Apple Business Essentials, a new service available today in beta, brings device management, support, and storage into one complete subscription for small businesses. (November 10, 2021)

In a press release, Apple says the new service brings together device management, 24/7 Apple Support, and iCloud storage into flexible subscription plans for small businesses with up to 500 employees.

The company also unveiled a new Apple Business Essentials app that enables employees to install apps for work and request support. According to Apple, the service supports small businesses through the total device management life cycle — from device setup to employee onboarding and device upgrades — while providing security, prioritized support, and secure data storage and backup.

“Small businesses are at the core of our economy, and we’re proud that Apple products play a role in helping these companies grow. Apple Business Essentials is designed to help streamline every step of employee device management within a small business — from setup, onboarding, and upgrading, to accessing fast service and prioritized support, all while keeping data backed up and secure, so companies can focus on running their business.”

Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Enterprise and Education Marketing

Simple Setup and Onboarding with Collections

Apple says the new service is “a complete solution that makes employee onboarding simple, allowing a small business to easily configure, deploy, and manage Apple products from anywhere.”

Within Apple Business Essentials, Collections enable IT personnel to configure settings and apps for individual users, groups, or devices. When employees sign in to their corporate or personally owned device with their work credentials, Collections automatically push settings such as VPN configurations and Wi-Fi passwords. In addition, Collections will install the new Apple Business Essentials app on each employee’s home screen, where they can download corporate apps assigned to them, such as Cisco Webex or Microsoft Word.

Strong Security with FileVault, Activation Lock, and User Enrollment

With Apple Business Essentials, it’s simple to maintain strong security across the organization. IT managers can enforce critical security settings such as FileVault for full-disk encryption on Mac, and Activation Lock to protect devices that may be lost or stolen — and Apple Business Essentials ensures these aren’t turned off by mistake. When employees use a personal device at work, User Enrollment creates cryptographic separation for work data, to ensure employee data remains private while company data remains secure.

Secure Storage and Backup with iCloud

Apple Business Essentials provides a dedicated iCloud account for work, providing simple and secure storage, backup, and collaboration on files and documents. Business data in iCloud is automatically stored and backed up, making it easy to move between devices or upgrade to a new device.

Support and Repairs with AppleCare+ for Business Essentials

Businesses have the option to add fast and reliable service for employee devices with prioritized Apple Support. When a business adds AppleCare+ for Business Essentials to its plan, they get 24/7 access to phone support, training for both IT administrators and employees, and up to two device repairs per plan each year. Employees can initiate repairs directly from the new Apple Business Essentials app, and an Apple-trained technician can come onsite in as little as four hours to get their devices back up and running.

Flexible Subscription

A set of three Apple Business Essentials plans enable businesses to cover every employee and device in their organization.

Plans can be customized to support each user with up to three devices and up to 2TB of secure storage in iCloud, starting at $2.99 per month, with optional AppleCare+ for Apple Business Essentials. (AppleCare+ for Business Essentials is not available during the free beta period; pricing to be announced)

Availability

Apple Business Essentials is available as a free beta starting today in the US. The service will be fully available in the spring of 2022. For beta information, see: apple.com/business/essentials.

Video: Promotional video provided by Apple

Image: Apple

The pandemic has transformed every kind of small business — buyers, sellers, virtual-webinar-attendees, you name it — into Zoom users.

This afternoon, the company reported revenue for the quarter was $663.5 million, up 355% year-over-year. The company made as much money in May, June and July as it did in all of 2019, beating even the high anticipation of Wall Street.

It is hard to imagine how much work-oriented teleconferencing could have taken place — including small business — without Zoom.

Indeed, a recent outage of some of Zoom’s conferences demonstrated the vulnerabilities of virtual classes and office meetings during the age of the coronavirus pandemic.

Analysts and reporters like Minnesota Public Radio’s Market Place’s Meghan McCarty Carino are asking if Zoom’s phenomenal success can continue.

Will Zoom Be a Sprint, or a Marathon?

While low-cost and easy to use teleconferencing has transformed it into a must-have business tool for the present, it’s not guaranteed that Zoom will be the long term winner.

While it receives high marks for its ease of use, there are plenty of examples — including products from Google and Apple and Facebook — that short term success doesn’t always lead to longterm market domination.

