(This column originally appeared in Forbes)
Here are five things in tech that happened this week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?
1 – Best small business accounting software of 2023.
According to a review of the most popular small business accounting applications, the best overall accounting software for 2023 is QuickBooks. Wave makes the list for its accessibility to basic accounting tasks at no cost. Freshbooks is tagged as the best software for freelancers. For the rest of the list, visit the link. (Source: U.S. News)
Why this is important for your business:
This is a good list to consider if you’re looking to purchase or replace your accounting software. I strongly recommend working with an experienced partner or accountant versed in the application to help you choose and implement. Also look for an application with a wide community of support and add-on products and, if you think your business is going to significantly grow, one that is scalable.
2 – Apple, caught by surprise in generative AI boom, to spend $1 billion per year to catch up: Report
Apple will be financing its generative AI workplan to the tune of $1 billion per year as reported by Bloomberg. With recent developments in the AI department from other tech giants like Microsoft – by comparison Apple is behind the ball. The company plans to focus on developing AI integration for features like Siri and Apple Music. “Ajax” – the company’s large language model – has been in development with millions per day being invested. With the game-changing advancements that have been made between Microsoft and Google, Apple has quite a bit of ground to cover. (Source: CNBC)
Why this is important for your business:
Clients frequently ask me about Apple’s AI plans, given that Microsoft, Google and OpenAI seem to be getting all the attention. Apple is mostly a consumer products company so their AI strategy is going to be focused on improving those offerings. Of course many businesses use Apple products too so there’s some overlap. But for most of us, Apple’s AI enhancements will more impact our personal lives rather than our professional lives.
3 – Watch out for fake IT workers.
A disturbing story out of St. Louis has called attention to the level of fraud that can occur in virtual working relationships. A group of IT workers – who posed as Americans – were discovered to be North Koreans who were financing a weapons program in their home country. According to special agent Jay Greenberg, head of the FBI field office, “thousands” of Korean IT workers were unknowingly employed by American companies. Those involved use false identities to secure remote contract work with part of their compensation given to “ballistic and nuclear missile programs.” Details include an identity theft discovery connected to one of the workers. The FBI has broken up the operation seizing $1.5 million in the process. Part of the reason elaborate scams like this are successful – the culprits can hide their location by infiltrating networks with local IP addresses. (Source: Riverfront Times)
Why this is important for your business:
This is a reminder to be very careful who you’re employing to do work for your company. There are many good platforms that offer freelancers from all over the world to do work very inexpensively, but you can’t just rely that those platforms are truly vetting those workers.
4 – Small businesses suffer a record number of cyber-attacks.
Writer Phil Muncaster shared important data from the Identity Theft Resource Center, based on a study done of 551 business owners. Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) said they were hit with a cyberattack last year. Curiously – as Muncaster points out – less than 30 percent follow best practices such as MFAs (multi-factor authentication). (Source: Infosecurity Magazine)
Why this is important for your business:
The majority of these breaches involve employee or customer data – which can be catastrophic not just financially – it also impacts customer trust as the respondents also shared. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency offers guidelines for small businesses on implementing cybersecurity protocols.
5 – Study: Blogs appear most often in Google top positions.
Website Bright Edge Data found that blogs appear “23 percent of the time” in the top 5 Google search results. Their results were based on 10,000 key words relevant to 10 industries – (such as banking, real estate, and marketing) – excluding homepages, blogs appeared 20 percent of the time in top searches. (Source: Search Engine Land)
Why this is important for your business:
It’s worth noting that video content only appeared 7 percent of the time based on their data. The takeaway is the blog format is a valuable tool for maintaining a virtual presence or growing an audience. “To be successful in this new world of generative AI content creation, you will need a deep understanding of your audience,” Jim Yu, BrightEdge founder, said.
