There are certain rules to be followed and certain aspects to ponder upon, when planning to participate in a trade show. One of the most important tasks when planning to participate in any trade show is to stream line the preparation. However, even before that, comes the process of identifying if the organization goals and objectives, which should be in accordance to that of the theme and purpose of the trade show. This means; that if a trade show is held for the sake of providing information or awareness, one cannot expect to sell their products, services or offerings, as it is conflicting with the goals of the organization.In order to be able to get the most, from the event of the trade shows, held within the national boundaries or in some foreign land, there are a few things which should be adhered to strictly when crafting the participation policies.

 A business card happens to be the most effective tool, not only or the key participants of the trade show events, but also, for the organizations that are willing to enhance their customer, supplier, distributor and networking pools. Prior to the event, make sure that the business cards are not missing any important information and are up to date. Make sure that the numbers provided on the card are in use and operating without any interruption. It is always a better option to get the business cards and the product collateral printed in the official or native language of the country where the trade show is being held. This would not only provide help in circulating and understanding of the offering better, but also represent the efforts undertaken by the business entity.

When it comes to the booths of the business entities, during the trade show events make sure that the graphics and banners representing the booths can be read with ease approximately from a distance of ten feet. Make sure to use colors and fonts, which are visible from a distance and make your stall, look dynamic and full of life. Lighting and cleanliness are the other two factors which should be kept in mind, which are the guaranteed factor to attract the potential customers to one's booth. 

For the business entities, which are entering a particular region of trade for the first time and are not very known in the respective region; it is better to stick to the application and the functionality of the product, highlighting the benefits to the user. The approach will allow the people to get attracted, rather than trusting an unknown brand name. Too much information should not be given out to the customers, rather, only that information should be highlighted which focuses on the advantages of the offering.

About the Author

Here you will learn more about Trade shows and Trade exhibitions.

(ArticlesBase SC #2354561)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Trade shows for best results

Guest Post by:Timothy

As entrepreneurs, we are consistently peppered with decisions. These decisions can affect us negatively or positively but one thing is certain they will affect us. As entrepreneurs, we must manage the affect upon us.

These decisions are emotional and seem in direct opposition of what we may be used to. Yet as an entrepreneur we must become precise in making a decision. Not that the decision will be right, all the time but that a decision was made is the key.

The sure essence of being an entrepreneur puts us in a small minority. As someone once said, we are a round peg in a square hole. The circumstances we put ourselves in are more than out of the norm for most people to the point it makes some sick.

How do we handle this? We do not devoid ourselves of our prior experiences, but we learn and graph our present experiences with our past and gain a new paradigm for mental growth.

We begin to stop projecting, or interjecting our personal bias and past experiences upon the current dilemma but merge them together. We must assess the situation logically and objectively, and then act accordingly with the best information on hand at the time.

At that point, you have to trust that the best decision was made, and stick to your guns. We as entrepreneurs, have no special skills, or intelligence. We all have a natural intelligence within ourselves that is only hindered by bad habits and programming. Bad habits need to be changed.

I learned a long time ago that I must take the time to consciously make the habitual changes I seek. Learning something new can seem difficult, but when you awaken yourself mentally, you usually discover something you already know.

(ArticlesBase SC #2348215)

Guest Post by: Dr.Joseline Edward, PhD

IT places a major role in today's world.  E-commerce and various advances in IT have made significant impact on business operations.  Most of the scholars defined IT as the capability offered by software, hardware and telecommunication networks to deliver data in any form to individuals and organizations. Most IT projects are categorized into the following areas: (1) infrastructure

There has been more written about Project Management

In my personal experience I have found that IT organizations that addressed the factors that have been detailed below have used Project Management approach as a framework to meet the business goals and have achieved significant success.

Lack of executive support: This factor is most frequently cited reason for project management failure in many organizations. IT organizations will not be able to implement any approach without upper management support. In order to get their support, they must be well educated regarding the benefits of using project management approach and get them to show their involvement through positive reinforcement, recognition, and provide support as required.

