Posts
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Picnik.com: Great online photo editor
I tried a few things on Picnik and it works GREAT. Not slow when you consider that its online and has lots of features, without much complication.
I reached here, thanks to StumbleUpon and this great post
10 Free Web-based Alternatives to Photoshop
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Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Social CRM... be careful.
With the launch of Siebel 8.1.1 and innumerable discussion / blogs across the web community, the Social CRM (or CRM 2.0) has suddenly come to a
limelight... so much that it almost looks like a "classic bubble"... getting
bigger by day, and possibly waiting to burst if we dont be careful (and help our
customers to do so too!!)
Every company and every CRM consultant is now saying that "Social CRM" is
the future, and, it is to an extent. Our employees and our customers are
incresingly getting used to product reviews, company reviews, chats, blogs,
twitters, gadgets, widgets and the RSS feeds. And its fair that they will expect
the same environment on the work or while they buy something.
the future, and, it is to an extent. Our employees and our customers are
incresingly getting used to product reviews, company reviews, chats, blogs,
twitters, gadgets, widgets and the RSS feeds. And its fair that they will expect
the same environment on the work or while they buy something.
But this is not a reason to go overboard on Social CRM investment..
especially the IT investment. We need to evaluate "each option" in Social crm
very carefully.
especially the IT investment. We need to evaluate "each option" in Social crm
very carefully.
Here are a few things i could pull out of my hat:
What does your company sell.. to whom?
There is no point in having a Consumer Discussion Board for a company which
sells industrial adhesives... When you buy any machine / product, do you really
care which adhesive is used in the production? And if the anser is a big "NO"
(or better.. "do they use adhesives... why?") then there is no reason why that
company should run a forum for end consumers anyway!!
sells industrial adhesives... When you buy any machine / product, do you really
care which adhesive is used in the production? And if the anser is a big "NO"
(or better.. "do they use adhesives... why?") then there is no reason why that
company should run a forum for end consumers anyway!!
So it makes more sense in B2C companies or some companies that produce end
consumer products but sell it to Businesses (CPG industry for that matter)
consumer products but sell it to Businesses (CPG industry for that matter)
Social CRM... for whom?
When you plan for a Social CRM strategy, you need to think whom are you
targeting through it? Is it your employees (if yes is it higher management, your
sales staff, your service staff, your own support staff?) or your Partners or
actually the customers. The tool type, display content, data security and
targeting entirely depends on who is going to use it and WHAT'S IN IT FOR THE
ORGANISATION & THE USER!
targeting through it? Is it your employees (if yes is it higher management, your
sales staff, your service staff, your own support staff?) or your Partners or
actually the customers. The tool type, display content, data security and
targeting entirely depends on who is going to use it and WHAT'S IN IT FOR THE
ORGANISATION & THE USER!
You need to take a "hard-look" at these things otherwise the CRM 2.0 just
becomes a money-drain just because it looks "cool" on the new iPhone and some of your already
spoilt employees love it.
becomes a money-drain just because it looks "cool" on the new iPhone and some of your already
spoilt employees love it.
What is the activity?
CRM has three main pillers: Marketing, Sales and Service. (Arguably the
forth one PRM!). You need to take a call on which piller you are targeting
through the Social CRM strategy. In true sense, you should try to touch your
customer to enable them give valuable feedback. But other functions like
Marketing and Sales are also equally ciritcal. Best practice would be to combine
all three into a bunch of tools and make them available for the customers..
easier said than done!!
forth one PRM!). You need to take a call on which piller you are targeting
through the Social CRM strategy. In true sense, you should try to touch your
customer to enable them give valuable feedback. But other functions like
Marketing and Sales are also equally ciritcal. Best practice would be to combine
all three into a bunch of tools and make them available for the customers..
easier said than done!!
How do you track down the Internet?
