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I took a straw poll in the office and the unanimous view was that January is depressing. Cold, a long way from Spring or Summer holidays and everyone is broke. What could be worse? Well, I'll tell you. February is even worse. In fact, it got all the votes for Worst Month of the Year! But then today someone I had never met before and am not doing business with, came into my office and said some very nice things which when repeated to the team left everyone smiling and feeling positive about life.
What he said was that he had been receiving just about every e-mail newsletter he could sign up for to give him UK news about the Internet and what to do to make it work for his business. But he had recently cancelled them all – except this one. Now that's what I call good news... thank you Charlie!
After graciously accepting his praise, I asked him what made him keep ours. His comment was brief and to the point. "I can understand it. It tells me what I need to know and quite frankly I like it." And yes, this might seem self-congratulatory but it is pertinent. Charlie gave us feedback and we all benefited from it. It is not the only time we have been congratulated, but in the cold light of February it was particularly welcome.
That's how powerful good communication can be...lots of warm feelings and goodwill. It shows why if you run a web site you should be building relationships with your users. You should be asking them questions, encouraging them to tell you what they want, sending them useful information, keeping your name fresh in their minds - all the usual relationship stuff which does not happen unless the conditions are right. Charlie was in our office drinking expresso, but he could just as well have been sitting in his office filling out a survey on our site or clicking a link on an e-mail leading to a survey.
If you want to see demos of survey styles you could use, go to our site http://www.xxist.com and click the demo button. And while we're on the subject, we are always pleased to hear what you think and if you have an interesting story for this newsletter why not tell us that, too.
Let's face it, March is just around the corner and things are looking up...
Annie Millar.
Managing director, XXIST.com
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| MICROSOFT ADMITS TO HACK ATTACK |
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Internet giant Microsoft was forced to admit that hackers had got into its system causing massive disruption. The embarrassing security breech came through a security hole in its own computer networks and just as the company launched a $200 million advertising campaign using the slogan: "always reliable never needy."
The attack came through Microsoft's routers - machines on the edge of an entire network funnelling in Internet traffic. This led one security expert to comment that there are growing signs of hackers tiring of breaking into single sites to deface web pages. He said that his own company was seeing more people "poking at our infrastructure, testing it".
Meanwhile, an online security company came under attack from hackers just days after issuing an advisory on security flaws in DNS software BIND. NAI's American servers were bombarded with a Denial of Service attack after malicious software was posted anonymously on a security mailing list called BugTraq, with 85,000 members. The list is used by security professionals to share information, publish exploits and post solutions. Postings are monitored for malicious content, but the Denial of Service software crept through undiscovered. Although the network struggled for a while, it did cope. The company put it down to a revenge attack for publicising the vulnerability.
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| E-TAILERS TARGET TEENAGERS |
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Two competing products have been launched which are clearly targeting teenagers in the battle for pay-as-you-go shoppers on the Internet. UK Smart and Splash Plastic are aiming at those who do not hold credit cards either because they are too young or are in a financially precarious position. It will also appeal to those who are wary of online shopping for fear of credit card fraud.
UK Smart works by allowing users to buy top-up cards from Post Offices and then using a code to charge their account on the Internet. Splash Plastic allows users to top up their cards through a network of 7,400 PayPoint systems in high street retailers. Research has shown that young people in particular get frustrated with seeing things on the web they cannot buy - not through lack of funds - and want to be able to get cards in the same way as they do for mobile phones.
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| WHY ONLINE BRANDING IS ONLY HALF THE BATTLE |
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As advertising budgets shrink for TV advertising and poster campaigns, bricks and mortar companies are now beginning to overtake their younger, brasher competitors online. But that should not make them complacent, according to the branding consultancy, Interbrand Interactive. Their research shows that while leading brands might have won high online awareness, this does not necessarily translate into customer loyalty. Companies need to prove themselves all over again when they go online. Tesco, for example, arguably the UK's most successful "clicks and mortar" retailer has only half the customer online commitment as it does in stores. While the obvious explanation for this is that users are not as comfortable on the web, Interbrand believes that companies have so far concentrated on getting their names known. Now they need to build trust through more sophisticated marketing.
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The government has finally appointed an e-envoy, two months later than promised. Andrew Pinder, 53, is a former IT director at the Inland Revenue, and has, in fact, been doing the job since the vacancy arose last October. The delay is said to have come about because of the government's disappointment with the applicants, though it is reported that there were more than 150 applications for the post which carries a salary of 150,000 pounds.
The appointment was welcomed by industry groups which believe the government's main priority should be integrating its own technology systems to speed up the process of putting public services online. Some in the private sector have argued that the e-envoy should be an industry champion within the government.
