If you haven’t already; you will soon be hearing a lot more about Cloud Computing. I thought that it might be about time to demystify the term so that the buzz doesn’t get in the way of the reality.

The new term “Cloud Computing” comes by way of Grid Computing which has held sway over the last few years; when it comes to the Internet delivery of just about anything that has to transit the Internet. If you have seen an IT diagram there is always a cloud in between the origination point of the information you need; and you. The cloud represents a structure of servers, routers and other internet appliances which are needed to efficiently get data, information and knowledge from where it is created or stored, into your, hands, ears and/or, eyeballs.

First there was ARPANET, created in the late 1960’s, which became the foundation of a very limited technology which was used by universities to communicate with the Advanced Research Programs Agency; the ARPA in ARPANET. By the time we made it to the seventies a much more efficient method of controlling and managing the Internet appeared. Called, TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), TCP/IP was the technical achievement that made the Internet as we know it today; possible. No there won’t be a test.
In the sixties we had FTP, File Transfer Protocol, to move files and messages, there were bulletin boards and E-Mail in the seventies and eighties. Anyone wanting to link a computer to a network got to choose from among the many private network systems available, Delphi, CompuServe, Prodigy, Genie, etc. None of these allowed any connection to the world outside the individual network and its subscribers. Then up popped www; the World Wide Web complete with TCP/IP.

I think that you may begin to see that the beginnings of the WWW were much like the beginning of telephone networks where there were thousands of wired connections which came into a central switching facility and your message was handled by one of the young gentleman or young ladies who were the operators for the service. Not very efficient but it worked nonetheless.

The World Wide Web has wires then fiber, switches, protocols - Internet rules of the road, routers which applied and enforced the rules of the road, at least for the most part, allowing us to get files, messages, and information from one global place to another. Volume grew incrementally as developers created new ways for us to use all of this power. We got Internet browsers, Instant messaging, Streaming Media (my personal favorite), Yahoo, MSN, Google, Gmail, Maps, Blogs, YouTube’s reality TV, page searches for airline flights, hotels, and cars from 100’s of different travel sites. Unique software sliders which let you filter airline flights by time or price range; you can view all available airlines, airports, and hotel chains and you can winnow all of this information down to just your personal favorites.

So where does Cloud computing come in? Well our friends and providers on the Internet are about to give us more and more capabilities on the web. The Cloud is a way of saying the Internet, is becoming and will become, more efficient, and have access to more and more bandwidth. The Cloud will be fast. The Network will transmit data at speeds of 2.4 gigabits per second; that’s 45,000 times faster than a 56 Kbps modem.

I just returned from the Academy of Management National meeting (www.aomonline.org). Just in case you wonder what I was doing there, this is an audience of over 7,000 management professors who should be interested in my second book, The Ugly Truth about Managing People. (www.theuglytruthaboutmanagingpeople.com). The book covers the stories of 50 management issues that we deal with every day and how to solve them. It is business reality. Not theory.

I got two totally different reactions to my book. Either the professors didn’t want to know anything about it because they were happy in their cocoons or they wanted to know everything about it. There was no middle ground.

I found that the management professors who didn’t want to know anything about the book had their heads in the sand. They were comfortable teaching theory and didn’t care about reality. Imagine all of those bright young minds who will be exposed only to theory rather than what they will be exposed to in the real world when they get out of school. Many of those professors had never been in the real world either. No wonder they didn’t care.

Contrast this with the professors who were lamenting the fact that their students thought the real world was easy…and they need a book like mine to show them what the working world was really like.

So, do you have your head in the sand, preferring only to see what you want to see; whether it is real or not? If your business or a department is losing money are you dealing with it or are you dreaming that it will magically turn around without making
some hard decisions?

Let's face it. The goal of our business should be to generate as much revenue and profit as possible to do the things we want to do:
1. Give back to worthy causes
2. Help our employees reach their goals
3. Give us the time to do the things we want to do
4. Put more money in our pocket.

