Security elements placed appropriately act as a comfortable “insurance policy” of sorts against theft and other foul play elements. Having the right eye in the right place can also act as a huge deterrent. Not just for recording criminal activity, but for halting it altogether. This article will provide a general overview of business security cameras and three of the top security cameras available in the space.

Company Surveillance

When looking into a security camera there are several metrics you should keep note of, video quality, functionality, and price. Additionally, knowing if the camera is going to be used for 24/7 surveillance will inform whether or not you need infrared or spotlight integration features. Many cameras work in tandem and form a network for greater sequential coverage and visage.

Additionally knowing what areas need coverage will tell you the number of cameras you need in your system and can affect how much funds you can allot to a system or styling of a camera. Some offer greater scope, rotation, or the aforementioned networking capabilities to cover this necessity.

Business Security Cameras: Arlo Pro 4 Wireless Security Camera

The Arlo Pro 4 features a 2K video with HDR (High Definition Resolution) and an integrated spotlight for 24/7 coverage. The footage is triggered by its motion-detecting features. The camera also directly connects to Wi-Fi features and does not require a hub or base, however, it can offer smart home integration, (Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit). The footage is stored in the cloud for 30 days, so if there is anything that requires a second look. The Arlo Pro 4 has you covered there as well. It is considered the best camera for outdoor use.

It does require a plan for optimal usage and is largely of poor quality without one. Plans go at 3, 10, and 15 USD a month. The battery is rechargeable and one of these can be guarding your doors and windows for $200.

Business Security Cameras: Reolink 3 Argus Pro

This camera is considerable for its overall best quality. A 2K camera that works both day and night ensures that you don’t just see “the thing” but see it clearly, whenever it lurks. It features 122-degree sights, slightly less than Arlo’s 130 vision. The Reolink 3 features motion sensitivity as well allowing you to get a notification or alert when something is detected. It has, however, cut motion zones – areas where you could target key tracking like doors or windows, to conserve battery life.

You can also schedule times to record. And with 128 GB of storage on the device and 1GB kept in the cloud for up to a week. You can find the detected thing. The Reolink also captures audio as well.

This camera typically runs around $130. It has video plans at 5, 10, 15, and 25 dollars monthly with the first two allowing for 30 days of cloud storage and the last two allotting for 60. With improved cloud storage at 30 GB, 80 GB, 150 GB, and 250 GB respectively.

Business Security Cameras: Eufy Cameras

This is the premiere indoor camera focused on indoor security (duh) and customer privacy. All storage is housed in the camera, meaning anything recorded is kept on-site and not stored in any outside cloud or database services. These cameras additionally offer 2K video (1920 p) and offer cloud-based programs and AI detection. This allows for the camera to auto-capture anything with motion or similarly timed suspicious activity.

The standard Eufy runs anywhere from around 150 – 200 USD. There is a budget pick – the Eufy Solo IndoorCam C24 that is only $43. Some models also allow for cloud plans for those who are content to store their data on an external drive or source.

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There are several approaches as to how best to deal with your software. Because in reality yes you have software that is the product. But what you are creating here is an offer. Think in terms of ‘The Godfather’ or ‘100 M Finance Godfather’ Alex Hormozi and give them “an offer they can’t” or would “feel stupid to refuse.”

The Offer is itself your bargaining chip in making the sale. The product should serve as the thing they need, yes, however, let it function as a bargaining chip as well. Use it to prime what you are actually selling: the offer. In this weird inverted way, you have created a product that is actually just a vehicle for you to sell the offer, which will take you to their money.

And in mind, the offer will sell the product in the end. When pricing software products, you should start viewing your selling from that perspective.

Think About Your Software and Its Best Model

• Monthly or Yearly Subscription Plans
• Billing Extra for Storage or Additional Capabilities
• Bundling Recurring Subscriptions with Additional Capabilities
• Trial Periods and Reduced Pricing Opportunities
• Targeted Segments
• Result Based Pricing

When pricing software products, think about who is using your software. This will help determine how you want to price it. Once again this is but a single metric you can factor into the offer you make the prospective client. In one turn you could offer a highly-priced product. This can help segway the decision to purchase into being one that is value-based.

