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At the end of the day, most successful businesses do one simple thing: they sell a product or service at a profit.

But building a successful business is anything but simple. There are many challenges, and one of the biggest is acquiring customers.

There are many approaches a business can take to acquire customers, from advertising to free trials. Almost all have some cost, but the hope is the same: the revenue obtained from the acquired customer will exceed the cost of acquisition.

Customer acquisition isn’t always so simple, of course. Take Microsoft, for instance. In an effort to garner interest in its cloud-based productivity solution, Office 365, the software behemoth is reportedly paying the University of Nebraska $250,000 in ‘incentives‘.

According to BetaNews, “The funds will be used to subsidize the cost of migration, as well as fund support and the purchase of Microsoft software across the entire university.” The total anticipated savings to the university: a cool $500,000.

Microsoft’s move raises an interesting question for many companies trying to enter a competitive market: should you ever effectively pay a customer to choose your product or service?

It’s not an easy question to answer.

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Translation company Applied Language Solutions has agreed a five-year deal with the Ministry of Justice which will create 30 jobs.

ALS, based at Delph, near Oldham, has signed a framework agreement with the MoJ that will see it provide translators and interpretors.

The MoJ has responsibilities including courts, prisons, the probation service, the Legal Aid system and tribunals.

The deal means organisations including police forces, the Crown Prosecution Service and probation trusts will be able to sign contracts under the framework agreement to deliver interpretation and translation services.

ALS says its service will create efficiency savings of more than 20 per cent, or £60m, for the MoJ, as well as cutting administration and time costs for frontline workers across the justice sector.

The contracts, which include translation, face-to-face and telephone interpreting and language services for the deaf and deaf-blind, will be rolled out from September.

Services will be provided by ALS’ network of freelance linguists.

The firm will take on additional staff to accept job bookings 24 hours a day at its Delph headquarters, which will be extended to accommodate them.

Chief executive and founder Gavin Wheeldon said: “This contract enables the justice sector to significantly reduce the amount of public money it spends on providing language services, whilst making huge improvements in efficiency that will free front line staff from the current administrative burden of searching for interpreters and translators.

“We have already achieved cost savings of up to 70 per cent for existing customers within the criminal justice system and made huge improvements in efficiency and quality.

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Trying to save money sometimes feels downright impossible. No matter how much money you put aside in a savings account, it seems some new expense always comes up. It’s for this reason that some spenders just don’t bother trying, and prefer to embark on wild shopping sprees rather than penny pinch their way through life.
If you don’t feel comfortable with keeping your bank accounts at near-red levels but think spending a little extra wouldn’t hurt every now and then, consider making key purchases that could actually save you more in the long run. Here are a few ways you can do it:

Pay More for Quality Items

Sometimes it feels good to be the thrifty shopper when buying items you really need. However, if that thrifty spending results in low-quality products that you will have to replace right away, you’re just wasting money.

To avoid this problem, focus on purchasing high-quality items when you can, including solid-wood furniture that could last a lifetime, electronics that offer strong reputations and long-term warranties and even essential wardrobe pieces that cost a bit more but will last. Read full post…

We spoke with Len Devanna, director of social engagement for EMC Corp, about how the company has woven social into the corporate culture. 

Congratulations on your award. What is your role at EMC in terms of social media?

First and foremost the job of my team is to educate, enable and empower EMC employees. We started our journey in 2007, our formal social journey to developing employee proficiency. We worked from the inside out, virtually the opposite of how everyone else was doing it.

We launched EMC|ONE, the online network of EMCers, in the fall of 2007. We’ve just hit our 30,000th active member – or about 65% of the entire global employee audience

We just launched this training video to celebrate Social Media Day. I’d argue it represents a turning point in how brands communicate with and educate employees. We’re particularly proud of this video.

It’s been a hobby project for a few months. The inten

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Passenger numbers at Manchester Airport increased year-on-year for the third consecutive month during June, boosted by strong performances on long-haul routes, including the start of Qatar Airways’ additional daily service to Doha, and continued growth for low-cost carriers.

The number of passengers using the airport rose 4.15 per cent to 1.91m from 1.83m in June 2010.

Scheduled international services saw a 13 per cent increase, offsetting single-digit declines on charter and domestic routes.

Andrew Harrison, managing director of Manchester Airport, said: “Our long-haul carriers are performing well and we’ve seen further capacity increases in order to meet the demand. The American market is a strong area and the continuing growth of low-cost services is a positive sign for the future, alongside key routes to Lisbon and Madrid which give passengers better access to emerging south American markets.”

PARIS – MOODY’S Investors Service on Tuesday slashed its credit rating on indebted euro zone struggler Portugal, bailed out earlier this year, by four notches to Ba2 from Baa1, warning it could be lowered further.

Moody’s said the downgrade reflects ‘the growing risk that Portugal will require a second round of official financing before it can return to the private market (to raise financing)’.

The action, it said, was also based on increased concerns Lisbon would not meet deficit reduction and debt stabilisation targets agreed with the European Union and International Monetary Fund due to the ‘formidable challenges the country is facing in reducing spending, increasing tax compliance, achieving economic growth and supporting the banking system’.

In April, Moody’s cut Portugal by one notch from A3 to Baa1 as it expected Lisbon to have to seek outside help to resolve its debt problems, which it duly did, securing 78 billion euros (S$138 billion) from the EU and IMF after Greece and Ireland were rescued in 2010.

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