DeMetter.com - minding your business

Umbraco Gold Partner: Open Source just died

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:47:26 +0100

Yesterday one of the weirdest messages I have had in recent years came flying into my mailbox. Umbraco - the popular open source CMS software - was announcing the Gold Partner status. Being one of the most certified (Dutch) companies this was good news. Having experience with being a Microsoft Partner, that program really adds to your status and helps your developers work with the tools they promote.

But this time, my reaction was different. I could not believe my eyes…

Usually the status ‘Gold’ means really good, excellent and experienced development. You need extra competencies to reach that level and not every company can be ‘that good’. Here, it said the only difference was that a partner puts down a ridicoulous amount of money each year. I was flabbergasted.

There’s nothing wrong with supporting the Umbraco crew, in fact I am in favour of this. But the amount of money stated was like nothing I have ever seen before. Not even Microsoft would dare to ask this for their Gold Partner program. Next to that, it would not add anything to the reliability of the Partner, as the company could have less skills than a normal partner.

With the Microsoft Partner program you will get support FROM Microsoft to promote their products and use them as your basic tools. It is a win-win with both the vendor and the partner teaming up in developing all tools and making solutions from them. It isn’t used to pay Microsoft to develop their products.

We are building a huge package at the moment which would be a major add-on for the member section. As Umbraco is open-source our intention was to give it to the community, as we think this would really add to the product and would help out others who helped us with their packages. This is not your regular package, what we are building is huge. Yesterday’s message may have pursuaded me to commercialize on this product, so we can pay the Gold status from that. This is not what we want, we want to share, but if our competitors are stated as Gold we may be forced to. In my opinion, this move can kill the open-source thought which has made the Umbraco community strong.

Now, dear Umbraco, I know you guys are great at coding. You are great at functionality. You have built up a great community over the years… but your marketing still sucks. Please hire someone to do this properly, or if you did hire someone to invent this Gold Partner status, please fire him. There is only one profession that tells you how good you are when you put down money and you don’t deserve to be associated with that. Please fix this mistake.

When Time is Up

Sat, 18 Sep 2010 07:51:39 +0200

As an entrepreneur you will encounter all different stages with your company, but more important also your own. As your company grows you will find yourself with more work and less time at the same moment. That’s not a bad thing, just something you have to cope with and reorganize within your own work process.

The next step you take is usually getting the tools to work faster, know more and be efficient. Your employees register their own hours and are highly self-employed with work as they become more experienced within their jobs as well. Being an engineer scholar I entrusted my people with all operational tasks and project work, restricting myself to being an entrepreneur, project manager and salesperson.

When all operational work is off your desk you will have time to think again. That’s when you notice you’re doing a lot of stuff you’re not supposed to: administration, telephone calls, putting stamps on the invoices and ordering stuff. Next to this - but you don’t miss it when you don’t have it - is accounting, legal and debtors management. Slowly you’re spending more and more time learning about this and - as this is not what you’ve been trained for - getting mediocre stuff off the shelve. This is the time to get yourself a good accountant and legal advisor (doesn’t have to be a lawyer at first).

Fast forward to my situation today, still left with the office work, project management and sales. Now this has become a too big of a job for one person alone. You still try to be smart, manage things differently, try to automate, but all what’s left is human work. Well, better get the ‘dirty work’ off my shoulders now and get an office manager / secretary. This should offload the unstructured phonecalls, arrangement of meetings and putting the stamps on the invoices.

Every step along the way there’s should be a cost/benefit analysis of your situation. There are no predefined steps as each improvement should fit the company, entrepreneur and situation at the same time - you might need a secretary from the start - but there are always ways to increase your playtime and offload you with less important stuff.

There’s always one major factor that can accellerate or limit your company’s growth more than anything else; and that factor is YOU. So when time is up take a break to think straight again… and reorganize.

Golf is good for business!

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 07:25:32 +0200

Last week I had an amazing golf experience. With two tournaments lining up on Thursday and Friday, this would be the end of the summer events and one last shot to see how much has been improved in my game this year. Then it happened… due to bad weather both tournaments were cancelled.

