QuickBooks Online Tips from CPAs Who Know

Sponsored Post

If you’re a CPA, you know how time consuming it can be requesting data files from your clients. Bryce Forney is a CPA who uses Intuit’s QuickBooks Online Accountant to better serve his small business owner clients during tax season and throughout the year. Since all the data is stored in the cloud, he can get the data he needs at any moment without having to inconvenience his clients.

Once you’ve gotten started using QuickBooks Online, what’s the first thing Read More

The post QuickBooks Online Tips from CPAs Who Know appeared first on Small Business Trends.



The Rumors Are True, Facebook Gets Hashtags

facebook hastags

The rumors are true. Facebook is rolling out hashtags and now, a Facebook hashtag truly does exist as the social media giant officially announced the new feature after months of speculation.

Back in March, we reported on rumors already swirling that Facebook was considering adding Facebook hashtags, a feature often associated with social media rival Twitter, as a way to tie together social conversations on a particular topic.

In a post on the official Facebook Newsroom blog, Facebook Product Manager Read More

The post The Rumors Are True, Facebook Gets Hashtags appeared first on Small Business Trends.



5 Reasons Why Signs Work For Your Small Business

business signs

In a square mile radius in Germantown, Maryland are about 6 Asian grocery stores. Yet I visited the one store whose location was way off the main road and was difficult to find. I saw a sign for the business in another Asian grocery store and knew that they stocked goat meat, which is a delicacy for meat eaters from the Indian sub-continent.

I can’t tell you how many countless times I have used a new business based on their business signs. Business signs work - and here’s why.

Location

For a brick and mortar small business your sign is important as it acts like a  guidepost to guide customers to your place of business and attract the attention of new customers. If you are a new business, people driving by will be attracted to stop in and try your business. People moving to the area look for local businesses that they can start visiting.

Brand Promise

A sign should always be neat and bright and should convey the promise of your brand, convey the high standards of your business, your differentiation. A sign board that is damaged or smudged may fail to convey your brand.

business signs

Special Occasions

In the photo above, SXSW is a large event in downtown Austin and this small business is attracting event attendees walking by. Find local events and community gatherings like parades to create awareness for your business

Competition

When Groupon rented ad space outside Living Social’s offices in downtown Washington, D.C. it created some buzz. You see these signs often on highways advertising restaurants or gas stations just a few miles ahead of an exit ramp. Signage is important in a high traffic location as overflow traffic from other places can find your business and make an impromptu decision to use your business.

Online-Offline Connection

Take a look at the picture at the very top of this post from an Irish pub in the Cleveland Park area of Washington, D.C. that advertises their Facebook page.

Adding your website url to your sign is a good idea for people who don’t have time to stop and can check you out later. Adding a QR code is a good idea if your sign can be scanned easily.

In photos of your business on your website, it may be a good idea to include pictures of your businesses physical location, signage and neighborhood. So that when people visit, they are already familiar with how the business and surroundings look.

More and more people are finding your business online, but that is only half the story. If you have a great location, you can also appeal to new people who are walking past your business every day.

Do you have a success story about using signs for your business?




5 Reasons Why Signs Work For Your Small Business

business signs

In a square mile radius in Germantown, Maryland are about 6 Asian grocery stores. Yet I visited the one store whose location was way off the main road and was difficult to find. I saw a sign for the business in another Asian grocery store and knew that they stocked goat meat, which is a delicacy for meat eaters from the Indian sub-continent.

I can’t tell you how many countless times I have used a new business based on their business signs. Business signs work - and here’s why.

Location

For a brick and mortar small business your sign is important as it acts like a  guidepost to guide customers to your place of business and attract the attention of new customers. If you are a new business, people driving by will be attracted to stop in and try your business. People moving to the area look for local businesses that they can start visiting.

Brand Promise

A sign should always be neat and bright and should convey the promise of your brand, convey the high standards of your business, your differentiation. A sign board that is damaged or smudged may fail to convey your brand.

business signs

Special Occasions

In the photo above, SXSW is a large event in downtown Austin and this small business is attracting event attendees walking by. Find local events and community gatherings like parades to create awareness for your business

Competition

When Groupon rented ad space outside Living Social’s offices in downtown Washington, D.C. it created some buzz. You see these signs often on highways advertising restaurants or gas stations just a few miles ahead of an exit ramp. Signage is important in a high traffic location as overflow traffic from other places can find your business and make an impromptu decision to use your business.

Online-Offline Connection

Take a look at the picture at the very top of this post from an Irish pub in the Cleveland Park area of Washington, D.C. that advertises their Facebook page.

Adding your website url to your sign is a good idea for people who don’t have time to stop and can check you out later. Adding a QR code is a good idea if your sign can be scanned easily.

In photos of your business on your website, it may be a good idea to include pictures of your businesses physical location, signage and neighborhood. So that when people visit, they are already familiar with how the business and surroundings look.

More and more people are finding your business online, but that is only half the story. If you have a great location, you can also appeal to new people who are walking past your business every day.

Do you have a success story about using signs for your business?




The Mobile Divide: Survey Shows Split Between Small Businesses Using and Avoiding Mobile Technology

Mobile technology usage has skyrocketed in recent years, changing the way consumers communicate and access the internet, and the way companies do business. In fact, many research groups have been projecting that in just a year or two there will be more mobile internet users than desktop users. Large companies have tuned into this changing climate by integrating innovative mobile campaigns to target mobile users. But have small businesses caught up with this trend?

