The Blog - Archive for sme

27 Aug 2010

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ContactZilla Client Interview

by Sarah Bale

We recently launched ContactZilla, an easy to use Contact Management system, and we thought it was time to get some feedback. The good, the bad and the ugly, we wanted it all! And who better to help us on our journey for continuous improvement than Nigel Legg, social media and social CRM consultant.

“It does not have a traditional CRM system look and feel (white screen, grey boxes, spreadsheets of history). It’s very clean, clear, simple, easy to use, easy to find your way around the screen.”

“I mean what I say on my website, I really think it is the best product around of its kind.”

Click here to read the full interview.

23 Jul 2010

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The brand journey of our new product

by Mark P.

We’re getting ready to launch a new product; very exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. We’ve been working really hard on getting everything in order technically and visually. The branding process has been interesting for sure and we’re very happy with the outcome so far.

We want to go for something fun and memorable, with a Studio Ghibli feel. Serene colouring and simple outlines. We’re happy so far.

Below you can see the process that we’ve gone through to get to the final ContactZilla character… A lot of fun has been had, with more to come.

20 Jul 2010

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Grow your greener business success

by Sarah H.

Is our attitude to the environment in danger of becoming vuvuzela background noise – a constant drone that we filter out? Reducing the environmental impact of business and industry has been on the agenda for decades. Ten years ago, it was still quite easy to ignore and it has taken the big stick of legislation to make businesses respond.

The need to demonstrate sound environmental practices is being pushed further and further down the supply chain by larger organisations and by the public sector. As we have clients in both those categories, making sure we have an environmental management policy place is crucial.

But we are small company in the services sector, so do we have an environmental impact?

Maybe not the kind of impact that a chemicals giant or a metal bashing business would have, but we use energy, computer and office consumables and we travel to work – so yes, we do. And we would like to see if we can save on the bottom line – and be more competitive by qualifying for extra brownie points when bidding for new business.

Does this mean we need full ISO14000 accreditation?

Well no, at least not at this stage. ISO14000 is the international quality standard for environmental practice. Accreditation requires external assessment on an ongoing basis and is expensive. For the time being, this is a bridge too far. We have opted for putting an environmental policy in place that is monitored, reviewed and updated internally.

So what does our policy say?

In outline, we “copied with pride” by looking at other people’s environmental policies and following the guidance on the Business Link website and the Envirowise website

But of course the policy has to be ours to live up to. We assessed the areas in which the company has an impact and where we thought we could improve, for example by looking at what we buy as office consumables and what we do with office waste. The result is a straightforward policy statement with the undertaking to monitor for continuous improvement.

As far as the impact of our travel to work goes, we are fortunate that most of us can and do cycle to work. However, for many companies this is not the case. Carrying our a travel to work survey and reviewing ways of reducing commuting and business miles can really make a difference. For example, using video conferencing can save huge amounts of time and travel costs for a business. Encouraging car sharing and putting in cycle racks and shower facilities can help individuals to save on fuel and reduce congestion. Check out the Bike2Work Scheme. This can be a good incentive for employers and employees to encourage cycling to work.

And why is it important?

Skeptics might view setting up an environmental policy as merely a “box ticking” exercise carried out to support the bidding process. That would be an injustice. It led us to think constructively about our business consumerism and any waste products. It has also raised awareness amongst staff, both at work and on a domestic level. Most importantly, it will help us to stay competitive and win lucrative business.

Thanks to V-2 for use of their image

15 Jul 2010

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Is Facebook your next CMS?

by Mark P.

When Tom and I first started Simpleweb our mission was to create “process driven websites” that retained quality, accessibility and value. We feel that we succeeded. Our own CMS was easy to use for users and simple to administer.

Three years later and things have moved on; a lot. WordPress is almost the universal CMS for small websites. With more and more business’s seeing the need for keeping their users up to-date. WordPress is making big inroads into SME websites as well, even the government is getting in on the action.

Smaller business’s though have had a notoriously hard time since the beginning of the web boom. They usually can’t afford a “proper” web designer/developer or digital agency, so either settle for a site through a student web designer; which can be great aesthetically, but usually there’s no support or updates and they become hugely frustrating. Even worse than this is the dreaded “site in a box”. Usually £199 for everything that you need for your online business or for giving you a migraine… Arrrggghh!

Is their a solution? We think so. Pretty much everybody knows how to use Facebook. Over half a billion users and growing, with anyone being able to set a up a “fan page”; a website inside of Facebook.

