Headline This Week: Facebook Sued, Customer Privacy Issues Revisted

The Small Business Trends editorial team gathers the news vital to running your business. Here are this weeks top headlines.

Social Media

Class action suit hits Facebook. The social media giant has been attacked before for its treatment of customer data. This time the suit may have implications for other businesses that collect and use similar information in their businesses.

Instagram ads create 17 percent more brand awareness. Not every small business has access to Instagram advertising yet. And it’s uncertain whether these businesses would find a campaign affordable anyway. But one thing the latest numbers do tell us is just how effective your marketing message may be.

Rate & Tax Increases

Postage stamp increase is coming. As of Jan. 26, cost for stamps, bulk mail and packages will all be increasing. Small Business Trends publisher Anita Campbell has a breakdown with all the details. Have a look.

A 15 cent tax increase could be brutal. There may be perfectly good reasons for increasing the gas tax this year. But for small businesses the change could prove extremely damaging. Figure out what it could mean to your bottom line.

Amazon now collects sales tax in 19 states. Remember last year when Amazon was actively fighting the notion of collecting sales tax from customers in individual states, even apparently giving some affiliates the boot over the issue? Well, that was then and this is now.

Business Apps & Tools

WhatsApp has reached 400 million members. It’s an alternative to social media (or a new kind of social media) depending how you view it. But this app has caught fire and certainly has applications for business.

This app is an alternative to PowerPoint. The creators of Haiku Deck wanted to create an alternative for presentation software like PowerPoint. But in what some might see as an odd twist, they gave it less features instead of more.

WordStream is improving its AdSense tool. If your small business uses AdWords, a free tool can help you spend less with better results. Small Business Trends CEO Anita Campbell has more on how the WordStream benchmarking tool has improved.

Brands & Communities

Mashable raises $13 million. There is money in independent news brands. Pete Cashmore started his business not with a VC investment, but as a blog run from his house at age 19. But that small independent startup would eventually grow to substantial size. Independent digital publishers - take heed.

Airbnb reaches 10 million stays. Airbnb has done more than create a successful business model. The company is responsible for a huge economy based on temporary and long-term rentals. Though, of course, not every municipal authority is a fan.

Adobe to shut down Acrobat Workspaces. They were once, and remain, a place of collaboration for many small business. But soon they will no longer exist as collaborative hubs. Read here about how handle to any files you may have left on the site before the end.

Other Trends

La Soiree shows Vaudeville as small business. The new show harkens back to an era prior to television and radio. But it also tells the story of a group of popular performers turned independent business owners.

Reading Photo via Shutterstock

How Creating a Company Vibe Keeps Everyone Connected To Your Purpose

In the early 1970′s, Trader Joe’s Founder Joe Coulombe, who owned a small chain of convenience stores in Los Angeles, began struggling from the success of his newest competitor - 7-Eleven. Coulombe began to lure customers with what was then considered specialty foods, such as Brie cheese, Dijon mustard and wild rice. Inspired by the lure of these new “exotic” foods, his love of travel, a book he was reading called Trader Horn and a trip to the Caribbean, Coulombe created the recipe for Trader Joe’s grocery stores.

Wanting customers to feel they were going on an excursion for food, he decked out his stores with rustic and nautical décor. He named store managers “captains” and assistant managers “first mates” and dressed employees in Hawaiian shirts. Coulombe then began creating products to take customers’ taste buds on a journey around the world.

Making Sure the Trader Joe’s Company Vibe Stays Alive

Donning that Hawaiian shirt puts Trader Joe’s employees into character, reminding them that their job is to transport customers to a relaxing and lighthearted experience in the stores and with their products. Clarity and consistency at Trader Joe’s - all the way down to those shirts - keeps them hiring and retaining people who find it part of their natural DNA to deliver a laid-back island vibe and a fulfilling shopping experience.

Trader Joe’s describes itself as:

“Traders on the culinary seas, searching the world over for cool items to bring home to our customers.”

That means that everyone’s a part of the journey, from crew members in the stores to the CEO.

Employee Turnover at Trader Joe’s Is Only 4 Percent

Trader Joe’s is so emphatic about building a culture consistent with the fun of wearing that shirt that former CEO John Shields would tell new crew members that if they were not having fun at the end of their first 30 days to please resign. They don’t want anyone to stay who can’t “own” the vibe of the personal, lighthearted and happy service you’d get at a roadside stand for juice in the Caribbean.

