m-Bossed

Open Source Alternatives for Small Printers

These applications will not replace their commercial equivalents, but they can work in a pinch. Better yet, they can cut down on the number of pricey, licensed seats needed in the office to save you money!

Note: If you are a printer and have not take advantage of Adobe's Partner Connection Print Service Provider program, do it now. (info at bottom of page)

Really, don't wait, do it now.

Adobe Illustrator	vs.	Inkscape Skencil
Adobe Photoshop	vs.	GIMP (make it more like Photoshop w/ Gimpshop Hack)
Microsoft Office	vs.	Open Office Google Docs
Vizio	vs.	Dia

Oil for the machine - small business software.

Infrastructure

As you review your business plan for 2010, you might want to consider these low-cost, some open source, some cloud sourced, software alternatives.

Customer Relationship Management
As an alternative to Salesforce.com, consider SugarCRM. View short video demos of the software's capabilities. There are multiple versions from the free open source to the $3000 enterprise level, depending upon the level of support needed. If you like to be more ambitious Fat Free CRM, recently written about in Inc. magazine, is a free option as well.

• SugarCRM
• Fat Free CRM
  
• Salesforce.com

Telephone (PBX, VOIP, etc)
A combination of an open source telephony platform, Asterisk, and Skype Business for international calling. Asterisk is an open source voice communications server that can be installed on any computer. Asterisk has many modules that can handle everything from a small business setup to an advanced call center. Features include integrating with existing PBX hardware, voice mail, public switchboard, automated voice response, and conference calling ability. If you are a company that routinely makes international calls, then the integration with VOIP (voice over internet) services like Skype can save loads of money over traditional services.

• Asterisk
• Skype for Business

Payment Processing
Most small businesses look to their local banks to setup a merchant account for credit card processing who ,in turn, typically charge hefty rates. Escape the higher fees by looking at alternative payment systems from Paypal, Intuit, or a new mobile entry called Square.

• Paypal, who has been dominant in online payments, also offers a virtual terminal service for small businesses. Hook up the $80 dollar card swipe to automate it further. Works best for online businesses who need to capture some walk-in payments.
• Intuit, makers of all things financial for small business, offer a more sophisticated POS that can also do some inventory tracking. The partnership with HP gives the small business an easy bundled solution. Works best for businesses already using Quickbooks that like a ready made solution. As a bonus, businesses needing mobile payment systems can get paid on the go.
• Square, a new entry into mobile processing, holds some promise for taking payments directly through your iPhone. As of yet, owning to the startup nature of the company, their site does not explain processing rates or any reporting ability. The verdict is still out.

photo by: Richard Stebbing

Locally Pulped: Print Shops as Community

 

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Hyperlocal (a): a term to describe narrow-interest stories being covered by a mobile, decentralized community of reporters often under served by larger news outlets

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That is my definition, at least, of online news outlets that are beginning to compete with the weekly town newspapers. The technology and distribution costs to equip would-be professional journalists has steadily decreased. Think about what you could to as a hyperlocal reporter with just an iPhone! Having mobile devices that are always connected to the grid means that the news can be captured, edited, and distributed with lightening speed. A report could be e-mailed to Posterous or a hyperlocal blog, and then announced on Twitter within minutes.

Hyperlocal, in a broader sense, means intimately knowing the community that your business serves. See yesterday's post showing how the Printer's Quill went hyperlocal.

Of course, most of the reporting may have relevance to only a few, a street, a neighborhood, or a town as explained in Steven Johnson's blog post. For instance a report about a pothole only has relevance to those who live on that street. A block party announcement is only pertinent to that neighborhood. A scandal at city hall, however, has bearing on the entire town. The authenticity, quality, and accuracy of micro-reporting on hyperlocal sites will mature over time. This is especially true for sites like Patch which was bought by AOL.

Institutions exist in every town that have been providing a venue for local news far longer than hyperlocal websites - the barber shop, school PTA, junior leagues, American Legion, etc. These shops, clubs, and schools, offer the town a meeting place to share common interests and news that go beyond the social aspects. Why can't a print shop offer the same service? A local print shop can be just as interwoven into the fabric and pulse of a town as exemplified Boulder Images. Being a good neighbor, besides being socially responsible, can provide many opportunities to grow the business. Yet, many printers fail to exploit the full potential of "local."

