Poetically named membership management app Wild Apricot says it provides Member Management Magic. As a freelancer, I have worked with a client who used Wild Apricot before and I must confess I already loved it. But, I never looked past the tasks I did for the client. So I was super excited to look closer at it. Ready?

OK, let’s give it a look.

Either Too Complicated or Too Expensive

Setting up a membership site can be a complicated proposition. You can sign on with a membership management company to do the work, a great solution if you can afford it. Let them worry about emails, events, payments and content for you.

The cheaper alternative is to use separate tools to control emails, take payments, keep the books, handle events and set up content like member directories and documents to share. That’s a lot of data, dashboards and programs to keep track of.

Wild Apricot offers you a third way to handle creating and administering a membership site.

Customizable Membership Software that is Easy To Use for You and Members

Wild Apricot is targeted to nonprofits, associations, clubs and subscription websites, from under 50 members to over 15,000. It is cloud-based so there is no software for you to worry about installing.

You have full control of the membership from application through sign up, payment and renewal. Easy to use website software lets you set up a customized community that reflects the group’s interests and is easy for administrators and members to use. They have a variety of templates to get you started.

The system lets you send out emails and newsletters quickly. You can handle events like workshops and make documents available to members.

Create an Easy-To-Use Community Quickly and Inexpensively

Starting with the ability to create an application that has all the information your group wants to collect when you sign up members online, Wild Apricot gives you full control of the membership process. You decide about your renewal policy and target emails announcing it. You can track the renewal rate easily from your dashboard.

It’s easy for members to create profiles and access the information on the site. Blogs, forums, emails and newsletters make an active community that invites participation by members. Events, sign ups, reminders and calendars keep them up-to-date.

With professional looking templates even non-designers can put together an attractive website for the group. It is easy to take Paypal and credit card payments, manage invoices and export the information to QuickBooks.

You can also take donations for your nonprofit and followup with donors. You can access financial reports with one click from the dashboard.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

It is easy to create your own application form.

You have full control over membership levels.

Easily customizable templates make it simple to create an eye-catching website.

Add blogs, forums and calendars to keep your members well informed.

Check your financial information easily from the dashboard.

Donations are easy to accept with custom made forms.

Professional Membership Sites are Super Easy to Set Up with Wild Apricot

If you want a good looking, accessible membership site, Wild Apricot provides all the functionality you are likely to ever need for your nonprofit, association or group. It handles the member process from sign up to renewal, letting you make targeted decisions at each step.You can build an attractive community that is accessible for your members. Email, newsletters, forums, blogs and calendars invite them to get involved in the online community. Events, payments, donations and financial reports are handled from the dashboard.

Extensive product documentation is available on the Wild Apricot website, and the support team can be reached by email or phone. There’s also a call-back option if you want to schedule a call.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

An ad-supported free service is available for groups under 50 members. For larger groups Wild Apricot offers a free 30-day free trial. Monthly fees are based on number of members, with price points at 250, 500, 2,000 and 15,000 or more members. Most membership groups, whether online groups or off-line groups will be able to support the cost via their membership dues.

Is It For You?

If you want an easy-to-setup, easy to customize membership site with full functionality for emails, payments, memberships and events, Wild Apricot is a good choice. Your club, association or subscription website will have an attractive, accessible community with minimal stress and time.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Very simple and beautiful membership management application" cons= "none" score=10]

Try Wild Apricot For Free

In growing numbers, people are using their mobile devices to engage on social media platforms, so you’ll want to make sure your mobile bases are covered in order to avoid discouraging your audience due to the look and/or function of your site.

The first thing to know is how your website looks on every device and browser. Look at smartphones, tablets, and different desktop internet applications. It’s going to look a little different on each one, but it needs to be as consistent as possible for every visitor.

This may require you to use a layout that is designed with responsive functionality. Those enable the content to change dimensions depending on the medium. Or you could install an add-on for your site that converts the site completely to a mobile-friendly layout. Depending on how you do this, you may see the departure of design features, but it will still help make your content more sharable and readable via mobile. Avoid features on your site that do not work at all with mobile. This often occurs with websites designed to incorporate Flash features. The results can be frustrating to mobile users and are thus not worth it.

Be sure to engage people on social networks, where they’re spending the majority of their mobile time. You must respect and understand the different functions and the various features of different social networks. The more you know each network, the more likely you’re going to be able to properly tailor your update for the audience — and the more likely they’ll engage.

And get in on the mobile-only networks. Join Instagram to share photos and short videos to Tout or Viddy. You should have a purpose to be on every network and you should sign up and participate with a call to action is on each one, but showing that you’re savvy in more than just the web space is an advantage to tap into. A much larger audience will be found with this tactic.

And don’t forget those people not using tablets or smartphones at all. Text messaging can come in handy here! Llearning the possibilities of communicating your message through SMS is another huge advantage. Text messages are as intimate for relationship building as email marketing, if you use it correctly.

How are you using mobile?

Any thoughts on engagement via mobile? What do you do now to engage with your mobile users? Let us know in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn.

Register for our FREE Resource Center and Newsletter to access our growing library of valuable Guide Books, Tip Sheets, and more!

But many small businesses, that are sales oriented, still need a good repository for their contacts; a workable project management solution to keep them on track and a way to track key sales opportunities. But what many smaller businesses don’t need is all the bells and whistles of enterprise-level CRM (customer relationship management) products.

That is where Insightly comes along. This is a straight forward and user-friendly solution to help businesses keep track of clients, opportunities and projects — but without a lot of fuss and training.

Insightly offers small businesses the basics of both CRM and Project Management and merges it into one solution. It has a number of features to help a business capture information about customers as well as anticipating sales opportunities and managing tasks. The solution is designed to help you record information fast – get in and get out and use as needed (most likely everyday). If the basics are what you need, then Insightly gets that right.

What Does It Look Like?

Insightly has a modular design and friendly user interface that offers instructions as you navigate through the solution. It has a ribbon at the top so you always know where you are: Dashboard, Tasks, Organizations, Opportunities, Projects and Emails are the key sections. There are CRM features that allow users to manage contacts and project management features for creating projects and tasks and setting deadlines. A Dashboard will host activity including any contacts you add as well as projects and tasks with upcoming due dates. Nifty calendar and Gmail integration features are available at certain subscription levels and the ability to monitor a contact’s Twitter feed is another plus to this solution.

Getting Started:

Insightly makes it easy to sign up (you get a free trial which is always nice) — and with just an email, name and password you can have an account right away (no credit card is needed). You are given a dashboard where you can keep track of client and project activities as well as keep tabs on colleagues working with you. A trip over to Settings will help you fill in information about your company, add in other users and user permission levels where you can stipulate how you want your colleagues to work within the solution.

CRM Tools and the power of linking:

The first step for any CRM program is to store your client information all in one place so that customer data is easily accessed and available to all who need to manage it. If you already have your contacts on in Outlook, on a CSV spreadsheet or in a social media tool such as LinkedIn or Twitter, Insightly allows you to export your contacts from those channels. You can also manually type in any contact information.

Insightly offers you a number of options to complete contact and organization profiles – from entering in basic information such as email and address to contact’s birthday. You can link contacts to their organizations (which makes it easy to search if you don’t remember the name but you know where they work) as well as link social media feeds to the client contact. That way if a customer tweets — you can see it and keep up-to-date with your clients’ activities. You can also add in notifications so if you have several people on your team using Insightly and there are any changes or updates to contacts or organizations, you will be notified via email.

