Author: bizsieve

Make Your Small Business Slimmer with Cloud Computing

With cloud computing, a small business can reduce the amount of overhead it shells out in file collaboration, online backup and capital expenses. When using traditional computing models, a company would have to provide quite a substantial capital outlay just to get started. Not only were physical servers required, but everything needed to get them going would also have to be paid for in advance, including hard disks, memory, operating system software and user applications. In addition to the servers and their required components, all of the items necessary to create a data center would also have to be purchased up front. Equipment such as server racks, cabinets, networking hardware, power cables, cooling systems, security systems and other data center-related components can quickly blow a project’s budget. The initial bill alone is enough to put off many start-ups from even starting up!

small business cloud

You Get What You Pay For

Cloud computing changes all of this, providing a “pay-as-you-go” model for computing services. When using cloud computing, a company only has to pay for the resources it actually consumes. There is no longer a need to purchase, install and deploy massive amounts of hardware and software just to get started, only to discover one’s project is either over-built or under-supplied. This pay-as-you-go model allows a project to shrink and grow its demand for both processor time and network bandwidth. A company no longer needs to constantly pay for running idle servers days on end. When a cloud-based server is not being used by one cloud computing customer, it can be allocated to another. This trait, known as scalability, is a fundamental characteristic that makes cloud computing what it is. Why spring for server hardware when you can better use that money for VoIP phones or LiveDrive’s online storage solutions?

What Scalability is All About

Scalability works by allowing a cloud provider to share all cloud resources amongst multiple clients. With cloud computing, computing and network resources are housed in a data center just as they are in traditional deployments. The biggest difference is that cloud computing servers are typically hosted by a cloud provider who rents them to multiple clients instead of just servicing one client. Cloud servers tend to make use of virtualization software that allows multiple systems, known as instances, to operate concurrently on the same hardware. This scheme allows multiple customers to each have the appearance of running on their own separate computing servers even though all instances actually share the same storage, memory, networking hardware and processors being used by a single cloud server.

Cloud Computing the Timeshare Way

The cloud computing model can be thought of as being analogous to a condo timeshare. All timeshare owners claim title to a given unit but don’t actually make use of it at the same time. Each is given full access to the unit’s bedrooms, appliances, utilities and recreational facilities, but only for a certain time. When that time is up, they vacate the unit and allow the next set of owners to occupy the unit. The same goes for cloud computing instances; each instance gets to “occupy” the cloud server for a given amount of time before it must vacate and give way to the next occupant. The biggest difference between switching cloud instances and timeshare occupants is that cloud instances switch within milliseconds instead of days or weeks.

About the Author: This article is written by Danny Cheston

New trends to start a small business

Here are a few good businesses to start, based upon the most current business trends:

Green

Any and all green industries are doing very well, and you can blame it on fuel prices. Going green is good for the conscience but now it is also more economically viable. For example, organic food now costs almost the same as mass farmed food, because of the increased prices of fuel making mass farming methods more expensive.
Green energy is fast becoming the cheapest form of energy to use and create. Even recycled paper and managed forest paper is becoming cheaper to create than the paper made from rainforest trees.

Hairdresser

The beauty industry is still doing well, even during a global economic downturn. It is beating the pants off of the fashion industry, which has designers crying into their double lattes. People will always need a hairdresser and a lot of the more expensive ones have gone bust. Just make sure that yours appeals to both men and women and you are set.

Strategic Technology Consulting

The reason why is not clear, but businesses are not taking the time to train their staff in new technology. They are not setting up their own training programs, and are not forking out the cash to have their staff trained off site.

For some reason they are hiring technology consultants. The industry is starting to soar, thanks to many companies ignorance of cloud computing, virtualization, tech scatter, remote workers and low energy server cooling.

Setting up as one of Netsuite partners is beneficial for many reasons, such as gaining industry expertise from one of the leaders in IT consulting and increasing credibility by partnering with a big company.

business trends

IT Functions

Allied to their ignorance or unwillingness to learn about new technology (as mentioned above), many companies are outsourcing their IT functions. This may involve the bigger things such as data centers which do all of a company’s computing. It may also involve smaller functions, such as hiring outside offices to promote a company via social media.

A Directory Site

Finding a specific product or service should be easy, yet thanks to Google, it is getting harder and harder. The websites that produce lists of where you may get one product or service from multiple places are very unreliable.

