Once upon a time, movie night meant traveling to the local video rental store and surveying the aisles in hopes of finding the newest release in stock. Today, the combination of rental DVD delivery services like Netflix and movies on demand from your cable or satellite provider has created an entirely new and relaxing way to enjoy movie nights. The rental store is now literally at your fingertips. Netflix delivers DVDs by mail to subscribers via a rental queue created online. The greatest part of these new rental services is that there are no late fees. Subscribers pay a monthly fee for Netflix or a per-movie fee for on-demand services; back-end operations are handled by the provider. There is no more worrying about if the movie is in stock.

Telecom expense management (TEM) has evolved in a similar fashion. Enterprises that once used premise-based TEM software to handle telecom and IT expense management are now seeing tremendous advantages in utilizing Software as a Service (SaaS). By using on-demand TEM software, companies no longer have to be concerned with loading vendor billing data or dealing with the complex changes of vendor data formats. In the past this was a common cause of failures within premise-based TEM software solutions because it prevented companies from viewing data at the highest level of billing detail. With an on-demand TEM solution, companies can see their data loaded within 24 hours of it being received by the TEM vendor. Companies can then dedicate their full resources to analyzing their billing data rather than managing it. This stress-free solution allows companies to sharpen their focus on revenue-generating activities.

The Opening Credits – Implementation

Most Hollywood summer blockbusters feature action right at the start of the movie, immediately captivating the audience. In the same way, using SaaS for a TEM solution provides rapid implementation times, yielding a much faster ROI. Traditionally, companies with a premise-based software solution lacked necessary telecom expense management experience. Their TEM initiatives were prone to errors from the start – errors that were compounded throughout the course of the TEM program. Just like a summer movie that lacks innovative special effects or a great storyline, their TEM initiatives were doomed to fail from the very beginning. These premise-based TEM software solutions failed to deliver significant ROI after companies made a substantial investment.

The combination of expert knowledge and far less complex software installation can mean smoother transitions and a decrease in the need for troubleshooting. Furthermore, because there is less need for client participation from a technical standpoint during implementation, SaaS TEM providers can offer a project timeframe with a good degree of accuracy and configure the system specific to each company’s dedicated hierarchy. This benefits both clients and service providers by removing uncertainty in the deployment schedule.

In addition, scalability is never an issue. Companies do not have to purchase additional servers or hardware to increase the amount of data that is stored. More importantly, companies do not have to be concerned with developing new processes to handle new data feeds. That is handled by the vendor on the back end and is transparent to end users, allowing them to focus on analyzing data, disputing costs, or running reports.

Preventing Bootlegs – Data and Security in an SaaS Environment

We all know of Hollywood’s struggle to prevent bootlegs, an effort that entails deploying powerful encryption to deter pirating. In much the same way, organizations in the past were reluctant to have data stored offsite for fear of a security breach. With the advent of IPSec VPNs, this roadblock has been removed.

IPSec VPNs offer an extremely high level of data encryption, coupled with hardened data centers that offer economies of scale. Vendors routinely back up data and send it to an offsite disaster recovery facility. Uptime and disaster recovery services are built into SLAs, ensuring that the client can be up and running quickly and that the vendor adheres to the highest level of security standards. While it is understandable that organizations want control, the reputation and feasibility of SaaS depend on treating data with extreme sensitivity.

The Production – Maintenance

With an SaaS solution, any problems that do occur can normally be fixed faster because of the centralized nature of the service. Software-based solutions frequently require an onsite visit, which naturally delays any troubleshooting attempt. SaaS solutions circumvent this delay and reduce downtime. Moreover, SaaS solutions generally have 24×7 monitoring and management, meaning maintenance issues can be quickly and efficiently addressed because the majority of equipment is centrally located. To achieve the same service speed with a software-based solution would require a set of expert technicians onsite, and the resulting cost would most likely be prohibitive.

System upgrades can be managed more easily with an SaaS solution than with a software-based solution. The TEM vendor manages the upgrade and rolls it out when ready, making the transition pain-free. Furthermore, with an SaaS solution, operational expenditures are fixed and predictable, which in turn aids in planning cash flow. With software-based solutions, operational expenditures can spike unpredictably when issues occur.

Data Analysis – The True Blockbuster

The bottom line is that, in the world of telecom expense management, SaaS solutions allow businesses to concentrate on revenue-generating activities and areas of their business that they do well. In areas where their knowledge is limited – such as TEM — businesses can turn over the responsibility to vendors who have real expertise. Once an organization has implemented an on-demand TEM solution, they instantly gain enhanced visibility to their telecom spend and are up and running in a matter of weeks versus six to 12 months. This enables companies to begin analyzing their data to make more informed purchasing decisions and identify areas where more cost-effective services can be utilized. By using an on-demand solution, organizations are no longer struggling with loading data and maintaining systems, but instead spending time on true telecom cost control by drilling deep into data they never had access to before.

