RAT attack on Israeli police dissected by Trend Micro

A Trojan used in an attack that reportedly caused Israeli police to shut down headquarters computers last week has been examined by security company Trend Micro.

The Trojan, called 'Xtreme RAT' by Trend Micro, was spammed out in an email purporting to come from the head of the Israel Defense Forces, Benny Gatz,

The email contained a RAR attachment infected with the RAT (Remote Access Trojan), Trend Micro said in a blog post on Tuesday. The Trojan, which had data-stealing capabilities, appeared to have been used in attacks on Syrian anti-government activists, said the company.

The newest version of the Trojan had Windows 8 compatibility, improved Chrome and Firefox password grabbing, and free updates from the developer.

Israeli police computers were offline from Thursday last week and had not been fully restored on Sunday, the Times of Israel reported.

EmailSuccess Helps Businesses Avoid Costly Newsletter Errors

Email marketing is a widely used tool among all types of businesses, but these campaigns can only garner results if they appeal to consumers and don't contain critical errors. Now, companies have options to help ensure their customers don't receive emails littered with errors and sub-par content.

EmailSuccess is a free, automated tool for helping businesses test their email marketing campaigns to make sure they are error free and optimized for target audiences.

Felix Ngassa, Email Marketing Specialist for EmailSuccess says:

“We are convinced it will cause a change in the email marketing world both from the point of view of agencies who will be able to easily test and improve their emails, and also for client marketing professionals who will no longer judge an email campaign just from the attractiveness of the designs and content but will easily evaluate other critical aspects.”

Ngassa said that the company has helped companies avoid all kinds of costly errors, from sizing that looks off to not including unsubscribe links and other necessary aspects of email newsletters.

The tool points out errors and suggested changes ranging from critical importance to minor suggestions. The analysis goes over email content, design, and technical factors.

So emails that contain broken links, faulty code, missing images, or incorrect structure, would then have another layer of checks to go through before being sent out to customers. Ngassa said that the EmailSuccess tool includes over 250 automated tests to find these types of errors.

There are plenty of tools available to help companies create and distribute email newsletters quickly and easily, but relying one team members to go through all the necessary checks before sending out such an email could lead to errors that make a company look unorganized and unprofessional.

There are different plans and pricing available, ranging from a free basic plan to an agency plan costing $149 per month. Pricing depends on how many tests a company plans to run and if any extra features are necessary.

The company is based in Italy and is part of Diennea MagNews, a company that specializes in email marketing and digital communication services and technology.

App of the Week: DoubleDutch\'s Hive Automates your Sales Team

CRM software has made the process of logging sales and keeping up with contracts easy, but your sales team is still tasked with the tedious process of recording everything. For small businesses with limited time and resources, all of this manual tracking can take time away from the business of doing business, costing your organization money. If your small business would rather your sales team spend time selling rather than doing electronic paperwork, DoubleDutch has the software for you.

With Hive, DoubleDutch gives sales professionals mobile accessibility, allowing them to easily update the status of each deal as they go.For businesses that use SalesForce, Hive can automatically update Salesforce from the field or, if you prefer, you can operate Hive as its own separate CRM application. DoubleDutch also provides contextual updating, using a salesperson's location and the time to automatically log information on deals as they happen. The app also has the ability to learn a user's behavior, saving time-consuming steps with each piece of information entered.

Not only does Hive take some of the work out of inputting information, it also adds consistency to the entry process, which helps with accuracy on reports. With sophisticated analytics built in, Hive can give you the information you need to improve your sales activities.

“Today's sales professional operates in a mobile and collaborative workplace, but current CRM systems have not adapted quickly enough to this new environment,” said Tom Petrocelli, analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. “Hive delivers an entirely different CRM experience that incorporates the lessons learned from mobile computing and the Social Enterprise. It provides a streamlined approach to CRM that allows sales professionals to capture necessary information and access resources in a way that is more natural to them.”

Hive contains built-in reminders that can be set to remind a salesperson to log information at specific times or when in a specific location, as detected by the salesperson's mobile device. The device can also log a user's calls as they are being made and e-mails as they are being sent. This provides a comprehensive history that can be very useful when determining whether a customer needs follow-up.

As DoubleDutch founder and CEO Lawrence Coburn points out, the company's customers use its products fifty times more often than CRM products without mobile interfaces. “With Hive, we're not re-inventing CRM, we're making it a pleasure to use on the device you work with most.”

By providing customers an easy-to-use interface, those customers have a more pleasurable experience, which keeps them coming back. More use means a greater ROI, Coburn adds, as your workers become more productive and your reports become more detailed and accurate. Because it's free for up to three users, Hive is ideal for small businesses. Mid-sized teams may benefit from Hive's premium package, which supports up to 25 users for only $20 per seat each month. Mid-sized packages also include 24/7 phone and web support.

To sign up for Hive, click here. Software is available for both iOS and Android.

South Carolina breach affects millions

South Carolina officials are trying to contain the damage associated with a massive data security breach at its state Department of Revenue that officials say was attacked by an international hacker.

State CISOs cite insufficient funding, lack of skilled IT professionals in survey

State CISOs say insufficient funding, increasing sophistication of threats and inadequate availability of cybersecurity professionals are the top three barriers in addressing cybersecurity.

The overarching surprise [of the survey] is the lack of sustained progress since the 2010 benchmark.

Doug Robinson, executive director, NASCIO

Eighty-six percent of CISOs said insufficient funding was the biggest barrier to addressing cybersecurity issues at the state level, according to the 2012 Deloitte-National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) Cybersecurity Study (.pdf). Fifty U.S. state enterprise-level CISOs from 48 states and two U.S. territories participated in the survey. The increasing sophistication of threats was a barrier for 52% of respondents, and 46% said the inadequate availability of professionals in the field was a major barrier to addressing cybersecurity.

"Retaining talent is a challenge because of the market for cybersecurity professionals," said Srini Subramanian, principal at Deloitte & Touche LLP, who said it is also difficult for the state to attract IT talent to begin with.

Part of the problem, Subramanian said, is that the government is competing with the private sector for a limited number of qualified cybersecurity professionals.

Doug Robinson, executive director at NASCIO, echoed Subramanian when he said cybersecurity professionals that begin in government are trained up and move on to the private sector because the compensation is better. He also said location is an issue with government jobs, as some states are less desirable places to live than others.

Robinson said in some cases security budgets did not include funds for security professionals to get adequate certifications. The biannual Deloitte-NASCIO survey, which assessed the security of all state digital data and cyber assets administered by CISOs, supports Robinson's assertion that funding is an issue.

Despite the lack of funding, CISOs have to find a way to train their employees and address threats. The Deloitte-NASCIO survey found that 24% of CISOs believe their staff has large gaps in competency, up from 17% in 2010. Only 32% of CISOs said their staff has all of the required competencies, up from 25% in 2010. Half of those surveyed said they respond to these deficiencies through training. Others close the gaps through staff augmentation and outsourcing the affected areas.

Subramanian said organizations should practice "selective outsourcing of security services," being careful to only outsource in circumstances where the integrity of the security can be maintained.

Many issues presented in the report were similar to the information gathered in the 2010 survey.

"The overarching surprise [of the survey] is the lack of sustained progress since the 2010 benchmark," Robinson said. "The challenges are real."

