October 10, 2008
We thought that having technology would reduce our reliance on paper. Clearly that's not that case. We have more technology than ever before and still print too much paper. Xerox, and other print manufacturers know this and look for solutions to reduce the environmental damage that printing causes.
Whether its paper (cutting down trees) or safely disposing of old printers ore consumables, there are ways to do so an an environmentally safe manner.
Xerox's Environment, Health and Safety web site is filled with useful information. This portal provides easy-to-use resources to help customers assess their paper choices and the environmental impact throughout the paper's lifecycle. Tools include a comprehensive paper reference guide that educates customers about environmentally responsible paper choices, a sustainability brochure with tips for "greener" printing, Webcasts from industry experts discussing sustainability practices and links to the Xerox Green World Alliance recycling program and other sites about Xerox's environmental initiatives.
Xerox is also introducing new lines of paper with varying degrees of certification for being green. For example The new Xerox Color Xpressions Planet 20 Paper, a 20 percent post-consumer, recycled-content offering, is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Optimized for digital color printing with a smooth surface, the paper has a level of 98 brightness on a scale of one to 100, with 100 being the brightest. With its true-white color, the paper is designed for presentations, proposals, flyers, brochures and manuals and can be used for both digital and offset printing.
If you are serious about being as environmentally friendly as you can be, aligning your technology purchases with vendors who can educate you about their "green" products is the best way to go. Even PC vendors are producing computers that use less energy and generate less heat. Being able to decide which PC vendor can best help you in your commitment to going green is important.
tags: green, paper, recycle, xerox |
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October 10, 2008
Cell phones are wonderful tools, but for smaller businesses, purchasing them for employees can be a costly, recurring expense. Paying for the phones and the monthly fees can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars per month. This money could be used for other purposes such as marketing or employee salaries.
When a company issues cellular phones to employees, measures need to be put in place to regulate associated costs. Actively managing and enforcing cellular phone policies is a cost-saving mechanism that can be employed in companies that need to realize immediate and future cost savings. The cost of business-issued mobile devices is usually quite large and, in most cases, can be reduced substantially. Companies interested in cutting their cellular expenditures should implement the following steps. Read more on this from bMighty
Even though I don't have to pay for cell phones for employees, having a relationship with my cellular phone vendor is important.
I use Verizon Wireless, have been a customer for many years and am quite pleased with their service. Every time I call, whether to replace a defective phone or to inquire about a billing issue, I let the customer service rep know that I've been a long time customer.
Having a relationship with your cellular provider is important so that you get premium support is important.
When you're away from your office and your phone, or the phone of one of your employees dies, this is where the relationship with your cellular provider is really needed. You don't want any hassle or fuss, but simply need your phone replaced - quickly.
tags: cell phone, cellular, verizon wireless |
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October 10, 2008
You know that you should backup your data. In fact, some (I hope most or all) of you might backup your data and store the backup drive in the same room as the computer. I know a friend of mine who recently had his computer and the backup drive stolen.
A newly launched service, Cucku Backup backs up your data to a friend's computer and its free. For businesses, this is not the way to go, your data is too important and too serious to backup onto a friend's computer. However, you might want to use the Cucku service to backup your files to another office's computer system. A computer that you know is secure and available when you might need the backup.
For home users, Cuckuo could be an ok option, but why backup to a friend's computer and wonder if their computer will be available when you need it, when you could backup to the servers of a reputable backup service provider or your own remote computer.
I use Carbonite for my data backup needs (it's $50 per year) there's other services such as Backupmyinfo.com which is a premier backup service in NY for companies who want personal service and support.
For backing up your data, and even remote access to it, there are dozens and dozens of viable options. There's no excuse to NOT backup your data or have remote access to it.
tags: backup, cucku |
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October 10, 2008
One of the most difficult things about buying a printer is the dizzying array of choices there are to choose from.
To make things worse, it's not just the choices, but it's the insane model numbers that printer vendors label their printers with. Dell, HP, Cannon, Lexmark, Xerox, Epson, they're all guilty.
If you go to the web site of some computer retailers you might be able to drill down to your choice of printer such as the cost, color or black and white, laser or ink jet and etc. However, finding a printer, that's right for you is often not easy - as there are so many choices.
Epson's put together a web site, Epsonality that helps you choose the perfect printer for your business. Of course Epson's entire printer line is not represented here and if you know what you want, you'll find this tool a bit too simplistic.
However, for the many of us who have a few basic criteria (like price, speed and multi-function) Epson's tool is pretty neat and cool.
tags: epson, printer |
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October 9, 2008
There are a lot of web sites that offer you computer help. There are a lot of sites that offer you product reviews. There are thousands of web sites that let you buy products. However, there's not a lot of sites that let you find products, get product reviews and have access to hundreds of technology consultants.
A newly launched resource (still in beta), with all three of these features is ProCompare. This new site is not out to give you the latest and greatest gadgets and gizmos. It's not out to sell you the latest iPhone gadget or digital camera for your family. It's all about business.
What you will find are a growing list of local consultants, reviews of products and of course a short list of products, in a growing list of categories, best for your business..
One of the coolest things about ProCompare is the selection slider that you can use to narrow down you choice of products and define your product preferences. Check it out and tell me how you like it.
In order to properly use technology as a tool to grow your business. You'll need two components: The products or services and the expertise to implement technology. Procompare provides both of these components.
When you're ready to buy a product, clicking on "where to buy" will lead you to the web site of the vendor or retail partner to purchase the product. Many small business products are sold by local consultants so you could buy the product from a local consultant or contact the company making the product for more details.