In addition you can attach files to each customer so that meeting notes, PowerPoint decks and other information are all connected to the client and easy to locate in seconds. For those who have hundreds of contacts, Insightly provides a proficient search tool to find your contacts/organizations when needed.

Insightly also allows you to bulk organizations together and provide them with tags. This is a nifty feature as it allows you to group the many contacts and organizations together in a meaningful way. You could take 25 organizations for example and tag them as “Signed Contracts” so you can refer back to that tag to anytime you wish to see which companies that have actually signed a contract.

In fact, Insightly´s ability to link related items together — employees related to their employers, emails related to projects, tasks related to opportunities – all intuitively linked up and just one click away, is probably what makes it so powerful.

Gmail Integration:

As mentioned above, Insightly integrates with Gmail. You can have any email address and simply use the solution in the cloud. That said, those with Gmail accounts have a slight advantage in that they can save Gmails into Insightly and connect the emails to customer contacts or organizations.

Opportunities:

Any good CRM solution worth its salt offers you a way to track the sales pipeline. While Insightly tools are user-friendly their “pipeline” is a bit limited but works if all you need is a way to track opportunities. You can create an opportunity by simply going to the Opportunities tag and hitting the Create Opportunity button. You can enter in the name of the person/organization, the potential worth of the opportunity, the team member who is managing the opportunity and more. What I believe is missing here is a reports tool that can help cull all the opportunities together and show progress. That said, the Insightly team plans to add in report tool soon.

Project Management Features:

Projects and tasks are created with a simple click of the button entitled Add Task orAdd Projects. In the task interface, you can attach each task to a specific project as well as delegate the task to a particular colleague. Once the project or task is created, it will show up on your dashboard so you can keep track of the deadlines and information. You will also get notifications via email when you are assigned a task or project as well as create “activity” sets that you can align with certain projects, opportunities or contacts with activities.

Other tools in Insightly include a calendering tools that integrates with iCalendar or with Google calendar. You can insert recurring tasks and other meetings that you can also have notify you via email when a meeting or event is coming up.

Insightly also has an HTML 5 mobile interface for those out in the field where users can manage their contacts and projects/tasks from their smartphones or tablets.

Will It Fit My Budget?

Overall I found Insightly to be reasonably priced. Subscriptions start at the “free” level for three users and 2500 contacts and then goes up to $29 per month for six users and 25,000 contacts. You start to receive unlimited contacts at $49 per month for 15 users and for $99 per month for 40 or more users. At the free level you can’t synch the Insightly calendar with your Google calendar but you can add events from your Insightly calendar to your Google calendar. My advice is to pay the $29 per month at the very least so all the bells and whistles are at your disposal.

Is It For You?

Insightly is a solution that many small businesses will enjoy as it is a good workable product with “just the basics.” It is not hard to get up to speed on the product and users will enjoy not having to spend hours on training. In addition, Insightly provides the all the necessary tools for CRM and project management — but they skim the surface and I believe that is what they mean to do. There are more robust CRM programs out there with sophisticated sales pipeline tools for example – but if that is not something a user needs, then Insightly is a very good option. My one point of contention is that there is no “reports” feature available but I was told that would be added in soon. Being able to print out reports whether its about customers, project and opportunities statuses, etc. is an important feature for many businesses. Currently users can export customer and organization lists in Insightly – but that is not the same.

That said, I liked using Insightly and believe it will be helpful for many small businesses that need an affordable and easy-to-use CRM and project management solution.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="User friendly application to manage basic CRM and project management needs; works seamlessly; excellent tagging features to monitor client social media feeds and more" cons= "Does not yet include a reports feature" score=9]

Try Insightly For Free

Most of us, as individual consumers, rarely get information from a single source. Instead, we use an assortment of sources and media to find out what we want.

A similar situation exists in large organizations. Learning rarely occurs from a single source or in a structured manner. Instead, it bubbles up from people, social media or wiki posts and is presented in several formats including audio, video, and text.

With their structured, top-down and time-consuming approach, traditional learning management solutions are not sufficient to manage these streams of information. This week we will review a solution that promises to revolutionize the way we share knowledge in business. We will look at Bloomfire – – a SaaS knowledge-sharing tool for the modern workforce. We will look at its features, interface and see how it can be of use to you.

Solving the Sales Problem

In an earlier interview, Bloomfire CEO Craig Malloy said that behind every business problem lay a learning problem. Malloy tackled the sales learning problem in Bloomfire.

“The original idea for Bloomfire came from poor sales enablement practices,” says Heidi Farris, marketing director with the company. Such practices include pitching products with little or no product knowledge or making sales pitches without prior knowledge of audiences. “The reason (for poor sales practices) is that the only people that can truly teach sales reps how to sell products are other sales reps and no one wants to take them out of the sales cycle to onboard new hires,” she says. In addition, such knowledge is tribal knowledge and traditional learning management systems do not account for this.

Bloomfire makes it easier to capture such information on the fly. Thus, you can capture sales techniques, documentation, and questions and answers contributed by successful peers in multiple formats. Because it utilizes multiple modes and types of presentation material, Farris says Bloomfire sits at the intersection of content management systems, social business software, file sharing software and learning management software. “The common theme of these categories is information sharing,” she says. “Bloomfire takes this a step further by adding context to enduring content with social features.”

Managing Information Using Bloomfire

Bloomfire captures and organizes information and tribal knowledge into a single conversation. However, aren’t there tools – such as email conversations – already that capture such information?

“Bloomfire facilitates peer-to-peer mentoring and capturing of tribal knowledge that is otherwise lost in one-to-one email strings,” says Farris. “The application allows organizations to benefit from the collective wisdom of the team.” The benefit of this approach is that the application enables small teams to do more with less.

The interesting thing about Bloomfire is that it does not necessarily approach information in a structured or defined manner. Instead, the tool focuses on the way people really learn – from one another at the exact time of need. Important elements of the tool include advanced search facilities, creation and consumption of enduring content, and a question and answer engine (think Quora for business) that enables team members to follow experts or learn from a collective pool of knowledge. I especially liked the idea of experts and users intermingling as it creates a democratic setup within an organization and, also, facilitates interaction and team building activities within an organization.

In its most basic format, you can ask questions or contribute to a discussion on Bloomfire. The combination of question and answer and search techniques enables users to search out answers at the time of need, helping them perform better in their jobs.

Bloomfire does provide administrative features such as role-based access and analytics. Managers can grant access to content based on roles and answer important community questions. Who is posting what? Which questions are asked the most? What content is read the most? In addition, this feature could also enable small businesses to use the application as partner portal, allowing limited access to partners.

The Basics: What Does The Interface look like?

The user interface of the product has been designed with the non-technical user in mind. The simplicity of the tool helps reduce adoption hurdles – an area where other solutions fall short.

The site’s design is influenced by a social media aesthetic. The interface is split into three panels. The left panel contains action triggers and metadata about content including title and keywords. The right panel is required to produce content and ask questions. Finally, the top panel enables you to navigate between menu items using tabs and menus.

Supporting Your System

The application provides multiple forms of support including online support, email, and phone support.

The Bottom Line

The application is an innovative approach to solve the knowledge sharing problem. Unlike other applications, which burnish old solutions with new interfaces, Bloomfire tries to tackle the fundamental approach to information sharing. The application is definitely worth a try, if only for its new approach.

