Month: August 2011

The online review challenge

Customers’ web reviews matter for your business. How do you handle bad online comments?

Last Christmas a group of office workers gathered at a city hotel to celebrate the year’s end. The meal was a disaster as slow, surly staff made mistakes and delivered poorly cooked food.

Within an hour of the workers returning from lunch, negative reviews of the hotel started appearing on the Eatability and Urbanspoon websites. By the time Christmas Day rolled around, the reputation of the establishment was throughly trashed.

The rise of online review sites along with social media services like Facebook challenges many businesses, particularly those in the hospitality industry as café owners, restaurateurs and hotel managers struggle with unfavourable comments about their establishments.

Customers now research on the web before deciding to dine out or make a purchase, so online reviews can make or break an establishment. How does a business make sure their online reputation is safe.

Pay attention

The most important part is to pay attention to what people are saying about your business.

Big corporations will have their own social media staff and community managers to handle much of this, Telstra last week announced their online team will now be on the web 24/7.

Larger organisations will also subscribe to online monitoring services like BuzzNumbers and PeopleBrowsr to report what’s being said about them.

For smaller businesses it falls on the owner and staff to keep an eye on the popular review sites and to monitor the business’ Facebook page for negative comments.

Engage the critics

No matter how good your business is, you will get the odd unhappy customer. When that happens you need to contact them, preferably through the same public forum they have complained about you.

Once you’ve established contact, take the discussion offline onto email, phone or even face to face meetings. If the resolution is positive, try to publicise the result in the original channel the complaint was made.

Fix the problem

Despite many in the hotel industry believing that most online complaints are deliberate campaigns against them, regular complaints are usually legitimate and indicate an underlying systemic problem in the business.

If customers are complaining about service, you need to let your staff know customers are talking about them. Should there be regular criticisms of your food, then you need to talk to your kitchen staff or suppliers.

Don’t get defensive

Complaints happen. Even the best business in the world has a bad day or encounters a customer who woke up on the wrong side of bed.

If you think the criticism is unfair or even defamatory, don’t get angry and certainly do not make threats as you’ll only inflame the situation more.

Should the customer turn out to be unreasonable, at least by having publicly engaged them you’ll have shown the public you’re calm, professional and trustworthy.

Don’t Lie

The web is as great at exposing falsehoods as it is at spreading them. If you’re clearly not telling the truth, you’ll make your critics angrier and more determined to damage your reputation.

A common way many businesses cheat online is with false reviews. Despite industry claims that organised damaging comments are widespread, the reality is the opposite as many hoteliers and restaurateurs frequently post clumsy and obviously fake glowing reviews of their establishments. It’s a bad look and the establishment often ends up looking foolish.

Get your website right

Many businesses, particularly in hospitality, have lousy websites or a site that has no Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) so when someone searches for a hotel or restaurant their page comes up way below those for review sites or critical blog posts.

Regularly review how your site is doing and talk to your web designer or SEO consultant on making sure it’s coming up well when customers search for your type of business.

It’s important not to overlook local search services so ensure your business has been listed on Google Places and has a Facebook Local Business Page otherwise local searches will go to the online review sites or your competitors.

Ultimately, the best way to deal with negative online reviews is to minimise them by running a good business. The biggest effect the web is having on business is that it is making us accountable to our customers.

As big corporations are finding, the days of covering up poor goods and indifferent customer service with marketing is over – if your product doesn’t match the promise you make to your customers they will tell the world.

Is the PC dead?

Has the personal computer era come to an end?

The Personal Computer may not be dead, but Microsoft are still going to be challenged in a world where consumer and business buying behaviour has changed.

Last week Frank X. Shaw, Vice President of Corporate Communications at Microsoft, pondered the question of whether the Personal Computer era is over

Given the PCs importance to Microsoft’s business it wasn’t surprising that Frank decided it’s not, declaring the personal computer barely middle aged at 30 and ready to take up snowboarding.

Leaving the image of using a Windows Vista equipped laptop as a snowboard aside, the question for many businesses and households is should they buy a personal computer, either as a desktop or portable, in an era where smartphones and tablet computers like the iPad are becoming common? This is even more pronounced given the low cost of ownership for a smartphone or tablet.

The first thing is to consider is can the non-PC devices do what PC can?

