Google Extends Free Domestic Calling Offer |  |
- Google Extends Free Domestic Calling Offer
- The Rise of Entrepreneurship In Chennai, India
- Write Better Job Descriptions And Build A Stronger Team
- 17 Hot Industries to Watch in 2013
- Study Finds Telecommuting a Good Idea…for Some
| Google Extends Free Domestic Calling Offer Posted: 08 Jan 2013 01:00 PM PST Google recently announced that it will again offer a free year of domestic voice phone calls for Gmail users in the U.S. and Canada. Google has offered this same deal since the introduction of its phone call functionality in 2010. Originally, the company said that free domestic calls would only be offered for one year, but then it has extended the same offer each year since. The company also stated that it will continue to offer international calls at "insanely low rates," which currently start at one cent but can change at any time and vary based on location.
The photo above shows how the calling feature is integrated directly into Gmail, and users can select a contact to call or simply enter in a phone number. It also shows the icons on the side of each contacts name, showing whether they are available for chat or video chat. It's clear how this offer can benefit small business users and individuals who take advantage of the voice service. VoIP services like this have grown drastically in recent years as people all over the world change the way they communicate. And as business professionals, having the option to call people both online and via mobile phone for free is a definite plus. But it isn't without benefit to Google either. By offering free and low-cost calling service, Google can keep loyal customers using its suite of products rather than see them switching over to competing services like Skype. However, Google has still not made any announcements saying that it will offer the free calls indefinitely, so this or any year could be the final year it is available. Google's voice and video chat is available as a free download and is integrated directly into Gmail. Users can call others via their email address or actual telephone number. Google Voice is also available as a mobile app on many devices. The post Google Extends Free Domestic Calling Offer appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| The Rise of Entrepreneurship In Chennai, India Posted: 08 Jan 2013 11:00 AM PST
The more interesting story, however, is the rise of entrepreneurship in Chennai, a relatively new phenomenon. Below are three that have done particularly well. I visited Chennai in March 2011 as part of a speaking tour. During that visit, TiE Chennai hosted a 1M/1M roundtable. Freshdesk, a local company, was part of the group that presented. So was Innovation Labs. Let me first talk about these two companies. Today Freshdesk has become a kind of Salesforce.Com for the customer service industry. It is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that provides small and medium businesses with on-demand customer support software that offers multi-channel social support. Small- and medium-business owners can set up online customer support platforms that combine the backend help desk system used by agents with an online customer portal on the front end. Freshdesk was founded in 2010 by CEO, Girish Mathrubootham and CTO, Shan Krishnasamy. Before starting Freshdesk, Mathrubootham worked as a vice-president of product management and Krishnasamy as a technical architect for the Manage Engine Division of Zoho Corporation. Zoho, by the way, is a major success story from India that today does over $100 million in revenue, and has most of its product development operation in Chennai. Mathrubootham got the idea for Freshdesk from a post in Y Combinator's Hacker News, which talked about how a major player in the space had become too expensive for smaller companies. That's when he decided to take advantage of the opportunity to provide small businesses with credible customer support software. Mathrubootham funded the company with money from his own savings. In addition, the founders raised $25,000 each from two friends as a convertible note with another $25,000 commitment on the way in July 2011. In the two years since its inception, Freshdesk has raised two substantial rounds of funding. In October 2011, the company raised $1 million in a Series A round from Accel Partners. In April, Accel Partners stepped up again, teaming with Tiger Global Management to offer Freshdesk $5 million in Series B funding. While Freshdesk does compete in a mature worldwide market, the advent of cloud computing has created a wealth of opportunity. What sets Freshdesk apart from its primary competitors, ZenDesk and Assistly, is that Freshdesk has built a well-rounded solution with multiple incoming and outgoing support emails, multiple support portals, a different support group for each brand, support for separate forums, solutions for each brand, and a separate knowledge base and community platform. Another company from Chennai that has lit up the high tech space is Innovation Labs. They make an app for tablets (iPads and Androids) that helps autistic children learn language and communication through pictures. Local entrepreneur Ajit Narayanan was approached by Vidya Sagar, a large NGO in India that works with children with special needs. The NGO had been following the development of assistive technologies for non-verbal