UFirst Now ‹ Success and Progress by UFirst

What’s a Wiki?

11/01/11 0 COMMENTS

UFirst Now - What's a Wiki?

Before answering that question, let’s take a look at the etymology of the word “wiki” and learn how Howard G. “Ward” Cunningham came to use the word in association with his software. Wiki is a word from the Hawaiian language which means: quick, hurry, swift, fast, speedy, etc. Also, the Hawaiian language allows for words to be doubled for emphasis (e.g., wiki wiki means very quick, super fast, etc.).

Cunningham started developing the World’s first “wiki” website in 1994. He named his new creation “WikiWikiWeb” and installed it on March 25, 1995 to the domain of his software consultancy (c2.com) as an add-on to the Portland Patten Repository.

The moniker “WikiWikiWeb” was coined by Cunningham after hearing the word “wiki” during his first trip to the Hawaiian Islands and his desire to choose a unique name/word for his unusual technology. After arriving at the Honolulu International Airport, Cunningham was directed by an airport employee to take the “WikiWiki Shuttle” that transports people/baggage between the various terminals.

Both the name and the concept of wiki software have stuck and are part of the technologies used in websites such as Wikipedia.org, Wiki.answers.com and WikiTravel.org.

What characteristics identify a website as using “wiki” technology? The technical response would be a website that allows for non-linear, evolving, complex and networked text, argument and interaction. In layman’s terms, a wiki website is essentially a database for creating, browsing and searching through information.

Cunningham and Bo Leuf, co-authors of the book, The Wiki Way: Quick Collaboration on the Web, described a wiki website as having the following three traits:

Wiki websites provide the capability for users to edit/create pages using simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor through a plain Web browser.

Promotes meaningful topic associations between different pages by making page link creation virtually intuitive and showing if a target page exists or not.

Wiki websites seek to involve the visitor in an ongoing process of creation and collaboration that constantly changes the website’s landscape.

Note: On March 15, 2007, “wiki” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Fax Machines: Asset or Obsolete?

04/01/11 0 COMMENTS

Fax Machines: Asset or Obsolete?

Although raw forms of faxing have been around since the mid-to-late 1800s, the fax machine as we know it today has existed in various configurations since the 1970s. By the mid-1980s, faxing became a very popular and economical communication tool and was being used in both the corporate and private sectors. But, is sending a fax still a viable business tool with such a wide array of advanced technologies available?

The answer to that question is there’s no sign that faxing will be going away anytime soon. Even with increased competition from digital alternatives, businesses usually maintain some kind of in-house faxing capability.

Particularly in the transmission of sensitive information, faxing still retains some advantage over newer technologies. If sensitive information is sent over the Internet unencrypted, it is vulnerable to interception. Another advantage in using faxes is electronic signatures. Some countries do not recognize an electronic signature as legally binding, while still accepting them if faxed.

Oddly enough, both methods can easily be forged. There’s no real proof that the person clicking the online button is who they say they are. Same goes for faxed signatures. It doesn’t take a career criminal to figure out that taping a copy of a stolen signature to a document, then faxing it, is probably the easiest way to execute a convincing forgery.

The journey of a fax is one of many formats. The average faxed document is in paper form twice and digital form four times along with an analog sound file once. It would make sense to create the file once (digitally) and use digital transmission methods to send the document. On that note, the future of the analog fax machine now falls into the hands of the digital world.

In many corporate environments, standalone fax machines have been replaced by “fax servers” and other computerized systems capable of receiving, sending and storing incoming/outgoing faxes electronically. The fax services then route them to users via an e-mail. Such systems reduce costs by eliminating the need for paper printouts and the required number of analog phone lines.

Shipping & Handling Solutions for Small Businesses

28/12/10 0 COMMENTS

UFirst Now - Shipping & Handling Solutions for Small Businesses

If your company doesn’t have a shipping strategy then it doesn’t matter if you’ve cornered the market in the manufacturing of widgets and thingamajigs. Products sitting on your shipping dock or stuck in a warehouse will cost your company both time and money. Even worse, a product delivered late or not at all will cost you clients.

Finding the right shipper can seem like a daunting task when you already have a million day-to-day items to manage in your business. Trying to remember shipping rates/schedules along with understanding the intricacies of packaging can clog your throughput pipeline and damage your business reputation.

