Useful Phone Apps for Small Business

Posted on December 10, 2020 by Tiffany Miles

The financial and business worlds rely on the Internet, as people rely on oxygen. It is indispensable. Thus, those who want to start a new small business or find themselves in urgent need of help should look for the right technologies. Running a small business with a few practical apps can be so much easier than you used to think. The thing is, you need to research the market and find applications that can be the perfect fit for your purposes. We are here to help you with this goal. Here is the list of the most useful apps for small businesses for any life, occasional and professional purposes. Let’s start!

Cloud apps

You can use Dropbox or Google Drive, but using at least one of them is a must. From small fashion brands to service organizations like academic helpers, businesses use the cloud to keep their files in order. A cloud is a perfect way to store and secure all your important documents. It is also a great way of communication with your colleagues. Any holder can have private access, and everyone who needs to work with certain documents can reach them at any moment. A cloud is also a good way to make sure you will not lose anything important. Even by deleting files, you have a while before the cloud actually erases them. Also, check cloud upgrades versions specifically aimed at business. They can be pretty helpful to you.

Grammar.ly

Let’s not underestimate the power of grammar in business. In the times when most of our communication is held via emails, having exceptional grammar skills is crucial. After all, your writing, ability to choose the right words, and express them in a nice manner is what makes the first impression on your potential sponsor, business partners, customers, and everyone else. You do not need to panic and think about outsource business writing every time you need to write a pitch or a promo. You would not come to a business meeting in your Saturday clothes or your hair in disarray. Posting business promotions with good grammar and style mistakes is just as important. Grammar.ly is a perfect paper helper. It can underline, edit, and offer alternatives. You can use it as an extension or keyboard on mobile devices. It is free, though there is a paid premium version.

FreshBooks

Doing accounting has never been that easy. FreshBooks can be a perfect solution for every business owner who is dreading the day they need to look through their books. This app will make your work so much easier and way more comprehensive than before. First of all, it has a very user-friendly interface, so you will not feel confused or lost in it. The app also offers a number of truly amazing features, like expense or time tracking, invoicing, or storing your business reports. It looks simple. It does all the groundwork for you, so all your bases are covered. What’s more, it can be integrated with all the major platforms, like PayPal, WordPress, and others. Hence, it can make your life very easy to bill your clients or make payments yourself. Of course, if you want to learn more about accounting, you can order a paper on it, but first, read these speedypaper reviews to see what you are paying for.

Every entrepreneur needs to expand their professional network. This is why we have LinkedIn. It is a perfect platform to seek professional help, advice, connections, and inspiration. This app is similar to all social media sites we know. However, LinkedIn is strictly about professionalism and work. People are always looking for professional connections there. Whether they are looking for writers with requests like, “who can do my marketing whitepaper for me?” or designers, or markers, or more, you can find them there. A search for new employees or partnerships was never so easy. Just seek other businesses in your niche and write them. It can also be a good marketing tool, whether you want to promote yourself or your business. Overall, having a profile on this platform will not do you any harm. On the opposite, it will give you and your business the exposure it needs.

PayPal

These days, no single respected business can go around without an online payment system. PayPal here is one of the best and most popular systems to use. It’s convenient, fast, and super simple. What else to wish for? If you register your small business there, you do not have to pay any monthly fees, which is a very generous gesture on PayPal’s behalf. What’s more, by registering on PayPal, you are making your customers’ lives much easier. Now they can pay for your products by just pressing one button. We all know how much we love a simple payment method.

7 Reasons Your Business Needs CRM Software

Posted on December 9, 2020 by David Huner

CRM means Customer Relationship Management and it is a scalable software that has grown to become one of the best customer care support programs in the world. CRM software is therefore a program or app designed to cater to the needs of your customers in one single, automated platform. With this software, you can save hours of time and energy by automating all customer interaction efforts like email marketing, complaints handling, and leads generation, through automation and without removing your personalized touches. The software simply fosters relationships with customers and at the same time improves your sales and customer retention at a very low cost.

What are the Reasons Your Business Needs CRM Software?

