TECHNOLOGY
GlobeNewswire | October 06, 2023
JumpCloud Inc., the leading open directory platform provider, and Electric, the leader in IT management software for small businesses, today announced a joint partnership to bring secure and affordable enterprise-grade technology to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Electric, serving over 55,000 end users, is one of the latest large partners joining JumpCloud’s managed service provider (MSP) program, which spans 60 countries. JumpCloud enters the Electric Partner Program, bringing enterprise IT tech to the SMB market. Both companies are actively evaluating new partnerships for each of their programs.
Electric is in R&D with JumpCloud’s device and identity management technology, preparing early access to a select group of customers to test the financial and accessibility benefits of the two companies’ integration. JumpCloud’s enterprise-grade identity, access, and device management capabilities, bundled with Electric’s seamless IT support and management capabilities, allow SMBs to focus on their mission rather than IT.
JumpCloud reimagined the directory to fit the modern world with an open, cloud-based directory for secure, frictionless access from any authorized device to any resource, anywhere. Electric makes technical and often complex initiatives such as security standardization, device management, software provisioning, and employee IT support manageable in one easy-to-use platform.
“The JumpCloud and Electric partnership pairs the best of both for SMBs with limited or no in-house IT teams with affordable, progressive IT capabilities — enabling a whole new generation of companies to take advantage of the cloud,” said Antoine Jebara, co-founder and general manager of MSP products, JumpCloud. “We’re excited to have Electric join our partner program and design their next-generation offerings around the JumpCloud platform. Our partnership will enable SMBs with enterprise-level security, allowing them to focus on their mission and scale their companies.”
“Electric and JumpCloud are teaming up to start R&D on a cutting-edge enterprise-level identity, access, and device management system specifically designed for SMBs,” says Joe Fahrner, Chief Revenue Officer, Electric. “Combining our strengths, both commercially and through our product development, brings crucial enterprise security systems within reach of businesses that previously lacked the internal resources to handle them.”
About JumpCloud
JumpCloud® helps IT teams Make Work Happen® by centralizing management of user identities and devices, enabling small and medium-sized enterprises to adopt Zero Trust security models. JumpCloud has been used by a global user base of more than 200,000 organizations, including GoFundMe, Grab, ClassPass, Beyond Finance, and Foursquare. JumpCloud has raised over $400M from world-class investors including Sapphire Ventures, General Atlantic, Sands Capital, Atlassian, and CrowdStrike.
About Electric
Electric’s IT platform makes IT easy for users who want to be something other than IT managers. Its technology simplifies the management of employees, devices, applications, and networks while providing compliance-ready reporting. This all-star team of investors backs Electric: Bessemer Venture Partners, GGV Capital, 01 Advisors, Primary Venture Partners, Bowery Capital, Slack, Atreides Management, Vintage Investment Partners, Greenspring Associates, and Harmonic Growth Partners.
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FINANCE
PR Newswire | October 20, 2023
NEWITY, America's source for small business capital, announces access to larger business loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) update to their Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). NEWITY is proud to simplify and streamline access to small business financing for entrepreneurs through an SBA-licensed lender.
The SBA's SOP updates enable lenders to approve larger loans for businesses who meet lower qualification standards, helping more small business owners access capital. The SBA 7(a) program changes that are live in NEWITY's portal include:
Larger loan amounts, enabling borrowers who qualified for a$25,000loan to qualify for a loan up to$50,000
No collateral requirements for loans under$50,000
Lower credit scores accepted for loans between$50,001to$150,000
Relaxed rulings on affiliate businesses and ownership interests
Easier to refinance and consolidate high interest rate debt
Ability for qualifying businesses to receive a secondSBA loan 90 days after the funding of their first SBA loan
Commenting on the SBA SOP updates, David Cody, NEWITY Co-Founder and Co-CEO said, "In pursuing the SBA's mission to 'help Americans start, grow and build resilient businesses', the SBA 7(a) loan program is a financial lifeline for over 33 million small businesses. The SBA's latest updates allow lender service providers like NEWITY to support a broader network of American businesses in accessing a greater amount of capital."
While NEWITY's portal has undergone changes to include the SBA's updates, NEWITY's streamlined application process has not changed. Small businesses can still determine their eligibility for an SBA 7(a) loan in less than 15 minutes without impacting their credit score.
Luke LaHaie, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of NEWITY added, "We're thrilled to offer business owners access to larger loans. Likewise, we're happy to enable lenders to provide larger loans to their clients through our nimble, compliant platform. We're proud to help businesses secure more capital to fuel their success and growth."
The SBA 7(a) application is available to qualifying businesses and accessible in the NEWITY Portal.
About NEWITY
NEWITY is America's source for small business capital, focused on empowering entrepreneurs with access to affordable loan solutions, streamlined tax credits, and trusted service providers – all in one place. NEWITY uses leading technology and real human support to help small businesses make their companies more efficient and profitable. Today, that includes equitable access to SBA 7(a) loans; streamlined processes to claim tax credits; simplified online bookkeeping with Xendoo; customized, competitive insurance with Mylo; personalized business advisory with Cultivate; and access to a marketing agency marketplace with Breef.
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FINANCE, BUSINESS STRATEGY
Software Advice | November 07, 2023
Small and midsize retail businesses (SMBs) are grappling with a challenging confluence of factors: a rise in product returns and escalating consumer demands for eco-friendly practices. Establishing a sustainable returns process has become paramount for recouping expenses and retaining customers. According to Software Advice's 2023 Retail Returns and Sustainability Strategies Survey, a remarkable 93% of SMB retailers place sustainability at the forefront of their approach to managing customer returns, with 58% identifying inventory cost optimization as a tangible advantage of their existing returns procedures.
