SME Blog

ICAEW IT Counts wins award

If you thought that the words innovation and accountant never belonged in the same sentence then it is time to think again. That's what I said in March 2008 about IT Counts a new online network launched by the ICAEW focused on IT, but with a strong business slant.

I'm not the only one with that view as IT Counts has just won Best New Web 2.0 Initiative at the Web 2.0 Strategies 2008 event in London chaired by Euan Semple. 

A look at the current statistics for the site shows:

Community Statistics

3197           Users
169             Posting(s)
394             Comments

The comments to post ratio of 2.3 is a good sign for a new community especially one not based on the forum Q&A approach, but in providing longer blog posts.  The user numbers are also encouraging given IT Counts has only been going three months with no big publicity launch and is an online network for Chartered Accountants where IT isn't normally their main focus.  Perhaps most encouraging is that feedback received from members on the site is very positive.

I've been lucky enough to be involved with the ICAEW's online network development and it has been a pleasure to see these first green shoots emerge so well. Congratulations to the ICAEW for being forward thinking and having the mettle to launch IT Counts at a time when most organisations still haven't woken up and grapsed the benefits of online networks for business.

Reputation and the SME

Reputation is considered to be important, but why?  First of all I’m going define what reputation is.  I’ll take Steven Nock’s definition as “a shared, or collective perception about a person.”

I would take the word person to include a legal entity such as a SME company.  Also note the word perception.  It is quite possible for a good person to have a bad reputation.  It is also quite possible for a company to be trading on its past reputation, but delivering at a lower level than its competitors.

Daniel J Solove in his book The Future of Reputation notes that “We have a lot at stake in our relationships…in many circumstances we look to people’s reputation to decide whether to trust them.”

For most of us trust is a very important ingredient in business.  This is especially true for the majority of SME's that obtain work through recommendation.  Anything that damages trust and reduces that chance of recommendation for the SME should be a real concern. Loss of reputation is without doubt a genuine business concern.

When it comes to reputation men and women have for centuries been concerned about their reputation and with good reason.  The opinion of the individual’s community could be a matter of life or death for individuals such as “witches” that did not fit comfortably within the norm.  Whilst the consequences of reputation damage are unlikely to be as dire in the modern business world the means of the damage are similar and often result through:

1.    Reputation damage brought about by untruths and dubious data,
2.    Reputation damage by shameful behaviour or action that doesn’t meet the norm being exposed.

One strategy to avoid reputation damage is to keep a low profile, but given that a good reputation can help build trust and bring businesses keeping a low profile for a business is not always the best approach.

My own take on the situation is that the internet is bringing with it transparency and also leaving a trail that is likely to be semi-permanent.  The approach I can recommend is to be involved in something where you really strive to deliver and of which you are personally genuinely passionate.  It should reduce the risk of point 2 above and with any luck your business will have some supporters to stand up to any nonsense from point 1.