This left me back at the office with time to spend, two days in a row. You have to know that is a scary thought, as my schedule usually doesn’t allow me to do much of my own stuff. Well, let’s clean some stuff up I though.

Spending the first day literally throwing everything away made me realize how much junk was in my office. Even stuff from 2002 was in my archive cabinet as printing out was still pretty popular at that time. Seeing all this paper go down the drain made me realize I needed a digital office; no more printing out.

The next it was my laptop and business software’s turn. Clean all up, archive, discard things that aren’t relevant anymore. Spending your day like this will make you realize junk is not restricted to ‘the real world’ alone.

One of the most important changes the cleanup made for me was the realization I do not want to print out documents anymore. I will keep them digital and will make my notes digital. Next to that, I don’t want anymore stuff to move into my office as - at one point - it has to be carried out as well. How much stuff do you really need? When you think of this, a lot of things in your house and office don’t make sense or serve a need at that moment. When you’re done with it, sell it or throw it away, don’t keep large basements.

Wow, I’m really satisfied with my office now. Let’s play a game of golf to celebrate it…

Second half 2010 a (Google) Wave for IT companies?

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 07:47:30 +0200

2010 has been an interesting year so far. Recession can still be felt, although some companies - like my own - seem to thrive during this period. Traditional sectors seem to be caught by the distress much worse, which will cause them to cut back personnel and expenses. Next to that, they seem to increase spending on IT for more flexibility and efficiency.

The IT companies are on a wave right now, but is this good or not? Having to increase the amount of resources will cause investments to be made, while clients knocking at the door will take larger terms to pay the goods. This will bring a lot of IT companies to the ever growing risk of cashflow shortage. Unless you’ve seen the bad times before, chances are young entrepreneurs may not have the reserves and will be caught in a bad spot.

It will be interesting to see how smaller IT companies will cope with this. You can have a healthy company with loads of clients, but when you don’t have cashflow you’re at the mercy of the banks or the tax office. Cashflow shortage is one of the biggest threats of every enterprise. But what will happen to the companies expecting their software? They will suffer yet another loss when the IT company goes broke and will set back their efficiency some months or years. Still, most companies will opt for a slower payment.

Fact is, most clients see their IT companies as a supplies, which in most cases they are. But when their core business processes are automated by that company they will need those experience and skills to survive, whether they will like it or not. When your company is in the last category, better treat your IT company as a partner instead of a supplier. A body can’t move (easily) without its legs and cannot make new things without its arms. IT has become just in the last 10 years.

So what will it be for the second half of 2010? Will it be like riding on a wave, or will it be like Google Wave? I actually think IT companies can choose themselves. There is no shortage of work for the small to midsized ISV’s and when you’re not on the cowmarket (putting peope at the client’s office and expecting money for that, regardless of result) you should be good. It now comes down to the managerial skills of the often young(er) entrepreneurs.

It will be interesting to see who’s going to ride the wave… and who will be under it.

Project Management 2010

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 13:19:48 +0200

Ladies and gentlemen, I have seen the future. Being an EPM Live partner we got to see the early scoop of their new 2010 project management solution called WorkEngine.

Sure, you’re a partner you will say, so you have to sell it whether you like it or not. Wrong. As an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) we seek to implement the very best 3rd party products for our clients and will not be limited to just one supplier. We do however make a strong selection of the ones which we want to offer in the first place. Being very enthusiastic of what I have seen so far I think it is mandatory for anyone related to project management to take a good look at this product.

Last year, EPM Live was being named the global Microsoft EPM Partner of the year for a fourth year in a row. This year, EPM Live has been introduced into the Gartner PPM Quadrant as one of the 25 best project solutions available. Next to that, the product has had the most new clients of all project solutions in 2009. Now these are some facts that count.

With their new concept of WorkEngine 2010 they have taken the product to a whole new level. The product has been built on top of the new Sharepoint 2010 platform and uses all capabilities, added with some nifty features of their own. With the 2007 version just being the full package, different product levels and solutions are available for the 2010 version so smaller companies can take advantage of the product as well.

WorkEngine 2010 also features the increasingly popular Agile Scrum methodology in one of their solutions, next to the standard waterfall / MS Project methodology. This is good news for software developers seeking to leverage this method to their advantage. A special solution for service calls / helpdesk is available as well and if you want you can tie it all together with shared resources. I suggest you just take a look at www.workengine.com to get a glimpse of the product.