The answer, as it turns out, is yes and no. A recent survey by Constant Contact examined mobile usage by small businesses and found that two-thirds of small business owners (66%) are using mobile devices such as smart phones, tablets and other mobile solutions. The other one-third (34%) have not adopted the trend, with the majority (65%) saying they have no plans to go mobile in the future. Let’s examine both sides of the divide.

Of those small businesses that use mobile technology:

  • Most use their mobile technology for marketing - via social media (73%) and email (71%)
  • Some small businesses have optimized their website for mobile viewing (34%), use their mobile device to take mobile payments (71%) or use a mobile/tablet point of sale system (52%)
  • Some (18%) consider mobile apps crucial to managing operations. They use features such as calendar, GPS, accounting and more

So why aren’t all small businesses going mobile?

  • About half say their customers haven’t asked for it yet. They cite no demand for mobile communication (56%) or mobile payment options (47%)
  • Of those not using mobile technology, about a third say they don’t know how to use the technology (36%) or haven’t had time to implement it (33%)
  • Finally, other small business owners claim that mobile technology is irrelevant. They either don’t own a smartphone for their business (31%) or say it’s not relevant to their industry (28%)

On which side of the mobile divide does YOUR business fall? And if you haven’t gone mobile yet, what is holding you back?

The fact is, mobile usage will likely continue to increase in the future, so we urge you to take a serious look at why you haven’t joined in yet. Do you think it is not relevant for your business? No matter what products or services you sell, mobile technology can improve the efficiency of operations and help you connect better with customers. Are you holding back because your customers haven’t demanded it yet?

It could be that you have already lost customers because you don’t have mobile options, meaning that those who would have demanded it have already gone elsewhere. If you are confused by the mobile revolution and too swamped to take on a new project, consider hiring an IT professional to get the technology set up, and, of course, keep reading Small Biz Technology to learn more ways to make mobile technology work for your business.



The Mobile Divide: Survey Shows Split Between Small Businesses Using and Avoiding Mobile Technology

Mobile technology usage has skyrocketed in recent years, changing the way consumers communicate and access the internet, and the way companies do business. In fact, many research groups have been projecting that in just a year or two there will be more mobile internet users than desktop users. Large companies have tuned into this changing climate by integrating innovative mobile campaigns to target mobile users. But have small businesses caught up with this trend?

The answer, as it turns out, is yes and no. A recent survey by Constant Contact examined mobile usage by small businesses and found that two-thirds of small business owners (66%) are using mobile devices such as smart phones, tablets and other mobile solutions. The other one-third (34%) have not adopted the trend, with the majority (65%) saying they have no plans to go mobile in the future. Let’s examine both sides of the divide.

Of those small businesses that use mobile technology:

  • Most use their mobile technology for marketing - via social media (73%) and email (71%)
  • Some small businesses have optimized their website for mobile viewing (34%), use their mobile device to take mobile payments (71%) or use a mobile/tablet point of sale system (52%)
  • Some (18%) consider mobile apps crucial to managing operations. They use features such as calendar, GPS, accounting and more

So why aren’t all small businesses going mobile?

  • About half say their customers haven’t asked for it yet. They cite no demand for mobile communication (56%) or mobile payment options (47%)
  • Of those not using mobile technology, about a third say they don’t know how to use the technology (36%) or haven’t had time to implement it (33%)
  • Finally, other small business owners claim that mobile technology is irrelevant. They either don’t own a smartphone for their business (31%) or say it’s not relevant to their industry (28%)

On which side of the mobile divide does YOUR business fall? And if you haven’t gone mobile yet, what is holding you back?

The fact is, mobile usage will likely continue to increase in the future, so we urge you to take a serious look at why you haven’t joined in yet. Do you think it is not relevant for your business? No matter what products or services you sell, mobile technology can improve the efficiency of operations and help you connect better with customers. Are you holding back because your customers haven’t demanded it yet?

It could be that you have already lost customers because you don’t have mobile options, meaning that those who would have demanded it have already gone elsewhere. If you are confused by the mobile revolution and too swamped to take on a new project, consider hiring an IT professional to get the technology set up, and, of course, keep reading Small Biz Technology to learn more ways to make mobile technology work for your business.



CEO: Symantec strategy to emphasize endpoint security, partnerships

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- When it comes to delivering security results for enterprise customers, what works best: producing new products in areas outside its core competencies, or integrating with market leaders in those areas?

None of these shiny new objects people are pushing will solve your problems.

Steve Bennett,
president and CEO, Symantec

In a Q&A keynote Tuesday at the 2013 Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit, Symantec CEO Steve Bennett answered that question by eschewing "shiny new offerings" in favor of delivering deeper and broader integration between the company's leading endpoint security products and those from other security providers -- hinting at the direction of updated product roadmaps that he said Big Yellow would release in the coming months.

After being appointed Symantec CEO 10 months ago, Bennett traveled around the world and talked with many of the company's customers and partners about their security concerns, he said. Those conversations led him to believe that "rearranging existing offerings" and focusing on core products would deliver better results.

Foreshadowing Symantec's future product strategy, Bennett admitted that the company hasn't delivered enough value to its customers and partners in recent years, but that the "Symantec 4.0" strategy announced in March 2013 has renewed the company's focus on its core products.

