Blake Rubin Shares How To Spend An SaaS Marketing Budget Wisely

Blake-Rubin

Marketers in high growth companies such as start-ups typically measure their marketing traction and success using known parameters such as traffic, conversion rates, leads and various metrics that define lifecycles. For most core SaaS companies, long-term growth strategy remains the foremost objective without overlooking rapid increase in free subscription and ultimately paying conversions. As the company grows, a lot more attention is placed on sustainability and push to expand the market share. According to Kuno Creative, during the set-up stage, companies must aim to break even before the seed capital and goodwill is depleted. The aforementioned entails demonstrating growth in Monthly Recurring Revenues (MRR) in the first year or so and ensuring additional funding flow to guarantee sustainable organic growth.

The most successful entities here are those that are able to traverse the landscape by ensuring growth in qualified leads and the existence of market fit products. The other important aspect is having the ability to develop fruitful engagement. Whilst strategizing on survival and growth strategies, the marketing budget should be spent only on products that are deemed or proven to be market fit. Growth in qualified leads can be achieved successfully by building steady traffic and directing the traffic into subscribers using targeted campaigns that appeal to the audience. Once the lead is captured, the startup needs to keep the subscribers fully engaged. The traffic that flows into the business can be measured by analyzing the email opens, comments on social media and form conversions for downloads among other measurement analytics.

Marketing Strategy

Once the firm is off the ground and on the path to sustainable growth, the marketing strategy should quickly turn to achieving accelerated growth. The rapid growth stage requires firms to pay close attention to the competition, new funding streams and profitability. Most companies at this stage of development are focused on increasing the customer lifetime values and the monthly recurring revenues and reducing customer acquisition cost. When a firm reaches mature growth phase, they still need to focus on growth even though the elements such as substantial sales, existence of multiple offices, large workforces and sustainable rounds of funding may continue to work in the firm’s favor. Research has shown that a large number of SaaS based companies take between 6 to 8 months to mature before becoming viable entities.

Sales and Marketing Budget and Planning

The question as to how much and where marketing departments should spend their money largely depends on the industry, product and budget. When defining a marketing budget, whichever model the sales and marketing department decides to use, sufficient resources should be set aside to help the company attain the set goals. Sales and marketing is a crucial element in any business, since it forms the highest outlays in SaaS firms. According to Saascribe.com, SaaS companies spend between 10 to 40% of the forecast Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) on their marking budgets. Another study has shown that highly successful SaaS companies plough between 80% to 120% of their revenues back to sales and marketing. For most part, spending caps attributed to sales and marketing depends on the product, budget, growth plans and marketing team or agency a firm wants to use.

The reason why SaaS companies spend a lot of money on marketing is because this type of business model is very different from that of the traditional businesses. SaaS entities are constantly under pressure to grow their recurring revenue and fund acquisition sprees. For high growth, non-SaaS entities looking to operate their marketing departments, the four basic tenets for a sustained SaaS marketing plan according to Blog-Hubspot includes; setting goals, tactics, resources and evaluation. Setting the goal is crucial if a company wants to develop a path to sustainable growth and future. One way to do this is by setting clearer goals and operational guidelines that will help identify areas of strength and weakness. The plan needs to focus on aligning the marketing and sales teams towards achieving shared goals and providing the necessary resources to help achieve these goals.

Use Metrics and Data

Marketers can use funnel metrics and revenue growth goals to set up prudent revenue objectives by developing a service level agreement and collaborative effort between the sales and marketing teams. The next step in ensuring successful SaaS marketing is deploying the right marketing tactics. The most effective strategies include using email marketing and lead nurturing; content marketing and paid content promotion and retargeting through the social media. The most successful content marketing strategies include blogging, influencer outreach and eBooks. Content is a crucial resource for any businesses that wants to grow its market and make forays online because it can go a long way to improve brand relations and influence the purchasing decisions of prospective customers. According to Blake Rubin, an outstanding 82% of customers feel positive about a company after reading their custom content.

Fewer B2B firms, especially those in the tech sector have sufficient scale and brand name to make it out successfully without enlisting the services of efficient sales team. For most mid-tier level companies, the sales team is mostly tasked with maximizing ROI on Google platform and the likes. Leaner start-ups, on the other hand, often take a more targeted approach by deploying smaller and well-streamlined sales and marketing teams. On the overall, most startups that make successful exits are those that have designed their own unique solutions. The other pivotal characteristics include well-coordinated sales and marketing teams that can capture and win the attention of prospective clients. Startups across various industries can also grow better by teaming up with larger companies; developing marketing channel friendly solutions and co-opting marketing hacks into their respective solutions.