Setting up a fan page is easy and it gives you a way to post articles, events, quick updates, photo’s and videos. More importantly it lets you tap into an existing audience and grow a community around you and your business. It’s an online “neighborhood” if you like!

The downside to a fan page is that it’s inside Facebook. What we really need is visibility of this content outside of Facebook while keeping all of the benefits of a familiar system. No more learning bespoke or clunky technology. We already know how to use Facebook.

What’s needed then is a website that sits outside of Facebook, somehow connected to the one inside of Facebook. Recently Facebook has released an API called Open Graph. It lets web developers connect directly into the inner workings of Facebook so that we can pull and push information and data. All of which means building a website outside of Facebook populated with all of your daily content such as news and photos is now a viable option. You don’t ever need to worry about keeping your website up to date again.

By creating the best of both worlds, we have a website that has a nice web address, looks good, is easy to find by Google and a piece of cake to update.

For a single product or service based business we can’t think of a better alternative for providing businesses with a professional way to advertise online and create traffic, community and sales. Larger business’s are already tapping into this by creating microsites, small spinoffs from their larger websites.

These “connected” websites can also have Youtube, Flickr, Google maps and other existing services, creating a true socially connected website that can do so much more than traditional websites.

We’ve recently built some of our own:

13 Jul 2010

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Is Basecamp the Project Management tool for me?

by Sarah Bale

There are so many tools out there targeted at small businesses it is sometimes hard to know where to start. Coming from a very large corporate myself, and having only been with Simpleweb for three months, I was very new to all of the tools on offer and to having the flexibility to change what you used if something better came along! I was also new to the concept that there are tools out there that can actually help you achieve your goals! A lot of the tools I had come across previously, sadly formed part of a box ticking exercise and were seen by the majority as more of a hindrance than a helping hand.

Basecamp was one of the first tools I was introduced to when I started. “Have a look around and then start a new project” Mark said. What?! No 3 hour webex and an exam to pass before I am let loose? (I wish I was exaggerating!) What kind of project management tool is this?! Within about 10 minutes I had the answer to my question. It is the project management tool for everybody.

What Does it Do?

Over the past 3 months I am not ashamed to say that I have become completely addicted to Basecamp, and it is now very much a part of my daily routine. It is simple, yet effective and tells me everything I need to know at the start of a day.

Instead of emailing different people and having discrepancies over what was said/when/who knew etc (which we all know happens FAR too often across projects), you message people through Basecamp and everything is saved in one place. When you send a message you choose who you want to see it, attach any files and it will automatically be emailed to the relevant people with everything then saved in Basecamp. It keeps all of the project notes and attachments centralized so everyone is always kept in the loop and any new people to the project/managers wanting a high level view, can quickly catch up.

You can do all the normal things you should be able to do with a Project Management tool – to-do lists with owners and timelines, milestones, track time, but they are done publicly on Basecamp and therefore agreed at that specific time. Everyone knows the timelines, milestones and owners and therefore there is no room for “miscommunication.”

At Simpleweb we work with a number of different clients, from the Government to Sole Traders and therefore we need to use a tool that everyone can use from day one without wasting precious time on training.

Multiple Projects

One of the key features we love about Basecamp is the way it handles multiple projects. We can often be working on a number of projects at once and therefore it is important for Mark and Tom to be able to quickly see an overview of all projects. What is going on with each project, when the next milestone is, and who is involved so they can manage our resources efficiently. Basecamp enables them to do this.

Extra Features

There are a large number of extra features that you can add in to tailor Basecamp to your specific business requirements. These range from iPhone apps to more detailed reporting tools, invoicing and billing tools and even chat (through Campfire). Most of which are costed individually but give you a free trial and can be integrated into Basecamp. This is great because it makes it harder for you to “Grow out of.” As you grow as a business, so can your project management tool.

Is it for me?

As much as I have unknowingly become a Basecamp evangelist, I am in no way suggesting this tool alone will solve all project management needs for all businesses. We use Basecamp in conjunction with Omniplan which enables us to visualise projects with Gantt charts, and we find that this works best for us and our clients. Each company will obviously be different depending on your clientele, the nature and number of projects you are involved in at any one time and the service/product you offer. I also appreciate that I may be slightly biased because I have gone from one extreme to the other, missing out the tools in the “middle” which maybe add some real value to the world of project management in a way that I am yet to appreciate. I cannot help but think however, that for what we, as a small business, need it for, nothing could be any simpler and why would we want to make it any more complicated?