How to use IT to Save Your Business Money

25 July 2018

In a world that’s focused on making your business fly, ‘return on investment’ (ROI) is a term that’s usually talked about when you’re planning SEO, PPC or social marketing strategies.

In fact, IT can offer a huge ROI for your business – simply by streamlining processes that could otherwise see your team or contractors spending unnecessary time struggling with sub-par systems and devices.

We’ll walk you through 6 of the best ways to save money, with nothing but IT as your tool…

How to use IT to Save Your Business Money:

Explore open-source software :

It’s easy to forget that Microsoft, Google, Adobe and the other huge software and service providers aren’t the only companies out there who create worthwhile resources.

If you’re used to working for a company, you might take it for granted that the typical applications you’ll use (think; word processing, spreadsheets, customer relationship management, accounting – and much more) are just there for you within a few clicks – but actually, those pieces of software cost a significant amount of money.

The truth is, the household names are the ones we know about because they’ve got the budget to market their products far and wide – but in fact, there’s a host of great open-source applications out there that are completely free to use – you’ve just got to know where to look.

Open-source is more than just a money-saving tip though, in fact, there’s a world of developers who believe open-source is the only way you can truly reflect user’s needs in the long term – and many of those developers commit themselves to maintain and adjusting the free software to suit businesses just like yours.

This TechRadar list offers some great open-source applications that’ll definitely help your business save money when compared to full price alternatives.

Let employees work on their own devices :

‘Bring your own device’ (BYOD) such a simple idea – yet so many businesses resist it.

When you let your employees use their own devices to do company business, you’re saving huge amounts of money – and actually increasing productivity at the same time.

Countless studies have shown that employees are more comfortable and more productive when they use their own devices for work tasks – and the maths really adds up: If using a device you’re familiar with only saves 10 minutes each day – that adds up to an incredible 45 hours over the course of a full working year – essentially offering you a free week’s worth of work if you’re happy for employees to use their own machines.

Of course, there are security considerations to be made – and BYOD is likely to be impractical if you’re handling a lot of sensitive client information, but if you’d like to take away a huge chunk of capital expenditure from your budget, these could be problems you’d be happy to work around.

Outsource support :

When it comes to money-saving, good tech systems can give and take in similar measures – but one of the largest costs to consider when you’re installing IT relates to the people who are going to support it.

If you’re a small company, even if you only have a very small number of employees, you’re probably going to need someone to support your IT systems – and if you don’t have that person in place, you run the very real risk of not being able to trade if your IT network goes down.

So, what does the maths look like? Well, you’ve got a $40,000 basic wage for someone who comes with the skills set needed to keep a network up and running by themselves – then you’ve got to factor holiday cover, sickness, maternity/paternity leave, training and what happens if that person decides they’d like to work somewhere else.

All in all, carrying IT staff can be problematic – and extremely expensive – which is why managed network providers (MSPs) are becoming more and more popular with small to medium-sized businesses.

With an MSP, you’ve got the potential of 24/7 access, 365 days a year – plus no need to worry about keeping an individual up to speed with the latest accreditations and training programs. You simply pick up the phone and access the support – which, most of the time, can be applied to your systems remotely.

If you’d like your tech to save you thousands – you could do a lot worse than finding a good MSP and treating them like they’re one of your valued team.

Buy resources ‘as a service’ :

If you’re bringing your IT support onboard as an outsourced service – why not do the same with your applications, platforms, and infrastructure?

In the last 10 years, larger tech companies have realized that there’s an increasing number of small businesses becoming established year on year – and those companies simply do not have the money that’s needed to buy expensive software licenses, development platforms and costly networking infrastructure straight out of the gate.

The solution? Offering all of the above on a subscription basis – pay for only what you use, whenever you need it? A result is an increasing number of people opting to move to solutions like Microsoft Office 365 and Google’s G-Suite – both examples of ‘Software as a Service’ (Saas). That said, it’s not just cloud-accessed software that’s available in this manner, Microsoft now provides email exchange servers on a similar subscription basis too – with the robust security you’d expect from one of the biggest tech companies on Earth.

All these things are made possible by the cloud – the concept of storage and services that are hosted centrally, with your internet connection bridging the gap between your business and the resource. Of course, you’re going to need a connection that is stable and fast enough to allow uninterrupted access – but that’s more than realistic for most internet service providers.