They are often difficult to search too. The ones that are good are increasingly hard to find, but the market is crying out for them.

Financial Fitness

These companies are doing very well because so many companies are losing money and scared of going bust, so they are throwing money at financial fitness people and financial advisers, in a vain attempt to find an answer. When the economy picks up again then the bottom will fall out of this market, but until that day you should get in whilst the money is good.

Mobile Phones

Every company relating to mobile phones are doing well, except for phone manufacturers and network companies. Therefore, if you know how to make mobile websites, apps, themes, music, tunes, games, covers, protectors or glow in the dark additions, you will make money.

Online Games

There are so many of them that do not make any money, but that is because they are bad. The online games market is a great place to find a long-term income for just one game. If you create an online game that is good, it can easily be marketed for constant trickle of cash every month.

Create the game, add it to some merchant sites, and allow the first few levels to be played free. Then charge $1-3 for the access to play the other 100+ levels. So long as the merchant sites keep running, it allows a constant and seemingly endless trickle of cash all year round.

Everybody a celebrity

Companies that offer to make promotional videos for wannabe celebrities are massive thanks to the many TV shows with prepaid actors and singers pretending to be members of the public so they can win the singing competition. Many people are having demo DVDs and promotional videos made up, to send off to shows like X Factor.

Online accountancy

Many people have lost their jobs and taken up self-employment. Sadly, very few can afford an accountant. Online and cheap accountancy and tax return agents are very popular for the lower budget self-employed business.

About the Author: My name is Sonia Jackson. Welcome to my web-site www.custom-essay-writing.org

How the Cloud Can Help Small Businesses Get Ahead

Some small businesses make the mistake of ignoring technology. The people who own these companies often believe that it’s only the corporate giants that can benefit from leveraging new tech, or that cloud services would be too expensive for their operation. Nothing could be further from the truth; in fact, small businesses that leverage the Web can develop the kind of loyal customer base that would never form under a monolithic corporation. People love to support those within their local community, and in order to reach them, businesses have to go where they are: on the Internet – in the cloud.

Upgrade

Free Promotion

Something as simple as a fan page on a social networking site can serve as an advertising platform. If 100 people see it, every person they have on their friend’s list will see it too, and the effect multiplies when someone spreads positive feedback about a local business. Promotion can go viral even at the local level, and businesses that take advantage of that can save a lot on advertising costs.

Cheaper Software

It costs thousands upon thousands of dollars to purchase every piece of software that’s necessary to run a business. Nearly all of these applications have a cloud-based counterpart, and cloud applications run the gamut between free and cheap. At most, someone will have to pay a low monthly fee to gain access to certain applications through a cloud storage service.

No Hardware Required

Purchasing cloud storage makes sense regardless of what someone needs for his business. Hundreds of gigabytes can be had for less than $20 per month. That eliminates the need to buy hundreds of dollars worth of storage devices and backup software. While it’s still a good idea to keep some physical backups on hand, some cloud services have that covered as well. A few business oriented services will allow customers to request certain files on disks or hard drives for a small fee.

There are other benefits that result from this. When less hardware is required to run a business, less office space needs to be purchased. When files can be accessed from the cloud, business owners can stay away from the office for extended periods of time and still have access to pertinent information. With certain businesses, a physical location is completely unnecessary once cloud services are brought into the picture. It makes it far easier to bargain for time, and business owners can do what they need to do far more easily when they’re not bound by the limitations of a low-tech enterprise.

Working With Other People

Business owners used to be restricted to selecting workers from local applicants. Now certain businesses can hire anyone from across the globe, or entrepreneurs can choose to hire independent contractors on a per-project basis. Day-to-day business operations can flex according to a business’ needs, and any enterprise with that kind of flexibility is far more robust than one that lacks it.

Everything is in the Cloud

Computers that use the cloud for everything have already hit the market. The cloud is not a gimmick, and it’s not a convenient but frivolous function of modern computing. It is what the entire world is now shaping itself around; the Internet is weaving itself into everything, and what’s beneficial for a business today will be necessary tomorrow. Small businesses need to adapt now in order to survive the future.

About the Author: Alan Martin is a tech blogger.

