Facebook\'s Zuckerberg steps into politics

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and other Silicon Valley leaders have launched a political group aimed at changing immigration policy, boosting education and encouraging investment in scientific research.

Zuckerberg announced the formation of Fwd.us (pronounced "forward us") in an op-ed article in The Washington Post today. In it, he said the US needs a new approach to these issues if it is to get ahead economically. This includes offering a path to citizenship for the 11 million or so immigrants who now live in the US illegally.

"We have a strange immigration policy for a nation of immigrants," Zuckerberg wrote. "And it's a policy unfit for today's world."

Zuckerberg said he wants "comprehensive immigration reform that begins with effective border security, allows a path to citizenship and lets us attract the most talented and hardest-working people, no matter where they were born."

The move comes at an opportune time. Zuckerberg's goals echo a sweeping immigration bill that a bipartisan Senate group is expected to roll out in the coming days.

Companies such as Microsoft and Google, along with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, have been pushing to make it easier for highly skilled workers and entrepreneurs to work in the US Although Fwd.us supports increasing the number of visas available to these workers, its goals are broader.

Zuckerberg also called for higher standards and accountability in schools and increased focus on learning about science, technology, engineering and math. Today's knowledge and ideas-based economy, the 28-year-old Harvard dropout wrote, is very different from the economy of the 20th century that was based on natural resources, industrial machines and labor.

Fwd.us, he said, was created to "to build the knowledge economy the United States needs to ensure more jobs, innovation and investment."

Also backing the group are tech leaders such as LinkedIn Corp. CEO Reid Hoffman and venture capitalists John Doerr and Jim Breyer, as well as Ruchi Sanghvi of Dropbox, who was Facebook Inc.'s first female engineer. Joe Green, founder of Causes.com, a social network for community organizing, serves as the group's president and founder.

Major financial contributors include Google Inc. Chairman Eric Schmidt, Netflix Inc. CEO Reed Hastings, Yahoo Inc. CEO Marissa Mayer, SpaceX and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, Zynga Inc. CEO Mark Pincus and former Groupon Inc. CEO Andrew Mason.

Fwd.us declined to disclose how much money Zuckerberg and other supporters have contributed to the group.

Last year, Zuckerberg donated 18 million Facebook shares, worth close to $500 million at the time, to a Silicon Valley charity with the aim of funding health and education issues. And he pledged $100 million in Facebook stock to Newark, New Jersey, public schools in 2010, before his company went public in May 2012.

The formation of Zuckerberg's group was reported by The Associated Press and other outlets last month.

-AP

Facebook\'s Zuckerberg steps into politics

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and other Silicon Valley leaders have launched a political group aimed at changing immigration policy, boosting education and encouraging investment in scientific research.

Zuckerberg announced the formation of Fwd.us (pronounced "forward us") in an op-ed article in The Washington Post today. In it, he said the US needs a new approach to these issues if it is to get ahead economically. This includes offering a path to citizenship for the 11 million or so immigrants who now live in the US illegally.

"We have a strange immigration policy for a nation of immigrants," Zuckerberg wrote. "And it's a policy unfit for today's world."

Zuckerberg said he wants "comprehensive immigration reform that begins with effective border security, allows a path to citizenship and lets us attract the most talented and hardest-working people, no matter where they were born."

The move comes at an opportune time. Zuckerberg's goals echo a sweeping immigration bill that a bipartisan Senate group is expected to roll out in the coming days.

Companies such as Microsoft and Google, along with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, have been pushing to make it easier for highly skilled workers and entrepreneurs to work in the US Although Fwd.us supports increasing the number of visas available to these workers, its goals are broader.

Zuckerberg also called for higher standards and accountability in schools and increased focus on learning about science, technology, engineering and math. Today's knowledge and ideas-based economy, the 28-year-old Harvard dropout wrote, is very different from the economy of the 20th century that was based on natural resources, industrial machines and labor.

Fwd.us, he said, was created to "to build the knowledge economy the United States needs to ensure more jobs, innovation and investment."

Also backing the group are tech leaders such as LinkedIn Corp. CEO Reid Hoffman and venture capitalists John Doerr and Jim Breyer, as well as Ruchi Sanghvi of Dropbox, who was Facebook Inc.'s first female engineer. Joe Green, founder of Causes.com, a social network for community organizing, serves as the group's president and founder.

Major financial contributors include Google Inc. Chairman Eric Schmidt, Netflix Inc. CEO Reed Hastings, Yahoo Inc. CEO Marissa Mayer, SpaceX and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, Zynga Inc. CEO Mark Pincus and former Groupon Inc. CEO Andrew Mason.

Fwd.us declined to disclose how much money Zuckerberg and other supporters have contributed to the group.

Last year, Zuckerberg donated 18 million Facebook shares, worth close to $500 million at the time, to a Silicon Valley charity with the aim of funding health and education issues. And he pledged $100 million in Facebook stock to Newark, New Jersey, public schools in 2010, before his company went public in May 2012.

The formation of Zuckerberg's group was reported by The Associated Press and other outlets last month.

-AP

With Windows XP security updates ending, enterprises must plan ahead

Tuesday, April 8, 2014, could be a dark day for security administrators: That's the day Microsoft will end support for its Windows XP operating system. Since XP still runs on about one out of every four corporate PCs, enterprises may need security contingency plans unless they become more proactive and take steps to protect these systems, and soon.

Unveiled in October 2001, Windows XP has become a greybeard among desktop operating systems. The OS's influence peaked at 76.1% market share and 400 million copies were sold as of January 2007.

In March 2008, Microsoft announced plans to phase out the OS. OEMs stopped bundling the Windows XP with their systems in June 2008, Microsoft ceased selling it in January 2009, and all support (including security patches) is slated to be dropped next April.

Yet, Windows XP still operates on 28% of corporate Windows computers, according to Ovum Research. Even though Microsoft has given companies plenty of notice, U.K.-based OS migration specialist Camwood recently found many companies have not started to plan for a move off of XP. Despite Microsoft’s recommendation of an 18- to 30-month window for successful migration away from XP, according to a Camwood survey of 250 corporate IT directors, only 42% of companies have started the process.

With Windows XP security updates ending in 2014, security vendor Sophos has warned of what it termed an upcoming XPocalypse if those numbers do not change. If XP is still running on so many corporate systems a year from now when regular software security patches stop coming, hackers will likely ramp up attacks on the OS beyond the frequent penetration seen today, putting corporate networks in greater danger.

"There's certainly the potential for a lot of havoc," said Joshua Long, a security and networking specialist with Sophos and a contributor to its Naked Security blog. "For instance, [a] new Internet-propagating worm that targets Windows X systems, or even just an increase in Internet Explorer 8 browser exploits, could open the doors wide for all manner of malware infections."

So, how can a business protect itself from such problems Microsoft, of course, would like companies to upgrade to newer versions of Windows, but doing so is not always in an enterprise's best interest.

"It can be difficult to build a sound business case for upgrading an operating system," noted Richard Edwards, principal analyst with U.K.-based Ovum. "They can easily find business reasons to upgrade their applications, but the economics are not as clear with operating systems."

Depending on the number of PCs a business wants to upgrade, Edwards added, plus the cost of any RAM upgrades for older systems, costs can run into multiple thousands of dollars.

An alternative option to upgrading that Ovum suggested is replacing Windows XP laptops and desktops -- not with the same device types, but instead with tablet computers. They are smaller and can be more convenient for many users, though they do present new challenges: they may not run the firm’s existing applications and may be susceptible to new and emerging intrusion methods.

"Hackers are now keenly focused on finding vulnerabilities with mobile systems," Edwards said.

Deploying a desktop virtualization system, another XP upgrade alternative suggested by Ovum, also improves security. “Since the desktops are under centralized control and administration," Edwards explained, "the IT department can make sure that proper security patches are deployed."

To protect corporate data from the threats unpatched XP machines present, it's clear that companies running XP will need to do something. Unfortunately, he said, many won't.

"We expect that XP will continue to be used in many enterprises throughout the rest of the decade," Edwards concluded.

About the author:
Paul Korzeniowski is a freelance writer specializing in technology issues. He is based in Sudbury, Mass. and can be reached at paulkorzen@aol.com.

Investors dump Microsoft on PC slump news

If fewer people are interested in buying a new personal computer, then fewer investors want to own stakes in companies whose fortunes are tied to the sales of laptop and desktop machines.

That logic ruled on Thursday as Wall Street reacted to fresh evidence that PCs are turning into a dying breed of technology as consumers and businesses embrace smartphones and tablet computers as their preferred computing devices.

The stocks of PC software maker Microsoft and PC maker Hewlett-Packard absorbed significant hits on the news that PCs suffered an unprecedented sales decline during the first three months of the year. Other companies connected to the PC industry, such as Intel, also were affected, although not to the same degree as the industry bellwethers.

Microsoft's stock fell $1.35, or 4.4 per cent, to close at $28.93, while HP's shed $1.44, or 6.5 per cent to finish at $20.88. Intel shares decreased 43 cents, or nearly 2 per cent, to $21.83.

First-quarter shipments of PCs plummeted by 11 per cent to 14 per cent from a year earlier, according to separate estimates issued late Wednesday by Gartner and International Data Corp.

By either measure, it was biggest decrease recorded by either research firm since they began tracking PCs sales. For IDC, the data goes back to 1994 just before Microsoft released a revamped PC operating system called Windows 95, which played a major role in triggering a sales boom that turned laptop and desktop machines into a household staple.

Microsoft hoped to revive PC demand last year with the debut of the most dramatic makeover of Windows since the 1995 redesign. The changes imbued Windows with some of the qualities of mobile software, including touch-screen controls and a display of applications in a mosaic of interactive tiles.

Although Microsoft says it's happy with the more than 60 million copies of Windows 8 that have been sold since its October release, analysts have been disappointed.

In its report, IDC blamed Windows 8 for accelerating the sales decline by confusing too many people who had become accustomed to using the old operating system. Another problem: The PCs designed to run on Windows 8 are coming in a befuddling array of styles and are demanding significantly higher prices than older models, at a time when the initial out-of-pocket expense for a smartphone is as low as $99 and tablet computers go for less than $US200. In a sign of how sensitive consumers have become to prices, Amazon.com's top-selling laptop is a $249 Samsung laptop running a new operating system based on Google's Chrome Web browser.

Count Sterne Agee's Shaw Wu among the analysts worried about the future of Microsoft and its partners in the PC industry. "We frankly believe (Microsoft's) strategy of forcing user interface changes that nobody wants has proven to be a disaster," Wu wrote in a Thursday research note.

Nomura Securities analyst Rick Sherlund also took a dimmer view of Microsoft's future prospect as he lowered his recommendation on the company's stock from a "buy" to "neutral." In a Thursday note, Sherlund asserted that about half of all consumers now see little reason to buy a PC or any other device running on Windows.

Microsoft may try to lure back consumers by offering less expensive devices.

The company, which is based in Redmond, Washington, is now developing a smaller version of its Surface tablet to compete with similar-sized devices made by Apple Inc., Google and Amazon.com, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, which cited anonymous people familiar with the matter. A Surface tablet with a 7-inch (17.5-centimetre) screen could hit the market this year, the Journal said.

Microsoft declined to comment Thursday.

Analysts say sales of the Surface with a 10.6-inch (27-centimeter) screen have been sluggish, despite an expensive marketing campaign.

Sherlund questioned whether Microsoft will ever pose a serious threat to Apple's iPad, Google's Nexus, Amazon's Kindle Fire and a variety of other tablets running on Google's Android software. "If the need is just for a tablet, Microsoft is not the first or second choice in the market and Windows 8 does not change that dynamic," Sherlund wrote.

HP, the world's largest PC maker, has been suffering sales declines with the rest of the market. Its PC shipments plunged by 24 per cent in the first quarter. The company, which is based in Palo Alto, California, had been hoping to bounce back with the release of Windows 8. With those hopes dashed, HP is now making a laptop that runs on the Chrome operating system. CEO Meg Whitman is also trying to expand the company's more profitable businesses, such as business software, data analysis and consulting.

Intel, whose chips are in 80 per cent of the world's personal computers but a laggard in mobile devices, is hoping to boost its revenue with a new line of microprocessors better suited for tablets and lightweight laptops. Among other things, the new chips consume less power so battery life lasts longer an increasingly important factor in an era of mobile devices.

-AP

Ship And Track Your Customer Orders With Ease: A Comparison Of Three Popular Solutions

When you are looking for shipping solutions for your small business, you want the easiest, best and least costly service possible.

For many, the least expensive choice is the United States Postal Service. According to Anthony Sills at Open Forum, “If your business only ships small packages occasionally, the U.S. Postal Service is probably the most affordable shipping option for packages weighing less than two pounds. (However) the USPS isn’t the greatest with tracking packages or guaranteeing delivery dates.”

Fast, reliable shipping is often key in maintaining a good relationship with your customer. If they’re pleased with the speed and ease, they’re likely to come back again. People shop online for the convenience, so make it as convenient as possible for them â€" and yourself.

Wordwide Express recently announced its new freight and express shipping platforms, SpeedShip 2.0 and SpeedFreight 2.0. SpeedShip and SpeedFreight provide customers with an enhanced interface and a wider selection of requirements and specifications. Customers will have the ability to search their shipment history, save packaging information, track packages and claims, set up distinct preferences per login, and more.

In Wordwide Express’s words, “SpeedShip delivers the same online express shipping service as the competition, but with less red tape and more customer-friendly features giving small and midsize businesses a clear advantage in efficiency.”

It’s your easy way to high powered business shipping. Worldwide Express is partnered with UPS, so you’re getting their capabilities under the hood.

For more on making shipping and logistics less of a pain, see our archives.

FedEx also has a dashboard for small businesses, offering a roster of features. With FedEx Ship Manager, you can create shipment profiles and set preferences to cut back on the time it takes to complete your shipments. Often having cheaper rates than UPS, FedEx is certainly worth a look.

From what I’ve been able to gather, USPS is your best bet in terms of cost if your packages are under two pounds. Three pounds and over, go with UPS or FedEx. For the best of all possible worlds, shop around. Divide your shipping between USPS and one of the other private options.

Does your business do a lot of shipping Let us know in the comments which company you use and why!

Facebook Partner Categories Launched, New Advertising for Businesses

Facebook Partner Categories, a new advertising model for businesses, has been launched. Facebook Partner Categories aim to target users based on more than just their activity inside Facebook.

The social network announced the new feature on April 10, 2013 in a post on the Facebook Studio Blog.

Facebook is using about 500 “unique groups” called Partner Categories that will target its more than one billion users by organizing them based on their locations, browsing histories and purchasing histories. The leading social network site is using data from Datalogix, Epsilon and Acxiom to manage the unique groups.

Now, would-be advertisers will be able to target which specific “unique groups” of users they’d like to reach with their ads by selecting a Partner Category (pictured above). While these new groups provide a broader array of users to advertisers, they’ll still be able to hone that reach even more by using the services already offered by Facebook for businesses choosing to advertise on the site.

An example of a Partner Category would be a generic group of consumers such as “cereal buyers” from which an advertiser could choose to whittle down to include just buyers of “children’s cereals” or “hot cereals.”

