7 Ways To Future-Proof Your Small Business

As a small business owner, you don’t always have time for the little details that help your business run successfully. Answering every email, following up with every lead. These can all slow you down especially when you’re managing accounts and nurturing prospects.

Work process automation

If the administrative aspects are occupying too much time, here are some resourceful ways to automate work processes.

1. Automate customer communications

First impressions matter. About 58 percent of customers open welcome emails versus 15 percent that receive offers for promotions (when they’re not shopping). After a sale, use automation software like MixMax to send a welcome email to new customers.…

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3 Reasons Why Your Company Should Have a Staff Retreat

Work has an emotional pull that keeps people checking their emails and worrying about work even when they’re supposed to be resting. In the midst of all this stress, it’s becoming clear that taking a real break is as good for business and for the employees who operate it.

Staff retreat to the mountains

Retreats let everyone reflect

When every day is the same, creativity suffers. Taking time to reflect not only refreshes you physically, but it also frees your mind to be creative. It’s not at all uncommon for a business to have certain habits for no better reason than “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”…

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4 Ways to Effectively Address the Cyber Skills Education Gap

America has more than 30 million small businesses with fewer than 500 employees apiece. These companies pay almost half the wages in the country and are huge engines for job creation. For too many of them, however, cybersecurity isn’t a pressing priority.

Businesswoman learning about cybersecurity

We learned this in the Q1 AppRiver Cyberthreat Index for Business, which surveyed more than 1,000 small to midsize businesses. The results reveal that 58% of respondents consider the importance of cybersecurity to be “high” or “very high.” Another 78% say that cyberthreats are on their mind some of the time. These are positive signs, but they’re not the most revealing takeaways.…

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Benefits of Hiring a Temp Agency for Your Texas-based Business

Want to avoid the hassle of performing recruitment or selection process by yourself? Well, then hire the services of a temp agency for your Texas-based business. Plus, the hiring process takes a lot of time, resources, and energy. So, if these are the things you are looking to avoid, hire the services of a temp agency for your business and enjoy the following top benefits.

Staffing agency

Who Is A Staffing Agent?

Staffing agencies, sometimes known as temp agencies, are companies that bridge the gap between job seekers and employers. With a staffing agency, you have a partner who will get you a pool of employees to sort your short-term staffing interests.…

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10 Things You Might Not Know About Python

Python is everywhere! No, we’re not talking about the longer, non-poisonous, slimy reptilian cousin of your average garden snake, but rather the programming language that has by and large taken over the IT industry.

Python programming language

If you are a developer, you know what I am talking about and chances are you already ‘speak’ Python and if you are not, you can just take a short Python course and be able to learn it easily owing to its reputation of being one of the easiest programming languages in the world. But even if you are a veteran, do you know everything about it?…

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Plug your Business Directly into the internet with a Leased Line

Is the internet fast enough yet? For many of us, our broadband speeds are satisfactory. Our needs are met, our patience isn’t tested. For some organizations however, the limitations of broadband, even superfast business broadband, remain a frustration.

Leased line Internet

In 2019, the internet is long past the early adoption phase and well into maturity. There are young people entering the workforce who may not even remember the days before the internet. Some might not even remember dial-up connections!

Perhaps those that remember the dial-up days can’t bring themselves to feel discontented with being able to stream 4k video without any buffering. But this could lead them to miss the potential opportunities an even faster connection would create for their business.…

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A Small amount of Backup Power can go a Long Way

As the old saying goes – a little bit of something can do you good. Some level of preparation for a power outage is better than none and can cost considerably less than you might think. People making preparations for power outages often decide to back up their whole electrical load, but is this really necessary?

Backup power electricity

I’ll argue it’s not a firm requirement. Like many things’ situation determines the best response and a thorough and thoughtful analysis can often lead to better outcomes. Deciding on the requirement to backup the whole load can be a much more expensive job; large power-hungry systems can hugely increase the size of any back up solutions, such as a diesel generator.…

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Power Drives Global Business

In today’s modern economy, power is more critical than ever before. While this reliance on power has brought a general robustness to the economy, especially in terms of data storage, as the massive global data giants, Microsoft, Google and Amazon fight it out in the cloud computing space. Small and medium businesses while slow to take advantage of the offering, are now swiftly adopting the revolution.

The big data centres have arrays of diesel generators to supply power in the event of mains failure and arrays of UPS systems to bridge the gap. Outside of western Europe, petrol or diesel generators are a much more common sight with households and businesses replying on them due to poor grid connections.…

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7 Things You Didn’t Know About Starting a Small Business

Going into business is both exciting and daunting, and if you get bogged down in trying to cover all the details before you’ve opened your doors (real or virtual) you’d likely put yourself off starting up.

That said, there are certain things you may not know or have perhaps underestimated about starting a business.

Salon business using POS system

1. Certain tech and equipment aren’t luxuries

Quite rightly you should look to minimize expenditure and avoid spending on equipment and services you may not need, but certain aspects aren’t luxuries; they’re necessities to compete:

Sales and inventory systems – efficient transactions of retail sales are expected now, so investing in modern POS (Point of Sale) systems is important.…

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The Importance of PCI Audits

Data breaches are more prevalent today than ever before. A data security report compiled by Verizon shows that in 2016, there were 80,000 data security issues. Unknown to many businesses, most cyber attackers take advantage of website and system vulnerabilities that are easily preventable. If your business has little to no data breach protection, it is at a high risk of exposing crucial data to malicious third parties.

PCI audit on credit card processing system

One of the easy ways of avoiding data security breaches is being PCI compliant. A PCI compliance audit can help to ensure your customers’ sensitive data, such as credit card information, is safe.…

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