Moneylines - News Briefs for Businesses

Many business owners forgo salaries to stay operational

Layoffs, mandatory furloughs, procedural streamlining. These are all ways companies have tried to cope with the recent recession. Some business owners, however, are going a step further by eliminating their own salaries from the payroll. Of 727 small business owners and managers surveyed by American Express’ Small Business Division, 30% confirmed that, to keep their companies going, they were no longer drawing a salary.

Businesses struggle with slower customer payments

Given the struggling economy, you may have spent much of the year thus far pressed between creditors demanding payments and customers hesitating to make them. If so, you’re not alone. Of 1,085 companies surveyed by the Credit Research Foundation earlier this year, 79% reported noticing a greater sluggishness in customer payments. Maintaining open, friendly lines of communication with both customers and creditors can help ease the pressure of trying to maintain that tricky balance between receivables and payables.

“Cloud computing” drifts onto many companies’ radars

What if you could get all of your business software as well as data processing and storage needs met simply by sitting down at your desk and opening up your Internet browser? That’s the concept behind “cloud computing” — and business owners are catching on. A report issued by IT consultants Access Markets International Partners states that about 31% of midsize companies surveyed were using cloud computing. That’s about twice the amount reported in a similar 2004 study. As long as you know what you’re getting for your investment, cloud computing could be a feasible way to cut hardware and office space costs.

At-work Internet surfing may not be all bad

For years now, business owners have frowned on workers who use the company’s Internet connection for personal reasons. But a recent study of 300 workers done by the University of Melbourne found that the 70% of those who admitted to at-work Web surfing were actually about 9% more productive than the 30% who said they stayed offline. Although the matter clearly remains open for debate, and there are security concerns involved, doing a little surfing during a break might be an effective way for employees to renew their concentration.

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