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Top 5 Advantages of Automating Your Business

One of the richest men in the world and a business tycoon, Bill Gates, once quoted that, “Automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency while automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

With technological innovations flourishing every day, it becomes vital for businesses to automate certain monotonous and repetitive tasks to keep their productivity and profits in check. Automation is among the most popular technologies used by big and small businesses to be competitive in the market. This can be a wonderful tool, if used in the right way, to improve businesses without spending a large sum of money.

What is Automation?

Automation is a simple process of developing software tools to perform repetitive tasks automatically with no real-time human intervention. This is an ideal tool for both established and developing businesses to improve their performance every day.

Why Automation is a Strategic Business Tool for Success?

Many successful businesses have automated many of their crucial tasks to ensure that the work process flows organically and the tasks gets completed on time with no interruption. Over 80% of top companies have used automation as a key to their success.

Automation depends on the business you operate which makes it important to find the exact processes that needs to be automated to improve the overall productivity and efficiency of your company.

If you are finding it difficult to identify the key areas where you need to automate your businesses, then we list a few important benefits of automation that can help you make informed decisions.

Here are the five advantages of automating your business,

1. Saves You Time

Time is the most valuable tool for operating a big business successfully. Most businesses struggle because of lack of time to complete crucial tasks which harm their productivity and workflow. By automating your routine tasks, you can not only save time but also find time to create strategies for expanding your business.

Most companies follow a certain workflow that includes a set of mundane tasks that must be done every day before proceeding to the crucial part of the project. Automation of mundane tasks with the use of software can complete the work on time and save time to concentrate on other projects.

Automating one or more work processes with the help of technology will reduce the repetition time while generating free time for working on other tasks. Many repetitive tasks include emails, reminders and messages that must be sent every day across to the internal team. These can be automated using an online system that will help take care of the reminders, emails and spend less time on scheduling meetings and reminders to the particular individual.

Automation is an excellent way to improve the efficiency of your workflow and reduce unnecessary wastage of time in doing manual tasks repeatedly.

2. Cuts Down on Human Error

As the famous saying goes ‘To Err is Human’; the same luxury can become costly when errors happen at crucial stages of a business. All businesses involve a lot of human interventions and plans which can sometime end up on the wrong side, leading to a massive loss in profits.

Most tasks may not require smart individuals to carry out the process and even a layman can understand the process and do it efficiently. Those tasks can be automated using online software to cut down on human errors which may become costly, if ignored.

Automated systems are flexible which helps us to change the task and create it according to our needs to improve the workflow process and reduce errors from time to time.

Many employees may get bored or frustrated when they have to do a certain task repeatedly every day making them lose focus on the work at hand. This can lead to errors in the entire process affecting other individuals too. Therefore, it is important to set up an automated system which will never get bored with the same task and help complete the task on time at greater speeds without making errors.

3. Improves Customer Relationships

Customers are the backbone of a business. When your customers are happy and fulfilled, they stay loyal to your brand for a longer time. Many customers expect a prompt response from the company to their queries and delay in responses can frustrate them.

The most important factor that determines the success of a business is customer relationship management. Employees must be available through chat, emails and phone calls regularly. Sometimes, they may have to attend to the same issue again and again repeatedly to help the customer. However, the employee may not attend to all the queries from customers at all times as it can add a lot of pressure and stress.

Customer Relationship Management System is an automated software that can help in handling the customer relationships effectively causing no problems to the customer. The customer details can be recorded and whenever there is an issue the system can send a prompt reply to the customer with no human intervention.

Most companies send regular anniversaries, birthdays, celebrations, festivals and other wishes to the customers which can also be automated to save time. The customer will receive automated messages on time and feel happy by the attention given by your brand. These little nuances will impress the customers to stick to your brand and even refer to their friends and family.

Another advantage is that you can gain insights about customer behaviors to develop strategies for improving your brand. Every customer behaves differently and has varied tastes in a brand and it takes a lot of analysis and continuous monitoring of customer relationships to understand how to serve customers in a better way.

Gaining insights into customer behavior will help expand your business to reach audiences across different global platforms. The analytics will send weekly and monthly reports to understand how customers interacted with your business regularly and help better your customer services.

4. Reduces Productivity Killers

Every business hire workforce to improve the productivity and profits of the company. But employees may not be productive because of missing of steps and overturn of events. If you are planning to grow your business globally, then it is vital to reduce productivity killers in your company.

