MaaS360™

Small businesses employ just over half of all U.S. workers, according to the Small Business Administration. This accounted for roughly 60.2 million jobs in 2008. In previous recessions, small businesses led the economic recovery – from the number of new start-ups being founded to the number of new jobs being created. According to many experts, this recession is likely to be more of the same. 

In October, President Obama used his weekly address to make small business recovery one of the nation’s priorities. According to the President, “Small businesses have always been the engine of our economy – creating 65 percent of all new jobs over the past decade and a half – and they must be at the forefront of our recovery. That’s why the Recovery Act was designed to help small businesses expand and create jobs. It’s provided $5 billion worth of tax relief, as well as temporarily reducing or eliminating fees on SBA loans and guaranteeing some of these loans up to 90 percent, which has supported nearly $13 billion in new lending to more than 33,000 businesses.”

The truth is that while tax relief and easier access to credit will help small businesses make it through the economic downturn, sustainable business practices that promote innovation, collaboration, and productivity will ultimately have the biggest impact on our economy in the coming years.

Mobility is an enabling business practice – one that makes many others possible. Mobile workers are more responsive to customers, more productive, work more hours, and yet have greater job satisfaction than non-mobile workers. Around the world, the companies that are able to mobilize their workforce to be more efficient and meet the demands of their markets will be those that will come out ahead when the economy begins to grow again. They will be the ones who have cut costs through more effective spending on technology, the ones that get the most from the workers they currently have on staff, and the ones that are able to adapt quickly to changing trends.

Small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are sitting at the intersection of three unique opportunities: lay-offs at large companies have resulted in a dispersed knowledge workforce, the American government is providing small businesses with support to help pull the country out of the recession, and mobility tools are giving them unprecedented reach and flexibility.

This has created a situation where small businesses are able to realistically compete against and beat large enterprises. This issue is focused on this big opportunity and how SMBs can harness the power of mobility to level the playing field and compete against companies around the world. As we close out 2009, a year that will likely be tagged with collapse and despair, we are pleased to be able to present a magazine that is focused on hope, growth, and innovation.

Remember: Work is what we do, not where we do it.