Retailers do; but should professional service businesses?

Visit our technology blog to learn how to help your company - no matter its size - be more productive by saving money and time or increasing your revenues. It's easy to comment or ask questions of our resident expert and blogger, Kevin MacArthur of Secure Networks. Click here to read the current blog entries.

As the Massachusetts job market continues to shift and evolve, so must the training, education and development of its workforce. For adults without a college degree or career-enhancing certificate, this evolution is now critical.

Everyone knows a contingent or temporary worker can act as a band-aid when a worker calls in sick or will be out on a long leave. But if that’s the only way you think of temporary employees, you may be underestimating their value as true pain relievers. Used properly, temporaries can cure all kinds of business headaches – from pressure headaches like meeting tight deadlines to migraines caused by bad hires.

What can you learn from this case study?

This area businesswoman is doing more than cutting expenses – she is building value for her customers and thinking way ahead

To state that it has not been a terribly good year would be a tremendous understatement. As a result, businesses can not sustain themselves with a ‘business as usual’ mentality.

Marketing expert Marti Barletta focuses on the huge and growing purchasing power of women in their prime year, who influence trillions of dollars in consumer buying decisions.

Economic downturns can have a tremendous impact on people and businesses. Yet many businesses have managed to grow and prosper during times when others were going under.

To succeed in the recession that is probably already underway, businesses need to run more efficiently and make themselves indispensable to their customers, believes Dr. Michael Goodman, director of economic policy and analysis at the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute.

Thanks to all of our exhibitors, speakers and attendees for a great event!!

Many of the workshop sessions are available to view or download - click here.

To view photos from the event, click here.

Check back often for additional session presentations and photos from Business Connect 2008

Did you miss a workshop of interest at Business Connect 2008? Many of the experts who spoke at Business Connect 2008 have made their presentations available to view or download.

Thanks to the following companies for their support of Business Connect 2008 - visit them on the Marketplace floor!

Don’t discount the over-50 set

Only 10 percent of all owners obtain the price they want or expect when the sell their business. The main reason for this: poor planning.

In July, Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law the Green Communities Act, a comprehensive energy reform bill resulting from close collaboration with House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray.

The Cape Light Compact’s Small Business Enhanced Incentives Program offers a free audit to identify energy saving opportunities for small businesses. Then, it provides rebates of up to 80 percent for efficiency upgrades.

You need to know your responsibilities

Analyzing your workers in order to avoid company and individual liability

Tips for recruiting the right people

How to uncover the hidden value in your business

Women need to take part in financial planning

While some people are ‘born leaders,’ others tend to back away from leadership roles for fear of the power or responsibility that comes with the role. The truth is that we are all leaders in some aspect of our lives and perform leadership duties on a daily basis. To be a truly effective leader, you need communications skills to negotiate and inspire people through change. Developing a strong repertoire of communication skills can help to advance your career as well as contribute to the success of all professional and personal relationships.

March 17th, 2008 -- Geek Girl Camp, a technology meetup for girls/women with a desire to educate themselves on computers, the Internet and technology, is holding its first educational endeavor on April 17th on Cape Cod, MA.

Comcast’s Adelphia acquisition, its new Plymouth call center and new voice and business services reflect its confidence in the region’s economic growth.

For years, large companies have relied on Microsoft tools such as Outlook and SharePoint to increase productivity. Using them, employees can access and synchronize e-mail from work, home or via mobile phones and laptops. They also can collaborate among themselves and clients by sharing calendars, documents and even project tasks.

Business owners are increasingly asking these questions: What is it that really drives performance and profitability, and how can we identify, quantify and measure all the assets of our company so that we can increase its performance?

October 26, 2007 -- The annual holiday predictions have been coming out and to no one's surprise the outlook is less than stellar.

Budgeting is a management tool for dealing with the future. It helps you turn expectations into reality. More often than not, businesses don’t prepare an annual budget, and then wonder why reality does not meet their expectations.

Customer service can determine success or failure for any business - good relationships with your customers will cause them to return again and again and recommend your company to others. Bad customer interactions can be a death knell, even if you have an excellent product or service to offer.

Corporate growth and prosperity is an elusive goal. To achieve prosperity, a number of factors must coalesce. Above all, three elements are essential to developing and maintaining focus, thereby leading to prosperity. They are: visioning, organization and execution.

On the Web, content is king. If you want people to visit, stick around and come back, give them substance to satisfy them.

It is so basic in business that we tend to ignore it. But how you communicate with your customers, employees, vendors and business associates can make or break your company. Whether it is that one-to-one elevator speech or a presentation you must make around a conference table or in front of a large audience, your communication skills can prove the competitive advantage.

You have your business plan in shape. You’ve studied the market and your competition. It’s time to start up your dream company or expand your operations. But a bank is not ready to give you the loan you need due to your personal financial situation – maybe not enough collateral or a poor credit history. What to do?

“My computer is acting up. It must be a virus.” You've undoubtedly heard comments like this, or even thought it yourself. In actuality, most computer glitches are caused by software conflicts or user error.

A personal computer's operating system is its brains. It tells your programs how to interact with your hardware, transmitting your intentions into words, calculations, photos, or any of the other tasks PCs handle.

There is nothing that improves the company bottom line faster than having employees motivated to do their jobs well, achieving success for the company and themselves. Without the right people, predisposed to excel in the right jobs, organizations won’t thrive as they should.

Thank you to all the exhibitors, speakers, attendees and associates who helped to make Cape Business Connect 2006 a resounding success. 

To view or download speaker presentations, click here.

Check back soon for additional speaker presentations and a photo gallery from the event.

Our guru shares some of the best advice he’s picked up recently.

At the Shepley Wood Products annual trade show, there was a particular buzz at the TD Banknorth booth. While neighboring exhibits boasted heavy equipment, window treatments and roofing supplies, the bank’s table was strewn only with baseballs. Hovering over them was Boston Red Sox great Rico Petrocelli signing autographs.

This is the second in a continuing series exploring leadership. Cape Business will interview many of Cape Cod’s most prominent business leaders during the coming year for our recurring Inside Leadership feature. We encourage our readers to nominate candidates for future interviews. In this issue, we talk with Kathleen Schatzberg, president of Cape Cod Community College.

What is the most important and necessary item to have when starting or running a business? Money, of course. Many entrepreneurs wonder how to get it, and how to keep it once they have it.

Business Connect articles and workshop presentations are now available online.