Tech at work

If you’re a business owner who doesn’t regularly use email marketing, you could be missing out on one of the most effective ways to reach customers. Modern email providers offer more personalized tools and metrics, to the point where it's now possible to see and even anticipate consumer behaviours, which make email marketing more valuable than ever. Here are the top email marketing services available today, and tips for how you can pick the right software for your company.

Cloud computing may not be the most talked-about aspect of running a business, but it‘s one of the most widely used. More than 92% of companies use services that are connected to or run in the cloud, which means the trend toward cloud-based computing is here to stay. If you’re not using one of these services yet, you may be wondering about the benefits of moving your computing tasks online. Here are the most-cited perks of cloud computing, with advantages for small to large companies, non-profits, and other businesses.

Is your company doing enough to make better energy choices and save on business electricity costs? A few simple changes could improve your bottom line substantially. The EPA states in its data from the ENERGY STAR® program that an average commercial building can reduce its energy bills by 30% through no-cost actions, smart investing, and innovative operations and maintenance. What will you do with those savings? Whether you reinvest into research and development or keep product prices down for your customers, every business can benefit from energy savings. Here are some ideas to put to work to lower your energy costs and reduce your carbon footprint.

For those working and learning remotely for the past year – and that includes many of us – the ability to find and order what you need, when you need it, has become business as usual. And for micro and small-sized companies, in particular, technology is not just important, it has become critical to their very survival as businesses. We increasingly rely on digital direct to make the decisions about what we need easier. “Digital direct” gets the message about products and services to consumers using the internet; through email, web, and mobile platforms. The pandemic has accelerated this trend toward digital. In 2020 alone, online interactions with companies grew by 33.6%, pushing overall retail sales up nearly 3.5%, to $5.6 trillion, compared to 2019.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has changed even the most basic business functions, including the way we interact with customers. As of 2018, many industries embraced AI chatbots as a way to handle simple transactions between their brand and the customer. Since chatbots have become more sophisticated, they’re being trusted to conduct more sophisticated interactions. Experts predict that chatbots will handle 70% of customer service duties in the year 2022 (up from 15% of interactions in 2018). In this article, we’ll explain the benefits of chatbots and why many companies, even those in the B2B space, should consider using them.

If you’re like most companies, you needed your latest new hire to start work yesterday. Cutting corners and providing a rushed onboarding experience isn’t likely to get you the positive outcome you desire, even if you can get your employee started sooner. Fortunately, effective onboarding can actually help your urgency because 62% of companies that do it well can experience a higher time-to-productivity ratio. It may also result in a 54% increase in engagement, which is tied to better overall workplace experiences.

Efficiency makes or breaks a business, but too much time management advice goes nowhere. That’s why we’ve collected the 10 best research-backed productivity hacks for small business owners. We’ll give you real insight into ways to make the most of the precious resource known as time. These efficiency hacks focus on growing passion, delegating smarter, and choosing goals that ramp up your efficiency. You’ll also find out why some kinds of work breaks are better than others, and why tracking your time can be a great first step.

Multitasking brings the promise of increased productivity, but it’s usually an empty promise. When you try to do too many tasks at once, it tends to overload your executive function, making you less efficient in all of your tasks at hand. But in some isolated cases it works. Let’s take a peek at the science behind multitasking to find out when you should multitask and when to focus on one thing at a time. We’ll also unlock five key techniques used by highly productive people to get the most out of your precious time. And we’ll take a look at several strategies you can use instead of multitasking.

Engaged employees are more productive and likely to share good things about your workplace. They are, in a way, the best kind of brand ambassador. But how do you improve employee engagement? One way is to recognize them with employee appreciation awards, though not every idea will work for every employee.

The cost of cyber terrorism is real and significant to businesses today. The harm they cause is increasing each year, with estimates showing that 78% of US organizations have fielded a cyber attack in the past year. The threats come with a price tag, too, with an attacked company spending roughly $13 million to fix the harm done. What can companies do in the face of such a growing threat? One way is to stay informed of the dangers that lurk online. We’ll go over the most anticipated new threats in cyber security to your business in the coming year.