Orange Clouds

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Interesting Fact of the Day

Research shows that Temperatures of 21-22°C make you the most productive!

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Communities of Innovation: example of distributed energy generation

The energy generation sector has many challenges: those relating to the transition towards more renewable energy generators and away from the traditional fossil fuels based, high CO2 emission, Oil, Gas and Coal-fired power stations; the need to migrate towards a smarter grid away from large centralised generation plants and long transmission lines, towards more distributed generation from renewable and non-renewable energy sources.  Other sources of energy-saving include ‘demand reduction’ an approached favoured by the UK Government in its 2006 energy review publication (Toke and Taylor 2007), the expectation is that UK businesses could achieve an overall 30% energy saving.  The challenge for the energy sector therefore is how to stimulate more of this distributed renewable generation, so that the UK can meet its ‘renewable energy’ targets, but more importantly address some of the real problems of a centralised generation strategy still largely dependent on high CO2 emitting sources.  The Small to Medium-sized Enterprise sector in the UK is a huge contributor to both the overall UK economy turnover, over £1.23 trillion in 2006, and in employment with over 13 million employees.  So SMEs are very much a target of the UK government (Rutherfoord and Blackburn 2000) when it comes to energy and general waste management, recent surveys by government have suggested that over 75% of these SMEs are unaware of their environmental obligations (Defra, 2006). The government has attempted to stimulate this market by providing incentives like the ‘Feed-in’ tariffs, and through ‘Low carbon initiatives’ supported by the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs). Yet despite this marketing and public policy momentum the diffusion of these technologies in the UK is very slow. One of the principle reasons cited by some researchers and policy makers is that micro-generation is a ‘resistant’ innovation, one where the business consumer has to significantly alter their existing belief structures, attitudes and behaviours (Garcia, Bardhi et al. 2007). SMEs often view these environmental initiatives and regulations as just another burden on the SMEs resources, even though they are often portrayed as having win-win outcomes (Rutherfoord and Blackburn 2000).    SMEs in many sectors are used to buying out-services, to both access valuable knowledge and expertise, and help overcome internal or external barriers in acquiring and embedding new innovations (MacKinnon, Chapman et al. 2004). They are also very receptive to being influenced by their peers, business peers, and so acknowledge the benefits from mentoring, industry leadership and business networks (Defra, 2006). Looking at business networks particularly, then SMEs gain considerable benefits from the opportunity to share, acquire and disseminate experiences/practices.  Research has positively associated this business networking with changes in behaviour, and hence very valuable in stimulating businesses to adopt new technologies and process innovations.  These findings are likely to be highly sector specific (Todtling, Lehner et al. 2009), and is another one of those areas that need specific research regarding its application to the microgeneration sector. Organizations that are in sectors that have heavy regulation on environmental issues and impacts are committed to comply with the relevant regulations, but this does not mean they don’t complain about it (Fischhoff 2007).  These same studies suggest that further environmental initiatives will only be achieved through understanding existing eco-orientation, and using familiar terms and effecting gradual change.  Interestingly this research alluded to the importance of  ‘communities of innovation’ those peers and bodies that help these business entrepreneurs understand the regulations and positioning for new legislation/regulations to come. So are 'communities of innovation' the most effective means of stimulating SMEs and their business entrepreneurs to engage in these new microgeneration type projects?  Perhaps you could give us some feedback on this? [caption id="attachment_429" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Using PV's to cut energy bills and generate income through feed-in tariff"]

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Communities-of-Practice in the Print Industry

Virtual communities spring up anywhere there is a need for support and a mutual benefit in coming together.  Of course these virtual communities often sit alongside existing more formal communities.  Orangeclouds is currently working with a print company to extend its presence within the industry by the use of social networking & media channels.  Like every other print company, in 2004 the industry has sales of £14.3 billion, and employed 199,000, they are re-evaluating their processes and markets for opportunities to add more value, and create sustainable competitive advantages. The British Print Industry Federation (BPIF) www.britishprint.com is keen to promote the ecological credentials of their industry:

The drive to promote effective benchmarking and best practice across the sector;

The drive to switch to more Ecosafe water-based inks and recycled paper/cardboard (FSC);

The increasing adoption by its members of the Environmental Management Systems and measuring itself against EU wide Environmental Performance Indicators.

The BPIF have in collaboration with Carbon Smart, and with an European Regional Devel

opment Funds (ERDF) have developed a scheme to help London printers become more carbon smart (EcoPrint London). SMEs are looking at their business processes looking at how they can use social media, networking and sector drive towards a Low Carbon Economy.  They recognize the need to create, develop and deliver new products and services, differentiated and well-marketed to a growing market of online business clients.  Clients that are looking for smarter, more ecologically friendlier and more innovative solutions to their current and future business problems. Interested in having Orangeclouds look at your business and sector? Contact us NOW!

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Virtual Communities

Our lives have irrevocably been changed as a consequence of the internet.  We now have a new medium for social activities, one not involving face-to-face

interaction:

There were 350 million users in 2005, this figure is expected to quadruple by 2012.

Over 10% of these online users participate in some form of online community, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are the fastest growing social networking sites in the world.

What we have is an increasing online user base that links to these virtual communities because of shared interests, they have similar tastes in music, travel, sport or ideas/philosophies.  Communities like iPing of iTunes is using the interest that community members have of music, theatre, films and other media of entertainment, and combining it with their commercial interests to brand and sell music. What is interesting is the link between community loyalty and brand loyalty. So how strong is the link and what are the factors influencing this?

Shared experiences – because of the ease for online users to become members of these virtual communities, most users use this to help evaluate future and current product purchases?

Community membership – its can be relatively easy to become members of these online virtual communities, but does this ease of access denigrate the knowledge and experience sharing, are some communities lawless?

At OrangeClouds we are interested in exploring and researching these important social interaction challenges – and with your help we can report here your views and feeling on this emotive topic. Please help us to inform you, complete our short online study today? Thanks! Our Survey: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22BJZ7HXG99/ For the online study click here.

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Moving beyond Car Ownership

Owning a car is expensive, assuming you buy a new petrol car then you are looking at £12,000 for a four door car, capable of taking you

and the family.  Now add the petrol costs, car tax, servicing and normal tyre wear and you get for 10,000 mile a year about £4,200, which includes depreciation and insurance. Wow, are there any alternatives, well yes there is, you could belong to a car club. To become an annual member of say the city car club will cost you £50.  The hourly rental rates for cars vary with the size of vehicle, from £4.95 for a Vauxhall Corsa to £7.95 for a VW Transporter Van.  The 24 hourly rates are cheaper working out to £39.50 to £69.50 respectively.  There is a mileage charge of 0.19 per mile, but this does cover the cost of the fuel, you have a fuel card in case you do need to fill up and the cost goes straight to city car club.  In what cities are city club cars available: Bath, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Huddersfield, Leeds, London, Manchester, Sheffield, Southampton and York. How successful are these car clubs, in Edinburgh they already have 4,000 members and a 100 car fleet.  Most of the cars are chosen for their green credentials, emissions around the 89 g/km and fuel consumption of 70 mpg. Are there other rental car club services out there? Some of the most well known seems to be Zipcar and Streetcar. There are no major differences between the two as Streetcar is owned by the US rival Zipcar. In May this year, Zipcar acquired the fastest growing club rental car, Streetcar. The City of Westminster partnered with Zipcar to give access to cars parked across the city which made Zipcar the first choice. Its even better then owning a car as you get free fuel, free insurance and you don't have to pay for congestion charge. Zipcar claims to be the world's largest car sharing club service. How does it work? This is all done in four easy and simple steps: join, reserve, unlock and drive. They also have a nice and easy to use iPhone app for it.

This is the way to go, what are your experiences and opinions of these car clubs?

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Transportation: Challenging our Attitudes and Mindsets

In a report released in 2009, the Low Carbon Environmental Goods & Services (LCEGS) sector was worth £3,046 billion in 2007/08, of this some 18.5% was accounted for by alternative fuels for generation of electricity [Nuclear, Biofuel and Biomass] and vehicular use [LPG, Biodiesel and Bioethanol, Hydrogen, etc]. The UK government is very keen that these technological advancements , new fuels and new powertrain technologies, be put to good use to overall reduce our dependence on non-renewable resources and at the same time improve our overall energy security.  Therefore various government departments, DEFRA as a case in point, have published reports that highlight areas where businesses and the public can change their behaviour, one area specific to the domestic household is:

Use more efficient vehicles

Use cars less for short trips

Avoid any unnecessary flights (Short-haul).

