Every Thing You Need to Know About Cloud Computing

Three useful articles on cloud computing that cover:  why cloud computing will change the way we work, what ten factors you need to consider before you put your business into a cloud and what are the benefits to cloud computing?  Take a look. 

1.  Why Cloud Computing Will Change The Way We Work

According to Wikipedia (http://tinyurl.com/2qjapp), cloud computing is: “Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand, like the electricity grid.” In simpler language: Cloud computing is a data center, controlled by a vendor, that your employees access to share, edit, store and play files over the Internet from any location in the world. Google’s Gmail, Apps, Docs and Sites ... read more.

2.  10 Factors to Consider Before You Put Your Business in a Cloud

You can choose from a wide range of service providers with varying pricing, depending on the complexity of your business needs and the amount of capacity you require. Here are 10 factors to consider before you make ... read more.

3.  10 Benefits of Cloud Computing

1.  Achieve economies of scale - increase volume output or productivity with fewer people. Your cost per unit, project or product plummets.

2.  Reduce spending on technology infrastructure.  Maintain easy access to your information with minimal upfront spending.  Pay as you go (weekly, quarterly or yearly), based on ... read more.

Full disclosure:  Verio (www.Verio.com) is a client of GlobeTrade.com and GlobeTrade.com is a customer of Verio's.

Photo credit:  Laurel Delaney, GlobeTrade.com

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Do You Have a Solid Online Global Footprint?

The Legislation recently passed a bill aimed at helping small businesses that will provide $30 billion for a lending fund and $12 billion worth of tax breaks.

Find out what's in store for SMBs as a result of its passage.

Read:  New Legislation Will Give SMBs a Break ... and Much More

Full disclosure:  Verio is a client of GlobeTrade.com's and GlobeTrade.com is a happy customer of Verio's!

Illustration credit here.

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Why You Need a Website In Our Wired World

Here are six reasons why you need a website.

No. 1 of 6:

Stand out from the crowd. Taking the easy, cheap route rarely wins new clients or influences prospective customers. If anyone can start a blog or be on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, what distinguishes one company from the millions of others? By having a traditional website, you show you have a little investment in the game. Sure, creating new digital marketing channels can boost your business star power online, but these social media platforms should not stand alone.

Read my entire contribution over at Verio, a world-class web-hosting company for SMBs around the globe:

Why SMBs Need a Website, Not Just a Free Facebook Account

Full disclosure: Verio is a client and we are a happy customer of Verio's at Globetrade.com

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

How to Grow Your Business Globally and Capitalize on the Rebounding Economy

On February 9th, I served as a panelist for the San Francisco-based SMB Summit, "How Businesses Can Capitalize on the Rebounding Economy," that was hosted by Verio and Inc. Magazine and for private-company CEOs, business owners, and Inc. 500|5000 alumni. It was a great experience to share insights with other leading experts in the SMB sphere, including:

• Donna Fenn, Moderator, International Author, Contributing Editor/Blogger at Inc. Magazine
• Mitchell Merrifield, Senior Director of Managed Computing Solutions, Verio, Inc.
• Brian Burch, Director of SMB Marketing, Americas Region, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard Company
• Laurel Delaney, President, GlobeTrade.com
• Kristin Micalizio, V.P. Strategic Initiatives, Office Depot North America
• Alex Freemon, Volunteer, Silicon Valley Chapter, SCORE

My focus was on how small to medium-size businesses (SMBs) can grow and capitalize on the rebounding economy by taking their businesses global. Here are some of the questions I addressed, my responses, stories I shared and some other issues that came up as a result of our lively conversation (attendees were magnificent!).

Snippet:

Q: Let’s start by addressing the 800-pound gorilla in the room: Is the economy rebounding? Tell us if you’ve seen some glimmers of recovery; how are you reading the tea leaves?

My response: Not really, although I find it hard to imagine it getting any worse. We are at rock bottom so the only way is up. Nothing, other than the “tech” industry, tells me there’s a rebound. What I mean by that is Cisco (Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers indicated, “This is one of the most robust positive turnarounds I’ve seen in my career”), Microsoft, IBM, Apple, NetSuite and Google all reported stunning profit results for the last quarter of 2009, which means SMB owners might be getting more tech savvy in preparation for a slow recovery. But let’s face it, money is not just tight. There is no money for growth unless you are running an established business with a wildly successful track record. That’s scary for people who have insanely great ideas and can’t get them funded. The good news for SMB owners who are tinkering with the notion of taking their business global is that our commerce secretary, Gary Locke, pledged $6 billion a year in export financing for USA small businesses through the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

Aside from all this, the only real sign I am seeing with SMB owners related to recovery is ...

Read the entire piece here.

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

Invent the Future Through Innovation

Disruptive innovators are everywhere. Are you one of them?

