Have the Big Banks Followed Through with Their Promises?

Many big banks claimed that they would increase credit to small businesses in 2010, but have they really done this so far? Are they really lending more money to small businesses or have they fallen through? Well, it’s a little difficult to tell due to the fact that “small business lending” for most banks usually covers a variety of different things ranging from real estate to credit cards, and there are very few lenders that separate their numbers for small businesses. Big banks were under pressure from the White House last year to increase credit. Some of the nation’s largest lenders, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase, made some very big promises about increasing their lending to small business lenders in 2010. Four of the companies that set some concrete goals were asked how they were doing so far with their lending, and here is what they said.

Wells Fargo
According to Wells Fargo spokeswoman Sarah Toffoli, the company gave more than $2.9 billion in new loans to small business owners in the first quarter. The bank said that their goal for 2010 was to lend $16 billion, which is about $3 billion more than they lent in 2009, to companies with less than $20 million in revenue. "Based on the seasonality of business lending and the anticipation of an improved economy, we hope to meet our commitment by the end of 2010,” said Toffoli. John Stumpf, the chairman of Wells Fargo, says that the company plans to increase the new small business lending of $16 billion in the company’s annual report.

JPMorgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase reported in their first quarter earnings release that so far this year they have lent small businesses over $2.1 billion in new loans. They had said that their goal was to give out $10 billion in new credit to companies with revenues under $20 million. Their goal, which was announced November 9th, 2009, is an increase of $4 billion over last year. Spokesman Tom Kelly said that the bank’s first quarter lending to small businesses has increased 31% over the lending from the first quarter of the previous year.

Kelly also said that since November 9th, JPMorgan Chase has hired 235 new small business bankers, and they plan to hire 325 new employees by the end of 2010. Another interesting fact to note is that Chase has lent more than $110 million in “second-look loans” this quarter. Second-look loans are small business loans that are given to borrowers who were initially rejected but asked for Chase to review their loan application again.

Bank of America
In their first quarter Bank of America has loaned $19.4 billion to small and mid-size businesses, those who have less than $50 million in revenue. When taking out the loans to mid-size businesses, the bank has loaned $3.4 billion to small companies, those with less than $20 million in revenue, during their first quarter.

At a meeting with President Obama on December 14th, 2009, the then CEO of Bank of America Kenneth Lewis stated that the bank planned to increase their lending to small and mid-size businesses in 2010 by $5 billion. As of right now the bank has not released how much money they lent to small and mid-size businesses in 2009, so there is really no way to set a number on how much they will be lending in 2010 or on how much progress they have made this quarter towards meeting their goal for 2010. Spokesman Jefferson George said that the bank is currently running those numbers, and they hope that they will be able to make those numbers available soon.

Huntington National Bank
Huntington National Bank is a regional bank for the Midwest that is currently based out of Columbus, Ohio. In February they set a goal to increase their lending to small businesses, businesses with less than $15 million in revenue, by $400 million. Right now the bank says that numbers documenting progress towards their goal of lending $1.2 billion in 2010 are not available. Their spokeswoman LuJean Smith did say though that Huntington has currently hired more than fifty percent of the 150 new employees that they plan on hiring.

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The Five W’s of Marketing

Most people have heard of the Five W’s. They are who, what, when, where and why, and they are utilized by anyone from journalists to detectives to customer service representatives. Now when developing a marketing strategy, it is not only important to use these Five W’s but also to use them in a very particular order. Usually keeping the W’s in a certain order is not necessary, but with marketing it is definitely important.

To effectively formulate a marketing strategy, the best way to utilize the Five W’s is in the order of why, who, what, where and when. By following this pattern, much confusion and loss of precious time can be avoided. Many marketers think of utilizing what or where first, but doing this can definitely cause some issues.

By focusing on “why” first, many issues can be avoided. Companies should begin asking themselves why they are expending their limited resources on marketing. They should decide why they are spending this money on marketing instead of investing it in another area of the company. By asking these questions, it allows company executives to undoubtedly define their business and marketing plans. It also lets people deal with any sometimes unrecognized assumptions that they might have before getting too deeply into the strategy.

Some companies may have unrealistic marketing plans that need to face reality, while others might go in the advertising direction to solve a non-advertising problem. The “why” question can help a person to confront these problems head on before delving deeper into their strategy. It can be challenging at times to start with this question, but it is necessary to fully accomplish your goals successfully.

The second question for marketers to focus on is “who”. Who will help us accomplish our goals? Who will be receiving the message that we will be putting out? Who do we need to convince and win over in order to be successful? By asking this question, a company should then be able to clearly define its target audience. The better that the audience is defined, the more effectively the company will be able in addressing the three remaining W’s and formulating their marketing strategy.