For most people the answer is “yes”, particularly given most users are accessing cloud based and social media platforms that run on any web browser. However many prefer to have the options to connect keyboards, printers and scanners, which is expensive and clunky with tablets and smartphones.

While many users could do most of their tasks on a tablet or smart phone, many prefer the utility and expansion options of desktop and portable PCs not to mention using a keyboard and mouse, although the latter points may change as the current generations give way to workers and computer users more used to touch screens as an input device.

The cost of ownership is always a killer and the traditional rule of thumb that the purchase price of computer only represents a third of its cost over the device’s life has become skewed as PC prices have dropped along with other costs like Internet access and expensive printer consumables have increased.

For PCs, the problem is tablets and smartphones have far fewer of the ancillary costs like anti virus software and apps through iTunes, Android or Windows Marketplaces tend to be either free or substantially cheaper than their personal computer counterparts, which skews decisions towards buying a tablet.

Those apps however tend to be far more lightweight than the equivalent PC counterparts and tablets or smartphones don’t have the editing capabilities found on personal computers.

Probably the biggest win for PCs however is that smartphones and tablets are still designed to be tethered to a PC or laptop. While a user can get away with a mobile device that never connects to a computer, they’ll almost be certainly missing out on a lot of the device’s functionality.

So the PC isn’t dead yet, its role in the home and office is evolving and this is recognised by most businesses and consumers as they tend to be buying them to complement desktop and laptop computers.

For Microsoft this is not necessarily good news as the PC sales model is broken.

Until the mid-2000s, most corporate and home users replaced their PCs every five years and this was reflected in Microsoft’s product roadmaps.

The overdue arrival of Microsoft Vista in early 2007 changed this as not only was the product late, it was also bad and customers stayed away.

As a result customers have now learned that they don’t have to upgrade every few years and today nearly half of Microsoft’s customers are still using Windows XP, a ten year old operating system.

So for Microsoft, the good news is the PC is not dead in an era of cloud computing and social media, but making money out of it is becoming harder.

The corporates are getting social media and local search

Small business’ head start over corporations in using social media and local search is over, it’s time to get serious.

Shopping centre owner Westfield’s announcement this week that they’ll be offering Facebook Check-in Deals  at their local malls shows the corporate sector is beginning to rise to the challenges of the social, local and mobile driven marketplace. Smaller businesses need to be taking notice.

Consumer behaviour is changing quickly as the SoLoMo revolution, a term invented by investor John Doerr, sees customers bringing together social media and local search on their mobile phones and iPads. That presents a lot of opportunities for savvy marketers and business owners.

In the early days of mobile commerce we saw the idea of local, mobile based marketing being SMS based along the lines of nearby vending machines texting you on a hot day to say “hey, I have cold drinks” on a hot day.

Thankfully for our sanity that concept never really took off and it’s taken the arrival of social media services and smartphones for this type of marketing to become feasible.

Social media services also have the advantage that messages, particularly those appearing on a user’s Facebook wall, come from trusted sources, further increasing the credibility of a message.

How the check-in deals work is a shopper checks into their local shopping mall which triggers messages there are deals available at stores in the centre. If the customer takes an offer, a “Like” appears on their Facebook wall.

All of the customer’s friends then see the hot deal and that encourages them to visit the store and shopping centre. In this respect it’s similar to the social media aspect of group buying services, another area that Facebook have entered and which will almost certainly be integrated into this the Check-In Deals program.

There are some issues with this for both the merchant and the consumer. The most obvious are the privacy and identity issues of the customer as social media sites work harder than ever to find angles on using our private information.

For businesses, there’s the risk of being held hostage by Facebook and Westfield. Both organisations are well known for their strict terms and control of tenants and users, so having your business’ long term interests may not be served by being locked onto their platforms.

Driving traffic to your website is the key objective of a social media presence, so the website has to tie into the proprietary social media, local search, group buying and whatever channels you’re using to promote your business online.

What this emphasises is the importance of smaller businesses getting their local search listings working on services like True Local, Google and Facebook Places to compete on this platform against the big boys who are now making aggressive moves into the social and local services.

The clear message from Westfield’s partnership is that corporate Australia is now beginning to understand how social media, e-commerce and online concepts like group buying fit into their businesses.

Smaller businesses had a head start with online media as the larger corporations struggled to understand the new services. Now that advantage is gone, it’s time to make sure you’re getting local services right.

Greater fools and lesser fools

Is the Silicon Valley, venture capital funded business model right for your venture?

