Use of automation systems in business

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

Business Automation image

In a society increasingly reliant on technology, more and more businesses are using some form of automation to alleviate their workload. Put simply, automation is the use of software to perform often complex tasks quickly and efficiently. Although business automation may seem daunting to the technologically challenged, there are many simple processes anyone could implement which could save you time and money. These tools are often inexpensive, easy to use and can sometimes function as an extra member of staff – without the salary!

Instead of spending the rest of the article detailing complex and often expensive types of business automation, I am going to give you some simple and straightforward examples which can be used by anyone, regardless of business type or budget.

E-mail Automation

One of the most common automation processes is the use of automatic e-mail. Are you out of the office for the day or unable to access your inbox? No problem! Simply set up an automatic reply the day before and contacts will receive an instant response to their message. Additionally, you can arrange automatic ‘thank you’ e-mails to customers who have made a purchase, payment reminders to others and set up a regular newsletter in advance. So, you could even plan an entire year’s worth of newsletter communication in one day!

Telephone Automation

One of the simplest forms of automation is the use of a telephone answering machine, ensuring you don’t miss any messages when out of the office or even if you’re busy on another call. Did you know you can also implement a ticket system, transcribing any answerphone messages into text documents which are instantly sent to your e-mail or mobile phone? You need never worry about missing an important call, and thus potential business, again; with automated systems such as this, you can make a promise to contact someone within 10 minutes of them leaving a message.

Social Media Automation

According to a recent survey, only 42% of small businesses are currently using social media, compared to a whopping 81% of larger companies. More small businesses should be taking advantage of the extra publicity and potential trade which comes with social media promotion. With the use of automation, this is becoming increasingly easier to do. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter allow for ‘scheduled posting’; messages and posts which can be planned up to a year in advance. You could spend less than a day organising an entire year’s worth of social media communication, almost certainly enhancing your brand’s identity. Not only does this process save time, it also ensures that you are regularly communicating with customers on weekends, evenings and other non-working hours. Additionally, it reduces the risk of human error. If you forget to regularly update your social media, automated services will take care of it for you, so can you really afford to miss out on this form of brand, product or service promotion?

Alternatively, if you do feel too overwhelmed with managing your own social media then you can always outsource it to someone who enjoys social media and the opportunity of engagement with existing clients or new prospects. For more information about our social media packages and offering see here

So as you can see these are some of the simplest forms of business automation. Of the examples above, all are entirely free, easy to implement, and guaranteed to make your working life a lot easier.

 

 

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of carmelvision

Top social media platforms for businesses

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

Today’s world is the world of technology that connects us faster than anything else. Some businesses who have utilised the web have reported booming sales & profits, so if you also aspire to join the ranks of web entrepreneurs who are making millions, the opportunities for online businesses are seemingly unlimited. Social networking sites have made the task simpler and easier to convert the fans, friends, followers and subscribers to dedicated customers. Social networking sites are a great way to promote your new or existing business. Creating back links to your website on your social media platforms is a useful way to gain a greater global audience and to encourage sales growth.

Social Media image

Being a web entrepreneur you know all the social media sites available today but the question that springs to mind is, which ones should you leverage? You may choose to use them all to promote your business but in reality if you run a small business, using all platforms is not a feasible option because it becomes difficult to invest the time needed. So, with your limited resources, which platform is best for you?

Select social media sites based on their best usability to your business:

Facebook: Facebook is a great “social utility” for your business.  On Facebook, you not only connect but also expand your network, so create your business page and share your business news & updates. Strong brands get a lot of active following, so if you have a strong brand value, Facebook may be the best option.  However, if you are a nascent player you’ll need to focus your efforts on to page promotion which will help you acquire new customers. The majority of new businesses use Facebook as their first social media platform, whereby maximum `likes’ are driven by pictures.  Studies show that more than 90% of `likes’ are derived from photos.

LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a professional B2B network site that helps you connect to other professionals and promote your business amongst groups. LinkedIn aims at career opportunities and is a good place for recruiters, whilst 91% of marketers use LinkedIn. Many business contacts are made daily on LinkedIn which results in it being the leading social media platform for B2B opportunities.

Pinterest: Pinterest is a trusted information and advice source for online customers whilst also enabling businesses to increase their sales by visual displays (pins). Many users on Pinterest are there to get shopping inspiration, and it has performed exceptionally well in shaping the mind set of shoppers to make purchases. You can use Pinterest to gain more customers by creating and sharing pins of interest. When individuals find something that they like on the web, they can `pin it’ to their Pinterest Board and access it anytime.  A lot of top brands use Pinterest to promote their products by way of visual demonstration.

Google+: If your customer acquisition strategy involves SEO, then Google Plus (Google+) is your stop.  The more +1’s you receive on your posts; the greater your chances to improve your search rankings. High-value brands use Google Plus actively as a part of their social media campaigns. So if you are serious about your Google ranking, you cannot afford to miss Google plus among your social media platforms.

