Businesses Using Microsoft Products: Be Aware of New Policy

Businesses Using Microsoft Products: Be Aware of New Policy
Employee Engagement: Impact of Learning and Development
Census Nonemployer Data Corrections: Wide Changes
LinkedIn Adds Notification, Updated Company Pages
GoDaddy Disruption Hurts Small Business Sites

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 01:00 PM PDT

Microsoft has updated its services agreement, which may not seem like a huge issue for users of the company's many products, but it could be worth a second look to users concerned with cloud security and privacy.

The update changes the way that Microsoft can share user data between its different cloud based services. Basically, the company has adopted a policy of sharing data between its many different services such as Outlook, SkyDrive, and Office accounts.

Microsoft says that the change is supposed to make the user experience better for those who use multiple Microsoft products, since they won't ever have to look around for their data that may be stored in one of several different cloud storage services.

These products are used by businesses, and since many are concerned with cloud security, it is important for business owners to understand how their data is being used in the cloud.

The content you upload to the service is still owned by you and remains your responsibility. Users also still have control over who can access their account data. Just because data is stored on the cloud, doesn't necessarily mean that it is secure.

The company does, however, reserve the right to review content uploaded to its services to make sure it complies with Microsoft's Code of Conduct and Anti-Spam Policy. Content that doesn't comply can be removed by Microsoft.

The user agreement states that anyone who uses its services is agreeing to its terms. Users will be required to have a Microsoft account, formerly known as a Windows Live ID, in order to access portions of these services. The changes will become effective September 27, 2012.

Realistically, most users of these products probably won't even notice a difference, but the new policy still has an impact on privacy rights and your company's data.

The post Businesses Using Microsoft Products: Be Aware of New Policy appeared first on Small Business News, Tips, Advice - Small Business Trends.

Employee Engagement: Impact of Learning and Development

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 11:00 AM PDT

An engaged workforce who possess the necessary skills, knowledge and expertise is crucial for any organization who wants to achieve high levels of business success. In our current challenging and competitive business environment, learning and development has never been more important as a means to keep employees engaged and maintain that competitive advantage.

training

Good employee engagement training focuses on teaching the skills which are needed to do this effectively.

During an economic downturn, it is tempting to slash or even remove training budgets. However, this is a short term view which will inevitably produce dire long term consequences. Thriving organizations rely on their people to perform consistently well. This can only be achieved if they are feeling engaged and motivated.

Nuture Talent, Help People Learn And Improve

The right training and development can greatly enhance employee engagement by nurturing talent and helping people to learn new things and improve their performance. Most people want to feel that they are doing a good job and that they are valued by their organization for the part they play.

In addition, few people like to remain static in a work environment and prefer to have variety in their work and see development potential in their role.

Learning and development provides a way to address all of these human needs and greatly improves employee engagement. Companies who invest in their people through training and development are also viewed more favourably by employees than those in organizations who don't.

However, if training and development is to make a significant impact on employee engagement, employees must see the benefits to themselves of undertaking training activities. This is where many good intentions fall short.

Show The Benefits

Organizations who are keen to demonstrate their commitment to their people can sometimes get carried away with the “sheep dip” approach to training – leaving some people confused about the rationale behind attending it.

In order to harness the positive effects of training, employees have to see the link between where they are now and where they want to get to and how training is going to bridge this gap.

It sounds obvious but without this being made explicit, organizations run the risk of training and development being viewed as a chore instead of a reward.

The answer is to link training and development to specific objectives and the only way to make this work effectively is for managers to have one-on-one conversations with their people about the purpose of training and what's in it for them. Asking people what they think they need and setting specific learning objectives is crucial at this stage.

Done efficiently, learning and development will then provide the means to motivate and engage employees like never before. People will feel valued for their contribution and they will understand that the organisation supports them to be the best that they can be.

Developing people really is key to having an engaged workforce and achieving business success.

Training Photo via Shutterstock

The post Employee Engagement: Impact of Learning and Development appeared first on Small Business News, Tips, Advice - Small Business Trends.

Census Nonemployer Data Corrections: Wide Changes

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 08:00 AM PDT

The Census Bureau has finally released the nonemployer data for 2010 and this year's update of the nation's nonemployer population was accompanied by about as much drama as you’ll ever get with data wonks.

Nonemployer businesses, to jog your memory, are defined as firms with no paid employees other than the business owner or owners. Population gyrations in the nonemployer universe are worth watching because these tiny firms often serve as economic “canaries in the coal mine.”

Census

In addition, some economists view the surge in nonemployer numbers that has occurred since the turn of the century as an intriguing labor market trend.

The nonemployer update release date was originally slated for July but the Bureau discovered a problem with the 2009 data that had to be corrected, necessitating a re-release of the 2009 data and pushing back the 2010 release.

What Was The Problem?

Apparently, the folks who were supplying the data for these calculations underreported the numbers by a pretty significant amount, particularly in the real estate and mining sectors.

