As the world turns more and more to XML as a form of data interchange, many products are beginning to export their native data into some form of XML to be consumed by other products.
One emerging XML standard is the XBRL - Extensible Business Reporting Language - see http://www.xbrl.org for more information. Basically, it is a method of being able to output financial information (balance sheet, profit and loss etc) to a format that can be read by other systems.
Some of the biggest names in the software industry are XBRL-enabling their applications - Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Peoplesoft etc. Here's the XBRL data for Microsoft for the 4th quarter of 2004.
We've decided to add XBRL support to Totally as well. Some big names in the financial industry in Australia also speak XBRL - the ANZ, Aussie Home Loans, Bank of QLD to name a few - the the full list here.
How will using XBRL help your business? According to xbrl.org, XBRL can speed up, reduce effort and increase reliability in accounting and auditing tasks. So instead of tediously having to fill out bank forms, just give them an XBRL data file.
This means less work for you (because Totally will generate the required information) and less work for the bank and who knows, the banks may even reduce their fees and charges! ;-) Everyone wins.
Monday, December 13, 2004
"Branding"
More on branding.
http://www.brandingblog.com/2004/11/marketing_in_20.html
This is quite thought provoking. How much it means to you is dependent on how you see your business growing over the next 3-5 years. Are you ready for more online communications with your customers?
You might even think of starting a corporate blog yourself - here, you can give your customers an insight into how you, as a business owner/manager, thinks about your company, its products and services, and how it presents itself to its customers.
There really is too much hype around products and marketing these days. I believe we are becoming quite jaded when we see the latest television commercials. I find myself saying "ho-hum" and quite literally tuning out. That's exactly the opposite of what the advertiser is trying to get me to do!
We all need more truth and honesty, instead of spin and deceit. I believe only those companies that open up and let their customers see them, warts and all, will be successful over the next 3-5 years.
If you've ever thought of new ways to reach your customers, then perhaps the online world is one place you might start looking into. Many options are available to get you started for free - http://www.blogger.com is one.
Anyway, read the article linked to above. I hope it fires your imagination.
http://www.brandingblog.com/2004/11/marketing_in_20.html
This is quite thought provoking. How much it means to you is dependent on how you see your business growing over the next 3-5 years. Are you ready for more online communications with your customers?
You might even think of starting a corporate blog yourself - here, you can give your customers an insight into how you, as a business owner/manager, thinks about your company, its products and services, and how it presents itself to its customers.
There really is too much hype around products and marketing these days. I believe we are becoming quite jaded when we see the latest television commercials. I find myself saying "ho-hum" and quite literally tuning out. That's exactly the opposite of what the advertiser is trying to get me to do!
We all need more truth and honesty, instead of spin and deceit. I believe only those companies that open up and let their customers see them, warts and all, will be successful over the next 3-5 years.
If you've ever thought of new ways to reach your customers, then perhaps the online world is one place you might start looking into. Many options are available to get you started for free - http://www.blogger.com is one.
Anyway, read the article linked to above. I hope it fires your imagination.
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Totally Intelligent Software Systems
Read an article today:
http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/IntelligentSystemsPartI.asp
Intelligent Software Systems are those that present the most used options in a software package, whilst hiding others (although still accessible)
We'll be adding "intelligence" to Totally as soon as is practicable. I can think of a number of uses for it - when you ask for a list of customers, put the most used (or frequently accessed) customers at the top of the list. Saves you having to scroll through them all, especially when they're in alpha order. If you constantly send invoices to "Thomas, Brad" scrolling to the T's in an alpha ordered customer list is going to get on your nerves. Putting "Thomas, Brad" at the top of the list is going to ease the selection process.
More on intelligent software systems later.
http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/IntelligentSystemsPartI.asp
Intelligent Software Systems are those that present the most used options in a software package, whilst hiding others (although still accessible)
We'll be adding "intelligence" to Totally as soon as is practicable. I can think of a number of uses for it - when you ask for a list of customers, put the most used (or frequently accessed) customers at the top of the list. Saves you having to scroll through them all, especially when they're in alpha order. If you constantly send invoices to "Thomas, Brad" scrolling to the T's in an alpha ordered customer list is going to get on your nerves. Putting "Thomas, Brad" at the top of the list is going to ease the selection process.
More on intelligent software systems later.
Totally Customer
Here's the Customer window from a running copy of Totally.
Our customer screen shows general details, billing and shipping addresses, a list of invoices sent, payments received from, documents you've sent, and conversations had with this customer.
