DevelopmentInsightsProducts

How Can a Medical Device Company Stay Competitive in The Medical Device Market

on July 7, 2020

There is currently a period of steady growth in the global medical device industry. Competition-driven innovations have enabled small companies to enter the market and compete with established companies. Competitive analysis consulting firms also play an important role in the success of a medical device innovator. Competitive market analysis delivers an understanding of both the direct and indirect competitive landscape. Using medical device competitive analysis consulting experts, a medical device developer can identify the target market’s unmet needs, underserved market segments and clinical expectations competitors are unable to meet. This supports decision making that attracts the allocation of available resources and can drive accelerated adoption. Competitive analysis consulting experts assess the target market space, strategic product positioning and potential existing technology’s product line extension. Product positioning analysis may include: 

  • Competitive landscape 
  • Competitive pricing 
  • Product positioning analysis     
  • Competitor corporate deep dive 
  • Competitive product and company documentation 

A medical technology that enters the target market and delivers accurate and efficient clinical results at a reduced cost can earn a significant market share. Hospital value analysis committees focus on the value a device delivers in terms of healthcare outcomes, cost and safety.

Medical device companies are now able to achieve the highest possible return on investment with early and extensive exit planning. Medical device consulting firms can identify potential mergers and acquisition targets. They can also identify potential companies for strategic alliances. This allows an innovator a range of desirable exit strategies.

With the full suite of strategic consulting services by medical device consulting companies, a medical device developer can address hurdles presented by reimbursement constraints and compliance-related restrictions. This allows the company to divert its resources to an innovation that has the potential to secure accelerated adoption and the highest return on investment. With strategically informed internal and external decision making, this affords a range of medical innovation to remain competitive.

Harmonize Operations 

A medical company that effectively achieves operational harmony will have the highest probability to achieve successful commercialization. Harmonizing operations can leverage real-time information across the company. This information typically includes end-user procedural preferences, post-market clinical data including cost-effective clinical outcomes data along with research and development effectiveness. This information guides device development.

The medical device company must ensure seamless data sharing across different departments. For this, the company requires the right infrastructure to transfer data. The company also requires high-quality analytics to utilize available data. Medical device consulting firms have the required communication tools and resources to gather, verify and analyze data to develop an improved and cost-effective technology.

Leverage New Markets 

A company can identify a new market or a segment of the market for its existing medical device. Identifying expanded markets can offer longer and sustained competitive advantage. However, the company is recommended to work with a competitive analysis consulting expert to analyze the level of current and future competition in the new market. A company can identify new markets with medical device market analysis by a medical device consulting firm.

SEO

This Is How SEO Reviews Will Benefit Your Business!

on July 4, 2020

Those who are in the field of business, promotions, and marketing know the importance of SEO for their business. And, they also know how much SEO reviews can affect their business in a good and a bad way. Every business that wishes to go digital, SEO plays an important role. Seo ranking today gives utmost importance to consumers’ user experience and what they have to say about the brand.

It is because of the practice of SEO that the website of the businesses gets maximum and good quality, i.e., organic traffic that will eventually turn into their profits. With the right strategies of SEO, increases the user experience, conversion rate increases, money is saved, the brand becomes credible, and brand awareness improves along with various other benefits. SEO review not only creates a great online reputation but also impacts search engine ranking.

And, as we are talking about SEO, professionals in business need to know that SEO reviews are also important for their business. Where good reviews can do wonders for them, some bad reviews can affect their reputation in the market. Also, both types of reviews can help them in creating the best SEO strategies. 
Most consumers today want to read online reviews before spending their hard-earned money to know about the experience of other consumers, also about product efficiency.

Ways Reviews Can Benefit SEO

1. As you are going through the reviews given by the customers, you should not just see them as good reviews or bad reviews, but you should see them as content for your growth. Read them carefully and you will come across different useful keywords that can help your business and the content on your website. They can have the keywords related to the services you are providing, so see them as content apart from seeing them as feedback. Moreover, it also helps in SEO for local ranking. Customer reviews may contain concerns of customers how effectively and quickly brand deal with them creates a positive impression among consumers.

