This code – SMALLBIZTECH512 - is for 25% off the print cost of a new publication, for all purchases of that publication made between now and the end of June (expires June 30, 2012 at 11:59pm PST). The code should be entered by the publisher during the publish process, and it cannot be combined with other MagCloud discounts. http://www.magcloud.com

Free Web Site & Digital Presence Report

vSplash announced today that it is offering small businesses free website and digital presence analysis this week in celebration of National Small Business Week. SMBs can sign up for their free analysis at http://bit.ly/K7SbQG.

Cute Cards (imagery) To Remind You of Small Biz Benefits

Happy National Small Business Week! To acknowledge the activity in Washington DC and across the country this week, Concur Small Business today launched the “Concur Says Thanks” campaign via a series of funny, custom-made Someecards. Check them out here!

Concur is aiming to spread these far and wide to say thanks to small business pros throughout the US for the products and services they provide, while increasing awareness of the value that thriving small businesses bring to our economy. If you’re familiar with Somecards.com, you know that they spread like wildfire over Facebook and Twitter. Please feel free to share these on your social channels, or on the wall of your favorite small business. You can find the cards on the Concur page of Someecards.com.

Small Biz Are Working Longer and Using Mobile Tech More

Sage North America announced today the results of its Reinvention of Small Business Study, a survey focused on how small businesses are changing the way they conduct business in an unpredictable economy. The study found that a many smallbusiness owners are putting in more hours, extending their work week, and taking less vacation compared to five years ago. In order to stay more connected after hours and weekends, many small business owners indicated that they are utilizing more mobile solutions and tools. Sage, a leading provider of business management software and services to more than 6 million small and midsized businesses worldwide, conducted the study among 258 small businesses in the U.S. 

“The latest Sage small business survey indicates that owners have not only had to reinvent their business model during the past five years, but have also made significant personal sacrifices to keep their operations afloat,” says Connie Certusi, executive vice president and general manager, small business accounting solutions, Sage North America. “Knowing how small businesses have changed their operations during the economic downturn helps Sage develop new and improved solutions that will make their business life easier. We hope to gleam some more insight into what small businesses are planning for the future during the Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week, of which we are a sponsor.”

Chrylser Commerce Vehicles for Small Biz

5 Issues of Small Biz For the Election by PayChex

1. Be the architect: As the CEO or leader you need to create a vision of what social media looks like for your organization – just like an architect has a model of the building that is going to constructed. This is crucial so that everyone knows their part and what they are trying to achieve. Create a common language so that everyone can participate in the discussion, not a just a few experts who know the jargon.

2. Create the model, bring everyone together: Develop a model of how to bring social media into your entire organization. Organizations that have a social media program in place – likely in the marketing department – but to truly maximize results a company needs buy-in from the entire organization.

3. What are the business goals? Create social media goals in the context of how will they achieve the business goals. The organizational goal could be, for instance, to increase the repeat customer percentage in order to increase revenue by X %. One marketing strategy could be to have a more effective customer relationship management strategy, depending on what you already do. You would then select the social media programme that would support those goals. That would be around customer service and the ways you interact with the customer to provide information.

4. Conquer the inside first: Social media can create diversified channels of communication both within a company’s internal organism, amongst staff, departments, divisions and other parts of the company, and externally, between a company and its customers, suppliers and other businesses. Also, social media can be used for both formal and informal communication, the former owned by the company and the latter by the employees. Social media also allows the company to reach out to customers or businesses beyond geographical limits, providing an alternative to face-to-face meetings.

5. Expand Reach in Online communities: Social media can create and provide access to online communities and your target markets: it increases brand awareness, builds overall trust, taps into global and local markets, increases visible market presence, generates leads, helps to have higher rankings on search engines and increases search engine optimization (SEO).

6. Improve International Communication: Social media makes it easier for employees to work together, improves communication between departments, can overcome geographical boundaries, and offers a softer way to interact with upper management. This will result in better relationships and increased productivity.

7. Collect Intelligence Effectively: Insight, just like wisdom, is much talked about but very seldom-practised. In social media, the Holy Grail is making insight as a part of the way you work. Content generated by the global online community becomes business intelligence that can help you gain insight on your customers, your products, your services, your competitors, your industry and other aspects of interest. Collect the intelligence and learn!