The following are reasons why your business needs CRM software;

It boosts sales while nurturing new business leads.
It creates a better understanding of your customers
It improves your business workflow.
It boosts your customer support.
It maximizes your business marketing resources.
It helps develop best practices
It reduces or eliminates certain errors

CRM Software Boosts Sales and Nurtures New Business Leads

The main benefit of cloud-based platforms is that they will help you streamline your sales while boosting revenue. It will help you capture the much-needed leads from your website and also track them throughout the entire sales procedure. Here will always be new contacts stored by your CRM, hence you can easily rack and nurture prospective buyers throughout the business’ sales funnel.

It Creates Better Understanding of Your Customers

The best way to understand your customers and serve them better is to learn about their needs and wants. You don’t have to call each customer and start asking them unending questions about their needs when your CRM can gather their information and analyze such to gain valuable insight to help you personalize your service and products to meet their demands. CRM will constantly monitor customer behavior and analyze them to discover the major influences of their decisions.

It Improves Your Business Workflow

There is always room for improvement in your business sales and marketing procedures. You don’t have to rely on the old, manual ways of using spreadsheets and sticky notes ha reduce productivity. The CRM software will help you create a simple workflow ha you and your team can stick with on regular basis. I will improve the efficiency of your team by offering a platform for sharing information and solving problems.

It Boosts Your Customer Support

Customer support remains the number one backbone of any business. Installing CRM software in your business operations will help increase customer retention rates and in the long run, increase Return on Investment (ROI).

The software will create and give access to the detailed information of every customer in the system to your team. With this, online history alongside their order info and past interactions with the company. You will easily understand the situation each customer has gone through. The CRM will collect customer data in one place and you can segment them based on their needs and specific interests,

It Maximizes Your Business Marketing Resources’

Small and medium-size business always mention their struggles with scarce resources. With office automation service rendered by CRM, you can do much more because the software will handle all the heavy duties. As a result of this, businesses can deliver high-level services and remain in the competition.

Today, we can deploy technology to handle most admin tasks, protect records, and even do follow-up on any customer. You will have more time in your hand to deal with other issues.

It Helps Develop Best Practices

It is important for small and medium businesses to constantly find ways of remaining productive and efficient. They must also keep doing everything possible to keep costs down while maintaining a decent profit margin.

The ideal personalized CRM software will help you identify and also implement the best practices that will keep all staff on the same page. Obeying these best practices will help you hire the best brains or staff in the industry and will also help provide them with the right tools for more rain and to speed them up in meeting new and old challenges ahead.

When the right customer relationship management software is put in place, you will have everything you can to create some delight in your customers and delighted customers will drive sales in the long run.

It Reduces or Eliminates Certain Errors

Sometimes you give a potential client some estimates, only to realize that the estimates are filled with errors or miscalculations. It is the function of CRM software to create reports such as quotes for you after working on the statistics, thus removing any likelihood of human errors. One of the most embarrassing things you can do to your clients is to ask for the withdrawal of quotes earlier sent because of your errors. You don’t want to lose a business deal forever, hence you must deploy CRM software to generate original and accurate quotes.

Conclusion

There is no aspect of a small, medium, or large business ha CRM will not make a positive, lasting impact, especially when the right, personalized software is used. Most people will say ha CRM is useful in sales and marketing only but you will soon realize how important it is in IT, logistics, and accounting. I can even make your work in these areas a lo simpler as more staffs begin to share vital and useful information on customers.

It is easy to underestimate the need for a healthy and sustainable customer relationship but a CRM software will quickly tell you how an old customer can become a lead to generate new customers. It doesn’t cost much to deploy CRM software in your business, you just have to research through the packages and see he one ha appeals to your business. Fortunately, CRM software is scalable, that is, you can always upgrade from one package to another, as your business expands and you begin to create new goals and objectives.

Here’s Where You Can Save If You’re Running a Small Business

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Pete Brown

Essentially, every business aims to maximize profits from its operations. However, this may not be the case for small companies that have yet to realize their major goals and objectives. Small business operators often face unprecedented challenges that can cripple their activities if not managed properly.

