Category Archives: Computers and the Internet

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What Does Digital Really Mean?

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Everyone is talking about going digital these days. Many new businesses make an effort to start off as digital companies, while more established businesses try to adjust their way of doing things to keep up. But with so many people talking about “digital” without really explaining it, you could be forgiven for not really understanding what it is. The word seems to be applied to everything and used as an adjective, noun and even a verb. If you want your business to be digital, you need to know what that really means and what you should be doing to get there.

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Defining Digital

Being a digital company can mean different things to different people. Some define it in terms of using lots of technology for a more modern business experience. Others emphasize how being digital allows them to connect with customers in a different way. The dictionary definition of “digital” says that it is, among other things, “involving or related to the use of computer technology”. Unfortunately, most people will tell you it’s not that simple. Digital in the world of business means not just using technology but looking at the way you operate your business to make tech and user-friendliness, as well as forward-thinking values, the default.

Digital Intersecting with Other Disciplines

Digital can exist as a concept on its own, but it’s often paired up with other words too. If you want your business to be digital, you’re likely to need digital creatives, digital advertising experts, and digital branding experts. You’ll find people who are simply digital experts on their own, who might also be able to handle a number of other disciplines too. But you often need to seek out people who specialize in certain areas of digital. People who know about digital advertising understand the best ways to advertise your business on a digital platform.

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Catering to Your Customers

One of the reasons people enthuse about digital so much is that it offers a way to be connected to customers like never before. As people begin to use technology and digital services more and more in their everyday lives, they expect businesses to be providing for them. Digital does more than create a single journey that works for the customer. It aims to be adapting all the time, based on customer input and how they experience and enjoy what they’re being offered. Digital businesses need to be prepared to listen to their customer at all times.

Everything in Real-time

Everything is fast-paced in the digital world. One other thing to pay attention to is that being digital involves automating as much as possible, and letting technology do most of the work. Everything should be able to happen in real-time, feedback should be instantaneous, and digital intelligence should help businesses to stay one step ahead at all times. Digital means being responsive and not making people wait for anything.

It can take a while to really understand what being digital means. Ultimately, you might have to arrive at your own definition if it’s something that interests you.

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Let’s Talk About The Needs Of Online Audiences…

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Most modern businesses now appreciate the importance of the digital marketplace. As such, winning over the online audience is arguably your biggest task. To do this, you must first understand what makes them tick.

Online audiences aren’t overly different from offline demographics. Still, there are several considerations that need to be made before building a marketing strategy. Otherwise, you’ll almost certainly fall into the abyss. Here’s what you must know to ensure that doesn’t happen.

Consumers Turn To Google | In most aspects, different audiences will have unique habits. When it comes to hunting a product or service, though, almost all consumers turn to search engines. Moreover, over 90% click links from the first page of results. As such, ranking highly either in your location or keywords relating to the business should be a top target. Get this right, and web traffic will soar. With more people landing on your site, the hopes of converting a sale look better than ever.

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Consumers Seek Clarity | Many online businesses make the mistake of displaying too much information in a complicated manner. Unless you’re working in an academic arena, audiences want content that is easy to digest. Videos are great, and experts at movingbitsonline.com can handle those needs. Visual content is simpler, clearer, and open to a wider audience. Besides, it’s far easier to keep their attention to the end. This is especially crucial to remember when you target a global audience. Otherwise, the non-English natives will choose a more accommodating competitor.

Consumers Need Trust | Without trust, your business will struggle to gain converted sales even if the products offer great value. It’s vital that you understand the situations regarding potential hacks and security threats. Ultimately, prevention is the best form of protection, which is why it’s better to conduct your research now rather than later. On a separate note, if you intend to hire freelancers or contractors, it’s imperative that they can be trusted. After all, those people are representing your business.

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Consumers Judge Actions | If you thought that providing a good business service was enough, you were sorely mistaken. Online audiences care about a whole host of factors. Upgrading your customer care game should be considered essential. You can find out about virtual assistants at callruby.com while adding FAQs and a fair returns policy will help. Combine this with an active support of charities and economical business activities, and the rewards will soon come. Ignore those elements, and some clients will look for alternative solutions.

