Facebook is making changes again -- and this time it is targeting small business owners. "The social network launched an initiative called Facebook Fit, a series of 'boot-camp' like events to help smaller business leverage online tools including Facebook Pages," USA Today announced on Tuesday, May 6. Facebook is not just blowing smoke; key technologies can easily guarantee the ongoing success of small businesses. What exactly is Facebook proposing, and what are some similarly essential technologies?

It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and most businesses are looking for the edge they need to get past the competition. As many find out the hard way, you need more going on than a lot of Facebook likes in order to start generating more profits and reducing the daily costs of operations. What can your company do in order to create better, sustainable management practices? Here are three tips.

Is your st artup business doomed to fail? Statistics say yes. According to Forbes and Bloomberg, eight out of 10 new businesses go under within 18 months or less. The silver lining, perhaps, is that entrepreneurs make the same -- avoidable -- mistakes. The odds may be stacked against you, but there are some ways you can fight back and come out on top.

 

This week, Staples made the surprising announcement that it will close 225 of its North American stores by the year's end -- a move that sent chills through stockholders, as shares dropped over 10% before markets opened. The recession had done its damage to the industry, which faces increasing competition from online retailers.

It's important to constantly re-evaluate your business to see what can be improved for profit longevity and future growth. "Business has only two functions -- marketing and innovation," Czech writer Milan Kundera once said. It's true that marketing and innovation are the heart of what makes a business relevant to consumers, and therefore successful. How can you continue to innovate your company? Here are three possible solutions.

If you're one of those individuals who has to sit and wonder "what is PLM software" when asked, you're probably missing out on something that could provide you with a number of benefits to your business. Product lifecycle management systems are used to examine and manage the lifecycle of a product, from its initial conception, to the very end when it is no longer of use to anyone.

Over the past 20 years, it seems that technological improvements have been occurring at a constantly increasing pace. As soon as you finally learn to use all the features of you new smartphone or table, its already been rendered obsolete by a sleeker, faster, smarter, "easier to use" version with twice or three times the memory.

Product lifecycle management programs are essential for companies interested in compiling data on product creation, development, and marketing that can be used during the production of other products, to reduce both time spent on production, and the costs associated with production. The software associated with PLM solutions utilizes engineering tools to allow several processes to take place simultaneously, making product production as much as 70% more efficient. It's hardly surprising that the product lifecycle management industry is worth about $25 billion. There is little argument to be made about whether PLM solutions are worthwhile. Instead, we're going to focus on PLM implementation plans for businesses that are ready to take advantage of quality PLM programs.

No product was dreamed up and launched in the same week. In fact, very few products are conceptualized and released even within the same year. It requires a lot of foresight to be able to examine every possible angle of a product before you make it available for customers to begin using, and all that scrutiny takes time -- which can end up costing your company money. But that's why product lifecycle management was put in place, to help you work more efficiently as you head toward your big new launch.

Cutting down on time

When you're running a business -- as the old adage goes -- time is money. Product lifecycle management systems allow you to expedite your researching phase, which cuts down the time it takes for the entire process of launching a product. In other words, a PLM system can record plenty of data, then organize it to reduce the time it takes to develop, and finally release, a product to the public. That means the entire process is covered, from the development of the initial concept all the way through design and manufacturing and, finally, the product's use.

Keeping the customer in mind

So, how do PLM companies organize these systems to keep the user at the forefront of the focus? Think of it this way: a user's relationship with any product has become very much an exact science. What PLM systems have allowed businesses to do is keep the user's best interests in mind -- before they spend large sums of money developing and implementing a new product. In short, they significantly speed up the process to help a company quickly develop the best products it can.

Protecting the potential user

Imagine sketching out an idea for a new product on a cocktail napkin, then creating it the very next day. You wouldn't simply put it out on the market the day after that, because you wouldn't know its potential problems, or if there are user liabilities to consider. Any new product demands a bit of rigorous testing in order to ensure users can't be harmed accidentally by using it. This is another important way PLM systems have been helping out businesses.

Tracking your progress

It's not just the product launch you have to worry about. There's a lot of money being spent on these items for them not to be financially worth it in the long run, so PLM systems can also help you keep tabs on product costs, sales history and any other numbers that play a key role in generating sales and revenue. If it's not going to be worth it, then why bother investing your time or money? PLM systems can help you determine if you're making a move that's both logically and financially smart.