Profitability is less the measure of being able to turn a profit, and more the measure of how much profit you can make. For the successful small business, the integration of technology can dictate what kind of annual margins you are looking at. For the new company, however, it can be something even more critical: the difference between setting a course for success, or wallowing in failure. Today we analyze the cost difference between hosting your IT in-house, or choosing to host it in the cloud.
There is no question that a small business can benefit from technology, as has been proven time and time again. However, an issue can arise if a business bites off more than it can chew, so to speak, and ultimately creates a spike in costs. A responsible business owner will resist this temptation and prioritize the solutions they need over the ones they want – building profitability and generating capital needed to make other improvements. In this blog, we’ll examine some of the implementations that can deliver a good return on investment to a small business.
Despite what detractors say, regulations are in place for good reason. They typically protect individuals from organizational malfeasance. Many of these regulations are actual laws passed by a governing body and cover the entire spectrum of the issue, not just the data involved. The ones that have data protection regulations written into them mostly deal with the handling and protection of sensitive information. For organizations that work in industries covered by these regulations there are very visible costs that go into compliance. Today, we look at the costs incurred by these organizations as a result of these regulations, and how to ascertain how they affect your business.
Bootstrapped Startups and Very Small Businesses Most businesses don?t consist of more than a few people toiling over their work to create products and services that solve the demands of people and other businesses. By and large, these very small businesses use technology to their advantage, but don?t really have the substantial marketing budgets that would allow them to dabble in different types of marketing. Since every marketing dollar has to be used conscientiously, social media becomes one of the best outlets to get their brands out. Whether your business is a new startup or has been in business, but operates with only a few employees, social media can really present it with an outlet to expand your brand?s reach. The most popular option is Facebook, but most of the major social media outlets have options that can help businesses get better exposure without a huge investment. Established Small Businesses and Well-Funded Startups As a business gains access to more capital, either through revenue growth or outside investment, more options become available. For the established small business or the well-funded startup, you begin to see the use of marketing agencies that help use social media to promote businesses. A marketing agency is much like a managed service for your business? marketing. It allows you to continue to focus on your business while you outsource your marketing to another company. Most startups with backing have a different strategy, however. They are busy trying to establish products and services that will provide a rapid ROI for their investor base. This means that many of these organizations establish marketing alongside the offering, speeding up the process, while looking to use industry best practices to get their message out. Both of these businesses rely on social media in many of the same ways smaller businesses do, but since many of them already have established marketing hubs in the way of company websites, they don?t rely on social media to act as one. This makes social media more of an external resource than a central part of their marketing strategy, although it remains important. Companies of this size create tutorial videos, webinars, and other marketing efforts that they promote through Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. It also allows them to use client testimony to their advantage much more effectively than smaller businesses can. Medium-Sized Businesses For businesses in the mid-market, social media use is well-established. Medium-sized businesses typically have over 500 workers, which means that they already have an established brand and have already found some modicum of success. They have teams of people (internal or outsourced) that actively use resources such as business intelligence and business analytics to develop their marketing, advertising, and public relations strategies. This provides them the freedom to be more active in the social media space and be a little more creative because they have the capital backing their marketing efforts through the medium. What Social Media Platforms are Out There That Have Services for Businesses? These apps are designed for sharing ideas so all of them are viable options. If you consider that these are some of the richest and most influential companies in the world right now, with literally billions of users, it makes sense to have a plan to take advantage of their relative cost effectiveness. Whether […]
Data security isn’t a matter to be taken lightly, as too many businesses have found out the hard way. Unfortunately, there are far too many simple ways to correct common security issues – enough that it’s foolish not to do so. We’ll review a few ways to fix security issues, after discussing one of, if not the, most egregious security failings in modern history.
