Newsletter

Welcome to the first newsletter from Really Simple Systems. In keeping with the philosophy of our company we've tried to make it interesting, straightforward and free of marketing jargon. We hope you like it.

In this issue:

Valuing Simplicity
Microsoft's next big challenge
New Customers adopt Really Simple Systems
Our latest White Paper
Know somebody who needs CRM?
Useful Services
Distractions


	Valuing Simplicity Simplicity can be an undervalued criteria When potential IT products are evaluated the main criteria are always functionality and cost. The choice normally comes down to a compromise between the two: Product A does everything we need and more, Product B only meets 90% of our needs but is half the price. High functionality products cost more than low functionality products, you pays your money and you makes your choice. So why is simplicity not a key criteria, especially when most products are good enough? Simple products are easier to use and go wrong less often. Easier to use means that people use them more often and with more success, going wrong less often means happier users and an IT department not distracted by fixing problems. As software design and capabilities mature we are moving to a world when products become functionally identical. Microsoft Word does everything we need (and a whole lot more), CRM is fast becoming just CRM, all cars go 100mph and look the same. Software vendors, desperate to differentiate their products, have to find more and more arcane features to distinguish themselves from their competitors, each feature with less marginal benefit. During this process the products get larger, more complicated to use and more complicated to install and maintain. In fact there are many pressures on vendors to add functionality to their products: a large potential customer demands a feature specific to them; publications only review new versions with new features; the marketing people need new features to shout about; the design team suffers feature envy against a larger competitor; additional components are purchased from other companies. During a product's lifetime a simple product can "evolve" into a highly featured, and highly complex, suite. Measuring ease of use is different from measuring functionality or cost. You can measure functionality with checklists and costs by adding them up. So how can you measure simplicity? We would suggest the following metrics: Screen clutter: how many objects on the screen? The more menu items, fields and graphics the more difficult it is for the eye to focus on what is important. Clicks: how many mouse clicks to add a record, or define a report? The more mouse clicks, the more pages to load, the longer it takes, the more frustrating the user experience. Menu depth: how many levels of menu do you have to go to select the option you want, or to go through before realising that this menu tree does not hold that option. Training Course: How long is the course to train a basic user? An hour, a day, a week? Is a course needed in the first place? Technical complexity: data replication, multiple connecting systems, separate software running on each client and server are all weak links in a chain. Intuitiveness: How many minutes or hours before the design and workflow is intuitive to a new user? In his book "Simplicity", one of Edward de Bono's ten rules is that "If simplicity is a real value, then you must be prepared to trade off other real values in order to gain simplicity". But complexity has real costs too: mistakes made, time taken, systems not working, employee rejection. As functionality is increasingly taken for granted, the new trade off should be between price and ease of use: Product A is half the price, but Product B is easier to use and maintain. With the major reason for failure in CRM implementations being rejection or disinterest by the sales people, simplicity becomes the key differentiator.

	Microsoft's next big challenge Winning the new war, but maybe losing the old? Microsoft has won the battle for desktop operating systems and office productivity suites, is winning the server operating systems and database market, is about to take a chunk out of Sony's dominance of the games marketplace with it's Xbox 360, and is even finally making progress getting Windows into mobile telephones and cable TV boxes. Microsoft's core business makes a profit of $20bn on revenues of $40bn, but now it may be facing another defining moment in it's history, perhaps as important as Bill Gates' Internet epiphany in 1995. That development is "software as a service", the concept of renting software on an as-needs basis, delivered over the Internet. In November Microsoft has announced plans to offer "Office Live" and "Windows Live". Still in beta, these are add-ons that enhance rather than replace these major earners. However, with the growth in popularity of "on demand" software-as-a-service, and also being increasingly challenged by open source competitors such as Open Office and MySQL, Microsoft may have to risk cannibalising it's core revenue stream and move away from its conventional, and lucrative, licensing models if it truly wants to offer Internet based products.

	New Customers Adopt Really Simple Systems Simply Helping We welcome the Royal Academy of Arts whose magazine section has adopted Really Simple Systems Hosted CRM. The system is being used to consolidate advertising, listing and insert sales, produce booking forms and provide a complete history of each customer's purchases. Also Third Light, an innovative graphics hosting company based in Cambridge, whose graphics appliances and hosting systems manage commercial pictures for businesses, photographers, event managers and image libraries.

	White Paper 10 Critical Factors When Implementing CRM What are the ten most critical factors that will determine if an organisation succeeds in its CRM strategy? What's the difference between CRM (Customer Relationship Management), SFA (Sales Force Automation), Opportunity Management and Contact Management? What's the difference between desktop, client/server and hosted applications? Our free white paper could make the difference between the success or failure of a CRM system. Download it for yourself of a colleague from our web site.

	Know Somebody Who Needs CRM? Solve their problem and get rewarded If you know somebody who needs a CRM system then you can solve their problem and earn a substantial commission for yourself through our referral scheme. More at our site.

	Useful Services These businesses think out of the box Ziptech Services is an innovative company that takes over the support and management of small and medium sized organisations' internal IT systems. Priced on a per workstation basis, they take away the pain and complexity of managing in house systems. YAC has a different spin on telephone answering: outsourced reception with no receptionist. Lost your Windows key? The Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder is a freeware utility that retrieves the Product Key (CD key) used to install Windows and Office products.

	Distractions Quick, while the boss isn't looking Doogle is Ireland's answer to the eponymous search engine. British Pathe has a huge, unique and evocative selection of clips from its 75 years of cinema newsreels. See Chamberlain make his "Peace in our time" speech, or watch the launch of Radio Caroline in the swinging sixties. Dilbert.com will give you a daily dose of cubicle humour, or you can have them emailed to you every day. A Murder of Scarecrows is a strange and unsettling game. Not the best chicken commercial!