The report also highlighted which threats CISOs believe will have the largest impact on state governments in 2013. The top four were phishing, pharming and other related variants; social engineering; increasing sophistication and proliferation of threats, such as viruses and worms; and mobile devices.

Deloitte & Touche LLP is a business firm that works in audit, financial advisory, tax and consulting. The company was founded in London and is currently headquartered in New York. NASCIO is a nonprofit organization that represents state CIOs and information technology executives and managers. It strives for government excellence through quality business practices, information management, and technology policy.

Howard Schmidt warns private sector of cyberwar impact

Earlier this month Internet and email giant Google warned thousands of users that attacks, potentially state-sponsored, had been underway against their Gmail accounts. Later this month news then broke of a significant cyberattack launched at the computer systems of Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia's largest oil company. Many are pointing fingers at Iran as being behind that attack.

UK cloud security savvy ahead of pack say auditors

UK companies have taken more steps to alleviate cloud security risks than firms globally, according to audit and consultancy firm Ernst & Young.

Just under 80 per cent of UK organisations now use cloud computing services, and 57 per cent have implemented cloud security measures, Ernst & Young said in a statement on Monday.

Nevertheless, a significant minority of UK companies â€" 20 per cent â€" have not put cloud security measures in place, according to a report by the auditors. Possible mitigations include stronger oversight of the contract management process for cloud service providers, use of encryption techniques, and stronger identity and access management controls, said Ernst & Young.

Globally, the UK is further along the road of cloud adoption and mitigation than other countries. Overall, 59 per cent of global respondents use or plan to use the cloud, and 38 per cent have not addressed cloud risks, according to Ernst & Young's Global Information Security Survey 2012.

However, UK organisations face a number of information security challenges - 88 per cent reported an increase in attacks over the past two years.

In addition, UK firms have concentrated on short-term fixes for security problems, rather than looking at overall threats, due to a lack of people with specialist security skills, said Ernst & Young.

"Since the late 1990's the number of UK-born graduates studying mathematics and science degrees has fallen by almost 70 per cent," said Ernst & Young director of information security Mark Brown.

"This has lead to an increasing shortage in relevant skills and has put the UK's efforts to tackle growing cyber security risks on the back foot. Encouraging the workforce of the future to seek a career in IT and information security is key to a sustainable solution."

Dr Guy Bunker joins infosec firm Clearswift

Clearswift has announced the appointment of former HP global security architect Dr Guy Bunker to its senior management team.

Bunker, an expert and recognised figure in the infosec industry, has joined the Reading-based cyber security company as senior vice president of products. He previously worked as chief scientist at both Veritas Software and Symantec and is a spokesperson for the Jericho Forum.

"Bunker's appointment further supports the new strategic direction in which Clearswift is moving. We are excited to have an industry leader of his calibre helping us drive our strategy and innovation. Working closely with our development team headed by Alf Pilgrim PhD, CTO, Bunker will be leading our product management team as we continue to develop and grow," said Clearswift's newly-appointed CEO Heath Davies.

US and Canada to launch joint cyber security plan

The US and Canada have announced a plan to increase information sharing on critical infrastructure threats.

The 'Cyber Security Action Plan' will see more cooperation on cyber incidents between the two countries, and more outreach to businesses and citizens, Public Safety Canada and the Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday.

"Canada and the US have a mutual interest in partnering to protect our shared infrastructure," said Canada's public safety minister Vic Toews. "We are committed to working together to protect vital cyber systems, to respond to and recover from any cyber disruptions, and to make cyber space safer for all our citizens."

The countries aim to improve information sharing between their respective cyber security operations centres, with increased real-time collaboration between analysts. More data at all classification levels will be shared. The plan also aims for aligned incident management and escalation processes.

Information-sharing with and between businesses will be picked up, with coordination between public and private entities on defence, mitigation and remediation.

Critical infrastructure is shared between the US and Canada, and lies in both public and private sector hands. The plan will see the US and Canada jointly conduct private sector briefings, and share information with the private sector through standardised protocols.

"The Cyber Security Action Plan reinforces the robust relationship between DHS and Public Safety Canada," said US homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano. "We look forward to continuing our work together to increase the resiliency of our networks, enhance public-private partnerships and build a culture of shared responsibility."

The two countries will also collaborate on information security public awareness campaigns.

Researchers develop \'thinking\' surveillance system

US-Army funded researchers have developed a video surveillance system that aims to use artificial intelligence to reason about human activity and flag anomalous behaviour.

The aim of the research is to interpret data from a video-feed, and eventually to predict the actions of people being observed, through semantic analysis and reasoning, Carnegie Mellon researchers said in a research paper presented last week.

"The goal is to approximate human visual intelligence in making effective and consistent detections," researchers Alessandro Oltramari and Christian Lebiere said in the paper.

The research builds on a Carnegie Mellon cognitive model  and software, both called 'ACT-R'. Oltramari and Lebiere developed a 'cognitive engine' to recognise activity using parts of the ACT-R  cognitive model.

"We devised the cognitive engine to work in a human-like fashion... trying to disambiguate the scene in terms of the most reliable conceptual structures," said the paper.

The cognitive engine uses 'partial matching' to, for example, recognise that an object such as a bag is more like a basket than a dog; and 'spreading of activation' to recognise that a bag can be associated with activities such as travel.

For example, with video footage of a person getting into a truck and driving away, the cognition engine can move from 'machine vision', which detects a truck, a person and the person and the truck disappearing from the picture, to 'a person gets into a truck and drives off'.

The cognitive engine is designed to be used as a module in the DARPA-funded Mind's Eye architecture. Mind's Eye is a project to develop a smart camera that uses machine-based visual intelligence.

The researchers have a working prototype of this technology, Oltramari told SC Magazine UK on Monday. The research is for both commercial and military use.

"Our study, which leverages on ACT-R cognitive architecture, is open source," said Oltramari.

The researchers presented the paper, 'Using Ontologies in a Cognitive-Grounded System: Automatic Action Recognition in Video Surveillance', at the Semantic Technology for Intelligence, Defense and Security 2012 conference on Wednesday.

Research into predictive video analysis is also being carried out In Europe. The EU-funded Indect project is developing algorithms for use with existing video monitoring systems. Indect is also developing technologies for threat detection, such as child pornography, in computer networks.

Hurricane Sandy could cause problems in cyber space

With Hurricane Sandy on a collision course with the north east coast of the USA, cyber crooks are likely to take advantage of the historic storm to make a quick buck or steal personal information from the unsuspecting.

Like with most major news events, users should be on the lookout for legitimate-looking scams that will use the hurricane's mainstream allure to dupe them.

"If the past repeats itself, Facebook postings, tweets, emails and websites claiming to have exclusive video or pleading for donations for disaster relief efforts will appear shortly after the storm hits," security company Avast warned in a blog post on Monday. "These messages often include malicious code that attempt to infect computers with viruses, spyware or Trojan horses."

Online vandals have also been known to bait users through a technique known as black-hat search engine optimisation (SEO), in which search results are poisoned so the attackers' sites appear near the top of rankings.

Natural disasters lend a particularly lucrative hand to cyber criminals because many users want to make donations to victims. As such, they can be easily tricked into giving their money away to bogus sites that appear to be charities, such as the American Red Cross. This was a common ruse following Hurricane Katrina and the Japan tsunami.

