There are a lot of things you need to consider in the manufacturing process, the control, arrangement, labor allocation, and optimization of work. Imagine doing all of this manually, really time, and effort consuming. It is why scheduling serves a big part in this. Production scheduling plays an important role hence the hard part of manufacturing. If any part of production fails, then delays occur. We can prevent conflict like this if there is an efficient timeline followed. Here are four reasons why you should consider doing production scheduling.
Communication Channel
One of the main things needed in production is having communication. It is kind of hard having to go through many platforms to disseminate the information regarding the whole manufacturing process. Nowadays, life in manufacturing can get a little easier through the use of Production Scheduling Software. Through this software, manufacturers can receive concise information regarding manufacturing schemes. By implementing this, manufacturers will discern what to expect and what to decipher toward the whole organization. It can be a very efficient communication tool. Clear and precise information will make the entire set produce a commending outcome.
Boost Priorities
Production scheduling does a lot of help in manufacturing. One of the most prominent support it provides is prioritizing requirements within the supply chain. The software analyzes the demands and determines what needs to prioritize first. Production scheduling assures that the demand product meets the supplies produced within the scheduled time frame. It also prevents nightmares of the team, the missed deliveries. Using a system that monitors the flow of the production can eliminate inefficiencies within the supply chain.
Keep up with the Target
It can be such a hassle when you didn’t meet the target delivery of supply. However, when you utilize production scheduling, you can create optimized programs that balance the efficiency of production and the performance of deliveries. Worry less about the possible delays and conflict when the suppliers can’t deliver the materials on time since you can monitor where you need to focus when you do proper scheduling.
Manage Tasks
Through production scheduling, you will be able to have a closer look at the demand and adjust for possible changes to occur. You can also minimize idle time at your workshop through equal and efficient distribution of workloads. You can recognize inefficiencies that may lead to a production bottleneck that stalls in production, proffers pressure from customers, and causes low morale of the employees. This restrained capacity affects the whole chain. Nevertheless, you can still manage to have a stabilized and steady flow of production when you effectively implement production scheduling.
Production scheduling helps the organization to provide real-time agendas and accurate outcomes that match the promised schedule. There will be a prevention of having discrepancies and inconsistencies in production. You can achieve a positive result such as ameliorated delivery performance, profit hike, and reduced cost and inventories. There is no reason why you should not execute production scheduling.
4 Reasons Why You Should Consider Doing Production Scheduling was last modified: October 18th, 2020 by Allen Brown
The franking machine was first developed over a century ago in 1884 by a Norwegian engineer, Engle Frankmussler, who was passionate about solving the security problems plaguing the postal system of that time. The post has been, unfortunately, often tampered with, misdelivered, and in some cases, outright stolen. The postal system was fraught with difficulty and made delivering posts very difficult and in some cases impossible. The postage payment system was also very difficult for many postmasters to regulate and control. Because of this, Frankmussler, tired and annoyed, stepped up and developed the first franking machine.
Franking machines are used in one form or another throughout the world. They are an integral part of how global mail is processed, and if it were not for them, our mail system would still be antiquated and fraught with corruption. This page will hope to tell you what you can use a franking machine for – and what the benefits of a franking machine are. Franking machines offer great benefits to the postal system and make the lives of postmasters and postmen much easier. Here is what you can use a franking machine for, as well as the benefits of a franking machine.
Reduced Postage Costs
Franking machines are a great aid in reducing the amount of money that is spent on postage costs. If it were not for a franking machine you would, in theory, be required to go to and from the post office collecting large numbers of stamps for every single item that needs to be posted. Now, according to the professionals at FPmailing.co.uk, by using a franking machine you can gain access to discounted Royal Mail mail mark rates. These are considerably reduced, and a much better alternative to spending a fortune on postage stamps.
Reduction in Manpower
Not only can a franking machine save you money on postage costs, but it can save you money in the amount of manpower you require in your postal room. For a large business, a lot of mail will be expected to be dispatched every single day, as is the same in many small businesses too. Franking machines can significantly reduce the number of people you need to work in your mailroom, thereby reducing your outgoing expenditure, and meaning you can employ (and pay) fewer people. A mailroom with a franking machine needs only a few people to operate and dispatch the mail, as opposed to ten or fifteen to hand stamp every single letter and parcel.
Discounts
Not only can you save a whole heap of money by using franking machines, but you are also entitled to regular discounts by your post authority. Generally, you are entitled to a discount (in America) of up to five cents per standard mail item posted. This gradually adds up and contributes to very large discounts. It is clear to see that, just from the last three points, franking machines are a great benefit to any business, large or small, and can save you a lot of money.