Use Friendly Solutions

Using channel friendly solutions may involve linking up with firms that have bigger capacities in terms of sales force and marketing budget. When a smaller firm enters into an arrangement with a bigger firm, opportunities for capturing a bigger captive audience and new market opportunities may come knocking. Well-informed marketing hacks can also go a long way to sell a brand. However, this is not an easy thing to do, especially for startups targeting high growth. To stay on the right path at all times, every potential marketing opportunity that comes along the way should be grabbed and directed accordingly. Once the goals, budget and tactics are aligned, attention needs to shift to the resource availability and allocation. Resources should be allocated according to the set defined goals. To attain this objective, managers need to choose whether to hire an in-house or outsourced agency.

Stay Competitive

In the current competitive business environment, where every dollar spent counts companies are increasingly looking at the agencies to outsource executives, write content and undertake services such as staff recruitment. Outsourcing also helps reduce management expenses and fixed overhead cost. However, before a company decides to outsource key services to an outside agency, it is important to weigh the options to find out if the decision will affect the company’s bottom line. The other important aspect of resource is building a good marketing team structure. The team needs to be competent enough to tackle the most pressing challenges in order to attain long term growth. The last step in developing a successful SaaS marketing strategy is evaluating your plan using effective measuring metrics such as MQL velocity, SaaS metrics and opportunity sourced by market.

The whole process of developing a sound marketing plan is never easy. However, having a clearer and well throughout strategy can help define success from the outset. If you are experiencing challenges, you can hire a SaaS firms with experienced marketing teams to help you align your goals and budget with marketing strategies that support growth. SaaS on-demand software’s can be accessed by different users through the web browsers. Since SaaS is distributed instantaneously without physical distribution channels, the need to use middlemen and distribution partners is pretty much eliminated. SaaS has become a very powerful delivery model for various business applications from payroll processing software and management software’s to office and messaging software’s.

One of the emerging trends in SaaS according to Wikipedia, is the development of SaaS integration Platforms (SIP). The system is designed to give subscribers access to a number of applications through a single source whilst enhancing application development and deployment. Blake Rubin is at the forefront of developing custom SaaS solutions designed to help companies grow and stay competitive in the new information age. Rubin is especially committed to transforming the way global enterprises create quality softwares. Some of the advanced solutions offered by the company include qTest Manager, qTest Explorer, qTest Pulse and qTest Insights, a powerful real time visual and reporting tool. qTest is a popular custom test case manager while qTest Explorer is a sophisticated documentation and recording tool.

 

4 Reasons Women Should Start Their Own Tech-based Business

Chrissy-Weems

Technology opens us a lot of opportunities that weren’t available over the last decade. Now, there are tech startups that are growing every day, and it is interesting to note that some of the Fortune 500 companies are tech companies themselves.

According to Chrissy Weems, now is a great time for women to start their business. She did her research on some facts about technology and business, and this is what she found out:

  • Technology stores information – technology is important for clients and businesses because it stores information. There is more data stored in the past two years compared to all the accumulated data over the past entire history of the human race.
  • Technology is fast-evolving – within the next 5 years, there will be a total of 50 billion smart connected devices. This means that all of these devices will be in sync to share, gather, and integrate information.
  • Technology brings connectivity – in 2015, there were a total of 1 billion people who use social media such as Facebook. People are more connected through technology more than ever.

With so many positive facts surrounding technology, now can be a great time to jump the bandwagon for women to start their own tech-based business. Here are some reasons why.

4 Reasons Women Should Start Their Own Tech-based Business

Tech-based businesses are set for growth.

A tech-based business is always set for growth–this is because people can access it more easily compared to physical businesses. With a tech-based business, there is an opportunity to quickly scale your company from a single employee into multitudes within a short period of time with lesser costs. Alternatively, you can even automate processes to further increase your growth without making any heavy investments.

Tech-based businesses can focus on women’s needs.

When we think of tech-based businesses, we often think of social media applications, developer tools, and other seemingly unfamiliar things to the average woman. According to Chrissy Weems, being a woman in the tech scene can give you a competitive advantage because you can understand what are the needs of your particular audience. It can also be helpful to get the perspective of women and how they can progress as leaders and influencers with this type of business.

Tech-based businesses are easier to manage.

Any business will be a challenge to grow. However, having a tech-based business means that it is easier to succeed because many tech entrepreneurs even earn money in the comforts of their home using a single laptop. Success for those in technology doesn’t mean always having the best location, best equipment, best staff, or best anything else–it levels the playing field for those who want to truly succeed even with limited resources. Even as a mom, a busy wife, or a woman with a career of her own, making a tech-based business can be easy compared to setting up something that is physical.

