4 Reasons Payroll Software Supports Scaling Your Business

Posted on January 19, 2021 by Alex Sanders

Are you still processing payroll manually? Do you use software only to track employee hours through a time clock? When you process payroll manually, you’ll certainly come to understand the process inside and out and hone your payroll processing skills. However, payroll skills won’t help you scale your business.

If you’ve got 5 or fewer employees, you’ll survive with manual payroll for a while. However, to scale and grow your business, you’ll need to start using payroll software.

1. Scaling your business requires simplifying processes and systems

Scaling a business requires simplifying operational processes and there’s nothing simple about a manual payroll process. It takes an incredible amount of time to manually calculate wages, overtime, and taxes, not to mention the lengthy process of cutting, signing, and delivering checks by hand.

If you offer 401(k)s, benefits, commissions, bonuses, sick pay, vacation time, or retirement plans, you’re looking at a full-time job just processing payroll. When all your time is tied up, you’ll never scale your business.

Payroll software simplifies, automates, and streamlines virtually the entire payroll process. You can even get software that comes with advanced features that make life easier for you and your employees.

For instance, Paylocity allows your employees to access a portion of their earned wages before payday. You can also monitor metrics and trends through a visual dashboard to make better hiring and budgeting decisions.

To make the right business decisions, you need access to the depth of insights only software can provide.

2. Payroll software eliminates careless mistakes

Careless mistakes are all too easy to make when crunching numbers by hand. Pushing just one wrong button on your calculator or misreading a number on a piece of paper can have devastating consequences. You might pay an employee or vendor too much or too little, withhold the wrong amount of tax, or misrepresent your available cash flow and overspend.

Using a paystub creator eliminates the majority of oversights and careless mistakes.

Integrating advanced payroll management software streamlines these operations further, ensuring accuracy and compliance across all financial transactions.

As long as the data is entered into the system correctly, the risk for mistakes is greatly reduced. With an automated payroll system, the majority of data will be retrieved directly from time clocks, electronic W2 forms, and standard settings.

3. Payroll software makes it easier to open new locations

When your goal is to open new locations or sell franchises, you’ll need all the time you can get. Using payroll software will free up your time so you can get your new locations up and running.

When you find good payroll software, you can also recommend that your franchisees use that same software to help them streamline operations. After all, when they succeed, you succeed. However, just make sure you don’t require your franchisees to use specific software or you risk creating an employer-employee relationship. Global Franchise Magazine explains this in detail and shares why it’s a good idea to simply “strongly recommend” specific payroll software and HR tools rather than require their use.

4. Payroll software creates consistency that keeps employees happy

Maybe you don’t make payroll mistakes all the time, but only every few pay periods. The moment those mistakes start to inconvenience your employees, they’re going to look for another job.

For instance, say you have to short a future paycheck because you overpaid on a current check. Employees will generally be forgiving if this happens once. However, additional issues will be met with frustration. When small mistakes become a pattern, employees won’t stick around.

Consistency is a critical requirement for scaling your business and applies to every system and every aspect of your business. Creating consistency around your payroll practices is necessary to keep employees from getting frustrated and getting a job with your competitors.

You don’t want to lose your best employees when you’re trying to scale your business. Dealing with turnover, interviews, on-boarding, and training will take your attention away from scaling your business.

Scaling your business requires a commitment to simplicity

Complex systems don’t scale easily. Processing payroll manually is a complex system. If you scale your business with a manual payroll process in place, you’ll multiply your payroll workload each time you grow a little bit. As you start forming new partnerships, you’ll increase the complexity as well.

Hanging onto a manual payroll system will hold you back in your efforts to scale. Using payroll software will reduce complexity, increase simplicity, and create the foundation for smooth scaling.

How to Write a Marketing Content – Examples and Tips

Posted on January 16, 2021 by Lucy Miranda

Marketing content is at the core of promoting businesses in the digital world. Creating content that can help ideas stick, influence consumer behaviors, and promote products and services is a tricky job. Jones Miles, an online Marketing expert at GoAssignmentHelp, says, “Today, the word-of-mouth publicity has transmuted to spreading of information and influence through social networks. For small business owners, creating viral content is the most effective way to harness the power of social media and online marketing.”

So what makes certain ideas, products, actions, or stories stick in our minds more than others? Let us decode how to create effective marketing content:

Less is More

Assignment helper Prius Myers gives an excellent example to explain this phenomenon. He says, “Suppose you visit Dell’s website to buy a laptop. Each listing on the site presents a long list of information about PC cards, media base, docking ports, modular options, memory keys, types of DVD drives, etc. You have no clue about the technology – and despite extensive information, you are at a loss on which laptop to buy. Now, imagine seeing a video of each laptop where you can see it from all angles and check out its best features by clicking on it. Wouldn’t that make it easier for you to decide which one to buy?”

Many times, when businesses describe their products, they make the mistake of using nuanced and complex messages. They think that by telling more about the product, they will impress a potential buyer. The truth is when you learn a lot about a topic at once, you forget most of it instantly. The best strategy is to choose one or two best features of the product and build your marketing content around it. Such content will be easier to understand and have longer retention duration.

Use Analogies to Introduce a New Idea

Riteish Mukherjee from GoAssignmentHelp shares, “When Facebook first came out, it was portrayed as an online yearbook. People treasure their high school yearbooks as they spark memories of their old friends and teachers and instantly associated Facebook with an online medium to stay in touch with their friends.”

Analogies are effective ways to communicate unfamiliar ideas to an audience. They make your marketing content more relatable. Experts suggest that you should use an analogy to explain something, present complex or abstract arguments or concepts more simply, or compare and contrast two or more products or services.

Minnie Sietelman, who helps MBA students in assignment writing, warns, “One has to be careful while using an analogy. It should not be used as a core idea but to support and explain the idea. You should also be sure that your target audience knows what you are referring to when you make an analogy. Someone who is not interested in sports would not understand a basketball analogy. Similarly, people who are not Marvel fans would not relate with Ironheart or X-23 analogies.”

An analogy must also be related to your idea or product in some way for it to be effective. You may compare Content Marketing with Farming as both are related to the creation, planting seeds (content), growing, and producing fruits (results). Both of them use tools. Land can be related to the context of content and user-interface can be related to soil in the agricultural farm.

Create Curiosity Gaps

The most effective content marketing campaign is one that successfully makes people want to know more about the topic. Serve them with an appetizer that makes them want to devour the whole meal. A popular assignment writer in the UK, Simranjeet Chaddha, says, “The advent of websites like Upworthy and Buzzfeed has made the concept of ‘curiosity gap’ quite popular. Earlier, the print media was known for long well-researched articles or salacious rumors and gossips – depending on their target audience. In the world of online marketing content, clickbait and snackable content are driving revenues and traffic. The audience of today has smartphones with RSS feeds. It needs more than rhetorical questions and trick content to stir their curiosity and make them click a headline and compel them to read a blog post or an article.” You can try to share your viral anonymous stories at The Doe site.

