Spending Smart by Maximizing Technological Investments

Technological investments are a part of business. Your business can spend $1 million to invest in new technology and equipment, but how will these technologies transition to profit? That’s the question.

Technology investments analysis

Increased investment doesn’t necessarily mean improved financials.

And small businesses need to know how to maximize these investments, or maybe they shouldn’t invest in certain technologies too early. Oftentimes, a small business will make an investment that keeps them cash-strapped and not able to recoup their money fast enough.

Missed opportunities can be a result of these decisions, which leads to lost financial gain.

Business Case Analysis

Subjectivity in an investment can be offset by business case analysis.…

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3 Lead Generation Tactics That Can Give Startups a Big Boost

Lead generation is key when starting up a business. The rule is simple: More leads equal more sales (given you can convert those leads well, though…) However, to make lead generation work, you need some tactics.

There are plenty of lead generation tactics you can adopt, but I’d suggest you to focus on just three tactics: Ringless voicemail, Facebook ads and online referral program.  Here’s a brief explanation on each.

Business smartphone

1. Ringless voicemail

Ringless voicemail is a technology that delivers voicemail messages to cellular phones without actually calling them. Ringless voicemail contacts a provider of a cellular service via a business landline and delivers voicemails thought the landline.…

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Tips for Immigrants Who Want to Start a Small Business

One role immigrants don’t get enough good publicity about in the news is the fact that immigrant entrepreneurs play a huge role in hiring a large swath of the U.S. labor force. The exact numbers are staggering, too. Nearly 6 million workers are employed by immigrant-owned businesses, according to a report released by the New American Economy.1

Immigrant business owner

While starting up a business as an immigrant in the U.S. has its challenges, those who take the entrepreneurial plunge can also find sweet success from doing so, as well.

“Our system certainly doesn’t make it easy for immigrant entrepreneurs—but still, immigrants work hard, they start businesses, and they create jobs for American workers,” said John Feinblatt, Chairman of New American Economy.…

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Dazzling Displays – 3 Tips For Boosting Your Sales Through Visual Merchandising

When it comes to taking in and making sense of information, we focus more on visuals than anything else. In fact, educational researchers suggest that about 83% of human learning occurs visually. For marketers, statistics like this can have a big impact on how you decide to present your product to consumers and they place huge importance on using visual merchandising in your marketing efforts.

Within your store is a finite amount of space. It’s up to you to make each and every square metre of space available to you counts and this is exactly where visual merchandising comes into play.…

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How to Build a High-Performing Remote Team to Scale Your Business

Remote working

The future of work is remote.

Back in 2014, Stanford University professor Nicholas Bloom declared in Harvard Business Review: “To raise productivity, let your employees work from home”.

Earlier this year, Diane Mulcahy wondered aloud in the same publication: “Will the gig economy make the office obsolete?”

Pontification aside, most trends indicate the increasingly remote nature of knowledge work. According to NY Times, nearly 43% of employed Americans spent some time working remotely in 2016, a number that’s surely to rise.

The benefits of remote work certainly sound promising – access to a global talent pool, low office costs, and flexibility.…

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Technology in Customer Service: Is It a Good or Bad Thing?

A study done by Forrester found that improving customer experience is the top priority for 72 percent of businesses. With that being said, only 63 percent of marketers in these companies implement new technology to help improve a customer’s experience.

Customer service officer

While the road to adopting technology in customer service might be slow, it’s still prevalent in today’s world. Here’s a quick look at both the efficiency and drawbacks of using technology to improve the customer experience.

Technology Speeds Up Help

In the past, to get help from a company, you would have needed to call in, wait in line and finally explain your issue to a representative.…

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Your Ecommerce Store HQ: Your Home, Rented Space or Virtual Office?

There are plenty of advantages and disadvantages to running your ecommerce business from home, but an argument can definitely be made for having a separate business address to display on your websites.

Home office space

A proper business address legitimizes your online operations, while comfortably insulating your personal life and family from the business itself. Not to mention, you don’t want angry customers showing up at your house when the postman drops and destroys the bright blue widgets they ordered from you!

A virtual office also offers benefits that both working from home or renting a full-time brick-and-mortar office do not. While the final choice will definitely come down to your own preferences, and the type of online store you run, you’ll find the advantages offered by each down below to help decide which option is right for you and your business.…

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How an Effective Uniform can Benefit Your Business

Perhaps you’re an established business who is thinking about implementing a uniform policy, or you’re a new business still deciding whether a uniform will be best for you when you start taking on staff.

Nurse

Whatever your situation is, there are many business uniform suppliers available, such as Simon Jersey, that you can browse first to get information and make a decision. This blog looks to give you some information on the benefits of an effective uniform on your business.

Utmost professionalism

A standard uniform for staff can look great. It can help reinforce a sense of pride and professionalism in your business from staff.…

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How Companies Can Make Life Easier for Maintenance Employees (and the Company)

Until just a few years ago, large companies looking to improve workflow, cut costs, and streamline processes had to achieve this through months of complex evaluations and costly custom made software. Maintenance processes often topped the list for this sort of organization, as maintenance is a notoriously costly but necessary part of so many businesses, small and large.

Today, it may still seem costly to reorganize and improve maintenance processes, but failing to jump on this bandwagon now could and probably will end up costing businesses even more.

Going Mobile

For existing businesses, especially those in manufacturing or with large or multiple facilities to look after, moving into this new tech age might seem like a nightmare.…

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CEOs: Here’s How to Run Your Business Virtually

The stigma behind running a business entirely in a virtual environment has now mostly disappeared, with so many large tech startups over the last ten years showing just how easily it can be done. Running a virtual business is certainly different from a brick-and-mortar model. However, with all the resources now available, anyone can do it.

CEO running her business virtually

Running a virtual business can offer significant benefits over a traditional offline setup:

  • Freedom: No worries about having to stay in the same place for too long. A virtual business can offer you the freedom to work from anywhere at anytime.
  • Minimal investment: No offices to rent or furniture to buy (when going the virtual office route.)
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