8. Be Interactive, hold online contests: This shows how social media can truly generate real value. Here are two great examples from Cisco and Coca-Cola (1) Coca-Cola’s ‘Freestyle’ vending machine has more than 100 options of flavors, which customers can mix to their taste, before sharing their ‘new product’ with their friends using social media. This supply and demand information is then transmitted to Coca-Cola’s main office, and this business intelligence is then turned into new products answering market demand. (2) Cisco held a competition in 2010 to come up with billion-dollar ideas. The competition generated 800 ideas by 3000 participations in 156 different countries, and the best idea won 250,000 dollars. So for 250,000 dollars, the company got at least one potential billion idea for their business.

9. Keep the Culture in Mind: Social Media is linked with corporate culture. The more open the culture, the more social media will flourish in your organization. A more closed culture will seek to control social media and will enviably fail; this is to be avoided at all costs. Organizational culture typically falls somewhere within this continuum, and social media projects will be crafted according to the type of culture your company has.

10. Have a step-by-step formula: This is crucial. Executives need to avoid going enthusiastically in the wrong direction, and in order to prevent this from happening, the social media model should consider how to integrate the already existing conditions of an organization but also adopt a staged approach. This is crucial in order to both keep in perspective business goals as the project moves forward, and to alleviate any risk the organization may face along the way.

Xero

On one hand Xero will aggressively target small business owners. On the other hand Xero will go after the trusted advisor of small business owners – accountants.

Their press release reads:

“With the addition of WorkFlowMax to Xero’s offering, I now use one online solution to service my clients and manage my entire practice.  I’m saving time, money and have doubled my business,” said Nick Bird, CPA, Xero Advisor and Owner of Lucid Books. “In the accounting world, if you’re not taking advantage of the latest online services you’re leaving business on the table.”

Intuit does not have to “fear” Xero, just yet, but it must keep on its toes to bolster Quickbooks and expand Quickbooks online.

See my previous coverage of Xero here.

What’s one tool that makes tracking and analyzing your company’s various web and social metrics easier?

The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC recently published #FixYoungAmerica: How to Rebuild Our Economy and Put Young Americans Back to Work (for Good), a book of 30+ proven solutions to help end youth unemployment.

1. Infusionsoft Analytics

For users of Infusionsoft marketing software, the new analytics tracking is incredibly powerful to identify not just clicks and hits, but also contacts using multiple devices, lead sources and conversion rates. Better than tracking the high level, InfusionSoft lets you track against the goals you have for a campaign to measure effectiveness.

- Kelly Azevedo, She’s Got Systems

2. Google Analytics

Google Analytics was always our go-to for website metrics, but it’s now also improved by strides to incorporate social metrics and real-time analytics. If you haven’t reviewed their current offerings, definitely check it out. It’s an easy to implement, customizable, one-stop shop that also happens to be free.
- Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc.

3. Social Metrics Pro

With the rules of SEO changing every week and new tracking software every other day, it can be overwhelming to find the right measuring tool. Social Metrics Pro is up-to-date on Google’s SEO changes and can help businesses track the progress of their social media sites. It’s user-friendly and pretty simple to utilize.
- John Hall, Digital Talent Agents

4. Social Mention

Social Mention is a free tool for real-time search when it comes to content across the web (micromedia, blogs, videos, images, etc). You get search results for terms you enter, plus the strength, passion, reach, sentiment, and top users and keywords for the search term.
- Lane Sutton, Social Media from a Teen

5. Engage121

We just started using Engage121 and it’s a great way to organize and track social media. It’s important to stay organized because with so many different outlets on the web, if you aren’t organized, you’re missing out on opportunities. Engage121 lets you track, measure, plan and respond to various platforms, all in one place.
- Nick Friedman, College Hunks Hauling Junk

6. Sprout Social

We use Sprout to monitor conversations, schedule content for sharing, and keep track of analytics. It’s a great way to keep up with trends, get a better understanding of your followers, and see what updates did better than others.
- Heather Huhman, Come Recommended

