Mohit Tater's Blog, page 526

How Exactly Does Team Building Improve Employee Performance?

As long as team building has been a part of the corporate ethos, there have been people who’ve questioned its efficacy. Make no mistake, the reason for this questioning is often the same: someone wants to cut corners, pinch pennies or trim excessive expenses from the budget. And, in doing so, they take aim at what they think is an unnecessary corporate ritual.

The only reason it gets mistaken for unnecessary, though, is that it doesn’t have a clear return on investment. It’s practically impossible to track the increases in productivity and performance quality that team-building activities engender, and so budget-minded individuals write it off.

That’s a mistake. While it’s impossible to quantify team building with a dollar amount, it does have appreciable, actionable, positive effects on employee performance. This has been studied, peer reviewed and – for all intents and purposes – proven.

But how exactly does team building improve employee performance? In what ways, and according to what metrics? Well, here’s your answer. 

It Strengthens Relationships

A team of mavericks might get you a few victories. But, talented as they may be, their isolated, siloed attempts at performance pale in comparison to a group. When you pool talents together, you don’t just get the sum of their parts – you get a collaborative, cumulative pool of talent that feeds whose constituents feed off each other and bolster each other’s success. 

It Fosters Curiosity and Discovery

When you choose a team building activity that’s new and unusual, that requires learning and collaboration, it fosters a communal and individual sense of curiosity. Your employees should always be curious. They should always be hungry to learn more, to approach new tasks with a desire for discovery. In its subtle way, team-building exercises reinforce the importance of that sense of discovery. 

It Re-Contextualizes Work

When you throw an epic corporate team building activity it transforms the job from something utilitarian and necessary, to something fun and exciting. Seeing everyone in the workplace is one thing, but seeing everyone out and having fun can do wonders for employee morale and workplace culture. It helps re-contextualize the work, and demonstrate its capacity for fun and happiness. That’s something that employees will definitely carry back to work with them the next day.

It Promotes Healthy Competition

Cutthroat competition can be toxic in a work environment, but you do want some sense of competition. There should be personal stakes involved in work, and in doing a good job. The great thing about team building activities, especially more modern ones like axe throwing, is that they promote competition but in a safe, healthy environment. This friendly, spirited sense of competition will directly translate to the workplace, and you’ll be left with a team that tries to best each other not out of selfishness but out of play.

Next time someone proposes taking money out of the budget for team building activities, politely remind them that, while its benefits are difficult to see as a dollar amount, they are real and profoundly important. 

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5 Ways to Improve Client Management in 2020

Working with clients isn’t a job for the faint of heart. Whether you work in marketing, commissioned art, law, or finance, you probably have a few pain points that you deal with on a daily basis when you interact with your clients. Maybe it’s a lack of communication that causes your relationships to suffer, perhaps there’s not a whole lot of mutual respect in your relationships, or maybe you’re even missing payments from your customers. One thing’s for sure: working with clients is no walk in the park.

However, if you’re willing to make some changes to your process in order to improve your client relationships, things can become much easier for both parties. In this post, we’ll go over 5 tips to help you enhance your client management skills in 2020.

1. Be grateful

If there’s one thing we can agree on with challenging or easy-going clients, it’s that no matter what their disposition or communication habits look like, both keep your business up and running. Without clients, you wouldn’t have work to do, revenue to record, or a livelihood to live on.

Here’s another thing to remember. Difficult clients care, for the most part anyway. They expect things to be perfect because that’s what they hired you for.

The point is, your clients—even the difficult ones—keep your business going, so be sure to show your gratitude for their business. Whether that means buying them corporate gifts during the holidays or showing your appreciation in your correspondence, take some time to remind yourself that they are the people you have to thank for your paycheck at the end of the month.

2. Keep organized

When you think back to any quarrels you’ve had with current or previous clients, the issue probably arose because of a lack of communication or organization. Maybe they weren’t looped in to a certain process or perhaps they misunderstood the outcome of a project. How do you combat these issues? Keep organized! It’s as simple as that—we’ll discuss communication in more detail in just a minute.

As for staying organized, make it a point to keep all client communication records handy and up-to-date at all times. This way, you can both protect yourself if an issue comes up and you can also make it an accessible resource for clients, too.

One helpful tool to do this is to use an automatic speech to text transcription service on client calls. Once you’ve finished the meeting, keep a copy for yourself and send a copy to the client, along with a list of action items as well as an abbreviated summary of items discussed.

