Mohit Tater's Blog, page 478

What Is The Pomodoro Technique

If you are an entrepreneur, managing your time is one of the most important skills that you require. You might think you are in control of your time but as tasks build up learning how to get them done efficiency can help out in the long run.

To most people planning and scheduling is a waste of time, and it is. But they help recoup some time in the end of the process making it a worthwhile investment.

The pomodoro technique is a widely used technique to help manage time.

What is “The Pomodoro”?

In the pomodoro technique you are required to divide your project or task into chunks. You then dedicate a set amount of time for each chunk, in most cases 25 minutes.

Once the 25 minutes are up,stop working on the project and take a short 2-3 minute break. Repeat this process 4 more times, after which you can take a longer break.

If you get distracted during your 25-minute session,then the clock resets and the session begins again.

Why the Pomodoro?

The pomodoro technique is extremely effective when you are someone who gets easily distracted or is constantly swamped with work coming from different sources. 

This technique helps you compartmentalise your work and also forces you to dedicate a stipulated amount of time concentrating only on that one chunk of work.

The idea behind the 25 minutes is that it is a big enough time slot to get meaningful work done but not long enough to feel overwhelmed or tried. Each time you finish a pomodoro or a 25-minute session, you feel a sense of accomplishment that fuels your next 25-minute session. 

This feedback loop of getting work done pushes you to be more efficient, getting the work done in a timely manner. People usually stack close to four pomodoro sessions together, which in turn results in a productive morning!

Pomodoro Is a Guideline Not a Rule 

Any productivity technique or practice is only a set of guidelines that one can follow. They are by no means strict rules that you must abide by. Every person is unique in respect to their work style and hence these techniques can be used with slight variations.

The general guideline for the pomodoro technique is to use the 25-minute  to get your work done and the next 5 minutes as a break. But your work might require you to maybe have 30-35 minute slots so as to do some meaningful work.  This is completely acceptable.

If this is your first time using this technique and you feel 25-minutes is little too long you can even set an alarm for 15 or 18mins. The idea being that you divide your work in chunks and dedicate a stipulated time for each chunk without any distractions.

Any workflow that accommodates these guidelines can be categorized under the pomodoro technique. There are many physical pomodoro timers that can help you implement this technique, characterized by the technique’s famous use of a tomato shaped timer,linked to here.

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Modmic Vs Blue Yeti

If you are in the market for a new mic you would have heard about the Blue Yeti or the Modmic. Both are really good mics that produce quality sound but where do you invest your money?

We are here to help you figure it out. Below we take a look at both mics and go over their pros and cons. Let’s jump right into it.

Blue Yeti USB

The Blue Yeti is a very popular choice for a lot of people. It comes in at around $130 making it an affordable option. But what makes this mic special is that it’s extremely versatile. It provides a lot of options to record audio in different environments. Let’s first take a look at the hardware.

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Hardware Overview

The Blue Yeti USB is a very solid device and comes in as one of the heavier mics. The stand Yeti comes with is also nice and solid, allowing for the mic to be placed in various configurations. The base is padded with rubber ensuring that it has a firm grip on the surface it is placed on.

There are also multiple color options that the Blue Yeti comes in making it a good choice for streamers or anyone wanting a mic that suits their existing setup. 

This mic also has a 3.5mm headphone jack for Zero-latency transmission, a feature that is a must for anyone looking to capture good audio. 

There are a few other knobs and switches on the mic, one for the gain control, and the other is a very handy mute button. These features make recording audio on the go extremely easy as corrections can be made in person rather than having to fix it in post.

There are volume control knobs as well.

Software Overview

The Blue Yeti USB mic is easy to set up and use, it is as simple as plug and play. It has support for both Windows and Mac operating systems.

 this means that there is no need to install any new drivers as it uses only the pre-installed ones.

The Blue Yeti USB mic also has its software called the Blue Sherpa which gives you the ability to install firmware updates.

It also allows you to control audio settings like gain, volume, headphone volume, and mute on the go.

Sound Overview

The Blue Yeti has four different recording modes that capture audio in different ways.

OmnidirectionalBidirectionalCardioidstereo



Omnidirectional

The omnidirectional mode captures audio from all the directions. Meaning that the mic is sensitive to noise from all around. This however will reduce the quality of the overall sound. This mode should be used in an environment such as a group discussion or meeting. 

In these situations, it is more important to have captured the voices and sounds of all the participants gathered around rather than focus on the sounds from a particular area.

Bidirectional

Bidirectional mode captures audio from two opposite ends of the microphone and ignores any noise coming from the sides. This mode is especially useful when you have to record an interview.

