Preview environments exist to help a development team holistically review code changes in a feature branch before merging it. It’s like getting a full review of your code changes without having to worry about all the changes everyone else on your team is actively making. Each feature can progress in its own isolated test channel unimpeded by conflicts!

Monumental, right? The implications are enormous for productivity and efficiency. Think about what it means. The same group of people is able to accomplish 50% more in any given time frame. Below are the top three benefits of establishing a preview environment capability for your development team.

1. Preview environments act as quality gates.

One of the best things about preview environments is that they help you maintain a stable code base. Rather than merging code with potential regressions or breaking changes, the preview environment lets you check over your hours of tedious labor in an isolated, production-like environment. It’s 10x easier to fix a bug before merging—and that’s exactly what preview environments enable.

The preview environment enables you to make adjustments before the new code is merged. And because of their ephemeral nature—you can have one for every feature branch/pull request.

Due to its temporary nature and automated creation/deletion, teams can provision as many full-stack preview environments as they need, when they need them, and for as long as they need them. This means the speed of your feedback loops—develop, test, develop, test, develop, test—dramatically increases.

2. Previews synergize your cross-functional team.

Another dynamic role that preview environments play is in enhancing the synergy among your whole team—from developers to testers to product and beyond. The earlier that the product team and other key stakeholders can review a new feature, the faster changes can be made, and the faster changes can be made the faster the feature can be rolled out to end users.

Preview environments enable near real-time review of in progress feature development. Developers don’t have to worry about code freezes, managing merge conflicts, or the impacts of their code on all the other changes when they spin up a preview environment. Your teammate doing peer review doesn’t have to pull a branch to run locally and your product manager doesn’t have to ask “Can I see it yet?” because the answer is “Yes!” Everyone is working off the same “sheet of music” which in this case means the preview environment.

With preview environments you’ve freed up your developers to make the necessary changes to get the feature approved without having to worry about all the second order effects. They lead to a better review method, quicker turnaround times, and a boss that’s a bit more content than yesterday.

3. Preview environments save money.

The final thing to hold onto as you think about using preview environments for your development team is that it will save your company money on your cloud bills. Given the economic downturn and incredibly competitive business world we live in today, cutting costs is absolutely necessary.

The implementation of previews save money for many reasons. If you’re producing more work with the same team in a given period of time that is one way to look at the savings. While the productivity increase is the main benefit, teams will also literally save money on their cloud bills.

When you have persistent test environments they run 24/7/365 at an average cost of around $1,000/month (that’s for small projects). Preview environments only run when they are needed—which it turns out is usually less than a day or less than 3% of the month. You can run several for short periods before you reach the cost of a traditional persistent test environment.

How does your team save money with the efficiency and synergy that preview environments provide? The following progression makes it incredibly clear.

• Code Quality: Pre-Merge Testing vs. Post-Merge Testing
• Testing in Isolation vs. Batch Testing
• Bringing Your Cross-Functional Team into the Development Process
• Giving Environments a Life-Cycle that Matches Your Feature Branch Life-Cycle

One example and industry leader that exists to help companies advance workflows and the overall process of development is Uffizzi. The continuous preview environments they provide are the preferred choice. They work for many of the world’s most popular open source projects and teams seeking high performance development.

Preview environments provide a competitive edge.

Almost every team today has version control, CI/CD, and cloud-native infrastructure. Once you’ve got these basic building blocks in place, make the next game-changing move. Upgrade your test environment strategy by implementing an ephemeral preview environment solution.

There will be a learning curve. You will have to make process changes. However, the transformation will be more than worth it. With a preview environment capability you’ll never look back at how you did it before. Your team will enjoy the mental and tactical freedom that preview environments create.

The post Top Three Benefits of Implementing Preview Environments for Software Development Teams appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

As entrepreneurs build their tech stacks, though, they need to be aware of a couple of potential issues. The first is security. Cybercrime continues to be a legitimate concern for anyone online. Businesses should take necessary measures to improve and maintain cybersecurity.

Second, owners must make sure that they’re optimizing their small business technology. With so many options available, it’s easy to become buried under an avalanche of 21st-century solutions. This is true even if they aren’t all benefitting you the way they should.

Here are a few suggestions for ways small businesses can both optimize and secure their digital activity to ensure that they’re getting the most out of their tech.

Start with your Wi-Fi.

Your Wi-Fi is the digital gate to your company. In a tech-heavy world, this makes it the main entrance to your tech stack, your files, your data, and your business as a whole. If you want to optimize how your small business works, you need to start by setting the stage with a quality Wi-Fi solution.

The Wi-Fi experts at Plume point out that this obviously includes the need for a strong and dependable wireless signal, but it shouldn’t stop there. As is the case with the company’s small business-focused WorkPass Wi-Fi solution, a good Wi-Fi network should also be safe, easy to use, and intimately woven into the fabric of your business.

By using a quality small business Wi-Fi solution, you can simultaneously tap into the simplicity and ease of residential routers as well as the firepower of an enterprise-level internet connection.

Small business Wi-Fi has the potential to double as a business intelligence (BI) platform that collects and turns data into actionable insights. This can help you manage your workforce and communicate with guest users. It can also keep your entire team engaged with adaptive connectivity that is fast, reliable, and ultra-secure.

If you want your small business to be productive and secure at the same time, make sure to start by using a reputable and capable small business Wi-Fi solution.

Establish solid cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity can be intimidating. The need to keep your technology safe and secure from outside threats is an ever-present concern. Many solutions can also be prohibitively expensive — but not all of them.

There are many small-yet-effective ways that you can secure sensitive data while optimizing your small business technology. Intel suggests half a dozen ways to do this, such as:

• establishing a solid private Wi-Fi setup (see the previous step) that doesn’t require logging in on any public Wi-Fi connections;
• keeping hardware upgraded at all times — and, of course, making sure your team installs all software patches and updates in a timely manner;
• using strong passwords and implementing MFA (multi-factor authentication) whenever possible;
• utilizing apps like Windows 10 Pro security and Norton Antivirus to block unwanted malware; and
• teaching your staff to use proper digital hygiene (maintaining strong passwords, installing updates, etc.) at all times when using office tech.

If you feel like overseeing all of these steps is too much, consider using a Device as a Service (DaaS) solution to increase security. This is a new kind of service that bundles the distribution, management, and IT support for a business’s tech. These are then overseen by a third-party provider, taking the perpetual responsibility off of your plate.

Manage your marketing.

Marketing is one of the easiest areas to bleed cash and ooze inefficiency. This is partly due to the subtle and intangible results that marketing can generate.

If you have a sales team, you can measure their success in dollars and cents. You can apply the same simple math to other areas. These include manufacturing, paying an accountant, or shipping and handling costs.

When it comes to marketing, though, it’s easy to pour endless money into things like content creation and brand awareness without really knowing how effective they are.

If you want to optimize your marketing activity, the first thing you need to do is set up analytics tools to track your results. There are many ways to do this, including free tools, like Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics. In addition, many tools, like Shopify or Mail Chimp, come with built-in data collection dashboards.

The top companies in IT are often admired for their innovative products, cutting-edge technology, and forward-thinking leadership. These companies not only shape the future of the tech industry but also have a significant impact on the global economy.

Of course, tracking data in a dozen or more applications is challenging. That’s why you may want to consider an additional third-party tool to unify your analytical marketing data. AI-powered solutions like Hawke.ai can bring all of your marketing results into a single dashboard where you can find insights to help you make informed, optimized decisions.

Optimizing and Securing a Small Business (Without Panicking)

There are many factors that go into keeping a business both efficient and safe. For small businesses, this task can feel time-consuming and expensive.

However, if you approach things with a strategy in place, you can manage both concerns without too much trouble. Start by putting things like a solid Wi-Fi solution in place and establishing key cybersecurity protocols. From there, focus on conducting ongoing digital hygiene training. Use the tools available to gather data and turn it into actionable and efficient business strategies, too.

Optimizing small business technology is an assumed aspect of any startup venture at this point. The critical factor is making sure that your tech stack is helping, not hindering, your small business.

The post How to Begin Securing and Optimizing Small Business Technology appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Before the advancement of technology, businesses used to work with and manage thousands and thousands of physical documents. This would sometimes be challenging as they would also have to manage the day-to-day business operations.

As businesses move towards a more paperless future, your business will benefit from having scanning solutions. Additionally, digital scanning solutions can be scanning apps, scanning software, and other cutting-edge technology that can be used for scanning. As a result, consider investing in the following scanning solutions for your business and step into the future.

Benefits of Digital Scanning Solutions

Digital scanning solutions can ensure that your business is running smoothly and efficiently. Therefore, they are very useful regardless of the sector you are in, whether it is the medical sector, the property sector, or the retail sector, to name a few. Likewise, you will be able to find a variety of document scanning software and digital scanning solutions for your business.

Scanning solutions help you simplify all your data management processes and ensure that your business is disaster-proof or at least well prepared enough to stand against any workplace disaster.

In the same vein, you will also be able to save time and office space in your business as most day-to-day operations will be paperless and can be shared digitally between employees. This, in turn, can help improve work efficiency at the office, which can increase work productivity. Increased productivity can be a great benefit for any business as it will translate to more profit.

1. Barcode Scanning

Barcode scanners are scanners that can read printed barcodes. The barcodes then feed information to a computer. Operators scan these barcodes using an LED, laser, sensor, and lens. Barcode scanners can decode the information received to maintain your business’s product database. As a result, you’ll know what stock you have and how much of it you have left and better plan for future expenses.

Barcode scanning can be a great addition to your business as it can also help you with asset tracking, validating tickets, managing your stock database, and security. Above all, it’s easy to use. Non-technical business owners are able to install these systems quickly.

You’ll be able to get your business running at a much more efficient pace, increasing your customer base as well.

2. OCR Scanning

OCR stands for optical character recognition. This type of scanning converts printed characters into digital texts.

Once you convert the characters into digital text, you can search them quickly. As a result, you will be able to edit the document in a word processor. Having an OCR scanner in your business means that even vision-impaired individuals will be able to scan different types of faxes, books, and various documents.

You can use OCR scanners for scanning and converting texts for signs, and billboards, making it a must-have for businesses. Data entry projects can take hours to do, and an OCR scanner can help cut down on time spent on data entry.

3. QR Code Scanning

This type of scanning is mostly used in smartphones. QR stands for the quick response, and this type of scanner can decode QR codes and convert them into their intended purpose. Some information found in a QR code includes being redirected to a company’s website or automatically downloading a particular app.

QR codes are a great way to provide mobile solutions. For example, you can use a QR code in your business to direct potential customers to your information. You can also use it as a form of advertising where potential customers will be so curious about what your business does that they will scan the code to get more information.

4. RFID Scanning

An RFID scanner uses radio frequency identification, and this type of scanning solution can help your business identify and track RFID tags. These RFID tags are usually attached to various objects and contain data relevant to your business.

By using a radio responder, a transmitter, and a radio receiver, your RFID tag will transmit all the data it contains to a scanner. Therefore, this can be very beneficial for various cases, such as tracking your inventory and tracking your business vehicles and other logistics.

With RFID, you’ll be able to remotely increase your asset visibility and know exactly where each asset is. Further, you will also be able to improve the productivity of your employees as they will no longer need to waste time on long, intensive projects. As a result, your business will also be able to mitigate any risks that may arise from theft or loss.

You will be able to track your assets quickly, access all inventory information, and cross-reference it with the location of the asset. Having this much visibility means you will be able to better prepare for anything that may arise.

Specialized Scanning Solutions for Businesses

Manufacturers design specialized scanning solutions for businesses to save time and make day-to-day operations more efficient. Other forms of scanning that can benefit your business, regardless of the sector, include the following.

1. Medical Record Scanning

Medical record scanning allows medical personnel to manage patient health records, medical prescriptions, and transcripts and track every step of a patient’s care.

2. Legal Document Scanning

Legal document sharing helps lawyers, and law personnel cut down on the amount of paperwork they handle. You can digitize most documents and file them so that attorneys can easily access them. Consequently, firms will be able to save money for the practice and reduce using physical storage space.

3. Digital Dental Scanning

Having easy access to a patient’s health records can streamline any time-consuming tasks in dental practice. You’ll also be able to control which medical personnel can access what files. As a result, this adds an extra layer of security for sensitive information.  

Additionally, there are technological advancements in the dental industry today that allow dentists to effortlessly make mouth and tooth impressions. With digital dental scans, dentists can efficiently get oral impressions within seconds. This eliminates the laborious and often expensive process of casting plaster molds for the purpose of fitting dentures and other oral procedures.

4. Blueprint and Map Scanning

Blueprint and map scanning give blueprints, plan sets, and maps to a barcode that simplifies inventory control for businesses. The images are then checked for quality, completeness, and clarity for secure data transfer.

Conclusion

Choose the best digital scanning solution for your business by identifying what weaknesses your business has and which scanning solutions will be able to help.

You can use these solutions to boost efficiency and minimize operational costs. You’ll be able to organize data without endangering the environment as all transactions will be digital. It’s the best investment for you, so make sure you invest in the best digital scanning solutions.

The post 4 Types of Digital Scanning Solutions for Business  appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Here’s how to make sense of digital transformation (DX) if you’re running a small business. And how to avoid some of the repercussions of the worldwide financial meltdown.

In general, it refers to technology to digitize an organization’s data and processes to improve its efficiency.

On the other hand, DX isn’t just about duplicating an existing process in digital form. It’s all about utilizing digital technologies to improve processes and transform businesses.

While efficiency is a significant benefit, it is not the most important. DX can accelerate time to market, improve customer experience, and boost collaboration and innovation. That is contingent on an organization’s mindset and personnel. As a result, DX necessitates a shift in organizational culture.

Digital transformation is a multibillion-dollar industry.

Everywhere you look, people are flinging ever-increasing amounts of technology solutions to problems in the hopes of boosting revenue and profits. What are the options for a small business?

1. Don’t be alarmed.

Yes, businesses are spending trillions, but they may be squandering a significant portion of that money on large-scale investments that have no business value.

Over half of the companies surveyed (53 percent) said they were not prepared to use new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) or facial recognition that they planned to acquire, according to a recent survey by PointSource (via Information Week).

Because small businesses have fewer resources, making the most of them is critical.

On the other hand, small businesses accounted for 43.5 percent of US GDP in 2014. Every technology vendor is likely to want to tap into this massive customer base, resulting in increasingly affordable solutions.

2. Recognize the importance of the situation and take the initiative from the top.

At one extreme, people view robots and AI as destroying jobs, while at the other, they tout an AI-fueled utopia.

Of course, the reality is likely to be far more complicated.

Your basic, everyday operations — the things your people do regularly — can yield a lot of gold in the business world. You cannot afford to sit on the sidelines simply because you are a small business, regardless of your specific circumstances.

Because technology will not go away, every small business should recognize the importance of DX.

Because digital business transformation necessitates cultural change, it’s critical to enlist the help of business leaders. Those who are successful with DX initiatives lead from the top.