Experts advise people to check with the US Better Business Bureau to ensure they are contributing to a legitimate cause.

Anonymous claims Greek finance ministry hack

Hackers from the Anonymous group have claimed to have leaked Greek Ministry of Finance confidential documents, passwords and logins.

The purported hack was to protest the worsening economic conditions in Greece, which has seen tough austerity measures, according to a document posted on AnonPaste.

"We gained full access to the Greek Ministry of Finance," the group claimed in the document about #OpGreece.

Greece is in ongoing discussions with the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to agree a "13.5 billion package of cuts described by the Guardian as "draconian".

Anonymous claimed to be protesting about the fallout of austerity measures, including the increasing popularity and power of the far-right Golden Dawn party.

Anonymous posted a compressed file with documents, plus passwords and logins, that the group claimed were valid. Anonymous said it had accessed IBM servers, and that it possessed an SAP zero-day exploit.

The Greek Ministry of Finance said that it was investigating the validity of the Anonymous hack claims.

"There is an ongoing inquiry," a Ministry of Finance spokeswoman told SC Magazine UK on Tuesday. "We are searching to see if this [hack] happened."

Microsoft strikes Yammer e-discovery partnerships

Microsoft has targeted Yammer at businesses that need to keep tabs on employees for legal reasons by linking the enterprise social networking tool to e-discovery products from security vendors including Symantec.

Yammer can now be integrated with Symantec's Clearwell e-discovery tool, Microsoft announced on Monday. IT professionals that need to be able to turn over employees' electronic activity and communications for forensic examination can export employees' Yammer data directly into Clearwell, and aggregate data from other parts of the enterprise system, prior to e-discovery.

"Our mission is to maintain the safety of company information and to have advanced security controls in place over every user, application and system," Yammer director of security engineering Josha Bronson said in a Microsoft statement.

Further tabs can be kept on employees' use of Yammer through the Smarsh Software-as-a-Service product, which now captures virtually all Yammer communications, according to the Microsoft statement. These interactions can be stored and searched for e-discovery compliance purposes.

Yammer data files can now be exported in line with the Electronic Discovery Reference Model, an e-discovery standard.

In a move linked to e-discovery, Yammer has been integrated with identity and access management products from Okta, which can be used to provision and deprovision users from Yammer.

In addition, Microsoft announced on Monday the Yammer 'Enterprise Graph', a platform and app directory that offers standard components to build Yammer feeds, profiles, followers and likes into applications.

Mac Planet: iThink, therefore iMac?

We've been getting a little philosophical on the evolution of the Mac platform recently, so let's stick with it, at least until I see some of the new equipment in the flesh.

PC sales are still in general decline. Have been for years. Lately, against Apple's trend, even Apple's Mac sales dropped a little (in the last quarter).

Since this figure was from just before the release of new Mac mini, iMac and MacBook Pro 13-inch models, the new machines may well revive Apple's sales. Actually, as a percentage against the entire US PC market, Apple actually took more of the overall percentage of sales, underlining the fact that Apple has still managed to do very well while everyone else suffers from the recession.

A forecast issued by research firm IHS iSuppli projects that nearly 349 million PCs will be shipped this year, representing a one per cent decrease from last year. Over on the Dark Side, of course, Microsoft 8 might slow, halt or even reverse that decline. But so far, Macs retain the Number One desktop and laptop computer spots in the United States' market.

In some US figures (research firm Gartner), Apple Macs represented 13.6 per cent of the market for the third quarter of 2012. Apple's next best performance in was 12.5% of the US market in the third quarter of 2011.

But the figures actually show Apple experienced a year-over-year unit decline of 6.1% in the United States. Meanwhile, other top vendors (apart from Lenovo) posted even steeper declines. The overall US market showed an overall 13.8% decrease in computer shipments. Apple is in third position behind HP and Dell.

But note that IDC's figures differ: IDC places Apple's share of the US market at 12.5 per cent on a shipment decline of 7 per cent. According to IDC, the overall US market shrank by 12.4 per cent.

Of course, Apple's 'computer' sales do not include iPads. I am not about to enter the debate of whether an iPad is a 'computer' or not. Of course it is a computer, but is it equivalent to a desktop or laptop PC? No. So let's leave iPad out of the PC sales equation and leave that discussion for another day. Of course, if I factored iPad sales into Apple's Mac sales, Apple would utterly be wiping the floor with the other main PC brands. Apple has sold over 100 million iPads in the two-and-a-half years since the product launched.

Of course, there are now many tablets out there. And many smartphones. Some of these are 'better' in certain ways compared to Apple's products. Cheaper, bigger, faster etc.

Why couldn't I care? They don't work flawlessly with my other Apple products. Unfortunately for anyone making an Android-based competitor, or for that matter a Windows-based competitor, this is a deciding factor in purchases by Apple fans that's often not taken into account. As Apple fans, we'd either have to get seriously disenchanted with the standard or price of Apple products, or really, really impressed with a competitor's price/spec for us to consider alternatives.

And that, people, is partly why Microsoft is building an ecosystem of its own.

Just like that much criticised by the anti-Apple people. Buy a Windows phone, have an Xbox and a Windows 8-based PC, and they should all work well together. This is a rather delicious twist of Ballmer's 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, just don't ever admit it' philosophy.

He has even admitted recently, to the BBC, that Microsoft is intent on making more 'devices', but Windows 8 may be the make or break point for this, let's say 'interesting', CEO's tenure.

The closed ecosystem model is also something that may come to affect Android users more and more ... unless Google is planning on bringing out an Android OS for PCs.

And why not, actually? Well, for now Google has an ecosystem: it's the Gmail/Google Docs/Android merry-go-round.

But this all brings me back to another factor that is a bit like the elephant in the room. OK, it's not an invisible factor to Apple users, it's just an elephant to everyone else. For us, it's abundantly clear there would be no tablet and smartphone competitors to even speak of if Apple hadn't developed the iPhone, then iPad the way it did.

We know this. You hate admitting it. You will go back to citing one or two lame, virtually unused predecessors that hardly anyone ever heard of that were, nonetheless, around before Apple's. But hey, I never did say Apple invented the tablet and smartphone. I'd just like to reiterate that Apple made smartphones and tablets that were extremely desirable, usable and successful. That's 'all'. There simply would not be real markets for these devices as it now stands if it hadn't been for Apple showing how it should be done.

Lex Friedman on Macworld calls all this 'the circle game': "Apple faces increasing - and fascinating - competition from companies that aim to recreate and then build on Apple's own innovations. Apple's responses to those competitors and the products they create are even more interesting."

Over here in New Zealand, Windows has been continuing to dominate the desktop OS (note this for September, long before Windows 8) and OSX had been sitting around 12 per cent for the last 12 months, according to the stats for the NZ sell-site TradeMe (thanks to Andrew Hale for alerting me to this).

The browser stats, interestingly, show that some Windows users must be surfing with Apple's Safari, since the Apple OS is sitting around 12 per cent while hits from Safari are more like 15 per cent. Google's Chrome browser is also popular (like Safari, Chrome comes in both Mac and PC versions). These are both Webkit-based browsers, unlike Explorer and Firefox.

The NZ-developed online accounting stats from Xero are also interesting. These figures exclude iPad and other traffic to Xero's mobile domains, and cover three months to October this year.

