Category: Insights

How Odoo Can Cover All Your Needs

Miley on August 27, 2020

Each business carries a large amount of data that needs to be generated on a daily basis. As technology continues to grow more complex every day, it has made it harder for business owners to find an efficient solution to keep all employees up to date on sales and purchase processes.

Having an excellent customer relations team is a major part of a successful business and that can be difficult when you need to focus on the challenges of owning your own company.

Odoo can help solve all your business problems by integrating your customer relationship management software and enterprise resource planning together to improve your business and your staff’s productivity.

Here are the top advantages of using Odoo for your company:

1. Real-time access to important data

There are a lot of complications that can happen when your system is not integrated fully. When your employees are processing a purchase without having the most updated information, you could risk leading them to making a big mistake that will cost customers a lot of money.

Having a fully integrated CRM and ERP system will always give your employees fast access to information that gets updated immediately to ensure that you won’t have to run into any problems with customers, inventory, shipments, payments, returns, order history, and more.

2. Save money by reducing IT costs

When you are using two different systems instead of one means that you are spending double the cost on everything including IT costs and hours of training your employees to use both programs.

Integrated ERP and CRM will create one platform to use for everything, which means no more expensive maintenance cost for two separate systems and wasting your money on individual platforms.

3. Get rid of unnecessary data entry

Combining ERP and CRM into one system that will have all of the information that you need can eliminate the unnecessary data entry work that has to be done twice on each system.

You can enter the data once on an integrated system and it will show on ERP database as well as CRM without accidentally duplicating it. This also applies if an account needs a custom field to be added and when the data is removed or edited from the system.

4. Allows your team to be more productive

Your CRM system is focused on sales and providing customer support and ERP is for shipping and billing information, inventory data, warehouse, and more. Both systems depend heavily on each other to avoid making any mistakes, which can slow down your employees’ productivity when they have to double check every information before confirming a purchase.

It is especially a hassle for your staff when they are in the middle of an important sale process that has to be done as quickly as possible. By integrating both systems you will improve the customer’s experience with your company by making it easier for your employees to collaborate through the platform and giving them the ability to track all operations.

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A Handbook on “Go Agile”!

Miley on August 21, 2020

Agile is a procedure by which a team can deal with a project by separating it into a few stages and including steady coordinated effort with stakeholders and consistent improvement and emphasis at each phase of the task. It starts with clients laying out how the finished result will be utilized and what issue it will resolve.

What is Scrum???

Scrum is a subset of Agile. It is a lightweight process framework for agile development, and one of the most widely used one.
It’s not a process or methodology.
Easy to understand.
Based on Empiricism which means that scrum artifacts should be transparent to everyone in the team.

Principles of Agile

To fulfil the client through right on time and continuous use of important software.
To cater to changing requirements, even late in app development.
Delivering working software frequently.
Stakeholders work with the scrum team together throughout the project so as to avoid any communication gaps.
The most efficient way of communicating information within the team is face-to-face conversation.
The progress of work is measured by working software.
Continuous attention is paid to technical excellence.
Due to the self-organizational team structure, the best architectures, designs, and ideas come up.

Empiricism

Transparency:- All artifacts of the process should be visible to the stakeholders and the scrum team. Due to transparency, they can inspect the current state of the project and take necessary action if needed.
Inspection:- Having regular inspections of artifacts will help the stakeholders to incorporate changes in order to achieve the goal.
Adaptation:- Improvements can be made by adjusting the process based on the inspection results.

Scrum is Iterative and Incremental

First one – Incremental

Second one – Iterative

Incremental:- This type of development is to build small increments of the entire product. Each increment adds more features to the product. After multiple increments, you will get the complete product.

Iterative:- This development is to build something, take some feedback, and then refining to make it better. This will keep happening until we receive the product of good quality.

The Scrum Team

The Product Owner.
The Development Team.
The Scrum Master.

The Product Owner

The product owner is liable for augmenting the estimation of the product and work of the development group.

Clearly describing the Product backlog items.
Responsible for managing the product backlog.
To ensure the PBI is visible and clear to all.
To ensure the requirement is understood by all to the level it is required.
Accountable for building high-value products.
Ordering of Product backlog items to achieve the best goals.
Responsible for understanding and answering all questions pertaining to the product domain.
Responsible for tracking the release progress.
Liable for making and dealing with the release plans.
Liable for making and building up the product vision.
Enhancing the estimation of work done by the development team.

The Development Team

The Development Team comprises experts who accomplish crafted by conveying a conceivably releasable Increment of “Done” product at the end of each Sprint.