Hearing to customer chatter on the web and proactively reaching out to them
to convert their grivances into opportunities to make them loyal >> sounds
good. very good. But how much of this is "process" and how much is "system". I
look at this piece more of a proess, where the "human" tough is paramount not
the systems. If you have a system that can help you track that easily...
great... but do you really think you need to develop all this yourself when its
already available free with great search engines, alerts, twitter analytical
engines and what not! What's important is what do you do with the amount of
noice you can already hear.. how do you reach to the customers and truely
resolve their grivances.
to convert their grivances into opportunities to make them loyal >> sounds
good. very good. But how much of this is "process" and how much is "system". I
look at this piece more of a proess, where the "human" tough is paramount not
the systems. If you have a system that can help you track that easily...
great... but do you really think you need to develop all this yourself when its
already available free with great search engines, alerts, twitter analytical
engines and what not! What's important is what do you do with the amount of
noice you can already hear.. how do you reach to the customers and truely
resolve their grivances.
Data or Junk?
Now consider opening the flood gates of blogs, forums, chatting, picture
sharing, video sharing.. within months you are going to store terrabytes of
data... have you figured out what to do with all that data (or junk). do you
intend to store each of this data in your CRM system against each customer /
prospect / member.... i would say BAD IDEA.
sharing, video sharing.. within months you are going to store terrabytes of
data... have you figured out what to do with all that data (or junk). do you
intend to store each of this data in your CRM system against each customer /
prospect / member.... i would say BAD IDEA.
So catching hold of the "Right Data" and using it in your CRM is much
harder than it seems when you collect all that data!!
harder than it seems when you collect all that data!!
With this, i take a pause to my long drown narration.
I love social CRM (the fact that i am writing this in blog and not it a
mail is telling itself)! But the key is not to go overboard only because its the
"in-thing"!
mail is telling itself)! But the key is not to go overboard only because its the
"in-thing"!
Your comments are highly valuable!
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Monday, November 24, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Google Search in India on SMS!!
[Via TekRaja]
A great news for those, who don't have the enabled phone in India : Now
you can search Google via SMS and that without paying any premium charges!
Just sent your queries to 9-77-33-00000 and get
information about cricket scores, Indian Railways train schedules &
ticket status, horoscopes, movie showtimes, restaurant information and
more. To get started sms "help" to 9-77-33-00000.
The best side of this service : you will be n't charged @ Rs. 3/- like
other similar services. Just pay standard SMS charge and enjoy the SMS
search.
To see the query format visit this page. Here, you can try an interactive demo too, and view results just as they'd appear on your phone as SMS.
Cheers!
Related :
Sphere: Related Content
A great news for those, who don't have the enabled phone in India : Now
you can search Google via SMS and that without paying any premium charges!
Just sent your queries to 9-77-33-00000 and get
information about cricket scores, Indian Railways train schedules &
ticket status, horoscopes, movie showtimes, restaurant information and
more. To get started sms "help" to 9-77-33-00000.
The best side of this service : you will be n't charged @ Rs. 3/- like
other similar services. Just pay standard SMS charge and enjoy the SMS
search.
To see the query format visit this page. Here, you can try an interactive demo too, and view results just as they'd appear on your phone as SMS.
Cheers!
Related :
- Send Free Picture SMS
- How to get alerts of new e-mails for FREE
- How to get more than 250 Tweets per week from Twitter
- Google SMS Channel : Free Group SMS service
- Post Tweets via SMS at Cheaper rates
- CAT scores via SMS and e-mails
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Thursday, November 20, 2008
Dilbert on Internet time wasters!!
This is the condition i get into so many times...
not that i am proud of it.. but funny.
Sphere: Related Content
not that i am proud of it.. but funny.
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
CleanAfterMe: Good tool to go invisible
Copied from techraja
CleanAfterMe is a small tool which helps you in deleting all types of traces and logs from the computer.
The features of CleanAfterMe :
- Deletes files and Registry entries that are automatically
created by the Windows. - Cleans Cookies, History, Cache, Passwords of Internet Explorer.
- 'Recent' folder, the Registry entries that record the last opened files.
- Temporary folder of Windows, the event logs, the Recycle Bin, and more.
Now, the Best thing about CleanAfterMe : CleanAfterMe is a portable application.
Hence, You can carry it with your USB drive and run it without any installation and without leaving any trace in the
Registry.
So, carry it with your pendrive and use it when you have to work on a shared or public computer. It deletes all your logs and traces and keeps your activities and data private.
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Battery & Charging: Anyone really innovating?
