Watch out, Oracle: Google tests cloud-based database

Google has released an early version of a new type of database whose approach to data management will be revolutionary, according to an analyst who has studied the technology behind it.

On Tuesday, Google quietly announced in its research team blog a new online database called Fusion Tables designed to sidestep the limitations of conventional relational databases.

Specifically, Fusion Tables has been built to simplify a number of operations that are notoriously difficult in relational databases, including the integration of data from multiple, heterogeneous sources and the ability to collaborate on large data sets, according to Google.

"Without an easy way to offer all the collaborators access to the same server, data sets get copied, emailed and ftp'd -- resulting in multiple versions that get out of sync very quickly," reads the Google announcement, which has been largely overlooked, probably because it was made on the same day the company held a high-profile press event to launch its Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook.

Under the hood of Fusion Tables is data-spaces technology, which will make conventional databases go the way of the rotary phone, according to Stephen E. Arnold, a technology and financial analyst who is president of Arnold Information Technology.

Data spaces as a concept has been around since the early 1990s, and Google, realizing its potential, has been developing it since it acquired Transformic, a pioneer of the technology, in 2005, Arnold said.

Data-spaces technology seeks to solve the problem of the multiple data types and data formats that reside in organizations, which have to scrub the data and make it uniform, often at great cost and effort, in order to store and analyze it in conventional databases.

Data spaces envisions a system that creates an index that provides access to data in its disparate formats and types, solving what Arnold calls the "Tower of Babel" problem.

In the case of Fusion Tables, the technology should allow Google to add to the conventional two-dimensional database tables a third coordinate with elements like product reviews, blog posts, Twitter messages and the like, as well as a fourth dimension of real-time updates, he said.

"So now we have an n-cube, a four-dimensional space, and in that space we can now do new kinds of queries which create new kinds of products and new market opportunities," said Arnold, whose research about this topic includes a study done for IDC last August.

"If you're IBM, Microsoft and Oracle, your worst nightmare is now visible. Google is going to automatically construct data spaces and implement new types of queries," he said. "Those guys are going to be blindsided."

Fusion Tables is an early version of the product, as evidenced by its "Labs" label, which means Google considers it an experimental product. "As usual with first releases, we realize there is much missing, and we look forward to hearing your feedback," Google's blog post reads.

UPDATE 1-Intel-backed LogMeIn to price IPO July 1

NEW YORK, June 16 (Reuters) - Technology company LogMeIn Inc (LOGM.O) has set the terms of its planned $100 million initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday.





Massachusetts-based LogMeIn, whose backers include Intel Corp (INTC.O), plans to sell 6.7 million shares for between $14 and $16, according to a prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The IPO, to be led by JP Morgan (JPM.N) and Barclays Capital (BARC.L), is scheduled to price July 1, with trading beginning the next day on Nasdaq. LogMeIn filed its original IPO registration in January 2008.

LogMeIn provides on-demand remote-connectivity services to small business and consumers, and derives most of its revenue from subscriptions, according to its prospectus.

LogMeIn has just begun to be profitable. The company's sales nearly doubled to $51.7 million in 2008, but LogMeIn still sustained losses for the year, the third in a row with losses. But for the first three months of 2009, LogMeIn made a profit of $2.1 million on revenue of $17.2 million.

LogMeIn will reap about 75 percent of the IPO's proceeds, with the rest going to existing shareholders, according to the filing.

Those owners include Intel Capital, which currently holds 5.4 percent of LogMeIn, and venture capital firms Prism Venture Partners with a 23.8 percent stake, and Polaris Venture Partners with a 21 percent share, Technologieholding Central and Eastern European Funds (15.83), Integral Capital Partners (8.91%).

The deal's underwriters have the option to purchase another 1 million shares to cover over-allotments.

Keep the Money flowing through Invoicing Tips

Small and medium sized businesses have always been troubled by late payers, debtors and defaulters. Considering that this particular sub-set of clients continue to make life difficult for entrepreneurs, here are some tips to keep the cash flowing.

