Official Mobile Security & Innovative Technologies Blog

Small Business: Is Your Company Biker Friendly?
Author: Eric Everson

It’s that time of year again when motorcycles are out in full force. Whether you’re in the U.S. or the U.K. bikers are enjoying the warm weather after a long winter pause. For entrepreneurs and business managers alike, making concessions for motorcycle riders can greatly improve your business.

Though I am the innovative technologies blogger “Mobile Tech” my other great passion is motorcycling. Motorcycles have been a driving force in my life for as long as I can remember. All of my life, everything else stands still around me when a motorcycle comes into view. I’ve recently learned to harness my moto-obesssion in the form of BikerAwareness.com, so I’m staying professionally connected to what I love.

As a motorcycle rider I’ve seen an increasing number of businesses begin to recognize the buying power of the riding community. The reality is that the old U.S. Motorcycle Safety Foundation adage is actually true, “Motorcycles are Everywhere.” While this means you should look for us on the road, you might also do your small business a world of good by catering to us too. Recently I’ve seen parking roped off or especially designated for motorcycles in some very interesting places. From mega-malls to Main Street, businesses are making it easier for motorcyclists to access their businesses.

The good news is though the term “biker” often conjures up negative rough-and-tumble images, that perception is rarely the reality. In fact bikers are some of the nicest and most generous people you’re likely to meet. Add to that, bikers are a very tight knit community so when we find a local business that caters to us we’re quick to spread the word. If your small business could use a summer boost and you’re looking for a good way to differentiate from your competitive market, perhaps it’s time to consider that “Bikers Welcome” signage.

While I’ve got your attention, remember to look twice for motorcycles! If we could all get just one person to look twice for bikes, we could make a world of difference to preserve biker lives!

Cheers,
Eric Everson – aka: The Mobile Tech

Small Business: Project Driven Leadership
Author: Eric Everson, Founder MyMobiSafe.com

With the pressures of the economy weighting down on small business owners throughout the world, now is the time to implement business practices that promote success. As a small business owner myself and having worked with entrepreneurs for many years, there are many misconceptions that I’ve seen come to surface. One of the biggest misconceptions is that many small business owners often dismiss project management as a big business luxury rather than a tool for leveraging their own success.

As the founder of MyMobiSafe.com I know where you’re standing as a small business owner. You’re not looking to hire a six-figure salary seeking, PMP Certified, bells and whistles project team, but you are probably looking for an approach that will help you better manage your company through these hard times. For this I suggest a project-driven leadership (PDL) approach.

In a nutshell, a viable PDL approach simply pulls the best practices from the project management catalogue and tailors them to meet your small business needs. What a PDL approach recognizes is that the milestones of small business can be met through one project at a time. This may be a project as extensive as introducing a new product or may be as simple as changing the company logo. Borrowing from project management, a true PDL approach recognizes the definite beginning and end of each project within the context of the small business environment.

By nature projects are not processes, although some projects can be viewed as the sum of many unique processes. Implementing a PDL approach will allow you to utilize free project management tools such as OpenWorkbench to better track the resources, time, and cost of the projects you’re managing through your small business. Looking at your business objectives as an organized project can be a fun way to prioritize and bring a more formalized method of management into your small business. If you are new to project management, do yourself a favor and get the Project Management for Dummies book – despite the title, this is perhaps one of the best kept secret resources of corporate project managers the world over. You’ll want to learn the basics about project management before your go and transform your small business into a powerhouse Project Management Office!

With the weight of the world on your shoulders as an entrepreneur, adopting a PDL approach might be exactly what your business needs to take it to the next level. Project management isn’t reserved for big business, it’s a resource that any business owner can put to work – often for relatively no additional investment!

Your go-to guy in innovative tech,
- Eric E: aka The MobileTech


Eric Everson is a leading mobile technologies researcher and is the founder of MyMobiSafe.com. If you would like to contact Eric Everson for interview or with research related inquiries contact him directly at EricEverson@Hotmail.com.

Windows 7: Paint a Lemon and Call it Innovation?
Author: Eric Everson

In the automotive industry junk cars are dubbed lemons; these are the junkers that shady auto dealers repaint and polish just to make the cars more attractive to unsuspecting car buyers. So you’ve got to be asking why is a company like Microsoft (a company historically championed for their innovation) being compared to a shady auto dealer. In a nutshell, as you start to actually listen to the tech savvy experts of the world, you too will also begin to uncover that the new Windows 7 platform is surprisingly like the painted lemon you try to avoid when buying a car.

I have to admit, I really do have high expectations for Microsoft so it just makes me shake my head in disappointment to see yet another rush-job pushed prematurely into the software market. Like so many other software gurus, I have to admit that I too was secretly hanging on to the notion that the release of Windows 7 would right all (or at least most) of the wrongs that Vista introduced. As it seems if you were disappointed with Vista (arguably the worst blunder in Microsoft history) then I’m sure you’ll feel the woes of Windows 7 too.

With my intimate history of marketing innovative technologies, I have to say that tying the Windows brand to what is seemingly another junk version of Vista could be detrimental to Microsoft. Unfortunately, this is exactly what the executive powers at Microsoft have done. To make matters worse as many analysts have already noted, Windows 7 in many cases does not even incorporate the fixes that have been worked into Vista. Can anyone else see the buzzards starting to circle in the sky above?