According to Simranjeet, four ways to implement the curiosity technique while creating marketing content are:

Create an irresistible headline: Upworthy requires its writers to come up with at least 25 headlines per article. It pushes writers to brainstorm on writing a headline that gives the user enough information to decide whether he or she wants to read article or not but is not detailed enough to say it all in one line. The ideal headline is one that balances information with intrigue.
Publish your content frequently: Giants like HubSpot and popular newspaper websites publish a ton of content every day. This helps them to cover a wide range of topics to cater to different types of audiences. There’s another advantage. If some of the content does not perform well, other articles take over. It becomes a game of numbers. More you publish; more are the chances of making your marketing content go viral.
Perform A/B tests of your content: Publishing often also gives businesses the power to experiment with their headlines, type of interactive experiences they publish, and social media marketing or online marketing strategies they implement. You can analyze which content piece performs better than others and use the insights to refine and tweak your content strategy.
Post content that goes viral on social media networks: Engagement with the audience is the currency in the world of marketing. Hence, businesses that promote contests and quizzes like ‘Which car are you?” and “Which Marvel superhero you look like?” draw more traffic through social shares.

Whether you have a small business or a large business, you work for-profit or a non-profit, these simple marketing content strategies can help you leverage the power of digital platforms and increase your revenues several-fold.

How to Collect Emails from Your Website Visitors

Posted on January 13, 2021 by Allen Brown

In this digital era, many business owners have started taking their companies online to expand their reach, hoping that technology will do its trick and drive people to their online stores. However, increased traffic doesn’t necessarily equal increased sales because people won’t spend money on products on their first visit.

Shopping online takes time as it is hard to make a decision when you cannot physically examine the products. The best way to ensure that potential buyers will come for a second visit is to collect their emails and send them frequent reminders without spamming them. On that note, here are the most effective ways that you can adopt to collect visitors’ emails.

Use Pop-Ups

The most popular method to collect emails from your visitors is using pop-ups, owing to their ease of placement and effectiveness. We have all come across a small box requesting our emails that pop up while scrolling down a page. Unfortunately, they can be irritating to some people who often end up closing the tab. That’s why you should make the pop-ups easy to close and adjust them to appear on the side of the page instead of blocking the whole screen.

Create a Sticky Top Bar

A sticky top bar is a less annoying alternative to pop-ups as it stays at the top of the screen as you scroll down. It will exist for the sake of grabbing a visitor’s attention without ruining their time on the website. This bar is most commonly used for announcements, but there is no harm in making them gather emails as well.

Build a Squeeze Page

When a person clicks on an advertisement that you have placed, they will be directed to a squeeze page containing related information. Before the visitor can access the details, they should be asked to enter their email address in a box that appears on the front page. For an attractive design, you should use squeeze page tools to create an effective page that is attractive enough for potential buyers. Make sure not to include too much content and focus on the benefits of your products. The newsletter that you will send later on will include details about the offers and a link to direct them to the different items that are on sale or part of said offer.

Create Sidebar Forms

The main purpose of a sidebar is to include links to direct visitors to other pages, top articles, and recent news. Recently, some marketers have started to use them to add a rectangular box that asks interested people to subscribe. You can encourage them to leave their emails by adding a discount percentage on their first purchase after subscribing.

Host Competitions on Your Website

It is worth a shot to hold a competition on your website if you are struggling with the other methods. Depending on your kind of business, you can optimize the questions and allow people to enter after signing up. Setting a time limit will make it more interesting, and you can offer a small gift for the winner.

You need to collect email addresses from visitors to build your database. While it won’t cost them any money to sign up, many people are wary of giving out their emails to unfamiliar websites. That is why you need to be smart when requesting their emails or setting up pop-ups so as not to drive away potential clients. Moreover, you have to be mindful of the emails you send them and make sure you only send relevant information because otherwise, they will unsubscribe to your newsletter.

Moreover, you have to be mindful of the email content you send out and make sure you only send emails to valid and active email addresses. Otherwise, your messages can land in the spam folder or get marked as undeliverable, which hurts your sender reputation and can eventually lead to your account being banned.

Luckily, there are plenty of sales automation tools like Snov.io email tester that can check email validity individually or in bulk. Just pick the right software for you!

How Architects Can Benefit from BIM in 2021

Posted on January 12, 2021 by Edward Roesch

Introduction

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has given architects greater control of the surveying and modeling of projects. It has also further enabled greater collaboration between architects, engineers, contractors, and stakeholders helping make better decisions on projects. As more of what was perceived to be the traditional workspace is being moved to remote work ideals, that is to say in employees’ homes, BIM will play a greater part in architects’ lives. This article is dedicated to seeing how architects will further benefit from the technology in the coming year.

Improved Interaction

When Autodesk published their paper titled “Building Information Modeling” only the very optimistic would have predicted that the technology would be a foundation stone in a market expected to top over 16 billion USD by 2025, but that is the current trajectory for the industry. Initially, for architects, in particular, the technology didn’t promise much in revolutionizing how architects went about their business. Over 18 years later the same view can no longer be supported.

In general, the technology has improved workflow by streamlining processes. Collaboration has always been one of the great advantages of BIM but for architects, an improved ability to de-risk projects and deliver a higher standard of outcome has seen the technology adopted steadily by the profession.

Testing

Being able to host 3D structures will always have a use. BIM furthered this ability by being able to test structures using comprehensive physics engines which can be used to test the more mundane aspects of the design. Increasingly, these tools can be used to test how the building would respond in the advent of a natural disaster like an earthquake.

Communication

Before even the thought of ground being broken for a foundation, BIM can help pitch ideas to clients. This ability is being further advanced through the incorporation of virtual reality technology. This can allow potential clients or property investors to “walk” through the designs in the virtual design. Another technology that can further help when the construction process begins is augmented reality which can be used on-site to address needs or update clients on how the final project is completed.

Lower Cost

Greater collaborative ability can foreseeably improve creativity amongst teams. This is a hard parameter to measure; however, one that is not hard to quantify is cost. Those employing BIM architecture principles have been able to reduce costs and be more competitive in the marketplace. Much of the reduced cost is a result of the design process taking far less time, resulting in cost saving. Cost reductions have also been noticed when mistakes are detected early and can easily be rectified before a contractor has even laid cement.

Conclusion

In the coming years, the BIM uses in architecture are expected to be further improved with the incorporation of AI and machine learning technologies. These are expected to further reduce error and promote higher levels of information transfer without the need for human intervention.

Key Features to Look for When Buying Headphones

Posted on January 6, 2021 by Charlene Brown

One of the best ways to cancel the world around you is to put the headphones on and press play. Whether you listen to your favorite band or some kind of podcast, you will be able to relax and enjoy this part of your day. Or you simply want to concentrate on your work and eliminate the chatter of coworkers around you.