As Groupon struggles to get its public offering to the market and the startup mania continues in the tech sector, it’s worthwhile having a look at what underpins the modern Silicon Valley business model along with it’s limitations and risks for those who want to imitate it or invest in it.

Distilled to the basics, the aim of the venture capital funded startup is to earn a profitable exit for the founders and investors. While there’s some exceptions – Apple and Google being two of the most notable – most of these businesses are not intended to be profitable or even sustainable, they are intended to be dressed up and sold onto someone else.

This can be seen in what many of these companies spend investors’ money on; in an example where a startup receives 10 million dollars VC investment, we may see a million spent on developing the product, five million allocated customer acquisition and four million on PR. The numbers may vary, but the proportions indicate the investors’ and management priorities.

Focussing on PR and customer acquisition is essential to attract buyers, the public relations spend is to place stories in the business media and trade press about the hot new business and spending millions buying in customers backs the narrative of how great this business is. By creating enough hype about a fast growing enterprise, the plan is prospective buyers will come knocking.

But who buys many of these business? In some cases a company like Microsoft or Google may buy the startup just to get the talents of some smart developers or entrepreneurs, but in many cases it’s fools being parted from their money.

Greater Fools

The greater fool model the core tech start up model; two guys set up a business with some basic funding from their immediate circle; the friends, family and other fools. A VC gets involved, makes an investment and markets the company as described above.

With enough hype, the business comes to the attention of a big corporation whose managers are hypnotised by the growth story and possibly feel threatened by the new industry or have a Fear Of Missing Out on the new hot, sector.

Eventually the big business buys the little guys for a large sum, meeting the aim of the founders and venture capital investors. The buyer then steadily runs down the acquired business as management finds they don’t understand it and find it a small, irritating distraction from their main business activity.

While there are hundreds of examples of this in the tech sector, the funny thing is the biggest examples are in the media industry with Time Warner’s purchase of AOL and News Corporation of MySpace.

Lesser Fools

As a bubble develops we start seeing the Initial Public Offering arrive and this is where the lesser fools step in.

The mums and dad, the retiree, German dentists, the investment funds and all the other players of the stock market are offered a slice of the hot new business.

Usually the results are interesting; the IPO is often underpriced which sees a massive profit for the initial shareholders and underwriters in the first few days then a steady decline in the stock price as the pie in the sky valuations and the realities of the underlying business’ profitability become apparent.

Steve Blank, a Silicon Valley investor and entrepreneur, put the greater or lesser fool scenario well in a recent article asking Are You The Fool At The Table? Sadly too many small and big investors, along with big corporations, are the fools at the table ignoring Warren Buffet’s advice on avoiding businesses you don’t understand and finding themselves the patsies that the Silicon Valley startup model relies upon.

The fundamental misunderstanding of the venture capital driven Silicon Valley model of building businesses is dangerous as our governments and investment mangers are seduced by the glamorous, big money deals. It’s also understandable funding from banks and other traditional sources is difficult to find.

An obsession with this method of growing businesses means that long term ventures with profitable underlying products and services are overlooked as investors flock to the latest shiny startup. That’s a shame and something our economy, and investment portfolios, can’t really afford in volatile times.

For business owners, the venture capital model might be a good option if your aim is a quick, profitable sale to a fool. If your driving reasons for running a business are something different, then maybe the Silicon Valley way of doing business isn’t for you.

The Privacy Processors: How social media is re-manufacturing our identities

Are the costs of social media networks becoming too high?

Most of us accept that things we don’t pay for – such as broadcast TV and Internet sites – are supported by advertising or have some sort of catch in order to pay their bills.

Social media sites have been a great example of this, millions of users on services like Facebook and LinkedIn have accepted targeted advertising and the associated privacy trade offs as the cost of getting a free online service.

The price of “free” though is escalating, the social networks have moved on from just using our data for displaying advertisements to processing our private information and distributing it in ways we may have never expected.

Professional networking site LinkedIn caused an uproar last week when their social advertising feature started adding what appeared to be users’ personal endorsements to adverts for products, businesses and websites based on behaviour monitored by the site’s tracking software.

Facebook, the leading social networking site, also had a recent privacy scare when users discovered the services’ Phonebook feature gleefully displays all the mobile phone numbers of their online contacts and, given the right settings, merges them with those from a mobile phone.

