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A Web presence is an "essential" for businesses of all sizes because it is like the basis for having a successful business in today's society. With the many advances in technology, and the continuing changes, it is important for a business to keep up with the needs of the average consumer.
As a consumer, I look for convenience, options, and ease when comparing products and prices. I am sure that the mjority of consumers also look for the same things. A website is perfect to view these things for various companies. Having the option of staying in a comfortable location to make purchases is a wonderful option to have. You don't have to drive miles away, to compare prices or locate products,just to get the things that you often use. With businesses having a web presence, they are more accessable to their consumers at ANY time of the day. I think this increases the amount of sales for a business as well because even if their general store hours are from 8am-5pm, customers have the option of purchasing after hours.
Webpages can be used for a plethora of things within a business. Even if someone does not intend to purchase something, having the knowledge of where something is available or even the knowledge of a certain product helps to learn just how much technology has advanced. And who knows, maybe knowing who is selling what may help you on the hot seat of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire!!! In conclusion, businesses having a web presence can be a great asset for the businesses themselves as well as the people in our society.
A podcast is a wonderful tool for a business to use. When businesses take advantage of using podcasts, they create another source for customers to keep in touch with what they have to offer. We all know that this is a good thing!
Now that we have technological advances such as the Ipod and other online programs that make podcasting more accessable, the growth of podcasting is outstanding. This a wonderful opportunity for businesses to offer specials, updates, and other things so that they can continue to gain customers. With that being said, it is evident that a business would want to use such an easily accessible tool. Not only would it help to communicate to more people at more times, but it would also allow customers to communicate to business as well because customers will know how to access a business as well so that their needs and inquiries are met.
Unfortunately, with some podcasts comes annoying advertisements. This is not a major set back for some businesses but the majority that offer free podcasting services, do not control what type of advertisements may come along with a certain podcast. This may do damage to businesses because it may be a major turn off to customers. Some people subscribe to podcast to get what they want, without extra baggage. Even though there is this minor setback for some businesses, podcasts are a plus!
Click this link to view my Podcast.
The use of secure email in the business environment is definitely a bonus for any business. I guess it does not matter what type of business it is that uses secure email. Knowing that messages are safely sent to the person who is either is receiving or sending, is rewarding. Especially now, technological advances do not always produce good outcomes. Some people take advantage of useful resources and publications and end up harming web users and disrupting their privacy. Having the assurance of a secure email is better than being worried that some of the information that you exchange online is being seen or placed into the wrong hands.
There are countless times when I have purchased something or paid a bill online. If those messages were not secure, it is probably going to be the case that my information has gotten into the wrong hands. If this were to occur, my identity could be stolen. It is essential fo a business to have a secure system whether it be email or just generally.
Securing emails with signatures and encryptions establish trustworthiness and helps to keep things running smoothly. It leaves less room for businesses to have to worry about screw ups, and more time for businesses to focus on their growth and making their audiences happy. Furthermore, not having secure emailing in a business pretty much does not make sense when you think about the greater consequence of things that could happen. It is always to better to be safer than sorry!
The use of collaborative computing in the business environment is an excellent option for a business to have. I find it quite interesting that projects can be completed as a team, and you do not necessarily have to meet with teammates face to face. Some may think that this is more difficult and automatically suggest for team members to meet up, as a teammate of mine had mentioned at the start of this project. Yes, it probably is much better to sit down for an hour or so, and get everything done in quick timing. But I think that the option of collaborative computing is wonderful because it is possible to collaboratively complete a task without having to be together (physically).
In cases where it is impossible for people to meet up, this option is wonderful to have. For example, it may be the case that something has come up and a team member has to leave the country. Well, if they happened to be able to complete their part of the task online, while away handling other things, this makes things easier for everyone else on the team. Tasks are still going to be completed regardless if people cannot physically meet up.
The Sharepoint program allows collaborative computing to be easy and effective. You do not always have to be connected to the program to be an active team member. You can create alert settings that would enable you to receive an email every time someone makes an update to the site. With the Sharepoint program, users can add documents, pictures, announcements and many other things. I definitely enjoyed this part of the project and Sharepoint made it fun to work with a team again!
Click this link to view our collaborative computing project.
In my opinion, Excel is the most complicated Microsoft Office application to learn. This project was a challenge for me because I have never used Excel in depth. I am most familiar with sorting and creating simple charts. But I must say that I am glad that I have crossed this bridge (that is, learning Excel). Now that I have completed this project, I truly appreciate all of the wonderful things that I have learned to do with Excel which includes using functions, pivot table, and goal seek.
I had a slight idea of functions but I did not know how to use it. In this project, we used functions to extract information from columns that had several pieces of information. I learned how to remove things from columns with much simpler steps than going into each cell to delete them. Learning how to use the pivot table helped to put things on a worksheet, in a better layout. Having the ability to do so makes the business world much easier to function in. With simple steps, you are able to turn a boring worksheet of a lot of numbers into an eye catching table that is much easier to follow. Also, learning the goal seek tool has prepared me to know how to go above and beyond what I normally think of. The goal seek tool simply helps to try different scenarios for different cases and highlight findings so that a company, business, or just any random individual can see what may be required for them to reach certain goals.
The skills that I have learned in this project will definitely be used in the future. I remember when my boss asked me to gather data of all the days that it had rained in Gainesville during 2006 and 2008. We were putting together a worksheet that depicted the loss of revenue for Ironwood Golf Course due to rain/storm conditions. Now, with my lack of Excel knowledge, I started off manually typing the dates, day of the week and revenue made. After about a full page of information, I sat there to figure out how to speed things up. What I thought I had figured out still was not the quickest way to completing the task. Finally, I learned the quickest way through this project.