If you don’t know Cloud Computing (or even if you do) this post is a “must read.”

It’s an unprecedented time in history when it comes to IT infrastructure; yet, few companies are utilizing these advancements.  I’ve managed a large IT infrastructure and know the downside of upgrades, patches, security issues, desktop management, etc.  In fact, 80% of our time was spent maintaining a clunky physical infrastructure, rather than providing real business value.  Millions of dollars were spent keeping this behemoth running. 

As time moved on, more pressure came from the business units to deliver value, rather than maintaining (let’s face it, it’s only when the network goes down that anyone cares about technology).  Small businesses deal with this same issue – a modest in-house network, email, and databases all absorb vital cash.  In this economy, reducing expenditures is essential, but only if a company owner can deliver better technology and maintain a competitive advantage.

It has been my experience, that Cloud Computing can deliver superior results and lower IT costs by as much as 60% or more.  A few years ago I experienced first-hand the power of Cloud Computing when working with a financial services firm with about 20 employees.  I was able to reduce their IT budget by 70% and deliver a multi-million dollar CRM / Business Management system.  This system changed the way they did business.  It gave unparalleled visibility into their business. It introduced new insights and efficiencies.
   
The new system included a defined sales process, automated workflows, commission tracking, management dashboards, a 360-degree view of clients, and the result was a 400+% increase in assets under management. The transformation was quite miraculous.  
 
I’ve worked with small companies for years (both as an owner and consultant), and I have never seen technology have such an impact on process improvement.  In fact, at one startup we received multiple offers for $500K in funding as a direct result of the automated workflows and CRM system. A few years ago I experienced first-hand the power of Cloud Computing when working with a financial services firm with about 20 employees.    This system changed the way they did business.  It gave unparalleled visibility into their business. It introduced new insights and efficiencies.   The new system included a defined sales process, automated workflows, commission tracking, management dashboards, a 360-degree view of clients, and The transformation was quite miraculous.   I’ve worked with small companies for years (both as an owner and consultant), and I have never seen technology have such an impact on process improvement.  In fact, at one startup we received multiple offers for $500K in funding as a direct result of the automated workflows and CRM system. We were able to track:

• when clients came into the system
• how often they were contacted
• flag customers who were not contacted
• store all financial information in one central location
• provide a customer portal so clients could log into their account
• this was all done on a shoestring, startup budget of $500 per month 

Today, as I sit down with business people and map out their Business Processes, clarity gives way to efficiency (spreadsheets are replaced with a cutting edge technology platform).  It also provides employees with 24/7 access and a flexibility that allows them to work from home, at night, and on weekends. 

Often, the simple act of being able to check email before they go to bed provides for a peaceful nights sleep.  The benefits are almost unlimited and the infrastructure does not need to be maintained, upgraded, or cared for.  4 to 5 upgrades take place effortlessly every year, and substantial functionality is added consistently (Google does 18 to 24 upgrades per year!). 

For example, Salesforce.com recently developed a fully integrated platform on which to develop web sites.  Now, a company can manage their website content through the same application they’re managing customer relationships, tracking web visitors, and keeping track of Google Adwords campaigns. 

Integrations with Facebook, Amazon S3, Google, and other cloud applications are accelerating.  Thousands of applications are being developed and the Cloud Computing industry is growing at record speeds.

As Developing Nations have skipped over the copper telephonic infrastructure in place of wireless, the startup of today is by-passing a physical infrastructure in place of the cloud.  Many companies are building their entire infrastructure in the cloud and gaining significant competitive advantage.  Lower costs, more flexibility (applications can now be deployed in hours rather than months and years), and seamless integration is replacing older, stand-alone technology. 
In short, Cloud computing is a new paradigm and the company who does not take advantage of this technology will have difficulty competing with those who do.   
  
If you’re interested in learning more please call me immediately.  We provide a “quick start” program to review your business processes, goals, and objectives, which results in an unbiased recommendation of next steps. 

The total process takes about 10 hours (7 to 8 hours in-person and 2 to 3 hours documenting the recommendation). 

Total Investment:  $1,200.       

A paradigm shift is when a new form of technology emerges that replaces the old, while a next generation technology builds on previous computing architectures (not replacing it, but rather growing out from it).  The difference between these two concepts may seem subtle, but it is this very distinction that may put an end to Microsoft.   

These “paradigm shifts” in IT rarely occur – a true paradigm shift happens when one form of computing completely replaces another.  In fact, there really has been only one true paradigm shift in recent history, when Supercomputer centers where replaced by on-site servers and desktops.  The advent of the desktop computer was a paradigm shift, whereas, the advent of servers that tie desktops together was a “next generation” iteration. 

