Randall Kenneth Jones: Never underestimate the power of imagination
If there is one casualty of our increasingly frenetic business lives, it’s the decline in time devoted to simply think, listen, inspire and create. After all, can any business thrive without a healthy infusion of fresh ideas and creative thinking? In the late 1980s, friends, beach enthusiasts and retail-industry veterans Bob Emfield and Tony Margolis […]
John Marshall and AirWatch ride high atop the mobile technology wave after undergoing a timely transformation
After four years, the inability to manage change often results in the premature demise of 37 percent of information industry startups. John Marshall, co-founder of AirWatch, sees the validity of that statement, but relishes in the fact that his company isn’t a part of the statistic. It’s a modern day miracle that a small firm […]
Why you can’t treat social media like a road trip
The idea of driving aimlessly seems glamorous in movies and songs. In reality, few of us get in a car without knowing how to reach our destination. We’ve created smartphone apps, GPS devices and satellite mapping to make our trips as efficient as possible and to avoid what we know to be an inconvenient, expensive […]
Suzanne Sitherwood and The Laclede Group have the pedal to the metal concerning growth
Growing up on military bases, Suzanne Sitherwood felt right at home when she started in the oil and gas industry as a co-op college student working as a field worker for Atlanta Gas Light Co. “I was out on trucks, in the dirt, with pipes and meters and so forth,” Sitherwood says. “Growing up on […]
Five tips businesses can undertake to protect information security
Businesses that don’t consider themselves likely targets of cybercrimes should think again. Criminals view businesses as prime targets. According to a recent Internet Security Threat Report from information security firm Symantec, 31 percent of all targeted attacks are now directed at those with 250 employees or less, a threefold increase from 2011. One reason smaller […]
SS&G: How to make the most of your year-end tax planning
Before year’s end, taxpayers need to talk with advisers about their personal tax situation — wages, interest income, dividend income, capital gains, pass-through income from a business and other deductions. This preliminary road map can be used to make appropriate decisions. “Years ago, I went through a projection with a client. We didn’t move the […]
Brouse McDowell: How purchase agreements have changed in the digital age
It used to be that buyers would send out purchase orders with standard terms and conditions, and sellers would ship the product with invoices containing their own conditions. Now that more business is conducted online, conditions are agreed to by click-wrap — clicking a box to accept the terms of the website. That causes problems […]
Cendrowski Corporate Advisors: How an experienced investigator performs background due diligence
When trying to learn about an individual, many companies turn to online background checks. However, this could be a mistake as much of the available information may not be fully verified, which is why many businesses turn to a licensed investigator to help provide a more complete and accurate picture. Smart Business spoke with Theresa […]
HealthLink: Cutting-edge tools employers can use to build affordable health plans
Although some aspects of the Affordable Care Act remain uncertain, the act overall is driving the health care market to figure out ways to control costs and allow employers to continue to offer health plans, says Mark Haegele, director of sales and account management at HealthLink. As a result, managed care companies are increasingly utilizing […]
Michael Feuer: What’s a leader’s single most important skill?
What would it take for a company to succeed if its leader could effectively do only one of the following: innovate, instigate or administrate? We all know that an innovator is the one who sees things that aren’t and asks why not? The instigator sees things that are and asks why? The administrator doesn’t necessarily […]