How should you do it? Here's one way: Save 1% of all revenues. You won't miss the one percent and it adds up quickly.

How would you do it?

Service providers, manufacturers and suppliers are always asking customers to be loyal. They tell us: buy our products and services. Be loyal to us. Don’t buy from a competitor. As a rule, we expect something in return…loyalty from the service provider, manufacturer, or supplier.

So, what’s the problem? Loyalty is ONE WAY. I have to confess. I didn’t think about it this way. A colleague I know and respect told me he was wrestling with this issue and finally looked it up in the dictionary. I did too. Hold onto your seats. Loyalty IS one way. Definition: Loyalty to the king. Loyalty to a vow. Being faithful to an oath or obligations.

There is NOTHING that says loyalty is, has to be, or should be reciprocated. I was shocked.

So, what should we be talking about? PARTNERSHIP. Our service providers, manufacturers and suppliers should be our partners. They should have an interest in seeing that we succeed in business and give us the help we need…assuming that we are willing to listen with an open ear and take action. If we succeed, they succeed. The better our sales skills, business skills, and communications skills are, the better we can purchase more products and services as well as pay our bills on time.

Partnerships work. The successful service providers, suppliers, and manufacturers whom I have worked with in the past really try to be partners. For everyone to succeed it has to be win-win

We at Ribbon are not asking for your loyalty. We are asking to be your partner. We strive to give you access to information when and where you want it that will help you reach your goals. When this occurs, we ask that you you tell your colleagues about us and make the time to access the programs that meet your needs.

Let us know how we are doing!

Oren Harari keynoted a conference that I attended last week. He talked about the fact that most businesses (and definitely a lot of businesses in our industry) live in “commodity hell”…
his words, not mine. When we do something different to differentiate ourselves from our competition, within a few months our competition has discovered our differentiator and has started to copy it. Differentiation gone. Back to “no difference” in the customer’s mind.

Customer satisfaction is a commodity response to a commodity industry. You need to “lead your customer to an impossible place.” The words, “Wow, dazzle, thrill, delight” should be answers to your customers’ experience with your company.

So, how do you do it when information about our companies, our competitors, and sometimes our customers is available to anyone who knows how to use the Internet search engines? According to Dr. Harari, our Achilles Heel is sticking to what generated profits in the past. Our challenge in the copycat economy is to keep ahead of the imitators who are definitely watching us.

What can you do to dominate an industry? You don't have to be the biggest. In fact, Dr. Harari said that the biggest generally are the slowest to adapt. They want to be more like the small and mid-size businesses.

So what can you do that’s different, can be done at a competitive price and will wow a customer? Look at industries that you are not in. See what they are doing. Talk with your customers. Ask them, "What keeps you up at night?" You'll get ideas of things you can do to dominate your industry.

Make a long term commitment to continually stay in touch with your customers. If you find an article or a white paper with information that will help them…send it to your customers. Most will appreciate your thinking of them.

We can stay in the pack, grumbling about prices, competition and profits. Or we can differentiate, get noticed by our customers who appreciate and will pay for the value we
provide. This will generate more revenues and profits and a lot less grumbling. The choice is yours.

Note: Oren Harari’s book, “Break from the Pack: How to Compete in a Copycat Economy,” is available at all bookstores.

I have to admit it…I don’t always see what I am looking at. A colleague and friend, Matt Michel, CEO of Service Roundtable, and I were having a conversation about marketing. During the course of the conversation he asked about my training progress for my latest marathon. Matt commented that one of the things that plumbing and HVAC contractors should take advantage of is putting flyers in race bags. I just looked at him.

Of course, that makes total sense. Runners are into clean water and clean air. I know, I’m one of them. I started running at the age of 44 and ran my first marathon three weeks before my 46th birthday.

What better way to very inexpensively promote your products to a group who definitely can use them? And I promise you, in all of the small and large races that I have run and all of the race bags that I have received, I’ve NEVER seen a flyer from a plumbing or air conditioning company.

