Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Order management system




Order management system refers to software which brings efficiency in keeping track of orders and maintaining it in a proper way. The software is a great help in entering the orders given by customers. The orders could be given by any means. It can be through telephone, it could be the data entry system or it can be through an electronic mail. The order management system when integrated encompasses various modules to effectively process an order.  OMS can help giving information about products- For example the availability, category or the location of the products. The OMS will encompass the inventory information such as the availability of a particular product or the sourcing of the inventory. The OMS module will also consist of marketing activities, order processing, purchasing , order entry, receiving, data analysis and financial such as accounts receivable and accounts payable. An integrated order management system thus is very effective software to analyze and process orders. It helps businesses to bring effectiveness in its activities. The telecommunication companies for example use the system in order to process customer information, for proper billing, accounts maintenance and so on. Retail companies on the other hand use it for the purpose of inventory maintenance, packaging, shipping, information about the orders given by the customers and so on.

Uses of OMS systems in financial securities- Now a day, the companies are using the software to process financial securities. The companies are able to update the orders by the help of the system. The OMS automatically updates the database when an order is executed. The firms are able to get the whole information related to an order. OMS helps in various other financial functions as well. For example- Split transactions between dividend and stocks. Financial functions like 'underwriting' is effectively carried out by the use of the order management systems. There are five components which encompass the order management system for the securities and other financial transactions. It comprises of portfolio modeling, trading blotter, post trade support, it helps the customers to connect with the brokers.

The order management system is a very effective tool for those who want to carry out the business functions smoothly. The complexity in the processes can be smoothing with the system. Many companies have been able to cut the time by implementing the system.

How is caching performed in ASP.NET?




Consider an Example. An application needs to query a database which has 10 million records after every four seconds to retrieve same type of result. Let us assume that database will get updated in an hour. Now, in this situation data retrieved from the database will remain the same for about 50 minutes. So querying this database after every four seconds will cause network congestion and the load on the database /web server. To solve the above problem we use caching. Caching is used to store data either on web server or client machine for a specified duration. So, in the above example, we cache the data for a fixed period of time (assume 50 minutes), then when the first time query is executed, results will be stored in cache. Now in the next time frame( here it is 50 minutes)the same type of requests for the data will  get the data from the query itself without executing query again on 10 million records. Hence, caching enhances user experience and gain performance in web applications.

ASP.NET provides three kinds of caching techniques:

1) Page level or output caching: In this caching, the complete HTML output of a presented ASP.NET page is stored in the cache and any other requests for the same page is sent from the cache itself. For each request entry of that page is find the cache. If an entry is found HTML output is sent to the client. If it doesn’t find an entry, then it saves a copy of HTML output in the cache for later use. It is extremely beneficial in static pages (pages whose content doesn’t change) as everything that is presented on the page is cached. It is implemented by adding @output cache directive in the web page as shown below:
<%@ OutputCache duration=”100” VaryByParam=”none” %>

Duration specifies time for which page exists in cache and varyByParam attribute is used to cache different copies of the page based on the parameters received in the form of HTTP POST or HTTP GET .For example, when a user requests for personal record of an employee with id =009 and VaryByParam=”none” , page will be presented and output will be cached . Now when another user seeks records for the employee id=007 then the caching engine will not be able to see the difference and the cached output for id=009 will be sent. This problem can be avoided by setting VaryByParam=”emp_id”

2) Partial page output caching: As the name suggests, it is used when we do not require entire page to be cached rather only some of the contents of the page need to be cached. Here we create a single or more user controls for those parts of the page and decide the caching policies of those user controls. To implement this caching we use <partial caching (500)> .When someone requests for the page where this user control is used, the cache engine will store the user control for 500 sec in its output cache and will be retrieved for the subsequent requests 