Though there should be more stringent laws in dealing with such clients, this does not mean that small businesses are powerless in the face of the organizations they sell to.

Businesses are most likely to receive late payments from new customers; making them more vulnerable to new clients. Small businesses must be ready to negotiate terms when they receive an order, particularly from new customers.

Following are some tips:

* Send an estimate/quotation before sending the final invoice.

* Understanding and identifying the payment terms - where invoices should be sent, what references or order numbers should be quoted, and whether the customer only accepts online invoices.

* Have effective internal procedures in place: what level of credit checking is required and how frequently credit limits are reviewed.

* If there is a difference between your payment terms and theirs, don’t ignore the issue, negotiate.

* Make sure sales invoices meet the customer’s requirements, send invoices as soon as possible to the correct address and department, ensuring they comply with requirements for VAT invoices, and follow progress.

* Make notes of telephone calls regarding customer payments, including dates and times of conversations, to whom you spoke and the outcome, and take action quickly.

* Establish a policy on how long an invoice is allowed to be outstanding before resorting to debt collection and when supply of goods or services should be stopped.

* Regularly review the debtors’ ledger for customers behind with payment. Get sales staff to visit these customers to seek information and set targets for credit collection.

* Employ professional credit staff.

* Carefully consider potential orders with longer payment terms. Consider the implications for profitability, cash flow, financing and bad debts.

* Consider factoring or invoice discounting to help manage cash flow.

* Use business invoices as an instrument to retain customers by way of mentioning discounts, offers and other schemes at the footer.

LogMeIn Ignition for iPhone Quick Clip

GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is a Web conferencing tool that allows you to meet online rather than in a conference room. It’s the easiest and most cost-effective way to organize and attend online meetings. Patented technology enables co-workers, customers and prospects to view any application running on your PC in real time. With the flexibility to meet in person or online, you’ll be able to do more and travel less.

How It Works
Whether your meeting is scheduled in advance or started in one click, GoToMeeting makes it easy for you to meet online with anyone anywhere – on either a PC or Mac® computer.

Start or schedule a meeting from the GoToMeeting PC system tray or Mac dock.

Choose between VoIP and phone conferencing or allow both options for audio.




Invite up to 15 people via email or phone.

Attendees don’t need to sign up to join your meeting – they just click an email link or enter the meeting ID online.




Click "Show My Screen" to start secure screen sharing.

Give presentations, demo software, collaborate on projects or provide training – right from your desktop.




**** WATCH VIDEO HERE ****

How It’s Easy

Easy Meeting Entry: You and your attendees can join meetings in seconds, without having to set up complicated video feeds or Webcams.

Attendees don’t even have to register for an account.

Simple Features: Easily share keyboard and mouse control or switch presenters.

Share just a certain program or your whole screen.

Even record your meetings.

Integrated Audio: Phone conferencing numbers are included in email invitations and on the Control Panel, and VoIP begins instantly when you start the session.

For more information;https://www2.gotomeeting.com/en_US/pre/howItWorks.tmpl

HP Unveils Scale-Out Computing Hardware For Data Centers

The ProLiant SL server line is a lightweight, power-efficient modular computing system for companies with large data centers that support cloud computing environments.













Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) on Wednesday introduced a lightweight, power-efficient modular computing system for companies with large data centers that support cloud computing environments.

The new HP ProLiant SL server line, the latest addition to the HP ExSO portfolio for scale-out computing, comprises an open 2U chassis, which holds fans and power supplies, and task-specific server nodes that slip into the hardware's rail-and-tray design. The ProLiant SL chassis fits into any standard rack from HP or third parties.

Next is the SL160z, which is designed for large memory-cache apps. The server has 18 dual in-line memory module slots and up to two PCI slots. Finally, the SL170z is built for large storage applications such as Web search and database apps. The server has up to six large form-factor Serial ATA or serial-attached SCSI hard drives.

The new systems are scheduled to be available in July. Pricing will vary according to configuration and order volume. HP also offers management software and services as options for the ProLiant SL product line.