The good thing about Totally's design is that we can modify this screen very quickly, and just give you an updated Customer applet. No need to wait for the next version.
Would this suit you? We welcome your feedback.
Our customer screen shows general details, billing and shipping addresses, a list of invoices sent, payments received from, documents you've sent, and conversations had with this customer.
The good thing about Totally's design is that we can modify this screen very quickly, and just give you an updated Customer applet. No need to wait for the next version.
Would this suit you? We welcome your feedback.
Totally Aggregating Data
One of the nice things that we've built into Totally is an automatic aggregation of data items. Whenever you add a new customer who lives in QLD, Totally will add one to the total count of all customers who live in QLD.
Then, when you view the Information Dashboard, you can select your customer thing, and immediately review the numbers you're slowly building up.
For an example, have a look at this screenshot. (Click it to view a large version)
What is this telling us? That most of our customers live in NSW.
And this one.
What is this telling us? That most of our customers found us through word of mouth.
Options such as this are found in really expensive software, and now for the first time, you get it with Totally.
Then, when you view the Information Dashboard, you can select your customer thing, and immediately review the numbers you're slowly building up.
For an example, have a look at this screenshot. (Click it to view a large version)
What is this telling us? That most of our customers live in NSW.
And this one.
What is this telling us? That most of our customers found us through word of mouth.
Options such as this are found in really expensive software, and now for the first time, you get it with Totally.
Small Business Security
If you're a snmall business, and you're connected to the Internet, you need to ensure you're protected from the nasties. Worms, virii, spam, etc.
Here's 10 top areas you need to consider to secure yourself.
http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNCID=35&CIaNID=17248
What other issues do you see as being important?
I'd love to hear what you have to say.
Here's 10 top areas you need to consider to secure yourself.
http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNCID=35&CIaNID=17248
What other issues do you see as being important?
I'd love to hear what you have to say.
Product "Branding" for small businesses
Since this blog is all about reducing costs for small business, I thought it would be worthwhile to look at some other areas of small business that should be addressed.
Today's topic: "Product Branding"
When you see this:
what do you think of? Nike?
There you go. One simple symbol that speaks about the entire company.
Wouldn't it be nice to have something about your company that is instantly recognisable? If you thought branding costs too much, have a read of this.
http://www.brandchannel.com/start1.asp?id=135
We're going to be using this
as our "brand" - whenever you see this, you'll know that its all about "helping small businesses realise and build on their potential" and that "running a business means more than just doing the books"
What sort of symbol or brand could you use to get into the minds of your customers?
Today's topic: "Product Branding"
When you see this:
what do you think of? Nike?
There you go. One simple symbol that speaks about the entire company.
Wouldn't it be nice to have something about your company that is instantly recognisable? If you thought branding costs too much, have a read of this.
http://www.brandchannel.com/start1.asp?id=135
We're going to be using this
as our "brand" - whenever you see this, you'll know that its all about "helping small businesses realise and build on their potential" and that "running a business means more than just doing the books"
What sort of symbol or brand could you use to get into the minds of your customers?
Totally - Thoughts behind it
Totally was born out of small business owners' frustration at having to deal with:
1. expensive software
2. having to buy a copy for every workstation
3. fees for every upgrade
4. a fee for phone support
5. software that only knows about itself
and a whole raft of others.
These points, predominantly, drove the development of Totally. Our mission was to find a way to provide a viable alternative to all the other standalone software programs out there, and sell it for a reasonable price. We think we've achieved that.
Ourt biggest contribution to the bottom line of small businesses is the initial purchase price (free of the "you must buy a copy for every workstation" syndrome) and the optional monthly fee.
We can't afford to just give it away. It is a business management type software, so to leave out some features for the free version would be silly. Small businesses have enough to contend with, without having to "work around" problems that arise simply because the feature is not present or disabled in free versions.
Have a look at Totally's home page for more details.
1. expensive software
2. having to buy a copy for every workstation
3. fees for every upgrade
4. a fee for phone support
5. software that only knows about itself
and a whole raft of others.
These points, predominantly, drove the development of Totally. Our mission was to find a way to provide a viable alternative to all the other standalone software programs out there, and sell it for a reasonable price. We think we've achieved that.
Ourt biggest contribution to the bottom line of small businesses is the initial purchase price (free of the "you must buy a copy for every workstation" syndrome) and the optional monthly fee.
We can't afford to just give it away. It is a business management type software, so to leave out some features for the free version would be silly. Small businesses have enough to contend with, without having to "work around" problems that arise simply because the feature is not present or disabled in free versions.
Have a look at Totally's home page for more details.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)