Being the partner for the North European market we can’t wait to implement this product for our own organization. We already run on the 2007 version, but the 2010 version should make us even more efficient and effective. Our 50% projected growth in turnover this year is in no small part also the result of implementing this solution into our organization.

I am sure others will brag about the product in the coming months in high volume as well. Hopefully we have gained an advantage over competition at that point already, catapulting growth even further. Damn, I’m excited!

You can find out more about the product at www.workengine.com or ask me about it directly.

Losing My Virginity

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 10:10:15 +0200

Book review of the biography of Richard Branson titled ‘Losing My Virginity’.

Everyone knows Richard Branson and his brand Virgin. Sure, he’s a billionaire and writing a book when you’re one makes it easy to become a bestseller. What surprised me about this book was its depth about his thoughts and down-to-earth manner which is was written in.

Taking the first 43 years of the life of Richard Branson into one book creates a wonderful journey which makes much of us wonder what it would be like. Growing up in the 50’s and being a teenager during the sexual revolution of the late 60’s and early 70’s Richard Branson is being very open about his private life at that stage. I think it is great for anyone to see that entrepreneurs grow not only their business, but more so themselves as well. Putting forward his experiences building up Student and later Virgin Music this has been a great example to see someone pushing his own boundaries each day again.

Further down the book, business will get the best of the read and not so much the person of Richard Branson himself. This may be due to the fact that he more or less became his business, where in the first part of his life this role was reversed. The writings are nevertheless as exciting and you can actually ‘feel’ the growth of business and figures while reading. Having not disbanded the little facts of thousand dollar loans in the beginning of the book give you a great sense about the scaling-up that has taken place. Virgin Music expands, business troubles and failures are mentioned, but always success remains. There can be no adventure without failure.

The last part of the book focusses on Virgin Atlantic, the airline. Where the book ends around 1993 much of the British Airways lawsuit and ‘dirty tricks’ campaign is being written about. Although these chapters were a great read and blows the mind of any James Bond loving viewer, I think the total chapters are out of proportion. Feelings are noted, but Richard Branson as a person and what it did to his private life are missing out. Sure, the lawsuit was a gruelling experience, as anyone can understand who once had one. It is the wonder of how he could remain doing business in his ‘fun and positive’ way while going through this process what interests me most.

This book has been a great read and could be a valuable experience when you’re in business. Forget about the billionaire, read about the entrepreneur.

For more of my book reviews visit Amazon.com using the link below. Please vote when you like them!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A2HW2Q565EFWZL/ref=cm_cr_pr_auth_rev?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview

Break your own rules

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:40:56 +0200

Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable can be quite a challenge. Ever since you start being an entrepreneur there is a lot of things that will have to be done outside your own comfort zone. Will this ever stop?

Some people thrive outside their comfort zone. Apart from the adrenaline junkies that build a lifestyle out of this there are a lot of people out there who are at their best when a big challenge is ahead. I am personally at my best when under pressure to perform, although I do like being within my comfort zone.

When you have a job that is diverse and gives you new challenges and people to meet everyday you will become more and more accustomed to dealing and wheeling when things come. As time goes on and your company grows the challenges - and woes - also get bigger. It will be hard to stay focussed and positive, because any negative influence will be likely to be bigger as well. Key to this is that you have to accept this as a fact of life and deal with it. If you can’t get comfortable with this, better stay small and enjoy your success.

Any progress you will make with your company will also mean change for yourself. These two things might not always be in sync, but it is important to be aware of this. Having personal issues can reflect heavily on your company and may set this in a tailspin as well, as can be the other way around. Be sure to target yourself as a piece of your business as well and try to find a good balance so negative issues won’t set you off for too long. Deal with them and move on. Break your own rules to get comfortable with these situations.

What I learned from my toilet

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:25:14 +0200

Last week was the first time in many years that I was really sick. Being an entrepreneur you can’t afford to have a cold and you just work by it, but with sick I mean flat down fever in bed and having conversations with your toilet. That kind of sick.

