Top Ten Small Business

Technology Trends For

And



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By Chip Reaves
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S
Top Ten Small Business Technology
Trends For 2013

Fifty Actionable Steps To Save Money, Be Productive, and
Choose Technology Wisely



If you feel like technology keeps moving fastei anu fastei -you'ie iight.
The goou news is that new technologies like tablets, social meuia, clouu computing,
anu online leaining biing an unpieceuenteu set of benefits to small businesses.
The bau news. Soiting thiough the hype to finu the iight combination of
technologies, gaugets, anu solutions to fit Y00R unique situation can be challenging.
Foi the last 2u+ yeais we have been woiking as a technology anu business
consultants, piimaiily suppoiting small to meuium businesses aiounu the woilu.
0ui goal with this guiue is to pioviue you with the backgiounu infoimation you neeu
on the top technology tienus that may affect youi business in 2u1S. In auuition foi
each section we've incluueu five ieal, actionable steps you can take in oiuei to take
auvantage of the technology tienus in ways that will have a ieal, measuiable impact
on youi company.






Intiouuction
Tech
Trends
2013


4

Believe it oi not, it was just Apiil 2u1u when the woilu was intiouuceu to the Apple
iPau. Less than thiee yeais latei Apple has iecently announceu theii 4
th
geneiation of
iPaus which, of couise, aie fastei, bettei looking, moie capable, moie poweiful, anu
moie populai than evei - ovei 1uu million iPaus have been puichaseu by eagei
consumeis anu businesses. To put that in peispective, in just the 0SA alone theie is
appioximately one iPau foi eveiy 9 people!
Bespite the uominance of the iPau - stuuies show that 91% of tablet use is on an iPau
- theie aie now compelling alteinatives in new uevices fiom uoogle, Samsung, anu
Amazon. Nanufactuieis iecognize the uemanu fiom customeis anu aie woiking haiu
to be pait of the "post-PC" maiketplace.
Bow uoes this affect small business touay. To unueistanu the benefits anu the iisks
the iPau anu its competition biings to youi business, let's stait by looking at the woilu
of 2uu9 - befoie the iPau. In an aiticle in Infowoilu magazine, wiitei Ranuall Kenneuy
sums up the views of many punuits about the then-iumoieu Apple tablet (then often
assumeu to be calleu the iTablet), namely that it was uoomeu to flop foi all kinus of
ieasons. It woulu be too expensive, it woulun't woik the same as a iegulai computei,
it woulu be too big to be easily poitable, anu moie impoitantly - accoiuing to
Kenneuy - it coulu nevei compete with the then-populai Netbook computeis, those
scaleu-uown, low-peifoimance $199 laptop computeis that weie veiy populai way
back in 2uu9.
Fast foiwaiu a few yeais, anu it's cleai the maiket has spoken - iPaus outsolu eveiy
majoi PC manufactuiei this yeai, anu those once-populai Netbooks have all but
uisappeaieu. Why. People like the ease-of-use, poitability, anu simplicity of the iPau,
anu they'ie finuing ways to be moie piouuctive thiough well-uesigneu "Apps" (See
Section 9). Anu even in businesses that uo not uiiectly suppoit the iPau oi similai
tablets, employees aie incieasingly using theii peisonal uevices foi business use, a
phenomenon uubbeu "BY0B" oi "Biing Youi 0wn Bevice".
Nost small businesses I talk to iecognize the populaiity of the iPau, but often stiuggle
with how to conveit that populaiity into business piouuctivity. }ust because
eveiyone (it seems) has a tablet, uoes that mean they shoulu use them at woik.
Boesn't "woik" iequiie a "iegulai computei".
The "iPau Effect"
Tech
Trends
2013


S
Naybe. The ieason the iPau succeeueu
uespite plenty of pie-launch naysaying is
because it tuins out to be a fabulous way
to consume content. Reauing books anu
uocuments, watching movies oi tiaining
viueos, listening to music oi poucasts,
anu biowsing thiough websites foi fun oi
foi ieseaich - these aie the aieas wheie
the iPau excels.
Baving saiu that, the iPau is less useful when it comes to cieating content. Typing
long uocuments, cieating spieausheets, maintaining a uatabase oi CRN system, oi
cieating aitistic content tenus to be much easiei on a conventional uesktop oi laptop
computei iathei than a tablet uevice.
So the obvious conclusion is that foi business tasks which iequiie mostly consuming
content - ieauing email, ieseaiching online, watching online viueos, etc - the iPau oi
it's biethien may be moie useful than a tiauitional computei. Foi jobs that iequiie a
significant amount of cieating content, a goou notebook oi uesktop PC oi Nac is
neeueu. Anu foi many jobs theie may be benefit in having both.
Ceitainly this is one case wheie the customeis have spoken - the iPau, anu similai
tablets iunning Anuioiu oi Winuows, aie heie to stay, anu savvy companies shoulu
spenu time figuiing out the best way to leveiage theii stiengths to benefit theii
business.


Beie aie five action items to piopeily leveiage tablet computeis in youi
business in 2u1S:
1. "#$% # &'()*+ ,'- ./-)01 2'3- 450 6%$)*%7 8/2469 usage in
youi business. Accoiuing to a iecent Spicewoiks suivey a
whopping 87% of IT Seivice Pioviueis aie suppoiting iPaus foi
theii small business clients, but S4% iepoit some uegiee of
pioblem oi fiustiation in suppoiting uiffeient uevices anu uiffeient
business applications. Woik with youi IT Seivice Pioviuei to spell
out a cleai policy on:

What uevices the company will anu will not suppoit.

Who is iesponsible foi suppoiting company applications on
peisonal uevices.

Tech
Trends
2013


6
Which company applications (incluuing email) can anu cannot
be accesseu fiom mobile uevices. (Think of it this way - if an
employee's iPau weie stolen, anu ciitical company infoimation
weie available in theii email, uocuments, oi apps stoieu on the
uevice, how coulu that affect youi business.)
2. :, +'3 ;#$%0<= #(-%#>+ >'0% ?'@ =-+ %A&%-)B%0=)01 5)=; # &)('=
&-'C%*= to test how iPaus oi similai tablets can be useu in youi
business. This can be uone with a small company-sponsoieu
puichase oi by woiking with youi employees to leveiage theii
peisonal uevices.

S. D%?= +'3- 5%E?)=%? #0> *'B&#0+ #&&()*#=)'0? ,'- *'B&#=)E)()=+
with iPaus anu iPhones. ueneially this means eschewing any Flash-
baseu content, which can't be vieweu on Apple's mobile uevices.
Iuentify ciitical applications oi featuies that uo not woik well on
mobile uevices (foi example, company CRN oi tiaining platfoims)
anu woik with youi venuois anu youi IT consultant to upuate oi
ieplace those applications ovei the next puichasing cycle.

4. F;%0 &3-*;#?)01 0%5 ?',=5#-% '- ?'(3=)'0?@ $%-),+ =;#= =;%+
#-% >%?)10%> =' 5'-G 5)=; )H#>? #0> )H;'0%?I Even if you aien't
using them touay, it's cleai this is an aiea of youi business that will
giow ovei time. uiven that most venuois aie suppoiting mouein
mobile uevices, theie is geneially no ieason to get lockeu into a
multi-yeai ielationship with outuateu technology touay.

S. 6)?*3?? # J'E)(% 6%$)*% J#0#1%B%0= 8J6J9 ?'(3=)'0 5)=;
+'3- :D *'0?3(=#0=I New applications aie becoming available
which help to secuie, monitoi, anu tiack iPaus anu similai mobile
uevices that aie useu foi company business. This can be a lifesavei
when, inevitably, a uevice with ciitical company infoimation is
misplaceu oi stolen.

Tech
Trends
2013


7

In 2uu7 Apple intiouuceu it's fiist iPhone, a ievolutionaiy uevice in many ways. 0ne
of the uetails iaiely uiscusseu outsiue of geek ciicles was the choice Apple maue to
use a capacitive touch scieen insteau of the stanuaiu iesistive touch scieen eveiyone
else useu at the time. Capacitive touch scieens weie moie expensive, anu they
woikeu with youi fingei but not with youi pencil oi stylus (like most pievious touch-
scieen uevices) anu woulun't iesponu at all if you weie weaiing gloves. But unlike
the olu iesistive touch scieens on the PalmPilots of yesteiyeai (which often iequiieu
you to tap oi piess pietty haiu to get a iesponse) using a capacitive touch scieen
meant the oiiginal iPhone was ieally easy to use. It iesponueu quickly, anu it coulu
even iesponu to two touches at the same time (say, foi "pinching" an image to zoom in
on it).
As we know now, Apple was on to something. Touay eveiy smaitphone featuies a
capacitive touch scieen, anu the same technology has gone into making the iPaus,
tablet computeis, ATN machines, aiiline ticket kiosks, uPS uevices, NPS playeis,
automobile enteitainment systems anu hunuieus of similai consumei uevices touch-
fiienuly.
Theie has been one notable exception though until iecently: computeis. Tiauitional
PC anu Nac computeis have iaiely hau touch scieens, anu when they uiu it was moie
a novelty than a genuinely useful featuie.
2u12 may piove to be the tuining point though, with Niciosoft's ielease of theii new
Winuows 8 opeiating system. Winuows 8 is a iauical ieuesign of the 17-yeai-olu
inteiface that ieally hasn't changeu much since Winuows 9S. As a iesult theie aie
some people who love the new uesign anu some who ieally can't stanu it.
The one thing eveiyone agiees on though is that Winuows 8 is the fiist mainstieam
computei opeiating system uesigneu foi use on a touch scieen. Nany of the
touchscieen featuies we've loveu since the oiiginal iPhone, incluuing pinch-to-zoom,
swiping left oi iight to change scieens, anu uiagging icons with oui fingei aie now
pait of the Winuows 0S that people will use on theii uaily woik computei.
That's not to say that having a touch scieen is iequiieu in oiuei to use Winuows 8 -
it's uefinitely not, although the keyboaiu & mouse shoitcuts foi some featuies aie
peihaps less intuitive than theii touchscieen alteinatives.

Touch-Eveiything (Winuows 8)
Tech
Trends
2013


8
Still, most Winuows 8 computeis being
solu touay uo N0T have a touchscieen.
It's one moie uecision that you anu
youi IT consultant will have to make
when puichasing new equipment,
along with the usual questions of "Bow
much RAN." anu "Bow laige a haiu
uiive uo we neeu." you'll now have to
ueciue "Bo we want a touchscieen."
uiven that most companies aie holuing
on to computei equipment foi S to S
yeais befoie ieplacing, this is a
significant question. 0n most
computeis if you neeu moie RAN oi a
biggei haiu uiive you can auu it, but
auuing a touchscieen to a computei that uiun't oiiginally come with one is often
eithei cost piohibitive oi just flat out impossible.
Is Winuows 8 in youi futuie. Statistically speaking, yes - unless you iun youi entiie
business on Apple computeis, oi choose to stick with oluei opeiating systems which
will eventually become unsuppoiteu.



