The 4 Tools Every Retailer Needs to Run Their Business

The world of retail is ever-evolving and complex. In the modern marketplace, more retailers are going out of business every year, even the established names that have been on the high-street for decades. However, the fact remains that there are well-run retailers who are doing quite well, despite the market conditions. For your retail business to do well like others, you need to use the right tools to help you on the way.

Below are just some of the powerful tools every retailer needs to keep their business running smoothly like a well-oiled machine.

1. Salesforce CRM

To run and grow your retail business, you need a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. Among other things, a CRM software enables you to record and store all the contacts and interactions you have with your potential and existing customers, provides a platform for your sales team to collaborate to win more customers, and automate customer follow-ups.

This is where Salesforce CRM comes in. Salesforce is one of the top web-based CRM applications in the world. With Salesforce, you can better manage all your customer service channels from one central dashboard, create loyalty programs, get insights, and move customers along the path to purchase.

2. Intuit QuickBooks

One of the more difficult aspects of running a business in the retail industry is taking care of accounting and bookkeeping. Many business owners find that they benefit from using a programme to make the job easier. Intuit QuickBooks fits the bill perfectly.

QuickBooks is accounting software that helps you keep the financial side of your business at your fingertips, across multiple devices, including your smartphone.

If you have been using Microsoft Excel before, you can easily import all your data into QuickBooks.

With QuickBooks, you can snap and store receipts, download your bank transactions, calculate and file your VAT, manage your payroll, track real-time stock levels, and much more.

3. Vend

The importance of the Point Of Sale (POS) to a retail business cannot be overstated. While the means of paying for goods has changed and developed over the years, the principles of the importance of the POS remain the same.

One great POS management system you should consider deploying in your retail business is Vend POS. Vend is a multi-outlet retail and inventory management system that enables you to collect payments and manage your sales with ease.

You can use Vend to manage returns, refunds, and store credit. With Vend it’s easy to restrict what individual staff can see and do. Another benefit of the Vend platform is the ability to track all cash movements to minimise errors and prevent theft. This feature is a huge relief because cash errors, discrepancies, and theft can have a devastating effect on your retail business, which is why contents insurance is vital.

4. Ximble

In the retail business, workforce management is another key area you must manage well to sustain your business and keeping it running smoothly.

If you’re looking for a tool to make staff management easy for you, look no further than Ximble – a web-based workforce management tool that enables you to maximise staff productivity, improve communications, and reduce the costs of labour.

With Ximble you can create and publish a schedule for all your workers to see online. Also, Ximble empowers to manage multiple departments in multiple locations and assign shifts to specific employees with the skill to do the job. Also, your workers can clock in through an app, tablet, or browser. And it comes with facial recognition to help you prevent buddy punching.

Conclusion

When you combine the power of relationship management with proper accounting, easy electronic checkout, and workforce management, your retail business will not only run smoothly but also thrive. It’s possible when you use the right tools.

from Go Big Always http://bit.ly/2UAEsyZ
Source: https://gobigalwayscom.tumblr.com/post/184179599999

25 Link-Building Tips For 2019

Link building has been key to SEO for years, but these days it’s all about link quality over quantity. It’s no longer enough to have reems of external links (also called backlinks) pointing towards your website;  they need to be high-quality, relevant links from websites with high domain authority. These links will make your website look more trustworthy and authoritative, helping search engines to rank you higher. Don’t just take our word for it; Google confirmed that links and content are the two most important ranking factors back in 2016. Plus, the more relevant places that link to your website, the more chances you have of gaining relevant referral traffic.

Follow our 25 link building tips for 2019 to make sure that you’re attracting relevant links and getting the most out of them.

