From Greg's Head

I recently attended a Social Media luncheon hosted by Content Active (one of my favorite web consultants) and I was updated on the increasing, growing spider web of Social Media.  There is no way you will NOT be impacted by Social Media in the next 5 years.  The question is, “Do you have a strategy for this?” .  We have talked about this before in the blog and the presentation confirmed some interested tidbits.

Our presenter was Sheila Bacon, with the Bacon Group.  Some facts:

• At the network level there were 55 billion devices connected to the Internet.  By 2013 there will be 1 trillion. That’s a BIG number!
• Revenues streams are going to change taking advantage of the fact that most of you will be watching your phone and NOT your TV.
• Many mainstream organizations are already sending out coupons to 3G devices.

The new Apple iPhone…moving to 4G technology will revolution the handheld device/smartphone, etc.  While the networks are not there yet, take note of this:  The speed increase from 3G to 4G is estimated to be a 440% increase.  So all those videos you watch on the cluggy 3G network, will run like normal TV on the 4G network.

Wow!  Are you ready for Social Media, and the impact to your Company?  Let me know what you see.

I see an upgrade in my future to my iPhone 3GS...

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website. 

Spyware, trojans, malware, botnets, social engineering, and other crimeware are working to get into your systems and steal your critical data and banking credentials.  Are you protected from this onslaught of attacks?  Even considering how prevalent cybercrime attacks are in today’s business environment, a 2008 Deloitte study found that 65% of US companies do not have a documented process to assess their cybercrime risk.  The same study found that 95% of CFOs are not involved in the management of the information security risks despite the importance of financial data and the potential financial impact of a security breach. 

The Internet Security Alliance and the American National Standards Institute recently published a framework to assist businesses with developing a comprehensive plan to deal with the financial management of cybercrime.  The framework provides structure for the involvement of the entire organization in protecting and defending its assets.  The report focuses on the following process areas:

• Financial
• Human Resources
• Legal and Compliance
• Operations and Technology
• External Communications and Crisis Management
• Risk Transfer and Insurance.

Companies should be particularly mindful of their electronic business assets, including intellectual property, customer records, bank accounts, and proprietary data. 

Completing a detailed information technology risk assessment should provide a company with the knowledge they need to effectively begin to plan their mitigation strategy to combat cybercrime.  Remember, the criminals are working equally hard to stay ahead of your processes and gain access to your assets.  If they win, you lose….and maybe you lose your company.
 

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This Week's Business Pulse Question:

Do you care about the World Cup?
• Yes, I have watched from the beginning.
• Yes, now that the U.S. has advanced.
• No, it is not my 'cup' of tea.
• Other

Click here to vote.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website. 

Last week I told you about the impact credits and incentives can have on your business, but how can a company identify potential incentives and how to companies take advantage of them?

It may sound too good to be true, but the best place to start a search for credits and incentives is Google. Every state and most local governments will discuss the statutory credits and negotiated incentives available in their jurisdiction on the Internet. Unfortunately, although the incentives are discussed on the Web, the descriptions of the incentives are often inaccessible to a novice.

Statutory credits are easy to capture. Review the credit guidelines, determine if the facts presented meet the credit’s requirements and then determine accessibility. Negotiated incentives, including property tax abatements, tax increment financing, sales tax sharing agreements and other grants, will likely be much more complicated.

Professional advisors will understand the traps for the unwary in these programs. Professionals are also better able to navigate the political process that sometimes surrounds these matters. A company may also be best served by having a third party with a deep understanding of local and regional issues negotiate with competing jurisdictions.

Credits and incentives are available to a greater or lesser degree to every company. Executive leadership and tax advisors should evaluate the potential for these incentives for the enterprise. Where necessary, include consultants who focus on credits and incentives. Always be mindful of the potential for incentives when significant capital investment or job creation may occur.

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You've asked us for and have grown accustomed to PKF Texas, as CPA advisors, providing you with information and insight on trends in the Houston marketplace and beyond. In that vein, we are pleased to announce our partnership with the Houston Business Journal (HBJ) and the weekly BusinessPulse survey. 
 
Each week at www.Houston.Bizjournals.com, you can read the latest question and give your feedback. The BusinessPulse survey is a non-scientific poll of the HBJ readers.
 
