I’m not afraid to admit I’m a bit of a fan of Apple’s products so I’m not completely impartial but I’ll do my best!

Apple Aren’t perfect

Steve Jobs said it himself in the recent press conference called to discuss the flaws in the latest iPhone design. Yes, flaws in an Apple product! The signal problems with the iPhone 4 have been covered extensively in the media recently; here Apple is a victim of its own success. There have been plenty of other phones in the past with signal issues and calls dropping but Apple just can’t get away with it, they are too popular to slip under the radar and people expect more from Apple, when you buy an Apple product isn’t it meant to be perfect?

Apple aren’t doing great in other areas, they are behind in cloud computing, still charging £59 a year for their ‘MobileMe’ service whilst Google offers similar services on a much larger scale for free! There are rumours that Apple will make the service free later this year and perhaps enhance it at the same time but why has it taken so long?

Then there is the other bad press Apple have been getting lately about the number of suicides that have taken place at Foxconn, one of companies Apple uses to manufacturer its products. Is Apple encouraging cheap labour and poor working conditions?

So what are they doing right?

Products and design

Whenever Apple releases a product they tend to be one step ahead of the market, not just with killer features but in the design and right down to the packaging.

When you purchase an Apple product the first thing you notice is the packaging and whilst it might also go right in the bin it’s important to realise this is all part of the Apple experience, you don’t spend a small fortune on a laptop and expect to get it in a cheap paper bag, this ‘unboxing’ experience has an effect on your perception of Apple products even if you don’t realise it.

The importance of the design of Apples products cannot be under-estimated, they have to look, feel and be great, to the extent that it can result in form over function in some cases (iPhone 4 aerial). Apple were the first to turn away from the boring beige PC box which used to live under your desk with the iMac in 1997, this was a evolution in PC design which has evolved to become the frankly stunning iMac which is available today! They were the first to release unibody laptops, again a brilliant piece of design and most recently the iPad.

Customer support

If you’ve ever called Apple’s support line or sought support in one of their iconic Apple shops you’ll know they’ve got this nailed. Apple’s support often comes out top in support reviews. So when you buy an Apple product you have the assurance of after sales service and this is good for repeat business.

Apple even insist on owning the support of their iPhones, most other manufactures (Nokia, Motorola etc) hand off the fault management of their products to the network operator as they don’t see them as their customers. However Apple consider an iPhone owner as one of their customers and will provide the support leaving the network provider to do just the network providing.

Brand perception

Product placement is pretty important and Apple seem to be masters at it, Apple products have featured in many great films and TV shows, including ‘Independence Day’, ‘Fight Club’ and more recently big TV series like ‘24’ and the latest big files like ‘Toy Story 3’ and ‘The Book of Eli’. Apple get their products in the right places and often used by the right people.

Apple don’t just open shops on the high street, they build premises which can be recognised, they are normally bold iconic designs that stand out from the stores around them. Few companies do so much to build an image for themselves, this requires serious investment and as is often the case with brand development and marketing it’s difficult to quantify any return from the original investment.

Apple are notoriously secretive, they like to keep their next big thing under their hats until they decide it’s ready, this results in more hype when a new product launch is due. There are loads of rumour sites dedicated to reporting every rumour and tip off they get about Apples next product launch and even some of the media giants can’t resist reporting on rumours in the days preceding a big launch.

Paying through the nose

It’s true to say Apple products are perceived as costing more, this is partly because some of them do but when a company invests in new product technology and design they have to re-coup that money from somewhere. So when they are first to market with products like the iPad or the Unibody laptop these products will inevitable cost more.

Another reason Apple is perceived to be expensive is because they don’t do ‘budget’ products, even their cheapest laptop or desktop features great design and reasonable performance.

Some of Apples products maybe over priced, the iPhone is very expensive but people buy them so have Apple earned the right to charge more?

Summary

Apple have a loyal following because they have invested in their image, their brand and their products. They have been clever with their marketing and constantly innovate. They put design and quality at the centre of every product (yes, including the iPhone 4) and look after their customers after they buy.

