Gerry Blackwell

The SMB owner or manager who needs to stay in contestant contact while on the road and away from the office might do well to consider the iPAQ h6315 Pocket PC from HP. It carries a hefty price, but then again, this device can take the place of a notebook PC. The h6315 is an […]

Plain ordinary Internet connectivity was the killer app for public access Wi-Fi, but now more and more companies are finding ways to use the technology for targeted, high-value business solutions. SiriCOMM, an application service provider (ASP) focused on the trucking industry, is a good case in point. The company was formed five years ago and […]

Project management can be a critical business function even for small businesses. However, finding the right project management tools to do the job well can be difficult, especially for smaller companies. Just ask Richard Bird, founder and president of R.Bird & Company Inc., a White Plains, New York corporate and brand identity consultant. R.Bird’s client […]

Enterprise content management (ECM) systems used to be something only big businesses could afford. But small companies often need just as much help creating, managing and publishing content as large enterprises do — or more. It all depends on the type of company. Luckily for small businesses like Butterfield & Robinson (B&R), the award-winning international […]

Many small business offices are, well, small. Desktop real estate is at a premium and clutter, a real productivity killer, is endemic — which is why a wireless keyboard and mouse make particularly good sense in small and home offices. Wireless keyboards and mice eliminate at least two cables trailing across your desk. They also […]

Business travel, whether you work in a small business or a big one, has grown very tedious and time consuming since 9/11. More hours in airports, more time shuffling in various lines with a briefcase or carry-on tugging at your shoulder. Perhaps these new business-travel realities inspired Japanese electronics maker JVC, a company not previously […]

Starting a virtual retail business in the aftermath of the implosion of the Internet economy three years ago, takes a certain amount of intestinal fortitude — though perhaps not as much today as it once did. When tech-industry survivor Erik Viafore relaunched Mountain Plus Outdoor Gear last fall, he at least had the Microsoft Small […]

By now it’s an old story. Big buyer puts pressure on small seller to engage in electronic commerce, either directly or through an intermediary. Result: small seller loses – or so it often seems to the small seller. Auto makers were the first to insist that parts suppliers implement electronic data interchange (EDI) technology over […]

Axentra claims its new OfficeSeries Network Appliances are extremely easy for non-techies to set up and use and provide all-in-one network solutions. As you’ll see, you can’t have it both ways — at least not at the same time. Still, almost any small business that needs a new or first office network should consider these […]

Answering the phone, a critical function in any business, shouldn’t be a big deal. But for many small businesses, making sure the phone’s answered and answered professionally is a very big deal. Leaving it to people who are busy with other tasks often results in missed calls and lost opportunities. But the costs — salary […]

Searching for information on the Internet — almost everybody has to do it at some point, and knowledge workers do it all the time. Keeping track of what you find can be a daunting task. Yes, you can save links as browser Favorites, and the Windows Explorer folder system provides a way to organize pages […]

Starting and running a successful small business demands concentrated brain work and long hours devoted to building or sourcing products and services and, oh yes, actually serving customers. Computers and the Internet can help in all this and also with administrative chores in the background, but figuring out how to use the technology, and learning […]