“What” is the next question a company should ask. This question allows the team to figure out what they need to do for their target audience in order to accomplish their goals. This stage will include a variety of different important business decisions. A company will have to decide on things such as products, pricing, packaging, and policy. This stage is also where branding issues and personality dimensions for the brand and the task will be addressed.

“When” and “where” are the final W’s that should be utilized to formulate your strategy. These questions will allow you to figure out where and when is the best possible place to communicate your “what” and your “why” to your “who.” It will be necessary to make many tactical decisions during these stages, but if you have effectively utilized the first three W’s, then this should be much simpler.

Marketing principles can be simple at times and very complex at other times. If you follow the five W’s, I am certain that coming up with your marketing strategy will be much easier than you thought it would be. Who, what, when, where, and why are the perfect way to get things done. You just need to be careful what order you follow. By using them in the correct order, you are guaranteed to discover a much more successful marketing plan. So get started on your plan today and make sure to use the five W’s.

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Top Blackberry Apps for SMBs

Throughout the last decade, the Blackberry has made its mark as the leading business smartphone. E-mail capabilities, robust security, and Blackberry Enterprise Server are just a few of the reasons the device has heavily impacted the business world.

But in the last year, with new designs and marketing, nearly half of 32 million Blackberry users aren't from the corporate world. They are consumers, pro-sumers, and small businesses. The Blackberry App store has over 3,000 apps, but it's hard to know which ones are specifically SMB-oriented. Recently, bMighty.com teamed with Research In Motion to choose the top ten SMB Blackberry Apps. Here is a look at what they chose:

1. Blackberry Messenger - Connect with friends and co-workers by using a secure PIN or barcode password. Chat, share pictures and videos, or even hold a business meeting with the group chat feature. The app is free but it only works if the other people you are talking to have a Blackberry, as well.

2. Google Talk - Another great (free) way to connect but your friends and colleagues won't need a Blackberry to respond. Have single or group chats, use emoticons, customize your status, and set up custom alerts for messages that come through while you're not available. Google Talk is open and allows any third-party client to use its network. It's also compatible with other Instant Messengers.

3. Yahoo Messenger - This one is relatively new to Blackberry but is just as popular as the computer version. It's free, and allows you to check who is and isn't online, customize your status message, create chat areas to talk with several people at once, and personalize your status with avatars, ringtone alerts, and emoticons. Talk with people who have Hotmail, Lotus Notes, and Windows Live accounts, as well as AIM or Google Talk with free account activation.

4. Documents to Go - Considered to be one of the ultimate business apps for Blackberry, this one lets you view and edit documents without changing the file's format. If you like the free trial version, you can purchase the program for $70, but many business-owners say the price is well worth it. Especially if you need to read, create, and edit Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents and PDF files on your Blackberry.

5. Exgis Mileage Tracker - If you travel a lot for your business, this app is a must-have. It makes record-keeping a little easier as it records your vehicle's mileage and locations quickly and let's you record travel time directly against specific clients. You can also export your data in a spreadsheet to send to to your office. The app is easy to use and costs a mere $4.99.

6. Google Maps - This is another great free app for the SMB travellers and it's more than likely something you already know how to use. Get maps, directions and even mileage to and from any destination. Find out where you are with the "My Location" feature, should you get lost. In some areas, you can even get traffic and transit information. Just like with the web version, you can use Street View, to help you get a visual idea of many areas.

7. Intuit GoPayment - Several SMBs need the ability to accept credit card payments but don't always have one. This app processes any major credit card and emails the receipt directly to the handset. Transactions can be transferred into most financial software applications. Security is tight and trustworthy with this app which is free, but charges a monthly service of $19.95.

8. Poynt - Blackberry users have ranked this among their favorites, claiming it's better than the Yellow Pages when looking for a particular place. This app points you to the nearest movie theater, restaurant, or any business or person you're looking for, using GPS and cell tower technology to provide you with the phone number, website, maps, and directions. Book tickets or make reservations, and even use it to invite colleagues to a specific location. And yes, it's free, too.

9. Viigo - This app is a free content gathering tool that lets you access information and content from Twitter to podcasts and everything in between. Get your news, sports, weather, stock reports, movie reviews and anything else you might look for online, in one place. Not only can you customize your content collection, but you will also have access to content from Business Week, and Website magazine, vendor resources such as white papers and from companies such as Oracle and Microsoft.

10. Worldmate Live - This is a free App and a favorite among business travelers (it's even earned a five-star rating at Blackberry App World). Forward your travel confirmation emails to Worldmate and they build your online travel itinerary, making it available to access via your Blackberry. Synchronise your work calendar, to make that part of the database, as well. The app is integrated with Google Maps, Blackberry maps, TeleNav, MapQuest, OAG, Yelp, Expedia, Hotels.com, Flighstats.com and many more.

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So What Does Obama Care Mean for Small Business?

Be careful little hands what you do!