Just like with the rest of tech gadgets, making a decision which headphones will be a perfect fit for you is not necessarily easy. There is a wide variety of models to choose from and the price ranges also significantly very. Let’s see what are the most important things to look for in headphones.

Different Types

When it comes to models there are several things to take into consideration. Each type has its pros and cons and that will be able to help you decide which one is the best for you.

In-Ear Headphones/Earbuds

The greatest advantage of this type is that they are small which makes them portable. They don’t weigh a lot and don’t take up too much space. You can put them in your pocket or simply hang them around your neck. If you like to run or do any kind of exercise, they are going to be very practical for those occasions. Also, they are great for noise isolation.

However, due to the small drivers, they generate a sound of lower quality. And the most annoying part, the wires get easily tangled, and undoing this is quite a nerve-racking process.

Wireless Earbuds

Just like the type above, these have all the same advantages plus one more. You will not have to think about tangled wires. However, they have the battery that needs to be recharged. Given the fact that these batteries are quite small, the recharge is going to be needed sooner rather than later.

In and Over-Ear Headphones

If the size is not an issue, then these two types are going to be perfect for you. Although they are not as portable as the previous ones, they provide you with much better quality. Given the better sound, it’s not a surprise that prices are significantly higher.

Bluetooth Headphones

This is a bit of a controversial choice. Although sound quality is much better than several years ago and that there are no wires that can catch up on things, still there are some serious downsides to using them. The battery life depends on the size. Another important thing to think about is compatibility between your device and headphones.

Key Features to Think About

As we mentioned above, the sound quality will depend on the size of the drivers. So, if you want to have first-class sound, you will probably have to learn to deal with bulkier models.

Also, when it comes to sound, you should check out the specifications of the headphones and look for sensitivity. This is especially important for those who like to listen to the music a bit louder. In most cases, this is around 110dB/mW but if you find a model that’s visually amazing but sensitivity is 85dB/mW or lower, you should skip on those.

If you’re someone who likes to hear a strong bass, then look for frequency response. In most models, this characteristic is between 20 and 20000 Hz. However, for the bigger bass, you will need a wider range than this.

It’s important to learn the difference between noise isolation and cancelation. As stated by the experts at Head Phones Pro Review, these features will allow you to enjoy the music to the fullest. Although you will have to spend more money to get the best ones, it will be worth it. Both types have the same goal but they don’t work in the same way. The first one means there is a physical barrier between your eardrum and the outside world while the other one is working on eliminating unwanted noise by pushing away the outside sound waves.

Some headphones come with a built-in microphone and control module that will make your life much easier. With these features, you will not have to take your phone out of the pocket in order to manage your playlist or answer a phone call.

Given the time we spend with the headphones by our side, it’s important to choose the ones that suit your needs the best. These are the most important characteristics you need to keep in mind when you enter the store. To make a perfect choice, you will have to think about your personal preferences as well as your budget.

Content Writing – What it is and Why does your Business Need It?

Posted on December 23, 2020 by Laura C. Fields

There are times when people like to spend their free time alone and think about life. Many of you probably have those nights when you are thinking about what you can do, what can you change, and so on. Well, when it comes to content writing, thinking is the essence of it. Every professional writer wants his content to be creative, informative, educational or just to attract its readers. Without proper thinking, there cannot be quality content made by any writer. Now, let’s see what content writing is and why your business needs it.

What is a Professional Content Writer?

First of all, we have to pass through the most important aspects of a professional writer’s work. To succeed in making a good piece of paperwork, the writer needs to have the imagination and creativity to write about certain niches. That’s the basics of every single writer in the world.

What is he thinking about and in which way? How does he understand things and life in general? What motivates him? Where does he find inspiration to write? All of those questions are pretty much common for the writer. They keep banging in their heads over and over again. Let’s get focused on what actually a writer is.

A professional writer is a person who wants to pass on others his thoughts and feelings about different areas through a written or printed form. Every writer has a theme that is the best at and usually, they keep their attention the most on the genre they prefer the most. But for a content writer is a little bit different.

Content writers need to possess a certain level of knowledge about many different areas so they can provide as much versatile content as possible. Usually, they use some helping tools, programs, books, etc to help them out in making their content much easier. All they need for working is a pencil or program (depending on the form of writing), and a clear mind. If his work is in printing form, he needs the appropriate program and its useful tools. All he has to achieve is write an interesting title, make some introduction, main part, and conclusion at the end.

Websites are the most common place where the content writer can publish his work, write blog posts or content brief and that can also be used as their portfolio. And to do that, he needs to fill in some requirements so his content can be fully completed.

Make a homepage
Write some paragraphs on the “about us” page
Press releases
Blog posts
Description of all listed things
Bios of the team members (if he has one)
Any form of downloadable content

SEO Writing Service

It is the usual thing that all websites related to content writing need SEO writing optimization. Do you wonder why they should use this?

It is because of the keywords. Every content has its own keywords that are used to emphasize the most important things in each paragraph. By using SEO, it is much easier to find an appropriate keyword that will attract people to read your content.

This way, you don’t have to bother yourself about which things you should emphasize in the text because an SEO content writing service will do it for you. Do you figure out how to write an SEO-optimized and readable article? You can find all the useful information on marcinkordowski.com

How Does Content Marketing Impact your Business?

Content marketing is something that can be truly beneficial to any kind of business. It doesn’t matter if you own a multi-million company or not, content marketing is an airplane to catch. You wonder why? Well, here are the answers.

Developing of the internet made the availability of getting information much easier. And with content marketing, people gained a totally new marketplace where they can purchase things they like. For example, you will see a purse in some shop on the street which costs $500. When you come back home and search for the same thing online you can find the exact type of purse for a more affordable price. And that’s where the magic of content marketing lies.

By raising the awareness of this, many people turned to shop online (Amazon, AliExpress) which is so beneficial for business.

Make Your Business Easy by Building Credibility

All content writer’s websites need certain credibility so they can sell their works much easier and faster. Truth be told, if you see some piece of a famous brand online you will not hesitate to buy it. But when you see something that has no proper authentication or reputation, you will think twice before you buy it, right? That’s the case because you know its credibility and you know it is not some fake copy.

By building credibility, your content gains a new dimension. If you manage to create it, the sky’s the limit for your business.

Social Media Related Content Writing

When we speak about content writing today, it is impossible to imagine it without social media’s role. Nowadays, millions of people keep using social media every day. Developing those media left an immense impact on every single field of life including business.

Today, there are many users of Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter that can buy or sell things in a blink of a second. One message and item has gone forever. And that is the fact that many successful people tried to and keep profiting from, including content writers.

