In Brief

SAGE RELEASES TIMESLIPS 2008Sage Software has released the latest version of its billing application, Timeslips by Sage 2008. The new offering allows greater capability for determining when clients should be billed based on billing criteria set up by users.

New user-defined accounts receivable and funds reports allow businesses to create customized summary and itemized reports within Timeslips, eliminating the need to export data into Microsoft Excel. The new version also allows users to view multiple customers on the program's main screen, and once users print out their bills, the corresponding labels and envelopes will be printed out as well.

For more information, visit www.timeslips.com.

TECHNOLOGY KEY TO SMALL BIZ SUCCESS: STUDY

Technology will be even more critical to the success of small businesses in 10 years, according to a study sponsored by business and financial management software provider Intuit.

The second installment of the Intuit Future of Small Business Report, authored by the Institute for the Future, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based think tank, focused on how technology will propel and transform small businesses by identifying three trends: small business management will increasingly be "on my time" and "on my terms" for owners; the evolution of the Web will fuel small-business formation, operations and innovation; and the small-business marketing approach will shift from "push" to "pull," with an emphasis on providing customers and prospects with the information they need, when they need it.

According to the report, intelligent devices - equipped with computing, storage and sensing abilities - will be used more to improve the delivery of goods and services, while freeing business owners from mundane tasks, and the emergence of analytic tools will increase productivity and ease management burdens, the report predicted.

The high cost and complexity of technology will decrease, leading to an expansion of new business applications.

The report also stresses that a small business' online presence is the most important factor in gaining new customers.

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