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Technology

Are Business Password Managers Safe to Use in 2021?

Last Updated on August 26, 2021 By Tristan D. Porter Leave a Comment

Security tools are always changing, developing new ways to make your life easier. On the other end of the spectrum, though, are cyber attacks and other potential dangers that become increasingly sophisticated. As your options for defense vary and evolve, so too do the threats — internal and external alike.

So the big question is, is it still safe in 2021 to use a business password manager? To answer that question, though, you’ll need to look at: the uses of such a tool; what kind of risks exist; what the benefits are; and most importantly, what to look for in a business password manager.

What Are They For?

Password management tools are designed mainly to store and protect the passwords that you use in your business, from email accounts to specific software logins. When you log into your password manager, you’re able to use its encrypted storage and application to fill in credentials on these other sites and apps — meaning you never have to remember those credentials yourself.

In other words, these password managers are a security tool that has become regularly used throughout the business world. Part of the reason for that is the fact that this kind of tool has more than just one use. Many of its features benefit users in several ways.

What Are The Benefits?

A business password manager, first and foremost, makes it easy to manage passwords — hence the name. The first benefit is obviously the ability to quickly and easily apply login information, as mentioned, with various platforms. With this, you don’t require memorization or separate storage of passwords elsewhere, as the password manager handles that on their own. In addition to storage of passwords, these tools offer encrypted storage of other information, such as your other credentials, digital certificates, or even media files held for safekeeping.

These virtual vaults are great, of course, but there’s more: a business password manager reminds you to use safe passwords, even suggesting them for you when needed — and storing them safely once decided. In addition, you’ll find yourself feeling even safer for knowing that your weak passwords of the bygone ages will be flagged by your password manager. You’ll know that you need to fix these and make them all the more secure and that in the case of reused passwords, you’ll need to diversify.

With the number of suites you use on a normal day of business, it may be hard to keep track of all that, much less be sure that you’re using passwords of strong design. That’s where one of these manager tools comes in handy, as their flagging is meant to draw your attention to these security concerns, preemptively fixing them before they become a real hazard for your numerous accounts. In addition to this, there are other benefits to consider, like the centralized control of access among users connected to the manager.

What Are The Risks?

It’s certain that a password manager for your enterprise has a lot to offer, and with those features comes the knowledge that you’re looking out for your business’s best interests. However, like any security tool, there are risks and weaknesses to consider. The first and most obvious is the idea that if someone were to gain access to your password manager, they’d have a free ride to all of your favorite accounts, along with whatever other sensitive info you might be storing within.

Cyber attackers know this, and password managers can often be targeted as a result. In other cases, you might simply forget the master password that allows you to use the tool, meaning your passwords, other stored info, and your ability to log in to various tools are all unavailable to you. In addition to all this, there’s the fact that password managers can, at times, encounter software bugs, just like any other digital tool.

How To Know Which Ones Are Safest?

With these risks in mind, though, can you be sure that it’s better to go without a password manager? In many cases, the answer is “no”. Password managers are a tool that fills a litany of needs from business owners, and while risks do exist, the risks are far greater for those who go without. As such, it’s simply better to select your password manager based on a few crucial criteria.

One criterion should be your password recovery protocol: if you were to somehow lose or forget the master password you use for logging into a password manager, you should be able to recover that information or reset it somehow, in a way that’s secure to you alone. Without this feature properly researched, you’re putting yourself and your assets in danger.

Similarly, look for password managers with encrypted storage and zero-knowledge architecture — i.e., password tools that don’t allow anyone but the decrypter (the user with the master password) to view stored info on the platform. Even in the event of a breach, or in the event of a problem on the host server, your information is made safe thanks to such measures, with zero-knowledge tools keeping your information completely unreadable even to the host.

Finally, you can be sure that your password manager is one of the many that have reputable vendors who update their software for bugs regularly. Proactive updates, host-proof storage, and password recovery are all features you should keep on your shopping list — so that when you do take on a business password manager, it’ll be the absolute safest option available.

d porter
Tristan D. Porter

I am Tristan who loves to ride and spend time with my jenny (horse) and my love Mark. After completing my graduation, I have been working as an accountant in a private firm in Cologne.

Filed Under: Technology

How to choose the best trading app

Last Updated on August 21, 2021 By Denis Woods Leave a Comment

Trading in stocks is one of the best ways to make passive income. You can make as much money as you need to as long as you make great predictions. The thing with trading is that you need to monitor the market as often as possible. Without monitoring it, you will not know what is going on and might make the wrong prediction on the app. The apps ensure that you can monitor the market no matter where you are. There are so many stock trading apps in the market that you will be spoilt for choice. Here are some of the ways you can ensure you get the best trading app in the market.

Your current needs

There are so many apps that offer different things based on your needs and wants. For instance, if you are a beginner, you need an app with an educational feature added. It will show you how to place bids and how to close a good deal. If you are a seasoned trader, you might just need an app that offers real-time values of the commodities you are trading in. The best stock trading apps need to meet your needs. Without this, the app makes no sense and is not useful to you in any way.

Security level

One of the most important things you need to look at is the security level of the app since you are dealing with money, and at times it is a huge amount of money. You need to be able to get an app that you can trust with your finances. Most accounts do not have the right security features, which means your money is at risk of getting stolen by hackers. Ensure they have a two-step authenticator and have a safe deposit ad withdrawal method for the site. If you notice any red flags with these two features, it will do you good if you walk away before losing money.

