About learning to code...

Many people in the technology wilderness don't realise that very many coders actually didn't start out their careers as computer fundi's. I started out as a visual and 3D artist.I became frustrated when as part of my course I was expected to create a website to showcase my work using a basic piece of wysiwyg (What you see is what you get) piece of software that actually didn't come near to satisfying my vision for the work I was trying to do. So I took the next step and googled how to change the html. 

 Within days I was hooked. I took a course on HTML. That led to eventually doing a course on graphic design and then to CSS, which led to javascript. I landed up buying Webmags and developing code from tutorials, I gleaned from the mags. Then I realised I could use Youtube to explore further develop ideas and opportunities and eventually all the best free online coding tutorials featured at the top of my browser bookmarks. This however happened over several years while I was still busy doing other things. 

 I must however stress one vital fact. I already understood the fundamentals of programming. The core the foundation. I knew what a string, and array and a variable was. I understood how different elements need to correspond and connect to enable any application to work properly, and the fundamental principles of any programming had not left me behind despite the fact that i learnt them as an add on course to maths in my 1980's high school years. So here are some rules to learning code for the beginner.

1. Learn the fundamentals.

You need to understand what it is that makes a programme in any language work, basically understanding the anatomy of any coding language. An analogy would be that humans, reptiles, mammalian animals all have similarities. They have circulation systems, respiratory systems, nervous systems. The concept is the same, but core body temperature is different, respiratory rate is different and brain function is different. They all need air, water and food to survive. So coding languages have a similar blueprint to enable the programme to exist, but they all function differently and they also evolve  as developers try to improve programming to their advantage. Spending the extra time at the beginning to build a strong foundation will payoff big time when you're tackling something new. Don't try a shortcut at this stage. Try out one of these kindle edition books to start you off

2. Pick something that interests you

If youre into web design HTML and CSS is the way to go. There is so much on Youtube and W3 that you'll be developing in no time, but be sure to be specific about what youre looking for. have a look at our free tutorial page on our website to get an idea of what you should look for. If you fancy developing phone apps have explore learning java. You may realise also that skills and knowledge overlap for example it is possible to develop Blackberry© products using Webworks™ and a knowledge of HTML 5.

3. Dont try to run before you can walk.

When learning online don't feel silly about doing tutorials that look they are designed for kids, or perhaps you feel you're learning something infantile. You can never learn too much and often you'll use these skills to make money building apps for the kids those courses targeted. Also you will often find that having learned one particular language another is quite similar it comes easy. the more you learn, the faster you learn more.

4. Keep learning

As you develop your skills, you will realise how quickly things change and move on in the tech world, so once you have a skill, keeping up with changes is far easier than having to relearn skills. Also remember that you can a lot online and completely free. Try resources such as greenfoot, openculture and code.org to start and update your new knowledge base.

5. Create a library.

We all forget things we learn. So keep notes and code that you have developed and written. Build a library of resources and info and remember that even sometimes you may have to return to the basics to review an issue you may have, several years down the line. In time you will have books, (If they're digital keep backups - its not illegal to copy for backup purposes) videos and record of your own projects.

6. Build a portfolio

If you eventually want to make a living from coding, keep record of your work and build a portfolio. This enables future clients to explore your styles and methods and you will find that you attract interest and custom.

7. Get to know other developers.

While in the corporate world projects in development are obviously confidential, coders like to share their knowledge as well as their problems in overcoming certain issues. Its amazing how when ruminating over a particular problem for hours one cant see the forest for the trees and along comes a fellow coder who looks at it from the outside and spots the problem in a second. This doesn't make you less competent, in fact it increases your knowledge base. So use groups such as meetup to grow your professional connections. Coders are human too and love to help people who share their love for what they do. So as long as you're not asking for spoon feeding but rather a resource or help that you cant find elsewhere, those more experienced are usually happy to help. Find a group like coffee and coding at meetup.com

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The Google workshop an introduction

Nomsindo is offering a FREE (You pay for your own coffee) Google workshop on Saturday mornings for any interested businessmen/women in Cape Town.

Did you know that even a basic knowledge of the FREE Google tools at your fingertips can rapidly change your web and digital presence?