For example, a June 28, 2008 blogger explained how the person bagging her groceries noticed that a package of salmon wasn’t sealed correctly. He swiftly sprinted to get her a sealed replacement. This is the Trader Joe’s vibe. The automatic sprint to get some new fish and a smile as an extra, second piece is also then tossed into the cart. Delivering on it attracts and keeps its valuable workforce. Voluntary employee turnover is only 4 percent, the lowest in the grocery industry.

So what can you do to remind employees of the vibe of your company? More important, do you have a vibe?

Many beloved companies have a certain energy that defines them. At Trader Joe’s, employees wear Hawaiian shirts and deck out their stores in rustic décor. The kitschy environment and attitude makes it hard to take themselves too seriously.

Do you take yourself too seriously? Because even beloved companies all laugh at themselves at times. Beloved companies have a certain personality that marks them in their customers’ memories.

So what’s your company vibe?

Image: Trader Joe’s, Wikipedia

Book Review: Are Business Plans Still Relevant? A SCORE Mentor Thinks So.

Business plans are essential for focusing one’s mind and overall direction in what your new business is about. As your business grows it’s important to review and refresh your business plan. I think a business plan can be as simple as 2 or 3 pages. A good business plan is about substance not about quantity.

SCORE mentor Hal Shelton has written a new book, “The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan” which is all about business plan writing. He answers a few pertinent questions for us below and provides his 12 commandments for writing a business plan.

1.     A business plan is a marketing action.

2.     Know your audience, and write the plan in a style and with information they need for the action(s) you want them to take.

3.     Business planning should focus on the customer, not on the entrepreneur.

4.     A small business is usually a bet on the entrepreneur, so provide a biography that demonstrates you have the technical and leadership experience to drive your idea to success. Either demonstrate you have the experience or you have surrounded yourself with others who have it.

5.     The executive summary is the most important plan section. It delivers the message and sets the tone. It should be enthusiastic, concise, professional, and no more than two pages long.

6.     Have sales goals that are supported by research and an actionable marketing plan.

7.     Request funding in the amount you truly need, and support your request with financial statements.

8.     Use of funding proceeds should be primarily for investments, purchases, and marketing activities that will generate the products, services and sales.

9.     Surround yourself with advisors and mentors, and talk through your business ideas with them.

10.  A business plan is never perfect and never finished, so do not procrastinate writing it or obsess about creating the ideal plan. At some point, you need to stop writing and start satisfying a customer need and making money.

11.  It is all about the money.

12.  Focus, Focus, Focus.

Is a Business Plan important?

Yes, a Business Plan is important! A Business Plan is the document or the basis on which a presentation is made, to communicate with others (e.g., prospective banker, investor, board member, employee, large customer, and/or vendor) what the business is about, why you are the right person to lead it, and that the business idea is feasible and viable. It is your calling card or entry point to those who you might need to make your business successful. There are many styles of Business Plans and an entrepreneur needs to find the one that best meets his/her needs.

Why is it important?

If starting a business is a sure thing, there would be no small business authors and consultants industry. In fact, more than half of all startups fail in the first 5 years. Creating a solid Business Plan that answers the question of “what does success look like” will help the entrepreneur determine to implement or not her business idea. The business plan will contain the demonstration that the business is both feasible and viable along with the messaging regarding value proposition and why you are the right person to lead this business at this time. Further, the Business Plan will be your documentation that you have considered and thought through all the factors necessary to have a successful businessâ€"you write the Business Plan for yourself, it is your Plan.

Once the business has started, the Business Plan will be the road mapâ€"the classic adage, if you do not know where you are going, you will not know when you get there. It is a rare situation when an entrepreneu
r has thought of everything and everything works out as planned. Knowing the context of how operating, marketing, financial, staffing and other decisions were arrived at will facilitate making adjustments and corrections as the business matures.

How can one predict their sales 6 months from now?

Answer depends on type of business (B2B or B2C for example), sales cycle and whether business is up and running or not yet started. Generally, the best way to forecast sales is to have a risk adjusted sales pipelineâ€"which customers are being pursued and what is the probability of landing the sale in a certain time frame. And what gives the pipeline information credibility are the marketing actions the company is taking to identify and obtain customersâ€"in detail. For example, just saying we will use social media is not sufficient. For a startup, it will be combination of looking at what competitors’ achieve, having talked with enough people before grand opening and guesswork. I often ask my startup clients to provide the name of 50 potential customers.