Being new to social networking sites, you may wonder if marketing via social media is just a lot of hype. Will this actually make a difference or will anyone actually read your posts? Doubt certainly creeps in, and you wonder whether your business will grow or not? But don’t despair! Try giving a digital handshake to your potential customers. It will undoubtedly take time to build your audience on your social media platforms but with some thought & lots of dedication you’ll develop a strong and dedicated following and take your business towards success.  If you really don’t have the time to invest in this important aspect of your business then an easy solution would be to outsource this work to an affordable Virtual Assistant who can add value by providing remote business support without the red tape.

 

“Social media is important for your business, it helps you gain greater exposure.”

Twitter and IBM to enable businesses to effectively mine social data

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Twitter & IBM to enable businesses to effectively mine social dataStop for a minute and think about the amount of data that passes through Twitter every single hour. Then multiply that by the amount of hours in a day, a week, a month etc and try to comprehend how much social data Twitter actually possesses. To aid your thought process or maybe just blow your mind, 500 million tweets are sent via the platform every day.

So it’s safe to say that Twitter holds tonnes of data. And now, in a recent announcement made on the company’s blog, it seems that businesses may get the opportunity to mine that data going forward.

Every day, people share a piece of their lives via Twitter. Whether it’s their lunch plans, a cute picture of a pet or a special occasion, Twitter inevitably knows about it. Moreover, every single one of those tweets holds value.

But accessing Twitter data itself isn’t something revolutionary. After all listening tools have been around for a while and give businesses direct access to the metrics. However, until now there has been a challenge when it comes to actually deciphering the data and turning it into something tangible that businesses can leverage.

Twitter and IBM’s new partnership will effectively allow businesses to utilise Twitter data as part of their decision-making processes through a variety of IBM tools, solutions and services. Heard of IBM’s cognitive supercomputer Watson?  Well it could potentially have access to Twitter data in the future and allow companies to answer such questions as, “What do our customers like best about our service?” or “Why are we growing so fast in Asia?”

With access to such insightful data, businesses will be able to unlock previously hidden realms and shape their customer experiences more intuitively. This will allow products and services to be targeted at specific customer needs and wants.

Tens of thousands of IBM Global Business Services consultants will be trained on how businesses can best apply Twitter data in their day-to-day operations.

This announcement is fantastic news for companies who are already using social media channels to their advantage and engaging with their customers on as many levels as possible. Just imagine the scope of engagement that will be possible in the future.

Social media marketing requires your business to listen. In fact, that’s probably the primary activity you should be doing across all your social channels. But how can you listen effectively if you’re relying on memory as much as anything else?

Utilising social data is more than just checking how many followers you’ve got. It’s about building a picture of your audience; understanding what makes them tick; and creating material that is relevant.

The collaborative force of Twitter and IBM represents a turning point in social data manipulation. One that will allow businesses to take value from every piece of micro content that’s available.

 

How to Achieve a Better Work-Life Balance

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

How to acheive a better work-life balanceToday, we’re more connected than we’ve ever been. What with laptops, smartphones and tablets padding our bags, there’s never been a better time to be a remote worker. Add to this the profusion of tools and applications, like Dropbox, Gmail and Skype – all of which put our vital files and messages within arm’s reach wherever we are – and you can see why the lines between work and life are more blurred than ever.

As a mother, wife and professional virtual assistant, I often find myself working when I perhaps shouldn’t be. Not because I can’t manage my time – I can do that standing on my head – but instead because I’m always attentive to my clients’ needs. For example, if I get an email in the evening from one of my clients asking me for some out of hour’s assistance, I’ll more often than not oblige.

An article I recently read on the Huffington Post really got me thinking about work-life balance and was ultimately the inspiration for this post.

So how can you start achieving a better work-life balance today? Here are my top tips:

Hire a Virtual Assistant

Oh come on, don’t look so surprised – it was always going to be on this list. Not because it’s my livelihood, but rather that I genuinely believe in the real value that most Virtual Assistants afford for their clients.

Hiring a virtual assistant is something you should absolutely consider if you find yourself spending too much time on the mundane tasks and not enough time enjoying the fruits of your labour.

Virtual Assistants like myself can help people like you get back to doing what you do best – growing your business.

Scrutinize your workload

Time is our most valuable commodity and we can’t simply buy more of it. That’s why you need to ensure that you are using every minute of yours in the most productive way possible.

Scrutinize every task you carry out and decide if they all add real value. The ones that don’t should be offloaded to someone else, either internally or externally.

Learn to switch off

What I’m referring to here is your multitude of devices. The gadgets that make you constantly contactable both day and night are the things that make you super-efficient, yet inevitably destroy a small part of your balance.

Simple things like turning your smartphone off during dinner or if you’re on holiday, leaving your tablet in the hotel room and not taking it to the swimming pool. Out of sight really is out of mind, right?

Respect your self-imposed boundaries

You’ll never realise a better work-life balance if you cannot learn to respect your own boundaries. As with any change it will seem slightly alien in the beginning but you will learn to embrace going forward.

Routines are a great way to teach yourself, to adopt different ways of working. You almost want your boundaries to become habits. Unwritten rules that you don’t even need to think about because they come so naturally.

