The amount of videos available for viewing on YouTube is overwhelming. Some of these videos are amateur footage that anyone can upload and hardly anyone cares to watch. And some videos are more artfully created and targeted at a specific group of loyal followers. But these videos all have one thing in common - they’re free to watch, at least for now.
YouTube has just announced plans to begin developing paid subscription channels, which would cost end users a monthly Read More
Two experts from Symantec recently joined us and over 100 members of the small business community on Twitter, on the topic of virtualizing your technology.  Virtualization technology can help you reduce IT hardware costs, maintenance costs and even utility costs - not to mention create efficiencies in your internal processes.
Many SMB owners and managers, while familiar with the concept of cloud software applications and software-as-a-service accessed through the Internet. But you may not be as familiar with virtual servers and virtualizing technology. Â So it was excellent way for entrepreneurs to better understand virtualized technology.
The two Symantec subject matter experts were:
Dan Nadir, senior director of Product Management, SMB and Symantec.Cloud, Symantec -Â @SymantecSMB
Elias AbuGhazaleh, director of Engineering, Backup Exec, IMG, Symantec -Â @BE_Elias
Below are some of the tips they shared during the chat:
Q1: What kind of technology can you take virtual Is it all about servers Or moreÂ
A1: Any type of application (email, accounting, CRM) can be virtualized. SMBs often start with productivity applications. @SymantecSMB Q2: What are the biggest benefits for SMBs of going virtual with technology
A2: One of the best benefits we’ve seen is an improvement in efficiency because physical IT resources are simplified. - @SymantecSMB
A2: The ability to use fewer servers for the same number of applications http://t.co/aPepmHmc - @BE_Elias
Q3: What are the biggest challenges of adopting virtual solutions
A3: Â Security is also a continuing concern for virtual environments just as with physical network components. - @BE_Elias
A3: Â Adoption is THE biggest challenge. Next would be the learning curve - @LBarraco
A3:  How much IT know-how is required to virtualize on site  - @Robert_Brady
A3: Â It is fairly simple utilizing #VMware or #HyperV, it is a simple installation (in my opinion) Â -@BE_Elias
Q4: Does virtualized technology automatically solve security issues - example: antivirus and firewall in servers #SMBchat
A4: Previously implemented security tools may need to be reconfigured or replaced in order to maintain adequate protection. @SymantecSMB
Q5: What steps should small businesses take to secure virtualized hardware such as servers
A5: Consider security solutions needed to secure your virtual environment: firewall, antivirus, and endpoint security. @BE_Elias
A5: Update software regularly & secure passwords that are regularly updated. @robert_brady
A5: having scheduled password updates (30 days), checking spam folders and out boxs, running virus protection routinely @SoukleATL
Q6: What about security of virtualized software such as cloud email and documents
A6 A recent survey shows employees will often go around IT and use cloud apps, exposing the company to high risks. - @SymantecSMB
A6: The Ponemon 2011 Cost of a Data Breach Report stated that 41% of breaches were caused by a third party. - @BE_Elias
Q7: What about data backup in a virtualized environment Concerns Benefits
A7: Carefully consider the user interface. A simpler solution will save a significant amount of time in the long run. @BE_Elias
A7: Virtual servers can be way cheaper than having an in-house server grid. - @andrewbamazing
A7:  Nearly half of SMBs would lose 40% of their data in disaster, acc to Symantec research: http://t.co/aZ4TQAxm - @TJMcCue
Q8: What are some best practices if you are considering virtualization but haven’t yet jumped in
A8: You can work with a consultant/reseller on a strategy. They can help determine your needs and help with implementation - @SymantecSMB
A8: Â Before going live, perform testing to make sure everything is working as it should. - @BE_Elias
A8: Here’s a paper on how to successfully implement virtualization in your organization: http://t.co/fF3QlHn7 - @BE_Elias
BONUS: For current information on virtualization, check out Symantec’s SMB Virtualization Clinic: http://t.co/WEISveKb - @SymantecSMB
Many thanks to Symantec for sponsoring this chat and to Dan Nadir and Elias AbuGhazaleh, the Symantec subject matter experts, for being available to the small business community and sharing their knowledge.
James Wong, Founder of Avidian Technologies had a simple goal: how to help sales people who depend on Outlook by adding features to make it a full featured CRM system. That led to his company developing Profit CRM, which works inside Microsoft Outlook to add robust CRM functionality to an already valuable software program.
In this week’s interview, he points out that 600 million people use Outlook each day. Profit CRM helps them build upon a platform they are already using in their daily work, and squeeze more productivity out of Outlook.