If you are looking into doing a lot of interview type recording we recommend you opt for a dual-mic setup. Singular mics can get the job done but if you are looking for a truly professional option having a dual mic setup would be the way to go.

Cardioid

The cardioid recording pattern is the default one and is the one that you might use most often. In the cardioid mode, the focus is on picking up sound from the front and ignoring the sounds from the back of the microphone.

It is perfect for podcasting, streaming, webinar sessions, or even doing voice overs for your videos. 

Stereo 

This mode captures audio in a way where you have good separation between audio from the right channel and audio from the left channel. People usually prefer this mode when they record some form of acoustic audio like from instruments.

General Overview

The audio quality that the Blue Yeti USB mic outputs is really good so much so that it can match studio quality, in the right surroundings. 

There have been some complaints, however, with regards to the mic auto muting itself during sessions. This is not a widespread problem but has happened to some users in the past. 

Also, the mic does tend to pick up background noise and can hamper the overall quality of the output. This is mostly in cases where you try to record instruments in stereo mode. 

The frequency range for the microphone is 20Hz – 20kHz which covers the hearing range for humans. This allows us to capture very fine audio as well.

The audio is also sampled at a rate of 16bits ensuring that audio sound crisp.

Although these issues are not deal breakers it is good to keep them in mind. In the end, it comes down to your use case to see if this mic is a fit for you.

Modmic

Modmics are especially useful if you are looking for gaming-centric microphones. They are extremely versatile and output great audio quality. They also come in cheaper than the Blue Yeti USB mic. A normal pair of modmics can cost you anywhere between $50-$100 making it a bargain when compared to the Blue Yeti. 

Modmics provide true portability and as they can turn any pair of good headphones into headsets. It’s sometimes disappointing to see a great pair of headphones not have an integrated mic system, that’s where modmics come in.

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Hardware Overview

Modmics are compact and can only be easily integrated into any setup. Setting them up also is as easy as plug and play with no need to install additional drivers. 

These mics can easily be stowed away when not required making them extremely modular as the name suggests.

These mics can also be integrated with many accessories that enhance either the quality of sound or eases the integration into the setup.

These accessories can be things like extension cables, hardbound cases, or even pop filters to help with the audio output.

Software Overview

There is no special software that is required to interface with these mics. They all have a simple plug and play mechanism making them a good choice for beginners to use in their setups.

Sound Overview

Modmics can be used in a versatile environment and situations because of their compact nature. But they generally have only a singular audio profile namely, the unidirectional mode.

In the unidirectional mode as explained above only audio that comes from one end of the microphone is picked up and sounds from the other areas are ignored.

This usually comes in handy while streaming, where only the voice of the host should be recorded and kept in focus. 

So the modmic bests the Blue Yeti in one way as it does not pick up any background noise.

Also, the frequency range is from 100 Hz–10 kHz which does not cover the entire range of human hearing. So if you’re going to use this mic to do very fine audio editing, you might miss out on some clips. 

These are however extreme cases and will not hamper day to day use for things like voiceovers or streams. 

Final Thoughts

Modmics provide great audio quality at a killer price and also integrates well into different setups due to its compact size. Most modmics however only have one audio profile meaning that they output good audio quality only in a few scenarios.

The Blue Yeti USB mic is more expensive than the modmics but does provide a larger feature set.

In the end, it comes down to the reason you want to purchase a microphone. If you are a gamer and the majority of your content is going to streams then you can get a killer deal by going with a modmic.

If your content covers a broader category then we suggest you pay the extra bucks and opt for the Blue Yeti USB mic. Its various audio profiles will help ensure that you capture the best possible audio in almost all scenarios.

Be it an interview, group discussion, or even a voiceover for one of your videos. The Blue Yeti USB mic also comes with a 2 year warranty which is always a plus.

You can check out the Blue Yeti USB mic here, and a collection of Modmics here.

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Workers May Be at Risk Because of Limits on Liability

As states across the country begin to reopen and lift stay-at-home orders, many are worried about their risk of infection at work as the pandemic continues to affect millions across various states. 

Some states have met this trepidation with new regulations that businesses must follow to reopen, such as social distancing, redesigning interior spaces to maintain six feet of distance between patrons, and utilizing personal protection equipment. However, other states are enforcing fewer rules and instead allowing businesses to operate within their own criteria of protection. 

In these instances, workers are worried about their safety as they are given the option to go back to work or stay home and potentially lose their unemployment benefits. Businesses claim that they are worried about opening and leaving themselves vulnerable to claims that workers or patrons contracted covid-19 while on their premises.

While an employee may have options for compensation under workers compensation if they get sick at work, this amount may not cover the possibility of serious medical care or possible death from the novel coronavirus. Workers are also worried that their lives will be unjustly put at risk for the gains of a business and then have their rights of just compensation taken away as states begin to place limitations on a business’s liability.

