Systems Solutions

The systems support part of our business has gone from being primarily transacted via the telephone, to being primarily conducted through the exchange of e-mail messages. Originally at Mendon Associates, there was a dedicated phone line with a second line which could be taken off of the phone system if the need arose for multiple concurrent access to the internet.

Needless to say, this format also necessitated multiple dialup Internet accounts as well. The process was initially simple when the need for Internet access and e-mail was limited, but once everyone in the office needed access, the system broke down constantly.

The solution was simple -- shared high speed Internet access. What made this possible was Proxy Server software. There are several packages on the market, though we're currently using WinProxy. This functionality has also been added as a feature to the latest versions of the Windows operating system.

Fortunately, our local phone provider had a low cost service which provided access through sharing an existing phone line. Once the dedicated phone line and two dialup Internet accounts were dropped, there was actually a small savings. The benefit to the firm, however, was in added functionality and ease of Internet use for the staff.

Build a web-site and all your customers will come to it, or so you thought. But even if they do come, will they stay? If you're a traditional magazine publisher, another worry is that your site has the potential to take revenue away from your main business vehicle.

The solution will not be the same for everyone, but yes, you will have to "build it" if you expect to survive the relentless waves of change propagated by advancements in computer technology. What you build, however, can be as simple as a site with a few pages offering copies of your literature, or a complicated multi-tiered system driven by SQL-Server technology to deliver on-demand information on a subscription basis.

The economic downturn in 2002, attributed by some to the "9/11" disaster, was more a melt-down brought about by unrealistic expectations in the hi-tech market. Not the least of these expectations were derived from the plethora of "dot com" stock offerings based on sketchy business plans ― which in turn, were based on even sketchier market projections. When designing your web-site objectives, practicality must be a top consideration.

The solution is to research, plan, execute, evaluate, change and adapt ― but get out there as fast as possible. Contact us if you feel you need outside expertise in any of the aspects of your Internet projects.

If your subscription fulfillment or contact management software doesn't have an e-mail address field, it's time to upgrade. E-mail has quickly become a main business asset to be shared by everyone in your company. In the early 80's faxes went from a novelty to a business necessity in a very short period. The same has happened with e-mail.

For publishers wishing to keep their lists up-to-date, e-mail broadcast verifications are the least expensive way to communicate with readers. Remember, however, that some readers may not wish to have you broadcast to them (sometimes called SPAM broadcasts), so always be polite and offer them a way to be removed from broadcast messaging. The software you use to store e-mail addresses should have a field to flag subscribers who don't want to be promoted to by e-mail. In fact, a "Do Not Promote To" field is also a good idea for traditional direct marketing efforts as well.

Many contact management software packages offer broadcast options, so look into them. We are currently working on version 6.0 of the MA Circulation Manager which will have just such an option. For the current user of the MA Circulation Manager, we offer e-mail broadcasting capabilities through our MA eBlaster software with condition builder.

Whatever your reason for communicating with customers or subscribers, e-mail offers a simple way of doing so. Placing hyperlinks in your e-mail to your web-site is a great way to direct them to special marketing materials or subscription/verification update web-site forms.

1) Back-Up; 2) Back-Up; and, 3) Back-Up!!

Computers and hard disks crash, files become corrupted, people accidentally delete or write over the top of existing files. It's inevitable. Like death and taxes, those precious data files of yours will be damaged in some way at some time. Maybe not today, or tomorrow or next week or next month, but some day they will go south.

When you do a backup, do it intelligently. Don't become like one of our clients who called to say they accidentally deleted a number of data files, but hadn't made a backup for weeks. Or another client who had a power failure which resulted in key files being corrupted, then decided to backup these corrupted files onto the only backup tape they had before trying to fix them -- thus overwriting their only good backup data set.

The question is, are you ready? Do you have an emergency recovery plan in place? Do you have housekeeping procedures in place which will ensure that your files are being backed-up regularly? Do you have a way to check for the integrity of the data in your files? If you've answered "NO" to any of these questions, you're in trouble. We have prepared a preliminary Emergency Data Recovery Planning outline to assist you in preparing your business for systems loss survival.