Bennett's appearance came as Symantec has faced increasing criticism for a splintered, unfocused product strategy, and more recently became the poster child for the increasing ineffectiveness of traditional endpoint antivirus products. In late January, in revealing it had been the victim of a China-based cyberattack campaign that had gone on undetected for at least four months, The New York Times said attackers had installed at least 45 pieces of custom malware on its network, only one of which was detected by the Symantec antimalware products it had installed on its computers.

However, Bennett said Symantec's endpoint products remain industry leading and the company is currently working with network security vendors to offer integrated product suites. Future integrated offerings will provide a better security experience with reduced installation and negotiation efforts, because customers will be able to work through Symantec to purchase a suite of integrated products from Symantec and its best-of-breed partners, he said.

Pressed on how Symantec will compete in the emerging cloud and mobility markets, Bennett stressed that the vendor already has an $800 million cloud business and that its product portfolio already includes "much more than antivirus," adding that more than half of the malware it detected in the previous year was not detected by signature-based products.

As for mobility, Symantec's acquisitions of vendors Odyssey Software and Nukona will deliver increased mobile device management capabilities, though he sees the MDM market focusing on mobile application control and the idea of separating employees' mobile devices between work and personal apps.

As he did with endpoint security, Bennett stated that no single vendor can offer an all-encompassing mobile security product portfolio. Instead, IT security vendors should cooperate to build a better ecosystem than attackers can, and focus less on competing for customers' security budgets. "There's no way, no matter what anyone tells you, that they can solve this problem by themselves." Bennett said. "None of these shiny new objects people are pushing will solve your problems."

Bennett also admitted that in the past, Symantec focused too much on its quarterly performance on Wall Street and never "asked our engineers to innovate." In the past, the company bought startups to foster product innovation, a strategy that achieved mixed results, he said -- though he critiqued other major security vendors of "outsourcing" innovation in the same manner.

As part of the refocused effort on clarifying Symantec's go-to-market strategy, customers can expect to see new multi-generation product roadmaps in 60 to 90 days, Bennett noted. Symantec will also increase research and development spending to more than 17% of revenue, up from its current level of 14% to 15%.

Customer support is another area of emphasis for Symantec. Bennett highlighted the importance of giving front-line employees -- those who "provide value to customers" -- all the tools they need to do their jobs. Symantec's entire support system is being retooled, and more than a dozen process leaders are being hired to manage that effort, he said.

Despite some turbulent times in recent years, the company's employees are optimistic about its future and the response from customers, on the whole, has been positive, Bennett said. The ball is now in the company's court.

"Talk is cheap," Bennett said. "Let's just execute and deliver and put points on the board."




Time is Money: Are You and Your Employees Effectively Managing It?

managing time

As a small business owner, you already keep close track of your company’s resources, including capital, employees and facilities. But what about employees’ time? Time is difficult to quantify and track, and as such, many small business owners mistakenly treat time as if it were a limitless resource. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

A recent study by McKinsey found that only 9% of executives were “very satisfied” with how employees’ time was currently allocated. In addition, almost half of executives said that their current time allocation didn’t align with the company’s objectives. And the average office worker can tell you that far too much company time is spent on trivial tasks, such as responding to emails and attending non-essential meetings.

Effective time management is critical to the productivity and profitability of your business. So, how can businesses improve time management? It isn’t as easy as just telling employees to use their time more effectively. Instead, the leadership team needs to build a corporate culture that actively supports effective time management across the whole organization.

Employee Privacy

Multitasking is a major buzzword in the business world. Employees are expected to be able to effectively juggle multiple tasks at once.  So managers fill their work hours with various projects, meetings and corporate activities.

However, studies are increasingly proving that multitasking is ineffective. In fact, Stanford researchers proved that multitaskers have poor organizational skills, are easily distracted and often lack focus.

If multitasking isn’t the key to effective time management, then what is?

The answer is flow. As defined by author and psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, flow occurs when you enter a state of intense and effortless concentration on the task at hand. It is often referred to as “being in the zone,” and employees are far more productive while in this state than at any other time.

To improve productivity, employers should do everything they can to keep employees in flow mode. This means fostering a corporate environment of silence and privacy. Whenever possible, managers should avoid burdening their employees with multiple tasks or distracting them with unnecessary emails and phone calls.

Many employees also benefit from having private offices, rather than working in noisy cubicle farms.

Fewer, More Effective Meetings

One of the biggest scourges to effective time management is the corporate meeting. The average meeting takes up valuable time and interrupts the employee flow-mode, while generating very little in the way of meaningful results.

According to a Microsoft survey, ineffective meetings are among the top time wasters in the average work week. Additionally, employees spend almost six hours each week in meetings, and 69% of employees feel like these meetings are unproductive.

To better manage company time, executives should only schedule meetings that are absolutely necessary. Meetings should have a specific purpose: To make a decision or solve a problem. There should be a detailed agenda of issues to be discussed and in what order, and the amount of time allotted to each.

If a meeting is only designed to impart information, consider sending out an email instead. Many meetings can also be made optional, so if an employee is in that critical flow mode, he or she can opt out of the interruption.

