Top Small Business News This Week: May 17

Top Small Business News This Week: May 17
Groupon Expands Breadcrumb POS, Shifts its Small Business Strategy
Alexei Dunayev of TranscribeMe: Necessity is the Mother of Invention
The Plus Side to Low Sales: More White Space

Posted: 17 May 2013 03:45 PM PDT

news may 17

This week’s top small business news stories looked at the latest mobile technology, 3D printing, the future of the password, the latest in the battle over Obamacare and much more. The Small Business Trends editorial team doesn’t just bring you the headlines. These stories explain how the news of the week affects you.

Mobile

Nokia introduces a new Lumia 925 Windows phone. The phone will have a metal case and upgrades to its camera technology. Observers see the Windows 8 operating system as a benefit to business users. Many business users are already using Windows on their other business technology. So the overall look and feel of the the phone’s operating system will be very similar to the Windows 8 running on their computers.

Microsoft is now among the top 5 tablet sellers. The company’s new Surface devices sold 900,000 units making up 1.8 percent of the market for the first quarter of 2013. Most of those sales came from the Surface Pro, which runs Windows 8 and is targeted at business users. Though this puts Microsoft in 5th place, that’s not to shabby for a company that wasn’t even in the tablet business a year ago.

Tech

The future may hold a lot fewer passwords. An organization called the FIDO (Fast Identity Online) Alliance, founded in July 2012 by tech firms like PayPal, Lenovo, Agnito, Infineon, Nok Nok Labs and Validity, is trying to bring about that change. The need for fewer passwords is about more than convenience. Too many passwords encourage users to get sloppy, reusing codes on multiple accounts because they are easier to remember.

Google+ introduces an elegant new look. The company announced dozens of new features and upgrades to its social media platform. Changes to the platform announced Thursday include a look more reminiscent of Pinterest, a multi-column layout, related hashtags, improvements to the hangout feature and improved features for photo uploading and sharing. And there is even more. Read Small Business Trends Founder and CEO Anita Campbell’s quick take of the highlights.

Most of the top blogs are on WordPress. And the number could be increasing. A new study of the top 100 blogs on the Web says 52 percent use the popular platform. Pingdom conducted the study. The company found that another 4 of the top ranking blogs are using WordPress this year as compared to 2012. And WordPress reports that 65 million sites worldwide use the software. WordPress has become much more than blogging software. It’s now a CMS system for small business websites. Do you use WordPress for your business blog or website?

What is 3D Printing? The process uses a computer generated design to create three-dimensional objects out of plastic, ceramic or metal … even out of chocolate or cheese! It’s like having a small-scale manufacturing device right in your office or home. Sound like something out of science fiction? It’s not. Check out our one page explainer where we give you an overview.

Trends

61% of U.S. voters think rich entrepreneurs are good for the economy. And 49% think it’s “very fair” for successful businessmen to grow rich from their efforts. If you had any doubts that U.S. voters believe in the concept of entrepreneurship, this survey by Rasmussen Reports should put them to rest. The report sampled 1,000 likely voters nationwide, surveyed by phone between May 1 and 2, 2013.

Small business owners remain pessimistic. That’s not because they’re negative as a group, says Scott Shane, professor of entrepreneurial studies at Case Western Reserve University. That’s because despite some expansion in the economy since 2009, Professor Shane says, conditions still aren’t that positive for small businesses. Read this posts for some of the harsh realities.

Millennials are changing the employment world. Rieva Lesonsky, CEO of GrowBiz Media, leads us through a study of this workforce from oDesk. Among the preferences of this group are desires to work whenever and wherever they like, focus on projects that interest them, and travel while working. If you employ some of this generational group at your company be prepared. Try to satisfy their desire for freedom while tapping into their entrepreneurial spirit.

Small businesses are borrowing less again. The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index has fallen three consecutive months, ending in March. The index measures the overall volume of lending to small U.S. companies. The drop is in contrast to a report from the U.S. Small Business Administration that showed small business lending had increased for the first time in 10 quarters in the last part of 2012.