Just as Netflix and on-demand movies have changed the way we rent films, SaaS for TEM has pulled back the curtain for a next-generation TEM solution. TEM vendors can utilize their expertise in processing electronic data to provide companies with a truly comprehensive TEM solution that presents data accurately in a secure, easy-to-use interface. While software-based solutions provide companies with the comfort level of perceived control, a TEM environment offers true control, with the ability to analyze detailed data that can generate consistent savings. And that makes for the classic happy Hollywood ending.

In 2007, I set up a web design business in Kent, England

After a year, I found that most customers had websites and were looking to be top of the Google rankings – most wanted us to get them to the top within a couple of weeks!

I tried outsourcing this service to a UK specialist, but the cost seemed high, too much to be able to make a profit on the service. British Telecom (BT) called into the office – they offered a guaranteed service to get people to your site and promised high google ranking links your site.

One of our clients heard the salesman and decided to join the BT service. 2 months with no new business and had cost this client £400. A money back guarantee had been promised, but did BT did not honour this.

This client later tried pay-per-click with Google. Again, no real results during the 6 month trial.  Does anyone even look at the right hand of Google?

She hired a firm who specialised in Search Engine Optimization – they told us to change the order of keywords for the customer and said they were submitting dozens of articles – costing £200 per month. We checked the links and could not see anything being linked to her site.  The specialists refused to say what they had done, said it was technical and questioned why she then cancelled the contract.

I would read on the net that links were the best method of increasing the Google rank. I thought therefore of trying getafreelancer.com (you upload your project requirement and various companies bid for the work).  I didn’t choose the cheapest company; I chose an eastern European business with the good feedback.  They contracted to write and submit 100 articles to good-quality websites. The cost $300, which guaranteed results within 4 weeks. I decided to use our own site as a test ground before our paying clients. We had a Google page rank of 3 before the exercise. They did the work, strange articles they wrote with little sense in the content. I was looking for ‘web design Kent’ as my main keywords. However, I thought these people know what they are doing, so let them get on with it. After a further 4 weeks, my page rank dropped to 1 and we were nowhere on Google with the desired keywords – I was disappointed!

Where next then? Hard work… – I researched every article I could find on the net, bought software and then put this all into practice with the client who had such a bad time. Here is are my techniques, which seem to be working really well…

Name - your keyword should be in your domain name ideally (ours was not – I realised too late).

Choosing a domain name using your keywords is a good method – hyphenate your keywords, rather than having one long name – the Search Engines seem to prefer this. Also they prefer international domain endings – .com, .net .org are the best 3.

If like my company, your domain name does not include your keyword, then make the html pages in such a way as to include the keyword before the html. Design - the design should be done using up-to-date web standards

Keywords - pick these very carefully, don’t go overboard or Google will penalise you and the first one listed should be your main one.

Page title - your home page should be a concise description of what your site offers.

Your page code should be correctly placed so that your keywords and page title  are prominent

Your main keyword should be in the home page a few times, certainly the first and last items on the page and preferably in bold.

You need to submit your site to the search engines – manually for some sites such as Google, automatically using a submission program for certain other sites.

You should register your site for Google Maps – this is free and can give you a real boost.

You need enough pages in the site to interest Google – a 2/3 page site would not be viewed importantly by Google

If you build your own site, we used a program called web ceo which offers a free version. This analyses your site in detail, giving pages of recommendations – follow these closely!

Last, but certainly not least, one of THE most important factors is getting decent links with well respected websites. The link is worthless if it is from a poor site, but if you can get your keyword linked from another site to your own (not your site name), then this is priceless. I bought software ($70) which promised to help write articles (there are loads of these on the market, just do a search).  It was reasonably helpful; it made you think about everything and then provided a very comprehensive list of where to submit articles to.  Top of the list was articledashboard.com (had the highest page rank) I registered an account with them and this is my first article – a true story, many mistakes were made, but I have learned from them. Articles need to be interesting, remember that. We now offer our clients a review service of articles they have written about their field of expertise and advise on how and where to upload these. Third party companies can’t possibly write good, interesting articles on subjects they know nothing about!

And as for the above client – by using the techniques above, her site is currently page rank 4 and on the second page of Google for a very popular keyword. I am hoping that the article writing program will boost this further – legitimately!!

The British have always understood that time is a man-made concept. We are reminded of this twice every year when Daylight Saving Time results in the clocks being changed in the UK to gain or lose an hour.

