Black Business Month: Technology Tools

Technology is the great equalizer for modern business. Through technology small businesses can compete and reach markets that were never available to them in prior years. The business world has seriously gone global.
Those who use technology need some essential tools to maximize its usage for business success. The following is a list of tech essentials:
Laptop/ PC: this serves as the base of your online operations; from outgoing messages and email blasts to billing and accounting software like Quickbooks, you need either or both of these working for you.
Smartphone: you have a lot of choices. Blackberry, Apple's iPhone, HTC and Palm. I use the Palm Pro with Windows Mobile. Email, text messages, Internet surfing, and lot of other bells and whistles that I cannot even keep up with. Discover what you need for your business to run smoothly on the go.
Website: Check out www.bravenet.com because they have web tools and platforms for web design; need to add a calendar to your site? Start here. Yes, you can use Google calendar and sites but this is one option among many.
Social Networking: you need a profile beyond your About Us page on your website. Linked In, MySpace, and others provide a platform for you to provide a profile and interact with others online. I am a big fan of Facebook. it just has the type of platform that I find well worth the time and effort. Twitter also let's me get some ideas out there about business, sports, and whole lot of other things. FaithFreaks is a Christian network that I like almost as much as www.urbanministry.org.

There are other tools that we can use, but these are just the essentials.
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