As part of the Leitrim Business Network, I would like to start what I call an Experience Club (learn from each other). This stems from a blog post I wrote here a while back about spam email. This post received 13 comments from people sharing their experience and knowledge about dealing with spam. The need for this idea was also reiterated by the cost saving items we discussed at our last network meeting.

Contributors (network members who share) will be asked to tell their story on an ‘experience gained‘ or ‘lesson learned‘ basis and in return will receive recognition for their input and exposure for their business.

Stories will be short and to the point and will not be used if they are just a sales pitch for the contributor’s business.

If you would like to be a contributor to this experience club, please drop me an email – johnnyREMOVE@leitrimenterprise.ie.

Damien points out the ‘answers’ feature of LinkedIn that I haven’t got around to highlighting yet. It will be something we can use in the Network Experience Club which is something I will be introducing this week.

Design Delivers is a one-day workshop run by the Centre for Design Innovation. In this highly interactive session, you will learn practical tools for identifying your key customers and applying design research tools to extract meaningful insights that can be developed into product and service offerings. The one-day workshop was developed out of the 18-month Innovation by Design programme that will complete in September 2008.

The first half of the day focuses on user-centred design; what it is, why it is important to your business and how to do it. You¹ll be taken through a straight-forward process of applying user-centred design (Identify, Look, Involve, Try, Plan). Each step will be illustrated using tools that can be applied after the workshop. Why would you want to invest resources to develop ideas or services your customers don’t want or need?

The second half of the day will focus on branding. Branding adds value to your business, helps you differentiate your offering from the competition and helps you connect with your customers. A brand is not a logo or an identity, it is much more. You will learn why branding is important to your business, as well as the components that make up successful brands. Convey your message more effectively and consistently. Sell your products and services at a premium. Attract better customers, distributors, partners, suppliers and staff.

What have past participants said about the day?

“Practical tools to bring back to the workplace.”
“This kind of seminar should be available as soon as you enter into business. Day one.”
“Informative and essential for any discerning SME who wants to drive value in their business.”
“Like the interaction exercises … I hate sitting and listening for hours solid. Thanks.”
“It has taken the blinkers off to what design can be and do for the business.”

Why should I care?

Research conducted by the Centre has proven that Irish businesses who use design innovate more often, more effectively and compete less on price.
Companies that integrate design at the highest strategic levels are 2.5 times more successful than those that do not yet only 15% of organisations use design at this level. Why? One of the reasons could be they just don¹t know how. Begin to learn how during this one-day workshop.

How much does it cost?

The event is fully subsidised by the BMW Assembly and free to interested companies in the BMW region.

Who is delivering it?

The day will be facilitated by international design experts from the Centre for Design Innovation who have worked with numerous organisations both at home and abroad. In addition, representatives from companies that are currently on the Innovation by Design programme will speak about their experience and success to date.

Is one day enough time to learn this?

Our goal at the Centre is to help demystify the design process and provide tools that allow you to use design thinking for yourselves. When it is time to undertake more detailed work you will feel more confident and empowered to brief the appropriate expert to provide you with further support. You¹ll get a lot of value from the day.

Where and when will it take place?

The workshop will be run three times, with the second session taking place Tuesday, April 29th, from 10-4PM at the offices of the Centre Design Innovation, Room G1003, Business Innovation Centre, Institute of Technology Sligo campus. Please RSVP to Justin Knecht, Programme Manager, justin@designinnovation.ie.

Justin Knecht
Programme Manager
Centre for Design Innovation

www.designinnovation.ie
office: +353 71 9155496
mobile: +353 87 2043716

Leitrim Village based Completehome.ie – The Premier Home Services Search Portal is now available on the move on your mobile phone.

To avail of this free service visit http://www.completehome.ie/mobile.php on your mobile phone browser.

Completehome,
No 1 Orchard Court,
Leitrim Village,
Co.Leitrim.
Telephone: 0719623610
Fax: 0719623607

www.completehome.ie

Welcome to eBusiness Live, the fortnightly newsletter from Enterprise Ireland’s eBusiness Unit. In this issue, the second part of our feature on electronic payments examines the security issues surrounding online transactions. We also take a look at intellectual property and how to evaluate this crucial – though frequently intangible – asset. And in our How To section, we provide tips on using RSS for information-gathering, improving your website, or for online marketing. Please feel free to forward this issue to a colleague, and let us know if there are any topics you’d like to see us cover.

Eoin O Siochru eoin.osiochru[@]enterprise-ireland.com

Get eBusiness Live on RSS

IN THE NEWS
Top eBusiness headlines of the fortnight

Most staff are monitored while online
More than 60 percent of staff in Ireland who use the internet at work face restrictions when trying to access social networking, entertainment, online shopping or webmail sites. The research, conducted on behalf of Eircom, also found that 78 percent of all staff go online for personal reasons while at work. Over half of those surveyed said their internet usage is monitored by software programs, the boss or other work colleagues. The research also concluded that 43 percent cannot access video-sharing site YouTube and other entertainment sites, while 32 percent have no access to webmail and 26 percent cannot shop on portals like Amazon, eBay or Ryanair. The survey also found that 47 percent of workers with internet access are blocked from social networking sites such as Bebo, MySpace and Facebook. For more on this story see ENN.ie.
Online commerce still booming