There is a significant difference between a paradigm shift and iterative/evolutionary growth – the first is a complete replacement (flat world vs. round world), while the latter simply builds on what already exists (the introduction of laptops, which did not replace desktops). 

Today, it appears that we’re in the midst of a true paradigm shift, in which one form of computing may completely replace another form.  Cloud Computing, or “Software-as-a-Service,” is the new paradigm, and it will replace the current Server/desktop model due to efficiency and simplicity.

Microsoft’s miscalculation is the belief that Cloud Computing is evolutionary, or a next generation of computing, while there is growing evidence that this is a true paradigm shift.  Only time will tell, but it would seem a strong case could be made that we’re living in a historic moment (from a technology perspective).

I would seem that Microsoft is still trying to put old wine into new bottles, and their failure to understand the difference between an actual paradigm shift and an evolutionary/iterative shift will likely be their downfall (if, in fact, this is a paradigm shift):

Don’t Be Fooled…

It’s important to understand what this paradigm shift is.  The real paradigm shift is NOT about putting applications that were once on servers into the “cloud” (or Internet), which is what Microsoft’s Azure seems to be doing.  The real paradigm shift is in a multi-tenant architecture.  This kind of architecture utilizes limited instances of an application that is shared between many companies.  While the data for each company is stored separately, the application itself is shared.

Why Is Multi-Tenancy the Key?

Multi-Tenancy resolves the fatal flaws inherent in the current server/desktop paradigm – software upgrades, software patches, broken integrations, lost data due to upgrades, conflicting applications, hardware upgrades, managing thousands of desktop computers, etc.  IT departments are spending millions of dollars trying to maintain these infrastructures that continue to become more and more complex. 

The success of the current server/desktop model depends on complexity.  Revenue is derived from upgrades, patches, on-site installations, etc.  The more complex and difficult to manage this infrastructure becomes the more Microsoft and it’s developers earn. 

It would appear Microsoft’s Azure is simply taking this complex IT nightmare and moving onto a new platform.  All the issues described above are not resolved, but rather moved to a new place.  Software + Service (Microsoft’s approach to “SaaS”) is simply the same Emperor in new clothes, nothing more.  

Multi-tenancy, on the other hand, represents an entirely new form of computing.  Instead of computing power residing locally it is accessed via the Internet.  Instead of millions of different versions of a single application on hundreds of different servers and desktops, millions of companies can now use a single version on one Application – a single set of source code for all users.  The difference between these two approaches is night and day – one will ultimately replace the other.  

During the early stages of the Industrial Age factories created their own electricity.  This provided them with a competitive advantage and an entire industry grew up around creating on-site generators.  Each company spent a portion of their revenue developing their own infrastructure specifically to create electricity. 

Then, a new technology emerged.  This new “grid” technology allowed electricity to be created centrally and delivered via wires (sound familiar?).  Delivering electricity became far less expensive than a company could do on their own.  The entire industry who provided on-site electricity infrastructure practically vanished. 

It was a paradigm shift that is very similar to what we’re seeing today.  We’re in the early stages of this shift so there will be some hiccups and growing pains, but this does not mean it’s not a paradigm shift. 

I suspect the advent of “Cloud Computing,” or more specifically multi-tenant Cloud Computing, will ultimately replace our existing approach to computing.  Just like electricity was ultimately “outsourced and commoditized,” it would appear on-site computing will also go the way of on-site electricity creation. 

This shift is already taking place.  It’s only a matter of time before enough pressure builds and the dam breaks.  Cloud Computing is reaching a critical mass.  When it does, Microsoft will disappear (if it does not wholeheartedly adopt SaaS and walk away from their most profitable products and services).   

Helpful Links:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10079576-62.html

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1671&tag=mncol;txt

http://cloudenterprise.info/2008/10/29/microsoft-azure-vs-amazon-google-and-vmware/

Every company that needs assets removed from their books would give up a 20% equity stake in Preferred stock to the US Government.  These companies would immediately suspend dividends for 3 years to stabilize their companies and protect the taxpayer investment. 

The real estate backing the loans would then be put into a protected Social Security Trust Fund (with the stipulation that it cannot be used by politicians at any time under any circumstances).  These assets would be sold later to pay for the shortage in our Social Security / Medicare System.

All preferred stock would be distributed to all US Citizens 18+ at the end of each year.

These preferred shares could be sold in the stock market or held – regardless, it would put wealth back into the economy without too much inflationary pressures of sending cash to US citizens, as has been proposed.

While the common shares of these companies would be diluted to some degree, it’s far better than having these companies/banks go under.

American citizens would actually have an equity stake in the “bailout” and as these companies turned around these shares would gain value and gradually push more wealth to all citizens. 

