Rajarshi Saha

Services


eCommerce

Site Design

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You have 3 seconds!! 3 seconds is the time you have to grab the users attention.

You have a good product/service. Now you want a web presence. A web presence is an absolute must for every business. It will be 'Site Design' that will separate you from the rest in the business.

There are many variables to consider when making a site. The most important being, how fast the page loads. Everyone wants a nice shiny site with all the bells and whistles. Take a second and look at Google and Facebook. Do you see notice the lack of eye candy? That's because people are looking for a very specific answer to their need in the shortest possible time. Answering their question/need is more important than eye candy.

Most programmers can make you a beautiful site. A programmer with experience will make you a beautiful site that will help you added new customers and more importantly maintain a mutually beneficial relation with your client base.



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Social Networking

Social Networking is an exact science. Get it wrong, you can end up hurting your business.

Think of it as Brand Image. Badly managed Social Network Integration is use of poor quality images or even worse, no images showing in feed. Typo's in tags. Over dramatization of subject. The list goes on.

Everyone knows this, right? But human error is inevitable, that is why having checks and controls is a must. It must go out of the press right the first time. There is no second chance.

Checks and controls enable you to verify what goes out, before it goes out, in the simplest manner. One of the best way to ensure quality is to have a development site and a live site. All successful businesses do this. And there is no reason you should not too.

A development site is a replica of the actual site run on a parallel destination that is not open to public or Search Engine Indexing robots.

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Cart

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If and when you want to be able to sell goods/services directly from your website, a well designed Cart will help you not only bring in business but also build Brad Loyalty. A poorly managed Cart will destroy your on-line business.

Examples of bad carts are 'clicks' that looses user filters, takes user away from what the person was doing. Cross selling too many or unrelated other goods/services. Unnecessary pop up pages/screens.

Good Cart system, on the other hand will focus on keeping the user interested, while helping them with more choices and doing that quickly and efficiently. Sensible filters that relate to the search item(s). And a good backed (after sales) that responds to issues very very quickly.

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Payment Gateway

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Things to consider when deciding on Payment system is Merchant Account or third party. The reason being, till an on-line business builds up enough transaction volumes, the cost of going for direct from bank Payment Gateway can be more expensive. For start-ups, new on-line commerce like sites, it is good to go with a third-party system like Paypal/RuPay.

Third-party systems like RuPay are much better set-up for small businesses that don't have SSL and/or their own IT team. SSL is when a site uses https vs. http. SSL is a must if you have users that need to log in, whether you have a Payment Gateway or not.



Take a look at the site Payment Brain. It shows cost comparisons of Payment Gateways as against expected Sales.

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Video Integration

Video Integration in a web site is very effective tool to attract and capture new user base. Yet it remains the least used. The main reason being people don't know how easy it is.

Take a look at this page on a blog site . It is a simple well structured site. Loads very fast and whenever the blogger has had the time he put a video along with the list. It builds a personal rapport with your user base. You don't have to look like a movie star. Just remember KEEP IT SIMPLE!! Pay attention to your video background and surroundings. No trash, rumpled clothes, etc. visible.

When should you use a video? Whenever possible. That is why having a good custom Admin Panel is so very important. You need to be able to quickly upload videos relevant to a particular part of your site without being a programmer. That is my job :)

Not only do you put your videos on your site, but also YouTube!



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Video Production

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When you want a high-end site, professional quality videos are a real requirement. High quality videos delivery the message in a very concise and well structured manner.

I partner with S-Ray Productions for this purpose. The founder of S-Ray Productions is a former advertising Executive and has extensive work experience in TV advertising. He has now formed his own company that specialises in Video content and is a fast growing company.

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YouTube Channel

YouTube is a great way to promote your site. Your sites already has videos, so why not a YouTube Channel? YouTube has a global reach. And it is super easy to tap into that reach.

