Business' future on the web

It has been interesting to watch the trends of the web flow between business applications and personal entertainment. The two have in many ways driven the technology overall. Web 2.0, a buzz word by most people's standards, was a way to talk about all of the websites created around social networking for individual use. Enterprise 2.0, a way of talking about how web 2.0 is applied to business cases, represents a much larger mindset that business managers must understand to be successful.

For example, let's say your company is in an M&A situation. Why do most M&A's fail? Culture! Connecting people and their cultures is no simple task. An Enterprise 2.0 intranet created for the culture can really make a difference. Knowledge sharing, another major corporate challenge, can also be facilitated with enterprise 2.0 applications. 

To learn more about Enterprise 2.0 click here

Google Sites Debate

This is a very interesting article exploring the new Google Sites Application. The application aims to help teams and companies collaborate. The same thing CWD does. However, there are things to be cautious about with Gsite. The basic debate is around IT, content protection and features. Read some of the comments (the 3-4th one) in this article. I see a niche in the middle between totally open google sites and IT bogged down feature rich applications.

AMA Max Awards: Moon Boot Give Away

At the AMA Max Awards, CWD offered up a free pair of Moon Boots for booth passers by. It was a hit! Obviously, this must be one of the best Swag items ever created!!

Winner:

Karen Gibson, Creative Director from Orange
Karen can't resist anything orange! It seemed almost fate that her card was pulled out of the Moon Boot by a passer by from Angel Vision. Have a look at this attached image. Most marketing campaigns don't integrate this well!! On top of it all, Karen does great work. It was a pleasure getting to know her and the Orange Creative work when she dropped by the office last Friday.

The AMA Max awards was a blast for us. The Vibrant Table Event application, nominated for Best Web Campaign, created a lot of buzz. The depth and functionality of this tool blew most people away. It is amazing how these tools can transform a business process!

The AKT brand and web project was also a huge success for Cascade Web Development. We would like to publicly thank our partner YRG Communications for doing such a pro job on the message and brand design.

Visit our website or contact us for more information about Cascade Web Development or Evergreen Content Management!

Web Applications for College Students

Last week I gave 2 presentations at the Art Institute of Portland.  The first to a project management class, the second to a technology class. 

The talk went something like this: What is software as a service? Think about it as running the same software as you use on your computer at home, but faster and better because the computer you have at home is nothing like Blue Genie or the servers companies like VMware are using these days. See how much more you can do if you harness the power of web applications? As college students you are using web applications every day. Google docs, Facebook, Del.ic.ious (which none of them used by the way), Blogger, IM, and many more. These are all forms of SAS or hosted applications. Now what does that mean to help you communicate and collaborate with others? Let's think about it from a business perspective. As project manager, I need to work with people in remote offices, I need to find a way to bring everyone on the same page. Make sure they know what is happening and have access to information they need. 

As students you can start to use these tools in class projects. Use google docs rather than passing a word doc around with a crazy version code. Use del.ic.ious to store links and resources to project research. If you put these tools to use, then once you get into the business world, you can create and use these same tools, but in a closed business extranet or intranet. 

Then I exposed them to web project management applications to see how this was implemented. MS sharepoint, Basecamp, Whitepass from Cascade Web Development, and Vibrant Table Events.  I think it really hit home when they saw how similar these tools can be. In the end it is all about working with people, finding opportunities to make them shine.

CWD - Best Web Campaign of 2006 by AMA-PDX

After rave reviews in industry publications such as "Internet Retailer" CWD was recognized for their work with Nordica USA!

In January, Cascade Web Development was selected as a finalist by the American Marketing Association for their annual MAX Awards (Marketing Award of Excellence) . Our work for Nordica USA is up against Freightliner and Kettle Foods for the Best Web Campaign of 2006. Watch this video to see a preview of all finalists.



More about the project:
When Nordica contacted CWD to help them evolve and innovate their web efforts, the term web 2.0 was just hitting mass media. Web 2.0 has since become a buzz word of sorts, but the philosophy behind it speaks well to some of the technology used in our development process with Nordica.

Nordica has over 1700 dealer locations throughout the US. They turned to CWD looking for a better way to communicate with their key stakeholders. We helped Nordica realize the opportunity for creating a community on the web. By analyzing their current communications strategy with their dealer network, we were able to identify aspects that would prove efficient and effective in keeping with Web 2.0. First, we created a design that encouraged a "lounge" look and feel for the site. We wanted the user to experience the site and not so much navigate through it in a liner fashion. Second, we asked user to create their own user profiles, to which we could attach rewards when the user completed a technical training quiz or recorded their in store sales. Finally we developed the Nordica sales incentive program and integrated it into the web. Nordica realized an immediate ROI on their investment. Understanding that the users on this site could be major influencer's of the bottom line, the experience we created for them was highly valuable.