* * * * *
Small Business Trends: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself
James Wong:Â I tell people that I am educated as an accountant, trained as an engineer and entrepreneur by fire.
Small Business Trends: How did you get involved with the CRM space
James Wong: I had another business we ran for about five years and then we were acquired by a national company. With that company, we were doing a lot of Outlook and Exchange implementations. Because we wanted to get companies to be collaborative and Exchange was the way.
When we rolled out Outlook and Exchange to an organization, things that struck us most was that people embraced it â€" from the administrative assistant up to the CEO. People automatically made Outlook part of their day.  With software, the hardest thing about implementing new software is getting people to use it.
People just made Outlook part of their day. Then a few months later, after the company got more integrated with Outlook and it became part of their day, they came to me and said ‘Hey James, can you help us customize this’
We were an e-business consulting company. So when we got acquired, I said to myself, ‘Okay, what am I going to do next’
And the next thing I wanted to do was to build software inside of Outlook and Exchange. Â My belief is that Outlook is the largest untapped platform in the world. There are six hundred plus million Outlook users and they are in it all day long, using it. They are emailing their customers, creating contacts, making appointments with their clients or prospects. Â They are doing a lot of CRM activities already.
Put two and two together and it’s like ‘Whoa, Outlook! People are in it all day long, they are doing sales stuff, CRM stuff.  Why not just turn Outlook into a full CRM system’
Small Business Trends: In 2013, with all of this social media, are sales people still living in Outlook
James Wong: I would ask you the question, how many people are in email all day
Small Business Trends: Hundreds of millions. Â I am on Facebook, I am on Twitter, I use Linkedin. But I do live in email.
James Wong: As fast as Gmail and Apple mail is growing, Outlook is still the largest.
Small Business Trends: So you went from doing services around Microsoft Outlook and Exchange to baking CRM functionality into Outlook. How did you get started with bringing these two worlds together
James Wong: It just made natural sense. People are already doing 50% to 60% of their customer activities inside of Outlook. They are emailing their clients or prospects, they are creating calendar appointments, contacts, and now with the proliferation of mobile with their phones, with their iPads. Even Apple has to sync with Outlook.
Every mobile device out there, what they have in common is that they have to sync with Outlook. Because 90% of your office workers are in Outlook.
As a sales person, I know I need CRM.  And for my CRM to be successful, I have to create my contacts in that system. I have to email from there. I have to do my appointments from there. It’s like ‘Wait a second, you are asking me to change my habits  You are asking me to do something different that I am already doing every single day in email. That does not make sense. Why don’t I just do it inside of Outlook’
And that is the impetus for us for creating Profit.
Small Business Trends: What are some of the things that were missing in Outlook Things necessary to get sales people to adopt CRM within Outlook
James Wong: Outlook was designed as a personal information manager (PIM) of Microsoft. It was never designed as a contact management or CRM application. What we have done in Profit CRM is turn Outlook into a full feature contact management system for your team.
Then we added opportunity management. Now that I have contacts and companies, I need to go and manage my sales opportunities, or projects, or customer delivery. I can do those things right inside of Outlook. Then we added reporting. There is really no reporting in Outlook. We provide insights into your business:
Who do you talk to
How many opportunities do you have in your pipeline
When are you going to close It
Then we link all of that with mobile access. You can take your contacts, your calendar and all of that stuff with you on your phone. So that you don’t have to actually go and log into a website to go and grab your information.
Small Business Trends: User adoption is one of the biggest challenges to implementing CRM. Particularly getting sales people to use it.
James Wong: With CRM inside of Outlook, we completely overcame that obstacle and that objection.
People are already doing it inside of Outlook. The problem for a lot of sales people and the users of CRM is that I am already doing my natural stuff one way in Outlook. If you want me to do CRM, I have to create the contact in a whole separate system. Should I update my contacts Do I put it in Outlook first I know I need it in Outlook. Or do I put it in a website Or some other application I have installed on my computer
This has created redundant work and it is troublesome. They have some sort of Outlook integration. They all talk about it because they know it is necessary. The problem is that people don’t use it. If they tried, it is very clunky.
Small Business Trends: How do you compare and contrast what you do with Outlook to what Microsoft Dynamics CRM does with Outlook
James Wong: Dynamics is an enterprise level application.  But we seek to be similar to a QuickBooks of CRM. Most companies don’t want the complexity of this massive ERP or CRM system. What they want is something simple and easy, like QuickBooks and like Outlook. So we are all about simplicity.
This interview is part of our One on One series of conversations with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click the right arrow on the gray player below. You can also see more interviews in our interview series.
How to nurture prospects to become customers and customers to become loyal customers and fans.