children and they were noticing that there were devices that were being used in the US on a regular basis. These devices cost more than $5000, which was unaffordable for most Indian children. They wanted to know if he could invent something that would do the same thing at a much lower cost. In 2009, Innovation Labs introduced their own tablet, called Avaz. While it received a good deal of commercial and critical success, bringing out a niche product in low volumes at a low cost was a challenge. Once iPad and Android hit the market, Ajit knew immediately that he must create an app version of Avaz. Avaz is now available as an app for the iPad and Android platforms, priced at $99. A typical use for Avaz would be a therapist evaluating a child with autism and determining that Avaz would help in speech and language therapy. Then the child’s parents purchase Avaz (or, in some cases, the school district pays for it). The app is used in therapy sessions and gradually becomes a part of the child’s life. The child uses Avaz to communicate outside class, in academic environments, and eventually everywhere. Using Avaz also helps a child with autism develop language skills (i.e. they are able to understand new words and use them in novel contexts), and the ability to communicate removes a lot of frustration and the behavior issues associated with it. Avaz is now the number one speech assistive device/app in India, and is quickly becoming a favorite app of speech therapists in the USA, Australia and Europe as well. Nearly all therapists who have seen Avaz go on to recommend it to their clients, and thereafter, they see real, tangible progress in the speech and language capabilities of the children they work with. Avaz has received very positive reviews from a number of experts in apps for children with disabilities, and is also the only app in its segment to have a 5-star rating on the iTunes App Store. While Chennai is behind Bangalore in entrepreneurship, it is at the forefront of special education in India, and has institutions that work with children with special needs that are renowned internationally:
Ajit Narayanan was named on MIT’s TR35 list of transformative young inventors. Avaz also received the National Award for Empowerment of People with Disabilities from the President of India in 2010. This is India’s highest award in this space. A platform-as-a-service company, OrangeScape was founded in 2003 with the intention of simplifying business application development. The company gained traction with the help of a Chennai manufacturing company for which OrangeScape built an HR application. Slowly but surely, the company grew, and in 2009 earned its first $1 million in revenue. What caught my attention was OrangeScape's proven ability to plug a distinct gap in Google's enterprise solution. As you know, the Google productivity apps portfolio is getting very good traction within enterprise, and we've heard from various CIOs who are moving from Lotus Notes or Microsoft Exchange to Google's Office suite. One of the primary drivers of the switch is cost. A second is collaboration. Currently, when enterprises switch to Google's productivity suite, they still need to make provisions to move the large portfolio of homegrown long tail productivity apps that have been developed around the previous system, such as Lotus Notes or Microsoft Exchange. And in comes the Google App Engine as Google's offering in this context. Well, it turns out that porting long tail productivity apps to Google's App Engine is a somewhat cumbersome job, and requires a lot of custom development. Building new apps is also not as simple. Enter OrangeScape. The long tail apps can easily be ported to or developed on Google App Engine in a third of the time and cost using OrangeScape as an application platform. Voila, the entire productivity suite of an enterprise can become cloud-ready, quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively! Orangescape has raised funding from the Indian Angel Network, and has since launched additional SaaS products. Lastly, I want to discuss a company that is substantially larger. CaratLane is a local jewelry business that has leveraged the ubiquity of ecommerce to grow its business. Mithun Sacheti is the founder of CaratLane, an online jeweler in India and one of the country's leading ecommerce companies. He grew up in the jewelry industry and prior to founding CaratLane, he opened new stores for his family business throughout the southern regions of the country. He moved to Chennai and built a store that became a well known local business. But the stores had limited inventory and could only sell so much. They started to sell people diamonds based soley on the gem's specifications:
(If this reminds you of the US-based BlueNile, a $300 million+ company, it should.) Fast forward a few years, and we have a Chennai e-commerce startup doing over $15 million a year. These four companies are just the tip of the iceberg in Chennai's growth in the technology entrepreneurship sector. Things are developing well, and even amidst the relatively conservative culture of the city, people are taking risks and succeeding. It's an encouraging trend. Kapaleeswarar Temple, Chennai Photo via Shutterstock The post The Rise of Entrepreneurship In Chennai, India appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Write Better Job Descriptions And Build A Stronger Team Posted: 08 Jan 2013 08:00 AM PST
