508-909-5961 [email protected]

Leveraging email automation to improve your productivityEmail automation is the process of using software to automatically send emails based on certain criteria. This can free up your time so you can focus on other tasks, and it can also help you improve the results of your email marketing campaigns. What is email automation? Email automation is a tool that allows businesses […]

The post Leveraging email automation to improve your productivity appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Leveraging email automation to improve your productivity

Email automation is the process of using software to automatically send emails based on certain criteria. This can free up your time so you can focus on other tasks, and it can also help you improve the results of your email marketing campaigns.

What is email automation?

Email automation is a tool that allows businesses to automatically send relevant and personalized emails to subscribers at predetermined instances based on specific triggers or criteria. Some common criteria are payment due date reminders, subscriber birthdays, promos, monthly feedback requests, order confirmations, and more.

What are the advantages of using email automation?

Here are the key benefits of email automation:

1. It gives a personal, human touch
Email automation tools let you automatically insert a customer’s name and other details into an email. By using the customer’s name rather than using a generic salutation like “Dear valued customer,” you are able to make the email more personal, potentially increasing the chances that your customer will be more receptive to your marketing messages. According to a study by Experian, personalized promotional emails have a 29% higher chance of being opened compared to non-personalized ones. In addition, consumers were also 25% more likely to engage with personalized triggered emails than with emails that are not.

2. It helps you segment your customer
Email automation allows you to divide your customers and leads into groups based on their purchase behavior, demographics, and interests. For example, if your company sells mobile devices, you can use email automation to create unique messages for customers who’ve shown interest in either Apple or Android products. Segmenting contacts ensures ‌recipients will only receive messages that align with their interests. This will help keep customers engaged and reduce the probability of them sending unwanted emails to the spam folder or unsubscribing from your mailing list.

3. It boosts productivity
With email automation, your marketing team doesn’t have to spend too much time compiling email lists and creating and scheduling email campaigns. Email automation systems can automatically send out emails based on triggers, such as a signup for a monthly newsletter, or scheduled events like birthdays and anniversaries. This will help free up your team to focus on more critical tasks instead of spending a huge chunk of time typing out personalized emails for clients and leads.

4. It helps you attract and retain customers
Selling to existing customers is easier and more cost-effective than converting a lead, so you need to keep your existing customers engaged. You can do this by sending them exclusive promos, feedback requests, and loyalty rewards via email. This will ensure that you reach more of your client base, especially those that don’t use social media.

Email automation can be a powerful marketing tool when implemented correctly. It can free up your team to focus on other tasks and help you achieve better results. If you're interested in learning more about email automation, just reach out to us and we’ll be happy to provide more information.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post Leveraging email automation to improve your productivity appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Read More

Leverage business intelligence to achieve your SMB goalsBusiness intelligence (BI) tools used to be prohibitively expensive because they required hiring specialists to analyze business data. This is why only large companies could afford them in the past and why small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) were hesitant to implement them. But times have changed. SMBs now have access to a vast range of […]

The post Leverage business intelligence to achieve your SMB goals appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Leverage business intelligence to achieve your SMB goals

Business intelligence (BI) tools used to be prohibitively expensive because they required hiring specialists to analyze business data. This is why only large companies could afford them in the past and why small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) were hesitant to implement them. But times have changed. SMBs now have access to a vast range of affordable BI tools that can improve data management processes. To stay ahead, your SMB should harness the capabilities of BI and develop effective business strategies using large volumes of data just sitting in your systems.

Whether you have always wanted to try BI or are on the fence about it, you can’t deny that it brings a suite of benefits that can help your SMB grow. Here are some of the top reasons why BI is changing the way SMBs do business.

Self-service BI tools are plentiful — and inexpensive

The emergence of self-service BI puts useful business analytics within reach of SMB owners who lack the big budgets of larger corporations. In fact, there are numerous self-service BI tools that you can use to get started without even spending a dime. Microsoft Power BI is a powerful and user-friendly application, and most businesses will find the functions they need in the free version. Zoho Analytics has a low entry-level cost, too, and the slightly pricier yet still affordable Tableau is another option worth exploring.

You already have the data you need

It’s easy to underestimate the amount of data your SMB already has at its disposal. In every area of your business, from finance and sales to customer relations and website management, the software packages you use to run your everyday operations reap tons of information that just sit in storage devices or the cloud.

By talking to the key people in your organization, you can get an idea of the kind of data you already have, how it’s generated, and where it’s stored. You can then utilize BI tools to transform that information into meaningful business insights that will inform your decision-making. There’s no need to invest in time-consuming data generation from scratch!

It’s easy to get started

BI is an intimidating term, especially for business owners who are not technologically inclined. But by taking small steps, it’s easy for anyone to get started. Before you know it, you’ll be enjoying the benefits of having data-driven, intelligence-based insights that will enable you to make better business decisions.

Most self-service BI tools come with built-in suggestions for reports that businesses commonly run and find useful. Some worthwhile statistics to explore include the percentage of your clients who cancel within a given period, website landing pages that generate the longest visits, and your most profitable individual products or services. You can also use BI to know the days or months in which you generate your highest revenues, as well as which of your clients bring in the most revenue and profit.

