Summing up 2012 and Taking on 2013

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This morning I came back to Dubai after a lovely winter holiday in Sweden. I’m very excited to get back to work again and kick off 2013. I thought I would take the opportunity in this week’s blog article, to sum up the year 2012 and tell you more about our plans for 2013.

Summing up 2012

We started the year 2012 with the fantastic news that we had been selected as one of the finalists of the Women 2.0 Startup Competition in California, USA. My business partner and I were all set to travel to San Francisco to attend the competition February 14th. Unfortunately, due to UAE visa issues, I couldn’t get my passport in time, and so I had to cancel my trip. Nonetheless, we received a lot of great feedback from seasoned entrepreneurs and investors that we took to heart.

In June 2012 we released an updated version of www.businessproductivity.com. This was to enable better mobile and tablet support and as well as easier navigation. We also made our over 50 productivity videos exclusive to subscribing members. We wanted to make sure that we stayed true to our values and focused on business productivity, so instead of monetizing on our content through advertising, we decided to charge a small fee instead. Individual users now sign up using a PayPal account directly on the website to access our full video library. For corporations, we provide corporate discounted volume deals so that their employees can easily access the videos as needed.

Throughout the year we have worked hard to create valuable content for you, our readers. The weekly “Get Sharp” blog that is published every Monday is gaining in popularity. In June we also started our monthly newsletter where you can get a summary of the month’s content as well as special deals and promotions (you can sign up for the newsletter on our website). We also started publishing our one-minute “How-to” videos on our website and YouTube instead of posting them on Facebook and Google+. This is to make sure we keep everything you need in one place and that we reach a larger audience.

In 2012 I delivered a number of onsite business productivity workshops. These workshops were focused on saving time and producing higher quality work through best practices and better use of Microsoft Office. Even though these workshops aren’t as scalable as the online videos, they are extremely valuable since I get to hear firsthand what customers need in order to increase business productivity using Microsoft Office.

Overall, I’m extremely pleased and grateful to everyone who has contributed to and supported the success of Business Productivity in 2012!

Taking on 2013

Our mission is to become the premier destination for business professionals who want to increase their productivity using Microsoft technology. During 2013 we will continue our journey in becoming the best training online resource for business professionals in Microsoft Office. We plan to grow our online audience (readers and members) by continuing to produce high quality content, by entering new partnerships and providing new, innovative ways to distribute our content.

Since Microsoft recently completed the development of the newest version of Microsoft Office, version 2013, we will have a busy year producing new, updated tutorial videos showcasing Microsoft Office 2013. We will continue to produce our “Get Productive” videos that provide immediate learning and impact for our members. We will make some changes to our recording studio to enable customers to easier brand the videos with their own logo for corporate training packages. We are also working on various channels in which employees can access the videos – in addition to our web site. Other than that, we won’t make any changes to the video tutorials, we will continue to produce the videos in our own unique “Business Productivity” format.

I will continue to write my weekly “Get Sharp” blog. I appreciate all your feedback and I hope that you find the topics useful, please continue to share things that interest you.  We will also continue with our complementary “How-to” videos and the monthly newsletter.

At the end of 2012, we applied for a partnership with Microsoft. We were recently approved as a Silver Partner in the Learning Competency which means that we will have an even closer relationship with Microsoft moving forward. Customers who have Software Assurance Training Vouchers will be able to leverage these vouchers to engage us for training. Since we currently produce videos exclusively on Microsoft’s technologies, having a good partnership is key to our business.

As always we are looking for new ways to help you increase the return of your investment in technology and help you and your employees shine. We have a few concepts that we will develop further during the year. Please let us know if you have any good ideas you would like to discuss. I’m always open to new business opportunities. Just send me an email at ulrikahedlund@businessproductivity.com.

I’m really excited about 2013 and the possibilities it brings! Thanks again for your support!

(If you have difficulties reading this article, you can access the full article in pdf here).