Cross-functional and self-organizing.
Participates in all scrum events.
Responsible for creating the product increment.
Collaborates with the Product Owner for optimal value.
Responsible for identifying and eliminating technical debts.
Liable for creating and coordinating the sprint backlog.
Responsible for implementing good engineering practices.
Helps product owners in backlog management by explaining the technical constraints.
Answerable for learning all the functions required to convey a product increment.
Answerable for following the advancement of the sprint.

The Scrum Master

The scrum master is responsible for ensuring that Scrum is understood and enacted by all. He ensures that the scrum team adheres to Scrum practices and rules.

He is a servant- leader to the scrum team.
Responsible for building the product fast by eliminating impediments.
Goes about as a change agent that builds the productivity of the scrum team.
Mentors the development team for self-organization and cross-functionality.
Helps the product owners prioritize the work and teaches stakeholders value-based prioritization.
Facilitates Scrum events as requested or required.
Finds and teaches techniques for effective product backlog management to the product owners.
Enables workers and partners of the association to comprehend and institute Scrum and experimental product development.
Assists with streamlining the outside connection with the scrum group to amplify the value created.

Scrum Events

All occasions are time-boxed occasions, with the end goal that each occasion has a maximum duration. When a Sprint starts, its span is fixed and can’t be abbreviated or extended.

The remainder of the events may end at whatever point the explanation behind the event is accomplished, ensuring an appropriate proportion of time is spent without allowing waste at the same time.

The Sprint

The core of Scrum is a Sprint, a time-box of one month or less during which a “Done”, usable, and possibly releasable product Increment is made.

Sprint Planning:- A time-boxed event that occurs at the beginning of every sprint where the team determines the product backlog items they will work on during the sprint.
Daily Scrum:- It’s a brief time-boxed occasion for the development group to synchronize exercises and make an arrangement for the following 24 hours.
Sprint Review:- This is again a time-boxed event that occurs at the end of every sprint to inspect the increment and adapt the product backlog if needed.
Sprint Retrospective:- This occasion gives a chance to the team to review itself and make an arrangement for enhancements to be done in the following sprint

Scrum Artifacts

Scrum Artifacts speak to work or incentive to give transparency and chances to investigation and transformation. Artifacts have been planned with a reason that everyone has a similar comprehension of the artifact.

Product Backlog:- An arranged rundown of everything that may be required in the product which is the single wellspring of necessities for any progressions to be made to the item. The Product Owner is liable for the Product Backlog, including its content, accessibility, and ordering.
Sprint Backlog:- The arrangement of Product Backlog things chose for the Sprint alongside an arrangement for conveying the item increase and understanding the run objective.
Product Increment:- The whole of all the Product Backlog things finished during a Sprint and the estimation of the additions of every past Sprint is called item increase.
Product Backlog Refinement:- The ongoing product backlog refinement takes place within each sprint to refine items to be ready for future sprints.

Scrum Values

Commitment:- It is a team activity where you and your team are accountable to work together and confirm your team commitments. The scrum teams must be committed to progress and stick to the goal of the project.
Focus:- Once the requirements are clear and the target is set, one should be goal-oriented which motivates you for delivering faster and better.
Openness:- Colleagues ought to be open about their work, progress, what they realized and the issues they are confronting. Additionally, you ought to be available to work with partners, perceiving people to be people, and not resources, robots, or replaceable bits of equipment.
Respect:- As a piece of the Scrum group, you should regard partners, their choices, and their experience. You should regard your partners by not building anything in which individuals are not intrigued. You have to similarly regard your clients by settling their issues.
Courage:- Flexibility to change shapes the bedrock of any Scrum project and to acknowledge a change, fearlessness is required. Scrum is tied in with facing challenges and discovering an improved arrangement. The Scrum group is permitted to consider various ways to deal with the workshop the best and most proper arrangements. So as to execute new things to the undertaking, we have to disclose these new plans to the group for which you would require fearlessness.

Author bio

Radhika Sethi is a tech enthusiast with specialization in Digital Marketing. She is passionate about technology, internet marketing, big data, and writing. Currently working in Affle Enterprise, a chatbot development company. Reading novels, traveling, researching new online marketing trends are some of her areas of interest that keep her rejuvenated.

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Channelize Business Goals Through Competitive Aid Of Virtual Assistant

Miley on August 21, 2020

Customers are the heartthrob in outlining business ranking processes. Working according to the specifications of the clientele base helps to earn good reputations. Operational methods are changing. Therefore, it impacts the minds of entrepreneurs to introduce a different concept.

Running a business enables practitioners in developing the practice to perform multiple job roles. Irrespective of the job profile, the venture goes into accepting added job responsibilities.

Are you unable to bear the pressure of directing your mind in various ways? Successful supervision on vital matters such as marketing campaigns should neither be left out.

Check On Insightful Business Plans

Checking the job efficiency is crucial in optimizing business servings. Since times of creating a niche in concerned areas of entrepreneurship, increasing the sales never drops down. Without any further thought, innovative ways help in escalating business moves.

The wise strategizing of business plans depend on the right source of recruitment. Being in the era of 20K, advisers and exponents are here to furnish the latest trends of hiring employees.

Whenever the digital age tops the manual procedures of work, then the aspect of virtual assistant needs a worthy mention. Therefore, you can search for a virtual assistant in the USA who echoes amidst several pockets of professional workplaces.

Factors Supporting VAs

Satisfactory deliverable is an uncompromising factor. For mounting the workforce by virtual; assistants, expertise matters over the experiences. In stating the fact, they can be free in approaching flexible work roles. Prioritizing performances requiring immediate attention can enable intelligent minds to achieve.

Moreover, their skills do not unmatch with ongoing work practices. It is because they lead the same enthusiasm in delivering satisfactory outputs. What not if they can’t manage work objectives? Hence, their expertise grows through beneficiary digital learning tools.

Afloat Entrepreneurial Digital Trends

The trend of work should allow business practitioners to secure profiles of VAs. Nonetheless, their energetic and confident offerings can bring the right deals. Whenever team expansion is a need, it is vital to hire virtuals rather than permanent employees.

Next, gathering ideas on better work management remotely accomplishes targets. No longer an individual has to think of shaping innovative business ideas. Here grows the need of appreciating their skills of remote assistants in the same front.

Optimize Outputs Through Business Goals

Boosting digital marketing ethics magnifies long-term business goals. However, the practice of running necessary digital marketing campaigns grows to be popular day-by-day. Therefore, the training and assistance of virtual skills are crucial. In bringing new colors to tech business, we need to develop a sales page and a content platform.

Further, brushing up the experiences is a pronounced way that trainers will be better at accomplishing. Further, the digital tasks which the virtual assistant USA has, to sum up, are working on affiliate programs, running promotions, and managing social media marketing.

Appreciative Digital Skills Of Remote Assistants

Those assistants who gain top rankings in the arena of digital learnings can undoubtedly deliver potential matches in the same domain. Automation of the mentioned processes will not suffice after business meets the mounting pressure of work. Scheduling tasks is vital and it will never end in bringing less productivity. Therefore, VAs are there to unleash their efforts in serving the desired results without reducing the importance of digital marketing efforts.

A digital touch can allow in featuring the creative efforts and developing remote staffing companies will agree to the same. Have you ever wondered before connecting entrepreneurship through professional goals?

The reply will be a strict ‘NO’ as the launch of digital media is attaining to be ‘new normal’. Therefore, the trend is creating an exact match with ongoing job outlines. Nevertheless, the better one manages, the individual can help in bringing new bold concepts.

Benefits Of Hiring Home-Based Contractors

Person working on a notebook VA - Channelize Business Goals

The home-based contractor can be a new phenomenon to the digital work culture. It is beneficial because an owner does not have to engage minds in dealing with complicated issues.

If you want to keep your mind free and enjoy the extra time, without further thoughts, jump into the ideal approach. Hence, the time in the management of employment-related and management issues come to an end.

It is another perspective of keeping the overheads low. Next, fairly compensating the virtual workers is vital to strengthen the team of theirs. Moreover, they will engage themselves better in creating innovative digital plans.

Nothing can fade the notion of the contractual concept of hiring and that is working more in terms of digital expertise. Depending on the growth of work, one can allocate job hours for remote assistants.

There are other ways of minimizing their overheads. Due to their flexibility in work from home, they are at a better place to organize everything in their styles. Nonetheless, office planners don’t have to bear costs on them regarding furniture, equipment, and office space.

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Manufacturing Toolbox for Next-Level Productivity

Miley on August 19, 2020

The story of the manufacturing industry has been one of progress. Few manufacturers continue to produce the same products as they did in their infancy years. In order to remain competitive, manufacturers must continue to evolve their products to meet the demands of the marketplace. But meeting consumer demand is only half the battle — the other half is staying up to speed with industry advancements. New technology brings a host of changes that manufacturers must recognize. For example, increasing dependence on automation leads to the need for more skilled workers who understand these advanced systems. If workers cannot adapt successfully, organizations could find themselves struggling to keep up with the rest of the industry. To remain competitive in this dynamic environment, organizations should have several tools at their disposal that go beyond the physical equipment and technology innovations used in their facilities. These tools are ideas manufacturers can keep in their toolbox and use to produce next-level productivity. For example, one tool can be an investment in regular maintenance, which can ensure that machinery stays in service for as long as possible. This results in higher productivity and fewer costly downtime periods. For more ideas manufacturing companies should keep in their toolboxes, check out this infographic containing important concepts manufacturers can use to boost their production and become more efficient overall. There’s more than one kind of tool necessary for success in manufacturing. Here are some concepts and ideas you should have in your toolbox to yield higher productivity

