Adopting New Technology, Stepping Out Of Your Comfort Zone

I was reading an article today by JD Moore entitled 5 Things Howard Stern Can Teach You About Small Business Marketing on New York News Today It contained many good points but what I found most important was in the section about embracing technology. JD said " Sometimes it takes stepping outside your comfort area and getting some education."

When you think about it, this is true about most anything new. Whether you are talking about new business technlogy, traveling somewhere you have never been before or trying anything new. The thing about technology is that while you can put off most new adventures in your life, putting off the adoption of new technology can mean the eventual end of your business.

What Is Your IT Budget This Year?

I don't really expect an answer to that question. It is more of question to ask your self.

For some the answer is "as little as possible" for others it is "what ever I need to meet my business goals." The right answer is somewhere in between.

An Ounce of Prevention

Benjamin Franklin said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In the world of business technology prevention takes the form of computer system security in its many forms.

The cure for the consequences of inadequate security can be very costly and in some cases sadly there is no cure. The cost to your business can be very high.

A recent study The Finacial Management of Cyber Risk reports that the cost of a security breach can easily be in the millions.

Let's take a look at the key forms of security that you should have:

Do Your Trust Your IT Provider? You Really Should

Who do you consider your most trusted advisers? Your Attorney, Your CPA? I certainly hope so. Your banker, maybe not that much anymore. There are no doubt others you have come to rely on when you need good advice.

And how about your IT Provider, Computer Consultant, Software Gal? They come in many shapes and sizes, sole practitioners, small and large firms, or your wife's nephew. Do you trust them for advice?

The thing is your IT provider may be the most important adviser you need. In this day and age the effective use of  business information technology, or the failure to do so, can make or break your business. You really do need a business technology professional who you can trust. So it begs the question do you trust your IT provider?

If you don't, here is how you should go about finding an IT provider that is right for your business.

IT success, circa 2010: just say the magic words - Business IT Alignment

It seems that Business IT Alignment is one of the hot buzzwords for 2010.

Joe McKendrick IT expert who writes for the on-line tech publication ZDNet wrote yesterday that for IT Success circa 2010: just say the magic words "Business IT Alignment."

This is surprising to me and not in the same breath. I am surprised because to my mind business IT has always had no meaning or value outside how it forwarded overall business goals. This is apparently a notion not shared by all IT people. At the same time I am not surprised that this is on peoples minds, obviously the era of endless IT budgets is over. 

In a recent study published by BusinessWeek Taking the Temperature of the CEO-CIO Relationship reports that Forty-seven percent say they have neutral or negative perceptions of the CIO-business working relationship.  This is obviously a two way street.

Entrepreneurs Can Change the World

Your Business Advisors - What Should You Be Asking Them Now

If you are reading this blog you have either survived the last year and are ready to ride the next wave, are starting something new and are paddling hard to catch the next wave, or you are sitting on the beach wondering what to do next. In any case it is a very good idea to have a team of business advisors on your wing ready to guide you toward the next big win.

The question we pose here is what should you be asking them, or what should they be talking to you about. What are the important answers you should be getting from your Accountant, Attorney, Tech and New Media experts that will boost your success in the decade ahead?

How Many Customers Owe You Over $5K For Over 90 Days? - "Focus Reports"

You have a loan payment or a big payroll coming up. The cash is not there. You pick up your AR Aging Report, to look at what should be collected and it's 100 pages long. You feel a migraine coming on.

I see this problem everyday. Business owners and managers flooded with computer reports that give them to much or to little information.

Take a simple but essential report like your AR aging report. Given the default paramters, most software packages will just happily print out everything. There has got to be a better way. And, there is.

So ask the question, make the demand, I want an AR aging report that will give me only a list of all customers that owe me over $5,000 for over 90 Days?  While you're at it give me their phone numbers and date of last payment.

Hot Tech at NY 2010 Small Business Summit

Ramon Ray, editor of Smallbiztechnology.com rocked the house, as always, presenting the winners of this year's "sizzling" Hot Tech awards.  With CRM expert, Brent Leary, Ramon showed some of the latest and greatest new technologies.

The seven winners were selected from over 60 entrants.

Small Office Home Office Technology

Many great businesses start in a home office; grow to a small office, and then build to large successful enterprises. Think of Apple, HP, and Google to name a few obvious examples. There are thousands of companies with less recognition who have started small and grown large. You could be the owner and CEO of a large company some day. On the other hand many businesses start small, stay small and are very successful and profitable as well.

In either case, it pays to look at your long term goals when planning the purchase and implementation of technology for your company.

For example, if you are buying a new computer for your office you may be inclined to buy the computer with the lowest price, but that computer will probably be equipped Windows 7 Home Edition which is fine if you are working alone. If a business with employees is in your plan Windows 7 Proffesional is a better choice. That version offers greater networking capability allowing you to connect your computers and share information more easily which is essential to a growing business.

What Is Your Technology Plan?

What are "Patches" and are they important to you.

We often see news reports of Microsoft and other software publishers releasing "Patches" or "Security Patches" for their software.

