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Articles from September 17, 2011

Offshore Software Development: The Benefits and Pitfalls of Virtual Teams

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In today's competitive business environment, small- and medium-sized businesses are often edged out by their larger counterparts. Until now, large multinational corporations enjoyed the advantage of having affordable resources spread out across the globe. Their use of offshore software development meant that they could get the custom software they needed at a fraction of the cost of utilizing in house employees. Times have changed, though, and now businesses of every size can regain the competitive edge by outsourcing software development.

As many executives can attest, however, shepherding projects through to completion using virtual teams can have both advantages and disadvantages. Here is an overview of both:

Benefits of Virtual Software Development Teams

There are several direct benefits of virtual teams. Because they are global in nature, you can take advantage of high degrees of expertise while paying much less than the prevailing wage. Since all parties come together for a single purpose, utilizing an offshore software development company also leads to shorter project durations and balanced team resources. Further, because the team members work from various locations, the risks are more evenly distributed.

There are also terrific intangible benefits to using virtual software development teams. You can have access to highly trained specialists who not only use their expertise to further your project, but who can also share their knowledge with others in your company. Your project can also conform to best practices by implementing quality standards. In addition, you gain the benefit of increased flexibility by having the ability to add team members as the project becomes more complex or labor intensive. This can lead to extremely agile software development.

Drawbacks of Virtual Software Development Teams

Virtual teams have unique characteristics. Unlike long-time staff members who work in the same office, the collaboration on virtual teams is temporary and usually limited to specific projects. This can be a benefit, since the team shares a vision and works toward the same goal, but it can also be a project's downfall, since there may be no infrastructure in place to support quality control and intra-team communication. In addition, virtual team members often speak different languages and work in different time zones, which can make effective communication difficult. Cultural differences can translate into project delays when days of worship or national or regional holidays interfere with deadlines.

Overcoming Obstacles and Maximizing Benefits

While there are both advantages and disadvantages to outsourcing software development, the benefits ultimately outweigh the pitfalls. It's not easy, however, to develop the know-how and management style to successfully supervise virtual teams. In order to do so, it's helpful to look to an offshore software development company that specializes in distributed software development in virtual teams. Their consulting services and training courses can help you develop procedures to avoid problems and increase the effectiveness of your processes. They can also assist you in preparing your employees to become members of virtual teams as well as provide the technical infrastructure to ensure success.

Online Home Business challenge

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More and more people are trying to profit joining many types of home businesses and in the same time the numbers of home businesses offered are increasing rapidly. Every internet surfer notice thousands of home businesses advertised and they promise the surfer their ability to make him rich in no time. People sign in to these businesses hoping to get extra income. After they set up the business and feed in all the necessary information find them selves facing fierce competition to sell their products or promote their affiliate programs. Being new to business, most of them get lost searching for a cheap way of advertising their new business and so quit after or during the first month, many wait for a while until they forget the humiliation and start all over again and continue in a vicious circle. Few home business seekers find a good and wreath while business.

The main problem that challenges the home business beginner is how can he sell or promote his new business not realizing that in the world of online, selling is more difficult than offline as you can't see the customer and interact with him, you can not assure him face to face. Whether online or offline , unless the customer get to know you or no about you, he is not going to buy or promote straight away ,so what can a beginner in home business do to attract people as his website(assuming having one) does not rank well for search engines so selling through it is not effective and he can't afford to use paid advertising , what can he do to start a profitable business .First of all he is required to take the subject of online advertising more seriously and read about in more details for the internet is loaded with so many free studies ,books and articles about advertising. The following are some of the advertising method to be used by the online home business marketer:

1.word-of-mouth: direct face to face

2.Free classified advertising sites: Be a member in  thousands of them  ,then start advertising for free.

3.Ezine advertising: be a member in some of these sites to add opt-in customers to your list.

4.Pay per click advertising: Yahoo adword,google       adword,many other sites.

5.Traffic exchange advertising: Free membership and advertising.

6.Newspaper advertising

7.Direct mail.

8.Magazine advertising.

9.Business cards.

10.Joining professional/business organizations.

11.Vehicle advertising.

