Dear customers and friends of Envision Online Media Inc.:

As you may have read online, yesterday Envision was acquired by Northcore Technologies Inc. (TSX:NTI)(OTCBB:NTLNF). I wanted to give you a quick update on the transaction and how it affects your dealings with Envision Online Media Inc.

First of all, I can assure you that things will remain business as usual here at Envision. We will continue to focus on the same markets and services we have all along. Northcore doesn’t want to “mess with a good thing”, and the contract guarantees our independence. In the agreement, all of Envision’s current staff, systems, processes, target market, pricing etc. will remain the same for the foreseeable future. I will still be here at the helm, as I have a two year+ contract as President of Envision, and I intend to honour it 100%.

As you can imagine, this was a very big decision for me. When you found a business, it’s “your baby”, as they say. But after numerous discussions with the COO (Jim Moskos) and CEO (Amit Monga), I felt there was a very strong culture fit, and decided that the best thing for “my baby” was to allow it to grow up and head off to university, so to speak. This deal will give Envision access to additional resources that will allow us to grow and get even better!

Northcore Technologies provides enterprise level software products and services that enable its customers to purchase, manage and dispose of capital equipment. Utilizing award-winning, multi-patented technology, as well as powerful, holistic Social Commerce tools, Northcore’s solutions support customers throughout the entire asset lifecycle. Northcore also owns 50 percent of GE Asset Manager LLC (a joint business venture with GE) and holds a substantial intellectual property portfolio. Based out of Toronto, they work with brands like Kraft, Home Hardware and Toro.

If you missed the press release, you can read it here: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/northcore-announces-acquisition-of-envision-online-media-inc-tsx-nti-1637271.htm

Sincerely,

Todd Jamieson
President
Envision Online Media Inc.

With the multitude of social opportunities available on the world wide web these days it is sometimes easy to lose sight of your output. From your latest Twitter or LinkedIn review to your most recent Facebook update, many of us are striving to be noticed. After all, according to a new study, you only have a small amount of time to be relevant (80 minutes to be exact); so more is more, right? Not exactly. While you may only have a limited time to be relevant in the social media world, in the search engine world, you can technically be visible forever. In other words, that old company bio you had the intern write back in 2004 could still be floating around in 2011.

To illustrate, consider the following: an association decides to go online in 2001 and they have their network administrator put up the site. He or she manages it for a few years, then hands it off to the new internal marketing person. Now here’s where it gets tricky; over the years new versions of the site were created. This means that each time a new version was created, old files were saved online which didn’t link to the newer ones. This can get even stickier if the older files don’t necessarily have anything to do with the current business profile.

For example, let’s say the network administrator (we’ll call him Bob) without telling the web designer, created a few pages from the company’s old site, including his kid’s birthday webpage he saved as a test back in 2002. Sandy (who is looking to do business with Bob’s company) is googling for information and accidentally lands on the 2002 site. She clicks around and leaves, deciding she’d prefer to do business with someone else. All of this can happen without anyone even knowing.

So how can your business avoid the pitfalls associated with an outdated online presence? The first step is to go online and perform a quick check (you can do this yourself or have more tech savvy colleague take a look). Go to Google, type in the search bar your site (site:yourdomain.com) and look at the file names for weird patterns. Another option is to do a search by file type (for example if your new site is aspx and the old is HTML, you would type: filetype:html site:yourdomain.ca into Google). This way you are aware of what data is associated with your company and can organize accordingly.

These types of scenarios are for the most part unintentional, but (depending on how your company’s site is indexed) older or less “polished” versions may show ahead of newer ones, including content which shouldn’t be there at all.This is a major problem for many organizations (and they don’t even know it!) Understanding what your company has online is essential to avoiding blunders like Bob’s and is a great first step.

How do you manage your online content to make sure nothing is out of date?

