The New Corporate Intranet

My company has an intranet with a wealth of information, but it is under utilized. In this post, I discussed a number of web services that I use including netvibes, which aggregates RSS feeds. Today, while monitoring my finance tab, an article about my company appeared, but was not posted to the intranet. This made me think of social networking and how myspace, facebook, and live spaces offer the services companies need, for a fraction of the cost of a custom intranet.

This article on netbanker discusses Co-operative Bank in the UK, and how they have built a custom myspace page for better customer interaction.

UK’s Co-operative Bank <co-operativebank.co.uk> posted an excellent page that reinforces its reputation as a good corporate citizen (screenshot below). There’s an interactive poll about automobile taxes, a CO 2 emissions calculator, some videos, wallpaper downloads, and the usual MySpace stuff. And to drum up friends, an important measure of success on MySpace, the bank will donate 20p to The Children’s Society for everyone who signs on. So far its raised about US$20 with 48 friends. But the number is growing quickly; in the last 12 hours growing more than 50%, from 31 friends to 48.

Facebook and live spaces offer similar options with several notable exceptions. The former has a community of 24 million+ members, offers blogging, RSS imports, pictures, and custom applications through F8. Live spaces offers a similar layout to facebook, full customization with RSS feeds, blogging, a guest book, and will be compatable with Microsoft’s new PopFly platform. I personally use facebook and live spaces, and appreciate the service that both products offer.

Between the three networks, which are currently free, companies have an opportunity to create functional and transparent websites. Externally, these applications allow employees and customers to interact with each other, and build a level of trust. Internally, they provide an opportunity for companies to refine themselves and generate honest feedback. Microsoft is the innovator of “opening its doors” with employee blogs and the launch of Channel 9, which has transformed Microsoft from an “evil empire” into a community.

As stated in the ReadMe.txt:

Channel 9 is all about the conversation. Channel 9 should inspire Microsoft and our customers to talk in an honest and human voice. Channel 9 is not a marketing tool, not a PR tool, not a lead generation tool.

One caveat is that communication would need to be monitored for discussion of private customer information, and Microsoft understands that too.

Know when to turn the mic off. There are some topics which will only result in problems when you discuss them. This has nothing to do with censorship, but with working within the reality of the system that exists in our world today. You will not change anything by taking on legal or financial issues, you will only shock the system, spook the passengers, and create a negative situation.

Social networking is your new corporate intranet.

Technorati Tags: accessibility, community, Facebook, Live Spaces, myspace, Netvibes, Microsoft, RSS

Facebook Makes an Excellent Banking Medium

Globalization. From Forbes Magazine to Fast Company, and every blog in between, globalization appears imminent. With the web bringing people together at an exponential rate, people will become less dependent on physical location. Communities of creative talent are developing worldwide, and are using the web as their infrastructure to talk and collaborate. With a number of web applications for tech geeks to play with, Facebook has taken a different approach, and built the infrastructure.

From an article on CNNMoney.com:

The short version is that Facebook is taking its two major assets - its 24-million-members (growing at about 150,000 per day) and its strong technology underpinnings - and making them available to all comers.

The banks that I have collaborated with are all focused on their respective communities, from the neighborhood to the world. Facebook built a broad community comprised of college students, high school students, and businesses, and has opened its doors to developers providing an e-commerce platform open 24 hours, 7 days a week. This is an excellent opportunity for banks to provide services to this community from balance inquiries to bill payment. In is mobile banking a piece of the puzzle, I discussed Geezeo and the services they are providing to college students. They have partnered with CashEdge, which provides “online financial applications for banks, credit unions, and wealth management firms”. Their service is targeting college and high school students, and plan to offer a broader range of products in the future.

Mobile commerce is already prevalent in South Korea and Japan. China has become the newest home to creative talent. The use of mobile social networking is prevalent in India. Facebook has 24 million members with limited international access.

Who wants to offer financial services?

