Category: Technology

Vodafone today announced that it will launch iPhone in the UK on January 14 and will be available for customers on a 24 month contract from as little as £30 a month.

With 65 percent of small businesses surveyed believe that Internet security is critical to their business, only 28 percent have formal Internet security policies. As organizations combat an increasingly sophisticated threat landscape and feel potential impacts to IT staffing reductions due to the economic environment, employees remain the strongest defense in protecting an organization’s information.

Mobile devices using the Android operating system remain a largely untapped resource for many businesses and yet have great potential to benefit and add real business value to the way staff work on the move. And with 3G networks offering high-performance internet connectivity, it makes sense for companies to consider using this technology and capitalise on the business-orientated tools, apps and resources it makes readily available.

BT has announced it is the first UK communications provider to offer unlimited fixed line calling packages for small businesses. The high value BT Business One Plan Inclusive packages offer unlimited calling minutes to UK landlines, UK mobiles, international destinations and 0845 and 0870 numbers for a fixed fee of £15 per month. This fee is further reduced to £12.50 per month if customers take the unlimited package on a VoIP line and on the face of it represents significant savings for small business.

A far off reality only a few years ago, today cloud computing really has become mainstream.
However, many small businesses are still unclear what cloud computing is and, more importantly, how it can benefit their business. Indeed, they are not alone, a recent survey of European IT Heads by Portio Research found that 56% were not familiar with cloud computing.

The online auction site eBay has settled a lawsuit with the founders of Skype, ending uncertainty over the future of the internet phone company.

Scott Hewitt, the entrepreneur behind Norfolk-based design and development firm Real Projects, has compiled a list of the top 40 tools and websites which businesses can use for free.

If Spring is the season of mellow fruitfulness then the Autumn is when the exhibitions start up in earnest.
A whole new raft of kit is required to make a company’s exhibition presence fly and locking everything down with security hardware from Kensington so it doesn’t go walkies. Here Guy Clapperton tells you what you’ll need something for a good display, equipment to help people interact with you in seminars and keep everything charged

As Small Business Week commences, there’s plenty of talk at the moment of the green shoots of economic recovery; and just as many people opposing this view, urging caution even as we head towards the end of 2009 and into a new decade. However, despite an outlook that remains uncertain, there are still plenty of ways for small businesses to remain nimble, competitive and to make smart decisions, which will enable them to ride out the storm and emerge healthier as the economy stabilises.

The battle of the smartphones has begun, and workers wanting to keep in touch with contacts, emails and applications will soon be spoiled for choice, with a range of excellent handsets to choose from. But which should you pick? Here, we look at the pros and cons of each.

Google email users have become the latest victims in an “industry-wide” phishing attack scheme, which has affected thousands of people and small businesses across several web based services.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of making incremental improvements to your website to help search engines read and therefore rank your website better. Done properly, effective and ethical SEO generates the highest returns of any online marketing channel.

T-Mobile has today unveiled a new Business Unlimited offer, the only one to give every user unlimited UK calls and texts for £30 a month with a free phone. This flexible offer can cater for businesses who don’t want to be tied to lengthy contracts, offering a SIM-only option with a 30 day rolling contract. Alternatively, users can sign up for a 24 month contract and choose from T-Mobile’s range of phones.

BT, the UK’s largest Wi-Fi supplier, is halfway towards its goal this year of building a million-strong Wi-Fi hotspot network, the company announced today. High speed public wireless broadband is now available at 500,000 homes, businesses and city centres in the UK and Ireland.

In doing the research for this post, I have spoken to many LinkedIn users and business owners.
One of the things I have found fascinating about LinkedIn (which was corroborated by the conversations I had and emails I received), is that the individual tools on LinkedIn seem to form their own intense user groups. Some people describe LinkedIn as Facebook in a suit, but it is far much more than that. One person may focus their whole strategy on maximizing LinkedIn Q&A, another might focus on LinkedIn Events, while a third builds an entire strategy around participating in LinkedIn Groups discussions.