States like North Carolina and others will put limitations on the liability a business has for an employee who contracts covid-19 while at work. In some instances, businesses may be immune to any charges. 

“As businesses begin to reopen, there is an indecisive landscape ahead for both businesses and employees to face regarding infection with the novel coronavirus,” explained Attorney Ben Whitley of the Whitley Law Firm. 

Updates to Business Liability

One of the biggest concern’s businesses have is that reopening could put them at risk of lengthy and expensive lawsuits. On the flip side, they are also worried that staying closed could have an equally expensive cost. However, many workers are worried that their safety will be sacrificed in favor of businesses.

As workers across the country continue to have serious health complications from the coronavirus due to dealing with customers, republican lawmakers have pushed for temporary limits on liability so workplaces can have the confidence to open without fear of lawsuits stemming from the virus. This can limit the legal liability a business has in areas like worker privacy, employment discrimination, and product manufacturing. 

While employees may still have access to lost wages under workers compensation, some worry that there will not be remedy for medical bills or other costs stemming from infection caught at work. Furthermore, those opposed to the limits on business liability say that instead of tempting businesses to reopen, it will tempt them to relax their commitment to coronavirus regulations. Without fear of liability, some businesses may not bother enforcing social distancing, wearing masks while on the premises, or sanitizing surfaces, creating an unsafe work environment.

Currently, this law has only passed in North Carolina and is in effect for any claims arising 180 days or less after the executive order declaring a state of emergency in the state due to covid-19. Lawmakers in Texas and other states have also shown support for the law, saying that it will help restart the economy after months of downturn by giving businesses confidence that they will not face possible liability lawsuits once reopened. 

How to Proceed

This is an unprecedented time. As many are forced into impossible decisions and circumstances, workers and their families are having to reevaluate many elements within their lives. While some states have reopened and closed again, many others are on track to open within the coming weeks. This means the possibility of more businesses pushing lawmakers for limits on their liability.

The current changes to the law may limit a person’s rights in certain states, but there may be ways for employees to seek legal compensation through other methods. While it may be a confusing situation, there are many outlets for legal representation for workers who were infected while at their place of employment. 

As lawmakers continue to update the laws and regulations surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, some workers may find it helpful to talk to a personal injury or workers compensation attorney to understand the full breath of their rights if they go back to work during this complicated time.

Nonetheless, it appears that there is still much to be decided when it comes to the reopening of businesses during a global pandemic. As many start to reimagine their lives under a new normal, businesses and employees are trying to find a common ground with which to reopen and pursue a return to a more normal life. 

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Technology Advancements In Online Casinos

What does the future hold for casino sites? You can take a peek at what’s to come just by following the latest tech news. Popular gambling sites like https://teamgamblers.com/ regularly share news with their followers.

They are always on the lookout to incorporate new technologies with enormous potential to enhance the user experience. 

Just look at what the smartphone made for them! Now it’s entirely possible to play whenever, wherever only through an internet connection. And changes just keep on coming. Here are a couple of things casino sites are looking forward to further incorporate to their platforms.

Virtual Reality VR Gaming

While online casino sites are great, they are indeed a sort of ‘lonely’ experience. At least when you compare them to real-life casinos. 

The excitement in the air, the electrifying social interactions with other gamblers that are just as amped as you to roll the dice is something else. But there is also something else that technology is hard at work replicating. How? Through VR technology. 

Thanks to a VR headset, not only could you feel like you just walked through Bellagio’s door. Not only will it allow you to interact with actual dealers that are logged-in and using a VR headset just like you do, but also with other players as well. 

The possibilities of it are expanding rapidly. Soon you might even be able to catch the tells on other players’ faces live at the virtual poker table! 

VR data gloves gadgets can even add to the experience by letting you reach and grab virtual things with the virtual glove. Now, if only they could figure out how to bring you some drinks at the virtual reality table.

Cryptocurrency

Thanks to bitcoin, the whole world knows cryptocurrencies are digital money that, when transacting with it, the bank is not involved in any way. So, how do online gambling sites make use of it? 

First, they do away with bank fees entirely; you are not using their services, so they don’t get a cut which means more money for you. Secondly, there’s virtually no waiting time, there’s no bureaucracy involved at all to approve of the transaction, so you get to enjoy your money faster. 

Lastly, you only have to give your crypto wallet address, which is encrypted, to the casino. The heavy encryption makes it impossible to connect the wallet to you, so you preserve the anonymity of your gambling spendings. 

Thus, making what you spend your money at entirely your business and no one else’s.