Congress last night enacted President Obama’s sweeping healthcare plan, but like many things congress didn’t consider all the details. The idea was to assist small business and individual Americans in purchasing healthcare, what it will end up doing is slow and reduce hiring in the future.

The president’s plan is number driven: business from x amount of employees to y amount of employees pay z much toward healthcare, or if they do not, they are fined w amount. This was a fair idea if American company’s personnel strategy was still to hire employees, but frankly, they missed the boat. Instead of hiring marginal employees, companies will either do without the marginal hire or use temps and/or contractors to do the job. Furthermore, with all of the job quota entanglements (and they still are out there), a business owner will have to consider if he or she is going to break a certain healthcare number threshold. Business owners are going to pay very close attention especially if they are near the 50 employee point and this creates a very discomforting scenario.

Suppose a business is at 49 employees and it needs to hire a transportation manager. Looking through the list of employees, there is the transportation secretary who has been a very good employee, but is a secretary. What should the business owner do? Well, the smart thing (but brutal thing) to do is fire/layoff/RIF the secretary and hire the transportation manger; addition by subtraction is going to be rampant! Who will get hurt? The people the president was most trying to help, average hard working Americans! Of course, the secretary might be advised that she can “contract” her old job back with xyz temporary service. What a crock! Of course, xyz temporary service will also have to consider the numbers game, but that leads to some brutal consequences as well. How long can you be a contractor/temp before you are automatically switched out (again to duck the numbers game)?

Also, just how hard is it to start a company as a separate legal entity? A business owner can start an LLC in about 2 days, and a small corporation, like a chapter S, does not take much longer. Remember each of these legal business entities are totally separate “persons.” Therefore the employee counter starts all over again. So too, cost center accounting has been around for years, and each department bills other departments for the work it does. For example, customer service bills sales for processing its orders. How hard would it be to create separate companies, each one under 10 or 25 employees?

Lastly, some companies are just not going to go through the aggravation of the numbers game, and will move some parts of their company off shore. More jobs lost for more Americans, I seem to be recalling which road that it is that’s paved with good intentions…

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Dealing With Dun & Bradstreet - Part Two

As was mentioned in part one, a new business owner will eventually encounter the good people from Dun and Bradstreet who can be quite aggressive in trying to get information on your business. Some small business owners consider this “none of your business,” but viewing D & B in this way is to immediately start heading down the wrong road. Instead, a better view point is to view your Dun & Bradstreet report as a marketing tool for your business, produced at D & B’s expense!

What this does not mean is giving Dun and Bradstreet everything that they want (or falsifying information which is actually a crime). It does mean giving D & B the information you want them to have! For example, if you have opened an auto repair service, have worked many years in the field before at a major garage, and sponsor a racing team, this shows a commitment to automotive industry both for work and leisure, that’s excellent press! This is a part of what D & B calls the ownership antecedents (your work history).

Continuing with the auto garage theme, if your company pays an auto aftermarket supplier like Jasper or Target like clockwork, list them as trade references (although large companies like this probably report via electronic trade). Know who the credit manager or credit analyst is and have their phone, fax, and e-mail ready. In fact, have a credit sheet prepared that you can give the D & B reporter, or fax or email in to D & B. Also have a bank reference with a business banker who is willing to talk to either D & B or your potential supplier’s credit department. This makes your new business look professional. Know what these people are going to say before you hand this information out by building a good relationship with them as was mentioned in part one. (When I was a senior credit analyst for a Fortune 50 company, I had a medium size business owner who called me every month to make sure that his accounts payable was paying within terms, and that I could in good conscience speak well of his company).

If your company has financials that are solid (ask your accountant how your companies balance sheet and income statement would look to a potential supplier), submit them to D & B who will then run some ratio analysis, and then tell the world how financially solid your small company looks. If your financials do not look that strong at the time, politely defer them for a later time.

Taking these steps can help your small company grow and add to its financial prestige, and the best part of it, Dun and Bradstreet helps you pay for it!

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Dealing with Dun & Bradstreet, Part One

As a new small business owner, one generally starts out with a great idea for a product or service, a lot of drive, and hard work. Sooner or later, however, your business, a supplier, or a customer is going to “run a Dun & Bradstreet report” to find out your company’s financial standing. This inquiry is generally generated by your customers purchasing department to make sure that the partnership will financially be able to smoothly continue, or a supplier’s credit department to ascertain if it should extend credit terms.

Its is becoming routine for your potential customer to request (from their own in house credit department) a Dun and Bradstreet report (or D & B) because they want insure that your company will be able to deliver goods and services in an ongoing business relationship in a timely manner. It is very important for many customers, who rely on “just in time” deliveries to know that their supplier is not going to be placed on credit hold and thus collapse their supply chain, perhaps shutting down their production lines. This can cause late deliveries to their own customer and an unhappy work force (who might have been sent home early do to lack of parts or production materials).

