This is where CRM software can help you. Customer relationship management has always been a crucial tool for businesses, and now high quality software can help you make the most of your marketing potential.

Identify and meet your targets
One of the key aims of any CRM system has to be helping you to identify your targets. For example, if you are setting up an e-marketing campaign, who are you targeting? Why are you targeting them? How are you going to do this? How will you measure your success rate? These are the sorts of questions you can answer with some good customer relationship management software.

For instance, you can keep records of your customer information and key details about them so you can work out who is most likely to respond to certain campaigns –which can be particularly useful if you are trying to calculate your projected ROI.

Centralise your information
Another important component of CRM systems is centralising your information. Marketing, whether online or offline, naturally involves several different departments. As well as the core marketing team, it could also affect the sales, customer service and finance teams, who also have big stakes in your CRM. Using software to track marketing activity means that there’s less chance of ending up with duplicated content, and you’ll always have access to the information you need if it’s all stored in the same place.

Coordinate your work
In turn, this allows you to better coordinate your work. For instance, it might be that your sales team can’t start properly selling a new service until an e-marketing campaign to raise awareness has been completed. This means that steps need to be followed in a particular order – something that it could be easy to get confused over without a good system in place to manage the process.

Targeted marketing
Finally, as mentioned above, CRM software can help you to better target your e-marketing. While it might sometimes be tempting to simply send out a blanket email newsletter to everyone in your customer database, that isn’t necessarily the best way to get a good ROI.

By contrast, the ability to use your customer relationship management system to analyse different groups of customers and their purchasing habits means you can tailor campaigns more effectively. You can then monitor the responses you get to your e-marketing activity and use the data to determine more accurately what you should do next – is more marketing activity needed? Could the sales team help you? Did you get a good ROI?

CRM solutions are important for all aspects of your business, but they arguably have particular relevance for the world of e-marketing, and helping you get through to target customers who add value to your business.

Ecommerce website development
Professional ecommerce website development should also be considered as part of any e-marketing strategy.  E-commerce refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet.

Users of mobile phones are still being put at considerable security risk because manufacturers of Android devices are not doing enough to safeguard users security worldwide.

“Android mobiles are being compromised daily exposing users to a real security risk,” said Ian Shaw, Managing Director of MWR InfoSecurity a UK IT security consultancy that has consistently warned users to beware and manufacturers that they are just not doing enough.

Shaw added:

“Manufacturers of Android mobile phones will once again be launching their latest models and as before, we will be warning users and manufacturers at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that not enough is being done to safeguard user information.  The increasing lack of security controls on the phones are exposing users to fraud and other criminal activity.

“Manufacturers must spend more time looking to see how they can safeguard users. Many seem to forget that they have a duty of care. The problem is that many users just don’t realise how vulnerable they actually are. Criminals can steal personal details like bank passwords and other personal information.”

Since 2012 MWR has been highlighting security weaknesses that have been introduced into smartphones by their manufacturers. These issues expose their users’ private information and leave them susceptible when using sensitive online apps such as mobile banking.

Experts from MWR first illustrated this issue demonstrating how a Palm Web OS and Android smartphones could be used as a bugging device. Last year it demonstrated how a Windows Phone running HTC and Samsung could also be compromised exposing user’s data.

They will again demonstrate further issues in a presentation at the Blackhat European Security conference in Amsterdam in March; using ‘Mecury’, a tool developed at MWR’s South African office, to identify weaknesses in Android Apps.

MWR InfoSecurity has identified more than 10 vulnerabilities specific to Samsung Smartphones and Tablets and reported these to Samsung in Korea. Whilst this is concerning, Samsung has responded to the security vulnerabilities that MWR have identified and are currently in contact with the research team in South Africa to resolve these.

Increasingly though, companies are looking to allow access to sensitive corporate information on personal smartphones. This is done in response to requests from employees to use their equipment which is often newer and more powerful than company issued equipment.

Shaw added:

“Companies are also looking to save money by what is effectively outsourcing responsibility for IT equipment to the employee, otherwise known as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). If the security of the smartphones cannot be guaranteed, then neither can the corporate data they will be accessing.

“ BYOD is an enabling policy allowing for greater remote working and as such higher productivity and innovation. However, many of these enterprises are likely to shun models that do not offer at least basic security assurance, so manufacturers need to get their act together or they will be left behind.”

With the first smartphone botnets now being detected and organised crime focusing on smartphones as a lucrative area, the requirement for better levels of security assurance is clearly there.

While email may seem like a cost-effective way to introduce your business to potential clients, there are other reasons that this may not be the best method to make “first contact” with your customer base. Even though it has become more common for people to turn to the Internet for information about a product or service, it is still very impersonal.

Businesses that use direct mailings can breach that impersonal feeling and connect directly with the potential client. Envelopes received in the mail already give a more personal touch to the communication than a computer generated email. Flyers and brochures included in the envelopes can be geared specifically to the client, making them feel that you are reaching out to them directly, which is exactly what you want.

A client needs to feel a connection with your business to feel secure enough to make a purchase. This is how it has always been. This is the simple psychology behind business: making a connection to make the sale. If a client cannot relate to you or your business, they will keep searching for a company that makes them feel more comfortable.

Professionally printed envelopes are a cost-effective tool for your business. They give your business a sense of prestige above a plain mailer. Since this is often the first point-of-contact between you and your potential customer, you want to make sure that it is a perfect impression.

Another benefit of using direct mailings instead of blanket emails is the “saving” factor. People, in general, when they receive a letter that interest them, will place it somewhere where they can reference it again later. Cupboards are filled with flyers, menus and other promotional items that arrive in the mail; however they are not filled with printed emails.

An email is read and discarded. Sometimes it will be saved, but people as a whole often delete and forget when it comes to email. The simple act of being able to hold the advertisement in their hands when it arrives in the mail, compared to a digital letter, makes the difference.

Many people have overlooked the importance of direct mailings since the Internet has become so integrated into everyone’s lives. The competition is very large on the Internet, however, and businesses must look for ways of setting themselves apart once more. They must be able to connect personally with the clients, and they must be able to do so in a cost-effective manner.

Direct mailings have been a very successful tool for businesses in all industries in the past. The truth is, it is still one of the best marketing tools available. It does not matter how small or how large your business is, you can effectively reach customers and create a bond with direct mail.

ID Card Printers are used worldwide to print secure identification cards, payment cards, authorization cards, and visitor badges for corporate, educational, and other uses.

Company’s Profile:
Ace-Envelopes is one of UK’s leading suppliers of over 700 types of plain envelopes, bespoke custom made envelopes, business envelopes and printed envelopes for next day delivery service to meet your business needs.

As ever, the day will offer exclusive insights into major economic trends with expert evaluations of topics including the impact of sluggish growth on government plans and an assessment of the sovereign debt crisis.

Recovery or stagnation – what are the prospects for a sustained recovery in the UK economy?
Roger Bootle, Managing Director, Capital Economics

The Future of the Euro
Thomas Mayer, Chief Executive, Deutsche Bank AG

The impact of the US economy on the UK and global economy
Steve Hanke, Professor of Applied Economics, Johns Hopkins University

How will global financial markets fare in 2012?
Andrew Milligan, Head of Global Strategy, Standard Life Investments

Will sluggish growth destroy the government’s fiscal plans?
Dr Andrew Lilico, Director, Europe Economics

Panel discussion: The Eurozone crisis
Graeme Leach, Chief Economist & Director of Policy, Institute of Directors
Graham Bishop, Found and Principal, GrahamBishop.com
Jamie Dannhauser, Director, Lombard Street Research

The long view – longer term prospects for the UK and global economies
George Magnus, Senior Economics Adviser, UBS Investment Bank

Monetary policy in the Great Recession: how should central banks respond?
Tim Congdon, Chief Executive Officer, International Monetary Research

The Institute of Economic Affairs’ 29th Conference
The State of the Economy – Sink or swim?
Prospects for the Economy in the face of the debt crisis

23 February 2012 (All day), Institute of Directors, Pall Mall, London

Attendance is strictly by RSVP. To register for the event or if you would like to arrange an interview with a speaker, please contact Ruth Porter, Communications Director 020 7799 8920, 077 5171 7781.

• London is falling behind other European cities. Paris and Frankfurt enjoy 1,000 more annual flights to the three largest cities in China than Heathrow.

• Lack of access to emerging markets could already be costing the economy £1.2bn a year. In 1990, Heathrow’s route network reached 227 destinations. It is now down to 180, and is forecast to drop to 147.

• Demand is set to double over the coming decades, while our airports are already near capacity, with Heathrow 99% full and Gatwick 95% full. The economy cannot afford to wait the thirty years it would take to build a new airport.

• Expanding our current airports is the only viable option in the short to medium term. To deliver growth, airport operators should be enabled to build at least one more runway in South East England by 2020 – either Stansted, Gatwick or Heathrow.

• Government should expedite this by allowing compensation to be paid directly to affected residents for this critical infrastructure project. The industry needs a more flexible planning system. Decisions should be made by the price mechanism and free competition rather than special interests and political grandstanding.

