Today's Quote:
"If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years,
teach the people."
-- Confucius
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In this Issue...
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IT Trends for 2010
By Tammie Blancett, Director
of Security, Information Security Officer
SpiritBank
Information Technology saw several challenging scenarios in 2009. There was an increase in specialized attacks and attacks
for financial gain. As the typical idea of the traditional office continues to morph into a more virtual
environment, IT will have to balance the task of having to secure an environment that continues to grow beyond the brick
and mortar walls of the organization. There are a few things I believe will be the top trends for 2010 (the following
are not in any order of importance).
1. The Social Media question: Should a business have an active presence on the Social Media sites, i.e.:
Facebook, Twitter and others? These sites were hit hard by cyber attacks using the Koobface worm. This worm
was able to exploit websites fairly easily. As long as people place their 'trust' in these sites to
be safe, these attacks will continue.
2. Financially-driven cyber criminals will increase as the number of businesses continue to do business on
the web. The Banking Trojan will only get more sophisticated. In 2009 Zeus (a Trojan) infected an estimated 3.5 million
users. Clampi is estimated to have infected hundreds of thousands of users. These numbers in 2010 will climb unless users
begin to utilize security tools and practices while doing online banking.
3. Passwords will still be a hot issue in 2010. As users increase their use of
the web, they will need access to those applications they need to do their job. This will require a password for each
application. Password management will be a huge issue. IT wants strong passwords and the user wants simplicity and in
the middle none shall meet. An increase in Password Management applications will explode onto the scene to prevent tired
users from using the same password over and over. Or, stop the user from barely changing the existing password by
changing one letter of their password.
4. Financially motivated crimes will be on the rise. This includes:
ATM Fraud – This type of fraud involves card skimming. Everyone should be on
the lookout for anything looking out of the ordinary at the ATM machine.
ACH Fraud – This fraud uses the banking Trojans to do the heavy lifting. Most
often a user gets infected with the Zeus or Clampi Trojan when they click on an
infected link or download an attachment from an infected email. One solution is to
use a stand-alone PC to do all of your financial transactions online.
Malvertising – False malware advertised on the web – most often the promise
of a
good antivirus/antispam software program. These are most often delivered
via a
popup screen. The unsuspecting user pays for the software, downloads and
installs
the software and then it goes to work stealing your login credentials
to your online
banking, your credit card via a shopping site, or any other
private information you
enter via the keyboard.
These, as well as other roadblocks and challenges, will face IT and business leaders in the year 2010. IT will
be challenged to come up policies and procedures to maintain control of every aspect of the network – virtual or
otherwise - with shrinking budgets. As these threats rise, safe computing becomes paramount. So, be safe while surfing
and remember, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."
Ask an Expert: Top 5 Trends in Small Business for 2010
By Steve Strauss for USA TODAY
As has become a tradition now, this is the time of year when I offer my annual
look at the top trends in small business.
While not a prediction column, there is by necessity a tad of prediction in it, since trends, by their very nature, are
gathering forces.
5. Social Media Grows Up: Have you noticed that "social media" is a term that doesn't
really describe the experience that well anymore? Yes it's social, and yes it's media, but for business
it has become so much more than that. Tapping, nay, mastering, social media is one of the hottest of all
online trends:
Everyone from
Jet Blue to
Comcast has turned to
Twitter as a customer service tool.
Companies like Whole Foods and Popeyes increasingly use it to get feedback, post company news, etc.
Big business has discovered what many small businesses already know:
Facebook is a great place
to advertise. "Facebook" in fact was the most searched term in 2009. (Source:
Experian
Hitwise)
Hop on the social media train, Jane, because it's headed out of the station at light speed.
4. Going Local: Consumers are increasingly looking for a local angle when looking where to spend their
hard-earned dollar. Example: The explosion of farmers markets across the country. According to Entrepreneur, "there
are almost 5,000 farmers markets across the country, the result of more than 5% annual growth for the past five
years."
Additionally, with people staying closer to home right now because of the economy, with folks focused
ever more on community and family, and with the green ethos growing, home is where the heart (and dollar) is.
3. Sharing vs. Shared Experiences: According to a recent
NPR podcast, we used to share national
experiences. The nightly news was a shared ritual for instance. The
OJ Simpson trial was a shared experience, the
same with Vietnam, and so on.
But that is changing, for two reasons. The first is the fragmentation of the media. With innumerable news outlets,
websites, cable channels, mobile options and the like, the opportunity to create shared experiences is diminishing.