Manufacturing Toolbox For Next-Level Productivity from Advanced Technology Services

Insights Martech

Why Landing Pages Are Necessary For Today’s Era

Miley on August 14, 2020

Let us begin by understanding what a landing page is. In simple terms, it is a web page that allows you to interact with the leads and helps you obtain the visitor’s information through a conversion form, also called a lead-capture form. Landing pages have become an inevitable part of marketing strategies for organizations as they help target a particular audience as well as advertise your product or service through offers and promotions. One can try their own hand at designing a landing page or hire landing page agency for efficient and innovative results.

It has been well established that landing pages are the best ways to convert the hard-earned visitors into leads for your business. A good landing page can be accommodative and customizable. For example, you can let the prospective customers download content off of the page or redeem offers like demos or free trials for your service. The need to create landing pages has majorly outgrown the effort or costs that go into building them. Here are a few detailed reasons why well crafted landing pages are essential for gaining a competitive advantage.

Helps you generate leads

A commercial website has three objectives at its core. First to inform about your business in an elaborate and compelling way, second to attract new visitors and third to convert the visitors into customers. The landing pages are integral to the process of generating leads, initiating a quantification process, and funneling through your sales process. Most companies have their potential customers directed towards the home page which can be a flawed flow. The people click on ads need to acquire the necessary information in a quick and efficient manner. Any distractions or delays often lead to losing their interests.

They work round the clock

Once you develop a landing page for a niche or segment and put it out into the open as a part of the content marketing strategy, the follow-up steps are pretty much automated. The visitors are persuaded to have a look at the page and can sig-up or cash in your offers without any steps left on your part. It eliminates the practice of annually generating sales for your business.

Obtain data and insights into prospect demographics

The landing pages when associated with a specific campaign, content, source, or action, the user can easily observe which channel is bringing in the most traffic and leads. Other useful information that is collected s regarding the topics that generate maximum interests or which offers attract most consumers and which campaign or strategy produces satisfactory results. This practice is usually known as tracking user behavior to generate solid outputs. This data is valuable in figuring out your target audience and finetune the campaigns to cater to the specific demographic. The marketing team can analyze what type of marketing personas are converting based on the forms filled by the leads and the sales team obtains a generic idea about the lead before contacting them.

Test, optimize and grow

Similar to the testing and analysis of the data obtained from the landing pages, the landing pages themselves offer scope for testing and optimization to finalize after checking. This proves to be a huge benefit in today’s world where the tends change rapidly and the strategies need to be modified rapidly to adapt to the ever-changing scenarios. All the aspects of the page like headlines, copy, call to actions, visual representations for the offer, and forms can be tested and the best ones can be chosen. The developer can also contemplate whether they want to add some additional information like testimonials, videos, or comments from social media sites and grow your reach through the pages.

Creates brand awareness and credibility

Landing pages serve as the most appropriate medium for bullying the company’s credibility amongst the potential customers. Since the pages are as focused as a horse’s vision the audience realizes that the brand has made an effort to etch a clear path for them and develops a sense of trust subconsciously. Testimonials are often included to further reap the credibility benefits of landing pages. Another important use of having a landing page that is consistent with the sources that link to it is that it enhances the branding of your company across different media platforms.

Few essential components of an effective landing page

The main and supporting headline

The first and foremost component that catches the visitor’s attention is your headline. It should be informative and crisp and coherent with the scheme of your content. A catchy headline is essential to encourage the reader to move forward with the process.

Uncommon offers

Your landing pages should be designed to incentivize the users with some unique offers or content. Once you define this point of differentiation the leads will low in a seamless fashion and you will be able to observe ample conversions.

Appropriate visuals; images and videos

Finding an image that enhances the aesthetic of the page or inserting a video to convey an important message makes for solid components of a landing page. High quality and relevant ideas have to be chosen for this particular aspect of the page. If you are marketing for a physical product include an image of the same and if you are delivering a service a short video explaining about it can be helpful as well.

Social proof

As mentioned above, including client testimonials can build credibility for your business. Social proofs tend to be extremely persuasive and trustworthy. Awards from reputable platforms or the number of signups for a particular webinar can also be accounted for as testimonials of your service.

Closing arguments and call to action

The final opportunity to communicate with potential customers is provided by the closing arguments. You can present your unique selling points clearly and explain how your offer will benefit the user convincingly. A call to action is a prompt for the customer to proceed ahead with your brand. All the marketers are well-aware of the importance of this feature. It should be compelling, exciting, and highly persuasive.

