DEV Community: Brett Clawson

Improve the Structure of Your Software With Microservices

Brett Clawson — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 23:03:27 +0000

As your company grows, are you finding it more difficult to make changes to your software, or to get updates out in a timely manner? This could be due to the architecture of your software. Large amounts of data and code may require adjustments in their organization. One such adjustment is microservices architecture as a solution to monolithic architecture.

Increase Your Speed

A monolith type architecture means you have a user interface, one giant codebase of function and the database- sometimes with a data interface. The use of microservices breaks this up into a user interface and smaller functional parts of the application each with their own database. All of these parts communicate with each other. Separating your hulking process into separate services greatly improves the speed and efficiency of your system, and allows for greater visibility of the code.

Improve Your Management

As your business grows, dealing with one big monolith can be too much code for any single developer. Large-scale, frequent and thorough collaboration between developers becomes necessary, increasing the likelihood of mistakes and prolonging deployments. Microservices untangle the monolith codebase, giving developers smaller and simpler pieces to work with. Teams assigned to the independent parts can work separately and efficiently, without the need to constantly check in with others. This also goes for updates, deployments and scaling.

Apply Machine Learning

Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence that allows computers to perform tasks without explicit instructions. Instead, they use algorithms and statistical models to analyze patterns and infer from there. One new and exciting example of this is the driverless car. Microservices integrate well with the specialized hardware required for machine learning, like GPUs. The packaging of independent services also work well with stateless inference models, since no data or state needs to be maintained.

Keep Up With Trends

In addition to microservices, going serverless and using containers are two cutting edge trends in the IT world. Going serverless means that you don't take up space on a server, you only pay for the execution time you use on someone else's server- there are various providers available. This can be accomplished with abstracted code. All you have to do is write functions, the provider will determine how and where they are run. No more worrying about the maintenance of the server and hardware. Containers, defined as bundled code in independent packages, also fits perfectly with the intention of microservices. All three can easily be combined to give you a modern, efficient application.

Discover New Challenges

Although microservices solve a lot of problems, they also come with their own set of unique issues. The biggest challenge when making the switch is re-learning how to problem solve the system. Each individual packaged service is simpler, but the orchestration of all of them can get complicated. There are also more databases to handle, and they all need to remain consistent with each other. Depending on how your separate services interact, the order of updates, testing and deployment could become complicated, as well.

Learn From Others

Although microservices are still fighting their way onto the main stage, there are several business use cases of microservices that you can look to for guidance. Technically, they've been around for awhile. Netflix has so many microservices that they have even developed their own orchestrator, called the Conductor. Amazon became one of the first to use microservices in 2001 after their monolith became too large to handle. Other examples include Uber, Comcast, eBay and Walmart- all the big names in the tech industry. They all have been very transparent about the decision and how it's worked for them.

There is a lot to consider when making the decision to restructure your software. Keep in mind where you'd like to see yourself and your business in the future, and don't take shortcuts to save time planning and organizing now. Consult with microservice professionals to find out if breaking apart your monolith is a good idea for your company.

How Research Technology Works

Brett Clawson — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 16:17:46 +0000

Technology is becoming more prevalent in the marketing world. The benefits are impressive. Marketing Week reports that automated platforms make it possible to gather and process critical market research data more efficiently. In a world where brands can't afford to take customers for granted, automated research tools offer a prudent and cost-effective way to conduct the market research necessary for success in a competitive marketplace.

Fuel Cycle reports that market research automation is being used in five main ways. While companies are picking and choosing the best ways to implement these improvements, automation is being used primarily for automated data collection, mobile data collection, customer loyalty feedback, online community automation and social media monitoring efforts.

Market Research Automation Saves Time and Money

In the past, many market research-related tasks were time-consuming and required a significant time investment before results could be evaluated and used. Automation has sped up the process making it much easier for companies to collect data throughout the research and buying cycle. Automation impacts every step of an ad campaign from initial messaging before the campaign is launched through calculating ROI, and every step in-between.

