Businesses trust tech and digital media

The technology sector is the most trusted industry in Ireland, and digital media is a growing influence as a source of information on companies. That's according to the Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual global survey of opinion formers. Some 64 percent of those surveyed in Ireland expressed their trust in the IT industry, with the biotech/life sciences sector ranking second most trusted. Internet search engines were listed as the eighth most trusted source for finding information about companies, with a quarter of Irish respondents naming websites such as Google as a credible source of company information. However, this remains behind traditional and expert information sources such as industry analyst reports or media coverage. Interestingly, free content sources such as Wikipedia were deemed as credible as a company's own website as a source of information. For more visit Edelman.com.

Small firms neglect SEO strategies

Over 33 percent of small and medium-sized companies in the UK do not have a search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy, according to a survey by web hosting firm Fasthosts. Although the number of firms that do not submit their sites to search engines has fallen from 49 percent in 2006 to just 17 percent in 2009, many businesses do not understand how search results are compiled, the survey revealed. Just under one-fifth (19 percent) of respondents believe that they cannot influence the order of the search results, while 12 percent think the results reflect how much has been paid by the businesses listed. Both of these assumptions are incorrect, according to Fasthosts. Chief marketing officer with Fasthosts, Steve Holford, said that while it's a good sign that more companies are submitting their sites to the major search engines, more firms should consider the benefits of SEO. "They need to understand that it's a very important channel, and that if they just spend a little time researching it, SEO can pay back pretty much instantly," he said. For more on this story visit Computing.co.uk.

Companies set to embrace telepresence

Video telepresence is likely to see a surge in demand over the next three years, as an alternative to travelling to face-to-face meetings. That's according to research house Gartner, which predicts that high-definition video meeting solutions will replace 2.1 million airline seats in the US alone annually. "Telepresence is not the answer in every circumstance and there will always be strong cultural and other reasons for face-to-face encounters... But not every meeting needs to be face-to-face and there is no doubt that telepresence and other approaches to virtual collaboration... or yet to be released solutions will provide a real alternative for many businesses. Companies should put aside previous prejudices and bad memories of older video-conferencing services and seriously investigate these new technologies," said Gartner Fellow Steve Prentice. For more on Gartner's IT predictions for the next few years, visit Gartner.com.

Firms want more multi-channel marketing

A large proportion of companies are keen to deploy multi-channel marketing strategies in order to engage with their customers in a more personalised way. According to a survey conducted by digital marketing firm Econsultancy, almost 80 percent of respondents say they have offline and online arms, and 70 percent say they have a central repository for storing customer records. However, the survey found that the bulk of firms are not yet able to integrate their digital and offline marketing. Just one-fifth of respondents said they are able to link online and offline data to optimise the user experience, only 17 percent can link real-time and historic data, and 12 percent can carry out real-time personalisation based on behaviour. The survey also revealed a disparity between the data being collected and its usefulness: behavioural data is very useful, according to 68 percent of respondents, yet only 45 percent collect it. "Companies want to take customer relationships seriously but, when it comes down to the nuts and bolts, they're stopping short," said Econsultancy head of research Linus Gregoriadis. For more on this survey visit VNUnet.com.

Here are some of the issues our forum members have been discussing in the last fortnight:

• Web analytics view thread
• Desktop IM clients view thread
• Selling domain names view thread

ROI: Assessing the value of IT

Efficient infrastructure (part three): Virtualisation

Case study: Puddleducks.ie

Permanently remove data from your hard drive

Fitzwilliam Hall, Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, February 21
This event, run by the IIA, is aimed at site owners, developers and marketers who are approaching search engine marketing for the first time or perhaps have begun some basic search marketing. The course will investigate how to improve visibility on the web using trusted and transparent methods.

If you're a fan of instant messaging but tend to be away from your desk a lot, Fring could be right for you. It's a free application for mobile phones that can help you stay in touch with contacts via many of the channels you would normally use on a PC. All you need to get started is a supported handset that can access the internet. Once downloaded, Fring offers access to half a dozen instant messaging programs (including MSN Messenger, Yahoo and AIM) and social networks. You can also make and receive free calls via Skype or VoIP. And for phones that don't support VoIP, you can download Mini-Fring and still make use of the instant messaging features.