[review title='Our Verdict' pros="An innovative approach to knowledge management" cons="None that I could think of" score=9]

Ratings: ease of use 4/5, features 4/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

Try Bloomfire for Free

The mobile messaging service that has more than 300M users had also revealed recently that the app is witnessing 190M active users each month. The latest numbers of active users came at a very interesting time when WhatsApp had credited itself to be bigger than Twitter. Speaking at the All ThingsD Dive Into Mobile conference, WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum revealed that with 200 million active users, the messaging app sees an average of 8 billion inbound, and 12 million outbound messages per day.

But then the recent figures don’t highlight the active numbers on the app across the borders of China. And the numbers are not a bigger threat to other competing apps like Line, WhatsApp. WhatsApp has a more international dominance and Line approximately has 105M registered users outside of Japan out of its 150M base.

In fact Line has been working on its international expansion and it is aiming China and US. It has also started working on censoring specific keywords on its China specific service. A move that is quite obvious in order to do business in China otherwise one has to be prepared to feel the burn. Last year, Sina Weibo, a Twiter like service had to suffer a similar action from the Chinese government when its commenting system was shut down for three days after it was adjudged to have been slow in responding to coup speculation that had emerged on its platform.

The Indian push by WeChat

Nevertheless, the international numbers of WeChat has to be credited to its ongoing push in the Indian market along with the markets like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indonesia. To target the Indian youth, WeChat had integrated with recent Bollywood movies and endorsed latest Bollywood heartthrobs Parineeti Chopra and Varun Dhawan.

The marketing initiatives have been broadened in the country as the app will have to compete with home grown players like Bharti Softbank’s app Hike which has crossed 5 million users globally and Nimbuzz, which claims to have 150 million users. Partnership with Cafe Coffee Day, Big Bazaar, Goibibo, Yahoo Cricket, Tradus and Santa Banta have been made but a monetization model has to be still put in place, commented Dennis Hau, GM, international business group at Tencent, while speaking to TOI.

“We will first look to get as many users as possible and then move on to getting commercial alliances in place,” added Hau, who is also interested in tying up with telecom operators for bundled services going forward. A move that was recently endorsed by Hike which has partnered with Nokia to preload the messaging app on selected devices such as Lumia 510, Lumia 720 and all Nokia Asha full touch phones sold in India. WhatsApp had also recently partnered with Asha 201 to have a dedicated WhatsApp button on the handset.

Today’s workforce is equipped with marvelously advanced mobile technology that enables them to be more productive without sacrificing flexibility. However, any great technological advancement comes with inherent undesired side effects, and this recent mobile movement is no exception. For this reason, it’s imperative that we develop well-structured information governance policies that serve to protect enterprise assets while still allowing the flexibility that makes mobile strategies so effective.

The importance of mobile governance

How does one go about conjuring this perfect policy that both protects and enables? Well, truth be told, you’re going to have to make some compromises when developing an information governance plan for your needs. For example, the biggest concern for many enterprises comes with figuring out how to prevent users from putting unnecessary data on their mobile devices. The fear lies in potentially catastrophic security issues, should the device fall into the wrong hands.

If you place too many restrictions on mobile data, you risk stenting productivity. On the other hand, if your mobile data rules are too relaxed, you risk severe security issues. It’s important to avoid getting carried away with these compromises and straying too far from the core purpose of information governance. After all, an information governance policy should provide a focused strategy, implementable standards and effective tools to enable your teams to unlock the technology’s full potential. Enterprises across the board are in need of this standards-based governance to provide a focus to the chaos that often permeates mobile infrastructure.

Fortunately, there are some methods to empower your mobile deployments and govern mobile information at the same time. The first way you might go about employing an information governance policy is to provide adequate training on mobile devices. While adding more training for your workforce will likely warrant a few eye rolls, the simple fact is that arming your staff with actionable knowledge on expected mobile device use is the first — and often times best — defense against future issues.

Solid training gives your team the tools to use their mobile devices (and the data stored within) effectively, but by taking away the ability to step outside the rules of your governance plan, “accidental” misuses can be all but eliminated. When using mobile technology’s best friend — the cloud — sensitive data is immediately acccessible yet kept from the wandering storage of mobile devices. This act of working with data from mobile devices using virtualization and cloud services provides a digital barrier that naturally enforces your information governance policy.

Present state of governance strategies

This begs a question: what are you doing to govern your mobile workforce? That can be a hard question to answer, and as a recent Gartner report shows, you’re not alone if you struggle to come up with a plan that’s actionable and effective. One of the biggest issues plaguing current enterprise mobile deployments is an isolationist perspective.

The desire to deploy mobile solutions that are specific to each area of the business often leads to a fragmented mobile environment that’s difficult to effectively govern. Compartmentalizing also conflicts with the very mobile nature of technology that allows it to be used in a variety of roles and environments simultaneously. However, utilizing the methods above, a broad, overarching information governance strategy can be effectively implemented.

Now’s the time to take action

Information governance will continue to grow in importance as mobile infrastructure takes center stage in the business world. After all, a recent survey of small- and medium-size businesses shows that 78% of mobile devices are used to access work-related information. With that said, you should begin putting careful thought into a mobile policy that’s strong enough to enforce protection of the critical flow of business, yet flexible enough to enable the power of mobility across all business arenas.

By focusing on all areas of your organization that are part of a mobile device strategy, and understanding the dynamic relationships weaving them together, you’ll no doubt begin to see how to craft the right information governance plan that suits your needs.

Credit: Jared Kohler /CNET

In the area of online shopping, mobile and tablets are increasingly taking over traditional pc’s, laptops, and even brick-and-mortar stores.  In 2012, shopping via smartphones and tablets increased by 81 percent, according to eMarketer.

US consumers will spend $37.44 billion in 2013 on retail purchases from mobile, up from $23.72 billion last year.  By 2016, consumers are expected to make almost $87 billion in mobile purchases.  That figure represents more than one-quarter of all e-commerce sales.

These trends are forcing retailers to optimize the mobile user experience.  Just as a traditional store would arrange their products on shelves, mobile portals will need to offer the best possible user experience for smartphones and tablets, which are smaller in size than a traditional computer or laptop screen.

Additionally, the search, browsing, and checkout processes will need to be effective and simplified in order to increase sales conversions and repeat visits.

“Ease of use and simplicity are essential to a strong mobile experience,” says senior manager of PayPal Mobile Solutions Stephen Strauss.  “You’re seeing better focus on the features that matter most to consumers.  Smart retailers are emphasizing simplicity and speed throughout the mobile shopping process – especially at checkout and payment.”

Las Vegas-based Zappos recently released an update to its app for Apple’s iOS in order to optimize a mobile shopper’s experience.  Zappos’ move to streamline its mobile shopping experience will likely be followed by other online retailers.

Online shopping is also moving towards curated, niche portals.  Sweet Couch, which targets Asian and Indian buyers, has recently created a mobile portal and seen increases in revenue from shoppers using Android and Apple devices.

Earlier this year, comScore published a study which found that the average amount spent per desktop buyer was $274, per smartphone buyer $139, and per tablet buyer $91.  However, smartphones and tablets are projected to bring in higher revenue rates as retailers improve their mobile portals.

Especially within the SEO community, we all recognize the clout of Google. With around two-thirds of the search market under its control, Google is indisputably the powerhouse to beat. On a global level, Greg Sterling reports that Google’s mobile search market share is at a whopping 95%. Despite these impressive numbers, the mobile market does create a minor threat to Google.

