The seminar, held on the 2nd February at Weetwood Hall, gave delegates an overview of Google Apps for Business and Refractiv cloud services.  Attendees, including executives from a wide range of companies in Yorkshire, enjoyed a joint presentation from Sean Power, Refractiv Business Development Manager, and Ian Weatherhogg, our Chief Technical Officer. In the final session attendees had the opportunity of putting questions to our panel of Google Apps experts.

Our team demonstrated how GMail and Google Calendar can work as a corporate solution to replace Microsoft Exchange - with users keeping Outlook or switching to web mail; how the collaborative power of Google Docs can increase staff productivity; and how Google Apps can simplify information management. Using practical examples, Ian Weatherhogg also showed the power that add ons, such as Backupify, CapsuleCRM and Smartsheet, can offer for a relatively small monthly fee.

Thank you to everyone who attended. If you missed this one, we'll be running seminars throughout 2012, to book your place visit our Google Apps Events page.

Yorkshire is bursting with science and technology entrepreneurs who are busy creating ideas that will change the world. Venturefest Yorkshire 2012 is a one day event, held at York Race Course, that showcases and supports these entrepreneurs.

Refractiv have secured a stand as part of the Innovation Showcase. On the day our team will be showcasing our advanced website design and development services. We'll also be demonstrating how Google Apps for Business offers UK companies and start up ventures the opportunity to transform the way their businesses work.

This week Refractiv has migrated the email, calendar and contacts for users. Each user now has the choice of continuing to use Outlook through Google Apps Sync or switch to Gmail.

Liquid Accounts decided on the switch to Google Apps for Business to improve employee communication, save internal costs and because a cloud based system would complement their cloud accounting software. 

Liquid Accounts - cloud accounting software

The Evocutis website has been designed to provide a wealth of technical and company information with a focus on easy and clear navigation. The use of a bold and corporate design, multiple images and push-through links provide an inviting and intuitive experience to users.

A key requirement of the new site was to improve communication. Visitors to the previous website left quickly and web-generated enquiries were low. An integrated news and blog area, plus embedded social networking feeds and links, have therefore been introduced to improve the "stickiness" of the website.

A Downloads area showcases white papers produced by the company and enables current and potential investors to access financial reports. The website is controlled by our powerful and flexible content management system (CMS), allowing the Evocutis team to have complete editing control of the site.

"When we finalised our new company branding in August, we were looking for a web design company who could interpret our requirements and act quickly to build our new website in time for the official launch in October. Richard, Mark and the team worked closely with us to take our design off the drawing board and onto the Web in the space of just 7 weeks. There was much burning of the midnight oil for all of us on what is quite a complex website but we got there with days to spare. Sincere thanks to the Refractiv team for their patience. We now have a fully CMS-controlled site which is already bringing in results."
Diane Brear, Office Manager

Evocutis - Evolving Skin Science

Snap Galleries required a single page on their existing website to introduce, display and sell a new range of lavish signed limited edition books. In order to convey the uniqueness of these large format rock 'n roll photo books the page needed to display a lot of information with eye catching photographs and a strong call to action. An accordion slider feature allows visitors to expand and collapse the content they wish to see - a clever solution to the need to display a lot of information on one page.

A large slideshow with thumbnail navigation beautifully illustrates the inaugural publication, Born to Run Revisited - featuring photographs of Bruce Springsteen by Eric Meola.

Finally, extracts from each photo book have been embedded on the new page using Issuu, an online service for viewing digital material. Prospective customers can use the animated page flip function to really get a feel for what they are buying.

Take a look at their new page and unique Bruce Springsteen Photo Book.

• Chromebooks become a realistic option for businesses, plus 2012 sees the introduction of cheap chrome-os powered desktop replacements like this one: Samsung Chrome OS Desktop
• Faster broadband upload speeds are introduced to support developments in cloud storage applications
• Microsoft to introduce frequent automatic updates to Internet Explorer like Chrome and Firefox
• UK rollout of "4G" wireless technologies like LTE advanced (looking like 2013 sadly)
• UK TV shakeup by things like Netflix, Lovefilm (engaged in TV rights battle) Google TV and Apple TV (Moving away from scheduled TV to streaming/on demand)
• HTML5/CSS3 drafts become recommendations, making life easier for everyone
• More mobile responsive websites and applications - websites built from scratch for tablets and smart phones
• Higher resolution laptop screens introduced as standard
• Tablets, including iPads, become much more affordable
• Enough snow for sledging! (Ed. How did that get in there?!)