That is to say, these things small business leaders should do to get out of their comfort zones. Indeed, making time for forward-thinking initiatives, being open to risk-taking, and understanding that they can’t go it alone.

3. Come up with a strategy.

Don’t overlook DX’s “transformation” component.

Transformations don’t happen without a plan. Without a strategy, businesses will likely focus solely on operational issues and specific technologies.

Create a strategy around long-term objectives like customer service and talent acquisition. Take the time to jot down your thoughts. This can help leaders avoid succumbing to the hype and wasting money in the name of staying on the cutting edge.

4. Pay attention to the customer’s experience.

If you genuinely want to transform your company, focus on improving customer experience rather than a specific technology.

Small businesses’ most significant differentiator has always been personalized service. It’s even more critical in the digital world.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, a positive customer experience is an important factor in their purchasing decisions for 73 percent of those polled. Consumers are willing to pay up to 16% more for products and services that include a positive customer experience.

Small businesses can use DX to interact with customers in various ways. That is to say, including digital marketing via email and SEO, building customer relationships via social media. Consequently, deploying chatbots for better customer service.

You can also automate processes. Moreover, you’ll want your small business to provide a consistent experience to customers at any time (and from any location).

5. Take the first steps as quickly as possible.

Implementing the strategy will take time. However, there are several things that small businesses can do right now.

Marketing automation software, for example, is now available to all businesses through a variety of cloud-based vendors. Many companies provide plans and tiers for businesses of all sizes.

A small business can use these services to analyze customer behavior. Indeed, as well, preferences, and demographics to create a customer profile and provide personalized experiences.

The most important thing is to act quickly. Start small and choose a daily activity that is relatively simple, repetitive, and frequent. Consequently you will achieve a quick win as soon as possible.

6. Be prepared for change.

It’s still a rare skill to visualize and articulate how digital technologies translate into positive business outcomes. Furthermore, experts say that the rate of business change is constantly increasing.

As a result, don’t be surprised if things shift. You can prepare the company by cultivating a culture that values change and refuses to accept the status quo.

“Well, that’s how we’ve always done it” should be a thing of the past in the workplace.

Employees will, without a doubt, require time and resources to reorient themselves and their activities to the new digital strategies. Commit your company to improve employee skills where they are needed.

Conclusion

Digital transformation isn’t going away anytime soon.

Despite having fewer resources than large corporations, more innovative small businesses can reap significant benefits. Focus on the customer experience, start at the top, and expect things to change.

Whatever else you do, don’t overlook the value of moving quickly…or the dangers of waiting too long.

The post Digital Transformation (DX) Is Over-Hyped appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Let’s talk about lighting’s influence on small businesses and how you can choose the right technology for your company.

Light as a Functional Business Tool

Proper lighting assists with two essential business functions: employee productivity and energy efficiency.

LED lights work best because they consume less energy and have longer lives than other light bulbs, making them more efficient and cost-effective.

As a general rule, LED light sources with cool temperatures that shine softly over the office space will bode better for employees than bright, hot, overbearing fluorescent lights.

However, the recommended lighting “temperature” to maximize productivity varies by task.

We measure light temperature through Kelvin (K), which is the standard symbol for thermodynamics. Use this guide as a reference:

• 3,000K or less: Warm lights with red to yellow tones.
• 3,100 to 4,600K: Medium lights with pale yellow to white tones.
• 4,600K or more: Cool lights with blue-white tones, also known as “daylight colors.”

Warm lights create a relaxing atmosphere, which benefits break rooms and other intimate social settings.

The middle range isn’t quite as relaxing, but it has a welcoming mood and promotes alertness. This combination works best in conference rooms, lobbies, and other open areas.

The coldest lights lower melatonin and thus boost productivity, which makes them the best options for employees’ individual workspaces.

Fixtures and Bulbs: An Investment in Your Employees

Small businesses should incorporate all light varieties and fixtures into rooms throughout the office to get the most out of each setting.

This widespread change won’t be easy and will cost more than a standard lighting setup, but the long-term return on investment will pay off.

You can also offset LEDs’ high buying price with a free light source that businesses often forget about: natural light.

Natural lighting falls into the cool category. Natural light boosts serotonin, which gives you more energy and keeps you focused. Moderate exposure also has numerous benefits to your physical health. It’s a perfect solution for your business’s main workspace.

Open up your windows and let the sunlight shine through. Angle the office furniture to get sufficient exposure.

If possible, you could also renovate your building to have wider, longer windows and mix in a few skylights. Any way to maximize natural light in your workspace is a worthwhile endeavor.

Lighting as a Design Tool for Small Businesses

An LED-sunlight combination won’t just benefit your day-to-day business operations. It will also improve your office’s design, make your building more aesthetically pleasing and improve the client/customer experience. Proper lighting positively influences their behavior and helps make your interactions with them more productive.

When visitors enter your building, they should feel welcomed and get an immediate sense of the office’s ambiance. To establish the ambiance, you must layer your lighting effectively. There are four types of layering you can integrate:

• Diffused: Subtle lights that allow people to move around the space without restriction.
  • This function creates a sense of comfort and well-being that guests will appreciate.
• Perimeter: Lights that shine vertically make the room appear more spacious and make occupants feel more aware of the scope of their surroundings.
• Task: These lights shine on a specific area, but they’re most effective when working in unison with diffused lighting to illuminate workspaces.
• Accent: Small fixtures that highlight shapes, textures, and colors throughout the building.
  • Their dispersion is more concentrated and intense, cutting through the other layers to create visual contrast.

The feelings these layers create — comfort, awareness, and intensity — clash with each other. Still, this complexity establishes ambiance in a building. Employees and guests will notice the different layers and feel more immersed in the office setting.

To pull off all four layering techniques, install various light fixtures — lamps, pendants, recessed lighting, etc. — to add new dimensions to rooms. Use the different types of LED bulbs to illuminate your building with multiple sources of light dispersion. Highlight product samples, signs, artwork, and other design details throughout the building.

Make Your Small Business Shine With a Range of Technologies

Effective lighting is both a functional and aesthetic tool. It’s scientifically proven to boost employee productivity and improve the customer experience.

A greater reliance on LED and natural lighting will also take a significant chunk out of your energy bill. However, you must incorporate a variety of temperatures and design elements to make it work. Test all of the details we discussed to find the perfect lighting and make your small business shine!

The post Small Business Lighting Technology: Your Subtle Productivity Tool appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Small businesses may benefit from technological advancements to expand their customer bases. This will be needed as the cost of doing business escalates. For example, where are gas prices going?

Small company owners may free up room on their already-overflowing to-do lists by employing marketing strategies to attract new clients and retain existing ones.

Small company owners must develop an omnichannel marketing plan that includes a solid social media presence to remain competitive in today’s market. According to the Pew Research Center, at least 85 percent of Americans now own a smartphone, up from 35 percent in 2011.

Businesses now have the opportunity to contact clients wherever they are in the world, thanks to the abundance of information at their fingertips.

A recent study by Hootsuite found that people on social media spend an average of two hours and 25 minutes each day. Of that 2 hours and 25 minutes, 98.8 percent of users access social media on a mobile device. They are making it a vital tool for small companies to enhance brand exposure.

Following the newest social media trends and creating a positive return on investment may be complex tasks. It is a process to develop intriguing content to engage prospective consumers.

Moreover, choosing the best channel to reach your target audience requires both time and expertise. However, although many small company owners recognize the importance of social media, many find it difficult to quantify the return on their investment in their efforts.

Marketing Suggestions for the Future of Technology

Is maintaining your social media presence is becoming a full-time job? Therefore, make use of technological advancements to attract new clients quickly and easily.

Three new marketing tactics that any business owner should consider are listed below. Similarly, use them in their advertising campaign to save time. That is to say, generating a significant return on investment can be realized by using them.

• Providing excellent customer service.

Every small company owner understands the need to deliver excellent customer service to attract repeat business.

However, labor constraints make it more challenging to deliver high-quality customer service. Indeed, there are methods to reduce your responsibilities to ease some of the hassles you may be experiencing.

Giving signing incentives and increasing beginning salary are essential measures during this challenging season.

Customer management software may be quite beneficial. A customer relationship management system (CRM) may help you engage with customers. That is to say, it will increase profits by offering a comprehensive picture of your clients in a single place.

Customer management software often tracks customers’ activities. This may be a valuable tool in focusing your social media marketing efforts.

CRM software also enables firms to deliver customized messages to clients. Customer software may engage them and persuade them to do business with them again.

• Voice search is another option.

Speech-activated devices such as Amazon’s Alexa are gaining popularity. Moreover, it is becoming more crucial for companies to optimize their websites for voice search.

Likewise, consumers often use voice search to locate restaurants, supermarkets, and clothes shops, among other things. According to Statista’s forecasts, one hundred thirty-two million virtual assistant users will exist in the United States by 2022.

List your company on Google My Business and include a FAQ page on your website. Listing will guarantee that your website does not fall short of expectations.

Therefore, as you may see, using long-form keywords in your content might be advantageous. However, just having a question and answer page on your website can accomplish the same goal.

• Postcards sent by direct mail.

Direct mail postcards are becoming more popular among busy company owners because of advancements in tracking technology.

Operators may monitor the return on their investment by scanning the direct mail postcard at the point of sale. That is to say, with their cellphones while in the field.

Companies may utilize direct mail marketing campaigns to target specific client demographics. Indeed, also blanket a whole neighborhood with their message by using Census data, sorted by age, income, and household size, among other factors.

Therefore, maintain a laser-like focus on technology that saves you time and provides a great return on investment. This focus may help you enhance your bottom line while alleviating the stress of managing your marketing initiatives.

Customers and Marketing

The small business owner must never forget that customers exist only because of marketing.

And marketing exists only to serve customers. To find them, caress them, reel them in, and keep them coming back for more. Keep its importance top of mind.

The post Business and Technology Expand Customer Base appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Time is money, as we all know, and nowhere is this more true than in a small business. Implementing technology solutions that take over and simplify some of the chores on your to-do list is one of the easiest methods to boost your business’s efficiency.

Of course, technology solutions may be expensive. You may not want to spend when you’re just starting. That is to say, trying to get as much done as possible for the least amount of money.

However, some small-business technology is free. Many are pretty reasonable. When it comes to automating busywork, the investment might save you more money than it costs.

You’ll need technology also to regulate your supply chain. Everything from wheat to widgets can become scarce at any moment.

Here are a few digital solutions that may help you get more done in less time and with less effort.

Keeping Digital Records of Tasks

There are just a few chores that you can complete in one sitting. Multiple phases, teamwork, and frequent check-ins with personnel, partners, and customers characterize most work. Keeping track of all of that might clog up your inbox and take up a significant portion of your day.

Technology can do a lot of that labor for you.

Software and internet platforms that monitor tasks, calendars, and workflow are available. They aggregate information. In other words, it’s about allocated personnel, steps, progress, document modifications, and deadlines.

Consequently, it is a dedicated location that everyone on your team can access. Moreover, try bringing the task dialogue into a dedicated space that everyone on your team can access.

Digital task tracking technology allows for increased efficiency and real-time team communication, and it almost removes the need for a frequent phone or email check-ins.

By looking at the workflow, you can precisely see whom and what’s remaining.

Communication and Group Training

Off-site employees and contractors are becoming more common in the small business setting.

Although the trend might save you money on overhead, it can also cost you time and money in terms of training and group work.

• Travel is costly, and keeping distant employees informed about today’s office meeting might take hours of summarizing, presenting, and assuring understanding.
• You may streamline that procedure via web conferencing technology, online group training, and group messaging.
• Specialized chats, group meetings, and education provide seamless, real-time cooperation.

They may also assist with integrating off-site people into the team, which will improve collaboration and morale.

Marketing on the Internet

Email newsletters and social media presences are no longer optional for most organizations; they’re already conventional marketing methods.

If you do them “by hand,” they’re also quite time-consuming. Enter technology!

With social media and email management software, you can drastically cut the amount of time you spend on social media marketing.

They have a wide range of features and may easily be tailored to your company’s requirements, automating chores such as customer emails and social media posting.

The following are some of many technology product’s features:

• real-time and cross-platform viewing of content and user analytics;
• setting tweets and posts to go out at specified periods in the future;
• synchronizing social media posts across many platforms; and
• sending out newsletters to customers as well as social media sites at specific periods.

Storage in the Cloud

Cloud technology is taking control when it comes to data storage. Consequently, the cloud keeps your data on off-site servers and has several advantages.

Therefore, one of the most important is security. Cloud technology relieves you of the burden of securing your data from unauthorized access and loss.

But it also allows for efficiency and mobility. If you and your employees are often on the road for business, cloud storage technology may help you save time and money.

Instead of downloading and setting up VPN access to access encrypted data, you connect to the internet and download it from the cloud.

Shortcuts in Technology

You may also use technology to automate or simplify the following tasks:

• Scheduling Meetings. Finding a convenient time for all parties involved may need a 10-message email chain. When you use digital scheduling, you transmit a link to your schedule to the recipient, choosing an available period. Done.
• Getting Signatures. Post the documentation online instead of sending contracts and hunting down unsigned customers or employees. You may provide a link to the paperwork and have the recipient sign it electronically using digital signature technology. However, systems will also notify you when it is complete and offer reminders to folks who haven’t completed it promptly.
• Dictation and Transcription. Technology can do it for you rather than writing everything down or otherwise transcribing digital recordings. Audio recording and transcribing, especially while traveling, may save you a lot of time. It can protect you from losing an excellent idea.

There is a plethora of other small-business IT options available. Therefore, which one is ideal for you is determined by various criteria.

Standards include the nature of your product/service and your work style. However, whichever technology you use will not only save you time but may also save you money. Money saved particularly in areas like social marketing and task monitoring.

Using these technologies in your company may help you. You can attain the lean, efficient operations necessary for success and development.

The post Small Business Benefits from Technology appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Small business technology is seldom the first to adopt new trends. Large, established corporations tend to lead corporate shifts. Consider Amazon’s drone delivery innovation. Or Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, who was campaigning for four-day weekends. Or Karl Waggoner, who wants to abolish Daylight Savings Time.

This makes sense. After all, small company entrepreneurs lack the time and resources to test new technologies. But failing to integrate new tools and methods once they’ve been proved successful is a mistake. One mistake can put you at a competitive disadvantage.

If you go through all the top small business publications and gather all the technology trends, some stand out more than others. Listed below are seven significant business technology trends affecting small and medium-sized organizations. Understanding them can help you position your firm for future success.

1. Feature-Rich CRM Apps

Customer relationship management (CRM) applications are nothing new. For decades, businesses have used them to monitor sales, client information, and more.

However, in recent years, an increasing number of solutions targeting small enterprises have joined the already congested CRM industry. Affordability and feature richness abound with these tools. However, the best thing is that they interface with practically every aspect of a company’s current IT stack, saving employees work hours every day.

Compare small company CRM software and find a system that matches your specific needs.

2. Artificial Intelligence

Terms like “artificial intelligence” and “machine learning” frighten some people. Therefore, while the underlying principles of these new technologies are complicated, small firms may nevertheless benefit from them.

