Lucidica The IT department for small business

December 2010

Our next Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) seminar is Tuesday, 11 January

Come and hear how we got to be in the top 5 of 300 million (yep, 300 million!) search results for “IT support London”.  Our CTO, Tom, will explain what we did to achieve this, and what you can do to dramatically improve your search engine ranking. Attend our next SEO seminar 10am-2pm next Tuesday. More information about this seminar here.

 

Tech Tip of the Month - Provide unique and startling presentations with prezi.com

I saw this awesome tool in action a few months ago (thanks David from Sumac). It’s a great way to make your presentation even more memorable read more

 

Tech News:

• Sony Media BluRay Player - The all singing (well nearly) and dancing (in fact it doesn't dance) media player from Sony can stream not just BBC iPlayer content but also YouTube and films from your LoveFilm account
  

 

November 2010

Top Tips - 12 of the Best Free Websites for Christmas

Christmas isn't cheap, so we thought we'd celebrate the 12 days of Christmas a little early and point you to the very best things you can get online for FREE. From TV, Microsoft Office, and even the ability to make movies. It's amazing what you can get for free online read more …

Our next Email Marketing seminar is next Tuesday, 7 December

Come and see how we send these newsletters easily, and at low cost. Attend our next Email Marketing seminar 10am-2pm next Tuesday. More information about this seminar here. More information about this seminar here.

Learn how to make the best cookies in London with one of our new clients

A great client of ours, Xanthe Milton (also known as Cookie Girl), is currently working on her second recipe book to follow up her hugely successful cupcake and cookie recipe book 'Eat Me! The stupendous, self raising world of cupcakes and bakes according to Cookie Girl'.

If you know someone who would like to learn more of Xanthes trade secrets then why not give them a Cookie Girl Gift Voucher as an original present idea. This will enable the recipient to take part in a two hour class to learn cupcake icing skills or an all-day class where they will also learn sugar flower making. If you want something really special then why not book a private one to one baking class with Cookie Girl herself?

Tech News:

• Spotify to expand services despite losses of £16m - I love Spotify. If you haven't tried this wonderful piece of technology yet I strongly encourage you to take it for a test drive.
• Toshiba NB200 – 5 hours of battery life for £250 – The Toshiba NB200 with an astonishing 5 hours of battery life and costing just £250 is edging closer to our favourite netbook.
  
• Tech tip of the month – Secure Encrypted Email delivery from SSLPost

October 2010

Top Tips on maintaining security online

A friend sent me the highly amusing article by Neil Forsyth on goading the countless people who try to dupe us into giving our bank account out. However just because you’ve never sent you bank account details to the ‘son of the late King Awari’ doesn’t mean that everything you do online is secure and you haven’t just given access to your bank account to someone other than your bank. read more ...

Our next Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) seminar is next Tuesday, 2 November

It is one of our most popular topics at the British Library so come along and hear how we went from zero (page 72) to hero (page 1) of Google in less than 3 months in early 2009, and have managed to pretty much stay there since. Attend our next SEO 10am-2pm next Tuesday. More information about this seminar here.

The best insurance broker in London

Well they would have to be – they’re our broker and have been a great Lucidica client for almost 10 years! Campbell Irvine is a firm of commercial and wholesale insurance brokers based in Kensington who have been arranging insurance for nearly 40 years.

A few years ago we worked closely with them in developing their online systems to sell travel insurance to the public. The system provides both a simple and easy-to-use website with integrated quote engine, and a back-office system.  This enables Campbell Irvine to track all enquiries from their affiliate members.Similar to Lucidica, they focus on providing customer service in a fast and efficient manner.  I’ve referred a few business contacts to them over the years and the feedback has always been stunning. 

So if you have any insurance needs – not just commercial, household, motor or travel – be sure to give them a call and mention Lucidica. Anthony, Mike and the Campbell Irvine team will look after you. Be sure to have a look through their site.

Tech News:

• Google edges closer to ‘creep’ - Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, this month announced that Google’s policy is to get right up to the line of being creepy without crossing it.
• Art Lebedev Optimus Maximus Keyboard – Art Lebedev’s keyboard has a mini display screen in each key allowing you to customise what each key displays on-the-fly.
  
