A post a Small Biz Trends encourages business owners to explore telecommuting options with their employees by looking at some important tips.  Two of them in particular caught our eye:

Consider Providing the Tech

If your employees deal with a lot of sensitive data, such as customers’ financial information or medical records, it may be worth providing laptops and smartphones.

When tech tools are company-provided, you can control what software is installed on the devices, regularly update the software and install patches. You have less control when employees use their own computers and devices, which may be shared with family members and riddled with viruses.

Investigate Cloud Storage Thoroughly

If you use cloud storage to provide telecommuting employees with access to data, make sure you know what level of security the cloud storage provider offers. Also make sure you know what responsibility they take if your data is breached.

Head over to Small Biz Trends to read the other eight tips.

Mr. Janezic [who owns a carwash] also installed sensors linked to FileMaker on each location’s eight drums of carwash chemicals — windshield bug removal solutions, pre-wash chemicals for tires, waxes, glass cleaners — to monitor their use. The new system improves quality control, he said, and it can also send a text message or email alert should, say, a valve stick open, potentially draining a $250 drum of soap.

Read the whole case study at the NYT Small Business Blog.

Photo from here.  Fireworks at Schofield Barracks.

When building a business, time and energy will often be in short supply. This means you won’t always have the luxury of making a fully informed decision. Since collecting and analyzing data consumes resources, it’s important to weigh the benefits of a data-driven decision against its costs. If the data-driven path will cost more than the value of its potential upside, don’t bother.

Robert J Moore, When the Cost of Big Data is Too High

Via Bloomberg Businessweek.