As children we are taught to see beyond first impressions and give everyone a chance. The old “don’t judge a book by its cover” still plays in my ears as I enter a less than pristine restaurant or a new acquaintance’s messy home. Still, in everyday life and especially in business, first impressions mean everything. From the polish of your shoes to the make of your phone, we are constantly being judged by our peers based on outward appearances; and a professional website is no exception. In an online world your website is more than just your storefront, it’s your brand identity.

This type of “outward” thinking is not unique to business owners, and there is no doubt that is due in part to our conditioning. The tendency in our society to focus on appearances is deeply ingrained. The prettiest books with the best headlines usually make the best sellers list , the toys with the coolest packaging get added to your cart, heck, even the best-looking people always end up getting the job. There is no doubt that design and appearance have a huge impact on how we buy, but first impressions in the online world don’t function the same way they do in the offline world.

Over the twelve years I’ve spent working in web design, I have had many discussions with clients regarding creative visions for their business’ site. Many of these meetings have a similar outcome; we spend 80 percent of our time discussing the home page, and 20 percent (or less) of our time discussing interior pages. Most business owners we talk to feel that visitors land on their homepage and then follow a path from there. In other words, the customer’s “first impression” happens on the homepage thus rendering it the most important part of the site design.

While it is true that there will always be more people visiting your “true home page”, you may have dozens more landing on other pages first. To illustrate, you would never enter a store from a random aisle but customers could be entering your website at any point from your shopping basket to your corporate profile. I have personally witnessed this shift over the last ten years in our client statistics, and depending on how your company site shows up online any page of your website could become your “first impression”. Some of the things we try to encourage during the design process with our clients are:

1. Are the brand and values obvious?
2. Does each page match the overall design strategy?
3. Are there appropriate calls to action so that the site can collect leads, emails, sales etc. from different pages?
4. Is there a way to monitor what’s happening on the site?

Erroneously, people have become accustomed to thinking about website architecture and hierarchy in a tree like way; a trunk, then a branch, then a twig. Of course it is a mistake to assume that all users will access your information in a logical linear fashion; as many visitors will access your site via search engines and navigate as they please. So while the Homepage is certainly a great “attention grabber”, your customers will not necessarily arrive at the glorious arches of your store front. That’s why it’s important to make sure that all areas of your “space” reflect your brand, your goals, and what your business is really all about.

In the 1960’s, the Beatles’ famously sang about getting by “With A Little Help from My Friends”. Today websites like Wikipedia, Word Press, and Amazon are bringing a whole new meaning to the concept of relying on others to help you reach your goals. In the digital age friends are not so much “friends” as they are collaborators, and these collaborators are generally anonymous strangers motivated by either a small sum of money or a desire to contribute to a shared project. From a massive online encyclopedia to secretive government initiatives, people around the world are facilitating a digital phenomenon.

This phenomenon is referred to as the law of “Mechanical Turk” after the famous chess-playing “robot” from the 18th century. “The Turk”, which toured Europe under the guise of being a machine, was later revealed to be controlled by a (human) chess master hidden in a special compartment. Similarly, Amazon’s Mechanical Turk allows humans to help computers complete tasks they aren’t yet capable of. These “human intelligence” tasks can be assigned to the world at large; for example a task might be to label an image at a rate of one cent per image. Harvard University Professor Jonathan Zittrain likens this trend to that of “a rat pushing a button to get a pellet of food”.

While Amazon’s paid version of turking might seem dubious, sites like Word Press and Wikipedia are proving that a community of virtual strangers can effectively collaborate on a project which contributes to a greater good. Wikipedia (which garners over 10 million hits a day) has more than 90,000 “editors” ranging from scholars to casual users. What is perhaps even more remarkable about the success of such collaborative projects, is the implications they have for those in the information business. One needs to look no further than Microsoft’s failed Encyclopedia software to recognize the value of co-creation for consumers. A team of software engineers, design experts, and a multimillion dollar budget just couldn’t compete with Wikipedia’s free and continuous stream of information.