• Government has a poor track record both at judging the future demands of consumers, and at estimating the costs of large infrastructure projects. This approach would leave the industry free to respond to market demand and to judge for itself the relative costs and benefits of the different options.

Commenting on the report, its author Kwasi Kwarteng MP said:

“Creating a system of compensation as part of the planning system will remove a major obstacle to growth in Britain. Governments aren’t good at working out the best options for large infrastructure projects, but the current system makes it hard for businesses to pursue these projects.

The need to expand our airports is now reaching crisis point. If consensus cannot be reached, and building does not commence in the next few years, London will inevitably fall further behind its European rivals.”

A new collaboration between five of the South East’s leading research institutions launched today. South East IP brings together the latest research from five research institutions across the South East, making it available to business and investors in a single, easy-to-search format. The service is designed to help businesses and investors to find the new technologies they need to grow their businesses, and for researchers to a route to market for their ideas.

With initial funding of £75,000 from the UK Intellectual Property Office the new site will accelerate the exploitation of Innovation in the South East by providing a single place for investors and companies looking for specific technologies, to look for IP from a collection of institutions in the South East; .providing a service to help participating institutions source specific expertise and equipment from other institutions in the network, and; .encouraging collaborations and joint funding applications.

The South East IP partners are The National Physical Laboratory, the Universities of Surrey, Reading, Sussex and Royal Holloway University of London.  Together, these five institutions produce a large part of the South East’s research. Now, for the first time, investors can find up to date information on research output from every institution in one place.

The launch of the new service marks the beginning of intensified collaboration between Research Establishments and universities in the region to develop more effective routes to market for their research.

David McCallum, Intellectual Property Officer at the University of Surrey, said,

“For the first time, details of new techniques and technologies developed at our five partner institutions have been brought together in one place, and in a form that investors and businesses can search to find the opportunities they are looking for. This is a big step forward for the whole region in matching technology research in the South East with investment, and we are excited to be a part of it.”

Speaking at a Maritime London lunch earlier this month, Holman Fenwick Willan partner Andrew Chamberlain said that the consequences of a serious incident involving one of the larger containerships “may well result in a complete change in the accepted liability regimes and even the traditionally accepted insurance arrangements for such large vessels.”

Recent high profile container ship casualties have involved relatively small vessels capable of carrying up to 4688 containers (MSC Napoli).  The Rena, which is currently breaking up off the coast of New Zealand, has a capacity of 3352 containers. By comparison, the largest vessels sailing today are carrying over 15000 boxes.

He told the audience of salvors, insurers, shipowners and other maritime professionals that in the event of the loss of the largest class of containership, the epic scale of the incident would mean that the salvage industry would struggle to deal with the removal of the containers and wreckage. He warned that the salvage industry had limited and ageing resources, was increasingly risk averse and today consisted of only around four or five companies with a genuine global capability.

He noted that the legal environment for dealing with these types of incidents was becoming increasingly demanding with rising claims, disproportionately high clean-up costs and the near impossibility of disposing or recycling of a wreck thanks to the restrictive legal regime now imposed by the 1996 Protocol to the London Dumping Convention and the OSPAR Convention, combined with the absence of suitable recycling facilities.

He added:

“The industry is facing the perfect storm. We have a global recession, high cargo values (relative to ship values), ever larger and untested ships, environmental concerns and increasing public and government awareness of the impact of shipping incidents. Since the Napoli in 2007 any marine casualty is much more likely to be on the front page of every newspaper.”

The report, “…and the Pursuit of Happiness: Wellbeing and the Role of Government”, examines the flaws in attempts to measure happiness. It suggests that:

• The government should not be trying to measure or maximise happiness as an explicit policy goal.

• There is no evidence that more equal societies lead to increases in happiness.

• Contrary to widespread belief, the evidence suggests that happiness is in fact related to income and economic growth. The so-called Easterlin paradox (the idea that wellbeing does not increase with income) is shown to be fake.

• Attempts to promote “wellbeing at work” through regulation are likely to be counter-productive in so far as increases in employment regulation increase unemployment. There is a strong link between unemployment and loss of wellbeing. In general, more intrusive and bigger government leads to a loss in wellbeing. One study finds that increasing government spending by one third would cause a reduction in happiness of 5%-6%.

• Smaller government tends to make people happier. Public spending cuts could actually be the key to making Britain a happier place.

Commenting on the report, Mark Littlewood, Director General at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:

“Governments have shown how hopeless and inefficient they are at attempting to run the basics of our economy. They seem to find it nearly impossible, for example, to resist racking up colossal debts.  To trust them with something far more intimate, complicated and confusing as happiness would be inviting disaster. We need our government to do less, not more – and to stick to the very simple and straightforward tasks which they are just about capable of. All of us are better advised to pursue our own dreams, hopes and goals than to entrust such personal and intimate things to David Cameron.”