The recently launched Google Plus takes these risks even further as the search engine giant requires a personal profile before you can use the service which can then be integrated into your search and email histories.

What we’ve ‘Liked’ or ‘Followed’ online – or even just looked at – is now being processed, regurgitated and delivered to our friends and the public as endorsements and recommendations just like a retired sportsman selling air conditioners or hair restoration products.

At least the retired cricketer flogging hair products or long past it soap opera star promoting washing powder gets a paycheck, all a social media user gets from the transaction the privilege of sharing their private information along with personal and professional relationships with a multinational advertising platform.

In some ways the social advertising functions are worse for the user than the celebrity endorsement; most people know the retired sportsman or actress is doing it for a paycheck, the social network advertising clearly implies your friends like that product or company.

We should also remember it’s not just the sites themselves, one of the reasons for Facebook’s popularity has been the games and applications people can use. Every one of these features has some access to your data and most have a business model for using it to make a buck.

It’s become common for online applications to send out messages on new users’ accounts, pretending to be a personal message from them. Just this week a new service invoked the ire of Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, for doing exactly this.

This processing of our own data and services is a logical step for social media services desperate to justify billion dollar valuations of their business but few people signed up to these sites to endorse random products or allow someone else to send advertising on their behalf.

Privacy is no longer the issue with social media services, we’ve now moved into the corporate ownership of our identities. What a corporate algorithm decides are our likes is now being processed and publicly displayed as our endorsements, our tastes and dislikes.

What interests us, what we enjoy and what we like forms the core of our identities, friendships and personalities. That social media sites seek to take this from us should be our greatest concern with these platforms.

We need to be careful with what, and whom, we share, like and connect with online.

What services does Google Plus really threaten?

Facebook is the obvious target of Google’s new social media platform, but it might not be the only one.

Google+, the search engine giant’s latest attempt at competing with services like Facebook and Twitter, has seen 25 million people joining the service in the month since its launch at the end of June.

Such a stellar growth rate – it took three years for Facebook to reach the same number of users – means it could be one of the most popular social media services ever. What does this new platform mean to business owners and start ups and how does it affect other platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Yammer and LinkedIn?

Google+ differs from most social networks – particularly Facebook – in that you can divide your online connections into different groups called circles and restrict shared information to those segments.

This addresses the biggest problem with social media; that what we share with our friends is not necessarily what we want our family or work colleagues to see, an issue identified last year by then Google designer Paul Adams, who has not co-incidentally since moved onto Facebook.

Along with Circles, Google+ has a few other unique features such as Hangouts which allow impromptu video conferences and Sparks which are random popups of things you might be interested based upon your search history and posts.

The collaboration aspect as the ability to create Circles and Hangouts for specific projects is one of Google+’s great strengths – and probably to be expected from an Engineering organisation like Google – which may make it an alternative to corporate social media services such as Yammer and possibly even LinkedIn groups.

At the core of Google+ is the Google Profile which is shared with most Google services such as Gmail and Blogger which gives rise to quite a few privacy concerns as those you share with can get access to this information, although this is the same with most other social media services.

Marketing is one area where businesses have focused on in the social media world and the lack of broader take up is one of Google+’s drawbacks as Facebook has a much bigger diverse spread of users and so marketing reach.

At present the discussion of Google+ for marketing is moot as businesses aren’t allowed to create Google profiles which is another powerful advantage for Facebook.

The question remains on how Google is going to integrate their other services, the obvious one is to incorporate Places in a similar way to Facebook so that businesses can create profiles that can then plug into local search.

Coupling social media with local search along with Google’s Android mobile phone service pretty well touches all the bases of the SoLoMo revolution which is redefining the consumer world and is almost certainly part of the bigger game plan.

Adwords will prove to be the greatest challenge, although we’re already seeing concerns being expressed about the potential for Google to misuse their databases and profiles of users and as social media tool plugged into profiles and personal search may be a bridge too far form some.

Indeed there’s a question of how Google+ will affect other social media tools like LinkedIn and Twitter. Right now it’s difficult to see either being affected by the new service however we shouldn’t underestimate the size of Google’s war chest or how compelling a service that integrates email, search, local search and applications like documents will be.

Another big advantage of Google+ is the lack of clutter as the game invites and people sending pictures of fluffy cats or their big night out aren‘t around – though this may change as the service moves from being used primarily by business geeks to the general public.

