|
|
|
|
Happy Holidays
Digital Active Online would like to wish everyone a happy holiday season! We would like to thank our new clients of 2009, including the Big Ten Network, Buildtech Ltd. and Olympus Media, for "Getting Active". We would also like to thank all of you who are receiving our newsletter. In an age of Tweets, texts and email alerts, we appreciate those who take the time to read our newsletter. We look forward to 2010 and wish everyone a wonderful new year.
|
|
To Tweet or not to Tweet
by Todd Ross
In the month of December, I attended a seminar on social and professional networking entitled: "Taking Your Online Connections Offline for Corporate Success". The idea for the seminar appeared to be nothing ground-breaking, but the title was compelling as I hear clients and colleagues question the value of social networking for businesses. The presentation was nothing less than outstanding. John Hill, Director of Alumni Career Services at Michigan State University, immediately captured the attention of the audience, opening with a video, "Social Media Revolution" Mr. Hill continued with a fast-pased overview of LinkedIn and Twitter.
In developing almost every project, I begin with, "What is the goal and who is the target?" Mr. Hill quickly pointed out that no matter who the target is, they are either connected with some sort of online networking or soon will be.
The presentation succinctly demonstrated the benefits of the tools the networking sites offer. Each demonstration was punctuated with "... and it's FREE!" Practical applications and local entrepreneurs were used as examples to demonstrate just how valuable these free tools can be.
Having experience with sites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter, I recognized the benefits of the various networking sites prior to this presentation. However, the demonstration of the tools available was truly eye-opening. It is hard to think of an organization that cannot benefit in from one or more of these networks. While I still believe each organization needs to evaluate its goal and target audience before entering the social and professional networking realm, the connections and tools that are available are impossible to ignore.
Mr. Hill presented an amazing amount of information, even addressing questions long after the presentation ended. The presentation was videotaped and, of course, will soon be posted on YouTube. Check future newsletters for the link to "Taking Your Online Connections Offline for Corporate Success".
For more information, read Take Advantage of Twitter, featured in Entrepreneur Magazine online.
| |
|
Launched!
East Lansing's TIC Gains National Recognition
Glasses of champagne were passed out among the guests as Amy Cosper, editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur magazine, gave the toast. East Lansing's Technology Innovation Center (TIC) celebrated its one-year anniversary with a gala event featuring Ms. Cosper and a wide-range of local luminaries. The event, entitled "Launched!", was a celebration of innovators and entrepreneurs. Ms. Cosper traveled from Laguna Beach, California, to deliver the champagne toast and announce that her magazine will include the City of East Lansing in their list of "Top Ten College Towns to Start a Business" in an upcoming issue.
 While most of the guests did not travel 2,000 miles (and experience a 60 degree drop in temperature) the attendees did include entrepreneurs from the TIC, including Digital Active Online, officials from the City of East Lansing, MSU Technologies and entrepreneurs from the greater Lansing area. The night was more than a reflection back on the first year of a wonderful idea; it was a look forward to a collaborative community developing in Michigan. As a proud member of the TIC, Digital Active Online would like to thank the City of East Lansing, our fellow entrepreneurs at the TIC and our new neighbor, MSU Technologies. But we would also like to extend a special note of gratitude to the Project Manager at the TIC, Jeff Smith. His tireless effort has created this community of entrepreneurs and his hard work exemplifies the true spirit of innovation.
|
|
ActiveApp: Efficiency!
The Online Advantage
Our ActiveOffice suite is a foundation of web-based business applications. ActiveOffice applications are not "out-of-the-box" or completely customized. By analyzing each organization's processes, we create systems that automate and reduce or eliminate tasks while increasing accountability and reducing human error. These ActiveApps can be applied to the content on a public website or to login areas of client or member sites:
- Automated functions such as Event Manager, RSS feeds, and Forgot Password links
- Automated email reminders for events, tasks requiring user action, and confirmation of other user's actions
- Automatic push and pull data from external systems in a variety of formats, such as XML, delimited, database, and web services
- Email alerts for such things as new Support Tickets, Forum postings for watched topics, or new project assignments
- Cyber Polls, News items, Events, and other postings, to automatically publish on the website and be removed at a predetermined date
- Integrated mapping, directions and geo-coding that works with existing address information
- Secure access applications which allow 3rd parties such as clients and vendors limited online access to information related only to them in order to cut down on repeated emails of documents and other information
This month's "ActiveApp" feature is dedicated to efficiency. We won't focus on a single application, but highlight some of the functions that can create efficiencies to save time and money. While we have clients in a number of different industries, there is one thing they all seem to have in common. Everyone could use more time within each day. Digital Active Online has always recognized that organizations benefit whenever tasks can be reduced, automated or eliminated. When we first interact with our client's business processes, we look for areas where there are double (or triple) data entry, human error, or even something as simple as asking, "When the phone rings, who is calling and why?"
Public websites utilizing ActiveOffice applications include:
Click here to learn more about gaining the advantage of ActiveOffice. |
|
|
OAAI Conference
As a new member of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Illinois, Digital Active Online will attend the annual conference in Chicago, January 21, 2010. The annual event will feature a number of guest speakers, including Rob Jackson, the principal and creative director of Extra Credit Projects, a Grand Rapids-based advertising firm. Rob has been a colleague of Digital Active Online for many years and we have watched him rack up awards with a design sense that has always stood out from the pack. We look forward to being a member of OAAI and attending the annual conference in January. For more information visit the OAAI website.
|
|
Digital Active Online is a technology company focused on web-based applications. Our ActiveOffice system provides secure access to file sharing, discussion forums, web site content management systems, blogs and more. ActiveOffice provides efficiencies and connects business. Simple, secure and always there.
Digital Active Online - 325 E. Grand River Ave., Suite 313 - East Lansing, Michigan 48823
Call: (877) 222-3550
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
