Women Who Excel Awards recognize achievement, support of ideals

Smart Business proudly announces the first class of Women Who Excel Awards. The honors were announced at the 12th annual Perspectives: Women Who Excel Conference last month. When the first Perspectives: Women Who Excel Conference was held in 2002, a group of dynamic leading women executives shared their insights on what it takes to redefine […]

Deciding if you should own or lease your real estate and equipment

Determining whether to own or lease your company’s real estate and/or equipment can be complicated — and you don’t want to make a decision that negatively impacts your organization.“Typically, if the item has a short life like computers, business owners should consider leasing,” says Santiago “Chico” Perez, SBA Sales Manager at California Bank & Trust. “If not, and they have the money to put […]

How to get more significant returns from your IT projects

Executives miss out on potential competitive advantages when they view information technology projects as a technological initiative rather than an opportunity for business transformation. “Too often IT is not aligned with business objectives and strategies,” says Sassan S. Hejazi, Ph.D., director of Kreischer Miller’s Technology Solutions group. “Management should think about what role IT can […]

Todd Goldstein: Workplace climate, not so much culture, is a silent profit driver

Workplace climate is overlooked and underappreciated — it is typically grouped with workplace culture, but the two are distinct and must be treated as so. A company’s culture is free-forming, not shaped through policy and methodology, but rather created organically. Climate on the other hand is studied, examined and implemented. Chances are, most companies don’t […]

Why it’s important to start investing in your future leaders today

Regardless whether you are a manufacturer, distributor, consultancy or technology firm, your staying power and ongoing success will ultimately be determined by one single factor: your future leaders. Most business owners recognize the critical importance of leadership, yet many organizations still fail to develop the leaders they will need to face tomorrow’s challenges. What should […]

How asset-based lending can assist growing companies

Asset-based financing can help businesses get critical funding when traditional lending avenues might not be available. “Perhaps they don’t have a strong balance sheet or good leverage. Maybe they have liquidity issues,” says Christopher Hill, senior vice president and team leader of the Capital Finance Division at Bridge Bank. “There are ways to structure a […]

Best practices for identifying and managing local and global legal risks

Companies are gathering data … from everywhere. They track website behavior, monitor social media feeds, and follow their customers’ digital smartphone trail. Even historically “dumb” devices are getting smart about data and collecting and transmitting it. For a company, this data is immensely valuable. It can help you improve your products, improve customer service, aid […]