Using CMS Or Programming From Scratch - Determining the Best Solution

One issue that often comes up when considering the construction of a new website is the choice between using a content management system and programming the site from scratch. In many cases, the developer has a preconceived idea about which method is better and forces it on the web project. The best solution, however, is to look at the requirements of the website and then build it using the proper tools, whether that is custom programming, a pre-made CMS or a hybrid solution. When starting a web project, the first thing to do is to write down all of the variables:

Who is going to build the site (in-house or outsourced)? Where is it going to be hosted (can be determined after development)? How many people are going to use it? What features does the site need now? Which features will it need in the future? Who is going to maintain the site?

Content Management System

By determining and understanding the variables, it can be very easy to see whether or not a CMS is the correct choice for a web project. If the project is going to be maintained by mostly non-programmers, it should definitely be built in a CMS or a hybrid. If the project is going to have a lot of new features added on a regular basis, it should be built using a robust, open source CMS like Drupal that has thousands of modules (features that can be added in minutes). If the project is going to solve a very specific problem with no readily available solution, it should be built from scratch.

The argument for building a web project from scratch is that everything can be customized to the exact specifications and need of the company. It allows for every feature imaginable to be added and can often lead to software that runs faster because only the absolutely necessary pieces of code have been assembled. Also, the company owns the underlying code completely and thus can sell the project at any time for a profit, if it gets enough users and proves the value. Programming from scratch is perfect for web applications that have very defined and specific needs that aren't related to serving content. Projects like creating an online radio station (Pandora) or building an iPhone application or developing a new game don't fit well inside of a CMS (though Drupal can be used to create Facebook applications).

The major problem with building a project from scratch is that the developer is forced to write every single line of code. That leads to significantly longer development times and generally costs a company more to develop the website. Additionally, unless the custom project includes CMS like administration features, only the programmers can change the site. That affects who can make changes and limits how often the site can be updated. Often programmers won't make little changes because it simply is too big of a hassle to get deep into the code to fix a small typo or change a date. Finally, custom projects can have major security holes because there is only one person or group doing security testing. If there is something wrong, no one knows until it breaks and messes up the web site. Downtime kills companies.

By using a CMS like Drupal, the project can utilize code that has been developed by thousands of users over a number of years. The underlying code has been, and continues to be, security tested by people all around the world. If one of their sites goes down, they immediately let the community know and everyone's websites are updated as quickly as possible so that no one else is affected. This process has created incredibly stable software. The contribution and sharing process has also created hundreds of additional features that can be installed and configured quickly, limiting the amount of time necessary to develop the website in the first place. The modules allow new features to be added at any point with little hassle or worry. Features like blogs and forums, which traditionally take a long time to develop, can be turned on in seconds. Other features from search engine optimization to eCommerce solutions to rolling out an entire social network are available for free. The final piece of the puzzle is scalability.

If a site gets popular, can it handle the traffic? This is one of the great arguments for custom coding as it promises that only the most necessary pieces are added to the code so the servers have the lightest load possible. That's great, but at some point, no matter how light the code, the servers will be overrun by memory issues, CPU problems or bandwidth issues (example: Digg Effect). Drupal, a great CMS, has been used by sites like the New York Observer and Fast Company to serve millions of pages a day. Many of the additional features they use to properly serve that many pages and deal with memory, CPU and bandwidth problems are freely available to ordinary users by simply downloading and installing the modules. If the website does need to scale quickly, the features necessary can be added instantly rather than being developed by hand over a number of weeks.

In the end, most applications can be developed in a CMS and should be done in a CMS as it makes life much easier for both web developer and website owner. It cuts down on costs, reduces security issues, allows the site owner to switch developers at any time with little consequence or lost time, and allows for new features to be added very quickly. Custom solutions should be reserved for web projects that are completely custom

Using CMS Or Programming From Scratch - Determining the Best Solution

Document Output Management In Banking And Financial Services

Modern enterprises spend considerable time and resources creating, managing, changing and delivering documents essential to their business. According to IDC, companies spend up to 10 per cent of their revenue on managing document production, distribution and associated devices. The advent of innovative and powerful document management solutions promise to shrink that margin significantly - while vastly bettering procedural efficiency.

Document Output Management:

Content Management System

What and Why?

Defined simply, document output management provides an enterprise with a single point of management and control of all devices, jobs and queues on the documentation front. It maximizes economy by:

* Centralizing control of the output environment directly with IT professionals

* Empowering end-users to solve many issues themselves

Organizations in the banking and financial services vertical are now waking to the far ranging implications such solutions could have on their document-intensive enterprises.

This industry's constant need to generate, distribute and archive statements, reports and directives poses distinctive challenges. Traditional practices leave considerable room for apprehension over security, accuracy and verifiability of audit trails. However, offerings in the output management space like ISIS' Papyrus Document System and AutoFORM's LaserNet can effectively minimize many of these concerns while revolutionizing resource allocation, business agility and information recall.

Output management solutions can provide unprecedented levels of integration by analyzing documents along their entire lifecycle. This approach dramatically increases document process efficiency and makes it possible to seamlessly align business requirements with underlying document workflows and existing hardware and software.

Key Players in Document Output Management

ISIS: Paper Document System 6

The OS and printer-independent Papyrus Document System from ISIS provides integrated software architecture capable of producing millions of documents daily. Customer service and operations departments in particular can reap significant benefits from end users being able to interactively edit personalized business documents. Though a cross industry solution, Papyrus is being effectively implemented in banking, financial and insurance segments. Its applications for consolidated bank, credit card and fund management can reduce long-term system management efforts substantially.

The Papyrus Document System features:

Papyrus Objects: Designed to ease integration with legacy IT as well as enable the creation of reusable objects, this solution maps processes to existing applications, and facilitates rapid process development and immediate distributed deployment. Papyrus Objects can store and deploy document and process templates enterprise-wide without conversion, reprogramming or even recompilation, providing vital off-the-shelf legacy application integration.

Papyrus Capture: Papyrus Capture uses the latest findings in the fields of pattern recognition and learning systems for solutions to efficiently extract valuable data from all corporate business documents without extensive programming across any data format and interface type.

Papyrus Designer: The powerful WYSIWYG Papyrus design tool with the library facilities provides fast and easy layout changes. It provides dynamic table of contents, logo and graphics management, Bar code/OMR code support, Charts and multiple languages. It provides flexible dynamic data handling features that can read various forms of data including xml, html data. This platform independent tool has inbuilt support for most printers.

Accord: AutoFORM LaserNet

A complete suite of document and output management solutions, AutoFORM LaserNet also integrates the documentation process to existing IT applications. It supports migration from labor and paper-intensive systems to more cost effective, faster, e-enabled document processing. AutoFORM LaserNet captures output and transforms it into the relevant format before intelligently routing it for distribution by print, e-mail, fax and XML. Documents are then automatically archived alongside scanned images of incoming forms, relevant PC files, emails and faxes, thereby creating a freely accessible online repository of important records. LaserNet accomplishes all this without complex and costly programming via an entirely 'point and click' configurable GUI interface.

By providing a single set of simple tools to control all output across all IT applications, AutoFORM LaserNet can drastically cut IT and document development costs while offering consistency across styling and reader specific content customization.

Document Output Management:

What can it do for you?

Document output management solutions like Papyrus and LaserNet can give BFSI enterprises many business-specific and generic benefits. It will (among other things):

* Reduce help desk calls by empowering end users to solve their own issues

* Help the enterprise track exactly how much it spends on output

* Wide range of Print support and automated delivery using other media.

* Offer significant cost benefits by automating document creation workflow

* Make the entire lifecycle of documents an efficient and seamless process

* Improve customer service by simplifying business data access

* Provide timely and concise data for document generation

* Open business data to e-commerce applications

* Create integrated business processes with documents

* Quicker document creation using reusable document elements

Looking Ahead

The core of a successful output management strategy is a scalable central product where the output can be aggregated, managed, and then distributed. Enterprises looking to implement output management solutions must identify a provider with world-class technology, quality personnel and proven expertise in handling document intensive processes.

Those that have taken these initial cautions report considerable growth in ROI, business responsiveness, operational efficiency, cost savings and customer satisfaction. While the telecom sector has been the most eager to embrace document output solutions so far, its potential to revolutionize a critical dimension of BFSI business is fast winning its rightful awareness.

Document Output Management In Banking And Financial Services

Travel Alert: What You Need to Know About Travel Safety and Security Risk Management

Introduction

If you want to learn about managing the safety and security of your corporate travelers then you will need to read this report.