The good news is different measures can be implemented to help small business owners to tame the problems they may encounter. Read on to learn where you can save if you are running a small business.

Define Your Goals

Running a successful business is not an easy task since it involves a lot of challenges. You need to set clear goals and determine effective strategies that can help you achieve them. A business without a plan is doomed to fail, but this can be avoided if you set your priorities. It is imperative to define your core business and set realistic and achievable objectives.

Reduce Printing Tasks

Going paperless may not be feasible for many small businesses, but enlightened operators can save money by reducing printing tasks. If you reduce the consumption of paper, it means that you will have fewer paper purchases and greater efficiency. You must also buy inexpensive printers that won’t break the bank as long as you can still accomplish the task at a relatively affordable price. When you buy a printer, you must ensure that it is budget-friendly, easy to repair, and maintain. A printer requires accessories like toners, ink, and other components that can be expensive.

Consider Using Solar Energy

If your business does not use heavy industrial equipment, it is a good idea to switch to solar energy. Apart from saving you money on electrical bills, solar power is sustainable and good for the environment. No matter how much you may try to be conservative, utility bills are indispensable in the operations of many businesses. On top of that, you may also consider using energy-efficient gadgets in your company. With the constant technological advancements taking place every day, you need to do some research and get efficient tools that will not lead to downtime in your operations so that you can also save some money in the long run.

Hire Independent Contractors

Depending on the nature of your business, you can save a lot if you enlist the services of independent contractors to perform non-essential tasks while you focus on your core business. It is costly to hire full-time employees for specific jobs that can be performed by contractors. Full-time workers require basic salaries plus benefits of which many small businesses operate on tight budgets. If your venture has not yet reached a full profitability scale, it is wise to cut costs. If you have permanent workers, you should also fulfill your company’s tax obligations.

Minimize Expenses

As a rule of thumb, you should know that business and personal expenses do not mix. It is essential to do away with unnecessary costs that can drain money from your business. For instance, it is a noble idea to avoid traditional advertising since it is costly for small businesses. Instead, there are other viable options like social media that can help promote your business without wasting a lot of money.

In addition to cutting costs, implementing asset management for small business can help you maximize the value of your existing resources. By effectively managing your assets, you ensure that your business is operating efficiently and that unnecessary expenses are minimized.

You should also document all your business expenses and make sure you reconcile them to make necessary changes that can drive the growth and development of your venture. You must also visit your budget regularly to ensure that you are operating in the right direction.

Switch Off Lights And Gadgets Not In Use

You should train your employees to be responsible citizens in the workplace. Many businesses pay high utility bills as a result of preventable actions by other people in the company. For instance, you need to make it a company policy that all lights should be switched off when you knock off except for strategic places to enhance security. On top of that, electronic gadgets not in use should also be switched off to eliminate large energy bills.

Heating and air conditioning systems also consume a lot of energy, so you should use them wisely. If your office space has sufficient ventilation, it is a good idea to resort to natural heating and cooling. Alternatively, you need to invest in the right heating and air conditioning units that do not contribute to high power costs.

The success or failure of any business depends on your operating strategies and your goals. Many people are excited to run their companies, but they end up losing focus and spending money that they do not have. If you want to avoid this unfortunate situation, there are many tips that you may need to consider. The most critical thing in business is to avoid unnecessary expenses.

The Benefits of SPC Solutions in Manufacturing

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Pete Brown

SPC (statistical process control) is the process in which the measurement of consistent product performance can be achieved. This is important for industries like manufacturing, which need to ensure a high certainty of the quality of goods or products for their various uses.

When there are lapses in quality, which can be caused by a myriad of issues, the end result can be alarming due to the fact that the manufacturing process or design may be to blame. These kinds of anomalies, or soon to be recurring issues, reduce effectiveness, and increase risk factors. SPC solutions are then required to monitor and record consistency to avoid this, and here are the benefits that these solutions pose.

1. Prioritize Uniformity

In manufacturing, the ideal end goal is a working product or design that can reach peak uniformity. Of course, this is an idealistic goal and not always possible, but producing 1000 units of the same coil should come close to creating a product that is as close to the next one and the one before it as possible. The more uniformity that is achieved, the lower the possibility of scrapping, reworking, and complaints will be fielded. SPC solutions help move towards and maintain uniformity and manufacturing production and design.