Mobile search is certainly a more nuanced species than the traditional PC search. Mobile behavior differs from computer searches largely due to the popularity of apps. The app economy is prospering, as 80% of mobile time is spent on apps, according to Flurry Analytics. Apps create a tailored way for searchers to quickly find the information they want.

So why would apps be a threat to Google?

Mobile apps create an expectation of customized search. For instance, Amazon lets you search for music or clothes while Google maps helps you find local restaurants and Facebook allows you to search for friends. This all seems like common sense, right?

The threat to Google comes from the fact that mobile searchers go directly to these apps instead of searching for “Amazon” or “Facebook” on Google. Apps let users go directly to the source, so they don’t need the search engine to direct them towards their favorite sites anymore. Not only do apps circumvent Google, but they also allow you to consume content from the web from within the app, which means you never even have to leave your apps!

Since apps are more specialized, it seems safe to assume that they are going to have more specific answers to your questions than Google. Searchers are increasingly interested in getting clear answers instead of a list of links. The thriving app economy is bursting with options that purportedly do exactly that.

However, Google is rapidly making changes in order to keep up. Last year Google debuted the knowledge graph, which uses semantic search to present answers that understand the unspoken connections that humans would make. Many Google SERPs now include specific answers instead of just links. For instance, searching for your favorite sports team might trigger a display of recent scores.

In addition, Google is tackling mobile by producing tons of mobile products. Larry Kim recently wrote an article that discusses Google’s bevy of mobile products. Some of these products are incredibly inventive, while others fall flat. The point, however, is that Google is definitely getting a share in the success mobile, no matter how many apps come out.

Do you think Google should be worried?

Long Battery Life

One of the primary benefits of deploying business cell phones to employees is to keep your company connected, and boost productivity across the ranks. To this end, phones with longer battery lives will keep your employees connected longer when traveling and away from their desks. Most high-end smartphones these days feature excellent battery life.

Support for Microsoft Exchange

Millions of businesses around the world use Exchange Server for smartphones to facilitate their email. BlackBerry used to be the only gold standard when it came to Exchange support, but nowadays, Android, iOS, and of course Windows Phone devices offer satisfactory support for Exchange. In fact, many companies are switching to VoIP to save money, and most virtual PBX providers offer softphone apps so that businesspeople can use their office line from their cell phone.

Keyboard

One of the hallmarks of BlackBerry’s rise to business dominance in the last decade was the presence of a physical keyboard that facilitated writing emails and notes. These days, it’s not imperative that a smartphone have a physical keyboard because the virtual keyboards on most new devices are superb. However, many individuals in business still prefer the physical keyboard, so if this is the case in your company, make sure to provide a phone that features a physical QWERTY keyboard such as the new BlackBerry Q10.

Wi-Fi Tethering

Like long battery life, a smartphone that has the ability to tether itself to another device can greatly improve productivity. For example, most new Android, iOS, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone devices can become mobile hotspots that allow them to provide high-speed Internet to nearby laptops and tablets. It’s always much easier to finish a spreadsheet or presentation on a tablet or notebook than it is on a smartphone.

Cable Connections

Having a phone that features the right inputs and outputs can be important when an employee needs to use his or her smartphone as a hub to connect other devices. For example, a smartphone that can output a presentation file via HDMI to a projector can be a lifesaver in times when a computer is not available. Many high-end smartphones these days offer adaptors to fit almost any type of connectivity scenario.

Projectplace allows you to choose from a variety of membership plans, depending on the number of projects you will need and how many members you need to add. If you have been looking for a better way to manage your projects from anywhere, Projectplace could be the solution for you.

Project Management Meets Social Media

Projectplace incorporates social media into its project management software, tools and features, by giving members a place to collaborate and come together for one common goal making projects succeed. Their shared goals are realized through the various tools provided by Projectplace. You can access Projectplace from your PC, laptop, tablet computer, and many smart phones including iPhones and Android phones. In the “Project Overview” you get access to a the conversation area which leverages the power of social media having Facebook & Twitter like functionality which leads to a better organised and a more connected Project team.

Team Up For Project Management

Whether you have a large or small team, you can team up for all of your of projects. By coming together to organize and work on your projects as a team, you have the opportunity for a higher level of success and efficiency, and can each work from your own remote location. Projectplace is online, making it an excellent cloud computing tool that can be accessed from anywhere. There are many intuitive features and tools in Projectplace making it superior for project management with your team members.

Save Time And Work Efficiently With Projectplace

By using Projectplace for your project management, you will learn that it saves you loads of time and makes the entire experience an easier, more efficient process. Especially with daily activities, and the ability to use social media as part of your project management, you can have a more efficient project experience with your team members. Additional features and benefits of Projectplace include excellent communication, information sharing, and intuitive features that are easy to learn and use.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

Projectplace has a very simple, easy to use interface that makes it user-friendly from the moment you sign up. After registering for your account, you will be directed to the website to log in and end up on the Project home page. From this page you have all of the tools and applications you need for managing and maintaining various projects. You will see a list of links at the top of the page for adding or editing projects, assignments, recent documents, members of your team, templates, and online meetings. From the home page you also have instant access to your current or daily tasks and your daily schedule.

Action Planning

Optimise planning with drag-and-drop action cards onto a board which gives a rapid, visual overview of the project’s progress towards goal achievement. The Action Planning tool allows all members to, plan and coordinate work, define actions to achieve the goal, assign actions, set due dates and allows members of each action to make comments on action cards.

You can click on the Meetings tab to have instant access to all of your planned project meetings, with easy ways to search for meetings and add new ones with optional team members that need to attend these important meetings. To facilitate web conferencing launch Netwviewer an embedded online meeting tool from Citrix® which allows you to host a meeting with up to 100 people.

Pros And Cons Of Projectplace

Projectplace includes a variety of wonderful features that far outweigh the very few disadvantages you may find with the program. Features and applications include project planning, document management, project overview, online meetings, meeting management, project templates, issue management, and groups of members and contacts. The social collaboration aspect and document management are probably the feature that sets Projectplace apart from other online project management tools.

Disadvantages are few and will depend on your own situation and preferences. You might find the cost of using Projectplace to be high. This however is justified by the fact that it provides free customer support to all users via email and phone. Furthermore, it has the highest possible level of security, having recently obtained its ISO 27001 certificate, a rare feat amongst today’s cloud service providers. You can always choose the Team Edition which is the least expensive option. as Loading times can be slow (same as all cloud services), however this primarily depends on your Internet connection.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

If you’re concerned with the return of investment, you can try out the Team Edition free of charge for the first 30 days. Your free trial gives you instant access to the project management tools, applications, and features with no credit card required. The team edition is great for anyone looking to manage a project and it does not require any Project management experience . If you have a large number of projects, you will want to upgrade to the Multi Edition or the Enterprise Edition.

Is It For You?

Projectplace project management is wonderful for businesses that are looking at using cloud computing for managing various projects , documents and contacts. You will find Projectplace easy to use and worth the money you spend on it. The advanced simple to use tools and applications provided make managing your projects a breeze.

Ratings: ease of use 4.5/5, features 5/5, value 3.5/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

[review title= 'Our Verdict' pros="Makes project management a breeze" " strong document management capabilities" cons= "Can be slow at loading " score=9]

Try Projectplace For Free

The planned change was noticed by Twitter user @hirakujira who highlighted in his tweet that the app has a way to detect selected phrases considered to be ‘bad words.’ The below tweet hints the change been made.