Convenience
Not only does a franking machine save you the money of buying stamps, but it also saves you the time you would have lost by having to attend the post office so frequently. This is a fantastic alternative to having to go and spend hours in queues waiting to buy stamps or postage. It also saves you the time that would have to be invested into spending hours hand stamping every single letter or parcel that is required to be dispatched from your company to other companies or customers.
Security
The security offered by franking machines was the whole reason it was first created over a hundred years ago. Franking machines allow you to see who exactly has been using your machine and whether or not anything has been tampered with. Once it has been marked by the stamping machine, on many machines, employees are required to log their employee reference number so that you can determine who has been using your machine – which means if any mail has been dealt with improperly or has been used to commit fraud, you can identify which employee was responsible for doing so.
Promotional Purposes
You can use franking machines for the purposes of promotion, instead of other methods. As you are able to stamp whatever you desire on the parcels and letters, this means you will be able to stamp promotional deals and advertisements on there as well; this is fantastic for businesses who are trying to draw in more business or clientele.
Now, with the help of this page, you know everything one may need to know about the many uses (and benefits) of franking machines. Franking machines are a great addition to any mailroom. Once you have one, you will wonder why you ever lived without one.
What Can You Use Franking Machines for in 2020? was last modified: October 16th, 2020 by Allen Brown
Whether your business has been using remote workers for years or has just started doing so; there are some unique challenges you need to overcome to get the most out of the setup.
To help you benefit from employing remote workers, here are five tips to help you perfect the process.
Get the Right Setup
Before you start hiring lots of new remote workers, it’s important to make sure you’ve got the right setup. If you don’t have this in place, it’s going to be impossible to get the most out of whoever you hire, and you’re going to waste their and your time.
Make sure that you’ve got everything you need to communicate with your potential employee, and that you can easily share the information you need to share.
You might have an urgent need to transition to remote workers, but you’ve got to make sure you’re investing in remote work monitoring software at the same time.
Invest in the Hiring Process
Just because this employee will be working remotely doesn’t mean you should pay any less attention to the hiring process. You still need to find the right person for the job, and they still need to be a good fit with your company.
The process of hiring online might look a little bit different, but you’ve got to find a way that allows you to get to know your candidates. Remote workers are the same as office-based ones, you need the right people, and you don’t want to be looking for new employees constantly, so put the effort in to get the decision right the first time.
Sort Out Payroll
Make sure that everything is set up with your payroll to accommodate remote workers. There shouldn’t be much difference in this aspect between a remote worker and an office-based one, but it’s worth double-checking to make sure you’ve got everything sorted.
When an employee isn’t physically meeting with you, it’s important for trust that payments go through on time and correctly. With the right payroll software, you can ensure this is all taken care of automatically, and you don’t have to worry about it.
Furthermore, if your remote team includes employees working overseas, partnering up with an EOR that offers Global Payroll Services will simplify the entire process.
Work on Communication
When you’ve got the right software setup, this becomes much easier, but you’ve still got to make sure you’re focusing on communication.
When you’ve got everyone working in one office, communication should come naturally, but when you’re dealing with remote workers, you have to work a bit harder at it. That doesn’t mean you can’t communicate even better than when your staff are working from the office; it just presents slightly different challenges.
Keep People Involved
Make sure that you’re giving your remote workers regular feedback and make them feel like they’re part of the company. They might be working remotely, but they’re still working towards the same goals as everyone else.
You must continue to give them a sense of identity within the company by keeping them up to date with what’s going on and involving them in what’s happening.
Tips for Working with Remote Workers was last modified: December 1st, 2022 by Carol Trehearn
Business communication involves various means of sharing information with people within and outside the organization. In the digital-driven workplace, secure and robust communication strategies are crucial to productivity and good customer relations. From top management memos to project deadlines and customer communications, there are numerous reasons why a business should secure communication methods to communicate internally and externally. Part of running a company means protecting your employees’ and clients’ data. Understanding the availability, affordability, benefits, and drawbacks of various communication options will help a business choose secure and convenient tools.
SMS
In a world that loves novelty, a humble SMS has stood the test of time. SMS remains the most popular, affordable, and ubiquitous way for business communication. It is predicted that by 2020 SMS will have an expanded reach, and 48.7 million clients will opt to receive business SMS.
To ease sending and receiving SMS, you can integrate an SMS API to your business application. This enables you to send SMS messages all over the world with backup solutions. The API makes text message communication cheaper as you can buy bulk messages and even install a prepaid plan where your clients can send back feedback for free. People can view SMS as a nuisance in some cases. Therefore, you have to create very informative content.