Yahoo-culprit Java targeted as Oracle promises 147 security fixes

January 10, 2014

Patch Tuesday sees major slew of vulnerabilities to be fixed

Oracle is set to fix nearly 150 security flaws in its products during next week's ‘Patch Tuesday', including vulnerabilities in Java - the product at the heart of the recent Yahoo attack that may have seen millions of users plagued with malicious adverts.

On the same day, Microsoft will issue just four product patches that are rated ‘important' rather than ‘critical', affecting Microsoft Office, Windows and Dynamics.

The patches promised by Oracle comprise 147 new security vulnerability fixes across hundreds of its products including Oracle Database Server, Fusion middleware, Hyperion, the Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft and Oracle Siebel CRM.

Attention will focus on the 36 security fixes for Oracle Java SE. Oracle says of these: “Thirty four of these vulnerabilities may be remotely exploitable without authentication - ie, may be exploited over a network without the need for a username and password.”

In an emailed comment about the fixes, Qualys chief technology officer Wolfgang Kandek, said: “Java just suffered a widely published attack during the Yahoo ad-based attacks from December 30 2013 to January 3 2014, where the Magnitude exploit kit was used to deliver malware to users that were running an outdated version of Java.

“Oracle is coming out with Java v7u51, which is addressing a number of security flaws and further tightening its security parameters setup.”

Oracle itself advises that with this Critical Patch Update, “some of the vulnerabilities addressed affect multiple products. Due to the threat posed by a successful attack, Oracle strongly recommends that customers apply Critical Patch Update fixes as soon as possible”.

Meanwhile, Kandek commented on the four expected Microsoft fixes: “We expect Bulletin number 2 to address the Zero-day vulnerability CVE-2013-5065 in Windows XP and 2003, which has seen limited attacks since the end of November of last year. These attacks have been coming in through PDF documents using an already fixed vulnerability of Adobe Reader and users of updated versions - ie post APSB13-15 from May of 2013 - should be immune to this attack vector.”

In the Java-based attack on Yahoo, revealed by Dutch security firm Fox-IT on 3 January, users visiting Yahoo.com - estimated to number in the millions - were served up with malicious adverts that directed them to scam websites. There they were exposed to the Magnitude malware which infects anyone who falls victim with a range of Trojans including Zeus, Andromeda and others.

Pass The Hash

January 10, 2014

Calum MacLeod, VP of EMEA at Lieberman Software Corporation suggests 2014 is set to be the year of PTH

There was a time many moons ago when, in an age of innocence, “Pass The Hash” had a whole other meaning. For some of us old enough to remember, or that still have our wits about us, “Pass The Hash” was something you did at the back of the school on a Friday night. But times move on, and suddenly it seems that “Pass The Hash” is in vogue again.

You'd think it had only just been discovered, and that this is suddenly the latest exploit that is about to be unleashed on the corporate landscape. Yes, within a week or two you'll be having the inside sales departments calling to ask if you have “PTH” problems. In fact, come April, we can expect to see every vendor in the security space having “PTH” solutions on their stands at tradeshows. This will, of course, be followed by the PTH User Groups sponsored by vendors desperately trying to save you from PTH attacks. APTs will have become a distant memory as that was all solved in 2013. 2014 - The year of PTH!

A "pass the hash" (PTH) attack can happen when just the password hash is sufficient to authenticate a user to a system.  This is more of an issue on older windows systems such as XP and 2003. Because of the way in which administrative accounts were set up and stored on a system, it means that very often the local administrator account is vulnerable. And because it is used for many administrative tasks such backups, patching, installing software, etc, it becomes a security risk. If one of the machines is compromised, and the local hashes can be dumped out of the Security Account Manager (SAM) database which is present on servers running Windows Server 2003. The SAM stores user accounts for users on the local computer, so if an attacker has now gained administrative access to that machine, other machines on the networks become easy targets.