Consumers Love Interaction | Most people use the internet, particularly social media, on a daily basis. However, most of them dedicate the bulk of their time to a very select number of companies. If you can become one of them, your business will always be fresh in their minds. Participating in the conversation is the ideal way to show personality, and it provides insight into their demands too. As long as you live to serve their needs, there’s no reason that they’ll ever take their custom elsewhere. With a loyal following behind you, the whole venture looks brighter than ever.

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Invite, Inform, Intrigue: The Three I’s That Make the Perfect Business Website

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If you didn’t already know that you need to take your business online, then take this as your warning: get with the times and take your business online! More to the point, get with the times and make sure your business not only has a website but has a website that is inviting, informative and intriguing. For advice on how to achieve these three I’s on your business website, make sure to read on.

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Making your business’s website inviting

The first I that you should be focussing on when it comes to your business’s website is inviting: simply, your website must be inviting because, if it isn’t, nobody will want to stick around long enough on it to learn anything about your business. So, make sure it is inviting!

The first thing that you should do when seeking to induce an inviting feel on your website is to treat it like your own home. You want guests to your home to feel invited and welcome whenever they step through your front doors, right? Well, you should be translating this desire to your business’s website. More to the point, you should be translating the desire on your part to have guests in your home feel invited and welcome as soon as they enter your home onto your site: you should want the traffic that is led to your site, through or for whatever reason, to feel welcome as soon as they click on to it. And, the best way to do this is to ensure that your website’s home page, generally the first page that is seen on a site, is in no way outdated or hard to navigate. You see, if your site’s home page looks as if it has come straight out of the 1990s, or if it is hard to get to grips with or use in general, then there will be no inviting feel to it. And, with this lack of an inviting feel comes an increased desire on the part of the traffic that has come to your site to leave it just as quickly as they accessed it. And, if the rest of the site follows suit after a bad home page, then you can be sure that whomever it is that has logged on to your site will not be staying around on it for too long. So, make sure you are working closely with website application development companies to ensure that your whole website is as up-to-date and as easy to use as possible. By doing so you would be able to be sure that your website is as inviting as it can possibly be.

And something else that you should be doing in order to induce an inviting feel on your website is to put as many faces to as many names as you can — and yes, this means putting a face to your own name, too! You see, when a consumer who is scouring your business’s site for information on it can see evidence of who it is they are dealing with, especially you, the boss, they are more likely yo feel invited and welcome, and thus they are more likely to bring you their custom. So, make sure photographs and even small personal bios of you and your team are uploaded to your site. Just hope that when it comes to photo day that you’re having a good hair day!

Making business’s website informative

Once you’ve reeled potential customers in with your inviting website, it’s time to start solidifying them as fully fledged customers. And, the best way to do this is to make sure your website is as informative as it can be — and that is why informative is the next I to be covered.

Being informative is something your website simply needs to be and simply needs to be taking seriously. Now, this could mean hiring a professional in the field of writing, such as a freelance copywriter, in order to write up your website a bio for all those who access the site to see — by doing so you would be able to be sure that the writing would be informative, straight to the point and, most importantly, error free. Or, this could mean making a live-chat feature available on your site in order to allow the potential customers who access your site the chance to gain real-time and active information whenever they access your site — by doing so you would be able to be sure that no customer will leave your site without finding out exactly what it is they need to find out.

You see, if your site isn’t informative and doesn’t provide your potential customers with the information they need to be turned into fully fledged customers, how is this going to happen? And, if this doesn’t happen, where are your customers going to be coming from in this ever-changing, technology-driven world of business that we live in today?

Making your business’s website intriguing

The third I, intriguing, is just as important as the two that came before it. Yes, it is important to make sure your customers feel invited when they access your site. And yes, it’s even more important that they leave it with all the information they need from it. But, making your site intriguing is important because that is what keeps your customers on the site while they are on it — and that time is the most precious time of all.