Social media is a place where all the content has a higher price in the eyes of customers. All the brands are finding more creative ways daily to bring in their customers to the market and sell their products at a speed of light. Having that in mind, we have to say that social media truly has a big impact on business in every part of the world.

Conclusion

Content writing has been developing through the years with great speed. A lot of different possibilities are now open and more innovative ways of making money through the internet are available. Bear in mind that with the improvement of technology, many content writers can use that fact and bring their content to the best possible level. Thus, it has become a new branch of business that keeps improving day by day.

Laura C. Fields is a Master’s degree member of the essay writing world. She wanted to take the matter into her own hands so she created an essay writing service website to help students reach their goals. Just visit myadmissionessay review and convince yourself of what kinds of reviews she got so far!

Guide To Customer Communication While You Work From Home

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Roy Emmerson

Here we consider the best approaches and proven tactics that will help organizations improve customer communications when working remotely.

Working from home is the reality many of us have been dreaming about while others have been afraid of it. However, the coronavirus pandemic forced almost everyone to get used to remote work. It has exposed us to challenges that pushed us out of our comfort zone. One of them is a remote customer communication process. It has also become a big reason for businesses to love the Internet even more than before.

Communication is essential for project success, as it helps set trust-based relationships and mutual understanding between stakeholders. It provides smooth collaboration and results in business success. When most countries are locked at homes again, we need to rethink a customer communication strategy and adjust it to remote teamwork.

How to Approach Customer Communication in The New Normal

McKinsey & Company defines three pillars of clear messaging to customers during the pandemic: transparency, customer protection, and customer outreach.

Transparency means giving customers the behind-the-scenes views of the options you consider for them and perspectives that may come true for your business in the post-coronavirus world. Better to share honest predictions without sugar-coating, as it will help your company build trust with customers.

Customer protection implies that you need to add more compassion to customer communication procedures and inform people about measures taken to ensure a safe and convenient experience with a brand for them. “Now” requires us to keep in mind the overall social mood affected by global critical events. Thus, support teams should be even more empathic when communicating with customers.

Customer outreach means you should constantly keep the conversation with your customers across different channels. Talk to them, update them, and repeat the important information about the changes in your processes once again to ensure that it’s delivered successfully to everyone in your community.

Customer Communication Channels & Tactics You Should Know

Considering “psychological” approaches to customer service, it’s also essential to take a closer look at digital channels making communication with consumers more effective when you work from home. Many companies have started using VoIP phone systems as alternative solutions in times of uncertainty.

Other businesses have considered unified communications as the best option for improved workflow and customer relations. However, customer communication options aren’t limited to those mentioned above. Here we present proven tactics that will help businesses empower customer service.

Interact on Social Media

The first rule for digital business success is to be where your customers are. To be more specific, it’s on social media. Social networks are one of the most popular online communication channels. Imagine 74% of users log into Facebook at least once a day, with 51% of them logging in more than once a day.

Social media is the first place modern customers expect brands to interact with them the most quickly. Consider that 40% of customers who send complaints on social media expect the company’s reply within one hour.

With tools like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, businesses can answer customer queries almost instantly. Many organizations consider them as the most effective medium for customer service and create separate brand profiles entirely dedicated to customer support.

Incorporate a Live Chat

Live chat is a technology incorporated into a website that allows customers to stay in touch with their favorite brands round the clock. This customer service tactic has been widely used before and gained even more popularity today when most teams work remotely. With tools like HelpCrunch live chat, you can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty since your brand is always easily accessible online anytime.

Communicate via Email

Email communication might seem a traditional and very obvious practice. Probably, yes. However, it doesn’t also mean it’s inefficient. Emails are another way to stay in touch with customers while working remotely. According to research by Epsilon PeopleCloud Messaging, email is the most critical communication channel between companies and consumers because it’s personal, reliable, relevant, and targeted. Businesses can use email marketing to update customers about the changes in processes during the pandemic.

Use Video Conferencing

Another actionable tactic to get in touch with customers is by using video conferencing tools and apps like Skype. Along with the top productivity apps, they help improve the overall team collaboration and performance when you work from home. Although it might be challenging to apply to customer communication in B2C companies it is particularly efficient for the B2B world. When organizing real-life meetings has become unsafe and almost impossible due to travel restrictions, video calls have become even more important.

B2B customers may want to schedule a video call with the company to discuss their purchases or collaboration details. Thus, video conferencing tools are gaining popularity quickly, especially during the lockdown.

Engage Through The Content

However, all of these channels enable companies to set a direct and effective dialog with customers when teams work remotely, there is one more way to communicate with customers. It’s through the content. It’s recommended for businesses to reimagine their content strategies from the customer service perspective.

For example, your brand can assist customers remotely by publishing how-to articles, guides, tutorials, or explainer videos to enable people to provide self-service. You can also store the “help” content in special online knowledge libraries or the FAQ section on a website.

It’s crucial today since many people feel anxious regarding the challenges and innovations encountered during the coronavirus. While you might have heard tips about diversifying your content earlier, it’s now recommended to prioritize the content informativeness even if it requires sacrificing content diversity.

To Wrap It Up

Whether you are a B2B or B2C company, this guide to customer communication might be helpful. These actionable yet straightforward strategies will empower brands to cater to the target audience’s needs and increase loyalty. Hopefully, they have also inspired you to and will help you improve support service and bring customer relationships to the next level regardless of the coronavirus recession and pandemic.

[Infographic] Why Companies Need to Rethink Their Communication Strategy for Remote Teams by Team Communication App

Everything VPN newbies should know about enhancing online safety

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Stephen Marshall

Do you know how safe you are online? Do you know what the most widespread cybersecurity threats are? And, most importantly, do you know how VPNs can help you prevent cybersecurity attacks? Find the answers to all these questions by reading below!

Lately, everybody is talking about cybersecurity threats and how they are becoming more common than ever before. Now, this is no surprise, considering that technology is becoming more integrated into our lives by the day. We use technology on a daily basis for pretty much everything we do, from getting entertainment to ordering food, purchasing goods online, and working. So, now, it is more important than ever to consider your online security and safety when surfing the web, go through your emails, share photos on social media, or purchase goods on e-commerce sites.

Cybersecurity threats are a real thing, and they can cause you a lot of harm, from stealing your identity to stealing your financial details and empty your account. But, before we move forward to how virtual private networks can help you prevent this from happening, let’s dig deeper into the most common online safety threats you need to protect yourself from.

Common online safety threats

Not sure what kind of threats should you pay attention to? Here are the most common online safety threats that can put your security in danger.

Computer virus

The most common and widespread cybersecurity threat is the computer virus. It can literally affect anyone who uses a computer. What do computer viruses do? They alter the way your device operates and can cause a lot of damage, such as deleting your data or giving access to hackers to your important and private data.

Spyware threats

Spyware threats are another widespread threat, and some people would say the worst. This program basically monitors users’ online activity and provides hackers the opportunity to enter a users’ device without their content to steal personal information.

