MindScape

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a concept that integrates two or more functions of a firm for smoother operations.

Almost every organization has several departments with individual responsibilities. The commonly encountered classifications are :

• Manufacturing
• Human Resources
• Inventory management
• Customer Relationship management
• Accounting

and others. Each of these has separate databases, the complexity of which increases with the scale of the organization.

ERP’s power lies in in its ability to integrate these multiple databases and processes into one coherent entity accessible by all departments, thereby improving cross-functionality, cutting time and escalating productivity.

For Example:

A shipping firm bags an order to deliver 100 crates of wine in 5 days. The departments engaged to accomplish the objective would be:

• Sales : the one that bagged the deal
• Inventory management : keeps an eye on the supply of necessary equipment(carts) for delivery.
• Finance : handles all the associated finances required, including payments from the customer.
• Logistics: takes care of the proper shipment and tracking of the crates.
• Customer relations : keeps in touch with the customer during and after the project.

It clearly calls for extensive coordination among all the departments for the project to be completed successfully. Any inter-departmental can have a crippling effect on the final delivery.

However, ERP systems are configured to smoothen such situations. Employing an ERP system for the above situation would bring about the following change :

The moment the sales team bags the order, it updates the order in the central database. From there it is instantly accessible to all other related departments. Inventory studies the order and checks its related stocks. In case it runs short, it notifies the in-house stock procurement dept. to make additional purchases.

Next, Finance steps in and estimates the costs to be borne by the firm for delivering the project. It also works on the billing details that will be sent to the customer(Billing dept.).

Logistics simultaneously checks transport availability to ports and also works on tracking the consignment till it is safely delivered.

Additionally, the Customer Management System keeps in touch with the customer and keeps him informed about the progress of his order, till it is delivered and beyond, for future projects that he might decide to entrust to the firm.

Thus, employing an ERP system greatly improves inter-department co-operation, and results in much better operational efficiency.

All the departments that ERP integrates and can be applied to are known as ERP Modules.

Advantages of ERP

1) Reduced Data entry and redundancy : this is the prime objective of ERP. It integrates all data under one centralized database that makes repeated data entry unnecessary, and facilitates easy access by all departments.

2) Easier Inter-department communication : which follows from a centralized database.

3) Reduction in time and cost

4) Security : ERP systems come with in-built computer security systems that are useful in preventing crimes like industrial espionage and intellectual property embezzlement.

Criticism against ERP and new developments

ERP has generated criticism due to its extensive integration costs. ERP costs can be roughly broken down into :

• Configuring(Revamping) existing system according to ERP requirements.
• Reconfiguration of hardware, work-flow, data transfers etc
• Training of personnel on ERP’s functional dynamics
• Expert ERP consultation for installation, training and post-installation maintenance and trouble shooting.

To avert this, two news trends that have witnessed encouraging responses are Online ERP and Custom ERP.

For Online ERP, any firm that wishes to avail the ERP services contacts an online vendor, who in turn provides the services for a pre-decided charge.

Custom ERP entails the integration of particular ERP modules that are relevant to the existing business’s needs, rather than revamping the business itself.

These two alternate approaches to ERP have found reasonable acceptance as they eliminate the much criticized stage of existing business revamp and the huge costs involved in on-site ERP installation.

Conclusion

ERP’s success can be gaged by the widespread popularity of firms like SAP AG, Ramco ERP, Oracle Applications and Microsoft Dynamics, that are the biggest players in this field. Having been introduced only a few years back, ERP systems have helped organizations both big and small integrate their functions for better productivity and profits.

With constant improvements being introduced and the scope of application widening to cover almost all industry sectors, ERP systems are here to stay and rule.

Not all guidelines are meant to be restrictive. Quality standards, the guidelines for web development, are meant to establish a semblance of uniformity in all web services delivered.

Issued by W3C, Quality Standards stipulate the various parameters any web development service/product must match up to, to be considered up-to-the-mark The Internet today is a beehive of all sorts of web services. Some are good, some are top-of-the-line, and some are a waste of time.

Quality standards aim to eliminate this discrepancy by promoting researched standards so that all web products and services are user-friendly and make good sense to invest in.

The need for standards

Web designers and developers are humans, which means their work reflects their viewpoints to varying extents. These viewpoints can be broadly classified under:

• Scripting of Websites
  

Using XHTML standards

XHTML is an extension of HTML that is cleaner and leaner. It allows websites to be viewed on various devices (mobile phones etc.) which was not easy with HTML.

Using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) standards

Websites have varying degrees of complexity in their underlying codes. With HTML <font> tag, re-writing or changing the content of the website becomes tedious as it involves extensive re-configuration of the existing code.

To overcome this, W3C Quality Standards stipulate the use of CSS standards. It is a potent way of separating the style of a webpage from its content. In doing so, it enables very easy re- configuration of the page’s content.

Using CSS greatly improves the browser compatibility of a website and also improves its readability, while the lesser development time involved cuts development costs.