Owners of businesses may use AI to automate customer-facing and internal processes. That is to say, improve customer journeys, personnel management procedures, data synchronization across platforms, etc.

Many AI-as-a-service applications are also available as independent solutions or as part of a more prominent feature kit.

3. Bot Technology

Chatbots are part of a more extensive corporate use of artificial intelligence.

However, chatbots are computer programs that can converse with humans using messaging applications like Facebook and WhatsApp. They help firms assist, process purchases, and alert consumers of critical changes.

Convenience is another benefit of chatbots. Small company owners must use chatbots with more consumers making transactions through messaging applications. Also, thanks to user-friendly chatbot systems, coding skills aren’t required.

4. Analytics Tools

Data overload is a common problem for small company owners and managers.

That is to say, particularly in manufacturing, where IoT sensors and supply chain data signals may overwhelm owners and managers. Hiring a professional data scientist is rare, and outsourcing is pricey.

So, how can small firms use data to make better decisions?

Analytics programs derive meaningful, actionable conclusions from enormous swaths of data. Not simply reporting options that give you your total conversion rate and website traffic.

These services analyze massive volumes of data to give actionable insights into your customer experience, employee activities, and company ecosystem.

Whatever your goal, today’s most valued analytics software technology packages make it easier for non-technical people to succeed. Therefore, they use data-driven management practices.

5. Robotics

Employees of small businesses often spend hours each week on vital but straightforward chores. These may entail data input, appointment scheduling, and customer service.

Recent technological advancements have enabled small organizations to adopt automation solutions without in-house expertise.

These easy-to-use tools can help you develop a fully integrated tech stack that can perform routine chores without your or your workers’ involvement.

One such startup is Zapier, which has developed rapidly in recent years. Therefore, it’s a simple option for syncing applications and automating tasks when native software integrations aren’t available.

6. Remote Work Technology

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated an increasing tendency towards remote work.

However, companies that allow workers to work from home also have reported cheaper office expenditures, more productivity, and happier staff.

If practicable, consider allowing employees to work remotely for a few days a week. Furthermore, small enterprises should have a robust software architecture that allows workers to interact remotely.

Companies must consider how they will position themselves in the business technology job market to attract the most OK people as flexible working options become more popular.

7. Influencer Marketing

Online material is replacing more conventional media like television. Moreover, sponsored advertising has a declining return on investment, and ad blockers are gaining ground.

But emerging strategies, such as influencer marketing, are becoming successful in terms of reach and cost. Therefore, small enterprises should develop plans to seize these new possibilities as soon as possible.

Conclusion

Change is both challenging and exciting. This is especially true with technology.

Small firms that efficiently use modern technology may gain several benefits. These include more efficient procedures, better customer experiences, and happier staff.

Moreover, user-friendly and cost-effective applications enable small enterprises to apply innovations without specialized help. So now there’s no excuse!

The post 7 Small Business Technology Trends appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The cash register was formerly the most sophisticated technology in most retail establishments, yet it was nothing more than a calculator with a cash drawer. It’s a new day! The consumer experience has been altered by mobile shopping applications, self-service kiosks, and more. The employment experience is often relatively low-tech. Therefore, as long as consumers desire to buy in shops, we’ll need real people to welcome, assist, and ring up their purchases.

Fewer retailers are using new technology in frontline personnel processes. With smart workplace technology integration, you can enable your sales associates to work more intelligently, efficiently, and effectively to support your brand and clients. However, you’ll need all the edge you can get, now that the USPS is promising even slower, messier delivery.

Modern technology is changing the rules for frontline staff in three ways.

1. Keeping technology in order.

If your workers can’t keep up with everyday activities like stocking stores and scrubbing restrooms, customers will suffer.

Many businesses now use task-management applications with reminders and even gamification to help staff remain on track. Instead of confusing lists pinned to break room bulletin boards, managers may utilize analytics to predict worker needs and online calendars to openly handle shift assignments.

But employers should be cautious. Salespeople aren’t interchangeable cogs, and you can’t expect them to be delighted if a computer rearranges their schedule or alters their shifts at the last minute.

Therefore, they utilize technology to listen to their employees and create fair timetables, enabling people to voice their preferences and preserve a feeling of autonomy.

2. Promoting new forms of connectivity.

ABC stands for “always be connected” for today’s sales teams.

Great teams join together and share their ideas, know-how, and insights to become more than the sum of their parts. Connectivity allows employees to learn from one another, fix errors, and push each other to new heights.

Of course, technology makes this possible. You can’t genuinely cooperate if your only chances to connect are all-hands meetings or daily breaks.

Instead, we have news feeds, instant messaging, push alerts, and social media. It enables managers to listen and learn from their staff. It enables us to collaborate in real-time, turning sales teams into a cohesive unit focused on success.

3. AI augmentation.

While AI may not seem like a natural match for retail personnel, there are several ways that AI may help frontline staff.

So, instead of traversing the aisles with a clipboard and stitching your notes together later in Excel, machine vision can manage inventory. Consequently, improve displays based on photographs collected in seconds by smartphone and automatically stitched together.

As a result of their performance and the experiences of others in the business, machine learning can intelligently curate the optimal learning experience for every employee. Consequently, AI systems can pool data from numerous shops.

Moreover, AI can quickly identify abnormalities like underperforming SKUs, price problems, inventory difficulties, and offering fixes.

Integrating AI capabilities into sales staff operations allows them to do extraordinary things.

Retail associates are technology educators.

Assisting retail associates with technology may improve their experience by increasing efficiency, decreasing active labor, and allowing them to think creatively and interact.

However, the goal is to integrate these technologies into a sales associate’s daily routine. Beginning with checking their online schedule to traversing the shop floor to check inventory.

Therefore, discuss a fresh idea or finish their shift by reading a learning resource to improve their skills. Right present, every retailer has labor concerns.

Recruiting and retaining brilliant workers will be simpler for merchants who consider their frontline personnel genuine knowledge workers. That is to say, provide them with intelligent mobile tools.

Giving retail employees digital superpowers and eliminating tedious work and hassles would help them learn quicker. Additionally, they stay happier, more engaged, and more likely to stick around.

After all, you rely on them to represent your brand, promote your goods, and build consumer connections. Therefore, this profession demands intellect, charm, efficiency, and competence. Employees, consumers, and the company benefit from incorporating cutting-edge technology into retail workers’ workflows.

In the end…

Keep checking your technology pulse. Don’t allow your business to get behind the 8 ball.

Make sure your small business knows how to keep up with the fintech crowd. Consumers will pay more for exceptional service, so just make sure you’re the first provider that comes to mind!

The post Technology Changes Retail Frontline Experience appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Ascending to that tech level is no simple task, especially considering the supply chain headaches companies both big and small now face. On a regular basis, and with no sure solution in sight. It’s enough to make an entrepreneur swallow a pogostick.

It demands that you be a perfectionist who manages every aspect of your company to ensure it runs smoothly. That amount of control — and fussing over every aspect of your company — allowed you to achieve what many entrepreneurs never do…making $1 million per year.

What’s the next step?

However, those same attributes might help you grow your company to $30 million or more in yearly sales.

Some have purchased and sold over 100 companies in the last 20 years while working for private equity firms. Some have worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs during that period, allowing them to see their strengths and weaknesses.

Experts do observe time and time again that the same attributes that took these businesses to $1 million may keep them from going greater. A “false glass ceiling” prevents many entrepreneurs from scaling their company from $1 million to $30 million to $100 million and beyond.

Is tech trouble a stumbling block?

But, as an entrepreneur, you can learn how to burst past that barrier and other tech troubles. With self-reflection and deliberate action, you can do it with confidence.

Reflect honestly about yourself.

Now is the moment to question yourself whether you want to expand your company. There’s nothing wrong with determining you’re satisfied where you are or even handing over the keys to someone else and leaving.

However, if you want to develop your company, you must recognize that you will need to make some major adjustments.

Time to expand the one-man band?

Until now, you may have been the first-chair performer in every department of your orchestra. In other words, everyone in your company is training with you and follows your lead. You’re in everything, and everyone follows your lead.

To advance, you must cease being the first chair in every section and instead become the conductor. If you don’t, you’ll run out of bandwidth trying to keep up with everything.

Learn to let go. Trust your employees.

Yes, train and coach them, but enable them to handle their own work without your micromanagement. Speak to your peers.

It’s not simple to let go, especially if you’re afraid of new tech.

It’s not simple to let go. Joining a peer network group may help.

Peer networks are a great way to connect with other entrepreneurs who have encountered similar issues. Joining a peer network allows you to discuss issues with other company executives. You may also learn how to adopt improvements that will help you grow your company.

Peer networks are beneficial, but you must be in the correct group for you. People don’t always say what you want to hear.

Worse, you can be among a group of people who can’t assist you because they lack expertise or experience. In short, if you constantly find yourself helping others but not receiving aid in return, you’re in the wrong location and should consider moving on.

Consider a tech coach.

While peer groups may be helpful, sometimes working with a coach who has experience expanding companies to your desired level is preferable.

It’s all about the tech. When you take on a mentor, you have someone who can adjust their techniques and coaching to your individual requirements.

The correct individual may assist you see that your existing success isn’t gone; it simply needs retooling. They may also assist you codify methods and finally overcome your unique restricting issues.

In other words, they can help you go from first chair to conductor while avoiding possible problems.

Executive CEO coaches come in many forms.

They may have a Ph.D. and approach their job academically, or they may not have a sheepskin and have founded and run numerous businesses.

If you choose to work with a coach, it’s critical that you connect with them. It’s the “click.”

The best tech interactions are when it seems appropriate. Don’t be scared to interview many possible coaches before settling on one.

Change gears.

Increasing a company’s yearly income to a million dollars is an impressive tech feat. No doubt about it.

But if you want to progress, you have to accept that the exact things that made you successful might also hinder your progress.

You can take your company to the next level by being honest with yourself and seeking support. Especially from your tech experts.

You may become the unicorn entrepreneur who can take a small business to $100 million (or more).

The post How to Use Tech to Grow Your Small Business appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Here are five technological and Gmail developments and how they may affect your organization. They are all about the future of small business technology.

1. It’s possible that Apple’s iPhone could soon be able to take contactless payments.

According to recent rumors, developers intend to integrate a POS system inside Apple’s iPhone, similar to Square (which changed its name to Block).

According to the source, Apple’s rollout will integrate the feature directly into iPhones, eliminating the need for retailers to purchase additional hardware.

Apple spent about $100 million for Mobeewave, a firm working on a technology that would allow people to pay using their cell phones.

Why is this significant for your company?

Despite how simple it is to take payments with Square, merchants that use the card reader often have to input additional hardware to complete the transaction.

Apple wants to avoid all of that and streamline the process. Is it compatible with other systems? What will the price be? Is this less expensive than Square or other mobile credit card readers? How simple is this going to be? Only time (in the near term) will tell.

2. Citrix, a cloud computing and virtualization company, was sold for $16.5 billion.

Vista Equity Partners, a global investment group, will pay $16.5 billion for Citrix, a cloud computing and virtualization business.

Citrix began as a remote access software provider for Windows computers but expanded its services to encompass networking, servers, and cloud computing.

Yahoo Finance reports that Citrix creates software that allows employees to remotely log on to their company’s programs. A type of product heavily used during the epidemic. That is to say, companies sought reasonable methods to keep distant workers linked to significant operations.

Many people are considering permanent hybrid arrangements for home and office work. It will certainly drive up demand for technologies that make this possible.

Vista and another investor, Evergreen, plan to merge Citrix and TIBCO Software, one of Vista’s portfolio firms, as part of the deal.

Why is this significant for your company?

Prepare for changes if you’re a Citrix user.

According to Citrix, the merger will create one of the world’s biggest software companies, servicing 400,000 clients, including 98 percent of the Fortune 500, and 100 million users in 100 countries.

Citrix’s specified growth plan and SaaS transition will accelerate.

However, to develop hybrid cloud IT strategies and satisfy the objectives of the contemporary organization, circumstances will position the merged firm to offer a complete, secure, and efficient infrastructure for corporate application and desktop delivery, as well as data management.

3. On February 8th, Gmail’s new “integrated view” became available to Workspace users.

Google Workspace will have a new “integrated view” starting February 8th. Therefore, by April, users will be able to view the new appearance automatically.

Why is this significant for your company?

According to Google, the new integrated view will make it easier for users to transition between chats, meetings, and email without switching tabs.

Prepare yourself as you will not have a choice.

However, according to Google, the integrated view will be a “normal experience” by June, without choosing to go back.

4. Microsoft Teams will improve hybrid meetings and add predictive text tools.

System managers will update Microsoft Teams’ mobile app shortly to include predictive text and enhancements to hybrid meetings.

Teams will introduce the “Front Row” perspective to make hybrid meetings seem more like in-person meetings.

Why is this significant for your company?

The predictive text feature’s purpose is to make it more challenging to commit grammatical or spelling mistakes when typing on the fly, mainly as more people work remotely.

However, the new “Front Row” feature moves the videos to the bottom of the conference screen, bringing all meeting participants face-to-face.

5. Tech investment is at an all-time high, and everyone wants to employ programmers.

According to recent research, there will be around 12,800 job vacancies for computer workers in 2021.

This is a 105 percent gain over the previous year.

Therefore, the bulk of the tech job openings was in the engineering and software development sectors. The number of job openings for these positions increased by 88.2 percent year over year, indicating that companies need digital services and products.

Why is this significant for your company?

Tech is still highly hot, and competent internal personnel is difficult to come by.

But isn’t that unsurprising? Or at least expected? The question becomes…did you plan for it?

The post SMB Tech News: Apple’s iPhone Will Accept Credit Cards? appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Technology, even fake technology, is here to stay. As a result, your small business’s digital marketing plan must now include the following eight technological trends. However, the best part is that they are all quantifiable, providing you fantastic insight into your consumer base.

1. Email Marketing Automation Personalization

Email marketing is a vital component of any digital marketing plan. Similarly, personalization in email marketing will alter to keep consumers interested and/or buying.

Marketing automation enables you to send consumers personalized emails based on previous email openings, transactions, or click-throughs. Statistics demonstrate that personalization is the future of email marketing, that customers are upset when they get irrelevant emails, and that consumers spend more when their email experience is individualized.

As a result, don’t be hesitant to personally connect with your clients!

2. Omni-Channel Promotion

Multi-channel marketing technology was hot in 2018 and early 2019. However, invest exclusively today in omnichannel marketing technology platforms.

This is the process of linking all marketing channels accessible to your customers to get consistent messages. Companies that use omnichannel marketing keep 89 percent of their customers, whereas non-omnichannel enterprises retain just 33 percent.

Here’s a common example of the technology needed to provide an omnichannel marketing experience to your customers.

• A potential consumer connects with your business after seeing an ad or content on social media.
• Your brand’s content then ranks well in search results, thanks to SEO.
• When they sign up for your email list, they become a lead.
• While an email lead, they will continue to encounter comparable advertising on social media and native ads as they surf the internet.
• They eventually make a purchase after clicking through on one of your emails.

