Are Hosted Software Applications Good for Small Businesses?

A few months ago I wrote an article at Associated Content on whether a small business should consider a hosted software application.  At the time I identified a number of factors that a small business should consider before deciding to rely on a hosted software application.  Some of the factors I discussed included reliability of the provider, cost analysis of ongoing fees versus an outright purchase, ownership and control over your data and the stability of your business’s connection to the Internet.  Since that time, a number of things seem to be making hosted applications more attractive for small companies.  There are now a wide variety of free hosted software applications and broadband access continues to be more widely available for small companies at ever reduced cost.

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Tags: hosted software applications, small business, web

Is the Music Industry Driving Itself Out of Business?

Ars Technica ran an article yesterday about Pandora, the popular Internet radio service.  The article discussed how royalties being charged by Sound Exchange had risen steeply and were set to double again by 2010.  As a result, Pandora can’t make money and may pull its own plug.  Sound Exchange offered a potential loophole to Internet radio stations by requiring DRM in exchange for lower fees.   They argue that Internet radio can pay these higher fees.

SoundExchange also argues that Internet radio stations could do a lot more to increase their revenue, become profitable, and pay their (arguably high) fees. As much as it pains us to say it, there may be a point here.

I think a bigger issue here is whether the music industry really represents musicians anymore and how disconnected they are from modern paradigms.

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Tags: music industry, online business models, Pandora

Microsoft (Still) Doesn’t Get The Web

Microsoft has a long history of releasing “not ready for primetime” products.  I recently tried to add this blog’s xml sitemap to their “webmaster tools” on Windows Live Search.  I would have to say that their new “webmaster tools” is another in a long line of Microsoft failures. 

When going to the site to add a sitemap, the user is presented with a simple form.  The form asks for the web site address, the address of the sitemap, how you want to verify ownership of the site (the usual meta tag or by uploading an xml file), and the webmaster’s email address.  Seems simple, right?  Not so fast!  Entering http://www.julianhilltech.com gives an error that says “Invalid web address”.  Dropping the http:// at the beginning yields the same result and adding a “/” on the end yields the same result.  Putting http://www.julianhilltech.com/sitemap.xml as the location of my sitemap yields an error that says my sitemap must be in the root of my web site.  Huh?!  Did you look at the URL? 

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Tags: Live Search, Microsoft, web, Webmaster Tools

Corporate Courtesy Is Dead

A little over a week ago, I had one of the worst job interviews I’ve had in a very, very long time.  I’m not going to name names* but I wanted to take a moment to discuss this particular experience because I think there’s a couple business lessons to be learned here. 

This experience started, like so many of them do, with a phone interview with a human resources person in the main office of the company.  That went well and the hr person I spoke with was very professional.  He called back to schedule the interview and after we selected a time, he said he’d send email to confirm once the interviewer accepted the appointment.  This ended up taking a few days which should’ve been a big red flag.  (more…)

Tags: arkadin, corporate courtesy, employee loyalty, employee morale, job interviews