7. KISSmetrics

KISSmetrics is a tool that I rely on heavily. They handle marketing funnels better than any other web analytics application out on the market. The core of their offering is the ability to focus on the behavior of people rather than focusing on site visits. KISSmetrics has definitely helped me increase my bottom line profits.
- Lawrence Watkins, Great Black Speakers

8. Mongoose Metrics

At Sentry Centers, about half of our leads come through the phone. We use a software called Mongoose Metrics that integrates phone leads into our Google Analytics to track 100 percent of our leads back to their source.
- Christopher Kelly, Sentry Centers

9. Meltwater Buzz

As a small company its nearly impossible to keep up with your basic social metrics. Meltwater Buzz allows you to an easy way to analyze your impact on Facebook, Twitter and the other major social networks. More importantly, the tool helps you see everywhere your brand is mentioned on the web, as well as give context for how it is being discussed!

- Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches

Today, a higher amount of people are freelancing than ever before and they’re all jumping up and down for a job. Many of them are very skilled people who became freelancers as the result of the recent mass corporate migration from hiring employees to paying flat fees for work.

It’s a common misconception to believe that freelancers can only provide you with web programming and content. There are several freelancing organizations that provide accounting services, graphic design, collaboration, management and personal assistance & secretarial services. Looking for a freelancer only when in need of web development or content production is like looking for a Swiss Army knife just for the nail clipper. You’re not tapping into the actual beauty of freelancing!

Matt Barrie, the CEO of Freelancer.Com – a highly successful platform that helps businesses reach freelancers around the world – tells us that “going online is indeed the way to succeed for small businesses in America and around the world. But beyond creating a website or putting up your own Facebook page, the Internet allows you to start your own company easier and cheaper than ever before. With a spark of an idea, you can talk to manufacturers in China, program developers in the Philippines, or marketing consultants from Italy—and build your business using only your credit card! Online platforms like Freelancer.com bring together amazing minds to a virtual realm where people can exchange ideas and help each other. Thanks to Freelancer.com, this global system effortlessly trickles down to the local level— to the small business owners who once thought that outsourcing processes entailed a lot of money and effort.”

Aside from Freelancer.Com, there are other great sites where you can find freelancing professionals, even with centralized work room access! Elance.Com offers everything we just mentioned, and so does Guru.Com. Both of these websites are two of the biggest “must haves” on every business owner’s bookmark list. oDesk is also a good platform as well, offering you a full collaboration sweet similar to Elance’s. However, it’s not as powerful as the other two we’ve mentioned, but the freelancers in the oDesk community often offer very fair prices for the work you want to complete.

As with any hiring you do, you want to make sure that you check on a freelancers skills and abilities before hiring, as all are not created equal.  A good freelancer will be more than happy to provide work examples and even references.  Additionally, you often get what you pay for when hiring a freelancer, just as when hiring an employee, so be aware of the rate that you are paying, as the lowest is not always going to be the best.

Today is the future of business. Go out there and get yourself a freelancer. You can literally run an entire business from the Web and you don’t even know it ’till you try it!

What’s interesting is that people often get referrals, because they simply don’t know what to say, says, Ron Volper is  business development consultant and author of Up Your Sales in a Down Market: 20 Strategies From Top-Performing Salespeople to Win Over Cautious Customers (Career Press).

I know for me, it’s not that I don’t know what to say or even that I’m reluctant to do so, it’s that I forget!

If you’re not sure when to ask a customer for a referral, Volper says the answer is “right now.” Additionally, he advises: “Ask customers whenever they signal that they are happy with something you’ve done for them, but also ask for specific names of others who might benefit from your company’s services, and a personal introduction, too. The ‘trick’ is to be direct and transparent. Besides thanking your referral sources, send them a personal thank you note.”

Referrals are very important to small businesses – that “word of mouth marketing” mojo. If  you want to really BOOST your referral engine it’s important to two do three things:

a) ASK for the referral at each chance you get

b) Develop a SYSTEM of referrals so that your company – where big or small has a steady flow of referrals and new customers

c) Let technology help you maximize your system. I did a search for referral marketing software and there are LOTS of options for technology to help you generate referrals.

Step number 7 in Infusionsoft’s (my employer) Perfect Customer Lifecycle is in fact “all about referrals”. Join our Small Business Success Center and  see it in action.

