Home-Based Businesses Continue To Grow

Home-Based Businesses Continue To Grow March 20, 2011 http://www.SmallBusinessNewz.com Have you noticed your home-based business growing? Let us know here

Home-Based Businesses Continue To Grow Mike Sachoff | Staff Writer Home-based businesses rebounding with economy Even with the difficult conditions that have characterized the U.S. economy over the past three years, the number of home-based businesses and corporate home offices has continued to increase, according to a new report from IDC. As the home office household landscape continues to change, so too does the type of technologies these households depend on. PCs will remain central to home worker productivity, and portable devices will continue to account for the majority of total annual shipments to this market; the number of notebook-owning home office households will increase by 5% annually — the highest growth rate of any home office technology category. Single-function printer penetration will continue to decline rapidly, reflecting home office households' growing preference for MFPs and their multiple capabilities. By the end of 2015, nearly three-quarters of networked home office households will be wireless-enabled. Smartphones are rapidly becoming an indispensable home office asset. "Home office households continue to spend more on advanced technology than households in general," said Justin Jaffe, senior research analyst for Small and Medium-Sized Business and Home Office Research at IDC. "With economic conditions continuing to improve, these households will continue to lead the way for technology adoption across a variety of categories from notebook computers and wireless networks to mobile phones." Additional findings of the study include: *The home office market will add nearly 2.0 million home-based businesses by 2015, with over 450,000 net new home-based businesses per year in 2013 and 2014. *The need to be more productive is translating into extended workdays for professionals, and the number of home office households used by corporate employees to work outside of normal business hours will surpass 27 million at the end of 2015. *Telecommuting continues to be an economic bellwether — when times are tough, many return to the corporate office, giving up potential productivity gains for closer daily contact with colleagues and supervisors. Improving economic conditions will lead to a net annual increase of approximately 180,000 telecommuters each year through 2015. New Foursquare Products and What They Mean Small Biz Owners Express Hopefulness To Sage Doug Caverly | Staff Writer Firm finds owners expect improvements this year Over the past few months, representatives from software and services firm Sage have visited with small business clients in four American cities, gauging their success and asking for their thoughts. Now Sage has formed a sort of outlook on the current state of things for small businesses, and it's not bad. Jennifer Warawa, the senior director of partner programs at Sage, said in a statement, "[A]ttendees indicated that while the construction and real estate sectors have taken a serious beating over the past couple of years, the real estate market is slowly coming back, and non-profits are regaining some momentum. While they are cautious, many small businesses are hoping that things will continue to improve in 2011." That's encouraging news. We've of course seen more than a few signs that the economy is recovering (and the Dow is up 0.67 percent so far today if you're interested in another positive tidbit), but word directly from small business owners has to carry extra weight. There are just a few potential problems to watch out for as everyone waits for things to return to normal. Warawa explained, "The top concerns voiced by our attendees were running their businesses on reduced staff, dealing with rising costs and regulatory issues, attracting and keeping new customers, waiting for consumers to start spending again, and finding ways to retain skilled employees." The four cities Sage toured were Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and New York, by the way, and Sage claims to support 3.2 million small and mid-sized business customers.

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