Cloud computing is a type of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. Companies operating such environments include Google (NSDQ: GOOG), Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN), and Salesforce (NYSE: CRM).com. Small and midmarket companies are particularly interested in running applications on vendors' cloud computing environments in order to avoid building large IT infrastructures.

HP, Intel, and Yahoo last year launched the Open Cirrus cloud computing test bed with a goal of promoting collaboration among businesses, government agencies, and colleges and universities. More than 50 research projects are plugged into Open Cirrus.

T-Mobile gaat het nieuwste model iPhone vanaf 26 juni via een select groepje partners leveren.

Het toestel zal verkrijgbaar zijn in alle 80 T-Mobile Shops . Daarnaast is iPhone3G S onder andere verkrijgbaar bij de Apple Premium Resellers, Belcompany, Mediamarkt, Saturn, The Phone House, GSMWEB.NL, belnu.nl, studentmobiel.nl en Typhone.nl.

Ook deze iPhone3G S, de snelste en krachtigste iPhone op dit moment, zal alleen verkrijgbaar zijn in combinatie met een abonnement van T-Mobile.

Voor bestaande iPhones is de Software Update 3.0 vanaf 17 juni via iTunes beschikbaar. Hiermee kunnen ook iPhones die al in de markt zijn, worden voorzien van veel van de nieuwe functionaliteiten.

T-Mobile opent vandaag een Twitter kanaal speciaal gericht op het verspreiden van nieuwtjes over T-Mobile en de iPhone. Dit is te volgen via: http://twitter.com/tmobile_iphone.

New iPhone 3G S

WATCH THE GUIDED TOUR HERE

WATCH THE TV ADS HERE

WATCH THE PICTURES HERE

WATCH HOW TO USE IT'S KEYBOARD HERE

2009 swine flu outbreak

The 2009 swine flu outbreak is an epidemic of a new strain of Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 identified in April 2009. It is thought to be a mutation (re assortment) of four known strains of influenza A virus subtype H1N1: one endemic in humans, one endemic in birds, and two endemic in pigs (swine).

A June 5th update by the U.N.'s World Health Organization (WHO) states that "69 countries have officially reported 21,940 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 125 deaths."

There was no vaccine available to prevent infection as of June 2009, although companies were developing one for availability in late July or August.

There is concern that the virus could mutate over the coming months to a more dangerous flu outbreak later in the year, and a vaccine produced now might be less effective in preventing its spread.

Health officials in the U.S. pointed out that the "terrible experience" of the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed approximately 600,000 in the United States alone, was preceded by a mild "herald" wave of cases in the spring.

Black: Confirmed cases followed by death,
Red: Confirmed cases,
Yellow: Unconfirmed or suspected cases.

To enlarge the pictures click on them......

The virus is a novel strain of influenza from which human populations have been neither vaccinated nor naturally immunized. The CDC, after examining virus samples from suspected cases in Mexico, matched the strain with those from cases in Texas and California, and found no known linkages to either to animals or one another.

It was also determined that the strain contained genes from four different flu viruses: North American swine influenza; North American avian influenza; human influenza; and two swine influenza viruses typically found in Asia and Europe.

Further analysis showed that several of the proteins of the virus are most similar to strains that cause mild symptoms in humans, leading virologist Wendy Barclay to suggest on May 1 that the virus was unlikely to cause severe symptoms for most people.






The signs of infection with swine flu are similar to other forms of influenza, and include a fever, coughing, headaches, pain in the muscles or joints, sore throat, chills, fatigue and runny nose.

Diarrhea and vomiting have also been reported in some cases.

People at higher risk of serious complications included people age 65 years and older, children younger than 5 years old, pregnant women, and people of any age with underlying medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, or a weakened immune system (e.g., taking immunosuppressive medications or infected with HIV)

Recommendations to prevent infection by the virus consisted of the standard personal precautions against influenza.

This included frequent washing of hands with soap and water or with alcohol-based hand sanitizers, especially after being out in public.