Interestingly – the monetary benefits of SaaS are actually likely to be two-fold, as there’s an increasing body of evidence that suggests people actually work more effectively together when they’re collaborating online, even when compared to sitting next to one another in an office space. If you want to increase productivity and reduce costs with the help of IT tech, you could do a lot worse than to explore which of your required resources could be procured ‘as a Service’.

Read Also :

Ariana Smith

I enjoy writing and I write quality guest posts on topics of my interest and passion. I have been doing this since my college days. My special interests are in health, fitness, food and following the latest trends in these areas. I am an editor at Content Rally.

View all posts

Should You Consider Outsourcing Your Brand’s Marketing Campaign?

If you’re in higher management, you strive to make sure your marketing team is doing its best to market your brand and bring in leads to the sales team. Lest outsourcing becomes ponders publicity, keeping your organizational processes internally is crucial to you because you want to keep control over operations, and you want to keep costs at a decent minimum. Now you’ve realized that internalizing all of your online marketing efforts might not be working out as well as you’d imagined. Businesses that outsource marketing have specialized marketing services on their side, collaborating with them with every campaign and a new initiative to make sure it’s successful. Online marketing services are often more efficient than an in-house marketing team and, more often than not, more affordable. Systems are even created to make sure your brand still has control over activities and the reputation of the company. Outsourcing your marketing efforts can be a great option if you understand the importance of a powerful marketing campaign but don’t have the resources to do it by yourself. Who Can Benefit from Outsourcing of Brand Marketing Campaign? Many companies and brands decide to outsource their marketing activities to help them create brand awareness and generate leads. But certain businesses tend to use outsourced resources to implement their marketing agendas. Here are some of them. 1. Early-Stage Businesses Upscaling a new business is a challenging and stressful job. You have many decisions to make while developing new services and products. At the early stage of the business, business owners often concentrate their efforts on creating the product and do not have the financial power or the time to hire full-time marketing people. As the company prepares to launch their service, they need to develop a brand image. An outsourced marketing agency often handles the processes that design the style guides and website and creates the company logo. 2. Growing Companies When companies launch their service or product without problems, they often enter a high-growth phase to quickly bring supplementary marketing resources. Outsourced marketing services provide the necessary talent and resources to increase revenue growth without adding a lot of overhead. More often than not, businesses in growth stages cannot afford the time it takes to train and hire new staff members. Outsourced marketing firms or Virtual PA services provide expertise and flexibility during these growth stages. Often, venture capital firms invest in companies at this stage and use the influx of cash to accelerate growth through social media platforms, content marketing, SEO, and digital advertising activities. 3. Companies with Large Marketing Teams Global organizations hire hundreds, if not thousands, of marketing professionals to back their brand and sales initiatives. These enterprises will often use outsourced firms and professionals to provide crucial services. For instance, a company will hire outsourced professionals to promote an event, save money or launch a new project. Outsourced resources are often more affordable than in-house professionals. The company may want to skyrocket a specific product line and outsource for a short-term initiative. 4. Niche Companies Brands and companies that operate in specialty markets like engineering or biotechnology may find it challenging to hire in-house marketers with the experience and the know-how they need to create and launch content marketing campaigns. Outsourced marketing services often specialize in a specific niche market. They bring not only valuable resources but also experience in these unique markets. Virtual assistants, for example, combine technical expertise with marketing education or experience. These professionals work in leading organizations and have a greater understanding of the market than full-time professionals with little experience. When To Do Outsourcing? If you do not see the results you want from your in-house marketing team, then you should consider outsourcing. Your in-house team is working relentlessly with the goals set before them, but the results continue to be short of optimal. Staying on top of performance and campaign optimization isn’t easy. Often in-house teams have no time to optimize these campaigns for better performance, so they end short of hitting their goals. Evaluating the results of marketing efforts is critical to the success of a team not only in-house but for outsourced professionals as well. If it’s been a few months since your brand launched a great marketing campaign, it might be time to outsource marketing. a. Your Marketing Team Is Burned Out In marketing, there is graphic design, copywriting, SEO, website development, email marketing, lead generation, and so much more. How many professionals do you have in your team? Do you have someone assigned to each task involved in marketing, or do you have one marketing guru filling many hats? A copywriter can’t be a graphic designer and vice versa, but so many entrepreneurs expect so much from one marketing employee. One team member cannot meet the massive marketing demands in today’s market. b. You’re Always Running Out Of Time You’re planning a stellar email campaign this month, but your team ran out of time, so you reschedule it. You’re rushing to get the offer, the Facebook posts, and the blog posts out before Christmas. If you feel like you’re always running but never get anywhere, then it might mean you don’t have the necessary systems or strategies in place to run efficiently. c. You Lack Proper Strategy Getting things done might feel rewarding, but those things are time idlers instead of business generators when they are not part of an overall strategy. Posting on social or sharing a blog post is useless unless you have a purpose of reaching your goal. Sharing for the sake of staying active on social media platforms is not a real strategy. You feel the pressure of staying active online, so you ask your marketing team to ensure the social accounts are active always, but you don’t give them a genuine reason. As a business, you have income goals, but if you lack a proper strategy to meet those goals, then you might want to consider outsourcing digital marketing services. Summary That’s all about the logic behind considering outsourcing your brand’s marketing campaign. I hope the article was intriguing enough to make you understand why you should outsource the marketing campaign. The rationale is justified above along with specific situations to make your concept clear. Wanna clear any doubts? Drop your queries in the comment area below. Read Also: What You Need to Know When Outsourcing SEO How Legal Services Outsourcing Aids Law Firms and Legal Departments Balancing the Books with Outsourcing – Virtual Receptionists 9 Things Conservatives & Liberals Have in Common How To Reduce The Operating Cost of Your Business?