A few days ago in the news we saw, "Microsoft Fixes Eight Flaws In Excel", or yesterday "Microsoft warns of zero-day IE hole on Patch Tuesday." These can sound pretty scarry and you may be wondering what do these headlines mean and are they important to me?

Simply stated, a Patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems, software bugs.

A Security Patch specifically addresses fixing security vulnerabilities.

Patches can also include updates in functionality, changes is supporting data or help files and are intended to improve the usability or performance of your software. Practically all software publishers release patches, or what they call updates.


However, though patches are meant to fix problems, poorly designed patches can sometimes introduce new problems.  So what is the best way for you to deal with patches?

What is ERP? Not Wyatt?

When I see ERP I think of Wyatt Earp, don't ask me where that comes from. Maybe from watching too many cowboy shows on TV when I was young. While Wyatt Earp and ERP are not actually pronounced the same I see an analogy here.

Wyatt Earp is a legendary lawman of the turn of the 20th century back in the Wild American West. He was noted for his exploits and adventures and was one effective sheriff and entrepreneur. He got things done.

ERP on the other hand is short for Enterprise Resource Planning, the main type of software used for running businesses, small and large. The term and abbreviation was once pretty much reserved for high end tier one systems but now is applied to every thing, from QuickBooks and Peachtree on up to Accpac, MAS 90, 200, 500 or Dynamics.

ERP software should be an very effective sheriff for your business and help you get things done but often it is not. The problem is:

Contemplating Changes In Your Business?

As a business owner or manager you are no doubt contemplating changing the way you do business. You're wondering whether change is really necessary. I think the answer to that quesion is certainly yes for at least these three obvious reasons.

1. The economy of the United States, the entire world for that matter, has changed. we will never go back to the money traffic of the last decade.  That is not to say there are not plenty of opportunities for success and prosperity. In fact for many there will be greater opportunities than ever before.

2. We are now in what I call the post Web 2.0 era, a time of vast change. So rapid that, for many what was called Web 2.0 passed by without them ever knowing what it was. We are now in what some call the era of "Social Web",  "Network Culture" or "Mobile Web." Frankly, they have not really come up with a good name yet.  But what is happening as a result of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and their hundreds of offspring is nothing short of amazing. These mediums are taking business in directions we never conceived of before. It begins to be explained in this article, What's Next After Web 2.0? Here's What You Told Us... Also, the people  of Gen X,Y & Z are charting their own course, as a result the world of business has become a very different place. And don't forget Generation Alpha.

How Valuable is Technology Training for Your Employees?

I think we could all agree that, in theory, specific job related technology training should increase productivity and result in better business performance.

Yet, so many business who are ready to invest in new hardware, are willing to consider upgrades and better software seem reluctant to spend on employee training. I wonder why.

One reason is that business owners/managers are frustrated because many employees just don't feel they can learn, this translates into thinking that they just don't want to learn. It is unfortunate. But there are things you can do about this.

Another reason is that the training is over the head of those seeking to learn. The material is filled with jargon, starts at too high a level, or is just badly presented. Again this can be corrected.

Smart Phone Wars

The battle in the smart phone wars took a new turn this week as Apple, the creator of the iPhone, among many other great products, announced a major law suit against an exciting new innovator in the smart phone field HTC. Apple Starts ‘Nuclear War’ in Patent Fight With HTC

HTC has obviously struck a nerve with Apple with their great new and well priced phones. I think it is a shame that given the huge size of the smart phone market that Apple would seek to stifle competitive innovation in this way. Apple says they are just seeking to protect their intellectual property.

Nevertheless, experts say that this suit really has no impact on individuals and buyers interested or currently using HTC phones. Apple vs. HTC: What the experts say.

"A ruling that would call on HTC to kill the whole phone does seem highly unlikely, especially given the prominence of the companies involved." reports Nick Bilton in What Apple vs. HTC Could Mean


So if you like what you see in the new HTC phones using Google's Android operating system we think you are safe to buy one.

The Business Software Alphabet

The technology field has also been rife with acronyms like any sophisticated subject. Some are useful and communicate well others tend to confuse.

Here are some of the business technology acronyms you may need to know.

B2B, Business to Business, refers to activity of business selling to other business and the software systems that facilitate this process. I went on to a B2B web site to orders some widgets.

BI, Business Intelligence, software that transforms business data into useable information. My BI alerts help to act on problems quickly.

ERP, Enterprise Resource Planning, a software system that facilitates your business process across your entire enterprise. This ERP system by Sage is really great.

CRM, Customer Relationship Management, software systems that help you manage all aspects of customer development, service and retention. My sales reps are cautious about adopting this new CRM system.

EDI, Electronic Data Interchange, an electronic system for processing transactions with large companies electronically. We could not our orders from Costco today because our EDI was down.

SaaS, Software as a Service, SaaS is the abreviation for Software as a Service and is usually pronounced as Sass. Simply stated, SaaS works like this. You rent the software instead of buying. You run the software on the provider's server not your own.

VAR, Value Added Reseller, an IT company that sell software and hardware with services to provide a complete and valuable solution. Net@Work is a great VAR.

VIP, Very Important Person, what you are when your are a Net@Work client.

