Backblog

Earlier today I read an interesting post on Erik Askin’s website, discussing the ways in which designers can discourage user behavior by developing designs that annoy the user or make usability difficult. The post uses the example of a cigarette carton and shows how by designing the carton away from its usable rectangle shape it might actually discourage users from smoking in general by making their lives more difficult. The post is looking at the design for the package of a consumer product, but the post got me thinking about how designing for or against user behavior can help or hinder design for the web.

How should Canada's multiple EMR programs get the guidance needed at a sufficiently focused level to solve the complex issues associated with uptake an use of EMRs? One of the solutions is to have an on-the-ground team of clinical experts as problem solvers.

‘Tis the season where many ERP vendors are trying to meet their Q4 and year-end numbers, so they are often willing to do what it takes to get a deal done. Aggressive pricing with time limits, executive assurance that you’re their most important customer, and other deal-sweeteners are often tempting. Coupled with the internal excitement and momentum to start an ERP implementation, these incentives can be just what it takes to get an executive team off the fence to commit to their chosen ERP vendor.

One of the most common goal marketers have when optimizing their websites is to increase their website's conversion rate. Every page on your website has a goal which supports your overall business objectives and encouraging your users to take actions which help you reach those goals helps your website's ROI. There are many ways that you can help to increase your conversion rate and one of the most overlooked ways is simply to optimize your web copy.

Lead generation is generally considered to be the responsibility of a company’s marketing team, but that doesn’t mean that sales teams can’t help out. If sales gets involved in the lead generation process it actually makes it easier for many organizations to streamline and optimize their lead management strategies. Sales and marketing teams are trying to reach the same goals, so why can’t they just work together?

Fair dealing has played a prominent role in the hearings on Bill C-32, with education and creator groups debating the merits and impact of the proposed reforms.  Unfortunately, much of the discussion has confused rather than clarified the issue with misleading claims about potential losses, inaccurate comments on copyright and Internet materials, and dubious arguments about the compliance of the reforms under international copyright law.

I got back last week from a week-long family vacation at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. My first trip there was when it first opened in 1971. We were the first family in the small town where I was born to go to Disney World, so that family trip made it into the local paper (complete with a picture of me in a highchair happily sporting the trademark mouse-ears). Since that visit I have been back to Disney at least once every decade.

The CRTC has issued a call for comments on the regulations associated with the digital television transition.

TVO is planning to launch an online public archive in February that will include some its best educational content from the past 40 years.

The issue of Liberal support for an 'iTax' hit a fever pitch this week with competing releases.

Tuesday December 14, 2010: Rogers has been hit with a complaint about its throttling practices but has been very slow amend its public disclosure documents as required by the CRTC.

(Thanks to Riz Kheraj from NRC-IRAP for sending this information - Ed) On December 3, 2010, Health Canada issued a revised notice regarding Software Regulated as a Class I or Class II Medical Device.

The Wikileaks disclosure of hundreds of U.S. diplomatic cables has dominated news coverage for the past two weeks as governments struggled to respond to public disclosure of sensitive, secret information. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) noted that one of the most noteworthy developments in the first week was Amazon’s decision to abruptly stop hosting the Wikileaks site hours after U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman exerted political pressure on the company to do so.

There have been several studies over the last few years showing the companies with corporate blogs, espeically small businesses, receive significantly more traffic online than those without one. Unfortunately, just having a corporate blog isn't enough to get you the traffic results you need or want.

Attended the Sales + Marketing 2.0 Conference earlier this week in San Fran. My key take-away (with links to some related posts)? Sales productivity needs improving + it's going to take 'systems of engagement' to get there. Systems which encourage both buyers + sellers to engage more productively with each other. Systems, internally, which create alignment, provoke curiosity, deliver Return-on-Effort, + inspire continuous adjustments. The following explains the main things I learned.

Ever since I started working with ERP systems in the mid 90′s, one of the most controversial and heated discussions in the industry has been how to handle business process re-engineering. When selecting and implementing a new system, do you focus on your as-is or your to-be business processes?

Although businesses have been quick to recognise potential benefits of Shared Services or Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), it is still not uncommon that such projects are started and then stopped, resulting in companies going through several iterations of Shared Services or BPO assessments before serious efforts take place.

Where are we in Canada with respect to EMR adoption and use? This was the theme of a recent edition of Healthcare Information Management and Communications Canada (the official journal of COACH and ITAC Health)

I promise - this will be my last reference to Cisco's Collaboration Summit! Can't help it - there were a lot of good ideas there - not just about what Cisco is doing, but also the bigger picture as to where communications is going.

I appeared before the Bill C-32 legislative committee as part of a hearing that addressed a wide range of issues including digital locks, fair dealing, and statutory damages.  I'll post the full transcript once available, but in the meantime, the video can be streamed from the Parliamentary site and my opening statement can be found below.

I don't often blog about the writing I do for our Smart Grid portal, but with all the buzz and sobering implications around Stuxnet and WikiLeaks, I thought my blog readers would find this of interest.

We just finished our webinar on what we think the top website design trends for 2011 will be, and hopefully you all found it useful and informative.

Are you tweeting actively but having difficulty getting your followers to ReTweet your posts? Don’t worry—you’re not alone.  Many twitterers, despite their popularity have problems getting their ideas and posts spread through the Twittersphere for various different reasons. While we can’t help you with all of them, we can pass on to you some great tips on how to get ReTweeted from social media expert Dan Zarella.