Also, as Real Estate values turn around in the years ahead, a new protected Social Security Trust Fund may actually survive (currently, the existing trust fund is empty and the only way someone in their 30’s will get any benefit is if the income tax rate increases to about 60%)

Under the Sinatra Plan, US Citizens would own a stake in this bailout and we would fix one of the most important problems facing our younger generation, the Social Security System.  Under the Sinatra Plan we can turn this crisis into an opportunity.  

If the assets backing the mortgage paper is allowed to go to the government, it is highly likely these assets will be liquidated by politicians to increase spending in the future. The chances these assets will be sold to repay the bailout is unlikely.  It will be turned into a giant piggy bank that politicians will use for years as they spend this country into oblivion.   By placing these assets in a protected Social Security Trust Fund they will not be able to touch them.  Unfortunately, politicians in this day and age cannot be trusted.

This plan is more realistic than writing massive checks to the citizenry, and better than sending huge amounts of cash to Wall Street banks. It’s a reasonable plan that would actually work, but we need to spread the word quickly before our politicians create for themselves a Trillion dollar slush fund.     

Send this plan to everyone you know before it’s too late… 

By the way, there seems to be a push to make sure the politicians have “oversight” and “control” over these assets.  Why would we want the folks who put us in this position to control anything?  Those real estate assets need to be put on a high shelf where no politician can reach and a protected Social Security Trust Fund may be that safe harbor.

Jeff Sinatra, a Concerned Citizen

Here are a few links to explore:

Home:  An Affordable Website Home Page

Design Choices:  Affordable Website Design and Color Schemes

Articles: 

The Affordable Website Problem

Why So Affordable?

How the Affordable Website Works

Affordable Website Service

Feedback:  Contact Us Form

The other technological advances are in digital printing – we recently uploaded some business cards to www.overnightprints.com and in 3 days we received them for a total cost of $14.  The cards were not quite as good as you’d get from a printer, but very close.  I was amazed by the quality and speed.

The downside to digital printing is you have limited options of paper – it’s pretty much one-size-fits-all approach.  In the south of Boston area we’ve used www.bondprinting.com.  They do a good job, have good customer service, and good selection.  The nice part of this option is you can choose from many different paper samples and the final product is slightly superior to digital printing.

If you have any questions about south of Boston web design or marketing feel free to request a free consultation from our corporate site:  www.sinatraco.com

If you do need to use it, I would recommend adding a few Flash elements like we use on our site on the home page – we scroll testimonials and logo designs and Flash is not used anywhere else.  Even this small amount of Flash can slow the time it takes to load a web page so use it sparingly. 

Templates:  I’ve seen a number of web sites that sell template web site, and many of these are Flash designs.  For the average webmaster these can be tough to use.  They’re often promoted as “easy to use,” but I have yet to find one that truly is.  If you’re new to web development or you’re looking for a designer, beware of glitzy Flash designs – you’ll rarely get a return on your investment.

In addition to not being user friendly, the search engines have a hard time indexing and navigating Flash web sites.  This is critical to your success as a small company.  People need to be able to find you on the web (what’s the point of a web site that no one visits?).  In other words, Flash does not help the search engine cataloging process and should not be used if your intent is to get listed in Google, Yahoo!, and the like.

Here’s a few articles about the dark side of Flash:

http://www.seoresearcher.com/seo-flash-is-evil-five-big-reasons-not-to-use-flash.htm

http://apptools.com/rants/flash.php

http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/flash-ing.html

http://www.dack.com/web/flash_evil.html

Some of these articles go back a few years, but they’re helpful if you’re considering a Flash web site.  Most companies have moved away from Flash, but I still come across them now and again – often it is a newbie who does not understand the nuances of web design best practices and is influenced by an over-zealous web designer.

If you have any questions about south of Boston web design or marketing feel free to request a free consultation from our corporate site:  www.sinatraco.com

Here’s the link:

http://www.slideshare.net/coolstuff/the-brand-gap

Leave a comment and let everyone know what you think.

If you have any questions about south of Boston web design or marketing feel free to request a free consultation from our corporate site:  www.sinatraco.com

The foundation on which the Internet is built is information – digitized ideas spread to the world.  Being a good Internet citizen is about sharing good quality information with no stings attached.  It’s about being a part of the conversation without an ulterior motive.  It’s about profitability, but only to the degree you add value.  It’s about the best, most imaginative ideas rising to the surface – the cream rising to the top. 

As you begin to build your Internet strategy, think about what your business (or you) can share to make the Internet a better place.  Everyone has something valuable to share, a life experience that can benefit others, a unique perspective about your specific industry. 