Cost of placing a bid in a stock

The only way you can make money is to make the correct prediction on a trade.  Different platforms will let you place these bids using different amounts. Some sites are fairly priced, while most of them are very costly. While the costly ones might be intimidating, you might make good money out of it when you place the right bid. There is no one way to go about this feature, as all you need to do is figure out what you can afford. Compare the different bid prices and see if they are something you are comfortable with.

Trading apps have revolutionized how we place our bids on stocks and the way we monitor values on the market. Take your time and research the different apps and figure out which ones will work for you. You can also ask for recommendations on the best apps in the market currently. They will give the right idea on the apps you can choose from.

Denis Woods

Danis Woods in Businessman, investment banker and stock exchange traders. On the same time he loves writing financial blogs to shed lights on different aspects that new and existing businessman are not aware of.

Filed Under: Investment & Money, Technology

How to become a Selenium WebDriver expert?

Last Updated on August 21, 2021 By Lisa C. Townes Leave a Comment

Testing is one of the major domains in the current methodology of DevOps. The earlier Development team and the Testing team were separate. The development team only develops an application based on their requirements and testing. But now, with advanced development methodologies, testing professionals are increasingly working with developers to make the whole application development much easier, far more effective, and error-free.

Selenium Automation Expert

Automation Testing is slowly replacing the Manual Testing processes. Companies expect their testing professionals to be quick, think out of the box, identify bugs and deliver the required solution. Here we will discuss the various skills required for one to become a successful Selenium Automation Expert.

The top skills required are mentioned below:-

Programming Languages

Programming Languages may be the most essential skill that needs to be mastered by these Automation Testers. Realize the importance of programming languages. Without having a clear understanding of the code, you cannot write test scripts for testing.

Having this skill will help you immensely, as it is crucial to communicate with developers. This skill helps you participate in in-depth functionality testing just after unit testing. There are two levels of programming languages required, and they are:

To be able to design frameworks, you must be an expert in coding by knowing Python, Java, C#, SQL, HTML, CSS, etc. Which language will be the best depends on your project. To write test scripts, you must also know about frameworks.

Manual Testing

To succeed in your career as an Automation Engineer, you must be skilled in Manual Testing. The benefit of Manual Testing is that you can identify visually wrong scripts, which sometimes even an Automation Testing software couldn’t identify. Looking for errors like an end-user helps testers to identify UI-related and usability errors and bugs which is a bit difficult in Automated Testing.

Many complicated testing requires a lot of preparation, planning, setting up boundaries, and execution which becomes difficult in Automated Testing. Many testing methods like Visual Cross Browser Testing need a manual testing approach to dig out bugs and issues.

The other disadvantage of Automated Testing is that it may contain loopholes. All Automated testing has a script that it runs. Bugs always are there despite the proficiency of the tester. So having a visual testing approach gives you an advantage while going for automated testing.

Automation Tools Proficiency

During this fast-paced software development world, the industry requires tools that offer them what they need. That is a bug-free application in less time. That’s why Automation is been exponentially growing over the past few years. To gain expertise in Automation Testing, master some of the popular tools like Selenium, Appium, SoapUI, RFT, etc.

Selenium

Selenium is quite famous in the Automated Testing domain. It is one of the best open-source and free software frameworks in the testing domain. All web browsers support Selenium. Having expertise in Selenium is a must for all testing professionals no matter if they are a beginner or experienced professionals. Introducing Selenium WebDriver has added another advantage to the Selenium portfolio by offering flawless and smooth execution of browser-based automated web application testing.

SoapUI

It is the best tool for testing web services and API. It supports SOAP and REST services and also extends support for API Automation Testing.

Appium

Appium is the best tool for testing mobile applications. It is one of the best open-source software for testing hybrid and native apps. This tool is supported by all OSs, Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.

Business Understanding

Having a solid business understanding is a must for excelling as an Automation Engineer. If you are aiming to be an Automation Engineer, you must know:

Programming Languages used, platform or device requirements, knowledge of database, API, expected delivery date, browser differences, etc.

Troubleshooting tools

To be successful in the career of an Automation Engineer, you must be an expert in troubleshooting tools, knowledge in configuration tools, and ensure that the architecture of the application is compatible with the Automation script.

Test Management tools

The main objective for Automation testing is to reduce time and complexity, remove bugs from the application. Tools are flexible and allow applications to be scalable. These tools help you track various phases of the testing. Using these testing tools, testers record and report in tools. 

Knowledge of different development methodologies

DevOps has set up a standard in collaboration and upskilling. DevOps professionals have different skillsets and technical skills. If you are joining an enterprise or organization as a tester, you are expected to have a wide variety of skills. You must have knowledge of different methodologies. Deliver your work, with time management skills, and must be able to understand stakeholder demands. Having development methodology knowledge will help you propel your career.

lisa
Lisa C. Townes

Lisa is a passionate travelers. She spends 3 months every year visiting different places worldwide. She has visited almost every famous place in the world. She herself is an affiliate blogger

Filed Under: Career, Technology

9 Benefits Of API Integration For Your Business

Last Updated on August 10, 2021 By Jason Obrien 1 Comment

As a business owner, you should take advantage of the power technology offers to ensure you’re always ahead of the pack. One such innovation that helps you do this is the Application Programming Interface (API). Thanks to this software, two apps that aren’t designed to work together can interact and exchange information smoothly. 

The API allows the seamless transfer of data between these two points, and helps your business achieve its business goals. Without further ado, let’s take a look at how the API integration will benefit your business, if you’re still skeptical. 

What’s API Integration? 

Application Programming Interface is a highly specialized piece of computer code. You can run two different programs, databases, or applications using this code by enabling communication between them and sharing operations. When running your business, you’ll occasionally encounter complicated technological demands that you can address by implementing API integration. This way, you can integrate databases and programs with the existing industrial applications. 

