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Stefan Töpfer
CEO & Chairman of WinWeb Email Me |
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I'm passionate about very small business, it's positive impact on personal lives and for local communities. Reducing small business failure is my aim and that of WinWeb's services. |
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Archive for the 'Mobile Technology' CategorySmall Business Technology News Round-Up - 02/05/2008By Stefan Töpfer on May 02, 2008Here is this week’s round-up of technology news small business owners may find informative, useful or entertaining:
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Twitter, better late …..By Stefan Töpfer on Nov 13, 2007
It is an electronic messaging service, that works on the web and on your mobile via SMS - you get charged your standard SMS rates - so if you have an unlimited package, this is a great service. On my new iPhone - I’m an Apple junkie, with occasional supply problems - I can use the ThinCloud web-client for Twitter, thanks to O2 for free, that is really good. It could be a great marketing and networking tool, that is the idea anyway. I found some friends already, Stuart Jones is “Focusing on the important rather than the urgent!”, or at least he was on Oct 15, 2007. The jury is still out on how much of a business tool this will be for me, so we’ll see. You can twitter me anytime, I’ll try to be as twitter-able as possible. ST.
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Skype + 3 = 3 Skypephone, but is it for small business?By Stefan Töpfer on Oct 29, 2007I was kindly invited by 3 Network & Skype to attend the launch of the new 3 Skypephone in London today. The 3 Network and Skype have created a mobile phone handset with Skype button, so the user can make free Skype calls into the internet to any Skype user world-wide. To be precise, you can talk for 4000 minutes per month and send 10,000 chat messages per month free of charge, there is also no data charge for these Skype calls, which in my opinion is the real interesting part in this deal - more on that later. You just need to pay for your regular mobile phone calls, by contract or Pay as You Go. For Skype, which is owned by eBay, this is a good deal as it allows Skype users to stay connected to Skype while on the move with one device, the new 3 Skypephone. As acting Skype CEO Michael van Swaaij said, “people will no longer “phone” each other, they will “Skype” each other over the 3 Network!” Noteworthy here is that no SkypeIn and SkypeOut is currently available on the 3 Skypephone. SkypeIn will be available sometime in the future, whenever that will be? It was not quite clear why it is not available now. SkypeOut will not be available anytime soon. Things got a little heated when Mr. van Swaaij, was asked about possible future outages, he said “This was not really an issue since the last outage was only 24 hours in four years and the service was free and not a replacement for a normal telephone!” This opinion was repeated by other Skype team members in later conversations. Personally I find this attitude disturbing and factually wrong, as the outage was around 48 hours. For me the real news is that the 3 Network, owned by Hutchison Whampoa Limited, is leveraging their network in a new way, to attract subscriptions. 4,000 minutes and 10,000 chat messages free Skype traffic is a real commitment to their new open internet strategy, as CEO Kevin Russell put it. While the service is currently only available in the UK, Australia, Italy and Denmark, I would hope this brave move will reward the 3 Network with the deserved success. Even more interesting deals may be possible to make the 3 brand even more attractive, like delivering Web 2.0 applications over the mobile network at fixed prices or even for free. It will be interesting to see, what the T-Mobiles, Vodafones, O2s of this world will make of this offer? The 3 Network will hope that they will not react soon, to give them more time to get a bigger market share, but time will tell. I believe the appeal for endusers - especially the facebook generation - will be huge, free calls to friends and family via Skype has got to be a winner. While I personally may have a Skype dilemma, one thing is clear, today the mobile phone ball game has changed forever. ST. Update Oct 31, 2007: See comments by other bloggers I met during the event and get their take on the phone:
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Social Isolation for Home Worker and Home Business.By Stefan Töpfer on Oct 12, 2007I always look for way to turn a problem into an advantage, so here is my take on the so often mentioned “isolation problem” for small home businesses, free-lancers, contractor, sole-traders and micro-business. So, you don’t meet enough people to interact with on a personal level? Let me ask you another question, what kind of people does your business need most of all? Customers, right? As a good bootstrapper you know that everything starts with sales, because that is how you get your money. You may very well do all your marketing online and get business that way, but why leave it at that? Think global - do local! So, now to my solution for your “isolation problem”, I guess you already know what is coming:
All these and other events will get you out of the house, open your local paper, call your local camber of commerce, they all can help you to find events and contacts, and start your “isolation-opportunity” marketing and sales drive. Turning “customer people” into “customer friends” could be the smartest thing you will do this year. Business is so much easier if you know someone personally. You know your “isolation-problem” has turned into an “isolation-business-advantage”, when your customers come around your house to discuss the next business deal and/or for a cup of coffee. Always think, where is the opportunity in this problem? Once you start thinking like that you will see many new opportunities and the world will become a much more friendly and profitable place. ST.
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WinWeb to release OnlineOffice 4 today.By Stefan Töpfer on Oct 08, 2007We will release OnlineOffice 4 - our core Small Business Infrastructure product - later today, towards the European evening. Some of the major changes include:
Releases of more features and new functionalists will be on a weekly basis. Latest by tomorrow morning your time you will see the new product online, everyone will have access to the full OnlineOffice free of charge for thirty days - no strings attached. After the thirty days you can chose not to pay for the full OnlineOffice, then only the accounting software and LiveNet will remain active. I and my team hope you will enjoy the enhancement and new features, which are provided as usual at no extra cost to you. ST.
