Renowned for his engaging content and insightful discussions on technology and gaming, Chillrogg has established himself as a player in the industry. His genuine approach to content creation has fostered an enduring relationship with his audience, setting him apart in an environment where performance often overshadows authenticity. He currently boasts over 1.9 million followers on TikTok, 1.3 million on Instagram, and 256,000 subscribers on YouTube, his three platforms for sharing content.

Joseph’s mission is to elevate brand visibility and introduce the world to his cutting-edge content. He seeks to captivate his audience and set trends within the tech industry. His message is straightforward yet impactful: “I’m here to celebrate my passion for technology with everyone.”

With a loyal fan base worldwide, his announcements always garner eager anticipation. So it’s no wonder his latest endeavor, the $10,000 TECH GIVEAWAY, made some serious waves.

But what really sets the Chillrogg giveaway apart is, apart from the scale of prizes (ranging from some seriously high-performance gaming PCs to all kinds of cutting-edge peripherals, by the way), the way it skillfully fuses capitalism and philanthropy. This way, Chillrogg can have more means and clout to help his community and grow the number of people watching and interacting with his streams.

With the news of the giveaway, excitement and activity started on social media. Fans enthusiastically spread the word in hopes of winning these cool prizes. This further spread the word of Chillrogg and reflected one more symbiotic relationship between the content generators and the audience. As the entries poured in from all over the world, Chillrogg’s influence continued to grow, and he became well on his way to making an impact in the who’s who of the tech and gaming community.

The giveaway serves as a prime example of how content creators can harness their platforms for positive impact while also furthering their own interests in a mutually beneficial manner.

With the contest now closed and the lucky winners drawn, the impact of Chillrogg in the community could not have been left more apparent. On the other hand, the winners have taken to social media with words of gratitude and fueled the cycle of engagement and visibility that propels the digital economy.

But beyond that, what makes Chillrogg’s giveaway go is the potential to show how a content creator could make the desired impact while also reaping the rewards of increased visibility and engagement.

By blending capitalism with philanthropy, influencers—like Chillrogg—can find ways of leveraging their platform to do social good while finding ways for themselves to be empowered in return: increased visibility and greater engagement. In an age where digital connections reign supreme, his example proves content creators’ importance in changing the world, giveaway by giveaway. One thing is undoubtedly going to happen in the future of content creation: the lines between capitalism and philanthropy blur, tapping the potentials of both to drive positive change.

Joseph “Chillrogg” Urbinati’s narrative is of passion, perseverance, and pioneering spirit. It highlights the journey of a tech visionary who fearlessly shares his love for technology with the world. As Joseph continues to chart his path in the tech realm, his audience awaits with bated breath, eager to see where his unmatched zeal and creativity will take them next. Join him on this exhilarating journey across all his platforms to be a part of the unfolding story of a remarkable figure in tech content creation

Follow him on his socials; Tiktok, Instagram, Youtube, Facebook

Featured image provided by Roberto Nickson; Pexels; Thanks!

The post Influencer “Chillrogg” Makes Waves: $10,000 Tech Giveaway appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

When users first load Slack after the redesign, they will be greeted by a new Home section that resembles the existing interface. This section displays channels, direct messages (DMs), and apps, providing users with a familiar starting point. However, the real changes begin with the introduction of a new sidebar on the left side of the screen.

One notable addition to the sidebar is the new DMs section, which resembles messaging and email apps. It consolidates all conversations, allowing users to manage their chats from various channels and workspaces in one place. This new feature simplifies communication and enhances productivity.

Further down the sidebar, Slack introduces an Activity window that acts as a “unified inbox.” This window displays all messages, mentions, and reactions across all of a user’s Slack workspaces. Similar to consolidating emails into a single timeline, this feature allows employees to catch up on important updates at the start of their day. With more context and focus, users can navigate through their work more efficiently.

Noah Weiss, Slack’s chief product officer, explains that the redesign aims to organize users’ different modes of work rather than types of objects. These modes include catching up on activity, responding to inbound messages, triaging and responding to various tasks, and following up on to-do lists. By categorizing work in this way, Slack provides users with a clearer and more intuitive workflow.

To accommodate the needs of users who prefer a more chaotic work style, Slack has also reworked its multi-windowing system. This system enables users to have multiple views open simultaneously, allowing for a more flexible and personalized workspace.

One of the main challenges Slack users face is keeping track of activity across multiple channels. To address this, Slack has introduced several tools and improvements.

Slack has improved its workflow for saving content, making it easier for users to find and use the “save for later” functionality. The redesigned app features a dedicated Later menu in the sidebar, where users can quickly save messages, files, or other important information. Users can then add reminders or check off items when they’re finished, ensuring that nothing important falls through the cracks.

Slack has made it easier for users to access the Huddles video chat feature by placing it in the top-right corner of every chat window. This convenient placement encourages more frequent use of video communication, improving collaboration among team members. Additionally, users can create new canvases directly from the left sidebar, providing a seamless experience for brainstorming and ideation.

With this redesign, Slack is redefining its purpose beyond being just a messaging app. Instead, it aims to become the operating system for users’ work, offering a cross-platform and all-encompassing space where all work-related activities occur. Chat is now just one tab among many, as Slack expands its capabilities to support a wide range of productivity features and integrations.

Noah Weiss emphasizes that Slack will continue to release new features and push the boundaries of what a messaging tool can offer. As Slack incorporates generative AI technology and introduces automation capabilities, it strives to future-proof its product and stay ahead of industry trends. The goal is to empower users with a comprehensive platform that streamlines their work processes and enhances productivity.

The redesigned Slack interface not only improves the user experience but also paves the way for future developments. As Slack continues to innovate, it envisions a product that goes beyond messaging, becoming an indispensable tool for businesses worldwide. With its global reach and commitment to diversity, Slack is poised to transform how teams collaborate and communicate in the digital age.

In conclusion, Slack’s biggest redesign to date aims to tame the chaos of the workday by providing users with a more intuitive and streamlined experience. With a new sidebar, enhanced organization features, and improved workflows, Slack empowers users to stay on top of their work and collaborate more effectively. By reimagining itself as an operating system for work, Slack sets the stage for future innovations and further solidifies its position as a leader in the industry.

See first source: The Verge

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What prompted Slack to embark on its biggest redesign?

Slack recognized that its expanded offerings were leading to a cluttered and difficult-to-navigate app. The redesign aimed to create a more user-friendly and efficient experience for heavy users.

2. What are the key changes introduced in Slack’s redesign?

The redesign introduces a new Home section, a consolidated DMs section, an Activity window for unified updates, improved multi-windowing, enhanced content saving, easy access to video chat, and more seamless brainstorming capabilities.

3. How does Slack’s redesign enhance communication and collaboration?

The redesign simplifies communication by consolidating conversations from various channels and workspaces in the DMs section. It also streamlines workflows, making it easier to catch up on updates, respond to messages, triage tasks, and follow up on to-do lists.

4. How does Slack aim to redefine its purpose with this redesign?

Slack aims to become more than just a messaging app. It seeks to be the operating system for users’ work, offering a comprehensive space where all work-related activities occur, including messaging, productivity features, and integrations.

5. How does the redesigned Slack interface benefit users?

The redesigned interface improves user experience, enhances organization, and supports future developments. It empowers users to stay on top of their work, collaborate effectively, and navigate through their tasks more efficiently.

6. How is Slack incorporating AI and automation into its platform?

Slack is incorporating generative AI technology and introducing automation capabilities to future-proof its product and stay ahead of industry trends. This enhances the platform’s ability to streamline work processes and boost productivity.

7. What is Slack’s vision for the future of work?

Slack envisions itself as an indispensable tool beyond messaging, transforming how teams collaborate and communicate in the digital age. It aims to continue innovating and providing a comprehensive platform for businesses worldwide.

8. How does Slack’s commitment to diversity play a role in its transformation?

Slack’s commitment to diversity reflects in its global reach and influences how it designs its platform to cater to a wide range of users and work styles.

9. What is the overarching goal of Slack’s redesign and future developments?

The overarching goal is to provide a more intuitive, streamlined, and powerful platform that helps users manage their work efficiently, collaborate seamlessly, and adapt to evolving work trends and technologies.

10. How does Slack’s redesign solidify its position in the industry?

Slack’s redesign demonstrates its dedication to improving user experience and adapting to the changing needs of its users. By staying at the forefront of innovation, Slack continues to be a leader in the team chat app space.

Featured Image Credit: Rubaitul Azad; Unsplash; Thank you!

The post Slack’s New Design Makes Work Less Chaotic appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

If you think a virtual phone number might help your organization, here are just some of the benefits of hanging up on conventional phones.

Increased Privacy While Offering Personalized Service

In some business situations providing a personal phone number can be a good strategy to build trust and demonstrate your personal commitment to helping them. It can, however, bring privacy issues as someone could search for your phone number to get more information about you.

If you are using a personal cell phone or operating a home office, you can use a virtual phone number instead of your private number. With a virtual phone number, calls can still be routed to your cell phone without customers gaining access to your personal phone number.

Virtual Phone Numbers Provide Additional Features

Virtual phones give you access to advanced calling features, including IVR (Interactive Voice Response), call recording, conference calling, time-based routing, call stacking, and voice-mail. You can get advanced calling features that Fortune 500 companies have without significant expense. Many providers offer these features for free as part of the deal. Also, many virtual phone numbers can also support texting. That’s something landlines can’t do.

A virtual phone number may also save on long distance calls. Using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which is a cloud-based phone service, with your virtual phone service can save significant amounts of money. There are no more local tolls and no long-distance charges for domestic calls. Most international calls are free as well. Finally, you can also use virtual phone numbers to appear more “local.” If you want to appear to have a local presence, set up virtual phone numbers in all the area codes you serve. With a VoIP system, you can make changes easily through a dashboard. Virtual phone lines with local numbers can be created in more than 100 countries worldwide with virtual number forwarding to any device. If you every need help managing your messages, then consider checking out these texting solutions for small business. 

Flexible Set Up That Increases Calling Capabilities

With a virtual phone number for business, your options increase. As calls come in, they can be automatically routed to multiple destinations based on customized workflow rules. This can help manage when multiple calls come in or help manage different type of leads.

For example, you could have a single phone number you publish in TV commercials, print ads and business cards, then using technology tools, you can send inbound calls with local area codes to one receiving center, and out of town area codes to a different center. This could help you answer their inquiry or business need faster. Alternatively, if you often have too many calls come in at once, when you use a virtual phone number calls can automatically roll over to another line when unanswered or be routed to other locations.

Also, if you already have a business phone number, you don’t have to start all over. If you already have an established phone number for your business, you can switch to a virtual service and keep your existing number. Your provider can help you port your current number over and turn it into a virtual phone number.

Ditch The Landline

Using a virtual phone number can help your small business grow and better serve your customers. Virtual phone numbers untether your customer service team from a single phone or even a single office and allows the team to work nearly anywhere in the world. Additionally, leveraging different tools, a virtual phone number helps your business create a more professional experience or appear to be local to their area code.

Fortunately, even if your business phone is set up on a landline, you can keep your exact number and transfer it into a virtual landline. With so many added benefits and the ability to keep your current number there are really no downsides to a virtual phone number.

The post Top Business Benefits of Using a Virtual Phone Number appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

1. Calculator

An old trusted stand-by. Whether it’s measuring the total boards you’ll need to offset every foot or 16” (given if it’s load bearing), or rather you are trying to calculate the dimensions for the countertop you’re putting in and want to calculate potential expenses for the slab by the square foot. You need a tool to run those numbers. It seems simple but it’s the most necessary. You’ve got one pre-installed on your phone. It lives in settings. Trust me, you will be using it.

2. Measure

Another free app just came knocking. However, this one is a little less well-known and that is a travesty. Measure, just like Calculator comes preinstalled on iPhones and has two key features. It will automatically measure based on points. It uses augmented reality (AR) to graph out and measure objects simply by dropping points. The app then spits out a calculation for you.

Also, it works as a level. Both side planes are like walls or boards or those pesky flat planes. While not necessarily as ideal as a traditional level or tape measure, it is ready to go and almost always on hand for a quick and sound measurement.

3. Hubstaff

Another best app for contractors is a GPS tracking app that lets everyone know what is happening during those work hours. In construction, managing a team is hard enough, especially when managers and team leads are often required to move between their own projects, different jobs, and workers.

Hubstaff keeps you informed on how construction teams use their time in an easy, automated fashion. With this application you can:

• When They’re Clocked In, You Know Where They Are
• Time Track and Attendance Schedule
• Set Geofenced “Job-Sites”
• Payroll and Invoice Tracking

4. PlanGrid Build App

Built for the mobile architect this connects design and construction on a free mobile hub in your palm. It allows for updates to be present in real-time as well as the seamless integration and syncing amongst software. You can build, alter and draw on plans or blueprints.

It is a highly regarded five-star application, that once again is completely free.

5. Solocator

In both construction and maintenance, it isn’t always so much “Houston, we have a problem.” But rather, “Houston, where is the problem?” Solocator can help with that. There have been plenty of times when you hear there is a particular problem, in a particular room but you can’t find exactly where or the directions are bad. Solocator stamps photos with dates, times, directions, GPS data – that’s right cardinal directions, and apparently even altitudes.

For those requests, it waves the need for a detailed description and instead places the information on the photograph itself.

6. Autodesk BIM 360

Another great app for contractors is this program keeping everything to a task. This is yet another cloud integration software that focuses most heavily on connecting all the different pieces and people working on the flow of a project. It is an open platform meant to be integrated with the construction software that is already being used by all the different individuals working on the project. This way there is no need to get anyone to transfer to new software and keeps parts connected saving time and money with its open efficiency.

7. FingerCad

FingerCad is essentially a Computer Assisted Design program aimed at the mobile-minded. It features all the standard CAD software elements, you can draw things, you can build blueprints – anything you could do on a computer. While this is more often for an architect than a contractor, it could be easily used by the small-time contractor just breaking into the game and doing a lot of the leg work solo.

8. Fieldwire

An integrated cloud-based up that has limitless data and does not require an internet connection for partial usage. It has messaging software, drawing editing, and overlays. You can sink things from DropBox to add new images. Everything can be done live. Additionally, files, photos, videos, and 360 images are open to being added to the plan. Meetings, sight observations, and meetings can also be added and touched on within the app.

The post 8 Best Apps for Contractors appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Here’s how you can benefit by carrying one Mobilo instead of a stack of business cards:

– A great first impression, you can wow your connections with the swift contact exchange.

– Never run out of Business cards again, all you need is one card

– Stand out from others while networking, be in your connection’s phone with a tap. Never be forgotten again

– Instant follow-ups, you can connect your card to a CRM of your choice, slack, salesforce, google docs, etc(3000+ apps). Your connection’s info gets automatically entered into your CRM system.

You can also benefit from the QR code feature of this card. You can use this card during your online meetings, just hold up your card to the camera for a quick scan. Then, you can share any information you want during the meetings.

With Mobilo, you’re not only giving a smart tech gift but also an environmentally conscious one. Making the switch from paper business cards to Mobilo saves money and trees. Every year 2 million trees are cut to manufacture paper business cards, and 88% of those cards end up in the bin within a week. So, consider yourself helping to save the environment by giving this gift!

Final Thoughts

Head to the online Mobilo store now and pick from your choice of smart business cards and accessories for your favorite family, friends, or colleagues. Happy Networking!

The post Gift of Networking – Mobilo Smart Business Card appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

What Kind of Business Do You Want to Start?

You love sports, you might even say it’s your passion, and you want to turn that passion into your own sports-related business. You’ll be happy to learn that is, in fact, a great idea because there are so many avenues you can pursue that there’s almost certainly one that you’d love and be great at. 

Here are just four examples:

• Are you already a skilled photographer? Sports photography is a business you can operate from home with a moderate investment in equipment. As your business grows, expect to do a lot of traveling to capture your team as they compete. 
• If you live in an area where little league teams are plentiful, think about a batting cage business. The cost of construction ranges from $64,000 to $170,000.
• All indoor and outdoor sports venues need to be properly lit. So you might wish to become a sports venue lighting engineer. A great way to start learning about this trade is to review industry case studies. Getting a clearer picture of what it takes to light up large to mid-size outdoor complexes as well as indoor arenas with these powerful lights.
• An eCommerce sportswear, sports memorabilia, or sporting goods business allows you to run your company from home. Additionally, it saves you the overhead expenses of a brick-and-mortar store. You might even find great finds at estate sales for some one-of-a-kind items. 

Jump into the Game

Your first step is to make a list. Note your strengths, knowledge of the sport, experience in both that sport and in business, and your ability to finance your new company.  

The next step would then be to create a business plan. A business plan helps you in the process of starting a business. It will contain the goal, vision, and mission of your company. It also includes financial projections and a timeline for achieving these goals. You can find templates online to use that can walk you through the process and ensure you’re not leaving out any important steps.

Marketing

The first step to marketing your small business is to create a brand. A brand is an impression that you want your customers to have of you. You need to identify what makes you different from other businesses. This way you will know what people want to buy from you. This idea can be applied in all aspects of small business marketing, including social media, advertising, and even product design.

The next step in marketing your small business is to create an online presence. You can start with social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. It’s possible to create your own Facebook ads with online tools, including the ability to create your own Facebook banner that helps you stand out.

You need a website for your business where people can learn more about you and how they can contact you. It’s a good idea to hire a professional to create and manage that for you since it will be critical to your business’s success. You can find plenty of freelancers online and see their portfolios and prices with sites like Upwork and Fiverr. 

SmallBizTechnology educates business owners and entrepreneurs with information on how to strategically use technology (and more!) as a tool to start and grow their businesses. Reach out and let them get your business growing.

Involve Yourself Through Fundraising

Sports programs cost money. Between the costs of traveling to games, uniforms, and equipment, it can get pretty expensive. You can get involved and give back to your sports community by helping to fundraise for them. 

Whether you sponsor or team or organize a car wash, there are plenty of ways for you to help raise money. Decide if you want to open a batting cage, sell sports memorabilia, provide stadium lighting to fields, or wherever your passion is. Then make a business plan, market on social media, and get involved in your town’s fundraising efforts. 

It shouldn’t be long before your own sports-related business is in place and growing!

So get out there and play ball!

The post Take a Swing at a Sports-Related Business appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

As a business owner, you might be wondering whether getting a virtual debit card would be of any use to your company, or streamline your finances even as you expand your operations. With this in mind, below are reasons why you should consider getting a virtual debit card for your business. But first, you need to know what a virtual debit card is. 

What’s a Virtual Debit Card?

A virtual debit card is a digital version of the physical debit card linked to your underlying debit card. Besides being virtual, it includes all other aspects of the physical debit card, such as debit card number, cardholder name, card verification value (CVV) code, and expiration date. It also has a 16-digit randomly-generated number.  

You can quickly and easily make payments over your phone or online payments using the virtual debit card. However, you can’t use this card to withdraw money from your account. 

Reasons to Get a Virtual Debit Card

Using a virtual debit card service will provide you with a couple of benefits. These include: 

1. Reduced Number of Payment Fraud Incidents

Traditional physical cards create an easy target for theft, either by getting cloned or being stolen. But when using a virtual debit card to do your business transactions, you enjoy greater security from fraud and theft. This is because you can easily deactivate your virtual debit card in minutes. You also don’t share bank account numbers. Thus, you can enjoy greater peace of mind when making online payments.

In addition, they don’t have visible card numbers and magnetic strips present on physical cards. Hence, it becomes harder for unauthorized individuals to hack into your account. Some virtual cards also require face scans or PIN details before accessing your account. 

You can also set your virtual debit card to be single-use and expire immediately after using it. This offers you further protection by ensuring your card is not used by unscrupulous dealers. Nonetheless, make sure to use a virtual debit card issued by a trustworthy provider. This way, you can be certain that their card network boasts excellent security features and extensive fraud checks.

2. Improved Oversight And Accountability

In business, you need to be accountable for every penny you spend or you risk experiencing cash flow problems or suffering considerable losses. This is where using a virtual debit card comes in handy, as it allows you to have excellent oversight and accountability for all your business transactions. 

With the virtual debit card, you’ll be able to determine how and where all your money is going as each transaction is automatically recorded in the card management system. This saves your accounts department the hassle of manually checking the expense receipts to validate each transaction, which is often time-consuming. So, you can easily and effectively monitor and control as you can easily know how every penny is spent. 

The card also comes in handy if different employees use the same virtual card to make different transactions. You can also set limits each of your staff can spend to further boost transparency and prevent any violation. This allows you, as the business owner, greater control of uses in company finances and ensures increased accountability.  

3. Convenience For E-Commerce Activities

Running a business is highly engaging and requires you, as the entrepreneur, to be fully committed to the daily operations of your enterprise. Using the virtual debit card offers you this freedom because you don’t need to physically go to the bank to complete a transaction. Additionally, you can do the transactions 24/7, unlike a physical bank operating at certain hours. 

Getting a virtual debit card also doesn’t require you to file a lot of paperwork. Along with taking a lot of time, paperwork increases the chances of making a mistake. Also, you can start right away instead of waiting 7 to 14 days for your account to start running. This is because you can handle everything conveniently and quickly using your computer. As a result, you can shift your focus to other vital matters relating to running your business. 

4. Promotes Teamwork

Another advantage of virtual debit cards is that it promotes teamwork among the employees within your business. This is because your staff will constantly need to communicate with each other when keeping track of their spending. Doing this helps to inspire collaboration within them, and they’ll find ways how they can reduce their spending. This will help the team come up with a fixed budget they can use to guide them for quarterly campaigns. 

5. Saves Your Organization Time And Money

Time and money are two precious assets you don’t want to waste in business. Utilizing a virtual debit card ensures that wasting time and money doesn’t happen because you can quickly get one at the click of a button, unlike physical cards that require manual work for making payments. You can start using virtual debit cards to do transactions, which in business is vital considering every minute counts if you want to remain competitive.

The use of these cards saves you money because digital transactions are faster and cheaper. This is because regular admin tasks are cheaper when making digital transactions. 

6. Helps You Take Back Power From Vendors

Once a vendor has your card information, they can charge you each time they want. Because of this, you might find your subscription lasting longer than you wish. Using a virtual debit card account, you can prevent this as it offers you greater control over all your online subscriptions. Accordingly, prevention allows unnecessary payments from being charged to your account if an employee forgot to cancel a subscription. 

Takeaway

Virtual debit cards are the go-to option nowadays among many businesses for both online and offline transactions. This especially comes in handy as a business owner because you’ll need to make a lot of business-to-business (B2B) transactions to pay buyers or suppliers, and you don’t want to waste precious time physically lining up at your local bank. Detailed in this post is an outline of why getting a virtual debit card can be a wise move for your business in case you have even the slightest reservations. 

The post Debit Card: Why Your Business Needs to Go Virtual appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

If you are considering replacing your desk phone, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is one of your best alternatives. All you need is to be connected to the internet to make and receive calls using a business VoIP system.

VoIP is the fastest-growing business communication solution around and for good reason.

It replaces the traditional landline telephone with an advanced and feature-rich phone that establishes calls over the internet. It also enables users to talk to anyone using a mobile phone, laptop, or desk phone. A classic example is “softphones” that enable conferencing over smartphones and conference phones.

Making the Switch 

VoIP vs PBX…which is better for your business? Should you really be replacing your desk phones? Let’s begin with the basics.

PBX

Long before modern chat and collaboration apps came on the scene, all business communication used to happen through a phone system in offices warehoused in a telco room. These rooms were called a private branch exchange (PBX) which were essentially little telephone companies. These used a complex structure of copper wires to transmit signals from the caller to the receiver.

PBX was the pioneer in business-grade, analog phone systems. This traditional telephony system enabled people to have a personal extension to answer phone calls at their desks, check voicemails, put a call on hold, transfer calls, and more.

Over time, the humble PBX evolved into IP-PBX by incorporating VoIP technology.

The IP-PBX could now deliver a broader range of services and more satellite locations — home users, branch offices — by leveraging data and bandwidth of the internet to connect users and offices together.

VoIP

VoIP works by transmitting voice data over the internet and also your office network. A step-by-step breakdown of how a VoIP system works looks like this.

• First, it transforms all analog phone calls into digital signals.
• These digital signals are then converted into IP (Internet Protocol) packets.
• The system then converts these IP packets back into phone signals, which are then received by the phone of the receiver.

VoIP is basically a set of rules and protocols that connects a device (phones) with an IP-PBX, over the LAN (Local Area Network) or the Internet. It uses two different kinds of data packets.

• SIP (Session Initiation Protocol): The point where the call is initiated.
• RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol): These are small data packets containing the audio files that phones use to make a sound.

Over time, “VoIP phone systems” evolved and added more functionality such as chats, messaging, voice calls, and video conferencing features in an attempt to provide more comprehensive business communication solutions.

They also eliminated the need for purchasing and maintaining an in-house PBX system. Today, VoIP technology-backed web phones have become the backbone of business phone systems that enables businesses with some of the most advanced features in calling, making it an apt alternative to the traditional PBX.

Web Phone vs. Desk Phone

• Call Delivery: The main difference between a desk phone (traditional PBX) and a web phone (VoIP enabled) is in the way they connect people on calls.
  • Web phones deliver calls via the internet, whereas desk phones (traditional PBX) deliver calls via physically connected circuits and phone lines.
• Features: Traditional desk phones and web phones really have no comparison when it comes to features.
  • VoIP-enabled web phones are equipped with the latest technology and multiple options for communicating, for both internal and external business communication needs.
  • Desk phones have a pretty limited feature set.
• Flexibility and Integration: Web phones can easily be integrated with other important systems a business is using whereas a desk phone can’t exactly do the same.
  • Besides, web phones do not require in-house IT support and maintenance.
  • This also gives employees the flexibility to work and make/receive calls from anywhere which is not the case with desk phones.

Why Replace Desk Phones with Web Phones?

Integration with Business Apps

In today’s digitized environment, different business systems cannot work in isolation.

VoIP-enabled web phones enable you to integrate your phone system with software that your business is already using. This is not possible in the case of desk phones.

When switching to a web phone, take a demo to see how these integrations work. You may already be using a CRM, calendaring tool, or other software which you may want to integrate with your phone system.

• Most web phones have salesforce integration features that enable agents to take calls from the sales dashboard itself.
• To efficiently handle heavy call volumes and conference calls (internal and external), integrating your phone system with Google or Outlook calendar can make scheduling meetings a breeze.
  • These smartphone solutions have the ability to automatically update an agent’s status by syncing with their work calendar.
  • This way, other teammates know when a particular team member is available and when busy.

The Rise of the Remote Workforce

Do you as an organization follow a hybrid or remote work culture? Does a sizable percentage of your staff work remotely? It is high time you make a switch to web phones.

