Spectrum Business Resources

In the hyper-competitive hospitality industry, bars and restaurants face unique challenges that can impact their success. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 17% of restaurants close within their first year, and about half after five years. There’s lots of reasons any business can fail, but there are some reasons that can be prevented with some forethought. One of the critical factors influencing restaurant and bar success in operational efficiency and customer satisfaction is connectivity. Reliable internet access is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity.

Using a broad definition, a leader is someone who someone else follows. A leader can be in charge of a variety of units to include: a team, a business, a small group, or an organization. A leader can have an assortment of position titles such as: supervisor, teacher, CEO, General, Governor or President. There are leaders all around us. There are even some people who believe they are leaders, but when we look behind them-there is no one following! What traits make a leader so effective that others follow? The five C’s for leaders are easy to remember and are traits, skills, or abilities that every leader needs-whether their unit is large or small.

Women own nearly 40 percent of all U.S. businesses, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. While that percentage continues to grow, there’s been a recognition in recent years that women entrepreneurs face their own unique challenges—from balancing entrepreneurship with motherhood to overcoming stereotypes. A good way to learn new business strategies, avoid pitfalls and get inspired is to listen to podcasts for—and by—women entrepreneurs. In honor of National Women’s Small Business Month, here are some podcasts worth checking out:

Modern businesses can't rely on personal devices for important business functions. Learn why business mobile phone plans are vital for a growing small business.

Rebooting office routers and modems can prevent cyber attacks while improving internet and WiFi performance. Learn how to reboot your router and modem.

Over the past decade, the number of domain names registered globally has nearly doubled to 352 million, according to data from registrar Verisign. About 40% of those—141 million—end in .com.

Hackers continue to create new ways to fool their targets into revealing sensitive information. Discover common phishing examples and how to protect your data.

As business owners rely on a growing array of communication tools—from voice calls to text to instant messaging—uniting these tools into one simple platform not only bolsters productivity. It also provides for a more exceptional customer experience.

Read about the possible causes of slow internet. Use this checklist to see what could be slowing down your network and learn how to speed it up.

With so many people now working from home, internet speed and reliability have become more critical than ever. As a business owner, you may wonder whether it’s worth getting business internet at your home—and encouraging your home-based employees to do the same.

When your business needs staff, one of the key decisions facing you is whether to hire an employee or engage with someone as an independent contractor. Independent contractors are more commonplace now than ever before.

Small businesses that want the fastest broadband internet around today generally sign up for gig-speed, which transfers data at speeds of 1 gigabit per second (1G) or faster. In the not-too-distant future, though, they will have access to 10G internet—a whopping 10 times faster.

Every computer or other device connected to the internet has a one-of-a-kind identifier called its internet protocol (IP) address. This string of numbers comes in two main varieties: static and dynamic.

Gigabit internet (“gig-speed”) connections move data at speeds of up to 1,000 megabits per second (Mbps)—or 1 gigabit. That’s 10 times the speed of 100 Mbps connections. And that order of magnitude improvement opens up a world of possibilities for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs).

A manager has many duties. One of the most important ones is to motivate and inspire employees. Only motivated staff members will perform at their best and be maximally productive. Here are seven ways managers can motivate their employees.

Quick response (QR) codes—matrix-shaped barcodes that consumers can scan with their smartphones to get more information about whatever they’re looking at—have been around for more than a decade. But businesses have been slow to embrace them—until recently.