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Museums, libraries, and schools across the United States are continually researching new and effective ways to prevent water damage to ensure the longevity of rare and precious books and documents. Rare book rooms are commonplace in many major libraries and some museums and organizations are home to the most valuable, important pieces of literary history. Places like the American Bible Society’s Rare Book and the Rare Book & Special Collections division of the Library of Congress house some of the most highly-valued first-edition books from throughout American history. It is vital for future generations that these collections are protected against water or mold damage.

Just as these rare books are important to posterity, each homeowner also keeps items they consider precious for their future family members. Things like family photo albums, family bibles and other books and documents could fall prey to water or mold damage if not properly stored or cleaned. There are things to consider when assessing the ability to salvage water damaged books as well as various methods for doing so.

The Extent of Water Damage

Water or mold damage, unfortunately can strike even the most prepared institutions. Broken plumbing pipes, natural disasters or broken ventilation systems can all lead to damaged books. Museums, libraries and schools try to understand the different types of drying techniques and how they affect certain composite materials in order to best save water damaged books when these problems happen. Water absorption depends on the age, condition, and material of the paper that has been damaged. Books published before 1840 will generally absorb much more water than currently printed books, therefore running a much higher risk of experiencing swelling or mold damage. Leather bound books of the 15 through 17 centuries can usually be restored using extremely controlled procedures. However, modern books typically use badly processed leather which makes water damage restoration nearly impossible.

Professional recovery service providers are the best at determining the precise extent of water damage your books have sustained and what drying technique is most appropriate. You can reduce the risk of permanent damage to a book collection, however, by taking a few steps immediately after the damage has been found.

Humidity

Humidity is one of the main sources of book mold or water damage. It is important to keep your archives in a very cool, dry place to reduce the likelihood of mold outbreaks. If damage has already set in, open windows and doors and set up as many fans in the affected area as possible. This creates air flow in the area and reduces the amount of humidity. De-humidifiers are also a good option. Never open water-damaged books or separate individual sheets of paper as this may cause further damage that can be irreparable.

Consider Restoration Professionals

For most books, especially those of extreme importance, the salvaging and drying process should be done using a professional service. Book restoration specialists use technologies and drying techniques that are much more effective and far less damaging than basic do-it-yourself techniques. Two techniques are widely used and very effective. The desiccant air dry distribution systems lowers humidity in the drying area, allowing more of the water trapped in the book or document to evaporate. The vacuum-freeze drying system distribute pressure evenly around the drying book, reducing warp, maintaining the original look and feel of the books or documents, and ensuring that future damage does not set in.

Most attempts by individuals to dry damaged books themselves will result in warped or ruined products. By employing book restoration experts, books can be better handled and more closely be returned in nearly new conditions.

Water and mold damage can affect both prepared and unprepared institutions and home owners. Taking the time to understand how the damage has effected important materials, especially precious books, and incorporating the aid of professionals will ensure these items will be restored for future generations.

~Ben Anton, 2008

Want to learn more about mold damaged book restoration? Visit the Rapid Refile website and read about the latest in high tech document drying methods.

There are all kinds of ways to build customer relationships, and some businesses are still wondering whether they really need to build these kinds of relationships at all. They see society as becoming so much more global that things like customer relationship management (CRM) aren’t really that important any more. These businesses assume that the reason that customers are going to so many different businesses and buying all kinds of things off of the Internet is because they don’t have any loyalty to any of the companies they do business with—and they don’t expect any in return. Often this is not true, however. These people are interested in having good business relationships, but they feel that businesses don’t care about them, and that CRM is not important to them. When people think businesses don’t care and the businesses think people don’t care, it becomes a vicious circle and no one wins.

In order to avoid these kinds of things, CRM has to return to businesses instead of being ignored like it has been in recent years. These businesses must become aware of the fact that they need to pay attention to their customers. If they do not do this, those customers will leave, and many of them will not return. Then the businesses get angry and they say that their customers aren’t loyal to them. These businesses need to be the ones to reach out to their customers and start making changes, and CRM is one of the best ways that they can do that. Even the businesses who are seeing the importance of CRM sometimes avoid it because they think that it will cost them too much. Other companies see it as an inconvenience and they aren’t interested in going through the ‘hassle’ of setting it up and using it. In truth, however, there are many programs today that can be used quite easily for customer service. They are not as costly as most businesses think and they are very convenient.