APIs help you achieve this by ensuring seamless and continuous communication between different applications. In addition, it promotes product innovation, and gives employees the benefits of numerous cloud-based applications. Thanks to this, companies can launch creative ideas without using up lots of time and money.    

How Can APIs Benefit Your Business? 

API uses

API integration is essential today due to the increased usage of cloud-based tools and applications used by companies. Here are some ways API integration streamlines your company’s operations and provides your customers, employees, and partners with an improved experience. Let’s get started.

Promotes Innovation 

Being innovative is more important than ever to maintain a competitive edge over your business rivals. If you don’t want to go out of business, then it’s time to consider integrating APIs, say from https://www.softpullsolutions.com/api-integration/. When you do this, you’ll consistently be thinking of new products to introduce into the market to satisfy your customers’ needs and expectations, which are changing continually. API integration ensures your business always crosses your customer’s minds, thereby ensuring you continue being relevant. 

API integration helps your business keep up with the swift innovation as it enables you to create solutions that make it possible to develop newer things. This is achieved because APIs offer external developers standardized interfaces. 

In the past, the approach was different because only developers with deep knowledge of data exchange models could use APIs. This was the case because of the extremely rigid interfaces needed to be followed when assembling software components. Due to this, creativity was hampered. But API integration has removed this bottleneck. 

Increased Productivity 

Modern software is in great demand nowadays. Because of this, companies are constantly thinking of quick and innovative ideas on how to develop new products. However, the last thing you want is the developers needing to start from scratch to create a new application, even when a set of APIs already exist to offer an identical solution. Otherwise, you’ll end up negatively affecting the productivity of your company. 

Because of this, you should look to incorporate the use of API to avoid such a situation. This will enable quicker development of new products by swiftly implementing the API’s functionality rather than building from scratch. Therefore, you won’t have to spend valuable time developing products from scratch. In the long run, this improves your company’s productivity, and helps you quickly achieve your set business objectives. 

Improved Customer Experience 

Customers form your company’s backbone. And without them, you’ll soon be out of business. Therefore, you need to constantly provide them with customized and personalized experiences to make them loyal to your brand. This is crucial today as outreach and marketing efforts are no longer enough for customers who want and expect you to better grasp their position and needs. It’s only after better understanding their needs that you’ll be in a position to think of personalized and customized messaging to target them. 

With API integration, you can accomplish this goal as it helps you to create effective and new ways to interact with your clients. This is achieved as APIs allows your business to promote your services and data to your consumers. As a result, they enjoy greater freedom over their customer experience and enjoy a lot more possibilities. Thanks to the API, it’s easier for the developers to understand the customer’s expectations, and come up with an appropriate solution that meets their particular needs. 

Automates And Streamlines Numerous Business Processes 

It’s easy to assume that manual efforts don’t take a lot of time to finish. However, these tasks, such as clicking from one application to another, eat up a considerable chunk of your time. Due to this, your efficiency is reduced considerably. API integration helps address such issues by creating an effortless and smooth switch between the interconnected applications. Therefore, you can spend your precious time on other essential aspects of your business. 

Better Marketing 

Companies worldwide understand that digital marketing is the route to promote your products or services to your consumers. This has become more important as banner ads haven’t been as effective in driving the desired traffic to businesses. In addition, it’s hard to gauge the effectiveness of a banner, which may affect your marketing strategy.  These are shortcomings API integration helps to address, by enabling you to show dynamic banners and ads on third-party apps to a relevant target audience. 

API integration also helps your business increase lead generation from different channels, including many social media platforms. If you’ve run a startup, this is excellent news because finding new leads will become less difficult. 

The reason for this is that you often end up searching for leads in the wrong places, thereby using up a lot of your time and effort. But by integrating APIs into your system, such issues are avoided, and you’ll be able to streamline the lead generation process. This will help your business land new customers, brand ambassadors, and potential partners. 

Enhances Connectivity And Collaboration 

Today, new applications are constantly being unveiled. While these applications help companies carry out many different activities, they hinder smooth connectivity and communication. Due to these, many businesses have a disjointed system that can’t smoothly share functionalities and data. 

This is an issue that API integration has sought to address by helping boost communication and collaboration within the business. APIs seamlessly achieve this because their primary function enables the various platforms, systems, and applications to connect and share data easily. With this enhanced connectivity, businesses can now develop interoperable components which streamline operations. In addition, this helps the business provide the desired functionalities by removing all the different bottlenecks. 

Helps Your Business Be More Data-Driven 

Your business is where it is at the moment due to the expertise, experience, and intuition you bring to the table as an entrepreneur. But if you want to advance your company’s progress even further, then it’s time you consider using APIs. This is advised as many of the current APIs have real-time access to relevant data that makes running your business a lot easier. Using such useful data increases the chances your business will be one step ahead of your business rivals. 

Knowing this, you need to integrate APIs into your business and get more in-depth analytics to get more comprehensive market insights. This way, you’ll be in a position to make more responsive, accurate, and sharper decisions involving the running of your company. 

Reduces Business Costs 

Developing an app isn’t cheap, and various factors affect how much money you’ll spend during such a project. Some of the things include:  

  • The kind of technology being used 
  • A developer’s expertise 
  • The project’s complexity 

When you use APIs, you’ll be able to significantly reduce the cost of developing an application as it takes less effort to develop one. This is because developers don’t need to start from scratch when creating a particular application, as they can get the desired functionality from somewhere else. This then saves your business both money and time that would have otherwise been spent developing an application. 

Enables You To Exploit The Functionality Of Other Apps 

Today’s world is more interconnected than ever before, so you can’t fully depend on your company’s infrastructure alone. Fortunately, this has been made possible by API integration, enabling you to link to other known and reputable technologies. 