3. Touch base

As we mentioned before, miscommunication is a detrimental ingredient in a recipe for client disasters. To avoid this, it’s essential to be clear with your communication and keep updates consistent. One way to make sure your communication is hitting the mark is to use an online editing tool to a) ensure you’re communicating professionally and b) help you craft messages that are conveying the right tone.

4. Revise your invoicing system

Missing payments is probably the worst thing that can happen to your business, for obvious reasons. But the reality is, things slip by the wayside—unintentionally or otherwise—so you need to be more careful with invoicing than you might think. Investing in an invoicing system is essential if you want to keep your finances and client communication in order.

If you bill on an hourly basis, you’ll want to be sure that the invoicing tool you choose either has a time-tracking system or can be integrated with one. This is important for you and your clients in case they ever ask to see some proof of time or want to review past bills.   

5. Be transparent

When you work with clients, you’re building a partnership and the best partnerships are honest with one another. Whether you’re slated to miss a deadline or aren’t hitting the marks you need to, it’s important to be transparent with your clients. Of course, this comes with communication. So keep things updated and clear at all times!

Wrapping up 

No one really prepares you for dealing with clients in the real world, and you certainly can’t predict how your clients will react or not react to different things. But with this guide, you can definitely make your client management processes more seamless than ever!

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How To Choose The Best Credit Card That Matches Your Lifestyle

Finding the right credit card to match your lifestyle can sometimes be quite challenging. But, when you’re able to create this match, it gives you many wonderful benefits financially. When the credit card you own matches your needs and your lifestyle, you’re better able to make use of the card to your advantage. Using a credit card appropriately has more financial benefits than dangers.

With the vast array of card options out in the market today, yes, it can be a challenge to select the right one. These tips help select the best card for your preferences:

1. Eliminate Options Not Eligible To You

Even when you go just to one bank, let it be known to you that there’s still going to be several options presented to you, even for starter credit cards. Right there and then, you’ve got to find a way to narrow down your choices immediately.

This you can do by looking at the maximum spending limit capacity of the card. When this is way beyond what you can earn in a month, then you know this card doesn’t suit your lifestyle. Else, you’re only going to put yourself in a dangerous trap of debt by not being able to pay for all that you’ve spent.

2. Consider Your Spending Habits

As you’ve narrowed down some options, now another question you’ve got to ask yourself is how you intend to use the card. Are you confident that you can pay for the card in full, right in the next month when it comes due? Or are there instances that you know you’re going to fall short with your payments? Is the card something that you’re going to use for all your bills, utilities, and even shopping expenses? Or is it something that you’ll only pull out during emergencies?

To answer these questions, be mindful of these following pointers:

If the card is only going to be used for emergencies, then choose a card without a lot of features, and with the lowest interest rate possible, plus low maintenance fees.



If you know that you can pay the card in full every month, the interest rate shouldn’t be a factor for you to consider. You should consider the card with no annual fee and a more extended grace period instead.



If the card is something that you’re going to use for all of your bills, choose the one with a more generous spending limit. Also, consider the perks such as cashback, points earned, and other rewards. This is a good way for you to accumulate points as you pay for your bills.



3. Consider Also The Tertiary Perks

Apart from the inherent rewards and points that come along with the card, consider also the possible tertiary perks. These refer to the establishments that your card provider has partnered with to provide the best benefits to you, the cardholder. Usually, you’ll get to know this by talking more with the bank representative. It may even be seen in the detail of the fine print of the documents that come along with the card’s application forms.

Make it a habit to read through those. Choose the tertiary perks that you know you can best use. Do you enjoy dining out with your family? Select the card with restaurant perks. Would you love those gift checks for extra shopping perks? Then choose that.

4. Check Also The Fees And Penalties

As fun and fabulous as having a credit card might be, do note that it also comes with fees and penalties. Remember that when you’re paying through credit card, you’re not paying with your own money. You’re borrowing from the bank. This means that cards are also inherently laden with fees and other penalties.

The fees typically revolve around the following areas:

Fees for transactionsThe difference in exchange ratesBalance transfersCash advancesPaying the bill late

While these fees may be universal, the difference usually is with the amount of the fees and penalties. When the card is something that you know you’re going to use regularly, be mindful also of the additional charges that these fees are going to entail. Else, it might cause a big hole in your monthly budget.