To enhance their returns strategies, SMBs have adopted a diverse set of tactics, including logistics and packaging:
A noteworthy 59% of SMB retailers are now utilizing environmentally friendly logistics, up from 43% in the previous year.
The percentage of SMB retailers collaborating with third-party specialists to handle product returns has surged to 49%, a substantial increase from the 31% reported in 2022.
Right-sized packaging is embraced by 63% of these businesses, and 55% opt for recyclable or reusable shipping containers.
Smaller retailers are increasingly acknowledging the potential of returned products, if properly assessed, can be resold or recycled, thus reducing waste and recuperating some of the lost sales. In fact, recycling is deemed a top action in managing returned items by 51% of retail SMBs, followed closely by repackaging and refurbishing. Thanks to these measures, 35% state that they can recover over half of the cost of a returned product.
In addition to cost recovery, an efficient and eco-conscious returns process can boost a retailer's market standing. This year, 41% of retail SMBs report that their current returns process has heightened their competitiveness in the marketplace. An impressive 64% note a substantial increase in customer satisfaction stemming from their current returns process, a significant uptick from the 35% reported in 2022.
However, while sustainability endeavors are closely linked to customer satisfaction, 63% of SMB retailers concede that their company's actions do not align with their public messaging—a notable increase from the 46% recorded in 2022. To avert the disparity between actual efforts and messaging, it is crucial to effectively monitor the reverse logistics process. Leveraging technology such as point-of-sale systems, inventory management software, and business intelligence tools can furnish the transparency necessary to ensure alignment.
About Software Advice
Software Advice, established in 2005, simplifies the software procurement process by providing personalized guidance and industry-specific insights to help buyers identify the most suitable software solutions in as little as 15 minutes, all at no cost. The company has assisted over 950,000 businesses in finding the right software to meet their unique needs. With a repository of over 2 million verified user reviews, Software Advice empowers individuals to make confident technology decisions.
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MANAGEMENT
Business Wire | September 27, 2023
DigitalOcean Holdings, Inc., the cloud for startups and SMBs, today announced the launch of DigitalOcean Managed Kafka, a new, fully managed data streaming platform as a service offering for Apache Kafka. DigitalOcean Managed Kafka helps small and medium-sized businesses across industries, including video streaming, the Internet of Things (IoT), data analytics, gaming, and eCommerce, access and process data streams in real time while eliminating the complexity associated with the Kafka administration. Through this offering and other enhancements across DigitalOcean’s portfolio, startups and tech entrepreneurs can more easily grow their businesses in the cloud.
“While Kafka is the gold standard for data streaming, it frequently presents technical challenges for smaller businesses with budget and resource limitations. We are excited to introduce a solution that makes this technology more accessible and meets DigitalOcean’s standard for simplicity,” said Megan Wood, Chief Strategy & Product Officer at DigitalOcean. “By reducing the burden of implementing a new platform, companies can shift their focus away from the complexity of managing their data streaming services and get back to building apps that differentiate their business.”
As businesses receive higher amounts of data inputs, the ability to rapidly capture and process this data becomes crucial. Thousands of companies, including over 80% of Fortune 100 companies, rely on Kafka to optimize their data streams and provide leaders with insights that inform decision-making. With DigitalOcean Managed Kafka, startups and SMBs can benefit from the ability to scale up and down clusters with ease while setting up alerts for proactive maintenance. Additionally, DigitalOcean customers can expect end-to-end security via private networking and data encryption along with cost-effective, predictable pricing starting at $147 for a three-node cluster.
“DigitalOcean's Managed Kafka offering has been a game-changer for us at Datacake,” said Lukas Klein, Chief Technical Officer at Datacake. “By taking care of the operational aspects of running our Kafka cluster, we have been able to focus our attention on what really matters – building a great product. With this new service, we were able to migrate seamlessly to an event-based architecture while maintaining the highest levels of operational security.”
Alongside DigitalOcean Managed Kafka, DigitalOcean has been making investments in its product and infrastructure offerings to provide peace of mind, increased productivity, and more affordable solutions to SMBs and startups. Some of those recent updates include:
GPUs with the acquisition of Paperspace-The computing power needed for training AI models and deploying at scale
Premium CPU-Optimized Droplets-Higher outbound network speeds, higher performance, and faster disk writes than standard Droplets
Enhanced memory and storage for Basic Premium Droplets-More flexibility with a wider choice of virtual machines
Low-cost support plans for every size of business-Eight-hour response times for all issues, regardless of severity
Object Storage in the Bangalore data center-Increased performance with compute and storage in one location
In addition, over the coming quarters, DigitalOcean will unveil the following enhancements and capabilities to continue to make DigitalOcean the cloud of choice for SMBs and startups:
More flexible storage offerings -Effortlessly accommodate dynamic storage requirements with Scalable Storage for Managed Databases, a cost-effective solution that helps businesses expand their data footprints with confidence
Faster, frequent, and comprehensive Backups -Ability to create daily Droplet backups that are differential, significantly reducing the time required to create them
Better performance for a range of products -Extending the premium variant to the General Purpose line of Droplets, providing newer generation CPUs, faster NVME drives, and up to 10 Gbps of outbound data transfer speeds making them ideal for running e-commerce, consumer, and SaaS apps
About DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean simplifies cloud computing so builders and businesses can spend more time creating software that changes the world. With its mission-critical infrastructure and fully managed offerings, DigitalOcean helps developers at startups and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) rapidly build, deploy and scale, whether creating a digital presence or building digital products. DigitalOcean combines the power of simplicity, security, community and customer support so customers can spend less time managing their infrastructure and more time building innovative applications that drive business growth.
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