New Mozilla Firefox 3.0.11 is a record breaker

Firefox 3.0.11 et a Guiness world record when it was downloaded 150 million times in 24 hours. The latest iteration of this very popular browser features many security updates. IE continues to be the dominant player in the market but there are now many credible alternatives with neat features on offer. For example Apple's Safari has a new Nitro Javascript engine which executes the script 3 times faster than Firefox adn 8 times faster than IE.

Interesting BACK Flip

The BACK Flip networking event has attracted interest from around the region which is great news. So far a wide variety of business types are attending from banks to PR companies to a dating agency! Lets see what kind of deals can be done with the dating agency to ensure that we're always top of the list....

To get more information about the event please click here.

Refreshing Times at Buchanan Macleod

Leading Scottish law firm Buchanan Macleod decided that their corporate website needed a bit of a refresh but without the normally associated huge cost. BACK Consulting's low cost website is proving ever popular as people what to quality work for the smallest amount of money possible. Retaining Buchanan Macleod's great reputation for legal services the corporate image was to be spruced up and given a bit of life but retain the core content with a few amendments. Managing Partner Karen Buchanan was delighted with the results:

"It's a complete change from what we had before yet it is firmly aligned with our current company logos and colour schemes so we do not have to tak eon additional costs to get these replaced as well. The site was turned round in a matter of days even with the list of amendments I made on the fly. I couldn't as for more."

If you want to know more about our low cost service please click here. If you would like to get in touch please contact us.

Don't Be Fooled By SQL Zero Values

Have you ever done a straight SQL division and found that the answer is always zero despite the fact that you just KNOW the two values being divided? If you didn't already know this there is a little trick to ensure this doesn't happen. For example the following code will result in a zero:

DECLARE @VARDATEFROM DateTime, @VARDATETO DATETIME, @VarRate real, @InterestAmount as real, @ReturnRate as real, @NumDays as int--, @InterestAmount as real

--assign stuff here

select @InterestAmount = ((@NumDays/365) * @VarRate) * @InvAmount

select @InterestAmount

But just making a little change to the values by multiplying by 1.0 will give you the result you need:

DECLARE @VARDATEFROM DateTime, @VARDATETO DATETIME, @VarRate real, @InterestAmount as real, @ReturnRate as real, @NumDays as int--, @InterestAmount as real

--assign stuff here

select @InterestAmount = (((@NumDays * 1.0)/(365 * 1.0)) * @VarRate) * @InvAmount

select @InterestAmount

And @InterestAmount will now give a result. A little tip should you encounter this highly annoying problem!

GMail for Business?

GMail has been out for a long time now and many businesses have made the transition across to use it full time. With calendaring, contacts and emails it can be an online version of your own desktop email system and all the maintenance work such as backups are done by someone else. But for some the Outlook interface is the one of choice and it also gives you the option to work offline which just isn't the case with GMail. However you can download a sync tool which now provides all the interactivity between your online GMail account and your Outlook application. This only applies if you are using Google Apps Premier or Education and used properly can negate the need for a expensive Exchange server. Microsoft must surely be losing some of their customer base.

Business Value in BPM

One thing that has become apparent in the global economic downturn is that businesses are looking inside themselves and analysing systems rather exclusively looking to the external market to provide benefits to their efficiencies. A survey by Gartner has stated that there has been a 44% increase in 2008 for Business Process Mangement related activties. BPM can give you a real insight into how your business currently functions and any ways that improvements can be made. Conversely if you get BPM wrong it can be expensive and a bit of a time wasting exercise. There are many technologies which have gained popularity on the past two years and at a recent Microsoft summit event the Sharepoint desk was packed with how-to books selling out on the first day. There are plenty of specialist technology suppliers out there as well with those case management supplies who survived from the 90's through to now having well refined offereings. If you are heading down this road then our only advice is that you think hard in advance about what you are trying to acheive and plan well in advance - this way the technology will enable you to reach your goals rather than search for them with it.