2. As we carry forward to talk about the SEO reviews, you should know that positive reviews are very important for your business if you want to see your brand grow. It is because of the good reviews that you will eventually start appearing at the top search results on the internet. Google always values the brands with good services and reward them by offering enough exposure to a higher conversion rate.
Businesses who have a customer-centric approach can only survive in the competitive global business environment.

3. If you are concerned about SEO reviews, another thing you can do is to quickly respond to the feedback. Google values those brands who value their customers. Responding to the reviews means that you care about your customer and you are trying your best to offer them the best services. And you know that a good brand is always rewarded by Google. 

4. To talk about the reviews, we all know that the more there will be genuine reviews, the lesser will be the bounce rate. Customers prefer to go through the reviews of the products and then decide to make the purchase. If the reviews are good, the bounce rate will be low and there will be chances of higher Google rankings. And if the reviews are not good enough, the situation will reverse. 

5. Reviews can help you to know the products or services people like more and more. Then, you can use these reviews to promote those services or products on social platforms and use them for interactions and conversion rates. Your strong presence on social platforms is also important for the best SEO results. SEO reviews can also help businesses to improve the quality of their product and services, which can be optimized to meet the customers’ requirements. 

These are just a few benefits of Supple reviews. Once you will start taking the reviews seriously for the formation of your SEO strategies, you will come to know about more advantages as well. But for now, you need to keep these benefits in mind and grow your business by involving them in your strategies. It is assured that SEO reviews will offer you the desired results and you will be able to earn profits with the quality traffic that you have always desired. When it comes to feedback just be as genuine as possible and you will be rewarded with positive results. 

Development

How to Setup a VoIP Server at Home & in Your Office

on July 3, 2020

Photo by UX Store on Unsplash

Novel tech-driven solutions pop up around every corner, and most companies dread the notion of implementing yet another intricate system into their operations. It takes time to not only set up the system in place, but also to train and educate your employees on how to best use them, and it requires a substantial investment to make sure that you’ve purchased the best possible option for your business. Faulty equipment, subpar software performance, and lack of intuitive features makes it a tough choice for companies today to weed out the fad trends from actual innovation.

As far as boosting communication goes, your business cannot do better than VoIP. The abbreviation stands for voice over internet protocol, and it’s a true godsend for businesses to interact in smarter, simpler ways with their customers and employees alike. The fear of setting up the system, however, might deter them from making the switch. Here’s a simple guide to walk you through the process, so that you can focus on transforming your communication systems with this impeccable tech!

Choose the right equipment

First of all, check if your current internet package allows you enough bandwidth, speed, and security to expand your communications to include VoIP without losing quality. Now that you’ve made sure that the key vessel for your new VoIP platform is all set, the main portion of setting up the system will boil down to the right hardware. You’ll need adapters for your phones both at the office and at home so that your employees can use their own devices instead of your traditional landlines to make and receive phone calls.

Photo by Lucian Alexe on Unsplash

Every package requires a router for the office, so make sure that you select a high-quality router to increase security, speed, and of course, a stable connection. At the office, you might need a few more pieces of equipment, such as a computer to serve as a PBX server – or a private branch exchange server, to make sure your employees can make internal calls over the same system. You can also invest in VoIP compatible devices such as phones, but that’s entirely up to you.


Find the most feature-rich VoIP service

The technology in question is far from new, so there are all kinds of valid options out there, but you need to find the perfect match for your business. That will mostly depend on the variety of features providers offer within their package. If you take a look at the comprehensive Nextiva VoIP service, you’ll notice that phone calls are only one part of the package. 

You can also use other handy features such as call recording, sending a voicemail to email, texting, and setting up conference calls for your team. Check your budget, your number of users, and then find a plan that comes with the features that will be useful for your company.

Select your optimal number of users

Companies, or at least most of them, know that VoIP is used for phone calls and thus ideal for customer support departments. However, VoIP also works in favor of your entire organization, since it lets you communicate internally, as well, set up more productive meetings with your team via video conferencing, and the like. 

Depending on the purpose of your chosen VoIP system, you’ll need to be careful when selecting your plan. Why? Because each provider will charge differently, and various plans come with different features. So, count your number of users, go through the plans on offer, and then make sure that your teams are well-equipped to make the most of your new communication platform. 