Tech-based businesses have great partnership opportunities.

With the connectivity of technology, tech-based businesses can easily find network connections that are mutually beneficial. This is helpful because some businesses are dependent on each other. For example, it is easier to find international suppliers with the power of the internet. It can also be easier to network with influencers who can market your products or services. This makes reaching out to other companies more of a breeze compared to traditional means where you don’t have many prospects aside from those available in your community.

Women can truly succeed with business. By considering the opportunities in starting a tech-based company, they can explore their options and learn more about what works for them.

Great Platform As A Service (PaaS) Options For Developers

Sean-Seshadri

Computer Scientist, Sean Seshadri can tell you that the most intelligent way to work on an app today is with a platform as a service (PaaS). A PaaS is merely a category of cloud computing services. It provides a platform allowing developers to run and manage web applications.

The function of PaaS is to simplify the code writing process for developers. The PaaS service provider handles all of the infrastructure and operations. In the early days of PaaS, platforms existed in the public cloud. However, since many companies preferred not to have everything in the public cloud private and hybrid options were created.

How PaaS’s work

A PaaS is not an application. It is best to describe it as an application platform which runs on top of infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Simultaneously it hosts software as a service (SaaS).

PaaS consist of operating systems, middleware, and other software that allows operating systems to run in the cloud. Much of the systems administration management and stack related difficulties are thus of no concern to the developer. Therefore, he or she can focus on customers and their code.

What the developer must do

PaaS takes care of all of the system administration details as far as configuring and setting up servers, databases and VM’s. It can also configure building and testing tools. Developers don’t even have to concern themselves with installing library runtimes. The workflow for using PaaS is as smooth as coding in your IDE, and then pushing the code using a developers tool like git to the PaaS and seeing the changes go live immediately.

How vendors deliver service

Providers can deliver PaaS services in two ways:

  1. As a public cloud service from the PaaS vendor. In this case, the developer controls the software deployment and configuration settings, while the provider is responsible for the network’s servers, storage and other services to host the customer’s application.
  2. As software installed in a private data center managed by an internal IT department.

What to look for in a PaaS

When a software developer is considering a PaaS, the essential thing to keep in mind is how effectively it can accelerate app development. A PaaS should reduce the turnaround time on an app by freeing the developer to focus on the app alone with no other headaches. Thus it is the ultimate productivity enhancement tool for a developer. The app developer’s only concern should be the application and data. The service provider’s job is to manage the following:

  • Storage and networking
  • Virtualization
  • Servers
  • Runtime
  • Middleware
  • Operating systems

Furthermore, the development tools provided by the vendor are customizable according to the needs of the developer. PaaS software providers allow their customers to elect to maintain the PaaS software or have the vendor keep it up to date for them.

Sean Seshadri suggests the following vendors:

Amazon AWS

  • Mixes and matches services depending on developers needs
  • An API-based service
  • Central function includes simple storage, elastic compute, email service
  • Rates vary based on services chosen

App Agile

  • A Cloud-based development environment
  • An Industry-based solution
  • Facilitates free testing of apps without delays
  • You only pay for what you use

Microsoft Azure

  • Support for different platforms such as mobile, PC, and browser applications
  • Ease of use with international development teams
  • Access to dozens of Azure storage products
  • Cost is pay-as-you-go with a free primary option

Standing Cloud

  • Automated application management
  • Tools include scalable upgrades
  • Support for several platforms and programming languages
  • Must contact Standing Cloud for price information

Users are Spending 44% More Time in Shopping Apps – Here’s How You Can Cash In

In the United States, the number of smartphones is expected to go over 220 million within the next 2 years. Such an astronomical figure has changed the way many things operate, including online sales and shopping. People who used to spend long hours going through stores and trying things on are turning to the virtual selection that can be done from their phone. Thus, those businesses that have facilitated app-accessible strategies have seen tremendous benefits. Andrew Knight New Canaan discusses. 

 

Capitalizing on the Trend 

Although marketers are fully aware of the ramification of the trend, people sometimes fail to take full advantage of it. According to App Annie, an average user spends over two hours on various apps every day. This further translates to 2-4 hours spent on shopping apps alone every month, a 44% increase in the first half of 2017. Thus, what are some best ways to make money from such a changing environment of sales? 