The web phone or VoIP technology has been designed to make calls from anywhere making it an ideal fit for your remote team. It enables remote workers to use an office phone number from their laptop or personal smartphones, as long as they have strong and stable bandwidth and internet connection.

Scalability

For a company with a limited budget for technology, no expansion plans, and no hybrid/remote work strategy sticking to desk phones may still work.

However, the hassle of maintaining the PBX system and an in-house IT support team will still be there. What’s more, the lack of ability of traditional systems to integrate with your other technology stack can lead to a significant loss of business.

For a company with plans to grow the team in the near future, using a web phone will likely make more sense.

Web phones provide you with the flexibility to easily scale up or down in terms of phone lines and users as and when you expand your team or downsize it. Contact centers and call centers especially stand to benefit from VoIP technology. These advanced feature-rich phones can give a serious boost in handling high call volumes, identifying, and analyzing patterns in customer calls.

‘Web Phones’ to Consider to Replace ‘Desk Phones’

It’s clear that web phones are clearly a win-win to address modern business communication needs. Now, choosing the one that best fits your requirements is the next step. The market is flooded with various options when it comes to web phones. We have put together our top picks for you to consider.

1. Tragofone

Tragofone is essentially a VoIP softphone app that can be installed on a mobile phone, laptop/desktop, or basically any device your employee is comfortable with. This particular web phone tops our list because of the host of features it offers. It makes it an ideal match for any business that works in the hybrid or remote mode.

• It features a versatile dialer app that enables employees to use the business VoIP number on their personal devices.
• Backed by WebRTC technology it is fairly easy to use. Employees can open it in a web browser they are familiar with to make and receive calls.
• Tragofone is both iOS and Android friendly.
• The advanced feature set comprises call routing, call monitoring, call logging, chat/messaging, fax management, employee directory, and more.
• Other features such as auto-provisioning and white-labeling are an added bonus.

2. FireRTC

FireRTC is a free calling web phone that runs within a browser using  WebRTC technology. The technology eliminates the need to install or buy any add-ons.

FireRTC offers free calling to the PSTN in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also provides users with background information about the person or business they are speaking with.

With features like call recording, this is one of the best web phones available. The FireRTC app is available in the Chrome Webstore.

3. OnSIP Desktop App

The OnSIP Desktop App does not require any downloads or plug-ins. Likewise, it runs seamlessly on Windows and Mac operating systems on both Chrome and Firefox web browsers. Similarly, it also enables users to make voice or video calls at the click of a button. The desktop app is equipped to make calls to:

• PSTN;
• extension dial;
• SIP-to-SIP calls; and
• video calls with compatible devices.

The OnSIP desktop app has been designed keeping in mind the requirements of a call/contact center and is an ideal replacement for desk phones.

It enables both the sales and customer support teams to utilize calling and monitoring features. Additionally, it enables remote workers/mobile staff to log into the app and connect with the company’s phone system. The video call feature enables employees to better assist customers using visual cues.

4. Zoiper

The Zoiper web phone’s ability to integrate your website and web app make it a strong contender as one of the best in the category.

Zoiper web is compatible with all popular browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera on the Windows operating system. Zoiper has the unique ability to discover the browser and install the appropriate plugin.

The web phone enables a user to do unlimited concurrent calls to an unlimited number of users. It boasts of features such as call hold and call transfer. Getting a  license for Zoiper may be a good idea if embedding a fully functional phone on your website or web app is your business requirement. This makes it easy for customers to reach you directly from your website or app.

5. FluentCloud Web Phone

The FluentCloud web phone is a Google Chrome add-on that is compatible with ChromeBook computers, laptops, and desktops.

This device enables users to make and receive calls, messages, chat, check voicemails, read online fax, and more all using a single interface.

FluentCloud web phone has a paid subscription plan which gives the users access to a cloud-based all-inclusive business phone system.

6. Twilio

Twilio web phone enables a user to use a web browser to make phone calls. However, like the other web phones listed here, Twilio’s browser phone is not an enterprise-grade solution and requires a user to install an add-on manually in a terminal window. Additionally, the phone has the capability to call PSTNs, extensions, and SIP endpoints.

Web phones clearly equip businesses with more features when compared to old-school desk phones. Likewise, their ability to work seamlessly across multiple devices and the capability to let employees work from anywhere is something surely to consider in today’s fast-changing remote work culture. The sky’s the limit with these new-age web phones.

The post 6 Web Phone Options That Can Replace a Desk Phone appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

to call your bank or talk to a finance specialist to get a better understanding of your finances. With the right money management app, you can quickly check your budget before deciding whether to make a purchase or not. Money management apps can help you to hold yourself more accountable for purchases and spending habits.

You Can Learn More About Your Finances and Credit With Money Management Apps

You may want to know the answers to frequently asked questions, like how can credit cards be more secure than cash or what’s the best way to pay off debt fast. Money management apps are designed to educate you along the way. You will learn special tips and tricks to raise your credit score and build positive financial history. It is never too late to start learning about your finances and credit. Take advantage of all the resources and tools at your disposal.

You Can Track Your Spending Habits

After downloading a money management app, you might decide to start tracking spending habits. Small purchases add up. You might be surprised by the monthly or yearly impact of habits like vaping or drinking. Money and personal finance apps often use graphs and other tools to help you visualize your current spending habits. From there, you can assess what you are doing well and what you might like to change. Once you set a goal to spend more responsibly, you can use money apps to keep track of your progress towards that goal. Watching your spending habits change for the better over time can be highly rewarding.

You Can Budget

A personal finance app can also help you to budget your money better. First, you can keep track of direct deposits and other payments that you have coming into your bank account. You can budget different amounts of money for savings accounts, rent, loan repayments, utility bills, car related expenses, grocery shopping, childcare, medical expenses, leisure, and other life expenses. Doing all of the math required to make a tight budget work can be difficult. Money management apps can help to take some of the guesswork out of this process. If you are spending too much money in one area, you might try to change your habits so that they are more cost effective in the future. For example, you may have a tight food and grocery budget. Instead of eating fast food every day, use store brand grocery items and coupons to save money.

You Can Save Up Money and Plan for the Future

Tracking and planning your spending habits can help you in a variety of different ways. Many people find that they are able to save more money when they track and plan their finances using a money management app. Saving money is important, even if you do not make a lot of money at work. You need to save money in case of emergencies, medical bills, moving expenses, job loss, and other potential situations that can arise in life. In general, it is smart to put at least 10 percent of your income into a savings account that you do not touch.

There May Even Be Bonuses for Sign Up or Referrals

Some money management apps even offer cool bonuses for users when they sign up or refer new users to their platforms. You might be able to take advantage of paid app features for free or for a discounted rate. You may even receive cash or prizes. Some money management apps host fun contests and giveaways that their users can take part in.

If you want more control over your money – especially if you’re working on a tight budget, using money management apps should be able to help you.  Between tracking your funds, scheduling payments and setting money goals for the future, these clever smartphone money apps can really save you in many ways.  Once you take the time to select the right money personal finance apps for you and your financial needs, you will be off and running towards a happier, healthier bank account.

The post The Growing Popularity of Money Management Apps appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

You can always get advice from other people on how they accomplish their tasks. However, tips that work for one individual may not be the best fit for your needs and your style of work.

The same goes for productivity tools. With so many applications and tools on the market, it’s important to know what you actually need.

Perhaps you’re a skilled note-taker but are having a difficult time staying focused on other responsibilities. Or you may have a great style for communicating with colleagues and clients, but don’t have an efficient method for making appointments.

Help is as near as your phone, computer, or tablet. The six apps listed below will help you improve efficiency so you can sit back and watch your business blossom.

Hive

Hive’s productivity platform is among the top tools available. When integrated with Hive’s desktop or web applications, the mobile application offers an additional way to improve efficiency all day long.

With Hive, team members are able to look over their lists of tasks as well as communicate with one another in real-time. They can work together on their schedules, share documents, and keep track of the status of their projects.

Alongside the mobile application, Hive’s desktop and web applications come with additional tools to increase productivity. Each project can be viewed in different ways, based on the individual’s style of work and preferences. These include a Gantt Diagram, Kanban Board, Calendar, and many more.

Changes are visible across all views of the project. Everyone is able to work as they’d like. Everyone is kept updated. Your tasks across all projects are also included on your personal to-do lists. This keeps you accountable and helps you when prioritizing your next tasks.

Todoist

Todoist is an easy application for managing tasks that allows you to track and group tasks according to projects. If you really want to improve your efficiency, think of Tdoist as an upgrade of your standard to-do list.

Apart from creating and organizing your own tasks, you can also use the app to work alongside other users. Todoist allows you to share tasks as well as assign work.

Google Docs

Google Docs is one of the most effective tools for sharing documents and working in real-time. The online word processor eliminates saving files and sending them back and forth during the editing and writing process.

Based on the settings you select, document files are shared internally as well as outside your company. It allows team members to collaborate from any location and reduces the number of redundant documents. This alone can greatly reduce communication issues.

Google Docs also has a comment feature. This allows you to highlight and take notes about the text in question. Comments targeted at particular users can be notified via email to keep everyone informed. To ensure your privacy as well as security, Google allows the owner of the documents to decide how to edit each person who is a part of the document.

Google Sheets has similar benefits including the capability of importing CSV files. This allows you to save all your documents together in one hub.

IFTTT (If This Then That)

If This Then That (IFTTT) is an automated tool that effortlessly connects various applications and experiences.

IFTTT allows you to set up automated processes that range from routine tasks to more unusual connections. It helps you automatize repetitive tasks. This, in turn, lets you concentrate on the other important aspects of your job.

Calendar

Calendar relieves you of the burden of going back and forth in email or on the phone just to set up a meeting. This feature alone is a huge time-saver, but that’s just one of its benefits.

When you create a Calendar account you can customize your preferences for availability. This includes offering timeslots of 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and so forth according to when you’re available.

When you’re ready to set up an appointment, simply send an email with easy-to-use checkboxes. They get to choose the time slot most suitable for them. This eliminates confusion and makes it easy to schedule multiple meetings in a short amount of time.

Evernote

If you prefer taking notes on the computer, or have a mixture of digital and handwritten notes, Evernote is for you. Evernote is among the most effective tools available for storing your thoughts and ideas in one spot.

One of the cool features of the Evernote application is that it lets users capture pictures of handwritten notes and then upload them. Of course, this is in addition to making notes directly on your devices.

Search allows users to browse all their documents — either written or typed. This is made possible by the handwriting analysis built into the app. Once you have your notes uploaded, you can arrange your notebooks into systems and then filter them using tags.

There are so many efficiency apps on the market now that it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Your best bet is to, first of all, identify where exactly you need help getting your act together. Odds are good millions of other people face the same struggle, so yes, you can bet that “there’s an app for that.”

The post 6 Apps to Improve Efficiency appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

However, let’s go back to that first number. Over one million apps. That represents some fierce competition! To get users to download and use your app, small business owners must work hard to stand out from the crowd. To do that, they have to work with their app developers to create something worth downloading. Start by working with one of the best PWA app builders and keeping in mind these six things as you are creating your next app.

6 Keys to Developing a Stand-Out App

1. Focus on a Problem

The most successful apps on the market focus on consumer needs and aim to solve their pain points. For example, the Domino’s Pizza app allows you to order from the convenience of your phone, and you will never have to call to ask where your pizza is again because their Tracker follows your order and updates you until it is delivered.

2. Make It Intuitive

Your customers should not need an instruction book to use your app! Make sure it is easy to navigate and provides a good user experience. For example, FastCoDesign named Airbnb’s app one of the most innovative apps of 2016 because of its new simplified interface and search filters that make it easy to find the right accommodations.

3. Don’t Forget Marketing

Make a plan to promote your app before and after launch to get new downloads and encourage usage. For example, Staples promotes its app (and new app features) through videos, press releases, and working with bloggers and reviewers who help spread the message.

4. Make the Most of Distribution

There are dozens of app stores available for distributing your app; choose the channels that will help you reach the right audience. For example, Facebook has certainly made the most of distribution. Their app is available globally except in the ten countries where it is banned.

5. Customer Service Is Important

Offering excellent customer service includes having a FAQ section in your app, and a way for users to contact you with feedback or questions. For example, it is no surprise that the king of customer service, Amazon, built these features into their app, with a Menu tab that includes help topics and a means for contacting the company.

6. Form a Retention Strategy

Once people download your app, you need to keep them coming back for more. Push notifications, regular updates, and offering perks are three things that work. For example, AppMakr named Starbucks’ marketing campaign one of the most successful app campaigns of all time because their clever use of promotions (digital coupons, personalized rewards, etc.) keep users coming back regularly.

Knowing how to create and market a successful app is a valuable skill. With over one million apps on the market, specialized knowledge is the key to creating an app that stands out. While app creation is the norm for big business, soon it will become commonplace for small businesses too.

The post How to Develop a Stand-out App for Your Small Business appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Thanks to these new innovations, you can now not only get prompt treatment for any existing illness, but you can also help prevent them through the aid of at-home lab tests. However, just because telemedicine and at-home diagnostics are becoming more available, does it still mean that it’s an ideal option?

Do-It-Yourself Healthcare: A Smart Idea?

Without a doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we approach medical treatment. With more and more providers offering telehealth options to their patients and medical testing labs moving online, it’s reasonable to conclude that at-home healthcare is here to stay.

Nevertheless, there have been some concerns about both the safety and the efficacy of these new treatments and diagnostic tests. In turn, many people are uncertain as to if the DIY approach is right for them. Is the home health approach a viable one?

Fortunately, not only are these diagnostic and treatment options entirely safe and approved for their designated applications, but they’re also highly recommended, as well. By utilizing them, you can help ensure your best health, all without even needing to leave your home.

Current Lineup of At-Home Healthcare Diagnostics and Treatments

While choosing telehealth for the common cold can seem like common sense, what about the plethora of other at-home test options from which you can choose? With so many options out there, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. 

Rather than trying to wade through the many different options, here are four at-home treatment options from which you can choose, depending on your unique needs.

Please note, however, that these are not a replacement for medical care, but rather, a supplement. If you do have any questions about your results, it’s always prudent to follow up with a trained physician or healthcare provider.

HIV Testing

Trying to determine if you may or may not have HIV after accidental exposure can be incredibly stressful and scary. Furthermore, that doesn’t even begin to touch on the necessity for discretion when trying to determine if you may have HIV.

There are several popular HIV tests available on the market right now, allowing you to find out quickly if you have been exposed to HIV. Depending on your sense of urgency and needs, you may choose from one that requires a gum swab versus one that requires a blood test.

Most tests are incredibly accurate (between 92-99%) and can have your results back to you relatively quickly, typically less than a week. It’s important to remember that if you do get a negative test, you may want to retest again in three months to confirm your results.

Blood Glucose Monitoring

Having an elevated blood glucose level can indicate the presence of diabetes. Keeping your blood sugar levels regulated, therefore, is of the utmost importance to those who may be either diabetic (Type 1 or Type 2) or pre-diabetic.

At-home blood glucose monitoring can help make sure that you maintain normal blood glucose levels without frequent doctor’s appointments. Many online and brick-and-mortar stores offer these blood glucose monitors at a reasonable price, making this task fairly straightforward.

To check your blood glucose levels, you will need to take a small blood sample and apply it to the included test strip. The results are almost instantaneous, allowing you to take the guesswork out of your diabetes management.

Colon Cancer Screening

Colon cancer can strike at any age (though it typically affects older adults) and typically begins as small, benign polyps in the colon. Symptoms can include a change in your bowel habits, blood in your stool, pain and discomfort in your stomach, and sudden weight loss.

Early detection of colon cancer is essential to help ensure a better prognosis for you. If caught early, the 5-year survival rate for colon cancer can be as high as 91%. Once it spreads, though, that can drop as low as 14%.

An at-home FIT Test (Fecal Immunochemical Test) can help identify the presence of blood in your stool, an early sign of colon cancer. These tests are generally quite affordable and fast, allowing you to know quickly if you may be at an elevated risk of colon cancer.

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)

Urinary tract infections are quite common, affecting both men and women. Over 8 million people annually will see a doctor for a UTI, but at-home testing can help reduce that wait and allow you to be on your path to recovery much faster.

There are a number of over-the-counter test strips you can use to determine if you may have a UTI. You can purchase them at most online or local retailers, and they can give you your test results in as little as two minutes.

It’s important to note that there is a 10% chance that the test may not detect your UTI. If your symptoms persist, you may need an appointment with your healthcare provider. In addition, an appointment may also be necessary for an antibiotic prescription.

Staying Educated About Your At-Home Healthcare Options

Staying on top of your health does not have to mean long waits at your local walk-in clinic or urgent care. By educating yourself about your at-home treatment options, you can help empower yourself to get prompt, accurate diagnoses to help you reclaim both your good health and your peace of mind.

The post DIY Healthcare: New Innovations Let You Take Charge of Your Health, Without a Doctor’s Appointment appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Eighty-five percent of the users think that a firm’s website view on their phone should be better than the desktop. As a result, more and more people choose website builders like Wix to create a stunning, mobile-friendly websites that helps visitors navigate with ease.

Moreover, if the phone vibrates a little when a customer adds any product to their cart, it also comes under customer experience. These instances not only provide convenience but also become the USPs of the app. These features and many others need to be added in the discovery phase of the project.

In this post, we will take a comprehensive look at the importance of UX when developing a Minimum Viable Product, or MVP. 

Before We Dive into the Role of User Experience

An MVP is an initial product with some basic features made available to early customers. The core motive of developing an MVP is to get valuable inputs regarding the future development of the product.

The MVP Approach wasn’t Designed for:

If you are developing an MVP, make sure you align your goals well. Never develop an MVP because of the following:

1. To Develop a Useless App at a Low Cost

Never rush the MVP development process while creating an app. As the process will help you develop the best initial version of your product, it is necessary to give it time.

Moreover, it is necessary to make sure that you plan your budget first. Investing a little more into MVP can lead to remarkable results in the future, so don’t just focus on cost-saving. 

Plus, an MVP can help you save a lot more in the future.

2. To Build a “Utopian” yet Subpar Version of a Product

Another thing that you need to keep in mind while developing an MVP is that you are not developing an industry marvel currently. You are just developing a product version for analyzing the reviews of the audience. 

Hence, you need to focus on a limited set of features around which the functionality of the app revolves.

3. To Make a Quick Profit after Low-Cost Development

If we talk about the app development cost, the price range of developing an app is between $10,000 to $240,000. So if you think that you will get sky-high profit by spending pennies on development, you are wrong. 

An MVP should be developed properly with enough budget in mind.

The MVP Approach was Designed for:

Along with knowing the don’ts related to the MVP, it is necessary to know why you need an MVP. Here is why:

1. To Test Product Hypotheses in Terms of the Real Market

There are various ways to research the market through surveys, focus groups, interviews, and whatnot. These aspects will inform you about what people need and what problems they face. On the other hand, if you are developing a product MVP, it will help you learn how people interact with the product and what else you can add as per market requirements. Hence, an MVP is the best way to analyze the real market scenario.

2. To Find a Value/Demand Fit

As per Failory, 34% of the startups fail due to the lack of product fit market. 

Hence, it becomes essential for you to develop an MVP to know what kind of product fits the market and what the market needs. 

Moreover, an MVP will also help you find out if it can be scaled into a comprehensive product or not.

3. To Scale Value to Find a Product/Market Fit

One more reason for which an MVP is important is to know if the product can be scaled or not. 

Hence, depending on the market response of the MVP, you can find out if you want to develop the product further or not.

Note: Premature scaling is the number one reason for the failure of the startup.

What Is the Role of UX in MVP?

User experience is by far the most important thing that you need to consider while building an MVP. 

This does not mean that you need to embed all the UX features into the MVP, but you should include some of the basic ones. 

There are countless UI/UX trends that you can check out while building an MVP.

Here are some of the factors that define the importance of an MVP:

Test the Initial Product 

If we talk about the initial product or an MVP, it needs to be tested properly before launching. Moreover, before testing, you also need to make sure that you have included all the basic and essential features in it. 

For example, include features like quality pictures, dark mode, and others to enhance user experience. After all, UX is what makes an individual the regular user of your app.

The core motive of all this is to know how to improve your product further to offer a top-notch user experience.

Non-obvious UX Patterns

Now, while designing an app, it is possible that you may miss some little aspects that hinder the user experience. For example, the presence of fake preloaders, infinite scrolling, hamburgers, etc., can sometimes irritate a user.

Hence, to analyze these UX patterns that affect the performance of the app, an MVP is necessary.  You can record these patterns and work on improving them. You can add:

• a sliding hamburger, 
• Fixed Position Menu Web UI, 
• Card Grid, 
• and many more!

Validate These in Customer Interviews

Lastly, when you have discovered UX patterns in your app that are not required, it is time for validation. This can be done in customer interviews. 

For this, you need to interview customers and gain insights about patterns and potential solutions.

Why Is UX Leading in MVP Development?

Along with having a key role in MVP development, UX has also become a primary factor for designing websites and apps. 

Here are some crucial aspects for which UX has become a benchmark for developers and businesses.

• UX-led MVPs are cheaper to build because they don’t require fancy UI. Now, the very first thing that motivates businesses to build an MVP is that they don’t have to focus much on the user interface.
  
  It means that you can develop an app with minimal graphics and a bit less image quality. But, you need to focus on delivering content swiftly and ensure less response time.
  
  In short, with less focus on UI, you get to work more on UX. Thus, reducing cost and saving time.

• UX-led MVP focuses on numbers. Unlike UI, UX-led MVP helps in boosting the customer base. How?
  
  UX directly affects the psychology of the person. Hence, it is necessary for designers to know about some essential principles to get through to the audience.
  
  The more you will know, the more will be the diversity in the design, and more will be the number of users.

• UX-led MVP helps to build a strong community. At the end, when your UX-led MVP is out. The early adopters will be your most loyal users.
  
  And they will help you build a wider community of the app or any other product. Thus, helping you build a strong and loyal community.

Wrapping Up

It is no wonder why Amazon or Instagram has millions of daily users. We all know that customer experience is their primary motive, and they do everything in their power to keep up with their audience.

Hence, if you are a startup and thinking of launching a product, focus on how to do it better than others rather than just doing it. Focusing on UX can take you way ahead of your competitors.

The post Why Is UX the Most Important Part in MVP? appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Against this backdrop, app developers are compelled to create a solution that will captivate the user’s attention and prove intuitive and relevant to the user. 

Today, mobile design is a way to meet user expectations and communicate brand messages to app users. Even the smallest UX or UI elements play a role in delivering certain meta-information to the app user. 

A visually appealing and user-centered mobile app design is the result of a well-grounded strategy that the design team adheres to. In this walk-through guide, we will outline the essential stages of mobile app design and explore the dos and don’ts of each.

Stage #1: Concept

In the beginning, the design team outlines the concept of the application and its core architecture, interface, and usability elements. For this, they carefully examine the project’s requirements, documentation, and business strategy, and, if possible, have a sit-down with the client or the project manager to discuss their expectations for the end-product’s UX and UI in greater detail. 

When brainstorming on the design concept, designers also need to take into account the mobile app’s target audience, the technologies it will use or get integrated with, and the intended operating platform. In the end, the team should have a good understanding of the mobile app’s color scheme, look and feel, and user flow, as well as the scope of work lying ahead of them.   

Stage #2: Market and User Research

Next, designers go on to explore what similar mobile apps the market has to offer, paying close attention to the most popular ones. This is done to identify the best and newest UX practices as well as the most common interface elements for the particular app type your design can benefit from.   

Because user research is a more in-depth study, it can be considered optional, especially if deadlines are pressing. However, when your team spares time for it, it will help to tap into the needs, behaviors, and motivations of the app’s target audience. Proceeding from these insights, the team can implement design solutions that will prove truly valuable, allowing the app to stand out due to its relevance.  

Stage #3: Sketches

After refining the initial app concept according to the market and user research results, designers can proceed with creating sketches. These are rough visual representations of the app’s layout and graphic user interfaces, meant to illustrate the initial app idea and drawn freehand on paper or with basic graphic software. 

On the face of it, sketches may seem unnecessary, yet they shape the design team’s vision and help to verify how well they understood the specifications obtained from developers and the product manager. After the app sketches are reviewed and necessary changes are made and approved, the design process becomes more intricate.

Stage #4: Wireframes

Next, the design team focuses on elaborating the functionality and user experience of the app’s layout. You supplement the screen sketches with various user interface elements, like input fields, icons, buttons, progress bars and such, and describe how they will work when users interact with them. If you favor two distinct elements and do not know which will suit your app best, run a quick A/B test on a control group and keep the option preferred by the majority of respondents. 

When working on wireframes, it is advisable to abide by the iOS or Android interface design guidelines: this way you make sure the end-product has the look and feel consistent with the intended operating system. As a rule, wireframes are static and low-fidelity, but with their level of detail and scope, it already requires a digital design tool to build them. 

Stage #5: Mockups

This is when you transform the plain schematic wireframes into a realistic semblance of your future mobile app. For this, the team introduces color, graphics, animation elements, and navigation visuals to the screens and aligns the spacing between screen components. Apart from this, designers standardize fonts and typography and insert labels and texts into the intended places. Nonetheless, mockups remain static and unclickable.  

With mockups, you can finally have a bird’s-eye view of your design and see whether all your decisions played well or if some aspects need improvement. They also allow front-end developers to fairly estimate how long the development will take.  

Stage #6: Prototype

During the final stage, your app design finally becomes an interactive prototype. For this, you need to make elements clickable and connect all the screens and modules together as they are intended to be. As a result, you get a high-fidelity manifestation of the app, which can simulate the user journey and experiences. 

Since the prototype is not tied together with the backend, it is not technically a finished product. Nevertheless, it more than qualifies to be demonstrated to the client or stakeholders. As the prototypes are reviewed, refined, and receive final approval, the design team can hand it over to developers to finalize the project.  

What’s next

Naturally, last-minute improvements and adjustments in the application’s UX or UI will, in all likelihood, be required before the release, but they will be minor if prototypes are detailed and thorough. All in all, the six steps outlined above make up a feasible roadmap to an appealing and user-friendly design for your new mobile app.     

The post Mobile App Design: From Idea to Product Development appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Digital transformation may pose new challenges to retailers, but it also represents the opportunity to enhance, improve, and streamline your retail operations to meet customer expectations and build long-term relationships. Here are five types of IoT Software designed for retailers to help pave the way for growth and innovation for your retail store with the help of continuity merchant services. 

A Tablet POS System

According to a 2020 report by Deloitte on retail industry trends, convenience continues to be a primary component of customer buying decisions. For many business owners it may make sense to run customer sales through a tablet instead of the traditional desktop. Tablet point of sale systems are easily downloadable and offer the same functionality as desktop POS systems. 

For example, this iPad point of sale system by Lightspeed provides greater mobility than a desktop and facilitates the purchase process by allowing staff to accompany customers on the floor and help them make faster purchases. Using this app eliminates the need for customers to stand in long queues to make a purchase.

The software also comes with an inventory management feature that can allow staff to: 

• Determine product availability. 
• Answer any questions the customer may have regarding the product.
• Make product recommendations. 

Utilizing a tablet POS system allows staff to provide a more convenient and personalized customer experience, which is pivotal for business growth.  

A Human Resource Management Software

As your retail business grows, you’ll need to hire more employees. You will also need to manage your employees in a way that ensures high job satisfaction and growth. One way to ease this burden on yourself is to invest in a human resource management software. For example, GoCo.io is a hiring tool that helps you recruit new hires and manage your staff efficiently. 

This tool also allows you to streamline the hiring process by integrating the best talents into your retail business to improve productivity. GoCo also enables easy onboarding of new employees by introducing them to key aspects of your retail operations. 

It helps you navigate important HR functions such as:

• Arranging for employee insurance.
• Tracking time spent on the job.
• Generating payroll.
• Managing leave and paid time off. 

A Retail Accounting Software

Another useful software for retailers is an accounting tool that allows you to integrate your POS system with the accounting system of your store. If you invest in the iPad POS system by Lightspeed mentioned above, they also have an accounting software that integrates with the iPad system, allowing you to optimize your accounting tasks on your tablet as well. 

A cursory look at Lightspeed Accounting reveals that it can be used to perform the following functions:

• Maintain records of transactions.
• Keep track of taxes and product discounts.
• Generate financial reports on store sales and number of customers.

A Team Communication Software

Communication is vital to running a retail store in a transparent and efficient manner. As a retailer, you’ll need to collaborate with a variety of individuals associated with your business. This includes your managers, on-floor employees, vendors, and more. 

While many retailers rely on messaging platforms such as WhatsApp or email to communicate with other parties, there are other tools that may serve your needs better. Slack, for example, is a team communication platform that serves as an effective hub for co-coordinating with your staff and other third-parties. It enables smooth internal communication and offers a variety of features such as:

• One-on-one chats.
• File sharing.
• Creating channels to manage a team or a project. 
• Connecting via calls. 

A Loyalty Program Software

Integrating loyalty programs into your online and in-store customer experience is imperative to building long-term customer relationships. One such software is Lightspeed Loyalty , which allows your customers to sign up for a point-based loyalty program and benefit from:

• Promotions.
• Coupons.
• One-time deals on special occasions.

This tool can also help you build personalized marketing campaigns based on customer insights. It allows you to connect with shoppers and provide them with relevant offers and product recommendations that complement their shopping habits. The 360-degree functionality of this tool makes it one of the best software for retailers.

In a Nutshell 

From a mobile point of sale system and accounting software to human resource tools and customer relationship management tools, technology presents an abundance of opportunities to retailers to innovate and optimize their business operations and provide their customers with the convenience they desire. 

The post What are the Best Software Solutions For Retailers? appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

More than that, Forbes reports that positive employee engagement leads to:

• 21% greater profitability
• 41% reduction in absenteeism
• 59% less turnover
• Employees who feel like they’re really heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered.

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

However, we have to weigh all of these positives with a few negatives: 

• 90% of managers understand how important employee engagement is
• 50% of managers know how to address this 
• 13% of employees consider themselves “highly engaged”
• 61% of employees feel burned out on the job
• Disengaged employees cost companies in the United States up to $550 billion a year.

You’re probably thinking, with statistics like this, how can you ever maintain employee engagement at your company? Seeing as how this is the 21st century, the answer is digital focused of course – an employee engagement app. Connecteam is a perfect employee engagement app for small businesses, desk-less and remote employees, and Enterprise companies. 

An employee engagement app allows you to manage engagement in the palm of your hand. In real time, you can change the narrative and be exactly where your employees are through a no-code mobile app. Now, there are some key features the app must include in order for your methods to be effective, we list the seven must-haves in your employee engagement app below. 

7 Must-Haves for Your Employee Engagement App

1. Interface can be customized. 

Branding is a must and that logic applies to your employee engagement app. Why? Because whenever you’re sharing something to boost engagement, branding makes it easy to bring your team together and helps them feel like they’re a genuine part of your company culture. 

Most engagement apps allow you to customize almost every feature – from the color to the logo and so on. Branding your employee engagement app creates a team-oriented environment (the same way a company uniform does) which energizes everyone to work towards achieving the goals of the company.

2. Easy access to updates (news, announcements, etc.) 

In today’s fast paced society, things change in the blink of an eye, therefore communication is key. An employee engagement app is the perfect tool to deliver updates, as it’s possible in the click of a button, all news, policy changes, hirings and firings, promotions, and so on need to be distributed to your employees. 

Most apps allow you to add video, photos, GIFs and more to boost interaction and interest. Additionally, it should be easy for employees to like and comment on the updates you send as this helps promote internal engagement among staff. Whatever you need to share is possible in the tap of a button.

3. Private and group chat. 

With the ease of instant messaging, the same is possible on your employee engagement app because sometimes face-to-face communication just isn’t possible. Sending a private or group chat is more personal, doesn’t get lost in the email chain and doesn’t waste time like phone calls do.

The ability to instantly send a message turns your app into a one-stop shop for communication. It becomes that much easier for employees to ask each other questions, whether it’s about a project collaboration or the best route to work since the main road is closed. Employees can congratulate one another on birthdays, anniversaries, employee of the month winners, milestones achieved and more. If employees are scattered around the globe, they can chat via video and are just plugged at all times so everyone is always on the same page. 

Photo by Yura Fresh on Unsplash

4. Feedback! 

Are you only asking for feedback during an annual review? Then chances are, you’re missing out on some serious engagement with your employees. Involve your employees more – ask them for their opinion about what color to repaint the office, which new product name they like best, what’s their job satisfaction, what were their feelings on the latest company outing and so on. No one said feedback only had to be about job performance. 

When you involve your employees on company decisions, and no they don’t need to be groundbreaking decision, they feel more connected to the company culture and will be far more engaged and productive. An employee engagement app keeps your hand on the pulse of what an employee is thinking and feeling – ask them about their overall happiness and about specific matters like policies or projects – use the survey feature, or suggestion box feature, to be in tune with what your employees needs and wants are.

5. Incentives.

Having incentives in the workplace is a great way to motivate your employees, promote teamwork, boost morale, and encourages better customer service. There’s a reason people sign up for rewards programs at Starbucks or Target, we all love free things. And free things in the workplace are no different. 

Use the employee engagement app to offer incentives, such as: 

• Gifts – coffee mug, movie tickets or Netflix subscription, etc. 
• Discounts on company swag
• Company outings or trips
• Badges for completing training modules

Incentives can serve as a daily driver for your employees and just like that, the app becomes another part of the daily routine. And if that’s not enough, 89% of employees who work at companies that support well-being initiatives are far more likely to recommend their company to friends, family and the general public as a good place to work.

6. Professional skill development. 

When training is done and professional skills grow because of digital training, you’re already a step ahead. This kind of interactive learning helps your employees retain more information rather than reading through a manual.

Create modules that push employees to test their knowledge (actually include a quiz or fun multiple choice options) and look into activities to boost training (like a virtual scavenger hunt). Include videos and helpful photos to build skills and training – it’s a lot cheaper, saves a ton of time and lets employees complete training at their own pace. 

7. Actionable data. 

As an admin, you have a clear picture of what’s happening with your employee engagement app. See who is reading your message and for those who aren’t, send a push notification. Know which surveys get the most response and which don’t. Learn what your employees are happy about and what they want more of. Everything is right there for you to digest and to take action on.

Employe engagement is a must if you want to be successful and we know that’s more of a rhetorical statement. We’ve gone through the facts and statistics, listed the best employee engagement app in the market, and have included a list of seven must-have features – it’s up to you now. Choose the right app for your employees and business, only then can you take employee engagement to the next level. 

The post 7 Must-Haves for Your Employee Engagement App appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Below are hints to assist you in how much you’ll need to finance your app project.

Setting up a budget for specific costs

Unless you have a specific development team who has a chart breakdown, it’s best to create your own. App costs can range from $10,000 for offline standalone apps to $500,000 or more for enterprise apps. Hence, your budget should be flexible for the type of app you want. You might want to allocate about 60 percent for development and quality assurance (QA) and 15 percent for project management. Set aside about 15 percent for user interfaces (UI) and user experiences (UX) and 10 percent for business analytics.

Allocating enough money for labor costs, coding and UI/UX

Your materials and labor costs are primary expenses with app development. Labor rates can vary depending on the development team you hire. If you can, find developers and designers under the same parent company to lower costs. Ensure they are familiar with the app preference you want and that they work on that type of UI/UX. Depending on your app features, your labor costs might be high and you might have a large team. You may need business analysts, backend developers and UI/UX engineers. You will also have a project manager, mobile developers and a QA engineer. Projected costs might range from $2,000 – $60,000. Once you have your app set up, you might want to use Apica Systems to make sure it is running smoothly.

Including project management and business analysis costs

To help with market analysis, research and documentation, you’ll need about $1,200 – $11,000. You also have to determine if your app will run on iOS, Android or both. Consider where your target audience is when making your choice. With your project management, set aside $1,200 – $12,000 depending on your app features. Your PM can help with account management, business analysis, QA and concepts. They’re also there to assist with digital project management and design.

Adding in expenses for maintenance and updates and specific app related costs

Another area to set aside money is for covering maintenance and updates. Depending on if you use iOS or Android, maintenance might run anywhere from $10,000 – $14,000 every year. There are additional costs you should factor in.

These might include:

• Server components that will work with your mobile app through APIs. These might cost between $6,500 – $30,000.

• Any features you offer with the app like navigation, OCR, QR codes or integrated payments. These can run about $3,000 for a single feature.

• Analytics that you include to gauge revenue, user payments, user characteristics or user actions. These can add on another $2,500.

• Adding in third-party chats from software development kits (SDKs). These can cost $2,500. If you use custom chat modules, these might run $15,000 or higher.

While app costs can vary, having a budget can help. Hire the best developers and designers and look for ways to calculate app design costs. That way you can allocate money where you need it to ensure the success of your app project.

The post How Much Does it Cost to Create an App? appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Google has adapted to the changing marketplace, pivoting to smartphones with its Android OS and creating a paid-media advertising duopoly with Facebook. And just like Apple, Netflix, Amazon, and Facebook, Google has a target painted on its back in terms of attracting jealousy and criticism — these monster brands are hard to compete with.

But we’re never worried that their core business models are in danger. Facebook, despite data uncertainty, has built a massively successful and influential business. It’s even achieved market segmentation via acquisitions, with Instagram attracting younger users and Facebook remaining a mainstay for users approaching middle age.

Likewise, Apple, 12 years after the iPhone’s debut, still sets the standard. Even if it loses a small audience share to Android phones, there’s no real cause for concern. Amazon is in the same boat, never concerned with immediate success. It delays its own gratification to ensure customers are happy, knowing it will eventually gain market share. Achieving market penetration through Amazon Prime, Amazon Web Services, and more, the company has worked to make sure it’s indispensable in various aspects of customers’ daily lives.

But we have started to see a little chink in Netflix’s impenetrable armor. The brand is winning awards and defining pop culture, but its free-spending days of even a couple years ago are over. Canceling Marvel shows may have surprised some, and Disney will be a formidable competitor. But more interesting shifts come with moves like the cancellation of newer originals such as “One Day at a Time.”

Netflix isn’t going anywhere. But with strong competitors joining its space and a growing recognition that it can’t simply buy every show viewers want the platform to host, the brand is looking at a shifting landscape. What if Hulu, Amazon, or Disney buys the rights to air NFL games? Those TV rights, up in three years, could drastically change the streaming marketplace. Visit our website and find best 32 inch smart tvs reviews

And that’s the point: We get comfortable and accept that companies will always keep their place in the hierarchy forever. We even do this in the tech sector, an industry built on the idea that nothing stays the same — or should. By no means do these brands appear likely to join the ranks of Kodak or Blockbuster, but it’s important to consider the changes that aren’t visible yet — but are right below the surface.

Analytics

And that brings us back to Google: While the brand continues to innovate, its core revenue-generating model doesn’t address analytics or voice, two areas ripe for growth in the coming years.

Right now, Google is focused on acquisition analytics. Nearly 90 percent of Google’s revenue comes from advertising. Google Analytics 360 falls under the DoubleClick team, so it’s heavily tied to its advertising business; that’s a model that has worked well.

Google Analytics is general and familiar; most importantly, it works. But companies like Adobe are giving Google some competition. Adobe is sometimes considered the company that runs on Photoshop; however, its stock was up 29 percent in 2018, capping 15 straight positive quarters.

Adobe is aiming at the analytics market, especially with large enterprises, an area where free analytics platforms typically don’t scale. Another analytics area where Adobe hopes to make an impact: tracking. Brands need a larger picture beyond how and when to acquire a customer. Adobe’s innovative product focuses on data integration and analytics across the entire customer journey, allowing brands to map out how they’ll create experiences to attract their customers, not merely how they’ll create an ad.

Voice

Voice is an even more visible point of potential trouble for Google, but it’s one the brand is already looking to combat. If voice search someday overtakes the search engine’s text search functionality — or dips into it significantly — Google will be left without one of its main sources of revenue.

This is why Google has done a smart job of creating Google Home and staking its claim in the smart speaker market — and also adapting that to home video. It’s also made some of its properties — Gmail, Chrome, YouTube — staples that people utilize on a daily basis. That opens Google up to pivots that may become necessary if voice search gains increased momentum alongside mobile use. With 27 percent already using voice search, it’s not a far-fetched possibility.

As long as Google can grab a significant portion of the smart home market, the brand will be able to tie its other services together, creating a bundled offering — and ensuring consumers don’t have a reason to use any other suite of services. By diversifying its portfolio, Google is working to assure its success, despite looming threats.

Needless to say, the next five years will be fascinating. If history truly is deemed to repeat itself, one of these five behemoth companies may not hold the same position by 2024. But it’s up to competitors to push these brands — and their industries — to the cutting edge.

The post Technology Moves Fast — Will It Ever Outpace Behemoth Tech Brands? appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

These printers are fast, look great in your office and are built for mobile productivity, but if your office doesn’t have the expertise or time to be printing for your business’ needs, then you can go to MyCreativeShop for their help.

HP’s engineered these printers for mobile professionals who use their “smart phones” as their tools of choice.

In partnership with HP,  I had the chance to review one of the printers and give you my first hand thoughts.

One of the first things you’ll want to do is connect the printer to your network, and HP’s made this easy, visit 123.hp.com/setup 5055 for more information on printers and support.

The setup software on my computer found the printer and walked me through a series of steps, automatically finding the printer and connecting it to my network.

What I was most excited to try out was HP’s Smart Tasks.  These are user customizable tasks you can setup to have your printer do routine tasks for you. Check out these Ekocycle 3D printers that can be very useful on your business.

You can setup tasks that customize email (to email documents), save (saving documents to various online services like Dropbox, Google Drive, Quickbooks and others) and scanning your documents.

These Smart Tasks, Top Class Printing has, enable you to take repetitive tasks such as expense report filing or anything else you do, and let the printer do these tasks for you with the touch of one button. HP’s printer works seamlessly with the HP Smart App, so you can control many features from your phone or computer.

With it’s availability of multiple colors is looks great in your office. You won’t have to hide it on the bookshelf.

Ink is an important part of your printing experience and it’s a pain to realize that your out of ink, when you’re in the middle of an important print job and there’s no printer in your office. HP Instant Ink is available for this printer.  With Instant Ink you pay a monthly for, for a predetermined amount of ink you’ll use per month. As the ink runs low in your printer, it communicates to HP and your ink is delivered to your home or office.

Overall, HP’s new line of OfficeJet printers are powerful, smart, and fast. If color is important for your brand and you want the flexibility of doing as much work as you can with your phone, consider these new printers.

The post HP OfficeJet Pro New Line of Printers Designed for Small Offices and Mobile Productivity appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The challenge, however, is there are so many potential business opportunities on the landscape these days, that it’s often overwhelming to identify one that involves minimal risk, upfront investment and training.

So we’ve done the research for you. The following are 5 great home-based business ideas that are engaging, affordable and flexible all rolled into one.

Become a Freelance Writer

If you are a skilled writer, then there’s a good chance you could be an excellent freelance writer. Freelance writers can work from anywhere – you could opt to sit in your local coffee shop or travel around the world with laptop in hand.

You must have a grasp on tone and grammar and the ability to edit and research topics you aren’t familiar with in order to find success. Another benefit is that sometimes you are forced to do research about topics and learn things you never would have known if you weren’t writing about it.

Start an Air Freshener Business

This at home business is ideal for men, women and retirees. You can choose your own territory, training is minimal, there isn’t a requirement for lots of storage. The commercial air-freshener business is a growing industry – without odor neutralizing products, the workplace and commercial restrooms would smell unpleasant and negatively impact repeat traffic and company morale. The increase in demand for air fresheners has created a great opportunity for entrepreneurs who seek home-based business opportunities. In order to find great success, it’s vital to know that the secret to good customer service is real people – like you.

Act as a Virtual Assistant

If people think of you as being very organized, then a virtual assistant could be a good fit.

Executives eventually find themselves in a place where they’re unable to manage all of the emails, calls, appointments and other responsibilities they must take care of – they’re busy running their businesses.

Insert a virtual assistant; if you become a virtual assistant, you would use your email, skills, phone and other online tools to handle online calendars, make reservations, set up reminders, schedule appointments, organize events and file documents.

Manage Social Media Accounts

If social media is one thing you have down pat, but never thought it could turn into something you could make a living doing, there’s some good news.

Many businesses are happy to pay people well if they have the ability to manage social media accounts. If you are able to stay on brand, reply to customers intently, use correct grammar and share appropriate content, you could find a lot of success as a social media manager.

Become a Personal Trainer

If you’re into health and wellness, you could think about becoming a personal trainer.

When you’re a personal trainer, you make house calls, let clients come to you if you have the correct equipment and visit a gym. You have to be extremely knowledgeable about the human body, understand safe and proper exercises for body types and have the skill set to buy sildenafil from canada get people motivated and help them stay motivated. You should also have the people skills to get to know your clients and learn more about what they want and what works best for them.

The right home-based businesses allow entrepreneurs to be more in charge of their own lives. Whether you have children at home, prefer to sleep in or like to take long lunches, home-based businesses are beneficial. Or maybe you want to ditch those quarterly reviews and be your own boss and travel when you want. These reasons are all enough for you to explore the low cost home-based businesses out there. Consider your areas of expertise and interests to help you decide which business idea will work best for you.

The post 5 Perfect Low Cost Home-Based Business Opportunities appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Advancements in Big Data – or the analysis of customer behaviors online and off – and automation technology are making it easier than ever before for marketers to connect and engage with their audiences. By following the customer journey more closely, and in real-time, marketers can deliver better options that are personalized and relevant. Understand the basics of a customer profile is just the starting point; marketers must understand the nuances of that customer during the buying journey.

To accomplish this, marketing teams need to leverage a variety of technology solutions along with streamlined workflow management. Speed is the name of the game and the strategies below will help you get there.

Chatbots

Offering Insurance Carrier Automation Solutions to customers is important but often costly when it comes to manpower. Using chatbot technology, though, cuts costs while helping customers find quick answers.

Chatbot technology analyzes patterns and word choices of consumers to help find immediate solutions. Chatbots can provide links, give answers to frequently asked questions and even file support tickets if more action is needed. Instead of consumers searching for an email address, then waiting a day or two for a response, chatbots can give immediate answers to common questions.

Consumers like transparency, so when chatbots are implemented, it’s best to let people know that they are interacting with an automated system right off the bat. Chatbot software like SecondEgo communicates with website visitors in real-time. The software uses artificial intelligence to get smarter over time based on data you provide and how people interact with it.

Real-Time Decision Making

Marketers are always looking for ways to speed up the data analysis time so decisions can be made quickly. Data analysis is only part of the picture. Streamlining communication and automating workflows free up team members to focus on optimizing campaigns. The faster marketing teams can make adjustments to campaigns the more revenue they can generate with lower expenses.

Project management solutions like Wrike allow marketing teams to create systematic workflows that speed up communications between team members on specific tasks and create a shared knowledge base for quickly accessing information. Wrike even uses artificial intelligence to automate repeatable tasks that intelligently suggest next steps and notify managers if there’s a possible project delay.

Suggested Items

Having brands suggest items you may like is nothing new – consider the “you may also like” product suggestions that Amazon has been offering post-sale for over a decade. What’s changing is the ability to suggest items across several sites and channels through secure computer software platforms. The right tracking and AI platform can follow customers from one online location to another, and remind them of what they liked on your brand’s site or social media platform. This type of tracking and marketing can also tell you what people are doing after they leave your site, like heading to competitor sites or looking up reviews on your brand.

When marketers better understand consumer behavior, they can better deliver personalized messaging that results in higher return. Big Data and AI benefit both brands and customers by providing custom information.

The post How Big Data and Automation are Giving Marketers Real-Time Solutions appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

What time-saving technology would you recommend to any entrepreneur?

These answers are provided by Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. YEC has also launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Zapier + IFTTT

With Zapier, I have moved my to-do list from my inbox. Email is meant for communication, but far too often it winds up as a to-do list. Every time I star an email, I have it run through Zapier and add to a to-do backlog. When I have a new meeting scheduled, Zapier adds it to my to-do list for tomorrow, 24 hours in advance. This helps me use one to-do list that is built from multiple technologies. – Michael Averto, ChannelApe

The post 14 Entrepreneurs Share Their Favorite Time-Saving Tech Tools appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and, it does exactly what it sounds like – it keeps your connection private, encrypted and anonymous.

While there are a lot of different uses of a VPN, a regular, online business entrepreneur might think: why do I need a business VPN?

A VPN masks your IP (your real IP provided by your ISP), get one here https://diadiktiokaiasfalia.com/ and this will make you safe from DDoS attacks, cybercriminals, and hacking attempts.

The first thing you should do as an online business is to run a secure site (HTTPS). This level of security will protect people visiting your online business’ website from spying, hacking attempts, etc. This should be a primary concern for you as a business owner.

However, with less than 50% of the businesses looking forward to upgrade their business systems, hackers and black hats can scheme against your businesses and launch a deadly attack your business anytime.

Whether you’re an online advertising company, journalist/blogger, e-commerce business or a remote worker, a VPN will keep you secure on the web and provide you the added functionality you need in today’s time.

Moreover, with more than 400 Businesses targeted by a BEC scam every day, it’s high time that SMEs deploy a business VPN as part of their online security plan.

Benefits of a Business VPN

Whether your business is small-scale, medium or big, a business VPN will go a long way in protecting your online business by providing online security and giving you ultimate functionality. With a business VPN, you have the ability to:

1. Limit and Control Access to Corporate Assets

With dedicated IPs, you can limit access to corporate assets and add another layer of security to accessibility. Besides the normal combination of an authentic username and password, only allowing specific IPs access to your servers, databases, etc. give you greater control over who gets to access what, and also makes it that much more difficult for hackers to break in.

2. Support Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to Work Culture

Since PureVPN Business supports almost all internet-enabled devices (Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS), members of your workforce who are connected to the corporate network on their own devices will be secured by a VPN against all sorts of malicious entities, online hacks and cybercriminals.

This in turns supports BYOD culture without having the need of you (as a business) to develop an infrastructure and manage a self-controlled network for security purposes. A business VPN eliminates your online worries and risks, allowing your employees to work on whatever internet-enabled device they want, from wherever they want, as long as they are connected to the VPN network.

3. Stealth Research

As an online business, you’re continuously researching on multiple domains. Your research can vary from local region to international, based on your needs. However, when you’re researching online, you leave a digital footprint of your online activities on numerous websites. Those websites can look you up through your IP and know what you have been up to, and then might sell this data to your competitors. You can use beste vpn that is a secure private network that encrypts and transmits data.

Why let anyone look you up and know what you’re doing online? And as a business, your competitors shouldn’t have access to your online activities any way. With a business VPN, you can carry on with your online business activities as your real IP gets disguised with a virtual IP – which you can choose from a huge pool of 88,000 IPs. You can look up Free Geo API and, you can play around with their services.

4. Digital Marketing in Other Regions

As a business, you’re going to have to market your product/services to thrive in the market. Being an online business, you can carry on with your digital marketing activities by connecting to the IP of a specific country where you’re marketing your offerings.

This will allow you to get a local feel (from competitor offerings, ads, etc.) as well as a whitelisted IP which go a long way in promoting your product.

5. Secure Private Servers

To strengthen the servers’ capabilities, most reputed business VPN services provide AES-256 bit military-grade encryption as standard along with robust security protocols that make you hack-proof on the web. When connected, any and all of your internet related activities are secured at all times and will avoid any third party members to access your information. If you want to make sure your business is secured, then you can contact Avaro for professional help.

With increasing online attacks on businesses nowadays, it’s only wise to adapt necessary measures.

Moreover, with a business VPN, you can make use of:

1. Sensitive Data Protection

A reliable business VPN deploy advanced 256-bit military-grade encryption to any and all online traffic you send and receive on your VPN connected device.

As an online business, you might have remote workers in different countries. A VPN will not only protect their device but will also encrypt the data being sent and received by their devices. The most simple definition of privacy is that you are free of people who observe or intrude uninvited. When you have privacy, you can feel comfortable knowing that no one is watching or disturbing you. It also means being free from public eyes and attention. This means that no one discloses your personal information or activities to others without first having your permission. That’s why I thought about https://internetbeskyttelse.dk/ the best VPN to keep safe online.

2. Ultimate Online Security on Public Wi-Fi

Your employees might be using a public Wi-Fi or an unsecured Wi-Fi network to connect to the corporate network, without realizing that public networks are littered with cybercriminals and hackers.

If such evildoers get a hold of your online businesses’ data (login details, customers financial and personal information, location, cookies, etc.), they can blackmail you for ransom or just hack your customers’ credit cards.

3. Complete Secure Online Financial Transactions

Using a VPN comes with added benefit of not only masking your real IP but the ability to conduct secure financial transactions with the help of encryption and strong protocols.

Having a PayPal account associated with your Amazon or eBay store is normal and you might be paying salaries to your employees or clearing the bills of your vendors via your PayPal account. The only way to secure these financial transactions is through a VPN for business. With a business privacy en bescherming VPN, every online payment you make is protected with 256-bit encryption pooled with the strongest security protocols.

