Lauren Simonds

What do small business owners really think about technology as a tool to grow their business? That’s not an easy question to answer given the diverse nature of the small business community. You’ll find folks who enthusiastically embrace technology (business analyst Laurie McCabe refers to them as Progressive SMBs), those who loathe it, and everyone […]

You’re likely never going to see “desk jockey” join the ranks of loggers, pilots and roofers on the list of America’s most dangerous occupations. But recent studies now claim that people who sit for long periods of time face health risks as dire as those caused by smoking. A recent article in the Los Angeles […]

You invest in your business, but do you invest in your customers, too? Taking the time to reward your customers is simply good business. It builds brand loyalty and practically guarantees repeat customers for life. Not only that, but it generates great word-of-mouth, which can drive new customers through your doors — both real and […]

Mobile commerce is one of the biggest trends to affect small business owners, and it hasn’t even fully arrived yet. Consider this: between 2010 and January 2011, the number of Americans that owned smartphones grew from 45.5 million to 65.8 million. And those Americans are doing more with their smartphones than just talking, texting and […]

Do you have questions about mobile commerce and how you can prepare your small business for the next big thing in online business? Our first-ever Small Business Twitter Chat is set to go live on Wed., April 20 at 2 PM. What’s on the Twitter Chat agenda? Listen in to our five-minute mobile commerce podcast […]

If you leave the house in the morning and don’t have a smartphone on your person, you’re in a rapidly diminishing minority. The red-hot mobile market is the force behind the latest technology mega trend — mobile commerce. Internet-connected mobile devices let us buy just about anything from just about anywhere, and many industry experts […]

Every year I look forward to March, and it’s not just because I’m tired of Northeast winters. Along with warmer temperatures, March heralds the Small Business Summit, a day-long event where small business owners learn from and network with a variety of small business experts, entrepreneurs and technology vendors. Created and produced by Ramon Ray, […]

Hello and welcome to the newly re-designed home of SmallBusinessComputing. While we’ve always provided the latest information to help small business owners and managers understand technology and make good buying decisions, our cleaner design will make it easier to find what you need when you need it. Of course there’s a lot more to us […]

One year ago, Cisco announced a $100 million dollar global investment plan to develop products and services specifically for small businesses with up to 100 employees. It was a big, splashy push into the small business market, and more importantly, it was a well-executed initiative that continues to provide a lot of value to small […]

Lexmark today announced a slew of color and monochrome laser printers, two of which — the Lexmark C546dtn and the Lexmark E462dtn — fall into the sub-$800 category. Lexmark C546dtn Color Laser Printer The company designed the Lexmark C546dtn for small businesses or workgroups that are looking for affordable, professional quality output from a machine […]

Dell takes aim at small businesses with large printing needs and, in the process, creates a new category of Dell printer. That’s according to Orlando Lacayo, the company’s global product manager for laser printers. The hardware in question, the 3330dn, is a black and white laser priced at $599. The 3330dn falls between Dell’s mainstream […]

You’d be hard pressed to find a computer company that does soup-to-nuts IT for small business better than Dell. Case in point: today Dell announced a portfolio of products and services aimed at small and medium businesses and designed to reduce cost, simplify network management, increase security and reduce server downtime. The Dell reps we […]