Conclusion

A credit card is always a handy tool to have. But, when misused, it can also lead to more danger than is good. Especially when the credit card doesn’t match your lifestyle and preferences, you wouldn’t be able to make the most out of its perks. This makes your credit card’s features useless. As you select one from among the variety of options, keep these tips in mind. That way, you can better match your credit card with that of your needs.

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Personalized Direct Mail for Businesses: Here’s What You Need to Know

Mail personalization is not something new. For many years, companies have been customizing direct mails to enhance customer experience, strengthen customer relationships, and to make customers feel special. Today, it is a common practice to address customers using their names when sending a piece of mail.

But these strategies are not enough to attract new and engage current customers. The ever-changing customer sophistication and technological advancements are some of the things that you should deal with as a marketer. You, therefore, need to be creative when creating your marketing campaigns. 

To compete effectively with hundreds of other businesses seeking customer’s attention, you will need to have custom office envelopes for marketing mails, customized images, landing pages, offers, and graphics. 

By taking advantage of modern tools, you can get information about current and potential customers on organic customer databases. Use this information to create customized marketing campaigns.

Why You Need to Personalize Your Direct Mails

Since people are bombarded with a lot of physical mails and emails everyday, they are incredibly selective about what to read and what not to read. People are more likely to open direct mail from a company they are familiar with compared to if it came from an unknown organization.

Let’s look at the reasons that make mail personalization so effective:

It Makes Customers Feel Special

Most people, if not all, feel special when they get a customized piece of mail and are likely to give it more attention. Using a person’s name in a conversation increases their chances of connecting with you.

The same is true for direct mail. When a person sees their names on the envelope, they are more likely to open it.

It Boosts Customer Experience

When you send a personalized content, the recipient has an easier time deciding and taking action. Imagine going through a list of popular movies and being unable to choose a Friday movie. Frustrating, right?

The process can be much easier and quicker if, for instance, Netflix offers you a compiled list based on your viewing history, which it does.

It Offers Relevance

A person’s mind continually filters irrelevant information so it can concentrate on what matters most. Filtering is what allows you to choose who to talk to when a lot of people are seeking your attention. Typically, personalization takes advantage of this brain capability to get attention. By tapping into people’s interests, you grab their attention and make them feel special.

It Boosts Customer Response Rate

Mail personalization makes customers respond better. When you personalize your message according to the needs and desires of each individual customer, you’re not only making them feel special but you are aligning your message with their personality. Results? Most of them are likely to respond to your offer.

Offers Become More Appealing

Personalization allows you to tailor your message to a specific person or audience. By taking advantage of the information you’ve collected from customers based on their buying history, you can design more appealing offers.

With personalization, you can use each person’s demographics, preferences, and buying history to personalize offers.

How to Personalize a Direct Mail

Now that you know the benefits of direct mail personalization, let us look at some ways to personalize your next direct mail campaign:

Offer

Designing your offer to align with the customer’s needs is an effective personalization technique. Succeeding in targeting a person’s needs increases their chances of responding. This can be done by researching a customer’s purchase history with your company.

Gather as much information about your customers and then use that information to personalize your marketing offers.

Images

You can use visuals to get your mail opened. Just remember to tailor your images according to each recipient’s preference.

Consider choosing images based on the location of each recipient to make the content more relevant.  You can also customize the images according to the recipient’s hobbies. For instance, a mail for a traveler may have an image of a vehicle, while the one meant for a dog lover may have a photo of a cute puppy.

Gender

Keep in mind the differences in perception of a similar product between women and men. Adjust your marketing campaign based on gender to make it more appealing to both men and women.

Industry

Take note of the industries that your recipients represent. Each of them might have a different reason for buying your products or services, so be sure to customize your message based on their reasons.

Envelope

The envelope plays a considerable role in determining whether or not your direct mail gets opened. The message on the envelope should clearly address your target audience. Use keywords and phrases that relate to your recipient’s interests or identity.

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The Business Lessons We Can Learn from Pro Football

The Super Bowl is just around the corner and so it’s time for the world’s biggest brands to bring their A-game to their commercial slots on primetime TV. But aside from how to market to a football-loving audience, is there anything else a business owner can learn from watching pro football? You better believe it.

It’s all in the playbook

Planning, planning, and yes, that’s right, more planning. Listen to any NFL coach talk about his team and the upcoming games, and you’ll get a sense for the amount of time and preparation that goes into the game plan.

