Gerry Blackwell

Most small businesses don’t have information technology departments or PC help desks. When employees run into problems, an administrator or the office geek will try to help — which reduces the helper’s productivity and typically means users get less-than-expert assistance. Small businesses that sell computer-based products face an even tougher technical support challenge — how […]

When Jon Aust, managing director at EPSN LLC — a billing software company catering to health care providers — helped established its office in Sterling, Virginia earlier this year, one of the most important decisions the company faced concerned the type of phone system it would choose. The company faced three main options: a traditional […]

If you’re tired of spam and spam-borne viruses — and who isn’t — ZoEmail, a New York-based start-up launched earlier this year, has an ingenious if ever so slightly flawed solution. It doesn’t cost very much — $11.88 a year for regular service with 12 MB of storage or $19.08 for 50 MB. ZoEmail does, […]

Customer relationship management (CRM) programs for small businesses abound these days, but few as affordable and flexible as QuickBooks Customer Manager from Intuit. The $80 program combines rudimentary CRM with project management and personal information manager (PIM) functions — and it integrates tightly with QuickBooks, Intuit’s best-selling small business accounting program. Launched last year, Customer […]

Many small businesses are now moving in to their second or even third decade of computerization. That means they have piles and piles of archival data. At the same time, hard drives are getting bigger and bigger and cheaper and cheaper, so the temptation is to keep all that stuff. Finding things fast on your […]

Years ago, companies that did a lot of business in another city or region would buy an FX (Foreign eXchange) line from the telephone company. Customers in the distant city could dial a number local to them, but it would ring at the company’s offices, even thousands of miles away. FX lines were expensive. With […]

Pen-based tablet PCs continue to improve. Fujitsu’s “next generation” Stylistic 5000 series slate models ($2,099 and up), launched in January, are certainly better than the earlier Stylistic ST4000 series products. There’s nothing substantially new in the tablet functionality itself, which is in any case determined mainly by the Windows XP Tablet Edition operating system — […]

How much would it be worth to you to know exactly where all your company’s vehicles or mobile workers were at any given moment? How much to know that your workers are actually where they’re supposed to be, working? How much to know they’re not driving your vehicles around at high speed, endangering your investment […]

Poll a random sample of big enterprise chief information officers (CIOs) about their top priorities and wirelessly enabling field workers and traveling executives is almost certain to come near the top of the list. More and more firms are recognizing the importance of making company data and services — e-mail and intranets — available to […]

Print servers are the latest thing for small offices and home offices. Wireless print servers that use 802.11b (Wi-Fi) technology are cutting edge. Do you need one? It depends. If you have more than one computer that needs to share a single printer, or several computers that need to share a few printers, print servers […]

Tim McMahon insists he doesn’t really sell software for Groove Networks, makers of Groove Workspace, the low-cost Web-based group collaboration tool he uses. It just seems that way sometimes. He admits he is one of Groove’s favorite customer references, though. McMahon is the owner of McMahon Worldwide Management Consulting, which specializes in reengineering sales and […]

If you’re a small business exclusively serving a local market, you probably think the Internet has little to offer as an advertising medium. And you may be right — for now. But the Net is changing. Even if you can’t take advantage of current online advertising opportunities, you should be aware of what’s out there. […]