GrowYourBiz - Tech Talk

A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

By Barbara Mowat & Ted James

Featuring a technology chapter by:

Part Four

Tech Talk: The Straight Goods We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works.”

-- Douglas Adams

Like most entrepreneurs, you’ve probably gathered up and patched together technology and systems along the way as you built your business. And that often means having assembled hardware, software, services, you name it—as-and-when-needed, piece-bypiece—in what’s ended up being a hodge-podge of computers, networks, communication devices, and systems. For most small business owners, having these ‘duct tape’ systems means that some of the technology you’ve ended up with is working for you adequately and some of it isn’t. But what’s important to know is that improving your business technology (or ‘tech’) can dramatically impact your business and help get you to the next level.

time to do all that when you’re already so busy running all the other aspects of your business?

In today’s business environment, with the ‘move to mobile’, cloud computing and social media (more later on what those things actually mean anyway), the opportunities for small business are even more profound. But how do you make sense of all these new concepts and the massive amount of new technology that accompanies them?

Here’s the straight talk to help you determine the answers that work for you.

This chapter deals with two big questions: 1.

How can technology help you tackle the day-to-day challenges that keep you from operating and growing to your best potential?

2.

How can technology be leveraged to help get you ahead of the pack and gain a real competitive advantage?

The issue usually boils down to this: What do you really need and where can you find out what’s available in this rapidly changing digital world? And then, of course, the obvious issue: When can you take the 1

A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

OBJECTIVES

things, can mean the difference between simply surviving and actually thriving.

In this chapter, you will achieve the following objectives:

AHEAD OF THE CURVE

1. Understand what the new digital economy is and how it has redefined the way we do business.

2. Get up to date on top trends and technology tools - the Essentials.

3. Explore what’s coming up next in tech - the Art of the Possible.

The New Digital Economy. A revolution. Really? Yes, really. They seem to be lofty, even theatrical words, but they describe an important concept: technology has created a seismic shift that continues to have a profound impact on the way we do business.

Businesses all over the globe have gone through an era of unprecedented change as the financial crisis reshaped the economic landscape—sluggish growth, a shift in economic power from West to East, risk and uncertainty around every corner and customers who are increasingly driven by value. Customers want better products and faster services at lower prices now more than ever before.

THE NEW DIGITAL ECONOMY: A BUSINESS REVOLUTION SECTION SNAPSHOT Advances in technology have changed the way we do business: • Faster, better, stronger: Businesses that want to get ahead of the curve need to consider how productivity tools and services can give them a competitive advantage. The good news is it’s easier than ever.

• Art of the Conversation: Customer relationships have a new dimension where communication is a two-way street, which often happens in a very public way.

• The Psychology Behind It: The technology ‘mindset’ of the entrepreneur, and your willingness to adapt to new ways of doing

New technology is enabling businesses to up the ante and compete for those value-driven customers, pushing their expectations even higher.

The global technology trends towards mobility, cloud computing, business intelligence and social media have created tools that businesses are adopting to improve their productivity, decrease their costs and give them an edge.

But in the past, many of these technologies have only been realistic for big business. So what is small business supposed to do about all this?

There are real opportunities if you’re able to clearly understand the trends and figure out the right tools. Generally speaking, those trends play to typical small business strengths: speed and agility.

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VIDEO CLIP It’s become a brave new world in a very short time. This Xerox commercial from the 70’s is an entertaining glimpse into just how far we’ve come already. Watch the video.

But the question of whether you dip your toe in the social media pool or dive deep is a big one. This new customer relationship paradigm creates opportunities for your business but also some challenges and some risks. In our later section on social media, we’ll talk about some of the issues of social media as they relate to small business and discuss some of the things you need to think about before diving in.

THE ART OF THE CONVERSATION

STRAIGHT TALK

Not only are customers expecting improved products and services at a better value, but the actual dynamics of the customer relationship have shifted as well. Social media has placed more power and more control into the hands of the individual. Consumers have a bigger voice, a very public voice, about their buying decisions. As an individual, no doubt you may agree that this kind of ‘democratization’ is a healthy move towards more open and direct communication. From your perspective as a business owner, this gives you the opportunity to receive direct, honest feedback and make rapid adjustments and improvements to your products or services. Because in the end, it’s all about how you can make sure you’re delivering exactly what your customers want.

Small business owners who ignore these shifts in the customer relationship dynamic and stay stuck in traditional attitudes may find it increasingly tough to keep their business vital and thriving. Getting your marketing messages out is no longer just a broadcast; it’s a conversation. That communication between your business and your customer is a two-way street that relies heavily on technology as a key medium to facilitate the dialogue. And social media, of course, is at the heart of this evolving relationship framework.

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Communication has changed. Overall, messages are shorter and more frequent. There’s even the golden rule about keeping to a 140-character limit in a Twitter tweet. But there are also distinct generational differences in how people prefer to communicate. Identifying those changes and adapting your business communication methods are good ways to build stronger customer relationships and make sure your message is getting across. After all, it’s not just what you say … it’s how you say it.

(Source: Forbes, “Generation Gap: How Technology has Changed the Way We Talk About Work”)

A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

TECHNOLOGY MINDSET It’s all in how you look at it, isn’t it? The number one thing that can help a small business owner into the next stage of their success— technology-wise—is being open to new things. That doesn’t mean just rushing out to acquire the next ‘bright shiny object’, some new technology that is ‘guaranteed’ to solve all your biggest challenges … because we’ve all been in that situation before. How many times have you downloaded that cool new software that’s going to revamp your business life, but is so complicated and unwieldy that the icon sits only on your desktop as a reminder of ‘what not to do’? It just doesn’t make sense.

By far, the best approach to using technology to improve your business and accelerate your growth is to always take a well-informed, well thought-out, strategic approach. The driving force in making those decisions should always originate from this perspective: “What are my business goals and how can technology help get me there?”

Technology is here to work for YOU. When used well, it can mean the difference between growing and not growing. New technology tools and services that are easier, more user-friendly and more affordable, mean more opportunity for you to harness their power to grow your business. In the worksheet at the end of this section, we’ll talk about some of the questions to ask yourself so that you can start a simple, yet comprehensive roadmap for your business. We’ll also identify the actual steps to take so that you have a sensible approach to getting your business where you want it to go.

NEXT STEPS Developing Your Technology Roadmap - Getting Started Questions to ask yourself: 1.

How does technology fit into my business?

2.

Am I giving my clients what they want, when they want it and how they want it? And could technology help me do that and do it better than anybody else?

3.

Is my business growing? If I’m adding employees or offering new services, can my current systems handle it?

4.

How are other businesses handling the challenges I’m facing?

What technologies have they successfully employed?

5.

What are the different types of technology that I currently use?

Are they working?

6.

What are the challenges that I currently face when it comes to communicating with the people I work with and my customers?

7.

Am I making sure my business information is secure?

IN A NUTSHELL: Small businesses need to think about what kind of technology will help grow their business and brand. Looking at where your business is today and the technology you use are the starting points to help identify what’s next.

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IF STARTING FROM THE GROUND UP: Get back to the basics. You could be relying on pen and paper for now, or even multiple Excel documents strung together. Regardless, when it comes to deciding on the technology that would make your business more manageable, start considering all your options. Put all the goals you want to accomplish into three categories: communication, productivity and customer acquisition. Then take that ‘wish list’ to a telecom provider, like TELUS, who can provide guidance and insight into the types of solutions that are available. They can help you not only identify the technology solutions that will impact your business, but also help you rank each of them on a ‘must-have’, a ‘nice-to-have’ and ‘this can wait’ basis.

IF IT AIN’T BROKEN, KEEP THE ENGINE WELL OILED: You’ve probably gotten over the first hurdle of setting up your business with a minimum of technology solutions. This may include a phone line, mobile phones for your employees, computers and maybe a website.

But are you measuring the performance of each? Are you encountering problems? Reassess and reevaluate your existing technologies to make sure you’re leveraging the right kind of help and resources that are tailored to your business. Keep an eye on your competitors and how they’re doing. Then develop a list of pain-points or things you'd like to have working better and start talking with others—work associates, contacts at various business organizations and your telecom provider—to get their advice and recommendations.