• Readability of websites

Text used in website content varies widely in terms of font size, color, font style(bold, italic), character/line spacing etc. Thus, the same block of text :

“Einstein had bad grades in school.”

can be written as :

“Einstein had bad grades in school.” or Einstein had bad grades in school.

Reading both the types requires concentrated effort. This hampers easy readability of websites.

Thus, Quality standards decree the use of easier text representation (font, color contrast, spacing etc.) for maximum readability.

• Website Accessibility

The spectrum of Internet users ranges from the top-end users with the latest technologies at their disposal, to the other end of users with the bare minimum required for browsing.

Clearly, websites designed to hog system resources are viewed best only on high-end systems. Such websites deny accessibility to the rest of the users, which in a way harms the website owners themselves as they lose out on the bulk of the potential visitors.

Quality Standards save the day here by stipulating user-friendly web development guidelines that maximize the website’s accessibility. The more the visitors, the better the business opportunities.

• Internationalization of Websites

Most modern browsers use the internationally accepted Unicode (UTF-8, UTF-16 etc.) character set. However, not all documents transmitted over the Internet conform to the standards of this set owing to the uniqueness of language scripts used. This results in a discrepancy among the browser being used and the text to be displayed on-screen.

Quality standards thus recommend the labeling of each document used with the character set in use for easier identification and representation.

Also, other commonly experienced discrepancies like which format to use while writing dates is taken care of by W3C guidelines. Thus, the accepted date format is yyyy-mm-dd. (letters with their usual meanings).

Eg. : 04-05-1984 could either mean 4th May 1984 or April 5^th 1984.

But with the use of quality standards, 1984-05-04 can only mean May 4^th, 1984

Although not exhaustive, this brief overview of the prevailing quality standards in web development is an endeavor to give you a better understanding of the guidelines we, at Vinove, while designing web sites for our clients.

Introduction

A CRM system is more than a software package to manage a firm’s customer database. Its purpose is to help manage a firm capture customers, retain them, nurture them and serve them as best as possible. This aim is realized through operations classified under different heads, known as CRM Modules.

CRM system modules

Operational Module

• Campaign Planning : planning promotional campaigns as per the firm’s core competencies and the profile of the target customer.
• Campaign Execution: through channels like email marketing, online advertisements, phone marketing, print ads, television ads etc.
• Lead generation and classification: any prospective customer who responds to the firm’s campaign is a lead. He is then questioned and the information received (type of product/service wanted, price range, contact details etc) is analyzed and classified as Hot Lead (genuine prospect) or Cold Lead (false information/bogus interest).

Sales : All sales made are documented in the central database along with information like customer contact details, calls, emails, faxes, sales quotations etc.

Service : It deals with all the services a customer is entitled to as part of the firm’s contract. This includes :

• Warranty management
• Knowledge management (How To, tutorials, User manuals)
• Back end/ after sales support
• Installed Base Support (support for tools installed onsite) etc.

Collaborative Module
It handles direct interaction with the customers. Emails, phone calls, websites etc. are used for the purpose.

Analytical Module
It focuses on analyzing the database towards:

• Analysis of customer behavior patterns
• Emerging trends that may be profitably exploited
• Taking key decisions on developing new marketing strategies for better promotional opportunities etc.

All the information collected builds up an exhaustive customer profile with data ranging from bare essentials like contact nos., to analytical segments like patterns in purchase history, preferences, significant deviations from established patters, shift in trends etc.

Example: Call centers have records of previous purchases made by customers. So every time a profiled customers calls up, his information is available to any executive attending the call, no matter which department he is from. This slashes customer processing time and instead of starting from scratch each time, it sends out a favorable impression of the firm.

The shift in CRM systems implementation
Traditional CRM packages have been tricky into integrate into already existing systems, on account of hardware re-configurations, workforce training and establishment of back-ups.

However, On Demand CRM Systems have gained popularity by virtue of the following advantages :

Hosted, not installed : cuts costs due to lesser ownership of infrastructure on the user’s part, which is hosted by an outside firm, and the elimination of complicated installation procedures on-site.

No hassles of troubleshooting ad upgrades : The organization using the service does not have to bother with any glitches that the system might develop. It is taken care of by the service hosts themselves.

Going live is much faster : Hosted services obviate the need to install CRM systems on-site, thus drastically reducing “go-live” time.

Conclusion
CRM systems have greatly simplified customer handling across many industry sectors. That it enables all arms of an organization to access and analyze detailed information means better understanding of individual roles, and the customers too feel important when being catered to professionally.

In short, it’s a win-win for all involved. With the word spreading, CRM, especially On-Demand CRM will become the definitive tool for customer management in a matter of just a few years.

When a bush fire starts, it spreads with devastating speed. It feeds on everything on its path and bludgeons into a nearly unmanageable conflagration until after days of back breaking work, it is finally brought under control.