While bricks-and-mortar retailers may be suffering from slowing economic conditions, there are no signs that online commerce is being negatively affected. Globally, online sales are set to rise by 17 percent this year, with especially strong growth in clothing, computers and cars, according to a study by Forrester Research. The firm found that while the explosive growth of online commerce was down 4 percent compared with last year, the slowdown was attributable to the maturing of the internet as a business model. Forrester senior research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru noted that the boom in eCommerce growth was “a tale of two shoppers that visit the web for different reasons: The casual shopper goes online to look for the best price, leveraging the transparency of the internet to save money. However, more affluent customers appreciate the convenience of shopping online and are not necessarily looking for the best deal.” Mulpuru urged retailers to recognise the opportunities offered by both audiences and to market to them accordingly. For more on this story visit Information-Age.com.
Employee file transfer is risky business

Companies are being warned of the dangers of using external online services to transfer documents. Software development firm DVS Soft Distribution says the methods used by some employees to transfer large files are putting organisations at serious risk of data leakage and possible malware contamination. “One of the problems is that businesses have restricted employees’ ability to send large files over email without recognising that they still need to be able to get that information to partners and customers,” said Andy Hansen, sales manager of DVS Soft. “Consequently, employees just look for the easiest and most familiar method out there, which is often social networking sites and Web 2.0 tools such as instant messaging.” Hansen says that while most businesses may not be transferring vast quantities of customer information, it is still likely that typical files being sent outside the firm will include sales information, market projections, confidential pitches and competitive analysis. For more see VNU net.com.

Junk mail continues to plague inboxes
New figures indicate that 92.3 percent of all email sent worldwide during the first three months of 2008 was spam. The figures, from security firm Sophos, also show that 23,300 new spam-related webpages were created every day during the period, the equivalent of one about every three seconds. The US and Russia maintained first and second place respectively at the top of the spam chart as the countries responsible for sending the most junk email. Turkey was in third place, with compromised computers in that country now responsible for relaying 5.9 percent of the world’s spam, up from 3.8 percent in the last quarter of 2007. And while the US continues to relay far more spam than any other country, the gap is closing, suggesting that users may be receiving more education on safe computing and becoming more security-savvy than before. Read more on VNUnet .com.

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eBUSINESS IN FOCUS

Addressing key eBusiness issues in depth

The price of intellectual property
What is intellectual property? What value does it have and how can businesses protect it? We examine how this often intangible asset can be priceless for SMEs.
Read the full story

Securing online payments (part two)
While new methods of electronic payment can present opportunities to extend online selling, how can you be sure that transactions are secure? In the second part of our feature on e-payments, we focus on security issues and take a look at how to go about adding payment functionality to a website.
Read the full story

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HOW TO:
Use RSS
Want to use RSS but not sure where to start? We give you the basics to accessing this information-gathering tool and explain how to use it to boost your website’s traffic.
Read the full story

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IN THE DIARY:
IIA Congress 2008
Croke Park, Dublin 3, May 15th
This year, the Irish Internet Association’s national congress is themed “Beyond websites: Business uses of social networking and new media”. The conference will examine the impact of social networking on business, the integration of social networking into certain organisations’ business models and how it can function as a valuable business tool. Speakers include industry professionals from Bebo, Dell, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Microsoft, IGOpeople.com and Worldwide Cycles.
View a full list of events
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HOTLINK:
Practical eCommerce
This is the website of the bi-monthly US magazine Practical eCommerce. Although tilted towards US readers, the site offers advice and tips useful for online sellers in all parts of the world. Pretty much every subject relevant to online vending is broken down and addressed in categories such as marketing, search engine optimisation, software and legal issues. Topics such as protecting customers’ data and maintaining clean email databases are discussed in short, easy-to-read articles, and the site also offers blogs, discussion forums, podcasts and RSS feeds.

Thesourcepool.com launched its service across Ireland on Monday. This free service, which is supported by Enterprise Ireland, is a business to business networking tool that offers firms the ability to connect with industry leaders and professionals online. Thesourcepool is a way of finding professional services to meet firms’ specific business needs online.

At our last network meeting we discussed having our meetings on a monthly basis, on a fixed day of the week, at a fixed location. I set up a poll and the results are in.

First Tuesdays from 6pm to 7pm got the most votes. Also, it was agreed that The Ramada Lough Allen Hotel, Drumshanbo would be a suitable central venue.

So the next network meeting will take place on Tuesday 6th May from 6pm – 7pm in The Ramada Lough Allen Hotel, Drumshanbo.

Agenda to follow.

The Border People website is an information gateway, designed to help people answer questions about crossing the border in either direction to live, work, study and retire. It will include information on taxation, health care, social services, education and banking which can at times be difficult to access.

Acting as a central access point, this website signposts people to the most relevant information sources and provides ‘case studies’ illustrating the dilemmas facing people crossing the border.

Press Releases that Work

This one day workshop will help participants to develop writing skills to have a press release noticed.

Participants will develop skills including:
• Understand the framework of a basic press release.
• Understand the difference between an ad, a release and a statement.
• Have clear guidelines to measure each release against.
• Draft a press release that will be read

Venue: to be finalised.

Duration: 9.30am-4.30pm | Start Date: 16th April 2008 | Book now >>

Many business owners under-value the free publicity there is to be had from issuing press releases and seeing them used in the media.

Journalists and newsdesks get hundreds of press releases every day; but most go unused, simply because they are not suitable, at the time.

The one-day Press Releases that Work seminar is designed to show how to draw up and send press releases that will be noticed above others.

It considers releases that failed and discusses why they were not successful.

Advice is offered on how to make follow-up contact with key journalists and how to be aware of their needs and requirements.

The sessions are informal and informative and geared towards practical results for participants.

Book now >>

• Network Members – 82 – up 15% on February
• 538 absolute unique visitors – up 18% on February
• 992 Visits – up 33% on February
• 2,562 Pageviews – up 1% on February