Harnessing data is the future of the business world — it’s how companies like yours can make smarter decisions that increase efficiency and profitability. And with a trove of self-service tools available in the market, SMBs no longer need a humongous budget to reap the benefits of BI. To find out more about implementing tools that can help you do smarter business, just give us a call.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post Leverage business intelligence to achieve your SMB goals appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Read More

Android tablet pointers for the best sleepYour precious Android tablet is a handy tool for you to get work done and communicate on the go. But like all electronic gadgets, your Android tablet can disrupt your sleep. Lack of sleep can hinder your performance at work and, in turn, negatively affect your business operations. Here are several ways you can prevent […]

The post Android tablet pointers for the best sleep appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Android tablet pointers for the best sleep

Your precious Android tablet is a handy tool for you to get work done and communicate on the go. But like all electronic gadgets, your Android tablet can disrupt your sleep. Lack of sleep can hinder your performance at work and, in turn, negatively affect your business operations. Here are several ways you can prevent this from happening.

Don’t use your devices before bed

It’s been widely recognized that blue light from screens and mobile devices can disrupt sleep, suppressing your body’s levels of melatonin (the hormone that induces sleep). Because of this and the distractions your tablet brings, it’s best to avoid using it half an hour before bed.

Silence distractions with Google Chrome’s Reader Mode

If you just can’t put down your device before bed, some light reading can be an effective way to induce sleep. However, when you’re browsing the internet, you can often run into ads and videos that are sometimes loud and flashy. Just as you’re nodding off, these distractions could startle you awake and out of slumber mode.

Google Chrome’s Reader Mode eliminates unnecessary ads and images, placing an emphasis on the text. To activate Reader Mode, type “chrome://flags” into your navigation bar, scroll down till you find Enable Reader Mode and select Enabled on the drop down menu. Then, press Relaunch on the bottom of the screen to restart Google Chrome. Web pages you visit should now be reader-friendly and free of ads.

Prevent disturbances

If you let emails, calls, and text messages wake you up in the middle of the night, you won’t get enough sleep. Enter the Do Not Disturb setting. This will silence all of these nightly annoyances so you can unplug from the world and get a good night’s rest.

To turn on Do Not Disturb, open Settings > Sound and Notification > Do Not Disturb. From here, you can choose which contacts can get through to you while you’re in deep slumber.

Dim your device

While some Android tablets don’t have a built-in feature to adjust the amount of blue light emitted, there are apps that can help you easily adjust the filter opacity, making your screen less bright, such as Dimly.

Monitor your sleeping habits

Do you constantly wake up at night for no reason at all? Are you sleeping better or worse on nights when you consume certain food or alcoholic beverages? Or do you sleep better on the days you exercise? If you’re unsure of the answers to these questions, there are apps that can help you. Apps like Sleep as Android and Sleep Cycle use motion sensors and sound recording will monitor your sleeping habits to help you discover which nights you sleep best. Then you can try to recreate those conditions to resolve your sleep issues.

No matter your business, sleep is vital to your success. If you want to learn more about how your Android tablet can improve your life and business, give us a call.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post Android tablet pointers for the best sleep appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Read More

What you need to know about identity and access management systemsEvery day, your employees use applications and sensitive business data. Hackers, on the other hand, are out to steal the same information for their own gain. Worse yet, workers who turn rogue can easily steal your data. This is why implementing an identity and access management (IAM) solution is critical. What is IAM? Identity and […]

The post What you need to know about identity and access management systems appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

What you need to know about identity and access management systems

Every day, your employees use applications and sensitive business data. Hackers, on the other hand, are out to steal the same information for their own gain. Worse yet, workers who turn rogue can easily steal your data. This is why implementing an identity and access management (IAM) solution is critical.

What is IAM?

Identity and access management is a system that secures, stores, and manages user identities and access privileges. It ensures that users are who they say they are and will grant access to applications and resources only to those who have permission to use them. System administrators can enforce this system to give employees access to only the apps and data they need for work.

Other solutions that go into IAM include single sign-on (SSO) and multifactor authentication (MFA). The former allows users to securely log in to multiple applications that they are authorized to access. Meanwhile, MFA sets an additional method of user verification other than passwords. This includes fingerprint scans, facial ID, or a one-time security code sent via SMS.

These security solutions are designed to protect digital assets even if users attempt to access company accounts through mobile devices and the cloud.

Centralize access control

Too much access to certain systems is risky, while too little can hamper productivity and frustrate users. IAM strikes the perfect balance by letting you set centralized policies for the right access privileges. For example, you can deny your design team access to the accounting system while granting it to your CFO.

Each user’s role and attribute can be used to determine which resources they’re allowed to access and to what extent. This not only offers better security, but also more flexibility and ease of management.

Lower chances of data breaches

With SSO and MFA, your employees will no longer have to remember multiple passwords. Instead, they’ll be able to prove their identity using evidence-based authorization such as answering a personal question that only they would know. IAM also comes equipped with advanced encryption tools to protect sensitive data, reducing the risk of compromised user credentials.

Improve user experience

Customers today interact with your company across multiple channels, whether in the cloud or via third-party applications. This is where IAM helps provide a better experience through SSO, self-service capabilities, and unified customer profiles that make communication processes quick and easy.

Your employees, on the other hand, will be able to access the information they need securely and conveniently no matter where they are. This means productivity will no longer be confined to their office desk.

Achieve regulatory compliance

Businesses today must meet the constantly changing regulatory requirements concerning data access governance and privacy management. IAM was designed with exactly that in mind and provides control over who can access data and how it can be used and shared.

Reduce IT costs

IAM automates and standardizes many aspects of identity, authentication, and authorization management. This means you’ll be able to minimize significant labor costs associated with keeping your business environment secure.

An identity and access management solution equips you with much-needed security without compromising on usability and convenience. To operate in a digital business environment, it’s not a matter of if but when you’ll adopt IAM within your company.

If you’re looking to enhance company-wide security, whether with IAM or other solutions, why not give us a call? We’re sure we can help.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post What you need to know about identity and access management systems appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Read More