Make the most of your landing page

When landing pages come to fruition the developers can witness the growth of their company on a first-hand basis. It is the destination where people buy, customers click and you get to make revenue. Create a high-converting and powerful landing page and keep modifying to grow exponentially.

Development Insights Products

Increasing Customer Convenience By Implementing These Payment Methods

Miley on August 12, 2020

Financial transactions
have become easier than ever with the many digital payment options available
today. However, this is a bit of a double-edged sword. Where does one begin to
make sense of all the possibilities? We hear all this new jargon, from the option
to sell bitcoins online
to innovative tech that allows customers to tap their transactions. It all
seems somewhat daunting, and we instinctively know that a lot of it has to be a
fad or at least rather niche.

This doesn’t mean that
there aren’t some feasible and efficient payment options you can implement to
improve customer convenience. While there are several ways to turn site visitors into loyal buyers, payment options are important. The trick lies in
understanding how these options work, and what degree of market adoption they
enjoy. There is no point in investing in a technology that only a fragment of
the market uses.

NFC Payment

One must then look for
the options that have a broader market adoption, and there are a number of them
that stand out. The possibility that is garnering the most significant market
share is NFC payment, and
it is prudent to understand why. Most new technologies fail because they rely
on the implementation and adoption of entirely new tech. NFC, or near field
communication, owes its success to the fact that it utilizes a technology that
most people carry around in their pocket in any case.

The technology was
initially developed to share media and documents between personal devices
instantly. It just so happened that it is the same technology your bank card
uses to make single-tap payments. Using readily accessible payment services
that act as an intermediary between the banks and your client, a simple tap of
their device is all it takes to complete a transaction.

QR Code Payments

Unfortunately, not all smartphones have NFC capabilities. This doesn’t exclude users without the facility to use their smartphones to make transactions. Companies like Zapper have stepped in with an alternative solution. QR codes made their debut as a novelty method of directing internet traffic in an engaging and fun way. You may remember a few years ago when scanning QR codes were all the rage, and every brand was coming up with ways to get you to scan a code to get more exposure.

That trend has died
down, but the technology has found a new purpose by way of payment option.
Zapper links to your bank account and allows a simple method of transaction.
You simply scan the code and follow the on-screen prompts and bob’s your uncle.
It turns out that this is also a very secure method of payment. Although it was
initially a fifty-fifty bet on whether it would see significant adoption, the
number of options and ways for QR payments has made it accessible enough to see
a decent market share.

PayPal Payment

Speaking of market share, PayPal is one of the most broadly used payment methods for international transactions. For the legion of freelance workers across the globe who get paid in USD, there is a bit of a challenge and process of freeing funds into local currency. It is because of this rather notable demographic that it is strange to see how few companies offer payment options for PayPal accounts.

Development Insights Martech Products SaaS

5 Ways Businesses Can Avoid Risk of Information Breach Online

Miley on August 12, 2020

Successfully managing a business is a daunting errand because of the challenges you face amidst the journey. Cyber-attacks have been exponentially increasing; alone, in 2019, it is reported that breach of data exposed 4.1 billion records. And with that, the need to secure your business is becoming of enormous importance.

Business information serves as a critical asset for any company and makes it of the utmost worth. Therefore, in this post, I will be sharing 05 hand-picked ways to minimize and eradicate the risk of getting your information stolen by hackers.

Let’s dive right into how you can protect your information online from cyber thefts.

1. Use a Secure Network

Surfing on the websites using public Wi-Fi makes your information exposed to cybercriminals. That further leads to increased chances of getting your vital information stolen. Thereby, it would be best if you used a secured network that is end-to-end encrypted.

One of the best ways is to incorporate a virtual private network connection on all your devices to get full-fledged security. On top of that, using multiple devices VPN makes it easier for you to protect information sharing on all systems. Besides top-notch security, it will also enable you to have online anonymity on all networks.

2. Beware of Phishing Emails

To avoid information breach, you need to be vigilant about the emails you entertain in your daily routine. Phishing emails are increasing enormously and are one of the apparent reasons behind security vulnerabilities. Make sure you do not click any of the emails that seem like a spamming activity.

Also, companies must provide adequate security training to the staff, administering the emails to know the parameter to recognize a fraudulent email. Based on a recent report conducted by Mimecast State of Email Security, almost 60 percent of companies are likely to bear email attacks if not appropriately secured. Therefore, you need to ensure to keep intense monitoring before you open any email.

3. Encrypt Confidential Information

Access to sensitive information must be in the hands of critical stakeholders only. Company owners need to make their employees well-versed in handling cyber-security. It is essential to encrypt all the data you have stored in your business systems.