For companies who want to start on CRM to help grow their business and their customer base, one of the best ways to do that is to begin exploring software options so that they can find something that they like, that will work for them, and that they can afford. These things are all very important, and they can all be found, regardless of the concerns that a lot of businesses have regarding this. Patience is a factor for these businesses, because it is not easy to find CRM solutions that will work well and that will be inexpensive, especially if you’re looking for one that grows with the business as its customer base expands. Customers of a business that uses CRM effectively will notice it, because they will see how they are treated and that they are better remembered than they were at other businesses. For companies who want to put customer service and customer relations at the forefront, making sure that their customers feel important and remembered can be key.

Dave Roth runs a site focusing on CRM software The site provides reviews on everything from web based to various open source CRM solutions. Not only that, the site gives salespeople the tools to make these tools even more effective.

In an age when the platitude “The customer is always right” has morphed into the more alarming maxim “An unhappy customer can blog about it”, Customer Relationship Management would seem to be getting a new spin. The reasoning goes like this: the internet has forever changed our world and we must change the way we do business as a result. We must treat the marketplace as a conversation, we must speak in an authentic voice, engage the customer as a partner. We must listen to the customer and give him what he genuinely wants, and not just what we have to sell. The alarm has been sounded – our customers can talk to each other, we can’t hide behind our corporate firewalls.

These are all valid points. It can’t be denied that the Internet has changed our world forever. The interesting thing is, the idea of the marketplace as a one-way conversation, where you can hide from your customer after you sell them a bad product, is a very modern one. It can be argued that on some level, the Internet is taking us back to an earlier time, where news travelled fast, where everybody knew everybody else’s business, and the marketplace was in fact where you went for conversation, as well as a colorful rug, and perhaps some exotic spices. The Internet has made the world a smaller place, and small is the new big.

What has changed is the way the conversation takes place, and the speed with which the news, good or bad, travels. Today’s customers, for better or worse, have a lot of options available to them. You can’t ship it today? Click – I’ll find someone who can. You don’t have it in blue? Click – I’ll find someone who does. Likewise, if today’s customer is curious about what other people think about what you have to sell, another few clicks will usually lead him to a review or a forum where other consumers can speak freely and volubly about every aspect of your product and service. The challenge is to build customer loyalty and brand awareness in a marketplace full of itchy mouse fingers.

But let’s suppose none of this is news to you. You’ve read The Cluetrain Manifesto. You know about the social customer. Frankly, you don’t believe in some vast conspiracy on the part of American business to swindle and defraud the consumer. Quality and value win the day, always have, always will, whether the consumer gets to the marketplace by camel or Firefox. The fact of the matter is, you engage in conversations, real conversations, with your customers every day. You know that you are not invisible, and no business can survive for long that doesn’t listen to its customers. You know that Customer Relationship Management is not just about getting new customers, it’s about keeping the old ones. What you are looking for is new and better ways to tend the delicate flower of customer loyalty while aggressively cultivating new ground. Consumers want more transparency; you want to give it to them without compromising confidentiality. If news travels fast, then information sharing needs to be instantaneous. This not only gives everyone in your organization a complete, up-to-date view of all customer interactions, it empowers your employees to deal knowledgeably with your customers, leading to a high quality customer experience.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software has kept pace with the demands of the new (old) marketplace, and is absolutely indispensable no matter how large or small your organization is. There are Web-based applications that can be accessed on-demand through the internet; there are also applications that can be implemented on-site. These might be standalone applications, or you might want them to integrate with existing back-office applications. Either way, CRM software has many benefits, from thorough contact management to sophisticated forecasting and reporting. Come to work every day and see a list of activities that you can prioritize. Analyze and organize your sales opportunities. Manage each prospect through a sales cycle. Quickly resolve customer questions, issues and requests with advanced tracking and resolution tools. CRM software can expand your reach and improve your communication with your company’s lifeblood – the customer.

At ACI we are experts on the Sage ACT! and CRM Saleslogix product line. If you need help selecting a CRM solution, email me at solutions@ACIconsulting.com or visit us at www.ACIconsulting.com. I’ll put our team to work on it!

Douglas Luchansky is the President of ACI Consulting, a reseller for ERP related software and services such as Sage CRM Saleslogix.