To keep your site intriguing, the first thing that you should be doing is becoming well versed on what is done to achieve that. To do this, try reading popular blogs or other websites created by the other businesses in your market. By doing so you would be able to see what works and what doesn’t in regards to enticing customer attention and, more importantly, keeping this attention intrigued. Something else that you could try is actually asking your customers what it is about your site that is, one, already intriguing, and two, what can be done to it to make it more so. You see, customer feedback is the best kind of feedback you can receive on your business, in all parts of it, so you should have no qualms in asking for it in relation to your site. Something else that you could try, or maybe even should try given the direction the world of the Internet has taken in recent times, is blogging. You should do so because when a business’s website has a blogging area the possibilities are endless as to what sort of information can be found and stored there, and guest bloggers could even be tasked with the job of writing blog posts for you that will speak directly to the audience you are targeting. Or, something else that you should be trying is making sure your business’s website always features links to the news and posts of the day to show your business to be forthcoming and to be one that always has its finger on the pulse of the latest trends.

So, as you can see, when you make your website inviting, informative and intriguing you give it the best chance possible of drawing in and keeping potential customers and then ultimately turning them into fully fledged customers. So, make sure to remember the three I’s above, and make sure to make your business’s website the best site in town (or in your market, at least)!

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Stepping Up Your Sales Patter: Techniques To Get The Tills Ringing

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When you run a business, there is one simple goal: to make money by selling products or services. Whatever type of company you run, the ultimate aim is to generate as much profit as possible. If you aren’t making money, the business won’t be sustainable, even if you’ve got a loyal client base or you’re attracting rave reviews online. To maximize your margins, it’s always beneficial to keep costs low, but you should also be focused on driving sales. The more money you bring in, the higher the chance of getting into the black. If your sales have stalled or your main aim for the year ahead is to get the tills ringing, here are some techniques to try.

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A website that wows

A growing number of people search for services and products online. Google alone processes more than 40,000 searches per second. With the online market expanding by the day, it has never been more important to get your website right. Your site has the power to be an incredibly effective marketing tool, provided that it looks the part and it delivers everything the client is looking for. If you use a website to sell products, for example, the merchandise you sell should look fantastic on the screen, but the site should also be easy to use. If you have to jump through hoops to add something to your cart and complete the sale, there are customers that are bound to lose interest and go elsewhere. You need to design a website that enables the customer to choose what they want and buy it within seconds. If your site is dated or dull, now is the time to spruce it up, make the content engaging and ensure that it provides a positive, enjoyable experience for potential clients. Make sure the site is relevant to your brand and focus on the visual appeal. A basic template that is stuffed full of text isn’t going to set the world alight. Use video clips, images and short, interesting descriptions to give customers information and encourage them to buy. If you don’t know where to begin, it’s worth having a look around, seeing what your competitors are doing and getting advice from web design experts.

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Phone sales

Although many companies are turning their attention to online marketing techniques, sales calls can still be an effective means of conjuring up business. If you have a sales team, it’s important to consider the way you make calls carefully. Not everybody is keen to chat on the phone, and for some clients, telephone calls can be an inconvenience. Choose the right time to make a call, avoid aggressive sales patter and ensure that every call provides the customer with useful information, which demonstrates what the company is all about and how it could benefit them. It’s incredibly beneficial to provide training if you’re taking on new recruits who have limited experience. Making calls can be daunting, and you want to ensure that everyone you employ has the ability and the confidence to showcase your business in the best light. Work on introducing yourself and the company, make the purpose of the call clear and try and arrange an alternative time to talk if that moment isn’t appropriate for the client. If you make a lot of calls, particularly to other countries, it’s worth looking into hosted VoIP services. This is a means of making calls via an Internet connection, which will save you a huge amount of money. When you are ringing customers, never underestimate the importance of courtesy, and make sure you have the answers to commonly asked questions. If a client isn’t sure what you’re offering and how your business differs to others, you’ll find it much harder to close a deal.