Test your system and train your team

Photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash

Following guidelines and respecting the designated directions is all fine and dandy, but we all know that technology can come with its own quirks. That said, before you launch your VoIP system into full speed ahead, you should conduct various test calls to check the call quality, to see if the adapters are working properly, and to make sure that every single user knows how to utilize the equipment.

Furthermore, a test for any delays in the calls you make or receive. This can be due to poor internet connection, which is why double-checking your network strength is essential for your VoIP to work. Finally, check that your firewall settings aren’t preventing your calls to go through, so you should ensure that your security systems are in line with your needs.

Of course, you’ll find that each VoIP system has its own unique process of setting up that’s outlined in their own guidelines. That said, the core of the system is quite simple and straightforward, and takes very little getting used to on your end. Make sure that you’ve selected a trusted provider, invested in the right hardware, and your office as well as your home will soon be ready to take on calls from your customers with ease.

DevelopmentInsights

How to Measure the Effectiveness of your Intranet Collaboration Solution

on July 2, 2020

Modern intranets have completely replaced the dead, traditional intranets. Modern intranet solutions are more than a powerful collaboration solution. Implementing an intranet solution allows your employees to access valuable content anytime and from anywhere. It is a reliable tool that your employees can use to share knowledge and collaborate.

An intranet collaboration solution is a much-needed tool for an organization having a dispersed workforce. According to an estimation, one-third of the workforce of an organization will be mobile workforce in the next ten years. 70% of business professionals do their jobs remotely at least once a week. With this shift towards mobile and remote workforce, organizations require a digital workplace solution, a solution that is efficient, fast, secure, and provides all the required features and functionalities. 

It often takes too long to find and share documents. Modern intranet collaboration solutions offer document management and other features to solve the problems with traditional intranet solutions. Traditional intranet does not offer the functionalities and features required in modern organizations.

When you are using a modern collaboration solution, you want to make sure that it meets your expectations. For this, you need to measure its effectiveness.  

You need a plan to address your business needs with an intranet solution. As your intranet requirements change, you may need to make some changes in your collaboration solution as well. You also need to make sure that you measure the right things. 

The following are the metrics you can use to measure the effectiveness of your intranet collaboration solution.

  • Usage and engagement
  • Employee satisfaction
  • Productivity

Usage and Engagement

It is important to see that employees use the intranet and understand its value. Measure their awareness of the intranet. See how often they access and use the collaboration solution each month. You can measure the usage and engagement of digital workplace solutions such as your integrated social channel, a newsroom, or an onboarding center. These are the solutions employees commonly use to connect and share information.

Engagement is more important than usage. You can determine the level of interaction to measure employee engagement. If they are accessing content, it doesn’t mean that they are engaging. Are they sharing content? Are they commenting? Make sure that they are participating in conversations.

Employee Satisfaction

The right collaboration solution can play an important role in improving overall employee satisfaction. The number of quality tools and development opportunities available at work influences employee engagement. When it comes to workplace satisfaction, most employees rank technology above office space, heating, and other physical aspects of the workplace.

There are different ways you can measure employee satisfaction such as user ratings, internal surveys, and polls, and the most important, changes in retention rate. 

To determine the shortcomings or limitations of your intranet collaboration solution, you can ask pointed questions about communication and collaboration. Now you need to make changes in your intranet collaboration solution to keep it relevant.

Productivity

Communication and collaboration are important but composing, sending and receiving emails reduce employee productivity. Although it is not easy to measure productivity, if your employees have been using an intranet collaboration solution for several months, you can determine the level of impact by comparing productivity metrics before and after the implementation of the intranet collaboration solution. 

A next-gen intranet collaboration solution can make you a forward-thinking organization. You can use an intranet collaboration solution as a powerful tool to address specific business challenges.

An effective intranet software connects local and remote employees and allows them to create, share and respond to content.

However, your intranet must evolve with your business. For this, you must measure the effectiveness of your intranet collaboration solution.

DevelopmentInsights

Culture Shock: Improving Company Culture Through Technology

on June 30, 2020

Corporate culture matters. Shared values and beliefs backed by strong business strategy help staff feel valued and connected, boosting engagement and productivity. Implemented effectively, cultural conventions can ensure employees are certain in their response to any given situation and are confident they’ll be rewarded for demonstrating key organizational values. 