Data Gathering

Data is business, and big data means a whole lotta big business. Nowadays, it is no secret that websites, including casino sites, track you and your online behaviour. 

While the idea of some entity always watching could freak out people, it appears that, in this case, benefits outweigh the costs. Big data and data gathering allows the online platform to offer a more personalized service to you as a player. 

It, not unheard-of casino sites putting out email promotions weekly but these promotions might be different for each user that receives it. How so? They use the data they have on your on-site behaviour and perceived tastes. 

With data gathering, your whole history as a user paints a comprehensive portrait of you as a player. This allows the casino site to tailor campaigns that are much more likely to catch your eye. 

Data gathering trends only grow more refined with time, now looking to also subtly affect the games you played to suit your sensibilities better.

Facial Recognition

It has been available for a while, so it’s not much of new technological development. Yet, widespread industry adoption of facial id recognition would make a nice step into further adding even more security to account managing. 

And this is all the easier thanks to most smartphones now being capable of doing it by default. It is a great alternative to incorporate to add just a bit more of security to your gambling activities online.

What the Future Holds for Casino Sites

All the aforementioned technologies paint a clear picture. What the future holds for casino sites is a closer replication of a real-life casino experience while further shielding the personal data you share with them. All in all, new technologies keep things looking bright for casino sites.

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Lessons you can Learn from your Competitors

Getting distracted by the competition isn’t the most productive way to spend your time as a business owner, but some healthy rivalry can help drive innovation, great customer experience and high-quality offerings. While it’s very easy to obsessively track your competitor’s every move, competition is a good thing for businesses and is seen in almost every industry and sector worldwide.

Through industry benchmarking and other competitor analysis tactics such as brand monitoring and SWOT matrixes, here are a few of the lessons that you can learn from your competitors.

1. Marketing strategy

The chances are that your competitors have tried many forms of marketing to your audience.

Not only does keeping an eye on your competitor marketing strategy help you get to grips with content and effective call-to-actions, but it also helps you to establish which channels and content forms do and don’t work.

For example, if your competitors have a lacklustre and barely-updated Facebook profile, or a YouTube channel where the videos are four years old, this will give you a great insight on whether or not that channel worked out for them, and can even give you insights on opportunities to seize for your own business.

Beyond digital marketing, offline marketing should be viewed in the same way. Take a look at the events they attend, the initiatives they are involved in, their print advertisements and PR pieces – this can really help you get to grips with their messaging, their activity and finding what really works for them.

2. Products that do and don’t work

If a competitor business has been going for long enough, chances are they’ve tried a few different product or service offerings along the way.

By looking at their focus now, particularly on their website and in any paid marketing strategies, this will give you a good insight into their sales and marketing (and, therefore, business) priorities. It may be that this product or service has the highest profit margin, that it sells the best online or that it makes up 80% of their sales volume, so be sure to keep track of which particular products or services they’re focusing on and regularly promoting. Doing this regularly will also help you to keep tabs on any new product launches and to respond accordingly as a business.

3. Their failures

Whether it’s ineffective marketing, high churn rate or a , your competitors are sure to have had a plethora of failures on their journey, especially if they’ve been going for a while.

Again, you can choose to learn from your competitors to not create the same mistakes from the get-go, or to do what they did – but better – in order to seize on any gaps.

A good example of learning from failures applies particularly with public failures like PR crises. After the event, try to understand what they did to respond, and whether or not their response worsened the situation. By looking at your competitors’ general crisis management strategy and its success (or lack thereof), you can put a plan in place for your own business to avoid or resolve a similar issue, should you ever face it.

To conclude, by doing regular industry benchmarking and competitor analysis, it’s easy to identify opportunities and threats as well as the successes and failures of your competitors’ activity. Leverage these insights by avoiding similar mistakes, replicating (and out-doing) their successes and seizing missed opportunities in their strategies and product offerings.

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3 Online Casinos Sites that are changing the Game in India

India has one of the fastest growing online gambling markets in the world and despite some restrictions, both gambling apps and online casino sites have managed to generate significant profits and returns over the years.

Without getting too much into it, there are loopholes in the current legal landscape in India that allow international online casinos to operate in India and allow Indian players to sign up as long as they accept the Indian Rupee as a currency.

This has led to many European casinos targeting the lucrative Indian market to capture a piece of it for themselves. In this article, we’re going to take a look at 3 top online casino sites in India that are literally changing the game in the country.

Royal Panda

Royal Panda is one of the top online casino sites in India. Along with providing a wide range of casino games such as Blackjack, Roulette, Slots, and more, Royal Panda also comes with an online sportsbook where players can make place bets on some of the most exciting sporting events around the world. 

