Swimming with sharks: Technology needs to be used right by small business

By HARVEY MACKAY

Last update: January 16, 2008 - 8:00 PM

In the past 30 days, I've done a podcast, a teleseminar and a webinar. Thirty months ago, I didn't know that a webinar was an interactive seminar online.

The tools of business have been reinvented overnight. The single biggest change in those 2 1/2 years is the invasion of technology into the world of small business.

•In New York, I recently got a shoeshine. Did I gaze at the crowds walking by? No, I was tuned in to CNN on the shop's big-screen TV.

•Kids who wear braces clock time in orthodontic treatment rooms. More and more of those rooms are equipped with Internet-accessible computer terminals. A reader wrote me recently that dentists now can text-message appointment reminders. This reminder sure has a new byte to it.

•There's an increase in doctors' offices with computer terminals or Wi-Fi access in reception areas so that queued-up patients can sign on to read their e-mail.

• When I popped into the local Asian takeout recently, the owner was at her computer. "Doing the books?" I asked. "No," she replied. "Since we started offering online ordering ... our average ticket is up 25 percent!"

Most small-business people are far more computer-savvy today. How should small businesses keep a handle on the technology surge?

•Look for the trends that are right for your niche. Don't just pump up your Internet presence to be techno-chic. Millions of customers out there will hold you accountable for your Internet promises.

•Flush out mechanical bottlenecks. You make your high technology to be the hottest in cyberspace, but without enough phone lines and receivers to handle demand, what will it matter?

•If you're in the service sector, scout what's happening in the megacities. That's where the innovations like big-screen shoeshine parlors or in-cab passenger videos surface first.

•Computer files offer an unprecedented opportunity to keep customer records. Those files also allow you to pinpoint what really rings the register. If you're a carpet cleaner, for instance, you might find 80 percent of your January revenue is in lifting red-wine stains out of ivory-white plush.

•Get competent, reliable technical assistance. Setting up an e-menu or a podcast studio might cost peanuts. But they can break your reputation if not maintained and updated.

•Ask your customers, especially younger ones: What can we do to make your life more informative or easier?

The Internet is like the computer was before it. Both are tools. They can revolutionize how you administer and publicize your business, regardless of the size of your bottom line. But there is no substitute for the product. Stay abreast of the trends, but stick to the business of keeping your core products and services competitive.

Mackay's Moral: Minus know-how, the cutting edge can cut a deep gash.

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