Content Management System

Specifically we'll discuss preparation, analysis, management, monitoring and response as it relates to an active and successful travel risk management program.

After reading this article, you should know how to prevent or predict approximately 90% to travel risks and act immediately to improve your own program.

Implementing a successful travel risk management strategy can be one of the easiest corporate actions but the most difficult to get moving.

Too much time is wasted focusing on the wrong areas for assessment and implementation, that results in minor coverage for the major areas of concern.

Here we will simplify the process for immediate action or comparison.

Preparation

Preparation is the primary and key step for all programs, whether mature or developing. Any-and-all information that is collected, especially data, should be consolidated to ensure consistency and accuracy.

Overcoming a "silo" mentally within the organization is also paramount to consolidating.

Intent, progress and resolutions must be communicated to all stakeholders in the most effective medium possible.

Managers should not limit themselves to the more traditional mediums but also include popular social media offerings.

Key messages or content must be trackable or at least acknowledged to ensure potentially life saving information isn't lost in the vast corporate email inbox or mislabeled as spam.

Each major milestone and change needs to be documented, rated and followed channeled into the communication plan.

Time spent on effective preparation is rarely wasted and will pay dividends, throughout the course of the program's lifecycle.

Example-Preparation

A relatively small consulting firm, who understood that they had a significant investment in their consulting staff, was able to develop and implement an effective, world class travel risk management strategy in a matter of weeks.

Through a well-structured phase of preparation and mapping they were able to resolve an issue that had consistently been pushed back because they had always assumed the task was insurmountable.

Analysis

Analysis of all key components associated with corporate travel must be conducted.

Travelers

The first and most pivotal is the travelers themselves.

A profile and rating of each traveler needs to be developed.

Questions around health, experience, knowledge, function and even preparation are basic requirements for each travelers threat profile.

With this information managers will be better positioned to make accurate assessments on the overall risk of any journey.

Location

The location visited is the second element.

The threats vary greatly from location to location and generalized ratings are useless if based on such known vulnerabilities.

Trips to a key, developed city warrant different planning considerations than that of a remote location in a developing economic country.

Different cities within the same country may have vastly differing threat concerns too.

Activity

Next is the activity to be undertaken by the traveler.

A conference, factory tour, expedition or client meeting all have differing threats and planning considerations and are not adequately address by a "one-size-fits-all" approach.

Support

Additionally, the level of support afforded the traveler is considered.

This is not only those organic support options such as internal support and providers but that of emergency services, infrastructure and so on.

The time it takes for an ambulance to respond can turn a "routine" incident into a potentially fatal encounter.

The assessment and access to support should be inclusive of routine and emergency situations.

Threats

Lastly, all the known or prevailing threats need to be assessed.

You can never know everything but an overall list and impact/potential outcomes assessment needs to be conducted to complete the process if consistent and measurable results are to be expected.

Many threat factors may be seasonal or vary over the course of the month or traveler's journey.

Example-Analysis

Due to changing economic challenges, a mid-sized company was pressured to seek new business in developing countries and emerging markets.

Until this point they had always been reluctant to venture into such markets due largely to their perception of risk.

Following structured and less superficial analysis they were able to fully appreciate the actual threats and separate the more emotive elements.

Following consultation with managers and travelers, they successfully expanded their market and sought new business with less competition as their competitors continue to lack the understanding and preparation to successfully pursue potentially lucrative opportunities.

Management

The greatest threat to preparation and analysis is an unsupervised or unmanaged program once the traveler commences travel.

Ownership must be displayed and active management of travelers from a door of departure until a door of return is required.

This must be conducted with frequency of effort and communications to ensure the traveler feels supported and management is across the potential for change and intervention.

This phase is a marathon and not a sprint.

The management of successful programs requires consistency in conjunction with frequency.

Relatively standardized approaches need to be applied to like situations/circumstances for the purpose of efficiency, productivity, safety and cost control.

Demonstrable support is required both within the management group but to all identified stakeholders such as travel management, security, the traveler, families, etc.

Example-Management

A company with tens of thousands of traveling personnel successfully manages the risks and demands of travel with only a handful of people.

Their system and support mechanism is adaptive enough to support individual requirements but automated enough to ensure efficiency by keeping headcount at optimal and minimal levels while leveraging technology.

Their overall strategy is not managed by one department but all departments and stakeholders work in collective unison at each and every stage from departure up to return of the traveler to the office or their place of residence.

Monitoring

Monitoring represents the Achilles' heel for the majority of travel risk management programs.

Ongoing monitoring of events and activities is required, whether this is carried out by the traveler or higher support function such as HR or security.

Tactical events (those that occur within proximity of the traveler/travelers route) should be scrutinized on a regular basis.

These events are the ones most likely to cause disruption or harm and should constitute the priority of effort.

Wider events or more strategic developments also need to be monitored for change that will impact the traveler or group of travelers.

Tactical events include demonstrations, storms, violence and the like while strategic events include visa changes, political unrest, health crisis and so on.

The actual journey taken by the traveler should be regularly reviewed or automated to report and respond disruption events and threats.

Finally, the individual needs to be monitored outside of the usual performance and reporting requirement to ensure their health and well-being is preserved or unchanged.

Example-Monitoring

Numerous companies have averted crisis and maintained productivity by monitoring developing events.

Changes in weather, strikes, airline delays and even public holidays can occur at short notice and outside of standard policy doctrine.

By keeping "a finger on the pulse" with active monitoring these companies maximize their travel spending and ensure their travelers are highly productive and efficient.

Less vigilant companies who leave the process to static policy and dated knowledge are forced to spend more or suffer unnecessary delays.

Response

Bad things happen to good people all the time.

No plan is complete without a response capacity in support of the affected traveler.

The plan and steps must be painstakingly simple and clear so as to be remembered under the worst of situations.

The plan must be adaptive and simple in implementation so that it can build in complexity and content after the initial activation or call for assistance.

The plan may be infrequently called upon but it should have consistency in application and capability.

All locations, activity, individuals and threats need to be considered and inclusive of the response plan.

Above all, the plan needs to be timely in its application.

A distressed, affected traveler or manager must get the support and collaboration required in the shortest possible time frame.

While the planning and preparation may be measured in days, weeks or months the response should be valued in minutes and hours dependent on the need.

Most companies acknowledge this is not their core competency and therefore part or all of this function is outsourced for maximum return and results.

Example-Response

A "seasoned traveler" from an acclaimed academic institution became unwell while traveling for work purposes.

Despite years of experience and seniority at the institution they had in fact very little knowledge or experience when it came to emergencies or supporting medical services in the location they were when they became ill.

As a result of poor choices, lack of knowledge, no support, limited integration coupled by a litany of local challenges the individual nearly died.

It was only through the swift and successful actions of a concerned spouse, engaging a far more organized process with predictable results, did the individual receive the care and support required to save their life and begin the long recovery process.

Conversely, one company experienced several similar incidents in a single month, however not once were their travelers placed at such grave risk, suffered uncontrolled costs or outright loss of productivity for long periods.

This was all due to a successful and scalable response capacity if and when required.

The Main Travel Safety and Security Threats-Locations and Events

The majority of incidents negatively affecting travelers occur at airports, on the road, accommodation, office/business location, social/leisure locations or result of dynamic change.

Airports

Airports must be included in any action plans or support strategies as it is first/last leg of all journeys and likely to present delays and disruptions ranging from flight delays to targeting by petty criminals.

Accommodation

Accommodation of all kind must be evaluation and included in timely response and advice communications.

Road Moves

Road moves remain the most prevalent and greatest for deadly consequences. Motor vehicle accident rates vary wildly from country to country.

Location

Locations of business activity within the journey plan represent the smallest of impact locations but demand inclusion.

Social and Leisure Activities

Often forgotten with tragic results are social or leisure locations.

This element is likely to be largely unscripted but has a high rate of incidents and events that negatively impact upon the traveler.

Change

The one constant with travel is change.

Elections, violent crimes, attacks an other major news events create change and potential for concern, whether affected directly or not.

Planners and managers need to include this dynamic in the constant monitoring, response and communication plans.

Close

Most agree that travel is inherently risky or laced with threats but far less actually do something about travel risk management as they don't know where to start or see the task too daunting.

As you can see, it is relatively straightforward to capture 90% of the problem and manage the risk in a few simple steps.

