(Sidebar: If you do care, feel free to follow me on Twitter @JLB7700!)

Since Twitter’s popularity is pretty undeniable, setting up business accounts has become a popular way to provide clients and contacts with up-to-the-minute information on your company, direct traffic to your website or blog, discuss what’s going on in your industry, solicit feedback from clients, highlight promotions, let clients know about upcoming events, etc.  It’s important to be sensitive about your followers’ time, however, by not tweeting too often, being relevant and being clear. 

If you’re ready to try it out, here are some Twitter basics to help you get started:

• Tweet: Your answer to the question, “What are you doing?,” a.k.a. Twitter updates, entered at the top of the Home page
• Following: People whose Twitter updates show up on your Home page
• Followers: People who see your Twitter updates on their Home page
• Finding followers: Click on “Find People” at the top of the page and select Find on Twitter to search by name, select Find on other networks to allow Twitter to access your email to look for contacts, select Invite by email to suggest your contacts sign up for Twitter or select Suggested Users to see some of the more popular Twitterers (that’s not official terminology, it just sounds fun)
• Re-tweet: Re-posting a tweet one of the people you follow posted; This is done by typing “RT@username” and then, their tweet in the box at the top of the Home page
• @Replies: A public message sent from one person to another, they’re distinguished from normal Twitter updates by the @username prefix and are visible to all users on the @username tab of your home page.  Adding an “@” before a username is also a way to make a username into a link that goes directly to a profile.
• Direct messages: A private message sent from one person to another, they can only be sent to you from one of your followers & are visible only to you on the Direct Message tab of your home page
• Getting started:
    – Go to Twitter and click on Get Started – Join!
    – Follow the instructions to get your account set up and maybe
      find some followers
    – Personalize your profile by clicking on Settings at the top of
      the page – be sure to add a website and a one line bio on the
      Account tab and a picture on the Picture tab
    – Follow @SkodaMinotti to link to recent blog posts, read our
      e-newsletter, hear what’s going on at the firm, etc.

Like many things, this makes much more sense the more time you spend on it.  It also gets much more addicting so check back (or subscribe to our blog) for more posts on Twitter from @JLB7700, Twitterookie to Twitterholic in three short weeks.

Among other damaging side-effects, Conficker can automatically disable certain Windows services such as Automatic Updates, Background Intelligent Transfer Service, Windows Defender and Error Reporting Services.

How seriously does Microsoft view the Conficker threat? If the $250,000 reward for capture of its creator is any indication, very seriously indeed.

And, the effects of Conficker are expected to get worse on April 1^st (April Fool’s Day). View this article for more details, but the bottom line is that no one is exactly sure what to expect.

The best defense against a possible attack is make sure that your security software is operating properly as well as executing a back-up prior to April 1. For more information about removing Conficker from your system, this article links to a free removal tool.

For more information about Skoda Minotti’s Information Technology Group, contact Robert Brenis at 440-449-6800 or rbrenis@skodaminotti.com.

What may have been lost in the shuffle amongst the discussion over the look of the personal profiles is the redesigned “Page” feature. Many businesses as well as actors, musicians and other public personas use the Page feature to share news, photos, videos and other items of interest with their “fans” (Facebook users who have voluntarily joined the Page).

Taking advantage of a Page for your business can be a great (and free!) way to keep you top of mind with your fans.

For a business, the new Pages have several benefits.

·          Status updates – Status updates are the manner in which a company adds new content to its page. Having a sale? – update your status. Adding a product? – update your status. Post a new blog? – update your status. The key here is that more (relevant) updates that your company has, the more often you’ll appear in front of your fans via their status updates.

·          Redesigned Wall – The Wall is now the focus of the page – very similar to personal Facebook pages. Here, fans and non-fans can see what your business has been up to lately via your status updates. With the Wall being the focus of the page, it will become more important to update content frequently to keep your page from appearing stale. Additionally, your wall gives your fans a chance to interact with you by commenting on your latest status updates.

·          Tabs – The “tabbed” look that personal pages have taken on also applies to the new business pages. This allows for a more organized look and allows you more customization over what your fans see.

As the Page feature is free (for now), it can’t hurt to try it out. To learn more, check out Facebook’s overview of the new Page feature.

The economic stimulus bill signed by President Barack Obama last month included about $19 billion to promote the use of healthcare information technology, which includes electronic prescriptions or e-prescribing

According to this article, as many as 75 percent of doctors will be writing electronic prescriptions within five years. Currently, only an estimated 13 percent of U.S. doctors prescribe drugs electronically.

In a troubled economy, this sort of funding in the stimulus bill is an excellent opportunity for entrepreneurs looking to enter into an industry which promises rapid growth in the near future.