This idea was first proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, but the British adopted the practice in 1916. It was appropriate for the British to do this because the Greenwich Meridian, which marks the starting point of every time zone in the world, is in England.

How does this changing of the clocks benefit the people in the UK? Good question. For the first week after the changes people feel like they have jet lag, and they miss appointments and flights. Then everything settles down for six months, after which the same thing happens again. When you live in the UK, it is quite spooky to wake up on the day after the clocks have changed, and everything electronic – the TV, car radio, the VCR, reflects a time that differs exactly one hour from the time on a wrist watch that needs to be set manually – as if some techno geek ghost wandered around during the night and fiddled with all the electronic stuff to get it all sorted before we wake up.

This British mastery of time dates much further back than 1916.

During the seventeenth century a British bishop concluded that the world was created on 22nd October 4000 BC, at six in the evening.

However, Dr John Lightfoot of Cambridge University disagreed and calculated in 1644 that God created the earth on Sunday 23 October 4004 BC at midnight in the Garden of Eden (this was 9am London time, before daylight Savings Time was introduced). The implication is that time already existed more than 6 000 years ago, even before the earth was created. Then when was time created?

Of course this date of 23 October 4004 BC was calculated on the Julian calendar which made the year too short, and by 1752 the calendar was 11 days out. The British solution was to adopt the Gregorian calendar. As a result 2 September 1752 was followed by the next day, dated 14 September 1752, and the problem was solved with typical British efficiency – a rarity nowadays.

To continue this mastery of time, British Telecom has already announced that time travel will be invented from 2051 onwards. How do they know this? I have no idea. Watch this timeframe . . .

We have always manipulated time to suit us, without even being aware of it. Albert Einstein made us aware of this when he gave his famous explanation of the theory of relativity. When you sit on a hot stove, two seconds can feel like to minutes. However, when you are in the company of your loved one, two minutes can feel like two seconds. Do we create time?

It is quite amusing to see people on a commuter train that is delayed on the way to work. Most people take it in their stride, but there are the workaholics that get so irate that they would happily leave the train and run down the tracks to get to work. Why? And when they get so upset, they do this to themselves. The job will not go anywhere. Their health will eventually give in, and they will still not understand that their bodies reflect the state of their souls. They will still be the slaves of this manmade concept called time.

There is an old Arab proverb: Man fears time, but time fears the pyramids. The pyramids are the only ancient wonders that can still be seen and measured, because they are older than time. They existed before we had any idea of measuring time as precisely as we do today.

The inspiration for the pyramids originates from the same Source that provided us with time, and the ancient cultures were aware of this. They used sundials to have a broad indication of time, but they also knew how to relax and go into a meditative state. They understood that connecting with the Source of time was more important than time itself.

Someone asked me an intriguing question the other day. When the end of the world comes, the people in Australia will have 24 hours notice. What will they do? Where will they go? Any ideas? As far as I am concerned, we experience the end of the world every day – that is, the end of the world as we know it.

If we can believe the doomsday prophets (those people that still have sugar and tinned food stored from the previous catastrophe that never happened), the world will end in December 2012. This is based on the Mayan calendar.

The Maya civilisation inhabited a region encompassing southern Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. Apparently they flourished between the third and tenth centuries AD, but by 1200 AD their society had collapsed. During the late 18th century explorers came across plazas, monoliths, temples and pyramids, each decorated with pictures and hieroglyphs, in the Guatemalan rainforest.

The ancient Maya had been keeping historical records, using a script which mixed ideographic and phonetic elements. Some of their writing still exists on stone monuments that record their calendric and astronomical knowledge.

The Maya identified four different Ages. The First Age began with the creation of the Earth, which contained vegetation and living beings. These beings did not please the gods and were wiped out. In the Second and Third Ages the gods created humans of mud and later of wood. These humans also failed to please and were wiped out. We are currently in the Fourth and Final Age, the age of the modern, fully functional human. In the Mayan calendar this Age finishes on December 21, 2012.

This is not just any date, and the translation from the hieroglyphs could not really be wrong. At sunrise on December 21, 2012 for the first time in 26,000 years the Sun will rise to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic. This will form a cosmic cross which is considered to be an embodiment of the Sacred Tree, also known as the Tree of Life, which is represented in most of the spiritual traditions of the world.

There are people that believe this alignment with the heart of the galaxy in 2012 will open a channel for cosmic energy to flow through the earth, cleansing it and its inhabitants, and raise all of us to a higher level of vibration.

We have some options here. The first is to start buying and storing tinned food (and if you do not live in Australia, you have adequate notice). The second is to understand that we are all energy, and that our vibrations have been rising for a while now, and this will only intensify over the coming years. If you enjoy this blog, you are probably already part of this movement of consciousness that will just get stronger over the next four years.

Have a good time!