The destruction it leaves behind is often severe. But when investigations into its cause commence, it is often found that the cause was a tiny spark caused by a seemingly harmless source.

A bush fire is a perfect allegory to a problem that has been plaguing businesses all over the world. It’s called Negative Publicity and it drives firms into having daylight nightmares.

What it is
Negative Publicity is the adverse publicity that a firm may incur due to a particular reason, which may lead to potentially disastrous consequences. It results in the firm’s reputation among its customers and competitors being badly tarnished. Needless to say, it hurts business real bad.

What causes it
Like the tiny spark that can start a bush fire, the causes of negative publicity can be various:

• Disillusioned (ex) employee
• Angry customers
• Misleading interpretations of blogs/forum posts/interview excerpts
• Mischief mongers spreading unsubstantiated rumors.

While an allegation might be true, more often than not its the unsubstantiated rumors that inflict more damage.

Why it spreads
This is a classic quagmire. A firm spends millions on promoting itself online through endless publicity campaigns. It places advertisements, sponsors discussion boards, forums et al till its name is well known to all those who matter. Then all of a sudden, one stray comment on how the last blog post by the firm’s CEO hurt the sentiment of a potential customer surfaces. Like all things that should not spread, it snowballs and garners attention from everyone who thinks he is somebody. The forums are now pasted with hate mail and the firm loses face overnight. The very tool of publicity, the Internet, has stung back and stung deep.

As Winston Churchill once said :

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

That is the problem with Internet. It gets word around faster than anything else. In the good old days of verbal communication, negative publicity was not the worst that could happen. It could be quarantined. With the Internet, the only way that is possible is by plugging out the entire world.

Another important factor is people’s vulnerability.

Eg: Imagine a firm that sells baby diapers. Its product is popular and soaks up more than half of its customers’ discomforts. Unknown to its customers, it had to let go one of its employees who claimed mistreatment at the hands of the firm’s administration. He was unsuccessful at proving himself but had to be let go because he was now ‘malware’ for the firm.

Jobless and disgruntled, he vows to get back at the firm and starts a rumor about the potential health hazards of its diapers. The rumors claim unhealthy amounts of bleach to be present in the diaper linings. If exposed to frequently, it may result in irreparable skin damage and chemical poisoning in both the baby and its caretaker.

For a scientifically informed and inclined population, such rumors are meaningless. But just how willing the average mother is to let science disprove the rumor, especially when it concerns her baby’s health is well known. Every mother in the country is shocked. The husbands too are alarmed at the dangers their wives and babies will be exposed to. The diaper firm is sued for millions within a week.

Effects

• Clearly, business does not flourish under negative publicity.
• Firms may have to call back all their products.
• Shares of the firm may take a frightening dip.
• All of the above may even lead to the firm having to shell out millions as compensation, and the venture might even go bust.

How do you counter it?
The golden rule is- Don’t Panic! Here’s what you should do if ever if you have to :

• Look into the problem

Identify the cause if it’s not obvious. Get experts to verify/debunk any claims/rumors before making a public statement.

• Work out a plan of counterattack

Get the best minds from within your firm and if need be, hire professionals from outside(say, a professional negative publicity management firm) to come out with convincing statements to counter allegations.

• Give out concrete proofs of safe-practices

The best way to gain face is to quash unsubstantiated rumors with hard hitting facts. Stage numerous public demonstrations proving your point. Use the power of the Internet to reach out. This might be tricky if you really are the defaulter. In that case, get the best minds to mitigate the damage as best as possible.

• Follow up progress continually

After the initial storm has subsided, do not let up with re-building your image. Come out with attractive offers, make the customers take a tour of the production plant if relevant, get experts to vouch for your products, the works. Once dented, your image will be vulnerable to attacks for some time to come.

Prevention always works better though

“A stitch in time saves nine”

Of course, your aim should always be to steer clear of such occurrences completely. Dedicate a team to keep a sharp eye on all fronts, including the Internet(blogs, forums, social networks, search engine rankings, websites of competitors etc), for any comments or developments that might turn ugly. Although it can never be all-encompassing, it’s better to be aware of possibilities than being caught unawares.

P.S: We have been receiving numerous e-mails enquiring if we offer negative publicity management services. We do offer negative publicity management and have been doing so for a number of our clients - please get in touch with us on sales [at] vinove.com for further information.

Having discussed the overview of link popularity in our last post, we would now delve further into the challenges associated with development of that coveted link. Going by the adage that “a job well begun is half done”, the identification of the potential link page is imperative to the success of any link building campaign. In view of the fact that the identification of the links is the most time consuming and challenging part of the link development process, we would confine the purview of this post to this fundamental part of the Link Building process.

In the present context, link development has become more quality based and quantity of links is no more a determinant. This change is manifested by the higher ranking on SERPs of a lot of websites with fewer links, than those with scores of links. Thus, identification of the appropriate link page for link sourcing assumes further importance.

There are various factors that influence the identification of the potential web page for obtaining the link.

