I delivered a talk on a national conference on e-commerce, and I was told to inform the audience what are the new technologies that would be applicable to small and medium size businesses.

While I do understand that there are some businesses that are always on the lookout for the hottest and new technologies, the point is that at the end there are many technologies that are ‘hot’ but hardly practical– at its current stage or application, some just might not be that help.

What is important for small businesses is that a large part of them still have not mastered the ‘basics’ — meaning in every business, how you manage your important assets – be they cash, receivables, inventory, fixed assets, human resource, customers or information is really key.

Managing these is hardly ‘cool’, and nowadays, we don’ thear a lot of ‘cool’ features on how to manage receivables better, or how to keep track of fixed assets well, yet, this is the stuff that great companies are made of.

As an entrepreneur, we want to show people we are ‘cool’, and we are up-to-date, but especially in most industries particularly in technology, the entrepreneur is normally somebody who thinks their technology is unique and the best, and they think they can win in the marketplace solely on their passion and talent.

While it does give you an edge, it is important that you don’t neglect to get somebody who can take care of basic operations and management very well. Somebody in the company should be in charge of the ‘boring’ stuff, and make sure it is done well. I can recall so many companies who think they have the best and latest, but who just went out of business because they simply don’t listen very well, or did not know how to collect their receivables.

This post itself is not a ‘cool’ post, just a subtle reminder that we should not be too taken away by technology, and at the end, a good business can still be a good business even without the latest technology.

At the end, genuinely liking people and your customers, and making sure you care for them, and you remember to greet them good mornings, or their birthdays, and make sure that the customer is people get heard is important than the most advanced Customer Relationship Management or Human Resource Information Systems.
Based on the nods in their head, I knew I hit a nail on the head. Many of these businesses were losing customers simply because their sales people are late in their appointments, or forget to follow up on their promises. That is obviously something that even the most sophisticated systems can help, but can never fix.

For me, the best hotel is still the place where they clean well, responsive to your request, and is unobtrusive when you don’t want them to be. Businesses is after all, still about people…