Small Business Computing Staff

Smallbiztechnology.com: The Easy Way To Manage Online Marketing: Automate It This blog post talks about a case study in the Marketing Sherpa ezine about how My Sales Tactics, a small skills development firm, leveraged an automated marketing solution to help it do more in less time to boost an online event registration process. “We all […]

PCWorld: Go Green – Adopt Cloud Computing The study, from Pike Research, says cloud computing will drive a 31% reduction in data center energy consumption by 2020, which will reduce expenditures on energy from $23.3 billion in 2010 to $16.0 billion in 2020. “A new report has added further to the debate as to whether […]

The SMB Group has published its Top 10 SMB technology predictions for 2011, with mobile computing and social media looming large for small businesses in the coming year. In a summary of its predictions, the research firm cited mobile commerce as one of the biggest changes SMBs will face: “As big retailers and companies invest […]

PCWorld: Zoho Online CRM Integrates With Quickbooks Zoho has added integration with Quickbooks to its CRM package and also integration with several small business phone system products, including Asterix and Avaya. “Online applications vendor Zoho is continuing to bring its CRM (customer relationship management) software up to par with longer-established offerings, announcing this week that […]

Entrepreneur: Taming The E-Mail Beast Some of Strohmeyer’s suggestions seem counter-intuitive – use folders sparingly, use filters sparingly – but he writes with authority and most of his tips make sense when you think about them. “I’ve seen a few reports that say kids these days think e-mail is passé. Heh. That may be, but […]

Engadget: Preview – New Laptop And Desktop PCs From Lenovo The new laptops are configurable with up to Core i7 processors and 8 GB of memory, with prices starting at $849. The desktop starts at $699. Available: January 2011. (Link to press release.) “Lenovo’s just announced two new laptops and a desktop, the IdeaPad Y460p, […]

Entrepreneur: Avoiding The Pitfalls With Groupon A recent blog post and a study by Rice University show that social couponing services can actually cost small businesses money if they’re not careful. “The Groupon coupon service is hot right now — not only with customers who love getting deep discounts, but also with businesses looking to […]

Laurie McCabe’s Blog: The Year Ahead – SMB Technology Trends A thoughtful, well-documented analysis of the technology trends that will have an impact on small businesses in the next year. They include the fairly obvious (mobile commerce takes off) and the not so obvious (“transition to the insight economy gets a bit easier.”) “1. Mobile […]

Entrepreneur: Five Smartphone Tools For Processing Credit Card Payments Anywhere These software/service offerings require retailers to connect a card reader device and pay transaction fees. Tools featured include Roam Data’s RoamPay, Square and Intuit’s GoPayment. “Whether you work as an in-home massage therapist, operate a taco truck, or run some other small business, you’re missing […]

PCWorld: Mobile Strategy No Longer Optional For Retailers More and more consumers are using their smartphones over cellular networks to research products and compare prices while they’re shopping. Retailers must develop programs and services to reach them, analysts say. “Having a mobile strategy is becoming essential for retailers, as more and more shoppers use Web-friendly […]

Social Media Today: The Who, What How Of Social Media Marketing This article explains how you should be thinking about what to do with social media marketing, how to execute and, almost as important, who in the organization should be heading up the effort. “The first two questions on every business owners mind about Social […]

New York Times: Google AdWords For Small Business Smash Party Entertainment, a New Jersey-based small business start-up, was was failing until entrepreneur Amy Gottesman started using Google AdWords and figured out how to make it work really well for her business. “Six years ago, after leaving a high-powered career in fashion sales to become a […]