Besides this @hirakujira has also obtained a list of 150 words that the company has planned to raise a red flag once any user uses them. The entire list which is in a local language could be found here. However, the planned monitoring has not been executed (TNW did carry out some tests with the blocked keywords but it had no problems) but Line will be monitoring the conversations globally despite being blocked only in China.

The news comes at a time when Line is focusing on its global expansion other than its local market Japan. China definitely is a lucrative market for the messaging app which had launched itself in December 2012. However, it has been a known fact that internet services can flourish only if you bow down to the subjects like censorship otherwise get ready to be punished severely.

Last year, Sina Wibo, a Twiter like service had to suffer a similar action from the Chinese government when its commenting system was shut down for three days after it was adjudged to have been slow in responding to coup speculation that had emerged on its platform.

Earlier this year Tencent-owned WeChat, a dominant mobile messaging app with more than 300 million users, came under fire for censoring ‘sensitive’ topics that its users were discussing. Though Tencent apologized for its WeChat censorship, which affected users worldwide, but referred to the issue only as “a technical glitch.” But, the damage was done.

Line which recently recorded a whopping $58 million in revenue during the first quarter of 2013, is strongly focusing on its international expansion in countries such as China and US. But the revelation of its supporting censorship could apply brakes on its expansion not only in China but globally too.

People have preferences they’ll swear by when it comes to mobile devices, services and software. For example, some people always choose Apple over Android, while others go with Microsoft Exchange over Gmail. But productivity depends less on the devices themselves than on the person using them. For some employees, mobile devices can help them accomplish work tasks during a long transcontinental flight. For other employees, mobile devices only provide distractions in the form of games and entertainment.

Here are three tips for maintaining productivity while working on multiple devices:

1. Use mobile devices to alert you of changes: A lot can happen while you’re away from your desk. If you leave the office for two hours, you may face a totally different situation upon your return. By setting up alerts on your smartphone, you can see if any critical emails or messages came in while you were out.
2. Use your smartphone to organize and prioritize tasks ahead of time: While on the go, you can use your smartphone to cue, sort and prioritize emails, and reply to them when you return to your desk.
3. Save the serious typing for your laptop: Pecking out a lengthy email on your iPhone is far less efficient than typing on a full keyboard.

In the end, you can’t lug a workstation and cubicle everywhere you go. At the same time, mobile devices aren’t always the right tool for every task. The trick to maintaining productivity while working with multiple devices lies in knowing how to pair the right tool to the right task for maximum impact.

We love getting your feedback. Which devices do you choose for certain types of tasks and why? Share your experiences in the comments section below.

UK business’ growing dependence on mobile devices has compounded this issue. Reliant on workers’ ability to access data and services on the move, businesses are finding it harder to formulate, and enforce mobility policies. Add to the mix the popularity of BYOD, and mobile security becomes both harder to deal with, and more prone to failure.

A recent study uncovered a severe gap in mobile deployment and policy. With 38% of UK companies offering a hybrid model (company owned devices alongside a BYOD), 7% rely entirely on BYOD to ‘mobilise’ workforces. This laissez-faire approach to deployment is replicated in the lack of focus on security, with almost a third of businesses having no formal or enforceable mobile device policy

Despite this challenging IT landscape what has also emerged are examples of best practice. The importance of transparent policies is not only vital in law, but also garner the trust of customers who rely on secure data policies.

Currently, almost two-thirds of UK companies already use remote-lock-and-wipe policies for lost and stolen devices. This is recognised as the first, basic step any business can take to ensure control over company owned, and even personally owned devices.

However, this is only one part of a full 360-degree mobile policy. Before a business moves to a BYOD culture there are 3 areas they should consider.

Step 1 – define your IT requirements

Decide the types of device and operating system you are willing, and able to support. Whilst evaluating this, bear in mind the combination of security, manageability and apps. Do you wish to deploy in-house apps? Does the hardware support API and support of syncing policies?

Step 2 – define your legal requirements

There can be a fine line between securing corporate data and respecting personal privacy. Therefore it is prudent to draft a mobile device policy, defining all responsibilities and rights. Insight should be gleaned from legal, IT, HR and employees themselves.

Step 3 – implement MDM software

Once internal requirements are defined an appropriate software application can be implemented. Considerations should be given to platform flexibility, ease of administration, app management and security. Does the solution leverage existing infrastructure? Can user groups be defined? Does the solution support roll out of apps? Is there an umbrella security baseline, or can security be tailored to user groups?

Contending with the burgeoning trend of BYOD and data security, it is simply unfeasible for business to continue without an endpoint mobile policy. With a plethora of mobile device management solutions in the marketplace, the cost of implementation will always be recouped in the added trust customers will gain from seeing full and thorough policies to protect their valuable data.

A growing market

No-contract carriers have typically represented the low-end mobile market, a market that’s expected to reach $25 billion by 2015. They’ve traditionally been marketed to people unable to qualify for postpaid services due to poor credit histories, but they’ve been moving upmarket by offering more capable handsets and attractive plans. Virgin Mobile, an MVNO running on top of Sprint, has all-you-can-eat data plans starting at $35 a month.

The low-end market has largely been the domain of feature phones, phones that have had functionality beyond the traditional phones of the ’90s, but are one step below smartphones. They typically run proprietary operating systems but allow apps based on Java, though they’re not as common as iOS or Android apps.

So if you’re a mobile phone manufacturer —let’s assume for a moment that you are — making cheaper Android smartphones is clearly the way to go. After all, it’s much easier to start out on the low end and move upmarket than to be on the high-end and try to move downmarket. And since Android is open and widely available, it makes more sense to use it instead of a proprietary system, as you can customize it to your needs.

Great for retailers

Major retailers like Walmart also find these phones particularly attractive. They don’t have to give staff any extra training to sell these phones, such as how to run credit checks. In addition, they can simply stock these phones in the electronics sections and sell them alongside TVs, game consoles and DVD players. That said, these phones are perfect for big-box stores that sell high-volume, low-margin goods like Walmart does.

How carriers are reacting

Mainstream carriers are also starting to take notice. T-Mobile has eliminated contracts and moved to a prepaid model, eschewing the traditional business model of subsidized handsets, contracts and cancellation fees. Not surprisingly, these low-end phones put pressure on high-end carriers to stay competitive, offering better features and more attractive prices to their customers.

What marketers should consider

As more and more Android phones enter the market, you’ll want to make sure Android is part of your plans. With the introduction of Jelly Bean, the newest Android operating system, it’s never been easier develop for the platform. And with the impending release of Key Lime Pie, more improvements are on the way. Even if you can’t dedicate resources to the many flavors of Android, supporting the most popular versions — Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean — are a good way to get your app in the hands of the fastest-growing smartphone user base. Because if you don’t, your competition most certainly will.

So often on the news we hear about terrible things happening abroad, however many of those same things happen here in the United States. Take for example food security. In 1995 at the World Food Summit food security was defined as “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.”

It’s built on three distinct pillars:

• Availability, or food available on a consistent basis
• Access, having the resources to obtain food
• Use, or use based knowledge on nutrition, care, and sanitation

All of these things seem like basic human rights in my opinion, however not all are as lucky to have availability, access, or knowledge of use to food. This is what’s called food insecurity.