The Small Business Technology Tour 2011 visited five cities across the nation; Mountain View, Salt Lake City, Boston, Atlanta and Chicago.

If you weren’t able to attend last year, we wanted to share a taste of what you missed.

Check out this video clip below of Dave Williams of Fishbowl, from the presentation on “Cloud Computing:  Boost Productivity and Stay Secure” in Salt Lake City as he talks about what steps your business needs to take to move to the cloud and what needs to be considered so that technology aids you.

You can also visit the Small Business Technology Tour website to view highlights from all the cities and see what’s to come for the 2012 tour!

Acer’s New AC100 Micro Server

Hiscox Authors Series for Entrepreneurs

Lexmark New Color Printers

Mercantile Bank of Michigan Partners with Bill.com

Infusionsoft Surpasses Expectations in Q1, Grows Global User Base to 31,000

Gilbert, Ariz. –– Infusionsoft, creator of all-in-one sales and marketing software for small businesses, grew at a record pace during the first quarter of 2012, far surpassing goals set for this time period. No stranger to success, Infusionsoft closed Q1 with a list of impressive statistics including the addition of nearly 1,100 new customers. This quarter’s growth pushes the company to 8,700 small business customers representing 31,000 users in 62 countries worldwide. Each month, Infusionsoft customers capture 2.5 million leads, send 300 million emails, add 14.5 million contacts and process $83 million in transactions.

“Everything we do is focused around our customers. Their commitment to Infusionsoft is what pushes us forward,” says Clate Mask, CEO and co-founder of Infusionsoft. “This remarkable growth is because more and more small businesses discover every day that our software helps them grow while achieving balance between their work and lives. We are thrilled because our growth means that more small businesses are meeting their goals and finding success.”

Additional noteworthy achievements for the first quarter of 2012 include:

• Reached a record of 1,400 business owners at InfusionCon, the company’s annual user conference
• Launched the Infusionsoft Marketplace that includes more than 50 integrated applications and nearly 100 Certified Partners
• Infusionsoft customers sent nearly 820 million emails
• $281 million e-commerce dollars processed with the Infusionsoft shopping cart
• Small businesses using Infusionsoft captured 11 million leads with the software
• Customers added 44 million contacts to the Infusionsoft CRM

Infusionsoft has released two updated versions of its software this year. In January, customers were given additional tools to attract more leads, convert more customers and measure activity using Infusionsoft’s powerful new social media tools. On the first day of InfusionCon, the company released its much anticipated full product update that included a fresh interface, new campaign builder, lead generation and scoring features, as well as enhancements in e-commerce and support.

Infusionsoft also grew its executive team. In March the company named Marc Chesley chief technology officer and Richard Tripp chief product officer in an effort to grow the product and development team. Overall, Infusionsoft has added nearly 30 employees to the company, bringing the total to 217.

“The software and mentorship provided by Infusionsoft were not only vital in energizing our sales and marketing processes, but also were highly essential in giving us peace of mind,” said Jim Cavale, vice president of Iron Tribe Fitness, a fast-growing business dedicated to providing fitness and nutrition information, workout classes and even kids’ athletic programs. “The value of both of those results, coupled with the 300 percent upswing in revenue we have experienced, cannot possibly be overstated. Infusionsoft has given us the gift of attaining our full business potential. ”

Acer’s New AC100 Micro Server Brings the Data Center to the Desk; Now Shipping to U.S. Customers

- Small Tool-Less Chassis and High-Efficiency 80 PLUS(R) Power Supply Save Space, Energy and Capital for Businesses -

San Jose, CA – Acer America has announced a new commercial offering, the Acer AC100 micro-server. It delivers the latest server-class features and utilities in a compact form factor to suit the needs of small and medium businesses.

Featuring an easy to configure micro-tower enabling quick upgrades, the new Acer AC100 not only reduces the time and costs associated with maintenance, but also provides excellent expandability in its class. In addition to Energy Star® certification, it boasts a high-efficiency 200W 80 PLUS® power supply, which makes the AC100 more than 80 percent energy efficient at 20, 50 and 100 percent rated loads, reducing electricity use and bills.