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SaaS Benefits for Business Start-Up and Small BusinessBy Stefan Töpfer on Aug 28, 2007Starting and running a small business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal business today, is all about staying focused on the small business and not on running your office. WinWeb’s Software as a Service applications allow you to do exactly that. Below you will find some of the benefits detailed to help you make up your mind if this kind of technology is for you. 1. No More Software Installation.
2. Our software is always up to date.
3. Never pay for software “updates” again!
4. Fully Compatible with any Operating System.
5. Work and collaborate with anyone, anytime and anywhere.
6. No commuting. No time wasting.
7. No security problems. No business interruption problem.
8. 24/7 Live Support 365 days a year.
9. No contract needed.
10. ClimateByte™ Technology
Our Software as a Service products provide your small business with a on-demand Small Business Infrastructure™ helping you to concentrate on your business, while we run your office and IT. This makes your business more mobile and competitive while saving you time, money and helping the environment. When you run a small business and personal business, like contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants you probably benefit even more from using SaaS technology - program your business for success.
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Small Business Infrastructure For Business Start-Up.By Stefan Töpfer on Aug 28, 2007I get regular questions about what we really mean by WinWeb’s Small Business Infrastructure? On-demand Small Business Infrastructure™ centers around the idea that business start-ups and growing small businesses need help with numerous administrative tasks that are not core to the business success - such as bookkeeping, it services, internet services, call handling and other such services. These services - if performed by the business owner - cause a great deal of time wasting - while the fixed cost of a business is still accumulating. This is in our minds a fatally floored business model and can easily be remedied with our infrastructure approach. We should not expect business start-ups and small business in general to be accountants, bookkeepers, lawyers, marketing & PR gurus and so on. We should provide small business with an infrastructure in which it can concentrate on core business tasks, while at the same time enabling the business owner to stay informed of all relevant business facts like cash flow, sales, HR issues, tax position and more. This will enable him / her to make informed decisions, maybe with the help of an external advisor. Based on these facts, we have devised a six point on-demand Small Business Infrastructure™ concept, which consist of: 1. WinWeb On-Demand Software Solutions - Anywhere At Anytime.
2. WinWeb 24/7 Live Support - We Are Here For You Always.
3. WinWeb Live - Networking Community for Small Business Only.
4. Business Advice
5. Solution Partners
6. ClimateByte™ Technology - For A Cleaner Future.
WinWeb welcomes any suggestion that will further enhance our On-Demand Small Business Infrastructure™ concept - especially the development of even more eco-friendly business processes - to serve our small business and business start-up client-base.
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Exporting & Globelization for Small BusinessBy Stefan Töpfer on Aug 23, 2007A few years back we used to have a product called GlobalOffice - it was targeted at foreign small businesses who wanted to export product or just support their customers in local markets. We learned that our customers just used our OnlineOffice and made arrangements for the “Live” services themselves - and this has been the way ever since we withdrew GlobalOffice to focus on our “core” business to provide a Small Business Infrastructure - SBI. Small Biz Labs have a post today about Laurel Delaneey’s Global Small Business Blog and one of her recent posts, some of the data is quite interesting:
Localization, local red-tape and the often horrendous cost associated with exporting make it difficult for small business to work in foreign markets. I believe these barriers are slowly disappearing, not only with the help of technology, but with the understanding of technology. Globelization 3.0 as I call it - I have written about it before - will enable very small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal business, to take full advantage of global markets for products and services. Even personal business, like contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants can now use social networking communities to develop international virtual project teams or at least be part of at least one or more. In ten years time these numbers will be very different - as it will no longer matter, if your customer is next door or half way around the globe. For some this is a reality already - have you thought about this when planning your start-up business?
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Small Business Checklist: Home Office & Home BusinessBy Stefan Töpfer on Aug 23, 2007As part of a bootstrapping exercise or a business start-up phase, working from home is a great way to work, so I thought of some points to consider when setting up your office, small business or personal business, like contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants at home:
You will need some pretty good reasons to go to an office and work. Especially for small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal business, you need to ask yourself if you can afford to miss out on all the above opportunities for your work and for your life? I work from home over 90% of the time and only go to the office for meetings and I love every minute of this. I use social network communities like linkedIn to build my professional network, utilizing our online office, skype and other tools to communicate and work worldwide. More and more of my friends work from home so we have nice “pub-lunches” locally, no traveling, less stress and a much better work/life balance - how is your work/life balance? For more of my checklists see the Small Business Checklists category and as always please add to my list with your comments, tell us what works for you.
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Teamwork for Small Business Is Way To SuccessBy Stefan Töpfer on Aug 22, 2007If you have a group of people working with you - in your office or from home, employed or outsourced - does that mean you have a team? Well that depends how you work together. Small Businesses need to be build a team, a Small Business Team. A team is defined as a group of people who co-operate in such a manner that it achieves more than the sum total of the individuals achieve each, they are united around a common goal and are accountable to the team for their actions. Examples of teams are:
I would suggest that small business owners need to form teams around their small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal businesses, too. This will achieve scalability, higher efficiency, more professionalism, in other words to grow your business with less growing pains, like struggling cash-flow, excessive financial and administrative overheads and much more.
As you can see we live not only technologically in a networked world - we live in a world of teams, communities and people networks. The benefits especially for small business and even more business start-up, can not be over emphasized - teams perform functions so important for small business success:
Whatever you do, employ new staff, hire a consultant, work with an accountant, think my-team, think my-community and think my-network - because you are building your Small Business Team. Do it even before you open your door for business, during the business start-up phase. So, back to my question for you: Do you work with a Group of people or do you have your own Small Business Team?
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