12.Sending ads with invoices.

13.TV advertising.

14.Radio advertising.

15.Bench/bus stop advertising.

16.Local website advertising.

17.Email advertising.

18.Community involvement.

19.Forums, message boards and newsgroup.

Abdul

helping YOU make money online!                                   http://gafoor.payitforward4profits.com/

How to Choose the Right Screen Printer

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Imagine if you will that you have taken all the steps necessary to start your own business.  You sit down and decide that although the company could theoretically function, I need some sort of uniform, t-shirts that inspire confidence and let my costumers know that we are for real.  Okay, now where to I begin.  Well truth be told the internet is a great place.  It is the greatest source of knowledge available.  Now the real trouble begins. If one uses the internet, then presumably geography is not of the utmost importance to him.  This is good.  In the modern screen printing industry you don’t need to worry about geography.  Telecommunications allows for all necessary information to be sent via the internet.  The two the things that need to be considered when choosing a screen printer are price and customer service.

Price is a no brainer.  If a company is national odds are they have some scale.  They are probably able to get the job done cheaper then someone who prints only in a metropolitan area.  This is not a guarantee, but often it can help narrow the search.  I often recommend checking what printers are available in your state and local area, but it doesn’t matter if they have a physical presence there.  If you make sure that shipping is included in their quote then you can see more quotes and have a better chance at getting a better price.

Customer service is of equal importance.  The firm that makes you feel comfortable time and time again and never lets you down is worth something.  A firm that lets you know the cost up front or is willing to wave set up or art work is worth considering.  These firms may even end up saving you money because they often want your business.  In my experience the firm that is will to talk to you, give you a quote, and try to sell you on the idea wants your business and will work to get and keep it too.  This doesn’t mean that you want someone who is pushy and tries to force you into something that you don’t need or want, rather look for a firm who is eager to do business and to please.

Think about these things when you do go to buy screen printed t-shirts.  The other thing to consider is killing a few birds with one stone.  My company also produces promotional products which is something else you may consider buying.  All and all do what is right for your business.  In the business world everyone looks out for number one, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t people who want to see everyone succeed.  Your best bet is placed with one of these people.  They would love both you to make money and that is why they are what you need to look for in a screen printer: fair prices and good customer service.

How Technology Can Make Your Business Life Easier?

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There are a lot of worries involved with running your own business. From wondering whether sales will meet expectations to dealing with employees, worrying about bad checks and verifying the age of customers so you aren't selling adult products to minors, there are many potential problems that could come up any day.

Fortunately, technology can get rid of some of these worries. While it can't solve your disputes with employees, it can make it easier for you to accept payments with confidence and monitor the age of your customers.

The first and most vital piece of technology for making your business life easier is a credit card terminal. If you're not accepting credit cards, you really should be. People these days love to pay with plastic, and you'll turn some customers off by not offering the option.

While you're looking at merchant accounts and payment processing equipment, see if you can get a card reader that allows customers to put in their PIN numbers as well. This will allow you to accept debit cards, providing even more flexibility for your customers (and lower transaction rates for you).

Next, if bad checks are a worry for your business, you'll want to look into getting a check reader. This is sort of like a credit card machine for checks. Just insert the check into the reader and the amount of the check is automatically debited from the customer's account.

You get the payment within 24 hours and it's deposited directly into your account -- you don't even have to drive to the bank and physically deposit the check! Using a check reader can give you peace of mind because you'll know before the customer leaves your shop if they can afford the check they just wrote.

A final piece of technology that is a great addition for people who sell tobacco, alcohol or other adult-oriented products is age verification hardware. Electronic age verification is done with the help of a device that looks like a credit card terminal and scans the barcode or magnetic strip on state-issued identification cards.

The machine then tells you whether the person is of age to consume whatever your product is. This takes the guesswork out of reading IDs and is a lot faster than having a person inspect each patron's identification and do the math to make sure you aren't selling to minors.

In some ways technology can seem like it makes our lives more difficult, always giving us more to read, watch and do. But in the case of your business, picking up some new technology can certainly make your life a lot easier.