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A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

TOP TRENDS TO KNOW: CLOUD AND MOBILE “The cloud services companies of all sizes…The cloud is for everyone. The cloud is a democracy.”

-- Marc Benioff, CEO, Salesforce.com

find your business, to make decisions, and to actually purchase goods and services.

CLOUD DEFINED Cloud computing is more than just a lot of vapor. Very simply put, it is a way of accessing technology products and services over the internet instead of installing software from a box or downloading directly onto your computer. ‘Cloud’ is just a word to describe the notion of where the software is hosted (or where it ‘resides’) and that it’s accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

SECTION SNAPSHOT Two of the top tech trends impacting small business are cloud computing and the move to mobile.

• Cloud computing simply means accessing software online instead of buying and installing it on your computer.

• Accessing technology from ‘the cloud’ often means that it’s easier and more affordable for you to get the technology you need.

• There are two main concerns around cloud computing: security of your company data and reliability of access to cloud services.

• The use of mobile devices – smartphones and tablets – has exploded in growth over the past several years and that usage continues to grow at unprecedented rates.

The days when you purchased software on a CD, installed it on your computer, and made sure you bought enough licenses for your employees seem to be numbered. Instead, businesses are moving towards software that is hosted and installed on third-party machines, often on the other side of the world, which can be accessed anytime with an internet connection. That is the essence of cloud computing.

The benefit of the cloud is that you can outsource a massive amount of your technology needs while you scale your business—everything from email systems to storage space to server requirements.

• This ‘move to mobile’ affects your workplace operations, as you and your employees use mobile devices to access work information and conduct business.

• But most importantly, mobile technology is the wave of the future.

Increasingly, your customers will use smartphones and tablets to

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subscription basis to offer convenience and ease of use for you.

Instead of the entire software being contained on your own server, you can access that service from anywhere you have an internet connection.

Accessing technology in the cloud brings significant benefits for your small business: • Dramatic reduction in costs – since you are, in a way, ‘leasing’ the software instead of ‘owning’ it, the startup costs are lower. You only pay for what you need, with either free or monthly pay-per-user rates.

Cloud computing is nothing all that new. A great example of a cloudbased service that you might already be familiar with is your email. For a business that is looking for a cost-effective, scalable solution that fits your communication needs as it grows, email is a cloud-based service that you can sign up for and pay a monthly fee to have your email be ‘yourname@yourbusiness.com,’ and assigned to each employee.

While you can purchase a server and host your own email, many small business owners are taking advantage of services offered by their Telecom provider, to keep their up-front costs low and eliminate the headaches that are commonly associated with maintaining a server.

Cloud solutions offer not only more attractive cost options by way of its subscription based pricing, but also encourages easy collaboration where you can access your email, phone or other business operations that are stored on those provider’s systems. A customer and sales management software like Salesforce.com, or a cloud-based productivity software like Microsoft’s Office 365, are both available on a 7

• Convenience – access anywhere, anytime with an internet connection; • Reduces the need for IT support – the technology provider takes care of fixing bugs and updating versions; • Easy to share information – with employees who need access to company data from different locations or from their tablets/smartphones.

Using these cloud-based services gives you access to the type of technology infrastructure that, traditionally, only big businesses were able to afford. Armed with a computer (with its own operating system and a browser), it’s not a stretch to say that cloud-based services can solve many of your small business technology needs.

A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

SOFTWARE SAAS-INESS Some of the terms you’ll hear being thrown around can be not only confusing, but downright silly. Here’s a quick overview of some of that terminology, the categories of cloud computing, and an explanation of what they really mean: SaaS –‘Software-As-A-Service’. Most cloud computing that you’ll use will fall into this category. It means a specific service that’s offered as a subscription. Examples of SaaS are Dropbox and Quickbooks.

PaaS – ‘Platform-As-A-Service’. These services are primarily geared to application developers. They give businesses a platform on which they can create and use custom apps, databases and other services, all integrated onto one platform. Examples of PaaS are Google App Engine and Windows Azure.

IaaS – ‘Infrastructure-As-A-Service’. Network architects are the typical end users of IaaS services, which allow businesses to use infrastructure with components such as servers, memory, firewalls without having to purchase or maintain them. Examples of IaaS are Rackspace, Google Compute Engine and TELUS’ shared hosting services.

your data has been stored—in which country or countries—because many countries do not have the same level of privacy controls that Canada does.

Don’t forget reliability of access. If your files and company data are being stored somewhere other than your own computer, what happens if the company hosting the cloud service has an outage? In 2010, the website for Intuit (the company that offers Quicken, QuickBooks and TurboTax online) went down for two days, leaving its customers unable to access data that they had stored online. The reliability and stability of cloud services is still a significant concern for any business looking to use those services and we advise care if/when you decide to use cloud. Make sure to do your homework on any provider you are considering to ensure they will measure up to your requirements. If in doubt, seek second opinions and recommendations, or wait.

However, even with these considerations, cloud computing is still on the upswing for small businesses because the opportunities for reduced costs and increased revenues are so compelling. What it all boils down to is being able to cut through the hype and make wellinformed decisions—balancing risk and reward.

RAINY DAYS FOR CLOUD? While business owners have been steadily adopting cloud-based services, some concerns remain. Those concerns revolve mainly around the issues of security and stability. For example, if you are relying on a cloud-based service (like Dropbox, for instance) to back up and store your valuable files and information, make sure that you are comfortable the provider has made adequate provisions for the security and privacy of your information. It is important to know exactly where Tech Talk: The Straight Goods

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NEXT STEPS RUNNING FOR COVER: IS CLOUD FOR YOU? Questions to ask yourself if you're trying to decide whether or not to go the cloud route: 1.

Does my current software require regular and time-consuming (or expensive) updates?

2.

Does the number of employees who need to use the software or services fluctuate?

3.

Do my employees or I need the ability to work from multiple locations?

Questions to ask yourself if you're already using cloud: 1.

Am I using a trusted, reputable service provider?

2.

Where exactly is my information going? Is it being outsourced? To where?

3.

What security and backup policies does this particular cloud provider have in place?

IN A NUTSHELL: If you answered yes to any of the first set of questions, your business would likely benefit from cloud services.

However, with so much uncertainty, small businesses should proceed with caution, evaluate the options, and seek recommendations. To reduce risk, you may also choose a ‘hybrid’ approach—as an example,

sharing non-sensitive files and data with employees via a cloud service, while keeping sensitive data in-house.

IF STARTING FROM THE GROUND UP: Once you have your business goals identified, you may want to consider more cost-efficient ways to have your business operations, tasks and services hosted on the cloud. Try typing into your browser's search bar for services that you might want, or reaching out to a telecom provider like TELUS. You’ll be surprised at how almost every business solution is now being offered in the cloud. You’ll find that many cloud-based services for your business offer subscription plans with customer support to help you along the way. Make sure you sign up for webinars, webcasts and even chat online with these teams. They can be your consultants and give you a tour of all the ins and outs of the cloud tool they’re offering.

However, always be wary of the risks associated with depending on the cloud rather than your own server. Sign up for trials and make sure you don’t commit until you’re absolutely sure you have found a solution that is secure, legitimate, and reliable.

IF IT AIN’T BROKEN, KEEP THE ENGINE WELL OILED: It’s one thing having a website, email and maybe even your important documents stored in the cloud, but it’s another to make sure that you’re consistently on top of your game when it comes to keeping track and measuring performance. Don’t forget to explore your other options, and take a pulse check when it comes to the existing cloud technologies that you may already be using. Consult with your employees, your professional network, and your telecom provider. This is where you will gain the most value when deciding if and what cloud services are next on the horizon for you.

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A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

THE TSUNAMI OF MOBILE The ‘move to mobile’ has been, in a word, staggering. We are more ‘connected’ and ‘always on’ than ever before. There are many statistics to show just how big and how fast those changes are actually happening, but at the end of the day consider this: Do you ever leave home without your smartphone?

