Case Study of Small Business In England

Table of contents

Introduction

The business environment is constantly changing. Driven mainly by fluctuations in customer needs, changing regulations, new technological developmemts, falling profits, declineing market share and other internal and external forces has created a need for businesses to adopt new strategies so as to keep up with the pace of change (Nuorkivi, 2009). Irrespective of what causes change in organisation, change or business transformation is very difficult to manage and implement. As a result, management consultants have emerged as important agents who can help organisations successfully management and implement change.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the role of management consultants in change management and business transformation.

Theoretical Framework

Change Management

Change management is concerned with successfully convincing users to accept new business process along with the technology that facilitates change. People are responsible for ensuring that organisations are functioning properly. While technology is important in ensuring the smooth functioning of the organisation, technology cannot substitute for human beings (Johnson, 1987). Technology is merely a working tool. In order to successfully implement new changes, an organisation must ensure that people are excited about adopting new technology. The organisation must also ensure that people believe in it, are ready to be trained in it and are ready to support it (Gouillart and Kelly, 1995) Change management ensures that all these things are in place before commencing with a new project. A successful change strategy requires the identification of forces for and against the change (Johnson, 1987).

In order to successfully manage change, it is important to begin by understanding the factors that drive change, the targets and the various aspects of change that take place in organisations. This is often referred to as the change arena which is depicted in figure 1 above (Susman et al., 2006). More often than not, organisations tend to benefit from change that is anticipated than from unanticipated change. It is not enough to be prepared for change. Organisations must also be aware of when change is necessary and how it can be successfully managed (Susman et al., 2006). There are a number of external and internal forces that may trigger change in organisations such as declining sales and profits, rising competition, eroding market share or imposition of new regulations. The above factors can be regarded as negative factors. However, change is not always triggered by negative forces. Sometimes, senior management may have a vision on how the company can perform better than it is currently doing and may deem it necessary to implement change that would enable the company to improve from its current position (Susman et al., 2006).

As can be observed from figure 1, change may occur either through adaptive learning or through generative learning. While generative learning can be more difficult to master, its impact on the organisation is more profound and far reaching. It seeks to develop deeper meaning and multiple connections in the phenomena that are being studied (Wittrock, 1974). Generative learning is best conducted in a team setting where participants can have the opportunity to review collective memories, archival and new data. Generative learning can also be achieved through discovery, experimentation and reflections which results in solutions to current problems (Susman et al., 2006). Discovery, experimentation and reflections can also result in the development of plans to seek newly recognised opportunities. A good generative learner is one who always asks the question “why” as opposed to one who just accepts things the way they appear. Change resulting from generative learning often results in long-lasting and profound effects on the organisation. In addition, change from generative learning often transforms the learner through the learning process (Susman et al., 2006).

The application of generative learning to business involves an examination of the basic assumptions about the organisation along with its approaches to business (Susman et al., 2006). Questions that often arise during the process include: who are the customers of the organisation, do the products and services create value for customers, if so, how, what is the most appropriate approach to deliver value to customers, what beliefs does the organisation have with respect to how it can best treat its customers, suppliers and employeesIt is not uncommon for managers to assume that they can provide answers to these questions. However, a seldom re-examination of managers can reveal inconsistencies between their assumptions and practices. By applying generative learning to the organisation, these inconsistencies can be corrected thereby enabling the organisation to benefit from an improvement in its structure, processes, products and services (Susman et al., 2006).

Like generative learning, adaptive learning is also valuable. However, it does not give serious consideration to most of the issues considered under generative learning. Rather, it focuses mainly on more efficiently and effectively delivering value to the organisation’s current customers (Susman et al., 2006). It is obvious that many companies have a proper understanding of their assumptions. This understanding enables them to act consistently with the assumptions. However, this may not always be the case as some companies may just be plain lucky because their unexamined assumptions are not out of touch with their customers’ value perception as well as their environment. Instead of engaging in generative learning, such companies can concentrate on producing better and perhaps low cost goods and services and delivering them to customers in a timely manner. However, it is always better to examine the assumptions by engaging in generative learning. Companies often consider generative learning a time-consuming and costly process and as such many companies tend not to be prepared to act effectively on what they have learned from the process.

While generative learning may seem irrelevant and expensive, it is very important when implementing change in organisations. Instead of trying to make a choice between adaptive and generative learning, it should be noted that generative learning and adaptive learning are not close substitutes for each other. Rather, the two processes should be considered as complementary processes. It is important for an organisation to involve in both processes to achieve success in the change process. Generative learning can enable a company to identify new customers while retaining existing ones. It can also enable the company to identify new markets, develop new products and services and offer them to existing customers. On its part, adaptive learning enables the company to identify approaches to deliver the goods and services to all customers in a more effective and efficient manner. Generative learning is particularly important for small and medium size enterprises as it enables them to identify opportunities for developing new products and delivering them to new customers and in new markets.