Why The Limousine Is A Classic, Special Event Car

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A limousine, or limo, is an uniquely long luxury vehicle, which traditionally sports black or white colors, although other colors have also been used like pink, or blue or maroon. Limousines are generally chauffeur-driven vehicles and are often associated with the wealthy and powerful.

Luxury vehicles like limousines usually place more emphasis on comfort, appearance, and amenities such as technological upgrades, higher quality material, and comforts like mini-bars, television sets or bubble baths. Luxury vehicles like these are often built in smaller numbers than more affordable mass-market vehicles.

Generally, limousines are utilized for special occasions such as weddings, funerals, birthdays, corporate events, anniversaries as well as for ferrying important people and celebrities. Depending on what the occasion calls for, the color of the limousine needs to match the same. For example, for a funeral, black limousines usually are the best choice.

Currently, limousine companies offer a wide array of new models to suit each client's needs. New vehicles such as the Audi A8L, Leland Miracle, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Hummer H2, BMW 760li, Lincoln Town Car , Maybach 62 and the Cadillac DTS. Vehicles of this type in private use may contain expensive audio players, televisions, video players, and bars, often with refrigerators. A new version of the limousine is the Limo-Bus, which is actually as large as a bus itself, yet has bigger passenger space, wider bars, and is equipped with dance floors, disco lights and surround sound.

All Limousines are luxury cars that offer spacious interiors. They can carry between 10 to 20 passengers depending on the size and type. There are many types of limousines, ranging from the traditional types of six to eight doors to the party/bus limousine, which is meant to carry a larger group of people who not only want to travel but also want to party while traveling in style. People rent limousines primarily to reflect style and elegance, which is usually the case when celebrities and other officials travel.

A limousine service can vary with pricing. The most simple and standardized limousine service will have the limousine, driver and beverages. When it comes to the driver, the service provider usually will provide a uniformed driver. The driver must be a professional who knows the standard and alternative routes Different types of beverages may be offered on its mini bars, and can range from alcoholic to non alcoholic beverages. Alcoholic drinks may be regulated by authorities in certain areas however.

Some limo services includes extras such as, “Just Married” signs, balloons, bow ties, red royal wedding carpet, interior decoration, flowers, champagne stands, wedding march air horns, and other customizations. Customizations can range from chrome fender trims, chrome post pillar covers with lightings, chrome Cartier wheels, and neon lights. This usually explains how some limousine rentals will cost $45.00 an hour, $85.00 an hour or $125.00 an hour. All of the added amenities are reflected in the pricing, and yet are a worthy investment if one puts a high premium on luxury, convenience, and elegance.

Virtualization

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Virtualization is a process set into motion by a software. It is a technology that is changing the very way IT professionals are using computer hardware. Virtualization is a technique that saves IT companies, and almost all establishments that use computer servers, a lot of money, time and man hours. Virtualization is software that ‘virtually' creates multiple servers out of one single, physical server in a rack.

When you hear of an IT professional speaking about virtualization, you will probably wonder at the very word that he or she is constantly using. The term ‘virtual' denotes something that is almost there, or something that is not there. This is exactly what the new technology is deemed to change. When you ‘virtualize' a server you are actually making one server do the work that would normally require a number of servers to accomplish. This is a software that allows multiple server software to run on one physical server and the clients or users who are connected to the server will never be any the wiser of the change. They will still think that they are being serviced by multiple servers, if ever they did know that there were multiple machines running various software or data they are remotely accessing and using.

So why is ‘Virtualization' Necessary?

It is a known fact that a server seldom utilizes a hundred percent of the resources installed in it. The processor itself rarely exceeds 20 percent of its capacity when it runs its software, and the same can be said about the memory and disk space in the server. The server will allow access to and serve client computers connected to it through the network and since the server has been configured to run a particular program the full 100 percent of its potential is not utilized. This leads to a lot of wastage in the form of electricity and investment in hardware because businesses have to invest in additional servers and most of all peripheral and support equipment for the networks. This equipment includes the power hungry switches or hubs for the network cables.