 

  1. Leaving Mobile Websites

In order to enjoy users spending more time in apps, one should obviously have an app. Days of people getting online to look at the “mobile-friendly” version of some brand’s website are in the past. People prefer possessing an app that will allow them to access it through the home screen of their device, get notifications from it, and purchase straight from. The watered-down website versions used to be a great effort to reach people back in the early 2010s, yet no longer is this the case. Every business looking to increase online sales should focus all their attention on creating a multi-screen platform that will mimic the website in an app-friendly tone.  

 

  1. Impulse Brings in Millions

When one purchases a product from Amazon, per se, they will be shown a screen with other products that users purchased in addition. Though this may seem like a simple way of upselling, it is a thoroughly planned and data-supported impulse buying strategy. Those who buy a set of plates will be offered to look at some cutlery because, naturally, people need both. Thus, Amazon is capturing sales that people did not even intend on making originally which is called impulse buying. This is the same concept that every online selling app should have. Some of the ways to showcase it:  

  • Offering free shipping for a certain overall amount of money spent 
  • Displaying products that normally go together
  • Showing statistics about other users who purchased similar items  

 

  1. Data Drives the World

A popular saying goes “Knowledge is Power”. Well, in 2017, information is knowledge which means that information is power. Going off of the last idea, to be able to make predictions and check out suggestions, the business must be able to analyze previous purchases. What are the most common items bought in certain areas? What time of the year do some items sell the best? What do people buy together? All of these questions must be answered and backed up with thorough research of previous transactions. The scope of that analysis should not go beyond ethical boundaries, however, as that would endanger customer’s loyalty.  

 

  1. Technology Sometimes Fails

Just like Apple has to do updates to their iOS every time that a new operating system is released, most apps will have to improve over time. Glitches and errors are expected which means that people will need help getting over the problems they cause. This is when an outstanding customer service should be implemented. Just like buyers prefer to access shopping through home screen apps, they do not want to waste time looking for customer service numbers or e-mails all over the internet. A good app should contain such information within it. Consequently, the downtime will be minimized and buying can continue rapidly! 

 

  1. Safety and Privacy

In order for people to purchase things online, they must be reassured that their safety will not be hindered. Since online buying requires an e-mail, an address, usually a phone number, and payment information, a hacker would have all they need to get an insight into someone’s life. The customer must be 100% confident in the stability and security of the company’s operation. This can be achieved by disclosing what type of encryption system is in place or using third-party, safe check out windows. Additionally, an online store that gives away a professional vibe will instill confidence upon view.  

 

  1. Loyalty and Payment Methods

People like to be a part of something. This is why almost every product-based business has member programs. These can range from gather points to being a part of a draw for gift cards. Apps should enable people to get involved through things like the aforementioned as they will generate customer loyalty. Furthermore, paying for things should be done in multiple ways. Some users only have credit cards and zero debit cards (vice-versa applies). Others prefer to increase safety by using Paypal. In order to get the most out of a transaction, a company should enable as many payment options as possible to cover all their basis.  

  

A Fine Time to Get More Customers 

In reality, there has been no better time in history to reach millions of people. A simple yet customized e-mail that can be generated by outside companies can increase brand awareness exponentially. Apps operate in a very similar manner by providing people with an easily accessible outlet to get informed and buy on. Nevertheless, almost limitless time must be dedicated to keeping an app up to date and ensuring it possesses what modern users need to trust it which, in turn, means they will use it. 

Why Adrian Rubin Sees Mobile Development Continuing To Grow

Mobile development will not slow down any time soon, as there will always be a new app or software that is introduced either for Android or iOS. For most market experts, it is predicted that the software will continue to grow at a rapid pace in the next few years.

The rise in mobile development is a result of reduced mobile data, increased connectivity between mobile devices, compatibility with other devices being enhanced, mobile platforms will have new advertising mechanisms, and an increase of smartphones usage. With these factors backing it, it is why Adrian Rubin sees the continuous growth of mobile development.

Other areas in which the mobile development is likely to continue to grow is because of the in-app purchases and developments that are increasing significantly and might be the cause of continuous growth in the mobile industry.

Other than the US, mobile applications should take into account the Asian markets like China and India as they are a population that is largely untapped. This way, they will be expanding all over the world.

With there being apps for the consumer, there are new apps developing that are enterprise-oriented. This is due to businesses willing to give up some of their money to get an app if the product has great potential, will help them cut back on their costs, and increase their productivity levels.

If most app developers will continue to provide apps that will attract the enterprise world, the mobile development sector is not going to slow down any time soon. It is a lucrative market, all they need to do is do their research and produce a product that will be in the market for a long time.