Every day there can be certain unexpected delays and events that may lead to a change of schedules and detours. Meetings may get cancelled or rescheduled which might lead to disturbances in the already planned events. Such impromptu schedules and meetings can disturb the harmonious workflow in the organisation leading to confusion among the employees.

Productivity killers can be avoided by automating scheduling of meetings, events and other corporate routines with the help of a dedicated system that can be operated both by the employees and the management. This will schedule meetings automatically and intimidate to the concerned individuals by sending direct reminders. The system can also inform about cancelling of client meetings in advance to reschedule your plans to save time.

An online calendar can help automate the meetings and schedules with prompt reminders which can save your productivity time and prevent bigger damage.

5. Boosts Employee Efficiency

Most employees feel happy and productive when they are happy, stress free and able to understand the workflow of the company. When employees are forced to adjust to an uncertain schedule and perform different tasks at different times, they may find it difficult to cope with the workflow and produce tremendous results.
Success of a business will depend on the customers, but the sales force and marketing strategies will speak volumes when the employees work together as a team.

When employees are supported by an automated system to help them do their tasks perfectly, they will be happy to work for the company as most of the mundane tasks are already taken care by the automated system. This will help them get a lot of free time to focus more on the important tasks in expanding the business. Automating systems will help boost employee job efficiency as they can have more time to brainstorm, generate ideas and experiment more to enrich the brand.

It is best to start small with automation and gradually create many automatic technologies for building your business effectively. Automation can not only help overcome repetitive tasks but may also generate repeat business for the future.

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Top 5 Reasons Your Business Can Benefit from Custom Mobile Apps

With increasing usage of mobile apps, businesses are looking to develop their own customized mobile apps. Many companies are willing to shift towards mobile app development because of the current emerging trends in increasing profits and visibility through mobile apps.

Mobile app statistics show that mobile point-of-sale revenues are expected to rise from $6.6 billion to $50 billion by 2021.

And it is estimated that an average human uses mobile apps for about 4 hours per day which rises the importance of developing customized mobile apps for your businesses to sell products and build loyal customers.

 If you are still questioning whether developing a mobile app will provide any massive benefits for your company, then let me suggest you the best 5 benefits your business will reap by creating a customized mobile app for your customers.

  • Build a Stronger Brand Recognition

Creating a custom mobile app for your business can improve your brand and recognition by greatly contributing to its awareness. A mobile app is like a blank canvas which can be modified according to your business needs and preferences by making it informative or technologically sound.

Customers will love a brand which creates an app with user-friendly interface, plenty of features and beautiful designs. They will immediately recommend this app to their friends, family and colleagues which can in turn, boost your company’s recognition.

The more often you get your customers to use your app, the more recognition and awareness you can get for your business. We cannot rule out the “word-of-mouth” popularity that brands gain by simply letting their customers speak volumes about their customized mobile apps and the features it provides.

When you let people to see and use your brand name frequently, it will definitely build your brand and recognition effectively. This can be achieved by developing a customized mobile app for your business and getting it noticed among your peers.

  • Better Connectivity with Customers

Customers are the backbone for the success and sustainability of a business. It doesn’t matter if you are selling flowers or technological products, you should create a way for customers to reach you. And custom mobile apps can be the best way to improve relationships with them by engaging in a more personalized way.

 Just think how many customers will be willing to pick up the phone and call you every time they have a question about your product or send a text asking the query and waiting for your reply for hours? Many don’t have the time or the patience to call customer care and talk about their issues. A simple app does the work thousand times better than a phone call or text message.

 If you are creating a customized mobile app with a messaging feature or help desk, you can definitely improve your customer service by automating the process of communication. A recent study in 2018 showed that 85% of customer interactions will be handled without humans. This clearly shows that mobile apps will be taking over the world of businesses and customer interaction by 2020.

  • Boost Profits and Market Value

Recent survey stated that India has become the fastest-growing market for apps in the world. The revenue generated through mobile apps is estimated to be $47 million in India and $3.2 billion in the United States. Other countries are also facing a sharp hike in their revenue across both platforms of Android and iOS apps.

This increases the importance of creating a customized mobile app to improve profits and the market value of your company in the internet business. As more than 300 million people using internet every day, the number of profits businesses will generate is inexplicable. Mobile app is the best way to improve the wallet-engagement from your customers. You can promote sales and provide a level of value to your customers which they cannot get anywhere else.

Many companies use mobile apps to their advantage by speeding up the whole purchasing process. Digitizing the entire process of selling products through a mobile app will help boost sales instantly and motivate customers to make repeated purchases.