Who puts in a 9-5 day anymore? Or works on their own? The demands on our time are multiplying, information is increasing exponentially, and there are still only 24 hours in a day. So when you go to work, you don’t want to step back 15 years and use outdated tools that slow you down.

With Google Apps we want to free you from the weight of technology and help you work smarter. We want to help you better manage your time, find new ways to discover and share knowledge within your business, and collaborate with others more effectively.

We’re pursuing those goals by focusing on three areas: cloud, mobile and social. As 2011 draws to a close, we thought we’d share a few thoughts on our plans for each in the year ahead.

Cloud

The movement of computing to the web is inevitable and will only accelerate in 2012 as many large businesses join Fortune 500 companies like Guardian Life, MeadWestvaco, and Sanmina-SCI in the cloud. We also expect that 2012 will be a huge year in the cloud for small businesses.

Our computing experience is designed for today’s world and built with entirely modern technologies far more powerful than the PC -- from apps to browser to OS to device -- to benefit businesses of all sizes. Our 100% web focus lets us innovate faster while delivering best-in-class reliability, security and support. In 2011 alone, we added more than 175 new features to Google Apps, while still delivering 99.99% reliability in Gmail.

Going forward, we’ll further integrate the products in the Apps suite to make the experience more seamless, and we’ll accelerate our efforts to make them even faster and more responsive. Our cloud services are another important area of investment, and they will make it easier for you to build scalable web apps and draw trends from huge amounts of data to make better informed decisions. More than 400,000 active applications already run on App Engine, an increase of more than 70% in the last year alone.

Mobile

Increasing numbers of employees are bringing personal devices to work, and there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all enterprise mobile plan. Forrester Research predicts that in 2012 more than 77% of organizations will support Android and iOS devices.* Looking at our own customers, more than 90% of Google Apps for Business users have deployed or are interested in using Android devices in their organization, and for good reason; Android version 4.0, called Ice Cream Sandwich, includes powerful enterprise features such as on-device encryption, VPN and Global Address List (GAL) support.

Managing all of these new devices can be very costly. But the cloud democratises expensive enterprise software, making it affordable and easy to use for businesses of all sizes. We’ve integrated web-based mobile device management capabilities into Google Apps and recently introduced new features to help you grapple with growing mobile demands.

The best thing about mobile devices is fast and intuitive applications. Our ‘mobile-first’ strategy means our apps will work first and best across different mobile platforms and allow you to be productive from anywhere. Last year we improved our Gmail mobile web app, brought a Gmail app to iOS, introduced a Docs app for Android phones and tablets, and there’s more to come. We’ll continue to invest heavily in mobile and soon you’ll see the products you love work even better on your smartphones and tablets. Beyond our own apps, we foresee many developers increasing their focus on building mobile apps for businesses.

Social

We’ve made strong progress in bringing some of the best consumer technology to business in areas like email, documents, video and mobile devices. But there’s been a glaring exception: social. This despite the fact that businesses are inherently about people and relationships, and the web is ideally suited to groups collaborating together.

That’s changing in a big way. Over the last year we added features like rich discussions in Docs, and made Google+ available to Apps customers. Google+ is our effort to center our products around the hundreds of millions of people who use them every day. It promises to reshape all of the services we offer. It’s already changing the way people share knowledge in companies like Journal Communications, which is using Hangouts to train employees on new software.

Our efforts will focus on two areas in the year ahead. First, on continuing the blistering pace of innovation that is bringing multiple improvements to Google+ every week, while also wrapping Google+ with the controls needed for broader use in large enterprises. Just last week we rolled out a number of improvements that make it even easier to connect to your colleagues, customers and business partners face-to-face-to-face via Hangouts and there’s much more to come. Second, on bringing Google+ to the rest of our products: incorporating features that make it easier to connect, share, and integrate with the wider world. The Google+ integrations with Gmail and contacts are one small example of our work to create a seamless and intuitive experience across Google.

