(YouTube link for mobile viewing)

Since the beginning of this year, we’ve been working with The 99 Percent – a group of very dedicated New Yorkers who are passionate about helping creative workers execute better. At the helm is Scott Belsky, author of “Making Ideas Happen” – a great read for ANYONE with ideas!

Recently, The 99 Percent’s Jocelyn Glei wrote On Keeping it Simple – explaining three different practices that can help simplify everyday tasks, distractions and as Jocelyn writes “brain clutter”.

With all the brain clutter around mobile solutions, we thought we’d simplify things a little bit by creating two new videos explaining how the BlackBerry® solution can help you and your business communicate better. “Start Your Business” and “Grow Your Business” are each tailored to talk you through the different mobile tools that can help you get more done, and simplify your communications.

(YouTube link for mobile viewing)

Hope you’ll check them out and let us know what you think!

Anita Campbell, Founder, CEO and Editor in Chief of Small Business Trends

Since I’ve been at Research In Motion® (RIM®), I’ve been very lucky to be able to work directly with quite a few small business owners and small-medium business (SMB) experts. At the moment, RIM is the premiere sponsor of the Top 100 SMB Influencers Contest, being conducted by Small Business Trends and SmallBizTechnology.com. Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends and Ramon Ray of SmallBizTechnology.com have been writing articles, creating tools and speaking at events for years, with a mission to make it easier than ever for small businesses to thrive in today’s economy. I’ve watched their work from afar for quite some time, so I’m thrilled to interview Anita about the SMB Influencer contest.

Anita, can you give our readers an overview of what the Top 100 SMB Influencers contest is all about?

The Top 100 Small Business Influencers contest recognizes the companies, people and organizations that support the small business community in the United States and Canada. The requirements to be nominated are that the person, company or organization must have accomplished or produced something that positively impacts a group of small businesses. I am thrilled with the response — so far there have been nearly 400 nominations.

After nominations close, there will be a voting period to choose the Top 100 Small Business Influencers.

How do you think it benefits the small business community to have these SMB Influencers?

A lot is said about small businesses being the lifeblood of the economy and unsung heroes – and that’s true. But the entities and people who make it their missions to serve small businesses sometimes get even less recognition. My partner in this initiative, Ramon Ray of SmallBizTechnology.com, and I thought we should do something about that.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

Today, we’re very excited to announce BlackBerry® Balance™ technology!

We’ve built BlackBerry Balance with everyone in your company in mind. Employees will be happy knowing they can carry the BlackBerry® smartphone that best suits their needs and personality; your Chief Risk Officer and IT admins will be relieved knowing that they can now secure business information on personal devices; and everyone will be more connected knowing that one device lets you access both personal and corporate data.

BlackBerry Balance is part of the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server 5.0.3 release and also BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express, and we see it as a major step forward for today’s IT managers who are responsible for BlackBerry smartphone deployments.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

Hey, IT administrators – are you the seasoned veteran when it comes to BlackBerry® Enterprise Server experience, or are you a newbie just starting out? No matter what your skill level may be, we’ve got a comprehensive suite of BlackBerry Enterprise Server version 5.0x courses that can help you get the most out of your product.

Overall, our BlackBerry platform training takes a “roll up your sleeves” approach to learning, which is a great fit when it comes to sharpening your skills with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. As a participant, you’ll get to train with a simulated BlackBerry Enterprise Server environment and have access to an array of hands-on labs and classroom activities. It will also provide a fantastic opportunity to interact with fellow BlackBerry Administrators, so you can exchange tips and tricks you might have picked up!

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

I’m very excited to announce that we’ve launched a fourth BlackBerry® for Business social media channel – SlideShare!

SlideShare is the world’s largest community for sharing presentations and we’re happy to be a part of it. To launch our channel, we’re sharing three presentations about our business:

• The BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet – what it means for Enterprise
• Managing the Risks for a Successful Mobility Deployment (from Wireless Enterprise Symposium 2010)
• Using Mobility to Unlock the Value of Enterprise Collaboration Tools (from Wireless Enterprise Symposium 2010)

We’ll be adding more presentations from our subject matter experts as well as our Developer, Help and Product Teams. But if you’d like to see something specific, just let us know and we’ll do our best to find it!

We invite you to check us out on SlideShare and leave a comment, follow us or share a presentation you’ve enjoyed through Twitter® or LinkedIn!

Starting February 8 through to March 2, 2011, we’ll be hosting a series of BlackBerry® Innovation Forums across North America geared towards helping people make the most out of their BlackBerry mobile solution.

We’ll be travelling from New York City to Chicago, Washington, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas and Toronto, with a final stop in San Francisco, showing anyone who manages, develops, and architects the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server how to leverage their BlackBerry infrastructure to help increase mobile worker productivity – without increasing costs.

We will also be hosting our very popular Application JumpStart for Developers at the BIF events as well, where you can work directly with one of our Enterprise Mobility Architects to install and explore the BlackBerry® WebWorks™ development kit. You’ll actually leave the session with a functioning development kit!

For more information about the events, please visit the official website for the BlackBerry Innovation Forums, or send us a question!

Are you going to be at one of the BlackBerry Innovation Forums? What are you interested in learning?

Hello BlackBerry® for Business Blog readers! We’re pleased to let you know we have expanded our social media presence with the launch of a new LinkedIn group. The BlackBerry® for Business group is the first official LinkedIn community from Research In Motion® (RIM®).

This community is an information and discussion hub for business users and decision makers. It’s a great venue to contribute best practices, advice, case studies and general knowledge as it relates to the BlackBerry platform in your industry. There will also be a good volume of discussion around the latest trends in mobility, computing and IT solutions.

The RIM team will be on hand to serve up discussion topics, add to the conversation and provide subject-matter expert’s opinions and answers where needed.

Join the BlackBerry for Business group today and invite your colleagues! We look forward to connecting with you and hearing what you have to say.

Today, BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express Software was released for IBM Lotus Domino. This means that if your business is using Lotus email, you can now use this free server software to synchronize email, calendar, contacts, notes and tasks between BlackBerry® smartphones and IBM Lotus Domino without compromising security.

With BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express connected to IBM Lotus Domino, BlackBerry smartphone users will be able to:

• Wirelessly synchronize email, calendar, contacts, notes and tasks
• Manage email folders and search email on the mail server remotely
• Book meetings and appointments, accept meeting requests, check availability and forward calendar attachments
• Set an out-of-office reply
• Access files stored on the company network
• Use mobile applications to access business systems behind the firewall

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

Before I came to Research In Motion® (RIM), I was the publisher of a small local magazine that kept me running around from early morning till late at night. I was so swamped with tasks every day that I felt like I didn’t even have time to investigate ways that I could save myself time or make the business more money. It was a strange predicament to be in – I loved what I was busy with, but I just felt so bogged down!

Yet instead of having to block hours of time at the beginning, middle and end of my day to respond to email, return calls, update our social media and review proofs, I COULD have done all of those things when I had a free moment before a journalist arrived or a customer was ready to chat with me. What I know now is that this is a common issue with many Small and Medium-sized business owners – ones who are balancing so many different roles in a day.

Read more success stories at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »