Making technology work for you and how to access what you didn't think you could afford (Future Leaders version)
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This document provides information on how to access technology that may seem unaffordable and discusses developing a mobile strategy, data privacy concerns, and discounts on technology. It introduces Connecting Up, an organization that aims to help people make technology work for them through discussing mobile strategies, data usage and privacy, and finding affordable options including discounts and free resources available at www.connectingup.org.
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Making technology work for you and how to access what you didn't think you could afford (Future Leaders version)
- 1. Making technology work for you What to do, and how to access what you didn’t think you could afford
- 12. So what can we do with it?
- 15. How do I develop a mobile strategy?
- 22. What do I need to be careful of?
- 30. That’s great, but how do I afford all this?
- 33. Free you say?
- 37. Ryan Jones Connecting Up rj@connectingup.org http://mobro.co/bigkevracer
Editor's Notes
- Making technology work for you: what to do, and how to access what you didn’t think you could afford Ryan will take you through some of the current technology issues that associations can’t ignore, but often do. He will look at emerging technology trends and the impact on data security, including staff using their own devices (BYOD), cloud computing, and mobile. Finally, he will look at free and low cost technology that you can take advantage of.
- Where have we come from? Well, my first computer was a Mac, but it wasn’t even an Apple. It was a Macintosh. A PowerBook 1400cs to be precise. It featured a mighty 117MHz processor, an upgrade to a massive 16MB RAM, an 11” screen, and a floppy drive you could remove and replace with a CD drive. These days, your car has more power in its entertainment system. But back then, this replaced my dad’s electric typewriter as the most powerful piece of technology in the house. I loved it. I did everything on it. I still have it. I learnt to program on it, and got an appreciation for where this technology could take us.
- We built awesome, static websites that looked similar to this. (no we didn’t build the Lego website) There wasn’t a lot beyond static websites. If we wanted to add some interactivity, we used this thing called Flash that most people could only use to create animations as an introduction to their website. They became known as “Skip Intros” because that’s all people did – skip them! We used Netscape Navigator to browse these terrible websites. We didn’t know what a Google was. Ask Jeeves was our friend.
- Why was that? Well, we had to worry about file size. We used dialup internet, which reached the dizzying heights of 56 kilobytes per second. There was no interactivity. As computers have improved, internet download speeds have improved with various types of broadband and all round our capabilities have improved.
- Then these little things started popping up into our homes and offices. ADSL and other forms of broadband took over, and we started to see ever increasing internet speeds enabling new and improved functionality. Speeds have now increased to a promised 100Mb/s with the National Broadband Network. Think about that for a second. That’s 12,800 kb/s. That’s over 200 times faster than our good old dialup connections. Some countries are even getting 1000 Mb/s connections! What does this all mean? We can do more online, faster.
- Then we got this. The cloud.
- What is the cloud The cloud is essentially a group of virtual servers all over the world. Big players such as Amazon, Google and Rackspace have data centres in multiple countries, distributed over the world. This has been the start of the revolution we’ll cover today, a completely new pricing model from Amazon. Pay for what you use. Incredible that it took this long, but pay for your servers by the hour, pay for your data by the gigabyte. Becoming more viable as broadband speeds increase and better web apps are released Full cloud, no cloud, or hybrid
- So essentially, your data is available everywhere, because it’s stored centrally in the cloud.
- And the emergence of cloud storage Cloud file sharing is the way of the future. You get a pool of online data storage that you can instantly share with anyone who needs it. Need to share large files with your printer? Share a folder instantly. Need to give your designer access to all your assets? Two clicks. Left an important file at home? It’s already synced on your work computer. Access files from your mobile, tablet, laptop, desktops, or any web browser instantly. Some of the major cloud file sharing providers are Microsoft’s SkyDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive and Sugar Sync. As with many of these tools, there are free versions, and then you can pay for more space, version control, and team features. If you’re not using one of these tools yet, this is one tool you will never go back from.
- Online notebooks are a great invention. Using the power of the cloud, you can write notes to meetings up on your laptop, and have them instantly available on your phone, tablet and desktop computer. You can then email your notes directly at the end of a meeting, saving time. Evernote is one of the most popular versions, which is free for the basic version, but they offer a premium version that supports shared notebooks and offline viewing. OneNote is Microsoft’s version, which integrates with Microsoft Office and has many of the same features.
- Cloud based CRM systems allow staff to access client or customer records remotely. Access donor information from your mobile, member records from your tablet, client records from laptops and desktops, while integrating with your other systems. Depending on the CRM you can integrate with your website for online fundraising and donor management, accounting software, and more.
- It’s really just a server. So anything you can do with your internal server, you can do with a cloud server. But this has lead to some innovative new uses of the technology.
- Teleworking With access to your data everywhere, you can now access work files from home. Virtual private networks, or VPNs, allow you to connect from home as if you were connected to your organisations internal network. In our case, we can continue to use Voice Over IP phones, connect to shared servers, and talk to our colleagues over Skype. But why limit it to staff in the same city? Why not have staff all over Australia? This opens up the possibilities of better serving clients in rural and remote areas.
- All of this cloud technology, and the ability to have access to your files anywhere, at any time, from any device has lead to an increased use of mobiles and smart phones for this. Smartphone penetration has reached 65% of the Australian population in 2013, up from 37% at the beginning of 2011. To the point where a recent study has shown we only use our phones for communication 23% of the time – the rest of us are using our phones for email, music, cat videos on YouTube, Angry Birds, etc In fact 81% of people use their mobile while doing something else, like watching TV What implications does this have on the way you communicate with your audience? If your audience is a high proportion of smart phone users, do you need an app or a mobile website? How do you know?
- You need a mobile strategy. Which devices will you support? What platform do you need apps for? We know from industry metrics that Android is the most popular platform, with 62% of the market. We also know that Apple has 28% of the Australian market, with Windows Phone making up most of the rest. So wouldn’t we just build an Android app? Do you build a mobile app or make your website mobile friendly? How do you know what is the best course of action FOR YOU.
- Enter Google Analytics. Anyone here already using Analytics? Hands? Google Analytics has become the benchmark online analytics package. It can tell you who visited your web site when. It can then tell you how long that person spent on your web site, where they were, what browser they used, whether they were on their mobile phone, tablet or computer, and a lot more! It also integrates with other Google tools such as Google Adwords to help you track return on investment for online advertising, and track conversions for things like web site signups, donations, etc. It’s completely free and a must have for every web site. So how can it help you with your mobile strategy?
- First, Analytics can tell you what percentage of your audience are accessing your website from mobile devices. In this case, 19% of visitors are accessing from a mobile or tablet, but we can see here a higher percentage of new visitors. So these new visitors may be very valuable to you, so you want to make it as easy as possible for them to interact with your organisation. As an aside, mobile has increased by 2% in a month on this particular website. So now that you know that mobile is making up an increasing proportion of visitors to your website, what is your next approach? Do you make your website mobile friendly, or do you develop an app? Easy way to work that out is again using Analytics.
- Google Analytics will tell you what the most popular devices are on your website. So on this website, in OUR specific audience, Apple makes up the lions share of visits from mobiles, about two thirds. It would make sense, therefore, to look at a mobile app for Apple devices, and appeal to our largest audience. But wouldn’t we want to appeal to all users? Consider your content, and what is most appropriate. Maybe a mobile website makes more sense? In a lot of cases, it does, and with one update to your website you have much wider compatibility with a range of smart phones.
- Apps vs mobile web Recent study – 23% communication – 77% of people using phones for entertainment Mobile, depending on your user base, can be responsible for up to 65% of email opens
- And then we come back to this. The cloud. At this point hopefully you’re seeing the possibilities and opportunities the cloud can provide, and how it can fit in with your wider mobile strategy. So where’s the catch?
- There are a few things you should think about before migrating to the cloud. Some are the same old issues we already need to factor in.
- Data security Passwords Hackers Your data is available from anywhere, which means it can be hacked from anywhere
- Where is your data stored? Where does your data need to be stored? Telstra / Office 365 in Singapore. Lots of big cloud providers in Australia now to pick from, including the big global players, including Amazon and Rackspace.
- So if your information is available everywhere, what can happen? Staff bringing their own devices Impact on data security Mobile Device Management – remote wipe of business partition
- Annual fundraiser for men’s health issues. Stopped, rethought, and reinvested into a central platform allowing for mobile and web access.
- Google ads on mobiles create new opportunities for reaching targets. Sponsored ads on mobile searches now drive over 40 million calls from ads each month worldwide. 90% of smartphone owners look for local information on their phone and 83% take action Connect with your targets, whether they’re members, donors or potential partners, when they’re looking for you.
- Online advertising works via Pay Per Click. No clicks, no pay. Ads are highly targeted, and you have complete control over your budgets to control your spend.
- Freemium has become a popular model for cloud providers. There is a free tier that works for a limited number of users, or includes basic functionality. A free trial of a higher tier, which you then pay for. An enterprise tier of some description which usually includes features for working as teams or more advanced functionality.
- Free Pay for more features, more space Facebook and twitter may not instantly click, but you get access to their pages and tools for free, and pay for their advertising and sponsored placements.
- Many providers will be willing to provide discounts to not-for-profit organisations if you ask.
- A bit self promotional, but that’s part of what we do at Connecting Up. Our donations and discounts program, formerly known as DonorTec, connects not-for-profits, charities and associations with organisations that donate or discount software, computers and other equipment. This includes tier 1 technology companies such as Microsoft, Symantec, Adobe, Cisco and more, while also looking to cloud providers and new solutions such as HootSuite social media management and MYOB cloud accounting. It’s a free program to register with, just visit our website.