The Small Business Enablers

Posted by Jim Van on July 15, 2011 under entrepreneur, eOffice, mobility, portability, small business | 2 Comments to Read

Ok, one more mention about Phil Simon’s ‘The New Small’ and then I’ll give it a break. Promise.

It’s just that the book is so spot on regarding how smaller business is out there succeeding these days by leveraging technology that simply didn’t exist, or was unavailable to small business until very recently. The Five Enablers:

1. SaaS Services: Conserve cash flow. Most SaaS offerings are made on a monthly basis, so the cash committment is generally far less than purchasing a full-blown license for something that might only be needed short-term. We routinely ramp up and down with services such as SurveyMonkey, BaseCamp(project management), GoToMeeting, etc. There are also any number of free services, such as Zoho, an online office and email provider, free for the first 3 users, SlideShare, great for presentations, and MailChimp, for managing our email newsletter subscribers.
2. Open-source: proliferation of low-cost and free open-source software: beyond the major players, such as Microsoft, Adobe, Intuit and others, are literally thousands of open-source software that is either free or very low cost. Most prominent among this type is the operating system Linux, which is a user-friendly iteration of UNIX, a powerful operating system used by major corporations, universities and the like. If you have a web site, it is most likely hosted on a Linux server. OpenOffice and LibreOffice, two strong alternatives to Microsoft Office, are available for free through open source. If your company uses a CRM (customer relationship manager), there is a free community edition of SugarCRM, a popular and widely-used CRM application that is available in both free and paid editions. Check out sourceforge.net for thousands of listings.
3. Internet connectivity: Wi-Fi continues to get cheaper and better, and more ubiquitous than ever. It seems like everyplace has free WiFi internet access now. And competition between cable and phone companies is keeping a lid on prices for both home and business internet service. Even 3G, outrageously expensive just a year ago has come down in price thanks to data plans for tablet computers such as Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy, which can be had for as little as $15/month with no term contract.
4. Communications: VoiP technology: Once Voip meant making cheap calls on the internet. Skype was and is a great example. Today, one can bypass the local phone company and their expensive charges by getting a phone number and calling plan from any number of VoiP providers. Skype offers a SkypeIN/SkypeOUT plan with local number, voicemail and unlimited US/Canada calling for $58/yr. Better yet, Phone.com offers either a local or toll-free number (or you can add on another for under $5/month), and a complete auto-attendant (if you know your party’s six-digit extension, press….)for under $10/month if paid annually. That leaves your cell phone the biggest budget item in your communications bundle…for now. And we haven’t even mentioned web conferencing or webinars. Those two items are affecting the hotel and airline industry. Just wait a few years…
5. Social Networking: The way we interact with one another, both personally and commercially has probably changed forever. Between Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, Yelp and a host of other social networks, one can find and stay in touch with long lost friends, learn which merchants or brands to trust or not trust, get the latest on TV, music, and all sorts of culture. In short, why leave the warm comfort of your iPad? Well…there’s STILL no substitute for REAL social interaction, but it’s taken a hit since social networking has become so popular.

Is your business taking advantage of these five? If not, you should investigate them and see for yourself the benefits of each. Logicomm has been using all of them in one form or another for several years now, and our success has largely been a result of the efficiencies broought by these five enablers.