Like I said, I have high expectations for Microsoft so this whole repackaging Vista as an innovative new “Windows 7” is a real let down. With companies like Google gaining traction hard and fast in the Operating System (OS) sector, I believe it’s time for Microsoft to revisit their roots of innovation. Surely the talent hasn’t all jumped ship, but from the looks of things an infusion of new blood might be exactly what Microsoft needs to regain its innovative capital. As it seems today, the stage of the OS sector is being set for a serious shake up.

It’s hard to say it better than InfoWorld’s Randall Kennedy as he noted, “Bottom line: So far, Windows 7 looks, behaves, and performs almost exactly like Windows Vista. And it breaks all sorts of things that used to work just fine under Vista. In other words, Microsoft's follow-up to its most unpopular OS release since Windows Me threatens to deliver zero measurable performance benefits while introducing new and potentially crippling compatibility issues.” Is Windows 7 just a painted lemon under the cloak of innovation?

Your go-to guy in innovative tech,
-Eric E: aka The MobileTech

Good Reading by Randall Kennedy: http://www.pcworld.com/article/153624/under_the_hood_windows_7_is_vistas_twin.html

Eric Everson is a leading mobile technologies researcher and is the founder of MyMobiSafe.com. If you would like to contact Eric Everson for interview or with research related inquiries contact him directly at EricEverson@Hotmail.com.

Small Business: The Power of Tradeshows
Author: Eric Everson

The success of entrepreneurship is often achieved by getting your business or products in front of the right people at the right time. For most entrepreneurs that dilemma sounds simple enough to resolve until the rigorous reality of daily business begins to consume and otherwise capitalize your valuable time. Finding time for networking can quickly become a daunting task for even the most skillful business managers.

What many entrepreneurs find is that tradeshows offer exactly the opportunity for communicating their brand and connecting with “the right people” that they are looking for. Every industry has its share of tradeshows (conferences, expos, consortiums, etc), so the most important thing to consider is which one fits your business best.

Naturally some tradeshows carry greater overall industry visibility than others, but all too often paying for a pricey booth at a major tradeshow might not really be the best investment for your young business. Let’s say for example that you are a new entrant in the mobile industry looking to make some viable connections within the U.S. market. The biggest tradeshow in the mobile industry in the U.S. has become the CTIA Wireless show (web address below). The problem is that despite the high booth fee, you might still get stuck back in a low traffic corner with poor visibility for your brand. Instead of the mega show where your startup brand will be hard pressed to outshine the displays and events of the industry titans, you might consider a smaller show that caters toward the same industry segment but isn’t as notorious. For a young company in the wireless sector the Mobile Business Conference might be a better fit.

In essence this is the same thing celebrities consider when they decide which red carpet events that they want to attend. Some are interested in the A-List theatrics of the bigger shows while others prefer the more intimate gatherings of smaller shows. No matter whether you’re in the mobile business or show business, there is certain to be a tradeshow in your industry that fits the needs of your small business. A tradeshow can be a total waste of time and money if you chose the wrong venue, but likewise they can be an incredible vehicle for growth too! To borrow from that age-old adage, simply look before you leap.

Your go-to guy in innovative tech,
- Eric E: aka The MobileTech

Here are the links as promised:
CTIA: http://www.ctia.org/

Mobile Business Conference & Expo: http://www.mbconf.com/

Eric Everson is a leading mobile technologies researcher and is the founder of MyMobiSafe.com. If you would like to contact Eric Everson for interview or with research related inquiries contact him directly at EricEverson@Hotmail.com.

Small Business: iPhone Goes Small Business!
Author: Eric Everson, Founder MyMobiSafe.com

Perhaps you’ve seen the latest iPhone commercial which shares all the ways that the iPhone can cater to small business owners? If not, check it out at http://www.apple.com/iphone/gallery/ads/. What I love about this is that it brings function to small business users that might not otherwise have integrated a mobile element into their businesses yet.

Let me say that even though I am a long-time fan of the iPhone, it’s not quite ready to replace your Blackberry or Palm… yet. This campaign marks another bold move for Apple into the highly competitive realm of phones targeting business users. In fact I might go so far as suggesting that if Apple continues to improve the iPhone Operating System and continues to integrate key business-friendly features that the iPhone could become a top contender in this market too.

Naysayers of the iPhone suggest that the phone is based on aesthetics more than functionality, but this is exactly what Apple is setting out to prove otherwise. Anyone that has adopted Apple products into their life knows that function is the core of their design. What’s more is that they do look great too! I’m hopeful that the next gen iPhones will correct many of the quirks that hold it back as a viable business tool. In the interim, if you watch this new commercial I think you’ll agree that Apple is gearing up to make a big splash in business-focused handsets. If you are a small business owner looking for a new handset, the iPhone might just be exactly what you need to introduce a mobile element into your company.

Your friend and innovative technologies guru,
- Eric E

Eric Everson is a leading mobile technologies researcher and is the founder of MyMobiSafe.com. If you would like to contact Eric Everson for interview or with research related inquiries contact him directly at EricEverson@Hotmail.com.