I haven’t experienced it in a long time and I wouldn’t recommend such a day to anybody, but the days after were like a revelation. When your tank is depleted and you are ready to fill it up again you can experience every piece of food and the reaction it has an your body. Fruit went in as if it was ice cream and every cup of tea went down the inner river and you can follow it through down to your belly.

If you haven’t stopped reading by now, hooray for you as here comes the actual case I am making. Because the illness forced me to ‘reset’ myself I really became aware what all this food was doing with me. I’ve cut down on the ‘bad’ food immediately. There’s still the occasional snack, but it is a choice I am aware of.

Every business will have its good and its bad times as well. My company has had its ‘reset’ some years ago and has been growing ever since. Many good things can happen when you’re on a low point and are forced to survive. It’s not something you can control, but it is something you can take advantage of.

Being an entrepreneur means seeing opportunities where others won’t see them. It means never giving up and being at your best when you have to. It means being aware that all your actions as a leader will reflect on your company. That’s what I gained from talking to my toilet.

Disqus Thing

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 06:57:00 +0200

Please don’t prenounce this post too fast, it wouldn’t give Disqus the credits it deserves.

Disqus is a commenting service you can add to your blog or post so people can comment. Behind this service is your network of own comments you made using Disqus all over the web, so you can trace back any comment and website you visited. Setting up my blog two months ago, this might be the most valuable services I’ve added.

The power of Disqus lies in its community building. Wherever the Disqus engine is in place you can use your credentials and add a comment using your own profile. People can easily see who you are, where you work on and push the ‘like’ button on a comment generating points. One of the best features though is that the service also features other ways to login, using OpenID, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo or just as a guest. It makes it that easy not only to communicate back to the original post, but also share it using your social media tools.

When you start using the service on other websites you instantly see when it is used. Although the service of posting comments and replying them is quite standard, you ‘know’ when a Disqus service is being used. The layout is so simple, yet very recognizable. When you go in for a comment, the rush of discussion starts to flow and this is the first time you feel reading a post can actually lead to a two-way conversation. You don’t know the people (yet), but you’re just getting in and join them. They are not strangers, they are people interested in the same things as you are. This is exciting.

My blog without Disqus would be dead. Well, actually still starting up this blog it is also dead with Disqus but you get my point :-) Time will show as this blog is showing its earliest sign of being born (thanks to Google Analytics) and when the time is right, discussion will follow in its early life (thanks to Discus). There’s still a long way to go, but providing the ability to communicate and starting up discussions will be the most valuable part on any blog. Not only from a social media standpoint, but from a human one as well.

Entrepreneurial Dad

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 06:05:34 +0200

There is a fine line between being an entrepreneur and being a dad. For sure, they don’t work at each other’s advantage when your kids are young. Sleepless nights will eventually break you down during the day. Working long hours at work will make you miss some of the most wonderful years of their lives.

One of the most important things to do when you have little ones is to make an agreement with your spouse. Ofcourse, he or she cannot do all the work alone, but for example I ‘volunteer’ to get out of bed after 5am while my wife does the night’s work. As she is working part-time this can be a good arrangement and getting up at 5am can be something you get adapted to. Just don’t expect to be alive and kickin’ at 11pm the same night, thought. I found out these early hours are quality time as well for answering e-mails.

At night I try to get home around 5.30pm and have dinner with the family. This won’t always work and you’ll have your ups and downs, but pledging a cease fire on your work between 5.30pm and 7.30pm (until kids go to sleep) can give you some quality time. At sunny days you can drive to the beach. At rainy days you will watch some Brum or Teletubbies with your kid. After that, work can be there to finish and you have some time left to spend with your spouse.

Writing this down I acknowledge that the things stated above aren’t always executed this way. You also have your sports evening or some client asks for a critical issue at the end of the day, but most important is that you have a plan. This plan involves an understanding with your spouse and a target schedule for the entrepreneur in you. This will lead to a much better balance in your life, although life can still be hectic. At least you have some sense of keeping control over it now.

Then are the days you can’t plan. Your kid gets sick and feels bad all night, causing you to nurture instead of sleep. With two kids, in time, the one will wake up the other and you have to manage that as well during the night. These are the things that make being an entrepreneurial dad the hardest because there is no backup plan at work for this. Just don’t think you can fix this with working harder, as you will be too tired and ineffective.