The passionate and opinionated authors of The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, Al Ries and Laura Ries, say: "In business there is never only one way to do anything." It's true we have choices:
The power to decide is freedom and the wisest decisions can propel you forward. This is never more true than the process you use in attracting and hiring new team members inside your small business. I recently spoke with Scott Kriscovich, President of TrueBridge Resources — a national talent acquisition firm, and he offers some insights about the job descriptions that you use. Believing that the traditional one is outdated, Scott suggests that small business owners take a few steps to get the most out of this document: Culture Match Over SkillsNot that you want an incompetent person on your team. But instead of focusing so heavily on every little skill set that you think you need — the ones that are often described in typical job descriptions — look for someone who can do the job, but also fit the culture. According to Scott:
Within reason, of course. But a vinegar personality to your oily environment may never gel quite right. Minimum Criteria, Not PerfectionScott says:
To get your thinking out of the tunnel stop imagining a "perfect" candidate. This thought process backs you into a corner and limits your ability to see the potential in front of you. With minimum criteria in place, you'll be able to weed out the ones who just don't fit at all. Now you can start talking to the rest to discover their strengths and weaknesses. Every viable candidate is strong in one area and weaker in another. You want to discover what you're willing to work with and the first step is to create a job description that helps candidates filter themselves. Determine What You Really NeedInstead of using generic terms like “well-rounded," Scott helps businesses find talent for their companies by putting more specific phrases in their job descriptions. He suggests that you:
Every company thinks they're looking for a well-rounded individual, but what's more relevant are the "words that would help describe your culture," says Scott. Instead of well-rounded you're probably looking for:
Your list ultimately depends on your culture. Which means you can't write an effective job description if you don't have a clear understanding of the culture within your company. Determine What You Don’t NeedConsider this. Scott believes that:
Pay attention to the team that you already have. Write down the traits that make them important to you business. Walking through this process will make it easier for you to identify the traits that you truly need in your next team member. Scott adds:
In other words, don't spend time discussing everything. Focus on the main things that you need on your team. Remember, you've used these key phrases in your job description. And you can use the interview to dig deeper. Recognizing that the owners of smaller companies wear a lot of hats Scott highlights the fact:
Which hat do you stop wearing first? Your new hire probably can't juggle like you do. And is that what you really want? Maybe it's time for a focused Administrative Assistant who keeps your office running smooth while you generate new business. Scott says:
Their personality won't get absorbed into a big machine. It will, however, represent you loud and clear. Their personality will make an impression on your small business brand. So make sure you use your job description to promote the "values and guiding principles for your organization." Writer Photo via Shutterstock The post Write Better Job Descriptions And Build A Stronger Team appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 17 Hot Industries to Watch in 2013 Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:00 AM PST
Specifically, they’re looking to capitalize on emerging industries and technologies that will shape the way we do business in the future. We asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invitation-only nonprofit organization comprised of the country's most promising young entrepreneurs, the following question to find out where, in 2013, the biggest opportunities can be found:
Here's what YEC community members had to say: 1. Education “We’re getting to a point where old models of education are crumbling, and people are demanding flexible, lower-cost ways to access empowering information. Both independently-offered online courses and startups such as Udemy are poised to fill the gap for people who value self-sufficiency and who aren’t prepared to spend years in a classroom just to gain some new skills.” ~ Amanda Aitken, The Girl’s Guide to Web Design 2. Digital Health “The mobile health industry doubled in revenues in 2012, and is set for an even bigger explosion in 2013. As smartphones go mainstream, the power of a diagnostic, medical, or reference tool in your pocket has amazing promise. A leading indicator of this potential is the rise of digital health incubators, lead by SF-based Rock Health.” ~ Neil Thanedar, LabDoor 3. Big Data “We just witnessed Nate Silver predict a perfect 50-for-50 in his state by state election predictions leveraging big data and predictive analysis. The two combined will fundamentally change marketing. Big data will make online engagement and ROI easier to analyze and will facilitate the shift from traditional