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Social media

Did you know that Facebook alone has more than 3 billion users? Many of us use social media to catch up with friends and family, but it can also be a lucrative marketing platform for businesses. When you use sites like Facebook or apps like Instagram, you may have noticed sponsored posts or been asked to like or share pages or posts. As a business, you can tap this into the growing social media market by using your profile to market your company or by buying advertising space. If you’re selling a clothing range, for example, sites like Instagram are brilliant because they’re focused on images and you can connect the picture directly to the page on your website where the client can buy the items in front of them on their screen. If you’ve got a bar, and you’re planning an event, Facebook is an excellent place to invite people, give them information about buying tickets and drum up some interest. Use analytics to determine which platforms are most suitable for your target market and set up some profiles. Once you’ve got a page, which contains basic information about the business, what you do and how people can get in touch, share it and ask the people who follow you to do the same. Offering incentives, for example, entry into a competition or access to a flash sale, can help to boost the number of shares.

It’s really beneficial to be interactive on social media, so set up a live chat feature and make sure you respond to questions or queries. If you’ve got the app on your phone, you can ensure that you’re connected, no matter where you are. If you sell products or you accept bookings on your website, it’s essential to ensure that your accounts are connected to your website. This makes it really easy for a customer to check out your page and then follow up on a query or find out more. If you’ve got a restaurant, for example, and a client likes the look of a photo of today’s special, they can click on the link to your website, look at your menu and reserve a table in seconds.

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If you’re on a mission to get the cash registers ringing in 2018, it may be time to reconsider or revive your marketing and sales techniques.

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Gift Ideas for Final Fantasy Mega Fans

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Final Fantasy is a media fantasy and science fiction franchise, which centres on a series of fantasy role-playing video games. With more than 130 million units sold across the world, it is one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. So, it’s really no surprise if you have a Final Fantasy mega fan in your life. If you do, they will certainly love a Final Fantasy based Christmas gift, and you can have the peace of mind that you have chosen something that appeals to them. So, let’s take a look at some good ideas…

  • Final Fantasy soundtrack – The Final Fantasy XV Collector’s Edition Soundtrack is a great choice. Not only do you get the full soundtrack from this series, but you will also benefit from some added extras too. This includes a booklet, which has interviews with the composer – Yoko Shimomura, as well as a behind the scenes Blu-ray with Florence + The Machine, and a special assortment of piano versions from the game. It is a real treat for any fan.
  • Final Fantasy game – If your friend or family member is a Final Fantasy fan, they probably have all of the games. So this may seem like a stupid suggestion. However, there are plenty of other games on various platforms, for example, the Final Fantasy mobile game. You can find out more about this at https://www.finalfantasyxvapp.com/. In fact, if you do a quick search online, you will see that there are many different games to choose from, so you should be able to find something that your loved one does not have.
  • Figurines – This is a gift for someone special in your life, as they can be rather expensive if you buy figurines directly from Square Enix. However, this is probably where any Final Fantasy will want to their figurines to come from – the real deal. So, only go down this route if you are prepared to pay $100 or more. They are real collector’s items, though, and so they are bound to make an amazing impression.
  • Yoshitaka Amano art books – This is a really unique present, which shows you have put a lot of thought into the gift. Yoshitaka Amano is the famed concept artist for the Final Fantasy series. The ethereal artwork Yoshitaka has created is breath-taking to say the least. You can find many compilations of his work, some of which only focus on Final Fantasy. This would make a special gift for anyone who loves the gaming series.
  • Final Fantasy trading cards – If you are looking for a Final Fantasy based gift that is not going to cost a lot, this is a good suggestion. There are many different creature and characters to choose from with the Final Fantasy trading cards that are available. If your loved one doesn’t have any cards already, why not purchase the three starting decks? Each deck comes with a different theme, i.e. Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy VII, and Final Fantasy XIII.
  • Plushies – If figurines are too expensive, or don’t sound like the recipient’s type of thing, why not buy a plushie? Or, in other words, a soft, squidgy toy! There are plenty of adorable options, and you can buy them directly from Square Enix too. Plus, you can pick up one of the characters for a fraction of the price of a figurine. From cute versions of stoic characters like Lighting and Cloud to iconic mascots like the Chocobo and Moogle, there is something for everyone.
  • Gaming tech – Make your loved one’s gaming experience a more exciting one by purchasing some exciting new tech. If you don’t know where to start, check out our blog post for more information: https://lifespaceblog.com/2017/01/09/pc-gaming-tech-just-got-serious-heres-why/. You will find out about the recent progressions in PC gaming tech, which will give you a good basis to do your shopping based on.
  • Clothing – Last but not least, the final suggestion is to purchase Final Fantasy clothing. If you take a look online, you will see that there are plenty of themed garments available, with T-shirts being the obvious choice. Or, why not go for a backpack or beanie hat instead? You could even get your own unique T-shirt printed. The options are endless.

