Category: Development

Best Google Chrome Extensions for Small Businesses

Miley on July 27, 2020

Google Chrome has arrays of extensions that you can use to scale your business. You can use them to send emails, automate tasks, and safeguard your documents online. The extensions work on your PC or Mac once you have downloaded them. Here are the best Google Chrome extensions that are of immense benefit to your business.

1. Todoist

Todoist is a useful tool that will help you organize all tasks in your organization. You will work with other workers as a team to complete all the jobs. Plus, you can assign individuals to work based on their skills and talents as well. As the boss, you can track the tasks regardless of your location. The highlight is that you can set reminders via Todoist so that you won’t miss out on significant job events.

2. Helium 10

Helium 10 is an Amazon Chrome extension for sellers that help them check prices on various items. You can keep tabs on the cost of specific products in your line of business. Once the prices drop, Helium 10 will alert you so that you can set competitive rates. This way, you will generate profits based on the trends that come with the cost of goods. The best part is that you will get data on Amazon and other global online sellers. You will be ahead of other businesses that trade in the same products as your enterprise.

3. Grammarly

The app is essential since you need to create content from time to time about your company. On that account, Grammarly removes typos and grammar mistakes that make online content appear unprofessional. Once you install it, it automatically corrects all errors when you write to attain polished posts. Your emails will be easy to read and have the correct spelling as well.

4. Buffer

It is a widely used Google Chrome extension that links all your social media accounts. You can advertise your products via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn with one click. The posts become automatic, making social sharing a seamless thing to do. The highlight is that you can track and analyze results to see the number of likes, shares, and comments.

5. Boomerang

Boomerang is the best extension for your email account since it manages the messages that you send or receive. It can delay texts until when you are ready to view them in free time. In addition to that, Boomerang can help you schedule when you want to send emails. You can track messages if you don’t get feedback from your clients. The best part is that you will know if the recipient has read the content or not, thanks to Boomerang.

6. Click & Clean

As part of technology, your business will face risks such as cyberattacks and other cybersecurity breaches. Therefore, you need to protect vital information that you have searched via your browser. Click & Clean is the ideal mechanism to clear history and cookies. It gets rid of cache and typed URLs so that no one can have a wind of what you are doing as part of your venture.

7. Fakespot

If you buy products in bulk online, you need to know if they are authentic or not. Fakespot allows you to determine genuine and fake reviews from customers. This way, you can purchase items that will not discredit your business. The extension pans out the difference between honest and untrue comments about specific goods. You will view the real grades from A to F that show the value or worth of the items that you intend to buy.

Development Martech SEO Startups

Why San Diego is a Great Location for Tech Startups

Miley on July 27, 2020

Tech startups are some of the hottest companies in existence today. However, there’s always the question of where they should be located. For 2020 and the future, let us take a very close look at why San Diego is an excellent location for tech startups.

Great Location with Relatively Lower Costs

To start things off, San Diego features relatively low costs compared to the rest of California. Let’s not get confused, the price of living is still high. But it is moderately affordable, especially for a startup. An office can be rented at a reasonable price. If you’re willing to commit to several years of rent, these deals are even better. Utilities also aren’t extremely high. On a day to day basis, tech startups will find that they pay less than their counterparts in other cities with a large tech presence. As for your employees, they’ll be spending less as well. Food and transportation costs are very affordable in San Diego. This means that more people are flocking to the city, and your employees will be set up for success in financial regard.

A Strong, Supportive Tech Community

Next in line, San Diego features a strong tech community. There are already many tech startups in the area that make for high competition. In particular, this is a friendly sort of competition. While companies in some industries are fiercely at war with each other, this is not true for the tech industry. Many of these startups work alongside one another and even bounce ideas off each other. As the company across the street makes progress, you’ll want to achieve the same. There are tech festivals and celebrations throughout the year that feature the latest developments. These are fantastic ways to stay up to date with the newest tech and look toward the future. When your startup wins an award or recognition, other businesses throughout the city will respect this achievement for what it is worth.

