Transform your business

Businesses in the Highlands and Islands are being urged to apply for the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise 2009. The deadline for entries is midnight on 31 October 2009. The 2008 business awards saw two winners in the area, KP Technologies Ltd in Caithness and Loch Duart Ltd in Sutherland.

Once upon a time when website owners required an update they’d have to wait until their developer eventually got around to it. Now, content management systems (CMS) let complete novices edit a site in minutes without months of learning new skills.

The problem with email addresses with the user names sales@ or info@ is that they tend very quickly to become spam magnets. Try as we might with filters and rules, and chopping and changing our email software, spam still seems to wriggle through the mesh.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is joining forces with Lochaber College to ensure that workers in the area have the opportunity to learn the skills needed to meet the demands of the growing Information, Communications and Telecommunications (ICT) sector.

Whether it is fully appreciated or not in the frenzy of internet entrepreneurial activity, website owners are content publishers.

Free Open Source software is a vast subject. So, picking up from where we left off last time, what else is out there to make life simpler – and cheaper – for the small to micro-sized company?

Is it really possible to buy a computer and not end up spending hundreds on extra software?

“How can I stop Skype loading automatically? As soon as I boot up there’s this guy bugging me about getting his invoice paid.”

Ever had a mental block while sitting at your computer? Ever wondered what software’s best for a particular task but don’t have the time to experiment?

It really is true: nothing is quite as it seems. A couple of unconnected stories this week should give businesses of all sizes cause for reflection.

Entrepreneurs in the north of Scotland are being invited to submit business ideas to win cash prizes in a regional competition. 

Open Source fans will be interested to hear that a web suite of tools based on OpenOffice is nearing launch.

Christmas may seem like a very long way away, but online traders should be gearing up now for a busy festive season of e-tailing.

If there’s only one thing you do this weekend: try out Chrome, Google’s new browser.

International management consultant Philip Atkinson is to deliver a talk on personal branding and influencing with integrity, at the invitation of The Chartered Institute of Marketing in Scotland (CIM).

Hadn’t thought of this before: seeking out video tutorials for software on youtube.

Open Source software for business has been much debated over the last couple of years. But with Microsoft’s Vista operating system hardly enjoying a smooth ride since its launch last year, it now looks like Linux is finally gaining traction in the business world.