As a small or medium business owner, you are consistently asked to do more with less — less time, less budget and fewer hands on deck. Every decision can impact your bottom line and your bandwidth. One of the biggest choices you will face is building an in-house team or bringing in outside experts.

In-house teams give you closer collaboration and deep brand familiarity. However, outsourcing can offer flexibility, lower costs and quick access to specialized skills without a long-term commitment. Striking the right balance goes beyond cutting costs. It involves making wise decisions that help you grow without burning out.

Many adults feel unprepared to handle unexpected expenses, save enough for retirement or even make ends meet. They often take on credit card debt, get loans with high interest rates, withdraw funds from retirement accounts or cash out investments to close the gap, which puts them in a worse position. 

At the very least, they can’t contribute as much to their savings or retirement accounts as they would like. Money is a massive source of stress for people in this position. Management may not realize it, but these worries spill over into the workplace, impacting everything from retention to absenteeism. If they want to improve their bottom line, they must address this problem. 

If you’ve made a recent search in Google, you’ve likely noticed some changes in its interface. In the past, you’d simply be given a long list of websites that closely match the relevancy of your search. However, now Google has introduced AI Overviews that provide summarized results based on how you asked your question.

While this updated interface can be incredibly helpful as a user, as a business, you may have mixed feelings, and for good reason. The reality of AI-powered search is that it presents new challenges when attempting to drive more organic traffic to your website.

Surveillance cameras are supposed to protect assets and deter criminals, but they can easily become a liability if a hacker hijacks them. Luckily, if the organization has a robust security posture, this fate is relatively easy to avoid. What can information technology (IT) teams and business leaders do to secure these systems?

How Secure Is Your Surveillance System?

Many modern surveillance systems are constantly online to streamline data transmission and enable remote, real-time monitoring. This connection makes them vulnerable to cyberattacks. Cybercriminals can use the Shodan search engine to browse internet-connected devices until they find an open network port. 

White label and private label both let you place your name on a product you did not invent from scratch. The key distinction is control — white-label goods arrive fully baked, while private-label lines give you room to adjust the recipe, specs or story. Picking the right lane shapes your margins, timeline and customer loyalty, so it pays to weigh the trade-offs before you place that first purchase order. 

The choice of an open plan versus a traditional, closed office is a hot topic of debate among business leaders, designers and employees. Both options come with distinct advantages and disadvantages that influence productivity, communication and well-being. As more workers return to full-time office work in the post-pandemic era, which layout is best suited to today’s diverse and dynamic workforce? 

Employee benefits are more than a desirable perk. The top candidates expect an extensive benefits package when considering a job. Excellent offers can also help companies retain high performers and reduce employee churn. While business leaders may offer various programs, considering the return on investment (ROI) is wise for ensuring profitability. Knowing which benefits drive value helps align hiring strategies with organizational goals. 

The only way to calculate the effectiveness of benefits is to look at the ROI across different programs. Once leadership knows value versus cost, they can manage their company accordingly.

Small-business owners have likely read about using a firewall for their websites, installing antivirus software on computers and insisting on strong passwords. However, the most serious security threats may not come from where you think they will. Sometimes, everyday risks pose the biggest danger. 

In addition to the massive technological changes with artificial intelligence (AI), criminals look for any slight advantage to gain access to data or your physical location. Here are some hidden areas you might not have considered before and how to secure them today.