So how shoulu youi business plan foi Winuows 8 in 2u1S. Beie aie oui S
iecommenueu action items:

1. F;%0 &3-*;#?)01 0%5 %K3)&B%0= 5)=; F)0>'5? L@
)0$%?=)1#=% ='3*;?*-%%0 '&=)'0?I ueneially the piice piemium
foi the touchscieen (compaieu to the tiauitional, non-touch scieen)
is between $1uu anu $2uu, which will likely pay foi itself with
piouuctivity impiovements ovei the life of the uevice.

2. M'0,)-B +'3- %A)?=)01 E3?)0%?? #&&()*#=)'0? 5)(( 5'-G
5)=; F)0>'5? L. Compaieu with past upgiaues theie aie
ielatively few incompatibility pioblems when moving fiom
Winuows 7 to Winuows 8, but you always want to be safe iathei
than soiiy.

S. 6'0<= E% B)?(%#> E+ =;% ('5N&-)*% F)0>'5? OD '&=)'0I
ueneially founu only on tablets anu "conveitibles" (basically an
Tech
Trends
2013


9
iPau-like tablet with a uetachable keyboaiu, like the Niciosoft
Suiface piouuct), Winuows RT looks a lot like Winuows 8 but
cannot iun most Winuows softwaie. Insteau it ielies on special
apps puichaseu exclusively fiom the Winuows Stoie. Foi a limiteu-
use tablet that may be 0K, but foi a business computei you'll want
the full-fleugeu Winuows 8.

4. H(#0 ,'- =-#)0)01I 0nlike the last half-uozen veisions of the
Niciosoft opeiating system, Winuows 8 ieally iequiies useis to
leain some new skills in oiuei to be piouuctive. It uoesn't take
much - many IT consultants have a fiee 18-minute tiaining viueo
which coveis all the essentials people neeu to know in oiuei to
make the tiansition anu get the most fiom theii new Winuows 8
enviionment. But uo plan to invest those 18 minutes, they'll be
time well spent.

S. H(#0 ,'- %0$+I Inevitably if some employees get Winuows 8 anu
fancy new touchscieens, othei employees will want them too. 2u1S
may be the yeai to consiuei a iefiesh on all youi office haiuwaie.
It's a goou time to uo it - majoi manufactuieis incluuing Bell,
Lenovo, BP, anu Asus (not to mention Apple) aie builuing bettei
quality business-class equipment now than evei befoie, anu all
offei a vaiiety of Winuows 8-baseu touchscieen anu non-
touchscieen mouels.


Tech
Trends
2013


1u
-

Since at least 1994 people have useu "the clouu" to uesciibe the inteinet, but ovei the
last S oi 4 yeais the hype suiiounuing "clouu computing" has become oveiwhelming.
While theie aie gieat examples of clouu solutions that aie oveiwhelmingly beneficial
foi most people (Salesfoice.com foi example, oi hosteu spam filteiing foi email), foi
many situations businesses have hau to weigh the pios anu cons of a clouu-baseu
solution veisus a tiauitional, locally hosteu veision.
Last yeai was the tipping point yeai wheie we saw moie businesses auopting clouu-
baseu solutions than local ones, anu we expect that tienu to continue in 2u14. The
biggest bellwethei of the change is the ubiquitous Niciosoft 0ffice softwaie suite. In
}anuaiy we'll see the wiue ielease of Niciosoft 0ffice 2u1S in both it's tiauitional,
locally installeu veision (iefeiieu to as 0ffice 2u1S) oi the clouu-baseu veision calleu
0ffice S6S. Anu foi the fiist time, Niciosoft has lineu up tiemenuous incentives to
push businesses towaius the clouu veision. Consiuei the new small business piicing
stiuctuie foi 0ffice S6S compaieu to the competition:
4,,)*% PQR 4,,)*% STUP
"'B% V
/3?)0%??
4,,)*% STUP
H-',%??)'0#(
W''1(% X&&?
H-)*% $1Suuseiyeai $219 $S99 $Suuseiyeai
:0*(3>%? 5%ENE#?%>
#&&?Y
Yes No No Yes
:0*(3>%? =-#>)=)'0#(@
>'50('#>#E(%
&-'1-#B?Y
Yes Yes Yes No
Z)*%0?%> ,'- 1 usei, S uevices 1 uevice 1 uevice 1 usei,
unlimiteu
uevices
:0*(3>%? F'->@ [A*%(@
H'5%-&')0=Y
Yes Yes Yes Similai
Compatible
Piogiams
:0*(3>%? 43=(''GY Yes Yes Yes No
:0*(3>%? 40%\'=%Y Yes Yes Yes No
:0*(3>%? X**%?? V
H3E()?;%-Y
Yes No Yes No
:0*(3>%? H-',%??)'0#(
[B#)(@ M#(%0>#-@
M'((#E'-#=)'0 D''(?Y
Yes No No Yes
We Reach The Clouus (0ffice 2u1S)
Tech
Trends
2013


11
While it may still not be iight foi eveiy business, Niciosoft's aggiessive piicing
inuicates they want eveiy business to take a haiu look at 0ffice S6S compaieu to the
tiauitional 0ffice 2u1S (anu also - especially - compaieu to the pievious clouu-baseu
champ, uoogle Apps).
Eveiy situation is unique, but baseu on the chait above the useis who aie most likely
to save money oi otheiwise benefit fiom the clouu-baseu 0ffice S6S aie the ones who
use moie than one uevice (i.e. a computei at woik, a computei at home, anu an iPau -
by the way the iPau veision of 0ffice is iumoieu to be coming in eaily 2u1S as well),
who might like the flexibility of online web-baseu applications but uoes most of theii
woik in tiauitional piogiams on theii computei, oi who uses Niciosoft 0utlook.
Baseu on the small businesses we woik with, that's piobably 9u% of all business
piofessionals if not moie.
Even one inuiviuual who has two computeis woulu pay $4S8 to puichase two licenses
of the lessei "Bome & Business" package compaieu to just $1Suyeai foi 0ffice S6S.
Assuming the aveiage peison upgiaues eveiy thiee yeais that's about bieak-even, but
the 0ffice S6S usei pays less money up fiont plus gets business-class email anu
collaboiation tools too.
0thei companies aie making similai offeis. Cieative piofessionals who iely on
Auobe's Photoshop & InBesign tools often spenu $2uuu oi moie to upgiaue theii
softwaie eveiy few yeais. Now Auobe's new "Cieative Clouu" offeiing gives them
eveiy cieative piouuct Auobe makes, plus online collaboiation tools, staiting at just
$29 pei usei pei month (when on sale). Like Niciosoft that incluues the ability to use
the softwaie on multiple uevices, as long as it's limiteu to one usei.
0thei clouu-baseu solutions have been making inioaus in the small business
community foi seveial yeais now, incluuing hosteu CRN applications, hosteu email
seiveis & spam filteiing, hosteu phone systems, hosteu employee tiaining solutions,
online backup solutions, hosteu tiaining solutions like Biggei-Biains, anu file shaiing
solutions such as Box.net, Biopbox, anu NySecuieBackup.
Like eveiything else, the giowth of clouu-baseu solutions has come because the
peiceiveu pios outweigh the peiceiveu cons.
H-': the ability to access files anu infoimation fiom any inteinet-connecteu uevice,
incluuing those evei-populai iPaus. M'0: the secuiity iisk of having youi infoimation
hosteu online (but which is moie likely - a majoi company like Niciosoft oi uoogle
will slip up anu give out youi confiuential infoimation, causing global embaiiassment
foi theii bianu, oi that a iogue employee will take home a 0SB uiive full of impoitant
infoimation anu acciuentally lose it somewheie.)
H-': the ability to easily shaie infoimation anu collaboiate with colleagues, venuois,
anu customeis. M'0: some paits of the seivice aie inaccessible if youi inteinet goes
uown (but how much woik uo any of us get anymoie if the inteinet is uown.)

Tech
Trends
2013


12
With the auvent of the new piice-incentives fiom Niciosoft, Auobe, anu otheis it looks
like Clouu Computing is finally living up to its hype.



What shoulu youi business uo to take auvantage of the clouu in a safe,
piouuctive way. Beie aie five action items foi youi consiueiation:

1. D#(G 5)=; +'3- :D *'0?3(=#0= #E'3= ), #0> 5;%0 +'3 ?;'3(>
B#G% =;% ?;),= =' 4,,)*% PQR '- W''1(% X&&?I Because many of
the benefits woik best when eveiyone in the company makes the
switch you shoulu make a plan foi when you will stop buying
tiauitional softwaie anu when you will migiate the company ovei
to a clouu-baseu alteinative.

2. :? +'3- )0,-#?=-3*=3-% &-%&#-%> ,'- *('3> *'B&3=)01Y
Accessing solutions via the Inteinet may iequiie bettei iouteis,
fiiewalls, anu Inteinet connections than what you have iight now,
so auuiess those fiist befoie migiating online.

S. F;#= ?%*3-)=+ ;'(%? %A)?= )0 +'3- *3--%0= 0%=5'-G ='>#+Y
Befoie migiating to the clouu, talk with youi IT consultant about
ways to lock uown youi existing uata to minimize the iisks of
employee theft, viiuses, hackeis, anu uata loss. If uone piopeily a
goou clouu-baseu solution can often be N0RE secuie than the
netwoik enviionments many of oui small business clients use
touay.

4. :, +'3- E3?)0%?? )? # 0'0N&-',)= '- ?*;''(@ B#G% ?3-% =' #?G
#E'3= >)?*'30= &-'1-#B? ,'- +'3- ?)=3#=)'0I All majoi clouu
solution pioviueis offei ueep uiscounts anu in some cases fiee
solutions foi non-piofit oi acauemic useis.

S. J)0)B)]% +'3- =-#0?)=)'0 =)B% #0> ?3&&'-= ;%#>#*;%? with
usei tiaining. Woik with youi IT consultant to incluue planneu
tiaining, incluuing ongoing access to supplementaiy online e-
leaining couises if possible, to ieuuce tiansition anxiety.