However, there’s a challenge. Small business owners and entrepreneurs must keep in mind, legacy solutions and software deliver digital disconnects, in turn forging fragmented cultural frameworks that frustrate staff and C-suites alike. Improving corporate culture demands a kind of system shock — an effective implementation of new technology services that cultivate communication, collaboration, and connection at scale.

Shock Value

Culture is often viewed as an organizational opportunity — the chance for small businesses to act in concert based on shared understanding — but also offers practical potential.

Consider teamwork and morale. When employees trust one another, their earnest efforts will be met with appreciation from upper management. They’re more efficient and effective. Projects are completed more quickly and with fewer interpersonal issues, and personnel is more likely to stay engaged. 

This cultural creation is often undercut by cumbersome legacy technologies. From proprietary tools that limit connectivity to outdated solutions that complicate communication, tech-savvy staff members need ways to interact and innovate on demand.

Here, strategy is key. Simply tossing technology at the problem can have the opposite effect intended if workers are suddenly faced with fragmented functions and digital distractions. For culture shock to be positive, permanent, and productive, it’s critical for companies to adopt a two-factor approach that articulates key values and delivers actionable results.

Talk the Talk

To build corporate culture that lasts, businesses must streamline staff communication. This starts with multiplatform collaboration tools that make it easy for employees to connect and create wherever, whenever, and however, they want. By removing common collaboration barriers, it’s possible to facilitate effective interactions and reduce potential frictions, in turn improving project outcomes. Over time, this boosts morale and motivation — employees are confident they easily tackle big projects and that their contributions will be recognized.

Walk the Walk

Talk isn’t cheap — the right collaboration and communication tools demand strategic investment to drive ROI — and it’s not enough in isolation.

For effective cultural transitions, corporate leaders must walk the walk. This starts with transparency: Delivering consistent messaging about what’s expected, what’s appreciated, and what’s next on the cultural horizon. Automated messaging tools help shorten the distance between intention and action by allowing C-suite members to quickly draft and distribute companywide corporate mandates.

There’s also a need for operational insight that doesn’t come from inside the organization. From security assessments to software adoptions and service analytics, third-party expertise can help identify potential issues, suggest specific solutions, and show staff you’re committed to completed cultural transformation.

Cultural Relevance

Corporate culture matters — great culture cultivates trust, enhances communication, and improves staff commitment. Yet existing technology processes often frustrate the development of effective office culture, forcing staff to fight complexity rather than facilitating operations.

System shock can help short-circuit company culture challenges by empowering employee collaboration, facilitating C-suite connections, and delivering transformative strategy solutions. Be sure to review the accompanying infographic for more ways of strengthening company culture via technology.

Sources

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/understandinganddevelopingorganizationalculture.aspx

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/05/23/digital-disappointment-your-employees-top-five-it-frustrations/#e9c412d60d62


Courtesy Of Halock Security Labs
DevelopmentInsightsProductsSaaS

What You Need For Your Next Online Business Meeting

on June 30, 2020

With more of the world working from home than ever before, chances are you will attend or run an online business meeting. And since the majority of businesses usually use face to face meetings, it takes an adjustment to run a meeting online while remaining effective. 

That is why it’s essential to learn what you need for your next online business meeting because virtual meetings require equipment and software you might not currently have. So, in case you have to run your business in the virtual world, even if it’s temporary, follow this guide to set up your tech.

Meeting Software

The central part of any online business meeting is your meeting software, and there are several programs to choose from. Zoom is a popular software choice for businesses to meet with their staff because it’s free and easy to use. That said, Zoom isn’t the only meeting software you can choose for your business meetings.

Here are some other software choices you could download and use:

  • Cisco Webex Meetings
  • Join.me
  • GoToMeeting
  • BlueJeans
  • UberConference
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Google Meet

Be sure the software you pick has the capabilities you need, like screen sharing, whiteboarding, or dedicated sub-rooms for breakout sessions. Each conference software has different amenities, so choose one that works for you and your business.

Also, be sure that your team can easily download the software because each participant will need the software to join your meeting.

Proper Lighting

Using your computer’s camera or your front-facing phone camera is probably your best choice if you don’t want to invest in a third-party camera.