We Are Pie Men

BACK Consulting is suffering from a wholesale expansion. Expansions in business you may think are positive but this one is waistline related. The eating choices near the new office are mainly fast food related with two chip shops, one Indian and two Chinese food outlets. This has led to a rash of unhealthy eating and it's tough work but someone has to do it. BACK to the pie shop.

Wharton Fuly Armed

Bedlington public house The Wharton Arms decided they needed a website as it is a great advertisement tool and a fantastic way to gain new customers as well as informing existing customers of forthcoming events. They viewed a number of service providers and decided to use BACK Consulting for a variety of factors put mainly because of the excellent price and the quality of websites they had previously produced.

Brother and sister David and Louise Laidlaw were thrilled with the professional and reliable service received from all members of staff who were all friendly and happy to help. Two members of staff went and visited the owners at the pub prior to the website being built and agreed on a number of requirements as well as taking a variety of professional images which would be included within the website. The service was quick and easy and all concerned were kept well informed of the progress allowing David and Louise to review the website and inform them of any changes needed.

David in particular was pleased with the service:

"I am extremely satisfied with the website and I am pleased to state it has meet all my needs and requirements and allows existing and potential customers to view the bar, contact myself easily as well as view up and coming events and increasing business. Also provided was a monthly update package thus keeping the website up-to date allowing me to concentrate on the bar. BACK Consulting provided me with a quick and easy service doing all the hard work without any complaints. Due to the quality of both the service and the product I was not expecting such a low price.

"I will definitely advise others to use BACK Consulting as I am pleased overall with both the outstanding service and first class website I have gained."

Why not check out the Wharton Arms website and pop by to see the place itself. If you are looking for a low cost website then please contact us for a no obligation chat about how we can help your business.

BACK Flip Networking Event

After recently attending some council ran networking events BACK has decided to do one of its own to contribute to the development of business in the region. The flip chart based event gives you are your business a great opportunity to tell everyone what you are all about and increases your awareness and sales opportunities.

Find BACK Consulting on Facebook and Twitter

The lure of social networking effects us all and BACK has been on Facebook and Twitter for some time. Keep up to date with all the latest news at BACK Consulting.

To see BACK on Facebook please click here.

To see BACK on Twitter please click here.

New Office Location

BACK Consulting has moved! After a year in Four Lane Ends, Newcastle we have now upped sticks and moved South of the water to Bill Quay in Gateshead. We now have a great view of the Tyne and lots more space for our team to operate in. The new address is:

Unit 5
Fairfield Industrial Park
Bill Quay
NE10 0UR

And here are some lovely pics:

Wed Design On The Move

There must be something in the water but right now we have more web design work than we ever had and the trend looks set to continue as customers see the high standard of our work and our low cost pricing model.  Creative Technologist Minkeun Park has been on red hot form producing some top quality sites which have attracted universal praise from recipients.  

Will all the negative talk about the state of the economy it is good that we are managing to buck the trend.  It is also heartening to see fellow businesses making the effort to make things happen.  Those who sit and wait for things to be done will be left by the roadside while the proactive people forge ahead.

The types of website created are far reaching from a bog standard "presence" to full blown retail or online applications which shows our wide range of skills.  We hope our good work keeps attracting the attention of prospective customers looking for no nonsense talking and pricing where nothing is hidden and all aspects are explained.

e-Commerce Barriers Dropping

As with all things in the technology world things become simpler the longer they are around.  I remember when I was in second year university and the Java programming language had just burst on to the scene.  Suddenly there was this new technology that no-body (apart from C++ people) knew about was so complicated and it would change the world.  It made a difference but looking back now those people who commanded massive salaries made hay while the sun shone.  As time went past the pool of skilled expertise grew and so did the tools and tips with it.

Falling in line with this theory is that of e-Commerce.  No longer is this a specialised skill which you have to pay through the back teeth for.  In fact most competent developers can download one and modify it for use pretty quickly and you can even go so far as using a fully built system such as those provided by eBay or various hosting providers.  There is still real art in the best designed systems however in terms of its suitability for purpose, integration with other systems and specifying exactly what can be built and when.  We've found that our dedication to meeting the clients needs and understanding the business processes along with a clear specification helps to define expectations on both sides.

It's good to see a well built e-Commerce site whether it is developed by us or by someone else.  With more tools and highly skilled staff the barriers are truly dropping and businesses thinking about entering this arena should talk to a consultant as soon as possible.

Fuelled By Chocolate

Sometimes all this development type stuff can get you down and there is only one main motivational factor...... chocolate.  Long seen as the pillar of many a working day this dietary delight is now taking hold in the BACK office.  The Christmas tins and bars have all been consumed and now it is time for venturing out and making our own purchases.  Heady days.

Wish us luck in our quest for sugary goodness and unbalanced diets.

Video Coming Good

We are being asked more frequently to put video services onto websites that we produce.  The visual aspect of delivering a message is becoming more widespread and effective with services such as BBC's iPlayer.  

Unlike a real life seminar the digital message can be delivered on demand which means the end user can watch it whenever they want.  A lot of companies are moving into this arena in a big with.  For example Channel 9 is a Microsoft based online VOD site that is dedicated to getting the Microsoft message across about new products, services and ideas.  Top marks for this.

One of our on-going projects involves an interactive questionnaire with videos of professionals articulating the questions so the user does not have to just read them.  The data gets captured and analysed as usual.  The client is delighted with the initial results and we look forward to delivering the full blown product but it does involve a lot of video production, editing and publication.

Video rules OK!

Low Cost Website Service Launched

Nowadays people expect any company to have a website and if they don’t they wonder why? The New Year has seen the launch of BACK Consulting Low Cost Website package. We offer some excellent packages to enable you to get a web presence that will not only impress your clients but give you a professional online presence. For as little as £199.99 + VAT you can be set up and ready to go. What makes us better than our competition is that we let you provide the content as you know exactly what you do. We also use your choice of colours and your logo. We intend to have the website set up and ready for review within 7 days. We offer many bolt-ons for minimal cost so that clients can add extra features to their websites. Please visit our website www.backconsulting.co.uk to find out more about our Low Cost Website solutions and see if we can help you. If you need any further assistance than please feel free to contact us for more information.

Change of Header - The Blue Man!!

If you have been looking at our BACK Consulting website you would have noticed that the header animation has now changed.  Our Creative Technologist Minkeun Park has made a new design to freshen things up for 2009 and bring a spot of commonality across the BACK businesses.  

The new logo is a little blue man at the top left and this blue man will be found across BACK Consulting, BACK inContact and BACK Transcribing as well as two other upcoming start-ups.  Now we need to come up with some new and ingenius ways of using this blue man to get across the brand and spread the BACK word.

Check out for a blue man coming to a town near you!

Rachel Off To A Flyer

It's good every once and a while to report on the progress of staff in the company.  For the eagled eyed readers of our BACK Consulting website you would have noticed that Rachel joined us prior to Christmas in an effort to get our office a bit more streamlined and organise the extensive multi faceted marketing campaigns.

With the position of Office Manager she has responsibility for ensuring the smooth operation of the organisation and has come to the aid of all the staff and a valuable member of the team.  Now if you ring the company main number you'll no doubt get to speak to the lady herself.

We all wish her the best for the future and see a great career ahead.

Broadband drops by 25% at peak times

According to comparison website broadband.co.uk UK broadband speeds drop by 25% during peak times. The overnight levels show a higher average speed than the evening peak rate and the daytime rate is in between. This would suggest that work needs to be done to increase the capacity to meet the demand. Broadband speed tests which were carried out in December also show that the average speed of broadband has risen for the first time since July 2008. This is good news for web surfers who should be finding that they can use the internet at a faster pace.

The average speed UK wide is up by 14% at 3.667 Mbps. Virgin has topped polls which show it as the fastest broadband provider with average download speeds of 6.073 Mbps. It is expected that 2009 will see further improvements in broadband speeds and it is expected that times should not deviate too much during peak times.