DEV Community: Mandavia Krupali

How outsourcing can be a revolution for startups

Mandavia Krupali — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 12:13:28 +0000

On an average, India has 4000 startups establishing themselves every year. Innovative ideas and incredible workforce back them up. This makes them function the best in the area of their expertise. Many of them also focus on ‘not much required’ departments like accounting outsourcing and lose focus on the core idea.

Outsourcing can be a Launchpad to Success: Here is Why
The prime support for the startups to work on their peripheral departments is the outsourcing of the entire process. As such the peripheral departments do not add value to the core idea for which the organization was developed. More importantly, outsourcing such functionalities as financial reporting or other financial documentation can save a lot of time and energy.

Informed Decisions

There are many reasons for the startups to grow organically well if certain departments or functions are outsourced.
Dedicate time for the Core Business: This is the most important aspect of outsourcing. Why is a start-up developed? It is an idea that can make wonderful business. So, spending time on developing the idea into a profit-making venture is more important than looking at and analyzing the financial reporting documentation of the company every month.

Experts Deliver the Best: Now, this aspect is to be considered meticulously. The company has a core belief on the idea. Subsequently, the manpower is hired to develop and work on the idea. Of course, the manpower selected are experts, as the start-up needs intelligent minds to make the company big. Same way, some companies support the other organizations by working for them in getting financial reporting done the best way. Indeed, they are experts too.

Valuable Money Saving Method: It is indeed suggested by the experts to outsource certain functionalities to the experts to cut down cost. More importantly, the people who work on it are experts and they shall deliver the best. Further, the cost incurred for the in-house employee is more than the outsourcing charges. The support staffs that are required to work on peripheral functionality can be an expert, but why spend.

Switching for Quality: The idea of outsourcing some support functionalities has flexibility too. Indeed, you look at the quality of the work. So does the outsourced firm too. If you feel the quality is not up to the standard that you are looking for, you have the option to switch to another one who can do this for you the better way.

Considering the 4 reasons, it is an excellent decision to outsource some of your not so important functionalities to an expert firm. It is common among the startups to look at making in a shorter span. This can be done through accounting outsourcing. If you are planning to do it by yourself, as it always thought by the startups, you are making the biggest mistake. What you will be doing is? Focusing on certain things that do not build your company.

Functionalities That Can be Outsourced

In any case, financial reporting, if done by an expert organization, shall not only help in sketching the documents but also can offer financial advice to improve in a few areas. This can be done only by experts. If an employee or a department is completely hired, that department would naturally do what they are supposed to do. No value add can be expected.
Now, to outsource a particular department or departments, we must choose the right ones too. Select those departments that require more time and energy but are sub-functions. Like the

Payroll Management
Marketing
Setting up Appointments
Data Entry
Data Processing

There are much more, that you can identify. Most importantly, financial reporting can be easily outsourced. It requires legal functions and financial knowledge. That too, the knowledge and experience must be impeccable. It is always of a wise choice to opt for accounting outsourcing.

This can majorly help the organisations focus on developmental areas. As such there are numerous companies emerge as to startups. The difference between the best and failure ones is the strategies developed to be number 1 in the market. If the sub-functions are outsourced, you will have ample time to experiment on new product or service that your company is working on.

The recent survey suggests that 90% of startups feel that outsourcing is the best choice. It not only reduces the cost but also gets the tasks completed the qualified way. More specifically, when outsourcing, they meet the deadlines. This becomes a crucial aspect of any startup.

Conclusion:
Having an idea and starting a firm needs guts and manpower. Using them wisely depends on the leadership qualities you possess. Make informed decisions and stay ahead of the curve.

Programmatic Advertising – What You Need to Know

Mandavia Krupali — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 07:30:28 +0000

The world of digital marketing and digital advertising is going the programmatic way. Programmatic ad spends makeup 43% of ad revenues. 65% of marketers shift to programmatic and the numbers are rising since that percentage is for the year 2016 and much has happened since then in programmatic ad tech. It is not just online ads that are going the programmatic way; even TV ads are programmatic with market share of programmatic in this segment being 39% in the US. 62% of media buying professionals are focusing more on programmatic TV. Mobile programmatic is not to be outdone with more than 80% of mobile display ads generated through this avenue. 50% of marketers now use programmatic for mobile ad inventory purchases.