The modern ‘workplace’ these days exists wherever you want it to. And business hours have long since departed from the typical Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 schedule. The ability to work remotely is an advantage for small businesses that want to keep their overhead down and, investing in the kind of technology that facilitates that ‘mobile workplace’, will allow you to maximize productivity and profitability.

And then there are your customers. What does their increasing adoption of mobile devices mean for you? Well, again according to the Comscore data, e-commerce is up 42% from 2008 to 2012. In growing numbers, consumer behaviour is changing. There is a steadily increasing trend for those online shoppers to use a method of shopping called ‘showrooming’. This is when shoppers visit an actual business to view a product but ultimately end up buying the item online after comparing prices, making their purchase at a nearby café, on their mobile device.

According to Comscore, a leading digital analytics firm, by 2014 mobile devices – smartphones, tablets and other crossover mobile devices – will surpass the use of desktop computers.1 In fact, mobile use is growing at a pace 14 times faster than traditional desktop use.2

Digital analytics firm Comscore, State of US Internet in Q1 2012, June 14, 2012. http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Trends-2013-Making-Mobile-FirstPriority/1009503

1 2

Today’s mobile workforce lends itself to business applications primed for mobile applications—usually referred to simply as ‘apps’. If your business involves interacting with and serving customers on the road, in sometimes rural and rugged environments, today’s mobile advances can offer key advantages. Smartphones not only come in different sizes, shapes and colors, but also come dustproof, waterproof and built to accommodate harsh work environments. The beauty of mobile is that it’s gotten even more robust, literally.

Fleet tracking applications combined with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology makes a powerful combination for tracking fleet, inventory management, location monitoring and even fuel management. We’ll look at a few handy business solutions where mobile can play a huge impact on your business operations in the next section, but rest assured that your mobile devices can not only be a

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resource for personal task management, but can also be deployed across your business operations to manage inventory, plan deliveries and more.

5.

The result is that it’s more important than ever to not only get familiar with mobile technology, but also to actively plan for how this rising trend is going to impact your business. After all, if the employees you are seeking out—the best and the brightest—are using mobiles, and using smartphones and tablets at work, rest assured that there are solutions out there that can help protect and improve their productivity.

This in turn can actually make your life easier and reduce costs. At the same time, the customers you want are demanding mobile options for their everyday buying decisions.

IN A NUTSHELL: When it comes to mobile, you need to first identify how your company communicates. There will be critical lines of communication between your employees, your customers and your partners. There are tons of mobile and smartphone solutions out there for your business, which range from e-commerce capabilities to task management, tracking and scheduling. In order to properly identify what kind of mobile strategy will best support your business, you’ll need to focus your efforts on how you want to communicate.

NEXT STEPS GOING MOBILE – WHERE DO YOU START? Questions to ask yourself: 1.

How often does my team rely on the phone for doing our daily work?

2.

Does my business require a lot of phone calls, conference calls, telemarketing and/or emailing on the go?

3.

Would my business benefit from having a mobile application so that my customers can access my services easily?

4.

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Is it easy for me to access my inventory and keep track of delivery and shipment schedules on my phone?

If I implement mobile payments for my business, what are some of the benefits and costs associated with accepting mobile payments for my business?

IF STARTING FROM THE GROUND UP: These days, having a phone line for your business and using your smartphone or mobile phone for calls and emails on the go can be considered the bare minimum. If you’re on emails a lot or even texting and need to view large files over email, you’ll need to monitor your data usage carefully.

Your smartphone can collect a hefty amount of data just from checking and reading emails, and browsing the internet on your phone. This is where can work with a telecoms provider, like TELUS, to find a phone plan that not only includes a voice component to help facilitate the inbound/outbound calls you make, but also one that supports your internet browsing and data usage.

IF IT AIN’T BROKEN, KEEP THE ENGINE WELL OILED: When you’re at this stage of the game, where your business and your employees are happily set up with smartphones and able to manage tasks, share calendar appointments, and keep track of their day-to-day business activities, you know you’ve graduated from the agenda book

A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

to going fully mobile. The next thing on your checklist should be to explore the ‘art of the possible’ with solutions that aren’t commonly known. Dig deep into the solutions that are offered by your phone carrier (or even cloud services). For example, did you know that using a Smart Hub can give you and your team instant access to internet and your ‘wired’ phone connection wherever there’s power and a cell phone signal? These types of new solutions are especially useful for people with mobile locations in malls, trade shows, construction sites, etc.

The possibilities are almost endless for improved services—wireless payment processing, tracking of inventory and the ability to seamlessly text your customers, to name a few. Check with a trusted provider like TELUS to navigate the options.

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TOP TOOLS AND SERVICES: THE BASICS AND BEYOND “Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.”

-- Steve Jobs SECTION SNAPSHOT Now that we’ve reviewed the big tech picture and considered how these trends will impact your business, read on for some practical ways you can make them work for you, along with the lowdown on popular tools in these areas: • Productivity • Communication and collaboration • Mobile –Top apps for your business • Websites – Making them ‘business class’ • Social Media –The importance of developing a strategy It’s a big brave new world of products and services out there, with more new things coming down the pipeline every single day. In this section, we’ll attempt to whittle all this down into some practical 13

recommendations for top tools and services as they exist today, based on feasibility and old-fashioned common sense. We’ll cover most of the essentials and offer a few tips and techniques on some of the most important issues for you to consider when planning your own technology roadmap.

PRODUCTIVITY Every business needs software for emailing, scheduling, word processing and number-crunching as well as creating and sharing a host of files and information. Most people are familiar with Microsoft Office, which is the standard software suite. The options available for productivity are massive – entire books have been written on this subject alone. However, these are two of the most popular and useful cloud-based suites of products geared to small business: Google Docs – www.docs.google.com/ - One of the first places that small business turns to for free online word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. Google Docs integrates seamlessly with Gmail and other Google Apps, with robust online collaboration and shared workspace. Microsoft Office 365 – www.office.microsoft.com/en-ca/ The cloud-based version of Microsoft Office programs (including Word, Excel and PowerPoint). With the addition of Exchange, SharePoint, Office and the unified communications service, Lync, all in the cloud, this solution makes managing a Windows environment very easy. At the moment, this productivity suite is the gold standard for ultimate business functionality with some new Office Web Apps currently being offered.

A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

Accounting – These two cloud-based systems give you just about all the tools you need to process your payables and receivables, take care of payroll, track inventory and create reports: FreshBooks – www.freshbooks.com - An extremely easy and popular way to help you manage your money. FreshBooks covers client and product/service records, creates invoices, prepares reports and has excellent mobile integration and smartphone support. QuickBooks – www.quickbooks.com - From the venerable Intuit, QuickBooks was one of the first accounting tools designed to appeal to the needs of small business. The program works hard to be user-friendly and has a wide range of third-party addons that greatly expand its capabilities.

Project management – Online project management software deals with the management of calendars, milestones, tasks, to-do lists and the online communication between team members. Two favourites for small business are: Basecamp – www.basecamp.com -Widely considered to be the simplest and fastest project management service. With over 3 million active users, Basecamp is the benchmark of free online project management. It helps a wide range of businesses, from wedding planners to accounting firms, get and stay organized. Huddle – www.huddle.com- A free, simple and effective online service that helps you manage projects, store files, schedule and hold meetings.

Customer Relationship Management – CRM programs are basically programs that help you nurture, support and develop your ongoing

relationships with that all-important group—your customers. Salesforce – www.salesforce.com - Widely considered the leading tool. The Small Business edition, in particular, has a full range of services including full reporting and analytics, custom dashboard, email marketing, sales forecasts and real-time data sharing. Insightly – www.insightly.com - This is a Google Apps add-on which integrates nicely with the Google family of products – Contacts, Docs, Calendar and Gmail. If you are running your business in Google Apps, this program can give you a complete history of each of your customer’s dealings with your business.