Another added advantage of having your own YouTube Channel is server space. Load as much content as you want and not run out of server space on your web-hosting. As, you can link the video from your YouTube Channel directly into your website.

Now, not only are you getting hits from Search Engine searches, but also YouTube searches. Have a food related site? Make 'Reciepe' videos. Art related site? Product related videos that speak about the history of the Art, Artist, medium, and other talking points.

Think of it as a viable TV advertising. Not everyone can afford TV placements, but anyone can have their YouTube videos. It is an incredible effective marketing tool. AND it will make you stand out of the competition.

If there is a topic, people are searching for it. Here is a YouTube video on how to lace your shoe. At the time of linking this video, it had 275,000+ views, and counting!!

How to Straight Bar Lace your shoes - Professor Shoelace - YouTube



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Customized Admin Panel

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If you haven't realised it yet, having and running a successful site is a lot of work. You really need good automation tools to help you or soon you will not be able to cope with the sheer amount of things you need to do to have a site running in top gear.

A good Admin Panel is the very heart of a successful website. This is where you are loading/updating your content. As a site owner this is what you will be using all the time. Yet, this is something I see lots and lots of people struggling with.

New site owners will typically go for a web-hosting service like GoDaddy as they are cost beneficial. Services like these have a very specific way of implementing things. It is up to the user to get familiar with their approach. Don't get me wrong, laymen can make a great site on these services. What a layman doesn't understand is that these services have to make a shoe that 'fits-all'. In real life this just doesn't make a great site. Sites get bloated, loads slow. Has too much gong on. And the worst part is the back-end.

The only thing to a website is, content. If the content is out-dated, it makes the site redundant. So, if you want high traffic to your site you will be constantly updating your site. THIS is where a good Customized Admin Panel comes in play. It helps you do all your everyday tasks in a jiffy. This is what you should have, this is something that web-hosting services cannot do.

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Security

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When do you need to secure website? Well, it is easier to ask, 'when do you NOT need to secure website?' The only situation when you don't need to secure your website is when you don't have an option for user log in. Even in such a situation, SSL is recommended as you will need SFTP or Secure File Transfer Protocol. Like this site, my Admin Panel is situated on a Secure Part of the site that is not visible/accessible to web users. In all other situations, you must have SSL. SSL => https

User just don't feel comfortable logging in to a non-secured site. That translate to lose of user base. Securing your web site is easy and it is relatively cheap.




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Traffic Analysis

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Traffic Analysis is the core of optimising your site and keep getting users back, while adding new users. Traffic Analysis at its core is slicing and dicing raw web log data. But it goes much further. Seeing what link your users seem to prefer. Pages where user loses interest. What the user are looking at. What promos are working, which are not. The wealth of information garnered from Traffic Analysis is parallel to none.

All this will help you make your site rank higher than compitition. Just having a site wont do much for you. Understanding and using the science behind it will make you grow to your full potential. You don't have to be a rocket scientist for that. You just need to know the things to look out for when starting/upgrading an on-line business.

Do you want to run a successful business while on a perpetual holiday? Focus on the back-end as much as you do the front-end.

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Database

Creation and Maintenance

Databases are the heart of all businesses. Back when I went to school, we were taught de-centralised decision making. With current technologies, decision making has again become centralised and the benefits are obvious.

Indian businesses are still lagging behind in this respect. I feel this is the Pharaohs Steam-engine paradox. Steam powered technology was available in ancient Egypt, but they had no immediate and pressing need for it as human resource was abundant. In the same light, Indian businesses have abundant skilled human resources and don't feel a immediate and pressing need for databases.

I went to school for Business studies, technology is my passion. Database as such are looked upon as technology related, when it really is all about business. The importance of harvesting data is only undermined by harvesting bad data. The source of all business data is human. For that it is important to design and implement databases in a manner that is consistent in approach and minimises input error.