A Rich Talent Pool

Another factor that is similar to a strong tech community is the number of tech graduates. Thousands of students from nearby universities are looking for internships or their first job out of college. They have completed all the relevant coursework and are more than qualified to take on a startup job. Moreover, they are hungry and have a genuine interest in tech. If you situate your startup in San Diego, you’ll be able to work with all of these graduates. It’s a relationship that goes both ways. You’ll have the best workforce at your fingertips, and your startup will surely see success. At the same time, these graduates will be able to work for a promising startup instead of a company that doesn’t fit their interests.

A Diversity of Resources

Last but not least, the diversity of resources is phenomenal, from San Diego water purification resources like Rayne Water to San Diego billboard companies like Lamar. Solar energy is a thriving business, as well, because San Diego is a city that is highly focused on renewable energy. In particular, solar panels are commonly found on the roofs of many downtown buildings. The Southern California climate is perfect for generating these sorts of renewable energy. It will lower the cost of your electric bill and help the environment at the same time.

That Perfect Weather

Northern California draws a lot of people in the tech industry, but unless you like wearing a jacket most of the year, there’s no comparison to the weather in San Diego. Every few years, another news publication writes an article about how San Diego is the finest place to live. Maybe that’s why the city’s motto is: “America’s Finest City.”

When all is said and done, San Diego is an excellent location for tech startups. It’s nearly the perfect environment for a startup looking to make waves in the tech industry. Take all of the above factors and more into consideration!

Development Insights SEO

How to Work With an Outsourcing Company as an In-House Developer

Miley on July 23, 2020

As a developer, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to check every item off your checklist. When these small tasks and items snowball over time, projects end up delayed, things are overlooked, and mistakes are made.

When an in-house team can no longer handle the amount of work and needs extra hands to get projects completed on-time and within budget, it’s time to partner with a software outsourcing provider.

Outsourcing software development helps companies of all sizes and industries accomplish their goals in the most time and cost-efficient manner possible. It also helps relieve some of the stress put on in-house developers by providing them with an external resource and the additional manpower required to get things done and increase overall productivity.

Outsourcing teams act as an extension of your in-house talent to supplement when niche skills, extra developers, or specific expertise is required. However, as a developer working in-house for a company, partnering with an outsourced team may feel like a world of uncertainty even if the help is totally welcomed. After all, you are working closely with a team of strangers from sometimes thousands of miles away (or even on a different continent) on important projects.

It doesn’t have to be this way, though. When done correctly, software outsourcing is a great way to help your company grow, succeed, and accomplish more with the help of a third-party team.

Tips for Working with an Outsourced Team

Before beginning any project with a software development outsourcing provider, it’s important that your team sets themselves up for success and fully defines a few items before bringing the new virtual team members into the working environment. While the work is going on, making some simple adjustments and changes to your normal development routine can help make it a smoother process for all involved.

Below are just a few tips for setting your in-house development team up for success when working with an outsourcing company:

Before your team starts to work with the outsourced team members, it’s a good idea to establish a leadership hierarchy. This will let your in-house devs know who is responsible for formally checking in with the team on items, who they should go to with questions, and a general game plan for management.
You should strive to treat your offshore developers just like an in-house coworker. When you begin working with an offshoring company, employees from that company become your virtual partners. Make the effort to make them feel welcome and like a part of the team. Not only does this boost the overall work morale and foster co-working relationships, but it will also boost productivity levels across the board.
Communication is, without a doubt, the backbone of a good outsourcing partnership. Without strong, effective communication from the very start of the working relationship, you are setting yourself up for failure. All project requirements must be set and clear from the beginning. However, just handing over a project explanation and having a few meetings isn’t enough. Daily communication between in-house developers and your outsourcing partner is important to help keep things on track.
Programs such as Slack and Skype make it easy to communicate in a quick fashion to answer questions in real-time. The programs are a big help when challenges or problems come up as they allow for a timely response. Weekly meetings via voice or video calls are a great way to help bring your team back together for status updates and such. Making communication a top priority when working with an outsourced provider is one of the top ways to be successful in your software development projects.
Project management tools are a great way to keep things organized and visible to all team members at all times. When working with a development team that is not fully in the office, it can be difficult to know the status of each individual task for the current project. With a project management tool, such as Asana, Trello, or Basecamp, it’s easy to clearly communicate and assign tasks, determine deadlines, arrange meetings, and set goals or milestones for the projects. These tools help keep questions and answers, comments, and attached files organized and in one place for all of your team members to see.