3) Data caching: it is used on data which is very common. It is very useful when you need to cache your own custom data into cache. For example, when we need to cache a data set which can be used later in the application, we require data caching. It is implemented by cache class or system.web.caching.cache namespace. We use cache class to store the data while handling simple data. It has the format as cache (“myvalue”)= value. Following tasks need to be performed during data caching:

a) Adding items in cache: To add items in cache we use- Cache. Insert (“My value”, value).We can also add expiration time of 5 mins using-Cache.Insert(“myvalue”,value,nothing,datetime.now.addminutes(5))
b) Retrieving data from the cache: It is done by the following statement- value=Cache(“myvalue”).
c) Deleting data from the cache: Although it is done automatically based on expiration time, we can manually do so by- Cache.Remove(“mydata”).

How to buy a registered domain name




If you are a person who’s trying to buy a good and impressive domain name, you are immediately confronted by the realization that everything has already been taken. It actually does seem like people are buying these domain names just for fun or for business so that they can sell them at a good price later. To a person who actually needs a particular name, the domain name is worth just about nothing. While most people would advise you to just add a word or a number or hyphenate the domain name, it is up to the domain brokers to get you the actual website you desire. 

Who are domain brokers?

It is time to understand that just because a specific domain name is unavailable it doesn’t increase your chances of acquiring it. There are a number of major domain name purchases that are just based on an already existent URL. The sad realization is that most of the best domain names are taken for business purposes thereby rendering them impossible to buy on a regular business domain site. With the advent of SEDO, the leading domain broker website, the chances of you actually being exposed to your desired site increases. SEDO promises over 500,000 users and more than 9 million domains up for sale. They are basically dedicated brokers that work on helping you acquire the domain name that you want. Domains are bought and sold in over 20 languages, making it a giant domain marketplace. History of this website includes the credit for being the first and number one internet domain search engine. Maybe it is time to realize that you may actually get your desired URL for your company for a price. Adding numbers, hyphens and dots can be done away with; getting a broker was never this simple, and especially one who can negotiate, bargain and appeal in 15 different languages ensures that you almost own the domain.

Can you get the desired domain name?

Not only is the Internet becoming a popular platform for new websites with many themes, ranging from business to even personal uses, but also there are domain name businesses going on. A person, who has started this business early on, makes humongous profit shares in this venture. It comes to us as no surprise that there are no available domains for your use. Since the advent of the domain business industry, domain names mean dollars and pounds; this industry with its growth has hampered most people from creating sites they want. Domain names are becoming harder to acquire and register, at least for the low prices they used to carry with them. The domain catalog on various domain seller pages read high-priced numbers, and it may look like the maximum you can do with your desired webpage is to browse it, but not construct it. So the situation is, if you want a specific unavailable domain name, there are two ways to acquire it. It is really up to you or your domain broker. Contacting the owner yourself and trying to cut a deal is one way to do it, if the domain is available for sale. Another way is with SEDO, where you get a personal broker assigned to you, working as a third party between you, the buyer, and the domain owner. 

Though the domain name you seek may not be for sale, it is worth a chance to look at what SEDO has to offer with its 9 million websites for sale; it could mean as much as the website is not for sale if it is not on SEDO because it covers a wide range of topics in their extensive domain catalog from Art to Sports and business. While this is the case, SEDO offers domain sellers the option or more precisely, the feature of domain parking. It can be considered a way of earning money while sleeping as they phrase it, because it is as simple as buying a domain and parking advertisements on it till a webpage is actually constructed on the domain. Consumers, redirected to this portal, may choose to click on one of the links for the advertisements in the empty domain, while you earn money.


Monday, 29 July 2013

Why is it so hard to get a straight answer about hosting?




                With the internet ruling the global market, many different companies have sprung up to offer their web hosting services. It is important for one to understand web hosting before embarking on an endeavor to probe into the concept. Web hosting services are internet hosting services that allow organizations and individual firms to create their own website that can be accessed through the World Wide Web. The companies which provide this service are called web hosts; web hosts provide a specific amount of space on the internet for a lease or for sale, aside from Internet connectivity, generally in data centers. They essentially provide data center space and internet connectivity for servers they do not own through a collocation. 

                There are hundreds of thousands of web hosting companies which offer a wide range of services claiming to possess the best hosting service. Services include free web hosting services, shared hosting services, dedicated and managed web hosting services. For one to choose the service they want, they need to analyze and study the different web hosting companies along with the different services they offer. Therefore it is impossible to get a straight picture of hosting with a million web hosting companies claiming to offer the best hosting service that the actual definition of hosting gets diluted.

                Web hosting is often offered as a package with a regular internet access plan; there are free and paid plans of many types.
                A customer is required to evaluate the requirements of the application in question to choose the kind of hosting that would be appropriate. Some parameters to be considered include software used in database server, scripting software, and the operating system. Most companies provide Linux-based web hosting which offers an array of different software, the typical configuration for which is the LAMP platform: Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP/Perl/Python. Email for the business domain, separate databases and multi-media services required for streaming media are some other necessities that web hosts offer. Even with Microsoft Windows as the operating platform, the customer can still choose from PHP, Perl, and Python but also has the option of using ASP .Net or Classic ASP.
                Web hosting packages constitutes a Web Content Management System as an optional tool, which takes care of the technical aspects of web hosting. Though amateur web designers and host-clients find Web Content Management System a remarkable tool, professionals who desire more control over their website choose not to use this tool.
                The conclusion is that there is not just a single place which offers web hosting for a person who wants to set up his own website. A single answer to your web hosting needs is not available because of the many definitions and improvisations of the concept of web hosting. If you can state your needs, analyze the range of choices that is placed before you and execute a comparative study of the various web hosts available with the services they offer, you are sure to come up with an exact positive match to suit all your needs.

Link Building Strategy for Online Market



In today’s world everything related to online, or you call it goggle search.  Whatever you want to buy you should always check online for better price, better selection, different brands and so forth.  The sites where customers always use is consists of online marketplace around every industry. 

1. Understand your marketplace

2. Develop good content

There is no substitute for a good content.  Customers mostly look for the good and valuable content related to there work and that’s why you should work toward getting the good content so that other search engines come and link with your search engine.  Every piece of information on your website should be there for a purpose; it should support your sales propaganda and should direct customers through the sales cycle. 

3. Make sure your content is well written

All the content on your website should be well written as well as original and must have supporting documents.  It should have proper title, headings, and subheadings, should be described properly and must be easily accessible.  If you don’t have time to write then make sure to hire someone who can write well. 

4. Look at media sites

Media sites are the best sites to work with.  It has the largest audiences of people looking for information on daily basis; you should like your website with them to increase the flow of traffic to your website.  Links attracts links, so if you have identified your marketing sectors then all you need to do is attract them to your websites. 

5. Move on to non-media sites

Now it’s time to target non-media sites. 

7. Monitor and evaluate

As I mentioned earlier, that the link building is not about how many number of links you could get but what kind of content you can get.  Make sure you should who is your target audience and what they are looking for it.  Besides that monitor and evaluate the links on regular basis to see from where most of your audiences are coming and why?  You should be paying attention to the following links. 
  • How much increased traffic comes from links
  • Which links bring the most traffic
  • How much does your search engine traffic
  • How much your sales increase as a result.

How Restaurants Lose Customers




In today’s world, customer service plays an important role in helping a business gain success; be it a small coffee shop at the corner of a street or a five star hotel. Good customer Service is what a customer wants; as this is an age where the customer is the king. You could be an entrepreneur with the biggest and best chain of restaurants in town but if you can’t provide good customer service then be sure to lose customers in no time.

The success of any business, since it first opens till the present time can be credited to the very strong tradition that it follows. The main accomplishment of a business is people; right from the brand ambassador, the employees up to the customers themselves. Certain factors that may require alteration or customization are culture, the history, religion etc. Hence one should be considerate in identifying if specific customs or traditions are acceptable in providing customer service for customers in a specific state or country.  

