A couple of weeks ago, I was a presenter at Ramon Ray’s Small Business Technology Tour in Cambridge, MA. My presentation focused on top technology trends, and how small businesses can take advantage of them. A few people have asked me to post the presentation, so I’m providing it
Tag: SMB
Are You Ready to Move Beyond Email? Warning Signs and Key Considerations
(Part 2 of a 3 part blog series "Are You Ready to Move Beyond Email?" which focuses on Online Collaboration Suites for SMBs. Click here for Part 1, which provides an overview of the online collaboration suite area.) Effective collaborat...
What is Mobile Commerce, and Why Should You Care?
(Originally published September 13, 2010 in Small Business Computing) What is Mobile Commerce? Mobile commerce (also known as mobile ecommerce, m-commerce and other variations) consists of two primary components. The first is the ability ...
Dimdim–A Bright Light In the Web Conferencing Market
With the recession stubbornly lingering, many small and medium businesses (SMBs) are still pinching pennies and looking to trim expenses. Dimdim, which provides free Web conferencing for up to 20 users, and charges just $25 per month for Dimdim Pro (which supports unlimited meetings for up to 50 users) gives SMBs a way to eliminate or cut Web conferencing cos...
What is Business Intelligence, and Why Should You Care?
(Originally published on July 30, 2010 in Small Business Computing) What is Business Intelligence? Business intelligence (BI) is an umbrella term used to encompass the processes, methods, measureme...

Technology Solution and Services Purchasing Cycle Decision Markers in Small Businesses
Small companies will tend to have a less formal purchasing process than their larger counterparts Typically only one or two people will have purchasing authority—usually the company officers in small businesses with the guidance of the IT person, if there is one. How a company purchases or acquires technology products and services is affected by company size. The size of an SMB and the type ...
A Clear Message for Vendors In the SMB Technology Market
We recently wrapped up the SMB Group's "2010 Small and Medium Businesses Routes to Market Study”, which uncovered quite a few interesting trends about how SMBs discover, learn about, evaluate and buy technology solutions and services. We are publishing free research briefs on the SMB Group site on some ...
What is an Online Collaboration Suite, and Why Should You Care?
(Originally published on June 30, 2010 in Small Business Computing) What is an Online Collaboration Suite? An online collaboration suite provides businesses with an integrated set of tools that span a range of collaboration needs. While not every collaboration suite includes the same capabilities,...
Will the Appliance Approach Gain Traction in the Wake of Recent Cloud Outages?
This week’s service outage at Intuit is fueling a new round of speculation about the dark side of cloud computing--and whether businesses can depend on cloud-based services to run their businesses. Intuit’s problems come on the heels of other service outages this month at Wordpress and Sage, and as well as service outages earlier this year at
Recent Vendor Briefing Highlights: IBM’s Cast Iron Acquisition
We are publishing recent vendor highlights on the SMB Group web site. As time permits, we discuss our key take-aways from more interesting briefings. I will try to remember to post them here as well. Here is the most recent one. Highlights: In May of this year, I