brand advertising communicating at people to an increasingly social approach.” ~ Ryan Stephens, Ryan Stephens Marketing 4. Healthcare “Patients are more informed than ever, yet kept in the dark in strange ways: a few weeks ago, I helped a friend figure out how to open her MRI files, which her doctor gaver her on a CD only so that she could hand carry them to another doctor. It’s easy enough to do if you’re technically savvy, but most people aren’t. Tools for both patients and doctors represent a huge opportunity right now.” ~ Thursday Bram, Hyper Modern Consulting 5. Workspace & Collaboration Tools “Gen Y is now a decade into the workforce and is quickly climbing into key decision making positions. Their complete intolerance of cubicle-style workplaces and dry company cultures will change face of real estate and communications as we know it. Along the way, they will create large-scale opportunities not only for tech, but also for a new generation of brick and mortar entrepreneurs.” ~ Christopher Kelly, Sentry Conference Centers 6. Mobile Marketing “Mobile marketing is set to take off in 2013. Close to one-third of the American population now owns a smartphone, and adept businesses will tap into this market to help get the word out about their companies. Mobile advertising surpassed $1 billion last year, and this number is expected to be well over $4 billion annually by 2015.” ~ Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance 7. NFC & Mobile Payments “There are already several mobile devices in Asia and Europe that come standard with an NFC chip and Samsung has started the race in North America with their latest Galaxy phone. So NFC is inevitable from the mobile side of the transaction but I am excited to see how the rest of the world and other industries such as retail (Wal-Mart) and services (taxi cabs) will adopt NFC for mobile payments . ” ~ Steven Staley, Playbook Community 8. Consumer Online Video “Consumer online video will be big. Right now, the Web is about images: Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, foursquare, iPhones, and Androids all give consumers simple ways to capture, edit, and display photos. In 2013, similar tools for online video will go completely mainstream.” ~ Matt Wilson, Under30Media 9. Food “For whatever reason, I’ve been seeing more and more pitches focused around food. Maybe it is because everyone eats or because foodies and techies overlap, but whatever the reason I see food as a hot industry in 2013, especially where food and tech intersect. I like Farmigo (a farm-to-home marketplace), Feastly (an Airbnb for kitchens), and Kitchit (personal chef finder).” ~ Eric Koester, Zaarly 10. 3D Printing “Consumer awareness of the 3D printing industry will skyrocket in 2013. With recent the release of Makerbot’s new "Replicator 2," the opportunity for high-quality 3D printing in home and small office environments is greater than ever. This industry will have a major impact on the consumer products industry and 2013 will be a critical year in its evolution.” ~ Robert J. Moore, RJMetrics 11. Digital Physical Advertising “The DooH (Digital out of Home)/DPA (Digital Place-based Advertising) has been on the upswing for the past couple of years, and 2013 is when the industry really comes into its own. The convergence of low cost hardware, high smartphone penetration, and ubiquitous social media adoption are the perfect storm for the next generation of digital signage.” ~ Nanxi Liu, Enplug 12. Gamification “Gamification is at a point similar to where Social Media Marketing was 5 years ago. Right now, people assume that to do gamification, all you need to do is add points, create levels, and give users a badge when they complete something. In actually, gamification is an extensive field that is completely open for the taking. By the end of 2013, gamification will be required for consumer marketing.” ~ Jun Loayza, Passport Peru 13. Connected Fitness “We’re only at the beginning of the increasing importance of health and wellness, but fitness apps, tools, and products are already hot stuff. I imagine that trend will only continue in 2013– with some clear breakaway winners by the end of it, especially in the hardware space.” ~ Derek Flanzraich, Greatist 14. Beauty & Style “There is a lot of excitement for fashion and beauty-related companies from both consumers and brands. E-commerce for beauty and fashion is growing in double digits, and 2013 will be a year when more shoppers come online for those types of purchases because personalization is improving and new, interactive digital experiences are created. Beauty and fashion will definitely be “in vogue” next year!” ~ Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc. 15. Specialized Social Media Platforms “Facebook will lose some of its mojo as it reaches saturation in the U.S. and other countries. Conversely, other niche social platforms such as Path, Branch, Svbtle and Quora are growing exponentially and will be the next big social media "thing.” ~ Alex Lorton, Cater2.me 16. Domain Name Industry Will Explode Again “2013 will be a breakout year for the domain name industry. It’s cheaper, you can reach a bigger audience, and you can adapt faster than with a brick-and-mortar business. A good domain name will be critical to ensure credibility and bring the right kind of customer.” ~ Aaron Pitman, API Domain Investments 17. Peer-to-Peer “We’re still