Specifically, when a campaign is live, automation can assess results immediately. This frees up humans from tedious tasks so they can turn their attention to analysis and strategy sessions designed for the purpose of taking immediate action.

Automation Improves Ad Effectiveness

One of the major reasons business managers are turning to market research technology is to improve ad testing research and speed up results. Since testing is crucial for making adjustments and responding to market data, improved efficiencies add to the bottom line as money and time saved.

Experts conclude that faster data collection makes it easier to spot trends. In the past, when data came in at a slower pace, it was practically impossible to have the perspective necessary to spot trends quickly.

Better Analytic Tools Provide More Accurate Data

As analytic tools improve with the capability of tracking consumer behavior in real-time, the data collected improves. Fully understanding when, why and how customers buy is the goal of any market research. What inspires customers to finally make the commitment to buy? Many brands are learning how to use smartphones to track this type of data.

Another automated research tool being used is a loyalty program app for collecting data on loyal customers. Data is collected on the buying habits of these frequent shoppers for comparison purposes to learn how and why their habits differ from the competitors' customers. This technology is capable of sending out automated customer service alerts to respond as needed.

Automated Research Versus Human Market Research

The increased efficiencies afforded brands who embrace automation research results in stretching the research budget to gather more data faster. Human researchers have no reason to fear losing their jobs to robots anytime in the near future. The popular consensus of marketers still believes that a marriage between robots and humans provides the best of both worlds for marketers with humans offering up creativity and insights that aren't forthcoming come from automated tools.

Once market researchers truly understand the benefits of automation, they often appreciate the practical advantages. Instead of spending a lot of time involved in tedious data scrubbing tasks, Qualtrics reports that human researchers can now spend more time on analyzing the results.

The future looks bright for automated market research tools. MarTech Series estimates that over 50% of the $8 billion dollar global marketplace predicted for 2025 will be using marketing automation.

There is always some understandable resistance to change whenever people feel they may lose their jobs to a robot. Fortunately, in this situation, there is some good news. Qualtrics reports that 26% of marketers believe that automation will actually create more research jobs in the future.

Implementing Security for Your Business

Brett Clawson — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 15:12:33 +0000

If you're a business owner, you're eventually going to make sure that you have the right security practices in mind. Without doing research and having the right research team, you can have criminals who will bypass security and infiltrate your company. Ensure that you follow these practices when you want to have a comprehensive security solution for your company.

Security Guards

Whether you have a more physical business like a store or a digital company that relies on server rooms, you need to make sure that you have physical guards. With physical guards, you'll stop intruders from coming into your business and stealing records, products, and more that can cost you millions of dollars. Before hiring any guard though, go through a couple of rounds of interviews with different applicants so that you can find someone who is skilled enough that they won't run off if danger ever comes. Make sure that you have security guards before your business gets too big.

Metal Detectors

If you're in the business of selling small electronics, you might realize early on that it can be easy to smuggle them out of your business to sell somewhere else. By installing metal detectors in your business, you can make sure that nobody can get away with stealing anything that will cost you a lot of money over time if the issue is kept unchecked. Additionally, think about installing metal detectors even if your business is just an office as you may have prototypes or other stock inside your office that can be stolen easily from an employee that is interested in leaving anyways. Consider adopting metal detectors when you want a security practice that will prevent your products from being stolen.

Glass Cases

Metal detectors are a good step in making sure you don't have products stolen from your business but you're going to want to make sure that you're adopting more strategies so that you don't lose more products. For more expensive products, consider installing glass cases inside your store. For example, you can have a video-game section in which you put each product underneath a glass case so an employee has to come and take it out for any customers that want a video-game. While it might seem that it will slow down business or make you have to hire an employee just to handle the glass cases, you'll easily make the money back due to not having to replace as much stolen merchandise. Think about glass cases when you want to prevent as much of your merchandise from being stolen as possible.