Alternatively, you have the ability to provide priced base selling, at which point you can put time into finding the specific metric and undercutting competition within it to receive that extra headroom with your customers. There are benefits and detractors to both. However, keep in mind that this also has an effect on the type of clients you will receive.

The Nuance Points of Pricing Software Products

• Service
• Demonstrated Value
• The Demand Curve
• Extras that Should Be Upsold
• Brand Image
• The Pricing Model’s Effect on Price

All these nuances will shape the nature of the product as it is in part what you are putting in, the demand it generates. The extra features may provide entirely new areas for the company, as well as the brand image and how the money is collected – think frequency and premium.

Opportunities to demonstrate value can also create a lasting effect that can allow for familiarity with the program. Too often people don’t want to pay right out of the gates for something they don’t know how to use. Let your work – if you believe in it do the work and then once they integrate it and like it they will be more likely to fork over those hard-earned dollars onto your plate.

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Today, there are countless cost-effective digital tools on the market that come with a short learning curve. Likewise, if your business incorporates the right solutions, you might be surprised how quickly you’ll experience healthy growth. So, below we share five areas in which every SME should consider incorporating digital tech.

1. Accounting

You don’t have to be a business owner for long to understand the importance of money management. Moreover, making one bad decision or overlooking a single detail can put your company in a poor financial position and hinder its ability to grow.

Fortunately, as Geekflare points out, there are cloud-based accounting solutions to help you deliver electronic invoices to customers, which can minimize late payments and improve cash flow. Moreover, some software will even let you store and categorize your receipts to help you maximize tax deductions. So, look for an integrated accounting system that works alongside your other digital tools.

2. Business Processes

Business process management (BPM) is a discipline that ultimately helps companies optimize their workflows. By automating menial tasks, BPM can allow your team to streamline business operations that were once laborious. And since it frees up your employees’ time for working on more purposeful tasks, it should be relatively easy to get your team on board. Create a BPM framework, regularly track its effectiveness, and act on the monitoring data to continuously improve each process.

3. Mobile Apps

More and more small and medium-sized businesses are developing mobile apps. The primary reason is that it can help your business grow in virtually every aspect. If you’re wondering whether your SME needs to build an app, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you want customers to have an easier time finding you?
• Do you want to facilitate more brand loyalty?
• Could you benefit from collecting more data to personalize the customer experience?
• Would you like to provide customers with a smoother shopping experience and easier payment processing?
• Do you need to build your social media presence?

Developing a mobile app can help your business in all these areas. Also, considering how much it can spur growth, the upfront investment of hiring a professional web developer will quickly pay off.

4. Marketing

No matter how unique and high-quality your product or services are, your SME will not stand the test of time without implementing impactful marketing strategies. Fortunately, as POWR notes, plenty of digital tools can help your team devise and execute marketing campaigns that boost your customer base. So, research the many tools on the market related to these essential marketing disciplines:

• Website building
• Web analytics
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Social media marketing
• Email marketing
• Customer relationship management (CRM)
• Lead generation

One type of marketing you shouldn’t neglect is content marketing. Because through well-written blog posts and social media updates, you can reach a large audience and communicate directly with potential customers. This allows you to build awareness about your products or services, answer common questions, and provide valuable information to your target audience. Also, it’s easy to learn more about content marketing strategies.

5. Collaboration

Lastly, your team needs software that makes communication and collaboration simple and easy. The right solutions will foster better teamwork on many different tasks — general or specialized.

Moreover, there’s no denying collaboration is crucial in the workplace, which is why every SME should consider adding collaboration tools to their arsenal. Likewise, any software that can boost productivity and efficiency is worth exploring, whether you need video conferencing, project management, cloud document storage, team chat, or time tracking. Some of the top products available include Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Basecamp, and Slack.