However, in the short term, small business owners who need a simple teleconferencing solution will likely keep Zoom zooming.

Earlier this year, we covered the initial launch of CallJoy, “a virtual phone agent for small business owners.” CallJoy is being developed by Google’s “Area 120,” an in-house product development workshop. Today, the CallJoy team announced a major upgrade in CallJoy features, according Bob Summers, general manager of the product.

“We are greatly expanding our capabilities and releasing a smarter, more intuitive agent that can assist callers by asking a simple question: ‘How can I help you?’ Then, the agent intelligently responds based on the caller’s answer.”

Bob Summers, CallJoy

Owners or managers of local small businesses can enter a set of expected questions or phrases and define what action the agent will take when those phrases are used. The more information a small business owner gives to the agent, the smarter and more responsive CallJoy becomes, says Summers.

For example, a caller might ask a restaurant’s agent, “Do you have vegetarian options?” If the small business had entered the phrase “vegetarian” into CallJoy and defined a verbal response for the agent, the agent could respond, “Yes! Our menu has vegetarian and vegan-friendly choices. Can I text you the link to our online menu?” 

The agent not only “speaks” an answer, it can send a link and then continue the conversation or connect to the business’s phone number.

Features include

• “How can I help you?”: CallJoy’s phone agent can now ask customers this simple question and answer intelligently based on the caller’s response. (i.e. caller: “Do you have outdoor seating?” CallJoy: “Yes! Would you like me to text you a link to set up a reservation?”)

• More control over call answering & actions: Businesses can choose whether the CallJoy agent answers calls immediately, after a set number of rings or only after hours.

• Call transcripts & insights: CallJoy automatically records, transcribes and provides insights about every customer call, which small businesses can use to make better business decisions and train employees.

For a detailed summary of features and pricing, see CallJoy’s Frequently Asked Questions.

Marketing video and images supplied by Google Area 120

The financial consequences of a data breach can be particularly acute for small businesses. The study revealed significant variation in total data breach costs by organizational size.

$204 | The per-employee breach-related costs for organizations with more than 25,000 employees
$3,533 | The per-employee breach-related costs for organizations with between 500 and 1,000 employees

Thus, smaller organizations have higher costs relative to their size than larger organizations, which can hamper their ability to recover financially from the incident.

“Cybercrime represents big money for cybercriminals, and unfortunately that equates to significant losses for businesses,” said Whitmore. “Companies need to be aware of the full financial impact that a data breach can have on their bottom line –and focus on how they can reduce these costs.”

Some of the top findings from this year’s report include:

• Malicious Breaches | Over 50% of data breaches in the study resulted from malicious cyber attacks and cost companies $1 million more on average than those originating from accidental causes.
• U.S. Breaches Cost Double | The average cost of a breach in the U.S. is $8.19 million, more than double the worldwide average.
• Healthcare Breaches Cost the Most | For the 9th year in a row, healthcare organizations had the highest cost of a breach – nearly $6.5 million on average (over 60% more than other industries in the study).

Lifecycle of a Breach

279 days | The average lifecycle of a breach
206 days | Days between the breach and the first identification of the breach by the company
73 days | Days it takes for the company to contain the breach.

Healthcare organizations in the study had the highest costs associated with data breaches.

$6.5 million | The average per-organization cost of a breach in the healthcare industry was over 60% higher than the cross-industry average.

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Mastercard announced Friday (June 12, 2019) that it is expanding globally its partnership with the business software company, Zoho. According to Mastercard’s media release, the partnership will enable small business owners to have access to Zoho’s comprehensive array to software products and services. The Mastercard, Zoho partnership will provide global access to a business-solution suite of 40+ integrated business and productivity applications.

“We are excited to partner with Mastercard, a company committed to empowering small business owners across the globe. said Sridhar Vembu, CEO of Zoho Corporation. “This partnership connects small businesses to the innovative applications that enable them to access, manage and analyze real-time information that are critical to their success.”

“Mastercard and Zoho together are able to pair our smart solutions and scale them to address some of the challenges small businesses owners face every day,” said Zahir Khoja, executive vice president, Global Acceptance at Mastercard. “(Small business drives) job creation, productivity and growth globally; it’s critical that we find partners and develop solutions that allow us to help small businesses succeed.”

