Jump Aboard the StartupBus: An Entrepreneurial Competition Like You’ve Never Seen

You gather in the wee hours of the morning with a group of strangers. One by one you board the bus and take your seats. The driver enters, and you depart on a three day trip ending in Texas. Although this sounds like it could be any routine travel experience, this adventure is anything but ordinary. This is the StartupBus: an entrepreneurial competition like you’ve never seen!

In the case I described above, the people boarding the bus are ‘buspreneurs’ ready to participate in the StartupBus competition. The journey to Texas is minor in comparison to the REAL journey that lies ahead - strangers forming teams, sharing ideas, and creating a startup company to be pitched in Texas in the span of only 3 days.

StartupBus is an entrepreneurial competition that started in North America in 2010, and this year’s race marks the 5th annual event. Based on the 2010 success, StartupBus has also expanded to Europe in 2011 and Africa in 2013.

It begins with hackers, hustlers, and hipsters applying to be accepted onto a bus. Fit is assessed and then qualifying candidates are interviewed, with the best and brightest entrepreneurs being assigned a bus in one of the established regions. This year, competitors boarded the buses on March 2nd, in a scene much like described in the opening paragraph.

But what then, you may ask? To the adventurous, budding entrepreneurs, that’s when all the fun starts. As the bus takes off, one by one people pitch their business ideas, take notes, and gauge interest in specific projects. From this, teams are formed and work begins on making that startup product or app a reality - from choosing a name and logo, to design, marketing and every detail in between.

This year’s teams also have the opportunity to work with Elance freelance workers - support staff working at home on specific project tasks. Having extra help will likely benefit the teams, but the task at hand is still daunting. Once they arrive in Texas on March 4th they must have everything worked out and be ready to pitch the idea - with a final winner being selected on March 6th.

There are seven buses in the 2014 competition, with 32 teams formed.

NORTHEAST - Departing from NYC

• Sttack
• Datalize.me
• Roll
• Smart Host
• Sallie Will
• MiniMap

NORTH - Departing from Seattle

• Beander
• Traveloo
• Tastebuddy

SOUTHEAST - Departing from Tampa

• coinCollectr
• TicketSlip
• Memzies
• BelleLush

SOUTH - Departing from Nashville

• Guardian Angel
• Your Scavenger Hunt
• TrustVino
• On the List

MEXICO - Departing from Mexico City

• RV Envy
• TrustMail.io
• Bridgefy
• Reeact.me
• Sticky
• My Easy News

MIDWEST - Departing from Kansas City

• BeautyEngine
• Academe.io
• AngryCorner
• Waste-Not
• Startup Games

WESTCOAST - Departing from San Francisco

• TRADE-OFF
• The Qutest
• NutFund
• Plumer

Each of the links above will take you to more information about the teams, team members, and their ideas. You can also follow the action on the StartupBus website, including a map that follows the buses, blog posts, daily StartupBus TV shows and playing along in a virtual investing game.

Stay tuned until March 6th at 6 pm when a final winner is crowned.

WhatsApp Will Add Voice Service, But What Form Remains Uncertain

Some question whether WhatsApp will be poised to become the next Skype. We’ve noted recently that Skype has been a tremendous benefit to small business owners who are saving thousands on international calls each year.

Microsoft’s instant messaging service allows video calls to be made for free between users. And now, it appears there may be another similar service on the horizon.

WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum announced recently that a voice messaging feature will be added to the already popular SMS app. The service is available on all manufacturers’ smartphones. Koum told those gathered at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona that this feature could be added by the second half of 2014 on all smartphones. Android and iOS users will see the feature added sooner, according to an Engadget report.

It’s unclear how voice messaging will be incorporated into WhatsApp. The company recently added a voice texting feature (pictured above). It allows users to send small voice messages as if they were text messages. So it will surely be something different than that.

If the new WhatsApp voice feature is more like Skype, it will likely be a major competitor. This will especially be true if its cost remains very low. WhatsApp has 330 million active daily users, according to the company. And it probably stands to gain millions more when a $19 billion acquisition by Facebook, announced recently, is finalized.

On the official WhatsApp blog, Koum recently explained that the merger with Facebook will not change the company’s basic mission. That is to provide inexpensive communication between users no matter where they are on the planet:

“There would have been no partnership between our two companies if we had to compromise on the core principles that will always define our company, our vision and our product.”

That raises the question of whether WhatsApp will remain just as inexpensive after the new service is fully integrated. Right now, users can take advantage of the service free for the first year. After that, users are charged $0.99 cents per year to continue using it.

Image: WhatsApp

Windows 8.1 For Free? A Version May Be In The Works

When people think of free products, they are more likely to think of Google rather than Microsoft. But Redmond seems to be seriously considering up-ending the apple cart. Microsoft could be experimenting with a free slimmed down version of Windows 8.1, the Verge reports.

