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Microsoft’s New CEO (Satya Nadella) and Small Business. 8 Small Business Experts Weigh In.
With the recent appointment of Satya Nadella as Microsoft’s new CEO, what will the world of small business look like for Microsoft.
While Microsoft Office is still the dominant office productivity software for businesses, large numbers of small businesses are using cloud based software to power their small enterprises. Google and a range of other vendors are massively leading in this transition.
Microsoft’s Office 365 is gaining traction – but how much traction is the question and will it be of any significance to Microsoft.
Bing is still a shadow of Google in the mind share for local business search.
While the operating system is important for many businesses, they really just need a browser to access and manage their business. Microsoft must continue to educate on the benefits of Windows 8.
To Microsoft’s credit – it has a powerful reseller community – with local experts who can train and support small businesses. Microsoft has the breadth and depth of services that only a large company, not a startup, can provide. Other tools in Microsoft’s arsenal including Windows Phone (yet iPhone and Google are massive contenders), Windows Server (yet server-less offices are on the rise).
What should Microsoft be doing for small business owners? I asked this question to a few friends of mine: Carol Roth, Gene Marks, Melinda Emerson, Anita Campbell, Rieva Lesonsky, Steve Strauss.
Carol Roth, CNBC Contributor, Entrepreneur and Bestselling author
http://www.carolroth.com/
My one piece of advice is not to abandon loyalty in the face of innovation. Small business owners, like me, have been using Microsoft products loyally for decades. However, with every update to core products like Microsoft Office, we need to re-learn how to use them. User interfaces, keyboard shortcuts and more seem to change to keep pace with trends. However, as a small business owner it is both frustrating and time consuming to have to continually change the way we interact with products. We are spending too much time adapting to tools that are supposed to save us time and make us more productive. I am all for new features, but there is a tremendous importance of keeping loyal consumers happy. Feel free to add new variables, but always allow customers to work and interact with products in the manner they are accustomed to so that we can focus on running our businesses.
http://www.genemarks.com/
Anita Campbell, CEO, Small Business Trends LLC
Melinda F. Emerson – @smallbizlady
Brian Moran, Small Business Growth SpecialistDon’t just tell business owners about your great technological advances; show them how to use these advances to make their businesses more efficient. Too many companies struggle with understanding how existing technology can save them time, money and hours of stress and frustration. As Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt told his students “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!” As you move forward with your company, be the quarter-inch hole for small businesses.
The post Microsoft’s New CEO (Satya Nadella) and Small Business. 8 Small Business Experts Weigh In. appeared first on Small Business Technology.
Source: http://www.smallbiztechnology.com/archive/2014/02/microsofts-new-ceo-satya-nadella-gets-advice-from-8-small-business-experts.html/