According to Khoja, small businesses will now have access to various solutions such as resource planning and finance software, customer relationship management marketing solutions, and more.

Updated | November 12, 2019

“Recently, (Google) tested and discovered that small businesses receive an average of 13 phone calls every day. If you apply that average to America’s 30.2 million small businesses, that would equal roughly 400 million incoming daily calls to local businesses from consumers placing a to-go order, booking an appointment, inquiring about inventory and more. “That’s why (Google) built CallJoy, a cloud-based phone agent that enables small business owners to measure, improve and automate customer service.”

Bob Summers
General Manager, CallJoy

Note: In this context, the term “phone agent” refers to a virtual Siri or Alexa that is narrowly focused on interacting (talking with) a customer.

CallJoy works like this

• After a quick setup, the small business owner receives a local phone number.
• CallJoy begins blocking unwanted spam calls.
• When the phone rings, the automated CallJoy agent answers, greets callers with a custom message and provides basic business information (like hours of operation).
• If the customer wants to complete a task which can be done online — like placing a to-go order or booking an appointment — CallJoy’s virtual agent will send the customer a text message containing a URL. For example, the agent may ask the customer “Can I send you our food ordering link?” If the customer says “yes,” the text is sent immediately.

• Whether the customer speaks with you or to an employee, or just interacts directly with the CallJoy agent, the call is recorded, encrypted and transcribed for quality purposes. This allows small business owners to tag and search each conversation based on topic. For example, a hair salon owner can search how many times a day callers ask about “men’s haircut pricing” or “wedding hairstyles.” From here, CallJoy compiles your data in an online dashboard and emails you a daily update, which includes metrics like call volume and new versus returning callers.

The recorded calls are also encrypted and transcribed, and these transcripts then become searchable in the CallJoy dashboard. The service works today with existing landlines, mobile phones, Google Voice lines or other cloud providers by routing calls to the business phone number.

Wait. Let’s check out the fine print

To start using CallJoy today, you will need to do something that few established business will do: Set up a new phone number.

Again for those who missed that last paragraph: To start receiving calls, USERS HAVE TO SET UP A NEW phone number — and your business information on Google must use this new number — including the website, business cards, online listings, ads, social media and anywhere else the number appears.

CallJoy is also tied to only one location and one phone number. Additional locations with their own lines can be added within the CallJoy dashboard, but businesses are charged per line. (For one line, there is a flat monthly fee of $39. )

Currently, CallJoy is available on an invite-only basis (a Google practice dating back to the launch of G-Mail). Businesses must request a spot on the waitlist from the CallJoy homepage. More invitation will be shared every day; eventually, the system will open to all.

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(Originally posted, May, 2011) We posted this article a few years ago as a guide to the icons found on mobile apps. In general, “icons” mean emoji for grown-up developers. If you notice a missing icon or wonder what one means, send us a link of where you see it and we’ll help all our users learn what the new or confusing icon  means: tips@smallbusiness.com)

As more and more people are using mobile devices to run their lives and businesses, the people who develop applications for these devices face a challenge. Smaller screens mean less space to use words that instruct the user where to go and how to use the mobile website or app. For that reason, a whole new visual language of small symbols called “icons” is evolving. These icons are supposed to convey to the user what will happen when they tap onto or click the image.

The only problem is, sometimes Developer A and Developer B use the same image for various things, or different images for the same thing. For instance, what does and “i” in a circle mean? How is it different from a “?” in a circle? Or, for that matter, an “!”? (We included that last one, as it’s an on-going debate we have among ourselves at SmallBusiness.com.)

Here are some common icons and what will likely happen when you click or tap on them. The following icons are from the folks at Font Awesome who have open-sourced them as part of development framework called Bootstrap that was created at Twitter and became an open-source project in 2011.

Cog, Widget or Gear

We started with this one because it demonstrates some of the confusion. First off, it’s a symbol that goes by different names. In the real-world, the symbol can mean “widget,” a word that has a meaning among developers that has nothing to do with that real-world meaning. On an app or website, it typically means “settings.” Click it and you can adjust something.

Wrench

This, also, is what we mean by a confusing icon, as it can, like the cog-gear-widget, also mean “settings.” For example, Google Apps used to have a wrench icon for settings but now uses a “cog-gear-widget.”