Time Tracking

Every executive knows that in order for a company to move forward, there needs to be a clearly defined set of objectives and goals for the future. However, just laying out these objectives isn’t enough. Too often, executives and their employees become mired in day-to-day tasks and never find the time to advance long-term goals. This is where integrated, electronic time tracking comes in.

Effective electronic time tracking systems should capture costs as well as the time spent for each individual employee and project, and then integrate this information into a comprehensive view of company time allocation. In this way, you can determine whether your company’s current time allocation aligns with your company objectives. As with any resource, correctly allocating time will reduce waste and facilitate company growth.

Peter Druckers, the legendary management consultant, once said:

Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed.

In the business world, time is precious. It is in every employer’s best interest to promote a corporate culture that measures, manages and values it.

Unproductive Meeting Photo via Shutterstock




Time is Money: Are You and Your Employees Effectively Managing It?

managing time

As a small business owner, you already keep close track of your company’s resources, including capital, employees and facilities. But what about employees’ time? Time is difficult to quantify and track, and as such, many small business owners mistakenly treat time as if it were a limitless resource. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

A recent study by McKinsey found that only 9% of executives were “very satisfied” with how employees’ time was currently allocated. In addition, almost half of executives said that their current time allocation didn’t align with the company’s objectives. And the average office worker can tell you that far too much company time is spent on trivial tasks, such as responding to emails and attending non-essential meetings.

Effective time management is critical to the productivity and profitability of your business. So, how can businesses improve time management? It isn’t as easy as just telling employees to use their time more effectively. Instead, the leadership team needs to build a corporate culture that actively supports effective time management across the whole organization.

Employee Privacy

Multitasking is a major buzzword in the business world. Employees are expected to be able to effectively juggle multiple tasks at once.  So managers fill their work hours with various projects, meetings and corporate activities.

However, studies are increasingly proving that multitasking is ineffective. In fact, Stanford researchers proved that multitaskers have poor organizational skills, are easily distracted and often lack focus.

If multitasking isn’t the key to effective time management, then what is?

The answer is flow. As defined by author and psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, flow occurs when you enter a state of intense and effortless concentration on the task at hand. It is often referred to as “being in the zone,” and employees are far more productive while in this state than at any other time.

To improve productivity, employers should do everything they can to keep employees in flow mode. This means fostering a corporate environment of silence and privacy. Whenever possible, managers should avoid burdening their employees with multiple tasks or distracting them with unnecessary emails and phone calls.

Many employees also benefit from having private offices, rather than working in noisy cubicle farms.

Fewer, More Effective Meetings

One of the biggest scourges to effective time management is the corporate meeting. The average meeting takes up valuable time and interrupts the employee flow-mode, while generating very little in the way of meaningful results.

According to a Microsoft survey, ineffective meetings are among the top time wasters in the average work week. Additionally, employees spend almost six hours each week in meetings, and 69% of employees feel like these meetings are unproductive.

To better manage company time, executives should only schedule meetings that are absolutely necessary. Meetings should have a specific purpose: To make a decision or solve a problem. There should be a detailed agenda of issues to be discussed and in what order, and the amount of time allotted to each.

If a meeting is only designed to impart information, consider sending out an email instead. Many meetings can also be made optional, so if an employee is in that critical flow mode, he or she can opt out of the interruption.

Time Tracking

Every executive knows that in order for a company to move forward, there needs to be a clearly defined set of objectives and goals for the future. However, just laying out these objectives isn’t enough. Too often, executives and their employees become mired in day-to-day tasks and never find the time to advance long-term goals. This is where integrated, electronic time tracking comes in.

Effective electronic time tracking systems should capture costs as well as the time spent for each individual employee and project, and then integrate this information into a comprehensive view of company time allocation. In this way, you can determine whether your company’s current time allocation aligns with your company objectives. As with any resource, correctly allocating time will reduce waste and facilitate company growth.

Peter Druckers, the legendary management consultant, once said:

Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed.

In the business world, time is precious. It is in every employer’s best interest to promote a corporate culture that measures, manages and values it.

Unproductive Meeting Photo via Shutterstock




How Choosing The Right Technology Partner Took This Tiny Start-Up to The Big Leagues

It’s hard enough to be a start-up business, but when that business is going to be featured on a nationally televised show, things get a little more complicated.

When Megan Cummins was in pre-venture phase with her business, You Smell Soap, she had the opportunity to be on the ABC hit “Shark Tank” where investors, like Mark Cuban and Daymond John, hear a business pitch and decide if they will invest their own money to help entrepreneurs build their business.

Cummins had developed a line of very high end soaps that gives customers the luxurious ingredients and fragrances that they like but with a spunky edge. Some of the scents include “Divine” and “Sweet Seduction”. Cummins describes the product as “luxury meets personality”.

Cummins knew that once the show aired, there would be huge interest in her product. Potential customers would go looking for a website and perhaps even other investors would be interested. Cummins and her fiancé, Aaron Heth, knew it was time to build a website. And quickly.

They turned to Volusion, an e-commerce solution that offered them not only a place from which they could highlight and sell products, but that they felt they could trust with all aspects of helping them run their business from the get-go.

“We were so small, we were a nonexistent company and had the funds to match that,” Cummins said. “We needed a really well-functioning website that would work for a small company and act like a large company.”