You might see the little bright spots of those days, open up your laptop and start blogging at 6am. I love being an entrepreneurial dad…

I need a break...

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:31:23 +0200

One of the things I hear entrepreneurs say is that they will have to work like crazy in the weeks before their vacation. For me, it is no different. When somebody tells you how much fun it is to go on a Holiday, don’t listen be fore you’re actually there. Getting a break is hard work.

Looking for answers why we - the entrepreneurs - always have to work double shifts to get some free time, I looked at some of the situations that occur when you rip yourself from the company and try to relax for a week or two.

Regardless of the time of year, the extra work always occurs. So this is not about others going on a Holiday as well.
When clients know you’re gone, they put down forward their demands much sooner with a ‘request’ to have this finished before you go.
When you know you’re gone, you want to finish those things your clients have asked from you. Next to that, life goes on and new work will add to the already piling up amount of work.
You have to communicate that you’re going on a Holiday, take extra calls and have to remind about your Outlook going on out-of-office.
Tasks that are usually done by you alone have to be transferred to other people, if possible.

I probably left out another 10 things to do, but I’m too busy trying to go on a Holiday to get it straight right now. I need a break…

EPiServer Commerce

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:43:11 +0200

Last week we had the opportunity to get a presentation from the guys at #episerver holland on EPiServer Commerce. To be honest, we were expecting another OS Commerce promising everything and ending up to be another shop add-on. We were proven wrong.

Sure, my company is an EPiServer partner, but we won’t use an add-on or module when we think it’s crap; our primary concern is our client, not the vendor. But EPiServer was something truly different, in a way we didn’t expect it. It actually integrates all important functionalities in the full sense of commerce, not just a shop.

A simple demonstration of this would be the marketing and campaign module, where bargains can be made according to business rules or audiences can be targeted based on their attributes. A lot of thought has been spent in how to facilitate the shop administrator and entrepreneur in their quest to earn money.

A full review of the product will be too much for this blog, but when interested visit the following link for all functionalities: http://www.episerver.com/en/Products/EPiServer-Commerce/EPiServer-Commerce-Functions/.

My company has been implementing e-commerce solutions for over 7 years now. All request for functionalities we ever had were available in this product. I am not talking about the shop visitor’s needs, but the client /entrepreneur / shop administrator’s needs. And that’s the one who pays your bills. I can’t wait to start implementing our first EPiServer Commerce solution.

newrichproject: Cameron Herold: Let’s Raise Our Kids To Be...

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:39:42 +0200

newrichproject:

Cameron Herold: Let’s Raise Our Kids To Be Entrepreneurs

There’s a reason why so many entrepreneur’s do poorly in school…The education system in North America SUPPRESSES creativity and entrepreneurial skills!

This video lays out how an entrepreneur REALLY goes through life. How they take advantage of the system, see the big picture first, and how they use creativity to make money in new ways.

His experience growing up was almost identical to my own. A video for entrepreneur’s BY an entrepreneur…Check it out!!

Holland! Holland! Holland!

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 11:16:40 +0200

Holland! Holland! Holland!

Woodstock 2010

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 07:42:39 +0200

Tonight’s the night. Holland will play Spain for the World Championship of the biggest sport on earth, soccer. We have waited 32 years since our last final, which we lost. Having seen those moments over and over again, while only being 31 years old, made me realize how big this is. This is once in a lifetime.

So how do people react on this? We have seen Holland become European Champions in 1988 and the whole country exploded. The canals were stuffed with supporters and boats sunk because too many people were standing on them. But this is all after we’ve won it.

Now, on the morning of the big day we have woken up after last night’s thunder showers. It seems like a normal Sunday. In some minutes I am gonna roll some fresh croissants for breakfast and we’re off for the day. Still, everybody knows. You see it in the streets. People say hello. Everybody is happy and becoming more nervous every hour. Tonight the country will hold its breath for 90 minutes.