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Data Mining/Analysis

Data Mining is the collection of data. Analysis is the slicing and dicing of data. Data becomes more and more relevant as the volume of data grows. As the volumes grow, a badly designed database makes Analysis almost impossible.

Just like the farmer know what crops to plant when, a database should be designed ask the right questions at the right time. Add historical data to that and you have great Analytics.




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Predictive Modelling

We all wish we could look into the future. Surprisingly we can! When one has enough data, one can predict with a high level of certainty, the outcome of a particular scenario.

Predictive modelling has become the new business mantra. It is all about being pro-active. Do it before someone else does it, because someone else will do it soon than later and that is not good for business.

Predictive modelling not only helps stay ahead of competition, it helps dramatically reduce costs. Remember the saying, 'a stitch in time saves nine'? Predictive modelling can accurately foresee failures. It doesn't necessary be failures in bad processes. Even a good running process can have a lifetime and it pays to know when to change/update that process.

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Statistical Performance Analysis

Enough cannot be said about Statistical Analysis. Countries run on such analysis. So do businesses.

To have strategic goals a business must have Performance Analysis at all levels. Statistics is what helps decision makers overcome emotional attachments to bad/faulty processes. Numbers don't lie and understanding numbers is key to growth.

Statistics is the key to understanding the percentage game. How well is an asset performing. Statistics paints a true picture of asset performance along with the environment. Economics would be nothing without Statistics.


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Multi-site data pooling

Building a Centralised Intelligence requires real-time data from all sites. What you may know as 'Cloud'. Building and maintaining your own 'Cloud' is very simple, and far more secure than buying this service. The level of security you can achieve with your own server is unparalleled.

People assume that you need expensive servers to achieve this. This is not the case. An old 386 PC can be set-up to server 100,000 request per second! That is an incredible high number and even large businesses don't have much high requirements. So why do companies spend so much money on such services? In my experience, managers are not willing to chance thier career on non 'industry standard' process, as in a worst-case scenario they will have to shoulder the blame.

That, in my view is a huge advantage for smaller businesses. Small to medium scale business owners can take advantage of cutting edge technology at minimal cost.

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Knowledge Sharing

Synchronised flow of process, intelligence helps all businesses maintain uniform standards. "Getting everyone on the same page". "Information at your fingertips". No longer do employees have to look for answers from an 'available' resource. Every process is documented and instantly served.

Formation and exploration of new ideas. In a dynamic world, people in all hierarchy of the business have valuable inputs. Gathering those inputs not only is beneficial for business, it is a huge boost to employee moral. People are no longer cogs-in-a-wheel. It creates a happy pro-active work environment.

Cog-in-a-wheel is a real morale buster. I once did consulting for a PCB assembling unit in Michigan. The company had gone bankrupt and the new owners had hired me to help them with some processes. First I wanted to get a hands-on feel for the firm so I spent half a day on the floor, looking and understanding processes. One employee, lets call him Mr. X, I was particularly impressed with. After lunch, the new owner had a talk with all the employees. Mr. X sat there reading a magazine, not looking up at the new manager. That day, if I had not intervened, the company would have lost their best employee without even knowing it. Mr. X felt he was a cog-in-a-wheel, his input would not matter. I can't stress enough how important it is for a business that has a defined growth plan to have a system of knowledge sharing. Employee participation is very important to the growth of every business.


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Universal Connectivity

Your business is set-up well. All systems are running full steam. Things are great. So, it's time to take a vacation. By Murphy's law, while on vacation everything that can go wrong will go wrong. You have to rush back to put out these fires.

How nice would it be if you could put out these fires and not have to rush back? That is where Universal Connectivity kicks in. All systems are connected to you and indicators are set to go off and inform you real time. You can take corrective action, while monitoring the process, real-time. All from your favourite beach resort.

I say vacation to make light, but in modern times, business owners cannot be bogged down to one location. They have multi-sites, dozens of meeting and many places to be. Without Universal Connectivity to their business, their growth potentials are severely limited.