Incorrect/Incomplete requirements: Most companies are overwhelmed by requirements from stakeholders of the project. Working with stakeholders to remove the requirements that does not support the stated goal of the projects could help you to successfully deliver the project on time and within the budget.

Lack of Project Management customization: Every company is unique. Factors such as internal processes, culture, Legal requirements, and the way IT is deployed in live environments vary from organization to organization. I would say enough Project Management is enough for success. Hence IT organizations should look at that perspective, and customize their approach to meet the business needs of the organization.

 Poor communication:  An IT system is a collection of interconnected subsystems that act towards a common goal. Communication is the oil that lubricates the subsystems to work together to meet the organization goals. Poor communication makes the subsystems act independently which could hinder the success of the project. Implementing processes and procedures at all levels to create a coordinated effort to improve communication can help a lot.

Lack of performance indicators: Performance measures enable an organization to monitor its progress towards goals in the short and long term. For example, let us say if a company performance indicator is "Increase customer Satisfaction", a few project management performance assessment factors should be developed and linked to that performance indicator to measure how effectively this project management approach is contributing toward the organization goals and achievements. These assessment factors help you to fine tune the existing project to steer it towards the main objective.

(ArticlesBase SC #2337660)

Dr.Joseline Edward, PhD - About the Author:

Offering 60 days PMP® and CAPM® Prep courses and Mock Up exams online.  Discover the Manager in you. Visit the url http://www.way2pmp.in/ for more details.

Guest Post:

I decided to write this article after reading "What is the Real Cost of SAP-APO" in the SAP APO Supply Chain Planning Blog which is worth reading.

SAP Terminology

A few terms to help the uninitiated:-

• SAP - World class, highly integrated business system processes and software used by many of the world's largest and medium sized businesses.
• APO - 'Advanced Planner and Optimiser', SAP's primary module aimed at supply chain planning, now changed its name/morphed into SCM 'Supply Chain Management'.
• PP & PP-PI - SAP's modules that deal with the business processes around manufacturing and supply operations. PP is essentially a production job model responding to customer orders, whereas PP-PI is aimed at continuous production models - most factory scenarios.

My Background

Since 2003, I have spent most of my time understanding and implementing SAP APO supply chain planning systems in many business scenarios within the FMCG market. For the 7 years prior to that, I implemented SAP for manufacturing operations, so I've gained a good background of SAP generally and APO specifically.

What is SAP APO or SCM

SAP in a system sense, appears to be a highly integrated set of modules. Mostly these modules sit within what is called R/3 or ECC...the core part of SAP. Core SAP holds the reins on integrated data throughout the SAP world so data about a plan to make something is all within core SAP and is linked in to master data defining materials and resources.

The SAP functionality to build supply chain plans is also within core SAP but in reality for most purposes it is near unusable in any practical sense. The practical side of automated planning requires a great deal of computing power and, for that reason, APO was conceived.

APO or SCM as it is now called, is in three parts:-

• DP - Demand Planning (forecasting) - can be linked to Customer Relationship Management to pull data about campaigns etc from there
• SNP - Supply Network Planning - it views the organisation as a network of locations (factories and distribution centres primarily) which all have individual stock projections and stock keeping criteria. Calculations in SNP drive dependent requirements down to supplying locations (production and receiving stores)
• PPDS - Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling - the production plans are calculated here to meet the dependent requirements from locations within the supply network, passed down from SNP. PPDS is linked in with Material Requirement Planning, which is part of core SAP, to schedule inbound material components required by the production plan.

Master Data and Integration between Core SAP and APO / SCM

Despite APO or SCM now being on its sixth sojourn, it is still a long lost cousin in SAP integration terms. APO has many master data tables that mirror core SAP but generally with different names and with more attributes that are specific to planning. APO also has various planning versions which support what-if planning, each planning version can have its own version of master data.

The overall picture is one of a lot of master data complexity to support the functionality. However the complexity is really needed to support these calculations when you understand that SAP is highly configurable and has to deal with many different scenarios. Of course your company might be only interested in 20% of this opportunity and the other 80% is essentially noise! This isn't a APO fact, this is a SAP one and to be fair one that is general for all configurable enterprise systems and not just SAP.

Where APO and data does become complicated in a peculiarly SAP way is that it has something called the Core-Interface that passes master data and transactional data between core SAP and APO. As transactions and master data changes pass through this interface, trying to keep the two systems in synchronisation, they can frequently get stuck when activities happen out of sequence! This places heavy demands on the users (of various departments) to do their activities following a script with a specific sequence.

When activities happen out of sequence, transactions for the material or product in question get held in a queue needing manual intervention. Someone will then have to diagnose the problem and unpick it! Working with APO requires specific technical support in this area. For a large company this role will be a full time job and for an international company, there could be a team of people doing this!

Production Plan Calculations

Production planning uses a number of graphical interfaces, the two main ones being:-

• Production Planning Table - spreadsheet type interface with plan quantities in cells which represent a bucket of time (month, day, shift, etc)
• Detailed Schedulers Planning Board - Gantt type planning board with time as an axis and orders appearing as slugs in time.

Planning and scheduling calculations can be done manually by typing numbers into cells or dragging and dropping orders into new positions. It can also be done by background calculations. There are two broad approaches - Heuristics or the Optimiser.

Heuristics

I remember as an under graduate being told heuristic methods were those arrived at through experience..."suck it and see" approaches. SAP uses the term to mean customisable calculations based on an underlying algorithm to do a specific job eg. create new planned orders. Customising in this context would be getting the algorithm to create orders based on specific parameters. In simple planning terms, heuristics are a bit like MRP calculations.

Optimiser

There are lots of ways to "skin a cat" as the story goes and similarly there are usually many different ways of creating a production plan, all of which may well be valid! The chosen plan will be chosen because it prioritises one aspect above others or maybe there is a hierarchy of important aspects to achieve in the plan, eg. just in time, maintain shelf-life, etc. The Optimiser needs to know the relative costs of aspects so that it can rank their importance. You then set the Optimiser off and give it a period of time to do calculations. It will calculate the plan many times over and when the clock stops, it checks to see which of its plans was achieved at lowest cost (ie. highest achievement of rankings).

What's it like using APO?

Unless you have very flexible and short supply routes, the Optimiser is very difficult to use because every time you run it it will come up with a different answer. Most continuous process businesses can't cope with changing their inbound supply plans to this degree and so the Optimiser if used at all, might have to be restricted to those materials that have components that can be sourced very quickly.

The heuristics provide a means of working with APO that most scenarios can cope with. Some levels of planning become an automatic reaction to plans in other areas and so these can be set to automatically plan each time something changes that relates to them.

From a planners perspective, APO is a heavy tool to crack a nut but they are likely to be relating a lot to spreadsheets and failing to see the positive side of APO in being integrated with their other business systems. You raise an order in APO and it gets worked on in core SAP, APO being updated in real time with what's going on for stocks etc.

I recall visiting a planner three years after I'd implemented APO. Lets call him Jim, as that was his name! Prior to SAP, he had a very flexible graphical planning board and all their questions were based around how can SAP be made to be like the tool they had. They had no integration between that tool however and their MRP and stock control systems and that could often cause them stock-out surprises! So it would be fair to say that Jim wasn't overly keen on moving to SAP and APO. Three years on, he was managing considerably more production capacity and singing APO's praises. He was well aware of its problems, including the poor integration between APO and R/3 but it was bringing him more benefits than he had previously and as a factory they had learnt how to manage their processes more effectively, which in turn brought fewer integration problems.

Resourcing to support APO

I had the privilege of working with APO's founder PP-DS developer, Guy Lauwers, on a prototype project between Nestle SA and SAP SA in 1999-2000. APO PP-DS has changed little in concept since its days known as PFS. Since then, with over ten years of APO, SAP have studiously avoided tackling its integration issues. It is a great shame as it is the single biggest drain on resources to support APO and continues to undermine its credibility.