Software vendors are rapidly running out of room to grow organically. Enterprise software players are boxed in by increasingly budget-conscious buyers and by their own entrenched culture of deep-discounting. Vendors of packaged software are battling runaway SKU complexity and channel partners’ demands. And both groups are still grappling with software-as-a-service model – as both threat and opportunity. What is needed now is a disciplined approach to pricing that combines rules-based process standardization and controls with the flexibility to offer different prices to different customer segments.

Top-line growth has never been harder for software vendors—or more necessary. Software investments are growing much more slowly and many vendors are relying on acquisitions for growth. Furthermore, venture capital is no longer flowing into the sector. The heart of the problem is that organic growth will never reach the height of the industry’s “go-go years,” and capturing value will become more critical as the breadth of products, customers and channels continues to expand.

Yet, software vendors are proving to be their own worst enemies by continuing to encourage their customers to buy at the last moment when products are “on sale” and the sales representative can be counted on to over-discount. They bring very little discipline to discounting.

Recent research by Accenture found substantial opportunities for pricing to drive top-line growth in a post-boom software market. Well-planned price strategy and execution are integral to profitable growth. Recent efforts to expand the use of segmentation have yielded positive results but software providers now need to demonstrate they can take their pricing capabilities up several levels.

To arrive at this higher level, vendors are encountering several areas of difficulty. They struggle with the challenge of the initial price setting and the subsequent price administration and publishing. And, there are the formidable challenges to the mechanics of sales activities – understanding customers’ changing requirements in order to sell on value, identifying and planning for conversations with new economic buyers, and much more.

These areas are complicated further by price-point proliferation. On the packaged software side this stems from an increasing number of SKU’s receiving different treatment from different vendors. On the enterprise software side, undisciplined deal management results in different customers paying widely varied prices for the same solution.

Software as a service (SaaS) is adding a new element to the pricing challenge. Most providers are still struggling on how to price these products–by user, minute month or some other metric. Furthermore, it is not clear how the user perceives the pricing position and the vendor must determine how to sell these products with out the customer feeling “nickled and dimed” and ultimately becoming resistant to new services and upgrades.

In work with a range of software companies, Accenture has identified several key best practices which companies can begin to develop immediately:

1. Review the core business mode in light of the potential impact of new offerings, term licenses and SaaS components.

2. Standardize pricing approaches (not necessarily pricing strategies) across product lines.

3. Implement “formula” or rules-based pricing to help salespeople construct deals.

4. Use pricing applications to enable best-practice pricing.

5. Focus on organizational improvement.

There can be no question of the urgency to take pricing capabilities to the next level; the costs of doing nothing are prohibitive. What is needed now is a break from traditional approaches and a move from reactive to more rules-based and disciplined pricing. With these fact-based approaches entirely practical today, software providers should be quick to adopt them wholeheartedly to unlock new growth opportunities.

Accenture’s Electronics & High-tech industry group offers management consulting, technology-strategy and implementation services to all segments of this exceptionally dynamic industry. Read the full article on Software Pricing: Getting Back to Growth. Send an email to Patty Crawford if you would like one of our US sales and marketing specialists to meet with you.

Employment contracts are some of the most important UK business documents you will ever sign in your working life, and yet they are written in a deliberately convoluted and confusing manner, which often makes it difficult to get the clear points of what you’re signing up for. Take your time, and read and re-read every contract, but pay special attention to the clauses, to ensure you understand them. Employers can put some unreasonable bits in here, so it pays to know what each one means. Here are some of the more common employment contract clauses so you know what to look for. And managers: if you want these points enforced, be sure to include them in your UK business documents!

Changes in Circumstances and Personal Information

This common employment contract clause forces all employees to inform the employer when their personal circumstances change. This may be accompanied by a list of circumstances covered by the rule.

Dress Code for Uniforms

If employees are required to wear a uniform, this can be used to enforce how they should be worn. This can include stipulations regarding cleanliness and how they physically are to be worn – though it has to be subject to religious or personal circumstances which can prevent employees from complying.

Gardening Leave

This employment contract clause means that employers can make employees who have handed in their notice, or been dismissed serve out the remainder of their time at home. They will be on full pay, but with the advantage to the company that they are held to the contractual agreements (e.g: confidentiality and exclusivity clauses still remain) and are available to be called back to work at short notice.

Office Conduct/Dress Code

Sometimes, the employer will outline exactly the kind of conduct and dress code they expect when employees are in the office – this would go here.