The problem is, you still have to worry about proper lighting because if your lighting is in the wrong place, your staff will have a hard time concentrating on your words. So, you want to gather three LED daylight bulbs and place one directly in front of you, one at 45 degrees to your right, and one 45 degrees to your left.

Be sure these lights are slightly above you, so the lighting isn’t too harsh, and they will give you sufficient lighting for your meeting without distracting shadows.

Up to Date Microphone

More important than lighting is your staff’s ability to hear what you’re saying, and for that, you need a proper microphone. You might have a sufficient microphone inside your computer already, and the best way to tell if your audience can hear you is to test it before your meeting.

If you don’t like the sound coming through your microphone, you want to invest in a standalone microphone. These products have noise-canceling features that block out surrounding sounds so that your staff can hear you better. 

For example, noise-canceling features could block out a residential air conditioning repair Santa Rosa residents might need during a business meeting to stay cool. In fact, that feature would be helpful in any house across the world because sometimes there are loud noises during your meeting and you don’t want the disruption.

The Blue Yeti microphone is a popular model for podcasters and would work perfectly for any online business meeting you conduct.

Bring Your Teams Together

Businesses need to adjust to current times and that means conducting business meetings online. The truth is, it doesn’t take a whole lot of preparation to have business meetings with your staff because you already have most of the equipment you need. 

When you don’t or if it’s not good enough, ordering tech gadgets to enhance your current equipment is a smart investment in your business. Doing so will allow you to conduct business anywhere and in any climate so you can carry on regardless of the state of the world.

InsightsProducts

Choosing The Right Data Catalog – 14 Tips For Businesses

on June 29, 2020

When you are selecting a data catalog, this decision is similar (and equally complicated) to the purchase of any other tangible or intangible element. It is obvious that any data catalog would help you understand and analyze previous data sets. However, the ease of getting to the final outcome (the quality) of the data catalog marks the difference.

In the following article, we will discuss how you can utilize various key markers to evaluate the quality of the data catalog. Let’s move forward and explore more about data catalogs.

What Is the Function of a Data Catalog? 

The original purpose of a data catalog is to help a data analyst understand data. With better visibility into the past and existing information sets, the usefulness of this data improves. As a result, the quality of the findings also improve. Simply put, a data catalog is your one-stop solution for data curation and governance. 

Today, data catalogs are being utilized not only for handling data inventory of organizations but also for enhancing analysis outcomes, quality, and handling data assets. In fact, compliance teams necessarily check cataloging to maintain critical guidelines of GDPR and other regulations. Traditionally, data cataloging was restricted to analyzing and understanding data. But now, it has moved towards a community-centric and extensive organizational collaboration approach, which has made cataloging essential for data management.

14 Tips to Choose The Best Data Catalog

When you are selecting a data catalog, it is necessary to ensure that this catalog meets the requirements and fits the culture of your organization. To help you achieve this, we have discussed 14 tips below. Read on.

Data Set Cataloging

The first thing that you should expect your data catalog to do is to support data discovery, including new dataset discovery and the initial making of the catalog. With the help of machine learning, your data catalog should fetch metadata, perform automated tagging, and achieve semantic inference. This is imperative to acquire optimum value from cataloging automation. It can reduce manual efforts and errors. 

Data Set Search

The data catalog should include the ability to search – something which is the basic requirement. Your team should be able to search with keywords, facets, and other related business terms. An NLP-powered catalog can make this task easier for non-tech teams or users. 

Note: The search option should always have a mask to secure datasets that a certain user is not authorized to view or access. 

Operation Cataloging

Any data catalog should have the ability to offer preparation of operations to users. These operations should be integrated into datasets for data blending, formatting, and improvement. This means that the catalog should support multiple operational associations with – data operations to data and many-to-many. 

For instance, one of the mandatory operations would be to secure PII or personally identifiable information of users.

Data Set Recommendation

Recommendations are great for finding data quickly. This is why having a data catalog with recommendations can help you improve the connection between dataset, workflow, and data preparation. This recommendation engine should be equipped to automatically detect dataset relationships and overlapping features of datasets. 

Evaluation of Data Set

Finding datasets is the first leg of the bigger picture. This means that the data catalog should also allow the data analyst to see profiles of data, preview data, find ratings, understand customer reviews, evaluate the quality of information, and check annotation by the curator. 

