My humble blog is this week’s PowerBlog Review at Small Business Trends. It’s a great feeling knowing someone “understands” what you are trying to accomplish.

As the title implies, it is all about using project management and processes to improve business.

One of the things I like best about this blog is how practical all the posts and advice are. A.J. clearly has a lot of business and IT experience. So it would be easy for him to write at a level that is over his readers’ heads. But he doesn’t. He keeps everything streamlined and practical.

Thanks Anita!

Gee, I thought they were being nice because I pay for my Hotmail account, but I guess everyone is getting more space: Hotmail Pumps Up Free Storage. The free accounts are going from 2MB to 250MB storage and the increased virus protection. At least I won’t get all the advertising.

Microsoft just let me know that I’ll be getting some enhancements this summer. Competition is good!

As a valued MSN Hotmail Extra Storage subscriber, we will be upgrading your storage capacity to a massive 2GB with 20MB attachment size at no extra cost to you*!

These changes will be happening this summer as we upgrade you to our improved service, MSN Hotmail Plus. MSN Hotmail Plus will not only give you greater space for photos, music, movie clips but a more streamlined web e-mail experience with no graphical advertisements.

I have 6 different email accounts (addresses), with one being a Hotmail account. I have always been able to overcome the Hotmail deficiencies by using another account. If one account is down I try another. And management is easy since they all are read by my Outlook.

I fail to get enthused by the “massive” upgrade in capacity, since I walk around with 2GB of information in my pocket using USB key chain hard drives. But it is a 100-fold increase to what was. I’m more thankful for adding virus checking of all incoming mail and tighter filtering of junk mail. So I thank Microsoft for upgrading my account before I opened a Gmail account.

I get frustrated when I see a business flounder knowing they probably tripped up in some small way. I’ve written about my top ten list in other venues and thought I should add the blog as another:

Not controlling costs.
As soon as a business gets a little successful with a cash flow, they start spending money…frivilously: fancier cards, websites, and other marketing collateral. Add in fancier technology, extra people and sitting on their laurels, suddenly the positive goes negative. Along with costs…

Disregarding or misinterpreting financial records.
This works with costs in that if you can’t read your P&L how would you know if you have any money? On the other hand…

Inadequate accounting records.
You may know how to interpret your P&L and balance sheet, but you’re not getting the whole or correct picture.

Inviting fraud through poor internal control.
If you can’t read your records or are not getting the whole picture, you’ll never know what an accountant, bookkeeper or other employee may be doing behind your back.

Failing to aggressively sell.
Nothing happens until a sale is made.

Insufficient working capital.
No sales, too many costs, that counterclockwise circular motion begins.

Not carrying adequate and appropriate insurance.
Car accident, trip and fall, a minor mistake, they can spell doom when un- or under- insured.

Failing to adequately train and develop employees.
You have to show them what you want done! They can’t read your mind.

Improper strategic planning.
If your having any of the previous problems then you haven’t thought out a plan.

Not seeking advice or professional help when necessary.
You’re good at what you do. Don’t think you can do it all. Sometimes stepping back with a fresh pair of eyes can stop the downturn.

In the late 80s and 90s I went to Comdex every Fall. There’s just something about Vegas in the Fall. The last event I went to was in 1999. There were close to a quarter-million IT professionals who followed me. It was the best way to find out what was coming to IT in the near future. I think the Internet has replaced Comdex, with a little help from the dot-com bust and 9/11. Last year only 40,000 made the trek to Vegas, just a smidgen of its once mammoth great self.

Officially it is just a one year hiatus and is scheduled to return in November 2005. It may return, but will be something different. And I, along with about 150,000 other individuals will never go to another Comdex. See ya.

The June 2004 issue of Inc. has an interesting article by Alan Deutchman - Bill’s Excellent Adventure - a story about Microsoft’s anxiety over Linux.

…But despite its long history of dominance, Microsoft faces a looming threat from Linux and the insurgent open-source “free software” movement. Linux could do what the Justice Department couldn’t: end the era of Microsoft’s near monopoly and strip a sizable chunk of its sales and profits in the coming decade.

I’m managing one organization’s migration from MS to Linux. We’re about halfway through the five-year project - slow, steady steps. The motivation - money. This non-profit just cannot afford licensing costs. So as the old NT and 98 machines can’t be upgraded to the latest XP or W2003, they have plenty of life for Linux –which just doesn’t take as much resources.

So it’s a mixed environment. We’re at about 50/50, Linux vs. Microsoft, and Linux is winning on the dependability front. The biggest issue is change management, the die-hard Microsoft OS and Office users just don’t want to change, causing quite a bit of anxiety. But after a couple weeks or months, they’re converts and can easily move between the operating systems without any major issues.

With mighty IBM putting its clout behind Linux, some small businesses are starting to convert, often with impressive results. Satellite Records, a 35-employee music retailer in New York City, made the switch after IT director Steve Shapero found Microsoft’s software simply too high-maintenance. …Other customers were motivated by cost savings from not having licensing fees.

As the technology world turns….

I’ve run into some “rudderless” organizations this week. Do you have a CTO, chief technology officer? If you’re not a public company, maybe the title is Director of Technology or VP of Technology, or Technology Manager. Whichever way, these people need to be strong managers. They need the ability to hire, develop and retain a high quality IT department. They need to be able to direct and supervise people. They should be strong team builders. They need to understand and be able to manage budgets and allocate resources. They need to recognize and be able to deal with the “IT dodge”-when an techie staffer says a project will take a long time, lots of money and/or delay the president’s pet IT project.

The bottom line is that every company needs a CTO function, be it part-time or full-time. Many companies that think they have someone doing that job need to take a hard look. How well does your CTO match up with the ideal? It may well be that its time to get someone full time to take on that role. Or you may need to upgrade the person that is doing that job now. It’s certainly not a function you want to outsource, or can afford not to have anymore.

They should never be satisfied with present systems and processes. There should be a constant review. Just because “that’s the way it’s always been done” doesn’t make it the best way to do things. New technologies make options possible that couldn’t have been considered a year or two ago. Technology costs are constantly falling, what was too expensive might be reasonable now.

But…many businesses aren’t doing anything to actively, or more importantly proactively, manage their technology assets. They have someone in charge of sales and marketing, operations, and finance, but not technology. Every company now needs a CTO. If your company is less than 25 to 50 employees, that role may be part time for one of the senior managers, or even possibly an interim manager. Over 100 employees and you’re probably looking at a dedicated position in the senior management committee. Don’t blow the recovery. Set yourself up for a growing company.

One of the most important reasons our clients use us is to get validation for their technology strategies. One client asked for our opinion on their plan to provide new desktop environments and an executive information system. They valued our insight gained from working with other customers in multiple industries. In particular, we brought externally validated credibility and strategic perspective to the contractor and reseller selection process.

Just as there are certain critical factors in how you approach the implementation of major IT projects from the IT side, so there are also critical success factors in how the business management side makes their approach. I know it’s becoming a cliche, but IT needs to mesh with business operations. I’ve said it before, the IT department should be run by a business manager, not a techie. All the articles and books being written about aligning IT and business shows that a problem still exists. Here’s a book that goes into some depth on the subject: IT Doesn’t Matter-Business Processes Do.