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.

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.

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.