You don’t want your SME to fall behind in the digital-first world. So, to position your team for long-term growth and success, make sure you invest in any software that will improve your decision-making, money management, customer experience, content marketing strategies, and collaboration. You might be surprised how quickly your managers and employees can adopt some of the tools above. You’ll also realize substantial improvements in no time.

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When it comes to improving your customer service FCR, you need to evaluate a range of data. Customer satisfaction rates (CSAT) are a nice springboard, but they don’t offer deep insight. Average handle time (AHT) is great for understanding agent efficiency, but not for understanding whether procedures are being followed. Examining several types of customer service data will help your customer retention rate, which has long-term dividends for your reputation. Using that data wisely will improve your business. 

Here are nine steps you can take for using data to improve your FCR.

1. Collect reliable data using a time-saving tool.

The first step to working with data is always, well, having good data. To get that, you’ll need a good data collection and analytics tool. You may be handy with a spreadsheet, but it’s very helpful to have your data collection, analytics, and coaching all in one place. You want to be able to look at your data in the proper context, especially when it comes to FCR versus other metrics. It’s especially helpful to be able to automate QA scorecards and CSAT score collection that identifies customer support tickets with many interactions. MaestroQA, for example, offers dashboards to identify why (the root cause) a customer query required a customer to reach out to customer support multiple times and ultimately take action to improve first call resolution.  

2. Hone in on QA rubrics. 

In addition to using the right tool, make sure your data collection within that tool is set up to catch the information you want. Collect QA data, in particular, that is specific enough to be helpful but general enough to be grouped into buckets. You’ll also want CSAT and AHT scores. 

3. Use QA scores to check agent adherence to best practices.

Are your agents following the policies and best practices you’ve outlined in your training? If not, there are a couple of fixes, depending on whether the issues are systemic or individual. You may need to update your training to be more clear on your expectations. Or, you may need to offer coaching sessions to individuals to discover why they aren’t following policy and help them correct course. 

4. Create CSAT benchmarks. 

How do your customers feel about their experiences when they contact customer service? This metric will be a helpful benchmark as you look to improve first call resolution. It should positively correlate with FCR. (If it doesn’t go up as your FCR goes up, you’ll need to do some troubleshooting.) Check in with industry benchmarks, and set a goal for your team. 

Remember: CSAT alone does not give you enough information to take action, and simply chasing CSAT isn’t necessarily helpful. Examining your CSAT holistically is a separate project. But to improve FCR, you do need to understand where your CSAT stands. 

5. Use AHT for context on customer experience. 

Average handle time (AHT) doesn’t tell you whether a client’s problem was solved, but it does give you another data point to use. It can help you put yourself in a customer’s shoes. If your CSAT is lower than you want, and your AHT is high, perhaps your customers are frustrated by long calls. Or perhaps they wouldn’t mind long calls if their question was answered on the first try. 

Remember: AHT often negatively correlates with first call resolution, so use this stat in context. 

6. Mine your data for common “root cause” questions.

Sometimes a customer gets their initial question answered, but they end up calling again because they have a deeper “root cause” question. Run a query on the topics covered in subsequent calls. When you contrast those topics with the original reasons that customers call, you may find that your agents need to ask more follow-up questions on their first calls. You may find that you need to build out your knowledge base further. Or, you may find that your product or website needs tweaking. 

7. Use QA scores to search for more insight.

Keep that QA data tab open! If your QA data is inconsistent, you’ll need to dig deeper to find the root problem. Perhaps your agents lack a critical tool, such as a robust knowledge base, and are attempting to compensate for that on their own. Perhaps a lack of rigorous training or coaching resources means senior agents spend all their time helping newer agents. Bring in a few agents for this process—they’ll be able to help you see the pain points they’re experiencing. 

8. Make changes as needed. 

The above steps should give you ample rationale for making certain changes. Now is a good time to consider investing in more resources such as training or coaching. You may need to optimize your knowledge base or adjust your budget to hire some new agents. This is the part of your plan that will get you results. 