With a methodical and consistent process inclusive of preparation, analysis, management, monitoring and response you too can have a world-class travel risk management program.

Most events and concerns occur in and around airports, accommodation, road moves, office/business locations, change and social leisure locations.

Now you know the key focus areas you have the information and plan to start now.

Even if you already have a plan and strategy, you can benchmark your own approach with this information gathered from years of empirical data, thousands of incidents and insight from thousands of companies ranging from small startup to some of the largest multinationals around the globe.

Travel alert and you truly travel safe.

Travel Alert: What You Need to Know About Travel Safety and Security Risk Management

Sales Recovery: How To Manage a Sale Going Wrong

Do you know the difference between which prospect you’ll close and which one you’ll lose?

How can you tell, midway through a sale, whether you’re on track for success or you’ve lost the deal?

Content Management System

How can you tell, in advance, that the sale won't close... ever?

All prospect situations seem to be going along successfully until they aren’t. You work hard to find the prospect who has appropriate need and interest. You do your front end due diligence. You promote and pitch the product professionally. You follow the process of objections, time delays, surprises. You even project a time when the sale will close – much to your manager’s dismay. And you hope, hope, that this time all of your hard work will pay off. But it’s a guess.

There seems to be no way of knowing which prospect will actually close, and which one will disappear forever into choices you have no control over.

OUT OF THE LOOP

How do you end up being wrong so often? Most calculations state that from first prospecting call to close, only approximately 7% of your prospects will make a purchase. If that’s true – or anything close to that number is true – you’re wasting, say, 90% of your time. What’s even worse, you believe that you’re going to be successful until far into your time wastage.

I know I personally sometimes either deny signs that a sale might be going south, or arrogantly believe I can save the day somehow.

But the reality is, as outsiders, the only data you have is either data your prospect has chosen to share, or from your own best guess based on similar situations.

One of the problems is that you’re basing your hopes and guesswork on historic patterns – buyers who have bought given the same fact pattern, or problems you know your product can resolve and seem to be a perfect fit. It seems logical that the new prospect should buy if they want their problem solved.

As an outsider to the buyer’s unique cultural norms and mental models, you have no way of going into the team or Problem Space of the prospect because you don’t live there with them. You don’t know their internal politics, or the complete set of people issues that must be managed; you don’t know exactly what is maintaining the problem that your product can solve – if the prospect knew how, the problem would have been solved ‘yesterday’ (and why wasn’t it??); you can’t know all of the hidden agendas, the office politics, the historic problems that must be resolved before a purchasing decision can happen.

CHANGING THE POSSIBILITIES

Let me tell you a story about how assumptions get us into trouble. It’s not specifically about how a sale was lost without knowing why, but a story of how a sale never got to happen because the sales approach was wrong and the seller didn’t know how to recognize what didn’t work. It’s the same premise: operating from the assumption that the seller 'knows' what’s going on and doesn't recognize his own approach as being part of the problem.

I know this tale intimately: it happened with a new member of my team who was recently trained and just getting his head around the difference between selling and helping someone manage all of the elements necessary for a buying decision.

My salesperson told me he was having problems getting a good response from a specific industry when he made cold calls. He was quite frustrated because he only had a finite number to call, and asked what he’d do when he’d completed all calls in the category without a sale. It was obvious to him that we were in the wrong industry, given the responses he was getting.

When I asked him what he was doing, he shared a scenario that made it clear that he was using conventional sales techniques, and hence received conventional responses. Here is how one of his conversations went:

Seller/John: Hello. My name is John from Morgen Facilitations. This is a sales call. Is this is a good time to speak? [So far, so good.]

Prospect: Sure. I’ve got a few minutes. What are you selling?

John: A new paradigm sales training. How are you currently bringing new thinking into your team to enhance their skills? [Good job, John. On the money.]

Prospect: We purchase scripts that we have designed especially for our product. We’ve used this scripting service for a long time, and we’re happy with them. They give us the results we seek.

John: So what I hear you saying is [Good so far.] that you are happy with a result that might be less than what you could be getting if you were using a different sales model [LOST IT. Told the guy he’s stupid.]

Prospect: I’m really satisfied with our results and don’t want to change anything. Maybe you can call back in a year or so when we’re in the market for new training, and we can take another look then. Thanks for the call.

John did what so many sellers do: attempt to lead the buyer to the conclusion that they need the seller’s product, and in the process they don’t acknowledge the buyer’s success, historic decisions, internal systems, company politics, vendor relationships, staff comfort. And the prospect shuts down.

John’s final assessment was that the buyer wasn’t interested. It never occurred to him that anything he was doing might have caused the response, and he had no insight into what was really going on internally. Indeed, John had no way of knowing whether there was interest or not. The response he got was a buyer reacting to a stranger who attempted to get him to change to something unknown, and who told him metaphorically that his historic decisions were stupid. He did all he could do: he left the interaction. John set up the buyer’s response and blamed it on the buyer.

SUPPORT THE SOLUTION DESIGN

But look at the new possibilities if you have the buyer add in the considerations necessary for him to consider changing. Here’s what I would have said, using Buying Facilitation questions and summary:

I hear that you have a system in place that has worked for you over time and that you have been extremely happy with. What would you need to think about to consider the possibility of adding a new skill set to your current methods in case there might be even more success possible?

Other Facilitative Questions might be:

What would you need to know about a new model to recognize that it might fit into your values and brand?

How would you know that new material, such as we have, would even have a possibility of working in your work situation?

And, later into the conversation:

Given you’ve had the scripts in place for so long, how would you need to manage the team learning to ensure they could add something new without causing them distress or loss of revenue?

A prospect's response to this exchange would be thoughtful, get him considering decisions he had made, and open up new possibilities without threatening existing internal systems.

With the proper decision directing questions the Facilitation process helps the prospect design a solution and direct him through the range of decisions he'd need to manage anyway if he were to make a change by purchasing your product.

This is the aspect missing from the ‘selling’ model and what keeps sellers in the dark: buyers are fighting hidden internal systems that maintain their status quo and until they address these monsters they can’t buy. Anything that rears its head must be addressed, and whatever has been used in place of your product - whatever people or rules or relationships or politics or historic systems that have any touch-points around the decision to bring in a new solution – will keep the process from moving forward.

By having your communication based around product placement (and your information gathering and relationship building are all based on ultimately placing product), you remain out of the loop with no way for you to take any lead on the change that needs to occur within the prospect’s environment. The best you can do is to direct the buyer in the area your product can solve; you can’t get in there with him to help him formulate his own system of change.

HOW TO KNOW WHEN IT’S NOT WORKING

Here is what you’ll hear when the sale is going wrong:

* One of our partners just contacted us and might be able to help us straighten out our problem;

* We have a new initiative starting soon. We’ll need to wait until we’re farther along on the implementation before we can move forward;

* There has been so much change here. I’d like to speak with you again in 6 months when things have calmed down here;

* I think we’re going to continue using what we’ve got for now. Can you call in about 3 months and see if we’re ready then?

* The people who have given us our current X are coming up with a new product that might be able to do what we want. It won’t be out for 2 months, but we’ll need to wait ‘til then to trial it.

* I’ll need to run this by a few more people.

* We need to make sure we’ve got the budget for this.

* We were thinking of a solution that is a bit simpler than what you and I have come up with. We’re either going to have to scale this back, or wait ‘til there is budget next year.

Whatever the excuse, it’s built around an internal system that you are unaware of and can lead to surprises. From where you stand, you can only see a problem that your product resolves. I recently heard a conventional sales person doubt that he, personally, would have missed a long-standing problem that delayed a large sale by years – even when the people who missed this issue were 5 very very senior partners of a well-established international consulting group who were partnering with every single “C” level exec. Oh… the arrogance of our profession!

WHAT TO DO

Once you hear any of the above objections (or any others), you can actually get back in the game by using the Buying Decision Funnel and lead the prospect through all of the decisions that need to be managed in order to make a new decision. The Funnel will lead the prospect from strategic to tactical decisions that her entire system will have to address. We’re talking about CHANGE here, not just about solving the identified problem.

Remember that the prospect does not seek your product: she seeks to resolve a business problem and your product may help her do that. And she will not consider making a purchase until she’s tried every conceivable approach to solving the problem with resources already familiar to her (go to [http://www.newsalesparadigm.com/buyfac.html] and read up on the sequence of buyer’s decision making). Your new job is to ask systems-based questions that will lead the prospect to her own answers – not use information-based questions that will help her buy your product. [Should you wish to learn more about this, go to http://www.buyingfacilitation.com and purchase my ebook Buying Facilitation: the new way to sell that expands and influences decisions].