In 2011, 50.1 million Americans lived in food insecure households. That number breaks down to 33.5 million adults and 16.7 million children. Luckily, there are a number of organizations are attempting to combat the issue of food insecurity.

Who is helping fight food insecurity?

One specific is Feeding America. They have a vision of a hunger-free America. In order to achieve this, they have built a network of over 200+ food banks to which using their network of trucks will deliver the food that is either purchased through monetary contributions or donated. They work with various partners to educate both food insecure citizens, as well as elected officials so they may be empowered to help.

Either type of donations helps, however technology is enabling them to more with what they receive. How? They are using a mobile platform as a tool on their trucks for when they pick up and deliver donations. Through this platform they can capture what’s being picked up and delivered, cutting down on time spent manually entering the inventory.

This results in cost savings and more money to provide more food and education to people in need. Hear from Kevin Lutz about how else Feeding America is utilizing a mobile platform to improve operations and efficiencies in distribution centers. In turn freeing up time for employees to go out, collect and distribute food to bring down the number of hungry families.

For the sceptics though we haven’t seen impressive adoption numbers from the Isis pilots in Salt Lake City and Austin and Google Wallet isn’t getting a lot of traction. So, will it be retailers that make mobile payments take off on a large scale in the U.S.? They already own the relationship with their customers, and many are seeing the opportunities mobile brings to their business outside of payments.

Back to Starbucks for a moment: the coffee franchise got in on the game early, in January 2011, when it became the first global retailer to offer its own mobile payment technology—combined with its loyalty program. Shouldn’t ignore that loyalty aspect: the company also reported last month that new mobile app users say the ease of tracking loyalty points is a major reason they use it.

Mobile has made consumers more informed and demanding. And while retailers may initially look to mobile apps as a way to respond to ‘showrooming’ (browsing brick-and-mortar stores before buying online for less), there’s so much more potential.

Mobile gives retailers a direct, two-way communication connection to their customers. It can both deliver a 1:1 experience via consumers’ devices and an enhanced online + offline experience via mobile-equipped, in-store associates. Retailers don’t need to wait for banks or operators or anyone else. They can provide loyalty, couponing, location-based offers, payments and a better all-around, multi-channel experience to directly their customers.No middlemen. And maybe that’s what the future of mobile payments looks like.

I was speaking with David Epstein, the founder of The Unreasonable Institute, the brainchild of Unreasonable at Sea, the Google sponsored innovation ship that is presently sailing from port to port globally.

Mr. Epstein’s mission statement is borrowed from George Bernard Shaw who in 1903 wrote in Man and Superman:

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

The Unreasonable Institute is based in Boulder, Colorado and is working to bring entrepreneurs, innovators, thinkers, and investors together for social change. He now has these same folk on a ship sailing the world with that disruptive mandate.

What Mr. Epstein is championing, and what Mr. Shaw posited over 100 years ago is applicable, if not essential, across all verticals today. In the 2010’s, when industry after industry is being rudely disrupted, we may need to be more unreasonable about our search for solutions and our adaptation to the new status quo. We have to become superbrands.

Man and Superman

Music, retail, media buying, broadcast, publishing are all incumbent industries that have, or are, about to pivot in a profound and irreversible way. Many extant business models will dry up. Many old revenue streams will become commodity channels or be circumvented over-the-top by new technologies or new business models.

Telecommunications, more than any other industry, has profoundly impacted businesses. Some bemoan that “mobile” innovation has horizontally cut many companies at the knees.

Telecommunication innovation and disruption is not new. The history of telecommunications is the history of open systems and the invisible hand that attempted to close these systems: From RCA closing down FM Radio and early television. It is the same recent history of Apple disinter-mediating the wireless carriers with an “internet device” and then turning around and using the same iPhone to shut down the Mobile Web with a closed App Store.

What is new about telecommunications in the 2010s is the pervasive nature of the technology, the democratization of information and access, and the liberation of the consumer.

The new entrepreneurs, innovators, thinkers, and investors that are sailing on Epstein’s ship are the crew of innovators that needed to rethink the way we communicate with this new consumer. And this requires a motley crew.

Chief Unreasonable Officer

Labels, Retailers, brands, publishers, and broadcasters cannot simply open innovation labs in the vain hope that they can reinvent their business from within. Forces are at play in the mall and in the media houses that will require some unreasonable thought. The walls of our store are porous (Mike Duke) and the internet cloud is in our malls to stay.

To paraphrase Mr. Shaw: The reasonable person adapts to the world; the unreasonable person proactively turns the tables.

How do new-age brands become unreasonable?

- Industries need to understand their new world and their new consumer. This world is made up of consumer moments across their connected-screens during the course of the day. Ten years ago, you never needed to follow these consumers; now you need to plot their screen journey in minute detail.

- The value may not lie exclusively on the screen but in connecting these screens. In a world where (according to Google’s Multi-screen Report) over 90% of people use more than one screen to accomplish a single task, brands need to focus on the “digital Velcro” to connect these screen experiences. One screen + another screen = a multiple of value: (1+1=3)

- Stop relying exclusively on third parties and social networks to find your consumer. “Dating services” are important . . . but you need to get out more. Forge a direct relationship with this new connected consumer.

- Be unreasonable. Believe that your consumers can love your product and can share a common dialogue with your brand on their private and personal screen. This maybe simply the ability to shop for a brand seamlessly across their screens understanding the needs of the consumer at that moment of the day on a particular screen form factor. This maybe establishing a common interest (wellness, nightlife, etc.) and become part of their multi-screen narrative.

The new Chief Digital Officer needs to create superbrands, and to do that she needs to be unreasonable across all her consumers’ connected screens.

Design Thinking is a powerful problem-solving approach that spurs innovation and growth by combining what is desirable from a human perspective with what makes the most sense technologically and economically.

In Mobile Minute #10, we discussed how design thinking could help you create an unbeatable Mobile strategy. In Mobility Minute #11 we introduced you to our own proven seven-step design thinking process and explored the first two steps—Scoping and 360° Research.

Today we’re going to look at steps three and four: Synthesis and Ideation. We’ll show how these steps help you identify your target mobile user’s unarticulated needs and generate ideas for solutions that are aligned with your organization’s goals and systems.

Step 3 – Synthesis: Reframing the needs and pain points

If you were to ask your target users which mobile solutions they wanted the most, their answers probably wouldn’t include an idea for a truly cutting-edge app. The funny thing about people is that they don’t always know what they need before they see it or use it.

Synthesis is the process of gaining deeper insight into the users’ needs and pain points that can typically reframe the original problem. Creating a user journey map, experience map, or day-in-the-life scenario are some of the approaches that can be used during this step. Pay close attention to the differences between an average user and an outlier, outliers often hold the keys to unlocking user behavior and design patterns that can be leveraged to improve overall design for a desirable outcome.

For example, one commonly available journey map online, the Starbucks Experience Map describes a customer’s touch points with Starbucks coffee, from anticipation, entering, engaging, and exiting, to reflection. These touch points can be sorted into positive and negative experiences. One example of a negative experience for the touch point, “entering,” would be always having difficulty finding a parking space close to your favorite Starbucks location. This mapping of a negative experience easily highlights an important and often unarticulated customer need. It allows for important insights to help build positive experiences for a Starbucks customer.

User journeys, experience maps or day-in-the-life scenarios can be created for any user/activity. For example, you could construct a user journey that your sales reps could use to profile their experience in relation to a customer visit. Or create a day-in-the-life scenario for your best marketing prospects in order to better understand their experiences and motivations.