Body copy

  1. Understand your existing links
    Tools like SEMRush can help you see which pages are linking to you, and their quality. This snapshot of your present link profile will help when it comes to tracking the progress of your work.
  2. Put someone in charge
    Link building can be resource intensive, so it’s important to have someone dedicated to promoting your content and always looking for new opportunities.
  3. Create inspiring content
    Creating content that people are excited to share is the best way to earn natural links back to your website. Infographics are popular and engaging, performing the best in comparison to other visual formats.
  4. Leverage existing relationships
    Reach out to relevant partners, customers, industry associates – anyone you share common ground with –  for valuable in-content links.
  5. Build new relationships
    Identify niche-related communities: blogs, forums, social media groups. Contributing to discussions within these will help create contacts who should be primed to offer you backlinks going forward.
  6. Optimise your blog
    Make sure that your blog is regularly updated with unique and engaging content. Post about your passions and expertise, creating linkworthy content that people will value.
  7. Look at competitor links
    Try a tool like Majestic for an in-depth look at competitor link profiles,  providing you with ideas on where to focus your efforts.
  8. Pursue links your competitors don’t have
    Once you have a clear understanding of your competitors’ link profiles, you’ll be able to identify inbound links they don’t have. Pursue these for a competitive edge.
  9. Links from bloggers
    Establishing connections with relevant bloggers can earn you quality links. Try offering them your product or service for free. Using a blogger outreach service can speed up the process of identifying and reaching out to new contacts.
  10. Connect with influencers
    Influencers within your niche will be well-respected and authoritative. Their recommendations carry weight, and a link from them is valuable for SEO and your reputation.
  11. Guest blogging
    Reach out to websites where your input and opinion will be valuable. This will build links and your reputation as an authoritative voice. After a while, websites should start approaching you for guest content and blogs.
  12. Interviews
    Text interviews, videos, podcasts – interviews provide a valuable opportunity to earn backlinks in any format. Be as helpful and expert as you can, to increase your chances of being approached again.
  13. Links earned from webinars
    Webinars are a great opportunity to position yourself as an expert and to earn links. Host your webinar somewhere that makes it easy for other websites to embed your content, such as YouTube.
  14. Links from surveys and research
    Holding surveys or commissioning research on a regular basis – and publicising the results – can generate content that editors love to link to.
  15. Trend-watching
    Keep your ear to the ground for new trends that are relevant to your niche. Being the first to share insight or opinion will earn you quality links.
  16. Content round-ups
    Does your industry have regular content curators who round up the best pieces from the month? Earning a link in these is a great way to generate relevant referral traffic.
  17. Turn mentions into links
    Use tools like Content Explorer and Screaming Frog to discover unlinked mentions. These could be your brand name, unique products or services that you offer, or brand representatives. Once you have your list ready, reach out to the websites in question to see if they’ll add the link in, making the experience more useful for their users.
  18. Prospect for broken links
    Scan industry or influencer blogs for broken links using a tool like Check My Links. Contact the publisher with any you find and use the opportunity to pitch your content as a replacement.
  19. Outdated content
    Scour industry/niche publications for content that is outdated and offer to provide fresh, up-to-date content in exchange for a link.
  20. Testimonials
    Reach out to businesses and suppliers you’ve worked with, offering them a testimonial in return for them linking back to your website.
  21. Feature in membership lists
    Join industry or local associations or organisations. These usually have an online directory of their members, which include business details and website links.
  22. Run competitions
    Run weekly or monthly competitions and contact relevant websites to see if they’ll provide a mention, with a link, on their site.
  23. Business listing websites
    Create profiles on business listing websites for your industry. You might need to pay a small fee, but you should be able to include a link back to your website.
  24. Press releases
    Having news about your business or brand picked up by digital news publishers is a quick way to generate high quality, natural links.
  25. Internal linking
    Internal links might not be as powerful as external links, but they still play a part in where your pages rank. Make sure that your internal links help guide your website visitors through your content logically and helpfully.

