In a recent blog post my fellow Twitter 12 colleague Jimi Jones listed 25 titles of blog posts he’d like to see people write. Heading up the list was the reason why people chose to blog about their particular speciality and this struck me as a good a time as any to explain why I am passionate about cloud computing and Web 2.0 technologies.
It all stems back to the early 1990s – okay, I know some of you weren’t even born then but bear with me – and I had gone self employed and bought a computer with the intention of using it as a word processor. I was running a public relations and marketing communications business and started looking at the emerging Internet and associated technologies that could make my life easier as a “work smarter, not harder” advocate.
First out of the box was Winfax which meant that I could send copies of my WordPerfect (yeah, this is a real trip down memory lane, anyone remember Wordstar) created press releases, merge them with Winfax and schedule them to transmit to journalists and magazines in the middle of the night when (a) phone calls were cheaper and (b) the recipient fax machines weren’t busy.
Then I discovered the Internet and bought a modem the size of a large matchbox and which cost the equivalent of a decent second hand car! It was a translucent red and sped along at something like 1kbps but it was liberating and through CompuServe I found a body of individuals who were into teleworking and eventually become a sysop (a sort of administrator).
Later a handful of us put together a project which the European Commission sponsored for four years the basis of which was to explore the emerging Internet technologies as a way of helping those who were “geographically disadvantaged” – ie, those stuck out in the middle of nowhere.
I realised back then that technology can liberate and empower. It enabled people to work better, to improve their social lives. It can help the small guy compete more effectively against the larger rival. Technology can help you collaborate with like minded individuals and organisations across the globe. It can free you up to achieve a better life/work balance. I have worked and am working with people in Belgium, Scandinavia, China, South African, France, America, Spain, Poland … some of whom I have never met yet we have forged close friendships and trust.
Technology can also be bewildering, confusing, frightening, annoying and often achingly frustrating.
Which is why I started Web2 and More. I want this blog to become a resource for the self employed and the small to medium sized enterprises. I want it to help cut out the leg work of finding a web based solutions to organising meetings, communicating with colleagues and clients, doing research, managing emails, simplifying accounts … the list goes on and on.
As this is a resource for you please contact me to tell me what you are having problems with and what solutions you are seeking. Working together we can build up a knowledge base that will benefits thousands of small businesses.
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