Apple's share of Xero's desktop traffic here sits at 18.15 per cent. That's not indicative of the share of OS X in New Zealand, but of users of Xero, do note, who use Macs. Xero's figures also show a huge proportion of people still using Microsoft's increasingly venerable XP, which might be a pain for the Seattle firm.

If we can get figures like these in a few months time, it will be really interesting to see how Apple's new Macs panned out compared to the introduction of Windows 8.

By Mark Webster

Dig Into The Strategy Book

Attention all business owners and marketers!  It's planning season!  For some of you this is a glorious time of thinking about the future, creating new opportunities and looking for new possibilities to grow your business.  And for others, it's a time where you will do ANYTHING to avoid the process of thinking strategically about your business.

You will make doctors appointments, get root canals, go shopping for holiday presents and perhaps even decide to get a head start on your taxes â€" just so you don't have to think about next year's strategy.

Read The Strategy Book

Regardless of which group of business owner or marketer you fall into, you'll want to read Max McKeown's, The Strategy Book.  I received a review copy from Max after he read one of my reviews.  And I'm so glad I took him up on his offer to send it to me.

The first thing I noticed when I opened the book was the slew of smartly written accolades from a variety of folks that span a wide variety of industries and disciplines â€" one even came from a military strategist!  I'm not one to be swayed by the testimonials I see in a book because so many of them are rather general and just say that the book is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  But the testimonials and recommendations from The Strategy Book are very specific.  So much so, that they almost read like the menu at a gourmet restaurant.  I couldn't wait to see what these folks were talking about.

You'll Start Thinking Strategically From Page One

McKeown hits on the biggest issue that surrounds strategy â€" no one really knows what it is or how it works.  If we did â€" he probably wouldn't need to write such a comprehensive book that simplifies that topic in a way that is accessible and practical for readers at any level or business education and experience.

It's clear that the focus of The Strategy Book is on the reader and your ability to apply the principles.  McKeown accomplishes this in three practical and important ways;

1. The organization of the book.  There are six parts to the book.  The first five address specific challenges that leaders face when it's time to think strategically and create strategies and the last part is chock full of practical tools.
2. The language.  I always judge how much someone knows about a complex topic by the simplicity of the language they use to explain it.  I find that those who speak freely and easily using simple language and effortless analogies are far more knowledgeable and committed to transmitting the knowledge or information.  This is exactly what you'll find with McKeown.  His language is effortless and easy to understand without losing any of the critical substance that he's trying to get across.
3. The tools and actions.  Rather than just throw strategic frameworks at you, McKeown (dare I say lovingly?) takes great care to outline actions, examples and provide so many tools that if you don't find something in this book to get your strategy together you really ought to just hang it up and get a job.

So Who Is This Guy?

Max McKeown isn't new to strategies or writing books.  He may not be a business celebrity, but he's thought of as being a brilliant strategic thinker and works as a strategy and innovation coach for many of the most admired companies in the world.  He's also the author of The Truth About Innovation, Unshrink and Adaptability: The Art of Winning.  McKeown is also a frequent speaker and appears on several national and international radio and television shows.

The Five W's of The Strategy Book

1. Who should read this?  You.  If you're a small business owner, marketers or part of an organizational management or planning team.  This is a terrific book to pick up and ready TODAY while you are still in the stewing stages of next year's strategy.
2. Why you should read this book?  Because it will save you time and money and frustration.  And if that isn't good enough, you may just uncover, discover or recover a strategy that will set you apart from the competition, get you new customers, help you keep the ones you have and make you money.
3. How should you read this book?  Definitely read the very beginning , and then read the end.  Use the strategies.  Ooops.  I think that means read it all.  It's not that long you should be done over a weekend.  I'd also recommend that you use this book as a foundation for planning with your team.
4. When should you read this book?  I'd say that if your business runs on a calendar year that starts with January â€" now would be a good time.  I'd also recommend keeping it on your shelf as new opportunities arise for your business.
5. Where should you read this book?  Anywhere you like.  The first time, I kept it on my nightstand and got through it over a weekend.  I'm keeping it close at hand on a bookshelf.  The hard copy is great because I can flip around back and forth.

Max McKeown really hit the nail on the head with The Strategy Book.  You'll find it easy to read and fun to implement in your own business.  If you're part of a mastermind group or management team, you'll want to go through the process together and see what new strategies you take on for next year.

The Strategy Book is printed by Pearson Books and is part of a series that also includes The Management Book  and The Leadership Book.   For more information about Max McKeown, check out his web site and follow him on Twitter @MaxMcKeown.

TrendSpottr Joins With Salesforce to Offer Predictive Analytics

TrendSpottr, a predictive analytics service that curates and identifies relevant trends, announced a partnership with Salesforce this week, meaning that any businesses using Salesforce will now have access to the analytics tools of TrendSpottr.

Trendspottr's product can help businesses find content relevant to their company or business interests within the massive amounts of data available online. It uses this data to identify and even predict trends within different industries and topics.

Users can enter a search term, hashtag, or general topic of interest, and then Trendspottr's algorithm looks for the most relevant information by taking into account factors like how recent the topic has been discussed, the frequency of those discussions, velocity, and amplification.

Data can also be broken down into conversations from a particular city or geographical area, so local businesses or companies looking to break into a particular market can get information more tailored to their business interests. Users can also learn about the top influencers within a particular topic and the context behind each trend.

The partnership with Salesforce not only means that a large amount of businesses will now have access to the tool, but also that TrendSpottr may be looking to transition into a more specialized analytics provider, rather than one that deals mainly with data from public social media sources.

TrendSpottr will continue to offer its product separately from its Salesforce offering, and the two products will be sold individually. Prices are based on how much data is processed through the service.

The Toronto-based startup was launched at the spring 2011 DEMO conference. The company started off working with the open social APIs from sites like Facebook and Twitter, and then expanded to more real-time streams of online data.

Aside from the partnership with TrendSpottr, Salesforce has also added a number of other social analytics vendors to its Marketing Cloud.

Sequester and Fiscal Cliff: What\'s the Impact on Small Business?

Those of us here in the U.S. have been hearing a lot about “sequester” (variation “sequestration”) - and its cousin, “fiscal cliff.”  I'd be willing to bet that quite a few of my fellow small business owners have no idea what those terms mean.  Politicians bandy them about  as if they think we all know what they are talking about.  In fact, we are focused on our families, our businesses, our communities, our faith - not what happens in Washington.

So I set out to find out what the words sequester and fiscal cliff really mean.

What is sequester?

Sequester refers to mandatory government spending cuts that are looming.  On January 1, 2013, $109 billion in spending cuts will automatically kick in across the board, according to the Christian Science Monitor.  But that's just the first step.

Over time $600 billion in cuts are required in defense programs, and another $600 billion in domestic programs.

What is the fiscal cliff?

The term “fiscal cliff” is a shorthand term for the impact of those cuts.  A big deadline is looming on January 1, 2013 when the cuts start going into effect.

In addition, certain tax increases will also go into effect.

The resulting impact is so dramatic that it could throw the country back into a recession.  In other words, we're headed toward a financial precipice.

What will be the impact? 

The proposed changes are so sudden and deep that the Congressional Budget Office  estimates they would shave gross domestic product (GDP) by 4% in 2013, triggering another recession (i.e., negative growth). That could lead to higher unemployment, with a loss of 2 million jobs.