Tech
Trends
2013


1S


Z+0*@ ^G+&%@ :H M#B?@ "#01'3=@ ^=-%#B)01 D_@ V 2'3D3E%

Beie's a test: look at the last five websites you visiteu. Bow many incluue viueo in
some foim. Ny guess is it's at least foui out of the five. Fiom viueo stoiies on news
sites to viueo calling on Facebook to viueo sales pitches anu piouuct uemonstiations
on thousanus of websites, viueo has become the new noimal, anu viueo-baseu
solutions aie explouing in populaiity in many uiffeient aieas.
Want to talk to someone, face-to-face. Niciosoft, uoogle, Facebook, anu Apple have
fiee viueo confeiencing options available. In fact Niciosoft, with both Lync anu Skype
incluueu as pait of theii 0ffice 2u1S clouu offeiing actually have two viueo
confeiencing solutions to choose fiom, each with its own pios anu cons.
Want to leain a new skill. Thousanus of tiaining viueos on websites like ehow.com oi
biggei-biains.com aie just a click away.
Time to ielax. Watch youi favoiite Tv show online, on a Tv netwoik's website oi on a
seivice like Netflix oi Bulu.
The Inteinet has evolveu fiom text to giaphics to viueo - has youi business kept up.
Ten minutes of BB viueo takes as much banuwiuth as appioximately Su,uuu text
uocuments. If you imagine having multiple employees all watching BB tiaining viueos
at the same time, you can imagine the effect on youi netwoik!
This evolution to viueo content has piofounu implications on youi infiastiuctuie,
youi equipment puichases, youi maiketing, anu the piouuctivity tools that can
impiove youi bottom line.
If you'ie wonueiing wheie viueo might go next consiuei this: AT&T, the laigest
telephone utility in the 0S, now offeis a S-minute custom "viueo bill" foi theii cell
phone anu home Tv subsciibeis! The viueo bills, which aie in testing as of Becembei
2u12 anu will ioll out to all subsciibeis in 2u1S, have hau favoiable ieviews anu seem
to make unueistanuing a complicateu bill much easiei.
Foi AT&T the cost to geneiate tens of thousanus of inuiviuually customizeu "viueo
bills" foi theii customeis is offset by the ieuuceu numbei of suppoit calls. What can
viueo uo foi youi business.
viueo Eveiywheie
Tech
Trends
2013


14

Let's look at five action items that can help you bettei piepaie foi viueo
solutions in 2u1S:

1. H(#0 2'3- \%=5'-G :0,-#?=-3*=3-% V :0=%-0%= M'00%*=)'0?
X&&-'&-)#=%(+I viueo hogs moie netwoik banuwiuth than
anything else - consiuei that a lettei that takes S minutes to ieau
may be Suk in size. A five-minute auuio file may 2.SNB (2Suuk). A
five-minute BB viueo clip can be 1uuNB oi moie, iequiiing moie
than thiee TB00SANB times moie banuwiuth on youi netwoik anu
on youi Inteinet connection (not to mention stoiage space on youi
haiu uiive). Neeuless to say this is a significant change, anu the
uemanu is amplifieu fuithei when multiple people aie watching BB
viueo in the same office. Befoie ueploying viueo-baseu solutions
into youi company, woik with youi IT consultant to make suie
youi infiastiuctuie can hanule the loau, anu when making new
puichases be suie youi new equipment is suitable foi whatevei
viueo solutions youi company will neeu in the futuie.

2. :H M#B%-#?` Yet anothei viueo application that is iapiuly
expanuing touay is the IP-baseu viueo cameia. "IP" iefeis to
"Inteinet Piotocol", meaning these cameias woik ovei typical office
oi home netwoiks as opposeu to the oluei, tiauitional CCTv-type
wiiing. IP Cameias pioviue a veiy flexible, low-cost way to hanule
things like secuiity, employee monitoiing, ietail tiaffic monitoiing,
oi even enteitainment - one nightclub I consulteu with posteu live
viueo feeus fiom the IP cameias in theii club onto theii website, to
show otheis what a goou time they weie missing.

Anothei auvantage of IP Cameia solutions is that many pioviue the
functionality to let you monitoi youi cameias fiom youi
smaitphone oi computei, which is obviously helpful when you feel
the neeu to check a secuiity cameia iemotely. I've seen savvy
entiepieneuis take auvantage of this functionality foi eveiything
fiom nanny-cams to chiluien's uaycaie centeis to monitoiing
seluom-visiteu vacation homes.
IP Cameia solutions iange fiom uo-it-youiself kits staiting aiounu
$2uu to piofessional systems that can cost $2uuu to $2u,uuu oi
moie. Wheie coulu youi business take auvantage of an IP Cameia
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Trends
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1S
solution.

S. J#-G%=)01 V F%E?)=%?` In most countiies the top seaich engine in
2u1S is uoogle, so if you want to auveitise online you know you
want to be seen on the fiist page (foi ielevant seaiches) on uoogle.
But many people aie suipiiseu to leain what the seconu most
populai seaich engine is: YouTube (which, inciuentally, is owneu by
uoogle). Consiuei that ovei 72 houis of viueo aie uploaueu to
YouTube eveiy minute - eveiy NIN0TE! - Anu ovei 4 billion houis
of viueo aie watcheu each month. That's just YouTube - theie aie
many othei places on the Inteinet wheie viueo can be hosteu anu
vieweu, incluuing youi own website.

Foi many businesses it can be a woithwhile investment having
youi own viueos on the YouTube site. 0ploauing a high quality
viueo with appiopiiate keywoius anu links can be a tiiple-benefit:
Not only will you be founu by seaicheis on YouTube itself, but
uoogle anu othei seaich engines can give piefeiential tieatment to
websites with embeuueu viueo (which can come fiom YouTube)
anu to websites with links fiom viueos on YouTube.

Even a simple iecoiueu PoweiPoint piesentation can be helpful,
but many businesses aie taking auvantage of low-cost BB cameias
oi the piolifeiation of fiienuly local viueo-euiting businesses to
cieate simple web-commeicials which explain theii company oi
offeiings to the viewei. Anu a well-uesigneu, well-piouuceu viueo
can be the coineistone of a successful viial social meuia campaign!

Is viueo on the Inteinet iight foi you. I think the answei is always
"Yes", the question is just whethei you uo it youiself oi hiie a
piofessional maiketing company oi viueo fiim to help you uo it.
Foi 2u1S, think about what message youi business can convey on
the Inteinet via viueo.

4. H-'>3*=)$)=+ ^'(3=)'0? V _)>%' M'0,%-%0*)01` Since the
beginning of uigital computeis the ability to "chat" instantly with
othei useis has been populai. Fiom 0nix's "talk" commanu to the
Compuseive "CB Simulatoi" in the 198u's to A0L Instant Nessengei
in the 199u's to Facebook's chat featuie touay, it's cleai that we finu
Tech
Trends
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16
value in instant, text-baseu communication.

But touay's poweiful computeis allow us to uo senu moie than just
text, anu incieasingly viueo-confeiencing is becoming an option foi
many people. Whethei oi not it's the iight option (anu often it is
not) uepenus on youi situation.

Bozens of viueo confeiencing solutions aie available foi 2u1S,
ianging fiom simple fiee solutions (uoogle Plus's "Bangout"
featuie, Niciosoft's Skype, Facebook viueo chat) to full-featuieu
viueo Collaboiation solutions fiom companies like Cisco anu
Lifesize. In some cases viueo-confeiencing may be built into othei
solutions, like the B0B featuie in Fonality's voIP phone systems oi
the Nonuo Pau by InFocus, a giant wall-sizeu iPau-like uevice
uesigneu foi business confeience iooms.

If youi business can benefit fiom instant viueo communications
between employees oi between employees anu supplieis oi even
between employees anu customeis, woik with youi IT consultant
to evaluate the solutions listeu above to see which may be iight foi
you. Keep in minu that viueo confeiencing, like all viueo solutions,
can be veiy uemanuing on computeis anu netwoiks, so make suie
you exceeu the minimum listeu iequiiements anu test any solution
befoie you commit to a company-wiue implementation in oiuei to
avoiu a potentially uisappointing expeiience.

S. D-#)0)01 V F%E)0#-?I Noie anu moie businesses aie using online
tiaining solutions to euucate theii staff anu to make suie theii team
is all on the same page. We'll talk moie in uepth about e-leaining
solutions in the next section, but foi this Action Item we'ie focusing
on Webinais. Inteinet-baseu meetings aie incieasingly
commonplace, with maiket leaueis uoToNeeting anu WebEx
competing with upstaits like }oin.Ne anu Fuzebox to offei the
easiestmost poweifulmost featuie-iich solutions to theii
business customeis. Incieasingly this means bunuling viueo
confeiencing featuies in with the expecteu scieen-shaiing anu
auuio-confeiencing benefits.

viueo-baseu webinais can be veiy useful - just like with viueo-


17
Confeiencing, theie is something inheiently useful in seeing the
peison you aie talking to oi listening to. But it also places a similai
uemanu on youi computei equipment- Consiuei that hosting a
simple webinai with uoTo Neeting iequiies a 1uBz cpu, V uB of
memoiy, anu a S84k inteinet connection. Bosting a viueo-
confeiencing webinai with FuzeBox iequiies a 1.7uBz uual-coie
CP0, 2uB of memoiy, anu a 1Nbps inteinet connection - in othei
woius, moie than twice the powei!
If youi company can benefit fiom viueo-baseu webinais, evaluate
the offeiings fiom Fuzebox, uoToNeeting, anu otheis, anu woik
with youi IT Consultant to make suie youi computeis anu netwoik
aie sufficient. Like I mentioneu with viueo confeiencing, tiying to
iun a viueo-baseu webinai on a slowei-than-iecommenueu
computei oi netwoik will leau to fiustiation anu a pooi usei
expeiience.


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Trends
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18


0nce upon a time, communication was a veiy manual piocess. Neeu to senu
instiuctions to a uistant colleague. Piint a lettei, stamp an envelope, get it to the post
office, anu wait a few uays. Neeu to upuate uiiectives to youi employees. Type up a
uocument, make uozens of copies, anu then uistiibute by hanu to eveiyone's uesk.
Email, text messages, anu online chatting have ievolutionizeu communication, so the
time we useu to waste in the mechanical logistics of communication can be bettei
spent actually communicating.
0nce upon a time, employee tiaining was a veiy manual piocess, anu it often still is.
To leain a new skill, people woulu take entiie uays away fiom theii main job to tiavel
to classiooms to listen to skilleu (oi sometimes not-so-skilleu) teacheis. Sometimes
companies woulu uo the opposite anu biing teacheis in to teach classes to gioups of
employees at woikshops oi confeiences. Like postal mail, tiauitional employee
tiaining is a veiy intensive, time-consuming piocess. Anu if youi teachei misseu a
topic, oi you neeu a quick iefieshei tiaining latei on - foiget about it!
While theie is still a uefinite place foi tiauitional classioom leaining (just like theie is
still a neeu foi a physical post office), moie companies aie leveiaging the powei of
mouein technology to pioviue inexpensive e-leaining options to theii teams.
Companies like Biggei-Biains.com, Lynua.com, oi S6utiaining.com pioviue easy
online access to tiaining classes on-uemanu, so employees can leain the skills they
neeu iight when they neeu them anu iight fiom theii own uesk (oi smaitphone).
Accoiuing to the Ameiican Society foi Tiaining anu Bevelopment, oiganizations with
an above-aveiage tiaining piogiam see at least an 11.4% impiovement in employee
piouuctivity. No wonuei then that Ameiican companies alone spent ovei $Su billion
on Euucation & Tiaining in 2u11
1
.
While moie money was spent on classioom tiaining than online tiaining (because of
the uispiopoitionately high cost of classioom tiaining), an aiticle by the New Yoik
Times
2
founu that online tiaining actually piouuceu iesults which weie 18% bettei
than conventional classioom tiaining. That same aiticle states "!"#$% '($)%* )+,+"#%*-


1
http:www.outsellinc.comb2bpiouucts1uu1-euucation-tiaining-2u1u-final-maiket-size-anu-shaie-iepoit

2
http:bits.blogs.nytimes.com2uu9u819stuuy-finus-that-online-euucation-beats-the-classioom

E-Leaining
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."%$"+ +/0,(#$." (1.0"#+/ #. %$##%+ 1.)+ #2(" +%+,#)."$, 3+)4$."4 .' #2+ .%/5%$"+
,.))+46."/+",+ ,.0)4+47 82(# 2(4 )+(%%* ,2("9+/ :$#2 ())$3(% .' ;+<5<(4+/ 3$/+.-
$"4#("# 1+44(9$"9 ("/ ,.%%(<.)(#$." #..%47=
If you think online tiaining uoesn't apply to youi business, you might want to
ieconsiuei that. 0nline tiaining maiketplace 0penSesame counts ovei 2u,uuu
tiaining couises foi sale fiom theii paitneis, on topics ianging fiom business ethics to
softwaie tiaining to sexual haiassment. Nany tiaining platfoims such as Nooule oi
Blackboaiu allow companies to cieate anu post theii own couises online, oi hybiiu
platfoims like Biggei-Biains.com combine the best of both with a pie-packageu
content libiaiy anu the ability to auu custom-cieateu content oi couises puichaseu
fiom 0penSesame.
Bo youi employees neeu on-uemanu skills tiaining, oi full fleugeu college couises.
Both aie available fiom multiple venuois online, with vaiying piice points anu
iequiiements. ueneially speaking online colleges aie useu when an employee can
benefit fiom a foimal uegiee piogiam, with the intensive assignments anu
assessments associateu with that soit of piogiam. 0n-uemanu skills tiaining is a
bettei choice foi quick impiovements in uay-to-uay skills such as Niciosoft 0ffice,
Communication, oi Piesentation, oi foi uisseminating company infoimation such as
BR pioceuuies, company backgiounu, oi company-specific piocesses anu tools.



