(This article originally appeared in Forbes)
Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?
1- Fraud is flourishing on Zell, but banks say it’s not their problem.
Longtime Wells Fargo customer Justin Fraunce experienced a new phenomenon when a scammer pretended to be a Wells Fargo Employee. Popular payment apps such as Zelle allow for immediate transfers of money which scammers can use to take thousands of dollars that many banks find hard to trace back. Fraunce lost $500 and was unable to be reimbursed by Wells Fargo because he has signed off on the authorization. However, since so many others are having the same troubles, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a guidance for banks last year about requiring reimbursement to customers even those of fraud or robbery. (Source: New York Times)
Why this is important for your business:
Fraunce isn’t the only person having this problem — and Zelle isn’t the only culprit. I write here about a nonprofit client that had money stolen from them through an unauthorized ACH transaction and — even the bank returned the money — no further action was taken. Please check with your bank to make sure your accounts are fully protected from unauthorized activities and re-visit your liabilities if a fraud does occur.
2 — SendinBlue acquires a video conferencing scheduling solution to capitalize on SMB growth.
Digital marketing platform, Sendinblue has acquired MeetFox to meet customer’s demand for more resources. (Source: Yahoo Finance)
Why this is important for your business:
SendinBlue says that with MeetFox customers can access scheduling through multiple channels as well as host video meetings with employees and engage in payment features that make managing accounts easier. It’s an interesting add to what is already a powerful marketing platform for SMBs.
3 — Google Ads gives more info on why ads are disapproved.
Google Ads will change their policy to help provide clear examples of what language is disapproved of in ads. The policies will now include clarifying guidelines for “insufficient original content” policy, introducing new “destination not accessible” policy, and updating examples in the “destination not working” policy. Each policy hopes to give users more transparency as to why certain websites and ads are being flagged. Instead of just receiving an error warning, the new policy will dictate the reason. This policy will go into effect March 21, 2022. (Source: Search Engine Journal)
Why this is important for your business:
My firm does a fair share of advertising on Google and YouTube and it’s not uncommon for our ads to get rejected. Following up takes time and resources. Hopefully these policies will help you get your ads approved quicker.
4 — The Department of Defense is looking for tech help from small businesses.
The Department of Defense needs more innovation, and is looking for help from small businesses. “I’m personally engaging with small businesses and small business roundtables to understand the impediments in doing business with them and what are the impediments that they see that we can help them out [with] in terms of removing the roadblocks,” said Heidi Shyu, the department’s undersecretary of defense. What Shyu wants to do is have Congress approve to allow the DOD to form multiple tranches of funding — Phase IIa, Phase IIb, Phase IIc — so they can continue to mature the technology and bridge over, what she calls, “the valley of death,” for small companies. “This way we have a much higher probability of helping them to transition into a program of record,” she says. (Source: U.S. Department of Defense)
Why this is important for your business:
The DOD spends more than $2 billion a year on research projects with small businesses. And the department is not only requesting more money but changing the way expenditures are measured to enable greater innovation and flexibility. That’s a lot of opportunity for tech firms in this field. Check out Small Business Innovation Research Grants if you’re interested.
5 — These are four reasons to ditch your old MacBook for a Windows laptop.
Apple’s MacBook Pro leading up to the M1 launch has disappointed users, leading Microsoft Windows to start providing some real competition. Some of the speculated new editions to MacBook are also worrying customers and author Julia van der Merwe highlights items that are causing concern such as face ID sensors in the notch, Rosetta 2 inconsistencies, design flaws and Apple’s reluctance towards repairs, and variety. (Source: Notebook Check)
Why this is important for your business:
I can’t deny that I’m a lifelong Windows user. And I also can’t deny that historically, Apple’s products have simply been better. But things are changing and the quality of Microsoft’s products are certainly catching up- quality that comes at a significantly lower cost. Maybe this will impact your decision the next time you’re buying hardware for your company.