5 Proven tactics to acquire more quality leads

Leads are the foundation for sales. While we all wish that everyone we come across as brands would convert right on the spot, that's not how it works. People need to "think about it", some need to actually see the benefits of what it is you're offering, and others just haven't been convinced yet. People are in different stages of your conversion funnel, and how they are convinced to ultimately purchase can vary a lot. To convert these individuals, you first need to gather leads, and then impact them time and time over, until they finally buy from you. Everyone is talking about the importance of collecting leads and then working to get people farther and farther down the conversion funnel, but very few people actually talk about how it is done, and what goes into doing it effectively. Additionally, there's a huge misconception about collecting leads that people make. Many people focus on acquiring as many leads as possible, and in doing so, they put zero thought into who those people actually are, which, means neglecting quality for quantity. Then, when they've gathered thousands and thousands of leads, they celebrate and cheer, without realizing that the leads they gathered were completely irrelevant and that the reason for acquiring leads in the first place is not done for the sake of having lots of leads, but to ultimately get people to buy. In this post, you'll learn how to build an email list from the people who come to your website, not by increasing the people who come to your site, but by optimizing the lead-generation process to increase your conversion rate of your visitors. And most importantly, you'll learn how you can improve the quality of the leads you get, and ensure that the ones you do get are laser-targeted to your brand and niche, and thus likely to convert into customers. 1. Create appealing subscription forms : When working to collect leads, you almost always have some sort of subscription form. Through this form, you collect information about your prospect such as email address, name, profession, etc. You've probably come across subscription forms that only ask for your email address and you've probably experienced the type of subscription-forms that ask for your name, profession, habits, and so on, where you're wondering when the number of fields is going to end. We'll go more into detail about the reasons to why some brands choose to do this further on, but now, we're going to focus on improving the format of the subscription form to give it a better visual appeal. When you're working to collect leads, you need to ensure that the subscription form is inviting and encourages people to sign-up. If the form just looks overwhelming and cluttery, you risk making your visitors confused, and ultimately losing them forever. As an example, here's Send pulse subscription form: As you can see, it is clear, concise, and asks for the most important information without coming off as intrusive or overwhelming. An important part of this is eliminating unnecessary elements of the subscription form which can risk confusing visitors. A challenge that many marketers face when they are going to set up their lead-generation form to acquire leads is that they have absolutely no expertise in coding or designing, and most importantly, they have no idea how they're going to create a subscription form to maximize conversions. The good news is that no longer, you need to have coding experience or be very good at designing in order to create a subscription form that performs well. The reason for this is that tools like Send pulse have done all of that for you. The absolute best part is that Send pulse gives you the option you to choose from their many pre-designed forms and then optimize it according to your brand and style. This means that you don't have to spend countless hours trying to figure out the format for a successful subscription form. Because with Sendpulse's subscription forms, you already have access to tried and true formats right at your fingertips that have proven to drive the best results. 