I hope my description of SAP APO and what it entails has opened your eyes rather than put you off. If you're using SAP as an enterprise-wide system, SAP APO is very useable. It takes quite a long time for planner to pick up because there are a lot of buttons and widgets that create noise for learning and half of their understanding is in how their process now interconnects in real-time with other processes within the organisation.

So expect to have to spend time and money on supporting APO and when constructing project plans remember that APO can only plan when all the APO master has been built on top of the underlying core SAP master data. Don't expect rabbits out of planners hats if you haven't allocated sufficient project time for this activity!

Suggested Further Reading

• What moving to SAP means for an organisation
• How to find good Business Analysts

(ArticlesBase SC #2343258)

As a PR person who trains clients on how to gracefully and powerfully interact with the media, here are some tips on how to make the most of the opportunity media attention provides.

Take a deep breath.  Recognize that fearful thoughts are completely normal when stepping into uncharted territory.  The media would not be calling you if they didn't think you had something of interest to share.

Organize your thoughts.  Before calling the reporter back, take a moment to think about what your goals are for the conversation.  Do you have a main point you want to get across?  You should.

Keep it simple.Today's media coverage

 With these tips, your media interview will help you and your company to truly shine in the spotlight.

 ©2010 Barbara Wayman, BlueTree Media, LLC

(ArticlesBase SC #2331217)

Barbara Wayman - About the Author:

Barbara Wayman is a public relations expert who helps her clients stand out and get noticed. She teaches business people how to leverage the power of marketing and PR like a pro.

Most of us like to be liked. We tend to present ourselves in a favorable light; we do not like to appear ill-informed or ill-prepared. So, when we are asked to participate in an online questionnaire, we are eager to please, to provide useful information.

On the other hand, others of us may not trust those gathering the information. We want to know how the information we provide will be used, where and to whom it will be disseminated. We need to trust that our answers will not be attached to us or adversely affect us in any way before sharing things about our personal behaviors, opinions or attitudes.

In survey research, social desirability is the tendency of some people to respond in a way that is socially acceptable, a response different than their non-socially acceptable answer would be. They may report attending church more often than they actually do, smoking less, and exercising more. They stretch the truth to make themselves look good in the eyes of those asking the questions.

Some questionnaires are more prone to the effects of social desirability than others, depending on their content. The challenge is in designing the questionnaire so that no one feels embarrassed, singled out or ‘less than'; ensuring respondents are willing to answer questions in a straightforward, honest way.

How does one create a questionnaire that makes individuals feel comfortable about sharing their opinions or experiences with topics like prejudice, bankruptcy or use of illegal substances without fear of repercussion or ‘looking bad' in the eyes of those asking the questions?

There are individual characteristics like culture and personality that influence socially acceptable responses to questionnaires. Also, social desirability may be influenced by the mode of data collection and item wording.

Some individuals are from cultures pre-disposed to revealing more information about themselves than others. Given that questionnaires have the potential to be cross cultural and global in their reach, it is important to be as inclusive as possible in culturally neutral language and inferences, unless of course that contradicts the purpose of the research.

Social desirability scales, like the Edwards Social Desirability scale, measure the tendency to put oneself in a positive light.  This might be administered to the potential sample to assist in selecting those less predisposed to socially acceptable responses.

Studies show that when the questionnaire content is of a more sensitive or threatening nature (e.g., race, illicit drug use, socioeconomic status), online questionnaires decrease the likelihood of social desirability bias.  Responses are more truthful, perhaps due to the perceived anonymity of responding to questions online, in the absence of a human being.

The way in which an item is worded can help respondents feel comfortable and safe in sharing their true feelings, rather than sharing what they think people want to hear. Strive to be impartial and non-judgmental when asking questions. The words pro-choice may be less offensive to some than abortion. Ask about driving under the influence instead of drunken driving, etc.  

