Paul Wallbank – Brilliant Communications

Category: business advice

  • The company you keep

    It’s an old but true saying that you’re judged by the company you keep and this applies online as much anywhere else in personal and professional life. Last week I was reminded of this three times.

    Early in the week I was asked if connecting with someone on LinkedIn was an endorsement. I thought that was an odd question as LinkedIn has a separate function for recommendations and so I didn’t pay it much attention.

    A few days later an industry group leader told me she’d assumed an individual was legitimate because I was a member of their LinkedIn group. While it was a compliment to think my opinion meant that much, it worried me as I didn’t really know the group’s founder and I certainly wasn’t endorsing his business.

    Finally, at the Media140 Conference in Perth last Thursday, employment branding specialist Jared Woods gave an interesting overview of how an Engineering firm deals with social media issues in the workplace.

    Jared described the company’s  basic rule was if you state that you work for the organisation then you have to act professionally and in a way that doesn’t discredit yourself or the company. Which means no more drunken photos posted on Facebook or joining bad taste causes and online groups. By all means post silly pictures, but forget mentioning who you work for.

    The killer line from Jared was social media gaffes can not only damage a business but they can also damage employee’s professional reputations. Just as the employee is part of the brand, staff have their own personal brands.

    This isn’t new, there’s dozens of true stories of how people have lost jobs through inappropriate blog or Facebook postings and ten years ago the infamous Claire Swire incident nearly cost a group of young London lawyers their jobs .

    All of these examples show just how important it is take care with everything you do online. You are not anonymous and most things you say and do on the Internet will be stored somewhere.

    So play nice and remember not to post anything you wouldn’t like to see next to your name on the six o’clock news.

    Similar posts:

    • No Related Posts

  • The youngster myth

    Last week Smart Company looked at Domino’s successful iPhone application which over 12 weeks has generated more than two million dollars in sales.

    Asked about the app, Domino’s chief executive Don Meij said “the company saw it mainly as a marketing tool that would help it to target its demographic of younger consumers”. That comment illustrates how widespread the myth that mobile Internet and social networking are just toys for young people.

    Website monitoring company Pingdom, recently looked at the demographics of social network users and found the biggest group were aged 35-44 with those over 35s making up 57% of users.

    Similarly, a report last year by the Nielsen research company found over half of US iPhone users were older than 35.

    From personal experience I’d suggest one of the biggest demographics for the Dominos iPhone app are time stressed parents either stuck in the office or realising they haven’t organised any food apart from red lollies for a 12 year old’s birthday party an hour before the event.

    Along with the youthful user myth there are two other dangerous misconceptions about Internet usage — that older people are “rusted on” to the old way of doing things and that the young will drift across to the more traditional forms of retail, media and marketing as they age.

    The reality is the drift isn’t happening; Marc Fron, the New York Times Digital Chief Technology Office, observed at last week’s Media 2010 conference in Sydney how readers under 30 have almost completely abandoned newspapers and show no signs of changing their habits.

    Which leads to the other myth, that older users will continue to stick with the tried and trusted ways. The reality the older age groups are drifting towards online tools as they find the net is cheaper and easier to use.

    In short, it’s a dangerous business making assumptions about who your customers are, particularly if those assumptions are based on tired and untrue stereotypes.

    So get to know your customers, you might be surprised at what you find.

    Similar posts:

    • No Related Posts
  • safety in the cloud

    safety in the cloud

    Cloud computing, where data and applications are accessed through the Internet and stored on remote computers, is one of the concepts that’s dramatically changing business.  Like all changes that disrupt existing ways of working, it comes with it’s own set of challenges, opportunities and weaknesses.

    One of the weakness often cited about the cloud is the security risk; how you can’t be sure your data is secure and safe from prying eyes. Last week’s story of Indian hackers attacking Melbourne businesses shows the opposite is true.

    Some Melbourne based businesses were reportedly finding their systems had been breached and data left inaccessible by hackers protesting attacks on Indian students. The story itself is little suspicious given these allegedly l33t hackers can’t secure their own Ning page against multi level marketing spammers, but it is feasible as computer security is poor in many homes and offices.