• Tech tip of the month – Get sent the latest news from any site on any topic.

September 2010

Top Tips on speeding up your computer

How long do you spend waiting for your computer to start in the morning? Or for the document to open? This month in our ‘Top Tips’ section we look at our top recommendations for getting more speed out of your Windows computer. read more ...

Our next Google AdWords Pay Per Click seminar is next Tuesday, 5 October

Pay Per Click (PPC), like Google AdWords, is the fastest way to get to page 1 of Google and although it’s not as trusted or effective as SEO, it is still a worthwhile tool to have in sales & marketing. Attend our next Google AdWords seminar 10am-2pm next Tuesday. More information about this seminar here.

Didn’t know HR legislation changed today? Consider outsourcing your HR needs to People Puzzles, Lucidica’s HR Department!

Dealing with people issues can be a challenge in any sized business. Staying the right side of the law whilst proactively managing staff often requires a bit of specialist help. I highly recommend our HR consultants - People Puzzles, who specialise in providing practical HR for small businesses. Check out their news on the legislation changes taking effect today , including what you need to know about the new Equalities Act 2010.

Ally, our consultant, has helped us with strategically planning our Apprenticeship programme, as well as the more day-to-day advice on issues such as maternity leave, new employment contracts and how to talk through issues with our staff. We recommend you contact her rather than trying to deal with tricky people issues on your own – it’s not worth getting it wrong when you could be getting excellent and affordable support!

Tech News:

• Make your LinkedIn profile sparkle - This article by technology guru Guy Kawasaki is by far the best resource I’ve found on how to improve your LinkedIn profile.
• Fast and Silent; Tranquil PC – The small form factor systems offers the ability to have a computer totally silent, with no moving parts at all, and blisteringly fast performance.
  
• Tech tip of the month – Quickly and easily find a Boris Bike in London, even on your mobile.

 

August 2010

Top Tips for Getting Cheap Software

With Microsoft Office on volume licensing now topping £500 a copy, and Adobe Suites enough to warrant a second mortgage we thought we’d put together some quick tips on how to get cheap and legal software for your home and business. Illegal is expensive; not to mention the legalities of it and the risks of a fine or imprisonment, a major issue with illegal software (especially Microsoft) is that it can often mean you don’t get upgrades, these can leave costly security holes in your computer.
The best news is you don’t have to resort to buying a copy from the guy on your local market to ensure that your software doesn’t break the bank. read more ...

Our next SEO seminar is Thursday 2 September

Our next monthly technology seminar Thomas is running at the British Library is on SEO.  If you’d like to learn how to boost your search engine position, this is a great introduction.  Attend our next SEO seminar 10am-2pm Thursday 2 September. More information about this seminar here.

More relevant than an MBA if you’re an ambitious small business owner manager – the Better Business Programme

We've recently come across a business called Your Business Your Future.  They run the Better Business Programme (BBP) which is designed specifically to help ambitious owner managers grow and develop their businesses.  Tom and I are looking at doing the BBP in 2011, it looks more relevant to us in growing our business than an MBA. Your Business Your Future has just announced a new partnership with Cass Business School.  If you are an ambitious owner manager I strongly recommend going along to one of their FREE briefing events where you can learn about how to build a better business, meet past participants to hear first-hand about their experiences and the benefits they realised, and arrange a free 1-1 consultation with one of the Your Business Your Future team.  The seminar I went to was excellent.

Launch of a great client website – Skandium.com

Skandium’s aim is to be the best retailer of Scandinavian design in the world.  They’ve been a Lucidica client since 2001 and when their old website needed upgrading in mid-2008 we offered to help them bring it into the world of web 2.0.  Their stores on Brompton Road, Marylebone High Street and in Selfridges are simply stunning.  And now - after 2 years of scoping, designing, building and testing with them - their new website launched on Thursday. See www.skandium.com

Last Friday Demelza and I popped into their Brompton Road store to share some lovely website launch cake with Magnus, Anna and Eugenia and the first thing Demelza uttered as we walked in was “wow, this looks better than on the website!”Congratulations to the Skandium team on the launch of an extremely professional new website, and thanks for all your hard work on it over the last year especially.