This handy feature allows your clients to continue using the digital payment processors, multimedia, and search engines they know and feel at ease using. Because of this, your clients enjoy the complete functionality offered by such applications and systems without leaving your company’s platform. 

As an entrepreneur, this saves you the hassle of developing your own infrastructure. Instead, all you need to do is synchronize and connect external APIs with the company’s current technology. Doing this will also help boost your customer’s confidence in your brand. 

Takeaway 

Technology is the linchpin that ensures your company succeeds in the highly competitive business space. API is one example of such technology that you should capitalize to increase your competitiveness. As a result, your business can grow a lot faster than ever before. After reading this detailed guide, you now understand how APIs help you attain this goal. 

Jason Obrien

Jason is the Marketing Manager at a local advertising company in Australia. He moved to Australia 10 years back for his passion for advertising. Jason recently joined BFA as a volunteer writer and contributes by sharing his valuable experience and knowledge.

Filed Under: Business, Technology

Importance of Cost-Benefit Analysis in Project Management

Last Updated on July 29, 2021 By Methew Harbor Leave a Comment

Everyone is here to make money. The corporate structures constantly thrive to invest in those things that can provide huge profits but the question arises that how to determine if a business will be beneficial or not. They were old days when people used intuitions or their gut feelings before putting up their money into any business.

Nowadays, corporate structures rely on a pragmatic approach. The introduction of mathematical and statistical approaches is widely used as a standard tool for cost-benefit analysis.

What is Cost-Benefit Analysis?

The cost-benefit analysis is a systematic process that encompasses all the techniques that come in handy for evaluating the success and failure of your business. You have to put your inputs in the system, and the system will calculate results for you.

Many software tools for cost-benefit analysis are available in the market that provides the clients a user easy interface for estimating project estimates. Software tools such as BECHMASTER, CLEOPATRA, Job BOSS, and Clarity Software are available in the market for this purpose.  

What can Cost-Benefit Analysis Do?

Linked with tools such as return on internal rate of return (IRR), investment (ROI), and net present value (NPV) formulate the basis of calculating the cost-benefit analysis. This technique observes all the terminologies that should be analyzed before making investments.  

A General Cost-Benefit Analysis

Normally, the cost of the investments should be less than 50% of benefits. Moreover, it also demonstrates that the payback period of projects should not exceed more than one year. However, it varies for different projects and a general rule of thumb cannot be applied for every project.

7 Major Applications of Cost-Benefit Analysis Include

Checking the Desirability of Proposed Projects: The next step after the development of the project proposal constitutes developing the financial feasibility of the project. Without using such software tools, project feasibilities cannot be verified appropriately. Backed by scientific results, these cost-benefit analyses are a vital tool for project development.

Profit Loss Estimation: Sometimes, cost-benefit analyses are required to determine if project continuation will be fruitful or not. Cost-benefit research can certainly help to resolve it. Using these tools, project managers can develop a way to calculate the estimates of profit or loss estimations.

Developing Benchmarks for Projects: The Cost-benefit analysis of the projects helps to determine projects benchmarks. Once you’ve calculated the rated financial ideals of your projects, you can set pillars for estimation.  

Strategic Planning: Strategic planning helps to determine if project development will continue or not. The cost-benefit analysis of the project helps to determine the expenditures of the project. It compares it with the system values and then computes the result. 

Decides on New Hiring of Projects: Getting work staff for employees is a crucial factor. Cost-benefit analysis helps to determine if new hiring of projects will result be cost-effective or not. There are a few other methods that HR managers use to evaluate the costs of hiring new staff. Moreover, it can also help to determine if the current staff available for the projects is good or not.

Authenticity for Investors: Quantifiable results in the paper form helps people decide the authenticity of profit sharing. When provided with such financial tools, clients become more confident about investments.

Developing Market Pivots: The corporate sector is changing rapidly. Companies are broadening the sphere of their product value. This helps to determine if the introduction of new projects will be commercially feasible for the company or not. 

AI and Machine Intelligence Backed Cost Benefit Analysis

Businesses are progressing at a rapid pace since the last decade. Software tools such as cost-benefit analysis add more value regarding the financial aspects of a project. Add ons such as AI and machine learning help to play a pivotal role that can help to determine the project’s success. This helps develop a format that can provide a sound basis for project cost estimation and feasibility analysis.

matt harbour
Methew Harbor

Matthew is a Co-Founder at BusinessFinanceArticles.org. Matthew was a floor manager at a local restaurant in Wales. He lost his job after the pandemic and took initiative to make a team and start the project.

Filed Under: Management, Technology

5 Tips To Get The Most Out Of Your 2021 SaaS Marketing Budget

Last Updated on July 20, 2021 By Jason Obrien Leave a Comment

It’s 2021, and you most likely have a budget for your SaaS marketing efforts for the year. But the big question is, “How do you get the most out of these funds?” Not to worry, we have the answers.

Boost your Marketing ROI with this SaaS Marketing Hacks

A reputable SaaS marketing agency Getuplead has verified the hacks we have provided below. So, you only have to worry about implementing them the right way.

1. Your marketing activity metrics must be linked to your budget.

Your marketing goals are often dependent on several factors, especially the stage of the business you are currently at. For example, the early stages may be all about getting new customers or subscribers, while you can focus on retention if you are already established.

Either way, you must identify the right marketing activities to fetch the highest number of leads, thereby maximizing your marketing budget on the right channels. But, of course, you can continually refocus on the areas that perform well.

