Business Archives - Serendipity Mommy

4 Ways Proactive IT Monitoring Can Benefit Your Business

April 1, 2021 by Mandy

Proactively monitoring your IT infrastructure for errors requires an outlay of capital and resources, and so it can be tempting just to leave it until a problem actually happens.

It can also be tempting to put preventative maintenance on hold when you are dealing with things that seem more important at the time, like implementing a new project or perhaps dealing with a problem.

Make a priority out of proactively monitoring your IT infrastructure. You will find that there are a number of benefits and that your company will save money and reputation into the bargain.

Less downtime

If you consistently monitor your IT infrastructure, you will catch problems, or the potential for problems, before they turn into something big enough to escalate into downtime and impact your business.

Downtime can cost businesses a significant amount of money. If you are an e-commerce business relying on a website to take orders, every minute that website is down is a minute where your customers can’t place an order and might decide to visit a competitor’s website instead.

If you have employees, every minute that your infrastructure is down is a minute where they can’t be going about their work. The actual cost of IT downtime depends on the company’s turnover in question, but the average cost has been estimated at $5,600 per minute, and some businesses losing as much as $540,000 per hour due to IT downtime.

Increased trust from customers

One of the biggest digital risks is that your customer data will be breached by a cyberattack. If this happens, businesses can be liable for fines and damages, not to mention having to quickly work to recover the data and secure their systems again.

As well as the initial cost and effort, a data breach can have a lasting effect on a company’s reputation. If customer’s data has been lost once by a company are, the chances are that it will take them a long time to trust them again. Not only this, but the company’s reputation amongst potential future customers will be impacted too.

Improved customer service

Customers expect to be able to make their order, view their account, or ask their question on their schedule.

If they go to your website and find that they can’t do what they need to, or call your contact center and find that the agent can’t give them the information that they want because their systems are down, this will be frustrating for them and not the service that they want to receive.

Less out of hours work

Allowing your IT services to be monitored by a managed services provider means that there is less likely to be a failure, requiring your staff to work out of hours to fix an urgent issue.

Managed services providers will monitor your systems 24 hours a day and resolve any issues as they occur, as well as carrying out future-proofing so that your staff aren’t required to work out of hours at extra cost to you and at a detriment to their wellbeing.

5 Benefits of Using a Telephone System for Small Businesses

March 29, 2021 by Mandy

Regardless of what your small business does, keep in mind that voice communication is a crucial aspect of success. Your employees require a safe and effective way to communicate with clients, reach out to prospective customers, and conduct business. Setting up dedicated business landlines or a telephone system that’s exclusive to your business can give numerous essential competitive benefits for your company, such as the following:

1. Easy Expansion

As soon as you’ve installed a telephone system, it’ll be considerably easy to scale it up while your company grows bigger. Launching your small company with dedicated business landlines that fit your needs is one of the best ways you can do to regulate the costs during the crucial phase of your start-up. Then, once your business starts growing, you can move to a more massive phone system that can adapt to newer features and additional employees.

2. Lower Costs

If you’re an owner of a start-up company or a small business, communication expenses perhaps constitute a major share of your budget. For that reason, it would be best if you move away from giving personal phones to your workers. Instead, you may use an integrated system of business landlines as it can help you cut down your expenses and make processing monthly telephone bills more manageable. Moreover, setting up a telephone system in your company can help you monitor your monthly bills a lot easier. Plus, you can determine any problematic calling patterns easily as well. For instance, you’ll know when a worker makes unauthorised personal calls during work time, etc.

3. Shared Resources

One of the most crucial benefits of employing a dedicated telephone system for your company is that the entire office workers can easily communicate. When a telephone system is present, it enables workers to transfer calls from one person to another. That feature alone can greatly help the business run more perfectly and smoothly.

Just think about how laborious it would be to let a co-worker from one area of the office go to another office room only to take the phone call. Then, try to contrast that situation with the ease of directly transferring a call to one person who can solve the problem or answer the question.

