May 16, 2012

By Miguel Leiva-Gomez

OK, so Microsoft recently released a consumer preview to its new operating system – Windows 8. While this doesn’t depict what we’re expecting to see in the Enterprise Edition, we’re sure that the business version of the OS will have at least most of the features and capabilities that the Enterprise Edition has. Assuming that all this is correct, it would mean that you probably wouldn’t have to use Enterprise for a small business environment. Usually, most businesses can get along just fine with Windows 7 Professional today.

This brings forth an important question: Is it really worth it to go the extra mile and make an investment in Windows 8? My answer is “not for most small businesses.” It really all depends on the sector you’re working in. If you’re a major industry hulk, you might have to take advantage of the IT management features in Enterprise. If you provide accounting services to major firms, then you shouldn’t have to worry about managing an IT department.

Here’s a couple of benefits of Windows 8 that have been seen in the consumer preview when I took apart the OS myself:

• Smooth streamlined interface - Think of it as having a tablet-y operating system installed on your personal computer. It’s psychologically enticing and more relaxing than the point-and-click style of Windows 7. If you’re using W8 on a tablet, expect to be greeted by your applications right when you start your computer.
• Superb application API – Windows has always received an “A+” in its application programming interface (API), which is used to develop all the programs that you use on your computer. Its “app” API isn’t any different, offering a humongous amount of versatility in app creation, allowing apps to interact in a level that you won’t often find in other environments.
• Impeccable boot time - Because of the new boot loader integrated in Windows 8, you can expect your computer to boot at least 30 percent faster than it would have on Windows 7. The installation was also incredibly fast, lasting around 10 minutes and installing all drivers and software within that tiny time frame.
• Full-screen apps - Many companies provide their customers with interfaces on displays they can manage, giving them a significant amount of power. Now, you can host your app on those panels powered by Windows 8 in an elegant style and without any messy taskbar, toolbars, or sidebars.
• It runs well on low-power hardware - Previously, you needed to lug around hardware to make Windows 7 work well in your business. Windows 8 offers you the advantage of low power usage to save you money and space.
• Windows 8 Enterprise – The “Ultimate” version of Windows 8 shall now be dubbed “Enterprise” for its environment tailored specifically to businesses with an IT department. This edition of Win8 will contain features specific to firms, such as IT management utilities, elevated security, high-end virtualization capabilities, and a hunk of other features that Microsoft has too little time to tell us about just now. It sounds promising, but only time can tell exactly what is in store for us!

We’re still a long way from knowing how many of these features could change in the official release of Windows 8. At least we now know that Windows 8 will come in four editions: Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 RT, and Windows 8 Enterprise. Windows RT will run specifically on ARM-based machines and tablets that have much lower power requirements than the traditional desktop computer.

Let’s hope that this news about Windows 8 has made you consider upgrading. According to what we’ve seen in the Consumer Preview, its elegant redesign of the desktop and smooth menus might brighten anyone’s day.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Smallbiztechnologycom-SmbNewsAndInsight/~3/yK9F1N1Es6k/

May 15, 2012

By Carolyn Crummey

The 7th Annual Small Business Summit (http://www.smallbiztechsummit.com) may be over but the insight and wisdom is still here!  Check out all of our videos on the Summit video page at http://www.smallbiztechsummit.com/2012_videos.php .

In the session, ‘What We’ve Learned from Small Business’, the Summit was given insight to highlights of best practices and challenges as seen by NY Times writers covering small business.

Speakers of this session included:

Loren Feldman, New York  Times

Gene Marks, Marks Group and NY Times Writer

A big thanks to Dell for being a major sponsor of the Summit.  For more information on how Dell can help your business move to the cloud, see this link:  http://www.dellcloudapplications.com and for information on Dell’s tech tools for your small business, see this link:  http://www.dell.com/smalloffice.

You can see the full video from the Summit below:

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Smallbiztechnologycom-SmbNewsAndInsight/~3/rOe4Eup6dzw/

May 15, 2012

By Miguel Leiva-Gomez

If you feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to complete all of the work you have to do, you’re not alone. One of the biggest problems the majority of business owners have is managing their time while playing multiple separate roles.

