16th Oct 2017 | Consultancy, Salesforce, Security and Safety
On 5th October, I was giving a talk to a Novus Networking in Cardiff. The topic was the GDPR. Not the most exciting topic for a group of under 35s, but there you go.
At its heart the GDPR is about protecting our privacy. As the prominent privacy campaigner, Julian Assuange said, to those who doubt our need for privacy: “There is no killer answer yet. Jacob Appelbaum (@ioerror) has a clever response, asking people who say this to then hand him their phone unlocked and pull down their pants.”
Of course we know of cases where governments want backdoors into our phone security and airports have x-ray systems that reveal our unclothed bodies.
There are many great materials out there. In the next month, Cloud Genius is hoping to be running some courses on the GPRS in Llanelli. As a starter, there is an introduction (for free) on trailhead.salesforce.com
The provisional date of our masterclass will be Wednesday 22 November. It promises to be full of useful information that will help you remain compliant.
(The fines for non-compliance are up to €20M or 4% of annual global turnover, whichever is greater.)
28th Jul 2016 | Consultancy, e-Commerce, General Information, Security and Safety, Web Hosting, Websites, WordPress
How g
reat would it be if you could take credit card payments directly from you website.
It’s not as if you have an online store, but there are just one or two services that you would like to charge for. You could use PayPal, but their fees are 3.4%.
Stripe is a really good credit card processor. (After all, even billion-dollar businesses like Salesforce use them.)
Their fees are as low as 1.4% + 20p per transaction at the basic level. Much cheaper than PayPal.
The downside is that they require a website that meets the standards of TLS 1.2.
Ours do.
We can set you up with a secure website.
If you use our Safe and Secure website service, we will ensure that it meets the security standards of the future.
(BTW we do full e-Commerce websites, too.)
23rd Jun 2016 | Consultancy, e-Commerce, General Information, Salesforce
Do you delight customers? Do they feel better for working with you?
Learn to know your customers and anticipate their needs with a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
At a glance, you can see your potential sales, customer entitlements, emails you have sent… all filed against the right customers.
As a charity there are some really good deals out there from the major CRM companies, Allowing you to better achieve your charitable aims.
Time left to book your place
This half-day course will give you insight into what a CRM is, and how it might help you in your business or non-profit.
Bring a laptop, you will have opportunity to try it out for yourself!
The day will be run by John Dray, CEO of Cloud Genius, who has many years of experience with Salesforce and general IT. The course is sure to be both informative and enjoyable.
The course will run from 9am to 1pm on Monday 18th July 2016 at the Beacon Centre in Llanelli.
The Beacon Centre for Enterprise
Dafen
Llanelli
SA14 8LQ
Click here to be taken to the booking page: Book a place
Places are strictly limited to ensure that attendees get the most from the event.
If you book before 11 July, you will have an opportunity to submit questions that will influence the direction of the course!
We are running this event in conjunction with The Best Of Carmarthenshire, a great organisation that promotes trusted, local businesses. Thank you for your support! As a result, members of The Best Of get a reduction on ticket prices.
21st Jun 2016 | Consultancy, e-Commerce, General Information, Salesforce
Do you ever wonder if you should be doing more to keep your customers happy?
What if you had a way of keeping track of all your customers, suppliers and all your interactions with them?
One excellent tool is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
If you are a business, it’s a way of keeping track of all your customers and suppliers. You can see your potential sales, appointments, emails you have sent… all filed against the right companies.
If you are a charity or non-profit, it can be a way of keeping track of volunteers, appointments, donations, memberships
…. and so much more.
Time left to book your place
This half-day course will give you insight into what a CRM is, and how it might help you in your business or non-profit.
There will be active demonstrations on live databases. If you bring a laptop, you will have opportunity to try it out for yourself.
The day will be run by John Dray, CEO of Cloud Genius, who has many years of experience with Salesforce and general IT. The course is sure to be both informative and enjoyable.
The course will run from 9am to 1pm on Monday 18th July 2016 at the Beacon Centre in Llanelli.
The Beacon Centre for Enterprise
Dafen
Llanelli
SA14 8LQ
The running order is here: Running order
Click here to be taken to the booking page: Book a place
Places are strictly limited to ensure that attendees get the most from the event.
If you book before 11 July, you will have an opportunity to submit questions that will influence the direction of the course!
We are running this event in conjunction with The Best Of Carmarthenshire, a great organisation that promotes trusted, local businesses. Thank you for your support! As a result, members of The Best Of get a reduction on ticket prices.
18th Dec 2015 | Consultancy
Here at Cloud Genius we are proud to be able to announce that the energy that powers our work is now renewable!
As of today, we have solar panels that, even in Wales, will more than cover our energy use. Indeed we will even be exporting to the grid. Wales is a net producer of energy, so it may even get exported to England! (One of the interesting factoids from the installation is that our part of Wales is classed as ‘sunnier’ than London.)
Green energy is now powering our work. We might not save the planet, but with our array of cloud services we might well help your business!
27th Oct 2015 | Accounting, Consultancy, Finance, Salesforce
Salesforce has finally revealed its Lightning interface to the general population.
This is a massive upgrade to its usability. All the items that you need are on screen at the same time. It is a bit like moving from a complicated-looking remote control to a simpler-looking, but far more powerful smart phone.
The new interface still has a lot of limitations, in that it cannot deal with Custom Objects, but that is very close on the Salesforce road map. The Lightning interface presents a lot of information, very simply so that you can see the details of, for example, an opportunity and have a little road map to the right showing how it has progressed. Well done, Salesforce! (For those who like their change ‘gradual’, you can switch between the old and new interfaces and there are no plans to turn off the old interface.)
Salesforce is well-known for sticking to what it does well. Although it deals with Opportunities and Quotes and Products and Price books, it has not strayed into the accounting sector. It leaves that for experts like Xero and Quicken, so it is often frustrating not to have details to hand within Salesforce… Well, last year we let you know about Breadwinner’s amazing 2-way sync between Xero and Salesforce. Now we can let you know that they have performed the same magic for Salesforce and Quick Books Online. Look out for Quick Books Salesforce integration.
Whereas other products get your information from Salesforce into Xero, this flows against the tide and gets it from Xero to Salesforce. Awesome! And they also integrate QuickBooks Online with Salesforce too.
You heard it here first, or even if you didn’t, it is still worth checking out!