I'm just going to plow through this. Try not to let your eyes cross.

The resulting corrections show, in terms of the big picture, that nonemployer numbers actually grew (instead of declining) from 2008 to 2009. There were 21.7 million nonemployers in 2009 – 382,504 more than there were in 2008 rather than 222,563 fewer. That translates into an increase of 1.8% rather than a decline of 1%.

Receipts were still down in 2009 but not by anywhere near as much as originally reported. Overall nonemployer receipts in 2009 fell by 0.8% to $923 billion instead of falling by the far more drastic 9.9% to $838 billion.

Similarly, average annual receipts dropped from $43,646 in 2008 to $42,544 in 2009, meaning that the average nonemployer business took a 2.5% cut in earnings. Not the sort of thing to make any business owner happen but much better than the 9% hit calculated from the original data.

If You’re Keeping Track

This means a few changes to the overall business population numbers for 2009, too. Total U.S. firms in 2009 numbered 27.2 million, and nonemployers accounted for 79.6% of them, rather than 26.9 million firms with 78.5% of them being nonemployers. Microbusinesses with fewer than 5 employees made up 92.7% of all U.S. firms and non-micro small businesses (5 to 499 employees) comprised 8% of the business population.

Having corrected the 2009 numbers, Census and its data providers took good care to make sure that something similar didn't happen with the 2010 data.

The nonemployer population experienced another increase in 2010, up by 1.9% to 22.1 million strong. Total receipts for the nation's nonemployer businesses that year grew to $951 billion, up an encouraging 3%, while the average nonemployer business owner got a $459 raise (a 1% increase) from $42,544 to $43,003 in average annual receipts.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good news. Nonemployer numbers declined in utilities, construction, retail, finance and real estate. Construction, utilities and finance also saw earnings declines for the year.

For All Other Sectors, The News Was Better

The five largest increases in population occurred in other services (6.6%), accommodation and food services (4.7%), mining (4.3%), administrative, support, waste management and remedial services (3.9%), while health care and social assistance tied with forestry, fishing & hunting and agricultural support services for fifth place (3.5%).

The forestry/ag sector and the mining sector also saw pretty spectular spikes in earnings between 2009 and 2010, with 12% and 13% increases in overall receipts, respectively. Receipts in transportation and warehousing also experienced a double-digit increase, at 11.5%.

The 80/20 rule still applies to microbusinesses. About eight out of ten of them earn less than $50,000 in average annual receipts, while the remaining 20% make more than $50,000. Among the lower earning firms, almost 25% make less than $5,000 annually and are probably scorned as hobbyists by many economists and policy makers.

At the other end of the spectrum, almost 1% of nonemployers earn an average of half a million per year or more and, among them, one in ten earns in excess of $1 million per year.

The Bottom Line

Nonemployer firms were recovering in advance of the rest of the economy in 2009 and 2010. While employer firms were still declining in number, those sturdy nonemployers were fighting their way back.

In fact, it is quite possible that some of the increase in nonemployer population in 2009 was a result of smaller employer firms dropping back to nonemployer status as tough times forced them to let their employees go in order to stay afloat.

It will be interesting to see whether the rest of the 2010 firm size class data reflects a recovering economy and, further, whether economic reverses in 2011 and 2012 will cause these data to grow unusually volatile over the next few years.

Census Photo via Shutterstock

The post Census Nonemployer Data Corrections: Wide Changes appeared first on Small Business News, Tips, Advice - Small Business Trends.

LinkedIn Adds Notification, Updated Company Pages

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 05:00 AM PDT

You're probably still under-utilizing LinkedIn. I know, the truth is, most of us are. Even though we've heard all the benefits of using LinkedIn for business, the site declared the professional playground for professional connections, many of us still aren't using it to the degree that we should be. But LinkedIn would like for that to change. And to make the site even more attractive to business owners, they've added two new features designed to increase engagement and make it easier for everyone to stay LinkedIn-connected.

The new features include:

Activity Notifications

The first announcement LinkedIn made last week debuted its new notifications feature designed to keep business owners informed any time someone likes content they've shared, views their profile, accepts an invitation, sends them a message, etc. Basically, if it's happening on LinkedIn, this is where you'll find out about it.

To view your notifications, simply click on the flag in your LinkedIn top navigation bar. When you have one, the flag will be red.

The feature very much works and resembles similar ones created by Facebook and Google+, and will hopefully encourage business owners to engage with people using LinkedIn to learn more about them and their business. If you see someone has shared your content on LinkedIn, you can comment on their post and thank them, or offer yourself up to answer questions or walk them through a new service you've just created.

I think one of the many reasons so many of us forget about LinkedIn is because it's been difficult to track the activity and find opportunities to engage. This will hopefully serve to make the site more open for two-way conversation, instead of just using LinkedIn as a one-way posting board.

