Views on YouTube reach 300,000

Almost exactly 3 years ago, while working at Saturn Alliance, I created a YouTube channel to post a number of technology videos. About 12 months ago I created a new CIAOPS YouTube channel and stopped posting anything to the Saturn Alliance account. Yet as you can see the Saturn Alliance account has now surpassed 300,000 views, which I find truly amazing. Why? Because I honestly believed that very few people would be interested in what I posted, but clearly due to the breadth of the Internet I was wrong. It is sort of like this blog, which I can’t honestly believe anyone except my mother actually reads, but to those who do I say thanks.

While recently attending SMB Nation 2009 I was in a session about using social media tools like YouTube inside a technology business. I went along because I felt I really needed to learn more but as it turns out people where still struggling to understand how they could use technologies like YouTube. The experience I shared with them was how I came to creating the Saturn Alliance account.

Saturn Alliance had always struggled to provide users with effective information about their systems, to allow them to do more for themselves and therefore save some money rather than calling for support all the time. I had created plenty of documentation including pictures and step by step procedures but users just never seemed to pay attention to anything that was written down. The most common process I found users continually struggled with was rebooting a SBS 2003 server. Normally, I had to talk them through the process which, in reality, is very straight forward. This created a huge amount of frustration on the part of the business and myself as I was always being interrupted over and over to hand hold the same users through the same process.

It was clear that most people are far more responsive to video rather than text so I therefore created a simple video about the process of rebooting a SBS 2003 server. This worked a treat, but typically when a user needed to reboot I had to email them the video. Of course they never saved the video in a place for easy reference which meant I had to continually email the video over and over again. This did not make any sense as it was almost like them simply calling up. The solution was to post the video on YouTube.

Now all I had to do was email the user a link to the video which they could watch immediately. Problem solved, and I created a few more to help customers, thinking no more about what was possible beyond this. Because the YouTube videos were public I soon found quite a few people not only watching the videos I had created but also commenting and contacting me. That got me thinking, was I missing an opportunity here? So I started experimenting with branding the videos and was amazed at the results.

The end result was 47 videos in 2 years with the Saturn Alliance account and a growing number of videos at the newer CIAOPS YouTube channel. I am pleased to say that I still receive lots and lots of feedback on what I have created and continue to welcome any suggestions. So if you haven’t see what’s up there, take a look and let me know what you think.

To those businesses who only see YouTube as something that needs to be blocked I’d say think again. I’d say start looking at it as an opportunity you can exploit to actively promote your skills and your business. I know that I do and see it as a very important piece of an overall marketing strategy going forward.

SharePoint Operations Guide on Facebook

I have to admit that I’m still grappling with the multitude of social networking sites that you can avail yourself of, but probably one of the top few is Facebook. I already have a Facebook page, and feel free to friend me, but I wanted to create something to help keep people up to date with the Windows SharePoint Operations Guide and SharePoint in general. After doing a bit of research the best option seems to be to create a Facebook page because it gets indexed by Google. So that’s exactly what I’ve now done and you’ll find it here :

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Windows-SharePoint-Operations-Guide/167213188332

It doesn’t have a huge amount of information there yet and I am still trying to learn the best ways to deliver my message through this but if you are on Facebook then I’d appreciate you becoming a fan. Not only that, I’d appreciate any feedback on what to do and how to do it because as I said, I’m no expert with Facebook.

I’ll be interested to see how this Facebook page compares to the other Windows SharePoint Operations Guide group I created over on Linkedin, which can be found here:

http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/1922207/

They both do similar and different functions but I get the impression that the Facebook page may be available to a wider audience.

It will be interesting to see which medium works best. So if you are a member of Facebook or Linkedin then I’d urge you to sign up to the Windows SharePoint Operations Guide and help me work out which is the best method of getting SharePoint information out to people.

SharePoint 2010

I’ve been watching some of the presentations over at the SharePoint conference site and I’ve learned that Windows SharePoint Services is going to now be called SharePoint 2010 Foundation. Even though there is nothing particularly wrong with that, I think it is going to create more confusion around the different versions of SharePoint for most people. Unfortunately, it is just something we’ll have to deal with.

What I have also heard (but can’t yet confirm) is that SharePoint 2010 Foundation (i.e. the new version of Windows SharePoint Services) will now install with SQL Express Edition rather than the SQL Embedded Edition. What’s the issue here? The issue is that SQL Express has a limit on any database of 4GB, while SQL Embedded doesn’t. So that means, on new installations of SharePoint 2010 Foundation your content is going to be limited to 4GB unless you use another version of SQL Server.