Here are a couple of examples to help you move the prospect through their decisions when you hear that the sales is stuck:

What I hear you saying is X and that your timing might not be what we first discussed. What would you need to know or do differently in order to have ready whatever needs to be managed in order to move forward when it’s the right time?

How would you know that my product would offer a solution that your team would be able to adopt and recognize as a reliable alternative/addition to what you’re currently using?

Of course, I can’t give you all possible Facilitative Questions here as they need to be formulated as per the conversation. Just note that when formulating the questions, include systems elements surrounding the perceived problem (including roles, rules, relationships, politics, vendor management, etc.) not just questions that help YOU determine a ‘need’. Keep reminding yourself that your prospect has a much bigger issue than your product can solve, and that the only person who can resolve their issues are inside the organization.

It’s not rocket science, but truly demands a different mindset as Buying Facilitation supports the front end of the sales cycle that has been hidden until now. Indeed, it's a systems approach to collaborative decision making and not a selling method.

You have had no choice but to base your closing predictions on the content of what prospects say, rather than managing the system that they operate within. But now you can help prospects manage their actual internal buying decision system. This will put you on the buyer’s team, uncover three times more prospects, and close sales 600% faster than with conventional sales.

Do you want to sell? Or have someone buy?

Sales Recovery: How To Manage a Sale Going Wrong

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Content Management System For Your Site

As a webmaster do we need a CMS(Content Management System) to start a site or go for custom portal development?

When one enters the Internet world this is the first technical question that always comes in the mind of every new webmaster after you have grabbed the domain name and the server space. I've compiled some advantages and disadvantages of using CMS.

Content Management System

Advantages of CMS:

CMSs are well written software and tested by a large community of users. So you'll not find common coding bugs and errors. Most of the CMS are easy to install. Your site can be up and running quickly and you don't need to spend lot of time. Most of the CMS are free nowadays. Even the paid ones cost few bucks only. You can get any free technical support from the developers community. CMS softwares can be migrated in different servers and most of them can work with any database.

Disadvantages of CMS:

For a simple and small site CMS can be very heavy. To add or configure any existing feature you need to understand the codebase of CMS if they don't have the plugin for this. Different pages of portal can't have different theme or CSS when you use CMS. If a CMS is not avaialble to a different technology then migrating a site is rellay impossible and cumbersome work. Hiring a developer for configuring a CMS costs more as most of the popular CMS are heavy in size.

Example of some popular free CMS are:

Tinyportal-SMF (This requires SMF forum to be installed then tinyportal to be installed as a plugin. Here is a link to one popular community site for Programmers, developers, students and webmaster containing IT discussion forum and large collection of java/php/Ajax/javascript/Linux tips and articles which is developed using CMS (Tinyportal): http://www.techcubetalk.com) Joomla (Very popular CMS and lots of sites are running Joomla) CMS Made simple Wordpress (Though this is a blog publishing software but it can be used as a CMS. Example site is www.technotalks.com)

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Content Management System For Your Site

A General View of Management Software

Software application has the capability to make people's lives easier since software works important jobs for all types of users. There are several kinds of software that perform complex operations, documentations, and various applications that show to be easy for users. One best example of that software is the management software.

Management software is commonly used by majority of people especially workers and businessmen. The software comprises tasks and decisions that go around the sorting, storage and recovery of digital information. These are generally called as files that comprise your videos, image, audio, and animations as well. Also, this kind of software provides aid to a computerized information management process.

Content Management System

Several computer users and various IT professionals use this software to make several tasks all combined to save time and cost. There are various features comprised which may provide computerized solutions of archiving, maintaining, and managing files. Many users realized the potential of this kind of software to develop their video and audio content easily. The clear benefit of management software is the saved amount of time in looking for files as well as reusing them.

Moreover, you can utilize the software to ascertain that the essential facilities must be working the exact patterns. You can place a networked computer system and with the management software, you can examine or enter the product number or bar code and immediately provides a visual verification of the task at hand.

By maintaining management software, marketing for businesses could instantly access important information in just the tip of fingertips. Even it costs them too much to acquire the software but the return of the investment is more than enough to help their businesses grow dramatically.

A General View of Management Software

Web Site Content Management - An Important Aspect in Running Your Business

In running your own web site business, it is imperative that you effectively manage the flow of your work so that your business will not only be in order but also organized. Like any other business, having it organized is very important in the sense that a business which is disorganized is sure to fail. This is so since, having a business, you will have to manage every aspect of it. From your data, indexes and any other texts, you will have to need to find the right application in order for you to keep track of your records. Without any means of organizing yourself, the success of your business will surely be under the constant threat of not happening. Simply stated, having your business organized is imperative. Without organization, no success could follow. And without success, money arising from your business will surely not come.

Web content management system is precisely there to provide you with the organization that your web site badly needs. Even in the normal course of everyday life, organization takes a very important place in your life. But the degree of importance varies as when it comes to business, organization is a requisite. Without which, no business could take away or get out of the ground. This means that whatever you do, if you are in the web site business, or in any other business for that matter, organization takes precedence over anything else. Without organization, your success will surely stay as a dream.

Content Management System

It is for this reason that if you are running a web site business, you should have a web site content management system. Without this system, you will have a hard time organizing your video files, audio files, manuals, indexes and many other electronic documents such as articles or even web content. Such is the importance of having your own web site content management system. Imagine a web site business which does not have any storage in terms of its articles, video files, audio files and other electronic documents which are essential in keeping said business in order. It will be hard for you to manage such a business without this system. Without it, you will have no place with which to store your computer files which is very important insofar as said business is concerned. This is so since in running such a business, document organization is very important.

Consequently, you should not think twice in getting a web site content management program because this will serve as the back bone of your business. Without such program, your business will surely be very difficult to handle. If not, incapable of being handled. Hence, having said program is a must to those who would want to have their very own web site business.

Another important aspect in having this program is that it will give you a peace of mind insofar as the documents of your business is concerned. And having a peace of mind, it will certainly take some pressure off of you.

Web Site Content Management - An Important Aspect in Running Your Business

Fleet Management - How Vehicle Tracking Can Save You Money

The initial financial outlay involved in installing a vehicle tracking system in your fleet can be considerable. However, the savings that outlay can promote in the longer term can easily outweigh the expense. As a fleet management tool, GPS tracking can be invaluable.

GPS tracking isn't just about checking up on your employees whereabouts. A fully integrated system can provide fleet managers with a wealth of information that can help cut costs throughout the business. According to research carried out by the Aberdeen Group, almost two thirds of service organisations are now using location-based applications and vehicle tracking systems to help manage and track their fleets and despite initial hostility from those being 'tracked', almost all users now feel that the system has benefited their business. Vehicle tracking can provide fleet managers with information about the daily driving habits of their employees, including those who may be a little 'lead-footed' when it comes to fuel consumption and speed. Vehicle tracking systems can give a fleet manager information concerning speeding vehicles. One major pharmaceutical company was able to reduce their fuel consumption in one depot by 500 litres a month, just by reducing the speed of some of its drivers.

Content Management System

This also benefits the company in another important way - public image. The archetypal image of 'white van man' speeding down the motorway in excess of 100mph is not the kind of promotion that any company wants, particularly if the vehicles are sign-written with the company's name and insignia. An 'Overspeed' report can indicate clearly if a driver needs to be spoken to concerning his or her driving habits. The result of this can be to cut fuel bills, reduce the chances of the vehicle being involved in an accident and maintaining the company's image as a responsible operator.

A GPS tracking system can also be used to maximise efficiency in planning routes for deliveries and collections and this in turn can also improve customer relations by giving clients a more accurate time of arrival. One of the commonest complaints by customers is the vague 'sometime before noon' time estimation given in response to a perfectly valid request for an ETA. By utilising a tracking system, managers can give customers a far more accurate estimation; if necessary re-routing another vehicle that may be nearer to the customer to cover a collection at the touch of a button.