2. Improve Productivity

The productivity of manufacturing plays a great deal into the role of SPC solutions. The entire process of manufacturing goods requires precise attention to a plan, and when that plan or workflow is disrupted, it has a ripple effect. With statistical process control software, it is much easiest to detect design or production flaws that can halt the flow of work. When these flaws are spotted earlier in the manufacturing process, the production line can be halted in a quicker and less disruptive way.

3. Streamlining Inspection Process

Manual inspections are still very much important because the human eye can detect things that an automated system can’t, but it is also harder to rely on humans to catch a lot of errors too. There needs to be a good balance of the two, but thankfully SPC solutions can help spot these issues through analyzing data in a much quicker manner. Reducing the amount of wasted effort and wasted products is an inherently beneficial aspect of SPC in the manufacturing industry.

4. Increase Customer Satisfaction

Manufacturing is not an industry that you would normally associate customer satisfaction with, but the purpose of making products means that there has to be some consideration of the happiness of those receiving them. SPC solutions can help create better products that result in fewer flaws, faults, or damages, and that makes customers much happier when they no longer need to go through the process of getting their issues resolved. By maximizing things like the inspection process success rates, it is possible to make sure that every piece of equipment that comes off of an assembly line is to the letter of its specifications so that the users will be satisfied.

5. Reduce Unnecessary Costs

Manufacturing goods is not cheap. Whether it is the materials needed to make them, the costs for shipping, or the money that went into designing it, there are plenty of ways for money to get lost in the process when products are not properly manufactured. This issue can be resolved with SPC solutions because there will be a less likely chance that these issues will arise, which saves on those costs of reshipping products, recalls, redesigning, and manufacturing. This is very important for cutting down on mishaps but also for protecting your bottom line.

6. Improve Analytic Capabilities

Using digital software is helping many industries make bigger leaps into the future and develop a better understanding of the useful information they need. Data analytics is as useful in manufacturing as it is in other industries because it can help determine factors that go into product design and creation. These metrics can be tracked much easier with SPC because the software can be combed for data, which can then be converted for applicable reasons. It can help with marketing, cost savings, material efficiency, and output, to name a few. Using SPC software and solutions helps move manufacturing into a better future.

SPC, otherwise known as statistical process control, is used for various purposes. It can be incredibly beneficial for the manufacturing industry for a plethora of reasons. The most notable examples of these benefits are the reduction of costs, increases in productivity, and improvements to efficiency. Using SPC solutions for a manufacturing business can increase its potential in these various ways.

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.

The Benefits Of Having A Computer Science Degree For Your Career

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Pete Brown

Computer Science degrees, like most scientific disciplines, are not easy. However, many people around the world have a knack for them and love the topics, or believe that having a degree from said sciences will provide them with plenty of opportunities. Computer science is a study of algorithms, processes, and of course, computer-related elements.

In order to study computer science, there are tons of other disciplines that you must learn as well. With this vast knowledge, you will have unlimited opportunities, a well-rounded education, and the degree will be a stepping stone into your career; read on to understand more about these benefits.

Unlimited Opportunities

As mentioned, learning computer science does not merely mean that you will be sitting in front of a computer and only learning hardware and software. You will be learning math, mainly logic and probability, some physics, electrical engineering, and a background in biology will not hinder the process either. For those particularly interested in electrical engineering, pursuing an FE Electrical certification could complement your computer science degree, making you even more versatile in your career. With these topics, your mind will expand to unlimited opportunities and you will become skilled in no time. With that degree, you can take it to most companies and they will snatch you up immediately. As long as you have a computing device and electricity, you will be able to work anywhere.

Well-Rounded Education

You do not have to go further than the premises of your desk to learn and have a computer science degree. Many universities, especially with Covid-19 and quarantine, have provided online courses for people to receive a degree without leaving the comfort of your home. Some of the most popular bachelor’s degrees in the technology field include computer science, computer engineering, software development, and information technology. Most programs will require you to learn these topics before choosing a specific specialty. This gives you a well-rounded education so that you are able to know which field you want to dive deeper into.