Final Words:
What’s important for online businesses is online security. A VPN completely encrypts your data which makes it almost impossible to hack into your data, computer or internet connection. Make sure you deploy a reliable business VPN whenever you are conducting online transactions or even dealing with your employees and stakeholders online.

Author

Mustaali Marvi, a digital privacy advocate, works as a digital marketing associate at PureVPN Business. For over 7 years, he has from working for startups and incubators to managing top 21 of the Forbes 500 million-dollar brands, to writing a book, “14 Ps of Modern Marketing”, and winning a couple of National Awards, he has done it all. He is an avid reader and a freelance writer specializing in areas such as Digital Parenting, Cyber Security, Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Everything, and contributes regularly to forums, such as Business.com.

The post 8 Reasons to Use a Business VPN for Your Online Business appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

These answers are provided by Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. YEC has also launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. 

1. My Mobile Device

My mobile device is more than just a phone. Thanks to cloud-based services, much of your business can be conducted online. Important negotiations and transactions can be done through my mobile device. There are many business opportunities waiting, and my mobile device allows me the ease and convenience to make things happen!- Patrick Barnhill, Specialist ID, Inc. 

2. Self-Encrypting Drive

My self-encrypting drive is very important. Laptop thefts account for almost 70 percent of worldwide data breaches. Having a self-encrypting drive helps me feel confident that my business and personal information is being kept safe and secure.- Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now

3. Phone Charging Case

It may be a bit more cumbersome than the phone itself, but the wireless charging vehicle dock has saved me on multiple occasions.With my phone battery not lasting through the day, I now don’t have to worry about carrying an external charger around with me.- Abhilash Patel, Abhilash.co

4. External Hard Drive

This device is not only great for making a smaller laptop suddenly bigger, it’s wonderful for backing up crucial information. As an entrepreneur, you‘re going to have a lot of important (and sensitive) documents on your computer. Why would you not make sure those are safe, even if your laptop is ruined?- Ginger Jones, Jones Therapy Services

5. Apple AirPods

I can‘t live without my Apple AirPods. I’m on the phone frequently and the AirPods are incredibly user-friendly. They’re small, can recharge in your pocket and operate seamlessly. For those worried about them falling out of your ear, it’s best to get comfortable with them in a contained environment, like your apartment, first before going out with them.- Douglas Baldasare, ChargeItSpot

6. Apple Watch

I just purchased an Apple Watch and it’s the best gadget for both business and life. For professional use, I like to use the watch for Slack and email, as well as to set reminders for calls, meetings, and work deadlines. For personal use, I use it to track my runs, monitor my heartbeat, and log all of my workouts.- Kristin Marquet, Creative Development Agency, LLC

7. Google Home Mini

Like all new technological advancements, not everyone is going to embrace it, especially when it comes to artificial intelligence. The fact of the matter is, the Google Home Mini is convenient, provided that you have a Google account — which most people do. This nifty little device cuts my everyday tasks down to a minimum, saving me time that I can spend elsewhere. – Codie Sanchez, CodieSanchez.com

8. Skybell Wi-Fi Doorbell

Since I work from home often or am traveling a lot, I’ve become dependent on my Skybell Wi-Fi doorbell to feel safer about my home. I can see who is at the door even when I’m not at home and I can interact with them. It gives me more peace of mind since I am so often away.- Angela Ruth, Calendar 

9. Nespresso Machine

Maybe a Nespresso Machine is a weird gadget but they are life-changing. When you need a pick-me-up or a good cup of espresso, it is so nice to have a mini espresso bar in your office.- Brandon Stapper, Crown Growth

10. Any Smart Home Device

I love having appliances that talk to each other and are linked together to help cover things like items I need to buy or take care of the home security and use of utilities. It saves me time and has taught me so much about living more environmentally responsible.- Cynthia Johnson, Bell + Ivy

11. Bluesmart Luggage

I travel often, so this has been a huge upgrade. This suitcase has GPS, so I won’t lose my luggage, and it has a built-in battery, so I can charge my devices while I go. For a traveler, this is a must. – Ben Landis, Fanbase

12. Noise-Canceling Headphones

Because of a lot of air travel and working in a variety of different contexts, from the office to airports to co-working spaces, noise-canceling headphones have become something that I love and can‘t imagine living without. In fact, I wish I got them sooner. I put off buying them and really wish I hadn’t now. – Eric Mathews, Start Co.

The post 12 Essential Gadgets You Can’t Live Without appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

But iPhones also make our jobs easier, and that’s especially true if you’re trying to market your business yourself. Here are our top iPhone X and iOS 11 tricks for new marketers.

1. QR code scanning

Don’t call it a comeback, but the new iPhone X camera comes equipped to scan and read QR codes.

Just point your camera at the QR code and it will ask you if you want to open it in Safari. Since users no longer need a standalone app for QR codes, marketers can return to using them in their promotion efforts. Let customers unlock special coupons in-store or access exclusive content at events with a quick scan on their camera.

2. Live Photo effects

Swiping up on a Live Photo opens a menu to create loop, bounce, and long exposure effects. These fun features let marketers create repetitive GIFs, images that bounce back and forth, or long exposure photos that look like a professional took them.

You’ll have no problem finding these when you’re ready to share them to social media, since iOS 11 now saves GIFs to a new “Animated” album where they play like GIFs instead of sitting there like boring still images. Live Photos are also automatically turned into GIFs whenever you share them via email, and you can trim the beginning and end from the edit screen.

3. Portrait Mode

While it was made for selfies, the new Portrait Mode is perfect for product photos as well. The depth effect brings your product into the foreground while blurring everything else.

Everyone who loves a good two-for-one deal will be happy to hear that both the normal version and the Portrait Mode version are saved to your Photos app . Just click on “DEPTH” at the top of the viewing screen to toggle between versions.

(https://i.giphy.com/3ohhwlPcHQOXwzpIty.gif)

4. Camera level

Take better downward- or upward-facing shots with the camera’s new built-in level. Turning this feature on adds crosshairs to your screen so photos of food, products, and more are perfectly straight and look even more professional. Go to Settings > Camera and switch “Grid” to on.

No word yet on a hack to get your phone’s shadow out of the picture.

5. Storage space

Unfortunately, all this improved camera functionality means heavier files. And taking a ton of photos creates a lot of files. Fortunately, the new iOS 11 conveniently shows you your biggest storage culprits and provides recommendations for freeing up space on your phone.

Go to Settings > Camera > Formats > High Efficiency. The new High Efficiency Image Format (HEIF) and High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) settings compress your files in half – freeing up valuable space on your phone, while ensuring fast load times for media on your website.

6. Screenshot editing menu

Apple finally recognized that when people take a screenshot, they often want to do something with them right then and there. When you take a screenshot on iOS 11, a thumbnail of the screenshot instantly appears in the bottom left corner of your screen. Tap it to open the new screenshot editing window, where you can mark it up with highlights and doodles in different colors and pen sizes.

You can also keep taking multiple screenshots in rapid succession for bulk editing and the one in the left corner won’t be included. This is a lot easier than having to navigate to your photos, and the editing options cater to the reasons why people take screenshots in the first place.

What does all this functionality mean for you? Content creators can easily develop tutorial and blog content and mark it up straight from their phone, rather than having to upload the photos and edit them using desktop software. This saves time and money, while creating wholly original image content. Social marketers can have fun with this feature, asking fans to take screenshots using their app and mark them up in various ways.

7. Save PDFs

If you like those screenshot editing features, you’ll love this: You can now create PDFs from webpages, and open them up for annotation just like screenshots. Then you can save them to the new Files app (formerly iCloud Drive) which syncs across iCloud on all your devices.

Next time your team is working on a new mobile landing page, you can send your feedback back to the development and design teams straight from Safari on your iPhone.

8. Scan documents

Likewise, you can now scan documents from the Notes app to instantly convert them for text editing. From within a new note, click the + button, then Scan Documents. The new Notes app also includes additional formatting options and the ability to add tables.

9. Screen recording

Infopreneurs and content marketers alike will love iOS 11’s new screen recording feature. Easily create tutorial content and illustrate how to do something in your app by recording your iPhone screen. Long-press to enable your phone’s microphone, and you can speak while you record, too.

Like Live Photos, you can trim the beginning and ends of screen recording from the editing screen. If you plan on using this feature a lot, add it to your Control Center from Settings for quick access.

10. More multitouch gestures

Tablets like the Microsoft Surface have given the Apple iPad a run for its money in recent years. New features in the iPad are addressing that. The Slide Over functionality lets you have one app floating over another while both remain in focus, similar to the Mac desktop experience.

On both the iPhone and iPad, you can drag and drop things now, too. Transfer multiple files from the Files app to email, or quickly organize images into different albums.

Source: Business Insider

11. Shareable wifi passwords

Any device running iOS 11 or macOS High Sierra can now share wifi passwords with nearby devices over the air. This opens up possibilities for taking meetings in your home or small business and running them smoothly, without painstakingly trying to correctly type in your long and complicated wifi password.

Source: Gadget Hacks

12. App Store marketing

In iOS 11, Apple redesigned the App Store in their effort to make apps great again. With fun new ways to browse and explore the App Store, users should have no problem discovering new apps, especially considering all the new options marketers have for promoting their app.

There’s a new app subtitle field where you can include keywords to make the app more searchable and persuade people to download. There’s also a new 170-character promotional text field that can be updated at any time, with or without a new version of your app. In addition to screenshots, app marketers can now add three 30-second videos to show their app in action. With the new screencasting capabilities, it shouldn’t be too difficult to create these videos.

13. Lifetime app ratings

App developers who have experienced tanking app ratings due to a single bad update can breathe a sigh of relief. The App Store now shows the overall average rating for an app, instead of resetting it with each new update.

Speaking of ratings, they’re also easier to get now. Before iOS 11, users had to leave the app in order to give you a rating. Now, you can prompt users up to three times a year to submit a rating, and they can do it from within your app.

Conclusion

iOS 11 and iPhone X have a lot to offer marketers, especially on small or one-person teams. If you’re looking for a great place to get your phone repaired, check out iPhone Repairs Sydney.

Showcase your product in just the right light, thanks to a new and improved camera that delivers higher-quality, professional-level photos and videos. Easily collaborate with others using features like screencasting, document scanning, and multitouch gestures. Explore new marketing opportunities with QR codes and the App Store.

Michael Quoc is the founder and CEO of Dealspotr, a social latform that connects emerging brands with lifestyle influencers, and gives trend-seeking shoppers access to today’s best deals. Michael previously served as the Director of Product Management for Yahoo’s media lab, where he managed the launch of several innovative services in the live video & mobile social networking areas. He has been awarded nine patents relating to mobile and social network applications and technology. Follow Michael on Twitter at @michaelquoc.  

The post 13 game-changing iPhone X and iOS 11 hacks for marketing your small business appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

We’ll have more about Garner Foods coming up on SmartHustle.com

Amongst other initiatives, Microsoft will continue its focus on artificial intelligence to make day to day work even faster and smarter for professionals.

Microsoft announced the launch of Windows 365 which brings together Office 365, Windows 10 and enterprise security. See the full announcement here.

Furthermore, Microsoft is strengthening its focus on leveraging partners to implement technology solutions and Microsoft spoke quite a bit about Azure – its cloud platform.

Watch my interview with Garner Food, makers of hot sauce and other sauces,  here or below. See how they’re using technology to grow their business, be more productive and be more secure.

Watch my interview with Microsoft GM Catherine Boeger about how Windows 365 brings together, in one place, Microsoft’s offerings for business.

The post How A Hot Sauce Company Is Using Windows 365 for a Modern Workplace appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The additive manufacturing hype has died down a bit recently, but I think it’s one of the most exciting new technologies. Tools like the Voltera, which can print rigid flex printed circuit boards and the MakerGear M2 are great additions to the consumer market. The industrial applications are even more exciting, promising advancements in fields from manufacturing to smart medicines.

The post 11 New Tech Gadgets to Watch appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

You may think that there is just no way you’ll ever get rid of all that paper and that going paperless isn’t for the type of business you run.

But this is 2017, and going paperless isn’t such a big deal as it once was. Numerous apps and gadgets make the transition easier and if you put just a little bit of effort into it, you too will be able to enjoy all the benefits of a paperless business.

EVALUATE YOUR CURRENT SITUATION

Firstly, do a thorough check of the paper that flows through your office and make adjustments. In every office there is a ton of unnecessary paper that just flows around. Make sure you:

• Opt out of any unnecessary mailing lists
• Switch to paying your bills electronically
• Reuse any paper that is already out and about and recycle anything that you can’t use

Though getting rid of a single piece of paper may not seem important, every small step in the right direction counts.

In order to make any real progress, you’ll have to be ruthless. Though it may seem that it is absolutely necessary to hold onto that specific bill or a note, but more often than not, it’s not true.

There is a simple rule to follow when throwing away stuff: when in doubt, get rid of it! At the beginning it does seem scary, but you’ll soon realize how satisfying it feels to de-clog your professional life.

A GOOD SCANNER IS YOUR BEST FRIEND

Once you’ve sorted things out, you will have to transfer all the relevant leftover paper data into an electronic version. This means you will have to invest in a scanner. If you regularly scan double-sided documents, a double side document scanner can offer speed, convenience, and efficiency.

Luckily, scanners nowadays are no longer expensive, nor do they take much space. An investment in a small, quick scanner that provides you with solid images won’t cost you too much. There are also scanners which are integrated with planning apps and digital filing cabinets, which is always useful!

Another necessary step you’ll have to take is to digitalize your signature. If you are running any kind of serious business, often times you have to sign a receipt, a delivery list, or any number of documents that regularly pass through an office.

Sign your signature clearly and scan it. That way, you’ll get a digital version of your signature so you’ll no longer have to print things out to sign them.

MAKE THE BEST OF AVAILABLE APPS

You will also have to think about how to manage your documentation. Cloud document management systems, like the versatile FolderIt, will allow you to share the documents among the employees, approve documents or workflows, set up notifications and reminders, search your documentation and much, much more.

Not only that, but if you opt for a cloud based solution, you will also be able to access all of your files remotely from any device that has internet access. You will no longer be confined to a single work space and you and your team will be able to do serious work wherever you are.

Don’t be afraid to utilize more than one app. Smart use of available technology will get you much further than just plainly managing your documents.

Apps will help you:

• Be productive and stay on track
• Collaborate more easily and with less paperwork
• Plan, strategize and organize
• Make networking easier
• Manage e-mails and much more

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A SOLID BACKUP

The good thing about paper is that it was palpable. Even if something got lost in the filing, 9 out of 10 times you were able to find it with a thorough search expedition.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the case with the electronic documentation. A dead hard drive will take your data to the grave with it. So make sure that everything that is important has a solid backup.

This also means you should inquire with your cloud service provider how protected your data is and what is their recovery policy if anything goes wrong (and if recovery is included in the price or will you have to pay extra).

DIGITAL NOTEPADS

You and your team will no longer be able to write down notes by hand. No more carrying around pens and pads, and scribbling down things in meetings.

Instead, you’ll have to utilize touch screen laptop, smartphones and tablets.

If investing in tablets for every member of your team is just too expensive for you, designate a person in every meeting that will take notes for everyone and distribute them to team members afterwards.

GOING PAPERLESS IS A TEAM EFFORT

One thing worth mentioning is that going paperless is not only about installing the apps and getting the necessary gadgets. It is about changing the work culture and a strong team effort. Everyone in the team will have to be up for making a change. This means that each and every member of your team will have to think twice before deciding to print out a document or writing down something instead of using a digital planner.

Experience has shown that the biggest problems small and medium businesses have when switching to a paperless work mode is not the lack of necessary tools or equipment, but the uncooperative workers who are deeply set in the way they’ve worked so far.

Getting everyone aboard and really standing behind the idea of a paperless office is crucial for success.

Explain to your teammates that the benefits are clear. They will be able to work faster and more efficient. A lot of money will be saved in the end while at the same time less clutter will be created and the work environment will be nicer. Searching for specific data or documentation will be faster and easier. And in the end, it all has a special plus of being positive for the environment (which also means that you can advertise your company as eco-friendly)!

So don’t be afraid to take the leap! It’s guaranteed you’ll be happy with the results of a paperless work environment.

The post It’s 2017 – Time To Go Paperless In Your Office appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

But website optimization isn’t just about great content and top-notch SEO.

There are plenty of components that business owners and marketers overlook when optimizing various pages as they have been programmed to look at a specific set of needs, effectively ignoring fruitful areas of potential.

Today, instead of diving into the more run-of-the-mill website optimization tools that you have probably read about a thousand times before, we are bringing you some powerful and less-obvious utilities that will help your site reach new levels of operational success.

Gain New Referrals via Existing Customers

Although most are not fully aware, the opinions of our peers have a dramatic impact on how we perceive products, services, and even other people. And that is the exact philosophy behind referral marketing.

Referral marketing is the method of promoting a company’s offerings to new consumers through word-of-mouth recommendations. Harvard Business Review defines referral marketing as, “. . . the science of converting a customer’s social capital into a brand’s economic capital.”

Gaining new referrals is achieved through a set of incentivized processes that promote consumer advocacy as a means to drive brand growth.

This entire premise is built on the foundation of providing excellent customer experiences; the very backbone of marketing today. Achieving this allows a brand to engage a customer’s sentiment for the company and leverage the advocacy opportunities available by incentivizing the customer to bring a friend, family member, or acquaintance into the company’s marketing funnel.

If this sounds too easy or unrealistic, consider that a 2015 Texas Tech University study uncovered that 83% of people are likely to share a company’s offering after a satisfactory encounter. In reality, however, only 29% follow through with the recommendation. This means roughly that 45% of your customer base wants to share their story, they just can’t find the opportunity.

That is what referral marketing provides them.

A recent Heinz Marketing report proves this thesis by displaying that companies that implemented referral programs experienced 86% more revenue growth than those who have not.

Setting up a referral marketing program is easy when you leverage seasoned services like RewardStream.

This platform hosts a brand’s referral program and customers can refer friends through email, social media, texting, and in-person conversations. When a new consumer is driven to take an action on your site, RewardStream automatically provides the referrer a reward.

They also provides businesses with detailed analytics to understand how the program is adding value to the business and its customer base. This type of marketing initiative is perfect for nearly all brands, especially those in the ecommerce or B2B spaces.

Drive Consumers Actions with the Right Messages

All of your marketing efforts have a single goal: Bring potential customers into your sales funnel by using local optimization strategy for a lead gen.

In order to get consumers to enter voluntarily, you must invite them to take an action that resonates with their wants or needs. These are called calls-to-action (CTA) and commonly appear in emails and on websites in the form of buttons that read “Buy Now,” “Download,” “Subscribe,” and similar phrases.

Unfortunately, the above noted CTA examples aren’t all that effective. The key to successfully getting consumers to act is to offer them something instead of asking them for something.

Additionally, your CTA button should possess a certain level of visual appeal and make its offer crystal clear.

Many marketers and business owners fail at this juncture and deploy multiple CTAs instead. But one powerful CTA is better than many lackluster ones as this removes additional choices; more choices are proven to lead to less action.

In order to employ effective, compelling CTAs,check out MaxButtons if you’re a WordPress user.

This WordPress button generator touts over 5,000 pre-existing CTA buttons and also houses over 35,000 free curated icons. What makes this tool especially useful is its simplicity and dynamic nature.

MaxButtons requires zero knowledge of coding principals, allowing both veteran and novice WordPress users to leverage its offerings. Additionally, the buttons available on this platform feature a responsive design and will accommodate users of any device.

MaxButtons also offers a variety of social media buttons to boost your social followings and allow visitors to easily share materials with their audiences. Since MaxButtons can integrate with a variety of services, its usefulness and potential for prosperous outcomes is far reaching.

Acquire Mobile Downloads through Mobile Marketing

Most are keenly aware that mobile devices are on the fast track to dominate our digital world.

More than 2 years ago, Google announced that half of all searches take place on mobile device. Additionally, Statcounter recently uncovered that mobile internet usage has now topped desktop as well.

What many may not be privy to, however, is that apps are beginning to absorb even more mobile web browsing. In 2016, ComScore announced that roughly 50% of the time Americans spend online is spent in-app.

This means that any wise business owner has an app for their brand. One of the best ways to promote a mobile app is through mobile marketing services like LinkTexting. According to the company, its technology is responsible for driving more than 200,000 app downloads each day.

This platform provides brands with three website widget formats for bolstering app downloads. Each one of them allows consumers to enter their phone number in order to receive a download link for the desired app instead of manually searching for it.

Making the service even more valuable is the fact that LinkTexting provides users with analytics data around app downloads including how often it is downloaded, where it is downloaded from, and much more.

This kind of information allows business owners to achieve a greater understanding of their target audience and how to market to them effectively.

The post 3 Website Optimization Techniques for Maximizing Sales appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Always Running

When you download a top quality antivirus, you can rest assure that your device is pro-tected. Antivirus programs are run silently in the background, to make sure your device is never at risk of getting an infection from a malware, spyware, or a virus of some type. By protecting your phone or tablet at all times, you can safely browse the internet, watch videos, or even use your social media accounts without hesitation. Dangerous apps and sites are everywhere and they can download a virus to your mo-bile device before you even know what has happened. By installing this app on your phone or tablet, you can protect yourself at all times. You never know when a hacker is going to strike, that is why you need a around-the-clock mobile security tool, to steer you away from malicious links and overall cybercrime traps.

Get the Best

When it comes to protecting your mobile devices, it is important to ensure that you have the top Droid antivirus available. You want a mobile app that is easy to use, protects your device whether it is present with you or not, and is easily installed and ready to go. AVG’s app has a very friendly user interface and runs smoothly without much mainte-nance from the user. Make sure you take a look at the ratings of antivirus options before downloading, luckily AVG is highly reviewed and has over 100 million downloads and a very reputable history in the industry! You want to ensure that the app you are using is going to protect your device, and your information. There are so many ways to become susceptible to outside threats, whether it is unsecured Wi-Fi, vulnerabilities in operating systems, or faulty email links, it is important to have a one-stop shop antivirus mobile application. A recent example of how hackers send out phishing emails was just discussed on NBC. Hackers are finding more and more creative ways to trick innocent users into scams, such as the one discussed in that article.

The best part about AVG’s app is that they offer you a free 30-day trial of their Pro ver-sion, which has a ton off awesome and helpful features.

Some of the features you can expect to find:

• Anti – Theft Phone Tracker – Locate and track your lost phone or tablet on Google Maps. Simply access their Anti – Theft website and begin the search.
• App Lock – Lock down your privacy with a PIN code. Take preventative measures and disable others from snooping around your phone. PIN can be used to lock apps, documents, messages, pictures, etc.
• Camera Trap – This tool will make someone feel sorry for ever trying to mess with your phone. Camera trap snaps a photo of whoever is using your phone after three at-tempts of unlacing your phone. The photo and location of the culprit is then sent to your email.
• Device Lock – Auto – locks true mobile if SIM is replaced. This feature ensures that your phone will be useless to whomever tries to steal it by automatically locking itself when the SIM is removed.
• App Backup – This feature goes beyond mobile security and focuses on helping you recover your data, such as apps installed, in the case you lose your phone.

Take advantage of the free download today and take one step closer towards fighting cybercrime and protecting yourselves. As i previously mentioned, there have been many recent cases of hackers sending out phishing emails in attempt to steal your per-sonal information. Take initiative and download the proper antivirus, it will make a hack-ers life more difficult, they won’t think twice about trying to bother you when you have the right mobile security in your hands.

The post Why you Need a Top of the Line Antivirus for Your Mobile Device appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Technology is the prime mover of that change in almost every industry—and the restaurant industry is no exception. Restaurants can no longer measure their success just by the quality of their food. So much more is involved. They have to improve guest experience, hire the right employees, provide proper restaurant training materials to employees, install striking and eye-catching Restaurant Signs, and make the best business decisions possible to stay competitive. Technology can help with those things—and much more, as you’ll see below. All you have to do is embrace it. Here are 5 ways technology is improving the restaurant industry in the 21st century.

1. Create New Revenue Streams

Technology opens up new profit streams that were, perhaps, out of reach before recent years. In fact, technology can open up new profit streams that didn’t even exist just 10 short years ago. Take delivery for example. Sure, this service has existed for a long time, but it hasn’t always been a viable option for many restaurants. Startups like Ubereats and ChowNow are changing all that.

Instead of relying solely on bringing the customers to the food, restaurants can now take the food to the customer. These novel technologies can also be used to promote your menu in places that it otherwise wouldn’t be seen, boost volume, keep operations smooth, and impress customers—all important variables in the equation to increase profits.

2. Make Better Business Decisions

In the past, making good business decisions was often hit or miss. Managers and owners relied on experience or a gut feeling to get things done. Now, though, technology takes a lot of the guesswork out of making important decisions.

Restaurants have so much data available at the touch of a few buttons, that all it takes is a bit of reading and analysis to make better business decisions. Take Avero’s technology for example. In addition to helping managers analyze marketing and finances by harnessing their data, it helps restaurateurs improve guest experience by tracking customer preferences, past visits, and promotions. This provides a 360-degree view of what’s going on inside and around your restaurant and helps you make the best business decisions possible.

3. Provide The Best Experience For Guests

The restaurant industry is all about guest experience. We put a lot of effort into how our restaurant looks, the image we display, and the food that we serve. But once that’s done and our doors are open, we may only focus on the latter. Improving guest experience is about so much more. It’s about knowing your customers by name, keeping track of vital information like birthdays, allergies, and dietary restrictions, and making the dining experience as smooth and enjoyable as possible.

This process often required multiple customer visits and relied on flawed human memory. But with new technologies like Resy, data can be discreetly gathered by servers and host staff through conversations and observations on the very first visit, stored in the cloud, and be made instantly available on the customer’s next visit…even if they’re visiting a different location. That’s a guest experience unlike any other.

4. Recruit The Best Employees

Recruiting good employees has long been dependent on the local talent pool. If your restaurant was in a small market, you may have just a few good employees to choose from. If your restaurant was in a large market, you may have lots of good employees to choose from. Technology is changing all that.

With job boards like Snagajob and Recruiter, the playing field has been leveled. Now, restaurants in any market can pull from every other market. So a restaurant in a small market like Fort Wayne, Indiana can now recruit employees from a large market like New York City or Los Angeles. Interviews can now be done “face to face” via Skype or Facetime so recruiting from all over the country (or all over the world) becomes a reality.

5. Automate Time-Consuming Tasks

The restaurant business is rife with time-consuming tasks that must get done for everything to flow smoothly. But these tasks are often not the best use of a manager’s time. Jobs like scheduling and communicating with employees distract from the more important work of providing a good guest experience and marketing effectively. New restaurant technologies can automate these time-consuming tasks and reduce the time required to get them done. That gives manager’s more time to focus on the more important issues that their restaurants face on a daily basis.

Employee scheduling, for example, is one of those time-consuming tasks that all managers contend with. New apps like Sling can help make short work of even the trickiest schedule. These apps allow you to set up shifts, manage time-off requests, confirm availability, deal with shift-trade requests, and handle unexpected changes all with one cloud-based tool. Many of them even offer alerts to help you avoid scheduling conflicts, double bookings, and overtime issues. By streamlining the scheduling process, new technology gives managers more time to focus on the restaurant itself rather than the small details that keep it running.

The post How Technology Is Changing The Restaurant Industry appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Starting from the start

Mobile applications are no longer a trend but have evolved as a necessity today. The statement, ‘you have an app for that’ has stepped out of the fairy fable which started around a decade back, in no time became part of our lives. We can’t deny that the journey of the mobile apps from 552 to over 4 million has been remarkable. Custom Software and App Development for businesses has been increased lot as there are lot of professional firms are always ready to serve. With every passing year, users relished a newer version of tech advancement.

However, the release of Android Instant Apps is now taking this experience way ahead.

The bridge between mobile app and mobile web

With Instant apps, there’s a massive treat which the users will be getting. The users won’t have to download an app in order to have the experience of using it, rather they can simply access the app features by clicking on a link on a website.
But, the major question is;

What’s the benefit of Android Instant apps for enterprises and developers?

The good news is that it isn’t just the end users who’ll get benefitted by the instant apps. The biggest change that they’ll bring for enterprises and mobile app developers is that they no longer have to worry about their app ranking in the play store. One can easily promote its mobile application by simply sharing its link on social media platforms, instant messengers, through email marketing and through a Creative Blog.

You might be surprised to know that at present only 27 % of app installs come from search.

Wait!! This isn’t all here’s more:

Let us have a look at some ways in which the Android Instant app will benefit enterprises, developers, and users together:

1. More space for creativity:

This will make the enterprise and developers to get more creative as they’ll have to create their first impression worth the user standards. Each one in the race will try best to bring out an ‘out of the box’ experience, not only to deliver ease of access, but also to create an impression which can make users download their application.

It has been noticed that often users hesitate to download an application that comes from some new house. With the dawn of Android Instant apps, we can expect the beginning of better prospects for these new enterprises and developers.

2. Better reach

With the introduction of Instant apps the line between mobile app and mobile web is getting blur. You can’t precisely say if the future of mobility is in apps or on the web. However, looking at the released information one thing is for sure that whichever way it goes (one out of the two or some new boulevard), it’ll avail the enterprise and developers with a better reach. They no longer have to struggle with their app store ranking and can also market the application in numerous other ways.

3. Enhanced productivity

Get the above two points at a single place and here we are justifying and relishing enhanced productivity. One you are creative enough to impress the users and have a better reach, there’s no way you won’t reap enhanced productivity with your mobile application. You have more chances of attaining new clients and at a comparatively faster rate. This will be possible with the new marketing options that you’ll have. Once you have them, the remaining solely depends on your creativity and the user experience you deliver.

4. Better user experience

Not that we have talked enough about the direct benefits for developers and the indirect ones for the users, let us have one for the app users. While on one hand the developers and enterprises won’t have to worry about the marketing of their new app, they indeed have to work on delivering better user experience, especially to those who are using the application for the first time (and continue to keep the users). If they fail to deliver better user experience the app won’t get space in the smartphones of their target audience.

5. Decreased Rate of user retention

The best part about the Android Instant applications is that the users don’t have to download the application to use it and they can directly have the access through a link. Once they are happy with the application and eventually find it useful in future, they can download the application. Now that you are having only those users who have knowledge about what you deliver and the way you deliver, you don’t have to worry about the users that would have abandoned your mobile app after a single (maybe few more) uses.

Conclusion

With the advent of Android Instant apps, the mobile application world is going through series of perceptions and expectations. The only thing that we can say as of now is that both the users and the developers will have a new horizon to play with the mobile applications and have the blend of ease in life. For the remaining, let us wait till the testing results are out.

The post The future of app development lies in Android Instant Apps appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

While “telecommuting” itself may seem like one of the many neologisms or buzz words used to describe the modern American workforce, Jack Niles coined the term in 1973 during the OPEC oil embargo while attempting to cut down commute times amidst rising oil prices. Shortly after, The Economist predicted the widespread adoption of this phenomenon just a year later, stating:

“As there is no logical reason why the cost of telecommunication should vary with distance, quite a lot of people [will] telecommute daily to [their] offices while living on a Pacific island if they want to.”

In just the last decade alone, the number of professionals who work from home has doubled to a staggering 3.7 million according to the American Community Survey. This number is only expected to increase and is attributed to the changing nature of what it means to “go to work.” It has become less about being in a physical location and more about performance; less about facetime and more about collaboration and managing projects. Especially as millennials, who are doggedly protective of their personal time, take over a larger slice of the working sector, it’s high time executive leaders reevaluate their company’s telecommuting arrangements and evolve their policies accordingly. For those extra work days use amazon vitamin c serum.

It’s Just Good Business

Speaking as someone who runs a company, telecommuting is not a perk – I think of it as an acute business strategy that produces measurable and tangible dividends. Case in point, nearly half of health insurer Aetna’s 35,000 employees work remotely. This translates to $78 million in savings on real estate, maintenance and utility costs per year.

Moreover, in a time where innovation and thinking outside the box is encouraged more than ever, a traditional office setting may not always be the best location to cultivate creativity. Talent comes in many shapes and sizes, but more importantly, it can come from anywhere. Improved technology such as high-speed internet, where to buy accutane better video conferencing, reliable shared drive platforms and telecommunications services such as Ooma’s own platform for small businesses and consumers has allowed access to the best talent regardless of location.

The Proof is in the Pudding

Implementing a work from home policy also establishes a unique rapport between the employer and employee that communicates a mutually beneficial sense of trust and respect. In a 2015 survey by FlexJobs, 82 percent of 2,600 respondents stated they would be more loyal to their employers if they could telecommute. For the employee, working remotely means fewer hours wasted in bumper-to-bumper traffic, less money spent on dry cleaning, more time for family and friends, as well as a better work-life balance. Studies have shown these benefits only serve to boost productivity and reduce employee turnover rates, all of which contributes to a business’ overall health.

Putting Theory into Practice

As remarkable as the benefits of telecommuting are, making it work for both employer and employee can take some trial and error. Here are few tips to help workers stay focused and optimize their time while working remotely:

• Log Out

The average worker spends nearly two hours per day on social media. To increase productivity, save the snaps and ‘grams for later. The world can do without another pithy tweet until after the work is done.

• Don’t Just Sit There

Staying in a sedentary position for eight hours a day increases the risk of health problems including diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer, raising your mortality rate by up to 15 percent. There is a study which points to having cbd cream for pain increase the wellness in the work area.

Studies have shown the perfect formula for productivity is to work for 52 minutes and break for 17 minutes. Use that time to take a lap around the block for some Vitamin D. In fact, companies including Verifone reported a five percent increase in productivity just by switching to natural lighting, which translated to a 25 percent increase in total product output.

• Take Advantage of Collaboration Tools

If you haven’t taken advantage of Google Drive’s file storage and synchronization service, then you’re definitely missing out on the ease of storing and accessing files from anywhere. Slack, a cloud-based collaboration tool that includes chat rooms dedicated to specific topics, private or group direct messaging, group calls and file storage, will put an end to out-of-control email inboxes. Lastly, for those inevitable (and long) conference calls, try Ooma, a big business phone system that leverages the cloud, but at a fraction of the cost. Ooma Office provides features like a virtual receptionist, extension dialing, music on hold, call transfer, virtual tax and conferencing. You can make unlimited calls to anyone residing in the U.S. and Canada, and use the Ooma Office mobile app to make or accept calls on your Android or iOS device.

The post Working Remotely: Three Tips for Healthier and Happier Talent. appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

By leveraging cloud UC, employees can be kept in the loop no matter their location or device they choose through advanced features of some of the best systems. This winter, businesses can ensure productivity with the following cloud UC advantages:

No Reliance on Equipment

While employees may not necessarily want to answer the phone while skiing down a mountain or gathered around a warm fireplace with family, they can still be accessible should there be a dire emergency at the office. All employee business communications can be accessed easily no matter the location through cloud-based UC systems, where the entire platform is available on desk phones, PCs, smartphones and tablets. A system that is operated 100 percent in the cloud has the unique ability to store all individual user profile information in the cloud, including their designated phone number, extension, contacts, voicemail and speed dials, eliminating any reliance on equipment on-site, and empowering businesses with true mobility. This means that all calls, messages, emails, chats, voicemail, presence and even video conferences can be hosted, scheduled or started from virtually any device and from any location an employee travels to. Additionally, mobile access to UC features like soft phones, empower employees to make and receive calls on their mobile device using their business number to remain professional.

Seamless Communication & Collaboration
With winter creating an influx of employees traveling, working remotely or home sick, collaborative mobility tools are essential for businesses to function at their highest levels. The most sophisticated video conferencing solutions allow employees to securely connect and collaborate with colleagues, customers and partners from anywhere in the world at a second’s notice. For example, start a video conference on an iMac in the office, pick it up on a smartphone while on the plane headed towards a vacation destination and share the recording with the team once settled at a hotel. The best platforms allow users to host online meetings, HD video conferences and audio conferences for as many as 100 people, enabling employees to jointly review and edit files, share screens, run webinars and interact seamlessly, all with end-to-end encryption for full security.

With a cloud UC system in place, business owners don’t have to worry about how the next big ice storm will impact productivity because employees can take their desk wherever they go. To work more efficiently and effectively, employees can take advantage of company-wide chat to send a brief message and provide a quick and easy method for others to response. There are plenty of chat apps on the market to choose from, but it’s important that the platform chosen meets all of the organization’s needs and works across all platforms, anything less is sub-standard. In addition, some UC systems can also integrate with existing productivity apps like Google apps, Skype, Microsoft Office365 or Salesforce, which further allows for unification across departments, no matter which device being used.

 Prevent Security Threats
This winter and beyond, it is imperative that mission-critical communications are safeguarded. The best cloud UC systems are designed to store critical data in a place that is secure, monitored and backed-up 24/7 X 365. Ensuring the highest level of security, a 100 percent cloud-based UC system prevents any information or data to be stored on local servers or phones on-site where they can be vulnerable to security threats. Having a good managed security service means that databases are also stored on secure servers in a protected cloud infrastructure. When moving a business’s infrastructure to the cloud, the chosen service provider should be able to provide a written guarantee called a service level agreement (SLA) that details its reliability. Having all business apps – not just some – supported and secured reduces the amount of time it would take for a business to recover from a potential security threat, as well as the amount of time essential and confidential data is exposed to any risk.

Businesses that make the move from traditional phone systems to cloud-based UC systems can rest at ease while the workforce is on the move, as they will be better equipped to overcome lower attendance and barriers to productivity – not only this winter, but throughout the year.

The post Using Technology to Keep Employees Connected and Productive through the Winter appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

How can IoT companies capitalize on the unique marketing opportunities presented by wearables and other smart devices?

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

Marketing strategies are very hard to come up with nowadays, every business has their own unique way of promoting themselves, this doesn´t mean that every strategy will work. If you need a new way to get your business out into the world then consider contacting seo saas for assistance.

1. Predict Customer Needs 

We are quickly approaching the day when IoT, wearables, smart home and smart cars converge into one general “smart life.” When that happens, IoT companies will have the ability to assess data from multiple sources to accurately predict customer needs. For example, Amazon could determine that you need new running shoes because your Fitbit provides the mileage you run every day.

– Andrew Thomas, SkyBell Doorbell

2. Use Analytics to Track Behavior 

IoT companies can better target their marketing messages by analyzing the data offered by wearables and other smart devices. You can use the data collected to customize your marketing messages and take customer relationships to the next level. The key is to track the right metrics and use that information to form your marketing strategy.

– Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now

3. Seamlessly Integrate Platforms and Other Devices 

By connecting with platforms, such as Amazon Echo and Google Home, IoT devices can be easily turned on through a simple verbal phrase. IoT companies can integrate data from multiple devices to deliver a more compelling user experience. For example, a smart scale can pull data from Fitbit and Noom Coach to put your weight in context with your exercise and diet.

– Adelyn Zhou, TOPBOTS

4. Establish Credibility in the Healthcare Industry 

The healthcare industry will be a major outlet for IoT companies to capitalize on unique marketing opportunities. Wearables will be able to keep track of vitals and even brainwaves, changing the game of clinical trials. Strict monitoring and reporting will increase credibility for emerging drug and technology marketing.

– Hillary Hobson, Highest Cash Offer

5. Use Partnerships to Penetrate New Markets 

Apple’s recent event is a perfect example of how brand partnerships can help IoT companies penetrate new markets. The Apple Watch is available in Nike and Hermes versions, each of which is essentially the same hardware with a unique design and, in Nike’s case, an app tailored to Nike’s market. The partnerships magnify Hermes, Nike and Apple’s abilities to reach out to divergent markets.

– Justin Blanchard, ServerMania Inc.

6. Use GPS Technology for Special Offers 

We’ve seen it through the success of Groupon — people are always looking for a better deal. Marketers can capitalize on the location of their customers by partnering with specific retailers to receive data about when customers are in a particular area and whether their partners are having a clearance sale or special. It would be a unique experience for customers.

– Cody McLain, SupportNinja

7. Tread Carefully With Privacy Concerns 

IoT companies will have to tread carefully in terms of using wearable and smart device data for marketing purposes. There are many privacy and security concerns that would have to be addressed using a very clear opt-in feature that is required in order to use wearable/smart device data for marketing purposes. Once this has been addressed, the unique marketing opportunities presented are limitless and very personal.

– Duran Inci, Optimum7

8. Focus on the Future 

When I was at Google New York, their wearable technology wasn’t the most astounding thing. What struck me most was the video that told the story of a future that looked — like the Jetsons — where life was better because of tech. Wearables and smart devices open up a world of possibilities for consumers around the world, and companies who own the vision of the future will also own the most valuable brand.

– Peter Kozodoy, GEM Advertising

9. Be Everywhere 

It’s time for IoT companies to focus on partnerships, sponsorships and syndication so that they can keep up with new marketing opportunities within smart devices and appear in every space possible. By partnering with other companies and syndicating content on multiple platforms, your name and brand will be visible across all channels and will be interacted with more than ever before.

– Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

10. Highlight Sustainability 

Technology goes out-of-date much too quickly, and people are starting to realize that our technological waste takes a toll on the environment and our wallets. To get more people interested in wearables and smart devices, market a product that can grow and change with the user. There’s a phone that has removable and replaceable parts, but another example is wearable technology that features changing colors.

– Jared Brown, Hubstaff Talent

The post 10 Marketing Tips for Taking Advantage of the Smart Device Trend appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Over the course of our conversation, Day explained why growth is the primary concern for small businesses and how Dell develops solutions that evolve as business technology needs change.

An End-to-End Solution for Small Businesses

As a small business owner or entrepreneur, you do not have time to waste. You need to spend time with clients, investors, and others to grow your business, but sometimes a lack of technology or the right support results in an unwanted shift in focus and lost productivity.

“What the small business customer wants are performance and reliability,” Day told me.  “They cannot deal with downtime or being on tech support calls for hours. When you are trying to build your business, the last thing you want to worry about is your technology not working for you.”

Day explained that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution here, that technology solutions need to change as businesses grow. So whether you are a one-person shop, ten-person shop, or working with hundreds or thousands of employees, Dell offers different hardware, software, and security solutions to help businesses every step of the way.

Day explained that Dell’s goal is to give every customer the peace of mind they need to keep their small business running smoothly. They need high performing technology they can trust to work from the moment they open it up. They need as much built-in security as possible. Moreover, they need to know that someone will be there to help when they need it.

“It is not just about the hardware,” Day said. “It is really about trying to give them an end-to-end solution. We want to enable our customers to focus on their clients and their business, and not to have to worry about the technology.”

The Evolution from Consumer to Business Technology

As Dell continues to build small business solutions to fit each customer’s unique needs, they are paying close attention to the surge in adoption of consumer technology within the professional landscape. Specifically, Dell is focused on bringing the convenience, high performance, reliability, and security of their other business solutions to the tablet.

According to Day, Dell’s integrated two-in-one, 360-hinge technology into their Latitude tablet series. You can make it feel like a PC without having to detach anything, or you can flip it over and use it as a tablet. Moreover, to continue meeting their small business customers’ needs, they have added security and manageability into the product as well.

“As our business customers want this new technology, we can make sure the right stuff is in the computer. So if they have to connect it to something in the enterprise, IT managers can still manage and secure it.”

Touch also seems to be the next evolutional step in Dell’s small business technology. While cost, business budgets, and demand have led to the sluggish adoption of touch PCs, Day expects that touch will soon catch on just as other performance-enhancing technologies have in the past.

“The whole ecosystem around these PCs is becoming so much easier for the user, and touch is a key performance thing. It just makes everything more efficient. As we need to save more time so we can focus on our businesses, we need these things to make us more efficient.”

He also suggests that notebooks will soon overcome desktops in the workspace and that the “movable” workspace created by docking stations and wireless connectivity will be the next evolution of the small business workspace.

The post Dell’s Mission to Deliver More Efficient, Productive, and Secure Tech to Small Businesses appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

This might be hard for younger readers to believe, but it wasn’t that long ago that you could walk into an office and find just one or two devices on a person’s desk. Most likely, you’d have seen such relics as a landline phone and a desktop computer, maybe even a fax machine.

Today, you’d probably see a laptop, a tablet, a smartphone – or two – and maybe a smart watch, point-of-sale device and who knows what else. Odds are that some of the devices belong to the company, some to the worker, and the personal gadgets are used for tasks both in and out of the office.

I’ve asked Michael Park, Vice President and General Manager of Mobility at HP Inc to share his insights with us.

The proliferation of all these devices has gotten a little ridiculous. Instead of having a phone and PC that you can use for everything, we find ourselves in a world where we need different devices to do different tasks depending our location, the type of work and personal preference. We might start a project on our laptop in the office, switch to a tablet on the bus home and then finish it on the smartphone from the couch before bed. Mobility has been great for productivity; employees are 34 percent more productive when they can use mobile devices to get work done. It’s also nice to have choices, but who wants to haul four or five different gadgets around with them all the time? I don’t know about you, but I don’t have that many pockets.

The good news is the tide is turning toward fewer devices. As mobile devices get more powerful, batteries last longer and networks get stronger, we’ll be able to do virtually everything from our smartphones. As younger generations enter the workforce, they’ll expect to use technology for work the same way they have used it in their personal lives. By 2030, more than 65 percent of the workforce will have been born after 1980. They will have been raised with the Internet and mobile phones, and if you walk them to their old-fashioned desktop workstation, they will turn around and walk out the door. According to the Mobile Work Exchange, 88 percent of HR managers reported they have had an employee quit because of lack of telework opportunities.

The other trend helping move us toward a one-device world is that software productivity companies are starting to put mobile first. Many workers rely on products from the likes of Microsoft and Salesforce to get their work done on a daily basis. Those companies are advancing how we work, and they are making the mobile experience for their software and platforms better and better. Hardware manufacturers are working more closely with the software companies to integrate the productivity tools into their smartphones and tablets to create a seamless experience that rivals what we’re used to doing on larger screens.

Small businesses in particular have a big opportunity to capitalize on these trends and replace multiple devices with a single device that can do everything the worker needs it to. For many small businesses, smartphones will enable consolidation of paper, desktops, laptops, tablets and POS devices.

Despite these trends and the benefits that come with them, many companies struggle to implement mobile-first strategies. It can be especially difficult for small businesses because they often don’t have a dedicated IT team and their technology budgets tend to be tight. They also tend to be slower to adopt new technology if what they’ve been using is considered good enough.

So how can small businesses help themselves consolidate devices? While the younger workforce demands mobility, companies need to take some steps to be prepared and protected.

1. Train your employees.Require password protection. Better yet, encourage or pay for devices and services that feature biometric security or dual authentication. Teach your employees not to fall for phishing scams or to download potentially dangerous apps and files.
2. Limit data access. Create policies around who can access company data from which devices. Only allow certain employees to access certain data or only provide a select group of employees access to particularly sensitive information. You might even consider a mobile data management solution that would allow you to geo-fence data access based on location, and of course you should have the basics in place for wiping data from an employee’s device if they leave the company.
3. Use or build apps. In addition to the general productivity applications I mentioned above, there are countless mobile applications specifically aimed at retail, manufacturing, accounting, food service, farming, construction and just about every other industry. There also are several platforms for building your own apps, and their use is growing. Seven percent of companies have built mobile apps to facilitate workflow for their employees.
4. Embrace cloud and virtualization. Cloud-based services offer advantages for small businesses looking to go mobile. They can be deployed quickly, scaled up and down depending on need, and support a variety of devices and applications, as well as provide data protection and recovery. Meanwhile, technology providers are finding new ways to virtualize previously desktop-only applications for use on mobile devices, which will be imperative to drive workforce mobility in the future.

Once in a while I step back and laugh at the fact that just a few years ago, people worked with just a computer and a phone. We started small, saw the number of devices explode, and now we’re heading back to just a couple. Apparently, history does repeat itself.

The post Tired of Multiple Devices? HP’s Mobility Ambassador Says Your Wait Is Over. appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Better Business Networking

Networking is a vital part of small business success because you never know where a new connection will lead you. As guest contributor, Jen Slaw, says, “Our connections will become our clients, team members, strategic partners, mentors, and advisors.” By networking, you can form relationships that will better your business. If networking isn’t your thing, take a look at this article. Jen Slaw is sharing five things you can do to immediately expand your business network.

Click to read 5 Steps to Form & Nurture Business Relationships

Relationships with Contractors

No matter how hard you try, you can’t do it all yourself, small business owner; you will occasionally come across tasks that are better handled by an expert rather than using a DIY approach. One such example is app development. More and more small businesses are understanding the benefits of creating their own app, but lacking knowledge of coding and design requires them to hire out. This article can help you form a better relationship with your app developer so you can clearly communicate your needs and help to create a stunning end product.

Click to read 5 Tips for Working with an App Developer as a Small Business Owner

Social Media Relationships

Social media is an ideal place to cultivate your relationships with your customers, and no one knows more about this subject than Ted Rubin, the Chief Marketing Officer of Brand Innovators and creator of the concept “return on relationships.” In this article, Ted offers tips to help you make better digital connections using social media.

Click to read Ted Rubin’s Advice on Building Personal Relationships through Social Media

Bonus Article: Workplace & Employee Relationships

Forming strong relationships with employees involves creating a culture within your small business where team members know they are valued and love to come to work. To create a better workplace environment, check out this article by guest author Randy Stocklin, the founder of One Click which was named one of Inc. Magazine’s 50 Places to work in 2016. Randy is sharing four tips that will help you build stronger relationships and culture in your business.

Click to read How to Build a Rock Solid Company Culture

So how are you doing on relationship management in your small business? Check out the articles above to get help in these specific areas! You can also get more advice at SmartHustle.com – or spark up new relationships with your business peers by joining the Smart Hustle Community.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Tips for Stronger Small Business Relationships appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Getting data into your iPhone or iPad via your camera or other means is pretty easy. However, when you want to transfer lots of data from these devices to another device – it’s not so easy. Especially when it’s lots of data.

There’s a new gadget I was introduced to, iKlips Duo, which is a USB thumbrive that has an iPhone adapter on one end and a USB adapter on the other end.

Transfer files fast and easy.

Services such as Dropbox, FileShare and others are great for transferring files with the Internet , but when you’re offline or have VERY large files, a gadget like iKlips and Thephotostick might be better.

USB flаѕh drives аrе uѕеd tо trаnѕfеr dаtа to оr frоm a соmрutеr. Amоng thе mаjоr аdvаntаgеѕ оf USB drіvеѕ is thаt they аrе portable аnd can be used fоr multiple рurроѕеѕ. In аddіtіоn tо thаt, they аrе durаblе because thеу do not hаvе mоvіng parts. Thеу will serve уоu longer соmраrеd tо thе hаrd drіvеѕ. This аrtісlе will dіѕсuѕѕ ѕоmе оf thе mаjоr bеnеfіtѕ оf flаѕh dіѕkѕ. Rеаd on.

Portable
flаѕh drіvе, ѕmаll sizedFlash drіvеѕ are small іn ѕіzе. Thіѕ mаkеѕ them еаѕіlу роrtаblе. Yоu саn аttасh them tо a keychain оr ѕlір thеm in your shirt оr trоuѕеr росkеt. Majority of thеѕе devices are between two аnd three іnсhеѕ. Hоwеvеr, we hаvе the lаrgеlу ѕіzеd dеѕіgnѕ bоught bу a ѕресіfіс grоuр оf buуеrѕ. Yоu can bе sure thаt you саn саrrу it аrоund wіthоut nоtісіng уоu have it.

Memory
Thеу саn саrrу between 1 tо 128 GB sized data. Thе 1GB drives аrе cheap аnd are uѕеd tо саrrу light fіlеѕ and fоr ѕіmрlе file trаnѕfеrѕ. If you want to uѕе a flash drіvе tо back uр a рrоgrаm, a bigger ѕіzе іѕ required. If уоu hаvе lаrgе loads оf data tо ѕtоrе, I would recommend that уоu buy USB drіvеѕ wіth 32 GB and аbоvе. The lаrgеѕt ѕіzе саn ѕtоrе lаrgе files lіkе оf music, pictures, аnd mоvіеѕ.

Transfer ѕрееd
The 3.0 vеrѕіоn оf USB drives hаѕ bееn rесоrdеd to trаnѕfеr data аt a speed оf 4.8 gigabytes реr ѕесоnd, this is why people opt to use the best usb drive for tesla dashcam. This іѕ great speed соmраrеd to thаt оf SD memory card, whісh trаnѕfеrѕ 312 MB per ѕесоnd.

The post Easily Transfer Data From iPhone or iPad with iKlips Duo Thumb Drive appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The growth in omnichannel shopping is bringing out creative solutions from brands like Staples, which has recently launched an innovative feature for its iPhone app that merges your online and in-store shopping experience. I recently had the opportunity to review this app, so I’ll tell you all about it below, along with some more information about omnichannel shopping.

This article was written in partnership with Staples, an office supplies store that is committed to making it easier for businesses of all sizes to find the products and technology they need to succeed.

Below is a short demo video of how the app works:

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, omnichannel shopping refers to the growing number of consumers who shop both online and in physical stores, often using a hybrid method to browse and buy the products they need. For example, they may start out by researching products online, then go to a local physical store to make the purchase. Or they may see a product in a physical store but then make the purchase online. They may even choose in-store pickup when checking out online, which brings them back from the online realm to the physical store all over again.