And just like coaches have their playbooks, so too must a business owner have a clear plan for the future. A good football coach will analyze the opponents in order to determine their strengths and weaknesses. If you’ve got what it takes to be an entrepreneur, then the chances are this sounds all too familiar.

There’s no such thing as a sure thing

Let’s take this season for example. The Patriots were favorites early on in the season while the Titans were nowhere to be seen on early lists of Super Bowl odds. Although they remain rank outsiders with most bookmakers, at least they’re still in the mix which is more than can be said for the Tom Brady ‘sure-thing’. 

What we can learn from this is that there are no guarantees of success in the world of business. You can have everything in place to achieve your goals but if the competition wants it more than you, then you might have to work a lot harder than you first assumed.

Winning isn’t everything but losing is a bad habit

Every football coach knows that the team will hit the odd bump along the way but that’s okay. They know that losing doesn’t necessarily mean the end. However, they also know that when one approach obviously doesn’t work, it’s time to make a change.

A loss in business could be a missed opportunity or a bad purchasing decision that you need to write off. But, as in football, the most important thing is to ensure that those same mistakes don’t happen again.

So as you can see, it’s not all sweat and tackles in the world of pro football. These days, football coaches, like entrepreneurs, need to have an astute mind and a head for the business side of coaching. Think about that when you settle down to watch the Super Bowl next month.

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Make Your Mac More Productive With Alfred 4 + Powerpack | Review

If you are a regular reader, you know that I keep on trying new things that can help boost my productivity. If I find something that is helpful and can help change the way you work, then I am sure to share it with you.

Once I start seeing benefits from an app I am using, I stay updated with the new features they bring out. Alfred is one such software application for boosting your and your Mac’s productivity and ease of use. I have already reviewed Alfred 3, but now they are out with Alfred 4, and I had to see the exciting new changes being made.

Let’s first talk about Alfred’s best features.

The best thing to me is that Alfred is focused on simplifying your repetitive tasks so that you can focus on things that are more important and require more attention. Add in the Powerpack and you have a plethora of features simplifying most of your frequent actions that you just can’t seem to shake off.

Snippets and Text Expansion

How many times have you typed the same question, the same response, the same search? Definitely more times than you can count. No matter who you are and what you do, you will always have something that you type or search over and over again.

The new update comes with Rich Text snippets. You also get automatic link detection in the snippet edior, which makes it easier for you to include links in your snippets.

Here are some things or texts that we frequently access or need:

Our email address.Postal address – yours or the companies.Answers to the FAQs about your business, product, or service.Frequently used instructions with some current content. (You can use a placeholder for this) Improved Dynamic Syntax Placeholder is what is introduced with this update.Commonly used website links.Frequently used social media and account links.

You can create snippets with your responses to FAQs and repetitive information. So, the next time you need it, you will have it handy and won’t have to go to the trouble of repeating yourself for the umpteenth time.

You can also have shortcuts that you can use to expand to the original text. You just have to simply put an exclamation mark followed by the snippet name. When you use the name, you will have the full text ready to use. This is called auto-expansion.

You also get a new and improved theme editor to customize and make your own.

The Clipboard Magic

With the help of Clipboard History you can either view the data you copy in the Clipboard Viewer or save as a new Snippet. How cool is that?

You have to first enable the Clipboard History feature so that Alfred can start saving your clipboard content. It doesn’t do that if the feature is disabled. So, you can choose for a record of the texts you copied to be maintained or not.

You can quickly search for and find texts, images, and files that you copied recently. This helps you access recently used files more efficiently and also save time.

Once you enable the Clipboard History feature, how this works is that whenever you copy some text using ⌘ + C, Alfred will add it to the clipboard. All of this can be accessed through the Clipboard Viewer. Just open it and grab an item you copied earlier.

If you want to turn the text in your Clipboard Viewer into a snippet, all you have to do is use ⌘ + S. This will make a new snippet that you can use anytime.

The New Features in Alfred 4



Internal Preferences Search

If you want to quickly edit something in a snippet or a workflow or access your preferences section, the new feature for internal searches will make your life easier. There are even shortcuts to add new items.

You can either use the search bar in the top right of the Preferences or access what you need by prefixing your search with a question mark in Alfred’s search bar.

You can use whatever comes to your mind first – the name of the preferences section, the name of the workflow you want, the keyword of your snippet, etc. You can even use a custom search or workflow. Add a question mark before the word, hit return, and you will have relevant preferences that you can select to be launched from.