Evergreen Content Management

Cascade Web Development has been working diligently on the evolution of our content management system, Evergreen. Many of our clients have put this technology to use, saving them time and money! If you have not used it, the tool is simple and easy. If you have, you know what I am talking about. Check out this screen cast to see just how easy it is to build a link into your website.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW SCREEN CAST

If you have additional questions, please contact CWD at info@cascadewebdev.com

What did you do this morning?

At CWD this is how we do it. Seamless to our clients and invaluable to our lifestyles, we strive to achieve new challenges and reach new heights. Metaphors aside, we love what we do...

Bussiness Partnerships for the Future

Developing real, trusting partnerships is essential for any growing company. At CWD it is our life blood. Organic growth is what we are all about. We are building relationships with our clients that instill trust that, will be around when they need support or advise. Today, we feel fortunate for one relationship in particular, www.dccconsulting.com. We connected with DCC Consulting years back. The relationship has grown over the years. We have gone out of our way to put our tools in their hands, helping them do business better. In return they have been incredibly appreciative and generous in their reference to CWD as a top notch resource for everything on the web. CWD just launched the new DCC Consulting website. It is best to let the client speak to the success of the project.


“It’s crucial in our line of work that we remain competitive and fresh,” stated VP of Marketing and Operations, Chrissy Kelley. “Not only did we feel a new company brand would enhance our potential new business opportunities, but we have worked to design our new site to be informational and useful for our current customer base as well.” Working closely with the team at Cascade Web Development, you will find a fresh, modern website that demonstrates just how technology and image are crucial in the growing business world. The expansion of the DCC Consulting website will allow clients to continue seeing advanced technology implementation, updated technology news, and will provide clients with the opportunity to participate in quarterly contests.


Thanks to our clients and friends, Dave Chapman and Chrissy Kelly!

Team Work

There is something to be said for power of the communication tools we have in our hands these days. I work with a group of people that I have spent about 20 hours with, EVER. Yet when we got together for our Holiday party this year it was like a group of good old boys. That is amazing and I always laughed at people that said they met their partner on the web. Well I met many of my coworkers on the web and I am cool with all of them. Not to say that I want to date them, but I am happy to keep working with them.

If you want to connect with your friends, family and coworkers, try the following tools:

SKYPE
GOTOMEETING
Flickr

El Camino

We are just hitting our stride in the internet revolution. The best is yet to come.

In 1908 the Ford Motor company put out the first Model T and in 1913 the assembly line was first used. These two moments changed our lives and allowed the World economy to grow exponentially. About 40 years later, Chevrolet, a brain child of the Ford Motor Company, developed the El Camino. The El Camino was a revolutionary production; utility and style all in one. What a great thing?

Google, My Space and salesforce.com are the El Camino of the internet era. Like Ford, the internet has changed our lives and allowed the World economy to grow exponentially. But where are we now? Just hitting our stride. The above mentioned websites seem like the Holy Grail right now, but they are not. We have a world of innovation ahead. Just think if we had stopped at the El Camino?

Companies that realize this future are better equipped for growth. Don't allow your company to satisfy for a web presence that simply tells your story. Use the internet to create business, do business and maintain business. Take what you do today and see yourself doing it better, faster and more efficient; that is what the Toyota Prius does.

Experience Marketing

Cascade Web Development developed the site for the Portland Action Sports Film Contest this summer. www.oregonsports.org/action the contest was created to give local filmmakers and athletes the opportunity to get involved with the Dew Action Sports Tour, months before it even arrived.

It is amazing what can happen when you give people the opportunity to engage in something they care about. Today, marketers are feeding us millions of messages from all mediums. What really sticks are the things that give you a real experience. One that means something.

Last week, I sat in a lecture about this very topic, experience marketing. Something dawned on me as they were feeding us red bull and ice-cream to "show" how experience marketing really worked. Experience marketing can easily become the same thing that TV or 2/3 advertising magazines have become. In your face forced marketing. At this point it is not an art it is a formula that tends to work over time.

If done right experience marketing can liberate the individual and the brand. The result is a life long relationship worth more than any marketer could ever dream of!!

Google Trends

Some web sites shed thousands of dollars every month on SEO and specific keyword campaigns, but what if nobody is searching for that specific keyword or search term? How do you know which ones to optimize for?

It's generally been the domain of SEO experts to tell you, for a pretty penny, which search terms were actually worth optimizing your site for. Google Trends is a tool, launched back in May according to TechCrunch, that allows any user to compare how often specific terms are searched on Google. The results can be broken down by time frames as well as geographic location.

While you may still want to go to the experts for fine tuning, Google Trends is a great starting point for web sites looking to beginning focusing on SEO.