It’s simple when you break it down – the higher you rank in search engines and the more places you promote your content online, the more potential customers or partners you’ll drive to your website. Follow our top link-building tips and watch your SEO performance soar.

from Go Big Always https://ift.tt/2TUIG4c
Source: https://gobigalwayscom.tumblr.com/post/183704304094

How to Grow your Business Effectively

Scaling your business is not as easy as it initially may seem. It takes hard work, effort and determination to drive your business forward to produce great results. Unfortunately,things don’t come naturally, so as a business you must research, converse with professionals and know the market inside out before you fully commit to growing your business effectively. In the beginning stages, as a business owner,you will need to perform numerous roles. You should be able to devise a marketing strategy, have a good eye for hiring prospective employers and have a clear vision of where you see your company going in the next 5years and beyond.

While the initial stages of successfully planning and putting into practice a business plan may seem straight forward, it also helps to identify ways to improve, and avenues to explore to help grow your business. There is an abundance of business strategies that people follow as a quick recipe for success, but these are usually not built with any specific goals in mind, so it is important to tailor a business plan specifically to you and your vision. 

Know your competitors

When aiming to build a successful company, one of the first things to discover is your main competitors. Who are you up against? How saturated is the market? Andhow many people are doing what you are doing? How can you make yourself stand out and be different? Each business plan needs to include a detailed competitor analysis. Thisis your chance to look at the market and reallythink about how you can be different, learn what others are doing, how they are doing them and why. 

Have a think of your main competitors and their strengths and weaknesses, replicate the things that they do well during your business venture, and keep clear of those things they are not doing particularly great at. Learn their business, their prices, their target market, how they market to consumers and what their reputation is like both locally, nationally or even worldwide. The more information you have on them, the better. 

Identify new opportunities 

The key to building a successful career throughout your business is to constantly identify new opportunities and leave no stone unturned when it comes to looking for new ways you can maximise your returns. Throughanalysing what is available, you can start to embark on new opportunities. Thismay be through new marketing strategies, a new location for your office, or even a new target market, whatever you think will work best for you to help your business get off the ground and expand naturally.  

Build an email list 

There is not much point in having consumers interested in your business, concept or product if they don’t regularly hear about your updates and what interests them. Setting up an email by asking loyal customers to subscribe will ensure you keep your current customers happy, as well as promoting repeat business. Thisis one of the most effective ways to grow a business quickly. Property investment companies like RW Invest use an email list to communicate to their extensive database of property investors about new opportunities within the UK. This is a perfect way to tell their experienced investors about their latest products available on the market and for maximising business opportunities.


from Go Big Always https://ift.tt/2Oawsyv

Source: https://gobigalwayscom.tumblr.com/post/183550054704

Cool Tech Gadgets That Turn Your Home into a Smart House

A smart home is always going to be impressive and very handy. There are a plethora of tools you can use as you establish your smart home, and the results can be great since you optimize stuff at your own pace. Aside from the cost of new windows, you also must think about what gadgets to add to your home to make it even more comfortable. And here you have some great ideas!

Very fast Wi-Fi router

A good router has the potential to improve the way you use the internet in your home. You will have a much better signal and that will bring in front some amazing results and benefits all the time. You just have to give it a try and the results can be among some of the best for sure.

Remote door answer tool

Even if you’re not at home, you want to have control over who enters your home. Even if you got replacement windows in Calgary, you still want to avoid someone that tries to break an entry. What you want to do is to find a good and powerful way to perform remote door answering, and it can work quite nicely if you do it right. With that in mind, here are some of the best ideas to focus on right away.

Smart inspection cameras

Being able to figure out what’s wrong in your home is very important and an inspection camera will help you do that in no time. It really comes in handy and it has the potential to work very well if you tackle this the right way. There are lots of cool options to keep in mind when it comes to models, but try to go with something affordable and really easy to use.

Automatic Water Shutoff

You can buy an Automatic Water Shutoff that can be used whenever you are at home or when flooding appears in your home. It might not seem like much at first, but this type of product is well worth the effort and it has the potential to offer some amazing results if you do it right. We recommend you to give it a shot especially if you like using it adequately and the results can be very interesting all the time due to that. It will not prevent pipes from bursting if they are frozen, but it helps you stop the water right away if something bad happens.