Lewin (1951) developed one of the earliest models of planned organisational change. The model consists of three steps in the change process. These include unfreezing the present pattern, developing the new pattern, and then refreezing at the expected new level (Cummings and Huse, 1989; Weilhrich and Koontz, 1993). Lewin’s model is attractive because of its simple nature. This is because it outlines the general stages that need to be considered when implementing change and thus the process that must be followed for successful change management (Okumus and Hemmington, 1998). Lewin’s model has been criticised as a process that is began and completed within a very short time frame. For example, Moorhead and Grin (1995) argue that change management need not be treated as a one-off process. Rather, change management should be considered as a continuous process. The three stage model of Lewin has therefore received very limited practical support. In addition to Lewin’s three-stage change framework, a number of other linear models have been proposed (e.g., Burnes, 1992; Thompson, 1993; Grundy, 1993; Kotter, 1995). The models proposed by the aforementioned authors share a number of common characteristics which can be grouped under the following five categories (Okumus and Hemmington, 1998):

  • Identification and diagnosis.
  • Consultation, exploration and negotiation;
  • Planning;
  • Implementation; and

While the characteristics appear to be common to all the models, care must be taken not to consider the categories as clearly distinct, discrete steps. In practical applications, as well as in most situations, there is often a considerable degree of integration and thus blurring among the different stages (Burnes, 1992; Vandermerwe and Vandermerwe, 1991). In the first step, the need for change is identified, the organisation’s current position is analysed and the ideal future state of the firm is determined (Hill and Jones, 1992).

The need for change must not come from a particular management level. It can come from senior, operational or middle level management (Thompson, 1993). In the second stage, the problem environment is explored and consultations and negotiations are initiated with key stakeholders of the firm (Okumus and Hemmington, 1998). In the third stage, planning is conducted. This involves taking into account the resources available, the culture, the required level of commitment and the competencies of the management team in the perspective of the issues identified in stage 2.

The planning stage also requires the formulation and design of time tables and implantation approaches. It has been suggested that it is important to employ analytical tools prior to the implementation phase. Commonly used analytical tools include the systems approach (Carter et al., 1984), force field analysis (Lewin, 1951; Thomson, 1985) and stakeholder analysis (Grundy, 1993). Using analytical tools makes it easier to take into account a wider range of the change environment such as the analysis of possible resistance to change, identification of those that can be affected by the change and the merits and demerits of different change strategies (Okumus and Hemmington, 1998).

In stage four of the change management process, the change is implemented. The implementation stage is the most difficult step of the process because it requires moving from the known to the unknown and as such is risky, complex and stressful (Clarke, 1994).

The nature of change is contingent in nature because it is important to choose the right time and pace to implement the change process (Jick, 1995). In a study of organisational culture and structure and their relationship to successful change, Kanter (1983) contend that the change masters are literally the right people in the right place at the right time.

The final stage of the change management process is monitoring and evaluating the results of the change against the original objectives. In doing so, the extent to which the implementation of the change has achieved its objective is investigated and conclusions are reached to determine whether further adjustments or changes are required. While the monitoring and evaluation phase may be regarded as the final stage in the process, it should be noted that change must be viewed as a continuous process. The evaluation stage should result in the identification of further opportunities for improvement. This means that the evaluation phase can be regarded as the starting point of a change cycle (Okumus and Hemmington, 1998).

Management Consulting

Management consulting is the practice of assisting firms to enhance their performance, mainly through the analysing previous business issues and developing plans for improvement. Accounting to the Oxford Dictionary For the Business World (1994) a management consultant is a professional advisor who specialises in providing advice to organisations so as to enable them improve their efficiency and thus enhance their profitability. According to Ainamo and Tienari (2002) modern management consulting is the process of providing independent advice across time and place directly into the board rooms of organisations.

Management consulting is aimed mainly at creating a management practice. In order to achieve this aim, management consulting competes with a variety of other institutions such as academic establishments and media houses. A combination of educational institutions, media houses and management practices, therefore constitute the knowledge management industry (Kipping and Engwall, 2002). The term knowledge management industry stems from the fact that management consultancies belong to a group of companies known in the management literature as knowledge management firms. Their main assets include the competence and knowledge of their personnel (Kipping and Engwall 2002). Three broad categories of management consulting have been identified including strategy consulting, organisational consulting and change consulting (Nadler and Slywotzky 2005). While these three categories of consulting appear to be independent from one another, the reality is that they have become seamlessly intertwined as a result of a combination of the various categories in modern day consulting.

Strategy consulting has its origin from economics. Throughout most of its existence, strategy consulting has been regarded as a top-down approach that involves executives providing their support to the business strategy and making it known to the rest of the firm. Organisational consulting originated from psychology. It begins with small group dynamics and then looks upward at the organisation. Strategy consulting and organisational consulting have traditionally operated independently. However, in recent times, these two categories of consulting have become increasingly integrated with each other in the services offered by modern management consulting firms as well as in the practice of management consulting (Nadler & Slywotzky 2005).

Change consulting originated from organisational consulting. Traditionally, organisational consulting tended to involve a wide range of changes. As a result, the implementation of these changes required special attention to the human factors of change. Strategy consulting only gravitated towards change management issues recently because early strategy projects focused primarily on small groups of senior management (Nadler & Slywotzky 2005). Despite this late integration of the different management consulting categories, consultancies today have become increasingly involved in the facilitation of change management (Poulfelt et al. 2005). Despite the increasing integration of the three consulting categories, consulting companies can be distinguished using a number of dimensions. Consulting companies differ in terms of degree of customisation, infrastructure or problem solving services, sales driven culture vs strongly enforced core philosophy and expert or advisor (Poulfelt et al., 2005; Duboff, 2005).