Presented by:Â Ramon Ray, Technology & Evangelist Evangelist, Infusionsoft and Smallbiztechnology
Content Level:Â Beginner to intermediate (and any advanced users who are hungry to always learn)
(This webinar is FREE to members and non-members)
Join the NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business) and Ramon Ray on Wednesday, February 13th at 12PM (ET), to learn how you can attract and keep your customers.
 Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers. Officially called Lifecycle marketing, will give you a step by step system of 7 practical steps you can use to turn prospects into customers and customers into raving fans. As small business owners we only have so much time in a day, Lifecycle marketing helps ensure you can build closer relationships with your customers and nurture you prospective customers so you can spend more time BUILDING your business.
During this webinar, you’ll learn why “sales†is NOT the first step to do in your sales cycle. You’ll hear why every small business owner must have french fries in their business.
Attendees will learn:
How getting referrals can be much easier
The importance of knowing what customers are NOT for you
How you can wow customers with less than $5 per customer
How to turn any employee with a bright smile into a selling engine
How to nurture prospects to become customers and customers to become loyal customers and fans.
Presented by:Â Ramon Ray, Technology & Evangelist Evangelist, Infusionsoft and Smallbiztechnology
Content Level:Â Beginner to intermediate (and any advanced users who are hungry to always learn)
(This webinar is FREE to members and non-members)
Join the NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business) and Ramon Ray on Wednesday, February 13th at 12PM (ET), to learn how you can attract and keep your customers.
 Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers. Officially called Lifecycle marketing, will give you a step by step system of 7 practical steps you can use to turn prospects into customers and customers into raving fans. As small business owners we only have so much time in a day, Lifecycle marketing helps ensure you can build closer relationships with your customers and nurture you prospective customers so you can spend more time BUILDING your business.
During this webinar, you’ll learn why “sales†is NOT the first step to do in your sales cycle. You’ll hear why every small business owner must have french fries in their business.
Attendees will learn:
How getting referrals can be much easier
The importance of knowing what customers are NOT for you
How you can wow customers with less than $5 per customer
How to turn any employee with a bright smile into a selling engine
Fantasy football costs businesses more than $1.1 billion per week.
This according to insurance company BOLT, which measured productivity (or lack thereof) in a recent study. The company produced an infographic that detailed just what employees are doing each day. It’s not what you think.
Visiting websites, especially sports sites, consumes a large chunk of employee time each week, certainly. Employees also waste time hanging out on social networks and checking personal e-mail. But the majority of unproductive time is spent in meetings.
Yes, meetings. If your office holds multiple mandatory meetings to plan work, yet no work is getting done, it might be time to rethink your strategy. Other time-wasters like office politics and tending to work e-mails show up prominently on BOLT’s study, as well. In fact, if a business was somehow able to log every second of every worker’s day, that business might be extremely surprised just how much time unproductive work-related tasks zap each day.
DeskTime has a solution that can help. A small business owner need only buy the product and install it on each workstation. The software takes it from there. Employers can then be able to access a list of employees that details what time they arrived at work, the number of productive and unproductive hours, and exactly what the employee is doing at a given time. On an ongoing basis, employers will have access to charts and graphs that give an overall view of where employee time is being allocated each day.
“The reports come out year after year - increasing use of the internet by employees that has nothing to do with work,†a DeskTime spokesperson says. “While internet usage for non-company business is the not the only cause of non-productive work, internet usage by employees can be measured, which is exactly where DeskTime fills a need.â€
Not only can supervisors determine where employee time is invested, the workers themselves can look at their overall productivity. Often seeing this data in black and white can be very eye-opening to employees, who have no idea just where their time is going each day. For businesses and firms that track time for billing purposes, DeskTime can prove an invaluable way to document each minute of each day.
With prices starting at $9 a month per employee for 20 employees or less, DeskTime can fit into any budget. Businesses with 10-20 employees receive a 10 percent discount on that price. The software comes with a 30-day free trial to allow employers to try before buying.
In addition to installing DeskTime, employers may consider using a service that blocks certain websites. In BOLT’s survey, 41 percent of respondents admitted wasting time on Facebook, while 37 percent spend time on LinkedIn. While LinkedIn is a business networking tool, BOLT pointed out that 46 percent of workers admitted to looking for another job while working at their present job, which could send them to LinkedIn to network their way right out of your office.
While a little downtime can provide a refresher to staff, if left unchecked, unproductive activities can cause a serious strain on your business’s resources. By using today’s technology tools, business owners can gain the information they need to increase productivity.
Fantasy football costs businesses more than $1.1 billion per week.
