Web Strategy and E-Business Development for the Digital Economy - Lars Hilse » Questions others have asked

Looking for advice on a social site systems

Lars Hilse — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:21:28 +0000

as always, it depends on the budget. The most successful portals out there were not built on pre-packed solutions but are unique systems which focus solely on the group of people it was intended for.

Furthermore, you may want to invest a lot of time into determining what your group wants and how they want it conveyed to them. I am addressing issues like usability, etc.

Then of course you have the aspect of user and traffic load. Can the portal be handled by a dedicated server or do you have to move on to a data centre?

Issues over issues there, as you see

If you need help feel free to give me a call.

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A CMS: many or few buttons?

Lars Hilse — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:05:27 +0000

You have to consider more than just the general opinion for this one. Reason being: if your targeted group of website visitors focuses upon an older generation you definitely want to go more towards usability. Same of course applies for inexperienced users.

Yet if you know that the demographical issue tends more towards a young group of web-experienced people (gender plays a major role also) you’ll be better off making menus available at the intro page.

Furthermore, you might consider responsive disclosure as a menu aspect, which only reveals certain menu points upon user action. This may be interesting if you have to have a lot of menu buttons but are stuck – for instance – with an older audience.

That is just one of the many issues involved in that matter. Give me a call if you need more.

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Who has developed a wiki?

Lars Hilse — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:55:13 +0000

The problem is not setting up the wiki. Further more, it’s not about designing one. Any web designer with poor knowledge can set up a wiki in about 30 minutes.

The problem consists of designing the policies by which the information is to be entered into the system in order to find it. And of course the other main challange, getting people to contribute.

The usage of wikis is far spread. I’ve heard about small companies utilizing them for mass collaboration aspects, as well as enterprise level wikis which were set up to share large quantities of information.

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How do I integrate online ordering for my restaurants?

Lars Hilse — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:26:47 +0000

I ran across a solution in Dubai where the restaurant sent a text message to the customers about an hour after they had eaten/ordered, asking them to participate in an online survey (one ipod was given away per month).

This way you can dramatically increase the ROI of the integration because you get a variety of information out of your customers ordering there. Whether and how they liked the food, and many, many more hints on how you can improve your service.

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B2B market and Web 2.0?

Lars Hilse — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:03:27 +0000

B2B is an exceptionally interesting factor for Web 2.0.

Let’s just move away from the my favorite, the mass collaboration aspect, here for a short while.

Web 2.0 is also about making frequently changing information available in formats that are recognized by a number of systems. I’m addressing compatibility here. So what about defining a standard which will comply to RSS is some way and make constantly changing pricing information of a wholesaler available to his retailers around the globe? I’m not going to start the discussion about email newsletters, ok?

That being said: the next thing we shoud focus upon is the documentation and making this available in a format that is widely recognized and safe and compatible for future systems. How often have you searched the web for something, finally found it and it turned out to be 5 years old? Systems like Wikis or other systems automatically supply the date the article was created or last edited. This way ensuring not only the significance of the information you are looking for but also the topicallity.

There are about one kazillion more features which make Web 2.0 B2B-ready. It’s just that the companies have to have some time to adapt to the new technology. I’m trying my best to make that happen faster

References:
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What are the key success factors for the implementation of a CRM system?

Lars Hilse — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:40:09 +0000

The key factor EVERYONE! forgets (especially the sales people you’re going to have in the door after asking this question) is the one that has solved all my CRM problems in the past.

That being said…

1. Determine and document the processes going on CURRENTLY inside your organisation (you have taken years to make them work – don’t ruin them upon a CRM implementation)

2. the go ahead and have the CRM mapped ON TOP of the existing processes and not vice versa

Bottom line of this argument is, that an organisation dynamically grows. And your CRM will grow along with that. If you happen to install a CRM which makes it necessary to implement totally new processes your organsation will – at least for a moment – less productive (because of training, etc.) and there will be a lot of adapting going on. This is – especially for older people – a big task to request.

The closer you document the requirements for the CRM, the better it will integrate and be accepted by the staff.

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Web 2.0 – Figuring out the best way to set up a forum for customers to access information from other of customers?

Lars Hilse — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:51:25 +0000

The simplest thing you can do is to setup a bulletin board system like pointed out earlier, which can be your first line customer service. This will allow you to participate in the discussion and the whole thread will lead to a solution.

For the information ascertained there, I would like to suggest to set up a wiki because it will allow you to manange and document the incoming data better. Further more, you can point to associated entries/items/posts a lot easier than a bb will allow you to do.

After having completed that, you’ll be in a pretty good fix. Associated to that I would most definitly set up a good working customer service page on your website which will handle incoming tickets. The money saved there (due to the increase in efficiency) can then be spent in integrating better environments.

Regading the blog part: blogs are not really suitable for the environment you are looking for. Primarily because of the fact that comments are most of the time hidden. And you don’t really have an easy way of getting fruitful discussions out of blogs. The commenting sections are hardly made to handle large amounts of replies but more to be there for what they were inveted in the first place – comments Discussions are best lead in discussion forums/bbs. Documentation and management of knowledge etc., in Wikis.

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Do clients actually read HTML or hard copy newsletters? What is their preferred method of agency/client communications for updates etc?

Lars Hilse — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:47:22 +0000

No, they hardly do. The problem is that everyone gets so many newsletters a day, that it’s hell of a job just reading the important ones. And if they just happen to be more sophisticated than just reading text and associated downloading large graphics etc., 99,9% land in my trashcan.

My personal favorites are RSS feeds. I can subscribe and unsubscribe instantly with the push of a button. And then of course there is the freedom. I do not have to rely on a third party system, the feeds get delivered to a third party system and I do not have to care about anything landing in my inbox that does not belong there.

Of course, there are those which perceive newsletters as the favorite method of communication. But this number is rapidly declining.

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Any new widgets/ideas on how to overcome failed email marketing due to spam filters?

Lars Hilse — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:42:44 +0000

This has turned into a serious problem in the close past. Do you think your customers are ready for RSS? This would be the simplest solution to your problem.

If you can move them more and more into the direction of RSS you will most likely end up having an even more successful readership than you have now.

Email marketing has been constantly declining since RSS came up. It’s a shame to see so many people complaining about their inboxes being constantly swamped with SPAM. But it’s those same people who do not look for alternatives and neglect the fact that RSS would be the solution.

Bottom line: try to educate your users with – for instance – a promotional video and try to drive them more and more into the direction of RSS. For instance with the example of Google reader.

I’d be interested in how they accept the new technology.

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Should CEOs blog?

Lars Hilse — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:38:42 +0000

you don’t have to pay too much attention to opinions and discussion. What you have to figure out for your organisation is whether you want to participate in the mass collaboration aspect of web 2.0.

It’s not about collecting anymore. It’s about sharing. It’s about sharing what your CEO, and thus your organisation has learned from certain experiences. Yes, even if your CEO has made a mistake, this can be posted and can prevent other decision makers on the globe from making the same mistake. Remember: making errors and wrong decisions is human. Not talking about them is pure vanity.

These are the facts that will make a community out of the internet. And as long as the information you publish does not compromise confidential parts of your business, your business will benefit from what your CEO has to say because it will always lead back to the image of your company.

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