Hey guys,
So just a few days ago Google/Blogger flagged my blog as spam and shut it down. Therefore, it was offline for a few days as a "brief intermission". Anyone who visited during that period will have found, to their dismay, a message proclaiming that my blog has been removed.
I logged in and discovered that both of my blogs had been deleted along with all of my posts that I put a ton of effort into... That is not so! Indeed my blog is in full functionality and we are up and running once more. And of course, you'll note that my posts are still right here =).
There is actually a process to follow when your blog has been targetted as spam. Basically, it is an automated system that looks for red flags to suggest that you are a spammer. But if you can request a review and post on the help forums that your blog is not spam (assuming that you have no broken any of their Terms of Service or criteria for spam) then they will reinstate your blog. The logic is that since you can make this request and post on the help forums... Clearly you must not be a bot. So you get your blog back (seriously, huh.)
Anyway, I'd just like to give you guys some tips to getting your blog back in case it ever gets deleted or locked:
1) Check your dashboard page when you log in to see if there is a link to "request a review" of your blog. If there is, then follow it and submit your request. If not, skip this step.
2) Visit the Blogger Help Forums and click Post a Question. Simply explain your situation that your blog has been shut down, and explain that you are not a spammer.
3) Wait for a response from the moderator. They will get someone (an actual human, not a bot) to check over your blog and reinstate it if appropriate.
4) Meanwhile, read over Blogger's TOS to determine whether you really did violate any terms, knowingly or unknowingly.
If all goes well, your blog will get reinstated and you can continue blogging! Otherwise, your last recourse is to submit an appeal, the link to which can be found with a quick search on the blogger help forums for "my blog is gone!".
Good luck, and happy blogging!
Friday, 29 April 2011
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Cool Android Apps!
Hey guys,
As a proud Android owner I can say that one of my favourite pastimes is to find fun apps to install on my phone. Let's face it, Google apps is the best thing to come to cell phones since 300-bit pixel screens!
Anyway, check out these 7 Mind-Blowing Free Android Apps that are seriously as cool as they sound. I personally love Google Goggles, even though it's a bit buggy and can't recognize everything you throw at it.
I've always wanted to become an app developer and create apps that other people can use to their enjoyment... Too bad I know so little about app programming and cell phones...!
As a proud Android owner I can say that one of my favourite pastimes is to find fun apps to install on my phone. Let's face it, Google apps is the best thing to come to cell phones since 300-bit pixel screens!
Anyway, check out these 7 Mind-Blowing Free Android Apps that are seriously as cool as they sound. I personally love Google Goggles, even though it's a bit buggy and can't recognize everything you throw at it.
I've always wanted to become an app developer and create apps that other people can use to their enjoyment... Too bad I know so little about app programming and cell phones...!
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Customer relationship management
When I first saw this video on customer relationship management software, I laughed pretty hard! But if a lemonade stand run by 8 year olds can benefit from CRM, then so can you.
Customer relationship management should always be one of the top priorities of a firm. Everybody should know CRM. On the most basic level, customer relationship management is a company-wide business strategy to solidify customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy. The end result is reduced costs and increased profitability.
True CRM brings together information from all data sources within an organization (and, where appropriate, outside the organization) to give a single holistic view of each customer in realtime. This allows customers facing employees in such areas as sales, customer support, and marketing to make quick yet informed decisions on everything from cross-selling and up-selling to target marketing strategies to competitive positioning tactics.
Customer relationship management should always be one of the top priorities of a firm. Everybody should know CRM. On the most basic level, customer relationship management is a company-wide business strategy to solidify customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy. The end result is reduced costs and increased profitability.
True CRM brings together information from all data sources within an organization (and, where appropriate, outside the organization) to give a single holistic view of each customer in realtime. This allows customers facing employees in such areas as sales, customer support, and marketing to make quick yet informed decisions on everything from cross-selling and up-selling to target marketing strategies to competitive positioning tactics.
Monday, 25 April 2011
Management Information Systems
Hey guys, so I found out some of you are still a bit confused as to what Management Information Systems is! That's ok, it to me a while to grasp it as well at the beginning of my course. Here's a quick video that should make it clearer:
"...the combination of both business and information systems." This quote really about sums it up! I'll post the next Management Information Systems technology tomorrow, so look out for that!
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Enterprise Resource Planning
Alright, next big Management Information System software is Enterprise Resource Planning software (or ERP software). ERP basically integrates all departments and functions throughout an organization into a single IT system. So employees can make companywide decisions by viewing companywide information on all business operations.
Confused yet? So let's say we're a manufacturing firm. We have many different departments: Manufacturing, accounting, finance, marketing/sales, and human resources. So EACH of these departments have their own management information system to keep track of all their own data. In reality, there's TONS of overlap; the accounting and manufacturing sides could be keeping track of the same data from their client orders, the finance and human resources departments could be looking at compensation so both have that data in their system. This is not efficient! Without ERP software, there is lots of redundancy, overlap, and entry and reentry.
With Enterprise resource planning systems, there is a centralized database that is the same across the company. So all finance information, all accounting information, all client data etc are inputted. There is of course one overarching format to the entries, and all the data is structured in the same way and correspond to the rest of the data. Now, whenever a department needs information (say manufacturing needs to find the address to ship to, and accounting needs to know the address to send the bill) then they can directly access the same database and look up the same information cell.
Sounds simple no? Well you'd be surprised. In 2002, FoxMeyer, a bankrupt pharmaceutical distributor, sued SAP (a popular ERP software vendor) and Andersen Consulting. The suit charged that the failure of an SAP system led to the drug distributor's collapse. Eventually, both Andersen and SAP settled to the tune of $500 million.
So yeah, it sounds like a great idea that every company should have. But it's a highly risky move! One failure could destroy the organization, as seen in the story above. In fact, it is insanely hard to implement an Enterprise Resource Planning system, and there are many easier alternatives that provide the simple requirements of ERP.
Here's a SAP commercial that doesn't really have anything to do with anything. Enjoy!
Confused yet? So let's say we're a manufacturing firm. We have many different departments: Manufacturing, accounting, finance, marketing/sales, and human resources. So EACH of these departments have their own management information system to keep track of all their own data. In reality, there's TONS of overlap; the accounting and manufacturing sides could be keeping track of the same data from their client orders, the finance and human resources departments could be looking at compensation so both have that data in their system. This is not efficient! Without ERP software, there is lots of redundancy, overlap, and entry and reentry.
With Enterprise resource planning systems, there is a centralized database that is the same across the company. So all finance information, all accounting information, all client data etc are inputted. There is of course one overarching format to the entries, and all the data is structured in the same way and correspond to the rest of the data. Now, whenever a department needs information (say manufacturing needs to find the address to ship to, and accounting needs to know the address to send the bill) then they can directly access the same database and look up the same information cell.
Sounds simple no? Well you'd be surprised. In 2002, FoxMeyer, a bankrupt pharmaceutical distributor, sued SAP (a popular ERP software vendor) and Andersen Consulting. The suit charged that the failure of an SAP system led to the drug distributor's collapse. Eventually, both Andersen and SAP settled to the tune of $500 million.
So yeah, it sounds like a great idea that every company should have. But it's a highly risky move! One failure could destroy the organization, as seen in the story above. In fact, it is insanely hard to implement an Enterprise Resource Planning system, and there are many easier alternatives that provide the simple requirements of ERP.
Here's a SAP commercial that doesn't really have anything to do with anything. Enjoy!
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