Month: March 2012

Communication is crucial when it comes to operating a small to medium sized business. Whether it be about how many products are in the warehouse compared to what's on the floor, or when a budget report is due to a senior analyst, knowing the when, where and what of daily tasks is essential for all employees.

Often times, businesses will cover this information gap by holding multiple meetings a day. Although most meetings are productive when it comes to assessing progress on certain projects and assigning workloads for others, some meetings can not only be pointless but also expensive and inefficient. Forbes' March 26 article, "We've Got to Stop Meeting Like This: 7 Reasons to Cancel Your Next Meeting" outlines why companies should cut down on meetings and increase effective communications through other lines.

Forbes' greatest reasoning for limiting the amount of meetings a company conducts in a day is how expensive one can be. When hourly wages, transportation costs and catering are all taken into account, oftentimes the meeting isn't nearly worth how much it's costing the company. Further exacerbating this is that most meetings don't have a specific point and direction, they often end up with workers searching for something to meet about rather than solving a particular issue which means they are also unproductive – another reason cited as not to meet.

Rather than quickly slimming down on meetings per day, a company can increase the effectiveness and productivity of its employees and cut down on meetings through more fluid intra-company communications by seeking a custom software developer or a Filemaker consultant to develop a customized database software that will allow employees to store and access vital information. This will allow workers to increase productivity and also cut down on costly meetings by encouraging better communication throughout the organization. 

On March 22, the United States Senate passed a bill known as the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) that allows small business to acquire capital and go public with more ease than before.

As the economy starts to climb out of the recession and the technology industry experiences an unprecedented red shift in growth and innovation, this new legislation comes in support of that, hoping to generate more job growth for small businesses as it demystifies the processes of gaining private funding.

The JOBS Act, essentially, does three things.

First, through a relatively new concept called "crowdfunding", it increases the opportunity for equity investment. The small internet investments of crowdfunding used to be very limited, according to Reuters, but the JOBS Act removes those limitations – mostly involving the ability to crowdfund equity investments.

The Act also eases up on public disclosures. Before the JOBS Act – which still needs to go through the House of Representatives and get signed by President Obama – the SEC stated that companies with over 500 shareholders and $10 million in assets are required to follow public disclosure rules. Under the JOBS Act those numbers are increased to 2,000 shareholders.

Furthermore, the JOBS Act states that "emerging growth companies" – companies with less than $1 billion in revenue that wish to go public – are exempt from some of the Dodd-Frank rules and are required to file fewer financial reporting statements to acquire an IPO.

Across the board, the JOBS Act is being considered an excellent way for small to medium sized businesses to save money while also expanding and growing. The revenue saved by companies through the JOBS Act can be used to consult software developing companies to create a stellar website to enhance online presence for crowdfunding, or to create customized database software for better business practices. 

According to an August 2011 Google trends search conducted by Harvard Business Review (HBR) blogger and author, Grant McCracken, food trucks have increased dramatically in both news reference and search volume index while coffee houses have seen a slow but steady decline since 2009.

McCracken dissects the new culinary trend in his HBR blog, coming to the conclusions that food trucks are great for cultural influence and infusion – combining neighborhoods, ethnic cuisines and generating long lines of locals supporting local businesses in what are – often times – cash-only operations.

At the same time, Entrepreneur Magazine has also caught on to the food truck trend by publishing articles that outline five tips for starting a food truck. The tips and advice focus almost primarily on better business practices. Snip-its of MBA wisdom like "develop a strong brand," "budget for bad weather," and "pick a prime location" are some key examples, as well as acknowledging that "your food truck is a restaurant, not a hobby."

Treating a food truck like a restaurant rather than a hobby is a crucial aspect in ensuring a successful food truck. Staying up to date on health codes and regulations, keeping track of inventory and knowing when merchants need what ingredients by when are all crucial techniques. With the recent upswing in business productivity software on mobile phones as well as devices like tablets and laptops, it's becoming easier – and essential – for food truck owners and operators to invest in business management databases and software.

By consulting companies like FileMaker and their developers, merchants can get custom built database software tailored specifically to their business – whether it be a new food truck or otherwise – to help them create better business practices and convenience by using database software to keep track of key details. 

The Berklee College of Music admissions staff recruits musicians from all over the globe, but with more than 300 auditions everyday, they needed an efficient and reliable way to take notes and record information about each performance in order to give all prospective students a fair shot at attending the Boston school. According to Campus Technology, the college has 120 staff members that meet with, interview and audition approximately 7,000 musicians every year.

While they traditionally carried this task out with laptops, Berklee dean of admissions Damien Bracken explained to the source that they were cumbersome, slow and inefficient.

Like most organizations that store large amounts of data, the school required this information to be stored in a single database, which they could do with laptops, but it was less than ideal. As soon as FileMaker Go for the iPad was released in July 2010, the admissions team jumped on the opportunity to take advantage of the customizable applications many benefits, the media outlet reports.

The school bought 20 iPads for its recruiters, and as Bracken explained, the process became significantly simpler. He told Campus Technology that the admissions staffers are able to type out information about each meeting with aspiring students and send the notes through the cloud to a main database that can be accessed remotely by anyone with the application.

"We get a lot of comments from students and parents when we pull out our iPads during auditions or check-in," Bracken told the source. "Using this type of technology is good for our image and consistent with our long-time reputation for being ahead of the curve."

Other organizations that want to improve their processes' efficiency and reliability can talk with a FileMaker developer that will build a custom mobile application that can be used for countless solutions.