Every time my cell-phone goes dead or my battery shows red signal, i wonder why there is absolutely no improvement in the battery life in past decade?
We have gone from b/w screens to color screens and not touch screens. We have improved from basic call / text messages to real time internet access... but where is the battery support for all these features.
We all saw what happened to iPhone 3G as compared to old iPhone... the battery life sucks.
The story is not too different with Laptops.. most of them give 3 hours backup time when they are "brand new" but as you start doing some serious work on it, within months the life comes down to 1 hour or even less. (Seriously, i have some friends who cannot use the laptop if the power is not supplied continuously... which defeats the purpose of having a laptop in the first place)
Sphere: Related Content
We have gone from b/w screens to color screens and not touch screens. We have improved from basic call / text messages to real time internet access... but where is the battery support for all these features.
We all saw what happened to iPhone 3G as compared to old iPhone... the battery life sucks.
The story is not too different with Laptops.. most of them give 3 hours backup time when they are "brand new" but as you start doing some serious work on it, within months the life comes down to 1 hour or even less. (Seriously, i have some friends who cannot use the laptop if the power is not supplied continuously... which defeats the purpose of having a laptop in the first place)
- So my question is, why are there no new advancements in the battery technology?
- why does it still take 2-3 hours to charge the battery? If the storage space can go from 1mb to 20gb in 5 years, why does the battery talk time go from 1 hour to 20 hours?
- Are our researchers too concentrated in solving the storage problems and ignoring the energy problem?
- We talk about Global Warming 1000 times a day, then is it rocket science that if we can change the charging technology and make our devices use less power for more time, it will save our earth (i know i am stretching the too far, but i really mean it!!
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Odiogo.com: Text to Speech RSS.. real time
I was reading a marketing related blog and found a link
Thought looks interesting and landed up on odiogo.com...
Still to explore it fully but looks cool and this is something that i was looking for, for a while.
I use NaturalVoiceReader for almost 3 years as i am too lazy to read myself and generally can make more sense of documents if someone read it for me and i just keep an eye over the text..
Hope i will use this more often and will come back with a complete review.
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Friday, November 7, 2008
Timeboxing
I have been hearing about Time-Boxing... and may be doing it sometimes...This is a good article which talks about in detail!!
I wish i will be able to do this effectively... at times i tend to linger and read too many things which are relevant, alright, but takes too much time than the importance of it to me and to my organization..
good opportunity to stop it and start TimeBoxing
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Selling Wisdom
Jonathan Farrington’s blog is always packed with incredibly valuable wisdom that any sales manager or business owner can use.
Now he’s packed all the best of his posts and those contributed by others into a nice, neat e-Book that you can download and take with you.
If you’re leading a sales effort and you want to be sure
you’ve got your eyes wide open to potential challenges and
opportunities, I highly recommend giving this a read!
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Tuesday, November 4, 2008
BusinessListening.Com
Cool site.. has some interesting material on how to listen! Highly useful at office as well as at home
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Monday, October 27, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Self Portrait: This is Imagination
This is a beautiful picture by Enzo Maisano on 
And he was kind enough to share the setup as well.
Sphere: Related Content
And he was kind enough to share the setup as well.
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Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Social Technology Ladder
Found this very interesting!!
Copied from one of the forrester blogs .. here is the link
Sphere: Related Content
Copied from one of the forrester blogs .. here is the link
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Friday, October 17, 2008
Live Trains: Lovely experiment
http://www.swisstrains.ch/
Its an alpha version of a real-time train map. Tracking the Swiss train system, SwissTrains gives
you a glimpse of the trains as they make their way around Zurich and
surroundings.
The red circles marked with an S represent the trains,
while the red squares make up the stations. Clicking on any station
reveals a schedule with arrival and departure times.
If you click on a
moving train and click follow in the drop down menu, you’ll get a
bird’s eye view with satellite images of the train as it
traverses the country.
Street names and stations are listed as well in
the hybrid map view.
Its a beautiful example of a live-meshup.
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Monday, October 13, 2008
Financial Crisis Cartoons
Looking at the cartoons through a cartoonist's eyes:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26761901/displaymode/1107/framenumber/1/s/2/
Sphere: Related Content
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26761901/displaymode/1107/framenumber/1/s/2/
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