For years now, large-scale businesses have been employing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help drive productivity and high performance. This same technological advantage is available to small businesses, as well, and those who do not leverage this advantage stand to...

It may be hard to predict what will happen in business in 2020, but betting that technology will continue to advance and influence the marketplace seems like a sure thing. Technological innovations may not be an area in which CEOs and business owners excel, but...

How Social Media Adds to Your Customer Service Today's fun fact: it happens to be the 40th anniversary of the first mobile phone conversation. Forty years later, the age of the mobile phone is here... and there... and everywhere. People travel with smartphones with...

To be successful, you need to have a positive mindset. But how do you keep your spirits up when you are a whole year into a pandemic? COVID-19 has dramatically changed the way we live and work. Every aspect of our lives has been affected by the virus. We have made...

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, a leading trend among businesses was employing remote workers in a wide range of job responsibilities. The trend has, by now, attained something of a permanent status, as many companies anticipate continuing the...

Let's call the project scenario we'll use throughout this series "Project Tweet". Our company is Hummingbird Deliveries. Hummingbird is a local package delivery service, located in Manhattan. The company is run by McKenzie Rogers. Ms. Rodgers employees 9 couriers, a...

The Innovator's Dilemma is an Opportunity for The Little Guy Steve Jobs popularised The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen in his biography. As far as business books go, it's a demanding read. It explains how the most successful businesses in an industry are...

The effective onboarding of new employees is clearly a benefit to businesses, but some companies persist in “winging it” whenever a new hire joins the team. As we have noted before, businesses that lack a proper onboarding system in place “fail to understand the link...

Knowing Your Audience(s) on Social Media Imagine me clapping my palms together and rubbing them together gleefully, and you'll get a strong idea of my vehemence with regards to the audience in social media. News Flash: You are going to screw up on social media. With...

Protecting Your Ideas May Be Easier Today The decision of whether or not a small business owner should attempt to patent their invention or intellectual property is a difficult one. The pros include limiting the competition and potentially opening additional income...

It would be nice to think that every applicant to a job opening at your business is always telling the truth in their resumes, during their interviews, and throughout the hiring process. Unfortunately, while the vast majority of job-seekers are sincere and forthright...

One of the important lessons the COVID-19 pandemic has taught many business owners is that business agility is a key component to running a successful business. Business owners are challenged more now than ever to consider the obvious and not-so-obvious factors that...

Remote work is the new normal. In fact, remote work was gaining ground even before the pandemic hit, and with the start of 2021, many IT companies have permanently taken this route. However, there are many managers and business owners who are still skeptical. It is...

Small businesses are increasingly aware that cybercrime can strike any enterprise, not just Fortune 500 companies. This realisation comes not a moment too soon since various studies estimate that nearly 50% of cyber-attacks specifically target small businesses to...

If enhancing communications with your employees is on your list of resolutions, utilising digital technology can help you achieve this goal. Businesses that still rely on a “suggestion box” in the break room or some similarly out-of-date mechanism should consider...

CEOs and business owners must possess a wide range of talents to lead their organisations. Being able to communicate clearly and across a spectrum of audiences might be one of the most important to cultivate. Unfortunately, in the hectic rush of daily operations and...

In today’s competitive marketplace, the benefits of individual achievement—while always important—pale in comparison to what can be achieved through high-performing teamwork. If you’ve put in the time, strategy, and effort to hire the right people for your positions,...

These days, employees leave one job and take another for a host of reasons. One reason that should never come up is a company’s toxic culture. In the hunt for talent, businesses can’t afford to lose valued workers because the work environment is dysfunctional,...

In the fevered competition to recruit and hire “A-player” job candidates, many recruiters and HR departments are turning to a different model to get the job done. Imposing the structure of a sales process offers a new way to look at recruitment in general, and how to...

15 Things You Can Do to Reduce Your Risk In 2017, The Alternative Board surveyed hundreds of business owners about their cybersecurity experiences and fears, as well as their plans for keeping their companies safe. According to the results, over half of the business...

Having an engaged and high-performing team should be a top priority for every small business. A talented individual is always a big asset, but when you put several such individuals, there’s no limit to what the team can achieve. But it’s not enough to sit back and let...

I’ve been reading up on employee engagement and have come across some scary statistics about disengagement and lack of passion in the ranks. Here are a few ideas to help get your employees engaged: Give them side projects to do that are of interest to them and have...

It wasn’t always the case, but these days many business owners and CEOs are younger than the workforce they lead and manage. A “one-size-fits-all” leadership style is therefore likely to result in a troubled workplace environment, since it fails to consider key...

In recent years there’s been an ongoing debate in business circles regarding Leadership vs. Management. While the concept of visionary leadership has been trending positively, the once noble role of management has become somewhat maligned. But before you throw out...

The Alternative Board conducted a productivity survey of hundreds of entrepreneurs to discover how business owners are really spending their time. While 76% of business owners reported above average time management skills, 85% admit to working over 40 hours a week. Do...

In recent years, The Alternative Board (TAB) released a Small Business Pulse Survey, which focused on the time management and productivity challenges business owners have. We found that almost three-quarters of business owners either sometimes or always feel...

You’re living the dream that so many wish they could live: you own your own business. We don’t need to tell you that entrepreneurship is not always all it’s romanticised to be -- owning your own business presents a unique set of challenges, to say the least. You’ve...