Technical Toolboxes Blog

Google May Be Up to Something Bigger Than We Can Imagine

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:30:00 -0600

Google May Be Up to Something Bigger Than We Can Imagine
This is an odd blog for me as it is just the sharing of a nagging idea that I have. Google is one of the all time smartest companies in history, so why are they taking on Microsoft in the Operating System (OS) market? I think the answer is somewhere around the idea that Google is trying (successfully I might add) to get Microsoft’s attention while Google quietly works on something that is so big, yet so simple, that they want to keep the eyes of Microsoft focused on their OS R&D and away from their other project(s).

One of my personal theories is that Google is working on a simple business intelligence platform that will be distributed freely and interface directly with their Google search algorithm. This platform is exactly what marketing gurus have been looking for, sort of like the Holy Grail. [More]

Canadas Capital Pool Company

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:58:00 -0600

Canada’s Capital Pool Company
We are all looking for ways to raise money and to build or rebuild our businesses. Canada has a unique means of sourcing capital and management. It is available to emerging businesses that want to become public at a time when a traditional IPO would not be suitable. The objective of the CPC Program is to facilitate a company becoming public and using the Venture Exchange as a springboard to a more senior listing. [More]

CRM Suggestions for Automakers, Part One

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:49:00 -0600

CRM Suggestions for Automakers, Part One
For most of us, the second largest purchase after our homes is our automobiles. As a person who provides CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and Business Intelligence consulting, products, and services I often wonder why the automakers haven’t latched on to this powerful tool. I know for sure the automakers have all their customers in a nice tidy database and they use that database to send us brochures, offers, letters, and other communications. What I have in mind is a bit more elaborate and will be a series of blog entries as I am sure there will be comments and discussions that will evoke more ideas on this subject. [More]

31 Things of Due Diligence

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:37:00 -0600

31 Things of Due Diligence
Need money? This is a rhetorical question and one that seems to be on the mind of many business owners today. We keep it pretty simple in our consulting practice by studying common requirements of Chartered Banks, the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors, business acquisitions and mergers, the process of going public and there are 31 things that every one of these processes require and the more attention to detail you take on these things the higher your chances of getting funded. [More]

Bailouts and Bashings

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:43:00 -0600

Bailouts and Bashings
Sometimes I wonder if it is in our human nature to kick a guy while he is down. Or does it make us look fashionable, smart, or clued in to give a good bashing. I’ve been following the bailouts lately and found a bit of bashing going on with the automakers and a resounding silence regarding the leadership in the banking industry.

Campbell Brown beat me to the punch with her insightful blog entry the other day, have a look at this, http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/12/campbell.brown.automakers/index.html

[More]

The Next Step to More Success - AMSI

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:34:00 -0600

The Next Step to More Success - AMSI
You are a person who has worked hard, made good business decisions, you are making good money, you don’t have much debt, you have good customer demand, but you want more from your business. Living in the Calgary area where there are many oil and gas service companies, high tech companies, and other successful businesses, I see many companies that are making “good” money, but want to move up to the “great” money. I also hear, particularly lately with all our financial meltdowns, “I’ll never qualify for a loan”. That is a myth and if you have the roadmap in place you get the capital to take your company to new heights. [More]

The Responsibility Matrix (Circle Dot Chart)

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 14:18:00 -0600

The Responsibility Matrix (Circle Dot Chart)
Years ago I sat in a presentation by the best Project Manager I have ever met. I had worked with several people that ran multi-million dollar projects in the US Air Force and had delivered on-time, on-budget projects, but they all seemed to do so with great difficulty and I was resigned to this being “just the way it goes”, then I met Mr. Ron LeFleur. Ron made Project Management look easy, even though he had several horrendously difficult projects in his life. We had the distinct pleasure of sitting with Ron for three days and learning his secrets. At the end of his presentation he told us we had all his secrets and every one of us can now do the job just as well as he ever did. I still think he was special and gifted, but his little session helped me more than all the training and experience I had up to that point. I had even sat through extensive PM training in the Air Force which was the equivalent to PMP training that is available today. [More]

The Business Intelligence Advantage

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:46:00 -0600

The Business Intelligence Advantage

As a young US Air Force Intelligence Officer I quickly grew an appreciation for intelligence and how it can help with planning and can help save lives, money, and secrets. I now develop business automation software that creates data warehouses for companies to store their business intelligence. I don't think we are in the life saving business, but we certainly help companies to guard their secrets, find new sources of revenue, and maximize their profits. [More]