We are all not watching or experiencing the same thing nearly as much.
Secondly, with the advent of easy to generate user-created content, sharing experiences and opinions is becoming ever
more prevalent.
YouTube, blogs, Facebook,
Yelp, email even, all contribute to both the media fragmentation as well as
the sharing culture.
For the small business person, it is vital to realize that 1) people look for, and increasingly expect, the personal,
and 2) small, localized, immediate user-created media are where the eyeballs are headed.
2. Mobile Mania: Maybe the only marketing trend that is hotter than social media is mobile
mania. Why? Maybe because there are four-times more cell phones than PCs worldwide, or because they are the favorite
product of
Gen Y, or because in 2000, there were almost no texts sent but this year, 130 billion texts will be sent
a month, and only 23% of those will come from my daughters.
So yes, mobile marketing is exploding. Whether it is creating the Next Big App, offering customers a real-time
mobile coupon, or creating a text marketing campaign, in 2010 there will be mobile options galore for small business.
Even better maybe: The variety of ways to measure the success of your mobile campaign. According to
the Mobile Marketing Association, they will include: "The number of eyeballs, shakes and finger swipes.
The number of blogs, articles, tweets and diggs. The number of acquisitions, conversions, calls, responses or purchases.
Total basket size, consumer recall, loyalty and recommendations. Check-ins on foursquare and check-outs on Amazon."
It is a new world indeed.
1. The Start-Up Economy: Last year, 2009, my top trend was
entitled "Economic Tumult," and tumultuous it indeed turned out to be; the Great Recession is
great in all the wrong ways.
But this year, while the state of the economy will continue to be the most significant trend effecting
small business, the outlook is both brighter and calmer. It is calmer because things are slowly
getting back to, if not normal, at least something recognizable. And it is brighter because out of the
rubble, a new, vital, innovative start-up economy is being born.
We have entered the era of small business. Whereas GM president Charles Wilson once said "What's good
for the country is good for GM, and vice versa," it can now safely be said that what is good for small
business is good for the country. Consider these statistics.
Small businesses now
Number almost 30 millionEmploy more than half of all workers
Constitute 99.7% of all employers
Constitute 97% of all exportersCreate the majority of business innovations
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, 2009)
With 10% unemployment for as far as the eye can see, with the unemployed running out of benefits, and
with benefits not what they once were for the employed, start-ups of all shapes and sizes are
taking root: One person shops, home-based businesses, part-time ventures, online enterprises,
high tech companies – you name it. These are the folks who, with their creative energy, drive,
ingenuity, and hard work will be leading us out of this anything but great recession.
We will have to wait until next year's list to see just how far they will take us. My hunch is that the
companies born in this recession will be the stuff of legend by the end of the decade.
Read this article at
USA Today |
7 CEOs Share Their New Year's Resolutions for 2010
By April Joyner
Find a Mentor
Susan Gregg Koger saw sales at her company, ModCloth, soar to $15 million in 2009. She hopes to build upon that
success next year by finding a mentor with experience in fashion and by collaborating with more established businesses in
her industry. "I'd like to meet other thought leaders in the e-retail space, and meet more ModCloth customers face to face,"
she says. Her personal goals include making time for daily journal entries, travel to Asia, and improving her
photography skills.
Launch a New Product
Maureen Kelly's company, Tarte Cosmetics, will mark its 10th anniversary this spring by launching a new, limited-edition
collection of "green" cosmetics, developed in conjunction with celebrity makeup artist Tina Turnbow. But Kelly
strives not to let new product launches disrupt her work-life balance. "I'm going to make more time, even if it's getting
up an hour earlier and hitting the gym or coloring with my two little boys," she says.
Boost Earnings
Michael Simmons, co-founder and CEO of Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour and the JourneyPage Virtual Business Incubator,
has a very specific goal for 2010: "Earn an additional $120,000 in net income." Beyond boosting profits, Simmons says he
will continue to streamline the workflow within both companies so that his employees can be as productive as possible.
"We're working to build solid systems for every role in our business, so that new employees know exactly how
to do their jobs and my co-founders and I can work on the business instead of in it," he says.
Focus on Corporate Social Responsibility
Grace Ueng rebounded both personally and professionally from a bike accident that resulted in a brain injury four
years ago. In 2010, Ueng, whose athletic pursuits began with a marathon to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma
Society, will launch a corporate social responsibility program at her marketing consultancy, Savvy Marketing Group.
She plans to continue biking, for charity and for leisure, as well. "I hope to sign up for six races," she says.
Cut Back on Business Travel
Next year, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery will open two brewpubs and introduce Namaste, a Belgian beer fermented with
dried orange slices and lemongrass. Sam Calagione, Dogfish's founder and president, has ambitious goals outside work as
well: he and his wife are training for the New York Half-Marathon in March. But, he says, "I resolve to sleep under the
same roof as my kids, Sammy and Grier, every single night of July and August—meaning no overnight brewery-related trips
this summer.”
Set a Realistic Forecast
Although online clothing retailer Bonobos saw its revenue rise substantially in the past year, it didn't quite hit
the mark for CEO Andy Dunn, who plans to alter the company's approach to revenue projections: "In 2009, we had an awesome
year, nearly tripling the business in a tough economy, but we aimed for even better. Next year, we methodically plan a
double. In some ways it will be more satisfying to aim more realistically, plan for it, and exceed it if we can, then
to shoot for the moon and be happy with not quite getting there."
Delegate More
Ada Polla, CEO of skin care company Alchimie Forever, made her debut on QVC this
year. She has compiled a myriad list of seven goals for 2010, both for her
company and for herself: "Break even. Take up yoga. Stop doing things that I can
delegate to others. Find a distributor for Europe. Develop a mission statement.
Be on The Oprah Show. Replace some e-mails with handwritten notes of thanks and
gratitude."
Read this article at
Inc.
Small Businesses See Good Omens for 2010
By Ann Meyer, Minding Your Business
More see signs of improvement in the new year
As she sits in the construction zone that doubles as her workplace, Sandy Marsico can't contain her enthusiasm.
Her marketing and interactive design firm is knocking down walls to expand in preparation for what she believes will be a
busy 2010.
"I'm optimistic," said Marsico, principal at Sandstorm Design. "We're being slammed with requests
for proposals. We haven't been this busy since 2007."
Sandstorm's growth is the result of hard work and planning. Marsico added two senior managers a year ago, one
to head up creative and the other technology, allowing her to spend more time on strategy and sales, including diving into
government work and becoming certified as a women-owned business.
"It's meant growth for next year," Marsico said. "I can almost guarantee I'll
have more staff" a year from now.
Marsico is among a growing number of business owners who are encouraged by the nation's focus to help existing
businesses grow, as well as new ones to emerge.
Like the vast majority of the more than 61,000
companies licensed with the City of Chicago, Sandstorm Design is a
small business; it employs just 11 workers. But together, small businesses are a driver of the economy. The sector is
considered a leading indicator because small firms often are the first to respond to signs of economic recovery.
Vantage Solutions is seeing more interest in training and other pro-active approaches to human resource development,
instead of pay reductions, furloughs and layoffs. "It's causing me to be optimistic about 2010 and
beyond," said Vanessa Smith McTier, owner of the Chicago-based human resources consulting firm. The company
recently signed a longer-term lease for more space, and it plans to add staff in the first quarter.
But the breadth and diversity of small businesses make it tough to generalize the optimism.
"We see some that are trying to just make it through, while others are trying to get loans for marketing or
expansion," said Marianne Markowitz, regional administrator at the U.S. Small Business Administration.
In Illinois, small businesses number more than 1 million, touching every sector from manufacturing and professional
services to retail and health care. According to 2006 Census data, they include 258,000 companies that employ more
than 4 million people and contribute $192 million in annual payroll to the economy, Markowitz said. They represent
98 percent of state employers and 49 percent of employment.
With all eyes in
Washington on the recovery, the sector is getting attention because research indicates small
companies -- especially the newest ones -- are the biggest job creators.
A new study of Census data commissioned by the Kauffman Foundation indicates firms that are less than 5 years
old created about two-thirds of all new jobs in 2007. On average, these young firms created about four jobs per year.
As a result, the Kauffman Foundation is advocating policy changes to encourage startups, such as cutting payroll
taxes, welcoming immigrants who intend to start businesses here, easing lending standards and reforming Sarbanes-Oxley
regulation, which discourages small companies from going public.
Although many small businesses fail before they reach the job-creation stage, startups remain the nation's best
hope, said Dane Stangler, senior research analyst at the foundation. Some will become "the next generation of large and
mid-size businesses," Stangler said.
Despite the severity of the recent recession, "There still were hundreds of thousands of businesses started.
And we would expect that to increase" as the economy improves, Stangler said.
Some already see signs of improvement. About 15 percent of Illinois businesses surveyed in September and October
said they plan to reduce their work force or lay off workers in the next six months, compared to two-thirds that said they
had cut back during the previous 12 months, according to the Management Association of Illinois.
