In life, you have to make very important decisions. When you make important decisions in your business, you often need the answers to complex questions based on your data. How is one fund performing as compared to all my funds? How much money do I expect to bring in over the next three months based on existing contracts? Based on a multitude of variables, how can I determine which investments are at risk and therefore need my attention? Using your current data management tools, can you produce the answer to these questions? Without having an analyst spend all day trying to find the answer? Custom databases allow you more control by providing the answers to these and more complex questions instantly.

Database: The Movie

Databases have many advantages. For one, it becomes easier to access data in more complex ways than are possible in Excel. In Excel, all your data is displayed on one big spreadsheet. Relationships between data subjects are clearly discernible, and business forecasts based on the changing of a single variable can be instantly produced.

But if your data grows to be more complex, and you want to see the relationship between three or more data subjects, excel cannot handle that sort of a broad view.

An Excel file is like taking a Polaroid. It’s fast, easy, and gives you a quick snapshot of the data. But if you want to view data relationships over time, to get a better sense of your information so that you can make more accurate decisions, you need to get a broader view. Using your Excel file is like piecing together Polaroids to create a slide show of your daughter’s piano recital – something that looks laughable to the father next to you who is using a video camera. Databases reflect the constantly changing nature of your information and display data relationships in real time.

Have Your Data Manage Itself

Perhaps you are interested in tracking an investment and its relationship within a larger context. You may want to group your data into funds, display two, three or maybe all your funds at once. Data therefore needs to be stored properly on the investment level and grouped into separate funds.

Databases make it possible for you to store your information by using a complex data structure. This allows you to specify data types and relationships, organizing your information for easy retrieval and preparing it for accurate manipulation. When you take a hand in customizing your database, your business rules are the blueprint for your data, categorizing and funneling your information so that your data interprets itself. A custom or semi-custom database therefore allows you to be more in control of your business.

Multiple Users

In Excel, many users store or access data in a single file. This leads to possible errors and overwrites. However, Databases can handle multiple users. They can cause users to take turns and to track changes to ensure that these mistakes do not occur.

Perhaps the most important feature of databases is that the nature of their storage allows data to be recorded once and then repurposed in many different forms. One can view the data, edit it, or produce reports through the web, email and other outlets restricted to internal use, or edited for external reporting.

Make Your Business More Valuable to Buyers

An added bonus of using a custom or semi-custom database is that if gives you a piece of intellectual property that you now own. Since you encoded your business logic into the database, its special nature increases the value of your business if you ever want to sell. Furthermore, it instills buyer and client confidence when you display such control over your own data.

Have it your way

Maybe a custom-built database is the right tool for you. You gain more control over your data, moving from seeing things in two dimensions to 3D. Databases can save you time and money, cutting the number of analysts you need to maintain your information, and producing accurate reports on complex matters instantly. Where it might take you days or weeks to compile the data contained in different Excel files, because the structure in a database is arranged correctly, your data will be pre-arranged for fast manipulation and reporting even in complex situations – something that is impossible in Excel.

Permalink  |  Published in Business Strategy

Most of us Windows users find Internet Explorer already installed on our computers. A little voice inside our head says: “Internet? I want to explore that. Oh Look! An Internet Explorer!”

Our lives are therefore spent in ignorance of a better browser – one that is loaded with convenient features, a simple and clean interface, and offers us a spyware and virus-free existence. Oh yeah, and it’s a lot faster – but I don’t know if that’s important to you.

IE currently has about 77% of the market when it comes to internet browsing. Firefox is at 15%, though it is very young, and is growing significantly. With the release of Firefox 3 though, and as people begin to rage against the machine, things may change drastically.

Firefox is clean and easy to use. Don’t believe me? Install it. It will not ask you to verify that your windows version is not pirated, it will not ask you to backup everything you hold dear and to close everything you a running, and it will not ask you to restart your computer. Firefox installs rapidly, a portent of your browsing experience for the rest of your life.

Studies done on graphic and media-intensive websites show that Firefox loads a few seconds faster than IE. Also, more intuitive than its competitor, Firefox downloads and displays text first, prioritizing what is most important and least important, displaying the page before it downloads all its components. IE’s slower approach is much more frustrating.