A free Windows 8.1 version would have two advantages. One, it would upgrade people who are still on Windows 7, who are procrastinating about the cost of upgrading. Two, it would motivate more people to take the leap and become more integrated into Microsoft’s services.  Perhaps this would tempt away some of those currently using Google’s free apps.

If a free version does become available, it won’t include the full feature of the paid version of Windows 8.1. Instead it will be a version with more restricted apps and services bundled in. These could include Bing, Office, Skype and OneDrive. Some business owners may still opt to use the full version of Windows. However, small businesses who are on a tight budget may welcome a stripped down version of the software.

For Microsoft there is only one problem. If they start giving away the product for free, why would anyone bother to pay for a Microsoft operating system in the future? That is the dilemma Microsoft leadership seems to be grappling with right now.

How can the company strike the right balance between free software and monetizing it at the same time?

If Microsoft sees a serious amount of revenue walking out the door, will they do what Google eventually did with Google Apps, and stop the freebies? Will it be a case of “one hand giveth and the other hand taketh away?” On the other hand, Microsoft is looking at their biggest rival, Apple, giving away their last OSX operating system, Mavericks, for free.

The consumer climate is shifting, and Microsoft has been slow to respond.

Another option Microsoft is considering is cutting the Windows license fee to computer makers to either very little or free, if the limited version is installed. This has led one website to dub such computers “Bingbooks” (as opposed to Chromebooks). Microsoft is even thinking about giving the Windows Phone OS to phone manufacturers free of charge. Windows Phone is currently lagging behind iOS and Android.

Of course, Microsoft is already experimenting with giving things away. The company is currently offering 100GB of OneDrive space for one year in exchange for 100 Rewards credits in its Bing Rewards program.

Credits are earned every time you log into Bing with your Windows Live account and make a search. The question is whether these offers will be enough to attract more small business users to Microsoft.

Image: Microsoft

Windows 8.1 For Free? A Version May Be In The Works

When people think of free products, they are more likely to think of Google rather than Microsoft. But Redmond seems to be seriously considering up-ending the apple cart. Microsoft could be experimenting with a free slimmed down version of Windows 8.1, the Verge reports.

A free Windows 8.1 version would have two advantages. One, it would upgrade people who are still on Windows 7, who are procrastinating about the cost of upgrading. Two, it would motivate more people to take the leap and become more integrated into Microsoft’s services.  Perhaps this would tempt away some of those currently using Google’s free apps.

If a free version does become available, it won’t include the full feature of the paid version of Windows 8.1. Instead it will be a version with more restricted apps and services bundled in. These could include Bing, Office, Skype and OneDrive. Some business owners may still opt to use the full version of Windows. However, small businesses who are on a tight budget may welcome a stripped down version of the software.

For Microsoft there is only one problem. If they start giving away the product for free, why would anyone bother to pay for a Microsoft operating system in the future? That is the dilemma Microsoft leadership seems to be grappling with right now.

How can the company strike the right balance between free software and monetizing it at the same time?

If Microsoft sees a serious amount of revenue walking out the door, will they do what Google eventually did with Google Apps, and stop the freebies? Will it be a case of “one hand giveth and the other hand taketh away?” On the other hand, Microsoft is looking at their biggest rival, Apple, giving away their last OSX operating system, Mavericks, for free.

The consumer climate is shifting, and Microsoft has been slow to respond.

Another option Microsoft is considering is cutting the Windows license fee to computer makers to either very little or free, if the limited version is installed. This has led one website to dub such computers “Bingbooks” (as opposed to Chromebooks). Microsoft is even thinking about giving the Windows Phone OS to phone manufacturers free of charge. Windows Phone is currently lagging behind iOS and Android.

Of course, Microsoft is already experimenting with giving things away. The company is currently offering 100GB of OneDrive space for one year in exchange for 100 Rewards credits in its Bing Rewards program.

Credits are earned every time you log into Bing with your Windows Live account and make a search. The question is whether these offers will be enough to attract more small business users to Microsoft.

Image: Microsoft

Attack shows routers as the weakest link in enterprise security

March 04, 2014

Fears that routers are an 'Achilles heel' of enterprise security have been heightened as Team Cymru revealed this week that a cyber attack has hijacked more than 300,000 wireless internet routers worldwide.

The US-based research firm announced on 3 March that it has uncovered a 'Man in the Middle' campaign dating back to at least mid-December that infiltrated more than 300,000 small office/home office (SOHO) gateway devices from manufacturers including D-Link, Micronet, Tenda, TP-Link and others.

So far, Team Cymru said the affected users are mainly from Vietnam, followed by India, Italy, Thailand and Cambodia. But in just one week it tracked victims from 12 other countries as well, including the US, Spain and Russia.

The attackers hack the routers by overwriting their DNS settings and redirecting all internet traffic from the device to their own servers, potentially enabling them to capture the user's credentials such as user name and password.

