The diversity of small businesses is astounding. Yet, despite their differences, they share many of the same concerns when it comes to using technology to stay competitive and improve business performance.

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As a small business owner or manager, see if these worries sound familiar:

• Technology changes so quickly, I don't know for certain what I need so I stick with what I've got - but worry I'm falling behind
  
  
• Keeping good track of our customers is a constant challenge and beyond the scope of my current technology
  
  
• My employees and I waste too much time dealing with spam and worrying about computer viruses
  
  
• I can't afford a huge marketing budget but I know spreading the word about my business is critical if I want to stay ahead of the competition
  
  

If fears like these keep you awake at night, here are some ideas that can help you sleep better.

Identifying Solutions to Stay Competitive

Microsoft Office is the most widely used productivity software in the world today. It's an obvious place to start if you're thinking about how technology can help improve business performance.

Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003 is the latest version of Office designed specifically for businesses with 1 to 25 employees. It contains the programs you use most often — Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Publisher and the new Outlook with Business Contact Manager, which helps manage business contacts and sales opportunities. But because it's the first version of Office focused exclusively on small business needs, it contains features that solve a number of the challenges faced by Owners/Managers.

Keeping Good Track of Customers

You can manage contacts, sales opportunities and accounts — all in one place — with the new Business Contact Manager for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003. Plus, every time you send an e-mail to a customer you've previously registered in Outlook, the e-mail attaches itself to that account. So when you look at the account, you have a record of the e-mails they sent you and the ones you sent them — all in one place.

Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager also enable you to:

• Link documents, (e-mails), notes, appointments and tasks to your contacts and sales opportunity records
  
  
• View account activity history with a single click
  
  
• Manage leads and prospects more effectively throughout the sales cycle by tracking important information such as revenue potential or probability of closing
  
  
• Run reports to help prioritise sales opportunities and follow-up
  
  

The learning curve is minimal with Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2003 because you're working with the already familiar Outlook interface.

Reducing Junk E-mail and Warding Off Viruses

Time spent deleting unwanted e-mail robs time from critical business activities. With the enhanced junk mail filter in Outlook 2003, you can reduce spam-related downtime. You can also add e-mail addresses to the Safe Senders List, Safe Recipients List and Blocked Senders List to give you even more control over what will and won't be treated as spam.

With the Outlook junk mail feature you can also:

• Adjust your protection level as needed to get maximum protection; for instance, you can receive messages from your Safe List only
  
  
• Update your filter regularly at Office Online
  
  
• Block images in HTML messages that spammers use as web beacons to capture information about you
  
  

Outlook 2003 can also help protect against viruses, including macro viruses which are spread through e-mail attachments.

Spreading the Word About Your Business

To market your business or services without a large financial outlay, consider leveraging the tools in Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003. Here are a few to consider:

• E-mail newsletters. You can choose a design template in Publisher and use mail merge functionality to send targeted e-mail newsletters or personalised e-mail messages to your top customers.
  
  
• Brochures or postcards. Create professional-looking marketing pieces, such as business cards, brochures and newsletters, with the templates provided in Publisher 2003. All can be customised to include pertinent company information, logos and colour schemes.
  
  
• PowerPoint: Build effective presentations for bankers, clients or sales teams with the easy-to-use templates in PowerPoint.
  
  

Putting the best in today's changing technology to work for your business is an effective way to stay ahead of the competition.