Be Different or be dead

June 27, 2020

How women can be the best advocate for themselves and win at work

How women can be the best advocate for themselves and win at work.

It can be hard to navigate tricky situations at work, especially for women. Caught in the balance between wanting to be likeable and wanting to move ahead, it’s sometimes easier to put your feelings and needs on the backburner.

The truth is: we spend a lot of time at work. So it’s important that we cultivate an environment where we feel empowered, heard and seen without starting conflict.

One way to start down this path is to learn to speak up for yourself firmly but with understanding.

It’s always important to rehearse your input, speak calmly and clearly, and be direct with your feelings and needs.

Check out this infographic on how to self-advocate in the office.

— Emily Gibson is a content creator for Bestow. When she’s not typing away at a computer, you can find her hiking with her dog or watching live music.

• Posted 6.27.20 at 05:23 am by Roy Osing
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June 20, 2020

How cool information technology solutions can separate you from the crowd

How cool information technology solutions can separate you from the crowd.

Today, if your company doesn’t stand out from others, it will be ignored. Perhaps, you will attract customers and earn some income but it will be hard to win the hearts of the audience, gain popularity, generate profit, and grow a business. To fill a niche on the market and sidestep rivals, you need to not just address user issues but be different.

In our competitive world, it is quite challenging to provide unique value. Fortunately, there are many technological solutions and innovations that will help you accomplish this goal. To begin with, you should answer some important questions.

Top 7 questions to define how your business will differ

Nowadays, it’s not enough to have a website with the description of services. If you want to succeed, you need to do more than some must-have activities such as registration in social networks. Although I should note that if you boost your online presence, for example, on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, you will outrun some competitors.

To see how to make your products or services unique, you should analyze your:

▪️Customers
▪️Competitors
▪️Own company

For this purpose, answer the following questions:

— Who are your customers?

— Why do these customers choose your organization and stay with you?

— What customers do you want to attract and where can you find them?

— Who are your competitors? How did they achieve success? How do they retain clients?

— What strong and weak sides do your rivals have?

— What business processes can you improve and automate?

— Why should people turn to your company when there are various alternatives?

By answering these questions, you will define your competencies and understand how you can add unique value to the target audience. Furthermore, it will help you develop the best strategic plan.

In this article, I describe 5 technological solutions that will allow you to stand out from other companies and win.

Top 5 software solutions to stand out from competitors

1. Robotic process automation

To attract and retain customers, the first and most important task is to deliver extraordinary service. This includes client support 24/7, instant answers on frequently asked questions, personalized recommendations for products, content, or services.

RPA is the usage of software programs that allow automating manual, routine, rule-based, and repetitive activities, for instance, data search, analysis, or entry. Based on the given instructions and scenarios, RPA software bots replace humans in performing certain actions, saving their time, and boosting the overall productivity.

Robotic process automation is used across a variety of industries helping increase data accuracy and staff efficiency. According to McKinsey research ’Automating the bank’s back office’, by streamlining IT-related operations (e.g., software employment for enterprise resource planning) with RPA technology, banks can improve customer service by more than 50%.

In 2015, Vanguard Group, the globally leading provider of investment management services, integrated so-called Personal Advisor Services—“roboadvisors”—to provide millions of clients with the personalized financial advice and investment plans. Thanks to RPA software, the company reduced the time for email processing and enhanced communications with users.

2. CRM systems

Another way to improve customer service and stand out from competitors is to integrate a CRM system. Analysts at Salesforce say that a CRM helps businesses boost sales by 29%, enhance accuracy of sales forecasting by 42%, and raise productivity—by up to 34%.

A CRM solution can provide a range of benefits allowing you to keep contact information up to date, track leads, manage multiple accounts, and segment the audience. CRM software is created to monitor all interactions that your current and potential clients have with your organization. This will allow your company to stay in touch with customers, improve lead management, and launch personalized advertising and email marketing campaigns.

3. Customer loyalty programs

In accordance with the report ’The truth about customer loyalty’ published in 2019 by KPMG, 86% of buyers would recommend a product or service if they are loyal to the company. What’s more, 43% of consumers will remain loyal even after having a bad experience. So, how do you increase customer satisfaction?

One of the best ways is to build a mobile application that will serve as a loyalty program. Imagine how it can work: people can access services via smartphones at any time, browse and order goods, make payments with a few clicks, receive push notifications about new products and special offers. You can employ a point system, so that users can earn and exchange them for some rewards, for example, gifts or discounts.

4. Big data analytics

Using big data analytics, organizations can analyze customer behavior, define their preferences, and understand how to tailor products or services to their needs. You can collect data from various channels, for instance, social media accounts, activities in social networks, results of polls and surveys, watch/search/purchasing history, etc.

By processing this information with, for example, machine learning algorithms, you will see what things you should improve, what your clients really enjoy and what they don’t. This will also help create personalized messages that will delight your audience.

5. Artificial Intelligence-based chatbots

The integration of an AI-based chatbot into your website or application will significantly improve customer service while relieving employees from various activities such as answering FAQ and processing numerous requests.

According to the research by Ideal company, 64% of people think that the biggest advantage of AI bots is 24-hour client service. 55% of customers especially appreciate instant response to their issues. Other 55% of consumers say that the key benefit is receiving quick answers to their questions.

