and it can be quite daunting to find your way around – it’s not unknown for people who’ve been members for several years to still feel isolated and unknown in this very exclusive environment, so it’s probably not the best venue for entrepreneurs unless you already know a member who can mentor you and introduce you around, as those little circles doing business can be difficult to break into.

Benefits

• Free business tax and legal advice and company credit reports – to help you protect your company credit rating and improve your credit score.
• The IoD Business Centre provides 32 meeting rooms.
• eNews monthly – newly published IoD research and commentary and factsheets.
• Regional and national events – over fifty a month.
• Professional training and director development.
• Lobbying for your business – the IoD represents its members in a range of governmental and non-governmental forums.
      
There’s also a complicated system of fees – on top of the annual membership fee, members pay an election fee which drops according to the number of years that you’re a member. So in your first year, you’ll pay £205 election fee and £307 membership fee. In your second year, £205 election fee and the same membership fee, and in your third year £100 election fee and £307 membership fee. By your fifth year you pay no election fee at all.

 

 
 The Hospital Club describes itself as the only club designed specifically for the creative industries. Offering facilities such as an online network, an art gallery and both recording and HD TV studio, this is definitely the place for creative types. From international DJs offering mash-ups through to creative residencies for ‘pure’ artists, it’s a venue that challenges and pushes the boundaries of what a business club can be.

24 Endell Steet
London
WC2H 9HQ
 
Benefits

As well as the studios, the flower cellars (which are a hireable venue for parties), the gallery and bar, there’s a members’ restaurant and a cinema.
On a monthly basis there are book clubs, writer’s salons, comedy events, music sessions and Creative Capital – a series of talks and provocative Q&A sessions with leading thinkers and creators. It can be a bit ‘lovie’ but try out all the facilities before deciding – if some areas seem chummy and not for you, others are often more welcoming and comfortable.

• Joining fee £150 followed by an annual fee of £550 per annum
• Out-of-town membership (outside M25) of £450 with the same joining fee
• Reduced rate of £300 plus joining fee for under thirties
 
Century Club

61 Shaftesbury Avenue
Soho
W1D 6LG

Based in Soho the Century Club is another club for ‘creatives’ with a membership largely comprised film, theatre, media and music types.  With bars, restaurant, games room, a multimedia events room available for private hire and the fourth floor ‘secret’ (which is actually a very nice roof terrace) you might bump into Madonna here and Jennifer Aniston has been know to frequent the place. It’s not a venue for those with limited mobility – it’s called the ‘century’ because there are a hundred steps in the four-story staircase! Not a business venue, but if you’re in the entertainment industry, this is a shaker and mover club that could benefit you. And this is a love or hate club that generates intense hatred or loyalty in those who visit it, so definitely book a tour before parting with your membership fee!

There is a one off registration fee of £100

Out of Town Membership: £400 per year.
Overseas Membership: £360 per year.
Under 30s Membership: £500.
Under 25s Membership: £225 per year.

The Ivy Club
1-5 West Street
London
WC2H 9NQ

This one’s by invitation only – so you need to find a member to get in. There’s a good piano bar, a restaurant (which doesn’t compete with the genuine ‘Ivy’ below it, but is still pretty good) and perhaps the best ‘smoker’s corner’ in London – it’s outdoors but golly, it’s gorgeous. I have heard that there have been musical serenades for the smokers during the summer, with violinists from the Royal Academy of Music. Those seen leaving The Ivy Club include Kate Moss and Kevin Spacey, so that gives you some idea who’s inside – but they aren’t working because (a) they don’t need to and (b) mobile phones and laptops are banned.

Benefits:

The cream of the social crop are to be found here.

Costs of membership:

Who knows? If you need to ask you probably can’t afford and as it’s by invitation only you dont need to ask.

What are the best Online Business Tools ?

Posted by Michael under Business Growth

Having been recently being doing some research on online business tools it is reassuring to see the quality and quantity of  the tools available. Key areas where businesses or freelancers can find low or no cost support are :  

Accounting,  Invoicing, Estimating & Contracts

Calendars & Scheduling

Charts, Diagrams, and Whiteboards

Collaboration & Workgroups

Conferences, Presentations and Meetings

Crowdsourcing, Networking & Community

Customer Relationship Management, Customer Service & Contact Management

Database, File Storage & Information Management

Email

Employee Management, Payroll & Human Resources

Feedback

Marketing & Publicity

Office Applications

Organisation & Management

Phone & Voicemail

Task Lists, Planning & Project Management

Time Management & Tracking

Website Tools

For detailed lists of useful business tools visit:

FreelanceFolder.com  15 Applications No Online Business Can Live Without

Mashable 270+ Tools for Running a Business Online