Overcoming the FUD factor

That's Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt by the way... following on from the Women in IT post last month, one reader asked for ideas and suggestions on how to overcome an apparent reluctance on the part of small businesses to adopt new technology, and how to get more women interested in IT careers. This second question is perhaps easier to address - there are organisations dedicated to helping women network, profile, get skilled and generally provide business tools. Take a look at the everywoman site - you'll find details of national everywoman events, plus an everywoman Leadership Development Programme running 29-30 November.

As to how you overcome lethargy and uncertainty in technology adoption, I'm not sure of the answer to that one. Perseverance? Lead by example? We're all guilty of doing the same things in the same old way because it's easier in the short term. On a minor note, I can't believe it took me so long to discover how to use category flags in Outlook for example - it's made searching so much easier. It took someone singing its praises to make me ask the question though - I didn't find it by myself...