This same research separated the population into seven main categories:

Positive Green (18%) - Mostly AB, have a degree and middle age – most positive environmental attitudes and beliefs, optimistic that an environmental solution can be found;

Waste Watchers (12%) – Mostly over 40, from low incomes, and rural – agree that we are close to exhausting the planet’s natural resources, still believe that is possible to pull back from the brink;

Concerned Consumer (14%) – Mostly ABC1, young/middle age, above average income – have pro-environmental values and beliefs, accept that big lifestyle changes are needed;

Sideline Supporters (14%) – Mostly likely C2DE, span all ages, no degree – believe in an imminent ecological crisis, and we are capable of overcoming this;

Cautious Participants (14%) – Mostly young, renting or living at home, higher qualifications – recognise climate change is an issue;

Stalled Starters (10%) – Mostly DE, lowest income levels, no degree – they hold neither positive or negative views on the environment;

Honestly disengaged (18%) – mostly C1C2DE, lower incomes, renting and working full-time – negative views on environment.

Groups 4-7 are the least likely to reduce their car use and ownership, they don’t support higher taxes on car use, either directly or in-directly through fuel tax. A UK report in 2007 suggested that transportation accounts for one quarter of the UK’s domestic energy use and emissions of carbon.  The majority of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions are in the form of carbon dioxide (93%).  The government has used a number of fiscal measures to encourage the use of more efficient fuelled vehicles, through the Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) and raising fuel duty.  Overall, the UK government is pinning most of its hopes on a range of technologies (hybrids, full electric vehicles, second generation biofuels, hydrogen and fuel-cell power trains.  So the government has and will introduce regimes to improve fuel efficiency and develop other fuel-type power trains. Of course, they will persuade more people to use public transport. So what is your opinion of these issues, where do you put yourself and what do you foresee yourself doing over the next 5 – 10 years regarding transportation?

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Social Media & your business?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lee2hrgslnA&fs=1&hl=en_US]

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Your Online interaction, how?

There is plenty of research on what executives think of social media, and the types of resources available that helps them to stay current, and measure future trends.  One such research by the Creative Group found that executives turned to these resources:

Conferences or seminars (23%)

Networking events or Industry Association Meetings (18%)

Webinars or on-line training (17%)

Trade Publications (15%)

Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn posts (14%)

Personal or Company Blogs (7%)

These executives are looking for insights from others who have used social media channels, especially regarding what does and does not work. Last time we talked about social media and networking and the broader benefits of opening up to its power and value.  In this feature we want to highlight some very specific strategies and tactics that can help to enhance your businesses engagement with an on-line community:

Enhance Peer-to-Peer interaction – by engaging with Facebook and LinkedIn event features to promote face-to-face meetings, where people can then use word-of-mouth to spread their experiences, and at the same time have opportunities to interact with company officials;

Helping Lead Generation – bring in additional third party applications to further enhance the interaction experience - thus keeping your existing customers happy, and encouraging new customers;

Bring Facebook and LinkedIn customers into your website – by enabling peer-to-peer interactions and providing a stimulating environment for them, taht both entertains and engages them mentally;

Participate in the dialog – don’t be afraid to participate in the on-line discussions.

Keep the conversation going - don't forget to keep it up

Ultimately from all the discussions and debates on-going on the on-line community forum, some call to action is required.  Try and get some consensus and work with people to develop options.  An on-line community that has no call to action, has no point

In addition, feel free to send us your comments or share with us your experience on online interaction using different strategies or web 2.0 tools.

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Social Media Marketing, how?

Having decided to use Social Media to help engage, enthral and expand your customer base.  Then where do you start, let’s look first at what you need to do :

You want to build a buzz about your products and services;

You’re keen to create, develop and maintain relationships with potential and existing customers;

You also want to foster a two-way communication with these, let’s have a discussion and useful feedback on how things are going;

As part of the above you want to use this information to improve your products and services;

You’re looking to cultivate long-term brand awareness and finally, customer trust

Build up a plan for information that you want to share with your target customers

Identify people in your company that enjoy developing content about the business

The secret of an on-line marketing campaign is to be honest, sincere and pervasive, link your web-site to your blog, then to Facebook and Twitter. The principles behind a successful social media campaign are exactly the same as that behind a great direct marketing campaign:

Raise brand awareness by hosting some on-line event – it could be a game, a simple poll, or some context to get people to contribute content.  The content could be pictures of them using the company’s products’ in interesting places, it could also be about anecdotal stories of funny things that have happened associated with the company’s products.  The important thing is to give the potential or existing customer an opportunity to contribute content, and see and react to other people’s content.

Driving valuable traffic to your social network with a freebie – give prizes, or old products/previous sales promotion materials for simple contributions from users.

Grow consumer loyalty by giving consumers a stake in the Brand – give people the chance to name new brands or contribute ideas of new product concepts – again prizes can be given.  This activity will stimulate interest in the site as a whole, and when a new branded product comes out, you have potentially thousands of ready-made customers.

