There is no doubt that virtual meetings have taken off in a big way over the previous months and years, but some companies are simply not sold on their main advantages and are looking to go back to the old-fashioned way of doing things at the earliest possible opportunity. Well, the following blog post is all about some of the main benefits of virtual team meetings that may end up playing a big role in your decision-making process when it comes to working out whether a meeting should be held virtually or face to face. Reduced Costs First of all, there is the low-cost factor of a virtual meeting to take into account. Obviously, this can prove to be majorly beneficial as your standard business trip can end up racking up huge bills if you are not careful. On the other hand, many of the main virtual meeting providers are available for free or at an extremely low cost. This makes it a no-brainer for many organizations – especially the smaller ones, which have budgets that cannot stretch as far as the big companies. At the same time, many larger businesses are also deciding to switch to virtual meetings to reduce their costs. Comfort in Own Environment While there is no doubt that it can feel strange when it comes to not being in the same room as the other person, plenty of people have now adapted to virtual meetings and would not go back to the old way of doing things. Ultimately, some people perform better when they can control their own space. As for technical issues, these are something that many people have become used to during the pandemic, so they may well not prove to be as awkward as you would initially think they should be. Allows Time to Focus on Other Things The next major advantage of virtual team meetings is that they are certainly time-saving. A lot of hours can be expended moving from one place to another – not to mention the possibility of getting stuck in traffic and all the other potential issues that can end up occurring along the way. When you are in a virtual meeting, there is no commute time to concern yourself with. Not only this, but you have a lot more hours in the day when it comes to focusing on the other issues that may be pressing to your business and need to be dealt with straight away. Before, a meeting out of town could have taken up your entire afternoon. Now, it can be dealt with within an hour due to virtual meetings. These are just three of the major advantages that can push people to conduct virtual meetings rather than their real-life counterparts. Ultimately, they come down to three simple factors: cost, comfort, and time. Adding all three of them together can certainly make all the difference when it comes to ensuring that you get everything out of the meeting you had initially hoped to, which can prove vital in the road to...

Startups are famous for moving fast and breaking things. This approach, disrupting the incumbent market with new ideas and new products or services, has created some of the world’s largest and most powerful businesses. And it’s something that you should focus on as you’re building your fledgling company, ensuring that you’re constantly adding talent and experience to your team in order to drive your brand further. Here are the key roles and skills to bring on board in 2022 to help your business expand rapidly in a post-pandemic world. Finance One of the key considerations that all startups have is where they’re getting the next big investment. So far, you may have been relying on personal funds or investment funds that you’ve been able to secure through funding rounds. But in the future, you’re going to need to increase your cash reserves in order to maintain a constant cash flow. And that’ll mean bringing in a finance lead to help balance your firm’s books. This can usually just be one individual with experience working in startups who will be able to help you apply for further funding and reach out to investors to secure your next grant of cash. How to design your startup so that it is attractive to investors!  👇 👍  Marketing Getting your products or services seen by millions of people is a constant priority for your firm. You’ll know that effective expansion is all about click to your website and clicks on the magic “Buy” button on your sales pages. And to achieve that, you need savvy marketers. Now, startups are usually composed of no more than a handful of employees, and effective marketing teams are usually ten people strong. So you’ll want to initially outsource, to experts like SEO Ibérica, to build your early campaigns. Then, once you’ve grown in size and stature, you’ll be able to consider hiring an in-house marketing team to go it alone. Operations An operations manager will help you and your teams work effectively and efficiently. This is often a godsend for startups that they didn’t necessarily know they were missing. There’s a fair amount of chaos in a startup, as a small team juggles a large number of responsibilities. But an experienced operations officer will be able to make all of your lives easier, spotting where there are inefficiencies and other things holding you back from peak productivity. IT And finally, there can be no successful startup without at least one individual on the team who knows their way around digital technology. Whether that’s an app developer who is going to build a new digital arm for your business or a web designer who’s always able to make tweaks to your website in order to bring in more views, you need that tech knowledge in-house and available in the working week to help you build up your firm. Hire experience and ambition in this role – and a certain amount of creativity – so that you’re able to outcompete other brands and their outdated digital infrastructure. Hiring as a startup is difficult, and sometimes it’s preferable to outsource. But as you grow, here are four areas you should consider recruiting within to make your firm successful in...