Whether you are scheduling an appointment, waiting for a ride from Lyft, or just getting notifications about your pizza delivery, it feels good to be kept in the loop. Mass texting campaigns shouldn’t be about your brand, they should be about the customer. You can make your text updates helpful and interesting so customers have a reason to stay on your list. Offering exclusive promotions, deals, or coupons will go a long way to maintaining your list.
Face to Face Conversations
While technology is an excellent tool for communications, businesses still value face-to-face conversations. Verbal communication is used to express opinions, discuss ideas, persuade listeners, and relay orders. Your team members have different preferences and personalities, and some may be more comfortable dealing with issues on a one-on-one basis. However, one-on-one conversations are not always possible, especially when people are not in the same geographic location.
Your client will be happier when talking to your marketing personnel in person compared to that email sent to her. Also, face-to-face communications are relatively safe. In-person conversations between employees will help solidify the team and build trust within the organization.
The most significant benefit of in-person conversations is you can interpret non-verbal cues and study body language to get immediate feedback. To ensure your communication is private, you have to converse in a secure location or private room.
Chat Apps
There has been an emergence of many chat apps that offer a quick form of conversing. Some apps like WhatsApp have end-to-end encryption that ensures the security of the app. The majority of these apps have a mobile and desktop version, which increases their flexibility.
Phone calls
Phone systems have been used in business communication for a long time. You may be wondering why they remain an invaluable business communication tool. After video calls, voice calls are the closest form of one-on-one conversation. Both communicators can get immediate feedback. It also offers real human interaction and gives your company a personal voice that clients can associate with.
Like other means of communication, phone calls can be tapped by the authority to obtain a warrant. Passive surveillance could also be happening on your phone, which means that your phone data, such as messages and phone records, are not safe. In many states, recording phone calls are legal as long as the parties involved are aware. Data stored on your phone can be hacked using spoofing and social engineering, a process commonly referred to as SIM card hijacking.
People love using emails because it is a form of documenting communication. People should be careful with what they send via email, as it can be used as evidence in court. Emails offer flexibility as they can be used to communicate with one or many individuals in different locations. This mode of communication is cheap and convenient. Email breaches are prevalent these days. Recently, more than 773 million outlook emails were compromised. Beyond violations, emails are subject to data analysis and advertising. However, emails for personal use such as Gmail allow advertisers to send adverts based on your email contents. You cannot be assured of privacy since the management and IT personnel can view your emails.
The ideal means of business communication will be dictated by the availability, affordability, and security. Sensitive information will call for more secure means.
Safe and Secure Means of Business Communication was last modified: June 28th, 2023 by Allen Brown
There are 2 things on Facebook that you need in order to get more recognition:
Likes on your Facebook posts.
Likes (followers) on your Facebook page.
The two sorts of Likes are significant. Actually, they drive one another. The more Likes you get on your posts, the more Likes you’ll receive on your page. Furthermore, the more Likes you receive on your page (the more supporters you get), the more Likes you’ll get on your posts.
You should start with aiming to get more Likes on your Facebook posts first.
How to Get More Likes on Facebook Posts?
Your Facebook posts are vital. Successful posts – the ones that get huge amounts of engagement – will hugely affect your page.
Truth be told, getting greater engagement on your posts will profit your Facebook page more than all else you do.
Your objectives ought to be the following:
Get individuals to focus on your posts
Get individuals to draw in with your posts (ie. Click on them)
Get individuals to share your posts with others
If you get your audience to do these 3 things, your posts will reach more people – and they’ll spread your post far and wide all over the Facebook system! At that point individuals who’ve never known about your brand will see your posts… and a significant number of them will Like your page in order to see more.
If you continue sharing great posts, they’ll continue engaging with your page. Furthermore, every time they engage with your page, they’ll send a sign showing Facebook to give them to an ever increasing extent and a greater amount of your posts. THAT, old buddy, is the objective!
Once Facebook is reaching your posts to many individuals, you would then be able to make the next stride for your business: You can begin distributing posts with links to your site!
These posts will send traffic on your site and transform your Facebook fans into subscribers, clients, and at last: brand advocates! And you can buy them, still some of you wonders form where to buy these likes then here is a complete list of sites selling these likes and followers.
How would I make Facebook posts that individuals focus, like and share?
It’s really not hard! Beneath I’ll share 8 strategies that are ensured to get it going.
1. Be Consistent
Consistency is significant with regards to social media. If you don’t post for quite a long time, your followers may lose interest for you and unfollow. In order to stay in their feed, you have to post continuously.
Post a minimum of 5 times each week so you’re “top of mind” for your followers. Post once per day. Post more in case you’re getting incredible engagement.
But make sure you check about every post in your Facebook Insights.