The AC100 is powered by an Intel® Xeon® E3-1200, Intel Core i3™ or Pentium® series processor and can house up to 8TB of RAID storage and 16GB memory to provide data security and house large workloads efficiently. It can also expand to meet the needs of a growing business with four 3.5-inch hot-pluggable hard drive bays, six USB ports, one PCIe x8 slot as well as video and eSATA ports.

Features include:

• Easy-to-configure micro-tower provides excellent expandability and enables quick upgrades, reducing the time and costs associated with maintenance
• High-efficiency 200W 80 PLUS® power supply makes it more than 80 percent energy efficient at 20, 50 and 100 percent rated loads, reducing electricity use and bills
• Houses up to 8TB of RAID storage and 16GB memory to provide data security and house large workloads efficiently
• Expands to meet the needs of a growing business with four 3.5-inch hot-pluggable hard drive bays, six USB ports, one PCIe x8 slot as well as video and eSATA ports
• Available now via resellers in the U.S. with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $999 when configured with an Intel® Xeon® E3-1260L processor

Server Class Reliability and Security
Pre-configured RAID 0, 1, 10 and 5 modes and automatic back-up protect critical data and enable secure remote access from the web. ECC memory protects the system from data corruption by detecting and correcting single bit errors on the fly, critical for financial and scientific computing. In addition, an integrated Gigabit Ethernet controller transmits files quickly and safely.

The AC100 micro-server can be configured with a variety of operating systems including Microsoft Small Business Server 2011 Essentials. Acer Dashboard and Acer ITSmart boast powerful utilities, such as Server Health Monitoring to ensure operations are functioning effectively. Select configurations come with Intel® vPro™ Management, a set of security and manageability capabilities to protect sensitive information as well as to streamline office operations and increase employee productivity. The server also has Client PC Power Saving, Printer Sharing, Fax Notification as well as pad and Kensington lock slots to deter theft.

The Acer AC100 server is available now via resellers in the U.S. with a MSRP starting at $999 when configured with an Intel® Xeon® E3-1260L processor. It comes with a one-year warranty and customers can also choose from extended warranties and services.

Hiscox Authors Series for Entrepreneurs Offers Resources For Startups and Small Business Owners

- New program features Authors of The Accidental Entrepreneur: The 50 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Starting a Business and Leap! 101 Ways to Grow Your Business -

NEW YORK – Hiscox, the first insurer offering U.S. small businesses the ability to obtain quotes and buy small business insurance direct, online and in real-time, announced today the launch of the Hiscox Authors Series for Entrepreneurs.  This series is a new resource for entrepreneurs and small business owners looking to grow their businesses.

The Hiscox Authors Series for Entrepreneurs will provide creative content, tips and advice from popular authors who are themselves entrepreneurs. Featured experts include Susan Urquhart-Brown, author of The Accidental Entrepreneur: The 50 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Starting a Business, and Stephanie Chandler, author of Leap! 101 Ways to Grow Your Business.

Original content from the Hiscox Authors Series for Entrepreneurs will be available through social media channels, including the Hiscox Small Business blog, Facebook and Twitter profiles.  Entrepreneurs and small business owners can also join a free live Twitter chat and Webinar with the participating authors in April and May, respectively.

“We’re committed to providing innovative solutions to small businesses through unique content that benefits them, including our successful web series, Leap Year,” said Kevin Kerridge, small business insurance expert at Hiscox. “The ability to educate and truly add value to small businesses is a core part of our business model and company DNA, and we’re honored to be working with such high caliber experts.”

“It takes passion, tremendous drive and perseverance to start and build a business. Those qualities, plus a bit of guidance through practical tools and strategies, can help entrepreneurs reach their goals,” said Urquhart-Brown, who in addition to being an author runs her own career and business consultancy, CareerSteps123. “I look forward to working with Hiscox and using the Authors Series platform to share important messages from The Accidental Entrepreneur, such as entrepreneurs should not make the mistake of doing everything themselves and should remember to ask for help.”