The attack is the latest in a series targeting wireless routers. Last month, the US SANS Institute discovered the so-called Moon worm spreading through Linksys servers, and Team Cymru has spotted similarities between the latest attack and another recent router exploit targeting customers of Polish retail banks.

In the current case, the researchers say: “The scale of this attack suggests a more traditional criminal intent, such as search result redirection, replacing advertisements, or installing drive-by downloads, all activities that need to be done on a large scale for profitability.” Team Cymru has informed law enforcement agencies.

But the firm is warning security professionals that routers are an enterprise vulnerability: “As the bar is increasingly raised for compromising end point workstations, cyber criminals are turning to new methods to achieve their desired goals. By compromising one SOHO router, an attacker can redirect traffic for every device in that network.

“As embedded systems begin to proliferate in both corporate and consumer networks, greater attention needs to be given to what vulnerabilities these devices introduce. Security for these devices is typically a secondary concern to cost and usability and has traditionally been overlooked by both manufacturers and consumers.”

Security expert Brian Honan of BH Consulting agrees that these devices present an opening for cyber criminals.

He told SCMagazineUK.com via email: “Given the challenges that consumers and small businesses have in protecting their computers by using anti-virus software and patching them regularly, protecting consumer-level devices such as routers will be a challenge. Many ordinary users simply turn on their routers and may not know how to update or manage them. It will be interesting to see how manufacturers and ISPs will rise to this challenge.”

Team Cymru warns: “With the release of the exploit code for the Moon worm available online, and the mBank campaign gaining more attention every day, we expect to see more and more malicious activity targeting SOHO devices and other embedded systems.”

Adrian Culley, global technical consultant with Damballa, focused on what the device manufacturers need to do to safeguard users. He said in an emailed comment to journalists: “Vendors must work with the understanding that their routers, just like any other part of the network, are constantly targeted in cyber attacks. It is the vicarious responsibility of firms who provide routers to homes and business to ensure that their product is built with the presumption it will be continuously probed and attacked to ensure safety of the end user.”

Research by Tripwire suggests that 80 percent of Amazon's top 25 best-selling SOHO wireless router models have security vulnerabilities. Tripwire security researcher Craig Young said in an emailed comment: “Routers are an ideal target for cyber attackers because they can be used to eavesdrop on traffic sent to and from nearby enterprise access points.”

Team Cymru advises: “Organisations concerned that their customers and external partners could be victims of this type of attack should urge them to review their local router settings and security policies and contact their upstream service provider for assistance if necessary.

“SOHO devices should have remote user-mode administration features and GUIs disabled or, at a minimum, restricted through ACLs to only those IPs required for regular administration. Management interfaces open to the internet create an easily detectable and exploitable vulnerability and should be disabled immediately if found.

“For larger corporate networks, security professionals could also deploy HTML code to their externally facing servers to attempt to detect remote users' DNS settings, and potentially block users with compromised DNS settings.”

Team Cymru's 'SOHO Pharming' white paper is available here.

Bitcoin bank Flexcoin closes after hackers swipe £365,000

March 04, 2014

Virtual currency Bitcoin's troubles continue after leading trader Flexcoin was forced to close after 896 Bitcoins were stolen.

The company confirmed on Tuesday that hackers had stolen 896 Bitcoins, the equivalent of approximately £365,000.

“On 2 March Flexcoin was attacked and robbed of all coins in the hot wallet,” the company wrote on its website. “The attacker made off with 896 BTC, dividing them into these two addresses: 1NDkevapt4SWYFEmquCDBSf7DLMTNVggdu [and] 1QFcC5JitGwpFKqRDd9QNH3eGN56dCNgy6.”

“As Flexcoin does not have the resources, assets, or otherwise to come back from this loss, we are closing our doors immediately. Users who put their coins into cold storage will be contacted by Flexcoin and asked to verify their identity. Once identified, cold storage coins will be transferred out free of charge.”

Interestingly, the firm added that cold storage coins were held offline and were “not within reach of the attacker”. It is currently looking to work with law enforcement agencies to trace the source of the hack.

This news comes just six days after Flexcoin was boasting about the closure of MtGox, another Bitcoin exchange which had to close after hackers stole 750,000 bitcoins by exploiting using a bug known as “transaction malleability”.

“We hold zero coins in other companies, exchanges etc. While the MtGox closure is unfortunate, we at Flexcoin have not lost anything,” the firm tweeted on 25th February.

Other Bitcoin services such as Bitcoinica, Inputs.io and MyBitcoin have all been hacked and lost currency in recent times, while Poloniex confessed on Tuesday that 12.3 percent of its reserves had been stolen by hackers.

“I sincerely apologise for this,” said the company owner in a statement, “and I am very grateful to the many people who have already expressed their support and belief in my character. I take full responsibility; I will be donating some of my own money, and I will not be taking profit before the debt is paid.”

