“Search is simple: just type whatever comes to mind in the search box, hit Enter or click the Search button, and Google will search the web for content that’s relevant to your search. If you have Google Instant enabled, results may appear dynamically as you type.

Most of the time, you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for with just a basic query (the word or phrase you search for). However, the following tips can help you make the most of your searches. Throughout the article, we’ll use square brackets [ ] to signal a search query, so [ black and white ] is one query, while [ black ] and [ white ] are two separate queries.”

Voice Search is available on Google.com using Google Chrome as well, but let’s not focus on that now.

“Some basic facts
• Every word matters. Generally, all the words you put in the query will be used.
• Search is always case insensitive. A search for [ new york times ] is the same as a search for [ New York Times ].
• Generally, punctuation is ignored, including @#$%^&*()=+[]\ and other special characters. 

To make sure that your Google searches return the most relevant results, there are some exceptions to the rules above.
•
Tips for better searches
Keep it simple. If you’re looking for a particular company, just enter its name, or as much of its name as you can recall. If you’re looking for a particular concept, place, or product, start with its name. If you’re looking for a pizza restaurant, just enter pizza and the name of your town or your zip code. Most queries do not require advanced operators or unusual syntax. Simple is good.

Think how the page you are looking for will be written. A search engine is not a human, it is a program that matches the words you give to pages on the web. Use the words that are most likely to appear on the page. For example, instead of saying [ my head hurts ], say [ headache ], because that’s the term a medical page will use. The query [ in what country are bats considered an omen of good luck? ] is very clear to a person, but the document that gives the answer may not have those words. Instead, use the query [ bats are considered good luck in ] or even just [ bats good luck ], because that is probably what the right page will say.

Describe what you need with as few terms as possible. The goal of each word in a query is to focus it further. Since all words are used, each additional word limits the results. If you limit too much, you will miss a lot of useful information. The main advantage to starting with fewer keywords is that, if you don’t get what you need, the results will likely give you a good indication of what additional words are needed to refine your results on the next search. For example, [ weather cancun ] is a simple way to find the weather and it is likely to give better results than the longer [ weather report for cancun mexico ].

Choose descriptive words. The more unique the word is the more likely you are to get relevant results. Words that are not very descriptive, like ‘document,’ ‘website,’ ‘company,’ or ‘info,’ are usually not needed. Keep in mind, however, that even if the word has the correct meaning but it is not the one most people use, it may not match the pages you need. For example, [ celebrity ringtones ] is more descriptive and specific than [ celebrity sounds ].”

Until next time then – have a good long weekend – and keep it (A)fresh.

About the writer: Immo Böhm

Immo Böhm is the founder and managing director of Afresh Consult. He has been involved with business management systems for many years. He is an experienced implementation and process design consultant and has done in excess of 70 projects in this regard. Immo has a B.Sc degree, a diploma in IT and a MBA (UK).

14. Pay Attention to Shipping Facts
A company should ship your order within the time stated in its ad. If no time frame is stated, the merchant must should ship the product in 30 days or give you an “Option Notice.” This gives you an opportunity to cancel the order and receive a prompt refund, or agree to the delay. It’s common practice for companies to ship the next day or two, but sometimes the site will dropship, meaning it will order the goods from the supplier only after you have placed your order and paid for it, so there may be delays.

Here are key shipping questions to ask:
• Does the site tell you if there are geographic or other restrictions for delivery?
• Are there choices for shipping?
• Who pays the shipping cost?
• What does the site say about shipping insurance?
• What are the shipping and handling fees, and are they reasonable?
• Does the site tell you the expected delivery date?
• Do they tell you whether they have an item in stock or whether they need to order it first?
• Do they tell you how long the whole process is going to take if they don’t have the item in stock?
•
15. Learn the Merchant’s Cancellation, Return and Complaint-Handling Policies
Even under the best of circumstances, shoppers sometimes need to return merchandise. Check the Web site for cancellation and return policies. Reputable businesses want to ensure safe online shopping. Be sure to check for the following:
• Who pays for shipping?
• Is there a time limit or other restrictions to the return or cancellation?
• Is there a restocking charge if you need to cancel or return the order?
• Do you get a store credit, or will the company fully refund your charges to your credit card? If the merchant only offers store credits, find out the time restriction for using this credit
• Does the merchant post a phone number and/or e-mail address for complaints?
• How long has the company been in business?
• Will they still be around when you need them?
• Is there an easy, local way for you to get repairs or service?
• Is there a warranty on the product, and who honors that guarantee?
• What are the limits, and under what circumstances can you exercise your warranty rights?
Don’t expect less customer service just because a company operates over the Internet. This is especially important if you are buying something that may need to be cleaned or serviced on occasion.