PowerTap Grommet

Cord clutter can be a problem and the PowerTap Grommet helps you solve that. You can flip every cord and add it in there. It will look better and you will have a cleaner look to your home. It doesn’t have to be very complex, simplicity still works just as well.

As you can see, cool gadgets can make your home smarter and more appealing. The idea is to figure out what option suits your needs the most and you should check out all the numerous ideas and opportunities. It can be a great way to make your home more comfortable and exciting to be in, that’s for sure!

To read more on topics like this, check out the technology category.

from Go Big Always https://ift.tt/2UuuWtb
Source: https://gobigalwayscom.tumblr.com/post/183384432729

5 Ways to Make Your Workspace Feel Like Home

Let’s face it, going to work can feel like a drag. Getting yourself out of bed is hard enough, but the thought of spending 8 hours or more in a tiny cubicle makes it even more difficult. Spending time in your dull workspace can make the day drag on. The thought of getting home to your cozy home might be the only thing getting you through the day.

But guess what, it doesn’t need to be this way! Your workplace does not need to feel like a prison, believe it or not. You spend a good chunk of your time at the office, so why not make it more enjoyable? Here are a few things you can do to make your workspace feel more like home.

Bring in some natural lighting

Fluorescent lighting is harsh on the eyes, and it can literally make it feel like you’re in a jail cell. Proper lighting can make all the difference, so think about bringing in a lamp or two. This might be difficult if you work from a cubicle, but in your own office space it is more than possible.

Invest in some plants or flower arrangements

Another easy thing you can do is bring in some plants, preferably fake ones since real ones take some maintenance. Succulents are very in right now, so buy a few and put them throughout the room. A floral arrangement is also a great way to brighten up the space and bring some color into it.

Pictures and artwork can make a huge difference

Whether you have an eye for art or not, you can’t deny that every bare walls needs a painting, poster, or tapestry of some kind. Motivational posters are the norm for office spaces, but you don’t need to be cliche. Pick out artwork you actually like; after all, you’ll be the one looking at it all day. If you have shelves or desk space, add some framed pictures of people or places that are important to you.

Comfortable seating is key

Who says you need to be uncomfortable while sitting at your desk? Invest in a comfy chair, and if you have space in your office you can even add a couch. Your desk chair should be supportive; you shouldn’t suffer from back problems later on in life from sitting at work. But remember, no matter how comfortable your chair is you should still get up and move around every once in a while.

Not only should you feel comfortable, so should your customers, clients, and fellow employees. When you’re interviewing someone for a job opening and grilling him/her with behavioral questions – read more here – both you and the candidate shouldn’t be thinking about the stiff chair.

Bring in a coffee maker and keep your snack drawer stocked

Your office probably has a coffee maker, but if not you definitely need one to get your early morning caffeine fix. And you can stave off those afternoon munchies by designating one of your desk drawers for snacks.

from Go Big Always http://bit.ly/2UAIgvW
Source: https://gobigalwayscom.tumblr.com/post/182484730299

3 Types of Insurance Cover Every 21st Century Business Needs To Grow

To ensure growth, every business in the 21st century needs to subscribe to general and commercial insurance. Some types of insurance cover may be expensive but the important question to ask is “can I afford not to have insurance?” rather than “can I afford insurance?”

You can protect your business against lawsuits and the loss or damage of data or physical assets with the use of insurance, enabling the growth of your business in the long term.

The cost of business insurance depends on two factors namely:

         The size of payment the insurer may have to make in the event of a claim; and

         The likelihood of the business making an insurance claim.

Here are 3 types of insurance covers available to businesses.

1.       Commercial property insurance: Every business with property needs to have an insurance policy that will cover for damage from varied causes, including protecting the business premises and buildings from certain risks. If you require this type of insurance to cover the needs of your own business, the things you can expect to be covered will include floods, storm damage, lightning and fire, riot protection, and the destruction of property, to name a few.

However, it is important to note that property insurance policies typically do not cover mechanical or electrical breakdown, “wear and tear”, or any policy-specified property deterioration.

2.       Business contents insurance: Machinery, stock, and contents need to be insured separately since property insurance only covers the physical business building. While getting business contents insurance, there is a choice of indemnity insurance or a replacement as new insurance.

Indemnity insurance: This is the type of insurance many working professionals will choose to protect themselves in the event of some type of human error affecting the output of their work. Indemnity insurance deducts the cost of a project that might have gone wrong due to a mistake being made on the part of the person who was hired to complete a particular task.

We can be prepared to undertake any kind of job, but mistakes will always happen at one point in the process, which makes some kind of indemnity insurance all the more vital for a hard-working professional. Businesses can choose a business interruption policy which insures against loss of profit and the higher overheads incurred as a result of a loss.

3.       Cyber insurance

Cyber risk insurance covers the damage or loss of information from IT networks and systems. This insurance is important where reputational damage and regulatory enforcement are concerned.

Cyber risks are covered by first-party insurance cover and third-party insurance cover. The former covers the assets of the business while the latter covers the assets of the customers.

Conclusion

Insurance needs differ from business to business. You could seek advice from regulated insurance brokers or insurance companies in the UK, to find the insurance covers that are suitable for your business. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulates insurance advisers, brokers, and other insurance intermediaries. A good insurance adviser should have FCA authorisation.

from Go Big Always http://bit.ly/2FBxOjp
Source: https://gobigalwayscom.tumblr.com/post/182032810919

6 Essential Apps For Travel Junkies in 2019

Travelling to new places is the best way to experience the world; it opens doors to new cultures, delicious foods, unique architecture and friendly people. Although there are so many pros to travelling, there are certainly some cons as well. Things can quickly go south in terms of transportation, accommodations, and overall travel plans.

Cancelled flights, travel sickness, and less-than-ideal hostel stays are never fun to deal with. But these drawbacks of travelling can easily be avoided or alleviated. Check out these 6 essential apps that will make any traveler’s life so much easier. No matter where you plan to go in 2019, don’t head out before downloading each and every one of these.

Hostelworld

Don’t take a risk on sketchy accommodations next time you travel to a foreign country. If gambling is your thing, this is the site where you can do that; just don’t gamble on the bed you’ll be occupying. With the Hostelworld app, you can be sure to book the best accommodations in the area, even if your budget only allows for a dorm bed.

Hostelworld allows you to compare accommodations in over 170 countries around the world. You can easily set filters based on price, location, and desired amenities. Honest reviews from fellow travellers make it easy to choose the best hostel for you. And don’t assume that your only option on the app is for a dorm bed; there are also plenty of options for private rooms.

AirHelp

Experiencing flight cancellations or delays can ruin anyone’s day. Luckily, there is a way to make it better. When you download the AirHelp app, you’ll have the chance to get reimbursed up to 600 Euros on flight delays. If your cancelled or delayed flight happened within the past three years, you’re eligible for money back.

PackPoint

Arriving to a destination and realizing you forgot your phone charger happens to even the best of us. You can avoid this by using PackPoint, an app that helps you organize your luggage and remember every essential item.

Before you start packing, you’ll be asked to input things like trip duration, destination, and planned activities. PackPoint then creates a checklist, and even considers factors like the weather forecast.

Maps.Me

Navigating through unknown city streets can become confusing, especially when you don’t have international data on your phone. Maps.me is the best app out there for navigating even while you are offline. When you browse the app before your trip, you can download offline maps of the area you’ll be travelling to.

Google Translate

With travel comes language barriers. Many, many language barriers. Even ordering your morning cup of coffee can become a challenging task when you don’t know the local language. Now with Google Translate, you can converse with anyone in any language. There are 103 languages on the GT database, and 59 of these can be downloaded for offline use.