2. Time it right
You have to know when your crowd is on the web, when will they be on their Facebook account and looking through it. So you can arrive on their page and boost your following and engagement.
The most ideal opportunity to post will rely upon the kind of business you’re in or what sort of content you share. Likewise you have to find that time by posting at various schedules and see what works best for you.
3. Use eye-catching images
Pictures are the most shared bit of substance on Facebook – and every social media so far as that is concerned. That’s why apps like Instagram and Pinterest have done well.
You have to interchange photographs and video with text-only updates.
You can discover eye catching images anyplace on the web or make them yourself using a few applications. See what is working best for the crowd and what they like and post accordingly.
4. Keep it short
As indicated by an investigation done by Salesforce, tweets that are under 100 characters get 17% higher engagement than longer ones.
Facebook isn’t very different. Shorter messages will in general perform better.
Limit your posts to about 80 characters, not more than that. Keep your message short. The faster it is to read, the more likely individuals will really read and share it.
5. Be relevant
Your posts should tell your crowd that you know who there are.
Post stuff that they’d prefer to read and would connect with. Like quotes, jokes about circumstances, and so on.
They’ll share your posts just on the off chance that they sense that they connect with it somehow or another. So be relevant.
6. Use your authentic voice
People are your fans and followers since they like what you do. Your voice on Facebook ought to be consistent with your brand.
That is one of the major thing you need in order to conquer Facebook marketing. There is nothing worse than being totally stale and exhausting on Facebook.
In the event that your brand is promoting and you’ve a group of people keen on the same, you should post things related on marketing, nothing else.
7. Include a call to action
If you request that your crowd Check-Out Your Post, Share, Like or Comment, they are bound to do it. So remember a call to action button for each post of yours.
For instance, if it’s an article you posted on your site and are advising your followers regarding the same, compose something like “click on the link in bio to know more” or “go to the site for more data, link in bio.”
This ensures you develop your post and page alongside different parts of your business, subsequently giving you more likes and shares.
8. Be creative with apps
There are a few applications you can exploit for developing your reach and thus your followers.
Contest and promotion applications, alongside forms, reviews, and so on can develop clients’ involvement with a business or brand. That implies engage your image with your followers.
Contests are an extraordinary method to get more followers and are highly shared on Facebook. Try not to try too hard with apps on your page however.
Conclusion
Here’s How to Get More Likes on Facebook in 2020. Try these tips and see your likes shoot up!
Everything you need to know about Facebook likes was last modified: September 7th, 2020 by Jeremy Collins
Entrepreneurship is on the rise, and in the current global market-space, small businesses and home-business are becoming ever-more-popular. With this comes bigger size, for the business, the demand, and in the background, a bigger need for storage solutions on your home devices. Here are some storage solutions you don’t need to pass around the office because they’re all connected! That’s the greatest benefit of what we call a NAS device (Network Attached Storage). Here, we’ve collected a bunch of top models to find out which is the best for you, but first, let’s learn what they are.
Don’t Compromise on File Access
This is surely the selling point of NAS storage, that you can forget about the days of worrying how much space your device has left, or better yet, those times where you have to delete some files you want, in order to make the space for the files that you need. Instead of this, a good NAS storage device that can connect to your device can connect your files to you from further away, without the compromise. You don’t even have to plug it into the drive, just plug-and-play from the comfort of, well, wherever the internet reaches!
What Can I Even do on This?
Well, that’s what you need to decide! I wouldn’t suggest buying one before you know exactly what you want to use for it. Most commonly, people just want to store their immense collection of word files, but there are different specialized NAS devices for each use. Simple office file sharing is easy work on near all NAS devices as a minimum, so you shouldn’t worry about shopping around too much. You only really have to worry about the small details when doing more demanding work, like HD video-sharing to multiple devices, and other more immense work-load demands. If you get to this point, it’s better to explore NAS devices with higher market specifications for memory, storage, processing, and network power. Price is usually equivalent to stronger components, so these might be more costly than the average device.
NAS Devices are built to accommodate needs, so can make it more customizable, but a little more difficult, to find the one that’s just right for you.
Basic Buying Tips
The reason any person decides to buy a storage device is for just that reason, storage. In a NAS device, the storage cards are held in bays, small drawers that the storage plugs into so that the box it’s plugged into can connect to the internet for you. For the home and small-business users, a NAS device will have about one or two bays. However, if you’re thinking of going into the big leagues, or ARE already working a large-scale operation, bigger offices commonly use a four-bay or more system for their needs!
Back to the basics though, a single bay storage device isn’t recommended, unless you’re using the device simply to backup your work which is also on your work-devices. This is just because of the lack of extra possibilities in the future. You don’t want to limit yourself the second you buy one, especially considering the price of a 2-bay can be found similarly to the 1-bay! One-bays can sometimes allow you to expand more outside of the box too, but it can become a hassle.