Linking your marketing metrics to your budget can contributes significantly to your business’ growth. For instance, you may want to convert 40% more freemium users or increase the pipeline by 15% monthly. You may also be considering breaking into a new market or getting existing customers to buy more.

Your goal will determine the tactics to go with, while the budget only serves as the driving force. After all, every marketing goal is tied to helping your business grow.

Summary – Do a regular assessment of your marketing performance and budget. Identify your marketing goals and work towards it, while adjusting allocations in line with the returns.

2. Always make adjustments after re-evaluating the ROI.

Identify the best performing marketing activity in line with its goals and how it has helped achieve business growth. Although a lot of planning goes into marketing budgets, they must also be flexible enough for adjustments.

So, you must be ready to make changes based on the current realities. For instance, if your marketing fund will bring you more leads when invested in PPC and webinars, you shouldn’t spend it on advertising at trade shows. Likewise, if you are diving into social media marketing, you do not have to invest in the mainstream platforms if your audience can be found on Quora and LinkedIn.

Summary – You should always be ready to adjust your marketing activities as soon as it is necessary. You should treat every marketing budget aspect the same way. Giving preference to one aspect over others may hurt your marketing goals.

3. Be ready for the marketing growth marathon.

You need a calendar and a product roadmap to make the most sense out of your marketing budget. This is the only way to know what you will need for your marketing efforts and when you will need them.

For example, you may find Q1 and Q2 the peak periods for SaaS companies, with Q3 and Q4 slower due to the summer and winter holidays, respectively.

Summary – If you are getting the desired results, you should find a way to celebrate them. It could be mini-breaks with the team or late mornings if the funds for a holiday are not available.

4. Always involve your customers.

You can pursue growth while staying with your budget using this marketing concept. How? Find a way to convince other people to be your brand ambassadors, and do the marketing for you. For instance, you can introduce an incentive for every successful invite by existing users. This does not have to be necessarily monetarily, but value-added options on your products.

Alternatively, you can introduce a free offer to entice customers to refer your business. However, your choice of the free offer must not incur any additional cost. We recommend free audit, a custom demo, or downloadable materials.

You can also reach out to customers to see if they can offer testimonials, which you can use as marketing materials for cross-promotion. Again, this should not be a problem if your customers are happy about the services they get, and it is also an avenue to associate their brand with yours.

Summary – Existing customers can bring you new ones. You only need to offer an incentive or irresistible offer to make them your marketers and sources of new leads.

5. Assemble the best marketing team.

Having an excellent team is often overlooked when it comes to maximizing marketing budgets. Every team member must be very good at what they do, understand your business goals, and achieve them by developing and executing the right marketing plan.

Human resources are obviously the most expensive line item for almost all budgets. But you can still get the best hands in sales and marketing for SaaS without breaking the bank. In the end, you must be able to decide if you are better off with a marketing agency or a single, local full-time marketing employee.

Summary – You can ask for referrals when filling marketing positions. Help new members learn and grow into their roles and capabilities. Furthermore, you should create an enabling environment and a reward system for best-performing team members.

Finally…

If you adopt these five hacks, you will be on course to get the maximum returns from your marketing budget for the year 2021. Remember, it’s never too late to make the right moves.

Jason Obrien

Jason is the Marketing Manager at a local advertising company in Australia. He moved to Australia 10 years back for his passion for advertising. Jason recently joined BFA as a volunteer writer and contributes by sharing his valuable experience and knowledge.

Filed Under: Marketing & Advertising, Technology

4 Benefits of a Knowledge Base Software for Your Business

Last Updated on January 4, 2022 By Jason Obrien Leave a Comment

Creating sustainable assets for modern business is critical to have a competitive edge over competitors consistently. When you are operating in a saturated market like that of SaaS, this becomes even more critical.

A knowledge base for your SaaS business is any day, a potent growth-hacking asset. However, managing a knowledge base all by yourself is challenging. This is where knowledge base software comes in.

The software creates clear, concise, and engaging knowledge transfer and communications with all the stakeholders associated with your product. What follows is better retention and improves efficiency.

Still not convinced?

Let’s clear your mind.

In this post, we deep dive into the many benefits a knowledge base software brings to your SaaS organization in 2021.

4 benefits that a knowledge base software provides your business in 2021

knowledge base software provides

A knowledge base software at its core strives to achieve one goal, drive growth. In a modern software company, a SaaS knowledge base might be termed as the most valuable asset.

It is a systematic framework that creates robust, consistent communication between all the stakeholders of a business organization. Be it your end-users or product developers and marketers; it creates room for everyone to achieve more with the product.

In doing so, it targets to improve multifarious areas in a business process. However, let’s find out how it benefits your SaaS business in 2021.

1.   Improves productivity

The most critical asset that your SaaS business can ever have is time. After all, time equals money. In a perfect scenario, you can count your team’s complete working hours to be productive. But the reality is far from being so.

Even if your teams are immune to distracting funny cat videos on the internet, staying focused is hard. With leaky communication and knowledge transfer pipelines, staying at the top of your game is immensely difficult.

A recent study revealed that an average employee spends nearly 20% of their working hours searching for support via their emails and other platforms like Slack. This is where a knowledge base software comes in.

Integrating this tool creates a single information kiosk for every team member of yours. Whatever is the problem, your team member has an answer in real-time and real quick. What follows is your organization’s experience skyrocketed productivity and team collaboration. The best part is it is sustainable and low cost.

However, if you are still unsure how it performs, we explain how.

a)     Declutters workspace

Creating a one-system knowledge kiosk for answering all the FAQs (frequently asked questions) a knowledge base software brings ready reference support for all your product development teams.