Data Storage and Backup – As a business owner, you generate business-related data and that means you need a backup plan … period. With tons of cloud-based data storage available now for a very low cost, there is no excuse not to have your data backed up in the event of computer disaster. With any data storage and backup provider, make sure you’re well versed in their terms and agreements.

International laws are applicable when it comes to how your data is used and the privacy acts are in place so that your information is secure, but also shared with the necessary authorities. (TIP: Look for services that have automated backups—“set it and forget it”—to make your life easier. And make sure you’re informed as to the actual location—in which country—your critical information is being stored.

See “Rainy Days for Cloud” on page 8 for more info.)  Desktop Backup – www.telus.com - An online service for backing up critical business information. There are a wide range of options available with this service, including unlimited storage and state-of-the-art encryption to ensure the safety and security of your data.

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Dropbox – www.dropbox.com - A basic cloud-based data storage and backup systems that is widely used by many consumers to share files, store data and back up information.

COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION Communication technology has gone way beyond just a regular business phone line, or even multiple lines. With VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), accessing phone services over the internet instead of (or as well as) traditional landlines has become a mainstream technology. The options are limitless, but here are a few voice communication services that really stand out: VoIP – For small businesses that are dealing with customers, team members and suppliers who are in different time zones, consumer VoiP solutions like Skype may be a cost-effective way to lower your long-distance spend, while business-grade VoiP solutions offered by many telecoms providers go beyond that – offering features and capabilities that integrate voice, video, and messaging communication into a single, easy-to-use solution. Toll-free service – www.telus.com - A toll-free number improves your accessibility to customers all across Canada and the U.S. New features for these services allow for improved customer communication, including the ability to input an endless number of re-routing instructions—meaning you will never miss a customer call again. Integrated communication and collaboration platforms – Onestop-shop systems that have been designed and packaged up 15

with hardware (phone systems and computers) and services (landline, VoIP, networking, conferencing customer management and a full suite of tools) that fit all together. These are the ‘Cadillac’ of systems and the ultimate for a fully designed solution, but they are also surprisingly affordable.

Web conferencing – It’s not always possible or necessary to meet your customers or employees in person. Having an online conferencing tool allows you to stay connected and have real-time collaboration sessions to keep things moving even if you can’t be there in person.

Telecom providers like TELUS often offers state-of-the-art versions of these technologies and can design easy-to-use, elegant solutions.

Two additional favourites are: WebEx – www.webex.com - WebEx was the pioneer in online video conferencing and it remains a favourite. Easy and affordable to use, it can invite participants by email, phone or text and follow up with reminders. You can start a meeting on the fly or set one up ahead of time and allow participants access to shared documents. GoToMeeting – www.gotomeeting.ca - Another full-featured approach that allows you to host online meetings, webinars or training sessions.

Marketing Tools: E-newsletters and presentations – With a small business, it’s important to spread the word. With easy-to-use marketing tools for e-newsletters and presentations, it’s more affordable than ever to create a visually pleasing email blast hat grabs the reader’s attention, or a presentation that shows the potential customer what your business can really do.

A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

MailChimp – www.mailchimp.com - With nice templates and clearly marked filter instructions, MailChimp can help you create email newsletters to distribute to your list of current contacts. SlideShare – www.slideshare.net - Helps you create and share presentations in a social networking-type environment.

You can upload an existing presentation to create online slide shows and then share them or embed them into your own website or blog.

MOBILE Is there an app for that? You bet. Most small business owners are familiar with mobile apps and use them every day. You’ve probably checked Facebook on your smartphone, even today. Mobile applications are, in very simple terms, ‘mini’ software programs that are designed to run on smartphones and tablets. And in today’s digital world, mobile applications are becoming the tools of the trade.

Most of the tech software that we’ve talked about will have apps already built in that you can download and use. We won’t cover those here, but will focus on a few of the current top mobile apps that can put improved productivity right at your fingertips.

Scanner Pro – www.readdle.com - Transforms your iPad or iPhone into a document scanner, allowing you to capture highquality electronic copies of invoices, business cards, signed documents, meeting notes or any other document. Flight Track Pro – www.mobiata.com - An excellent travel tracker. Simply import trip information from an airline confirmation email and this app will monitor your itinerary giving you information on flight delays, cancellations, gate changes, weather, and maps of airport terminals.  Remote Fleet Tracker – TELUS Small Business Solutions This tool uses GPS technology to track and manage your delivery trucks. By giving you visibility into where your vehicles, equipment and workers are at all times, you can improve worker safety, optimize routes for reduced fuel consumption, and improve the utilization of your entire fleet.

 Asset Tracker – TELUS Small Business Solutions - An inventory management tool that tells you exactly where your most valuable assets are located. Small, portable GPS-enabled tags are inserted into high-value goods as they move through the delivery chain, or fastened to larger mobile assets such as trailers.

Some top apps for business: Square – www.squareup.com - Credit card payments can be processed anywhere using your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch with Square’s card-reader accessory. User-friendly and with a single universal fee (2.75% on each transaction), and no monthly charges or contracts, makes it easy for small businesses to accept Visa and Mastercard payments.

 Wireless Work Orders – TELUS Small Business Solutions A web-based work order management tool for real-time dispatching that optimizes your mobile operations and eliminates the need for traditional field paperwork.

Tech Talk: The Straight Goods

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There are many options available for today’s mobile workforce. Contact your internet provider to discuss the possibilities and limitations that will work best for your small business.

numbers. How many people are visiting your website? Where are they from? What are the key demographics of your target audience and are you reaching them? Google Analytics – www.google.ca/analytics/ - The Google Analytics statistics tool comes into play here and it can provide invaluable information for you. This tool gives you information on your website visitors—including where they’re from and how they’re using your website—along with other key data broken out by day, week, month or year. Best of all, Google Analytics uses clear charts and graphs so that even the least tech-savvy business owner can understand the information.

WEBSITES In this section, we’ll discuss some of the best tools available to build and manage your website, how to find out how effective your website is, whether you need a ‘mobile optimized site’ so that your website looks good on smartphones and tablets, and the current thinking on ecommerce.

Content Management Software (CMS) – The term is cumbersome, but this development has been a boon to small business. Quite simply, these programs allow you to control, edit and publish content on your website without technical training. WordPress – www.wordpress.com - Originally a major blogging platform, WordPress has grown into one of the leading CMS platforms. With a seemingly unlimited array of design features and flexibility, WordPress is the ‘publisher of choice’ for businesses all across the size spectrum. Most web designers today use WordPress (or, for more sophisticated e-commerce needs, Joomla or Drupal). Once your website has been designed and built, you can make changes to your heart’s content. Note: many of the new WordPress design templates have mobile optimization built in (which means that your website will look great on smartphones and tablets).

Tracking and Reporting. With small business, it’s all about the 17

E-COMMERCE TIPS AND TRENDS (Reprinted from an article published by the Wall Street Journal, 6 Tips For Building a Web-based Store, and edited for length. To read the full article, click here.)

Have a company website? If you're not using it to sell your goods or services, then you could be losing out on an opportunity to boost your company's bottom line.

Building an ecommerce platform within your company website doesn't have to be complex or expensive. Many telecom providers, including TELUS, host scalable ecommerce platforms that can make the task easy and affordable but there are other services, such as Goodsie, Shopify, Storenvy and Weebly as well. You can use these services to design a store, upload product, create shopping carts, manage fulfillment and more—all for as little as a few

A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

dollars a month.

Older platforms such as eBay and Etsy allow merchants to sell direct to consumers with benefits such as built-in site traffic. But these new services give merchants more control over the look and feel of their online stores.

"I wanted to have some sort of online presence or shop, but I thought it would be too much work and I couldn't do it on my own," says Kimberly Lash, who uses Goodsie to sell vintage clothing at ShopAmour.com. "I thought eBay felt like just selling clothes. You couldn't build a brand or company.

There's tons of traffic and people are already going to the site, but you can't create a brand."

TIPS FOR CREATING AN ONLINE STORE: 1. Invest time, and possibly money, in taking good photos.