Even if you believe that government spending should be cut, as I do, the problem is that mandated cuts will be made across the board.  They may not be the right cuts.

The analogy I use is that one day in your business you decide to finally address your red ink.  You decide you need to  cut expenses.  But you do it by laying off your best sales people and not paying your  insurance premiums. Then the sales orders slow to a trickle.  Then you have a fire and lose all your inventory and equipment, with no insurance to replace it.   Hmmm, maybe you should have found have other expenses to cut.

How does sequester and the fiscal cliff affect small businesses?

Sooner or later with high spending, there has to be a reckoning.

However, when you cut spending across the board, you can cut the legs out from important programs that should not be cut.  Defense cuts, for example, could hamper the ability of our country to defend itself and stay as secure as Americans expect.

And when you raise taxes, are you raising the right taxes?  Or do the higher taxes strangle growth among the very groups you expect to create economic growth, such as jobs?

For small businesses specifically, the tax increases would impact those who make over $250,000 a year.  As Professor Scott Shane points out, with help from George Haynes of Montana State University, raising taxes on those making more than $250,000 would affect the business owners that employ a whopping 93 percent of employees in small businesses.  And since many business owners sacrifice for years to reinvest in the business - in anticipation of it paying off later on - the taxes will hit them just as those years of sacrifice start to pay off in higher earnings for the business owner.

A Tax Foundation report also suggests that tax increases on those with incomes over $250,000 would slow growth and have an impact on business owners, because so many businesses report pass-through income.

The American Enterprise Institute suggests the sequester defense cuts would hurt small businesses in the defense industry, in particular:

“As Aerospace Industries Association President Marion Blakey has put it, 70 cents of every defense dollar goes to small firms.   In 2011, 20 percent of Department of Defense contracts and 35 percent of subcontracts were awarded to small businesses specifically.  Small business' value to the defense industry goes beyond the raw percentages. Smaller, specialized firms are often the only producers of niche equipment, software or technology, and as such, play an indispensable role in the military's supply chain.”

As for the healthcare law (“Obamacare”) that is phasing in, it's hard to tell what impact that is going to have on small businesses.  The law is so complex and the discussion so politicizedâ€" it's hard to know what to believe.  What we do know is that when the U.S. Supreme Court declared it constitutional, they also declared it a tax.

 What can you do about the fiscal cliff?

Demand that our lawmakers address spending and our national debt, and pass a budget.  Shamefully, this country has not passed a real budget in years. If we ran our businesses that way, we'd end up in bankruptcy.

Deciding what to spend on - and not - and deciding  how to pay for that spending, require hard choices.  That's true in  your family budget or your business budget or the government's budget. No one says it is easy.  But the reason we pay elected officials is to sort through and make those judgments â€" not just default to across-the-board cuts that could hurt more than they help.

Supreme Court Decision Could Impact Small Biz Re-selling

An anticipated Supreme Court decision that pits a book publisher against a young entrepreneur could have widespread impact on many small business merchants including eBay re-sellers. We'll also look at the latest trends in small business selling, especially e-commerce. Share your thoughts about the fallout of the Wiley v. Kirtsaeng case and the future of e-commerce in the comment section below.

Just Around the Corner

Book smart. The Supreme Court case involving Supap Kirtsaeng, a student who came to the U.S. in 1997 and began importing less expensive text books from his native Thailand in 2007 and selling them on eBay, could have dramatic repercussions for all small business re-sellers. Some critics worry a decision in favor of publishers could significantly erode the rights of any business to re-sell anything. Ars Technica

I want, therefore I am. There are other trends stirring the e-commerce world beyond the big news of re-sale rights, however. Online marketing expert Anton McCarthy tells us about Facebook's new “want” button and the emergence of something he calls the “intention economy.” E-commerce is going social, and it is important for your business to be ready. Tweak Your Biz

Selling the Dream

Setting up your store. Unless you're selling via eBay or some other big e-commerce super site, you'll need an online store to offer your products to an eager customer base. Online stores are not as complicated to create as they once were. E-commerce expert Danny Pajevic gives you an overview of how to choose the best software to develop your online store. Creating a Webstore

A whole new world. E-commerce can be a whole new world for business owners entering it for the first time. The first challenge is understanding how online payments work. Michelle Latham takes e-commerce newcomers by the hand in this post and shows them what they need to know to succeed. The first steps may be the hardest, but the rewards are clear. Switch Commerce

Taking stock. Managing your inventory is another hugely important part of e-commerce that many small business owners must consider from the very beginning. Running out of products offered on your Website will disappoint customers, resulting in a poor experience that will do nothing for your business. Here are some tips that should help you keep your inventory straight. Open Forum

Marketplace Masters

A better letter. If your e-commerce newsletters aren't saying the right things, they could be losing you money right now. Don't worry, though. Guest blogger Chris Hexton has these suggestions that should double your newsletter's effectiveness, meaning more sales for you and your online business. Capture Commerce

The bold and the beautiful. As long as you're creating an e-commerce site, you should give some thought to what makes the best online marketplaces thrive. Guest blogger Stacey Thompson shares some of the qualities the best online marketplaces on the Earth have in common. Make sure your online store keeps pace with these industry leaders. Print Runner Blog

Individual Insurance Market Changes Affect Small Business Owners

Larry Levitt, Anthony Damico, and Gary Claxton of the Kaiser Family Foundation, wrote in a recent blog post:

“The biggest effects the [Affordable Care Act] ACA will have on small business owners may not be changes in the rules for the small business insurance market, but rather the changes in the individual insurance market. ”

That's because most owners of businesses with fewer than 25 employees are much more likely than other Americans to get their health insurance from the individual insurance market.

If they are insured, most Americans get their health insurance from one of four sources:

• their employers;
• a family member's employer;
• the government (through Medicare or Medicaid);
• or from other private insurance.

Small business owners differ from Americans who don't own businesses in terms of health insurance coverage, but not in the way most people think.

Roughly the same share of small business owners and non-elderly Americans has health insurance. According to unpublished analysis of the Survey of Income and Program Participation for the second quarter of 2011 by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 25 percent of small business owners were uninsured, a similar fraction to the 22 percent of all non-elderly adults who have no health care coverage.

The Foundation's analysis also shows that 21 percent of small business owners and 18 percent of all non-elderly adults get their insurance from a family member's employer â€" numbers that are also not too different. Finally, a relatively similar 6 percent of small business owners and 10 percent of non-elderly adults get their insurance through either Medicare or Medicaid.

Where small business owners differ from other Americans lies in the share that gets insurance coverage from their employer and from “other private insurance,” most of which is insurance purchased in the individual market.

While 37 percent of all non-elderly Americans get health insurance from their employers, only 19 percent of small business owners with fewer than 25 employees do. The numbers are reversed for “other private insurance,” with 30 percent of the small business owners and only 13 percent of all non-elderly Americans getting their insurance from that source.

This difference leads the Kaiser Family Foundation analysts to conclude that the really important changes in the ACA for owners of small businesses lie in the individual insurance market, such as new coverage requirements, rules about pre-existing conditions, and the creation of insurance exchanges.

Health Insurance Photo via Shutterstock

Buzz Suggests That Podcasting Is Becoming More Popular

Listening is becoming the renewed brand engagement and advancement tool and content is its new currency:

“A type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of audio, video, PDF, or ePub files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device.”

