I read an article the other day in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle titled, “Landlines are fading, but still play a role”. Admittedly, I was a bit surprised to see the numbers:
Am I surprised that people are only using cell phones? No, I’m surprised at how many people still have a landline! Perhaps it’s because I fit into the 25-29 demographic but even my parents haven’t had a landline since 2005.
After my initial shock, the article got me thinking about how people use the phone these days and it’s actually kind of amazing. Gone are the days when you simply picked up the phone at your house, made a call and that was it. Now we have a number of different ways to make a call:
Posted in Small Business | Tagged technology, virtual phone system | Leave a comment
Opening and maintaining an office is one of the costliest moves a new business can make. The obvious expense is the monthly rent, but the financial investment in running an office far exceeds the rent. At minimum, you will need desks and chairs. Most companies eventually want filing cabinets and a water cooler (plus scheduled delivery.) Of course, an office also needs its own Internet connection.
All these costs (and others) are why veteran entrepreneurs advise going without an office early on. That said, some businesses objectively need things like a professional mailing address, a business phone system and meeting areas.
Virtual Receptionists & Assistants
Entrepreneurs frequently take on loaded schedules and find themselves shoving repetitive tasks to the back burner. Traditionally, the solution has been hiring assistants whose sole jobs are to complete those tasks. However, it is actually not necessary for an assistant to physically work beside you in an office. A growing number of entrepreneurs are hiring virtual assistants instead.
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Small Business, Startup | Tagged Small Business, technology, tips, virtual office, virtual phone number | 1 Comment
Much has been made in the last decade of how businesses will eventually run their operations “in the cloud.” The strongest case for business cloud computing is arguably the cost. Many cloud computing providers bill like a utility does – that is, you pay for what you used, not a flat fee (which is often more expensive than what you used.)
However, for all the hype about cloud computing, few possess an actual game plan for positioning their business to tangibly benefit from it. Below, Grasshopper provides ten specific services you can use to put business functions like bandwidth, e-mail, document creation and budgeting in the cloud immediately – and begin saving money every single day.
Servers and Bandwidth
One of the most substantial costs an Internet business (and many non-Internet businesses) contends with are those involving servers and bandwidth. Innumerable businesses require raw computing power to display web pages, send e-mails, stream audio or video and more. Following are several services that allow you to pay on demand for bandwidth from the cloud.
Amazon S3
Amazon S3 allows anyone to purchase as much storage space as they require
Posted in Small Business, Startup | Tagged Startup, technology | 2 Comments