9. Implement a follow-up plan. 

You’ve done the hard work at this point. Now, set some calendar reminders to periodically review your updated data and check in on your progress toward your goals. You’ll likely need to recalibrate a bit as you pinpoint the factors that affect your particular FCR. For some extra encouragement, don’t forget to celebrate your wins along the way. Building loyalty and trust with your customers is a worthwhile investment. 

The post 9 Steps for Using Data to Improve First Call Resolution appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

If they don’t require either of these, both the certificate and the certification help to give cybersecurity professionals an edge amongst other job candidates. Many professionals are unsure of which to pursue. A common misconception is that both programs are the same. While they do sound the same, they are very different in the skillsets they cover and what job opportunities become available to you after completing them. 

What is a Cybersecurity Certificate?

A certificate in cybersecurity is usually earned at an educational institution. They are available at the undergraduate and graduate level and can be earned as part of a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity or computer science or precede a degree program. Typically, the certificate requires you to take one or a few classes, some also may require a final project. 

Many people already working in the cybersecurity field decide to enroll in a certificate program for a promotion consideration or to use the credits toward another degree. Receiving a certificate in cybersecurity could also benefit professionals in other fields such as Human Resources, Web Development, or Business. This certificate will provide them with the necessary knowledge to brush up on their cybersecurity skills without making a long-term or expensive commitment. If you think this route would be a good fit for you, here are some things to consider when pursuing a cybersecurity certificate.

What is a Cybersecurity Certification?

You acquire a cybersecurity certification without taking an educational class. Certification is typically issued by trade/industry/professional associations who certify a candidate’s level of skill after passing one or multiple exams. Certifications can be beneficial because they help job candidates to stand out. Receiving a cybersecurity certification demonstrates hard work, drive, and helps you get recognized by employers. According to Coursera, there are 10 most popular cybersecurity certifications that a professional can receive. Let’s learn more about a few of them below.

Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)

The Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification is one of the most popular certifications among cybersecurity professionals. Most likely because it is one of the highest paying certifications in the industry. To get the certification, cybersecurity professionals need at least 5 years of experience working as a security analyst in the field. Having this certification opens the door to job opportunities such as a Chief Information Security Officer or Security Architect.

Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)

A Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) is another high paying certification in the cybersecurity industry. It is also the most popular certification for professionals in the field to get. By passing the exam certification, it proves that the professional has demonstrated knowledge in stopping fraud, reviewing audits, and issues of non-compliance.

CompTIA Security+

The CompTIA Security+ certification is one of the other most popular cybersecurity certifications in the industry. This certification proves that the professional has demonstrated the ability to help an employer combat a cybersecurity attack. For someone interested in a job role of a Systems Administrator or Security Consultant, this makes for an ideal certification. It is also one of the beginner certifications in the industry. Most often after receiving this certification, many cybersecurity professionals go on to receive additional certifications afterwards. This builds upon their experience.

Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP)

The Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) certificate is a good program for cybersecurity professionals already in an IT security position. Ideal candidates could be working in positions such as Penetration Testers, Cybersecurity Engineers, or Network Administrators. It’s important to note that any cybersecurity professional interested in pursuing this certification should have a solid understanding of Linux, Python and other common program languages. 

Do employers place value on these qualifications?

Yes. Both cybersecurity certificates and certifications are worth acquiring. Here are 7 reasons why cyber certifications are worth it. They can help differentiate you against other job candidates. It can also help your chances in receiving a promotion in your current company. Or your chances to negotiate a pay rise down the line. In fact, some cybersecurity positions now require you to have either a cybersecurity certificate or cybersecurity certification for consideration. 

If you are looking to change positions within the cybersecurity industry, receive a promotion within your current company, or negotiate a pay raise, a cybersecurity certificate or cybersecurity certification will help you to stand out. Review the differences of each program and decide which avenue will help provide you with the skills necessary to get you in your ideal cybersecurity position.

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