Links can be assessed on the basis of two broad parameters, and the link page should qualify on both these counts. The parameters to consider are:

Relevance

The relevance of the page from where the link is sourced is paramount, and the criteria for qualification are -

• The page to get the link from should be good for visitors of our site.

 

• The Links should be sourced from sub pages of the sites that have symmetry to the theme of our website. e.g. If a site sells high altitude shoes, then the extreme sports gear shop that could be a potential link partner, should place the link of the high altitude shoes, on the page that features the specialized footwear.

Authority

The next step after identification of the relevance is the authority of the respective website. The authority of the website page is determined by the number of times the pages of the website have been referenced by the search engines. Since such pages are often referenced, they are likely to get maximum traffic and click through as well. To qualify on the standard of authority, the links should -

• Be from the page that have the most external back links. This would result in more traffic arriving on such page, which would in turn benefit the page for which the link is developed.

 

• Another factor of consequence is to determine if the potential website is worthy of being linked to. This implies that when you link to a website, you are linking to everyone else that the target site links to. This assumes importance in view of the fact that Google does not punish for bad links from sites, but for links to bad sites. This contention is further corroborated by the fact that Google is not just looking at trusted link sources but, also ignoring sites that are getting an influx of unrelated, low authority links.

Adhering to these points while identifying the potential link pages would result in development of the link that has value, and which augments the authority of the website.

Identification of the ideal link page requires skill, objectivity and continuous research. These are traits that most available software are deficient in. The development of links manually, thus assumes greater significance. Link development is an art which requires a combination of SEO knowledge, analysis, and a penchant for deal making. These characteristics make link building a tedious exercise loathed by most webmasters.

Developing links manually delivers maximum benefits. The process would involve manual search, manual emails and manual checking. While this requires extended efforts, the benefits are worth it.

The points detailed in this communication are intended to provide a perspective on the way links pages should be identified. The identification of the link page is a continuous process and requires constant efforts and commitment.

It should be known that there are many resources, and pages where the links could be sourced from, and continuous research would help identify the best links from the best places. The only distinguishing factor is the knowledge of how to look, and how to choose the best pages to get the link from.

The conventional practice of searching for link pages that feature the competitors links is passe. This has become redundant and the present context calls for a smarter search requiring an out of the box approach, which expert agencies are adept at.

However, we hope that the points highlighted in the preceding paragraphs help you with your pursuit of the coveted link.

Business Software Development is essentially a branch of software development that concentrates on developing software applications primarily for commercial needs.

Being a part of the IT revolution that has redefined the way organizations functions and interact, Business Software is a huge resource for any firm that employs it. Over the past decade, this offshoot of Information Technology has dug itself in, so much so that it has established itself as the backbone of efficient functionality.

There is of course a difference in usual software development and developing business software.

• System software like an operating system (Windows, Linux) allows the user to interact with his system. Its features include system tools, utilities, drive management etc.

• Programming software helps the programmer write/create programs or software for various purposes. It includes tools like editors, compliers, debuggers, linkers, interpreters besides different programming languages to help the programmer achieve his target. er to write programs and software for varied needs. However,it is limited to developing software.

• Business software on the other hand is different in its field of application. It consists of several in-built modules like editing, accounting, resource management, inventory control et al that are meant to help the organization with the respective departments. It aims at synchronizing the operations of individual departments by bringing them under a centralized command.

Business software’s primary goal is to enhance productivity of an organization. Industries have come a long way from the days of rudimentary logistical requirements of trading agricultural produce. Up until the last century all businesses relied heavily on human control and supervision. Different divisions had individuals or trained groups looking over their operations. But just as the Industrial revolution changed the dynamics of the world forever, the coming of age of business software has been no less of a revolution.

Advantages of Business Software:

Although the possibility of absolute elimination of human inputs and supervision in business functions seems remote, what business software dies have to its credit is the immense increase in productivity and efficiency.

1) Reduced Time requirements : the ease of data creation and modification/editing/sharing/storage is phenomenally enhanced with the use of business software. Manual operations in comparison are time guzzlers.

2) Enhanced efficiency : The use of software is always preferred over manual work when it comes to commercial needs. This is simply because of the above mentioned time advantage and the numerous options that such software provide which make manual labor cumbersome in comparison.

3) Ease of Inter-departmental communication : many software meant for large scale business operations simplify inter-departmental communication and database management. This is a major advantage in large,complex corporate entities.

Types of Business Software:

• For small organizations/home users:

Many fledgling firms and/or individual entrepreneurs use software like Microsoft Office or OpenOffice.org or simple accounting software for their daily operations. These are developed and priced in a way that makes sense to purchase for regular low-key business needs.

• For medium scale business enterprises:

These include a broader range of operations like Customer Relations Management(CRM), Inventory Management, Human Resource Management, shopping carts etc. These arms call for extensive database management and coordination. Such enterprises use software like NetSuite, Sage Accpac, SAP Business One, Sage Abra HRMS,Taleo Business Edition, ABS Accounting Systems etc.

