Switchfast Blog: The Future of IT
Small Business Labs releases Top 10 Trends for 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011 by George Tobin
With the economy recovering and small businesses are leading the
way, SmallBusinessLabs.com released its take on the top trends it
predicts for 2011. Switchfast has spotted many of these trends
among our clients -- take a look at our highlights from the list,
and then head over to the post to read more!
#2: Variable Cost Business Models. The list
forecasts that more businesses will continue minimizing and
containing costs through flexible outsourcing options. Fixed costs
-- like full time employees or infrastructure investments -- will
be on the chopping block in favor of increasingly scalable
solutions. Outsourced marketing, it consulting, or development
greatly reduces overhead and brings expertise otherwise unavailable
to a small business budget.
#7: Small Businesses Friend Facebook:
Even as 2010 proved a
lukewarm year for small business social media investments,
Small Business Labs predicts that Facebook's exponential growth
will draw more small businesses to Facebook - some even using
Facebook as their primary web presence. With over 500 million
users, Facebook will become a central point of contact for
businesses looking to connect with customers. Whether the site will
be used for branding and visibility or as a tool for bottom-line
growth will depend upon how businesses view their target
audiences.
#10: Working in the Cloud: Small Business
Labs predicts that cloud computing will be a viable alternative in
2011 for small businesses looking to gain the productivity and
capability of larger organizations without investing in servers,
firewalls, and licenses. Virtual servers allow a small business to
pay only for what they use, instead of building infrastructure they
may not be able to fully utilize. Similarly, new services like Google Applications
offer a scalable, full-service productivity suite like Microsoft
Office free of configuration and licensing
headaches.
Read on for more Small Business Trends!
Until next time -
George Tobin
Switchfast Technologies
Chicago IT Support &
Consulting
Rochester IT Support &
Consulting
Outsourced Marketing
Services
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