I suppose you could say that PTH has never been good for anyone, and both variants can be life changing, and not necessarily for the better. Pass The Hash in IT terms has been around for close to fifteen years, and exploits were available several years ago. It's not a new vulnerability, but it is something that you should be aware of. Taking proper precautions such as ensuring that passwords are changed regularly will help. It is also important to ensure that services and scheduled tasks are not using the same passwords across your infrastructure. For example segment your environment in such a way that a breach can be contained, and always be vigilant. Now please “Pass the Hash”

Contributed by Calum MacLeod, VP of EMEA at Lieberman Software Corporation

18,000 suspected cyber criminals \'shopped\' by rival gang

January 10, 2014

A major breakthrough in the fight against global cyber crime has come after details of more than 18,000 members of the ‘Verified' Eastern European cyber crime forum were leaked by a rival gang.

The information, held on a stolen database uploaded to Sendspace, includes the identities, passwords and IP addresses of 18,894 suspected criminals, as well as their private messages discussing crimes, which supposedly include online fraud attacks against British, American and Australian banks.

Experts say this is the first time such a goldmine of information has come into the hands of police and intelligence agencies, giving them the chance to catch some of the world's most notorious cyber criminals. It also could allow them to infiltrate other cyber crime forums by using shared passwords.

US security research firm IntelCrawler discovered the leak on 8 January after monitoring underground crime forums and immediately informed global law enforcement agencies.

“The most valuable and sensitive information is in private messages between the bad actors there” IntelCrawler CEO Andrew Komarov told SCMagazineUK.com. “There are lots of interesting facts - details of thefts, committed crime and so on.”

One alleged hacker from Verified, known only as “4.4”, was arrested in early January by Ukrainian police according to Komarov, though it is not clear whether this was as a result of the leak.

Komarov said that a hacker called ‘bitcoin-future' was responsible for the betrayal, according to information on one underground forum, and suggested that this may have been a result of a dispute. “They probably had a conflict and tried to make a problem for each other.”

Adrian Culley, a global security consultant with Damballa and ex-detective in the Scotland Yard Computer Crime Unit, told SCMagazineUK.com that the leak will help with future cyber crime detection.

“What's fascinating is at the very least this is a massive amount of criminal intelligence,” he said. “It's very clear that the information created by this hack will significantly advance a number of criminal and intelligence operations.”

Culley also said this was a first for law enforcement. “I don't know of this having occurred in this way before,” he told SCMagazineUK.com, “so it's going to be fascinating for us all to find out what exactly they have released.

“Because there's been so few arrests and prosecutions of these large gangs, particularly those attacking financial institutions, a lot of what we have to say is conjecture and what this is going to do for the first time is to either confirm that conjecture or show that we're wide of the mark.”

He added: “It's clear from an initial look at those messages that this has been a forum where they felt it was safe and trusted and their guard was down - so I think they're holed beneath the waterline.”

Andrew Komarov said current members of Verified include ‘Zoomer', a notorious criminal who runs an online shop selling stolen credit card details and whose exploits were highlighted by the New York Times back in 2005.

The forum also includes SEVERA, a spammer who worked with the well-known American fraudster, Alan Ralsky, who was convicted in 2009.

One previous member of Verified is ‘Paunch', author of the Blackhole exploit kit, who advertised his product on the forum.

ICO sparks debate on BYOD security

January 10, 2014

The UK Information Commissioner's Office has issued guidelines to help data controllers secure work data held on employees' smartphones and tablets.

The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued guidelines to help data controllers secure work data held on employees' smartphones and tablets, in response to continuing concerns about BYOD security.

But the move has sparked a debate about the best way to safeguard smart devices at work without overly restricting the freedom of users.

ICO technology group manager, Simon Rice, said that with 60 percent of the UK population now owning a smartphone and 20 percent a tablet - and with these devices topping many people's Christmas gift lists - “it is critical employers have a clear policy about personal devices being used at work”.

The ICO is calling on organisations to ensure employee devices used for work are locked with a strong password and to use a secure channel to transfer data, rather than “open Wi-Fi networks in coffee shops”.

It also says organisations need a data-wipe facility in the event the device is lost or stolen, and an “end of contract” policy so that work data is deleted if the employee leaves the company or replaces the device.

Rice told SCMagazineUK.com: “Mobiles and tablets are a risk - they will get lost or stolen. Organisations have to recognise that and make sure there is a strategy in place to deal with it.”

Nigel Stanley, CEO of information security consultancy Incoming Thought, backed the ICO's campaign saying it was necessary even though employee mobile devices have been in the workplace for four or five years.