Adobe Think Tank predicts that by 2022 over 80% of advertising will be programmatic. The US, at $ 24 billion in ad spends accounts for 62% of total global expenditure but the Asia Pacific region is catching up. Globally, advertisers are expected to spend over $ 84 billion which just goes to show how huge the potential is. So, what is programmatic and why is it such hot stuff.

What is programmatic advertising

In order to understand programmatic first take a look at how traditional advertising online works. There are publishers with websites offering space for advertisers. Advertisers may contact directly and negotiate rates and then place ads. They may go through an ad agency. The process is cumbersome, time-consuming and less effective since the purpose of ads is contextual targeting. Now enter programmatically. It changes the landscape. Everything is high-tech and automated through the programmatic ad tech platform.

The scenario is the same as before. However, the ad-tech platform with its supply side, demand side, real-time bidding and data management platform play a central role. There is minimal or no human involvement in the space buying and ad placement process. It happens automatically and in real time. The technology may even include tracking technology to track site visitors and pursue them as they flit from one site to another. This is important for targeting and retargeting.

Publishers list their space on the ad tech platform and specify minimum and maximum prices for display ads. Ads may be plain graphic, images, video and any other format with appropriate slots being available on publisher sites’ pages.

On the other side are advertisers and ad agencies as well as ad exchanges. Their goal is to place ads on sites that will generate clickthroughs, and, hopefully, conversions. They are looking to maximize return on investment. Programmatic is the smart platform that helps advertisers achieve their goal.
How it works

Publishers make available space on their sites on the ad tech platform. Suppose a visitor visits a site searching for content of interest to him. What happens is that the ad tech platform swings into operation. It detects the type of content the visitor is viewing and then initiates bids for advertisers offering relevant contextual ads aligned with the page’s content. The assumption here is that the visitor, if he is searching for specific information on particular products or services, is likely to click on ads if the ads are about the topic of his interest. This lets advertisers target people who are actually interested in a product instead of using a spray and pray method. As soon as the visitor clicks that page the real time bidding process starts but not before the programmatic tech has analyzed the cookies and determined visitor behaviors.

There may be several advertisers with products that would fit into that available slot. The slot goes to the advertiser who puts in the maximum bid. Here again, advertisers have the option of specifying just how high they will go. Advertisers may end up bidding against themselves unless they specify a ceiling. If there are no other bidders and if that ceiling is reached then the platform’s automated feature may allocate the space to the advertiser or simply cancel the bid process, depending on what the publisher has programmed into his offer. There are various types of bid strategies such as waterfall bidding, client-side and header.

All of this happens in the space of a few milliseconds, even as the page the visitor visits is loading on his screen. The ad too starts loading. Uninformed visitors may be surprised to see an ad that relates to the content they are viewing. Smart visitors know that programmatic is at work. It does not stop there. The visitor is being tracked. If he leaves one site and visits another, he will find similar ads popping up on that page.

With programmatic advertisers do not have to carry out extensive exercises in demographic and geolocational targeting – programmatic simply targets visitors who are actually interested in the product. It gets them maximum returns. Publishers benefit by getting maximum price on their inventory.

5 Key Tips to Develop a Powerful Brand Strategy

Mandavia Krupali — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 06:23:04 +0000

In simple terms, a brand can be a product, service, or concept. In today’s marketplace where thousands of similar products and services are available, a brand stands out from the other products, services, or concepts and attracts attention. Depending upon how the brand is marketed, advertised and promoted, it can create and stand for loyalty, trust, and mass-market appeal.

