Moving from a company that only had Windows users to a company with a large contingent of Mac users has been an experience, often akin to a religious war.
Apart from the fact that I have sworn at my windows PC at least once a day for the many years I have worked (my orginal PC had a green screen and then I upgraded to amber) and I have yet to hear the Mac guys swear at theirs (although the constant referal to their baby is disconcerting) they are actually right about MIcrosoft vs Apple design as highlighted in the video below.
Moving from working for a Enterprise Software vendor to working with Small Businesses using Open Source software then to a Software as a Service startup has been an interesting mindshift.
One thing I was interested in is the differences for a small business in using Open Source solutions compared to SaaS solutions.
In my experience one of the major reasons small businesses (as compared to IT practitioners) use Open Soucre is trhe perception that it is free (as compared to IT practitioners who use casue they can hack the code to do what they want).
However small businesses often hit the limit of their expertise in installing and using Open Source solutions fairly quickly and then have to invest in people like me to help them through.
In a post on Trumba about Five Benefits of Software as a Service they compare them from a cost point of view:
“Open Source - Potentially costly. In addition to any license fees you might have to pay, factor in the infrastructure costs of servers, security, and IT personnel.”
“SaaS - Comparably low. You pay a subscription fee but the vendor bears all the security and infrastructure costs, leaving your IT personnel free to focus on missioncritical tasks.”
They also list the five major benefits of SaaS as:
- Save money.
- Save time.
- Focus your technology budgets on competitive advantage rather than infrastructure.
- Gain immediate access to the latest innovations.
- Join a community of interest.
the key they say is:
“Regardless of what specific application you might be evaluating, you stand to benefit from SaaS in five major ways. When you subscribe to a software service instead of purchasing a software license.”
This is the same expectation small business get when using Open Source solutions. So if I compare Open Source vs SaaS on these:
Save Money
Open Source - You won’t spend money on license but you will probably spend money on services
SaaS - You may spend less money on subscription (than a perpetual license) but you will definitly spend less money on servcies.
Save Time
Open Source - You won’t spend time on building software but you will still spend time installing and maintaining it
SaaS - You won’t spend anytime installing and maintaining software
Focus on competitive advantage
Open Soucre - You can modify the software to your hearts desire so definitely get competitive advantage
Saas - It all proprietary code on a server so no competitive advantage (although Salesforce.com with its APEX framewqork is probably getting there)
Gain Immediate Access to Innovations
Open Source - You have access to Alpha and Beta versions if you want to take the risk but on average you are still waiting 6-12 mioths for major releases.
SaaS - Typically a new release is 2-4 weeks, which you get automatically next time you longin
So overall SaaS seems to have it on these points.
However if somebody came up with a true hybrid solution, i.e. SaaS but where you could modify it to get competitive advantage, then that would change thr rules.
SugarCRM seem to offer that, but under the covers it is just a way of piutting lipstick on SaaS.
We succumbed to the exercise generation and brought a reticulated excercycle the other day, way more comfortable compared to the upright veriosn I must say, will be interesting to see if we will actually use it more.
Anyway we decided that a Television in the vicinity of the exercycle will increase our usage in the evenings. The exercycle is in the same room as our PC, which has a 19 inch LCD monitor so logically I thought TV tuner card in the POC was the best option to go.
Price comparisons are favourable with a tuner card being in the $100-$200 range compared to a 20inch LCD TV in $750-$850 range, so one for the TV tuner card
But the TV is a pop into the shop and hang it on the wall option, versus the rip open the PC cover, insert card, install drivers, hope and pray option (buy a Mac I hear my Xero colleagues say), so one for the TV.
We currently have a Hard Disk recorder in the lounge (one of our most used toys) and love the on demand of pre-recordered programs, not to mention DVD movies. The TV tuner card can record to the PC Hard disk, the TV requires a seperate unit, one for the TV tuner card.
When we get to the usability arguement the TV wins hands down, push the remote and it goes. The PC will require eductation for the better half, mmmm. One for the TV.
So overall a decision between ease of use vs cost and functionality. The TV will win out, only because it will be less hassle that the PC. If it was just me using it the Tv tuner card would probably win.
Makes you think if somebody created a set-top style device for my PC they would solve both my problems and get my business.
One of the interesting things about working for Xero is the experience of working with a team of Interaction Designers (Usability experts). It certainly makes me look at websites from a different perspective.