Businesses in the New Year cannot ignore technology to perform omnichannel marketing and measure client interaction points.

3. Customers Now Expect Chatbots and Virtual Assistants

Let’s face it, in today’s digital environment. In fact, we want it immediately.

A year ago, chatbots were a surprise for website users, but now they’re cliche. Using chatbot technology to instantly answer potential customers’ inquiries would dramatically increase conversions and revenues. In fact, 63 percent of respondents prefer chatting with a chatbot over contacting a company through phone or email.

According to polls, the top three advantages people perceived from chatbots were:

• 24-hour service;
• rapid response to requests; and
• simple questions taken care of instantly.

In conclusion, don’t fall behind by not using chatbots on your website!

4. A.M.P.s

Almost 60% of your website’s traffic now originates from mobile devices, which isn’t a mystery.

Page load time and bounce rate are directly in sync. The slower the website loads, the greater the bounce rate and the risk of Google penalizing you.

With that in mind, organizations can’t overlook the necessity for accelerated mobile pages (A.M.P.). Business owners that don’t use A.M.P. risk being left behind.

5. Video Marketing

Video marketing is now the hottest form of marketing and is expected to increase rapidly over the next five years. However, while video marketing isn’t new, organizations that don’t use video technology in their digital marketing plan risk being left behind.

A recent study shows some interesting results:

• 70% of users shared a promotional video;
• videos have boosted conversion rates for 72% of firms;
• after seeing a video, 52% of customers believe they are more likely to buy from a brand;
• businesses who want to convey content that has high engagement and is watched from start to finish should use video; and
• Google shows optimized videos immediately in relevant searches, including video snippet previews in its video carousel.

6. Augmented Reality (AR)

How much faster would your company grow if you let potential consumers try your goods on their phones before committing to a purchase? Augmented reality (AR) reduces risk by enabling clients to view a product in action. This means “it ain’t over till the stout lady sings.”

Some firms that are successfully adopting augmented reality include:

• Garnier employs AR to let smartphone users “test out” several hair color hues on themselves.
• E.L.F. cosmetics employs AR to let mobile users see how different lipstick colors appear on them.
• IKEA’s AR software allows customers to visualize a piece of furniture in their home — racking up a whopping 8.5 million downloads, by the way.

If your organization offers tangible goods, consider using augmented reality. In short, it helps immensely to reduce the risk of online purchases.

7. Native Marketing

Ads are a normal aspect of internet life. However, no one appreciates advertising that forces a product down the user’s throat.

Pop-up advertisements are the yuckiest and may frequently annoy users, giving them an unfavorable impression of the brand. To avoid being seen as intrusive, native advertisements are meant to appear as part of the web page’s usual content rather than as adverts.

Users are presented with adverts in their news feeds. In addition, these image-centric channels flow to marketing. Many of these native advertisements are retargeting ads based on a user’s prior web visits. They even use a particular item they’ve looked at, or curate according to their user profile.

8. Artificial Intelligence Could Rule the World

Artificial intelligence is permeating marketing platforms and strategies.

For instance, it allows for consumer segmentation, click tracking, remarketing, and more. Use AI to offer real-time, tailored adverts and messages. Subsequently, there’s icing on the cake.

The post Ignoring New Year’s Small Business Technology Trends? appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

What’s the best way to start? Where should you put your state? If you want to create a full-stack application, what are some of the better backend options out there for storing data and running an API server with the help of react development services?

This article aims to provide some tips for helping you develop your very first React app. We’ll be covering how to get started with creating a new project, how to set up your file structure, and more. Let’s dive right in!

What is React?

React is an open-source JavaScript library that provides a user interface component framework for building web and mobile apps. React is perfect for developers who want to create rich, interactive UIs on the Web.

Companies That Use React

• Bloomberg
• Airbnb
• Discord
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Uber Eats
• Skype
• Pinterest

Familiarize Yourself in React Patterns

The best patterns are always in style. Check out the ever-growing list of React projects from this React Patterns page.

Install Create React App

We enter the terminal/command line on our PC and then use the npx tool to set up and then utilize the Create React App. The latter allows you to utilize the create-react-app package without setting it up on your computer and assures that you are using the most recent version of Create React App.

So, in your terminal/command line, type the following code to start Create React App:

• npx create-react-app awesome-react-app

You will complete the first step when the aptly named «awesome-react-app» folder appears with all the packages.

Review Your Project Structure Thoroughly

Let’s have a look at the components that make up awesome-react-app.

• Node modules is a folder that contains all of the dependency-related code that Create React App has installed. Leave it alone and ignore this folder.
• The package.json file is “The Heart” of any Node.js project. It takes care of all the dependencies in the node module directory, as well as the scripts required to execute your fantastic app.
• README.md is a Markdown language file that offers many valuable suggestions and links for learning Create React App.
• In excluding files and folders from Git tracking, you’ll require the .gitignore file.
• All of your React App’s static assets, such as svgs, photos, and fonts, are stored in the public folder.
• Lastly, there’s the src folder. This one is crucial because it includes all of our app’s source code. It’s where you spend most of your time when working on a React App.

Run Your Project in the Code Editor

Use the following command to run your project:

• npm start

This command will start a new tab with your app on localhost:3000 in the computer’s browser window.

You can change and modify the code to match the needs and purpose of your project. You can edit the p and a tags, renaming some of them, adding an h1 element.

Press control/command+S on your keyboard to see the changes you just made.

Use React Testing Library To Run Test

The React Testing Library is a built-in testing device in the Create React App tool that you can use with the following command:

• npm run test

However, if you run the test now, it would fail due to the modifications developed in the previous step. The most notable is the absence of a link element, which was replaced with a title element.

Changing Your App’s Metadata

The package ReactDOM displays the app by connecting it to an Html tag with a ‘root’ id value, which is how React Apps work. You can locate this element in the public/index.html file.

Why change your metadata? You’re effectively informing search engines and interested parties about your app by modifying it in the head tags.

Work on Your Assets…Like Images

Your project may have some assets, and we’re betting on images. As a result, you must check inside the App component to operate with them.

Installing Dependencies

Install the axios dependency immediately so you can send requests to obtain the posts in your illustratory post-sharing React App. You’ll use the following command to accomplish this:

• npm install axios

Second, you’ll place it in the app’s node module directory just after installation is done. After that, you’ll go over all of the dependencies that are directly included within your app’s package.json file to verify that the axios dependency is put to the relevant section.

Components

You don’t need to code all of your code in the App component because you can develop a separate component that can retrieve and show the data you need at any particular time.

You can create this component under the Posts name in the src folder, and the Posts.js file will be placed within it.

Style Your App with CSS

The app’s style and design are crucial. As a result, the Create React App includes pre-installed CSS compatibility is beneficial. However, you are more than free to modify it in the App.css file located in src.

In general, the index.css file is where you can style the app. You can add additional properties from there.

Publishing Your First Ever App

This phase is fun and straightforward because all you need to do now is construct our React App so that its size does not hinder its performance.

You can run your built React app using the serve npm package.

This command will launch your React App, which is available to use or publish on the internet or through deployment services. And that completes the process of building a web app from the ground up, which, as you can see, is not intrinsically difficult.

Conclusion

Publishing and creating your first React app doesn’t need to be that hard. With practice, patience, and eagerness to learn, you can quickly build your first app from scratch without hesitation.

The post The Ultimate Tips to Building Your Very First React App appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

One year ago, a top Facebook executive approached Mark Zuckerberg. He offered to add facial recognition to his products.

That executive’s name was Andrew Bosworth. Bosworth claimed that facial recognition technology could enable the company to identify individuals in virtual environments. It could also create labels that would appear right next to their bodies. This technology was in use for over a decade to tag and identify people in Facebook photos.

This is all according to an internal source. That person spoke under the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues.

According to the source, Zuckerberg would not agree to it. After years of scandal, the company wanted to take a new direction that prioritized encryption and privacy.

Already, U.S. cities and countries had adopted privacy laws to restrict facial recognition. Other company leaders believed that Facebook should be ahead of them.

The Growth of Facial ID

It took months to dismantle facial identification. It was a technology Facebook pioneered and was crucial in enabling it to grow virally.

Facebook then shocked the world by announcing it was closing the program. It was deleting more than one billion faces from its databases. This was due to public concern over unregulated technology.

The announcement came amid the worst public relations crisis of its 17-year history. The Facebook whistleblower revealed internal documents. The platform was shown to have awareness of societal harm.

Some observers and ex-insiders speculate that the timing was chosen to appease critics. They claim that the company doesn’t care about the safety of its users as it builds its products.

In fact, the decision had been in the making for almost a year before the current scandal.

The internal artificial intelligence team championed the proposal. Facebook policy professionals supported that team. They believe regulation of controversial technologies will come eventually, according to several people familiar with company thinking.

According to two sources, the proposal to make the change was presented to Mike Schroepfer, chief technology officer, and Bosworth, in June. It consisted of a 50-page policy document that outlined the pros and cons of getting rid of facial recognition in every division.

Changes to Facial Recognition Policy

Some critics and ex-insiders claim that executives believe they can change the company.

Paul Argenti, Dartmouth University professor of corporate communication, said that “This is a leadership issue — full stop.” Argenti went on to say that, “This attitude — we’re right and you’re wrong — is a part of the company’s DNA.”

Facebook referenced its blog post explaining the reasons behind shuttering the program in response to a comment request.

The motivations behind the sudden change are unclear. This follows a pattern of making big announcements in times of crisis.

For example, Instagram has stopped creating Instagram for children for several weeks, saying that it needed to “listen” and respond to parent concerns. It promised privacy and safety would be considered “from the beginning” when it launched a new suite for virtual reality plans last week.

Then it did what critics call the most significant deflection: Facebook changed its name to Meta.

The Constant Crisis

For the past four years, Facebook has been in constant crisis. After discovering that Russians had extensively abused their service, Facebook minimized the severity of the problem in 2017.

One year later, the company revealed that Cambridge Analytica — a Trump-affiliated political consulting firm — and a researcher had used the company’s loose data policy to improperly siphon user profile information from tens of millions of U.S. Facebook users.

Both times, Zuckerberg publicly apologized dramatically. The company made hurried announcements to make it seem proactive.

The Russian disgrace led to the CEO using his Facebook wall to apologize during the Jewish holiday of atonement called Yom Kippur. The company ran full-page ads in major newspapers after the scandal of Cambridge. These were Zuckerberg’s apology letters.

Frances Haugen, a product manager at the company’s division of civic integrity, made public a cache of tens to thousands of documents in October. These documents show how Facebook knew that its service led to political polarization. The use of misinformation harmed the mental well-being of teenage girls. In many cases, it even rescinded the steps it was proposing for reducing the harm.

Scandal

After so many crises, Facebook executives have a tried-and-true strategy. It’s simple:” “Flood the zone with good news to counter any bad.”

“They might not be able to predict how large a crisis will be, but they’ll look at the news and see what you can do to impact it.” Katie Harbath, former director of policy at Facebook, helped to manage many company scandals. Her work included the Cambridge Analytica privacy controversy. However, she claimed that she didn’t know about the facial recognition decision.

Facebook’s public relations department controls every aspect of product decisions. According to people and numerous documents obtained by The Washington Post, managers can concoct negative and positive headlines for any potential product announcement.

Sheryl Sandberg is the chief operating officer at Facebook. She is also the highest-ranking executive in charge of the company’s public relations strategies. She has named her private conference room “Only Good News” at Menlo Park headquarters. Zuckerberg’s foundational “Move quickly and break things” philosophy has since been removed from the Menlo Park Campus.

After the Russia scandal, the company employed thousands of content moderators. It also established a new division to combat “coordinated, inauthentic behavior.”

Facebook made significant changes to its data-sharing policies following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. These changes were partly motivated by legal actions against Facebook. They helped lay the foundation for the announcement of facial recognition ending this week.

FTC: No Facial Recognition

In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission filed charges against the company. It later settled for $5 billion — the largest privacy settlement ever made against any company.

This settlement allowed regulators to have greater oversight of the company’s data practices and facial recognition. The company will reorient the message platforms of Zuckerberg, which includes Messenger and WhatsApp. No one, including Facebook, will be able to access the messages afterward.

Apple’s 2020 decision to limit data that apps can collect on its platform is a significant blow to Facebook’s business model.

Argenti stated that the “playbook Facebook uses to manage its crises” is “classic wrong.” Argenti noted that any company trying to correct a mistake should admit it, explain how to fix it, and then assure everyone that it won’t happen again.

“This is not their DNA. He said, “And, yes. What I’m advocating for is more of a transformation in their business, how they lead and how they communicate.”

The post Facebook Decides Against Facial Recognition…For Now appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

What are Website Plugins?

One of the top ploys small business owners use to improve their websites is utilizing plugins. A plugin is a software add-on embedded in a website to help visitors with an array of different user-friendly features.  Many plugins may come standard with a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress or SquareSpace.  Other plugins can be downloaded, and their purpose is to enhance the function of a website. In either case, a plugin is ideally meant to enhance the user experience when visiting a small business website. These neat applications come in handy because they are easy to copy and paste into a website, which means no more complicated coding.

In the old days of website building, plugins were more about novelty than function. While these retro plugins offered entertainment value with moving fish, moon phases, or weather forecasts, they didn’t contribute much value to a website’s purpose or mission. 

Why and When Should Plugins be Used on a Website?

Today, a plugin is judged on its merit to work seamlessly within a website while giving the user superior ability to access important content. Plugins should also help visitors navigate the website and inform them about essential information pertinent to your business mission, offerings, and purpose. 

Resist the urge to embed cutsie or quirky plugins that do nothing but suck up your website’s hosting bandwidth. Plugins should be used exclusively with your business objective and website user in mind. When you’re using plugins, remember your motivation should be all about your client, customer, or the core functionality of your business. 

The most integral plugins are used to streamline customer inquiries, drive sales and build a better customer experience on a website. Examples of these helpful plugins include chat features, resources for product information, shopping cart applications, or marketing pop-ups to alert your visitor about current sales campaigns.

Top Plugins to Improve Your Website

As a small business owner, how you build a website is pivotal. There are many factors such as design, speed, and responsiveness across varying devices. The list of considerations may seem endless. Thankfully, choosing the right plugins doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are a few top plugins that can enhance almost every small business website.

Newsletters and Subscriptions

Your small business relies on keeping connected with your customers and clients. Many third-party newsletter management systems offer plugins you can embed in your website that assist you in managing your subscribers once they’ve opted into your newsletter. Furthermore, these plugins from email services such as MailChimp or ConstantContact offer convenient ways for users to sign up for your weekly or monthly mail-outs.

Testimonials and Reviews

No matter your small business, your success is contingent upon customer reviews. Now more than ever, testimonials are essential to providing potential customers reliable feedback about your product or service. Hence, they feel they can make the right choice by purchasing from you.  Depending upon your content management system (CMS), you may be able to download a Facebook plugin that publishes customer reviews from your FB page and mirrors the same testimonial on your website. Other plugins are independent bits of software that allow your customers to easily leave reviews directly on your site relating to specific products or services they’ve ordered from your business. Some resources to publish visible customer reviews on your website include Schema, WP Review Pro, or Customer Reviews for WooCommerce.