2. Ask for relevant information : Here comes the answer to the cliffhanger that presented earlier about including lots of fields where you ask for information about your prospects (and why it can actually be a good thing). You might think that the fewer fields you have that your prospects need to fill in, the better, because obviously, the more people will be willing to invest their time, but that's actually not always the case. The fact is that while having a few fields can increase the number of registrations, it can also mean that many of the registrations you get are of higher quality. This is very relevant considering the fact that 61% of B2B marketers struggle to generate high-quality leads. And remember, ultimately, it's not about how many leads you can collect, it's about how many quality leads you can generate. Because ultimately, these are the only individuals who will do what you want them to do in the future, which is, become paying customers. Now, obviously, there's a fine balance between simply including too many fields that bring no value and having a high amount of fields that filter away irrelevant people, and to find the ideal length, you simply need to experiment and learn through trial and error, but the best part is that the SendPulse subscription forms allow you to add as many or as few fields as you'd like. Even better, it also allows you to add or remove whichever fields you'd like, whenever you'd like. This allows you to have full control over your lead-generation subscription forms, and at the same time be able to change and optimize them with ease within a matter of seconds. Since you are after quality leads, not quantity, don't be afraid of asking for a lot of information about the people signing up. The more relevant questions you ask, the more certain you can be that the leads you generate are very hot. 3. Include images : Humans are visual creatures, and so I cannot emphasize just how important including visual content in your subscription form is. When it comes to creating appealing subscription forms, visuals play a huge part, and they also play a huge part in people's first impression of it, and if they decide to complete it or not. Just creating a subscription-form with text can be very overwhelming for your visitors, and this means that you risk losing people in the process. If you do, however, include images in your subscription form, you can grasp your audience's attention, and convince them to sign up. Again, if you are designing your lead-gen forms manually, including images, changing formats, and optimizing them can be a full-time job due to its complexity, but using the Send pulse subscription forms allows you to effortlessly upload and store images in any format on their server. The best part? It can be done free of charge! 4.Create responsive subscription forms : Believe it or not, but people are still using unresponsive lead-gen forms. Some just don't know how to optimize them for all devices, others just don't believe or know that it is necessary. But with the increased usage of mobile devices, making your forms responsive is crucial for increasing the number of leads you generate, because if your form isn't responsive, you can be sure that almost 100% of the people who experience an unresponsive form will leave without signing up due to a terrible experience (or because they're just not able to sign up). Manually creating forms that are responsive can be difficult, to say the least, but when using Sendpulse's subscription forms, you don't have to pay a single thought on that, because all forms are responsive. 5. Use subscription formats that are relevant to your needs : The format of your subscription forms and where they are presented have a huge impact on its performance. Sendpulse offers four different types of forms that you can use for your sign-ups, all of which support different needs. Based on how your visitors use and navigate your website, different forms can work differently well. The best part is that using this subscription forms service, you don't have to guess or ponder what might work the best. Simply put each and every one of these subscription formats into practice, and see for yourself which format works best for you. Read Also : 7 Proven Marketing Tactics To Increase Your ROI In 2018 Social Media Marketing Role In Technology Role Of Messaging Apps In Enhancing A Company’s Market Prospects