We started out at step 1 by scoping mobile intentions for the organization, target users and criteria to go mobile. For some organizations at the Synthesis step, the mobile use case insights and sometimes even the value criteria that are discovered reframe the original mobile problem approached during the scoping. Synthesis is the step at which you identify an addressable problem space for your mobile strategy and get your first real chance to tackle the wicked problem!

Step 4 – Ideation: Identifying and refining Ideas

Once you have a deeper understanding of the needs of your target mobile users, your next step is to identify ways to address these needs, keeping in mind your organization’s overall vision and goals. What kind of impact does each need have on your key value drivers? Which ones, if solved, will have the greatest positive impact on your bottom line?

Let’s revisit Mobility Minute #11 where we used “sales excellence” as an example of a value driver. Imagine a scenario in which your sales reps don’t have an adequate way of documenting their leads –they’re writing random notes on paper or memorizing them and then later transferring them into a CRM system, often with considerable delay or insufficient information. The impact on sales excellence is significant as this problem prevents sales reps from doing their best possible job. Your goal in this example is to identify ways in which you can use the features on a typical mobile device (e.g., a camera, GPS, or voice recording tool), to address the needs of the sales reps. Maybe you create a simple “lead generator” app that makes it easier for your sales reps to document all necessary information on the spot.

If you want to get fancy, you could include preset data such as location-based customer details triggered by GPS or an easy image-to-text scanner to capture business card information. The better equipped your sales reps are, the more effective they’ll be at converting leads into customers. Note that some of the benefits attached to each idea might be intangible or indirectly linked to your value drivers. In the above example, happy sales reps may lead to a better brand image, and thus to growth. These intangible benefits can have a very real impact on your business.

Moving beyond this example, by this point of step 4, you have identified a wealth of ideas for relevant mobile use cases. A great way to refine and structure ideas is to draw a use case map that links your ideas to the relevant components including:

• User groups: identify other user groups who would benefit from your wealth of ideas
• Processes: understand what impact your idea has on the existing process, and whether it may be used to improve it
• Systems: identify the systems where the data reside that are necessary to implement the idea
• Devices: inventory your devices so you know which ones your target user groups have, and what must-have features are needed to put the idea into action (e.g., a camera)

A well-conceived use case map is an invaluable tool as it can help you refine the ideas that will have the greatest impact on your value drivers, and are also in alignment with your systems and processes.

In Mobile Minute #13, we’ll look at steps five and six of our seven-step design thinking process: Prototyping and Validation. Watch for it during the week of May 16!

Interested in learning more? Stay tuned for our upcoming whitepaper on Design Thinking and Mobile Strategy that we’ll be publishing in time for SAPPHIRE 2013!

By Jomy Pidiath and Tonja Erismann, Global Mobile Strategy Services

Overall I give this app a 5 out of 5!

This app could prove to be your next generation catalyst to crushing your hefty to-do list. I have been using the iPhone Carrot app for over 2 months and freakin’ LOVE IT! Most of the to-do apps I’ve tried have all fell short and were ultimately abandoned within a few days. My “Write review of Carrot app” to-do was long overdue and I hope to achieve Level 51 with this post.

What is it?

Carrot is the world’s first to-do list with a personality. This app is available for iPhone and iPod Touch. Sorry Android-ers.

iTunes Preview & Download (This is not an affiliate link…I’m just a fan sharing the love!)

Cost: $0.99

What makes it effective?

• The app’s infrastructure is seamless. Very responsive and it’s minimalist format allows the to-do list to be front and center.
• Carrot has duel personalities. Keep Carrot happy by conquering stuff in real life. It’s kinda like if a Digi Pet mated with a to-do list. Consistently complete tasks and get encouraged with messages like “boom shaka laka” and “eye of the tiger baby!” Neglect to complete tasks and watch Carrot turn angry and jab you with insults like “you have done nothing for 1 day” or get taunts like “they are coming…” It’s just enough of a nudge to get you back to doing.
• The app leverages gamification. You gain points every time you complete a task. Get enough points to level-up and unlock:
  • App Upgrades: Ability to undo, rearrange items, sync with Siri, point booster, schedule tasks and mood extender to just name a few.
  • Useless Facts: ”Binary code ’01101101 011000001′ is how you say ‘mantes’ in binary code. I’m sure you’ll find that useful one day.”
  • Randoms: Compliments, mini-games, jokes, unlock food to feed your awarded digital cat pet named Sludge (sooo random but absurdly fun and addicting).

The quirkiness, playfulness, usefulness and unexpectedness of the app is the reward for real productivity and keeps the users engaged and wanting to be productive.

Befriend Carrot today and punch laziness in the face.

Question: What mobile apps help you not suck at life?

As a result, more companies began issuing enterprise tablets (primarily iPads) to select staff members. In fact, The Mac Observer reported that by April 2012 as much as 94% of the Fortune 500 companies were at least testing iPads for enterprise use, while 30% of sales reps were already using them for business purposes.

At the time, most of the conversation was geared around how tablets could benefit salespeople specifically – convenient to travel with, “instant on” capabilities, and so on. Now that more organizations have adopted tablet technology for sales enablement, the clear ROI picture has begun to take shape.

Recently, Profitable Channels published a detailed report titled Best Practices for Mobile Sales Enablement that takes a deep dive into the business benefits of tablets and mobile technology. The study found that “many early adopters are already generating top and bottom line business results from their investment in mobile sales enablement programs,” particularly in areas like revenue growth, sales effectiveness and customer experience.

Tablets increase return on investment – for other investments

According to the report, one of the primary factors driving tablet adoption for sales organizations is the potential for reduced selling costs. What’s interesting is that these companies are hoping tablets will help maximize the return on other sales investments like content creation and CRM software.

As the study states, “90% of sales materials created are not used by sales and fewer than 50% of salespeople use the CRM tools provided by their company” (numbers provided by the CMO Council and CSO Insights, respectively). That’s a pretty frightening discrepancy when you consider the costs involved – and the fact that businesses are expected to have higher content budgets this year than last, especially when it comes to video content.

With mobile technology like tablets, companies are betting that quick and more flexible access to these resources will encourage sales reps to use these tools more effectively – and it’s already paying off.

Mobile devices lead to higher sales productivity

Believe it or not, the majority of a sales rep’s time isn’t actually spent selling (as little as 30% according to SEC Solutions). Instead, salespeople spend most of their time preparing for meetings and following up with prospects – highly labor-intensive tasks without a structured sales enablement process in place.

The “anytime, anywhere” access provided by today’s mobile devices can help eliminate a lot of this wasted time, freeing reps up to do what they do best. Tablets are only one piece of the puzzle here, however, as the study states, “salespeople spend 30 hours a month searching for and creating their own selling materials [reports the Aberdeen Group]. To address this problem, over half of the organizations implementing tablet sales strategies were planning for or investing in ways to provide salespeople real time access to the right sales assets and information at the right place and time to advance the sale.”

The report also cites improved training and retention, simpler cross selling, and sales process consistency as other key factors driving tablet adoption for businesses. But what’s truly interesting about the study is that it not only breaks down the potential of mobile device adoption, but lays out how companies have begun to realize measurable benefits.

Download Our Free Sales Enablement eBook

Tapjoy headquartered at California, USA is a monetization and distribution services provider for mobile applications which would mean international opportunities for developers to make money from the Kakao Games platform.