Virtual Freedom

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How often do you wish to be freer?  Living in America, we’re afforded more freedom than in any other part of the world.  We can go anywhere we want without asking permission of our Government.  We can hold any job we want for anyone who will hire us, as long as it’s legal of course.  We can marry or cohabitate with anyone we want – gender regardless.  We can start and run businesses.  Our freedom is one of the most coveted rights we have as Americans.  Yet we tie ourselves to offices and desks and towns and schools and so on.  Why?  Why not enjoy more freedom?  Why be tied to all of those things if you don’t have to be?  Why wish; why not do?

Almost 14 years ago, Jim, my now husband and business partner and I were married in the beautiful little mountain town of Ouray (pronounced you-ray) in Colorado.  I’d seen the town and fallen in love with it when I was a teenager and I somehow convinced him to get married there, site unseen.  Well, he fell in love with the town too.  Since that day 14 years ago, it’s been our dream to live in Ouray.  For many years we couldn’t do it.  We were tied to typical corporate jobs, desks, land line phones, a business that at the time wasn’t mobile, and all of the other things we Americans tie ourselves to.  It just wasn’t possible.

Last year, while vacationing in Ouray, it was nearly unbearable for us to leave.  Our business was mobile (I’ll get to that in a minute) so our biggest problem with making a cross country move like we were proposing was school for our daughter who would be entering 6th grade that fall.

We started looking into home schooling and any other options we could find.  We found an online (virtual) grade school, middle school, and high school called Christa McAuliffe Academy http://www.cmacademy.org.  We enrolled our daughter and started making plans to move to Colorado.

So in addition to our business being “virtual” our daughter’s school is virtual as well.  Heck, we’re a totally virtual family!  We could work and school from Timbuktu if we wanted to, if they had internet connection there of course.

Back to our business being virtual.  What many of you may not know is that Team Double-Click is 100%, purely, totally, and undeniably virtual.  The company has but two employees – me and my husband and we both work from offices located in our home.  Because we both talk so much and so loud, yes, we have separate offices or I’m afraid we’d strangle each other!  As for our “core staff” as we refer to them, they’re located all over the country and work from their home offices.  They’re contracted – not employees and they work in places like Florida, Missouri, California, Idaho, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Arizona, and many other states.  So true to what we preach as a virtual staffing agency, we are 100% virtual.

To facilitate the virtual atmosphere and the virtual working environment, we utilize virtual phone systems, virtual fax systems, online accounting programs, online CRM programs, and rely heavily on email, instant messenger, and the telephone to communicate and carry on our day-to-day business.  Editor’s note:  If you’d like more information on the components Team Double-Click uses to facilitate their virtual office, such as fax and phone systems, check out Gayle’s article Setting Up Your Virtual Office at http://www.teamdoubleclick.com/news/free_articles/SetupYourVirtOffice.html.

So what all of this virtual stuff means is that we can very easily go to conferences and work while we’re away – provided we have an internet connection.  When we were in the process of moving, we kept in touch by stopping along the way to check email and of course we spoke to our staff via cell phone regularly.  We can easily vacation most any time we’d like (though we tend not to because we enjoy our work), again because we can connect anytime via the internet and phone!

The virtual aspects of our life are so liberating and so freeing because we can literally pick up and go anywhere, anytime we want to without worrying about phones going unanswered, about who will open the office, who will do this and who will do that.  Our virtual-ness also made our move from Wisconsin to Colorado a breeze!

If you’re at all hesitant about making your company “virtual”, or working virtually, any one of our core staff members, virtual assistants, or clients would be happy to tell you how great and how freeing it is.  Additionally, our core staff are more than happy to help you take the steps to make it happen and show you the ropes.  I encourage everyone to start enjoying the added freedom you deserve as an American and work virtually!

Elusive Images in Stock Photography: Ocean, Water, Life

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As humans, our strongest emotional responses - both positive and negative - come from visual cues. That's precisely why the old adage, "A picture is worth a thousand words," has more than a ring of truth to it. When you're flipping through a magazine or surfing the Web, the photos are what make you stop and look. Today, the images that are most effective in capturing the attention of readers and web visitors alike can be summed up in three words: ocean, water, life.

