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Phantom Partners

Everyone is a phantom partner in a local economy; you may not always see each other, but every business, professional and entrepreneur is partnered through the shared resources of the community. Small changes lead to larger ones and if SMB’s would open themselves to the possibilities offered by new technologies we’d see a transformation that would make the rising sun of the Renaissance look dim in comparison.

Putting Together the Pieces

Matching up business and technology has historically been a difficult process. This may still be true at the corporate level, but is it necessarily true for SMB’s?

While it’s difficult for large corporations to change course, SMB’s have the ability to quickly adapt to new challenges. As always, innovation happens at the local level first.

How can SMB’s utilize the current economic situation to finally fit all the pieces together?

Local Business Can Save the World

With technology available that can drastically cut costs it seems immediate adoption is the only solution.  Fortunately the very same technology that cuts costs can bring community partners together in ways that weren’t possible 10-20 years ago.

A recent article from the Financial Times by Glenn Hubbard (which we discovered courtesy of @bernardmoon via Twitter) highlights the special place that SMB’s hold in resolving the current financial crisis. One of the only ways for SMB’s to remain strong and vibrant is by quickly adapting to the partnership opportunities offered through New Media and shared service technologies.

What’s Your Perspective?

We see things from the perspective of a colocation provider and ISP so connecting businesses and communities is second nature to us, what’s your perspective?

Here are some links to TED (Ideas worth spreading) that take a deeper look at connecting communities as well as some organizations in the U.S. that are taking action:

TED, Ideas Worth Sharing
TEDGlobal 2009
Connecting Communities in New York
Connecting Museums & Communities
Even the Smithsonian is jumping into New Media
UK Official Twitter strategy

Have you heard of any other initiatives? Let us know.

Possible Effects

Gordon Brown, Prime Minister for the UK, recently addressed the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford. His comments on Global ethics in a connected world are even more powerful on a local level.

He asks what the possible effects would be if “the power of our moral sense (was) allied with the communications facilities we have”?

Global Voices, Local Connections

We marvel at communicating with people in China on our iPhones, but in looking so far afield we’ve lost sight of our own back yard. The same technologies that let us communicate our ideas on a global scale are far more valuable in connecting us to the shared experience of our neighborhoods and communities.

What can we do to better equip our communities to begin this kind of dialogue? What can we do on a personal level to insure our worldwide communications networks are mirrored in our local networks?

Building a Base

The power to connect with each other in a shared economic and technological network is a wonderful tool. SMB’s need to leverage and build these networks to insure that the communities they serve remain solvent in these trying times. Entrepreneurs need to build a base, a solid platform, for these initiatives to take off in their communities and then the world.

This great article from the New York Times (posted by @valdiskrebs on Twitter) goes into some of the challenges and rewards that businesses are seeing from collaborative efforts:

Netflix Competitors Learn the Power of Teamwork

What can we do as entrepreneurs and business owners to help foster collaboration not only in our industries, but also in our communities?

Check back later in the week when we’ll talk more about these relationships in a post titled, Phantom Partners.

A Teenager in Eastern Iowa

A teenager in Eastern Iowa working at a gas station can run an internationally relevant SMB on the side with today’s technology. Sounds farfetched, but a 25 year old is running a burgeoning media empire, while working for EMC2 on the side as a marketing advisor, thanks to his internet savvy and use of shared services.

Why don’t more established SMB’s take advantage of the options in front of them?

The growth of ‘cloud’ computing and software as a service (SAAS), not to mention outsourcing solutions like O-Desk and crowdsourcing solutions like social media, are leveraging the need for immediate business solutions even when the upfront capital isn’t there for long term investments.

Community at Work

Using any remotely hosted service, whether it’s a data center or a social media platform like WordPress, allows you to reap the benefits without the expense of running it in house. It also helps other SMBs in your community leverage the same computing power.

By sharing the cost across multiple organizations the service provider is better able to keep up with constantly changing needs of a high technology environment. On the client side, businesses are able to get top notch service at lower cost.

What about us?

So what are we as business owners and entrepreneurs doing to help build and support this network? Maybe we’re not teenagers anymore, but what can we do to turn our businesses into powerful tools for the social good on par with all those teen tech giants out there?

Here are some resources for businesses looking to understand the Shared Services model:

Shared Services & Outsourcing Network
Dana Gardner at ZDNet on Shared Services and Cost Cutting
Deloitte’s Shared Services Resources
Wikipedia Shared Services

Armstrong’s Missing ‘A’

It’s hard to imagine with all those tweets, FaceBook posts, LinkedIn status updates, emails and blog posts that the little mistakes really make a difference. What’s a few grammar errors, factual flubs or poorly worded paragraphs amidst the noise, right?