A two-bay NAS seems the smart choice for a home user who wants a basic ‘do-it-all’ drive. If you want to mirror your files, bigger drive sizes could be a favored choice, but for bay-sizes, two slots can make the world’s difference. Also, buy on the side of caution. You may think storage is expensive, but if you buy a bigger setup now, you won’t have to resync your data on new drives when it comes to needing more storage. If you set-up for the long run, you’ll be better off. They are reliable and Synology data recovery is more reliable.
Do I go ‘Diskless’ Or ‘Populated’?
So I have to presume that you’re exploring different NAS drives, and you come across the fine detail of ‘diskless’ or ‘populated’. What do they mean? Well, you can buy ‘populated’ NAS devices that come -pre-built with their complimentary storage drives. They’re often usually already configured and must be dedicated to the drives they come in. Often Storage manufacturers who make drives favor pre-inserting their storage. Other manufacturers may tend to sell diskless-NAS devices. These can be some-what cheaper, but you’ll have to buy your own insertable storage. You just have to do a little extra research on what to look for! In this respect, this is a head’s up on the differences between the two, but we won’t take sides on which is better, that’s your decision!
I chose ‘Diskless’: A little extra help on disk-choice?
If you’ve got a little idea that you want to go diskless, here’s the part where you have to think about disks. NAS manufacturers tend to recommend their own proprietary disks or have a favored disk-manufacturer to recommend you to (usually a list of ones they’ve tested and KNOW work with the device well). You can find these compatibility lists online before you buy them. It isn’t 100% required, but we 100% recommend it to be sure, as you’ll get the most optimized functionality out of the device.
Some of the big names in disk-manufacturing, like Seagate, WD, Toshiba, and more have specialized drives that are optimized for NAS storage, so are often the best bet. On top of this, the big names often compete in pricing, so you can get very good prices for the drives on offer. These drives are assured to run near constantly and can be very durable. We recommend you look at NAS-verified drives as your best choice on the market.
The names you want to look out for are listed here. Seagate and Western Digital are the big guns, with Seagate’s ‘IronWolf’ and ‘IronWolf Pro’ being NAS specific, and WD’s ‘WD Red’ line coming up as their NAS choice. Toshiba is also a great choice, with the ‘N’ series of disks. All three of these lines are built to perform heavy and durable and come in a great variety of sizes.
Halfway House: Redundancy and Safe Storing
We’re halfway through the round-up but there’s more to go. We’ll cover the storage choice and their pros and cons, Media-streaming (if you so choose to have it), The physical plugging in choices, and ratings on the markets biggest, to give you that last push in deciding what you need.
So, Storage choice On-board. NAS devices that have more than one drive have a choice of mirroring your files, which in short saves the one file onto both drives. That way, if something happens with one, the other is still up and accessible. After all, who wouldn’t have two parachutes instead of one! The only issue is that you half your storage choice right down. This is usually the base-setup, so if you DON’T want this, delve into your user manual for ways of turning this off.
However, in turning it off, there are two separate ways of saving your files in basic, single-copy formats. There’s ‘striping’ and there’s ‘JBOD’. What striping does, in the easiest terms possible, stretch the file across both drives, as it saves half on one drive and a half in the other, all chopped up. This still means the files functional, and often means that it can write and read faster, with the compromise that both drives cannot be used separately, and won’t work if they’re taken out separately. For this reason, for people who need to carry their drives around for plug and play, you may want to consider the JBOD setting where you can. This setting, meaning ‘Just a Bunch of Disks’, files are saved completely onto a drive in whole, not fragmented, so that you can plug-in and plug-out your drives and the files will be complete. This can be considered safer too as if one of the drives goes turn off at any point, you can still access entire files for the half that’s still available.
Lastly, for those of you who know something about NAS already, there IS the ability to mirror AND stripe across three or more drives for the added security and speed of data. The NAS could copy data across entire arrays of drives so that the failure of one drive can be patched by another complimentary striping on another drive by reconstruction. This would be for those big businesses maximizing on speed, security and redundancy measures, but can be a bit overkill for the average home user. It’s useful to have the option though!