The CDC advised not touching the mouth, nose or eyes, as these are primary modes of transmission.

When coughing, they recommended coughing into a tissue and disposing of the tissue, then immediately washing the hands.

Transmission was also reduced by disinfecting household surfaces with a disinfectant or a diluted bleach solution.

CDC advised sick people to stay home from work, school, or social gatherings and to generally limit contact with others to avoid infecting them.

For more details concerning vaccines, etc... Please click HERE

CAROUSEL, A short film

Created entirely by Stink Digital, this new interactive campaign promotes Philips latest entrant into the television market, the CINEMA 21:9. Since the televisions 21:9 frame lends itself so readily to film, our friends at Tribal DDB, Amsterdam commissioned us to create a piece of filmed content that could hold its own with Hollywoods best. Director Adam Berg responded with an idea for an epic frozen moment cops and robbers shootout sequence that included clowns, explosions, a decimated hospital, and plenty of broken glass and bullet casings.

This epic film is the centrepiece of the project. On its own, it clocks in at a (totally coincidental) two minutes and 19 seconds, but Berg conceived it to work as an endless loop. Visitors to the microsite therefore have the option to spin through the films single take shot repeatedly, to stop on a specific frame, or to watch it at the preordained speed. The film also contains embedded hotspots, which, when triggered, transport the viewer seamlessly from the heavily posted film to a behind-the-scenes version of the same shot. This constant moving between two layers of reality proved one of the projects biggest and most ambitious production challenges. Other details of the online execution play off the cinematic theme; the microsites loader doubles as a credit sequence, while rich media takeover banners drive traffic to the site by teasing viewers with an original Carousel trailer. All aspects of the production, from the film shoot to web design and development, were conducted by Stink Digital.

The Official "Making of" is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teoSDT...

For more information check:
http://www.cinema.philips.com
http://www.stinkdigital.tv/

Website Marketing Turnoffs

13 things not to do when adapting your product to an online model.

Here's a compilation of 13 silly and even stupid ways some companies are hindering adoption of their products and services. So if you are doing any of them, don't.

1. Forcing immediate registration: Requiring a new user to register is a reasonable request—after you've sucked him in. The sites that require registration as the first step are putting a barrier in front of adoption.

2. The long URL: Say a site generates a URL that's 70 characters long or more. When you copy, paste and e-mail this URL, a line break is added. Then, people can't click on the link or it only links to the first part of the URL.

3. Windows that don't generate URLs: Have you ever wanted to point people to a page, but the page has no URL? Did the company decide it didn't want referrals, links and additional traffic?

4. The unsearchable website: Some sites don't offer a search option. If your site goes deeper than one level, it needs a search box.

5. Sites without Delicious, Digg and Fark bookmarks: There's no reason why a company wouldn't want its fans to bookmark its pages. When my blog hits the front page of Digg, page views typically increase six or seven times.

6. Limiting contact to e-mail: Don't get me wrong; I live and die by e-mail. But sometimes I want to call or even snail-mail a company. Many companies only let you send an e-mail via their "Contact Us" page. Why can't companies be honest and just call it "Don't Contact Us"?

7. Lack of feeds and e-mail lists: Make getting information about your products and services easy by providing e-mail and RSS feeds for content and PR newsletters.

8. Making users retype e-mail addresses: How about the patent-pending, curve-jumping Web 2.0 company that wants you to share content but requires you to retype your friends' e-mail addresses? I have 7,703 e-mail addresses in Microsoft Entourage. I'm not going to retype them into some done-as-an-afterthought address book.

9. No e-mail addresses as usernames: I'm a member of hundreds of sites. I can't remember my usernames, but I can remember my e-mail address. So why not let me use that?

10. Case-sensitive usernames and passwords: I know; these are more secure. But then I'm more likely to type in my user name and password incorrectly.

11. Friction-full commenting: "Moderated comments" is an oxymoron. If your company is trying to be a hip, myth-busting, hypocrisy-outing joint, it should let anyone comment. Also, many times I've started to leave a comment on a blog but stopped when I realized I'd have to register.

