When the team at the RAMP Group came up with concept of NetProphet about 8 months ago, we thought it was going to be a big risk, but the potential was just too hard to resist. We decided that White Wall Web and RSAWEB would be willing to commit to sponsoring if we could find other sponsors to make up the difference (between the costs and the sponsorship - a task that proved harder to achieve than we initially presumed). We felt that, if we get 200 delegates to attend, we would have done very, very well…

Then fast foward to today…

400 delegates arrived and queued to get access to the Old Mutual Business School (amazing venue). Some nice touches faciliated an incredibly interactive vibe - a Twitter fountain on the big screen was one, a decent number of breaks was another, a one hour lunch was another and QA sessions when time allowed was another.

A great mix of speakers, some well known, others less known, but all “experts” (or at least passionate and researched) about particular subjects. See the full agenda and speakers on the NetProphet site. Marlon Parker wrote a succint personal account of the days procedings, naming it a “wake up call.”

All the Twitter activity got us top 10 trended on Twitter for about 5-6 hours (we hit 2nd at one point and were 4th overall for the day on #NetProphet).

As a sponsor and organizer, this was incredibly satisfying, especially since the community expressed so much appreciation for our efforts (I trust that we won’t have to lobby so hard next time to get the sponsorship required to run this event).

At RAMP HQ tomorrow I’m sure there will be loads of discussion and post event analysis and we’ll be deciding how to take this event (and brand) from strength to strength. I hope to convince Tim Price (who heads up RAMP Marketing) to blog the story of how NetProphet came about, and how we managed to make it succeed as it did, as a kind of marketing case study.

Mike Stopforth blogged a great endorsement for NetProphet which seems to sum up the sentiment (which is also immensely satisfying).

Right now, I’m about to hit the sack feeling very pleased with our first NetProphet and proud of the amazing team of people I get to spend my working days with.

All presentations, videos, post talk interviews (video) and pics will be up on www.netprophet.org.za shortly.

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White Wall Web is proud to be sponsoring an exciting new initiative called NetProphet, which aims to educate, inspire creativity and promote the flow of ideas amongst South Africans operating within or investigating the Internet business/technology space.

NetProphet brings together a host of industry experts who will help delegates get a handle on where they see the industry being headed, the technologies and companies investors are interested in, new trends to follow and practical ways to extract maximum business value from the Internet.

NetProphets speaking at the event include Herman Heunis, CEO of Mixit, Arthur Goldstuck, owner of World Wide Worx, social media specialist, Mike Stopforth, Hannes van Rensburg, founding member of Fundamo, Dave Duarte of Huddlemind and Peter Flynn, MD of White Wall Web to name but a few.

Topics to be discussed include:

• Why the Digital Going is Good in Bad Times
• Harnessing the Social Web for Brands
• Successfully Integrating Web and Mobile into Your Media Mix
• Software as a Service
• The Entrepreneur’s Perspective on Vulture Capital
• The Art of Making the Transition to Transacting Online
• Opportunities for Entrepreneurs Looking to the Mobile Web

The conference is hosted by the non-profit RAMP Foundation and is FREE to attend (delegates must register at www.netprophet.org.za in order to attend). To find out more, or register for this event, visit www.netprophet.org.za.

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Just a quick update about TravelLogger. In just under one month we are proud to announce 100 subscribers/users for www.travellogger.co.za.

People are using it nicely! We introduced an “invite a friend” function and a number of users have already invited more than one friend. Over 300 logs have been created.
Have a great Easter weekend all…

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A recent study shows how a disturbing number of development projects still fail due to poor upfront analysis.

I think that this oversimplifies - the devil is in the detail. From experience it is about far more than just “the wrong scope” (I’m referring to the project requirements as the “scope”) – it is also about “scope creep,” “scope change” and underlying business change which inevitably results in “scope change.”

If you want to scope a big development at the start of the development, you are going to have a tough choice when the inevitable scope change requests come. Either, enforce the “letter of the law” by referring to the brilliant/bullet-proof requirements documentation you created upfront OR allow the changes and “donate” the work required to the paying client.

Neither option is reasonable. Someone is going to lose out in either case.

There is an answer. It’s called Agile Development. At WWW, we use a particular methodology called “SCRUM.”

The Agile Manifesto puts the issues squarely on the table.

In simple terms: Work in smaller chunks. Deliver business value often. Collaborate with the software owner/sponsor very closely throughout the process. Accept that change is inevitable in software development – accommodate and encourage it. Ensure that everyone on the development team trained and mandated to maximize business value on behalf of the software sponsor/owner. Everyone on the team is both developer and analyst.

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In response to a recent stipulation enforced by SARS (South African Revenue Service), which states that effective 1 March 2009, South African tax payers will be required to properly track their travel and related expenses in order to qualify for rebates, we’ve launched a free web application that enables users to accomplish this online.

Available through www.travellogger.co.za, the online travel log enables users to track their mileage online throughout the year and easily export this data to a CSV file, for use in Excel, when it becomes time to submit their annual returns.
The web-based nature of the app affords users the convenience of logging their travel any time and any place where they have internet access. The app is also compatible with the majority of popular cellphone web browsers – making ‘on the road’ logging a breeze.

Users can feel assured in using this application as their information is backed up on a web server in a secure data centre environment. Users also have the extra option of exporting the information, and backing it up for convenience on their own PC or laptop.

Employees that are required by their employers to log their travel will also find this app particularly useful.

1 March 2009 to 28 February 2010 will be the last year where the “deeming provision” may be used to calculate a business travel deduction. Before, taxpayers were only asked to provide their total business and personal mileage for the year. However, according to the SARS web site, this provision was open to abuse and resulted in excessive deductions, which did not match actual business expenses.

So, from 1 March 2010, taxpayers seeking to claim a deduction for business travel will be required to keep a logbook and www.travellogger.co.za will assist taxpayers in doing so.

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