Other than offering a top-notch gambling experience, Royal Panda also takes customer support very seriously and has a pretty great loyalty program. Lastly, a lot of players might also be taken by their adorable Panda mascot and the overall brand in general. 

JeetWin

JeetWin is a pretty new online casino that was launched in 2017. While it started with offering only a few online casino games, today it offers almost every kind of online casino game you can think about from basic RNG card games to live casino games where professional dealers conduct the game in real-time.

Recently, JeetWin also added sports betting to its list of features but currently, it would be fair to say that it is still in early stages. 

One of the key features that make JeetWin great is the easy payment channels for Indian players such as UPI, PayTM, and PhonePe.

LeoVegas

LeoVegas is one of the best online casino sites in the world, winning various awards such as “Online Casino of the Year” at Global Gaming Awards and also “Mobile Operator of the Year” at the International Gaming Awards last year.

Offering almost every type of online casino games including table games, live casino games, slots, and more, LeoVegas brings the best of online casino experiences to Indian players.

The future of online gambling in India

The online gambling market in India is on the rise and even though the legal landscape usually changes very slowly, there is a chance that the entry barriers would be lowered for online casinos based in India too.

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Why Should You Use An Employee Handbook Software For Your Business?

Hiring new people and walking them through the company policies and procedures can be a daunting task to complete. There are a lot of things to be covered like introduction to company culture, communicating employee expectations, making rules & regulations clear and explaining employee benefits.

You cannot expect to communicate these things to your employees in an old-fashioned way. There are a number of modern techniques and tools used to improve how information is communicated at the workplace. One of which is an employee handbook.

An employee handbook clarifies company policies & procedures and ensures consistent implementation of goals, mission, vision, objectives and culture. 

Having an employee handbook software for your business serves numerous useful purposes. Some of which are mentioned here.

1. Saves Time And Effort

Manually designing a handbook takes a lot of time and dedication and no company’s HR has that much time on their hands. And on top of that, keeping it up-to-date can be even more frustrating because workplace policies are always changing depending on the company or employees needs on a case to case basis.

Using an employee handbook software like AirMason provides customized or pre-designed templates which makes it a lot easier to create an employee handbook without going through too much hassle. Also, keeping a track of how many employees are actually reading those policies becomes a breeze.

2. Introduces Employee To The Company

The most important section of an employee handbook is the introduction of an employee to the company. This entails the story of the organization, the vision it has, its mission statement, company culture, the unique selling proposition that it offers, what sets it apart from others in the industry and last but not the least how can the employee easily blend in to the culture of the organization.

This way, the employees have a clear idea of what it is that they’re signing up for. They can also easily evaluate if that is the sort of work environment they want to be working in and whether the company seems to fulfil the employee’s long term goals or not.

3. Helps Employee Know What Is Expected Of Them

It is important to educate employees about the company but it is also equally important to educate employees about their role in the company. When you are recruiting newbies, it is essential that they be made aware of their role and responsibilities in the company and how their contributions will add value to the business. 

This is a great way to get better results from your employees as this makes them aware of the general company procedures, timekeeping, reporting, their rights & responsibilities and employee benefits.

4. Automatic Compliance Updates

Employee laws can change on a federal, local or industry level anytime anyday depending on the location of the company. Alot of handbook builders provide the feature of automatic updates in accordance with the changes in the workplace laws.

Image changing policies in a manual employee handbook every time a new law is in practice! An employee handbook software lets you customize the policies just in case your company comes up with flexible workplace policies and introduces new policies from time to time.

5. Improve Enterprise-wide Communication 

Effective communication between departments of an enterprise plays a very critical role for the growth of a business. Good communication ensures healthy teamwork and hence the prosperity of a business while poor communication can be a total disaster. 

When every team member is aware of their responsibilities and their role in the wide scheme of the business, they are able see the bigger picture and contribute productively to the business. Features of an employee handbook software like automatic updates and signature tracking ensures that every employee is staying up-to-date on whatever is happening in the company.

Obviously there are a number of other ways an employee handbook software can prove to be productive for your business. We’ll leave it to you to find other reasons.

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COVID-19 Business Impact: Changing Perspectives

There is no doubt that the Coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we do things forever. What used to be a simple commute to the office, or popping out to grab a sandwich on your lunch break, are now a lot more complicated than they used to be.

And while this new way of doing things is essential to protect ourselves and prevent another outbreak, it certainly takes some getting used to. 

But what about how we work? At the beginning of March, the United Kingdom was put into lockdown, and we were advised to work from home if possible. And, as people all over the country sat down at their dining room tables or ordered desks from online retailers and got to work, the question that came to mind is, ‘why wasn’t this a possibility the entire time’?