Phishing

Fake companies, businesses, or individuals practice phishing to steal personal and financial information. They pretend to be something they are not to convince their victims to provide them with their personal and financial information. They use fraudulent emails and messages to do it.

Hackers

It may seem like being a hacker is a well-paid job as there are more hackers out there than ever before. What do they do for a living? They create viruses, spyware, malware, and all the other cybersecurity threats that we’re telling you to protect yourself from.

What VPNs are?

Now you know what threats are out there in the digital world. But the real question is, how do you prevent them and stay safe online? Our answer is: by using a VPN. You can find a directory and rating of VPN and proxy services at proxy.info.

You’ve likely heard about VPNs before as they have been growing in popularity lately.

But what VPNs are? VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It creates a private network when you use the internet from a public connection by establishing secure and encrypted connections to provide greater privacy. A VPN can keep your browsing history private, change your real location, and keep your internet activities anonymous.

Benefits of VPNs

Why should you use a VPN? Virtual Private Networks provide plenty of benefits to users, including:

Remain anonymous online
Access to geo-restricted entertainment content
Access to geo-restricted news and content sites
Hide web browsing from the government
Access to torrent sites and other restricted download sites

The top benefits people use VPNs are because it allows them to access geo-blocked entertainment content from video streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon. It allows them to surf the web using public internet connections in a secure way.

WireGuard- an extra layer of protection

When you’re not feeling safe enough online, WireGuard can add an extra layer of protection.

WireGuard is a new technology related to VPN that has grown a lot in popularity lately among tech enthusiasts. WireGuard provides some really strong benefits such as speed and security features.

It is an open-source VPN technology that ensures improved security online using cryptography, a method of protecting data and information by using codes. It creates a faster and simpler use of the VPN, which is why it is an excellent online security tool for VPN newbies. For improved security, WireGuard can work with other VPN technologies. In this article you can see the best VPNs for Wireguard if you are interested in ensuring that your online activity is private and your security is top-notch.

Other things you can do to stay safe online

Use strong and complex passwords. Use different passwords for each of your accounts.
Keep your antivirus and security software up to date.
Consider using proxies to secure your online connection, there are plenty of cheap proxies available
Do not open links sent to you by brands or people you don’t know or trust.

The 3 Best VPNs Reddit Users Recommended in 2020

Posted on December 17, 2020 by Pete Brown

The emergence of the digital world paved the way for various information to be made available online. For this reason, more and more people are resorting to the internet to find any information, product, or service that they need. However, there are instances wherein some of the sites that you need may be restricted because of your location. This is where a reliable VPN connection comes in.

But What Is a VPN?

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, and based on its name, the service provides you with anonymity and privacy when you browse online. This is because the network masks your internet protocol (IP) address, which means that your online activities are rendered untraceable. For this reason, you are also allowed to access sites that are otherwise restricted in your location because the site is tricked into thinking that you are located somewhere else.

Top VPN for Reddit Users

Reddit is an online forum where you will be able to find valuable information about anything under the sun. All you need to do is to enter a forum where the specific topic that you have in mind is being discussed. When it comes to looking for the best VPN service that you can engage in, below are the top providers recommended by frequent Reddit users.

NordVPN

NordVPN is known to have more than 5000 servers across 59 countries, which makes it one of the fastest and most stable VPN providers available. For this reason, this is considered the top VPN on Reddit recommended by various users. This VPN service provider also boasts of military-grade encryption, as well as a cybersec technology. This ensures that your online browsing is private and secure.

NordVPN also implements a no-logs policy to ensure that your online activities are untraceable once you connect to their network. The great part is that this VPN service provider even blocks annoying advertisements that may otherwise pop up as you are streaming videos and shows. When you subscribe to this VPN service, you will also be eligible for a 30-day money-back guarantee, which means that in case you are not satisfied with their service, you can terminate your subscription within a month and have your money back.

ExpressVPN

The second place on the list is occupied by ExpressVPN, which is also one of the fastest networks available for various subscribers. The reason behind this is that they have a vast number of servers that span over 90 countries worldwide. This service is also compatible with a wide number of browsers, which means that your browsing activities will not be limited to the use of a particular browser.

ExpressVPN is running on trusted server technology, and they do have reliable customer service support, which is available any time of the day, any day of the week. Like with NordVPN, ExpressVPN also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, which helps their new subscribers assess their comfort in using the network before they fully utilize its services. The best part is that this service works well with various on-demand streaming services, including Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and Amazon Video, to name a few.

Surfshark

If you have some budget constraints, then you should go for Surfshark, which rounds up the top three VPN services that are widely recommended by several Reddit users. Even if it is comparably cheaper than the first two VPN services mentioned above, it still boasts of a fast service because it has almost two thousand servers running in more than 60 countries worldwide. Like with ExpressVPN, it also works with a lot of on-demand streaming services, paving the way for users to view various geo-blocked content.

Like with NordVPN, Surfshark also has a stringent no-log policy, as well as an automatic kill switch, which ensures that your account is not compromised. It also features military-grade encryption and a CleanWeb functionality, making it one of the most secure VPN services available too. Like with the two VPN services mentioned beforehand, Surfshark also offers its new subscribers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

In this modern-day and age, there no longer seems to be a limit on what you can accomplish online. Just keep in mind to prioritize your safety as you browse through the internet because the digital world is still filled with those having malicious intentions. In this case, choose between one of the top VPNs listed above, and not only will your surfing prove to be more secure, but you will even get to access sites that are otherwise restricted on your location.

Energize your Storefront with Attractive Textile Frames

Posted on December 17, 2020 by Marunis Nutma

Attractive textile frames can feature your products and bring in new customers. You can change them easily, making eye catching displays that draw people to your business. Drukbedrijf has recently expanded its range of textile frames. In addition to free-standing and wall frames, you can now also choose LED and ceiling frames. This way you can provide every place in your store, showroom, store window, office or other space with a beautiful visual design.

Change your Advertisements in Minutes

The advantage of a textile frame with a canvas is that the cloth us super easy to change. This way you can change prints every action, promotion or every season. On the textile frame there is a mechanism that allows you to easily tension the fabric into the frame. So a textile frame is ideal as a temporary advertising tool!

Eyecatcher: Textile frame with LED

Are you in retail and would you like to have your shop window to light up the evening? Then opt for a textile frame with LED lighting! With the help of the uniformly distributed lighting, the colors of your fabric come to life. Even in the dark! A textile frame with lighting is available as a free-standing textile frame and as a wall frame.

Advantages of a free-standing textile frame

You can use a freestanding textile frame as a display for in a store or store window. Another way to use the frame freestanding is as a partition. Ideal to create more privacy or divide up a space.