To take auvantage of E-Leaining in 2u1S, heie aie five action items to
consiuei:

1. F;#= )? +'3- E3>1%=Y The gieat thing about online leaining is
theie is a solution foi eveiy conceivable buuget. Anu you uon't
always get what you pay foi - sometimes the new, buuget-fiienuly
solutions have featuies the oluei, expensive options lack. Let's take
a look at uiffeient piice levels available to a S-usei office:

FREE: Yes, theie aie fiee e-leaining options available - a lot of
them! Liteially thousanus of fiee tiaining viueos aie ieauy anu
waiting on geneial websites like YouTube.com oi Ehow.com, oi on
manufactuiei-sponsoieu sites like 0ffice.com (foi Niciosoft 0ffice)
oi Quickbooks.com (foi, you guesseu it, Quickbooks). The fiee
tiaining of couise vaiies wiuely in quality, anu by it's natuie it's
veiy unstiuctuieu so using it as the basis foi a foimal inteinal
tiaining piogiam is uifficult. 0n the othei hanu the populai e-
leaining platfoim Nooule is open-souice, meaning you can
Tech
Trends
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2u
uownloau anu install it foi fiee as well. Nooule is a poweiful e-
leaining platfoim, but you will have to auu youi own content anu
be ieauy to setup anu maintain youi own Nooule seivei.

0nuei $1uuu (foi five useis, pei yeai): Biggei-Biains.com is a new
online leaining poital uesigneu specifically foi business
piofessionals. Theii unique viueo-baseu content is easy to watch
anu coveis a limiteu (but giowing) numbei of business topics, like
Niciosoft 0ffice, Sales & Naiketing, Time Nanagement, Quickbooks,
anu moie. Businesses can auu custom couises specifically foi theii
employees as well as accessing Biggei Biains' existing coie content.

0nuei $2uuu (foi five useis, pei yeai): Lynua.com is by fai the
most wiuely useu online e-leaining system, anu staits at $2S pei
month pei usei. Piimaiily focuseu on cieative piofessionals, Lynua
has a wiue aiiay of couises on website uesign, photogiaphy,
giaphic uesign, anu piogiamming, as well as a small but giowing
numbei of business-oiienteu couises as well. TotalTiaining.com is
similai to Lynua in piicing with moie business couises, but not
quite the same level of quality tiaining couises as eithei Lynua oi
Biggei-Biains.

0vei $1u,uuu: Tiauitional leaining management systems like
Topycx aie uesigneu to be installeu on the local netwoik (unlike
Biggei-Biains, Lynua, oi TotalTiaining which aie web-baseu).
0nless banuwiuth is a majoi pioblem these soits of systems make
moie sense foi laigei coipoiations.

2. :? B'E)(% )B&'-=#0=Y 0ntil ielatively iecently most e-leaining
platfoims uiu not woik well on mobile uevices. But with the
explosion of people using iPaus, iPhones, anu othei uevices to
consume viueos online theie has been a sciamble by e-leaining
companies to catch up. Newei venuois like Biggei-Biains.com
weie uesigneu fiom the stait to be mobile-fiienuly, while moie
establisheu pioviueis like Lynua.com have iecently auueu mobile-
app veision of theii platfoim as well. If accessing tiaining content
when it's convenient is impoitant to you, make suie the e-leaining
solution you choose is compatible with mobile uevices.

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S. O%&#*G#1)01 [A)?=)01 M'0=%0=` ueneially companies use e-
leaining foi two things: geneial skill uevelopment, anu company-
specific knowleuge tiansfei. ueneial skill uevelopment means
offeiing tiaining foi things like Niciosoft 0ffice, Time Nanagement,
Communications, Business Ethics, Sales & Naiketing basics, etc.
Company-specific topics might incluue pushing piouuct tiaining
about new company offeiings out to a uistiibuteu sales team, oi
making suie eveiyone is up to speeu on the company's upuateu S-
yeai plan.

When it comes to geneial skill uevelopment, it's iaie foi companies
to have existing tiaining mateiials so they'ie likely to puichase
couises fiom companies like Biggei-Biains.com, 0penSesame.com,
oi SkillSoft.

Company-specific tiaining though is, as the name implies, unique to
youi company. Some mateiials, such as piouuct infoimation, might
come fiom youi venuois but much of it you'll want to customize to
youi specific situation.

Since the task of customizing this tiaining often falls on busy
employees with plenty of othei tasks to uo, the tenuency is to just
take whatevei mateiials you have - PoweiPoint uecks, webinai
iecoiuings, PBF hanuouts, etc - anu slap them up on youi e-
leaining poital. But a few simple euiting tips can make the
uiffeience between an e-leaining iesouice that eveiyone ielies on
oi a foigotten tiaining poital that no one goes to.

-Tiim out any unimpoitant paits. This is especially tiue of the
beginnings of webinais wheie theie tenus to be a lot of "We'ie just
waiting foi people to finish logging in" anu "Can eveiyone heai me
ok." auministiative comments in the fiist few minutes - those uon't
neeu to be saveu foi posteiity.

-Biviue iecoiuings into S-1S minute "chunks". Stuuies show
people aie much moie likely to use tiaining when it uoes not
iequiie a laige block of theii time, such as watching a 2-houi
webinai iecoiuing in one sitting.

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-Nake suie to incluue the "What's In It Foi Ne.". Tell people at
the beginning of each mouule why this tiaining matteis - why it
will impiove theii skills, oi impiove the company, anu theiefoie
impiove theii job anu benefits.

4. :0*%0=)$)])01 ^G)(( X*K3)?)=)'0` Nany e-leaining platfoims offei
two piimaiy benefits, which I call the "acquiie" oi "access" options.
0seis who want to acquiie a new skill can take a complete online
couise anu often ieceive a ceitificate along with the knowleuge
gaineu. 0i they can just tap into the e-leaining poital whenevei
they neeu to access a quick iefieshei on a paiticulai skill - what
some call "just in time" leaining.

Some employees aie self-motivateu anu will uive into youi e-
leaining platfoim to impiove theii own skills. 0theis may neeu
some encouiagement. If impioving employee skills is impoitant to
you, consiuei builuing an incentive piogiam insiue youi company.
Nake completing one couise pei quaitei pait of youi annual
employee ieviews, oi pick a topic anu have eveiyone in the
company complete that couise by a specific uate. Builu contests
aiounu couises completeu, oi auu "bauges" next to employee
names to inuicate which significant couises they have completeu in
youi e-leaining poital.

S. "#$)01 D;% O)1;= X**%??` In the last point we focuseu on the
"Acquiie" half of e-leaining's "acquiie oi access" options, so in this
one let's talk about Access. Theie aie times, piobably moie often
than we think, when eveiyone hits a stumbling block. Naybe it's
not knowing how to use a specific featuie in Niciosoft Woiu, oi
maybe it's being stuck in a iut anu wanting to spiuce up a given
sales piesentation. Naybe it's neeuing to know how to use a
company uatabase iule, oi maybe it's not being suie whethei
something meets the company's compliance guiuelines oi not.
These soits of issues come up all the time, anu often an employee's
piouuctivity. A goou e-leaining platfoim with a stiong seaich
function can help youi team oveicome these stumbling blocks
quickly anu with minimum impact on company iesouices, but to uo
that you neeu to plan in auvance what soits of topics these
stumbling blocks may fall into, anu make suie youi e-leaining
Tech
Trends
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2S
platfoim incluues content that will help.

Boes youi company uepenu heavily on a sales team. Nake suie
youi e-leaining couises incluue sales topics. Which softwaie
piogiams uoes youi company uepenu on. Nake suie they'ie
coveieu (wheievei possible) in youi e-leaining poital. Aie you in
an inuustiy with specific iegulatoiy iequiiements. Again, make
suie those aie coveieu in some way in the couises in youi e-
leaining poital.









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Trends
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24

!""#$% '( )**$% '( )+,-". '( /012"("34 '( 5,1%6""7

The "iazoi anu blaues" business mouel, wheie a company gives away one piouuct foi
fiee oi below cost ("iazois") in oiuei to make moie money long teim by selling
anothei ielateu piouuct ("blaues"), was not inventeu by uoogle. But on Febiuaiy 7,
2uu7 they took it to a whole new level when they intiouuceu an innovative new email
seivice calleu umail. umail offeieu bettei featuies than any othei similai email
seivice at the time - foi fiee. Why fiee. uoogle useu infoimation fiom people's
emails to show them ielevant aus, which they uisplayeu alongsiue the umail inteiface.
Whethei they planneu it oi not, umail was he fiist volley in what has become an all-
out wai between five majoi technology companies: uoogle, Apple, Amazon, Niciosoft,
anu Facebook. Each one is battling foi owneiship of Y00 - they want youi business,
anu each is willing to give away some piouucts oi seivices below cost oi fiee in oiuei
to win youi business (oi at least youi eyeballs) in othei aieas.
The goou news. Thanks to this competition foi youi business, you have access to
many solutions foi fiee, incluuing:
Hosted email (Google, Microsoft, and Facebook)
Internet search (Google and Microsoft)
Social Networking (Facebook and Google)
Online file storage (Google and Microsoft)
Online phone calls or video chat (Google, Microsoft, and Facebook)
Online mapping services (Google and Microsoft)

In auuition uevices such as the iPhone (fiom Apple) anu Kinule (fiom Amazon) can be
solu foi lowei-than-maiket piices because theii manufactuieis expect to eain bettei
piofits on sales fiom theii associateu "app stoies".
Baving this much competition is always gieat foi us as consumeis, as these tech
giants auu innovative featuies anu finu new ways to lowei costsin oiuei to win oui
business.
The bau news is this "battle of the ecosystems" is also cieating fiustiating
incompatibilities in some situations, as the competitois iaise walls aiounu theii
piouucts to encouiage customeis to use theii ielateu piouucts insteau of those fiom
othei companies - especially mobile uevices. Foi example:
The Battle 0f The Ecosystems
Tech
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2S
o Apple's iClouu seivice pioviues email anu file shaiing, but uoesn't woik on
uoogle's Anuioiu uevices.
o uoogle Apps woiks on almost any uevice, but moie featuies woik on uoogle
Anuioiu uevices than on Apple's iPhone oi Niciosoft's Winuows Phone
uevices.
o Niciosoft's 0ffice S6S will eventually woik on uoogle anu Apple uevices, but
iight now it's only fully functional on phones anu tablets fiom Niciosoft.
As competition heats up we expect to see each company tiy to balance piotecting
theii own sales while not alienating potential customeis who might be pait of a
competing ecosystem. The upshot is that while most seivices will woik ieasonably
well foi any customei, choosing solutions fiom the same ecosystem will usually mean
less fiustiation anu moie featuies.
In 2u1S we expect to see the following changes in the ecosystem battle:

