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Blogging is one of the most effective marketing tools for small businesses. According to Andrew Lock, SMBs that do not blog are losing potential profits. Lock says that sites like NinjaBlogSetup.com are a great start for any SMB that wants to establish a blog. The professional-looking blogs are created for free by Shawn Swisher, who engineers WordPress-like blogs. One advantage of using NinjaBlogSetup is the extensive selection of themes and colors SMBs can choose from. Another useful site is the Radio-TV Interview Report. This site allows companies to promote their ideas or products. The site ranks highly according to the Alexa rating standard, which means it's among the top Web sites in the world that people access online. Consequently, SMBs that market their products through the Radio-TV Interview Report will be most likely to attract a significant following.
(http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/biztools/article.php/3 868001)

Netgear has debuted two high-performance network storage platforms for supporting as many as 500 users. The ReadyNAS 3100 and ReadyNAS 4200 are suited for storage virtualization applications. Netgear says the products were launched with the intention that SMBs would be able to "adopt high-end products with less risk." According to Netgear, although storage capacity is inexpensive managing this data has become troublesome. IDC predicts that network storage will remain a growing sector, noting that Netgear is in an advantageous market position as virtualization becomes more popular and companies seek green-friendly solutions. The ReadyNAS 3100 costs about $4,000, while the ReadyNAS 4200 costs about $10,000. Both storage platforms include a five-year warranty, 24 hour IT support, and are VMware-ready.
(http://bmighty.informationweek.com/network/showArticle.jhtml ?articleID=223101015)

Companies used to relentlessly try to pass their products on to consumers and generate buzz, but this changed when companies began to learn how to utilize the Internet. As social media Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace were created, marketing became a conversation. Businesses were required to figure out the best way to get people to speak highly of their products to each other, which changed the interaction between marketers and consumers as well as members of the target audience. By 2005, surveys showed that consumers trusted their peers more than experts, and by 2010, about four in five corporations were planning to spend money on a social media campaign instead of television advertising. But Edelman's 2010 Trust Barometer shows that since 2008, the amount of people who view their friends and peers as credible sources of information has dropped from 45 percent to 25 percent. Additionally, the number of people who view their peers as good spokespeople also fell, and consumers feel now trust authorities and experts. Edelman's Gail Becker attributes the statistics to the fact that the number of social networking sites has grown rapidly and people are skeptical of peer recommendations. "Social media is more professionalized now and less organic," says Becker. "It's harder to know who to trust."

A number of small businesses lack sufficient email disaster protection. Email is one of the most widely used means of communication yet SMBs neglect potential problems associated with email reliance. On-site servers can fail, disrupting work flow, practice management, and overall productivity. However, products like Google Apps provide online data storage and synchronization with Outlook and Google so that data is backed-up on these servers. Mozy's is another option for SMBs that need to back-up Outlook databases, costing as little as $4 monthly plus gigabyte usage. For larger businesses, Dell's MessageOne and Symantec MessageLabs are good options that employ online data storage and offer subscriptions.
(http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/news/article.php/38671 71/Business-Continuity-Email-Backup-for-SMBs.htm)

Enterprise resource planning systems are costing businesses lost profits, according to an IDC Group study. "The High Cost of Business Disruption" notes that an estimated $15 million is lost annually due to inefficient ERP systems that cause businesses to overlook critical areas like acquisitions. According to the survey, over 40 percent of businesses only make ERP system changes "as needed." Respondents stated that these changes are time-consuming and shift the focus of business to IT issues rather than to relevant projects. IDC stated, "Architectural agility to support ongoing change may be the single most important buying criterion to minimize change-related revenue loss, business disruption, stock price declines and the lost business opportunities." The study is available on the Web site for Agresso, which commissioned the study.
(http://www.accountingweb.com/topic/technology/survey-results -show-erp-systems-not-keeping-change)

According to Gene Marks, the iPad will better serve consumers than business customers. Marks notes that even Apple has targeted their marketing at consumers. Marks says that small businesses have enough software compatibility issues to muddle through without the addition of an iPad, while the new device is expected to have problems with a variety of accounting software. Marks also says that the iPad poses another security threat since more users will be accessing unsecured networks for media purposes. The prime reason that Marks does not support the iPad for SMBs, however, is the fact that its return on investment is minimal. Marks says that the iPad will do nothing to reduce overall costs and will be more likely to distract employees than increase their productivity.
(http://www.enterprise-security-today.com/story.xhtml?story_i d=11000AGPD9KM)

According to two Forrester Research reports, The State Of Enterprise Software And Emerging Trends: 2010 and The State Of SMB Software And Emerging Trends: 2010, more than half of IT budgets will be spent on upgrades rather than rolling out new software. The impact of the recession is still affecting businesses that are now focused on improving existing applications, such as customer relationship management tools. Nearly 50 percent of those surveyed said their companies would upgrade CRM applications while 20 percent of SMBs will upgrade finance and accounting software. Software-as-a-Service applications are also being widely used by more SMBs, with about one-third of those surveyed stating they would subscribe to a SaaS application within the year. Respondents also credit knowledge management software as a top IT sector of interest this year.
(http://www.informationweek.com/news/services/business/showAr ticle.jhtml?articleID=223000060)

XBRL International has unveiled a document that will be used for developing Extensible Business Reporting Language. Due to a request from the Securities and Exchange Commission requiring public companies to implement XBRL technology for uniform financial reporting, the XBRL International was created. The XBRL Standards Board is seeking feedback about on topics such as establishing a reporting process that can be used internationally and simplifying XBRL data fro analysis systems. The Financial Accounting Foundation will now maintain the XBRL tags for the U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy. XBRL International has stated that XBRL "is not ceding any control over the language itself;" rather, they are requesting collaboration about the direction of the language and improving its features.
(http://www.webcpa.com/news/XBRL-Backers-Seek-to-Broaden-Tech nology-53303-1.html)