Hopefully, you now have plenty of suggestions regarding Christmas gifts for the Final Fantasy fan you have in your life. No matter what option you go for, you can’t fail by choosing something based on the media fantasy and science fiction phenomenon.

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Get With The Times: Taking A Traditional Business Online

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It’s a strange time for a lot of well-established business owners. If you’ve been running a small, traditional business for a long time, then you might feel as though the world is moving around you at a pretty overwhelming pace. When you’re in this position is can often be tempting to hide away and retreat to the same old working methods that have seen you in good stead until now. Well, the truth is that, as the song goes “the times, they are a-changin'”. And as the time’s change, you need to be willing to change with them. One of the most important ways in which even the most traditional business can benefit from moving with the times is to get online. Of course, if you’ve never had much experience running an online business then that can often seem a little intimidating, but it really is easier than ever before. Here are a couple of simple things that you can do to get your business online.

You need a website

The most important thing for any business that’s looking to embrace the digital world is a website. No matter how much the internet has changed over the last decade or so, the website is still the central hub of many businesses online presence. Don’t assume that you need the help of expensive professional designers and programmers when it comes to building a website. Sites like http://WebsiteBuilders.com can help you compare and read reviews of various website building tools and services so that you can find one that’s right for you. Making a website has never been so simple, and it really shouldn’t take you more than a couple of days to create something that you can be proud of.

Learn about SEO

If you’re going to take your business online, then you need to make sure that you’re aware of the ways in which you can promote and market it. One of the most important things to learn about is SEO or Search Engine Optimization. That might sound like jargon but it basically just means being able to ensure that your website is always at the top of the results on sites like Google. There are plenty of ways to do this, and it’s best to do as much research as possible. But the important thing to remember is that you need to combine well written, engaging online content, with the kinds of keywords and phrases that your customers are most likely to search when they’re in need of products and services like the ones that your business provides.

You might feel as though all of this is unnecessary and that you’ve never needed these kinds of things in your business before so why should you need them now. However, the truth is that as time goes on, there is less and less room for offline-only businesses. That might not be the ideal situation, but it’s the one we’re faced with. You need to make sure that you’re moving with the times or else you run the risk of your business falling down around you.

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Why Do Games Need So Much Power?

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When you look at the back of a modern games box, the recommended specification list you’ll see is much denser than those in the past. As machines have gotten more powerful, the games being played on them have been able to reach to new heights, becoming much larger and a lot more realistic. Of course, though, what exactly makes a game use so much power? Video, which appears to be very similar, can be run on mobile phones, and it often doesn’t make sense that you would need such powerful machines for your gaming needs. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring the resource usage of a modern video game.

 

  • Calculations

 

For every action, event, and thing happening in the video game you’re playing, there will be a huge list of calculations which have to be done along with it. In most cases, programming languages are simply expressing logic, and a large part of this is mathematics. Of course, though, why would something like firing a gun take so much power? This sort of action doesn’t seem very complex.

In reality, though, it is. The very first stage of the gun firing will be an event triggered by the user, like a key press, which will have to be processed by the computer. From there, the gun will have to fire, with the computer calculating direction, speed, and damage all at the same time. If something gets hit, this will have to be picked up, too, and another sequence will run. During the gun firing, the computer will also have to pick and play an animation, sound clip, and even a vibrate command to a controller.

With all of this work going on, it could be easy to assume that you need the best processor on the market to deal with your game. Fortunately, though, this isn’t the case, and you will usually be able to get by with a mid to high-range option. At the moment, the Core i5 7600k from Intel and the Ryzen 5 1600x from AMD are some of the best contenders. This sort of chip will have more than enough power for your games.

