I’m getting out my Crystal ball today to make some predictions about the about the trends I see in the future and how they may effect small business.

1. Web Based Applications. I predict that in the next five years most of applications that you currently use on your desktop will migrate to the web. Currently accounting, office suites, email, and CRM applications have a strong web presence. In addition, companies like Google, Force.com, and Amazon are making infrastructure available for computer programmers. For the small business person, this is going to be one of the biggest boosts to growth. You’re not going to need expensive computers and networks, and you will be able to access your business applications from multiple locations. The technology barrier for entry will all but be eliminated in most businesses.

2. Cloud Based Infrastructure. There are currently a multitude of companies give you the ability to set up a server over the Internet and pay only for usage. I believe that the server room is soon to be a thing of the past for most companies.

3. Internet Everywhere (Mobile and Wireless). Mobile devices and Internet connectivity will become ubiquitous. (I’ve always wanted to use that term in a sentence). Both consumers and business will be able to access data from any location. Services like that Clearwire (high speed wireless Internet) will become common from cellphone and other providers. It will be important for businesses to embrace mobile technology to be successful.

4. The Death of the Phone Number As We Know It. (I’ve been predicting this for years, eventually I’ll get it right.) With the growth of Internet phone applications, Phone numbers will begin to fade away. Most calls will be over the Internet via Skype and Skype-like services. Phone numbers, where you have them, will no longer indicate your location (I already deal with someone who has a Texas area code but lives in Georgia.)

I read an article today on Forbes today about ‘Why Cloud Computing Matters to Small Biz’ and it reminded my about a story from my past that supports the point made in the article.

About 8 years ago a partner and I put together plan to start  what would be now be called a cloud application.  (Back then the term “cloud” hadn’t been coined in its current form, so it was just a “web-based” application.) As part of this project, I had to put together a business plan which included hardware and networking expenditures. Obviously, for a ‘web-based application’ we needed servers, network infrastructure, a fractional T3 (pipe to the web). Those costs were significant; they included $25,000 in servers, $2000 in network infrastructure and, $5000 per month for Internet, and this didn’t even include rent for a place to keep it all. And for all that, there was no redundancy, and every 5 new customers we would have to outlay another $10,000 for more servers. This was  lot of money for 2 guys without jobs to come up with.

To do the same thing  today, I can go to GoGrid, Force.com, Amazon web services or any other cloud based infrastructure provider, and set it up for a fraction of the cost. On top of that,  the costs are completely tied to usage so I don’t have to outlay a lot of funds up front while I wait for my  customers’ monthly fees to cover the cost.  (Great for cash flow!!). In addition I have, backups, redundancy,  and network bandwidth that can grow with the business.

Needless to say, the cloud creates opportunities for business that just a few years ago were out of reach. (By the way, that business never got off the drawing board for a multitude of reasons)

How do you think the cloud can help or hurt small business ?

You customers don’t use the yellow pages to find you anymore, they use the web.  I have listed four major directories you need to be listed in. These are the ‘yellow pages’ of the 2010’s. If you’re not listed in these directories, not only do you run the risk of being invisible to your customers, your competitors can ‘hijack’ your listings and steal your  customers from you.

1. Google Local. The 800 pound gorilla of everything Internet. With a listing here,  your company will show up on local searches on the web, and on cell phones. It also helps to ensure that when someone types your business name into Google, they will get accurate information.
2. Bing Local Listing Center. Bing is currently  a chihuahua nipping at Google’s heels. But, you should never underestimate  Microsoft with billions of dollars to spend on marketing their new search product.
3. Yahoo Local. While not the behemoth it was 10 years ago, Yahoo still has significant reach — especially with all those yahoo mail users.
4. Yelp. Yelp is not a search engine per se, its a group of listings with comments and ratings. If Yelp covers your area, and users are commenting on your industry and/or business, you need to claim your listing respond to comments.

Not only are these directories available on your potential customers’ desktops, they are also on your customer’s mobile phones.  Making sure you are listed gives you a better chance of being found in the home and on the road.

Related Articles

• Are you invisible to potential customers?

What do you think about local search ?

Sometimes the Internet can open up whole new markets for you. I had the opportunity to talk to a gentleman who runs a small  company that provides hand’s-on training for specialized industrial equipment. He sets up training classes all over the country. About 3 months ago he decided to jump into web based training. He hired a company to  make high quality  training videos, and a programmer to initially setup his site. He priced his classes at a very low price point, and after just one month of being live, he is thrilled with the outcome. In that time he has gotten more new customers than he gets in 4 months for his traditional classes. He told me that he has been able to reach a whole new demographic of customers, (younger, more computer literate). Because of his low price point (under $50.00), if his customers can’t get their employers to pay for the class, many are willing to pay out of their own pockets.

What’s the moral of this story–If you have a business that’s not web based, stop, look around, and see if you can expand  your business with web based technology. Technology that was very expensive just 5 years ago is now very affordable. Technologies like web 2.0, cloud computing, and video are high quality and easily within reach of almost any business. Take a few minutes today and think about what you could do for your business, and then see if you can make it happen. Its probably cheaper and easier then you could ever imagine.

Here are  4 sites worth for  reading for tech news if your not a techie and are running a business:

smallbiztechnology.com. As its name indicates, this is a blog that deals with technology for small business. It has lots and news and tips.