What are the other ways a print shop can get involved locally? Leave your suggestions in the comments or e-mail them.

photo by: jordanmac101

Giving it away to make a difference.

Guy Tridgell, a reporter for the Southtown Star newspaper, was tasked last year to find the local stories that were often falling through the cracks at the paper. Charged with the new beat, Guy new it would be a "challenging gig" but found that the "regular person - the librarians, the teachers, the landscapers - can make the simple seem extraordinary." He found such a person in the owner of The Printer's Quill, Tom Kane, on the outskirts of metro Chicago.

"Tom Kane. The longtime owner of The Printer's Quill, a print shop in downtown Tinley Park, wanted to do his part to help the out-of-work deal with the recession. At the beginning of the year, he offered to print 20 free resumes to anyone who was laid off. He was swamped within days. The stories from the unemployed overwhelmed Kane, who wound up becoming a sort of counselor for the down and out, offering everything from work advice to religious guidance. His resumes helped, but I'm sure his words helped even more."  - Guy Tridgell, The Southtown Star

The Printer's Quill
17659 Oak Park Avenue
Tinley Park, IL 60477-3928
(708) 429-3636

photo by: Marcin Wichary

Happy Holidays from m-Bossed!

(For those who did not receive the QR enabled greeting card, view the holiday videos here and sign up via e-mail for future mailings.)

Steal This: Better News Feeds

Really Simple Syndication, better known as RSS, is a must for digesting all of the information you want (and need) to keep track of in today's world. It is like reading your morning paper on steroids where the information is personalized and collected for you. Interestingly, a German start-up is trying to bring this into the analog world. The true value in RSS is that you can absorb way more information by using a reader than going to individual websites.

Seem unrealistic? I can scan news updates from 104 different sites within 15 minutes, ignoring the ones that are not important and reading those that are. You could not even type in the 104 web addresses in that same time period. RSS is a must if you want to stay informed on the latest industry news or news of personal interest, but it is not perfect.

(Click image for larger view)

The Problem
Although RSS readers allow you to pull together a lot of information from many different sources, the readers and underlying technology is not smart. If you happen to love breaking news and want to keep up with releases from CNN, the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and Google News, then there are going to be many news articles that are duplicated. After all the major outlets tend to report on the same subject matter, so how could you get to the best information.

The Solution

1. The first challenge is to figure out which articles are talking about the same subject. This would not necessarily need a complex algorithm but could be determined through keyword searches. Find the most used words in the article usually indicates the subject. Next, cross reference the most popular words across all articles. It might be useful to limit the search to a specific time window as most news outlets release information around the same time.
2. Use analytics including page rank information to push the most viewed article to the top and tier the less popular articles. In effect, this is using crowd sourcing to the max as you are relying on the power of all internet users to deem what is worthy to read and what is not.

Put it in Overdrive
Why limit this information filtering to just RSS? Expand it to include status updates from Twitter and Facebook. In the end it is about a platform for delivering only the information that you want when you want it while minimizing the clutter. This has obviously been on Google's mind lately from real time search to suggestive search announcements (maybe a long term goal of Google Wave too). It's an open field perfect for a start-up to make a market.

Need a break from holiday festivities? Use this AR app...

to find your Stella Artois watering hole!

Steal This: Social Media Business Plan

The Problem
Companies (and individuals although not the focus) will increasingly need to create and extend their social networks. This requires a massive amount of time to sign up for all of the relevant services. More importantly, businesses need to stake claim to their brands and names on the myriad of services. For instance, if you want to setup a YouTube channel for BestPrinterEver, then you will probably want to register the same name under Facebook, Twitter, etc ., to retain marketing consistency instead of soup.

The Solution
Create a service business to automate this process for companies. Automated software would scour the social media platforms checking for name availability just like Namechk and some others already allow. But your service would go many steps further by offering: account creation/registration, customization (design) for each platform, and name dispute arbitration.

Monetization
The business could instantly be profitable by charging for:
Per Platform Registration Fees
Per Platform Design/Branding Fees
Arbitration or Litigation, if necessary Fees
Ghost Writing (not done on m-bossed!)

EndNote: It appears the services themselves are on the brink of setting standards for cross updating of the information itself. via ReadWriteWeb