“It's good to have the ICO doing what they're doing to help data controllers and people responsible for data understand the importance of protecting it on the smartphones,” Stanley told SCMagazineUK.com. “One needs to remember that the vast majority of organisations probably haven't even thought about this.”

He added: “The ability to embrace these devices in a safe and secure way is really quite challenged - and that stems right from the governance statements about what organisations should or shouldn't be doing with these devices, through to security policies.”

But Phil Barnett, UK sales director at Good Technology, warned against “onerous device restrictions”.

In comments emailed to SCMagazineUK.com, he said: “The spectre of fines and/or reputational damage can cause organisations to go into lockdown, but this will severely damage the transformational capability that mobility brings. Therefore CIOs need to deliver top-grade security without compromising user productivity.

“The secret is to secure the data, not just the device. Onerous device restrictions will paradoxically increase risk - employees will work around formal IT security policies, which is what often causes data leaks.”

Barnett added: “Another major issue comes from the ICO's requirement for wiping or immobilising lost/stolen devices. Though the principle is sound, this brute-force approach opens up a range of privacy issues. Even if employees are made to sign these agreements, it is feasible that the destruction of personal data (photos, documents, etc) could result in civil cases.

“Whole devices don't need to be wiped to achieve the goal. If companies ensure data is held in secure containers on devices the need for entire-device wiping doesn't arise.”

Last year, The Royal Veterinary College received an ICO warning after a member of staff lost a camera and it became apparent the organisation had no guidance in place explaining how personal information stored for work should be looked after on personal devices.

Privacy & security concerns threaten to derail the Internet of Things

January 10, 2014

The world's largest consumer electronics event boasts new gadgets, but concerns rise on the Internet of Things.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week has already served up several inter-connected devices with their own embedded sensors to connect to the Internet and other devices.

Show floor visitors have got their hands on Skype-connected baby monitors; Bluetooth-enabled meat thermometers and ‘smart' ovens, refrigerators, fitness trackers and home automation systems. Google has got in on the act too - unveiling an alliance with car-makers Audi, GM, Hyundai and Honda with the aim of getting Android-connected cars on the road. Elsewhere, chip behemoth Intel showed off the tiny Edison microcomputer which could well feature on future wearable devices.

It's perhaps unsurprising then that Cisco expects this trend to curry flavour in the next few years. The firm has previously predicted that the number of internet-connected devices will grow to 25 billion in 2015 and 50 billion by 2020. The market could grow in value up to £11.5 trillion (US$ 19 trillion) in the next few years, according to CEO John Chambers.

"The internet of things is having its breakout year and this year it will become a mainstream ecosystem and set of technologies," said independent consultant Larry Downes, when speaking at the conference.

However, this latest buzzword in the technology world isn't immune from privacy and security fears, and questions are now being asked if these latest and greatest gadgets will be susceptible to leaking data, or being hacked from cyber criminals.

Concerns rise

Infosec experts have already been quick to dampen expectations around the new trend.

“You can expect dumb things will get smarter in 2014,” said Symantec researcher Kevin Haley recently. “With millions of devices connected to the Internet - and in many cases running an embedded operating system - in 2014, they will become a magnet for hackers.

“Security researchers have already demonstrated attacks against smart televisions, medical equipment and security cameras. Already we've seen baby monitors attacked.” Haley also raised concerns that some of these manufacturers haven't sussed out when they have a security problem.

Meanwhile, John Thielens, Chief Security Officer at global software and services provider Axway, believes that IoT could offer up new opportunities to hackers, one of which was able to infiltrate a baby monitor just last year.

“What's interesting is how the bad guys make a business out of this,” he told SCMagazineUK.com.

“Maybe they derive intelligence [from the devices] so that they can see when the heating's off, or when a door's been opened, to know when you're away from home. Or maybe they could correlate your phone with your house. It's the new way of casing the neighbourhood -- cyber criminals are breaking into the physical world.

Thielsen, who added that cyber criminals could even hack connected cars to turn them into moving weapons, added that IoT hardware makers need to change their philosophy towards security, and said that privacy expectations could too shift as a result of new government legislation.

“This is one of the biggest challenges,” he said of hardware makers. “If hardware makers get into the connected devices realm they need to think of themselves as software makers for security and maintenance.  There's no culture there [with hardware makers] for diligence and security,” he added, suggesting that many of these manufacturers would need to adopt the approach Microsoft takes with Patch Tuesday.