Build Brand Equity by aligning your Sales to a Higher Purpose – be more forth right about your charitable actions and practices, tying them to customers purchase of products, like for every fifty pounds of goods sold to you we contribute £5 to the Help the Children charity.  People will then talk about this action, maybe on your links to Facebook or Twitter?

Making Social Media Marketing pay is about delivering value to your existing and potential customers.

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Just because it is Popular does not make it Right for You?

The challenge to business managers is not whether to social network or not but which one/ones should they join.  This link lists just 350, but there are thousands and thousands of these.  Just because a social network site is popular is it the right one for you?  Social networking is very much like networking (face-to-face) there are some important  rules/tips:

The magic elevator pitch, if you are trying to get people interested then short and snappy?

Have a specific goal for social networking, you can waste an awful lot of time by just random networking?

Be open, be polite and be tolerant of others views?

Also be positive, you are more likely to attract people to you and your message if you have positive things to say?

Follow up the contact, exchange contact details and pull them over to your blog/website/social networking group (facebook, twitter, wordpress, ning, etc.)

Identify win win approaches and other initiatives to keep the conversation going

Increasingly prospective customers will turn to social media and networking for help and support. Zeus Kerravala, a distinguished research fellow at the Yankee Group said: “Social media is changing the way businesses, customers and employees interact, and this creates significant opportunities for contact centers and the enterprise as a whole to leverage the integration of these tools into business processes,” Social media research has suggested that:

70% of prospective customers/consumers want access to experts and support via social media channels, preferably by the companies themselves, and that they trust this information;

60% of these same customers/consumers suggest that this engagement with them via social networks would improve their loyalty to said company;

50% of these customer/consumers use social media daily.

What does this mean for the businesses attempting to engage in this social media space, for one, they need to create better tools to track and manage their social media footprint? What we need to challenge here is what value do companies see in business networking, what do they anticipate the value will be of using social media to help achieve this, and lastly what impact will this have on their company’s performance? If you would like to discuss with us, please feel free to complete our simple survey by clicking here.

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Entrepreneurs role?

Renewable energy systems is a developing market, but one where continuous innovation is part of their success. Businesses operating in this sector are inevitably entrepreneurially driven, the founder/owner is the driving force both behind its start-up and continual development. Starting a business is the biggest rush an entrepreneur can have, of course, the full realities of this business start-up hit home when you are having to:

Be the salesman – going out their and selling to your target customer segment;

Be the op’s manager – designing, developing and implementing the business processes to make it happen;

Be the finance manager – pouring over the revenue model of your business.

Drive, drive and drive the business operations and creative approaches

This is all great, and necessary initially to get things moving, but where most entrepreneurs make their first mistake is in perpetuating this.  Verne Harnish, a distinguished business advisor running a ‘Birthing of Giants’ program at MIT said: “Your job as an entrepreneur is to hire salespeople to sell your products and services so you can spend your time selling your company. You make a few hundred or thousand dollars when you sell your product, but if you turned those same skills to selling your company, you can make exponentially more. You have the right skills, but you’re selling the wrong product.” However, Richard Branson's view on entrepreneurship role is that "Entrepreneurs should be open-minded, prepared to listen, and also expect to experience rejection and set backs" What do we learn from this, as entrepreneurs, we have set-up five businesses, we have to realise our real value to these business start-ups?  As soon as the business model permits hire professional managers to come in and run the business.  This will leave you to do what you are best at, meeting existing and potential customers/clients and marketing your business.  Selling your capabilities to create, develop and deliver new products and services with your open-minded approaches. What is your experience or other entrepreneurs you know?

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Investment opportunity, really?

Any business investment opportunity needs to be thoroughly evaluated before committing your limited resources, here are some basic considerations:

What is the value proposition of this opportunity – in the case of a micro-generation system, what can it deliver to all stakeholders (business owners, employees, customers and other members)?

What are the market drivers?

Examine all the direct and in-direct costs – and all the associated risks?

What are the time issues?

In a more generic way, then consider this investment as a business investment that needs to be a balance of benefits versus costs.  Undertake a business plan, with the following important key parts:

What is the revenue model for this investment – what do you get in return for this investment ‘feed-in tariffs’ and buyback income?

Is there an adequate demand (direct and indirect) for this?

Who are the consumers/customers that would directly or indirectly benefit from this?

Is there a sound marketing strategy for this?

Will this make the business stand out in the marketplace?

