By Peter Kemball
For a quarter of a century, the Canadian government has operated a popular program that puts cash in the pockets of innovative firms and reduces taxes for others, the Scientific Research and Experimental Development program, popularly called “SHRED.” It’s now time for a tune-up and recently the feds invited submissions from any and all interested parties on how to improve the program.
For this they deserve praise, do they not? Well, yes and no.
Yes, if they are fortunate enough to receive thoughtful commentary and perhaps even innovative suggestions to make the product of greater value to customers, small innovative firms. No, if their follow though is inept. Expectations have been raised that suggestions will come to the attention of open minds. Now that we’re past the submission deadline of November 30, how are officials and politicians going to demonstrate respect for the time and effort invested by those submitting commentary? One step they can take is to post to a web site the submissions for which they received permission to do so. Here speed is of great value and a week or two after receipt, the postings should be up for all to review. Better yet, the comments of those officials reading the submissions should be publicly posted to seek further feedback.
We at Acorn Partners submitted our thoughts to the review process and in subsequent posts, I’ll share some of our thinking with you.
Peter Kemball is CEO and founder at Acorn Partners, an innovative firm that helps B2B SMEs finance their success.
By Danny Sullivan
I just read an article about the growing demand for VoIP in Canada, and thought I’d pitch in on the topic.
As a technology flack working out of a home office in the UK, I have been a customer of one of the VoIP industry’s market leaders for over two years now. There are several good reasons why a VoIP phone system suits me:
1. Cheap international and free long distance calls. Sure, there are all kinds of plans out there from the incumbent telephony providers, but I have yet to see the kind of rates applied across the board that I get as standard using VoIP. As probably over 50% of my contact with media and clients is international, this is a compelling benefit.
2. The ability to have virtual numbers in any location. inmedia is headquartered in Canada, so there is obviously a significant amount of regular contact with my colleagues and clients over there. At a nominal fixed cost per month, I am able to have a local number in Ottawa that rings here in the UK. There is no limit on the amount of numbers and it would take a matter of moments to establish a local number in any region, say for a new client in another country. Even if the overall benefit to a client is relatively small, it’s still an inexpensive way to provide a good customer service component.
3. Online access. The Internet dashboard that comes with my VoIP system is invaluable. When I’m on the road I can access all my phone details via the web, allowing me to check call logs, listen to voicemail, set up call forwarding and all kinds of other features.
Now, although my experience with the technology has been overwhelmingly positive, I probably shouldn’t mention VoIP without making it clear that it’s not perfect.
“Danny, you’ve gone all robotic on us,” was the concerned response from one of my colleagues on a recent conference call.
VoIP, as an internet-based service, is dependent on a certain level bandwidth for it to operate effectively. It doesn’t need much, but it can mean that you occasionally experience degradation of voice quality, either inbound or outbound. Hence my sudden transformation into a Dalek last week.
But to be honest, these issues, while a bit unnerving for those on the other end of the line, are few and far between, and the benefits of VoIP by far outweigh them. For people who work from home, VoIP is definitely worth a look.
By inmedia
Whatever your perspective on carbon footprints and how useful they are as a measure of our personal impact on this little planet, they seem to be continually in the media these days.
Business Week reports that the European Commission has developed a mobile application that individuals can download and use to monitor their carbon-producing activities.
Apparently, “A diary of emissions on a daily, weekly or even annual basis can be registered on the mobGAS website so people can compare their total with national and global averages.”
By inmedia
This morning, EcoGeek pointed me to a report by the American Consumer Institute, which has calculated the current and future effects that broadband Internet will have on our carbon emissions. The findings are really interesting.
“This study finds that wide adoption and use of broadband applications can achieve a net reduction of 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas over 10 years, which, if converted into energy saved, would constitute 11% of annual U.S. oil imports.”
To read the full Broadband Services: Economic and Environmental Benefits report, click here [PDF].
By inmedia
Ah robots, what an endless fascination we seem to have with the silver machines of the future. True to form, the Guardian reports today on the massive growth of the robot industry in the land of the rising sun.
“In Japan, robots can already be found working as home helps, office receptionists and security guards, as well as on the factory floor,” reports Justin McCurry. “Human endeavour is being supplemented – and even replaced – by mechanical efficiency in almost every area, from hands-free vacuum cleaners and golf-bag carriers to a robotic baby who teaches childcare skills to expectant couples, right down to freeing trapped wind and changing nappies.”
There are good reasons for the rapid adoption of robots in Japan (see population decline, strict immigration laws) but how long before we start seeing more mechanical friends in the Western world?