Steppingstone Into Your Career

Many companies believe that your type of education will propel you greatly into your career. Although school and work-life have notable differences, your degree definitely gives you a glimpse into your future and what your career may look like. Depending on where you acquired your degree, you may have had fieldwork as well, which gives you an even higher chance and opportunity to be better prepared for the actual work you will be doing. Depending on the business or company you choose, it may allow you to hone your skills and use them to make positive changes in the world.

A computer science degree is not an effortless degree to achieve. It requires hard work and discipline, and a lot of trial and error. The important thing to note is that you must do your research before choosing a place to achieve that degree. Whether you go the online or offline route, check the statistics and percentages of alumni, and where or what they work. You can even try to get in contact with them, as most programs have an alumni section with contact sheets to get to know more about the course itself.

How IT Services Can Help in Your Company’s Growth

Posted on December 6, 2020 by Charlene Brown

It is a fact that the client prefers to work with businesses that are capable of keeping up with technology trends. It is important for any company to be aware of the importance of IT support services, along with its cost, demands, reliability, sense, and portrayal of dedication, and particularly the small and big changes in its structure while assuring more streamlined operations.

Innovative resources, as well as problem-solving that IT services and systems provide are wide. If any high technology apparatus is not functioning properly, it can leave a significant effect on how the business services, as well as its functions, are executed overall. This brief list will give you an answer on how IT services can assist your company to grow, and which benefits you can reap from them.

Productivity and Profitability are Increased

In case you have old computers or an outdated operating system, the productivity will be slowed down by 30 or even 40 percent. The decrease in productivity can seriously hurt any business.

To ensure that the employees perform their work to the best of their abilities, upgrading your business system is a mandatory action to take. Having IT experts will allow the upgrade, and as a result, your business will thrive. By giving workers the right kind of business tech, productivity is guaranteed as well as income, as some business gurus will state. Professionals from Summit Advisors IT would agree that these problems can crag your productivity and profitability down. For instance, some companies have invested in an internet network that is private and have provided their employees through their IT service with all the necessary tools they need to make things done. The benefit of this for the company would be faster communication and all workers will be able to share files between themselves. Firstly, the basics must be ensured before the results can be reaped.

For example, having WiFi connected computers and printers that do not take a long time to load.

Can a Good IT Service Stop Hackers?

Keeping your data secure would be of utmost importance for any company and business. Outdated technology can put your firm a risk which increases the possibility for files and data to be lost or even worse, corrupted, and used. Older servers are prone to crash which is also a hindrance. All of these problems can cost any firm a valuable amount of time and money.

Cyber attackers, or hackers, are always updating their methods of attack which also increases the overall risks you might encounter. Without having your software regularly updated by IT support, these new methods will easily breach and access your business’s critical and important files that are supposed to be private, for example, your customer data.

Part of the reason why it is recommended to have new hardware or software upgrades is that older systems are developed in a way to keep up with ever-evolving types of threats and offer the best possible cybersecurity defenses. The data of your company will be vulnerable without proper and modern security measures.

Optima Tax Relief Provides Tips on Filing an Amended Tax Return

Posted on December 3, 2020 by Addison Yes

Discovering a mistake on your tax return doesn’t mean that you need to immediately panic. In most cases, errors made on your taxes can be fixed by filling out Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.

Optima Tax Relief looks into common reasons why people may need to file an amended return:

Information on a tax return was entered incorrectly.
Claiming credits that a taxpayer wasn’t eligible to claim.
Claiming deductions incorrectly.

The IRS can also correct any math or clerical errors on a tax return and may even accept returns without certain required forms or schedules. In any of these cases, a taxpayer is not required to submit an amended tax return. For information on state tax rates, check out the list of states by income tax rate from foreignusa.com.