Omni-channel shopping has retailers trying to figure out how they can create a seamless experience across all their platforms to make shopping both convenient and fun. Some examples of omnichannel retail strategies include:

• Apps that save a customer’s shopping cart so they can access the cart again if they switch devices (for example, if they add something to the cart using their smartphone, it will be there later when they come back to the site using their tablet).
• In-store associates armed with iPads, allowing them to give shoppers more information about products or to ring up customers on the spot.
• QR codes in print advertisements or on product packaging that allows a person to scan the code with their phone to visit a professional on business phone systems that  can give them more information.

Staples iPhone App – The Latest Omnichannel Retail Strategy

Staples’ iPhone app just got an amazing omnichannel upgrade in its 5.0 update. More specifically, 83 select stores in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Seattle have been mapped out so you can see a complete map of the inside, allowing you to know exactly where products are and plan your shopping trip accordingly.

This new feature allows you to:

• Search for products within the app to find out if they are available at your local store.
• Pinpoint the exact location of the products you need, so you know where to find them inside your local Staples store.
• Plan your route inside the store, so you can find the easiest and most efficient way to grab your items and check out.

The majority of Staples shoppers are omnichannel shoppers, which is why Staples created the new functionality. In fact, statistics show that 70 percent of Staples iPhone app users are omnichannel shoppers, making this the perfect update for those who want an easier shopping experience.

Staples iPhone App – My Review

Fortunately, I live in the New York/New Jersey area where the new functionality has been launched, so I was able to try out the in-store map function. As I mentioned, the function is currently being beta tested for 83 stores in select areas; if you don’t live nearby, hopefully, it will come to your area soon!

My opinion: the in-store map of the Staples iPhone app is a great feature for the busy business owner, if you ate not one of these you may want to sell your iPhone. Time is money! The app will ensure that you are not wasting any of your valuable time. For example:

• Check the app before you leave to make sure the product you are looking for is available at your local store. If it isn’t, then at least you haven’t wasted a trip! You can use the app to check availability at other stores nearby, or to make the purchase online instead.
• If you just walked into the store but aren’t sure where your product is located, just pull out your phone! You’ll avoid wandering around looking lost, and quickly discover where the product is hiding.

The in-store map isn’t the only feature of the app either. You can also use the Staples iPhone app to find store information (like address, phone number, and store hours), view the latest deals and coupons, search and research products, purchase online-only items, or purchase items online and then pick them up in your local store on the same day.

If you ever have to purchase items for your business, whether office supplies, coffee or technology, I recommend downloading the free Staples iPhone app today. Not only is it perfect for omnichannel shoppers, but it’s also great for any business owner who wants an easy, convenient and stress-free shopping experience.

Staples is an office supply chain with a 30 year history of helping businesses of all sizes. Staples promises: “We make it easy to make more happen” with more products, more ways to save, & more ways to shop. The Staples App demonstrates the commitment to making it easier to shop by unifying online & in-store shopping.

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Smart Hustle Conference – A Must-Attend Event

Ramon Ray recently announced the 11^th Annual Smart Hustle Small Business Conference, a day-long event specifically for small business owners and entrepreneurs. On October 20, 2016, over 400 will gather to learn from some of the smartest small business minds of our time, including Peter Shankman, Joe Connolly, Gene Marks and more. The Smart Hustle Conference will feature lessons, seminars, and an exhibit of the latest small business products and services. Early bird pricing is available until August 20, so click to learn more about the event and buy your ticket.

Click to read 11^th Annual Smart Hustle Small Business Conference Launches October 20^th – NYC

B2B Marketing Mistakes

We often cover marketing from a general perspective, but if you’re a B2B business, you’ll want to check out this article that is just for you. Mobile marketing is hot right now, but it’s only effective if you do it correctly. The article covers the seven top mobile marketing mistakes that B2B businesses make – and how you can avoid them.

Click to read 7 B2B Mobile Marketing Mistakes that Chase Away Buyers

Digital Tools for Small Business

Let’s be honest – there are way too many digital tools available for the average small business owner to sort through. However, choosing the right digital tools is important to the success of your business. This article is meant to help by offering a three-step system for evaluating, choosing, and implementing digital tools (such as CRM social media managers, project management systems, etc.). If you want to cut right to the chase, Ramon also offers up his five favorite digital tools for communication and connection.

Click to read How to Choose the Right Digital Tools for Your Small Business

The Conversations You Need to Have Before You Start a Business

Starting a business is a decision that will impact the whole family, and we’ve all heard stories of families who have been torn apart, unable to withstand those hard start-up years. To ensure your family makes it through the hard times, there are several conversations you must have upfront. This article covers the three most important discussions to have before you dive into entrepreneurship.

Click to read 3 Important Family Discussions to Have Before Starting a Business

At Smart Hustle, we like to cover a range of topics including marketing, technology, lifestyle, sales, operations, finance and more. If you like staying up-to-date on these topics, then I know you will also love what we have planned for the Smart Hustle Conference! Get more information by clicking that link above, and for other information and inspiration, check out SmartHustle.com.

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This article was written in partnership with GoDaddy, a company that offers domain name registration as well as hosting and ecommerce services to help you develop your online presence.

The phrase rings out on websites all over the Internet – if you’re a business, “you HAVE to be online!” Although most small business owners will recognize the importance of an online presence, many have held back for fear that setting up and running a website is a complex process that they can’t possibly understand or manage. It’s not true! As small business owner Fred Magnanimi said in a recent Smart Hustle interview, technology is a lot more accessible than many people assume. He set up his website and e-commerce store all by himself and with the tools available today (like GoDaddy hosting and e-commerce services), so can you.

I recently had the chance to review GoDaddy hosting and e-commerce options. My conclusion? These are the sort of tools that empower small business owners to take control of their online presence and reach a larger market. They are affordable, simple to use, and include everything a small business owner needs for success.

Want to know what I think about GoDaddy hosting & e-commerce services? Check out my personal review by clicking play on the video below, plus read on to learn more.

The Importance of Hosting and E-commerce

Before I cover the GoDaddy services and features, let’s talk about why you would need them in the first place.

Hosting (or web hosting) refers to a service where a company (in this case GoDaddy) provides access to, and storage space for, a website. It’s a lot like renting your space. Just like you pay to rent your physical location, you pay a web hosting service to rent your online location. The host gives you a certain amount of storage space (for pages, website content, files, pictures, etc.) and they store your information on a server. When someone wants to view your website, they type in your address, their computer connects to the host’s server, and your website is displayed in their browser.

There are some sites that offer free hosting, but that comes with downsides that aren’t ideal for business. For a few bucks a month (as low as $3.99 with GoDaddy hosting) self-hosting gives you perks:

• Choose your own domain name (you want to be timsbakery.com not timsbakery.wordpress.com!)
• Fully customize the design of your website
• Use plugins – tools that extend and improve the functionality of your website
• Add Google Analytics to learn about your website visitors

It’s clear that any person who is serious about their business should choose a self-hosted site over a free site. And why do you need a website? Because it’s where your customers are and where people will go to find you! Even if you are a local business, your customers (and prospective customers) will want to go online to find your location, phone number, business hours, contact information, menu, and so on.

If you have a product you could potentially sell online, having a website gets even more important. That’s where e-commerce comes in. E-commerce refers to the selling and purchasing of goods online. It takes your website to the next level – not only do you have a site that gives information about your business and your physical location, but you also have the ability to sell your products. This expands your reach and opens you up to millions of potential customers. E-commerce is a natural progression for any local product-based business that wants to expand.

GoDaddy Hosting

GoDaddy offers WordPress hosting services for small businesses who know it’s time they set up a website. WordPress is the most popular website building tool because it’s completely customizable and user-friendly. If you don’t feel comfortable setting up your own site, there are also plenty of WordPress experts out there who can help you get set up. The GoDaddy plans allow you to choose the hosting that is right for your business:

• Basic Plan – As low as $3.99/month and $7.99/month when you renew, you’ll get hosting for one WordPress site with a capacity for 25,000 monthly visitors and 10GB SSD storage.
• Deluxe Plan – As low as $4.49/month and $9.99/month when you renew, you’ll get hosting for one WordPress website with a capacity for 100K monthly visitors and 15GB SSD storage, plus extra perks like an SEO plugin.
• Ultimate Plan – For as low as $7.99/month and $14.99/month when you renew, you’ll get hosting for two WordPress sites with a capacity of 400K monthly visitors and 30GB SSD storage, plus extra perks like malware scan and removal.
• Developer Plan – For as low as $13.99/month and $24.99/month when you renew, you’ll get hosting for five WordPress sites with a capacity of 800K monthly visitors and 50GB SSD storage, plus extra perks like a free one-year SSL certificate.

If you purchase an annual plan, you’ll also get a free domain (your chosen URL). All plans include free daily backups and one-click restore so you won’t lose your data, plus free 24/7 support for questions and issues.

GoDaddy E-commerce

If you want to sell products online, you can choose GoDaddy’s e-commerce service which includes your website, hosting, and shopping cart. Currently, you can try it for free for the first month then get a discount of $19.99/month for the first year (after that, the normal price is $29.99/month). With GoDaddy e-commerce you can:

• Easily set up your store, choosing from many customizable themes that allow you to drag and drop product images and add descriptions.
• Take payments online, with the ability to accept all major credit cards and PayPal. You are only charged a fee when you make a sale, which is 2.9 percent plus $0.30 per transaction.
• Sales are automatically transferred to your bank account.
• Enjoy 24/7 support for advice and answers to all your questions.

My Experience with GoDaddy Hosting & E-commerce

There are several things to look for when considering an e-commerce solution for your business. Of course, the specific needs of your business and your goals are most important. But in general, I look for simplicity and the ability to easily add products online. Other things, such as security and integration with other apps, are important as well.

I explored GoDaddy’s e-commerce solution by making a test store of my own.

In my experience, GoDaddy’s e-commerce was fast and easy to use, allowing just about any business to get up and running quickly to sell online. You can sell through QuickBooks or Stripe, for starters.

GoDaddy’s hosting solution is pretty seamless as well. When I tried out GoDaddy hosting, I wanted to see how easy it was to migrate SmallBizTechnology.com over to GoDaddy. After entering a few bits of information, GoDaddy’s migration tool took over the rest and began to automatically migrate my managed WordPress site to the GoDaddy platform. From my experience, it will be easy for anyone who currently has a website to switch from their current host to GoDaddy hosting. Doing so will allow you to lock in the low prices and features I mentioned above.

Also, if you don’t have a website yet, I’m sure you’re now amazed at how easy and affordable it is to set up your online site and store. GoDaddy hosting and e-commerce services are perfect for small business owners who are ready to embrace technology and all the perks that come with it – more leads, customers, sales, and profits. The online world is your oyster, small business owner!  It’s time to set up your website or e-commerce store today.

GoDaddy is the world’s largest domain registrar, with over 14 million users worldwide. Their services also include website creation, hosting, design, ecommerce for small business, security, marketing services, bookkeeping, and productivity tools. GoDaddy has 62 million domains currently under management and is committed to empowering small business owners to successfully start, grow and run their businesses.

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This article is brought to you in partnership with Verisign, the global leader in domain names and internet security

When today’s customer wants to learn more about a business, the first place they usually turn is the Internet. This has made an online presence essential to a brand’s success. Setting up both a website and social media accounts means when customers enter search terms in Google, information about your company will appear.

But merely having an online presence isn’t enough. Studies have shown that businesses that actively engage customers can expect to grow 40 percent faster than they would if they didn’t have an online presence at all. The first step is to online success is choosing a domain name, but the work only begins there. Here are a few steps you should take to build and maintain an active online presence.

Putting Your Domain Name to Work

Once you’ve registered a domain name, you’ll likely begin immediately working to publish a winning website. But there are several different ways you can use this domain name to build your business’s online presence. Building and launching a new website that shows off your products or services is one of the most common ways. But there’s another option.

Instead of building a new website, you can actually redirect your domain to an existing website. This could be an existing platform for your business, like a WordPress or Blogger blog. However, you can also redirect a new domain name to a social media site, which can act as your business’s temporary landing page. While having both a website and social media presence that work together is ideal, sometimes new businesses can’t realistically do both in their early, more formative days.

Starting on Social Media

For any new business, social media is a great way to set up on an online presence at no cost whatsoever. Social media sites come with a built-in base of potential customers, making them the perfect outlet for testing the online waters. However, unlike your own website, you won’t have the level of control you’ll have with your own website. By registering your business’s web address and directing it to point to one of your social media accounts, you’ll be able to set up your online identity, build your brand, and market your business with a professional web address that customers can easily remember.

Of course, social media is at its best when it’s being used as a marketing tool. As soon as possible, though, brands should begin working on developing and deploying a website, which will give a brand optimum control. With so many drag-and-drop-based website development tools, businesses can create their own websites without even calling upon a design professional to help. Once a website is in place, a brand will have the benefit of a scalable online presence that can be updated as needed.

Once designed, your business’s website should serve as your central hub, providing a place for customers to go when they need information. All of your other marketing efforts should drive customers to that website to engage, learn, and, hopefully, buy. Over time, your website and social media presences will serve to complement each other, offering similar information but in different ways; At https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2019/01/how-to-create-a-customer-centric-experience.html you can learn how to take advantage of it to provide a good customer centric experience.
Your business should use its website alongside its social networking efforts to connect with customers and get the word out about the great work you’re doing.

This article was written in partnership with Verisign, the global leader in domain names and internet security. All opinions and experiences expressed are my own.

The post Social Media and Websites: How Businesses Can Get it Right appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

In today’s Internet-driven marketplace, before a business can open its doors, an online presence is a must. Just as a storefront with an “open” sign once let communities know a business was ready for customers, a website lets today’s customers know that a business is open. Whether a business is online, local, or a combination of both, the vast majority of customers will search for information online before making a decision.

The advantages of being online are immeasurable. Not only can an online presence help a business get off the ground, but it also helps a company thrive in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Today’s customers would rather Google a company than pick up the phone to call, even for small details like operating hours or directions. When a business doesn’t have that information online, it risks losing customers to competitors.

But in order to be found online, a company must first be online. There are three major options to get started on building a strong online presence for your brand. Eventually, you should consider a combination of all three, but to get started, focus on one and add the others later.

1. Social Networks and Ecommerce

More than a billion people interact with social networks, as well as sites like Amazon, Etsy, and Yelp. The good news for brands is that it’s fairly simple to set up a page on each of these sites, at which point you’ll have access to a built-in base of existing customers. However, even if you choose to set up a comprehensive presence on one preferred social media or e-commerce site, you should still invest in a domain name that points to that site. External websites can change, but your URL will always be a site where customers can find you.

2. Company-Branded Email

If you’re using an email through a third-party site like Gmail or Yahoo, you may be scaring customers away. A full 90 percent of people surveyed say they feel more comfortable working with a small business that has a branded email. When your email address reads yourname@yourbusiness.com, you add a layer of trust you’ll find you need as a new business. Securing a domain name is fairly easy and inexpensive and you can still use your favorite email client to get your email.

3. Company Website

Like a domain email address, you need a website URL to serve as your online business card. As important as social media and e-commerce are to your online presence, your own domain name gives you the most in terms of control and flexibility. Once you have a domain name you can point it to your social media page or e-commerce store or set up a basic WordPress site to serve as your web page. If you want something more comprehensive, a service like Wix or Weebly can help.

Before you can decide on your business’s online branding, you must first set up the basics. Your domain name is the single most important choice you’ll make as you build an online presence. For about the price of one lunch, you’ll be able to brand your business while also creating an online home that makes it easy for customers to find you. There are multiple extensions available, but for best results choose either a .com or .net address and try to find a name that will make it easy for customers to find you. As a small business, the right domain name can make a big difference in being seen by your customers as legitimate and professional.

This article was written in partnership with Verisign, the global leader in domain names and internet security. All opinions and experiences expressed are my own.

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What I’ve been testing out, in partnership with Dell, for the last few weeks has been one of Dell’s newest XPS notebooks this one with a touchscreen. This particular model is the Dell XPS 13 9350.

The notebook is light, fast and overall an amazing definition of beauty and power. Having a touch screen means that you have an added way to interact with the computer – not just a mouse or track pad.

For such a light machine the processor is fast enough for just about any business task, the keyboard is well spaced (with back light) and the battery power is good.

One of the heaviest parts of so many notebook is the power adapter – Dell’s XPS power adapter is thin and light. I like it.

As part of this review I also test out an Intel powered Thunderbolt docking station and Dell’s big and lovely 4k monitor. You can also check 5 Best Budget Monitor Reviews 2020 | Great Entry-Level Units.

What’s nice about the Thunderbolt dock is that not only does it nicely dock your notebook but the speed between the notebook and other devices is fast, very fast, due to Intel’s new Thunderbolt 3 cable.

The 4k monitor is a beauty. When staring at a 13″ screen for hours, it’s nice to go to your home office (or corporate office) and use a much bigger monitor.

Here’s a few short videos capturing my experience:

Dell XPS 13 9350 Power Adapter – Tiny and Feather-light

Touchscreen Notebooks Boost Productivity

DisplayLink Dell Universal Adapter – Cut down your wires and use this 4 in one adapter (HDMI/VGA/USB/Ethernet)

Dell Premier Backpack

The post Ramon Tests Dell XPS Touch Screen – Slim, Fast and Long Lasting (Dell XPS 13″ 9350) appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

We’re used to having apps and software for desktop computers and then millions of options, apps, for our phones. However, there’s a push by Microsoft and Google to bring mobile apps to a desktop environment.

The WSJ reports, “On Thursday, Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., said the Google Play app store will soon be able to install Android apps on Chromebook laptops as well as on the lesser-known Chromebase all-in-one computers, Chromebox desktops and computer-in-a-stick Chromebits.”

This means that your favorite mobile app will soon be available as a desktop version too. There’s lots of development that needs to be done to have a fully working app, work on a desktop, but the evolution has long begun.

The post Mobile Apps Join the Desktop Experience: Confusion, Clutter or Benefits? appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

• There has never been a better time for e-commerce.
• It has never been easier to set up an online storefront.

But as simple as it is to set up an e-commerce presence, it’s important to know how to build and market your store before you get started. With the right tools in place, you can build a winning website and draw customers in. Once you’ve set up your e-commerce shop, you’ll need to know how to leverage it to get the best results.

How to Leverage an Ecommerce Platform

As beneficial as an online store can be to your business’s success, it isn’t the only option. If you aren’t quite ready to set up your own online store, consider leveraging one of the many existing platforms for reaching customers online. Marketplaces like Etsy, Amazon, and eBay will let you set up a store and reach their already robust customer bases. Angi (formerly Angie’s List) and Thumbtack will help you connect with local customers who are looking for services like yours. The best thing about these resources is that you’ll be able to enjoy quick setup without a huge financial commitment.

If you decide to use a site like Etsy or Amazon as your sole selling platform, you should buy the domain name that best relates to your business and point that domain to your online store. This will give you a single address on the web, whether that address is connected to your Amazon seller account, your Etsy shop, or your own dedicated website. This will give you one online address, as well as the benefit of an easily-remembered address that promotes your own brand up front. It will also give you a company-branded email address.

How to Build Your Own Online Store

Once you’re ready to build your dedicated online store, getting started is easy. Useful website builders like Shopify, Squarespace, and Wix let you build an online store using drag-and-drop tools. These sites offer features like shopping carts, site hosting, and search engine optimization, making sure your online store is easy to use, has a professional look, and ranks well when customers are searching for certain products or services.

While these services generally aren’t free, businesses usually find they’re budget friendly. Generally do-it-yourself site builders cost less than $75 a year and may even be free if shop owners are willing to allow third-party ads on their sites. Best of all, these tools come with customer support to provide technical help when needed.

3 Tips to Guide You

1. Identify your website needs – Your online store can be simple and streamlined or a sophisticated multimedia marketing and sales hub. Determine your requirements before you begin building. If you decide you want a lot of bells and whistles on your site, you may want to consider a professional web developer to help.
   2. Pick a domain name – Your domain name will be your virtual address, as well as your online identity, on the web. Even if some solutions offer to host your site on their domains, you should put your website on your owndomain name to have a consistent, branded web address for your customers to remember. It will also give you an attractive, professional web address to use in your marketing.
   3. Select the right website builder – You can find an array of solutions by doing an Internet search for ‘e-commerce website builder.’ Take time to research and compare two to three options. Make sure they have an e-commerce option and that they will not only meet your needs for today but in the future as well.

With so many great resources, entrepreneurs can easily set up an online store and begin promoting it immediately. Before choosing your site’s platform, make sure you carefully research all of the available options and choose the one that’s best for your own business.

This article was written in partnership with Verisign; however, all opinions and experiences expressed are my own.

The post Tips to Help Your Business Build a Winning Ecommerce Store appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Accelerate Your Business Recap

Accelerate Your Business was a symposium aimed at sharing information that will help small business owners take their businesses to the next level. It featured sessions that shared best practices in cloud-based technology, and new devices & apps that can make your business more productive and efficient. Attendees also had the opportunity to network with business leaders, industry experts, and digital innovators. It was a high-energy, high-impact event for all who attended.

The event started out with a keynote from Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit and an investor in tech startups. He spoke about “Building a Community of Hundreds of Thousands of Communities,” which is exactly what he was able to do with the creation of Reddit in 2005.

The morning continued with three sessions that touched on different aspects of business growth and technology:

• Staying Safe in the Current Cyber Environment – Moderated by Gene Marks, this session focused on data security for the modern cloud-based workforce, with an emphasis on keeping both customer and business data safe.
• Managing the Modern Customer – Moderated by Carol Roth, this session focused on using technology to create a holistic approach to customer service.
• Q&A: What’s Hot, What’s Happening and What’s to Come – This Q&A session with Amy Cosper (Entrepreneur), Jordan Chrysafidis (Microsoft) and Eric Day (Dell) tackled questions about the future of business and what businesses today can do to prepare.

The Accelerate Your Business symposium then ended with a keynote and workshop on “Influencing Influencers” with Jon Levy, who shared his experience working with brands and companies as well as strategies for businesses to improve their product development, customer acquisition, and customer engagement.

Accelerate Your Business with Safer Technology

I participated in the session on staying safe in the current cyber environment. Today’s technology and cloud-based solutions have made it easier to run your business, but there are also data security concerns that every growing business should be aware of.

One way to keep your business safe is to upgrade your devices, because older devices are slower, heavier, bulkier, and pose security risks. This infographic explains the huge differences between old and new devices.

If it’s time to modernize your business technology, consider updating to devices based on the 6th generation Intel® Core vPro processor family  and Windows 10 pro.

• Fast boot and wake up times.
• Easy multi-tasking between apps, files, and websites.
• True Key technology to safely reduce the number of passwords you use.
• Facial recognition technology for simple and safe log in.
• BitLocker encryption that keeps your data safe even if your computer is lost or stolen.

You can get 6^th generation Intel Core processors and Windows 10 pro in a range of devices, such as desktop towers, touch screen All-in-ones, mini PCs, laptops, tablets, and 2-in-1s. Check out the Accelerate Your Business site for more offers, information and the latest devices.

The Accelerate Your Business symposium emphasized the fact that to grow your business you have to be constantly moving forward with the latest technology and strategies for developing products and reaching customers. One way to get started right away is by upgrading your devices today.

This post was written in partnership with Intel; however, all opinions and experiences expressed are my own.

The post Accelerate Your Business Recap: It’s Time to Upgrade Your Aging Devices! appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

While you’re out there getting things done, your staff might be anywhere, working from home, traveling, at a conference, or meeting customers across town. Most businesses are far more mobile than ever.

One great thing about Insightly is that you can take your CRM wherever you—and your tablet or phone—need to be. Snagging first place in GetApp’s ranking of the top CRM solutions for Q1 2016, the Insightly mobile app lets you to take your info, insights, contacts and calendars with you no matter where you’re headed.

Never Miss a Beat with Instant Sync

Keep up to date while out and about with the Insightly app’s ability to instantly sync your changes, updates and more to your home (Web) CRM. Manage your team’s day-to-day agenda by scheduling events, and adding or assigning tasks, in Insightly calendar.

You can also add comments to any notes you take while away from “home,” such as voice recordings, pictures from your device or camera, or just plain old text. With information that instantly syncs, you can be sure all users are working off the latest information.

Real-time information means your whole staff is apprised, even if the customer forgets something and calls back immediately. The next rep can pick up right where the last call left off, and the customer won’t waste time repeating the story to multiple CSRs.

Dynamic Contact, Lead and Customer Management

Stay on the pulse of what’s happening with your customers day-to-day with mobile contact management. The Insightly mobile app lets you scan business cards to create contacts and leads, set direct relationships between records by “linking” them and see opportunity values for each customer or prospect. Make a call from within your app and a note is automatically attached to the contact, creating a call log.

No more fumbling around for a contact’s cell number because you forgot to punch his digits in and his business card is back at the office. No more forgetting which customer that new lead is connected to and why it’s even relevant to your business. No more hearing, “You guys just called me about this an hour ago,” from the other end of that now awkward touch base call. You’ve got all the contact management essentials with you, accessible and updateable at a moment’s notice.

Sales and customer satisfaction often hang on how fast you respond. Fast, reliable answers are an important element in a competitive market. Instead of stuck-in-traffic excuses, your customers hear, “How can I help you?” Access builds the trust you need to nurture relationships and keep the interest of your customers.

Everything You Need at your Fingertips

Available for tablets and phones, the Insightly app supports Android and iOS users alike, so there’s no reason you can’t be a step ahead. App users have access to project management and event scheduling, notification setting and social network integration, as well as the ever-useful power to search your CRM for the right info right when you need it. The Insightly mobile app also comes in five different languages, in case something other than English floats your boat.

Let’s face it—you are busy. And staying connected and organized is hard if you don’t have the right tools to make it happen. The right CRM for you will be available whenever and wherever you are. It’s just that simple.

The post This Mobile CRM Keeps You Connected On-The-Go! appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Printing technology is sometimes overlooked, but choosing the right printer for your business can greatly improve your operations. Since printers are used so frequently, small differences in costs and speeds add up to big differences over time.

The HP OfficeJet Pro Series

This series of printers is for small business owners who want professional color in a compact, affordable package.

• Professional-quality color documents will cost you up to 50 percent less per page than laser printers.
• Employees can also boost productivity with the ability to print from their smartphones and tablets.

