A New York Times article reports that the majority of small businesses are low-tech.
“Forget Web sites and molecular imaging. The biggest fields of opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs are the same mundane ventures that have been kicking around for decades.Think landscaping companies, child-care providers, janitorial services and nail and hair salons. In a generally buoyant market for low-technology businesses, those are four of the biggest winners by far.”
Actually I am not in the least surprised by this report. We write about many of these “low tech” businesses here at Small Business Trends all the time. Why? Because they reflect the real world.
However, I do want to clarify a misperception the article leaves: just because these small businesses are in low tech industries doesn’t mean they don’t use technology.
No, even very small, one-person businesses today have an array of technology. It is not uncommon for one of these “low tech” businesses to use the majority of the following technology:
computer
color ink jet printer
copier
fax machine (or an all-in-one with the printer and copier)
telephone with voice mail
cell phone ringtone
email
word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software
financial software such as QuickBooks to maintain the books
broadband Internet connection
digital webcamcredit card authorization machine
electronic calculator and/or cash register
Web site
online banking
