Alana Rudder's Image

Alana Rudder

Staff Reviewer

Small Business Technology, Human Resources, Marketing, Operations and Project Management

About

With over a decade of experience as a small business technology consultant, Alana breaks down technical concepts to help small businesses take advantage of the tools available to them to create internal efficiencies and compete in their markets. Her work has been featured by business brands such as Adobe, WorkFusion, AT&T, SEMRush, Fit Small Business, USA Today Blueprint, Content Marketing Institute, Towards Data Science and Business2Community.

Alana is the HR in-house expert for Forbes Advisor. She has 14 years of experience in the business technology field. She has worked as a consultant and subject matter expert for countless small, mid-sized and Fortune 500 companies, consulting small businesses on the best technology solutions for their needs. Her work has appeared in such brands as Adobe, WorkFusion, Content Marketing Institute, SEMRush, Fit Small Business and USA Today Blueprint. Alana holds a Masters in Business Administration from Excelsior University with a focus on business leadership.

During her career, she has worked to break down complex business concepts and available technology into language a small business owner can understand and apply. Her goal is to help small businesses create internal efficiencies and winning work environments to compete in their markets for talent and share.

When she is not consulting small businesses, Alana volunteers as a lay chaplain for hospice patients. She is also studying to pair her chaplaincy work with a certification as a Spanish-English medical interpreter to help more people.

Expertise

  • Small Business Technology
  • Human Resources
  • Marketing
  • Operations
  • Project Management

Other Publications

Education

  • Excelsior University (M.B.A., Leadership)
  • Liberty University (B.A. Spanish)

Honors And Awards

  • Sigma Beta Delta

  • Teramind Review 2024: Features, Pros And Cons

    Teramind is an employee monitoring software with a long list of advanced features used to help companies stay compliant when faced with strict data regulations, such as those that must adhere to healthcare data-usage and privacy laws and those in...
    Teramind Review 2024: Features, Pros And Cons

  • PerformYard Review 2024: Pros, Cons And Features

    PerformYard is one of the top performance management software solutions that offers goal management, performance reviews, an array of feedback mechanisms and more. PerformYard helps managers and employees keep employee performance on track to support broader team, departmental and business...
    PerformYard Review 2024: Pros, Cons And Features

  • Most Profitable Businesses In 2024

    While success in business is never guaranteed, some opportunities may have a higher chance of profitability than others. When planning a new business, it’s important to consider industry trends, market demand, operating costs and potential profit margins. To help you...
    Most Profitable Businesses In 2024

  • How To Unblock Websites 7 Different Ways With Step-By-Step Directions

    If you’re struggling to unblock a website, this guide is here to help you. In it, you will find seven ways to unblock a website, including using virtual private networks (VPNs) and proxies, alternative browsers, URL shorteners, public archives, device...
    How To Unblock Websites 7 Different Ways With Step-By-Step Directions

  • ClickUp vs. Jira (2024 Comparison)

    ClickUp and Jira are both powerful project management tools, however, each is best for unique use cases. In this comparison guide, we will delve into their features, differences, pricing models and use cases to help you decide which solution is...
    ClickUp vs. Jira (2024 Comparison)

  • Asana Vs. Basecamp (2024 Comparison)

    Asana and Basecamp are reasonably priced project management software with plenty of tools to make project management easy and efficient. Both have unique use cases. Asana, often better suits projects that span company functions while Basecamp’s tools and pricing model...
    Asana Vs. Basecamp (2024 Comparison)

  • Best Manufacturing ERP (2024)

    With so many enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions on the market–all with varying feature sets and pricing–it can be difficult to determine which is the best fit for your unique manufacturing needs. To help you find the best manufacturing ERP,...
    Best Manufacturing ERP (2024)

  • ERP Vs. CRM: What’s The Difference?

    An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is primarily used to help companies manage their finances and resources to control costs and meet company production goals. A customer relationship management (CRM) software helps companies manage the sales cycle and customer experience....
    ERP Vs. CRM: What’s The Difference?

  • Best Accounting Software For Small Business 2024

    Accounting software helps small business owners track their financial accounts, income and expenses, prepare for tax season and keep tabs on financials easily. For many small businesses, software is the more affordable alternative to hiring an accountant, a bookkeeper or...
    Best Accounting Software For Small Business 2024

  • Best Employee Engagement Software 2024

    Whether you want to keep employees engaged, gauge satisfaction levels, solicit feedback—or all of the above—a top employee engagement software platform can help. Whether you’re in-person, hybrid or remote, companies of all sizes and formats can use this tool to...
    Best Employee Engagement Software 2024

  • 10 Best Leave Management Systems In 2024

    The best leave management systems offer all the tools needed to manage employee leave requests as well as additional tools to meet common company goals―all at an affordable price. We reviewed dozens of top leave management systems to land on...
    10 Best Leave Management Systems In 2024

  • 13 Profitable E-Commerce Business Ideas For 2024

    To evaluate inclusions for this list of profitable e-commerce business ideas for 2024, we looked for ones that tap into consumers' passions and meet unique needs and, so, help our readers enter profitable markets. The e-commerce business ideas that met...
    13 Profitable E-Commerce Business Ideas For 2024

  • How To Start A Nonprofit In Texas (2024 Guide)

    There are nine steps to starting a nonprofit in Texas. They include setting up your nonprofit with a name, directors, an incorporator, a registered agent and bylaws. You must also file key paperwork to obtain an employer identification number (EIN),...
    How To Start A Nonprofit In Texas (2024 Guide)

