Monthly Archives: October 2008

October 24, 2008 Posted in Business, IT, New business, Strategy, Web x.0 3 Comments

So What is This Twitter Thing Then….

By Ben Kepes

I spend a lot of time speaking with both proponents and sceptics of Twitter (and by extension microblogging in general). Basically the proponents say that Twitter; Breaks down silos Connects them to people they wouldn’t otherwise be in a position to communicate with Is a fantastic way to leverage the

October 23, 2008 Posted in Business, Efficiency, IT, New business, New Zealand, Strategy 4 Comments

A Search Engine? Now That’s Novel

By Ben Kepes

Interesting to spot the New Zealand business interview with new search engine entrant Searchii. Searchii is a new search engine whose stunning point of difference is…. that it comes from New Zealand. Now I take my hat off to any entrepreneur who begins a new venture – it’s hard work

October 22, 2008 Posted in Business, Design, New business, New Zealand, SocialMedia, Society, Strategy 2 Comments

Building Online Communities

By Ben Kepes

The latest issues of Start-Up magazine is out and it includes a feature article I wrote about building online communities. It’s a subject close to my heart and one which I’m currently involved in with a (slightly) stealth project. The article can be seen here. In it I look at

Tagged start up |

October 22, 2008 Posted in Business, Design, IT, SocialMedia, Strategy, Web x.0 3 Comments

Building Successful Online Communities

By Ben Kepes

Mauricio sent me this information and it looks like some fantastic sessions for anyone who has an interest in building online communities that people love (and let’s face it – any online business is, by definition, a community). Details are; How to create, develop and evolve a social media presence

October 21, 2008 Posted in Business, Economic Development, Efficiency, My businesses 6 Comments

Why Not e-dollars?

By Ben Kepes

Awhile ago I was involved with a start up that was trying to create a barter driven system for online transactions, leveraging the power of the community rating, meritocracy and subversion of traditional currencies to both lubricate commerce and cut out a number of the middle men" who add drag

October 20, 2008 Posted in Business 3 Comments

Why I love My Children…

By Ben Kepes

Completely off topic but leaving home for a week and a half always makes me miss the family. A couple of beautiful quotes from the past day from my sons; 8 year old; I really think John key should win the election because he hasn’t had a chance to be

October 20, 2008 Posted in Business, Economic Development, Efficiency, IT, New Zealand, Strategy 1 Comment

What SMEs Really Need

By Ben Kepes

News the other day that the IceLab, part of Auckland incubator The Icehouse is conducting a survey looking at the IT decision made by SMEs in New Zealand. I’ve long been adamant that SMEs in this country share common issues – that age-old saying of "working in the business not

October 17, 2008 Posted in Business, Efficiency, IT, SaaS 2 Comments

CRM Webinar

By Ben Kepes

CRM is a really valuable tool that only now has become available to those on the smaller end of the business spectrum. Zoho is hosting a free webinar on “CRM Best Practices” in a few days. Most of you know that Zoho sponsors the other place I blog, you’ll also

Tagged crm, webinar, Zoho |

October 16, 2008 Posted in Business, Design, New business 8 Comments

PR 101 – Don’t Do It Like This

By Ben Kepes

I have to blog about this. Good friend, web visionary and generally nice guy Mauricio Freitas, founder of Geekzone, forwarded me this email from a PR person. I’ve removed the details to protect identities but count the number of times Mauricio’s name has been written and how many times it’s

October 16, 2008 Posted in Business, Design, IT, New Zealand, Society, Strategy 2 Comments

Government Use of Offshore Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Service Providers

By Ben Kepes

Now that’s a mouth-full! Mike alerted me to this interim document put out by the State Services Commission of New Zealand. The document seeks to give some guidance to government agencies looking at using offshore ICT providers and seek to help agencies take a professional approach to considering offshore as

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.