Using Web-Based Marketing/PR Tools to Increase Efficiency

Posted by: Laurie Head

Love new tools that will help grow your business and make it more efficient?  There is a plethora out there and it’s tough to stay on top of what’s new.

I love tools that create a culture of sharing on a frictionless basis – tools like Microsoft SharePoint 2010, which we host.  When paired with a Web 2.0 application such as NewsGator Social Sites, which effectively makes your office “even more social,” SharePoint 2010 can become an incredibly powerful collaboration platform – leading to greater efficiencies in all aspects of the workplace.  What communications professional wouldn’t appreciate that?

But, to do my job, I also rely heavily on a number of Web-based tools that lead to even higher marketing/ communications efficiency.  For example, I use Google Insights, Google Analytics and Google Trends on a regular basis to measure all aspects of our online presence.  If you aren’t using these at your company, you should.  Also, they’re free.

While attending the international conference for the Public Relations Society of America this week with 3,000 other communications professionals, I learned about dozens more useful tools – most of which are free or available for a small fee.  Here are half a dozen that strike me as worth checking out in the coming days:

www.compete.com:  Use it for free competitive intelligence that will help you with your online marketing strategy.  Compare your Web site’s traffic and engagement metrics with that of another site – a competitor, perhaps.

www.kadoo.com:  Simply upload your files once to their cloud and use them on Kadoo.com and/or anywhere else — from mobile and Web applications to Web sites and services. You can do it without sacrificing your right to privacy or file ownership.

www.hootsuite.com and www.postling.com:  Need a digital dashboard to monitor social media mentions about your company and spread messages by updating multiple social networks in one step?  These sites may be for you.

www.submityourarticle.com:  Consider yourself an expert with something to say?  Have you considered article marketing?  Write an article about almost anything and, for a small fee, get this site to distribute it across the Web to sites that crave content.  It’s a 100% automated article distribution service.

www.tweetcloud.com:  What’s being said about your company?  Use this site for a glimpse across the Twittersphere through an intuitive interface (a cloud).

By the way, if you are tweeting, then please follow us @ AIS_Network.

IT Literacy for CPAs Will Enable Client Conversations About the Cloud and Collaboration

Posted by: Jay Atkinson

As a CPA and someone whose hosting company recently underwent a SAS 70 Type II audit, I found this year’s American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Top Technology Initiatives Survey, which forecasts key IT issues in the year ahead, highly interesting.  The CPAs surveyed say they believe data security will continue to be the most pressing concern for their clients and employers over the year.

The June study was the first such Top Technology Initiatives Survey to ask AICPA members to rank a list of questions heard most often from audit committees, chief financial officers and chief information officers.  According to the press release about the survey, the top 10 most frequently asked questions are:

1. Are we ensuring that our data and technology resources are protected against hacking, viruses, or other compromises?
2. Are we considering or implementing organizational security precautions even though we haven’t had a data breach or loss?
3. Are our current internal controls and IT governance policies and procedures effective?
4. Are we receiving the most relevant and current information from our reporting functions (business intelligence, dashboards, etc.) or are there areas for improvement?
5. Have we implemented sound, appropriate privacy policies and procedures in place within the organization and for our customers?
6. Are we appropriately considering the IT risks associated with the organization in an initial planning of any audit or attest engagement?
7. Are we capturing the appropriate control objectives during the initial planning of any audit or attest engagement to address the IT risks associated with the organization?
8. Should we refresh our core and financial accounting software to leverage technology efficiencies every few years?
9. Can our data remain safe if we utilize cloud computing, or Software as a Service (SaaS) services?
10. Can we deliver on our service and product promises to our customers if we utilize cloud computing services?

Notably, Cloud Computing/Software as a Service (SaaS) appeared in two questions, reflecting both growing interest in Web-based technology solutions for business and concerns about the new risks that they may introduce. CPAs are providing vendor due diligence for their clients to ensure appropriate controls are in place in SaaS applications and confidential customer information is being protected.

Principally, the survey makes clear that CPAs need to be literate about information technology in order to collaborate effectively with clients and their IT partners.  Managed hosting companies can help in that regard by providing clear product and educational information and by ensuring that their hosting company has a SAS 70 Type II audit, an internationally recognized auditing standard developed by the AICPA.