Never share any of your details using the collaboration tools as the risk of information theft is considerably high. For instance, it has been reported that the Zoom app has some serious privacy concerns that make your shared data vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Therefore, it is best to encrypt your data on all the platforms and restrict access to trusted people only.

4. Create a Strong Password

If you are operating multiple business accounts, you must be concerned about making it secure from cyber-attacks. One way is to make your account password sturdy enough to provide security defense to your accounts. That means you have to create a strong password to secure your sensitive information on online platforms.

People who use easy-to-remember passwords are more vulnerable to security breaches. Thus, you need to ensure you follow the standard security policies while creating your password on business accounts. Ensure you modify your password after 6 months so as to avoid the risk of code-cracking.

Moreover, it is recommended to use a blend of unique lower and upper case letters, symbols, and numbers. Make use of two-factor authentication in your password to fortify security. This way, you can create an impenetrable password that will make it hard for hackers to attack. And eventually, your information will be safe from unwanted malware.

5. Regulate Vulnerability Assessments

To make sure you are following all the standard security practices on your business systems, you must use an information security management system (ISMS). That has all the power to manage your business security in one place. This way, you can be assured that all your organization data is safe from any security threat or possible vulnerabilities. Try doing security audits every after some time to ensure business systems are well-equipped to combat threats.

Key Takeaways

The risk of an information breach is getting high, and with that, the need to upgrade your security practices is a must to consider. The online world is a cut-throat medium for hackers and other spammers. And to restrain them from harming your business, it is better you keep in practice the above shared 5 ways to avoid the risk of an information breach. Although there are other practices, too, the ones I have shared are imperative for your security.

Author Bio

Amtul Rafay is a Cybersecurity enthusiast who loves to write on topics pertaining to online privacy, internet security, and web privacy. She believes in the influential power of research-backed opinions to stay updated with the futuristic technology trends.

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How to Manage Your Employer Brand During COVID-19

Miley on August 4, 2020

Employer brand is the way your employees see your organization as a place for work. It’s how prospective employees perceive you as an employer, which in terms affects the quality of talent you can access and the productivity you can achieve. In a crisis like COVID-19, managing the employer brand is more important than ever before. Due to the pandemic, your staff might be scared, stressed, and burdened with work.

But like John W Holt Jr said, “The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don’t know what to do.” For many businesses, these times are a valuable opportunity to carve out a niche employer brand for themselves. Leveraging these opportunities will ensure that you’ll retain your best employees and maintain your image.

There are a couple of steps that you can take to effectively manage your employer brand.

1.Communication

During times of crisis, people tend to easily believe rumors surrounding a company. It creates problems such as misinformation, confusion, and panic. To counter it, you have to build a transparent relationship with your staff. And the best way to do it through constant communication.

The first step that you can take is creating a clear and concise COVID-19 plan taking into account your employees, vendors, partners, and customers. You should also consider how different groups you’re communicating with are feeling at that time. For example, people working in the US might have different problems than people working in Canada. They should be emailed separately.

Also, create a FAQ to answer the most commonly asked questions. Ensure that leaders and managers of your organization know exactly how to respond to doubts and follow up questions regarding the official communication. Make sure that all communication channels are open, and that you take up any questions employees may have.

2. Address the market regarding layoffs

You might be one of the organizations that have to lay off people during COVID-19. Of course, this affects your reputation in the market. Rumors and stories from unverified sources can harm your company’s name.

It’s better to issue a sensitive and honest press release/open letter regarding the layoffs. Ideally, that communication should come from the CEO or some other company executive. That will protect you against false stories and guard your character.

The other thing you can do is personally deliver the news to terminated employees and help them in their onward journey. You can give them a fantastic review on LinkedIn or a great recommendation letter. This way, the employees will see that you’re making efforts in the right direction.

3. Transition

Many employees these days are working from home. To ensure that all employees are well, try to make work from home easy by incorporating fun activities into your schedules like photography/art class, online games, etc.

You can also send motivational emails to employees. Include appreciation notes from management in them. That will motivate your employees to work better. To further help your staff present in a remote environment, you can do them small favors like refunding internet bills or providing them furniture for their work from home setup. Compassion towards employees goes a long way in maintaining employer brand.

4. Actions

The steps you take during a crisis are what your company is about, as that’s the way people/employees will remember you after the crisis. Make sure that every action you take is in line with your organizations’ values and ethics.

Create the right tone for the voice of your organization’ and stick with it. For necessary emails, you can also use visual aids and statistics to make them better. You can leverage internal communication channels to educate employees about recent changes in company policies and practices.

Doing that will strengthen your staff’s commitment to your brand, increase loyalty, and provide assurance to those who believe in you. It will also safeguard you and your brand from retaliation and adverse response.