Mapping Feature

If your business relies heavily on local commerce, a handy plugin to consider is a map function. These plugins enable GPS capabilities that present a map to your potential customers. If your website visitor allows access, they can see the distance and directions to your physical location. Google Maps or WordPress Store Locator are two among the most popular map plugins.

Shopping Cart

This is perhaps the heart and soul of any small business website. After all, if your shopping cart plugin is buggy or malfunctioning, you’re ultimately losing a sale. What’s worse, you could damage your business reputation with faulty shopping cart software. Check which shopping cart plugins are best compatible with your CMS. For example, if your content management system operates on WordPress, then the WP shopping cart plugin may be your best, most reliable solution. Suppose you are using third-party e-commerce solutions such as Shopify or a drop-ship service such as Spocket, Printify, or AliExpress. In that case, these companies provide integrative shopping cart applications that may be compatible with your website.

Customer Service Features

Your small business brand, reputation, and livelihood is fueled by stellar customer service. No matter what type of business you run, the competition is brutal on the internet. Very often, companies that win the sale are the ones that provide superior (and fast) customer service. These days, users want instant responses to their questions about products or services purchased online. That’s why a chat plugin such as ZenDesk or Freshdesk allows you to communicate with your customer directly and immediately. While more users want options for chat, this doesn’t rule out traditional email contact forms. Using a simple email plugin such as OptinMonster or Ninja Forms can give your website visitors easy access to customer service via email inquiries.

In conclusion, the power of plugins is virtually endless when it comes to improving your website and establishing a user-friendly experience for your visitors. First, consider which plugins are most important for your small business’s success. Then check if these plugins are compatible with your content management system. Lastly, install and activate your plugins and watch how these neat add-ons can help simplify and enrich your website’s ability to gain and retain business.

The post Why Plugins Matter: The Top 5 Website Plugins for Your Small Businesses appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

One such company that is trying to help businesses with this very endeavor is Xero. In this interview, we talk to Russ Fujioka, Xero’s President for the Americas region. He provides us with some vital financial tips and advice that are useful to all entrepreneurs.

Xero

Xero is a New Zealand-based company that was founded in 2006. Since then, it has been one of the fastest growing Software as a Service companies in the world. They are leaders in the New Zealand, Australian, and United Kingdom cloud accounting markets. Over 1,400 employees are located in 20 offices across the globe. Forbes even identified them as the World’s Most Innovative Growth Company in both 2014 and 2015.

The business was started because they wanted to change the game for small businesses. Their cloud-based accounting software helps people do their accounting anytime, from anywhere. It enables millions of small businesses to thrive by using better tools, information, and connections.

Russ Fujioka’s Financial Tips for Small Businesses

One of the more important aspects of running a business is keeping your finances in order. And we find Russ Fujioka’s advice incredibly valuable:

1. Invest in Technology

Many small business owners either feel strapped for cash or think they are not technologically savvy. Because of this, they might avoid making an investment in software that can actually help their business. Russ stresses that when you purchase software like the kind Xero offers, it takes an entrepreneur’s attention away from everyday details and allows them to re-focus their attention on taking action that will grow their business. Xero software automates financials which frees up time for small business owners.

2. Get an Accountant, Bookkeeper, or CPA

Not all entrepreneurs are skilled at accounting or keeping their finances in order so don’t be afraid to outsource those jobs. Accountants, bookkeepers and CPAs are trained to deal with money, and so you should seriously consider hiring one of these people long term. Then, you can put your efforts into other business-growing activities.

3. Don’t Do It Alone

Sometimes small business owners feel as if they need to know it all – and do it all – by themselves. But Russ points out that there are many people out there who can mentor and give advice along the way. In fact, he suggests that you assemble a team of trusted advisors made up either of professionals and/or friends who have different experiences that you do. Their assistance can greatly benefit you and your company.

The Takeaway

The ultimate goal of technology should be to help businesses alleviate mundane tasks. Too many people work too many hours that don’t actually lead to their businesses growing and thriving. Follow Russ’s financial tips by putting some thought into how you can invest in technology to make your business the best it can be. Investment in technology is the key to your business’s growth..

The post Financial Tips & Advice from Russ Fujioka of Xero appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The growth in omnichannel shopping is bringing out creative solutions from brands like Staples, which has recently launched an innovative feature for its iPhone app that merges your online and in-store shopping experience. I recently had the opportunity to review this app, so I’ll tell you all about it below, along with some more information about omnichannel shopping.

This article was written in partnership with Staples, an office supplies store that is committed to making it easier for businesses of all sizes to find the products and technology they need to succeed.

Below is a short demo video of how the app works:

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, omnichannel shopping refers to the growing number of consumers who shop both online and in physical stores, often using a hybrid method to browse and buy the products they need. For example, they may start out by researching products online, then go to a local physical store to make the purchase. Or they may see a product in a physical store but then make the purchase online. They may even choose in-store pickup when checking out online, which brings them back from the online realm to the physical store all over again.

Omni-channel shopping has retailers trying to figure out how they can create a seamless experience across all their platforms to make shopping both convenient and fun. Some examples of omnichannel retail strategies include:

• Apps that save a customer’s shopping cart so they can access the cart again if they switch devices (for example, if they add something to the cart using their smartphone, it will be there later when they come back to the site using their tablet).
• In-store associates armed with iPads, allowing them to give shoppers more information about products or to ring up customers on the spot.
• QR codes in print advertisements or on product packaging that allows a person to scan the code with their phone to visit a professional on business phone systems that  can give them more information.

Staples iPhone App – The Latest Omnichannel Retail Strategy

Staples’ iPhone app just got an amazing omnichannel upgrade in its 5.0 update. More specifically, 83 select stores in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Seattle have been mapped out so you can see a complete map of the inside, allowing you to know exactly where products are and plan your shopping trip accordingly.

This new feature allows you to:

• Search for products within the app to find out if they are available at your local store.
• Pinpoint the exact location of the products you need, so you know where to find them inside your local Staples store.
• Plan your route inside the store, so you can find the easiest and most efficient way to grab your items and check out.

The majority of Staples shoppers are omnichannel shoppers, which is why Staples created the new functionality. In fact, statistics show that 70 percent of Staples iPhone app users are omnichannel shoppers, making this the perfect update for those who want an easier shopping experience.

Staples iPhone App – My Review

Fortunately, I live in the New York/New Jersey area where the new functionality has been launched, so I was able to try out the in-store map function. As I mentioned, the function is currently being beta tested for 83 stores in select areas; if you don’t live nearby, hopefully, it will come to your area soon!

My opinion: the in-store map of the Staples iPhone app is a great feature for the busy business owner, if you ate not one of these you may want to sell your iPhone. Time is money! The app will ensure that you are not wasting any of your valuable time. For example:

• Check the app before you leave to make sure the product you are looking for is available at your local store. If it isn’t, then at least you haven’t wasted a trip! You can use the app to check availability at other stores nearby, or to make the purchase online instead.
• If you just walked into the store but aren’t sure where your product is located, just pull out your phone! You’ll avoid wandering around looking lost, and quickly discover where the product is hiding.

The in-store map isn’t the only feature of the app either. You can also use the Staples iPhone app to find store information (like address, phone number, and store hours), view the latest deals and coupons, search and research products, purchase online-only items, or purchase items online and then pick them up in your local store on the same day.

If you ever have to purchase items for your business, whether office supplies, coffee or technology, I recommend downloading the free Staples iPhone app today. Not only is it perfect for omnichannel shoppers, but it’s also great for any business owner who wants an easy, convenient and stress-free shopping experience.

Staples is an office supply chain with a 30 year history of helping businesses of all sizes. Staples promises: “We make it easy to make more happen” with more products, more ways to save, & more ways to shop. The Staples App demonstrates the commitment to making it easier to shop by unifying online & in-store shopping.

The post New Staples iPhone App Feature: Interactive Store Maps Makes OmniChannel Shopping a Breeze appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Reasons Behind the Deal

The purchase of LinkedIn was the first acquisition for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. In an email, he explained the move, saying:

“With the new growth in our Office commercial and Dynamics businesses, this deal is key to our bold ambition to reinvent productivity and business processes. Think about it: How people find jobs, build skills, sell, market, and get work done and ultimately find success requires a connected professional world. It requires a vibrant network that brings together a professional’s information in LinkedIn’s public network with the information in Office 365 and Dynamics.”

Others say that Microsoft sees LinkedIn as a way to access a professional network of over 433 million members, and if they can leverage that platform then they can drive usage for their many business apps and programs. Some say that this is part of a broader shift that has been taking place for a while but had gone relatively unnoticed by consumers – a shift away from PC software to online services for business owners.

The Future of LinkedIn and Microsoft

Although LinkedIn will operate as “a full independent entity within Microsoft” we are sure to see integrations in the months and years to come. However, experts say that these integrations will likely roll out slowly, for fear of alienating LinkedIn users.

Many of the possible integrations were outlined in a presentation to investors. This includes:

• Gathering data to create complete professional profiles, which you can call up using Microsoft products like Outlook or Cortana.
• Creating a more intelligent newsfeed so professionals can stay connected with what is happening in their network, industry, and profession – and integrating the LinkedIn newsfeed with Office 365.
• Connecting the LinkedIn Sales Navigator with Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM to improve social selling.
• Providing insights about your employees and team members to better understand their capability and productivity.
• Integrating LinkedIn Learning (Lynda.com) with Office to provide educational experiences and on-demand courses.

What The Microsoft LinkedIn Deal Means for Businesses

First and foremost, the acquisition demonstrates Microsoft’s shift away from the consumer market and toward business customers. It reaffirms that Microsoft is putting businesses first in product creation, so we should see even more online and cloud-based services that improve productivity, efficiency, and connection.

While those who don’t like Microsoft products may find the acquisition annoying, many experts say that the move will be good for businesses. For example, Lee Odden, the CEO of TopRank, says,

“I think the combination of Microsoft, especially Office 365 and Dynamics, with LinkedIn’s network will create opportunities for companies and marketers on several levels. Empowering individuals with customized news, learning and access to relevant professionals, to increased advertising options and sales through Dynamics CRM and LinkedIn Sales Navigator, are a great start.”

The Wall Street Journal echoes this sentiment, saying, “We now work by toggling between our productivity software and our social networks. But why should the two be separate?”

When announcing the acquisition, the presentation to investors pointed out that Microsoft and LinkedIn share a common mission of empowering people and organizations. If the acquisition plays out correctly, it should create several products, services and features that empower small businesses and improve business operations.

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Accelerate Your Business Recap

Accelerate Your Business was a symposium aimed at sharing information that will help small business owners take their businesses to the next level. It featured sessions that shared best practices in cloud-based technology, and new devices & apps that can make your business more productive and efficient. Attendees also had the opportunity to network with business leaders, industry experts, and digital innovators. It was a high-energy, high-impact event for all who attended.

The event started out with a keynote from Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit and an investor in tech startups. He spoke about “Building a Community of Hundreds of Thousands of Communities,” which is exactly what he was able to do with the creation of Reddit in 2005.

The morning continued with three sessions that touched on different aspects of business growth and technology:

• Staying Safe in the Current Cyber Environment – Moderated by Gene Marks, this session focused on data security for the modern cloud-based workforce, with an emphasis on keeping both customer and business data safe.
• Managing the Modern Customer – Moderated by Carol Roth, this session focused on using technology to create a holistic approach to customer service.
• Q&A: What’s Hot, What’s Happening and What’s to Come – This Q&A session with Amy Cosper (Entrepreneur), Jordan Chrysafidis (Microsoft) and Eric Day (Dell) tackled questions about the future of business and what businesses today can do to prepare.

The Accelerate Your Business symposium then ended with a keynote and workshop on “Influencing Influencers” with Jon Levy, who shared his experience working with brands and companies as well as strategies for businesses to improve their product development, customer acquisition, and customer engagement.

Accelerate Your Business with Safer Technology

I participated in the session on staying safe in the current cyber environment. Today’s technology and cloud-based solutions have made it easier to run your business, but there are also data security concerns that every growing business should be aware of.

One way to keep your business safe is to upgrade your devices, because older devices are slower, heavier, bulkier, and pose security risks. This infographic explains the huge differences between old and new devices.

If it’s time to modernize your business technology, consider updating to devices based on the 6th generation Intel® Core vPro processor family  and Windows 10 pro.

• Fast boot and wake up times.
• Easy multi-tasking between apps, files, and websites.
• True Key technology to safely reduce the number of passwords you use.
• Facial recognition technology for simple and safe log in.
• BitLocker encryption that keeps your data safe even if your computer is lost or stolen.

You can get 6^th generation Intel Core processors and Windows 10 pro in a range of devices, such as desktop towers, touch screen All-in-ones, mini PCs, laptops, tablets, and 2-in-1s. Check out the Accelerate Your Business site for more offers, information and the latest devices.

The Accelerate Your Business symposium emphasized the fact that to grow your business you have to be constantly moving forward with the latest technology and strategies for developing products and reaching customers. One way to get started right away is by upgrading your devices today.

This post was written in partnership with Intel; however, all opinions and experiences expressed are my own.

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Printing technology is sometimes overlooked, but choosing the right printer for your business can greatly improve your operations. Since printers are used so frequently, small differences in costs and speeds add up to big differences over time.

The HP OfficeJet Pro Series

This series of printers is for small business owners who want professional color in a compact, affordable package.

• Professional-quality color documents will cost you up to 50 percent less per page than laser printers.
• Employees can also boost productivity with the ability to print from their smartphones and tablets.

There are a number of models in this series. Prices start at $199.99, and they are sold both in-store and online at staple

HP PageWide Printers

This series of printers is for small business owners who need professional-quality color documents from a printer that delivers exceptional efficiency:

• In a single pass, you can print professional-quality color documents across any width you need.
• With just 0.5 second prints, you’ll get record-breaking speed.
• Other benefits include energy efficiency and exceptional security.

Models in this series start at $499.99, which makes them the lowest total cost of ownership in their class. They are sold online only. Companies nowadays switch business energy suppliers to be able to be energy efficient and lower their costs.

Find the Printing Technology that Fits Your Business Needs

Each of the new offerings is a “series” of printers. This means that you can choose the exact model that will work best for your small business, based on what other specific functions you’ll use and your daily printing needs. Like any other business purchase you make, it’s important that the printing technology you select fits with the needs of your business.

Shopping at Staples has perks as well. Staples Rewards members get up to 5% back on their purchases and free shipping on any HP purchase of $14.99. They also have auto restock programs for your ink and paper so you’ll never run out of these essential office supplies.

By partnering on this latest innovative printing technology, Staples and HP are reaffirming their commitment to the small business community. Your office technology can either hold you back or push your business forward. When you purchase your next printer, don’t underestimate the importance of low costs, fast speeds, and professional quality.