In the official announcement, the company stated, “No personal information is shared between Facebook, third parties or advertisers. Partner categories work the same way all targeting on Facebook works. The advertiser only knows the size of the audience and can’t access any information about individuals included in a category.”

More details on the way Facebook treats user data when collecting data for advertising partners can be found in the company’s “Facebook and Privacy Notes” under the topic of advertisers and third-party partners.

TechCrunch reports the new Facebook Partner Categories service is a big progression beyond Facebook’s existing advertising services because it utilizes additional user data to aid advertisers in targeting specific customers.

Facebook Partner Categories are now available to advertisers in the U.S. in Power Editor and through API.

Ship And Track Your Customer Orders With Ease: A Comparison Of Three Popular Solutions

When you are looking for shipping solutions for your small business, you want the easiest, best and least costly service possible.

For many, the least expensive choice is the United States Postal Service. According to Anthony Sills at Open Forum, “If your business only ships small packages occasionally, the U.S. Postal Service is probably the most affordable shipping option for packages weighing less than two pounds. (However) the USPS isn’t the greatest with tracking packages or guaranteeing delivery dates.”

Fast, reliable shipping is often key in maintaining a good relationship with your customer. If they’re pleased with the speed and ease, they’re likely to come back again. People shop online for the convenience, so make it as convenient as possible for them â€" and yourself.

Wordwide Express recently announced its new freight and express shipping platforms, SpeedShip 2.0 and SpeedFreight 2.0. SpeedShip and SpeedFreight provide customers with an enhanced interface and a wider selection of requirements and specifications. Customers will have the ability to search their shipment history, save packaging information, track packages and claims, set up distinct preferences per login, and more.

In Wordwide Express’s words, “SpeedShip delivers the same online express shipping service as the competition, but with less red tape and more customer-friendly features giving small and midsize businesses a clear advantage in efficiency.”

It’s your easy way to high powered business shipping. Worldwide Express is partnered with UPS, so you’re getting their capabilities under the hood.

For more on making shipping and logistics less of a pain, see our archives.

FedEx also has a dashboard for small businesses, offering a roster of features. With FedEx Ship Manager, you can create shipment profiles and set preferences to cut back on the time it takes to complete your shipments. Often having cheaper rates than UPS, FedEx is certainly worth a look.

From what I’ve been able to gather, USPS is your best bet in terms of cost if your packages are under two pounds. Three pounds and over, go with UPS or FedEx. For the best of all possible worlds, shop around. Divide your shipping between USPS and one of the other private options.

Does your business do a lot of shipping Let us know in the comments which company you use and why!

Ship And Track Your Customer Orders With Ease: A Comparison Of Three Popular Solutions

When you are looking for shipping solutions for your small business, you want the easiest, best and least costly service possible.

For many, the least expensive choice is the United States Postal Service. According to Anthony Sills at Open Forum, “If your business only ships small packages occasionally, the U.S. Postal Service is probably the most affordable shipping option for packages weighing less than two pounds. (However) the USPS isn’t the greatest with tracking packages or guaranteeing delivery dates.”

Fast, reliable shipping is often key in maintaining a good relationship with your customer. If they’re pleased with the speed and ease, they’re likely to come back again. People shop online for the convenience, so make it as convenient as possible for them â€" and yourself.

Wordwide Express recently announced its new freight and express shipping platforms, SpeedShip 2.0 and SpeedFreight 2.0. SpeedShip and SpeedFreight provide customers with an enhanced interface and a wider selection of requirements and specifications. Customers will have the ability to search their shipment history, save packaging information, track packages and claims, set up distinct preferences per login, and more.

In Wordwide Express’s words, “SpeedShip delivers the same online express shipping service as the competition, but with less red tape and more customer-friendly features giving small and midsize businesses a clear advantage in efficiency.”

It’s your easy way to high powered business shipping. Worldwide Express is partnered with UPS, so you’re getting their capabilities under the hood.

For more on making shipping and logistics less of a pain, see our archives.

FedEx also has a dashboard for small businesses, offering a roster of features. With FedEx Ship Manager, you can create shipment profiles and set preferences to cut back on the time it takes to complete your shipments. Often having cheaper rates than UPS, FedEx is certainly worth a look.

From what I’ve been able to gather, USPS is your best bet in terms of cost if your packages are under two pounds. Three pounds and over, go with UPS or FedEx. For the best of all possible worlds, shop around. Divide your shipping between USPS and one of the other private options.

Does your business do a lot of shipping Let us know in the comments which company you use and why!

Kiwi rewards system eyes global market

A New Zealand platform designed to help businesses reward customers and keep them coming back is catching on overseas, with clients ranging from a car wash in the Philippines to a shoe shine company in Dubai.

Plenfy (pronounced Plenfee) is a cloud-based system that allows businesses to create "customisable rewards" for loyal customers and track which incentives work best.

It can also be used to set up surveys so businesses can gauge how customers feel about their service.

Kiwi Shane Price said he developed the product with the simple aim of helping businesses attract and retain customers.

"The whole package is about getting customers back in the door," he said.

"Businesses can find out more about who their customers are, what they're ordering and which rewards are the most popular."

Customers can use the Plenfy mobile app to check reward balances, locate stores and find out about any daily specials, Price said.

Plenfy launched in June last year and started turning a profit four months ago.

It had 200 clients signed up so far and was looking to increase its customer base to more than 1000 in the next year.

Price said the beauty of being web-based was having unlimited access to markets.

Only about 10 per cent of clients were based in New Zealand, with 40 per cent from Australia, 20 per cent from the US, 15 per cent from the UK and the remainder from "everywhere in between".

Overseas clients include the Three Little Monkeys toy shop in the US, Tiarn Venter Skin Health in Australia, AutoJoss Car Wash in the Philippines, and The Shoe Shine Company in the United Arab Emirates.

"We're getting people signing up on a weekly basis," Price said. "We really want to build the New Zealand side of the market."

Plenfy is predominantly targeted at small to medium-sized businesses like cafes and mechanics.

"It's not limited to retail and hospitality but there are some features that wouldn't be relevant to certain industries," Price said.

Most clients had come on board through a partnership with point-of-sale software provider Vend, which already has thousands of retailers on its platform from more than 100 countries.

Businesses that use Plenfy have the system open in their store - on a computer, tablet, or any other web-accessible device - while they make sales and deal with customers.

Those already on the Vend platform need only that system open, since it is fully integrated with Plenfy.

Price said a pre-order feature was being trialled through a frozen yoghurt chain in Australia and would be rolled out to all clients next month.

"For example, you could pre-order your coffee from the café and skip the queue," he said.

Plenfy is run by a team of three, based on K Rd in Auckland, and a fourth member starts next week in a sales role.

Clients can choose from four monthly packages which are based on a transaction model. Each time an order is placed, a reward redeemed, or a survey completed, that counts as one transaction.

Subscriptions range from $39 per month for 1000 transactions, to $135 per month for 25,000 transactions.

By Ben Chapman-Smith Email Ben

Podcast: Facebook Marketing For Small Business. What You Need To Know!

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner and they recently interviewed Smallbiztechnology’s very own Ramon Ray on his latest book, ‘The Facebook Guide To Small Business Marketing’.

In the podcast, Michael Stelzner and Ramon discuss the new book and how small businesses can benefit from using Facebook as a marketing tool. They also cover tips and techniques businesses can use to create a larger following and turn follower engagement into sales.

They also discuss the differences between Facebook and other social media outlets and cover various third-party tools that make Facebook marketing easier for a small business to manage.

You can listen to the full podcast interview here.

Tech Thursday (4/11): News From Brazzlebox and Brainshark

It’s Tech Thursday from Smallbiztechnology.com. Each week we take a quick look at business and technology news and updates for the small business community and share them with you in a quick and simple round-up.