If you find yourself thinking this, it might be time to step back and reconsider your marketing plan. What exactly are you going for if the small details don’t matter?

Neil Armstrong’s famous words weren’t just an off the cuff remark, they were a well planned strategy to set the media stage for U.S. dominance of space during the cold war. When the public (and the international media) heard him announce “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” some were puzzled by what seems to be a redundant statement.

There was something missing, a little ‘A’ which would have helped the message make sense.

Radio Glitches

All it took was a radio glitch to turn a well placed media mark into a 40 year grammatical gaff. Everyone still remembers the line, but four decades of snarky grammar comments could have been averted with just a little more care.

This is a great lesson for businesses that use social media, if you’re spending time pushing content into the social media sphere why not keep an eye on the quality of what you’re putting out there.

A Few Helpful Reminders to Keep in Mind

•    Matsuo Basho, 17th century poet and Haiku master, said that every letter should be written as if it were meant to last through the ages. This may be a high mark to set for your Tweets, but it’s better to keep it in mind than to forget it and end up regretting one of your 140 character outbursts.

•    Editing is easy before you send something out, dealing with mistakes after the fact isn’t. This is something that’s been repeated so often it’s surprising there’s still a problem (I admit I’m not perfect in this regard either).

•    Make sure your links work. I received an email invitation from a PR firm for a webinar on pitching that contained broken links and obvious editorial mistakes (half sentences that were probably meant to be cut). How likely am I to pay to attend this seminar?

•    Remember relevance. It’s one thing to lighten your content from time to time; it’s another to float off into space. Keep things moored on solid ground and you’ll give people a place to go rather than an opportunity to miss you while they look at the stars.

•    Context is more important than ever. When there is so much information streaming across the internet it’s easy to lose site of the past, don’t add to this problem by missing an opportunity to add valuable historical context to your social media efforts.

Toothpicks and Chewing Gum

We’re always vocal about the cost of downtime. Having been in this business since 1992 we’ve seen a good deal and we know that when it comes to risk mitigation and disaster recovery toothpicks and chewing gum solutions don’t cut it.

Stormy Weather

There have been some significant storms passing through the Midwest this summer and the Chicagoland area has already suffered a few power outages.

It’s times like this that you see the real merit of all those meetings and planning sessions. Discussions in the board room are one thing, but quite often reality has a way of surprising even the most forward thinking among us.

24 Hour Mark

After the last storm a number of businesses in the area were left without power for close to 24 hours. We had a chance to talk with the business owners who were affected and it became clear that having a well developed risk management plan really does make a difference.

It’s probably a no brainer at this point, but it suffices to say those who had solid plans kept going at pace, those who didn’t…well, there’s probably some pretty heavy operations and planning meetings going on this week.

How did your risk management and disaster recovery plans hold up when push came to shove? Did they pass the 24 hour mark?

A New Voice for the XNet Blog

Those of you who’ve been loyally following the XNet blog may have noticed a bit of downtime over the last couple of months. Well, we’re back on track with a new Blogger and I’ll be keeping you all up to date on the weekly happenings here at our Critical Computing Facility.

A short walk

My name is David Metcalfe and I’m the newest addition to the XNet team. Over the years I’ve worked with MaconRaine, Inc. and the former Bradley Wiltjer Marketing Group, both sponsors of the Silicon Prairie Social, so I’ve been on the periphery of XNet for awhile.

Beyond my personal associations with the folks here, due to the fact that I live in Lisle much of what I do is supported by XNet in one way or another. They host services for Morton Arboretum, the Lisle Library and the Village of Lisle itself. As an active naturalist, reader and resident they support services that I use on a weekly basis.

Off time pursuits

A fascination with culture has lead me to explore every aspect of history, music, art, literature, politics and science that I can unreasonably cram into my day.  Outside of XNet I’m the Creative Director/illustrator for The Absurdist Monthly Review, an internationally distributed e-journal that explores avant-garde literary theory, experimental writing techniques and the history of absurdism. I also do a bit of scrawling for my own e-publication The Eyeless Owl and for a variety of bloggers and online authors as the mood strikes me.

On the horizon

It’s exciting to have an opportunity to work with XNet directly rather than just hovering on the border. All the activity around here is giving me a chance to stretch my professional skills and put those nights researching the ebb and flow of culture to good use.

Keep your eyes open for XNet’s newsletter in the next couple of weeks as well as announcements on upcoming Silicon Prairie Social events and an XNet Open House coming sometime in October. We had a blast at the last SPS in April and we’re looking forward to seeing everyone again in September. Also, if you’re a Twitter user, check us out @xnetinfosys .