Policy

Lawsuit against the IRS centers on Obamacare. It’s nothing new for small businesses to be complaining about the IRS and Obamacare. But recently this complaining took on legal overtones. Six small business owners have banded together to sue the federal agency. They say the agency exceeded its authority when it took it upon itself to make a rule granting subsidies to employees in states that have declined to create state healthcare exchanges. That action in turn is triggering penalties for small businesses under the new Affordable Care Act, they claim.

Entrepreneurship

Co-Founder of TranscribeMe, explains where great ideas come from. “Necessity is the mother of invention.” In this interview, Alexei Dunayev describes how his and his co-founder’s efforts to transcribe audio content for their wives, a PhD. researcher and an attorney, made them both realize there must be a better way.

Lady Gaga turns out to be a smart marketer. Book reviewer extraordinaire Pierre Debois reviews Jackie Huba’s new book about Lady Gaga. Huba illustrates that Lady Gaga is a terrific startup marketer in addition to being a terrific music artist.

Image: 3D print from 3D Systems

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Groupon Expands Breadcrumb POS, Shifts its Small Business Strategy

Posted: 17 May 2013 12:17 PM PDT

Groupon Breadcrumb POS for small businesses

Still thinking of Groupon as a company that sends out daily deal emails all the while incurring the ire of small businesses that lose money on one-time customers? Well, think again. That’s an old story.

Groupon has a much more compelling small business story to tell in 2013. It’s a positive story, in fact. One part of that story is how Groupon is repositioning itself as a provider of technology systems to help local businesses become more profitable and increase sales.

Since last year, Groupon has offered a POS system for small businesses. Just this week the company expanded its point of sale (POS) systems to include a new, free POS system called “Breadcrumb POS.”

It’s a downloadable app that you use with an iPad. It functions as a simple POS system that can be used by any small local business that handles sales using a cash register, such as retail stores and coffee shops.

The Breadcrumb POS system can be used seamlessly with Groupon’s electronic credit card payments processing system. The payments system consists of a credit card swipe device to attach to your iPad. You can can process credit card payments at rates that Groupon says are very competitive.

Groupon’s Strategic Shift: Small Business Systems

Groupon has had some tough times on Wall Street over the past year. The company, just four years old, is already reinventing itself. Part of the reinvention is on the consumer side with how deals are positioned and made available to consumers. For instance, deals are now heavily focused on mobile, which accounts for 45% of North American deal volume.

But there’s also a reinvention on the small business merchant side. And that’s where the Breadcrumb POS system fits in, along with payment processing and associated technologies.

In last week’s earnings call with Wall Street analysts, co-CEO Eric Lefkofsky emphasized the company’s mission when it comes to small businesses:

“One of our proudest achievements [is] the economic boost we’ve provided to local merchants. Not only have we funneled billions of dollars into our local merchant community but based on surveys of nearly 2 million Groupon customers in North America, over 80% of the customers we send to merchants are either new or have not been to that merchant in the prior 3 months. Groupon can be a powerful force of new customer acquisition and financial returns for small businesses.

We began making investments about a year ago into what we call the operating system for local commerce. It’s a bundle of technology around payment systems, point of sale systems, loyalty and reward systems.”

He points out that Groupon has to be valuable to both consumers and small business merchants:

“And because we are for many many merchants – hundreds of thousands of merchants – their largest source of new customers, we also at times can be a pain point, in that we’re sending all these new customers. We want to help merchants manage that process. And we want to help them determine how best to target these customers so that they come back on a repeated basis. So we realized we needed tools inside the merchant’s shop to help them do that, and hence the investments we’ve made.”

Groupon Offers 2 Versions of Breadcrumb POS System

The Breadcrumb point of sale system was an acquisition Groupon made in 2012. Seth Harris, the founder of Breadcrumb, is from the hospitality industry. He was frustrated with the POS systems in restaurants and bars he ran in New York, calling them “old, clunky, difficult to use, hard to set up and expensive.”

So he founded Breadcrumb in January of 2011. The following year he was approached by Groupon. ”My initial reaction was why would these guys want to get into the POS business?” he said. But he became impressed with the Groupon vision for local businesses.

The product announced just a few days ago, Breadcrumb POS, is a “lite” version of the original Breachcrumb PRO system.