  • Become Popular by Providing In-app Information and Offers

One of the biggest benefits of a customized mobile app is that you can provide all the information about your products and promote special sales and offers directly to your customers. You can push notifications, send instant messages and reminders about deals and much in-demand products to your customers within a jiffy.

 On-hand information will help them gain rewards and also collect loyalty points directly via your mobile app if you are creating a dedicated loyalty program for your customers. Many services create smartphone-based loyalty programs to enable customers to use them wherever they feel like and stick to the brand for future benefits. This is one of the best ways to create loyal customers for your brand and also retain them in the longer haul.

  • Be the First Among Your Competitors

 Running a successful business demands you to be always on the top and stand out from the competition to greatly improve your business. Creating a customized mobile app will help you take a big leap ahead of your competitors by becoming popular among your customers.

Nowadays, people prefer brands that enable them to buy products through apps instead of websites or making in-person purchases. If you are choosing a forward-thinking approach to make your business stand out via a mobile app for your company, you will be astonished to see customers regularly visiting your app.

Bottom Line

About 90% of companies have invested in mobile apps because of customers and profits they gain through this incredible technology. If you are planning to create a customized mobile app, then contact us for getting the best knowledge about the processes involved in developing a tailor-made app for your business!

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What is Social Media Marketing ?

“How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?.” – Seth Godin

We are at a point of time where technology has completely changed the way we communicate.

Social Media is not ‘just another fad’. In fact, it is an integral part of millions of lives today.

The number of sign-ups and visits on these networks seems to be increasing everyday.

This means that more people getting connected online today than there were yesterday, and the number will only increase. Even people who were not using internet actively seem to be bitten by the Social Networking bug.

What does all this mean to people like you who are trying to reach customers? 

This means opportunity! It has become very easy to reach out to your potential customers. The process of  setting up accounts on these sites is so simple, it hardly takes few minutes to register. It is very easy to share information about your business or brand or cause. The best part is that all this can be done with almost zero monetary investment ! Reaching targeted people has never been this cheap and easy!

But there has to be a catch right? Yes, unfortunately, there is. You have to remember that it is easy for *anyone* to do all this. This has led to a huge surge in spam and irrelevant stream of information. There is way too much chaos. And your message can easily get lost.

How do i get noticed on social media ?

This is not an easy task anymore, owing to the sheer number of people sharing and publishing information online. Every day billions of photos, status updates, videos etc are being shared by millions of people. There is way too much information(useful and otherwise) floating around the web.

To worsen the matters, the average attention span of people in general has reduced so much, that you would be lucky if you can hold their attention for a few moments. So how would someone get noticed in all this chaos ? How can you get the attention of your potential customers ?

Say hello to Social Media Marketing. One of the newest kids on the marketing block.

Social Media Marketing, what ?

Social Media Marketing is one of the latest buzzwords in the online marketing industry. It is the term used to represent the set of activities that one does to reach out to potential customers on Social Networking sites. Lot of businesses (of all shapes and sizes) use social media to interact with their costumers and engage them in some way or other.  If done right, social media marketing can actually help you increase sales (See this article on Bloomberg about Dell’s increase in sales).

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Portfolio : Custom Software for WPC India

A couple of years ago, we were approached by one of India’s leading advertising agencies, WPC (http://wpcindia.in/) to help them automate and streamline their process and operations. Here is how we helped them.

The Challenge :

WPC has been slowly expanding its presence all over India and now overseas. The major challenge was to make a software that is scalable and capable to handle the growing needs of the company. We had to come up with a solution that does not require lot of training and can still handle all the complex business operations.

The Solution :

We came up with a web-based software powered by some of the latest technologies. Since the software is web-based, there are no infrastructure costs involved and can be used from anywhere in the world.

The software is at the core of WPC’s day to day operations. 

For eg. Following is a short overview of the Project Management aspect of the software :

  1. Managers create new Projects and break down each project into smaller tasks.
  2. They assign each task to one or more sub-ordinates.
  3. Each sub-ordinate gets alerted when a new task is assigned to him/her.
  4. They can see list of all tasks assigned to them.
  5. Once they decide to start work on a particular task, they fill out the details about the task and click on a button that marks the task as “Ongoing”.
  6. Managers can track progress of each task. They can see who is working on what and can track how much time was spent on each task.
  7. Once the task is completed, people working on the task can upload their work.
  8. Admin can now create invoice and mail the invoice without leaving the software.

In short, they use the software to assign work to employees, create cost estimates and prepare invoices (which can be mailed directly to the client through the software itself), pull out reports, assess employee performance, send messages to one another, have a discussion on a particular task or project etc.

