Mike Schorah

So this week has already provided some important lessons. On Monday I was with a new client, a major force in their industry with multi-million household name customers of their own representing some of the biggest household names in several sectors ... The IT manager was very clear that he is not comfortable using cloud-hosted services because his  customers won't risk him putting their  data into a cloud-baed service. Then, yesterday, #Sandy. As a business we, like many others, use a variety of suppliers, some of whom have services, or provide services, from cloud-hosted centres. As the effects of the hurricane and super storm hit the NE of America one of our key internal systems, a hosted project management and file storage environment, was taken offline. It turns out that their computers are located in a building somewhere in Manhattan. They were safe from the floods because they were on a high floor. But they weren't protected from the power outages: they just didn...

I wasn't expecting to be writing this blog post today, from the train. But a conversation over lunch gave me an utterly different take on the #WorkAnywhere tag. I've always thought of it as the inspiration to work any time, any place ... Free from geographic constraints, within limits. But today I met a man who graduated in a particular branch of computing that meant he could work anywhere, for pretty much any employer with an interest in his field. And he was courted by some government and defence industry organisations. However, this man has strong feelings about using technology for peace, climate change and similar issues. For him, the freedom to work anywhere is constrained by a higher commitment to ethical values. It's admirable to find someone reflective enough to live by his principles. It's hardly unique, but sadly nor is it that common.

Doh! Computers are literal things: they can't know that when I typed the field name 'Setails' I had really meant to call it 'Details' !! A single typo meant that our app couldn't match its fields on the form with columns on SharePoint, so it failed exactly as intended (with a nice error message) to protect the central repository of data ... The really nice thing is that I had got everything laid out,  with data filled in,  when suddenly I noticed that I'd forgotten to put the Submit button on the form (doh, again!).  I simply opened up our Toolbox,  added a Submit button and re-published the form;  then I tried the submit of my data again,  discovered why it had failed and corrected the Details field name,  re-published, and submitted data successfully ... ALL without losing the data I had already filled into the form! That's actually pretty amazingly friendly for an end user! And 'publishing' the form is as simple as closing the T...

Entrepreneurs are generally optimistic people. And many of us have demanding, high standards. It's so very tempting to keep working towards a vision of perfection, adding another feature, polishing the ones we have already built. But it's important to "get out of the lab" and launch a product, even before its ready in all the perfection I'd like. That way, we get feedback from customers sooner; we establish which features are already the most important, which we need to add next; and we start to generate the revenue that will justify and sustain development. So, stand by, we are getting very close to the next release ;)

It was fascinating to read a bit of a fellow passenger's report off their laptop screen in front of me on the train this morning. It was marked CONFIDENTIAL and, once I saw that, it took a real effort of will to tear my eyes away! The technology frees us up to work pretty much anywhere, and we can get caught up into a multi-media engagement with work, or private, situations that are many miles way from our present location. But as we concentrate on being an active participant in a conference call, and sometimes have to talk loudly to make a contribution over the background noise, it's vital to remember who else might be listening in. Here are some of the principles I advise people to follow: Be aware of who else can see your screen Be conscious of who might be listening in Be aware of your present surroundings, not just the remote situation you're trying to engage with Be security conscious and keep valuable devices - and the data on them - physically secure, in your presen...

It's bad enough when you write an email and get your "tone of voice" misunderstood at the other end ... We've all had the experience of people leaping to the wrong conclusion as a result of something we have written that has been read differently from how we intended. That's why people started writing 'lol' and putting smiley faces and things in their emails and texts. It helps. A bit. Now, though, the dangers of misunderstanding get multiplied by Facebook and Twitter. There are more people impacted by what you write; and many more lurking, just reading without commenting. So many more opportunities to get it wrong. So what to do: Write when you're calm. Never sound off in anger Use neutral phrases and stick to facts, not feelings, where you can Read it back "out loud" (in your head!) Try to imagine how it could be read accidentally, or maliciously Use the emoticons and 'lol' cues to signal your feelings and intentions Sit on it - de...

The way in which Apple allows advertisers to track a user's browsing habits on an iDevice changed with iOS6. And yesterday I did a full restore of my iPhone and iPad from the iCloud backup to test and confirm that my backup processes are working. Guess what? My advertising privacy got re-set back to Apple's default 'on' state after the restore was completed. Here's how to ensure your privacy: On iPad or iPhone with iOS 6 go to Settings Select the section called ' General ' Then go to ' About ' Scroll all the way down to the bottom until you can select ' Advertising ' Turn the option for ' Limit Ad Tracking ' to ' ON ' It's pretty well hidden, isn't it?! Of course, Ad Tracking is On by default; the chances of users finding this option to turn it off by accident are slim (you'd naturally look in the new Privacy option in Settings , but in vain). That, of course, is part of the plan to maximise options fo...

First, let me stress: I am not driving! Instead, I am working while sitting on UK public transport to London. As we set out, I fired up the mobile WiFi thing and connected the MacBook Air to the Internet. I started with a Skype conversation from UK to a mobile phone of the chief software developer in the USA, getting a briefing on the latest software build. He sent the build over by email which I picked up on the MacBook; downloaded and installed over a sync cable to the iPad, all as we made our way through the early morning English Cotswold countryside. With the MacBook off and stowed, probably for the rest of the day, I played with new features of the iPad software; while keeping up an iMessage conversation and clearing a couple of customer emails. I used the new software release to build stuff for today's demo in London; and took a few screen shots to show off the latest to another customer, which I sent over straight away by email, before he'd got into his office for today....