Breadcrumb PRO

The PRO system is designed primarily for restaurants and bars. It has a floor plan layout for your restaurant. It includes hospitality-related reports. It also offers the ability for servers to modify menu items to accommodate special orders, such as ordering a burger well-done or with no fries.

According to Harris, whose title is now VP of Breadcrumb, it’s more than just a POS system. “It’s designed to help you know your customers better. For example, with the PRO product there is an integrated delivery system. If you do deliveries, you can put customer information in the delivery system. When customers come back in, you can find their information again. You can even do telephone integration so that when they call, the customers can be greeted by phone,” he notes.

Breadcrumb PRO integrates with several hospitality industry systems. You can also download reports as CSV files and then upload them to QuickBooks or another program. Breadcrumb PRO does require payment of a monthly fee, with several pricing levels.

Breadcrumb POS

This free version of the POS system is simpler because, as Harris says, a small ice cream shop may not need a layout plan for tables nor special menu options. It is “even easier to set up and use” than the PRO version, he notes.

Breadcrumb POS offers simpler reports than the PRO version. There is no ability currently to download CSV files, however.

With either system, you can buy your own iPads. Breadcrumb works with any version of the iPad, including the iPad Mini. According to Harris, it is not meant for an iPhone, as he hasn’t seen demand by small businesses for using it on such a small screen.

Or you can buy iPads through Breadcrumb. They also sell cash drawers, stands and printers.

Breadcrumb Payments Processing for Credit Cards

You do not need to process credit card payments through the Breadcrumb payments system, but it is set up to handle them and work together. Currently the processing fees are 1.8 percent plus $0.15 per transaction (MasterCard, Visa and Discover) with no monthly fees. Harris says that Groupon has pledged to meet any credit card processing rate a business owner gets elsewhere.

The swipe device that you plug into the iPad, costs $15. You get next-day deposits into your bank account.

“Ultimately,” he says, “Breadcrumb’s mission is to bring together merchants and customers by making it better and easier to buy things.”

The post Groupon Expands Breadcrumb POS, Shifts its Small Business Strategy appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Alexei Dunayev of TranscribeMe: Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Posted: 17 May 2013 08:00 AM PDT

It’s likely that some of you have heard the old English proverb, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” It’s a phrase that aptly applies to the early beginnings of one small business, co-founded by Alexei Dunayev. Tune in as Alexei joins Brent Leary to discuss how necessity gave birth to the transcription service now known as TranscribeMe.

* * * * *

transcribe me Small Business Trends: Can you tell us a little bit about your personal background?

Alexei Dunayev: I’m a technologist at heart. I’m a software engineer by training. I did an MBA at Stanford and I knew a few of the tricks about what does it takes to have a really successful global technology campaign.

I managed to combine those passions, by starting TranscribeMe.

Small Business Trends: Why did you get in to transcription?

Alexei Dunayev: Myself and my co-founder were actually transcribing a whole bunch of audio content for our wives. My wife is a PhD researcher and my co-founder is married to a lawyer. They were both generating an insane amount of audio recordings. Very quickly we realized that doing transcripts manually is something that does achieve high quality, but takes forever.

When we set out to build TranscribeMe, we invented a hybrid model that combines speech recognition technology with real humans – whom we crowdsource. And so, when we get audio, the first thing we do is run it through speech recognition software that gives us a baseline level of accuracy. Then we slice it into very small micro-tasks. These can be audio segments of anywhere from 10 seconds through to a minute or so in length.

Those go to real people that then correct what the computer’s type. We put it all back together and send it to the to the client. That’s really the magic of the service that we’ve created and it makes it both fast and highly accurate.

Small Business Trends: How do you go about getting the transcribers on board?

Alexei Dunayev: There is a lot of distrust in the community of freelancers. When the first few people went on the forum and said, “Hey, we actually just received money from TranscribeMe – what they promised us. They pay on time and the work was really enjoyable.” We then got a torrent of applications for transcribers and we now have over 5,000 people on our platform.

We didn’t spend a dime on recruiting any of them. It just grew through word of mouth.

Small Business Trends: I assume you’re able to rate each transcriber and the ones that do better get the better opportunities?