Security is one of the primary concerns for all fleet management professionals -not just the security of the vehicle, but that of the driver and contents as well, particularly if the vehicles are carrying high-value goods. This helps companies to comply with their legal 'Duty of Care' requirements to ensure the safety of their employees at all times, even when away from the office. Vehicle tracking systems can incorporate panic buttons, integrated into the vehicle telematics system. This can indicate immediately if a driver has had an accident - particularly important if the driver is operating in a remote location. A silent alarm can also be triggered if the vehicle is operated out of hours, indicating that it may have been stolen or that the driver is using the vehicle for unauthorised mileage. Fitting comprehensive vehicle tracking systems can also reduce the cost of fleet insurance, with many commercial insurers now offering considerable discounts for fleets that have systems installed.

All of these add up to considerable savings for the company over the long term which justify the initial outlay of purchasing a vehicle tracking system and fitting GPS devices to fleet vehicles. As the market becomes more competitive that initial cost is coming down, making fleet vehicle tracking systems more affordable for smaller fleets as well as large operations.

Fleet Management - How Vehicle Tracking Can Save You Money

Going Beyond HTML

So what is CMS, I hear you cry. CMS is a dynamic Content Management System. Let me start with an example. I am a teacher (I am really) and I would like to setup lessons online so that different classes can download different content depending on what class(es) they are subscribed to. A CMS system would be ideal for this as it delivers specific pages depending on the user.

A smart CMS designed especially for schools like Moodle, can deliver courses which can take one of a number of different paths depending on how well a student scores in a particular test.

Content Management System

OK so you are not a teacher but a CMS can still be useful in a) reducing the amount of code redundancy and b) allowing you to create virtual web pages that don't really exist thus allowing multiple pages to be created depending on the user's request.

Just think for a second about your own web pages. You probably have a header, a middle bit and a footer. Now, the header and footer exist on all, or at least most of the pages. It makes more sense to create the header and footer once and then to use a language like PHP to serve them up for every page you want to use them on.

"Oh no, PHP, I don't even know what that is, how can I write dynamic web pages"? Well actually I don't write much PHP code either. There are so many different CMS solutions out there that it seems crazy to reinvent the wheel. A lot of the solutions are free so you are left to setup the cosmetic parts of the web pages.

I must admit that when I first started looking at CMS solutions I felt a bit out of my depth. I thought that only an expert would install such a system. When my school asked me to investigate I came across Moodle. It was a breeze installing it and the parts of each page or course are made up of a number of interchangeable modules that you can just drop into the course.

After that I decided to try a few others. First was PHPizabi to set up a dating site for a friend. Again it was a breeze and followed similar steps to Moodle. Next I tried phpBB to setup a bulletin board for a site giving away free software. Exactly the same results as the previous couple of attempts.

I have also tried setting up Droopal, Joomla, PHP-Nuke and quite a few others. I believe the ones mentioned above are the easiest to setup but most follow a similar number of steps e.g.

Create an SQL database on your server. This is probably the most confusing step so I will talk about it in a little detail. If you have CPanel installed on your server you may well have an option for SQL databases. Click on the icon and select the option to create a NEW database and give it a name. Make a note of the name. You will also need a Username and Password to access the database. If you are not shown what it is from the CPanel it may well be the same username/password combination you use to access the server. If you are in any doubt at all email your server host, don't be nervous, he has answered this question a hundred times before, that's his job. Once you have setup the database, download and unzip the CMS package to your local computer. After this point you will be working in one sitting to get everything setup so if you need a break, now would be a good time to take one. Upload the contents of the CMS to your server in the usual way using FTP. Once you have uploaded everything, open your browser and go to the home page of your site (if this is where you installed to). The program goes into setup mode and you answer a number of questions online in order to set everything up.

And that's it, all done. You will need to setup an administrator account as the first account. That's why I said the last section needs to be done in one sitting. If you stopped someone else would load up your home page and setup an administrator account for themselves.

Make sure you read the instructions for configuring your CMS but I really do urge you to take a look. They are nowhere near as scary as I first thought they were.

Going Beyond HTML

Choosing the Right CMS For Your Web Site

We all have seen a few different content management systems I am sure. But with all the different CMS solutions available how do you choose the right one for your Web Site. This article will go over the main points to consider when choosing a content management system and what to look out for.

The first thing you need to ask yourself is what type of web site am I creating?

Content Management System

There are many different CMS solutions out there to you and each one is best used for a different type of web site. So to choose the right CMS you need to find out what purpose your web site will have and what the main required functions of the content management system will be.

For example if you are planning to create a web site that simply will be used to post articles or guides, Wordpress may be the right solution for you. However if you are looking at creating more of a community that focuses around dynamic content and users, a portal like CMS may be what you are looking for. Popular portal like content management systems include PHP Nuke and Joomla, as they offer a wide range of features for community based web sites.

When choosing a Content Management System for your web site you also need to take functionality into consideration. You need the CMS to be able to be customizable and and expandable, if required in the future. Although newer content management systems may boast great features you need to take into account the low following they may have. The following a CMS has is very important mainly because it is these followers that will be creating modules/add ons that you may need in the future. Followers/users of a particular CMS are also great for helping with problems/questions that the CMS developers are too busy to answer.

As stated above the modules, add ons or extra functions are content management offers, is very important to take into consideration when choosing a CMS. You want to choose a system that offers download of additional modules that perform special features that you may want to use. For example if you also run a forum you may like a CMS that is compatible with that forum or offers a module that bridges the two together, which allows the use of single accounts etc.

Finally the history of the content management system also needs to be taken into consideration. A long running CMS that is updated often is a good choice as bugs are usually fixed when discovered along with security risks. An older CMS that has little or no updates may pave the way for possible bugs and security exploits so always look out for a CMS with an active developer base.

Choosing the Right CMS For Your Web Site

Managing Tomatoes Pests and Disease Without Using Heavy Chemicals

Tomatoes cop their fair share of pests and diseases and this can seriously effect how much fruit they produce. Climatic conditions play a large part in whether the pest or disease is going to become a problem. The best way to manage the build up of pests and diseases is to practice Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and crop rotation. By using these two methods, you don't need to rely on heavy chemicals. IPM is using physical/mechanical, biological and chemical controls to manage pests and diseases. Crop rotation falls into the physical/mechanical group, as each season you plant the tomatoes in a different bed.

Viruses, bacteria and fungal diseases can enter the plant through wounds such as broken stems or through the roots or be transferred by sap sucking insects such as aphids, white fly, mites and mealy bugs. Pathogens can also be spread by wind and water.

Content Management System

Tomatoes are a summer/warm climate crop and are susceptible to fungal diseases that require humid conditions to thrive. The main fungal diseases are wilt and mildews. These diseases multiply by spores. Ideal conditions are: warm temperatures, moist air and a host plant such as a tomato. Spores can also survive in the soil, dead plant material and weeds growing near by.

Diseases

The signs of wilt are the lower leaves become brown and papery, dry looking and hang down, while the top growth still looks healthy. The lower leaves look like they need water. But the disease interferes with the roots ability to take up moisture. Watering actually makes the problem worse.

There are two types of mildews - downy and powdery. Downy mildew is characterized by white spots or patches on the upper and lower parts of the leaf. Powdery mildew's characteristics are the fungal spores start out as small white dots that gradually spread over the entire leaf. It also affects buds, stems and fruit.

Pests and Diseases Control Measures:

Buy healthy seeds and seedlings Practice crop rotation Pick up any leaves on the ground and destroy them, don't compost them In winter spray the soil with Lime Sulphur - it kills fungal spores Don't water from overhead as it can spread the fungal spores Water at ground level Plant grafted tomatoes as they are more resistant to pests and diseases Make sure there is plenty of sunlight Make sure the air is able to circulate around the plants Don't keep feeding the plants with nitrogen, it creates soft and sappy leaf growth which is susceptible to attack Make your own fungicide. See below for recipe. Apply fungicides early in the morning

Fungicide Recipe:Mix one level teaspoon of bicarb soda into one litre of water. Add one litre of skim milk and a pinch of Condy's Crystals which you can get from a produce agent (someone that supplies to horse owners). Shake thoroughly and spray over leaves. Only lasts in the bottle about 1-2 days.

Blossom-End Rot is a physiological disease caused by lack of calcium or too much nitrogen. In regards to the calcium deficiency, it does not mean that the soil is in lacking calcium. There may be calcium in the soil, but the pH may be wrong, preventing the plant accessing it. Tomatoes like a soil with a pH between 5-7. If your soils pH is acidic and below 5, then the plant may not be able to take up the calcium. To overcome this problem, an application of garden lime is advised. This will raise the soils pH and enable the plant to access the calcium that is present in the soil. When you are preparing the soil to plant your tomatoes, a good handful of lime per plant will help.