Money Deposits

You may have someone trying to rob money from your cash registers. However, you can make sure this doesn't happen when you are regularly depositing money. The way that you'll want to deposit money is to first make sure that you take out most of the money out of a cash register except $100 or $200 to give customers change and to put the rest of the money in a safe that you keep in an office. From there, get an armored truck to come and take all of the money you have to be deposited in a bank. Once you've done this, you won't have people coming to rob your cash registers when they know they would hardly get any money out of it.

Building and going through security procedures can be very profitable, so make sure that you're always keeping up with what you can change in your business. Make sure that you hire a dedicated security team that can make sure that you are following the right security protocols for the time. With no time, you'll have made sure that you aren't going to lose a lot of money from criminals.

Business Growth Through The World Of Technology

Brett Clawson — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 17:42:42 +0000

Technology is typically used in businesses to be able to accomplish daily work, whether it's mandatory or just easier depending on what industry the business is located in. However, companies have also used technology to grow their business in unique ways than they could before. Take into consideration all of these different ways you can use technology to grow a business if you're a business owner.

Social Media

Marketing in the past has seen to be more static in that you are responsible for creating a message that will get out to the general public without having too much of a 1-on-1 conversation about it. Through the rise of social media, companies have seen success in becoming viral over having social media accounts that are dedicated to talking back to customers that reply to them. A good example of this is the Wendy'sTwitter account which has become famous for constantly making witty replies that seem like any other person you would talk to on Twitter while still being able to promote their product. Additionally, think about offering special giveaways for those that visit your social media account. This can bring many people who usually don't care about brand accounts to follow you, meaning that you can bring them more messaging about your products in the long run that produces more money than you had to spend on giveaways. Strongly think about using social media when you are looking to grow your business.

Mobile App

Many businesses have started to grow their customer base by offering specialapps. By getting someone to develop an app for you, you can create an app with different functions that tie into your business. For example, create a program with this app in which every time someone purchases from you, they can get points in which they can redeem for rewards later. Seeing this app with the program on their home screen will entice consumers to keep coming back to your store. Additionally, you'll be able to send push alerts out in which customers can see all of the new products and deals you are offering just from looking at their lock screen, giving out the benefit of cheap advertising just for the cost of operating servers for your app. Consider having a mobile app if you want to grow your business even further.

Online Store

If you're running a small business, you might still be focused on working strictly on your retail location. However, you could be missing a lot of potential business by not having an online store. To start an online store, grab a domain and make sure that it's not long and that it comes close to the actual name of your store so it's easy to remember. Second, find someone who is talented enough in which they can set up your store and maintain it. Along with getting money just from online sales, you can customers sign up for newsletters with would ethically let you go data scraping for information in which you can send customers coupons and other deals that they could be interested in. Make sure that at some point you set up an online store as that's easily one of the best ways you can grow your business using technology.

Many people around the world are starting small businesses every week. While many of them will eventually fail, you can succeed by making sure that you not only are providing what your customers want but that you are using technology to your best benefit. Always be on the lookout for new technology you can use to move your business forward.

The Tech And Science Behind Many Synthetic Gem Minerals

Brett Clawson — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 15:14:13 +0000

Synthetic gem materials are minerals made in a laboratory using specific technology and science techniques. Even though the gems are made in a lab, they share many of the same optical, chemical and physical properties and characteristics of their natural counterparts.

When Synthetic Gem Creation Started

Since the end of the 1800s, synthetic gems and crystals have been manufactured for sale. The reason for this type of production is because of the growth in demand in the jewelry and gem industries. Synthetic crystals are often found to be used in microelectronics, communications, laser technology and abrasives. Synthetic gem minerals are often "made to order" with regards to crystal shape and color.

When given the right time, ingredients and tech used, they are often found to be less rare than similar natural counterparts when it comes to clarity, size and color saturation. There are many rules and strict guidelines with how these lab created diamonds and gems can be sold and marketed.

Czochralski Process Or Crystal Pulling

This type of gem manufacturing is a melt process. Pulling first started in the early 1900s and revolves around nutrients first being melted in a crucible. A seed dipped into the melted nutrients allows a synthetic crystal to grow. As it continues to grow, it will be pulled away slowly from the seed melt. Common gems created using the pulling method include synthetic garnet, chrysoberyl, alexandrite and corundum.