5. Future employment

If your company is facing financial problems, it’s better to use a dedicated page for hiring decisions related to COVID-19. It improves transparency and lets people know that there is a hiring freeze or not.

However, if you’re in a business that’s considered essential, you might have to hire more employees to cope up with demand. For example, hospitals are hiring more nurses to take care of patients. If that’s the situation, you might have to start with hiring campaigns to generate attention.

Make sure to improve your employer brand ranking on portals such as Linkedin and Glassdoor. Investing in the right marketing strategies will position you as a smart employer who attracts the best talent. Make sure to highlight things like your company’s reputation, culture, and, most importantly, career progression. Points like these will help you land the perfect candidate for the job.

Conclusion

Of course, a crisis like COVID-19 will have a massive impact on a business and its employees. As an employer, your top priority is to ensure two things: that your employees are safe and that you can handle the workload. Client fulfillment and employee satisfaction are the two most important things that you should take care of.

Creating a great employee brand helps limit the harm caused to the company’s reputation by negative gossip and rumors. A clear and concise tone of voice and proper communication will help distinguish you from other businesses. Even if you have to lay off people, make sure that you communicate it to the world in your voice and help the employees who are terminated.

Remember, transparency and honesty in times like these will ensure that customers and employees trust you after the crisis is over.

Development Insights Martech SaaS

The Best Zoom Alternatives for Work and Play

Miley on August 4, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has pushed more people than ever to work remotely. Yet, to function well, many types of teams still need to meet, including teachers, marketing professionals, and software developers like those at BairesDev. As a result, online meetings have become the norm and the videoconferencing application Zoom has become a well-known name and a de-facto alternative for group chats.

Zoom is also helpful for creating socially distant gatherings of family, friends, and other groups. But it isn’t perfect. In addition to being disappointed by Zoom’s limited features, users have experienced issues with data privacy and “Zoombombing,” which describes the activity of trolls who enter Zoom meetings uninvited and express hatred or display offensive images. The privacy issues stem from the application not being end-to-end encrypted, resulting in leaked user email addresses.

You may choose to use Zoom despite these drawbacks. But if you’re looking for a change, there are many similar applications available for you to try, including those listed here.

Google Meet

If you want to replace Zoom for business meetings, Google Meet is a good application to try. You can include up to 100 participants per meeting and you get unlimited call time for free from now through September 2020. After that, call time will be limited to 60 minutes unless you upgrade your account. Google Meet also offers real-time translation, a useful feature for international calls.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is another good choice for work-related meetings. Each meeting can accommodate up to 250 participants and you can store your conversations, files, meetings, and apps in a shared workspace. Useful features include the ability to search conversations, customize notifications, and blur your background for privacy. To use Teams, you must have an Office 365 subscription or a trial subscription of Teams.

Skype

Skype was one of the first videoconferencing applications and it’s still useful for online meetings. The new Meet Now feature enables functionality similar to Zoom and meetings can accommodate up to 50 users. You don’t need an account to sign in, just a link. Special features include reaction emoji, call recording, and the ability to blur your background. Skype offers both free and paid versions.

GoToMeeting

Packed with features, GoToMeeting enables you to include up to 150 participants per meeting with the entry-level plan or up to 3,000 when you upgrade. This application allows you to include multiple facilitators, share your screen, record and transcribe meetings, and assign follow-up tasks. You also get drawing tools to help participants make important points while presenting.

For more informal conversations, such as those with family or friends, WhatsApp is a good option to try. While better known for messaging, the app does allow you to videoconference as well. You can include up to eight participants on each call, and the app is free to use. The best thing about WhatsApp is that it can be used across platforms, so it doesn’t matter if you use an Android device and your cousin has an iPhone. WhatsApp provides end-to-end encryption so you can be sure your conversations are secure.

Facebook Messenger

If you’re on Facebook a lot, Messenger is a great tool for videoconferencing with friends. Even if you don’t use Facebook much, it might be worth using Messenger for those calls because the video quality is better than that of some other apps. With Messenger, you also get emoji reactions, stickers, and the ability to include up to six people on-screen during a video call (though you can have up to 50).

FaceTime

Practically synonymous with video chatting, FaceTime enables those who use the Apple ecosystem to easily communicate with each other. You can get up to 32 callers on at one time and use special features to project your digital look-alike or add fun effects in your call. FaceTime is also end-to-end encrypted so you can be sure your calls are secure.

Discord

Discord is popular with gamers because it integrates with games like Call of Duty: WWII and Divinity: Original Sin 2. But it can be used by anyone who wants encrypted chat, messaging, and video call functionality. Users can set up their own “rooms” in which to chat via video or text. Up to 50 users can participate in a call.