Taxpayers who are required to file an amended tax return should know the following:

Taxpayers can now file an electronic Form 1040-X only for the 2019 tax year. Forms 1040 and 1040-SR returns can also be amended electronically if the original 2019 tax return was also filed electronically.
For taxpayers that filed a paper 1040-X, they will need to mail it to the IRS. The IRS provides locations on where an amended return can be filed based on location on their website. Taxpayers filing form 1040-X in response to an IRS notice should mail it to the address indicated on the notice.
Taxpayers who chose not to file their 1040-X electronically or don’t have the option to file electronically should complete a paper form 1040-X.
Tax filers should attach any forms or schedules that have been affected by the change.
Form 1040-X should be filed separately for each tax year. Every amended return should be placed in its own envelope. The year of the original return tax year should be entered at the top of Form 1040-X.
Additional taxes should be paid in order to limit interest and penalties.
Taxpayers should file Form 1040-X to claim their refund within three years from the date they filed their original tax return.

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.

The Most Useful Software for Startups in the SaaS Sector

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Amy Fischer

Every startup is an adventure. It promises even more challenges for a software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup due to the revenue model’s peculiarities and severe competition in the industry.

Luckily, the market abounds in software that can help emerging companies address those challenges and manage their growth. These tools help with the critical business areas of product development, communication and collaboration, marketing, sales, payment processing, customer support, and tracking SaaS KPIs (key performance indicators).

This post shortlists ten essential SaaS startup software. Whether you are about to enter the game or are an experienced player, you may come across a tool that will help improve your existing processes and boost your business.

Internal Team Communications

You will find Slack in every top-10 of startup software. This cloud-based tool makes communications among the team members more comfortable, transparent, and efficient. Its plentiful customizable notifications, direct messaging, audio and video calls, conversation archives, and file-sharing features facilitate collaboration. Slack has mobile apps for iOS and Android and can be integrated with your Trello or sales CRM to provide your team with automated notifications about the deals. You may even set up a Slack bot for your office Spotify account and manage your music playback from it.

Project Management Software for Startups

In the area of product development and management, three startup tools are recommended:

Basecamp helps every team member stay on the same page and become more organized and productive. It empowers teams to communicate better with fewer meetings. They can assign tasks, collaborate on projects, track each one’s milestones, manage deadlines and workload, receive notifications, and share files from one platform.

JIRA’s flexible infrastructure and ease of configuration were designed for Agile technical development teams. The system helps manage the software development and testing cycle, centralizing all tasks and documentation and streamlining the tracking of issues and bugs. JIRA templates make setting up sprints quick and easy. Its low cost and cloud-based deployment suit startups perfectly.

Trello adheres to the kanban system and facilitates task prioritization, project planning, task assignments, and progress tracking. Trello boards may act as your internal product road map, your customer-facing product road map, content marketing planning tool, and more.

Marketing Tools

Newsletters will be at the core of every SaaS startup’s marketing efforts: emails are a great way to update customers on their news and features. MailChimp is arguably the most effective email marketing service, particularly praised for its ease of use. The software helps create smart marketing campaigns and offers plenty of ready-made and customizable newsletter templates to create appealing emails. It’s free until the company has over 2,000 contacts.

Social networks provide another excellent channel for conveying your product’s message and connecting with the audience. Buffer is one of the best tools to help SaaS startups maintain an active presence across Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. They can centralize multiple platforms, pre-schedule social media posts and presences, and view the analytics of their social media activities.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Salesforce CRM software enables startups to do everything under one roof: partner management, opportunity management, sales data management and forecasting, and marketing automation complete with a contact manager to aggregate the information and assess leads. The contact manager module covers all essential customer information like the company’s history, social status, reputation in the market, and communication details. The reports and dashboard feature facilitates in-depth analysis. Salesforce excels on pipeline reporting and campaign management, and their customer experience management solution also finds out information about the competition and provides deal-tracking functionality.

Financial Reporting

Baremetrics offers metrics and engagement tools for SaaS businesses. This powerful software allows SaaS startups to follow their Monthly Recurring Revenue, Net Revenue, Average Revenue Per User, Customer Lifetime Value, User Churn, Active Customers, and other critical business metrics. The revealed insights will help the leadership make profitable decisions and plan and strategize for growth years down the road.