Synthetic Crystals - Verneuil or Flame Fusion Process

The flame fusion process was the first successful one used commercially to create synthetic crystal gems. The science behind this process involves powdered chemicals being dropped through flames of high temperatures. This causes the chemicals to melt and fall into a pedestal that is continually rotating. The result of this is a crystal and is currently the most affordable and common way to create gems such as synthetic spinels and corundums.

Flux Growth - Solution Process

With advancements in technology and processes, many synthetic gems such as alexandrite, ruby, emerald, spinel and sapphire can be manufactured through the flux-growth process. In the same way that water dissolves sugar, flux is a solid form of material that can be melted and dissolve other materials. As the solution begins to cool gradually, the synthetic crystals will form.

Growing synthetic gems using this method requires a significant investment and a lot of patience because the process can take a year or more. However, gems such as emeralds made with this process can end up being well worth the wait.

Synthetic Diamonds - Rare CVD Process

Diamonds that are grown in a lab setting share many of the same characteristics as natural diamonds. Essentially, the are made of carbon. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is the process used to grow diamonds and gems. The growth is done in a vacuum chamber through the chemical reaction that releases carbonized atoms. The atoms proceed to precipitate on the diamond seed plates.

Other diamonds are created using high pressure, high-temperature methods. Diamond growth begins from the melt flux process that can dissolve carbon with high temperatures. The diamonds will form on the seed crystals during the time of lower temperatures in the gem growth chamber.

Synthetic Opal

To create a convincing synthetic opal, scientists working for the Gilson company in the 1970s created a three-step process. This process first involves using precipitation to create microscopic spheres of silica. These spheres will then settle down in acidic water for over a year. Once done, the hydrostatic press will consolidate the spheres without causing any damage to the play-of-color created on the opals.

These are just some of the more common ways to grow different minerals and gems. Synthetic, lab-grown crystals and gems can attain degrees of perfection that are not often seen coming from nature. Because of this, the popularity of these types of gems continues to become more desired. They are easier to come by and a more affordable alternative.

How Zonal OCR Is Reorganizing Hospitals

Brett Clawson — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 21:10:28 +0000

How Zonal OCR Will Help Your Hospital Be More Organized

OCR In a Hospital Setting

Zonal OCR is a fantastic method of organization that involves optical character recognition. The optical character recognition allows the user to scan and read specific zones of the document. By using a set of coordinates, optical character recognition focuses on a specific field within the image document.

Stay Organized!

Organization is key to a strong document management system. A hospital simply cannot function without a proper and organized document management system. How does one develop an organized document management system? When it comes to a medical care facility, it's of utmost importance to be able to effectively control information in a medical environment

Creation of a Document Management System

The steps to creating a document management system include: determination of a leader in the organization process, an assessment of the current filing system, document identification, establish procedures and requirements, strategy preparation, and the purging of unnecessary documents. Document control is an essential business strategy.

Benefits Aplenty

The benefits of a OCR is limited time in scanning important documents, more effective organization, proper categorization, and perhaps the most important factor, documentation of historical data. On the other side of the benefits, the time decrease in effectively searching for and pursuing documentation is paramount to a successful and well organized business structure. This is especially true in an office setting with a high volume of document flow, such as a hospital.

Be the Manager, Not the Managed

Imagine yourself as an office manager in a hospital. You know the importance of organization, and how the demands of the hospital are related to the effective and quick retrieval of documentation. The OCR method allows you and your office to efficiently retrieve important medical documentation. There may be a critical surgery where the surgeon needs information regarding the patient and the surgery cannot continue without this documentation. You have, in your power, the ability to use zonal OCR. to find documentation important to the surgery team. Because of OCR, you are able to pull up the correct document quickly and deliver it to the appropriate people. The surgery can then continue once the surgeon has the appropriate information.

In this case, you are managing the situation and assisting a medical team in making the proper decision. Such an incident can possibly save a life. It also displays how organized you are as a manager, utilizing OCR as a means to stay organized.

