The PEPPER smoothie website went live on Friday 16th May.

So what is PEPPER smoothie?...

Simply put, PEPPER smoothie is on demand web content management for business websites with zero upfront cost. Supplied via the Software-as-a-Service business model users simply pay a fixed monthly service fee to use our solution, built in Pepperio by Mediasurface (or should that be Alterian?), to manage their business website.

And what of the creative process talked about in previous posts?...

Let's just say that the website features juggling balls, spinning plates and a first for the sector (well, at least I've not seen one used elsewhere before), a Video MC - go take a look at http://www.peppersmoothie.com.

Okay, sorry for the delay in posting this but I've been busy............ so John's Diner turns out to be John's Cafe, it's on the corner of East 44th and 2nd and just a few short steps away from my first night hotel.

Basic decor and fittings inside but this just add to the atmosphere of authenticity. I recommend a seat at the far end of the counter where you're right next to the breakfast chef - you're so close you could reach over and crack open your own eggs on his hot-plate. Coffee appears before you settle in your seat and refills just keep on coming. Menu is just what you'd expect and in typical 'when in Rome...' fashion I ordered the Hungry John with two sunny side ups - although soft over easy appears to be in vogue with my fellow diners.

Who says men can't multi-task? If anyone ever says that to you again then whisk them away to John's Cafe and let them watch the breakfast chef do his stuff. With orders flying in from all directions he calmly and effortlessly goes about his business; few eggs here, some bacon there, saugages here, pancakes there, breakfast potatoes here.... poetry in motion. 

And the food? Let's just say I know where I'm having breakfast next time I'm in Mahattan.

Apparently it is fashionable for commentators to make predictions for the next year. So I thought I might try and predict what is in store for Mimtech.

1. In January we have new staff joining us (not a prediction, I have already hired them) so I expect there to be more going on in the office and having to make tea less often
2. We have some training lined up in different WCM platforms for most of the techie guys so I predict a lot more geek speak and jargon being bandied around
3. We will launch a new offering in January but I won't spoil the surprise just yet, we will be getting a lot of attention and new and exciting business in the New Year
4. I will be more tired (my wife is having our second child next week)
5. Obtree users will start to consider their investment a bit more carefully
6. Mimtech will land our first big implementation in New Zealand early next year, this is already at a fairly advanced stage in the sales process
7. Lots of new processes, as we grow this is inevitable if a bit dull
8. Less chatter about Web 2.0 and more real value add development work being done in general
9. More community activity in the WCM space we operate in
10. Software as a service replacing Web  2.0 as the buzz phrase of the moment
11. Uses have more control over the presentation layer
    
12. Celtic and Rangers striking a deal to become one club - Glasgow United. Or maybe an end to world poverty and conflict. Or Microsoft bringing out some bug free software. Or Apple releasing a product that doesn't start with i. Obese being the new size zero. I appear to have run out of sensible ideas.
    

I've just been sent this by a Kiwi mate of mine...

Willie left the Highlands for the first time in his life to work in London.

His mother phoned him a few weeks later to see how he was.

"It's very strange, Ma", he said, "The man in the flat next door screams and shouts all night and the woman on the other side is continually banging her head against the wall".

"Well you keep yourself to yourself, Willie", says his mother, "Don't get involved".

"No I don't, Ma" says Willie, "I just sit here and play my bagpipes".

Everyone at Mimtech is committed to reducing the environmental impact of providing our services by becoming a more efficient business. We're remote from the vast majority of our customers which results in lots of flights and time wasted stuck in transit.

Did you know that 1 person flying from London to New York = 1.87 tonnes of carbon emissions?

Where practical Mimtech embrace technology like WebEx to help reduce our carbon footprint by facilitating meetings online as an alternative to inefficient travel. This together with engaging, inspiring and empowering our staff and customers help us meet the challenge of how best to deal with some of the serious green issues facing us all.

Next time you want to see us why don't you request an online meeting with Mimtech via the registration/contact form at http://www.mimtech.com/contacts.asp?

If you've never experienced just how effective an online meeting can be take a look at the demo here. 

I'm over the ditch in Sydney for a few days and just about to have a working breakfast with Chris Tew, SVP Asia Pacific for Mediasurface.

Full on schedule packing in three days Immediacy training, a couple client visits and catching up with an old drinking buddie from Lochcarron before flying back to Auckland from the West Island on Thursday night. Who says you can't burn the candle at both ends?

It has gone past 1 o'clock in the morning and Doug and I have joined Adam in New Zealand and Chris and John from Immediacy in Australia for a live demo to a NZ client. It is just the start for us in this part of the world but already I'm thinking of the time (in the near future) when the NZ team is bigger and more autonomous.

The truth is that Adam doesn't need us to do this. He's more than capable, but it's the first one and I want to be able to say 'remember when we used to do webex's through the night when we were just a new business in this part of the world?'.

All the start up books tell you you need to learn to let go. Not hanging up the phone just yet.

So goes the first line of '9 to 5', the title soundtrack song to the film Working Girl.

No, not another post about my musical tastes but one about how out dated the concept is that we're all living in a business world structured around an eight hour day. Globalized communication networks, the backbone of the internet, have shrunk the world into a single inter-connected market place where successful organisations operate 24 hours a day.

The internet is a great leveller and you no longer need to be a geographically dispersed company to become a global player. What you do need however is a 'global' website, localized to the geographical territories where you want to operate, and the confidence that it's available and working for you 24/7/365.

Unless you want your IT/web team to be working all hours that confidence only comes from working with a support partner who offers that service. We didn't want to work nights either so we opened the office in Auckland. When we sleep they're awake and when they sleep we're awake - and we even talk sometimes in between, perfect!

Greetings from KiwiLand - it's a lovely day here and I've just got back from the local primary school where, like any good Englishman(!), I'm teaching the kids how to play cricket...

How's Glasgow - dreich and windy?