Of course this doesn’t mean that big brands are necessarily in danger because of turking sites like those mentioned above, just that they will need to be more innovative in order to compete in an open source market. A great example of a product which is complimented by open source modifications is a CRM template like SugarCRM. While there are multiple possible outcomes, users with similar needs can benefit from specifically modified templates. For example, users in one industry can effectively work together to build the best interface to suit their shared customer relationship objectives.

What open source and turking have done is simply allow for a more collaborative global environment where people can work together towards a common goal. Like SugarCRM and Wikipedia, all people need is a platform in which to work with. Paid or not, the general public has embraced turking and open source seems here to stay. This type of “teamwork” is changing our world and that’s a good thing; after all, aren’t humans supposed to help each other?

We recently had the pleasure of chatting with CRM (customer relationship management) guru Brent Leary, who was kind enough to offer his expertise and insight on CRM and what it means (and can mean) for small to medium sized businesses. Mr. Leary has over 15 years of IT and management consulting experience and has worked on projects for PricewaterhouseCoopers, BellSouth, Compaq, the IMF and the World Bank. Most recently Mr. Leary has written an eBook  “Strategically Social: 5 Keys to Becoming a Social Business” where he offers tips on how companies can leverage social tools and channels to listen to and engage with their customers in a variety of ways.

Todd: First of all, we just want to thank you again for taking the time to talk with us today. Let’s start with an easy question: we’ve just stepped into an elevator, what is your “pitch”?

Brent: I’ve been involved with CRM since before it was CRM. I started developing applications for electronic territory management systems, and then really got involved in the early 2000s with software as a service (Salesforce) and then eventually moved from implementation to best practice, leadership and showing companies how to leverage CRM.

Todd: A lot of CRM systems are designed with a “one-size” fits all approach in mind; in your opinion is that a disadvantage for small-medium sized businesses (SMB’s)?

Brent: I think the reason you haven’t seen them to date is that small businesses are really just starting to warm up to CRM because its more accessible, it’s easier to use, and it’s more cost efficient now. The social component has kind of invigorated the CRM market, which is why you haven’t seen a lot of verticalization at the SMB level yet. SMB’s are really (just) embracing CRM now as opposed to 3 or 4 years ago.

Todd: Many or our readers are small-medium sized business owners and managers. What would you say to smaller companies who may not feel they need a CRM?

Brent: I’d say that its’ time to wake up (laughter) .CRM at the SMB level has gone from nice to have, to need to have, to GOT to have if you want to stay in business and really build relationships with the social customer. What’s really been the drawing factor for small businesses is the whole social component because it’s used to engage people. It’s not just operationally efficient, it covers the two challenges that company’s face; finding new customers and extending relationships with current customers.

Todd: What is the biggest mistake people make when attempting to implement a CRM on their own?

Brent: The common theme is that (businesses) think that writing the cheque is the hardest part, and that by buying the technology everything else will magically fall in to place. If you don’t do the upfront work and understand your challenges and what processes need to be in place, no matter what system you get, it’s just going to fail faster.

Todd: Do you think that true SCRM is possible through channels like Twitter and Facebook? Why or why not?

Brent: The obvious answer is yes you can; but it’s not in a vacuum, it’s part of an overarching strategy. Just because (a company) is on Facebook and Twitter doesn’t mean you don’t use emails or pick up the phone anymore. All of these things are just channels you’ve got to find the right mix. The best place to start is with your best customers. Ask them which social networks they use, how they use them, which bloggers in the industry they listen to; what are the things that are important to them? This will give you a much better idea of who to engage and what channels to use.

Todd: Are you finding a new breed of customer service training for Twitter?

Brent: Absolutely. There are a number of companies that train their customer service people to respond on social networks because it’s different responding on Twitter than to a phone call. A customer service rep might be good on the phone but not good on Twitter, so training is important.

