IT 360 Convention in Toronto, personal impressions

Thanks to Communitech of Waterloo, I got a free pass to the IT 360 Convention in Toronto.

It was well-attended, although I sensed that maybe there were fewer people and fewer displays at the Trade Show than last year.

I attended one free lecture by presenter talking about how costs can be cut in IT without damaging the company's position for recovery when the economy improves.

One major cost-cutting suggestion was to review all contracts and contractual relationships with suppliers to determine if what was being supplied met the actual needs of the company or were not exactly what the company required.  The speaker believed that there were substantial cost savings here.

The trade show featured many of the same vendors as last year, but this year I noted with interest an anti-spam email service and a Bangladeshi software development company.  I did not recall these two trade show tables from last year.

My review of the paid seminar lists left me with the impression that there was a lot of IT security being sold, but social networking, and cheaper telephony factored large as well.

Many people were on their cell phones talking to clients about solving their IT problems which kept in focus that fact that no matter how much we talk about IT, it's most important role is to solve business problems.

The event was well-organized and I highly recommend it for its excellent networking opportunities.

The Society of Internet Professionals was there and I was advised that membership in this organization is free through the group's website at http://www.sipgroup.org/.

Google Documents is a real timesaver

Take a look at this Common Craft video on Google Documents and I think you will agree that document creation through collaboration has taken a quantum leap for the better.

Twitter, a business revolution in the making

All I'm going to do is post this video by Common Craft and let you think about how this technology can revolutionize business as we know it.

Facebook Marketing

Watch this video to learn a neat way you can get more business by updating your status regularly and encouraging your clients to do the same.

The Scrap Business and New Technlogy

I'd be interested in communicating with anyone who has ideas on how to combine the scrap industry, particularly for metals, with the Internet.

As commodity prices rise, it seems to me there is a market for recycled metals.

Could companies bid for your metal inventories on the Internet?

What's a Wiki

Wiki's look very useful for co-ordinating input and action amongst a number of individuals that would like to collaborate using their computers.

Here is another good video by www.commoncraft.com that does a great job explaining how a Wiki is very useful.

How to start a successful on-line social network

I found the following Q & A session on LinkedIn very useful in understanding how to go about setting up a successful social network on-line. The discussion is succinct and to the point.

http://www.linkedin.com/answers/marketing-sales/advertising-promotion/internet-marketing/MAR_ADP_INM/214576-410700