How many times have you contacted an IT firm to discuss a simple upgrade to your system and then found yourself fending off an onslaught of useless product upgrades you didn’t need and didn’t ask for? Many IT firms and computer repair companies have their own side deals set up with certain software and hardware vendors so it pays for them to push their products.

But if you don’t need it what is the point of adding complex applications and hardware to your system? Simply put none. More often than not what you end up adding to your system is an unnecessary program that will simply cause more headaches in the future and doesn’t even begin to assist you with your original problem.

Did you know you can create and implement your own custom network? It’s true. Many people who are not experts with computers are led to believe that networking systems are template designs and you have to select one that best fits your business. Nothing could be further from the truth. If the IT company you use is even the least bit competent they should know your business as well as you do and should be able to custom design networking systems that take into account your specific business needs.

Custom designed networks may take a little more time to implement but once it is in place it streamlines your work flow and can always be added to as your business grows. Most IT companies simply want to upgrade you to a new computer systems and software and regardless of how new your system is they will try to convince you that it is obsolete and you need the pricier and newer model to continue doing business. This is no different from a mechanic noticing you … Read More

Every piece of a business system can be automated. However, with automation comes the possibility of computer generated errors, and this problem becomes even worse when the automation has to do with content driven material such as social networking. If there is a piece of communication that should not be managed by computers, it is the social media component of a business’s advertising strategy.

Newsletters are commonly one of the most automated pieces of social networking. These newsletters are great for generating top of the mind awareness that every business needs to generate revenue. However, when these tools make mistakes, they are usually grievous errors. For example, there are many systems that will allow a business owner to insert the first name of a prospect dynamically using code. There are times when this code is accidentally changed and the code itself is shown. There is nothing more challenging than recreating the goodwill that a person has built up when a customer realizes that the newsletter was not generated specifically for them. This look behind the curtain can cause the consumer to look elsewhere because they want to work with a company that appreciates them and does not try to have automated customer service systems.

Content created for social networking for platforms by computers also tends to be less than ideal. This is because the computer (as much as people have made advances in this field) does not understand language as well as a real live person does. Even when grammatically correct information is generated, it usually lacks the feeling that it was generated by a real human. Therefore, the content is ignored by search engines (if it does not pass the duplicate content filter) and humans alike. This equates to a loss of money because the advertising method … Read More