We have a winner!!!!

Small Business Software Accelerator - Red Letter Day Competition Winners

During the exhibition at the Business Startup Show we ran a couple of competitions.

There was the 'business card in a bowl' competition - Basically if you put your business card into our bowl then you entered a draw to win a gourmet meal for 2 at a wide range of restaurants across the UK.

There was also another, less successful 'Twitter retweet' competition. To be entered into this competition you needed to retweet one of our tweets on 17 & 18 May. Practically no one did this so the chances of winning were great!


The selection process

A number of people I have spoken to think that this sort of competition is always a fix. We totally disagree with this. At the risk of sounding like a politician, the Small Business Software Accelerator stands for totally free, fair and transparent running of competitions. Here is how the selection worked:

I typed all the names and businesses from the business cards into Excel.
I numbered each name from 1, 2, 3 etc.
I used a number randomizer website to generate a random list.
The highest number won.

Simples!

The Twitter competition worked in exactly the same way.
In the end there were only 9 retweets! A complete waste of time really. Except for the lucky winner!
(I start to suspect that Twitter itself is a useless, time wasting tool. We will persevere a little while longer to be absolutely sure.)

For any doubters who are unconvinced that a competition like this can be run with integrity, please get in touch and I will forward you the spreadsheets with the selection process details.


The winners

Business Card Competition - Barnet Youth Business Incubator
Twitter competition - British SME magazine

Well done to the winners. We hope you have a great meal courtesy of the Small Business Software Accelerator. Thanks to everyone else that entered the competition and all the interesting people we met at the Business Startup Show. It was an excellent event! Maybe we will see some of you at the next one.

Small Business Software Accelerator

Launch event at the Business Startup Show
We had a fantastic launch event at the Business Startup Show on 17 & 18 May. There was a lot of interest in the Small Business Software Accelerator. Our stand was buzzing throughout the two days.

It is great to meet so many engaging entrepreneurs with exciting ideas and brilliant businesses. The range of businesses was a constant surprise including small, medium and large ventures and offers as wide as international government negotiation to Google sponsored app startups to digital furniture manufacture.

Setting up the stand

The team busily preparing on the morning of the event.

Applications

Since the event we have had some fascinating applications from a wide range of businesses. Over the coming weeks we will assess each application received to select ten finalists. Each applicant will be sent a full written feedback on their application by the start of June. 

The next stage of the project will see around 10 finalists selected. We will conduct more detailed conversations to identify 2 or 3 businesses that are a good match for our project that we will partner with over the coming 6 to 12 months.

Interest

A picture of the team talking to business men and women about the software accelerator

Some thanks

Firstly a big thank you to the Software Accelerator team who made the launch day possible. I said this on the day but it is worth repeating that it would not have been possible without you. The results of the day were terrific and we can all be proud of our performance over the two days.

Thanks to the Prysmgroup team. Your constant helpfulness over the two days ensure the event ran smoothly.

Thanks to the New York design team. Our stand, fliers, business cards and on screen advert all looked great and as the perfect backdrop to our project.

What next

Watch this space for details of the finalists and news on who we partner with over the coming months. 

And finally...

Check out this picture. Something to do with perspective, the fish eye and the blue background gives the impression of a withered Edwin and colossal Simon. (surely this is not how it normally looks?!! My head is about 5 times bigger than Ed's!)

Small Business Software Accelerator

A little press interest

Our press release made it into couple of articles about the Software Accelerator:

The Next Women
Yahoo Finance
Fresh Business Thinking

Small Business Software Accelerator

Applications open!
So here it is! Applications are now open for the Small Business Software Accelerator, our unique project helping small businesses to succeed. A brief summary of the project, for those that do not yet know:

We are looking for small businesses with ambitions for rapid growth that need bespoke software to drive their business success.

What we are offering is free software development with no upfront costs. Payment will be linked to the software performance – payment starts only once the software is driving business success.

This is a competition. To be considered for the project visit www.condaal.com/sbsa and fill in our 10 question application form. You can also meet the founders on 17 & 18 May at The Business Startup Show where we are launching the project.