Whether Google+ supplants Facebook or any of the other social media services remains to be seen as we’re only a few years into the decade where personalised services are changing how we use the web, it would be dangerous to make any bets on who will succeed.

The stakes are quite high for Google with this product as the overwhelming amount of data at every Internet user’s fingertips is seeing people seeking out sources they trust for answers, recommendations and advice. The social aspect of the online world is going to define the web in this decade just as search did in the previous decade.

For businesses, or anybody interested in social media who wants to experiment with the new service, it’s worthwhile having a play with the program to see if it works for you but abandoning Facebook, Twitter or even your own website for Google’s service is probably making too early a call at this stage.

Anyway, the beauty of social media services are that you aren’t forced to use all or any and you may well find that other channels work better for your business regardless of Google’s success.

ABC Nightlife: The Spare Room Tycoon

How you can set up a world beating business from your home

Our retailers, the media and many other industries are struggling as a new generation of entrepreneurs are springing up from home and changing the way we shop, work and socialise.

Whether you’re looking at starting your own business or looking to grow an existing business, you need to understand how these free or cheap online social media, local search and cloud computing services can help you.

Join Paul Wallbank and Tony Delroy on ABC Nightlife to discuss how our work and business is changing and how you can use these powerful online social media, local search and cloud computing tools.

Aspects we’ll discuss include;

    • How can someone take on the big boys from their spare room?
    • What sort of costs are involved?
    • How difficult is it to setup an online business?
    • Are juggling home and business demands likely to cause problems?
    • What are the challenges of keeping the kids off your home systems?
    • How do you stop hackers and security risks?
    • How can existing businesses adapt to this new world?

If you’d like to add to the list or join the conversation with your on-air questions or comments are welcome, phone in on 1300 800 222 within Australia or +61 2 8333 1000 from outside Australia.

Tune in on your local ABC radio station or listen online at www.abc.net.au/nightlife.

You can SMS Nightlife’s talkback on 19922702, twitter @paulwallbank using the #abcnightlife hashtag or visit the Nightlife Facebook page.

Choices

In a time of change, hiding from the choices is not the best option.

“It’s too hard to keep up with all the choices. I can’t decide whether to use Facebook or Twitter, Microsoft or Google, Dell or Apple? Doing business today is just too complex…”

Maybe it’s true we have too many choices but yesterday’s business people had plenty of hard decisions to make.

Business people a hundred years ago had to choose between steam, gas or electrical power. If  they chose the latter, there was another decision between AC and DC electricity.

There was a further choice between keeping your horse drawn cart or buying one of those new fangled motor vehicles, which could either run on kerosine or steam.

So our great great grandparent’s weren’t easier and, unlike the relatively small investments we can make in technology today, their choices could easily bankrupt them if they made the wrong decision.

When we’re fretting over choices at least those on offer aren’t the simple alternative of whether we send our children down the mine or to the mill at the earliest possible age.

Instead of worrying about the choices, it’s time to get informed and understand what the alternatives mean. The time to worry is when our competitors, or the market, is leaving us behind because we didn’t care enough to find out what was happening around us.

So you want a freebie?

If you want something for free, you’ll need to ask nicely. Here’s some tips on making a polite request.

It’s human nature to want something for free and in these days where consumers and businesses don’t expect to pay for information and skills it often doesn’t seem unreasonable to think contributors to your project – be it an event, publication or a start up business – wouldn’t be prepared to do help for free.

That might be how it seems, but you’re asking someone to contribute their most valuable and scarce asset, their time. So what should you be doing to make it easier for someone to donate their time to your project?

What’s in it for the giver?

Your cause could be great or you could be offering some great exposure, either way you need to make the proposition compelling to those you want to do a freebie.

Keep in mind if you’re an employee of a industry group, university or private business and you’re expecting others to donate their time for free. If your organisation is such a noble enterprise, why aren’t you and your managers donating time?

Be prepared for rejection

People have a right to value their time and skills and may be offended at a request for doing something gratis. Unfortunately that’s something you’ll have to deal with as the cost of asking for a free service.

Just be thankful you aren’t asking author and scriptwriter Harlan Ellison for some work or permission to use some of his work.

Tell the truth

Respect those you’re asking to contribute by being up front about your event and the other speakers. It’s absolutely unforgivable to lie about your project when you expect people to donate their time and skills.