VOIP, Voice over IP, a very popular method of providing telephone/voice services over the internet. We are saving a lot of money with our new VOIP system.

Here is a great website that defines most acronyms www.acronymfinder.com/

Your Business and Social Media/Networking Explained

You surely have heard or read about the huge phenomena called social media or social networking that has swept the web. Maybe not, in fact people still ask me today "What exactly is Social Media?"

Simply explained, Social Media are web sites that allow people, groups, and businesses to interact and engage. Key examples are http://www.facebook.com/, http://www.twitter.com/, and http://www.linkedin.com/. With these sites you create an account, login, post information about your self, group or business, find and connect with friends and associates, as well as share information. There is obviously much more to this but these are the very basics. People are sharing all kinds of information, photos, videos and links on virtually every imaginable topic.

Many business people I know have thoroughly embraced social media and found it to be very beneficial for their business. Many more are still wondering whether it applies to their business at all.

Once the domain of the younger set with Facebook, Myspace, and Friendster the demographics of people engaged in social media is getting older and older by the day. Social Media sites Facebook and Twitter are now prevalent in many aspects of our lives.
How are businesses using Social Media today?

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) For Your Business? Now?

CRM, Customer Relationship Management, software has been around for decades. I have been using it myself since 1991, could not live with out it. My wife's company has been using it since 1997, it took me a while to convince her, and she lives by her CRM too.

Yet, at Net@Work of our 1,000's of customers only 100's use a real CRM software system.  This is rapidly changing. In the last month we have started or revived over 20 new CRM projects and there are scores more in the pipeline. You may wonder why.

Business owners are rapidly recognizing what the true CRM advocates have known for a long time. A good CRM system is essential to business success. In today's business world business owners must manage, cherish and nurture their customers like never before.

The point is that every business has some kind of CRM system, you have to manage your customers some how right? It is just that the system is in peoples, heads, their Outlook, on Post-It Notes, in the accounting system, etc. etc.

Sound familiar? Want to know more about CRM?

Is There Virtue in Virtualization for Small Businesses

A technology approach called "Virtualization" has been all the rage lately. You may be wondering what it is and how virtualization may relate to your business. If you have not wondered perhaps you should because there is a lot of virtue to this technology.

In simple terms Virtualization is a technology that allows the creation of multiple virtual computers on one actual computer.

It is kind of like when your flat one level parking lot got converted to a multi-level lot. The owner of the lot and parking lot operator could store a lot more cars for a lot more dollars, yet their land cost did not go up at all.

From a small business technology standpoint, the advantages that virtualization presents are numerous, too many to list here. But let me say this. Virtualization will save you money in acquisition and maintenance, reduce space and power usage, and increase utilization.

Here is a pretty simple video that explains some of the benefits of virtualization. If you are interested in this technology a great person to talk to is Mathew Hegarty of http://netatwork.com/ at (646) 293-1752 or mhegarty@netatwork.com

Take Plastic? Then Read this about PCI Compliance

PCI (Payment Card Industry), compliance refers to efforts to adhere to a set of security standards for credit and debit card processing developed by Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) called Data Security Standard (DSS) for protecting customers credit card info.

There is a lot of buzz now because there is a deadline coming up on June 30th for the adoption of DSS 6.6 requirements. This requirement addresses threats to web applications.

While PCI compliance is not a Federal Law it is being required or about to be required by some states. Is PCI Compliance a Law? Should it be? Neverthless, Gartner analyst Avivah Litan projects that only half of level one merchants (those that have more than 6 million credit card transactions per year) will be compliant with 6.6 by June 30.

How Smart is Your Mobile Phone

Smartphones are cell phones, or moblie phones as they say in the UK, with built in functionality like e-mail, web browsing and so much more.

The first smartphone which was called Simon was built by IBM back in 1992, Nokia entered the market in 1996, but the real game changer was the iPhone by Apple released in June of 2007. It set a whole new standard that every phone manufacturer is now seeking to surpass.

Believe it or not, today these smartphones have more memory and are more powerful than the desktop computer you used just a few years ago. There are thousands and thousands of software applications that run on these phones that do practically everything. Some mobile entrepreneurs are literally running their entire business on their phones, larger firms have e-mail, calendars, sales order processing, service management and a host of other activities on their employees' smartphone resulting in a boom to productivity.

How Sassy is your "SaaS"

SaaS is the abreviation for Software as a Service and is usually pronounced as Sass.

Simply stated, SaaS works like this. You rent the software instead of buying. You run the software on the provider's server not your own. The use of the hardware is included in the monthly or annual fee. You access the software over the internet or by way of a virtual private network.


Saas has been around since the late 90's but has really just started to gain popularity over the last few years. SalesForce.com, SageCRM.com, NetSuite.com, and Google Docs are some of the more widely known SaaS applications. There are many many more.


Here is a video from InfoWorld:

Welcome To Business Technology Simply Explained

Our mission is to help you to understand and learn about new technologies that may help you to grow your business by explaining them and pointing out their practical use.

We will be posting weekly and hope you check-in often.

Thanks

Peter Conway

02.11.10