XE Currency

Figuring out those tricky conversions between currencies can make paying for goods and services seem like a chore. The best app for making this a bit easier is XE Currency. It gives you the most accurate exchange rates across the globe.

from Go Big Always http://bit.ly/2FuLHki
Source: https://gobigalwayscom.tumblr.com/post/182032810774

How To Identify Office Space For Rent That’s Perfect For Your Business

All businesses are not alike, and finding suitable space will all depend on the needs of your business. If you are an artsy, creative type, a building located further away from downtown might be a better solution for your business, and in many cases, it might add to your brand. However, if your business mandates you are within close vicinity to the downtown centre, finding space will not only be difficult, it might be expensive.

Office space for rent in most American cities all depends on your location. The closer you move into the downtown area the higher the rents. As office space radiates out toward the suburbs, prices drop, unless the area is particularly affluent. The hunt for the perfect space can be a major task that requires much consideration on the part of the business owner simply because most leases outside ask businesses to commit to longer contracts.

Let’s take a closer look at how to find office space that is perfect for your business.

Size

When looking for office space, most city and state laws have occupancy rates, which determine how much space per person you need. When looking for space, consider how many people plan to be in the room working and then estimate the square footage of space that each piece of furniture will take up. This can tell you just how much space you will need to comfortably work in the office.

Then, make sure to project for future growth. Moving an office is no easy task, and you want to plan to remain in the space a few years. When looking at space, consider whether or not there is room to grow in the office. This is important because many leases last anywhere from one year to seven, and you do not want your office to spill into other areas as business grows.

Go Through An Agent

Commercial real estate agents have the expertise to help you understand the important parts of a lease. Without an agent, you risk leasing a space without really understanding the terms of the contract. With a leasing agent, tell her/him your business needs and they can show the places that fit the bill. Plus, you do not have to worry about talking to landlords who might or might not be as forthcoming as they should be.

Ask To See The Contract

If you find a space that you like, look at the details of the contract. Review late payment policies and breaking the lease penalties to determine any costs that might be assessed. Also, up for consideration is knowing the common areas and office areas. This is important because leasing offices might not include common areas as a part of maintenance. This is also important in terms of being able to place signage and other objects in front of the business.

When looking at the contract, you want to pay attention to what is included with the office. Some spaces will include utilities and other amenities as a part of the rent, and while the rent will be slightly higher, you only pay fewer bills a month. Alternatively, rent that does not include utilities will be significantly lower, but you will pay more bills every month. This is only important for budgeting purposes in that if you are a start-up it might be easier to pay one all-inclusive bill.

Rent That Is The Perfect Fit

Finding office space does not have to be complicated. In fact, with the right leasing agent and your own preparation, you can be in your new space quickly. When looking for space, though, focus on the size of the office and the contract, and you can manage to find space that meets most of your business’s needs.

from Go Big Always https://ift.tt/2FYADwE
Source: https://gobigalwayscom.tumblr.com/post/180833625364

Recovering from Data Loss In A Hostile Economy

The effect of data loss to a business cannot be overstated. Whether there is a monetary value or not assigned to it, companies recognise it’s a business risk as it can have significant negative effects on operations.

About 88% of data loss is said to be as a result of human error, according to a 2016 report by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office. These errors could be in form of accidentally deleting information or overwriting important files.

Other reasons that could result in loss of data include lost or stolen laptops, power outages, crashing of hard drives, software malfunctions, spillage of liquid on computer and even viruses and malware. Hackers and even employees could be responsible for theft of data.

Data loss is a serious issue for any business it happens to, especially in the case of data breach or cyberattack. Information stolen can be used to perpetrate all sorts of criminal acts, compromising the clients trust in an organisation. The UK Data protection Act makes it a punishable offence to recklessly disclose confidential information.

Data recovery usually costs a lot of time and money. In some cases of data loss, especially when there is no backup; the information could be lost forever. However, there is always a way out of every fix.

Steps taken towards data recovery decide if such loss is left as a minor glitch or becomes a full-blown crisis.