If your company is applying for trade credit from a supplier, looking up a D & B report is routine. In a medium to large company, this is usually done by a Credit Manager or Senior Credit Analyst. In a small company, it might be done by an accounts receivable clerk. In any case, the first item looked at will be the composite credit rating. The rating has two components: the Financial Rating Classification and the Composite Credit Rating.

The Financial Rating Classification is the financial size of a given company based on its Net Worth reported on its balance sheet. These ratings start at HH for a very small company to 5A for a huge company like Microsoft. This rating helps the analyst to determine a company’s ability to pay its obligations. There are other ratings but these are most routine.

The Composite Credit Rating is a measure of a company’s willingness to pay its bills. This is information is gathered from your company’s suppliers who report to Dun & Bradstreet (and very many companies do). This is a rating from 1 to 4, one being the best and four being very limited.

As a small business owner, you want to cast your company in the best possible financial light. The simplest way to start is to pay your invoices on time and when you can’t, you need to make an ally of your supplier’s credit person. These people can grant your more time to pay and might even consider the invoice paid on time if approached in the right way. The best way to do this is to be pleasant and communicate with them in a timely manner, and not wait for them to call and “collect” on the invoice.

Continued In Part Two.

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The South Financial Group Recognized for SMB Banking

The South Financial Group, headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, has won 2009 "Excellence in Small Business Banking" awards from Greenwhich Associates. The company won in both the regional and national categories. The bank was also one of nineteen national banks to be recognized for "overall satisfaction."

The South Financial Group is actually a bank holding company, that focuses on serving SMBs in North and South Carolina (12% and 45% of customers) respectively, and Florida (43% of customers). At the end of 2001, it had about $11.9 billion assets and 177 branch offices. Its known as Carolina First bank in the Carolinas and Mercantile Bank in Florida.

Ernie Diaz, president of the Florida branches of the bank had this to say about the award, "These awards illustrate our commitment to understanding the needs of business owners and working together to meet their specific needs."

The Market President of Carolina First Bank, David Lominack, added, “Delivering on our relationship banking model continues to be our goal, and these awards reflect the value our bankers place on exceeding customer expectations.”

The company won three awards overall: "Overall Satisfaction" in the National category, "Relationship Management Performance" in the National category, and "Overall Satisfaction" in the Southern Regional category.

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SMB Tips for Exhibiting at Trade Shows

You've worked hard to start your small or medium business and establish yourself in the marketplace. Whatever product or service you sell, you're ready to reach more customers, get your name out there, and do more business. A great way to do that is by exhibiting at a trade show. You'll see as many potential customers in just a few days as you might during several months with your store or office. But what do you need to know before getting involved with one?

First of all, you need to know what type of trade show you're interested in, which means you need to really know who your customer is and what types of shows they attend. Sure, networking is great, but in addition to making contacts, you'll want to expose yourself to people who are going to buy your product. Make sure the trade show you attend is not "industry-only" and make sure attendees are the people who would want to shop with you. Talk to someone who is in charge and ask if they have demographic information from past shows - many do! You can also get information about various shows from a number of wesbites including Tradeshow Week and the Trade Show News Network.

You'll also want to make sure you stand out from other booths. If you're looking at larger trade shows, think about how you can make an impact. Often times, smaller businesses get lost in the sea of larger companies. Make your booth unique by using items such as audio visual rentals to attract attention or focus on the aspects of your product or business that are unique and promote them to stand out above the rest.

Make sure you reach buyers before the actual event. A great way to do that is with social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. If your company doesn't already have an account on these pages, what are you waiting for? Let your buyers know you're going to be at the show and encourage them to come. Most people don't attend alone and friends and family members may turn into new customers. Also, you might even find yourself in contact with other people in you business who can give you tips about the trade show and what you can expect.

Finally, after a trade show, you're more than likely to see an increase in business. Be prepared for this! Make sure you have the inventory and/or staff or be prepared to hire them. Also, make sure you hold on to contacts and follow up with both other people in industry and customers after the event is over. Remind them that you exist and your product is worth remembering!

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Make Your Customers Pay

When you are a small or medium business, a few customers not paying for their products and services could be very detrimental. Unlike larger companies who can afford the occasional delinquency, every penny counts, especially at a time when many SMBs are struggling to stay afloat. And with the economy still trying to improve, chances are your customers aren't paying or are requesting extensions on payment deadlines.

As a matter of fact, according to the American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor, at least 60% of business owners are currently experiencing cash-flow issues and about 26% are worried about customers paying bills on time. There are ways to handle this that involve collection agencies and attorneys but those can be costly and just as much a hassle for you as they are the customer. Before you hire a third party or seek legal action, there are a few other things you can do.