This according to insurance company BOLT, which measured productivity (or lack thereof) in a recent study. The company produced an infographic that detailed just what employees are doing each day. It’s not what you think.
Visiting websites, especially sports sites, consumes a large chunk of employee time each week, certainly. Employees also waste time hanging out on social networks and checking personal e-mail. But the majority of unproductive time is spent in meetings.
Yes, meetings. If your office holds multiple mandatory meetings to plan work, yet no work is getting done, it might be time to rethink your strategy. Other time-wasters like office politics and tending to work e-mails show up prominently on BOLT’s study, as well. In fact, if a business was somehow able to log every second of every worker’s day, that business might be extremely surprised just how much time unproductive work-related tasks zap each day.
DeskTime has a solution that can help. A small business owner need only buy the product and install it on each workstation. The software takes it from there. Employers can then be able to access a list of employees that details what time they arrived at work, the number of productive and unproductive hours, and exactly what the employee is doing at a given time. On an ongoing basis, employers will have access to charts and graphs that give an overall view of where employee time is being allocated each day.
“The reports come out year after year - increasing use of the internet by employees that has nothing to do with work,†a DeskTime spokesperson says. “While internet usage for non-company business is the not the only cause of non-productive work, internet usage by employees can be measured, which is exactly where DeskTime fills a need.â€
Not only can supervisors determine where employee time is invested, the workers themselves can look at their overall productivity. Often seeing this data in black and white can be very eye-opening to employees, who have no idea just where their time is going each day. For businesses and firms that track time for billing purposes, DeskTime can prove an invaluable way to document each minute of each day.
With prices starting at $9 a month per employee for 20 employees or less, DeskTime can fit into any budget. Businesses with 10-20 employees receive a 10 percent discount on that price. The software comes with a 30-day free trial to allow employers to try before buying.
In addition to installing DeskTime, employers may consider using a service that blocks certain websites. In BOLT’s survey, 41 percent of respondents admitted wasting time on Facebook, while 37 percent spend time on LinkedIn. While LinkedIn is a business networking tool, BOLT pointed out that 46 percent of workers admitted to looking for another job while working at their present job, which could send them to LinkedIn to network their way right out of your office.
While a little downtime can provide a refresher to staff, if left unchecked, unproductive activities can cause a serious strain on your business’s resources. By using today’s technology tools, business owners can gain the information they need to increase productivity.
James Wong, Founder of Avidian Technologies had a simple goal: how to help sales people who depend on Outlook by adding features to make it a full featured CRM system. That led to his company developing Profit CRM, which works inside Microsoft Outlook to add robust CRM functionality to an already valuable software program.
In this week’s interview, he points out that 600 million people use Outlook each day. Profit CRM helps them build upon a platform they are already using in their daily work, and squeeze more productivity out of Outlook.
* * * * *
Small Business Trends: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself
James Wong:Â I tell people that I am educated as an accountant, trained as an engineer and entrepreneur by fire.
Small Business Trends: How did you get involved with the CRM space
James Wong: I had another business we ran for about five years and then we were acquired by a national company. With that company, we were doing a lot of Outlook and Exchange implementations. Because we wanted to get companies to be collaborative and Exchange was the way.
When we rolled out Outlook and Exchange to an organization, things that struck us most was that people embraced it â€" from the administrative assistant up to the CEO. People automatically made Outlook part of their day.  With software, the hardest thing about implementing new software is getting people to use it.
People just made Outlook part of their day. Then a few months later, after the company got more integrated with Outlook and it became part of their day, they came to me and said ‘Hey James, can you help us customize this’
We were an e-business consulting company. So when we got acquired, I said to myself, ‘Okay, what am I going to do next’
And the next thing I wanted to do was to build software inside of Outlook and Exchange. Â My belief is that Outlook is the largest untapped platform in the world. There are six hundred plus million Outlook users and they are in it all day long, using it. They are emailing their customers, creating contacts, making appointments with their clients or prospects. Â They are doing a lot of CRM activities already.
Put two and two together and it’s like ‘Whoa, Outlook! People are in it all day long, they are doing sales stuff, CRM stuff.  Why not just turn Outlook into a full CRM system’
Small Business Trends: In 2013, with all of this social media, are sales people still living in Outlook
James Wong: I would ask you the question, how many people are in email all day
Small Business Trends: Hundreds of millions. Â I am on Facebook, I am on Twitter, I use Linkedin. But I do live in email.
James Wong: As fast as Gmail and Apple mail is growing, Outlook is still the largest.