If you are going to grow to the point that you need to appoint a social media professional either in house or from an agency will you know enough to be sure you're not instructing a dud?

Feel free to contact us here

Please fill in the contact form if you'd like to join us. The workshop is informal and will be held at a waterfront venue to be announced shortly.

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Best tablets for 2013

When Apple introduced the famed Retina display to the third-generation Apple iPad, it set a bar so high that the rest of the industry struggled to catch up. That's until Google and Samsung joined forces to produce the Google Nexus 10.

Incredibly, the display on the Nexus 10 has an even higher pixel density than the iPad's. Its 10 in screen is an IPS panel with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600, giving a pixel density of 300ppi, some 14% higher than the iPad's 264 ppi. The result is a screen with stunningly crisp graphics and super-sharp text.

It's also a good-quality screen. We measured its maximum brightness as 436cd/m2 and contrast as 807:1, so brightness is similar to that of the iPad but contrast isn't quite as high. In our subjective tests, we felt colours weren't quite as vibrant as on Apple's tablet, so images didn't have quite as much punch.

The tablet isn't as lovely to behold as the iPad, but we still like it. Instead of metal, the Nexus 10's chassis is built entirely from grippy rubber-coated plastic. The black chassis is curvier than the iPad's, and the bezel around the display is broader as well. At 603g, it's 49g lighter than the iPad, which makes it very comfortable to hold. We've no problems with build quality, and the fact the glass on the front is Corning's tough, scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass is another big bonus. The Nexus 10 feels like it would survive a drop better than the iPad.

It isn't short on features, either. Around the edges you'll find Micro HDMI, a 3.5mm headphone output and a Micro USB port. You can only charge the Nexus from scratch with the included charger, but it can be topped up via USB if you leave the charger at home. Wireless connections, meanwhile, can be made via Bluetooth, NFC or dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi. There's GPS, a 5-megapixel camera with flash on the rear and a 720p webcam on the front. The main camera takes pretty impressive pictures, but composing shots using an unwieldy tablet is never easy. The only thing missing is a memory expansion slot to add to the Nexus' 16GB (or 32GB) of storage.

With all those pixels to shunt about, you might be worried that the Nexus 10's dual-core 1.7GHz Cortex-A15 processor wouldn't be able to cope, but the tabletperforms admirably thanks to its top-end Mali T604 graphics core and 2GB of RAM. Critically, all the games we threw at it, from Asphalt 7 to Shadowgun, barely skipped a beat. The only problem is the screen is so good that it's easy to spot where the developers have taken shortcuts.

The Nexus 10 coped with both local and online 1080p video files, and notwithstanding the slightly below-par contrast, they looked stunning. This makes the Nexus 10 a far better device for mobile video fans than the iPad, given its huge range of available video players and easy drag-and-drop file transfer from a PC - no syncing problems or Dropbox workarounds here.

In general use, too, the tablet's Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) operating system runs very smoothly. There's not a hint of lag anywhere, whether scrolling from homescreen to homescreen,browsing through app launcher screens or, critically, when typing with the on-screen keyboard. The keyboard lets you type by swiping from side to side, as with the third-party Swype keyboard, but we found it more comfortable on a screen this broad to stick to traditional tapping.

As it comes with Android 4.2, the Nexus 10 also supports multiple user accounts - a first for tablet devices and something that's unlikely to be available on iPad ever. If you live with friends or family, this means you can share the device, with each user having their own email, bookmarks, apps, home screens, settings and preferences. It's a brilliant implementation of a feature that's been well overdue on tablets. Buy one, keep it on your coffee table, and let all the family use it.

If there's anywhere the Nexus 10 struggles, it's with complex, picture-heavy web pages. This may sound strange, considering the tablet has enough grunt to play back movies and games with barely a dropped frame, but on the Flickr website and the BBC home page, for example, scrolling and panning lagged and stuttered. It's not a horrendous problem, but it's enough to be noticeable.

More serious, though, is the fact that this high-resolution screen saps the battery. When playing our test video on loop at mid brightness, the tablet lasted only 8h 34m, which is almost two hours less than the Nexus 7 and a long way behind the iPad’s 11 hours plus. It's still enough to watch four films in a row, though.

