Neat Outlook trick

I use a little trick with Outlook signatures, and from what I gather from talking to a few folks, not too many people do this.

Do you find yourself sending the same email over and over again to different people (“We’ll keep your resume on file”, “Here are the directions to our office”, etc.)?

What I do is keep these messages as an Outlook signature, and just call them up whenever I need them. It is a lot easier than trying to find old emails with the same message. And there doesn’t seem to be any limit to the size. Plus it keeps you “on message”, and you can tweak the text if you need to.

Tracking Software Boosts Seaport Business

When I first met Chris Lambie, the new Herald Business Editor, I explained that I always strive for my column to be about real life business situations where technology plays a part, and to speak from personal experience as opposed to secondary research.

Why not then write a story about my company and something it has done for the local community, suggested Chris.

“You can do that?” I asked. I’m just a computer guy, not a journalist.

You can do whatever you want, explained Chris, provided you give full disclosure. So here goes:

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Small Business Owners in HRM are Technology Savvy

If ever I had to put together an army, I’d recruit Costco shoppers for their sheer loyalty. My comments in last month’s column garnered more feedback than usual, most of it illuminating the privileges of membership which I so callously discounted in my remarks.

In my world, the privileges of membership usually relate to technology groups. One such group is the company I work for, and recently my business partner, Dave Nicholson, did a survey  to find out how small and medium-sized enterprises – SMEs – in the Halifax Regional Municipality make use of technology.

What he found was quite interesting.
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For Free Long Distance Calling, Skype’s the Limit

We were working on an important proposal just at the time when my business partner, Dave Nicholson, and his wife Judy were scheduled to travel to Mexico on vacation. Since Dave’s job is to keep me from giving away the farm, it was important for us to collaborate on this proposal no matter where in the world he happened to be at the time. So we decided it was a good time to try out some long distance Internet telephone usage.

We agreed ahead of time when Dave would be available for a call, and when I contacted him I found him (naturally) in a bar. Judy was using his laptop at the time, so she informed Dave that his computer was “ringing”.

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Save Time and Money with a Content Management System

If a website is going to be successful, fresh up-to-date content is the key but updating your website can quickly become a hassle if you don’t have a content management system (CMS) in place. You could rely on your web design firm but that can become costly, and cutting out the middle man is always faster.

A simple content management system allows you to easily update your website’s copy, add news releases and update images. More advanced CMS will allow you to manage files, events and send e-mail newsletters.

Finding the right solution to suit your needs is a challenge in itself. Time and care should be taken in selecting your CMS. For more information on things to consider when choosing your CMS:

10 Things To Consider When Choosing The Perfect CMS

and for more technical considerations:

Too many content management systems

Have any good or bad experiences with a content management system you’d like to share?