Apple Announces Self Service Repair—And Other Small Business Tech News This Week – Forbes

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Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?

1 —Apple has announced Self Service Repair and has made a new play for small businesses by taking on Google and Microsoft.

This past week, Apple announced details about its Self Service Repair. The new service will let customers who have the knowledge to repair their own hardware have access to genuine Apple tools and parts. The tech giant also released details last week about its new business tools service, which will be geared toward helping companies with 500 employees or less navigate technology as it pertains to working remotely. (Sources: Apple.com and CNBC)

Why this is important for your business:

This is a big thing for small businesses and a big win for the “right to repair” movement. How annoying is it that if repairs are needed to your or your employees’ mobile devices you have to send the device back to Apple or Samsung or whatever? The tide is turning and now Apple is going to allow people to do their own repairs. I suspect this will also lead to small fix-it shops expanding their services.

2 — Jotform Apps has launched as a no-code app builder.

Leading online forms SaaS solution company Jotform released details this past week that it now has a no-code app builder that anybody can use. The new platform—called Jotform Apps—will allow users to create portals for internal teams, bundle forms, build apps for businesses, among many other things. Key features include the ability to receive payments from any device, create an app with a single form, and a drag-and-drop app builder. On any device, users will be able to simply download Jotform Apps instantaneously without having to visit the app store. (Source: PR News Wire)  

Why this is important for your business:

Jotform is a client of my company. But their public news captures a growing trend among software companies that are providing “no-code” tools so that their users can build custom applications and integrations without relying so much on a developer. The reality is that experts and developers will still be needed because none of us want to learn how to do this stuff. But the time required will be much less and the support can come from a wider field of resources.

3—Slack is revamping its platform as it aims for workflow automation and app …….