Mobile development will increase the number of apps developed by Google and Apple. With this, the demand that is growing both regionally and globally will induce an increase in mobile development in order to meet the demands of the consumer market.

To entice and encourage consumers to continue using their apps, the operators will have to invest more resources and time to meet their targets. Data security and smart connections are among the few new advances that operators will have to install in their apps in order to assure the users that their apps are safe to use.

For continuous growth, mobile app developers will put all their time and resources into ensuring that they put out a product that will entice the users. Some applications can have data security and smart connection, and with the world being connected, it could pay off in the end.

Like Adrian Rubin knows, the surface of mobile development has just been scratched as there is yet tons of progress to be made. With developers and designers all uniting to come up with different ways of using virtual reality, we can be assured of its involvement in future apps and it can also creep into our daily lives soon.

Virtual reality is being used in video games and sometimes to watch a few minutes of a movie. With it, you can create a whole new world that for now, is untapped. Therefore this further emphasizes the fact that mobile development will not fade into the background.

 

When Text Messaging Services Like Miss Bongo Avis Are Thriving

The tech industry has tons of futurists who project and talk about inflection points and other disruptive innovations. The development of futuristic technology has made it common for other innovations to be declared dead by the time they begin. Although texting can be categorized in this line and it is recognized as a basic functionality of a phone where other applications have been developed to improve its capability, texting is still a widely used form of communication even in developed countries.

SMS is a force to reckon with and it is growing at a great pace. For the people who think that SMS is dead, they should think again because SMS is a silent king that will remain on top for a long time. As many experts still choose mobile apps over SMS, companies are reaping the benefits of using SMS.

Although there are cheaper alternatives to SMS, it is a long shot to wait for the death of SMS. Even though mobile apps are a great addition to the mobile market, it is largely used in the first world countries. Mobile phones are not as common in many countries as feature phones which use SMS as its basic mode of communication. This by itself declares SMS as the king of communication on a large scale.

As a global brand, you cannot afford to market only on smartphones because you will be missing approximately 80% of the market.

Some brands are using SMS to accomplish their marketing campaigns successfully, especially when it comes to exclusive offers that are made to subscribers in the event of an offer. The most effective marketing campaigns are short and straightforward, and they include a call to action that is direct, that makes the customer feel like they are being offered a valuable deal that is exclusive to them.

Not everyone feels like text messages can be the ideal platform for communicating an offer as they at times seem like a spam or impersonal mode of communication. Customer support is, however, a one to one experience that allows for a more personal form of communication, and the SMS is an acceptable way of communicating this way. Most companies are not using this line because of the number of communication channels available today.

What is the future of SMS?

Competition is brewing in the chatting field as OTT (Over The Top) service players like WhatsApp are trying to put SMS out of the game, including the widespread use of Instant Messaging services like Blackberry Messenger (BBM), Yahoo Messenger, VoIP services like Skype and others like Facebook Messenger.

Amongst all the chatting applications that exist, WhatsApp is the one that comes close to challenging SMS to take the top crown. Although very many chatting applications exist, there are a couple of things that make you question about the sustainability of these apps. For starters, they are all fragmented and this will not change anytime soon.

Additionally, OTT services depend on smartphone users with a good data plan. But if you look at it, features phones outnumber the smartphones by 5:1 globally. You will also find that you will experience outages on these applications compared to SMS. Although SMS is not that dominant at this point in time, it is still a great player even in the business world.

We are yet to see a rise in the use of SMS as a tool for marketing or customer support in companies. Mobile phones are still expected to grow in numbers and we expect customers to stay informed of the services they use accurately and consistently. At the moment, we have a few companies using SMS to communicate with their clients.

Apart from the use of SMS as a customer service channel, there are companies that have made SMS their core business line. For instance, Miss Bongo Avis is a service that allows people to send a text message comprising of their entire name plus the name of the city they live in. The service then gives a response a few seconds later with some interesting details about your personal life just from those two inputs you have sent to the service. There are other companies that have made SMS as a core business line and not just a notification channel or a customer support line. We hope to see more services taking the SMS platform to a whole new level even with the rising development of mobile apps, just like the way Miss Bongo Avis is doing.

 

How Douglas Knight Sees Technology Changing New Canaan

In the 2018 tech predictions released by GB-Bullhound in December 2017, the most important prediction was the relationship that was changing between politics and technology, followed by cybersecurity, TV in China being overtaken by mobile, translation technology, the end of emails, labor in a global scale, software suite, the new industry 4.0, and the commonality of blockchain regulators and ICO (Initial Coin Offerings). The last piece was AR, Augmented Reality.

Douglas Knight New Canaan would like to direct you to another technology shift that is coming up at the Mixed Reality Lab of USC which is IOA, Internet of Actions. IoA is a digital technology that has a vision of being an effective human partner as we go through the increasing relationship between worlds of mixed realities.

Todd Richmond, the Director and IEEE Member of the Mixed Reality Lab believes that AI (Artificial Intelligence) will be the main driver of personalization which is an important player in IoA.

The Rise of IoA

The major challenge of this journey is going to be trust. As humans increasingly place their faith in tech algorithms, GPS navigation, and online commerce, these are tools in this path rather than partners or collaborators according to the team at Mixed Reality Lab.

The pairing of humans and machine will undergo major R&D over the next two decades and while algorithms shift into decision-making levels that determine life and death, we are going to see a lot of human interactions coming up.

The technology that is going to be developed according to Richmond is one that will be human-focused to help shift the move towards the human challenges of navigating through a fast-paced autonomous and virtualized agent filled earth; and the field of HCI (Human Computer Interface) has to undergo a quantum leap in order to see it through.

For most of us, it is hard to understand how humans are going to communicate seamlessly with AI agents, how we are going to control and exercise commands over a swarm of drones or other AI agents, and how we are going to make sense of the gigantic amount of real sensory data from these devices.

Example of AI to human interaction

There is an increasing use of chatbots that are AI-powered in e-commerce platforms to assist buyers in making smarter online purchases and ensure that a customer’s overall experience is top-notch. Chatbots using AI enhance customer service by using machine learning. Chatbots are now able to respond to simple human questions, but over time, they are going to understand complex queries and solve even complex problems, allowing them to have more meaningful interactions with customers.

According to Richmond, development in technology needs to move to humans at the end of the technology from the current focus that is placed on the device. Despite the common use of user-centric design, technology is focused mostly on widgets and spec instead of improving and enabling the condition of humans.

Douglas Knight New Canaan has been keen to understand the experience of users with the technology, especially when it comes to assessing the intent of the users with technology. Since a lot of tech devices are coming up, with recent developments in creating new technology to be used in training, the most important part is on the human experience. For instance, if a human is put in a simulation and the human makes a wrong decision, if there is no understanding of why the decision was made, there is no actionable information to improve the system or to train the design bit. This will apply to IoA experiences.

If you look at the drones that are being developed for the near future by companies like Mixed Reality lab, the technology is teaming up both humans and machines, and this will play an important role in the future of IoA.

As algorithms become more and more synonymous with our daily routines and become part of our decision-making process, it will be vital for us to understand why an algorithm will take specific action and why a user takes another share of the actions. Additionally, the algorithm will also explain the things that are happening.

Now, back to our contentious topic, trust. If as humans we are not able to trust the machines that we have presented, it will be hard for us to engage with the tech. Knowing how we will build trust and pair humans and machines will be a very important step, as it will lead us into designing systems that will expose the story behind the actions of the systems.

In Summary, we learn and understand through stories, and the tools of representation and abstraction are important for making sense and exploring complexity. The best tech that can come up can be useless if it cannot help in discovering and telling a story that is in the complex data.

Why Some Countries Are Banning Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency

About a dozen countries have already ‘banned’ trading using cryptocurrencies. China, India, and South Korea are leading the pack in this emerging battlefront. Let us look at whether banning is even a possibility. All cryptocurrencies follow one protocol, unregulated and decentralized. How can authorities claim to ban what is not yet within their purview? Well, they have tried, and some of the reasons given are here.

 

They Don’t Know What It Is

Governments want to be ahead of information. From antiquity, authorities hate being in the dark. How do they keep up with what the people are doing if they don’t know what it is? Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and other leaders in the cryptocurrency world use blockchain technology. Only a few countries have white papers about the technology, and only a handful of people in the world can tell you exhaustively what exactly it is.

 

Governments are in this position, and because it is an uncomfortable situation for them, some are considering regulating it, but they don’t even have concrete ideas how to do it. So, they decide to get rid of it altogether. Unfortunately, even in countries such as China that have the systems and institutions to eliminate crypto trading, they have no control of forex sites accessible through VPN and VPS.

 

Lack of Regulation

To regulate, you ought to have legal mechanisms to facilitate the same. Crypto technologies are highly advanced. Legislators drive the mood of the regulatory mechanisms. If they have little information about something, they have little incentive to lend a hand. Only governments want to regulate. Politicians across the globe tend to harbor symbiotic relationships with ‘lawless’ havens. Perhaps, they are not enthusiastic about sponsoring legislation.