Be discrete

If someone agrees to participate for free, don’t blurt it to the entire world. That person has made a donation to your project and they deserve respect.

For a professional, particularly speakers and writers, that lack of discretion could cost them money for future event fees and devalue their brand. Show respect.

Don’t nickel and dime people

Again, those who agree to do something for free deserve your respect. Don’t screw them around on parking fees, taxi, or trivial charges, they’ve done you a favour and the least you can do is make it easier for them to get there and home, even if you are too darned cheap to buy them lunch or dinner.

Don’t get contractual

Even with paid contributors or speakers things can go wrong as misunderstandings happen, people get sick and volcanos disrupt airline schedules. If something goes wrong, threatening a damages suit against someone who has done you a favour is a bad look.

Expect to be stood up

While most professionals will honour their obligations, paid assignments have to take priority. As a freeloader, you have to accept your project will not have the same priority as those the contributor will get paid for.

Say thank you

After the event, show some appreciation. It’s good manners to at least send a card and maybe a small gift. For many professional writers and speakers a written testimonial or a LinkedIn recommendation is a nice way of saying thank you.

Should you be asking for a freebie?

There’s no shortage of third rate events, webinars and magazines on this Earth you have to ask if you can’t afford to pay for talent, then is your project really adding value? The fact that attendees or customers won’t pay could be an indicator that you aren’t adding value.

Similarly with the contributors, they may be free because they don’t add a great deal of value. You may want to consider a smaller project where you can pay your speakers, writers or other creatives for higher quality work.

 

There’s many good reasons for organisers to run free events or participants to donate their time, probably more than the excuses not to do so. Unfortunately in the Internet age, free is being abused and many creatives aren’t getting paid for their time and skills

For free to work, there has to be respect and some mutual obligation. Someone who does something for free to help your project deserves your respect and support.

702 Weekends: Understanding Hacking

In a year when we increasingly see more computer hacking, how do we protect our businesses and family systems.

In the week after 73 organisations have been compromised by hackers, the August ABC Weekends computer spot with Paul Wallbank and Philip Clark discussed the wave of hacking attacks, how it affects you and how we can protect our home and business networks.

We also looked at how spammers and scanners are moving onto social media platforms and where services like Facebook and Twitter could be going next.

Callers had a range of questions and comments and we promised to get back to the following;

Removing malware

Bagwhat called about a computer that keeps showing a warning from “XP Internet Security 2012” that his computer has viruses.

This is a classic malware problem and we’ve covered how to clear it in our Removing A Trojan page on the IT Queries website.

Of all the programs we discuss Malwarebytes is the most effective, however a serious infection will use usually require hitting the problem with a range of solutions.

Transferring email contacts to an iPad

David asked how to import contacts from his Mozilla Thunderbird email program into his iPad, the process for doing this requires three steps which we’ve covered at IT Queries in How Do I Transfer Contacts To My iPad or iPhone.

The iPad forums and Apple’s support website have more detailed information on how to transfer data between the applications and devices.

Junk folders in Windows Live Mail

One of the delights of having a decent junk mail filter is you never see the dozens of pointless emails that arrive in your inbox each day. So when an update damages your spam filter, as Windows Live 2011 did for Sue, then it’s a real irritation.

The repair for this is actually quite straightforward, and we’ve covered this in Windows Live Mail Junk Folders Not Working at IT Queries.

Once it’s finished, you’ll be asked to reboot the computer and the problem should be fixed after the restart.

Reinstalling an Antivirus

Norton Antivirus is bugging Sharon to buy a new versions of their software and she wanted to know if it was worthwhile.

The free Microsoft Security Essentials is a good substitute for Windows computers so there’s no need to update the Norton service.

With Nortons it is important to completely remove the program as it will clog up the system, so make sure it’s properly uninstalled and then run the Norton Removal Tool to make sure all the Symantec services are no longer on the computer.

Our next ABC 702 Weekends program should be on Sunday, September 11 at 10.10am which we’ll confirm closer to the date. Subscribe to our newsletter or watch our webpages for upcoming events.

Binary thinking in a digital world

Thinking you have to use one tool at the expense of others or make a choice between being wholly online or ignoring the Internet totally is a false, dangerous choice.

In a time when the retail industry, like the music and newspaper industries before it, is going through major changes thanks to the Internet there’s a tendency to think in black and white – that you’re either online or you aren’t.