First of all, you should probably start checking a customer's payment history. So many businesses do this these days and for good reason. For a reasonable price (as little as $3.00), you can get some credit and payment history information on a customer before you agree to do business with them. Even if you don't want to check the credit history, ask around. See if your customer has dealt with other people in your industry and find out what their experience was like. This method allows you to weed out anyone you might see as a high-risk and gives you more information about just who you are dealing with.


Another way to ensure prompt customer payment is to make it easy for the customer to pay. Offer variety and let the customer choose what payment method he or she is most comfortable with. Maybe you offer Paypal but you don't Google Checkout. Consider signing up for that, too. Bill Me Later is another great option that customers can use. And whatever outlets you decide on, make sure a customer can pay via credit card, checking account, or any other method they may need to use. Also, don't forget to make your payment options clear. Feature them on the homepage of your website or talk to your customers about them up front.

One last idea you can use to prompt your customers to pay on time is using mobile devices. Equipping whomever will be accepting your payments with a cell phone or Bluetooth device that will swipe credit cards is a convenient idea for customers who aren't always carrying cash with them.

Hewlett-Packard Unveils New Products for SMBs

In an effort to get a bigger share of the IT budgets of the 7.9 million American SMBs, Hewlett-Packard has unveiled a new line of products and services. The new products for small and medium-size businesses include everything from computers to servers. In addition, they've introduced new financing options, also aimed at SMBs. They are providing over $1,000 in software and services, and up to $2,000 in rebates for SMBs that make hardware purchases.

As far as computers go, the Pro 3000 series desktop and the ProLiant ML110 and DL120 G6 servers are all new and aimed at SMBs. As is the ProCurve 2520 Switch series which is great for SMBs looking to deploy voice, video, and wireless applications requiring power over ethernet. There's also a new printer for SMBs, the LaserJetP2055D which costs about $299, along with two low-power monitors, the Compaq LE1911 and the Compaq LE1711.

A number of new storage products including the StorageWorks DAT 320 Tape Drive, the StorageWorks D2D backup system, and the LeftHand P4000 storage area network, were introduced, as were bundles of hardware and software that help SMBs introduce virtualization to their IT departments. They are built on ProLiant, ProCurve and StorageWorks products, as well as Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2.

In addition to the new products, HP also introduced a number of new online services. They allow users to communicate with employees and contacts and make it easier for IT employees to access, view, and control other computers to help with troubleshooting and fixing problems. HP is also offering Huddlenet which allows for easier collaboration, project management and document sharing. A 30-day trial with 20 GB of storage and that's big enough for 20 work stations is available.

According to Interactive Data Corp, SMBs will spend more on IT than larger businesses as the economy continues to recover. HP is just one of several companies hoping to tap into that business and they could use it. Their profits fell 19% and revenue 2% in the quarter that ended on July 31st.

Small Businesses Are Borrowing Again

SMB owners are borrowing money again, or so says a study conducted by PayNet Inc for Reuters. The study found that smaller "microcompanies" are gaining confidence in their business and enjoying an overall improved financial health, which is good news for the economy. These businesses are often thought of as the best hope for job creation during economic recovery.

According to the study, which examined loans, leases, and lines of credit activity, businesses with less than $100,000 in outstanding debt are borrowing cautiously to invest money into their own companies. Financing originations are still down but they are no longer failing faster than the originations for larger small businesses (or those who have debt totalling above $100,000). This is an improvement over the last three years.

"This looks like an inflection point," William Phelan, the president of PayNet, said of the study. "These little businesses are a leading indicator and the signals they're sending are improving."

Another encouraging sign is that delinquencies among these companies peaked at some point during the spring of this year, but have since began to improve. Phelan says a correlation can be made between microbusiness borrowing delinquencies and GDP and that makes for another encouraging sign.

Currently, most recovery efforts have come from a government stimulus effort, including the auto industry's "cash for clunkers" and $8,000 tax credits fro first-time home buyers. But experts say a true recovery must come from private industry and customer demand, particularly small businesses.

And while critics have blasted banks who received government bailout money for not turning around and investing the money into the economy, several big banks have recently announced plans to do more small business lending. These institutions include Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, and Goldman Sachs.

PayNet provides risk management tools to the commercial lending industry. The company collects real-time loan information, including orginations and delinquencies, from over 225 leading U.S. capital equipment lenders and its proprietary database encompasses more than 16 million old and new contracts worth about $700 billion.

Guide to Choosing Passwords for Your SMB

Security is becoming more and more important these days, especially when it comes to protecting your business. Good passwords can make or break your computer systems, but how do you know what a good password is? And one you do, what else can you do to take further steps to protect your passwords from hackers, untrustworthy employees, and others who are up to no good? Here are a few easy guidelines that SMB owners can use to protect their companies, employees, and their own personal information:

• Password Length - According to David Campbell, a security consultant, passwords should be made up of 12 characters. It would cost a criminal approximately $1.5 million of hacking with an application to successfully break a a 12-character password. Some recommend using a mnemonic device so you can easily remember a longer password, even repeating one if need be.


• Don't Mix Business & Pleasure - You don't want your entire company to know your dog's name is your password for your work email system, as well as your Facebook account. This could cause all sorts of problems. Chances are, no one in your company will ever need to know your passwords, but if they are able to uncover them, do you want them snooping around your personal life, as well as your professional life?


• Never Write Your Password Down - If you keep a log of all of your passwords at your desk, or the information is stuck on sticky notes all around your cubicle, it wouldn't be hard for a an employee to sneak over and glance at your information. As a matter of fact, most SMBs tend to have employees located in close quarters, making this an easier way for someone to get a hold of your password information.


• Never Give Your Password to Anyone - No one in your company should ever ask for your password. Administrators should be able to reset your password without knowing what it is. If someone from your IT department asks for your password, no matter how small your company is, something is probably up.


• Remind your employees - They may get tired of hearing you tell them to "be careful" but ultimately it is your duty to protect your business. Remind your employees of these tips and any others you cant think of, often. One wrong move and it could cost your company thousands of dollars.

Microsoft Targets SMB's in Windows 7 Push

Earlier this year Windows started a program called The Windows 7 Small Business Ignite Program, which allowed SMB's to test out the new operating system and provide feedback to Microsoft about how well it would work for them. Now Microsoft is taking that information and using it a campaign to get many small businesses to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7.

After all the trouble Microsoft had with Vista, many SMB's are reluctant to upgrade. And since there isn't a direct XP-to-Windows 7 upgrade path, Microsoft is announcing that there is a more streamlined instillation process. Microsoft hopes that SMB's who upgrade to the new operating system will notice the immediate increase in productivity, and that the simplified user interface and the increased speed which will quickly translate into cost savings.

One of the main features that Microsoft is hoping will be selling point for many SMB's is its dramatically faster start up and shut down speeds. Which will translate into less time waiting for your computer to load or shut down when you're in a hurry. Another feature which will be helpful for XP users, there's an XP mode which maintains backward compatibility with legacy apps through a virtual Windows XP SP3 environment running under Windows Virtual PC.

With all the new features, and especially the increased speed, Microsoft is hoping SMB's looking to save money in this trying economy will look at Windows 7 as a way to make that happen.

Throwing Your SMB Holiday Party on a Budget

With the economy slowly climbing out of a recession and the holidays right around the corner, many SMBs are debating what to do for their annual holiday parties, or even whether or not to have their parties at all. According to Newsday.com, only 62% of companies plan to have some sort of celebration this year. That's down from last year's 77%.

But even if you're on a tight budget, you don't want to do away with your company's holiday plans. A little creativity goes a long way and a it's always a great idea to let your employees know how much you appreciate them. Some companies are allowing their employees to have their parties, if the employees will pitch in. For example, having a potluck luncheon, where every employee brings a different dish.

At Super Enterprises, a company based in Melville, New York, the company opted for a lunch instead of an extravagant party. Managment cooked the food in rented ovens for the entire team. As a matter of fact, keeping your office party on-site is a great way to save money. You can let your employees decorate the office and hand out gifts instead of renting a facility for a night.

Another way to keep your holiday party relatively inexpensive is to switch up your menu. If you usually serve steak or fish, try grilling hamburgers and hotdogs or even a breakfast buffet. Or maybe even skip the real food all together and just have dessert. A sundae buffet is a fun idea for your employees. Any kind of buffet verses a full course meal is sure to help save money.

If you do end up renting an off-site facility, there are still a few ways to safely stay within your budget. Forego the full bar and serve wine or a smaller selection of drinks. Also, you can limit party guests to employees only, or insist employees bring only one guest.

No matter what you end up doing for your holiday party, just keep in mind that the important thing is to have fun and let your employees know how much they mean to you throughout the year.

SMBs Using Twitter and Facebook

Recently, Internet2Go analyst Greg Sterling conducted a survey of over 2,400 small business owners about the subject of social media such as Twitter and Facebook. The survey was aimed at members of the business social network MerchantCircle, who publish content frequently. His findings were that 45% of small companies, with less than 100 employees, confirmed that they do use Twitter and Facebook to promote their businesses, but Sterling also found that many businesses were not sure how effective their online promotions were due to their lack of knowledge of how to measure the effectiveness.

In an interview with eWeek.com, Sterling said he was surprised at the high percentage, considering many of the companies surveyed do not have the money or resources to spend on sophisticated marketing plans, "For these guys, costs was a big factor. They either need to hire a dedicated person or need more resources and don't have it."

80% of businesses surveyed had four or fewer employees, while 79% had annual marketing budgets of less than $5,000. 44% of the businesses said they actually spend less than $1,000 on advertising. 26% of participants said online marketing simply costs too much and another 16% said they just don't have the time to partake in it. Facebook and Twitter are both free and setting up an account is simple and not at all time-consuming.