Movies and Media without the Mayhem
NAS devices often come pre-configured, and for this reason, you need to consider what one you’re buying if you’re going to buy it as a memory bank for your favorite streaming service, or for your home movies. Only certain devices can play certain types of files, so you have to do quite a bit of research for your rig if you’re planning on a home-theatre device of the like. Think for example, that some ‘.avi’ files can’t work in MP4 players. The same can be said for NAS Units. Typically, NAS come complimentary to PC rigs, you can get a plethora of software that plays different formats like a piece of cake. You can further shop around for the NAS devices on the market that can seamlessly connect to smart-boxes, like Apple TV, Chromecast, and so on, for quick on-demand streaming. It can be hard to find the right one, prompting the reason you have to do some ‘rig research’. Look at the specifications of devices closely to ensure it does what you need it to do. At a premium, even 4K streaming NAS devices are on the market, but you’ll pay a few pretty pennies on it, as the processor within the NAS device needs to be able to accommodate such needs.
Control, Connections, and Caveats
When shopping around for different devices, there isn’t much of a casual consensus among the multiple brands on different ports on the device, beyond the commonality on many of a USB 3.0 port, the market standard at the moment. Most NAS Drives carry 2 USB ports for other devices, usually the home printer and a PC wire at most, or whatever other devices with a USB you like! They’re pretty much plug-and-play easy, and once into the NAS, they’re shared among all users on the network. A printer is a great choice for this. If it has a USB 2.0 and 3.0 port, the 2.0 port is plenty enough for a printer. 3.0 ports, the faster ones, should be saved for when you really need them.
If you want real ease of access, some NAS units on the market have buttons on the front for replication. Imagine you have a USB stick with a paper on it and need it in the network quick and easy. Plug it into the NAS, press copy, and it’ll be on the network, literally at the press of a button. Every NAS device can have its own features to alleviate the work from the workplace, so you need to shop around for what you think you’ll need!
If you want a media player, look for the devices that come with an HDMI port, in order for use with your TV-streaming devices, or directly into the back of your device. And lastly, the ethernet port, for a necessary direct connection to your internet. That’s what puts the Network into the NAS.
(Probably) The Reason You’re Here: No Wires.
Most NAS drives enable you to share files from the cloud. This can sound like common sense, considering they’re connected by a network, but it’s a particularity you have to check, for it to be present. NAS manufacturers are proud to share if they have this feature and can be a great selling point. It saves the hassle of downloading from the NAS to device in order to share it. Also, from this, you can access the NAS from any internet connection, not only your local network, meaning you can access it pretty much anywhere there IS internet access if you can log into a cloud service, like dropbox, google drive, etc. A lot of people, including us, believe that there’s no point in getting a NAS without this feature because… well, think about it. You can have a memory bank in your house only, or one you can access anywhere with the internet, altogether. Make sure you do the research on this, too! It’s a no-brainer.
Our Handful Plucked from the Bunch: A Comprehensive Round-Up
So, there’s been quite a large handful of credentials to get our head’s around, and you might want us to spell it out just a bit more clearly, rather than dancing around. Let’s separate ‘wheat from the chaff’ and give up our top picks for each scenario, and their pro’s and cons, for the ‘Home-user’, the ‘aspiring small-business’, the ‘Business Box’, and the ‘Device-Streamers’ out there, below.
The Home User
Credentials: For a home-user, you’ll probably be looking for a box with decent storage that can cover your back for months, or even years, to come. It’ll be useful to have the plug-and-play capability, a decent price, and something that seems to just work. Its own software can be helpful to take you along and not be too confusing.
Our Pick: The Promise Apollo. Looking easy on the eyes, this can fit right onto any desk in your house and look like it could belong. Coming with 4TB right out of the box, you don’t have to worry about buying anything extra.
The Pros: This little box is so easy to set-up that you don’t have to spend any extra time worrying about your externals. You can access it simply, and share files remotely. On top of this, your phone camera roll can auto-upload if you want it to. Such a user-friendly device can’t be commended enough.
The Cons: This device can seem sluggish in demanding workloads, and you need applications in order to access certain storage. In being friendly with home-users, it loses the tech-crowd who need all-access at all times. It’s your choice on this one.
The Aspiring Small-Business
Credentials: A growing business is going to want a little bit more space, and perhaps would be a bit more comfortable delving into the tech-space for something a bit more specific. File-sharing should be a doddle, and the capability for easy expansion is going to be a bit more your style. Here’s our pick.
Our Pick: Asustor AS5304T. This box helps out with a bigger workload, a solid operation, and the similar easy-setup, and that choice for wider expansion.
The Pros: This NAS provides a solid and reliable performance. It runs quieter than many of the other ones in this category, which is a small bonus for the office-space. It has dual 2.5GbE ports, and a toolless set-up (which we love to see). It also comes with apps out of the box, making it easy to navigate and use.
The Cons: Sadly, this box doesn’t come with any drives pre-built. They Do provide a list of recommended drives to go in, however, and it allows for you to buy some off-the-bat, and the rest when you need them. Also, It’s an expensive device, so you need to decide on whether it’s a good company expense or not.