Amit Singh, Vice President, Google Enterprise

To improve the way your company manages information and collabaration in 2012 add these 2 resolutions to your list:

• Call Refractiv for a chat about cloud solutions
• Book a place on a Refractiv Google Apps for Business Executive Briefing

Have a Merry Christmas, from all at Refractiv!

It's not very often that you have a meeting scheduled for 7am or an event that kicks off at midnight, so a new lab in Google Calendar that allows you to hide groups of hours you don't use is well worth switching on.  

Go to Calendar Settings, choose Labs and enable the Hide morning and night lab. Once enabled, the lab allows you to set which times show on your calendar, with a simple drag of a slider you can fold hours you don't need to see into a single row. The folded rows still show all your events, just in a more compact form.

As with all labs, it's an experiment that Google want feedback on. We're impressed so far, let us know what you think in the comments below.

The event, held on the 24th November at the magnificent Weetwood Hall, gave delegates an overview of Google Apps for Business.  The seminar was attended by executives from a wide range of companies - all interested in hearing how Google Apps is shaping the future of business in the UK. Our Chief Technical Officer, Ian Weatherhogg, showcased Google Apps for Business and used practical examples to illustrate how companies are using Google Apps to dramatically lower costs.

Attendees were shown how GMail and Google Calendar can work as a corporate solution to replace Microsoft Exchange - with users keeping Outlook or switching to web mail; how the collaborative power of Google Docs can increase staff productivity; and how Google Apps can simplify information management.

Thank you to everyone who attended. If you missed this one, we'll be running seminars throughout 2012, to book your place visit our Google Apps Events page.

The new look for Google Docs is consistent with the re-design of the Gmail and overall Google Apps interface that has also been generally released. It introduces much cleaner menus and toolbars and improves the overall collaboration experience for users.

We like the new interface, there are some useful improvements that make the interface more intuitive. The "Display Density" setting is very clever, allowing users to change the spacing in a Docs list - really useful for smaller laptop screens where you want to "squeeze" the list.

The interface is now the default view, but users can switch back to the old version by choosing Help > Use the classic look.

If you are still seeing the old look in Gmail or Google Docs, there will be a dark grey bar in the bottom right of your screen, click on the "new look" link to get the updated interface.

Let us know what you think!

The Gmail app for iPhone and iPad (and iPod Touch) is now available in the App Store, having had a major bug fix that spoiled a launch earlier this month. For those of you with an iPhone or iPad it is well worth downloading and a big improvement on the current method of saving a home screen bookmark to quickly access your Gmail account.  The interface is cleaner and easier to use, and it uses the full capabilities of iOS4 to offer better touchscreen features and notifications (if you want to switch them on).

Features listed on the Google blog post include:

• Get alerted to new messages with push notifications and sounds
• Find an email in seconds with search across your entire inbox
• Upload photos with a click using the new attachment button in compose view
• On iPad, navigate your inbox and read your mail simultaneously with split view
• Focus on your important messages first with Priority Inbox
• Quickly scan countless emails on the same subject with threaded conversations
• Organize your mail by archiving, labelling, starring, deleting and reporting spam

We've not had time to give it a full workout yet, but it's well worth a download for Apple users out there... now Google, how about a Google Docs app?

If you're an Android user you can already download a Gmail app and a Google Docs app from the Android Market.

We've re-designed the Refractiv website to use the very latest HTML5 markup and CSS3 styling, given the whole site a make-over and made navigation much cleaner.

We've introduced new features such as web forms and video that open up without the visitor leaving the page they were on. From a navigation viewpoint, we hope you will find the website much easier to use, we've added a home page slideshow and attractive pushthroughs that take visitors exactly where they need to go.

We have used up to date techniques such as Compass CSS, Modernizr and jQuery on the Refractiv rebuild. This new approach has enabled us to rapidly code and produce the new website, introducing features that will benefit our customers on any future site builds Luke Barratt, Developer

We hope you like the new design and don't hesitate to give us some feedback, using the brand new integrated Disqus comment module below!

If you like any of the features we've added to our website, why not contact us for a chat about your own website refresh.

Google Apps users will have access to the same set of features that are available to every Google+ user, and more. In addition to sharing publicly or with your circles, you’ll also have the option to share with everyone in your organisation, even if you haven’t added all of those people to a circle.  

Circles are groups of contacts, and Google+ allows you to have as many as you want, for example you could set up a circle for team members to discuss a project internally, or you could segment all your clients into relevant circles for marketing purposes. It's easy to do, and once set up you can use circles to communicate with different groups by posting an update or start a Hangout to enable multi person video chat. Starting a hangout also offers a sneak preview of Hangouts with Extras, which will include screen-sharing and collaborative Google Docs editing.

We've started using it in anger today, so watch this space for updates.

Wikipedia defines cloud computing as: "internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand".

Put another way, retire your servers and migrate your applications and data to a central service so that your team can get access from anywhere, anytime and using any device.

With the potential cost savings and enhancements on offer, more and more companies are beginning to grasp what the cloud can do for them.

Cost savings
The overhead of owning IT hardware and software includes expertise and maintenance charges, plus the stress and loss of productivity when anything fails. Removing your dependence saves these costs.

For core business systems like email, documents and CRM, switching to a cloud-based solution reduces the often heavy licence fees and reliance on IT support.

Remote working
A key advantage of cloud solutions (aka "software as a service") is the accessibility. Almost any device (PC, smartphone, tablet) with an internet connection can use a cloud-based system as easily from home or on the road as from the office.

Collaboration
Online office applications such as Google Apps for Business or Microsoft's new Office 365 allow you and your colleagues to create and edit documents simultaneously, rather than having to push them around the team as email attachments.

With a single version of a document (with saved revision history) you can avoid the confusion and wasted space that inevitably arises with traditional file-based editing where each member of the team ends up with multiple versions of a particular document saved in My Documents, on the server and in email folders.

Security
The security of data and documents in traditional office-based systems is as good as the physical security of desktop PCs, wireless and wired networks, the expertise of your IT staff and the honesty of your employees.

The major cloud providers have the world's leading network and physical security in place and in most cases your data will be better protected and generally safer than before.

At Refractiv we are passionate about cloud-based working, in particular Google Apps for Business.

Read the original article on the Business Desk website.

To get started with offline capability, you'll need to use the Google Chrome web browser and install three offline access apps (one for Mail, one for Docs and one for Calendar) from the Chrome Web Store, a quick and easy process.

Once installed, the web apps will recognise when your PC or laptop is offline and ask you whether you wish to continue using Gmail, Calendar or Docs.

Gmail is the most advanced app so far, allowing you to view your mail from the last time you were online. You can also write new emails and reply to mails whilst offline and anything in your outbox will be sent once you reconnect. It's a good system when you absolutely need to have access to your stored email whilst offline, and, as with anything Google nowadays, it will get better over time.

Google Calendar and Google Docs let you seamlessly transition between online and offline modes.

When you’re offline in Google Calendar, you can view events from your calendar(s) - in settings you can set the calendars you want to have offline access to. At present you can only view the next month of appointments, and you can't make any new appointments until you are online, but Google are working on further enhancements.

With Google Docs Offline you can view documents and spreadsheets. Unfortunately offline editing isn’t ready yet, but by all accounts it's not far away.

The exciting new website has now been launched at www.deltafire.com.au. The site was planned as part of a total rebranding for the company and the brief was to provide a customer-focused site, to act as a resource centre for its customers and prospective customers.

FireBrand Communications, as Delta Fire’s PR consultancy, was tasked with finding a suitable web developer for the project, and then to work with the developer to write the copy, populate the site and prepare it for launch.

Sharon Parfitt, Managing Director of FireBrand, says, “I had no problems in finding a web development partner for this project. I went straight to Refractiv, having successfully worked with the team to develop our own company site at www.firebrand-comms.com as well as working in collaboration with them on the new MDM Publishing site at www.mdmpublishing.com.

So, the choice was easy, and as usual the Refractiv team applied its outstanding service ethic to the task. Development of the Delta site was relatively smooth and very efficient. The site is one we are all proud of and Delta Fire is now powering ahead with a fantastic and very functional website.”