So what does this mean? Sterling seems to think that in the future, more and more small businesses will fore go traditional, more competitive forms of advertising such as search engine marketing to focus on social media. "We are going to see more and more of this behavior from other small businesses because it's free and you don't have to have expertise to set up these pages," he told eWeek.

The downside to using Twitter or Facebook is the lack of ability to measure how many visits your account page is getting, but if the social media phenomenon holds up, it's almost certain some sort of social media marketing measurement tool will become available.

KnowEm: helping SMB stake claims in the social media world.

KnowEm is a new site designed to help small and large businesses stake their claim in the social media world. The site offers ways for your brand to have a place on various social media websites and offers a way for you to track and manage your brand on numerous sites in one central location.

You can check the availability of user names and branded key words on 330 different sites for free. KnowEm also offers a few different services for companies, fees range from $49 a month for KnowEm to keep watch for any newly launched social media sites and automatically stake your claim on that site. For $349 KnowEm will insert relevant profile information into the top 150 social media sites for you.

With new social media sites popping up all the time and more large and small businesses creating an online presence, KnowEm seems to be the way to easily manage all the sites in one spot. The site can easily be used to make sure your brand is consistent across the internet so your customers can easily find you and your business. And the fees are worth it and could made a huge difference in how your company is seen online.

Huntsville, Alabama Named Top City To Launch SMBs

Huntsville, Alabama has been named the top medium-sized city in which to start a small business by Fortune Small Business Magazine. The magazine's November 2009 issue contains a "Best Places to Launch" feature and rounding out the top ten cities are Lafayette, Louisiana; Omaha, Nebraska; Clarksville, Tennessee; Peoria, Illinois; Lexington, Kentucky; Killeen, Texas; Des Moines, Iowa; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Lincoln, Nebraska.

According to the magazine, Huntsville's beautiful surroundings and low cost of living are just a few of the benefits the city has to offer, as well as less competition (the city is dominated by government contractors instead of venture capitalists). Huntsville is located in northern Alabama and its metro area has a population of 395,645. The city was once known for its cotton and railroad industries but in the mid-1900's, it became known as "Rocket City" as it became an important city for developing space technology. Home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, the U.S. Army's Aviation and Missile Command, and Cummings Research Park, it remains a huge influence on the country's aerospace and military technology with a thriving engineering community. The magazine calls it a "breeding ground for tech entrepreneurs."

Jerry Gabig, the CEO of Q-Track Corporation, said of his own experience starting a business in the city, "The cost of living and running a business is also relatively cheap here. My property tax is about a third of what I used to pay in Massachusetts. State gas taxes are relatively low, and the cost of electricity is below the national average. Land is also cheap, which makes it easy to expand."

Huntsville Chamber of Commerce CEO and president, Brian Hilson, told the Huntsville Times that a number of national publications have had their eye on the city for years. He says it's the result of the city's successful image marketing. "Our story is more credible when someone else says it."

The rankings were based on a study done by Fortune Small Business along with the Kauffman Foundation (the world's largest foundation devoted to entrepreneurship). The study showed which cities scored highest based on per capita income, hourly wages, work force quality, crime rates, taxes, and foreclosures. The entire article can be found at Money.CNN.com.

Dell Lowers SMB Registration Threshold Deal

Computer manufacturer Dell has announced that it will be lowering the threshold for its SMB partner deal registration from $50,000 to $15,000, effective immediately. Dell says it wants to better protect those solution providers and expand the number of products and services that can now be registered. In the past, only EqualLogic products and opportunities could be registered below $50,000, but the changes are no open to all Dell products and services.

Paul Shaffer, director of U.S. marketing and operations for Dell's global commercial channels, said in a statement, "We see this as a great opportunity in the SMB space. We heard from our partners that doing $50,000 in sales was a lot for customers to be buying. We hope that lowering the threshold to $15,000 will create more opportunities for channel partners."

Many Dell resellers are already excited about the change, claiming it will make the company easier to work with. As a matter of fact, the changes come from feedback given to Dell from many solution providers, along with watching the positive response to Dell's European channel program's dropping its own threshold from $50,000 to $25,000.

Dell is also seeing a high number of registration approvals - 85% - and has already started adding more staff to help deal with what they hope will be a much higher demand in the future.

Before announcing the decision, Dell tested the program with a small number of pre-certified partners and say they were pleased with the results of the soft launch.

This is just the latest of several moves made by Dell in an effort to improve both locally and abroad. "We are committed to continuing to respond to the needs of our partners globally, as our decision to lower deal registration for our partners who serve SMBs in the U.S. and EMEA proves," Vice President and General Manager of Dell Global Commercial Channels Greg Davis said in a statement.