Previous Research

Based on the discussion of change management and management consulting, it is obvious that management consulting and change management are potentially related. Despite this potential link between change management and management consulting, there is limited empirical evidence exploring this relationship. In addition, despite the importance of change in small businesses, change management and the potential role of management consulting thereof, there is little or no empirical evidence on the potential link between these management aspects.

There is very scare empirical research on the management consultants’ roles in the context of large scale, long-term business transformations. This scarcity has been attributed to the fact that the role of management consultants in business change or transformations is often discussed in the context of the overall change rather than in the context of specific aspects of the change. Management consultants are often considered to be actors of the operational and organisational change. Given that change is an inherent characteristic of management consulting, it is difficult for researchers to focus deliberately on a particular aspect and magnitude of change. In particular, the literature has paid no attention to the management consultants’ role in facilitating change in small businesses.

Among the few studies that have considered the role of the management consultant in business change or business transformation, Hellgren et al. (2004) examined the role of the management consultant in the context of post-merger and acquisition integration. While their findings appear to be contextually bound, some appear to be applicable to most types of business transformations. Their evidence in particular suggests that the management consultant is important as a homogeneralisation agent, a facilitator, a negotiating agent, and a colonisation agent (Nuorkivi, 2009).

Many other studies such as Schein (2000); Maister (2008) Nadler and Slywotzky (2005) argue that there is no explicit evidence on the role of management consultants in large business transformations. Some studies have focused on business transformations from an angle that is different from the role of the management consultant.

It can clearly be seen in the literature that there is a huge shortage of research on the potential role that management consulting firms can play in helping businesses implement change management. This is the case despite the difficulties that organisations often face in implementing change. Even the limited number of studies that has considered this area of research has not focused any attention on the role of management consultants in the implementation of change in small businesses. Small businesses are very important for the growth of the economy. In addition, small businesses are likely to lack the knowledge and expertise required for the successful implementation of change. Small businesses are therefore likely to be heavily reliant on change management consultants for the successful implementation of change. It is against this backdrop that this study intends to contribute to the literature by investigating the role played by management consulting firms in implementing change in small businesses in England, as well as analysing how the results can be implemented in Small Businesses in Africa.

References

  1. Ainamo, A. & Tienari, J. (2002): The Rise and Fall of a Local Version of Management Consulting in Finland. In Kipping, M. & Engwall, L. (Eds): Management consulting: Emergence and Dynamics of a Knowledge Industry (pp. 70-90). UK, Oxford University Press.
  2. Burnes, B., 1992. Managing Change. Pitman Publishing, London.Clarke, L., 1994. The Essence of Change. Prentice-Hall, London.
  3. Gouillart, F. & Kelly, J. (1995): Transforming the Organization. USA, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
  4. Grundy, T., 1993. Implementing Strategic Change. Kogan Page Limited., London.
  5. Hellgren, B., Lowstedt, J., Tienari, J., Vaara, E. & Werr, A. (2004): Management consultants as agents of homogenization. In Buono, A.F. (Ed.): Creative consulting: innovative perspectives on management consulting (pp. 245-266). USA, Information Age Publishing.
  6. Jick, T.D., 1995. Accelerating change for competitive advantage. Organisational Dynamics 24(1), 77-82.
  7. Johnson, G. (1987): Strategic Change and the Management Process. UK, Basil Blackwell Ltd.
  8. Kanter, R.M., 1983. The Change Masters. Simon and Schuster, New York.
  9. Kotter, J.P., 1995. Leading change: why transformation e¤orts fail. Harvard Business Review 73(2), 59?67.
  10. Lewin, K., 1951. Field Theory in Social Science. Harper and Row, New York.
  11. Maister, D. (1993): Managing the Professional Service Firm. USA, Free Press Paperbacks.
  12. Maister, D. (2008): Strategy and the Fat Smoker. USA, The Spangle Press.
  13. Nadler, D. A. & Slywotzky, A. J. (2005): Strategy and Organization Consulting. In Greiner, L. & Poulfelt, F. (eds.): The Contemporary Consultant. Canada, Thomson South-Western.
  14. Okumus, F., Hemmington, N. (1998) Management of the change process in hotel companies: An investigation at unit level, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Volume 17, Issue 4, December 1998, Pages 363-374
  15. Poulfelt, F., Greiner, L. & Bhambri, A. (2005): The Changing Global Consulting Industry. In Greiner, L. & Poulfelt, F. (eds.): The Contemporary Consultant. Canada, Thomson South-Western.
  16. Schein, E. (1998): Process consultation revisited. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Longman
  17. Schein, E. (2000): Chapter 5: Coaching and Consultation: Are they the SameIn Goldsmith, M., Lyons, L. & Freas, A. (Eds): Coaching for Leadership: How the World’s Greatest Coaches Help Leaders Learn (pp. 65-74). USA, Jossey-Bass.
  18. Susman, G., Jansen, K., Michael, J. (2006) Innovation and Change Management in Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Companies, Smeal College of Business The Pennsylvania State University
  19. Thompson, J., 1993. Strategic Management, Awareness and Change. Chapman & Hall, London.
  20. Vadermerwe, S., Vandermerwe, A., 1991. Making strategic change happen. European Management Journal, 9(2), 174-181.
  21. Weilhrich, H., Koontz, H., 1993. Management, A Global Perspective, 10th ed. McGraw-Hill Inc., New York.