Office Relationships

If the employer chooses, inter-office romantic or sexual relationships can be discouraged here. This is especially common when involving two employees of different seniority for the conflict of interest it would create. This clause in a contract should then detail what action will be taken in instances where the rule is broken. Possibilities include re-deployment or firing of one of the employees.

Restrictive Covenants

There are a number of different restrictive covenants that can be enforced, and largely relate to restricting the employee’s competition to his/her employer when he/she leaves. This can include area-covenants, which prevent employees working for competitors, non-solicitation covenants which prevents the poaching of clients from the former employer and non-solicitation of staff covenants, which prevent the former employee dealing with his/her former fellow employees for a defined time after termination of employment.

Restrictions on Outside Employment

This is one of the more common employment contract clauses. It usually prevents employees taking on any additional work during their agreed hours of employment, and requires written permission from the employer for work outside the agreed hours. This is generally backed up by a note that permission will not be granted for work that competes with the employer’s business or that which will affect the employee’s work performance.

Rights to Intellectual Property

This contract clause can be used to ensure employees involved in creative production waive any right to intellectual property, and clarifies that the employer owns any copyright or other IP right. This can be open to interpretation, so should be accompanied by a definition of what the employer classes as intellectual property

Use of Protective Clothing

This won’t apply to the majority of offices, but this contract clause is designed to ensure that protective clothing and equipment is worn to comply with health and safety regulations. This section may also outline the possible disciplinary action to be taken in the even of a breach.

Keep an eye on these employment contract clauses, and feel free to seek legal advice if you don’t understand the practical application of any part of your UK business documents. It’s too important to get wrong!

Iain Mackintosh is the managing director of Simply-Docs. The firm provides over 1100 UK business contracts covering all aspects of business from holiday entitlement to non-disclosure agreements. By providing these legal documents (with content provided by leading commercial lawyers, HR and health & safety consultants) at an affordable price, the company intends to help small businesses avoid costly breaches of regulation and legal action.

Experience shows that when you enable your contract team to increase their efficiency you begin to experience considerable savings in cost and time.

In this article (the 2nd in a series highlighting the compelling benefits that you’ll enjoy when you apply certain workplace management solutions) you will discover how people, like you, in the construction industry, are saving time and money – as a result of being more effective – right now.

How? By using proven tools and methods to effectively overcome the challenges that come with subcontractors.

Were you aware of the shift in the dynamics of construction projects in recent years? Perhaps you already understand that most main contractors, instead of undertaking to do most of the work themselves, have become more like managing contractors – something akin to project management companies.

Think about it: Is it not unusual for a main contractor to have 5 to 10 salaried employees on site overseeing multiple contractors with 500+ operatives? Of course, this approach provides benefits to main contractors, including:

• You don’t have to deal with industrial relations issues.

• You don’t have to deal with own labour variables by paying the subcontractor a fixed price for work.

• You can deliver quality as a result of using skilled specialists (e.g., groundworks, mainframe, mechanical and electrical).

Unfortunately, this approach also brings the main contractor challenges, including:

• Managing subcontractor attendance on site.

• Managing subcontractor health & safety.

• Managing and sharing project documentation.

• Dealing with subcontractor “claims” for additional payment due to unforeseen project issues.

You may be wondering how you can overcome these challenges or deal with them more effectively. And that’s a good thing to wonder… and to wonder what is important about that… what difference will it make when you do overcome these challenges and deal with them more effectively? How valuable would that difference be to you?

You’ll be happy to know that recent technology gives you what you need to overcome and effectively deal with each of the challenges listed above. I wonder if you can imagine how much more you can focus on the project at hand (and not on managing endless folders of raw data) once you have put the right technology to work for you. If this appeals to you, you’ll want to know about the two key technological developments as well as the solutions they offer.

Two Key Technological Developments:

1) Broadband Availability – Over the years as broadband coverage has grown and continues to grow significantly, so has your ability to have internet (datacards, wireless and satellite broadband) access on site.

2) Internet as a Shared Network – Not only can the internet be used in the same way as a traditional internal network drive, it also has the ability to be used by multiple organisations in uploading and sharing and viewing data in a secure environment. (And any part of it you want to be protected can be easily with a password.)