Brazzlebox and Worldwide Express Partner For Small Business

Partnership gives small businesses more shipping power

Brazzlebox has announced a partnership with Worldwide Express to leverage its social network in support of the small business owners and entrepreneurs operating 150-plus franchises in the global logistics company.

Brazzlebox, a community-based network for small and home-based business owners, will help Worldwide Express reach into more communities by leveraging a unique platform that connects, promotes and services local businesses. Worldwide Express handles package and freight shipments for more than 30,000 small to midsize businesses and is one of the largest authorized resellers of express shipping for UPS®.

You can see more about this unique partnership here.

Brainshark Extends Sales Enablement Leadership With New Product Suite and Capabilities

With Brainshark’s New Sales Enablement Portal and Brainshark On-Demand and SlideShark Solutions, Reps Can Better Prepare for Meetings, Engage Their Audiences and Advance Sales Opportunities 

Brainshark, Inc., a leading sales enablement platform provider, today introduced a new product as part of an integrated suite, designed to provide organizations with a smarter way to sell. The Brainshark Sales Enablement Portal , part of the company’s new Sales Enablement Suite , extends Brainshark’s leadership in the field of sales enablement - demonstrated by Brainshark supplying thousands of companies worldwide with the capabilities to more effectively prepare for customer interactions, engage with key audiences and advance sales opportunities.

Industry research shows that 40 percent of an average sales rep’s week is eaten up by creating customer-facing deliverables - with reps using less than half of the materials produced by marketing. Brainshark’s solutions - for rapid content creation and the dissemination of approved, engaging and up-to-date content - create improved efficiencies for half of the Fortune 100 and many more. Relied on by companies across industries, Brainshark sees more than 75 percent of its business come from supporting customers in activities that advance their sales and marketing effectiveness.

Brainshark’s product portfolio includes Brainshark On-Demand - for turning static documents like PowerPoints into online and mobile video presentations.These presentations can be shared, tracked and viewed anytime, anywhere, at the recipient’s convenience. In addition, Brainshark powers SlideShark - the award-winning app for showing PowerPoints live on the iPad and iPhone. Both products are underpinned by Brainshark’s cloud-based, business-class platform- the result of more than 450 man-years of development.

See more about these new services here.

Veracode report highlights key problems in mobile app security

A study released Monday by application security testing vendor Veracode Inc. shows mobile apps aren't getting cryptography right. Issues related to cryptography affect a sizeable number of mobile applications, with 64% of Android and 58% of iOS applications left vulnerable, according to the State of Software Security report.

The report noted that "these are common coding mistakes that can be readily fixed." On the other hand, one of the leitmotifs of the report is that even the simple-to-correct errors remain unaddressed in many organizations. "For six consecutive quarters," the report noted, "the percentage of applications affected by SQL injection has hovered around 32%."

Chris Eng, vice president of research at Burlington, Mass.-based Veracode and a primary author of the report, expressed dismay at the prospects for mobile security if simple, "pre-mobile" ailments aren't decreasing. "If we can't get SQL injection worked out, what chance do we have with more complex things"

The consensus on mobile app security

The Veracode findings echo a growing consensus that app security is the next significant frontier for mobile security.

During the CSO panel at the recent RSA Conference 2013, Howard Schmidt, former special assistant to the president, cybersecurity coordinator and White House official, suggested that bring your own device (BYOD) was pushing mobile security concerns to prominence. "The BYOD train has already left the station," he said. Not only are people carrying a personal device for work, they are carrying multiple devices: An Android phone for calls and email, an iPad Mini for content browsing and searching, and a Windows tablet for more complex mobile workflows.

The solution is not the mobile security tools we've seen so far, many believe. When presenting during the Cloud Security Alliance session at RSA, the mobile device management (MDM) approach was quickly discounted as a panacea for mobile security by Vic Morris, CEO of Washington, D.C.-based Vordel, who stated, "MDM is only the beginning. While MDM is an overloaded term, it mainly brings visibility into the environment but remains very reactive in terms of managing risk as it typically focuses strictly on the device, not the apps or data. Plus, controlling a whole device as a single unit simply won't fly for BYOD."

During an RSA Mobile Security Shootout session, participants argued that just as we've seen the Microsoft Windows world improve its security posture by dint of a multi-year focus on application security, the mobile space is proving to be no different. These platforms too can be more secure if we focus on the apps.

"An increasing number of enterprises are moving beyond mobile email and calendar apps to leverage other mobile apps as a means to increase their employees' productivity," said Eric Schou, senior director of product marketing at Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Good Technology. "Based on results captured in a recent activation report from Good Technology, this BYOD trend is being led by financial services and business/professional services industries -- with these two industries making up more than half of device activations -- followed by the retail, manufacturing and energy/utilities industries. These industries are looking to mitigate the risk of breach and data loss by selecting mobile workflow apps that have been developed, tested, deployed and managed with secure collaboration in mind."

While that may be true, much of the mobile application development work is building on shifting sands. Jeff Williams, CEO and founder of Columbia, Md.-based Aspect Security, pointed out that "90% of apps are built from a collection of libraries" and referenced another Aspect Security report showing that 28% of downloaded libraries were vulnerable and that half of the Fortune 100 companies use one or more of these vulnerable libraries in production code.

Dino Dai Zovi, CTO of New York-based Trail of Bits Inc. said, "We are missing the mark for future threats on this new platform."

"The reality is we have little to no control over the hardware and the operating system, so we can only really address issues at the app layer," added Charlie Miller, security research engineer at Twitter.

About the author
Sean Martin is a four-term CISSP and 25-year technology veteran. Write to him at sean@imsmartinc.com.

Tech Thursday (4/11): News From Brazzlebox and Brainshark

It’s Tech Thursday from Smallbiztechnology.com. Each week we take a quick look at business and technology news and updates for the small business community and share them with you in a quick and simple round-up.

Brazzlebox and Worldwide Express Partner For Small Business

Partnership gives small businesses more shipping power

Brazzlebox has announced a partnership with Worldwide Express to leverage its social network in support of the small business owners and entrepreneurs operating 150-plus franchises in the global logistics company.

Brazzlebox, a community-based network for small and home-based business owners, will help Worldwide Express reach into more communities by leveraging a unique platform that connects, promotes and services local businesses. Worldwide Express handles package and freight shipments for more than 30,000 small to midsize businesses and is one of the largest authorized resellers of express shipping for UPS®.

You can see more about this unique partnership here.

Brainshark Extends Sales Enablement Leadership With New Product Suite and Capabilities

With Brainshark’s New Sales Enablement Portal and Brainshark On-Demand and SlideShark Solutions, Reps Can Better Prepare for Meetings, Engage Their Audiences and Advance Sales Opportunities 

Brainshark, Inc., a leading sales enablement platform provider, today introduced a new product as part of an integrated suite, designed to provide organizations with a smarter way to sell. The Brainshark Sales Enablement Portal , part of the company’s new Sales Enablement Suite , extends Brainshark’s leadership in the field of sales enablement - demonstrated by Brainshark supplying thousands of companies worldwide with the capabilities to more effectively prepare for customer interactions, engage with key audiences and advance sales opportunities.

Industry research shows that 40 percent of an average sales rep’s week is eaten up by creating customer-facing deliverables - with reps using less than half of the materials produced by marketing. Brainshark’s solutions - for rapid content creation and the dissemination of approved, engaging and up-to-date content - create improved efficiencies for half of the Fortune 100 and many more. Relied on by companies across industries, Brainshark sees more than 75 percent of its business come from supporting customers in activities that advance their sales and marketing effectiveness.