Todd: Who (person, company, developer) is doing it “right” in terms of SMB’s CRM? Why?

Brent: There’s no one company because (it’s) such a fragmented market. I think that’s been one of the biggest challenges when it comes to small business CRMs. There are so many different needs they have from one another it’s hard for any one company to rule the market. I think Zoho has a good CRM offering that gives a lot of the meat and potato needs of a small business at a very attractive price point. Sugar CRM is another one that’s providing a good CRM service at a price small business can easily consume. You have companies like Batchblue who have a really good CRM for the small guys. 37 signals and Highrise is another one. There are a number of solutions out there and the list keeps growing.

Todd: This has been great. You’ve brought up some really interesting points about CRM for our SMB readers.  We really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to talk with us, thanks again.

Brent:  Thanks a lot, take care.

As the great Albert Einstein often mused “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.  Now I’m not questioning anyone’s lucidity, but sometimes (for whatever reason), people just can’t seem to recognize that change is essential. Like the turbulent lovers who just can’t seem to quit each other, businesses often fail to recognize when their business practices aren’t working.

If you’ve ever been to modern day Copenhagen, you will probably agree that Denmark is a relatively progressive place. So progressive “in fact” that even Oprah herself has endorsed the simple, peaceful, and open-minded Danish way of life. It might come as a surprise that for centuries the Danish were paramount in perpetuating one of the oldest and greatest myths in the world – unicorns. Vikings in the middle ages routinely sold what they called “unicorn tusks” (most likely horns from a narwhal), and it was widely believed that these tusks had healing powers. It was even alleged that the Queen’s throne was made of entirely of the precious bones. What may be even more surprising is that it was also a 17^th century Danish scientist who first disproved the whole unicorn thing.

The lesson from all of this is that beliefs and culture aren’t static. Just because the Danish spent hundreds of years subscribing to the belief that unicorns frolicked among us, didn’t stop them from examining their beliefs, even disproving them as a result.  The same is true within any business organization – just because something has always been a certain way doesn’t mean that it’s right, nor that you can’t change it. Chip Conley, West Coast entrepreneur and hotelier extraordinaire demonstrates this well in his book Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow.  In this book (and in life), Conley basically sets out to turn traditional management models on their head.

For example, managers and CEOs have long believed that employees are primarily motivated by money, and have thus designed their business culture around incentives and rewards based management. However, Conley points out that money actually factors in quite insignificantly compared to other motivators like meaning, self-actualization, and recognition.  Conley explains, “We took the Maslow pyramid and turned it into an employee pyramid with three basic themes: survival at the base, succeed at the middle, and transformation at the top. Applying that to employees, it’s money, recognition, and meaning”.  For example, while most companies do management retreats, Conley makes it a habit to take his front line staff (like housekeepers, receptionists, and bell boys) for brainstorming sessions offsite. These sessions allow front line staff to provide valuable insight into the daily operations of the business, while at the same time feeling recognized for their contributions.

What Conley is doing here is establishing a culture of recognition, and this has led to increased job satisfaction (and performance) among his staff. For example, many of his housekeepers see their positions as much more than just cleaning rooms; they see themselves as customer care specialists who are creating tranquil spaces for weary travelers. He explains “At the end of the day … We could have a robot come in and clean your room, but it’s not going to be the same experience as someone who smiles at you when you walk down the hallway and knows a little bit about you”. So, instead of promoting the old carrot and stick culture amongst your employees, why not learn from the Danish and smart CEOs and really examine your culture? Sure, most companies will continue to operate on the old management models (obviously with some success or they wouldn’t be doing it) but that doesn’t mean they’re right. Go ahead and take a chance on change: after all, it’s certainly working for Mr. Conley.

On a pleasant evening in late September, local marketing company (and Envision Online partner) Marketing Breakthroughs (MB) brought a little Don Draper to downtown Ottawa.  To celebrate an impressive 16 years in the advertising business, MB hosted a 1960’s themed bash for friends and clients at Club Soma, a trendy health and fitness spa just steps from Parliament.