On the subject of privacy, the Axway CSO went onto say that consumer attitudes will change, most likely as a result in new legislation.

“The expectations on what privacy is will change,” he said, adding that people will be fine with seeing personalised ads based on their viewing habits, but less so on continued government surveillance. “I think government policy will evolve along with this.”

New attacks will be hard to defend against

James Lyne, global head of security research at Sophos, told SCMagazineUK.com that the biggest security concern circling the Internet of Things is that forthcoming attacks will be unknown and, as such, harder to defend against.

“Many have been quick to cast the Internet of Things as the next big security issue, though with little specificity as to what problems may actually exist,” he said.

“In reality, the biggest problem is the fact that today these security issues are generally unknown. Many of these new devices are exposing new sensors and integrating technology in creative ways which could allow digital attacks to have greater power and impact in the physical world. For example, being able to connect into and manipulate fridges, ovens, your domestic electricity, TV (or to add colour, any number of camera-enabled devices) opens up the possibility not only of new types of privacy invasion but also impact on life.

“Future devices could expose more serious privacy or security-compromising functionality. Many of the new devices I've seen so far often feature significant security regressions.”

Moving Target as breach figures rise

January 10, 2014

Customer data losses up by 30 million at Target

Revised figures from Target Corp have nearly doubled the number of customers to be hit by data theft over the Christmas holidays, up from 40 million to some 70 million credit and debit cards.

In December the company reported that that hackers had stolen card data including numbers, names, postal addresses, phone numbers and email addresses, though the data is said to be "partial in nature."  Thieves are reported to have installed data-stealing code on to card-swipe machines at tills in all 1,797 Target stores between November 27 and December 15 last year.

Target has offered one year of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection to all its US customers, with three months to enroll, and has said customers would have "zero liability" for any fraud losses; it is also providing tips on avoiding scams for those whose emails were taken. 

Nonetheless, some customers still reportedly intend to sue Target, for failing to notify them of the breach before it was first reported and for not maintaining “reasonable security procedures" to prevent the attack.

Sales had been going well, but were then hit by the breach with forecasts for fourth-quarter earnings down. Target shares initially fell 32 cents to US$ 63.03 (approximately £38.25) shortly after the market opened, with the company announcing reduced Q4 earnings from flat to a 2.5 percent decline.

Jason Hart, VP Cloud Solutions at SafeNet commented: “Whilst the payment information taken in the Target breach was encrypted, immediately reducing the impact of the breach, it is clear that data cannot be encrypted in isolation. 

"Right now, companies encrypt to be compliant with numerous data breach regulations, such as PCI-DSS. However, as with most compliance regulations, PCI-DSS only mandates a lowest common denominator-level of security and more protection is required. Organisations now need to move beyond basic regulations and ensure that they are securing data throughout its whole lifecycle. This means securing data at the application layer (such as point-of-sale terminals), while it is in transit or motion, and when it is stored."

Hart added: “One of the most common mistakes that organisations make is storing the encryption key in an insecure manner, thus exposing sensitive information to significant risk. Therefore, only those companies that encrypt all valuable data and apply tamper-proof and robust controls to the management of the keys, can be safe in the knowledge that their data is protected whether or not a security breach occurs.”

Target is the third-largest US retailer and this is the second-largest such breach reported by a US retailer.

Dane Atkinson of SumAll: A Big Data Strategy That Goes Beyond Cutting and Pasting

The speed in which information is created and put up on the Web is staggering. It will only get faster as sensors and devices, people, better tools and automation combine to move us further into the Zetabyte Era (22 figure numbers).

While the information being created can help us better understand if our efforts to connect with customers and prospects are actually working, getting that information from all the various sources can be a daunting, time-consuming process.

Dane Atkinson, CEO and Co-Founder of SumAll, a free marketing analytics platform that pulls data from sources like Facebook, Twitter, PayPal, Google Analytics and others, shares why it is critically important to get past the fear of big data, and embrace what it can do from a competitive advantage perspective.

* * * * *

Small Business Trends: Can you tell us a little bit about your personal background?

Dane Atkinson: I’m a serial entrepreneur. As a teenager I ran an ad agency and I’ve had a dozen companies since then. The company right before this one was called Squarespace which was website publishing. It’s been a long and wonderful life building stuff on the Internet.

Small Business Trends: Can you talk a little bit about being a serial entrepreneur?