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4 Easy and Effective Email Marketing Tips for Your Small Business

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Email marketing allows you to reach a highly targeted audience at a low cost. In fact, experts at Campaign Monitor, an email marketing company, estimate that an effective email marketing message has the potential to result in , for just $1 of marketing investment.

Here are some email marketing conversion tips all small businesses can use:

1. Include descriptive tags with your images. 

Online publication MarketingCharts cites data revealing that the average person receives  commercial emails a month. Emails that include images can help your small business stand out in an already-crowded inbox, especially if you choose those that evoke an emotional response to a product, a promotional campaign concept or your brand. 

However, email marketing now comes with a “catch 22,” given that at least  are checked on a mobile device, according to experts at Litmus, an email analytics company. While mobile devices may positively boost response to time-sensitive messages, small screens aren’t always conducive to images. If a recipient opens your email only to see that images have been blocked, you could be banished to his or her spam box indefinitely. The more often that happens, the harder it is to form a reputation as a sender whose emails are recognized as legitimate: According to the experts at Sender Score, 28 percent of the email messages that are sent reach a user’s inbox.

Descriptive ATL tags can help you improve conversion, and decrease the risk of images in email marketing. Nonprofit organization WebAIM point out that ALT tag copy that is applicable in both context and functionality ensures the meaning of an image translates, even if the recipient can’t see the picture. Review the ALT tags for images on your site and in your email campaigns for relevancy, using descriptive words that will make the customer want to take action.

2. Don’t send messages that aren’t targeted. 

While you may not have robust data on prospects, you can learn a little more about what they respond to with each message you send. Diligently track open and click-through rates with each campaign, including the optimal times to send messages based on response and headline tests. Place email recipients in segments based on your findings to build an effective drip campaign that is personalized and relevant based on their activity.  Internet Retailer reports that retailer totes Isotoner improved its email marketing campaign revenue by a whopping  when it used analytics based on past email activity, site search history and past purchases to deliver highly targeted email messages.

3. Don’t ask for too much. 

Segment your email marketing campaigns so that each recipient is served the most relevant offer based on his or her preferences, and that he or she is presented with one clear message, call to action and a seamless checkout experience — whether on a desktop or mobile device. Prefill special offers the email message may include so customers aren’t required to key special discount codes that are part of your email offer at checkout. Partner with a reputable mobile payment provider for a secure and branded checkout experience to eliminate concerns with payment security, or require the customer to take additional steps to complete the transaction. For example, Mobile Commerce Daily reports that despite the popularity of PayPal by retailers in online sales, evidence suggests that it kills conversion by nearly  (particularly when consumers are shopping on a mobile device), because it requires additional steps to make a purchase.

4. Use emails to form a lasting relationship. 

Email campaigns should build upon one another, and acknowledge what you know about the customer, based on his or her past activity. In fact, marketing firm Epsilon cites data indicating that “triggered” emails targeted based on a recipient’s engagement with past messages have open rates that are  higher than those with generic messaging. If you cannot convince your customers to click on your message, you can’t convert them, regardless of your pricing or product quality.

Email marketing is an affordable way to communicate with prospects and customers, gain valuable insights about their preferences and increase sales. However, it requires strategy to convert message recipients into buyers. Follow these steps to improve the ROI you realize from every email you send.

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6 Do-It-Yourself PR Tips for Small Businesses

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If you’re a small business, doing your own PR is all about crafting pitches and getting them to the right people. Creating buzz in your industry involves being authentic to yourself and your business. If you’re willing to put in the time and effort, doing PR yourself can be a great money-saving option for your small business.

1. Tell your brand’s story

Storytelling can help transform your brand’s identity and presence, and create trust from consumers or others in the industry. Some of the best stories come from you and your loyal customers. You can tell the story of how your brand came to be, and customers can tell the stories of their experiences with your business.

Think of your brand as a human persona. The more interesting and genuine its personality is, the more trust others will feel toward it. Be sure to tell others why your business exists, its ethics, how the brand evolved or anything else that will help people see the full picture of your business. Don’t be afraid to encourage your customers to tell their stories of how your business benefited them. A compelling story will give the audience a way to emotionally connect with who you are and ultimately set the tone for the entire company.

2. Keep up with the industry

Read a lot, and read often to make sure you’re staying informed with everything related to your industry.

Set up Google Alerts and Twitter Mentions. Find and follow the top industry influencers, and read up on what your competitors are doing. You can use sites like  to collect articles containing relevant keywords from all over the internet, and have new content delivered right to your inbox.

You need to be as knowledgeable as possible in your industry. You never know when the spotlight might be on you. And that knowledge might just impress the right person, leading to your next big break.

3. Network with the top influencers

If you’re actively keeping up with the top industry reporters and influencers, the second step is to then try and network with them. If you take notes on what those writers typically focus on, you’ll have an abundance of knowledge when you finally reach out to them to build a relationship.

