Saving Money Through Technology

There are a host of technology applications available to you on the Internet. Many of them are free or can be had for far less money than you are paying now. Here are some of them.

DimDim -  Host webconferences for up to 20 people for free.

GoogleSites – Create your own Intranet or collaborative site for free. This is also called a wiki site.

Free Malicious Software Removal Tool - from Microsoft. If you think your computer may be infected with malicious software, this tool might help.

Free Bulk Mailer Programs – for your email blasts. Many to consider.

CutePDF - this is a free alternative to Adobe’s version. This is an excellent FREE pdf maker. Once you load it, it become a printer choice in Word. You print to it and voila, a PDF is made.

Photoshop Lite - If you need to use a photo editor but just can’t justify expense of buying Photoshop, use this free online version. It doesn’t have all the features of the purchased version but it seems to have enough and you can store your images online too.

Google Analytics - this is Google’s free web stats package and it is among the best you can find. It’s not too complicated really, though you likely need someone who is somewhat web savvy to use it – just like you would with other stats packages.

GOOG-411 – This is Google’s free 411 service. Why pay up to $1.50 for this service when you don’t have to?

BlogSpot and WordPress – These are the two premier free blogging platforms. The content manager and the hosting is free. If you have never blogged you might need some training (Contact us. We do that).

Google Docs - this is a free online competitor to Microsoft Office. You can do word processing, presentations, and spreadsheets – and all are compatible wtih Microsoft Office. Also you can build forms and automatically store the data in a spreadsheet. What is even better is you can collaborate with others in preparing or presenting. Great alternative for small organizations. We provide training in Google Docs.

AVG Anti-Virus - While not for a network, if you have stand alone computers in need of good protection, this free anti-virus software will do the trick.

Carbonite - If you have files you want to back up, use this online service. It isn’t free but the cost is quite low and likely cheaper than supporting back up technology on your servers. Worth a look anyway.

Open Office – Want a robust alternative to Microsoft Office and know your files can be opened by Microsoft users? This is a longstanding free productivity suite. More powerful that Google Docs. You download it to your computer.

FreeMind - free mind mapping software. Helps you organize your ideas and the relationships between them

Picassa - also by Google is a free photo organizer, which automatically organizes your image files into its own library of images. All this is stored on your computer. You can edit photos too and create web albums.

Flickr (by Yahoo) and Box.net are two more storage sites for photos, but these are online applications. You can link your photos to your websites or blogs rather easily.

There is a lot more – okay ALOT MORE – free and low cost stuff on the web. We have written about other free applications elsewhere on this blog – especially about Google’s many free products, but also sites like Ning, Face Book, Twitter and the like.

Hope this helps you get what you need for zero or very little money.

New Technologies Change Things!

New technology and software solutions, especially large-scale solutions, generally mean changes to operations, business processes, employee learning, reporting, and even how a business engages its client-base.

If your organization is faced with significant change, you might want to consider undertaking a change facilitation process to help ensure that everyone affected can play a role in making change happen effectively and efficiently.

Effective change facilitation requires optimal involvement of users, especially regarding how their particular roles and responsibilities will be affected by a new application or business process. At 24 reasons, our facilitation of change begins with ensuring the right people are at the table reviewing business requirements and working together to determine appropriate user Interfaces, reporting requirements, help screen requirements, and learning needs.

We believe as well that line users require appropriate involvement in adjusting business processes, where required, to best utilize the new system.

Executive leadership is paramount
Employees look to executive management for leadership and inspiration when faced with major change in the business environment. While the CEO and other key management staff do not necessarily have to be leading the facilitated change process, they should be clear with their employees and other stakeholders about the objectives and intended benefits of the changes. The role of executive leadership should include articulating the vision, leading group meetings at key milestones, ensuring that ongoing communication channels are in place, and providing clear guidance to those who carry responsibilities for the design of change.