In addition, 13 percent planned to reduce employees' work hours and 23 percent planned to cut merit increases
in the future, down from nearly half who already had cut hours and three-quarters who had trimmed merit increases last year,
according to the survey.
"There is some sense that belts will be loosened up as the new year begins, and businesses will have new budgets
to spend," said Mary Lynn Fayoumi, the association's president and chief executive.
Still, many businesses are watching what happens with health care reform and economic policy before forging ahead
with a growth plan, Fayoumi said. "A lot of organizations are still in a wait-and-see mode. They are still struggling with
how lean they should be and when it's safe to staff up again."
Amit Gauri, owner of America's Dog restaurant in Lincoln Park, has his eye on a new location that would double his
work force of 12. But he needs capital to expand. Despite the fact that his restaurant is doing well financially, he said,
no bank has been willing to lend him the $300,000 to $400,000 he needs to open another location.
"It's very frustrating," he said. "When the banks aren't lending, it trickles down. It's the
waiting that's hard."
With new federal appropriations designed to encourage lending to small businesses approved Dec. 19, the wait could
get shorter. When the Small Business Administration received American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds last
spring, it increased the government guarantee on 7(a) loans to 90 percent and waived borrower fees on most 7(a)
and 504 loans. Volume rose markedly, Markowitz said. But those funds ran out Nov. 23, halting most lending to
small businesses.
In December, as part of the defense appropriations bill
President Barack Obama
signed, the government committed
$125 million to continue the enhancements to SBA loan programs through Feb. 28. The new funds are
expected to generate $4.6 billion in additional lending to small businesses, Markowitz said.
"The whole environment should be better this year," Markowitz said. "There will be significant
opportunities. We're hoping as an agency to help these businesses get access to capital."
Read this article at the
Chicago Tribune
The 10 Customer Service Trends for 2010
By
Barry
Moltz
In 2010, customer service makes a big comeback. It becomes the new marketing. Forget about paying lip service
to offering "great customer service." Let go all of those "the customer is always right" myths. It's time to offer
outstanding customer service only because it makes economic sense for your small business. It is the only truly
sustainable competitive advantage.
What to watch in 2010:
1. We Try Harder: With the economy still struggling to recover and unemployment at record highs,
all "customer facing employees" actually will try harder this year to attract, satisfy and keep their customers.
Job prospects remain slim in 2010 and every employee wants to keep any job they have. This year, effort from
everyone will be in plain site.
2. It's Not Your Product:
Zappos' tag line is "Powered by Customer Service." With the company being
sold to Amazon for almost a billion dollars, there is no denying that customer service can build companies. Zappos
proved that it can make money selling shoes over the internet by offering free shipping both ways. Amazon and Zappos
are companies that really just don't sell products, but a customer service channel to sell any product. All things
being equal, I buy from Zappos and Amazon because I know I can count on them. This is the year that all companies will
see service as the only way to keep customers buying from them.
3. It's All About You. Technology has allowed companies to personalize my visit when I go to buy from
their web site. When I visit Amazon's site, they welcome me back by name and suggest things I might want to buy based on
what I bought in the past. This is the type of personalization I come to expect when I go to any face to face retail
establishment. When I check into a hotel, I want them to greet me by name if I have been there before or I am a member
of their frequent buyer program. This always happens when I visit the
Portland Paramount but at
The Nines hotel in the
same city, they never remember who I am. With the immediacy and personalization of this fast paced internet world,
great customer service is only what the customer says it is at a particular point in time. The difficulty is raised
because this standard varies from person to person. This year, more companies will customize your shopping or service
experience either online or in person because that is what you want.
4. Tell the World. Tools like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube allow me to tell not seven people
but 10,000 my pleasure or dissatisfaction with a company immediately after I interact with them. No more
secrets here! Every satisfied customer is now a booster for your company and every dissatisfied customer
potentially can hurt your business. Now, there is more of an incentive for every company to get it right for
their customer. This year, no bad deed will go unpublished by a dissatisfied customer.
5. The Brands are Listening. You as the customer are talking on Facebook and Twitter,
but companies are also beginning to listen. Chances are that if you post a complaint using one of these tools,
the company will respond directly to you. I have had this happen with
Sears and
Lands End. This year, all the major
companies will not let any negative comment go by without responding to your concern.