The latest deal with Tapjoy sends a strong signal from Kakao to the already competitive space of Asian messaging apps. However, this has been one of the efforts from the messaging app company that has been growing its influence. It recently launched Kakao Home for its countrymen to enjoy a feature that has been similar to the Facebook Home. The new service will be a customized home screen experience on Android devices with widgets, notifications and deeper integration of the main Kakao Talk messaging service. And the service that was launched a few days back is already a hit in the local market.

Along with this the messaging app has been updating features such as renewing its Plus Friend advertising platform which would henceforth have dedicated homepages and custom design tools aimed at brands and celebrities and tying up new partnerships. Subsequently it has not stopped making partnerships with business to provide users better experience. The recent tie up with US based startup Evernote, a trusted name when it comes to storing personal details was one such initiative.

However, the messaging app Kakao Talk that has 90 million registered users with an impressive 29 million daily active users and $42 million in revenues in 2012, faces a stiff battle from other messaging apps like Line and WeChat. Line recently revealed it made $58 million during the first quarter of 2013, of which $17 million came from the sale of stickers or rich emoticons. WeChat, which also recently revealed that it has 190 million active users, has been pushing its app globally and India has been one of the focus areas in the recent times.

LG Optimus G Pro vs Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Which Is Faster Better Benchmark?

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 vs Blackberry Z10 Which Is Faster Better Benchmark

Indian Premier League, India’s version of cricket in T-20 format has always had this greed hidden somewhere. There have been talks in hushed tones that some players play for their teams rather than the country. The cash rich game laced by glamour was bound to have such allegations.

But today as a cricket loving nation woke up, and some fans were still thinking how Rajasthan Royals lost a close game last night, we were all in for a surprise – Kerala speedster and former fast bowler Sreesanth was arrested by the Delhi Police along with his Rajasthan Royals team mates, Ankit Chavan and Ajit Chandilia. Along with them, 7 bookies have also been arrested. And how did the Delhi police nab the three? Courtesy social messaging app – WhatsApp and BBM, reports FirstPost.

The news that spread like wildfire since morning, brings the ghost of match fixing back to the circuit of Indian cricket. The 3 players have been detained for their alleged role in spot fixing during the last three IPL matches – Royals vs Warriors on May 6, Royals vs Kings XI on May 9 and Royals vs Mumbai on May 15.

However, the interesting development that messaging services like WhatsApp and BBM were used by the players and bookies to coordinate, was highlighted earlier in the day by Times Now. According to Times Now, Delhi Police had around 70 phones under surveillance during their probe into spot fixing in the IPL and were tracking messaging software like Whatsapp and Blackberry Messenger. It was while tracking these phone numbers, shared Neeraj Kumar, Delhi Police Commissioner in a press conference today, that they came to know about the spot fixing issue.

“The modus operandi was: there was an agreement between the bookies and a player that in a certain over they will give away a minimum amount of runs. The bookies also gave the players the directions. That they have to indicate they are ready to give away those runs. You rotate your watch or you put on your towel or you spend some time setting the field,” shared Neeraj Kumar at the press meet.

The Twitter world has been furious with the recent development of spot fixing taking away the charm of the IPL games. #SpotFixing and #Sreesanth have been trending from the moment news came out. The underline tweets give you the hint what greed has landed the players into when they already were getting enough.

Sad. My favourite IPL team, my favourite captain Rahul Dravid… let down my these rascals.

— Pritish Nandy (@PritishNandy) May 16, 2013

#spotfixing doesn’t surprise. It’s who we r. Get away with anything u can society. Surprising part is self-righteous outrage on those caught — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) May 16, 2013

And the worst of it is that they play for a team whose Captain is one of the most honorable men in cricket. #spotfixing #shame — mandira bedi (@mandybedi) May 16, 2013

we’ve often talked about educating and mentoring. i suspect fear might be a stronger option. fear out of very stringent punishment

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 16, 2013

Interestingly, both the messaging services which are considered more secure and have always been debated about their use has laid the trap. WhatsApp, that uses the mobile phone number as a user ID, can be monitored but BBM that relies on a unique PIN number that exists outside of your mobile network, has been tracked quite easily. This also puts a lid on the debate relating to the impossibility to track BBM, which has been misused especially during the London riots last year. In fact SEBI has been finding ways to check the use of such messaging apps, as reports have surfaced that these apps are being used to spread sensitive market related information to influence certain stocks.

One may debate that messages you send across these networks are by no means secure but then one needs to worry only if they are on the wrong side. But for now the players who have been booked under 420 and 120B, have been trapped by technology and social media gave the verdict before the final judgement.

For now, “There will be more arrests,” said Neeraj Kumar. Indeed the love of money opens the doors to hell.

Image courtesy: www.canberratimes.com.au, www.arabnews.com

In the U.S market today, retail banks offer a standardized mobile banking application. They enable their customers to monitor expenses, transfer funds and pay bills. This provides the convenience and ease of banking for the “on the go” customer.

In general, mobile banking is an expanding market and has changed the way customers manage their funds. However, it is arguable that the user experience of each of the retail banks applications is similar. The application allows the end user to view their account balance, transfer funds and pay a multitude of bills.

None of them have differentiating factors and many would argue that these mobile applications although convenient, still have room for improvement. This begs the question, what technology can banks harness to differentiate themselves?

The next wave of technology

A recent piece of technology that appears to be answering that very question is Near Field Communication. “Near Field Communication or NFC is a set of standards that enable smartphones and other devices to communicate via radio signals when they are held in close proximity.” Mobile devices that are equipped with NFC allow for contactless transactions and data exchange between other NFC devices.

Devices using NFC are either active or passive. Active devices have the ability to both read and send information. These devices are typically smartphones containing a SIM card or NFC tag. Passive devices containing NFC tags are able to send information but not read it. The communication between these devices is controlled through a secure channel. This communication with encryptions allows for immediate exchange of payment information such as a credit card number.

How is it being used today?

One company that is leading the charge of NFC and mobile banking is not a bank whatsoever. Google is steadily penetrating this market with its new services called Google Wallet. Google Wallet enables Android devices to act as a virtual wallet. Users can carry all credit cards, debit cards and offers on their phone.

In stores, customers simply tap their phone to the NFC terminal and checkout using whichever credit card or debit card they select. This is the future of mobile banking, however, the market is new and no single company has quite figured out how to successfully harness this technology.

There are a several international banks that are embracing NFC and collaborating with retailers and mobile providers explore this new market. The Canadian debit network Interac, Royal Bank of Canada, an SAP customer, partnered with McDonald’s and Blackberry to demonstrate a contactless application on an embedded chip in a blackberry devise. RBC is expected to roll out this application in the near future.

In the same time frame, five Taiwanese banks are to receive approval from regulators to distribute mobile credit cards that are downloaded over the air via SIM cards in NFC mobile phones. These trials and similar demonstrations are popping up around the world.

Near Field Communication for Mobile Banking in the U.S

The only region that appears to have the least amount of experimental activity with NFC technology is the United States. Our retail banks have the opportunity to step up to the plate and collaborate with mobile providers, SAP and retailers to create a seamless purchasing experience for the end user.

Successfully taking mobile banking to a place that enables customers to pay on the go, manage their expenses and stay with their current bank is the next strategic step banks must take in order to ensure customer loyalty and satisfaction. Without this push, we may see Google Wallet become the leading and only provider of NFC banking in the U.S.