The future of computing and how we use our computers and attach to the internet is changing. Gone are the days of cumbersome laptops, slow dial up internet connections and being left without the internet when travelling. Now we demand and expect internet access everywhere that we go and can just about get it anywhere. If we are without internet access for more than a few days we feel lost, out of communication and worried about what we are missing.

But, how do these changes affect the ways that we will be doing business in the future?

For a start, people who depend on internet access for their business can rest assured that almost everywhere they go they can keep in contact with their business. If you sit down for a while to wait for a plane, it is easy to grab a netbook and connect up to the airport’s WIFI system or use a mobile broadband dongle to get internet access.

Whichever you choose, you are then back online. A holiday is no longer a true holiday away from the pressures of work, but for small business owners this can mean that you are arriving back at the desk after a couple of weeks away from it all with all of the main emails read and replied to. Personally, although this means that I am not away from the business for more than a couple of days, it does mean that arriving back at my computer after a holiday is not such a stressful task as it has been. The benefits of the holiday are not lost in the first 5 minutes of putting your machine back on.

For the small business owner this mobile office can also give more freedom. I do not need to be at the computer all of the time to respond to enquiries, send out quotes and generally nurse my business. I can pop down to the golf course and check the emails at the cafe before I go for a game. As soon as I have finished, I am back in touch. Likewise days out with the family become less of an intrusion to the working day so you can fit in more days out!.

There are other benefits of the mobile office. Not all businesses have good broadband access in their point of work and many shops have not put in place broadband connections, so running an e-commerce website means processing orders at night and despatching the next day. Not only is this eating into time at home, it immediately loses a day during which the goods have been despatched.

Instead, a cheap netbook and a dongle will ensure that orders can be checked a couple of times a day. Maybe even just gathered in shortly before the packages need to be sent. Likewise, loading new stock and managing stock control on a website become easier, with the possibility of fully integrating the POS system with the sales system of the website. This not only means the website can be managed in quiet times of the day, but also it is right up to date.

The future of our computing is changing rapidly. If you want to know more about mobile internet and its uses in businesses, do pop over to our website at janric.co.uk or visit our internet marketing blog.

Written by Keith Lunt

Those who are following my goings on recently might know that I am taking part in the HAHD challenge at the moment - basically writing loads of different articles. And one of the main subjects of the last batch was Whitby, hopefully these will all be approved and released shortly.

Whenever we are there we always end up going past the arcades and popping in to play for a while on the games. There’s plenty of choice, from Quicksilver Games to the good old horse racing, but my daughter’s favourite is the cash waterfall style of game. She spends ages in there spending my cash and waiting for the overhanging coins to fall off. Usually she can be pretty lucky and last time it took me weeks to spend the 2p coins - and my pockets were heavy with them.

At least she has not yet got into the bigger Quicksilver Games - I can imagine here really enjoying them, but we will just keep her to the waterfall machines for now. At least with them she can see them progressing and she knows when she is not onto a winner and when to stop.

Thanks for the inspiration to today’s sponsor, but do remember to take it easy with the gambling!

Many business owners wonder whether a website can help them. My answer is yes! Almost every business can be assisted by an online presence.

These days, people have a total fascination about researching what it going on and who they are dealing with. And all of this research is completed on the internet. This absolute fascination is uncovering information is, of course, pushed by services such as Twitter and Facebook, with encourage the users to share their movements and thoughts on a regular basis. This proliferation of available information has developed a culture of reading and almost obsessing about what other people are doing.

So, how can this help the average business? Obviously, for those with a product to sell they can advertise the product and make it available to purchase online. Retailers can even drop their expensive shop fronts and just sell from a more cost effective unit somewhere, using the website as their customer facing product.

But for many small shops this is impractical. They might still have hundreds of product lines and loading and maintaining these on a regular basis can be a nightmare. For these, a small brochure website that gives an overview of the business would be enough to satisfy people’s desire for more information. Add to this a Twitter feed and a link to a Facbook page and you are giving your customers plenty of reason to visit your website and be involved.

Brochure style websites are very popular at the moment as they can introduce customers to the services around. Not every website can provide the full purchase information and not every business is suited to a full all singing all dancing website that sells the product online. I have dealt with a variety of people who just need a brochure website. One good example of this is home insurance. All of the big websites will provide quote tools that will give visitors the quotes automatically online. But there are also big name insurance providers who will just accept the visitor’s contact details and then call them back for a quote later on. For the small insurance borker, this is a perfectly acceptable way of getting online quickly and cheaply and benefit from the effects of the internet.

It is not just people who have a product to sell that can benefit directly from having a website. A new customer has a concept that he wants to get known to manufacturers. His intention from the website is that it might get noticed by a few people and get them talking. He hopes that by generating interest in his theory people will get to know about the advantages and maybe some of the big manufacturers might take up the idea, which is the result of his lifetime’s work!

For many businesses there are the possbilities of really making more from your business by getting an online website sorted. By then mentioning the website in marketing etc, customers get to know about the site. If you then give them a reason to visit the website, some people will come along and could just increase your bottom line. By giving discount codes and vouchers on the website or by giving details of the latest special offers and new products on the website, then these people have a reason to visit your website.

Combine these efforts with other techniques such as the major social networking sites of Twitter and Facebook and you can draw in visitors. Other services such as utube can also help a modern business draw in new and existing business for an increase in profitability.

For most businesses, a website is essential!

Keith Lunt