The look and feel of the Preferences have also been overhauled in the latest version.

Dark Mode Compatibility

With every app and software coming up with a dark mode option, Alfred has followed suit and now has a compatibility option for the feature.

New Workflow Improvements

New workflow objects have been added to make it even easier to create workflows without any coding skills. They are designed and improved to add more functionality and flexibility. 

The File Filter Input can sort your results based on Alfred’s Knowledge (default), Created Date or Last Modified Date.You can use Variable Placeholders to create dynamic file filters. It can show you as many as 200 results.You can use rich text support to color-code your workflow system and can see it easier in your Copy to Clipboard Output.You can use the Play Sound Output to set a workflow notification tune with a new audio file (mp3 and wavs).You can customize the Large Type Output by changing the fonts, colors, and alignments. You can even choose how quickly it fades in.

Even the Workflow Debugger has been improved to get you more information. The debug log is more interactive in its navigation and allows for concurrent debugging across all workflows. You can even filter through individual workflows and selected objects.

Pricing

You can use Alfred for free but you will need to pay for the Powerpack add-on that brings in the most incredible features. There are two licenses available:

Single license for a single user – $32.49Mega Supporter for a single user – $58.49 (comes with free lifetime upgrades)



Final Thoughts

Most of the features that I have talked about in detail are the ones that I use daily and have helped me. There are a lot more features and improvements made like open search integrations in custom web searches and configurable dynamic sorting and searching for file navigation. These are also what I use regularly. The ease that this software brings to my daily tasks takes a lot off of my plate, which is why I recommend to at least give it a try.

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Take Risks to become an International Entrepreneur!

Have you ever thought about becoming a businessman in a foreign country? Exporting local commodities to other countries, for example? Or establishing a kind of language course abroad?

The big foreign countries are not only for the Unilevers and Shells of this world. Even as a small entrepreneur you can start abroad. Whether it is about setting up a picturesque hotel in Tuscany or opening a subsidiary in Eastern Europe.

How do I become successful as an international entrepreneur?

The chance of success is of course unpredictable. Yet one aspect is indispensable for any foreign adventure: your personal qualities. There is a lot involved with emigration. Go after it …

– You provide the collateral that you have built up in your country.
– You have to adapt to a new country and the culture there. It’s recommended to find information as many as possible. For your info, getting info from traveling-related sites such as www.touristsecrets.com is a good start.
– And not only you, but also your partner and possibly children is such a foreign adventure without impact. You have to manage them all.

So do you dare to take risks? You can network in a different language. And not unimportant, do you take responsibility if something goes wrong?

How do I get to know the local market?

From discovering a gap in the Spanish market to finding an interesting project in Burkina-Faso online. There are an incredible number of options for finding and taking advantage of opportunities abroad.

Make an impression with your business plan?

Whether you want to start in tourism or another sector, first analyze the market. What’s going on What should you take into account? Are there any bumps you encounter? And be honest during this search.

– Will you stay as enthusiastic as you were?
– Are you becoming increasingly curious about your potential customers?
– Do you really want to get to know their language, customs and the market well?

Also do extensive local market research, specific to your company. If necessary, ask for support from local professionals or if it is still too difficult for you in terms of language.

Which rules and subsidies are relevant?

If you have international ambitions and want to set up a company abroad, you must also take into account the rules of the (local) government and taxes in the country of your choice.

– Talk to local entrepreneurs who preceded you. Are you going to do business in an EU country or a South American country?

 – Are you going to practice a protected profession? Then arrange professional recognition and the translation of your diploma. 

In addition to rules, there are also grants for which you may qualify with your foreign (subsidiary) company. For example, there is the EU Gateway Program, intended for EU-based SMEs who want to export to Japan and Korea. This program organizes trade missions for specific promising sectors, in which companies can explore the market.

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How to Achieve More in 2020

The new year is here. It’s a good time to reassess not only personal goals designed to improve our health and happiness, but professional ones meant to further our careers. If you’ve been wondering how you can achieve more at work, listen up. Here are ten tips:

Get Up Early

High achievers set their alarms and hit the ground running. They don’t lounge around but instead use the quiet time when others are sleeping to get stuff done!

