Retailers are being urged to prepare for the 'tablet revolution', as new research shows that online shopping via iPads and similar tablet devices is set to rocket in popularity - just as it has done in the US.

How do businesses ensure they never miss a new sales lead? They get an app. That's the solution launched this week by Scotland's main public sector procurement body.

Public Contract Scotland (PCS), the Scottish Government's purchasing portal, is launching the world's first app specifically designed to alert business to new contract opportunities from the public sector - a market worth £9 billion annually.

Whenever there is a major government announcement about something that will impact on Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), national newspapers and TV / radio stations want to find out what SMEs think.

So they get on the phone. Not to hundreds of SMEs. But instead to spokespeople from the traditional business organisations. That is fine so far as it goes. But those 'spokepeople' aren't actually SMEs themselves. And they are guessing what their members think.