This article was written in partnership with Staples; however, all views expressed are my own.

The post Staples & HP Partner on the Latest Innovative Printing Technology for Small Business Owners appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Small Business Week Events

Small Business Week is an initiative of the SBA so they are running a special series of Small Business Week events which includes live events (with live streaming online) and webinars to educate small business owners. However, many other companies are joining in on the fun with their own events, including contests, promotions, training, and dedicated content. This article covers all the main events so you can participate.

Click to read Small Business Week 2016 Events.

The Importance of Follow-Up

In this interview with SCOTTeVEST founder Scott Jordan, he tells us about what he says is the “one reason for my success” – following up on every opportunity that comes his way. He explains how follow-up is important in nearly every aspect of your business, whether it is customer and advertising inquiries or daily business operations. The informative audio interview is bolstered with a list of Scott’s top 6 tips for successful follow-up.

Click to read Follow-Up: The Most Powerful Tool for Your Small Business Success.

New Tool to Generate PR Buzz

As it stands right now, the PR process is pretty messy. Businesses want media coverage, but reporters often feel ‘spammed’ by PR teams who fill up their inboxes with pitches. At SXSW 2016, Ramon learned about a new tool called Babbler that is aimed at improving the process. Babbler works like a social media site and helps to connect business marketers with right reporters who are looking to cover stories on that topic. The result – reporters get content they need to make great stories, and businesses get the media coverage they are looking for.

Click to read How Babbler Can Help You Generate Buzz about Your Business.

It’s Time to Grow Your Business

In this video interview, Ramon gets the opportunity to chat with Amanda Holmes, CEO of the business growth company Chet Holmes International. The video full of tips on how to take your business to the next level. In the article, we’ve also pulled out some of Amanda’s tips as the must-follow rules for business growth. This article is sure to put you on the path to success.

Click to read 5 Rules of Business Growth from CEO of Chet Holmes International.

What Small Business Week events will you be participating in? Which interview are you going to check out first?  Let us know in the comments and check out SmartHustle.com for help on your other small business questions.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Small Business Week Events + 3 Amazing Interviews appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Why Is Invoicing a Challenge?

As Greg mentions in the interview, many small business owners are still using traditional methods of invoicing, like invoice books and computer files. Sure, these methods will get the job done, but small business owners often feel overwhelmed and disorganized.

It’s not just about the method of preparing an invoice either. The problem goes deeper, into how you accept payment on your invoices with this automatic invoice generator to get organized.  “People forget, small businesses in the U.S. are driving in their cars to pick up checks,” says Greg. “Something is wrong with that in 2016. You shouldn’t need to be driving to pick up a check.”

So why are so many small business owners using dated invoicing methods when invoicing technology is readily available? Greg says that it’s because small business owners are simply very busy people. They feel pressure to make improvements in so many areas of their business that it’s hard to choose what to start with, and even harder to get started TODAY.

Why You Should Switch to Invoicing Technology Today

“I wish I had done that sooner.”

That’s the feedback Greg gets from new small business owners who have made the switch to Invoice2Go. He says that it’s not hard to convince people that there are better invoicing solutions. Small business owners know there must be a better way of invoicing because they feel disorganized all the time and particularly stressed at tax time. Invoice2Go has made it their mission to make it easy to switch to invoicing technology TODAY.

Invoice2Go is an app that includes a free trial. Simply visit the app store on your phone to download the app. During the free trial, you can explore how Invoice2Go works. As Greg mentions, the system is so simple that you will be ready to send invoices in minutes. Small business owners also use their free trial to send test invoices to themselves and to set up invoices that will look similar to their current invoices.

Beyond the simplicity of Invoice2Go, there are several benefits of switching to invoicing technology:

• The ability to quickly send invoices, no matter where you are, right from your mobile device.
• The peace of mind knowing that the work is done, the invoice has been sent, and you are closer to getting paid.
• Not being held back because you don’t have access to physical or computer invoice files.
• The ability to accept credit card payments and electronic transfers.
• Better organization of invoices, which is particularly helpful at tax time.
• The ability to present a more professional appearance of your business.

There are many invoicing technology options on the market, but what makes Invoice2Go special is their dedication to small business owners. With it, you can create an invoice that gets you paid easily and seamlessly. The company has found its “sweet spot” working with small businesses and they have no plans to move out of the small business space. Invoice2Go’s niche is solving the invoicing problems of small business owners, so they have developed solutions specifically for you.

In the end, Greg’s main piece of advice is to make the switch TODAY. “Just do it today. Don’t do it tomorrow or the next day. You’ll be really happy with how much more organized you feel. You will feel so much better about your business.”

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Smart Hustle Small Business Community Launched

Smart Hustle is proud to serve the small business community by providing informational articles and inspiring stories. Earlier this year, we conducted a survey to find out what other things our readers would like to see, and an overwhelming majority relayed their interest in more community activities. This week, Smart Hustle answered the call by launching a small business community on Facebook. Everyone is invited to join this group, where you can ask questions, give advice, discuss small business topics, participate in live video chats, and even win prizes!

Click here to join Smart Hustle’s Small Business Community

Peter Shankman Joins Smart Hustle

Peter Shankman is the epitome of a smart hustler. As a successful entrepreneur, Peter created HARO (Help a Reporter Out), a service that helps journalists connect with small business owners (who can then benefit from free marketing). He is also an author, speaker, consultant, and an entrepreneurial investor whose projects include SCOTTeVEST.  This week, Smart Hustle announced that Peter will be joining the Smart Hustle team as an advisor and contributing expert. Stay tuned for great things – Peter Shankman and Smart Hustle will be an unbeatable team!

Click to read Celebrity Author & Entrepreneur Peter Shankman Joins Smart Hustle Magazine as Contributing Editor & Advisor

The Little Steps that Lead to Success

Have you ever given up on a dream because you were intimidated by the journey you would have to take to reach that dream? It’s true: our biggest goals are the hardest to reach, taking countless days, months and even years of our blood, sweat, and tears. That shouldn’t stop you, though. In this interview with Chris Capehart, you’ll learn about his new book that breaks down the ‘proverbial mile’ to your goal into smaller, achievable steps. As Chris explains, if you focus on the small steps instead of the long journey, you can reach any goal you have.

Click to read Pursuing Your Dreams One Small Step at a Time – An Interview with Chris Capehart

Team Collaboration with Intraboom

Today’s technology has made it easier than ever to collaborate with your small business team members. The problem is that there are so many collaboration tools to choose from that it can be difficult to know which will work best for your business. In this article (and video interview) we learn about a new collaboration tool called Intraboom which offers features such as messaging, calendars, file sharing, a main dashboard and more.

Click to read SXSW 2016 Interview: How Intraboom Is Changing the Way Teams Communicate

As I mentioned, it was a very busy week for the Smart Hustle team! In addition to the articles and announcements listed here, there were several other articles and interviews, including what you need to know before starting a business, how to create a positive work environment, Kevin O’Leary’s 3 rules for giving a perfect business pitch, and so much more! Check out the Smart Hustle website to catch up on these and other stories.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Small Business Community Launched, Peter Shankman Joins the Team & More! appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Adding Two-Factor Authentication

The biggest bang for your buck for organizations comes from enforcing two-factor authentication (usually offered at no cost by application providers) across all critical systems and applications. By doing so, organizations can protect themselves from one of the most common attack vectors: stolen credentials.

– Varun Badhwar, CipherCloud

2. Using Cavirin for Cloud Computing

For cloud computing, Cavirin is a tool that protects both your cloud workload and associated accounts. It conducts an IT audit and searches for outdated and unpatched servers — the No. 1 culprit implicated in major IT security breaches. Cavirin also checks yourfirewall, OS configurations and monitors your accounts to improve your company’s overall data security.

– Brett Farmiloe, Marketing Auditors

3. Implementing Security Policies

Two-factor methods should always be considered when performing authentication. But we need people to do the basics as well, such as coming up with complex passwords that they can easily remember. Don’t have the mentality of “it can never happen to me.” The sooner you implement security policies, the better your employees will adapt to them. Also, don’t ever send password information via email.

– John Rampton, Due

4. Getting Rid of Shared Passwords

The best solution is to get rid of the shared passwords and Post-It notes around the office. Users having their own passwords protects them and their identity/security, and also protects the company.

– Marjorie Adams, Fourlane

5. Eliminating Shared Accounts

Too often, vital accounts are logged into by a number of people sharing the same login credentials. This could be your social media accounts, but could also extend all the way to your online banking accounts. It’s time to draw a line and proactively eliminate shared accounts. Most enterprise systems are set up for multi-user access, where each person has a unique username and password.

– David Ciccarelli, Voices.com

6. Using the 1Password Extension

1Password is an extension that is easy to use and available through multiple platforms. In our opinion, it is much safer than relying on the Cloud because it keeps your vault of passwords local, and you can share on your own terms (through Wi-Fi syncing and more). 1Password also alerts you when websites you use have been breached, so that you can immediately protect data.

– Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

7. Dashlane and Two-Step Authentication

A good alternative to LastPass is Dashlane, which has a range of unique features. For those who are willing to pay a bit more for the clean, consistent and user-friendly interface, Dashlane is truly the best entry-level password manager. Always set up a two-step authentication process for additional data protection, and track all digital changes in order to hold employees accountable.

– Sathvik Tantry, FormSwift

8. Keeping Disks Clean

After backing up necessities, it’s important that companies use tools like Data Wiping Software to be sure that whatever they have deleted is absolutely gone. It’s a very “low-tech” way of doing things, but reformatting disks also does the trick and further ensures data security. I would recommend that every company trains their staff in doing the aforementioned as frequently as possible.

– Cody McLain, SupportNinja

9. Educating Employees

Unfortunately, your system is only as secure as your employees allow it to be, so train them well on how to keep the company’s data secure. Knowledge sharing gives team members the tools they need to keep the company safe from outside attacks.

– Robert De Los Santos, Sky High Party Rentals

10. Adding Meldium

Meldium has two-factor authentication password management that allows team members to share login credentials securely without writing down or sending passwords.

– Sam Saxton, Salter Spiral Stair and Mylen Stairs

The post 10 Solutions for Updating Your Company’s Data Security appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Slack

We switched over from Skype to Slack, and it’s worked wonders for our team. You can divide the conversations into specific channels with their own members and use the “@” function to notify multiple members at once. It keeps our communication organized, and having the app on our phones makes it easy to communicate from wherever.

– Micah Johnson, GoFanbase, Inc.

2. iDoneThis

iDoneThis is a tool our team has used for years because of its simplicity and accountability. iDoneThis will send you and your team an evening email reminder to ask what you did that day. The team replies, and the next day everyone gets a digest with what everyone on the team got done. It’s very simple, and allows remote employees to celebrate and stay on top of team successes.

– Brett Farmiloe, Marketing Auditors

3. Sococo and Slack

Our team uses a combination of Slack for chat, and Sococo, which is a virtual office. It has offices, conference rooms, chat, video and screen sharing. The combination of these has drastically improved our remote team’s communication and productivity while supporting Revel’s culture. These encourage information sharing and keep everyone in the loop without too much noise.

– Kayla Wagner Faires, Revel Interactive

4. Wrike

Most of our team works remotely in various parts of the country or around the world. Wrike is awesome because it lets us collaborate on projects without having to email progress updates; it has real time notifications. It centralizes the information so employees can start working instead of trying to figure out what’s been done since they worked on the project. It has sped up our development process a lot. There are great business communications solutions offered in the industry.

– Peter Daisyme, Hosting

5. Trello

We have found Trello to be a helpful platform. We can communicate easily through the site in an organized fashion. It keeps track of what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process. It also allows for checklists that keep you updatedon how much work, percentage wise, you have done.

– Stanley Meytin, True Film Production

6. Screenhero

Screenhero is an incredible tool that promotes effective collaboration remotely. The technology enables you to hold conference calls and screen-shares, but also goes a step beyond by allowing team members to actually control one another’s screens as needed. It’s a very powerful piece of software, and we have started to use it daily to collaborate across multiple time zones.

– Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc.

7. Asana

We have all our projects organized in Asana, and use it to communicate on projects every day since we’re a virtual team. My team loves the massive checklists in Asana, and we use the thread for each task to chat and give feedback if we need to. We’ve tried a lot of systems, and this is the one that has worked best for us and allowed us to cancel three other tools. Asana does it all!

– Natalie MacNeil, She Takes on the World

8. Salesforce

Salesforce allows me to watch what each employee does on a daily basis. It tracks each representative’s activity, sales, steps, etc. I am always checking in on this to make sure I am up to speed on everyone’s progress.

– Jayna Cooke, EVENTup

9. Teamwork

In dealing with clients and team members remotely, using a cloud solution like Teamwork is essential. Owning a web development company, it’s important to have privacy with your team members with the versatility of including and excluding the client when necessary on communications, files, etc. In testing all of the solutions out there when trying to find the best software, we chose Teamwork.

– Vinny Galiano, Galiano Brands

10. DoneDone

Although DoneDone is the most effective for development and software teams, it really can be used for company-wide communication and collaboration through one central hub. This platform easily detects issues in process, no matter what department you are a part of, and helps teams come together to solve said problem. DoneDone is extremely easy to use and team members adapt to it quickly.

– Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

11. 15Five

The beauty of 15Five is its directness and simplicity. Employees answer questions ranging from what is and isn’t working to where they need help. The opportunity to answer specialized questions on a weekly basis keeps teams agile. You’ll find that sometimes you’ll receive a greater level of honesty or thought when your team is able to respond outside of the typical meeting or stand-up environments.

– Zach Robbins, Leadnomics

12. Projectplace

If you’ve used a platform like Trello and want to step it up a little, then you’ll like Projectplace. Just like Trello, it uses the Kanban method of project management (with Kanban boards). You get tools like Task Management, Project Overviews, Issue Management, etc., and it’s all visual so you won’t feel too overwhelmed.

– Cody McLain, SupportNinja

13. Confluence

There is no better way to collaborate with a remote team than with an internal wiki. With Confluence, you can upload files, document business processes, interlink pages, as well as tag specific team members to projects and comments where they need to address an issue. You can also set up email notifications for yourself and your team so that everyone is aware of new updates made to pages in the wiki.

– Brian David Crane, Caller Smart Inc.

14. Whatsapp

Most of my team is spread out around the world. The best way to check up on them is through whatsapp. It’s really awesome to know when someone you contact has seen your messages. Whatsapp does just that, and with over a billion users, calls can be made instantly anywhere. Even Facebook’s messenger (acquirer of whatsapp) adopted the message received feature. Pro tip: When it’s urgent, I use both.

– Robert De Los Santos, Sky High Party Rentals

The post 14 New Ways to Check in With Your Remote Team appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Box

Box is a UK-based file sharing service that has both personal and business options. It offers unlimited storage on business accounts and it integrates with Microsoft Office 365. It’s simple to use, secure and affordable.