The “magic pill” of Internet marketing is simply taking the time to share valuable ideas with others.  Google and other search engines use sophisticated algorithms to find the the web sites that provide the most value to the people using their search tool.  These tools are are designed to target good Internet citizens.  So, instead of trying to figure out what those mathematical formulas may be, start by being a good Internet citizen with valuable content and an easy to navigate web site.  

To me, a good quality blog is the way to provide this information, as I’ve shared in previous posts. It’s a tool that is perfect for the web and it should be no surprise that search engines are increasingly ranking blog posts high on their lists.

If you have any questions about south of Boston web design or marketing feel free to request a free consultation from our corporate site:  www.sinatraco.com 
 

The reason you’ll see a wide range of prices is twofold:

• The use of templates / non-original work
• Hourly rate

The reason you’ll see web site packages for lower prices (below $1,000) is the designer is likely re-purposing work he/she had done in the past (or using someone else’s work) and making adjustments to the design.  In other words, the design is likely not original and some kind of template is being used.  While this type of web site can be good for small startup companies that just want to get something up on the web, it is probably not a long term solution, although some templates are fairly good. 

It takes about 30 to 40 hours to create a 7 to 10 page web site from scratch, including industry research, competitive analysis, programming, and testing.  Normally the design company will create an initial web site map based on the competitive analysis and industry research as well as one-on-one consultations with the client – this phase can go back and forth several times to make sure the “foundation” is set.   

The designer will then create 2 to 3 original home page designs based on the site map and analysis of the competition.  A meeting with the client will take place to determine what design elements they like, don’t like, and agree on the basic layout.  The designer will then merge the designs into a final design and present it to the client.  Often, the final design will also need some adjustments. 

The next phase is to create some of the interior pages based on the finalized home page design.  This phase can vary depending upon the level of customization needed for each page – some web sites have similar interior pages, while others require a good deal of unique design.  For example, a page listing a company’s services will look different than one that presents employees and bios.  Also, ecommerce functionality can drive the number of unique pages as well.

The other element that impacts the number of hours to design a web site are the images.  Original images from the client will often need to be adjusted in photoshop and made web ready.  Or, stock photos could be purchased for the site (there are many free stock photo sites that have high quality pictures, which is why you often see similar images on different web pages).  We’re a big fan of original photos of the company, employees, workspace, etc. because it brings a high level of personalization to the overall presentation.

Once the design is set and images are selected the designer will begin to create each of the pages and begin programming the pages for the web.  Depending on the kind of functionality on the site, including Flash animation, this stage can also vary widely in terms of hours spent. 

Once the number of hours are projected the hourly rate then determines the overall price of the web site.  Lower level designers with little experience could charge $20 to $50 per hour, mid-range designers charge $50 to $60 per hour, and the higher end design companies charge $150 to $250 per hour. 

Our designer has worked in design houses that charge in the higher range, including the creation of web sites billed out at over $100K.  While this may seem like a lot to a small to mid-sized business, large companies need higher end design to compete in their marketplace – a low-level / template design would kill any kind of credibility with prospective clients.

While our work is on the higher end in terms of quality of design, our hourly rate is currently $65.  If you have any questions about south of Boston web design or marketing feel free to request a free consultation from our corporate site:  www.sinatraco.com 
 

1. Clearly Outline Project Before Work Begins - Meet with the web designer to discuss the project and have them create a “Statement of Work,” which clearly outlines each stage of the project along with dates.  Look for specific deliverables and time tables.  Beware of vague statements, lack of dates, and no milestones.  If a written contract is not offered be very careful.
2. Own the Finished Product – Make sure you own all the files upon completion of the project.  Sometimes the designer keeps all the files (web pages and images), this often takes place when your web site is hosted on their servers.  Make sure you get copies of all final files, and ask for full access to the server files.  You want to make sure your investment is protected and you are not at the mercy of the designer/developer. 
3. Beware of ”Scope Creep” – Make sure both you and the web design firm are on the same page in terms of deliverables.  A solid ”Statement of Work” should help alleviate scope creep.  When you ask for new items (more pages, photography, training, etc.) make sure there are no hidden charges.  Be honest and open in your communications if the project begins to expand.  It’s natural for the scope of the project to “creep” and good communication can help you weigh the value of new ideas (i.e. is this new page really worth $XX?) 
4. Have a Clear Plan of Action for Updates – How is your web site going to be updated in the future?  How much does the designer charge for updates?  How quickly will updates take place?  Make sure you have a clear understanding of how changes will take place and who will make those changes. 
    
5. Understand How Payments are Made – Ideally, you’ll want the payment schedule in place before you begin.  Often, payments are made in thirds – one third upon execution of contract, one third when final designs are approved, and the final third due upon completion.  Before you make this final payment, be sure the site is fully functional.

If you have any questions about south of Boston web design or marketing feel free to request a free consultation from our corporate site:  www.sinatraco.com