Make Your Business Popular Online

Start Your Website: Almost for every businessman, whether small or big getting the highest rank on search engines is a dream. To achieve this, you should build and manage high-quality and useful for customers website. Let get the insight of the most important reasons on commercial site search ranking. For every website, the home page is very influential, so the presentation part is more important. If they find the improper link or irrelevant link, they ask you to edit it. Content, keywords, and the website design are essential things for SEO marketing. The content play a very important part in website promotion therefore content should be very clear and relevant. Unclear and illogical text can get the trouble for your website as Google can block it. Use of keywords should be appropriate and limited. It should not be repeated more than thrice. If your website has hyperlinks which do not take the user to the right page, it should be corrected or deleted. Also, it's very important to create clear, well-structured and easy to use website design. It should allow users to find any information in not more than three clicks, that will be loaded quickly as on desktop as on mobile. Use Social Media: The next step is related to social media marketing ideas which will improve the outlook for your online business It's likely that you're aware of the potential effect of social networking around the world. Do you know that internet websites are also great for promoting your business? Below are some ways you can use social internet marketing that will help you increase your organization. Create your post's headlines clever or attractive. The very first thing the various reader's views is the heading. Your headline must be interesting, useful, and also beneficial. Set some real attempt into great headlines. If you are planning to create a social networking profile, you must be prepared to regularly upgrade it. Staying updated will keep your articles new. Therefore folks think that they're studying something new and also interesting. Enhance your websites many times per week to enhance the standard of your articles. One great way of boosting your readers is by providing discount coupons as well as special discounts to them. Your customers will increase your gains and provide you extra product sales after they feel they're in a membership that is special. A highly effective Social Media Marketing strategy requires more than just good articles; it requires to resonate with buyers and also readers. So just be sure you do not change all your focus on one area like video clips and that you utilize resources like Facebook tweets or Twitter posts to assist you to market your products or organization. The objective must be to get and keep a reader's interest for as long as essential to deliver information. The long activity, obviously, is to have recurring site visitors. Do not let social media's popularity mislead you; you still have to make a cogent strategy to take benefit of this promoting. You must know how social media marketing can assist you and exactly how you can manage issues that come along with it. Managing a campaign with both training and organizing beneath your belt can help you defeat your rivals and build much more efficient techniques. Develop a competition for your clients through Twitter. Many people appreciate joining a contest or competition. By running either a contest or competition on your Twitter, the attraction of your web page will increase rapidly. These kinds of marketing promotions can help increase the popularity of your brand name. Utilize some network marketing sites for the best success. Facebook is hugely preferred. However, Myspace still has a following, as well as Twitter is growing in popularity. You have a higher possibility of success if you implement various kinds of media outlets. By using these tips, social networking sites will help make your organization. Social network sites now go beyond the occasional rank replace or discussed picture book; these days, these websites offer important chances for organizations. By applying the knowledge you have figured out above, you'll be able to use social networking to boost your business position. Read More : 1. The 10 WordPress Plugins Every Successful Blogger Uses 2. Building A Brand For Your Small Business About the Author: Carol James is an EssayLab writer and senior editor. She has an MA degree in social sciences and is an excellent specialist in this field. Moreover, Carol writes articles, reviews on the different subjects interesting to her readers. So, if you have any questions, suggestions on the writing, feel free to ask her!

How to use IT to Save Your Business Money

How to use IT to Save Your Business Money:

Explore open-source software :

Let employees work on their own devices :

Outsource support :

Buy resources ‘as a service’ :

Marketing – What’s Right for Your Business?

Tips on Selecting a Storage Solution for Your Growing Business

Tags

Ariana Smith

I enjoy writing and I write quality guest posts on topics of my interest and passion. I have been doing this since my college days. My special interests are in health, fitness, food and following the latest trends in these areas. I am an editor at Content Rally.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Popular

Technologies For Creating A Startup Idea

How to Download Facebook Videos on Android?

7 Rules of Effective Ecommerce Web Design

The 10 WordPress Plugins Every Sucessful Blogger Uses

Follow Us

Recent

Data-Driven Insights And Enhancing Customer Experience

Simplify Your Conversions: A Powerful Cryptocurrency Conversion Calculator

Choose Quality Car Hoists From The Premium Car Tools Suppliers

51 Blue Collar Jobs/Career Options To Pursue If You Get Laid Off From Big Tech In 2024

Related

Should You Consider Outsourcing Your Brand’s Marketing Campaign?

5 Proven tactics to acquire more quality leads

Make Your Business Popular Online

How to use IT to Save Your Business Money

How to use IT to Save Your Business Money:

Explore open-source software :

Let employees work on their own devices :

Outsource support :

Buy resources ‘as a service’ :

Share this Article

Marketing – What’s Right for Your Business?

Tips on Selecting a Storage Solution for Your Growing Business

Tags

I enjoy writing and I write quality guest posts on topics of my interest and passion. I have been doing this since my college days. My special interests are in health, fitness, food and following the latest trends in these areas. I am an editor at Content Rally.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Popular

Follow Us

Recent

Related