The venue was transformed into a vintage hot spot with themed décor and a live jazz band.  Guests noshed on shrimp and veggie appetizers and sipped ‘Mad Men’  inspired cocktails like the ‘Manhattan Breakthrough’. However there was one very modern element to the event – a giant plasma screen live broadcasting tweets from the event using the hashtag #MBSweet16.

Attending the event from Envision Online were project manager Jennifer Priest, designer Gurjot Bhuller, and Envision founder Todd Jamieson. Gurjot, decked out in an on- theme black polka dot dress (complete with pearls) caught up with some clients, while Jennifer got a chance to mingle with new ones. “We were very happy to be there to show our support (for MB), and everyone was very in to the theme, especially the MB staffers”, said Jennifer.

But the event wasn’t just a party for MB- it was also a fundraiser for two lucky local charities; The Caring and Sharing Exchange , and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. With the help of celebrity auctioneer Stuntman Stu, the event raised over 6,000 dollars in 15 minutes with participants bidding on everything from sports jerseys to art.

All in all it was a wonderful evening and Envision would like to extend sincere congratulations to MB for not only 16 years in business, but a totally groovy party! Don Draper would definitely have approved.

The evening's entertainment featured live jazz.

Club Soma as it would have been in the 1960's

Most companies traditionally view their bottom line as a statistical or numerical value. They typically measure success based on quantitative data like sales, while qualitative data like documents or words (while useful), are not generally what CEO’s  are looking for. But what if this focus on the analytic was not only insufficient but potentially outdated? Spearheaded by the success of Xerox’s holistic approach to service documentation, a new focus on “right brain thinking” (and what it means for the future of business) is on the horizon.

Left or right, east or west, democrat or republican, most of us are used to the deep divide represented by “opposites”. This dynamic takes on an even deeper meaning when it comes to describing the relationship of right brain to left brain thinking. Without delving into Bill Nye territory, we can  explain the right brain as responsible for random, intuitive, subjective, and holistic thought processes whereas the left brain is responsible for logical, sequential, analytical or objective thought processes. In other words if you ended up as a philosopher you’re likely more “right brained” and if you ended up as engineer you’re likely more “left brained”.

In his book A Whole New Mind, TED regular Daniel Pink looks at the importance of right-brain thinking skills. Pink sees the ability to tell a story as an increasingly critical skill for business, especially in a technology driven society where large volumes of information are accessible instantly and continuously. “What begins to matter more is the ability to place these facts in context and to deliver them with emotional impact. And that is the essence of the aptitude of Story – context enriched by emotion”, says Pink. The personal element of storytelling is particularly useful in business as it brings additional dimension to standard interpretations, and (depending on credibility) provides valuable insight within organizations.

To illustrate his point Pink looks to Xerox and their famous “Eureka” system, which is essentially a database where service people can document their repairs online. This includes not only the traditional, statistical information (time, date, length of appointment) but also any “notes” about what the individual observed during the call. Pink says, “Xerox [recognized] that its repair personnel learned to fix machines by trading stories rather than by reading manuals “. In this case the notes in the Eureka system serve as stories and have helped Xerox to find new and simpler ways to repair their products.  Xerox encourages collaboration between their employees in order to work towards finding better solutions, and in doing so looks beyond the typical business strategies of time saving and number crunching.

So while most companies might view “water cooler talk” as detrimental to an efficiency objective, Xerox has capitalized on storytelling by creating a system to store and transfer knowledge. Storytelling and knowledge creation has also been a big part of Xerox’s customer service strategy, as worldwide Director of Xerox’s customer service Tom Ruddy says “When people hear about Eureka, they always want to see the software. But it’s really the environment that we are creating … We realized early on that technology wasn’t the solution-that if we didn’t work on the behavioral side of the equation, it wouldn’t be successful”. The Eureka system has lead not only to increased knowledge creation but also innovation and improved service techniques. So if anyone benefits more than the management and employees in this situation, it’s the customers. Not only can they enjoy more efficient service, but the employees they deal with are probably happier too.

