Software Review - DoodleKit

Another great software/service that I have used is from a company called DoodleKit. DoodleKit is a neat spin on web hosting and template based websites. For me to use a software or service or SaaS (Software as a Service) solution, it needs to be very easy to use and very powerful at the same time. Again, powerful doesn’t necessarily mean so many features that you will never learn to use them all. By powerful, I mean something that facilitates ease of use, and getting things done. After all, your job or company doesn’t focus on using software. They focus on selling widgets, or providing services. Therefore a powerful application in my mind is something that helps facilitate that business. It improves communications, and helps eliminate confusion. It doesn’t make you jump through hoops.

DoodleKit is the right solution for hosting websites. My favorite part about it is that they have also helped to take the most frustrating part out of self-managed websites – the graphic design. By signing up for their premium service, they will design you a custom header for your website to make it completely unique in the world. They will integrate your logo if you have one, or work with you to create a relevant design. The best part is that you aren’t charged any extra for that service. It is included in the $69 per month price. And no contracts! What a deal!

The solution lets you create and edit pages very easily. It also lets you setup a simple customer database and integrate custom contact capture forms for gathering customer data. There is an integrated Blog component so you don’t have to have another service for your blog. Need an online store to sell products? That is included as well and is super simple to setup. SEO (search engine optimization) is build in to the program so customers can find you easier.

I would highly recommend the service to anyone needing a reliable and custom website with hardly any hassle. You will also get a live person on the line for support when you need it which is very reassuring to most of us.

Click here for the list of features and to explore the company more.

Software Review - Highrise

As I've mentioned before, software should be about enabling your business and your teams. Software is not just a tool for management to track activities - although that should be a part of any good package. The real key is finding software tools that are intuitive and have "adoptability". You know you have a good tool when it takes minutes or hours - not days or weeks - to figure out how to use it. If you take that philosophy one step further (which I think you should), software should even be “Fun”!

My favorite software (so far) following this philosophy is Highrise. Highrise is built on the popular Ruby on Rails programming language. This application is so easy to use that your grandma would love it! There are so few features that you can’t get confused or frustrated with learning how to use it. There are no complex processes to follow. The software JUST WORKS. The software focuses on improving communications among your team and your clients instead of just having a place to put information.

My favorite feature is the email dropbox. This feature gives you an email address that you can “CC” on any email communication you have with any of your contacts. When you “CC” this dropbox address, the software knows which contact you are emailing and automatically attaches that email communication to their record in Highrise. Similarly, I can send an email from my blackberry with a task and it will automatically add that task for me in Highrise.

Some people complain initially that the software is too simple. That it doesn’t meet the needs of their business. While this may be somewhat true, I think using the software will help you and/or your organization redefine what good software really should be about. If you do need more features that what is currently offered, Highrise publishes an API (application program interface) that can interact with other software programs out there. This means you can tie multiple types of software to work together in one seamless fashion.

Do yourself a favor and check it out! You can use it for Free for a while. I guarantee you’ll love it! And if you don’t, what is the risk? What do you want for free, your money back?

Here is a handy video overview:

Working Smarter - Not Harder - Software can help

You probably don’t know this about me, but I have an unhealthy obsession with software. I love to find the latest and greatest software tools out there, test them out, and see if they apply to my business or the business of people I know. I can’t use all the software out there on a daily basis, so I usually sign up for the free account or trial, play around a bit and then end up leaving it behind if I can’t readily use it.

The problem is that a lot of the stuff I check out is really useful! I want to help spread the message when I think it might be helpful to the people I know, and those who read this blog. So instead of keeping all the fun to myself, I’ll start sharing some of the best software programs and services I come across. I’ll do my best to explain the value as I see it and I would welcome any feedback or insight in to what you know about it!

For me, software and technology is not just about a tool to track items in your business. Software and technology should be about enabling communication, improving efficiency and collaboration among teams. The new breed of software mavericks out there understand that more features aren’t necessarily better. If you don’t need something, don’t include it. Make your technology as simple as possible because if you don’t, people won’t use it and it becomes more of a burden than a tool. The folks over at 37Signals understand this best and have been the catalyst to a whole new breed of companies following this mantra.

You might be waiting for my segway in to my first software review but alas, you will have to wait until the next post. I promise to bring some great new ideas that hopefully you can try out and implement in to your operation!

What software do you love? How is it helping you and your business?

Construction Industry & Investing In Technology

After reading a recent article in ConstrucTech magazine, a few thoughts came to my mind that have been brewing for quite some time. The article focuses on how construction firms are being forced to look more towards technology solutions to help improve efficiencies in their organizations. It talks about how technology can really help contractors to be better at estimating and project management efforts if they would just use the tools they already have better, and start taking things like BIM (Building Information Modeling) seriously.

While I agree that technology can really help any organization who is serious about improving, I have a little bit of a different approach than most. Just as the article says that builders are on average using only 20-30% of the capabilities of their current software systems, I think there is a reason for that. Software and technology is only good to a company if it is easy to use and manage. You can have all the features in the world but if the system isn't easy to use, it is for nothing.

My suggestion to the construction industry is this:

Start focusing on ease of use, and improving communications. This doesn't mean having more meetings or sending out more articulated addendums (althought that couldn't hurt). It means taking a fresh approach to how builders communicate internally and externally on projects. Why not start using new (and sometimes free) communications tools such as Blogs, Twitter & LinkedIn groups? Instead of sending out individual emails to every sub contractor on your project, setup a blog and give subcontractors access to that blog. All new status updates can be posted here such as RFP's, RFI's, addendums, project drawings, etc....

Why not setup a private Twitter group for your internal project teams and use if for sending out frequent, up to the minute updates to your team? Everyone has cell phones right? By communicating things in real time, you can save precious money & resources.



Something very cool to look in to is a product called BaseCamp created by a company called 37Signals. This product is an EXTREMELY easy to use Project Management tool that focuses on the communication aspect of projects. By using a Blog type format for organization, a new project can be setup online where files can be stored & shared, all communications can be centralized, and things like project calendars and the like can all be centralized. Finally all communications with all team members can be kept in one place. It plays very nice with email as well.

In closing, I really just want to drive the point home that technology shouldn't be about more and more features. Technology should help enable. Enable better communcations. Enable better efficiencies. Enable people to do their job and only their job.

How does your organization rate when it comes to this simple concept? Does the technology you use empower or slow down your employees? Take a really close look and answer honestly.....