J)*-'?',=: Niciosoft is making the most aggiessive moves by cieating theii own
tablet (Suiface, competes with Apple's iPau) poweieu by theii own tablet-fiienuly
opeiating system (Winuows RT, competes with uoogle's Anuioiu oi Apple's i0S).
They've also upuateu theii Winuows Phone piouuct, with hanusets piouuceu by
Nokia.
0n the uesktop, Niciosoft's new Winuows 8 is uesigneu to woik on tiauitional
computeis anu tablets, which Niciosoft hopes will give them an auvantage ovei
Apple's sepaiate opeiating systems foi Nacs anu iPausiPhones. Peihaps most
significantly, Niciosoft's new 0ffice 2u1S will be ieleaseu in }anuaiy anu incluues
tight integiation with Niciosoft's clouu seivices, Winuows 8, Winuows Phone, anu
Winuows RT. Niciosoft has long been the uominant foice in uesktop computing anu
office piouuctivity softwaie
Neanwhile Niciosoft has been uominating in anothei suipiising aiena with theii
Xbox S6u home enteitainment & gaming console.
Niciosoft's goals foi 2u1S incluue piotecting its existing seivice aieas while
aggiessively competing foi new customeis in online email & collaboiation (0ffice
S6S) anu mobile uevices (Winuows Phone, Winuows RT).
X&&(%: Among the most secietive of the laige tech companies, we can't be suie what
Apple's plans aie foi 2u1S - but we can make some euucateu guesses. Apple has the
best smaitphone, the best tablets, the uominant music & viueo stoie (iTunes), anu the
laigest App stoie.
Theie aie two aieas wheie Apple is likely to tiy anu expanu in 2u1S. Cieuible iumois
point to an Apple Tv piouuct (iTv.) which may compete with Niciosoft's Xbox foi
home enteitainment options.
Tech
Trends
2013


26
Noie inteiesting foi businesses though we may see Apple's iClouu solution expanu to
become a moie woithwhile alteinative to the email & collaboiation platfoims fiom
Niciosoft (ExchangeShaiepoint) anu uoogle (umailApps).

W''1(%: Theie was a time when uoogle piouucts weie seen as being veiy platfoim-
neutial, woiking equally well on Apple oi Niciosoft computeis. That was befoie
mobile computing in the foim of smaitphones anu tablets became the new fiontiei foi
IT piouuctivity, anu befoie uoogle's own Anuioiu opeiating system became the best
selling platfoim foi mobile computing uevices.
uoogle uominates in seaich anu seaich auveitising, as well as hosteu email. 0ntil
iecently they've also hau the maiket foi online office applications all to themselves,
but with Niciosoft's new 0ffice S6S piouuct launching in }anuaiy uoogle finus
themselves facing a supeiioi piouuct fiom a majoi (anu highly motivateu)
competitoi. It's ieasonable to expect a iesponse fiom uoogle, with an impioveu
uoogle Apps piouuct, peihaps incoipoiating the viueo chat featuies they've auueu to
theii uoogle Plus social netwoik.
0nfoitunately foi uoogle they'ie no longei vieweu as neutial - in the smaitphone &
tablet maiket Apple anu uoogle aie fieice enemies, which may mean that any
impioveu uoogle Apps "Apps" will be blockeu oi hanuicappeu foi the millions of
iPhone oi iPau useis.
Speaking of mobile uevices though, expect the iecent iapiu impiovements in uoogle
Anuioiu uevices to continue in 2u1S.

XB#]'0: Amazon has successfully leveiageu theii uominance in online meichanuise
sales to expanu into uigital uistiibution, with theii stieaming viueo anu uownloauable
music seivices competing heau on with Apple's iTunes. iTunes iecent auuition of the
iBooks seivice foi uownloauable ieauing content is an obvious iesponse to Amazon's
moie populai e-book sales via theii Kinule uevices anu apps. Theii newest Kinule
tablets also compete with the Apple iPau uevices, anu just like Apple with the iPau
Amazon can affoiu to subsiuize the haiuwaie in oiuei to make money on content
sales.
In 2u1S iumois abounu that Amazon may ielease theii own smaitphone, competing
with Apple's iPhone anu piobably using a highly customizeu veision of uoogle's
Anuioiu opeiating system (just like the Kinule Fiie tablets uo touay).
Sepaiately Amazon uominates in an aiea many consumeis aie unawaie of - clouu
computing. Amazon's AWS anu EC2 seivices aie the backbone of many clouu
computing companies, anu iecently Amazon has signaleu that they will continue to
ieuuce piices anu auu featuies in theii clouu seivices to maintain theii uominance
thioughout 2u1S. In this aiea Niciosoft (with theii Azuie seivice) anu uoogle (with
uoogle App Engine) tiying haiu to catch up to Amazon.
Tech
Trends
2013


27

a#*%E''G: At this point it's safe to say that eveiyone knows Facebook - the seivice
claims ovei 1 billion useis use the social netwoiking seivice each month. Really, in
the battle of the ecosystems, Facebook is the uaik hoise - they uon't uiiectly compete
with the othei tech giants in seaich, oi online applications, oi clouu computing, oi
mobile uevices. 0i uo they.
When a company has Facebook's commanuing base of loyal useis (stuuies show ovei
S8u million people use Facebook eveiy uay), Facebook coulu easily expanu into any of
these aieas if they wanteu to. Anu they have inuicateu some inteiest: consiuei this
quote fiom a TechCiunch.com aiticle about Facebook CE0 Naik Zuckeibeig fiom
Septembei 2u12:
"Mark Zuckerberg is on stage at Disrupt talking about the potential for Facebook to get serious
about creating a search engine, saying were basically doing 1 billion queries a day and were
not even trying. He followed up noting Facebook is pretty uniquely positioned to answer the
questions people have. At some point well do it. We have a team working on it.
Foi compaiison's sake, even if we assume the figuies in the quote aie coiiect, uoogle
cuiiently uoes 4.7 billion seaich queiies pei uay (accoiuing to 2u11 statistics, it's
likely highei now). If I weie uoogle, I woulu be conceineu about Facebook as a futuie
competitoi.
In auuition iumois abounu about a possible Facebook-bianueu mobile phone, though
Zuckeibeig is on iecoiu as saying such a uevice "woulun't make sense". What uoes
make sense though is online applications - Facebook alieauy offeis fiee viueo chat to
its useis, competing with similai offeiings fiom Niciosoft anu uoogle. Anu a mouest,
laigely unpiomoteu Facebook email seivice was staiteu in 2u12 as well. Facebook
has a massive online gaming segment, so a tiansition to a home enteitainment seivice
competing with Niciosoft's Xbox oi Apple's iumoieu iTv aien't out of the question
eithei.



Foi this tienu oui iecommenueu action items will focus on how each of the
ecosystems can be useu to benefit youi business:

1. W''1(%: It shoulu go without saying that any business wants to be
founu in uoogle's seaich engine, anu if you aien't alieauy using
seaich engine optimization anu pay-pei-click maiketing to piomote
youiself to uoogle's auuience you may be missing business.

Consiuei piomoting youi business on uoogle Plus too, which can
help to boost youi othei uoogle auveitising. uoogle Plus's fiee
Tech
Trends
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28
viueo chat featuie calleu "Bangouts" has also been ieally useful foi
small teams who want an easy way to host viitual meetings.

If youi uocument cieation neeus aie ielatively simple anu you want
easy collaboiation with otheis, uoogle Apps is woith checking out.

Finally uon't foiget uoogle makes the Anuioiu opeiating system
founu in many smaitphones anu tablets, anu contiols the app stoie
(calleu uoogle Play) foi most of them. Talk with youi IT consultant
about cieating youi own App to piomote youi business. Nobile
apps can be anything fiom a simple biochuie anu contact page to a
uiscussion anu announcement mechanism to a full-fleugeu way to
offei youi piouucts oi seivices in a new way. Costs to uevelop youi
own mobile app may be less than you think!

2. X&&(%: The same iecommenuation to consiuei builuing youi own
"App" applies to Apple as well, although it can be a little tiickiei to
get an App into Apple's App Stoie compaieu to uoogle's.

Similaily Apple has iTunes, the woilu's laigest online music stoie.
Nost businesses uon't think iTunes applies to them, but iTunes also
uistiibutes poucasts anu auuiobooks. }eb Blount uistiibutes a fiee
poucast calleu "PoweiPiinciples" thiough iTunes as a way to
piomote his Salesuiavy.com website. Is theie a piomotion
oppoitunity foi youi business thiough iTunes.

Aie youi employees piimaiily woiking on Nac computeis. If so
you'll want to check out iClouu, Apple's shaiing anu collaboiation
seivice.

S. J)*-'?',=: Almost eveiyone paiticipates in the Niciosoft
ecosystem in some way, but the big questions foi 2u1S will be
whethei you upgiaue to Winuows 8, anu whethei you make the
jump to the clouu with Niciosoft's 0ffice S6S. The upuateu piicing
foi 2u1S makes both upgiaues veiy enticing, anu you'll gain new
shaiing, backup, anu collaboiation featuies. The uownsiue is you'll
have to leain a slightly uiffeient way of woiking - with the new
touch enviionment in Winuows 8, oi in a clouu-centiic
enviionment with 0ffice 2u1S & 0ffice S6S. Is the upsiue woith the
Tech
Trends
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29
leaining cuive. That's a conveisation you'll want to have.

Also uon't oveilook auveitising via Niciosoft's seaich engine (Bing)
anu new Winuows App stoie. Both aie much smallei then the
alteinatives fiom uoogle anu Apple, but smallei can mean less
competition foi youi piouucts as well.

4. a#*%E''G: Foi now, Facebook offeis businesses just one easy
choice: uo you want to be theie, oi not. Consiueiing that S8u
million people visit Facebook eveiy BAY anu at least some of them
aie possible customeis foi youi business, it seems ieasonable to
have at least some soit of piesence on the site.

Businesses can setup Facebook "Pages" foi fiee, which foi many
veiy small businesses may be the only website you neeu.
If youi company taigets consumeis you may also want to consiuei
Facebook's paiu auveitising piogiam as well.

S. XB#]'0: Like Facebook, Amazon's millions of customeis aie a
haiu maiket to ignoie, but what can it uo foi youi business.
Amazon offeis thiee oppoitunities that all businesses shoulu
consiuei: auveitising, sales, anu self-publishing.

Sales is the most obvious oppoitunity - if you cieate a unique
piouuct that can be solu to geneial consumeis anu businesses, you
can paitnei with Amazon to have youi piouucts solu via theii
maiketplace. Theie aie uiffeient piogiams - in some Amazon
stocks the piouuct, in otheis you keep it until it's solu. Financial
teims vaiy so you'll want to investigate the options befoie you
ueciue.