It removes all unnecessary communication systems and events that create redundant work, focusing on hyper-active problem-solving. What follows is a productive, efficient process.

b)    Shorter response time

The first benefit of real-time team assistance makes the product development process agile. Not only can your SaaS development team fix bugs and system errors faster, but you can find standard protocols for developing cleaner codes with the help of the knowledge base software.

c)     Improves quality

A knowledge base software is a great way to optimize the creativity and efficiency of your teams. By eliminating redundant conversations, it not only reduces the working hours of a team member but ensures that they do not undergo the biggest flaw of today’s work from home culture, the burnout.

This makes sure the overall quality of the product improves while your teams can achieve more in a lesser number of hours.

2. Establishes an agile business process

An agile business process is a critical requirement for any SaaS organization, be it a startup or enterprise.

Keeping your teams resilient to respond to your target audience’s changing behaviors and problems is the only way you survive the competitive landscape. But the problem is, it is easier said than done.

A knowledge base software makes a powerful tool to improve this situation. Keeping all your stakeholders inside the knowledge loop creates a unified system of dynamic content. Be it your development team or marketing and sales team, or end-users; everyone participates in the content generation process. What follows is a content creation process that is collaborative, relevant, and insightful to create creative and innovative products.

The best part is it’s a powerful tool for attaining product-market fit.

Here are a few ways that knowledge base software takes business agility to new levels.

a)     Improves employee management

Managing employees is one of the most critical and complex tasks of your business. Be it engagement or training, if your employees do not feel connected with your company, having high performance and productivity is just a wish.

Traditionally you can create this process via an HR (human resource) induction program. But with remote teams working globally, this method is immensely flawed and inefficient.

A knowledge base software creates a clutter-free medium for your hiring process. Not only is it a comfortable way to give your employees a virtual tour of your company values and mission, but they can get acquainted with the process before they start working.

The best part is they do not need any assistance to do so. Not from any HR, neither from senior team members. This improves productivity optimization and almost automates your hiring process.

b)    Designed for scalability

Designed for scalability

A growing business means a growing number of employees. But to reap the benefits of this human capital, proper knowledge transfer is critical.

A knowledge base software makes this look like a cakewalk. With dynamic content created by multiple users, you not only improve collaboration but reduce per capita workload.

The best part is unlike traditional models of collaboration, it is not limited to a few member interactions. It can be accessed by multiple users simultaneously.

This means no matter how many employees you onboard or how many team members need assistance; your knowledge base software can give them real-time support without dampening the experience.

c)     Improves comprehension of customer needs

Customers are the blood-pumping organ of your SaaS business. This makes keeping them at the center of your business operations is critical. If you fail to understand your customers’ core problems and pain points, chances are your business will fall flat sooner than you think.

A knowledge base software ensures that the brand-customer conversations go on. Allowing your customers and prospective leads to generate content in your knowledge base ensures you know when their behavior and priorities are changing. What follows is improved customer satisfaction and chances of developing software.

3. Strengthens marketing communications

In a modern attention economy, where gaining a new customer is 5 times more expensive than retaining one, you cannot afford to lose them.

This makes staying at the top of your customer’s minds one of the critical marketing tasks. However, doing so is hard. While an omnichannel approach can help you reach your goals, it is expensive at the same time.

A knowledge base software is one of the most potent ways to connect with your customers intimately while keeping your costs low simultaneously. What follows is robust, comprehensive marketing communications.

a)     Boosts SEO

Optimizing your knowledge base and ensuring it is indexable by search engines ensures your customer acquisition is automated.

The best part is you can now rank for keywords related to your product and gain customers who are actively searching for a solution to problems that your product solves.

b)    Improves brand equity

Customer trust is one of the most critical yet challenging objectives of marketing. Creating a knowledge base to assist and empower your target audience with the information they are looking for instantly helps build trust and confidence. It helps to build a community.

The best part is it helps to boost brand equity that can be a critical competitive advantage for your business.

c)     Improves customer retention

Customer support is a critical growth metric for any SaaS business. Your customer’s overall product experience is heavily driven by the service they received post-sales.

A knowledge base software is your solution to delivering superior customer experience and assistance, fostering long-term relationships with your customers. But that is not all. It creates opportunities for relevant upsell and cross-sell. What follows is an influx in your sales.

4. Delivers superior customer experience

Delivers superior customer experience

Customer experience is vital for the overall success of your product. But the problem is creating a superior customer experience is hard. You need to exceed customer’s expectations and create a delightful brand experience. The hardest part is it has to be achieved at scale.

A knowledge base software ensures that quality customer experience is deliverable at scale consistently.

a)     Provides end-to-end customer support

Creating a curated help desk ensures you have all the common questions and FAQ (frequently asked questions) of your users answered most engagingly.

If something is not covered, letting your online user community answer it for each other makes it more comprehensive.

b)    Provides real-time customer support

Having created a knowledge base is immensely beneficial for the real-time support of your customers. No matter how long the queue is or what time it is, they can find solutions to their problem whenever they want, wherever they want. Also, it optimizes your operations costs as you can operate with a smaller support team.

c)     Provides updated content

Creating a dynamic learning product kiosk with a knowledge base software ensures that your content is engaging, relevant, and updated.

Unlike traditional human support, where a new hire may not be aware of some facts about the product, a knowledge base does not suffer information constraints. It knows it all. This translates into best problem solving in real-time.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that a knowledge base software can bring recurring benefits to your business. Even if you had some inhibitions, the above benefits must have cleared them by now. But the real value of a knowledge base software is seen by shifting your mindset about this asset.

A knowledge base should be treated as a stakeholder learning kiosk. It is where all your community gets real-time, updated information about the products and services. Be it your product development team, marketing and sales team, or end-users and customers; everyone should get the answers to their burning questions.

