October 2011
Monthly Archive
The secret workaround to slashing mobile global roaming charges
MattE 28 Oct 2011 | : Business, General, SMS
With the favorable exchange rate it seems every second person is heading overseas on holidays or business travel.
All to often however, people come back and get a nasty surprise – and I am not talking about health related ones 
Just as shocking can be the arrival of the next phone bill with a huge amount for global roaming costs, both for calls made and for those intrusive, well meaning relatives who just want to phone all the time to see ‘how things are going?’
It is not unusual for people to receive a phone bill of several THOUSAND dollars. This soon wipes any advantage of cheap holidays brought about by the high Aussie dollar.
Enterprise Architecture Services joins the spam alert list
MattE 27 Oct 2011 | : Communications
Another blatant spammer sending emails promoting courses is Enterprise Architecture Services.
I don’t know what a TOGAF course is, much less do I care. I care even less when I get the same emails (more than one) to several email addresses from a diversity of website I have – even ones not related to any business activity!
Here is a clue
You are receiving this e-mail because you happen to be either our client or were added to
our comprehensive database on account of your contribution in the IT domain.
Another business claiming I subscribed to their list
MattE 25 Oct 2011 | : Business, General
Sorry people at
Channel 1 Creative Media
Level 1 Chandler Arcade, 109 Boronia Rd
Boronia, Vic 3155
But I never subscribed to your list – I would never have any interest in what you have to offer so why would I have subscribed.
Computer backups vital for business and personal computers
MattE 24 Oct 2011 | : Business, General
In the past week I have had contact with several people who have lost files,or suffered other issues with computers that have caused much anxiety and in some cases, information, or pictures have been lost forever.
While backing up data would seem to be a self evident task for every business, even home computer users need to look seriously at backing up their data.
Take these statistics from a survey of small business in the USA – I am sure they would be similar here in Australia: Continue Reading »
Musings on the NBN rollout public information session
MattE 21 Oct 2011 | : Business, Communications, Web
Being in one of the first places in Australia earmarked for the National Broadband Network rollout (Toowoomba) I thought it a good idea to go along to the one hour information session to learn more about it.
Presentations weer made by a Govt officer and a rep from NBN co.
The takeaway messages that I share with you are: Continue Reading »
PM Training Concepts – why would I have an interest?
MattE 21 Oct 2011 | : Business, Communications, Marketing
Today I received an email touting the PM Training Concepts – PMI REP 3147 course.
The thing is despite it being personalised and having an unsubscribe link at the bottom, I have never subscribed to their list (the email used is never used to subscribe to anything – that is what Hotmail and Yahoo accounts are for).
So this means PM Training Concepts must be using trawling to build their lists. This is one black mark as spam.
Black mark two is the fact that the contents of the email did not explain fully what PMP is (there are some fleeting references to project management) – therefore it is not a legitimate business approach as is has no relevance to me.
How to sell more online
MattE 17 Oct 2011 | : Business, Marketing
The ease of shopping on the internet has seen a boom in ecommerce, to the frustration on bricks and mortar outlets. But are businesses their own worst enemy in creating wariness amongst customers?
Increasingly products that have struggled to sell due to customer’s concerns about sizing issues have started to sell well due to a dramatic shift in the way the etailers do business, specifically with returns of products that do not fit.
An example of an online etailer who has removed just about every barrier to shopping online for items where sizing may be an issue is StyleTread Shoes. In one deft swoop, they have turned online shoes sales on their head with their free delivery, 100 day return period, free return shipping and fast refund on returned items.