– Jonathan Long, Market Domination Media

2. Google Drive

We use Google Drive for file sharing among our team and also clients. It is free till 15 GB for each user and get 100 GB is only $2 a month. We can share any type of file and also create Google office files and share. It comes with apps for desktops and smartphones that we can download and synch from there. It maintains the versions. Also, many people have Google accounts, so we can share easily.

– Piyush Jain, SIMpalm

3. BitTorrent Sync

BitTorrent Sync is the best file sharing solution we’ve used by a mile. For most use cases, it is completely free no matter how many users you have via a torrent. It has higher security because it never gets stored in the “cloud.” It’s also fast, especially within a local network, precisely because it goes directly between the users rather than uploading and then downloading on other cloud services.

– James Simpson, GoldFire Studios

4. Slack

People think of Slack as a chat, but it’s a lot more than that. It’s a perfect solution for a remote-working and mobile-friendly team to search, share and store files that need to be ready at a moment’s notice.

– Brennan White, Cortex

5. Copy

Copy is a great service that I’ve used over the past couple of years. It works basically the same as Dropbox, but you get a few more bells and whistles while spending around half the yearly price as most other services like it.

– John Rampton, Due

6. A Shared Server

All of our computers are connected and have a shared folder via Wi-Fi. This method is very low-cost and secure.

– Andrew Namminga, Andesign

7. Hightail

We have a unique Hightail upload link that makes it easy for employees and clients to send bulk files all at once, without dealing with multiple emails. Since our business heavily relies on receiving photo and video content from clients, Hightail has made our lives much easier.

– Micah Johnson, GoFanbase, Inc.

8. Dropbox

I find Dropbox relatively inexpensive for what you get, and with the new functionality of being able to comment on files, it makes my life much easier. If I were to pick a negative, it would be purchasing more storage for your account, which can get pricey for multiple users.

– Jayna Cooke, EVENTup

9. WeTransfer

I love Google Drive for many things, but for sharing it doesn’t always work right. Wetransfer.com is my go-to solution for quick, free and painless sharing for anything up to 2 GB. You don’t even need an account to send anything, and I’ve used it at least 200 times over the years.

– Josh Sprague, Orange Mud

10. OwnCloud

The available SaaS file–sharing services aren’t always a great fit: they have limited features, aren’t easily customized and security is a coin toss. OwnCloud is a self-hosted file–sharing and collaboration solution with great encryption. It’s hosted on your own servers, in a data center or in the cloud. The major benefit is that your IT department has full control over where and how data is stored.

– Vik Patel, Future Hosting

11. Chatter

If you’re already a Salesforce customer then you may be familiar with Chatter, what we describe as our internal social network. We communicate in department groups and often share relevant information — such as training material or marketing collateral — by posting it directly to the group. Chatter shows a PDF preview of uploaded files and allows people to like, comment and download a copy.

– David Ciccarelli, Voices.com

12. MediaFire

If you have a lot of files to share but not a huge budget, MediaFire is a great choice for you and your company. There is no limit on storage space and the interface is extremely easy to work with and show to your teams. There is no limit on how many users can dial in to this tool, and it is a great space for team members to communicate, share files, bounce ideas back and forth and more.

– Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

13. Streamfile

With Streamfile, you can send and share files up to 300 MB for free. No registration is required, and your files are encrypted. You also get 1 GB of bandwidth each month, and premium accounts are available starting at only $79 per month.

– Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

14. Seafile and OwnCloud

Seafile and OwnCloud have seen some some good success, are actively supported and offer community editions that are free. They also have paid versions that are reasonable and low-cost compared to more mainstream big tech companies.

– Kevin Conner, Vast Bridges

The post 14 File Sharing Tools Perfect for Growing Teams appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Donate Your Old Equipment to Charity

What better way to put your still functioning computer or IT equipment to good use than to donate them to a local charity! At AquaMobile, we donate our old computers to our local Goodwill store, which has a great partnership with Dell to ensure that any brand of computer gets refurbished or recycled responsibly. All participating locations are listed here.

– Diana Goodwin, AquaMobile Swim School

2. Give Both Talent and Treasure

Donating seems like the logical solution, but consider stretching your influence by donating your treasure and your time. Pair up with a local job training program focused on IT (my favorite is Per Scholas) and give the equipment as a charitable donation. But also offer to do one-on-one coaching/mentoring or conduct skills-based training seminars. Nonprofits need your talent more than anything else.

– Suzanne Smith, Social Impact Architects

3. Donate Them to Your Employees

The popular recommendation is to donate your old equipment to charity; while we do encourage this method, we’re also big fans of donating to our own team. Do you employ a mom whose child needs a computer for school, or a fresh college grad living on a budget? Incentivize your team and show them that you care about their needs. It’s a small but important gesture, and one that pays dividends.

– Blair Thomas, EMerchantBroker

4. Give Them to a Local School

I donated my old system to my local school where it is used by low-income children. Also, in some cases they give equipment to kids so they can open and understand the assembly of computers and printers. It works as a donation and also a creative tool for kids to learn about machines. I learned about computers when I played with my brother’s old system. Look at Computersforlearning.gov or Computers for pcrr.com.

– Piyush Jain, SIMpalm

5. Donate Old Equiptment to Younger Startups

Donating old equipment to younger startups is a huge help for the startup ecosystem. At my first company, we were hiring new employees but couldn’t afford enough laptops. Luckily, a friend of mine had a startup that was a few clicks ahead of ours and already hitting break-even revenues. He had some old laptops collecting dust in the corner of his office, and he happily donated them to us.

– Ryan McGann, InLoop Inc

6. Offer Them to Hackerspaces

I recommend finding a local hackerspace and seeing if they will accept the old equipment.  We have Pumping Station One in Chicago, but they are very selective about what they take so it can’t be too old.

– Lane Campbell, June

7. Reach Out to Local Nonprofits

Ask your team which local nonprofits they support and have them reach out to see if the organizations are in need of any of the equipment. Have the employee offer time to deliver the equipment and train the organization’s staff on how to use the equipment if necessary (and if the employee has the time and desire). Let that start a relationship between a worthy nonprofit and your company.

– G. Krista Morgan, P2Binvestor

8. Have an Upcycled Computer Art Day

Artists have been making really cool objects out of old computer parts — lamps, benches, desk clocks, you name it. I’ve seen mailboxes and coffee machines made out of old computer towers. Invite artists to use your old parts and even have a company computer art day. You’ll create some cools stuff for the office, but more importantly, you’ll also inspire your team to upcycle more.

– Dave Nevogt, Hubstaff.com

9. Repurpose It

Even if your equipment is getting too old for its intended use, there are still plenty of ways to squeeze functionality out of old hardware. One way is to use old machines to power the dashboards and dummy terminals your team uses to monitor its key metrics. You can also give old computers to your team’s QA department and let them use them for browser testing.

– Manick Bhan, Rukkus

10. Put Them on eBay or Craigslist

New computers and IT equipment are not cheap, and cash is tight, especially if you’re a startup. That’s why I highly recommend that you post your old stuff on eBay or Craigslist. That way, you’ll be able to subsidize a portion of your new purchases. In fact, you might also be able to justify an upgrade to your monitor size or memory — two things that we often avoid because of the added cost.

– Obinna Ekezie, Wakanow.com

11. Find a Charity or Recycle Them Properly

Let one of your team members contact a charity and facilitate the donation. Then communicate this donation internally to encourage other team members to do the same. We have cases in which equipment has been donated to a school that a child of one of the employees attends. If we can’t find a charity to donate it to, we make sure that we send it to a place that recycles electronic parts.

– Dan Adika, WalkMe

The post 11 Cool Things to Do With Old IT Equipment appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Calendly

We’ve had great success using Calendly. You include your link with available meeting times in an email, and the client schedules their own appointment from there. It eliminates the back and forth of trying to find a time that works for everyone and is super easy to use.

– Micah Johnson, GoFanbase, Inc.

2. ScheduleOnce

Since using ScheduleOnce’s MeetMe for scheduling meetings with clients, there’s been a vast improvement in organization and a reduction in the back-and-forth emails that normally ensue when trying to set up an appointment. It’s easy to use, reduces admin effort and removes headaches.

– Thomas Smale, FE International

3. x.ai

Amy, the virtual artificial assistant from x.ai, is really sophisticated and has handled a number of my complicated scheduling requests without fail. Most of the time, the other side has no idea that they are interacting with a computer-generated program.

– Reza Chowdhury, AlleyWatch

4. Google Apps

Google Calendars is tried and true for a reason. It syncs with nearly every phone, computer and email account, allowing me to have constant access to my calendar and add appointments wherever I am. While there are other options out there, this is easy to use and virtually everywhere.

– Matt Doyle, Excel Builders

5. Mixmax

Mixmax is a Gmail integration app that has a feature that really takes the hassle out of scheduling meetings. You just add calendar spots to your email and the person you send it to just clicks on the time that works for them and it’s booked. There is no back and forth. It easily saves me hours every week.

– Thomas Cullen, LaunchPad Lab

6. Pick.co

Scheduling should be an easy task but tends to have the most complicated solutions catering to it. Most of them often miss the point: getting the appointment set quickly. Pick.co makes it so easy to set your preferred times and connect with your existing calendar. Then you’re good to share your calendar link with the world.

– Rahul Varshneya, Arkenea LLC

7. Sunrise

Sunrise is a great calendar app. The way it handles invites and meeting dates/times is beyond what others do. It’s a fusion between Google Calendar and Doodle. In addition, the mobile app is wonderfully executed as well. It’s a real time-saver.

– George Morris, The FRAMEWORK

8. Front Desk

Front Desk is the most reliable, simple and flexible solution that I’ve used for scheduling within my team, company and clients. The software adapts to my company’s unique workflow and does not force us to schedule in ways that we are not used to. The entire team adapted to Front Desk immediately, and it makes communication flow easily and successfully.

– Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

9. Assistant.to

We all hate the back and forth that happens when trying to set up a meeting. Assistant.to is a lifesaver in that department, and its integration with Gmail is nothing short of beautiful. With just a couple clicks you can send your availability, which stays up-to-date in real time. Then, people can select their time and book. It’s automatically added to both calendars. Done!

– Christie Kerner, Launch MiE

10. Keeping It Old School

I prefer the old school method of having a secretary or personal assistant to take over once a connection has been made. This way makes us different compared to everyone else using online apps and provides a personal touch when scheduling that brings us back to the days when folks would connect much more in person.

– Engelo Rumora, Ohio Cashflow

The post 10 Apps That Take the Stress Out of Scheduling Appointments appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Bees With Machine Guns

I use Bees With Machine Guns because it uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) to spin up servers immediately to make requests onto your site. It’s open source, and the only cost comes from the servers it spins up and tears down in a matter of seconds.

– Shalyn Dever, Chatter Buzz

2. Perfecto Mobile

We have used Perfecto Mobile for years. We can create any number of users to do load testing, and the best thing is that it does testing on real devices in a cloud environment rather than using simulator-based testing. Also, it allows us to test mobile apps on 100+ mobile devices of different make and model. We can test the UI/UX and do performance testing. It’s also subscription- and cloud-based, which saves money.

– Piyush Jain, SIMpalm

3. Blitz

Blitz.io has been a fantastic resource for us. It’s about as easy to set up as load testing can be, which is extremely helpful. It can handle up to 200,000 users from multiple regions, so there’s a lot of versatility there as well.

– Manick Bhan, Rukkus

4. GTmetrix

I like to cross-reference multiple tools, which is why I use GTmetrix. It pulls in data from Google’s PageSpeed as well as Yahoo’s YSlow. In addition, it lets you compare historic crawls, capture a video of the website loading, test from different geo locations on different internet speeds and browsers and prioritize high-value areas — all for free.

– Kevin Getch, Webfor

5. Google Insights

I use the tool Google offers because they are the search engine we are looking to rank for. If 85 percent of traffic comes from Google, then why not use the product they judge your site by? They give you the speeds as well as errors to fix.

– Raymond Kishk, Interstate Air Conditioning & Heating

6. Loader.io

You can’t go wrong with Loader.io. It has great documentation, lets you test via API or web interface and has amazing reports. You can test literally anything with this tool.

– Andrew Saladino, Kitchen Cabinet Kings

7. Pingdom

Pingdom‘s waterfall report gives an at-a-glance view of which elements on a page are large and slow. Sort the list of all your elements by size to quickly identify large files and consider removing them to improve load times. Then, sort the list by time to spot those slow-loading elements and, again, consider if you can compress the file or eliminate it altogether.

– David Ciccarelli, Voices.com

8. Skylight.io

While not specifically a load-testing tool, Skylight.io is an amazing smart profiler for learning where and why your Rails app is slow. It visualizes request performance across your app to help you figure out your true response times, where that time is being spent and what common mistakes are making yourapps slower. The best part is that it’s super efficient so your performance won’t suffer.

– Mattan Griffel, One Month

9. Gatling

We are big on stress testing. Slow page loads are death for us, being a platform that handles people’s financial info in environments they expect to load quickly. For an open source option, we like Gatling, with its record feature and colorful reports.

– Cooper Harris, Klickly

10. WebPageTest

WebPageTest is a great tool to test the performance of a website. You can run performance tests from multiple locations around the world with various browsers and even specify mobile connections (i.e. 3G, 2G).

– JoAnn Leonard, Juice Interactive

The post 10 Multi-Feature Tools for App or Website Testing appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. If you need a quicker way to manage your payments, then try out this payroll software.

1. ADP

We currently use ADP for our payroll. It’s not the cheapest on the market, but it sure is the easiest. We don’t deal with deductions, taxes, filing, etc. Everything is taken care of. We just click one button every two weeks.

– Torrey Tayenaka, Sparkhouse

2. Local Services

We use Horizon Payroll Solutions out of Dayton, OH. I highly recommend them. They have been fantastic to work with. We have a dedicated representative who is top notch and is a phone call or email away at any time. With local and state taxes/laws constantly changing, I always suggest considering a company that is local and understands your business environment. Not to mention, they’re usually inexpensive.

– Travis Smith, V.I.P. Waste Services, LLC

3. Zenefits

We use Zenefits as our health insurance broker, vacation time tracker, employee onboarding and for payroll and independent contractors. It’s an incredibly useful platform that dramatically reduces my daily tasks as a founder. I’d highly recommend Zenefits. The above said, they’re a startup as well and I’ve noticed they’re going through some growing pains at times. Still, I highly recommend them.

– Mitch Gordon, Go Overseas

4. TriNet

I couldn’t be more impressed with TriNet. Payroll is seamless, and inputting changes such as vacation days, bonuses and overtime is quick and easy. They also have an app for employees to view where they stand whether it is personal days left to use or their insurance co-pay for the month. We’ve explored other benefit companies, but, for a founder, this is the easiest by far!

– Kim Kaupe, ZinePak

5. Intuit Payroll

We have used Intuit Payroll for the last five years. It integrates with our bank and accounting software as well. It can do both W2 and 1099 payments along with reimbursement. We can also file quarterly and monthly payroll reports. It is very inexpensive and charges only $2/month for additional employees. It also has the online paystub option. It’s designed for small businesses, so we can easily scale up or down.