Nitro Café managed to boost sales by 20% thanks to the creation of a Messenger chatbot that enabled simple food ordering, direct payments, and 2-way communication. By adopting a Facebook Messenger Chatbot, Globe Telecom increased customer loyalty by 22% and reduced call volumes by 50%.

Closing thoughts

The use of software solutions is one of the most effective ways to sidestep rivals, provide the best services, and generate profit as a result. Before creating something new, conduct a competitor analysis, determine the audience needs, and define your strong and weak sides.

Ask yourself: “How can I add value to users?”, “How do I make my company and products unique?”, “How can I streamline the existing business processes?”. This will let you see what you should improve and how.

For instance, you can integrate a chatbot to automate email communications, deliver 24/7 client support, and remove human errors. In addition, find out how to recover service and engage your customers.

— Bogdan is a co-founder at YSBM Group, an European custom software development company with offices in Poland and Ukraine. Bogdan is interested in programming, machine learning, robotic process automation, big data, natural language processing, and enterprise software.

• Posted 6.20.20 at 05:57 am by Roy Osing
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May 30, 2020

How your writing skills can be really improved with these free courses

Source: Unsplash

How your writing skills can be really improved with these free courses.

Have you always dreamed of attending a prestigious university of Harvard or Yale, but never had the chance? Now you do, courtesy of Coupon Chief!
They’ve rounded up 98 of the best online writing courses offered by major universities in the U.S. that anyone can take (for free) to improve their writing skills.

From creative writing and journalism to business and technical writing, these courses are designed to help you improve grammar, structure, style, and content through practice and guidance.

Here’s a few course highlights from the post:

▪️English Composition I, offered by Duke University
▪️Modern Poetry, offered by Yale University
▪️Writing a Successful Grant Proposal, offered by Minnesota Council on Foundations
▪️Academic and Business Writing, offered by University of California, Berkeley
▪️Storytelling in the Workplace, offered by Rochester Institute of Technology
▪️Advanced Communication for Leaders, offered by MIT
▪️Storytelling for Social Change, offered by University of Michigan
▪️Writing in the Sciences, offered by Stanford University
▪️Communicating in Technical Organizations, offered by MIT
▪️Writing Case Studies: Science of Delivery, offered by Princeton University
▪️Writing for Social Media, offered by University of California, Berkeley
▪️Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Writing, offered by Harvard University

With all the free time we have on our hands right now, it’s important to be productive and use the time to level ourselves up professionally and personally.
These free online writing courses will help you do just that.

— Marielle Stroud writes for Coupon Chief on topics related to budgeting, personal finance, and e-commerce. In her free time, you’ll find her sitting on her front porch sipping sweet tea.

• Posted 5.30.20 at 06:55 am by Roy Osing
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May 9, 2020

How technology can both improve and hinder your sleep

How technology can both improve and hinder your sleep.

In a world as constantly connected to technology as ours, taking time away from our phones and laptops is harder than ever.

Many people spend time surfing the internet before falling asleep, but using technology too close to bed can have negative effects on your overall quality of sleep and can ultimately impact your long-term health.

However, it’s important to note that not all technology is bad. In fact, sleep and technology can actually work synergistically to improve your overall health.

Keep reading to learn about the impacts that technology can have on your sleeping patterns and how to use technology to your advantage to get the most out of your sleep.

Blue light

Blue light is the type of backlight used by most electronic devices, such as computers and smartphones. It is meant to keep you feeling focused, alert, and awake, but can be harmful to your sleep when used right before bedtime.

Although some blue light is naturally occurring from the sun, we see much greater amounts of it on a daily basis due to technology use. Blue light can affect your circadian rhythm and melatonin levels, leading to reduced quality of sleep and feeling restless at night.

However, it’s important to remember that blue light isn’t all bad—when used at the right time and place, blue light is actually extremely effective for helping you feel alert and awake.

To help remedy the effects of blue light, try using a pair of blue light filtering glasses or a night shift filter on your technology—it warms the coloring of your screen to help mitigate the negative effects of blue light on your circadian rhythm.

Alternatively, try stepping away from technology for two hours before bed and opt for reading a book before falling asleep instead.

Overstimulation

In a world constantly connected by the news, social media, and instant messaging, it can be hard to take a step away from our technology and focus on the present. In light of the current global pandemic, it’s especially hard not to be on our phones reading the news to stay updated.

However, for both your physical and mental health, it’s important to disconnect from technology for a bit each day. In a time where so many of us are experiencing higher levels of stress and anxiety, taking time away from technology and going for a run, doing calming yoga, or reading a book are all great ways to focus on your wellness and health—and help you feel calm and relaxed before bed.

It’s crucial to remember that not all technology is bad for your sleep schedule. Health tracker apps and wrist wearables are both great tech inventions that can help you record and analyze your sleeping patterns, so you can determine any issues and work to fix them moving forward.
Whether you are investing in a smart wrist wearable or a free health-tracking app, taking time to look at your sleep habits is something with an extremely high return on investment for your health.

In the current health crisis, it’s normal to be experiencing things like elevated levels of stress and difficulty sleeping. While taking a step away from technology can be difficult, it’s important to put your phone down for a while so you can relax and get in the right headspace to fall asleep.

Interested in learning more about how technology can affect your sleeping habits? Check out the graphic courtesy of Casper below.

— Sierra Skelly is a creative writer and content marketer from San Diego. She writes for clients in a variety of industries ranging from personal finance to travel.

• Posted 5.9.20 at 04:57 am by Roy Osing
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