Envelope

An envelope should mean email, right? It may. Or it may have a broader meaning, like “click on this to contact us.” Look for one on SmallBusiness.com and click it and the latter will happen.

Right Swirving Arrow

This means share. Click on it and you’ll likely see a list of ways to post the content you’re seeing onto social media sites or email it to friends or co-workers.

Another Sharing Icon

Perhaps we didn’t mention that the internet has no governing board that controls how many symbols can mean the same thing, as this one means “share” also., but wait, there’s more.

Yet, Another Sharing Symbol

We feel certain there are some nuance differences in the two previous  sharing icons and this one, but on SmallBusiness.com, we’ve narrowed it down to the middle one. This one is especially confusing because it can also mean “print.” One day, this will all be worked out by the UN.

Exclamation Point

The exclamation point in a circle means, “take note and watch out.” If it’s in a triangle, it means “TAKE NOTE and WATCH OUT.” Or, if it’s part of the logo of SmallBusiness.com, it means, “here’s your answer!”

Home

This should be obvious. It means, click here to play a game of Monopoly.

Ellipsis

Sometimes (say, if you use Google+), you may even see a stack of ellipses. We’re guessing this icon is a visual pun that means “the stuff we couldn’t…fit here.”  Clicking or tapping on the icon will reveal options related to what you are currently viewing. (Coincidentally, the next icon means and does about the same.)

Parallel Bars (hamburger or a stack of hamburgers or hot dogs)

When used as a navigational icon, either of these two “lists” mean there are lots of things the app or website couldn’t fit on a tiny screen. Typically, if you click or tap on them, some form of the navigational bar will slide in from the side or top.

Pencil

This means “edit” pretty much anywhere you see it.

Triangle in a Circle

This is a play button icon. That, or a cattle ranch brand.

Circle Arrow

This means refresh. Refresh means stay on the same page, but try to make it work, this time.

A Dot with Two Curved Lines

This is an RSS icon. It’s a magical tool that far too few people use. If you want others to be more informed than you, ignore it.

Magnifying glass

This means “search.” Even if you don’t see a search box, click on it. In fact, you can test what we mean by looking for one at the top of this screen (depending on the device you are using). Tap or click on it. We promise a search box will appear.

Beer Mug

This icon means “turn off your computer and go have a beer.”

Previously on SmallBusiness.com | “Infusionsoft Launches Propel, a DIY Marketing Automation Platform for Small Business“

“With the introduction of our new Keap product, we are able to serve an even larger market of small service providers who have been shut out of the benefits of automation because software providers have made it too hard and expensive.” said Keap COO Keith Reed.

Targeted at small service providers such as interior design, home repair, fitness or business consulting, “Keap automates repetitive sales and client-related tasks like appointment scheduling following up on leads/quotes, and collecting payments,” according to Reed.

“As part of a multi-year company and product transformation, we set out to better understand how small businesses meet customer demands today,” said Keap CEO Clate Mask.

Some features of the new Keap software

• Organizes and centralizes customer information and daily work in one place 
   
• Frees small businesses from repetitive tasks to save time
   
• Helps small businesses provide great service to their clients –

Photos: Keap by Infusionsoft, GettyImages

NEWS & WEATHER

CNN
CNN’s Apple Watch extension lets you browse news in 12 different categories, all of which can be set to your preference. (Free)

DARK SKY
Dark Sky’s Apple Watch app is not a downsized version of the main app. It provides a week’s forecast and will display weather notifications on rain, extreme weather, or government alerts. ($4)

PODCASTS & RADIO

CASTRO PODCAST PLAYER
Working almost like an email client for podcasts, the Castro app makes it easy to log, download, and listen to podcasts, no matter how many you subscribe to. The Apple Watch app lets you control playback, including choosing new episodes to play. (Free, in-app paid features)

TUNEIN RADIO
This Apple Watch app provides access to 100,000-plus radio stations featured on the iPhone TuneIn app. (Free)

TRANSPORTATION & TRAVEL TOOLS

UBER
Everything you normally do on the Uber iPhone app can be done from your wrist on the Apple Watch.

TRIPIT
The Apple Watch version of the excellent online app of Tripit. Compiles trip information including flights, hotel reservations and car services into one list.