It’s pretty much as simple as that! (More info)


Busy busy!
The last couple of weeks have been exceptionally productive, getting ready for the launch.

We have been busy with the new website design, the online questionnaire, an automated system to create application feedback reports, flier design, social media, copywriting, networking, stand design, banner printing, PR, gym and even a little sleep!

We are delighted by how it is all coming together and now I cannot wait until The Business Startup Show on 17 & 18 May. This is shaping up to be a great event in its own right with over 250 speakers and seminars covering everything a business needs to succeed.

A big word of thanks to the event organizers. The Prysmgroup team have all been so supportive of our project, from the free one page editorial promoting what is a unique offer at their event, to their constant social media support. They even said they would try to get our press release into a few publications! We will see how this goes over the coming week.


Bring on the Business Startup Show
From here on in we are finalizing our preparations for the show as well as reviewing all the applications that come in. This is where the fun really starts!

Look out for tweets about our favourite entries and hopefully I’ll be seeing you on 17 & 18 May.


It’s all too beautiful!!!
Check out our marketing flier.
Our spec was ‘Make it like Ichycoo Park’. The design team delivered!
We will be handing these out at the event.
Big thanks to the NY design team for their help with this.

Small Business Software Accelerator

A first look at our stand

Here are our first ideas on stand design. Possibly we will make the back wall a little more interesting before the event. (Not sure who is the lady in red)


For more information visit www.condaal.com/SBSA

Small Business Software Accelerator

Artwork - first draft

We have done some work on the logo and designs. This is how it looks so far. The stand and leaflets will be based around this design. It is coming on nicely.


For more information visit www.condaal.com/SBSA

Small Business Software Accelerator

Meet the team

We are launching the Small Business Software Accelerator at ExCel on 17 & 18 May. For businesses that are interested in applying, this is a great opportunity to talk to the team and find out how we can help your business grow.

Feedback at The Business Show
Fill out your application before 14 May and you will receive feedback on your proposal from the founders. We will review your proposal before the event and let you know your chances of progressing to the finals of the competition.

For more information visit www.condaal.com/SBSA

Small Business Software Accelerator

Your business.

Together, we can take it further.

Apply now for exceptional software development with no upfront costs
The Small Business Software Accelerator program from Condaal could provide an exceptional software solution that drives your company, without any of the usual risks and upfront costs. Winning entrants will receive software that's free on delivery, so you pay nothing upfront. Our remuneration will be based on the software's success and contribution to your business performance.


What does it take to win?
We're seeking great ideas driven by dynamic businesses. If you're selected as a winner, we will consult closely with you and develop outstanding software that works perfectly for your business.

Nothing to lose. Everything to gain.
Entering the Small Business Software Accelerator program gives you the exclusive opportunity to:

• work alongside an outstanding software development team with a proven ability of taking small businesses to the next level
• receive an exceptional software solution without paying upfront costs
• free your business from risk through payments linked to your software's success. 

Applications open on 7th May
To apply for the opportunity to win a bespoke software
solution that drives your business success, complete
our application questionnaire at

www.condaal.com/SBSA

Meet the team
We are delighted to launch the Small Business Software Accelerator at the Business Startup Show, held at ExCeL in London on 17 and 18 May. To find out more about how being a winner will help your business grow, meet the team on stand 239. And if you apply by 14 May, we will provide feedback on your proposal at the event.

For more information visit www.condaal.com/SBSA

Council project – Delivering performance in councils through software

We are excited to announce the launch of our project for local councils. Condaal will deliver real efficiency savings and productivity gains in local councils by applying Lean Information principles and building Lean Information solutions.

The project has two features that differ from standard software projects. These are reduced risk for the council and an innovative approach to project management.

Reduced risk for the council

The features that reduce the risk to the council are:

·           No up-front costs to the council

·           Condaal will deliver exceptional quality bespoke software solutions

·           There is zero risk to the council - The council pays only for what they use and the council decides whether to use our solutions

·           Total financial clarity

The key benefit to the council is that Condaal is assuming all of the risk in this project, making the proposal risk free for the council. We are prepared to take on this risk as we are completely confident in our ability to produce exceptional software solutions that produce measurable efficiency savings and productivity gains for council staff.

