Small Business Computing Staff

by Charles H. Gajeway Rating 91 Besides the phone, e-mail is the most direct means of communication available today. But once a user develops contacts and signs on to a few news services, an in-box can be flooded with information. Countless hours are wasted categorizing and purging messages. Caelo Software’s Nelson Organizer functions as an […]

by Michele Marinnan To stay competitive in this day and age, change is unavoidable. “If you really want to be efficient, automate as much as you can,” says Jane Nottenburg, owner of Custom Accounting, an accounting software consultancy in Norwalk, Conn. She says that most of her small business customers spend 50 to 70 percent […]

by Cathy Brower As i was reading this issue’s intelligence section, I came across a statistic that I found extremely interesting — and a little horrifying. According to a recent study by the National Federation of Independent Business Owners, only 16 percent of small businesses currently have a Web site. Sixteen percent! I have been […]

by David G. Propson In the days of the spanish empire it could take months or even years to get a shipment from one place in the world to another — if it got there at all. This was the age of the great explorers and cartographers, but for them much of the map was […]

by Angela R. Garberwhen a myersville, md., gas When a Myersville, MD., gas station allowed 10,000 gallons of leaded gasoline to seep out of deteriorating holding tanks and into the surrounding soil, Dr. Mary Miller’s well water was contaminated. Before cleanup could begin the water needed to be tested, but she had a hard time […]

by Angela R. Garber PC VENDORS want to woo small businesses, and they’ll try just about anything to capture their hearts, minds, and of course, tech dollars. A current popular tactic entails partnering with portals and ASPs to offer resource centers, Web connectivity, and a host of other services. But unless the manufacturers can begin […]

by Steve Bennett In the old days, keeping an eye on the competition meant paying attention to mundane details from mundane sources, keeping your eyes and ears open, and listening to salespeople, suppliers, and customers. It was a lot of hard work, and not particularly glamorous. Today, in the age of the Net, the temptation […]

by Michael Grebb REPORTS OF THE recent tech revolution have been slightly exaggerated. Many new innovations still haven’t affected most businesses, simply because they haven’t adopted them yet. Some may be concerned about the cost of change, others about making the wrong choices. Play with fire, they think, and you might get burned. But when […]

by Robert J. Wagman THE OLYMPICS may be over, but you can still watch as the contestants battle for supremacy in the 2000 Presidential contest. But just as it’s hard to tell one athlete from another in the heat of play, sometimes its hard to differentiate between the two major party candidates on this campaign […]

by Robert J. Wagman IF THIS past summer is any indication, small businesses in many parts of the country, especially the West and Northeast, should brace themselves for skyrocketing energy prices and occasional brownouts during periods of peak demand. Electricity deregulation is finally arriving, and its effects will be felt for the next several years. […]

by Steve Bennett With so many organizations using wireless products to replace the office environment while employees are on the road or telecommuting, it is a constant struggle to coordinate meetings and deadlines with staff. When a document needs to be edited and approved by three people in three different time zones, accomplishing the task […]

by David Haskin Selina Yoon, president of master Communications, discovered with horror that the company Web site disappeared one day. It’s a feeling many who have ventured onto the Web have had: First surprise, then panic, then complete frustration. Master Communications, an eight-employee company based in Cincinnati, publishes and distributes language and cultural-focused books and […]