Commenting on the report, its editor, Prof Philip Booth, Editorial Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:

“The government is spending money on collecting happiness statistics in order to promote government policies to try to increase aggregate national happiness. This is a flawed policy and based on a complete misconception that governments hitherto have focused only on increasing national income. The nation’s wellbeing will be improved if the government cuts back its activity and allows the economy, employment and families to flourish. The government should not be trying to increase aggregate happiness as a specific policy goal, nor should it be wasting money collecting data on the subject.”

Following a recent television debate about youth unemployment a business owner / friend received contact via his blog, Twitter and email accounts within two hours of the show being broadcast.  A young teenager, still at school but desperate to join a media company instead of going off to university, showed his initiative and was asked to give a presentation the following week.  He now goes to the office twice a week on afternoons off from sixth form and is well on his way to being offered a full-time position simply because he went the extra mile.  I doubt a second glance would have been given if he were simply to have emailed a copy of his CV to the human resources department.

With so many people looking for work right now, being shortlisted and asked to attend an interview is, in many cases, a big achievement.  But it is only one stepping stone towards being offered a job.  It is therefore crucial that, if offered an interview that you do everything in your power to perform to the best of your ability.

The interview
Telling someone to dress smart and never be late for an interview is sheer common sense, but what of turning up too early?  This could show a lack of planning or desperation.  I suggest walking into reception 15-20 minutes early is perfect.  If you are going to be too early, simply find a nearby coffee shop.

The psychology of body language
When attending an interview you may not be given a choice of where to sit.  But if you are, sit where you can see all the interviewees without twisting round.  Like giving a presentation, you want to make eye-contact with everyone and never turn away.

Be sure to keep an upright posture, don’t slouch.  Sitting upright gives the impression you are attentive and interested. It can also give the appearance of self-confidence.

Behavioural psychologists suggest there are ways to acknowledge if someone is nervous. Talking too quickly or overusing your hands for emphasis is common.  Try not to speed up when answering questions and if you feel under pressure, keep calm.  One popular interviewing technique is to have two or more interviewees ask quick-fire questions to see how you cope in a stressful or pressured environment. Keep calm and attempt to control the pace of the interview at all times.

Finally, keep smiling and relax! You want to show you are a happy person, someone who will fit into an existing team.  I will always choose someone with less experience and a great personality over someone with buckets of expertise and a bad attitude!

At the end of any interview, whether it is for a plumber or solicitor, shop work or office jobs, the one thing you should always be able to say as you shake hands and walk out of the building is that you gave a good account of yourself.  By preparing your interview techniques and staying in control you will at least give yourself a good chance to impress a potential new employer.  Good luck!

Firstly, halfway through my degree course I became a proud parent and a large part of my life and thinking changed in a massive way.  No longer was I furthering my education for personal reasons but now I was considering what was best for my young family.

Secondly, during my Politics course I began using the evolving and exciting world of the Internet and the World Wide Web for research purposes, though at this time the university library and good old fashioned ‘books’ were still the main point of reference for essays.  I feel so ancient when I say how slow and cumbersome the Internet was in the mid-1990s.  Where did the last fifteen years go?

But even without such things as broadband, wi-fi, eBay and Google, it was very clear to see that a future career in IT was going to be a very secure one.

Instead of furthering my Politics studies, I chose to a Masters Degree in Advanced Information Technology with an emphasis on website development; and have never looked back.

Over the past fifteen years I have worked in website development, design, programming, online marketing and Internet business management. I have worked for SME’s and trans-global companies as well as setting up my own Internet-related businesses.  Furthermore, I have been fortunate enough to work in the UK and the United States.

Since the mid-1990s information technology and computers have become a part of our everyday lives and workplaces, with many companies now being 100% reliant on the Internet. As a result, IT jobs have become most valued and in many cases, well paid and very secure. In turn, the IT or ICT (Information & Communications Technology) job sector has grown exponentially since the 1990’s.

IT is the area of managing technology to acquire, process and store data, whether textual, numerical, graphical or otherwise. It spans many disciplines including computer software, information systems, data and database management, programming languages, web development and probably the field of most rapid growth – IT support.

There are not many businesses that haven’t been affected by the great IT revolution in the UK. Today a large majority of companies of all sizes use information technology in different ways. The result is a large IT jobs sector which always appears buoyant.

Whether it is to help process the business strategy, business process automation, providing information and connecting with new and potential customers, and productivity tools, there are plenty of career opportunities in IT in 2012.