There are a number of models in this series. Prices start at $199.99, and they are sold both in-store and online at staple

HP PageWide Printers

This series of printers is for small business owners who need professional-quality color documents from a printer that delivers exceptional efficiency:

• In a single pass, you can print professional-quality color documents across any width you need.
• With just 0.5 second prints, you’ll get record-breaking speed.
• Other benefits include energy efficiency and exceptional security.

Models in this series start at $499.99, which makes them the lowest total cost of ownership in their class. They are sold online only. Companies nowadays switch business energy suppliers to be able to be energy efficient and lower their costs.

Find the Printing Technology that Fits Your Business Needs

Each of the new offerings is a “series” of printers. This means that you can choose the exact model that will work best for your small business, based on what other specific functions you’ll use and your daily printing needs. Like any other business purchase you make, it’s important that the printing technology you select fits with the needs of your business.

Shopping at Staples has perks as well. Staples Rewards members get up to 5% back on their purchases and free shipping on any HP purchase of $14.99. They also have auto restock programs for your ink and paper so you’ll never run out of these essential office supplies.

By partnering on this latest innovative printing technology, Staples and HP are reaffirming their commitment to the small business community. Your office technology can either hold you back or push your business forward. When you purchase your next printer, don’t underestimate the importance of low costs, fast speeds, and professional quality.

This article was written in partnership with Staples; however, all views expressed are my own.

The post Staples & HP Partner on the Latest Innovative Printing Technology for Small Business Owners appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Why Is Invoicing a Challenge?

As Greg mentions in the interview, many small business owners are still using traditional methods of invoicing, like invoice books and computer files. Sure, these methods will get the job done, but small business owners often feel overwhelmed and disorganized.

It’s not just about the method of preparing an invoice either. The problem goes deeper, into how you accept payment on your invoices with this automatic invoice generator to get organized.  “People forget, small businesses in the U.S. are driving in their cars to pick up checks,” says Greg. “Something is wrong with that in 2016. You shouldn’t need to be driving to pick up a check.”

So why are so many small business owners using dated invoicing methods when invoicing technology is readily available? Greg says that it’s because small business owners are simply very busy people. They feel pressure to make improvements in so many areas of their business that it’s hard to choose what to start with, and even harder to get started TODAY.

Why You Should Switch to Invoicing Technology Today

“I wish I had done that sooner.”

That’s the feedback Greg gets from new small business owners who have made the switch to Invoice2Go. He says that it’s not hard to convince people that there are better invoicing solutions. Small business owners know there must be a better way of invoicing because they feel disorganized all the time and particularly stressed at tax time. Invoice2Go has made it their mission to make it easy to switch to invoicing technology TODAY.

Invoice2Go is an app that includes a free trial. Simply visit the app store on your phone to download the app. During the free trial, you can explore how Invoice2Go works. As Greg mentions, the system is so simple that you will be ready to send invoices in minutes. Small business owners also use their free trial to send test invoices to themselves and to set up invoices that will look similar to their current invoices.

Beyond the simplicity of Invoice2Go, there are several benefits of switching to invoicing technology:

• The ability to quickly send invoices, no matter where you are, right from your mobile device.
• The peace of mind knowing that the work is done, the invoice has been sent, and you are closer to getting paid.
• Not being held back because you don’t have access to physical or computer invoice files.
• The ability to accept credit card payments and electronic transfers.
• Better organization of invoices, which is particularly helpful at tax time.
• The ability to present a more professional appearance of your business.

There are many invoicing technology options on the market, but what makes Invoice2Go special is their dedication to small business owners. With it, you can create an invoice that gets you paid easily and seamlessly. The company has found its “sweet spot” working with small businesses and they have no plans to move out of the small business space. Invoice2Go’s niche is solving the invoicing problems of small business owners, so they have developed solutions specifically for you.

In the end, Greg’s main piece of advice is to make the switch TODAY. “Just do it today. Don’t do it tomorrow or the next day. You’ll be really happy with how much more organized you feel. You will feel so much better about your business.”

The post Greg Waldorf of Invoice2Go on Why You Need to Switch to Invoicing Technology Today appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

SXSW 2016 Coverage

SXSW 2016 took place from March 11-15 in Austin, TX, and Ramon Ray visited to learn about the latest technology relevant to small businesses in order to report back to readers. Some of the SXSW 2016 coverage featured recently includes:

• Fluidstance – An innovative product helping to incorporate more natural movement while you are using a standing desk.
• Knokal – A new B2B website that uses a “Match.com” approach to connect small businesses.
• United Airlines – New developments in first-class seating that make your travel more comfortable and productive.

Mark Cuban Loves Hustle

At SXSW 2016, Ramon also ran into Mark Cuban, billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks and investor on ABC’s Shark Tank. In a short video interview, Ramon asks Mark why he loves hustle so much and Mark delivers another quotable answer. In this article you can listen to the interview and hear his new quote – and we also explore a range of other quotes that demonstrate how much Mark Cuban loves hustle.

Click to read 8 Reasons Why Mark Cuban Loves Hustle.

The Importance of Clarity & Consistency

Finally, in a recent audio interview, Ramon spoke with Dr. Will Moreland, a speaker, author and coach who focuses on leadership and personal development. When asked about the problems he sees small business owners make, he mentions that many business owners come to him lacking clarity and consistency regarding the values and goals of the business. Knowing these things is important because they will help guide all the other smaller actions in your business. This article will help you focus in so you can solidify and execute your business identity.

Click to read Clarity and Consistency: 2 Keys to Finding Small Business Success.

Once again, the weekly Smart Hustle roundup provides both information and inspiration to help propel your own small business forward. For more knowledge – and more SXSW 2016 coverage – visit SmartHustle.com.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: SXSW 2016 Coverage, Mark Cuban Quotes, and More appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Adding Two-Factor Authentication

The biggest bang for your buck for organizations comes from enforcing two-factor authentication (usually offered at no cost by application providers) across all critical systems and applications. By doing so, organizations can protect themselves from one of the most common attack vectors: stolen credentials.

– Varun Badhwar, CipherCloud

2. Using Cavirin for Cloud Computing

For cloud computing, Cavirin is a tool that protects both your cloud workload and associated accounts. It conducts an IT audit and searches for outdated and unpatched servers — the No. 1 culprit implicated in major IT security breaches. Cavirin also checks yourfirewall, OS configurations and monitors your accounts to improve your company’s overall data security.

– Brett Farmiloe, Marketing Auditors

3. Implementing Security Policies

Two-factor methods should always be considered when performing authentication. But we need people to do the basics as well, such as coming up with complex passwords that they can easily remember. Don’t have the mentality of “it can never happen to me.” The sooner you implement security policies, the better your employees will adapt to them. Also, don’t ever send password information via email.

– John Rampton, Due

4. Getting Rid of Shared Passwords

The best solution is to get rid of the shared passwords and Post-It notes around the office. Users having their own passwords protects them and their identity/security, and also protects the company.

– Marjorie Adams, Fourlane

5. Eliminating Shared Accounts

Too often, vital accounts are logged into by a number of people sharing the same login credentials. This could be your social media accounts, but could also extend all the way to your online banking accounts. It’s time to draw a line and proactively eliminate shared accounts. Most enterprise systems are set up for multi-user access, where each person has a unique username and password.

– David Ciccarelli, Voices.com

6. Using the 1Password Extension

1Password is an extension that is easy to use and available through multiple platforms. In our opinion, it is much safer than relying on the Cloud because it keeps your vault of passwords local, and you can share on your own terms (through Wi-Fi syncing and more). 1Password also alerts you when websites you use have been breached, so that you can immediately protect data.

– Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

7. Dashlane and Two-Step Authentication

A good alternative to LastPass is Dashlane, which has a range of unique features. For those who are willing to pay a bit more for the clean, consistent and user-friendly interface, Dashlane is truly the best entry-level password manager. Always set up a two-step authentication process for additional data protection, and track all digital changes in order to hold employees accountable.

– Sathvik Tantry, FormSwift

8. Keeping Disks Clean

After backing up necessities, it’s important that companies use tools like Data Wiping Software to be sure that whatever they have deleted is absolutely gone. It’s a very “low-tech” way of doing things, but reformatting disks also does the trick and further ensures data security. I would recommend that every company trains their staff in doing the aforementioned as frequently as possible.

– Cody McLain, SupportNinja

9. Educating Employees

Unfortunately, your system is only as secure as your employees allow it to be, so train them well on how to keep the company’s data secure. Knowledge sharing gives team members the tools they need to keep the company safe from outside attacks.

– Robert De Los Santos, Sky High Party Rentals

10. Adding Meldium

Meldium has two-factor authentication password management that allows team members to share login credentials securely without writing down or sending passwords.

– Sam Saxton, Salter Spiral Stair and Mylen Stairs

The post 10 Solutions for Updating Your Company’s Data Security appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Slack

We switched over from Skype to Slack, and it’s worked wonders for our team. You can divide the conversations into specific channels with their own members and use the “@” function to notify multiple members at once. It keeps our communication organized, and having the app on our phones makes it easy to communicate from wherever.

– Micah Johnson, GoFanbase, Inc.

2. iDoneThis

iDoneThis is a tool our team has used for years because of its simplicity and accountability. iDoneThis will send you and your team an evening email reminder to ask what you did that day. The team replies, and the next day everyone gets a digest with what everyone on the team got done. It’s very simple, and allows remote employees to celebrate and stay on top of team successes.

– Brett Farmiloe, Marketing Auditors

3. Sococo and Slack

Our team uses a combination of Slack for chat, and Sococo, which is a virtual office. It has offices, conference rooms, chat, video and screen sharing. The combination of these has drastically improved our remote team’s communication and productivity while supporting Revel’s culture. These encourage information sharing and keep everyone in the loop without too much noise.

– Kayla Wagner Faires, Revel Interactive

4. Wrike

Most of our team works remotely in various parts of the country or around the world. Wrike is awesome because it lets us collaborate on projects without having to email progress updates; it has real time notifications. It centralizes the information so employees can start working instead of trying to figure out what’s been done since they worked on the project. It has sped up our development process a lot. There are great business communications solutions offered in the industry.

– Peter Daisyme, Hosting

5. Trello

We have found Trello to be a helpful platform. We can communicate easily through the site in an organized fashion. It keeps track of what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process. It also allows for checklists that keep you updatedon how much work, percentage wise, you have done.

– Stanley Meytin, True Film Production

6. Screenhero

Screenhero is an incredible tool that promotes effective collaboration remotely. The technology enables you to hold conference calls and screen-shares, but also goes a step beyond by allowing team members to actually control one another’s screens as needed. It’s a very powerful piece of software, and we have started to use it daily to collaborate across multiple time zones.

– Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc.

7. Asana

We have all our projects organized in Asana, and use it to communicate on projects every day since we’re a virtual team. My team loves the massive checklists in Asana, and we use the thread for each task to chat and give feedback if we need to. We’ve tried a lot of systems, and this is the one that has worked best for us and allowed us to cancel three other tools. Asana does it all!

– Natalie MacNeil, She Takes on the World

8. Salesforce

Salesforce allows me to watch what each employee does on a daily basis. It tracks each representative’s activity, sales, steps, etc. I am always checking in on this to make sure I am up to speed on everyone’s progress.

– Jayna Cooke, EVENTup

9. Teamwork

In dealing with clients and team members remotely, using a cloud solution like Teamwork is essential. Owning a web development company, it’s important to have privacy with your team members with the versatility of including and excluding the client when necessary on communications, files, etc. In testing all of the solutions out there when trying to find the best software, we chose Teamwork.

– Vinny Galiano, Galiano Brands

10. DoneDone

Although DoneDone is the most effective for development and software teams, it really can be used for company-wide communication and collaboration through one central hub. This platform easily detects issues in process, no matter what department you are a part of, and helps teams come together to solve said problem. DoneDone is extremely easy to use and team members adapt to it quickly.

– Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

11. 15Five

The beauty of 15Five is its directness and simplicity. Employees answer questions ranging from what is and isn’t working to where they need help. The opportunity to answer specialized questions on a weekly basis keeps teams agile. You’ll find that sometimes you’ll receive a greater level of honesty or thought when your team is able to respond outside of the typical meeting or stand-up environments.

– Zach Robbins, Leadnomics

12. Projectplace

If you’ve used a platform like Trello and want to step it up a little, then you’ll like Projectplace. Just like Trello, it uses the Kanban method of project management (with Kanban boards). You get tools like Task Management, Project Overviews, Issue Management, etc., and it’s all visual so you won’t feel too overwhelmed.

– Cody McLain, SupportNinja

13. Confluence

There is no better way to collaborate with a remote team than with an internal wiki. With Confluence, you can upload files, document business processes, interlink pages, as well as tag specific team members to projects and comments where they need to address an issue. You can also set up email notifications for yourself and your team so that everyone is aware of new updates made to pages in the wiki.

– Brian David Crane, Caller Smart Inc.

14. Whatsapp

Most of my team is spread out around the world. The best way to check up on them is through whatsapp. It’s really awesome to know when someone you contact has seen your messages. Whatsapp does just that, and with over a billion users, calls can be made instantly anywhere. Even Facebook’s messenger (acquirer of whatsapp) adopted the message received feature. Pro tip: When it’s urgent, I use both.

– Robert De Los Santos, Sky High Party Rentals

The post 14 New Ways to Check in With Your Remote Team appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Box

Box is a UK-based file sharing service that has both personal and business options. It offers unlimited storage on business accounts and it integrates with Microsoft Office 365. It’s simple to use, secure and affordable.

– Jonathan Long, Market Domination Media

2. Google Drive

We use Google Drive for file sharing among our team and also clients. It is free till 15 GB for each user and get 100 GB is only $2 a month. We can share any type of file and also create Google office files and share. It comes with apps for desktops and smartphones that we can download and synch from there. It maintains the versions. Also, many people have Google accounts, so we can share easily.

– Piyush Jain, SIMpalm

3. BitTorrent Sync

BitTorrent Sync is the best file sharing solution we’ve used by a mile. For most use cases, it is completely free no matter how many users you have via a torrent. It has higher security because it never gets stored in the “cloud.” It’s also fast, especially within a local network, precisely because it goes directly between the users rather than uploading and then downloading on other cloud services.

– James Simpson, GoldFire Studios

4. Slack

People think of Slack as a chat, but it’s a lot more than that. It’s a perfect solution for a remote-working and mobile-friendly team to search, share and store files that need to be ready at a moment’s notice.

– Brennan White, Cortex

5. Copy

Copy is a great service that I’ve used over the past couple of years. It works basically the same as Dropbox, but you get a few more bells and whistles while spending around half the yearly price as most other services like it.

– John Rampton, Due

6. A Shared Server

All of our computers are connected and have a shared folder via Wi-Fi. This method is very low-cost and secure.

– Andrew Namminga, Andesign

7. Hightail

We have a unique Hightail upload link that makes it easy for employees and clients to send bulk files all at once, without dealing with multiple emails. Since our business heavily relies on receiving photo and video content from clients, Hightail has made our lives much easier.

– Micah Johnson, GoFanbase, Inc.

8. Dropbox

I find Dropbox relatively inexpensive for what you get, and with the new functionality of being able to comment on files, it makes my life much easier. If I were to pick a negative, it would be purchasing more storage for your account, which can get pricey for multiple users.

– Jayna Cooke, EVENTup

9. WeTransfer

I love Google Drive for many things, but for sharing it doesn’t always work right. Wetransfer.com is my go-to solution for quick, free and painless sharing for anything up to 2 GB. You don’t even need an account to send anything, and I’ve used it at least 200 times over the years.

– Josh Sprague, Orange Mud

10. OwnCloud

The available SaaS file–sharing services aren’t always a great fit: they have limited features, aren’t easily customized and security is a coin toss. OwnCloud is a self-hosted file–sharing and collaboration solution with great encryption. It’s hosted on your own servers, in a data center or in the cloud. The major benefit is that your IT department has full control over where and how data is stored.

– Vik Patel, Future Hosting

11. Chatter

If you’re already a Salesforce customer then you may be familiar with Chatter, what we describe as our internal social network. We communicate in department groups and often share relevant information — such as training material or marketing collateral — by posting it directly to the group. Chatter shows a PDF preview of uploaded files and allows people to like, comment and download a copy.

– David Ciccarelli, Voices.com

12. MediaFire

If you have a lot of files to share but not a huge budget, MediaFire is a great choice for you and your company. There is no limit on storage space and the interface is extremely easy to work with and show to your teams. There is no limit on how many users can dial in to this tool, and it is a great space for team members to communicate, share files, bounce ideas back and forth and more.

– Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

13. Streamfile

With Streamfile, you can send and share files up to 300 MB for free. No registration is required, and your files are encrypted. You also get 1 GB of bandwidth each month, and premium accounts are available starting at only $79 per month.

– Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

14. Seafile and OwnCloud

Seafile and OwnCloud have seen some some good success, are actively supported and offer community editions that are free. They also have paid versions that are reasonable and low-cost compared to more mainstream big tech companies.

– Kevin Conner, Vast Bridges

The post 14 File Sharing Tools Perfect for Growing Teams appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Donate Your Old Equipment to Charity

What better way to put your still functioning computer or IT equipment to good use than to donate them to a local charity! At AquaMobile, we donate our old computers to our local Goodwill store, which has a great partnership with Dell to ensure that any brand of computer gets refurbished or recycled responsibly. All participating locations are listed here.

– Diana Goodwin, AquaMobile Swim School

2. Give Both Talent and Treasure

Donating seems like the logical solution, but consider stretching your influence by donating your treasure and your time. Pair up with a local job training program focused on IT (my favorite is Per Scholas) and give the equipment as a charitable donation. But also offer to do one-on-one coaching/mentoring or conduct skills-based training seminars. Nonprofits need your talent more than anything else.

– Suzanne Smith, Social Impact Architects

3. Donate Them to Your Employees

The popular recommendation is to donate your old equipment to charity; while we do encourage this method, we’re also big fans of donating to our own team. Do you employ a mom whose child needs a computer for school, or a fresh college grad living on a budget? Incentivize your team and show them that you care about their needs. It’s a small but important gesture, and one that pays dividends.

– Blair Thomas, EMerchantBroker

4. Give Them to a Local School

I donated my old system to my local school where it is used by low-income children. Also, in some cases they give equipment to kids so they can open and understand the assembly of computers and printers. It works as a donation and also a creative tool for kids to learn about machines. I learned about computers when I played with my brother’s old system. Look at Computersforlearning.gov or Computers for pcrr.com.

– Piyush Jain, SIMpalm

5. Donate Old Equiptment to Younger Startups

Donating old equipment to younger startups is a huge help for the startup ecosystem. At my first company, we were hiring new employees but couldn’t afford enough laptops. Luckily, a friend of mine had a startup that was a few clicks ahead of ours and already hitting break-even revenues. He had some old laptops collecting dust in the corner of his office, and he happily donated them to us.

– Ryan McGann, InLoop Inc

6. Offer Them to Hackerspaces

I recommend finding a local hackerspace and seeing if they will accept the old equipment.  We have Pumping Station One in Chicago, but they are very selective about what they take so it can’t be too old.

– Lane Campbell, June

7. Reach Out to Local Nonprofits

Ask your team which local nonprofits they support and have them reach out to see if the organizations are in need of any of the equipment. Have the employee offer time to deliver the equipment and train the organization’s staff on how to use the equipment if necessary (and if the employee has the time and desire). Let that start a relationship between a worthy nonprofit and your company.

– G. Krista Morgan, P2Binvestor

8. Have an Upcycled Computer Art Day

Artists have been making really cool objects out of old computer parts — lamps, benches, desk clocks, you name it. I’ve seen mailboxes and coffee machines made out of old computer towers. Invite artists to use your old parts and even have a company computer art day. You’ll create some cools stuff for the office, but more importantly, you’ll also inspire your team to upcycle more.

– Dave Nevogt, Hubstaff.com

9. Repurpose It

Even if your equipment is getting too old for its intended use, there are still plenty of ways to squeeze functionality out of old hardware. One way is to use old machines to power the dashboards and dummy terminals your team uses to monitor its key metrics. You can also give old computers to your team’s QA department and let them use them for browser testing.

– Manick Bhan, Rukkus

10. Put Them on eBay or Craigslist

New computers and IT equipment are not cheap, and cash is tight, especially if you’re a startup. That’s why I highly recommend that you post your old stuff on eBay or Craigslist. That way, you’ll be able to subsidize a portion of your new purchases. In fact, you might also be able to justify an upgrade to your monitor size or memory — two things that we often avoid because of the added cost.

– Obinna Ekezie, Wakanow.com

11. Find a Charity or Recycle Them Properly

Let one of your team members contact a charity and facilitate the donation. Then communicate this donation internally to encourage other team members to do the same. We have cases in which equipment has been donated to a school that a child of one of the employees attends. If we can’t find a charity to donate it to, we make sure that we send it to a place that recycles electronic parts.

– Dan Adika, WalkMe

The post 11 Cool Things to Do With Old IT Equipment appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Calendly

We’ve had great success using Calendly. You include your link with available meeting times in an email, and the client schedules their own appointment from there. It eliminates the back and forth of trying to find a time that works for everyone and is super easy to use.

– Micah Johnson, GoFanbase, Inc.

2. ScheduleOnce

Since using ScheduleOnce’s MeetMe for scheduling meetings with clients, there’s been a vast improvement in organization and a reduction in the back-and-forth emails that normally ensue when trying to set up an appointment. It’s easy to use, reduces admin effort and removes headaches.

– Thomas Smale, FE International

3. x.ai

Amy, the virtual artificial assistant from x.ai, is really sophisticated and has handled a number of my complicated scheduling requests without fail. Most of the time, the other side has no idea that they are interacting with a computer-generated program.

– Reza Chowdhury, AlleyWatch

4. Google Apps

Google Calendars is tried and true for a reason. It syncs with nearly every phone, computer and email account, allowing me to have constant access to my calendar and add appointments wherever I am. While there are other options out there, this is easy to use and virtually everywhere.

– Matt Doyle, Excel Builders

5. Mixmax

Mixmax is a Gmail integration app that has a feature that really takes the hassle out of scheduling meetings. You just add calendar spots to your email and the person you send it to just clicks on the time that works for them and it’s booked. There is no back and forth. It easily saves me hours every week.

– Thomas Cullen, LaunchPad Lab

6. Pick.co

Scheduling should be an easy task but tends to have the most complicated solutions catering to it. Most of them often miss the point: getting the appointment set quickly. Pick.co makes it so easy to set your preferred times and connect with your existing calendar. Then you’re good to share your calendar link with the world.

– Rahul Varshneya, Arkenea LLC

7. Sunrise

Sunrise is a great calendar app. The way it handles invites and meeting dates/times is beyond what others do. It’s a fusion between Google Calendar and Doodle. In addition, the mobile app is wonderfully executed as well. It’s a real time-saver.

– George Morris, The FRAMEWORK

8. Front Desk

Front Desk is the most reliable, simple and flexible solution that I’ve used for scheduling within my team, company and clients. The software adapts to my company’s unique workflow and does not force us to schedule in ways that we are not used to. The entire team adapted to Front Desk immediately, and it makes communication flow easily and successfully.

– Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

9. Assistant.to

We all hate the back and forth that happens when trying to set up a meeting. Assistant.to is a lifesaver in that department, and its integration with Gmail is nothing short of beautiful. With just a couple clicks you can send your availability, which stays up-to-date in real time. Then, people can select their time and book. It’s automatically added to both calendars. Done!

– Christie Kerner, Launch MiE

10. Keeping It Old School

I prefer the old school method of having a secretary or personal assistant to take over once a connection has been made. This way makes us different compared to everyone else using online apps and provides a personal touch when scheduling that brings us back to the days when folks would connect much more in person.

– Engelo Rumora, Ohio Cashflow

The post 10 Apps That Take the Stress Out of Scheduling Appointments appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Bees With Machine Guns

I use Bees With Machine Guns because it uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) to spin up servers immediately to make requests onto your site. It’s open source, and the only cost comes from the servers it spins up and tears down in a matter of seconds.

– Shalyn Dever, Chatter Buzz

2. Perfecto Mobile

We have used Perfecto Mobile for years. We can create any number of users to do load testing, and the best thing is that it does testing on real devices in a cloud environment rather than using simulator-based testing. Also, it allows us to test mobile apps on 100+ mobile devices of different make and model. We can test the UI/UX and do performance testing. It’s also subscription- and cloud-based, which saves money.

– Piyush Jain, SIMpalm

3. Blitz

Blitz.io has been a fantastic resource for us. It’s about as easy to set up as load testing can be, which is extremely helpful. It can handle up to 200,000 users from multiple regions, so there’s a lot of versatility there as well.

– Manick Bhan, Rukkus

4. GTmetrix

I like to cross-reference multiple tools, which is why I use GTmetrix. It pulls in data from Google’s PageSpeed as well as Yahoo’s YSlow. In addition, it lets you compare historic crawls, capture a video of the website loading, test from different geo locations on different internet speeds and browsers and prioritize high-value areas — all for free.

– Kevin Getch, Webfor

5. Google Insights

I use the tool Google offers because they are the search engine we are looking to rank for. If 85 percent of traffic comes from Google, then why not use the product they judge your site by? They give you the speeds as well as errors to fix.

– Raymond Kishk, Interstate Air Conditioning & Heating

6. Loader.io

You can’t go wrong with Loader.io. It has great documentation, lets you test via API or web interface and has amazing reports. You can test literally anything with this tool.

– Andrew Saladino, Kitchen Cabinet Kings

7. Pingdom

Pingdom‘s waterfall report gives an at-a-glance view of which elements on a page are large and slow. Sort the list of all your elements by size to quickly identify large files and consider removing them to improve load times. Then, sort the list by time to spot those slow-loading elements and, again, consider if you can compress the file or eliminate it altogether.

– David Ciccarelli, Voices.com

8. Skylight.io

While not specifically a load-testing tool, Skylight.io is an amazing smart profiler for learning where and why your Rails app is slow. It visualizes request performance across your app to help you figure out your true response times, where that time is being spent and what common mistakes are making yourapps slower. The best part is that it’s super efficient so your performance won’t suffer.

– Mattan Griffel, One Month

9. Gatling

We are big on stress testing. Slow page loads are death for us, being a platform that handles people’s financial info in environments they expect to load quickly. For an open source option, we like Gatling, with its record feature and colorful reports.

– Cooper Harris, Klickly

10. WebPageTest

WebPageTest is a great tool to test the performance of a website. You can run performance tests from multiple locations around the world with various browsers and even specify mobile connections (i.e. 3G, 2G).

– JoAnn Leonard, Juice Interactive

The post 10 Multi-Feature Tools for App or Website Testing appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. H&R Block Small Business

H&R Block Small Business‘ smartphone app makes bookkeeping fast, easy and accurate. By taking a photo of your receipt, the app reads the amount paid and the name of the vendor and then automatically generates an expense report. You can pay bills, monitor accounts receivable and manage payroll anytime and anywhere.

