It’s fall and the pumpkins are ripe for the picking, Halloween is around the corner, the Red Sox are playing ball and the Yankees are playing golf, the leavings are turning and, of course, the Small Business Computing Excellence in Technology awards nomination process is beginning.
Just as the seasons don’t stand still, neither does the technological circle of life — the annual phenomenon whereby vendors offer small business owners products and services with bigger capabilities and smaller prices.
This year processor cores doubled
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and then quadrupled, online backup took off and on-demand applications such as NetSuite and SalesForce.com found themselves awash in wannabe competitors. The year also saw huge capacity gains in network storage and, of course, a brand new versions of perennial productivity powerhouses.
In the e-commerce arena, innovations that fall under the realm of Web 2.0 — a buzzword that evolved from fad to fixture — included new-fangled notions such as social shopping and networking sites, mash-ups and widgets, all used to increase online sales.
But enough of us telling you what was hot. Now it’s your turn to tell us which products and services lit a fire under your business.
This year, we’ve got 25 categories spanning hardware, software/services, security and e-commerce products. How many times have you relied on other small business owners to recommend a product or service? Here’s your chance to return the favor. Please take a few minutes to nominate the best products you bought, leased or subscribed to this year.
To be eligible, products must have been either released or significantly upgraded between January 1 and October 31, 2007. We don’t expect you to make a nomination in each category, but we encourage you to nominate in as many categories as you feel comfortable.
We’ll keep the nomination process open until Nov. 7. On Nov. 27, we’ll post a list of finalists so that you can vote your favorites. Polls close at midnight EST on January 8, 2008. On January 22, 2008, we’ll announce the winners.