Technorati Tags: Banking, Facebook, Finance, Geezeo, Mobile Banking, service

Facebook will help Microsoft and the Washington Post

Research teaches. Currently I am learning from Mark Zuckerberg’s vision, his friends, and what the community thinks.

My mentor tells me that two important concepts of running a company are:

1. Trust in your management team.
2. Organic growth catered to your target community.

From what I read in the articles and the comments, the underlying issue is allowing Mark to maintain his creative control.

As Alex says, “Find your niche, make it worthwhile“.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Microsoft, The Washington Post

How to Buy Real Estate

For those that read my twitter messages, you know that I had tremendous difficulty getting to Washington, DC a few weeks ago. Unfortunately I discovered sub-par customer service, by no fault of the two employees I was dealing with. It is frustrating that a service I need is unavailable to me because I do not have a credit card. Like many people, I inappropriately used my credit cards in college so I have been responsible for two years.

On this sunny Saturday morning, when I needed a credit card swiftly, I went to the only place that I thought could help. The customer service representative I spoke to was unable to assist me with securing a credit card; she allowed me to vent my frustrations for a few minutes, and made me feel better.

Reminded of the ideas I talked about in my introduction, I listen to feedback and discuss what I learn. This website has allowed me to freely express my ideas, and this community has helped me every step of the way. Now, I need some help of my own.

In my post, Real Estate Cash Flow and Sensitivity Analysis, I discussed my process for assessing real estate value. The data reflects this post at PhillyBlog.com. However, there are people who want to help including Kelliann’s, The Black Sheep, The Bishop’s Color, and Monks. My neighbors and I are doing everything we can.

Technorati Tags: Banking, community, entrepreneur, Real Estate

Is Mobile Banking a Piece of the Puzzle?

Check out Geezeo Mobile; which allows customers to combine their deposit accounts, and receive up-to-date balances via text message. The company plans this service to be part of a larger personal finance portfolio, which has not been released yet. I like the concept, but think text messaging is limited to this application and important notifications from your bank. What I would like to see are traditional online banking services; including availability updates, balance transfers, and bill pay, become available on mobile devices. I think that the key to mobile banking is to make it a part of the total package, which can easily be scaled when demand increases in the future.

Technorati Tags: Banking, Mobile Banking, Geezeo

How Coworking will Challenge Service Companies to Improve their Models

It’s one of those breezy days before summer and I am sitting on the balcony of Brad’s high rise apartment. He is editing an episode of DomeNation on his MacBook; I am writing blog ideas in a cheaply bound notebook. We are two people who wouldn’t meet in a traditional environment, sharing thoughts and creating ideas. I am not ready to leave the office.

However, working from your house is not always ideal because you lack interaction with your peers; as Alex succinctly states in “weekends lose a bit of luster when you work at home.“. Discussing my direction for this post between the three of us, I asked myself, how can coworking apply to traditional business, when Alex put me on the right track:

What’s important about coworking, and some of the things that it enables, is that there is a giant hole between indies/small shops and the large agency. This hole is perfectly filled by small to medium, agile teams, that can be formed within a coworking space. This idea of “consorgency”, or having a resource of talent in a “small pieces loosely joined” model; where based on the needs of a project, people can come together to quickly and efficiently execute.

According to an industry report on Computer Systems Design and Related Services in the US; otherwise known as IT Consulting, 65% of revenues are derived from the business sector. This is further broken down to the banking, finance, and insurance industries comprising 40% of revenues. These traditional businesses are employing outside consultants to build software solutions to fill industry specific and cross industry needs.

Fortunately for opportunistic entrepreneurs, IT Consulting has a low barrier to entry with approximately 84% of the companies operating as “micro entities”; or companies with fewer than 10 employees. This business model allows for an efficient company with low overhead, and infinite scalability for any project. What sets one company apart from another are three things; the ability to identify customers’ needs, pricing your services competitively, and quickly scaling your workforce to complete the project.

I have already encountered one company which uses a similar business model to fill a niche market in the banking industry. Beth Hamlin; one of the instructors from my credit training, is the Executive Vice President of Caliber Commercial Corporation, which provides credit analysis and training services to commercial lending institutions. This service fills a position banks need, while eliminating the expense of hiring and training internal personnel.

With a slice of creativity, the possibilities of partnering with coworkers are endless.

Technorati Tags: Banking, coworking, entrepreneur, Finance, service

What Financial Services are Needed by the Web Community?

One trend that is abundantly clear when one, or a select group of people suddenly have an influx of income, is that they mismanage those funds. These issues apply to athletes, entertainers, lottery winners, and start up companies; just to name a few. An excellent post in The Funded’s advice section titled “Pick the First Investors REALLY Wisely” states:

Your first investors in the angel round or Series A will set the tone for your business and all of your fundraising going forward in a big way. These investors will be your long-term partners in any future funding event, helping your company secure future rounds, or, in the worst case, sabotaging future rounds through indecision or desire for control.

Unfortunately, the discussion on this topic continues behind closed doors but the knowledge to be gained is invaluable across business sectors.

My experience in business has taught me that it is imperative to focus on a community and offer the service and products that will benefit them, not you. I have learned that many of the young entrepreneurs in the web community want to maintain their creative control, while having access to office resources, health benefits, and capital when needed. This is just a short list but I ask you, the web community, what financial services do you need?

Technorati Tags: Banking, community, entrepreneur, Financing, service, startup company

Goodwill: why does it become impaired?

When performing analysis on a company that has changed / is changing ownership, goodwill is a balance sheet indicator to watch. In its simplest sense, goodwill is the purchase price of a company less its book value; or sum of total assets less total liabilities. My question is; can goodwill amortize? According to Statement 142 from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), it cannot. Instead, the acquisition is tested annually for impairment, which predominately occur irregularly and in varying amounts.

Goodwill as a term was used to reflect the fact that an ongoing business had some “intrinsic value” beyond its assets, such as the reputation the firm enjoyed with its clients. The accounting sense of goodwill followed as a plausible explanation of why a firm sells for more than the value of its net assets.Goodwill is difficult to assess in cases where personal contact is important. An accountant who sells his practice would not be able to guarantee that all of his clients would transfer to the buyer. When purchasing a business of this nature it is important to be sure that provisions are made for an adjustment in the sales price after an initial trial period to see if the client base has eroded.- Goodwill - Wikipedia 

This brings up a question: if goodwill is amortizing; or at least being impaired on a year-to-year basis, what is causing it? Is it the loss of a trade name? Did a principal / rainmaker decide to leave after acquisition? Was the company overvalued? The answer depends on the industry, type of company, and etc.If you have feedback, please get the discussion going.

Technorati Tags: banking, goodwill, impairment, commercial, industrial

Venture Capitalists get Rated

Checking my twitter messages today, I came across a link from Jason Calacanis; which further demonstrates the progress of online banking. The Funded is a community for entrepreneurs to discuss their funding experiences. The site is anonymous to maintain confidentiality; and membership is invite only. The Funded offers ratings and commentary about many private equity firms; but the latter is predominately members only. My only criticism is that their front page is busy, but their faq and help sections are well done.

Technorati Tags: Banking, community, The Funded, web 2.0

How to Start Business

“The Internet is a pretty amazing tool for business—so long as you know how to use it. It is essential to understand that the Internet doesn’t work like more traditional forms of media. The Internet has changed the way that businesses and consumers interact. In order to help you understand this new paradigm here are a few of the key concepts essential to success on the Internet - especially in the blogosphere.”
Chris Pirillo

I can’t say it better than Chris Pirillo.

Continue reading How to Start Business by Chris Pirillo

Technorati Tags: coworking, Independents Hall