Research suggests that guaranteeing anonymity and confidentiality can minimize socially desirable behaviors and attitudes.  Anonymity generally means that the identity of respondents will be completely unknown to anyone.  Confidentiality generally means that individuals who respond to a questionnaire will not be associated with their responses in any way without their express permission. This assurance often relieves reluctance to respond to surveys about sensitive topics.

About the Author

Terrie Nolinske, Ph.D, is a business consultant, researcher and educator working with the National Business Research Institute, which creates, implements, and analyzes superior customer service surveys and employee satisfaction surveys.

Contact NBRI now at 1-800-756-6168.

(ArticlesBase SC #2345675)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Please You, Please Me

Your mummy always warned, "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket " and those words of advice can be applied when > financing a business. There are numerous techniques that will help consumers in financing a business. Customers must recognize their available resources eg the seller, banks, and financiers.As a kid, we are inspired to "think big " and told that nothing can stop us, but ourselves.

As entrepreneurial adults, this notion of dreaming giant is typically part of your daily routine, it is inescapable that at some specific point you can come smashing down from those heights into fact. The awareness that financing your special enterprise can immediately moisten even the most impassioned enterprising individual can get you down. To put it bluntly, "do not let it".

Having a fact check on the problem of securing financing for a business may be the primary step towards making your dream a reality. There are countless kinds of financing available, some more unusual or obscure. If you take the effort and time to analyze all avenues for funding you'll be rewarded.

There are 2 main sorts of financing : debt financing and equity financing. It is vital to you and the successfulness of your business that you become familiar with the kinds of financing to select, seek, and ultimately, get the right form for your wishes.Debt financing involves getting a loan that'll be paid back over a certain allocated time with a set rate of interest tacked on.

The time of such financing can be short term or long term. In most situations, short term financing would include repayment inside one year, while long term financing would comprise repayment in a period of time that surpasses one year. An merit of this sort of financing is the undeniable fact that the lender won't gain possession in your business.

You remain in control and your sole requirement to them is to make regular and opportune payments.

In the case of little start ups, an individual guarantee is commonly wanted to help the closing of the financing deal. Financing of equity, unlike debt financing, will involve giving the financing entity a share in the business . Some entrepreneurs hate the concept of losing any amount of control. On an encouraging note, this sort of financing doesn't sustain debt. This type of liberty from debt can give a larger sense of security in beginning an exciting new business.

Additionally, some entrepreneurs find excellent value in their equity financing partners, and see their presence as an asset. The kind of financing you may select is based principally on the wants of your business and the sort of collateral, or available assets you have to give. A good amount of debt financing can end up in bad credit and a shortage of funds in the future due to an incapacity to apply for more financing.An enterprise that becomes overextended, offers nothing collateral, and is drenched in debt isn't an intriguing option for many backers.

As formerly discussed, there are more more unusual techniques of getting funds that may definitely turn out to be useful to your business. Some options can be discovered in your own circle of buddies and family. One advantage of this sort of financing is getting the cash and a silent partner who will very probably not meddle with your business.

It may also eliminate some of the red tape involved with more standard kinds of financing. This doesn't imply you can simply utilize an oral agreement or "shake on it " to signal and bind the exchange. This is still a strategic business move and you need to treat it as such meaning correct paperwork, clear terms, and mutual understanding of those terms.

About the Author

For more information, please visit us at : CCSKILLS-NOS

(ArticlesBase SC #2356219)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - The Facts of Business Financing

Forget the idea you had of office life until recently, and that had been conveyed also through some famous movies, like "Desk Set" featuring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Forget the employees being busy with typewriters, huge archives and files that cannot be found, now there are advanced storage devices, like the IBM System Storage Manager, and forget also those huge computers, that in older movies took up a whole wall, while in more recent movies were content with towering on the desk. Thanks to tools like the IBM Blade Center the physical space that is taken by computer tools has reduced a lot, and this is an evidence of how the big developments and progresses that have been made in the field of computer science have entered by force even the quiet world of offices, causing changes and, in most cases, significant improvements in carrying out the work, quickening and automating some operations that in the past took much time, leaving less time to more important operations.