The slightly below-par battery life, and the fact there's no 3G (or 4G) version of the Nexus 10, are its only real drawbacks, and it's hard to argue with the fact the tablet is £80 cheaper than the equivalent iPad. The Nexus 10 really is a bargain, and anyone looking for a good-value alternative to the iPad should be sorely tempted.

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Apps for informal and micro business

Nomsindo is offering Apps for small businesses from as little as R285 No you didn't read it wrong - only R285!

While many micro enterprises are disinclined to spend on websites, e-commerce and more complex digital presence, mostly because of an affordability and maintenance problem, many are acutely aware that far more people in South Africa have smartphones than PCs or laptops.

It has also not escaped the average entrepreneur that the average smartphone owner uses their device for a lot more than calls and SMS and therefore even the large corporations are cottoning onto using mobile technology to increase their reach into communities previously hard to access.

This has become obvious with the speed by which FNB with their Mpowa and Nedbank with their PowerPOS have followed the Western European and US trends to enable small businesses to access merchant retail systems in remote locations and with little digital infrastructure.

While this is commendable, the proof in the pudding will be in uptake and understanding and therefore also the returns on their investment in the small businessman. While the African economy is often very misunderstood by the west it seems that their own financial institutions have hit it on the head and are taking every opportunity to open up new markets (thereby increasing profits).

Its incredibly exciting to see South African banks responding so quickly to international trends and applying them to the local economic culture. It also makes the battle against poverty and imbalance of opportunity so much more worthwhile.

We at Nomsindo have adopted a similar approach. Any and every local enterprise should be able to access the local digital market.

We have different app products, but the approach is the same. 

If a regular customer wants to know what their opening hours are, if they stock a certain product or directions to their premises, its much easier to navigate one or two simple clicks and have the info on hand, than to search it online while walking in the street. What they want to access is an instant type business card from which a simple click will enable them to make the phone call.

So why should these folk download a business card in app format. At Nomsindo we realise that apart from the cellphone fast becoming a necessary utility it is also used for entertainment, so why not combine the two?

When designing apps for charities we have created games that enable a user to dress and feed a homeless person. When they buy the upgrade, the cost of the game actually goes to feeding and clothing the homeless person, that the charity supports. Its win -win. The person gets a fulfilling cellphone activity and the charity can fulfill its purpose.

The concept is transferable to small business. A customer uses a free to download App and gets a voucher - They use the App when visiting the small business and present the voucher - every time, bringing repeat business. For a small hairdresser or second hand furniture business this is far more cost effective than paying for print ads that are usually completely unaffordable to informal and micro traders.

So why is it successful? Mainly because we train the small businesses to utilise other social media to enhance their mobile digital presence with apps such as foursquare, offering the mayor an enhanced discount, and multiple check ins rewards. The Social Media training session comes FREE, when a small business orders an App design from us, even at R285

How do we do it profitably? - We're not greedy and the rest is our secret..... and every business has its trade secrets.

Nomsindo provides mini apps and social media at discounted prices for small business groups and organisations to offer their members- email us for more info

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Why using Social Media for CRM is a priceless tool

I must start by emphasising that social media is by no means the only CRM (customer relationship management) tool a company should use and certainly in certain circumstances there are are other CRM tools that are more effective.

It has however become clearly obvious that with the implementation of social media as a grass roots CRM instrument by medium and large enterprises, the cost effectiveness of these tools and overall resulting customer experience of the engagement, interaction and when necessary also the intervention often provides an almost immediate ROI.

A number of examples immediately come to mind. The most recent was only yesterday when we were attending a conference at a venue that is part of one of the largest global hotel and hospitality chains. My other half was rather displeased with the service and sent a single tweet and hash tagged it.

The response was almost immediate and came from pretty high up. This company got it right in both of the most important ways this should be approached. Implementation of their actual CRM strategy using social media and their culture regarding how to approach the problem using the relevant instrument - in this case Twitter.

It is very clear that not only do they have an engaging monitoring policy, but they also go out of their way to ensure that when tweets are not directed at them personally they can pick up hash tagged and unhashtagged conversations, enabling quick intervention when required.