Of course, being able to work from home wasn’t the case for everybody, and key workers still had to make the trip into their working environments. But adjustments were made here also, and the usual working procedures that they had become so familiar with were suddenly flipped upside down to ensure their safety as they went about their work.

While we’re not completely out of the woods as far as Coronavirus is concerned, the ‘R’ rate has remained at a steady, low figure, and as such, businesses have started calling their employees back into the office. 

But how are businesses starting to change their perspectives when it comes to how their employees work to keep them safe, whilst adhering to government guidelines to prevent a further outbreak?

Social Distancing

If there’s one phrase that we’ve all had to learn in 2020, it’s social distancing. Keeping a meter or two away from your co-workers can be tricky in some settings, though, especially if you’re used to working in a traditionally crowded environment such as a pub or a restaurant. 

In these situations, businesses have compiled with social distancing advice by removing the number of tables and limiting the number of customers they allow in at one time. This does come with the unfortunate side-effect of reduced profits; however, many places are also limiting the amount of time each booking has the table for, allowing them to clean and sanitize before opening it up to another group of diners.

Working from Home

Social distancing in an office environment is a little bit harder, but can still be accomplished through the removal of desks. However, in most cases, employers have allowed their employees to continue working from home as they have been doing since lockdown was first implemented.

Zoom calls have replaced the usual boardroom meetings, and working from home has allowed everything to become a little more streamlined than it was before. Some employers have even seen an increase in productivity, noting that fewer office-based distractions have prevented interruptions throughout the day. 

Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic certainly hasn’t seen the demise of the office block, it’s certainly provided a lesson for businesses in thinking outside of the box a bit more and reaffirming their trust in their employees work ethic. 

Of course, larger businesses will occasionally require employees to come into the office, but this shouldn’t be done at the expense of social distancing. A rota system is a good idea for offices with large numbers of employees, allowing some to work from home and bringing others into the office on certain days of the week. 

Other Safety Measures 

For retail and other businesses that require face-to-face interaction with customers, additional safety measures are being implemented alongside social distancing to ensure the safety of the employees and the customer.

Many shops now have counter-to-ceiling length plastic screens at the checkout, acting as a barrier between the employees and the customer and preventing any potentially harmful air droplets from being contracted. 

Face masks are also becoming mandatory around the country when shopping, as well as on public transport, in order to prevent the spread of Coronavirus when in close proximity with other people. 

A lot of businesses that have employees who are handling goods or interacting with customers are also beginning to provide disposable gloves as part of extra safety precautions.

Customer Safety

A business has a responsibility to take care of both its staff and its customers, and during uncertain times a customer that feels as though they are being kept safe is one that is almost guaranteed to return.

Many establishments that deal with customers on a face-to-face basis are now installing hand sanitizer dispensers and entry and exit points to the building. This gives the customer the peace of mind that the business is taking things seriously, and gives them the confidence to shop there safely. 

Floor stickers with social distance spaces or directing a one-way system around the shop floor also help customers to feel looked after. 

A lot of businesses are finding that providing these measures also help encourage their customers to adhere to social distancing rules when they are inside the shop, and gives them a clear indication of what they need to do inside the premises in what can often be a confusing situation. 

Growing Business

The sad truth is that the Coronvirus pandemic has seen a lot of businesses lose staff, make budget cuts, and struggle to operate as consumer demand falls. But, as perspectives on how businesses operate changes, the way in which they continue to grow and add value to the economy will also evolve. 

COVID-19 is still a threat, and without a readily-available vaccination, a business needs to think differently and provide the appropriate precautionary measures for its employees and for its customers. But, with a decreased cash flow and having faced several months of not being able to trade, affording essential safety equipment is a new struggle. 
One great way for a business to continue to grow and to get back on its feet following the pandemic is to look to investors for support, as Javad Marandi explains. The more support a business gets, the more well-equipped it can be to take on the new challenges it will face over the next years as we start to change the way we work.

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Advantages of using AI in Mobile App Development

The AI software market is expected to grow 54% by the end of 2020, to a total of 22.6 billion U.S. dollars, making it one of the fastest-growing technologies in the world.

Slowly but surely, AI is becoming a necessity for many industries rather than a competitive advantage. Mobile app development is still one of the areas where AI is in its infancy. It helps mobile app developers create premium products that benefit customers.

AI is a very versatile technology and its applications can stretch as far as the imagination of your data science team. In this article, we’ve chosen six areas where AI can solve real business problems, increase revenue, and streamline business processes. 

You can predict your customers’ behavior

AI can help you gain more insights into your customer base, and later predict their behavior, preferences, and buying intentions. This opens up for better personalization of marketing messages and the customer experience because it takes a customer’s intent into account, and not just their transactional or interaction history.