Pests

Tomatoes also attract their fare share of pests such as white fly, aphids, mealy bugs and mites. These are sap sucking insects and some have the ability to multiply asexually. That means the female is able to produce lots of clones without the male. It is important to control these pests because they can transfer viruses and bacterial diseases.

I recommend that you use a low toxic sprays such as Long Life Pyrethrin or a home made garlic or chilli spray. These types of sprays are called contact sprays and wash off easily after rain or being watered. They are not absorbed into plants vascular system like systemic sprays such as Confidor. If you read my article Vegetable Pests and Diseases you will find recipes to make your own pesticides. A sign that your tomato is being attacked by sap sucking insects is the leaves curl or bubble or go a silvery colour.When applying contact sprays it is important to actually spray it onto the pests, so I suggest you look under the leaves because that is where many pests cohabitate.

Some cultural tips to growing healthy tomatoes

Put the plant in the full sun Check the soils pH and alter accordingly if it needs it Don't over plant the garden bed Prepare the soil properly before planting with compost, blood and bone, potash and animal manure Put shade cloth over if the day is going to be extremely hot Water in the morning

The good thing about growing your own tomatoes is that you control what pesticides you apply to them. If you decide to use heavy chemicals then it is vital you obey the with holding period directions. The with holding period is the number of days you must wait until you can harvest the produce.

Growing your tomatoes is very rewarding but you do have to manage the pests and diseases, otherwise you will find that your efforts are being wasted. Observing and understanding what tomatoes require is the secret to growing healthy tomatoes. Integrated Pest Management and crop rotation are very valuable tools that if you put into practice, will reward you will delicious tomatoes without using nasty heavy chemicals.

Managing Tomatoes Pests and Disease Without Using Heavy Chemicals

What Are the Components of a Good and Effective Web Content Management System?

Once the decision has been reached to purchase a web content management system the issue then becomes "What makes a good web content management system?" Should the purchase be based on brand? Can the assumption be made that Microsoft (for example), because of their name and based on the fact that you are running a Microsoft shop, has a content management system that would best fit your needs?

There are four questions that must be a part of the debate. The four questions address:
What your web content management  needs  are versus what the available CMS' offer How steep the learning curve would be for your  IT department and especially for your non-technical employees who will now be asked to create and publish their own web sites When can you have this system available for use across the enterprise - days? Weeks? Months? Which content management product is most effective in providing a return on investment that is easily quantifiable?Is the web content management system easy to use? Aside from the ROI, the most important question initially has to be "is this system easy to use?"  Chances are that the desire for a content management system is based on a perceived need to take basic website maintenance out of the hands of your IT department and place it into the hands of those who actually create the content. This saves time and money, but those savings will never be realized if the content managers have so much trouble learning how to use the system that it's never adopted.

Content Management System

An easy to use web content management system will have:
Training and support in the form of easy to read and use documentation, online videos, and cost effective training  provided by the vendor WYSIWG editors that  make creating and editing content as easy as typing a memo in Word or creating a PowerPoint presentation Easily created page templates and the ability to clone existing pages and or templates Automatic versioning  where new versions are created upon update and the content manager can copy or rollback to a  previous version   Pre-built components that allow the content manager to easily create a feature rich user experience with images, audio, video, calendars, news feeds and blogs Globalization features that allow an entire website to be easily translated into the local languageIs the web content management system feature rich? Does the web content management system provide the built in features that your organization is looking for?  Sure, just about every product has the WYSWIG editors and some type of security and a couple of built in nice to have components. When the discussion turns to features here are just a couple of things to look for:
Just how deep does the" granular security model" go? Is it "role-based" and can it be easily integrated into your existing security model? Can it insure that the right people have access to the right content and can work with the content as required by the business?  How many components does the content management system ship with?  And how many components do you have to pay extra for? For example - will your marketing department be able to indulge their penchant for customer surveys at no extra cost whatsoever? Built in navigation components  for easy and fast creation of horizontal and vertical menus, bread crumbs and  even category specific menus  where needed Inclusion of social media type components - blogs, message boards/forums, personalized web pages, photo galleries. Tools that can be used companywide  such as a news release  manager,  or a Frequently Asked Questions component What if you need document management also? Is it  integrated with the web content management  system and a part of this purchase or does this require a whole new set of purchase orders, licensing fees and sales  agreements?Is the web content management system fast to deploy? I have worked on projects which involved a purchased software package, where the system was rolled out over the course of several years.  This is because there is a certain amount of customization required before the application is ready to go "live".

You do not want this to be the case with your web content management system. Look for a product that doesn't cost as much to deploy as it did to purchase. You also want something that can easily be installed by your own IT personnel and doesn't require a manual to accomplish.

Is the web content management system affordable? I love taking cruises and going to certain resorts. Why? Because they are all-inclusive, I pay one price and am fed and pampered for a week, and any additional costs are clearly stated up front. This is  exactly what your web content management choice should be like - all inclusive and any additional costs clearly stated up front.

Do yourself and your organization's bottom line a favor and get a test drive of the product - not just a demo. Make a list of the features that your organization is looking for in a content management system and the make sure that most (if not all) are included in the base price for the product.  Nothing shoots holes in a pre-calculated ROI like a product that continues to cost money long after the sale has been finalized.

What Are the Components of a Good and Effective Web Content Management System?

To Create a Great Speech or Presentation - Don't just Research the Content

To create a great speech or presentation you certainly need content that will appeal to your audience and support the impact you want to make. Research will find you that content. But you also need to research vital details about audience, venue and context if that speech is to be successful and is to have the impact that you want it to create.

Once you have articulated the purpose of your speech, you can go about collecting the material you need. It may be that you have a specific message to present or you may have to create your own. If the latter is the case you will need to range wide in your research to cover the whole subject until a suitable message becomes clear. Then you will see sub-themes developing and you can direct your research along those lines.

Content Management System

Research on the internet. Use search engines, and include databases and blogs. Opinions in the blogs will give you some ideas for your own message.

Use libraries and include magazine articles as well as reference books and fiction or non-fiction.

While you research, be sure to note your sources. Head each new document of notes with the name of your resource then if you want to quote ideas you can refer to the source.

If you are speaking regularly, you will develop the habit of collecting material on your subject areas - articles from magazines or the internet, quotes, sayings and anecdotes. Keep a paper file of notes and save useful websites in your favourites file of a tagging system like del.icio.us.

And never forget your human resources. You cannot interview a website or book for clarification or for a quirky perspective that just might give you the winning angle on a topic.

Finally, if you are a visual person you can use mind mapping to record your ideas and information. (You can visit my article on the subject.) It will be a great tool to help you create a logical structure for your speech and to help you remember that structure.

Once you have content for your speech, you will also need to extend the range of the research. It is also vital to find out as much as you can about

The audienceThe venueThe context
1. Research the audience

Find out as much as you can - their age range, gender, income levels, dreams, needs, wants, culture.

You can gain much from a registration form.

You can ask the event manager.

In your preparation routine, you can mingle with them before your speech.

Then you can use that information in constructing your speech. If you need to persuade, for example, you can use your knowledge of their interests and dreams.

You will choose language that they understand, and that is not irritating or offensive to them, and subject matter to suit that audience - themes, supports, anecdotes all will be tailored to them.

2. Research the venue

Research the equipment available if you can, and the area.

If you can visit it before your presentation you will be able to incorporate it into your visualisations.

Apart from becoming familiar with the operations of the equipment, you may need to structure your presentation around what is available. The way you present using PowerPoint will be very different from the way you present without it, for example.

The location of your presentation, and of the equipment, in the room may also add constraints or possibilities to how you organise your material.

3. The Context

If you can find out the details of the programme you will have an advantage.

Ascertain, if you can, any other speakers on the programme and their subject matter ... and the theme of the event.

And in your dealings with the organizers of the event, ensure that you know just what it is that they expect of you. A satisfied event manager is a powerful ally.

You must also know the time of day, so that you can either write for an audience that is alert, or one that is ready for an after-banquet nap, and the expected length of your speech or presentation. If you hope to have a positive, lasting impact on the audience and the organizers, you will stick to that time limit and write your speech accordingly.

So the research you have conducted to find content and to familiarize yourself with your audience, the venue and the context of your presentation has given you the information you need to present a great speech that will create impact with your audience.