CPAs, take note!  At AIS Network, we are constantly working to revise and add new content for our Web site – content that is robust enough for IT professionals but also simple enough for the layman to understand.

In the next few weeks, we’re planning on adding some educational FAQs that, I am hopeful, will help inform CPAs and others who are asking some of these very important questions.  Further, we have upgraded this month to SAS 70 Type II-certification.

Full survey results are available at http://www.aicpa.org/INTERESTAREAS/INFORMATIONTECHNOLOGY/RESOURCES/TOPTECHNOLOGYINITIATIVES/Pages/default.aspx.

To Tweet or Not to Tweet – That Is the Question

Posted by: Donna Hemmert

I have been on Facebook for a few years and use many social media sites.  But, I have to admit that the first time I went to Twitter, I thought it was a bit of a joke.  Why would anyone want to update their friends and colleagues on their every movement?  The second time I went to Twitter, about a year later, it wasn’t much better, although I enjoyed smart people around me sharing what was most relevant to me.  But, even though I consider myself generally to be an early adopter, I didn’t really get on the bandwagon until recently – both personally and professionally.  And, I attribute the recent usefulness I have finally found to the “network effect.”  (Per Wikipedia, “When network effect is present, the value of a product or service increases as more people use it.”)  Well, now that companies I patronize, brands I love, people I respect, are tweeting…….and tweeting in, what is on average, much more useful and timely information, I am enjoying it as a consumer of information. I have gotten a deal on my next vacation, found NEW tips on how to drive Web traffic and am staying informed in areas about which I most care.  As a consumer of Twitter, I can scan Tweets quickly and read what really matters to me.

At this point, it’s hard for any of us business people to really ignore not just Twitter, but social media in general. Consider these facts, taken from Socialnomics  (See this great video: http://tiny.cc/7rqds):

• If Facebook were a country, it would be the 3^rd largest.
• Radio took 38 years to reach 50 million people.  Facebook added over 200 million within a year.
• 96% of millennials have joined a social network.
• 78% consumers trust a peer recommendation, but only 14% trust advertisements.

So social media is changing the way we communicate.  So, now, for the harder part, I am moving toward becoming a producer of tweets.  Why didn’t I do it earlier?  Because I didn’t want to be irritating, and let’s face it, it’s a running joke about “Tweeps who Tweet” obsessively.  But, it’s hard to ignore the success that companies are having by utilizing Twitter.  One of my all-time Marketing Gurus, Guy Kawasaki, has made such impressive use of the medium and has over 200,000 followers, which has admittedly fueled his company nicely.

As I said, I am a newbie and just starting to get my feet wet, but if you are looking to start or enhance a social media campaign, Twitter – just like Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and many others – should be part of the mix.  I am not yet positioned to give any advice on how best to approach it, but here is some of what I am reading:

http://tiny.cc/tfsfn (Twitter 101)

http://tiny.cc/zyewj (How to Use Twitter as a Twool)

http://tiny.cc/tqaaj (How to Use Twitter for Marketing)

http://tiny.cc/fx9mu (Book on using Facebook: Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day, by Chris Treadaway and Mari Smith (Author)

http://tiny.cc/exvi0 (General Social Media Book: Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, by Erik Qualman)

Cloud File Storage

By Kurt Baumann

The Apple iPad certainly has its fans and critics, and I, for one, am a fan.  I know, I know…there isn’t any flash, multitasking, or USB available.  But I find I can do many of the things I had before done on my laptop, and my iPad is just easy to have, use and take along.  When I am actually creating files, I prefer my laptop, but much of the time I am in consumption mode (reading emails, Web pages or files) and the iPad fits the bill.  That aside, the iPad all of a sudden seems to have shed some light on storage services that were previously available and, all of a sudden, seem shiny and new.

Because the iPad, along with other tablet computers, smartphones and netbooks have a lack of storage (for tablets, it’s usually 64 GB or less) and (often) file systems, cloud storage will become the primary storage for these devices.  Additionally Sync services will see growth as a result of these devices, because it becomes confusing which files are the most recent versions when you are accessing files from multiple devices.

