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Earlier this week we explained the reasons why your company’s culture influences your brand. A healthy company culture can have a very positive effect on your daily operations and the way the average person views your company. Gauging the cultural health of your company is one thing, but where do you go from there. Below we’ll look at some ideas to improve or give your business a cultural makeover. The first step is to figure out how you want your business to “feel.” Below...

Strategy and finances are not the only aspects of a successful company, but they are usually what companies focus on. It might not seem apparent, but company culture plays an essential role too. It can affect your branding, marketing, and day-to-day operations, and how the public views your company. For instance when we think of brands like Apple, Google, and Starbucks, not only do their logos and products come to mind, but a slew of positive attributes: warmth, efficiency, fun, excellence, etc....

Chances are you started your company because you love what you do. You opened your doors because you have a strong product that you believe in.  You probably did not start a business because your paperwork abilities were unparalleled.  Paperwork is an important and necessary evil for any business owner and proper invoicing can't be ignored. We all need cash flow to keep our businesses afloat, so employing a good invoicing system can help us keep cash in the bank and our clients happy! Invoicing...

It looks as if Microsoft is ready to do its part to deter cyber crimes. Microsoft intends to offer real-time feeds that partners can use to study possible cyber threats and take the appropriate steps to boost their defenses against these attacks. Microsoft has already had success in taking down botnets. In doing so, the company collects an abundance of useful data about the threats that these botnets pose. The process works like this: Microsoft essentially swallows the botnets. This, consequently,...

Many small business owners have employed the cloud during these tough economic times. Business owners can save money by using programs within the cloud, from Photoshop alternatives to project-management tools. Nonetheless, the cloud can be a bit iffy with regards to security. Documents stored in the cloud can be jeopardized or damaged. Password issues Password protection is an important issue when dealing with the cloud and personal computers as well. Passwords can often be easily guessed or they...

The advantages of storing information in the cloud are extensive. Backing up important data, creating more space on your servers, and having your data easily available to your employees are only a few. If you've been looking into this route, you probably have many questions about the security of the cloud. If your company deals with sensitive information that belongs to your clients you may need to stay compliant with HIPAA, PCI or Sarbanes-Oxley regulations. Do cloud storage solutions follow these...

As a small business owner, you might have worried about all the what-ifs that could come into play if a disaster were to occur. Precisely what does it mean whenever we talk about a disaster? It could mean a natural disaster destroying all of your data, a simple download of a virus that corrupts your systems, or an employee accidently deleting something they shouldn’t have. Whatever happens it can be hard and cumbersome to recover from. Develop a disaster recovery plan to ensure that if the time...

It wasn’t that long ago that inventor Dean Kamen believed his two-wheeled personal transportation device, the Segway, would transform transportation.  Unfortunately, the Segway has grown to be synonymous with technology failure.  Kamen imagined a future filled people zipping about on a Segway PT scooter to run errands and commute to work. That vision hasn’t quite come to fruition and it’s pretty rare that you see someone utilizing a Segway. They're still around and have...

As a small business, there is a good chance you have to manage projects and people that are not always located in one area.  So how do you maintain these projects and off location employees while still having the capacity to share updates, documents, and assign tasks? Project management solutions Luckily, for small businesses, there are various project management options.  These tools will provide assistance to keep projects on target, and employees and clients connected. Here are some...

The promise of a paperless office has been around for years. Unfortunately, most offices must still use paper on a regular basis. Is the paperless office just a pipe dream that we will not achieve?  In a nutshell, no. We're constantly moving toward paperless offices, but it’s just taking us much longer than we'd hoped. The advantages of paper Digital copies of documents and communications are nice, but paper continues to be useful in many cases. Even people who work at the most eco-friendly...