  • The first step to take is to find out the level of damage done. The nature of the lost information as well as the cause of the data loss will determine the next course of action. If the lost data has been stolen by a hacker, find out if the information can be used or exploited. If the stolen data is encrypted or hashed then it could be difficult for the hacker to use. Then consider changing the password to your database.
  • Find out if there are any legal obligations needed to be fulfilled. Now that you have assessed the damage done, you will know if the lost information can be recovered. In cases of cyber attacks, you might need an attorney’s advice on the necessary steps to take; whether you should inform your clients or not.
  • Data recovery: Recovering lost data is a process that works based on a storage scan. This scan can be used to locate the deleted or lost files and reassemble the structures of the file system. You should take note that the main cause of the data loss, as well as the steps you take towards data recovery largely determines if the information can be recovered. Your best bet is to seek the services of data recovery specialists as it would require a professional to recover lost information.

However, data loss is an issue that can be easily prevented. Below are some tips that can help you avoid it:

  • The best way to prevent data loss is by having a lot of backups. Cloud storage has made it easier to backup files which can be easily accessed from the internet through many devices.
  • Keep important information encrypted so that in a case of data breach your information would remain secure.
  • Stay up to date with antivirus and other software that protect your device.
  • Update your software regularly.
  • Keep water, coffee and other liquids away from your device.

from Go Big Always https://ift.tt/2KpcFt2
Source: https://gobigalwayscom.tumblr.com/post/180385760529

Is Your Business Technology Older Than Five Years? Time to Rethink

In a world of constant technological advancement and evolution, it is a challenge for most businesses to stay up to date with the current business technology trends. The importance of moving forward with technology cannot be overemphasized especially with how interrelated business and technology has suddenly become. According to a report by the UK Office for National Statistics, ICT has played a huge role in driving e-commerce and the business world as a whole.

With the large number of technological tools currently available and the new inventions that are still being churned out, it might be quite daunting to stay informed about what’s new and what’s not. It would seem frustrating to invest in tools that are supposed to make your work easier, only to discover that something new has been created for the same purpose.

Some technological business tools have been around for more than five years and now might be the time to switch them for a newer upgrade. Here are some business technologies that have become obsolete and how you can upgrade to keep your business moving with the times:

  • Desktop PCs: The development of smart phones, laptops and tablets has had a huge impact on the need for desktop computers. These days, people do not need to be in an actual physical location to carry out business. In fact, they carry their business everywhere with them thanks to smart phones and tablets which serve most of the functions you would originally rely on your desktop PC for.
  • Printers: The new wave of smart phones and tablets which has everyone doing business on-the-go has also eliminated the need for people to print actual copies of documents. Electronic signatures and storage (these devices mostly come with high storage space) has almost eradicated the need for people to print out documents. 3D-printers, however, seem to be the future of printing with reports showing a 52% percent year-on-year growth in their volume sales.
  • In-House Servers: The use of in-house servers; which are a group of computers connected in a network, is slowly being replaced with cloud computing. Asides the fact that cloud computing does all the storage and processing of data that servers do, it also serves so many other functions that makes it much more advanced. Businesses which adopt flexible cloud computing are most likely to outshine their competition.
  • Landlines And Phone Extensions: We have definitely come a long way from landlines with the advent of mobile phones. These days most businesses link company mobile phones to virtual switchboards which perform well regardless of weather, time or geo-location constraints.
  • Digital Cameras: Many smart phones and other devices come with inbuilt camera options which have gradually replaced the need for digital cameras. More businesses do not feel the need to invest in digital cameras when they already have devices which can serve the same function; this has resulted in a serious decline in the sales of digital cameras since 2010. No matter what type of business you operate, you need visuals in form of images and videos for advertisement and other reasons.

If your business still makes use of some or all of these tools, you should consider upgrading so you don’t get left behind.

from Go Big Always https://ift.tt/2KsOOsC
Source: https://gobigalwayscom.tumblr.com/post/180385760309