SMB

Looking for a franchise opportunity? The World Wide Web is overflowing with Internet-based businesses for sale. Searching for "Internet Franchising" in your favorite search engine will reveal dozens of Web sites promising both online business and franchise opportunities in a variety of Internet-base...

The creators of the peer-to-peer VoIP network Skype and the controversial file-sharing site Kazaa have unveiled their latest startup: Joost, an Internet TV company that they claim will revolutionize Internet-based television. Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom formally announced Joost Tuesday, after m...

The first computers were programmed by electrical engineers moving jumper cables around in the back of a giant mainframe. This is how the concept of a "bug" in software got started. A bug crawled into some of these wires, shorted a couple of them, and changed the logic of a program. In addition to...

With the convergence of security and compliance, businesses will evolve their IT infrastructure to include new technologies, such as database gateways, to achieve the level of data security required. Smart businesses will leverage this new technology to gain a competitive advantage.

For many online merchants, the holidays account for almost half their yearly sales. Small and medium-sized online merchants have a prime opportunity this gift-giving season to attract new customers and keep them coming back throughout the year. From browsing to buying, the Internet will play a large...

Unveiling a scaled-down version of its ID management software, IBM on Monday tapped into what it sees as a growing demand among SMBs for online collaboration and secure transactions with trading partners. IBM Tivoli Federated Identity Manager Business Gateway will allow authorized SMB users to secur...

The Internet has completely reshaped customer relationships. The transformation began with the dot-com boom, which spawned a new type of company whose entire business model was predicated on Web acceptance and usage. These companies -- Yahoo, Amazon, eBay and Google -- took advantage of the Web in a...

Yahoo Small Business, one of the most popular options for merchants to establish their first online presence, started to roll out a major upgrade Monday, revamping the way it gets merchants set up to focus more on immediate sales results. The e-commerce platform, known as Yahoo Merchant Solutions, g...

The business of providing small businesses with e-commerce hosting and support solutions is growing fast. The large-enterprise market is crowded, and competition is fierce. That has led an increasing number of e-commerce platform providers to enter the SMB end, where they are looking to establish fo...

Want to be your own boss? Got an itch to try your hand at e-commerce but don't consider yourself a techie? Maybe you've got an eye for style, the next big fad, or just useful products. Or perhaps you have the pulse of a particular space, as well as the sales and marketing savvy to put an idea to ...

Small businesses have their share of difficulties, but do they have any chance of succeeding in a world dominated by eBay, Amazon and the like? The short answer is yes -- if they combine the right mix of technology, marketing and customer service. "The goliaths of the online world are everywhere. Th...

Dell said Thursday it would change the way it prices its personal computers, drastically reducing the number of rebate offers. The move does not represent a pure price cut, according to Dell, but instead comes in response to complaints from small businesses and residential customers about confusing ...

Threats from hackers are converging -- not just coming in on e-mail, or over the Web, or via Instant Messaging (IM), but through all three media, simultaneously, heightening the threat level that computer users are facing. This week, MessageLabs released its "Q2 2006 Intelligence Report," detailing ...

Although comparison shopping motivates many a consumer to shop online, it's second fiddle for small businesses shopping on the Net, according to a study released by JupiterResearch last Friday. The most significant factor governing purchases on the Web by small businesses is previous experience or f...

In the early days of the Web, smart small Internet businesses could compete with just about anyone by working to make sure their Web pages were found first on search engines. Fast forward 10 years. Search engines have become increasingly sophisticated. Paid search listings have exploded into the pic...