Leading executives, managers, and experts from SMBs and large enterprises share their insights and perspectives with bMighty on a host of IT issues, challenges, and opportunities that small and midsize businesses face.
Small business consulting expert Gene Marks spoke to bMighty about the myriad of collaboration tools that have helped small and midsize businesses cut costs and improve efficiencies -- including his own, which now has 10 employees and no office space.
The debate rages on among economists over whether we are officially in a recession or not, but the fact is that smaller businesses always need to keep an eye on the bottom line. Gene Marks, who heads the small-business consulting firm The Marks Group PC, believes that tech tools, more than anything else, can help smaller businesses survive and thrive in even the worst of economic times. Marks, who wrote Streetwise Small Business Book Of Lists and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Successful Outsourcing is a big believer in collaboration tools but bemoans what he sees as a lack of knowledge and understanding of these tools among small and midsize businesses. He spoke to bMighty about the virtues of collaboration tools, the ones he likes best, and which ones he uses to run his own smaller business.
bMighty: Why are collaboration tools so important to small and midsize businesses?
Gene Marks: They give the small and midsize business so many more options and flexibility in a difficult economic time. Their employees who are spending money on gas and travel -- they can spend a day or two at home. I speak to groups and I see there is not a lot of knowledge about collaboration tools. Small and midsize businesses have other things on their mind and they don't have the time, but they should.
Small and midsize businesses aren't using them or they're nervous about using them or they're not sure about them -- and this is cool stuff. For example, Glance is $50 a month and you can share your desktop. You can do your presentations off of that. Utipu helps smaller businesses that are into recording videos, tips, and training and you can post it on their site for free. Before you send a service person out, which costs you money, you can let customers go on that site. It's free.
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