After exhaustive research, they settled on Volusion and built their store in just 2 days so they were up and running when the show aired in February 2012. Volusion backed the tiny start-up like it was Amazon, dedicating two servers and even another smaller server for overflow (and to offer coupons and apologies if customers ended up there during a rush).

In the days before the show aired, the Volusion support team called and emailed the duo, giving them advice on what to expect and suggesting tests they could run from their end to ensure there were no hiccups once the visitors started clicking.

“We felt like we were the only people they were dealing with,” Heth said.

The site received more than 100,000 visitors in the weekend after the show aired. Heth and Cummins also tapped into the large array of Volusion partners and found a fulfillment company that helped them fill the orders quickly and efficiently.

Best of all, Cummins and Heth said, they are able to use Volusion for all their own order entering, not just for website customers. For example, Heth said, if they attend a trade show, they can head back to the hotel at the end of the day and enter the orders on the back end of their Volusion site. Those orders go immediately to the fulfillment center, which allows this small business to deliver like a much larger business. Their wholesale customers even have private pages where they can place orders that go directly to the fulfillment center.

Heth and Cummins say Volusion has made running their now booming business much easier, thanks to the simple email marketing and social store, which allows retailers to post products directly on a Facebook page, Pinterest or Twitter.

Cummins says that choosing Volusion was by far the best choice for her start-up business, because “with a real tight budget, we need to automate everything” and the full complement of services at Volusion has offered the company just that.



How Choosing The Right Technology Partner Took This Tiny Start-Up to The Big Leagues

It’s hard enough to be a start-up business, but when that business is going to be featured on a nationally televised show, things get a little more complicated.

When Megan Cummins was in pre-venture phase with her business, You Smell Soap, she had the opportunity to be on the ABC hit “Shark Tank” where investors, like Mark Cuban and Daymond John, hear a business pitch and decide if they will invest their own money to help entrepreneurs build their business.

Cummins had developed a line of very high end soaps that gives customers the luxurious ingredients and fragrances that they like but with a spunky edge. Some of the scents include “Divine” and “Sweet Seduction”. Cummins describes the product as “luxury meets personality”.

Cummins knew that once the show aired, there would be huge interest in her product. Potential customers would go looking for a website and perhaps even other investors would be interested. Cummins and her fiancé, Aaron Heth, knew it was time to build a website. And quickly.

They turned to Volusion, an e-commerce solution that offered them not only a place from which they could highlight and sell products, but that they felt they could trust with all aspects of helping them run their business from the get-go.

“We were so small, we were a nonexistent company and had the funds to match that,” Cummins said. “We needed a really well-functioning website that would work for a small company and act like a large company.”

After exhaustive research, they settled on Volusion and built their store in just 2 days so they were up and running when the show aired in February 2012. Volusion backed the tiny start-up like it was Amazon, dedicating two servers and even another smaller server for overflow (and to offer coupons and apologies if customers ended up there during a rush).

In the days before the show aired, the Volusion support team called and emailed the duo, giving them advice on what to expect and suggesting tests they could run from their end to ensure there were no hiccups once the visitors started clicking.

“We felt like we were the only people they were dealing with,” Heth said.

The site received more than 100,000 visitors in the weekend after the show aired. Heth and Cummins also tapped into the large array of Volusion partners and found a fulfillment company that helped them fill the orders quickly and efficiently.

Best of all, Cummins and Heth said, they are able to use Volusion for all their own order entering, not just for website customers. For example, Heth said, if they attend a trade show, they can head back to the hotel at the end of the day and enter the orders on the back end of their Volusion site. Those orders go immediately to the fulfillment center, which allows this small business to deliver like a much larger business. Their wholesale customers even have private pages where they can place orders that go directly to the fulfillment center.

Heth and Cummins say Volusion has made running their now booming business much easier, thanks to the simple email marketing and social store, which allows retailers to post products directly on a Facebook page, Pinterest or Twitter.

Cummins says that choosing Volusion was by far the best choice for her start-up business, because “with a real tight budget, we need to automate everything” and the full complement of services at Volusion has offered the company just that.



IBM Acquires SoftLayer: Will Small Biz Hosting Remain?

ibm acquires softlayer

IBM is acquiring SoftLayer Technologies, a company specializing in hosting and cloud infrastructure. The deal is in the $2 billion range.

SoftLayer, based in Dallas, Texas, claims to be the world’s largest privately held hosting company. It has 25,000 customers, many of them large customers like AT&T. GI Partners purchased the equity in partnership with the company’s management in August 2010.

According to a Reuters report, IBM plans to “create a new division for clients interested in so-called cloud services, a move to better compete with larger rivals in the space.”

Senior vice president of IBM Global Technology Services Erich Clementi says the acquisition is aimed at serving larger clients.  “As businesses add public cloud capabilities to their on-premise IT systems, they need enterprise-grade reliability, security and management. To address this opportunity, IBM has built a portfolio of high-value private, public and hybrid cloud offerings, as well as software-as-a-service business solutions,” said Clementi in the official announcement. “With SoftLayer, IBM will accelerate the build-out of our public cloud infrastructure to give clients the broadest choice of cloud offerings to drive business innovation.”

However, our own experience shows how small businesses needing to scale growth may benefit from the resources IBM and SoftLayer together bring to the table.  It all depends, though, on IBM’s approach to smaller customers post-acquisition. It remains to be seen whether IBM will value small business customers or move away from them.

