Posts Tagged ‘small business technology’

Ramon Ray, Editor & Technology Evangelist for SmallBizTechnology.com (@RamonRay)

Technology overload? With thousands of different types of technologies available today, it’s easy to fall into this trap. In order to create a successful road map for your company, you need to be realistic about your tech investments.

How can you effectively use technology to grow your business? Ramon breaks it down and gives his two cents on what technologies EVERY small business needs to have in 2012.

About Ramon: Ramon is author of “Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses” (Amacom). He produces the Annual Small Business Summit, Taste of Technology Series, 12 Hours Of Tech and other events. Ramon has written over 8,000 articles and posts – all focused on technology for growing businesses.

Ring in the New Year for your small business with a new domain name.  This month only, purchase a domain name for $1.99, the lowest price of the year. This offer expires December 31st. Visit http://bit.ly/12SMBtips to redeem. Terms, conditions and limitations to this offer apply.

By Rieva Lesonsky

I blogged here earlier this week about the growing trend of consumers shopping via tablet computers. But consumers aren’t the only ones warming up to tablets, according to a new study issued today by Spiceworks Inc.  Small and midsized businesses (SMBs) are increasingly using tablets, along with cloud computing and virtualization technology, and are spending more money on technology than they have in recent years.

The Spiceworks State of SMB IT survey found that:

Business use of tablets is on the rise among SMBs. Fifty percent have either deployed tablet computers, such as iPads, or plan to do so within the next six months.

Cloud services are rapidly growing in popularity. Nearly half (46 percent) of SMBs now use cloud services, a major increase from the 28 percent that reported using cloud services in the first half of 2011 and the 14 percent that were doing so in mid-2010.

IT budgets are rising. Overall, IT budgets in the second half of 2011 grew 9 percent when compared with IT budgets for the first half of 2011. This is the largest increase in two years. The average annual IT budget for SMBs in the survey was $143,000, an increase from $132,000 in the first half of 2011.

SMBs are adding IT staff. Nearly one-third of SMBs (31 percent) say they will hire IT staff in the next 6 months.

“Despite market fluctuations, 2011 proved to be a great year for disruptive technologies as SMBs increasingly adopted tablet computers, cloud services and virtualization technology,” said Jay Hallberg, Spiceworks co-founder and vice president of marketing, in announcing the survey. “The results of our most recent survey show SMBs making similar strategic technology investments with expanded budgets – pointing to a stronger market for IT products and services among SMBs in 2012.”

Seeing small businesses spending more on technology is good news in a challenging economy. Smart entrepreneurs are recognizing that investing in technology can be worth the cost by enabling their businesses to stay one step ahead of the pack. And with a wider range of technology offerings—both tablets and cloud services—than ever, it’s a buyer’s market.

What technology changes will your business be making in the coming months?

Image by Flickr user Karin Dalziel (Creative Commons)

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

Employees are using social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Employees are using their own personal devices to access company information, and vice-versa. Companies are increasingly moving data storage to the cloud. All of these technological developments can benefit your business in some ways, but create risk in others by leaving your small business vulnerable to a cyber attack.

To help small businesses keep their data and networks safe, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has joined with the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and corporations including Bank of America and Visa Inc. to unveil a new FCC online tool–the Small Biz Cyber Planner.

The easy-to-use, free online tool will be unveiled this month. By answering some basic questions about their businesses and their online presence, small business owners will be able create a customized planning guide to help protect themselves and their companies from cybersecurity threats.

A recent survey by Symantec and the National Cyber Security Alliance found that only 52 percent of small businesses had even a cybersecurity plan in place. Small business owners were largely unaware of threats to their businesses, with 85 percent contending that cyberthreats didn’t affect their companies. More than three-fourths (77 percent) of respondents didn’t have a formal written Internet security policy, and 49 percent didn’t even have an informal policy.

However, according to statistics from Symantec, 40 percent of all targeted attacks today are directed at companies with fewer than 500 employees.

“Small businesses that don’t take protective measures are particularly vulnerable targets for cyber criminals,” Genachowski said in announcing the Small Biz Cyber Planner. “With larger companies increasing their protections, small businesses are now the low-hanging fruit for cyber criminals.”

Small businesses also have more to lose. In 2010, cyber attacks cost small and midsize businesses an average of $188,242 a year, with downtime costing some small companies as much as $12,500 a day. What’s more, one in five small businesses has intellectual property that could be at risk of being stolen. Could your business afford to lose that kind of money or that valuable data?

For news on when the Small Biz Cyber Planner is released, visit the FCC website, where you can also get the FCC’s 10 Cyber Security Tips for Small Business.

Image by Flickr user Mikael Altemark (Creative Commons)