Access to Data

After checking the data evaluation, data access should be analyzed. There exist multiple types of datasets, which could be connected to the catalog. For instance, tagged files, RDBMS, flat files, graph databases, document stores, text documents, geospatial data, etc. Along with access to these datasets, protections should be placed to ensure compliance and security. 

Catalog of Metadata

Always ensure that the metadata collected in your data catalog is rich in quality.

  • What type of data is sourced related to datasets?
  • What knowledge do we have of processes and data lineage?
  • Does the data contain details of SMEs, curators, etc.?

Asking these questions will give you a clear idea about the quality of metadata cataloging. Once these details are cataloged, it is necessary to ensure the right usage of metadata. 

  • Who is using it?
  • What are the use cases of this usage?
  • What is the frequency of use?

This can help you move towards intelligent recommendations.

Valuation of Data

One of the widely accepted facts about data catalogs is data valuation. The catalog should offer value for data datasets. This means that the information you receive should be able to create some value for the business, and the catalog itself should contribute to the estimation of value. 

Data Security

Proper security governance is necessary to ensure authorization and authentication. Allowing users to securely access data which they are authorized to see and authenticating access to the catalog for complete data security remain a top function of the process of cataloging.

Here, consider the levels of security constraints: row or record level, or field or column level. 

Data Lineage or Tracing

The data catalog should offer transparency to the user to check data lineage. This means the ability to check the source of data, how it was generated, and where it is coming from. It is not uncommon to have breaks in lineage, such as when the dataset is extracted from ETL tools. When your catalog is able to fill these gaps, you can derive the source of the dataset to understand a dataset fully. 

Data Compliance

One of the amazing features that we get with the right data catalog is the ability to maintain compliance. It, in fact, should maintain compliance according to the changing regulations. Hence, when you are selecting a data catalog, look for a catalog powered by machine learning, which will automatically determine metadata and profile assets. This will also contain pre-written procedures for access restrictions and masking. 

Data Quality

When your catalog doesn’t offer quality data, your reports and other models are of no use. For this reason, quality data helps you achieve business-ready datasets. So, the catalog should be integrated to achieve quality data from disparate sources to seamlessly improve the output in the form of reports. 

It is necessary to understand that your catalog will not perform the cleansing, but it can offer you discrepancy and deficiency points, which are likely to create a bottleneck in the quality. You can use this to make amends.

Data Interoperability

Data interoperability simply means the ability to integrate with various tools. This indicates the manner in which your data catalog will integrate with your visualization tools and data preparation software. 

Data Catalog Deployment

Once you have considered all the above factors, check the technical infrastructure support that you need. Whether your culture supports cloud, hybrid, and on-premise deployments, or if you want web-based or server-based implementations. After analyzing all these deployment requirements, run a final check with the data catalog vendor to move in the right direction.

Conclusion 

There are multiple factors that help in deciding the right data catalog. Only after considering all the above requirements, you would be able to arrive at the right point, from where you can evaluate your budget and finalize a data catalog.  Before you make that decision, don’t forget to take note of the consulting offered, along with the future plans of the vendor for transformation. Once you are satisfied with all these factors, you would be able to select the right data catalog.

DevelopmentInsightsProducts

Essential Services for Silicon Valley Startups

on June 28, 2020

Running a startup is not easy – especially if you don’t have a proper plan in place. Just like any other business, running a startup comes will numerous challenges.

Most entrepreneurs take up those challenges and create opportunities out of them. They try to make each day as productive as possible.

Nonetheless, the truth of the matter is that you can’t have enough time to complete all the responsibilities of your business. That’s where outsourcing comes in handy.

There are several companies that specialize in offering different types of services designed to support startups and other businesses. The good thing about outsourcing is that you get time to concentrate or focus on other important matters.

Below are some of the essential services for Silicon Valley startups:

1. Credit card processing

Every business today – no matter how small or big needs to process card payments. This can be a hectic job particularly if you have many customers. It can eat up a great deal of your time to ensure that everything is done correctly.

However, you can save yourself from all that trouble by outsourcing your credit processing to an expert. Most companies charge a small fee of about 1 to 3%, per transaction – which is reasonable compared to the amount of work they do.