Textile frame with photo

And textile frame is not only ideal for business use. You can also use it to freshen up a room at home! Printing on a textile cloth gives a sleek and razor-sharp end result. A textile frame is ideal if you quickly get bored of an interior piece, because you can change your image or design regularly. The textile cloths with tendon can be ordered separately.

In addition to various textile frames, you can also contact Drukbedrijf for all your other printing work. For example, you can have the super popular tissue paper (translation: vloeipapier) printed with your own design. This relatively new product is popular because it gives your packaging a more luxurious look in no time. Because the online print shop excels with challenge. Contact them for special customization. No challenge is avoided!

How a Website Downtime Can Affect Your Business (and How to Prevent It)

Posted on December 16, 2020 by Charlene Brown

When it comes to owning a website, it’s vital that you do everything on your end in order to ensure that your website is fully functional and hence doesn’t suffer from any regular bouts of downtime. Downtime leads to many drawbacks that are ultimately going to affect your SEO, increase the bounce rates, as well as tarnish your companies credibility and sometimes even lose your loyal customers. All of this is going to cost you sales and revenue, which is something that you definitely want to prevent.

All of that being said though, what are the main causes of downtime, and what can you do exactly in order to prevent it?

In this article, we are going to discuss the most prominent reasons why websites go down, as well as how can you ensure that you minimize the possibility of that happening.

What’s dangerous about websites being down?

As we have previously mentioned, website downtime is pretty much synonymous with profit loss. The exact amount of money that a business will lose as a result of downtime varies from website to website.

One of the more extreme examples is when one minute of website downtime in 2018 caused Amazon.com to lose around $1.57 million every minute. Now, surely, most sites aren’t going to see such a drastic loss as Amazon did, but even though that is the case, no company can really afford to just throw away profits like that, especially since they could easily be saved – considering proper planning and failsafes aren’t being overlooked.

What circumstances cause website downtime?

Website downtime is, in most cases, curated by similar factors. Once you get to understand them, you can take all the necessary measures in order to minimize the possibility of the website downtime happening for longer than a couple of minutes, even seconds.

The most prominent factors that result in a website downtime include planned downtime due to different upgrades or tweaks, hardware or software malfunctions, malicious attacks from a third party, as well as different issues caused by your hosting providers. It’s crucial that you keep these issues in mind, as well as that you take time to understand why and how do they happen in order to be able to begin to develop a plan that’s going to minimize your website’s downtime, or so that you can improve a plan that for dealing with such scenarios if you already have one.

Make sure that you have a plan for these scenarios

It is vital that you remember the fact that your website’s uptime isn’t something that should solely be ascribed as the responsibility of your hosting provider. As experts on this topic from magento maintenance services explain, planning on how to minimize website downtime starts as early as website design. Basically, a proper website designer is going to make sure that all the necessary precautions and measures on their end have been made even before the website has actually launched.

Another important precaution regarding planning is to partner with a quality website monitoring service. Basically, they are going to be able to will notify you the very moment that your website downtime has occurred in order for you to be able to immediately go to work so that you can fix the issue or perhaps put a failsafe plan into place if the issue has happened to be a result of your hosting service. Magento as an ecommerce platform can be used to specifically cater to you and your business and customer needs.

Take time to look for quality providers

It’s vital to note that quality providers aren’t only going to notify you of a total website failure, but they are also going to ensure that you are notified of any existent trends that could indicate that your site is going to go down. They are also going to notify you of any performance issues, and the best of providers will even allow you to put failsafes into place automatically.

Communication is vital

Make sure that you remember that you alone are able to put the above-mentioned failsafes and precautions into action and still happen to encounter unexpected downtime in addition to already planned downtime that your site encounters. So, what’s the best way to handle these issues? Basically, it all boils down to communication.

Make sure that you utilize social media platforms in order to communicate any issues regarding both planned and unplanned downtime with people that visit your website. When it comes to unplanned downtime, it’s best that you maintain transparency throughout the incident. It’s crucial that you provide updates regarding how the issue is being handled as well as when the site can be expected to be up again.

In case of planned downtime, you should post a notice to the pages of your site days prior to it happening in addition to doing so on social media. The more you communicate with your audience, the higher the chance that they are going to be forgiving when the downtime occurs.

To wrap things up

In the end, it all comes down to taking time to do all the research necessary in order to be well informed about both the reasons and the results of these scenarios. Doing so is going to enable you to plan in advance, hence making the possibility of downtime affecting your company way lower.

4 of the Top Reasons Why Businesses Use SMS

Posted on December 15, 2020 by Alex Sanders

When it comes to communicating ideas quickly, there’s nothing better than text messaging. Yet despite using it frequently in their everyday lives, many business owners fail to consider the value SMS could bring to their companies. Could it be a good fit for you?

Top Ways SMS is Used for Business

As you know from your own life, SMS is versatile and convenient. And though businesses can find applications in nearly every aspect of their organizations, three specific opportunities tend to garner most of the focus:

Internal communications. One of the top use cases for SMS is as a tool for internal communications. With the right SMS software in place, it’s possible to leverage text messaging for sending out company updates and event reminders, coordinating work schedules, notifying staff of weather-related emergencies and closures, educating employees on HR policies, and even gathering internal feedback.

Marketing. SMS is one of the most efficient and direct marketing channels. While it does require some effort to collect phone numbers and make sure you’re following SMS rules and regulations, the results are excellent. You basically have direct access to your customers whenever you need to reach them.

Customer service. In certain industries, SMS provides a simple and straightforward customer service option that’s faster than email, less intrusive than a phone call, and incredibly cost-effective.

Businesses typically start with one of these applications and then eventually add other ones into the mix. It’s up to you to determine when and where you’ll integrate SMS text marketing company into your business.

4 Reasons SMS is a Wise Investment

There are ample reasons to use SMS. If you speak with leaders in organizations that have begun implementation, you’ll discover benefits such as:

1. Increased Productivity

An employee always has their phone with them. Research shows that 97 percent of text messages are opened within 15 minutes of delivery, with a whopping 99 percent opened all together. Thus, an investment in SMS is basically a guarantee that your message is going to be opened, which subsequently drives productivity through the roof.

Whether you’re sending a link or a notification, this speed makes it easier to get more done in less time. And that’s pretty much the definition of what it means to be productive.

2. Improved Speed of Communication

When you want an employee to do something quickly, you want the most efficient form of communication possible – the option that will get the message to them in the least amount of time. And while email might be better than snail mail, it’s certainly not the fastest choice.

SMS is far superior to email, and you can use texting alternatives on many occasions. There are many similarities between SMS and Email. Both can be automated. Both can carry your corporate messaging. But customers are more likely to respond to SMS.

This has less to do with the actual speed of delivery (an email can be delivered in seconds, too) and more to do with the fact that people are more likely to see an SMS notification before an email notification. (The majority of people will see it within three minutes.)

Even if it’s just a few minutes, saving time in communication can mean the difference between making a massive, costly mistake and executing with poise and precision.