In recent years, Cloud technology has become more accessible to SMBs, but not quite as much at the level that it should be. There are companies that are trying to change this, and as they do, the amount of time juggling you have to do goes down significantly. According to eVoice, a company that provides Cloud-based mobile business phone systems (similar to a Cloud-based private branch exchange, or PBX):

• 38% of business owners consider time the most valuable part of their business. 36% said their computer is their most valuable asset.
• 25% of business owners value their time so much that they would pay $500 for just one extra hour of the work day.
• 30% of business owners declare that keeping up with changes in technology is the biggest challenge they face right now.
• 71% of business owners claim that they’ve gone more mobile within the past two years.

Given all these facts, don’t you think that a Cloud-based phone system will help your business become less time-consuming to run, give you that extra hour, and help you keep up with new technological advances? If you’re one of the 71 percent who have gone more mobile, perhaps that’s not enough. No. It’s time to go even further!

Below are two services that offer Cloud-based business phone services with extensions and all the goods:

• eVoice – A company we’ve already mentioned above already, eVoice not only provides you with a Cloud-based phone service with extensions, but also offers you a complete receptionist experience. You get to leverage their “Auto Attendant,” which directs people to different departments of your business, all of which can route to a mobile phone! Their plans start at $9.95 a month with two extensions and 300 monthly minutes. Their biggest plan costs $29.95 a month and gives you 5 extensions with 1000 monthly minutes. Let’s not forget the voicemail transcription feature! That’s right. You can get a voicemail in text form via email or SMS.
• RingCentral – This company started offering Cloud-based PBX services recently, but has always been a trusted company for the PBX and telecommunications market. It so happens that this company also offers similar prices on their packages as eVoice does, with a bit of a twist. Their “Pro” plan costs $9.99 a month, includes 10 extensions, gives you 100 minutes, and gives you Internet facsimile (fax) services. Their “Pro Business” plan, however, gives you unlimited local and long-distance minutes, unlimited extensions, Internet fax w/dedicated number, and a “dial by name” directory. All plans include an “auto receptionist,” a toll-free number, advanced call forwarding, call queuing, and the ability to keep the number you currently use to receive calls.

Whether you choose one way or another isn’t important. You must learn to be one with the Cloud and take the next step to making your business a well-oiled machine. By the way, customers who call a business and are met with an auto-receptionist often have a higher opinion of the business’ seriousness than those who are met with an immediate answer by the owner of the company.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Smallbiztechnologycom-SmbNewsAndInsight/~3/WjXYtIHVTXY/

May 14, 2012

By Carolyn Crummey

The 7th Annual Small Business Summit (http://www.smallbiztechsummit.com) may be over but the insight and wisdom is still here!  Check out all of our videos on the Summit video page at http://www.smallbiztechsummit.com/2012_videos.php .

In the session, ‘Listening to Customers and Hiring Smarter:  A Lesson in Success’, the Summit learned some great secrets from a successful entrepreneur…one of which is humility!

Speakers of this session included:

Scott Hintz, TripIt

A big thanks to Dell for being a major sponsor of the Summit.  For more information on how Dell can help your business move to the cloud, see this link:  http://www.dellcloudapplications.com and for information on Dell’s tech tools for your small business, see this link:  http://www.dell.com/smalloffice.

You can see the full video from the Summit below:

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Smallbiztechnologycom-SmbNewsAndInsight/~3/B5OM9AD5Dzk/

May 14, 2012

By Stephanie Faris

Legal counsel can be expensive. For many small businesses, the occasional need to draft a legal document or obtain legal advice doesn’t merit full-time legal counsel. With limited funds, many small businesses are turning to the Internet for legal advice. But Googling your questions can be risky, especially if you don’t double-check your results. Several online legal sites are available, but how can you know which one to trust.

NextAdvisor is here to help. The site refers individuals and businesses to the best online services in a variety of categories. Below are the legal services NextAdvisor recommends for small businesses seeking legal advice.