Getting paid on time on time is a bid deal for most businesses. As long as you are able to keep the end of your bargain, then accepting credit cards can rapidly drive the growth of your business.

2. Reliable printing services

Printing is another essential service that is key to the operation of many small businesses and startups. Although most of the operations have gone digital, there are some business aspects that still need documents to be printed out.

This can be time-consuming for a company that has limited resources and employees. The best option is to find reliable printing services in San Francisco or San Jose.

There are many companies that specialize in bulk printing services at fair prices. The most important thing is to know your budget and how to negotiate.

3. Website design services

Most customers expect your business to have a website – even if the business has nothing to do with the internet. Besides, having a website gives an impression of seriousness and commitment to serve customers in a better way.

That’s why you need to create not just a website, but a website that will command respect from customers and competitors.

There are many website design companies that can create a website that speaks to the strengths of your business. Get a list of them and identify one that offers quality services at reasonable prices.

4. Marketing consultancy

Marketing is critical for any business. As such, it needs a lot of planning and strategizing to be able to promote a business effectively. Most businesses find it hard to do marketing for themselves because of the time it requires.

This is the reason why outsourcing can be a great solution for such businesses. Marketing consultancy firms specialize in different kinds of marketing and branding. All you need is to identify a company that understands your business.

5. Accounting

Gone are the days when companies had to struggle with reconciling their accounts to ensure everything is in order. Today, companies are realizing the importance of outsourcing accounting services instead of hiring internal staff to do that.

DevelopmentInsightsMartech

Understanding the Difference Between Popular Platforms for Business

on June 27, 2020

Over the years, modern marketing techniques have evolved to provide businesses with a more efficient and effective approach to build and promote their brands. Since modern marketing relies on data, the use of platforms such as Customer Data Platform (CDP) and Data Management Platforms (DMP) are on the rise.

Unfortunately, many businesses and marketers aren’t familiar with these platforms yet. Here is a brief guide to help you understand the differences between popular platforms.

Customer Data Platform

In the past 12 months, the CDP landscape has exploded, with over 100 sellers claiming to provide customer data platforms. However, to find the right solution for your business, you need to know what a DP is and what it does.

So what is CDP and how does it help small businesses?

A CDP is a form of technology used to understand your company’s client base and scale personalized experiences on various service, sales, and marketing channels. First, it collects data from first-party and 3rd party data sources, real-time interactions, and customer identities.

Second, it stitches this data together and removes any duplicates to create a single, persistent history of every client. CDP also empowers small businesses and marketers using a user-friendly interface to segment audiences, analyze customers, and project future actions.

Lastly, it allows businesses to automate the orchestration of one-on-one personalized marketing campaigns on several commerce, customer experience, and marketing channels.

The main difference between CDPs and other platforms, such as the customer relationship management platform (CRM), is that it can ingest huge volumes of data by connecting to all types and sources of customer data. Hence, your small business can form a much more comprehensive view to understand your audience better and act accordingly.

Data Management Platform (DMP)

Most people confuse CDPs with DMPs. But, DMPs plan and manage advertisements on third-party websites and enable retargeting using site cookies. A DMP focuses more on anonymous categories and customers, while CDPs focuses on creating single profiles for each customer.

A CDP also creates a persistent client profile and stores the data to create a single record, which can’t be accomplished by DMPs.

Customer Relation Management Platform (CRM)

A CRM is a service and sales tool that logs direct interaction with clients. This includes:

• Price quote

• Customer complaint

• Customer questions

It also updates client information such as phone, email, and name. Although both CDP and CRM collect consumer data, a CRM can only track a client’s intentional interactions with your business via manual entry. Additionally, CDPs can track both online and offline data, while CRMs can only track online data.

Digital Event Distribution Platform DED

IT organizations use DED for the transmission of data from one technology to another. For example, when new content is created, you can use DED to trigger the content from your content management system to another management system.

The main difference between DEDs and CDPs is that DEDs have a little marketing feel. Therefore, a marketer has to rely on the IT department, which makes the process of ideation to execution slow. In contrast, CDP makes customer data quickly accessible and actionable, increasing internal marketing processes.

Multichannel Marketing Hub Platform (MMH)

MMH, also known as marketing clouds, is used in the management and delivery of marketing campaigns through push, text, social, and email channels.