As an in-house developer or development team leader, working with a software development outsourcing firm may seem like a daunting task at first. However, these partnerships are incredibly beneficial for your team in terms of both efficiency and productivity. By setting yourself up for success with the right tools and effective communication methods, as well as clear and concise planning, your teams will be able to work together to knock projects out and achieve success.

Development Insights SEO

10 Things to Consider When Outsourcing Quality Assurance

Miley on July 23, 2020

If software or website development project is to be successful, it has to go through rigorous quality assurance and testing to ensure that it’s ready for the market. However, this is a tedious and rather time-consuming part of the overall development process. For this reason (and many more), many organizations choose to outsource their quality assurance needs. And, if you are a web designer, you should focus on user-centered design.

What is quality assurance? One of the most important parts of the software development process, quality assurance (QA) is the process of identifying and maintaining set requirements for the development of reliable products. QA helps to boost a company’s credibility, improves overall workflow efficiency, offers a competitive advantage, and helps boost the customers’ product confidence.

QA outsourcing is when an organization chooses to partner with a third-party QA outsourcing company to handle all of their quality assurance needs. This process not only helps bring a fresh perspective and eyes to the project but also helps expedite the process and ensure that nothing goes unanalyzed. It cuts costs, improves efficiency, and provides organizations with access to quality assurance expertise without the expensive costs associated with hiring in-house.

Many businesses, however, get stuck on how to get started with third-party QA companies. They may know that the process is beneficial and that partnering with another company is something that they should do, but don’t really know where to begin or how to organize things.

Things to Keep in Mind When Outsourcing Quality Assurance

The lowest rate doesn’t mean the lowest total cost nor the best services. – When it comes to outsourcing vendors, sometimes rates sound too good to be true. Unfortunately, it’s likely that they are, in fact, too good to be true. Inexpensive rates and the promise of an enormous virtual team may sound rather enticing, but it’s important to consider all options before signing on the cheapest dotted line.
A thorough and comprehensive Service Level Agreement is a must-have. – A good SLA describes the level of service that an outsourcing vendor will provide in detail. This includes client satisfaction, on-time delivery, the volume of work, system downtime, availability, reporting, project management, timelines, and so on. The SLA should also include the company’s quality assurance process and measures so that organizations know what they are paying for.
Industry experience means a lot in QA. – Every industry vertical has unique business processes and procedures. If a tester or testing team doesn’t have any experience with the industry at-hand, they may slow down QA efforts. A team of professionals who understand how the industry works will not only improve efficiency but also help focus quality efforts to ensure that the areas with the most business impact get the top priority testing slots.
Engagement model selection is important. – During the development of an outsourcing plan, one of the most important decisions for an organization to make is the selection of an engagement model. The main point of this choice is for organizations to decide whether total outsourcing or incremental outsourcing is the right decision. Incremental outsourcing is the process of outsourcing smaller projects to make things more manageable while total outsourcing includes multiple projects with the same vendor.
Communication is everything. – Communication is the key to success with any sort of outsourced project or team, something that’s especially true when it comes to QA outsourcing. Hiring organizations should strive to ensure that they have open channels for any questions that need answering and provide effective, responsive points of contact within their organizations. Factors such as escalation, issue resolution, and reporting are all important aspects of the communication process for QA.
Make sure the culture fits. – A good cultural fit with an outsourcing partner is also very important. The outsourcing team needs to get to know the hiring organization as a whole, the employees, how everyone works together, and other vendors that may work on the project. They should understand the pace at which the team works and how they need to fit within it as well.
Make IP protection a priority. – Companies must ensure that all personally identifiable information is never duplicated, distributed, disclosed, or made available to third parties in any manner. Any outsourcing partner needs to have security testing standards that will prevent any unauthorized access or misuse of data for hiring companies.
Ask about the technology framework and best practices. – Before hiring a QA outsourcing provider, every organization should ask about the unique intellectual property and best practices that the provider offers. This helps give insight into the methodologies, tool kits, and success rate of the provider.
Learn about flexibility and scalability options. – To guarantee an effective and efficient response to any work fluctuations, hiring organizations should ensure that their chosen outsourcing provider offers flexible options. This means scaling the team up during peak times and scaling down during a lull. A good outsourcing partner should have adequate infrastructure and resources available for their clients.
Learn about the provider’s methods and tech. – A good outsourced QA provider uses the latest technologies and methodologies to keep up with the times. This is an obvious item, but also commonly overlooked.

By keeping these 10 notes in mind during the process of finding and hiring a software QA outsourcing company, organizations are set up for success before the projects even begin.

Development Insights Martech SaaS SEO

Visuals in Landing Pages: Using Them Right

Miley on July 23, 2020

Tapping on the emotional instinct of your prospects and customers is imperative if you want your landing pages to convert and bring you better sales. Visuals can be a powerful element that can make your visitors smile, share valuable information, inspire the readers, and encourage them to make the purchase.

Take a look at this landing page inviting the visitors to a webinar that would discuss the future of retail-borderless commerce. It has perfectly combined text, visuals, and CTAs to encourage the readers to take action.

That said, let’s move on to exploring the world of visuals in landing pages.

1. Use relevant imagery

When your content is accompanied by relevant images, readers find it easier to grasp the message and make up their mind to complete the purchase. The key to using imagery is that if a message can be conveyed with the help of an image, there is no need to have a wall of text to explain it.

Moo has gone a step ahead and incorporated the principle of storytelling in their email landing page.

While the email shows an interesting GIF of a toaster with the CTA “Push the lever”, the landing page continues the story and displays a toast with toaster marks of 15% to promote their 15% off and coupon code.

2. Grab attention with GIFs

GIFs are the perfect substitute to videos as they emulate a video-like experience without any major impact on the loading speed of the landing page. According to GIPHY, 500 million active users spend close to 11 million hours in viewing GIFs on their channel which demonstrates the love for GIFs.

Just make sure that the size of the GIF does not go over 1MB so that your page does not take too much time to load.

3. Let videos do the magic

So many companies have started using videos in their landing pages to make the message more impactful for the readers and showcase your products or services effectively. You can either use the videos in the background or have a different section for the video followed by a sign-up form and CTA.

If you want to stand out from the crowd, you can even try out personalized videos on the landing pages. These videos can be easily created with the help of tools like Hippo Video in which you create a video template with placeholder text and then edit it with tailormade content according to the reader’s preferences.

4. Take help of illustrations

Illustrations are way more convenient to create when compared to videos or GIFs. Another advantage of these modern images is that they have a great visual appeal too. They can be used to symbolically represent an idea through graphics and explain your offerings to the visitor.

5. Harness the power of graphs

Often, marketers need to showcase complicated statistics on a landing page. Graphs can help you with this.

Here are some ways in which you can use graphs to their maximum potential.

i. Take help of scatter plots and treemaps to display huge set of information.

ii. If you want to show trends over a decade or two, use line charts or bar graphs.

iii. Pyramids and pie charts work well if you want to show the proportion of elements.

6. Choose the right colors

Whenever you sit to strategize your landing page design and visual elements, pick the right colors according to your business type and industry. For example, if you are a premium brand, black and white would be the perfect choice for you. Remember Apple?