Try creating a list of the blogs or news sites these top influencers write for and keep track of what each author is writing. Then, find where you can comment and engage with them, whether it be through a blog post or a Twitter chat.

Networking with influencers and others is a great way to build a name for yourself and your brand within the industry, but make sure the comments aren’t forced or self-promotional. Remember: do-it-yourself PR is all about being authentic and trustworthy.

4. Do your research and remain objective

This relates to keeping up with the industry. You need to make sure you have something to contribute to the conversation or the industry, whether it be information in the form of an article or a product or service that is particularly helpful.

It’s important to do enough prep work before making any pitches. Study the outlets you’ve chosen to pitch to, and look to see if there is a specific person at an outlet you think would respond well to what you’re offering. Once again, learn as much as you can before jumping forward.

5. Perfect before pitching

Putting your name out there before your product or service is ready can lead to negative customer reviews, and that can be a death sentence for a small business or startup company. Plus, a good product or high quality service is more likely to get better press once the word is actually out.

Focus on perfecting your product or service before reaching out to get press. Don’t be afraid to first get the opinion of a small group of trusted people who can provide you with feedback to help you improve upon your product or the quality of your service.

6. Craft creative and compelling pitches

When you’re pitching your brand or product, you need to make sure you remain as objective as possible. Even though you might think everything your business does or provides is notably the best, not everyone will agree.

Remember that a lot of top industry influencers are constantly bombarded with pitches, so yours needs to be creative and, most importantly, personal. This circles back to the first tip: tell your brand’s story. Keep it short and sweet, and make sure if you’re reaching out to anyone over email, your subject line is attention-grabbing and won’t be mistaken for spam.

There may be a point where a larger PR company could help your company reach new heights. But, for small businesses, the right attitude and drive for success makes doing PR yourself a completely plausible option.

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Cloud computing: effectiveness, shortages and prospects for small businesses

Table of contents

Abstract

Cloud computing, in its present form, is a fairly new and evolving paradigm and as an industry it is showing huge growth potential. This is due mainly to the sheer attractiveness of providing very expensive server computing technology to smaller businesses that find it completely impractical to invest in this type of infrastructure when their needs are, for the most part, sporadic with usage requirements that are difficult to forecast. It is also useful for the larger companies that have their own servers for day to day operations, but require increased computing power for relatively short periods of time in their business cycles (Chee & Franklin, 2010). The ability to pay for the services as required without the costly infrastructure expenses is a good business model.

Introduction

According to Antonopoulos & Gillam (2010), cloud computing is the technology behind multiple computers from any geographical parts of the world being connected and communicating real time through a network basically internet. This solution offers ease in communication between individuals, groups of people with common interest like organization and the whole population in general. Cloud computing supports services that are network based. The services appear to be provided by a physical hardware somewhere yet it is actually virtual but simulated by software that runs on one or more physical/real machines.

This report study discusses the issues in the cloud computing architecture, particularly in relation to its effectiveness, shortages and prospects for the small and medium businesses in supporting their internet-based businesses.

Cloud Computing: a definition

The services offered by providers that deliver either hardware or software over the internet are referred to as cloud computing (Armbrust et al., 2010). Cloud computing provides business access to off-site resources that are efficient and agile (what is needed, when it is needed).

Marstona et al. (2011) define cloud computing as:

An information technology service model where computing services (both hardware and software) are delivered on-demand to customers over a network in a self-service fashion, independent of device and location. The resources required to provide the requisite quality-of-service levels are shared, dynamically scalable, rapidly provisioned, virtualized and released with minimal service provider interaction. Users pay for the service as an operating expense without incurring any significant initial capital expenditure, with the cloud services employing a metering system that divides the computing resource into appropriate blocks.

Mell & Gance (2011) of National Institute of Standards and Technology in the United States drafted a lengthy definition of cloud computing, including this first line:

As noted by Chee & Franklin (2010), cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.

Body

Effectiveness

The potential for business growth will increase if more small and medium enterprises adopt cloud-computing technology. This virtual servers can be easily moved, scaled either up or down without actually affecting end users. Cloud computing enables sharing of resources achieving economies of scale and coherence. These resources are not only shared by a specified number of users since they are dynamically reallocated according to prevailing demand to promote efficiency and flexibility. Telecommunication is fore-front in embracing cloud computing where client-server models have been implemented enabling users to access, alter and make any changes on the same system simultaneously (Rittinghouse & Ransome, 2010).

One of the major advantage of cloud computing is reduced number of devices any organization can purchase and implement their IT systems. This saves the organization the heavy cost of infrastructure. Traditional complex and diverse architectures are simplified and optimized into a virtual environment basically from end to end. All applications can be supported in the same environment hence efficiency. The Unified Computer Systems greatly simplify and speed of accessing enterprise applications. Cloud data center provides fully embedded management of all hardware and software components. Configuration of multiple servers in a cloud data center is easy and very fast (Chee & Franklin, 2010).

Armbrust et al. (2010) explain how a ‘pay as you go’ utilization of accessing an external server for utility computing makes more economic sense than tying up capital resources in a server that will be under-utilized much of the time. Cloud computing now permits a business to purchase server hours on demand and as needed, such as for peak load times or when the organization needs additional server time to perform batch analytics. In addition, when a business is unable to determine how much server time or capacity they may require (e.g., during a new Web startup), cloud computing does not require up-front commitments.