In response to the news, Dell SecureWorks CTU director of malware analysis Joe Stewart told SCMagazineUK.com that the trend of attackers stealing from Bitcoin merchants is likely to continue, but could subside as the ecosystem wises up to security measures.

“This has definitely been happening for a while; web wallet services like Flexcoin - and plenty of others - have been hacked,” said Stewart, who recommends that users keep control of private Bitcoin keys on other computing devices, and away from web and desktop wallets that can be susceptible to malware attacks.

“The attacks will increase…it's a way to make money. People are not familiar with the best practices yet, and that's unlikely to happen before mainstream adoption.”

Neohapsis researchers Nathaniel Couper-Noles and Joe Schumacher added that this is further proof that cryptography is “notoriously difficult” to get right.

Couper-Noles, principal security consultant, added that “transaction malleability” - used for the MxGox attack - is increasingly the method of choice for attackers to exfilitrate Bitcoins.

“The attack requires technical savviness as well as a social engineering component. In simple terms - the attacker captures and modifies a bitcoin transaction in a manner that confuses the exchange/bank. The attacker then contacts the exchange to state the transaction did not process and get the exchange to issue another transaction”, he told SCMagazineUK.com.

 “It is doubtful that this vulnerability/gap caused big players to fail. It is an attack that takes time and should be caught by the exchanges. It would take a long time to milk 100+ thousand bitcoins as large transactions would catch the eye of the exchange.  Also most exchanges should be well aware of this attack and recognise social engineering attempts to finalise the exploit.”

Schumacher added that Bitcoin suffers as a result of having no regulatory requirements.

“There are no regulatory requirements for bitcoin and exchanges can operate by the seat of their pants,” he told SCMagazineUK.com. While this is not a good business practice, an exchange could open with no sound security controls or processes around the business. People storing their coins in an online wallet have no guarantee for security as there is no way to see/audit the storage business.

“In simplest of terms, this would be similar to opening a bank with millions in deposits but have no locks on the front door and everyone using the same credential.”

Not Paying Attention To Online Customer Reviews Could Hurt Your Small Business.

Online reviews have been around for a long time. Yelp, Zagat, Google Local, City Search and other online destinations are (or were) leading destinations for local reviews of local businesses.

A recent study by local online marketing company Yodle indicates that small businesses are not paying enough attention to how important reviews are and how they can impact a business.

1. Only half of small business owners think positive online reviews are important.  Many small business owners are not recognizing the importance of online reviews despite the buying decisions of 90% of customers being influenced by seeing positive online testimonials  (source: 2013 Dimensional Research Survey).  Only 50% of survey respondents think that it’s important for their business to receive positive online reviews and almost one in four (23%) believe that it’s unimportant.
2. Most small business owners aren’t receiving or asking for online reviews. More than half of SMB owners (55%) don’t receive any online reviews, while one in five (19%) get an average of only one to five reviews per month.  Almost 1 in 4 SMB owners (24%) don’t know if they receive online reviews.  Despite the low number of reviews that small businesses are receiving, only 13% of owners are approaching their customers about posting reviews.  The biggest reason cited for not approaching customers is “I haven’t thought about it” (43%).
3. A significant number of small business owners aren’t responding to or monitoring for online reviews. Although seven in 10 consumers have a more positive view of a company if they see them responding to an online review (source: Bazaarvoice Conversation Index), less than half of our survey respondents (43%) who receive reviews actually do this.  More than two in three SMB owners (68%) also don’t even spend any time monitoring for online reviews and all but a handful of the remainder spend just one to five hours per month on this activity.
4. Small business owners don’t effectively leverage customers’ online reviews. Only 14% of survey respondents post customers’ reviews to their websites. The remaining SMB owners that have received reviews and have a website (37%) do not post this content.
5. Many small business owners believe that the online reviews system is unfair.  More than six in 10 SMB owners (61%) think that review sites favor businesses that pay to advertise with them, while only 10% don’t believe that to be the case.  Half of SMB owners (50%) also opined that small businesses are unfairly impacted by negative reviews compared to larger business; only 20% of the survey respondents contradicted that opinion.  Additionally, more than four in 10 survey respondents (43%) stated that online reviews are unfair because they do not verify that people who leave reviews are actual customers, with a similar number (41%) “not sure” if they’re unfair.

I asked a Yodle spokesperson what a small business owner SHOULD be doing and here’s a few words of advice.

Get in the game. Understand that consumers care about online reviews and it impacts their buying decisions. You need to ask existing customers to post reviews and make it as easy as possible for them to do so.

Respond to reviews. It makes a big impact on consumers if they see that you’re taking the time to address a customer’s review whether it’s negative or positive. Replying to a negative review can be particularly impactful. It can help turnaround a bad situation and illustrate that you really care about a customer’s experience with your business.

Monitor for reviews if you’re not currently doing that. How can you respond or know how your business is being perceived if you don’t even know what’s being said or written about you online?

Post customer reviews and testimonials on your website. As an SMB owner, you want to make sure that you’re highlighting endorsements that you receive on your website given that many potential customers are likely to visit it before deciding whether to work with you.

Top 10 Social Media Plugins for WordPress

Social media is a crucial component for any online marketing strategy. If you’re running your small business website on the WordPress platform, it’s incredibly easy to integrate social. There are hundreds of ready made social media plugins for WordPress to choose from.

Your choice of social media plugins for your WordPress website will depend on which social platforms you use actively, what kind of content you offer on your site, and the best look and placement of social tools that complements your website design. From simple to richly featured, below are some of the best WordPress plugins for social media.

Digg Digg

This versatile plugin by Buffer comes with plenty of customization options and integrates with virtually any social media platform. With Digg Digg, you can create either a floating social media bar with left or right scrolling options, or sharing buttons that automatically populate at the top or bottom of each of your blog posts.

Digg Digg can be used with Twitter, Facebook, Buffer, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr - just about any social channels you might use. Facebook options include both Like and Share, and “lazy loading” helps you cut down on load times for your website.

Flare

Simple and eye-catching, the Flare plugin not only gives you customizable share buttons, but also lets you create and display a Follow Me widget, so your visitors can one-click follow your social media channels right from your website.

The plugin is compatible with major social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and more. You can customize the appearance of the buttons, and place the share bar at the top or bottom of posts, or to the left and right of your pages. The left and right options scroll down the page with viewers, and auto-hide when not in use.

ShareThis

With great customization, tons of features, and more than 120 supported social media platforms, ShareThis is one of the popular social media plugins for WordPress that’s been downloaded more than 1.5 million times. This plugin tool offers more than social buttons, which come in the form of a Hovering Bar that can be displayed on the right or left side of your pages, with counters and your choice of small or large buttons.

In addition, ShareThis has built-in social analytics, a CopyNShare widget that helps you track shares when your content is copied and pasted, and more.

Share Buttons by AddThis

One of the most popular and recognizable social media plugins for WordPress, AddThis Share Buttons let you integrate with more than 330 social platforms and bookmarking sites, as well as email sharing. While there isn’t an option for a floating sidebar, the plugin gives you plenty of layout choices - and you can also get free analytics when you create an AddThis account.

Floating Social Media Icon

Highly rated and popular, the Floating Social Media Icon plugin gives you a customizable, configurable social bar that flies onto the screen and scrolls along with visitors. You can also disable floating and set up static icons with this plugin.

Floating Social Media Icon gives you more than 20 different icon styles to choose from, so you can match the themes and styles of your website. It also supports multiple widgets, so you can display various social media buttons separately on your pages.

Social Media Feather

Lightweight yet powerful, Social Media Feather is a simple, high-performing social plugin that keeps speeds up and load times down by not using JavaScript. The buttons have a clean, modern look, and you can customize the appearance with social icons skins.

This plugin supports shortcodes, and is currently the only social sharing plugin that supports Retina and high-resolution displays used by mobile devices like the iPad 5.

Slick Social Sharing Buttons

If you’re looking for a social media plugin for WordPress that’s easy to implement and comes with plenty of options, try Slick Social Sharing Buttons. This plugin lets you customize button types, specify which pages and posts to display social sharing on, and choose from either a floating or slide-out share bar. You can also customize location, direction, floating speed, animation speed and more.

Slick Social Sharing Buttons supports shortcodes, and gives you a social analytics dashboard to help you track your sharing activity.

Social Media Widget

With a long list of supported social platforms, including email and RSS, and some fun and interesting customizations, Social Media Widget is an easy-to-use plugin that creates a sidebar widget for social sharing, with links that open a separate tab or window when clicked.

Social Media Widget offers three icon sizes, four icon styles (Web 2.0, Sketch, Heart and Cutout), and four animation types to make your social media buttons stand out on the page.

Shareaholic

The feature-rich, powerful Shareaholic offers more than social sharing. With a stated aim to help you get readers to “actually discover and submit your articles to numerous social bookmarking sites,” this plugin supports Facebook (both Like and Send), Google+, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn and other major social platforms, with share counters for many of them.

In addition, Shareaholic comes with Classic Bookmarks, a Recommendations & Related Content tool, built-in Social Analytics, and official support for Google’s URL shortener as well as Google Analytics.

Share Buttons by AddToAny

Offering support for more than 100 social sites in 19 languages, AddToAny Share Buttons is one of the most popular social media plugins for WordPress with almost 3 million downloads. It’s easy to customize and fully featured, and supports both shares and interactive clicks - including Facebook Likes, a Tweet button for Twitter, a “Pin It” button for Pinterest, a +1 button for Google+ and more.

Bookmarking and email buttons integrate with the most popular email services (Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Outlook / Hotmail, AOL, and nearly every Web-based or desktop email program).

You can customize the appearance and position of the AddToAny share bar, and integrate with Google Analytics to make the most of your social marketing.