It takes technology to spread good ideas and make innovating easy. For ideas on how to get started, take a look at my latest contribution over at the American Express OPEN Forum, "Make a Date to Innovate."

If you want to be a fast innovator, don’t wait for it to happen, make it happen by making a date with innovation. That way, you can drive growth within your organization and continue inventing the future.

TechTip2U Powered by: Verio

Mobile Phone Subscribers Earn Money In the Developing World

There are over 2 billion literate, mobile phone subscribers in the developing world, many living on less than $5 a day.

Corporations pay people to accomplish billions of image, audio and text-based tasks.

Guess who enables these tasks to be completed via the mobile phone by people around the globe?

Find out here.

In case you are pressed for time:

txteagle is a service that enables mobile phone subscribers to earn money and accumulate savings by completing simple micro-tasks for large corporate clients. Originally conceived as a mechanism to compensate rural Kenyan nurses, txteagle is now on track to becoming one of Africa's largest employers.

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Motion-Sensing Devices Go Global

This week at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Sony (worth a look!) unveiled a motion controller for the PlayStation 3 (pictured), offering gamers its answer to the Nintendo Wii. It's called the Move and is a rectangular device curved on the sides to fit comfortably in the hand. It also has a glowing ball at the end that contains technology used in tracking a player's motions.

Interesting what all the major players are doing in this industry:

Nintendo's success with the Wii, released in November 2006 as the first console to offer motion-sensing technology, has brought the gaming technology to the mainstream.

Microsoft is expected to join the trend in offering a motion-sensing device for the Xbox 360 in time for this year's holiday shopping season.Unveiled in June 2009 as "Project Natal," the Xbox system relies on sensors that track players' body movements to allow them to interactively play sports and other games without having to hold any hardware.

Read more at here.

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How to Filter Twitter to Boost Your Global Marketing Power

Here are seven (7) amazing ways to filter (leverage) Twitter (a technology platform) to the hilt.

7 Insanely Useful Ways
to Search Twitter for Marketing

TechTip2U Powered by: Verio

@LaurelDelaney @Verio

Global Granola

Sometimes you have to take time out to ... well ... mix your own granola!

Design your custom made organic, all natural cereal mix from over 75 healthy ingredients and enhancers. You can even add a custom picture to the mix!

Technology takes you where you want to go -- and that can be across the globe.

Learn more at MixMyGranola.

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Global Mobile "R" Us

How mobile are you? What kind of global tech user are you?

Is Facebook your window to your social world? Is your mobile device the last thing you put aside before shutting the light out at night? Or does the deluge of digital information leave you flat and the ring of your cell phone leave you cranky?

Find out what kind of user you are at Pew Internet by taking a quick quiz here. The range is:

• "Digital Collaborators"
• "Media Movers"
• "Tech Indifferents"
• "Off the Network"

When you press the 'Calculate My Results' button, a new page will tell you in which group you fit, along with a description of the general characteristics of that group.

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Socialgraphics: A Customer Centric Approach to Global Social Strategy

According to The Altimeter, like demographics or psychographics, companies must now understand socialgraphics, which answers five key questions:

1. Where are your customers online?

2. What are your customers’ social behaviors online?

3. What social information or people do your customers rely on?

4. What is your customers’ social influence?

5. How do customers use social technologies to learn, make decisions, and support your products and services?

What is socialgraphics?

Socialgraphics is how to measure how customers use social technologies, where they are online, and how it influences them in the context of the customer life cycle.

Learn more here. This piece might be helpful as well.

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New Phase of Economic Recovery: Tech World Rising

As the global economy mends, business spending on technology goods and services is returning -- at least that is what Ben Worthen and Don Clark claim in "Tech Spending Bounces Back as Profits Rise," published in the Wall Street Journal.

The tech world according to Cisco:

The economy has entered a new "phase of the recovery," said John Chambers, Cisco's chief executive, in a call with analysts, adding that he planned to hire up to 3,000 workers in coming quarters. "This is one of the most robust positive turnarounds I've seen in my career," he added.

The tech world according to Google:

Before he (Google CEO Eric Schmidt) got into the nitty-gritty of this year’s outlook, Google announced that revenue was up 17 percent in Q4 2009 ($6.7 billion) and up $23.65 billion for all of 2009 (for a net income of $6.5 billion).

The tech world according to NetSuite:

Having had a dreadful start to 2009, NetSuite announced record earning for the fourth quarter and year ended 31st December, 2009. From the release:

“Total revenue for the year was $166.5 million, a year-over-year increase of 9%. Total revenue for the fourth quarter was $43.0 million. Revenue from the Americas for the fourth quarter of 2009 was $35.0 million, while revenue from international regions was $8.0 million. NetSuite added approximately 295 new customers in the fourth quarter.

