Pedro Hernandez

Last year, consumers spent $5.5 billion shopping small on Small Business Saturday. Sixty-seven percent of consumers had heard about it, up from 40 percent after the first Small Business Saturday took place in 2010. How is that for reach? Given that entire communities are participating this time around, chances are that this year’s event may reach […]

Ooma, provider of VoIP hardware and phone services, has more features in store for owners of its small business communication offering. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company has added electronic fax support and rolled out call log enhancements to Ooma Office, CEO Eric Stang told Small Office Computing. The features are part of Ooma’s mission to level […]

Effective business leaders aren’t just experts in their given fields; they have an innate awareness of their teams or organizations. Yet often, leadership is thrust upon a person. The skill set that advanced your career may not have prepared you for managing relationships and people, cautions Roxana “Roxi” Hewertson, a leadership development and business management […]

Paul Sheng, CEO of FoundHere freely admits that there are plenty of website building and Web hosting companies. Yet few offer small businesses the tools that they need for feature-rich websites until they pony up some serious cash. Sheng drew from this team’s experience in “building websites for the real estate industry” via  iHOUSEweb—where he also serves […]

Idling the engine for long stretches of time, crisscrossing town due to inefficient routes and “borrowing” company vehicles for non-work purposes costs small business big bucks. Fleetmatics, whose world headquarters are in Ireland, uses automotive sensors, GPS trackers and cloud computing to help businesses not only to manage their fleets, but also to slash costs and […]

Innovate or die. It’s a familiar refrain, and one that echoes pretty loudly, particularly in technology companies and startups. When innovation springs forth from your business, it can lead to success. Think about devices like the iPhone and iPad, which keep Apple’s coffers full. Being labeled an innovator is a badge of honor. Yet innovation […]

Last year, consumers spent a whopping $5.5 billion on Small Business Saturday. It was a big victory for the movement and for participating independent businesses, but they’re not stopping there. According to retail expert and Small Business Saturday spokesperson, Patricia Norins, “One hundred million consumers shopped small, and consumer awareness rose to 67 percent.” For […]

Thanks to technological advancements like smartphones, tablets and cloud computing, it has never been easier for entrepreneurs to have at their fingertips practically everything they need to conduct business. Soon, Intuit envisions small business owners will be able to get work done with little more than a glance, literally. During Intuit’s recent Innovation Gallery Walk […]

Note-taking apps, while good at capturing information, can be maddeningly difficult to integrate into collaborative workflows. So, to this day, it still not uncommon for workers to reach for a pen, peel off a sticky note and scribble away. Intellinote, a Reston, Va.-based business software startup, aims to help small businesses cut down on paper-based […]

Chances are that despite your love-hate relationship with your email inbox, there’s no way that you can get through the workday without it. Marten Mickos, CEO of Eucalyptus Systems, admits that as head of his private cloud computing company, avoiding email is not an option. “There’s no way I could conduct my business without email,” […]

What are you scared of? Like almost everyone, entrepreneurs fear failure. They dread losing customers, shuttering their companies or never experiencing the thrill of running a successful business. All valid concerns, but not nearly as bad as not even trying in the first place, says Annie Xu, general manager of of Alibaba.com (American unit), the global […]

Small business owners no longer need to pay big bucks to maintain a separate website that renders well on smartphones and tablets. One company, called DudaMobile—they are fans of “The Dude” character from the film, The Big Lebowski—gives existing sites a mobile-friendly makeover in less than 15 seconds. Mobile websites are no longer nice-to-have, they are an […]