    Computer security is complex and costs a lot to do well. Many systems are run by overworked techs who simply don’t have the time to keep track of the fast evolving world of computer security and most businesses don’t have the resources to properly secure systems.

    For the cloud computing service providers, security and data integrity are their core competencies. Keeping their clients’ data safe and their services available are their two main objectives. Any cloud service provider that forgets this is quickly out of business.

    The cloud’s real weakness is in the Internet connections — should your ISP have a hiccup, the mobile service drop out or your router stop working then you have a problem.  A well timed Denial of Service attack, where thousands of hijacked computers tie up a victim’s Internet service, can bring even the best run cloud computing service to it’s knees.

    Denial of Service attacks are what happened to the Australian Parliament House website last week as a protest against the Federal Government’s Internet filtering proposals. This technique is probably the most effective and quickest way to bring down someone’s web services.

    What all of this shows is technology is complex and whether we’re talking about cars, water, electricity, telephones or the Internet, everything is prone to failure in it’s own unique way and we have to manage the risks involved. In this respect, cloud computing has some downsides while running your own systems presents other weaknesses.

    We’d all like to legislate or engineer risk out of our lives, indeed the belief this is possible is one of the causes of the Global Financial Crisis. However risk will always be part of life and balancing threats against rewards is a fundamental part of doing business.

    When selecting the right tools for your business you need to understand the risks and plan for them. For many businesses, the risks of a losing connection to a cloud server are vastly outweighed by the costs and complexity of maintaining their own computer security. The right choice for your business is up to you, choose wisely.

    Similar posts:

    • No Related Posts
  • The coffee revolution

    The coffee revolution

    One of the great misconceptions about the internet is how it isolates people from society. The truth is the net is a window on the real word that allows you to discover the networks that can help your business.

    A good example of this are the “coffee mornings” springing up in our cities and towns where business people are using internet channels like Twitter and web forums to organise meet ups at cafes, which in turn develop into new business and social networks.

    Because the coffee mornings are informal and have no organisers, obligations or rules, beyond making sure you pay for your coffee and eggs benedict, people feel free to come and go. They are perfect for time poor or isolated business owners, particularly those working from home or trying to juggle their family and business commitments.

    The great thing with these coffee mornings is how they help develop useful business networks. People who otherwise would have never met are now becoming friends, mentors, clients and business partners.

    There are always some losers from new opportunities and in this case it’s the structured business networking organisations, as there are no stiff membership fees or obligations to network and get referrals.

    Unlike many traditional chambers of commerce the coffee mornings lack committees and officials, so they aren’t dominated by the small cliques you often find in formal business groups.

    A whole way of doing business is changing from something as simple as groups of people deciding they have enough in common online to get together for coffee.

    While this is bad news for those who’ve paid for networking type franchises, it’s a wonderful opportunity for business owners to connect with fellow entrepreneurs they otherwise wouldn’t have connected with – particularly those in regional areas.

    If you want to organise a coffee morning in your suburb or town, get on the internet. You’ll be surprised at the like-minded business owners, customers and supporters who are on services like Twitter and Facebook.

    Should you find there is already one happening in your neighbourhood, go along. The lively, intelligent people you meet might help you see some of the opportunities, and threats, on your doorstep.

    Similar posts:

    • No Related Posts

  • The new economy

    The final slide of Steve Jobs’ iPad launch shows how the tech and creative industries are coming together.  The results will be the great economic drivers of the 21st Century.

    Steve Jobs’ launch of the iPad was the classic  succesful Apple product launch before adoring fans however the bigger picture from the show is identifying where the world is heading as technology and arts come together.

    With Apple and Jobs this is nothing new. Apple’s great success has been from incorporating well designed and Engineered product in markets where their competitors have been more on price points and often poorly implemented features.

    Releasing products that work well with inuitive interfaces has allowed Apple to sell their products at a premium while their competitors in the computer and mobile phone markets have found themselves dealing with declining margins.

    Regardless of wether the iPad itself succeeds or fails it shows though is how powerful the combination of good design and clever Engineering are in the new economy.

    Similar posts:

    • No Related Posts