The report goes on to note that 46 per cent of entrepreneurs under the age of 30 say that they try to figure out how to use technology themselves, versus using a manual or talking to experts, while older small-business owners tend to go rummaging for the instructions.
HP could have saved their money, since you can learn the same thing by going to Future Shop and buying most any high-tech product, including those from HP.
Gone are the multipage, multilingual manuals, replaced by a one-page "quick start" guide, and sometimes a CD or website with all the gory details. They know most people won't read the book, so why print it?
We are moving to a plug-and-play world, and of course the Gen Ys take this for granted. But there's a downside too. Want to see a panicky look on the face of a young person? Just spill a drink on his or her smartphone. After lovingly drying it off, they'll mutter about how they really should back up their contacts.
What we really need is a middle ground of technology that young and old can understand, use and appreciate. Even more important is that it be affordable, secure and virtually maintenance free. This is particularly vital for small companies. If you work for a big outfit, there's probably an IT guru who's got your back, syncing up your calendar and archiving vital information. Little guys are more on their own, and have to be smarter.
Some recent announcements hold out rays of hope. Take accounting, for example. Back in the day, this was something you had to hire a programmer to do.
Now, many small businesses use a product like QuickBooks Pro, but it's possible to grow out of that software. Making the jump to a major-league system such as SAP can be costly and time-consuming. California-based Intuit, Inc., which does significant R&D work in Edmonton, has just introduced an enterprise edition of its software. They also offer a web-based accounting software that starts at US$9.95 a month, with additional fees if you want to do things like payroll and accepting credit cards. At the really low level of online money management, free site buxfer.com is great for sorting out who owes money to the coffee fund.
Customer relationship management (CRM) is really the lifeblood of a business, and many are moving to a web-based CRM like salesforce.com. You can control who has access to these contacts, and they can be used on the go from a growing number of devices from BlackBerrys, to iPhones to PDAs.
For a more public profile, you might consider one of the businessy social networking systems like Plaxo, LinkedIn, Ryze, or Tribe.net. OK, Tribe is probably better for exchanging vegan recipes than selling oil rigs. Poke around all of them, preferably as an individual rather than a company, and see which matches your business personality.
There are even country-by-country differences in what people use, so consider where your customers are located. LinkedIn certainly seems to be the dominant one in North America.
There's one caveat - if you go online, do it right. Business advice sites correctly note that your profile is a 24/7/365 invitation for other people to connect with you, so try to make yourself as "attractive" as possible. This might include photos, product information, and, a key bugbear for me, phone numbers to allow people to actually reach you without relying on an email submission form. Don't just put up a skeletal front - you're shooting yourself in the foot, especially with new potential contacts, if you waste your exposure.
Obviously, you should Google yourself and your business to make sure you're being presented the way you want to be. You never know what you'll find.
Then there are domain names. If you missed out on your favourite in the dot-com rush, it looks like those wacky web entrepreneurs are giving you a second chance to grab some prime real estate.
Vancouver-based Webnames.ca has announced the imminent availability of dot-tel domain names, and urges companies and individuals to register their .tel now, "because popular company and individual names will be claimed."
The idea behind .tel is to give you a single, permanent point of contact for life (of yourself, your company, your Rotary Club, etc.) People looking for you will type yourname.tel into a web browser, and be presented with up-to-date contact info, including what social networks you're on, gaming IDs, location maps, and of course more mundane facts like email address and phone number. When you move, you can update it securely.
The company is now accepting pre-bookings, and in true entrepreneurial fashion is using the "land rush" model for pricing. From Dec. 3, 2008 to Feb. 3, 2009, registered trademark owners can pay a US$399 application fee, which "applies for all submitted applications whether successful or not."
You can expect coke.tel and pepsi.tel to be gone, because those companies would be foolish not to protect their trademarks. The next phase lasts through March 23, 2009, and you can register anything you please for US$375. The price drops to US$19.99 for the leftovers after that date. Whether this will be a fad or the next internet gold mine remains to be seen.
In a world where people won't bother to read an instruction manual, it may be that a single contact point is an idea whose time has come. Then again, .tel doesn't really give any information that you couldn't put on your own website.
With people worrying about paying their fuel and heating bills, it remains to be seen how many will line up for yet another business expense, just to make themselves easier to find.
(Tom Keenan is a professor at the University of Calgary and an expert on technology and its social implications. He can be reached at keenan@businessedge.ca)