3. More Convenience

Is there anything more convenient than being able to shoot a quick message with a link? Unlike email, where you have to spend a lot of time thinking up what to write, recipients of a text message have an expectation that the message will be short and to the point. This makes it much easier on the brand. No long platitudes or lead-in; just deliver the offer and be on your way.

4. Highly Profitable

From a marketing perspective, SMS is a very profitable investment. It costs just pennies to send a message, and with open rates and engagement that’s many times larger than other mediums, it’s a very worthwhile investment. Many business owners fail to consider the value that sending bulk SMS text messages could bring to their companies.

Some companies report ROI of 500 percent or more, with some brands claiming returns of 30X. It obviously depends on how you use it, but it’s good to know that gains like these exist.

Give SMS a Try

SMS has the power to take your communications, marketing, and efficiency to the next level. Make 2021 the year that you elevate your business and soar to new heights, all while lowering costs and streamlining complex processes.

Simple Solutions to the Most Common Internet Connectivity Problems You’ll Encounter

Posted on December 14, 2020 by Charlene Brown

When running a business, your internet connection must be stable and fast since you’re dealing with corporate data along with your clients’ data. In other words, employers and employees alike must vigilantly maintain online security. However, you will likely encounter some common connectivity problems; they’re part and parcel of getting your organization up and running. Therefore, you must know how to handle issues as they arise, or better yet, prevent them from occurring in the first place. So, on that note, let’s take a look at the common internet connectivity issues you’re likely to face and their straightforward solutions.

Limited Bandwidth

Limited bandwidth is a widespread problem in the corporate world. No matter how big or small your business, the more people interacting on your network, the more bandwidth you’ll need. Employees and customers expect your Wi-Fi to work efficiently, and if it doesn’t, it reflects poorly on your organization.

When offering free Wi-Fi to your customers and staff, you must consider how many people you intend to support. Use the Robert Moskowitz rule, which is ‘120 kilobits per second for each user.’ In other words, you’ll need 1.2 megabits per second for ten users, and this will increase with more users. Estimate how much you’ll need and then compare prices at local internet service providers to get the right bandwidth level to suit your needs.

Insecure Networks

Insecure networks can cause a lot of trouble for both employees and customers because it makes private and sensitive information vulnerable to cybercriminal activity. If people cannot make personal transactions, such as credit card payments, over your network, you will be risking your business’ security and your customers’ security, too. If you receive a notice stating that your connection is not private, this error message is your browser informing you that the website you are trying to reach is not secure. You must ensure that your network is safe to access for everyone involved. Shared access points can also be very risky, so it is best to consider two different access points for employees and customers. A Wi-Fi hotspot is an ideal solution as it helps keep your network secured.

Always have your router’s security protocol set to the highest setting. Try to use Wi-Fi Protected Access, aka WPA, for a more robust security level – you can also take it up a notch by setting it to an even higher level, like WPA2. If your router does not support this security level, then you can either update your firmware or exchange it for something that will protect your network. In any case, avoid settling for Wired Equivalent Privacy, aka WEP, as the general consensus is that its security is relatively weak and will likely compromise your business’ network’s efficiency and safety.

Bad Wi-Fi Network

Similarly, a bad Wi-Fi network can also put your company’s reputation at risk. If you regularly encounter customers asking to restart the router, it means that something is improperly configured in your network, making it difficult for users to connect. Recurring connectivity problems are a sign that you have a bad Wi-Fi network, and when you are connected to the internet, the connection is probably slow or unstable.

Troubleshoot your connection to find out what is improperly configured to ensure your Wi-Fi equipment isn’t the cause of a dropping connection or slow speed. All you need to do is identify whether the cause is that your router is old, your firmware is old, or there’s some interference with nearby networks. Moreover, check the router location, and extend the connection to reach more employees and customers if necessary.

Slow Connection

A slow connection is going to frustrate your employees and possibly put your clients off your business. Studies show that if content takes too long to load, people exit the site or platform, refrain from downloading email attachments, or may switch to a different network; this will not bode well for your business. Slow connections are easy to fix and require a similar solution to a bad Wi-Fi network. Check the router location, upgrade it with an extension, and gauge whether the slow speed is due to any nearby network interference.

No business owner wants to put their clients’ or employees’ sensitive information at risk, nor do they want insufficient internet connections to frustrate customers to the point they decide not to deal with your company. It’s crucial that you address these common network problems before they escalate. With the above guide, you’ll know what to watch out for to prevent things like a slow internet speed from messing up your operations.

4 Tips for Finding the Right UK VPN Provider

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Jack Charlie

British TV has definitely always been appealing. From the news channels such as BBC to all kinds of entertaining shows and programs, the UK definitely has a lot to offer. It is easy to watch them if you are located in the UK. The moment you step foot out of the country, you will have to work harder to keep up with your favorite.

Did you know you can stream UK TV anywhere from anywhere around the world? It definitely sounds appealing to everyone, but not everyone knows that this is possible. You can turn this dream into reality with the simple help of a virtual private network, also known as a VPN.

What is a VPN

Do you know what a VPN is in the first place? If not, let me offer some quick explanations. This is like your very own, private channel through which you can browse anything you want online without being detected by third parties. Protecting your privacy online is one of its main purposes, but there is definitely another purpose worth mentioning and it is the one that will allow you to enjoy your favorite shows no matter where it is that you are located.

Here’s that second purpose I am talking about. By using a virtual private network, you can make it appear as if you were located just about anywhere you want, without ever leaving your very own home. This change of locations sounds amazing, but the real question is why it is actually necessary at all. Well, let’s put it simply. When you start using a VPN and change your location to somewhere in the UK, you will be able to watch their TV programs without any troubles whatsoever.

That is exactly what you have been aiming for, is it not? The whole point of the research you have probably been doing on this topic is to manage to watch UK TV even though you are not located in that country. Well, if you give virtual private networks a chance, you will certainly be happy with the easiness of the whole process, as well as with all the shows that you will be able to stream.

Here’s a nice read that can help you understand how a VPN works.

How to Find the Right Provider

The first thing you need to understand when you decide that you want to use a VPN is that there are quite a lot of providers out there. Yes, these services are offered by many companies. There is no single go-to virtual private network on the market.

This is not a decision that should be made on the spur of the moment. It is not like you can just start using the services of the first provider you come across and be happy with what you receive. Well, okay, this is certainly a scenario that can in fact happen, but actually researching the providers in order to choose the best one is a much better idea. If nothing else, doing that guarantees that what you are trying to do will actually work.

In other words, it guarantees that you will be able to watch UK TV from anywhere around the world without hitting any annoying snags. So, instead of just randomly picking out your provider, do yourself a favor and research those providers before making your decision. Let me offer some tips on how to find the perfect UK VPN provider in order to help you make that important choice.