Lexmark advances solutions capabilities in mid-range segment with new color printers, smart MFPs

 LEXINGTON, KY — Lexmark International, Inc. (NYSE: LXK) today announced two new families of color laser products that build upon the company’s long-standing leadership and expertise in enterprise printing and imaging. The Lexmark X740 Series of color laser multifunction products (MFPs) and Lexmark C740 Series of color laser printers extend compelling solutions advancements to Lexmark’s mid-range line of color workgroup devices, further strengthening the company’s competitiveness in this important market segment. With these new products, Lexmark has enhanced its color offerings for workgroups of 10 to15 people who require the latest productivity-enhancing software advancements and robust, high-quality color printing.

The Lexmark X740 Series and Lexmark C748 family are highlighted by intuitive 7-inch and 4.3-inch color touch screens, respectively, that provide tablet-like navigation. In fact, the models within the Lexmark C748 family are the first and only color laser printers under $1,000 to offer a color touch screen user interface. These sophisticated touch screens are the gateway to several pre-loaded applications, such as Forms and Favorites and Scan to E-mail on the Lexmark X740 Series, and can also be tailored easily with additional time-saving solutions based on unique business or workgroup needs.

The Lexmark X740 Series and Lexmark C740 Series deliver high-quality color documents consistently from the first to the last page. Equipped standard with Lexmark Named Color Replacement, businesses can store pre-defined colors on the devices to ensure precise and consistent color matching for branded materials. Print jobs that might otherwise have to be outsourced and cost thousands can now be done internally with vibrant colors that meet the highest standard of accuracy.

For added productivity, all models within the Lexmark X740 Series and Lexmark C740 Series boast a maximum paper input capacity of 4,300 sheets, which is the highest paper capacity in these classes of devices⁽²⁾. Optional 550-sheet trays and 2,000-sheet high capacity trays allow users to load multiple paper types and further customize input options to meet specific printing needs.

The new MFPs and printers announced today are equipped with advanced, state-of-the-art security to help protect valuable corporate data. Authentication, authorization, audit logging and hard disk wiping are each offered as standard, out-of-the-box capabilities and do not require the purchase of additional data security kits.

Like the large workgroup and other mid-range workgroup devices in Lexmark’s product portfolio, the Lexmark X740 Series and Lexmark C740 Series are fully capable of being deployed in managed print services (MPS) engagements.

Mercantile Bank of Michigan Becomes First Financial Institution to Partner with Bill.com

- Bill.com’s first of its kind banking platform provides Mercantile’s customers seamless access to AP, AR and cash flow management capabilities-

PALO ALTO, CALIF. –Bill.com, the leader in integrated bill payment, online invoicing and cash flow management solutions for businesses, announced that Mercantile Bank of Michigan (NASDAQ: MBWM) has standardized its online business banking services on the award-winning Bill.com platform. Mercantile Bank of Michigan is the first financial institution to utilize Bill.com’s platform and provide its customers with seamless access to robust AP, AR and cash flow management capabilities all in one easy-to-use solution.

By partnering with Bill.com, Mercantile Bank of Michigan is providing a game-changing toolset that enables deeper relationships with its most valuable customers and positions the bank at the core of its customers’ business. Mercantile Bank of Michigan is also streamlining its business banking services and improving efficiencies due to the holistic and unified financial services offering.

“At Mercantile Bank of Michigan, we are always looking for innovative and secure ways to help our customers manage their businesses more effectively,” said John Schulte, senior vice president/CIO, Mercantile Bank of Michigan. “By partnering with Bill.com, we are able to provide our business customers with long-term added value by giving them authenticated access to Bill.com’s suite of banking services in a centralized hub.”

The Bill.com platform provides Mercantile Bank of Michigan business customers a solution that automates manual processes and makes it seamless to send and receive payments through multiple payment channels. It also helps businesses manage cash more effectively by providing a comprehensive view into their cash flow position for better decision making. Mercantile Bank of Michigan customers benefit from an integrated experience that includes single sign-on (SSO); one click setup of their company, users and bank accounts; and the ability to pay and get paid immediately after setup. In addition, Mercantile Bank of Michigan’s customers gain the ability to collaborate with their vendor and customer networks, while a powerful and comprehensive cash flow dashboard offers fast and reliable control over all of their critical cash flow information. The Bill.com platform also replaces static and unwieldy spreadsheet-based accounting processes, positioning online banking as the core cash flow management tool.