Mark Dukas Charlotte

Anything can happen in a deregulated market. As seen in pre-Dodd-Frank regulation, the danger was lurking at the corner. So, some governments are exercising caution instead of waiting for the ‘reckoning.’ However, Mark Dukas thinks that this is misplaced caution. According to him, cryptocurrencies are anchored in one of the most stable technologies in the world.

 

Seen As a Hotbed of Cybercrime

In an area where the authorities cannot peep occasionally, it becomes a problem to trace terror cells and their funding methods. While this remains a huge concern for a deregulated market, governments may have to look for alternative ways to stop funding or terrorism apart from following the money. Countries are concerned that cybercrime will be bred, as crypto trading ensures that the authorities do not know anything. The possibility of getting away with anything is real.

 

Mark Dukas Charlotte is however optimistic about how cryptocurrencies can overcome this challenge in the future. It depends on how blockchain technology will evolve over the years.

 

Perceived Threat to Financial Stability

A centralized system means a sane environment where stability and reliability exist. Banks and central banks rely on information to set out monetary and fiscal policies that affect people. They determine how people obtain loan facilities; interest charged; the amount of money in circulation; and many other things. Thanks to cryptocurrencies, governments cannot know precisely how much is in the pool. If a negative-impacting fiscal policy coincides with a negative crypto market swing, it could be devastating, as governments do not know the crypto market. According to Mark Dukas, such a possibility is rare, and can only happen when cryptocurrencies are ubiquitous. Some governments, such as South Korea, want to be safe.

 

Lost Revenues

Governments want a share of every transaction that goes on within their jurisdiction. If a producer can sell using Bitcoins or any other coins, it will be difficult for governments to claim taxes. So, governments are losing revenues especially when it comes to money exchange, one area that countries globally consider lucrative. As far as coins continue to change hands in breathtaking speeds with governments not partaking in the broth, expect more of them to try to stop it.

 

However, these currencies have endured worse — from when only a handful people knew about them to a time when we can comfortably say they are the future. It will be interesting to see how the debate will pan out especially when it comes to the economics of a possible takeover of exchange by coins from banks and central banks.

 

Conclusion

Mark Dukas Charlotte expresses enthusiasm about blockchain-backed assets despite the apparent bans. While issues of security should worry everyone, governments must find a way of accepting that the future is full of coins.

 

How Technology Is Changing The User Experience

E-commerce Transaction

As the business world shifts into the modern era of e-commerce, a well guided user experience could be the difference between bankruptcy and success.

Technology is a very potent tool that can be used to influence and transform the behavior of consumers. New technologies are constantly being introduced and deployed that are designed to disrupt well established industries no matter what their sizes are. If a company fails to adjust, adopt and get their customers onboard, it will fall by the wayside, but those who are fast to adapt with the times will be the first to reach the finish line.

This is what UserIQ has been concentrating on – underlining the need for companies to enhance their consumers’ user experience and providing the tools by which these companies can enhance their user adoption and customer onboarding. As it is, user experience is a very important element that influences a company’s chances of succeeding in today’s business climate. With the recent advances in technology, ready and timely information is always at the fingertips of every consumer. If a company is not fast to adapt, it will fall behind its competitors.

A commercial entity really needs to understand how technology is changing the user experience. UserIQ is a service provider that helps companies understand how technology affects their consumers’ user experience and then assists these companies in developing strategies to improve the products or services that they provide. In other words, the first priority of a business enterprise is to understand the role that technology plays in transforming user experience.

  1. Technology Has Made Information Instantly Available

During the past decade, many consumers have been transformed from retail store shoppers into online buyers. The instant access to product information and prices has driven the prices of products down. Many online companies were able to advertise their products and services and are able to deliver their goods 24/7. All these massive changes in conducting business were technologically driven.

Although online commerce does not offer the human touch that is found in physical stores, this is only a small factor of a consumer’s motivation, as some industry insiders have observed. Business enterprises, if they want to continue their operations, must adapt to the incoming advances in technology. They need to because their customers can’t wait for them to adapt. They will readily transfer their allegiance to their competitor if this other company can deliver the goods better using modern technology.

  1. Technology Has Made Product More Usable

Modern technology has enabled manufacturers of goods to produce products that offer more usability to consumers. With greater user adoption, such products become more attractive to consumers. People are able to use these products more efficiently without as much effort or training. When given a choice, a consumer will choose a product that is easier to use over another product which is cheaper but is harder to use.