We want you to be a part of the conversation and your opinion heard.  We will be posting the questions here and linking to the poll on the HBJ site.
 
This week's question is: What would you like to see happen to the Astrodome?  Click here to answer.
 
We would like the friends of our firm to be joint partners with us, working with the HBJ to highlight pulsepoints in the marketplace. If you have questions you would like to see on the survey, please submit them to hbjbizpulse@bizjournals.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website. 

I run across many business owners who don’t fully realize or understand the impact that state and local tax credits can have on their business.

Incentives are everywhere and have the potential to make an enormous difference in the profitability of a company. For example, almost every state that imposes a sales tax has an exemption from sales tax for machinery and equipment used directly in the manufacturing process.  This is an enormous incentive that many businesses do not understand or overlook.

Many states will exempt certain types of property from ad valorem property taxes. In Texas, for example, pollution control equipment qualifies for an exemption from property tax. These incentives are available to businesses without any special action on their part, and carry huge potential; even a small incentive can have a large impact on the business.

A business that qualifies for $10,000 of incentives does not just have an extra $10,000; it has the net profit of $10,000 which, on a business with a 5 percent net profit margin, represents a sale of $200,000. How hard would a business work for a $200,000 sale? If the incentive is larger, the net sale impact is larger.

A company should know when it has the right facts to make a significant investment in understanding its incentive profile. Typically, a company should review potential credits and incentives whenever there is a potential for significant capital investment (a new investment greater than $1 million), or meaningful job creation (the new hiring of 25 or more employees). Companies with significant headcount and training costs also should consider credits and incentives.

Credits and incentives are available to a greater or lesser degree to every company. Executive leadership and tax advisors should evaluate the potential for these incentives for the enterprise. Where necessary, include consultants who focus on credits and incentives. Always be mindful of the potential for incentives when significant capital investment or job creation may occur.
 

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If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. -- John Quincy Adams

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So it’s official, Steve Jobs today announced the iPhone 4 at the Worldwide Developers conference.  Engadget live blogged the announcement and provides a thorough look at Jobs’ speech.  From video conferencing to   multitasking to the 3-axis gyroscope and the new Retina display with increased pixel density, it’s really slick!  What are your thoughts on the new iPhone?  Worth the hype? 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website. 

How do you evaluate the trends in your industry or city to best position your company for success?  Today’s business environment can change in the blink of an eye.  What are you doing to stay at the forefront of that change?

Taking the pulse of your business environment can help you know when to beef up certain areas of your business.  Have you seen an influx of international companies in your market space?  What can you do to increase your international footprint?

What capital improvement projects are going on in your city and how will they impact your business?  On the surface, a new stadium might not seem to have anything to do with your oilfield services company, but consider there might be new local environmental regulations spurred by the new development that will affect your business.

By keeping tabs on these trends you can plan for and respond to changes as they happen and strategically position yourself to be ahead in a competitive market.

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"Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and becoming" Mathew Arnold

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I was able to catch up on some reading on the plane to and from Copenhagen. AccountingWeb had a great piece on the CPA executive’s outlook on today’s business environment.

They are optimistic about the economy for the first time in two years. The AICPA partnered with the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School to conduct the Quarterly Economic Outlook Survey.

One stat of note, “31% of respondents said conditions would return to pre-recession levels in 2011.”
The results of the survey confirm what we’re seeing in Houston. The entrepreneur’s I talk to are being cautiously optimistic about improvements this year and next.

I’ll be curious to see the growth rates for this Aggie 100 and FastTech 50 winners. I think that will be another indicator of economic rebound.
 

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Houston Mayor Annise Parker is scheduled to speak on the State of Houston Technology  at the Houston Technology Center Ttech Champions meeting on June 4th. 

This will be a good opportunity to hear from our new mayor.  With the HTC being named as one of the top 10 technology incubators changing the world, I’m looking forward to hearing her thoughts on the Houston tech community.

The meeting runs from 7:15 – 9:00am in the HTC Conference Center.  To register for the meeting, click here.  If you have any questions, contact Sue Moore, (832) 476-9263 smoore@houstontech.org.
 

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