Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Small Business survival in a challenging economy

The economy has not been the friend of small business over the past 3 months. The sub-prime mortgage meltdown was a train wreck in slow motion. The last two weeks have seen the end of Wall Street as we know it. Main street banks are still here but the person you are used to dealing with might appear to have amnesia the next time you walk through the door. Banks are reassessing their risk posture and cutting back on loans to just about everyone.

The last two weeks have been catastrophic when thinking about the prospects of securing working capital to run your business.

What should a small business do in times like these?
1) Stay close to your banks
2) Stay close to your customers
3) Assure your employees

How can you leverage technology to help you weather the storm?
1) Leverage technology to improve employee productivity: investing in teleworking solutions, web conferencing, and web based training solutions
2) Improve customer satisfaction by investing in web based customer care solutions and on-demand collaboration. Even when your customers aren't buying - you must stay close to them!
3) Work with a trusted advisor to leverage managed services to help you deploy the technology solutions without the upfront expense and risk associated with typical IT investments.

You can find trusted SMB managed service providers on Cisco's website at: