I love a catchy title! No. Seriously. I really do.

But certain things in business are worth reading, even if you know they’re not very exciting, and you just spread a fresh coat of paint and were hoping to sit back and watch it dry. Channel partner contracts are especially likely to be so excitement-challenged, but don’t let that unfortunate tidbit lull you into a false sense of security. After all, whether we’re talking about battlefields or legal contracts, landmines are never intended to be all that noticeable.

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Tags: advice, best, business, channel, contracts, practices, small

Just like individual people do, channel partner organizations come in a variety of different sizes. These range from small mom-n-pop shops to large integrators, with a full complement of variations in between. And if we paint the world with a very broad brush, we might be tempted to make certain assumptions about size and scale as we move towards selecting the right partnership for our company. There might even be some level of truth to those assumptions, but just as often, they can boomerang on us. Take these for example. You’ll notice that the advantages run in both directions, sometimes at the same time.

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Tags: advice, best, business, partner, practices, selection, vars

A combination of hardware and software firewalls provides a higher level of security

I got a call from my great aunt the other day. She wants to get online and has just bought a new computer. She’s heard her friends talk about bad guys on the Internet and asked me how she should protect herself. I told her she should get security gear for her computer before doing anything else. I explained that like the security gate at her apartment complex, computer security gear can prevent bad guys from getting inside.

That got me thinking about security for small businesses. What security solution should you use to protect your small business?

You need the equivalent of security gates for your network. Firewalls do precisely that. And though you’ve probably heard of firewalls for computer security, you may not know how they work and whether you should get one for your business.

How firewalls work

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Tags: business, firewall, security, small

For the last couple of years almost everyone with a job has felt lucky to have it.The economy has absolutely forced companies to make cutbacks, hold off on investments and squeeze more productivity from their staff.Every small business owner I know feels personally responsible for the well-being of their employees, as if they were family.I”m betting you made sacrifices in your business to keep employees.And your employees likely responded with support.We all knew that times were tough and that’s the way it was.But it seems times may be changing. Read More »

Tags: best practices, business, business advice, business development, business opportunities, efficiency, employee retention, employee satisfaction, leadership, network, recession, small, small business