Investing the amount they must have in things which they cannot quantify the return is a brave move which has paid off for Apple; you could argue that Apple have bought peoples’ loyalty contrary to what I said at the start!

It confirmed that a “small subset of users” have been affected by the latest downtime, but didn’t provide a definitive number and could not confirm when the service would be back up and running.

“The team is working as quickly as they can to resolve the problem,” said Google in a statement. “We know how important e-mail is to our users, so we take issues like this very seriously.”

In the meantime affected users can, once again, stare at this status page and keep hitting the refresh button until Google brings Gmail back to life for its 113m user base.

Just last month Google was forced to apologise after Gmail suffered a major collapse when some of the firm’s data centres in Europe failed to cope with a routine maintenance event.

Original article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/10/gmail_outage/

Accounting Software

The small business finance software market is now very mature. Dominated by SAGE line 50 with current estimates indicating a 1/3 dominant market share. Quickbooks and MYOB vie for second place however are often regarded as more ‘useable’ than SAGE line 50.

The Small Business

Within a small business, it is common to find multiple users requiring regular access to SAGE (or other). The MD, FD, office manager or other user needing to process sales and billing information will need to access the application during a working day. Often senior management might want to analyse accounts information at home or away from the office.

How much for a server??

The traditional way of sharing this application (and other company data) would be to install a server in-house. Cost wise a small business of 1-20 users would be looking at anywhere from £5,000 – £10,000 plus an annual maintenance charge. Over three years ,the spend could easily get to a figure of £30,000 +

Businesses still need to share applications such as SAGE but in the current economic climate are looking for other, more affordable ways. This is where server hosting or ‘Cloud Computing’ comes in. Why shell out tens of thousands of pounds up-front when you can effectively lease the same system from an expert IT company?

Servers in the Cloud

Using a ‘hosted’ server (or server in the cloud) means you don’t have to worry about maintenance, upgrades, viruses or that person in every office who says: “I’ll have a go at fixing it…..”. The hosting company will ensure the system is secure, reliable and that all their clients data is backed up. Meaning the end user never need worry about portable hard-drives or changing backup tapes!

The way businesses run and access software is rapidly changing. Broadband is stable, reliable and cheap making ‘Cloud’ computing a real option for many companies. With flexible working, widely available wireless hotspots and mobile devices - being stuck in the office is a thing of the past.

SpiderGroup specialise in helping businesses use ‘The Cloud’. If you have any queries, email me direct. paul.griffiths@spidergroup.co.uk

Cloud computing is a recently coined but popular term for the delivery of information and services to one’s computer, over the internet (or ‘cloud’). Why ‘cloud’? Well, if you’ve ever had the pleasure of reviewing network diagrams you’d know that the internet is generally depicted by a cloud. My guess is that the Internet has become such a vast, unfathomable network of information and services that no one can really explain it – so we just call it ‘the cloud’ and take for granted all the really clever, interesting and weird stuff that happens in there.

Personally I’m not sure that l like the term, I run a business and the image of my information floating around in some vast cloud makes me a little uneasy, fortunately I know better and if it’s the term that’s going to stick then I need to join the party. Whether it will stick is another matter, the most recent fad was calling it web 2.0 and the slightly less catchy software as a service (or SaaS), not to mention on demand services and application service provision (ASP). But all these terms essentially refer to same thing; the delivery of services and information over the internet to billions of consumers and millions of businesses all over the world.

Give me an example…

To take a practical example of cloud computing, we’ll look at small business accounting software as this should apply to the broadest audience.

Standard Computing: Sage Line 50 is by far the most popular accounting solution for small businesses in the UK and those of you who have used this software will know that, like all standard software, it needs to be installed and maintained on a computer in your office. This can cause a number of headaches for business owners and financial controllers such as; accessing accounts information when you’re not in the office, working across multiple locations or from home, upgrading software and hardware and backing up your data.

Cloud Computing: QuickBooks Online is an American accountancy package that has been re-developed in a web-technology that allows it to be delivered as an online service. This means that it can be accessed via any web browser, all you have to do is go to the home page, enter your security information and start using it. You can print, export and report on information just as you would with standard software but you have the added convenience of paying for the service on a monthly subscription, with no up-front capital expenditure. I believe that QuickBooks Online is currently only available in the US but other online accounting packages such as KashFlow are available to the UK market, I should state that I am only highlighting the Cloud Computing concept and not the quality of the accountancy packages themselves!