Check Device Compatibility

Unsurprisingly, the first thing you will need to do is check whether a particular VPN you have set your eyes on is actually compatible with the specific devices that you are using. You do not want to end up paying for a service that will not work on all your devices. Compatibility is the first thing to keep in mind. Here are some tips on how to make this choice.

Check the Number of UK Servers

Your ultimate goal is to watch UK TV, right? If that’s precisely why you are searching for a VPN provider, then you will need to check the number of UK servers they actually offer. The less servers offered, the lower your chances of being able to stream any content whatsoever. The number of servers will also affect your speed, so make sure to check this before deciding on using the services.

Look for Reliable Customer Service

Even if you do everything right and find a VPN with a lot of UK servers, chances are that you might come across a few issues while streaming. That’s when you will need an expert to solve the problem. Due to that, you should look for a provider that offers great and reliable customer service, so that you can be sure your issues will be solved successfully.

Inspect Provider Reputation

It should go without saying that you need to find a reputable provider that will protect your personal data. Believe it or not, you can stumble upon some ill-reputed providers that will sell your data to third parties. That is certainly not what you want, so make sure you do your homework and check their reputation.

Situations That Virtual Private Networks Can Help You With

Posted on December 6, 2020 by Pete Brown

A VPN usually has one primary role, masking your online activity when connected to public Wi-Fi. The VPN will forward your browsing activity to your VPN provider instead of your internet connection provider. The VPN allows you to access your business network from home without leaking sensitive information to prying eyes. If you are wondering which particular situations you will need to use VPN, here are a few of them:

Public Wi-Fi Threats

You walk to a café, open your laptop, and connect to the free Wi-Fi available there. You are so happy that the connection isn’t buffering. You decide now is the perfect time to check on your friends, finish some office work you left pending, and maybe order a few items you had intended to order online. You spend around five hours there, very happy, and later walk away, proud that you had done a lot without any charges.

What you don’t know is that all that time, you had all your information out in the open that anybody with the right skills would have quickly tapped into your browsing details and maybe laid their hands on your credit card information. The next thing you know, there has been a massive withdrawal from your account you are not aware of. A VPN would be your savior to avoid such security loopholes. Sto Adams from Net Geek Pro says that having a VPN-concentrator is becoming more and more important to businesses these days when many people are working from home. The piece of hardware ensures the secure management of data flow from different users, some of whom use public Wi-Fi. From small to large, businesses can protect sensitive and confidential data from falling into the wrong hands.

Accessing Restricted Content

Have you ever visited YouTube, so excited to watch a particular video only to find out that your country has been blocked from viewing it? This is common. Well, streaming services like YouTube usually have millions of viewers watching videos from different locations, and due to copyright restrictions, some contents are blocked from being watched in certain countries. When you live in such a state, then a VPN is your best solution.

The VPN server’s address replaces your IP address, and the video providers cannot pinpoint your exact location on the globe. You can, therefore, watch a US limited video even from Africa. Don’t let your country’s regulations prevent you from accessing all the information and fun that people in other nations are having.

When Making Bargains On Online Transactions

When buying something abroad or even traveling, sometimes your location can attract extra charges. For example, when you are in India going to Rome, you might be charged an additional fee when making a hotel booking. However, if your IP address shows that you are in Rome, you can easily evade the extra charge and make your travel experience cheaper. VPN will always make sure that your exact location cannot be pinpointed, and hence you can utilize such an opportunity.

VPNs can be useful when you need online privacy and security, especially when using public connections. They can be used by individuals as well as businesses who value data security. The above are just a few of the many situations where a VPN can help.

What Startups Should Do When a Software Problem Happens

Posted on December 2, 2020 by Charlene Brown

Fixing a software problem can be a huge headache for many startup owners. However great the technology may be, it’s only great while everything works spotlessly; otherwise, it will just waste your time and resources. If you are experiencing a software problem within your startup, here are some of the steps you should follow to fix it as soon as possible and with the least amount of stress.

Find out What the Problem Is

It doesn’t matter how big or small the problem you are confronting is, as a rule of thumb, there is only one type of approach that will guarantee you success, and that is an “effective problem-solving” approach. To effectively decrease the time needed for the problem to be solved, you must have a fundamental and technical understanding of all the technology your startup uses. The unique perception of your specific startup technology will give you a unique and better insight to solve the problem at hand. Once you have found out what the exact problem with your software is, you will know what you are going up against. Only then will you be able to make the best plan to solve the problem, and you will be able to compare the strategies to decide which steps should be taken.

Work With Your Team

No matter how big or small the business is, there are always different branches within it that work together. One important question that needs to be asked is exactly which branch of your startup is experiencing software problems. A good way to find out if the problem is in accounting or, for example, in the sales department of your startup is to consult your whole team. If you don’t know who is experiencing the problem, you won’t be able to put your best efforts into solving it, and you could end up in an opposite direction that doesn’t even pose a problem. Find out if the problem at hand is experienced by a single user, a whole department, or the entire main office, including the remote branch offices.

Bring in Some Outside Opinions

As we’ve mentioned earlier, sometimes it can become clear that you need to involve someone outside of your company to solve the problem your startup is experiencing. Luckily for you, many experienced services offer you IT support for small business, should you need it. These services come in handy if your startup has a busy schedule, which prevents you from using the expertise of your employers to solve the problem without getting behind on your work. Some additional benefits of hiring experts outside of your office are that they specialize in solving these kinds of problems daily, leaving them with a lot of experience. And experience offers them unique insight into the problem, which allows them to solve it much faster.

IT Troubleshooting

If you happen to be experiencing a severe problem, you might get tangled up in all the possible solutions and the questions that lead to it. Getting ahead of yourself can only irritate you and your employees, meaning the problem is yet to be solved, but with an inconvenience too. To help you improve your troubleshooting skills, the most helpful questions you can ask are when the problem started and whether it’s constant or it happens on occasion. Furthermore, you should ask if some recent changes could potentially be the cause of the problem your startup is experiencing. If you can recreate the problem, take the time to do so because it can be very beneficial in cases where you might need to involve third-party technical support.

Avoid the Same Problem in the Future

There’s nothing quite like the feeling you get after you’ve solved the problem that was giving you a huge headache. It doesn’t matter who solved it, whether it was the staff within your startup or you went to help an outside source, the problem is bygones. You should enjoy this problem while it lasts. After all, as you very well know, you need to make sure you don’t go down this path ever again because you’ve spent so much time stressing out, and you probably spent a lot of money. Once the problem gets solved for good, focus your attention on finding the cause and do your best to prevent the same from happening to your startup ever again.

Being at the helm of a startup means there are many aspects for you to handle at once, however, any kind of IT issue should be your priority. Luckily for you, if you follow all these steps, your software problem is very likely to disappear at the speed of light. Be sure to prevent this problem from ever having to occur again.