Since 2008, businesses and involved citizens (like Chris) have come together to support one of the oldest charitable organizations in the world, the YMCA. Known for its commitment to promoting mental and physical health in young people, the Y’s choice of a golf tournament fundraiser is especially fitting for an organization devoted to an active community.

Sunburned but enthusiastic, Chris described a beautiful but busy day where everyone from CEO’s to journalists teed off to support the cause. For his second year volunteering, Chris had the rather large responsibility of outfitting 144 golf carts for tournament participants. “Setting up (golf carts) involved putting on sponsorship logos and signs on every cart and arranging, scorecards, programs, that sort of thing”, said Chris, who also played photographer at the event (photographing participants as they arrived at the 15^th tee).

In addition to the participants who donated to play, a silent auction and a long list of partners and sponsors helped boost fundraising efforts. Proceeds from the event, (which is part of the larger campaign ‘Strengthening the Heart of Our Community: Capital Campaign’), went towards the overall campaign fundraising goal of 15 million. To date 77% or 11.6 million has been raised for programs supporting families and children in the Ottawa area. Envision Online has been fortunate to work with Y Canada  and is a proud sponsor of this event. We would like to wish everyone involved with the campaign the best of luck on their way to the fundraising goal.

Just some of the 144 golf carts outfitted for participants.

In our quest to make everything ‘better’ we sometimes manage to muddle up a perfectly good design or over complicate an easy to grasp concept. While it is somewhat natural to want to “show-off”, it is important to ask yourself if you are catering to your ego, or your audience. With all of the options that the advancement of knowledge and technology brings, for many business professionals it can sometimes be hard to keep accessibility and usability in perspective.

Most of us are constantly looking for ways to improve and expand our companies. This includes researching, and educating ourselves across a variety of industries via various experts and mentors. Knowledge is power, right? So when I had the opportunity a couple of years ago to see a particular Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialist speak, I jumped at it. This woman had presented at almost every major conference in the world, and having read all of her books I considered myself a huge fan.

Poised with anticipation, I was ready to be thoroughly enlightened on anything and everything SEO. When the speaker took to the stage and started off with something relatively basic, I was admittedly a little confused. Oh well, I thought, she’s probably just warming up the crowd (it was the first slide after all). Imagine my surprise when this world-renowned SEO “whiz” presented slide after slide of what I considered pretty elementary material. Where was all of the technical and advanced information? I already knew all of this stuff! I literally sat dumbfounded at the end of the presentation as the rest of the audience (clearly loving it) applauded with approval.

What surprised me the most was the crowd’s reaction; they were all extremely intelligent and successful business people. How could have they possibly got anything out of this? The reason is that although they were all intelligent and successful, this was new material to them. They didn’t know SEO. The speaker had tailored her entire presentation to a basic level because she had researched her audience ahead of time. She knew that if she presented a complicated seminar about Google’s algorithm, or the latest SEO updates from Matt Cutts, then the crowd would be lost (both figuratively and literally). Even though she had much greater knowledge and capabilities, the speaker was considerate (and smart) enough to appropriately adapt her presentation.

This type of tailoring can apply in a variety of instances. For example, think about your company website. Could you be losing your crowd by being too technical? If you are including too much scientific or industrial terminology, then chances are your audience will be limited. Providing too much information can also be a problem – you don’t want to overwhelm people either. Instead try to emulate our informed, aforementioned SEO speaker and tailor your website to reach your “audience” – AKA customers. To do this, you need to ask yourself whether someone who has little or no experience in your industry could understand what you are talking about. Don’t go overboard using industry terms and avoid going into too much detail. Regular customers don’t want an advanced seminar on your product; they just want to know is if you can help them.