• LegalZoom. If you have a radio or TV set, you’ve heard of LegalZoom. All that advertising is paying off. LegalZoom is one of the most popular online legal services available. Geared toward the legal novice, LegalZoom provides easy-to-understand paperwork for everything from forming an LLC to trademarking or patenting ideas. For just $29.99 a month, businesses can have real advice from legal counsel licensed in the state in which the business is located. But if you’re simply looking to obtain a trademark, you can get away with paying on a per-service basis with this site.
• RocketLawyer. RocketLawyer is based on monthly fees, so it’s designed for businesses that need ongoing legal services. It’s a little higher-priced than LegalZoom at $39.99 per month for business accounts but, according to NextAdvisor, the site has more forms and services than the others, so you may find it well worth it.
• CorpNet. Designed solely for businesses, CorpNet is standing by to help you fill out your paperwork to form an LLC or ask for a patent. Ready to incorporate your business? CorpNet has the forms for it. Packages begin at $49 plus applicable state fees.
• U.S. Legal. This site is not for the newbie. It specializes in do-it-yourself forms for businesses and individuals. Nobody has as many forms as U.S. Legal, but unless you know what you’re looking for and what forms you need, you may get lost in the complicated interface and legalese. The site is rated lower than the others for its difficulty in use, as well as issues like charging extra fees to file forms.

NextAdvisor is only one of many sites that rank legal services. Check out the recommendations of people like you on Comparz or Pricegrabber before purchasing.

So, after seeing all of this, you may wonder why bother paying legal counsel with all this online help. As TacticalIP’s Scott Nyman pointed out, these services provide no guarantee of the services you receive from them. Nyman quotes from LegalZoom’s terms of service.

“[LegalZoom provides] an automated software solution to individuals who choose to prepare their own legal documents,” LegalZoom writes. “At no time do we review your answers for legal sufficiency, draw legal conclusions, provide legal advice, or apply the law to the facts of your particular situation.” The site then goes on to say it is no substitute for the advice of an attorney.

Let those be your words of caution.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Smallbiztechnologycom-SmbNewsAndInsight/~3/CrLXusUAZvw/

May 14, 2012

By Miguel Leiva-Gomez

While you might think that having a well-known and frequently-visited web presence is enough to attract your prospects, it’s rather doubtful that you’re doing everything perfectly to truly drive people to action. The biggest problem faced by prospects for a company is finding contact information or social networking venues where they can connect to a company.

Some companies today still don’t know the benefits of having a Twitter account, let alone getting involved on any social network, for any matter. There’s also the added pressure of adding such integration to a website. How can you do this?

VSplash‘s SMB DigitalScape shows us very appalling statistics about business websites you might also be interested in. Who knows? Perhaps your website is guilty of one of these things:

• 60% of business websites don’t have a contact number on the home page, making a person have to browse through the site for the “Contact” page.
• 74.7% of business websites don’t even have an email link on the front page. If you are afraid of spam, many solutions exist to get rid of it.
• 65.7% of web presences don’t include a form that would allow customers to ask about a product or request more info about the company.
• 93.3% of business websites don’t conform to standards for mobile phone web programming, which makes it difficult to acquire customer loyalty from mobile junkies.

All that said, you should surely make your web-presence more information-friendly by providing as many ways to contact you as possible, particularly linking to social network presences and providing phone numbers at least on the front page somewhere.

Be sure to put things “above the fold.” In other words, have all the important information about your company above the area where people will need to scroll down to see it. A vast majority of people actually are too lazy to scroll down a page, at least on desktop and laptop computers. This may or may not also be true for people on tablets and smartphones, but don’t take the chance. Having your company’s information in an easily-accessible location will drive more people to make a call or hit you up with an email!

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Smallbiztechnologycom-SmbNewsAndInsight/~3/AtpJ2YqId0I/

May 11, 2012

By Miguel Leiva-Gomez

Strangely enough, a number of companies don’t have any idea what a shutdown of their IT infrastructures could do to their businesses. Right now, we’re seeing an evergreen shift to IT infrastructures in companies that used to rely on pen and paper. While this change has made things simpler, people have a tendency to take it for granted and not consider the possibility of a disaster.

This month, we’re celebrating and honoring our mothers. Do you have a flower shop? If you do, you’re in trouble if your IT infrastructure won’t properly compensate for heavy orders.