Imagery is Everything

Those who are in the business of advertising or web design understand that developing a wonderful product or a website full of useful information is important, but it's only one component of success. Choosing the proper imagery to communicate to the potential customer or visitor can result in resounding success, while selecting the wrong images can be disastrous in terms of sales and web "stickiness."

Carefully selected images can help to establish and reinforce brand awareness, can help to target niche markets, and can help to build customer loyalty. Today, lifestyle photography is the primary means of conveying consumer messages - so much so that product photography is often a small element of a print advertising campaign or a web design.

Lifestyle Photography Conveys Concepts

The primary purpose of lifestyle photography is to convey concepts. For example, a photograph of waves lapping on the beach can convey relaxation, freedom, luxury, and promise. Photography of crashing waves can communicate agitation, strength, and persistence. Images of still water with stormy skies can convey turbulence, doubt, conflict, and confusion. A hand reaching out of the water can relay a message of hope or of hopelessness. Photography that depicts surfing can communicate youthful exuberance or a hip, active lifestyle.

Finding Unique, Captivating Images

If you use these types of ocean, water, and life images in your advertising campaigns or web design work, you know how frustrating it can be to find the right photography to communicate your key concepts. Most, if not all, major stock photography companies have either a limited number of images, or images that are dated. When you're looking for unique images that evoke the proper emotional tone, it often pays to patronize smaller stock photography companies, particularly those that specialize in ocean, water, and life images. The images that will allow you to stand apart from your competition may very well come from a company that is steeped in the surf and water lifestyle.

Besides offering unique stock images, the right stock photography company should be able to offer you exclusive rights, should you so desire, should track the use of all photos, and should consider commission ideas. In other words, if you need a certain type of ocean, water, or life image, the company should consider shooting the image for you and then adding it to their stock catalog.

With ocean, water, and life photography quickly becoming the most common images used in advertising and web design, it's important to find a stock photography company that can deliver the unique images that will give you the edge and set you apart from your competitors.

Starting Websites with Ready-Made Web Templates

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Ready-made (http://www.yahootemplates.com-website templates) help the web designers to build their websites in an organized manner. They save a lot of time and effort by offering the desired layout in a precise way. There are different types of ready-made templates that are suitable for different types of websites.

The most common types of website templates are the CSS templates and the table-based templates. The CSS templates are the preferred choice of many because they offer flexible area for adding the contents, both text and graphics, in them. On the other hand, the table-based templates do not offer much flexibility to the addition of contents in it.

There are a lot of (http://www.yahootemplates.com-free templates) available over the internet. They are simple and easy-to-use website templates. With the help of these website templates, you can create your own website. Yahootemplates.com provides you a good selection of free website templates that can be effectively used in creating a website of any type. The free website templates are ideal to be used by the beginners. As you progress with your website, you should opt for more professional templates that have more features added in them. The free (http://www.yahootemplates.com-web templates) offered by websites are chosen by many webmasters and tried in a number of websites. Thus they have become popular in the internet. Thus, if you use the free templates in your website, it will look dull and unprofessional.  By selecting a customized website template, you can create a unique appearance for your website and thus you can attract more viewers to it.

Business Templates include the popular category of website templates. At Yahootemplates.com, you can find a large collection of business templates that are popular among a large number of businesses.

Under the category of business templates, you will find a number of subcategories such as the B2B templates, Business Outsourcing templates, Client Services templates, etc. osCommerce templates are the most common type of templates used by the websites that offer online shopping services.

You can get a large pool of website templates that have attractive featured added in them. Most of them are fitted with Flash components. The Flash feature is very common in the modern websites. With the help of the Flash animation, the websites attract more viewers to it. Most of the websites, however, restrict the use of Flash to the home page alone. This is because of the fact that the Flash elements occupy a lot of space in the directory of the website and thus result in the slow functioning of the website. However, it should be noted that a small strip of Flash can cause a large difference in the presentation of your website's page, especially the home page.

To sum up, ready-made web templates offer great help to webmasters by providing a layout for including the website's contents in it. After selecting the templates, it is the duty of the webmasters to customise them and give it a unique appearance. Also, they can opt for customized templates that are available exclusively for their websites.