The Business Box
Credentials: We’re in the big leagues. If you’re the team’s tech guru, you’re not going to shy away from a challenge. You want monstrous speed, the capability for large file-size caches, and the ability for mirroring and redundancy support. This sounds like the thing for you.
Our Pick: The Synology DiskStation DS1019+. A big machine, with a huge capability. This machine is definitely worth the money, but it IS still a lot of money.
The Pros: This NAS device is fast, it runs with impressively speedy performance. It’s a very easy device to install and set-up, which you don’t usually get with bigger devices. There’s a generous selection of built-in applications to help the user and a lot of storage options. It’s user-friendly, and runs quietly, a MUST for business. It holds five bays, an expansion unit, AND dual native SSD slots. Some eye-watering storage capabilities here. We’re talking 160TB Maximum.
The Cons: This is very pricy, and it shows. We don’t have really any other cons, other than storage, which you would have to buy. Very inconvenient, but also allows you to personalize the storage size, and for an office, that’s all the more important.
The Device-Streamer
Credentials: This is a bit of a niche, but NAS can support it really well. If you get the right NAS, it can feel like a breeze to jump on the sofa, touch a few buttons, and you’re watching your favorite movies again. You’ll want HD, and even 4K capability for a great image at uncompromising speed, a strong processor to keep up the foot-work, and a good amount of storage to host your impressive movie library. A MUST is a comprehensive support for applications.
Our Pick: Asustor AS5202T. With up to 5GbE Speed, a tool-less set-up, great out of the box applications and that 4K video-decoding we were looking for, this offers a great at-home experience for the average user.
The Pros: 4K Video-Encoding, out-of-the-box applications to help you on your way, tool-less set-up for the home user, 5GbE speeds and link aggregation, and a solid and reliable file-transfer performance. 2 Drives for your mirroring or JBOD choice (JBOD can create a great library size).
The Cons: This one can seem a little pricey. It’s understandable why, with its great hardware and software supply, but still, the price is a downfall. On top of this, it comes diskless, so the price of getting disks can be a headache! Picking up 2x1TB drives can get your on your way at the lowest price per decent storage, but enthusiasts may need a little more. There’s a lot of choices here, but choosing when it comes to home appliances like these is a good thing to have. We hoped we helped you in the right direction for your next big storage solution, and helped you understand exactly what you’re looking for. Good luck on your search!
The Best NAS Storage Devices on the Market was last modified: August 16th, 2020 by Megha Saggar
Mobile devices have entered businesses as the key gadget in various industries. Both small and large companies have employees who use mobile devices for their work. Small companies rely on efficiency and agility to stay competitive. It includes working directly from the office but also while on the go.
Hence, mobile devices have become inevitable in our work routines. Without them, we would not be able to communicate with our colleagues as efficiently as we do. However, to do business while on the go, your employees need to have the right apps. Luckily, there are many apps you can use, and many of them are entirely free. Cost-free options make them ideal for growing businesses.
Task management
All employees juggle multiple tasks at once, finding time to help or consult colleagues in between. However, the more assignments build up, the more difficult it is to keep track of your progress. Hence, you need a sharp and convenient tool to organize all your tasks for the week or month neatly. Luckily, there are many options available. All of them operate on a relatively simple principle and are beginner-friendly. So, do not hesitate to increase your productivity with the help of a simple app.
VPN
A phone VPN can quickly boost your security and privacy. When using your smartphone for private conversations and searches, you expect this data to be confidential. However, this data is easily snatched by marketers, websites, and even your ISP. A virtual private network app is designed to help you stay secure while online.
It encrypts your connection and prevents anyone from seeing what you do online. Hence, such security measures halt data thefts and loss of personal information. At the same time, quality VPNs can also be used to hide your IP addresses and help you pick one that unblocks geo-restricted content. All of these things are very important for businesses since online criminals often target companies. Furthermore, a VPN ensures that your Wi-Fi connection is safe, and knowing its questionable nature, you will be glad to have this protection.
Skype
Skype has been a standard choice for videoconferencing and overall communication for the last 15 years. Many different apps tried to compete, but none have succeeded. At the moment, the app itself has more than 10 million comments and reviews on Google store.
Skype has been a standard part of everyone’s PC for years. When the app came out, most people simply got Skype for their phones as well. Skype lets you voice or video call anyone for free. You can get a maximum of 25 people in a single call and share various files. However, if you are looking for something new, you can explore alternative apps as well.
Evernote
If your employees have a fast-paced job where they need to remember lots of information and do research, Evernote might be what they need. This app allows you to gather various pieces of online information in a single place.