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Real-time Tracking/Reporting

Whatever the business may be, manufacturing, retail, services, etc. they all need to keenly monitor for bottle-necking. Things need to be in the right place at the right time.

Progression in time will make even good processes redundant. Fixing problems before they arrive is what every business owner wants. Constant process monitoring not only reduces costs, but builds client confidence. Clients like to do business with firms that know exactly what is going on, at all stages.

Well informed people have a noticeably different way of doing things, and people appreciate that. That is good brand imaging.


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Accounting

Familiar with the expression, "nickled and dimed to death"? It is the small things that ultimately add-up to big things. Information management help look at things in at 'micro' level. The answers that it give may help you change to better practices.

We all think we have a good understanding of Accounts. The truth is very few of us have the patience to go through numbers with a fine-tooth comb. In a consulting job, I helped a business introduce MAC unit level accounting. Even the business owner was surprised with the results.

One of the finding was, there was a process where workmen needed to used paint. The amount of paint used daily wasn't much and there were three departments doing similar production. At department level the consumption per department was similar, but compared to particular process requirements one department was consuming paint at a higher rate. Long story cut short, it was found one of the workman was not putting the lid back on after use and the paint was drying up, causing wastage. When all these loose ends were tied up, the saving per year was a tidy amount.

It does makes sense to pay attention to the minute details. Every penny saved is a penny earned.


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Office Automation

LAN Set-Up

LAN or Local Area Network is having all your computers on the same network. There are many reasons to do this. Having all the computers on the same network will enable to share data seamlessly, share common resources like printers and internet connection. Having a central location for all files. Using a central location for work files is a great idea as it is easy to maintain and back-up data. As well as keeping the data in-sync.

But think beyond the common uses. Think client stations. No longer is it necessary to have a separate PC for each employee. A computer of good specs. can be set-up to server multiple stations. This reduces electricity usage, as well as making uniformity of resources easier to distribute.

Did I mention Client Stations are a fraction of the cost of PC's! When your LAN is set-up you can reduce the number of PC's in your unit by changing to Client Stations. You have all the features of a PC, without the hassles of maintain a PC.


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Domain Set-Up

Having your own domain is affordable, easy and a must if you want to be on your way to becoming a household name. Business sites hosted on free hosting make that business look amateurish. Even professionals have started getting their own domains where they have all the information about them available on the web. Accessible information builds confidence.

The best part of having a domain is giving your client base a place to come to and have a look about what you do, as well as learning new products/services. You can launch new strategies. You employees have a common place for information sharing. The benefits of having a domain are numerous.


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Enterprise e-Mail

e-Mail with your won domain name is a huge promo for yourself that you can do every time you give someone your contact.

I see people who have there own domain still using public e-mail services like Gmail or Yahoo Mail. The main thing to realise here is these e-mail services actively use a SPAM list to block SPAM. How people's e-mails end up on these SPAM lists is controversial and to take it off is next to impossible.

As a business owner you HAVE to get ALL your mail. If you are using a public e-mail service then chances are they can be filtering your mails by their SPAM list and you might end up not receiving important mails from clients whose e-mails have been wrongly tagged as SPAM. And I am not talking about the stuff that ends up in your Junk mail folder. Those mails are mostly SPAM that the email services have themselves contracted to deliver to you.

Setting up your own SPAM Filter is very easy and is built-in to most modern e-mail clients, like Mozilla Thunderbird. Setting up your domain e-mail on your phone does take an extra step or two, but believe me, it's worth it to know you are getting all your business mail delivered to you.


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Server Set-up

Servers boosts an organisations ability to make Intelligent Decision. Server set-ups are no longer expensive and can be set-up on existing old hardware.