If you don’t respect your own boundaries then other people definitely won’t…

Introducing WEST by Box, Facebook and Pinterest

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

Introducing WEST

Last week, the Facebook Newsroom announced a new initiative that the social network has launched in conjunction with Box and Pinterest. WEST, as its known, stands for Women Entering and Staying in Tech and, in my mind, is a fantastic program.

When it comes to Computer Science, there has long been a gender gap in the industry, both in workforce’s across the globe and in the educational pipelines where tomorrow’s generation of Computer Scientists will emerge.

In fact, the United States Census Bureau has reported that technical roles in the country will continue to increase and are expected to reach 1.4 million by 2020. However, the number of women filling these positions has been steadily declining since the 1990s.

That’s why Facebook, Pinterest and Box have teamed up to create WEST, a one-on-one mentorship program that is designed to help more women adopt and ultimately flourish in these types of technical role.

The aim is to bring together highly experienced women from the top technology companies across the industry to help build and maintain a focussed mentorship program. It will be driven by the day-to-day work that these individuals do and geared towards the exciting technical opportunities that are becoming available.

Opening in 2015, WEST will be looking to attract female mentees in their early to middle career stages. It will feature a series of 1:1 and group interactions face-to-face, as well as online sessions over the course of a year.

Initially, the program will be open to women in the Bay Area in the U.S. but if it proves successful then we can hope to see an expansion going forward. I for one, hope that UK women will be able to take advantage of this great initiative in the future.

Mentorship is something that is very powerful and can help shape an individual’s life including their career choices, lifestyle outcomes and overall success.

Influential individuals, like Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, have long voiced their opinions about the need for more women in technical roles. The Facebook COO famously said in an interview with 60 Minutes that, “A man and a man at a bar at a hotel during a work trip – that looks like mentoring. A man and a woman at a bar at a hotel on a work trip, that doesn’t look like mentoring to anyone.”

It speaks volumes that three huge companies, like Facebook, Box and Pinterest, have decided to undertake this venture. They obviously want to tackle a problem that has been developing for some time. Hopefully, their lead will make other businesses take note and perhaps even offer similar programs.

When industry giants make a decision to create a bespoke mentoring program for women from the ground up, it can only lead to more diversity in the technical industry as a whole going forward.

You can find out a little more about WEST here. There’s even an application form but unless you live in the Bay Area in the United States it’s obsolete at present.

What’s your view on WEST? Should women be given a helping hand with mentorship programs like this or will doing so ultimately put men at a disadvantage?

I’d love to hear your thoughts below…

Flexible working now available to all UK employees

/0 Comments/in , /by

Flexible working now available to all UK employeesIf you’re one of those people who finds themselves fighting a never-ending battle between balancing your personal and professional commitments then this post is definitely for you.

Last month, the UK government announced that from June 30 every employee in the UK would be able to request flexible working arrangements – a right that up until now only applied to certain carers and parents with children under 17.

On the face of it you might be wondering what’s in it for businesses? Well, the government estimates that the new plans will lower absenteeism, improve productivity and reduce staff turnover, which will realise economic benefits of about £475 million over the next 10 years.

But what exactly is flexible working and what do the new rules actually mean? Let me explain further:

What is flexible working?

Flexible working is when an agreed change is made to an employee’s working pattern. This can actually manifest itself in many different ways but the most common types of flexible working are flexitime, home working, job sharing, part-time working and changes to working hours.

The new rules are thought to be particularly attractive to young people who are just starting out in their careers and want to undertake additional learning or training and older members of staff who are approaching retirement.

Who is now eligible to apply?

Anyone who has worked for their employer for at least six months (26 weeks) continuously is eligible to apply for flexible working. Known as ‘making a statutory application’, employees can make one flexibility request per year and their employer must consider it in a ‘reasonable manner.’

Not all applications, however, will be automatically approved under the new rules; they simply allow all employees to make flexible working requests.

Why might an application be rejected?

Obviously, not every flexible working application will be successful and there will be times when employers have to decline requests. However, employers can only decline a request for one of the following business reasons:

  • the burden of additional costs
  • an inability to reorganise work amongst existing staff
  • an inability to recruit additional staff
  • a detrimental impact on quality
  • a detrimental impact on performance
  • detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
  • insufficient work for the periods the employee proposes to work
  • a planned structural change to your business

These are the same reasons under which previous flexible working requests could be declined and the new rules don’t change them in any way.

How will applications be dealt with?

In a ‘reasonable manner’ by the employer is what the law states. The application process will ultimately see the employee have a face-to-face meeting with their employer in which the flexible working request will be discussed.

Employers then have three months in which to notify their employee of the decision – unless a longer period is agreed beforehand with the employee. A clear business case must be included with any rejections and the relevant business reason from the list above stated.

All flexible working applications will be dealt with on a first-come first-serve basis by the employer. This means that conflicts may occur and if they do, businesses are advised by the government’s Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) to try to reach a compromise with the employees involved.

So if you’ve ever longed to reduce your hours or experience the benefits of flexitime, now is your chance!

 

 

Image courtesy of franky242 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net