To have an idea of how the sector of computer science, with all its consequences, have entered our offices, changing even the simplest actions, think about the introduction of the software instruments that let users create text documents, like the software office automation. Nowadays if you want to write a letter, a text, or any other file, you cannot but uses those instruments, and if your pc stops working. it seems impossible to be able to use "ancient" instruments, like typewriters, or "prehistoric" tools, like pen and paper, to make the same things. The idea we have of writing is not connected to the pen anymore, but to the keyboard, although this is certainly a much less poetic image.

If we were to make a list of all the computer and software tools that have changed our life in the office, we could write a whole encyclopedia, devoting long pages to all those companies that have been proposing products and services, helping the development of computer science, like IBM, International Business Machines Corporation. Founded in the beginning of the 20th century, IBM is one of the most famous and ancient IT companies in the world, and throughout its history has launched products like the IBM Rack Server and IBM Power Systems. It is also thanks to these companies, which have worked for a long time trying to understand the needs of the people and to improve their own services, that office work has undergone, especially in recent times, a significant development.

However, working with a computer can also have negative consequences. While the worst thing that might occur working with the typewriter was running out of ink and paper, using a pc there is the virus threat hanging over us, a virus that might invalidate and undermine our work. But also in this case it is technology that helps us, and you only need to buy an antivirus device that helps you to keep away from such threats.

About the Author

This article was written by Francesca Tessarollo with support from IBM tower server. For more information please visit IBM system storage manager or power systems IBM.

(ArticlesBase SC #2354091)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Technologies for Office Work

In occassions of challenge, it is simple to fall prey to a negative mind-set. The quickest way to turn around difficult times is to switch your attitude-your perspective is where all of your power lies. <a href= http://www.power-to-inspire.co.uk/> Inspiration and cheerfulness </a> are infective. Try the ten tips below to enable yourself with a positive mindset :

1 . Get a perspective of gratitude : Gratitude is among the fastest methods to become galvanized and raise your contentment. Make giving thanks a regular practice in your life and watch your inspiration soar. Try making a gratitude list before bed, inspiring your folks to name things they are thankful for at the table, or taking a ten-minute+ gratitude walk, where you spend the walk seeing things to be thankful for like the flowers in bloom, the charming dog strutting his things or the friendly neighbor waving howdy.

2. Up your endorphin levels : In case you want one more reason to get your

cardiovascular in, do it for your attitude. Studies indicate that your cortex gets soaked in dynamic, positive endorphins when you get your pulse up. I know, I know, it might be the last thing on your list when you are stressed, but make a pledge to get yourself to the gymnasium, go for a hike, clean off the home workout machine and feel the power of your body's natural stress control system.

3. Practice radical self-care : Stressed times frequently mean that you put yourself last on the list. I inspire my training clients to practice radical self-care and make themselves a top concern. Start by making a catalogue of 5 things you know refuel you ( they do not have to cost a cent ). Is it a hot bath by candlelight? A walk round the block? Morning meditation? A foot rub from your spouse? Do one thing a week to recharge your batteries. When you're in some place of contentment, you will be able to give more to those around you.

4. Give back : there's never been a critical time to give back than now.Giving your time, energy, concepts, new items and / or money to others who are less lucky gives you a valuable viewpoint on your own life and inspires a condition of gratitude. You do not need to make a big financial donation to contribute-volunteer your time and make giving back a regular practice. Even just making the effort to grin to a stranger could be a blessing to the two of you.