12. Unreadable confirmation codes: A visual confirmation graphic system is a good thing, but many are too difficult to read. All you have to prove is that you're not a robot. So if the code is "ghj1lK," entering "ghj11K" should be good enough.

13. E-mails without signatures: Communication would be so much easier if everyone included a complete e-mail signature with their name, company, address, phone and e-mail address.

Lots of rivals pop up for YouSendIt file-transfer service

YouSendIt founder Ranjith Kumaran.
HOW YOUSENDIT WORKS

Step 1: Register for the site. It's free.

Step 2: Sign in.

Step 3: In a box that looks remarkably like an e-mail message:
Fill out recipient's e-mail address. Write a subject line. Enter a message.
Attach a file of up to 100 MB.

If your files are larger, you'll have to sign up for a monthly subscription, which starts at $9.99.

YouSendIt used to be the only way to get around stingy e-mail attachment size limits, but with lower bandwidth costs and speedier Internet connections, a host of competitors have emerged to offer bigger file transfers at lower prices.

YouSendIt is a website offering a way to get video clips, music files, huge photos or graphics files to friends and clients without clogging up e-mail in-boxes. You simply upload your material to the site, and it takes care of the rest. The service is free for files up to 100 megabytes, or $9.99 a month for files up to 2 gigabytes.

The company, which has been around since 2004, dominates Google search results for queries such as "big e-mail attachments" or "send big files." So dozens of competitors have come up with similar names — such as MailBigFile, TransferBigFiles and SendThisFile.

"Every successful business has copycats," says Ranjith Kumaran, YouSendIt's CTO and founder.

Many of YouSendIt's competitors are based elsewhere. Sendspace is in Austria, DropSend and MailBigFile are in the United Kingdom, SendYourFiles is in the Netherlands— places where they don't have to comply with U.S. copyright laws that restrict transmission of illegally obtained movie, TV show and music files.


Gartner analyst Frank Kenney says the managed-file business is worth $600 million today and will grow to $1 billion by 2012.

"Our e-mail boxes have gotten smaller, we're not getting the room we necessarily want to have to send big files, and we need help," he says.

Fueling the demand for file-transfer services: File sizes are growing. Higher megapixel counts on digital cameras mean bigger file sizes for photos. And the popularity of homemade video creates a problem for folks who want to e-mail clips. Video files are huge: One hour of uncompressed video is 13 GB.

Many corporate e-mail accounts limit attachments to 5 MB, while free e-mail programs will give you only 5 to 20 MB. (MSN's and Yahoo's limits are 10 MB, AOL mail is 16 MB, and Google's Gmail is 20 MB.) That's enough for a small group of uncompressed photos, PDFs or graphic files, but not enough for most videos or bigger photos.

Which leads frustrated consumers to sites such as YouSendIt.

Most offer a limited free plan and charge for sending bigger files. Sendspace charges $6.99 a month to send 1.5 GB files, while DropSend is a flat $5 for up to 15 files monthly, with file size not to exceed 2 GB.

The services eliminate the need for traditional e-mail attachments. Instead, you upload material to the service, which sends a link — and not the actual file — to recipients, who can then download it for themselves.

Creating a file-transfer site is "relatively easy," says Hamid Shojaee, CEO of Arizona-based Axosoft, a software company that runs the TransferBigFiles site. "That's why there are so many. We put up ours in a weekend."

An app for that

YouSendIt isn't sitting still. On Wednesday, it unveils its first iPhone application, to track files and confirm delivery. It's aimed at the corporate market, which provides the bulk of the company's 100,000 paying subscribers (out of 8.8 million total users).

Corporate clients include the city of Los Angeles, where 30,000 employees use the service to move encrypted files, and Tribune Broadcasting.

Ari Pitchenik, creative services manager for Tribune's WPIX-TV in New York, uses YouSendIt to send promos and commercials to clients and other stations.