Sharon continues, “I wholeheartedly recommend Refractiv, the team there really does go the extra mile, on occasions two or three! The success of all of the projects we have undertaken with Refractiv is particularly impressive as it demonstrates the company’s ability to work internationally, as both FireBrand and Delta Fire are located in Australia”

EXPO 2011 provides a valuable insight into how the world of technology is changing in today’s fast paced environment. Over 40+ exhibitors; a techpanel – a seasoned panel of experts debating hot topics; the interactive zone a lively, buzzing focal point of the exhibition where visitors can watch, listen and play with the very latest in technology; a SME surgery for one to one advice from our industry experts.

techmesh is working closely with the Chambers across our region along with a number of other significant networks to promote the event, which is not only great news for the IT & Telecoms sector, but for the region as a whole.

Collaboration with other networks is proving to be a powerful medium to drive the sector forward. EXPO 2011 is the perfect example of how collaboration can strengthen relationships as well as educate and stimulate those with a focus on technology. The event promises to be one of the most successful events in the sector’s calendar.

The Refractiv team will be on stand 28 showcasing Google Apps for Business. So if you want to know more about how Google Apps can transform your business, why not register for the techmesh EXPO and stop by and see us.
 

Users can now add page numbers and a page count to documents.

Page count will display the total number of pages in your document. To insert a page number and count into a header or footer, for example "Page 2 of 10", go to Insert > Page number, manually type "of" and then choose Insert > Page count.

Find out more on the Google Docs Blog.

The event, held on the 14th September at the Chamber offices in Leeds, focused on Google Apps and cloud computing.  The seminar was attended by executives from both private and public sector companies. Our Chief Technical Officer, Ian Weatherhogg, showcased Google Apps for Business and introduced ideas to improve working practices.

Attendees were shown the collaborative power of Google Apps, how GMail can work as a corporate email solution and how data from different cloud applications can be easily exchanged and combined to create fantastic synergy.

Thank you to everyone who attended, and thanks to the Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce for the chance to host such a good event. If you missed this one, we'll be running more seminars in the coming months, for more information please contact us or keep an eye on our Events page.

Over three million businesses have moved to Google Apps, and several factors have driven this transition. While improved productivity and cost savings have long been at the top of the list, more and more customers are choosing Google Apps for Business for its security and reliability benefits. Below we'll summarise the top ten data protection and reliability advantages that Google hear about most frequently from customers.

1. Powerful administration tools give you control of your data
When business data is stored in Google Apps, administrators have powerful tools to help them manage things like users, documents and services.

2. Pure and proven cloud architecture
The Google datacentre server infrastructure is specifically designed and built for Google applications and does not include unnecessary hardware or software code such as peripheral ports or device drivers.

3. Patch management
Downloading, testing and deploying patches has become a significant pain for many IT departments. Google Apps reduces this pain because there are no servers for customers to patch.

4. Strong authentication
Google Apps includes 2-step verification for all user accounts - at no additional charge.

5. Disaster recovery
Google Apps offers robust disaster recovery capabilities which are commonly measured by Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO). RTO measures how long before users can access systems in the event of a failure and RPO measures how much of a gap there is in the data when it is restored. Google Apps is designed with RTO and RPO goals of zero.

6. Third party verifications
Google Apps and data centres are SSAE 16 Type II audited and have achieved the U.S. Federal Government’s FISMA certification. SSAE 16 is an auditing standard where a third party auditor evaluates the controls in place for numerous areas including physical and logical security, privacy, incident response and more.

7. Information security expertise
Google employ an information security team of over 250 people with a wealth of expertise not found in most organisations. Many have advanced degrees and are thought leaders in information security.

8. Secure connections for users
Google automatically encrypt browser sessions for Google Apps users without the need for VPN’s or other potentially costly and cumbersome infrastructure.

9. High availability
Google Apps has zero maintenance windows or planned downtime. While Google offer a 99.9% uptime SLA, Gmail exceeded this guarantee in 2010 and achieved 99.984% uptime.

10. Reduced risk of data breach
Google Apps allows users to work securely on their data wherever they are, using a wide range of devices. The data is stored centrally in Google’s cloud which greatly reduces the need for users to take their data with them using USB drives or similar devices, which can be easily lost or stolen.

Over three million businesses trust Google to protect the data they store in Google Apps and make it reliably accessible. For more information on Google Apps security, visit our Data Security and Privacy page.