6. Online Service Gets a Face Lift. Forget the lag time of email or waiting for a call back.
This year, more and more web sites will allow you to chat directly to customer service people either through
chat or video. Want to chat from your phone directly to the company? No problem. Skype them? No problem. Scott Jordan
at Scottevest, allows the customer to watch what is going on in his company live on the web every day!
7. Insourcing is In. More and more American companies who outsourced their customer service will
bring that function back home either by hiring a domestic company or bringing it in house. The "we can outsource this
customer service thing" has hurt companies like
Dell and
Capital One. This year, look for more
of the technology assisted customer service jobs to be transferred back to the US. Companies realize how important
it is to their business.Just ask any car dealer the profitability of new car sales to their car maintenance business.
8. That's Tight. Companies you do business with will want to know everything about you. Tighter relationship
with customers will continue as economy remains poor. Companies can't afford to lose profitable current customers. This
goes way beyond frequent flyer programs.
Accenture working with
Proctor and Gamble has a new technology that tries to
predict consumer preferences using optimization engines. This year, companies will continue to track everything about
you to make that your relationship as personal as it gets.
9. Fire Them. In 2007,
Sprint famously fired 1,000 customers that were clogging up their customer service
lines and costing the company loads of money. Not every customer you have is profitable. Look for more companies this year
to fire you if you cost them money and recommend you take your business elsewhere.
10. Get Small. All startups used to want to appear big. We bought typewriters and later computers and
web sites to make ourselves look the part. Now, everyone company, as
Chris Brogan says, wants to be human. I call
it getting small. Every company wants to seem like the corner store, but have the global pricing power and distribution
of Walmart. Furthermore, big business is now consistently targeting your small business since it is the a sector of the
economy that is growing. President Obama will continue to emphasis that small business is the core of American business.
You have arrived!
What do you see as the trends in customer service for 2010?
Read this article on
SmallBizTrends.com.
How to Market Today
By
Steve Strauss
If I were starting a business today, I would do things much differently.
Here's how I created my first business: Two years out of law school I was fired by the boss from heck.
(Her reason? I didn't "write well enough." Unbeknownst to her, I was about to have my first book published,
and if you think I was petty enough to autograph a copy and send it to her two months later when it was in
fact published, you would be right. But I digress.)
Anyway, I made a profit the first month and never looked back. My business grew because I marketed the heck
out of it using all tools available to me at the time:
Classified ads in the newspaper
Networking at Le Tip and chamber events
Radio ads which advertisedPublic seminars
Cable TV ads
Newspaper display ads
Direct mail
But here's the deal: Today there are far more effective, and economical, ways to get the same – or better – results.
While my strategy would be the same (advertise and market a lot, and then do it some more), today the tools I would
use would be these instead:
Craigslist instead of classified ads: The growth of Craigslist is evidence of just how powerful a classified ad can be,
but the advantage is that most Craigslist ads are free. That's hard to beat, free.
Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook instead of the chamber mixer: Networking the old-fashioned way was a bit of a drag – forcing
yourself to an event where you had to make small talk with people who may or may not be interested in what you sell and do.
Yawn.
Social networking is a revolutionary improvement because, while you are still networking, it is faster, broader, more direct,
and you can meet and influence a far greater number of people. Rubber chicken lunches be gone!
Podcasts instead of radio ads: I still love radio advertising in the right circumstance, but being able to create and broadcast
your own podcast is hard to beat.
YouTube videos and webinars instead of public seminars: The value of being out there in front of the public is that you get to
be known as the expert – you are the one pontificating, entertaining and informing others. But the power of online video and
webinars is that you can craft that image easier, cheaper, and more professionally. That you don't have to rent a conference
room at the Holiday Inn is a nice bonus.
Pay per click and pay per impression instead of cable TV and newspaper ads: Mass media advertising usually has one of two
purposes: Either you want to create a brand or create a sale, (sometimes both.)
If immediate sales are your goal, then a Google pay per click campaign probably makes far more sense than a TV campaign.
You only pay for qualified leads – people who like your ad enough to click on it – and as such you will spend far less because
you won’t be paying to reach thousands of eyeballs who will never be buying from you. If branding is your goal, than a pay per
impression campaign can yield fantastic results for much less money than TV too.
E-mail instead of direct mail: Traditionally, direct mail has been considered successful if it creates a 4% response rate
or so. But even to get that, you have to buy lists, pay for postage and packaging, etc. E-mail marketing on the
other hand costs almost nothing and usually yields better results.
As they say, everything old is new again, fortunately for us.
Read this article at American Express OPEN Forum.
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