Since the 1930′s there have been radio talk shows and news programs. Today, through the evolution of the Internet capabilities, along with cheaper hardware and software, audio podcasts are doing what was historically done through radio broadcast stations.

There is growing buzz and data that suggests a big uptick and an increased usage of podcasting for good reasons. Podcasts are instructional, fun, mobile friendly, more personal, brand builders and easy to do. People are podcasting on anything you can imagine from business, cooking, travel, sewing, sports,  investing, being a working Mom or single Dad,  and are finding an audience for them.

One of the key benefits of audio podcasts is the power of listening, hearing someone talking to you, and that theater of the mind allows people to concentrate and learn better.

Reading an article or book is very effective but listening to someone talk to you, hearing their voice talking to you about something you are interested in increases engagement. The archived podcast also allows people to go back and listen at their convenience and radio/audio is an iconic, mature media that people know and trust.

B2B marketers, responding to an Optify survey, reported the 3 most important elements of successful content.  Survey respondents resoundingly chose:

• Engaging and compelling story telling (81.5%)
• Originality (52.6%)
• Custom content (49.2%)

If you want to educate, entertain and serve people with great content, podcast radio is hard to beat.

Below I've listed 4 simple guidelines for creating and promoting successful podcasts:

Selectively Choose Content 

Align your content with who you are and what you want to be known for.  Ask yourself, “What are you knowledgeable about that there is an audience for?” And, “What do you want to be known for?”

Be Consistent

Consistently perform your segments and integrate them into your overall content marketing strategy.  Make your podcast, email marketing, social media and blog all work together.

Pick The Format And Style That Best Suits You

Whether it be interview format, conversational style or instructional in nature.  And if you are interviewing, make sure you feature people who have good energy and have their own active social marketing platforms.

Brand Your Podcast

Make sure you are branding and presenting your podcast with a graphic logo or avatar and a produced open and close segment. Practice doing them for a few weeks before you go live so that you get comfortable and always present yourself as someone who is serious and professional.

There are some great articles on why you should podcast, so do some research.  And if you're interested in podcasting, below are some of the top radio podcasting networks and platforms that you can research, too:

• Blogtalkradio.com
• Itunes.com
• Epodcastnetwork.com
• Earwolf.com

And be sure to check out what some of the top podcasts are talking about, as well as how NPR, Radiolab, and ESPN present them.  And tell us, what are some of  your favorite podcasts?

On The Air Photo via Shutterstock

FlockTag: A Loyalty Program For The Sharing Economy

The idea of a sharing economy has led many consumers to access data rather than own it. Now, a new startup called FlockTag aims to apply a similar concept to the small business world, applying this shared knowledge to its loyalty cards and mobile app programs.

Adrian Fortino, FlockTag's Co-founder says:

“It is the combination of a universal, digital loyalty card (a buy five, get one free for all participating businesses) and a customized, automated deal engine where every unique consumer gets a deal that is curated and sent to them at the right place and time based on their specific buying behavior.”

The Detroit-based startup provides tools for businesses to create a network where they can benefit from the knowledge and experience of other companies. Not only can companies share information such as consumer buying behaviors, but they can also use the platform to offer shoppers cross-promotions or deals in real time based on these behaviors.

Said Fortino:

“FlockTag's philosophy and capabilities are designed to leverage the secure sharing of customer data between independent businesses in a region so that they can accurately entice current customers and see how best to bring new ones in the door. Businesses are able to attract new, loyal customers by sending personalized deals to consumers who make purchases nearby, assuming that the offering is relevant to the individual.”

FlockTag claims that its targeted, intelligent deals can increase the number of new customers, entice them to buy more frequently and to spend more when they do. Its universal loyalty card system and automated deal engine allows consumers to rack up deals from different businesses in their area.

There are also iOS and Android compatible apps for FlockTag users. And since all of the consumer data is stored in one centralized location, FlockTag can provide businesses with even more data and analytics about customers and their buying behavior.

The tool will launch on November 1, 2012 and is currently in the testing phase in several Big 10 college towns throughout the Midwest. For example, the all-in-one loyalty card is currently in use by 25 independently owned businesses throughout Ann Arbor, Michigan.

5 Ways To Use Marketing Videos On Your Site

I'm guessing you've heard about the power of video to your marketing efforts, right? For example, did you know that including video on website landing pages makes them 53 percent more likely to show up on the first page of Google? Or that a customer who watches videos of products/services is 85 percent more likely to make a purchase? Yeah. Those are all true.

As marketers, we hear these stats and they make an impact. Well, video makes the same impact to your customers.

If you've heard about the power of video but weren't sure how to incorporate it into your small business, below are some ideas of where video can fit into your marketing mix.

1. To Simplify Concepts/Messaging

Whether you're a technical company trying to simplify a product so normal users grasp it, or you want to break down a complicated concept to make a larger point, video can be your greatest ally. Video allows you to talk directly to your customers, while also visuals. As a result, it's better suited for educating users and helping to spread your message.

For example, Stay Smart, Stay Healthy is a new-media venture that aims to help people understand something that is far too complicated â€" the healthcare industry. How do they do it? Through whiteboard videos that make difficult concepts personable and show how they apply to our lives.

Here's a video they did about how to get the most out of your health insurance. It currently has more than 145k views.

2. Your Brand Story

Social media has shown that users really do care about the story behind your company. We want to know more about the brands that we're loyal to and we want to know more about the brands we're considering being loyal to. Video helps to capture this.

For example, below is a video that my employer Overit created to show people who we are as a company and the types of project Overit has worked on. It's given us an asset we can use to let people in and see what we're all about and what we do.

3. Product Videos

Product videos show people what it is they're about to buy. It breaks that third wall and shows them a living, breathing representation of what could be theirs if they'd just hit the purchase button. This is incredibly powerful â€" regardless whether you're selling a $500 technological gadget or just a pair of shoes.

For example, Zappos revealed a few years ago it was able to increase sales 6 to 30 percent simply by adding videos to product pages. They didn't change anything else. All they did was add videos. That's powerful.

Zappos is so crazy about reviews they even encourage users to submit their own videos to share their Zappos experience.

4. Customer Testimonials

One area that's seeing a lot of growth right now are customer videos. Many of the larger brands are now creating campaigns solely around building video testimonials. They understand that there's nothing quite as powerful as hearing from a customer, in their own voice and environment, how a company has helped them to achieve a goal or even improved their quality of life. These videos often run between :15 (perfect for Web) and :60, and are a great asset on their own, or paired with other marketing material.

5. Screencasts

Screencasts give small business owners another powerful way to add video content to their websites in a way that is helpful and beneficial to their user. Screencast videos allow SMBs to walk customers through a specific process and show them what is happening (or what should be happening) on their computer during different stages of a task. Screencast videos are great for directing customers through sometimes-confusing tasks like setting up a new account, engaging with the community for the first time, or how to install a piece of software.

Above are just a few ways that marketers can take advantage of video on their website. The possibilities for using video to market your brand, stand out, and to show off what you have to offer are virtually endless. How have you been using video to market your company? Or, if you've been shy to, what's been holding you back?

Deciding Which State To Incorporate A Business

After you decide to incorporate your business and choose a business structure, you need to decide which state to incorporate your business in. This means that, as part of the process of forming a legal entity for your business, you need to choose a state to incorporate in and which to make your filing in.