The information can be changed, embedded, shared, tagged, and much more. At the same time, Evernote can be used as a notebook. You can store social media posts, contacts, create to-do lists, and much more. What’s even better is that all of this is entirely free. There is a paid version that gives more upload space and some additional controls.
Google Drive
Google Drive is cloud storage offered by Google. It’s attached directly to your email, and everyone can use it for free. The Google Drive app is free to download and can be used in many different ways. It’s great for any kind of writing work or documentation.
It lets you upload, store, manage, and share files. At the same time, users can edit those documents, leave comments, and communicate through the platform. The paid version gives more storage space.
Apps for successful cooperation
Project management is vital. It is especially true when doing work on smartphones. So, project management apps need to be clear and provide a nice overview of all essential information. That’s how people won’t make mistakes while doing their jobs.
For this reason, we find Trello to be the best fit, as it’s very visual. It’s designed around boards where users can create, check, move, and modify lists. As a project progresses, the cards are moved. All of the cards can be assigned with members, checklists, or have attached files. At the same time, people can use cards to leave comments or communicate directly. Trello is around $10 for businesses, but it’s worth the expense.
Conclusion
These are some of the best mobile apps for small businesses. Of course, there are thousands of others, but we feel that these will make an immediate difference in the way you do your business. So, do not hesitate to make your business mobile and flexible.
Essential Phone Apps Every Small Business Should be Using was last modified: August 6th, 2020 by Micky Addam
Good communication tools are essential to own a successful small business. They help us stay in touch with customers and providers, allowing things to run smoothly and without delays or complications. If you rely on faxing to communicate on a regular basis, you can improve the delivery of documents with virtual fax.
There are multiple companies that can enable us to fax from email in just a few steps and without the problems that traditional fax machines have, such as busy phone lines, paper jams, running out of ink, etc.
This new way of faxing is called “virtual fax”, because instead of printing all incoming documents and having to scan the ones you send, you can simply manage all files digitally. That’s right, all incoming faxes arrive to your inbox as PDF files, and in the same way you can send faxes straight from email, using digital documents. For businesses, this means that you’ll spend less money and time faxing on a daily basis.
What Are the Advantages of Virtual Fax for Small Businesses?
A free fax number. Another big benefit of using virtual fax companies is that they provide you a fax number, totally free of charge. When you create an account with a fax service you can choose between a local or a toll-free number, which people will use to send you faxes. Contrary to what happens with common dedicated phone numbers, this line will never be busy.
Speed of delivery. Faxing from your computer is many times faster than faxing through a machine. Once you press Send, your digital files are automatically converted to a fax image and sent to its destination without running into issues such as paper jams and interrupted transmissions. You can send email to fax, or you can use your service’s website to send faxes.
Fax from anywhere. With the use of a mobile fax app, businesses can send, receive and even sign faxes in just a few taps. There are apps that charge you per fax and others that work alongside online fax service subscriptions. We recommend the latter option, because they actually give you a number to receive faxes. If your business requires to be always on the go, this is an invaluable feature.
Automatic delivery. Every fax coming your way is automatically saved to your account and sent to your email as a PDF, you don’t have to do anything because the process is 100% automatic. Just make sure you enable notification on your phone and be able to read them electronically. Since your line is never busy you won’t have to worry about missing a fax ever again.
Other advanced features. Basic faxing tasks are just the tip of the iceberg of what you can enjoy with online fax. There are other features that can make faxing easier than ever before, such as the ability to schedule your fax at an exact date and time, fax broadcasting (send a single fax to a list of recipients at the same time, and integration with cloud storage platforms including Dropbox and Google Drive.
Choosing the Right Fax Company
To make the most out of online fax, you need to choose the right company. You’ll find that some services promise you everything, but many times customers have to deal with unreachable numbers or fax servers going down without customer support at hand.
Luckily, there are also companies that have proved time and time again that they are reliable and can really help your business take the next step in faxing. I’m talking about companies such as RingCentral, eFax and Nextiva, which we have tried and continue to use to this very day.
If you are having trouble deciding on which fax service to use, you can take advantage of free fax trials. Most fax companies give you the chance of creating a test-drive account, which you can cancel at any time. So, for a full month you can fully test the features of a service and check if it is really helpful in reaching your goals. A great thing about integrating an email to fax Google alternative in your business is that it is very quick to get started. It only takes a few minutes to create a new account and pick the fax number you wish to use. If you are in the US you’ll find that there are numbers for the vast majority of cities in the country, but if you are outside the US you’ll need more specialized services with international presence.
Virtual Fax – A Must Have Tool for Small Businesses was last modified: August 2nd, 2020 by Paolo Parodi
