The current crisis in the world’s banking industry is causing my quite a bit of concern right now.  Our web technology business is small but growing.  When businesses are doing well they’re more likely to spend money on items such as web design and web applications and we believe we’ve benefitted from that over the past year or so.

But what happens if our clients and potential clients start to suffer as a consequence of an economic downturn? Read more

Actually, that’s a contentious one. We don’t really hate US software companies. Just some of them. Adobe in particular is winning no prizes for its pricing policy.

See the image below:

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One thing that happens a lot in the web development and design sphere is the problem of unpaid consulting.

Actually, I’ll rephrase it a little… it happens all the time!

It’s rather tricky. Clients are interested in us because we offer them something that gives them better efficiency, sales and returns. But what we do is complex and sophisticated.

As it’s myself that does all the sales work I often find myself giving over two hours of my time to a prospect in order to explain how the dynamic websites work. I’m educating them. For two hours. Read more

I’m not really one to moralise.

But I’ll say that I feel a slight tingle of concern over Face By Fix - a new website where folk can upload their photos and visitors can say what cosmetic surgery they should consider!

In a way a shocking idea.  In another way quite cool.  If we were all well balanced individuals then we’d be able to take the discovery that our ears look funny in good humour.  But allowing the public to choose what you need improving - especially when the public doesn’t necessarily have your best interests at heart… well really.

So what do you think?  Good or bad?

I’m not going to rant here about all the great clients, who understand that time is expensive, who listen, pay attention, and do their own research.

But what I do think is that there’s a significant chunk of people out there, with no clue as to the Web, what it’s for, and how it works, who currently seem to be desperate to jump onto the bandwagon. They sometimes actually have some pretty sound business ideas.

Thing is, they turn up at our office with these huge plans. And a budget of £250.

There then follows an awkward silence as we have to explain that £250, like in dentistry, doesn’t really buy you a great deal of cosmetic awe. Even if the underlying software is free, you still need someone with the ability and understanding to implement it correctly. And they’re in demand. Read more

I’m often prone to absent-mindedness.  I’ll admit that.  It’s a weakness, and even comprehensive note taking doesn’t spare me from it.

But I always remember promising money to people.  So I was a little surprised by the following telephone conversation:

Me: “Hello, Dave Coveney.”

Her: “Hello, I’m calling to confirm that the anti-bullying books you’ve sponsored are now ready to be sent out.  Which school  in your postcode would you like to receive them?”

Me: “Er, pardon?!  Which postcode?”

Her: “WA8 8AA”

Me: “OK, er, when did we discuss this?”

Her: “In May.”

Now at this point I was getting suspicious - I don’t make a habit of sponsoring anything without there being some firm action on my part - ie, research and reading.

Me: “And what did I agree to?”

Her: “To sponsor these books, which have your business name on the back.”

Me: “But I’ve never sponsored anything!”

Her: “Oh just f*ck off.”  Brrrrrrrr….

Can’t be a fun job for the girl, but why would you even work in such a place?  It’s clearly a scam.  The idea is to make you think you’ve forgotten something (easily done in a busy firm) that happened six months ago.  They send the invoice, it gets paid, they run away with the cash.  Nobody gets helped.

And what has this to do with web design?  Not a lot, but does having something to do with putting in place the correct systems to avoid these kind of rip-offs.  For example, no invoice to be paid without a matching Purchase Order, for starters, and a paper trail identifying every stage of a purchase.

We can help with that too, of course.