SoftLayer is the hosting company for Small Business Trends and certain of our cloud applications, such as BizSugar, and our proprietary Awards platforms.

“I have to believe we’re among the smaller customers,” says Anita Campbell, CEO of Small Business Trends. “So far that has suited us just fine. Over the years we’ve had a number of bad experiences with hosting companies whose target market is small businesses. Sure, they were inexpensive. But lack of responsive service and unreliability were key issues. We had one hosting company show us the door, because we needed service but the company was charging a cut rate and didn’t want to spend any time on us. So for our larger sites we deliberately aimed up at a hosting provider used to serving larger customers, even though we paid a bit more.  Service has been reliable, and we’ve had access to sophisticated monitoring tools.”

However, she notes, “We’re taking a ‘wait and see’ attitude as to the direction IBM takes the company in. Will they move away from standard hosting, especially for small businesses, to pursue their larger vision of  cloud services for big enterprises?  That’s an open question in my mind.”

Lance Crosby, founder of SoftLayer, sent an email notice to existing customers saying it would be business as usual.  We’ve embedded the text below - just remember that once the transaction is complete IBM will be calling the shots, not necessarily Crosby:

IBM Photo via Shutterstock




IBM Acquires SoftLayer: Will Small Biz Hosting Remain?

ibm acquires softlayer

IBM is acquiring SoftLayer Technologies, a company specializing in hosting and cloud infrastructure. The deal is in the $2 billion range.

SoftLayer, based in Dallas, Texas, claims to be the world’s largest privately held hosting company. It has 25,000 customers, many of them large customers like AT&T. GI Partners purchased the equity in partnership with the company’s management in August 2010.

According to a Reuters report, IBM plans to “create a new division for clients interested in so-called cloud services, a move to better compete with larger rivals in the space.”

Senior vice president of IBM Global Technology Services Erich Clementi says the acquisition is aimed at serving larger clients.  “As businesses add public cloud capabilities to their on-premise IT systems, they need enterprise-grade reliability, security and management. To address this opportunity, IBM has built a portfolio of high-value private, public and hybrid cloud offerings, as well as software-as-a-service business solutions,” said Clementi in the official announcement. “With SoftLayer, IBM will accelerate the build-out of our public cloud infrastructure to give clients the broadest choice of cloud offerings to drive business innovation.”

However, our own experience shows how small businesses needing to scale growth may benefit from the resources IBM and SoftLayer together bring to the table.  It all depends, though, on IBM’s approach to smaller customers post-acquisition. It remains to be seen whether IBM will value small business customers or move away from them.

SoftLayer is the hosting company for Small Business Trends and certain of our cloud applications, such as BizSugar, and our proprietary Awards platforms.

“I have to believe we’re among the smaller customers,” says Anita Campbell, CEO of Small Business Trends. “So far that has suited us just fine. Over the years we’ve had a number of bad experiences with hosting companies whose target market is small businesses. Sure, they were inexpensive. But lack of responsive service and unreliability were key issues. We had one hosting company show us the door, because we needed service but the company was charging a cut rate and didn’t want to spend any time on us. So for our larger sites we deliberately aimed up at a hosting provider used to serving larger customers, even though we paid a bit more.  Service has been reliable, and we’ve had access to sophisticated monitoring tools.”

However, she notes, “We’re taking a ‘wait and see’ attitude as to the direction IBM takes the company in. Will they move away from standard hosting, especially for small businesses, to pursue their larger vision of  cloud services for big enterprises?  That’s an open question in my mind.”

Lance Crosby, founder of SoftLayer, sent an email notice to existing customers saying it would be business as usual.  We’ve embedded the text below - just remember that once the transaction is complete IBM will be calling the shots, not necessarily Crosby:

IBM Photo via Shutterstock




Office, 32-bit Windows fixes included in Patch Tuesday update

At the halfway point of 2013, Microsoft gave a bit of a break to IT admins with just five patch bulletins for June's Patch Tuesday updates.

But that doesn't mean IT admins should be complacent, as one critical bulletin contains fixes for 19 vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. The fixes address flaws in all recent versions of IE.

As it is a common attack vector, the patches should be applied immediately, said Wolfgang Kandek, CTO at Qualys Inc., an IT security firm based in Redwood Shores, Calif. Attackers could exploit and use the vulnerabilities against an enterprise.

Office 2003 received a fix rated important for an issue where a specially crafted document opened could lead to remote code execution.

One silver lining: Kandek said many enterprises may have already moved on to newer versions of the software, but should patch it if admins are running it.

The Windows kernel on 32-bit systems -- Windows Server 2008 and earlier -- is affected by an information disclosure vulnerability, rated important. Another bulletin delivered a fix for drivers, which, if unpatched, could lead to a denial of service vulnerability. And a printer spooler issue is the focus of a patch that fixes elevation of privilege vulnerability.

Windows patches in 2013: progress report

Microsoft so far has delivered 51 patch bulletins, an increase over last year when the company delivered 43 by June.

Kandek attributes it to Microsoft's responsiveness to more vulnerabilities, citing the monthly cumulative updates for Internet Explorer. In the past, IE was patched on a bimonthly basis.

"They're trying to be faster here," Kandek said.

He also noted how other companies signaled higher patching frequency, like Oracle with the issue-plagued Java. Oracle will switch to monthly patches instead of patches once every four months.