 

  • Graphical Rendering

 

Next, it’s time to think about the other side of the work your computer has to do when you’re running a game; showing you the visuals. Unlike a video which is preprogrammed and the same every time, a video game has to be stitched together on the fly, with over a hundred new screens every second in some cases. A normal processor isn’t very good at this sort of work, though, and a specialised device needs to be used to handle the work.

This is where a graphics card comes in. Equipped with a special processor called a GPU, this sort of product can drive a TV or monitor much better than the one already in your machine. Nowadays, there are more and more options becoming available, and you have loads to choose from when you’re buying a card for your machine. In a lot of cases, you will only need the very top-end if you are gaming in ultra HD or 3D. For the majority who are stuck in the past, something a little less expensive should do the trick, though.

 

  • Storage (In-Out)

 

When a game is running, it isn’t one file which is simply being displayed. Instead, your games are built from hundreds of different documents, ranging from scripts and code to 3D models and the images being used as textures for them. Being able to access these assets quickly is very important when you’re playing some games. So, nowadays, most gaming computers will use SSDs instead of traditional hard drives, as they will usually be a lot faster. This sort of resource can make your experience a lot better.

Even knowing exactly what your computer is doing when it is running a game, it can be hard to decide on the best one for you when you’re at the store. There are loads of companies making machines out there, and a lot of them will charge too much for what you get, or won’t give you the product you deserve. Finding a quality desktop PC for gaming is just a matter of doing some research. Most people will be able to find options which appeal to them, even if you have to search for a long time to find it.

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start working harder on the time you put into choosing your next gaming computer. Running a game isn’t a simple task, like running a video. Unfortunately, when so much has to be done on the fly, your computer need to be able to hack the heat, or you won’t have a very good experience.

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Are You Liable If Your Small Business Gets Hacked?

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At this point in time, it very much looks like one of the most-used words of the 21st century is going to be “hacked”. There seems to be no limit on the number of businesses that have been hacked; some of the most well-known companies in the world have found themselves having to apologize for falling victim to hacking. Most recently, the Equifax leak was thought to have impacted half the US population— it’s clear that the scope for hacking knows no limits.

When you’re a small business owner, seeing these huge companies falling victim to hacks can be extremely disturbing. After all, if the big fish can experience this, then surely your smaller business can too? And if the worst does happen, are you liable for what then happens to that data?

The Good News

Let’s start with the positive news; there’s a reason big companies are hacked. These companies are targeted specifically because they are the big fish; hackers anticipate the largest payoff if they focus their resources on huge, multinational companies.

For small businesses, the potential for return on investment for hackers just isn’t as good, so there’s every chance that your company simply isn’t big enough to be worth hacking. This is one of the few areas where it’s better for your business to be niche and small, rather than huge and dominating the world!

The Bad News

Hacking is a relatively new problem, so it’s fair to say that the legal system hasn’t quite caught up to the liability of companies when they are hacked. There’s no cut-and-dried legal precedent. In some ways, that’s good news– you’re not definitely liable… but you’re also not definitely not liable.

In the current climate, the best thing you can do is be sure that your business is 100 percent compliant with all the rules and regulations surrounding data storage. This is especially true if you hold customer financial data; for example, an ecommerce store that stores credit card information. If you’re not immediately sure about where you stand in regards to security legislation, then make it a priority to contact a SOC auditor to assess your compliance. If you can prove you have taken the necessary steps to comply with legislation, you have a much stronger chance of defending your case in the event of a lawsuit.

The Ugly News

If you are hacked and customer data is leaked, then you might think that avoiding being found financially liable is the only thing you have to worry about. That’s not the case. In the aftermath of a hack, you’re also going to need to take huge steps to restore customer confidence in your business. This is easier said than done; it can take years to get your reputation back to a level field.

For modern businesses, hacking is an ever-present threat that can cause problems for a number of reasons. The best solution is to protect yourself as best as you can, and keep customers informed if you do suffer a data breach. If you can commit to these two things, then your business is in good shape.

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The Trouble With Big Data

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Big data is all the rage these days, and it’s certainly something that appears as if it will drive the businesses of tomorrow.

However, it’s also an area of business that is very much in its infancy, and as with any other young technology, it can often be a source of frustration and problems. But what are these issues, and how can they impact your business?