This is big step backwards if this is the case since many existing SharePoint v3 installations I see are already crossing the 4GB database boundary. Apparently, if you do an in place upgrade to SharePoint 2010 Foundation it will continue to use SQL Embedded Edition (without the database limit) but any new installation will be limited to a database size of 4GB. It seems that Microsoft wants to drive people to the higher end version of SharePoint by configuring the new version this way. As the amount of data continue to grow this really doesn’t make a lot of sense if it is the case, especially when SQL Embedded Edition, like SQL Express, is free. Such a decision may impact people’s choice to utilize SharePoint 2010 Foundation, given it is placing a limitation on the product that was evident 2 versions ago (i.e. in Windows SharePoint v2)

Again, I have only read about this limitation and can’t confirm it fully until I actually get my hands on the beta (which is due out this month). I will be very interested to see what SharePoint 2010 Foundation incorporates and whether it will operate on SBS 2008. Stay tuned here for updates.

Free consulting time with SharePoint Guide

For the month of November, if you subscribe to my Windows SharePoint Operations Guide (www.wssops.com) you’ll receive 60 minutes of free remote support time to use in any way you want. You could use it for in house training or client demonstrations, it doesn’t matter it’s up to you how you choose to use it.

As well as the 60 minutes of free support you’ll also receive all the normal benefits of subscribing to the Windows SharePoint Operations Guide:

– Over 1,500 pages of technical information on Windows SharePoint.

– A DVD with over 4GB of documents, white papers, videos, and files on Windows SharePoint

– A free hosted SharePoint web site

– Monthly updates

– Monthly email newsletter

– and more

As I have recently announced, the Windows SharePoint Operations Guide will be expanding to include areas much as Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) and Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). It will also start shortly including information about the soon to be released SharePoint 2010, so if you need information about SharePoint than look no further than the Windows SharePoint Operations Guide.

For more information about the Windows SharePoint Operations Guide visit the web site www.wssops.com or send me an email (director@ciaops.com).

Search Server Express on SBS 2008

Let me save you a lot of pain. From everything that I have found to this point, Search Server Express CANNOT be installed on SBS 2008. I have tried to get it working many, many different ways and have never had any success. I have asked Microsoft support how to get it working and they couldn’t help. I had some highly regarded contacts in the SBS community attempt to get answers from Microsoft as well but to no avail.

How can this be? Search Server Express is built on SharePoint technology and would make a fantastic addition to an SBS 2008 server yet it won’t install and worse, when you attempt to uninstall it after a failed installation, it blows up the existing SharePoint installation. How can this be? Search Server Express works fine in a stand alone installation but yet on SBS 2008 it all goes pear shaped.

So rather than go through the misery yourself here’s what happens.

1. You install Search Server Express on SBS 2008 and everything look sweet until the SharePoint Products and Technology Configuration Wizard runs. At about step 6 you get the following nasty error.

2. Realizing the error of you ways you go into Control Panel and remove Search Server Express.

3. Search Server Express uninstalls successfully but now when you attempt to access http://companyweb you see something like:

4. Now you start to sweat. You try maybe resetting IIS and attempt to access http://companyweb again and now you see:

Indicating no web sites there at all.

5. As the panic rises you try and access the SharePoint Central Administration site which only results in the following message:

Which means that uninstalling Search Server Express has effectively uninstalled SharePoint from your SBS 2008 system!

6. This now means you have to get SharePoint back and working.

Now it becomes a question of can you restore SharePoint? How was SharePoint being backed up? What method are you going to use to restore SharePoint to where it was before you attempted installing Search Server Express? I can tell you that you are in for some fun and games if you aren’t prepared for it.

So why doesn’t Search Server Express work on SBS 2008? I don’t know. Why doesn’t Microsoft provide some guidance on install Search Server Express on SBS 2008? I don’t now either. All I know is don’t try to install Search Server Express on SBS 2008 because you’ll end up in a world of pain.

I’m still working on a solution and when I find it I’ll let you know.

Come surf with me

Well I’ve finally gotten myself signed up to Google Wave to see what it is all about. Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone else who might be interested in joining me in a ‘Wave’ and learning what’s it all about. It’s kinda like email with out anyone to send to.

So if you have a Google Wave account and would like to collaborate with me on understanding the implications Google Wave may have I’d love to hear from you (in Google Wave) of course. You should be able to connect with me on Google Wave via ciaopsdirector@googlewave.com. If you do connect it’s probably also a good idea to send me an normal email (director@ciaops.com) so I know that we should be connected.

If Google Wave does take off I see it having implications for for many technologies we currently have, email, blogs but also perhaps SharePoint as Google Wave represents a collaboration platform. That’s why I’m so interested to understand exactly not only how it works but also how well it works. From what I’ve seen so far Google Wave has the potential to be a pretty game changing technology if it gets adopted and that is a big if. Why? Because even though people are using technology they have become so comfortable with the technology they use everyday, like email that making a major change to something like Google Wave will have to jump some major non technical hurdles in its bid for adoption. However, if it does manage to become widely adopted it will almost certainly be a major game changer.

If you don’t know much about Google Wave I suggest you visit the web site and watch the video presentation (warning, it’s long). After you have watched the video I’d love to hear your thoughts on you opinions on what ramifications it would have.

So if you have a Google Wave account I’d really love to hear from you even if you have an opinion about Google Wave then I’d also love to hear from you.