Another market area that is likely to see growth from the introduction of these devices is enterprise-grade Storage as a Service Providers (sometimes called Enterprise Cloud File Services) that integrate into the corporate environment.  Unlike consumers, the enterprise will demand security, backup, and ease of sharing among team members.  AIS Network will be offering its Enterprise Cloud File in the following months.  We would love to hear from you on what features you, our customers, would like to see.  Feel free to send me email at kdb@aisn.net.

Consumer Cloud-Based Storage Providers: divShare, Carbonite, Box.net , and Dropbox

Consumer Sync Providers: SugarSync, MobileMe

A Bright Future for the Cloud

Posted by: Jay Atkinson

The future looks bright for managed hosting providers that offer cloud computing. A December report from the industry analysts at Gartner, Inc., indicates that by 2012, at least 35 percent of U.S. midmarket businesses (100 to 999 employees) will purchase cloud computing and IT utility services. That’s considerable.

From an AIS Network standpoint, just as we launch our own cloud computing product this spring, the news couldn’t come at a better time.

Without question, the gravitation toward cloud computing and IT utility services is a natural consequence of the current economic crisis, which is increasingly forcing the IT departments of mid-size businesses to take a hard look at belt tightening measures. Reduce staff? Postpone hires? Turn to IT providers who can offer a better value? Evaluate alternative IT delivery models? For a lot of growing companies, those aging in-house servers that must be replaced represent a big capital expense – just when they can least afford it. As a former CFO and an entrepreneur, I understand all too well the pain that companies feel during these difficult economic times. And, when something as mission-critical as IT is at stake, these are undoubtedly tough decisions.

That’s where cloud computing comes in. The beauty is that cloud computing, by its nature, is a technology solution that offers a clear business benefit. It lowers the high “fixed cost of IT” while increasing the agility, flexibility and scalability of a business’ mission-critical IT infrastructure. There are no servers to buy and manage, because AIS Network does that for you. Even better, you only pay for the computing you use – just as you only pay for the electricity you use. It’s that simple.

Cloud computing may not have high market penetration now, but look out. What we’re witnessing now, I think, is only the beginning of a sea change that will sweep this country over the next five years.

AIS Network’s New Blog: Welcome!

Posted by: Dan Lundahl

This year, we have a new logo, a new Web site, more staff and a new blog. – All that and an even higher commitment to Delivering Mission-Critical Confidence!

Welcome to AIS Network’s new blog. I’d like to use this opportunity to give you a look at some of the changes that 2010 is bringing for AIS Network.

The most significant change is that we’ve added some new talent to our executive team. First and foremost, before adding the new team, I was diligent in making sure that the team shared the philosophy of hands-on, always-available customer service while delivering the best service to our customers. Kurt Baumann, Jay Atkinson, Donna Hemmert and Laurie Head bring that as well as decades of first-rate IT industry experience to the company. We’re enthusiastic to have them on board as we continue to grow and expand our services. Notably, we are in the process of opening an East Coast office in the Washington, DC area.

Also beginning this spring, we will be offering Cloud Hosting among our core product offerings. This is as exciting for us as it is for the clients who have asked to be among the first Cloud Hosting customers at AIS Network. You’ll be hearing more about the offering as we roll it out this spring.

Managed hosting is still our core business. To that end, this year, we are putting greater emphasis on our world-class, personalized service. We’ve always treated the client as No. 1 – just as we would like to be treated. That’s why our clients always get a rapid response from us – by a live technical expert, 24x7x365. And this year, we are going to be raising our visibility as a managed hosting provider that provides personalized client service – a partner who functions seamlessly as a member of your own team. Because we listen to our clients and personalize our service, we can help them create a solution that not only has the potential to lower their internal IT costs but also has the potential to lessen the day-to-day hassle of managing their IT infrastructure. What’s not to like about that?

Our hope is that this blog will provide an “inside baseball” look all that’s going on here at AIS Network. We’ll cover new technologies, trends and business practices. We hope you’ll find the content thought-provoking and useful for your business. And we’d love to hear any suggestions on topics you might like to see. This blog is for you.

Let us know your thoughts and keep returning to read new entries!