Its not hard to find business investment opportunities, the difficulty comes from evaluating what each delivers to your stakeholders, which has the best return and also fits with your business strategy. Here is a list of factors identified by eHow.com to use when evaluating new investment opportunities. However, what worked best for you? What is your experience in identifying and evaluating viable investment opportunities?

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Entrepreneurs but no resources?

The commercialisation of these low-carbon technologies is essential for the UK economy, it helps support the early stage development of these small ventures.  These ventures depend on finding support and finance for the two very early stage developments of their green ideas – ‘Proof of Concept’ and ‘Prototype Building/Testing’.  The Carbon Trust has announced a new ‘Carbon Trust Entrepreneurs Fast Track’ scheme where they will provide a customised package of research and development funding, expert advice and enhanced networking opportunities.  This is particularly targeted at those leading UK ventures that have the highest growth potential. Tom Delay, the chief executive of the Carbon Trust said: “The UK has great entrepreneurial talent and many promising low carbon ideas.  But early-stage companies struggle to make the transition from concept to commercialisation owing to the high-risk nature of such ventures, and the associated difficulty in attracting financing and managerial talent. The Entrepreneurs Fast Track aims to de-risk these ventures by advancing technology development and building a solid commercial foundation for growth.” This new facility from Carbon Trust will be open for applications from 1st September 2010, go to their website. Artemis Intelligent Power proved that its hydraulic transmission system can replace the gearboxes currently used in wind-turbines. It sought Carbon Trust help. Following research funding and commercialisation support, the company has now developed a 1.6 megawatt hydraulic power transmission, and become the overall winner of the 2009 Carbon Trust Innovation awards. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYbilBl3GGo For further information click here. Here is an opportunity, both as a new start-up venture, and a developing venture, to access funding, expert help and networking opportunities.  How difficult is it for entrepreneurs to get that all important support? Perhaps some of you entrepreneurs out there could share some of your experiences on the challenges and issues that you have had, or are currently experiencing? [polldaddy poll=3496277]

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Save or spend more?

[caption id="attachment_147" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Solar Energy (Photovoltaic)"]

[/caption] Despite major UK and EU policies on the proliferation of information on the availability of renewable energy systems (for example Solar Energy Panels, Heat Pumps and Bio-energy), the uptake of these micro-generation technologies in most of the EU remains very low (less than 1% take-up). Previous research has indicated that the evaluation and potential adoption of these micro-generation technologies/systems is significantly influenced by the householders' awareness and knowledge. Click here to read the full report. As part of the consultation process of the new UK government, Greg Barker MP, Climate Change Minister launched the new micro-generation strategy and pinned his hopes on the public responding to the adoption of this new technology because householders would see that: “By becoming more self sufficient we can create sustainable local energy economies. People and communities can save money on their fuel bills at the same time as generating an income and cutting carbon. I want to work with industry to overcome the challenges it is facing. Together we will create a marketplace for jobs and prosperity alongside products and advice which people trust.” [polldaddy poll=3476094] If you like to share your views further on micro-generation systems, please feel free  to complete our simple on-line survey by clicking here.

And keep track of the results here!

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UK’s Microgeneration Industry: Residential and Community Benefits

Finally, a government scheme that benefits, home-owners, schools, local communities and businesses. The launch of the UK’s microgeneration strategy should provide the valuable support, incentives and promotion of this important first stage to bring about domestic energy security, by encouraging small and large scale green electricity. [caption id="attachment_107" align="alignright" width="227" caption="Green Energy - meeting the needs of Society"]

[/caption] Greg Baker the Climate Change minister had this to say in the official government launch: “I want to see more homes, communities and businesses generating their own energy. We can literally bring power back to the people. Microgeneration is a key part of this vision.…“ The incentives for home-owners, schools and businesses is: • Guaranteed cash payments for these microgenerators via the ‘feed-in tariff’ given to them by the existing energy providers, currently amounting to 43.9p per kwh; • Savings on their electricity costs, based on using this green sourced electricity (reduction in their electricity demand), in addition they also get 3p per kwh for every excess unit they don’t use that goes to the grid. There are plenty of web-sites that provide information on various microgeneration schemes/systems, but this one is particularly helpful in highlighting potential benefits/costs. There are over 100,000 installed systems out there, what is your experience of either having one, or going through the processes of evaluating this type of system? Source: Microgeneration Strategy consultation

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Thinking by experimenting

Very interesting creative video from The Creativity Company. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPQN0qrQ0AI&w=480&h=385] How about initiating this kind of approach of experimenting new ideas in your business?