If the feature hasn't shown up for you yet – it's coming. LinkedIn shared that though the feature has started rolling out, it may take a couple of weeks for everyone to see it. In the meantime, why not work on getting yourself in the habit of using the site and build a rockin LinkedIn presence?

LinkedIn notifications on your Android, iPhone and iPad are also on their way.

New Look For Company Pages

A new notifications feature wasn't all LinkedIn had up its sleeve last week. The business networking site also announced a new design for company pages. According to LinkedIn, the updated company profile pages mean easier access to the information members want about the companies they care about it, as well as a more powerful way for businesses to build relationships with their target audience.

Dell was one of the few companies granted early access to the new profile design and you can see that the pages have changed quite substantially and are now (in my opinion) far more attractive and usable.

LinkedIn broke out some additional new benefits for members and companies:

For members:

The new streamlined design makes it easier for you to find exactly what you are looking for, whether it's company news and information, career opportunities, products and services, or insights.

Company updates are front and center, enabling you to quickly comment, like, or share relevant company updates with your professional network.

Company Pages is now available on our iPhone, Android and iPad apps, so you can stay connected to companies you care about, wherever you are.

All of this means it's now easier for you to find, follow and engage with companies you're interested in.

For companies:

We know a picture is worth a thousand words, so we've provided companies with the ability to easily add an image that best represents their company and brand. Like the photo on a member's profile, this image helps companies establish their identity on LinkedIn.

We've made the update stream more relevant for members, which means companies are able to share status updates and job opportunities with the right members on LinkedIn.

With a more prominent navigation experience, companies can now easily showcase their company's products, services and career opportunities to members visiting their Company Page.

For select companies, such as American Express, Unilever, Expedia, we've also started to offer a more compelling and visual way for them to showcase their employer brand through the Career Pages section of Company Pages. We believe this new look and feel makes it easier for companies to tell their employer story and make the job hunt process more personalized for job seekers.

As with the real-time notifications, not everyone will see these additions immediately, but they'll continue to be rolled out to all members over the next few weeks.

What do you think? Will the new updates get you to pay more attention to LinkedIn and add it to your arsenal of business social networking tools? I know I'm watching more closely.

The post LinkedIn Adds Notification, Updated Company Pages appeared first on Small Business News, Tips, Advice - Small Business Trends.

GoDaddy Disruption Hurts Small Business Sites

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 02:30 AM PDT

An outage possibly resulting from a deliberate hacker attack on GoDaddy, the world’s largest domain registrar, took down or affected millions of Websites and e-mail accounts hosted through GoDaddy as well as domains registered with the company Monday. Many of those, including Small Business Trends and its related sites, belonged to small businesses, and most were not too happy to say the least. Here is basically what happened:

Downtime

From the front lines. GoDaddy spokeswoman Elizabeth Driscoll reported the outage began around 1:25 p.m. EDT, and by 5:43 p.m. the majority of service to the company’s customers including an estimated 5 million Websites, had been restored. Though one Twitter feed belonging to a hacker group called “Anonymous” took credit for the outage, another seemed to distance the group from the attack. Associated Press

Tango down. A Twitter user with the handle “Anonymous Own3r” claimed credit for the outage using the hashtag #tangodown, apparently to indicate having taken the company offline. One tipster told a journalist the failure was caused by inaccessibility to GoDaddy’s DNS servers. Failure may have included GoDaddy phone service and anything else requiring access to those servers. TechCrunch

Reaction

Hopping mad. Some online business owners and operators didn’t bother to hide their fury. Editor Mike Daly not only vented his own frustration over the unnamed hacker who claimed responsibility for the attack, but shared the reactions of other angry business owners and managers. No matter what the motives, they made it clear that small businesses had been hurt in the process. Adotas

Puppet show. On the other hand, some businesses responded to the situation by thinking creatively. One even created a puppet show, complete with musical performance, to share more about the plight of small businesses affected by the outage. Here is a list of how other small business owners reacted with great creativity to help customers adapt. Vocus

Alternatives emerge. Of course, another reaction came from GoDaddy competitor HostGator. It’s important to remember in small business that problems experienced by competitors and their customers can also be opportunities. In this case HostGator offered huge discounts on its services for customers using the coupon code “Godaddyisdown.” Shout Me Loud

Aftermath

Lessons learned. For all the headaches Monday’s outage brought, online marketing consultant Brian Saemann argues it is also a great reminder of how vulnerable your online business assets can be without the proper precautions. Of course, the GoDaddy outage could have happened to anyone, but there may be steps you can take to make your online presence more secure. Go Beyond SEO

Back to normal. As Monday’s GoDaddy drama subsided, some additional details about the extent and nature of the problems that may have affected an untold number of sites, many run by small businesses, emerged. GoDaddy says no sensitive information was compromised during the “attack”, but details about how it happened are sketchy and business owners remain concerned. PC World

The post GoDaddy Disruption Hurts Small Business Sites appeared first on Small Business News, Tips, Advice - Small Business Trends.