We all know this final can define how we think of the World Cup for the next 32 years. This is big. On the other hand, it is out of your control. We just have to wait and see and I can tell you I can’t wait. For all those who will win eternal legend will wait, for those who fail they will be reminded over and over again. If it goes wrong, at least I’ve won myself some dough with my predictions. Small consilation.

Regardless of the result, it has been great to experience the whole tournament so far. Far more important than the game is the vibe you can feel all over the country, it’s almost Woodstock. Put that orange flower in your hair! Go around the country in your car and just wave that flag and people will give you thumbs up! See all those Turkish immigrants do the same in their old Mercedes! Make as much noise as you can on this quiet Sunday! There’s nobody who can take that experience away from us. Ever.

The Energy Process

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 10:33:40 +0200

Everyone knows what it’s like to be left without energy and just looking at your mailbox where mails pile up to even more work. Some days you just can’t seem to find the button as there was not enough sleep, something bad just happened or you’re just trying to postpone a job you don’t like. Been there, done that.

No matter how much you like your job, these moments will come. As there can be many causes to this - some even outside of your control - it is more interesting to look at fixing this shortage of energy. Now I’m not a theory guy, I just know what works for me. To be honest, it took me quite a while to figure this out for myself. I do know that attempting to regain energy is very personal, but I hope some of my suggestions might help you out.

When the energy is lacking and you have a bunch of e-mails to answer, just let them rest. When no critical issues are there to fix, close your e-mail client and just walk around the office. Get back and start something you do like, but never spend more than 1 hour on this. Returning quality e-mails will reduce the amount of e-mails you will get in time.
Clean up your desk! I personally cannot work in a place where I can see all kinds of documents, unopened mail (paper) and magazines are lying around. This messes with your head everytime you turn towards it and will make you think of all those things you need to complete but aren’t doing. Some of you can also apply this to your computer desktop if you’re one of those who stores all his documents there :-)
When there’s a task you are postponing (every month) plan it in and agree with yourself to finish it on the date you set. It will cause some resistance to start, but when you’re done you’ll feel a big relieve and will have boosted your energy for that day. Tasks like these are a major blocker for your creativity and efficiency as they will linger through your mind while postponing them.
Batch tasks. You have calls to make with people you’ve never met before? Make your first call and then follow up with all other calls that are related. You have to make invoices? Then complete this run in one batch. Just group the tasks, as completing the first one is usually the hardest. Next to that you’ll be amazed how fast all these tasks can be completed when they are done in one run.

Then, there are some activities you’ll have to avoid at all costs when you have a lack of energy:

Browsing on the internet without knowing what you’re looking for
Reading news and sports articles, you’ll keep on going
Staring at your computer screen
Reply e-mails

I would love to hear about your own experiences and tips.

Scrum vs. Scope

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:45:00 +0200

Hi there, my name is SCRUM. If we’ve never met before, you can describe me as an agile project management method which always gets you the things you need most. You might miss out on some less important things like that little shiny dot in the corner that the not-so-important-mister-at-the-meeting wanted, but in the end the produdct should be good.
I care for the people who work with me, as I let them be creative and assign roles instead of tasks. People meet with me on a daily basis and keep track of progress and change plans when something comes between us and our mrs. deadline. We care for her too and will prepare to have the cake ready when she asked for it, hopefully with a cherry on top as well. We have a happy and creative life and keep mrs. deadline satisfied.

Hi there, my name is SCOPE. I’m the older brother of SCRUM and like nostalgia. You can describe me as budget-minded, task-oriented and strict. Whatever I say must be done, regardless of any ideas that boil up during the project. Every shiny red dot will be implemented, though.
The people who work with me know what to expect. When the scope has been estimated in the wrong way, you just have to work a little harder, but nobody will die from that. It only lets you meet my cousin STRESS. Teambuilding is awesome though, but they say relationships initiated during a stressful situation won’t last. I disagree, as the next project is carried out in just the same way. We work as hard as we can for mrs. deadline and make sure we won’t add our own ideas as this will make mrs. deadline unhappy. We lead a life based on hard work, commitment and stamina, serving the world.

Who am I?

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:06:26 +0200

The Musical Les Misérables is the epic battle of Jean Valjean with himself and police officer Javert. Is he the man who he thinks he is or is het number 24601 as labelled by police for stealing a bread? As the musical goes on, ofcourse, Jean will find himself. But it didn’t come easy.

