Adnet - Building for Business

..or did I?

This mushroom image is great, I'm sure you'll agree.

Myself and a client / networking colleague considered using it on her website, but ultimately it didn't really have a part to play (Annette of Jikijela - a company WELL worth a look at).

Then we considered it might have a place on our own recently updated website, so I went ahead with the download from iStock, the online stock image resource. That cost like a whole dollar. Just before going live, we decided to use a different image. So. I had a cool, paid for image, in danger of not being displayed online anywhere - I DON'T THINK SO.

Here's one of my favourite websites:
http://www.bni-citywest.com/

I've been a member of this group for over 3 years, acting as designer and editor of the website along the way. The function of the site is to support the activities of a highly effective Business Networking Group.

If you're not familiar with the whole idea of business notworking, or if your experiences have been with the many sub-standard versions of the idea, it's hard to explain just how important it can be to your business:

• There are times when all, and I mean ALL our business has come from the activities of this group
• It can transform you from a 'whatever' business person, into the real thing
• You get to build relationships with, and learn from top professionals in over-lapping businesses
• You get to build relationships with, and learn from top professionals in EVERY type of business

Focusing just on the communications industry for now (I'll get back to the others another time), here are some of the people and companies I've been lucky to have worked with as a result of joining BNI Citywest;

• Gerard Tannam, Islandbridge Brand Development >>>
  (Gerard approached me originally to put this website in motion, and has had invaluable input throughout).
• John Redmond, Photographer >>>
• Kevin McSherry, Illustrator >>>
• Denis, Adept Advertising >>>
• Hugh, Dcoy Graphic Design >>>
• Valerie and David, Acorn print >>>
• Dara Creative (a significant referral to Adnet throught BNI) >>>

BNI is a worldwide network. Among the other groups I have visited is the BNI Civic Center Chapter in San Francisco. It's one of my favourite business stories that as a result of my visit there, our company was contracted to build the website for this group as well (www.bniciviccenter.com), based on the success of the BNI Citywest website.

My colleague Fergal Byrne (Adnets Technical Director) has been a keen photographer since the mid 1990's and shows some of his work on his Dublin in bits website. He has always gone exclusively to Conns Cameras for equipment, film, prints and advice. Over the years he developed a great personal relationship with Bob and Mike which eventually led to Adnet developing Conns first website.

There was some early talk about ecommerce and selling equipment directly online, but after gaining some insight into what it is that Conns do right we realised that this was an inappropriate use of the web for their business. The secret to Conns Cameras highly successful business is Client Service. People go there for the excellent advice, the depth of knowledge and the quality of service. This key difference between Conns and the other camera shops in Dublin is becoming increasingly important as margins on equipment get tighter.

In keeping with the quality of service ethic that pervades Conns Cameras we decided to build a rich product catalogue and information resource and make it available online. This resouce is maintained by Conns themselves and includes detailed product information and links to manufacturers data. This approach has had a number of beneficial effects:

• The product database has helped make the website an excellent search engine trap, generating 40,000 plus page views from 7,000 to 8,000 visits per month.
• It provides a useful reference to existing clients and continues the excellent service ethic online.
• People print out pages from the site and visit the shop to continue the chat, often resulting directly in sales.
• Draws dozens of online enquiries every week.

From its initial launch in early 2002 to the present the Conns Cameras Website has made a significant contribution to a very successful business. The success of the website prompted the next major online development, the recently launched Conns Cameras Online Print Services I shall discuss this in my next blog.

Maybe its just me but does the term "Over Priced Bloatware" spring immediately to mind whenever SAP is mentioned. It is designed to generate expensive man hours, not to get job done. Pushed by those who provide overpriced man hours and epitomised by project such as PPARs. As a businessman, technologist and Irish tax-payer I find Kagermann's discussions about architectures functionality and flexibility, tiresome and irrelevant.

Lightweight orthogonal components with suitable mechanisms for generating, managing and storing chains, can more than address the levels of functionality handled by SAP, negating the need for its clearly unmanagable complexity.

Increasing complexity increases the size of the job and therefore the value to the technology suppliers. Decreasing complexity is hard work but ultimately increases the value of the technology to the customers. Which direction are you pushing in?

As it enters its Red Giant phase the only question remains,will the Property Market Scam become a white dwarf or a black hole, sucking us all into an alternative universe. It is nothing short of a huge Pyramid Selling operation by the Banks and I'm constantly bewildered by peoples ability to delude themselves in the face of a physical reality.

Its actually amazing that as much as 4% of Irish exports come from indigenous private sector. The enormous gravitational well of the Banking Property Pyramid deprives almost all other business ideas of capital, attention and effort. This is now however the time to take bargain basement investment opportunities in the likes of the tech sector, if you are equipped to discern the genuine innovators from the click and drool brigade.