Brainshark’s product portfolio includes Brainshark On-Demand - for turning static documents like PowerPoints into online and mobile video presentations.These presentations can be shared, tracked and viewed anytime, anywhere, at the recipient’s convenience. In addition, Brainshark powers SlideShark - the award-winning app for showing PowerPoints live on the iPad and iPhone. Both products are underpinned by Brainshark’s cloud-based, business-class platform- the result of more than 450 man-years of development.

See more about these new services here.

Podcast: Facebook Marketing For Small Business. What You Need To Know!

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner and they recently interviewed Smallbiztechnology’s very own Ramon Ray on his latest book, ‘The Facebook Guide To Small Business Marketing’.

In the podcast, Michael Stelzner and Ramon discuss the new book and how small businesses can benefit from using Facebook as a marketing tool. They also cover tips and techniques businesses can use to create a larger following and turn follower engagement into sales.

They also discuss the differences between Facebook and other social media outlets and cover various third-party tools that make Facebook marketing easier for a small business to manage.

You can listen to the full podcast interview here.

Digital Payments: New Ways to Quickly Pay Providers and Get Paid

With the rise of digital marketplaces, consumers have taken on the role of a non-traditional, mobile workforce that acts as a service provider. You can hire people to do chores, dog walk, paint your house, and plenty of other things. For a long time, the ability to pay this new workforce has been behind the times, but new forms of digital payment services allow consumers to pay their service providers quickly and efficiently.

One of the top players is Venmo, and parent company Braintree. Instead of checks or collecting and storing sensitive bank information to set up direct deposits, businesses can use Venmo Payouts to quickly and conveniently deliver money using only a service provider’s number or email address. This allows them to streamline the payment process and remove the point of handling vulnerable billing information. Braintree offers a variety of APIs to simplify digital payments, with Venmo Payouts being their latest. Venmo Payouts costs $0.25 per payout, with no other fees or commitments, and during the beta period Braintree offers the first 1,000 payouts transactions for free.

But Venmo Payouts isn’t the only player for digital payments. Paypal is another company, allowing users to buy, sell, or transfer money securely. For a business owner, it becomes a very appealing choice for digital payments because of the security, brand recognition, and ease that accompanies Paypal. Buying through it is simple, as it allows consumers to link bank accounts, debit cards, and credit cards, and in the event of a purchase not arriving or not matching the seller’s description, Paypal reimburses both for the full price of the item as well as shipping costs. For the seller, it opens up many avenues of potential buyers in terms of payments, and charges 2.9% plus $0.30, or less based on the volume of sales.

Zipmark is another player, which syncs up with any US checking account and enables users to send and receive secure digital checks. All payments must be approved, allowing you to always be in control of your accounts. You are also able to keep track of billing and payment history, set reminders for bills, as well as set up automatic approval for recurring bills. It also has APIs that allow for website or application integration, allowing you to incorporate it into your business.

So what does this mean for your small business In a single word: profit. By allowing your business to accept more forms of payment, you create more opportunities for consumers to be able to use your business and pay you accordingly. Further, in an increasingly technological age, you allow yourself to stay a viable business that adapts to incorporate these technologies, and streamline any payments associated with your business.

Digital Payments: New Ways to Quickly Pay Providers and Get Paid

With the rise of digital marketplaces, consumers have taken on the role of a non-traditional, mobile workforce that acts as a service provider. You can hire people to do chores, dog walk, paint your house, and plenty of other things. For a long time, the ability to pay this new workforce has been behind the...

The post Digital Payments: New Ways to Quickly Pay Providers and Get Paid appeared first on Small Business Technology.

Digital Payments: New Ways to Quickly Pay Providers and Get Paid

With the rise of digital marketplaces, consumers have taken on the role of a non-traditional, mobile workforce that acts as a service provider. You can hire people to do chores, dog walk, paint your house, and plenty of other things. For a long time, the ability to pay this new workforce has been behind the times, but new forms of digital payment services allow consumers to pay their service providers quickly and efficiently.

One of the top players is Venmo, and parent company Braintree. Instead of checks or collecting and storing sensitive bank information to set up direct deposits, businesses can use Venmo Payouts to quickly and conveniently deliver money using only a service provider’s number or email address. This allows them to streamline the payment process and remove the point of handling vulnerable billing information. Braintree offers a variety of APIs to simplify digital payments, with Venmo Payouts being their latest. Venmo Payouts costs $0.25 per payout, with no other fees or commitments, and during the beta period Braintree offers the first 1,000 payouts transactions for free.

But Venmo Payouts isn’t the only player for digital payments. Paypal is another company, allowing users to buy, sell, or transfer money securely. For a business owner, it becomes a very appealing choice for digital payments because of the security, brand recognition, and ease that accompanies Paypal. Buying through it is simple, as it allows consumers to link bank accounts, debit cards, and credit cards, and in the event of a purchase not arriving or not matching the seller’s description, Paypal reimburses both for the full price of the item as well as shipping costs. For the seller, it opens up many avenues of potential buyers in terms of payments, and charges 2.9% plus $0.30, or less based on the volume of sales.

Zipmark is another player, which syncs up with any US checking account and enables users to send and receive secure digital checks. All payments must be approved, allowing you to always be in control of your accounts. You are also able to keep track of billing and payment history, set reminders for bills, as well as set up automatic approval for recurring bills. It also has APIs that allow for website or application integration, allowing you to incorporate it into your business.

So what does this mean for your small business In a single word: profit. By allowing your business to accept more forms of payment, you create more opportunities for consumers to be able to use your business and pay you accordingly. Further, in an increasingly technological age, you allow yourself to stay a viable business that adapts to incorporate these technologies, and streamline any payments associated with your business.

NYC Events: Upcoming NYC Business and Technology Events ( 4/12 - 4/18 )

Here is a listing of NYC Business and Technology Events for the upcoming week (4/12 - 4/18) that we thought would be beneficial to our small business community in the Greater NYC area.

Have a business and/or technology event coming up in the New York City area that you’d like us to add to our weekly post If so, email us at eve...@smallbiztechnology.com.

PSFK CONFERENCE 2013

April 12, 2013, - 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM, Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place, New York

Our conferences offer a diverse program of speakers with backgrounds in art, technology, design, marketing, and media, creating an environment where disparate ideas can come together in new ways to fuel work that changes the world for the better. We set an agenda that allows participants to meet and discuss with one another, together sharing and building upon the ideas brought forth from the stage.

Developing and Implementing Your Marketing Strategy

April 16, 2013 , 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL), 188 Madison Avenue Between East 34th and East 35th Streets, New York, NY 10016

Developing and implementing an effective marketing strategy is a key element in operating your business successfully. As a business owner, you must understand the environment in which you are selling your products and/or services, the needs and wants of your target market, the most effective ways of delivering your message, and the strategy and tactics of attracting prospects and converting them to customers. Critical to achieving your business goals is building a strong and individual brand identity.

Grow Your Business with Email and Social Media

April 16, 2013, 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM, 168-25 Jamaica Ave, 2nd floor , Queens, NY

This workshop is an interactive seminar where key concepts of email and social media marketing are discussed and developed. Accompanied by a short workbook, you will be guided through a process of creating a digital marketing strategy that is unique to your business or organization. By documenting your understanding of these topics, in a way that creates a plan, you will leave with a greater understanding of how to optimize you email and social media marketing from a standpoint of where to find and how to cultivate the best relationships.

Content Marketing Summit

April 17th, 2013 - 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM, 365 Fifth Avenue, Elebash Recital Hall, New York, NY 10016

Summary: Brands and organizations are increasingly embracing content marketing as a central component of their marketing and communications strategy. According to the Content Marketing Institute’s 2013 study, over 90% of B2B and 86% of B2C marketers use one or more methods of content marketing, including social media, eNewsletters, and articles on a company website.