So what has our friend Jean got to do with websites you may think. Everything. A lot of companies and people working there get in trouble when being asked the same question: Who am I? Usually this question pops up when their corporate website has been built and content is needed.

Most people know from marketing how to present themselves as the person or company they want to pretend to be. But people visiting the website aren’t interested to be told about something anymore, they want to experience themselves what the company and people working there are about. Welcome to the age of social media.

Now this is something quite new to web designers and web developers. Content Management Systems (CMS) flourish as the client can put in his own texts. Everybody has a voice now on Twitter as well, so being Web 2.0 you include this as well. But more important, the bottom line of presenting a website has changed. Visitors want to experience themselves. Uncensored.

Building our new Arlanet 2010 online presence we are facing the same challenge. Sure, we can build websites and oh yeah, they look pretty, but I would trade it all away for some good user experience. Being professionals, ofcourse we want to include all three into one website, as this would be our masterpiece if we can achieve this.

We want our new website to give each visitor their own experience. Some will like it, some will dislike it, but I believe being true to who you really are will also attract the (potential) clients that will fit with your company better. We want our online presence to reflect the company and people working there. Now that’s an epic challenge if you ask me.

We need a World Cup every year!

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:58:22 +0200

This soccer World Cup tournament has brought a lot of changes to the people at work. Playing regular games at 13:30 GMT+1 makes the fanatics wanna watch the games. With Holland playing games at 13:30 and 16:00 during work days this has been a huge challenge to a lot of companies; this is the epic test for flexibility.

At my company, we had a tv screen for the daily matches. During work, most people only watched the key moments of the game and missed out on all but about 5 important minutes of the game. Ofcourse, some focus will be lost. People will be watching the game sometimes. But one important factor is often overlooked; there was a discussion happening and people loved being around at work and still watching the games.

Then there were some companies we heard of where work still had to be done and no tv was allowed. Ofcourse some professions, like teachers, cannot be that flexible. The companies I am talking about, however, were office jobs.

Being flexible at work is hot. Like the start of the dotcom when every company called itself ‘young and dynamic’ the word ‘flexible and caring’ is now stated at the job boards. But how flexible are these companies when it comes to working around - or working with - a major event like the World Cup?

Funny thing is, the traffic jams were still there, but only started earlier. People still had to watch Holland games at work as this was in working hours. Minutes before the game the road went bonanza with people getting to their favourite spot to watch the game. Is every company being flexible or just shifting hours?

At our company people who normally go by car now got the chance to do the weekly meeting via Skype. Before Holland games everybody was allowed to leave when he felt was needed and anybody who wanted to watch the games at the office was allowed to. We are still not that innovative, but I felt a lot of companies could have grabbed this opportunity to experiment with really being flexible.

Therefore, I call for a soccer World Cup tournament every year. We all still need a lot of practice.

Partner ships

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 09:14:00 +0200

A partnership is easy to setup; just grab a phone, call the company which gives out the partnership, sign an agreement and off you go. Now that’s the easy part.

A good partnership sees both companies which are part of it investing time and effort into the product and partnership itself. Some people might see reselling as retail business, but the key to success lies in applying the product within your projects and benefit from it. Otherwise, you can just as easy give up the partnership right away.

Yesterday, we signed our 4th - and final - product partnership with Forward Search. Already being a partner with Umbraco, EPiServer and EPM Live this search tool can add something extra to all these products. Also, search will become more and more important in the coming years when data is ever expanding and the tools to find the information becoming more and more simplistic. At least, from an end-user’s perspective.

Having the right products in place - through partnerships - to provide our clients with a broad range of standard solutions gives us the flexibility to focus on the end solution. Each product has a basic setup, but each product also needs to be installed, configured and implemented before it can be used. We won’t focus on the basics anymore; somebody, somewhere has already done this for us and will continue to improve his product. Using shared benefits we make sure both companies focus on what they do best.

I have become a firm believer of partnerships and live them to the fullest when it comes to integrating them within our software solutions. It only works though, when the partner ships the product and starts his first sale. That is the only way to get things going, because until then, the partnership remains on paper only.