  • 501(c)(3) Vs. 501(c)(4): Differences, Pros And Cons

    A 501(c)(3) nonprofit operates for charitable as well as religious, educational, scientific, literary, public safety testing, sports competition fostering or animal- and child-cruelty prevention purposes. In contrast, a 501(c)(4) has a broader purpose definition. It operates to promote social welfare....
    501(c)(3) Vs. 501(c)(4): Differences, Pros And Cons

  • Best HR Software Of 2024

    If you run the human resources (HR) department at your company, you likely have a lot to juggle at once. Top-rated human resource management systems (HRMS) can simplify your life and make your job much easier. To help you find...
    Best HR Software Of 2024

  • 32 Types Of Nonprofits: The Complete List

    There are five categories of nonprofits, including charitable, religious and church, private foundations and political organizations. Some types of nonprofits fall under miscellaneous, such as Federal Credit Unions. Within these categories, there are dozens of 501 tax-exempt statuses. In this...
    32 Types Of Nonprofits: The Complete List

  • 9 Disadvantages Of A Sole Proprietorship (2024 Guide)

    A sole proprietorship is an unincorporated business owned by one person. Its disadvantages include fewer legal and financial protections than other business structures, a nonexistent benefits package for the owner and fewer built-in resources and opportunities to ensure business continuity....
    9 Disadvantages Of A Sole Proprietorship (2024 Guide)

  • What Are Voluntary Benefits? The Ultimate Guide

    Voluntary benefits are benefits employees can opt in to in addition to the basic benefits packages offered by their employers. Examples of voluntary benefits include life insurance, supplementary vision or dental insurance and gym memberships. In this guide, we dig...
    What Are Voluntary Benefits? The Ultimate Guide

  • What Is Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)?

    Business process outsourcing (BPO) happens when a company outsources entire business functions to be handled by another company. For example, companies can outsource their marketing, payroll, human resources (HR), customer service and supply chain management functions. In this article, we...
    What Is Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)?

  • Top TriNet Competitors & Alternatives (2024)

    TriNet is a professional employer organization (PEO) offering small to midsized businesses (SMBs) human resources (HR) and payroll administration tools and services. Its competitors offer a range of these tools and services and, sometimes, more. We evaluated dozens of TriNet...
    Top TriNet Competitors & Alternatives (2024)

  • What Is Imputed Income? Guidelines, Examples and Exclusions

    Imputed income is the cash value of certain benefits provided to employees, contractors or other workers in non-cash forms. True imputed income is taxed and so should be reported as part of employees’ compensation on tax forms such as the...
    What Is Imputed Income? Guidelines, Examples and Exclusions

  • Best Oregon Registered Agent Services Of 2024

    A hired registered agent allows businesses to outsource their legal document acceptance process, freeing them to enjoy more flexibility in the office. With the right registered agent, there’s no worry that embarrassing legal papers will be delivered in front of...
    Best Oregon Registered Agent Services Of 2024

  • How To Use Square With Shopify

    Square and Shopify Payments both offer tools for businesses looking to accept payments from online, in-person or over-the-phone customers. Both also offer tools to help reach customers and create an optimal payment experience. In this guide, we will overview the...
    How To Use Square With Shopify

  • Best Virginia Registered Agent Services Of 2024

    A Virginia registered agent service provider helps small businesses in Virginia by receiving and managing legal documents sent or served to them. When evaluating providers for this best-of list, we preferred Virginia registered agents that provide same-day document access, live...
    Best Virginia Registered Agent Services Of 2024

  • Best Payroll Software For Mac 2024

    The best payroll software for Macs offers ways to access all payroll software plan features from Mac desktop and laptop computers. Preferably, they also offer Apple apps to manage payroll on the go. In addition, they affordably offer the standard...
    Best Payroll Software For Mac 2024

  • Best International Payroll Services (2024)

    The best international payroll services offer tools to pay global W-2 or 1099 workers (or both) for a reasonable monthly fee and in compliance with local law. Key hands-on capabilities include time-tracking tools, in-country labor law and compliance expertise and...
    Best International Payroll Services (2024)

  • Best Real Estate Accounting Software (2024)

    Real estate accounting software should offer key basic features, such as the ability to accept online payments, send invoices, figure tax deductions and track expenses. However, different real estate professionals need different added features. When evaluating inclusions for our 2024...
    Best Real Estate Accounting Software (2024)

  • Best Church Accounting Software 2024

    The best church accounting software offers full accounting functionality at affordable nonprofit prices. For this list, Forbes Advisor looked for high-quality yet affordable options for startup churches way up to large multigenerational churches that are looking to manage their accounting...
    Best Church Accounting Software 2024

  • Best Accounting Software For Nonprofits 2024

    The best nonprofit accounting software should include all the core accounting features and functionality all businesses need, such as the ability to send invoices and track spending. It should also offer nonprofit-specific accounting functionality, such as the ability to receive...
    Best Accounting Software For Nonprofits 2024

  • What Is The Project Management Triangle?

    A project management triangle is used by project managers to help their teams produce a quality final deliverable. By managing three constraints—time, cost and scope—project managers, their teams and their clients enjoy many benefits, such as fewer project risks, easier...
    What Is The Project Management Triangle?

About

With over a decade of experience as a small business technology consultant, Alana breaks down technical concepts to help small businesses take advantage of the tools available to them to create internal efficiencies and compete in their markets. Her work has been featured by business brands such as Adobe, WorkFusion, AT&T, SEMRush, Fit Small Business, USA Today Blueprint, Content Marketing Institute, Towards Data Science and Business2Community.