At Ideas Merchant we deliver successful e-business projects.
We specialise in e-commerce, content management, internet marketing, statistical analysis, process engineering, geographic information system, and technical development for web based applications.
All of our work is focused on improving your business performance, whether that it to increase revenues, improve efficiencies or reduce costs - or all three!
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Technology on the Rise
The subject of technology and what companies should be looking out for is proving to be a hot topic here at IdeasMerchant. Here are some of the recent thinks that have caught our attention:
Oct 2009 - Whitehouse.gov switches to Opensource - huffingtonpost.com - One of the most visable websites in the world is now running on Opensource software. "We want to improve the tools used by thousands of people who come to WhiteHouse.gov to engage with White House officials, and each other, in meaningful ways" White House new media director Macon Phillips . Read more at oreilly.com
Aug 2009 - Blackberry users 'work an extra 15 hours a week' out of the office - telegraph.co.uk - Staff with mobile technology such as Blackberries work an extra 15 hours a week as they constantly check emails even out of the office, according to new research. A survey of over 600 employees revealed many were turning into workaholics because of the ability to receive and send messages and work online even when they were at home. "Employees should be encouraged to take appropriate rest breaks if they do choose to continue working out of hours. Having a well rested employee with a good work/life balance is a lot more useful than a tired employee that put one too many hours in the night before."
Aug 2009 - National Portrait Gallery - www.npg.org.uk - Finally we see OpenSource reaching out and touching some 'big' sites, with the adoption of the MODx Content Management System (CMS) by the National Portrait Galley. The MODx website quotes the developers as saying "MODx won out mainly because the clients loved the manager". They go on to say "there are around 3200 modx pages and a couple of extra databases. The collections database holds 120,000 works and 45,000 sitters and artists, these are served through 7 main pages included by the modx front end. There is also a shop products database."
Apr 2009 - osCommerce & SAP - Its been a very busy time recently, it seems the business of the day is INTEGRARION. We've been busy hooking up different front end web systems with various backend business systems. These have included ecommerce (oscommerce) to business systems (SAP), as well as 3rd party supplier systems, for example: QAS (address verification), postcode search. We have also been managing compliance projects namely PCI-DSS.
Apr 2008 - XP is still alive - Long after Microsoft had hoped to kill XP and move people over onto Vista companies are still selling machines with XP. The BBC website reports "Dell, HP and Lenovo are exploiting loopholes in Microsoft's licensing terms to extend the operating system beyond a 30 June end of life date. ... The news comes as Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer hints that XP could live longer if enough customers demand it."
Oct 2007 - OpenOffice.org - If your still yet to try the Open Source equivalent of Microsoft Office you really should. The major applications function almost identically, but the real advantages are cost and speed. This is no cost other than the time take to download and install, and because the applications are so much smaller they are faster to execute.
Apr 2007 - Dell rethinks XP after feedback site swamped with calls for the return on the old operating system — Consumers re question XP over Vista should come as no surprise, after all why replace something that's working. But if you did 'upgrade' why not use Open Source (Linux). What remains to be seen is what the demand actually is and how long it will last for. For more on Dells switch see: BBC, Pocket-lint.co.uk. It is also interesting how the Dell decided to start selling XP again came about. The press are reporting customer requests on the support forum as the reason for the switch (profit as the ultimate motivator - almost customer centric).
Two simple things you can do 
<— Technology isn't something to be worried about. Rather, try seeing what uses you have for it! Here are two simple options for your to consider: (1) eCommerce - or more simply just commerce/business.
eCommerce can be as simple as setting up an account with paypal (it's not just for ebay people). Next direct people to a link you can place on your site "make a payment"; (2) blogging - i have spoken to a number of companies about online communication and even lead a two day post graduate course which investigated blogging amongst other things (PG Dip
Public Communication - Online Communication). Blogging
is all about communication, typically it's an individual with something to say (or can be a team) . Visitors return to the site to learn more and maybe interact with some of the stories.
Content is king 
Dec 2006 - two things are happening at the moment that i find very particularly interesting (1) mobile phones packaged with 'unlimited' cheap internet services - skype, google, flickr; (2) growing understanding and exploitation of 'new media' see Lonelygirl15.
FREE unlimited International calls from three.co.uk — In the UK you can now subscribe to a monthly contract which is being advertised as providing access to a very interesting group of services. These services include: VOIP via Skype, Yahoo, Sling, ebay, Windows Messenger, backup via orb, and of course access to your mail while your out and about (no need for a Blackberry). What makes this development all the more interesting is the price point. The website provides a package for £35per month, but visit a shop and you could pay half that amount. A sub £20 price make this an option available to a wide number of people.
The answer i'm now looking for is how long until the other mobile phone providers have to match the three.co.uk offer. I for one can't wait until my service provider allows me to have 1gb of free internet traffic a month - especially if as with three.co.uk i can use skype!
Lonelygirl15, Dec 2006. I think the Lonelygirl15 story is a great example of how the online and offline worlds are starting to work. First let's put this in context. Lonelygirl15 is a video-blog on YouTube. It started on the 24th May 2006 and now has a reliable audience of 300,000 per video clip. For a cable TV show to be considered a success it needs to get between 300,000 and 500,000 viewers. Some video clips from Lonelygirl15 have received well over 1,000,000 views. At present there are 68 video clips. Lonelygirl15 brings together so many elements, almost like a shopping list of new ideas: blog, video, web2.0, tags, content-centric, user-engagement, viral. The are some links for you to explore: youtube.com/profile?user=lonelygirl15; Technorati track on last 180 days; LG15* wiki; or read the Wired story.
<— We downloaded the latest version of OpenOffice.org and installed it on one of the IdeasMerchant computers - this saved £300 gbp the price of Microsoft Office 2003 Standard. If you've got a 2nd machine and would like it to have a copy of the essential tools it's a no-brainer. Even if you don't have spare machine it's well worth downloading a copy and giving it a try. We don't always need the full Microsoft solution so why pay for it? I've spoken to a lot of business about this - the majority are happy to complain about the price of software - here's your opportunity to do something about it.
< — IdeasMerchant recently came across the "ClusterMaps.com" beta project - we thought it was interesting enough to pop on our home page - it's a great example of the new type to software that's being written.
MeshConference.com • mesh is Canada's Web 2.0 conference, being held in Toronto on May 15 & 16. You will hear from thought leaders, connect with peers, and get a better understanding of the impact of new developments online. mesh brings together people who are passionate about the potential of the Web to change how we live, work and play. Meet the next generation of Web ideas, leaders and companies at mesh.
"Technology on the Rise" • We were recently invited to present at an Institute of Directors (IOD) event in Harrogate, the presentation is available for you to download.