Given that the vast majority of companies these days use web technology to reach and engage with customers, it’s vital that you understand the potential pitfalls of collecting – and using – data. Let’s take a closer look at everything you need to know.

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Privacy

First and foremost, it is essential for your business to look after your customer’s personal details and any other business-sensitive information you hold on a database.

Hacking, malware, and data theft is an all-too-common problem, and although you only hear about the big companies suffering from data breaches on the news, the reality is that small businesses suffer most. It is vital that whether you use a cloud-based online database service or invest in creating your own, security is at the forefront of your mind. Don’t forget, even in a small company, the information held by your database could be available to a lot of different people.

Employees, suppliers, and even customers could have some kind of access, and a clever hacker could – in many cases – find an entry point in any part of the chain.

Communication

On the face of things, the data you collect about your customers can inform you of how to speak and communicate with them. However, the reality of big data is that it just isn’t that simple.

Data only tells you a part of the story, and every metric you see is quantitative rather than qualitative. Ultimately, you have no idea why a particular customer liked a particular ad, or clicked on a particular call to action, only that they did. And it is easy to draw false conclusions about any item of data you have.

The simple truth is that the average business owner just doesn’t know how to sift through the sheer volume of data they are presented with, and it is all too easy to become overwhelmed. The result of that could be sending the wrong messages to the wrong people, and even making poor business decisions based on misreading the information.

People

Continuing on from the previous point, one of the biggest issues with big data is down to the people that use it. As we looked at above, it’s easy to misinterpret data sets dues to our own preconceived ideas. And you can pretty much prove any point you like when there is so much data on the table, regardless of whether it is true or not.

Also, the people accessing the data can be an issue, and you have a choice of two different options, both of which can cause their own problems. First of all, you could take on everything in-house, which means hiring more people and putting others through expensive training courses.

Secondly, it involves outsourcing to a third-party, meaning you have to hand over your sensitive information to people you don’t know. If you go down this route, it’s essential that you choose a reputable, experienced, and open company that you trust implicitly.

Are you a big data lover or hater? Let us know in the comments!

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How To Make Your Business More Accessible

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When you own a business, it’s incredibly important that you’re able to keep it available to use for everyone; this involves making sure that people can reach you any time and that it is easy to reach you! But what can you do to achieve this? It’s difficult to know what your options are, so read on to find out what you can do about it!

 

Having Social Media Accounts

 

Websites like Facebook have fast become incredibly popular over the past few years, and it’s a brilliant platform for you to be taking advantage of! A lot of people use social media, there is an estimated 3 billion accounts that are being used at the moment and you should be using this to your advantage. You should be creating accounts on every social media that you can in order to make your company more accessible. People are going to be more likely to message a social media account than make a phone call about an inquiry as it’s easier meaning you can get more business.

 

Customer Answering Service

 

We can’t always pick up the phone, whether it’s in our personal lives or our business ones,  sometimes we just don’t have the time to speak to people. So, we have to do something about this because every missed phone call means that we’re missing out on business. Hiring an off site customer service call center means that the phone is always going to be answered by the people that you are hiring, they can help the customer as best as they can and often leave messages on to you, meaning that you don’t miss out on any business! This also opens up to people who are calling from different time zones; if you’re able to effectively communicate to people that live in different countries then you’ve just opened yourself up to a whole new market meaning you can become much more successful as your audience will be wider!

 

Advertise Your Details

 

This is of paramount importance for anything you own, especially when you’re advertising! Your details are obviously how people are able to get into contact with you, without them people would have to blindly trawl through the internet for your business which they will quite quickly give up on. When you’re advertising, and even on your website, make sure to put your details on the advert somewhere; this means that people can directly get into contact with you instead of having to search around for you so you can get more business in!

 

All of these things are great for keeping your business connected! You’ll have a call answering service for when you just can’t pick up the phone so you don’t miss out on anything, you’ll have social media accounts that are manned and ready to answer any questions that potential customers might have and your details will be advertised on everything you put out to the world to ensure everyone can get in touch with you! Putting yourself out there is essential to getting investors on board, but what else can you do to attract them? Well, read this and you’ll learn how!

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