Kandek speculated that Microsoft is unlikely to switch to a patch release schedule faster than a monthly basis.

"Most companies like that they have a certain day" to plan and address patches, he said.




SMBs see benefits from the cloud for security and availability

Ninety-four per cent of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have gained unexpected security benefits due to moving to a cloud environment.

According to a survey of 200 companies with 25 to 499 PC users by Microsoft, 94 per cent now claim to have up-to-date systems, up-to-date anti-virus and spam email management in comparison with when they used on-premise technology, while 68 per cent have seen increased levels of privacy protection and 82 per cent have experienced improved service availability.

Despite 52 per cent citing concerns around data security when asked what was holding them back from adopting the cloud, 45 per cent worried that using the cloud would result in a lack of control over their data and 51 per cent doubted the reliability of the cloud.

Adrienne Hall, general manager of Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, said: “The real silver lining in cloud computing is that it enables companies not only to invest more time and money into growing their business, but to better secure their data and to do so with greater degrees of service reliability as well.”

Microsoft has also released an updated version of its Cloud Security Readiness Tool (CSRT), based on the Cloud Security Alliance's Cloud Controls Matrix, which enables organisations to assess the current state of the security of their IT environment and compare it with what they could expect if they used a cloud service.

John Howie, chief operating officer of the Cloud Security Alliance, said: “Microsoft's Cloud Security Readiness Tool builds on these efforts as it gives organisations a way to more easily evaluate cloud services against critical areas, as well as against compliance with key industry standards such as ENISA IAF and BSI.”



Bit9: A lack of insight into endpoint threats requires greater intelligence for users

Users are blind to threats that occur on the endpoint and require intelligence to understand the threat, according to Bit9.

Speaking to SC Magazine, Patrick Morley, president and CEO of Bit9, said that the company's expansion into threat detection and partnerships and technology connectors with FireEye and Palo Alto Networks have been driven by user demands of the technology.

He said: “Our users say that how they are using the technology and communications is that they need file intelligence and executable content for response. If something happens you have log management to tell you about it, but if something goes down, how do you know what happened?

“The incident response person goes in and takes what happened apart and on the network can tell what happened on the machine. On the endpoint and servers though, you are really blind and our users say that their requirements are that they need the intelligence to put it together.”

Bit9 announced the launch of advanced threat indicator technologies in March, and a number of new partnerships in May. Morley explained that these connectors look at malware behaviours so malware can be seen on the network, and intelligence is combined to tell the user what the point of entry was on the endpoint.

“You can see where it came in and on what endpoint, what it did and what it left and ban it automatically on the fly and, using the connectors, send it back to FireEye and Palo Alto Networks for execution,” he said.

“The coverage of advanced malware is much higher than a year ago. In my opinion this because of three areas: market awareness; concern among users and CISOs about what is going on; and the fact that the UK government are bringing cyber security to the forefront.”

Morley continued: “With whitelisting, you only allow software that you trust but all data is collected in real-time, so you put in a central database and use it to detect incidents.

“You can spend a few hours reviewing what happened, or 20-30 hours recreating what happened and trying to understand the point of entry."

Bit9 this week announced a number of new channel partners, following the doubling of its EMEA team and increased users in the region. In the last year the company has grown its customer base by 50 per cent since its UK launch.



Microsoft releases five patches with one critical fix for Internet Explorer

Microsoft released five bulletins on its June Patch Tuesday, fixing one critical vulnerability in Internet Explorer.

The bulletins fix 23 vulnerabilities in Windows, Office and Internet Explorer, and Microsoft recommended focusing on MS13-047 and MS13-051 first, the critical issue and a remote code execution flaw in Office.

BeyondTrust CTO Marc Maiffret said: “MS13-047 addresses 19 vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, including 18 generic memory corruption vulnerabilities and one memory corruption caused by a script debugging vulnerability. Four out of these 19 vulnerabilities (CVE-2013-3112,CVE-2013-3113, CVE-2013-3121, and CVE-2013-3142) affect every supported version of Internet Explorer, so attackers will be targeting these vulnerabilities prior to attempting to exploit any of the others.”

Ziv Mador, director of security research at Trustwave, said: “It is rare only having one bulletin in an entire release that contains more than one CVE. However, it is also unusual for one bulletin having at least 18 of them.

“Similar to last month, Internet Explorer is plagued with more critical vulnerabilities, which appear to be caused from memory corruption issues. Many of the CVEs appear to suffer from use-after-free vulnerabilities, which could allow arbitrary code to be executed and/or cause denial-of-service conditions. However, there are many CVEs in here that can result in remote code execution, which is definitely something to worry about especially when it affects a browser.”

Paul Henry, security and forensic analyst at Lumension, said: “Though this may be very concerning at first glance, the bulletin should not cause undue alarm. In order for the vulnerability to be executed, an attacker would have to craft a malicious site and use a phishing attack to lure an unsuspecting user to the site, which would then compromise the system. An attacker could not get in without some user participation.”

Looking at bulletin MS13-051, Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of Qualys, said that this patch for Microsoft Office 2003 on Windows and 2011 for Mac OS X addresses a parsing vulnerability for the PNG graphic format that is currently in limited use in the wild.

“The attack arrives in an Office document and is triggered when the user opens the document. Microsoft rates it only as ‘important' because user interaction is required, but attackers have shown over and over that getting a user to open a file is quite straightforward,” he said.