Importance of Developing a Brand Strategy

It is important to note that a successful business can’t survive if it doesn’t have a strong brand strategy. However, building a strong business strategy takes time, effort, and commitment. Below mentioned are some of the key tips that can help to build a strong brand strategy for your business:

Consider the Overall Purpose of Your Brand

There is always a powerful purpose behind every successful brand. A strong, well-distinguished brand can make a business grow much effortlessly. It is important to consider the overall business strategy and the purpose of your brand. When defining a brand purpose, you must focus on the below questions:

Why does your business exist?
What differentiates your business with others?
What problems your business can solve?
Why should people care?

The answers to these questions can be used as the foundation of your branding with the help of stories, taglines, visuals, slogans, messaging, and more.

Identify the Competitor Brands within Your Industry

Businesses must never imitate exactly what the other big brands are doing in the industry. However, they must be aware of what other businesses are doing well or where they are failing. The aim here is to differentiate your brand from your competitor brands and to persuade a customer to buy your products and services over your competitors as it is an important element to build your own brand strategy. Make detailed research about your key competitors or benchmark brands. When doing the research, make certain to find the answer to some basic questions:

Is your competitor brand consistent with messaging and visual identity across channels?
What is the quality of the products and services that your competitors are offering?
Are there any customer reviews or social mentions available online about your competitor’s brand?
What ways (both online and offline) your competitors are employing to market their business?

Make a comparison chart to analyze your strengths and weaknesses and accordingly develop your brand strategy. Always remember that in order to be effective, a brand name must be easy for consumers to recognize and remember.

Discover Your Target Clients

In order to make your marketing efforts work more effectively, it is vital to focus on having clearly defined target clients. When building a brand strategy, it is important to determine who exactly you are trying to reach. Systematic research on your target client group can help your business to grow faster and more profitable. You must figure out the detailed behaviors and lifestyles of your consumers. It is also important to understand the buyer persona. When describing the ideal customer for your brand who should consume your content, click on your ads, opt into your email list and ultimately choose your brand over others, you must consider factors like age, gender, location, income, education level, etc.

Research helps in understanding the perspective and priorities of your target clients, what their exact requirements and expectations are and how they see your business’s strengths and your overall brand. This further helps in reducing the marketing risks associated with developing a strong brand strategy. Narrowing down the focus on target clients will help to ensure that your brand message reach crystal clear to the intended recipients. After all, determining the ideal audience for your business will surely support your overall digital brand building strategies.

Develop Your Brand Positioning

It is important to determine your brand positioning within the professional services marketplace. So, what exactly brand positioning is? In simple words, brand positioning is the process of positioning your brand in the mind of your target customers. Your goal should be to create a unique impression in the mind of customers so that they get connected to your brand.

Brand positioning statements are usually for internal use and these should not be confused with company taglines or slogans. These statements guide the marketing and operating evaluations of a business and help to make key decisions that affect the customer’s perception of a brand. Therefore, make sure that your positioning statement must capture the core of your brand positioning. Moreover, it should be based on reality, as you will have to deliver on what you promise.

Build Up Your Messaging Strategy

Every business must have a marketing messaging strategy. Brand messaging usually appears on the website and in other materials that a business uses to promote its brand. A brand messaging strategy helps to translate your brand positioning into messages to various target customers including potential clients, potential employees, referral sources or other influencers. The messaging strategy for each customer should give emphasis to the most relevant points as each customer will have specific concerns that need to be addressed.

Conclusion:

These are some of the most vital steps to keep in mind when building a powerful brand strategy. When planned and developed carefully, a brand strategy helps you understand who you are and acts as a blueprint to help you in communicating it. So, if you are planning to develop a strong brand strategy, you can take the help of professional web branding services that can deliver you the best branding solutions based on the exact needs and requirements of your business and ultimately help you to reach your target customers.

IoT and 5G: What It Holds for the Future?

