Business Owners' Holiday Plans Innovation, Frustration Color Recovery How Many Jobs Do Small Firms Make? Health Care Debate and Call Centers Managing Your Workforce Needs Small Businesses Downsize Space Customers will get their holiday cheer this season, but despite greater workloads and more stress, employees and charitable organizations may find their stockings empty, a new survey suggests. While they continue to slog through the longest economic downturn in decades, companies are no longer making cost-cutting their primary focus. Innovation is now front and center. When looking at data on the share of employment small businesses account for, numbers produced by the U.S. Census on small business employment and numbers from ADP don't match up. Health benefits for the vast majority of contact center employees are paid for by employers. Here's a look at how potential health-care changes may impact different aspects of the industry. Workforce optimization, which is comprised of call recording, quality monitoring, workforce management, e-learning, and increasingly speech analytics, is a good investment. There's a downsizing trend under way at many small businesses: Moving to smaller offices because of shrinking staffs and as more workers telecommute, and many say they're saving money. FULL STORYFULL STORYFULL STORYFULL STORYFULL STORYFULL STORY
House Lawmakers Push Ban on Peer-to-Peer Software Stung by an embarrassing electronic leak revealing ethics investigations into dozens of lawmakers, Congress moved to prohibit federal employees from using the file-sharing software blamed for the disclosure.
GAO: Los Alamos Computer Security Has Weaknesses Security weaknesses uncovered in Los Alamos National Laboratory's computer network increase the risk of a classified-information breach, says the Government Accountability Office.
Computer Security Firm Fortinet Plans IPO This Week Fortinet plans to go public in an initial public offering, giving investors a chance to tap a network security provider with sales that are expected to grow. The IPO could be valued at $137.5 million or more.
Enterprise Hardware Spotlight
Flat Shipments Hurt Dell Despite Increased Earnings Dell's earnings are up and expectations are solid, but the company's stock still took a hit after analysts signaled the company isn't playing a key role in the PC market recovery.
New Pogoplug 'Personal Cloud' Does Social Networking Cloud Engines has released its newest version of the Pogoplug, a small "multimedia sharing device" that connects hard drives to the Internet and allows a user to access the files remotely.
Apple Tablet Rumored Delayed as Publisher Gears Up There have been so many rumors of an Apple tablet that it has taken on legendary status. But now the legend is being revised with reports of a delay and that a major publisher is getting ready.
Mobile Enterprise Spotlight
Review: $100 Palm Pixi Is Stylish But Sluggish Palm is fighting harder than ever to snag a chunk of the smartphone market, and just six months after releasing the stylish Pre it's back with a lighter, petite and affordable version called the Pixi.
TV on the Go Leaves a Little To Be Desired You have to really love TV to spring for a portable TV like the FLO TV Personal Television. This brand new FLO handheld is a dedicated television you might schlep in addition to a phone.
AT&T Fires Back at Verizon with 'X and V' Commercial AT&T isn't holding back in responding to attacks from Verizon Wireless. After losing a court fight to stop Verizon from airing 3G commercials, AT&T is responding with its own commercial.
Enterprise Technology Spotlight
Flat Shipments Hurt Dell Despite Increased Earnings Dell's earnings are up and expectations are solid, but the company's stock still took a hit after analysts signaled the company isn't playing a key role in the PC market recovery.
Smartphones: A Bigger Target for Security Threats Smartphones are increasingly prevalent and adept at handling more tasks, including trading stocks, paying bills, and buying stuff online. That makes them attractive to thieves and hackers.
FBI Says Hackers Targeting Law Firms, PR Companies Hackers are targeting law firms and public relations companies with a sophisticated e-mail scheme that breaks into their computer networks to steal sensitive data, often linked to large corporate clients.