Blogs in Organizations

Blogs can be very useful and beneficial to an organization. For example, an accounting firm can use a blog to advertise itself to potential clients. These potential clients can get a taste of what the firm is really like and what they specialize in to decide if they want to conduct business with that firm. It can also transfer updated information to already existing customers and contacts. For example, a change in management personnel or a new tax law that can benefit several of that firm’s clients can be advertised. The blog can also be useful to provide the internal organization with information to keep employees informed.

Advantages

• Blogs can help the organization develop closer ties with its customers (McGovern, 2004).
  
• Blogs are a good way to get feedback from customers to see how they like/dislike different business ideas (McGovern, 2004).


• Blogs can be used to showcase the talent and capabilities of the organization (McGovern, 2004).


• Blogs provide the ability to target customers in a professional manner and at a low cost (Wilson, 2010).


• Blogs allow firms to connect with other businesses, increasing the firm’s presence in the industry (Wilson, 2010).

Disadvantages

• The people who know more and are most involved with the organization often do not have time to write a blog (McGovern, 2004).


• Blogs are easy to start-up but they are difficult to maintain. Often times, organizations start up blogs but fail to regularly update them (McGovern, 2004).


• In order to compete with other businesses, many companies will have to invest a lot of money in customizing the blog and getting trained experts to adjust it (Kaushik, 2008).


• Users can potentially leave negative messages on the blog deteriorating the image of the organization (Chetty, 2010).

References:

Chetty, P. (2010, Februaury 16). The Drawbacks of Business Blogging. Retrieved March 26, 2010, from Project Guru: http://www.projectguru.in/publications/?p=101

Kaushik, P. (2008, Novemeber 24). All About Corporate Blogging. Retrieved March 26, 2010, from Suite101: http://internet.suite101.com/article.cfm/all_about_corporate_blogging

McGovern, G. (2004, August 23). Blogs and Blogging: Advantages And Disadvantages. Retrieved March 26, 2010, from Website Notes: http://archive.websitenotes.com/websitenotes-37-20040823BlogsandBloggingAdvantagesandDisadvantages.html

Wilson, T. (2010, March 25). Business Blogs- What Advantages do they have for your Business? Retrieved March 27, 2010, from Article Alley: http://www.articlealley.com/article_1469016_80.html

What are the Disadvantages of Blogs?

E-Paper does have its disadvantages like any other piece of technology. A major difficulty lies in publishers’ ability to adapt to this new technology due to its intricacy (E-paper and its Disadvantages for Organizations, 2008). These publishers still have to invest a large sum of money in actually applying the technology over using a print based medium and advertising its services. Also, in the beginning, this technology is more expensive than paper, making customers reluctant to adapt the e-paper instead of their regular newspaper and magazines.

Moreover, smaller publishing companies might not have enough money to compete with these larger organizations who are embracing the e-paper, driving them out of business (E-paper and the future of electronic publishing, 2005).

Also, piracy is a large issue with this technology. Publishers and Newsprint organizations can end up losing large amounts of money because of this issue (E-paper and its Disadvantages for Organizations, 2008). Once some content is present on the web, there is no guarantee that, that particular information cannot be sent to other users. In order to make this technology work for publishing companies, a solution will have to be discovered quickley.

Furthermore, in the case of the advertising industry, many companies first experienced trouble programming the e-paper signs (E-paper and its Disadvantages for Organizations, 2008). This can make many organizations regret their decision to go with e-paper and make them less likely to recommend this technology to others.

References:

E-paper and its Disadvantages for Organizations. (2008, November 25). Retrieved March 26, 2010, from E-paper: The Paper of the Future: http://e-paper23.blogspot.com/2008/11/e-paper-and-disadvantages-for.html

E-paper and the future of electronic publishing. (2005, March 14). Retrieved March 26th, 2010, from AME info: http://www.ameinfo.com/55729.html

What are the Advantages of E-paper?

E-Paper has a variety of advantages. One of these is in its design. Most e-paper models are safe for outdoor advertising from harsh weather conditions. Also, its size, low power demands and flexibility allow it to be portable so that it can be rolled and fitted into a shirt pocket or a purse. Moreover, it is extremely easy to download information using any satellite device (Casatelli, 2009).

E-Paper will be beneficial to Newspaper, Book and Magazine readers. It would allow readers to gain access to their favourite publishings without having to carry many different papers. It would also become more convenient then having to physically go out and buy the publication.

The newspaper and magazine industry would also benefit due to the cost savings from the reduction of production. This would be extremely beneficial to the newspaper industry as their subscriptions are declining due to the availability of news on the internet. With an E-newspaper, they would be able to acquire new customers and provide more recent information since they would not have to face the production time lags (E-paper and the future of electronic publishing, 2005). The same would also apply to the magazine industry. In addition, this would create a tremendous impact on the environment from the large amounts of reduction in paper.

