6 Reasons Small Businesses are not Getting Return on BI Tools

November 23, 2013

6 reasons small businesses are not getting return on BI tools
Business Intelligence is the latest technology that promises to revolutionize the way management can have a pulse on their business. Today’s businesses are awash in data generated from all types of sources at the fastest rate in the history. Majority of businesses cannot keep up with this so called Big Data and simply don’t understand what to do with it. No doubt this data holds lot of valuable insight and can help businesses make the right decision at the right time. The problem is finding that needle in this haystack.  This is where business intelligence tools come into picture. Companies are investing large sums of money in these tools. When used properly these tools can provide succinct reports that can managers gain insights make quick decisions.

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Filed Under: Technology Tagged With:

Why Buying a Franchise Is Your Key to Future Business Success

November 20, 2013

Why Buying a Franchise May Be Your Key to Future Success
So you want to be in business for yourself, but not by yourself. In today’s uncertain economy, it is a good idea to have someone who has your back. This is especially true if you are getting in the business for the first time. With a franchise model, that is exactly what you get – a business partner that helps out with marketing and sales, supply costs, and operations. Franchises usually have hones their business model over years and can help potential business owners get off the ground quickly. However, not all franchises are created equal. You need to do extensive research to find the one that is right for you. Here are the tips you can use to narrow your search.

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Filed Under: Buyers Tagged With: ,

What are the Alternative Job Prospects for Finance Graduates

November 19, 2013

Job prospects for finance graduates
Finance is one of the most sought after and lucrative career paths for many business school students. It is estimated that almost 30-40% of any graduating class in the business school graduates with a focus on finance. When you think about it the reasons are not too hard to find. The demand for graduates with a finance degree is never going to diminish, except for the unusual dip that was experienced after the Great Recession of 2008-09. These finance experts are needed by all types of companies in all geographies. Finance is an incredibly broad topic to study, yet those who graduate with finance degrees typically stick to one of two career paths – accountancy or investment banking.

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How to Choose Broadband Provider for Small Business

November 17, 2013

How to choose broadband provider in small business
Broadband has revolutionized the way small businesses provide services to their customers. Majority of the population in developed countries has access to broadband. With the ability to combine voice, data, television into once affordable package broadband providers can provide a compelling value proposition to small business owners as well as individuals. Those who do not take advantage of this are at a disadvantage. With broader access and ever decreasing price there is no excuse for a small business owner to not jump on the broadband train.

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Filed Under: Technology Tagged With:

How to Choose the Most Effective Promotional Gifts for business events

November 14, 2013

How to Choose the Most Effective Promotional Gifts
Small business owners spend significant time, money and effort in attending the business fairs and events. When done right, these events do provide you with targeted audience who is there for the purpose of learning about new products and services. The challenge for any small business owner is to stand out in the crowd of other businesses who are also there for the same purpose. How do you attract people to come to your booth? And once they do stop by how do you get their attention and ensure they remember your business long after the event is over? This is where promotional swags can help. Promotional items provide an avenue for business owners to remind people about your business after they have gone back home. For promotional items to be effective you need to give careful consideration to the type of items you give away so that people don’t end up forgetting them, or even worse, tossing them in the trash. Here are some tips on what type of items will be remembered by your potential customers.

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Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With:

Leaders are Trained, Not Born. How to Develop Your Leadership Skills

November 13, 2013

Leaders are trained not born
It is said that leaders are not born, but made through hard work and dedication. It takes different types of skills to advance in your profession and be a true leader that everyone admires. Unfortunately, these “soft skills” are not taught in the classroom. You have to learn these skills on the job and by seeking advice from friends and professional colleagues. The good news is these skills can be learned, and once you master them the payoff is significant in terms of promotion and pay increase / bonus. You don’t even have to wait till you get a job to learn these skills. You can teach your school going kids these skills to give them jump start on their future careers. After all, you need a combination of school education and soft leadership skills to get hired and advance in the career.

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Filed Under: Management Tagged With: ,

Cloud Economics and Offsite IT Infrastructure for Small Businesses

November 12, 2013

Cloud eonomics and offsite IT infrastructure for small business
Small businesses spend significant money on IT infrastructure. Traditionally, they have owned the IT assets themselves and have to carry the burden of capital purchase and ongoing maintenance cost. However, there is a paradigm shift occurring in the IT industry with what is commonly known as cloud computing. This has the potential to dramatically change the way small businesses operate their IT infrastructure. With cloud computing small businesses no longer need to own the IT assets themselves. Instead, they can rent these assets on as needed basis and only pay for what they use. You can think of this as analogous to buying electricity from utility company.

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Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: ,

Are you Aboard the Broadband Train Yet?

November 11, 2013

Are you Aboard the Broadband Train Yet
Communication technology has come a long way from the time Alexander Graham Bell made a first phone call to Watson. The rise of internet in the last 10 years has benefited communication technology by demanding an ever increasing need for speed. As a result, tasks that used to take 20 minutes to download in the early days of internet can now be accomplished in 2 seconds. Financial firms are putting more and more advanced technology to increase the speed of their trade execution even by few milliseconds. Communication companies have responded to this need by developing and deploying advanced technology.

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How to Create Great Business Brand – The Ultimate Guide

November 10, 2013

How to create great brand
Let’s do an experiment. Close your eye and think of the first word that comes to mind when I say Apple. How about McDonald’s? Prada? If your answers were something like elegance, Happy Meal and luxury, respectively, you understand the power of brand. A brand can create vivid images in your mind of a business. It can also create powerful emotions in people’s brains. No wonder large businesses spend millions in creating and protecting their brands. The brand doesn’t have to be the purview of large companies only. Small business can, and must, do everything in their capacity to cultivate and manage their brand image.

Just what is a brand?

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Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: , ,

How to Organize Your Office Desk for Maximum Productivity

November 8, 2013

How to organize office desk for maximum productivity
Look around your desk and see how it is organized? How many items do you have lying around and taking up precious desk real estate? If you are like most people your office desk is cluttered with items that you rarely use. Over time the desk has become a garbage dump of papers, staplers, pens, scissor, paper clips and so on. This is pity because research shows that the cluttered desk can reduce the productivity of the person sitting on it. A desk that is neatly organized can help find items quickly and improve your output significantly. The P-L-A-C-E method we described below can help you achieve the goal of organizing your desk for maximum productivity.

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Filed Under: Operations Tagged With: ,