"In the past, we'd burn them on DVDs and send it out via Federal Express, or use an internal FTP (file transfer protocol)," he says. "This is much easier. Anyone can click a link and download a file."

Even with all the competitors, and a lousy economy, things look good for the company, which has yet to turn a profit. Kumaran says he's seen more demand for the service this year and that the second quarter was its biggest quarter ever.

"We're seeing companies having less resources — which means less IT support — so we think we'll thrive in this economy."

HOW SOME OF THE FILE-TRANSFER SERVICES COMPARE

E-mail is rarely an option when you have a big file to ship, because e-mail boxes have attachment size limits: Yahoo and MSN Hotmail, 10 megabytes; AOL Mail, 16 MB; and Google Gmail, 20 MB. Some other options:

Three Ways to Make Conferences Better

The meetings and conference business has taken hits from the economy and Joe Biden telling everyone he wants his family to stay off airplanes.

But, much like the overall economy, the business is slowly turning around, or at least slowing its decline. So this is a good time to take a moment to consider the conference business in general.

What could it do better when it comes roaring back in 2010? Following are three radical suggestions for improving meetings and conferences;

1. Conferences and meetings should tell unique stories. Think about how conferences and meetings are typically planned. A committee picks a theme. Then someone finds a keynote speaker to open, and maybe one to close. Then the committee divides the rest of the time up into 60-minute slots and fills them with 'breakouts', panels, workshop leaders, and so on. The result? From the conference-goer's point of view, it's like a regular workday, only worse. You've got back-to-back meetings to attend, a day or days you don't get to schedule, and uncomfortable seating. The only choice you get to exercise is not to take part in some or all of the sessions. Then you feel guilty for sneaking off to the gym, or your hotel room, or the bar.

It's a dreary prospect, because it could be so much better. A conference should tell a story, one that unfolds and builds from the initial moments to the close. Like any good story, there should be moments of high excitement, followed by moments of relative calm. That's different from panic and boredom in ceaseless alternation. A good meeting should make linear sense from start to finish, in a way that allows attendees to retain what they see and hear rather than just feeling overwhelmed by the information.

2. Conferences should be for, by, and about the attendees. A meeting or conference should feel participative, and you, the meeting attendee, should have some significant part in it beyond being a warm body. Attendees should react, critique, judge, schedule, and vote for what they like and don't like. And that's just for starters. There are many ways to give attendees a larger role in meetings and conferences, from making them part of panel discussions to creating discussion groups to having them manage Questions and Answers.

Every meeting should have a master of ceremony, or M.C.s, and they should do more than just point out the bathrooms and introduce the next speaker. They should integrate, challenge, pull together, combine, disrupt, and generally function as the representative of the attendees, making sense of it all and demanding more from the speakers and other leaders.

3. Conferences should be about more than just eating and sitting. We live more and more of our lives in the splendid isolation of the Internet, with all the faux connectors like Facebook, Twitter, email, and the rest. Getting together is an increasingly rare and important privilege. Meetings and conferences should be constructed to take advantage of the gathered group. Every meeting or conference should use the power of the group to give something back to the community in which the meeting is held. Help a local charity, fix a local problem, champion a local hero, start a new movement. There are many ways one could imagine making use of the combined energies of the people assembled. It's a crime to waste that gathered power.

To be sure, some meetings and conferences do some of these things now, but not enough, and few, if any, get them all done. Meetings take their toll on the environment, the workplace, and the families of the attendees. It's time to raise the conference stakes and make them serve us better.

Cisco Revising Managed Services Partner Program

During the Cisco Partner Summit 2009 in Boston, Channel Chief Keith Goodwin announced plans for a new managed services program for VARs and MSPs. The effort includes lower barriers to entry. Here are some quick details.

Almost 80 percent of Cisco partners have some sort of managed services offering today. But less than 10 percent use Cisco’s managed services channel program today. Why is that?

Goodwin concedes that the Cisco’s current managed services partner program is too complex and the barriers to entry are too high. So, changes are coming. Most notably: Partners will no longer need their own NOCs (network operation centers).