Photography is the "dirty little secret" of e-commerce, according to Tom Davis, global head of e-commerce at footwear and apparel company Puma, "[Customers] can't touch and feel your wares, so your photography needs to be an important element."

2. Use a voice that matches your brand.

"There's a fine line between cute and strategic," says Mr. Davis. For example, a flower shop may describe marigolds as, "perfect for fall and a favorite for moms," while an electronics store may provide a more technical description of products.

Tech Talk: The Straight Goods

3. Experiment with the layout, and mix it up.

The new services, which emerged within the past five years, provide hundreds of templates for the arrangement of products on the page, as well as a wide variety of different colors and fonts. "Change things every two to three weeks over three months and see what drives the best results," Mr. Davis says.

4. Figure out the payment gateway.

This is the trickiest part of creating an online store, according to Mr. Davis. Store owners will need to set up a merchant account with a bank to link funds from the credit card company or a third-party processor like PayPal, which lets customers use its merchant account under certain terms, usually with very little setup required. PayPal does not charge a setup fee.

Currently, Weebly stores only accept PayPal or Google Checkout to process payments. Goodsie offers those services, as well as Braintree Inc. and Authorize.net, a Visa Inc. company, to accept credit card payments. Shopify offers dozens of payment options.

5. Try to make online shopping feel like an experience.

"Do you have the right boxes? Do you have packing foam?

How do you want merchandise to be presented when your customer opens the box? Remember, that's the only one-onone you're going to have with a customer," Mr. Davis says.

He suggests offering gift wrapping and sending hand-written thank-you notes to add a more personal touch to the ecommerce experience.

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6. Promote heavily.

With the growth of social media, these e-commerce platforms have baked-in Facebook and Twitter integration so the store and individual products can be "Liked" and tweeted across the social networks. This requires registering for those services separately. The e-commerce platforms will ask the usernames and passwords of those separate services to sync the store. Gaining a following on services like Facebook and Twitter is a good way to alert customers to new products or specials, and to gain customer feedback, and potentially evangelism.

7. Make it mobile compatible.

You need to ensure your website looks good on handheld devices. Mobile web usage is growing at a tremendous rate – your website should be accessible and easy to use on mobile devices.

8. Sync up your social media Many websites these days have some sort of social aspect.

If your business is actively communicating on social media channels, it’s important to make sure your website is up to date with the latest icons and social plug-ins.

9. Own your web assets Make sure you don’t overlook some of the legal aspects involved. It’s a good idea to specify outright that any logos or creative designs are yours, otherwise you could end up in a legal battle over who actually owns the materials on your website.

SOCIAL MEDIA Another big discussion starts here. We’ve talked about the new opportunities in cloud computing and we’ve discussed the ‘move to mobile’. Social media is the third big shift in technology trends and an area that many small businesses are trying to sort out. This section will give you a quick overview of the social media landscape with some practical, common sense advice on how—or even IF—you should jump on the bandwagon.

It’s now conventional wisdom that if you have a small business, you should be spending time regularly building your business ‘fan base’ on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and blogs. There’s no doubt the opportunities are immense.

But the first and most important question when contemplating social media is whether it makes sense for your particular business. Who is your target customer? Does he or she (if you market to individuals) actively use social media? If you market to other businesses (where social media is generally thought to be less effective), is starting and managing a social media campaign a good use of your time and other resources?

Not everyone is finding it easy to get into the social loop. There’s only so much of you (and your staff) to go around. You’re running a lean machine already. The question is this: How can you add even more tasks—and extremely time-consuming ones at that, with their requirements for constant monitoring and conversation—and implement those successfully?

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A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

Small business owners should approach social media with their eyes wide open, since there are real risks and challenges that lie ahead. Building an online community takes time and know-how. Are you prepared to invest the time? Do you have good writing skills and content to share? Are you prepared to open up your business to public comments of all kinds? And, even if you are prepared to do all those things, do you have a clear understanding of how to turn that ‘fan base’ into actual customers? Thinking about these questions is all part of assessing your return on investment before starting a social media campaign. In other words, look before you leap. For example, there are common forums available for the community to comment on medical practitioners. From massage therapists to clinical physiologists to medical doctors, social media creates a community for open and free dialogue on services rendered, performance reviews, and “her

TIPS FOR DEVELOPING A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY If you decide that you have the time and the resources to dive deep into using social media, here are some tips to help you a map out a strategy and improve your chances of ‘social success’: 1. Think about who you’re trying to ‘have a conversation’ with

and then choose the outlet(s) where those people are most likely to be. Are your customers and potential customers mainly businesses? If so, then LinkedIn and the variety of special groups on LinkedIn may be a good forum. Do you have a product that has great visual appeal and is geared to women? Pinterest might be a good choice. And then, of course, there’s Facebook. Generally speaking, Facebook is most effective for business owners who have a product or service for individual consumers. Is live action the best thing to show your strengths? Don’t forget about YouTube – having a corporate channel online can be a powerful way to get your message across.

2. Sketch out a 6 to 12-month plan of story ideas and messages.

Brainstorm a bit. Think about other online resources that you like and consider re-posting articles from other sites with a bit of your own editorial comment. This is absolutely acceptable and even encouraged in social media land. Most importantly, figure out what's interesting to your target audience and focus on that.

Nobody likes an organization or business that ONLY ‘talks about itself’. Think of it as a polite, engaging, dinner party conversation with business customers and colleagues. receptionist was nice” posts. The fundamental issue with social media is once the information is posted, it’s “out there” for the world to see, good and bad, and this an associated risk that comes in our ever growing connected community.

Tech Talk: The Straight Goods

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3. Adopt the casual, friendly tone that is widely used in social

media circles today. If you find this difficult to do, consider assigning the task to one or more of your staff members, or outsource the job.

4. Have a regular publishing schedule and keep to it. This is key

to building a strong social media presence.

5. Monitor your results and improve your methods over time.

Most of the social media outlets have a tremendous number of tools that can show you exactly how effective your campaign is.

SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com - Every small business owner should have a professional LinkedIn profile to make sure that both old and new contacts can search for you. As one of the world’s largest professional networks, this tool is not only an excellent way to make sure your address book stays up to date, but allows you to exchange information and ideas with a broad network of professionals. Facebook – www.facebook.com - Setting up a Facebook fan page is easy and can almost function as an additional mini-website for your business. Of course, the key benefit is the ability you have to communicate directly with the people who ‘Like’ your fan page. It’s important to make regular status updates and interact with the people who comment on your page. Although you don’t have to post every single day, establishing a regular schedule for thoughtful or intelligent posts is absolutely critical. ‘Showing up’ sporadically is ineffective, a waste of your time and may even reflect badly on your company.

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Twitter – www.twitter.com - Some small business owners find this social media tool the most intimidating. It does have a language all its own, but people often find it easy and even fun to pick up. Almost like text messaging, a tweet is limited to 140 characters or less and can be a powerful tool for communicating with clients, monitoring the competition by taking a ‘listening’ approach, getting ‘real-time’ answers to questions and finding a wealth of resources. Company blog – Ideally your blog is part of your company website and this is where your big ideas and messages will often begin.

Whether you’re looking to keep your customers updated about your latest products and services, or simply wanting to educate your readers on a particular trend in your industry and even provide them with tips, your company blog can become a valuable medium. Think of it as not only your online written journal, but also a photo album that you can share with people who come across your blog on the internet when they search for related keywords to your business, or when you promote your business online. Like other social media tools, it is essential to publish your content on a regular schedule. Blog entries are typically 250 to 400 words, any longer and you’ll lose your audience. Include visuals that are eye-catching (a picture is worth 1000 words). Above all, choose topics and stories that are interesting to the reader instead of just talking about your business. Pinterest – www.pinterest.com - The new and powerful kid on the block in the social media circle. Calling itself a ‘virtual pinboard’, Pinterest is a photo-sharing website that lets users create and manage collections of images. Users can browse other pinboards for inspiration,‘re-pin’ images to their own collections or ‘Like’ photos.