Many people want to know, “What is the best state state to incorporate a business?” Or “Can I save money on taxes by incorporating my business in a different state?”

Even though a business can be legally based in any state, even if that state is different from the owner's state of residence, most business owners choose to incorporate in their own home state, or Delaware or Nevada.

Delaware is a popular state to incorporate in, especially for larger companies, because it has the most developed and flexible corporate statutes in the country and is widely considered to be a pro-business state.

Nevada has also become popular state to incorporate because of its lack of state corporate income tax, franchise tax and personal income tax. It also has relatively low fees.

However, most small business owners are likely better off incorporating in their own home state. If you are going to be conducting a substantial amount of your business in your home state, it will likely be beneficial to choose that state to incorporate in.

Even if you incorporate out-of-state, if you do a lot of business in your home state (and/or have a significant physical presence in your home state), you will have to make a filing to “qualify to do business” in your home state. You will then be subject to the same fees, taxes and regulations as if you had incorporated in your home state in the first place, and you will have paid filing fees (and, perhaps franchise taxes) to more than one state.

Sometimes it pays to keep it simple when you're incorporating (and avoid some of the most common incorporation mistakes). Big corporations can often find certain shortcuts that are not available to smaller businesses. Often the simplest answer â€" the best state to incorporate in is your home state â€" the right one for your small business. For more details on this, read Nellie Akalp's article on Small Business Trends on where is the “best state” to incorporate.

If you're operating a business in multiple states, then your incorporation and business filing requirements get a bit more complicated. For details, read this article from Small Business Trends on how to handle your business filings when doing business in multiple states.

The bottom line: If your business is like most small businesses, you should probably choose the state where you live as the state to incorporate.

While there can be benefits to incorporating out-of-state, those benefits usually are biggest for larger companies that have more complex tax filing and regulatory situations. Small business owners who do a majority of business in the same state should usually plan to “keep it simple” by incorporating in the same state where they reside.

State Incorporation Photo via Shutterstock

Integrate Multiple Online Apps with CloudWork: Save Time, Boost Productivity and More

If you're a small or mid-sized business relying on a number of cloud apps for your business processes, but you're tired of maintaining the information on each app, then you're in for a big surprise!

Nubera, the creator of GetApp and a pioneer in cloud apps discovery and integration, has launched a new service that gives small business professionals a seamless and hassle-free way to keep tabs on their cloud apps. It is an integration as a service platform which goes by the name CloudWork.

CloudWork is a web based service which will help you integrate all your business and social media apps into a single dashboard; thereby enabling you to easily automate your key businesses processes in the cloud. It makes use of public APIs to enable communication and automation of the tasks between apps.

Setting up CloudWork is done in three simple steps and doesn't require any technical skills or big upfront investments.

Why do you need such a service, you may ask?  It's simple -productivity. Being able to break free from the redundant process of replicating data/information onto every app used within a business process makes you more efficient and productive.

CloudWork is currently in the beta stages and offers limited services; however, it is packed with an arsenal of services which will be announced as time goes by.  It currently offers:

• Fetching new contacts from any app to update the master database of your CRM.
• Tracking all client interactions inside your CRM.

Future services will include:

• Keeping a fresh history of clients for better support.
• Customized real time notifications.
• Improved productivity by integrating more services.
• Backing up important files automatically.

CloudWord is also limited to a handful of apps but it will be expanding its horizon and will include more apps in the near future.

It can currently be integrated with the following cloud apps:

• Campaign Monitor
• Capsule CRM
• Desk.com
• Dropbox
• Evernote
• Freshbooks
• Gmail
• Highrise
• MailChimp
• Pivotal Tracker
• Twilio
• Twitter
• WordPress
• Zendesk
• Zoho CRM

Apps that are currently in process are:

• Asana
• Base CRM
• Basecamp
• Chargify
• FreeAgent
• Google Calendar
• Google Contacts
• Google Drive
• Google Talk
• HipChat
• RSS feeds
• Toggl
• UserVoice
• Wufoo

With 15% of small businesses using more than 5 different apps and more than 40% relying on cloud based apps altogether; CloudWork is bound to benefit a big lot! We look forward to what CloudWork has to offer and see what a benefit it can become to small businesses.

Tablets Are Roaring Into The Work Scene And You Need Mobile Device Management (MDM) To Keep You Secure

Tablets are everywhere. They're in the mall, in hospitals, in entertainment venues and in the homes of millions of people. It would be foolish to ignore the fact that some of your employees might be using a tablet to do their work, right? Yet, a lot of businesses just let that slide without batting an eyelash. It's time to wake up, stop smelling the coffee, and actually drink it.

Today, CDW Corporation, a massive provider of hardware and IT solutions for businesses large and small, has some things to say about this trend that might turn into a little food for thought for you.  Information from their small business mobility report show:

• 75 percent of mobile users believe it's critical to their jobs to use a mobile device. Mobility bolsters productivity!
• 85 percent of IT managers believe that the introduction of a mobile ecosystem has made the companies they manage more productive.

To get a better picture of what CDW's talking about, let's take a look at this infographic:

Still don't get the hint? Here is another: The CDW report concludes that 67 percent of IT managers aren't even familiar with the concept of Mobile Device Management. Are you?

If you missed our discussions on MDM, you can always go back and look at what we've published. Once you start looking for services, you'll start to realize that there may be too many choices. So, how do you separate the wheat from the chaff? We also covered this. Tablets are probably the most commonplace productivity aides in the workplace. It's best you start implementing a way to make sure that you and your employees have a secure environment to use tablets within. Otherwise, the terrorists win! Seriously.

Across the board, laptops are still one of the primary work aides in any industry. However, more and more people are ditching their laptops and picking up tablets. The percentage of tablet users is now hovering around 24 percent throughout all industries. What are you waiting for?

7 Reasons and 20 Resources Why Hurricane Sandy Won\'t Harm Your Day to Day Business Operations

It's 12:30pm EST and I'm sitting in my corporate offices (other wise known as a living room) while Sandy (the storm) continues to get worse and worse.

I just had an hour long marketing webinar with a Pennsylvania businesses sales team. As we started the call the host had a power outage but was able to  quickly recover â€" from land line to cell phone I think â€" due to Sandy. This storm is pretty bad.

However, for those businesses that want to REALLY ensure they are as productive as possible during this storm and are READY here's a few tech (and a few non-tech) things you can do.

