MDE.net Free Ezine - July 2001


	I. IT Management Tips & Techniques Business Applications Strategy This month's topic of my "Eleven key attributes of any successful IT manager" is titled Business Applications Strategy. Your company's business applications are the "meat and potatoes" of the business. This is the area that typically provides the greatest opportunity for leverage in the company. That leverage might be the opportunity to increase revenues or it might be the opportunity to reduce expenses significantly. It might also offer your company a chance to differentiate itself from competitors. As you assess your company's business applications, you want to develop a strategy that accomplishes the following: - fills functionality gaps necessary to run the business - adds functionality that enhances revenue potential - adds functionality that decreases expenses by improving staff productivity - adds functionality that competes stronger or that differentiates the company - addresses architecture issues that allow for growth Filling immediate functionality gaps is an important "to-do" before you work on significant enhancements. If you don't already have stable business applications with core functionality issues addressed, you may need to conduct a buy versus build analysis to determine the best approach for your company to proceed. Once the basic functionality issues are in place, line up the priorities that either help increase revenue, decrease expense, or differentiate the company. This will be different for each company. When you determine the major initiative to take in improving your business applications, you want to go after the items that provide the greatest return for the company. The best return on an investment may not be financial improvement; it may very well be something that allows the company to compete better or that separates it from the competition. If your company is planning to grow, take a close look at the architecture of the applications to ensure all critical business applications will support the growth. For more on developing a business applications strategy, take a look at the IT Manager Development Series. The titles of all 10 publications and their Table of Contents can be viewed at www.mde.net/cio . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


	II. Web Site Tips and Techniques HTML "Pop-up" Windows It's very easy to install those pop-up windows you see when you load a web page or when you exit a site. They can be powerful marketing devices to get your message across. Here's how: First, place the message you want to see on a separate web page. This message should be the only content on the web page. Second, copy and paste the following code in between the <body> and </body> tags in the code of the page that you want the pop-up window to appear from. The code below will open the window upon opening the web page; I'll show you how to pop it open at the time you exit the web page later. -start of code- <script language="javascript"for="window" event="onload()">window.open ("http://yourwebpage.com","myannouncer", "scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,height=230,width=380") </script> -end of code- Replace the "yourwebpage.com" with the site that contains the pop-up window information. You can change the size of the window by changing the height or width values. The code above automatically opens the pop-up window when a visitor enters the web site. To change it to pop-up when they leave the site, simply change the "onload()" to "unload()". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


	III. Product/Service Review Microsoft Publisher If you are interested in an application that can turn your ideas into a newsletter or a web site quickly, you might want to consider Microsoft Publisher. This software package won't give you all the flexibility as Microsoft FrontPage or other web development tools, but for most it will do just fine. Publisher has many design templates included and quite a bit of clipart to spruce up your publications. Whether you want to create address labels or company forms for your business, you can probably find a template that will streamline the way. Another neat feature is that after you complete a newsletter for your friends, you can convert it to a set of web pages with just a few key strokes. Every new release includes new features. Microsoft Publisher is an inexpensive way to develop excellent looking publications or web sites very quickly. Another nice part is that you don't have to learn html to develop web pages using Publisher. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - IV. Business Entrepreneur Thoughts Add-on Sales Secondary sales, follow-up sales, or add-on sales, , , whatever you want to call them, they can be very profitable. If you have a solid product and have been fortunate to sell that product to several clients, don't overlook the opportunity to sell additional items to your client base. If a client has already bought from you, it's a very good possibility the same client will purchase additional items, especially if they found the first product to be of value and high quality. Follow-up sales have higher profitability in that your marketing costs are lower per sale. Contacting an existing client base is much less expensive than trying to establish a client base. As long as you are providing products of high quality and that meet needs of your client, you have an excellent chance of selling your new products to every client that bought your first product. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


	A Word About MDE Enterprises MDE Enterprises provides IT consulting services and IT management training. As a consultant I want to help companies achieve success. In these times, it's more important than ever for a company's technology organization to produce in a manner that meets company objectives. Easier said than done. Over the years I have developed an approach that seems to work based upon the successes that my IT teams have had. If you are interested in more insight into what it takes to be an effective manager of technology resources, take a look at the IT Manager Development Series. This is a set of 10 publications that go into depth (but also to the point) about key aspects of what it takes to be a successful IT manager. If you are interested in learning more about this series of publications, you can take a look at the Table of Contents for all the publications or order online at: www.mde.net/CIO . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The opinions expressed here are purely those of the author, Mike Sisco. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole, or in part, without the express written consent of the author. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Thanks again. Until our next issue, work smart and do good things. Mike Sisco MDE Enterprises 2660 Misty Morning Lane Roswell, GA 30076 Business: 770-594-1414 Fax: 253-663-3327 E-Mail: mike@mde.net Web Site: www.mde.net IT Manager Development Series - IT management training - invest in your IT manager skills for greater achievement. www.mde.net/manageIT


	Index Previous Page Next