By Debra Kaye
Smartphones aren’t simply convenient communication devices – they have become an integral part of our lives and our culture. Putting this into context, a mobile phone today is in the possession of the average user for 5,840 hours per year. That compares to the 2,920 hours the same user sits in front of a PC and the 1,865 hours she spends watching television. That means news, current product information, sales, and specials have to become part of the digital news flow experience of the portable device. With that in mind, here are my four top reasons why your website should be mobile:
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By Hailley Griffis
Every Friday, we round up some of the best articles we’ve come across in the past week and share them with our readers. Front and centre this time around are Gigaom, Memeburn, Search Engine Journal and Spin Sucks.
4 tips for developing applications that end users will actually end up using
Jordan Novet dives into the world of applications and notes that although companies are realizing that complicated enterprise applications don’t cut it anymore, a lot of applications still end up getting deleted. He looks at how to give employees applications that hold real value.
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By Francis Moran
Regular readers of this blog will know that we have something of an obsession with customer service. At first glance, it might not seem obvious why a technology market blog might be so preoccupied with this. Except, as I have written many times, customer service is based on what I have come to call my first law of competitive differentiation, the proposition that, in an age when almost any technological or cost advantage will rapidly and inevitably be eroded, the only sustainable competitive differentiation for most companies is to treat their customers like the centre of the universe, which they are.
Based on recent experience, I have to say there’s nothing quite like doing a major round of house renovations to expose the good, the bad and the carpet layers of customer service.
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By Leo Valiquette
Last month’s content lineup featured great posts that shattered common myths about finding and defining a customer base and how to market an app, as well as insights on securing a patent and recognizing a great CEO. We also looked at the genius of Audi’s Spock vs. Spock ad campaign and some of the weak links in Canada’s commercialization ecosystem. And of course, there was plenty of sage advice for neuromarketers and strategists alike.
In case you missed any of it, here is a handy recap of our posts, as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
May 13: The marketing genius of Audi’s Spock vs. Spock, by Leo Valiquette
May 15: Design by committee is just plain wrong, by Francis Moran
May 27: The third way that government can, and must, support Made-in-Canada tech, by Leo Valiquette
May 21: Why shouldn’t it be made in Canada?, by Leo Valiquette
May 07: If you’re so afraid of spilling the beans that no one knows you have any …, by Leo Valiquette
May 02: Startup Canada Communities seeks to build regional economies ‘from the inside out’, by Francis Moran
May 23: ‘Everyone’ is not your customer, by Francis Moran
May 09: 6 small business statistics that may surprise you, by Brent Barnhart, Chamber of Commerce
May 08: Accelerator metrics in Canada (or anywhere), by Jesse Rodgers
May 14: The business of evolution: We’re not as clever as we think we are, by Bob Bailly
May 16: Fiction: Media relations is ‘free advertising’, by Francis Moran
May 30: To sponsor or not to sponsor: 6 questions to consider, by Leo Valiquette
May 22: So you’ve developed an app … now how do you market it?, by Peter Hanschke
May 28: Selling an invention to a patent examiner, by David French
May 29: Everyone has competition, by Francis Moran
May 06: Peeling away the layers of a great CEO, by Denzil Doyle
Image: May 2013 Calendar Printable
By Hailley Griffis
Every Friday, we round up some of the best articles we’ve come across in the past week and share them with our readers. Front and centre this time around are Memeburn, Marketo, Ventureburn and Convince and Convert.
7 habits of highly successful cloud-based medium businesses
Riaan Pietersen looks at medium-sized businesses and talks about how they are no longer asking whether or not they should transfer to the cloud, but asking how to transfer. He reviews seven steps for switching to the cloud while gaining additional functionality and productivity.
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