Different Software

There are various software programs that assist hospitals and medical facilities with OCR management. These software packages. vary in effectiveness and cost, but the primary goal is to manage the seemingly never-ending work flow of documents. Another benefit of OCR is the ability to edit documentation. There are some incidents in medical transcription when a document needs altered. Things change. Doctors may add information critical to the care of the patient. The billing department may need to add insurance information. OCR allows for the retrieval of all scanned documents. There could be hundreds of pages in a patient file. The information needing to be changed may be minuscule at best. Using OCR, one can find the pertinent information and replace or reword the document.

Conclusion

OCR in a hospital is effective and efficient, two elements that are extremely important in maintaining the organized approach to well structured business office. Documentation is of the utmost importance in a hospital environment. It is essential that the documents arrive in a timely manner and OCR is the key to ensuring these items are taken care of expeditiously. In a hospital setting, time is the most important factor as it is connected to the well being of the patient and a successful patient care environment.

Find Your App

Brett Clawson — Sat, 31 Aug 2019 03:22:35 +0000

3 Apps That Will Help Your Business Stay Organized

Running a human resources department is a huge responsibility. A company may start small but before you know it, the company has grown. They need new people. Different departments are set up. They put new policies into place. The human resource manager spends more than just the time in the office working. The cell phone becomes an important part of the work. It becomes the most important tool of the position.

There are several apps that can help keep the human resources department running smoothly. The top three that help are:

A place to store files so that they can be available at any time anywhere
A time management application.
A notepad that does more than just letting you make notes.

Fuss-Free File Management

When using an app for storing files, they can be worked on anywhere. That means no carrying a heavy briefcase. They can open the files on the phone, read, and work on them. Notes can be added and will still be there when in the office. Files can be sent to others so that they can add their work on them. If traveling is part of the human resource manager’s position files can still go with them. No worrying about losing them on the airplane. Using a file storage app makes life much easier. There are apps for storing files that do not limit how large your file is. With just a flick of the finger you can send files to whoever you need to.

Tension-Free Time Management

Another app that makes life much easier is a time tracking app, one that helps manage time. The saying time is money is a human resource manager’s life. There are so many things happening, so many ways to go that you can get lost. There are several apps that are perfect for managing time. Check them out and pick the one that best suits your needs. There are apps that merge your calendar with email and social media networks. You can even find one that takes into account the travel time needed prior to a meeting. You can post to Facebook and it even stores travel details. Find several that you think might suit your needs and then check each one out

No-Worries Note Keeping

Another app that makes life easier is one that lets you make notes, create lists and create charts. You can create lists and send them to the person who is to use it. You can use the app anywhere which makes it great for a person with a lot to do.

These are just three apps that a human resource manager can benefit from. There are so many more. Paper files will soon be a thing of the past. Digital is where businesses are headed. It is important to stay organized and apps can do just that. The time spent looking for files can waste most of a day. Using the apps keeps that from happening. You can decide what apps will help you do your job and then try each one out. You will find one that seems to have been created just for you.

Communication is also an important part of the human resource manager's responsibility. Using the apps helps to do just that. No matter when or where using the apps helps you to stay in touch with all the different departments. If an emergency comes up the phone with the various apps can let you get into touch with important people. With just a few words the apps can get everyone together.

Your Employees are an Asset to your Coding business

Brett Clawson — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 20:57:14 +0000

A solid workforce is considered an asset to companies throughout the world for many significant reasons. Without the contributions of your employees, your business would not be able to thrive and expand on the level that it needs to. Consider why employees are a true asset for any business.

To Build Manpower

Without a doubt, there is strength in numbers. It is much more difficult to execute certain tasks if you do not have enough employees to accomplish them. Although outsourcing jobs may be less expensive than maintaining employees, it is better to retain and develop a dedicated staff for many types of companies. Companies that have a strong workforce are able to make major moves faster.

To Accomplish Goals and Objectives

Trying to struggle to finish all priority goals by yourself can lead to extreme stress and even failure for overburdened business owners and managers. Although some business owners and entrepreneurs are able to run a small business single-handedly, others will need the right amount of workers to get everything done on schedule.