On the other hand, if you are an FMCG brand, red would work better for you. (Example: McDonald’s)

Green stands for tranquility, health, and good luck which makes it a good choice for brands that are related to growth.

To learn more about how to use the appropriate visuals, colors, and CTA in your landing pages, head to the insightful infographic by Email Uplers: A deep dive into “the use of visuals in landing pages”.

IMAGE EMBED CODE

Source:<a href=”https://email.uplers.com/infographics/landing-page-visual-elements/”> How to Use Visual Elements in Landing Page to Boost Conversions </a>

About the author

Kevin George is Head of Marketing at Email Uplers, one of the fastest growing custom email design and coding companies, and specializes in crafting professional email templates, PSD to HTML email conversion and free responsive HTML email templates in addition to providing email automation, campaign management, and data integration & migration services. He loves gadgets, bikes, jazz, and eats and breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on his blog.

Development Insights

6 Internal Communications Best Practices to Connect Your Workplace

Miley on July 15, 2020

How much internal communication matters in the business world simply can’t be stressed enough. When the management and the employees communicate effectively, all chances for misunderstandings disappear. The work environment is healthy so employees have all the conditions necessary for performing well at work. Through open and efficient communication, completing tasks and projects will be smoother and faster. For this reason, let’s look at the top 6 practices for enhancing communication at the workplace.

1. Use a Platform for Connecting Employees

There is no better way of connecting employees than through a platform or an app. We live in a high-tech era so why not use it to our advantage. Although selecting the right platform seems like a piece of cake, it is easier said than done. There are so many options available that make it harder for managers to select the proper tool. In this situation, intranet systems are the go-to tool for most companies, especially large ones. They are largely praised for their ability to connect all employees and the management in one place. Once you have all the staff connected, you have set a great foundation for improving other, equally important, business aspects.

2. Celebrate Milestones

Employees are an important, if not the most important, part of any company. They like to have their efforts acknowledged and valued. It motivates them to participate more and work even harder at their job. For this reason, it is essential to publicly recognize their contribution and share it with everyone in the company. This praise can take many forms. It can be a simple shout out in a corporate app, post on social media, or a special article on the company’s website. Celebrating milestones has a dual impact on the company. Firstly, it keeps all the staff informed about the latest events in the organization. Secondly, the management has clear insight into employee engagement and performance. This is why it is important to mark employee success, big or small.

3. Include Visuals during Communication

Most people are visual beings. For this group of people, messages containing images, colorful charts, and objects are more effective than plain text. With this in mind, managers should make use of visual effects to deliver the message more efficiently during communication with employees. Presentations are the ideal way to communicate effectively with employees. It not only allows managers to present their message visually but also concisely and straight to the point. As a result, employees will be able to refer to the presentation in the future if needed. Videos are another useful visual tools. However, they demand more time and it is easy to get carried away and show more content than actually needed.

4. Videoconference with Remote Workers

Past months have shown an increase in remote workers all around the world. While this arrangement has many advantages, employers are afraid internal communication and employee collaboration suffer. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. With proper video conferencing tools and apps, employees can be well connected even when working remotely. Managers should make sure video conferences are timely scheduled and everyone is familiar with the agenda. Participants can clearly see each other so they have a feeling they are attending the real meeting. Before or after the meeting, managers can spare a couple of minutes and allow employees to catch up and chat. This way, all participants will relax and eagerly participate in discussions and brainstorming sessions.

Diverse coworkers having online conference in modern office

5. Avoid Overwhelming Employees

Every day, employees are swamped with numerous pieces of information, especially on a busy day at the office. It is impossible for them to consume so much content all at once. It can cause them to feel stressed, anxious, and frustrated which can reflect poorly on their performance. For this reason, managers should use various channels for various message types. In accordance with employees, they can decide which channel should be used for which type of information. If something demands their immediate attention, then the corporate app is the place to send it to. When internal communication is organized, employees won’t feel overwhelmed. They will receive the most important messages and act accordingly.

