operations
A Future Without Offices? 6 Things to Consider First
By Ira Wolfe Tuesday Jun 22, 2010Can you see an office-less company in your future? Estimates of how many people telecommute and how often they do it vary widely, but the result is the same: telework is growing rapidly.
Why You Should Hack Your Own Business
By Kevin Beaver Monday Jun 21, 2010Ever thought about hacking your own network to see just how vulnerable your systems are? There's a process called "ethical hacking" that allows you or an employee to peform various security checks so the flaws can be uncovered before there's an attack.
In a Crisis, What's Your IT Backup Plan?
By Kevin Beaver Friday Jun 11, 2010As a small business owner, you've undoubtedly had others tell you to "have a contingency plan" for when crises strike. This phrase means different things to different people depending on the context of the situation. Many business owners do have fallback plans for many aspects of their operations, including their accounts receivable and supplier relationships. But what about IT and more specifically, your web presence?
Today in Small Business: Never Agree to Arbitration
By Eric Reyes Thursday Apr 15, 2010In today's roundup of Must-Reads in small business stories from around the web, learn why arbitration is no longer a good way of resolving disputes, why it's important to distinguish your business model from your business plan, why equity compensation isn't a great idea — and more:
How to Stay Productive When You're Away From the Office
By Eric Reyes Tuesday Jan 19, 2010In this age of gadgets, you have to ask yourself, "Am I using them efficiently? Can I be more productive with them when I'm not in the office?" Scott Gordon writes on Small Business CEO that it boils down to four simple ways to keep productive when you're away on business or on vacation.
6 Top Web-based Productivity Tools for Small Businesses
By Eric Reyes Monday Nov 30, 2009Sometimes it is difficult to find office and productivity tools that are aimed directly at your small business. So many nifty utilities are made for or licensed to much bigger companies. Laurel Delaney on the Global Small Business Blog recently offered her picks for “handy” small business resources. They are pretty good. This concise list is especially handy because it isn't the obvious picks and isn't overstuffed – just the essentials:
How to Make Your Business Processes More Efficient
By Eric Reyes Tuesday Nov 10, 2009You may generally keep your hands off your business process budgets because that's how you get things done. But do you really know the key steps in those processes? And you may know approximately where your process inefficiencies reside, but until you really examine them, you won't know for sure, wrote Walter T. Gee on Small Business CEO recently.
Alternative Ways to Secure That Small Business Loan
By Eric Reyes Friday Nov 6, 2009Landing a small business loan doesn't start and end with filling out the application and handing it in. Julia Rogers at RecessionWire this week outlined steps you can take to help that loan go through. “Maybe you are a small business owner who was rejected for a loan in the past year; or perhaps you want to approach a lender for the first time; or you may simply have aspirations of launching a new business,” Rogers said.
11 Great Alternatives to Microsoft Word
By Eric Reyes Monday Nov 2, 2009Every business needs a word processor program. Don't kid yourself and think you don't. And Microsoft Word may not have come pre-installed in your last desktop or laptop computer. Mark Shead at Productivity 501 has almost a dozen free word processing programs readily available on the Web that he posted a few days ago: AbiWord looks and feels similar to Word, but can run on a variety of operating systems – from Solaris to Linux to Mac to BeOS.
Why You Need a Google Account
By Eric Reyes Monday Oct 26, 2009Small businesses need to use Google for more than searching out the competition. Drew McLellan of the McLellan Group on the Marketing Minute said recently that having a Google account will give your company an advantage. He points to: Google Local Business Center This free tool lets you control what your listing says on search results and on map queries.