There are multiple levels of analysis you can expect from AI:

●      Analysis of emotions and intent. Intent and emotions customers channel when they talk about your brand – on their social media or in an email to you – can tell you a lot about their future action and what they think about your brand overall. Unfortunately, this requires a lot of time and effort to analyze.

With AI, however, you can mine unstructured feedback and get deeper insight from vastly different types of feedback data. These insights can then drive action from your organization – everything from PR, marketing to customer service, and product development.

●      Analysis of audience segment patterns. We don’t need to emphasize how important it is to know your clients and tailor your product and service offerings to their specific needs. AI can also aggregate all data about your clients – structured and unstructured – to identify patterns in customer behavior. It can also remove human bias and find patterns that human marketers are unable to spot.

As a result, you might end up with segments such as “Fathers who like indie music and are born in the fall” instead of “Fathers between 30 and 45”. With detailed segments like these, you can increase your revenue by 760%.

●      Identifying future actions with predictive modeling. AI can also help you understand the key attributes of any historical customer experience data you already have. Typically, this applies to a better understanding of the customer journey. What experiences result in which customer actions, and how can this be replicated in the future.

Provide a personalized mobile app experience

By collecting and analyzing customer data such as past purchases, location, preferred brands, etc you can deliver personalized experiences that include recommendations unique to each user and a higher level of service.

Take chatbots, for example. Just a few years ago, chatbots were only able to answer a few simple, pre-programmed questions. Today, chatbots can act like professional sales assistants or knowledgable customer service representatives.

Chatbots can help customers browse the latest product releases, share interesting tips or exclusive information based on what a customer is interested in. Thanks to advances in natural language processing, chatbots can understand customers and offer product recommendations.

Chatbots can do that even without having access to your existing CRM system. By asking a series of questions, the AI chatbot can gather basic information about the customer’s preferences and make recommendations based on that.

To make the user experience of your app even better, you can also implement voice control. After all, almost half of consumers are already using voice search almost every day, a number that is only expected to grow in the year to come. Customers are especially interested in features such as predictive messaging and content-aware computing.

In general, voice control can reduce the number of pain points your customers might have, which we will cover in more detail later in the article. It allows for a more seamless and intuitive interaction with the app. 

Make the shopping experience 5x faster

Our brains are wired to recognize pictures faster than words. It seems natural to bring that element of our nature into how we search and shop for products. This is heavily backed by numbers.

A study conducted by Hubspot found that customers using text-based search spent 2.5 minutes looking for a particular garment, while those using visual search found the right product after only 27 seconds.

As a result, the shopping journey is shortened significantly because the frictions of the text-based search are removed, resulting in a higher purchasing rate. In fact, as many as 62% of shoppers state that they are more likely to make a purchase if they can quickly discover and identify a product they are looking for.

This all comes down to the fact that we rarely look for one particular object. We tend to want a particular look that fits our style or a specific aesthetic, which can be hard to describe by words. The ability to search using images removes the pain point of having to search for words (and ultimately fail and refrain from making a purchase).

The easier way to implement visual search into your AI mobile solutions is to allow users to search by snapping a picture on their phones, uploading one, or even referencing one from a social media platform. 

If you are selling products on your app, this is a great way to increase the average basket size by suggesting something similar from your catalog if the size of type of the product a user is looking for is sold out. Or you can offer complementary products that tie into the general aesthetic the customer is looking for.

The fashion industry has been at the forefront when it comes to adapting visual search but this technology can suit other industries as well. Visual search is perfect for products that are hard to describe or products that have a very generic description, thus resulting in a wide search result. 

Improve the security of your app

The same principles that enable AI to segment clients or search using an image, can also make your app and the user experience more secure.

Some applications of AI are simple, such as using the customer’s face for logins. But others are more sophisticated and have the potential of saving your company $3.93 million, the average cost of a data breach in 2019.

A key benefit of machine learning in cybersecurity is that it identifies and reacts to suspected problems almost immediately, preventing potential issues from disrupting business. According to IBM, AI can respond up to 60x faster than human beings. That is because AI can both identify relationships between things like malicious files, suspicious IP addresses, and false login attempts and trigger the appropriate security procedures as a result.

AI’s learning abilities make it possible to draw upon previous security breaches to identify future threats, even if they take on a new form. Because AI can analyze cybersecurity threats on the code level, even tweaked or new versions of malware can be detected and blocked as long as they share some characteristics of previously malicious events.

AI can not only elevate your cybersecurity but it can also automate some of its functions. Humans will no longer need to perform certain repetitive tasks, as well as try to monitor every aspect of security at once.

