Small businesses are taking to emerging wireless equipment and technology faster than ever, including use of tablets, 4G devices, and mobile apps. Nearly all small businesses surveyed — 96% — use wireless technology in one or more forms, with almost 2/3 saying they could not survive, or that it would be a major challenge to survive, without them, according to the 2012 AT&T Small Business Technology Poll. Continue reading
Feb
15
2012
With the communications industry being in constant motion, it’s important to keep informed on the latest trends and topics affecting communication service providers. CHR will co-host three different webinars the week of February 20, to discuss two hot topics in the industry right now, Cloud Computing and USF Reform. Each webinar will provide an overview from the viewpoint of industry analysts followed by CHR’s recommendations on the best solutions to these challenges. Continue reading
Feb
08
2012
Mobile and Internet app growth has been scorchingly fast this past year and that’s creating jobs. There are now some 466,000 jobs in the U.S. ‘App Economy,’ up from zero in 2007, according to a study released by TechNet, a bipartisan policy and political network of technology CEOs promoting innovation as the key to a sustainable, growing economy.
Feb
02
2012
Approximately 15% of the rural telecom industry has been told by the FCC that their operations are just not efficient enough. In some cases, individual expenses are the object of the FCC’s attention, in others the past investment has been identified as excessive. Kinda reminds me of the Seinfeld show’s Soup Nazi “No soup for you” policy. Regardless, what makes me, at minimum shake my head in wonder, or in the alternative, scream bloody murder is this: the new USF policy is NOT how FCC policy treated multi-billion dollar multinational telcos a generation ago. Continue reading
More than half of adult cell phone owners used them to help make purchasing decisions while they were shopping during the 2011 holiday shopping season. Just over half (52%) used their phone for at least one of three reasons, and 1/3 used their phone specifically to get information online – either to look up or compare prices – while inside a store.
While OTT providers show up clearly as potential threats on service provider’s radars, they would be well-served by paying close attention to potential competitive threats from “underneath” their core asset, the network. So says STL Partners in its 32-page “Telco 2.0 Report.”
Jan
20
2012
Flying from Orlando after the OPASTCO Winter convention, I am contemplating the many take-aways from this meeting.
OPASTCO and NTCA will be offering a joint show this time next year and the organizations have announced they are in discussions to formally join forces. Is this the last standalone winter convention for both associations? If I were a betting man, I would say “yes”, regardless of the outcome of the unification talks.
In its first phase, the advent and diffusion of digital technology helped people and organizations improve productivity. The next phase of the information age revolution will shape who we are, writes Forrester analyst Brian Hopkins on his company blog.
Digital telecommunications and computing technology is effectively immanent – present everywhere, all the time – at least in developed countries, “… and savvy businesses are paying attention. When you spend that much time using something, it ceases to be a helper and starts to shape who you are,” Hopkins writes.
Apple traditionally hasn’t pushed its products in business enterprises to the degree competitors have, but the grass roots popularity of the iPhone, and now the iPad, among employees is driving adoption. Nearly 3/4 of U.S. small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) – those with fewer than 1,000 employees – plan to purchase tablets during the next 12 months, with the iPad considered the most popular choice, according to The NPD Group’s Q3 2011 SMB Technology Monitor.
Dec
30
2011
When you put the online activities of everyday consumers and small businesses into context, you begin to understand the phenomenal growth in cloud and managed services. Indeed, the cloud enables an unbelievable pace and rate of application usage.