Solutions Available to You Now:

1) Managing Subcontractor Attendance - Solutions include, swipe/prox-imity cards, key fobs, finger, palm and facial biometrics. Biometrics improves the integrity of attendance information on site by eliminating “buddy punching”. You can also take advantage of mobile enabled biometric solutions which operate free from telephone lines or broadband. On site from day one these “plug-n-play” options provide you with a robust solution. Couple this with advancements in web-based technology and it’s possible to view attendance by operatives / by organisation / by site in real time from any internet-accessible location. This transparent view of hours worked by subcontractor organisation gives you more accurate information (re: contractor claims, future project pricing, etc.) as well as a live register of who is on site in the event of an evacuation.

2) Managing Subcontractor Health & Safety – If you’re a managing contractor then you already know that one of your biggest challenges is accurately tracking subcontractor Health & Safety documentation across multiple sites! The type of information that needs to be tracked includes:

• Company Health & Safety statement

• Employers Liability Insurance

• Public Liability Insurance

• Site specific risk assessments

• Site specific method statements

• Operative skills (e.g. CSCS cards)

Web-based technology allows subcontractors to upload required documentation remotely into a project through username/password access. The main contractor can easily track subcontractor organisations and retrieve any outstanding information.

2) Managing Subcontractor Project Documentation - The contract team can share documentation securely online. Features such as version control, controlled access by organisation etc., ensure that information can be shared easily among all selected organisations meaning that the most accurate information is viewable at all times. By taking the decision to

set up a system (see #1 above) you get an accurate point of reference to support claims for additional payments, stage payments or resources disputes across sites.

If you read the last article, you’ll already have a good idea of just how much time and money you can save by choosing to increase your efficiency. Why is that? Because this puts control of the project firmly back in the hands of the main contractor – back in your hands where it belongs – improving your effectiveness, overall efficiency, allowing more time to be spent on valuable activities rather than administration-based activity.

What would you do with extra time? Extra money? Less stress and hassle?

Now that you are aware that ~

• subcontractors can be managed more efficiently and accurately

• the technology is available to you

• the technology is proven in the construction sector

With increasing competition pushing down pricing, when now would be a good time to… increase project and contract team efficiency… deliver excellent projects with time savings… increase your profitability…

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. In future articles we will deal with subjects concerning time leakage, health & safety, traceability, budgeting and cost management.

Vincent Lynch is the CEO of Donseed Limited a provider of Workplace Management Solutions to the construction industry with offices in Ireland and the UK. Vincent can be contacted at vincent.lynch@donseed.com or see http://www.donseed.com

Getting ready for business travel can be full of hassles, but if you take a little time to plan your business trip, you can make the most of your time away from your office and home. Let’s have a look at a few things you can do to improve your time while you are away.

Business is now truly worldwide which means companies hoping to improve their market share will need to travel more if they want to find new customers. The Internet while making the world smaller has increased the potential markets available. However, anyone who has spent a great deal of their time traveling for their business will tell you just how tiring it can be. Hopefully the following business travel tips will help you make the most of your travel time, and perhaps even enjoy the trip along the way.

When baggage goes missing it is irritating to say the least but for someone on a business trip it can be a whole lot more disastrous. So, wherever possible, pack as much as you can into your carry on luggage. This type of forward thinking means that you will not be caught out nor will you have a wasted trip.

As far as your main luggage is concerned, make sure you only pack just enough for the trip and this is probably the most useful business travel tip to bear in mind. The easiest way to do this is to only take one pair of casual shoes and one work pair. Keep your work clothes to exactly what you need for the tip and likewise clothes for when you are on your leisure time. The only other essentials to pack are your toiletries and any non-essential business information that you might require.

A way to save space and possibly take a smaller bag plus reduce any creases is to roll clothing up which takes up less room and a business travel tip well worth noting. Dark clothing are very useful for traveling business people as it hides stains and dirt very well, so if you get sweaty or spill a coffee on the flight it won’t be too noticeable. If you are delayed for any reason then knowing you can freshen up prior to the meeting without the need for a shower can be a lifesaver, this is where those travel wipes come in very useful.

Remember before you leave to charge up your cell phone and other electronic devices. Look into buying some form of mobile or wireless internet access package so that you can work on the move from your laptop. If you are using your laptop for consulting or business purposes, consider investing in some timesheet software to keep track of your time spent on specific projects. Using your traveling time to get essential work done will mean that in the evenings you can take some time out to explore the city you’re staying in. Simply planning ahead for these eventualities mean you will be ready for your business travel journey, no matter what. There is no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy your business travel so adhering to the few, very simple business travel tips given here will make your journey more enjoyable.

If you are running a business project remotely consider investing in timesheet software to track time spent on specific projects. Spherical timesheet software can track your entire team’s work, even if they work remotely. It can also track work done on specific projects and is fuly integratable with third party software. Check it out.

Drop Shipping is a term used when products are generated through a particular method. The products itself generate at a low wholesale price due to increase from manufacturer, to distributor, to retailer, and ends at customer purchases. Retailers buy at a low wholesale price and highly increase their profits. Business and Individual Retailers sell products to end users(customers) without running a huge inventory. The distributor takes care of all the inventory work.

So you’ve decided drop shipping could be your next work-at-home opportunity or side-job, great choice! Especially during this time around. Research Analysts predict– online sales by holiday season to reach $22 billion, a 19 percent increase from last year. 73 million holiday purchases were made online last year. 86 million online purchases are expected to come this year climbing up to 18 percent from last year. Drop shipping is global business. Imagine the years to come. An ideal product to sell during holiday season is electronics. Start-up costs for drop shipping is very little and you don’t need much money to invest.

A big mistake new beginners regret when drop shipping is selling a product and seeing weak results. The best sellers always do research.

You should ask yourself, is this something people want or need? If yes to both, then the chances of selling it will succeed. Any type of product people buy can be found and bought online. People buy things online because they can contemplate between prices easily. When selling a product, keeping the price lower than the outside world brings great results. This makes drop shipping affective.

Selling a “hot product” during its highest peak is not a good idea. Entering a niche when it is packed with sellers who sell the same product make it harder to sell. Go into a moderate niche because few competition is better than too much or no competition at all.

Don’t be discouraged too easily in your first try. Maybe you need to configure the products or revise your descriptions. You’re probably selling a product that has potential but maybe selling it more expensively than fellow competitors. This indicates that it would be a wise decision to lower your price in that marketplace. So research the competition and profitability within the marketplace. You’ll always have the option to configure your products by upgrading, trading or switch to other products.

Before investing on too many products at once, test a few products in the marketplace to determine weather you’ll try to sell more of it afterwards.

Here are simple steps involved in drop shipping:

1) In order to buy products at wholesale price, you must get a Wholesale License or provide Proper Documentation. A Wholesale License can be obtained by visiting your state Department of Revenue to maintain a sales tax account.

2) Open an account in a marketplace or auction to sell your products. You can start with Ebay, Amazon and much more. When you reach a comfort level, you can develop an online store and promote products. You can eithier hire a web designer or create your own website using web design softwares like Macromedia Dreamweaver, Microsoft Frontpage, Adobe Go Live, etc. Many online services like http://Ruzbiz.com allow you the tools to create powerful web stores.

3) Find a distributor in order to Drop Ship the products you want to sell. Research the products they offer and start promoting. You can get products for very cheap from online-international-suppliers like Alibaba, Ecplaza, Rusbiz, Trade-India and much more. For North American manufactured products, the best source is Thomas register.

4) When customers buy your products, confirm the orders to your distributor and everything is set. Enjoy more leisure time once your promotion does its job as you watch your profits grow.

Researching on high-profitable products can be rare and time consuming. Find all the sources you need and the most well known name-brand products at very low prices by clicking here. Increase multiple product profits over 100% by visiting this service website: http://tinyurl.com/68jgt8

Most Internet technology departments today need to reduce their expenses and operate with better efficiency, even if managing multiple servers, administering an entire network on a daily basis while keeping the end users content. Those companies that have to control the costs of administration while reducing server sprawl see virtualization as an increasingly key business resource. In addition, there are new opportunities to leverage hardware for redundancy to increase overall system uptime. When a business consolidates physical systems within the data center by using a virtual infrastructure, companies may experience better utilization of their resources along with an increase in efficiency and a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

Virtualization can change the total cost of ownership with faster provisioning and installation. As several virtual servers can operated on a single piece of hardware, the addition of another server won’t require provisioning, eliminating the need to spend time on ordering, scoping and configuring a new one. In only several hours’ time a new virtual server can be fully installed - much fasted than the two weeks or so estimated for installing a standard server.

The total cost of ownership is also affected by a reduced server administration workload. The administrator of a normal server will need to check the hardware status and server logs on a continual basis. VMware eliminates the majority of this kind of work, reducing the overall amount of time needed to properly support the server infrastructure. Time saved can be quite valuable to business, especially those which use a large number of servers.