Depending on the type of business you have, Pinterest just might be a

A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

place to feature some rich visuals to an active and growing marketplace. Most businesses that have a lot of design elements, eyecatching photos and visually appealing ways to display their products and services are advocates and heavy users of Pinterest. In particular, you’ll find a lot of restaurants, art galleries, musicians, and retail stores having Pinterest accounts. Since their products and services appeal to the visual senses, photos abound their Pinterest account where they can effectively leverage this online photo-album feature. Hootsuite – www.hootsuite.com - An excellent web-based tool (and Canadian success story) that can help you stay on top of status updates for all these different social media accounts. Not only does Hootsuite enable you to post to multiple social media accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) at one time, it also lets you schedule tweets and posts in advance. It’s a centralized platform where you login online, and connect all of your social media accounts, so that you are sharing one message, all at the same time, periodically. Hootsuite eliminates the headache of multiple passwords and logins, and centralizes this task for you so that you can login once, schedule your post, and then watch it appear across all your social media accounts. Bit.ly – www.bitly.com - Another useful tool that allows you to shorten your links—essentially improving the ‘look’ of your link—so they can be shared more easily across Facebook, Twitter and email.

Remember those long web links that were one or two lines long, with a variety of words, numbers and characters? Bit.ly solves that problem and creates a tidy, professional-looking link for you to insert in posts and emails. In addition, it gives you personalized stats on how

many times your Bit.ly link was opened. This will help you monitor how many people were actually interested in the link you wanted to share with them in the first place.

Feeling a bit of information overload? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. In this Top Tools and Services section, we’ve given an overview of several different areas of technology—everything from productivity and communication tools, the latest and greatest mobile technology, and even tips for websites and social media. There’s a great deal to know.

For a sensible approach to navigating these important technology decisions, the Next Steps section sums up some of the key issues you should consider.

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NEXT STEPS WHEN THERE’S NO ‘IT GUY’: HOW TO SIFT THROUGH THE CHOICES

5. Will the investment in time and dollars generate the best return, or would my clients and my business be better served if I invest efforts elsewhere?

Questions to ask yourself: 1.

Assess your needs. What’s working, what isn’t? Ask your employees for their input and develop a wish list. And talk to your telecom provider. For example, TELUS business consultants can offer a lot of insight and guidance, as well as information on specific technology solutions to address various challenges.

2.

Start small and keep it simple. Try to differentiate between the ‘must-haves’ and the ‘nice-to-haves’. For example, your sales team may want tablets, but smartphones and laptops may be working just fine.

Talk to people, either in person or in online discussion forums. Check with other small business owners and a trusted telecom provider like TELUS, for new ideas and information on ways that they solved common problems (see the Resources section at the end of this chapter for online discussion forums).

3. Are my clients and customers using social media? What kind of social media tools are they using and how are they using it?

4. Am I prepared to invest the time to note only become familiar with social media, but also regularly spend monitoring, responding, and initiating in these media?

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IN A NUTSHELL: With so much technology out there and things shifting every day, it’s impossible to make recommendations in this chapter that are applicable to each and every small business owner.

Take steps to make smart, sensible decisions and avoid costly mistakes by examining the current and anticipating future needs of your business so that it can scale as you grow. Trust your gut. At the end of the day, if you take a moment to think about it, you’ll know whether this is actually a smart move or whether you’re just being swept up in the excitement.

IF YOU’RE STARTING FROM THE GROUND UP: Get expert advice. For major overhauls or big purchases, talk to a trusted provider or even consider hiring an IT consultant. Sometimes the job is just too big to fully comprehend on your own and the money spent can be well worth it. (TIP: There are plenty of knowledgeable, well-trained experts at large service providers who will offer these services for free simply for the opportunity to showcase their range of products and solutions. You can reach a Business Consultant at TELUS by calling 310-3100.) Dig deeper. Read reviews online (see our Resources section for websites that offer reputable, professional reviews).

IF IT AINT’ BROKEN, KEEP THE ENGINE WELL OILED: Read the fine print. Find out the answers to these questions: Will I need additional products or software to get this up and running? What kind of customer support is available and are there additional costs for

A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

that? Do I need to worry about software updates? What type of warranty, if any, is available? Are there any penalties for cancellation?

Do the cost/benefit analysis by asking yourself these questions: If I’m losing valuable time with inefficient technology now, how much time can I gain from implementing something new? Does it reduce my costs? Does it enable my business and my staff to do things that we can’t currently do? Get answers to these questions: Is this new technology compatible with the rest of my system? How fast is it? How secure is it? Can my staff (and me too, for that matter) learn it easily and quickly?

My fondest moment in dealing with technology: I needed help setting up a wireless router in my new office, and the tech guy asked to “talk to my IT department”, to which I replied, “You’re talking to her.”

My advice in tackling any technology or application (isn’t that a fancy word) for your business is to take a phased approach, categorizing things into must have, should have, and nice to have. Personally I get quite annoyed when I ask someone for advice and they say, “It depends, everyone is different.” Really? All I want is your perspective on what you used and how you did it … and then I can make my own decision.

IDEA IN PRACTICE: TRANSFORMING THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

SUMMARY OVERVIEW

STICKING TO THE BASICS

This story follows Claire Jenkins, an entrepreneur no different from the average entrepreneur of today. She wants to be her own boss, apply what she knows best, make some money, and enjoy the lifestyle balance of running her own business.

Her marketing services company is now 5 years old, and Claire knows that in order to scale her company and build a team to support and execute her business vision, she needs to find the right technology. But today’s myriad of choices can be overwhelming and quite confusing.

Here is Claire’s story in her own words.

“If I can do it, you can do it…”

Whoever says technology isn’t daunting is speaking from the 20 part of the 80/20 rule. I’m smart enough to know that today’s technology is so sophisticated that I would be very unwise not to take advantage of it.

But I’m not a technology expert, I’m a marketing communications specialist.

Having good telecommunications is the basic key to running a business. I used to have my cell phone with one telecom carrier, internet with another carrier and landline with another. Doesn’t that sound silly? But when you’re too busy running, it’s hard to stop and assess if you’re running on the right track. Today, I have efficiently packaged all of these in a bundle with our carrier – one central place, one central bill and one point of contact for me.

We often use conference calls when talking to customers from across North America. When I’m in a working session, where sound quality and reliability are a bit less important, I use Meeting Burner. Meeting Burner is a free online meeting platform to help facilitate conference

Tech Talk: The Straight Goods

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calls that provides a free conference line for up to 15 participants, issuing them a U.S. phone number to dial in to the discussion. I’ve found it to have better sound quality than other free options in the market as it also comes with the ability to share your computer screen with up to 15 people on the call. There are many online meeting platforms to choose from, but key decision factors for me included cost (free is always good), quality of calls and user-friendliness. When voice quality and reliability are critical – like when I’m talking to a key decision-maker, I use the conferencing solution that my telecom provider hosts.

I can count the number of times (less than 10) that I needed to use a fax line over the last five years, so our office doesn’t have one. If you do need a fax number, then subscribing to an e-fax service from either a telecom company or Fax Free is an inexpensive and easy-to-use option.

I KNOW I REALLY SHOULD HAVE THIS As the company has now grown to 10 people, the need for centralized information that we can share and collaborate on amongst team members and clients has become a necessity. I once asked an IT person his opinion on the best tool for this purpose, and he mentioned getting a server. I have to admit my first thought was, “Why do I need a waiter? To serve me a drink?”. He explained that a server is a piece of hardware that I’d need set up in my office, and that it would help the team do a bunch of tasks over our very own company network – share files, print, send emails. For my company, I chose not to invest in having this internal server because at that time, technology seemed to

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be changing and there were other options to share and access our information on the web.

My choice instead was to embrace the cloud and its various tools. In our initial years, Google Apps for Small Business provided us with excellent support for email, calendar, shared docs, Gchat, and video conferencing. We have a weekly team meeting to go over client updates and projects on the go. Team members put shared documents on Google Drive and this ensures that we are using the latest version.

With additional team members and client management, we also use another good application for sharing files as not to limit ourselves to Google Apps.