Innovative project management

The key to success in this project (and to a large extent in every project) is the relationships that are formed between the development team and the software users. Relationship building is the central theme of our project management approach.

Condaal’s projects are characterized by enthusiasm, drive, clarity and a determination to succeed. When we recruit, the character of potential recruits is the critical factor. We are defined by our drive and enthusiasm for what we do. Our success is built on our team reflecting these values.

The same is true for the work we carry out in this project. We see the software users as part of the development team. The success of each piece of software we deliver depends on the relationships we build, the ideas we share, and a team vision of more efficient, more effective systems.

We will work with the council to identify staff with the character to perfectly fit in our team. These people will be defined by:

A natural enthusiasm for their work

An innate drive to make things better

A clear perception of the aspects of their role that are right and the aspects that require improvement

Partners

In the first instance we are looking for two councils to work with closely to deliver some exceptional software and validate our business model.

More information

Click here to download the full project proposal

If you would like to meet with Condaal to discuss how this project can help your council contact Condaal on 0207 7316902 or email to enquiries@condaal.com

Visual.ly – How does it work?

On 12 March 2012 infographics startup Visual.ly launched (with some fanfare in the visualisation community) a new suite of infographic visualisation tools. Visual.ly have had some large investment rounds, with over $2m invested so far, based on their plans to democratise visualisation. I took a look around to see what is on offer.

Visual.ly are creating a community that submits, reviews and rates data visualisations and infographics, provides learning materials and articles for content creators and links up data visualisation experts with businesses and advertisers.

The new visualisation tools allow users to use pre-packaged visualisations to present their data. Currently the examples available are statistically very simple with some interesting styling. They allow basic analysis of Twitter and Facebook statistics.

Here is a promotional video that explains the concept.

The Visual.ly website describes the new tools:

BIG NEWS. THE WAIT IS OVER. INFOGRAPHIC CREATION TOOLS ARE HERE

Visualizations are powerful, but they’ve required time and hard work to create -- until now. You no longer need expensive software, extensive design skills, or number crunching ability. We’re building a tool that will allow everyone to quickly and easily create professional quality designs with their own data. And when you’re ready to show your work to the world, publish it on your Visual.ly profile, your own personal showcase.

Lee Sherman (Chief content officer at Visual.ly) said they’re trying to marry the ease of use that exemplifies Mint with the greater world of data out there. And while right now that means just making some instant graphics using Twitter and Facebook data, that will soon mean access to various APIs and publicly available data sets, as well as letting users upload their own data and even mash up data sources. Ultimately, Sherman said, users will be able to move away from pre-packaged infographics and actually edit the fields themselves. (gigaom.com)

Where are they headed?

This all sounds mighty exciting! After hunting for information I am left to conclude that there is not enough out there at the moment to see where Visual.ly is headed. This has left me to ponder….

It sounds like the big idea is to pre-package visualisations and get people to plug their data into them. This would do for infographics what a calculator did for simple maths. Instead of working it out yourself, you can type in some numbers and the answer is created.

To create more complex statistical models for visualisations that allow users to plug in their own data would produce some interesting and complicated programming challenges. If visual.ly head down the route of making complex charts, images and graphics that can be used to produce enlightening views of data, this would be a commendable endeavour with great utility. I also love the idea of datasets being made available on their website for people to interrogate and produce graphics with. That sounds like fun as well as potentially opening up huge datasets for the populous to dissect and analyse.

I will be interested to see if the site is filled with visually interesting but statistically childish charts. Content of low statistical quality will be much easier to create. It will also be much easier for users to apply to simple datasets as not much numerical understanding is required. Instant access to high impact charts with a low statistical utility could be used in many a presentation to liven things up, but may not be much use in providing new perspectives using data. Fancy graphics lacking in substance could even obscure interesting analysis if emphasis shifts from statistical rigour to pretty presentation.

The big question for me is this: 

Will the site improve the use of data in infographics and visualisation? Or will the site shift the emphasis of infographics towards design rather than statistical content? 