Food Service Products

A friend of mine once mentioned “Food service products are things that the customer can’t buy themselves”. I was confused at first but later I understood what he meant. At times restaurants serve frozen or ready to eat food products which are available at your local stores for a much lower price; but the restaurant may charge you a bomb for the same. Most of the time customer may identify this and when the server is questioned he might just blush beet red and answer, ““Uh, we don't always make all things from scratch but add stuff like vegetables, etc to it.” No customer would ever want to go to a restaurant like this as they are not looking to eat frozen or ready to eat food products and that too for a much higher price. Hence Food Service Product plays an important part in the restaurant business.

There are many ways that a restaurant may loose its customers. Below is the graph that shows the top 6 reasons why restaurants lose customers.

An attitude of Indifference
There may be infinite ways to lose customers but the most common, fastest and simplest way is the attitude of indifference portrayed by the staffs of a restaurant. Customers don’t like ‘No’ for an answer. There are better ways to say ‘No’ but the restaurant staffs might just say the word without even realizing that they just lost a customer because of this attitude.  The customer does not want an indifferent attitude or ‘No’ for an answer especially for the service that he is paying for. Hence, this caters to 68%; the biggest reason when it comes to losing customers by restaurants.

Dissatisfaction of the product
In today’s world customer satisfaction plays an important role. If your customer is happy with what you serve then your restaurant will touch the skies but if he is dissatisfied with the product then be sure that are to going to lose another customer as this reason caters to 14% for the loss of customers by restaurants.

Competition in the market and change in price
In today’s highly competitive market the customer is likely to get carried away by the offers that are available; as he is looking for product that suits his pocket. The change is pricing also make a big difference. This reason caters to 10% when losing customers. For example, a student will be lured by another restaurant that offers the same meal for a better price

Customer has moved to another place or destination
Approximately 3% of the time restaurants lose customers because they have moved to another place which is located quiet far away from their favorite restaurants. Hence a customer may adjust to restaurants that are close to his vicinity rather than travel miles to eat.  
 
Word of mouth
Word of mouth is an important tool and causes loss of 3% to the restaurant business if good service is not provided. It plays an important role as we humans get influenced faster by listening and acting according to what people have to say. For instance; if a customer has experienced a bad behavior with a restaurant; the neighbors, relatives or friends of this customer are likely not to go to that restaurant just for fear that similar instance might happen with them.


Influence of culture, traditions and the circle of friends’
Influence of culture, tradition and friends play an important part when losing customers. This reason accounts for 2% of the loss of customers by restaurants. At times a culture or tradition might hurt the sentiments of the customer. One’s tradition or culture can be another’s taboo. For example, a friend of yours might have a bad experience with a restaurant and may advice you not to go there. You will readily listen to him because he is your friend. Hence these influential factors play a part in losing customer.


These lists for restaurants to lose customers are never ending and can go on and on but for now these are the 6 top rated reasons. As customers we all want the best for every penny that we spend and as restaurant owners we should not to take customers for granted but can consider everyday as the first day of business by providing the best service keeping in mind that one customer with a bad experience can damage the name and the reputation of the restaurant.

Friday, 26 July 2013

Polgoon Vineyard and Cider Orchard



The Polgoon Vineyard & Orchard near Penzance in Cornwall, won awards. The Cornish Vineyard and Orchard fruitfully produced a wide range of fresh traditional Cornish Wine. The new variety includes the award winner rosé, two types of English white wine and one variety of English red wine. The Sparkling Aval (Cornish term for apple), Elderflower Sparkling wine and the latest Sparkling Cornish Cider drinks are all prepared here in this place. 