SHARING IS GOOD! Dropbox is a special folder on each of our team members’ computers that allows for file storage and synchronization (meaning we are using the same latest, greatest files) and we can even share certain folders with clients who need access to big files. It’s easy to use and has up to 2GB of free usage.

In deciding which sharing application, it came down to ease of use, compatibility, and cost. You need to consider who else will use the application. For example, will it only be within your team?

Perhaps customers will need to collaborate and share files, especially

A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

bigger files. The nice thing about sharing applications, like Dropbox, is the simplicity in having the folder as part of your desktop, so can you save files easily to your Inbox and customers can access your files in their Inbox, if they use Dropbox too.

BEING SOCIAL I’ve always considered myself a social person but when social media came into the scene, I was out of my comfort zone. Friending, linking, tweeting, Pinteresting – that’s a lot of socializing. For businesses, especially in our B2B space, connecting with your customers, partners, peers, and colleagues this way can contribute to information overload.

Choosing which social media tool to use alone can be overwhelming. I was bombarded with articles. “Top social media tools”, “Must have social media apps”, “Don’t miss the social media train”. Frankly, I wanted to get off the train.

My thought process in focusing on LinkedIn for my business development and networking purposes revolves around the fact that LinkedIn is used mainly for B2B. LinkedIn has been the most return on my time investment. It lets me see where my connections are working, what new jobs they are starting, and even who’s been reading my profile. Like any social media tool that you use, it’s important to keep content fresh and updated as this sends a notice to your peers which then prompts them to read it.

In deciding which social media tools to use, here’s some insight into my evaluation. While Facebook gives you the potential to reach a massive audience (the site has over 800 million users), it’s not SEO (search engine optimization) friendly. That means the content you put up isn't easily searchable online due to privacy restrictions. Also,

Facebook has a very visual interface, meaning the major content drivers are typically photos and video. Our business doesn’t lend itself to lots of compelling visuals, so it’s not the right fit for us. It’s also less B2B friendly and more ideal for customer relations. However, if these attributes appeal to you and you have good visuals to share and push as content, then Facebook might be a good option.

I also didn’t opt for Twitter as this requires regular updates and I don’t have the time. However, maybe you’re the kind of person who is always on their smartphone and have the time to spend. Twitter might be the perfect thing in that case. Twitter helps you quickly respond to clients’ questions in real time. It’s also easy to accumulate a big number of followers but beware of posting too much as you can easily be blocked as spam. If you like the idea and have the time and something meaningful to share, then I urge you to get tweeting!

TECHNOLOGY MAZE – KEEP IT SIMPLE If someone told me 10 years ago that our business language would include words like “tweet”, “cloud”, “apps”, I would have probably grinned and felt excited about the possibilities. Today, I know what those terms mean, but I don’t play into the hype. Just remember that whatever new technology comes your way, you’re still in control of your business. And remember, if I can do it, trust me … so can you.

However, I can’t pretend I figured this out all on my own. The first thing I did was inquire with my techie friend. Maybe you have one too? Is usually turn to her with all my tech questions, she’s a whiz. She invited me to her office to show me some of her secret weapons, some of those cloud tools that I’ve already mentioned. She then referred me to her IT guy. I felt confident contacting him knowing he had already helped my friend immensely. He helped me get my server and telecom set up. He was also the one who recommended I bundle my services.

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Most of my other great tech finds have been through my own research.

I spend time every now and then reading online forums that have all the latest tools and apps. There seems to be a great new product available almost every day and many times they are free to test out! It’s a good era in technology for small business owners.

that will affect you and the way you do business. Where are things going? Well, some things are more obvious than others. As an example, these things are fairly certain: the use of email will decline, texting will rise and the fax machine will eke out the last of its days.

And while there are many technology companies working on the ‘next big thing’ with new ideas being developed every day, the reality is there’s a lot still to be discovered.

WHAT’S COMING UP NEXT: THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE

“Dwell in possibility.”

-- Emily Dickinson

SECTION SNAPSHOT Where are we going? What’s around the next corner? Thinking about the changes that are happening around us and adopting new technology in a smart, strategic way will help businesses get ahead of the pack.

Welcome to the Smart Era—with data analytics and augmented reality and artificial intelligence, oh my! And of course—mobile, mobile and more mobile.

It’s an amazing world and an interesting time we live in. The pace of technological innovation almost guarantees massive social changes 27

For entrepreneurs like you, who don’t want to take a back seat and who are determined to grow their business, what’s important is this: To keep that open mind to technology innovation that we talked about earlier. These advances in technology signal some of the biggest changes we’ll see in our lifetime.

But where exactly is the opportunity for business owners? Well, it’s probably somewhere in the intersection of all that data and mobile. Use your imagination! And even embrace the wonder and befuddlement.

With our thanks to Allen Devine (Technology Strategy Manager) at TELUS for sharing his knowledge and insights (and supplying the phrase “The Art of the Possible”), here’s a glimpse into the not-sodistant future: “You’re the owner of a florist shop. It’s a beautiful, sunny day and you see two of your favourite customers come in at the same time. One of them is Simon, a 30-something welldressed banker. The mover-and-shaker type, always on the run. Recently married, he buys flowers regularly for his new

A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

wife. The other is Susan, a lovely woman in her 60’s, recently retired. Susan drops by even more frequently to get fresh flowers and just chat for a few minutes.

As they come through the door, Simon whips out his smartphone and scans it past a small box on the wall you’ve installed with technology called ‘near field communications’.

What comes up on your computer is an instant update on Simon: what his preferences are, the status of his standing order, his payment information, even his anniversary date. He dashes to the front counter, takes a quick look around to see if he can pick up a greeting card, swipes his smartphone again at your terminal to confirm payment of his order and off he goes again.

In the meantime, Susan is ambling around the shop … looking around to see what’s new. Susan is what some people would call ‘old-school’. She doesn’t have a smartphone and doesn’t intend to ever have one either. She comes in for the face-toface chat time, which to her is just as important as buying some flowers.

Because you’ve been able to serve Simon quickly and efficiently—in the manner he expects—Susan doesn’t have to wait long to be served in the manner SHE expects.

In this case, technology has done a great job for you. You’ve been able to keep both customers happy and deliver service according to THEIR needs and expectations. More happy customers, better business.

Fortune favours the brave. And billion-dollar empires have been built on these two basic rules: Give customers what they want, and get it to

them faster than anyone else. And how to fulfill those principles?

Technology can be the powerful tool that gets you there.

The future is absolutely full of possibility and how your business grows with technology is up to you. Go for it! Because after all, this is no time to dream small.

DISPATCHES FROM THE FUTURE (Yes, it does sound like the Jetsons …)

2020: iPads of old look like unwieldy bricks next to wafer-thin flexible displays that can be rolled, twisted or folded. Beyond tablets and laptops, flexible screens begin taking atypical forms like wallpaper, tabletops, and candy wrappers.

Go ahead, eat the wrapper: Business is busily trying to replicate the grape. More precisely, the skin of the grape, which protects the fruit inside from damage but is still edible. Ingestible packaging could revolutionize food transportation and consumption by vastly reducing the amount of plastic used to pack food. Beginning this year, Wikicells, based in Cambridge, Mass., will roll out its first products: yogurt, ice cream, and cheese. To wash, simply run the food under the faucet, just like a piece of fruit.

2030: Medical advancements add dramatically to average life expectancy. By 2030 there are a million centenarians around the world.

Scientists studying longevity believe the first person to live to 150 years old will be born in 2013.

(From Fortune, “The Future Dispatches”, Volume 167, Number 1, January 14, 2013)

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ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS 4 To help you apply what you have learned in this technology chapter, the following worksheets will help you assess your technology, identify your needs and begin implementing a plan to update or improve your business setup.

ASSESS WHAT TYPE OF TOOLS YOU NEED THE MOST There are many different types of tech tools out there for your business needs. Finding which ones best suit your purpose can be tricky. For your convenience we’ve simplified these needs into three main categories – productivity, communication and collaboration, customer acquisition:

Productivity The administrative and organizational tools of your business.