Unlike most online banking systems for business that are infrequently visited by banking customers, customers using the Bill.com platform login on average two times per day to follow up on a receivable, review and approve a bill, make a payment, or perform other financial tasks. Furthermore, given the comprehensive nature of the Bill.com platform, many more people from the business login in regularly – from the CFO keeping an eye on cash to a line manager approving a bill. In addition, Mercantile Bank of Michigan customers using the Bill.com platform will be automatically introducing their network of customers and vendors to these powerful new services.

For more information about the Bill.com financial platform for banks, please contact Bill.com at ban...@hq.bill.com.

According to Intuit’s survey, 55 percent of the nation’s 27 million small businesses do not accept credit cards. Those nearly 15 million U.S. small businesses potentially miss out on $100 billion in sales annually.

GoPayment (which provides mobile credit card processing) recently launched a national video sweepstakes to “Get Business Growing” with chances to win up to $10,000. The sweepstakes shows how easy it is to take credit card payments on the spot via mobile devices – anytime, anywhere.

Small businesses also face a cash flow chokehold, waiting for an average of $5,140 per month in overdue payments. That’s a potential $1.7 trillion collective cash flow strain annually across all small businesses in the U.S.

“Getting paid in a timely manner can be a huge pain for small businesses,” said Cynthia Okimoto, owner of New York Dog Nanny. “It used to be that if clients didn’t have cash handy, they’d pay by check. Depending on the situation, the payment wouldn’t make it to my business bank account for days or even weeks at times. The process was inefficient and stressful for both me and my clients.”

Accepting credit cards on the spot helps alleviate this cash flow strain. Small businesses that accept plastic make more sales and get paid quicker than those that don’t. The survey found that 83 percent of businesses that accept credit cards make more sales, with 52 percent making at least $1,000 more per month and 18 percent making at least $20,000 more per month. In addition, 74 percent of those surveyed said they get paid faster and reduce bad debt by accepting credit cards.

Unfortunately, wireless networking can be tricky at times. Devices can randomly lose connectivity, knocking your workers and visitors offline in the middle of a project. This can be frustrating, to say the least, but it also can be embarrassing, especially if it happens in the middle of a presentation.

It’s important to not only have the latest technology for your small business, but the most reliable and secure, as well. But unless your entire office is compressed into a small area of a building, basic wireless networking may not be enough. A wireless router only has so much reach, after all. You can’t exactly ask your employees and visitors to only work in a designated space, leaving only one option: a wi-fi extender.

But you need a wi-fi extender that can keep your data safe. EnGenius Technologies, a telephone and data communications company, is releasing the ECB350, a secure, high power wi-fi extender that acts as a bridge between the access point and client. The ECB350 uses Wireless N technology, currently the preferred solution for business wireless networking needs.

Businesses are becoming increasingly more reliant on wireless networking, due largely in part to the number of mobile devices being deployed. Recognizing this, Cisco Systems is working with Fluke Networks, a company that specializes in business networking, to provide AirMagnet Planner to small businesses. AirMagnet Planner helps business plan a network to find the optimum access point for wi-fi, looking for obstructions, antenna patterns, and other variables that affect a business’s access.

“Wireless is a critical business application not only for the enterprise, but also for SMBs,” Fluke Network’s Chia-Chee Kuan states. “Ensuring these networks perform at the highest levels possible requires accurate planning and deployment.”

Quoting the “bring-your-own-device” phenonemon as mentioned in InfoWorld, Kuan believes network security will take on all new meaning as businesses open up their wireless networks to employees, guests, and more. Those seeking to extend wireless networking for further reach will need to set up tight security procedures and test those procedures to make sure breaches aren’t possible.

EnGenius uses SSID-to-VLAN mapping, supporting 802.1q mapping of SSIDs and up to four VLANs. This prevents outside entities from getting in. Experts also recommend changing your wireless network password often, especially if your business opens up the network to large numbers of one-time visitors. When an employee leaves under undesirable conditions, be sure to reset your wireless password along with blocking the user’s network and e-mail access.

Wi-fi offices are becoming the standard instead of an option. To keep up with technology while still keeping data secure, a SMB needs to make sure all security protocols are in place before deploying any wi-fi solution.

Like the image? We got it from BigStockPhoto.com