Houseparty

Many things are just not possible with social distancing, but game night isn’t one of them. Houseparty enables you to connect and also provides the entertainment! Up to eight callers can play Trivia, Head’s Up!, and other fun games that are included. The app also allows you to purchase additional games if you want.

In Summary

Social distancing is making communication more difficult, but the right technology can help. If Zoom isn’t for you, there are many other options available for keeping in touch with colleagues and friends.

Development Insights Products SaaS

Why 5G Is so Important for the IoT

Miley on August 4, 2020

The 5^th generation of wireless network technology, known as 5G, promises to dramatically increase data transfer speeds, decrease latency, and improve network reliability. These and other enhancements will result in more efficient internet access, and the ability to connect more devices within a given area at one time.

Such advancements are particularly important as the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to grow. Expansion of the IoT supported by 5G will be enriched by innovative IoT products for both consumers and businesses with built-in security features and software validated by QA & testing services. Here we explore exactly how the IoT will benefit from 5G.

What Is the IoT?

The IoT is the collection of internet-enabled devices that are an increasingly major part of human activity. The number of active IoT devices is expected to grow to 10 billion by 2020 and to 22 billion by 2025. A robust IoT enables new services, such as self-regulating electrical grid equipment that sends signals to utility operators when it needs replacement or repair.

IoT devices include everything from our familiar smartphones to smartwatches, internet-enabled video cameras, streetlights, motor vehicles, retail beacons, store inventory, shipping containers, manufacturing equipment, and robots. These devices add a high level of convenience to everyday tasks for individuals (such as shopping) and companies (such as inventory control).

In an example described by the World Economic Forum, we see just how integrated the IoT will become, even in things as commonplace as clothes: “Maybe you’ve heard about the Commuter x Jacquard, a jacket that connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth – the result of a collaboration between Google and Levi’s. With a haptic buzz on your cuff, you are reminded about the phone you left behind; by swiping your sleeve, you can skip a song; while a tap on the shoulder strap takes a picture.”

How 5G Supports the IoT

Naturally, the more of these connected devices there are, the more bandwidth they require. While the current generation of wireless technology, 4G, has the capacity to handle many of them, 5G can support many more. Cognizant VP Randal Kenworthy, a Forbes Technology Council member, states, “5G can send data to and from as many as a million devices per square kilometer, compared to 100,000 devices per square kilometer using today’s 4G networks.”

Additionally, 5G offers super-fast speeds that are 100 times greater than 4G’s and that enable devices to make split-second calculations with optimal performance. For example, self-driving cars must be able to transfer data within milliseconds to receive instructions for how to safely perform – with 5G, they are able to do precisely that.

In addition to expanded capability and speed, 5G is more reliable than previous wireless generations, meaning essential connected objects like locks, security cameras, and other safety devices will operate more effectively. In fact, according to Intel, 5G wireless networks will be “so reliable they can replace physical connections.”

5G also enables easier setup for the IoT. According to IoT For All, rather than connecting each device to a Wi-Fi router, “5G connectivity will let each device connect wirelessly, individually and directly to your internet service provider.” In this way, “You can think of 5G as a kind of next-generation Wi-Fi.”

Industry IoT

With 5G, many industries will be able to make ever-greater use of the IoT. Here are just a few examples:

Agriculture. IoT sensors embedded in the soil can help farmers determine how much water or nutrients are needed and, in conjunction with artificial intelligence (AI), deliver them at the right time. These processes enable farmers to spend more time on higher-level tasks.

Automotive. As mentioned above, self-driving vehicles require fast processing to operate as safely as possible. Additionally, maintenance shops can use sensors within cars to send reminders when it’s time to have them serviced.

Healthcare. With 5G and the IoT, telehealth will become more ubiquitous, enabling doctors and robots to treat — and even perform surgery on — patients remotely. Wearable health monitors can help patients and healthcare providers closely monitor symptoms.

Manufacturing. Manufacturers will have the opportunity to respond to consumer and business demands for new IoT products. They will also use IoT devices in the manufacturing and transportation processes, such as monitoring equipment and tracking packages.

Smart Cities. The possibilities for smart city technology involving the IoT are nearly limitless. One example is connected parking lots that send real-time information to smartphones about parking availability. Another is using technology to make automotive and pedestrian traffic flow more efficiently.

In Summary

The World Economic Forum states, “Coupled with an array of other new technological solutions like IoT, edge computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, 5G is powering the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the same way that steam, electricity, and silicon powered the previous three.”

Given how the IoT can evolve with the support of 5G, both consumers and businesses are likely to see great technological leaps in the coming years. Both will benefit from greater efficiency, convenience, and flexibility in their daily activities.