Small Business Trends: So you went from doing services around Microsoft Outlook and Exchange to baking CRM functionality into Outlook. How did you get started with bringing these two worlds together
James Wong: It just made natural sense. People are already doing 50% to 60% of their customer activities inside of Outlook. They are emailing their clients or prospects, they are creating calendar appointments, contacts, and now with the proliferation of mobile with their phones, with their iPads. Even Apple has to sync with Outlook.
Every mobile device out there, what they have in common is that they have to sync with Outlook. Because 90% of your office workers are in Outlook.
As a sales person, I know I need CRM.  And for my CRM to be successful, I have to create my contacts in that system. I have to email from there. I have to do my appointments from there. It’s like ‘Wait a second, you are asking me to change my habits  You are asking me to do something different that I am already doing every single day in email. That does not make sense. Why don’t I just do it inside of Outlook’
And that is the impetus for us for creating Profit.
Small Business Trends: What are some of the things that were missing in Outlook Things necessary to get sales people to adopt CRM within Outlook
James Wong: Outlook was designed as a personal information manager (PIM) of Microsoft. It was never designed as a contact management or CRM application. What we have done in Profit CRM is turn Outlook into a full feature contact management system for your team.
Then we added opportunity management. Now that I have contacts and companies, I need to go and manage my sales opportunities, or projects, or customer delivery. I can do those things right inside of Outlook. Then we added reporting. There is really no reporting in Outlook. We provide insights into your business:
Who do you talk to
How many opportunities do you have in your pipeline
When are you going to close It
Then we link all of that with mobile access. You can take your contacts, your calendar and all of that stuff with you on your phone. So that you don’t have to actually go and log into a website to go and grab your information.
Small Business Trends: User adoption is one of the biggest challenges to implementing CRM. Particularly getting sales people to use it.
James Wong: With CRM inside of Outlook, we completely overcame that obstacle and that objection.
People are already doing it inside of Outlook. The problem for a lot of sales people and the users of CRM is that I am already doing my natural stuff one way in Outlook. If you want me to do CRM, I have to create the contact in a whole separate system. Should I update my contacts Do I put it in Outlook first I know I need it in Outlook. Or do I put it in a website Or some other application I have installed on my computer
This has created redundant work and it is troublesome. They have some sort of Outlook integration. They all talk about it because they know it is necessary. The problem is that people don’t use it. If they tried, it is very clunky.
Small Business Trends: How do you compare and contrast what you do with Outlook to what Microsoft Dynamics CRM does with Outlook
James Wong: Dynamics is an enterprise level application.  But we seek to be similar to a QuickBooks of CRM. Most companies don’t want the complexity of this massive ERP or CRM system. What they want is something simple and easy, like QuickBooks and like Outlook. So we are all about simplicity.
This interview is part of our One on One series of conversations with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click the right arrow on the gray player below. You can also see more interviews in our interview series.
How to nurture prospects to become customers and customers to become loyal customers and fans.
Presented by:Â Ramon Ray, Technology & Evangelist Evangelist, Infusionsoft and Smallbiztechnology
Content Level:Â Beginner to intermediate (and any advanced users who are hungry to always learn)
(This webinar is FREE to members and non-members)
Join the NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business) and Ramon Ray on Wednesday, February 13th at 12PM (ET), to learn how you can attract and keep your customers.
 Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers. Officially called Lifecycle marketing, will give you a step by step system of 7 practical steps you can use to turn prospects into customers and customers into raving fans. As small business owners we only have so much time in a day, Lifecycle marketing helps ensure you can build closer relationships with your customers and nurture you prospective customers so you can spend more time BUILDING your business.
During this webinar, you’ll learn why “sales†is NOT the first step to do in your sales cycle. You’ll hear why every small business owner must have french fries in their business.
Attendees will learn:
How getting referrals can be much easier
The importance of knowing what customers are NOT for you
How you can wow customers with less than $5 per customer
How to turn any employee with a bright smile into a selling engine
Fantasy football costs businesses more than $1.1 billion per week.
This according to insurance company BOLT, which measured productivity (or lack thereof) in a recent study. The company produced an infographic that detailed just what employees are doing each day. It’s not what you think.
Visiting websites, especially sports sites, consumes a large chunk of employee time each week, certainly. Employees also waste time hanging out on social networks and checking personal e-mail. But the majority of unproductive time is spent in meetings.
Yes, meetings. If your office holds multiple mandatory meetings to plan work, yet no work is getting done, it might be time to rethink your strategy. Other time-wasters like office politics and tending to work e-mails show up prominently on BOLT’s study, as well. In fact, if a business was somehow able to log every second of every worker’s day, that business might be extremely surprised just how much time unproductive work-related tasks zap each day.