4. Advanced Features

Once your business plans to set up its telephone system, you’ll be able to gain access to important features, which can make it simpler to manage your business and keep track of important clients and meetings. The majority of modern phone systems now include great features, such as automatic call forwarding, caller ID, and voicemail. These features can help all small businesses since they can forward an office phone to a pager or cell phone, making it particularly useful for hectic salespeople.

5. Four-Digit Dialling

In an environment without a phone system, workers usually communicate with other workers through shouting or using a sneakernet. That only means that once an employee wants to speak with another, they would be required to raise their voices or walk over to another person’s desk.

If your company has installed an efficient phone system, employees can pick up their receiver and use a four-digit dialling method to reach another employee. They can also use this feature even when they call to another state or out of the area.

6 Pioneering Women Helped Create Modern Computers

February 19, 2021 by Mandy

The current generations of computers serve multiple productive roles. Computers have gradually evolved seasonally, and with each improvement, we experience and enjoy new features that come with them. They are giving us an opportunity to work from home during these difficult times. However, apart from just using and enjoying the essential services, they tend to offer, it is crucial to dig deep into computing history. Who are these masterminds behind modern computing? An answer to this question would mostly revolve around some of the most common computing men we have known for ages in the field of computing.

Nevertheless, women were also part of the game and great team players towards advancing the computing field into modernity. Unfortunately, most of their efforts end up unrecognized, perhaps because of some undefined notion. You probably know it, right? In this article, we shall explore some of these geeky computing women who have pioneered the modern computing field for a while. If you feel like your knowledge is left unappreciated, try yourself at math writing jobs.

Do women belong to computing? The answer is inarguable “YES,” and Lady Ada Lovelace proves it right. Remember, many more were part of the same venture taken by Ada. They were some of the greatest computing “she” masterminds in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. If you dig deep into some computer science books and encyclopedias, you will bump into one or two “she” names related to computing. Do you remember the ENIAC? If you do not, worry not because we have already taken care of that just for you. ENIAC is an acronym for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer and serves as the first programmable, electronic, and general-purpose computer. Well, I guess you would want to know more about it. However, that aside and let’s narrow down to six pioneering women who have been part of the game in developing modern computers. The following women had a better share of the pie in developing the ENIAC: Snyder Holberton, Marlyn Wescoff Meltzer, McNulty Mauchly Antonelli, Ruth Lichterman Teitelbaum, Frances Bilas Spence.

The six women played a significant role in developing the ENIAC. Specifically, they came up with the first program for the army. Each of them has excellent histories in the computing fields. For instance, Jean Bartik held an honor as a Computer pioneer by the IEEE computer society. She and Betty Holberton achieved the same honors though in different years. More precisely, Jean was inducted as a member of the Computer History Museum among founders of the Linux operating system and the Ethernet, Linus Torvalds, and Bob Metcalfe, respectively. Due to their mathematics abilities, the women’s recruitment into the army was purposefully for calculating ballistic trajectories.

However, within the war period, the women realized the need for faster calculations as some of the trajectory calculations became more complex. Therefore, the need for a highly experimental project drove them into developing the ENIAC. For simplification and automation of ballistics equations, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator served to be resourceful. With no programming language, compiler, or manual involved, the six tried a range of solutions to go about everything in the ENIAC programming. It was a difficult programming hurdle, but the women managed to source every resourceful data crucial for the army project.

Conclusion

The current world should embrace women in technology (an activity that some organizations are trying to adopt. Regardless of the achievements they acquire daily in the computing sphere, it is also essential to avoid leaning on one side in computing matters. Precisely, women have achieved a lot in tech, but unfortunately, some of their achievements end up unrecognized. From these critical women pillars in tech, we can be sure of women’s potential in modern computing. If you see your future in this, check out computer science capstone project ideas and try changing the future for the better!

Building trust with your readers: 3 tips all bloggers need

February 11, 2021 by Mandy

Trust is something that takes time to build, yet it can also be taken away in an instant. And when you’re a blogger who’s trying to build on your readership and pull in the results you want from your marketing strategies, after putting in long hours of endless editing sessions, the trust of your readers is not something you can afford to jeopardize.

Building trust with your readers isn’t an overnight project, however with the right approach and the right tools at your side, it won’t be long before you build a loyal following of readers who turn to you for advice, entertainment, and as a dependable source of information. Here we’ll explore 3 tips all bloggers need to build trust with their readers.

Work on your brand consistency

As a blogger, you’ll understand the importance of persistent writing and uploading content on a regular basis. But, have you considered the importance of maintaining a consistent brand? Readers aren’t just buying into your written words, they’re investing in you, as a brand. So keeping your brand consistent across all platforms makes you more trustworthy and recognizable. To achieve this, many bloggers turn to digital asset management software – you’ll find more about this essential tool on this site.

DAM software gives you complete control over your digital files. Keeping them stored together in one, centralized place helps you maintain high levels of brand consistency and with clever version control capabilities, ensures there are no upload mishaps or discrepancies in your logos, banners, or other branding assets. DAM also makes finding the right digital files easier thanks to its Google-style search criteria, which you can use to find the (correct) files you need within seconds. This kind of asset management is essential for any blogger who wants to build on the trust of their readers and grow their community exponentially.

Don’t be afraid to apologize

These days people are becoming less and less tolerant of bloggers, influencers, and those with online platforms who make mistakes and don’t own up to them. Perhaps you gave the wrong information, made an inappropriate comment or joke, or got something wrong – these incidents don’t always mean your readership is going to suffer. If you’re open and honest about your mistakes, you’ll always be considered trustworthy. Something which is often lacking in the online, influential industry. Don’t cover it up, try to fix it!

Become authoritative in your niche

Valuable information is just that – valuable. Developing your content to regularly produce quality-driven, dependable information is a great way to encourage trust and build a community based on your knowledge. Genuine content is what people want, so whether you’re talking about breastfeeding, or raising a child with a disability, make sure your content is well researched and peppered with your personality and personal experiences. Blogging is about sharing your opinion and your experiences – something which many bloggers forget over time.

Final thoughts…

Blogging is all about building trust with your readers. It’s this trust that will propel your success and keep your readers coming back for more.

How To Run a Successful Lawn Care Business

December 23, 2020 by Mandy

Opening a lawn care business can be a great way to start your own venture. The initial investment is relatively minimal and, if you live in an area with a lot of lawns, there are numerous customers willing to pay for your work. However, establishing a successful and stable business can take a little more effort. The following tips should help.

1) Get the Equipment You Need To Finish Efficiently

One of the best ways you can enhance your business is by investing in the right equipment. When you have the correct tools for the job, you can finish faster. This means that you can fit in more jobs per day and earn more money. Plus, you will have more satisfied customers.

For example, you may consider a flail mower for tractor hitches, especially if you have a lot of commercial customers. These are great for quickly mowing large areas, especially if they have relatively long grass.

2) Talk With Your Customers Regularly

Communicating with your customers is a great way to get a sense of their needs and current satisfaction. Making your customers happy (and earning repeat business) is the key to a successful lawn care business. Give them a chance to let you know what they think. You can do this through conversation or by sending out a feedback form. Select the strategy that works best for you.

3) Consider Expanding Beyond Lawn Care

It can be helpful to offer more than just lawn care services. For example, you may want to do some additional landscaping. If you find a stump shear for sale, you could remove tree stumps for your customers. Alternatively, you may help with some hardscaping (earthmoving) needs. If you have an eye for flowers and plants, you could also offer some planting services.

4) Ask for Reviews and Referrals

Your current customers are the best way to find new business. If you get a lead through a referral, you will convert it much more readily than just knocking on doors or sending out flyers. Another great strategy is to ask your customers to write reviews and testimonials for your business. This acts as social proof to other potential customers. Direct them to your preferred review platform.

5) Show Off Your Work Online

Updating your website regularly can help to attract customers who are searching for lawn care services in your area. One way to provide regular updates is to write about your work. Take some photos of the lawns you have been working on and share the work (especially for noteworthy jobs) online. Just make sure you have permission from your customers before sharing any photos of their property.

Get Started

These tips will help you to run a successful lawn care business. With a few John Deere tractor attachments and a little hard work, you could be in a strong position to grow your operations. Invest in your business this year and see what you can achieve. This could be a path to a more comfortable and independent future for you and your family.