What personal computer users don't realise is that the bulk of the processing required, is for rendering graphics. To output what you see is what is grinding the gears of a PC. That is why gamers PC's are of such high specs. Servers don't need to output any graphics. What a server servers is being displayed remotely, and hence the system specs of a server does not need to be high until you reach approximately 100,000 users that are requesting information from the server, simultaneously!

Got an old PC lying around? Run a server on it. Infact an old 386 makes a good server as they consume low amounts of wattage.


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Multi-site Connectivity

Bringing a business information system into a common network has many benefits. The most important being, uniformity. It helps setting and implementing standards, easy.

All business owners would like to know that their ideas are propagating through out the business. At the same time it is not possible for business managers to be at all places. Connecting all employees to a common network brings down the wall of distance.

Getting feedback of how an idea is panning out in real-life is critical. An idea may work great in one location and the results can be different at another site. Each site can be customized to correctly implement the business goals without over-laps or conflicts. Tracking it all in a consistent manner that is practical for a manager is what Business Information technology is all about.


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Reporting

Reporting on all aspects of the business is great. As long as the sheer volume of information does not overwhelm the manager. When volumes of data start to get large, a good Analytics strategy is required or Periodic Reports lose relevance.

Slicing and dicing data makes great foundations for analysis. But how to check for relevance in a constantly shifting world? Do you keep upgrading to new tools? When you 'own' your system, it really saves in future costs. The system can be modified in ways that make business sense, on-demand. No need to keep upgrading to new and expensive tools. Use what everyone is already comfortable with, just add enhanced capabilities.

Most people would say, 'if that were true, it would be practice'. It is, you just don't know about it. For example, when Microsoft was trying pushing Tablet sales, people would get strange errors like 'Insert CD'. Guess what, the system was a carry forward of Windows for PC. The places 'Insert CD' would pop up was places where the code existed in its original format.

What large corporations indulge in is window dressing, and the user ends up paying for it. No pun intended ;)


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Function Tracking

Function Tracking is becoming more and more relevant in current scenario, where focus is on Quality. Especially in service oriented industries. It is the practice of monitoring a process as it moves through different levels of the business.

A 'job' may go through various relevant departments before completion. To make the process seamless the process is monitored while ensuring a method of back-tracking. Back-tracking happens when there is problem, then the problem needs to be tracked to its source and fixed. Corrective actions are taken to try and stop the problem from recurring.

To be able to do that business use Function Tracking. Function Tracking helps in identifying problems quickly and efficiently. The system would typically also point to documentation of isolation of problem, cause, solution and have tools for measuring effectiveness of implemented solution.


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Time Tracking

Time Tracking is very wide subject. It means different things to different industries. The object of the tool is usually common. On the client side, how to connect with the customer quickly and on the business side, where things are at any given moment.

Letting the customer know where their transaction is in real-time is most gratifying to the client. Well informed clients are most amiable as they feel that they are 'in-the-loop' and someone is actively looking into their concern. Just knowing that someone is out there actively on their order/issue etc. gives

On the business internal side, Time Tracking is especially effective in locating bottle necking and identifying weak vendors amongst a host of other functions.


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Data Security

Data breaches are the nightmares of modern businesses. Surprisingly the most damage is not from hackers but from data theft by competing businesses. Reading the news everyday, people are meet with news of new leaks everyday. But seldom are data theft by competing businesses mentioned. That is because most businesses aren't even aware of it and may never come to be aware of it.

Corporate espionage is a serious business. It especially affects small businesses as, either they don't have tools to monitor their data or simply don't have the funds to afford it. Having the tools at an affordable prices is just a matter of knowledge of what is out there. For example did you know SSL is a FREE tool developed by openSSL developers.

With openSSL implementing https internally is not only easy, it is FREE! There are many many tools like this that can be used by a small/medium business to protect themselves. There is a whole world of Open Source tools. Who uses these tools? From universities to defence to everyday users like me. Infact this hosting, the code I wrote the site on, the database that is behind the scenes, etc. it's all open source!

Did you know all super-computers run on open source!


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