6. Encourage Employees to Post on Social Media

Social media has finally found its way into the workplace. Every company has profiles on the most popular social networks. Managers can encourage their employees to either take over them for a day or post photos from the offices followed by an appropriate hashtag. This is the ideal opportunity to let everyone interested in joining the organization see what is it like from the inside. Also, the brand will become more exposed and it will attract greater attention. All employees should be encouraged to participate in the activities, but only if they want to. Forcing them will only cause the opposite effect.

About the author

Sarah Jessica Smith is a young blogger from Sydney. She is in love with life and all the things that can make her daily routine easier. She loves to write about business, marketing, productivity and workspace décor.

Development

Everything you need to know about Full-stack development

Miley on July 14, 2020

A site is created starting with it’s design and then working on the codes. The development is divided into three parts, FrontEnd Development, Backend Development, and Full Stack Development.

Here, Front End stands for the visible parts of a website or app while back end represents the hidden databases and infrastructure. Hence full stack development provided clients with a one-stop solution for creating websites and providing easier coordination and efficiency.

What is Full Stack Development?

Full-stack developers use languages like Ruby or PHP or Python, more than one usually if experienced and come with other skills like project management, visual design, web design, or user experience skills to complete the package and provide the best for any project. Appointing a full stack developer

Makes it easier as they can decide on whichever tool to use for development irrespective of the fact that it is front end or back end.
Can always review the entire project unlike separate frontend and backend
Projects are more budget-friendly and cost-effective
Delivery of the project can be taken care of easily
Wapping up and troubleshooting ideas are more sophisticated

Why choose a Full-Stack Developer?

Looking at the industry and client demands, it is advised to contact a full stack development company rather than an advisor or two separate developers for back end and front end. Why so? take note of the points below:

Project will be handled with better expertise in the hands of someone who observes and control the project 100%
A full stack developer will be able to provide solutions to issues without depending on anyone else, and with lesser people to consult with, the solutions will be delivered faster
Someone who handles both the ends of the project will be having immense knowledge of the subject as opposed to someone with only knowledge of the infrastructure or the codes, thus being more versatile.
On interacting and explaining the designs and the idea in your mind, the full stack developers will be able to provide more practical solutions.
Eliminating aspects that can affect the project will increase the chances of efficient project delivery by 50-70%.

Project progress based on full-stack development:

Hiring a full stack developer cuts out many steps and processes, including working personnel which would have been involved otherwise. The working of a full stack developer can be described in a few factors like:

1. Front end development ( Using CSS, SPA, and JS)

2. Back end development ( Using Python, NODE JS, PHP, GO)

3. Databases ( Using MYSQL, SQLITE, Postgres, MongoDB)

4. Developer Operations( Using CI, CD, AWS)

5. Mobile app development (Using Hybrid Apps, IOS, Android)

Development Insights Products

How Can a Medical Device Company Stay Competitive in The Medical Device Market

Miley on July 7, 2020

There is currently a period of steady growth in the global medical device industry. Competition-driven innovations have enabled small companies to enter the market and compete with established companies. Competitive analysis consulting firms also play an important role in the success of a medical device innovator. Competitive market analysis delivers an understanding of both the direct and indirect competitive landscape. Using medical device competitive analysis consulting experts, a medical device developer can identify the target market’s unmet needs, underserved market segments and clinical expectations competitors are unable to meet. This supports decision making that attracts the allocation of available resources and can drive accelerated adoption. Competitive analysis consulting experts assess the target market space, strategic product positioning and potential existing technology’s product line extension. Product positioning analysis may include:

Competitive landscape
Competitive pricing
Product positioning analysis
Competitor corporate deep dive
Competitive product and company documentation

A medical technology that enters the target market and delivers accurate and efficient clinical results at a reduced cost can earn a significant market share. Hospital value analysis committees focus on the value a device delivers in terms of healthcare outcomes, cost and safety.

