Alberta Business Marketing

Welcome to the age of the Internet.  I think it is pretty safe to claim this now.  Just look around you and there is no doubt that our online world is just as important as the face-to-face relationships we have.  For some, online is more important.

Cloud Computing For Business

One of the biggest shifts has been in business.  Business is now starting to embrace “the cloud” and the power of online applications.  Need proof, next time you fly, how many printed boarding passes do you notice?  How many people are using the smart phone to store their boarding pass?  More and more everyday.  Big business and small business are leveraging the power of the Internet to run their day-to-day business applications.

Even Microsoft has started to take notice. Well, they have been for a long time, at least 4 years since the first time I heard “Software + Services”.  Businesses across North America are flocking to Microsoft’s Online Solutions.  Many of them are turning to the Microsoft BPOS solution or solutions delivered by Microsoft Partners each day.  The online solutions market is heating up and taking off at an extremely fast pace.

The reality of the market today is that many small businesses are turning to Microsoft BPOS now versus having a server sitting in the back room doing nothing but email.  The next versions of the Microsoft Small Business Server will have a version that is cloud-equipped.  My understanding is that it will do nothing but authenticate your users and store files.  Sounds like a Foundation Server.

Join us for a free webinar

Ulistic is hosting a free webinar on Tuesday to help you get answers to hosting your business applications on the Internet.

Join us on Tuesday, July 20th at Noon Eastern/9 AM Pacific for a no charge 60 minute webinar that is geared to help you get some answers on what online service you should turn to.  Is it Google?  How about Microsoft Office Web Apps? Do you need a CRM?  What sort of backup strategy should I have?

Lots of questions and our goal on Tuesday is to help you get some answers.  Real world answers and the facts about the best online solution for your business.  For the past 6 months, I have been doing my own research, testing out many different online platforms.  We have also installed many different solutions ranging from Google Apps, Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite and Hosted Exchange through one of our partners.  I have had my frustrations to say the least.

I will have these real life stories plus intelligence on what some Calgary business owners have been quoted recently and what you should expect to pay the service you choose.  The truth is this, everyone has an opinion, everyone has a favourite and everyone’s needs and tolerance for techy stuff is different.  What works for some, doesn’t work for others.

It is your decision, I can only share with you what I know.

Register for Is Your Business Ready For The Internet webinar on Tuesday.

Tags: Business IT, Business/Finance, Calgary, Cloud applications, cloud computing, Computing, day-to-day business applications, Everything as a service, Google Inc., Human Interest, Internet culture, microsoft, Microsoft Corporation, microsoft office, Microsoft Partners, North America, Office Web Apps, online applications, online platforms, online solution, Online Solutions, Online Suite, online world, smart phone, smartphone, Software plus services, Technology/Internet, web 2.0, Web applications, Web Apps, Web conferencing, Windows Server, Windows Small Business Server
Posted in CRM | | Comments Off

One of things I miss about not being at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner conference besides not being able to see all my buddies from Microsoft and through the partner channel is all the great announcements that come from this annual pilgrimage from Microsoft Partners.

I tuned into Steve Ballmer’s keynote address on Digital WPC this morning just in time to hear the announcement of Windows 7 Slate amongst all the talk of the cloud (FY2011 is going to rock).  Microsoft is getting into the iPad type game with full force.  I kinda thought they would and no better place to announce it.  WPC I heard has over 14,000 delegates in attendance this year.

If you don’t think the cloud is for real…watch the keynote address from Steve Ballmer.

This will be my only year off from WPC.  I look forward to WPC2011 in Los Angeles.

My good friend and fellow blogger Karim from Techvibes summed up the announcement on his blog.

This year one of the most important things that we will do in the smart device category is really push forward with Windows 7-based slates.

They’ll come with keyboards, they’ll come without keyboards, they’ll be dockable, there’ll be many form factors, many price points, many sizes.  But they will all run Windows 7. They will run Windows 7 applications. They will run Office.

They’ll (the tablets or slates as Ballmer calls them) come from the people you would expect — from Asus, from Dell, from Samsung, from Toshiba, from Sony.

I can’t wait to see one and compare it to my iPad.  I do love my iPad but it has limitations when it comes to working on documents.  If the Slate will run Office, I may just switch.  After all, Office is the make or break application for me.

What do you think?  Leave a comment.

Tags: Blogger, Computing, iPad, microsoft, Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft Partners, Technology/Internet, World Wide Web
Posted in Alberta Business | | Comments Off

I found out this morning that a very good friend and colleague was a victim of the latest round of cutbacks across the Microsoft Partner Network.

My good buddy Robert Dutt from CRN Canada reported that long time channel program manager for the Microsoft Partner Network, Carol Terentiak has parted way with the Mississauga crew.

I found by accident when contacting Carol and another colleague this morning at Microsoft Canada, who informed me prior to getting the Google Alert.

During my tenure as IAMCP Canada President, Carol was there for me and the entire team.  She made sure everything was taken care of.  Her commitment to the Partner Program and now Partner Network was second-to-none.  I sometimes have to shake my head at the decisions made at large organizations.  Carol was a gem and still is…she was the type of person who would respond to your emails and return your phone calls.  That doesn’t happen much in these large companies (well doesn’t happen in small ones either).

I wish you luck Carol in your next steps…

Your Friend

Stuart

Tags: Carol Terentiak, crn canada, Google Inc., iamcp canada, long time channel program manager, microsoft canada, Microsoft Corporation, President, robert dutt, Stuart's ramblings
Posted in Alberta Business | | Comments Off

Thank you to everyone for all the emails lately.  Many of you who have been used to getting my blog posts delivered via email have emailed me concerned about the slow down or the drop off in the frequency of the emails.  Thanks for that.  The reality is this, I have just been very busy.

Ulistic is growing and expanding.  We have welcomed Frank Allen as one of our sales reps and are currently in discussions with another amazing person who will become a vital component of our team just like Frank.  Ulistic is blossoming into a Internet consulting firm across Canada and the United States.

Next week, David and I are heading back down to Los Angeles for a couple of days and then come home right in the middle of Stampede.  No Microsoft WPC for me this year. Going to miss seeing everyone who I have become friends with in the Microsoft community but it will also be great to spend a week networking in the Calgary business community.

All is well with me.  Trying to get back into my routine of working out, working on the business and working on my own personal goals and family.  It is truly a fine balance.  I haven’t even watched much World Cup Soccer.  Football however during the month of June kept us busy and it will again come August.  Football even reduced me business networking where I had to just pop in to say hi to those colleagues in a local Calgary Oil and Gas Meetup group.

All is well…just busy.

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Ulistic focuses on serving the needs of Canadian Small Business, REALTORS, and Information Technology firms across Canada and United States. Helping your business understand, deploy and leverage social media, search engine optimization and online communications to generate business opportunities and make an impact inside your community and industry.

My business partner David and I are business professionals first. We understand what it takes to run a successful small business.

I invite you to reach out to me personally at 403.775.2205 or email Stuart at scrawford@ulistic.com.

Tags: business networking, Calgary, canada, Human Interest, Internet activism, Internet Consulting, Los Angeles, Meetup.com, Microsoft Corporation, Online social networking, Stuart's ramblings, technology, United States, week networking, World Cup
Posted in Alberta Business | | Comments Off

Our clients at Ulistic challenge us from time to time.  Encouraging us to think outside the box when it comes to functionality with their online marketing, blogging and social media.  I would like to believe that my 15 years of experience as a Calgary IT consultant helps me understand how things work technically and then I love to put my creative layer over top and see where things go.  It is pretty cool and without great clients to push us…we would never be where Ulistic is today.  Thank You.

Blogging platforms are a dime a dozen.  Everyone has their favourite.  For me, when it comes to blogging platforms, WordPress is a hands down winner. I have used Blogger, TypePad and a wealth of other options and personally I haven’t used a platform that is as feature-rich plus offers the ease of use many small business marketing professionals are craving for with all of their online marketing solutions.

During a recent Internet Marketing Coaching call with one of our clients in Tampa, FL. I was challenged by them to add particular functionality to help with getting their message out online.  They needed to add a signature component at the end of each blog post so they don’t have to constantly type in a calls-to-action or quick blurbs about their business.  Sounded pretty simple and with my experience I knew WordPress would already have something I could recommend to my client.

The WordPress community did not disappoint.

I stumbled upon this great new plugin for WordPress which met our client’s need.  The FT Signature plugin designed by FullThrottle Development offered everything they  and we were looking for to meet this particular requirement but all now we have something we can use with all of our fully-managed online marketing clients.

The FT Signature plugin provides bloggers and clients of Ulistic, the ability to append a signature file at the end of each of their posts.  Just like you would with Microsoft Outlook.  You will see a great example of the FT Signature plugin in action at the end of this post.

It is customizable with a bit of HTML knowledge and can be turned on or off when you are composing your blog post.  This is a pretty powerful plugin for the WordPress platform.

If you haven’t heard of FullThrottle before, they provide full service web development in Raleigh, NC. Thanks to the team at FullThrottle for helping us out.

Learn more about how to automatically insert your signature on a WordPress blog today.

________________________________

Ulistic focuses on serving the needs of Canadian Small Business, REALTORS, and Information Technology firms across Canada and United States. Helping your business understand, deploy and leverage social media, search engine optimization and online communications to generate business opportunities and make an impact inside your community and industry.

My business partner David and I are business professionals first. We understand what it takes to run a successful small business.

I invite you to reach out to me personally at 403.775.2205 or email Stuart at scrawford@ulistic.com.

Tags: Blog software, Business/Finance, Calgary IT consultant, Computing, Content management systems, florida, FullThrottle Development, HTML, Microsoft Corporation, North Carolina, online marketing clients, online marketing solutions, Online Solutions, PHP programming language, Raleigh, recent Internet Marketing Coaching call, social media, tampa, Technology/Internet, ulistic, web development, wordpress, World Wide Web
Posted in Online Marketing | | Comments Off