STAFDA 2011 Session Preview: Technology Update
How are STAFDA members using technology to support and enhance their business
operations?
This education program, presented by Jeff Gusdorf, CPA, principal at BSW Consulting, the STAFDA computer consultant, will help to answer those questions by presenting the results of our survey of STAFDA members and will discuss how you can implement these technologies in your business.
We’ll start with a discussion of mobile technology. Smart phones have become a standard tool for staying connected to the office. But what are your peer companies using them for, how does tablet technology figure into your future, and how has the “consumerization” of software affect the user and IT departments?
Next, we’ll focus on cloud computing. Software companies are spending billions of dollars and are making this the future of their companies. Hewlett Packard is getting out of the hardware business to get into the software business. You need to know about this new technology and what STAFDA members are using it for. What are the most important benefits that can be realized by using cloud technology, and what are the biggest concerns that need to be addressed?
We’ll talk about technology and how it has changed how we sell and market our businesses. Every business has a Web site but not everyone knows how to analyze the traffic that comes to their site. We’ll talk about how to implement Web analytics so that you can find out. Then we’ll talk about using e-mail marketing, online tradeshows,
blogging and webinars to complement your online presence and drive more traffic to your site.
We’ll talk about social media and which sites are the most important for you to be using. There may be services available that you don’t even know about (unless you have some 20 year olds working on marketing).
Finally, with all of this on-line activity, we’ll talk about security and business policies that need to be in place to ensure the proper usage of these tools. CS
Jeff Gusdorf is president of BSW Consulting Group and STAFDA’s technology consultant. He can be reached at www.software4distributors.com or http://bswllc.com.