I recently stumbled on these results from an OECD survey which put a feeling that I’ve had for a long time into clear facts and figures
- Denmark really is the best country in the world to work in!

Having worked for – and run – international companies both in Denmark and abroad, I have truly come to appreciate the benefits that come with an employment in Denmark.

Read the rest of this entry »

Following on from my thoughts on what’s in store for the year ahead, I’d like to share with you some of our early results for 2012.

So far, we’re on course in January to reach the highest number of new customers, the most accountant and bookkeeper signups, and the highest number of trials for a single month. To illustrate, we passed the 1,000 new customers mark just 11 days into the new year!

New employees

In addition to customers, we’re also adding heavily to the number of employees working at e-conomic.

Over the past couple of months alone, we’ve welcomed 8 new people on board, and we will be adding at least 5 more during the next month. By the end of Q1, we should be more than 100 people working at e-conomic, up from 70 at the start of 2011.

We’re far from done after that, however. As you can see from our list of available jobs at e-conomic, we aim to continue our employee growth at this rate for quite some time – provided, of course, that we’re able to find qualified and dedicated people.

Ambitions for the year

Taking the year as a whole, I expect us to reach a customer growth rate of 35-40%, meaning that close to 60,000 customers will be using e-conomic by the end of 2012.

In terms of geographical expansion, our hope is to include 2-3 new countries as e-conomic markets, and preferably at least one country outside Europe.

Reaching these goals for 2012 will mean that we are well on our way to accomplish our stated mission goals.

A warm welcome

Let me finish by extending a warm welcome to both the new customers and the new employees that have joined us recently, and thanking our longtime clients who trust e-conomic with their accounting every day.

I look forward to seeing what this year will bring – and taking the journey with even more of you!

Managers who allow their employees to use their own mobile devices for work will most likely see increased productivity and more innovation from their employees.

Perhaps even more important, they will provide flexibility for their most valuable employees who may simply find another place to work if they feel obstructed from using their preferred devices.

Higher productivity

Research conducted by the internet-based market research firm YouGov shows that productivity increases if employees are allowed to use their own mobile devices for work. Now that more and more software is available in the cloud, the choice of end-user device is less crucial, the research deduced.

YouGov sampled 700 companies in Germany, France and the UK and found that 11% of employees who use their own smartphones or tablets were 30% more productive than their counterparts while a third of respondents said their workers’ productivity increased by at least 10%.

Preferred devices

Further results from the survey revealed that 61% of employees said it made their life easier if they could use the same device for both business and personal use. Also, around 50% claimed that their device was more flexible and functional than their employer’s alternative.

As a manager, you may doubt whether your employees’ devices are really better than the ones you present them with. But in any case, the important thing for you to keep in mind is that your employees will become more productive and innovative when they are using the devices they feel most comfortable and positive with.

Active push

Finally, the survey also found that 45% of staff already use their own devices for work which indicates that employees are pushing actively to be allowed to choose their own devices.

And with competition for the best IT workers more fierce than ever before, it would really be a shame to lose out on people because of this.

First off, let me wish you a Happy New Year – and add that if I knew exactly what’s in store for 2012, I would hurry down to the stock market right now!

Keeping costs down

One thing that is pretty certain, however, is that the strained global economy will continue to keep everyone focused on keeping costs down. Businesses need to be constantly aware that their customers will want value for every dollar spent.

Providing easily accessible Internet-based business applications at a low price – like we and others do – should be a recipe for maintaining growth under these circumstances, allowing clients to keep costs low and making it easy for startup companies to get started.

I think we will see many software providers – ourselves included – focusing on ease-of-use in the way they design their products, support new customers and market themselves.

Fun marketing

Speaking of marketing, another focus area for many businesses in the year ahead will be generating publicity and knowledge of their products and brand without spending tons of money on full-blown marketing campaigns.

At e-conomic, we are doing this by insisting that bookkeeping and accounting systems can be fun and entertaining.

We have launched a number of initiatives featuring ‘the e-conomic man’ (pictured at his desk, to the right), and we are using social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to reach out to our customers in new and fun ways.

As our latest social media initiative, we have started to create YouTube videos specifically to help developers make apps that connect e-conomic with other systems.

So, sit back and enjoy as we prepare to make 2012 as easy and fun for you as possible!