Additionally, VMware can help lower downtime, as well as the costs of disaster planning and recovery. VMware is an excellent tool for businesses that must rely on the availability of data, as this new tool can manage risks while ensuring that the resources required are at the ready. During a regular data disaster scenario, long-running or unsuccessful data recovery campaigns are quite common. Often, equipment will need to be replaced, or repaired at least. Then the systems will need to be reconfigured and reinstalled.

These VMware systems can also help with quick recovery from a disaster, assisting in long-term business survival. Virtual servers can be backed up on another server. So, if the machine is damage, the server can be restored from a back up and put on to another machine having the necessary speed and power for it. That means that VMware can also reduce the costs of planning for a data disaster recovery, as these recovery sites can be virtualized to reduce the necessary capital expense. Both hardware agnosticism and the single-step file recovery featured by VMware can significantly lower the amount of time necessary to fully recover from a data disaster situation.

VMware also reduces the total cost of business server ownership through workload consolidation. As most of today’s servers tend to be quite powerful but greatly underutilized, VMware has the ability to leverage available resources to allow multiple operating systems on just one single server. A normal server is running at about 15% efficiency in terms of processor utilization, and about 30% memory. With VMware, now companies are able to install new, virtual servers to existing hardware resources, instead of having to add new machines to the environment. This can help to significantly improve the return on your hardware investments. VMware is able to greatly reduce the overall cost of server ownership, reducing business risks - particularly when leveraged properly in a particular server environment.

Nick Pegley is VP Marketing for All Covered: Technology Services Partner for Small Business, providing local disaster recovery consulting and technology services in 20 major U.S. metro areas.

Collecting survey data begins with designing a survey that encourages a high response rate. Many companies and organizations rush blindly into surveying their employees, customers, and vendors without giving any thought to how they should encourage a response. In such cases, a dismal response rate is predictable. While there are millions of people who will simply refuse to respond to a survey, there are several obstacles to a high response rate that can easily be avoided. Below, we’ll describe several of these obstacles in the hope that you can avoid them during your next survey.

Questions That Are Unclear

The questions that you include on your surveys must be easy to understand. Consider that most people who receive your survey are already busy or exhausted. In that state, they’ll have very little tolerance for questions that are unclear. If they can’t easily understand what is being asked of them, they’re likely to simply discard your survey. Be clear. If you’re forced to use terms that may be unfamiliar, define them.

Inconsistent Survey Format

If your survey uses different formats, your response rate will decline. Survey respondents desire uniformity. If your survey alternates between multiple choice, true/false and short answer questions, many respondents will fail to complete it. Be consistent throughout your survey, even if it limits the type of responses you’ll receive. It’s more important to encourage response.

Lack Of Notification Or Reminders

Depending upon who you’re surveying (your employees, customers, random neighborhoods, etc.), you should use a notification or reminder process. For example, if you’re surveying your employees, let them know ahead of time. Send a few notifications as the survey date draws closer. If you’re surveying people in your neighborhood, you may need to remind them about the survey. Often, people fail to respond simply because the survey isn’t in front of them.

Lack Of A Clear Purpose

Everyone has an opinion and they usually want to give it. But, there needs to be a purpose for their doing so. If your potential survey respondents don’t understand the value their opinions and thoughts will provide, they’ll be less likely to offer them. For example, your customers want to know how their feedback will help you make changes in your business. Your employees will want to know how you’ll take action on the feedback they offer. State the purpose of your survey clearly at the top.

Lack Of Incentive

Most survey respondents want to receive something for their time. That is, they want an incentive. If there isn’t an incentive for them to complete your survey, they’re less likely to do so. Depending upon the nature of your survey, the value of the data you’re soliciting and the time required to complete it, you can offer a variety of incentives to increase the response rate. Examples include baseball tickets, movie tickets, points that can be redeemed for prizes, discounts and even money. For some types of data, a simple invitation to have access to the responses can serve as an effective incentive.

Boosting Your Survey Response

It’s rare that you’ll enjoy a 100% response rate for any given survey (though it can happen). That said, many organizations sabotage their survey efforts by asking unclear questions, using different formats and failing to send reminders to respondents. They also neglect to provide a clear purpose for the feedback. Finally, many organizations don’t offer an incentive that compensates people for spending the necessary time to complete the survey. By addressing each of these potential obstacles, you can help make certain that your survey receives a high response rate.

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