Goodwin hinted about the revised managed services program a few minutes ago during his keynote address. It sounds like the new partner program will launch in a matter of weeks.

Robert Sutton - No A**hole Rule

Bob outlines some asshole warning signs and delivers the core reasons behind such unproductive, and ultimately costly, behavior in the workplace.

Chasing Down Large Accounts

Six tips to help you land larger clients.

Ready to go after bigger business? Here are six ways to get you started and keep you going:

1. Make sure you’re still focusing on the small and mid size accounts as a base. This will give you a safety net in the event that you lose a large account. Having solid small and mid size accounts will also give you the confidence to go big.

2. Once you have a large account in your sights, figure out who’s at the top. Learn as much as you can about his or her company and its goals. How can you help them sell what they sell? Next, go directly to the top--to the CEO or the president. This will give you a clear picture of the organization, its decision makers and its hierarchy. There is nothing more powerful than the CEO walking you into the vice president’s office and saying, “Linda, please look into this idea with Mark. It can help us with the new line of laptop products.”

3. Become the mayor of the account. I often travel in the field with a select group of top performers from certain companies. They typically have relationships with everyone in the account, from the receptionist to the office manager to the president. Many times, those contacts get promoted or assigned to other locations where they can use your services or recommend you to other individuals inside the company. Never underestimate the power of networking.

4. Look for problems, challenges and solutions. As I’ve always said, problems are opportunities. They allow you to focus on providing valuable ideas and solutions and help you stand out from competition that might only be interested in pushing their own product. Look at the company’s website, talk to its sales force and take the time to understand why its customers buy. If you can identify a problem, you can provide real-world solutions and new ideas.

5. Forget about what you sell. Sell what the account sells and learn how they run their business. Who do they sell to? Who’s the competition? What’s stopping them from growing and succeeding? This kind of sales focus turns you into an asset.

6. Most important: If it’s right, don’t stop the fight. Most people give up when they’re on the 1-yard line, not realizing how close they are to closing that large account. If you’re certain you can add value to the account, then be persistent. If the value isn’t there, then it’s time to move on.

Please let me know if you need further assistance.

The 10 Riskiest Locations In The World For Outsourcing

The list, built around concerns over terrorism, pollution, and geopolitical tensions, includes cities from a range of countries that could otherwise constitute a round-the-world tourism dream: Thailand, Jamaica, South Africa, Brazil, India, Israel, the Philippines, and Colombia. Read on to see if your company's global outsourcing map matches up with this list of the world's10 riskiest locations for outsourcing.

Here are the top 10 as ranked by Brown & Wilson, authors of the annual "Black Book of Outsourcing":
1. Bogota, Colombia
2. Bangkok, Thailand
3. Johannesburg, South Africa
4. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
5. Kingston, Jamaica
6. Delhi/Noida/Gurgaon (NCR), India
7. Manila, Philippines
8. Rio do Janeiro, Brazil
9. Mumbai, India
10. Jerusalem, Israel

Bogota took the dreaded top spot for a handful of reasons, according to an article in India Times:

"Corruption and organized crime are at the highest in Bogota. The country's unstable currency is also regarded as a reason why companies may find it going tough. Other issues that Black Book Outsourcing highlights are transnational & geopolitical, unsecured & unprotected networks, infrastructure, technology & telephone and terrorist or rebel target threats.

"Besides these, uncontrolled environmental waste and pollution and legal system immaturity also form part of reasons why companies may not consider Bogota as an ideal outsourcing location."

In a separate article, the Economic Times of India said that an expanded list of the world's 25 riskiest locations for outsourcing from Brown & Wilson includes eight from India: Delhi/Noida/Gurgaon; Mumbai; Bangalore; Hyderabad; Chennai; Pune; Chandrigarh; and Kolkata.

Conversely, topping the list of the world's safest locations for outsourcing are:

1. Singapore
2. Dublin, Ireland
3. Santiago, Chile
4. Krakow/Warsaw, Poland
5. Toronto/Montreal, Canada