Mador said: “Microsoft Office 2003 SP3 and/or Microsoft for Mac 2011 users should pay particularly close attention to this vulnerability since an attacker could specially craft an Office document that could potentially allow remote code execution conditions. This includes a user viewing a specially crafted email message in Outlook. This vulnerability could especially be risky for those users who always login under an administrator privilege account since this exploit could be used for escalated privileges.”

The other fixes are: MS13-048 for an information disclosure vulnerability; MS13-049 for a denial-of-service problem in the TCP/IP stack of newer Windows systems (Vista+); and MS13-050 for a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Windows print spooler.

Kandek also pointed out that a fix was not issued for the vulnerability that a Google engineer recently published an exploit for on the full-disclosure mailing list.

He said: “The zero-day vulnerability allows an attacker already on the machine to gain admin privileges, and we can assume that the underground is working to make that vulnerability part of their arsenal. The vulnerability should be addressed next Patch Tuesday unless wider exploitation in the wild is detected.”



Digital Outlet Site Gives Small Businesses A New Way To Market Locally and Globally

When the Internet was in its early stages, local portals seemed the way to go. CitySearch provided the average Internet user the opportunity to easily learn about restaurants, events, and other local businesses without having to spend hours searching.

Over time, “local” seems to have become lost, with consumers relying on Google’s localized search feature to point out businesses based on a device’s current location. Yet consumers still desire a site tailored to their own location without having to rely on Google’s algorithms. Glocal, seeing this need, has stepped up to meet it. The site offers small businesses a unique opportunity to carve out their own spot on the web, reaching the very customers who are most likely to dine at their restaurants or call for an appointment for service.

“Locals are passionate about the goods and services that make their town distinctive,” said Lincoln Cavalieri, founder and president of Glocal. “The Glocal Marketplace provides a venue to tout those items while driving attention and business to the great local companies that create them.”

To get started on Glocal, go to https://www.glocal.com/ and locate your city. Not all cities are listed yet, but many major metropolitan areas in America, as well as cities in Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. Once you’ve chosen your city, you’ll be directed to a page that captures the flavor of your city through pictures and videos posted by residents themselves.

Anyone can post content to a city’s Glocal page, which means your small business can post pictures of your storefront, some of your best products, or even your favorite employee on the job. You can also post news items or post questions to encourage visitors to comment.

One of the most useful features of Glocal for small businesses is its marketplace feature. By clicking on “List Item” on your city’s page, register, and submit the required information. You’ll be prompted for a description of the item you’re selling, the price you’re charging, and link to your own online store. When you tag the item to a Glocal community, you’ll increase the chances someone visiting that community’s page will see the item.

As Glocal points out, the site’s marketplace allows sellers of unique items to place the item online, where it can be seen and purchased. A New Orleans baker, for instance, could offer king cakes during Mardi Gras on the Glocal Marketplace and draw customers from all over the world, visiting New Orleans on the web for Mardi Gras information and merchandise.

Whether you’re interested in increasing your visibility in your own hometown or seeking to expand to a more global audience, Glocal is a great way to get noticed in your city and market locally and globally. Visit Glocal to see if your city is listed.



Digital Outlet Site Gives Small Businesses A New Way To Market Locally and Globally

When the Internet was in its early stages, local portals seemed the way to go. CitySearch provided the average Internet user the opportunity to easily learn about restaurants, events, and other local businesses without having to spend hours searching.

Over time, “local” seems to have become lost, with consumers relying on Google’s localized search feature to point out businesses based on a device’s current location. Yet consumers still desire a site tailored to their own location without having to rely on Google’s algorithms. Glocal, seeing this need, has stepped up to meet it. The site offers small businesses a unique opportunity to carve out their own spot on the web, reaching the very customers who are most likely to dine at their restaurants or call for an appointment for service.

“Locals are passionate about the goods and services that make their town distinctive,” said Lincoln Cavalieri, founder and president of Glocal. “The Glocal Marketplace provides a venue to tout those items while driving attention and business to the great local companies that create them.”

To get started on Glocal, go to https://www.glocal.com/ and locate your city. Not all cities are listed yet, but many major metropolitan areas in America, as well as cities in Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. Once you’ve chosen your city, you’ll be directed to a page that captures the flavor of your city through pictures and videos posted by residents themselves.

Anyone can post content to a city’s Glocal page, which means your small business can post pictures of your storefront, some of your best products, or even your favorite employee on the job. You can also post news items or post questions to encourage visitors to comment.

One of the most useful features of Glocal for small businesses is its marketplace feature. By clicking on “List Item” on your city’s page, register, and submit the required information. You’ll be prompted for a description of the item you’re selling, the price you’re charging, and link to your own online store. When you tag the item to a Glocal community, you’ll increase the chances someone visiting that community’s page will see the item.

As Glocal points out, the site’s marketplace allows sellers of unique items to place the item online, where it can be seen and purchased. A New Orleans baker, for instance, could offer king cakes during Mardi Gras on the Glocal Marketplace and draw customers from all over the world, visiting New Orleans on the web for Mardi Gras information and merchandise.

Whether you’re interested in increasing your visibility in your own hometown or seeking to expand to a more global audience, Glocal is a great way to get noticed in your city and market locally and globally. Visit Glocal to see if your city is listed.