– Blake Miller, Think Big Partners

2. Expensify

We have done our share of “trial periods” with several business receipt management solutions. The core principle behind the tool usage and adoption is one: have a clear process with rules, timelines and expense limits that everyone understands. Once you have a great process in place, there are many tools tohelp you with it. In our case, Expensify does the trick and more!

– Darwin Romero, Applaudo Studios

3. Bench

Bench has been amazing with helping our business with bookkeeping, expense reporting, accounting and more. We have been very impressed with their customer service and continued product development over the last six months.

– Andrew Torba, Automate Ads

4. OneReciept

We use OneReciept and really like it. Open the app, take a picture of your receipt, and you are done. If you want to add a note or a tag, it just takes a second. It’s super easy and saves our accountant a lot of time.

– Thomas Cullen, LaunchPad Lab

5. Apple Preview

In an effort to run a paperless business, we have digitized our account’s payable process. Once receipts are scanned into a PDF, they are delivered in a batch to the signing authority. They use Apple Preview, a software that comes with every Mac, to place a digital signature on the top of the PDF receipt, authorizing it for reimbursement, or if it’s an invoice, it’ll be queued to be paid.

– David Ciccarelli, Voices.com

6. Intuit QuickBooks

The key to streamlining the management of receipts is to use a turnkey software like Intuit QuickBooks. I’ve been using Quickbooks for over a decade toeasily track receipts and also produce important financial documents, including balance sheets, profit/loss reports and cash flow statements. In short, Quickbooks saves time and money and minimizes errors by integrating financial management.

– Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com

7. NeatReceipts

NeatReceipts can be used on both a mobile device and a PC. It’s simple to use and transforms receipts into documents which you can search, making it convenient as well. Even though it’s not free, it’s worth the investment.

– Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

8. Evernote

Evernote is the absolute best app for managing anything that can be photographed on the spot with your cell phone. I use Evernote for recording businessreceipts when I’m out of the office, and I’m able to organize them into a central folder that can be forwarded to my certified public accountant. Evernote has many great uses, but organizing receipts is at the top of the list. And, it’s free.

– Chris Smith, Smith Simmons, PLLC

9. Shoeboxed

Shoeboxed has been fantastic for us. For paper receipts, take an image with their app to send to them directly. I forward anything digital in an email or, in most cases, auto-archive and auto-forward through a Gmail filter. After, I like to dump business cards in the giant envelope they provide for them to do data entry and then import to my Google Contacts.

– Corey Northcutt, Northcutt Inbound Marketing

10. American Express ReceiptMatch

We swear by our relationship with AmEx. With ReceiptMatch, you can take photos of your receipts (before you lose them in your pocket or the bottom of your purse) which auto-save to your account. There, you can view your receipts and match with your statements. This is especially helpful when a vendor name does not match what shows up on your statement. You have all the information in front of you!

– Andrew Kucheriavy, Intechnic

The post 10 Apps That Manage Pesky Business Receipts (And Will Save Your Sanity) appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. If you need a quicker way to manage your payments, then try out this payroll software.

1. ADP

We currently use ADP for our payroll. It’s not the cheapest on the market, but it sure is the easiest. We don’t deal with deductions, taxes, filing, etc. Everything is taken care of. We just click one button every two weeks.

– Torrey Tayenaka, Sparkhouse

2. Local Services

We use Horizon Payroll Solutions out of Dayton, OH. I highly recommend them. They have been fantastic to work with. We have a dedicated representative who is top notch and is a phone call or email away at any time. With local and state taxes/laws constantly changing, I always suggest considering a company that is local and understands your business environment. Not to mention, they’re usually inexpensive.

– Travis Smith, V.I.P. Waste Services, LLC

3. Zenefits

We use Zenefits as our health insurance broker, vacation time tracker, employee onboarding and for payroll and independent contractors. It’s an incredibly useful platform that dramatically reduces my daily tasks as a founder. I’d highly recommend Zenefits. The above said, they’re a startup as well and I’ve noticed they’re going through some growing pains at times. Still, I highly recommend them.

– Mitch Gordon, Go Overseas

4. TriNet

I couldn’t be more impressed with TriNet. Payroll is seamless, and inputting changes such as vacation days, bonuses and overtime is quick and easy. They also have an app for employees to view where they stand whether it is personal days left to use or their insurance co-pay for the month. We’ve explored other benefit companies, but, for a founder, this is the easiest by far!

– Kim Kaupe, ZinePak

5. Intuit Payroll

We have used Intuit Payroll for the last five years. It integrates with our bank and accounting software as well. It can do both W2 and 1099 payments along with reimbursement. We can also file quarterly and monthly payroll reports. It is very inexpensive and charges only $2/month for additional employees. It also has the online paystub option. It’s designed for small businesses, so we can easily scale up or down.

– Piyush Jain, SIMpalm

6. FreshBooks

FreshBooks is simple to use, especially for those who aren’t experts in accounting. Also, our virtual workers can easily submit their invoices for payment. It helps us save time and stay organized, allowing us to focus more time on other important parts of our business.

– Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

7. Gusto

Gusto (formerly ZenPayroll) makes everything simple and streamlined. Payroll takes a matter of minutes and their customer support is amazing. They offer all the bells and whistles of more expensive services but at very cost-effective rates. Gusto takes all the stress out of payroll so we can focus on serving our customers and building the business.

– Rachel Rodgers, Rachel Rodgers Law Office

8. Namely

When looking for a brand new platform for any facet of our company, we always tend to look for those that bundle multiple assets into one system. With Namely, we can not only utilize a full-service payroll system that is easy to use and integrate with our existing systems, but we can also upgrade our talent management and benefits strategies. Namely offers all of these services in one!

– Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

9. Paychex

Paychex is a cost-effective, easy-to-use payroll platform. Our time clock automatically sends information to Paychex, which also administers our health insurance and worker’s compensation, making it extremely convenient to input employee data. Paychex is also tech savvy, with direct deposit options and records accessible online. We’ve never had a single problem with this reliable platform.

– Vladimir Gendelman, Company Folders, Inc

10. Employers Resource

We use Employers Resource because I have a personal account representative there that responds to my calls/emails in minutes. ER does more than just payroll; they handle all of our HR, including coming on-site if we have a big hire or termination to make sure everything goes smoothly. All of this coverage is $15 dollars per employee, per paycheck.

– Brandon Stapper, 858 Graphics

The post 10 Solutions for Payroll That Will Make Your Life Easier appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Intel Small Business Advantage Features

To learn more about Intel Small Business Advantage, I recently interviewed Chad Constant, Director of Business Client Marketing at Intel Corporation. With over 17 years’ experience working at Intel, Chad is particularly excited about this latest offering for small business owners.

According to Chad, Intel Small Business Advantage has been developed to help small businesses better connect with their employees while better understanding the security and health of their computers and devices. It includes:

• A built-in chat feature for inter-office communications.
• File sharing and screen sharing to assist with employee collaboration.
• An array of security features including data backup, a PC health center and a software monitor.

As you can see, some of these features will help you boost the productivity of your business by simplifying collaboration and communication through a single platform. Other features will boost your business security. For example, there is a feature that allows you to turn off the USB access ports throughout the business, and a central backup system that will protect your files if something happens to an employee’s computer or device.

An added benefit is that Intel Small Business Advantage is designed to work on any device that you are carrying. It is mobile compatible, so you can download the companion apps for Android, Apple and Google devices to access the system.

Want to learn more about Intel Small Business Advantage? Grab a cup of coffee and sit back while listening to my short 8-minute interview where Chad Constant explains more about the new software.

Many small business owners love the technological solutions that are available today, but they are sick of having to go to different applications for all their main business functions, like chatting, file sharing, and data security. If you are looking for a simple solution that just sits on your desktop and helps you run your business more productively, Intel Small Business Advantage may be the solution for you.

The post Intel Small Business Advantage: A One-Stop Solution to Boost Productivity and Security (Interview with Intel’s Chad Constant) appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Small Biz Success Story – Hannah Perry of the Giggling Pig

Small business is the engine that drives America’s economic progress, and it’s no secret that people come from other countries in search of the American Dream. In this inspirational story you’ll learn about Hannah Perry, who came to the United States from England with just $15 in her pocket to last her a week. Life was tough but she struggled and found success with her children’s art and after-school studio called Giggling Pig. In this article you can learn about her recipe for success and business advice, plus watch the video interview.

Click to read How Hannah Perry of the Giggling Pig Turned $15 Into Small Business Success.

5 Tips to Become More Profitable

As an entrepreneur, profit is one of your main goals; however, there are many ways you can unknowingly let that profit fall through the cracks. This article has five tips that will improve your profit by filling those cracks, careful planning, and developing healthy financial habits.

Click to read 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Become More Profitable.

Cloud Security Tips

These days 77 percent of business owners are using cloud technology. Cloud software and apps feature benefits such as easy access to business data on the go – however, with that convenience come additional security risks. If you use cloud technology in your business, you’ll want to check out this must-read article that covers 5 important things you should do to increase the security of the business and customer data you store in the cloud.

Click to read 5 Security Tips to Keep Your Business Data Safe in the Cloud.

So what are you looking for this week – perhaps inspiration for your small business journey, financial tips, or cloud security strategies? Explore the articles above, plus check out Smart Hustle for more important small business information.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Small Biz Success Story, Ways to Increase Profit & Cloud Security Tips appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The study was a survey of 3,210 small and medium sized businesses with between 10 and 999 employees from 11 countries around the world. The survey asked respondents about their companies’ usage of digital technology and how it impacts the business.

Many survey sites lure with the promise that you can make a lot of money on their websites. They sometimes speak of several hundred euros a day, which you can easily generate on the side. But does that really correspond to reality? The answer is: mostly not . Nevertheless, paid surveys can be interesting for some people, especially to make a little money on the Internet without knowledge or previous knowledge. In addition to completing surveys, more and more sites are offering other methods of making money – for example, by watching advertisements or testing video games. It can be even more attractive to test products for which companies are willing to pay significantly higher amounts than for filling out a survey. Product tests are therefore usually much more profitable than online surveys, which is why we also offer you this service on our website. Go through produkttester to know more about the Earning money with surveys (online).

Among the findings, arguably the most important was the link between digital technology usage and growth. One third of all SMBs (and 45 percent of SMBs with between 500-999 employees) say they are “well under way in applying technology to connect people, devices and businesses” – and these companies also saw revenue growth of ten percent or more in the last year. The most popular digital technology in use is collaborative software (used by at least 50.6 percent of SMBs) followed by CRM (38 percent) and business analytics software (37 percent).

Other findings include:

• Over 39 percent of SMBs agree that “active participation in the digital economy will be essential to our company’s survival in the next three to five years.”
• Varying by region, between 52.5 and 60.2 of SMBs say that digital technology helps them streamline operations and improve productivity.
• Despite depending on digital technology, between 35 and 45 percent of SMBs are concerned that their company relies too much on data to make business decisions.Visit testerheld.de to know more.

Overall, the study shows that small and medium sized businesses are embracing digital technology and reaping the benefits in terms of business growth. If your business hasn’t made the switch yet, 2016 is the perfect year to hop aboard this important trend. If you’re not sure where to start, you can begin by exploring this list of the top 50 digital technology tools for small business owners.

The post New Survey Finds Digital Technology Usage Linked to Small Business Growth appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

These tips are from Hayley Silver, VP, Bizrate Insight, a division of Connexity.

Too much pinching, zooming and misclicks

Mobile experiences that require a lot of zooming not only frustrate people, they tend to cause a lot of “misclicks” which send the user to a new page unintentionally. This can lead to a frustrating experience, wasted loading time and a higher bounce rate.

Slow load time

Slow mobile load time may be unavoidable in some cases, but there are also some simple steps you can take to reduce it. As a reward you’ll probably see a drop in abandonment, almost instantly.

Inconsistent Product Availability

The mobile and desktop shopping experience are bound to look different on the surface, but shoppers hate it when they are fundamentally different. Completely changing your navigation or product availability on mobile can lead to frustration for omni-channel shoppers.

Text is too small to read

This problem is widely known, but it remains a persistent complaint by mobile shoppers… clearly there is a gap between what retailers assume is “readable,” and what shoppers can tolerate.

Don’t make me type!

Screens have gotten larger, but mobile shoppers still don’t like typing on their mobile phones—and let’s be honest, they probably never will.

Images are too small

Great mobile shopping experiences require a delicate balance; space is extremely limited, but content must be large enough to read.

Limited product information

While cutting copy on your homepage and category pages can free up precious space on your mobile screen, never sacrifice your product copy. Mobile shoppers who are seriously considering a purchase want the same amount of product info as they would on desktop. Never eliminate or reduce product details to save space, instead get smart about how you display it.

Data security concerns

In the wake of so many public data breaches, consumer concerns over data security remain alive and well. Bizrate Insights found that nearly 2/3 of American shoppers don’t trust retailers with their payment and personal information.

The post Pinching, Small Text, Load Time and 5 More Things User Hate About Their Mobile Experience. appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

SmallBizTechnology has a long history of promoting technology use among small business owners. In the years since our launch, we’ve covered small biz tech tools for just about every aspect of businesses, and we love to spread the message that leveraging technology can help you pull ahead of the competition.

Okay, you read the news everyday and follow how things are going on around the world. You go on holiday and see some beautiful hotels in other countries. But, most likely you haven’t experienced other parts of the world like Digital Nomads do. As the experience of living somewhere is very different than taking a vacation in the same place.

Luckily, all that changes when you become a digital nomad blog. You travel to any part of the world to feel how living in other countries feels like. Once you do that, you either confirm some of the many things you may have heard about a country and its people, or totally realise that all that you heard (or maybe most) are rarely true. You are given the opportunity to learn a lot of languages and live with a lot of people that will reshape how you see the world. Indeed, the Digital Nomad Lifestyle really opens your eyes to a bigger world outside the places that you already know.

Yes, we Digital Nomads work, and often work hard, sometimes harder than in an office job. But on our days off we don’t have to visit every birthday party, mow the loan, clean our houses and fix the long waiting tasks. We go and climb mountains, volcanoes, see one of the world wonders. We go and explore new cities, in my case I go and look for abandoned houses to explore. There’s a whole new world in front of your doorstep, a world which needs to be explored.

In this week’s Smart Hustle Recap we have an amazing article covering the top 50 small biz tech tools available – no more searching and wasting time trying to find out what works, this list has taken the guess work out of the equation so you can dive right into the technology that will help grow your business. Our other stories feature creative marketing ideas and tips for using market segmentation to grow your business. Check out our top Smart Hustle stories below.

50 Small Biz Tech Tools

Stop wasting time on dead ends – this list provides the ultimate small biz tech tools that have proven effective for small business owners like you. The list is broken down into:

• Productivity Tools
• Collaboration Tools
• Project and Task Management Tools
• CRM & Email Marketing Tools
• Financial Tools
• Website Design Tools
• Social Media Sharing & Management Tools
• Webinar Tools
• Video Creation & Sharing Tools
• Travel Tools
• Hiring & Outsourced Help Tools

Just choose the area you most need help with to learn about the best tools that will help you reach your goals.

Is there a ‘Right’ Kind of Marketing?

Our next story will have you rethinking the type of marketing you think is ‘right’ for your business. Each business may rely on its own type of marketing, but sometimes when you expand beyond your comfort zone you can achieve bigger results. This article has three examples from the Business Circle solutions that will jumpstart new ideas on how you can market your small business.

Market Segmentation Can Help You Grow Your Business

Segmenting your market involves looking at all the different types of customers you serve and trying to find other ways to reach them and drum up extra business. This article will give you tips on developing a strategy so you can understand your market segments and use that information to grow your business.

So which article will you explore first this week? Get more information via the links above, and for other current stories visit Smart Hustle here.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: 50 Small Biz Tech Tools & Other Hot Stories appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

What is KPI?

As we mentioned above, KPI stands for key performance indicators. These are quantitative statistics that help you gauge how your business is performing and whether you are meeting your goals.

There are a variety of KPIs depending on what you want to measure and analyze. This includes:

• Sales KPIs – Numbers that measure how well your sales are doing, including revenue growth, how specific products are performing, average purchase amount, and the performance of each of your sales reps.
• Marketing KPIs – Numbers that measure the effectiveness of your marketing, including website visitors, how many people are clicking through on your emails, and the cost per lead & ROI on your paid marketing campaigns.
• Financial KPIs – Numbers that measure the overall profitability and fiscal health of your business including income, expenses, profit & loss, and debt to equity ratio.
• Social Media KPIs – Numbers that show how well your social pages are doing, including followers, engagement and interactions.

The list could go on, because there are KPIs for any important aspect of your business that you want to analyze – KPIs that measure employees, customers, finances, sales, business processes, and more.

Why Are KPIs Important?

KPI metrics are important because they help you objectively view how your business is doing and whether you are reaching your business goals.

• Is my business profitable?
• Are my products and services doing well?
• Are customers satisfied?
• Are my marketing efforts paying off?
• Are my employees productive?
• Is my business on the right track?

KPIs can answer all of these questions, including identifying areas where you need to make improvements or can seize new opportunities. KPI metrics can help you define what success looks like, hold everyone accountable in achieving success, and take pleasure in small victories on the way to reaching larger goals.

Tracking and Analyzing KPI Metrics

If you look at the listing of KPIs in the “What is a KPI?” section, you may have recognized the various ways that you can track and analyze your KPIs. For example, you can look at QuickBooks spreadsheets to analyze finances, turn to Google Analytics to learn about your website visitors, and view your business’s Facebook page to learn how you’re doing on social media.

But that is exactly the problem. KPIs are tracked in so many different places that it can be hard to get an overall idea of how your business is performing. The Staples survey we mentioned above also found that 62 percent of small business owners would find it helpful to have a single dashboard for all their core business metrics.

Staples Quick Wins KPI App

Like many Staples surveys in the past, if small business owners are all asking for a solution to a problem, Staples will follow up and find a way to deliver that solution.

This time, the answer comes in a new Staples business dashboard KPI app called Staples Quick Wins. The app is completely free and has downloads for Apple and Android. With the Quick Wins KPI app you can gather together some of your most important KPI metrics into one place – with the ability to access the information anywhere via your smartphone.

Staples Quick Wins KPI app can help you track business metrics on:

• QuickBooks
• Google Analytics
• Shopify
• Facebook
• Twitter

They’re also expanding to Instagram and MailChimp at a later date.

The KPI app allows you to link up each of your accounts, then the business metrics from each account are compiled together in the app dashboard. This allows you to manage and track your metrics easily every day. The app also gives you access to a small business community, where small business owners can ask questions, share ideas and get feedback.

Keeping track of KPI metrics is important for meeting your business goals and pushing your company forward. The new Staples Quick Wins KPI app puts the power of KPIs literally right into the hands of small business owners.

The post Are You Tracking Your KPI Metrics? New Staples Quick Wins KPI App Can Help appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Protective Cases

From the day you purchase a new smartphone or tablet, a protective case should be in place. The best cases offer shock absorption while also protecting the screen by extending over it slightly. A glass screen protector will help keep your screen scratch free, while also protecting it from shattering during drops.

If you take care of your devices, you’ll get many years of use out of them. In addition to protecting them with cases and screen protectors, you’ll also need to protect them against malware, which can damage your entire network if it makes its way into your systems through one of your devices.

Line Up Emergency Tech Support

Your team relies on your equipment to be functional at all times. To avoid costly downtime, you’ll need an affordable repair company that can provide rapid turnaround when you need it. A recent Staples survey found that guaranteed next-day service would be highly valued by a large majority of small businesses (76%). With Staples’ new Next Day Guarantee, PCs that are brought into a Staples before noon are serviced by 5pm the next day, or the repairs are free.

In addition to troubleshooting issues with PCs and mobile devices, repair services can also handle issues such as malware removal and PC tune-ups. The service can therefore keep your technology running at top performance, and also get you out of a jam if something fails.

Keep Software Updated

A recent Staples small business survey found that software and hardware installation is considered a challenge for many small businesses (16%) and two-thirds (65%) would find next day software or hardware upgrades valuable. And rightfully so! Software problems can actually render your devices unusable even quicker than hardware damage. To protect against malware and security breaches, your software should be updated regularly. This includes the definition updates for your antivirus software as well as your operating system, which has built-in protections against malware. Businesses with multiple pieces of equipment should make sure they update automatically rather than requiring administrators to manually update each device. And when in a bind, Staples Tech Services can help.

Educate Your Staff

Some of the biggest dangers faced by your organization relate to the behaviors of its employees. Poor password management policies can lead to outsiders guessing your system passwords and finding a way into your databases. Employees can also let malicious traffic in by clicking on links in email or on social media sites. Bring in a technology expert to train your staff on responsible technology use and make sure you sit in on the class, as well. Also, to avoid malware and possible cyber attacks you should add cybersecurity as one of your priorities. 

Keep It Clean

It can be easy to discount the importance of keeping your PCs and servers clean. Over the course of multiple months, dust can build up inside desktop units and servers and over time, that dust can cause components to work inefficiently. With a can of compressed air, cotton swabs, and a cleaning cloth, you can keep the internal workings of your computer clean over the years it’s in use.

Pay Extra for Quality

If you’re operating on a budget, as every business is, it can be tempting to opt for less expensive equipment, especially if you’re buying multiple items at once. However, less expensive devices can fail more quickly than some of the more expensive ones. You’ll be better off long term investing in high-quality equipment that will be reliable for many years.

Replace Aging Devices

No piece of equipment will last forever. If you wait until devices fail, you’ll be left scrambling to replace them during a busy workday. Instead of being reactive, set up a proactive plan to replace your equipment on a cycle. Some businesses find that replacing computers every four years is best, although mobile devices may need to be switched out more often. Upgrading technology is a smart investment. Make sure you find an e waste disposal company to dispose of your old equipment.

A recent Staples survey found technology issues are among the most problematic management concerns faced by small firms. A third of small businesses surveyed (33%) would spend an unexpected large cash infusion on technology and equipment. Look for incentives when it’s time to upgrade. Staples offers a technology trade-in, giving you a Staples eCash Card for your old devices. If your device no longer has value, Staples will recycle your old electronics for free. 

The post How Can You Keep Your Tech Working Better? A Tech Evangelist’s 7 Useful Tips To Help appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

As more and more individuals find themselves living remotely and traveling across the United States and abroad, we wanted to take the opportunity to point out some of the best tools, tips and services for living a life on the road. By employing these tips and services, you’ll have better peace of mind whether you are traveling to the Californian beaches, Rocky Mountains or across the pond to the United Kingdom.

Internet

It’s impossible to think of our life without the internet or complete connectivity to the big world that it has made so small? It’s become an essential in just about every individual’s life, but it is the life-blood of a business traveler. Luckily there are a number of solutions to keep us connected!

If you are traveling within the United States and carry a smartphone, most devices today allow you to use them as a Wi-Fi ‘hot spot’ to connect to the internet. As long as you have service, you have the internet. If you want something more dedicated, then and you can look at getting a MiFi wireless router from your carrier or try a mobile WiFi service.

Meetings and Presentation

Another essential for most business travelers and remote workers is the ability to take part in virtual meetings and presentations. While Skype for Business is a favorite application that allows you to see colleagues’ presence, start IM, have voice or video conversations, present documents and share desktops, there are a few other applications tailored to professionals and their work objectives that deserve taking a look at.

File Storage and Sharing

Another critical part of remote working and collaboration is the ability to access and share files. Thanks to cloud technology, this has gotten much easier. Just keep in mind, putting items in the cloud does require you to carefully think about what types of information you are saving and who you allow to access it to ensure the security of your information, and that of your company, clients and customers.

Staying Productive

Just because you are on the road, you shouldn’t lose any of your productivity. Thankfully tools like the new Microsoft Office, help people and businesses of all sizes work better – and easier – together. For example, if your team were to use the new version of Office (Word, PowerPoint or OneNote) to make revisions to a presentation or project, everyone would have the ability to edit the same draft at the same time. The best way to start taking advantage of the new Office is via an Office 365 subscription.

Staying Juiced

One thing that can quickly stop you in your tracks working remotely is a dead battery. Whether it’s your laptop, smartphone or mobile device, having juice is essential and you need to be prepared for those moments you aren’t near an outlet.

There are many lightweight external battery chargers designed specifically for travelers to help in these situations.

Keeping up with business while working remotely doesn’t have to be stressful or a chore. Employing these great tools and tips will help you find peace of mind and possibly some extra time to enjoy your new surroundings.

The post Living Remotely – Best Tools, Tips and Services for a Life on the Road appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

• The ability to link mobile payments with loyalty programs and other incentives
• The ability to track customer trends as well as your inventory
• Mobile payments are an easy way to extend payment options from cash-only to credit cards
• Mobile payments typically have lower processing fees than traditional credit card processing
• Mobile payments offer your customers a faster checkout experience

Benefits to consumers (like convenience and security) also mean that business owners will eventually jump on board this trend as more and more consumers come to demand mobile payments and expect it as a payment option.

At this point in the game, it’s not a question of if mobile payments will take off – it’s a question of which company will end up winning the mobile payments race.

Currently there are several options for mobile payments from some of the biggest names in business – Apple Pay, Google Wallet and PayPal, for example, are all fighting for a piece of the mobile payment pie. As mobile payments grow in popularity, one thing is certain – whoever wins this race will take home a pretty hefty prize.

“Who Will Win the Mobile Payments Race in 2016?” is the topic up for discussion in the latest ShopKeep video where Norm Merritt and Ramon Ray discuss this question, as well as how to be a successful retailer now that cash is out and mobile payments are in.

Whether you currently accept mobile payments or not, as a business owner, this is a trend you NEED to stay on top of.

The post New ShopKeep Video Eyes the 2016 Mobile Payments Race appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

However, one thing is missing – an app.

Why should my local Honda dealer have an app? I’ll tell you and maybe you can learn from them.

The buy here pay here near me Dealer has a repeat business – customers come to the dealer to get their cars fixed – on a regular basis. I recommended that they have an app which reminds customers to come in and get their cars checked – oil, tire rotations and etc.

This is one big reason I recommended that they have an app. One that reminds customers to come in and get their cars checked – oil, tire rotations and etc.The best feature of the app is that, they provide the service of collision repair at anywhere anytime. This app will further impress on customers that their local Honda dealer is there for them.

What about your business? Should you have an app?

I don’t think every business needs an app – but every business should evaluate if they need one for sure.

An app is a way to “reach out and touch” your customers, to serve them better and serve as a reminder of the services you can provide to them.

The post My Honda Dealer Is Losing Money By Not Having An App. Are you? appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.