Tech News:

• Are we at the dawn of the age of computer 'mistakes'? - Suggesting a computer could make a mistake may once have been as farcical as saying a hammer could make a mistake
• Dell Latitude 13 – The business class laptop drew a lot of attention from the engineering team
  
• Tech tip of the month – Free music from Shoreditch with Last.FM
• Randomness of the Month - We built a Fish Tank in an iMac

 

July 2010

Top Tips for backing up your data

Just how valuable is your data? Could you recover if your business data was lost? Could you even place a price on the pictures on your home computer? To make it easy, this month we’re looking at the top tips for data backup and easy recovery. We’ve broken it into two sections; top tips for business backup; and top tips for home backup read more ...

We highly recommend the clever ‘part-time’ recruiters – Women Like Us

I’ve been following Women Like Us in the press for almost a year now and have been very impressed with their business model, growth and especially the fact that they’re a social enterprise, like ResponsibleIT CIC.  Women Like Us is a unique recruitment agency based on the brilliant idea of matching businesses to talented, and experienced office staff, who only want to work part-time hours.

And it’s a concept that is fast catching on…the ‘Women Like Us’ “find a £40K person for £20K” message has attracted over 1,000 London businesses to date.  Plus, the enterprise has won six national awards and its founders have just been made MBEs.  So why not click here to see what all the fuss is about?

The new Lucidica home page!

A few weeks ago Paul and Demelza finished a massive job of overhauling our website.  We launched a new home page layout, with more content and features.  This was in part to help boost our SEO but also to make our value-proposition to businesses with 1-50 staff clearer, and strengthen our brand. 

New to the home page includes: the 4 blogs we now write (CEO, CTO, Products and Demelza’s zany “I-am-allowed-to-write-about-anything-technical”); a media section (listing when we’re in the media); and a newsletter subscription feature.  Check it out

Tech News:

• Does Google think I want a rabbit? - This month we look at Google tracking more than you know about
• HTC Desire – It’s the wonderful Andoird based HTC Desire
  
• Tech tip of the month – Online meeting democracy with Doodle

 

June 2010

8 Top Tips for Making Adwords Work

We ran a successful seminar on return on investment with Google Adwords at the British Library IP Centre this month. As a follow-up we thought we’d undertake the slightly daunting task of trying to condense 4 hours of Thomas’ ramblings into 8 top tips. These will ensure that you not only appear at the top of Google but you pay the least amount of money for it. read more ...

We highly recommend our office stationary supplier - Business IT Online

Business IT Online are offering a ‘Price Beater Promise’ to all ourclients.  With an extensive range of 20,000 office stationery and furniture products for sale, they are smashing the competition on prices and would love the opportunity to reduce your costs.  For more details visit their Price Beater page. 

Since we’ve been using them for almost a year now I spoke with our Operations Team to get their opinion and they give them the thumbs up – “prices are great, service brilliant and you can speak with someone that cares quickly if you have any questions with an order”.  I recommend you give them a try.

Do you have any old computers we can recycle for you, and help Third Sector organisations?

A few months ago our social enterprise ResponsibleIT CIC helped one of its great charity clients reallocate 20 computers, to ten Third Sector organisations in desperate need of a free computer.  More than 50 organisations asked for a computer so we’d like to find more to help the 40 or so we couldn’t in that round.

If you have any computers you no longer need or are thinking of upgrading your computers soon, please email me and I’ll organise for an engineer to take them off your hands.  We wipe the data from the hard drive (to a military standard) and re-install Windows on them before handing them.

If you'd like to keep track of ResponsibleIT and be notified when we have free computers to give away to 3rd sector organisations please drop me an email and I'll add you to our bi-monthly supporters e-blast.