• For large Enterprises:

Software packages like SAP All-in-One have become extremely popular with large corporate entities for the advantages they bring into everyday operations and the time they save in activities that are usually lengthy and tiresome. More examples of this type of software are Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0, Onyx Software CRM, Microsoft Dynamics NAV etc.

The Major Players:
The skills required for developing software that can take on the needs of a business organization, small or large, are immense. Therefore, there aren’t many scattered development centers that work to churn out such software. Instead, there are development firms that employ professionals to identify potential business sectors and develop software for them.

A few such organizations are SAP, Microsoft, Google(OpenOffice), Sage Group PLC, Agresso Limited and CedarOpenAccounts(COA). Most firms around the world use software released by these firms. The popularity of Microsoft Office is a fine example. So is the advent of SAP systems that has found decent success with organizations and industries alike.

Conclusion:
Business software development is becoming the nerve-center of businesses all over the world. Understandably so, with the priceless advantages of time reduction, efficient documentation and smooth database record management. The present trend is however toward online business software use. This has been prompted out of the necessity to cut costs further and avail the same services as a marketed software would provide. The fact that developers and vendors are turning to the Internet to market their products, albeit at a much lower price, shows just how popular and how important business software has become for individuals and conglomerates alike.

Alec, a young sprog in Firm A, hits upon a brilliant concept that could revolutionize the way his firm handles clients. The idea needs extensive web solutions to make sure it takes off and succeeds. He approaches his seniors and gets the nod to go look for a professional firm that’ll give them what they want.

Before leaving, Alec is mildly apprehensive about the idea. Although it looks grand, its details are foggy. “I’d better find someone good who know their craft”, he muses.

Scenario 1:

Firm Acme, well established and reputed in web solutions, accept Alec’s project and promise to deliver within a time-line of 4 months. Acme prides itself on its methodical, no nonsense or deviation approach to completing projects. And they have their stellar record of their past to back them up. So Acme proceeds with the project overflowing with self assurance , convinced it has understood Alec’s concept better than he could ever do himself. Alec is hesitant about voicing his concerns. “They’ve not earned a good name for nothing. Maybe they can grasp the unsaid as well”. “You’ll hear from us in 3 months, Sir” is all he is told.

Weeks later, with the project very close to completion, Alex and his boss are called for a demonstration. Acme wasn’t keen on this, knowing they were good with their work. But company policies stipulated it so they had to.

The demonstration proceeds and progresses well, until Alec’s boss comes up with an innocuous query. Innocuous to him, that is. Acme professionals look flabbergasted. “ Why would you want to do that?” they retort. “Why not ?” goes Alec’s boss. “Well if that’s what it is, you should have told us about this before !” Alec squirms in his seat, uneasiness dripping from his face. “You never even let us talk to you about the project while it was being drafted. You guys were so smug about your abilities you didn’t think it would be advisable to keep us in the loop!” was all he manages, afraid those were the last words he’d get to speak for his firm before being thrown out.

The whole debacle inflicts major financial losses on everyone, and a blow on the head for Acme’s tested work ethics.

Scenario 2:

Alec approaches a relatively inexperienced firm, The Upstarts, a young group of web solution experts. What draws him to them is their willingness to listen to him pour his heart out, allowing him to understand and define his idea even better.

“We’ll see it through in a month , Sir, and we’d like you to be in constant touch with us till we have it ready”. “Okay, that sounds fine” says Alec. “Infact I like it”.

Work at The Upstarts proceeds with gusto, with their small team of developers, designers, managers, technical writers and testers working simultaneously. What Alec notices surprises him. Instead of going for the whole idea at once, The Upstarts fragment his brainchild into small chunks. “We like it small”, they wink. They all sit together, with Alec in the middle, each one voicing his opinions and ideas, until everyone present knows precisely what is wanted and which way the spurt of action is to be directed.

This goes on everyday, with the testers rounding up each day’s produce with a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Thumbs up, they hit the next chunk. Thumbs down, The Upstarts dash back to the drawing board. Finally, with a lot of re-working and intuitive improvisation, the whole project is pieced together, chunk by perfected chunk falling into place. On D-Day, exactly one-month from the start, the project is complete and comes out sparkling. It works flawlessly.

Alec comes up to his boss smelling like roses. Firm A has got its money’s worth (and how !), and hits industry folklore for revolutionizing client management. Needless to say, Alec does not remain a sprog in the firm for much longer.

For all you lesser mortals who haven’t already figured out what made The Upstarts beat Acme, it’s a dynamic web development approach called Agile Web Development.

What makes Agile web development successful is the way it goes about a project. Here are the aspects:

1) Manageable chunks: Agile web development breaks a project into fragments, each small but essential, and works on its every aspect, from designing to development to de-bugging to documentation, until it is fail safe and ready to be a part of the big picture.