Communication and Collaboration Your business’ system for internal coordination and management of client expectations.

Customer Acquisition Lead generation; your business outreach and resulting sales acquisitions as well as customer tracking.

Find out which area of your business may be impacted the most by new or updated technology. Answer the set of questions below by circling the number that most accurately describes your situation.

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A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

1 – Strongly Disagree

2 – Disagree

3 – Neither Agree nor Disagree

4 – Agree

5 – Strongly Agree

PRODUCTIVITY The company is growing and I feel confident in the resources I have to scale my business I’m happy with my current system for keeping track of expenses I have an easy time generating sales and accounting reports I seldom use word processing tools and have no real need for them

1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5

I often use word processing tools and I’m happy with the programs I’m already using

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 /60

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

I work on my own and seldom need to share important files and documents I have no problem tracking and sharing my files and documents I’m happy with my current system for coordinating meetings My current system for tracking inventory works well for me I find it easy to plan and execute projects with the resources I have I don’t have any concerns about storing data because I know mine is secure I have plenty of room on my hard drive for all of my data Add up your score: 2) Communication and Collaboration Overall I have strong communication within my company My e-mail system is efficient and effective My telecom services (including phone and internet) are well suited to my needs My internet is reliable and can accommodate the computers in my office My meetings are always face to face I find it easy to be responsive with my colleagues and or employees I have a good system for conducting meetings with clients/colleagues remotely My customers find it easy to reach me I find it easy to respond to my customers Add up your score:

/45

3) Customer Acquisition Tech Talk: The Straight Goods

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1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Overall I am satisfied with my the level of customer engagement with my business I find it easy to track my customers’ activities I find my current tools for analyzing customer data useful I’m happy with my current means for sharing company news with customers My business functions well without an online presence I’m happy with the platform I have to reach customers online My customers are finding me online and my website traffic is high I don’t have any extra time to spend on social media I am gaining sales leads and referrals on a regular basis Add up your score:

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 /45

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Compare your scores for each section. Whichever section gave you the lowest score is an area where you should focus.

Productivity: Many of the tools you will find helpful are available through cloud computing. There are also many useful mobile apps. These can help with anything from project management to accounting to fleet management, and more! Check back to page 13 for the section entitled, TOP TOOLS AND SERVICES: THE BASICS AND BEYOND for a convenient outline.

Communication & Collaboration: Perhaps you might need a basic telecom setup or maybe you’re not happy with the coordination of your e-mail and mobile. For communication with clients, social media is a great tool. If you don’t have time for that, there are also cloud computing services for customer relations. Wherever you decide to focus, there is advice in this chapter that will get you started (see page 16), and consider reaching out to a trusted telecom provider, like TELUS, for help.

Customer Acquisition: Take some time to look over the areas of this chapter dedicated to websites and social media. A website or a blog is a great weapon to keep you ahead of your competitors. If you already have an online presence, you should investigate how you are tracking that data and how you might increase your traffic. A social media program might be the right thing. If you have already dabbled this territory but it isn’t taking off, take a look at our TIPS FOR DEVELOPING A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY on page 21.

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ON MY BUSINESS AND THE INDUSTRY IN GENERAL: QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

A major part of figuring out the technology maze is taking a thoughtful, methodical process to assess your current business needs.

Identifying your business goals and objectives will help frame your technology decisions. The questions in the next two sections will guide you to identify your technology options and set priorities on which technology decisions to make.

1.

How many computers or terminals do I have? Do I have enough to serve my customers quickly? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2.

How do my customers come to me? By phone? Online? In person? (Try to estimate the percentages for each. That will give you an idea of where to focus your efforts.) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3.

Am I using social media to promote my business? If not, should I be? What does my ideal customer look like and (where) does he/she ‘hang out’ online? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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4.

Am I certain that I’m delivering what my customers want? Am I delivering it faster than anyone else? If not, why not? What are the technology services that could help me with that? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5.

Are there any issues in my day-to-day business (for example, inventory management or point of sale systems) that technology could improve? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6.

In the industry that I’m in (for example; retail, manufacturing, personal services, business services) and the specific sector, are any changes or shifts happening that I need to be prepared for or take advantage of? What technologies could help me with this? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7.

Will those changes affect how my customers use my services or products? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

8.

Will those changes affect how my customers find me? Or how they buy my services or products? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9.

What are my business goals? Where am I going? What technology can help get me there? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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THE ULTIMATE WEBSITE CHECKLIST: FOR SMALL BUSINESS ENTREPRENEURS

Every business today needs a website. Your website should present well, attract your target audience and get visitors to act. One of the real values of your website is getting visitors talking and reaching out to you.

1.

2.

Plan Ahead – No matter what size your budget is and the amount of time you have, put thought into the purpose of your website. Look at your competitors’ websites and jot down what you like/dislike. Is it the look and feel? Is it the amount of information that’s actually there? Is it the navigation flow? Most of all, does it feel like the kind of place you’d want to do business with? Thinking about these issues will help you frame what (if anything) you want to emulate or how you want to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack.

Is my website primarily a place to inform and educate my customers?

Yes 

No 

Do people need to purchase products and services from my website?





Is my website a place to showcase my team and talents?





Does my website seek to increase my business’ reputation and authority?





Is my domain name (domainname.com) short, snappy and easy to remember?





What do I like about my competitors’ websites? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3.

What are the goals of my website? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

4.

Who is my audience? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5.

What actions will my audience take on my website? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6.

Which other competitors’ sites do they visit? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7.

How are they going to find out about my website? (Word of mouth? Paid online advertising? Others?) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8.

What keywords are relevant to my business – the ones that people would use to describe my business? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tech Talk: The Straight Goods

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES WEBSITES & ONLINE FORUMS Mashable.com: Tech and Social Media [Breaking news and reviews on technology, social media and online marketing] PCMag.com: Business [Technology products and gadgets reviews] Globe and Mail: Report on Business – Small Business [Small business reporting on the latest trends and updates with innovative small businesses] Small Business Television Network [The latest small business innovations, tips and trends] Open Forum - http://www.openforum.com/ [Technology discussion forum] Start Up Nation - http://www.startupnation.com/[New businesses and technology startups information] Women Grow Business - http://womengrowbusiness.com/ [Tips and business features on women entrepreneurs]

KEY SEARCH TERMS TO HELP YOU FIND OUT MORE Cloud: Cloud computing for small business (SMB), data storage for startups, portability of business information, designing a website, secure file storage for the business, businesses moving to the cloud Social Media: Social media strategy, LinkedIn for B2B, Facebook, Twitter, social media for small business, optimize social media for business growth Mobile: Mobile business, small business mobile solutions, mobile for small business, mobile payments

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A Practical Business Guide to Help You Grow Your Business

BOOKS Harvard Business Review on Aligning Technology with Strategy Harvard Business Review Press, 2011.

Business Technology: A Guide for Midsize and Small Business Johnson, Michael W.; Wain Technologies LLC, 2009.

Disrupt: Think the Unthinkable to Spark Transformation in Your Business Williams, Luke; FT Press, 2010.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide To WordPress Gunelius, Susan; Alpha Publishing, 2011.

Â

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“Several of my staff have mentioned that they admire me for belonging to a business group that is helping me to develop and grow as the company does. They also like that I have my own ‘go to’ people for back up when they are asking big questions that obviously put me under pressure to make crucial decisions. I think this shows good leadership and sets an example for them to work hard on themselves to improve.

I am not asking them to be better at their jobs without taking my own personal responsibility to be a better owner and manager.”

Cheryl Dawn Smith, President, dba Horty Girl (GroYourBiz Member, Burnaby Chapter 1) www.hortygirl.com

GroYourBiz.com Division of Impact Communications Ltd. 2625A Alliance Street, Abbotsford, BC V2S 3J9 T 604.534.5007 • F 604.533.2918 Barbara.Mowat@ImpactCommunicationsLtd.com

www.GroYourBiz.com www.ImpactCommunicationsLtd.com