SharePoint 2010 beta in November

As expected, Microsoft have announced that the release of SharePoint (and Office) 2010 public betas in November. There is nothing unexpected in the announcement but it is interesting to note:

“By taming the overflow of information across systems and technologies, SharePoint enables organizations to thrive,” (Steve) Ballmer said.

which I have always believed is an excellent reason to implement SharePoint. It is a fantastic tool for not only capturing business information but also making it searchable because as we know if we can’t find what we want quickly then all the information in the world is pretty worthless. How many businesses out there are struggling to manage their information? How many of these could be using SharePoint in some form? Now how many actually are? This is probably the reason for SharePoint being:

‘one of the fastest-growing products in Microsoft’s history, with over $1.3 billion in revenue, representing over a 20 percent growth over the past year. According to IDC, Microsoft attained a significant share of the collaborative content workspace market in 2008, and had the highest growth rate among top vendors with its Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.’

I certainly believe that the SharePoint 2010 will continue this growth, especially given SharePoint’s ability to be deployed via the cloud through solutions like Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). I see it as a major opportunity to provide solutions to businesses not only in my local region but all around the world.

Some of the features of SharePoint 2010 highlighted include:

• A new ribbon user interface that makes end users more productive and customization of SharePoint sites easy

• Deep Office integration through social tagging, backstage integration and document life-cycle management

• Built-in support for rich media such as video, audio and Silverlight, making it easy to build dynamic Web sites

• Enterprise features in SharePoint Online such as Excel Services and InfoPath Forms Services, which make it simple to use, share, secure and manage interactive forms across an organization

• The addition of two new SharePoint SKUs for Internet-facing sites, including an on-premises and hosted offer

So it all sounds great but I’ll wait and see what the beta is like before I make any final judgement because there are number of things I’d like to see whether they have rectified and what new ‘features’ they have included. As soon as I have the beta up and running I’ll post my observations here. So stay tuned, not long to wait now.

The toughest job

Now I reckon that the toughest job in the world is customer service, which most people are in these days. I’ve had a few experiences in the last couple of days that have made me think about the way that I deliver customer service. Let me give you some examples.

A few times recently I’ve needed to go and ask for information at an enquiry location. Every time, I have left with the information I needed but also that I was a bit of an idiot for asking. Another time I had a misunderstanding about something I had bought and again got it sorted but felt after the experience that it was my fault for not knowing the full ‘in’s’ and out’s’ of something I’d only just acquired. Finally, when I ordered something, I came away with my order but felt like I was being such a burden.

I understand that in many of these circumstances the individuals I interacted with deal with perhaps hundreds of people each and everyday. I’ll also bet that the vast majority of people they deal with can be pretty demanding. This constant battering makes it extremely hard to maintain a sunny disposition and helpful attitude in every single case. Given the pressures of constantly dealing with people wanting something (in many times immediately) I totally understand why they have lost that twinkle in their eye.

However, I do see two opportunities here. Firstly, if the level of ‘customer service’ has generally fallen to a mild level of distain then it opens the door of opportunity for an elevated level of customer service. I can’t help but think of how much better my experiences would have been if the people I had dealing with really let me know that they wanted to help me. If just one person had taken the time to exercise an enhanced level of customer services it would have stood out like a beacon in recent times. Now don’t get me wrong, I fully appreciate that maintaining this level day in and day out is hard but imagine the opportunity if you could even just lift the level above the current level? You’d really make a mark I reckon.

Secondly, as a consumer how much more of an impact am I going to have on someone providing me with a service if I at least do my best to make their job easier. The chances of it making an impact are probably pretty small given the general poor behaviour of consumers but again, there is a chance that because it is an above the normal response some benefit maybe forth coming.

Now, if you think that odds of either would make a difference consider all the people who play the lottery each week in the hope of it changing their lives in one fell swoop. I reckon that if you adopted what I suggested above then I’m sure your chances would be much better than playign the lottery and would increase everyday.

Now perhaps the thorniest question is how do you keep your levels of customer service up when you are being ‘battered’ everyday? I suppose the best suggestion I can make is that you need something outside the field you are working in that can give you a break and allow you to ‘refresh’ yourself. For me this means something totally away from IT, which I admit is very hard, but honestly when I have managed to take that ‘complete’ break I feel my energy levels renewed and am ready to accept the challenge of the hardest customer request. As I have said before in this blog, it is all about finding a balance. The strange thing perhaps to grasp is that to provide better customer service you should be doing ‘less’ of what you normally do and ‘more’ of what you don’t normally do, because typically most driven people mistakenly believe they need to keep doing more and more of the one thing. The problem is that the incremental return of more and more becomes pretty small after a while. Better off to take a break to promote the energy to take it to the next level.

So there you have it. From what I have seen lately, there is a huge opportunity to distinguish yourself and your business by providing an increased level of customer service. The way to achieve that is to actually take more time completely away and refresh yourself. Very Zen if I do say so myself.