Medical device companies are now able to achieve the highest possible return on investment with early and extensive exit planning. Medical device consulting firms can identify potential mergers and acquisition targets. They can also identify potential companies for strategic alliances. This allows an innovator a range of desirable exit strategies.

With the full suite of strategic consulting services by medical device consulting companies, a medical device developer can address hurdles presented by reimbursement constraints and compliance-related restrictions. This allows the company to divert its resources to an innovation that has the potential to secure accelerated adoption and the highest return on investment. With strategically informed internal and external decision making, this affords a range of medical innovation to remain competitive.

Harmonize Operations

A medical company that effectively achieves operational harmony will have the highest probability to achieve successful commercialization. Harmonizing operations can leverage real-time information across the company. This information typically includes end-user procedural preferences, post-market clinical data including cost-effective clinical outcomes data along with research and development effectiveness. This information guides device development.

The medical device company must ensure seamless data sharing across different departments. For this, the company requires the right infrastructure to transfer data. The company also requires high-quality analytics to utilize available data. Medical device consulting firms have the required communication tools and resources to gather, verify and analyze data to develop an improved and cost-effective technology.

Leverage New Markets

A company can identify a new market or a segment of the market for its existing medical device. Identifying expanded markets can offer longer and sustained competitive advantage. However, the company is recommended to work with a competitive analysis consulting expert to analyze the level of current and future competition in the new market. A company can identify new markets with medical device market analysis by a medical device consulting firm.

Development

How to Setup a VoIP Server at Home & in Your Office

Miley on July 3, 2020

Photo by UX Store on Unsplash

Novel tech-driven solutions pop up around every corner, and most companies dread the notion of implementing yet another intricate system into their operations. It takes time to not only set up the system in place, but also to train and educate your employees on how to best use them, and it requires a substantial investment to make sure that you’ve purchased the best possible option for your business. Faulty equipment, subpar software performance, and lack of intuitive features makes it a tough choice for companies today to weed out the fad trends from actual innovation.

As far as boosting communication goes, your business cannot do better than VoIP. The abbreviation stands for voice over internet protocol, and it’s a true godsend for businesses to interact in smarter, simpler ways with their customers and employees alike. The fear of setting up the system, however, might deter them from making the switch. Here’s a simple guide to walk you through the process, so that you can focus on transforming your communication systems with this impeccable tech!

Choose the right equipment

First of all, check if your current internet package allows you enough bandwidth, speed, and security to expand your communications to include VoIP without losing quality. Now that you’ve made sure that the key vessel for your new VoIP platform is all set, the main portion of setting up the system will boil down to the right hardware. You’ll need adapters for your phones both at the office and at home so that your employees can use their own devices instead of your traditional landlines to make and receive phone calls.

Every package requires a router for the office, so make sure that you select a high-quality router to increase security, speed, and of course, a stable connection. At the office, you might need a few more pieces of equipment, such as a computer to serve as a PBX server – or a private branch exchange server, to make sure your employees can make internal calls over the same system. You can also invest in VoIP compatible devices such as phones, but that’s entirely up to you.

Find the most feature-rich VoIP service

The technology in question is far from new, so there are all kinds of valid options out there, but you need to find the perfect match for your business. That will mostly depend on the variety of features providers offer within their package. If you take a look at the comprehensive Nextiva VoIP service, you’ll notice that phone calls are only one part of the package.

You can also use other handy features such as call recording, sending a voicemail to email, texting, and setting up conference calls for your team. Check your budget, your number of users, and then find a plan that comes with the features that will be useful for your company.

Select your optimal number of users

Companies, or at least most of them, know that VoIP is used for phone calls and thus ideal for customer support departments. However, VoIP also works in favor of your entire organization, since it lets you communicate internally, as well, set up more productive meetings with your team via video conferencing, and the like.

Depending on the purpose of your chosen VoIP system, you’ll need to be careful when selecting your plan. Why? Because each provider will charge differently, and various plans come with different features. So, count your number of users, go through the plans on offer, and then make sure that your teams are well-equipped to make the most of your new communication platform.