The coolest and most important feature of Firefox is their many add-ons. Crafted by software developers, both internal and external, these add-ons function like widgets, tailoring Firefox to your custom specifications. For example:

Roboform: While Firefox, like most other browsers, remembers your passwords, Roboform goes a step beyond. Many websites ask you for your billing information, and ask you to fill out a whole host of forms each time you register to a new site. Roboform has you fill out a form once, and, with the click of the button, fills out any new form you encounter. This feature is convenient and saves a tremendous amount of time.

Foxmarks: If you, like me, bookmark your favorite sites right and left, you will love this add-on. Foxmarks automatically saves your bookmarks and allows you to access your bookmarks from a different computer. Thus, in the event of a computer crash, or the more likely event that you are not at your own computer, you can still show your friends your favorite website, or make sure to track that ebay item you had your eye on.

Adblock Plus: Know those annoying ads that practically pop off the screen while flashing bright colors? Ever have one of those constantly distract you while trying to watch an online video? Right click, and adblock makes it go bye-bye.

The best part of trying Firefox is that you have nothing to lose. It installs so quickly that there is no reason not to try it out for yourself.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuTgi8TP-p0]

For more info, check out these two highly detailed blog posts:

One and Two

Permalink  |  Published in Technology Tactics

On the way to a wedding, a friend of mine called me for directions. He was already on the highway, I was on the road and therefore away from my computer, and since he was coming from another city, I had no idea how to help him. He didn’t mind and told me that he would text ChaCha.

That’s when my life changed.

Chacha is a company that pays its employees to answer any factual question you could possibly ask them. Armed with Google and their own databases, they are remarkably fast in getting back to you. ChaCha was rated the #1 consumer application 2008 at AT&T’s Platinum Awards.

So my friend got his directions and we spent the rest of the wedding texting ChaCha. It was really fun.

Directions are no big deal these days. Everyone has a navigator these days, and those who don’t, use mapquest. But ChaCha knows EVERYTHING.

Where can I find an Indian food restaurant close to me? What are the organic compounds produced by photosynthesis? How many calories are in pizza? How are my stocks doing? What’s the score of the game? Simply text your question to ChaCha, 242-242, and your answer will appear in under 5 minutes. ChaCha is completely free, texts cost as much as your phone plan charges to text anyone. Thus, if you have unlimited texts, you can annoy ChaCha as much as you want.

Ever had that annoying feeling where you can’t remember the name of that movie, or that actor? Your friends all nod and smile at you while you contort your face in an effort to remember? Just text ChaCha and have them search for you.

And while ChaCha may conduct searches just like you and me, who wants to spend time actually searching when you can just ask a question and get an answer?

Try ChaCha, I guarantee you will be amazed.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=W6l3atz4rhY&feature=related]

Permalink  |  Published in Fun Technology

When starting a business you have to decide on which critical applications you want to use. The most critical is email. Most business go with Microsoft: Exchange and Oulook with a dose of Blackberry.

We propose, that with Google Apps, Gmail deserves a long hard look.

Gmail For Business

One great feature about Gmail is that it allows you to use your domain name when creating an email address. Thus, instead of the cost of setting up your own domain name and using Exchange and Outlook, Gmail provides you the benefits of an easy to use interface and ample storage, all under the Gmail umbrella. The best part about this is that nobody has to know that you are using Gmail! BillGates@microsoft.com goes straight to his Gmail inbox without us knowing about it!

Organization Without Having to Organize

With Exchange and Outlook, all your mail can be organized into neat folders, a process that is generally tedious and only as organized as you are. Though folders in the form of labels are still available in Gmail, organization is instantaneous with features such as their search bar. The search ability is perhaps the most important feature of Gmail and allows you to basically “Google” your mail finding exactly the email that you were looking for. Instead of sifting through your accounting folder, simply search for the name of your accountant and your folder is instantly generated.

Lots of Storage

Gmail is efficient and easy to use, with ample storage and many great features. It has become so obvious that Gmail is the way to go that I wince every time I see an address that is still @aol, or @yahoo. Unlike the latter email providers, Gmail is spam free and has a clean look. With the storage space that they provide, deleting email has become obsolete. And if you ever run out of the 6 gig that Gmail provides for free, one can pay a small fee to extend their storage space.

Why bother with the cost and headache of Outlook and Exchange? Doing things the Microsoft way locks you into a box where updates, more software, new tools and email cleanups are required. Gmail interfaces beautifully with your blackberry and your iphone, and is a great solution for business email.

Check back soon for some more in-depth analysis of the other Google Apps.

Permalink  |  Published in Technology Tactics

Work + Music = Good! Whether you work in the harsh silence of a private office, or with the noisy chatter of co-workers, music is a great way to make work a bit more fun. Personally, music boosts my productivity, and allows me to feel like I am in control by establishing the character of the environment in which I choose to work. Depending on what mood I’m in and on the music that I am playing, music pumps me up to do work that is inspired, or relaxes me by easing much of the stress I’m going through.

I’m not the only one that feels this way. A study done with 256 office workers at the University of Illinois found that listening to music of their own choice releases stress, drowns out distracting office chatter, improves mood, and significantly enhances office performance.

But what can be distracting is sifting through your music to make a playlist that is appropriate for work. That’s why I worked quietly until I stumbled across Pandora.com. Pandora is a website that is basically like internet radio that is styled after your taste. You choose a song title or artist, and it plays music that is similar. You have the opportunity then to reject, approve, or simply listen to their choices, teaching the site what you do and don’t like to listen to.

So next time you’re at work, check out Pandora.com. Put in “Jim Brickman” for some soft piano music, or “Hans Zimmer” for music that will pump you up. Can you imagine Rocky without the Rocky theme song? He’d never be able to run up and down all those steps!

Permalink  |  Published in Fun Technology

The Beauty of Excel

Who doesn’t use Excel? It’s a flexible versatile tool that allows you to easily manage diverse data sets and produce meaningful results through formulas in a sort of complex simplicity. I’ve always thought of it as a chef’s knife, taking simple ingredients and producing fine cuisine.

But take this one letter from a small business owner in Chicago.

“Dear Excel,

We love you so much. You make it easy for us to arrange our information into neat little boxes and to run our entire business from hundreds of spreadsheets with complex formulas and data galore.

But sometimes you are mean. We were trying to ensure that interest is calculated consistently across all our different spreadsheets, and after many weeks, my analysts still found inconsistencies.

Why do you hate me?”

-Anonymous in Chicago

The Beauty of Excel?

It’s true. When managing for consistency Excel may not be the best tool. All of your business logic is expressed in complex formulas encased in teensy weensy cells directly next to one another, depending on human diligence for accuracy. Sheer human fallibility guarantees mistakes and out-of-date information when using many Excel spreadsheet and this leads to wasted hours of cleanup duty.

Your Business Logic is At Risk

Perhaps the most severe issue is the lack of control of your own business logic. Maybe things were great when you were in charge of the files. You had your own set of rules and policies for the specific way you manage your data. But you got busy, the data grew, and new files needed new analysts. As a result, your files are not all being managed the same way. Since the data is too large or complex for many business owners to handle alone, they rely on human help, and when different analysts are managing different files, uniformity is impossible. The end result guarantees discrepancy, and discrepancy means that the rules by which you run your business are at risk.

What is even more puzzling is that many business owners know that Excel is unwieldy and merely shrug it off as the cost of doing businesses. Businesses employ analysts to maintain and correct the files, without noticing the lack of productivity, the higher costs and the big ol’ waste of time. Frustrated by their lack of control, businesses throw money at the problem in the form of their analyst armies, who just don’t have the right tools to apply the business logic uniformly.

Man Rules Machine, Not The Other Way Around

Once a company reaches a certain size, its business logic no longer belongs in a formula in Excel. Business rules should be written once and applied many times. These rules should be easily accessible, auditable and clearly articulated.

Software tools and database engines are more effective than Excel.  By using the wrong software, you are simply living in the past.

For fans of the tv series: 24, take a look at what would happen if it took place in 1994.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMLH_QyPTYM]

See? If you let fear of updating to the fastest and easiest technology govern you, you too may be struggling with a 56k baud modem while others are in the fast lane.

Permalink  |  Published in Business Strategy