Simplify data extraction

In the same way social media chatter can be hard to sort through and analyze, it can be hard to draw valuable insights out of pdf, text, and image documents without significant time spent.

AI can help understand any type of financial, medical, and scientific documents regardless if they include lists, figures, photos, bars, charts, headers, footnotes, ToCs, stock quotes, etc. This makes it easier to collect data from different sources and convert it into one type for further analysis.

It can also make all types of documents more searchable without the need to convert all of them into one format. You can automate and scale certain business processes, saving you a lot of time, effort, and money.

Key takeaways

AI has great potential to solve complex business problems. With enough data available, you can better understand the needs of your customers. Once you understand those needs, you can offer a hyper-personalized mobile experience to your clients, both in the way they shop and interact with your app.

With AI, you can take the security of your business and app to the next level. AI has the capability to analyze and respond to security threats up to 60x faster than a human being. Additionally, AI’s ability to learn overshadows that of a human, making it better at recognizing patterns in future security threats.

The post Advantages of using AI in Mobile App Development appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

Key Ways Remote Selling Can Benefit Businesses

Businesses have to be willing to change and improve. There’s no way that businesses can excel by simply staying within their comfort zones. If you have a traditional business set-up such as a brick-and-mortar store, there’s so much that you’re missing out on if you’re not using technology to your advantage. A great way to embrace change is by getting started with remote selling. 

Remote selling is also known as virtual selling. It refers to the process of meeting with and selling to potential clients over the screen, rather than face-to-face.  Many businesses that have opened up to this mode of selling enjoy so many benefits, including the following:

1. It Comes With Low Startup Costs

If you have the extra workforce to handle remote selling, investing in this strategy can be cheaper compared to other modes of selling. With remote selling, your sales representatives meet with potential clients on screen rather than face-to-face.

If you’ve been running your business for a long time, you know that face-to-face selling can get quite costly. For example, if your sales team has to sell to clients that located in distant locations, you’ll need to worry about travel expenses including fare, gasoline and meal expenses. These costs add up, particularly if this is your only means of meeting with and selling to potential clients.

Through remote selling, your team can still meet and close deals with potential clients, but in front of a computer screen. You don’t need to worry about the expenses enumerated above, and save your business quite a sum of money.

2. It Offers Ease Of Expansion

Having a remote workforce makes it easier for your business to start remote selling. And when you do, you’re able to expand your business effortlessly as asynchronous selling is now possible. Remote employees can sell at different times of the day, without being confined to local office hours. You’re also no longer confined by your physical location, because you can now do business in other places through your remote team. Even better, you can also reach new clients on a global marketplace.

As you’re able to reach more clients beyond your locality, you’re also able to kick start your company’s growth. Without incurring hefty costs or raising additional capital, you’re able to achieve this substantive growth through remote selling.

This advantage is possible because your employees don’t even have to be present in your physical location to perform remote selling. As long as they stay employed as a member of your team and abide by your sales practices, they can do their job efficiently, wherever in the world they may be.

3. It Keeps You Competitive

If other businesses in your niche have started virtual selling and you haven’t, this means that you’re no longer competitive. You’re losing market share in favor of the competition, simply because you’re not able to reach all those other clients that they have.

Remote selling can, therefore, make you competitive. Remote selling is even more relevant today, as many businesses are on a standstill. Face-to-face meetings and physical shopping are still prohibited in many places across the world because of the pandemic. This has pushed other businesses to venture into remote selling so they can rise back up and not lose their market share. You should consider following their example.

4. It Cuts Down Current Expenses

If your business is struggling to make it past these trying times and you want to cut down on expenses, remote selling is a viable solution. The great thing about remote selling is that you can effectively cut down your expenses, without sacrificing your current human resources. This works as a win both for your business and your employees.

Here are some areas where remote selling enables your business to save on expenses:

Advertising costs. Marketing across multiple channels can be costly. This is also the case when your modes of marketing aren’t on a direct basis, such as email marketing. With general advertising on websites, print, television and other areas, you’re able to reach out to your target clients but not directly. This makes it less effective than remote selling where you can talk to your potential clients, pitch your products, and have a one-on-one connection.



Rent expense. With remote selling, you can employ members of your workforce from other physical locations. This means they don’t have to do their work in your office as all they need is their laptop to have a virtual selling channel. You can save on rent by getting a smaller office, and you don’t need to get your employees to report to work physically.



Conclusion

Remote selling may seem like a big adjustment and a complicated medium at first. However, once you get the hang of it, remote selling can be very good for your business. The benefits above are only a few of the many that your business can enjoy. Since most of the world is moving towards digital or online platforms, your business should do so, too. In doing so, you can stay relevant and competitive in your specific industry.

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