Test your system and train your team

Photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash

Following guidelines and respecting the designated directions is all fine and dandy, but we all know that technology can come with its own quirks. That said, before you launch your VoIP system into full speed ahead, you should conduct various test calls to check the call quality, to see if the adapters are working properly, and to make sure that every single user knows how to utilize the equipment.

Furthermore, a test for any delays in the calls you make or receive. This can be due to poor internet connection, which is why double-checking your network strength is essential for your VoIP to work. Finally, check that your firewall settings aren’t preventing your calls to go through, so you should ensure that your security systems are in line with your needs.

Of course, you’ll find that each VoIP system has its own unique process of setting up that’s outlined in their own guidelines. That said, the core of the system is quite simple and straightforward, and takes very little getting used to on your end. Make sure that you’ve selected a trusted provider, invested in the right hardware, and your office as well as your home will soon be ready to take on calls from your customers with ease.

Development Insights

How to Measure the Effectiveness of your Intranet Collaboration Solution

Miley on July 2, 2020

Modern intranets have completely replaced the dead, traditional intranets. Modern intranet solutions are more than a powerful collaboration solution. Implementing an intranet solution allows your employees to access valuable content anytime and from anywhere. It is a reliable tool that your employees can use to share knowledge and collaborate.

An intranet collaboration solution is a much-needed tool for an organization having a dispersed workforce. According to an estimation, one-third of the workforce of an organization will be mobile workforce in the next ten years. 70% of business professionals do their jobs remotely at least once a week. With this shift towards mobile and remote workforce, organizations require a digital workplace solution, a solution that is efficient, fast, secure, and provides all the required features and functionalities.

It often takes too long to find and share documents. Modern intranet collaboration solutions offer document management and other features to solve the problems with traditional intranet solutions. Traditional intranet does not offer the functionalities and features required in modern organizations.

When you are using a modern collaboration solution, you want to make sure that it meets your expectations. For this, you need to measure its effectiveness.

You need a plan to address your business needs with an intranet solution. As your intranet requirements change, you may need to make some changes in your collaboration solution as well. You also need to make sure that you measure the right things.

The following are the metrics you can use to measure the effectiveness of your intranet collaboration solution.

Usage and engagement
Employee satisfaction
Productivity

Usage and Engagement

It is important to see that employees use the intranet and understand its value. Measure their awareness of the intranet. See how often they access and use the collaboration solution each month. You can measure the usage and engagement of digital workplace solutions such as your integrated social channel, a newsroom, or an onboarding center. These are the solutions employees commonly use to connect and share information.

Engagement is more important than usage. You can determine the level of interaction to measure employee engagement. If they are accessing content, it doesn’t mean that they are engaging. Are they sharing content? Are they commenting? Make sure that they are participating in conversations.

Employee Satisfaction

The right collaboration solution can play an important role in improving overall employee satisfaction. The number of quality tools and development opportunities available at work influences employee engagement. When it comes to workplace satisfaction, most employees rank technology above office space, heating, and other physical aspects of the workplace.

There are different ways you can measure employee satisfaction such as user ratings, internal surveys, and polls, and the most important, changes in retention rate.

To determine the shortcomings or limitations of your intranet collaboration solution, you can ask pointed questions about communication and collaboration. Now you need to make changes in your intranet collaboration solution to keep it relevant.

Productivity

Communication and collaboration are important but composing, sending and receiving emails reduce employee productivity. Although it is not easy to measure productivity, if your employees have been using an intranet collaboration solution for several months, you can determine the level of impact by comparing productivity metrics before and after the implementation of the intranet collaboration solution.

A next-gen intranet collaboration solution can make you a forward-thinking organization. You can use an intranet collaboration solution as a powerful tool to address specific business challenges.

An effective intranet software connects local and remote employees and allows them to create, share and respond to content.

However, your intranet must evolve with your business. For this, you must measure the effectiveness of your intranet collaboration solution.