2) Multiple Iterations: Each fragment is taken through multiple test sequences to make sure it is fault free. Every time a fault is encountered, it is re-worked, its guidelines altered, and its process of development re-visited to make sure it is improved upon.

3) Constant Interaction with the source: Having the originator of the idea in the loop at all times enables the developers to make sure their progress meets his approval and is headed in the way he’d want it to. This eliminates any last minute surprises and blame gaming, which could potentially cripple a project at the very last stage and ruin weeks of effort.

4) Extreme Flexibility: Rather than walking along a fixed path of pre-agreed steps, the key to Agile Web Development is its constant leeway to improvisation as and when needed. This effectively takes into account any sudden changes that might have to be incorporated into the scheme of things. Without this, crippling setbacks are an ever present threat.

Having arrived on the scenes almost a decade ago in the mid 1990s, Agile web Development has had its fair share of followers who swear by its practicality and resilience. Some of the well known Agile Software Development methods are :

i) Adaptive Software Development (ASD)
ii) Feature Driven Development (FDD)
iii) Agile Unified Process (AUP)
iv) Extreme Programming (XP)
v) Scrum

Criticism about Agile:

Puritans have nonetheless greeted Agile gruffly. Agile for them is equivalent to “Cowboy Coding”, signifying a lack of discipline, and the absence of a systematic, well defined approach to possibly complex assignments. Many argue Agile to be unsuitable for large projects, calling its methodology too shaky to encompass all the aspects of a complex task on the go.

Also, Agile’s minimal documentation, made so by constant actual contact with the client, has also drawn flak.

Conclusion:

Whether arguments put up by skeptics are valid remains to be proved or proved otherwise. But for now, web development solutions have a radical tool to help them along. So as long as Agile delivers, the only complaining will be from the ones who don’t get the contracts.

Even though it would be prudent to define Web 3.0 in concise terms that exclude uncertainty, it is not possible as yet. Precisely because Web 3.0 is not a definite product or service, or even a spectrum that has structured guidelines.

However, what Web 3.0 essentially is, is the next step in the evolution of the World Wide Web from a mere depository of information on interconnected networks, to the point where that vast repository makes sense to the primary agents that access it, viz., software agents.

Comparison with previous versions:

The World Wide Web when first launched, was just an interface to access data stored on standalone terminals or servers. Web 2.0 (a term whose validity is often debated by industry faithfuls) came out as a phoenix out of the dot com bubble burst. It was purported to be the re-birth of the Internet. However, it only added upon established underlying principles of the World Wide Web (eg: HTML as a base and use of AJAX over and above that).

Even so, Web 2.0’s contribution to the World Wide Web is a slew of services aimed at facilitating collaboration and sharing between users. Most notable in that direction was the advent of social networking sites, blogs, audio/video posts, podcasts, wikis, IMs etc.

It has also seen the rise of powerful search engines that can rip into the guts of a page and extract relevant data. Except that there is a catch to it. Even the most powerful search tool needs the brains and thought process of a human to guide it to the right page, or load it with a generous dose of keywords to empower it to come up with the intended results.

Web 3.0, on the other hand, aims to transfer that thought process directly to a search engine’s/software agent’s mode of operation. It aims at a World Wide Web where all data will be easily understandable by machines, like we humans presently do, thus ushering in the age of Intelligent Computing, and as an extension, Semantic Computing.

Benefits:

1) With Semantic computing as its soul and guiding light, Web 3.0 will open up the astronomical amount of data on the web to intelligent analysis.

E.g.: Let’s suppose that Eric, 22, wants to touch base with an old friend of his, Tracy. The problem is, they were both 8 years old when Tracy left their hometown of Auckland for Geneva. Having lost contact with her after that, Eric is not even sure if she is still there or if she has moved to another country. All he now knows is her age, her last name and the name of her mother, the name of the school they both went to and the year she left for Geneva.

A contemporary search engine employed for the task of looking up Tracy would probably draw a nil if Tarcy’s present information is not explicitly mentioned. Not because it does not have enough data to search with, but because it does not have the inherent capability of putting all of that data to intelligent use. However with Web 3.0, a search tool would co-relate all the data it digs up from school records, family names, immigration records and national/international travel logs, analyze and sift through the promising ones, and hit upon the one trail that will lead it to Tracy, through a maze of seemingly unrelated web content.

2) The second benefit, derived from the first, would be the possibility of delegation of the responsibilities of data searching and collating and analysis to computers themselves. This would leave humans to focus on the big picture, while the data and its logistics will be silently controlled by machines under constant interaction with each other.

3) It would also enable machines operating on and from different databases and platforms to successfully exchange information with one another, primarily because of the underlying artificial intelligence now possible with Web 3.0

4) Automation, as we know it today, is really a series of planned codes that machines are programmed to follow. But with semantical computing, computers will actually be able to take most simple decisions for themselves, and even complex ones if so possible, making commonplace human intervention redundant.