Customer Support

Customer support can make or break your SaaS enterprise. The cloud-based Zendesk is arguably the most popular help-desk solution. It’s easy to deploy and implement, integrates with a company’s email, website, and social media, and can handle thousands of tickets daily. Accessible on desktop and mobile devices, it provides a handy and flexible solution for small businesses that have a home-based, freelance support team.

Customer and User Feedback Software

Customer feedback is one of the SaaS KPIs. A good feedback tool will continuously collect customer feedback, monitor the customers’ behavior, and get actionable insights for enhancing user experience and increasing conversions.

Hotjar is an all-in-one analytics, conversion rate optimization, and feedback tool that visualizes your users’ behavior and helps understand your customers’ concerns and requirements. The tool’s heat maps and screen recordings will show you where your site visitors are facing issues, the site areas popular with users, and what catches their eye. Features like conversion funnels, creation and distribution of surveys, and form analysis will provide additional insight into your users’ behavior.

Final Thoughts

For a SaaS start-up business, software choices largely determine the enterprise’s success or failure. Nowadays, these tools are almost indispensable for day-to-day management, monitoring product and customer success tools, boosting growth, and strategizing a startup’s future.

This post presents only a drop in the ocean of economically viable and useful Saas Companies to try. The key to success is to research, pick the ones that meet your business needs best, and use them regularly and for a long time. In that case, they will tremendously improve your business processes, boost the teams’ efficiency and effectiveness, and help the entrepreneurs focus on growth.

A Black Friday Sale Guide To Help You Get All the Gadgets You Need

Posted on November 29, 2020 by Charlene Brown

Black Friday is an exciting time of year because of all the amazing savings you can find. This is a time when you are able to score those amazing gifts for yourself or your friends and family at significantly reduced prices than you would find on normal shopping days.

With all of that in mind, Black Friday can still be hard to navigate for the less savvy buyer. There are a few tips and tricks that you need to keep in mind to make sure you actually get the deals you want on those special gadgets. Check out this short guide on getting the gadgets you need this Black Friday.

1. Compare Your Options

You really need to be a more savvy tech shopper by focusing on the comparisons between offers. Not every retailer is going to give you the same savings on the same product. A pair of headphones could be $200 on one site, and $230 on the other. While $30 isn’t a huge amount, it adds up when you start buying more and buying gifts, either for yourself or others. Shop around as much as possible to double-check if the deals are even, and look for things like free shipping or extras thrown in.

2. Find Coupon Offers

Even NordVPN coupon codes can help you save, so it’s not just on physical products. These coupons can help you save on software bundles, tech gadgets, and just about anything so you have to channel your inner saver and search far and wide for in-store coupon offers and online coupons. Adding up these savings can help you cut down the final sale price enough that you can spend on other deals.

Coupons are a lifesaver for Black Friday deals and shopping in general, but for gadgets and tech products, that percentage of savings could really help you out.

3. Wait For More Deals

Black Friday is usually about a week-long for most retailers or at least the American Thanksgiving weekend, but the deals don’t start and end in this week. There is another special day called Cyber Monday where tech deals become much more prominent. Being patient can help you score better deals with a little special know-how. There could be some eye-popping savings, but that doesn’t mean you need to jump on them right away. If you take a little time to compare prices, as mentioned earlier, and wait for more retailers to offer savings then you can be sure to keep your budget in-tact on any tech you want.

4. Check For Used Products

Not all used products are a good deal, which is a fair disclaimer for you heading into Black Friday shopping. Still, it can be fruitful for you to be a little more frugal and find deals on tech products that are in-store certified used. There are usually two types, open box and refurbished. Open-box is a product that could have been quickly returned with no problems, or refurbished, which is a little more used but still very much operational. These gently used or returned items could be your ticket to saving money on gadgets.

5. Find Price Matched Gadgets

Another trick is to find price matching tech products. A lot of retailers will use price matching to allow you to compete with other shop prices. If a laptop is $1200 on another site and the retailer you are buying from has it for $1500, sometimes they can match the price to keep you as a customer. This doesn’t work all the time, but many places do it to ensure that you spend your money with them.