How to Make Your Marketing Message Do the Magic

Please don’t do it again. I mean do not make people feel devastated by bombarding with another advertisement. We have enough of this shit already and having said that I can safely assume that we are less likely to show any interest in your marketing message if you indulge in this practice. Therefore, it is quite evident that marketers need to step up their effort to make their marketing messages sound less promotional so that people do not necessarily object to them. You need to make it intense, clear and vivid so that it does not scare the hell out of the targeted audience. Wondering how you are going to do that? Here I am going to narrate some cardinal rules of creating a great marketing message:

do not make it stinks

Do Not Make It Stink: What irritates me is the attitude of some marketers. They believe that they are here to promote their services and they have no such intention to give two hoots to the likes and dislikes of audience. But to make your marketing message curry favor with the targeted audience, you should not behave like this. Do not make your marketing message sound like another sale pitch. Add some personal elements, funny twists so that the audience can relate to it.

make your message clear

Make It Clear: If you cannot convince them, confuse them. This is one of the few marketing mantras that are religiously followed by marketers around the globe. But you should not apply this tactic while creating a compelling marketing message. Describe your service in clear language and make it a point that you are giving adequate reasons to the audience to choose your products over others. In short, people love simplicity and therefore, do not make the whole things appear complex by using jargons or evasive language.

sense of urgency

Convey A Sense of Urgency: The purpose of all marketing campaigns is to drive as much traffic and conversion as possible. So, your marketing message needs to show certain signs of urgency so that the audiences are prompted to action. Rather than ending with the benefits of your service or product, you can convey a sense of urgency in the form of adding texts like this – “Sign up now before the offer ends”, “Offer available still stock last”, “Hurry up, grab the offer now !”.

humanize

Humanize Your Message: People are most likely to stick around you and your company if you make them believe that you are not there just to make profit. Definitely, a business cannot survive without making profit, but you should not give too much attention to that while writing a sales pitch for your business. Rather you should add some human elements in them to inspire a long-term loyalty. Try to make it evident that your business is real and you will always be there to protect the interest of the customers.

think like a customer

Put on the shoes of a Customer: Once the draft is ready, you need to refine it as much as possible. Focus on the objectives of the sales pitch and trash anything that appears to be unnecessary. Think like a customer and find out what interests you and what irritates you in the draft. Once you got clear idea, fine-tune the draft and hopefully, it will be another arsenal in your marketing campaign.

Author Bio: Michael Evans is passionate about search industry and web design.

The Importance of Data Confidentiality for Small Businesses

The second a business obtains a piece of confidential information is the moment security measures must be put into place to protect the business and the people the information pertains to. A business doesn’t have to be a government contractor to think about ensuring the privacy of documents and personally identifying information.

Ideally, every piece of information about a customer, client, business partner or employee should be kept confidential, but this is not always possible to do. Some examples of information that should be secured are:

  • Names
  • Telephone numbers
  • Email addresses
  • Physical addresses
  • Blueprints
  • Patent designs
  • Research
  • Financial details

While it is often overlooked in this digital age, physical data needs to be secured too. For instance, if running an architecture business and a project is to be kept under wraps for whichever reason the client has, especially in the case of government and military facility plans, blueprints and design plans should be kept under lock and key with limited access.

Image by Salvatore Vuono

The secretary and the cleaning staff shouldn’t need to be privy to the details of where escape routes in the latest military research facility are located. File folders, contact information, billing information and everything else that isn’t public information should be kept in lockable cabinets or rooms.

Though it is harped upon, not everyone practices the safest digital security. Antivirus programs and software firewalls are, of course, helpful. However, they are not the only security points that need to be addressed. For example, a company that engages in researching highly-infectious viruses should keep data pertaining to the research on a company intranet that doesn’t have outside access to the Internet to protect it from potentially harmful leaks. Furthermore, not everyone needs access to certain files and computer networks.

Some small businesses may feel that it’s far too much work to be bothered with physically and digitally securing information. They may feel that they’re too small for anyone to notice or bother with. As far as the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is concerned, a company could have one client and still be under breach of the Data Protection Act (DPA).

If a small business is caught with a breach concerning confidential information, the ICO has potentially unlimited fining power. The highest fine they’ve ever issued came in June 2012. It was issued to the NHS in the amount of £325,000 GBP. Fines are calculated based on whether a breach is the first one, how big an impact it may have or has already had and a number of other factors. Because the fines, except in special instances, do not have caps, a small business would benefit from ensuring the security of customer data.

About the Author: Andrew Morrell has been involved in the confidential paper shredding services for several years and believes in the importance of business security and managing data. He currently works for Russell Richardson.