BRONX SEMINAR SERIES: 3rd of 5 Workshops - Simple Steps for Starting Your Business

Apr 17, 2013, 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM, The Bronx Museum, 1040 Grand Concourse, Main Floor Conference Room B&D train to 167th Street or #4 train to Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY 10456

Session 3: MARKETING AND BRANDING
The third workshop of our series provides you with an introduction to marketing communication methods and tools to maximize your customer reach. The discussion in the Marketing Plan workshop covers how to brand your company with consideration to pricing strategies, positioning, and the difference between features and benefits. We touch on low cost ways to get the word out, how to test your marketing message, and, choose the right sales channel.

Are You Ready to Start Your Own Busines - Marketing and Branding

April 17, 2013, 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM,Bronx Museum of the Arts (BXMA), 1040 Grand Concourse, Bronx, New York 10456

This session features “Marketing & Branding” with Speaker Lynn Diamond, founder and President of Innovative Information Techniques, a 40 year old consulting firm, offering mentoring, coaching, organizational development, team building and training solutions, serving entrepreneurs, growing and established companies.

Family Businesses: Key Practices for Success Across Generations

April 18th, 2013 - 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM, Adelphi University, Room 260-261 2nd fl., 75 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013

The event will examine issues relevant to success in multi-generational family enterprises including succession planning, generational ownership and management transference, governance structures, and long-term family harmony. Keynote Speaker Lou Di Palo, head of Di Palo’s Fine Foods, a fifth generation family business and an impressive panel of experts and advisors will share their insights and recommendations to assist business owners, family members and individuals with the successfully management of their enterprises.

TARP Report: Loan Money Spent on Bailout

A new government watchdog report says community banks used money intended for small business loans to pay back their federal bailout debts instead.

The conclusions were released by the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) in a report titled, “Banks that Used the Small Business Lending Fund to Exit TARP (PDF).”  The report says community banks did not properly use the money they received through the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF).

The Read More

The post TARP Report: Loan Money Spent on Bailout appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Dropbox announces business solution and single sign-on option

Dropbox has announced the addition of single sign-on (SSO) technology to its administrator console.

According to Dropbox product manager Anand Subramani, this was one of the "features most requested by our customers". He said that the rebranded Dropbox for Business solution, previously ‘Dropbox for Teams', uses the SSO technology to let users sign in just once to a central identity provider, such as Active Directory, and securely access all their business apps.

“With SSO, companies can put their existing trusted identity provider in charge of the authentication process,” Subramani said.

“For IT admins, SSO means additional security and administrative management. Single sign-on gives you complete ownership of the authentication process and works with your company's existing password policies.”

Subramani said that it was "excited to be working with a great set of identity provider partners" such as Ping Identity, Okta, OneLogin, Centrify and Symplified, and confirmed it was using the industry-standard Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) to integrate with any large identity provider.

NYC Events: Upcoming NYC Business and Technology Events ( 4/12 - 4/18 )

Here is a listing of NYC Business and Technology Events for the upcoming week (4/12 - 4/18) that we thought would be beneficial to our small business community in the Greater NYC area.

Have a business and/or technology event coming up in the New York City area that you’d like us to add to our weekly post If so, email us at eve...@smallbiztechnology.com.

PSFK CONFERENCE 2013

April 12, 2013, - 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM, Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place, New York

Our conferences offer a diverse program of speakers with backgrounds in art, technology, design, marketing, and media, creating an environment where disparate ideas can come together in new ways to fuel work that changes the world for the better. We set an agenda that allows participants to meet and discuss with one another, together sharing and building upon the ideas brought forth from the stage.

Developing and Implementing Your Marketing Strategy

April 16, 2013 , 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL), 188 Madison Avenue Between East 34th and East 35th Streets, New York, NY 10016

Developing and implementing an effective marketing strategy is a key element in operating your business successfully. As a business owner, you must understand the environment in which you are selling your products and/or services, the needs and wants of your target market, the most effective ways of delivering your message, and the strategy and tactics of attracting prospects and converting them to customers. Critical to achieving your business goals is building a strong and individual brand identity.

Grow Your Business with Email and Social Media

April 16, 2013, 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM, 168-25 Jamaica Ave, 2nd floor , Queens, NY

This workshop is an interactive seminar where key concepts of email and social media marketing are discussed and developed. Accompanied by a short workbook, you will be guided through a process of creating a digital marketing strategy that is unique to your business or organization. By documenting your understanding of these topics, in a way that creates a plan, you will leave with a greater understanding of how to optimize you email and social media marketing from a standpoint of where to find and how to cultivate the best relationships.

Content Marketing Summit

April 17th, 2013 - 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM, 365 Fifth Avenue, Elebash Recital Hall, New York, NY 10016

Summary: Brands and organizations are increasingly embracing content marketing as a central component of their marketing and communications strategy. According to the Content Marketing Institute’s 2013 study, over 90% of B2B and 86% of B2C marketers use one or more methods of content marketing, including social media, eNewsletters, and articles on a company website.

BRONX SEMINAR SERIES: 3rd of 5 Workshops - Simple Steps for Starting Your Business

Apr 17, 2013, 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM, The Bronx Museum, 1040 Grand Concourse, Main Floor Conference Room B&D train to 167th Street or #4 train to Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY 10456

Session 3: MARKETING AND BRANDING
The third workshop of our series provides you with an introduction to marketing communication methods and tools to maximize your customer reach. The discussion in the Marketing Plan workshop covers how to brand your company with consideration to pricing strategies, positioning, and the difference between features and benefits. We touch on low cost ways to get the word out, how to test your marketing message, and, choose the right sales channel.

Are You Ready to Start Your Own Busines - Marketing and Branding

April 17, 2013, 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM,Bronx Museum of the Arts (BXMA), 1040 Grand Concourse, Bronx, New York 10456

This session features “Marketing & Branding” with Speaker Lynn Diamond, founder and President of Innovative Information Techniques, a 40 year old consulting firm, offering mentoring, coaching, organizational development, team building and training solutions, serving entrepreneurs, growing and established companies.

Family Businesses: Key Practices for Success Across Generations

April 18th, 2013 - 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM, Adelphi University, Room 260-261 2nd fl., 75 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013

The event will examine issues relevant to success in multi-generational family enterprises including succession planning, generational ownership and management transference, governance structures, and long-term family harmony. Keynote Speaker Lou Di Palo, head of Di Palo’s Fine Foods, a fifth generation family business and an impressive panel of experts and advisors will share their insights and recommendations to assist business owners, family members and individuals with the successfully management of their enterprises.

Three Reasons A Prepaid Expense Card Might Be The Best Solution For Controlling and Managing Expenses

For businesses (such as event management, consultants, contractors  and fleet vehicle services) or specific organizational functions such as sales, which require employees to be constantly traveling, meeting people and entertaining clients, prepaid expense cards are a convenient way to track daily expenses.  Be it a business lunch, quick stop-over at a café  on the way to a meeting or managing expenses incurred on fuel, prepaid expense cards offer multiple benefits to small businesses.

Firstly, they enable you to seamlessly extend the resources necessary for your staff to carry on their day to day functioning without them having to go through the cumbersome process of filing expense reports. Unlike credit cards, which have an assigned limit, with prepaid cards small businesses can fund higher amounts for employee expenses as per monthly or daily requirements.

Secondly, they make controlling of incidental businesses expenses that much easier. Let’s face it we have all been in situations when a trusted employee or team member has coughed up a hefty claim at the end of the month, leaving us wondering how this could have happened right under our proverbial noses! On the other hand with prepaid expense cards you know exactly how much has been budgeted for each employee and you have a statement at the end of the month to know how they have utilized the funds. Some prepaid cards also allow expenditures to be restricted as per the category of expense.

Thirdly, it’s a time saver. Prepaid cards save you, and perhaps another member of your staff, valuable productive business hours, which would have otherwise been spent approving and processing employee expense reports.

