Friday, September 30, 2011

Best Smartphone For Your Business

A common topic of debate for my circle is which phone is superior.  I, myself, am an Android fanatic.  I have the t-shirts, the PC wallpaper, and four devices (2 phones and 2 tablets).  Sometimes, I will crack open a beer and play with custom ROMs to give my phone that extra tweak and make it a phone tailored to me.  However, not everybody is a geek and not everybody has such strange hobbies.  Some people just want a phone to do what it's supposed to and that's it.  So, there's your debate.  Androids verses iPhone.  The epic battle.

However, there are other phones to consider and obviously carriers as well.  So I want to cover all the bases.  The phones: Research In Motion's (RIM) Blackberry, Apple's iPhone, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, and Google's Android phones from various manufacturers.  There are a lot of carriers but the big four I will cover will be Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint.  First, Verizon.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Hiring a Web Developer

Every business decision maker eventually needs to employ the services of a web developer.  Typically, it's for a one time project such as a creating a company website or editing one already in place.  Since my company offers up these services, I felt it would be useful to provide a few tips (and maybe a few DOs and DON'Ts) in the search for the perfect web guru.

Interview Them

Probably the most important and yet most overlooked aspect of the process is personality.  In running a business, one doesn't typically hire the first person to walk into the office.  In that same vein, one doesn't hire somebody based on references alone.  When a manager hires an employee, they look at all of the elements.  Is this person a good fit for the company?  Is he/she reliable?  Has this person been difficult to manage in the past?  If one approaches minimum wage entry positions thoroughly, why would one not approach a highly paid contractor as such?

It is important to remember that this is the individual with whom you will be working closely to build your company's presence on the web, collaborating on social medias, and creating the first visual most people see when looking into hiring your business.  Having a developer who you like, can work with, and who truly strives to help your business succeed through a melting pot of HTML and graphics is key to being successful on the world wide web.  Don't get stuck with somebody you'll dread calling when you need to discuss revisions and edits.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Google Apps

When I came on board with Evoke Creative Group, I found that we suffered from the same basic infrastructure problems that many small businesses face in this evolving world: emerging technology.  We had issues with lost emails, finding documents for clients, and managing our people and time well.

A friend of mine, who also happens to do a lot of work with IT and web design, recommended that we look into a cloud solution.  Upon a bit of research, I stumbled onto a few solutions but was really intrigued by one in particular.

Google Apps really caught my eye because of its low cost (free at that time for under 50 users, now free for up to 10) and functionality.  After going through the myriad of applications, I found that it could easily cover most of our needs.