If you follow this core principle of building a knowledge base, you will be on the path to reach the next level in your business.

So now, there is just one question to answer. When are you integrating this powerful growth-hacking tool?

Jason Obrien

Jason is the Marketing Manager at a local advertising company in Australia. He moved to Australia 10 years back for his passion for advertising. Jason recently joined BFA as a volunteer writer and contributes by sharing his valuable experience and knowledge.

Filed Under: Technology

This 5G Stock Is a Terrific Bargain Right Now

Last Updated on April 29, 2022 By Jason Obrien Leave a Comment

Investors wanting to add fast-growing firms to their portfolios at favorable prices will benefit from the current sell-off in tech stocks. Several high-profile tech firms are currently on sale, including one that could lead you in capitalizing on the hot 5G trend.

Synaptics (NASDAQ: SYNA), arguably one of the best 5G stocks, is well-positioned to benefit from the spread of 5G networks and devices, as well as a number of additional growth opportunities. Furthermore, after a pullback at the end of April, the stock is currently trading at lower multiples.

Let’s take a look at why you should purchase this 5G stock right now.

Synaptics’ mobile business can rev up its engines once again

Despite market instability, Synaptics stock has been flying high in 2021, owing to the phenomenal development of its Internet of Things (IoT) division, which has kicked on the throttle in recent quarters. The mobile business’ contribution to Synaptics’ top line has dwindled in recent years, falling to only 25% of overall sales in fiscal Q3 from 54% the year before.

Synaptics’ mobile revenue fell to $81 million last quarter, down from $177 million the year before, a 54 percent drop. However, investors should keep in mind that the segment’s revenue was damaged by the sale of the mobile LCD (liquid-crystal display) TDDI (touch/display integration) business, which was finalized in April of last year. Synaptics’ quarterly revenue from that business was roughly $65 million.

Synaptics’ mobile business is poised for long-term development, therefore investors should be optimistic. Several smartphone OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) have been awarded the business design victories for their OLED (organic light-emitting diode) touch controllers, including Apple for the iPhone 12.

Apple is one of Synaptics’ most important mobile clients, which is fortunate because the iPhone manufacturer is dominating the 5G smartphone industry. In the first quarter of 2021, Apple sold 40.4 million units of the all-OLED, 5G-enabled iPhone 12 range, accounting for 30% of total shipments. Apple’s excellent sales momentum can be maintained since millions of consumers are apparently waiting to upgrade to its upcoming 5G phones, sparking a multiyear upgrade cycle that would be beneficial to Synaptics.

Apple, on the other hand, is just one of several drivers for Synaptics’ mobile business. Synaptics recently announced that its second-generation OLED touch controllers are now in serial production, increasing the company’s technological edge over competitors. As a consequence, as CEO Michael Hurlston said at the company’s most recent earnings conference, they’re gaining momentum with prominent smartphone OEMs.

Things are going to get a whole lot better

Going by the midpoint of Synaptics’ forecast range, the company’s mobile business would produce $78 million in revenue this quarter, down about 35% from the previous quarter. As a result, this quarter’s year-over-year reduction in mobile revenue is likely to decelerate significantly. Once the new smartphone design wins go into production, and the impact of the now-divided LCD business fades away after this quarter, the firm should start putting on the pedal.

In a recent conference call with investors, CEO Michael Hurlston observed, “We’re sort of now at the bottom of our mobile revenue curve…from here, we will build.”

Jason Obrien

Jason is the Marketing Manager at a local advertising company in Australia. He moved to Australia 10 years back for his passion for advertising. Jason recently joined BFA as a volunteer writer and contributes by sharing his valuable experience and knowledge.

Filed Under: Technology

4 Reasons You Should Build Your Own Computer

Last Updated on June 10, 2021 By Jason Obrien Leave a Comment

Building a pc is deceptively simple. Plus, in an increasingly digital age, learning computing skills can greatly benefit your future career prospects.

With more people learning coding skills now, getting ahead of the curve and involved with building computers is a smart move.

We look at four reasons why you should build your own computer.

It is Cost Effective

The cost of personal computers and laptops has become astonishingly high over the last decade. Even more so if you need a powerful computer for gaming. Building your own computer can dramatically reduce costs.

Starting with a computer kit such as a Raspberry Pi can help you create your computer for less money. In addition, starting with a kit will provide you with some of the essential hardware you need in one easy project.

It Facilitates Learning

Whether you already know how to code, or you are just starting on your digital development journey, building your own computer can greatly improve your skills and help facilitate your ongoing computing education.

Many computer kit companies such as OKdo run workshops or have video content to help you learn the skills you need to build a computer. If you are planning a career in software or computer development, learning these skills will be essential.

It gives you more Choice

When building your own computer, you will have complete ownership over which parts to use. With a store-bought computer system, you will not have the same level of choice and might end up with a computer that has parts not powerful enough to perform the way you want them to.

Choosing your own parts is all part of building a powerful computer that is tailor-made to your requirements. Which is ultimately the point of creating your own computer in the first place.

It allows you greater Control

When you buy a ready-made computer, you may need help from tech support to troubleshoot any problems that occur. When you build your own computer, you effectively become your own tech support.

As you know your computer inside out you will know how to tackle any issues or fix any faults that might pop up as you use your computer. If you have built the operating system your computer runs on as well, you will also be able to create and fix any updates easily should they happen.

Jason Obrien

Jason is the Marketing Manager at a local advertising company in Australia. He moved to Australia 10 years back for his passion for advertising. Jason recently joined BFA as a volunteer writer and contributes by sharing his valuable experience and knowledge.