What I am proposing is not for the major races and marathons. These are the local races in your communities that need support. Your message will be read by people who live in areas that you want to target. You’ll be different and I promise (at least until this article is published) your competition won’t be in the same place you are.

Most local races have a hard time raising money. We started a 5K Race for Literacy two years ago and it’s been tough to get the sponsors and support that we need. For a few hundred dollars, which would be gratefully received, you probably can get the race bags stuffed with your message…and maybe even your company’s name on the race T-shirt as a sponsor. Your advertising cost at most would be $1 or $2 per recipient.

Since your flyer would be new and novel to the runners, they would actually stop and read it. They have an interest in staying healthy so your message would be received well and you’ll probably get some telephone calls.

What does this have to do with marketing? There are people along the sides of the course cheering you on. Why not wear running gear with your company’s logo and information on it? You’ll be seen by the runners and by spectators in your community. Questions will get asked. You’ll be perceived as doing something good for your community, especially if you are running for a cause such as literacy or children.

If you want to go to extremes, have your business cards with you and pass them out to people who ask. However, most runners don’t have anything to put your business card in. It’s better to put information in their race bag and tell them to look for it after the race.

Sponsors of local races usually get mentioned in publicity for the event. The race co-ordinators often mention the sponsors as part of the benefits of becoming a race sponsor. You often get your company’s name mentioned on radio, in print, and on television. Your company will be associated with doing something good for the community. Potential customers who won’t normally go to the race will get exposure to your company’s name…all for the cost of a few hundred dollars.

The question is, what non-work activities are you involved in that can potentially help your business? I’ve been a runner for many years and I would have never thought about sponsoring a race and putting information in race bags. The opportunity was staring me in the face and I never saw it.

What marketing opportunities do you have in front of you that you aren’t seeing?

Look closely and act on them!

…you can communicate privately with one person or publicly with thousands
…you can create an easy way to stay in touch with your employees and
customers
…you can improve the productivity of your trainers and your training results
…you can talk with your employees and customers in geographically diverse
locations more and have it cost less
…you can be the leader in your industry…stand out…and be the best at staying in touch,
generating sales, customer satisfaction, and profits

All this is possible today on the Ribbon.

Why? We were the pioneers. In 1998 I was one of the first to train and communicate on the Internet. Those were the days before cable modems and DSL. All we had were ISDN lines. We found cost effective ways to use the emerging technology for a small niche market…heating and air conditioning contractors. In fact, we were the reason that caused many contractors to start using email and the Internet. They finally had the “why” of the Internet.

Fast forward to 2007. We’ve taken what we’ve learned over the past 9 years of broadcasting on the Internet to many small niche markets and incorporated it into Ribbon. What you could only imagine a few years ago is reality today.

See you On The Ribbon.

Turn on. Tune In. Find out.™

By: Ruth King, Founder and CEO

Explore the world’s greatest Internet soapbox. Communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world, at any time. Discover the information you need to help you increase sales, profits, and customer satisfaction at any time, anywhere there is a connection to the Internet.

Why would we name an Internet Broadcasting Network “Ribbon”?
The Star Trek movie, Generations, was the inspiration behind Ribbon. (And yes, I am a Star Trek fan…blame my husband for dragging me to those first few movies. Then I got hooked).

Sarin, the bad guy in the movie Generations, wanted to move a planet so he could again be caught up in the Ribbon. It was a comfortable, inviting place to be. You didn’t have any fear. Every wish came true. You never wanted to leave. You were in the Ribbon.

As you might expect, most of our excellent team at Ribbon hadn’t seen the movie. I ran out and got it so that everyone could experience what we are creating…a place that is comfortable, safe, and inviting.

Explore our Ribbon. When you are at www.OnTheRibbon.com, we hope you find everything you want and need. If not, give me a call at 770-729-0258 or send me an email: ruthking@ontheribbon.com. We’ll see what we can do to help you solve your business challenges and opportunities.

Turn On. Tune In. Find Out.SM

By: Ruth King, Founder and CEO