So, in conclusion, what makes CDP different from other systems? CDP is a packaged system that creates a unified, persistent client database and can ingest all types of data sources while being marketer-centric.

DevelopmentInsightsSaaSSEO

Free VPN vs. Paid VPN – Which Should You Choose?

on June 27, 2020

If you are seeking to find a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to secure your online activities and protect your data, you are not alone; many other people have intensified their interest in VPNs. We have gone through different VPN reviews websites like VPN Watch, and now we’ll guide you through what to look for in a VPN and explain the key differences between free and paid VPN services.

What Does a VPN Do?

When you decide to find a VPN service, there are a few important reasons behind that, such as:

  • You are a frequent traveler who wants to use public Wi-Fi.
  • You want to surf the internet anonymously by masking your IP address.
  • You are just afraid that someone might try to steal your information on public Wi-Fi.
  • You are afraid that someone is watching your browsing history and activity.

A VPN creates a secure connection to a network over the internet through an encrypted tunnel that hides your IP address. This allows secure and private sending and receiving of data over public or shared networks on various devices, giving you enhanced anonymity and privacy when browsing.

A VPN hides a lot of information, which, if made public, can put your privacy at risk, such as:

  • Your IP address.
  • Your browsing history.
  • Your device details.
  • Your location.
  • Your internet activities.

Choosing the best VPN for you can be a tough endeavor, but it is one that you must conduct if you want to protect your online identity and data. You can choose either a free or paid VPN.

Free VPNs vs. Paid VPNs

The best VPNs keep your identity completely anonymous online, protect your data, shield you from cyber threats, and give you access to geo-restricted websites. Isn’t the thought of getting all that for free amazing?

However, can free be entirely free?

Paid VPN providers make profits from subscription fees. How free VPN providers make money should be a big question for you because, somehow, they have to generate revenue from your usage of their service.

Why Should You Choose a Free VPN?

The first reason for choosing a free VPN is that it is free – you won’t have to pay anything to use it. Furthermore, like any VPN, a free VPN will give you anonymity while browsing the web.

What Risks Are Associated with Using a Free VPN?

Some free VPNs compromise your data security and privacy to make money. How do they do that?

  • They track your online activities and browser history, then sell your data to third parties, such as advertisers.
  • They are inviting malware to your device. That malware harvests your data to facilitate phishing scams and other data breaches.
  • Weak security: free VPNs have next to zero security because of their weak and fickle online security features. This leaves you vulnerable to hackers, cybercriminals, and governmental spying.
  • They interrupt your browsing with ads and continuous pop-ups. This is annoying and may lead you to malicious sites that are dangerous to browse.
  • They redirect your internet traffic without your permission. Browser hijacking is also one of their revenue making streams.
  • You will face significant speed drops. Free VPNs significantly slow down your internet connection.

When Can You Use a Free VPN?

Despite these numerous flaws, some safe free VPNs still work well when used occasionally. For instance, if you are about to travel and want to access a geo-blocked site from home, or if you want a little privacy and protection while using shared public Wi-Fi, you can use a limited free VPN service.

Paid VPNs

The fact is no free VPN will offer you a complete high-quality and safe service without limitations. To get full usage of a VPN, you should opt for a paid option.

Are Paid VPNs Worth the Money?

Definitely, paid VPNs are worth it. With paid VPNs, you get:

  • genuine protection for your private online data,
  • secure protocols with top-notch network security,
  • a premium VPN service that keeps you anonymous and your internet traffic private,
  • access to content that is otherwise geo-restricted, such as streaming services or games, 
  • no bandwidth caps or slow connection speeds,
  • a no-log policy,
  • built-in malware protection and ad blockers to keep you safer,
  • access to more server locations and better server selection,
  • better customer support services.
  • additional security options like double vpn

Bottom Line

To be brief, we strongly advise against using a free VPN service. No free VPN is reliable or trustworthy enough to offer you the level of digital protection that can keep your data safe online.

However, you also need to know that all VPN providers can track your online traffic, activity, and browsing data. The question is why or whether they do so. Paid VPN service providers say they don’t. You cannot know, and you have to take their word on that.

We believe that the information in this article can help you make the right decision. If you have any other issues regarding VPN selection, you can alert us through the comments section.

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