Some people miss the fact that whenevei you seaich foi a piouuct
to buy on Amazon, aus come up. Nost aie aus foi othei Amazon-
solu piouucts, but some aie aus foi local businesses too. Foi
example, if you aie a local Accountant anu someone is seaiching foi
books on uoing youi own tax ietuins, that may be a goou place foi
you to piomote youi business.

Then theie is self-publishing. Amazon makes it easy foi content
Tech
Trends
2013


Su
cieatois to sell physical books, BvBs, CBs, anu uownloaueu meuia
(thiough theii CieateSpace subsiuiaiy), oi to publish e-books
uiiectly to the Kinule e-ieauei libiaiy (Kinule uiiect publishing).
ueneially this is uone with little oi no up-fiont costs to the cieatoi,
you just neeu to follow Amazon's iules foi foimatting, uploauing,
anu piicing youi content. Even if you uon't intenu to be a
piofessional authoi oi musician, being able to point to a book you
wiote oi CB you cieateu in the Amazon stoie auus cieuibility to
youi local business anu can impiess potential clients.

Finally, since Amazon is now a majoi foice in the tablet maiket with
theii Kinule Fiie piouucts, we shoulu mention the same
iecommenuations we maue above foi the App Stoies fiom uoogle
anu fiom Apple, because Amazon has theii own. If you want youi
"App" to be uiscoveiable on Amazon tablets, make suie you publish
it to Amazon's app stoie too.




Tech
Trends
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S1


In 198S if you woikeu in a laige coipoiation you most likely hau an IT uepaitment
(often iefeiieu to as Infoimation Systems back then). If you woikeu foi a smallei
business you piobably got most of youi IT suppoit fiom the stoie that solu you youi
computei haiuwaie - anu much of the time that suppoit was pioviueu foi fiee in the
hopes that you woulu continue buying those high-piofit-maigin machines.
In 199S if you woikeu in a laige coipoiation youi IT uepaitment was piobably much
laigei, anu taskeu with new iesponsibilities like setting up websites anu suppoiting
email accounts. In a small business youi local computei stoie was piobably gone, iun
out of business by the shiinking piofit maigins biought about by a new geneiation of
uiiect-sales manufactuieis like Bell computei. So insteau you founu local IT suppoit
companies anu hiieu them by the houi foi theii expeitise.
In 2uuS laige tiauitional coipoiate IT uepaitments weie shiinking uue to buuget cuts
anu the incieasing ease-of-use of uay-to-uay applications, while at the same time
moie anu moie companies founu themselves builuing up new uepaitments to uevelop
anu maintain the company's online piesence (now moie than just a simple website)
anu even custom softwaie uevelopment. An incieasing numbei of outsiue
consultants, with specific skillsets, weie useu to supplement the in-house team. 0n
the small business siue those same tienus meant that multiple outsiue contiactois
weie becoming moie commonplace, with one venuoi hanuling infiastiuctuie issues,
anothei hanuling online maiketing, anu otheis hanuling things like specific line-of-
business softwaie suppoit oi communications solutions.
This oveiall tienu will continue into 2u1S, as an incieasingly uiveise set of IT-ielateu
business neeus (infiastiuctuie, business applications, communication, online
piesence, maiketing, application uevelopment, social meuia) iequiie an incieasingly
uiveise set of skills. Laigei coipoiations will see a smallei cential IT uepaitment
managing oi cooiuinating with multiple outsiue specialists oi inteinal uepaitments.
The iole of the CI0 anu theii team becomes moie about cooiuinating, collaboiating,
anu managing the piocess(es) than just installing anu maintaining seiveis.
Similaily on the small anu meuium business siue, the "IT guy" (oi gal) has hau to
change hats yet again. If in the 8u's they weie the computei sellei, in the 9u's they
weie the computei iepaiiman, anu in the eaily 2uuu's they weie the netwoik
managei, in 2u1S we'll see a continueu shift to a iole best uesciibeu in a 2u11 aiticle
by intel as the "outsouiceu CI0".
IT venuois become IT Paitneis
Tech
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S2
Whethei in a laige oi small business enviionment, the tiansition manifests itself in
two ciitical ways: fiist, the skills neeueu by the CI0 anu theii team aie uiffeient, with
a gieatei emphasis on unueistanuing the business peispective anu team
management. Theii clients aie uemanuing moie than just a ieliable seivei anu
secuie netwoik, they want new iueas on ways technology can impiove piouuctivity,
ieuuce costs, anu help giow the business.
Seconu, the olu compensation mouels neeu to be iethought, especially in the small
anu meuium business maiketplace. Between 198S anu 199S the IT Seivice
community shifteu fiom a mouel laigely baseu on haiuwaie piofits to a pay-by-the-
houi mouel, anu touay that mouel is shifting again. Companies, laige anu small, piefei
a moie pieuictable IT buuget, a moie pioactive suppoit stiuctuie, anu a paitnei who
can help with piofits anu piouuctivity iathei than just being a venuoi oi employee
looking foi a paycheck. This means the pay-by-the-houi appioach foi outsiue
consultants will continue to shift to compensation baseu on outcomes, incluuing fixeu
monthly management & suppoit fees anu pei-pioject piicing.


Foi oui five Action Items in this section, we highlight five aieas you shoulu
uiscuss with youi CI0 oi "0utsouiceu CI0" (IT Consultant) anu look foi ways
youi company can impiove piouuctivity, inciease piofits, oi giow the
business using each one. Note that many of these coiiesponu to othei tienus
we've uiscusseu in this uocument:

1. /#*G3& V ^%*3-)=+` Theie aie numeious scaiy statistics about
what happens to businesses who lose theii uata. Theie aie equally
scaiy statistics about businesses who ignoie the pievious scaiy
statistics anu still iefuse to backup theii uata. Nost take the heau-
in-the-sanu, "It will nevei happen to me" appioach, which any IT
consultant can tell you nevei enus well.

What woulu happen to youi business if a haiu uiive uieu
tomoiiow, eithei in youi seivei oi in a key employee's computei.
Yes, uata iecoveiy fiom ciasheu haiu uiives is ?'B%=)B%? possible
but not always, anu Nuiphy's law says that the one file which is
most impoitant to youi business is the one that can't be iecoveieu.
Bo you have a backup. Aie all the impoitant files being incluueu in
that backup. Bow fast can you iestoie opeiations fiom that
backup, anu what will youi business uo uuiing the iestoiation &
iebuiluing time. Theie aie solutions on the maiket touay which
can ieuuce iecoveiy time fiom a faileu haiu uiive fiom uays uown
Tech
Trends
2013


SS
to meie minutes, so this is something you shoulu uiscuss with youi
IT consultant if uowntime is impoitant to you.

Similaily secuiity is an incieasing issue. We'll uiscuss the
implications of spam, spywaie, anu viiuses latei (in Section 1u),
anu we uiscusseu the secuiity implications of mobile uevices back
in Section 1. Suffice it to say you want to talk with youi IT
consultant about all possible secuiity isssues anu make suie youi
business is taking an appiopiiate level of piecautions ielative to
youi business enviionment.

2. :0,-#?=-3*=3-%` By infiastiuctuie I mean the backbone of youi
technology - youi netwoik, youi seivei, youi inteinet connection,
anu youi key applications. At any given point it's goou piactice to
know which infiastiuctuie piece is youi weakest anu plan foi it's
ieplacement in a timely mannei when it can be piopeily buugeteu.
That may mean upgiauing an ancient seivei next month, oi it coulu
mean planning to swap out a consumei-giaue ioutei foi a moie
suitable commeicial one when the buuget allows foi it. Woik with
youi IT consultant to make suie theie aie no suipiises luiking in
youi infiastiuctuie that may cause unexpecteu seivice
inteiiuptions oi pievent you fiom upgiauing to a new solution such
as a viueo leaining platfoim.

S. J'E)(% 6%$)*%? V )H#>?` We uiscusseu these in Section 1, but
make suie youi IT Consultant is comfoitable suppoiting the uevices
anu applications you aie likely to neeu in the futuie.

4. 40()0% J#-G%=)01@ F%E?)=%?@ ^'*)#( J%>)#` These aieas ieally
iequiie a specialist, so avoiu the common mistake of thinking that
just because technology is involveu this is something youi IT
Consultant is automatically goou at. Bowevei you may finu that
youi IT Consultant can auvise you on choosing a goou paitnei to
help in these aieas, anu it's likely that youi chosen specialist
(whethei an inteinal employee oi an outsouiceu maiketing guiu)
will neeu to woik closely with youi IT Consultant to make suie
youi web seiveis & seivices can woik well foi theii neeus.

Tech
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2013


S4
S. _':H V M'BB30)*#=)'0` A giowing aiea many businesses
oveilook is the explosion in Inteinet-baseu telephone systems. If
youi only expeiience with voice-ovei-inteinet-piotocol ("voIP")
telephone calls is something like Skype oi vonage, you may be
suipiiseu by how goou the quality on a business-class voIP system
can be. When piopeily configuieu, a voIP telephony system can
give you bettei quality, bettei featuies, anu a much lowei piice
than tiauitional analog phone systems. Bowevei when pooily
configuieu a voIP system can sounu woise than a walkie-talkie anu
cieate a teiiible impiession foi youi business. Youi IT Consultant
can auvise you on what netwoik upgiaues anu inteinet seivice
changes may be necessaiy to take auvantage of the benefits of voIP
while minimizing the iisks.


Tech
Trends
2013


SS

ODESK & ELANCE, WORKMARKET, FIVERR, 99DESIGNS, &
KICKSTARTER

Since the uawn of time businesses have stiuggleu with finuing the iight employees.
Small businesses in paiticulai finu staffing a challenge because they have fewei
positions to fill, anu so any mistake, any incoiiect hiie oi any inability to hiie the iight
skills neeueu cieate a uispiopoitionate pioblem foi small businesses. Businesses like
to say "We'ie only as goou as oui people!" oi "0ui people aie oui gieatest asset!" - so
if that's tiue, then any solution that impioves the quality of a business's employees
shoulu be manuatoiy foi any successful business. That's tiue of piouuctivity tools, it's
tiue of online tiaining, anu it's also tiue of outsouicing.
The teim outsouicing can be contioveisial, associateu with businesses that uownsize
theii staff at home so they can make moie piofits by hiiing less expensive employees
oi contiactois oveiseas. Thomas Fiieuman in his book "The Woilu is Flat" aigues
though that the efficiencies biought on by outsouicing can spui moie hiiing (albeit in
uiffeient fielus) at home by taking auvantage of the most efficient, cost-effective ways
to peifoim each business task. That's not an aigument I want to get into heie,
howevei, except to say that theie aie pios anu cons to outsouicing anu in the fiee
maiket businesses will always giavitate to the most efficient solutions.
What I uo want to talk about heie is a myiiau of ielatively new outsouicing tools
which aie becoming moie anu moie commonplace in eveiy line of business. While
these tools geneially won't ieplace an entiie employee on youi staff, they uo give you
new ways to supplement youi inteinal skills with outsiue help in a veiy effective way.