Shortages

The relative newness of this type of service, while highly beneficial, has the potential for huge risks for the customers including security risks. This paradigm is a network in which the primary users have minimal control of the structure, shared users, and overall security, particularly in relation to data that is processed or stored in the external servers (Samson, 2008).

While the benefits of cloud computing delivering business-supporting technology are vast, there are a number of issues and security challenges that must be acknowledged and addressed. Marstona et al. (2011) insist there is an “urgent need for understanding the business related issues surrounding cloud computing.”

The Cloud Security Alliance (2013) and Samson (2013) identify and discuss nine top threats to security as a result of cloud security The ‘Top Threats Working Group’ conducted a survey of industry experts and compiled a list of nine critical threats to cloud security (ranked in order of severity):

  1. Data Breaches
  2. Data Loss
  3. Account Hijacking
  4. Insecure APIs
  5. Denial of Service
  6. Malicious Insiders
  7. Abuse of Cloud Services
  8. Insufficient Due Diligence
  9. Shared Technology Issues

Prospects for small businesses

Small businesses are constrained by the resources. Cloud computing will address issues of scalability and availability related to large scale applications storage and access. Small business can use cloud computing architecture to scale their business, increase productivity and efficiency of business processes. Small businesses will reduce operation costs of acquiring extra I.T resources. As concluded by Marstona et al. (2012), cloud computing offers ease management of business resources from a central point and low expenditure on I.T hardware and software. Cloud computing will enable small business to accommodate the increase of data. Small businesses can manage cloud computing services from a single point and manage data load effectively.

Conclusion

Cloud computing is a new architecture in information technology. The architecture has given rise to the creation of storage and network systems which are reliable, scalable and available. The large self-managed storage servers minimise management headache and reduce overhead. The services delivered by a cloud computing architecture can be increased and decreased depending on the business needs of a small enterprise. Cloud computing is a valuable technology for small and medium sized businesses. It helps in providing affordable and effective IT infrastructure tools, making business processes to be more productive. Cloud computing helps small and medium business entities to minimise costs of acquiring technical equipment and in-house IT resources.

References

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  2. ARMBRUST, M., FOX, A., GRIFFITH, R., JOSEPH, A.D., KATZ, R., KONWINSKI, A., LEE, G., PATTERSON, D., RABKIN, A., ION STOICA, A., & ZAHARIA, M (2010) A view of cloud computing. Communications of the ACM. [Online] June 2010. Available from: http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2010/4/81493-a-view-of-cloud-computing/fulltext. [Accessed: 8th February 2014]
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  4. CLOUD SECURITY ALLIANCE (2008) The notorious nine: Cloud computing top threats in 2013. Cloud Security Alliance. [Online] August 2008. Available from: http://www.cloudsecurityalliance.org/topthreats. [Accessed: 8th February 2014]
  5. MARSTONA, S., LIA, Z., SUBHAJYOTI BANDYOPADHYAYA, S, ZHANGA, J., & GHALSASIB, A (2012) Cloud computing — The business perspective. Decision Support Systems. [Online] August 2012. Available from:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167923610002393. [Accessed: 8th February 2014]
  6. MELL, P. & GRANCE, T (2011) The NIST definition of cloud computing (draft): Recommendations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD: U.S. Department of Commerce. [Online] April 2011. Available from: http://pre-developer.att.com/home/learn/enablingtechnologies/The_NIST_Definition_of_Cloud_Computing.pdf. [Accessed: 8th February 2014]
  7. RITTINGHOUSE J. W. & RANSOME J. F. (2010) Cloud computing: Implementation, management, and security. New York, NY: CRC Press.
  8. SAMSON, T (2008) 9 top threats to cloud computing security. InfoWorld [blog] 25 February. [Online] November 2008. Available from: http://www.infoworld.com/t/cloud-security/9-top-threats-cloud-computing-security-213428. [Accessed: 8th February 2014]

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Why You’ve Got to Do Your Detective Work if You Want Your Small Business to Succeed

Table of contents

The following excerpt is from Wendy Keller’s book . Buy it now from  |  |

Did you like math in school? I didn’t, but I sure do like it now. As entrepreneurs, how much you bring in (gross profit) gets reduced by what it costs you to attract that money (cost of doing business), which results in the cherished number that represents what you get to keep (your net profit).

Platform building is all about increasing your gross profit by easily attracting more customers to your business while lowering the cost of customer acquisition so that your net profit burgeons.

“Analytics” refers to finding out what percentage of your target market actually buys from you. Your analytics will guide you quickly to increased clarity on your target audience, on what marketing is attracting them and therefore how many people you have to reach to earn a profit.

Your job as your own marketing director (until you can afford to hire one) is to always know if you’re earning more from your ads than you’re investing in preparing and placing them.

Fortunately, there’s a solution to less than stellar results from any marketing foray. True marketers tell you to “test everything.” Only a fool would disagree, but what the marketers mean is that you should test every marketing piece for:

  • The colors
  • The images
  • The headline
  • The body copy
  • The time of day the content runs
  • The placement of the content
  • The audience you selected

Those marketers are 100 percent right. Yes, you should do all that for every page on your website, post, blog, ad, article, pitch, sales letter, marketing campaign and everything else you’ll ever create for your business.