Dane Atkinson: Entrepreneurship has some similarities at any point in time. The first company I built on the Internet was at the outset of the Internet age. You had to raise capital and the acceptance of the market and the ability to do things. I would say there is a current trend where entrepreneurship is in vogue. So a lot of people are attracted to it.

It’s one of the best lifestyles you can have if you’re up for putting yourself on the knife’s edge. It definitely teaches you quickly. Not too many people should walk into it entirely blind because it is a lot of work and it does challenge you. If you’re hunting for that, it’s the best place to be.

Small Business Trends: Why did you started SumAll?

Dane Atkinson: Well, we had a lot of competing reasons to build this company. When we first started, we spent a lot of time just developing the culture that we thought would make for a great company. But in the last business, Squarespace, there were many moments beforehand where as a data junkie, I felt this huge frustration of just trying to understand what was happening in our business.

There was a pinnacle moment. We had this public company CFO working for us and he was copying and pasting from some email and I asked what he was doing. He was copying the revenue he had from yesterday so he would have it in a spreadsheet. And he could see what the hell was happening.

That seemed painfully absurd that people would have to do that, copy and paste to see what your revenue looks like on a day to day basis. It seems persistently true for a lot of businesses, not just for their revenue database but for everything. Like all the providers you use, the people who help us to build businesses these days. It created a huge amount of information in the wake of our efforts but we don’t get access to it.

So we thought that a company that brought that information to bear for people who want it easily, it would be a great thing to do and probably a big category that we could enjoy for a number of years.

Small Business Trends: Can you talk about the challenge of today’s entrepreneur getting a real clear picture, but having to do so with all this data spread out?

Dane Atkinson: It’s a real problem actually. And we’re in a world now where data is almost a necessity. You can’t really optimize your business to run effectively unless you know what’s happening in all its different parts. If you look at the way it works for a lot of our customers, we have 125,000 businesses using us. Prior to our tool, most of them were sitting there on a Sunday night or the free moment they’ve got away from their business loading up Excel and copying and pasting from one place or another to see if that social campaign actually had an effect or if their inventory is in line with their expectations.

Which isn’t to say that there’s not a lot of need for understanding of data. But the access to it certainly shouldn’t be hard to get at. I’m sure there will be other companies like us to try to make it easy for folks to see what’s happening in the world around them.

Small Business Trends: Are you seeing companies being able to do a better job using a service like yours?

Dane Atkinson: Our customers have been doing very well compared to the overall market. There’s some self-selection there, but just by embracing information, that very first decision has a lot of benefits. Most companies get a ten to 20 percent lift once they start to understand the KPIs they’re really striving for, the key metrics they’re trying to push, the numbers they’re trying to manage.

Then having easy access to the various things that influence it, it definitely gives them greater agility. So they can see ‘I’ve had a lot of luck on Facebook getting likes, but I haven’t seen any increase in my traffic and certainly no increase in my revenue. I’ve had a little bit of luck in Instagram. I’ve seen some interesting correlating traffic and actually more interesting correlating revenue coming from it.’

You can’t piece those two things together unless the data sits next to each other. You don’t know where to attribute the increase in sales unless you’re actually able to see how those different efforts might actually link together.

Small Business Trends: What are some of the results you’re seeing customers make with this kind of service in terms of better decision making?

Dane Atkinson: The way things really seem to work for our customers is there’s a huge time savings with people getting their hands on the data. There is that definite benefit that organizations start to run with data as part of their philosophy. That tends to make for better companies, so they get a lift there. They start to look forward and see how returning customers are actually changing their potential opportunity. They actually watch how it happens, how it affects things a lot more closely.

I think there’s still a huge need for education which we’re not presently doing very well. People will get a better sense of how to really look at the data, manage it and draw decisions from it. But just having it is a big first step. And the market will mature as it gets more and more exposure to the information. It’s just not there yet.

Small Business Trends: On a scale of one to ten, how ready are small businesses to take advantage of a service like yours? What do they need to do in order to really benefit the most from using it?

Dane Atkinson: I think for us, we feel it’s an eight to ten desire to get at the information. People understand the pain of trying to figure things out the old-fashioned way in spreadsheets. So there’s a lot of relief just by using a tool like us, seeing the information.

I would say there’s still more of a three to four for how much they’re able to take that to the next level and really start to run their business from it.