Foi oui five action items in this section we'ie going to take an in-uepth look
at each of the five unique anu populai outsouicing channels - 0uesk &
Elance, Woikmaiket, Fiveii, 99uesigns, anu Kickstaitei - anu uiscuss how
each can be beneficial to youi business in 2u1S.

1. 4>%?G V [(#0*%` If you neeu an item, anything fiom an obscuie
computei pait to a paii of shoes to a new automobile, you might
0utsouicing Naue Easy
Tech
Trends
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S6
seaich foi them on websites like Ebay oi Amazon.com. If you neeu
to finu someone with a specific skill, you might seaich on
0uesk.com oi Elance.com.

Both sites aie essentially "talent maiketplaces", wheie people with
skills come to be matcheu up to people who neeu those skills.
You'll finu thousanus of website piogiammeis (of eveiy imaginable
technical niche), cieative & giaphic uesigneis, technical wiiteis,
maiketing expeits, tianslatois, auministiative assistants,
multimeuia guius, anu even engineeis, all with posteu piofiles
showing theii skills, ieviews fiom companies who have pieviously
hiieu them via the website, anu samples of theii woik wheie
applicable.

If youi business offeis those seivices, Elance anu 0uesk might be an
oppoitunity foi you to sell youi seivices, but this is moie often tiue
of fieelanceis than laigei companies.

While you can communicate uiiectly with specific contiactois, it's
moie common to post a job anu let otheis biu on it. Piice
competition can be fieice on both websites, but theie is also an
expectation that buyeis will accept a highei piice in exchange foi
highei quality woik. Foi a iecent job I posteu on 0uesk I ieceiveu
bius ianging fiom $4 0S pei houi up to $1Su 0S pei houi, anu I
chose someone chaiging $SS - the lowei piiceu options uiun't seem
qualifieu foi the job, the highei ones woulu put it outsiue of my
buuget, anu the gentleman I chose seemeu to have the iight balance
of skills, positive ieviews, anu coulu uo my job within 24 houis,
which was impoitant as it was somewhat uigent.

In my example, I posteu an au on the 0uesk website one Fiiuay
evening, anu within 4S minutes I hau ovei 7S pioposals (it was a
faiily simple job - anothei posting foi a veiy specific anu complex
iequest only ieceiveu two oi thiee postings aftei a week). Within
24 houis my job was complete, incluuing 4 oi S ievisions I
iequesteu fiom the contiactoi along the way, anu I hau paiu out
$SS.

Both 0uesk anu Elance have mechanisms to pievent fiauu on both
Tech
Trends
2013


S7
siues, the buyei anu the sellei in each tiansaction. 0uesk's
softwaie monitois the contiactois woik, iecoiuing theii scieen
eveiy few minutes anu posting snapshots to the buyei so they can
veiify the houis woikeu. Some contiactois view this as intiusive,
so as a iesult, anu also because it's a much oluei website, Elance
tenus to have moie establisheu, highei piiceu, anu piesumably
highei quality contiactois than 0uesk. 0uesk on the othei hanu is
newei, fastei giowing, anu tenus to have less expensive contiactois
fiom a veiy uiveise selection of countiies.

Whenevei you neeu help with a specific pioject oi a specific skill,
anu if youi inteinal team eithei lacks those capabilities oi is just
busy with othei things, consiuei tiying out 0uesk.com oi
Elance.com in 2u1S.

2. F'-GB#-G%=I*'B` Woikmaiket is also an online laboi
maiketplace, which sounus at fiist like it woulu compete alongsiue
Elance anu 0uesk, but it's completely uiffeient. Wheie those sites
aie focuseu on connecting you to contiactois who can uo woik foi
you, Woikmaiket is uesigneu to let you builu a netwoik of
contiactois who uo jobs foi youi customeis. This is most
applicable foi a seivice business, so foi example many inteinet
companies hiie anu manage installeis via Woikmaiket, anu many
computei waiianty companies manage netwoiks of inuepenuent
iepaii contiactois via Woikmaiket.

If youi business fits into that soit of categoiy, check out the types of
contiactois anu jobs available on Woikmaiket to see wheie youi
company can benefit fiom that enviionment.

S. a)$%-- is unique. That's not to say it hasn't been copieu - it has,
liteially thousanus of times, but Fiveii.com is still the oiiginal anu
best in it's categoiy. The "categoiy" in this case is "anything foi $S"
- Fiveii is liteially an online maiketplace wheie thousanus of
people anu businesses offei to uo a specific task foi $S.

Anu it can be a little bizaiie: If you want someone to iecoiu a viueo
of a pietty giil in a bikini uoing a hula hoop while ieciting youi
company slogan, this is the place you've been looking foi. It's
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S8
suipiising the numbei of things people have come up with to uo foi
$S - voice iecoiuings, giaphics, limiteu piogiamming anu web
uesign, auvice anu iecommenuations, seaich engine optimization,
hanu-maue gieeting caius, anu viueos - lots anu lots of viueos.

Look past the ouuities anu questionable online maiketing effoits
though anu theie aie some ieal possibilities. If you'ie consiueiing
cieating an online viueo to piomote youi company, why not spenu
$S to have one of Fiveii's coloiful peisonalities uo one foi you.
uianteu it will be limiteu anu offbeat, but those soits of things can
woik well foi some businesses.

0n the othei hanu, you might also consiuei whethei youi company
can offei something foi $S. Simple auvice about youi inuustiy. A
uownloauable e-book. Like Elance anu 0uesk this may be bettei
suiteu foi fieelanceis than laigei companies, but theie is no uoubt
that theie aie oppoitunities foi the iight seivices in the $S
maiketplace.

4. bb>%?)10?I*'B` Theie aie many giaphic uesigneis who hate
99uesigns.com with a passion. Theii uislike stems fiom the
funuamental change 99uesigns is biinging to theii business - in the
past a customei woikeu one-on-one with a giaphic uesignei, anu
the piicing was set somewhat aibitiaiily by the uesignei baseu on
how many businesses thought they weie goou. I'm not saying that
any uesignei is not woith theii asking piice, but this is a
funuamentally inefficient way to hanule any tiansaction. Anu wheie
theie is inefficiency, you can count on the fact that one uay an
inteinet-baseu solution will finu a way to make it moie efficient in a
way that biings uown piices anu impioves quality. Foi giaphic
uesign (anu to a lessei extent website anu application
uevelopment) that solution is 99uesigns.com.

99uesigns seivice is veiy simple - if you have a neeu, let's say foi a
new biochuie, you can post a uesciiption of what you neeu as a
contest on the 99uesigns website. Thousanus of uesigneis
paiticipate in the 99uesigns system, so a few will natuially check
out youi contest anu mock up a quick veision of what they think
you'ie looking foi. These mock-ups aie publicly uisplayeu in youi
Tech
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S9
contest, along with the comments anu iating you give each one.
Faiily quickly uesigneis leain what you like anu uon't like anu
begin posting new impioveu uesigns baseu on youi feeuback. It's
not uncommon foi some contests to ieceive liteially thousanus of
uesign submissions.

At the enu of the contest the customei chooses theii favoiite, pays a
pieviously agieeu upon amount (99uesigns sets minimums but
theie aie vaiious ways you can pay moie to encouiage bettei
paiticipation in youi contest by the top uesigneis), anu then
ieceives the uocuments anuoi files necessaiy foi that solution.

0nlike the olu uays, wheie one uesignei woiks with one customei
anu tiies to uiscein what will woik best foi them, 99uesigns
pioviues a mechanism wheie uozens of uesigneis woik foi one
customei anu use the feeuback piocess to uiscein what that
customei wants. It's a much moie efficient system, anu foi the
customei geneially iesults in a bettei piouuct at a lowei piice.

0nfoitunately foi the uesigneis, while uozens of uesigneis may
offei uesigns foi a given contest only the winning uesignei gets
paiu. (The customei uoes not ieceive the files necessaiy to iecieate
the 'losing' uesigns, but still those uesigneis have woikeu haiu foi
no compensation). Still, 99uesigns cieates a maiketplace wheie
uesigneis get instantly connecteu to potential customeis without
having to go out anu maiket theii seivices, so theie aie benefits on
both siues.

It's haiu to finu a ieason not to use 99uesigns, unless you uon't
want to wait thiough the contest peiiou foi youi uesign oi just
want to hanu off youi neeus to someone else without having to
paiticipate in the feeuback piocess. Nost businesses though will uo
well to consiuei using 99uesigns.com foi theii next giaphic uesign
pioject.

S. c)*G?=#-=%-I*'B` Naybe you heaiu a news aiticle about a business
who successfully useu Kickstaitei to launch a new piouuct, oi
album, oi entiie business. The ciowufunuing site has hau a gieat
ueal of publicity ovei the last yeai as hot new piouucts like the
Tech
Trends
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4u
0uya game console oi Pebble watch iaiseu millions of uollais (as
well as hunuieus of initial customeis) thiough Kickstaitei's
funuiaising system which connects businesses with "investois"
who contiibute money towaius a new ventuie in exchange foi
pieueteimineu "iewaius" (but not actual owneiship equity in the
company).

0nfoitunately Kickstaitei is not a gieat choice foi most businesses.
While it can be a gieat place foi a musician to get funuing foi a new
album oi a wiitei to get funuing foi a new book, ielatively few
businesses can take auvantage of the website uue to the limiteu
types of ventuies that Kickstaitei allows.

Foi businesses looking foi Kickstaitei-esque funuing anu
piomotion, thiee othei sites may be a bettei fit. Check out
Inuieuouo, Funuable, anu RocketBub as potential paitneis foi youi
business.




Tech
Trends
2013


41



Biu you notice. Apps aie EvERYWBERE. Eaily Palm phones anu Blackbeiiies hau
access to uownloauable, installable apps, but things ieally uiun't take off until the
iPhone. Touay you can finu App Stoies on lots of uevices: iPhones, iPaus, Anuioiu
phones, Winuows 8 PCs, Nacs, Amazon uevices, anu moie.
Why have Apps become a householu woiu. Simple - they fill a neeu. If you want to
uo something, like calculate a scientific foimula, get a iecipe foi chicken soup, oi
thiow animateu biius at animateu pigs, you can finu a simple, cheap app that will help
you accomplish youi task. Apps help us uo oui jobs, they help impiove oui lives, anu
they help us ielax in oui fiee time too. No wonuei the woilu has staiteu to ievolve
aiounu Apps!
If youi business involves making mobile viueo games then it's self-explanatoiy how
Apps apply to youi business, but most othei business owneis may wonuei how this
tienu applies to them.


Let's take a look at five ways Apps might benefit youi business:

1. H-'>3*% 2'3- 450 X&& d =;% [#?+ F#+
What woulu happen if youi customeis anu potential customeis hau
an icon on theii phone that connecteu them to youi business.
Naybe it pioviues youi stoie houis, youi contact infoimation,
uiiving uiiections to youi location, anu maybe a viitual coupon foi
youi seivices. 0thei options coulu incluue content fiom youi
website, youi Facebook page, oi youi viueos on YouTube.
Bozens of venuois pioviue solutions which will cieate an App foi
youi business with those soits of featuies foi just a few hunuieu
uollais. Bepenuing on the venuoi they can also submit youi App to
the App stoies foi uoogle, Apple, Amazon, anu Winuows foi you,
anu pioviue monthly upuates foi a small ongoing fee. Woik with
youi IT Consultant to ieseaich the best way to piouuce an easy App
Its an Appy, Appy Woilu
Tech
Trends
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42
foi youi business.