Limitations:

Industry watchers however, are skeptical. Their prime areas of skepticism are based on the following:

1) It is argued that it would be time -consuming for content to be published in two formats: one for humans and the second for machines. Unless a method is devised to automatically generate machine-friendly data formats, this concern is valid and critical.

2) Invasion of privacy and censorship : With an artificially intelligent Web, data creation/modification could easily be traced back to the originator(eg. : tracing of bloggers and webmasters). This could potentially violate individual privacy and may even lead to forced censorship.

3) Although Web 3.0 sounds great and one would expect it to go mainstream soon, how realistic it would really be to expect intelligent behavior from machines, particularly considering the whims and fancies of human expectations, is doubtful, if not entirely impractical.

Conclusion:

With Web 3.0 a real possibility in the evolution of the World Wide Web, one can look forward to a new array of web services, characterized essentially by a degree of artificial intelligence. The fact that the mammoth data archive of the web would be open to analysis across various platforms, would make online services much more resourceful. What does that mean to the common netizen? Lesser exercising of his own intellect in data mining, collation and decision making. In other words, a much faster, intuitive and productive web experience.

An effective landing page is only as good as the visitors that it attracts. Hence, the next logical step after development of an effective landing page is to promote it. This involves attracting qualified visitors to it, by employing various online marketing efforts, viz. PPC or SEO , email marketing. Another frequently employed online marketing tool with the twin benefit of economy and effectiveness is Link Building.

Link building is a practice of getting the other semantically similar websites to feature your link on their websites. Link building constitutes finding viable business partners willing to endorse your site. An authoritative link to your site counts as one vote toward your link popularity.

Other site owners would link to a page, when they consider the content important. Likewise, search engines will consider your content important because human beings, not software programs, link to your site’s content. These factors result in the page attracting classified visitors.

There are various attributes that influence the link building initiative. The irony of link building is that while it may be appear to be an easy exercise (sourcing links from FFA and link a minute sites is easy), the real benefits of link building accrue only when the link is obtained from a quality website that is thematically relevant to the website that the link is requested for. Hence the paradox.

Links, Search Engines and Visitors : The connection

Good thematic links deliver dual benefit. First, they make the website available for the Search Engine crawlers to visit, while at the same time they are instrumental in driving relevant traffic from thematically similar but non competing websites. Links are attributed significant importance in the Organic Search Engine promotion, and are instrumental in achieving high rankings. The number and quality of incoming links is a manifestation of the standing of the website in the respective domain, as well as authenticates its authoritativeness.

The premise that the Search Engines use to value a webpage is that large number of links substantiate authority of the website. This is based on the assumption that if other webmasters decide to link to a particular Web page at their own discretion, it indicates that they find the content of the website relevant, and want their visitors to view the content of the linked site too.

Many sites maintain search engine visibility and the resulting qualified traffic because of successful link development, and not just based on the number of keywords on a page. This can be achieved by effective use of the keywords in the link description. Link anchor text provides a snapshot of the target page to the search engine and highlights its relevance. Hence, irrespective of the words or the type of content that the page contains, a search engine can interpret a great deal about how popular the content is by reviewing the links that surround it.

The Link development Roadmap

Link development is a tedious process and requires careful planning and execution. The process involves identifying the potential link partners, sending them link request with a value proposition and then wait for a response. Link development begins by mapping the websites that may be thematically symmetric to your website. A generally accepted practice is to identify the websites that your competitor has obtained a link from. The same websites could be targeted by you in your link development endeavor.

Another source of obtaining links could also be the popular classified directories. These directories may be paid or free. For obtaining a link from these directories, it should be ensured that the URL is submitted in the appropriate category.

The other source for links could be the medium of online publicity. This entails obtaining links by submitting articles, press releases and content to the respective classified websites. Even appropriate blogs and forums could also be harnessed for link development. Links from such sources further enhance the credibility of the website.

Once the sources of link have been identified, the other factors that need due consideration are the relevance and value of the link obtained. Not all links can be good quality links. However, the evaluation is subjective and can be left to individual discretion. It should be observed that the inherent link benefit, in terms of relevant traffic, derived from a thematic website would be more than, a link sourced from a more popular website, albeit from a different business vertical.

Good content is mandatory for any successful Link Building campaign. It serves as a catalyst for encouraging natural linking to the respective site, which results in natural link development, with quality websites. While some of these links may be logical and sequential; others may be completely subjective. However, the back links will all accumulate to constitute a robust link portfolio.

The Paradox
Link building is characterized by its gradual pace, requiring perseverance and patience. However, the pace of link development is subjective, and the turnaround time for link development is determined by the domain, quantity and the nature of links.

It takes extended efforts to obtain high quality links. While, links may be easy to source, good quality links adhering to the essential link building good practices, take longer to develop. For a link to qualify to be classified as good, it should conform to the following parameters:

The links should not be obtained from FFA sites or Link Farms.
Should be sourced from indexed pages, failing which the benefits would not accrue to the respective website.
The link page should not have the link attribute “rel=nofollow “.
The links should be developed manually.
While the parameters are exhaustive, the aforementioned factors are fundamental to any campaign.