Make Lists

Start each morning by itemizing your priorities for the day and check them off as you work through them. Some projects will undoubtedly take more time than others to complete; try to break those responsibilities into smaller, manageable tasks that you can start and finish in a day or two. Then, start the following day with a new list detailing the project’s next set of goals and any other tasks you still need to get done. Being able to actually see your progress will keep you focused and motivated.

Do Hard Things First

Most of us lose steam as the day wears on. Try to schedule time for your harder tasks in the morning when you are still energized and mentally ready to work. Leave the shorter, easier tasks for the end of the day.

Tackle Similar Tasks Together

Rather than waste time running back and forth (both figuratively and literally) from one task to another, do similar tasks at the same time of day. If you know you need to call multiple people, take an hour and call all of them. Similarly, organize meetings for one day and take the time to write any reports on another if possible. A dedicated time to accomplish similar jobs means you’re not wasting time starting and stopping other ones. Instead, you can concentrate and get more done.

Delegate and/or Ask for Help

Productive people don’t believe they know it all; they let people help them. If you’re charged with writing an article on immigrant visas but don’t have a clue about EB-2 requirements, then call an attorney; don’t spend needless time trying to learn the law when you can save time by asking someone else for help. Collaboration not only teaches valuable communicative skills, it frees up time to manage other (more important) responsibilities and can even encourage valuable networking connections for the future.

Downsize

Remove clutter. Get rid of distractions like messy workspaces, negative colleagues, chaotic schedules and any other circumstances that inhibit your ability to work comfortably and effectively.

Be Early

Make it a habit to arrive early to meetings, to beat deadlines and to volunteer your expertise. This not only permits you time to address the unexpected, it allows you the best chance of seizing an unexpected opportunity.

Seek Knowledge

High achievers don’t rest. Offer to attend a seminar or mentor an apprentice or even just read a book! People who continuously look for ways to increase their knowledge base, who compound their skills through practical experience, as well as extra curricular activity, are able to to move farther ahead more quickly; they simply know more than average.

Share Your Goals

It’s harder to fail if you have someone holding you accountable. Share your goals with a mentor, a colleague or even a friend or a spouse. It will be a lot harder to fail if you know someone else is invested in your success.

Take Breaks

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Take time to relax, reevaluate and regroup. The most productive people set aside time to recharge their batteries so that they can remain committed to and excited about their obligations!

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How To Keep Track Of Your Employees Attendance At Work

In order for your company or business to grow, you need employees who are productive, qualified, experienced, honest, and punctual at the same time. If you want to boost the productivity and growth of your company, tracking employee attendance is important. The reason behind it is that without tracking employee attendance properly, you might also find it hard to track their productivity level.

Although there are numerous options or methods you can consider as far as employee attendance tracking is concerned, you have to take note that not all of them are suited for your needs. In fact, one’s needs on employee attendance may vary from those of another business. Moreover, while you may still rely on punch cards and standard time clocks for tracking employee attendance, these have downsides, such as tampering and inaccurate recordings.

Fortunately, there are technological advances that have emerged to enable companies track employee attendance in a better and more accurate way. These are the following:

Cloud-based Solutions

It’s one of those business tech solutions that make running your business apps more efficient. It’s a bit expensive to have an internal hardware for cloud-based solutions, but what makes it cost-effective is that it does not require any maintenance. Aside from that, this system is updated and you can access employee attendance data wherever you are and whenever you want.

Access Cards

Entry keycards or access cards are a renowned tool for companies when it comes to tracking employee attendance. These cards oftentimes let employees enter and exit the building during lunch and other breaks. These can record all necessary information, which will then be provided to the payroll department. In comparison to time clocks, access cards are more reliable, but like other methods, these also have vulnerabilities.

Time Tracking System

Another popular way of keeping track of employee attendance during work hours is through the use of a time tracking system or software. It works by tracking the time on all corporate computers from the moment it was turned on until the employee turns it off and leaves the building.

There are numerous advantages of using a time tracking system. Even if it may cost a bit than access cards and biometric readers, everything in this system is stored on the cloud. It can also improve some things aside from employee attendance. It may boost employee productivity and help with work delegation and time management, which can be beneficial to any remote workforce.

Biometric Readers

Most businesses use biometric readers for many reasons. One of these is that it is more affordable compared to other employee attendance solutions. There are biometric readers that can be purchased at cheap prices. However, not all of them may function the way you expect them to be. But, the best thing about it is that it’s very easy to use and the device only needs the fingerprint of your employees for them to start working. Depending on your chosen biometric reader, the options for data storage may vary.