To Create a Great Speech or Presentation - Don't just Research the Content

Web Based Content Management System: Basics

A web based content management system (CMS) is used for webdesign so that the php, asp or jsp scripts call in the data from the mysql or sql database to create the content on a page. You would enter the content of a website in a database using a user friendly Admin Panel and this would update itself on the actual website. CMS is critical to the success of almost every website and intranet.

The need

Content Management System

Static websites are easy to design but hard to maintain. You have created a static website with desired content and you put in efforts to promote that site. As a result, the website grows organically over time, and while it is very useful, it is far from perfect. The search engines give more importance to the websites which are updated regularly.
To update the site content on regular basis, you would require the web professional company to give you continuous support. Now this dependency leads to either continuous expenses or poorly update site.
Thankfully, this dependency is what a content management system is specifically designed to solve.

What is Web Based CMS ?

A web based content management system (CMS) helps you manage the content data on the website. The management includes creation, updating, distribution, publishing, and discovery of content.
And it is not the only thing that the CMS can do for you. The CMS now helps to generate new pages, categorize the content, manage the layout and presentation of the site, manage users and permissions for the site, manage other dynamic modules on the site and many other things using a very user-friendly Admin Panel which requires minimal or no technical expertise.

Features and Benefits

There are a wide range of features and benefits that can be achieved by implementing a CMS, including:

· Create and Manage New Pages

· Manage site navigation and meta content

· Assign users to manage the content in decentralized way.

· Manage site layout and presentation by editing the HTML.

· Manage other modules on the site. Like if you have forum installed on the site, you can manage the forum preferences, settings, categories, forums, users from the Admin panel.

· Better consistency

· Increased security

· Reduced duplication of information

· Reduced site maintenance costs

Out of all the features, content management remains the mainstay of the CMS sites.

Content management

The CMS based sites have a front end which the site for public, a database which stores the vital data of your site and a Admin Panel to manage the site. Through the Admin Panel, you can create content pages like you are creating a document in MS Word. This is a completely non-technical interface to create new pages or update existing pages without any knowledge of HMTL, javascript or programming language.
You can simply click create pages and a page opens which asks you to define the attributes of the page like Title of the page, Link Title for the frontend navigation menu and page content. The page content box uses a WYSIWYG editor which helps you to improve the presentation of the page like making any text bold, colored or creating hyperlinks. You can also upload images with your content.
You can also define the meta tags for the page, publish and expiry date, author information etc to make the page more meaningful.
Once a page has been created, it is saved into the database on the server. This stores all the content of the site, along with the other supporting details.
The CMS also helps you to make the content management an interactive process between you and your users. A similar page can be accessible to your users who can post the content like articles, news or event. The added content pages can be accessed through the Admin Panel and approved to be published on the site.

CMS Availability

There are various CMS options with different capabilities and strengths in the market to choose from. Depending on your business requirements, you can have a customized CMS based website or you can choose any open source CMS available like Drupal, Xoops, mambo, Joomla, Typo3 etc.
Every organisation has a unique set of requirements for a content management system, and there is no solution that can fit your needs. By allocating sufficient time and resources, you can achieve the best possible solution. Out of customized and open source CMS, I would advice to evaluate the open source CMS available and get it customized to your needs by any company specializing in the Open Source solutions like Dyanmic Intel.
Now the common question is Won't my CMS site look like all the rest if I use Open Source solution?
It doesn't have to! Most quality content management systems will allow you to apply templates and plug-ins to your site, which can set the design of your site apart from others using the same engine by nearly anything that HTML and CSS can do. Typically, you can find templates on the main web site for the content management system you've chosen - and in the rare event that this is not the case, templates are typically no more than a Google search away. Most systems which let you install a custom skin will even let you design your own; allowing you to make your new site virtually as personalized as any site on the web can be.

Conclusion

Content management systems are now no more new to the market and have been established as the most important part of your presence on the internet. Now CMS based websites can create SEO friendly pages and be managed by various users across the world.
I have provided the basics of Content Management System in this article. If you want to read more on CMS like evaluating CMS etc, use our article directory Pacific Articles.

Web Based Content Management System: Basics

Joomla SEO For Achieving Top Google Rankings

In order to manage a good online property, you need a content management system that will help you make the most of your time on the web. Content management systems (or CMS for short) help you to manage the content and presentation of your site in connecting users with one another and the topics that best hold their interest. In the world of CMS, there is one king that large and small companies alike rely upon and that is Joomla. Joomla allows you to maintain your social networks and your site content, freely connecting the two so you can use every tool at your disposal to make your traffic soar. But if you are going to put it to use for your site, you cannot afford to forget about the basic principles of search engine optimization. SEO is still the most cost affordable and highly effective way to present your content online and get to your target market more easily. If you haven't yet initiated your SEO plan, here are some things you should consider:

Quality content needs quality keywords. There is a fine line to walk between the two. If you are focused on the practice of "keyword stuffing," then you could experience some backlash from the major search engines such as Google and Bing. The last thing that your site needs, especially when starting out, is to get blacklisted or thrown down the ranks for poor content. So focus first on quality, but gear your topics, articles, and media around commonly searched and highly specific terms that your target audience will be likely to use when conducting a search.

Content Management System

Use plenty of tags. Building good SEO content is not simply about cramming in multiple variations of the same term. It is also about allowing a topic to grow and expand. For instance, if you run a site on computer repair, you should definitely be targeting keywords like "computer repair" and "computer assistance," but you should also think about other areas that your users may be in need of help on, like "remove spyware," "virus protection," and "Internet security." These topics are not all the same thing. They grow along with the topic.

Publish frequently. Content always wins out over all else, but it is hard to stay in the public eye if you are not publishing with a sense of consistency. The Internet has made information a highly competitive field in and of itself. If you are not publishing good content based on the issues your users face, someone else will be, and the search engines love currency as well as quality. By staying on top of each of these factors, you can turn your Joomla CMS into a traffic spurring goldmine.

Joomla SEO For Achieving Top Google Rankings

Proactive Vs Reactive Management

"Beware of your 'firefighters,' they are probably your chief arsonists."
- Bryce's Law

I have been thinking a lot about micromanagement lately. It seems the corporate world is consumed with mini-dictators who are bent on directing the activities of others. I also see this in nonprofit organizations consisting of volunteers and managed by leaders who can be rather ruthless. Nonetheless, I have also noticed there appears to be an inclination for such managers to be reactive as opposed to proactive in their style of management, and I cannot help but think that micromanagement and reactive management are somehow related.

Content Management System

I have met a lot of reactive managers in my time. All exhibit the following characteristics:

* Seldom has time for interoffice planning/organization meetings.

* Has trouble effectively communicating with the staff, particularly articulating objectives and plans.

* Not interested in or doesn't heed input from subordinates.

* Spends more time supervising than managing.

* Changes priorities on the fly.

* Rarely, if ever, produces priority lists (keeps it in his/her head).

* Bipolar - knows great enthusiasms and is easily depressed.

* Thrives on chaos - sees themselves as saviors. Likes to swoop in and solve problems.

As to this last point, we have encountered situations like this on more than one occasion, but in particular we were contracted by a large insurance company in the Midwest to audit the performance of two systems development groups in the company. One group appeared to be well organized and managed; they quietly went about their business and delivered their work products on time and within budget. Another group was just the antithesis of the other; systems were installed prematurely and never to the customer's satisfaction, and assignments were routinely late and over budget. Nonetheless, the manager of this latter group was well respected for being able to put out fires at a moment's notice.

When we finally presented our results to the board of directors, we made the observation that their head firefighter was also the cause of all of the problems he was correcting. Yet, whereas the manager of the group who quietly produced superior work products was unrecognized, the head firefighter was being amply rewarded for his efforts. Basically, he was taking advantage of the "squeaky wheel getting the oil" phenomenon. Frankly, the executives were surprised by our comments and that such a situation had arisen in their company.

There are two reasons for reactive management; either for political gain (as in the insurance example above), or because people simply do not know how to be proactive. One excuse commonly heard from reactive managers is, "We never have enough time to do things right." Translation: "We have plenty of time to do things wrong." True management is hard work, requiring skills in planning, analysis, organization, leadership, and communications. To some, it is easier to let problems come to them as opposed to trying to anticipate problems and take action before they occur. In other words, they resign themselves to a life of reactive management.

The proactive manager invests his time and money in planning and, consequently, spends less in implementation. In contrast, the reactive manager regards planning as a waste of time and is content spending an inordinate amount of time in implementation, thereby incurring more costs and, because of the ensuing chaos, needs to micromanage people.