Understand that every company has unique shipping requirements and they can change depending on several factors:

Types of products shipped
Special handling requirement (e.g., overweight, odd shape, chemicals, etc.)
Volume and frequency of items shipped
Delivery requirements
Distance (CONUS or overseas)

These factors can fit into the services offered from several different types of shipping companies:

Bicycle Courier
Local Van Deliveries
OTR Trucking
Aircraft
Boat

Until your shipping needs are set through years of experience, ensure your shipping strategy will cover “one up and one down.” If you normally ship using “local van deliveries,” have a bicycle courier service (one down) and an OTR trucking service (one up) in place. Informing a client you’ll need an extra day for an overnight shipment to research OTR trucking companies is not a solution.

Look for shipping companies where the shipping container (e.g., box, tube, envelope, etc.) is included in the shipping cost. If you ship items using OTR trucking companies, get involved in a one-to-one pallet exchange program to reduce costs.

Review your shipping situation every 90–180 days to ensure they are the most effective in terms of costs and time management. An OTR trucking company could be doing a good job and have an outstanding “on time” delivery rating, but when performing due diligence you might discover a different delivery service that is less expensive and can deliver a day sooner.

The Impact of the 40-Hour Workweek

21/12/10 1 COMMENTS

UFirst Now - The Impact of the 40-Hour Workweek

One workweek is equal to the total amount of hours in one, seven-day calendar week an individual spends at employed (paid) occupational labor in a commercial environment. Some countries have enacted law that mandates the minimum daily rest periods and the maximum number of working hours per day and/or week.

The industrial revolution made it possible for workers to be employed year-round due to work no longer being tied to a season or the amount of available sunlight. But, employers looking to maximize their profits dramatically increased working hours. In some industrial areas, records indicate that schedules as grueling as 16 hours a day, seven days a week were mandatory.

With a strong supporting role from progressive legislation and trade unions, working hours steadily declined by the mid-20th century. In most of the industrialized world, the workweek dropped to about 40-hours per week after World War II. In modern Western society, most salaried employees work Monday through Friday, 8-hours per day.

With this schedule, the average American worker spends 2,080 hours per year on the clock. This means that Americans spend 137 more hours per year at work than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and a whopping 499 more hours per year than French workers.

This is due in part to the average vacation days allowed by employers. Italians enjoys 25 days, Canadians 26 days, while French workers enjoy 37 day’s worth of relaxation per year! In contrast, the average American takes 13 days off per year with 26 percent of workers taking no vacation at all.

Studies supporting a four-day workweek indicate that reducing work hours not only increases consumption and invigorates the economy, but also improves worker’s level of education and mental/physical health. While continuing a 40-hour workweek policy, some employers are experimenting with various workforce scheduling methods to maintain their throughput.

Short Weeks
Four 10-hour working days with three full days off.

Flextime
Workers change their schedule around rush-hour traffic which shortens the time away from home.

Telecommuting
Permits employees to work from home without commuting.

What Does B2B, B2C & B2G Mean?

14/12/10 0 COMMENTS

UFirst Now - What Does B2B, B2C, B2G Mean?

One of the many definitions of business is “the buying and selling of commodities and services.” Whether that business is conducted directly to another business, to a consumer or to the government, the basis of the transaction starts from a business.

In today’s fast paced business world, some marketing terms have been shortened. A business to business (buying and selling) transaction is now known as B2B; a business to consumer transaction (selling) is defined as B2C; and B2G represents selling a product and/or providing a service to the government.

B2B = Business to Business
There are far more transactions per day in the B2B world than B2C. Even something as common as a pair of pants has been assembled from a variety of business-to-business transactions. But to the consumer, it is just one transaction.

The jeans manufacturer must purchase ink, cotton, rivets and labeling from several different businesses. Ink might have been purchased from South Carolina, cotton from Mississippi, rivets from Indiana and the labeling from overseas. This doesn’t include the B2B transactions of hiring a clothing designer, a manufacturer to sew the material together or hiring a trucking company to distribute their products.

B2B can also revolve around business-to-business transactions ONLY. This means the business NEVER sells to the consumer — only to businesses.

B2C = Business to Consumer
The average consumer is unaware of the steps required before a pair of jeans can be placed in their shopping cart. In fact, most consumers only concern themselves with the three things:

1. Is my size available?
2. Do they fit?
3. How much do they cost?

Essentially, any product available online, in a retail store, street vendor or by catalog is a part of the B2C process.

B2G = Business to Government
This area of business deals directly with the government. The government agency could be federal, state or local and can include the military. Some B2G companies sell their products and/or services to B2B and more rarely, to the B2C market. B2G usually involves negotiated contracts as the result of RFPs, RFIs, RFQs.