New AlwaysOn Network, ERP CRM SFA BPM

Mon, 07 May 2007 16:46:00 -0600

New AlwaysOn Network, ERP CRM SFA BPM
I just wanted to announce that we started a new network for AlwaysOn Network Members to Blog about Business Process Management (BPM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Sales Force Automation (SFA) and all things pertaining to automating our business processes. A few topics that come to mind are: [More]

Brands and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Sat, 05 May 2007 20:49:00 -0600

Brands and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
I’ve been thinking lately a lot about how an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system can effect your brand. I really enjoyed a recent Blog on the 1to1 Blogsite, published by Mila D’Antonio. Mila cited a passage in Dick Martin’s book, Rebuilding Brand America, where Dick said,

“………(brand) has to be easy to understand and flexible enough to modulate in a wide variety of interactions with a large number of different audiences. Most important, it can’t simply be something you stick at the end of an ad or on the side of a building. It has to be the ‘golden thread’ that runs through every internal process and through every interactions with customers. And your promise can’t be primarily rational It has to operate on the deeper level of emotions and feelings.”

What a great thought provoking paragraph. [More]

The Importance of Professional Customer Support

Wed, 02 May 2007 19:18:00 -0600

The Importance of Professional Customer Support
Several of our consulting clients are software companies and companies that provide service and support for their products, we always help our clients and colleagues to maximize support profits by automating the process. But to get to a profitable venture there are many things that have to happen, systems put in place, and hiring the right people to do the job.

The right people are NOT entry level people, they are the most focused, knowledgeable, and disciplined people you can find. Once you decide to go down this path of using the cream of the crop to ensure your clients are supported, you will see the profits start to come in. Now when your clients call they are ensured that their call will be answered by someone who can help them, someone who takes their business seriously and feels they are being taken most seriously. [More]

ERP Should Make You Free

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 17:00:00 -0600

ERP Should Make You Free
The very essence of a well designed ERP system is to free you from the dependencies of making all the mundane decisions over and over again and have the confidence that your system is helping you to run your business in the most efficient and profit producing manner known to man. I just finished reading an excellent article by Briony Smith of www.itbusiness.ca and it was a revelation, particularly for me as a person in the ERP business and providing ERP systems, consulting, and implementation services. The article is compelling right from the start with the following quote;

“A recently released survey of Technology Evaluation Centre newsletter subscribers sponsored by Sliedrecht, Netherlands-based ERP company Agresso found that, out of the 900 respondents, 70 per cent feel their ERP systems put them at a disadvantage.” [More]

We Work Better Together

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 20:01:00 -0600

We Work Better Together
An old colleague once said, “we work together apart”. Joe Murgio was the founder of a very nice project management system called onProject. I was just reading about the major airlines planning to build airborne conference rooms for hundreds of passengers/delegates, how cool is that! The fact is, we work better when we are together and that means getting people together in groups large and small as much as you can. I like the flying conference center idea, but we need to make this level of collaboration happen now for all businesses rich and poor, large and small. The great common denominator and catalyst for countless success stories is the internet.

Web-based enterprise systems work. We just added our endorsement to an outstanding free download called CrossLoop. This is one of the companies headed up by the patent holder for the Universal Shopping Cart, Lee Jay Lorenzen. Lee is the CEO of company, Altura Ventures. This is one of the products that we can use in order to get as close as we can to being face to face.

Tomorrow night a number of us gather together for the Calgary DemoCamp. Meet like-minded people, make contacts, get the word out…….together. See this Blog for a summary of the DemoCamp.

Tom West, Technical Toolboxes Canada, Ltd., twest@ttoolboxes.ca, +1 403 235-3495 x201, www.ttoolboxes.ca, Skype: twest1960

Can You Possibly Have Too Much Information in Your CRM?

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:25:00 -0600

I have been working in the public information business for a while now and am very clear about privacy laws and just how sacred personal information is and how important it is to handle personal information very carefully indeed. The amount of information we are gathering about our customers and contacts is growing exponentially, probably because we can. If you only knew how much information is captured and actively used by Data Warehouses, Wal-Mart warehouse is at least 500 terabytes, according to an eWeek.com article I read, At Wal-Mart, World's Largest Retail Data Warehouse Gets Even Larger. Short answer to the question is no, but if you do collect information you better take very good care of it. [More]

Blogs I Read Every Day and Why

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 18:45:00 -0600

Blogs I Read Every Day and Why
Blogs are becoming one of my major news sources. With my interest in ERP, SFA, CRM, Business Process automation , enterprise computing, marketing, business intelligence, business analysis, finance, engine technology, Calgary, Silicon Valley, startups, Web 2.0, data warehousing, business intelligence, military, and etc. I have a few Blogs that I go for the straight goods. Here are the ones that have my attention these days (in no particular order): [More]