BONUS: Microblog Poster

A different kind of social plugin, Microblog Poster lets you automatically push your WordPress blog content to various social media platforms. This plugin currently supports Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Delicious and more. It also supports shortcodes and multiple accounts on the same platform.

Social Media Photo via Shutterstock

Rep. Sam Graves Proposes Requiring More Government Contracts for Small Businesses

U.S. Rep. Sam Graves wants to raise the federal government’s goal for the amount of government contracts that must be awarded to small businesses.

Graves, who heads up the House Small Business Committee, introduced the Greater Opportunities for Small Business Act of 2014. The bill calls for the federal government to award 25 percent of its prime contract work to small businesses.  That’s 2% more than the federal government’s current goal of setting aside 23 percent of government contracts for small businesses.

New reports suggest that the federal government may actually meet that 23 percent quota, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek. That would be the first time the federal government hit its goal since 2005.

Last year, we reported that the federal government fell short of its 2012 goal by about $3 billion.

But data available through the Small Business Administration shows that the federal government awarded $83.2 billion to small businesses for the year ending in September 2013, about 23 percent according to Bloomberg.

The additional two percent proposed by Graves may sound small, but the numbers are large.  It could mean up to $10 billion more in federal contracts for small businesses nationwide, according to a statement from the Congressman.

Graves also wants to award more subcontracted federal government work to small businesses. Right now that quota is at 35.9 percent. The new bill would raise that goal to 40 percent.

In addition to the call for higher award goals, Graves also introduced legislation that aims to hold the federal government more accountable in the way it reports the money awarded to small businesses, the Contracting Data & Bundling Accountability Act of 2014.

In a statement, Graves  (R- Missouri) said:

“These two pieces of legislation will go a long way towards increasing opportunities for small companies who want to grow and create jobs by doing business with the federal government. By increasing the federal-wide goal for contracts to small businesses, and requiring greater accuracy, transparency and accountability in contract bundling and consolidation, we make it easier for small businesses to enter this marketplace and compete for contracts. The federal government spends nearly half a trillion dollars on contracted goods and services, therefore, we must ensure that the money is being spent efficiently, and small businesses have proven that they can do quality work cheaper and often faster.”

Small Business Administration administrator nominee Maria Contreras-Sweet was asked about government contracts to small businesses during her recent confirmation hearing.

Contreras-Sweet pledged to work toward getting government agencies closer to their quotas. She said the SBA must do more to help smaller companies bid for this work. Sweet also said that the federal government must work to “debundle” larger contracts that often go to larger companies.

Image: Graves.House.gov

ICO promised new powers to rein in NHS on patient data

March 04, 2014

The Government has responded to fears about the security of millions of NHS patients' personal data by giving privacy watchdog the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) the power to carry out 'compulsory audits' on how well the health service looks after personal information.

But the move, announced on Monday by Justice Minister Simon Hughes and due to come into force this autumn, is unlikely to silence the bitter row over the gathering and sharing of GP and hospital data.

Sensitivity on the subject is especially high with new reports accusing IT consultancy PA Consulting of jeopardising privacy by uploading a year's worth of data on hospital visits across England to Google servers based outside the UK.

That accusation follows claims that hospital records are being used by private firms to advise companies on how to target their marketing to people on Twitter and Facebook, and that data mapping company Earthware published an online map which leaked hospital patient data.

It all comes in the wake of the Government's decision to postpone the NHS' £50 million ‘care.data' plan to gather the electronic patients' records from every GP practice in England. Initially due to be launched in April the government was forced to delay the introduction over fears that people had not been properly informed of the plan or their right to opt out.

But in the latest furore over hospital records, both PA and Earthware have hit back at the claims levelled at them.

PA insists that the hospital patient data it stored “does not contain information that can be linked to specific individuals and is held securely in the cloud in accordance with conditions specified and approved by the NHS.

The group added that the data did not contain patient name, address, NHS number or date of birth, and said that sharing patient data has many benefits.

“Our new approach to extracting insight from large volumes of data can help the NHS improve patient care. We have shown where services are needed most by patients and identified previously unseen side effects of drugs and treatments. Our approach protects patient confidentiality and allows insights to be derived at significantly lower cost, and 100 times faster, than any traditional approach.”

Earthware, meanwhile, removed the controversial map from its website but said it was actually a demonstration based on mock HES (hospital episode statistics) data. The company said: “No patient identifiable data was ever displayed on the map. Earthware are confident that we have not breached any legal or regulatory rules regarding the licensing or publication of HES data.”

Information Commissioner Chris Graham believes that the continuing row over the NHS database marks “a line in the sand” for organisations holding personal data, who must recognise that people are now fully aware of the value of their personal information and how their privacy should be respected.

“Citizens and consumers expect organisations to be open and upfront with how their information will be used. In a digital age, this knowledge is invaluable and shows why the Data Protection Act is so important. We must all get it right, or suffer the consequences,” he said last week.

This increased awareness may also explain the Government's decision to give the ICO more powers over NHS data protection.

An ICO spokesperson told SCMagazineUK.com: “The concerns around care.data come from this idea that the health service isn't particularly good at looking after personal information. Now we believe that the audit powers will help us to improve compliance where NHS organisations are having difficulties or there's particular issues raised and brought to our attention.”

The spokesperson added: “In order to find the real issues we think that we need compulsory audit, where we can just go in and have a look at their general data protection practices. It can cover everything from security through to making sure that health records are accurate, to training.”

But because the powers will only be voted in this autumn, that will be too late to affect the crucial concerns over how the care.data scheme is communicated, as this will happen during the next six months.

Meanwhile, the Government is considering bowing to pressure from the ICO to introduce custodial penalties for serious breaches of the Data Protection Act. However, Justice Minister Simon Hughes also indicated that the UK will continue trying to delay and ‘water down' the planned new EU-wide Data Protection law, so it does not overly penalise SME firms financially.

In the same speech where he tackled the NHS data controversy, Hughes praised Information Commissioner Christopher Graham for “arguing eloquently for the introduction of custodial penalties for serious misuse of personal data” but argued that the original form of the European law could have cost the UK economy between £100 million and £360 million a year in penalties.

“The Government wants to see EU data protection legislation that protects the civil liberties of individuals while allowing for economic growth and innovation,” he said. “We are clear that these should be achieved in tandem and not at the expense of one another. There is now a growing consensus in the negotiations around the importance of not placing disproportionate burdens on small and medium enterprises.”

Why This Small Athletic Company Doesn’t Want Customers

I recently had the opportunity to sit with Gonz Medina, co-founder of Blue Chip Athletic. They are a small, 20-person athletic sportswear company based in Kansas City, Missouri who have a passion for delighting their customers and treating each one as individuals with tender loving care. That’s a task that was much easier when their customer base was smaller, but with growth finding the systems and processes to manage that became a challenge that they tackled head on.

In a recent ClicZ article, I share the secret to Blue Chip Athletics success and how instead of spending time struggling to get a new customer they spend the bulk of their time generating new leads. Couple this with a solid CRM and marketing automation solution, and they are finding great success beyond what they could imagine.

Read the full article here to discover the steps that they are taking to increase their sales and marketing efforts.

Capgemini and Aston University launch IT university degrees

March 04, 2014

IT consultancy Capgemini has teamed with Aston University to offer two work-based BSc degrees in software engineering and information systems.

Both degrees will be taught and delivered almost entirely in the workplace and will be available to Capgemini Higher Apprentices.

In a UK first, these apprentices will be able to progress to the second year of University study using their High Apprenticeship as an entry point to complete a BSc (Hons) degree.

Both courses last for five years, with students spending two years on the Capgemini Higher Apprenticeship before studying for three years to gain a BSc Hons degree. Applicants for the Higher Apprenticeship will be expected to have three A levels at grade C and above.

These are the first sponsored degrees in the UK ICT sector. Capgemini says that it will accept 120 new Apprentices onto its two-to-five year study and work programme in 2014.

On announcing the news, Aston University professor Dame Julia King said: “Aston University is committed to employer-led learning, which is demonstrated through Capgemini's ability to help shape and input into the content of these high quality degrees.

"The degree programmes will be delivered almost entirely in the workplace rather than through day release, providing even greater flexibility for students to combine work alongside study."

Capgemini is also in the early stages of developing a cyber security apprenticeship and aims to take on five apprentices dedicated to its growing security practice.

Is Your Business Asking All The Wrong Questions?

Many entrepreneurs start a business because they have an overwhelming passion around a certain interest. They want to help people accomplish a stated goal. A problem develops in growing their business because they continually ask the wrong question:

“I wonder if my exciting idea can help other people?”

This question is entrepreneur-centric and does not revolve around what the customer wants. Just because a person is passionate about an idea and its solution does not mean that people will pay for it.

This is the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when they try to convert a hobby to a business. They have a dream that they want to earn a living doing what they love. This is a result of a misinterpretation about the feel-good directive that an entrepreneur needs to be passionate about their work.

While this is true, a better view is that an entrepreneur needs to be passionate about what the customer wants them to do. Therefore, the better question to ask is:

“I wonder if the customer has the money to solve a pain which I am excited about?”

This question focuses on what the customer wants, not what the entrepreneur needs. The customer cares only about solving their problem, not the passion of the entrepreneur. The answer to this question is the core of what any business needs to focus on. Customers always buy painkillers before they buy vitamins.

Would This Product Help Your Company?

Again, most prospects will say yes as not to confront or embarrass anyone. Unfortunately, this may not reflect the action they would truly take.

Instead ask: What would it be worth to your company if I could fill this need (resolve this pain)?

With this question, the entrepreneur establishes what the customer wants and the monetary value of solving their need.

Are You Interested in Buying the Product?