Thinking to myself, “You’re nine.  Your entire life is free time,” I explained to him that hoping to become a great pianist without practicing is like hoping to get a snow day from just one falling snow flake.  “To cancel school, you need lots of snow flakes to accumulate until there is enough to warrant canceling school,” I told him.  “And, in order to be successful on the piano, you need to accumulate a lot of practice time to become great.” 

He said, “that was a good a way to explain it, Dad” and said that he would start practicing more often which, to his credit, he has.

The very next day, I found myself talking to someone who was trying to jumpstart their sales and increase name awareness by running a single ad one time in a trade publication.  No ongoing campaign.  No call to action to his web site.   No direct marketing initiatives.   Nothing but the ad.   I started to explain the virtues of an integrated marketing plan and wasn’t having much success, so I tried the snow flake analogy again.
 
There is no one marketing tactic that alone is going to create name awareness for your company,” I began, “for the same reason one falling snow flake doesn’t create a snow day for your daughter’s school, running just one ad, or issuing only one press release, or mailing just one direct mail piece, etc. simply will not create the impact you are looking for.  But when you combine all of these tactics (plus a lot more) they start to have a cumulative effect…just like falling snow flakes.”

His reply:  “All that marketing is going to cut into my bottom line.” 

True.  Marketing costs money, but so do new equipment, employees, software, continuing education, technology, etc.  These are all things that you need to maintain and grow a business.  Some are basic needs; some are investments in the company’s future.  Marketing is both.  So if you are going to do it, do it right and make the proper investment for the here and now as well as your company’s future.

The analysis can be done to compare gross profit margins at any time in the job. For example, the analysis can be performed to compare the margins at the time the job was bid versus various stages of completion (25%, 50%, etc) and ultimately when the job is completed.  Performing the analysis multiple times for a job can help contractors figure out either operational issues, estimating problems or both.

There can be many reasons for a particular job to have a gain or a fade.  Some of the most common reasons are unclear/impossible blueprints, good/bad project management, weather, good/bad estimating skills, change in raw material prices and change in labor costs from estimates. 

A gain/fade analysis is one tool contractors can use to help determine the success of a single job or the Company as a whole.

This time isn’t just being spent posting pictures and SuperPoking people.  Businesses are creating fan pages and using them to communicate with current and potential customers and employees.  Facebook is even revamping these pages to make it easier for companies to sell their products. 

Concerned you won’t reach the right target audience?  Facebook’s greatest growth is among 35 – 49 year olds and more users aged 50 – 64 are signing up than those under 18.  Either way, setting up a fan page is free and easy. 

40.8% of users are still college-aged, 18-24 year olds, though, which is why we set up the Skoda Minotti Fan page to attract new employees.  In addition to providing overview information about the firm, we let potential employees see what our corporate culture is like through pictures from events and videos.  Every time someone becomes our fan, all of their friends are notified which puts our name in front of countless people.  Can’t argue with that kind of free exposure.

According to a recent survey of employees who lost or left their job in 2008 conducted by Symantec Corp. and the Ponemon Institute, 59 percent of ex-employees admit to stealing confidential company information. The most commonly identified kinds of records taken included e-mail lists, employee records, customer information including contact lists and non-financial information.

 Additional survey findings included:

·          53 percent of respondents downloaded information onto a CD or DVD, 42 percent onto a USB drive and 38 percent sent attachments to a personal e-mail account.

·          79 percent of respondents took data without an employer’s permission.

·          82 percent of respondents said their employers did not perform an audit or review of paper or electronic documents before the respondent left his/her job.

·          24 percent of respondents had access to their employer’s computer system or network after their departure from the company.

Is your data safe? Contact Tim Heikkila at 440-449-6800 for more information on how Skoda Minotti Technology Services can help ensure that there is no unauthorized access to your confidential files.

Unfortunately for contractors, increased competition drives more aggressive bidding practices.  In some cases, contractors are bidding work at a break even or sometimes a loss in order to keep employees working.  This is a dangerous formula that can leave a construction company bankrupt.  All it takes is one bad project to force a contractor out of business.

Crain’s Cleveland Business reported on this trend in their February 9, 2009 article titled “Construction costs’ decline a sign of times.”  The benefactors to these times are the consumers.  Not only is increased competition amongst contractors driving down bid prices, the decreased demand for materials has driven down construction costs.  Steel and fuel prices in particular have fallen recently.  As a result, we are currently in a deflationary market for building.

Discipline is the key to longevity in the construction business.  Contractors that mitigate their contract risk exposure and follow fundamentally sound cost and profit guidelines will survive in the long run.