New Q3 SMB Survey Findings

Even though small and medium businesses (SMBs) are trying to save every penny in the current economic climate, a new survey from Spiceworks, Inc. - a developer of network and systems management software and market research company located in Austin, Texas - shows that a majority of businesses intend to purchase hardware and software within the next six months. The Q3 survey was designed to look at technology purchasing and staffing trends among SMBs all over the world. The survey took place over the months of July and August by Spiceworks' Voice of ITTM market research program. Of the 1,130, the majority were IT professionals that support companies with fewer than 500 employees and with annual technology budgets of about $108,000.

Here are some of the findings from the survey:

• SMBs are letting their desktops, laptops, and servers last them ten more months than normal before purchasing new ones
• 68% of SMBs plan to add new hardware to their networks in the next six months; this includes 56% buying desktops, 55% buying laptops, 45% buying new servers, 31% buying new printers, 27% buying new network devices, and 13% buying notebooks
• The average new order consists of 13 desktops, 10 laptops and two servers
• At 37%, new hardware makes up the largest part of SMB IT budgets
• 51% of businesses are planning to buy new software. 32% of that will go to security and anti-spam solutions software. Of those, about one third plan to buy cloud-based security and anti-spam offerings.
• 44% of SMBs are using virtualization solutions. 21% of SMBs' total server capacity is currently virtuatlized, but over the next six months, 30% plan to expand virtualization in their networks.
• 25% plan to purchase backup and recovery items within the next six months. Of those, 75% plan to store date on-site and the remaining 25% plan to utilize cloud-based storage. 42% of date will be stored on network-attached storage or storage area network devices; 38% will be stored in local and direct-attached storage; 7% will be hosted off-site; and 13% on tape or other media.
• 57% of SMBs currently use a cloud computing service. The three most popular include anti-spam, hosted email, and online back-up.
• As expected, budgets shrank in 2009. 39% cut their budgets (averaging cuts of 22%), 31 kept their budgets the same, and 30% grew their budgets (averaging growths of 27%).
• 60% of SMBs had to cancel at least one planned 2009 project due to the economy
• As far as hiring goes, 22% of SMBs plan to hire additional full and part-time staff. Only 3% plan to reduce their staff size.

In a statement, Jay Hallberg, co-founder and vice president of Marketing for Spiceworks, said it's good to see SMBs showing signs of growth and spending, "Most are clearly ready to buy and it will be interesting to watch how these plans play out among different geographies, industries and company sizes. We will track these and other technology trends of interest in future studies."

New Cisco Products for SMB

Cisco Systems recently launched a line of new products and services for small businesses. The company says these new products and services will help Sisco fit the needs of smaller companies and increase profitability. This comes after the networking company put $100 million into SMB initiatives, rebranded its Linksys products as "Cisco Small Business," and wrapped its Linksys small business partners into the Cisco channel.

According to Andrew Sage, vice president of worldwide small business sales for Cisco, "Fiscal Year 2010 is the year of execution for sales and the channel, the product suite and services for the SMB. Last year we were as committed, but now it's more concrete."

At the Cisco Partner Summit, the company unveiled several new services for the SMB market, including ESW 500 Series Switches, switches that integrate with other Small Business Pro portfolio products to build solutions for small businesses. The product comes in 24 and 48 port models, has optional PoE, and a five year warranty and is available starting at $659 to $3,299. For transitioning SMB clients to VoIP, Cisco has launched the SPA8800 IP Telephony Gateway. The box allows small businesses to connect their open-source IP PBX to their current analog phones and fax machines. This product will cost around $600.

Cisco also launched the PVC300 IP Camera, an IP surveillance video camera that captures live video that can viewed anywhere, including on mobile phones. The camera includes software with the ability to manage up to sixteen cameras at once, has pan, tilt, and zoom capabilities, and sends alerts when any motion is detected, integrating with alarms, doors sensors, and security systems. The camera is available for $794.

Version 1.5 of the Cisco Smart Business Communications System was also debuted at the summit. The new version has WebEx Phone Connect for getting to an online meetings in one click, Cisco TimeCard View, and single-number reach and third party networking monitoring and management applications. This system starts at about $450 per user.

In addition to the products, Cisco added several new services as well, including the Small Business Pro Service - a three year technical support coverage plan with next-day hardware replacement and extended support center access. The company also offers community-based support via a virtual community. Rebates for Select certified partners that participate in the global Partner Development Funds program will offer up to $15,000 until July 25. Partners can also leverage extended channel financing for 90 days or six months. Cisco will also be adding a "Buy Now" button on their website for certain SMB products, new smart designs for small business. They are also offering more customer incentives including migration strategies from Linksys gear, discounts of five to seven percent and price reductions of up to 25 percent on the SBCS system.

Partners are encouraged about Cisco's focus on SMB. "It's going to make it easier for us to sell products," Robert Betzel, president and CEO of Infinity Network Solutions told CRN.