DeskTime has a solution that can help. A small business owner need only buy the product and install it on each workstation. The software takes it from there. Employers can then be able to access a list of employees that details what time they arrived at work, the number of productive and unproductive hours, and exactly what the employee is doing at a given time. On an ongoing basis, employers will have access to charts and graphs that give an overall view of where employee time is being allocated each day.
“The reports come out year after year - increasing use of the internet by employees that has nothing to do with work,†a DeskTime spokesperson says. “While internet usage for non-company business is the not the only cause of non-productive work, internet usage by employees can be measured, which is exactly where DeskTime fills a need.â€
Not only can supervisors determine where employee time is invested, the workers themselves can look at their overall productivity. Often seeing this data in black and white can be very eye-opening to employees, who have no idea just where their time is going each day. For businesses and firms that track time for billing purposes, DeskTime can prove an invaluable way to document each minute of each day.
With prices starting at $9 a month per employee for 20 employees or less, DeskTime can fit into any budget. Businesses with 10-20 employees receive a 10 percent discount on that price. The software comes with a 30-day free trial to allow employers to try before buying.
In addition to installing DeskTime, employers may consider using a service that blocks certain websites. In BOLT’s survey, 41 percent of respondents admitted wasting time on Facebook, while 37 percent spend time on LinkedIn. While LinkedIn is a business networking tool, BOLT pointed out that 46 percent of workers admitted to looking for another job while working at their present job, which could send them to LinkedIn to network their way right out of your office.
While a little downtime can provide a refresher to staff, if left unchecked, unproductive activities can cause a serious strain on your business’s resources. By using today’s technology tools, business owners can gain the information they need to increase productivity.
How to nurture prospects to become customers and customers to become loyal customers and fans.
Presented by:Â Ramon Ray, Technology & Evangelist Evangelist, Infusionsoft and Smallbiztechnology
Content Level:Â Beginner to intermediate (and any advanced users who are hungry to always learn)
(This webinar is FREE to members and non-members)
Join the NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business) and Ramon Ray on Wednesday, February 13th at 12PM (ET), to learn how you can attract and keep your customers.
 Date Your Leads. Marry Your Customers. Officially called Lifecycle marketing, will give you a step by step system of 7 practical steps you can use to turn prospects into customers and customers into raving fans. As small business owners we only have so much time in a day, Lifecycle marketing helps ensure you can build closer relationships with your customers and nurture you prospective customers so you can spend more time BUILDING your business.
During this webinar, you’ll learn why “sales†is NOT the first step to do in your sales cycle. You’ll hear why every small business owner must have french fries in their business.
Attendees will learn:
How getting referrals can be much easier
The importance of knowing what customers are NOT for you
How you can wow customers with less than $5 per customer
How to turn any employee with a bright smile into a selling engine
Fantasy football costs businesses more than $1.1 billion per week.
This according to insurance company BOLT, which measured productivity (or lack thereof) in a recent study. The company produced an infographic that detailed just what employees are doing each day. It’s not what you think.
Visiting websites, especially sports sites, consumes a large chunk of employee time each week, certainly. Employees also waste time hanging out on social networks and checking personal e-mail. But the majority of unproductive time is spent in meetings.
Yes, meetings. If your office holds multiple mandatory meetings to plan work, yet no work is getting done, it might be time to rethink your strategy. Other time-wasters like office politics and tending to work e-mails show up prominently on BOLT’s study, as well. In fact, if a business was somehow able to log every second of every worker’s day, that business might be extremely surprised just how much time unproductive work-related tasks zap each day.
DeskTime has a solution that can help. A small business owner need only buy the product and install it on each workstation. The software takes it from there. Employers can then be able to access a list of employees that details what time they arrived at work, the number of productive and unproductive hours, and exactly what the employee is doing at a given time. On an ongoing basis, employers will have access to charts and graphs that give an overall view of where employee time is being allocated each day.
“The reports come out year after year - increasing use of the internet by employees that has nothing to do with work,†a DeskTime spokesperson says. “While internet usage for non-company business is the not the only cause of non-productive work, internet usage by employees can be measured, which is exactly where DeskTime fills a need.â€
Not only can supervisors determine where employee time is invested, the workers themselves can look at their overall productivity. Often seeing this data in black and white can be very eye-opening to employees, who have no idea just where their time is going each day. For businesses and firms that track time for billing purposes, DeskTime can prove an invaluable way to document each minute of each day.
With prices starting at $9 a month per employee for 20 employees or less, DeskTime can fit into any budget. Businesses with 10-20 employees receive a 10 percent discount on that price. The software comes with a 30-day free trial to allow employers to try before buying.