But the role of encouraging e-commerce now falls to the Department of Trade and Industry and the Small Business Service through Business Links offices.
Pinder is said by colleagues to be a more forceful personality than his predecessor and will get things done. Before he got the temporary appointment he acted as IT consultant to the government.
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| THE LATEST GADGET - A DISPOSABLE MOBILE PHONE |
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The Phone-Card-Phone, made from paper and said to be the size of three credit cards stacked on top of one another is to be launched in America later this year. Predictions are that it will come to Britain next year. In the US the phone will be sold for around $10 with a hands-free adaptor and 60 minutes of airtime.
Invented by a New Yorker, the phone has been in development for two years by Dieceland Tech who believe the low price will make it affordable enough to throw away after use. The company says it has already received more than $100 million worth of orders.
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| BIG INCREASE IN EUROPEAN INTERNET ADVERTISING |
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Forrester Research is forecasting a 74 per cent increase in online advertising this year. "Although dotcoms are tightening their belts, traditional advertisers are expected to step further into the market," says Marc Cohen, Forrester's European AdWatch Manager. "In general, there is a virtuous circle going on. More people are going online, more people are getting comfortable with spending money online and more companies are getting money via online channels, so they can spend more on online marketing."
Though there was lower overall online advertising spending towards the end of last year, there was an increase in the number of companies advertising. Many were new companies dipping their toes in web waters for the first time. "Traditionally spending by media and entertainment companies has been the biggest category, particularly over the summer months. Banks and information technology companies were prominent among the biggest spenders in online advertising, while more retailers were online targeting Christmas shoppers", said Cohen.
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| TOP BOSSES FAIL TO USE WEB POTENTIAL |
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Only 50 per cent of the country's top executives in the manufacturing sector have a practical e-commerce strategy, according to a survey by business consultants Ernst & Young. Research showed that even among those that claimed service and delivery through e-commerce could be developed, they only mentioned provision of one-way, online information through web sites. 40 per cent of boards have yet to formally adopt an e-commerce strategy and developing e-commerce initiatives falls to IT directors rather then strategic or financial experts. A worrying one in three executives still fail to see any importance in electronic integration of business activity with customers and suppliers.
According to Ernst & Young: "Too much emphasis is placed on technological sideshows, such as the cataloguing of products on corporate web sites." The company warned: "If British manufacturing ignores or just tinkers at the edge of e-commerce, then we won't have the tools to trade in the new economy, let alone the cost structures that will make us competitive."
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The BBC is under attack for its proposal to separate the new Internet-based news site into two sections, one carrying advertising and one without. The two versions will carry identical news content, but UK users will be blocked from accessing the version with advertising and users outside the UK will be blocked from seeing the ad-free version. Experts say the plan is technically impossible anyway, while the BBC says the blocking technology is "still being explored."
Opposition to the plan is also likely to come from UK users who feel they might be missing out in some way and from potential viewers in the rest of the world who would prefer ad-free news. And then there's the money factor – public money going to build a site which will be inaccessible.
Meanwhile, the House of Commons Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport which is looking at the proposed creation of super-regulator Ofcom, was told that the BBC is strangling commercial competition online. The warning came from the British Internet Publishers Alliance (BIPA) who say they will give MPs examples of how the BBC acts unfairly and holds back commercial competition.
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| ONLINE MARKETING TO ATTRACT NEW FEES |
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ISPs and portals are going to start charging online marketers for the huge volume of e-mail being sent across the Internet, according to a new report from Jupiter Research. In just four years' time, advertisers are expected to be sending around 268 billion e-mails - 22 times greater than last year - more than 5,600 for each e-mail subscriber.
The research company said that while clever marketers will recognise the new controls as an opportunity to distance their messages from existing inbox clutter, portals and ISPs will see it as an opportunity to generate revenue.
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| KIDS'ADS COULD FACE EU BAN |
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Under the new Swedish presidency of the EU, banners and e-mail targeting children could be banned. Sweden already operates a ban on broadcast advertising targeted at under-12s and has said it will use its six-month presidency to push for tighter European-wide regulations. The news will come as a blow to sites aimed at the under-12s. An NOP Family survey last year showed that 57 per cent of all seven-to 16 year olds used the Internet and that 18 per cent had clicked on ads, with 35 per cent viewing them.
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| ONLINE FINANCE TURNING AWAY NEW BUSINESS |
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Almost half of the country's financial services companies are turning away new business through poor website management. Building societies and insurers were the worst offenders with 64 per cent of companies failing to service potential customers who arrive at their web site. The research was carried out by Rfs to test the hypothesis that there has been a turnaround in finance online.
Ninety-three financial services companies were contacted online and asked for further information on one of their core products. Banking came out best with only one in four failing to answer. A total of 36 per cent failed to respond in any way.
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