As an example, CEO Dave Laurello of Stratus went to a flower shop a few years ago to show his appreciation to his mother. Unfortunately, the shop did not have the flowers necessary because their server shut down after being overloaded with orders. Are you ready to lose a ton of money because you didn’t make a simple investment in proper IT solutions?

Stratus took a sizable survey of businesses’ attitudes towards their own IT infrastructures. Here are the results:

• 29% of businesses don’t take customer dissatisfaction in consideration as a loss from IT downtime.
• 38% of businesses don’t believe their company’s reputation is at stake when customers experience downtime.
• 81% of businesses don’t consider that they’ll lose goods from downtime, and
• 45% of businesses don’t believe that they’ll lose money when a shutdown happens.

All of these beliefs are myths today. Right now, we’re living in a digital age when almost everyone places orders online. When people rely heavily on the Internet, it’s time to consider making a bigger investment in it.

In some cases, a proper IT infrastructure can be more important to maintain than the cold cement of a building. It’s not rocket science! The new lifeblood of a business now lies in the network cables connecting it to the world. Make an investment in it and never forget that your customers will be happy for it.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Smallbiztechnologycom-SmbNewsAndInsight/~3/_8URybvBU4g/

May 11, 2012

By Ramon Ray

At Intuit’s recent, “Simplify the Business of Your Life” Intuit showcased a variety of products and services that indeed simply our lives as consumers or business owners.

This showcase was designed to show that Intuit is more than just consumer and business accounting software (Quicken, Quickbooks and TurboTax).

Intuit’s software geeks have cooked up a variety of useful and practical technologies across a variety of Industries.

In India, farmers have a big problem. How to get the best price for the agriculture goods they produce, at the local market. It’s a brutal war of bidding, negotiation and price battles. Intuit, yep the company that makes Quickbooks has entered India to help Indian farmers make a fair price for their products.

This service, Fasal, connects buyers and sellers and levels the playing field for all. You can read more about it here.

Lindsey Grossman who leads Intuit’s Public Policy chatted with me about this initiative in this video here or below.

If you’re not an Indian farmer, guess what – what Intuit’s learning in India is most likely applicable to other scenarios as well. Stay tuned.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Smallbiztechnologycom-SmbNewsAndInsight/~3/VJp3SK7RoPM/

May 11, 2012

By Ramon Ray

At Intuit’s recent, “Simplify the Business of Your Life” Intuit showcased a variety of products and services that indeed simply our lives as consumers or business owners.

This showcase was designed to show that Intuit is more than just consumer and business accounting software (Quicken, Quickbooks and TurboTax).

Intuit’s software geeks have cooked up a variety of useful and practical technologies across a variety of Industries.

In India, farmers have a big problem. How to get the best price for the agriculture goods they produce, at the local market. It’s a brutal war of bidding, negotiation and price battles. Intuit, yep the company that makes Quickbooks has entered India to help Indian farmers make a fair price for their products.

This service, Fasal, connects buyers and sellers and levels the playing field for all. You can read more about it here.

Lindsey Grossman who leads Intuit’s Public Policy chatted with me about this initiative in this video here or below.

If you’re not an Indian farmer, guess what – what Intuit’s learning in India is most likely applicable to other scenarios as well. Stay tuned.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Smallbiztechnologycom-SmbNewsAndInsight/~3/VJp3SK7RoPM/

May 11, 2012

By Carolyn Crummey

Our very own, Ramon Ray, sat down with Ingrid Vanderveldt, Dell Entrepreneur-In-Residence, at SXSW 2012 to speak about the traits of successful entrepreneurs and what’s happening in Tech.  In the interview, Ramon speaks about what he sees as the ‘hottest’ trends in tech now; mobile payments and the concept of being ‘mobile’.

In addition, Ramon shares his thoughts on the most significant traits of successful entrepreneurs:  Sense of Humility and ‘Can Do’ Attitude / Perseverance.  Ramon mentions Scott Hintz, of TripIt , who he feels exemplifies these characteristic, which is partially why he’s been so incredibly successful.

Ramon and Ingrid also talk about what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur and what he feels Dell can do to help growing entrepreneurs.

Check out the entire article and watch the video here.  You can also watch the video below:

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Smallbiztechnologycom-SmbNewsAndInsight/~3/SBORfXgjhXs/