NxBizSuccess » Measuring Potential

Enabling a Virtual Office

Tonia Franklin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:54:38 +0000

By Randy BargerPublished: October 1, 2009
Posted in: 2009 Fall, Technology, Expand Omaha Magazine

In today’s economy, companies want to cut costs while maintaining current productivity levels with possibly fewer employees. That’s a tall task, but new technologies are allowing companies to create virtual, online working environments that are secure and easy to use while providing better performance and functionality than a traditional computing environment.

In a traditional computing environment, all employees physically come to an office to work on computers purchased, configured and managed by the company“s IT staff.

This computer management is a huge undertaking that“s necessary to keep data safe and computers running smoothly. Personalization and flexibility are sacrificed for security and performance.

The alternative is to deliver computing desktops and applications online to any computer – anywhere, anytime – that remain physically separate from an end user“s computer, transforming it into just an access point or terminal.

For more of this article, please visit http://www.expandomaha.com/2009/10/enabling-a-virtual-office/

What in the World is a Wiki?

Tonia Franklin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:49:06 +0000

By Denise McGill Published: October 1, 2009, Expand Omaha Magazine
Posted in: 2009 Fall

It’s no secret that internal collaboration and knowledge management are the keys to business growth and success. Accomplishing both is no small feat given the dynamic and ever-increasing demands companies face today. Plus, there’s the difficulty of implementing and enforcing processes to effectively support your interactions among employees as well as with prospects, customers and partners.

Fortunately, wikis can help. Wiki software is used to create websites that allow multiple users to create, modify and organize web page content in a collaborative manner. Wikis are perfect tools for companies that need to manage these critical relationships. Your collaboration processes and technologies must keep pace with – or, ideally, stay ahead of – changes in your market and customer base.

Wikis are easy-to-use, flexible tools that enhance existing work flow processes, rather than requiring re-engineering. As such, wikis present an opportunity to revolutionize workplace collaboration, much like e-mail has revolutionized communication.

For more of this article please visit http://www.expandomaha.com/2009/10/what-in-the-world-is-a-wiki/

NBDC Offers Free Research Services

Marilyn — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:46:40 +0000

If you need high quality industry research and market data, Nebraska Business Development Center in the College of Business and Technology will provide it to you at no cost. A typical report provided to business clients would cost almost $1,000 if bought separately from other providers.

The licensed resources can provide timely financial data by sales or organizational structure within an industry sector, detailed GIS demographic and economic data for a geographical region, company market penetration by industry and geographical area, and detailed national industry reports with trends and projections. Compare your own business performance to the industry. Get a better look at the market and coming trends. See how demographic and economic characteristics are forecast to change.

Contact Odee Ingersoll, Director, Nebraska Business Development Center, College of Business & Technology, University of Nebraska Kearney. Phone: 308.865.8429

Doing Business Where?

Marilyn — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:39:34 +0000

Interested in conducting business is another country? Do you need to find more information about the country’s business practices and policies? Here’s a web site that can help with the international research process: Doing Business.org

Subnational and regional Doing Business reports capture differences in business regulations and their enforcement across locations in a single country or region. They provide data on the ease of doing business, rank each location, and recommend reforms to improve performance in each of the indicator areas. Select from over 183 economies, either by country or region. Compare rankings in starting a business, construction permits, registering property and enforcing contracts. This website lets you download subnational and regional Doing Business data, reports, and the ranking simulator to assess the impact of the reforms.

Market Research Tool

Marilyn — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:02:17 +0000

Need local market research information? Headwaters Economics, an independent, nonprofit research group based in Bozeman, Montana has developed an Economic Profile System (EPS) that is free to the public. The easy-to-use website allows users to produce socioeconomic profiles of their communities, counties, and regions. The information is available through a downloadable software package or you can select to receive a finished PDF version.