When I moved to Mac, I missed the little green guy.  Every time I had to copy a url, username and password from a spreadsheet and paste them manually into an internet browser, the heart ache increased.  Plus, there was all kinds of silliness with the spreadsheet: who had it open, who deleted that field, what is the most current version of the FTP info, etc.

When I migrated to Mac I had accumulated 249 passwords in my Roboform! The amount of information that people are beginning to need to be able to track in their personal and professional lives is outrageous.

At Raised Eyebrow we have thousands of passwords and they needed to be stored uber securely.  Moreover, the data is a more complex set of information, Client Names, Contact Info, FTP Info, Database Info, CMS Info, Host Info, Stats Info, etc.  We combed through the market of Mac-based password keepers. 1Password, KeePassX seemed to be the best options that emerged at the time.  1Password, which is proprietary, seemed more feature rich, while KeePass, which is open source, seemed easier to install as a shared network installation.  Nonetheless, the amount of customization we required in terms of fields made neither solution appealing. So we kept on using a spreadsheet.

One day in utter frustration we had a brainstorming session.  We build websites, so maybe we could build an internal site that would keep our data?  From that session was born the idea for our super secure, one stop shop, password vault website.  That was 6 months ago.

Today, I just finished entering the last password from our main password list! What we developed in many respects is akin to a custom contact database.  We have different content types: Client, Website, Newsletter, Domain, etc.  Seeing the product, in its current state makes me wonder whether we should have invested the time we took to develop it into implementing and customizing a CRM (customer relationship manager)?  Could the data be accommodated in an off the shelf solution, like Salesforce or Daylight with customization?

Now, we are on the eve of embarking on a CRM implementation process. Starting such a process makes we wonder about all our systems: which ones work? Which ones should we keep? Which ones can be folded into the CRM? How can we streamline our workflow, while ensuring the integrity and security of our data?  How can specialized industries be best served by CRM software?

One major benefit from developing our password keeper is that we engaged in the exact process that would be required to clean up our data if we were going to import it into a CRM.  Instead of having a laundry list of every type of password in one long list, we have nice clean data parsed into types.  Also, it was like putting out a fire so that we wouldn’t be smoked out while we began to think about a CRM project. So, I’m happy with the path we’ve taken and looking forward to seeing what we do next.

If you have password overload, there are lots of solutions out there to make your life easier. And if you’ve recently done a CRM project in a all Mac environment, let me know how it went.

So, where do you turn if your needs are relatively straightforward and your budget is limited? I would recommend one of the following tools:

Picnik

Picnik is a powerful online application that allows you to upload & edit images on the fly. There is a free version but the options are rather limited; however, it might do the trick for what your client needs. The premium version starts at $2.08/month. Picnik even integrates with Flickr, Picasa & Facebook, so if your client uses those tools that might come in handy. I find it a little slow, compared to Photoshop (mostly because of the time required to upload & download files), but it’s a very good tool for people with no/little budget.

Photoshop Elements

This is a stripped-down version of Photoshop that’s perfect for what most of our clients need, which is basic photo & image editing tools for web use. It’s under $100 and provides a good chunk of the core Photoshop functionality — in some ways I would recommend it over Photoshop for basic-level users, because with fewer options it’s less confusing.

Photoshop.com

Adobe’s answer to Picnik is an online editing toolset that you can use for free; the only limitation is file storage. The free accounts comes with 2 GB of storage space for your files, and beyond that you pay an annual subscription fee that varies (anywhere from $20-$500 USD) based on the amount of storage you need.

Spilling out onto sun drenched Hastings Street, I wonder what will become of us? Like lemmings, we march forward into the centre of a hornets’ nest–the downtown east side on a hot Thursday. How many obstacles will we encounter as we type and walk? I squint and strain to the read the tiny print on my Blackberry’s browser while walking under Woodward’s scaffolding, oblivious to cement being poured above. I stop and open a text message—poised in the middle of an active construction site–to read the message my sweetie has no doubt composed on his iPhone while driving 110 kilometres per hour on the highway.

I flip back to my browser window and type “ban reading email while crossing the street.”

If you want to cross a street in New York City or Buffalo, a New York state senator says, you should be fined $100 if you do so while in a state of “iPod oblivion.” (A Ban on iPods While Crossing)

I’m fascinated by regulations against Darwinian self-elimination.  Helmet laws, seatbelt laws, no talking on cell phone laws—all these regulations enacted to prevent us from doing something stupid.  Or hurting other people while doing stupid things.

Part of me wonders whether these laws are just the result of poor manners?  We’ve developed these technologies and adopted them like beloved children, adored with a sudden fierceness.  We haven’t had much time to establish etiquette for their use.  Our passion interferes with our judgement.  Wouldn’t it be polite if people put their toys away and walked smiling down the street, tipping their hats to each other and marveling about the lovely June weather instead?

An old colleague of mine once took me aside and pleaded,  “It’s imperative that you share your ideas about what is appropriate use of the Blackberry with your co-workers.  We can’t have people checking their emails absentmindedly while we are in meetings.”  Where is our iPhone Miss Manners?  Who will save us from being decapitated while walking down the street or giving all our friends the impression we aren’t interested in what they have to say because we are texting instead of listening?

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network