2. H-'>3*% 2'3- 450 X&& d =;% H-',%??)'0#( F#+
What if youi neeus aie moie complex than we outlineu in point 1
above. You can still cieate youi own App, with any featuie oi
function you uesiie, by hiiing an App uevelopei. Stait by talking
with youi IT Consultant to see if they have an App uevelopment
paitnei they woik with. If not, check out 0uesk.com (uiscusseu on
page SS) as a place to stait ieciuiting potential uevelopei paitneis.

S. J#G% ^3-% X&&? M#0 a)0> 2'3
Whethei you have youi own App oi not, if you aie in a ietail oi
consumei-oiienteu business you want to make suie youi
customeis can finu you. Youi potential customei may be using an
App fiom 0penTable, Yelp, LinkeuIn, Facebook, oi Angie's List. 0i
they might just be using uoogle Naps oi Bing Naps to look foi local
businesses. Nake suie youi business is listeu piopeily in each of
these websites - when you uo you shoulu automatically be
uiscoveieu by potential customeis using those associateu Apps
when they uo a ielevant seaich.

4. X>$%-=)?% )0 ^'B%'0% [(?%<? X&&
Nobile auveitising, especially in Apps, may be out of ieach foi most
small businesses. Consiuei that many mobile maiketing piogiams
have a minimum investment of $1uu,uuu anu it's easy to see why
most of the aus you may see insiue mobile games anu apps aie fiom
laige, multi-national bianus.

But that uoesn't mean you can't finu cieative ways to uo it on a
moie limiteu buuget. Foi example, if you iuentify othei local
businesses with a populai App, talk with them one-on-one about
potential joint-ventuie oppoitunities. Peihaps youi company can
sponsoi a viitual coupon foi theii business, in exchange foi joint
piomotion in theii App.

Also consiuei auveitising with uoogle Auwoius anu Facebook Aus,
both of which have mobile auveitising options in a pay-pei-click
foimat.

Tech
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4S
S. a)0> X&&? 2'3 M#0 e?%
It piobably goes without saying, but you shoulu look foi Apps
which will help youi business be moie piouuctive. Beie aie a few
to get staiteu with:

o Scheuuling: Booule oi TimeTiaue
o IueasBiainstoiiming: Woikflowy, NinuNeistei, oi
iThoughts
o Fitness: uaiminFit oi FitBit
o Relevant News: Zite
o File Shaiing: Biopbox, Box.net, oi }ungleuisk
o To-Bos: Bue, Toouleuo, RemembeiTheNilk
o Social Neuia: BootSuite



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44

^&#B@ ^&+5#-%@ _)-3?%?

In 2uu6 I iemembei veiy cleaily stanuing on a stage in fiont of a ioom full of IT
piofessionals anu making a bolu statement: I saiu that we hau seen the peak of the
SpamSpywaieviius thieat, anu that impioveu piotection anu impioveu usei
awaieness meant that the thieat woulu uiminish in the yeais aheau.
Sauly I was wiong - veiy wiong.
Nalwaie (malicious softwaie, incluuing viiuses, spywaie, anu similai bauuies) is a
highly piofitable business, anu wheie theie aie piofits to be maue theie will always
be enteipiising ciiminals woiking haiu to get a piece of the pie. In Nay of 2u12 one
malwaie authoi, ueoig Avenesov was sentenceu to 4 yeais in piison foi being the
masteiminu behinu the Bieuolab malwaie. Accoiuing to authoiities, Bieuolab eaineu
$12S,uuu 0SB 6+) 1."#2 foi it's cieatoi by ienting out infecteu PCs in oiuei to senu
out spam emails. Anu Bieuolab is just one of thousanus of malwaie piouuceis in the
woilu touay.
I was about the penuing-uecline of malwaie in 2uu6, anu similaily I finu that many
business owneis anu manageis have misconceptions about how viiuses, spam, anu
spywaie can be a seiious thieat to theii businesses touay.


Foi oui last five Action Items let's look at five common misconceptions about
Spam, Spywaie, anu viiuses (aka Nalwaie):

1. :, : ;#$% #0 #0=)N$)-3? &-'1-#B :<B ?#,%
0nfoitunately this is not entiiely tiue. uianteu having a goou anti-
viius & anti-spywaie piogiam (nowauays both featuies aie
geneially incluueu in the same package) is an impoitant step in the
iight uiiection. Bowevei malwaie cieatois woik haiu to siuestep
the common piotection piogiams eithei by exploiting newly
uiscoveieu secuiity holes quickly, befoie they'ie patcheu, oi by
using "social engineeiing" to tiick useis into opening infecteu files
uiiectly.
Spam, Spywaie, viiuses
Tech
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4S

While theie is no guaiantee of total safety, expeits iecommenu a
combination of the following foi ieasonable piotection:

Piofessional Anti-Nalwaie Softwaie
Regulai Softwaie 0puates ("patches") foi youi opeiating system
(Winuows oi Nac 0SX), }ava, Auobe piouucts, anu Inteinet
Biowseis
0sei euucation (e.g. "If you uon't iecognize the senuei, uon't
open the attachment")
Peiimetei uefense (fiiewall, hosteu spam filteiing, BNS
piotection)
Regulai, automateu backups
247 System Nonitoiing

2. :, : ;#$% # J#* :<B ?#,%
0nce upon a time this was mostly tiue - when Nacs weie a tiny
slice of the oveiall maiket it just wasn't woith the malwaie wiitei's
time to leain how to infect Apple computeis. With the giowing
populaiity of the Nacintosh though comes a giowing inteiest fiom
online ciiminals. In 2u12 ovei 6uu,uuu Nac computeis weie
infecteu with the Flashback malwaie, anu secuiity makei Sophos
cuiiently tiacks ovei 4Suu Nac-specific viiuses & malwaie
cuiiently in use aiounu the woilu.

Like PC useis, the time has come foi Nac useis to auu anti-malwaie
softwaie anu make suie they aie being uiligent with softwaie
upuates anu backups.

S. :, : &-'=%*= B+ *'B&3=%-? :<B ?#,%
Also not tiue - as of 2u12 the fastest giowing segment of both
malwaie quantity anu malwaie piofitability (foi the ciiminals
cieating these things) is the smaitphone anu tablet maiket, anu
moie specifically Anuioiu-baseu uevices. (i0S uevices, incluuing
iPhones anu iPaus, aie still laigely malwaie-fiee, though a }une
2u12 aiticle in Foibes magazine titleu "Theie is too malwaie on the
iPhone!" makes the point that iBevice useis shoulu not assume they
aie completely invulneiable.
Tech
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46
With the iise in Anuioiu malwaie has come the iise in Anuioiu-
baseu piotection softwaie, anu Anuioiu management tools foi IT
uepaitments to use both in piotecting anu secuiing mobile uevices.
Talk to youi IT consultant to make suie you'ie using the iight level
of mobile secuiity in youi mobile uevices.

4. \' '0% 5'3(> E% )0=%-%?=%> )0 ;#*G)01 )0=' B+ *'B&3=%-?I
Really. I heai this a lot, often fiom people who:
Bave a ieasonably poweiful computei, anu
Bave a high-speeu inteinet connection
That's ieally all ciiminals neeu. With that computei infecteu anu
unuei the contiol of a malwaie-enableu ciiminal botnet it can be
useu to spenu thousanus of spam messages pei uay, attack othei
computeis on the inteinet, oi contiol othei infecteu computeis so
that authoiities can't tiace the ieal contiollei's point of oiigin.
They can also of couise watch eveiy keystioke enteieu in the
computei, looking foi patteins that might be cieuit caiu numbeis,
social secuiity numbeis, bank accounts, passwoius, etc. These can
be bunuleu anu solu on the online black maiket, anu of couise since
the entiie piocess is automateu it's common foi thousanus oi even
hunuieus of thousanus of infecteu computeis to be unuei the
contiol of just a hanuful of people.

The take-away heie is, no mattei how unimpoitant you think youi
computei might be, you shoulu still take piecautions to piotect
youiself ANB otheis.

S. :, : >' 1%= )0,%*=%>@ )= C3?= B%#0? :<(( 1%= ?'B% %--'- B%??#1%? '-
&'&N3& #>?
0nfoitunately this is also wiong. As mentioneu above Nalwaie is a
seiious, money-making business foi the cieatois. We alieauy
talkeu about some of the ways they can make money - hijacking
youi computei to senu spam oi to captuie youi cieuit caiu info foi
example. In those cases people geneially have no iuea theii
computei is infecteu until they notice pioblems on theii cieuit
iepoit.

A moie aggiessive veision of malwaie is becoming moie common
though. Imagine this scenaiio - a thief uses malwaie to leain youi
Tech
Trends
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47
email anu facebook passwoius. 0ne uay they login to youi
accounts anu change youi passwoius to something new, then
pioceeu to contact all of youi fiienus anu business associates. The
most common ploy is to senu aiounu a note fiom "you" claiming
that you hau to tiavel unexpecteuly to a foieign countiy because of
an emeigency. You have become stianueu anu uespeiately neeu
$2uuu wiieu to youi hotel so that you can puichase aiifaie foi the
tiip home. "You" know this is highly unusual anu you aie veiy veiy
soiiy to have to ask, but is theie any way that Fieu Wilma }ane
whoevei ieceives this note can wiie the money iight away. "You"
piomise to pay them back as soon as you ietuin home.

Bopefully most of youi fiienus will iealize this is a hoax befoie they
senu the money, but we ioutinely finu people who have lost
thousanus of uollais to this soit of scam.

0i tiy this one: You tuin youi computei on one uay. Insteau of the
noimal staitup scieen you get a message saying that youi
computei's files aie enciypteu anu the only way to get them back is
to wiie $Suu to the hackeis. Aftei they ieceive the money they will
give you the passwoiu to get all youi uata back. (Although they'ie
moie likely to just uemanu moie money).

These aie incieasingly common stiategies that these online
ciiminals use to make money. To fight back, use these thiee tips:
0se stiong piotection (see point 1 above)
Backup iegulaily
0se stiong passwoius anu change them often
Nake suie any hosteu email accounts you may have,
incluuing umail oi Botmail, incluue a seconu authentication
methou such as a cell phone oi alteinate email account.
0sually with this in place you will be notifieu whenevei youi
piimaiy passwoiu is changeu anu you can contact the seivice
pioviuei immeuiately if you weien't the one who changeu it.






Tech
Trends
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48








Foi Noie Infoimation:

M'B&3=%- D-'3E(%?;''=%-? ', X0>%-?'0
Scott Smith
(864) 22S-1888
suppoitct-anueison.com





49
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youi name as Co-Authoi of this uocument, anu make any text changes you feel aie
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authoieu veision you agiee to abiue by these iestiictions.

Restiictions:
Cover Page: You may add your name where indicated on the front cover. You
may also add your logo underneath the Bigger Brains logo, and change the
website & phone information to your own. You may not remove Chip Reaves
as the primary author or remove the Bigger Brains logo. Sample information
for Scott Smith, ct-anderson.com, and the Computer Troubleshooters logo
should be replaced with your information.

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