Archive for August 2011
90% of Commuters Vote for Conference Calling to Avoid Olympic Congestion
As concerns over impending travel chaos mounts in London and throughout the UK in the run-up to the 2012 Olympic Games, commuters have voted overwhelmingly to use conference calling as their way of avoiding the crowds.
In an online poll carried out by LoveHateTravel.co.uk, 80% of commuters said, “Yes definitely!” they would be using conference calling to avoid the crowds. A further 10% thought conference calls were a good idea during the Olympics and the remainder said they would continue to use conference calling as usual during the Olympic period. Even when given the option to say, “No way,” absolutely no one ruled out the conference calling option.
How to prepare your business for the 2012 Olympic Games
Olympic bosses and Transport Ministers have launched a campaign to raise awareness for both big and small firms, urging them to start preparing now, even with months to go!
The ODA said the Games are “the largest peacetime logistical exercise that any country can undertake” and warned that many businesses have under-estimated the impact – both in terms of the duration and the geographical spread of events.
The capital faces disruption for more than six weeks between July 27 and September 9 2012, during which the main Games and then the Paralympics take place, with a transition period in between. Large numbers of roads will be partly or fully closed to create an Olympic Route Network for Games officials, competitors and VIPs – and not just in east London near the Olympic Park. Venues are spread across London, from Wembley to Wimbledon. Read the rest of this entry »
Is your business involved in the Olympics yet?
As the London 2012 Olympics approach, we’re sure you are all as excited as Powwownow, waiting with baited breath and expectation on team GB’s performance! For many a business however, ideas and preconceptions about how certain industries will be affected still remains a topic of hot debate.
The most common misunderstanding is that, given the fact we’re less than a year away, all the deals and opportunities for SME’s have long since passed. Thankfully, we can assure you this isn’t the case! Read the rest of this entry »
Best Advert of All Time?
As Autumn dawns and the nextw Powwownow ad’ campaign is being tweaked to perfection before being launched in September, we thought it only fitting to share some staff favourites in the meantime.
Below are five staff member’s favourite ad’s of all time, incorporating the emotive, wild, funny, and just plain dumb. – Tthe TV adverts from the likes of VW, Lynx, Sony, John West and …erm, Milk – are all as funny as they are highly addictive. Please let us know whether you agree with what is said, and of course, feel free to put us on to your own much-loved choices.
‘Milk’ – Sarah Deverill (‘The Voice’ of Powwownow)
First released in the late seventies, this advert is 100% mimic-able and captures many a youngster’s attitude towards milk perfectly. It’s one the simplest of ad’s in the world but one that sticks with me for reasons totally unknown. – I could watch it again and again, and if that isn’t the mark of a good advert, then I don’t know what is!
6 eco-friendly ways to make your office a little greener
It’s all well and good being green and recycling at home, but what of the office, the place where it’s often “somebody else’s issue”?
Well, the truth is, it’s all about baby steps, and we here at Powwownow would be honoured to get you started with a few pointers.
The objects below will add some environmentally-friendly credentials to your office, and hopefully inspire your colleagues to go a little green as well. Take a look through and please let us know which ones work for you…and your office.
Really Useful 35 titre storage box.
The Recycled Range from Really Useful means you can recycle all types of post-consumer waste including waste plastic and batteries. Your office may recycle paper already but plastic and batteries are far more toxic when broken down. Read the rest of this entry »
HP has paid £7bn for software company Autonomy. Good news for founder Mike Lynch – and debatably for the UK tech industry?
News broke late last week that UK software firm, Autonomy, was bought by U.S giant Hewlett Packard for a staggering £7bn ($11.7bn). As one of Autonomy’s customers (Powwownow uses Autonomy’s Teamsite CMS) we couldn’t help but wonder whether this was a good or a bad thing, generally speaking.
Some people criticised the move, with many worried over a Cadbury’s style loss of UK jobs, which saw 500+ jobs relocated to Poland after the company sold to U.S buyers Kraft early last year.
Solar Panels – Groupon Style: What’s stopping UK Business?
An innovative business development within the solar industry is now taking off thanks to a Groupon style approach to purchasing. With a view to dramatically increase the rate of solar adoption across residential and business properties, ‘One Block Off’ and ‘Solar@Work’, have respectively been making some pretty bold steps.
This new business model leverages the purchasing power of groups of people to get local solar installers to offer their services at a reduced price. Both companies aim to compile large groups of keen solar power purchasers and then contact local solar contractors to make a deal, a practice typically used for buying consumer goods.
Confused by Pay Per Click advertising? Let Powwownow explain.
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is key to most online marketing campaigns today, and it’s often expensive and overwhelming. If the tedious nature and large time commitment required to run a successful — or even unsuccessful — PPC campaign has got you down, you are not alone. However, a good ROI makes it all worthwhile. Over 40% of Powwownow’s new business comes from PPC, and we’d like to think we could help you too. Here are our 10 tips to help improve your PPC campaign in hopes of a gaining a greater ROI and making the whole process more enjoyable and fruitful.
What is the internet really doing to our brains?
Nicholas Carr recently published ‘What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains; The Shallows’, a fascinating book which addresses just what the Internet and new media, all with its excessive information streams, are doing to us humans.
The book states neuroscientists have discovered when we use new technology or new media we shift our habits of mind – with our iPhones and laptops – we are in fact training our brain to be less attentive, arguably quicker, but ultimately more fickle.
Similarly to intellectual technology of the past such the invention of the map, which trained us to be more attuned to our surroundings, and the mechanical clock which changed our perception of time coordination; new media and the Internet at large are altering us almost irreversibly.
Green News: Carbon Neutral Travel with Rome2Rio
As many of you know, we here at Powwownow like to advocate all things ‘green’. So we were extremely excited when we heard about rome2rio, a new search engine that allows users to compare the carbon footprint of every travel option available.
The website, headed by two ex-Microsoft engineers lets you literally work out how to get from A to B (not unlike FromAtoB.com) via a Google Map with multi-modal travel options. It was good before, but now it’s great, thanks to the addition of carbon neutral travel offerings in partnership with Offset Options.