5. Try experimenting with confirmations : confirmations are a forceful way to programme your <a href= http://www.power-to-inspire.co.uk/> subconscious with positivity </a>. They take extraordinarily little time and are simple to do.To start, write down 5 positive statements in the present tense. These statements are supposed to be an antidote to negativeness, so they should make you grin, feel hopeful and inspire a contented angle. As an example : I think of myself as a master at making money. It is simple for me to draw in great team members. The Universe is collaborating in my favour. I have colourful health. Say your confirmations out loud 3 times every day and see how your angle shifts. My opinion is that confirmations can infrequently conjure up pictures of the SNL skit with Stuart Smally, announcing, "Gosh darn it, folks like me! " do not let feeling daft prevent you from this dynamic practice. It actually will make a positive difference in your life.

6. Do a stories fast : When my clients are overwhelmed with negativism, one of the first "prescriptions " I write for them is to do a reports fast-to literally stop reading and watching the news.The media can bombard us with negative messaging and disastrous thinking. With tools on the web like ticker tapes and IM and wire supplied with twenty-four hour stories channels ; it is straightforward to permit news to break you during the day.

About the Author

For more information, please visit us at : POWER-TO-INSPIRE

(ArticlesBase SC #2356563)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Six Ways To Stay Inspired In A Tough Economy

Over the years websites have evolved to include the ability to remember visitor interactions and administrative input. They do this by utilizing databases and programming or scripting code on the web server computer where the website pages are stored. All industries have been affected by the ability of websites to remember information.

Niche market websites have continued to evolve at a somewhat slower pace than other industries. You will see websites that still maintain the billboard mentality and corporate focus on the company rather than the customers. These types of sites tend to forget the common rule among customers: "Customer's only care about themselves and how you will benefit them."

Current web trends have included the advent of Search Engine Optimization experts who's sole job it is to optimize the webpages content and the external reputation of the website by overseeing links to the page, page content and page code structure.

This type of optimization has led to the development of a 3rd evolution web. It's social media. People are spending more time on the internet interacting and video hasn't been far behind with the introduction of youtube.com. Youtube.com has pushed different products, careers and personalities into the forefront.

Websites have the ability to cater to different audiences. These include currrent customers, potential customers and individuals interested in the niche industry the website represents. A website has the opportunity to utilize each market audience for different purposes. Technological advances have provided automated customer service capabilities. Websites are providing potential customers with the information needed to make good buying decisions. Interested individuals are benefiting websites that provide in forums thereby increasing the website's overall internet exposure.

Over the years, businesses have worked hard to automate business processes. Many of these processes are being transferred over to the internet learn to expand their geographical reach. Companies like Dell have created vendor logins that allow them to requisition computer parts within 2 hours of a custom order. Other companies have developed customer document exchange services for their customers to download documents and interact with key company personel.

Microsoft introduced the concept of Software As Service over 5 years ago. Companies like 37signals have profited from this model by developing website subscription based servces like Basecamp. Companies use Basecamp to track project management. This concept continues to gain ground in applications like the tsheets.com application. Rather than selling a windows application to individual businesses and companies; the site sells Subscriptions to the service allow the tsheets.com to continue collecting income on a steady monthly basis.

The growth of Software As Service platforms is most likely a direct result of the increasing numbers of individuals utilizing the technology in their daily lives. Users are becoming more and more accomplished at utilizing technology in their daily lives. Engaging social media properties in the search engine optimization effort will place a company in the thick of social media. In additional a split video upload section where sections of the How To videos are displayed on YouTube can enhance the search engine optimization effort as well as advertising efforts on the web.

Client Pricing Perceptions

Barring current concerns of the average small business, most people are out to save money on their projects. Many clients come to the price negotiations with preconcieved ideas regarding the cost of a website/windows application development project. Most people are familiar with pricing based on off the shelf software lik Microsoft Office. MS Office comes with robust functionality that has been enhanced over the years.The MS development team employs many programmers at the cost of 65,000 to over 100,000 a year. MS Office Standard 2007 can currently be purchased for $399.00 Obviously a single purchase does not cover a developer’s salary. Development and marketing costs are cover multiple sales of the software. Compared to the cost of a full time developer for a website or windows application, most development work is done at cost without skills marketing costs included.