ITRANSLATE CONVERSE
Tanslate your words into another language directly from your Apple Watch. Say what you want to say into the watch, and it will translate the phrase into one of 38 languages. Includes a visual, text-based translation. (Free for trial period, then a subscription fee)

WORK TOOLS

CURRENCY
Convert one currency into to another currency, all without using your iPhone phone. (Free)

CANARY MAIL
A third-party email clients for Apple Watch. Reading email, quick replies, dictation. With Apple Watch Series 3 with 4G LTE — it will sync email without your phone. (Optional encryption: $10)

CALBOT
Make it quick and easy to perform calculations on the move, without the need to grab your phone. ($2, more for additional themes)

EVERNOTE
The Watch app receives notifications and reminders, lets you view notes and update them, and create new ones using dictation.

DRAFTS
Grab text from anywhere, or dictate it on the move, and share it with almost any other app or service. Dictate it directly to your Apple Watch, view the result, add more, and save it in your inbox. ($20 Subscription)

CHEATSHEET WIDGET
Take a quick note, called a cheat, then it’ll appear as a complication on your chosen Apple Watch face. The app also integrates with iMessage on iOS 10 and has a widget for your iPhone. An in-app purchase unlocks iCloud syncing, too

FANTASTICAL 2
Calendar and reminder app that goes all out on the Apple Watch, allowing you to add events using dictation, view upcoming calendar entries, and have it all displayed in a Watch face complication. ($5)

MICROSOFT POWERPOINT
With PowerPoint for the Apple Watch, you can go forward or back, pause, or end the presentation without touching your phone.

SLEEP & RELAXATION

HEADSPACE
Headspace offers guided meditations to help you relax.

SLEEP CYCLE
A companion app to the Sleep Cycle app for the iPhone. A silent wake up alarm based on sleep phases, plus a snore stopper feature. This uses vibrations to encourage a position change, minimizing snoring. (Free, more for in-app features)

GettyImages | Apple.com

“Weak passwords, reused passwords, and poor organizational password management can easily put sensitive information at risk. A good password is the first line of defense against cyberattacks.”
Emmanuel Schalit, CEO of Dashlane. 

The password management platform, Dashlane, recently released statistics related to 2018 password usage (and outrageous blunders) of the year.

200 | The average numer of accounts that require passwords maintained by an internet user.

Dashlane’s “2018 Worst Password Offenders” list, from worst to best:     

1. Kanye West: He was captured unlocking his iPhone with the passcode “000000” during his meeting at the White House. 
2. The Pentagon: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found numerous cybersecurity vulnerabilities in several of the Pentagon’s systems. Among the disturbing issues was that a GAO audit team was able to guess admin passwords in just nine seconds.
3. Cryptocurrency owners: There were several news reports of desperate cryptocurrency owners who went to extreme measures (including hiring hypnotists) in their attempts (and mostly failures) to recover/remember the forgotten passwords to their digital wallets.
4. Nutella: Nutella encouraged its Twitter followers to use “Nutella” as their password to celebrate World Password Day.
5. U.K. Law Firms: Over one million corporate email and password combinations from 500 of the country’s top law firms available on the dark web.
6. Texas: Over 14 million voter records were exposed on a server that wasn’t password protected. Information from 77% of the state’s registered voters was left vulnerable.
7. White House Staff: A White House staffer wrote his email login and password on official White House stationery — and then accidentally left the document at a Washington, D.C. bus stop.
8. Google: An engineering student from India hacked one of Google’s pages and got access to a TV broadcast satellite. He didn’t need much skill — just the ability to log into a Google admin page on his mobile device in using a blank username and password.
9. United Nations: U.N. staff were using Trello, Jira, and Google Docs to collaborate on projects, but forgot to password protect many of their documents. 
10. University of Cambridge: A plaintext password left on GitHub allowed anyone to access the data of millions of people being studied by the university’s researchers. 

Here are lessons you should learn, says Dashlane Emmanuel Schalit.

1. Password protect all accounts: Whether it’s a server, email account, or an app, you should always secure your data with passwords as they’re the first, and often only, line of defense between hackers and your personal information.
2. Use strong passwords: Never use passwords that are easy to guess or that contain names, proper nouns, or things people can easily research about you.
3. Never reuse passwords: Every one of your accounts needs a unique password. 

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