Small Business, the Economy and Broadband

The FCC Chair kind of nailed some key points to open up the SMB Cyber-Security Roundtable this week.

"American small businesses are key drivers of innovation, economic growth and job creation. Small businesses employ more than half of all private sector workers, and they have generated about two-thirds of net new jobs over the past fifteen years. And small businesses drive innovation. Small firms produce 13 times more patents per employee than large ones."

"Broadband and information technology is increasingly important to the success of our economy, to jobs and to the future of small business. Broadband connectivity and online business tools enable small businesses to grow and jobs to be created anywhere. They allow small businesses to market their products and reach customers in the next neighborhood, the next city, the next state, and even overseas."

"A recent study found that having a broadband connection makes a $200,000 a year difference in median annual revenues for businesses, by helping them reach new markets and increasing productivity."

If I was a web dev company, I would be making tee-shirts and postcards with this last statement.

The flip side:

"A recent Symantec study found that American small businesses lose billions annually to cyber-attacks, and 74% of small and medium businesses reported being affected by cyber attacks in the past 12 months. The average cost of each cyber attack to small and medium sized businesses is nearly $200,000."

So $200k if you get online and $200K if you get hacked. It's a wash!

Please read the whole 2-pager. There is opportunity for you to sell value-added services. Here it is in text.