  1. Technology Has Made More Products Readily Accessible

When strategizing user experience, companies often overlook the element of customer onboarding. Designers and makers of consumer products should also give importance to the accessibility of a product. If a product is really accessible, even the disabled will have no problem in using its full range of capabilities. In other words, even those who can’t see, hear, walk, or have difficulty in learning will still be able to find the product useful.

Most companies have the approach that this is just a waste of their money. They believe that the disabled are just a miniscule part of their market. Current statistics show that around 19 to 20 percent of the U.S. population can be classified as disabled. If a company ignores this aspect of accessibility, it could mean that it is willing to lose 20 percent of the market to its competitors. That’s a big chunk that a company will carelessly and foolishly neglect.

Thankfully, this situation is about to change. In the E.U., it is reported that companies and manufacturers are now being obligated to make their products accessible to the differently abled. Failure to comply may result in fines and penalties. However, it is also reported that this law is not being fully enforced.

  1. Technology Has Made Products More Convenient

Today’s consumers are happy with the convenience that smart devices offer. The market for connected devices has started to take off. More and more homes are being transformed into smart houses where every task from opening the door to cooking to heating and cooling can be controlled by just a single device. With all companies competing at the same level of product capabilities, the only thing that could separate them is high quality user experience; one that anticipates consumer needs that offers peace of mind at the same time.

 

How Data Management Increases Profitability

Data Across the Globe

Modern business depends heavily on the controlled flow of useful data. To help separate the useful from the junk, it helps to employ Master Data Management tools.

Competition has pushed businesses to come up with strategies for staying relevant in the market. One of these strategies is migrating to big data. This trend has proved to be very helpful in streamlining the operations of enterprises. Companies that are directly using big data are doing better than their counterparts who are sticking to their traditional storage means.

However, to many institutions, master data has proved to be a problem rather than beneficial. Firms are at many times overwhelmed by the bulk data that they receive in their systems. When this data is stored in a disorganized manner, it further causes confusion and loss of revenue in the long run. Businesses are currently adopting the use of master data management tools as a solution.

This software helps to keep information in an organized manner that is easy to retrieve when required. Master data management tools also ensure that every bit of data is utilized as required. Companies that want to increase their revenue should not hesitate to use management programs in organizing data. These days, getting the most effective data management tools is very easy. There are several sites on the internet such as Profisee that are equipped with all the necessary information about data management. Just by browsing the Profisee platform, you can gain crucial advice on how to manage your data to increase profitability.

The following are some of the countless reasons data management can help in increasing the profitability of a firm:

1. Data management saves on space.

Traditionally data used to be stored in the form of written materials such as books and filed papers. This technique is effective as long as a company remains its original size. However, as the company grows, data storage becomes a problem due to limited space. This is where storing data on computer devices come in handy. With a computer, vast data is stored in a single database.

However, this data may prove to be problematic to the user when it is not suitably arranged. This demonstrates the need for a management program that categorizes the data into the respective segments where it is required. This will lead to a systematic way of retrieving information whenever it is required. Data management, therefore, saves a lot of money through saving on space and improving retrieval.

2. It helps to minimize the marketing budget.

In the United States, companies use a considerable amount of their revenue in advertising. This is usually through the numerous marketing channels such as online and digital advertising. Marketing is crucial to increasing the profitability of firms. However, when it is erroneously done, it may result in losses instead of increasing revenue. Marketing is a costly undertaking that should be done with one eye being cast on its impact towards the profitability of the firm. There is a need to for a company to prioritize their marketing strategy. This ensures that they operate within their budgets and also bring in new clients.

Effective marketing that is profitable to the company can be brought about by the use of data that is received from clients and prospects. A company that has sufficient data management tools has a simplified way of getting feedback. With feedback, the company will know whether to stick with their marketing strategy or discard it if it is not working.

A data management program is also helpful in determining the product or service that is generating the highest traffic from online viewers. With this information, the company will know when to increase the production of a specific product and this will be accompanied by an increase in profits.

3. It helps to minimize labor costs.

Labor is one of the primary factors of production. Without its input, it would be impossible for any company to conduct its operations. However, labor is expensive, and its cost should be kept as low as possible. Data management is one of the means of ensuring that this is possible.

Businesses spend a significant amount of time in analyzing and interpreting data. This time can be used in doing other things that are more profitable to the company. This is only possible when there is a practical data management tool in place. With such a system, almost all tasks are automated, and the role of human labor is minimized. The company is, thus, able to operate at a faster rate while paying a considerably lesser wage bill.

The significance of data management systems in any company cannot be overemphasized. This is one of the mandatory prerequisites of companies that want to continue being productive in the ever-competitive business sector. It is, therefore, imperative for every company to have such a system in place.