The Harvard Business Review declares that employees appreciate earned respect whenever they display valued qualities, behaviors or have high performance. When your company utilizes employee recognition programs, your business is more likely to keep on benefitting from exceptional workers who strive to meet individual and team goals.

To Overcome the Competition

Highly talented employees can even help you topple your competition. If you build your workforce with individuals who have great personalities, superb skills, industry knowledge and the experience necessary to perform well in their roles, then your company can surge past competitors that have average employees in tow. The Huffington Post suggests that hiring employees who remain engaged can help you backup your product claims and deliver effective services to clients. Employees are also up-close and personal with customers on a regular basis, and they can bring innovative ideas to the table that you may not have considered.

To Protect Company Data

If you are dealing with extremely sensitive data or other confidential information, it is essential to limit the amount of people who are able to access it. Your employees are more likely to take additional steps to protect the data that they encounter versus someone who is working for your company on a project basis. when the people that you employ take data security seriously, your company is more protected.

To Remain Motivated

Believe it or not, many business owners who work alone may find it difficult to motivate themselves to get started or finish tasks that may arise during the day. However, knowing that you are going to work to guide employees who look to you lends a greater sense of purpose and drive. If you go to work each day knowing that you are responsible for leading your employees, you are more likely to stay motivated to finish everything that you need to do to be more successful in business.

To Bring Energy to Your Business

Forbes suggests that incredible employee is going to bring powerful positive energy to your business. The way that they serve customers and handle tasks can change the climate at work, and alter consumer perceptions of your company. Everything that your company needs to accomplish must be done by either you or someone working for your business. the more positive energy that your workers bring, the better your brand will become.

High quality, productive employees can do wonders in helping any CEO to establish and maintain a thriving business. When employees and business owners align their efforts, great things can happen. Hiring and retaining the right people to work for you can make all of your strategic goals become a reality faster.

Tips for Using Tech to Grow your Business

Brett Clawson — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 19:40:52 +0000

Working in HR is crucial for the success of any company. It's the department that has the most impact on every aspect of the organization. That's why HR professionals need to use every trick at their disposal to build winning organizations.

Make the Most out of Industry Tools

Tools are what separates amateurs from the pros. The HR sector is no different. It's vital to have the necessary infrastructure in place to manage data efficiently. Losing crucial information is not an option, so making sure the process is automated and foolproof is the key. Find a tool that's easy to work with and that solves the primary issues of dealing with employees and then master its use.

Allow employees to self-service when possible. That cuts down on potential errors like misspellings and also frees up the manager's time. Not only that, the worker appreciates the additional power to handle the work themselves. Streamlining every aspect of the user data experience is one of the classic HR tips that still work wonders. If you don't get the results you want, dig in and look for alternative software.

Get the Most out of Reporting

Evaluating reports is a great way to track progress. If you want to squeeze more productivity out of every employee, you'll need to institute monitoring that keeps everything running smoothly. Investing in tracking tools with analytics and reporting capabilities is wise. There's no way to do it manually, so a system is an answer. There are many leading solutions, choose the one that is scalable and meets your precise needs.

Reporting is a way to meet with employees to keep them focused and on track. The analytics provide a way to do it without causing controversy. When changes happen, there's a historical record to review. That's helpful because it means there's a critical point where something different started happening. Management and the team member can figure out together what alterations are in order.

Put Yourself in the Candidate's Shoes

Sometimes it's better to streamline the hiring process instead of making it too complicated. It's a competitive world for workers, so why do anything to alienate any of them? Some companies overdo it with way too many interviews and intrusive questions.

It's better to keep things focused and tight. Keep the process moving until it concludes. If your company is hiring a lot of people, any extra sludge in the system will slow things down. Besides, when you automate most steps in the process, there are a time-savings that occurs. You can't leave every detail up to the HRIS, but it will handle much of the heavy lifting.

Why Ignore Rewards?

