Reporter's Notebook

Don’t Miss the Tech Train

Read this and weep: The majority of small business owners do not have a website.

“Something like 70 percent are not online,” said David Steinberg, a spokesman for Vancouver-based web-registrar Dotster Inc. “The Y and X generations are doing it (more) themselves, but a lot of people still think they have to call their geeky cousin or nephew to do it.”

I know many small business owners hardly have time to check email, let alone set up and maintain a website. This is even the case with web designers. But avoiding the IT side of your business can cost you – tech-wise as well as in marketing and sales.

Here’s more from a 2008 Microsoft survey of small business owners:
* 89 percent said professional communications (which often depend on tech services) are important to their business.
* In the United States and France, small businesses are most likely to not have any tech services, both at 9 percent. Only 3 percent of Russian small businesses have no tech services.
* 37 percent use Hotmail, Gmail or Yahoo! rather than business e-mail services.
* 56 percent want more virus and spam protection.
* 44 percent believe they would benefit from mobile e-mail and shared calendars.

It’s unfortunate that IT sits on the back burner because useful web tools are becoming more accessible, affordable and integrated into everyday activities. Investing in a tech support staffer (or outsourcing one) and using web tools can help any business save and make more money.

Don’t miss the train, folks. Tickets are not as expensive or hard to get as you think.

--Charity Thompson can be reached at cthompson@vbjusa.com