PEX Card,  which was launched in 2009 as a provider of prepaid Visa debit cards (issued by The BanCorp Bank.), announced the mobile version of its pre-paid card program earlier this year.  With ‘all hands on the deck scenario’ in small businesses, this app takes the convenience of using prepaid expense cards for small businesses to the next level. Aptly called PEX Mobile, the app from PEX Card allows businesses to fund cards issued to employees remotely via smartphones (ios and android mobile devices) thereby reducing funding time for unplanned expenses and avoiding delays if the account administrator is not in the office. PEX prepaid expense cards are available at a monthly fee of $7.5 and a one-time set up cost of $49.95. They offer a 2 month free trial period and can customize pricing for requirements of upwards of 50 cards.

Are there any caveats to using a pre-paid card Before you decide to use prepaid cards for your business, be sure to check the associated charges other than the application fee.  PEXCard, for instance, charges a $25.00 returned transfer request fee, $5.00 for ACH transfer from PEX Account to your bank and a card replacement fee of $5.00. Similarly, Amex Prepaid Cards  allow for one free ATM transaction per month and subsequent withdrawals are charged $2 per transaction, besides the fee charged by other ATM operators.  For obvious credit control reasons, there are restrictions to loading the cards using cash deposits.  Finally, with a pre-paid card, you don’t enjoy a credit limit.  So you have to be pretty sure of  the value of funding available on the card before you offer to pay, especially while entertaining clients.  

Three Reasons A Prepaid Expense Card Might Be The Best Solution For Controlling and Managing Expenses

For businesses (such as event management, consultants, contractors  and fleet vehicle services) or specific organizational functions such as sales, which require employees to be constantly traveling, meeting people and entertaining clients, prepaid expense cards are a convenient way to track daily expenses.  Be it a business lunch, quick stop-over at a café  on the way to a meeting or managing expenses incurred on fuel, prepaid expense cards offer multiple benefits to small businesses.

Firstly, they enable you to seamlessly extend the resources necessary for your staff to carry on their day to day functioning without them having to go through the cumbersome process of filing expense reports. Unlike credit cards, which have an assigned limit, with prepaid cards small businesses can fund higher amounts for employee expenses as per monthly or daily requirements.

Secondly, they make controlling of incidental businesses expenses that much easier. Let’s face it we have all been in situations when a trusted employee or team member has coughed up a hefty claim at the end of the month, leaving us wondering how this could have happened right under our proverbial noses! On the other hand with prepaid expense cards you know exactly how much has been budgeted for each employee and you have a statement at the end of the month to know how they have utilized the funds. Some prepaid cards also allow expenditures to be restricted as per the category of expense.

Thirdly, it’s a time saver. Prepaid cards save you, and perhaps another member of your staff, valuable productive business hours, which would have otherwise been spent approving and processing employee expense reports.

PEX Card,  which was launched in 2009 as a provider of prepaid Visa debit cards (issued by The BanCorp Bank.), announced the mobile version of its pre-paid card program earlier this year.  With ‘all hands on the deck scenario’ in small businesses, this app takes the convenience of using prepaid expense cards for small businesses to the next level. Aptly called PEX Mobile, the app from PEX Card allows businesses to fund cards issued to employees remotely via smartphones (ios and android mobile devices) thereby reducing funding time for unplanned expenses and avoiding delays if the account administrator is not in the office. PEX prepaid expense cards are available at a monthly fee of $7.5 and a one-time set up cost of $49.95. They offer a 2 month free trial period and can customize pricing for requirements of upwards of 50 cards.

Are there any caveats to using a pre-paid card Before you decide to use prepaid cards for your business, be sure to check the associated charges other than the application fee.  PEXCard, for instance, charges a $25.00 returned transfer request fee, $5.00 for ACH transfer from PEX Account to your bank and a card replacement fee of $5.00. Similarly, Amex Prepaid Cards  allow for one free ATM transaction per month and subsequent withdrawals are charged $2 per transaction, besides the fee charged by other ATM operators.  For obvious credit control reasons, there are restrictions to loading the cards using cash deposits.  Finally, with a pre-paid card, you don’t enjoy a credit limit.  So you have to be pretty sure of  the value of funding available on the card before you offer to pay, especially while entertaining clients.  

Three Reasons A Prepaid Expense Card Might Be The Best Solution For Controlling and Managing Expenses

For businesses (such as event management, consultants, contractors  and fleet vehicle services) or specific organizational functions such as sales, which require employees to be constantly traveling, meeting people and entertaining clients, prepaid expense cards are a convenient way to track daily expenses.  Be it a business lunch, quick stop-over at a café  on the way to a meeting or managing expenses incurred on fuel, prepaid expense cards offer multiple benefits to small businesses.

Firstly, they enable you to seamlessly extend the resources necessary for your staff to carry on their day to day functioning without them having to go through the cumbersome process of filing expense reports. Unlike credit cards, which have an assigned limit, with prepaid cards small businesses can fund higher amounts for employee expenses as per monthly or daily requirements.

Secondly, they make controlling of incidental businesses expenses that much easier. Let’s face it we have all been in situations when a trusted employee or team member has coughed up a hefty claim at the end of the month, leaving us wondering how this could have happened right under our proverbial noses! On the other hand with prepaid expense cards you know exactly how much has been budgeted for each employee and you have a statement at the end of the month to know how they have utilized the funds. Some prepaid cards also allow expenditures to be restricted as per the category of expense.

Thirdly, it’s a time saver. Prepaid cards save you, and perhaps another member of your staff, valuable productive business hours, which would have otherwise been spent approving and processing employee expense reports.

PEX Card,  which was launched in 2009 as a provider of prepaid Visa debit cards (issued by The BanCorp Bank.), announced the mobile version of its pre-paid card program earlier this year.  With ‘all hands on the deck scenario’ in small businesses, this app takes the convenience of using prepaid expense cards for small businesses to the next level. Aptly called PEX Mobile, the app from PEX Card allows businesses to fund cards issued to employees remotely via smartphones (ios and android mobile devices) thereby reducing funding time for unplanned expenses and avoiding delays if the account administrator is not in the office. PEX prepaid expense cards are available at a monthly fee of $7.5 and a one-time set up cost of $49.95. They offer a 2 month free trial period and can customize pricing for requirements of upwards of 50 cards.

Are there any caveats to using a pre-paid card Before you decide to use prepaid cards for your business, be sure to check the associated charges other than the application fee.  PEXCard, for instance, charges a $25.00 returned transfer request fee, $5.00 for ACH transfer from PEX Account to your bank and a card replacement fee of $5.00. Similarly, Amex Prepaid Cards  allow for one free ATM transaction per month and subsequent withdrawals are charged $2 per transaction, besides the fee charged by other ATM operators.  For obvious credit control reasons, there are restrictions to loading the cards using cash deposits.  Finally, with a pre-paid card, you don’t enjoy a credit limit.  So you have to be pretty sure of  the value of funding available on the card before you offer to pay, especially while entertaining clients.  

4 Powerful Google Tools For Online Marketing

[Visua.ly Personalized Analytics Infographic Example]

Almost all businesses, regardless of size or industry, use Google in some form. Be it Google Calendars, Google Drive or trusty old Gmail, it seems as though everyone relies on at least one of Google’s products to support their work routine. That said, there are a few hidden treasures in Google’s toolbox that, at times, don’t seem to get enough credit.

Sure, Google has hundreds of apps, but there are some that can have a serious impact on your online marketing initiatives that seem to be flying under the radar. Additionally, Google’s products typically have “freemium” models, which offer the invaluable opportunity to experiment with a variety of different techniques and hone in on what serves your brand most.