This is a mistake as the choice between going online or not isn’t a black and white issue, it’s a matter of degrees.

A good example of flawed thinking was the announcement that Just Jeans would close 50 stores and move to online selling. This idea ignores that Just Jeans’ management has little online retail experience they would be better to be using an online presence to compliment their existing strengths and drive traffic into their stores.

A bricks and mortar store still needs online presence, even if there’s no intention to sell online. A shop or café needs a website that at least tells customers who they are, what they sell, where they are and when they are open.

For many businesses, online is a new channel and opportunity that complements existing channels. The web, and particularly social media tools, offer an opportunity to connect to customers, build loyalty and spread the word about the business.

Even the online tools themselves suffer this where we have arguments about whether a business should use one social media tool like Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. The real answer is you should have a presence in all of them, even though most businesses will find one channel is more effective than others.

Similarly an online business needs a credible physical presence such as real call centres, phone numbers and office contact details. Indeed the lack of customer service is the Achilles Heel of many online retailers.

A lack of understanding that there is little real difference between the online and physical worlds is shared by many in the community; the idea that what someone does online is not related to their reputation or legal responsibilities in the real world persists despite it being constantly proved wrong.

In the online world the answer isn’t usually one choice or another, it’s a matter of how one channel will help you more than others.

Thinking you have to use one tool at the expense of others or make a choice between being wholly online or ignoring the Internet totally is a false, dangerous choice.

A more sensible way of dealing with the online world for established retailers, or any existing business is to experiment with what works for their customers and markets.

It may well be that shutting down physical stores and moving online is the solution for some, but for many others it will make more sense to use what the online world does well to build on existing advantages.

For the retail industry, salvation is probably going to lie in providing service. It’s those managers and business owners that see qualified, helpful staff as an asset rather than a cost who will thrive in the next decade.

How secure are our computers?

The Shady Rat hacking network is a good reminder of how insecure our systems really are.

Today’s reports of an “Unprecedented Cyber-espionage Campaign” thought to have to have originated in China is a reminder of how insecure most of our computer networks are.

Computer security company McAfee has a report on Operation Shady Rat that goes into the details of how the attacks worked and their victims, it makes interesting reading and emphasises how widespread industrial espionage is.

In many ways, this is a sophisticated version of the News Of The World “hacks” where journalists and their private detectives took advantage of users’ slack security measures to access phone message banks.

To carry out these “Shady Rat” hacks which ­– unlike the News Of The World’s actions – deserve the title of “hacking”, the perpetrators sent emails with attachments that took advantage of known security flaws to get inside the victims’ networks where they could access confidential documents.

What is truly amazing is how many of these large organisations, presumably with good sized IT budgets, were running systems that hadn’t been updated to the latest security patches.

This is a problem that goes back to the late 1990s and is something that every computer user, whether a home, small business or large organisation needs to keep up to date with.

Ignoring security releases is just plain dumb, although some organisations defer installing them because of the risk some of these updates may break critical business applications, a dangerous situation which usually indicates underinvestment in IT systems.

An interesting aspect with Operation Shady Rat is how email was used to deliver the spyware, increasingly social media platforms are becoming the way for scammers and crooks to attack systems.

Most Facebook and Twitter users would have received messages along the lines of “hey, you’ve lost weight in this picture” (sadly I haven’t) or “you should read this”. The links in those messages are almost always malware designed to take control of the user’s computer or social media account.

Many people, particularly small business owners and home computer users, say “hey I don’t have anything confidential on my system to worry about”.

Even in the unlikely event your system has nothing of value to a crook, this misses the point that the bad guys can use a compromised account or computer to launch attacks on more lucrative targets. Most infected emails and social media messages come from other victims’ services, making it harder for authorities to find the source of attacks.

Simple security precautions are to use the latest web browsers, which is essential if you’re using cloud computing services, and accepting all trusted security updates for your system.

You also need to be using your judgement as some of the more clever scammers are posing as being updates from trusted companies like Microsoft, Apple and Adobe so if you think something is suspicious, ask or check it out online.

Strong passwords are important along with restricting access to sensitive documents, the latter probably being the most surprising weakness of all in the Shady Rat data thefts.

In an era where our IT systems are essential to work and business, we have to start taking computer security as seriously as we do physical and personal safety. Locking the obvious entry points and strengthening weak areas are obvious and comparatively easy first steps.