Alexei Dunayev: We try to tailor the audio to the transcriber. For example, right now a transcriber processes audio in English and in Spanish. So when we know the language of the audio that is being submitted, we look at the qualifications of the transcribers on our system and we route the audio to the best person who is able to process it. If an audio comes in from a technical conference, we make sure that it gets processed by people with the technical background able to deliver the accuracy on it.

Further, if you record audio using our Smartphone app and you mention to that you’re in Atlanta, we will then try to find transcribers that are geographically close to you, so they would have a good understanding of things like local places and names. We really try to tailor the audio to play to the strength of the transcribers so that you get that perfect quality output.

Small Business Trends: By playing to the strengths of the transcribers, you’re really playing customer happiness aren’t you?

Alexei Dunayev: That’s exactly right. We found customers that work with us really choose to because they care about quality. These are people who run conferences and record business meetings. These are people who really care about one hundred percent quality – people like doctors, lawyers and we work a lot of people in the education space. It’s something that our customers aren’t willing to sacrifice.

The biggest issue with speech recognition systems is, say you have an audio recording that has a hundred words in it and you run it through a computer. You are going to get back approximately a hundred words and you are not going to know which ones are correct and which ones aren’t. It is not like you can tailor the system to say, “Well, only give me the correct words and I’ll fill in the gaps.”

You basically get the same length text, but a whole bunch of text in it is misheard or typed incorrectly. That’s really when you need people to get to what we call the last mile. Using computers in the first place also gives us a lower cost. You don’t have to pay for the cost of having a full-time transcriber working in an office doing the job. That lets us compete and provide a really great service to our customers at a fraction of the cost they would have to pay otherwise.

Small Business Trends: You can cut this up into seconds?

Alexei Dunayev: Our proprietary technology actually came out of the PhD research of one of our founders and it really lets us slice audio very finely so that we can carry out accuracy. We try to slice it usually into sentences and those sentences are essentially the smallest atoms of information that are required to do the transcription.

What we found is, by slicing audio into very small chucks of say 10 seconds-30 seconds, we’re able to maintain the confidentiality. No single transcriber actually has access to the entire audio and that’s a big deal.

Small Business Trends: It is really an interesting approach to a business need that’s been around forever, being able to use the latest and greatest technology to create a new business model.

Alexei Dunayev: It really came out of personal pain-points. There was nothing else that’s out there that could do what we wanted – that could really reach that quality, speed, confidentiality and cost.

Small Business Trends: In the end, do costumers get a chance to rate or rank the transcriptions?

Alexei Dunayev: Right now that is done by the costumer service team and we do reach out to our costumers to see how they feel, how they like their transcript. We have a very significant emphasis on quality mechanisms inside the process that make sure the quality level is perfect. But in the next release that is coming out in June, there is going to be a feature for direct feedback from the customers all the way through to every transcriber that has worked.

Small Business Trends: How quickly have your customers and prospects adapted to this approach?

Alexei Dunayev: We’re finding that a whole bunch of folks joining TranscribeMe have not even used transcription services before and it’s because we make it easy. We have a super user- friendly iPhone app. There’s also an Android app and you can use those apps for free to record meetings and record interviews. The recordings are then stored in the cloud so you’re never going to lose them. If you want to then get it transcribed, that’s just a click away.

So, we try to make the user experience fast, straightforward and as simple as can be.

Small Business Trends: Where can people find TranscribeMe?

Alexei Dunayev: You can jump to our website at Transcribeme.com or on Twitter, @TranscribeMe.

This interview on transcription is part of the One on One interview series with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click on the player above.

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The Plus Side to Low Sales: More White Space

Posted: 17 May 2013 05:00 AM PDT

low sales cartoon

For a long time I deisgned my own websites. I could never code them, but I always felt like I could design one. I’d spent hours in Photoshop pushing pixels, choosing colors, finding fonts (and apparently alliterating), only to find myself irritable and frustrated.

A few years ago, I finally gave in and started working with a really good designer who’s instincts I now trust (even if I still like to tinker a bit). One of the things I learned about was white space and the idea of letting things breathe a little bit instead of cramming as much as possible into a space.

That being said, if your sales graph’s white space is getting bigger – maybe you’ve got bigger problems.

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