Young people coming into the workforce tend to learn from their managers and emulate their style for years to come. If they see proactive management, they will believe this is the proper way of conducting business and perpetuate this style, but if they only see reactive management...

This leads me to believe we will be plagued by reactive management for quite some time to come.

If you would like to discuss this with me in more depth, please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail
at timb001@phmainstreet.com

Proactive Vs Reactive Management

The Unknown Business Secrets of a Document Management System

We all have the best intentions to be really organized and clean up all our paper files. We've all had that 'special stack' that we swear to never lose sight of. We even scanned and digitized lots of our files, thinking for sure this would keep us more organized. Then we ended up with a messy desk, AND a messy computer.

There are simply some things we just don't need immediate or regular access to, but need to keep around. This list could include, tax information, bank statements, client account information and files, computer backups, photos and prints.

Content Management System

Document Management Systems provide storage, versifying, metadata, security, indexing, and retrieval capabilities. We can have complete visibility and access to all of our records. Many companies provide document imaging, as well, for those stacks of papers we wish we had electronic versions of. Our documents will be stored in a high capacity repository and managed from inception to destruction, if we ever so choose to do.

Using Document Management Systems will save us time. Professionals spend a lot of unnecessary time just searching for information. We simply have too much information in too many different places to keep track of it all. Our content cannot be of any real value to us if we can't find it!

Using Document Management Systems will save us money and time. There are growing regulations on local, state, and federal levels that almost make outsourced Document Management Solutions a necessity for compliance reasons. Hiring the professionals to keep you compliant will help us avoid costly fines and penalties; and keeps us litigation-ready at a moment's notice. So when considering your own document management solutions, leave it to the professionals.

Document Management must integrate seamlessly into the workplace. Image 2000 Specialists exclusively use the IMAGE2000 Document Management Assessment to Analyze, Measure, Define, Improve and Control the costs and business processes associated with managing information and office documents. With our Las Vegas Copier Systems, we can put all your most secured information organized, managed, secured and yet at your fingertips. You can print what you need and when you need it using anyone of our Sharp, Toshiba, Oce, Kyocera or other top selling Copy Machines.

The Unknown Business Secrets of a Document Management System

Building a Database Website

It may seem that building a database website is something that you should be afraid of most especially if you do not have any previous experience with building whatever type of website. However, you will be surprised to know that it is not a very difficult task that you could even do it on your own by just depending on several guides available online.

As a matter of fact, there are even some benefits that you can get from building a database website of your own. The first benefit that you can get from a database website is that you will be able to store a huge amount of information about the services and/or products that you are selling people. And because of this, you will be able to experience a very efficient storing and retrieving system. Another thing that is beneficial when a person is making a website combined with a database is that you will be able to manipulate separately the contents of your website from its design and interface. In relation to this, the administrator will also have an easier time in updating the contents of the website since one will be able to do so without having to know anything about HTML. Because you will be able to update the contents of your site regularly, your visitors will always be assured that everything they will see in it are recent information about the products and/or services that you are offering them.

Content Management System

The requirements needed for you to be able to successfully run a database website are MySQL and PHP. First of all, MySQL is a relational database management system or RDBMS that will assist you in managing and organizing information a really large amount of information. And MySQL has the ability to make all these information available by using with it a language for scripting such as PHP. When this scripting language is already installed on your computer, your server will now be able to read a file called PHP script that will be responsible in retrieving in an instant all the information needed from the database. With these two tools working hand in hand with you, you will really be able to easily manipulate and control all the information that will be placed in your database. Of course, even if it is a database website, it is still a database website that is why you still need to find a company that will be a good choice to host your site. Make sure that you pick a hosting company that will be able to provide you with the things you need while building your website.

Knowing that these are the things you need in building a database website, you must feel more are ease now. Your confidence should also be higher now considering the fact that you can actually learn how to work using MySQL and PHP by reading some tutorials that are available online. This means that even though you do not have any experience with building a database website or whatever type of website for that matter, there is still a chance for you to be successful in managing your own website.

Building a Database Website

Wordpress - A Content Management System

If you are looking for a suitable and easy to use content management system (CMS), the task at hand can be difficult. In order to best serve your needs, a CMS should be flexible, secure, and work once it is downloaded. Coupled with these features, it must be able to extend functionality and be search engine friendly. With that in mind, we will discuss why WordPress is so popular and what it can further do as a simple content management system.

Keeping in mind it was originally designed to be a blog platform, WordPress offers a choice when you are looking for simple CMS, with a lot of great plug-ins availability. For this reason, it has become popular, because of its simplicity and user-friendliness. It is not only a blogging platform but it is provides a great way to customize your site by eCommerce, online gallery, etc. While other content management systems may make the same claims or perhaps even better about their system and the features theirs provide, one thing is for certain, and something that is said time and again, WordPress is tremendously easy to use. Beginners are able to handle and work with it much more rapidly. Another consideration for the ease feature that many of the clients are people with very little programming knowledge or have less experience with content management systems find that the WordPress system in a matter of a few hours. Because it is so versatile and flexible, you will be amazed as to how well it handles any one of these features quite efficiently.

Content Management System

Since WordPress has captured much attention since its release in 2003, you would not be wrong if you followed many other users who have made this same selection. In this case, familiarity breeds trust in this system. This system has the ability and expertise so that you can customize it to your specific needs.

When comparing CMS, the WordPress Repository provides a lot of free themes, templates and plugins. The quality of these features far surpasses the competition, and not to mention how simple they make life for their users. There are endless possibilities when customizing your site.

There may be some concern about security with other CMS, but with Wordpress, they have a team comprised of dedicated developers who are constantly striving for perfection, and who are working to fix any potential bugs and security issues. Even with the addition of new features, WordPress download remains free. Another benefit is that the WordPress community is a resource of which you can tap into should the need arise. A forum was developed that has a tremendous knowledge base on all aspect of using this application. More than likely, if you complete a search, you will land on an answer page.

WordPress has grown to such a point that it is not only being used by bloggers but by developers and designers as well. Through all of it features, such as, blogging, designing templates, converting PSD style to WordPress style XHTML, it is one of the most important platforms on the web.

RESOURCES
http://www.onextrapixel.com

Wordpress - A Content Management System

The Benefits Of Using A WordPress Manager System

Managing multiple blogs is one of the many great benefits that you'd be able to avail from using a WordPress Manager. This program allows you to easily create domains and blogs in one central location. All you have to do is just set it up based on your desired preferences and you're good to go. I'm pretty sure; you might be thinking, "Okay, so I can manage multiple blogs through this tool. What other benefits can I get from it?"

The answer to that is that you actually get a LOT of benefits and those benefits vary depending on the type of person you are. Different people would have different needs to be met when it comes to handling WordPress sites and that's the great thing about using a WordPress Manager. It makes things easier for you. To better understand the point that I'm driving at

Content Management System

Let's Look At 2 Specific Type Of People Who Could Benefit From Using A WordPress Manager.

1. Bloggers - If you are someone who writes multiple blogs that cater to different audiences, you'd be able to easily handle all the blogs that you have through a WordPress Manager. You won't have to go through the hassle of having to open several individual accounts and remembering all those login details from those different accounts. Also, you'd be able to easily publish all the posts for all of your blogs within the software. Using the program would make it easier for you to ensure that your content goes to the specific blog where you want it to be published. Not only that, you'd also be able to easily keep track of all of your live, pending and scheduled posts for those same blogs.

Clearly, using a WordPress Manager can instantly make your blogging experience a lot more productive and meaningful. However, a WordPress Manager doesn't just provide benefits to bloggers alone.

2. Online Businessmen - If a blogger can easily manage multiple blogs through this program, online businessman would be able to access all the sites that he/she owns. All the necessary content such as articles, videos, pictures and other promotional material for those businesses could be easily imported using the WordPress Manager. That eliminates the same hassle that a blogger would have to go through when setting up multiple accounts.

Moreover, you'd be able to easily keep track of all the traffic that goes into your site making it a whole lot easier for you to check if your site is doing well or not. If your sites require any improvements; you'd also be able to easily edit them all within the program. Changing your sites' themes, and plugins is also easier to do since all of that can be done with just one click. Lastly, you could also easily manage multiple blogs that you might have for all your businesses.

So, if you're looking for an easier way to manage multiple blogs or you looking for a more efficient tool to help you out with your business, I recommend that you use a WordPress Manager.

The Benefits Of Using A WordPress Manager System