And the benefits are?…

So with the example of your financial systems, lets look at some of the benefits Cloud Computing can deliver to your business:

Work from the office, home of on the road: With cloud computing you’re not limited to working from any one computer, you can access the software from any laptop or PC, anywhere you can get an internet connection, which is great for productivity when you’re on the road or for flexible working for your workforce.

Share real-time information with colleagues and clients: Almost all web-based applications provide role-based access to information and reports which means you can collaborate with colleagues in different locations and provide better service to your customers.

No hassle with software and hardware: You don’t have any hardware in-house, so you don’t have the hassle or worry about servers failing or hardware upgrades, you don’t even technically have any software so no more painstaking installations or desktop troubleshooting.  

Lower cost of ownership and no up-front capital expenditure: I’ve been through the process many times, ask for a quote for a software package, get a quote for the software, software support, additional licensing, a server, backup equipment, hardware support, delivery and 3 or 4 day’s labour to put it all together. Before you know it you’ve spent over £10k up front and 1k per month for the rest of your business life for something you’re probably going to have to upgrade in 3 years time.

Securely backed up data: Most data on the web is backed up at least daily and i know for our database applications you’re looking at an hourly backup cycle so your business information is safe in separate geographical locations at all times. Software providers that host in the cloud can afford much more advanced firewall and security systems than most small or medium sized businesses and only the best technical teams to manage them, your systems are probably in better hands with them than in your own offices.

So is Cloud Computing the way to go?…

I would be so bold as to say that every business could benefit from a little bit of cloud computing but at the moment I see it suiting small businesses (1-50 staff) who are flexible and forward thinking multi-locational large businesses (100+ staff) who can afford to think outside the box. The in-between Medium size businesses tend to have invested heavily in skilled personnel and equipment and only have 1 or 2 locations – besides, what would all their expensive staff be doing if not managing VPN connections, monitoring hardware and applying software updates?…

Firstly it is still in Beta testing mode – this means you have no service level agreement with Google. They can take the whole system down without warning, meaning guess what…..none of your staff can work! They also state in the terms and conditions when you signup that they cannot guarantee the safety of your data and are free to use your data for marketing purposes if they please. Brilliant!

Once you are in, you’re locked in - People for years have complained that they are locked into Microsoft’s software stack. Well if you start using Google Apps you’re now in a similar situation! Any smart company should put in place a plan for the future. What if you come to realise you didn’t want to host your application on the Google App Engine anymore? Good luck, almost everything you are given access to is proprietary — that means all your data is locked into a format that isn’t like a traditional relational database. This could turn into a disaster for your business if you rely on a custom built app.

It’s free right? Errr…. - Well, ok so for a small business the attraction of a free suite of office applications and a way to stay your documents and collaborate with clients/colleagues can be very tempting. However what happens when something goes wrong? Do you think Google has a call centre full of support staff to help? Well the answer is NO. You can pay more for additional support but this was supposed to be free right? Check out this genuine response to a support request;

Hello,

Thanks for taking the time to send us your message. This is an
auto-response with admin support resources. You won’t receive a response
from a member of our team.

To learn more about Google Apps, please visit the Help Center at
http://www.google.com/support/a, or by clicking ‘Help’ in your control
panel.

Many administrators are also finding quick and accurate information from
the Google Apps Help Discussion at http://groups.google.com/group/hosted.

Sincerely,

The Google Team

Thanks for that oh wonderful Google. Choosing a ‘Cloud’ IT provider like www.spidergroup.com means you have dedicated support staff waiting to fix any problem you might encounter. You get a defined service level agreement and the knowledge that you are as important as the next client, and will never be ignored!

Some of Google’s problems already;

http://www.macworld.com/article/57017/2007/03/googleapps.html

http://www.pcworld.com/article/130187/google_apps_gmail_faces_downtime_problems.html