Many companies are finding that the carrot works better than the stick for getting increased productivity from workers. Why not consider a rewards program? Whether it's attached to a wellness program or now, rewards incentivize workers to do the right thing. They're a fantastic way to modify behavior permanently.

If you don't have one at all, rewards are a way to engage workers fast. They also work as recruitment tools, especially among a comprehensive set of employees. Such a system may even be a tie-breaker for someone deciding on which company to choose. A well-organized plan will keep motivation levels at all-time highs.

Keep That Feedback Coming

Ask employees how you're doing and adjust accordingly. Nothing is better than feedback for immediately assessing how things are going. If you get a ton of criticism, you may need to mix things up. Once again, it's worth automating every part of the system. Routinely get information from candidates and hires during every phase of your process.

If something needs fixing, you'll have an early alert. That way, you'll never run into significant unnoticed issues. Feedback means that the little mistakes never get out of control and threaten operations. Get feedback, and you will stay one step ahead of the competition.

The online HTML, CSS and JavaScript organizers will take care of your dirty markup!

3 Ways New Tech Can Save The Unorganized

Brett Clawson — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 19:06:43 +0000

Organization, you have it or you don't. It is an essential part of life. Whether you work in business, schooling, or even construction organizational skills are required. It has been known often as a skill, something that even you have it or don't have it. You are an organized person or you are not. Don't worry for all you "disorganized" people out there your problem has been solved. Technology has got you covered. Document management software is the new tech that you need here are three reasons why.

Increase of space
We live in a world of documents. To exist you need documents to well prove your existence. These documents piled up with the documents of work or school can be a lot. A management software can fix this problem. It is the perfect location to store and keep documents. It will create more space in your home and rid you of stress. Having all your documents online will get rid of that clutter that was formally referred to as your desk.
Easy Access
For some of us our desk space may look like a white ocean. Now this isn't to big of a problem of coarse until you need to find a document on the bottom of the ocean. Document management software organizes the ocean of documents for you by making each document easy to find. The next time you need a document for work or for the DMV you will not have to set aside 15 minutes to look or wonder if you even have the document. You can simply search its name and pull it up.
Increased Security
As great as paper is there is no real security for it, outside of buying a vault to put it in. Another perk of using a document management software is that you software can be password or even finger print protected. This change can protect you and your identity. Your documents will be stored away somewhere where only you can see them.

Knowing your Customer Demographics

Brett Clawson — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 15:58:26 +0000

As a business owner, success compels you to know who your target audience is. Market research is only the tip of the iceberg, knowing your customers demographics will make or break your marketing campaign.

Wikipedia describes customer demographics as the gender, age, race, income, mobility, disabilities, home ownership, location, educational attainment, and employment status of a consumer.

Determining these classifications can help the right marketing campaign triple in profits. However, not knowing your target audience could also cripple a campaign.

You may feel that your products appeal to many people, that does not mean that you should market to everyone.

Your brand will thrive if it has the right target audience.

What Is A Target Audience?

Eventually you will need to sit down and identify the people that buy your products the most.

Segmentation or targeting your main buyers will help you build your company at a fast pace. With the right audience, you can impress your clients/customers and attract even more potential buyers.

How Do You Identify Your Target Audience?

Focus on what problem you are solving for your customer. If you have just launched your product or service, then the best alternative is to research your competition. This process can take time and is a difficult task. So avoid assumptions and build your analysis on facts.

Once your business grows, you may want to re-evaluate your target market and make sure that their demographics have not changed.

Your target market is a major part of your business. Knowing who your main buyers are and refining your audience will keep you on a productive path.

Years ago the average marketer would target broadly. Sending direct mail to a local community or subdivision. During this time, people were harder to get in touch with and lived for word of mouth marketing. However, this method cost businesses a lot of money.

Now as a business owner, you have the opportunity to use demographic tools like Facebook to specify your target audience. You can interact with specific demographics based on their personal engagements. For example, a new mom or student who is getting ready to leave for college.

So How Exactly Does This Kind Of Targeting Work?