– Piyush Jain, SIMpalm

6. FreshBooks

FreshBooks is simple to use, especially for those who aren’t experts in accounting. Also, our virtual workers can easily submit their invoices for payment. It helps us save time and stay organized, allowing us to focus more time on other important parts of our business.

– Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

7. Gusto

Gusto (formerly ZenPayroll) makes everything simple and streamlined. Payroll takes a matter of minutes and their customer support is amazing. They offer all the bells and whistles of more expensive services but at very cost-effective rates. Gusto takes all the stress out of payroll so we can focus on serving our customers and building the business.

– Rachel Rodgers, Rachel Rodgers Law Office

8. Namely

When looking for a brand new platform for any facet of our company, we always tend to look for those that bundle multiple assets into one system. With Namely, we can not only utilize a full-service payroll system that is easy to use and integrate with our existing systems, but we can also upgrade our talent management and benefits strategies. Namely offers all of these services in one!

– Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

9. Paychex

Paychex is a cost-effective, easy-to-use payroll platform. Our time clock automatically sends information to Paychex, which also administers our health insurance and worker’s compensation, making it extremely convenient to input employee data. Paychex is also tech savvy, with direct deposit options and records accessible online. We’ve never had a single problem with this reliable platform.

– Vladimir Gendelman, Company Folders, Inc

10. Employers Resource

We use Employers Resource because I have a personal account representative there that responds to my calls/emails in minutes. ER does more than just payroll; they handle all of our HR, including coming on-site if we have a big hire or termination to make sure everything goes smoothly. All of this coverage is $15 dollars per employee, per paycheck.

– Brandon Stapper, 858 Graphics

The post 10 Solutions for Payroll That Will Make Your Life Easier appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Intro.JS

If you like open source, Intro.js is perhaps the most flexible and cheapest option on the market. While there are many tools that allow you to create onboarding tours for your customers, they are either limited by functionality or flexibility. Conversely, as an all-encompassing tool, intro.js is incredibly easy to set up, 100 percent free forever and also allows you to retain your brand identity.

– Pratham Mittal, VenturePact

2. Google for Work

We’ve since left more robust applications, like Confluence and Basecamp, behind. And although we still use JIRA for project management functionality, we’ve found that a simple collection of organized documents is much more intuitive for our new hires than a fully featured Wiki site with lots of unnecessary text, interface clutter, and ancillary application integrations.

– Blair Thomas, First American Merchant

3. Screencast-O-Matic

We have recently started using this online tool to video record every single process. So far it has worked like a charm and instead of spending 2-3 weeks answering questions about the particular role, we now get every new hire to spend 2-3 days watching all of the videos and asking any questions during that time. It also serves as a great reminder when we forget a particular process.

– Engelo Rumora, Ohio Cashflow

4. Trello

While there are many specific tools available, we’re a huge fan of creating Trello cards for all new hires to ensure everything is completed. It’s a simple, yet powerfully effective way to streamline onboarding.

– Nick Genty, Iconic Solutions

5. Zoom

While several programs are necessary to keep my agency team running smoothly, for face-to-face onboarding chats, Zoom streamlines video conferencing and cross-platform chat into one platform so it’s easier for me to connect with my new clients and employees.

– Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now

6. Zenefits

We switched to Zenefits in October, and it has streamlined our hiring process and nearly eliminated paperwork. One of our new employees said using Zenefits was the easiest onboarding he’s had yet. New hires often spend their first day filling out paperwork. With Zenefits, we email everything to them beforehand. Because it’s connected to our payroll company, you only have to input information once.

– Joshua Dorkin, BiggerPockets

7. Streak

I just recently stumbled upon Streak.com, but I am already hooked on its possibilities. Streak lives entirely within Gmail which works perfectly for our company (90 percent of our onboarding process is done through email). The system is extremely flexible, so whether you are onboarding clients or doing blog outreach, you can manage the process easily.

– Mark Daoust, Quiet Light Brokerage, Inc.

8. Asana

We use Asana for project and task management throughout our company. For onboarding, we have a “template” project which contains all tasks that a new hire should take on in their first week, ranging from reviewing our annual plan to getting a key to the office. We add to and edit the template based each new hires experience, so the onboarding process gets better over time.

– Bhavin Parikh, Magoosh Inc

9. Basecamp

Basecamp is an old guard at this point in the SaaS project management space. Yet its flexibility and simplicity make it an excellent tool for streamlining an on-boarding process. There is a template feature that lets us build out new projects and assign roles to key people then track progress. It’s also great for managing documents during this process.

– Lane Campbell, Creately

10. Slack

With our team spread all over the world, the most important part of the onboarding process is feeling like they are part of the team. With the ability to create a watercooler-like experience on the mobile or desktop app, Slack helps new employees immediately be looped in on all our team communications. Rookies can ask questions, understand our culture, and have access to important documents.

– Matt Wilson, Under30Experiences

11. LegalZoom

One of the most critical aspects on on boarding new employees is making absolutely certain that you put in place basic legal agreements. I recommend a subscription to LegalZoom.com as a cost-effective alternative to hiring an expensive attorney. LegalZoom offers access to all the legal forms you’ll need to onboard, including employee agreements, non-disclosures, stock options, and non-competes.

– Obinna Ekezie, Wakanow.com

12. Flowdock

Flowdock is both a team chat app and a stream of activity across other services such as GitHub, UserVoice, etc. The first thing we do during onboarding is bring them into Flowdock so they can meet the rest of the team and get some context on what has been happening within the company in recent days, weeks or months.

– James Simpson, GoldFire Studios

13. Confluence

As a small business begins to scale, it is essential to have standard operating procedures (SOPs) during onboarding — whether that’s for new employees or clients. We use Confluence to document all of our SOPs. Using a combination of written instructions, images and videos it has significantly streamlined a number of our processes and also allows us to make continuous improvements at all stages.

– Thomas Smale, FE International

The post 13 Best Tools for Streamlining Your Company’s Onboarding Process appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Intel Small Business Advantage Features

To learn more about Intel Small Business Advantage, I recently interviewed Chad Constant, Director of Business Client Marketing at Intel Corporation. With over 17 years’ experience working at Intel, Chad is particularly excited about this latest offering for small business owners.

According to Chad, Intel Small Business Advantage has been developed to help small businesses better connect with their employees while better understanding the security and health of their computers and devices. It includes:

• A built-in chat feature for inter-office communications.
• File sharing and screen sharing to assist with employee collaboration.
• An array of security features including data backup, a PC health center and a software monitor.

As you can see, some of these features will help you boost the productivity of your business by simplifying collaboration and communication through a single platform. Other features will boost your business security. For example, there is a feature that allows you to turn off the USB access ports throughout the business, and a central backup system that will protect your files if something happens to an employee’s computer or device.

An added benefit is that Intel Small Business Advantage is designed to work on any device that you are carrying. It is mobile compatible, so you can download the companion apps for Android, Apple and Google devices to access the system.

Want to learn more about Intel Small Business Advantage? Grab a cup of coffee and sit back while listening to my short 8-minute interview where Chad Constant explains more about the new software.

Many small business owners love the technological solutions that are available today, but they are sick of having to go to different applications for all their main business functions, like chatting, file sharing, and data security. If you are looking for a simple solution that just sits on your desktop and helps you run your business more productively, Intel Small Business Advantage may be the solution for you.

The post Intel Small Business Advantage: A One-Stop Solution to Boost Productivity and Security (Interview with Intel’s Chad Constant) appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Small Biz Success Story – Hannah Perry of the Giggling Pig

Small business is the engine that drives America’s economic progress, and it’s no secret that people come from other countries in search of the American Dream. In this inspirational story you’ll learn about Hannah Perry, who came to the United States from England with just $15 in her pocket to last her a week. Life was tough but she struggled and found success with her children’s art and after-school studio called Giggling Pig. In this article you can learn about her recipe for success and business advice, plus watch the video interview.

Click to read How Hannah Perry of the Giggling Pig Turned $15 Into Small Business Success.

5 Tips to Become More Profitable

As an entrepreneur, profit is one of your main goals; however, there are many ways you can unknowingly let that profit fall through the cracks. This article has five tips that will improve your profit by filling those cracks, careful planning, and developing healthy financial habits.

Click to read 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Become More Profitable.

Cloud Security Tips

These days 77 percent of business owners are using cloud technology. Cloud software and apps feature benefits such as easy access to business data on the go – however, with that convenience come additional security risks. If you use cloud technology in your business, you’ll want to check out this must-read article that covers 5 important things you should do to increase the security of the business and customer data you store in the cloud.

Click to read 5 Security Tips to Keep Your Business Data Safe in the Cloud.

So what are you looking for this week – perhaps inspiration for your small business journey, financial tips, or cloud security strategies? Explore the articles above, plus check out Smart Hustle for more important small business information.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Small Biz Success Story, Ways to Increase Profit & Cloud Security Tips appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The study was a survey of 3,210 small and medium sized businesses with between 10 and 999 employees from 11 countries around the world. The survey asked respondents about their companies’ usage of digital technology and how it impacts the business.

Many survey sites lure with the promise that you can make a lot of money on their websites. They sometimes speak of several hundred euros a day, which you can easily generate on the side. But does that really correspond to reality? The answer is: mostly not . Nevertheless, paid surveys can be interesting for some people, especially to make a little money on the Internet without knowledge or previous knowledge. In addition to completing surveys, more and more sites are offering other methods of making money – for example, by watching advertisements or testing video games. It can be even more attractive to test products for which companies are willing to pay significantly higher amounts than for filling out a survey. Product tests are therefore usually much more profitable than online surveys, which is why we also offer you this service on our website. Go through produkttester to know more about the Earning money with surveys (online).

Among the findings, arguably the most important was the link between digital technology usage and growth. One third of all SMBs (and 45 percent of SMBs with between 500-999 employees) say they are “well under way in applying technology to connect people, devices and businesses” – and these companies also saw revenue growth of ten percent or more in the last year. The most popular digital technology in use is collaborative software (used by at least 50.6 percent of SMBs) followed by CRM (38 percent) and business analytics software (37 percent).

Other findings include:

• Over 39 percent of SMBs agree that “active participation in the digital economy will be essential to our company’s survival in the next three to five years.”
• Varying by region, between 52.5 and 60.2 of SMBs say that digital technology helps them streamline operations and improve productivity.
• Despite depending on digital technology, between 35 and 45 percent of SMBs are concerned that their company relies too much on data to make business decisions.Visit testerheld.de to know more.

Overall, the study shows that small and medium sized businesses are embracing digital technology and reaping the benefits in terms of business growth. If your business hasn’t made the switch yet, 2016 is the perfect year to hop aboard this important trend. If you’re not sure where to start, you can begin by exploring this list of the top 50 digital technology tools for small business owners.

The post New Survey Finds Digital Technology Usage Linked to Small Business Growth appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

SmallBizTechnology has a long history of promoting technology use among small business owners. In the years since our launch, we’ve covered small biz tech tools for just about every aspect of businesses, and we love to spread the message that leveraging technology can help you pull ahead of the competition.

Okay, you read the news everyday and follow how things are going on around the world. You go on holiday and see some beautiful hotels in other countries. But, most likely you haven’t experienced other parts of the world like Digital Nomads do. As the experience of living somewhere is very different than taking a vacation in the same place.

Luckily, all that changes when you become a digital nomad blog. You travel to any part of the world to feel how living in other countries feels like. Once you do that, you either confirm some of the many things you may have heard about a country and its people, or totally realise that all that you heard (or maybe most) are rarely true. You are given the opportunity to learn a lot of languages and live with a lot of people that will reshape how you see the world. Indeed, the Digital Nomad Lifestyle really opens your eyes to a bigger world outside the places that you already know.

Yes, we Digital Nomads work, and often work hard, sometimes harder than in an office job. But on our days off we don’t have to visit every birthday party, mow the loan, clean our houses and fix the long waiting tasks. We go and climb mountains, volcanoes, see one of the world wonders. We go and explore new cities, in my case I go and look for abandoned houses to explore. There’s a whole new world in front of your doorstep, a world which needs to be explored.

In this week’s Smart Hustle Recap we have an amazing article covering the top 50 small biz tech tools available – no more searching and wasting time trying to find out what works, this list has taken the guess work out of the equation so you can dive right into the technology that will help grow your business. Our other stories feature creative marketing ideas and tips for using market segmentation to grow your business. Check out our top Smart Hustle stories below.

50 Small Biz Tech Tools

Stop wasting time on dead ends – this list provides the ultimate small biz tech tools that have proven effective for small business owners like you. The list is broken down into:

• Productivity Tools
• Collaboration Tools
• Project and Task Management Tools
• CRM & Email Marketing Tools
• Financial Tools
• Website Design Tools
• Social Media Sharing & Management Tools
• Webinar Tools
• Video Creation & Sharing Tools
• Travel Tools
• Hiring & Outsourced Help Tools

Just choose the area you most need help with to learn about the best tools that will help you reach your goals.

Is there a ‘Right’ Kind of Marketing?

Our next story will have you rethinking the type of marketing you think is ‘right’ for your business. Each business may rely on its own type of marketing, but sometimes when you expand beyond your comfort zone you can achieve bigger results. This article has three examples from the Business Circle solutions that will jumpstart new ideas on how you can market your small business.

Market Segmentation Can Help You Grow Your Business

Segmenting your market involves looking at all the different types of customers you serve and trying to find other ways to reach them and drum up extra business. This article will give you tips on developing a strategy so you can understand your market segments and use that information to grow your business.

So which article will you explore first this week? Get more information via the links above, and for other current stories visit Smart Hustle here.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: 50 Small Biz Tech Tools & Other Hot Stories appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

However, if more than half of small business owners are currently using freelancers, we could also flip the statistic and examine it from the other end – almost half of small business owners are not using freelancers. Some of the likely reasons include that they may not know where to find freelancers, how the small business-freelancer relationship works, or what the benefits are to their company.

We need to clear up this confusion right away because embracing the freelance trend can give your small business a competitive advantage.

On that note, I want to point you in the direction of my latest Smart Hustle interview with Constantine Anastasakis, the head of business development at Fiverr. Fiverr is an online platform that connects business owners who need specific tasks completed with talented freelancers who can do the work for a reasonable fee.

In this interview, we will clear up pretty much all the questions you have about using freelancers in general and the Fiverr platform specifically. The interview includes:

• What is Fiverr?
• How do you use the platform?
• How does the Fiverr platform make the small business-freelance relationship safer?
• How are small businesses using freelancers, including a fictitious example of how “Becky’s Bake Shop” could use freelancers to grow her business.
• Tips for ensuring your freelance transactions go smoothly.
• The benefits that using freelancers and independent contractors bring to small business owners.

Small businesses who embrace the freelance trend can get ahead because they can get more accomplished, develop a remote team of experts, and focus on their most important tasks – all without having to hire additional employees. There are several signs that this on-demand economy is the future of the American workforce. Don’t fall behind on the freelance trend – get informed and get ahead by listening to my interview here.

The post New Fiverr Interview Shows Small Businesses How to Capitalize on the Freelance Trend appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.