Nigel Dalton, Deputy Director of Digital at Lonely Planet says businesses have to embrace social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter – because that’s were 600 million customers hang out.

He says that if businesses want to thrive they have to ‘get’ technology and understand social media and smart phone apps, but acknowledges that the speed of change can be a challenge and many companies can get caught out.

“Not so long ago, product life cycles used to be years. Now they can be months, weeks or days. For example, Lonely Planet can launch an iPhone travel app in the iTunes app store and it’ll disappear among the 13,000 other apps within a day.”

Nigel says there will always be challenges in business, and there will always be change. This is what keeps you on your toes and your business running. Listening to your customers will help you develop and fine-tune your products and services – and the way you communicate.

In our next blog we find out how the boundaries of the traditional office have shifted – and ask Jemma Stark, owner of Smudge Clothing, where works she works.