The Result :

WPC has been using our software for about 2 years now. The company’s muck work is handled by the software so that the employees can focus on increasing their creative output and delighting their clients.

We have worked with companies of all shapes and sizes around the world. We understand how crucial good software is for a company to grow or to maintain competitive edge. If you require a customized software solution, please contact us right away. We can work together to develop a custom solution for your unique business problems.

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Things to consider when marketing online

There are a few things that you should consider when marketing your business online :

  1. Be careful. Once you put something on the internet, you can very rarely take it back.
  2. Be original. Don’t plagiarize content for your blog or status updates. If your customers find that you use plagiarized content, they will surely not think very highly of your business.
  3. Be consistent. Make sure that you are conveying a consistent message everywhere (even offline). Don’t confuse your current and future customers by sending confusing messages about your business.
  4. Be patient. Don’t fall into the shortcut trap. There are a lot many “businesses” that sell “software” or “services” that can increase your traffic, followers, likes, fans etc. Stay away from them or face the risk of being penalized or banned.
  5. Be precise. People don’t have time and attention span like they used to. Make sure what you write is short and easy to read and follow.
  6. Be focused. Don’t write stuff that is not of any concern to your business and more importantly to your customers.
  7. Be useful. Give your customers a reason to keep coming back for your updates. Try to be as useful as possible.
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Why do I need a website ?

  1. First and foremost, a website makes it easy for potential customers, investors, existing customers etc. to know and understand  more about your products/services.
  2. There is always a possibility of selling your products/services online. It is available 24×7 and it is accessible even to people who cannot possibly visit your offline establishment.
  3. Even if you do not wish to sell your products/services online, your website could be an excellent medium to reach out to prospective customers. It could be your salesman who never sleeps !
  4. A website is like an extended, interactive business card which wont get lost in your client’s drawer or closet. You can showcase your products or services or even your previous work. You can have your client testimonials. Best of all, you can update information and the whole world can access it, instantly !
  5. A professionally designed website with properly planned out content can create a very solid first impression.
  6. Chances are that your competitors already have a website and web presence. You might be losing a sizable business to them just because your prospective customers searching online don’t even know you exist !

It makes perfect sense to have a website in today’s internet centric world. People like to search for information on a product/service before they decide to purchase it. If planned and marketed properly, your website can increase your leads and eventually sales.

I would love to read your thoughts on this. Please leave a comment below.

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Biggest Web Design Mistakes

Your website may be causing some serious loss in your business, without you even knowing it ! Bad web design is known to put off potential customers away. It is very easy to navigate to some other website if your website does not seem to solve your customer’s problems.

Allow me to give you a simple analogy. Let us assume there is a new super-market in your neighborhood.

The super-market

  • is difficult to reach
  • is unorganized (nothing is in the place where you expect it to be)
  • is not clean
  • has unfriendly and annoying staff
  • looks unsafe and untrustworthy
  • plays really loud and annoying music

Would you like to shop at such a place ? I doubt you will. Even if you enter once, you will make sure you don’t return. And you will ensure that all your friends , colleagues and family members stay away from this super-market, won’t you ?  Effectively, the super-market has lost a lot of potential customers.

And the super-market owner probably wonders why his business is failing. Why the number of visitors is low and why visitors are not returning ?

If you have read our previous post on Important characteristics of effective websites you will know what exactly an effective website should have. In this post, we explore the opposite side of the same coin.

Web Design has been around for a while now. But, many web designers continue to use outdated methods and many repeat the same mistakes over and over.

What are the most commonly repeated mistakes ?

  • Forgetting that people don’t care for your business or website :
    If your website does not talk about your customer’s problems, you are doing something wrong. Please remember people do not care for your business or website, they are on your website to solve some specific problem of theirs. Do you go to the super-market because you need to buy something or do you go there because you care for the business or the store ?
  • Not making it clear what your website is all about :
    Your website should clearly and obviously make clear what it is about. If you do not make this clear, your customer can easily navigate away to some other website that is easy and clear to follow.
  • Using bad design elements :
    Without any doubt, a website has  to look appealing. The layout has to be simple and neat. The text and background colors have to be properly contrasted. The images should not appear too stretched or too compressed.  People hate to see badly rendered images. Overall, the website has to look professional.
  • Using a flash intro unnecessarily :
    Trust me, this is a very big put off. Flash intro used to be very cool. But, it ended up being used so badly and in places where it was clearly not needed that it lost its sheen. Would you like to see a cool presentation about the super-market every time you enter it ? Won’t it be annoying and a waste of time ? Avoid this.
  • Bad Navigation/Organization and not searchable:
    It is very important to make sure that your website is easily navigable. Imagine how difficult it would be to shop for a particular item if the super-market has no proper organization ? Navigation or Organization is really important.  Also make sure you have a search mechanism on your websites that help users find exactly what they are looking for. This is a very ignored facet of web designing.
  • Not reachable easily:
    Unless you are a business like Microsoft or Apple, it is very unlikely that your customers will remember your web address. This means that your website has to be easily searchable through major search engines. Your website should be ranked top for search keywords relevant to your business. This is easier said than done, but it pays if you plan for this from the day you start designing your website.

