Business Bytes
Renee Oricchio

Signs You Need A Tech Makeover

 

AT&T is having a "tech makeover" contest for small businesses.

To enter, a business (with less than 100 employees and located in the United States) has to upload a two minute video pitching their case why they need a makeover, along with the online application.

You have until the end of August to enter. The winner gets a makeover consultation by a technology expert and loads and loads of new technology gizmos; everything from a Windows Server to AT&T's full palatte of digital business tools (web design, hosting, Digital Express Direct Mail Extreme Membership, etc.).

Here's the link and good luck with that.

This would be a tough contest for many businesses to enter. Oh, there are plenty of small businesses in need of a technology intervention. But, how many realize it and have a clue what exactly they are lacking?

Here are some signs you may be living in the last millenium:

1. Is your company web site still a stagnant brochure site with no interaction with site visitors?

2. Are your employees using bare bones cheap no frills cell phones for business because that's all you will expense, while they whip out their personal iPhones and Blackberrys to keep up with sports scores and movie times?

3. When was the last time you ran any analytics on that brochure site?

4. Are all your employees still working primarily in the office tethered to their cubicles with a desktop PC?

5. Have you ever used web conferencing?

6. Are you still storing all your data on site?

7. Are you too cheap to pay an IT consultant to come in and declutter all the hard drives, as well as install recent patches, etc.?

8. Do you ascribe to the "if ain't broke, don't fix it" approach to technology or do you invest in new technologies that will streamline your business and save you money?

You get the idea. If a number of these questions made you inwardly cringe, you probably have your answer by now.

For most businesses in need of a technology "makeover", the truth is they likely need a technology attitude adjustment first.

Renee Oricchio is a technology writer and former supervising news producer for CNN Financial News. She has been covering the computer industry since 1987. @oricchio