Brand and reputation development and protection should come hand in hand with any online engagement strategy and policy for any business regardless of its size. We all knows that rumours (even when untrue) can cause stocks to crash and can ruin a healthy corporate virtually overnight.

A company strengthens its armour when it's digital presence policies encompass brand protection and it has the strategy to be able to turn negative customer experience around so that the outside world watching this unfold, (and trust me it's a very big glass house out there) can witness a positive outcome - every time.

The online world leaves digital footprints that remain for years and even decades. If there has been a bad customer experience linking it to a positive outcome this, has enormous long term value. Consumer forums often discuss customer experience and the footprint they leave is enormous and lasting. When the forums actually show a positive outcome it can have a domino effect.

Customers will discover how others have reached satisfactory resolution, enhancing brand image and also driving new customers not only to the company's web presence be it interactive social media, e-commerce or the company website, but also their b&m (bricks and mortar) premises.

Happy and satisfied customers breed an air of confidence about certain brands which has the effect that the brand becomes the prevalent choice.

I remain astonished at how many large corporate enterprises still use social media for promotion only and do not have it integrated into customer service, logistics, sales and sales support, in fact any department that engages with customers at all. Those that use it for monitoring remain even fewer and yet the obvious advantage that offers over the competition isn't rocket science.

This is where analysis of ROI becomes tricky. If analysis is only going to include the financial return particularly when looking at CPA, a true picture can never be determined. True social media effectiveness is not only visible by growth in online sales, but also by the willingness of the customer to return to the B&M (bricks and mortar) presence on the street as a result of the social media strategy that enhances their spending experience.

In closing, I would recommend that any company recruiting or contracting a social media Strategist look beyond their technical knowledge of markup languages and GAIQ, but also investigate the candidates ability and outlook at directing and if necessary redirecting their digital strategy to the ever changing needs and demands of the customer. After all the needs of the client/company are irrevocably entwined with the needs of their customer base, and it would be a huge mistake not to recognise that as the customer base grows, so will the need to diversify the social media strategy.

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LinkedIn- why 100 million users can't be wrong..

A great blog post from Robert Clay about The power of LinkedIn

I've certainly found it useful, particularly in South Africa. Any thoughts?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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How to bag your first Tiger....

You know how it goes...you've set up on your own, survived the first year and struggled through half of the second. Small accounts, but nothing big. And then all of a sudden, that first big deal lands in your lap, the saviour of your fledgling business. How did it happen? Tempting though it is to think so, this big deal was not, repeat not down to luck. It was all down to your absolute focus on business strategy. Because you planned how you'd go about landing those big ones, didn't you? Like this, maybe..?

1. You made a list of all potential clients. Prospecting for gold. You researched these prospects, finding out as much as possible about them. How much their advertising spend is, how much they spend on the products or services you offer.

2. Think creatively, out of the box. Everyone and their auntie is going after the obvious, so try to identify the others who might be interested in doing business with you. Learn their corporate-speak, their jargon. Try to think like they do.

3. Look professional. Big businesses want to have confidence that you can deliver and this means looking the part. Your website needs to be all-singing-all-dancing, not something you bought off the peg on a CD-Rom. Make sure your business cards are high quality and your company stationary is top-notch.

4. Network. Try to use your contacts to meet folks who work for your prospects. Learn about the key people in the business and which buttons to press to engage with them. Introductions can go a long way towards cementing the deal, sometimes swinging the deal by overcoming slight uncertainty of unknowns.

5. Listen well. Believe it or not, the big companies want to do business with smaller ones. This is because they value the speed and flexibility which allow small firms to get things done more efficiently and timeously. So listen out for the opportunities and jump right in. Learn how to provide what they are looking for. They won't give you a second chance so listen well and give them what they want.

Of course, it doesn't end with the handshake. You have to feed and nurture your Tiger. And hunt down other Tigers because management changes may mean you're pitching from scratch all over again. Don't put all your eggs in one basket as they say and diversify your client list as broadly as possible.

Is this how you anded your big Tiger ? no, well, maybe its worth thinking about if you want to lead and grow your business through its formative years....

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