Did your eyes roll to the back of your head when you even thought about all the work it takes to gather analytics and test, test, test? I’ll tell you a secret: I can’t bring myself to test all this stuff. Who has the time?

So I’ve devised a much easier way for you to do the critically important work of analytics. I call it “Analytics Light.” It derives from the well-known saying “Success Leaves Clues.” I’ll split it up for a product-based business and a service-based business, to make it even easier for you.

‘Analytics Light’ for a product-based business

The easiest way to figure out if anyone is going to buy your product is to spend a chunk of time doing online research. Invest a few hours up front and a) you’ll get to skip some of the onerous brain-scrambling testing stuff we just talked about and b) you’ll get better results right from the start.

Take some time to find out:

  • Is anyone selling anything like your product?
  • How many units do you estimate they’re selling each month?
  • How much are they charging? Is shipping free?
  • How is it wrapped?
  • What do their store displays look like?
  • How much foot traffic do they get in their location?
  • Which competitor is the most successful in your space?
  • For retail, what do their stores look like? How is their parking? Is their staff pleasant? Is the place well-lit and clean?
  • How many people walk out with a purchase?
  • What kinds of comments are they getting on social media about their service or their product?
  • What can you learn about your customers from this research?

Much of this can be obtained by checking out the website of a digital store, too. Buy or order the object from your competitor(s) and see if they have good quality, good customer service and an easy ordering process. When you get it, note how it is packaged, if it was delivered on time and then return it. What is their return process like? If you saw any glitches in that process, it’s a big flashing sign that your business can eat some of their market share by doing it better! As a pseudo-customer for a product similar to yours, you know intimately what “good” is. Use this information to your own advantage.

‘Analytics Light’ for a service-based business

Are you offering a “quiet” service delivered in your office, like an attorney or a psychologist? Or are you offering a service you bring to your customer, like a landscaper or a handyman?

Your competitors aren’t just “people in the same kind of service business,” but proprietors of all service businesses that are doing well. Check out successful service providers in other industries: plumbers, dog groomers, home healthcare delivery businesses. Are any of them doing something spectacular that you could incorporate into your strategy?

Choose who you will “stalk” by finding the ones who have the highest Yelp.com rating. Then find out:

  • Where are your competitors geographically?
  • What do their offices look like?
  • What methods do they use to deliver the service?
  • What do they charge?
  • Are their websites professional looking?
  • How many of them are in your area, if relevant?
  • Check the parking lot, if relevant — what kinds of cars do their customers drive?
  • Do the customers you see leaving their office look like the people you pictured as your customers?
  • Trail their service trucks. What kinds of neighborhoods are their customers in?
  • Make an appointment. How long do you have to wait to get into your appointment? How are you treated? Is their phone service professional?
  • If it’s an online service business, how responsive are they to your emails if you ask an anonymous question through their contact form?
  • Do they offer anything extra, beyond what you planned to offer?
  • Stake out their location, if applicable. Pretend you’re a private investigator for an hour (trench coat and cigar optional). What do you see going on?

Your competitors are saving you many hours and lots of money by broadcasting how to do things successfully. Why waste your own money and time when it’s so much easier to do a little espionage? This will let you see how other successful people are doing it. Then you can test and improve on their methods.

Digging a little deeper

Almost every business has a website. Type in keywords for your product or service on Google or another search engine. Whose websites come up on the first page? Consumers rarely go to the second page, so websites listed after page one aren’t doing much good for their owners. Ignore them.

Write down the URLs of every website on the first page and exactly which keywords and key phrases you used to find them. Use them for your own site later — simple to do, but if you’re nervous, ask your webmaster to do it for you. And remember, there are different ways to ask the same thing. Type in a keyword or key phrase that seems natural to you, but also consider other peoples’ ways of phrasing things.

For example, consider these key phrases and their alternates:

  • “Where do I find a good CPA?” vs. “Highest Rated CPA in Atlanta”
  • “Fiberglass fishing boat” vs. “Best fishing boat”
  • “Best baby stroller” vs. “Blue baby strollers”

Although the searcher may be looking for exactly the same thing in these examples, the search phrases are critically different. Google will bring up what it “thinks” is closest to what the person wants.

When you notice that people use a term or phrase for your product or service that’s different than what seems right or natural to you, who cares? This is a perfect example of “The customer is always right.” Use the words that the majority of people use, even if you disagree with their phrasing, their spelling or their mistakes.

Warning: If your biggest competitors don’t show up when you use the keywords you think are “right,” before you congratulate yourself on your genius, check again. It likely means you’re simply choosing different keywords in your search. If you’re also using the less popular words on your website, change them there, too. It doesn’t matter who’s right — it matters that you get paid.

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Why Mobile Payments Aren’t Gaining Traction With Small Businesses

A year after the launch of Apple Pay and five months into Google’s Android Pay service, it seems like mobile payments have finally caught fire with the public. Thousands of banks and retail giants have jumped onboard, yet small businesses—which account for more than 90 percent of businesses in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau—are so far responding with a collective meh.