Most prospects will simply say yes because they want to be agreeable and not seem negative. What prospects say and what they do are two different things.

Instead ask: Where can I send your order?

This is an assumptive close and pushes the action to now. It will also immediately raise any hidden objections.

When Should I Contact You Again?

Most prospects will give a date in the future and then never respond again.

Instead ask: Should I contact you in the future? If so, what will be different then as opposed to now?

This gives the prospect an ability to say no, so time is not wasted in the future. This also self qualifies them for another call and gives insight into what is holding their purchase back now.

What questions are you asking? And are you really listening to the answers?

This article, provided by Nextiva, is republished through a content distribution agreement. The original can be found here.

Question Photo via Shutterstock

Is Your Business Asking All The Wrong Questions?

Many entrepreneurs start a business because they have an overwhelming passion around a certain interest. They want to help people accomplish a stated goal. A problem develops in growing their business because they continually ask the wrong question:

“I wonder if my exciting idea can help other people?”

This question is entrepreneur-centric and does not revolve around what the customer wants. Just because a person is passionate about an idea and its solution does not mean that people will pay for it.

This is the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when they try to convert a hobby to a business. They have a dream that they want to earn a living doing what they love. This is a result of a misinterpretation about the feel-good directive that an entrepreneur needs to be passionate about their work.

While this is true, a better view is that an entrepreneur needs to be passionate about what the customer wants them to do. Therefore, the better question to ask is:

“I wonder if the customer has the money to solve a pain which I am excited about?”

This question focuses on what the customer wants, not what the entrepreneur needs. The customer cares only about solving their problem, not the passion of the entrepreneur. The answer to this question is the core of what any business needs to focus on. Customers always buy painkillers before they buy vitamins.

Would This Product Help Your Company?

Again, most prospects will say yes as not to confront or embarrass anyone. Unfortunately, this may not reflect the action they would truly take.

Instead ask: What would it be worth to your company if I could fill this need (resolve this pain)?

With this question, the entrepreneur establishes what the customer wants and the monetary value of solving their need.

Are You Interested in Buying the Product?

Most prospects will simply say yes because they want to be agreeable and not seem negative. What prospects say and what they do are two different things.

Instead ask: Where can I send your order?

This is an assumptive close and pushes the action to now. It will also immediately raise any hidden objections.

When Should I Contact You Again?

Most prospects will give a date in the future and then never respond again.

Instead ask: Should I contact you in the future? If so, what will be different then as opposed to now?

This gives the prospect an ability to say no, so time is not wasted in the future. This also self qualifies them for another call and gives insight into what is holding their purchase back now.

What questions are you asking? And are you really listening to the answers?

This article, provided by Nextiva, is republished through a content distribution agreement. The original can be found here.

Question Photo via Shutterstock

Bye Bye Birdie: Is a Redesign at Twitter Taking Things Too Far?

First there was a report that Twitter is testing a new format more like Facebook. Now sources say the iconic site is redesigning its logo to a much more abstract version. (And by abstract, we mean it’s hard to tell by looking at it just exactly what it is.)

A report from the Marin Independent Journal in California notes that among the many changes at the new company headquarters, a new logo is there, too.

That Twitter new logo could be a very abstract version of Twitter’s iconic bird. Rather than an actual bird, one mock-up of the Twitter new logo by designer Roberto Manzari of Milan, Italy, shows a simple circle with a partial triangle protruding from one side.

One comment reacting to the redesigned Twitter logo notices that there’s no bird and it doesn’t even use letters identifiable with Twitter:

“I’m all for minimalism, it’s a big part of why the existing bird icon with no wordmark is successful. But explain to me how turning it into a mark that resembles a lowercase “o” (or at best, a stubby lowercase “d”) could possibly be strong and recognizable for Twitter.”

When Twitter announced it was changing its logo in 2012 for only the second time, it said on the company blog that the bird was Twitter:

“From now on, this bird will be the universally recognizable symbol of Twitter. (Twitter is the bird, the bird is Twitter.) There’s no longer a need for text, bubbled typefaces, or a lowercase “t” to represent Twitter.”

Twitter is giving the new look a test run on select profiles. These changes are certainly a departure from the current look, which was just unveiled in January to look more like Twitter’s Android and iOS app interfaces, according to a company tweet.

Are the proposed changes going too far? Will Twitter lose its identity? Some already believe so and when they visited their new profile, they thought they were somewhere else, even if half-jokingly.

With millions of daily users, Twitter can afford to tinker with its look.  Small businesses may not have the same luxuries. Rebranding and changing the look of your business, especially too often, could confuse or alienate customers â€" not to mention involve a lot of expense.

Sometimes, though, changes are necessary. Twitter’s revamping is coming at a time when it’s lagging behind its competition, namely Facebook. The company’s stock, according to recent reports, has been on a downward trend after its latest earnings statement and the service struggles to add new users.

Image: Behance

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