Software is essential in the daily running of a business. However, when you’re first starting out, it can be hard to know exactly what software to use. This guide will take a look at some of the essential types of software for businesses. Accounting Software Accounting used to be one of the most labor-intensive processes in the running of a small business. It could take up hours of valuable time every week – time that could be spent driving sales and developing new product ideas. Now though, accounting software makes the job considerably easier. It has become so much easier, in fact, that many small businesses have been able to keep accounting in-house, rather than outsourcing it. Project Management Software Project management software is one of the most useful tools that a business can employ. Tools like Asana and Trello allow businesses to keep all of their separate projects in one place and allow employees to keep track. This is a great way to stop projects from falling by the wayside and getting missed entirely. IT management services can help with the proper implementation of project management software, which will increase the efficiency of a business. Appointment Reminder Software There are few things less professional than missing an appointment. Whether you are going to meet a prospective client or pitch to investors, it’s essential to arrive on time. That’s where appointment reminder software comes in. You can align every employee’s calendar into one central calendar and automatically send out reminders. This will help your business run in a professional and timely manner. Customer Relationship Management Software Customer relationship management (CRM) software is used by businesses around the globe. It acts as a central location for all customer information, inquiries, and more. This means that sales reps can keep track of inquiries and orders in an efficient and productive way. It also allows marketing teams to access customer data and use it to make informed decisions. Cybersecurity Software Cybersecurity is one of the most pressing issues of the modern business world. In addition to physical security threats, business owners now have to consider their cybersecurity. That’s why it’s absolutely essential for them to have the latest cybersecurity software. This stops hackers from accessing customer information, bank details, and more. However, even the most advanced cybersecurity software can leave businesses open to attack. Word processing Although word processing software has been around for over 20 years, it’s still one of the most common types of software used by businesses. In fact, most businesses still use it on a daily basis. Microsoft Word has always been the most popular word processing software. However, it is now being challenged by online versions like Google Docs. Employee tracking software As an employer, it has always been difficult to keep track of all of your employees. However, now it has been made easier with time-tracking software. You can analyze their time spent on the computer, how many clicks per minute, and what websites were visited. This encourages employees to stay on task. However, it can also create an uncomfortable work...

Online trading in the vast expanse of the digital world has been a life-saving endeavor for many companies in recent years, but it is not without its own unique set of security issues. Cyber-crime is still an incredibly prevalent factor, and many businesses regularly strive to take a proactive approach to online security. It is important to note that threats in the material world can still be as devastating as ever, so looking after your physical assets should be somewhere close to the top of the agenda. If you feel as though you could be doing more to nurture your security efforts, here are some tips you may find beneficial. Inventory Management It is unfortunate that inventory theft can sometimes be down to the employee, so taking steps to introduce a streamlined inventory management system may help reduce this risk. Moreover, it can help you to take control over your ordering, save money and make the most out of your current stock. There are many great pieces of software on offer to help you with this, partly in thanks to the rise of the internet of things. Opting for software integration can be a great way of keeping your digital assets safe and secure, an essential for many businesses that rely on a constant stock-flow to remain afloat. Moving the Highest Value Goods Some criminals will likely be indifferent to getting caught in the first place, so cameras, lights, and warning signs might do little to stop them in their tracks. This is why moving your highest value goods away from the site can ensure that a burglar cannot even begin to get their hands on the assets. Admittedly, this is not always possible, so an alternative might be to hide them out of view with a covering you can lock up, or even by bolting them to the ground. Alarms An efficient security alarm is a must for any business, but there are also a few other options to consider implementing into your business. An anti-loitering alarm, for example, can be a wonderful way of deterring any suspicious groups of violent teens from causing damage to your property over time. In addition, this can be a great proactive approach towards combatting larger issues that may arise due to consistent loiterers. If this sounds like it might be useful to you, it might be worth checking them out at mosquitoloiteringsolutions.com. Hire Security Staff If you can pay for a full-time security guard, it is certainly worth doing as this can double your security efforts in no time at all. They can monitor your security cameras, patrol the premises, defend against threats and generally put your mind at ease when it comes to the safety of your physical assets. Their very presence alone will often be enough to scare away any intruders who hope to harm your company, so for anyone who was on the fence about hiring security personnel, it might be time to go ahead with the hiring...

SMS marketing often takes a back seat to more visible methods when a business is considering how to develop a new marketing strategy. Given the clear success rate of this type of customer interaction, it is a mistake not to include SMS messaging in the marketing plan for your business. Successful businesses around the globe are utilizing SMS to reach their customers, both past and present. This technique enables a message to literally be in the hands of many thousands of people in just a few minutes and with a relatively small amount of effort. What is SMS Marketing? SMS marketing is also referred to as bulk texting. This is because a large bulk of text messages are sent at the same time to the desired customer base. This is quick, simple, and very cost-effective. With the click of a button, the same promotional text message will be sent to everyone that the message has been allocated to. This might be a one-way message, or customers may have the option to send a reply if they wish to. How Successful is Bulk Texting? The most amazing part of using bulk sms messaging to reach customers is that it genuinely works on a large scale! A text message appears much more personal than an email or social media post, and that is why as many as 90% of recipients will open and read each message. Compare this with the approximate 30% open rate for email communication, and you can see a clear winner. Furthermore, consider the time that it takes to draft a promotional text message as opposed to creating an entire email newsletter. Trust and Communication Trust and communication are two pivotal aspects of providing an amazing customer experience. If a potential customer does not trust a business or is unable to communicate effectively with them, then they are not going to spend their money on this business. Customers generally trust text message communications because they will have given this company their phone number. This is not therefore treated with the same suspicion as an unsolicited phone call or a random email. Additionally, if the customer has been given the option to reply to the text message, or has received instructions within the message on how to engage with the business, then this prompts ongoing engagement. Doing so opens up the channels of communication and encourages a customer to take action which could lead to a sale. Successful Businesses and Bulk SMS With so many clear advantages to this marketing technique, it is no wonder that successful businesses around the world are using this method. It is easy to outsource this kind of marketing to a reputable agency, thereby saving yourself the time of doing it in-house. Outsourcing this task will also help to ensure that your campaigns are always expertly executed and managed in the most effective way. When you make the decision to start using bulk SMS messaging to promote your business, you may be surprised at just how quickly your customer base begins to...