What we suggest to customers is to familiarize yourself with the data and get close to it. Try to manage towards it so set some goals, bring some internal awareness to your data, share your information, get people thinking about it. That actually creates the right kind of conversations down the road which are, ‘Okay, we see these things happening. What are the questions that we can ask that make sense as to why this is going on?’

It’s an evolution for the small businesses. Our experience with small businesses is they are the smartest people in the world and the hardest working. Really like the best folks you would want to have dinner with. But they’re usually ill-equipped to figure out how to leverage information. They get there in time. I would suggest anyone who’s not using some sort of tool to understand the information around them, embrace something. Just get numbers so it’s not entirely gut instinct.

Small Business Trends: I like that - put numbers in their life. That’s a good one for a business to really begin to follow because with all of this data around, you better understand some of it at least. Where can people learn more, Dane?

Dane Atkinson: SumAll.com. Our site is free thanks to a lot of venture capital, so you can see if it works for you.

This interview on big data strategy is part of the One on One interview series with thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This transcript has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click on the player above. 

Your Customers Want Video. Why Aren’t You Giving it to Them? Guide to Why Video Marketing Is Important.

I asked my friend Robert Weiss, of MultiVision Digital to share his thoughts on the importance of video. He’s created an infographic, titled Why Video Drives Sales, which you should check out.

Video is a powerful tool for sales and marketing objectives due to its ability to keep one’s attention, educate, build trust and create action at any stage in the sales cycle.

While some marketers and business owners continue to put off their investment in online video marketing content their prospective customers look out for it everyday.

While we won’t YET go as far to say that “video is the new document”, consumer behavior is certainly pointing that way as we have quickly become a nation of viewers, not readers. ComScore’s U.S. Digital Future Report reporting that that 75 million viewers watch online video per day (YES, that is PER DAY) and 40 billion videos are streamed per month (YES, that is a Billion), and these numbers are, according to Forrester Research, are expected to increase over the upcoming years leading up to 2017. So if online video marketing content is not part of your marketing mix, what impact will this behavior mean to your business?

Getting the most out of business video marketing should not be a stand-alone tactic, but rather one that should be integrated into your everyday marketing and sales communication process. That’s because everyone from C-level executives to middle level managers, to small business owners and consumers are watching video more than ever to make their own decisions about your company.

If your not yet using video, here is an infographic, titled Why Video Drives Sales, that is full of useful ideas and statistics to support your business case for getting started with video marketing. For example, getting started with business video has a BIG upside - online video content typically has a 4-year life span which makes for a great investment.

So check it out and learn how marketing with video can drive your sales objectives so your customers will be empowered to select your company.

Here is the link to check out the InfoGraphic

Book Review: Tina Forsyth’s “The Entrepreneur’s Trap” Will Show You How To Take Back Your Time and Enjoy Life

My latest small business read was “The Entrepreneur’s Trap” by Tina Forsyth.

As the subtitle says, “How to Stop Working Too Much, Take Back Your Time and Enjoy Life”, that’s really what this book is all about. Forsyth shares tips on how to:

• Build the right type of business for you and your goals,
• Eliminate the headaches and hassles of hiring and managing a team,
• Use the 10 key systems happy and successful entrepreneurs rely on,
• Structure your day so that you can get everything done and still have plenty of time off (including weekends!).

Check out my full video review here, or watch below:

The Game of Tetris Looks a Lot Like Sales

The idea here came from looking at a series of bars on a graph, thinking they looked a bit like a game of Tetris, and wondering if I could make that work.

For the most part, I think I succeeded and this cartoon turned out well. But with a little time and distance, I look at it now and think, “You know, if he doesn’t turn it, sales would rise sooner, but then plateau for a while. Is that better? Would leaving that space underneath be bad somehow? And if he did turn it and drop it, would that bottom row disappear?”

Maybe it’s best not to over think this one.

The Game of Tetris Looks a Lot Like Sales

The idea here came from looking at a series of bars on a graph, thinking they looked a bit like a game of Tetris, and wondering if I could make that work.

For the most part, I think I succeeded and this cartoon turned out well. But with a little time and distance, I look at it now and think, “You know, if he doesn’t turn it, sales would rise sooner, but then plateau for a while. Is that better? Would leaving that space underneath be bad somehow? And if he did turn it and drop it, would that bottom row disappear?”

Maybe it’s best not to over think this one.