In addition to installing DeskTime, employers may consider using a service that blocks certain websites. In BOLT’s survey, 41 percent of respondents admitted wasting time on Facebook, while 37 percent spend time on LinkedIn. While LinkedIn is a business networking tool, BOLT pointed out that 46 percent of workers admitted to looking for another job while working at their present job, which could send them to LinkedIn to network their way right out of your office.
While a little downtime can provide a refresher to staff, if left unchecked, unproductive activities can cause a serious strain on your business’s resources. By using today’s technology tools, business owners can gain the information they need to increase productivity.
It’s hard to believe it’s February already. (It acutally kind of snuck up on me!) And that means Valentine’s Day isn’t far off.
This business merger cartoon came to me while I was thinking about that standard “Be Mine†Valentine sentiment. Abandoned ideas included a “Leave Me Alone†card, a “Be Mime†card given from one mime to another, and Yoda giving a “Mine, Be†card to. . .well, I don’t know who.
Princess Leia
I think we can all agree that this merger cartoon was the one to go with. Although that Yoda one kind of tickles me.
It’s hard to believe it’s February already. (It acutally kind of snuck up on me!) And that means Valentine’s Day isn’t far off.
This business merger cartoon came to me while I was thinking about that standard “Be Mine†Valentine sentiment. Abandoned ideas included a “Leave Me Alone†card, a “Be Mime†card given from one mime to another, and Yoda giving a “Mine, Be†card to. . .well, I don’t know who.
Princess Leia
I think we can all agree that this merger cartoon was the one to go with. Although that Yoda one kind of tickles me.
The PCI Security Standards Council has released security guidelines for data security in e-commerce instances.
The guide is a product of the e-commerce Security Special Interest Group (SIG) and will offer advice to businesses selling goods and services over the internet to help them secure customer payment data and support PCI DSS compliance efforts.
Collaborated on by more than 60 global organisations representing banks, merchants, security assessors and technology vendors, the information supplement can be downloaded from the documents library on the PCI SSC website.
Jeremy King, European director of the PCI Security Standards Council, said: “E-commerce continues to be a target for attacks on card data, especially with EMV technology helping drive so much of the face-to-face fraud down in Europe and other parts of the world. We are pleased with this guidance that will help merchants and others better understand how to secure this critical environment using the PCI standards.â€
As well as addressing the main e-commerce issues within the payment security space, the document includes two appendices to address specific PCI DSS requirements for e-commerce environments and for merchants and third parties scenarios.
Blackberry has introduced a 'Hub' concept into its newly launched BB10 and Z10 devices in order to deal with work and personal uses of mobile devices.
According to Rob Orr, managing director for UK & Ireland at BlackBerry, the company is focused on mobile computing and endpoints 'and what is important is security'. He said that introduced in this device is a function called 'BlackBerry Balance', which gives two environments for personal and corporate use.
Orr said: “This allows the user to do what they want and corporate IT to manage it as we created a sandbox between two environments.
“On the business side, there is a few ways out there to do stuff but the user has to do something to get into the corporate environment; with this the email will be in the Hub and it cannot be accessed until the perimeter password has been entered. The two will run side-by-side on the device, so for example a photo taken in the corporate environment will not be accessible until it is unlocked, but you will always see the consumer side. You can lock the Hub and the consumer side will be available, it is very powerful.
“This is what our guys are picking up on - it is to give capabilities to the user but with the need to manage the environment and we have built this into the BB10's DNA. With BlackBerry Balance, there is no compromise, it is clear and doesn't impact the user's ability to get things done.â€
Also added is a video function in the BlackBerry messenger function, while BlackBerry Remember is a file system for saving and organising documents.
The advanced persistent threat (APT) suffered by the New York Times demonstrates the need for more than anti-virus.
As reported yesterday by SC Magazine, the New York Times suffered a targeted attack that lasted around four months after Chinese attackers were not happy with an article on out-going leader Wen Jiabao.
According to Symantec's statement, whose anti-virus technology was used by the New York Times, "anti-virus software alone is not enough".
Symantec said: “Advanced attacks like the ones the New York Times described in the article underscore how important it is for companies, countries and consumers to make sure they are using the full capability of security solutions.â€
Speaking to SC Magazine, Chris Jenkins, director of security at Dimension Data UK, said that he agreed with the statement, as APTs are not designed to be widespread. ���Anti-virus needs to be smarter and broader to pick up what gets sent in and flag and alert on what is happening,†he said.
“With an APT, they are sophisticated and harder to track and understand, this is the way things have changed. They are far more targeted.â€
David Garfield, managing director of cyber security at BAE Systems Detica, said: “As the New York Times article points out, traditional security technology such as firewalls and anti-virus do not stop these events. They were never designed to counter the type of bespoke targeted attacks by adversaries with a strategic interest in accessing an organisation's networks.
