• A new survey from the National Small Business Association (NSBA) states that 43% of business owners spend more than two hours a week on technology problems.
• About one-quarter of small-business owners handle tech support for the entire company themselves.
• Consider seeking professional help

http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/2010-10-04-technology04_ST_N.htm

My 2 cents…

As a small business owner you need to know the basics of the technology that powers your business but who wants to spend a lot of time in the tech details?  I hope TechShortcut.com can help you find a new tech resource in your town to become your trusted tech partner.  The trick is finding the right resource for the job.

More information at: http://www.smallbiztechtour.com/

I attended the Small Business Technology Tour in Mountain View, CA last week.  It was an idea packed day filled with speakers from technology companies AT&T, Elance, Intuit, Marchex, Mindflash, Hware, Fanminder, Google Apps, Zoho & Brightcove.  Also presenting were Rachael King of Bloomberg Business Week, Patrick Schwerdtfeger – author of “Webify Your Business” and Jennifer Shaheen of The Technology Therapy Group.  There was also a discussion with business owner Raj Prasad of WDFA Marketing about his firms use and view of technology to drive his business.

Ramon Ray (Editor/Evangelist) and Laura Leites (Managing Editor) of Smallbiztechnology.com know how to put on a fun and well run event.

Here are the upcoming dates for Small Business Technology Tour 2010.  For more information http://www.smallbiztechtour.com/

Oct. 14 – Salt Lake City, UT

Oct. 25 – Boston, MA

Nov. 5 – Washington DC

Nov. 9 – Atlanta, GA

• If it isn’t broken, why fix it?
• Many businesses can be run entirely within a web browser these days which limits the demands on the OS.
• Will the new OS features really help your bottom line?
• An OS upgrade may force you to upgrade your hardware if you can’t find new device drivers.

But, it is important to realize that upgrading to a new OS will usually give you improved security.

Be aware that if you want to keep getting support updates you will need to upgrade to XP3.

You can find the article here
XP is Dead. Long Live XP Support

More info from BestBuy – http://www.bestbuy.com/recycling/

The prior stimulus bill focused on trying to make it easier for small businesses to secure credit and added a few tax breaks. Business owners I talked to were not in a position to consider more funding for two reasons.

1. They were wary about adding debt to expand given the current economy.
2. They were already in such a tough position that they would not be able to qualify for more funding.

The President is now talking about a new stimulus plan with an increased focus on small businesses which is welcome news. The new stimulus would focus on jobs and has been called a “jobs bill”. A “jobs bill” could help if it has the right duration and implementation but is it too little too late?

Maybe the government will finally see that small business investment represents the most bang for the stimulus buck because of the following:

1. Geography – small businesses are everywhere and can help strengthen communities everywhere.
2. Industries – small businesses are in every industry so our investment in ourselves is diversified.

Too much focus has been placed on larger businesses and bailing out state governments.  The returns have been questionable.  Small businesses play a crucial role in our country’s success and deserve our attention.

More Reading

• Recovery.gov – Track the Money
• SBA.gov — Stimulus Package Includes Incentives For Small Business

Here are three free office suite/productivity applications for creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

Locally Installed Applications
Robust functionality similar to Microsoft Office applications.
OpenOffice.org

Web-based Applications
The functionality is not the same in some areas compared to locally installed office applications but you will be able to access your documents from anywhere you have an Internet connection and collaborate with others.

• Google Docs
• Zoho Writer, Sheet and Show

Solution Overview
Office Suite/Productivity Solution Overview

More Information
Research Helper – Free Office Suite Productivity

Considerations

1. Certifications vary in their requirements.  Some certifications require a short multiple choice exam while other certifications require weeks of coursework followed by an exam.  Some certifications also require continuing education. 
2. Some areas of technology have more relevant certifications than others.  For example, web design and development is an area with less universal acceptance when compared to other areas like networking.
3. Certification may not apply directly to the type of work you need done.  If a certification is for software development, how does that relate to something like computer repair?
4. Certification can be a way for software and hardware manufacturers to control quality but it is also a source of revenue which could cloud motives.
5. A certification, like a college degree, does not mean that job performance will be better.

What do certifications tell you?

1. A certification indicates some understanding for a given technology or solution.  The level of understanding depends on the rigor of the requirements. 
2. Certifications demonstrate a desire by the tech professional to meet additional standards that may not be necessary for the job but serve to boost the perception of credibility.
3. A desire to continue learning.

Certifications could certainly be a deciding factor when comparing professionals with similar experience, customer reviews and pricing.

More Information

• Certifications for Tech Service Providers
• How to Find the Right Tech Help

You can read our press release here:
TechShortcut Provides Free Advertising for Tech Service Providers that Help Small Businesses

If you would like to refer a tech service business to us you can use our referral form:
Refer a Tech Business

While all the choices can be difficult to navigate, these options allow businesses more flexibility than ever before to meet business needs. But which option should a business choose?

Check out our guide How to Run Your Software: In-House vs. Online vs. Outsourced for a list of the pros and cons. Because how you run your software is such a fundamental decision, you will find that each of our solution overviews will present both in-house applications and online applications (where appropriate) for each solution. However, implementation shouldn’t be your first consideration, check your business needs first.

As Google’s Gmail blog pointed out, the Gmail service still adhered to being operational 99.9% of the time.  Do you think you can do better in-house for the price?

To put 99.9% uptime in perspective, the approximate downtimes for 0.1% are listed below.

A Few Questions to Ask Yourself

• How much will an outage cost my business?
• How can I get work done when there is an Internet or Internet application outage?
• Do I have a copy of my data for reference when there is an outage?
• Do I need more uptime?
• How can I get more uptime and what is the cost?

You can read Google’s response to the outage here.
More on today’s Gmail issue

Additional Info
Source: Wikipedia Uptime

Source: Lifehacker Back up your Google Apps data

Related TechShortcut Info
How to Run Your Software? In-House vs. Online vs. Outsourced

Research Helper–Outage