The tech world according to IBM:

Moreover, IBM's full-year 2009 earnings of $10.01 per share were up 13% year over year, and net income of $13.4 billion rose 9% from fiscal year 2008. Earnings for the year were a record, despite the worldwide recession. Full-year earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $9.88 per share, as well as the company's own guidance of $9.85 per share.

The company's spectacular amount of new services contract signings and a pick up in corporate IT spending figured into the improved guidance for fiscal 2010. Historically, IBM has raised its guidance for almost every quarter in the last two years. For fiscal year 2010, the company again raised its EPS guidance to $11 per share, up from a previously expected $10-$11 per share range last month.

The tech world according to Microsoft:

Microsoft posted a bigger-than-expected 60 percent increase in quarterly profit on Thursday, helped by strong sales of Windows 7, and said it expected business technology spending to recover this year.

The company said net profit came to $6.7 billion, or 74 cents a share, up from $4.2 billion, or 47 cents a share, a year earlier.

The tech world according to Apple:

For the three-month period ending Dec. 29, 2009, Apple posted earnings of $3.4 billion, on a revenue of $15.7. Compared to the year-ago figures of $11.9 billion, that amounts to $2.3 billion in net quarterly profit.

Apple shipped 8.7 million iPhones — more than double compared to the year-ago quarter — and 3.4 million Macintosh computers, up 33% from a year earlier.

Consider it a tech revival. Are you ready?

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How It Works: Cloud Computing

With cloud computing, an on demand access to virtualized IT resources that are provided as a service over the Internet, you can reduce risk and gain control. This is not new. It has been taking place in some form or fashion for years. Just a new name has been coined to define it. For example, if you have an email account with a Web-based e-mail service like Gmail, Yahoo or Earthlink, then you've had some experience with cloud computing.

Cloud computing 101: "How Cloud Computing Works"
Wikipedia definition: Cloud computing

Whatis.com definition:

Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet. These services are broadly divided into three categories: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). The name cloud computing was inspired by the cloud symbol that's often used to represent the Internet in flow charts and diagrams.

According to InfoWorld: What cloud computing really means

2010 Tipping Point for SMB Use of Cloud Computing:

Tip No. 5: SMBs use the cloud to avoid infrastructure problems faced by offering their services in different countries around the globe. The cloud will act as an equalizer in this manner and allow SMBs large and small to compete internationally.

In line with above, cloud computing has changed how companies market, sell, provision and deploy new services on a global basis.

As cloud computing goes global, you have to ask yourself: whose laws matter?

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Doing Business With the World: It's Easy. Here's How.

Who wouldn’t want to sell to more than 1.7 billion people? According to Internet World Stats, that’s the current number of Internet users worldwide, up 200,000 since December! How can you prepare to capture this astounding audience and do business with the world? Above all else, you need customers, but before we cover that, here are other factors to consider.

Read more here.

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Separately, Happy Australia Day!

How To Gain Global Customers

According to contributing writer Carol Tice at Inc., one-half of all small businesses do not have a website. Yes, you read that right.

Think about how many small businesses that might be if you polled the planet!

Half of Small Businesses Don't Have a Website

The actual study can be found here.

What are SMB owners losing by NOT having a Web site?

Customers.

What are you waiting for?

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Rock Your Tech World in 2010

How do you start the new year out with a big technology bang for your business? Follow the online crowds because the crowds are talking a lot about several disruptive technologies that are bound to impact our world in 2010. Let's take a look at ten that Erick Schonfeld put together.

1. The Tablet
2. Geo
3. Realtime Search
4. Chrome OS
5. HTML5
6. Mobile Video
7. Augmented Reality
8. Mobile Transactions
9. Android
10. Social CRM

Read the entire article here.

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5 Tips to Lead Your Company Out of a Downturn

Be realistic is No. 1.

Get the rest here.

Plus:

7 Ways to Strategically Use Social Media and Social Networking to Grow Your Business

Wait, there's more!

Work Your Website: 7 Tips for Turning Global Browsers into Buyers

How the Mighty Global SMBs Succeed

Working with Verio -- one of the best global hosts on the face of the earth -- as an independent global SMB consultant and they just launched the first edition of an SMB newsletter: ACCESS - SMBs Guide to Success.

One of the feature articles is "Global SMB: How the Mighty Succeed, Despite Harsh Economic Times." Check it out here.

Let me know what you think of the resource and definitely email your small business questions to me -- thanks -- have a great weekend!

Verio, Veriglobal

Check out this resource that is inspired by Verio, the global leader in hosting: Websites.com, your source for web success.

You'll discover, among other great tips, resources and white papers, the following:

• Website planning
• Things You Need to Know About the 404 Error Message (at last!)
• Web Hosting Explained. Not all Hosting Providers Are Created Equal
• Why You Must Have a Site Map and How To Create One
• How To Select a Web Site Designer

Take a tour here.