Filed Under: Technology

4 Ways on How you can Secure Your Sensitive Data

Last Updated on June 10, 2021 By Jason Obrien Leave a Comment

Technology has completely changed most of our lives in recent years. Billions of people all around the globe have access to the web, and they use it for all different things. People rely on technology to work, socialize, communicate with others, play games, the list goes on. It is hard to imagine life without technology. 

Unfortunately, there are many downsides to the technology we use. One of the biggest issues internet users face is cybercrime. There are thousands of cybercriminals out there that are looking for new victims, and with many people working from remote locations since the outbreak of Covid-19, there has been a huge increase in the number of cyberattacks reported. 

Most of the time, hackers are looking to steal sensitive data. They are known to extort money from their victims, and to steal their identity. This can ruin a person’s life, and catching the culprits is often very difficult for authorities. Most of the time cybercriminals are located abroad, so there is very little local authorities can do to help. However, there are many things you can do to reduce the chances of becoming a victim.

Invest in a VPN Provider

Investing in a well-known, secure VPN service can boost your security settings. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) will mask your original IP address and replace it with a new one. Cybercriminals find it a lot harder to hack computers if the person is using a VPN. Without knowing their victim’s genuine IP address, gaining access to their computer is not going to be easy. 

There has been a huge increase in the number of people purchasing VPN services since the pandemic began. Because a lot of folks are working from home instead of in an office, it is not surprising that so many people have been wanting to increase their security. People worry about sending confidential files and folders through a network without having a VPN.

There are a lot of VPN providers looking for new customers, so you can really get good value for your money. Avoid running free VPN services. Although it might seem like a good idea to employ a free VPN, your genuine IP address is at risk of being leaked.

Use a Virtual Data Room

In the past, businesses all around the world used Physical Data Rooms to store sensitive files and folders. However, over the past couple of decades, Virtual Data Rooms (VDR) have become a popular alternative. 

A VDR is a highly secure repository on the web that allows users to store, review and edit sensitive files. It allows multiple users to store data, and administrators can set different permissions so they are in control of the data that is stored in the room. They can decide what documents are allowed to be edited, whether or not the users are allowed to “copy” and “paste” files if the users are allowed to take screenshots, and who is allowed to use the data room. 

Businesses have been employing this service for several years. Most business owners feel VDRs are more secure than Physical Data Room. Physical documents can get destroyed or damaged over time, and they are not as convenient as VDRs. An employee can access the VDR whenever, and wherever they want. They don’t have to physically go to the office to store or access files located in a VDR. For more information about Virtual Data Rooms, check out https://www.firmex.com/.  

Store your Files with an Encrypted Hard Drive


Encrypting your hard drives is another popular way to secure your sensitive data. There is a lot of software readily available online that allows you to do a Full Disk Encryption (FDE), which is one of the most popular encryption methods. Without using an FDE, cybercriminals will find it easy to access your files and folders stored on your drive. 

Consider buying an external hard drive, or flash drive to store highly secure data. They can be used for confidential files and you don’t have to have them connected to your computer all the time. Encrypting all your hard drives, internal and external drives will make it a lot harder for hackers to gain access. To access these drives, cybercriminals will have to show your password. 

A lot of people use smart devices to connect to the internet, and many assume that they are a lot safer than desktop computers or laptops, but cybercriminals attacking smart devices have been increasing in recent years. If you store sensitive data on a smart device, understand that you are vulnerable to becoming a victim of a cyber attack too. A lot of smart devices allow you to add a micro SD card. If you invest in a micro SD you can secure your private data by encrypting it with a highly secure password. 

Use a Strong Password

One of the easiest and one of the most effective ways of securing your sensitive data is by using strong passwords. If you want to improve your current passwords, follow these steps:

  1. Do not use the same password twice: Have a different password for your email address, social networking profiles, your online bank account, etc. Although it’s easier to remember the same password, it puts your device and the files stored on your device at serious risk. 
  2. When you are making your password, make sure nobody sees you: Avoid creating a new password in a public place. If someone looks over your shoulder, they will be able to access your account. 
  3. Log off: Once you are finished using a device, don’t forget to log out of any accounts you have opened. If a person uses the device after you, they will be able to access the accounts you forgot to log out of. This can be extremely dangerous, especially if you are using a computer in a public area like a WiFi cafe.
  4. Don’t tell anyone what your passwords are.
  5. Change your password: People have the same email address for decades without changing their password. Consider creating a new password periodically, and don’t use the same password that you have used in the past. 
  6. Consider using at least 8 different characters when creating a new password. Make it even harder for hackers to guess your password by using upper and lowercase letters. You can add symbols and numbers too. 
    1. Don’t create a password that is difficult to remember, but don’t use one that is easy to guess either. 

If you find it difficult to remember all your passwords, you can write it down to remind you. However, be careful where you store it. Avoid storing it near your computer or your smart devices. Instead, consider storing it in the back of an old photograph inside a frame. 

There are strength analyzers online that will tell you if the password you have chosen is strong or not. 

Conclusion

In 2021, there will be around thirty thousand websites attacked each day. The majority of businesses around the world have experienced at least one cyber attack. Last year, ransomware cases increased by one hundred and fifty percent. People around the globe have lost vast sums of money, their private files and folders, and their identity to these criminals. Avoid being complacent, and make sure your security settings have been updated. 

Jason Obrien

Jason is the Marketing Manager at a local advertising company in Australia. He moved to Australia 10 years back for his passion for advertising. Jason recently joined BFA as a volunteer writer and contributes by sharing his valuable experience and knowledge.

Filed Under: Technology

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