The next time you're looking for business products click over to Procompare.com.
tags: procompare |
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October 9, 2008
BtoB Magazine reports on a Forrester Research study which finds that
despite the fact that most companies have been doing e-mail marketing for years, the channel is still immature, said Julie M. Katz, Forrester analyst and author of the study.
Whether you use Constant Contact, which I use, Vertical Response, Office Live, Cooler Email, iContact, or some other email service it's important to measure the affect of your email communication. Also, keep in mind, producing an email newsletter which goes out on a regular basis and is chock full of information is different than using email as a way to drive direct sales.
[Editor's note: On 20 October (NYC) Smallbiztechnology.com will be organizing its third Taste of Technology Small Business Series. This event will be focused on the importance of email marketing.]
The overall look and design of the newsletter is critical. You can have a very simplistic newsletter, that looks good. On the other hand you don't want to have too many graphics and colors to make it look like a kaleidoscopic piece of junk.
The information inside each issue of the newsletter is very important as well - actually most important. No spelling errors or grammar mistakes. You want to be short and to be point in most cases. Overall deliver what your readers want to read and in most cases, dispense rich information they can use.
Measuring the metrics of your email newsletter is critical. Knowing the most popular links in your email newsletter is good because you'll know what is most important to your customers. Analyzing the type of customers who opened your newsletter and read particular articles is valuable intelligence you can use to understand deep insight about your customers.
tags: constant contact, email marketing, vertical response |
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October 7, 2008
Mother's Day, Father's Day, Birth Day's, Christmas, Easter Columbus Day and about 100 other holidays come around once per year.
These cyclic days are not alone. Each year your accounting vendor offers a new update.
Often times these updates are marginal. For the most part they include a few good features that make it worth while for you to upgrade but don't always give a compelling reason for you to switch from a different accounting program. If you don't upgrade but stay with an older version - you'll do just fine.
A few days ago Intuit released its latest accounting program, QuickBooks 2009. There are several new features in this new edition, as expected but there's a few updates that are particular useful and quite cool. I think this version, in particular is one of the best updates QuickBooks has released in a long time. Of course Sage's PeachTree and Microsoft Accounting are not stilling still, but like a good political campaign, will try to one up each other year after year. Intuit's QuickBooks 2009 is going to be tough to beat.
Read the rest of the story
tags: intuit, quickbooks |
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October 7, 2008
CRM guru Brent Leary clued me in to the sad news that CRM vendor Entellium is going through some rough times.
From what I can gather through reading blogs, their sales and marketing staff have been let go and their CEO (who I was scheduled to interview at SMB Nation) is out.
I've covered Entellium on Smallbiztechnology.com and they were a sponsor of the Third Annual Small Business Summit 2008.
Through a blog post at CRM vendor Infusion I'm also reading that CRM and business management vendor NetBooks has halted new registrations to take on new customers. Dave Lee, VP of Marketing at Infusion (and a competitor in some ways to NetBooks) writes In my opinion, the inability to take on new customers is a very bad sign, which may indicate problems with the software, customer service, architecture, scalability, financial concerns, etc.
What does this mean for your business? When considering the purchase of technology for your business, you have the constant choice of purchasing from companies with long track records who are around today and most likely will be around tomorrow. You also have the choice of purchasing from many startups who are fighting to sell you their newly created products and services.
It's not a choice to take lightly.
Read the rest of the story
tags: entellium, netbooks, startups |
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October 6, 2008
Right about this time of year, when the flu shot clinic signs start to appear in drugstores, I get a little bit obsessed with hand washing. I am keenly aware of all the surfaces that I touch that other people have already touched. And then what do I touch and hold everywhere I go? Yep, my Blackberry. (And I won't even get into the greasy smudges left everywhere from the hand cream necessary after all that hand washing...)
I'm not surgical-mask-on-the-subway neurotic, but I've been known to swab down my keyboard and cell phone with rubbing alcohol. So a product like the La Fresh Tech Pack certainly caught my interest. It's a mini travel zip-up bag that holds individual towelettes to clean all your tech devices, without the need for a separate liquid cleaner. It's safe for glasses, screens, lenses, cameras, PDAs, cell phones, laptops and similar devices.
The pack includes four Wet & Dry Dual Action Screen Cleaning towelette packets, three Lens Cleaning packets, and three Anti-Bacterial packets. All towelettes are biodegradable and the entire Tech Pack meets the TSA regulations to be carried onboard a plane, so you can just keep the pack in your laptop or travel bag. MSRP is $9.99 and they can be ordered at www.lafreshgroup.com.
Laura Leites, Assistant Editor, Smallbiztechnology.com
tags: cleaning, La Fresh Tech |
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October 6, 2008
James Wong, CEO of Avidian Technologies
In today’s struggling economy, maintaining strong sales numbers is becoming a greater and greater challenge for businesses. One of the most efficient solutions to this problem is to focus on boosting current sales and streamlining already established processes.
Here are six tips to help maintain revenue and improve current selling methods:
- Organization is key. Know who your current customers are, who your prospects are and how you became aware of them. Keep all information regarding customers and prospects up to date so that you have accurate data available when needed. The best way to do this is to use a program readily accessible and tailored to this task. A perfect example is your e-mail contact list. You can also keep an Excel spreadsheet of contact information. Or you can purchase one of the major contact management solutions in the market place. If you search contact management on Google, you’ll find some of the tops ones to use. Contact management or CRM applications are relatively inexpensive and you can usually recoup your initial investment quickly.
Read the rest of the story
tags: avidian, sales |
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