The advertising industry will greatly benefit from e-paper by saving costs and increasing their efficiency. It is also shown that e-paper advertisements, labels and product displays are more visually appealing to customers (Casatelli, Ink-in-Motion Displays Captivate Shoppers, 2009). Thus, this has the potential to bring in tremendous revenue for the organizations that do choose to use this new technology.

References:

Casatelli, L. M. (2009, April 8). Epaper Central Talks with E-paper Inventor Nick Sheridon. Retrieved March 26, 2010, from Epapercentral: http://www.epapercentral.com/epaper-central-talks-with-epaper-inventor-nick-sheridon.htm

Casatelli, L. M. (2009, July 7). Ink-in-Motion Displays Captivate Shoppers. Retrieved March 26, 2010, from epapercentral: http://www.epapercentral.com/ink-in-motion-displays-captivate-shoppers.htm

E-paper and the future of electronic publishing. (2005, March 14). Retrieved March 26th, 2010, from AME info: http://www.ameinfo.com/55729.html

What Technologies will E-Paper replace?

E-Paper has the potential to replace paper that is used in any form. However, these are some of the projected uses:

Labelling- E-Paper has the potential to eliminate all forms of paper based labels such as those used in supermarkets, drugstores and retail giants such as Wal-Mart. It can also be used in businesses to label office supplies such as binders. This can result in great efficiency and time savings for these organizations, as the information can get updated instantly. E-paper can also be used in electronic displays used in kitchen appliances and entertainment devices such as mp3 players and microwaves (The Future of Electronic Paper, 2007).

E-readers- E-paper has the potential to eliminate all paper based books, newspapers and magazines and existing electronic readers such as Amazon’s Kindle and iRex’s iLiad (The Future of Electronic Paper, 2007). Some newspapers are jumping on the bandwagon early and deploying their version of an E-newspaper. Predictions state that E-Newspapers will take up to 25% of the newspaper market by 2012 (Ragnet, 2007).

Advertising- E-paper will perhaps have its biggest impact in the advertising industry. E-paper can potentially be used to replace billboards and advertising posters in order to change the advertising media, depending on the target costumers. This would allow advertisements on buses and in shopping centers to name a few, to change at the click of a button. According to a Japanese study, commuters are 50% more likely to look at an advertisement with a moving image on E-paper (Japan's Electronic Paper Advertising Poster, 2009).

References:

Japan's Electronic Paper Advertising Poster. (2009, July 24). Retrieved March 26, 2010, from PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/2009/07/japans-electronic-paper-advertising-poster.html

Ragnet, F. (2007, June 26). E-paper- a suitable replacement for paper? Retrieved March 26, 2010, from The Future of Documents: http://futureofdocuments.blogs.xerox.com/2007/06/26/e-paper-a-suitable-replacement-for-paper/

The Future of Electronic Paper. (2007, October 15). Retrieved March 26, 2010, from The Future of Things: http://thefutureofthings.com/articles/1000/the-future-of-electronic-paper.html

What is E-paper?

According to SearchMobileComputing.com, E-paper is defined as “a portable, reusable storage and display medium that looks like paper but can be repeatedly written on (refreshed)-by electronic means- thousands or millions of times” (E-Paper, 2001). This new emerging technology has revolutionized the standard sheet of paper and adapted it to our changing and technologically influenced society. The information desired on the e-paper can be downloaded using a computer or any other electronic device such as a cell phone. Information can also be created from scratch using an electronic version of a pencil (E-Paper, 2001).

Several designs have been developed by different companies:

Gyricon (Developed by Xerox and 3M) – This E-paper consists of a transparent layer of plastic made up of “bichromal beads” of 2 colors (usually black and white). Use of voltage causes the beads to rotate to display text or imaging. Gyricon does not require any lighting module (Gyricon, 2009).

E-Ink (Developed by Lucent)- This E-paper consists of millions of capsules that contain dyes which are light and dark. When these dyed particles are electronically charged, they move up and down along the paper, displaying the desired information. The E-ink model runs on batteries used for watches (E-Paper , 2001).

Flexible E-paper Display (Developed by LG)- This is the model that is the largest (19 inches) and most flexible out in the market. This E-paper uses a “ metal foil layered over a TFT display instead of a glass substrate”, this is what gives this technology its extended flexibility (LG Debuts Flexible E-Paper, 2010).

References:

E-Paper. (2001, March 23). Retrieved March 26, 2010, from SearchMobileComputing: http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/e-paper

Gyricon. (2009, November 25). Retrieved March 26, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyricon

LG Debuts Flexible E-Paper. (2010, January 17). Retrieved March 26, 2010, from Epaper central: http://www.epapercentral.com/lg-debuts-flexible-epaper.htm