POST CATEGORY : Information Technology

Q&A with Darren Cassidy, President of Xerox USCG, on Digitization Trends for 2017

Digitization is unavoidable.  Small business owners need to respond to the trend – or die.  However, not many are ready for the changes due to one reason or another.

Accessing digital documents

To help you in your decision making process for determining whether digitization is the way to go for your company or not, we have a great Q&A session with Darren Cassidy, the President of United States Channels Group (USCG) at Xerox, on Xerox’ latest research on the evolution of document workflow processes and business priorities in 2017.

SMBCEO: Hello – please kindly introduce yourself to our readers

Darren Cassidy: On January 1, 2016, I stepped into a new role as President, United States Channels Group (USCG) at Xerox.…

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Property Management Industry Faces Drone Invasion: Why That’s a Good Thing

With drone technology having advanced to the point of offering an attractive alternative to human labour in industries ranging from defence to wedding photography, property management markets around the globe are bracing for impact.

But between government crackdowns and hidden costs, property management companies wishing to replace their human employees with robots have their work cut out for them. Let’s investigate the pros and cons of the drone use in this report.

What are drones?

The term “drone” is a catchall buzzword for most types of aircraft that can be piloted remotely. Drones are broadly categorized* on the basis of their standard usage, control methods and physical characteristics.…

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Rise of the Drones: How They’ll Impact SMEs and the Future Business Landscape

Once only used for military purposes, drones have now become a part of civilian life overnight. Everyone, including small and medium size business owners are rushing to save their money and get their hands on their own flying robot.

Drone for aerial photography

With all that said, drones aren’t without many potential faults, particularly since they still represent a relatively new and untested technology. Mistakes can and will be made.

FAA Holding Out Until Recently

The biggest holdout in North America until now has been the Federal Aviation Administration. This organization, and others throughout Europe, are now inking and refining plans for safe civilian and commercial use of drones.…

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4 Essential Tools Every Small Business Should Be Using

Ivan has written a number of great articles on the challenges that small businesses face. I would like to emphasize one of his points – small businesses often struggle with time management. In case you missed his post “How to Ensure Your Business is Effective at Time Management”, here is an excerpt.

Business smartphone

“Good time management within a business comes from the top. If you run a start-up, small company or big business, then you’ll want to review and improve the time management of it. As well as improving your company’s process it should also save you money in the long run.…

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Why Managers Shouldn’t Ban Mobiles From the Office

There’s an ongoing debate in the business world about mobile devices: Should they be allowed in office settings, or do they need to go?

Bringing smartphone to work

Some say that these devices cut down on workplace productivity. Others argue that smartphones actually increase office productivity, causing things to run more smoothly.

Maybe you are still trying to figure out what is best. While you’re deciding, discover some pitfalls that managers could face if they don’t let mobile devices stay.

You Lose Efficiency

Mobile devices allow managers to get hold of their employees quickly using means such as texting. Those whom you oversee will also be able to check their email and respond when they are away from their desks.…

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Should I Buy a Budget Printer?

This question is not unlike the “how long is a piece of string?” puzzler. Most households and small businesses have at least one printer under the roof and like most types of office hardware, printers can vary in price considerably. You can get an entry level model that churns out black and white text-only pages with relative ease, right up to specialist machines that are capable of pin-sharp graphics on an A3 poster.

Printer

Probably, however, you’re looking for something in between these two ends of the spectrum, so your budget decision, and whether you should buy a cheaper printer model, is determined by several factors.…

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4 Tips for Small Business Web Development on a Budget

One of the most important elements of successfully running a small business can be how effective your website is for attracting customers and allowing them to find what they need with ease. A 2013 Harris Poll showed that almost seventy percent of online shoppers abandon slow websites, which can result in a significant loss of revenue.

If you want to create or improve your business website but are operating on a tight budget, there are a few tips you can use to accomplish your web development goals without going into debt.

1. Review Your Budget Before You Begin

While ideas might abound for your small business website, being aware of your budget before you start spending money on web development can be vital when it comes to effective spending.…

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4 SEO Tips for the Non-Technical Business Website Owner

If you find SEO confusing, you’re probably asking yourself how in the heck a non-techie business owner like yourself can ever hope to master this ever-changing landscape effectively.

The truth is you can’t, there are plain and simply too many things to consider:

  • Creating an interesting blog (that will attract search engine visitors)
  • Page meta tags
  • Alt text
  • Heading tags
  • 301 redirects
  • Google Analytics
  • Site verification

And that’s just a small list of many factors that need to be addressed in the larger scheme of things. Creating interesting content is hard enough. Most business owners don’t have the time or the heart to get into the technical inner-workings of how a website works, nor how to label and tag this, that, and the other thing to make search engines like Google happy.…

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Fax over IP Technology for Retail Sector

Most of the businesses require a fax system to transfer important documents. Human resource documents, tenders, purchase forms, quality reports, quotations are important documents for an organization that needs to be safe hands. Retail businesses are in utmost need of this kind of system.

Online fax using FoIP technology

Transmitting critical documents is a regular part of an everyday operation in a retail organization. Retailers need a solution that is both secure and cost effective.

Enter Fax over IP of FoIP technology

Without facing the hassle of maintaining the fax machines, one can send faxes over the internet as and when required. What FoIP can solve for retailers?…

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Data Protection is Critical: Lessons Learned

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Carbonite. All opinions are 100% mine.

Whether you are a solopreneur or the owner of a 100-employee company, you can’t underestimate the importance of data protection in your business.  I know what I’m talking about because I have been-there-done-that.

Read on, and you’ll see why losing your data sucks – big time.

Frustrated online business owner

My data horror story

I’ve run an online business since 2008.  Since then, I’ve experienced numerous ups and downs with my business, and part of the cause is related to data.

You see, I own dozens of business websites. …

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