It will certainly help your business if you keep these points in mind when you get a website designed for your business.

Do a favor to your business and customers and get your website designed by professionals who understand your needs and who help you to improve your business by improving your web presence.

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Benefits of getting your website designed professionally

There are close to 200 million websites online today and this number is growing faster than you can imagine. Everyday hundreds of new websites are springing up. More and more companies are getting an online presence. Where does your website stand among this clutter ?

It has to stand out
Today, it is more of a requirement than a luxury to have a website that is crafted carefully to make it stand out. Your website has to reflect the kind of products/services you deal with.

It has to capture attention
People in todays information abundant age, do not spend much time on a website if it is not immediately appealing or solving their problems.

It has to look and be credible
There are many websites which promise and then under-deliver. There is no point in having a website that looks like a rock-star and delivers like a wannabe. This is a big put-off.

It has to be easy to manage
You should be able to manage your website with ease. You should be able to make minor changes without having to call your designer every time.

It has to be easily searchable
One of the largest sources of traffic are search engines. If your website is not search engine friendly, then you are losing a huge opportunity. Many web designers overlook this aspect of your website.

A professional web designing company makes sure that your website is designed to stand out, looks credible and is communicating your message clearly and effectively.

How can we help you improve your business ?

We have worked with many small businesses and helped them develop websites that have helped them reach more clients. We design websites that are not only search engine friendly, but also user friendly.

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How free and open source is changing the world

How do you make coffee ? There are many ways. Most of them are known and free for anyone who cares to make a coffee. Basically, the recipe or procedure of coffee making is free and open sourced. Luckily, you don’t have to get special license to make and drink your own coffee !

Now imagine that coffee making was close sourced, that is the original creator chose to keep it a secret. In this case, it might not have become such an insanely popular drink. Even if it had become popular it would be very limited and not very accessible to millions as it is today.

When something is free and open source, people have the access to the recipe or source and are able to add improvisations or sometimes modify the recipe/procedure completely. This might result in some really cool and awesome stuff that the original creator might not have imagined.

Let me share another analogy to drive the point home. Imagine if the cave person who accidentally discovered fire had chosen to keep the process to himself/herself. We would probably still be in jungles. We would be hanging from trees, hunting,  and worse twitter would have been non existent. *shudder* . Lucky for us fire making is open source and today fire is being used in ways that obviously our original cave dwelling ancestor might not have even imagined. It has literally changed the world.

Open Source is clearly not a new thing. It has been with us, without a name, for thousands of years. If used properly and in the right places (open sourcing nuclear weapons is clearly a bad idea), it can create more impact and reach more people.

Is open source changing the world ? Yes it is. Is it an answer to all problems, maybe not. But it does solve a lot of problems and in a very interesting way.

In the coming weeks we will explore some popular open source software and how companies (small or big) can benefit from them.

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Important characteristics of effective websites

A website is effective if it provides the right information to the right audience. User interface is definitely important, but should not be too flashy.  People do not visit websites to enjoy user interfaces. They look for information or solutions to their problems.

1) Effective Message (Content) : An effective website is the one which has solid, useful and note-worthy content. People come to your website to solve their own problems. Your website needs to have the content that at least helps them a bit. Say you are searching for information on “D.I.Y. plumbing”. Would you like to visit a site which claims to solve your plumbing problems, but actually provides nothing useful or insightful ? I would not.

2) Effective Design : A good design is one that pleases the eye and creates good first impression. And Effective design is one that helps in carrying the message across and is not obtrusive. In other words, it does not distract rather it engages. It offers them easy ways to navigate or find the content they are looking for.

3) Availability : A website is no good if it is not available at all times. Make sure you invest in a good web-host. You never know when potential clients will visit your website.

4) Searchability : Make sure your website is easily findable. Though there are lot of factors that make your website searchable, good content is one of the most important factors. If your content is good, your readers themselves will spread the word, share links etc and bring in more traffic.