Mandavia Krupali — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 12:19:28 +0000

5G has ignited enough curiosity and hopes for the supposed high speed and connectivity for mobile device users. Particularly with the growing Internet of Things IoT software development market, 5G boosts the possibilities of building a hyper-connected ecosystem with nearly billions of internet-connected devices.
As per research predictions, the new 5G networks are likely to deliver loading speed faster than the current conditions and guarantees an average download speed of nearly 1Gbps!
Many telcos, technology and mobile device companies including Ericsson, Qualcomm, Verizon, Apple, OnePlus are prepping for the grand launch of 5G in 2020. While some of the industry bigwigs are also making massive preparations with the existing 3G and 4G technology to bolster number of always-online users. Concurrently, the spending on IoT has also escalated and is expected to reach 1.2 trillion USD by 2022, suggests data from IDC.
So, based on the above facts, it is easy to take a quick guess on the probable disruptions that both, IoT and 5G technology are going to have across industries. Given below are some of the changes that can be expected with a fine amalgam of both upcoming technologies:

A New Wave of Change in Manufacturing

The manufacturing industry will undeniably have the largest impact with the collaboration of IoT solutions and 5G. Manufacturing industry is already reaping the maximum rewards of IoT technology and with the introduction of 5G to the equation will help businesses live their full potential. But the greatest effects will be on industrial IoT.

Growth of Smart Factories and Warehouses

The factory floors in most industries are replacing manual labor with IoT powered devices and with the 5G ‘blessing’ it becomes easier to implement cutting-edge tools such as wireless sensors, smart robots and equipment that provide higher quality, control, safety and maintenance.

Smart Cars with AR and VR Enhancements

Imagine connected cars powered with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology! This opens opportunities for better vehicle control, safety features and network-enabled communication to manage autonomous cars. By leveraging 5G network’s speed and low latency, autonomous or smart cars can be equipped to provide accurate and real-time data for convenient navigation, traffic updates and coordinated driving.

Use of Robots and Telemetry Technology in Healthcare

5G networks and smart device like surgical robots, wireless medical telemetry and wearable devices in the healthcare industry will become a norm. This also will aid healthcare professionals to deliver better care with facilities like high-definition surgery videos and live transmissions of actions that can be remotely monitored. IoT and 5G would allow professionals to take preventive measures through regular updates and tracking at risk patients.

HD Experience in Gaming and Entertainment

5G will drive telcos to bid an adieu to fiber networks and turn to wireless broadband and better the quality of experience in gaming and entertainment applications with faster loading speed and low network latency.

Smarter Homes and Smarter Cities

From connected cars to smart sensors, thermostats, talking refrigerators to weighing scales, IoT solutions and devices may no longer have the same novelty in the approaching years. IoT solutions and device manufacturers have so far been offering wide range of connecting options such as Bluetooth, Wi-fi, 3G or 4G. With the introduction of 5G, IoT devices are going to surpass standards for connectivity, speed and data rates. They will provide new models for management of public transit systems and sustainable approaches for city planning and development.

Apart from the beaming with positive hopes, there are a list of challenges that early adopters of IoT and 5G are most likely going to encounter. The downsides to this development include:

Initial Adoption Hiccups: Disparity between available infrastructure and the promising IoT and 5G developments will stall and complicate the adoption process. This would mean manufacturers of IoT devices and IoT software development companies need to revamp their existing infrastructure to accommodate 5G without compromising on security and other protocols. Consumers are also going experience reality shocks with the need to redo their homes and workplaces with devices and tools that are 5G compatible.
Power Consumption: Manufacturers of IoT devices need to look for energy-efficient alternatives to power tools across smart cities, homes and factories around the world. Wireless and sustainable sources of power will do the needful and keep check at energy consumption.
Need for Future-proofing Devices and Appliances: In the consumer IoT market, swiftly changing trends and communication network models tend to make devices and appliances obsolete within a short span. This may increase e-waste and pose threat to the environment. Companies and manufacturers need to consider this factor and produce tools and appliances that is compatible to possible changes in communication networks.

Observations on the IoT market and emerging 5G industry indicate the transition to the new, collaborative ecosystem powered by both these technologies will be slow and gradual. Even though major network carriers have run multiple trials and plan to launch the 5G network in 2019, there is enough work required with respect to hardware devices, availability of carriers and wireless technologies to accommodate 5G services.
This is a clear message that 5G would be heavily dependent on its predecessors, 3G and 4G and exist alongside legacy architecture.

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