Tag: Business technology

Creativity and the Business of Cretans

Rick_E_Norris_An_Accountancy_Corporation_Creativity_and_Business_Of_CretansI grew up in the 1960’s.  What a world.  JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations, Watts riots, Man landing on the moon, anti war protests, nuclear proliferation, Beatles; Hendricks, Dylan,Andy Warhol, bell bottoms, and psychadelic drugs.

Yet through all of this culture-changing events and people, we were lectured about watching “The boob tube.”

I recall when the color TV came out,how cool.  But, we still only had a handful of channels to watch in LA: channels 2, 4,and 7 were CBS, NBC, and the new-comer ABC.  Outside of those were the rerun channels, 5, 9, 11, and 13.  We hardly looked at UHF because nobody could adjust the circle antenae sticking out of the back of the TV for good reception.

Mathew Ingram’s Is modern technology creating a culture of distraction? discusses studies which paint our society as prolificating false online relationships, and short attention spans.  Raising four children, I can see that argument, but don’t agree that modern technology is the culpret.

Creative business people will blossum regardless of the era.  Fifty years ago, non-creative business people were just doing what was done by those before them.  They would not necessarily fail, but would not prospher like their competitor who used technology or personal resources to advance their strategic goals.

This is the same for today, except that technology has identified the business cretan.  If you choose to just do what those did before you, then your business will not surpass what they accomplished.  The fast moving technology will amplify and accelerate your demise.

Is this new technology turning business creators into cretans?  I would think not.  The creative business person will leverage technology and not usually succomb to the temptation of cretanism. I have worked with many business owners and executives that cannot see the cretan mentality.  They only want to know about two things about their businesses: 1) What are their sales; 2) Do they have enough cash to make payroll.

This buisiness mindset must be broken. The E-myth book is a good start.  If you find that you are not normally creative, find someone who is, but participate in the business creative process, don’t ignore it.

 

 

Phone Instead of Your Credit Card To Buy Something? Listen-up Small Businesses?

Rick_E_Norris,_An_Accountancy_Corporation_Phone_Instead_of_Your_Credit_Card_To_Buy_Something_Listen_Up_Small_Businesses

Hold on to your small business hats, things are moving even faster.   Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Monday that the smart phone will eventually replace the credit card.   This may come as a surprise to you, but Bill Gates predicted that and a lot more over 15 years ago in his book, The Road Ahead.  This advent of technology will have a lot of challenges to small business.  Some of the issues are things like, will a business have to pay any credit card fees for the transaction?  Obviously there shouldn’t be one of the merchant charges, because the phone may not be using the small business merchant’s number. What about security?  If someone uses a stolen phone, can they access the owner’s bank account to purchase small business merchandise?  Will the small business retain the same security as a credit card transaction?

The small and medium sized businesses should be looking at these developments closely, but not just compliance issues.  This type of new technology could give a small and medium sized business a competitive advantage over their rivals.  How?  Let’s assume that these transactions will not impact the small business as much as a credit card transaction.  That translates into a savings to the small business, and maybe the consumer.

Or, what about a small business advertising that they accept I-pad credit purchases?  That service can bring customers into their establishment.  Small and medium sized businesses can process their purchases without high-interest charging credit cards.

Small businesses must look at as many technological advancements as possible and ask the question, “How can this technology create a marketplace where the competition becomes irrelevant?”  The small businesses that jumped on the first ATM machines created an edge for a short time.  Now, you don’t need them.