Tech News:

• Could Twitter predict and control Happiness? - This month Urban Spaces Group managed to work out how happy the nation was
• iPhone 4 with iOS4 –It’s new, it can now multitask, it’s thinner, lighter, has a better battery life
  
• Tech tip of the month – Speed and Security Online With Roboform
  
  

 

May 2010

5 Tips to Claim Your Digital Identity

'It is a great feeling when Google search auto-completes your name’ proclaimed a colleague the other day. He has a reasonably unique name and at this point he was certain Google ‘knew who he was’. This may provide comfort or fill you with dread, either way burying your head in the sand over digital identity won’t make the issue pass you by, you need to ensure you have a digital presence before the items appearing at the top of Google are the pictures of you from Glastonbury covered in mud, or a serial killer from Texas read more ...

Know any 1-3 person I.T. support companies who may be interested in joining our team?

Our main growth strategy is through merging small competitors into Lucidica.  It not only allows us to snap on top line growth quickly but we also acquire great additions to our team – especially a highly experience owner/Senior Engineer who has a terrific customer centric attitude.

We can offer the owner: a great team to join (and lead up an area of it); a solid brand and marketing power; sales know-how and active campaigns; good systems; financial rewards; holidays!; and more fun – they can get back to what they love doing, technical learning, teaching and implementing/solving I.T. stuff for small businesses. They won’t have the hassle of all the non-fun stuff to do with a small business (cash flow, tax, HR issues, sales, marketing etc).

If you know anyone who owns an I.T. support or consulting business in London, please ask them to get in touch or if you send me their details and I’ll give them a call for a chat.

People Changes at Lucidica

Lots of people changes at Lucidica in June, we have promotions, people switching careers and people coming to the end of their placements with us. We wish to thank James, Ayesha and Yishu for their hard work with us and congratulate Jo on taking up her new role as General Manager (GM)

 

Tech News:

• Avatar; do you know who you are? - Researchers demonstrate how easy it is for virtual reality to chnage your perception of self
• Product of the Month – Sound Isolating Earphones from Shure
  
• Tech tip of the month – Get people to type for you with iDictate

 

April 2010

Thomas speaking at the Institute of Directors and City Business Library

This month we added a few more speaking spots for Thomas.  Later this year he will be running a workshop at The Institute of Directors Central London Branch on “CRM for Small Businesses”, and in June and July a seminar at the City Business Library on 2 of our most popular topics – Search Engine Optimisation and Email Marketing.  More details to come soon.

The Tablet Cometh

Tablet PCs have been around for a while, 2010 though sees manufacturers approaching the market with gusto. The question is whether the device is just a different way to use your PC or whether the tablets are better defined as a ‘new device’ sitting somewhere between a mobile phone and fully functional computer. In one corner we have the iPad and in one we have the HP Slate read more ...

 

It has begun…

This month saw the start of our top secret ‘Project Ultimate’, so secret in fact even I don’t know what it is. The Engineering Team is taunting me with rather cryptic blog entries. It should launch within a month so prepare for something special.

 

Tech News:

• Want to know what to buy your spouse; ask their computer -A computer that can tell what you like by examining your brain activity
• Product of the Month – Dell Professional 22" Monitor
  
• Tech tip of the month – Quicker PDFs without the warnings

 

March 2010

Up to 20% off projects in April

Our financial year end is almost upon us (31 May) so we have a big push to finish on a high. And we'd like to provide a tremendous offer to our highly valued clients.

If you have any consulting projects start by COB Thursday 15 April (so we have a good chance of finishing it before our financial year end), you will receive:

• 10% off projects of less than £5,000; and
• 20% off projects greater than £5,000

This can include server builds (or re-builds!), Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) campaign, Email Marketing campaign set up and training, website design & development, minor ecommerce integration (if it’s too large and complex, we’ll help you find an expert) or Business Continuity Planning (BCP). Given a few clients have also experienced some of the 7 power outages we’ve had in East London in the last month, now may be a good time to ensure your BCP is up-to-date and tested!

For the project to be deemed “started” by mid-April you must have paid the deposit and signed the proposal.  Email or call the office and speak with Tom or myself if you have a technology project in mind.