at the beginning of the peer-to-peer renaissance. When I hear of great startups like DogVacay and UpTo, I know there is still a lot of room to grow. There are still a great number of peer-to-peer ideas out there waiting to be harvested. Airbnb was just the tip of the spear. I think we’ll look back in 5 years at a lot of great, well established peer-to-peer companies that started now.” ~ Mitch Gordon, Go Overseas Business Man Photo via Shutterstock The post 17 Hot Industries to Watch in 2013 appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Study Finds Telecommuting a Good Idea…for Some Posted: 08 Jan 2013 02:30 AM PST No solution works for every business, so remember to look past all the hoopla of any new trend to see whether it really fits your needs. The excitement over telecommuting is a great example of this. Certainly, the benefits of this trend have been publicized often enough. More productivity, greater mobility, and more flexibility are all part of the pitch and the reason both entrepreneurs and employees may want to try this new working arrangement. Still, it isn’t the best solution for every business. Read on. From the Home FrontOne size doesn’t fit all. A recent Stanford University study of an online Chinese travel agency showed a considerable increase in productivity when some employees were allowed to work from home, but ultimately it turned out not all employees involved were happy with the arrangement. An author of the study says a conversation with employees at JetBlue indicates work flexibility may be more important to employee satisfaction than the other aspects of telecommuting. Slate Test the limits. Not everyone is convinced of the benefits of telecommuting. Journalist Evgeny Morozov points to the advantages of working from home or from the local coffee shop spelled out by telecommuting advocate Alvin Toffler in his groundbreaking book “The Third Wave.” But the reality may be a bit less optimistic, Morozov insists. Telecommuters who work or operate a business online may have traded increased productivity for less work/life balance. The Free Press Work from Home RenaissanceCount the cost. Morozov may question the benefits of telecommuting from the standpoint of work/life balance, and other critics may question it on more subjective grounds, but telecommuter Miranda Marquit says from a simple standpoint of dollars and cents and cost to the environment, the trend has clear advantages. From the lower expenses telecommuters generally enjoy from working at home to less time spent on the road, it’s easy to see the advantages. Sustainable Personal Finance Know when to say when. One of the major benefits of telecommuting for small business owners and entrepreneurs is the availability of virtual assistants to do the many jobs in your business that free up your efforts for other things. In this video interview with Chris Tucker from ChrisTucker.com by blogger Timo Kiander, we learn more about how to choose the best virtual assistants for your business and even which tasks aren’t a good idea to hand over. Productive Superdad Manage Your Home WorkersOptions for Telecommuters. For those who seek to start a business providing services online or entrepreneurs who want to hire virtual employees, see Holly Hanna’s post on the five work-at-home trends for 2013. Before thinking about how telecommuting may help your business, determine whether what you need is easily deliverable online. The number of services that are available from telecommuters is increasing. The Work at Home Woman Management best practices. When hiring telecommuters for your business, it’s important to think about how best to manage these workers. Employees or contractors won’t be directly supervised by you, obviously. They will likely work on their own timetables, though certainly they will need to meet your stated deadlines and required results. For this reason, it’s best to have a clear set of expectations when bringing telecommuters into your company, says small business writer Jessica Sanders. UPrinting Security threat. Data security is the greatest concern entrepreneurs and small business owners face when hiring telecommuters to free up time for other core responsibilities. After all, hand out mobile devices to telecommuting workers and you run the risk of hackers targeting your network. So, the key is to establish data security before allowing employees to work from a remote location. Buzz Small Business Magazine The post Study Finds Telecommuting a Good Idea…for Some appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
Once known as the Detroit of India because of its automobile industry, Chennai is getting much of its current economic growth from the information technology sector. Chennai has a highly literate population and the availability of skilled technical talent at a reasonable price-point, over time, has attracted many multinational companies to set up their operations in the city.
The smartest entrepreneurs don’t emulate trends — they set them. In 2013, with both rapid technological advances (NFC, anyone?) and policy changes on the horizon, startup founders are looking ahead to figure out how, and where, to position their offerings so they can see the biggest wins.| You are subscribed to email updates from Small Business Trends To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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