The other day I needed to change my life insurance policy.I talked to my insurance broker (as you do) who recomended that we change all our policies to a new provider as it was (marginally) cheaper. However the media had done a good job of convincing me that this may have been due to a differrent commission structure rather than for my own benefit (whether the recomended changes was for his commission benefit I don’t acually know).
So I googled for an online insurance provider after remember hearing an ad somewhere earlier and found http://www.pinnaclelife.co.nz/
Things I liked:
- The site layout was simple and uncluttered
- The site made a great use of flash to make things interactive without going over the top
- They don;t hit you with all the medical quiestions till 1/2 through the process (after you have mentally signed up) and didit with a little bit of humour
- They had price comparisons with alternative offerings
- They allowed me to create a draft policy and gave me 14 days to think about it before it expired
- They sent me a friendly followup email a couple of days after I completed the draft policy
One of the preconceptions I had about Website Usability before joingin Xero is that it was all about site layout and images. As you can see from the list above it is more about ensuring the user has an experience that is succesfull for both them and you.
NetResults.2 - Best Practices for Web Marketing
Rick.E.Bruner, Leland Harden, Bob Heyman
ISBN-10: 0735710244, ISBN-13: 978-0735710245
This book covers a lot of areas that are fundemental to promotiong and monitoring a website.
It provides a good overview of a large number of areas around this including:
- Return on Investment planning
- Defingin your value proposition for the web
- Design Optimisation of your website
- Selecting your domain name
- Search Engine Strategties
- Refferal Strategies (eMail, Permission Marleting and Viral)
- Affiliate strategies and progarms
- Public Relations
- We b Advertiding
Based around case studies in 2000 so a little out of date and although the principles still apply the majority of the internet techniques/examples outlined have moved on in the last seven years.
Overall if you are new to the world of web marketing then it gives you a good overview of all the areas you need to consider, especially areas not usually coverered in SEO books, such as PR. If you have been dealing web marketing for a while then if you have some spare time (yeah right!) you will find the odd gem.
For sale on Amazon.com
There are all sorts of interesting start ups coming online all of a sudden, in restrospect a few years from now it will probably be coined dotcom 2.0.
One that caught my eye is Ponoko. An interesting model where you design something real and they will manufacture and sell it for you, sharing in the profits.
Kind of an extension to the CafePress idea for tea shirts.
To me there are three major types of dotcom 2.0 start ups around at the moment.
1) Capture the Eyeballs
Sites such as Youtube and Facebook, who are designed to capture eyeballs, operate at a loss and then when they are larger enough get sold to an advertsing centric company (such as google) who can convert the eyeballs into dollars.
2) Revolutionise current technology
Companies such as Salesforce.com , PlanHq and Xero who are changing software solutons from being expensive purchases you install on your PC/Server to being affordable subscriptions, with no maintennce efforts/nightmares.
3) Revoluionisecurrent business
Companies such as Ponoko who take a business process (for example, designing a products, getting short run manufacturing, creating a website and then selling your product) and automates the process using web based technology.
It will be interesting to see which model is still around 2 years from now.
Well National Bank has really pee’d me off today.
I have had my credit cards with BNZ for a long while, and in a fit of financial cleaning I decided to focus on reducing my bank fees. I contacted BNZ ato see what they could do on this front, given our rather generous expenditure on these cards. Nothing was the response so time to move.
After searching consumer and sorted I decided that National Bank had the best fees and a cash back rewards offer. So after signing up (and of course faxing paper proof of income and who I was because you can’t forge faxes like you can electronic details 
a nice shiny new card arrived in the mail.
After a month of spending I wanted to download my transactions so I went to sign up to internet banking.
Sorry sir but you have to have a savings account with us to use internet banking, the cheapest being $2 a month in fees. Oh and by the way sir you will have to pay $1 a month to use internet banking.
But dear National Bank I have my business accounts with you, and I already pay $1 a month to use Internet banking for those accounts. Can’t I just add my personal credit card to that?
No sir, sorry that is not possible.
So out of the green bank it was, across the road and into th blue bank (isn’t ANZ owned by National Bank or vice versa now).
ANZ said certainly sir, we ave the same low fee for credit cards (no cash back rewards though), you don’t need a savings account to use internet banking and internet banking is free.
Well at least ANZ National are wiorking hard at brand differentiatiion.
After waxing lyrical about the different types of start ups in Ponoko - You think it they build it
I found ONLINE BUSINESS TOOLBOX: 230+ Tools for Running a Business Online on mashables which outlined (as the title suggests) 230 Software as a Service start ups.
For those sales guys with nothng better to do than watch youtube …..