“I would say it’s been a fairly negligible adoption rate so far,” says Jordan McKee, senior analyst covering mobile payments at 451 Research in Boston. “There hasn’t been a tremendous amount of interest given the cost of upgrading terminals to accept NFC payments.”

Near field communication is the technology behind the new contactless payment systems. Long a feature of Android handsets, the chip lets consumers put a smartphone inches away from a payment terminal to make a transaction. Apple Pay joined the party in 2014 with the iPhone 6; the tech is also a key feature of the new Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) credit card standard.

This year’s Oct. 1 deadline for the transition to EMV credit cards is what’s driving the widespread availability of mobile payments. That’s because on that date, every merchant in the country is required to upgrade the old magnetic-card-swipe terminals to new ones compatible with EMV cards (also called chip-and-PIN cards). If they refuse, they will be held liable for fraudulent purchases made in their establishments.

Still, that threat alone hasn’t been enough to force small businesses to transition to EMV card readers, let alone to mobile payments. McKee believes that may happen once the post-deadline horror stories start to pop up. “I think word will spread pretty quickly throughout the small-business space that card networks are holding merchants responsible for fraudulent transactions,” he says.

Beyond the new EMV standard, mobile promises to make payments even more secure. “Apple Pay is by far the most secure way to make a payment in general today,” McKee says, noting that it uses biometrics and tokenization (in which the credit card number is replaced with a unique code recognized by the bank). In short: Offering the system builds trust with customers. But for small businesses to accept it, they’ll need an NFC-compatible (and Apple-approved) reader.

The industry’s hope is that once businesses upgrade from their old magnetic point-of-sale terminals to smart, EMV-compatible ones, the ability for merchants to easily add a pay-by-phone option will turn mobile payments into the new normal.

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Personnel Selection in Small Business Enterprises

Two decades ago, Roper Organization poll underpinned the issue of selecting right personnel as a crucial factor in small business sector besides the issue of motivating them to perform well, since it found incompetence and lack of motivation are the major negative drivers in small business enterprises (The Wall street, 1980). However, another survey showed that the personnel selection practices in this sector contribute to the difficulty in developing effective personnel selection programs, where owners or managers screen and hire the employees on their own, instead of employing a personnel specialist to do the job (Little, 1986).

Thus unimaginative recruitment and selection strategies are to blame for the debacle in small business sector, opine the researchers after observing that interview and application blank accounted for 90 percent of the most frequently used selection techniques (McEvoy, 1984). Such state of affairs is really uncalled for in a sector where organizations cannot afford to do without dedicated, skilled and quality performers, since each employee here represents a large percentage of the work force (Solomon, 1984, p.

22). And now amid the post-downturn business environment, when the market is asking to provide more at less cost, the significance of personnel selection has reached a new high in small business sector, as it is almost a “perform-or-perish” situation for them. Such state of affairs clearly shows that all what the small business enterprises need is a systematic process of personnel selection that would help them to find the right employee for any position.

This study thus explores the nuances of a three-step selection strategy that is based on the principle of incorporating behavioral consistency into selection instruments used to make decisions among job applicants. Background Basically any company would like to recruit persons who possess a desired level of cognitive, emotional, leadership, and management ability coupled with matching skills and cultural competency.

But it is not easier to underpin the levels of such elements in individuals and to weigh them against the organizational benchmark. Further, a selection decision has far-fetched implication on the organization in terms of money, time, effort and organizational environment. For example, an inaccurate selection decision can bring unproductive expenditure under the heads like recruitment process, training, and compensation.

Worse still, it could be repetitive until an employee of desired caliber is found (Solomon, 1984, p. 23). Thus the most significant point lies in the fact that personnel selection involves performance prediction of the prospective candidates and for that matter it needs to apply “the measurement of individual differences to the hiring of people in to jobs where they are likely to succeed” (Bobrow, 2003, p.

14). To cater to the above need, Industrial and Organizational Psychology came into being during the early 20th century, by virtue of the confluence of ideas of the psychologists like Musterberg and management philosophers like Taylor, which culminated into a process of using information about the job and the candidates to help the organizations to find fitting candidate for a particular job.

This area of research gained momentum during World War II, with the advent of large-scale aptitude batteries (Army General Classification Test) and leadership assessment technique (Office of Strategic Services assessment centers), which popularized the adoption of structured techniques in personnel selection, where IO psychology shifted from clinical judgment to prediction-based, reliable, and valid selection techniques (Bobrow, 2003).

Over the period, IO psychology too has gone through several refinement processes with the help of the thinkers and laws of the land. For example, Griggs vs. Duke Power (401 U. S. 424, 1971) court case strengthened the issue of fairness in selection procedures by establishing standards for the validation and use of pre-employment tests. In the process, The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures were adopted in 1978, with its case law and guideline instruments eventually making their way to codification under the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (Equal, 1978).

Thus, the endeavor to find a systematic, fair, and reliable personnel selection process finally provided a general framework for the development and use of psychological tests for employee selection, comprising of sections like job analysis, selection system development, validation of the assessment, ensuring fairness and applying ethics code.

Small business enterprises with a handful of employees are usually free to surpass legal directions on personnel selection. However, responding to such temptation backfires more often than not, as observed by the researchers. Still, small business sector too needs a customized process of personnel selection, as it differs in nature and operation from big, commercial houses.

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