“Organisations shouldn't ask what their security tools are telling them, but ask what they are not telling them; that can only be done by monitoring and analysing their networks for evidence of compromise.â€
Rob Cotton, CEO of NCC Group, said: “Although we can't blame this incident purely on the anti-virus software, the on-going issue is that signature-based anti-virus tackles a problem that was prevalent 20 years ago but is largely irrelevant to today's cyber threats. Security budgets must be spread across a range of mitigation strategies, such as thorough employee education, whitelisting authorised software, data loss prevention and third party security.â€
Jenkins said that this and similar stories show a need for better collaboration between vendors, as they do not share data. Jenkins said: “Users are looking for anomalies of traffic and trying to signal activities, even if it is only happening to one. Users need to share information and while some are working together, this should happen more.
“CISOs share experiences and knowledge, but it would be good if vendors would come together and react as it will not mitigate the problem but it will accelerate the response. I don't know why vendors keep stuff to themselves or feed into their cloud.â€
Customer demand is bringing back J.C. Penney Sales. Innovation is great for any business, but when that innovation upsets your customers, it’s time to put customer experience first. Here’s more about the lesson J.C. Penney learned the hard way and the one every business must learn in the end, too.
Customer Demand Changes Everything
JCP goes old school. The huge retailer started making changes in its stores nationwide a year ago. Those changes included getting rid of J.C. Penney’s popular sales that numbered in the hundreds each year. Customers were bummed. Sales took a hit, but now, they’re coming back. CBS Money Watch
The best is yet to come. J.C. Penney plans to re-introduce many of the sales its customers clearly love. The elimination was originally part of a plan by new Chief Executive Ron Johnson. He felt discounts were costing the business too much money. Customers voted with their pocketbooks costing the stores much more in lost sales. The Wall Street Journal
A no-brainer. It may take some time to see whether the return of J.C. Penney’s popular sales will repair the damage done with customers, but Wall Street seems to think so. The company’s stock shares jumped on Tuesday with news of the return to the retailer’s discounting roots. When you make a change in your business, be sure to focus on customers first. Bloomberg Businessweek
Customer Demand Guides Innovation
Keep an eye on customer experience. Both on your Website and in your store, customer experience can be your guide. Sylvia Rosen explains the importance of this idea when planning what’s ahead for your business in 2013. The trick is to really know your customers and to build the trust they need. BuyerZone
Make yourself useful. If you want to improve customer experience online or off, the key is to offer something useful. Beatrice Whelan of Sage Ireland tells Amanda Webb how to add value for your customers in everything you do. See this video interview for more details. Tweak Your Biz
You can’t please everyone. It’s one of the hardest things to learn about meeting customer demand. Susan Oakes has this advice. Do some analysis. If the decision is right for your business, don’t mistake a few vocal critics for your customers. M4B Marketing
All you need is love. Meet customer demand and they will love you. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, Jamie Fairbairn has some suggestions that will help you keep the romance going. Start by doing something special for your customers without expecting anything in return. Read on. SearchBlogger
Blackberry has introduced a 'Hub' concept into its newly launched BB10 and Z10 devices in order to deal with work and personal uses of mobile devices.
According to Rob Orr, managing director for UK & Ireland at BlackBerry, the company is focused on mobile computing and endpoints 'and what is important is security'. He said that introduced in this device is a function called 'BlackBerry Balance', which gives two environments for personal and corporate use.
Orr said: “This allows the user to do what they want and corporate IT to manage it as we created a sandbox between two environments.
“On the business side, there is a few ways out there to do stuff but the user has to do something to get into the corporate environment; with this the email will be in the Hub and it cannot be accessed until the perimeter password has been entered. The two will run side-by-side on the device, so for example a photo taken in the corporate environment will not be accessible until it is unlocked, but you will always see the consumer side. You can lock the Hub and the consumer side will be available, it is very powerful.
“This is what our guys are picking up on - it is to give capabilities to the user but with the need to manage the environment and we have built this into the BB10's DNA. With BlackBerry Balance, there is no compromise, it is clear and doesn't impact the user's ability to get things done.â€
Also added is a video function in the BlackBerry messenger function, while BlackBerry Remember is a file system for saving and organising documents.
Two experts from Symantec recently joined us and over 100 members of the small business community on Twitter, on the topic of virtualizing your technology.  Virtualization technology can help you reduce IT hardware costs, maintenance costs and even utility costs - not to mention create efficiencies in your internal processes.
Small Business Trends: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself
