Launching a new startup is an exciting opportunity, and one with the potential to make you very wealthy over the next several years. However, one of your biggest obstacles is going to be getting started on a slim budget. If you don’t have much money to work with, and the revenue you’re generating is limited, your only option is to cut startup expenses drastically and start operating lean.

So how do you do it?

Office and Real Estate Costs

Let’s start by looking at office and real estate costs, which are going to be some of your biggest expenses. Depending on where you establish an office, you could end up paying thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars every month. 

For most businesses, this simply isn’t necessary. There are several ways you can drastically cut this cost.

Consider going remote

Initially, you should consider going fully remote. Not every business is going to work well in a remote environment. Yet, if most of your operations happen digitally, there’s nothing stopping you from adopting this framework. You’ll save a ton of money on office and utility expenses, your workers will be happier and more productive, and you’ll have a much easier time scaling if you do.

Look for inexpensive alternatives

Look for inexpensive alternatives where you can rent real estate. For example, some storage facilities have office rentals that you can use temporarily or on a more long-term basis. These office spaces are inexpensive, yet perfectly functional, so they could be exactly what you need while you get your business up and running. As an added bonus, you’ll have access to nearby storage units. Here, you can keep and manage your excess inventory – which is going to be especially important as your business grows.

Share a space

Consider sharing a space with someone else. That could mean leasing the office and subleasing it to another business, mitigating your startup expenses. It could also mean taking advantage of a public co-working space, where you and your employees can gather for important meetings. Shop around for opportunities to get the space you need for less.

Negotiate

If you can’t take the business remote and there don’t seem to be any viable alternatives in your location, you might be stuck with a conventional office lease. If this is the case, don’t hesitate to negotiate with your landlord. Sometimes, just asking for a lower rent price is all it takes to get a better deal.

Equipment Costs

Equipment costs are another major line item for most startups. At the very least, you’ll need to buy some computers and other technological equipment so you can handle your basic responsibilities. Depending on your operation, you might also need to buy factory equipment or sophisticated machinery, which factor into startup expenses. This can get expensive fast.

Start small

You might be tempted to buy everything you’re ever going to need upfront, but it’s better to start with the basics and work your way up. There’s no reason to completely exhaust your budget on an initial shopping spree when you can get by with a handful of initial investments. There will be plenty of time to expand later.

Lease instead of buying

For the most part, leasing equipment is more cost-effective for new startups than buying. You’ll have much lower upfront costs, your monthly expenses will be predictable, and you may not have to take personal responsibility for maintenance and repairs.

Buy used

For most businesses, there’s no need to overspend on the latest and greatest technology. You can make do with the previous generation of technology. Buying used, and utilizing not-quite-current-gen technology could end up saving you a ton of money.

Trade or barter

If you don’t have the money to buy new equipment, consider trading or bartering for it. In fact, you can trade or barter for almost anything your business needs if you find a willing participant. Get to know other local business owners and consider trading products and services with them.

Salaries/Wages/Benefits

The salaries, wages, and benefits of your employees will add up quickly, representing one of your biggest expenses in keeping the business operational. Here are some of the most important ways you can control these costs.

Only hire who you need now

Some business owners like the idea of hiring a full team, then gradually growing into a form that can utilize that full team. Instead, it’s usually better to start with only who you need now – and hire people only when you start needing them. Otherwise, you could end up seriously overspending before you have a steady stream of revenue.

Optimize for generalists, not specialists

In its startup environment, individuals typically serve many different roles simultaneously. You should focus on hiring people who are flexible and who have general skills that can be applied in many areas; don’t lock yourself into a specialist who refuses to wear more than one “hat.”

Hire for talent, not experience

Experienced people are more knowledgeable and more efficient, but they also happen to be more expensive. You can save significant money in a startup by hiring for talent, rather than experience.

Use contractors to fill in

If you don’t have all the team members you need, if the business is growing faster than you anticipated, or if you just need some extra help now and then, consider working with contractors. Contractors are inexpensive and flexible – not to mention, often easier to hire.

Marketing and Advertising

Next, you need to think about marketing and advertising.

Focus on organic, long-term strategies

You can’t totally eliminate your marketing and advertising budget, but you can focus on organic, long-term strategies that allow you to build your reputation and brand inexpensively over time. These strategies include things like search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, and email marketing.

Build excellent foundational client relationships

Strong client relationships can create some marketing for you. You’ll get better reviews, more recommendations, and more recurring revenue from existing customers. Make sure your first clients remain your top priority.

Minimize competition

Consider saving money in marketing and advertising by minimizing competition. Look for opportunities that aren’t competitive. This includes niches that aren’t currently filled by competitors and mediums that aren’t commonly employed.

Insurance, Taxes, Licenses and More

There are many significant startup expenses you’ll face as a new company that aren’t referenced on this list. That’s because many expenses aren’t negotiable and don’t provide you with many opportunities to save money. For example, taxes are unavoidable, licenses and certifications may have fixed costs, and there’s only so much money you can save on the insurance your business needs.

Other Tips for Saving Money in a New Startup

We’ll leave you with some final tips on how to save money in a new startup:

Keep a minimalistic mindset

Never buy more than you actually need. You can plan ahead for what you might need in the future, but you also shouldn’t get too far ahead of yourself.

Rely on free tools

There are plenty of free tools and resources for startups to use, including open-source software for almost all your business needs.

Ask for discounts and negotiate 

Don’t be afraid to ask for a discount, or to negotiate for a better price.

Be willing to trade or barter

You can trade or barter almost anything, so take advantage of this.

Cut waste

Look for ways that you might be wasting time or money in your business; for example, do you really need to have a morning meeting for an hour every day?

Conclusion

Whatever stage of growth your startup is in, you’re going to need to take your startup expenses seriously. If you don’t get your expenses under control and build a foundation for a profitable machine, your business is going to struggle. With a tighter leash on your biggest costs, you’ll be in a much better position to generate a profit and thrive in this environment.

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Data. It’s one of the most critical and valuable assets of any organization. Is it any wonder, then, that cybercriminals around the world go after it? Your job as a business owner is to implement a security program that protects and shelters your data. And yet it can be extremely difficult, as some of the more recent breaches show.

The moral of these—and other nerve-wracking hacking tales—isn’t to point fingers but to showcase the importance of data protection.

For instance, the April 2022 announcement of the Block-Cash App breach may have exposed more than eight million customers’ data. Only the month before, Microsoft experienced a hacking incident, although the company stated that it affected no client data. And at the beginning of the year, nearly 500 Crypto.com users had $30+ million stolen collectively after a serious breach.

If cybersecurity threats can bring down globally recognized corporations, they can affect any organization. Plus, what happens when you don’t have the crisis management resources or long-time credibility of a legacy enterprise? Your brand might not survive the bad press or customer fallout.

Putting Stronger Data Security Measures in Place

If you’re concerned about data breaches, hackers, and cyber thieves, go to the head of the class. You’re being a wise, future-leaning founder.

However, you may need a little help to figure out how to set up protective barriers between your data and digital criminals. Try some of these strategies to make your company less of an attractive target.

1. Understand your industry’s baseline for any data security program.

Depending upon the industry you’re in, you may be legally required to protect many different types of data. These could include anything from financial records and employee information to trade secrets.

You may also be required to undergo routine compliance audits, as happens with businesses in the financial sector.

Chances are strong that you probably know what’s expected in terms of data security. Still, it never hurts to think about all the data you keep on hand and how it’s used. Regulations change all the time and you don’t want to be caught unaware—or find out your ignorance led to a breach.

2.  Evaluate the risk levels of your third-party vendors.

According to a CyberRisk Alliance Business Intelligence study, nine out of 10 data breaches in 2021 were linked to third-party vendors. In other words, all the vendors that you use may become “back door” avenues for hackers. While working with any third-party vendor has its risks, there are measures you can take such as using software to track and assess risk level. For example, integrated risk management platforms like Ostendio MyVCM allow you to assess third-party risk and make sure those that do have access to data are adequately protecting it.

Even if a vendor says that it’s safe and secure, you can’t take everything at face value. Conducting due diligence with the help of intelligent risk management systems will give you peace of mind. Additionally, you’ll have a documented audit trail to show later, if necessary.

3. Look for remote work gaps in your data security program.

As of late 2021, a report by The New York Times showed that 86% of telecommuters didn’t want to return to the office. They were happy to work remotely.

While this is well and good for many reasons, having a team of teleworkers can be risky for your business. Without appropriate protections in place, your remote workers may be making your corporate data far too accessible.

You don’t have to pull everyone back to headquarters, though. Just make sure that they can use a corporate virtual private network (VPN). The last thing you want is someone logging onto public WiFi in a nearby coffee shop.

Additionally, remote employees should have devices to use for work only. For example, using a password management tool such as 1Password can help you create stronger logins and manage employee access to third-party tools. Insist upon two-factor authorization for all logins as well.

And when someone leaves the organization, immediately remove all their access points to your systems.

4. Conduct routine internal security audits.

Even if you don’t work in a field where you have to undergo security audits, you can still conduct them yourself.

Each quarter, gather information from your department heads. Ask about changes that you might not be aware of that could affect your data risk. Such changes could involve anything from new suppliers to a tech stack addition.

Once you’ve pinpointed all changes that have happened, you can determine if they are putting your data at risk. Work together on this with your IT leader or CTO, if you have one.

If your company is very small or a startup, consider working with a technical consultant a few times a year. Breaches can be costly events and you can’t afford even a tiny one.

How costly? According to IBM’s figures for 2021, the average cost of a breach hovered at just over $4 million.

5. Train employees on how to be savvier data security “mini-managers.”

Your people may be highly talented. In fact, that’s probably why you hired them in the first place.

However, they may not understand that some of their everyday activities are making your data vulnerable. Cybersecurity training is one of the best gifts you can give to your team members. After all, the more insights they have, the easier it will be for them to spot problems like phishing scams or a potential malware download.

As part of your educational approach, be sure to create a document on data cybersecurity trends, as well as best practices for your workplace. Consider including it as a section in your employee handbook. There, you can outline what to do in case of a suspected breach or cyber threat.

The more knowledge your staff members have, the more able they’ll be to help steward your data. New techniques are developed constantly, so you should prioritize training for employees at least twice a year. This also serves as a good reminder to keep everyone alert to phishing scams and other data security program threats.

Your customers, employees, and stakeholders may not always tell you, but they expect you to protect their data. The best move you can make is to lock up the data that comes into your business as tightly as you can. The harder your data is to extract, the less appealing it will be to cyber thieves looking for a fast score.

Image Credit: ThisIsEngineering; Pexels.com.

The post 5 Ways to Improve and Optimize Your Company’s Data Security Program appeared first on ReadWrite.

We all know that protein is a critical building block of life. However, the world cannot continue to look to animal protein to maintain growing global demand. Instead, we must look to plant-based food alternatives sooner rather than later.

As the world’s population continues to grow, health — and accessing the nutrients required to maintain that health — remains a critical concern. Likewise, humanity must turn to plants for their primary source of protein. That’s where a company called PURIS enters the picture.

What is PURIS?

PURIS is a plant-based company interested in impacting the entire food system. As a result, this brand’s mission is to create plant-based food alternatives that are high in protein.

Protein is a basic building block of long-term health. Similarly, Harvard Health Publishing describes it as “essential to good health.” The publication adds that the word comes from the Greek word protos which means “first.” This naturally underscores the prioritization of the vital nutrient as a way to remain healthy over time.

MedlinePlus points out that protein isn’t just good for normal health concerns, either. Likewise, it’s a critical part of growth and development for children, teens, and pregnant women.

Protein is an undeniable part of a healthy lifestyle. However, the problem comes from sourcing healthy protein on a regular basis.

Most of the world depends on animal-based protein — which is not the only source of protein.

Of course, you don’t have to be a vegetarian to understand one simple thing. The burgeoning human population can’t be sustained purely on animal-based protein as demand continues to rise.

PURIS is pursuing plant-based protein alternatives that are more sustainable and scalable. Both of these standards are critical needs for the world’s population moving forward.

Additionally, PURIS has gone about accomplishing this mission by spending the last three decades creating an end-to-end food system. That system includes every link in the chain of food production. This innovation has led to a safe and secure source of food.

PURIS relies entirely on crops from the USA. As a result, this reduces food miles and removes the unnecessary (and costly) complexity of moving food around the globe.

The Background Story

PURIS isn’t a recent startup or “late and great” idea.

The company launched back in 1985. This has given its team decades to understand the complexities of the agricultural industry. They’ve become intimately aware of the countless steps and stages that go on behind the scenes in the ever-changing food system.

In our world, pro-GMO science has dominated the agricultural scene. World Food Processing (later known as PURIS) founder Jerry Lorenzen fought against the grain. He created non-GMO seeds that were still able to grow high-yield crops. They were disease-resistant and even improved the land they inhabited.

Lorenzen started with his non-GMO seeds. However, their creator wanted to do more than simply jumpstart the healthy protein process. Lorenzen envisioned an end-to-end food system optimized for health and sustainability.

Along the way, the innovator had discovered that yellow field peas were a particularly beneficial rotational crop. His team obtained genetic patents and developed a network of farmers that spanned throughout the U.S. to help grow his non-GMO crops.

Eventually, Lorenzen’s company purchased a soy protein isolate facility. This made it possible to have complete control of the process from start to finish.

All of this took decades, and when the time came for the original visionary to step aside, Lorenzen’s son, Tyler, took over. At that time, the company shifted to its current PURIS moniker, which is named after its original founder’s desire for a protein sourced from pure, organic ingredients.

What Does PURIS Do?

PURIS has continued to be a guiding light for the development of non-GMO, plant-based proteins around the world.

The growing brand continues to develop North American Peas and similar crops. They are all grown organically. Independent growers continue to harvest these and send them to PURIS facilities in the Midwest where they are transformed into wholesome ingredients.

This allows PURIS to remain fully aware of how its proteins are made, what they’re made of, and how they’re cared for throughout their journey through the food system.

The brand’s signature line is PURIS Pea, made up of various non-GMO ingredients including pea proteins, starches, and fibers. PURIS also continues to sell non-GMO, high-quality soybeans into global markets. They breed seeds for corn, lentils, and pulses. Food suppliers can tap these plant-based ingredients in the future.

This enables PURIS to create everything from energy bars to meat substitutes. If it’s a source of protein that humans like to ingest, PURIS is working to replace it with a highly-nutritious, protein-packed, plant-based alternative.

The enterprise projects that its protein alternative will be able to sustainably nourish upwards of 10 billion individuals by the year 2050.

PURIS’s Recent Upcycling Success

While PURIS is an older company, its venerable history has only fueled its current ambition. The company continues to receive accolades for its accomplishments, particularly in the area of innovation.

For example, PURIS was already named the most innovative food company of 2021 by Fast Company Magazine, reflecting its continued commitment to evolving with the needs of the global food system.

Most recently, PURIS’s closed-loop production system has earned it the Upcycled Certified certification from the Upcycled Food Association (UFA). The certification is for its Non-GMO and organic Native Pea Starches. This makes PURIS one of the first pea starches on the market to receive the prestigious Upcycled Certified label.

PURIS’s mission is to create an abundance of food. They seek to make food supplies plant-based, safe, and sustainable. It’s an objective that hasn’t wavered over the past three decades. The company has gone from a germ of an idea to a full-scale, closed-looped, end-to-end creator of non-GMO, plant-based protein.

PURIS’s ingredients are rapidly becoming the foundation of the nutritional needs of Americans as the food system continues to come under strain. There are more mouths to feed with each passing day, and basic nutrients like protein need to remain available. Rather than fighting for a piece of the limited “animal-protein pie,” PURIS is enabling consumers to live a healthy and happy life today through a sustainable, plant-based solution.

At the same time, the forward-thinking protein producer has developed a scalable system that will continue to cater to the needs of a growing planet far into the future.

Image Credit: Maria Orlova; Pexels.com.

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The real estate market has always been prime investing territory. Ancient kings invested in palaces and castles. The tycoons and robber barons of the 19th century purchased massive mansions. Modern millionaires and billionaires snatch up real estate hand over fist—even when claiming to live humbler lives. In modern times, the folks at RedSwan CRE did more than just take notice of this inequity of opportunity.

No matter where or when you look, those with money to invest have turned to the real estate market as a quality long-term investment. However, the current seller’s market boasts sky-high prices. It can feel impossible to scrape together enough cash to put an offer on a house that has the potential to actually attract a seller. Investing in something bigger, like commercial property, seems impossible.

That’s where RedSwan CRE entered the picture.

RedSwan CRE is using tokenization to rewrite the real estate script.

RedSwan CRE (CRE stands for Commercial Real Estate) is a financial technology or “FinTech”company. The innovative brand works with all kinds of investors but is particularly focused on non-institutional investors or those that are currently underserved in the real estate industry.

RedSwan CRE is changing the way these individuals can invest their hard-earned dollars by breaking down the barriers to entry in the real estate market.

In the past, many of the best investment properties have cost 20+ million dollars to purchase. On top of that, individuals required incredible amounts of industry knowledge to navigate the process of investing in a property. RedSwan is eliminating both of these issues by implementing tokenization of the real estate process.

On the surface, tokenization is a simple concept. All it does is takes an asset—whether it’s a physical one, a digital one, or even an IP—and turn it into a digital token. This “digital security token” represents a physical asset RedSwan can fractionalize into multiple parts to reduce minimum investment cost.

Real estate investing can now be fractionalized.

In other words, tokenization creates a digital representation of blockchain that individuals can purchase, similar to traditional shareholder interest. The beauty of tokenization is that you can break up a tokenized asset into fractional shares. You do this much the same way that stocks represent a portion of company ownership.

This means many people who could not afford to purchase an entire real estate asset can now purchase a fractional portion of the asset. With this process in place, it’s turned investing into an activity that anyone with $1,000 (the company’s minimum investment amount) or more can engage in.

Along with affordability, tokenization offers many other benefits.

• Better Liquidity. Investors can liquidate investment shares much faster than selling the entire property.
• Lower Transaction Costs. Your investment goes directly to the real estate, with no upfront fees or broker costs.
• Access. Being a part of the RedSwan CRE community allows you direct access to quality, affordable, real estate investment projects.

Through the emergence of crypto, NFTs, and other blockchain web 3.0-based assets, RedSwan CRE makes a big difference in increasing accessibility. Their platform offers a central ecosystem with a marketplace that services both investors and property owners.

RedSwan is embracing cryptocurrency…for long-term stability?

Along with decentralizing real estate investing, RedSwan has also opened the door for investing in large-scale real estate ventures with cryptocurrency.

This has allowed them to offer an alternative to investors who are (ironically) concerned about cashing out of crypto holdings because of the threat of inflation.

Over a year ago, RedSwan CEO Ed Nwokedi was already pointing out that investors, “are scared that governments are creating national debt by printing too much currency. The pandemic crisis only made our deficit worse.” Nwokedi added that “In a short time frame, inflation will eat into the value of their savings. Globally, investors are starting to sense similar areas of financial concern.”

Since then, we’ve witnessed a major stock market pullback. Inflation has also remained a major issue both for the U.S. and for countries around the world, surpassing 8% in recent times.

Of course, the financial instability concerns aren’t exclusive to fiat currency.

Similarly, crypto prices are notoriously unreliable, leaving most investors with the choice between unstable cash and ticklish crypto prices. But RedSwan is allowing cryptocurrency holders to opt for another, more stable, historically productive way to invest their wealth. They can do this even if that wealth takes the form of cryptocurrency in a blockchain format.

Real estate investment can help stabilize cryptocurrency portfolios.

The innovative investment option allows individuals to invest in real estate properties with cryptocurrency. As a result, this gives crypto holders the ability to reduce the volatility of their assets. They can do this without liquidating them or shifting them to the currently volatile, inflation-prone state of cold, hard cash.

RedSwan is bringing multiple concepts together. Cutting-edge 21st-century things such as cryptocurrency, blockchain, and tokenization are being applied to the age-old investment option of real estate.

By uniting the old and the new, the forward-thinking team at RedSwan has hit upon something truly unique. They found a way to provide key elements such as accessibility and liquidity to major investments that are traditionally huge moneymakers.

By lowering the barrier of entry and allowing investors to use things such as Bitcoin to invest in property, they are enabling the “everyman” investor to diversify their holdings from all crypto to include durable real estate assets. They are getting access to investments that, in the past, have never been a viable option for any but the richest.

It’s a new dawn for the real estate era, one marked by tech, tokenization, and the decentralization of past power. All that remains is for smaller investors to seize hold of the new digital opportunities. Today, they can group together through platforms such as RedSwan. After that, they can start collectively taking their allocation alongside the ranks of the already-established super-rich investors.

Image Credit: Dominika-Roseclay; Pexels.com.

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Small business owners stand to benefit from the fast and easy-to-use features provided by the bulk email service GMass.

Email marketing has been around for a long time. However, there is always some new software program that purports to have revolutionized the market.

Though these statements are often untrue, tech has seriously progressed in recent years. We took a look at GMass—a bulk email service—to review just how far these services have come over the years and why email marketing is such a powerful tool for small business owners.

GMass: The Bottom Line

For this mass email service, speed is a major priority.

When it comes to sending bulk emails, services in the past have been hitting all of the wrong points. What GMass gets right is speed.

Since sending messages is all about the metrics, the more quickly you can design a message, execute a mail merge, and throttle your messages, the better.

That’s why GMass lives up to the hype. You’ll be getting better results, higher open rates, and ultimately a greater brand awareness for your small business thanks to the unmatched speed. Not only that, but GMass also allows for sophisticated email flows that will keep your audience engaged.

To better understand the advantages and disadvantages of using GMass as your mass email service, we’re taking an in-depth look at exactly how it works, what it takes to set up an email campaign using the tool, and some of the key features. Read on to learn more!

What is GMass?

Find out how GMass was created and became the powerful mass email marketing service it is today.

GMass was created in 2015 by Ajay Goel. Dissatisfied with all of the other mass email services currently on the market, Goel decided to create a new mass email plugin that eliminates the weak spots in other services. He often found that sending mass emails was overly complicated and took far too long.

His solution would be a lightweight email plugin that can send messages faster than any other service. With user-friendliness as another key point that Goel wanted to highlight, GMass prioritized simplicity. Since 2015, GMass has exploded in popularity and has become one of the most widely used mass email marketing services on the market.

That’s why we’re taking a closer look at the plugin to see if it really does live up to the hype. Keep reading to find out the pros and cons of using GMass to send bulk emails.

GMass: Features, Pros, and Cons

Discover how GMass works and whether or not it is the right mass email service for your business.

To get started, though, we have to establish what exactly GMass does and what it does not do.

• First of all, GMass is an extension that plugs directly into Gmail. Since not every business uses Gmail to send bulk emails, some won’t be able to benefit from the features of the plugin.
• Secondly, GMass is a service that sends emails—not a prospecting service. Before you can start using GMass to send your messages, you need to establish an organized address list. So, as long as you are ready to send messages via Gmail and have a list of addresses ready to go, you can use GMass to start sending mass emails.

Now that we know how GMass is used, let’s dive into some of the specific elements of the plugin and how it compares to other similar services on the market.

Interface

As we just mentioned, Goel designed GMass with simplicity in mind. The GMass interface is incredibly simple and easy to use—even for people who are brand new to email marketing. That means that there is no barrier to entry to using the plugin, making it the perfect option for small businesses that do not have a dedicated email marketing team.

When you install GMass, you will discover that there is a red GMass button that appears next to the blue “Send” button when you open a new message. When you click on the arrow next to the GMass button you are greeted with a few key features such as personalization and tracking. These options are easily accessible and intuitive to operate, though the interface does look a bit out-of-date.

However, this is not an issue that affects the ability to send mass emails, so it’s not too big of a concern on our end. Our main takeaway is that the plugin is easy to access within your Gmail account and that the interface is simple and intuitive, as advertised.

Message Personalization

One of the biggest concerns when it comes to mass emailing is personalization. The easier it is to personalize large amounts of bulk emails, the better. So, how does GMass hold up to the competition? Once again, where GMass excels is with simplicity and speed.

To send personalized emails using GMass, you have to start with your address list in a Google Sheet. Once your addresses are organized and all of the information is input into the custom categories, you can start using the plugin to designate personalized elements of your messages.

As you navigate through the interface, you’ll notice that there is a button that resembles a spreadsheet. This button allows you to automatically input the information from your address list into your personalized messages. All you have to do is select the “Connect Spreadsheet” option and the email addresses and other information automatically populate.

Correctly Navigating the “Send” Button

One slightly tricky element to using GMass as your mass email marketing service is the send button.

As mentioned, there is a red GMass button. It appears as a part of the plugin right next to the blue send button. When you are using GMass to send bulk emails, your normal send button is rendered useless. Should you accidentally send a message using the blue button, your messages may not be personalized correctly. Additionally, your recipients will be able to see all of the other addresses receiving the message.

Luckily, if you are sending more than 20 emails at a time, the regular send button disappears. This prevents you from sending hundreds of glitchy messages.

Though it is easy to remember not to use the regular send button, it is also easy to mistakenly send out your messages using the wrong button. Since you can’t un-send messages, this is an important point to keep in mind while using GMass—especially if you are sending fewer than 20 messages.

Preventing Message Errors

If you are sending mass emails, you are likely sending more than just a handful of messages. For most email marketers, sending out hundreds of messages at once is fairly commonplace.

When using GMass to send out your messages, you need to adjust some settings to make sure that you don’t accidentally send out incomplete or incorrect messages to your audience. After all, one mistake when sending mass emails can cause people to unsubscribe or report your message as spam. To avoid a disastrous campaign, we recommend taking these steps in the GMass plugin:

1. Click on the arrow next to the red GMass button.
2. Select the elements of personalization you want to include in your message. The different elements auto-populate based on your address list. This is a great feature as you don’t have to remember exactly what you called your different categories.
3. Test your message. This is possibly the most important step in the whole process of sending mass emails. If you don’t test your message, you could end up sending out hundreds of error-filled messages to your audience.
4. Review your test email. You might find that you missed a few things. It’s always easier to see issues in a message rather than in the compose window.

Draft Feature Cuts Down on Mistakes

Another way that you can prevent errors in your messages is by saving your campaign as a draft. To save your campaign as a draft in GMass simply select the “Save as Draft” option in the section of the interface labeled “Action.”

After you’ve selected to save your campaign as a draft, GMass creates the messages so you can review them individually. Sometimes errors in campaigns only occur in certain messages, so if you have run into problems with personalization, we definitely recommend reviewing your campaign as a draft.

Compared to other mass email services, checking through the drafts is a bit cumbersome. Since it is so easy to make mistakes when sending out mass emails, it would be convenient if the plugin was able to display a message as it appears to a recipient before you can hit send. However, unlike a lot of other services, GMass is integrated into Gmail, meaning that it can only use features existing in Gmail. This is limiting in some aspects. However, on the whole, the plugin does a good job of working around the limitations imposed by Gmail.

Tracking and Reporting

One of the best parts about using GMass as your mass email service is the built-in tracking features. Tracking and reporting are essential features of any mass email service—it also just happens to be the key to running successful future campaigns.

To access tracking features in GMass, all you have to do is click on the arrow next to the GMass button to pull up the email settings. Next to the “Track” options in the window, you’ll see options to track both opens and clicks. As your audience interacts with your message, the tracking feature in GMass automatically updates. You can even stipulate that the data collected from tracking updates automatically in your address list.

This is a very useful feature to assess active vs. inactive addresses on your list. For example, if there is an address that has not opened one of your messages for the last few campaigns, you’ll be able to tell just by pulling up your address list. As you make changes to the address list, you can slowly eliminate addresses that are inactive to make room for active recipients.

Campaign Reports

Accessing your campaign reports when using GMass as your mass emails service is also super simple. Where your sent and draft folders are located on the left-hand side of your Gmail account, you’ll find a new folder titled “GMass Reports” in your account.

GMass automatically categorizes these reports by the campaign. They display all of the most important metrics you need to see as an email marketer. You can also easily download the report as a CSV file and upload the information into a Google Sheet or Excel spreadsheet to display to stakeholders or your email marketing team.

As far as easy tracking and reporting are concerned, it doesn’t get much easier, faster, or more intuitive than with GMass.

Message Deliverability

If you are sending out messages to your audience, you need to make sure they are being delivered. This is especially important for novice marketers or people starting small businesses.

Using GMass as a mass email service, it is easy to avoid exceeding your daily send limit so you can preserve your email sender reputation. GMass also makes the bold claim that their mass email service can get you the highest possible delivery rate of any of the mass email tools currently available. Therefore, we wanted to pay extra attention to how exactly GMass lives up to this lofty claim!

GMass can get users a high deliverability rate and help marketers avoid the spam folder by using a dedicated tracking domain.

A tracking domain keeps a record of your history of sending emails. As you send emails, the number of opens and clicks you get are all cataloged in the tracking domain. If you accidentally exceed the daily send limit or are sending messages that look like spam, your tracking domain will garner a bad reputation according to Gmail.

To overcome this and get your campaign to as close to 100% deliverability as possible, GMass can assign you a new tracking domain. All you have to do is send a request to GMass for a custom tracking domain, and boom! Your deliverability rate just increased!

Scheduling and Throttling

Another key feature of GMass that increases deliverability is the scheduling and email throttling. As we’ve discussed, there is a daily send limit imposed by Gmail that you have to follow otherwise you risk your address reputation. Thankfully, GMass has features that allow you to work around the send limit including message scheduling and throttling.

To schedule a message in GMass, all you have to do is click on the arrow next to the GMass button and look for the “Schedule” option. Then, you can schedule your campaign to be sent automatically at a strategic time to appeal to your audience.

If you want to send more than a few hundred emails at a time, you have to schedule them 24 hours apart from each other to avoid damaging your sender reputation. But, when you use GMass, the mass email service will automatically throttle your messages. When you use GMass you no longer have to worry about sending too many messages at once. GMass will automatically schedule them 24 hours apart without your input.

We found that these features combined do result in a very high deliverability rate. So, if deliverability is a major concern for your next campaign, GMass is an excellent option as a mass email service.

Email Flows

In addition to a high deliverability rate, GMass also offers automated services for email flows. An email flow is a series of emails sent out to a recipient with an intended action in mind. These messages work to take your audience from the top of the funnel to the bottom.

That is to say, email flows are a series of messages designed and ordered to produce a conversion.

We tried out the automatic follow-up option in GMass to see how it can produce effortless email flows. Guess what? It worked like a charm.

The automatic follow-up feature is definitely something that sets GMass apart from the competition. Using automatic follow-ups you can save time and send out more messages than ever before. Remember we said that GMass is all about speed—this is where the speed of the plugin is most clearly demonstrated.

Using GMass, you can easily write follow-up messages and schedule them in response to certain actions taken by your recipient. For example, if a recipient doesn’t open your message, GMass can automatically schedule a follow-up until you receive a response. (Be careful with this feature, though, as sending too many follow-ups can land you in the spam folder.)

The Verdict

Does GMass make email marketing faster and easier than other mass email services?

Now that we’ve explored the main features of GMass, what did we learn?

As far as mass email services go, GMass is one of the best. There isn’t much focus on the design of the interface and there are some limitations under the Gmail integrations. However, we can easily overlook these drawbacks in favor of the impressive and fast sending capabilities.

If you are looking for a plugin for sending mass emails, GMass is certainly one of the better options. GMass currently offers a limited free option and premium packages starting at $19.95/month.

Image Credit: Brett Jordan; Pexels.com

The post Review: How GMass Makes Email Marketing a Cinch for Small Businesses appeared first on ReadWrite.

To expand your wealth and achieve specific financial goals, you’re going to have to make some investments. However, those investments come with the significant risk of potential loss. Fortunately, the investment world has grown to offer more investment options and ways to assess those options. This includes more opportunities for individuals and companies to get involved in entrepreneurship by investing in new business ventures.

Even though there are tremendous opportunities to uncover that next “unicorn” startup, the reality is that it’s more than just luck or your gut that determines whether you pick a winning investment. Here are some guidelines on choosing the right investment for your financial and strategic objectives.

Start With What You Know

First, look at potential investments in an industry or business segment where you already have some degree of expertise. Investing in what you already understand raises the probability that you will select the right investment vehicle. For example, it might be a complementary application or service to your own business. In that scenario, you are likely to better understand whether the investment will be worth it, and you can assist the entrepreneur by providing advice or direction.

On both accounts, you increase the chances that the investment will pay off, according to Joe Gardner, entrepreneur and CEO of venture development firm VentureDevs. “Focus on your strengths. Start out in an industry you’re familiar with, especially if you’re new to investing,” he advises. “If you spent your career in commercial real estate, for example, you would be in the perfect position to judge startups hoping to find a niche in that space. You may also be able to add more than just capital to a startup in an industry you understand. You could pass along valuable advice or leverage your network to help its founders succeed, which should help make you feel more comfortable when you’re just getting started.”

Immerse Yourself in the Startup Environment

Traditionally, there has been a large gap between you, the investor, and what you invested in. Choices like stocks or mutual funds distanced you from the company. Even with real estate, you may not have always been able to view your investment firsthand or interact with those connected to the investment. Due diligence could only be achieved by looking at financial statements, business plans, and other documentation.

Now, there are so many ways to interact with startups that you may want to invest in, which is a good way to feel out whether an investment is the right one for you or your company. For example, there are pitch events, hackathons, and startup industry conferences that put the founders in front of you. You can ask questions, see demonstrations, and listen to their strategies for building out the business to determine whether it aligns with your goals, beliefs, and understanding of the opportunity. Having this level of engagement will help you determine whether you have selected the best investment.

Study the Management Team

It’s easy to focus on the numbers when evaluating a potential investment. While the financials are an important consideration for any investment, the potential for business success or failure can also be identified through the caliber and character of the management team.

Look for platforms where founders have shared their thought leadership. This includes blogs, industry sites, and social media channels. What they say is integral to understanding how they think and approach growing a business. This in turn will tell you about the type of return you might expect. Then, it’s important to see whether their words align with the results they’ve garnered to date. There’s no underestimating the importance of “walking the talk” when it comes to building credibility and trust with stakeholders.

Identify Differentiating Factors

Many markets are becoming increasingly saturated with similar products and services. If a company doesn’t offer anything new for its target audience, the likelihood of its achieving a sizable return may decrease over time. Look for a startup that can illustrate how it can effectively solve a critical issue for the target audience with something new. Those unique attributes can spark excitement with potential customers who believe they can’t do without them. As a result, your investment could pay a larger return over a longer period of time.

Know What to Avoid

Finally, weed out investments that aren’t likely to produce a return. Start with the rule that if any opportunity seems too good to be true in terms of what it promises, it probably is. Although you may seek a business idea that is truly unique, beware of those that don’t have a proven product or service. Also, stay away from business ventures that involve questionable industries. These include online gambling and cryptocurrency casinos, which have a high fraud risk, a tarnished reputation, and a complex regulatory environment. By following these guidelines, you will increase your chances of selecting a startup investment that will deliver your desired yield.

The post How to Choose a Startup Investment appeared first on ReadWrite.

We’ve all heard the complaints about artificial intelligence: It’s going to steal human jobs. AI bots like Alexa are trying to take over our lives (and probably know more about us than they should). Even tech superstars like Elon Musk and Bill Gates are concerned about AI and its abilities.

But focusing on AI and emerging tech’s worst-case scenarios prevents us from being able to capitalize on the best-case outcomes. Robots enhance manufacturing, and Deloitte predicts AI can save governments large sums of money. And while AI may force some jobs to adapt to a new set of needs, it actually helps humans at work by saving their lives through predictive maintenance.

Perhaps the most exciting possible outcome of advancing AI is the time savings. What with streamlined workflows, automated processes, and the elimination of low-level work, this technology can give us back hours of time. It may even deliver a three-day workweek.

Are We Ready for Four-Day Weekends?

Three-day workweeks sound glorious to some, but they inspire fear in others. In the U.S., where people work longer hours than their international counterparts, long hours are a badge of honor. With an average 44-hour workweek in 2017, Americans have become notorious for squandering vacation time — even after receiving very little of it.

This culture of workaholism believes that the future of work is built on people working hard and making progress. But relying on long hours and dogged determination to fuel an economy overlooks the fact that progress actually comes from higher-level work being performed. Working exhausting hours and prioritizing face time over forward movement is a recipe for stagnation; workers have very little time, energy, or focus for the efforts that will genuinely impact the work their industries perform.

Enabling AI to automate and upgrade our businesses means we also have to be willing to take a more expansive view of what work looks like and ask ourselves tough questions. Which is more valuable: a five-day workweek focused on running routine processes and maintaining momentum or a three-day workweek centered on deep thinking and innovation? Each industry likely has its own answer, and it should have nothing to do with maintaining tradition — only serving needs.

Surrendering to AI

For those industries in which a three-day workweek is ideal, technology aims to help. “My vision of an AI-driven future is one where we will have a three-day workweek because machines would take care of the transactional activities that take up a large chunk of our working hours,” says K.R. Sanjiv, chief technology officer for Wipro Limited, a leading global information technology company. “This will give us more time to meditate on problems of a much higher order, meet friends, go out with the family, watch movies, read books, and, of course, pack our bags to go off to Kotor or Outer Mongolia to expand human consciousness.”

Sanjiv points out that fears that AI is a “gigantic steamroller that is flattening the IT jobs landscape” are not only false, but they also distract people from the fact that AI makes jobs better by eliminating mundane tasks that lead to burnout and boredom. He cites the example of digital photography, which initially greatly increased the number of people taking pictures, then caused sales of mobile phones to shoot through the roof when cameras were bundled into the devices.

“This cycle required two things: one, innovative companies and their smart workforce who could find ways of putting a camera on the phone at the lowest cost. Two, purchasing power all round had to go up for people to afford a $700 mobile phone. Both those things happened, creating a virtuous cycle. This is just one evidence of the fact that technology disrupts the job market in a positive way rather than destroying it.”

As the saying goes, nobody does anything great if she can’t find her keys. AI is ensuring that we can finally do what we’ve always said: allow time-saving technology to give us time back. With the “little things” taken care of, we’ll not only have fewer things to worry about, but we’ll also have regained mental capacity and flexibility to address problems in a new way, improving our work beyond mere efficiency.

How AI Will Take Over

Before the Industrial Revolution, people worked 60-hour weeks. Technology simply made it possible for us to get the same work done in 40 hours. This coming revolution — the AI era — aims to do the same, albeit in a more cerebral way. The Industrial Revolution was welcomed because it visibly made a difference in physical tasks. The AI era, in turn, will focus on eliminating low-level intellectual tasks.

Here are the ways we can anticipate AI changing our workweeks:

1. AI will take on quality control.

IBM Watson detects flaws and tests products for safety and performance. This saves brands millions of dollars in lawsuits, and it also enables human beings to focus on production, product innovation, and quality assurance advancements that can then be applied to the AI’s processes.

2. AI will automate to-do lists.

Spiro, an AI-driven CRM, has built a system that collects information from a salesperson’s email, calendar, and more to create a to-do list. That then frees up the salesperson to spend less time analyzing the right touchpoint or time to reach out to a prospect and more time building relationships.

3. AI will seek out problems for humans to solve.

IT and DevOps teams are wary of AI, which sounds suspiciously similar to the analytical and problem-solving skills they apply to their daily work. But AI will instead do the dirty work of highlighting problems in code, log entries, and more to identify the problem humans need to solve — saving them time so they can focus on developing the right solution.

It’s easy to stick with the doom-and-gloom story of AI, lamenting its ability to displace workers and collect invasive amounts of data. But this new way of looking at things can be just what we need to finally shift to short workweeks and long weekends, allowing humans to live their best possible lives — all thanks to robots.

The post Advancements in AI Will Create a Three-Day Workweek appeared first on ReadWrite.

Implementing multiple layers of security is the common thread for today’s data security strategies. The layered approach has worked in some cases. However, other companies have still become vulnerable to hackers. In fact, numerous large global enterprises with significant technology budgets have fallen victim to hackers. It may make you wonder just how realistic it is to feel secure that your data is truly protected.

The good news is that technology continues to progress. Some of today’s best and brightest minds are working diligently on new approaches to data security. Here are some of the latest approaches to feel secure with your company’s data in 2018:

1. Strategic IT Consulting

IT consulting companies have been a valuable ally for updating your business processes and undertaking important strategies such as digital transformation. Bringing in an outside expert like a strategic IT consulting firm can help you uncover vulnerabilities that might have been right in front of you all along. These experts can point out what you couldn’t see or didn’t realize was a pathway to data vulnerability.

For example, iCorps Technologies works with companies to leverage technology to make them more efficient, mobile, productive, and agile. According to Jeffery Lauria, vice president of technology at iCorps, “The threat landscape is far beyond what anyone can really imagine. Gone are the days of sitting your staff in front of their computer for a cybersecurity education session and expecting to be protected. Today’s data privacy and data security regulations demand that businesses have a provider that is providing them defense-in-depth solutions and implementing technology safeguards, such as Advanced Threat Protection, managed firewalls, and more. These will keep them protected at all levels. Also, ensure there is a data backup and disaster recovery plan to recover if a breach or attack does happen.”

As part of working with a strategic IT consulting firm on data security, the first step is a security assessment. Then, a customized security strategy will tackle specific issues and suggest security technology implementation. IT consulting firms can also help with security vulnerabilities related to mobile, compliance, and remote access.

2. Email Errors

The average corporate email user clicks “Send” over 100 times a day. Yet data that comes from emails may not get the attention it deserves and thus can become an easy target. There are so many common email mistakes that create vulnerabilities. For example, a Goldman Sachs contractor inadvertently sent a message to a gmail.com email address rather than the corresponding gs.com email address. Within the email, there was a confidential document full of proprietary and sensitive data. Goldman Sachs went to court to get Google to prevent the gmail.com recipient from opening it. The company even asked whether Google would help it prevent a data breach.

In its annual Data Breach Investigations Report, Verizon cited these types of miscellaneous errors as partly to blame for data breaches. Incorrect recipients have received sensitive information due to user mistakes, while other email errors include publishing of nonpublic data to public web servers and insecure personal and medical data disposal.

The solution for these miscellaneous errors is to incorporate some automated programs. These include identity management software, password management tools, and network access rules. Furthermore, training is key for your team members so that they understand how to use a prevention strategy so these email errors don’t happen. Such a strategy should include checklists, procedures and process flows, and disciplinary measures when mistakes occur.

3. Email Encryption Solutions

Email encryption is a security measure that prevents the theft of confidential data within an email system. That’s because the encryption makes it too difficult to decipher the data and not worth the criminal’s time. The longer it takes to break the encryption, the less likely a criminal will stick around to figure it out.

By encrypting email, you increase data security, but the security tools must be easy to use and manage. Zix is one company that provides a comprehensive email encryption solution for greater data security that your entire team can learn and implement quickly.

David Wagner, CEO of Zix, explains, “Security tools that create obstacles, slow down workflows, and frustrate end users are bound to foster workarounds that can compromise data, resulting in hefty fees, long-term penalties, and public scorn for a company. Thus, organizations, especially in highly regulated industries like healthcare and finance, need to figure out how far users are prepared to go — realistically and in their daily efforts — to support a cybersecurity strategy. They can then implement solutions that foreground ease of use inasmuch as they do protection, because the two shouldn’t be mutually exclusive objectives.”

4. Confidence in the Cloud

Privacy issues and hacking are the largest barriers to cloud adoption, according to Forrester. However, with more hacking into on-site data storage systems, organizations need to consider the increased security that the cloud offers, making it more worthwhile to store information off-site.

In addition, emerging regulatory frameworks mean that companies do not have to manage security on their own. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), for example, is a set of strict requirements that direct how businesses and organizations should handle their customers’ data. Implementation of these safeguards will enable organizations to feel more comfortable about data security.

Final Thoughts

Finally, being secure with your data means leveraging a proactive approach rather than reactively addressing any data breaches. You can be proactive through continual education, testing and analysis, and adoption of the latest technologies. It also helps to arm yourself with technology consultants who come with their own skill sets and provide a formidable line of defense to keep data safe.

The post How to Feel Secure With Your Data in 2018 appeared first on ReadWrite.

In many ways, the sports industry has remained untouched by time. The first international Olympics of modern history may have taken place in 1896, but the event was based on the Olympic Games held in ancient Greece beginning in 776 B.C. People have watched sporting events for centuries.

Still, there are major differences between the sports industry and others. For one, although live events can only cater to a limited number of customers in person, they can be viewed by a virtually unlimited number of fans. Viewers attach themselves devotedly to certain franchises and are often fans for life, perhaps even passing down a particularly revered tradition to their offspring.

While this passion for sports may seem timeless, the introduction of new technology in the industry is changing how sports are played, viewed, and monetized. The following uses of tech are having the biggest impact on the sports industry today.

1. Esports is showing how tech can ‘buff’ the sports industry.

Competitive gaming is expected to blossom into a $1.65 billion industry by 2021, and there’s no sign that its popularity will slow. Large companies are spending money on sponsorships and marketing efforts in esports, and crowdfunded prizes are beginning to reach into the millions.

As esports becomes increasingly legitimized by businesses and fans, its traction with various other audiences is likewise growing. Colleges, including Robert Morris University in Chicago, now offer esports scholarships, and even ESPN is covering the new competitive domain. Summer camps and programs are also getting involved. Julian Krinsky Camps & Programs, which has provided preprofessional programs for 40 years, has created a new esports program that allows students to train with professional gamers to identify their personal strengths in gaming.

Steve Robertson, CEO of JKCP, believes it’s important for the organization’s programs to encourage collaboration among the members of Generation Z, a group that’s helping to legitimize the esports industry. Robertson observes, “Gen Z collaborate in a way that helps bridge that isolation gap.” Like many traditional sports, esports includes teams that collaborate or work together to win.

2. AI is making training sessions and conversations with fans ‘smart.’

Unheard of even half a decade ago, AI and machine learning are being applied to the sports industry in a number of new and exciting ways. Sports teams can use chatbots to converse with fans and share relevant game information, and some media outlets are utilizing AI to generate automated sports coverage at a reduced cost.

In some sports, such as auto racing, engineers are relying on computers to more accurately identify cars moving at fast speeds. AI can also improve human capabilities, and wearables are allowing coaches to gather data that helps them make training sessions more productive.

Patrick Lucey, STATS LLC’s director of artificial intelligence, points out that “We have the ability now to … kind of simulate what players will do in a certain situation, so that’s really exciting.” As AI continues to become more sophisticated, it will no doubt make even bigger waves in the sports industry.

3. Tech is fueling fanbase growth and engagement.

Everyone has data these days, and the sports industry is no exception. From measuring the sales figures of specific channels to monitoring fan engagement, engineers are gaining valuable insights from the sea of data. For example, FanThreeSixty, founded in 2011 by former executives and owners of Sporting Kansas City, has developed technologies that help organizations around the world use data to strategically grow their fanbase.

By gathering customer intelligence data during a live event, companies like FanThreeSixty are helping paint a picture of prospective customers in the most relevant context. Other technologies help measure fan followings on social media because customers are no longer limited to consuming content via traditional broadcast television networks.

The next generation of fans are live-streaming their favorite teams from their mobile devices. Numerous social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, feature broadcast-quality streams. The former broadcast 15 live college football games in 2017 via its Stadium page, while the latter signed a $10 million deal in 2016 to stream 10 Thursday night NFL games. Why social networks? For teams, they represent a way to easily reach a global audience through the channels that audience has demonstrated a preference for.

When you think of the sports industry, engineers, gamers, and tech-heads in Silicon Valley aren’t usually the first things to come to mind. Yet technology is proving to have a significant impact on the industry and those who operate in it, from players and coaches to corporate backers and broadcasting networks. As technological advancements continue to be introduced and refined, the industry will only continue to grow and evolve, just like the abilities of the athletes themselves.

The post Three Ways Tech Is Fueling Growth in the Sports Industry appeared first on ReadWrite.

Meetings have gotten a bad rap over the years, with people mistakenly assuming every meeting is a productivity drain. In fact, good meetings can be a huge boost, especially if they help you work through issues and come up with new ideas.

For meetings to be useful, though, it’s important to find ways to overcome the very things that have traditionally spoiled meetings.

Here are five common meeting annoyances, as well as some tips that can help fix them.

Too Many Notes

Capturing information in meetings has always been complicated, especially once flip charts and whiteboards get involved. Some businesses still rely on this method of data gathering, finding that their frantic scribbles help get their ideas on paper.

However, at the end of the meeting, someone is usually tasked with collecting all that information, which too often means trying to decipher handwriting and turn incomplete thoughts into something coherent.

Microsoft Pix, along with tools like smart markers and electronic whiteboards like Kaptivo, provide a way to capture those scribblings, improving on the information to create useful content that can be later used. All this done through new advancements in AI.

It’s important to find a way to make sure any data gathered during a meeting is collected and shared with those who can use it to get results for your business.

Nobody Is Taking Notes

As you’re speaking to a roomful of people, is anyone taking notes? If not, how can you be sure the information discussed will be remembered after everyone leaves the room?

Note-taking is an ongoing issue for meeting leaders, especially as technology has gradually made offices paperless. It’s important that meeting organizers fully embrace technology, making it as easy as possible for participants to bring their laptops or tablets into the meeting to take notes.

Applications like GoWall move meetings beyond talking heads, equipping attendees with the tools they need to not only take notes, but to share them with others in the audience. As others speak, employees can add their own notes to a group wall, inspiring others in attendance to build on those thoughts.

Virtual Attendees Don’t Share

Virtual meetings with AI have given remote team members the ability to attend meetings, whether they’re on the road or they always work from home. Unfortunately, those same remote attendees may not be as engaged as those who are in the room, since doing so means finding a way to chime in.

Zoom provides a “raise hand” feature that lets your remote workers signal that they have something to say. Always pay close attention to avoid missing these alerts. You should also make a concerted effort, with every meeting, to give remote workers an equal chance to participate in the meeting. In addition to asking each person to give a brief update, also include some of your remote workers in the agenda each month to make sure they feel included.

Several People Dominate

Everyone has been in a situation where a “meeting hog” takes over the conversation, either lengthening a meeting or cutting into the time that might have been used by others. It’s up to meeting organizers to keep everyone on track, quickly steering the conversation if someone begins to dominate.

SmartSheet’s free meeting agenda templates can give you the start you need to create professional-quality agendas. You’ll find with an agenda in place, your meetings are shorter but on topic and your attendees are engaged, since they’ll know what to expect.

Participants Aren’t Engaged

Is everyone in your meeting paying attention from start to finish? The only way to gauge this is to look around the room and see if anyone has checked out, but even then you may not know. This becomes even more complicated with remote workers, since they could be surfing the internet or watching TV and you’d never know. If they aren’t captured on video at all times, they may even get up and walk way at various intervals.

One long-popular trick to ensure people stay engaged is to randomly call on people to speak on the topic at hand. Make an effort you include remote participants in that effort. If you’re hosting virtual events like webinars, coordinators like Virtual Venues specialize in helping hosts keep attendees interested.

Although many have preconceptions about meetings with AI, they don’t have to be a reality. With the right tools and techniques, you can change the way your staff feels about meetings, whether they’re in the office or working from home. Make sure you measure the results to determine whether your tools are working, including pulling reports and noting whether the items discussed in the meeting were followed up on after the fact.

The post How to Fix All the Things You Hate About Meetings with AI appeared first on ReadWrite.

“Small” businesses today come in a broad range of sizes, from the 500-person light manufacturing plant to the “solopreneur.” One distinct category is the microbusiness, which typically features one owner with up to four other employees. A freelancer is a good example of a microbusiness, as is someone who owns his or her own landscaping or pool service company.

Super small though these businesses may be, even solopreneurs need to conduct basic accounting and bookkeeping functions. This includes accounts payable, accounts receivable, taxes, expense tracking, and even payroll. Depending on the microbusiness’s particular structure (corporation, sole proprietorship, etc.), it will have specific financial reporting responsibilities.

That’s where technology comes to the rescue. Companies have developed tax preparation software, accounting apps, and even AI-powered platforms to help businesses do the hard work themselves. “Now all firms, even small ones, should be thinking about how to adopt advanced technology like artificial intelligence (AI), whether it will be by contracting with specialized technology companies or building their own departments,” says Derek Bang, the chief strategy and innovation officer at Crowe Horwath.

Even today, there are now many simple, no-nonsense, and affordable accounting apps available to help microbusiness owners complete accounting, bookkeeping, and tax tasks from anywhere. Here are six small business accounting apps to consider for your microbusiness:

1. Sage Expenses & Invoices

Sage Expenses & Invoices is a small business accounting app from Sage, a renowned accounting software development company that has delivered many innovative accounting solutions for businesses of all sizes. This free, valuable app for micro and small businesses is available on both the App Store and Google Play.

This cloud-based app provides a way to easily record business transactions from anywhere. It can account for and digitally store expenses, send and reconcile invoices, and maintain current business records. The app uses straightforward language and easy navigation, making it a snap to continually record income and expenses on the go. As your business grows, you can integrate the app with Sage One, which expands the range of available accounting features.

2. 1tap Receipts

1tap receipts is an app from Receipt Bank that uses character recognition software to eliminate data entry — and the headache of lost receipts — for self-employed workers. Available for both iOS and Android, 1tap was developed to make it easier to be self-employed by enabling freelancers, contract workers, and others to take pictures of business expenses year-round to assist at tax time. The app can save them money, too, as tax professionals often charge self-employed clients 50 percent more to complete their taxes because of the additional organization and itemization required.

The app works in tandem with those accounting professionals to automate data collection and enable self-employed workers to leverage the information for analysis. 1tap retains all collected receipts in the cloud for 10 years, meaning the information can be resurrected at any time, as well as reviewed to find trends and patterns that might not otherwise be apparent.

Creating an 1tap account is free, and the app offers three different pricing levels to match individuals’ needs.

3. FreeAgent Mobile

FreeAgent is another accounting software platform that has added a mobile app that works on iOS and Android devices. You’ll be able to instantly view what is outstanding in terms of bills and payments from clients while also gaining a longer-term picture of your expenses against budget. This small business accounting app lets you create new expenses and capture receipts via photo.

For invoices, the cloud-based app enables you to create and send invoices, issue estimates, and bill for expenses. The app will also help you focus on higher-level accounting issues related to cash flow, bank balances, taxes, and profit and loss statements. Lastly, the timer feature lets you set a timer so you can record how much time you spend on each task, information that can be used to generate an invoice or time slip.

FreeAgent offers a 30-day free trial, after which you can select a pricing plan that works for the size of your business.

4. KashFlow Go

KashFlow aims to make the accounting process for your microbusiness as simple and comprehensive as possible through its web and mobile applications. It works with companies all over the world that need a simple way to track their invoices, expenses, and financial performance. Features include invoicing, quotes and estimates, taxes, banking, payments, and payroll. While originally developed for small businesses in the UK, many features can also be used by businesses in other countries.

This app, available in iOS and Android, offers a 14-day trial period. After that, you can select one of three pricing levels to align with your business size and scope.

5. FinancialForce

FinancialForce does considerably more than just accounting, which makes it ideal for a micro business that could benefit from using one comprehensive platform rather than dozens of tools. It is designed to integrate with Salesforce, which allows you to combine your accounting tasks with your customer relationship management processes. There are numerous billing and financial management features, including an array of accounting tools, statements, and reports. It also offers tools for inventory and spend management as well as invoicing. You’ll even be able to tap into more sophisticated features such as automated forecasting.

FinancialForce offers free demonstrations and customized pricing to match your business needs.

6. Xero

Xero offers regular accounting software as well as a mobile accounting application, for iOS and Android, that is built for small business owners. Xero offers a wealth of features that allow you to stay on top of your finances from anywhere. This includes reconciling bank transactions, capturing and approving expenses, and sending invoices from your phone instead of waiting to get back to the office.

You can also use the mobile accounting app to store information about your customers and suppliers, including their addresses, phone numbers, and other key details. If you have employees, the app allows you to give them access to certain tasks related to invoicing and expenses while restricting access to more sensitive financial information.

In addition, there are multiple tiers to Xero’s subscription plan based on the size of your business and the features you need, including whether you require a desktop version.

Start Using Accounting Apps and Stop Wasting Time

Now you don’t have to spend tons of time on tasks that don’t really make you money. Instead, these small business accounting apps enable you to get these tasks done quickly and much more effectively. That way, you can focus on nurturing customer relationships, finding new prospects, and generating revenue.

The post 6 Simple, No-Nonsense Accounting Apps for Microbusinesses appeared first on ReadWrite.

Accelerators have appeared across the country and around the world. Their goal is to push startups further along — to help them grow into their potential and start benefiting the economy. Accelerators also want to share in developing disruptive new technology. In a Harvard Business Review article titled “What Startup Accelerators Really Do,” Booking Institution Nonresident Senior Fellow Ian Hathaway explains:

“Startup accelerators support early-stage, growth-driven companies through education, mentorship, and financing. Startups enter accelerators for a fixed period of time and as part of a cohort of companies. The accelerator experience is a process of intense, rapid, and immersive education aimed at accelerating the life cycle of young innovative companies, compressing years’ worth of learning-by-doing into just a few months.”

The same article notes just how fast accelerators have grown. Hathaway identified 172 U.S.-based accelerators between 2005 and 2015 that together invested in over 5,000 U.S. startups. In that time, the companies involved raised $19.5 billion in funding. If you are debating whether you should apply to an accelerator program, consider these real-world ways that accelerators have enabled startups to succeed:

1. Building A Team and Setting Up Shop

Accelerators can help startups meet new people who have the potential to become members of their teams. They can also help founders find a location their growing businesses can call home.

This benefit is illustrated by at least one member of the Ameren Accelerator, which is powered by the University of Missouri System and UMSL Accelerate and focuses on energy technology startups. Rebate Bus, which participated in the accelerator’s first cohort, has hired four full-time staff members and two interns from the Ameren Accelerator program. Rebate Bus CEO Joe Pater says, “UMSL Accelerate has given Rebate Bus a huge boost in development, marketing, and with the growth of our team.”

The company, which is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, is now establishing its operations team in St. Louis. To do so, it set up shop in the UMSL Accelerate office space at the conclusion of the Ameren Accelerator program. Rebate Bus found this an ideal way to help bridge the gap while it locates a permanent office in St. Louis. It plans to move from the accelerator’s space sometime during 2018.

Now Ameren Accelerator wants to offer the same kinds of support to other startups. It’s currently accepting applications for members to participate in its second cohort.

2. Learning At A Faster Rate

Accelerators aren’t just for startups. Even companies that have been around for a while can transform themselves for the digital age. Consider how ManageHub Accelerator assisted L&R Lawn Equipment and Repair. While the company had been founded many decades earlier, the owner recognized that he needed to make his business sustainable for a new environment.

Working with an accelerator, L&R learned quickly about the new economy and technology and was able to improve its processes. According to Steve Seder, L&R’s director of operations:

“Before using ManageHub, our business was chaotic at best. We had no idea what others were doing, and we had people doing the same jobs at the same time. Our operations were so out of line that it was costing us thousands of dollars without even knowing it. Now we are more organized, more creative, more efficient, and have a process to handle every situation that arises, making training easier and profits soar.”

The program helped L&R learn how to change what it did and take advantage of the new business realities. Its ManageHub experience marked a true transformation for the company.

3. Making More Connections Faster

Startup SpotHero worked with the Techstars Chicago accelerator in 2012. During their participation in the program, the startup’s founders realized just how much the company benefited from all the connections the accelerator provided. SpotHero co-founder and CEO Mark Lawrence notes:

“Mentorship might seem like an obvious part of an accelerator, but we were surprised by how many incredibly talented mentors we had access to during the program. From the founders of OpenTable, GrubHub and CDW to the CEOs of publicly traded companies, we spent time learning from some of the most successful people in the world. We met with about 100 mentors 1:1 so we could really get to know them better, pick their brains, and learn from their experiences. Whether it was entrepreneurs, marketers, salespeople, or lawyers, each one forced us to start thinking about how these different specialties come together to form a profitable business. We developed strong relationships, and suddenly we had people, besides our families, who were invested in our success.”

SpotHero’s founders might eventually have made such connections on their own. However, they wouldn’t have had such a large group within their reach to help them so quickly. That proximity and number of connections sped the startup’s development.

4. Getting A Different Perspective

As a startup founder, you live and breathe your business idea and tiny company. That passion is great. However, it can also blind you to certain things that a second pair of unbiased eyes can see. This might include limiting your audience, product, or service or finding a better price point for your offering. Maybe you are even going in the wrong direction. An accelerator can point you in the right direction even if that means pivoting.

In 2013, the Digital Greenwich accelerator worked with Student Tutors to help the startup look at its business idea differently. According to the accelerator’s case study on the startup, Digital Greenwich was able to advise the startup on areas where it had previously been struggling. Student Tutor CEO Abrar Akhtar explains, “It’s definitely been beneficial to participate in the program and go over strategies with the business advisor. We’ve been trying to work out how we can get as many new customers on board, and working with the business advisor has led us to develop a clear plan that allows us to target this potential clientele.”

5. Practicing Until Perfect

When you are working on your own in a vacuum, you don’t make the time to do things that can help you succeed. One of those is honing your pitch to investors or crafting the best messages for your marketing campaigns.

Working with an accelerator, you can both practice your pitches and get feedback that can help you improve them. Credential Cabinet participated in the JFE Accelerator, which provided this benefit among many others. Co-founder Ely Greenberg explains:

“Because we were in an accelerator, we also got to pitch in front of ‘mock’ investors before the pitch event. These were investors who could provide unbiased feedback. There is no ‘correct’ way to pitch. There are many articles about what to say and what not to say, but basically it boils down to telling a captivating story, demonstrating that you have a great team and product, and that you’re serious about building a great company. You should know the material on your slides, as well as the supporting facts.”

As a result of their accelerator experience, Credential Cabinet’s founders believe they improved their pitching skills due to the advice and feedback they received. They also learned about what didn’t work so that they could avoid those mistakes in future pitches. Overall, their confidence about pitching to investors increased.

An accelerator program can offer the perfect combination of mentoring, learning, access to funding, and strategic guidance. This environment allows founders to get the support they need to take their companies in the right direction for success.

The post Five Ways An Accelerator Can Propel Your Startup To Success appeared first on ReadWrite.

The Internet of Things has invaded our homes with smart thermostats, smart locks, and smart toothbrushes. It has invaded our offices with smart assistants, data security, and connected devices between remote teams.

And corporate events are the new frontier.

Whether you’re unveiling a new product at SXSW or hosting your own expo, interconnectivity can and should be an integral part of your next big business trip.

The following four technologies allow for the best of both worlds: retaining the beloved tradition and human element of real-world events while leveraging the efficiency and slickness of the latest devices.

1. Mobile Event Apps

Ninety-one percent of event planners say that the use of a mobile event app has yielded a positive ROI. According to Eventbrite, the event technology platform, mobile apps have also been shown to increase attendance by 20 percent while lowering costs by as much as 30 percent. Those are the kinds of numbers that can turn a marginally viable event into a roaring success.

But to compete in this market, you have to look beyond the current event and plan for the future. Fortunately, these apps provide the most robust and efficient method of doing just that. Not only do they allow attendee engagement through the service, but they also provide valuable insights into your attendees’ motivations, values, and backgrounds. That’s critical for longer-term planning; mobile-first data companies like Zoomdata can use large volumes of accumulated or real-time data to visualize trends and pinpoint not just what’s happening at your own events, but at others’ as well.

2. RFID

You might be familiar with RFID (radio frequency identification) tags from large retail and grocery chains. In 2017, RFID Journal reported 39 percent more retailers using RFID over the previous year. Estimates put the number of devices in apparel alone at more than 8 billion.

But you might be surprised to learn that the technology is now booming in other sectors, including the events industry. It’s natural when you consider that a brief physical contact of one’s phone to an event poster is enough to exchange information. This is a step up in elegance and convenience from unsightly QR codes that require aiming phones at a black-and-white square. Clemi Hardie, founder of Noodle Live, sees RFID as a big part of the future of event information exchange: “Instead of installing hardware at the events, it will be preinstalled on our smartphones, so it will be perfectly normal to put up event posters that simply say ‘tap here for push notifications’ or ‘tap here to exchange contact details.’”

3. Virtual Event Attendance

As engaging and powerful as events are, there are some drawbacks to the traditional structure. The overhead and costs can be cumbersome, and getting the details of event planning perfectly right each time is always a challenge. But there’s no choice: When large numbers of people are traveling and taking time out of their hectic schedules to attend, getting things right is critical. Another drawback is the challenge of tracking attendee behavior, but that insight is useful for planning future events.

There’s now another option to complement the standard model: virtual event attendance through VR headsets. The approach has some key advantages. First, it greatly reduces overhead (by more than half) because no one has to travel, book physical space for the event, or consider other logistical details. It also allows distant community members to attend easily from their homes or offices. Finally, this paradigm is the big winner in gathering intelligence about the behaviors of attendees because their “movements” can be tracked and analyzed through the virtual attendance software.

4. Augmented Reality

Events have two main functions: opportunities for networking and learning from speakers. But augmented reality is now even enhancing what speakers can deliver. For example, the Microsoft HoloLens headsets are glasses that overlay imagery and information over whatever the event attendee is viewing live. It was demoed in 2017 for set designers from Cirque du Soleil, helping them better visualize their sets.

Imagine the richness of information available to attendees who can view speakers through such devices, with information overlaid at key times in their presentation. To fully take advantage of this technology, the AR models can be made available to speakers to allow them to plan how they could best exploit what this platform offers to enhance their presentations.

The good news with all these approaches is that the companies behind them want nothing more than to support customers in easily adopting their platforms. That means there is no excuse not to dive in to integrate some or all of these technologies, at the very least on a trial basis for your next event. But, like smartphones, chances are that once these options are available, event attendees will never want to return to the old-fashioned way of running events.

The post 4 Ways Connected Devices Are Poised to Transform Your Next Big Event appeared first on ReadWrite.

Energy sector improvements have the capacity to affect almost every other industry. We all recognize the importance of a reliable energy system — after all, no business runs without electricity. As DataRPM, a Progress company that uses anomaly detection and prediction to provide a stable energy supply, notes in its recent e-book, “Since energy literally drives everything in the industrial world, the energy and utilities industry itself is under constant pressure…to tackle efficiency problems and perform 24/7 without disruptions.”

Another thing we all know is that electricity costs money. Thankfully, the Internet of Things is empowering companies to better understand their energy consumption and adapt, so as to reduce both their consumption and their costs.

Industry represents a huge proportion of U.S. energy consumption – about a third of the total — and that figure is projected to increase further. With consumption on the rise, energy companies are incentivized to improve efficiency in order to decrease their total operating costs, and opportunities for these improvements are abundant.

According to independent studies, U.S. industry could introduce measures that cut energy consumption by between 14 and 22 percent. IoT technologies that either exist or are being developed are among the tech-based solutions that promise to address efficiency and security issues for the energy sector.

Startups are exploring IoT-oriented solutions

Entrepreneurs often look for areas to make a difference, and the energy sector represents a substantial opportunity. Companies such as WIFIPLUG, which produces a smart plug that currently works with four IoT platforms, are helping both businesses and consumers reduce energy consumption by learning their routines and making it easier for them to adjust their energy usage. The company was part of the 2017 cohort of the Ameren Accelerator, which is currently accepting applications for its second annual cohort in hopes of finding other energy solution-focused startups.

BlocPower, a tenant at the Urban Tech Hub in New York City, is another promising project. The company is utilizing the IoT to build a platform meant to grow clean energy usage in the nation’s inner cities, which it feels are often overlooked by large companies.

See Also: How startups can work with cities to innovate for a smarter future

Energy-demand forecast data is improving

Renewable energy sources are becoming increasingly capable, but they’re not always easy to incorporate into the grid. In addition, weather has a big impact on the success of these energy sources, making them less reliable than those based on fossil fuels. Right now, renewable sources can’t always meet peak demand on their own.

Scientists at the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites-North Carolina (CICS-NC) are taking steps to improve data analysis and create more accurate forecasts of energy demand. Knowing the demand for a specific area is an important part of determining how best to meet its need. As artificial intelligence and the IoT further develop, the predictive capabilities of both will aid the energy sector as it seeks to balance the grid and meet industry and consumer demands.

Industrial companies are using tech to increase efficiency

Industrial companies wanting to improve their operations naturally turn to tech solutions. In the case of Honeywell, the New Jersey-based company is improving its IIoT abilities in oil and gas by partnering with air emissions firm Aereon of Austin, Texas, with the goal of helping its customers increase the efficiency of their supply chains and decrease unplanned downtime.

In addition, the IoT and AI are obvious partners when it comes to achieving energy efficiencies. Google’s DeepMind technology — the same AI that taught itself to play Go and beat the best players in the world — has helped the company predict increased demand on cooling systems at its data centers. That information helped Google reduce its energy usage by 40 percent, which will save it hundreds of millions of dollars over the next several years. The U.K.’s National Grid is in the preliminary stages of talks with Google about putting DeepMind to work as well.

There’s no denying it — the IoT has had an impact on the energy sector, and its influence will continue to grow. Tech innovations promise to bring the grid into the 21st century and create a safer, more efficient system while reducing costly reliability issues. By making investments in a smart grid and fully utilizing the IoT, we’ll be able to take full advantage of renewable technologies such as solar and wind power and create a brighter future, both literally and figuratively.

See Also: Industrial IoT and energy efficiency will slash carbon emissions

The post How the IoT and Related Tech Are Helping to Update the Energy Sector appeared first on ReadWrite.

Like most functions in today’s businesses, sales is currently undergoing a transformation. Lead generation, customer acquisition, and sales resources are being approached differently. Companies now replace the cold call with new sales tools and tactics that are changing results for the better.

If you are a small to medium-sized business, you may be contemplating how to transform your sales team to maximize the results from lead generation and customer acquisition activities while minimizing sales resources. Consider these eight ways that companies are leveraging tech to change the sales process so that you can emulate their success:

1. Personalizing Pitches

The modern-day sales team has had to change its methods for approaching prospects. Before, it was all about enumerating product features. But this sales tactic never really addressed each prospect’s personal needs. Instead, it assumed everyone could benefit from the same features.

Now, sales teams must focus on personalizing all their sales pitches, specifically addressing each prospect’s perceived needs and desires. This, in turn, requires leveraging the available data and conducting extensive prospect research, which may include surveys, interviews, and/or focus groups.

Sales professionals know that they have to observe more and ask questions. They must pay attention to continue personalizing future sales with the insights gained through those conversations.

2. Employing Digital Sales Tools

Previously, sales teams relied on manual processes, including paper proposals and contracts. Today, digital sales tools are automating many sales activities (e.g., digital signatures and contracts). As a result, there is less repetition and far fewer time-consuming tasks, which enables sales professionals to focus on the personal, one-on-one aspects of their job and close deals.

There are also many more sales tools that allow sales team to use the power of the digital environment for prospecting and sales interaction. For example, Gmail can be used to send reminders and schedule emails; sales professionals then receive notifications when prospects open their emails and can leverage open tracking. Sales teams can also use tools like Proofy or Email Validator to verify prospect emails. These are just some of the ways digital sales tools can reduce wasted time and help sales teams increase productivity for a higher rate of lead generation and conversions.

3. Using Big Data for Better Modern Day Sales

The availability of increasing amounts of data means that sales teams have a completely different perspective on who they are approaching. This data might include more specific information about various buyer personas, such as demographics, location, motivation, previous purchase behavior, and timeline for purchasing. That intelligence is enough to replace the cold call right there.

In addition to using big data, B2B lead generation companies like Sapper Consulting partner with companies to leverage precise targeting and creative email content. As a result, they can help secure meetings with those prospects that are most likely to convert into customers. This type of deep intelligence saves sales teams time and money. The approach is about focusing the team solely on prescreened prospects who are most likely to buy the products or services being offered.

4. Sharing Data to Enable Sales and Marketing Collaboration

For years, sales and marketing had a rather adversarial relationship. Each function thought the other didn’t understand or value what it did.

But remember how personalization is changing the modern-day sales process, and how extensive research is required to customize sales pitches to prospects? It turns out that for real insights to be collected, marketing and sales need to work together and share the data that drives the personalization process. For this level of customization to work, it has to be threaded through all marketing messages and followed up by sales. As a result, today’s sales and marketing teams are collaborating much more closely.

5. Incorporating Artificial Intelligence

Some employees worry that artificial intelligence will completely take over and leave them jobless. However, sales professionals know they will always be necessary, even in future sales organizations. Therefore, they view the appearance of AI as an opportunity to further maximize their time.

First, AI has been a game changer in terms of delivering additional data and synthesizing that information into palpable insights that would have taken humans years to process. Second, AI can lighten a salesperson’s workload by automating various tasks. This makes it an ideal addition to a company that may be scaling up faster than it can hire additional sales professionals. Third, AI’s delivery of sales data insights will improve sales forecasting to bring sales budgets and strategy into greater alignment for a better return.

6. Outsourcing

Although it may sound risky to outsource your sales function, more companies are realizing that it does not matter if sales professionals work directly for you or if they work outside the firm to sell your products or services. What is important is that they have the ability to generate leads, leverage tools and technology, and deliver results.

As sales organizations have sought out technology vendors and consultants to help solve sales prospecting and conversion problems, the trend is veering toward using more outsourcing providers who can add intelligence, technology, and talent to assist in the B2B and B2C environment to solve those problems and address ever-changing target audience demands. In addition, by lowering their overall sales costs, outsourcing the sales function allows organizations to realize greater value.

7. Sales Training

The belief in sales training investment as a significant way to achieve a greater return is becoming more widespread among all sizes of companies, from startups to established enterprises. According to a McKinsey report, “Just under half the fast growers spend significant time and money on sales-force training, compared to 29 percent of slow growers.”

This demonstrated competitive advantage has led to a renewed interest in sales training programs and platforms to assist sales talent within the organization as well as any of the outsourced talent that has been brought in. Now, online training programs, augmented reality, and AI-enabled training sessions are assisting sales professionals on everything from account-based selling to smart personalization.

8. Omnichannel and Social Selling

Modern-day sales also involves new ways to undertake selling. That means sales professionals have had to learn — and value — different channels and ways to approach prospects. Previously, sales professionals picked up the phone or visited prospects in person. Today, sales professionals have to look at omnichannel selling, social selling, mobile selling, and more.

For example, stats compiled by Entrepreneur indicate that leads who come from social media convert seven times more frequently than leads who come through other channels. Sales professionals who incorporate social media as a channel for prospecting have been proven to outsell 78 percent of their peers. With such a successful track record, changing channels and outreach to other locations where prospects are more likely to be found and listen is an ideal way to improve current and future sales results.

The post Modern Day Sales: 8 Ways Companies are Changing the Future of Sales appeared first on ReadWrite.

When the weather is warm enough, I like to go for a quick run up two to three times a week. It’s somewhat meditative. It allows me to focus on the day ahead, and my Apple Watch lets me see how many steps I’ve run. It’s nice.

I’m not alone.  Fitness trackers like FitBit and Jawbone have been on wrists for year. Consumers rely on them and the ecosystem of associated apps to meet fitness goals.  And yet, these devices often fall short of identifying actionable health insights, such as risk factors for diabetes and heart disease.

Companies like Apple plan to change that. Last year, the company partnered with Stanford to bring diabetes testing to its smartwatch. Even more recently, Apple joined forces with a startup called Cardiogram to find meaningful ways to use information on irregular heart rates. Eventually, this information could be used to detect diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, and atrial fibrillation.

But Apple isn’t the only company innovating the wearables space. Here are some ways wearables will help consumers take charge of their own health in the very near future.

Heart Rate Health Monitoring

Heart rate can offer valuable insights into a person’s health. An accelerated heart rate is a sign of an impending heart attack, for instance, and an irregular heartbeat can signal a variety of concerning conditions. Although many of today’s fitness wearables provide heart rate tracking, consumers are still unsure how to put the information to use.

The next generation of wearables will address these shortcomings. The iBeat smartwatch will not only monitor a wearer’s heart rate, but it also includes a help button that connects to a 24/7 response center.  Jawbone has been ramping up to shift into medical tracking, and the latest models of its fitness bracelet are an important first move. The Jawbone UP3 and UP4 monitor your heart rate, but they also give you information on what those metrics mean for your health.

Patient Data Monitoring

Patients spend time in the hospital hooked up to machines that monitor vital signs around the clock. Once a patient leaves the clinical setting, however, medical professionals no longer have a way to monitor them. Technology like that being developed by MYIA Labs uses a combination of under-bed sensors and apps to track your heart rate and respiratory rate while you sleep. This information is collected and used to monitor chronic conditions like Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). Another wearable sensor is the  Kardia Band, which can note an abnormal heart rate or signs of atrial fibrillation, which can lead to issues like blood clots and stroke. Once detected, the app sends an email to either you or your doctor so you can take action.

Few conditions are as ideal for patient monitoring as diabetes is. Patients suffering from the disease must keep constant watch on their glucose levels. This has traditionally required drawing blood through a finger prick. Wearables bring the possibility of monitoring those levels without drawing blood. Diabetes Sentry, which tracks a patient’s skin temperature and perspiration levels to detect signs of a drop in blood glucose levels. The alert signals it may be time for treatment.

Health Insights

In addition to monitoring for health problems, fitness wearables will still do what they were originally designed to do. However, they will become more advanced in the health data they provide. The Polar A370 fitness tracker not only measures your activity. It also provides guidance on what you can do to improve your workout routine. Like others, this wearable tracks sleep activity. It also asks the wearers how they’re feeling each day to put that information to use in offering insights.

For those who aren’t interested in wearing bracelets, watches, or patches, SPIRE has a tag that clips onto your clothing. Once in place, the wearable takes tracking to the next level. It starts offering insights to help reduce stress levels, sleep better, and be more active. Trackers are even being built into clothing items like sports bras and underwear.  This helps to monitor people without forcing them to wear a band or watch.

Technology innovators are envisioning a time when no one will be surprised by a heart attack or stroke. At the same time, companies across the globe are making it easier for chronic patients to enjoy around-the-clock care. All this from the comfort of their home. More than just fitness trackers, these sensors are revolutionizing healthcare.

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