Innovations in technology have provided businesses with ways to do things quicker and more effectively. Now new technologies are available for small businesses that were once only attainable for the larger, wealthier corporations. Whether it’s being able to instantly communicate with employees anytime and anywhere or selling products over the Internet, these technologies are providing capabilities for small businesses that were previously unavailable or prohibitively expensive. MODE interviewed three area businesses that specialize in these technologies. The following reveals what their products and services can do for your small business.

Sophia Dripps, Core Business Branch Manager of Cellular One, believes that cellular phones provide small businesses with the flexibility they need to communicate quickly.

Cellular phones, because of their portability, allow employees to call in wherever they are and retrieve and respond to important messages immediately. This makes businesses more timely and efficient in response to customers or other important business contacts.

Most importantly, Dripps stresses the fact that cellular phones do not have the limitations of traditional phones connected to landlines. "The nice thing about being totally wireless is it has no boundaries." She explained that you could be contacted with a phone call no matter where you are in the country. "You can be found wherever you go so you don’t have to wait for that important call. Your phone goes where you go. Whatever you do with a traditional telephone line you can do with a cell phone, you just don’t have to look for an outlet."

Cellular phones can even be used to access the Internet. You can log on the Internet with your laptop computer through your cellular phone and all you need is a compatible cable that links your laptop with your cellular phone. You can even receive text messages on your cellular phone that were sent through the Internet.

And, speaking of the Internet, that is a tool that is just starting to take off as a vehicle for selling goods and services. You do not have to be a computer programmer or computer geek to do it either. There are companies out there that can provide you with the technical expertise to market your businesses services or products on the Internet (or World Wide Web). Then anybody in the world with an Internet connection can see and buy your products or services.

One of those companies is MicroEnterprises of Camp Hill. Tod Shedlosky, is President of the firm, that will design and host a web page for your business. MicroEnterprises can place a web page for your business on his company’s servers (computers that store and provide access to the web site) so that it can be accessed on the World Wide Web.

"We truly are an [Internet] service provider in the strictest sense of the definition," says Shedlosky, adding that his firm works closely with each business to design a web site that is tailor-made to their needs. "We’re really very local, business to business, very personal," he said. "We pride ourselves in making it simple and easy to do business with us."

He explains that a web site for a business can provide a means to order and pay for its products with a credit card, and have the shipments ordered. The entire transaction, except for the shipping, is processed through the Internet. "Instead of picking up your phone and calling your service rep, you can get on the Internet and order your product 24 hours a day," he says.

Shedlosky dismisses fears about using a credit card on the Internet. He said security measures are now in place to make it just as secure, if not safer, to use a credit card on the Internet as in other transactions. He also says his business customers can be confident that their web site is secure on his company’s computers. "We have a secured facility and we adhere to the newest standards of Internet security," says Shedlosky, "We’re not working out of our living room where the cat box is next to the Internet server."

As more people connect to the Internet it is becoming increasingly profitable for small businesses to address their markets through a web site. And businesses like Micro Enterprises can help you navigate through the technical complexity of doing so.

The final business MODE interviewed was the Harrrisburg office of Metrocall. Metrocall is a nationwide company headquartered in Alexandria Virginia, that provides paging services to businesses and individuals. According to Alan Berkowitz, our contact, his company is now the second largest paging company in the United States with four million U.S. subscribers. Berkowitz states that his business helps small business owners (or anyone for that matter) keep in constant touch with those who are important to them through the use of pagers.

He explained that paging services can range from being notified of the telephone number of someone wishing to contact you to allowing you to retrieve voice and text messages and faxes. Whatever the method, Berkowitz is convinced that it is important for businesses to have the capability for instant communications, for "Communications are probably the most vital key to whether a small business in particular will succeed or fail and we offer a cost effective way of communicating in a wireless fashion."
Berkowitz mentions that alphanumeric pagers offer a low cost way to deliver messages. In addition to being able to retrieve someone’s phone number, this type of pager can receive a complete text message. He also stresses that these pagers are well suited for communicating with employees. "It enables them to stay in touch with their sales force, or anybody in their organization, and instantly alert them if anyone is trying to get in touch with them. And it gives you the full gamut of getting a message to someone." The ability to receive a text message could be a big time saver, according to Berkowitz. He says a complete text message can be retrieved by the pager making it unnecessary to call someone back. For instance, a message could state, "Your 4 O’clock meeting with Mr. Smith has been canceled. Return to the office instead. [Alphanumeric pagers] eliminate about 80% of the callbacks," Berkowitz says. "They got the message and now they can act on it."

Another interesting thing about the alphanumeric pagers is that anyone with a PC and an Internet connection can leave a text message on someone’s pager. The process involves going to Metrocall’s web site at www.metrocall.com. Then you go to the section where you can send alphanumeric messages. You will have to put in the person’s 10-digit pager number, which is an area code and a 7-digit phone number. Then you enter a message of up to 80 characters (letters and numbers) in the message field. After that, click "send page" and, according to Berkowitz, the person should have it on their pager within two minutes.

Berkowitz is enthusiastic about alphanumeric pagers becoming commonplace for businesses and individuals. The low price is the factor that Berkowitz believes will make these pagers an essential communication device. He said that alphanumeric paging services cost as little as $15 per month and the pagers can be purchased for around $80 or less. "We’ve had it for several years, we’re just starting to get momentum. We think it’s going to be the predominant method for paging." This is an affordable solution for the small business.

He notes that even more sophisticated services are available, such as pagers that can retrieve faxes and those that can enable two-way text messaging with a small keyboard. There is even one that alerts a person that someone is calling them on the phone. It will say, "John Smith is holding for you." It will keep John Smith on hold until the person with the pager can get to a phone. This is called "meet me/find me" paging service.