1. Ensure your car has a full tank of gas (not to travel but to use the cigarette lighter to power devices)
2. Get a mobile car charger so you can use your car's cigarette lighter (not only during a storm but any time you're in the car).  Amazon or Radio Shack sell them.
3. Why have ONE notebook? I have 3 notebooks. I know everyone can't afford three, but if you can even save an old one, you'll have at least several, several hours of batter power, if your power goes down and you really MUST work. Check that your notebook batteries are full charged. Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer and Toshiba all make great notebooks.
4. Use mobile broadband so you have at least a few hours of Internet access if your telephone lines go down. If the CELL TOWERS in your area go down â€" you're toast and the mobile broadband gadget won't even help you. Verizon Wireless Jetpack is what I use.
5. Ensure you have FULL remote access to your files and applications. For file remote access â€" do you have VPN access to your office's server? If the power goes out in your office, your server will go down. Do you have your files hosted online? â€" Google Docs, Office365, Dropbox, Egnyte, Box.net, SugarSync or other services work wonders.
6. For remote access to your office computers try Gotomypc, Logmein, PC Anywhere  (and others all work wonders).
7. Communicating with remote staff is critical in times like this and you have several options â€" Zoom.us, Gotomeeting, Fuze, WebEx and many, many other solutions

Here are some general and tech business best practices from NYC Small Business Solutions

• Have lists of all employees, key customers and clients, suppliers, shippers, and vendors â€" along with their phone numbers, email addresses and physical addresses
• Secure insurance policies, agent contact information, vital business records such as bank account and tax records in a waterproof, fireproof, portable container
• Back up computerized records and protect the backup copy / ensure the electronic data back-up is on a portable hard-drive or stored at a remote location
• Take equipment, computer software / hardware, and furniture inventories
• Relocate expensive equipment to floors 3-7 where possible or move it to the most heavily constructed interior area of the facility â€" in areas which could be subject to surge flooding, move equipment to floors above the possible surge level
• Cover vulnerable equipment which cannot be moved with plastic sheeting to minimize damage in the event of roof leaks or broken windows
• Move all merchandise, equipment, stock, etc. that is on floors that could flood to pallets or shelves, to protect them from flooding
• Compile a list of emergency vendors, such as plumbers and restoration contractors
• Make copies of essential business policies, plans, and agreements
• Take photographs of the business and equipment, both inside and out, to help with insurance claims
• Prepare for a possible loss of utilities by having battery-powered lights, a battery-powered radio, a supply of potable water, and if possible, an emergency generator

The Small Business Technology Tour 2012 Heads South To Miami Florida

The 3rd Annual Small Business Technology Tour 2012, produced by Smallbiztechnology.com, has made it's way from San Francisco to Chicago to Boston and to Phoenix.  In a few days, November 1st, it hits the ground in Atlanta, GA.  Each city on this great tour has been absolutely fantastic and has left hundreds of small business owners recharged and refreshed â€" with great information to take back to their business to help achieve greater success with technology.

The final city on the tour is Miami, FL.  We arrive on November 8th at theFlorida Int'l University, Modesto A Maidique Campus College of Business located at 11200 South West 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199.  Join our very own Ramon Ray  for a day full of learning, networking and FUN!

REGISTER HERE

 

This one day event is filled with TONS of learning from expert speakers on topics geared to helping small businesses grow.  Topics include:

• How Small Companies Can Do Big Things With Technology
• Are You Leveraging Your Superfans?
• 7 Steps: Dating Your Leads. Marrying Your Customers
• You Must Be A Publisher: Why Content Marketing and Social Media Are A Must

We have a few complimentary tickets available for the first 10 people to register with the code RamonVIP. You can use the code and REGISTER HERE.

Visit the tour website to see the full list of speakers and agenda for each city.

We hope to see you on the tour!!

One Stop Shopping To Build Your Online Presence. Is It Too Good To Be True?

It goes without saying, but there are a LOT of different aspects to running a small business.  You need a website, logo design, marketing materials, social media…and the list goes on and on.  But an online presence is a definite must in this day of the Internet and online accessibility. For many of us, we turn to multiple vendors who specialize in one specific area of business to help us or we simply forfeit them because they are just out of our realm of competency.

According to a 2011 report by research firm Borrell & Associates, 46 percent of small and medium size businesses in the U.S. have no online presence. Of those that do, 80 percent are a simple business card site without embedded revenue generation. Why is this?  According to the report, most small and medium business owners do not have the time or the expertise necessary to successfully conduct business online. Since time is an issue with most small businesses (or should I say the lack of time), managing multiple vendors to perform your business tasks can sometimes be more troublesome than doing nothing at all.

Is there a solution to this problem?  Is there a ‘Costco' for small businesses to turn to that provide them everything they need under one roof?

Marketecture believes it has a solution.  It's Businesss Center 3.0 provides a set of tools for small business to grow and build their online business. Here you can easily build, market and monetize your website, all by yourself, without being forced to spend a lot of money of various SEO experts, social media managers, web developers etc.! You'll also be able to monitor and manage social media marketing and learn what people are saying about you or your business on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn or Foursquare. If you like, you can also set up an e-commerce store and sells your goods online.

Alterian is another company that offers an  integrated marketing platform, and offers several tools for monitoring your online activities. Web content management, email marketing management, social media marketing or engagement management and analytics â€" Alterian has the tools for the job, you just have to pick out what you need.

“Being able to integrate ones marketing (and other business components) is important. Having customer information in various database is a recipe for disaster, especially the more you grow.”, says Ramon Ray, editor of Smallbiztechnology.com. “ Having said that it's important to consider that if you need a GREAT web site, maybe the company who builds web sites, sells security solutions and makes mango juice is not the company for you.”

Perhaps Ramon is right.  Sometime the ‘Jack of All Trades' truly is the ‘Master of None'.  But, on the other hand, another value add for services like this is that there is ONE number to call, one person to speak with to help you manage things â€" you don't have 5 different vendors to call about 20 different problems.  At the end of the day, that may be far better than forfeiting what your business needs.

So, if you are a small business struggling to manage your online presence (or simply don't have an online presence) check out one of these services to see if it's a fit for you.  It just may turn out to be the answer to some of your prayers.

Six Simple Tips for a Saturated Holiday Sales Blitz

The holidays might be dominated by the big market companies and their Black Friday insanity, and they might start putting up Christmas trees before Halloween, but none of that means small businesses need to miss out on the maelstrom of marketing and the chance to bring in a big time customer base. The big wakes put through the frothing frenzy of shopping in these last few months of the year are just as easily sailed by small businesses.

Connie Certusi of Sage Small Business Accounting recently shared with us some tips for small businesses during these, the retail ‘happy days' of the holiday season. “It's the perfect time to appreciate your current customers,” said Connie, “while gaining new ones.”

• Facebook. If you have not used Facebook for your business, you're certainly missing out on one of the most basic of marketing tools. Get a page going for your business and immediately start with any promotions you're planning for the season. Help “build buzz” far in advance and get your customers to share them with others, which will only increase your exposure.
• Google Places for Business. This gives you an ‘in' with one of the largest search engines on the planet, where you can promote your company and its business in your market(s), as well as use it like Facebook to share your promotions and specials.
• Coupons. In the product you're shipping now, why not throw in a coupon for a percentage off? This will give your already-existing customers even more reason to come back and visit you.
• Gift Suggestions. Some customers might need a little guidance to help find the right gift; you can include your own input towards this on your website or social media page(s), along with helpful contact information to make it easier for them to get a hold of you.
• Mobile Devices. Think about the last time you saw a QR code…and think about how it can help you get the traffic you're looking for. QR codes are easy and quick to generate (try QR Stuff for one of many possibilities), and best of all, free.
• Other Pointers. Not everything you share with your customers needs to necessarily be focused on selling. I know, I know…but think about it. Offer your customers other tips on how to save time or money in their perfect gift search. You'll earn your customer's respect, probably gain followers on your social media sites, and none of that could hurt when it comes to eventually generating sales that you might not have otherwise had.

Holiday shopping might not exactly be brain surgery, but it certainly can be as stressful. Anything you can do on your end to make things easier for your customers…or even better, fun and interesting…will help you not only generate holiday sales but also sales well into the New Year. Provided that Mayan calendar thing is wrong, of course.