2010; the Year of 3D

Right from the start of the year 3D has been the new technology. Almost every television manufacturer has a 3D version shipping this year. The sports channels are already trialling 3D content and of course Avatar and Alice have graced the cinemas. This week Nintendo have announced the arrival of a 3D handheld that requires no glasses within the next 12 months. Samsung are jumping on the band wagon with 3D monitors so you may even start seeing 3D websites. We thought we'd step ahead of the trend and produce some lovely 3D content you can view without a new monitor or ridiculous glasses read more ...

Tech News:

• Google was so 2009 - Facebook surpasses google as #1 visited website in U.S
• Product of the Month – ASUS O!PLAY
  
• Tech tip of the month – Increase your visibility on search engines

February 2010

Lucidica Speak about the “Google gin bet” at the British Library

As part of the British Library’s Business & IP Centre’s phenomenally successful “Web in Feb” campaign we were recently invited to speak about our “Google 3 month gin bet”. This was the bet I had with Tom, our CTO, that he couldn’t get us from page 72 to page 1 of Google for “IT support London” in less than 3 months.

Tom and I explained the bet, outlined how he eventually got us to page 1 and share 7 tips & techniques any business owner can implement immediately to boost their ranking. We’ll talk for about an hour, with drinks and networking for another hour afterwards.
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And if you haven’t checked out the Business & IP Centre and the invaluable resources available to you, for FREE, I encourage you to see for yourself. The very helpful staff will outline what courses, information and resources are available and how to use them.

“To cloud” or “Not to cloud”

The crash of WordPress’s servers bringing down 10m blogs and losing 5.5m page views last weekend brought a short sharp shock to its users. The weakness of even a behemoth like WordPress - and the factGoogleAps still only offers a mediocre uptime guarantee - suggests that the fabled land of ‘cloud computing’ may still be a short while off read more ...

January 2010

Introducing our social enterprise - ResponsibleIT

In July 2009 Tom and I recruited two highly experienced Non-Executive Directors and together the 4 of us founded a social enterprise, ResponsibleIT. 
This is a Community Interest Company (CIC) - a cross between a business and a charity (ask Tom or I for a more detailed explanation when speaking with us next!).

Our primary social mission is “to help young people with a passion and talent for, but no experience in, I.T. start a successful career”.  We do this by providing young people aged 16-24 with a 1-3 year Apprenticeship.  We pay for their 7 Microsoft exams so they can become a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE).  Half their paid time is to study and learn while the remaining half is spent providing I.T. support – so we can become self-sustaining in 2011.  More about the social side of the company here.

Commercially, ResponsibleIT provides I.T. support to home users, charities and other social enterprises in London.  So if you know any home users or organisations in the third sector that need great I.T. support while helping a terrific cause, please ask them to get in touch.  Like Lucidica, ResponsibleIT has a Happiness Guarantee to ensure the quality of our work and service remains extremely high.

We now have 5 Apprentices underway and Lucidica has funded the start-up and growth of ResponsibleIT entirely to date.  If you know any young person aged 16-24 keen to start an I.T. career but doesn’t have any experience or qualifications yet please ask them to email me and mention your name.

Lucidica interviewed on BBC Radio 4

One of the reasons we started ResponsibleIT stems from what Tom and I witnessed four of our Engineers experience in the last 2.5 years, before coming to work at Lucidica.  Many had been promised a career in I.T. if they took out a career development loan and paid it to the I.T. training company – who said they’d not only find them a job at the end of it, but also repay their loan for them.  A business model we just didn’t understand. 

All three I.T. training companies these 4 Engineers paid their career development loans to have gone under.  In one case, from what we understand more than 280 young people have been affected – that is more than £1.2m in career development loans weighing down on these young people’s shoulders at the start of their work life!

The BBC Radio 4 show “You and Yours” picked up on one of these training companies, and the affected youth – some without their MCSE qualification and most without the job they were promised at the end.  The BBC interviewed Jamal, one of the Engineers who went through this experience, and myself as an employer in the industry.
The programme aired yesterday at midday but you can still listen to the podcast of the show.