16. Use Shopper’s Intuition
Look at the site with a critical eye. And heed the old adage, “If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.”
If any of these questions trigger a warning bell in your head, you will be wise to find another online merchant:
• Are there extraordinary claims that you question?
• Do the company’s prices seem unusually low?
• Does it look like the merchant is an amateur?
• Are there a lot of spelling or grammar errors?
• Does the company’s phone go unanswered.
• The use of a post office box might not send up a red flag, but a merchant who does not also provide the company’s physical address might be cause for concern. Just follow your gut feel and see whether this site gives you the feeling that they are serious about safe online shopping.

Serious online merchants work hard on building credibility into their site to ensure safe online shopping. They will have a trusted site logo (which we discussed elsewhere). They will have lots of pictures of their offices/premises/store fronts. They will have pictures of their leadership team and links to their social networking sites. Look for these things – if they are missing, you might be dealing with a less than reputable company.

Until next time then – Keep it (A)fresh.

About the writer: Immo Böhm

Immo Böhm is the founder and managing director of Afresh Consult. He has been involved with business management systems for many years. He is an experienced implementation and process design consultant and has done in excess of 70 projects in this regard. Immo has a B.Sc degree, a diploma in IT and a MBA (UK).

The safest way to shop on the Internet is with a credit card. In the event something goes wrong, you have the banks and Merchants back you up. You have the right to dispute charges on your credit card, and you can withhold payments during a creditor investigation. When it has been determined that your credit was used without authorization, you are only responsible for some of the charges. You are rarely asked to pay this charge. 

We recommend that you obtain one credit card that you use only for online payments to make it easier to detect wrongful credit charges.

Make sure your credit card is a true credit card and not a debit card, a check card, or an ATM card. As with checks, a debit card exposes your bank account to thieves. Your checking account could be wiped out in minutes. Further, debit and ATM cards are normally not protected by law to the extent that credit cards are.

It is illegal for a company that sells goods or services online to give a consumer’s credit card number (or other financial account number) to a third-party for sales purposes. This practice is known as “data passing.” The law prohibits a third-party seller from charging a consumer for any good or service, unless the seller (1) clearly and conspicuously discloses the material offer terms and that the third-party seller is not affiliated with the initial merchant and (2) receives express consent for the charge from the consumer. The third-party seller must obtain the full financial account number directly from the consumer. The initial online seller may not transfer a consumer’s financial account number to a third-party seller.
The law also regulates “negative option” plans. A consumer must give express, informed consent before being charged for goods or services sold online through “negative option” marketing, such as “free trials” that the consumer must cancel in order to avoid being charged. Companies that use negative option plans must (1) clearly and conspicuously disclose the material terms of the transaction before obtaining the consumer’s billing information, (2) obtain a consumer’s express consent before charging the consumer, and (3) provide a simple mechanism to stop any recurring charges.
Online shopping by check leaves you vulnerable to bank fraud. And sending a cashier’s check or money order doesn’t give you any protection if you have problems with the purchase.
Never pay for online purchases by using a money transfer service. You could be transferring cash to a fraudster. Scammers will ask consumers to send them payment using a money transfer service such as Western Union or MoneyGram because they can get your cash fast and it’s difficult to trace. Legitimate sellers normally do not ask consumers to send payment that way. Money transfer services should only be used to send money to people that you know well, not to unknown sellers of merchandise online.”

But what if you don’t have a credit card and you cant get one? Not all is lost. You can use services such as Mimoney, which allows you to pay with your mobile phone, or Ukash, which sells vouchers at supermarkets which can then be used for your online purchases.

Does this mean you should not buy online? Not at all. Just be a bit clever about how you go about it. Follow the tips and guidelines outlined in my column and you should be ok.

Until next time then – Keep it (A)fresh.

About the writer: Immo Böhm

Immo Böhm is the founder and managing director of Afresh Consult. He has been involved with business management systems for many years. He is an experienced implementation and process design consultant and has done in excess of 70 projects in this regard. Immo has a B.Sc degree, a diploma in IT and a MBA (UK).

“Online merchants as well as other sites watch our shopping and surfing habits by using “cookies,” an online tracking system that attaches pieces of code to our Internet browsers to track which sites we visit as we search the Web.

“Persistent” cookies remain stored on your computer while “per-session” cookies expire when you turn the browser off. Online merchants use cookies to recognize you and speed up the shopping process the next time you visit. You may be able to set your browser to disable or refuse cookies but the tradeoff may limit the functions you can perform online, and possibly prevent you from ordering online.

Privacy advocates worry that as more and more data is compiled about us — without our knowledge or active consent — it will be combined to reveal a detailed profile, even our actual identities.

This data is often collected to market goods and services to us, encouraging us to buy them. There are a number of companies that specialize in targeted online advertising called “behavioral marketing.” Companies say consumers benefit by being exposed to more targeted advertising and that online merchants can make more money more efficiently by targeting the right shoppers. 

For example, you might buy a book on golf from Amazon, visit the Professional Golfer’s Association site, purchase golf shoes at Zappos, and search online for golf courses near your home. When you do, your computer’s Internet Protocol (IP) number could be used to generate golf-related ads. When you open the USA Today site to read the morning news, you may see an ad offering you a new set of clubs at a discount. When you go back to Amazon later that day you might be offered a biography of Tiger Woods!

What if your behavioral marketing profile is shared with others, without your permission? You might not care if a drug company shares your prescription drug information with a coupon service to save you money. But what if that same information were obtained by your employer, resulting in more expensive health insurance coverage? 

Consumer groups have asked authorities to require companies to get consumers’ permission (opt-in) before collecting or sharing any personal information about them, such as their computer’s IP number. Many of these groups also recommend creating a “Do Not Track” list for those who do not wish to be followed online, patterned after the widely used Do Not Call list.”

Unfortunately e-commerce in Southern Africa is still in its infancy and many of these protection tools are not available here yet, or they are so expensive American products that few sites employ them, or the companies providing services to make your shopping more secure do not want to deal with servers sitting in Africa. These are some of the challenges to be overcome by online shoppers in Southern Africa.

What specifically should you look out for regarding cookies in southern Africa? Check that the site you want to buy from has a proper Terms and Conditions page as well as a Privacy Policy page, and that it’s PAIA manual (for South Africa) is in place. These policies should address the use of cookies by the website.

Does this mean you should not buy online? Not at all. Just be a bit clever about how you go about it. Follow the tips and guidelines outlined in my column and you should be ok.

Until next time then – Keep it (A)fresh.

About the writer: Immo Böhm

Immo Böhm is the founder and managing director of Afresh Consult. He has been involved with business management systems for many years. He is an experienced implementation and process design consultant and has done in excess of 70 projects in this regard. Immo has a B.Sc degree, a diploma in IT and a MBA (UK).

The number of local businesses revisiting their online strategies is increasing exponentially, says Vaimo COO Brendan Peo. “The growth rate in online retail sales is impossible to ignore, particularly in the current economic environment. Wherever you go you see traditional sales channels buckling under the pressure, their numbers slowing to a crawl. In contrast, the online environment is booming, delivering double digit growth even in mature eCommerce environments such as the USA (2011 – 13%) and Europe (2011 – 18%). Emerging eCommerce environments are even more promising. South Africa’s online retail sales numbers grew 30% in 2011 and we expect these numbers to grow by upwards of 35% in 2012 to R3.5 billion,” he says.

Internet’s influence is considerable

There has been a distinct shift in corporate evaluation of the Internet’s strategic value, says Peo. “Historically senior management focused on the traditional channels which produced the majority of the revenue. The online environment, offering significantly less of a revenue stream, was placed in the relegation zone if it featured on the priority list at all. However, companies are now recognising that the Internet’s influence on corporate and consumer purchasing decisions – whether concluded online or in-store – is considerable resulting in noticeable changes in purchasing patterns and behaviour. Buyers turn to the web to establish which product meets their needs best, who has stock available and at what price. The Internet is not simply another revenue channel; it is an essential support mechanism for the traditional money makers.”

The reason why an online environment fails

Businesses looking to plug any gaps in their online presence and take advantage of the growing number of buyers completing their transactions online have often found the project to be riddled with obstacles and short on solutions. Says Peo: “Players in this field tend to originate from one of two disciplines: design or business process orientated forcing the customer to choose one at the cost of the other. The result is an online environment that fails to measure up to expectations.”

Vaimo, however, has its foundations in eCommerce, drawing in the expertise from a variety of disciplines to create solutions that speak to the needs of the business. The company’s solutions address the difficulty of standing out from the online crowd; delivering a personalised experience in a digital world. Additionally, the solutions are configured to integrate seamlessly into a wide range of popular business systems including SAP B1, Microsoft Dynamics, Hansaworld Enterprise, Sage X3 and others.

“How can you tell if a Web site is secure? Secure sites use encryption technology to transfer information from your computer to the online merchant’s computer. Encryption scrambles the information you send, such as your credit card number, in order to prevent computer hackers from obtaining it en route. The only people who can unscramble the code are those with legitimate access privileges. You can tell when you are dealing with a secure Web site in several ways:

First, if you look at the top of your screen where the Web site address is displayed, you should see https://. The “s” that is displayed after “http” indicates that Web site is secure. Often, you do not see the “s” until you actually move to the order page on the Web site.
Another way to determine if a Web site is secure is to look for a closed padlock displayed at the bottom of your screen. If that lock is open, you should assume it is not a secure site.
The third symbol that indicates you are on a secure site is an unbroken key.
Of course, transmitting your data over secure channels is of little value to you if the merchant stores the data unscrambled. You should try to find out if the merchant stores the data in encrypted form. If a hacker is able to intrude, it cannot obtain your credit data and other personal information. Be sure to read the merchant’s privacy and security policies to learn how it safeguards your personal data on its computers” There will be more on this later.

Thirdly, Research the Web Site Before You Order

“Do business with companies you already know. If the company is unfamiliar, do your homework before buying their products. If you decide to buy something from an unknown company, start out with an inexpensive order to learn if the company is trustworthy.

Reliable companies should advertise their physical business address and at least one phone number, either customer service or an order line. Call the phone number and ask questions to determine if the business is legitimate.”

You can also check out the company’s team. Reliable companies will typically list their team members on the team page, including pictures and links to their facebook and linkedin pages. Have a look at those pages and on linkedin, see whether you are connected to these individuals. You will be surprised as how closely you might be connected.

Other tools include groups that verify the trustworthiness of a shopping site, such as Trust-E. Have a look at http://www.truste.com. Trust-E is just one of many companies that verify the trustworthiness of a shopping site.

Also, the site should have a facebook page and you can see how many facebook users are actively communicating there. You will see a lot of positive or negative comments about a shopping site there. Obviously you find a lot of trustworthy shops out there that don’t have a facebook page, but generally those that are most transparent about themselves and their team are the best to work with since they have a reputation to protect.

Perhaps friends or family members who live in the city listed can verify the validity of the company. Remember, anyone can create a Web site. More next week!

Until next time then – Keep it (A)fresh.

About the writer: Immo Böhm

Immo Böhm is the founder and managing director of Afresh Consult. He has been involved with business management systems for many years. He is an experienced implementation and process design consultant and has done in excess of 70 projects in this regard. Immo has a B.Sc degree, a diploma in IT and a MBA (UK).

I guess some of you missed my blog last week. At least I hope so! Well, it had to do with me downloading a firmware update and that update ending up messing up my harddrive, so that the only option was to wipe it and reload the OS. I must say, I am impressed with Mac that after more than four years using this laptop, that there is still no issue with its hardware. Yes I did replace the battery once, but everything else is running as on day one.

That is until I had to have the harddrive wiped. I have lost most data you will assume. We’ll – actually not. I got home with the clean harddrive and connected my machine to my Time Capsule, and voila, a couple of hours later my 210 GB of content were back safely on my laptop. What a wonderful machine this Time Machine is. On top of that, I keep all my critical files in Dropbox in the cloud, so even when my Time capsule and my laptop get stolen at the same time, I will be able to recover my photos etc from the cloud. What a relief.

Anyway, just thought I’d share that story with you and now you know why I was offline last week. For the next few weeks I want to focus on security when shopping online. Remember we talked about online shopping towards the end of last year and how this trend keeps growing, but we in southern Africa are still very wary of buying on the web. One reason is that it takes up to five! Years for most people to get comfortable shopping online and to know about secure online shopping. Part of that is that many are ill informed about security when shopping online. Well therefore I take it upon me to help inform you. Herewith thus a couple of articles I found on the web that explain the do’s and don’t’s of secure online shopping. I found this on http://www.privacyrights.org and they deserve all the credit for it.

“With just a click of the mouse, shoppers can buy nearly any product online — from groceries to cars, from insurance policies to home loans. The world of electronic commerce, also known as e-commerce, enables consumers to shop at thousands of online stores and pay for their purchases without leaving the comfort of home. For many, the Internet has taken the place of Saturday afternoon window-shopping at the mall. Consumers expect merchants to not only make their products available on the Web, but to make payments a simple and secure process. However, the same things can go wrong shopping in cyberspace as in the real world. Sometimes it is simply a case of a computer glitch or poor customer service. Other times, shoppers are cheated by clever scam artists.
A February 2008 survey by Pew Internet found that 66% of Americans surveyed have purchased a product online because it is convenient and saves time. While the survey reported that over half those surveyed experienced frustration, confusion, or being overwhelmed with information, the greatest concern for online shoppers, 75%, was in sending credit card and personal information over the Internet.

Just as shoppers should take measures to protect themselves in brick-and-mortar stores — such as protecting their PIN numbers when checking out and not leaving purses unattended — online shoppers also need to take sensible precautions. This guide offers advice on how to make your online shopping experiences enjoyable and safe.”

So that was just the introduction. I will be sharing more of the secure online shopping wisdom next week. You see, since we opened our new division at www.vaimo.com, where we offer e-commerce and secure online shopping solutions, my eyes opened towards the huge opportunities in this space. Online shopping today is not just about having an online shop – it’s now that if you don’t have one you might well close your shop’s doors. So it’s important that we keep this discussion active.

Until next time then – Keep it (A)fresh.

About the writer: Immo Böhm

Immo Böhm is the founder and managing director of Afresh Consult. He has been involved with business management systems for many years. He is an experienced implementation and process design consultant and has done in excess of 70 projects in this regard. Immo has a B.Sc degree, a diploma in IT and a MBA (UK).

“Big Data. The size, complexity of formats and speed of delivery exceeds the capabilities of traditional data management technologies; it requires the use of new or exotic technologies simply to manage the volume alone. Many new technologies are emerging, with the potential to be disruptive (e.g., in-memory DBMS). Analytics has become a major driving application for data warehousing, with the use of MapReduce outside and inside the DBMS, and the use of self-service data marts. One major implication of big data is that in the future users will not be able to put all useful information into a single data warehouse. Logical data warehouses bringing together information from multiple sources as needed will replace the single data warehouse model. 

In-Memory Computing. Gartner sees huge use of flash memory in consumer devices, entertainment equipment and other embedded IT systems. In addition, it offers a new layer of the memory hierarchy in servers that has key advantages — space, heat, performance and ruggedness among them. Besides delivering a new storage tier, the availability of large amounts of memory is driving new application models. In-memory applications platforms include in-memory analytics, event processing platforms, in-memory application servers, in-memory data management and in-memory messaging.

Running existing applications in-memory or refactoring these applications to exploit in-memory approaches can result in improved transactional application performance and scalability, lower latency (less than one microsecond) application messaging, dramatically faster batch execution and faster response time in analytical applications. As cost and availability of memory intensive hardware platforms reach tipping points in 2012 and 2013, the in-memory approach will enter the mainstream.

Extreme Low-Energy Servers. The adoption of low-energy servers — the radical new systems being proposed, announced and marketed by mostly new entrants to the server business —will take the buyer on a trip backward in time. These systems are built on low-power processors typically used in mobile devices. The potential advantage is delivering 30 times or more processors in a particular server unit with lower power consumption vs. current server approaches. The new approach is well suited for certain non-compute intensive tasks such as map/reduce workloads or delivery of static objects to a website. However, most applications will require more processing power, and the low-energy server model potentially increases management costs, undercutting broader use of the approach.”

And you thought life could be boring! Well – there is one more trend coming up next week.

Until next time then, have a good rest and a joyous festive season – and remember – Keep it (A)fresh

About the writer: Immo Böhm

Immo Böhm is the founder and managing director of Afresh Consult.  He has been involved with business management systems for many years.  He is an experienced implementation and process design consultant and has done in excess of 70 projects in this regard.   Immo has a B.Sc degree, a diploma in IT and a MBA (UK).

“Internet of Things. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a concept that describes how the Internet will expand as sensors and intelligence are added to physical items such as consumer devices or physical assets and these objects are connected to the Internet. The vision and concept have existed for years, however, there has been an acceleration in the number and types of things that are being connected and in the technologies for identifying, sensing and communicating. These technologies are reaching critical mass and an economic tipping point over the next few years. Key elements of the IoT include:

•                   Embedded sensors: Sensors that detect and communicate changes are being embedded, not just in mobile devices, but in an increasing number of places and objects.
•                   Image Recognition: Image recognition technologies strive to identify objects, people, buildings, places logos, and anything else that has value to consumers and enterprises. Smartphones and tablets equipped with cameras have pushed this technology from mainly industrial applications to broad consumer and enterprise applications.
•                   Near Field Communication (NFC) payment: NFC allows users to make payments by waving their mobile phone in front of a compatible reader. Once NFC is embedded in a critical mass of phones for payment, industries such as public transportation, airlines, retail and healthcare can explore other areas in which NFC technology can improve efficiency and customer service.

App Stores and Marketplaces. Application stores by Apple and Android provide marketplaces where hundreds of thousands of applications are available to mobile users. Gartner forecasts that by 2014, there will be more than 70 billion mobile application downloads from app stores every year. This will grow from a consumer-only phenomena to an enterprise focus. With enterprise app stores, the role of IT shifts from that of a centralized planner to a market manager providing governance and brokerage services to users and potentially an ecosystem to support entrepreneurs. Enterprises should use a managed diversity approach to focus on app store efforts and segment apps by risk and value.

Next-Generation Analytics. Analytics is growing along three key dimensions:

From traditional offline analytics to in-line embedded analytics. This has been the focus for many efforts in the past and will continue to be an important focus for analytics.

From analyzing historical data to explain what happened to analyzing historical and real-time data from multiple systems to simulate and predict the future.

Over the next three years, analytics will mature along a third dimension, from structured and simple data analyzed by individuals to analysis of complex information of many types (text, video, etc…) from many systems supporting a collaborative decision process that brings multiple people together to analyze, brainstorm and make decisions.

Analytics is also beginning to shift to the cloud and exploit cloud resources for high performance and grid computing.

In 2011 and 2012, analytics will increasingly focus on decisions and collaboration. The new step is to provide simulation, prediction, optimization and other analytics, not simply information, to empower even more decision flexibility at the time and place of every business process action.”

As they say in IT – never a dull moment! Until next time then, remember – Keep it (A)fresh

About the writer: Immo Böhm

Immo Böhm is the founder and managing director of Afresh Consult.  He has been involved with business management systems for many years.  He is an experienced implementation and process design consultant and has done in excess of 70 projects in this regard.   Immo has a B.Sc degree, a diploma in IT and a MBA (UK).