This method is a form of data mining marketing. It differs from traditional market research. Data mining will allow a business owner to use computerized tools that provide insights about their potential buyers.

For example, if a credit card company used data mining as a marketing strategy, they could determine a client’s buying habits from their credit card purchase history. This will allow the company to create targeted ads and make recommendations based on their purchases in the past.

Defining Your Target Audience

To clearly define your target audience, you must ask the questions that matter.

The questions can consist of:

How will these features benefit my client/customer?

Where do they like to shop?

Are they more comfortable with offline or online marketing?

Be specific with your questions. Customers can go into so many categories. There is an endless amount of variables and segments you can place them in. Some of the most common ones will consist of gender, age, location, marital status, occupation, hobbies and income.

Demographics is the key to your business success. Knowing how to place your customers into segments and targeting groups will offer a long-term solution to your business growth. This can impact other business opportunities, cross promotions and up selling.

Defining your target audience is an art. And narrowing it down can tremendously enhance your business. As the marketplace continues to change and shift your ideal customer will evolve. Get ahead of your competition by studying them regularly.

The Role Of Tech In Business Growth

Brett Clawson — Sun, 25 Aug 2019 02:45:09 +0000

Growing a business is challenging. Growth almost always refers to getting more sales, which requires a robust strategy. However, there are many principles to follow that result in growth. Consider a few proven methods to take any company to the next level.

Lean on Technology

You would be hard-pressed to find any successful companies these days that ignore technology. Some solutions can enhance every aspect of a business. It's worth exploring options to find the services that drive more sales.

A shortlist of invaluable programs include CRM, marketing automation, and analytics. Those are just scratching the service. There are programs to help every business become more productive, no matter which industry. Naturally, training your team will be the most crucial part of determining success. If they master the programs, they will do a more thorough job.

Training and tools go hand in hand. Bringing in a brand new platform is always challenging, but with the proper education and tools in place, it won't take long to recoup the investment. Modern tech streamlines processes and easily justifies the expense with increasing efficiency. If your company has been holding out on upgrades, adding a significant new program will supercharge growth.

Know Your Customers and Their Problems

It's essential to dig in and understand your customers and their greatest needs. Companies that tap into that knowledge can offer products and services to match their requirements. Extensive research will teach you what the customers want and how your company can get it for them. There are many unfilled niches. Exploiting those can help drive revenues, with low competition.

Knowing the customer's mindset also gives a glimpse into how much they'll pay for service. Study them and ask for feedback directly anytime there are questions. Most people are straightforward and will gladly give their opinions. It's worth listening and making a game-plan to appeal to their requests.

Never Forget the Power of New Offerings

Introducing new features and products to existing customers is a traditional method to drive sales. New customers bring in more revenue, and so does selling more stuff to existing ones. Those two principles are always in play for companies who grow year after year.

They find ways to enlarge order sizes through up-sells while also bringing in brand new customers from competitors. Both tactics require marketing and advertising and a commitment to top-end growth. A relentless push for new business is what separates successful companies from failing enterprises.

Use the Proper Legal Framework

Setting up and maintaining the correct legal framework will save business owners a lot of headaches. The corporate form and the legal structure work to protect the company and customers. Legal fees are not something most companies want to pay, but there's no avoiding the need for agreements.

It's not nearly as difficult to get affordable legal work as it once was. All kinds of reliable services are available online, reducing the costs for businesses. No matter which type of contract you need, you can find it. It's no longer a challenge to find services like Portland court reporters. when you want to fill in the blanks of your legal framework.

Positive Attitudes Fuel Growth

It may be worth teaching your team how to think positive. Most people aren't aware of how challenging it can be, especially in a tense environment. Teamwork is vital, but so is the idea that things are working well and everyone is on the same page.

Team building exercises help create long-lasting bonds. It's worth doing them now and again to keep spirits high. If you're not great at that, bring in third parties who specialize in recharging everyone's batter. Motivation is not something that lasts forever. Instead, it will wane if nobody energizes the employees. Growth requires motivated employees who want to push themselves further every day. That comes from a constant stream of encouraging words and a positive management style.