We’re all for testing out the latest and greatest from the world’s most powerful Internet giant. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to give a few of these seemingly under-appreciated products a spin.

Google Trends

If you’re looking to amp up your SEO strategy, Google Trends is a tool that shouldn’t be overlooked. It allows you to see how frequently a term is searched so you can get a gauge for its popularity.

Google Trends instantly creates a graph of the search volume by language, country, city or region, revealing how the term has evolved over specific increments of time. It also forecasts how those terms will trend over time, helping you to make more educated decisions.

Essentially, Google Trends makes it easy for you to stay current with your product’s marketing language so you can jump into conversations about topics relevant to your space.

Think With Google

We like to consider Think With Google as a creative brain-trust we can turn to when searching for inspiration for our online marketing strategies. The resource is loaded with valuable information on industry trends, research and statistics, tips on marketing techniques and unique insights to get your creative juices flowing.

When devising your online marketing strategy or quarterly and yearly plans, don’t skip Think With Google. We love visiting this tool when we’ve come down with a marketing writer’s block, too.

GoMo

Consider this: 67 percent of people say a mobile-friendly site makes them more likely to buy a product or use a service. In other words, you should tap into the mobile revolution or your business may soon be left behind with the fax machines and the pagers of the worldâ€"otherwise known as those that failed to innovate.

Luckily, GoMo makes the transition to the digital world a simple one. Free for the first year, GoMo instantly generates a mobile-friendly version of your website so you’re no longer deterring your on-the-go customers with a site that’s nearly impossible to navigate.

Google Analytics

This might seem like a no brainer to some, but studies show that Google Analytics is actually a terribly underutilized tool among small and medium sized businesses. Without Google Analytics, carrying out website online marketing strategies is like driving blindly in the dark. Website analytics reveal critical data about how existing and potential customers interact with you online. When evaluated properly, the analytics insights offer up ample opportunities for customer engagement and retention.

If you take away one thing from this article, let it be this: Install Google Analytics and learn to love it.

Quick tip: If you already have Google Analytics running on your site, check out Visua.ly’s personalized analytics infographics.  You can create visual infographics that include your site’s data so that you can track your site’s performance by viewing it in an infographic. (An example is pictured above.)

I make a concerted effort to explore each of Google’s online marketing apps and gather data on the impact they have. I’m always impressed with what I learn about our customers and marketing strategies. So while one of these four Google tools might leap out at you more than the others, my suggestion is to give them all a try and see what they churn up.

I think you’ll be pleased with what Google has going besides search.

SC Cyber Security Day to evaluate key trends

SC Magazine is to take a look at four of the key trends in information security in an online event next week.

To be held on Tuesday 16th April 2013 at informationsecurity2013, the SC Magazine Cyber Security Day will consist of four webcasts over the course of the day. Beginning at 10am, SC Magazine executive editor Dan Raywood and Steve Durbin, global vice president of the Information Security Forum (ISF), will look at ‘Key threat predictions for 2013 & beyond: What do they mean for you'.

The second morning session will see Stuart Lyle, acting head of risk and security at Three, look at ‘Mission critical: Defending critical national infrastructure from cyber threats' from 11.30am.

The afternoon sessions begin at 2.30pm, with Jericho Forum co-founders Andrew Yeomans and Paul Simmonds looking at ‘Mastering identity management - How to slash cyber risk'. Finally, at 4pm, Stewart Room, partner at Field Fisher Waterhouse, and Dan Raywood look at ‘Twenty thirteen - The year cyber law comes of age'.

Raywood said: “This day will see some of the key areas of security really analysed properly, and now a quarter of the way through 2013, it will be interesting to see just how realistic those predictions from the end of last year have become.”

Follow the event online at informationsecurity2013 and on Twitter via the hashtag #SCCyberSec.

SC Cyber Security Day to evaluate key trends

SC Magazine is to take a look at four of the key trends in information security in an online event next week.

To be held on Tuesday 16th April 2013 at informationsecurity2013, the SC Magazine Cyber Security Day will consist of four webcasts over the course of the day. Beginning at 10am, SC Magazine executive editor Dan Raywood and Steve Durbin, global vice president of the Information Security Forum (ISF), will look at ‘Key threat predictions for 2013 & beyond: What do they mean for you'.

The second morning session will see Stuart Lyle, acting head of risk and security at Three, look at ‘Mission critical: Defending critical national infrastructure from cyber threats' from 11.30am.

The afternoon sessions begin at 2.30pm, with Jericho Forum co-founders Andrew Yeomans and Paul Simmonds looking at ‘Mastering identity management - How to slash cyber risk'. Finally, at 4pm, Stewart Room, partner at Field Fisher Waterhouse, and Dan Raywood look at ‘Twenty thirteen - The year cyber law comes of age'.

Raywood said: “This day will see some of the key areas of security really analysed properly, and now a quarter of the way through 2013, it will be interesting to see just how realistic those predictions from the end of last year have become.”

Follow the event online at informationsecurity2013 and on Twitter via the hashtag #SCCyberSec.

SC Cyber Security Day to evaluate key trends

SC Magazine is to take a look at four of the key trends in information security in an online event next week.

To be held on Tuesday 16th April 2013 at informationsecurity2013, the SC Magazine Cyber Security Day will consist of four webcasts over the course of the day. Beginning at 10am, SC Magazine executive editor Dan Raywood and Steve Durbin, global vice president of the Information Security Forum (ISF), will look at ‘Key threat predictions for 2013 & beyond: What do they mean for you'.

The second morning session will see Stuart Lyle, acting head of risk and security at Three, look at ‘Mission critical: Defending critical national infrastructure from cyber threats' from 11.30am.

The afternoon sessions begin at 2.30pm, with Jericho Forum co-founders Andrew Yeomans and Paul Simmonds looking at ‘Mastering identity management - How to slash cyber risk'. Finally, at 4pm, Stewart Room, partner at Field Fisher Waterhouse, and Dan Raywood look at ‘Twenty thirteen - The year cyber law comes of age'.

Raywood said: “This day will see some of the key areas of security really analysed properly, and now a quarter of the way through 2013, it will be interesting to see just how realistic those predictions from the end of last year have become.”

Follow the event online at informationsecurity2013 and on Twitter via the hashtag #SCCyberSec.

BBC reports major losses of laptops and mobile devices

The BBC had 195 laptops stolen last year.

Following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Veracode, it was revealed that the BBC has lost 785 tablets, laptops and mobiles in the last three years, including 399 laptop computers, 39 tablets and 347 mobile devices, which were reported either lost or stolen since 2010.

The BBC response said that the average cost for each laptop is £1,500 and between £100-£300 per mobile, and approximately £1,500 per tablet device. This means that the cost of replacing the laptops for those last year alone was £292,500.

Also last year, the BBC had 61 mobiles and 22 tablets stolen, and 57 mobiles, 11 laptops and four tablets lost. The BBC response said that the equipment is leased to the BBC, and therefore the cost covers the leasing service and support charges.

Tyler Shields, senior security researcher at Veracode, said: “The huge rise in mobile and tablet devices in the workplace means that staff are able to work from home and on the move, increasing productivity and collaboration. But increased mobility also opens up new risks for organisations due to vulnerabilities in applications that reside on these devices.

“To tackle this problem, it's critical that businesses ensure that all devices are protected and secure, by identifying and fixing application vulnerabilities, to prevent malicious hackers from exploiting them.”

David Lingenfelter, information security officer at Fiberlink, said: “This is yet further evidence that the more portable the device, the greater chance that it can and will go missing. This has a direct correlation with sensitive data ending up where it should not.

“Organisations need to adopt technology that provides a safe mobile computing environment. Any delay in a department's ability to support and secure the latest devices will increase risk, cause gaps in security and decrease staff productivity.”