John and Kim Coulson are the owners of Polgoon Vineyard. They developed this Vineyard from a dilapidated farm and created this flourishing orchard cum Vineyard. They are the producers of their award winning Cornish Aval, Cornish Wine and Cornish Cider. Not only in the South West but all over the UK they are vastly considered for their products like English Sparkling Wine, the Polgoon Cornish still Wine and their Ciders Cornish Pink, Cornish Black and Cornish Dry Cider, Sparkling Cornish Aval, Raspberry Aval and Elderflower Sparkling Wine. The wines are now available at the Vineyard’s online store or through retailers.
The Polgoon Vineyard and Orchard outlet is now open for 7 days a week. The store shelves stock wines like the award winning Cornish wines, Vintage Aval, Elderflower Sparkling wine and Sparkling Rose wine. The delightful varieties like Elderflower Sparkling wine and newest 2010 conventionally made Sparkling Rose wine will create wonders  and make a perfect gift or be an outstanding complement with a serving of food or when served on any special occasion.

All the products of this Vineyard are up for sale including the newly released 2011 Regent & Rondo red wine. The shops also sell various other products like honey, jams, eggs, chutney and fudge. The buyers can visit the shop anytime between 9:30am – 4:30pm from Monday – Saturday and between 10:30am – 4:30pm on Sundays.

Company Background 
 
John and Kim Coulson, the founders of this Vineyard cum Orchard, used to supply fish to Marks & Spencer 7 years ago from their company situated at Newlyn Fishing port. After many years of successful business and with an increasing family with 5 children, Mr and Mrs Coulson decided to shift to a larger house. 

Coincidentally they found an abandoned farmhouse in Penzance. They bought the farm along with 23 acres of land, 2 cottages and 2barns for renovation. They met an award winning inventor of Cornish wine and only after this, they decided to plant vines and make their very own Cornish Vineyard. In 2006 they produced the first Polgoon Wine from their first yield and bagged a Trophy for the “Best Still Rose in the UK”. The trophy was by a panel of 7 Masters of Wine and was awarded by the UK Vintners Association and sponsored by Waitrose.
The following two harvests of Polgoon wine won significant national competitions. Unfavourable weather conditions left Polgoon Vineyard with no crop in the years 2007 and 2008. To overcome the setback with firm determination, the Coulson’s produced Aval , a Cornish Cider. This is a Sparkling Cider product prepared by using the Method Traditionalle. This method is also used by the producers of the French Fizz. The Raspberry Aval was there next invention. This drink became Polgoon’s maximum sold sparkling drink and was also awarded with a Gold medal in the Taste of the West Awards 2009. This drink also won a runner up title for the National Drinks Award.
2009 summer brought good harvest and brought a brilliant period. The PolgoonVineyard continues to produce the delicious pink Raspberry Aval and Cornish Aval. They are constantly innovating new drinks and keep increasing the still wine production every year. They won awards consecutively in the years  2010, 11, 12 and 13 for their products Aval Wine and latest Ciders.   
Awards 
For their first product in 2006, the Polgoon Vineyard won the award, Best Still UK Rose. This is the Waitrose Trophy awarded by the UKVA (UK Vineyards Association) and was presented at The House of Lords. The significant awards won are as follows:
·        UKVA Highly Commended Sparkling Rose 2006
·        UKVA Bronze UK Rose 2007
·        Cornwall Life Best Drink Producer  2008
·        Taste of the West: Gold and Silver 2009
·        Taste of the West: Gold and Silver 2010
·        Cornwall Life Best Drink Producer 2010
·        Taste of the West: 1 x Gold,  3 x Silver and 1 x Bronze Awards 2011
·        Great Taste Awards: Gold Star 2012
Tour guide 
The Vineyard guided tours include a stroll through the Cornish Orchard. Then they are taken to the Vines, which is the heart of Polgoon. A lot of information are shared regarding the varieties of grapes, apple and the various methods of taking care and the pruning process. This is followed by a conversation regarding the production process including the different processes of, mashing the fruit for the products Cornish Cider and Cornish Wine, the process of fermentation and the use of Method Traditionnelle for the English Sparkling Wine in Cornwall. The tourists are then taken to the store for a tasting of the Vineyard products.
The products are available throughout the year.