CNET. CNET provides tech news and information in a very non-techie friendly format.

ZDNet. More technical than CNet, but worth a regular review.

irunabiz.com. For obvious reasons.

Leave a comment and let  me know what sites you like to read.

Related  Posts:

Fast Read: Technology Help Forums
A couple of great marketing resources

According to a one research study I read about recently, nearly 40% of small business do not have a website. If you are one of these businesses you are invisible to the nearly 220 million US Internet users. It’s like having a retail store with no sign, your ARE loosing potential business. Keep in mind that my Grandmother’s 85 year old boyfriend has figured out how to look thinks up on Google, so there are a lot more potential customers on the web then you might think. You need something, it doesn’t have to be large, expensive, or complicated, but you do need something. (Understand that having a website doesn’t mean you will be found — that involves advertising and specialized site design, but not having a site 100% guarantees that you won’t be found!)

Other than presence on the web, what are some of the advantages of having a website?

• It makes your company appear more legitimate.
• You can use your web address on marketing materials and advertising to point people to more information about your company.
• If you start listing your business in on-line directories, you can point to your site for more information.
• Someday (soon) the yellow pages will go away.

What do you do next?

1. Register a domain name. If at all possible get a .com, but .biz addresses are good too.

2. Find a web host. Microsoft Office Live will host your site for free  (yes, free). They also have templates you can use to build the site.  Currently I use GoDaddy.com‡ for my site and blog.

3. Design your site. Most hosting companies offer either free or paid packages to help you design your site.

(By the way,  when you setup your hosting, you can usually setup an email address that uses your domain name. Do that. Nothing screams ‘fly-by-night’ more than an @hotmail, @gmail, @aol, or @yahoo address for a business)

If you don’t want to do it yourself, hire someone to do it for you (like my company‡), it won’t be that expensive, and it will be worth it in the long run.

Resources

Solutions4Tech for for Website Design (Thats me!)‡

GoDaddy.com for domain registration and hosting‡

Microsoft Office Live

If you have a small or  home business and you’re active on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace  you are a sitting duck when it comes to password security.

Why, because you’ve probably put the answer to your password reset verification questions in your social network profiles. Usually the password reset verification questions are thinks like the town you were born in, your favorite pet, where you were married, etc. Frequently this information is in a profile, or other post you’ve created. You mother’s maiden name, your wedding date, and your kids names may be on that family tree site you site or application you use. The list goes on…

So what should you do?

1. Think about those verification questions
2  Sanitize your social networking profiles and remove or obscure that information, so it can’t be used against you
3. Or better yet, change your verification questions, to information you have never published,  since once information is  on the Internet old copies are stored all over the place.

Remember most of the information put put on social networking sites are searchable somehow, so don’t risk your security–think about what you put out there and how it can be used.
I know of a documented and publicized case where a hacker used social networking to get answers to verification questions as part of network break-in.

I moved my business to Google apps a few weeks ago. I wanted to add some email addresses and consolidate my docs online. It’s also a step towards a ‘cloud’ based architecture where the computer I use becomes irrelevant. The conversion was fairly painless, although the some of the directions for modifying domain info on goDaddy were out of date. I now have multiple email addresses,a nice Google-mail based email client, and the ability to store my documents in the Google docs application. Apps also has a shared calendar app that I’m not using now, and the ability to quickly create websites for projects.

Now that I’ve gotten everything set up I’m planning to convert my business documents to Google docs. I also plan to start creating websites for each of my clients major projects. I hope that will make communication easier.

By the way, Google apps standard edition is free. With it you get up to 50 users, shared calendars, shared contacts, websites sites, and docs. Since it’s free, you do get ads in the email client.

Because of it’s functionality, and value Google apps is a great tool for very small businesses. But, before you take the plunge, read my post on the the ‘Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ of Cloud Computing

More here from the Wall Street Journal.
I guess we are off the hook …for now

Related Posts

• 10 Ways Usage Based Internet Access will Change the Internet Landscape

• Fast Read: More usage based pricing for Internet access

One great thing about the Internet is the wide variety of information that is available at your fingertips. The bad thing is that anybody can publish anything (look at me), so you have to make sure that the the site has something of real value, and is not just a rehash of old dated information.  On the subject of marketing, there are two sites that I feel would be valuable to ANY small business owner. These sites consistently provide quality, timely, and useful information.

(OK, this site is called Irunabiz:Technology, and these sites are about marketing, so how do I justify this post. First, They are on the Internet, that’s technology, isn’t it? Second, sometimes they talk about technology subjects like Twitter and Facebook. Third, this is my blog and I can write about anything I want to, so there!)

• Copyblogger. While ‘blogger’ is in the name, this site is about a lot more than blogging. Its about good writing, with a focus on persuasive, and engaging copy. I pick up great tips almost every time I go to it.  It’s also organized very well, so it’s easy to get lots of information on a specific subject.

• The Duct Tape Marketing Blog. This blog is written by John Jantsch (who also has  books and related media on this subject). His blog has a lot of cutting edge information on marketing in general with a focus, lately, on Internet and social media marketing. I think I have referenced material from his blog more than any other. He is well worth reading regularly.

Take some time to let me know about any site you think are worthwhile below.

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• Figuring out Twitter when you can barely figure out email.
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