This blog summarised the top ten reasons to trust Google with company data - for more detail on these reasons, please visit the latest Google Enterprise Blog on Data Security.

In the past month Google has introduced two new themes for Gmail, a new Google Docs interface and a Preview Pane lab, all of which make the Google Apps package look a lot more professional.

Choosing to switch your Gmail theme to Preview (Dense) will immediately provide you with a much more professional looking Gmail. If you use Outlook then there's never been a better time to look at what Gmail can offer - especially with the introduction of the Preview Pane lab. You can now set up a preview pane exactly as you can in Outlook, a big improvement.

The Google Docs interface has also been improved with a new look to match the Gmail theme. The look can be switched on by clicking on the "try the new look" link and, as with Gmail, the new interface brings a clarity not seen before.

Hats off to Google. More confirmation that cloud-based systems offer constant improvement without the need for versions and upgrades. Things can only get better.

Google Apps users in the UK are now able to make low-cost calls from the Gmail email client to landlines and mobile phones. We've long said that Google Voice could be a game changer when it arrives in the UK.

Now that Google Voice had been announced in the UK we are anxious to see if it can challenge the established players - landline companies, mobile operators and even Skype. It's available soon and we'll report back after we've got to know it.

ITV, the largest commercial television network in the UK is moving from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps as part of its broader strategy and five year Transformation Plan to change the ways the company works. The move will improve communication, fuel collaboration and stimulate creativity throughout the organisation.

The media industry thrives on change and is constantly reinventing itself, old ways to communicate and collaborate simply won’t cut it any longer. With a suite of applications that are designed for teams and built for the web, ITV decided that Google Apps was the perfect match for their transformational requirements.

Google Apps will give ITV employees (up to 7,000 permanent staff and contractors) more flexibility in how they communicate and share information across the business. Gmail with the integrated instant messaging tool will make communication easier; Google Calendar will boost efficiency by helping to schedule meetings and events with shared calendars; Google Docs will allow staff to create, edit and share documents, presentations and spreadsheets in real time; and Google Sites and Google Video for Business will also facilitate collaboration.

Paul Dale, ITV’s Chief Technology Officer, said, “When I arrived at ITV, one of my tasks was to implement a company-wide plan for workplace technology in order to enable our staff to deliver ITV’s Transformation Plan. The move to Google Apps will offer us the depth and scope of service we need to transform our internal ways of working across the business.”

ITV is the latest UK media company to make the move to Google Apps, following The Telegraph and The Guardian. Take a look at some video case studies of other UK companies who have "gone Google" on our Google Videos page.

The new websites, Cotswolds Rural Skills and Escape to the Cotswolds have been developed by Refractiv to complement the existing Cotswolds AONB website.

Cotswolds Rural Skills is designed to provide a one stop shop for people interested in learning a new traditional craft or skill. One-day and two-day courses are available in a range of subjects including dry-stone walling, grassland ecology and management, thatching and blacksmithing. Courses are also available in ‘map & compass’ to help navigate the Cotswolds countryside.

As well as providing comprehensive details of courses and annual rural skills competitions, the website enables easy online booking plus the purchase of gift vouchers for courses.

The website is not only a central resource for courses offered by the Conservation Board, but also allows other providers such as colleges, community groups and local authorities to promote their own courses.

Escape to the Cotswolds is designed to provide information to help visitors plan their next escape to the Cotswolds AONB. The website has easy-to-access details of walking routes, free guided walks, cycle rides, horse riding, events and festivals, as well as information on places to visit including towns, villages and attractions. The website also provides forms so that users can submit an event or guided walk.

"We are very happy with the two new websites that Refractiv has developed for us, which complement our main website, providing a suite of comprehensive online information for the Cotswolds AONB."
Nicola Greaves, Information & Interpretation Officer

Cotswolds Rural Skills - Craft Training Courses

Escape to the Cotswolds - Things to do in the Cotswolds

With a brief to "future proof" the new website, a fresh approach was required by the team at Refractiv. MDM Publishing has three publications that have each carved out unique slots in the fire protection and firefighting industries, so it was essential that their website had a truly modern feel. The newly launched website has been updated to offer visitors a more interactive experience. They can read and comment on news, articles and product blogs; access social networking groups; watch product videos and read the latest MDM Publishing magazines.