Mobile Attendance System

Tracking the activity and attendance of your employees can be helpful in maintaining the productivity level of your business. Another option to consider is the use of a mobile attendance system. It offers accurate working hours, and employers may confirm the hours from the collected data through company phones that are GPS-enabled. Mobile attendance system may let you track the movement of your employees easily.

Combination of Various Employee Attendance Systems

As a business owner, you have the freedom to choose an option or method that is best suited for your employee attendance needs. If you think a single system is not enough for attendance tracking, you can choose another one to implement. You may even use a combination of any employee attendance systems available in the market.

Although using one or more employee attendance systems may help you track your employee attendance better, you have to determine first what your company requires. It is also important to know what your employees want before you choose any system. For instance, there are companies that are using access cards to access the building, but employees are required to fill in their individual timesheets. There are also businesses that secure their premises using biometric data scanners, and combining these devices with an office time tracking system for more accurate data.

Bottom Line

Keeping track of the attendance of your employees at work can make a huge difference in reaching your business goals. Just choose the right method or option that is suitable for the monitoring needs of your company. Furthermore, knowing how to make the most out of your chosen employee attendance solution will also improve the workflow of your company. 

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Online Casino Business: What the Future Could Hold

The online casino market generates billions of dollars in revenues each year, enjoying average annual growth of almost 9% as it takes off in various regions of the globe.

Today sites like Casumo casino appeal to a diverse player base, and as regulators continue to make the industry safer and more transparent for all, access to an even wider audience may be inevitable in the coming decade.

So what does the future hold for the online casino industry and are there any technical innovations which could push it further, or challenges that need to be overcome?

Mainstream acceptance

Part of the reason that the trajectory of the online casino industry looks so promising moving forward is that it affords wider availability of web-based gambling services, regardless of whether or not such practices are sanctioned under local law.

Indeed the uptake of online gambling has essentially legitimised the practice in many places where it was previously outlawed altogether or merely unregulated.

In 2019 the US legalised sports betting, opening the floodgates for an influx of activity, generating $4 billion in a matter of months and bringing cash which would previously have been spent at unlicensed bookmakers into registered, regulated operators where it can be taxed and have a positive impact on the economy and society simultaneously.

An eroding of incumbent, hostile views towards gambling of all kinds is taking place in plenty of other places. In China, players have spent over $24 billion via such services in spite of government attempts to curb these activities.

Ultimately it seems that the authorities will have to legalise and regulate online gambling, because it is very much here to stay and cannot be quashed with outright bans.

Mobile migration

Perhaps unsurprisingly it is the proliferation of smartphone technology which has helped to transform the landscape for digital entertainment in the past few years, not just in the world of online casinos but also more broadly for everything from video games to the streaming of movies, TV shows and other types of content.

With the dawn of the 5G age which is taking place right now, average users will be able to tap into significantly faster connectivity while out and about, rising to hundreds of megabits per second and even exceeding gigabit speeds in ideal circumstances.

Opening up all of this bandwidth and speed will allow online casino operators to offer even more impressive, immersive experiences to customers who are increasingly choosing to play from their portable devices. As well as games which are graphically richer and more detailed, there is the opportunity to integrate other modern smartphone features such as augmented reality for new ways to play, as well as improved multi-factor authentication, boosting security by using biometric identifiers to prevent unwanted access.

Many operators already offer live casino games, streamed in real time over the internet. 5G will allow more people to enjoy such services at a higher quality and in larger numbers, which will bolster the business’ appeal and impact further.

Potential pushback

While there is no doubt that gambling has gradually lost a lot of its stigma thanks largely to the online casino business, there is still a lot of scrutiny placed on the way the industry operates and a degree of reticence to see it spread its wings further in certain circles.

A lot of this comes down to the way it is advertised, with critics arguing that in places like the UK it has become intimately connected with sporting events, normalising the pastime and making it harder for problem gamblers to escape the marketing associated with it.

There are also fears about the introduction of gambling to younger audiences, such as via loot box systems which are still used in many video games, especially on mobile platforms.

Navigating the need to appease regulators and campaigners while still being able to promote their products and services will be the toughest thing for online casinos to achieve effectively in the future. Yet even with these hurdles to vault, the outlook for the industry is positive, and the healthy competition amongst operators still leaves room for new arrivals to flourish.

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