As highlighted earlier, link quality carries more weight than quantity. Hence there should not be an effort to divorce quality for quantity. Quality is a function of the semantic similarity of the target website and the relative importance of the respective webpage.

Further, it needs to be noted that acquiring too many links in a shorter period of time may be detrimental to the link building effort. It is a prudent practice to develop links progressively, and reap the benefits over a period of time.

Out source V/s Develop Links In-house: The Cost Benefit Analysis.
It has been established that developing quality links is a tedious task and requires perseverance. The process of identifying potential partners with detailed research, followed by sending mailer and thereafter waiting for the appropriate response and follow up requires protracted efforts.

Link building also requires constant validation of the obtained links, a pursuit again requiring labor.

In view of its labor intensive nature, it is often preferred by webmasters to outsource the link building to specialized agencies. The inherent advantage that these agencies have is their experience and expertise of managing link building campaigns across diversified verticals. A natural fallout to this is that the agencies often have a database of webmasters in assorted domains, hence reducing the time it would normally take to research for potential partners.

The other factor that needs due consideration is the price that the agency demands for executing the campaign. While there is no benchmark for the prices, it is imperative not to fall for offers that appear to be too good. Offers to sell high quality thematic permanent one way links for US $ 2 per link is not unusual! However the quality and the authenticity of such claims always command a veracity check.

The intent should be ascertain the methodology, competence and the quality of such agencies. A lot of small firms are known to develop links by sending a generic mailer to all and sundry, with out making an effort to establish the relevance of the target website.

We often receive such mailers, and a particularly amusing one was sent to us by a link developer who was requesting us for a link for his website selling sex toys!!

While in a rhetoric context, every enterprise endeavors to gratify its customers, however, expecting them to partner with a firm selling coitus paraphernalia is stretching the relevance too far.

The point of sharing this anecdote is to highlight the fact that link building is a specialized exercise and there should be adequate caution exercised before outsourcing the link building, since the firm would be representing your enterprise. The nature of reporting, client servicing and quality are several other parameters that should also be considered.

Conclusion
Link building is about bringing more pre-qualified traffic to your site, and not manipulating Page Rank. Consequently, link-building campaigns aren’t easy. It takes time to seek out sites, blogs, and directories that are relevant to your business and worthy of being your business partner on the Web.

Hence to derive the true benefits of link building, one initiate it after assessing the requirement, budget and objective, since the benefits of this exercise are far reaching and continuous. The link building plan should be comprehensive and should explore every avenue of link building involving sourcing links from directories, blogs, forums and by link baiting, an exercise that generates the best links.

We would encourage you to share with us your experiences and opinions on the subject of link building.

Zend Framework is an open-source software framework for PHP5. It has a flexible architecture that lets you build interactive web applications and web services effortlessly. One of its strengths is the highly modular Model-View-Controller design, which makes the code more reusable and easier to maintain and lets you focus on the big picture. 

Model-view-controller is an architectural pattern used in software engineering. Complex computer applications present a large amount of data to the user. A developer often wishes to separate data (model) and user interface (view) concerns. This enables him to make changes to the user interface without affecting data handling, and reorganize data without changing the user interface. MVC solves this problem by introducing an intermediate component: the controller. The controller decouples data access and business logic from data presentation and user interaction.

Zend Framework has further enhanced PHP and improved its candidature for use within an enterprise environment. It aims to:

• Provide a repository of high quality components that are actively supported.
• Provide a complete system for developing web applications powered by PHP5.
• Don’t change the PHP - it’s already a great platform.
• Embrace collaboration and community to further advanced PHP5 programming.
• Positively contribute to the PHP 5 ecosystem and the PHP collaboration project.

Advantages of Zend Framework include:

§       MVC application framework - Zend Framework’s model-view-controller architecture provides an industry best practice for Web application development. It enables the separation of business logic from user interface design.

§       Database support- Access multiple brands of RDBMS via a database-independent object-oriented interface. Databases supported include IBM DB2, MySQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL and SQLite.

§       Internationalization - Zend Framework supports advanced yet simple solutions to develop PHP 5 Web applications for a global audience.

§       Web services - Use classes to publish and consume Web services and feeds in PHP.

§       Foundation Framework services - Zend Framework provides many other classes to make common application development tasks quick and easy. For example, solutions for email, sessions, authentication, logging, caching, filtering input, and others are included.

Built in the true PHP spirit, the Zend Framework delivers ease-of-use and powerful functionality. It implements best practices in connecting the application to databases and networks. And so, it frees the developer to concentrate on user interactions and the business logic behind them.

All in all, Zend Framework provides much required “face-lift” to PHP and facilitates powerful solutions for building modern, robust, and secure websites.