One thing is for sure, it will be interesting to see how it develops.




Simon Conway is a co-founder of Condaal and an evangelist for Lean Information. He can be reached on simon.conway@condaal.com

Hack rape stats shocker!!! (Journalistic misuse of statistics – Part 1)

From time to time I stumble across an article that so thoroughly abuses statistics, I feel compelled to write something down. I spotted an excellent case in point in the Metro on 28^th February.

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/891565-serial-rapists-stay-free-because-of-failures-by-police-and-prosecutors

Here’s a summary:

The title proclaims: “Serial rapists ‘stay free because of failures by police and prosecutors’.” The title sets the scene. After reading this title I am expecting an expose on the failures of law in the UK and horror stories of serial rapists stalking the streets. Pretty gripping stuff!

The subtitle embellishes this with “Serial rapists may be escaping justice because of a raft of failures by police and prosecutors, a damning report claims.” Currently we are still very much on the theme of expose and serial rapist terror.

We enter the body of the text and statistics start being bandied about:

“Their attacks go unrecorded because as many as three in ten reported rapes are written off as if no crime ever took place, the investigation reveals.” This sentence states that as many as 3 in 10 rapes are assigned as ‘no crime’ committed. The use of the emotive words ‘as many as’ and ‘as if no crime ever took place’ gives the impression that this is a scandal. I have no idea if this is a scandal or not. I have nothing to compare this statistic to. The language informs me that a scandal has taken place rather than the meaningless statistic.

“Figures showed almost 12 per cent of rape cases in 2010 ended with police ruling no crime had been committed compared with just three per cent of GBH cases.” A few sentences later we are presented the national statistic of less than 12% of rape cases assigned as ‘no crime’ committed. This is much lower than the 30% rate that was quoted above. Why the drop? This is cleared up in the following sentence:

“In Kent, the figure was 30 per cent although it was just 2.4 per cent in Gloucestershire.” It appears that rather than using the larger, more accurate data set at the start of the article the reporter cherry picked the biggest number to sensationalize. This latest comparison begs the question ‘Why is there such a difference in

‘no crime’ judgements between Gloucestershire and Kent?’ The question remains unanswered.

“More than one in ten of these decisions were wrong, according to an analysis of at least 100 such ‘no crimes’, the report says.” Wait one second! This statistic shows 1 in 10 of the rape cases assigned as ‘No crime’ is incorrect. So of the 12% of rape cases assigned as ‘No crime’ nationally, 1.2% are incorrectly assigned. We have dropped from 30% in the first sentence of the article to 1.2%. This is disguised through confusing words. It definitely did not jump out at me. I read the text several times to decipher the conflicting stories being told by the statistics and the text.

“Interpol record checks on rapes abroad ‘were not regularly conducted’, even though they can identify a pattern of offending.” This sentence is the justification for the serial rapists. The incidence of serial rape by foreigners in the UK would have been interesting line of enquiry. As it stands the article gives no clue as to the size of this problem. The title persuades us towards the seriousness of the issue. The data gives us too little information to refute the titles proclamation.

Journalism as weak as this is undermines the story that it tells. Without clear facts about a story how can a serious dialogue develop? A quick scan of Wikipedia and related articles on the internet gives a sense that there are serious issues with rape convictions in the UK. A home office study in 2005 states some facts we know about rape:

Since the age of 16, 7 per cent of women had suffered a serious sexual assault at least once in their lifetime (5% had been raped).

The paper reports ‘an estimated annual incidence rate of 47,000 adult female victims of rape.’

“Home Office figures show an on-going decline in the conviction rate for reported rape cases, putting it at an all-time low of 5.6 per cent in 2002.”

A number of studies have found high rates of ‘no criming’

These are serious issues. Unfortunately Metro and Nick Herbert haven’t provided the facts, clarity or dialogue to support the cause.

Opening post

Welcome to the Condaal blog.

Bringing you our take on lean information.

We want the world to understand this vital concept and why it is important to business, the world and life itself.

We will have links to lean information and information that is out of shape, reviews of software that we love or hate and anything else we find interesting.

Enjoy!