The website is split into four main areas, a corporate-styled MDM Publishing home page explains the publishing company to visitors, who may be potential advertisers, while the three fire industry magazine home pages are targeted at fire industry professionals and have home pages designed as information portals. Each magazine section has a unique url so the "mini site" can be accessed directly, simplifying the website for visitors who may only subscribe to one of the three, magazines.

Advertising revenue is very important to MDM Publishing so Refractiv has introduced display rotating adverts that can be easily uploaded to each magazine "mini-site". Each advertising slot in the template can hold up to five adverts which display randomly and rotate without needing a page refresh. Each click is tracked and MDM Publishing can now offer online advertising packages which include accurate click tracking and reports on performance.

"We are delighted with the website Refractiv has delivered for us. It means we now have a modern well designed website which far more reflects our company image than our previous site. Our subscribers are loving its user friendliness and our advertising revenue is already on a major upward curve. Nothing is too much trouble for Refractiv and their ability to resolve any little challenges we have thrown at them has been fantastic."
Dave Staddon, Publisher

MDM Publishing - Magazines for the Fire Industry

The blog article starts by pointing out that technology gets more complicated as it gets older. Upgrading platforms and adding features results in systems that are increasingly difficult to manage and complex to use. At times like these, Google states, it is worth considering a clean-slate: an approach based on entirely modern technologies, designed for today’s world. That clean-slate would be Google Apps - born for the web.

The article then goes on to highlight things to think about as you compare Google Apps and Office 365:

Designed for Teams - Office 365 is for individuals. Google Apps is for teams.

With Google Apps you can work with multiple people in the same document. You can see people type in real time, and share a file in just two clicks. Discussions bring people into your documents for rich conversations. You don’t need to buy additional licenses to work with others, or hope people outside your company have upgraded to the same software.

Productive Anywhere - Office 365 is built for Microsoft. Google Apps is built for choice.

Office 365 is optimized for Windows-based PCs and devices, which reduces your flexibility. Google's applications are designed to work well on any device, on any operating system. Desktop, laptop, Chromebook, tablet, smartphone. Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Blackberry, iPhone, Windows Mobile. Edit on the go. Share from anywhere. Start on your computer, move to your tablet, finish on your phone. When the web is the platform, it just works.

Simple & Affordable - Office 365 is 11 different plans, three editions and two tiers. Google Apps is a small monthly or yearly fee with no commitment.

Google has a single, transparent, low price that meets everyone’s needs, and it hasn’t changed in 4 years. No long term contracts or opaque enterprise agreements. Google also doesn't lock you in. By design, they make it as easy as possible for you to move off of Google Apps if you want. They have a dedicated team of engineers whose sole goal is to help you get your data in and out of the Google Apps products for free. Google believe that the way to keep you long term is to continue to innovate and make products better so that you choose to stay with them.

Pure & Proven Cloud - Office 365 is about the desktop. Google Apps is about the web.

Google Apps are accessed in a browser. There’s no client software to install, secure and maintain. Upgrades and years of patience aren’t necessary to get access to the latest innovation - just click refresh. Google Apps customers received more than 125 new features in the last year alone. Running a reliable and secure cloud-based service is challenging and requires you to rethink everything. This year Gmail has been available 99.99 percent of the time, which translates to less than 5 minutes of downtime per month. That includes all downtime, planned and unplanned, of any duration, for any and all users. Google make zero exceptions when calculating uptime, and they are transparent with you in the rare cases when things go wrong.

Google finish by asking you to just spend 10 minutes checking out why so many businesses have chosen Google Apps, we heartily agree!

This article was based on the Official Google Enterprise Blog

Following an SEO meeting with Flowquip, a Flowmetering Solutions company based in Sowerby Bridge, I was delighted when they sent me their first blog article. The idea of a regular feature, "Flow Heroes", looking at historical figures that played some part in discovering flow measurement is inspired. I thought it would be a useful example that, if you are stuck for content, you don't have to stick to your products or company events and news. Don't be afraid to do something 'outside the box'.

Creating a blog is easy, and gives you freedom to express and expose some personality without the usual formal business language. If you are searching for web content inspiration, take a look at what Flowquip have done below, and don't forget to check out their blog for the next instalment, I know I will!