6. Wait Until Next Year

The last piece of advice is not what everyone wants to hear but could be useful if you don’t want to get buyer’s remorse. Sometimes it could be simply better to not buy that new gadget and save your money until next year when a new version comes out. Technology is improving at rapid rates so by next year, it could be even better and you can spend your money on other gifts for yourself. If it is for a family member or friend, then by all means go for it, but if it’s for yourself, then think if you can wait until next Black Friday for a good deal.

Black Friday is once again here and for all your gadget needs, you should use these tips and tricks to help score those amazing deals and come away happy with your shopping experience.

Awesome Gmail Features You Probably Didn’t Know

Posted on November 28, 2020 by Charlene Brown

A lot of people have one goal when it comes to their email. They just choose the right email service, set it up and that’s it. Most of them are not even interested in many different features one has to offer.

On the other hand, there are those curious users that are always looking for something hidden and at the same time beneficial for their email. It can either be an interesting feature or an overlooked trick that makes things much more exciting.

This type of obsession may lead you to some spectacular discoveries. If you are currently using Gmail and you haven’t uncovered anything interesting yet, check out our list of things that cannot be spotted easily.

Hidden Gems Of Gmail

Switching Accounts

This option is available to iPhone users for quite some time, but now, those who have Android phones accounts can do this too! This is a great alternative for those who have more than just one account.

The feature is called swipe-to-switch which means that it enables you to swipe (both up or down) on your Gmail Account avatar that can be seen in the top-right corner and to switch between Gmail accounts. Once you do this, the icon on your first profile will be changed.

Free Phone Calls

There are many applications, such as Whatsapp, Viber, Facebook messenger, etc. Even Microsoft allows you to do this, through Outlook, however, you have to leave the program and go straight to Skype.

With Gmail, things are much simpler. All you have to do is to press ” Make a call “, at the bottom of the screen and just insert the number you wish to contact. Then you’ll be connected through your webcam microphone. All calls to Canada or the United States are free for the time being.

We Bet You Didn’t Know This Either!

Restore Things

Many people have accidentally deleted something they weren’t supposed to. Don’t worry. Even if this happens to you, those deleted events can luckily be restored. How, you wonder… There are a few easy steps that have to be taken.

Go to your Calendar and open My calendars list
Hover over the calendar and next to the name, press the Down arrow Trash
Go to the box that is placed next to the event you want to restore and do one of these things: click Restore selected events if you want to restore deleted event or click Delete Forever if you want this event to be gone forever
If you want to remove every single event, just press Empty trash now that’s placed at the top

Mute Fiddling Conversations

Most of us are constantly bombarded by boring, insignificant spam emails or at times someone may send you an email chain with a bunch of people you do not even know. Then you start receiving their replies and you suddenly realize you are stuck in a never-ending cycle.

How can you escape from it? Fortunately, Gmail allows its users to simply silence any conversation that is irrelevant to them. All you have to do is to select that boring email and tap on the three-dot icon on the bar above. If you do this, you never see these emails again because they will go directly to the archive.

Undo Sent Messages

How many times have you unintentionally sent a message to someone? It has probably happened a lot. Well now, thanks to Gmail, you can easily correct this mistake by utilizing the undo-send button.

This is probably one of the biggest benefits that Gmail has to offer. Firstly, it was just a tester from Google Labs. In the meantime, it has received a lot of positive reviews and comments from the user, hence, they decided to turn it into a feature.

If you want to use it, just go to the “General” option and press the “Enable Undo Send” button to cancel the message. Once you send an email and you will notice an undo link in a yellow floating box. Just click on it and you will be presented with two options – to delete it forever or to re-edit it.

So Many Wonderful Features!

It’s easy to see based on this list that Google (Gmail) is taking care of its users by simplifying email management. Now, you do not have to spend hours and hours searching for different options.

Additionally, Gmail is great because it is packed with numerous amazing features. And to think we named only a couple of them. Needless to mention, that you can use them in your marketing activities, all you need to do is to get a few established Gmail accounts, Accsmarket might help you with that. All these elements make this service even more outstanding than it appears at first glance. So what are you waiting for? Go and explore it!