I often get asked which apps I use on my iPad and iPhone. Here's the list: Calendar Clock Met Office (UK weather) Messages BBC News Bible (YouVersion) Maps Settings Camera FaceTime Photos YouTube Notes Twitter Skype Starfish CI (my company app in dev't) Remote Keynote Remote AppStore Find friends Find iPhone  NHS BMI Tracker RunKeeper TrueWeight NHS Drinks Tracker Pocket Money Shazam The Economist (news stand. Easier on iPad, but I used to read on iPhone. Good news for my optometrist) Kindle IBooks Pages Numbers Keynote Night Sky (awesome) Wonders (on iPad. Awesome) TubeMap IHandyLevel XE Currency Convert Units IMindMap Jazz FM MtgPlanner Nightstand  PayPal Sudoku SketchBookX (on iPad replace paper) ITapRDP (on iPad remote desktop) Oxford Today Intelligent Life magazine  iPhoto (on iPad) Paper Design Museum collection Planetary Get more like this

As I wrote last week, I don't really need an office anymore. Here's a check list of what keeps me mobile: iPhone , though I used to use a BlackBerry and have used an Android phone also. The important thing is to have constant access to email, voice and SMS or instant messaging regardless of geography. The iPhone scores over the BlackBerry by being great at web browsing and viewing of Excel sheets and PDF attachments. I can't travel without a charge, though, and top up the battery with power as often as I can throughout the day. iPad which gets me through the day on a full charge, and is so very much more portable than a laptop. The WiFi-only version is fine because I use the "Personal Hotspot" feature of the iPhone to connect to the Internet while out and about. This works great apart from the iMessage facility that currently doesn't know to check for an Internet connection over Bluetooth so I have to stick to using iMessage on the phone when the iPad is not ...

Recently a customer told me how easy her project with us had been to justify. They sell, install and maintain equipment in their customers across the South of England. Last year was a ' good ' year, but they still failed to invoice GBP £10,000  simply because they lost or couldn't read the documentation that their engineers were supposed to complete. By giving her a system that makes that documentation legible and unable to be lost that business is able to add £10k to the bottom line ; an easy justification for a project that cost much less than that to implement! Get more like this

We've been approached by a university lecturer who wants to use what we're doing as the basis for a research dissertation project by a post-graduate MSc student! It'll be fun to engage with a more academic approach, but with both statistically quantifiable data and analysis gained from semi-structured interviews and surveys as part of the process. So, I've been asked to put together a brief for potential MSc students to bid for their involvement in the project: Our customers use iPad and Android phones and tablets for mobile data capture, business intelligence reporting and process improvements. They are looking to cut costs, increase revenue, strengthen relationships with customers and lock out competitors to gain strategic advantage ...  In running this project you will demonstrate the effectiveness of this innovative approach to mobile information systems, displaying your valuable research, analysis and consulting skills.  You will establish the marketplac...

So I was asked why I'd been silent on the blogs and Tweet spaces for some months... Simple answer, it's actually a thought-through response to a particular client situation: rather than have to watch what I write to make sure that I didn't give any of their game away, it was easier just to impose some silence on myself. The interesting thing has been to see that the blog readership has not dropped off a cliff in the months since the beginning of May! People are still finding this blog; and still reading some surprisingly old but still relevant posts. Very heart warming, thank you! Now, though, it seems like a good time to banish the voluntary writer's block and gradually contribute some new material... The next month or so is going to see quite a lot of new activity in several of our product lines and across a couple of quite different industry sectors. And we've got some innovations that are going to be worth showcasing. Meanwhile, the tech world around cont...

I freely admit that what most women dismiss as a mere cold has me, as a man, wanting to call in the air ambulance. This morning I had to send the same email three times because I made a silly mistake on the first two attempts and I'm left feeling that I really shouldn't be left in charge of a keyboard today, still less encouraged to talk on the phone. The technology means that I can work wherever and whenever I have an Internet connection; but there are times like today when it's best just to hide behind voice mail and ignore the buzz of incoming communications ... I have a feeling that I'll get well again faster and have fewer apologies to make for mistakes made under the influence of Paracetomol. It's hard to switch off, and that's today's learning point, but it's important to do so, to give myself permission to be sick and time to recover. Get more like this

A chat today with the very talented Emily Davis  convinced me that I really should start blogging again. We were talking about how today's technology changes mean that nice office spaces are less and less critical to business success; and yet in other ways couldn't be more vital. Here's the paradox : On the one hand , after a recent business trip to a client's UK office I was able to park up the car outside a local store to buy my lunch; then have a voice and video chat in the sunshine with colleagues in America to keep a project on track. Similarly, last Friday I carried on an instant messaging conversation as I flitted between meetings in London and across underground public transport on the Tube where I had no Internet connection ... The result was that I had everything I wanted set up for me, confirmed by phone as I walked up to the office in Canary Wharf fifteen minutes before the meeting started. And my day had started out with me receiving an overnight so...